review

Oh boy, this is an episode I’ve been looking forward to. The penultimate episode of Escaflowne is one of those kinds of episode that does its best to try and wrap up just about every lingering character arc. In a show like Escaflowne where its end is pretty darn definitive, this is both a necessary and proper venture. However, does it go a good job in that regard and we’re left satisfied in the end of it? Well, yes and no. I’ve never been really gaga about this episode, even if I’m aware of the momentous events occurring in it, and even after so many years since my last watch of it, it still remains.

I've really painted myself into a corner this year with Otaku Evolution, covering so many of my favorite anime (like this one), there's not a whole lot of the best I can review (or at least not a whole lot I can monetize reviews for). But nevertheless, it was great revisiting Macross Plus and confirming that not only does it completely hold up, but it's still one of the best mecha anime. But what else could it be with that pedigree? Shinichiro Watanabe, Keiko Nobumoto, Ichiro Itano, Yoko Kanno, and for the English dub, Bryan Cranston! Few other anime could satisfy my need for great anime to review for this year's Action Channel Month quite like this! It's so crazy good, you'll hear "Voices"!

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Stack those quarters up and grab a slice, because we're gonna get the controls greasy and play... er, I mean watch, a little ecchi comedy called Arcade Gamer Fubuki, about a girl whose panties give her the ability to GIT GUD. Japan, you're so forward-thinking, a girl gamer who doesn't mind showing off the goods. Empowered by her underwear, literally! Progress marches ever onward. Also, for some reason, she's friends with Excel from Excel Saga (or, at least a character played by her).

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This is one of the weaker episodes of Escaflowne for me. To be sure, it isn’t TERRIBLE, but after a rather exceptional cliffhanger (which in the original Bandai release bookended Volume 6), it’s underwhelming. Picking up right after her surrender, Murphy’s Law is revived due to Van’s intervention, and messes up Naria and Eriya’s luck, revealing the flaws of the fate alteration experiments. The events of the first few minutes are sortof anticlimactic, not just because of the aforementioned cliffhanger, but also after that Next Episode preview with only one line from Folken: “Why don’t you understand, Van!?”

Ugh. Do you know how many times I had to tweak "Adagio for Strings" so it wouldn't be flagged by YouTube? Three times. I guess that specific performance was licensed. Don't forget folks, that despite classical music being largely public domain, the people who actually perform it tend to have contracts and copyrights and such. I only needed a few seconds, though, FFS.

Anyway, enjoy my second look into the OVAs for The Heroic Legend of Arslan, based on the books by the dude who made Legend of the Galactic Heroes! Surely it is just as good, though, right? Riiiight? (No.)