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EP. REVIEW: Back Arrow


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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:09 pm Reply with quote
This show continues to be competently entertaining, and it felt like a throwback to some of the anime originals made in the mid 2000s to a certain extent. I guess it's because it's a kind of adventure series that we don't really get too often nowadays. And the story is moving along at a steady pace so nothing feels too rushed with some non sequitur goofiness.

The one thing that worries me so far is when the heck are Elsha and Altee are going to be more active in the plot? Yeah, them and the villagers are being dragged around in an unknown place relying solely on Shu Bi's advice, but the girls have those mech powers and haven't really won their own battles. Heck, even the resident butt monkey Bit gets more to do mostly as Shu Bi's personal bait monkey.

Gina Szanboti wrote:


I like Prax too, so far. She's a welcome counter to Queen Weepy Faintingcouch.


After today's episode, spoiler[that goody-good princess became a lot more interesting with that literal split personality quirk.] Laughing
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 537
PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:14 pm Reply with quote
Quite a solid episode last week, with a mix of new developments on the Lutoh side and a couple of nice power-ups, plus it was also good to see the female cast of characters getting more attention after sitting on the sidelines for a decent amount of time.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:43 am Reply with quote
Ok, so we know that this series is based on a bilingual pun of baka yaro --> back arrow. But I'm wondering if the fact that it's actually a trilingual pun is accidental or intentional. In Mexican Spanish, the word "vaquero" (cowboy) is essentially pronounced "bakero" since "b" and "v" are both pronounced as "b" (enough the same to give rise to the "be grande" vs "be chica" clarification). And look at what Arrow and the rest of the Edger Village folk are wearing - movie-Western wear. Arrow himself wears actual cowboy chaps. If this wasn't intentional, it sure is one helluva coincidence. Very Happy
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 537
PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 5:56 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Ok, so we know that this series is based on a bilingual pun of baka yaro --> back arrow. But I'm wondering if the fact that it's actually a trilingual pun is accidental or intentional. In Mexican Spanish, the word "vaquero" (cowboy) is essentially pronounced "bakero" since "b" and "v" are both pronounced as "b" (enough the same to give rise to the "be grande" vs "be chica" clarification). And look at what Arrow and the rest of the Edger Village folk are wearing - movie-Western wear. Arrow himself wears actual cowboy chaps. If this wasn't intentional, it sure is one helluva coincidence. Very Happy


I'd say that's quite likely, since they do have the mild-yet-obvious cowboy thing going on.

I do wonder if we'll eventually get an in-universe explanation, but the pun is amusing.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:39 am Reply with quote
This is the hardest show to talk about and I'm not really sure why. It's a mishmash of different character types from different genres in I guess a Romance of the Three Kingdoms style plot. I can say I'm glad I don't have to root against Prax anymore... for now... but to be honest, I still don't see how the cast fits together.

There has to be someone for them to unite around and I can say it's not Back and, right now, it's not Shu. Prax is too much of a follower and Fine is a mess. Atlee lacks confidence and Elsha has to be too invested in her position as figurehead of the cruiser to be more than just a ... figurehead... of a leader.

I like to think that was planned but I can't tell with this show.

Rhodan could unite them but he'd have to settle his differences with Shu and see the Emperor for what he is...plus, for most Dragons like he is, it's either happened already or won't happen at all.

Ren Sin? Everyone respects her and she's not too invested in either leadership. And I may as well say it, it would come down to whether she loves Shu or Kai more. Shu abandoned her and all her love... or at least respect... turned into immediate animosity. But... one grand move against Kai could sway her.

Next episode, evil Fine returns and we get to see if the coalition of convenience can survive following someone worse than the Emperor.
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 537
PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2021 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
This is the hardest show to talk about and I'm not really sure why. It's a mishmash of different character types from different genres in I guess a Romance of the Three Kingdoms style plot. I can say I'm glad I don't have to root against Prax anymore... for now... but to be honest, I still don't see how the cast fits together.


I'm getting the feeling that after this extended battle finally concludes, the status quo will shift quite a bit as a result, so roughly the last 10 episodes or so should be able to put the current arrangements in context and perhaps establish entirely new ones in the process.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:23 am Reply with quote
So, as I understand it, Werner died because his Briheight took fatal hits. But since Back Arrow arrived before he died, couldn't he have like, "killed" the Briheight to free him uninjured, or at least not dead from Broken Warperitis? I dunno, that whole scene was odd, since BA wiped out the attacking squad of Briheights and it seemed like they disintegrated rather than leaving their pilots on the ground unharmed. Also Werner's Bind Warper never broke, he just sparkled to death.

Yeah, lol, the shoulders full of wine bottles was...different.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 9:36 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
So, as I understand it, Werner died because his Briheight took fatal hits. But since Back Arrow arrived before he died, couldn't he have like, "killed" the Briheight to free him uninjured, or at least not dead from Broken Warperitis?


I was wondering about that while I was watching it, if Back could have knocked him out of his armor before its affects caught up to him.

I had Werner dying about this point though, which is why I didn't bother to list him in "notable characters". In the episode itself, I was thinking "according to my notes, Fine should be reacting to it but she's... OK, there it is."... OK, I'm not actively shipping or anything, cough, but it's a world of attractive men and attractive women, give me a realistic response at some point and we cut to.... Elsha and Atlee in bed together, clearly just in nightgowns... OK, explains a lot. Also explains why the most chemistry I felt developing in the series is between Back and Prax.

So I'm wagering it will come up again, in Prax's case or for Atlee perhaps, and Back will suddenly remember to try it.

I don't know about Rudolph's new form but he is in the credits. Still, I have more questions about the harlequin Dissonanza, who is played by Kikuko Inoue. OK, someone to watch I guess?
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Philmister978



Joined: 12 Jun 2011
Posts: 301
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:33 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
I dunno, that whole scene was odd, since BA wiped out the attacking squad of Briheights and it seemed like they disintegrated rather than leaving their pilots on the ground unharmed.

I feel like that was either an oversight on the animators (this was an outsourced episode after all), or Back was offended by Dissonanza's facade involving his Briheight that he wasn't thinking straight and just made his first proper kills. Which could be justified, as the Lutoh citizens did want to kill him and the other villagers with Fine. After all, a couple of them did try to shoot Werner as he left to encounter Rudolph.
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egozi14



Joined: 26 Nov 2009
Posts: 100
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:37 pm Reply with quote
One of the reasons I'm not really take much from ANN's reviews,

That ep was a disaster and ruin most of what the series built so far yet it for almost 5 stars~

I could see the series end up like that tbh but hope it won't be the case, too bad.

Just felt like point out my frustration and why I'm not fan of the reviews here overall~
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 537
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 3:29 pm Reply with quote
egozi14 wrote:
One of the reasons I'm not really take much from ANN's reviews,

That ep was a disaster and ruin most of what the series built so far yet it for almost 5 stars~

I could see the series end up like that tbh but hope it won't be the case, too bad.

Just felt like point out my frustration and why I'm not fan of the reviews here overall~


I won't directly speak for the review itself, particularly because I've strongly disagreed with other ANN reviews in the past (though mostly when they're negative), but I liked the episode a lot.

The cast took some time off to recover from recent events and bring in certain plot threads into the foreground that had been left aside for a while. I think that's a sign of good writing, personally, and it allowed a few nice interactions such as those between Shu and Kai. Plus we got forward narrative movement.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 3:59 pm Reply with quote
egozi14 wrote:
That ep was a disaster and ruin most of what the series built so far

Could you be more specific? I'm not asking for an entire counter-review, but a couple of examples or more elaboration about exactly how it was disastrous or how it ruined most of what came before would be helpful to understand where you're coming from.

My only quibble with this episode was wondering how Tae could pilot a battleship alone. It's taken a genius plus other hands and minds, not to mention an occupied Briheight energy source, to get the Granedger to even move, let alone use its weaponry, and yet here Tae's mastered it single-handedly in an afternoon. They'd better have a more plausible explanation next week beyond Fatboy Slim gave him the manual.
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 537
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 6:03 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:

My only quibble with this episode was wondering how Tae could pilot a battleship alone. It's taken a genius plus other hands and minds, not to mention an occupied Briheight energy source, to get the Granedger to even move, let alone use its weaponry, and yet here Tae's mastered it single-handedly in an afternoon. They'd better have a more plausible explanation next week beyond Fatboy Slim gave him the manual.


We shall see, but I'd say Tae almost certainly has a Briheight of his own right now and I assume Rudolph's envoy assisted with the rest.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2021 6:36 pm Reply with quote
Well, as far as I can tell Tae was running the ship by himself. I'm starting to get the impression that Tae was running on Dreadnought Vista and Peath got the Dreadnought 7 edition, while the Granedger is just the beta version of DOS (Dreadnought Operating System) 3.0.
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 537
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 12:00 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Well, as far as I can tell Tae was running the ship by himself. I'm starting to get the impression that Tae was running on Dreadnought Vista and Peath got the Dreadnought 7 edition, while the Granedger is just the beta version of DOS (Dreadnought Operating System) 3.0.


I admit that turned out to be a somewhat mistaken assumption in retrospect, although they did at least provide us with a fitting conviction for Tae before he was taken out of the picture.
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