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EP. REVIEW: Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers 2


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Chaos Wings



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 277
Location: Your guess is as good as mine?!
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:10 am Reply with quote
So glad this is back the skill involved in creating this and the attention to detail always leaves me astounded. I had a blast watching Season 1 back when it came out, so it's fair to say I have high hopes for this new series as well.

They're just puppets yet somehow they can bring them to life so vividly and the spectacles they create with them are just so good. I'm impressed with what I've seen in these opening episodes we've had some great action sequences so far and watching the 'Enigmatic Gale' do what he does best is always entertaining.

It'll be interesting to see how Lin handles Xiào Kuáng Juàn because they're both master manipulators. Each is playing the other and they both know it, so like two chess grand-masters it's gonna comes down to who plays the other first.

I'm pretty much a fanboy for this show and there is a small part of me that might actually prefer it to traditional anime.
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WatcherZer



Joined: 29 Dec 2016
Posts: 266
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:52 am Reply with quote
Good review but a couple of corrections, the reason Di Kong is so obsessed with having his patients prove their worthiness is that he is an analogue of a Daoist monk, literally exchanging his healthy lifeforce for their sick (basically he gives them white Yin and taking in their black Yang so that they recover their balance their correct yin-yang balance).


Secondly the guy vape wizard and Male Bayonetta were talking to was a mid ranking government official (with Vape wizard impersonating a high ranking itinerant (travelling) Imperial envoy). The ones Shang were trying to give the scroll to wernt government officials, it was the fortress monastery HQ of the guardian monks of the demon slaying swords, the same order as the temple the girl from the first season and her brother belonged to, that's why he had a letter of introduction from her and the head monk remembered meeting her as a child, and why he though the scroll would be safe with them.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:46 am Reply with quote
WatcherZer wrote:
Good review but a couple of corrections, the reason Di Kong is so obsessed with having his patients prove their worthiness is that he is an analogue of a Daoist monk, literally exchanging his healthy lifeforce for their sick (basically he gives them white Yin and taking in their black Yang so that they recover their balance their correct yin-yang balance)


This. He's potentially risking his own life, so it doesn't seem to be totally unreasonable to want to know whether or not the patient is "worthy". So i'm not really sure Di Kong will turn out to be a villain, he seems to be pretty neutral for now (and i absolutely love his look!).

Speaking of which. the design of the new puppets is completely gorgeous! I am so excited this show is back! and can't wait for more scheming and bloody battles! Very Happy
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#844391



Joined: 09 Sep 2015
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:11 am Reply with quote
glad I resisted the temptation to continue reading the story after the first series ended, now I can enjoy the new season without spoilers.
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klv
Subscriber



Joined: 08 Feb 2017
Posts: 84
Location: Ba Sing Se
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 12:41 pm Reply with quote
@Gabriella: Your enthusiasm for this show both now and in the past is invigorating. It is because of your reviews that I kept up with it every couple of weeks last time it was airing. I'll be reading all of your reviews for this, as it really helps me understand what's going on and makes it more fun. Thank you for all of your hard work!
-klv
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WatcherZer



Joined: 29 Dec 2016
Posts: 266
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 12:57 pm Reply with quote
One of the things I really love about this show is Vape Wizard is the same character alignment as I always roleplay and probably one of the few genuine chaotic good characters portrayed on screen (alongside James Bond and Batman).

For reference the Chaotic Good commandments:
1. You shall lie in the pursuit of goodness.
2. You shall not harm the innocent.
3. You shall not murder.
4. You shall help the needy.
5. You shall honor those who promote freedom and goodness.
6. You shall break the law in pursuit of goodness.
7. You shall not betray others.
8. You shall avenge the acts of evil-doers and enemies of freedom.
9. You shall not place duty above personal desire to do good.
10. You shall seek unlimited good for others and freedom in society.

And sins:
1. Failing to perform a random act of kindness when appropriate.
2. Failing to pursue a new form of pleasure.
3. Placing duty above personal desire.
4. Failing to assist allies or good beings in need.
5. Causing harm to an essentially good being.
6. Following a law when you feel that it unnecessarily restricts your freedom.
7. Turning down a chance to trick, cheat, or harm an evil being for personal gain.
8. Betraying an ally or friend for evil reason.
9. The murder of an innocent.
10. Aiding the servants of Order and Evil.

Tell me any that vape wizard doesn't follow? (Well he betrays a good character but arguably its because he hadn't decided he was good yet)
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 7:12 pm Reply with quote
Di Kong would fit right in with any season of JoJo.

Though it kind of seems inevitable that Di Kong and Shang should meet up to solve his problem, I was half expecting the solution would be to just cut his knee and force out the poisoned blood, since he can manipulate his blood so finely.

So happy this is back. Maybe this will get someone on the ball to make scale figures? I'm dying here. I think we've only gotten two Nendoroids, and neither is Shang. Baffling.
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Niello



Joined: 22 Dec 2013
Posts: 302
PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 12:39 am Reply with quote
I find myself disagreeing towards the end. The monk explicitly said that he's not an expert at removing poison, he's just good with controlling qi. The reason he asked first whether the old guy is worthy for him to save is because he can only make him better by transferring the poison unto himself and suffers the consequence. We also know for a fact that in truth the old man isn't really worth saving, and I'm guessing this will be commented on sooner or later. my guess is that Di Kong is going to be more of a grey kind of character, but I highly doubt he will be evil.

Another thing is that the fortress doesn't belong to Dong Li government but to the group that's already tasked with looking over the other SS+ swords in the Dong Li region.
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 2892
Location: California
PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:33 am Reply with quote
Haven't yet watched the third episode so I skipped part of the review, but I'm glad this series is back. Still find it awkward that everyone in the series is left-handed though, LoL.
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Gonbawa



Joined: 28 Jun 2016
Posts: 53
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:17 pm Reply with quote
Shang never stole the index. He explained in the end of 1st season that he collected the swords here and there to be sure they won't fall into fools hands. The stolen index is a lie invented by Xiao Kuang.

An other thing we see at the end of the Movie : Lin spread Shang heroic stories everywhere to be sure to attract Shang old ennemies like a moth in a flame. Shang wanted to live incognito, and that why he is so annoyed by Lin acting like a fool with a fool hat. Shang is candid but not stupid and perfectly understood why Lin did that.
Vape wizard is absolutely not a friend : every problem that occurs in season 2 is his work.

Last but not least : the death of the others warriors in the movie are not collateral damage : Lin wanted to mentally destroy the Screaming Phoenix AND physically destroy the Tournament itself just because it was too flashy and bragging for his taste. (that shows that Lin keeps to see the way of the sword as something profound and sacred, even when he says that he abandonned it for something more twisted and fun).
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 1:34 pm Reply with quote
Don't forget the true MVP of this episode!



So how long will it take for Di Kong to join Shang's harem? Any guesses?
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:54 pm Reply with quote
^ I'd say at least two, maybe three. We've still got Adventures in Dragon Killing to deal with first, and some other miscellaneous intrigues.

When Lin first remarked that the Wasteland didn't seem all that dangerous considering how many people had been passing through it lately, I thought that was pretty funny, not to mention lampshading what I'd been thinking myself. But when it just carried on with Shang having to keep sheepishly admitting that he might have had something to do with that, it went from merely funny to bloody brilliant. Laughing

crosswithyou wrote:
Still find it awkward that everyone in the series is left-handed though, LoL.

I can't believe I never noticed that before. Embarassed Maybe because I've always been so distracted by how super long everyone's left arms are.
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Doodleboy



Joined: 23 Dec 2013
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 8:14 pm Reply with quote
One of the things I realized with Lin in this episode is that if he just used his sword he could probably solve a good 80% of the series problems pretty quickly... He's just doesn't because it's not as fun.

Lin's archetype is a character Urobuchi returns to again and again, it's fun to see a "heroic" version of this. The only other one of these guys who was on the heroes' side would be DJ Sagara from Kamen Rider Gaim.
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Aaronrules380



Joined: 08 Oct 2012
Posts: 121
PostPosted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:01 pm Reply with quote
Doodleboy wrote:
One of the things I realized with Lin in this episode is that if he just used his sword he could probably solve a good 80% of the series problems pretty quickly... He's just doesn't because it's not as fun.

Lin's archetype is a character Urobuchi returns to again and again, it's fun to see a "heroic" version of this. The only other one of these guys who was on the heroes' side would be DJ Sagara from Kamen Rider Gaim.
I got the impression at the end of last season that Shang is probably stronger as a swordsman than Lin, but not actually by that much. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Lin had been capable of crossing the wasteland of spirits before Shang neutered it, and only didn't because he never had any need or desire to given his MO
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:52 pm Reply with quote
Sorry to remind you guys of when Miley Cyrus's and Mitchel Musso's brothers got together to form a crappy band, but am I the only one who thinks the chorus to the main Thunderbolt Fantasy theme ("the land is cloaked in deepest blue/the shadow of eagles across the moon") sounds a bit too much like the chorus to "Seventeen Forever" by Metro Station? It wouldn't be the first time Hiroyuki Sawano wrote an overly familiar-sounding chorus, by the way.

Last edited by Zhou-BR on Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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