August 3 episodes of Mahouka and SAO

This will be a real short post, since i'm rushing today. Didn't get the chance to take much screenshots either.

Mahouka episode 18, the finale to the nine schools competition arc was pretty cool. After all the action, it finally settles down, ending with a sweet ball at the end. Really liked the ending song too!

I think that tatsuya is too overpowered though. His lack of emotions is probably trying to appeal to the ideal guy image, aloof, cool, rationale, strong, and independent. I guess it works, but it doesn't fit too well in a shounen anime, because there's no growth, and it's really just tatusya overpowering everyone else. Still a joy to watch.

SAO episode 5 was awesome as usual. Kirito and Sinon signed up for the BOB tournament, stuff happened, Sinon got pissed after finding out Kirito's real gender yadayadayada.

SAO season 2's real draw is in the animation, and bringing the story to life.

Here's coming from a guy who's read both SAO and mahouka's light novels. I was really intrigued by the settings in both series, one being in a futuristic Virtual Reality game world, the other dealing with Magic as a science. I was really looking forward to the animes, as all fans would be, when their favourite lightnovels are being brought to life in anime.

SAO still seems to be the best, and I would attribute this to a few reasons.

1. Simplicity of storyline and setting.
The setting speaks for itself, a virtual reality, with some familiar guns, swords, and stuff. The technology certain isn't the main focus, and in fact can be totally ignored. Not so much for mahouka. To bring out Tatsuya's real strength, flashy magic and visual effects simply don't cut it, because Tatsuya's abilities lie largely in theory and design. Yet, if the anime went on a lengthy explanation on Tatsuya's accomplishments, it's almost certain that there would be too much dialogue which would be boring. Simply put, the SAO setting lends itself well to being adapted into a medium dominated by movement and fluid battle scenes.

2. Battle scenes much greater detail.
This is just personal opinion, but flashy magic scenes pretty much look the same, no? Weird ass symbols, usually consisting of circles and hexagons, with some inscription inside, overlaping each other, and then the circles disappear and booom booom cool effects, are usually the way magic is portrayed in shows. In contrast, while guns and swords are pretty simple, the various combinations in which the moves are used makes it exciting and appealing, and is this not the case with all kungfu movies? A sequence of moves, linking up well, and also during clashes, how one move is neatly countered by another, this is where simple punches and kicks become an exciting battle. Of course, we must credit the producers for the detail in doing the animation, the explosions and the perfect angles used to show the fight scenes.

Yeah that's all for today, will add on if i think of more! Looking forward to next week.