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RSSI have decided to stop writing about anime. I will now be writing about politics on my other blog The Amateur Political Pundit, due to the fact that I have finally realized that politics is my real calling in life.
Goodbye for real. I will NOT come back to write about anime in the future.
Goodbye... For Real!
New Site for MaguroCast
Due to the fact that I would like to give my new podcast an identity, I have decided to move my podcast to it's own website. I will still announce new episodes on this blog, but they will be posted on this site from now on, allowing viewers to comment on them and access them easier. Link Here: http://magurocast.blogspot.com/
Demand Evangelion 2.0!
Please make it so that Evangelion 2.0 won't fail at the box office like Summer Wars did. Please demand it on Eventful!
A New Blog
So I just launched a political blog called The Austin Pundit. The reason why I launched this site was due to an increasing interest in politics. For these reasons, I have decided to make The Austin Critic exclusively for anime and other entertainment products that I find interesting, while The Austin Pundit will be for politics.
Link Here: The Austin Pundit
Just saw Summer Wars!
View all Summer Wars - Official Page tour dates
Please demand this show in order to see that this film gets more time to be released in theaters! One week is too little!
And also be sure to pre-order the DVD and Bluray.
Where have you been?
Since I haven't actually written anything for awhile, it seems that I must offer an explanation for my absence from writing. School work is overwhelming, and while I do enjoy watching anime and writing for this blog, I still consider my school work to be a top priority. However, due to winter break coming up soon (About 1 week), I will be back writing various articles for a few weeks, before going back to school work. I'm planning on reviewing:
- Shiki
- The Walking Dead (Not an Anime)
- Claymore
- Rubicon (Again, Not an Anime)
- The Event (AGAIN, Not an Anime)
- Darker than Black (Maybe... The show is just so AWESOME, that I'll try my hardest to review it!)
- BTW: I was planning on doing a Bleach review, until I discovered that the show wasn't going to end just yet. (Dammit, just end already!)
I will try my best to write other articles, but I'm serious when I say that I have been very busy. Anyways, see you in two weeks!
Renew Rubicon!
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40548.html
RENEW RUBICON!
MaguroCast: Episode 1: Genesis
On the first episode of MaguroCast, Jamie, Eric, and Freddy introduce themselves, talk about the fall season and discuss various news stories.
I was on the Otaku in Review Podcast!
I would like to thank Jon Ingoglia and Scott Spaziani for allowing me to be on the Otaku in Review podcast. I look forward to any (hopefully) possible future appearances and am sorry for my stuttering and annoying laughter.
Occult Academy Review Published on Janaiblog
I'm back!
Attention: I will only be limited to writing on Friday and the weekend! Please keep note of this!
For those of you who don't go on twitter or the PH website, I am here to announce the reopening of The Austin Critic! It seems that two weeks after announcing my departure from Anim blogging, a few more events occurred during my hiatus, resulting in my return to anime blogging!
So with my return, many of you are going to want to know why I left anime blogging. Well... it seems that while I was writing episodic reviews of anime, I accidentally closed myself off from society. The blog became too much for me to handle, and kept on interfering with my personal life, resulting in a very bad relationship with my family and friends. It was for these reasons, that I was actually forced to end the blog, until we could find a way of balancing both my personal life and writing. This resulted in my decision to stop writing episodic reviews on my site, meaning that there will be no more episodic reviews on my site.
However, that isn't to say that I won't be writing that much content. I will still be writing my first impressions posts on Janaiblog, while I may review one anime episodically on Project Haruhi. Any reviews I write on this site will either be reviews of unlicensed material or any DVD box set that I found interesting enough to review.
That also isn't to say that I will only be writing about anime, as I've also decided to do something a little... odd. I have decided to also write about US politics on my blog, due to the fact that I have to broaden my writing interests if I want to make a living writing. The articles are opinionated, meaning that if you are offended easily, then don't bother reading them.
Thanks for all your support,
Eric Robinson
The Austin Critic
Indefinite Hiatus
Well... after going to Anime Fest in Dallas, something... happened. This event would result in the following:
- I now can't write anime reviews.
- I can't watch anime.
- I can't access electronics freely.
I can't use twitter.- I can't blog anymore.
I will try to regain the ability to write anime reviews again, but with the way things are going in my personal life, it doesn't seem like the possibility of me updating this site again are high. I would like to thank those who followed my blog, as I hope you enjoyed the content that I have written. I will keep the site up, but I will not renew the domain http://www.theaustincritic.com/, meaning that when it expires, the original URL for the site is http://www.theaustincritic.blogspot.com/.
I would also like to thank Jon Ingoglia and the staff of Project Haruhi for allowing me to write for their sites.
As for the future? I'll try to regain the ability to write reviews on this site, but the possibilities don't look good. It may take 1 month to a few years till I may get the ability to write on this site again.
Thank you for your support.
Eric Robinson
The Austin Critic
Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Episode 9
Unfortunately, due to the retardation of Iris, she neglects to give them the latter half of the message, which informs them specifically not to retrieve the hero relic, as many villagers had already been killed off by the hero relic. (Or so they presume.) Sion's order was smart, but it really makes me wonder why he chose Iris as the messenger girl. I mean, annoying voice aside, this girl has absolutely no special skills that make her more unique or superior than other messengers. So why pick her?!
I would have given this episode an excellent rating, if it wasn't for another unfavorable aspect of this show, the flashbacks. A problem I have with this show, is that most of the flashbacks aren't interesting, and do very little to develop or make us care for the characters. For example, Bleach, as shallow as it is, has excellent flashbacks, as they do a great job of providing backstory to the characters, making us care about them. Here they don't provide enough detail to allow us to care. For example, the first flashback in this episode had Ryner standing in a battlefield with blood on his hands. The reasons for this are never revealed, as they never explain what he's doing there or what just happened on the battlefield. The same can be said about the Milk Callaud and the Sion flashbacks, as they focused too much on the childhood, meaning that the events which occur in the episode is a means of showing how bad their childhood was, the show using this to manipulate the viewer into feeling sorry for the characters, instead of providing them with a proper backstory that shows us how they got into the position they are in currently.
Rating: Great
Shiki: Episode 8
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| The only flaw with this scene would have to be that she doesn't seem scared enough. If someone is grabbing you from behind and dragging you somewhere, wouldn't you do everything in your power to get someone's attention or fight the attacked off? |
The episode begins with Natsuno, Kaori, and Akira digging up Megumi's grave, the group discovering that Megumi has risen from the grave as a vampire. During the discovery, Kaori is nearly kidnapped by a vampire, Natsuno knocking him out with a shovel before he could bite Kaori. A particular aspect that I found pleasing about this scene would have to be the reasoning that was used, Natsuno, using his lack of pulse and low body temperature to come to the conclusion that he is a vampire. The strategy to alert other people of the vampires was also a pretty goo idea, even if it did fail due to the vampire still being alive. With his plan failed, it seems that the group is now in danger of being attacked by vampires, as I'm pretty sure that the undead will try to eliminate those three now that they know of their existence. I have to say that at the start of the series, I was worried that Natsuno was going to be a pretty unlikable protagonist, but the smart tactics he uses and the fact that he's actually having inner conflicts after hitting the vampire with the shovel is starting to make him a likable character. The only problem that remains is that his emotionless demeanor may have the adverse effect of pissing many people off, as he seems to be a little too calm or apathetic at times.
Another aspect that I found likable about the episode was the development that was given to Sunako. Sure it was very small, but it's just enough to make us wonder if she's a vampire or not. I would like to say that she definitely is one, but the fact that she hasn't attacked Seishin yet or even tries to hide herself leaves me to conclude that she may not be one. Plus I liked it how Seishin is starting to go through the mental dilemma of whether or not Sunako really is a vampire or not, as the conflict really does a great job of making his character more interesting.
To top it all off, the ending of this episode did an exceptional job of getting me excited for the next episode, as it really presents countless possibilities on what direction this show can take! Honestly, this is the best episode of the series so far, as it delivered many plot twists, creepy moments, and a fantastic ending! Let's see what the next episode will dish out!
Rating: Excellent
Occult Academy: Episode 8
Anyways, the episode continued where the last on left off, Maya and Ami still feuding after the events of last episodes. I liked it how the issue was resolved quickly, as I was worried the feud would continue for a few more episodes due to the characters refusing to communicate with each other. My only problem is that Kozue was a real dumbass, as she mistook an attempted reconciliation between the two as a duel. Due to her ignorance, she decides to get a drink, only to lure a group of chupacabras to their location, resulting in Ami's kidnapping, meaning that Maya has to coordinate a rescue effort.
The latter half of the episode which had Fumiaki, JK, Smile, Ami's dad, Maya, and Kozue banding together in order to coordinate a rescue was probably the best part of the episode, as the fight scenes were well animated, the music was thrilling and the involvement that each character had in this episode really made for a triumphant finale to the arc. Fumiaki is really starting to improve with each passing arc, not to the extent that he's having a rushed transformation, but just enough for his development to be realistic.
A problem that I'm having with the episode though is that they still haven't given us any information on the motives of the villain. While I understand that they are probably saving this for the final arc, it would have been nice if they gave us clues to what the intentions of the villain are, as all we know is that the group is probably led by Chihiro, who for some reason is trying to cover up all the events that occurred in the areas that Maya visits. I'm guessing that those locations may hold clues to finding Nostradamus's key, meaning that they may be part of some cult that wants the prophecies of Nostradamus's key to occur. That, or they are a bunch of aliens who also time traveled to 1999 in order to stop Fumiaki from finding Nostradamus's key. (That being the my most unlikely prediction.)
Rating: Great
Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Episode 8
My biggest problem with this episode had to be Lady Noa Ehm, the leader of the rebellion. I understand that she is supposed to be the type of leader who cares about the happiness of her citizens, but her indecisiveness and naivety make it too obvious that she was being used as a tool by others in order to gain greater political power. Plus it doesn't seem that she would be a good political leader, as while she does have good intentions her naive ambitions and clueless demeanor make her the Jimmy Carter of this political scene. (I have nothing against Jimmy Carter, it's just that while he may have been a good person(I wouldn't know), he was not a good politician.)
However, the scene which had the Roland army battling the rebels was a pretty interesting. I liked it how Claude instantly killed the commander of the rebel army as quickly as possible in order to make the rest of rest of the army lose morale, thus increasing the chances that the battle could discontinue. The failure of the plan is also done well, as the distrust of rebels, the bad intentions of some of the leaders of the rebels and the indecisiveness of Noa cause the rebels to refuse surrender.
The latter portion of this episode was the best part of this episode though, as I wasn't expecting Miran to disobey Sion, as while he probably will be a villain later on, I can't figure out why he's trying to assist Sion, as he's much smarter and stronger, Sion not even being able to control him as Miran disobeyed his orders multiple times in past episodes. It will be interesting to figure out his true motives in later episodes.
Rating: Great
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