Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

Episode 12. In which we have the mid-season epic fight.

That's a lovely start of the episode. Well, good thing it's her.

That's not the time to start thinking of a new plan.

Nice of him to pause his attacks while his parter attacks. Unlike, you know, attacking simultaneously like any proper fighter would.

She seems surprisingly happy about losing. The other one, sure, but that's just who she is.

The one thing about their post-battle talk I liked the most is when she grabs him. If he gets to do it, she gets to do it.

Why are those glasses still there? I mean, seriously, has it been completely unused and uncleaned since then?

You'd have a point there if this was a fight to the death or if Ayato were simply try to destroy her school badge or render her unconscious. None of those conditions are true so you don't. Julis' attacks were meant to make Irene off balance and thus unable to properly block Ayato's attacks as he tried to destroy the Gravi-Sheath.

Well the fight was awesome and a great way to end the first half of the season. We finally get to see Julis and Ayato teamwork they've been hiding all this time and it doesn't disappoint. They work great together and were in sync the whole fight. Their relationship is one of the strongest aspects of the show and it feels like an actual partnership where they both support each other.

Urzaiz sisters lost, but they seem to be satisfied with that conclusion, and Priscilla even decides to become stronger to support their sister. They still have to work for Dirk, but with no Gravy-sheet to mess with them, it shouldn't be too bad.

Meanwhile everyone finds out about Ayato's time limit and come to conclusions. Some think it means he'll be easy to defeat, the smarter ones know better. And in the end Ayato won't have to face this alone, since Julis is always by his side.

Well be now heading for the second part of the tournament and the plot thickens as behind the scenes his sister enemy is plotting against Ayato.

I really like this anime, it's been a long time since anything truly good showed up in the "high school fantasy" genre and this season we get not one but two such shows. Hopefully this is a trend that will stick.

You'd have a point if they actually managed to accomplish something with it, but they didn't, so you don't. It's a type of False Dichotomy to assume there can only be a few listed options for doing something a certain way. When they actually synched up their attacks properly, they did much better.

In most battles there are pauses here and there when there shouldn't, on either side, which only make it seem more staged than it already is. It's just bad choreography, and diminishes the abilities of both sides. It makes their teamwork look less stellar, and it makes Irene look like she's got slower reactions than she really should have.

Whether or not their plan succeeded is irrelevant. That's what they were trying to do. Also, you really don't want to launch a range attack while allies are attacking the same target with melee attacks. Unless there's something that makes them immune to your attacks, there's too much of a risk of them being hit as well.

Yeah seriously, jumping in on someone who is getting bombarded by fireballs is just asking for friendly fire.

Okay, their teamwork sucks. Gotcha.

I think we watched two completely different fights. Julis used her ranged spells to keep Irene pinned and off balance to give Ayato the openings he needed to strike at the Gravi-Sheath. While they were doing that, they also forced Irene into not one but two of Julis' traps. While they were doing that Julis was also keeping an eye on Irene's gravity fields and warned Ayato whenever one was headed his way.

That's some excellent teamwork in my book.

edited 20th Dec '15 12:27:50 PM by Zelenal

Zelenal is right, their teamwork was on point.

There were some good points, and some bad points. And to clarify, I only said their teamwork sucks based on your arguments. "They failed, but it's excellent teamwork," is not a good argument for excellent teamwork.

I thought it was better than that, just on occasion flawed because of bad choreography on behalf of the animators. Most people who animate battles have little clue about actual battles, and go with what looks good to people who also have little clue, but makes it look flawed to people who know what they should actually be doing.

I could go into more detail, but I don't want to watch it yet again just for that purpose.

Their tactic was to keep her on defensive while Ayato keeps hitting her weapon until it breaks, which worked pretty well until Gravy-sheet went into overdrive.

Just because their plan failed doesn't mean that their teamwork was bad. Those are two completely unrelated concepts. A plan can still work even if all parties involved try to actively sabotage one another. Likewise, a plan can fail even if the people involved work flawlessly together. The only reason their plan failed is because the Gravi-Sheath was more resilient than they thought. If you recall, Ayato successfully got the hit during their first real rush, he just didn't strike it with enough power to break it.

The fight dragged on so everyone found out about his time limit. That did not work out so well for them.

Just because their plan was solid in theory doesn't mean their teamwork was. There were gaps in it. Sure, they might not have succeeded anyway, but they'd have done better with tighter teamwork. Gaps larger than their reaction time and movement speed has been shown to be, by the way.

Nice. I think I still prefer the original, though. Something with the slower pace doesn't do quite as well as I thought it would.

Three days left until season two. I got my hopes up that it will be as good as season one.

What do you guys want to see in the second season? I hope for more cool fights for Julis and Ayato, because with the exception of the last fight, they got through the first round so easily we skipped most battles.

Also some follow up on the dangling plot threads like the new Lux they were supposed to get as a compensation.

Anyway, very excited for this.

A relationship upgrade for Ayato and Julis would be nice.

Oh yeah, that would be great, especially since it's so obvious already. I have some hopes for that, since Ayato is less of a dense tool than most main characters.

Uh...I dunno. I don't exactly have my highest expectations anymore than the first season really, so I'm not going expecting much.

I hope it doesn't get any worse in quality I guess.

Oh yea, that happened with Infinite Stratos and Rosario To Vampire didn't it. God, not even this show deserves such a fate.

edited 30th Mar '16 8:19:14 AM by BlackYakuzu94

I'm mostly hoping there aren't any episodes that devolve into Stupid Harem Antics, which is way too common if a harem series goes past one season.

First episode of the second cour is out. Let's get this party rolling.

edited 2nd Apr '16 10:49:36 AM by BlackYakuzu94

Watched the new episode. The new OP and ED are nice but nowhere near as good as the previous ones (of course, I doubt anything can top "Waiting for the Rain").

We're starting off strong, though. A great fight was a great plan from Julis, some interesting new characters, and some wonderful interaction between Ayato and Julis. Couldn't really ask for anything more.

That's a whole lot of plot introduced before we're even reintroduced to the main characters. And good ole Unspoken Plan Guarantee, never fails. It was a pretty cool plan though I admit, though it kinda makes these guys look worse when its heavily implied that Ayato could have solo'd them both if he was at full power.

Oh, meido...with a voice that really that isn't that good. Wonderful....

Anyway yay, episode pretty much picked up right where the Season finale of the previous cour left off without much delay. Not even a reappearance by obviously-not-evil dude who killed Ayato's sister.

Yeah, wow what a strong start for the second season. It jumps right back into action without dawdling and delivers a full battle right in the first episode.

I like how it picks up with the consequences of Ayato secret being revealed and how they deal with it.

Surprisingly I like Chinese loli president, she's amusing. And that little action scene at the beginning looked good.

What a game plan! Julis brains might just be the team's greatest asset.

Ayato and Julis interactions as still on point. From discussing their battle strategies, to how well they fight together, discussing Ayato possible goals, and even small things like Julis blushing because she's happy he fights for her and Ayato stealing glances at her boobs, those two are the highlight of the show. I think it was a good decision that no of the supporting characters show up until the end of the episode, so the episode can focus on the main duo.

Speaking of the end of the episode, Julis maid showed up. Because of course she has a maid, she's a princess. I wonder if she was sent by Julis family to apprise Ayato.

Pretty happy with the way the second season started, it looks promising. Seems it won't be harem antics season after all.

Opponents were cool dudes this time. Nice teamwork as usual, show likes mixing up the battles so they're not usually straightforward.

lol Claudia preview. You're the true heroine in my heart.