At this point in Orange, we’ve seen a number of times when events occur differently from those described in Naho’s letter. In this episode, Naho repeatedly flees from Kakeru, her feelings a mess of discouragement and fear after failing to follow the letter. She very nearly gave up completely, in which case nothing would have… Read More Orange Episode 4: The Future Is Changing
Episode 4 of Love Live! Sunshine!! focuses on two of the first-years, Hanamaru and Ruby. We had seen some of these two before, with Ruby clearly interested in school idols but not quite willing to join the club for some reason. These two had been early favorites of mine ever since the group was initially announced,… Read More Love Live! Sunshine!! Ep. 4: Listen to My Heart
As I mentioned in my previous post, sending letters to your past self to solve serious problems is going to include some drawbacks. Unlike the first episode, Naho paid close attention to the letter, and was starting to believe that she might be able to actually change the future, even if it meant changing herself.… Read More Orange Episode 3: Notes Come Too Late
There is a lot that happens in this episode of Love Live! Sunshine!!: we finally get a proper introduction to Mari, the group gets a name, and they hold their first performance. Regarding the group name, in the real world, before the anime was produced, real-life fans had the opportunity to submit potential group names and… Read More Love Live! Sunshine!! Ep. 3: Step Zero to One
The second episode of Orange adds a new layer to the conflict initially presented. Naho said that she had many regrets, and at first it appears this is because of what happens to Kakeru, but that isn’t exactly the case. The true problem is Naho herself. For most people, change is an unpleasant subject, and… Read More Orange Episode 2: Running Away
As a big fan of the Love Live! franchise, I have been following the development of Sunshine ever since it was announced and started last year. I have had plenty of exposure to the original group, μ’s, between the anime, their music, and my time with the School Idol Festival mobile game (which I admittedly do not play much… Read More Love Live! Sunshine!! Ep. 1: Even Though I’m Normal
Final episodes are important to me. They have to tie off significant loose ends, and provide some sort of meaningful conclusion to the story, or everything feels a little pointless. Kiznaiver had a fairly reasonable pace, almost too reasonable for a twelve episode anime, and so one of my fears was that the last episode would… Read More Kiznaiver Episode 12: Because We Don’t Understand
Only one episode remains. I often don’t pay too much attention to second-to-last episodes, as my attention is completely focused on the ending in sight, but I think they can be very important. They set the stage for the finale, and if they don’t contain just the right balance of information and build up, the… Read More Kiznaiver Episode 11: Imbecile and Empathy
After the chaos of the previous episode, I did expect this one to be quieter, though I wasn’t sure how. I was right, but it’s outward quietness masked a huge reveal that clarifies a lot of mysteries and character motivations. It also provided a pivotal transition from a story about the Kiznaivers passing missions to… Read More Kiznaiver Episode 10: The End of Summer
It has begun. The plot is advancing, the happy days are over, and everything is rapidly progressing downward. I’d almost go so far as to say that this episode hit the rock bottom of tragedy, but I won’t because that’s just begging for everything to get worse.