Empress : Kaiserin: Tactics 15

Dienstag, Dezember 20, 2005

Tactics 15

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I'm scared to death!!! So much that I regretted watching Episode 15 late at night... >_<

Actually, it started pretty light-heartedly... With the usual humour and the schemings of Kantarou... Dear Kan-chan was trying to act cool after getting praises from his company (Haruka and the rest), and addressed his fox demon as "Youko-san". I didn't get it at first, but once it hit me my jaw touched the floor XP The sound effect from the leaf-music was... er... not as nice as it seemed to be - I think. Perhaps because I had heard more melodious "leaf music" from some other anime...

And because it was summer (when did Kantarou unseal Haruka? During springtime? Hmm...) all Japanese animated works feature watermelon-eating... Beats me really... XD So! Watermelon for everyone! We didn't get to eat Haruka munch on any watermelon slices, but I love the shot when Haruka, overlooking the pond, turned out slowly, and revealed watermelon seeds at the left side of his mouth. *drop jaw* Haruka!!! Image, image...! And then there was one watermelon slice left, and Youko and Kantarou were fighting over it. We didn't get to witness the result of the "competition", but expectedly, it will be the scheming Kantarou who gets the last piece... Whahahahahaa... Triumphant Kan-chan, and poor, poor Youko! Even Sugino and Mu get involved in the watermelon thingy. Tsk tsk! Sugino was accusing (and condeming) humans like Kantarou for being thief-like in nature, and the Scheming One felt insulted... Knowing so well that Mu has taken a liking towards himself, he easily got Mu to side his "innocence". (why inverted commas? coz we'll never what's the truth! XD) Sugino got angry ~~and jealous~~ over Kantarou "seducing" his wife and demanded a duel. And if you are expecting a fierce fight with dazzling magic and flashing lightnings, teeeeeeeeee~~~~ *you're wrong*. They decided to have a watermelon-eating competition between themselves. *palmface* Come on, everyone... It's getting so lame... =_=

And then a change of mood.
And atmosphere.

They called it - Yume no Kakera.

It was creepy enough to witness twice the reflection of something gliding over the clockface. On the first time, I cursed out loud; the second I screamed ~~knowing very well everyone in the house is asleep...~~. The animation effort and CG sequences are at their best here. I wonder if it was a different director for this episode, but the presentation is very different from the past's. A lot of short snapshots of happenings and sightings. I know it's on the track of the meaning of kakera (meaning "fragments"), and it is beautifully expressed. I said that because I'm not afraid now. My fear has dispersed, phew... But I swear I was scared out of my life! Some scenes was disturbing as well - like the one with Tatsuzou pointing the rifle at Suzu, then jokingly said that the rifle wasn't load. Hey Mister, nobody points a weapon at a child for a joke. And another one was when Chikage repeatedly claimed that the baby in her womb is Suzu and no other. o_O The Kantarou scene was also frightening - I screamed out the second time. Kantarou seemed to have vapourized with only a watermelon replacing his head; and his clothes just laid out plainly on the floor... My dears, this is not funny. What was supposedly funny in the beginning became a HORROR symbol. Just like that. Then Kantarou's "head" rolled over only to reveal a Halloween-pumpkin carved face - and all the time he was calling out "Suzu... Suzu..." and laughing this creepy laugh... Brrrrrrr... I'm at my wits' end when the tension builds up to a climax. Yet towards the end of the episode the nightmare abruptly ended. Less then 30 seconds later the ED was called on. This. is. a. very. uncomfortable. ending.

Period.

I'm surprised I still managed to spot crossovers amidst my overflowing fear:
1. appearance of Tatsuzou - an overgrown Tatsu from Peacemaker Kurogane [isn't it bizarre how the name and the appearance is similiar to Tatsu's?]
2. Kan-chan and Youko fighting over the watermelon - Luffy and anyone else from One Piece
3. Tatsuzou pointing the rifle at Suzu, plus other disturbing moments - Monster