I just want to give everyone a heads up, my posts might be a bit delayed as the Fall season starts up as I am beginning my university studies again.  I will try to at least get posts up within a few days of air time.  Also I am looking to post an upcoming preview of the Fall season anime lineup soon.  So be sure to check that out and if anyone has recommendations on how to make this site more appealing or any ideas they have please be sure to post a comment or send me an email.

Space Dandy may be humorously witty at times and Aldnoah Zero is developing into a  wildly powerful teenage-mecha series but this series is much different. Barakamon’s placid delivery with its story allows the show to be a purely light-hearted comedy.  It is good to have an anime so cheerful as that among all of the dark series we’ve had this season.

Zankyou no Terror however has surpassed all of these.  THIS IS A SHOW that gradually pulls you in- the animation and character design styles are beautiful, the plot has been extremely engaging as two high-school terrorists play a cat and mouse game with bombs and riddles.  The cinematography is so defined in every scene and Yoko Kanno’s music stands out from every other anime soundtrack that has aired this season!  Tons of brand new tracks were introduced here!

Lisa finally gets more attention this time as she enters the game with Sphinx.   It’s about time we get to see how she is going to be involved in all of this.  Clever how the airport was used as an entire chess board and the pieces are Nine and Twelve.  It should be noted that their chess game in one of the earlier episodes only slightly hinted at an episode like this.  The imagery in this has been phenomenal- the blown up building in the first episode, the wreckage in the second and now the varied use of wide angle shots.  Every scene is used as build up for the next.  Put to great use especially here- Five knows everything about these boys- except they’ve got one trump card of their sleeves- Lisa Mashima.

From what I’ve noticed in relation to his previous works Watanabe likes to build up a weaker character into a key playing piece by the end.  In Samurai Champloo, Fuu ended up being the trigger to Jin and Mugen’s journey to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers.  With Kids on the Slope it wasn’t much of Ristuko that provided the overall pacing but jazz.  Music that brought together an unlikely friendship- not to mention strengthening the various romance between characters in that show!  Here, the writers have established this to a game between three institutionalized teenagers.  Why they were kept in isolation void of emotion is anyone’s guess right now, but what we do know is that the actions between Sphinx and Five are only going to get more intense as it goes on!  From what I can tell the key to changing all this will not just be Lisa but Shibazaki as well.

The momentum that Zankyou has done time and time again with each episode strongly emphasizes how well it characterizes everyone.  One of the greatest aspects of the show is how well the creators have developed the people in this slowly- even that Nine and Twelve are such dynamic characters.  The Metropolitan Police, Shibazaki, Nine and Twelve, Five, the FBI has all begun making their moves and this predominantly results in what we see this episode and what will happen next.  I absolutely love everything about Zankyou no Terror!

Has anyone noticed that VON spelled backwards is NOV as in NO. 5.  Also in the last episode there was a billboard sign that said NO. 1.  Perhaps Sphinx was trying to get the attention of Five this entire time.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 10/10

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