June 14, 2009

Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood - 11

Filed under: Currently Watching:/Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



Well, so this episode shows the Rush Valley arc. It was mostly the same as in the original series, but there were some notable differences:
1) The comedy was better and funnier as usual
2) Winry stays in Rush Valley to learn more (Yay!)
3) A completely random birth scene.

I mean seriously, what was up with that birth scene? I’m not sure whether or not this was in the manga, but it felt like the creators were like “hmm, this boring, we need some more drama - How about a birth scene? Okay!” If it was in the manga, then this is one thing that the original series did better: if you’re going to show a birth scene, it’s indeed much more meaningful to show the birth of Hughes’ daughter, rather than the birth of the daughter of some urelated side-characters.

Anyway, this episode really showed that the creators have slowed down the pacing significantly. Most of this episode didn’t have that much to do with the plot, though thankfully it lacked the stupidity that made the fillers of the original series so obnoxious. This episode again had lots of comedy, and it was pretty much like the rest of the series: it usually is really funny and there were some hilarious moments, but Ed yells too much. His voice actor simply isn’t funny when he starts yelling. The scene I liked the most though was that scene from Paninya’s childhood. There was a strange kind of irony in the way how lightly the creators treated such a young child who lost her legs, being picked up by Dominic who would end up saving her life, and yet it felt somewhat natural.

The next episode should show the real introduction of Izumi, and I suspect that at that point the show is going to be different from the original series again, since I’m assuming that Wrath is going to be completely different from the original series.

Oh, and on a side-note: I’m glad that this show decided to recreate its own soundtrack, because it really sounds much better and less generic than the soundtrack of the original series (not that that was bad, of course, but it didn’t really stand out either).

Rating: * (Good)
Not the most eventful yet a very entertaining episode.

Cross Game - 11

Filed under: Currently Watching:/Cross Game



Well, and so ends the first match of this series. Looking back, I do have to say that I like this series better when it’s just slice of life and building up, but that in no way means that this was a disappointing episode; the slice of life from this show is just simply that good. What makes the matches of a typical Adachi-series is that for nine out of ten matches, it doesn’t matter whether the team wins or loses: life goes on. Whereas for most shows, there usually is some sort of fate of the world that depends on the lead characters or so.

Kou lost in quite an amusing way. He finally managed to get a strike-out from Azuma, and it seems that that was pretty much his motivation to keep pitching so well. So, obviously he becomes way too relaxed after that out and completely screws up with the batter after Azuma. And the two of the teams were on equal scores at that point.

But this episode really was about the third graders, who prety much only had this chance left to play some good baseball, and since there is no way that those guys can become professionals, it mught be one of the last times that they get to play in a real baseball match. And I must say that they closed it off pretty nicely.

Rating: * (Good)
It doesn’t stand out, but a nice conclusion to the match nonetheless.