Blatch

I didn't see any ads for either, though I would've only expected the former.

All right. Seems like people finally aren't glued to the news anymore, and it's led to modest gains for the block. Though I'd say it also helped that there weren't any March Madness games that went past midnight, while there was one on Sunday night. I saw the end of TCU vs. Arizona, and it was hype.

My hope is that this somehow causes One Piece's production to shift to a seasonal model.

Well, now you're about to watch Riko bleed in lots of places. 😬

Okay, people have done enough teasing, so I'll go with my original intro. Surgeon general's warning: This episode is... a lot, even compared to everything that's come before. It's probably not for people of a nervous disposition. In other words, this is your last chance to get off. From here on own, this show shoots up to 15% DBV (danger by volume), and it's only going to keep increasing as this show skids into its home stretch. [at least we finally get new, more fitting bumps]

In the end, Ryo didn't have to beg much. He even got a new place to stay for his troubles. And that street performer guy seems pretty cool; I hope we see him again. Man, this show's got a big cast, even if you only count everyone introduced since the Hong Kong arc started.

One in a thousand? That's less than I would expect... but on the plus side, at least Ryo knows that guy is legit.

LOL, nice panning shot with CG people in the background.

So I've been wondering exactly how to play up this current episode, but I don't want to be too spoilery about it. I guess you could say certain habits from the old days of this board (and even previous ones) don't die hard. So I guess I'll just say that things are gonna get particularly interesting as Reg and Riko airdrop into the fourth layer, the Goblets of Giants. If anything, Masquerade will be hyped.

Now that I think about it, Al said he wanted more horror anime on the block a long time ago, though that probably had more to do with his love for Hellsing Ultimate. So now we have this new spoopy show likely rolling into the long-awaited Uzumaki adaptation. And then we've got the currently-airing Made in Abyss, which is arguably a survival horror show.

I figured that if there'd be a new FLCL sequel, it'd be from the original creators and attempt to show the people who made Progressive and Alternative how its done. But this... well, if DeMarco keeps this up, I don't think Toonami is going to survive to its 30th anniversary. 😛 I mean, maybe it could work better now that these new creative teams are free from the baggage that plagued the previous sequels, since now there's no need to ape the style of the original or subvert it in a significant way. On the other hand, I think Alternative would've worked better as a completely original project. At least the other new series they're making looks interesting.

And not only that, the two sets have different music. For what it's worth, I prefer the second one, which has less obnoxious music plus the clips of Reg getting elecrocuted and Riko throwing a fit. Pretty cute... but they clash with the bumps badly, and it's going to get worse starting this weekend. I would hope for new bumps starting with The Return, but... I don't know. I don't think they'd go all out for a TIE that only lasts two weeks, when most of the previous ones lasted four. They'll probably keep things the same, and I'll start to wonder why I don't just mute the bumps already.

On the plus side, college basketball took the top four spots, sports in general almost swept the top 10, and even a second-tier NASCAR race didn't do that badly. I, for one, welcome our new bracket overlords. [i picked arizona to win it all]

Part of me wishes they could stay on each layer for longer, but then again, I think this show's pacing is just exactly perfect. On the other hand, this series is getting a video game! It's an RPG that's supposed to come out later this year. There's some more info on it here, but be careful if you're spoilerphobic because it has a key visual for the second season, on top of a tease for the current one. One extra aside: I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone talk about madokajacks in the context of Madoka Magica on Toonami. Yeah, it's a blatant reference, but that joke would've killed in the block's glory days (2014-16).

That hallucination scene was great. Equal parts fucked up and uplifting, mostly since it shows how much Reg means to Riko.

That wrecked ship embedded into the wall is the Abyss is so cool, and yet the show treats it like a throwaway scene. Oh, and to add to that, a tension-filled chase with the splitjaw. Reg's out cold, but I think Riko will manage.

And we open on Marulk's scene. What a good kid. On to the third layer, where it turns out there are lots of holes. Meanwhile, more exposition courtesy of the kids on the surface. I don't mind these scenes, of only because they give the neglected characters (and their VAs) something to do.

Okay, so that was... yeah. A fittingly quixotic end for a series no one expected a sequel to. I did think the idea of killing Jaaku in the past with a faster-than-light arrow was pretty cool, though. On top of that, Sentai did the subs for this too? They're really taking over the block, as I think they should. [think we can get hamefura on toonami?]

And now, a few more observations: I figured Joy looking like Nanami would be the obvious joke, but I was waiting to see if she was really voiced by Luci Christian to lock it down. Sure enough, she is. On the other hand, the young orphan boy not being voiced by Greg Ayres threw me off. The traditional Chinese lady shows up again and gets two words of dialogue. Nice. At least she didn't repeat that stupid poem again. Interesting how Ryo is now putting his fingers up to the bandage on his face. The first time, I thought he was going to take it off as an act of symbolism to mark reaching Hong Kong, but then he keeps gesturing to it. Maybe he's always done this and I never noticed? Nice action, which is to be expected. Turns out the best kind of pacifism is the one where you make your enemies beat each other. And the lady who runs the temple turns out to be wearing a China dress. Ooh la la. My preferences are traditional Japanese clothes, but I get the appeal of the cheongsam. Heck, the current Deresute gacha has a character wearing one, complete with double bun accessories. This show continues to be surprisingly delightful, even if it now feels odd to see the Crunchyroll logo on anything given that they're being dragged through the mud for wanting to pay translators less. At least Sentai's the one working on this show. Next week, the fighting continues.

Ah, Hong Kong. A place I've heard a lot about, but maybe not for good reasons. The show has done a good job as portraying it as a smoggy metropolis filled with unknown assailants, with the occasional scenic getaway. The temple Ryo went to is quite beautiful, and I can almost smell the incense. Too bad he's stuck trying to knock the leaves off this tree, in what I figure was a lengthy quest in the video game. As a side note, that was quite a while before the break, which threw me off in starting this post.

Our trip through the depths continues, as Reg and Riko find themselves at the lip of the Abyss's third layer, where a big vertical drop awaits them. How can they even get down? Find out at 1:30A on Toonami, just before we jump ahead an hour due to Daylight Saving Time. As a bonus, I'm going to try and pop into this forum (not just this thread, but Shenmue and maybe Cosmo Samurai too) and discuss the shows live.

I have seen the entire season, and I agree with your seeming reaction in that things get pretty bleak. On the other hand, when I tried rewatching it with the dub, I chickened out after the tenth episode. Ain't gonna happen this time.

That sequence near the end of this episode with Ozen explaining some of the Abyss's finer points is so good. It blows my mind to think that there's something tangible down in the seventh layer, when the sixth is the point of no return and even the fifth seems like a place with little info. I really want to keep watching this show after the Toonami run ends, though while the continuation movie will be fair game, I don't think the second season's coming out until the summer. And even then, it probably won't be dubbed for a while. It's been such a treat to watch this show, which Sentai did a really good job on, on American TV. 😇

I was expecting the review to go in-depth about Ozen bullying the kids, since that's my major sticking point with this episode. I don't know how else they could've set up the plot point of her being, well, irredeemable, but it was difficult to watch, especially since it comes from the same angle as some of the show's other taboo topics, like Riko being strung up naked. As for the rest of it, I didn't mind this episode's pacing, and while it did get a little sketchy at some points, I find it more tolerable than other shows given the simplistic designs of the main characters. Compare the most recent episode of My Dress-Up Darling, which had its characters in chibi mode for a few scenes, on top of other telltale signs of a budget running low like flashbacks and slow panning shots.