天下制覇

  

Those lips weird me out.

This isn’t due to be broadcast until tomorrow, but apparently rats got into Funimation’s pipes again, so here we are. Also, I’ll get to Joker tomorrow before work (since it airs at like, 2am my time), and a reminder that Amagi’s premiere was bumped from last Thursday to late(ish) tomorrow morning (or afternoon if you’re on the east coast).
Edit: My site switched servers this morning in the middle of me uploading things, which saw the loss of everything I uploaded to the FTP after Seven Deadly Sins. I think I’ve got it all recapped and reuploaded now (an hour of my life I want back), but drop a line if something’s still screwing up. They sent me an e-mail saying it’d be happening in the evening and to expect a little downtime, so they were only 12 hours off.

Impressions:

What an utterly bizarre affair. It’s like a fantasy western where the bounty hunters go around turning criminals into cards. And I mean really western, although the city being “Wytearp” was a big clue. It was also the funniest thing I’ve watched this new season by far, and intentionally too! Plus a protagonist who’s having a blast hunting bounties, fighting random guys, hitting on women, and riding horses across roofs? And he’s the clever kind of badass who outsmarts his enemies in various ways, and giving the audience enough credit to understand that alcohol is flammable? Are we sure Japan made this show? Or maybe they’re trying to make fantasy magical girlfriend Trigun with an afro.

I can’t say I like the art style for the characters much, and since it’s Mappa, there’s all kinds of CGI jammed into orifacesit doesn’t belong. It did get a bit overblown at the start and end, especially when the opera was wailing. Some of the dialogue also tended to veer toward the wrong side of corny. “I just wanted a kiss.” “The only thing you’ll kiss… is the reaper!” stands out as a particularly eye-rolling bit of back and forth, but most of the rest was amusing. I’m not quite sold on the magical demon girlfriend. She didn’t show up much and she certainly pulled her weight in the fighting department, but she’s of the emotionless/humorless variety and didn’t have much chemistry with Afroman compared to just about every other character. There’s room for improvement at any rate.

I thought the episode was a blast for the most part. Well-done action, adventure, good chemistry between the protagonist and his rival, fun protagonist(s) getting stuff done with competence and without a lot of exposition, all while setting up the clear quest for the rest of the season. Like Cross Ange, it covered more ground in any five minutes than most other shows managed in the entire episodes, and packed it with action and humor along the way.