Anime rant: Pumpkin Scissors
I'd been hearing about this series for a while, and quite a few of the anime blogs that I read have it archived, as well as the manga actually being available at Landmark. So when it appeared on animax I thought I'd give it a go. I mean a story about a section of the army that deals with war relief, why not?
And I have to admit that the concept was interesting, and it did start of quite nicely, with Randel showing his abilty to single-handedly take down tanks. I found I quite liked his blank expression, and not flinching at injuries, and that mysterious blue lantern. The first couple of episodes went like this, and the next few dealt with assorted missions and some character development episodes, before diving into the plot again.
But all this just felt like an introduction to the series, and just when things seemed to be going somewhere it ended, and there doesn't seem to be a second season. This I can understand with the anime adaption only covering five volumes of an ongoing manga of eleven. However I do hope all the character derailment that happens in the last few episodes doesn't happen in the manga.
From episodes 1-18 Randel is characterized as the gentle giant, who can take out tanks, and was once part of a special unit of soldiers who were just like him, and seems to be a product of human experimentation. He also appears to dislike killing, and only uses his tanking pwning ability when there is no other option. And having general doubts about the war relief, and such. But strangely in the last arc, he suddenly becomes so unsure of himself that he refuses to defend himself even against a guy with a flail, and just runs away, his previous characterization going through the window before him.
As for Alice, for more than half the episodes she appeared to be an over-enthusiastic noble girl, who seemed to have taken the concept of Nobless Oblige a little too seriously. As the episodes progressed she was slowely coming to realize how naive her notions were, but still stuck to her original principals, and was growing quite nicely as a character. And then in the final arc she's suddenly a 'true noble' with sword skills that rival proffional mercinaries, in a dress too! While her impressive fighting skills were shown in then previous arc, her opponents were not really going all out on her, but the improvement in her fighting skills is something I can overlook. The 'true noble' bit however I cannot, unlike Randel she seems to have grown up over-night.
Truthfully the last six episodes were really boring, and the only reason I actually botherd watching them was the two Royal/Imperial Guards from Lodaria(sp?) And random things like how does Flail!Guard, (because neither is given a name) manage to hide a flail under a suit jacket? And how come Machete!Guard, doesn't stink to high heaven, with all that smelly mud he carries around?
That aside the county of Lodaria itself is rather facinating, from the random refences in the series it seems like quite a hellish place to live. And its royal family closely resembles the Britannian royal family from Code Geass, with the King having many children so they can fight amongst themselves, so that in the end the last one standing shall take the throne. I think I would have liked the series more if it had focused more on Lodaria and this Republic of Frost place which the Empire was at war with for the longest time.
And I have to admit that the concept was interesting, and it did start of quite nicely, with Randel showing his abilty to single-handedly take down tanks. I found I quite liked his blank expression, and not flinching at injuries, and that mysterious blue lantern. The first couple of episodes went like this, and the next few dealt with assorted missions and some character development episodes, before diving into the plot again.
But all this just felt like an introduction to the series, and just when things seemed to be going somewhere it ended, and there doesn't seem to be a second season. This I can understand with the anime adaption only covering five volumes of an ongoing manga of eleven. However I do hope all the character derailment that happens in the last few episodes doesn't happen in the manga.
From episodes 1-18 Randel is characterized as the gentle giant, who can take out tanks, and was once part of a special unit of soldiers who were just like him, and seems to be a product of human experimentation. He also appears to dislike killing, and only uses his tanking pwning ability when there is no other option. And having general doubts about the war relief, and such. But strangely in the last arc, he suddenly becomes so unsure of himself that he refuses to defend himself even against a guy with a flail, and just runs away, his previous characterization going through the window before him.
As for Alice, for more than half the episodes she appeared to be an over-enthusiastic noble girl, who seemed to have taken the concept of Nobless Oblige a little too seriously. As the episodes progressed she was slowely coming to realize how naive her notions were, but still stuck to her original principals, and was growing quite nicely as a character. And then in the final arc she's suddenly a 'true noble' with sword skills that rival proffional mercinaries, in a dress too! While her impressive fighting skills were shown in then previous arc, her opponents were not really going all out on her, but the improvement in her fighting skills is something I can overlook. The 'true noble' bit however I cannot, unlike Randel she seems to have grown up over-night.
Truthfully the last six episodes were really boring, and the only reason I actually botherd watching them was the two Royal/Imperial Guards from Lodaria(sp?) And random things like how does Flail!Guard, (because neither is given a name) manage to hide a flail under a suit jacket? And how come Machete!Guard, doesn't stink to high heaven, with all that smelly mud he carries around?
That aside the county of Lodaria itself is rather facinating, from the random refences in the series it seems like quite a hellish place to live. And its royal family closely resembles the Britannian royal family from Code Geass, with the King having many children so they can fight amongst themselves, so that in the end the last one standing shall take the throne. I think I would have liked the series more if it had focused more on Lodaria and this Republic of Frost place which the Empire was at war with for the longest time.