Asatte no Hokou review

Rating: B

Some anime blogs would rate this series highly because it started good. Forgivable, but to me, Asatte no Hokou fell short of being an A rank classic because of its last few episodes. The premise was nice, and they actually came close to pulling it off. They already got the drama seeds sown by episode 9 but chose to blow it on 10, 11 and 12.

What is it? I mean the series should've focused on the three characters. I admit they are unevenly developed. Shoko and that guy had a past, but virtually no emphasis is given to their "patching up" phase. Okay, you might say this came slowly when Shoko grew close to Karada, but if they chose to end it without wasting an episode on that cheesy as hell arc with Tetsumasa probably things would turn out to be more "mature". The last two episodes made it a series for teens.

On the positive things, let's just think about the first 9 episodes or so. The story flowed quite well. I actually am surprised they made it work. Although, Karada, or whatever her name is was portrayed as too "small" that it was hard to picture her as a sixth-grader no matter how they repeat the line. The male lead sucks. He's brooding to the point that he lost all manliness... Hey dude, you a real man? He lets things happen instead of agressively acting upon them That little train chase does not count. His weakness made it happen anyway. Shouko ironically made things worth watching. Though I don't like smart-asses especially if they are in the form of little girls (which cannot back their words up anyway, that or cannot resist VIOLENT retaliation to their words), her unease as an adult kid made me chuckle a bit.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this series. Not that I don't like it, it's just clearly a B grade anime. Just watch it on TV.

Stay tuned.

Filler post.

To those who still believe that the colonial imposition of the Christian religion was a good thing (i.e. a civilizing force) that happened to the Filipino people. Tell me, to have one's prayers erased, one's gods replaced by a foreign deity embodying the values of the colonizer for the purpose of conquest.... is that a good thing?

Were we savages because we did not adhere to the morality of the Westerner, whose history wouldn't have been even remotely significant if it weren't because of the Asian? Did we not have our own morals, our own parables, our own code of honor that we abided by? I highly doubt we did not. Or rather, are they savages because they used religion to justify their cultural genocide?

CANAAN - 06-07

CANAAN - 06

CANAAN - 07

Impression:

Episode 6

Holy crap Liang Qi sure is one amazing psycho. I liked her get some, get some scene in this episode and I've got to admit that Tanaka Rie is an amazing seiyuu. Also there were some flashbacks and a loli Liang Qi is really adorable. Also Liang Qi's Mii is really cute by the way. I admire her in those things but her character is quite irritating mainly because of her infatuation with Alphard and her hatred towards Canaan.

Even though Canaan spent the whole episode running, this episode is still exciting. Alphard 's plan is set in motion in this episode by infecting the world leaders with the Ua virus. Maria's been captured (again) and got beaten up by Liang Qi. And when I thought that Maria's character had grown I was disappointed in this episode because all she did was shout Canaan!! 2x or don't come I'll be fine!!. Baka, of course you're not fine.

Wow, Hakko spoke in this episode and the reason she doesn't speak is because she appears to have powers that control sound waves (?). I'm not sure about that since we are not given additional clues on what her power might be.

Episode 7

That was a very awesome episode. It has the right mix of political drama, action, deceit and suspense. I spent the entire episode at the edge of my seat and I kept looking at the remaining time for the episode because I don't want it to end with a cliff hanger 'cause I'll have to wait for another week to watch the next episode. I thought this episode would be spent on saving Maria and seeing Canaan in action but wow I never thought that they'll make it a race-against-time type of episode. At the beginning of the episode, Canaan did the matrix and dodge the bullets like Neo but what impressed me was when she was trying to manipulate the GPS system of the missile. Well, the episode ended in a cliff hanger but I was satisfied since they didn't decide to cut with the one where we don't know if the missile has hit the building or not. I want to watch the next episode because I don't know what will happen to Canaan, will she lose her power and had to battle Liang Qi or will she still get her powers back?

Waaaaa!! Next episode please!!

until then...

~ja