General Anime/Manga Discussion 13.5: Recap Episode

[mallorean_thug]

Well, I'm mainly thinking of how the OP's visuals and the OP song go hand-in-hand. Like, the obvious moment is Tami's piano keystroke in the middle of the OP that syncs with the music, but everyone also moves perfectly to the beat of the song, and the fact that it's the dance from the show just makes the integration perfect. I see OPs where the music more or less matches the feel of the visuals, but I've seldom seen it put together that exactly.

Ok, so like Platinum Disco. I'll try to think of more that match that and link them in this post.

[Sith_Happens]

I can explain what was neat about it if you'd like, but it would get heavily into spoilers since you really don't get a chance to understand what the main character actually is until around book 8 or 9. (By pacing problems I mean "This was never meant to be anything less than a 500+ page full sized novel, and all the reveals are spaced accordingly")

Probably already read most or all of what you're alluding to on TV Tropes, so fire away.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Umibozu

Traditional folklore beastie.

Hee hee hee.



I can see it.

Ok, so like Platinum Disco. I'll try to think of more that match that and link them in this post.

Neat! It does make me curious--I'm sure practices for anime OPs vary from show to show, since some shows probably just get the rights to a J-Rock song and animate around that, but is there a "typical" process for making an OP?

[Alent]

Oh, interesting, I'd heard "umibouzu" but I thought I was hearing "Sea brat". Thanks for the mythology link.

Probably already read most or all of what you're alluding to on TV Tropes, so fire away.

Ah, they probably got the most of it in, they're pretty good about it. I just didn't want to do a colossal infodump with no warning. The basic Gist of Mahouka overall is that it's an exploration of "What it would mean to society to have magic". The overall "society level" issues of the story are fairly easy to overlook for the details of how the kids' every day life plays out.

Spoiler: Goofy Mahouka

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A few things first:

An important central part of Mahouka is that the magic system conforms to consistent ideas. (These are explained in a short encyclopedia at the start of each book) The entire deal with flight in the second arc was an attempt to "Show" the limitations of how much a single magician can influence an object instead of just coming out and saying it outright. the story is very obsessed with being a Sci-fi with magic, and so it ends up being closer to a Fate style "concept beats concept" fantasy than the usual "magic does anything" fantasy. Somewhere early on Tatsuya points out that magic can reject physics, but you typically use physics to make magic easier.

The primary two forces that magic consists of are Psions and Pushions. One is "The idea of the spell" and the other is "the force to power it". Magicians who are able to handle complicated psion bodies and power them with sustained high volumes of pushions are favored by national programs. These are both genetic traits and a magician's life is completely decided by them, and they don't really get a say in the matter because as soon as it's discovered that they're magicians, they're state property.

So, on to the story:

The first arc is basically to reveal that the inequalities in the system are real, and that the perception of the situation makes them worse. Magicians are basically always going to serve as Military reserves, and this is the life style all of the kids have ahead of them. The less skilled ones are better off in many ways, because once they go above a certain performance level, they're effectively required to go on the front lines of every single war and conflict.

This arc also highlights one huge issue in that because Magicians are so important to a sovereign nation's survival, magicians are blessed with money. There isn't a second generation Magician that's lived a life of less than upper class living. This makes the non-magicians extremely jealous, and it's a viewpoint alluded to but not seen firsthand in Mahouka since the cast is exclusively magicians, except through the manipulated tools of Blanche. The fact Magicians are state property also causes non-magicians to see Magicians as a resource for their benefit. Again, another viewpoint alluded to but not witnessed.

The Terrorists in this arc are just a disguised moral imperative: Anyone who wants to deprive a country of magic wants to deprive it of it's sovereignty. Since national conflicts are battles of magicians, taking magicians away from the battlefield is the same as sabotaging its weapons.

The Second arc, the nine schools arc, showcases the potential of every magician for military purposes. There's very little that the kids do that isn't somehow applicable to the battlefield, and so the events give the government a good way to pick out who they're going to recruit as frontline combatants. This is the reason that the entire high military command come to watch kids shoot flying targets- most of those spells they're using are strictly wide are antipersonnel magic "toned down" for sports.

On the side, we have the Criminal underground of China running betting games on it. We also learn that by using mental class magic to destroy the brains of magicians, you can make very powerful and very effective weapons out of them. Tatsuya and Miyuki already know this for a reason.

The third arc, we see the kids try to demonstrate that Magicians are useful for peacetime things, but that gets interrupted as they're forced to prove why Magicians are important in battle. The Anime glossed over all the details of the military technology for the visuals, which are cool to watch but the gun-porn is actually important to the story. Defensive magic can turn an unarmored car into the ultimate fortress. Combat mecha are actually engine and actuatorless because they're Shikigami animated by magicians. The only reason the mundane infantry can stand on the battlefield at all is because they're needed to keep enemy magicians in check or serve as tiebreakers if two magicians are equal.

From here, the story turns dark when Tatsuya reveal to the world that his information magic can function as a nuclear bomb. This breaks things for magicians everywhere. That one review actually had the right of it when he said "I prefer to think of Tatsuya as the villain". He really is.

Sidestories happen around here, and they really only serve to reveal that Tatsuya was a non-magician baby born into a numbered magician household, who's own mother cast Mindrape on him as a toddler, to make him the perfect bodyguard for his infant sister who the family believed to be the single most valuable mage in their family history. Those living weapon magicians from the Chinese crime circuit are not very different than Tatsuya, the difference being Tatsuya had his own will left and manipulated to love his little sister and only his little sister, so that he would obey her orders without question and still have enough individuality to act independent of her. Because of the mindrape spell cast on him, most of his brain was turned into a crude approximation of a magician's magical center, leaving him able to use the most basic of magics, but cast them as if he was using a casting assistance device. So... Effectively, Tatsuya's an experimental AI magician in a human body manufactured to protect Miyuki.

After that, things get messy when the American Government, in an experiment to replicate Tatsuya's Material Burst spell, accidentally creates Living Spell Quantum Vampires. This arc has several things in it, from showing how the Americans regulate magic to showing that there's underground crime organizations in America, to showing how little anyone cares about anyone else's borders when military secrets are on the line.

The Quantum Vampires, which the series identifies as "parasites", jump the border into Japan thinking that America won't risk having Material Burst deployed against them. This ends up being a mistake as strange alliances happen and all but two of the Parasites are killed. One of the survivors is taken by Miyuki's family spies, the other by the Patriarch of the Japanese Military Magic Establishment himself.

The plot from here is going kind of weird, but the Japanese have figured out that they can put the parasites in Androids and use the android programming to control them, effectively letting them create artificial magician robots. Up to where I've read, they're about to field test these, and I'm not sure where the public opinion battle is going. Also unrevealed at present is what Miyuki's aunt wanted with the Parasites, since Miyuki's aunt is the spymaster of Japan, assume nothing good.

I've omitted things here and there for brevity (Family's sitting down to watch a show I want to watch) The overall, high level political game being played with magic is fascinating to me, I really like how despite the Kids' antics, there's a very coherent long term plot about the morality and ethics of magic going on. If the current arc finishes the way I think it will, it's going to lead into a moral debate of "Do we let magicians be people and use robots to kill people?" and all hell's going to break loose.

So yeah, probably nothing you didn't already see on TV tropes, but that was the part about the story I found interesting. It is buried in a bunch of teenage drama since the teenagers are there to serve as viewpoint characters to the overall crisis, and that's not everyone's cup of tea.

[BWR]

Well, I'm mainly thinking of how the OP's visuals and the OP song go hand-in-hand. Like, the obvious moment is Tami's piano keystroke in the middle of the OP that syncs with the music, but everyone also moves perfectly to the beat of the song, and the fact that it's the dance from the show just makes the integration perfect. I see OPs where the music more or less matches the feel of the visuals, but I've seldom seen it put together that exactly.

This might count.
Dokuro-chan s. 2 ed.

not perfect, but some elements.
Kaerimichi, also from the Monogatari series.
Shiawase no Iro, Ah! My Goddess s. 2

I'm sure there are others.

[Rodin]

Umibozu

Traditional folklore beastie.

And suddenly, the "Sea Monk" monster from Saga 3 makes sense to me.

That series had SO many references to Japanese folklore that I didn't get at the time, and I still probably only recognize about half of them...

It is fun every time that lightbulb goes on, though.

[Prime32]

And suddenly, the "Sea Monk" monster from Saga 3 makes sense to me.

That series had SO many references to Japanese folklore that I didn't get at the time, and I still probably only recognize about half of them...

It is fun every time that lightbulb goes on, though.

That feeling when you look back at season 3 of Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and realise that it was originally about fighting a gashadokuro and his army of classical youkai. One of the rangers having a frog-based zord, which even MMPR itself called lame, makes a lot more sense when you learn that NinjaBlack's name was Jiraiya...

[HMS Invincible]

Any thoughts on psycho pass 2? It feels like it's recycling the tirst season even though it's somewhat intentional. I don't like it as much. I expecter them to build on season 1, not a variant or retread. The violence against women is as gratuitous as ever.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Any thoughts on psycho pass 2? It feels like it's recycling the tirst season even though it's somewhat intentional. I don't like it as much. I expecter them to build on season 1, not a variant or retread. The violence against women is as gratuitous as ever.

From what I heard, they were rebroadcasting the original PsychoPass and making a few small changes to set up for an actual Season 2. I may try and find out about the changes, and then jump on the show when Season 2 hits, idk.

(Also, I've decided that Tokiwa Machi is going to grow up, move to Akihabara, and learn how to text with blazing Shining speed. Obviously. The visual resemblance is too uncanny. )

[mallorean_thug]

From what I heard, they were rebroadcasting the original PsychoPass and making a few small changes to set up for an actual Season 2. I may try and find out about the changes, and then jump on the show when Season 2 hits, idk.

Actual Season 2 is airing right now. The rebroadcast was during summer season. There weren't really any changes, just the touched up visuals from the BD release, and a couple short extra scenes.

I haven't seen last night's episode yet, but I'll post my thoughts up when I have. Based on the first two episodes, I thought it was going in a solid direction. Remember though, that this season only gets 11 episodes, and then there's going to be a movie that Gen and Production IG are actually working on. So I would honestly expect any resolution to come in the movie, sadly . . .

[Terraoblivion]

(Also, I've decided that Tokiwa Machi is going to grow up, move to Akihabara, and learn how to text with blazing Shining speed. Obviously. The visual resemblance is too uncanny. )

She's too sane for that.

[HamHam]

and then embellished the nauseating brocon and siscon show parts.

That was literally the only genuinely interesting part though. Mainly because everyone else actually reacted to it.

But seriously that show was super boring and I dropped it.

----------------

Nothing in the new season has really caught my interest, I have to say. Some continuing shows are great (Log Horizon and Akame Ga Kill) but none of the new stuff has been all that memorable except for CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon which was not in a good way. Although I could tell that from the synopsis.

[VariSami]

Nothing in the new season has really caught my interest, I have to say. Some continuing shows are great (Log Horizon and Akame Ga Kill) but none of the new stuff has been all that memorable except for CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon which was not in a good way. Although I could tell that from the synopsis.

I do not know whether it will be your cup of tea or not but I find Garo to be the best series this season (at least thus far). It tackles some damn sensitive topics (well, mostly shows instead of resolving) and the fact that the main characters cannot fight against mundane people actually makes the social dynamics very interesting. It seems that more often than not, they are faced with a danger in the form of a bigoted or superstitious mob instead of a demon because they can actually fight the latter but not the former.

[Winthur]

The violence against women is as gratuitous as ever.

I don't know about that, but the "Miss Akane Tsunemori is being unprofessional again wah wah wahhhh" woman deserves a slap already. Every single piece of her screentime is her being against absolutely everything going on. Even when setting up action.

Spoiler: Elaboration on the above, mildly spoilerish

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Seriously, her entire role seems to have been a replacement for Inspector Ginoza, except Ginoza was established as the position of authority - a flawed one, being quite judgmental and also paranoid over his Huehuehue, but still fair, and an alright foil to Akane. Ginoza's used to his way but we're clearly supposed to like the "throw the book at them", non-lethal approach.

Now all that happens is that Akane does the Lawful Good thing which is immediately met with a derisive remark slashing through that girl's pout. We already know Akane's way is always right, the viewer is deliberately set up to think this since season 1 - why does the newbie girl have to contest that, and not even in a meaningful way? Unless Akane gets moved into some supersadistic situation which would have been resolved easily had it not been for her, you know, acting like our 21st century standard of a cop, I don't have a clue what's the newbie's purpose as a character. Her lines could be easily be just "You're in my way, sir", "You're standing in my spot", "That's my spot you're at" ad infinitum. And name changed to Reynolds.

Dunno, I try to be sympathetic and understanding - I believe Rossiu did nothing wrong and that Kamille is a man's name, for instance - but man, I'm annoyed with that girl already.

It's literally the only thing I don't like so far. I'm all up for season 2, even if it's just more of the same since it would be still entertaining with just the base premise.

[Prime32]

So Unlimited Blade Works ep3 added quite a bit that wasn't in the VN

Spoiler: Fate/Zero spoilers

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Most notably Saber reacting to the name Einzbern, Illya using a version of Irisviel's bird familiars, and Saber managing to land a kill on Berserker by briefly unsheathing Excalibur. Which is kind of weird since Excalibur has never been used that quickly or casually anywhere else, and it takes away the reason for Illya's "I'm not interested in Saber but I am in Archer" line.

[deuterio12]

So Unlimited Blade Works ep3 added quite a bit that wasn't in the VN

Spoiler: Fate/Zero spoilers

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Most notably Saber reacting to the name Einzbern, Illya using a version of Irisviel's bird familiars, and Saber managing to land a kill on Berserker by briefly unsheathing Excalibur. Which is kind of weird since Excalibur has never been used that quickly or casually anywhere else, and it takes away the reason for Illya's "I'm not interested in Saber but I am in Archer" line.

It's not only adding, it's changing

Spoiler

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Invisible Air can now totally wound Berseker, when before direct blows wouldn't even scratch him.

Also Berseker now knows Kung-fu, where before he was supposed to be all raw-power, so fast and strong he didn't need any fancy styles. Shirou said something along the lines of "Techniques are something humans created to overcome their weaknesses. This monster has no weaknesess and thus has no need for such tricks"

But I guess going for the original above would mean a more boring fight.

And Einzinbern vs Rin seemed like a Touhou duel, using bombs for temporary invulnerability, basic danmaku spam, enemy spell slaves change after taking enough damage and everything.

[Prime32]

It's not only adding, it's changing

Spoiler

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Invisible Air can now totally wound Berseker, when before direct blows wouldn't even scratch him.

Also Berseker now knows Kung-fu, where before he was supposed to be all raw-power, so fast and strong he didn't need any fancy styles. Shirou said something along the lines of "Techniques are something humans created to overcome their weaknesses. This monster has no weaknesess and thus has no need for such tricks"

But I guess going for the original above would mean a more boring fight.

And Einzinbern vs Rin seemed like a Touhou duel, using bombs for temporary invulnerability, basic danmaku spam, enemy spell slaves change after taking enough damage and everything.

Well that and

Spoiler: UBW ep3

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In the VN Berserker ignores Archer's arrow because it seems just like his other attacks so far, then at the last second senses danger and tries to block it. After the explosion Illya is shocked that someone would have an attack that strong, and decides to retreat.

In the anime the arrow looks extremely different from the others, Berserker ignores it without taking damage, then Illya says Archer is special for seemingly no reason.

Actually, why don't I just link the scene from the VN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1_oj136JsM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHHWDUHvtA
The second vid ends with an OP for the route that contains minor spoilers for people who've only watched F/Z.

[Terraoblivion]

On the other hand, they made the scene actually work.

Spoiler

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Rin and Ilya did stuff, Shirou's role came off as something somebody would actually do instead of totally hamfisted writing of the one character trait he's supposed to have and, honestly, I'm not sure I see the problem with Ilya's proclamation. Didn't you see what the arrow looked like and why that might interest her? Even if it didn't have much of an effect right then and there.

[Prime32]

On the other hand, they made the scene actually work.

Spoiler

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Rin and Ilya did stuff, Shirou's role came off as something somebody would actually do instead of totally hamfisted writing of the one character trait he's supposed to have and, honestly, I'm not sure I see the problem with Ilya's proclamation. Didn't you see what the arrow looked like and why that might interest her? Even if it didn't have much of an effect right then and there.

Spoiler

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I had no problems with the Rin vs. Illya scene - heck, I thought it was pretty cool. I was just surprised to see it.

Shirou's behaviour here isn't any different from how he acted in the VN; in fact in the VN you have the option of just calling out to Saber instead of running in and dragging her away.

The problem is that Archer's display of power in this scene left a big impact on Shirou and is why he started taking notice of him, but here he's been overshadowed by Saber. Berserker no longer having his invulnerable skin also makes him less threatening, which in turn reduces the impact of his later scenes.
I mean yes the arrow was flashy, but since Saber was way more effective Illya's line just feels like awkward Archer shilling.

[Terraoblivion]

Spoiler

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I mean yes the arrow was flashy, but since Saber was way more effective Illya's line just feels like awkward Archer shilling.

Spoiler

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The arrow looked like Excalibur and if there's one master likely to know what Excalibur is supposed to look like it's Ilya. She's also likely to have been told that King Arthur is a woman, given who Kiritsugu was working for. So she knows that there's something up when somebody else uses an Excalibur arrow.

[Prime32]

Spoiler

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The arrow looked like Excalibur and if there's one master likely to know what Excalibur is supposed to look like it's Ilya. She's also likely to have been told that King Arthur is a woman, given who Kiritsugu was working for. So she knows that there's something up when somebody else uses an Excalibur arrow.

Spoiler: VN spoilers

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Bear in mind that Saber's connection to the Einzberns comes entirely from Fate/Zero - in the original Saber doesn't even recognise the name. There is never any indication that Illya knows who Saber is. Also, if it was an Excalibur arrow you'd think Saber would be the first to notice.
The arrow doesn't actually have any direct connection to Excalibur - its resemblance is due to their myths being related (which we've already seen cases of), and is never commented on. Archer calls its name the next time he uses it.

Plus even if she thought Archer's arrow was interesting, it seems odd to have no interest in Saber after she revealed she was capable of killing the Servant that was supposed to be invincible.

[HMS Invincible]

Spoiler: VN spoilers

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Bear in mind that Saber's connection to the Einzberns comes entirely from Fate/Zero - in the original Saber doesn't even recognise the name. There is never any indication that Illya knows who Saber is. Also, if it was an Excalibur arrow you'd think Saber would be the first to notice.
The arrow doesn't actually have any direct connection to Excalibur - its resemblance is due to their myths being related (which we've already seen cases of), and is never commented on. Archer calls its name the next time he uses it.

Plus even if she thought Archer's arrow was interesting, it seems odd to have no interest in Saber after she revealed she was capable of killing the Servant that was supposed to be invincible.

Spoiler: Berserker SPoiler

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I thought the berserker's Noble Phantasm made him immune to the thing that kills him, so you need x different ways to kill him equal to his stock of lives. That's why Gilgamesh and Archer are so dangerous to Berserker. They have too many weapons to use against him. Someone like Lancer or Rider would be really weak against berserker since Rider can only stab or use her NP. Lancer has like 3-4 ways since he also has secret rune magic that he never uses cuz fighting is more fun.

[Pronounceable]

I like UBW anime. It's shiny and cool. And the new scene is almost the exact thing I'd have written in my giant FSN fanfiction if I was the type who'd write giant FSN fanfiction. They must be stealing my thoughts with some secret new Japanese invention!

Spoiler

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Well I'd have probably written a much crappier magic battle because I'm not Nasu assisted. But original scene was seriously lacking with all masters just standing around twiddling thumbs, so this is an immense improvement. Not to mention the increased sense of servants' power and believability in the setting by moving the battle into not the middle of the city. Original scenes were quite unbelievable with bigass servant battles happening right in the main streets but nobody noticing.
However it would've been better if Shirou wasn't an idiot and ran into the incoming explosion. And especially the following little bit seemed like a Saber flag and is triggering my spider senses. I'm gonna rage so ****ing hard if they go for UBW silly ending. I'm almost sure it's just there to mislead people though, so I'm not too worried.

Also cappoeira Berserker was not a thing I was expecting. Still cool though.
Another thing I wasn't expecting was Rin mashing Shirou's face into a tree in a sudden explosion of tsundere. While it's not an unpleasant thing by itself (in fact it's awesome), adding in the dumb butt wiggle from last episode makes me suspect they're mucking about with Rin for extra otaku pandering.

The lesson UBW is teaching me is that getting pumped about good things is bad. You start looking for potential faults and problems, creating needless worry for yourself.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Well that and

Spoiler: UBW ep3

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In the VN Berserker ignores Archer's arrow because it seems just like his other attacks so far, then at the last second senses danger and tries to block it. After the explosion Illya is shocked that someone would have an attack that strong, and decides to retreat.

In the anime the arrow looks extremely different from the others, Berserker ignores it without taking damage, then Illya says Archer is special for seemingly no reason.

Actually, why don't I just link the scene from the VN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1_oj136JsM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHHWDUHvtA
The second vid ends with an OP for the route that contains minor spoilers for people who've only watched F/Z.

Umm actually the final battle scene matches up very well to me on further review, within valid artistic license and medium switching... that last attack was always different in both.

Up to that point not so much. One thing nobody has noted yet

Spoiler: VN Stuff

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Saber right now can't use Excalibur without "riding the mana transfer dragon" afterward to fill back up and is almost completely incapacitated in the interim. I personally don't buy that Excali-pistol there can run at A rank and not take more prana then Saber can spend and not show clear problems from using it.

Also seriously just crap all over the Fate route UBW anime, because if Saber had a safe way to fire Excalibur she would have done it in that route. Nevermind it undermines say the Assassin fight at the end where the whole problem was she couldn't just wipe him out at range because even with RIN as a Master, Saber can't spam her sword.

Finally a pew pew laser just so doesn't fit the Sword of Promised Victory

[kamikasei]

On the other hand, they made the scene actually work.

Spoiler

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I was struck, around the point where Archer sniped Berserker for (I think) the second time, that they'd just had an entire episode talking about the fact that it's sensible to target the Masters rather than the Servants, but then didn't attempt to use their super-long-range magical artillery to take out the tiny girl instead of the giant invulnerable monster. So the Rin/Ilya fight was a welcome addition, for me.

I was less annoyed by Saber vs Berserker than it seems others were. For one thing, I took her final attack to be a use of the air sheath, not an actual firing of Excalibur (for one thing, she doesn't say it). For another, Berserker doesn't need to be both invulnerable and auto-rezzing, that's just dumb.

Spoiler

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And especially the following little bit seemed like a Saber flag and is triggering my spider senses. I'm gonna rage so ****ing hard if they go for UBW silly ending. I'm almost sure it's just there to mislead people though, so I'm not too worried.

Spoiler

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Come on, everyone knows Rin/Saber is the true pairing of UBW and therefore the "silly" ending is the real one.

[Prime32]

Spoiler

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I was struck, around the point where Archer sniped Berserker for (I think) the second time, that they'd just had an entire episode talking about the fact that it's sensible to target the Masters rather than the Servants, but then didn't attempt to use their super-long-range magical artillery to take out the tiny girl instead of the giant invulnerable monster. So the Rin/Ilya fight was a welcome addition, for me.

Spoiler: VN spoilers

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Well there's another reason...

"What is that, Archer...!?"
"We can talk later. Run, kid. You took Ilya's hand, so protect her until the very end."

Archer slows down a bit and goes behind us.
...At that instant.
Right before he leaves, he gives Illya a look heavy with regret.

There's a handful of scenes like this throughout the VN which imply that Archer cares deeply for Ilya and doesn't want her to get hurt; even the DEEN anime left one in. It's not out of character for Archer to lie about being able to see her.

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I was less annoyed by Saber vs Berserker than it seems others were. For one thing, I took her final attack to be a use of the air sheath, not an actual firing of Excalibur (for one thing, she doesn't say it). For another, Berserker doesn't need to be both invulnerable and auto-rezzing, that's just dumb.

Spoiler

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It looked at first like she was releasing her sheath so she could stab him with Excalibur, but going back yeah it looks like a close-range variant of her wind blast technique... which isn't supposed to be that powerful.

Berserker is invulnerable to everything except top-class weapons - "A-rank" ones. In the VN Rin identifies Archer's arrow as an "A-rank attack" - it's implied that he succeeded in killing Berserker, but Rin didn't know about his resurrection power and couldn't see him using it through all the smoke, so she just assumed he didn't take damage.
In the anime it's still called A-rank but it clearly doesn't kill him, establishing that you need an attack stronger than A-rank to hurt Berserker... except that Saber was drawing blood from him with just her wind-sheath earlier, which Rin can tell is not A-rank, and thus she has no reason to say "even A-rank attacks don't work".

[HMS Invincible]

Spoiler: VN spoilers

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Well there's another reason...

There's a handful of scenes like this throughout the VN which imply that Archer cares deeply for Ilya and doesn't want her to get hurt; even the DEEN anime left one in. It's not out of character for Archer to lie about being able to see her.

Spoiler

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It looked at first like she was releasing her sheath so she could stab him with Excalibur, but going back yeah it looks like a close-range variant of her wind blast technique... which isn't supposed to be that powerful.

Berserker is invulnerable to everything except top-class weapons - "A-rank" ones. In the VN Rin identifies Archer's arrow as an "A-rank attack" - it's implied that he succeeded in killing Berserker, but Rin didn't know about his resurrection power and couldn't see him using it through all the smoke, so she just assumed he didn't take damage.
In the anime it's still called A-rank but it clearly doesn't kill him, establishing that you need an attack stronger than A-rank to hurt Berserker... except that Saber was drawing blood from him with just her wind-sheath earlier, which Rin can tell is not A-rank, and thus she has no reason to say "even A-rank attacks don't work".

Spoiler: Berserker God Hand

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It says here that God hand protects against B-rank and lower attacks. Definitely odd that a C-rank attack (wind sheath shotgun) would hurt him. Maybe because it's was activated inside him?
http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Heracles#

[Soras Teva Gee]

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It looked at first like she was releasing her sheath so she could stab him with Excalibur, but going back yeah it looks like a close-range variant of her wind blast technique... which isn't supposed to be that powerful.

Berserker is invulnerable to everything except top-class weapons - "A-rank" ones. In the VN Rin identifies Archer's arrow as an "A-rank attack" - it's implied that he succeeded in killing Berserker, but Rin didn't know about his resurrection power and couldn't see him using it through all the smoke, so she just assumed he didn't take damage.
In the anime it's still called A-rank but it clearly doesn't kill him, establishing that you need an attack stronger than A-rank to hurt Berserker... except that Saber was drawing blood from him with just her wind-sheath earlier, which Rin can tell is not A-rank, and thus she has no reason to say "even A-rank attacks don't work".

Nope it happened the same in both anime and VN we just weren't treated to a filler demonstration this time. AKA done properly

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Its the still exact same implication that Berserker lost a life to Archer's arrow to those of us that know what's going on. It could tell us more explicitly yes but it is not actually in conflict with the VN here.

He just presumably additionally lost one to Saber a little earlier. Which is an anime addition that she shouldn't be capable of exactly without coming out much worse, but mighty Herakles loose all his other lives to Gil in this route so its at least limiting the damage. I can only speculate that this addition is to attempt to explain how Berserker works which so help me I'm not sure if UBW does in the VN at any point.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So, this weekend: all teh animes. A friend of mine (who's seen 200-some shows in the past eight years) came up for a visit, and we did a lot of marathoning.

First, we marathoned Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit in two chunks: the first 20 episodes, then the last 6 episodes on the following day. Glorious. He was able to point out a few subtle things I might've otherwise missed (like the song in the first episode), and the entire thing was a fantastic treat. Also, the climactic sequence was filled with a massive "OH #!%!$!" moment when things came to a head.

Also, I'm 95% certain that Balsa was the inspiration for Kyoko's character design (aka Kyoko from Madoka Magica). Maybe just coincidence, but it seemed rather similar to me.

Balsa

Kyoko

We also wound up watching the first 10 episodes of Magi, which was pretty fun. I dig that it's a shounen set in the Arabian Nights. The atypical setting makes it enjoyable for me.

And then Unlimited Bladeworks. Fun episode. Also, hello again, Blondie. It's been a while.

EDIT: Finally, I just finished HaNaYaMaTa. No time to post longer thoughts now, but the ending was totally what I expected...and I wouldn't change it one bit. Maybe I just have a soft spot.

ADDENDUM: Speaking of slice-of-life, I wonder if there's any slice-of-life shows about a roleplaying group.

[Illogictree]

I decided a few weeks ago to start watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I've been watching it in two-episode chunks so that I don't get confused about where I left off. So far I've been enjoying it, and I appreciate both the slow pace so I can keep track of what's going on, and the fact that they helpfully label the secondary characters whenever they become relevant to the story rather than leave the viewer to try to remember who everyone is.

Anyway, we'll see how long I stick with it; I've tried watching long-running series in the past - including Robotech and Captain Harlock - but I've given up on them partway through.