| @23feanor @inim @whiteflame55 @filifjonkan @RandomFriday @Antalk @jdvz @JokerVentura @KainiusTheGreat @ruckes @kekekeKaj @OrlahEhontas Magic Circle (2017) - January 2023 Group Watch Mahoujin Guruguru (2017) (Magic Circle, 2017), MAL 7.82/10, anidb 7.86/10, IMDB 7.5/10. Group watch will be starting Saturday, January 7th 2023.  |
 |
| I am trying to find it now |
 Active Military, Prior Service and Veteran's Anime Club do not forget the sound of my voice until the day we reunite |
| For those who don't know, this is available on Crunchyroll. Episode 1 We start off with some pixelated, game-styled exposition about the world that soon shifts to the normal cartoony style of the show. It's suitably zany and reduces travel times because video game logic. I'm cool with this. Seems there's a Demon King Giri and our hero Nike is tasked with taking him out despite his low stats. Fun that they have stats and that his parents are substantially stronger than he is. Becoming the hero is treated like becoming a Pokemon master: kick them out young to do something everyone else is trying to do, but if he succeeds, he'll be huge. Difference is that he really doesn't want to go, it's more an expectation of him. And they go all out, preparing a giant goddamn slingshot to send him on his way (apparently fall damage isn't a thing). Where's Professor Oak when you need him? Oh yeah, he's replaced by this weird ass magic granny and her ebullient red haired adopted grandchild Kukuri, who can wield their Guru Guru sorcery. She's only marginally stronger than he is based on her stats, though she can summon weird creatures (seems mostly by accident, though she does a good Jesus fish just by running around and another perfect symbol later by flailing wildly - granny wants her gone because she's such a nuisance) that are substantially more dangerous. Our young leads at last joined, they set off on adventure, setting record time on their way to the castle to accept the mission. Turns out, a bunch of adults with actual stats and armor (notable that the women are in skimpy outfits, which always have the best protective stats despite covering as much skin as a bikini) showed up to do the job because they're all overachievers who have never heard about sending their children off into the wilderness to fight the ultimate evil. How I pity these try-hards. Mustache King Wuruga XIII shows up and tasks them with the impossible that only a child could ever truly accomplish, but Geil, a rival adventurer, seems to believe he will succeed just because he's got experience, stats, skills and equipment. The fool. The King seems fine with adventurers fighting right in front of him (this is, presumably, the War Room), and like Kazuma from KonoSuba before him and as his namesake would imply, Nike easily achieves victory over this over-leveled plebian. Then they stick their hands in a box filled with swirling colors to draw forth a sword (like you do), a task only Nike can complete as he draws forth... a weird, branching blade that he definitely can't lift... success? I love all the shifts in character styles from the King - goes from normal-ish to stylized for seriousness to pixelated horror show on a dime. Also, turns out that Kukuri has no concept of money and literally puts the coins all over her face and head as equipment. Wonder what stats they give... Anyway, the kids go to North Town because why not and quickly get conned out of their money, spending it on useless shit before selling it back and buying some actually decent equipment (a dagger and a hair ornament that grants defense). Half expected them to break every clay pot in the place on their way out looking for cash. There's a cute charm to Kukuri's trust in Nike, believing that he's fully capable despite all evidence to the contrary because he took her out into the world. Their adventure begins with them getting immediately separated and Nike finding an old man in need of assistance. To get his merit badge, he faces down a strange Beast Man Kahsegi who speaks in a lisp, but can't land a hit on the monologuing fiend who exposits about the Demon King for no apparent reason. He gets burned by the aforementioned flailing of Kukuri and gets stabbed to death by Nike. Ah, their first cold-blooded murder. Good news is it doesn't leave a corpse, so they won't have to plead self defense in court. Overall, a zany start to what looks like a fun ride. It appears that we'll be parodying a bunch of tropes in this one, and I'm here for it. |
 |
| Episode 1 Showing my age, I've actually played Ultima on 8 bit machines, and met Lord British. Nice moustace in this show's version. The way the anime world looks here is just what those games looked like, how the exposition dumps went, how British assigned the tasks in his hall and more. Magical Circle manages to capture all this at record speed, spoof it, and this all with as little of explanation as possible. It's a weird way of visual story telling, pre-isekai fantasy worlds, and type casting. I've never played a JRPG, only regular RPG. One episode was good enough to lay out anything I need to know. Story wise, the heroes are 12 year old children. Nike, a swordfighter which seem to be of tsukkumi (straight man in manzai comedy) type. Kukuri, an OP mage girl with less than perfect control of her powers, ADHS-ish character and a kind heart. They are sent by their respective parents (adoptive old lady in Kukuri's case) to become adventurers. And there we go, next stop Lord British's hall. Of course Nike turns out to be a chosen one, and they are hired and funded. They start adventuring outside and meet an old man there, chased by a beast man. Who exposition dumps a bit (and is aware of it) then is killed by the two kid heroes. Power system introduced. Overall, this is very zany, self- an genre-aware and played out at bullet speed. Art styles change rapidly, and a lot is shown not told by that. The crucial part of a show lke this is the humor, and so far it works for me. I'm fortunate to know first hand what's parodied, so I get a lot of small jokes of which there are many. The creativity certainly is high. Whether the characters are developed, the drama sets in at some point, and how they plan to keep it funny for 24 (sic!) episodes is open, but the rating suggests it worked. Looking forward to more abuse, episode 1 worked very well for world building and teasng. |
| |
| Episode 1. You've both covered the main points. So we've got a reluctant hero and duff mage. I like the tone of the humour and changes in animation so far, from Production IG. I thought I hadn't played any JRPG until realising that Zelda is a JRPG, and I remember the pixelated NES version from ages back. I'm also intrigued to see what directions this show takes and how it keeps the humour going through 24 eps. |
 |
filifjonkan said: Thanks, but it wasn't my actual birthday. I resented the fact wanted mal wanted my personal info so put my correct birth month and year but not the date just to spite them. Actual date is the 28th of January. Kind of silly of me really as I have mentioned my birthday in the Discuss the Series You Finished thread a couple of times now. One of my pet peeves is Google constantly asking for my d.o.b which they do as they want to know your age so they can show you age specific targeted ads, like hair loss for men and impotence pills for our age group I guess, lmao. Episode 1, then. You have covered it well. I saw the resemblancet between this anime's map and the one in Zelda. That brings back memories, I must say. I played it on the Nintende 8bit platform, but not so much me as my children.. That says something about my age (I am 61 years) and also @23feanor a belated congratulations on your birthday. Actually, my sisters daughter is aslo born on the 1st of January. So far, this series is way out of my league, it is too fast and noisy. But...as usual, I will give it three epeosdes and then decide. Mata astane! |
|
| Episode 2 I went big on the first one, but I'll keep this one shorter. Old dude presents our heroes with a reward (a creepy dance) and they're feasted in the town before being asked to save it from monsters. Wrinkle rats show up who enjoy pan-up shots way too much and get defeated before they can do anything. The mayor seems fine with throwing heroes at the problem because death is meaningless to them. Nike gets knocked out after seeing Kukuri's butt and then Beast Man Rairai shows up and goes on a kidnapping spree. They follow him to his mountain, are confronted by a monster that's too big for the door, and encounter a giant marble with a fairy inside named Grielle. She knows the boss's weakness, but it's kind of specific, so she has to repeat it a few times. Meanwhile, the very much underage girls are seducing another wrinkle rat... and I should be done here, if not for the fact that their method is to paint their faces so garishly that Kiss would blush. They terrify the monster away. Like all good adventurers, they run into a guarded Important Room with an Important Key. Yep, they just called it that. The guard chokes himself accidentally and they're through. Turns out, it's the Boss Room (expected a boss key), that kindly asks adventurers knock and to not attack out of the blue. Oh well, looks like he doesn't mind. Dude's got a choir, smoke machines, mechanisms and a badly written script (dude can't adlib) ready for them, he's here to put on a show. He demands that Kukuri tell him about Guru Guru just before our heroes arrive, now with Nike piggy-backing on the other boys' shoulders in kabuki makeup. Despite being nothing like the weakness that was described, the boss does seem hurt by it. They start actually fighting and the boss's fire breath is overwhelming until Nike gets covered in purple splooge, then Kukuri uses the magic circle weaved by the old man's butt when he dances (because why not?) and apparently summons an Old One. |
|
| @whiteflame55 I laughed out loud reading your review of ep 2 yday Episode 2. So the pair are feted at North Town after defeating a single monster and asked to clear out Saw Mountain of monsters. Loved how the mayor said "it's ok if the hero dies, he's trained for it, probably". Then Nike sees Kukuri's butt when he hides up her skirt, instead of hiding behind her skirt, and can only remember Kukuri as a butt now. This show is definitely making me laugh. Kukuri and a village girl called Mig are kidnapped by a bird monster and Nike has to go rescue them from Saw Mountain. The girls trying their seduction technique with over done makeup was pretty hilarious. The boss entry really made me chuckle with all the wrinkle rats working to make his entrance theatrical, singing and making smoke. The boss script was also funny. Turns out the old mans butt dance has an instruction for a secret magic technique that Kukurit unlocks. |
|
| Yep, I'd say the whole "Kukuri is a butt" joke was a pretty good throughline for much of the last episode. As for Nike being a girl's name, @filifjonkan, in my brief search I did find that it was used as both a boy's and a girl's name, though yes, it does stem from the goddess of victory in Greek mythology. Episode 3 The life-or-death battle continues... but first, some Kukuri reminiscing about a friendship with a clumsy dancing girl who leaves her as suddenly as she arrives, learning to channel her feelings into what she draws. Apparently, she's a fan of Lovecraft, so her desire (and the old dude's butt) manifests in the Great Old One Behm Behm, which shoots lightning from its eyes to take out the monsters. The boss dude survives, but is defeated by Nike accidentally striking his weak point. Old dude gets a rash that says "the seal is broken" and everyone abandons him before it spreads. Apparently the fairy just up and left after she was freed, but she hints later that Nike is not a normal human and may be showing up later with her. And thus, the curse on the town that left it covered in splooge and weird fog is lifted, though they didn't have any faith in them to begin with. Like, seriously, no faith whatsoever - they made a goddamn life-sized, picture perfect statue of our two heroes that memorialized them and then just added a "not" at the bottom when they came back alive. Some funny stuff, made funnier when they add all their compatriots in weird poses seemingly coming out of our heroes' bodies. While they're asleep, stardust falls on the mountain and turns it a glowing yellow (they should really get that checked out...), and then they leave town after vandalizing the statue and acquiring some 200 year old pot (kids shouldn't have that stuff). They head back home where Kukuri's grandmother, who has been telling her to study Guru Guru for a while now, tells her that there's nothing left to study and that it has to be learned on the job. Thanks, grandma. Then they fall into a portal to a cult and the King who are hiding a healing magic circle that conjures Preparation H. Apparently, this was top secret information, so our heroes are jailed, but they get released by some female stalker and a hidden fire snake (she should really get that checked out...). She gets into a magic duel with another creepy old dude before revealing she has a magic circle design. Kukuri summons a cat demon which neutralizes the old man's spells and turns him into a flying snake, but also just really kills the vibe. Still, Nike manages to stab it good. The King offers to lavish them with rewards, but they don't take him up on it (why not trust the dude who just jailed you for knowing what he told you?!) and our trio sets off for more adventure! |
|
| Episode 2-3 Both are world building episodes, establishing two new locations, North Town and once more the King's court. In both cases the two MCs complete a quest and rid the place of a monster threat, putting them into their debt. North Town even creates a monument for them. Similarly, new named characters are introduced. In North Town, a dancing grandpa (Adberg Erdle) has memorized centuries old magical circle patterns in his creepy dance figures. Drawing the shape of his moving ass as a circle, Kukuri can summon a powerful entity and by this win their boss challenge. At the king's court, a mysterious lady (Runrun Vermeer) who reveals another powerful circle in the form of a giant cat which can undo magic. That way a spy of the demon lord is discovered and eventually killed. We also learn the castle is built on top of a powerful magic circle for healing, and North Town to have a connection to the land of fairies. So much world building, so many new locations to explore. The comedy keeps working on two levels. First, there is a strong, consistent and fast moving plot continuity which really sucks me into the story. Secondly, they take comedic departures and deconstruct select scenes on the way. The boss fight in Saw Mountain is a good example, and me too laughed hard about the theatrical setup including the choir, stage workers and special effects. Similarily the "let's seduce" and signs "boss room" vs. "important room" and "important key" spoof all too familiary RPG and fantasy tropes on the fly. The funny part is not that they do extremely smart spoofs, but that they don't rub them in and fire at machine gun speed. Blink and you miss some, but there are enough that if one can pick up half of the deconstructed and spoofed tropes it's still good enough. The fights are arranged along a pattern. First an outsider is added to the team, who can teach Kukuri a new magical circle. She then uses it, and sets free some power she doesn't know in advance or understands. Eventually Nike goes for the kill. The monsters and their powers are creative, over the top, and at the same time child friendly. The tone of the show is that of a children's cartoon, yet some of the jokes are double layered so only adults get them completely. This is what I call the "Pixar technique", and this is what makes the movies of said company watchable by the whole family. Basically each generation is served their own jokes, which the other generation doesn't get. Two layers of comedy. Overall, despite the seemingly simple setting of an RPG comedy spoof this is very entertaining. Mainly because it pushes simple parody level jokes to actual deconstruction, and because of using multiple layers of comedy. And finally, the coherent story keeps everything together and raises this above the usual level of random zany parody. I'm ready for the land of the fairies, waiting for more tropes to be subverted there. |
| |
| Episode 3. Liked the town the statue and legendary pot. We hear the fairy say that Nike may not be an ordinary human. Does that mean he isn't human, or he's an extraordinary human i wonder? After heading back home, where granny tells Kukuri there's nothing more to teach her, the heroes head to the castle, where they are swiftly jailed for uncovering the kings secret haemorrhoid healing circle. They are rescued by an exotic women who gives Kukuri another magic circle which unlocks a Guru Guru that undoes magic, very handy. After defeating a hidden monster in the kings company, Nike, Kukuri and the exotic lady head off for unknown chilly lands. |
|
| Episode 4 Time for training! These kids 'bout to get swole. Kukuri is apparently being worshipped by the Dark Magic Society for her Guru Guru usage, while Nike gets dressed as... let's see if I've got this right... a butterfly, dragon, snake, elf hybrid, accompanied by signs that say "Nose Hair" (associated with a head on spider legs) and "Armpit Hair" (associated with a buff, gleaming statue). This is dressing him accordingly? Seems like they nailed it. Cue the perfunctory exposition dump where we learn that Kukuri has to travel to another continent to train her Guru Guru. A spirit named Gipple tries to grope them to assess their magical natures (guess they needed a substitute for windowless white vans), we find out the Dark Magic Society is led by a poodle, and our trio leaves. We get a hilarious bit of comedy when they part from Runrun where Nike asks for her name, but she refuses to give it, even slapping away the nameplate that comes up for the audience's benefit. Have to agree with @inim, this stuff comes at you fast and I love it. They arrive on the new continent and face off against an Angry Sun Psiko Spirit that riddles them. They oops their way into an answer and run into the overseas branch of the Dark Magic Society. The training will take 6 months and Niko will get some sword training on the side. Kukuri wants to become a Sailor Scout, settling for a bowl haircut while an old man uncorks a multi-layered dungeon, like you do. Kukuri fights a door, spins in circles, makes faces with an old dude, and gets jobbed by an armored figure with a sword. Meanwhile, Nike's getting bilked for cash by a dude with all the side hustles before he meets an emotionless girl named Juju who cryptically talks about seals. He runs off with the dude and goes to train at his dusty dick... training hall before the creeper informs him that there's a better place next door and he high tails it. He finds himself among muscly men preparing the blow on the necks of their enemies (viable strategy) before a pin-up model appears to dance suggestively, but eventually settles for the dick training. He finds Juju later at her church in a trance with glowing yellow eyes before she is possessed by the Demon King. |
|
| Episode 4. The events of each episode are almost so fast paced I can't keep my thoughts about what's happened in order. So far each episode has had at least one moment, usually a few, that makes me genuinely laugh. Today's selection included the letter to Nike from the dog president that said simply "dog farts" signed president. Then we had Kukuri given what looks like a sailor moon outfit and told to play a weird version of Mario in order to level up. And finally we had the fancy training hall where young lads learn combat by blowing on the nape of the neck of their enemies, oh and then watch dancing girls. We're left on a cliff hanger as it appears the demon lord has possessed the god child Juju! |
|
| Episode 5 Of course, the Demon King wants bracelets. Monsters show up and turn the town into dogs (they seem mostly chill with it, and the monsters are taking good care of them) and plant an "Annoying Goddess Statue" that vomits dog-transforming smoke (and yes, I only just got that they're at the "Dohgma Shrine" - like I said, this stuff comes at you fast). Juju comes back to her senses and resolves to wreak bloody vengeance like a good little sociopathic sadist. The church elders apparently aren't fans of employing child soldiers to do their dirty work (cowards!) and try to handle it themselves only to get turned into dogs. Juju's ready to throw down, though - she's got coins that make them invisible to low level monsters and a combat altar. They still get into a fight against oversized Chaos and Juju proves she is the most terrifying thing around by ruthlessly murdering them. They arrive at a shrine. A pervert digs in his crotch to pull out a stinky jewel. Nike uses this to get a bracelet that controls earth - eh, better than a ring. Meanwhile, Kukuri has conjured her vision of Nike, which is, of course, a lot more powerful than the actual Nike and breathes fire. She passes the next task in a flash, and then a giant flying eyeball gives her a psychedelic mushroom that she eats without much hesitation. She's transported to... let's see if I've got this right... a pink cart that says "to heaven express" driven by a green, coked out Pokémon with wings for ears and yellow clouds on his feet, which itself is directed by a weird bird-like humanoid creature in a black hat and cloak. She jumps out of the cart and is told that magic comes from her butt. One of the genuine laughs of the episode - she stops in front of the old dancing creeper, then just ignores him and keeps falling. Apparently, that's better. I don't blame her. Then, because she's still tripping balls, her baby self gives her a box with a big old heart inside, receiving a golden bracelet that lets her fly, heading back to support her hero. Nike and crew return to the monsters and the earth bracelet wrecks most of them, but the lead monster is unaffected. Then the perverted sword master fights him for a bit, sprouting flowers out of his nose and crotch. Juju and the pervert get turned into dogs (though somehow the latter retains his human head and gets confused for rightfully identified as a monster). After Kukuri arrives, by their powers combined, they- are stolen by Juiju to summon a legendary monster that easily defeat the enemy. For their trouble, they get a big payday because, hell, at least child labor should be paid. We get some hints about a mysterious legend appearing to involve our central duo, but it's shrugged off at the end. |
|
| Episode 4-5 Training arc for both protagonists, introducing their status as choses ones, mentors, and rite of passage into adventurer proper. The latter as mundane for Kukuri as to have her 13th birthday and level up after a shroom experience. The two episodes are pretty much constructed in parallel. First, a cult or church picks them as their hero, a dark one lead by a poodle for Kukuri and a church lead by a baby-faced sadist warrior priestess (Juju) for Nike. Each of them is assigned a mentor: Nike a rundown and queer sword master and street performer (Gochinko), Kukuri by a bald Indian guru. Kukuri also gets a guardian spirit / familiar named Gipple, who can turn into a tent and provides sarcastic commentary. Gochinko and Juju know each other and work together for their church. The training arcs separate the two heroes for 6 months. Then the village they are nearby (Purato) is attacked by another mini-boss. In a variation of the "faceless background characters" anybody not relevant for the story is turned into a dog, adults are useless now. Both heroes gain magic artefacts in their arc's graduation endings. Nike gets a Magic Bracelet of Earth, which creates an Earthquake. Kukuri is given a Magic Bracelet of Heaven which allows her to fly. Juju lends those two, combines their power in a ritual on her mobile altar, summons a huge monster and defeats the mini boss. Shortly after the two heroes leave for their next questing destination. I have to thank @23feanor and @whiteflame55 for working out some of the many easter eggs and cultural references used in the gags. It seems the show heavily draws from the 1990s, in which I was in my 20s and a college student, so I lack knowledge of TV shows and gaming consoles of that decade almost completely. E.g. I identified the Sailor Moon spoof and magical girl stuff, but I'd never get Nintendo / Mario related jokes by myself. Overall, the heroes are now set up as champions of light (Nike) and dark (Kukuri) each with a supporting cult, fresh magical powers and level ups, a new location, and new secondary characters developed enough to fill roles in the party if need be. The way the story is told and the comedy is done is kept up, and I don't tire. The gags are fresh, the world and it's inhabitants are colorful, creative and surreal. The pacing remains very fast, yet the writing is good enough so I still develop emotional bonds to even the 2ndary cast. Even character development takes place. All in all, this is far beyond your random zany and quirky show with loosely connected gags. This all feels coherent and headed towards a closure. |
| |
| @inim I have to admit that a lot of the references would go over my head if it wasn't for @whiteflame55 helpfully pointing them out, which I read ahead of time so I know what I'm watching. I wouldn't have known about Chao from Sonic, or the haemorrhoid cream, Preparation H, for example. Funny enough I haven't met another person, online or irl, that watched Captain Planet, so surprised and delighted to see @whiteflame55's reference to the rings from that show, which when combined brought captain planet to life (I still remember the theme tune far too well, also had a crush on one of the villain ladies, toxic girl or something, ah nostalgia). I agree this show has a good mix of comedy and story, more so than Excel Saga or Paniponi Dash, which had the comedy but no linear story, just a framework for comedy. To be fair Excel Saga did try and pull a story together in the final couple of episodes. Episode 5. Combat altar and coins again being used in silly ways (like Kukuri placing them over her face to 'equip' herself). Juju was a bit scary when riled up. The fake hero breathing fire, magic coming from Kukuri's butt were top chuckles today. So we've got a hero of light and a mage of dark in Nike and Kukuri. They each have a bracelet and faction who supports them. Another village saved, onto the next quest! |
|
| @inim @23feanor Definitely have a lot of random pop culture knowledge rattling around in my head, so the references in this show scratch a lot of itches very well. The Captain Planet theme is one of those that lives rent free in my brain - randomly find myself humming to it from time to time without realizing. Also, having grown up in the 90's, that's where most of my knowledge on this stuff derives. I think we're managing a good cross-section of pop culture knowledge between us. Episode 6 I like this running joke about the wrinkle rats cosplaying Demon King Giri. Gives us a way to get enemy exposition and still have no clue what Giri actually looks like. And yes, pan up shots for days. A white portal opens up in the sky and Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple appears before making several vague yet ominous statements and disappearing. Then they cast aspersions at Boering Village just as they're arriving, but the place seems utterly peaceful... with people waving their arms and legs around wildly (they own the fact that it makes them look like bodhisattvas or asuras). Turns out this is a curse, one that they've kind of just learned to live with, since no one seems out of breath or even annoyed. Doesn't prevent their mayor from dousing Kukuri in coffee and slapping Nike silly, though. Also, there's another traveler in town who's too cool for school with his beaded locks of hair named Raid. So, of course, Nike and Kukuri end up getting into a dance contest, which Kukuri wins handily. They win a Disappointing Sword and a doll that announces danger with the voice of an angel (or Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star), but get wrecked by a perverted purple demon with a sun-like head (not sure what this reference is - maybe Spiro?). Kukuri dances suggestively for a bit before killing it with fire. They lift the curse and Nike gets beat to a pulp. They get the black picture book that Olmec foretold and, upon opening it, rainbows flood out and it reveals... a weird tan creature with a face like the Whispy Woods and red protrusions on its face that's really into DEVO. Turns out this is a sacred text left by Barckweener (yes, they imagine it just like it sounds) and Kukuri is tasked with doing what this dude was too lazy to finish. She's... creative about it. Raid shows up and tries to kill them with his dark magic and lame twitching (seriously love everyone just chanting "lame" at him as he leaves). Raid's a creeper and tries to recruit Kukuri, later coming upon them at a spring and calling them "Pink Bomb" (Kukuri) and "Lucky Star" (Nike), names so bad that their spirit guide practically chokes on them. Raid twitches again, causing holes to open up below them with random shit (sometimes actual shit) at the bottom. Kukuri summons some "Got-Nothing Sprites" to make Raid mess up, including his sentences. The episode ends hilariously, with Kukuri saying she was happy to do a partial strip tease in front of Nike (then bulldozing a couple of trees in her embarrassment) and Gipple parodies Nike's earlier line trying to be cool about their journey. Onto the land of fairies and... apparently, the old dancing man again? |
whiteflame55Jan 12, 2023 6:42 AM
|
| Episode 6. I also enjoy the wrinkle rats playing at being the demon lord Giri. Nike and Kukuri save the village, Kukuri does another suggestive dance. We get 'bark-weiner'. Nike takes a big poop. Then the eldritch prince of the dark realm Raid appears and challenges them, finally beaten by a 'got nothing' sprite, causing everything he does or says to fail or become nonsense. I wouldn't have gotten any of the easter eggs in this episode, apart from Lucky Star. Onto the fairy village. |
|
| Episode 7 Old man dancing fiend is back and searching for a successor with the fairies. Their town looks like the Smurf Village crossed with something out of Strawberry Shortcake fanfiction. Papa Smurf Elder Feyfey meets with them and everyone wants that sweet sweet gossip about love between two minors (if they're not actively trying to matchmake). He offers to give them insight into Guru Guru if they get rid of a monster creeper. Everyone cosplays as fairies as they go on their adventure. There's a priceless shot of the old man almost being killed by a fairy that includes the splash title "True Story! Murder in Fairy Village, What the Straw Skirt Saw!" followed by another attempted murder scene that says "Tuesday News. Murder in Fairy Village 2, The Leg Hairs Smelled of Death." They face an anthropomorphic dog with spikes on its head, a cape an axe, not sure what that's a reference to. The fairies trick Kukuri into professing her love to Nike and she runs away. Meanwhile, Nike throws the dog's axe off a cliff, and the Elder (who's watching nearby) literally blasts off like he's Astro Boy out of pure disbelief. Nike gets a venomous dog bite (with the old man dancing as a meaningless distraction) from which he'd rather die than get the old man to suck out the poison. Kukuri arrives just in time to watch him die as the dog monster summons a pack of other dogs with axes. Kukuri summons the Great Old One again, which makes short work of the dogs. Apparently, Nike's fine now because he drank some flower nectar earlier. On their way to the next Guru Guru secret, we find out that a different old man had visited the village before and was apparently responsible for abandoning Kukuri. They arrive at a shrine and uncork... the ghost of Barckweener. He informs them that the Great Old One is one of many such demons that Kukuri has to win over to get access to move magic in other regions, apparently using her love of Nike to summon them. Gipple tells us what we're all thinking: super corny. Nike has to get the approval of other kings (so Mustache King was only step one), each commanding a different element and wielding a sword. He also tells them there's a Rare Candy underneath the shrine that will help them level up by... apparently becoming adults for a hot second. Kukuri gets a few more circles, they get kicked out of the village. and they run into a young floating blue haired girl and a Mega Man enemy that are scared off by the old man's flailing legs. |
|
| Episode 7. The fairies are sure pushy and love their gossip. Nike gets poisoned after fighting a bunch of dogs which Kukuri subsequently defeats with the Behm Behm guru guru. We learn the full details of their quest; Kukuri must learn the guru guru techniques from each region (defeating a daemon in the process) and Nike must get approval from each of the kings in the regions. Only then can they level up enough to take on demon lord Giri. Nike and Kukuri both get a potion that levels them up by giving them adult bodies for a moment. This show sure likes to titillate these two. |
|
| Episode 8 They arrive in a valley with the Endless Tower at the center where their next daemon is located and run into Toma from North Village who's off on his own adventure. They read that they can get to the tower off of a Road Poneglyph and a large red dragon swoops in to fly them there. Only the old man hops on before it flies out, though they get on for the next go-around after hearing that there will be monsters. They're attacked by a cross between the Rabbids and Domo-kun (had to look that name up, only remembered the meme), which strip all the kids down to their skivvies and change them into weird outfits. Then Kukuri summons a brick house that will protect them from the monsters (she learned this circle at the fairy village). Another old man appears named Gatari. He runs an antique shop and can awaken hidden powers (very Dragon Ball-esque), though they have to bribe him to do it, so they open up their own business to bilk money out of other adventurers, with Kukuri's lunches in particular being a massive hit... until it's discovered that the dancing old man is making them with his armpit. Despite a decent haul, they're still far from their goal. So they travel a bit, going to a large red desert where they encounter a golem that breaks Nike's knife and blows them away. To defeat it, the only option is... more child labor! They get enough money to pay off the old man. They get into a fight over introductions (apparently, Toma's way stronger than either of them - who knew?), so he pulls out a pipigu (think Yoda crossed with a tribble) and it turns out Nike's a thief class, which has good luck (might explain how they've gotten by up to now). Kukuri is fine with this. What she's not fine with is when Gatari walks out with a wig and clothes that look exactly like her. This somehow unlocks her power via brief mind transference and severe bodily injury to Gatari. Nike's is unlocked by summoning a light sword (Razzle Dazzle - which he can only fully use when he's gotten the 4 kings' permission) and then farting. This somehow also involves a legendary bird. Toma's scene got cut because it's boring. They prepare to take on the golem again. Gibble becomes a bag of holding (which they exploit ruthelessly... though he seems to enjoy it), Kukuri becomes a helicopter, Razzle Dazzle creates a pathetic light sword, and Toma wins the day using a Magic Thunder Cannon that he crafted to melt the thing with rain. Meanwhile, Raid is plotting and now has Kaya in tow. Riding a small dragon, they nearly kill our heroes, who survive because, again, fall damage isn't a thing here. Luckily for them, they find some ruins and another circle down there, so all's well that ends well. |
|
| Episode 6 K&N rid another village of a curse, manic dancing, and get useless rewards such as a disappointingly short sword and a figurine of the mayor. Thanks to @whiteflame55 for linking all those Easter eggs, beside DEVO I wouldn't have gotten many. Then there's the titular rival introduced, a demon lord named Raid or Reido in J-mangled English. His persona is described by Wiki and MAL like this: He is a handsome demon-prince who is fond of Kukuri. His special name for her is "Pink Bomb," and he continually tries to split her away from Nike to fall in love with him. His magic attacks are powerful, but often involve complicated incantations and unusual results, such as gastric distress. So basically a butt-monkey and comic relief, recurring 2ndary cast. He's not the guy with the winged cap from the show's poster, so we are still missing one important character. Overall, a more comedic and filler-ish episode establishing running gags (useless gifts) and introducing more characters (Raid). |
| |
| Episode 7 K&N meet Adberg Erdle again, the North North dancer. Together they discover a fairy village usually hidden from human sight, and defeat another beast man mini-boss for them. They discover a Guru-Guru shrine and rescue a missing fairy princess there. Then they wake Barckweener, a powerful Guru-Guru entity / master / god who gives each Nike and Kukuri quests of the "collect four of a kind" type. He also levels them up to level 2 and 3 respectively. When they return to the fairy village it vanished from human sight again, but three new magical circles (fairy circles) are left in the grass for Kukuri to extend her arsenal. Once more there are plenty of jokes at the cost of the old man, the romantic relation of K&R (grow up into well built adults for a second), and references to other media (sensationalist movie announcements). There's one shot with a tea party around a tree stump which reminded me of gdgd Fairies. Overall, now that K&N have longer "catch them all" quests, the days of random villages seem over. The fairy theme of this episode and the cosplay was quite nice. |
| |
| Episode 8 This episode is kind of a puzzle to solve for the party. Which early on is extended by Toma Parrott, who is an item maker - I think pretty much an engineer. He's officially entered, as the old North-North man already seem to have been yielding a party of four. They enter the area with the endless tower, which is guarded by a giant golem they can't pass or defeat. Kukuri casts a spell to create a temporary (very girly) brick house as their base. They meet old man merchant Gatari running a found item shop nearby, who promises to awaken a secret talent in them for a fee of 100K Rin. He offers them free access to his vast collection of items found by his creatures. Meanwhile the moustached king has set a bounty for 1M Rin for the endless tower, causing thousands of adventurers to arrive. The party starts all sort of mercantile efforts with the adventurers. Selling items, selling bentos and so on. Not every attempt is successful, but in the end they raise 300K and are leveled up by Gatari. We learn that Nike's character class is actually Thief and not "Hero". For him Gatari confirms the task given last episode, find four kings. He seeds it by giving Nike light sword he which is currently useless, but would become powerful once the kings approved. The name of the skill is Razzle Dazzle. The party goes back to the golem, and still can't defeat it. Toma, who is two digit level, creates a rain cloud and the water dissolves the clay of the golem. Victory. They proceed to the endless tower. Meanwhile demon prince Raid and Kaya (the demonic advisor defeated at the kings court) are shown together and alive. They announce to go and fight the adventurers. Overall, this was a lot of plot progression. Mildly confusing but it's fine. |
| |
| Episode 8. N&K meet Toma from North town and have to raise money to level up. This show does like it's pointless nudity for underage characters and fart jokes. Kukuri's power is unlocked and Nike gets a new sword, which needs the 4 kings approval before working at full power, plus a fart apparently. |
|
| Episode 9 Turns out that these ruins were the home of the Migu Migu Tribe, which is strongly suggested to be Kukuri’s origin. They even find a small room that contains what is likely the inspiration for many of her Guru Guru summons, suggesting that the room was designed to expose her to them. It also has some messages on the wall that she can somehow read, including a gemstone at the center that results in the summoning of… Barckweener, leader of the tribe. He spells out her origin for them and lets them know that there are powerful items here, or there were – turns out they sold them all at their stand without knowing or already used them. All that’s left is a necklace that was a gift to Kukuri and some dance clothing with decent stats. Kukuri manages a dance on top of the circle they saw when they entered, finding that dancing may be a good means of control for her powers. Anyway, they get out of the valley by riding on another circle they randomly found, running into Raid who summons a number of “gods” that seem more like statues to his own greatness, so they leave. Kukuri summons a Yonyon (apparently a legendary bird, though it looks more like a stereotypical UFO crossed with a Gulpin) and they arrive at the tower. They’re confronted with living dolls that the old dude sweeps off the shelf because fuck that shit and have to navigate set of rooms before facing down a summon in the form of Ms. Metal that just straight up shoves them out of the building. As they’re reading about the tower from a diary left there by another mage, they get a vision of it that looks a lot like the tower from Tower of God. The diary is no help, but they apparently need to get permission from Ms. Metal to stay in the building. They all take a whack at trying to get permission, and all fail until they sit politely. Moving onto the second floor, our heroes bravely wear lipstick and leave messages by kissing a wall (which then proceed to play on repeat) before they’re faced with Ponyta-esque nightmare. Toma summons magic that roids out the old dude… for a few seconds, long enough to defeat the enemy. They find a hidden room and face down Unvel, a smack-talking enemy who gets bigger the more you attack him, so our heroes have to take his insults without rising against him. Mostly just rude, but “mobile indecent misdemeanor” is pretty accurate for the old guy and Nike seems to immediately embody his role as a monkey. They finally distract themselves enough to make him small just in time for Raid to arrive… and get stuck. On the third floor, the necklace gives them access to a room containing a small grass spirit. It gives them the Ocarina of Time. |
|
| Episode 9 The first discovery is Kukuri baby room from when she still was with the Migu Migu tribe. There they find a magic necklace and a message from her parents. The message doesn't say why the Migu Migu left, and why Kukuri's parents left a baby behind to fight a demon lord. They also learn that the items they sold last episode were powerful, and now only the necklace is left. It summons the bird prophesized by Juju (looks like a UFO), which carries them to the endless tower. The endless tower is visualized very much like a classic video game dungeon with cyclopic stone walls. Old Man defeats a monster while enchanted, and they solve challenges with a resizing monster and a maid. Eventually they arrive at level 3/7 where they are welcomed by a friendly grass monster, the guardian of the tower. There they rest, ready for the upper levels next episode. Overall: This show is more like actually playing a JRPG rather than a story about it. The viewer simply witnesses all the challenges, riddles and actions of the party. It's a refreshing take, and it doesn't grow old for me yet. |
| |
| @inim think you're right, watching this show is almost like watching your mate play some crazy JRPG while you sit quietly absorbing all the crazy and enjoying it just as much. Episode 9. So the party finds Migu Migu tribe ruins and Kukuri's birth place and gets a message from her parents. Wonder if we'll meet them later on. The party face off against Raid and his self styled statues. He then follows them to the Endless Tower where they face some strange trials involving a maid who requires them to be polite and a rude stone statue. Toma uses a 'chatstick' to mark their progress by kissing the walls in a suggestive manner, lol. Finally they meet a spirit who knew the Migu Migu tribe and maybe Kukuri's parents as well. Kukuri gets a flute. |
|
| Episode 10 Back to Runrun. She's approached by Dokido, the mayor of Yondor Village. There's been this running joke (which I'm loving more and more as it keeps coming up) that he's trying to return the statue Kukuri won during the dance competition in his town and left behind in the bushes. Apparently, he's just been getting increasingly desperate to get it to them by any means necessary, so now he wants to learn magic to literally teleport it to them. This guy won't take "thanks, I hate it" for an answer. Meanwhile, our gang leaves behind their new grassy friend, who portends their deaths. They leave behind Adberg because why not, and find themselves in a room with a bunch of cogs, on which they find Kaya. Turns out there's a moving key in this room being held by a monster in a suit of armor. Kaya saves Kukuri with a Flying Nimbus so that they can have a magic battle. He's scary, though, so she can't make a good Guru Guru circle. After being told by Nike that he's a woman (he denies it), she calms down enough to draw the right circle, making herself a bunny girl and surrounding her with bunny familiars in a circus-like setting. Turns out this is a special trap - it attracts enemy attention and slows them down. She refuses to take advantage of this, though, so he summons Devil Fire (reminds me a bit of the red Oni Ogre in Toriko, though with a long, snake-like body and horns) and an air elephant, which she barely defends from by summoning her house and then a giant strawberry cannon. Kukuri wins! But the greatest terror lies just around the corner as Adberg appears in his new leafy finery with a Madonna cone bra. The horror... the horror... He does help secure the key and apparently has better defensive stats, too, though. They climb a massive number of glass stairs to the next room, which ends up leading nowhere after they banish the clouds around them with the magic-nullifying cat. So their grass spirit friend makes a ladder to the next level instead - not sure how it's floating up there. They face a set of anthropomorphic dogs and a boss with a giant eye for a face (Eye of Sauron anyone?) and several types of horns named Satanchia (guessing the name's at least a reference to the devil). The kids are almost kicked out, but Nike's light sword finally comes in handy and Tomo summon's No Face's mask to freeze them all in place. In the face of the boss, Kukuri's salamander tail is no match and the ocarina fails to do anything as long at they're inside, so he electrocutes them, with only Adberg somehow remaining untouched by even his strongest hits. Rather reminiscent of Luffy vs. Enel from One Piece before he breaks out the giant anchor arms. Just as things look at their most dire, Kukuri prays to God and their prayers are answered by... the cursed statue that the mayor gets to them via a cannon. That gives Kukuri enough time to play the Song of Summon the Daemon Siren, which looks like a blue tiki head on top of a large pole. Boss dude tries to run and gets eye-beamed to death. In victory, they've decided to go off to a new continent, Copa, apparently pawning off a million rin to get the both Adberg and the statue to go away. Adberg gets the rin, and the statue becomes a divine entity for the religious zealots of the Light Church to follow which in turn leads to Dokido being venerated (could've been his gourd or his shoe). Juju decides to gtfo because of this. They arrive in Copa, the land of expensive shit, wishing they had their million rin. They run into a butt toucher (Nike approves)/shop owner Adamski who has numerous upgraded artifacts. Toma is immediately enchanted, Nike and Kukuri go find herbs, and fall prey to a den of thieves. |
|
| Episode 10. I also think the Yondor village gag is quite funny. I'm guessing it's a play on 'yonder' village. We had a UK live action tv show called Yonderland which played on the same gag. The fight between Kaya and Kukuri was especially funny. The Endless tower is completed and Satanachia (reminded me of Satanichia from Gabriel DropOut, hilarious show) defeated. The old man earns a reward and the statue becomes an item of worship to the sandy village, can't remember it's name, although Juju thinks it's garbage and decides to head off to meet up with the hero party alongside Runrun. So our party are headed off to the new continent, Copa, where everything is expensive and they meet some bandits! |
|
| Episode 11 Ah, finally, some thieves for Nike to learn petty larceny heroing from. It apparently doesn't take long before the thieves just kind of incorporate Kukuri and Nike into their ranks after a giant blue spider monster appears. The thieves deal with it easily after our heroes utterly fail, but then it turns out that the bandit leader is bad cook, so Kukuri takes up the mantle of head chef. Nike becomes an apprentice in knife throwing and gets the nickname "Cricket" while Kukuri gets "Chestnut Bun." We get some brief art sight gags involving The Scream and The Starry Night, with our heroes being told not to use magic while they're working with the bandits. Meanwhile, Toma's squatting in a tent playing with a perverted old man's toys... yep, checks out. Turns out prices are high in town because the chancellor going around artificially forcing the price up via threats of violence, but the chancellor is a monster in disguise, and not just because he's a politician! He's also after something called Banana Moon, which is desired by a lot of people for its magical power. At the thief camp, they get stalked by a chibi Princess Peach in a pot helmet, who they nickname Princess Stovepot. They go off to find the Banana Moon, facing a pig with a necklace (I guess you can cast pearls before swine) before facing literal Smurfs that threaten them with imminent demise followed by a wood dragon. Pacifism and diplomacy win the day. They're brought to a golden pyramid that opens at night, revealing a golden Banana Moon. Before they can take it, though, the Chancellor arrives to steal it. Sly, the head of the bandits, seems to have a trick up his sleeve, but Nike successfully duped him and now they're screwed. They try to steal it later, though the castle is just bristling with cannons. Kukuri rides away on a Chocobo. Runrun, the dog leader of the Dark Church and Juju arrive just in time for the latter to exposit about the Banana Moon. Runrun instantly falls for Sly. With all our heroes together, they can assault the castle and take back the Banana Moon. But first, Nike has to tell the story of what happened beforehand with no embellishment whatsoever and definitely no outright falsehoods: standing in front of Toma's grave over a pool of lava, he bravely faced down the demon Satanachia with a red blade that looks like a Soul Calibur weapon before getting the Darth Vader-esque speech and launching absurdly named attacks with Kukuri as her braids grow. Accurate, and Kukuri validates it on the basis that she's a big fan of Rapunzel. Also, turns out Kukuri can draw circles on the air with a broom. Convenient. Juju can apparently see the future. |
|
| Magic Circle (2017) is not in the queue for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, bakabt.me nor could I find the anime on CD at my local re-sale shop. I could watch it on Crunchroll, but that would mean I would have to pony up around $20.00 per month for the premium service which i will not do. Crunchyroll has a serious lag issue and i am not going to toss them cash for crap service. So for now, I will await the next offering. I hope you are all enjoying Magic Circle (2017)!!! |
| Active Military, Prior Service and Veteran's Anime Club do not forget the sound of my voice until the day we reunite |
| @Antalk No worries. $20 per month is steep. Crunchyroll is only £6 per month here in the UK, which is around $7. Not sure why it's so much more expensive in the US, although maybe because a lot of shows like One Piece/DBZ dub don't have the European streaming licence. CR used to have some issues when streaming on my Roku device for me a couple of years back but it's been fine recently. Episode 11. N&K are taken in by the thieves and Kukuri helps out with the cooking whilst Nike tries to level up his thief skills. The high prices in Copa are a result of the corrupt chancellor who is a monster in disguise. The Copa princess turns up with a map to the Banana Moon treasure, which they find, and then lose to the Chancellor. Runrun and Juju appear, helping Kukuri discover she can make magic circles in the air. We end with the group planning an attack on the castle to recover the Banana Moon treasure and rescue the princess. |
|
| Episode 12 So it turns out the Chancellor is working with Monku, the adviser to Raid. For some reason, dude just likes turning people into ducks. First dogs, now ducks, next... dragonflies? Keep with the "d" theme and keep changing phyla, I say. Our heroes infiltrate disguised as parishioners, with the bandits locking the front door behind them. Seems their plan is to put the guards inside to sleep with gas or just physically subdue them. Nike strips down to his skivvies, like any good shonen protagonist. Nike briefly considers becoming a Food Wars protagonist as well before Kukuri brings him back to their show. Apparently, Kukuri has just the worst sense of direction, like a certain green haired swordsman, somehow leading them into the Dark World. Our heroes find their way to the Chancellor who pulls a Mario 64, disappearing into a painting and then just randomly appearing on other objects. Juju stops this BS by touching his forehead and casting a baptismal field on him. Then he summons a Kirby boss that poops fire. Kukuri gets burnt, but Nike puts it out. It's about this time that a pair of cherubs named Pipiku and Pepeku show up (we saw them last episode - they seem to be a running gag portending failed romantic moments), but they blast off again after Nike touches her bare chest. Kukuri piggy-back rides to form a "cannon" and summons a salamander tail to blow the cloud apart. They find the princess before she's been duck-ified (quackformed?), but it turns out that some snacks Sly picked up earlier were the tainted food. Dude kind of looks like a genderbent Magica Despell. They arrive at the boss room and face off against Monku and the Chancellor for the Banana Moon. The Chancellor becomes... I want to say a mix between Bowser and Trogdor the Burninator with a mustache. Sly goes full duck and survives. Juju saves everyone else by crafting a ark out of the pieces of the tower - very Noah of her - before wielding her holy water sword. Kukuri summon her strawberry missiles and Nike masters the flame at the chef's suggestion (apparently the King of Fire, who knew?), summoning a fire blade, to win the day. Nike has obtained the Banana Moon, and uses it to shoot laser beam eyes while he yells his favorite way to cook eggs. Everything that happened somehow nearly lined up with Nike's crazy story from last episode. Oh, and Sly gets turned back to partly normal in a Frog Prince manner by the princess before Donald Ducking his frustrations out against Nike. Runrun does the rest with her kiss. Peace is restored, huzzah! Our lead pair leave on their own while everyone else does their own thing. |
|
| Episode 12. Gray Fullbuster, now there's a good shounen protag-kun (will he ever get together with Juvia, I hope so, damn Fairy Tail and it's terrible writing). Seeing hints of Gray and Food Wars makes me wonder if the show has additional easter eggs added to this 2017 version as the previous version came out in 1994, well before Fairy Tail or Food Wars were even published. Also looking on the mal page, some of the character names are slightly different. Maybe the creators updated this version with newer material. Good easter egg detection @whiteflame55 So the party defeats the chancellor and secure the banana moon. Nike levels up with the fire razzle dazzle sword. |
|
| Yeah @23feanor, I'm a fan of Gray as well. I've got lots of problems with the writing, but I'm in so deep that I'm still reading the follow-up manga (and yes - Gray and Juvia become an official couple at some point, water girl still so thirsty). Episode 13 A brief flash of a Final Fantasy-esque brawl is our summary of the last episode before getting into this one. Like a good male, Nike refuses to ask for directions. Thankfully, Gibble's Google Map powers activate and he directs them to Tellum Village. They find a "Special Hawaii Dining Hall" and proceed to ransack the place like any good video game protagonist would. They're served cooked "gingi," which are little blue lizards that look like they were in the middle of an argument when they died. Turns out this place is guarded by a small dragon that's invisible to everyone but this one Crazy Cat Lady, except Kukuri and Nike can see it as well because of their ties to the Shadow Dark Realm. They wake up the next day and, in the words of the old lady, the cats "go pow and start to dance!" This is, apparently, not an epidemic of Felix the Cat syndrome, but part of a legend that connects to the hero. Their mayor tells them about a monster that attacked once upon a time, leaving dancing cats in his wake. For once, they don't want Nike to risk his life, but rather just want to show him gratitude so that, by the transitive property, they will have shown all heroes gratitude... pretty sure that's how that works. Our heroes collect another Guru Guru circle design because why not, and then Kukuri follows a strange floating... well, they call it a boat, but it looks more like a strange, oblong rock with designs that initially reminded me of Midna, though I landed on the Dark Prince from the newer Prince of Persia games, since it better matches the color and design. The ship opens up, revealing Raid and his minions. It's apparently called Shell, it uses magic as fuel, and it's even got a full on spec sheet, but all it does is drop junk so the townspeople aren't impressed. Raid powers up DBZ-style before literally copy-pasting Domon Kasshu's Burning Finger attack from G Gundam (trashy as it is, I love that show). Turns out he just cast IcyHot, though, so he flies off. Gipple poops out a board from Toma that lets him hover like Marty McFly in the year 2015 (yep, that was the year... where are our non-explosive hoverboards?!) and they remember that, oh yeah, this whole trip was about defeating the Demon King. Entering the Uncanny Lands, they're immediately greeted by the Duhn Duhn fairy (doesn't translate as well into Japanese, where's my dramatic reverb?!). They design a flag that combines a Guru Guru symbol with lines indicating Light power, which definitely will not be used for an all powerful Guru Guru circle in the future (insert sarcastic tone). They run into a witch like Baba with horns with a little demon in a strangely flaccid tower. They announce their house "Smily Bounce House" and display their fear-inducing battle dance to shockingly little effect. The witch uses power absorbing crystal balls to fight, so Nike takes his hoverboard and, like Renton Thurston before him, flies into battle, stealing the balls and... immediately thrusting them down his pants so it looks like he has 3 gigantic testicles. Ballsy move. Having passed whatever test this was, a small animal hybrid girl named Nanacona onboard an... elephantasaur?... takes them to their village, where Nike immediately ransacks the place. Link would be proud. Nanacona's father, a strange red head in a pot, approves of them for the whole village, which is composed of a wide variety of monsters. So now they will go about their business unmolested by local monsters. They arrive at last at Alahabica, a city of monsters, and immediately run into a furry and shopkeepers whose heads are doomed just by talking to them (these are apparently illusions, but I saw that dude get carried off in a stretcher), as well as a shop that is literally just a woman coming out and shaking her breasts in front of them. They find Toma again because, hey, small world, and he gives them robes to look like monsters. Kukuri looks like a cute cat girl, and Nike looks like... a chicken in a grass skirt, though he changes into something that feels very [url=where the wild things are book images]Where the Wild Things Are[/url]. They attend a festival, featuring the ill-fated return of Adberg in mouse attire. |
|
| Episode 10 ... concludes the endless tower arc. Episode 11-12 ... in the the Copa arc they liberate a kingdom from it's evil chancellor and his demonic overlord. Nike gains the 1st elementary king's Razzle Dazzle approval and masters fire. I'm lazy here, whiteflame55 did all the work so well that I can. |
| |
| @whiteflame55 did you read FT after watching S1, as I saw that you don't have FT 2014 or the Final Series on your completed list? FT is one of the handful of shows that I started reading, and would keep up with weekly, after the 2014 series finished and before the Final series aired, around the Spriggan 12 arc. I stopped reading once the announcement for the Final series came out to wait to watch it. I'm pretty happy 100 Years Quest is getting adapted and will definitely watch it. Same with me, i know FT has some terrible writing but it was the 2nd anime I watched once I got into anime over a decade ago so I'm in too deep to back out now, lol. I remember the Gray x Juvia situation used to wind me up, they had a number of confessions, and seemed like they would become a couple (around the Grand Magic Games arc iirc), then suddenly then went back to the usual status quo because Gray said something like he couldn't commit to Juvia until he had resolved the issue with his dad, Absolute Zero. Such a cop out, but Mashima did this a lot with the potential couples. Episode 13. When they talk about a puffing dragon, I wonder if they are obliquely referring to the song 'puff the magic dragon', but not sure if the Japanese would know this song? Dancing cats were funny. The Smiley Boing House eh, lol. K&N make it to a monster village where they have to dress up with some strange shops. |
|
| @23feanor Yeah, I picked up the manga early in the anime's run and just fell off with the anime. It's like One Piece and Naruto for me - I keep up with where the story is in the manga, and I watch the anime when there's a fight or moment that I want to see animated. And yeah, similar with you, I'm in too deep now. I think the series does some things really well, but one of them is not narrative design. Episode 14 Hey, Olmec's back, and he's haunting Kukuri's dreams. A monster sends our heroes on a treasure hunt. They run into flying egg people with bandanas that can turn people into stone (incidentally, what's with all the gas-based transformations?), summon a heart planet (pretty sure I've seen something like that in Kirby) that can pull enemies in and shatter them like Humpty Dumpty. But then, it turns out they have a Pikachu-esque yolk to fight with inside. They win by running away, finding blue psychedelic peppers (what's with this show and giving kids drugs?) for a quest they were given earlier. They run into another Poneglyph that gives them helpful directions to Derida's house. Dude's a Snidely Whiplash wizard, but he seems nice enough before running off. They eat a pepper each and, after tripping balls, basically become the monsters that their outfits resemble. They quickly cause tremendous property damage. They get knocked out, brought to a curse removal store, and recover, with the caveat that they might regress at any time. They start collecting keys to go to these special ruins. They obtain another monster detector (because apparently the other two that we've seen are gone now - they were kinda creepy) and Adberg joins them on their way to see Derida. They put the key in a hole in the ground and turn it, causing a tower to rise out of the ground with a demon that upchucks water. Meanwhile, our villains launch Operation Lovey Dovey. Following the water, our heroes find a young girl lost in the woods who catches Nike's eye, an agent of our villains and (based on the response of Kukuri's crystal) a demon. Nike calls her Suela, mistaking her for a beauty among the monsters that was mentioned earlier. Nike's taken with her after he sees her topless. The girl riles up Kukuri. They fight a bunch of egg monsters. Turns out, the girl who showed up isn't the one our villains were expecting, who shows up later (and isn't much of a looker). So now we have no clue who this girl is. Kukuri somehow turns herself into a demon on top of one of those vine ladders from Super Mario. The next episode preview is epic and done in a style that evokes DBZ and Naruto, apparently all written to confuse them by Kukuri herself. Good gag. |
|
| On a complete tangent, I watched the first John Wick film last night and man was it epic. Best film I've seen since Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was mind blowing. John Wick is best action movie I've seen since Die Hard. Have either of you guys seen any really good films recently (non anime films I mean)? Episode 14. So N&K get drugged/cursed after eating a blue pepper and go berserk before being knocked out. The demons plan a 'lovey dovey' attack on Kukuri to upset her and nullify her guru guru magic. A strange girl appears passing herself off as Suela the monster beauty and is very interested in Nike, but she's not the demons agent, so who is she? She manages to get under Kukuri's skin and causes her to mess up her summoning appearing to turn into a demon. That preview was funny. |
|
| @23feanor I still have to catch up on the sequels, but I'm a pretty big fan of John Wick. One of my favorite action films. Everything Everywhere All at Once was a vision of a movie as well, easily my favorite for this year. That being said, I did also love RRR (probably the best bromance in movies and action that's over the top in all the right ways), Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was probably the single best shot stop motion film I've ever seen (not quite my favorite of all time, but still an improvement over the Disney classic that I thought very highly of), Puss in Boots 2 was shockingly really good despite the underwhelming first entry in that franchise (animation quality skyrocketed, the story actually feels meaningful, the characters are investing - it's a good time), and I really enjoyed Top Gun: Maverick and The Fabelmans. Also made a point of finally catching up on some Wes Andersen classics this year - Grand Budapest is still my favorite of his, but the Life Aquatic and Royal Tenenbaums are great. Episode 15 Kukuri's launching heart arrows like a cute little Boa Hancock, though these doesn't turn their targets to stone. They're broken heart arrows. Turns out the little girl going around with them is the Goddess of Fate, who puts people she meets through trials. She conjures a belfry, like you do, and it flies away, as all belfries are wont to do. Raid and company gtfo and our gang finds another key in a tree, though Kukuri has apparently become able to manipulate space in interesting ways. Adberg gets horny and becomes a bear, Nike becomes an advertisement for two gently rolling hills and then a centaur. Derida helps them out and his house gets destroyed for his troubles. Nike finds refuge in Toma's shop, which was rebuilt by Adberg with some... minor aesthetic touches that lightly evoke their patron's sensibilities... Turns out the town itself is an illusion conjured by a giant Guru Guru circle, though that doesn't make much sense given that they've interacted with the townsfolk on multiple occasions. Raid and his party return with a giant red golem that is reminiscent of the Char's red Zaku (one eye and all), which they use to turn a giant key that's in the middle of the town, resulting in a transformation a la Fez. Turns out they were standing on the Panfos Ruins the whole time, which houses a daemon. Kukuri reappears as an obstacle, using mines that are hearts wrapped in thorny vines (similar to the heart wrapped in barbed wire). Nike gives her colored pencils, which she takes after putting two arrows in the back of Nike's skull before flying off. I didn't really get the whole key system and how the first two worked. They say the first one spawned the spring, the second one was "helping you two level up," which they can't use until Kukuri's back to normal, and somehow this leads in sequence to the giant one in town. Kukuri gives some hints that she's trying to come back. Derida exposits about Guru Guru and how the heart plays a role in how it's done, including that the second key will give them access to another circle. They draw the power button in the sand, indicating somehow that Nike is supposed to form a connection to Kukuri. Meanwhile, Kukuri reaches through a lake and into the tea in a teacup in front of Juju (evokes the Black Puddle Queen from Courage the Cowardly Dog, or maybe Leorio from HxH), who is not at all surprised by this development. She gets pulled through, slaps Kukuri and exorcises the demon... maybe. They all head to the Ruins and Juju activates her sixth sense, explaining what she's sensing as "imagine a raccoon, riding a unicycle backwards, while throwing shot puts." Yep, makes sense to me. They face some of the Chao-esque evildoers and various effigies of Adberg from the store defeat them for some reason. They face a yellow version of the weird sun-faced dragon-like creature from Episode 6, who paralyzes the guys and gets the girls to "do something sexy, which amounts to stripping and riding a wolf. Kukuri somehow makes a circle on the scene despite not being there just in time to try and burn him as well, though Juju deals the final blow by summoning and launching a giant cross. There's a strong indication at the end that Kukuri is responsible for summoning a bunch of strange stuff, so she is somehow functioning as the ghost of the tower. |
|
| @whiteflame55 I've heard the new Pinocchio is good, will have top check it out. We loved the first Puss in Boots movie so will check the latest one out. We liked Jon Wick so much we watched the 2nd movie last night, also really good, although not quite as kick ass as the first but sets up the story for a brilliant 3rd movie, which we'll hopefully get around to over the weekend. Episode 15. Ah so the beautiful girl was the goddess of fate causing trouble in order to test the heroes. So Kukuri has turned devil because of her unresolved feelings. They said hidden, but Kukuri hasn't really hidden her attraction to Nike very well tbh. The monster town was an illusion, didn't see that coming. Also didn't they go berserk and wreck half the town, or was it all an illusion? The team locate the Panfos ruins which were hidden underneath Alphahabica town. Now they have to find Kukuri and Nike has to commit to turning her back to normal. |
|
| Episode 13-16 The Alahabica (J-mangled Arabia?) arc is my favorite so far. It's overboarding with fantasy and smart story twists, borrowing from Princess Tutu, Inception and Haruhi's melancholy. The demonic form of Kukuri is about the most moe thing I've seen in a while, especially her "evil laugh". It's her character arc anyway, and the heart of the K&N romance. The nature of Guru Guru magic isn't really good or evil, more like a Ying-Yang version of the two. Kukuri personifies this split's polar opposites over the arc, in a demonic and an angelic (magical girl) form. It's triggered by the beautiful goddess of fate, who flirts with Nike and trigger's Kukuri's jealousy. Which turns out to release unforseen amounts of magical powers from her. It turns out she literally creates a world, Alahabica, in her lucid dreams. She becomes a creator god and what she draws with crayons she got from Nike becmes reality. There are the usual gags, small battles, twists and turns but the arc finale blows it all out of the water: a musical. It catapults Alahabica from a dream world into "real reality". We for the first time see the demon lord himself, Kaya's and Raid's boss Giri. And he's a pot plant. The demon faction is defeated once more by the power of N&K's love, and when the last song is sung they move on for a new adventure. Very enjoyable, even when I'm still not really able to summarize episodes well. I'd had to take notes and also I like to binge full arcs, which gives a better flow. It becomes too much material to remember in detail too fast. I hope you are ok with my lazy posting. |
| |
| I'm usually writing the post as I watch, which helps in keeping track of the references. Don't think I'd remember even half of this stuff if I just started writing after I finished. Episode 16 Nike arrives on the scene sporting Naruto whiskers. The tower's getting stranger with parts of it moving around, weird stuff appearing on it, and even the entire outside growing grass suddenly. The Giri Army Warship shows up (looks like a red version of Bowser's shell with cannons coming out the sides) with the apparent aim being to wipe out the tower entirely. Giri is apparently a purple flower on top of a glowing stem that uses a speaker to communicate (apparently a sealed form). Even Kaya didn't recognize him. Our heroes appear to be on the backfoot as the cannon balls that land transform into monsters, but then the castle a giant mouth like Rocky Horror Picture Show that attempts to suck in the evildoers. The villains start launching pineapple bombs instead, which come with sunglasses. The explosion just causes the building to separate, though, with all the blocks floating in the sky. They're joined by a giant floating whale, apparently made by Kukuri, who comes out of it in a princess outfit on a sickle moon. And here begins the "everyone's in a musical" portion of the episode. Kukuri is the tower's master, summoning stars to fight for her (this series loves referencing Kirby doesn't it?). Kukuri turns Nike into a prince who can also breakdance, then transforms the tower into some Candyland monstrosity. Raid attacks with monsters that look like flying Zaku heads with wings. They put on a play involving the big bad wolf and the three little pigs, the latter of whom get saved by a flying Nike (I'm guessing he's referencing Peter Pan in that outfit). Adberg participates as well as an exploding apple salesman (probably just a different take on the poisoned apple in Snow White, though I choose to believe they were referencing SpongeBob). Some floating eyes put everyone in darkness, and then turn them into pixelated forms, but Kukuri clears the darkness with optimism and the power of friendship. This incredible combination (along with a giant teddy bear sun that they summon) destroys the warship. With the musical portion ended, Kukuri wants a child marriage with Nike before she melts. Turns out, even that princess form was not the real Kukuri, who is hanging out in a version of her hometown. Nike's colored pencils apparently helped save the day, and her heart is divided, something that Nike has to help overcome by tying part of it to her face. When that stroke of genius doesn't work, Nike's got to kiss her in her sleep - hey, another Snow White reference. That leads to Kukuri waking up and Adberg presumably falling to his death. Nike informs her that the anime was retooled in her sleep, and the images are just... the best. Adberg's a Gundam, Toma's Happy from Fairy Tail, Juju is a magical girl with cat ears from... pick your poison, Nike is either a Fire Emblem protagonist or a side character from Dragon Quest, and Space Gang Leader Giri is [insert dark villain leader reference here]. With the illusion gone, everyone who lived there (who are all apparently real). Nike decides to make a quick buck and gtfo. We also learn that Kukuri can only unlock the strongest of her powers while she's a child and if she's secure in her feelings. Derida tries to give her the second key, which will show her the strongest Guru Guru that sealed Giri, but she refuses, thinking that she won't be able to use it and must create something like it for herself. Also, fun little scene at the end involving Kukuri's insecurity about her bust size. Kids these days... |
|
| Episode 16. I'm not going to add anything except to say that episode was awesome, best episode of the series so far. Loved the musical number. |
|
| Episode 17 Our heroes are lost in the desert. There's a funny scene at the start where Gipple says he can't help them because he has his grandmother's memorial service at that exact time. I will say, in general, Gipple's been good comedy all around - the expressions he makes every time there's a cheesy moment are priceless - he even does it in the background of this episode a couple of times, one time wearing a suit (so I guess he did actually go to a memorial). A child runs into them with a bell around his neck... And smash cut to the new OP! A cute OP with some funny scenes that incorporates a lot of what we've seen so far. Nike has a vision (with another The Starry Night sky) about meeting the King of Earth. He awakes, and their savior Kuruje gets them up to date. The horns on her helmet look familiar, but I can't place them. They arrive at Eneru Village, which isn't much of a looker. Everyone's afraid of monsters. There's a rumor about drums driving the monsters away, but they haven't been able to use them recently. Kukuri uses her fire Ground Snake to fight an actual ground snake (less horrifying versions of Twinmold from Majora's Mask), then an old dude named Clemente strikes a pose that blows one away. He offers to teach Nike light magic. To help him become one with nature, they bury him up to his neck in sand. Clemente also has another disciple who looks the part of the hero, but apparently has an inflated ego and just doesn't acknowledge Nike's growing accomplishments. Kukuri, meanwhile, is off doing more important stuff: designing a Guru Guru that crop dusts the town. She creates a wide variety of cat-based Guru Guru that are varying degrees of absurd. Nike banishes them with a Cool Pose that... surprisingly works. So, the King of Earth appears literally rising out of the ground on a spikey statue, cosplaying as a Kuriboh mixed with Master Roshi wearing a crown. Turns out Kuruje is this guy's daughter, and the lack of recent festivals for this king means he doesn't have power, let alone a sword ability to give Nike. The power of an awesome drum set might restore them, so they put on a festival where, of course, Adberg shows up to dance. Meanwhile, our villains are going all Mad Max in the desert with a new evil plan dragged behind them under a tarp. They arrive in another Gundam look-alike made from earth. Nike protects Kukuri somehow while she designs a new circle that summons... a floating, bored yellow head with three horns, a ball gag, and floating black and yellow inverted spikes. Seems like a mix between a bee and the drum statue she saw earlier. This might as well happen. It's apparently very powerful and plays the drums, since it takes out the robot in one hit. Everyone in the town beats up Adberg. The King of Earth returns fully powered, shooting a Dragon Ball-style beam at Nike to give him the sword of earth, which he can only use after playing some bongos. It looks cool, but it's attached to the ground by a vine. Still, it cuts the robot in half easily and, since the robot made from earth, it turns to sand (so the power of Ganju Shiba from Bleach or Crocodile from One Piece). Onto the land of flowers in... a boat that looks like a bathtub that moves via a pipe that sticks out of the earth, which is coin operated. Wonder how much it'll cost them to get there. Turns out that the journal they found at the Endless Tower was written by the old dude they met when they first arrived here, and that he failed to complete the tower, so he's happy to see it helped someone. The new ED is pretty cute as well, I like the soft art style with the glowing edges around everything. |
whiteflame55Jan 22, 2023 8:35 AM
|
More topics from this board
» The Heroic Legend of Arslan (2015) - May 2024 Group Watchwhiteflame55 - May 19 |
39 |
by 23feanor
»»
1 hour ago |
|
» Secret of Cerulean Sand (2002) ( 1 2 )whiteflame55 - Apr 26 |
72 |
by 23feanor
»»
May 23, 12:50 AM |
|
Sticky: » Discuss the Series You Just Finished ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Chelle - Jul 27, 2009 |
2912 |
by 23feanor
»»
May 22, 10:27 PM |
|
Sticky: » New Member Introductions ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Chelle - Oct 3, 2009 |
836 |
by Evans_Born
»»
May 21, 5:09 PM |
|
» Kobato (2009) - April 2024 Group Watch ( 1 2 )23feanor - Apr 2 |
54 |
by filifjonkan
»»
May 6, 7:49 AM |