No Guns Life Episode 9: A new job

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

Well, I guess this week’s episode gets right into the next story. Presumably, the focus will be on Tetsurou as he tries to get Juuzou to accept him as an apprentice of sorts. It looked like the episode was attempting to show how evil Beruehren is as well. It was kind of a weird episode for me overall, since it seemed like it was trying to start something up, but there were multiple stories happening at the same time.

I like the idea of summarizing the previous episodes by telling the story from the antagonists’ point of view, but this Wurzel executive group seems unnecessarily cryptic. It’s like the series is going to great lengths to make them look extra evil. Anyway, it’s a strange way to handle the aftermath of the previous episode, but I give it props for messing with perspective.

This is starting to look like a drug company’s cover-up. Is that what the Extended are supposed to represent here?

Mary’s interactions with Juuzou in this episode are pretty entertaining. I’d like to see Juuzou start training Tetsurou somehow, so he no longer has to rely so much on Harmony.

To be honest, my first reaction to Mary’s story about her brother was that he was going to turn out to be Juuzou. It technically could still be the case, but I think it’s a lot less likely if they’re supposedly related.

Colt feels like a weird character to me. He seems like the kind of person who has fallen on hard time, so I guess I need to be sympathetic towards him. However, I can’t see him as being anyone more than the blabbermouth who reveals Tetsurou’s powers to the enemy.

When I saw the ending of the episode, I was wondering if I should conclude that Colt was secretly Saryshagan. However, it looks like the guy offering the job is covering his face up, so I guess Colt’s just placed himself in danger again. Does this mean Tetsurou got himself mixed up in something sketchy again?

No Guns Life Episode 8: Release full power

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

This week’s episode was a strange mix of high intensity from Juuzou’s transformation and a meandering monologue from Armed. I don’t know if it’s supposed to feel more realistic, but I get the sense that Armed is often dancing around the subject when he’s providing background that I want to hear. I might just be tired of him ranting about the greater good or whatever. There also seems to be some kind of growth for Olivier in this episode as well, but it might have needed some more setup.

The episode tells us a decent amount about Juuzou’s past as a Gun Slave unit. It’s not directly stated as far as I could tell, but it seems like his body was turned into a literal weapon during the war. It makes me wonder what happened to the rest, though. We’ve seen that Seven is a similar unit, but how rare are these survivors?

I suppose a reasonable explanation is that the rest of the units went mad, and only a few were able to retain their humanity. Seeing Juuzou go nuts in this episode was pretty cool. Since he’s a later unit, it makes sense that he would be able to overpower Armed. I suppose it’s meant to counter the earlier statement about Juuzou’s lack of strategy. When he goes completely automatic, the strategy aspect doesn’t seem to matter at all.

It was a nice moment having Juuzou regain consciousness when Olivier asks him to kill Armed. I do think it’s awkward that she finds out the truth only because Armed continuously narrates everything out loud. I understand that he’s a hero in the public eye, but he seriously needs to learn to shut up.

I guess I’m not sold on Olivier’s change of heart. I think it makes sense for Juuzou to push her to do the right thing, but I think it would have been more effective if she had linked it to her memory of her father. Nothing from the conversation at the beginning of the episode seems relevant to her choice. At best, I think you could argue that she chooses to go back to the plan she told her father, reaching a position of power and dealing with Armed through the proper government channels.

I think Armed was a decent antagonist, but I don’t have a problem with him being a puppet all along. I would have liked to have seen him reporting to government officials, but I guess it’s simpler if he’s a puppet for Beruehren. At the end of the day, the company controls everything, huh?

No Guns Life Episode 7: Conspiracy theories

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

It’s episodes like this one that make me wonder how many factions exist in this series. It seems like we’re getting to see a lot of different players with varying motives, which I think is cool. I think that many of the developments in this episode would make more sense if we had a better sense of what the Nightmare of Norse Scott was, I’m sure that will change soon. This week also does a good job of continuing to demonstrate how well Juuzou and Kronen work together.

There’s a minor conversation in this episode about Juuzou’s reliance on the cigarettes. I’m not sure if it’s just meant to show that the other characters only know so much about Juuzou’s past or if it’s something more. They seem to imply that Juuzou might be trying to hide something more. I wonder if he’s going to go berserk soon or something.

Now that I know that Gondry was being controlled, I wonder how much of the things he was saying were his own words. It’s mentioned later Gondry’s mind would affect whoever was controlling him, so his desire to be useful could legitimately be his own. Alternatively, it could be a representation of whoever was in control.

Listening to Armed narrate Juuzou’s fight was kind of awkward. I get that he’s somewhat showy, but I’m not sure I enjoyed the way the fight kept cutting back to him. Also, his extensions make it hard to tell whether they’re his thoughts or his spoken words.

It looks like someone else was able to replicate Tetsurou’s Harmony ability. That could make things interesting in the future. Based on how Gondry acted, I wonder if this version of Harmony is only capable of giving suggestions. Tetsurou seems to speak through his target.

After seeing this final scene and some of the brief bits in the preview, I feel like I’m supposed to conclude that Armed was the one who killed Olivier’s father. If Gondry was meant to be a scapegoat, it could mean that the Nightmare of Norse Scott was a larger incident that involved more Extended. That would explain why Armed believes that the truth would harm the development of extensions.

No Guns Life Episode 6: Stuck in the past

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

This week’s episode goes back to Juuzou doing his own investigations, and I quite like it. Things have gotten crazy with Tetsurou’s appearance, so I think it’s nice to see Juuzou do his actual job. The overall story isn’t anything new, but the episode does a great job of introducing Kronen and telling us more about the Extended.

The episode does a good job in the beginning with Olivier’s request. It gave the strong sense that Gondry is connected to the death of her father without being super obvious about it. In fact, this entire episode gives me the sense that something more must be going on. Gondry seems to reveal himself too easily, and Olivier seems to be identify his victims too easily. Is it really so straightforward?

As I mentioned before, the idea of the former soldier going after his former allies isn’t particularly new, but I do like the added story about the original Extended projects. I was expecting this to directly tie Juuzou into his past, but it looks like these soldiers only have a vague connection to him.

This is a small scene, but I think it’s great. The essential message here is that Kronen likes the “vintage” nature of his body too much to upgrade it with technology. That ties in with his choice of car, which is a nice touch. Other than that, I think Kronen and Juuzou has a funny relationship to watch.

Is the implication here supposed to be that Juuzou’s extensions are based off of this guy?

Once again, I do get the feeling that this story is progressing too smoothly. The child was pretty obviously suspicious, so part of me wonders if there’s more to Gondry’s intentions. Kronen makes a small comment about whether Gondry truly was in Tindalos at one point in this episode, which is part of why I’m feeling paranoid about the developments.

No Guns Life Episode 5: Introducing the law

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

It looks like this series is finally cooling down from its somewhat rapid-fire opening, so it’s fleshing out its world some more. This week’s episode largely focuses on the government infrastructure centered around managing Extended while establishing Juuzou as a reluctant cog in this process. I think that this information is nice to see, and I like that Juuzou is effectively treated like a more active criminal informant.

It’s interesting to see Tetsurou harboring lasting impressions from the previous arc. It’s in like with his character, and it gives him room to become more resolved, I suppose. It’s a reaction I would not have expected to be there, but it’s a good reminder.

I’m cool with the idea that Juuzou and Tetsurou are two sides of the same coin. They have similar motivations, but Tetsurou is still new to the world. It’s a good way to set Juuzou up as his future mentor within the series.

I really liked the fake tension in this scene. Juuzou understands the situation with EMS, and he knows he’s not in any immediate danger. However, Tetsurou is new to this and doesn’t know anything. So, the lack of communication between the two is creating the real tension in the scene, since Tetsurou has been shown to act impulsively on incomplete knowledge.

I do like the slight misdirection in this episode with the appearance of the Hug Bear. In reality, that prisoner is the one that is under control, but he enters the scene as though he’s the rogue element that Juuzou needs to handle. It gives Kronen a decent entrance as well, since it isn’t the guy that Juuzou is being tasked to find.

Part of me suspects that this guy is going to have a past with Juuzou.

No Guns Life Episode 4: Saving people

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

Maybe I’m being too dramatic, but this week’s episode felt questionable to me. I felt like I was okay with the development that it seemed to be going for, but many of the decisions didn’t sit well with me. To be fair, one of the larger complaints I have with the episode is with regards to Anne, and it could very easily be overturned in a subsequent episode. But I think the assessment still stands.

I got the sense that Anne and Ende were meant to exist to counter Tetsurou’s renewed purpose in life. They were okay with being used as tools as long as it furthered their personal objectives, while Tetsurou flatly rejects the idea of letting others use his power. However, I don’t think that message has enough time to get across, so the girls seem largely wasted.

I guess the episode never truly makes it clear that Anne is dead, but I think that it’s too sudden if she’s really gone. I honestly like the idea of punishing Tetsurou for insisting on his way, but I think this goes too far. Anne as a character has no real chance to develop, so her death seems too much like a device. Combined with Ende’s cheesy survival in the end, it’s just a hard pill to swallow.

In addition to that, I think that Tetsurou would have come off a lot better if he had relinquished control in the end rather than having it yanked away from him. I could be persuaded on this, though. It indicates that he has a long way to go, and it does technically align with Juuzou’s statement about Tetsurou being more selfish. But I think it’s hard to get a sense of what people are thinking when they say one thing and do another. That level of contradiction made the episode harder to follow.

Another example of that is Juuzou’s trigger. It’s cool to see it finally get used, but Juuzou immediately contradicts the scene by stating that he hasn’t accepted Tetsurou yet. In the same breath, he insists that only people he accepts can touch his trigger. I can’t tell if he’s just being overly standoffish or something else.

I did like seeing this scene about Tetsurou’s control over Juuzou. Anything that breaks the ambiguity in this episode feels welcome to me.

No Guns Life Episode 3: Protagonist change

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

I feel like this week’s episode took a sharp left turn, and I wonder where it’s going with it. I definitely didn’t expect Tetsurou to turn around and take over Juuzou when he refused to help without compensation. I guess we’ll be learning about Tetsurou first hand, rather than through a drawn-out explanation. Honestly, I’m still not sure what to make of this development, so I’ll wait until next week to see how it goes.

Cunningham really escalated his tactics. His diabolical scheme of buying all of the cigarettes from last week seems tame in comparison to tearing extensions away from kids. Still, I liked how the episode presents it as a potential case for Juuzou before he pieces it all together. I appreciate a villain that sends an indirect message.

Well, that kind of happened. I am a bit curious about it, though. We’ve already heard that Juuzou’s extensions are special, since he got them during the war. There’s a later scene where Tetsurou is shot with poisoned bullets, and he notes that he doesn’t have perfect control over Juuzou. It’s a scene that’s easy to brush off because the effect of the poison is a perfectly logical explanation for that feeling, but it makes me wonder how much control he actually has.

This scene has no business being as funny as it is. I can’t believe how much the series is steering into the jokes about Juuzou’s head, but I still think it’s amazing.

I thought this show would largely focus on taking on the Beruehren Corporation, but this week’s episode makes me wonder if it’s more focused on saving Tetsurou’s fellow experiment kids. Maybe Tetsurou is less brainwashed because he’s the CEO’s son or something? This scene made it seem like Anne and Ende just didn’t know any better, so they followed instructions.

No Guns Life Episode 2: The quest for Tanegashima

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

This series is surprisingly fun for how it looks. I can’t believe I just watched an episode in which the bad guy’s master plan was to buy up all of the cigarettes that the main character liked. That’s a special type of evil. As a result, this series seems more like a mix of serious and ridiculous, rather than just silly, and I think it benefits from that overall.

Watching Juuzou in action was cool. So far, he seems like a typical brawler with explosive fists you’d see in a video game, but it works given his appearance. I’m a bit surprised at how easy it was for him to save Takerou, though. It makes you wonder why it couldn’t have happened at the end of the previous episode.

This week’s episode also delves more into the anatomy behind the Extended with the introduction of Mary, the mechanic. The concept behind them isn’t too crazy (and might be arguably simplistic), so I don’t really have much of a comment there. Now, I just wonder how an Over-Extended is supposed to be different.

It looks like we’ll be joining Juuzou in a crusade against the entire Beruehren Corporation. Cunningham probably isn’t their best representative, but he certainly knows how to make an entrance (and an exit).

One thing that I think is interesting about the series is that it makes me question what people say on screen in a way that doesn’t feel overtly subversive. Juuzou claims that he doesn’t have a dependency on the Tanegashima cigarettes, but he acts like someone experiencing withdrawal. It makes you question how much of that was a bluff.

In addition to that, Tetsurou is introduced as the son of the CEO of Beruehren right as Juuzou is mentioning how much the corporation covered up the story. It makes you doubt that particular piece of information until it’s later confirmed.

No Guns Life First Impressions (1): Pull the trigger

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

Well, this is not a premise I would have ever seen coming, but I think the series overall seems to work so far. I feel like some of its gags are a bit overplayed, but the episode was pretty entertaining nonetheless. I like the noir-ish setting and the potentially sci-fi idea of the Extended (even if the name is ridiculous). I’m coming in blind, though, so I’m not sure what to expect from here.

The series takes place in a post-war civilization where people are allowed to enhance themselves, becoming the “Extended”. The main character, Juuzou Inui is a former soldier with a gun head who now lives as a Resolver, which is basically a detective for cases involving the Extended. We pick up with him as he takes on the case of an orphan named Tetsurou, who apparently has the ability to take control of Extended.

I think the first episode does a decent job of setting up its world. It explains the Extended and introduces Juuzou before jumping right into its main story. Maybe it’s just the oddness of the premise, but I didn’t feel particularly confused about what was going on.

Juuzou himself seems to have a reasonable head on his shoulders (had to be done). He’s effective as a detective, and he handles himself pretty well. Additionally, I like the idea behind Tetsurou. I assume he’ll eventually join Juuzou based on the opening, but he seems to be coming from an interesting background. I look forward to seeing how that ends up playing out.

The part that I found questionable in the episode was some of the humor. Don’t get me wrong. I liked a lot of Juuzou’s silly moments, like when he’s kissed at the beginning of the episode and such. However, I had a problem with the running joke that everyone freaks out when they see his head. In a world where people are randomly changing parts of themselves, I find it hard to believe that people would react so strongly to one thing in particular.

All in all, I think this could be a fun ride. It leans heavily towards the serious side when it comes to tone, but there is a lightheartedness to a few of the scenes. The characters seem promising so far, and I’m curious about where they will go.

Spring 2018 Grab Bag Week 6: Some of the extras

Click here to check this post out on my personal website.

Since we’re halfway through the season, I figured I should take the chance to do some quick impressions on some of the shows I haven’t been talking about as much in the season.

Dorei-ku

I’m kinda fed up with this show. Every episode seems to focus on a random new character before the main characters somehow show up on the scene as if to validate the character’s existence. I don’t know if there’s some source material that explains things better, but the setup as portrayed in the anime continues to make little sense. The SCM just appears with an app and built-in functionality, and the characters just seem to know how everything works.

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

This series hasn’t been terrible, but it doesn’t really appeal to me. When I’m watching something folklore-based, I’m looking for interesting stories that relate well with the underlying folk tales. This series seems to focus more on using the stories as a setting while pushing its own characters. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not really my thing.

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru

I fell off with this show a while back because it didn’t feel worth watching. The story ended up taking some interesting turns, but the main villain really doesn’t really appeal to me so far. He seems a little too full of himself to the point of being annoying.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

This show ended up being a lot more entertaining than I expected. It doesn’t have the overblown drama of the original, so it’s a lot easier to watch. Also, it seems to be genuinely interested in focusing on the game (it’s almost like watching a game of PUBG or something). The main character’s superpowers end up feeling a bit awkward, but it’s not a huge problem in my eyes.