I apologize for the delay between my posts. I’ve been working on posting more frequently and regularly but school has been a little overwhelming lately so I haven’t had that much time to watch anime and make posts. With that said, I’ll be continuing my Fall 2013 mid season impressions later next week when I have a bit more free time. Anyways let’s get to this week’s anime. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on Nagi no Asukara episode 8, Valvrave S2 episode 7, White Album 2 episode 8, and Samurai Flamenco episode 7.
Nagi no Asukara – I think that Hikari is quickly becoming one of my favourite main characters of the season. I’ve been saying this a lot but just the way he’s changed from being rash and quick tempered to considering the feelings of those around him has really impressed me. He’s even willing to sacrifice his own happiness for his friends and family. While at first we saw the kids between the land and the sea discriminating against each other, these were just the impressions they had gotten from their elders. After the kids got to know each other better, we can see that they really are no different from each other and they all get along now. The grown ups on the other hand are still stubborn and holding onto past conflicts and grudges against an entire race of people. While this episode was rather relaxing to see the kids work together to show that Akari was welcome to Miuna’s family, I can’t help but feel that the elders from the sea will cause trouble for them in the near future.
You can watch Nagi no Asukara on Crunchyroll (Free users have to wait an extra week to watch the newest episodes, may not be available in all regions)
Valvrave S2 – Looks like the suffering continues in this week’s Valvrave. After L-Elf’s emotional reunion with the woman who saved him, Lieselotte, he entrusts her to Haruto to protect. However, Haruto’s devotion to his friends ends up leaving Lieselotte unattended while rescuing L-Elf which leads to her sacrificing herself to save the school kids. I feel that with each new episode of Valvrave, something new is revealed but then it just leaves me with more questions waiting to be answered in the end.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about this episode aside from the climatic ending was the battle between L-Elf and Q-Vier. Yuki Kaji’s voice acting as Q-Vier was perfect and he got the immature maniacal kid’s voice down perfectly. L-Elf also showed the reason why he’s so feared by many with his ability to keep up with Q-Vier despite his injuries. However, despite being L-Elf and foiling the enemy’s plan the entire episode, we get to see a weaker side of him where everything finally accumulates and takes its toll on him. I felt that this arc gave us a lot of character development for L-Elf by showing us that he’s more than just a genius robot who never fails.
P.S. I feel like I’m forgetting something… (Poor Saki getting left behind again)
You can watch Valvrave S2 on Crunchyroll (Free users have to wait an extra week to watch the newest episodes, may not be available in all regions)
White Album 2 – This was another more relaxing episode since the series has already hit one of their climaxes with the cultural festival performance last week. While I didn’t think about it too much at first, you can really see how much the Touma and Setsuna’s characters have changed since the beginning. Setsuna was always very insecure and tended to be a bit more reserved around others since she was afraid of being hurt again. Now she’s completely open with Touma by coming out and confronting her directly about Haruki as well as her intentions to have the three of them stay together. Touma on the other hand has become a lot friendlier with the way she talks to them now. She used to always be a bit cold with responding to them but she seems like a normal girl with her interactions with the two. While things seem fine and dandy between the three of them, we can see that Touma does not want Haruki to get any closer to her since she values her friendship with Setsuna. This will likely be a problem later on since Setsuna wants everyone to stay this close forever but Touma will only grow to like Haruki more if she continues spending more time with him.
You can watch White Album 2 on Crunchyroll (Free users have to wait an extra week to watch the newest episodes, may not be available in all regions)
Samurai Flamenco – The episode started off a little slow since we learned that crime rates have dropped significantly and the world no longer fears these masked fighters of crime. As the Flamenco Girls try to figure out their next move, Masayoshi discovers that his parents were murdered in the past and the culprit was never caught. After a bit of reflection, he strengthens his resolve once again and decides to continue on fighting crime and to never lose his way. Just as all seems right in the world, we’re introduced to a giant transforming gorilla with a guillotine in his torso and a super villain. My initial reaction was a big WTF to this entire thing since one of my favourite aspects of Samurai Flamenco was the realism of the show. I’m kind of hoping that this is all related to the PR stunt that the cops mentioned and that this is just a show or something since this would completely change the entire show if it went in that supernatural direction.
You can watch Samurai Flamenco on Crunchyroll (Free users have to wait an extra week to watch the newest episodes, may not be available in all regions)
You can check out my previous Thoughts and Impressions on Fall 2013:
Jikman's Anime Zone 
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