Avatar: The Legend of Korra – 04

Episode 04 –

It seems that this series will have a stronger emphasis on the romantic relationships amongst the cast to the series, a direction that promises to keep this show goofy and fun. I personally am not exactly following this show for the romance and humor, but it is still an admittingly fun and energetic dynamic to the story at hand. Aside from the goofy romantic developments, it seems that this show will have some very political overtones to it, with Korra getting drawn into politics by local figures, as well forcing her to face some very cutthroat tactics from those around her. The politics itself are inherently quite intriguing, but the main gist of this episode actually focused in on Korra’s personality.

What makes this episode rather interesting is that it highlights the fundamental disconnect between Korra, the “avatar that is to bring balance”, and her complete unfamiliarity with the city and it’s blunt tone. Korra was raised in an isolated setting where she studied traditional bending, was trained in traditional bender arts, and lived a relatively carefree and pampered life with no real threats or worries. Her upbringing is definitely a big part to her rather headstrong attitude towards obstacles in front of her, with her rash decisions a direct result of how she has never really been subject to a serious threat.

Her isolated upbringing is a stark contrast to the current situation with the anti-benders and Amon, where she very well realizes that she now has the burdens of responsibilities as the avatar, and also knows that she is a critical target of enemy factions. On top of that, her normal solution of just brawling things out has proven to be completely ineffective in keeping her safe, as seen in her loss against the chi-blockers, and now, her nearly fatal encounter with Amon at the Aang statue. She is crumbling under pressures that she has never faced off against in her entire life, and is putting a dent in her normally carefree attitude and demeanor.

This does root back to the original purpose for Korra’s arrival at Republic city; to learn Air bending. The airbender is one who can maintain a sense of calm and “flows with nature”. Her loud, rash, headstrong attitude is exactly the polar opposite of what she needs to handle the conflicts at hand, and I suspect this series will chronicle her struggles to come to terms with her own personality. And as the Avatar, it’ll be quite difficult considering all the pressure from others around her.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.3/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Mouretsu Pirates – 17

Episode 17 –

I guess I should give credit where credit is due, and note how Mouretsu Pirates this time around did a terrific job with quickly building up tension in the atmosphere. The transition from the goofy first half to the serious latter half of the episode was executed well, and really gave a good sense for the large (and frightening) implications to the situation at hand. One thing that jarringly stood out, though, was just how simplistic the actual decisions made by Marika have been.  Her choices have been surprisingly simple-minded and straightforward, something that I feel is very unfitting of a captain responsible for the lives of her entire crew.

This is clearly evident in how she nonchalantly took up the mission to “kidnap” Jenny based on the consensus of her current novice crew. Her off-hand decision was extremely reckless and poorly thought out on Marika’s part, a rare messy decision from the young pirate captain. She didn’t think about the possibilities of being attacked, losing her piracy license, and heck, she seems to have barely thought out the possibility of severe injury or death amongst her crew. The main flaw to her decision is that she can’t see this mission going bad, so she seems to have not seriously thought about all the consequences.

While this is poor decision making on Marika’s part, I have to admit that it does make for a rather entertaining plot. After all, Marika and her crew are now the indisputable underdogs against the monolithic corporation that is pursuing them. The inherent appeal to underdog stories is that the underdogs need to find some creative, roundabout ways of dealing with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, something that Marika can hopefully pull off in this high-stakes cat and mouse game.

One thing that really stood out, though, was just how simplistic Marika’s strategy for dealing with pursuit has been. To put it simply, her “strategy” for dealing with opponents is to merely jump into “faster than light speed” and run away with all her might. She has no real strategy to contend for pursuit, nor does she consider if the opponent ships can outspeed her, etc. Her strategy is very easy to read, and something that makes her rash decision to help Jenny seem even more outrageous. I cannot stress enough how Marika made some wild, emotional decisions this week that are unfitting of a captain that is supposed to be the rational, responsible guide for the ship and it’s crew.

The reality of the situation is that Marika has never actually failed any of her piracy missions, and thus, has no frame of reference for just how bad a situation can get. It’s an issue that becomes explicitly noticeable this week, where it almost appears as if Marika expects everything to work out somehow in the end. Unfortunately, knowing the story to Mouretsu Pirates so far, everything will probably indeed work out somehow (which would only serve to validate Marika’s status as a Pirate captain). I really hope this arc can seriously challenge Marika and get her to question her own responsibilities, something that Chiaki seemed to have understood far more than Marika.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.0/5

P.S. I guess I should be happy that this episode finally exposed some of Marika’s flaws as a captain (finally!). My main grievance is that Mouretsu Pirates, so far, has told it’s story in a way so that everything works out in the end with little to no serious introspection on the character’s part. Perhaps this is just an inherent dynamic to the story due to the peaceful times in which the story takes place.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Accel World – 04

Episode 04 –

My personal feelings towards this particular episode were rather mixed. I feel that there was a noticeable pacing problem with regards to the story here, and the sudden romantic development between Haru and Kuroyukihime was rather disconcerting. There was a noticeable amount of melodramatic acting this week,  complete with plenty of tears and severe inferiority-complex-baiting, all of which did not help with my impressions of the episode. On the plus side though, the show does still seem to place value on focusing in on Haruyuki’s relationships and character interactions, as evident in the resolution to his chats with Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime.

It was already quite clear from last week’s episode that Haruyuki has an inferiority complex due to his physical stature and somewhat shy personality, but this week’s episode seriously took it to an extreme. His chat with Chiyuri set off a chain of events, ranging from Kuroyukihime’s amusingly jealous reactions, to Haruyuki’s fervent denial of any possible “hope” in his life. His fervent denials are especially noticeable, because it transitions into him openly insulting himself as a mere “pawn” for Kuroyukihime. What bugs me about Haru’s attitude is that he’s so blatantly negative about himself that it almost feels as if he’s hoping for people around him to pity him. It may be an unconscious thing on his part, and I guess it is natural to want to draw attention if you feel insecure about yourself, but his level of self-degradation is almost unnatural in some ways. Or maybe it’s just that I can’t quite understand this level of self-depreciation of one’s worth, which is why it bugs me.

If you think about it in terms of personality extremes though, I guess you could also say that Kuroyukihime is nearly the polar opposite of Haru; she’s portrayed as Ms. Perfect most of the time. And here’s where a rather interesting idea comes into play; while Kuroyukihime is portrayed as Ms. Perfect, with her strong will and unmistakable pride, her “perfection” seems to have made her a rather isolated person. Or at least, she seems to be bereft of any noticeable close friends or family. It’s almost ironic how the two personality extremes in our main duo have led to a very similar result, where Kuroyukihime’s “perfection” and Haru’s “flawed nature” both seem be sources of insecurity for their respective characters. This is evident in Haruyuki’s blatantly negative declarations, as well as Kuroyukihime’s more understated, subtle anger she has against herself.

There is that cliche saying, “opposites attract”, and in this case, the saying seems quite befitting of our main duo. They are seemingly opposite personalities that can somewhat relate to each other with regards to their own worries. But still, even if they are a potentially decent matchup, this episode’s sudden confession of love from Kuroyukihime to Haru felt wayy too sudden for my tastes. While the underpinnings of the romance have been in this show since the very beginning, there still needed to be a lot more time for to further develop and flesh out their relationship. The sudden confession and subsequent rescue from Kuroyukihime, complete with some funky music and nonstop tears of sadness, just didn’t feel very genuine or convincing. To be fair though, I guess love isn’t necessarily something that is restricted to long-term development, and can be sudden (as in this case). After all, if all romances were long-term ordeals, the term “love at first sight” wouldn’t exist.

Well, Accel World without a doubt has some little quirks and hiccups to it’s storytelling and characters. Part of the reason may be that this is an adaptation of a light novel, where the anime may have been forced to overlook more subtle little details present in the book. Transitioning from written prose to a visual medium also means you lose much of the details going on in the character’s minds, so we can’t really validate how Kuroyukihime “fell in love” with Haruyuki. Nevertheless, with this somewhat odd episode out of the way, it seems we’ll get a resolution to the Cyan Pile ordeal with Haruyuki facing off against his own best friend.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.0/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Eureka Seven Ao – 03

Episode 03 –

After the action-heavy premiere episodes to this series, I guess it’s not much of a surprise to have a cool down of sorts, this time around with the story focused on fleshing out the current setting and characters. The main character’s pains with regards to discrimination are central to the story at hand, but it also alludes to a much more broader theme with regards to identity. There seems to be a strong sense of an identity crisis of sorts to this show’s characters, where the cast is borderline frantic with voicing their qualms about being Okinawan, Japanese, or American. Ao’s foreigner status is a direct manifestation of the rather fragmented international relations amongst these three nationalities, and it seems that it will have a tremendous impact on the direction that this series will take well into the future.

One thing that is becoming evident in this series is that there is no explicit “good vs evil” scenario (as of now, at least). The tensions that characterize this series all revolve around more grey-zone, ambiguous issues with regards to national identity and politics, as well as sentiment amongst local populations. The fact that it is still unclear as to which groups are “good”, whether it be Pied Piper, the Japanese, or the Americans, is a strong indicator of the complex political undertones to this series. There are some rather strong bits of dialogue with regards to each nation involved in this show, but it all blends into an overall picture reminiscent of many issues that we confront in modern day society. On an unrelated side note, there is also probably a strong correlation between the feelings amongst this show’s characters, and Japan’s own experience with regards to interacting with Western countries since the late 1800’s.

There’s a shade of nationalism to this story that is inherently different from the likes of Code Geass and Guilty Crown, where foreigners are given a more complex status amongst the cast (as opposed to your typical “they are invaders” ruse). This essentially is turning this show into a highly political one, though one with strong shounen-like plot elements due to the involvement of a very young guy who’s simply out to protect the island he grew up on. The issues Ao has, as well as his determination to face them, makes him by far the best character out of this show. He really shines as a main protagonist whom, while facing some deep-rooted troubles, continues to rise up and trudge forward with his own flawed but determined outlook.

Amidst all these complicated human relations, there’s the more mysterious element surrounding the presence of the scub coral, the “G-monsters”, the ambiguous status to Eureka’s presence in the world, the seemingly out of place timeline, and the involvement of Nirvash and Ao. There’s a decidedly sci-fi element to this increasingly complex web of human relations, continuing to push the story forward in a rather uncertain direction. Eureka Seven Ao might not exactly be the blockbuster of the season, but there is definitely some promise in both the characters and the plot direction.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.3/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Sankarea – 04

Episode 04 –

Sankarea has been a series that’s been full of surprises, with some surprisingly decent directing in combination with a somewhat atypical story. However, it does seem that fanservice is slowly starting to creep into the series. There were plenty of moments featuring Rea’s bare skin in this episode, which were all jarringly noticeable. The fanservice itself isn’t really distracting per say, but it’s not really necessary either. Ignoring the fanservice elements, it seems that the story direction itself will be quite different from what I had anticipated. In my previous post I mentioned how I was unsure as to what this could possible be a conflict after the father issue was over, but I didn’t quite expect more real-life concerns such as rigor mortis (and the implication of decay) to become a more central aspect to this series.

With that being said, it’s not like the whole father debacle is over yet. The father continues to be demonized in every single scene that he appears in, with him taking a bath while surrounding himself with pictures of his late daughter being the latest of his disturbing follies. The storywriters are definitely not holding back in portraying him as a disturbing mess of a parent, and it seems that Rea’s mother is almost equally as emotionally distant from Rea as her father. The mother’s presence is a rather curious one though, where she seems to despise her daughter for reasons unknown. Perhaps she is jealous of all the attention Rea gets from her husband? Either ways, the mother certainly shows an abnormal amount of hostility towards Rea, something that becomes clearly evident when the mother is shown to be more concerned over her own reputation than her daughter’s unknown whereabouts.

Aside from the rather awkward parent-daughter relationships, this series also brought into the equation a rather intriguing conflict; that is, since Rea is a technically a corpse, her zombie status is not immune to post-death effects such as rigor mortis and decay. Rigor mortis is the stiffening of a dead body after death, and usually happens within 24 hours after one has died. Thus, naturally, Rea’s body would stiffen, and it is implied that she would not be able to move at all given enough time. After researching Rigor mortis a bit, I should also point out that while it does disappear within 40-60 hours, at that point muscle tissue would start to break down via enzymes and decomposition. Thus, Rea wouldn’t be able to move around that well due to not having any sort of cell regeneration as a zombie. So yea, long story short, Rea would become an undead “doll” of sorts unless rigor mortis is reversed before the muscle breakdown.

It’s a puzzling conundrum that’s difficult to overcome because it’s not like anybody has discovered a way to reverse rigor mortis; technically nobody has survived death to even try. There’s no precedent to follow, which means our main protagonist might have quite the hurdle to overcome. There is one blatantly obvious hint about the solution though, mainly shown through the zombified cat Babu. Babu has been “dead” for far longer than Rea, so the cat should have been subject to rigor mortis too. The fact that the cat is still flexible and moving means that there’s something that can counteract it, perhaps eating those Hydrancea leaves that we saw last week. This does prompt the curious question as to why the Grandpa eats those leaves in the first place, as well as him mistaking Rea for his late wife.

In the end, while the father conflict continues to build steam and momentum, Sankarea has introduced a few more rather interesting minor conflicts and issues. It will be interesting to see exactly how Rea and Furuya handle the overobsessive father and cold mother, as well as tackle the issues that come with becoming a zombie. This episode also does prompt a few other questions that could shape the course of this series. For one, how do zombies gain energy if their bodies technically no longer have metabolic functions? Can zombies truly not feel anything like heat or coldness anymore? Are there any other unaccounted for side effects to becoming a zombie? How can you blush without blood circulation? The presence of a “zombie” in this series is interesting because, rather than treating one as a mindless enemy to bash away at, a “zombie” instead is portrayed almost as a separate living entity, with specific requirements needed for survival.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Sakamichi no Apollon – 03

Episode 03 –

Haha, oh yes. Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite series out of the season. It’s amazing just how well put together this series is, in particular it’s character interactions. The romance featured in this episode was amazingly well done; it was heartfelt, surprisingly sensitive and thoughtful, and all done in a natural manner. The characters were all very upfront about their feelings, some more obvious than others, but the one thing in common was how they were all charming in the way they went about their feelings of love. It’s one thing to have romance in an anime, it’s something completely different having the romance feel alive.

With that being said, I do have to admit that there are some cliches here and there. There’s the brewing love-triangle of sorts, with plenty of potential for drama. Yes, the situation is quite messy, and it doesn’t look like it’ll exactly clear up any time soon.

At the same time, though, this series is incredibly subtle with the small little details and feelings that it conveys. From Kaoru’s caring, heartfelt confession to try and console Ri-chan, to the brilliantly fun jazz session between Kaoru and Sentarou, this series feels very youthful and genuine. The confession scene in particular was powerfully emotionally, filled with a gentle sense of love that was absolutely dazzling. This show is incredibly good at conveying small, details into a much more emotional larger picture, with terrific characters, great jazz, and a noticeably good story pacing.

I feel as if Sakamichi no Apollon can be summed up in three phrases: youth, jazz, and being alive. This show harkens back to a more romanticized and nostalgic time of history, back when love was still innocent and heartwrenching, emotions were wild and uncontrollable, and friendship was always goofy and fun. I feel kind of like an old coot for talking like this, but this show really makes me think back to sillier days during my youth, as many probably do after entering the world of adults. This show is brimming with emotions that are so pure that they almost don’t seem real, yet somehow are grounded in a reality that is completely believable and mesmerizing.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.3/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Tsuritama – 03

Episode 03 –

What’s becoming evident in this series is the focus on the main character, Yuki, and his journey through adolescence, coping with his shyness, and confronting his insecurities with regards to his grandmother’s fragile health. The show is still surreal and goofy at times, yet it also disguises some darker undertones and some serious character issues that are slowly being addressed. You could say that the series is currently in a build-up phase, where the show is slowly trying to flesh out Yuki’s personality and problems. We do also see glimpses of problems that other characters suffer from, ranging from the random indian with ducks, and the Prince’s tensions with the family (with an implied death being the awkward point of conflict).

It’s actually interesting how this Noitamina series is similar to it’s counterpart in some notable ways; it seems both this series and Sakamichi no Apollon are telling coming of age stories, with each focusing in on a shy individual whom slowly is gaining a more postive, broadened outlook on life. The focus on fishing is similar to Sakamichi’s focus on jazz music, where both have a calming effect that is gradually opening up each main character towards a more open outlook on life.

Amidst all of the character focus on Yuki and his worries over his seemingly sick grandmother, there’s little teasers of problems that other characters suffer from. There’s the Prince, where we see him praying at a little shrine in his house. There’s a strong implication that the shrine in the house, and the death that it honors, is the source of the tensions in the household that he currently lives in. Perhaps he’s adopted or something, but there’s something amiss in the air. This makes the Prince’s excited laughter at the end of the episode even more surprising, a rare instance of genuine joy from a character whom up until now hasn’t really been shown happy at all. The Indian guy with the duck also seems to have his own fair share of issues, more specifically from an apparent superiority complex of sorts(?). His issues are a bit more difficult to understand though, and definitely need more time for development.

As of now, it seems that Tsuritama is the weaker of the two Noitamina series airing this season. That doesn’t mean that this series is bad though; both have a set of honest characters with inherent flaws and weaknesses, weaknesses that they are slowly trying to overcome through interacting with each other, as well as through fishing. There’s also seeds of doubt slowly being sown into this series as well, with the hospitalized grandmother, the Prince’s family tensions, and so forth. There’s still plenty of time left for this series to explore all of these relationships, and I have some relatively high expectations of this series.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.3/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Lupin III – Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 04

Episode 04 –

With character introductions mostly finished as of last week, it seems that this series is going in a direction that I had very much suspected that it would; that is, there are strong signs of the show starting to shift focus towards Fujiko and her history as a character. I guess the ED theme to this series was kind of a dead giveaway that we would see glimpses into Fujiko’s past, but there have also been small little hints littered throughout the series so far hinting at her rather complicated past, as well as her misgivings with her own history. Perhaps this series will follow Fujiko in a journey to gain self-acceptance of herself, both her current reality and her past that she’s running away from. I’m not quite sure of this, but I certainly do appreciate the series trying to give her more depth and complexity.

The downside to this approach would be that, due to the character-centric setup of the series, the “thievery” that the Lupin series is so famous for actually takes a backseat in terms of story focus. If you think about it, the main cast hasn’t really engaged in much stealing and thievery at all; instead we’ve seen the characters goofing around and interacting in curiously interesting ways. Those that were hoping for the more goofy, action-centric setup of earlier Lupin series are definitely not going to be the biggest fans of this changeup.

I personally, on the other hand, am really enjoying the setup to this series. This week’s episode once again changes things up rather dramatically in terms of atmosphere, this time having a intrigue-heavy thriller mixed in with a romance and a bit of scandalous controversy. Mixed in are once again Fujiko, Inspector Zenigata, and Lupin, and it’s fun following their goofy yet serious little interactions. The chase sequence was a joy to watch, and then there was the random bit of kidnapping on Lupin’s part via disguising as a horse on stage. The edgy Fujiko fanservice isn’t quite as heavy here as it was in previous weeks, but it certainly was still there.

In terms of actual character development, the big detail to note here is how there is the presence of a mythical river that is said to be able to “wash away one’s past”. That moment immediately rang off some alarms in my head, especially considering how in previous episodes Fujiko said that she was “running away from her past”. Her brief flashback of her past in this episode further reinforces this notion, and the fact that this is a two-part arc seems to imply we will see more details of her past.

All in all, Lupin III has maintained much of the edgy charm that the beginnings of the series had promised; it has some fun character relationships, a varied and intriguing set of stories, and some blatant Fujiko fanservice. The show also seems to be emphasizing character development, which is a surprising direction considering the original Lupin franchise. It’s a setup that I’m personally finding rather enjoyable, and the added mix of action keeps this show surprisingly entertaining.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.5/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Aquarion Evol – 17

Episode 17 –

Lol, well once again, Aquarion decided to go all out with being super weird. This time around, this episode had a strange combination of bikinis, bananas, onsen hot springs digging, and random onsen-milk-banana Aquarion Unions. Seriously speaking, the episode turned super strange over the span of about 30 seconds, and was pretty darn hilarious.

Anyways, I mentioned last week that Zessica was getting sidelined due to the focus on the Amata x Mikono relationship. Well, it seems that I may have made that statement a bit too soon, where the creators of this show are now going through the trouble of focusing in a bit on her, and her own conflicted feelings over Amata. She realizes her love for him is never going to be requited, yet she seems to get over it and refuses to give up. It’s a cliche plot direction eerily familiar for those that are familiar with love triangles in Anime, and it looks like Zessica will have even more screentime in next week’s episode. On an unrelated note, I seem to have this peculiar feeling that something horrific will happen to Zessica in the near future; I guess it’s just that her confession last week felt like a death flag of sorts. Hopefully I’m just imagining things.

Aside from touching on Zessica’s feelings, this entire episode felt like filler, mainly because of the plethora of fanservice and some really weird fight scenes. The fight scenes were absolutely hilarious, mind you, but it still felt a bit random and pointless. There are some definite hints towards an overarching goal of sorts though, particularly the search for the “Golden Wings”. As to how our cast (Amata in particular) relate to the wings still remains to be seen.

In the end, there really didn’t seem to be any sort of meaningful purpose for this episode. Perhaps it was meant to be a simple breather from the super-dramatic episodes in recent memory; it certainly accomplished that with flying colors. On a side note, I would like to mention how there are strong sexual connotations to this episode, along with some rather sexists lines of dialogue that are somewhat derogatory of women. However, I’d prefer to not to have a discussion over such a complex matter, because then we’d be wandering outside of anime territory and would be discussing the structural problems and complexities to Japanese society, the still male-dominated culture, etc.

Screenshots are later in the post.

P.S. Zessica’s new dress looks plain awkward…

Game of Thrones – 14

Episode 14 –

There’s a saying that goes along the lines of “the darkest hour is just before the dawn”. However, for Game of thrones it seems that even with the plot getting darker with each passing episode, that “darkest hour” may still be beyond our grasp. The story is continuing with it’s buildup by further weaving together all the different character relationships in this series, with some intensifying in ugly ways due to struggling over power. Amidst all of these power struggles, there’s an impending sense of chaos due to an upcoming major battle between two claimants to the throne, ominous creatures being borne from the shadows, and signs of internal strife within the prestigious Lannister family.

One thing I would like to mention here, though, is the short scene where Robb Stark and Talisa (a female medic of sorts) discuss war and the casualties that it leaves in it’s wake. In the conversation between the two, Talisa notes how the ordinary men-turned-soldiers are the ones who suffer in war, fighting a battle in the interest of their commanders as opposed to themselves. This conversation is eerily similar to the chat between Saber and Kiritsugu in the most recent episode of Fate/Zero (ep 16), where Kiritsugu notes in disgust at how ordinary humans are victims of war due to leaders and “heroes” that lead them into battle. It’s almost remarkable how both series brought up the same topic in the exact same week, and one thing is for sure; they both question the nature of war itself, and the complex human motivations that drive it forward.

Aside from that brief coincidence, this episode brought some nice focus to Catelyn Stark, whom fights to win allies in the war against the Lannisters. She is not only appealing to win over Renly Baratheon, but also tries to calm Stannis Baratheon and avoid a confrontation between the two brothers. She obviously realizes that it is counterproductive to have enemies of the Lannisters fight each other, but it was inevitable that the two Baratheon brothers wouldn’t be able to work things out and would fight to settle things. Renly, as of now, holds the numerical superiority in any impending battle, but it appears that Stannis and his red witch have some shadowy trump cards up their sleeve. I have no idea what the heck the shadow being that was borne from the red witch was, but it certainly doesn’t bode well for whatever conflicts it gets involved in.

Catelyn also fights the battle of being a mother, torn between her motherly instincts to save her two daughters, and making wise wartime decisions. The brief confrontation between Catelyn and Littlefinger made quite the statement, where the intense hostilities that unfolded tell Littlefinger that he no longer has much of any sway in Catelyn’s heart. What’s intriguing about this encounter is that Tyrion Lannister seems to be hedging his bets in the ongoing conflicts, where he is opting to try and appeal to the Starks via Catelyn, all while trying to internally reform and shape up the Lannister’s standings in Kings Landing. Perhaps it’s a way to stall for time, perhaps he’s trying to soften the blow of a potential loss in the war, I don’t quite know what his intentions are. However, I wouldn’t put it past the sly Tyrion to be making some highly calculated maneuvers that will grow in importance in the future.

Tyrion, by far, is the best character out of this series. He’s a character that needs to play a balancing game with Cersei and the young King Joffrey, all while sniffing out the rats and consolidating power in the capital. Unlike Ned Stark’s honor-oriented way of doing things, Tyrion is not afraid to use blackmail and manipulation to secure a power base, and it’s slowly but surely turning to his favor. He casts a frighteningly powerful shadow as the Hand of the King, and his shrewd tactical maneuvers continue to astound me again and again. He has some remarkable moments, all while being one of the most likeable and human characters of the series.

And finally, there’s the issue with Daenerys Targaryen and her little dragons; will she ever gain the power to reclaim the Iron throne in her family’s name? Her actions in Qarth are only the beginnings of her quest to reclaim the throne, and I suspect her path will be riddled with politics, something that she has not had to deal with much up until this point. Her ferocious threatening of “The Thirteen” foreshadows far more politics in her near future, and she is without a doubt treading in dangerous waters.

All in all, Game of Thrones is doing a fantastic job with simultaneously building the stories around multiple characters, and it becomes increasingly obvious that each of these character’s actions will have subtle but important effects on each other. The resulting big picture is one that is ever-changing, a veritable dynamic map that is difficult to read. It is unknown as to exactly where all of these character plots will converge, but the story is slowly moving forward through disturbingly quiet times, times where the tensions in the air are thick enough to leave a sense of uneasiness in it’s wake.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.8/5

Screenshots are later in the post.