On the third disk of the Sound of the Sky box set we get short glimpses into several of the characters' pasts, and a heap more through random expository scenes.Filicia's tragic past, ominous hints of Rio's secret, Kureha's history, even Claus' past, all of these are laid out like cards in an attempt to draw us in deeper to the story and make us care about the characters. And it might have worked too, except...
...I have never watched an anime so bound and determined to make me dislike it.
There's one deep episode, where we actually get some exposition of the war...followed by two episodes so utterly idiotic that there is no excuse for them, followed by a cliche'-ridden piece of tripe that anyone over 15 years old should be ashamed to have written.
Once again, I am being beaten with the fear so many anime studios have of *telling us an actual story.* It's as if they cannot, will not and obviously do not feel comfortable with a female cast in a serious drama, and must relentlessly infantilize them so we can never, not for one second, take them seriously. I'm almost relieved at the egregious panty shots, because for a moment there I thought we were going to get some character development and obviously don't want to get my hopes too high. Phew.
Yet again, we are confronted with the emotional manipulation of "Amazing Grace." Episode 9 of 12 and that and a few basic bugle calls are all we've heard, with the exception of Rio playing some extemporaneous jazz as a way of acting out.
I know that many of you enjoy this series and I swear, I'm trying to like it...but I'm finding it work to just *watch* it, much less enjoy it.
Three episodes to "get better." It's not impossible. As I said, I didn't like the original Nanoha until episode 10, but what a bloody waste of talent, money and time this was. Instead of 9 amazing episodes, there was one-ish. That's a pretty bad percentage in my book.
Ratings: When complete
I'm going to try and watch the last episodes soon, so we can wrap up the contest for a copy of the box set. Get your entry in before I write that final review!