Episode 8:Hagormo Gitsune’s Kyoto Invasion

Sup Minna~ How is your week? Well things are really busy at my side with film school. Lots of practical work and stuff. So you seen how crazy life is now but I am still alive y’all.

As seen in this ‘Duh’ title-there is some trouble between the Keikans and The Kyoto baddies, with Hidemoto’s seals being broken by her commandoes and of course some killings too. So there is a storm coming up *insert evil laugh* Meanwhile on the other side Rikuo has done ‘be a man’ training and yes he leaves Toono for Kyoto *woot*

To be frank-I am not too crazy about that part of that manga ..so I would not into tht much detail of it. Basically it’s just Hagoromo’s bringing up seals like a boss and i find her voice very creepy-is it a good thing or not? Well Norikio-san just creep me out and oh I hate that 3D skeleton dude,does it look out of place don’t cha think?

I think they overdid Rihan’s death flashback a little too much (agonizing much for me) but I really like the ending a lot especially the ink-stroke thing that remind me fondly of that particular manga page :3

Overall in all,a quick summary of it

Good-Great pacing and Hagoromo is pretty creepy.Period.Love the animations

Bad-Sorry if I spoil your joy…I really hate the overdose of Rihan’s death flashbacks and specially the trippy scene of little girl!Hagoromo just pull me off. Can you please stop agonizing me man?? and I hate how sometimes it looks out of place in animation-wise especially the skeleton guy. Perhaps make it 2D please.

Rating-3 stars,A so-so episode for me cuz of my not-so-eager-of-this-arc mode,perhaps too much Rihan’s death flashback in 50% of the episode kinda pull me off and yes Hagoromo is pretty creepy.Period. Oh well-I would see moar action from the Nura clan. Can’t wait anyway for Epi 9 

So sorry for a quick review..things have been busy..so please bear with me ok?

BTW the omake sounds a little wrong to me cuz boobs as weapons is a little bit creepy

Sorry minna for that extremely late review…I only managed to catch the episode on last monday and did not take any notes as usaul as I came back home late and do so much schoolwork…So it’s pretty tiring for me D: and also it’s gonna be a short review due to constrain of time-so I hope u guys enjoy this

Basically before we could start that review,incase you are wondering why this episode is named like that. So I will break it down for you so that you will understand for non-manga readers and those who are interested in the meaning. Actually it was four old Japanese words joined together (Ok pretty werid eh? ) Kyou(The meaning is Mirror then not in our morden japanese which could mean Today) Ka means Flower(Again…today’s context is hana) Sui (Those who knew Chinese knows it means water now we read it as Mizu) and finally Gestu (Means moon in old times now it’s tsuki but some words have that old meaning like Gekikou) So lengthy explanation done. Literary it means Mirror-Flower-Water-Moon so it sounds kinda weird when you translate it. So I am glad that Viz Media did not translate that *phew* 

To the review-basically Rikuo is still in “Be A Man” training in Toono,finding who he was as a youkai and his powers. Ok as usual Shouenen shows:Our dear Rikuo-kun found his powers thru some recollections from the past LOL. So yeah Rikuo-kun,he is a frickin’ man! On the other side…In Kyoto….*plays Darth Vader March in my brain* Here comes Hagormo Gitsune..period.

Overall I am pretty impressed on the top-notch animation of Studio Deen again,they will be forever fangasming me with their gorgeous gorgeous ink-style animations. I bet they are using Shiibashi-sensei’s works as inspiration and it really pays off really well. I am quite digging it. The battle scenes are pretty B.A especially Itaku-kun V.S Rikuo and Kidomaru V.S Rikuo,again animated awesomeness moment for me again. Why are you pumping so much BAMF in my Nura? But seriously it’s really great stuff. 

Amidst all that BAMF,the pacing was fantatsic-not too rushed or too slow and the jokes are spot-on. And those Hagoromo fans-I admit the reintroduction of her was pretty good even thought I think they are going over to Mr NC16 side with that fanservice. Hey Studio Deen go easy on your kinky,this manga is for the little children and I don’t want to see any unnecessary fanservice..

From what I read from some fourms: some fans think that the music is a little inconsistent for this episode unlike the previous episodes of Nura season 2. Ok I think it’s pretty much the same case of Episode 2 which I reviewed and I am pretty surprised on that. For those who can’t remember here is the quote I typed “ my advice to the composer-be consistent. As much I really like the music-wished it could be similar, because you have visual eye-candy and mismatched music. it might as well be a bad episode.” Ok I understand but this time..I feel it’s ok because the animation is pretty good here so I dismiss that hiccup. Now that I think about it..I feel Season 1 is stronger in music-wise. I think it’s being coherent here.

But here is the bad part of that episode-Studio DEEN stop making our Rikuo-kun to be a sparkly vampire please. I am apologizing to all Twilight fans in advance so don’t go Kubinashi-crazy on me by chopping my head. Seriously…it’s the most annoying thing ever..He is the Lord of the Pandoniuem guys. The LORD OF THE *insert swear word* Pandonium,the BAMF successor of BAMF Nuarihyon not that wimpy loser vampire that suck 14 years girls blood. Stop it-give him some tan Y’all. He looks really sickly sickly QAQ. Ok End of Rant.

Now to my awesome summary of my thoughts

Good:Lots of BAMF in this episode which I am really impressed. The ink animations(and all in general).Itaku.Battles. I am done Period. Hagoromo’s reintroduction is good,pacing is awesome. Done

Bad:For the love of me,A Nura fangirl please please please stop torturing me with dat pale complexion of Rikuo. Give him some colour,he is not a vampire but a Aformented BAMF.Ok? And the music is slightly inconsistent at times

Rating:4 1/2 Scares-A very strong episode with great animation and action. Despite that hiccup with the music,it’s pretty good and I will be praying that Rikuo will have some colour. Perhaps we should change the rating as this arc is pretty shanky in content-wise? what do you think? Looking forward to Kyoto Invasion :3

Hey minna~ How is your week…Well tomorrow would be my country’s national day means I will be free and in addition I do not have school this Wednesday too! So it would be a two day break for me. Yeah…In additional what a great way to start my break!! Now to the Review

Ok guys-the gist of the entire episode…Basically the Keikan side called our beloved Yura-chan back cuz of some recent murders of the clan. Well we also have some ‘kidnapping’ on the Nura clan side as Rikuo is having ‘Be A Man’ (excuse the Mulan pun) training at Toono (They mention Tohoku-rings a bell eh?) as he wanted to kick that horrible Hagoromo-Gitsune ‘s butt. Talk about daddy issues….

I must say that Studio Deen have amped up my wish for more ink-style animations. I am crying in tears of joy (and could died from a heart-attack) because they look flippin’ awesome especially G-chan’s attack to Rikuo and the collasping of the Bridge. That’s the Nura I remember and draw me to that series-The inky style which was beautiful~ So thank you Studio Deen!

Secondly I.T.A.K.U *screams like a fangirl* and A.W.E.S.H.I.M.A *faints from blood-loss* are really awesome. Why that magic-Itaku’s seiyuu is spot-on and Aweshima-san’s seiyuu reminds me of my fave seiyuu Romi Paku (ok I have a craze over her since FMA). They are so perfect.

The pacing is really great and the humourous moments are fantastic especially the Laundry scene (Oh Rikuo-sama,you are such a spolied prince hurr-hurr). Cinematography is great as usual. And oh that omake is the end is great.

If I have something to complain about,maybe Rikuo-san is a little too pale (He is not a sparkly Vampire BTW) Again some animation mistakes as usual(you should not fail) which we could turn a blind eye because it was great.

Now a rundown

Good:The Ink moments just make my day-they are amazing!!! The seiyuus are again spot-on especially Itaku *faints* and great pacing guys

Bad:Maybe the animation boo-boos perhaps,tsk I am letting you off this time Studio Deen but please try to be consistent as possible.

Rating:5 Scares-Quite a nicely done episode with great seiyuus and ink animations despite some blunders. I really enjoyed that episode a lot~ Looking forward for more.

Need Moar Nura Episode 5

Towards Today

‘Sup minna~ Well how is this episode? As my good friend summarized this episode as ‘Nurarihyon to the rescue’ ,I supposed to get this review up yesterday night but I was so tired from my first day in film class (we watched silent films and it was swagger) that I did not do it despite really wanna do it. So here we go,grab your seats and enjoy this review.

We left off with Nurarihyon have this ‘knight in shining armor’ pose to save Youhime despite much opposition form the clan itself. While our dear Youhime was suffered by the devious hands of Lady Yodo. Basically it was a fairytale romance came to its end and perhaps a link to the human/youkai coexistence in the first place.

Now what I say,it really picked up the pace (especially the last battle) that I was in a ‘LOL whut’ when it finished. *So guys read your manga if you wanna know what it happens.* And I really wish they will add more scenes on Hidemoto cuz I am really starting to like him and perhaps extend it to three episodes so that way the arc could breeze out easily.

However they do make up that fast pace with great music (especially at the beginning-it was brilliant) and keeping most of the content of the manga. And may I remind you that they really keep up its gore level? So different from season 1.

Seiyuus are perfect to the tee especially Yousuke-san(Hidemoto) ,Hihi and don’t forget Yusa-san(Nurarihyon). May I say that Yusa-san is utterly perfect as him,he really wow me a lot with his brilliant acting-so much emotion he portrayed as him was so  amazing that I have nearly tear up on that episode. Whoever casted these guys is/are really darn good in choosing the right actors-it’s exactly to the fans’ expectations

I must say that I am say that the director did a brilliant job of keeping that arc to two episodes because of the crunch of 24 episodes. He must really know that manga from head to toe that it was perhaps refreshing for seasoned manga readers as might as well as new fans of that series.

Ok a rundown on my thoughts

Good: Great choice and acting of the seiyuus again especially Yusa-san,Brilliant music to set up the atmosphere of that episode and most manga readers would be happy that they kept most of the manga scenes. Great job of squeezing such an impossible feat of the Past Arc.

Bad:I think the pacing of the episode is pretty too fast especially the final confrontation between Lady Yodo and Nurarihyon  and perhaps the animation is a little on the wonky side.

My Rating: 4 scares-What a great way to facilitate a new arc (Toono Arc) by closing off the Past Arc well despite some pacing and animation problems. It won me over with its seiyuus and beautiful music. I am impressed that the director managed to squeeze that arc into 2 episodes. We could see that he’s one capable guy!

Now Bring it on Toono Arc (another favourite manga arc of mine) and may I add that the preview looks amazing!!!

Hi minna~ Again another new episode of Nurarihyon No Mago again. This time the manga’s favourite love story-Nurarihyon and Youhime <3. Thank God for speedy subs today. It helps me greatly and now onto that love story between them.

Spoliers ahead

For those who thought of skipping the anime cuz it’s horrendous and ‘blah blah’ You are totally missing out the interesting bit of the manga. Ok here is how the story goes-We left episode 3 with our Nura clan’s rise to power. There you thought that it just gonna be a big-a** fight and that’s all.  But no,there is a love story which is quite a big favourite to all manga readers (and myself too)-a bit shojo like but oh well. It helps you in the understanding of the Nura Clan’s fear-helping humans. Please read the manga! This arc is really good.

With anything else- Nurarihyon meets our dear princess Youhime who have healing powers. As the Shakespearean quote-“The course of True Love did not run smooth.” we have some obstacles with Lady Yodo being super suspicious (and kinda creep me out) ,constant murders of infants and don’t forget the rising numbers of youkais. It gonna be messy with the murder of her dad (I feel a Tangled deja vu here LOL) and the kidnapping of Youhime which left us in suspense.

Can’t I say I found Nurarihyon’s younger self hawt?  and I was screaming my head out. Yusa-san have overdid himself with that acting-suave yet a gentleman.

Thank you Studio DEEN for not screwing up that arc. Ok the animation is not that fantastic as there is some lighting issues. But otherwise..It was super perfect-the humorous moments are spot-on,the music is amazing and we could see that it was perhaps the departure of the ‘happy-go-lucky-fuzzy-brains.” season 1-Look at the gore here,not for the faint-hearted. And yes fangirls be really jealous,too many moments I could name which will spoil your viewing.  

Now for my thoughts

Good: Great pacing,music and acting. I never totally enjoyed another episode for a long time. It was so fun to see that the cast interact really well. The music was wonderful and it amped up the beauty of that moments and the pacing is just right with a good balance of humour and fighting scenes without making it like a Korean Drama. And oh! Great cliffhanger

Bad: Perhaps they slacked off the animation as it’s a little whacked up. Hey keep up the standard please ok?

Rating: 5 scares-Amidst the hiccup of the animation :A brillantly-written episode which is nicely done with it’s fantastic music and pacing. They did that arc with justice and I am quite glad that they did not cram the entire story for the sake of the timing. Extremely looking forward to Towards Today!!