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EP. REVIEW: The Asterisk War


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chito895



Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Posts: 512
Location: Lima, Peru
PostPosted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:11 pm Reply with quote
I missed this show, even if it's not the best of the season.

I actually liked 3rd episode battle, even more than the one from the first episode of this season. Although it's not been as flashy as Kirin vs Ayato, it really grabbed me. I really liked that it was Julis the one who saved Ayato this time. The twins, though, are really annoying. Those type of characters are part of my least favorite personalities.

Flora's voice is indeed annoying. I don't really understand the need to give her such a weird tone. Fortunately, her personality wasn't what I expected, i.e. an annoying little sister character. It helps that we know Julis was a very good person with the kids from her country, so her relationship with Flora feels a bit more natural and endearing.

Hopefully, we'll have more moments like the first part of the 3rd episode, because those are my favorite part of the show, especially when those intimate moments aren't ruined by genre clichés. There really is confidence between Julis, Ayato, and Saya, and I want more from that. It's better when there's trust and a friendship between them, not just a harem full of rivals and tropes.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:26 pm Reply with quote
Ep 15 wrote:
there is a sincerity to some of its character interactions that you just don't see in most other anime of this type.

Bravo for that. Good to see Theron back up on the horse for this one. I have had a feeling that this anime has been a bit overly dismissed over its failings and what it is not but to me the chemistry between Ayato and Julis is what it is all about. His relationship with the other girls is a bit more uneven and I can totally do without the syrupy Claudia altogether. Those after-credits monologues are totally cringeworthy.

Yet I also think the combat-anime side to this is not bad either, but big fans of the genre seem to think otherwise and I wonder why. The fights are moderately interesting and even intense at moments but admittedly nothing special. But the story is supposed to happen between those fights isn't it?

It does look like we are being set up for a final between Julis/Ayato and Saya/Kirin. That should be good.
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#844391



Joined: 09 Sep 2015
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:38 pm Reply with quote
What I find annoying about the twins fight is that the twins (horrible personalities aside) are actually some of the only fighters using intelligent tactics in the tournament. Everyone says they are bad because they only target their opponent's weaknesses but in reality that is exactly what every fighter should be doing in a serious fight.

And the twins could have easily won the fight thanks to their invisibility. The goal is the destroy the opponents badges, and the twins have already made multiple successful sneak attacks at close range. Its going to be another situation where the heroes win simply due to their opponents playing around instead of winning when they had the opportunity.

Whatever strategy team Ayato has the only reason its going to work is because their opponents were playing around too much. If they had been fighting seriously the match would have been over very quickly.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 10:11 am Reply with quote
#844391 wrote:
Whatever strategy team Ayato has the only reason its going to work is because their opponents were playing around too much. If they had been fighting seriously the match would have been over very quickly.

Um, that's Anime Fighting 101. And I think that you could probably extend that criticism to both American comic books and even a lot of Western action movies. So while that may be a valid criticism of this particular anime series, you could make that about hundreds (if not thousands) of other anime out there, and this series doesn't do it as egregiously as many of them do.

That being said, the twins seem less invested in purely winning (like Ayato and Julis are) and more about tormenting their opponents in the process and lording their own abilities over their foes. Just taking their opponents' badges isn't enough fun for their sadistic souls.
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Godaistudios



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2075
Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment)
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 4:33 am Reply with quote
Flora wouldn't be so bad if she would just shut up! Most annoying voice ever... maybe.
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Rockweaver



Joined: 04 Jun 2013
Posts: 58
Location: North Texas
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:47 am Reply with quote
i think the telling issue from E15 are in 2 parts.
part 1 Julis stating that she wanted to protect him. it was a honest admission that she cared for him.
part 2 the chains that bind turned from purple to green.

i speculate but his sister clearly had superior skills to him.
she also was able to use ?magic? for lack of a better term.

if he can force purple for 5 min how long can he work with green?
did he finally in her words understand something his sister said?
or did he just remember when she bound him that she wanted to protect him.
i am looking forward to E16 and the end of my questions
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:01 pm Reply with quote
Someone get the helium away from Flora's VA. Jeez. Shenyun (the more facially expressive and non stacked one) is a guy. I don't remember if they always referred to him as her. The official website lists him as the older brother, so I think that was a subbing mistake.

Here's the link if you'd like to check for yourselves
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:19 pm Reply with quote
Ep 15 review wrote:
likely that turd from Le Wolfe sent out one of his invisible flunkies to do it, but I'm not clear on what he hoped to accomplish by it.

Can there be any other answer other than he wants Julis/Ayato to take a dive on their semi-final or final match?
zrnzle500 wrote:
The official website lists him as the older brother, so I think that was a subbing mistake.

I had been assuming that the twins was a pair of girls. Not that I care that much but I was kind of enjoying the idea that Ayato put chivalry aside to deliver a wall-shattering haymaker to a girl who clearly deserved it.
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#844391



Joined: 09 Sep 2015
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:22 pm Reply with quote
ep 3,

so, was it their plan all along to extend his limit? because if it was then it relied entirely on their opponents playing around and not going after their badges, which isn't much of a plan. Hell if he was going to try and extend his limit it would have been useful to do that before they started the match, but I'm not going to spend too much time reading into that.

So is the final tournament match going to end up being the battle of Ayato's harem? waifu against waifu, heh
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:24 pm Reply with quote
HaruhiToy wrote:

zrnzle500 wrote:
The official website lists him as the older brother, so I think that was a subbing mistake.

I had been assuming that the twins was a pair of girls. Not that I care that much but I was kind of enjoying the idea that Ayato put chivalry aside to deliver a wall-shattering haymaker to a girl who clearly deserved it.


I don't think he would have changed his behavior if Shenyun was a woman. While he didn't do the same to Shenhua, Shenyun was definitely the more craven of the two, and had their roles been the opposite, I don't doubt Shenhua would have been making friends with the wall like Shenyun.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:14 pm Reply with quote
Episode 16 Review wrote:
He handily finishes off both of them, though the punch which tumbles one across the arena and knocks her out wasn't quite as satisfying as it could have been because the twins were so one-note and over-the-top in their hatefulness – in other words, disposable.


Someone already pointed this out, but the one that was punched into the wall is the brother. The subs did refer to him as a her during this episode, but that is just a case of bad subtitles.

#844391 wrote:
so, was it their plan all along to extend his limit? because if it was then it relied entirely on their opponents playing around and not going after their badges, which isn't much of a plan. Hell if he was going to try and extend his limit it would have been useful to do that before they started the match, but I'm not going to spend too much time reading into that.


No, that wasn't the plan. The plan was what we saw last episode to take one of them out with a weapon switch when he shouldn't have been able to move. The twins power comes from the synergy in their abilities so even with Ayato stuck in normal mode, they could have easily beat the other twin.

He had a realization about his seal after what Julis said last episode along with what his sister once said.

If he had that before, there would be no point in engaging in their strategy / mind games games. His newer seal break doesn't poor out prana which allows him to use that new technique, and obviously that new technique allowed him to completely brute force his way through just like how they won at the start of the tournament.

It isn't like they get to heal up between fights; you can see Julis's side is still injured. Even if Julis predicted the twins wouldn't go for the badges, it would be pretty dumb to intentionally pick a plan where they could suffer a big injury that would hurt them in the upcoming matches.

I can see how you'd be confused though. They seem to have opted out of what would have made for an awkward exposition dump mid fight but also made what Ayato was doing clearer.
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Eternal Dragon Of ChaOZ



Joined: 28 Sep 2015
Posts: 82
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 3:47 am Reply with quote
The twins got exactly what they deserved, that was a nice punch by the way.
I do hope that Kirin & Says win their match, I want to see the dream final happen at the end of the other battles.

My fantasy booking for it would be for Julis & Kirin to take each other out by destroying each others badge at the same time so Amagiri & Saya get to battle for the title.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 12:21 pm Reply with quote
Eternal Dragon Of ChaOZ wrote:
My fantasy booking for it would be for Julis & Kirin to take each other out by destroying each others badge at the same time so Amagiri & Saya get to battle for the title.


Them trying to play it that way doesn't make sense though. Remember Saya said early on to Julis that she couldn't have beaten Ayato because Julis is only at Saya's level. Julis also says that there is no way she could beat Kirin.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:39 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Although honestly, how strategically wise was it for Kirin to reveal that choice secret before the fight was over?

Yeah, if that doesn't come back to bite her in the ass before this is over... well, actually that's about what I'd expect from this series. :/
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:00 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Yeah, if that doesn't come back to bite her in the ass before this is over... well, actually that's about what I'd expect from this series. :/


I feel like that was explained more for our benefit. Would be kind of weird if the fight had her constantly bypassing his barrier by doing what doesn't seem to different from what anyone else tried.
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