An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Category: Seasonal Episodes

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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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 3

So the expectation from last time was pretty much “Pillars show up, fight them off, character building on the side, if there’s time”. This time, though, we get a downtime episode, more or less, where we see more of these characters and how they fit into their world. This is one of the bit places where the show will determine whether it soars or stumbles, so how does our first outing go?

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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 1

In the interest of highlighting more Original anime, this season we’re going to be taking a look at Warlords of Sigrdrifa. The pitch that was given before I decided to sit down with the first episode was… not much. Something about Valkyries being chosen to defend humanity against some new random monster threat. It looked and sounded kind of like a mash-up of Evangelion-esque action and maybe some vague magical girl elements with a military theme. In short, even if it wasn’t based on anything, the show didn’t seem like it would have any easy stand-out elements.

And, after watching the double-length first episode, I do think that remains the challenge set to Warlords of Sigrdrifa: it looks like it could be kind of fun as is, but I want it to show me something unique and worthwhile. Is it going to?

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 10

Last time, with the destruction of the Gadoll Factory, Natsume had quite the question and received a world-shattering answer. She actually ends up hyperventilating and even passing out, being initially unable to take the truth of her world. I don’t blame her. Kaburagi removes her from the crumbling factory while the lab workers there fail to get their avatars to safety, with one being stabbed by a dying Gadoll with just the right amount of focus so you know what’s coming. Meanwhile, the real bodies of the surviving bugs do their best to escape the prison.

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 7

The “Back mostly with Natsume” episode. Last time, Kaburagi started a new game, and now he finds the situation in Deca-dence. It turns out that the peace of maintenance has ended, and the current “story” sees a massive hole in the armor of Deca-dence, a breach from which the Gadoll must be kept. In the early action sequence, a group of Gadoll get through the breach where more are being fought and begin to slaughter Tankers before Kaburagi (struggling with his new avatar) and Natsume (with friends) take them out and move to reinforce the breach.

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