Kimi ni Todoke, Episodes 10 and 11: Cooperation and Special?

I caught myself up on Kimi ni Todoke last night, but I didn't manage to get a post up about the episodes, so here they are! I'm not thrilled with all that's going on in Kimi ni Todoke right now, but there was still plenty to love about both of these episodes. Just when I think Sawako can not possibly get anymore adorable, she does. She's such a lovable character that I feel like I'll never be able to get all that frustrated with this anime.

The Kurumi plotline really holds no interest to me. It's a shame, because I really do like Aya Hirano. However, I do like to see the way Sawako responds to it, and there was still some good stuff for other characters as well. Kazehaya had a few nice moments, and Ryu always manages to be hilarious in whatever little screentime he has. I hope Kurumi leaves the scene soon so there's more time for all the show's other characters.

Even when I'm not that into the story, I can't help but love this anime. From the beautiful backgrounds to the wonderfully crafted characters, Kimi ni Todoke just has a way of sucking me in no matter what. I hope there are more episodes with a slice-of-life type feeling to look forward to soon.

Rating: 94/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith: Series Review

I should start this review off by saying that The Sacred Blacksmith isn't anything special. The story is tells is a pretty generic one, and most of what it does has been done plenty of times before. The characters are pretty stock, and for the most part, the story is predictable. There's filler, and there are quite a few plot threads left dangling. But, in spite of all that, I enjoyed this series.

When I first got into anime, I would watch just about anything I could get my hands on. This resulted in me seeing some great stuff, and seeing some stuff that felt like an animated Dungeons and Dragons game. The Sacred Blacksmith felt like an updated version of one of those animes. It evoked a lot of feelings of nostalgia in me. In many ways, this anime is like watching an old-school, lame but lovable RPG.

I don't think this is a series that will be remembered for long, and I wouldn't recommend it to many people. However, it does have its charms. If old RPGs give you warm fuzzies too, or if you're in the mood for something short and simple with some good fight scenes, you might want to give this series a go. The show does pick up around the third episode, and it has a few genuinely good moments. Maybe you'll like The Sacred Blacksmith in spite of itself too.

Rating: 84/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episodes 11 and 12: Truth and Blacksmith

I know I have a few shows I need to catch up on a little more than I do The Sacred Blacksmith, but I really wanted to go ahead and finish out the series. I almost dropped this series a bunch of times, and while it has plenty of flaws, I'm really pleased that I stuck with it. This felt in many ways like the sort of show I would've been really into when I first started watching anime- but I'll write more on that later.

The Sacred Blacksmith did get back to its video game feel a little bit with these episodes. In the last episode, they did one of the very things that I got annoyed with them for doing in the first episode all over again. I didn't think these two were as good as episodes 9 and 10 were, but I still felt that it was a satisfying ending, and I really enjoyed a lot of the character centric stuff. It was nice to see how far Cecily managed to come.

I'll write a lot more about this and the anime as a whole when I do my recap of the series tomorrow. I was so back and forth on this anime and I feel like I have a lot of thoughts to say about it. For now, I'll bid Sacred Blacksmith goodbye.

Rating: 88/100

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 11: A Weakling, the Labyrinth, and Moving the Queen

I apologize for my lack of updates in the last few days. This is a busy time of year, and there just aren't as many chances to sit down and watch some anime. However, I have the whole weekend ahead of me now, and I should hopefully be able to power through plenty of episodes so that I can get as caught up as possible. Having said that, onto episode 11 of The Book of Bantorra.

This episode continues to make Hamyuts Meseta more and more intriguing to me. The contrast between her and the way the villain in this episode was handled was really intriguing to me. I've got to say though, I will be incredibly disappointed if she doesn't get as fleshed out as most of the other characters in this anime by the time this series is over. I want to understand her someday!

There are a few things I'm frustrated with right now (what happened to Volken?), but overall this anime is getting pretty entertaining. I don't think I could handle many shows like this at once, but on its own, it's a pretty neat thing. A nice break from everything else that tends to be out there.

Rating: 89/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episodes 9 and 10: Vestige -Lisa- and Double Suicide -Tragedy-

After a nice long weekend, it's back to watching my anime! I am really happy I decided to get back into the groove of things with the last two episodes of The Sacred Blacksmith, because this was honestly some great stuff, better then I've come to expect from this show. Episode 10 in particular was easily the show's best episode to date.

The episodes connect into each other a bit, and I'm glad I watched them together, but all I really want to talk about is episode 10. My little theory about how the better Cecily is, the better the show is has never felt more true. She was amazingly capable in the episode, and I got really excited and involved in her fight. I never had that confidence that you often get watching anime that everything was going to turn out okay, and that makes any fight more compelling. The plotline was tragic but really well done, and they set up some great stuff for the show's ending. 

It's amazing to see how far The Sacred Blacksmith has come since the extremely generic first episode. It looks like they're going to go all out for the last two episodes, and I can't wait to see what is planned. It should be pretty epic stuff.

Rating: 90/100

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The Book of Bantorra, Episode 10: An Eccentric, a Mother, and the Black Ants' Nest

Onto The Book of Bantorra's excellently named 10th episode! This anime starts up a new story arc with this episode, but it remains as confounding as ever. I seriously think that this might be the most unpredictable anime of all time.

I didn't enjoy this episode quite as much as the last one, but I seriously doubt that'll be a problem. This is definitely the sort of anime that gets better as more pieces of the story come together. I wasn't crazy about the Mokkania but Bantorra always has plenty of curveballs to throw.

Watching this anime is...an experience. I have no idea what to expect from it. I feel like at this point, things could just devolve into a bunch of cliches and that would be shocking. All I can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

Rating: 87/100

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Kobato, Episode 9: .Memories of Summer

I can't believe I'm 9 episodes into Kobato already. Kobato's ninth episode gives Kobato a change in outfits as well as a change of seasons. It seems like time is moving along really quickly in the show considering, but I'm sure that'll be addressed.

I enjoyed this week's "healed heart" story. I especially liked that Kobato was more actively involved in fixing the problems this week instead of stumbling into it by accident as she often does. The story is something that I found really relatable as well, so it definitely tugged at my heartstrings.

I love this anime so much. There's really not much else to say about it. I can't wait to read the manga after Kobato finishes up.

Rating: 96/100

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