[sadht=il sole penetra le illusioni ~ Day Break Illusion]Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyou[/sadht][sadhl]il-sole-penetra-le-illusioni-Day-Break-Illusion[/sadhl][sadhdc][/sadhdc]
Magical girls using tarot cards while carrying unbearable guilt.
Neat ? I guess it could be underrated but the abundance of girls in this show is off putting. :I
Looks like we have a legitimate grimdark margical girl show this time. Not like last time. Yes I'm looking at you Madoka Magika...
was anyone else reminded or Higurashi? I mean with loli's and excessive violence I think it's hard not to draw a parallel between the 2 series. In fact the whole episode felt very studio-deen esque.
I knew this was going to be some kind of magical girl show that would try its hand at being dark and edgy, but I'd never thought it'd work this well (so far, at least). It was moody, the OST was splendid, the sound and visual effects during the dark sequences were spot-on, and it was great at foreboding that shit was going to hit the fan.
The art in general is as moe-ish as it gets but for some reason it still manages to look different from the norm. Also, I'm going to applaud the lack of tasteless loli fanservice in the form of panty shots and the like, because God knows they had their perfect chances to pull that shit and they didn't.
I also really like Akari so far. She's nice and kind and humble and cheerful and a bit hyper like so many other mahou shoujo protagonists before her, but she is so in a way that didn't come across as forced or annoying at all. I also liked the line she had when Fuyuna was talking with her on lunch break: "Things may be as you say, but if I think like that before even trying, I won't be able to do anything". Not that it's a groundbreaking thing to say or anything, but it means she has the spirit to pull through with things she believes in no matter what others say. I can respect that.
More plot-related now:
I have to admit I'm utterly confused about the last few minutes and I'll be eagerly waiting for answers on this.
Everything's comprehensible until the time her ''cousin'' shows up dead in the floor, included. Okay, so she was jealous and angry and something evil awakened inside her which gave her supernatural powers and (illusion or not) transformed her into a giant plant monster in front of Akari. Then Akari had an awakening of sorts and killed her without realizing. Everything's cool up to this point (very good scene by the way).
But then it's morning and she's cheerful again as if nothing had happened and it's the morning they go visit her mother's grave and all... I thought ''Reset?'', but Fuyuna wasn't around so that's not quite it. The scene that follows before the grave is mostly the same as before except that Fuyuna is around, but then Aunt told Akari ''Don't worry about Akari''. o_O wut. The hell's going on here? I thought that maybe Fuyuna had taken over her role or something but in the next few scenes that didn't seem to be the case. Also, I am pretty damn sure that's what the original Japanese script said, and not a mistake in translation where they actually meanty ''Don't worry, Akari''. All of my wtfs for this scene, seriously.
The rest is more comprehensible, but that part seriously ate away at my brain. A first theory of mine would be that the other two girls (not the magical girls who helped Akari out, the one with the gigantic blue hair and Miss Glasses) distorted reality somehow, for whatever reason related to this ''wheel of Fortune'' they were cryptically talking about.
^ Forget about all that. I just realized Aunt was talking to the grave. I feel so utterly stupid right now.
Overall, I really liked how this began. I don't know if it'll keep up or it'll be just another of those shows where it loses its point when things are finally explained somehow. I'm actually expecting something good here, this seems like a show that knows where it's going. And if it's good, I wish all the retards around would not just bash it because it has similarities with Madoka Magica, although that's probably a very unrealistic wish.
Best first episode of the season out of the four things I've watched so far. :thumbsup:
^ Yeah, that's what I was thinking now. I just edited my post above a moment ago because I was building an entire air castle out of a stupid misunderstanding I had, haha... *hides away in embarrassment*
It's a very interesting plot point by the way, albeit not new of course.
I rewatched the scene and noticed that Aunt was talking to her mother's grave.
It's so ridiculously obvious when you think about it. I'm guessing that the massive twists of the cousin's death and the 'reset' warped our minds so much we became paranoid of every little thing.
Actually I just took a quick look around MAL myself and was surprised that not so many people were bashing it because of it, but rather just commenting on the similarity as a passing comment (they are indeed similar). The way I was expecting it, it'd be 95% of that thread yelling ''FUCK THIS MADOKA RIP-OFF''.
I only saw one surprise, and it wasn't pleasant. That surprise being this show is a weak knockoff/combo of Cardcaptors and Madoka Magica. Horrible character designs, and an annoying main character. I'm giving this one more episode to impress me.
Aw redneck, you just had to go and be one of those types I preemptively ranted about, didn't you?
It's about magical girls fighting monsters, and it's dark. That's as far as the similarities with Madoka go so far. I don't know if you'd prefer it to be light-hearted just so it won't remember you of a past great show but that's too farfetched a logic for me. If it can tell its own story and do it well, it's no rip-off.
That's my current worry as well. Hopefully the first episode was ''cryptical'' the way it was (as in not spoonfeeding what's going on between scenes) not just to generate confusion and interest, but because it actually has that kind of engaging narrative throughout. I like shows that expect me to draw my conclusiongs about stuff way before it's explained, or with no need to explain it at all.
Episode 1
I am literally dumbfounded at how amazing this intro episode was.
Shame on me for having it so low on my list.
For a story perspective, it was so captivating. I was really impressed with the build-up for the cousin. You can tell she was extremely jealous of Akari. Having to study so hard in her life, only to be second fiddle to Akari and her love for tarot cards. And you can't blame Akari for that, fortune-telling is a very rare hobby and people are intrigued by rare hobbies.
Art-style wise, it's a bit MOE! but the grittiness and dark tone made it all better.
Akari, what Link said stole the words out of my mouth and made it sophisticatedly better.
Once the series comes to an end and I'm giving this a standing ovation, I'll may be the only one here to say that this is by far superior to Madoka Magica.
I can't say i'm too surprised about your dislike though RR, i don't agree that it's a rip-off of Madoka though. It has similarities in terms of the dark tone and mahou shoujo monster fighting, but beyond that it's its own show.
Once the series comes to an end and I'm giving this a standing ovation, I'll may be the only one here to say that this is by far superior to Madoka Magica.
I'm guessing that the massive twists of the cousin's death and the 'reset' warped our minds so much we became paranoid of every little thing.
