Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 40

Do these people realize what they've done and should I be more worried about pre-Imperial fashion?

The 40th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes takes Julian and the viewer on a journey through the history of humanity in space. Through primary and secondary sources of the timeline, Julian learns just a little bit about what has driven Yang over years of historical study. In addition, just a little more insight is given into the founding figures of the Empire and the Alliance and how each began to take a turn for the worse. An exposition filled journey awaits…

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 39

Call it what you will; fatherly-lecture, another case of lengthy exposition, or just talking with a beer in hand, it's all good.

The 39th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes focuses on the beginning of a journey for one Julian Minci. The episode serves largely to view how other character feel about Julian, but it also shows just how much faith Yang has in the boy he has lived with for the past 4 years.

The Worst Stuff I Have Ever Watched #4

This shot from episode 1 had me wondering why she either a) Decided to make her chest bounce twice in quick succession or b) Whether they have an independent suspension

Saishuu Shiken Kujira

Strengths

• For once in this series the animation and music direction are pretty much passable and I don’t really have any complaints
• I was able to complete this in under an hour via YouTube.
• It isn’t post apocalyptic…for the most part anyway

Weaknesses

• Watched this immediately after watching the Ani*Kuri NHK shorts/adverts which seemed to have a bit more continuity than this.
• The lack of unintentional comedy made this much harder to watch without slipping into a coma.
• The VA’s using pseudonym’s while working on this is never a good sign is it?

The process of choosing this once again came down to the misuse of the MAL Top Rated list tool with the qualification that I would choose the lowest one that did not have any sort of post-apocalyptic overtones. After eliminating about the bottom 25 or so I stumbled on this.

Saishuu Shiken Kujira is the story of Kuonji Mutsumi, the girls who happen to surround him almost immediately and the strange city they all live in (it’s always summer and there’s a whale floating in the sky). The girls are pretty much harem cliche and the format doesn’t exactly lend itself to character development or even any idea how the protagonist feels toward any of them.

The character designs themselves are fine and the art and animation are by far the best of any of these terrible series I have viewed so far. Using those as a baseline is obviously misleading, so mediocre would be a better way to describe it. The music is starts to get a little repetitive, but there isn’t enough time for it to get annoying.

This was probably the point where I really just wanted this to end

However, where this whole series fails is direction. I did watch the Ani*Kuri shorts immediately before I watched this. For those out there who do not know, they are basically 15 one-minute shorts from different directors advertising NHK. Narratively, those made more sense than Saishuu Shiken Kujira. The series seems to go from one unfunny character introduction to another before a couple beach episodes and concludes with a Saikano-esque ending without the depression seemingly coming from nowhere.

While it is possible to get away with seemingly aimless series direction intentionally in this format (Di Gi Charat comes immediately to mind), but this only works well with execution which is almost absent. The character introductions included an episode with Mutsumi’s younger sister, which ended up being more uncomfortable than it should have been. Then there was an episode in which the humor was based on Mutsumi looking up at a helpless girls panties as she hung from a pole. It doesn’t work spread out over 4 minutes. There’s an episode where the humor comes from faint possibility of cannibalism, and I could go on for longer than I watched the actual series.

The most disappointing thing out of all of this, however, is probably the fact that it was simply mediocre. The minimal enjoyment of watching something terrible just wasn’t present in this series so I was simply left with a forgettable series of shorts that have no lasting impact. While it is clearly the best of the 4 terrible series I’ve seen, it’s probably the one I’ve regretted most having actually watched.

Next Time (Whenever I complete another 9 series): I’ve already had the currently airing Arad Senki ~Slap Up Party~ nominated for the next terrible series. While I would prefer to stay away from more recent material (to give ratings time to settle), unless I get other suggestions it will have to watch that or this. Maybe recent stuff isn’t so bad.

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 38

Job Truniht. A man so politically skilled he could probably gain from the destruction of his country.

The 38th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes concludes the story of the abduction of the Kaiser and serves to set up the beginning of the next round of conflict between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance. With just one announcement, the moral roles of the two states may have been reversed. This immediately has predictable effects on morale. The other major theme in this episode relates to freedom within the supposedly most free nation.

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 37

I think this is a common reaction trying to deal with a 7 year old who thinks he rules over all.

The 37th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes focuses on the plot to kidnap the Kaiser Erwin-Josef II. With the Phezzan plot exposed, Reinhard focuses on trying to turn the situation in his favor. Reinhard also has to further deal with the realities of rule. Also, despite not being involved in this episode, things are looking bad for the Alliance.

Letting Yourself Be Defined By Numbers

That episode total is nearing a high total, perhaps I need to overthink this some more

Over the last few weeks, my lovely MAL account has allowed me to that I’ve been closing in on 10,000 episodes watched. This has also allowed me to think about a bunch of other related thoughts like “Could I have solved world hunger if I had focused those 162 days elsewhere?” (Probably not.) or “Is it worth trying to find something perfect to mark the occasion only to make a hash of it like number 9,001?”

It’s also made me realize that perhaps I’m caring a bit too much about something like 10,000. Hell, I didn’t do anything special until I discovered MAL and got near 9,000 episodes. It’s even made me realize the silliness of not giving out 10s (I really wish it was a 5 point scale, or I could resurrect my absurd 10,000 point scale). Since I’m going to go over this mark in the next couple of days (or 5 weeks at the latest), here’s what could potentially happen.

Option 1: Doing Nothing Different

Lately I have been catching up on shows alphabetically while maintaining some sort of rotation for Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and more recently Macross Frontier. With that in mind, I’ve projected that episode 10,000 would be the most recent episode of Haruhi. I could probably live with that since the opinions I’ve read have generally been positive, but could I go better?

Option 2: Finding the Perfect Episode

Dump trucks are the kings of the road.

I tried this with episode 9,001, which would have worked if I hadn’t discovered that the bunch of Pokemon dub episodes I watched about 10 years ago weren’t on my list. So it wasn’t the episode of Golgo 13 that I had originally planned, but instead it was probably a middle episode of Nekojiru Gekijou.

With this fear of messing up, I don’t really think of this as an option. Luck would probably say that episode of Princess Lover I described as garbage would have been 10,000.

Option 3: Punishing Myself Severely

I could always mark the occasion by watching my fourth entry in the worst anime I have ever watched series. It even looks like it isn’t post-apocalyptic, but dull school harem crap. Why am I looking forward to this now?

The Bigger Picture

As much fun as it is to think that 10,000 episodes and no 10 ratings means something it really doesn’t. I would be shocked if anyone really came to me for advice on what to watch anyway. I’d be even less surprised if they did and then did the opposite of what I would say. So most likely 10,000 is going to come and go and I should probably rate some stuff as some 10s

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 36

There is nothing suggestive about this at all. It's just what Annerose sees in her mind.

The 36th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes focuses on the Phezzani plot that has been alluded to in the last few episode. The episode also sees the reintroduction of Annerose as she meets with Hilde. Most importantly, though, is the exposure and the extent of Phezzan’s plot to Reinhard, and what, if any reaction he may have to it.

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 35

By the end I was thinking if Kircheis were still alive, there would be no war or poverty and I would be driving my backup Lamborghini to work.

The 35th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes focuses on largely on history, both personal and on a grand scale. As Yang expresses his love of the topic, characters on Phezzan, Odin and Heinessen have to deal with it in a much more involved way. Plus, the spectre of Kircheis looms large.

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 34

The key moment in the battle at Iserlohn. Is Schenkopp also going to drink all six of those cups of coffee as well?

The 34th episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes continues with the battle at Iserlohn. With Yang rapidly approaching the battlefield, more tactical variables are involved. Reinhard also gets involved in the strategy for the first time in a while, but is it too late?

Blogging Legend of the Galactic Heroes Episode 33

This about sums up the episode.

The 33rd installment of Legend of the Galactic Heroes was recently described to me as the Battle of the Death Stars. The description isn’t that far off and the action makes up about 90% of the episode. The rest does serve to expose the differences in how Yang’s and Reinhard’s subordinates view their missions.