We here at oprainfall don’t just love video games: we’re big fans of anime, too. So in celebration of the medium, we’re here to give you our thoughts on what we’ve been watching each week as we watch it. Old, new – anything goes.
Currently Airing:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War
This week, Lavi and crew travel to the hot springs town of Ymir. They are continuing their mission of searching for the Empire’s hero, the Ashen Chevalier. However, their mission has been less than successful since the ordeal in Ordis, and Lavi begins to question whether the hero even exists or not. Iseria could care less about that, she just wants to get to some hot springs. Unfortunately for Iseria, something has happened to Ymir’s hot water wellspring, so the hot springs have gone cold. Lavi and Iseria travel to the wellspring while Marty and Tally decide to try and dig up their own hot spring. The duo trek up the mountains and find the source of the issue, a crystal monster. With the help of some good old firearms, Lavi and Iseria are able to take out the monster’s core, and make a little friend after the fact. Lavi and Iseria are finally able to enjoy the hot springs and eat some special Ymir Manju, and the sisterly bond between the two grows.
This episode has some positive things going for it. First and foremost was the increasing bond of Lavi and Iseria. Lavi seems to be getting more comfortable around her teammates, to the point where she asks Iseria to teach her about things at the end of the episode. It’s nice seeing her open up more and rely on others, compared to the first episode when she went and defeated a monster by herself. I also found it hilarious how Iseria made Lavi do almost all the heavy lifting and hard labor. Lavi also seems to hold grudges, as she was still sulking about how Iseria didn’t help her. That was pretty cute, honestly. Since Tally and Iseria both had chances to bond with Lavi, it seems like next week’s episode might focus on Marty and Lavi. Second, we got a little bit of fan service at the beginning, with cameos by characters such as Alisa and Ash. Other than the last few moments of the episode, nothing too crazy happened, but I appreciated the character development. I’m curious if my guess of another bonding episode happens next week, or if something more substantial happens. – Patrick
— You can watch The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War on Crunchyroll.
Trigun Stampede
He’s heeeeeeeeeeere. Nicholas D Wolfwood makes his Stampede appearance in Episode 4 (complete with his own drawing festival on Twitter, because ORANGE understands this fandom) and it is everything I wanted for him in this adaptation. After fleeing Jeneora Rock, our intrepid trio quite literally run into Wolfwood out in the middle of the desert. They rush to the nearest fueling station to seek medical attention, but this undertaker is tougher than he looks and doesn’t actually need it. That’s probably for the best, as they find the couple who ran the station murdered inside, leaving behind a small child hidden inside a locker. Wolfwood attempts to give the couple a proper burial, but before they can all leave to take the child somewhere safer, a giant sand worm literally swallows them – and the station – whole. One by one they’re picked off while inside the belly of the beast until only Wolfwood and Vash are left. Roberto didn’t trust Wolfwood at all, but Vash has no such compunction, which is good because Wolfwood saves him when Zazie the Beast finally shows itself in perhaps the most extra, over the top sequence yet. It was amazing and I literally clapped while watching. With that, our trio becomes four and they continue their trek east toward July and the awaiting Knives.
Much like the opening sequence and having Knives appear in Jeneora Rock, Stampede lays all its cards out on the table with regards to Wolfwood’s actual identity and associations. While I don’t necessarily mind this as a longtime fan of the series, I do admit it removes some of the tension, especially since this adaptation establishes Roberto as being correctly wary of the other man. I’m also curious to see how this story will go without Millie as Wolfwood’s moral compass, but so far I have not been let down by the changes ORANGE has made to the story structure and I’m honestly excited for this new approach. Also Wolfwood is just so cool, and Yoshimasa Hosoya does an absolutely phenomenal job bringing him to life. – Leah
Tomo-chan is a Girl!
I really liked this episode. They pulled in more of the side characters in this one. They brought back Tanabe, who is fighting the uphill battle of trying to impress Misuzu. Carol – who is a pretty simple character – had a lot of good moments in this episode. We get to see she does have a problem of her own she wants some help with. Her dynamic with Misuzu is probably my favorite in the series. Tomo and Jun are still good and get some good parts too. We’ve seen Tomo’s father before, but this episode we got an introduction to her mother, who is another great character. I also liked Ogawa and Mifune making another appearance and Tomo helping them out. I’m looking forward to see how they keep going with this. – Walter
— You can watch Trigun Stampede on Crunchyroll.
What anime are you watching? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Anime entries here!
