#5.7.26

Extremely unique setting within the medium of anime + extremely distinctive and appealing visual style + Naoko Yamada project huh? Yeah I'm entirely on board.

on god what if the little mermaid was actually good

The more I think about it the more I realised I haven't liked an entire episode of this since like, the first or second one honestly. There's enough little things I'm liking to have kept me going but overall the show just hasn't been all that interesting to me. I am strongly considering dropping it, especially with the new season having started and this airing on a busy Saturday where I prefer every new show that's started. But I'm gonna hold out just a little bit longer, and see if those little things that have kept me going can win out in the end. Certainly fake Asa being dragged down to the modern world should be an interesting plot beat, no?

I like the Rie Kugimiya girl. Also the rest of the show too! This was awesome. I like how it looks a lot and the particular comedic timing and gags in general were really funny. The cast are fun and I'm eager to watch more. What a good season this has already been for me.

Anyway. I never really spoke about it on here I'm realising, but I was actually pretty worried about this show. Every new key visual relegated Nanoha and friends further and further off to the side, and I wouldn't say any of the PVs really showed off the best stuff either. Truthfully I'm still not sure about some of the character designs whom have yet to appear in the show proper as well. But you know what? This episode fucking ruled. Here's a new girl, here's why you should care about her, here's her being pushed to an emotional limit, here's the change created in her. It's a double length episode but it didn't drag at all and I would say the work put in really endeared me to Shiina as well as Setsuna before she, uh, lol. And the action was pretty fucking awesome, that's always a good thing to have in a Nanoha thing. Just a very effective episode at bringing me into its new world and letting me feel for and root for its characters. And then Nanoha shows up and I get to soyjak at the screen and stuff. Whether the show can keep up the quality of this first episode remains to be seen but it's nice to have tempered expectations be surpassed like this episode did. And of course, I get to listen to a new Mizuki Nana banger every single week. Thank god.

The Netflix video is awful. The Netflix subs are adequate at best. The show itself? Pretty good. Gorgeous, obviously, and the early 1900s hardcore steampunk aesthetic is really nice, the painterly backgrounds are stunning and they've got a lot of impressive little visual tricks to further pull you into the world. The scene where Inako dies and thinks she went to hell was very funny. I think it took a bit for the narrative to hook me but as the episode introduces a villain I was finding myself more endeared. We'll see how I feel as it continues.

My phone's been acting up for a minute so I bought a new one