Kurogane's Anime Blog

It started off pretty well, above-average even but not exactly exceptional. Sadly though, things really started falling apart for me around the middle and the end.

Let’s just say the cheese factor really rose up around then, with episodes dedicated to… um, “character development” such as the one where Tina gets framed, where Galahad became, of all things, a farmer and finally had to kill his lover, and so on, while not really advancing the plot much. Hell, they even missed the oh-so-important 14-day deadline like it wasn’t really a big matter. That kinda ruined the show’s enjoyment for me, mostly due to the sheer corniness the show takes around then.

The final episode was just as bad as well. Prince Gernia is really a fucked-up guy, seriously, and I really gotta point out he managed to finish his cup of tea before dying via debris-crush. Also, the good guys managed to bring down a whole fortress by shooting a small-bore cannon (it was small enough to be lifted on one hand, at the least), which just made it plain unbelievable, since they were claiming it was neigh impenetrable just moments before. That’s just some awesome plot cannon there.

Didn’t really help that Starlight’s translations got really out of hand towards the later episodes, with tons of glaringly obvious translation errors, that seemed to have been made up along as they went. Lucky enough the language used wasn’t overtly technical, so I still understood it. Too bad the subs were hard ones, not soft ones :P.

Well… despite the cheese and corn of the later half of the show, it’s still pretty much watchable, if you really want to. Just be ready to brace for some really /facepalm inducing “WTF? LOL!” moments then. It’s an okay watch, if only for it’s short length and Mikako Takahashi. If only Rita kept her long hair…. (god I’m starting to sound like a long-hair fetisher orz)

Downloaded on a whim, mostly because someone on IRC I know who has a picky taste actually likes it. This show really didn’t catch much of the spotlight when it aired, eh.

So far, 5 episodes in, and I kinda like it. My first thought was, “Doesn’t this show seems somewhat similar to El Cazador?”. Even has the girl-with-gun part down. Thankfully though, while using a very archetypal plot with some archetypal characters, the show manages to avoid being too stereotypical and clichéd for me, and doesn’t seem to be a let down like El Cazador.

I kinda like Rita-hime, because while she is a bit naive towards the real world and sometimes gets rather sidetracked, she still manages to be able to kick some butt when she needs to and generally avoiding being a useless damsel-in-distress all the times. Kinda sucked for me when she had to cut her beautiful long hair, even though I understand she needed to do it. Maa~ I admit the short hair look is pretty okay And Mikako Takahashi’s voice helps a lot too. Always loved her voice, most especially when she plays characters of high social standing. Her voice has that graceful, soothing feeling to it, don’tcha think?

As for the other girl, Tina, she’s quite normal to me, nothing special actually. Kinda surprised me when I found out her seiyuu is Junko Takeuchi. Might be famous amongst certain circles, but first time hearing her voice for me, me thinks.

Cyrano the talking AI tank really caught me off-guard for a moment there, but thankfully they don’t seem to be intend on using him as a plot device much, given the ludicrous nature of having a talking, mini AI tank around. Doing nicely there as a retainer and luggage carrier. The fairy Sherry is also in the same position too.

Hope this series ends well for me.