Simulblast! Week 008 of Fall 2014

Posted on Dec 02 2014

Simulblast 2014 Fall Week 008

The powers continue to fly! Are you voting to give your favorite the upper-hand?

This week’s challenge: Let’s get nostalgic once again! Compare your show to an earlier show from Simulblast! If you’ve participated before, you MUST compare your show to a previous show, but otherwise you can choose any show from Simulblasts past.


Gundam Build Fighters Try (Episode Eight)
Player: Elk

gundam build fighters try

Hey! I’m watching an anime called Denki-Gai. Let me preface this by saying I have no idea what this series is about!

OP Break! The OP seems like it’s store related. This seems to be a bit of a recent trend. Trying to spice up boring jobs? I don’t know.

Either way, we open up, and a long haired girl seems to be nearly dead levels of tired, and two guys seem to be worried about her condition. It seems like they’re selling books of some kind? There’s an exhibition. The girl passes out, and seems to have similar dreams to her worries about not selling the stock for the exhibition.

When she wakes up “Sensei” is embarrassed by how she acted, but she’s also worried about selling what appears to be her manga. It seems like shes doing doujin work, assisting a mangaka in a monthly publication, and working at “Uma”. The store they’re at. It seems like Sensei might be quitting her job at Uma, and this is the episode’s drama?

Everyone is worried about Sensei quitting and everyone seems to be sad. There’s also an informational safety warning about not mixing alcohol and energy drinks. Everyone gives her going away presents. everyone is giving her more and more sad going away speeches.

But everyone was presumptuous. The boss just gave her less shifts so she could continue. Everyone takes back their going away gifts, except the big guys gift of a special edition manga.

She asks the main dude to help her as an assistant, since he offered earlier, and he feels her pain.

Then for some reason we see a couple black and white shorts where the dopey loli character kills a zombie. I have no idea what’s going on… The second one has her afraid of ghosts, but the ghosts were actually zombies, and when she finds out she isn’t scared anymore and attacks the zombies. Now that I think of it, her going away present was a zombie pen topper, which I thought was weird, but now it kind of makes sense?

Back to the actual show, Sensei accidentally asks the main guy out then realizes afterwards and starts imagining really weird situations. She worries about her outfit, then visualizes more weird situations. Then she decides she has to have a very rough appearance so as to lessen the date like atmosphere? This anime is truly odd…. roughness didn’t work either, so she figures she has to be more sexy. She starts stuffing her bra, then has another vision with a school swimsuit stuffed and decides that’s also a bad idea.

She decides she needs help, so she calls over the blond girl from the store, but she brings all the girls for a council to determine what a guy wants from a girl. The zombie killer says “big boobs” and the meeting is over, with everyone depressed, because they are all small chested women.

To determine what a guy wants, Sensei transforms herself into a guy to see what she looks for in a girl. She immediately starts molesting the other girls. What the. . . Why did I have to do this lol. This show is ridiculous.

After all the molestation Sensei is still sad because she doesn’t understand what a guy wants. They decide to just ask Umi, the main dude, what he wants from Sensei. It turns out he likes girls who wear glasses, and gives an impassioned speech about how she should wear her glasses.

Then they both get super embarrassed. And that’s the end? Yeah. ED Break time…

I’m more confused now than I was at the start of the episode… Am I too slow to follow this anime, or am I just not insane enough. Regardless, this was a fun watch. I probably won’t watch more unless I get attacked again, but it was entertaining for sure. I think the easiest way to sum up my feelings on this episode, and I suppose this show in general would be “…”

The best comparison for this show would have to be season one of Build Fighters, since most of this show seems to take place at a store, and a lot of Build Fighters took place at the Iori Gunpla shop, at least until the tournament started.

2014 Elk Challenge Successful

Watch Gundam Build Fighters Try on Gundam.info or talk about this episode on our forums.


Chaika ~The Coffin Princess~ Avenging Battle (Episode Eight)
Player: Kanashimi

Chaika Coffin Princess

The tournament continues for our heroes
And everyone else proves to be such zeroes.
Every Chaika gets thrown in the dungeon to battle,
But I kinda just expect Vivi to tsundere babble.

There’s some plot but since this is a poem,
There’s a fat chance you’re getting an explanation spoken.
Something something King Hartgen wants to be the second Emperor Gaz
And they’re citing possession as the cause?

Black Chaika, in my opinion, is just using the King
But he wears them Chaikas’ on his lap like bling
Whatever makes you happy, man
Either way, Fredrica is memorizing the floor plan.
Akari and her discover lots of coffins with remains
And an army of ninja Chaika’s which are bound to be a pain.
We find out instead they’re puppets and not real
Well, I guess they won’t actually be a big deal.

Gilette-sama shows up or something and tries to kill them all
The Chaikas’ are ready to fight, but Viva obviously falls.
Well, until she has to cut off his arm
I guess that’s one way to get the guy you love to fall for your charm

Akari and Dragon lady run into that Shin guy,
And defeats them with a simple wink of an eye
While Red Chaika and our Chaika are forced to fight
But let’s face it, Red Chaika being dead is just right.

Go figure, White Chaika wins and Shin reveals himself with dragoon and sister
Looks like they have a bit more than just a blister.
Shin defeats everyone and kidnaps our white princess
Oh, look! It’s the end of the episode, what a twist!

Can I compare my show to the first season of this series?
Probably not, but I have a lot of off the wall theories
Megane-Bu and Wake Up, Girls! have nothing that’s similar,
At least the animation isn’t full of useless filler!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

So the project of my nightmares… I enlisted the help of Kroze in mixing one of the songs from Chaika. I had to get a CD with an acceptable instrumental, record something that would even work with my voice, and then make sure it was mixed. This was a nightmare from the get-go. The first opening from the first season of Chaika has weird pacing issues, an odd script, and a vocal range that doesn’t suit me. We next went to the ending theme and felt it might be a little easier. We spent about five hours recording (funnily enough I was scheduled to record for seven hours for a voice project coming up) with Kroze attempting to instruct me while trying to make whatever lyrics we put together actually fit. This was difficult since the song has no rhyming structure and changes up tempo consistently.

Ah! The fun doesn’t stop there! When we got down to mixing, we were finding things weren’t matching up. Was it 24-bit issues? No… Oh, the full instrumental is completely different from the shortened TV ending. It was painful. I had to do a center-pan on the copy of the TV size to make it work. You know what that does? Makes a muddy sound file. I had a back-up file of me doing some BS song in an attempt to save myself from the challenge, but it’d be heartbreaking to release it publicly.

So instead, here’s the version with a backing track and one without. The only line I actually like is the last. I really don’t want to hear critiques on this one. I’m not a singer anymore. I had two separate times where I would get in front of my microphone to sing and just break down because I knew it was bad while doing this. So if possible, keep your comments in your pocket for this one, my fragile ego doesn’t want to hear it. Thanks in advance. I hate you, Sho. You’re next.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

2014 Kana Challenge Successful

Kana purchased an item!

Call of the Wild: It’s a cell phone! For animals! Use this item on a contestant, and that contestant will have to compare every speaking character in their episode to an animal! With reasoning!

Watch Chaika ~The Coffin Princess~ Avenging Battle on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.


Denki-Gai (Episode Eight)
Player: Sho

denki-gai

Do people just like switching shows with me or something? Btw, Denki-Gai’s show this week was adorable. Elk will tell you more about it if you haven’t already read his review. And I’m making Kana sing. Hehehe.

Gundam Build Fighters TRY, such a strange sounding name. Looks like… It’s a show about Gundam building. Oh my goodness, Minato… I think he’s the main character, must be having some sort of dream. Winning a championship, the Mejin Cup apparently. It’s kind of funny, so this must be a slice of life then? Or perhaps the Gundam themselves come to life?!

So it looks like the models are called Gunpla? And geez, this is so dramatic. Almost like DRAMAtical Murder, except well, it shouldn’t be this dramatic. Whoa, what’s this? A battle scene? Are these real Gundam?! Oh cool, it’s more than just model building! The tiny Gundam are like on a little battlefield controlled by its team. Then they fight! It would be cool to be in a competition like that. Geez, this chick fighting a previous champion sounds cocky, just because her brother beat him back in middle school!

So the Miyazoto Institute, that’s the name of the school that won last year. And a girl who’s fighting them in this round is rather… Pushy, wanting to date the redhead if they win. I wonder if they’ll win. So… Try Fighters is the name of the main character’s team. I guess that’s where the title of the show comes from!

So, the first Gunpla battle that I see them fight is with Doggelora or something like that. Wow uh… That was really fast! Are all of them like that? I guess most of the show is exposition and drama then! Well, if all of the matches are like this. So the next battle is up, with the championship team. OMG, all of the instructions in the beginning of the battles are in English. Oh yeah, and Minato, he’s not the main character huh? He made a Gundam in that battle on the side of the previous champions. It looks like the champions won. Pretty swiftly too, tearing through the shield of the leader.

And as an extra insurance, watching Denki-Gai this week, I’ll be comparing it to DRAMAtical Murder as well! Well, there aren’t that many similarities. I guess one thing they have in common is the romantic aspects! DRAMAtical Murder is clearly about plot, but they both have nice character development! And that’s it for my review this week!

2014 Sho Challenge Successful

Watch Denki-Gai on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.


Your Lie In April (Episode Eight)
Player: Kayarath

your lie in april

One of the classic anime tropes is that of the rival. Your Lie In April is a shonen series, but it seems to eschew typical tropes to a degree (unlike Outbreak Company where you can make trope spotting a drinking game). It’s still an anime, so it does use the play book from time to time. Today’s episode is all about Kosei rivals, Takeshi and Emi.

We’re still at the big piano competition, and it’s Takeshi’s turn to play. He’s the “typical I want to defeat you” rival who even gave up an overseas competition in hopes of finally going up against Kosei. That’s dedication, folks. The thought of competing against Kosei is really compelling to Takeshi. He’s actually quite nervous about it (unlike the characters in The Irregular at Magic High School, who mostly keep their cool). Takeshi is still a pro, so he walks up on stage and kills the performance. The crowd goes wild! It seems having a rival can be a good thing as it gives you an objective to reach for.

Next up is Emi. She also competes against Kosei, but in a completely different way. While Taksehi wants to win against Kosei in competition, she challenges him in terms of style. While Kosei plays the score like a machine, Emi pours her soul into her music, much like Kaori. The problem with playing through your soul is that your performance is greatly dependent on your mood. If Emi’s feeling low, her performance is low too. Emi’s on fire today, to the shock of everyone, and may have even surpass Takeshi this time. Emi guesses it may be her new dress (it makes her look good, but not in a cutey way like in Engaged The Unidentified) but quickly figures out it’s because Kosei is here.

All this build up would imply that Kosei suddenly snaps himself together and play the show of his life, but there’s also the real possibility of him choking again. It’s honestly a toss up at this point. Will Kosei win the competition? That’s not the issue honestly. He’s competing against the ghost of his mother, and himself. That’s a match I gotta see.

2014 Kayarath Challenge Successful

Watch Your Lie In April on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.


World Trigger (Episode Eight)
Player: Tyler

world trigger

Tyler 2014 No Show

Watch World Trigger on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.


Wolf Girl and Black Prince (Episode Eight)
Player: Bobby Henshin

wolf girl and the black princeLove is in the air as the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Everyone is out on a date to see them. Including our two protagonists. Well, one of them seems to be enjoying it at least. Take a wild guess which one.

Erika is happy as ever to be on a true first date with her new boyfriend Kyoya. He is barking orders anymore but he is reluctant to do,well, anything. All he wants to do on a date is stay at home and watch a movie because he hates crowds. The only reason he is out with her is because he lost at rock, paper, scissors. Erika tries to do the staples of dating. She goes to hold his hand, he puts it in his hoodie pocket. She wants to get get ice cream to share with him, he hates sweets.

Finally, she wants to go on couples boat ride. Kyoya, on the other hand, is being his normal, jerky self and saying she can go on a boat ride by herself. She throws her purse at his head and cries. Nothing has changed and she feels like things will never change unless he is true with himself. She walks off and gets in the boat herself. Kyoya waits on a bench and sees a couple across from him. the girl asks the boy to kiss her on the forehead. He does and they are both embarrassed. kyoya is silent and walks off.

Both of them decided that they were being jerks. Mostly Kyoya, but Erika thinks she was being one too. Kyoya decides to let her have her way and let her feed him takuyaki. After some arguing, they have a nice scene actually and look like a legit couple. As they are leaving, Kyoya has a actual smile on his face. He looks happy for once, so maybe he can change.

Now lets wind back a bit to the beginning of the episode. As they are walking down we meet a red headed male named Kamiya who is accompanied by three girls. They all talk about how Sata is cute and how he could have any female he wanted. This sparks the rest of the episode.

The second year of high school begins as we figure out that everyone is in the same class. Including the guy we saw earlier, Kamiya. He is a huge playboy who believes that being with a boyfriend or girlfriend restricts your freedom and is a burden. So why not just love everyone the same. I can see the outside of the box way of thinking but it can ruin people on an emotional level. He is now starting to hit on Erika too. While flirting they are both elected class reps and are now forced to do sorting and everything of the sort together after school.

Kamiya is focused on getting Erika to fall for him and even invites her out for some adult fun. This makes Erika mad as they finish up and head home. Kyoya though was waiting for her by the lockers because he said he had nothing else to do. Just show you care you jerk. But Erika forgot her locker key in the classroom. She bolts back to get it as Kamiya decides to use this opportunity to bring Sata to his way of thinking. Where have I heard of this before?

This is starting to remind me of an anime in simulblast before. Using affection to get what you want. Can you guess? That’s right! Captain Earth! How you ask. A man forcing his way of thinking onto others to see what they are truly capable of. Sound likes Salty Dog right? Only they tried to get their point across with giant killer robots. Although, no one was as big of a Jerk as Kyoya. Not even Creepy McJerkface that tried to kidnap Hana to make future babies with. I still shiver from that.

But, back to our story. Kamiya asks why he would go for a girl as plain as Erika. He asks questions like, are you using her to get rich? Does she have an even hotter friend? And the kicker, is she great in the sack? This one actually sends Kyoya into a rage and he grabs Kamiya by the collar and says if he says anything bad about her again that he will end her. So we have more character development! But how is it going to end with only 4 episodes left? Who knows, but it doesn’t look like Kamiya is ready to give up on Sata or Erika yet.

Bobby purchased an item!

A Fruity Drink With A Tiny Umbrella: Vacation time! Use this item to skip a week! You’ll gain your core 50 points, but won’t gain any bonuses from the challenge itself.

Bobby used his Gravedigger’s Shovel! He gains one token from the person below him.

2014 Bobby Challenge Successful

Watch Wolf Girl and Black Prince on Crunchyroll or talk about this episode on our forums.


Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (Episode Eight)
Player: Whiskahs

rage of bahamut

Lots of action and not a ton of substance in this episode. The demon forces lead by Azazel engage the humans defending the city in which Amira is currently being held. Jeanne spends most of the episode shooting lasers out of her spear and manages to dispatch the big wolfish demon that Kaiser and Favaro fought previously. Meanwhile Kaiser and Favaro face off against Azazel himself. The battle ends up being a bit pointless as they discover that normal weapons can’t actually kill him, but lucky for them Jeanne manages to shoot one of her spear lasers from a mile away to save the day.

About the only thing of importance that happened in this episode is we find out that Favaro has been hiding the fact a demon killed Kaiser’s father and allowed himself to become the target of Kaiser’s rage in order to give Kaiser a reason to live. Seems a bit weird to me, but whatever, it kind of seems like a lazy way to explain some of Favaro’s actions in the series so far.

I don’t think there is really much comparison between Rage of Bahamut and No Game No Life. Rage is almost the opposite in every way with it’s darker setting and themes and the almost complete lack of fan service pretty much makes it so that the only thing Rage and No Game No Life have in common is that they both occupy the relatively broad genre of fantasy. I also like Rage, which is enough of a difference in and of itself.

2014 Aero Challenge Successful

Watch Rage of Bahamut: Genesis on Funimation or talk about this episode on our forums.


Week 008 Tally

  1. Elk: 953
  2. Kanashimi: 810
  3. Sho: 759
  4. Kayarath: 653
  5. Bobby Henshin: 514
  6. Tyler: 434
  7. Whiskahs: 184
  8. The Editor: 0

Week 008 Token Counts

  1. Kanashimi: 4 Tokens
  2. Bobby Henshin: 2 Tokens
  3. Elk: 9 Tokens
  4. Kayarath: 3 Tokens
  5. Sho: 5 Tokens
  6. Tyler: 3 Tokens
  7. Whiskahs: 4 Tokens
  8. The Editor: 2 Tokens

Next week’s challenge: Mystery lunch challenge! Describe one of your character’s perfect lunchbox and receive a token if you draw it!

Make sure to vote for your favorite review below! You can give your favorite a Token!

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Comments
  • nerdwerld December 3, 2014 at 3:35 PM

    Okay, Kana wins because her review was fantastic. Kind of disappointed that the audio never got past buffering, but her review in upon itself was the most interesting in the bunch.

  • tobywankanobi17125 December 3, 2014 at 3:38 PM

    I vote for Bobby 🙂 You are awesome!!!

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