Episode Review: Black Bullet Episode 10

This is something I probably won't do very often. However, due to the impact left from Black Bullet's episode 10, I just had to express what I felt.
BE AWARE! This article will contain SPOILERS of Black Bullet's latest (to date) episode.



I... I am speechless... What happened is this episode is... really something.
Let's go into chronological order.

After the higher-ups ordered the teams to wait until the signal, Rentaro and the group have no other choice than resting behind.

First, we see Rentaro and Kisara teaching these girls, who are the same as Enju and Tina. Everything is going fine, the atmosphere is relaxed and happy. After doing a small exercise, Rentaro asks the girls to write down their dreams, which is overall a heart-warming moment. We also get some comedy with Rentaro building a loli harem, as, excluding Enju and Tina, 5 girls want to marry him. I had a short WTF face, but it was done to have a relaxing, calm and happy-going atmosphere, so I have no complaints. Well, I felt the animation wasn't the greatest in that part, but never mind. These fun and happy here serve to contrast much darker plot contents later on.

Rentarou and his loli harem

The 2nd part of the episode focuses on Rentaro and Kisara going to inspect Monolith 32, the one getting destroyed. They start wondering why Aldebaran, the powerful class of Gastrea, isn't going other Monoliths. They start making a theory that maybe the problem is coming directly from Monolith 32, which is the reason it was the only targeted. I think that this theory came a bit out of nowhere. Aldebaran could be resting after using a lot of energy until it recharges. Besides that, we got some more romantic bonding between the 2 characters, Rentaro saying he will definitely protect Kisara, and that Enju, Tina and he won't go anywhere, leaving her behind. The scene wasn't unique, but it was still good, since there was some sort of development.

Rentarou and Kisara's development

After that, the next day, as Rentaro is going around the city (and the animation is getting better), he understands that chaos has already spread with the announce that the Monolith is falling. 30% of the population will go into a refuge, while the rest is worried, afraid, or being total a******; like these idiots picking up on the blind child from a previous episode. Rentaro comes to the rescue, drives the pricks away, and leaves telling her not to come again, or she would be treated like that again.

The blind child, protected by Rentarou

After Rentaro returns to the camp, and Kisara, Enju and Tina return from school, Tamaki (the blond guy), gives some files to Kisara. These files are the results of an investigation on the Monolith that Kisara demanded. Reading it, she gets extremely pissed and throws the filed into a nearby small woodfire. Rentaro picks it up before it burns out completely, and we learn that Kazumitsu Tendo was involved into building Monolith 32, who is probably a family member of Kisara Tendo. We then see Kisara having a very pissed off look.

  Kisara after reading the results in the files

The next day, when Rentarou and Enju arrives to the outer discrict where the girls are supposed to be, he finds policemen, the remains of an explosion and the tragic reality that all the girls have been killed. HOLY FUCKS!!! What the... HELLOOOOO?! About 20 girls of 11-12 years old were killed by a bomb. WoWoWoWoWo! And that bomb was obviously placed by someone who was against the girls living, and who also knew they were there! Has someone been stalking Rentaro for all this time? And OH MY GOD; Rentarou brings himself to look the under the sheets to see whatever remains of the corpses of his students... That breakdown of his character... And then Enju sees that; character breakdown #2. She was simply completely unable to handle the impact of the situation. Who could? Who could handle seeing the not-even-complete corspes of 20 young girls in front of you? The news have spread to the other members of the camp, and Kisara is trying to calm down Tina.
And here comes the question: "Who are we really protecting doing all this? Is there even justice right now?" <as he reads again the dreams the girls had written on their papers>. Tears in her eyes, Kisara tries to persuade Rentarou (and herself) that if they protect the city, then there may be a slight chance people will recognize that these Cursed children are not their enemies.
Considering the situation they are in, and how far they have been pushed to the brink, I guess that's all they can cling onto.
But, what we can get is that Kagetane was right in the early episodes. What he predicted, happens.

 What has Rentarou been fighting for all this time?

And then, that happens: Monolith 32 collapses one whole day earlier! Rentarou, full of surprise explains that the wind currents played an important role in how fast it collapsed. He hangs the phone, picks Enju and they both leave to join the others. Speaking of Enju, the look the has when Rentarou went to pick her up crushed my heart. It was sad...
Also something worth noticing. While Monolith 32 was collapsing, the blind girl was singing somewhere in the outer discrict. Could she have something to do with the fall of the monolith?

Enju's look after the shock of seeing her dead friends

Rentarou's breakdown

The blind child singing

Rentarou looking at one of the corpses

Enju uncapable of containing her emotions

Monolith 32 collapsing

That episode was definitely one of the best of Black Butler, and also the most impactful. The pacing is picking up again, and the show is fully getting back on track.

And finally, in the preview of Episode 11, the voice of Kagetane was heard and his mask was shown. The epic Kagetane Hiruko, the boss himself, appears once again. I knew he was still alive, and there is the confirmation!

Kagetane Hiruko is back!!!

Let's hope the final episodes will be as good (or even better?).

Feel free to comment, if you want to express your opinions. Thank you for reading.

Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/scorpy163

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Anime Review: True Tears Review

"True Tears" is a 13-episode romance drama anime that aired in the Winter season of 2008, produced by P.A. Works, mainly known for producing Angel Beats and Another. True Tears is a nice anime which takes its time to develop its characters within a well-built (for the most part) romantic story.
Let's get to it!

Story
"True Tears" follows Shinichiro Nakagami, a talented drawing-lover highschool boy living in a sort of important family of the city with his mother, father and childhood friend Hiromi Yuasa, whom he has known since elementary school. Hiromi has been living with Shinichiro for a year since her father's death, who has been a close friend to his parents. She is a popular girl at school, who's also kind, cheerful and athletic, but when at home, she has a sad look, doesn't talk much and acts a bit cold. Shinichiro, who has had a crush on her for a long time, knowing she is probably hiding something sad for herself, wants to help her, but is unable to do so because of her being unsocial and cold at home, and being always surrounded by her friends at school.
One day, at school, he meets Noe Isurugi, an eccentric and strange girl, around whom many not-so-nice rumors exist; she is taking care of one of two chicken that are in a small barnyard, saying that "it can fly", while since the second one cannot, isn't worth being taken care of. After Shinichiro teases her a bit, Noe "curses" him with misfortune. After this weird first encounter, they start interracting more and more with each other, until developping romantic feelings for each other.
Meanwhile, there is Miyokichi Nobuse, the best friend of Shinichiro, who is dating another childhood friend of the latter, Aiko Andou. And, even though they look happy together, Aiko has some lingering feelings for Shinichiro from before being with Miyokichi.
Basically, we follow Shinichiro building relationships with these three girls and with various other characters; and in the meantime, he tries to figure where his true feelings are.
Overall, the story is well-executed, with it being realistic and believable in many ways. The romance is done very well, with the feelings being admirably displayed, and the development going pretty smoothly. As for the drama, it was done well, too, making the scenes believable and realistic.
Another thing that I like is that, by the end of the anime, Shinichiro makes a clear decision on who he truly likes, and the execution of that part was brilliant. I really appreciated that he was able to address that in the anime, although a part of the ending made me very sad.

However, some of the drama felt a bit too much for the show, and some sections in the romance should have been focused more on. The romance between Shinichiro and Hiromi, as well as the one between him and Noe were executed mostly properly, but the one between him and Aiko was quite lacking, having only 2 important scenes with them together.
Also, a big disappointment for me, was the lack of backstories for certain characters and aspects of the show, like what exactly is his father doing or why so many people are expecting great things from Shinichiro and his family. Did his parents or grandparents do something important for the community before? Nothing is explained on that part.

But as far as the story goes, the rest is good. It is definitely not amazingly great, but it is pretty good.

Characters
Characters is a section in which "True Tears" both shines and has flaws. They are not super amazingly outstanding, but they are still very nice.
As I already mentioned, the story follows Shinichiro Nakagami, a highschool boy who is very talented at drawing, some of his pieces of work being about his crush, Hiromi. He is, overall, a normal boy who leads a normal life, with the difference he lives under the same roof as his childhood crush, who is however gloomy since she came into the house. Shinichiro is the typical kind guy, who is willing to help people and cares about others; not that it's a bad thing, because in this case, it doesn't feel that much generic.
Hiromi is a childhood friend of Shinichiro, for whom he has had a crush for a long time. She is beautiful, cheerful and kind when at school, but when she is in the house, she never smiles, talks little and acts a bit cold towards the others. Her romance with the protagonist was well-displayed and felt extremely realistic, although there were a few moments when she acted selfishly. But the selfish moments are what makes her relationship with him believable. I also liked the way they addressed her backstory and her reasons for being gloomy in the house, which made perfect sense.
Noe Isurugi is a very bizarre, eccentric and cheerful girl, who is slowly and steadily building a romantic relationship with Shinichiro. From the three girls, Noe was my favourite, by far. She had an amazing chemistry with the protagonist and their romance felt very genuine, yet less realistic than with Hiromi (in my eyes). She often compares people on whether "they can fly" or not, something she also does with two chicken in the small branyard of the school. She claims she cannot cry even if she wants to, and seeks to find the person who will make her able to cry again.
And then, there is Aiko Andou, who works in the small restaurant of her parents. She is another chilhood friend of Shinichiro who has had a crush on him for some time, but is currently dating his best friend Miyokichi, after the former introducing her to the latter who confessed to her. Her relationship with Miyokichi was very nice and I really enjoyed it. However, she still has lingering feelings for Shinichiro, which have an impact with her actual relationship; the way they addressed that, the feelings portayed to us, and the conclusion of the whole romance was just great.
Speaking of Miyokichi, he is a great character. Not just because of his kind, cheerful and teasing personality, but also because he is far from being a generic anime best friend. Most of them are either perverts who serve for comic relief, or smart kind guys. Miyokichi is neither, while still having funny scenes. And he actually is in a relationship!!! Holy fucks! This must be written in anime history! This is really the 1st time I've seen the best friend having a girlfriend AND having character & romance development. A lot of credit for that!
Other characters include Hiromi's friends, Noe's older brother, and Shinichiro's parents.(By the way, I hate his mother!!!). All play their important role in the story and help the characters evolve. Shinichiro's mother and Noe's brother even get plenty of development, something I did not expect at all.
Though, I do have a few problems with the characters:

• Aiko's romance with Shinichiro was very little focused on, and she didn't get much development herself either. They didn't even show a backstory with her either, which made me upset. Overall, while being a nice character, it felt like Aiko was a poor character, who was just pushed to the side. I would have also wanted more screentime between Aiko and Miyokichi, since their romance was very interesting.
• There was absolutely no real explanation of the relationship of Shinichiro's parents, either being between them, or with Hiromi's parents. Since the situation between the parents of the two teens was an important factor to the story, it would have been much better if it was more detailed.
• This is more of a personal feeling, which is towards Shinichiro's mother, Shiori, but I just hated the hell out of her. What she does and the way she does it made me very mad, even after the whole situation being properly explained. Though, her presence helped the story develop is many ways.

I could nitpick some slight details here and there, but overall, the characters are enjoyable, help in the story and have good development.

Sound

If there one thing "True Tears" exceeds at, it's the music. It was just so good. They were able to use different instruments in each of the soundtracks, either they were happy, depressing or light-hearted. Each soundtrack matched the scenes they were in perfectly, increasing the power of the feelings that were portrayed at these moment. My favourite soundtracks were the ones playing when there was a dramatic scene, and the ones used for the emotionnally powerful moments of the anime; they were so beautiful. I loved it. The opening theme "Reflectier" by Eufonius was also beautiful, combined with beautiful animation. The ending theme, "Sekai no Namida" by Aira Yuki, had a funny and light-hearted element to it, with all the chibified characters running together. The original voice acting was also good, without any "bad" or "hit-and-miss" character-actors pairing.

There is something very noticable about this anime. There are plenty of scenes, where few or no words are spoken, making the viewer feel and understand what is happening inside of the characters just from the animation, facial expressions and actions of the characters. I am not a fan of that aspect, but I have to admit it did work well in this anime.

Animation

Now, the animation, done by P.A. Works, is a department where "True Tears" also did a good job. While simplistic, it fits the mood of the show very well and made me feel at home and at peace. It didn't try to be outstanding, but remained as a simple, yet beautiful style. The facial expressions were detailed enough to get their emotions just from looking, and the background was filled enough not to make me feel it was "empty".

Also, something that I really appreciated was the fact that in most scenes, the background characters were moving around, and not just standing immobile in a single spot. This immediately added a lot of liveliness to the world of "True Tears", and I truly felt that "the world was moving". This anime made the background characters act like normal humans, unlike a shit ton of others.

Final Verdict
Story: 7.8
Characters: 8
Sound: 8.7
Animation: 7.9
Enjoyment: 7
Total: 7.88

"True Tears" is a very realistic, believable and enjoyable romance anime, with an overall balanced amount of drama and comedy to transfer the emotions of the characters to the viewer; has a good cast of characters; simplistic, yet beautiful animation; and a simply magnificent music score. It is not the best anime of its genre, but it is definitely worth a watch, especially for romance and drama fans.

This ends my 13th anime review. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment, if you want to express your opinions. Thank you for reading.

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