天下制覇

Lots and lots of balls.

The OVA’s technically split into four 13 minute episodes, each having OP (essentially the same as in the PVs, so I won’t post it here), and lame ED. Just splitting things up for ease. And Chinese subtitles make me laugh.

Impressions:

I’m so glad that Lerche didn’t flub this. It’s just as well-animated as the PVs were, and it managed to be snappy, witty, and have copious amounts of fun with the characters and cast too. Some of the series gags might get a bit old, like I’m already sort of tired of the Phantasmoon sequences after only two of them, but I’m also looking forward to see what Len will brandish in the next one. Worth the long intro and stock(ish) footage of Phantasmoon bludgeoning yet more mushroom men in the head? Probably not. There are 10 more of them to go if they keep doing one per episode though so… hopefully they’ll fix that.

Otherwise, it was a lot of fun from start to finish. I think I liked the 5th Holy Grail ‘Gameshow’ more than Melty Volleyball, although Taiga’s dojo and its budgetary problems was probably my favorite of all the sequences. The King Game of the Holy Gameshow was a close second. It was a little more cohesive while everything in Melty-land seemed to end up with balls in Ciel’s face. The stand-up routine with the Back Alley Alliance at the end was also faaaaar too Japanesey. Yes, I get exactly what it was and it is a perfect way of showing the difference between people talking and static talking heads, but the jokes are still things to roll your eyes and groan at instead of all the rest. Plus, thinking about the comedy team of Ries and Sacchin with Sion adding an "All according to calculations" at the end of everything makes my brain itch.

So very well done so far by… Lerche… whoever they are. It’s still very much directed at Type-Moon fans, but there’s nothing particularly arcane in here, so definitely check it out.

On to the rest!