April 20, 2009

Shangri-La - 03

Filed under: Finished Series:/Shangri-La



Short Synopsis: Kuniko sneaks into Atlas.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
A solid episode for Shangri-La, and I must say that I’m still intrigued by this show. It may not be the best thing out of all the currently airing shows, but there is potential if the creators manage to push the right buttons. So far, they’ve already done a pretty good job in this, despite the predictability of some points. I mean, in this episode for example we learn that Kuniko’s mother is in Atlas as well…

Gee, I wonder where she could be… [/sarcasm]

What I liked about this episode was the extra bit of depth it gave to the setting. It was a nice touch for that woman of the last episode that yelled at Kuniko to make another appearance in this episode. Atlas was like expected nothing like ‘the promised land’, but looks more like something akin to an anthill.

Right now, Atlas really looks like your average totalitarian empire who oppresses all outsiders, but we’re only three episodes in. I’m interested to see whether the creators can give it a unique touch. Right now the creators seem to be moving in the direction of the huge contrasts between rich and poor, and while this is forming a good base there still seems to be something missing. It also poses an interesting array of questions, though: the Metal-Age are indeed a double-edged sword, but their actions do provide security for the sick and elder who have trouble taking care of themselves. That also begs the question: how are these people coming by in cities that don’t have the Metal-Age?

I also liked the development from Kuniko. This episode establishes her as flawed, rather than the perfect army-commander that the first two episode made her look like. Her big flaw is that she easily gets distracted, even though she probably doesn’t mean any harm. Because she’s lived in the comfort of the detention centre in which she was surrounded by certainty, returning to the uncertain world outside of Atlas has turned her a little insecure.

Guin Saga - 03

Filed under: Finished Series:/Guin Saga



Short Synopsis: Guin, Linda and Remus try to escape from the count’s castle.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
In this episode, Guin Saga showed some of its weaknesses, but I’m still a big fan of the show. Sure, it was a bit strange that the count would allow the black-haired guy (I believe his name was Istvan) to keep his sword and whip while in jail, and it was quite convenient for the ape-men to attack the count as well in order to create the diversion that everyone needed to escape, but nothing really got in the way of the really important stuff in this episode. This episode still was as epic as it should be.

And this episode did a nice job of giving a few glimpses on how the rest of the world of Guin Saga looks like. It turns out that Guin isn’t the only were-beast around as this episode shows that the count is some sort of demon, and it introduces a bunch of ape-men who are after revenge because the count killed one of their comrades. Meanwhile, Linda meets another ape-girl from a different tribe and adds her to the main cast of the show. It looks like there are many different countries, counties and all sorts of political fractions, races and parties. As expected from a show with a source material of over 100 volumes. It’s shows like this in which just about everything is big. Well, apart from some of the characters, of course.

I’m also surprised at how I’m not annoyed at all by the antics of Remus. Around the net, the biggest criticism against this show seems to be the annoyingness of the two lead characters, but I find them strangely enjoyable as two small kids dumped into an incredibly big world, totally out of their comfort zone. Sure, it’s not exactly original, but in this show, it works.