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[series:4847#628] | ||||||
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(23 episodes watched): I almost missed this continuation because I was only searching for shows which began with 'episode 01'. The intro made me smirk as I recalled the odd situation within SLF and the colorful charcters that exist there. This is a show which sticks in my memory much better than most, since it is hard to forget such people. Sunraku and his companions are attacked by a horde of 'golems'; and, Pencilgon and Oikatzu have guessed what he's up to and are not amused that he chose this quest over another one with them. They present themselves to Sunraku and company and tag along in the search of an underground laboratory for the Magical Operations Unit, which is found. Bilac and Aramiys return to Rabituza while Emul remains with Sunraku and his 'Wolfgang' companions. This show does a good job of remaining 'fresh' while many others quickly become tiresome to watch and seem only marginally worth it. Having killed one of the seven legendary monsters and fought another, Sunraku is a priceless source of information and in episode 28 is called to tell what he knows to the Professor and other interested parties, among which is Psyger-0. He wants them off his back but definitely doesn't want to offer up everything he knows, especially about the unique quest that has taken him to Rabituza. The interogators are satisfied with what they have gotten, and In episode four Pencilgon proposes a 'Clan Alliance' between all of them, and it is agreed to. Something about this giving Wolfgang access to the information and resources the other groups posssess, as part of an ambitious and diabolical plan by Pencilgon to dominate SLF altogether. Afterwards Sunraku goes back to fight the crystal scorpions again, to get precious drops that Ancient Craftsman Bilac can use to create a fantastic weapon. In many shows the plots are so uninspiring that it's hard to summon the memory power to keep track of them, but here I feel I pretty much know what's going on. Don't miss the 'SLF Mini' skits after the credits. Though Sunraku's plan to deal with the ordinary scorpions goes pretty much as planned (episode 30), there turns out to be a boss Golden Scorpion who is made of tougher stuff. Nevertheless, Sunraku overcomes it and is in a good mood as he presents Bilac with a trove of fantastical raw materials and in returns gets the repaired 'non-standard ether generator'. He had hoped this would enable him to use the various suits of high quality armor that he has collected but couldn't use up until now due to Lycagon's curse. But it doesn't work, and he takes out his frustrations in a different, mobile suit fighting, game, 'Sephirim Hollow'. 'Rust', that game's reigning champion, challenges him to a duel and we see a wild, three-dimensional battle. Rust is not satisfied with the results and demands a rematch, which Sunraku agrees to. Overnight he cobbles together a formidable looking new mecha, 'Spider Crab'. This is amusing, but does it have anything to do with the main plotline? Could Rust actually be someone we know from SLF? It turns out that Rust and her assistant, 'Mold', have a good deal of experience in SLF and are willing to trade him information on a 'unique monster' in SLF, the squid-like sea monster Ctarnidd, for what he knows about robots within the game, which is a subject that Rust is infatuated with. Meanwhile, a bored Emul meets Akitsuakane, a blue-haired, scar-faced but cheerful ninja girl (episode 33). When Emul tells Sunraku about her, he is not happy. Has someone else broken into the Rabituza premise, which he had assumed was his alone? For now, however, he needs to head for his meeting with Mist and Rust. Bilac gives him her latest creation, a set of oversized fighting gauntlets. Sunraku decides he will need some help to fight his way through to his destination, and asks Psyger-0 to accompany him. Saiga naturally is giddy about this and gladly agrees. After Sunraku gives his new gauntlets a try they meet up in 'Eleventar' and set out; he struggles to make sense of the words and actions of this fearsome fighter who, unknown to him, is actually a girl with a long running crush on him. Clan leader 'Animalia' has made some sort of secret deal with Pencilgon, but probably just got ripped off. The way forward for Sunraku and Psyger is blocked by Animalia and her fighters--and, somehow, Lycagon. Animalia and her fighters claim Lycagon for themselves, but it makes mincemeat of them. So, the job of defeating this Legendary Monster is up to Sunraku and Psyger/Rei (who is fighting it for a fourth time). They try to make sense of its secret weapon, the ability to move invisibly when clouds block the moonlight. Meanwhile, Akitsuakane (who has definitely heard of Sunraku) and Emul are racing to catch up with them. In episode 38 (which has new OP and ED sequences) they do so and Sunraku and Psyger are grateful for the help they get. We learn what Akitsuakane's link to Sunraku is and Sunraku figures out why their attacks don't seem to be doing much damage to Lycagon. This is a multi-episode fight but I think it manages to stay fairly interesting. In episode 39 the team comes up with a very difficult but potentially decisive plan for dealing with Lycagon and carries it out; but the end result is not exactly what they had been hoping for. At least Rei has finally gotten to play SLF side by side with Sunraku. With the fight with Lycagon finally finished, Sunraku can get on with his trek to the city of 'Fifticia' to meet Mist and Rust. After taking stock of the new skills and items which he has won (which have a mix of benefits and drawbacks), he and his companions move on. They all agree to undertake a new quest that is offered to them by the game system. In episode 41 we see what Oikatzu and Pencilgon have been up to since the fight with the Tomb Guardian. We also get another look at the squabbling high ranking people of the software company that runs SLF--it was basically a replay of the joke that I didn't think was funny the first time it was told to us. It is mentioned that they don't think the defeat of Lycagon's shadow poses much of a problem to the ongoing story that they envision for SLF. Surely someday Sunraku's skill with 'trash games' will come in handy, won't it? Anyway, in episode 42 Oikatzu needs two more quality players on his team for the upcoming Global Game Competition (GGC), a big videogaming competition; he'd rather not use Sunraku and Pencilgon, but has little choice. Sunraku is modestly interested (this would involve meeting his two fellow gamers face-to-face for the first time) but for the time being wants to complete the tasks he already has underway. At Fifticia he meets Rust and Mold in their SLF forms for the first time. Then they meet an unusual pirate captain, 'Stude', and are offered and accept an 'original' mission to deal with Ctarnidd. Psyger, Akisuakane and Ceecrue insist on participating as well. In episode 43 we learn how they were granted permission to participate in this 'original scenario'. The team sets sail aboard Stude's ship, the 'Crimson Whale'. Before long they encounter the ghost ship, the 'Flying Innsman' (manned by zombie fish-men) that Stude blames for his father's death, and the two ships ram and board each other and fight it out hand-to-hand. Psyger and others are still somewhat handicapped by the drawbacks of special abilities that they took on to beat Lycagon's shadow. As a vicious battle between boarding parties rages, Sunraku gets the feeling that there's something funny about this scenario. Sure enough, a much greater opponent, Ctarnidd itself, emerges and he is drafted into participating in a 'Bonus Unique Scenario' whether he wants to or not. Before he knows it he is alone in what seems to be a deserted underwater city. He meets Araba, a 'merman', who explains that everything has been turned upside down and in fact the sky is below them and the sea floor above. This didn't make much sense to me even when it was more thoroughly explained in episode 44; if objects 'fall upwards', why don't people as well? There also seems to be a 1 week time limit to figure out what's going on and defeat Ctarnidd. In episode 45 Sunraku fights a fearsome giant flying fish and the mayhem attracts most of his missing party members. Afterwards they compare notes on which days they'll be available during the coming week to fight their way through this scenario (the last day will be the only one on which everyone is on hand). Then Rakuro heads off to Tokyo for the GGC. While he has seen photos of Kei and Towa Amane (Pencilgon), they would have no idea what he looks like and at the last minute he becomes uptight and decides to keep his face hidden, though it would probably have been less embarassing if he had simply been upfront. He also meets Megumi 'Meg' Natsume, the only professional gamer (other than himself) that Kei could recruit. She is skeptical of these joker gamers. Kei explains his reasoning in employing Towa and Rakuro: the game they'll be playing will be similar to SLF. Their first opponent will be an American team led by a truly awesome player, Sylvia Goldberg. In episode 47 the four play some practice matches against each other to familiarize themselves with the game and to convince Meg that Sunraku can be taken seriously. It turns out that this is not just a fighting game but also a role playing one in which you score points by behaving in a good/evil manner. In theory you could win your match without ever fighting your opponent. In episode 48 Kei shows a recording of his humiliating first match against 'Sylvi' and asks for input about how she might be beaten. Later Rakuro runs into her at a convenience store but doesn't recognize her. He has run out of ideas and decides to pay a visit to SLF. Araba warns him of the nighttime 'King' of the city, who Sunraku eagerly goes looking for; this turns out to be the toothed whale that we've been seeing in the OP seqence for months. It also turns out that Sylvi is curious about SLF as well. Episode 49 is all about Sunraku and Araba's fight with the whale; there's a way to kill every monster, no matter how fearsome and invulnerable it may seem, if you pay attention to the details of the game. Kei gets a startling and embarrassing phone call in episode 50: after all his efforts to lash-up this gaming team in order to give himself one more chance to beat Sylvi, he has been called away by a sponsor to another competition on the same day. Rakutome, however, sees a possible solution: if they time things just right, they might just be able to delay the final round until Kei has returned. But Sylvi has other ideas, and it might just be Rakutome who fights her rather than Kei. And, it looks like that's where things stand at the end of SLF part 2. I still enjoy this silly show about colorful characters who are not trapped within a videogame but instead struggle to master it. It has been announced at ANN that a third segment is in the works. Last updated Thursday, April 03 2025. Created Monday, October 28 2024. | ||||||||
