We dwell on Minamo in this episode as we see her past in Australia, her assignment to look after Haru and her rollerblading power-saving exploits! She can also appear to “hear” the Metal, otherwise this show is just making shit up as it goes along. So I’m massively behind on everything at the moment, and [...]
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It always makes life interesting when an anime series exceeds or otherwise confounds my expectations, but what the Hell was this?! An episode of Real Drive where the client is a dog, only he's not a dog but a human in a dog's body, and there are lots of dogs and they have cyberbrains and they all connect to a special dog Metal with some kind of dog paradise and the guy wants to merge his conscience with a dog because he likes them?! I'm sorry, I think I need to go and lay down in a darkened room for a bit....Okay, that's better. Yes, episode seven of Real Drive lets us in on the shocking news that in this series world there is an Internet for dogs. Yes, dogs. Said dogs also have some kind of nano machine-controlled cyberbrain which gives them basic language skills, but apparently this isn't enough for some dog owners, who feel that the whole master/servant relationship between human and dog is all wrong, and that the only way to correct this imbalance is for the owner to merge with his dog inside the Metal to become one.Leaving aside the rather ridiculous premise of this episode, the thought of humans merging minds with their pets and the way it was described by the focus of this episode just plain creeped me out. I mean, I love animals as much as the next person, but going to that kind of extreme seems a little... wrong.After an intriguing first few episodes, I have to confess - I'm disappointed by these last few episodes of Real Drive. Filler or not, there are myriad fascinating topics that could be discussed and brought to life by the world depicted in this series, so why is it limiting itself to overly sentimental episodes about book reports and cutesy (yet still played with a poker face by the script writers) stories about a dog Metal? Perhaps I've simply been expecting too much from the series, but for something created by Masamune Shirow the recent choices of subject matter have seemed rather flippant and a far cry from the kind of deep subjects we've seen from Ghost in the Shell and Ghost Hound. So, come on guys, enough of the nonsense, let's get back to some semblance of a real and eventful storyline.
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Reviewed this week: Allison and Lillia 9, Itazura na Kiss 9, Kurenai 10, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki 7, Nabari no Ou 9-10, Real Drive 6, Soul Eater 10, Toshokan Sensou 9, xxxHOLiC Kei 10 …and in manga: Claymore 80, REC 38 ANIME CURRENT SERIES RANKINGS Kurenai (1) – just a mistake? Chi’s [...]
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I'm beginning to wonder whether I was a little hasty to label the last episode of Real Drive as 'filler' now, as we seem to have been granted another diving and Metal-free sixth instalment of the series.In essence, the main story of this episode is the kind of interesting topic which I could expound upon at great length, but seeing as my own opinions on the matter aren't particularly relevant to the episode itself I'll try to resist. The main flow of the story revolves around Minamo's lack of a cyberbrain requiring her to read good old-fashioned paper books for her school work, compared to the digitised copies used and available on-line for everybody else. While others find the concept of physical books rather an oddity, Minamo relishes in it - The feel, the texture, those little signs of the lives of those who have read the book before you, and so on.Moving on from that interesting paper versus 'virtual' book debate, Minamo begins reading a book called 'Love Letter' - A book which was never digitised as it leaves its final page blank for the reader to write a letter of their own, the kind of trick you can't pull off so suavely in a digital world. Thus the story ebbs and flows, until the book and its concept finds itself entwined with a part of Haru's past. It's sentimental stuff and a little emotional, which at least lends the episode some credence beyond simply opening up that aforementioned debate.It's hard for me to know what to make of these episodes, as I really wasn't expecting anything of the sort from Real Drive - It's certainly a far cry from the highbrow techno-babble of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (whose stand-alone episodes stayed on the same basic track of the show), and even the earlier episodes of this very series. While this perhaps adds a more human element to the show, and I can't say that I disliked this episode by any stretch of the imagination, I must confess I'm keen to get back to the real meat of the show, although given these past couple of episodes I'm wondering when that might actually happen.So, to close, I suppose I can just take a leaf out of 'Love Letter', and leave a blank space so that you can write your own thoughts on the episode. Oh wait, I have that already - It's called the 'Post a Comment' button....
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Click pictures to enlarge them. Spoilers ahead so please be cautious. Kind of similar to the episode about a ghost, but with more Haru X Minamo. Elaiza's words infer that Minamo might be thinking Haru as more than a "friend". It would be a bit disturbi..글 전체보기
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Real sentimental stuff Summary: Minamo has to do a book report because she doesn’t have a cyberbrain that lets you use hacks during exams.Unfortunately nobody reads paper books anymore since they have been digitized,most of them anyway.The book she’s reading has some missing sections on a few pages due to vandalism but Holon suggested it might [...]
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Before we begin, I’d like to take the time to say something extremely personal. I don’t know who you are, Dear Reader, but I would like to share one of my innermost secrets with you at this time. This secret is, this image is amazingly hot: Words fail me. It’s like Production I.G. wanted to make [...]
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After an orgasm-centric (and it's not every day you get to use that phrase) forth episode of Real Drive, things take a very different path this time around, with a story of Minamo's search for a cool pair of shades for Haru while on the other hand an android built to replicate some kind of wrestler has gone on the rampage, beating seven shades out of anyone who happens to come near him. Inevitably, this Iron Schwartz (I could make a joke there I fear, but I won't) imposter and Minamo end up crossing paths with equally inevitable consequences.In case that brief plot synopsis wasn't enough of a clue - Yes, it appears that episode five of this series has entered us into the world of the filler episode. With Haru supposedly away having a medical following his exploits in the last episode, it's left to Minamo and Sota to steal the show, with a light-hearted and ultimately entirely pointless little escapade.In all honesty, it wasn't too bad as filler episodes go, but then again it wasn't actually all that great either. We didn't learn anything new, the fighting sequences were cool in that rather jaded 'oh wow, martial arts!' way that seems to plague every fight scene in every form of cultural medium these days, and.... well, let's just say if you miss out on this episode I don't think you'll be regretting it late in the series.Roll on episode six, and hopefully a return to the proper point of the show. I was really expecting Real Drive to be largely filler-free, or at least with enough quality in hand to provide something more interesting than some cheap light relief, and perhaps it's that believe that's left me so disappointed in what I've just seen here. Like I said, it's not a bad episode in the grand scheme of all things anime, but I really can't dish out any points for effort after such a weak attempt at a side-story.
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I remember noting somewhere how an average episode of Real Drive feels like it’s much shorter than it actually is. The opposite is the case with Amatsuki. Seriously, I can hardly believe that this episode was just twenty minutes long. I could have sworn that this episode was much longer. I think this has to [...]
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Click pictures to enlarge them. Spoilers ahead so please be cautious. I'm really confused about the concept "Metal". They are keep trying to connect it to the "sea" but I just don't see how it connects. Up until now, I actually thought of it as some ki..글 전체보기
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