Bofuri 2 Review

Overall rating 7.5 out of 10 - Better than good, but not quite Very Good.

I can recommend watching.

While it is somewhat worse than its immediate predecessor, Bofuri 2 still has the same good vibe that made its predecessor so nice.

Unlike many other shows that include even more Recent Strike Witches, Bofuri 2 manages to keep the same feel as it's predecessor.

Maple is still her usual humble, gentle and cheerful self. She still does crazy things like eating hydra and what not. She carries the show all the same as in the original.

On the negative side are somewhat repetitive battles with no real tactics and somewhat random outcomes. Lack of good ideas for new skills and abilities. Dubious design of some new enemies.

On the good side is the environment and buildings design of some new levels. It is really good. However crew spends too little time in new zones so you do not get enough of them.

Overall, I can still recommend it. There are just few good shows nowadays so watch this one.

How CC Got Her Immortality

When CC just got her geass, she was able to choose on whom she wanted to use it. However, as she kept using it, it went out of control and just started affect everyone around her. 

With so many suitors chasing after her, her life became quite a hassle and she had to hide from them all somewhere where they could not find her.

Nun was the only one on whom CC's geass did not worked as nun had Code of Immortality at that time. However at the end of that scene the nun passes her code of immortality to CC and takes her own life (kills herself).

Thus CC becomes the new immortal witch with Code of Immortality. In her new role she could give geass to other people like Lelouch or Mao, just like the nun gave one to her before that. 

Code of Immortality makes her both immortal, unkillable and unageing. In her case forever young, though you can instead stuck at VV's age if you get your code when you are something like 12, or forever old like Charles.

Though when she received Code of Immortality she was no longer able to use her geass. Its effects ceased and people who used to love her ended up hating her and tried to kill her in various ways. Because of Code of Immortality she survived it all though.

Code Geass: Nunnally in Wonderland Review

Overall Rating - 7.0 - Good and lightheaded experience.

I can recommend everyone as a comedic relief.

That is very simple and lightheaded experience that crosses Code Geass with Alice in Wonderland.

Despite rather simple premise and very basic execution. It is very fun and overall pleasant experience. 

Nunnally is basically Alice here and various Code Geass characters fill the roles of various Wonderland denizens. I would not spoil who is who in this one, however all of them seem fit their roles rather well.

Overall it is funny and creative story. Characters manage to both act very in character for themselves and be somewhat unpredictable at the same time. Even if you are familiar with Alice in Wonderland and other Lewis Carroll characters this show will still manage to surprise you. You will keep guessing when this or that character will appear and who will it be.

Overall, I can recommend it as a simple relaxed break of pace story.

Code Geass, Akito the Exiled Review

Overall Rating 6.2 - Flawed Experience that diverges rather far from the original.

Consider watching if curious enough to tolerate ever growing divergence from original.

That will be a review or the whole 5 movies/episodes of spin off series of the Code Geass, Akito the Exiled.

It begins somewhat in character to overall Code Geass and showcase what have happened elsewhere in the world while Lelouch was busy with his Black Rebellion.

This perspective on the life and war in the EU and Euro-Brittania is both interesting and creative. Authors of Akito did manage to integrate it properly with the main story, so it actually feels like near organic part of Code Geass universe at first. That organic integration part however gets worse and almost completely lost closer to the last movie.

In fact, they even find a clever way of inserting some of the main characters into the show, even though they only play a minor role.

Since Charles's geass can erase and alter memories, he indeed can make Lelouch think he is Julius Kingsley instead of himself. He acts partly in character for himself. 

That said Akito screenwriters clearly dislike him and torture him for no reason.

Knighmare Alexander that all the main characters are using is cleverly designed and overall makes a good fit into the Code Geass world. 

However, while first two episodes are still mostly faithful to the original, the third is somewhat transitional and the least two completely veer off into their own direction and tell their own, not always cohesive story.

The way Geass works for example is different from the original and it gets increasingly noticeable in the later episodes. 

In Hangyaku no Lelouch each geass user has a unique to them power, that is a reflection of their innermost wishes as well as unique to each of them limits on such powers.  

For example Mao's geass allows him to read other people's thoughts while they are in range and Lelouch's to force them to do anything he orderes them to, but just once. As for limitations Lelouch's geass only can only work on each of his targets once and he has to be able to look them directly into the eyes and not say through the display and cameras in their knightmares. In contrast Mao's geass does not have these limitations and affects everyone within half kilometer radius from him. 

Akito the Exiled geass users have neither concrete powers not concrete rules of usage. By episode 5 geass is just used as deus ex machina for scrip writers to pull whatever.

While early on Akito the Exiled showcased the life in EU and Euro Britannia, later story became about authors own values and philosophy of life they wish to sell us.

Overall story mostly revolves around Leila Malcal and everyone else acts as her support, the final episode is about main antagonist Shin Hyuga and pretty much the entire cast is used to stop him from destroying Pendragon and killing everyone.

This unlike the original, here authors want to make a dichotomy between death represented by Hyūga and Life represented by Leila and those who ended up on her side.

On more conceptual level, Hangyaku no Lelouch and Akito the Exiled have ultimately the opposite views on life and values. 

The original Hangyaku no Lelouch was about fighting for justice against the unjust system and the unjust world. It clashes this worldview with that of Suzaku but ultimately lets Lelouch's vision to prevail.

However it is also an ultimate tale of battle for one's inner personal happiness, even if the entire world oppose you. 

The main protagonist continually defies fate at every turn and twist of his life no matter what happens. It is a story about fight against fate. The story of Ubermensch if you want.

In contrast Akito the Exiled at first endorses monarchy, aristocracy and military dictatorship as 'stronger' systems. Then continues on to endorse basically pacifism, acceptance of fate and saving human lives above all else.

If in the Hangyaku no Lelouch Charles wanted to kill god and Lelouch later geassed god into obeying his vision for the future.

Then in Akito some mysterious girl just acts as a representative of some sort of 'higher power' and fixes the final outcomes of the plot. Not only it is a poor lazy writing, but also a values statement on existance of the said 'higher power', something like a god, the kind of god who is 'a bearded old man on a cloud or a winged goddess' to quote VV from Hangyaku no Lelouch who also said there is no such thing.

It is a story about surrender and acceptance of fate to save lives. And about miserable existence that follows.

There is also underlying message of guilt for being a human. Overall story about being the Nietzschean Last Man and living a medieval lifestlye in some wooden wagon on wheels, drawing water from river with buckets and such. No seriously. How could Code Geass devolve into that is a mystery even for me.

Overall it is a mixed and dubious experience so consider if it is right for you.

Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel Review

Overall Rating - 7.2 - Mixed Feelings between Very Good and Questionably Dubious

I would probably recommend watching.

First Movie

As a little into, a separate opinion for the first movie only:

Sakura is very good and very likable most of the time. Somewhat confusing occasionally, but may be it is just that Shirou does not take full advantage of a girl like her.  I would totally exploit her obedience to the maximum.

I thought Heaven's Feel is about her and her route, but she is not getting enough screen time.

Saber and Rider are also likable in this route so far.

Rin actually helpful and useful, but she is still her usual unlikable tsundere snob.

Shinji Matou is a better Shinji, but he is no Gilgamesh. 

Story and battles are somewhat pointless compared to Fate/Zero

However, because of how submissive Sakura is, first movie alone possibly deserves 8.0 out of 10

The Three Movies Combined

Here is where it gets warped.

I could give the first movie a somewhat better score since Sakura is very nice submissive obedient doormat girl in this one.

This is probably the most warped anime I have seen. I only watched Heaven's Feel Movies, I have not seen UBW or Fate route episodes, but I did watch Fate/Zero

I dropped Eva but completed this one because I wanted to see what will happen to Sakura.

First about Sakura:

In the first movie she is very nice submissive girl.

In the next two it kind of gets crazier.

What bothers me is that she somehow simultaneously hates herself for being evil and impure, yet also hates the world for treating her cruelly.

Compare that to me and Lelouch who only blame the world and thinks we are right in all things.

She caused all the death, but that is other peoples fault for messing so much with her. 

Here I am not sure if Zouken or Kirei caused it all as both had reasons and will to do so. Perhaps both of them are to blame for this. They fought each other of course, but that does not mean both of them could not be bad guys simultaneously.

Kirei wanted to see people's misfortune.

Zouken wanted immortality.

Both messed with Sakura to get what they wanted. Good that both died in the end.

Then Shiro. All sort of bad things happen to him for no particular reason.

Also he is hard to relate as he is some sort of paragon of virtue and wants to save everyone for some reason. It is explained that he wants to be a hero like his dad wished for him, but that does not make it easier to relate to him.

That makes the whole movie also hard to relate.

Another dubious thing is that Rin and Illiya are all so eager to assist Shiro in the end. That makes me question their motivation for doing so? Or are girls just like that normally or something?

For example Fate/Zero is a proper battle royale where each side had their own wishes to be granted and wanted to win. They acted from this angle. Only one could win in the end but core premise is that that it is a competition between parties.

In contrast here it works completely different. As if one character is selected as main and everyone else then act as a support for them. In Heaven's Feel it is probably Sakura. While other characters have their emotions and sometimes do dubious things, in the end they all just go and sacrifice everything for Sakura.

I wonder if in other routes Saber and Rin get similar treatment. Though I am not too inclined to check UBW since Rin and Archer of F/SN do not particularly appeal to me.

Or is it that everything is wrapped around Shiro's wishes and it is only because he is so altruistic that his own fate ends up kind of fucked up?

The ending is too sad for Shiro. He saved Sakura but kind of died and get reincarnated as doll.

Does he gets that kind of shit because he is so altruistic or because scrip-writers are mean people?

The Shiro's fate kind of spoils my overall perception of this show.

Finally score breakdown:

First move is 8.0, may be 7.8 out of 10, there were things besides Sakura's submissiveness that spoil it somewhat.

Second something like 7.2 out of 10

Third only 6.5 out of 10

Redline Review

Overall rating 7.2 out of 10 - Good Overall

I can recommend watching.

This is actually an interesting title that more or less can manage to put stuff men and women like into a single show and make it somewhat work.

Here we have alpha male JP who is mogging supporting cast left and right, yet somehow manages to stay a completing enough protagonist in male eyes. May be because he does not do it too often and mogging is not all he does. Also he mostly mogs unlikable characters. 

JP's personality is more than just being an asshole. He has dreams and ambitions: his desire to win races and be a champion is relatable to male viewers or at least to me.

Sonoshee is likable enough in men's eyes to at least understand JP's infatuation with her. She has some of the moe-ness, cuteness and girliness to be likable, but she also has other traits.

And then there is racing with diverse cast of racers each with a unique car to highlight their character even further.

Racing itself is somewhat too over the top to take too seriously. They prioritize it looking cool over making sense. It is especially so in the second race on the Redline. Yellow line is somewhat more grounded in reality.

Plot too is rather crazy. It is little more than just an excuse to spice things up to the extreme. That said it is not completely pointless like in Guilty Crown and you can make at least some sense here.

However it is fun and enjoyable to watch. Nothing really grinds you in being pointless. It could have been better written, but it is written good enough.

That said it probably falls a lot further to the female tastes than to male ones. Sonoshee is not unlikeable but also not that great.

Overall, I can recommend it to everyone. It is a fun show to watch.

Extra: I also watched a 5-minute pilot episode for this show. It has some interesting scenes that were not used in the movie itself. Overall, an interesting experience I can also recommend. 

When Lelouch Decided on Zero Requiem

Shortly before he became Emperor. He had to make a deal with Suzaku on that one and make some concession to him. They begun with Suzaku wanting to avenge Euphy and kill him right there. Considering the situation it probably took Lelouch some really clever arguments and concession to convince Suzaku to make him Emperor instead.

That happen after he used geass on collective unconscious in the C-world and prevented Charles plan from working.

I think at that stage Suzaku would not accept any plan that will not involve Lelouch dying in the end, so Lelouch had to cheat him on that one: Let Suzaku kill him so that he will leave him alone. Actually survive because he took code from Charles and laugh at it all since he managed to fuck them all hell a lot better than Clive Palmer.

Before that moment his plan was for the UFN and Black Knights to win the war and become the world government. After he became Emperor, he was talking about Zero Requiem as of already settled plan that they are currently executing.

Differences between Elfen Lied and Tokyo Ghoul

There are subtle yet fundamental difference between two.

World views Lucy as a threat and wants to contain her. She views world as an enemy. She eventually gets attached to Kouta who was somewhat consistently nice to her.

Lucy does not have any self-doubt or self-acceptance like Tokyo Ghoul does.

Overall Elfen Lied characters are written as much more selfish and self-interest driven.

That makes them easier for me to understand.

Kaneki in contrast struggles with various psychological challenges since being a ghoul contradicts with his idea of being a human. 

Most other characters in Tokyo Ghoul also have a similar problem.

A lot of other characters hurt Kaneki for emotional reason and rather irrational hatred. It is hard to understand why for example Jason has some beef with him. Or even Nishio.

Overall Tokyo Ghoul seems runs on emotions I do not understand.

Lucy gets attached to people who are nice to her. Be that Kouta or that girl who was killed when Kurama and his agency captured her.

In contrast she keeps score and takes revenge against those who wronged her in some way. Like Kurama.

Sometimes she kills innocent if she has something to gain from it.

Overall, she judges people on individual merits and not as a collective. She does not generalize.

Others view her as a different species and view her mostly from that perspective. However, she actually does not divide the world into humans and dicloni.

She got attached to Kouta precisely because he was able to see and like her and an individual and not just look at her from humans vs diclonious perspective. 

That makes sense to me. For example, it is natural to value people who are nice to you. Since their effort benefit you and you will benefit more if they stay around. It makes sense to try and surround yourself with people who are nice to you.

In contrast Kaneki and Tokyo Ghoul overall not only see things from humans vs ghouls. Anteiku in particular tend to value all human lives irrespectively of each person individual merits. Because of that they have overriding guilt for being ghouls, refusal to accept their nature. These psychological contradictions affect their lives in peculiar way.

More on Zero Requiem

Nietzsche said that all actions are fundamentally governed by what is fundamentally self-interest.

There is several distinct ideas in your text. Overall it is all over the place.

First is Scarcity of Resources. Scarcity of Resources indeed produces a conflict. People fight over who will get the stuff. All wars and even sports competition is ultimately about it.

Actually, it is Scarcity of Resources principle that invalidates all of the anti-war ideas of Code Geass. 

Second, there are fates worse than death. You might want to kill yourself to avoid any of these.

That however does not apply to Zero Requiem.

Zero Requiem was needed because world just could not accept what happened. 

Lelouch conquered and united the world into a single political structure by force. However that was mostly against the will of the people he united.

Thus, people of the world were just unwilling to accept something like that. People hated Lelouch for denying them and their countries their independence.

Much like people of Area 11 resisted Britannian rule imposed on them by force. The rest of the world would likely to resist Lelouch's rule imposed on them by force. 

Not the kind of result Lelouch wanted to see.

Thus a some sort of solution to this problem was needed. So he came up with Zero Requiem. Zero went out of nowhere, killed oppressive dictatorial Emperor and liberated the world. It is partly symbolic but also substantial in some regard.

Now world is not only united into a single entity but also liberated from oppression. They did not liked tyrannical rule of Lelouch. Zero saved them from it. 

Now united humanity is free to build their new free future in the world Lelouch left for them.

The fact than Zero killed Lelouch will eliminate all opposition to the new order from liberal perspective.

Since democratic institutions of UFN can fully function after Zero Requiem, people have no more reasons to think that world is run by a tyrannical authority against their will.

Even if they hated Lelouch and his new order, now, that he is dead for the public, they have no further reasons to start an insurgency similar to Black Knights to remove him form power.

Nunnally and the UFN are not hate-able at all so no one will want to start an insurgency against them.

World that content with what happened rather than world that resist his rule is the kind of world Lelouch wanted to make and see. Zero Requiem was needed to achieve it. An ultimate 3D chess move to get people where he wanted them to be.

Here is was done both for him and for the world.

And to top it up, he survived. Though it is an information to which few are privy. 

They of course did not announce it that he survived.

Officially and legally both Lelouch and Suzaku are dead after Zero Requiem. However you have seen where Suzaku really was.