An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Category: Seasonal Episodes

Seasonal Selection – Ex-Arm Episode 1

Up until now, when I’ve done Seasonal Selection series, I’ve chosen material that I have some interest in or that I think might be of some value. This season, I’m doing something different: Basically since the first trailer dropped, Ex-Arm has been a show people have been talking about, and not in any way good. It was pretty clear that there was going to be a lot of hate for the show, so I’ve decided to strap myself in for the wild ride and see if it’s worth the rage it got before even releasing and will likely continue to get as it runs.

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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 5

After the bizarre out-of-body experience that was last episode, we get something very much different and, in my opinion, the show’s strongest episode so far in terms of character.

We start by introducing a new character, “Big Sis” Amatsuka, a senior Valkyrie who Miko seems to be very fond of. Azu and Sono, less so. Along with her fighter squad, she’s an ace who goes to wherever the fighting is the toughest… which makes her appearance at Tateyama base both odd and somewhat worrying.

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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 4

Well, I will give the show this – it did not do what I expected it to do here. With a title of “Tateyama Castle Swimsuit Skirmish!” you might be expecting a typical beach episode where we get some lame excuse to show off the girls in their bikins which will look nice but ultimately just make a select group of fan artists (and their fans) very happy or provide an alternate figure if the show takes off enough to get statuette merch. Simple, right? It’s pretty much just an obligatory thing that into every show a little beach episode must fall.

What we got from Warlords of Sigrdrifa was much stranger, a sudden dive into a surreal “what the hell am I even watching?” sequence that’s almost sure to be the show’s Big Lipped Alligator Moment.

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