天下制覇

It pains me to say, but Xebec, you’re so much better than this.

Impressions:

It’s always comforting to see Xebec go back to doing what they do absolutely worst. I think I would have respected them more if they had ramped up the raunchiness. Then at least, there would be some kind of selling point to this mess. "Hey, look! Boobs!" They even did that halfway though so all you get are the same bouncing breasts and T&A shots that are incidental to almost all of the new shows this seasons anyway. Production was okay for the most part. I’m not sure if I’ve recovered enough yet from last season’s medley of ear piercing atrocities, but the music wasn’t bad and while the episode did have quite a bit of recycled bouncing breasts and swaying hips, they did a relatively job of masking it as well as refraining from too many other obvious cost-cutting measures. It’s nothing impressive at all, mind you, but at least they kept it from being ugly. Then again, maybe that could at least have made it a little more distinct instead of painfully generic looking the whole way through.

Everything else was completely dismal as hell though. Terrible characters, terrible setup, and apparently this whole thing is going to be riding on the heart of the cards gamblers. They’re not even trying to sell the gaming angle here. This is the worst kind too, just bad enough to be boring and lame, but not so bad that it is amusing or distinctive in any way except for the end. The game of draw poker was horrifyingly amusing in its own sick little way. The antagonist threw away an outside draw for a straight flush because he was going to draw four of a kind. And then entered the heart of the cards in search of his… cards. This is some pure Yu-Gi-Oh/Saki level BS right here without a single bit of the flair. Of course, he was shocked when he did in fact, not draw four of a kind. Perhaps next week, they’ll play blackjack and the villain will be surprised by busting after hitting on 20. Pun fully intended.

And the kicker… the kicker on this whole affair… the guy wanted the teddy bear because it’d make him feel better if he stole it. Gah.

So anyway, unless you want to laugh at the horrible last 4 minutes or so, steer far far away from this. It isn’t even Xebec being their usual ‘good’ bad self. That’s counting Kanokon and Ladies vs Butlers as ‘good.’ I’m not even sure what this is going for. There’s not enough T&A for that to be the selling point, nor any actual focus on gaming or gambling so that just leaves… the goddamned bear? Who knows? Better question, who cares?

Preview:

Peacock tails add thirty pounds apparently.