Shion no Ou

[Cytrus]

Spoiler for ep 21:

Animation hits a new low. I think there's one good shot of Satoru and a few hundred ugly ones of everyone else.

Was waiting for the introduction of Ayumi's necklace as a new motivation item for Shion. The Ayumi/Makoto partnership dies quickly... but one can't blame people for making the right choice.

Funny part was - the judges' reaction to the atmosphere. Too bad we don't see their expressions when Shion stars playing pendant squash or the Mejin makes his weird lectures. I suppose shogi players have a lot of freedom, but still.

What struck me - once the match finishes and all is revealed (I hope so), Ayumi should immediately announce his situation to all concerned. "Mejin a psychotic murderer" will eclipse "boy tricking association for easy cash" a thousandfold, and he could get off easier. I doubt Shion would hold using the situation against him.

[Saleh]

Spoiler for Expectations:

- Hani Makoto gives better explaination of his motive

- Shion gets defeated by Hani Meijin (even though Shion will probably defeat Makoto ). Regardless of Makoto's personality and his actions, he is still a Meijin who is going all out against Shion. Hani Makota had won Meijin title 8 years ago (when Kyotarou was forced to resign due to his health condition) and had defended it for 8 years (since he still has Meijin title). Also if he losses the match he will probably be able to achieve his objective.

- A timeskip

Spoiler for Speculation of Murderer's objective:

Before Yamamura Kyotarou had died Hani Makoto's primary objective was to bring drastic change in shogi world along with his rival, Kyotarou. He will now atleast partially achieve this objective if Shion is able to defeat him (Thanks to Hani Satoru ). After Shion defeats Hani Makoto, she will become 4-dan pro kishi and will be treated like a male kishi (Episode 17) which may also mean that she will be able play pro leagues against men and enter in men title matches. This in itself is drastic change shogi world.

[angel.shade]

Meh I need to not read that stuff, since the subs are still stuck at #18, spoiling isn't a good idea...

[orion]

But to me it was obvious who the killer was from the cellphone incident. So now I'm waiting to see if my assumption was correct.

[ThoHell]

It's over...really over.
Thoughts on ep 22:

Spoiler:

Good episode but seemed kind of rushed. Hani completely snapped. Something you never expected the way for him to act. And everyone learning that Hani was the killing was rather blah, not much shock or maybe there wasn't much shock because they skipped all that.

SHION SPOKE! She spoke...cute voice. Her voice is back, murderer captured, Shion moves up in the world. It was a good episode with good ending, but seemed a little less impactish. Enjoyed the series!

[serenade_beta]

Never really posted in this thread, but:

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Rating: 9/10

Great show. Didn't learn squat about shogi except that it can get people to kill others.
The suspense works and the characters are developed, and until the last several episodes where everything became clear as day, I couldn't tell who was the criminal.
The OP really wasn't much, but the ED was at least average, though the animations on both are rather "meh".
One really big and obvious problem is the animation... The previous episode's movements were rather inhuman and the animation just wasn't very stable...
The ending of the series was pretty much "All goes well". Everyone goes well.
At least it ended with a laugh from me because of Hani's laughs stereotypically with a "HUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA".


That thief girl show thing will air in place of this show... Don't know anything about it and it isn't on my watch list, but maybe I'll watch it if others say it's good... maybe...

[Deathkillz]

ep 22 - end

Spoiler:

Well Thohell pretty much summarised it nicely.

The final ep sadly lacked impact. I was expecting a huge WTF coming from the guys knowing that Hani was the killer but I guess by this point anyone could have guessed it from a mile away

Great to see shion come out on top. She is strong willed in everyway. She finally broke off from the bonds of the past and told Hani how it wasn't because of him that she was able to become strong. Way to throw it back into his face

But still, I did find Hani's motive for doing such a thing dumb. "Is that all" was the question that hung in the air for me.

Oh and even though it was the last ep we did get some nice animation...yea...cabbage god worthy

[angel.shade]

Where are the subs for those of us who don't speak Japanese? =/

[Marina]

Originally Posted by angel.shade

Where are the subs for those of us who don't speak Japanese? =/

They haven't released anything past ep. 18 on animesuki yet, but of course it's good to be patient ^_^
Really tempting, all these spoiler tags! I have to be good and avoid clicking on them and ruining the ending

[angel.shade]

Patience is not one of my virtues. D=

If there were something else worth watching this season it wouldn't be so bad, but damn. Nothing but crappy comedies and slice of life stories as far as the eye can see.

Is it too much to ask for some explosions or murderers or gunfights? Or maybe some giant beams of death and destruction? Something besides a socially awkward vaguely metrosexual teenage boy and his adventures with a pack of crazy girls who all look identical save for hair color and breast size?

[SeijiSensei]

Well, I like non-crappy comedies and slice-of-life, but my selections from the past two seasons -- Baccano!, Ghost Hound, Hakaba Kitaro, Moyashimon, and Shion -- don't really fit the rest of your description. Ghost Hound comes closest in that it has teenaged boys, but chasing after crazy girls isn't a part of the story.

One of the first questions my daughter asks me when she comes home from school is whether another episode of Shion has been released!

[angel.shade]

If the girls are really crazy... well, Higurashi is one of my favorites. =D

Shion's pretty dark for the subject matter, the murder mystery and the focus on shogi (I love strategy and wargames). Baccano! was pure awesome in animated form. If Mnemosyne's second episode wasn't so terribad compared to the first I'd count that as a good point for 2008 but...

I really know how your daughter feels, I check this site every day when I get off work to see if #19 has been released yet! For the subbers to get bogged down like this right at the end of the show is painful! Mad props to LE though for putting out such a polished sub, I can't stress that enough.

Edit: My ranting notwithstanding, I don't mean anything against anyone who enjoys comedies, slice-of-life shows and harem shows. Whatever floats your boat. But those shows tend to sink mine, and I'm still pissed the hell off at Shakugan no Shana for having the potential to rival Nanoha for general magical-girl-badassery... then ruining it all with school-day side stories that bored me to tears. =/

[tlynnec]

Originally Posted by Marina

They haven't released anything past ep. 18 on animesuki yet, but of course it's good to be patient ^_^
Really tempting, all these spoiler tags! I have to be good and avoid clicking on them and ruining the ending

Sorry about this guys. Explanation here: http://www.live-evil.org/. To reiterate: Live-eviL WILL finish Shion as soon as we possibly can. Our translator is moving abroad in less than a week, so translation is temporarily on hold for approximately 1 more week. Please forgive us!

[Marina]

Thanks for the update on that ^_^ I look forward to the release of the next episodes!
Of course things irl are more important so the translator should take his/her time and settle into a new home first.

[angel.shade]

Originally Posted by tlynnec

Sorry about this guys. Explanation here: http://www.live-evil.org/. To reiterate: Live-eviL WILL finish Shion as soon as we possibly can. Our translator is moving abroad in less than a week, so translation is temporarily on hold for approximately 1 more week. Please forgive us!

Thank you for the update. I apologize if I came across as a pest; I was only curious. I'll check the main site next time for updates.

[tlynnec]

Originally Posted by angel.shade

Thank you for the update. I apologize if I came across as a pest; I was only curious. I'll check the main site next time for updates.

I didn't take it as you being a pest. ^_^

Originally Posted by Marina

Thanks for the update on that ^_^ I look forward to the release of the next episodes!
Of course things irl are more important so the translator should take his/her time and settle into a new home first.

Thanks for understanding!

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by angel.shade

Patience is not one of my virtues. D=

If there were something else worth watching this season it wouldn't be so bad, but damn. Nothing but crappy comedies and slice of life stories as far as the eye can see.

Is it too much to ask for some explosions or murderers or gunfights? Or maybe some giant beams of death and destruction? Something besides a socially awkward vaguely metrosexual teenage boy and his adventures with a pack of crazy girls who all look identical save for hair color and breast size?

Try Mnemosyne if you want death, gore and destruction

And wow...I found a really mean pic

Spoiler for not for the sensitive:

[Kaoru Chujo]

A hidden gem.

Spoiler for ep22:

Excellent final ep, in my opinion. Proof that desperately poor animation does not necessarily break a series, lol. Had plenty of impact for me.

By the end of this show they got really good at building tension through a shougi match that I for one didn't really understand. Good job.

Shion having trouble speaking at first was well done by Kawasumi Ayako. And her final "yoroshiku onegai shimasu" matched the intensity of her face perfectly.

The motivation was too bizarre, but the flow of the show made it work for me.

My taste is exactly opposite that of those who want gore, but Mnemosyne should be right up your alley. Gore so good even I like it. And there are some shows starting soon that may fill the bill: Crystal Blaze, Fist of the North Star, Golgo13.

[Zippicus]

Originally Posted by tlynnec

Sorry about this guys. Explanation here: http://www.live-evil.org/. To reiterate: Live-eviL WILL finish Shion as soon as we possibly can. Our translator is moving abroad in less than a week, so translation is temporarily on hold for approximately 1 more week. Please forgive us!

No need to apologize, I'm just thankful that you guys are even doing it in the first place. Thanks for the update though it makes the wait easier.

[pathyfinder]

I've just noticed that my current list of anime is seriously melting away Shion is by far the one I'm hungry for most as well as Major right now.

Thanks for the spoilers, I'm lousy with patience and that should hold me for a bit.

I also thought the OP was brilliant!