Long Riders 06 – Oh Four Tuna

While other shows are starting to wrap up, we’re about half-way through Long Riders now. I wonder what will happen when the Winter season starts? I hope that the end of the series can air as planned.

A little time has passed since the last episode, and Ami has had a chance to do more training and get more experienced, so she decides that she’d like to attempt riding Yabitsu Pass again with her friends. I think that it’s really good to see Ami applying her experience and attempting something again which she failed at previously. This time she makes it to the top!

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Long Riders 05 – Taking Flight

We’re back on track (hopefully) for Long Riders! There’s been some changes to the visuals of the OP this week, replacing scenes with Ami’s folding bike with her new road bike.We also get to see a bit more of Saki, despite her not being properly introduced as of the start of this episode. It’s nice to see the changes in the opening to reflect the changes in Ami’s lifestyle, I wonder if there will be any other changes later on in the series?

Long Riders 04.5 – Covering old ground

It turns out that in spite of the listed week’s delay, there was an episode of Long Riders aired this week in Japan, but it was just a recap episode, covering the previous events in the series with some new narration. This is not being simulcast by Daisuki because there’s not anything really new, but there is a little information regarding the episode on the Long Riders website. You can also see plot summaries (in Japanese) accompanied by some images for the other episodes.

Long Riders 04 – Where has the bike gone?

Hinako is earnest for once

This episode starts out with Ami talking about being interested in a road bike and getting a pretty good run-down on the different kinds of bikes from Hinako. You do want a different kind of bike to suit your needs, and it may have taken four episodes (or what seems to be around 4 months based on the fact that the first episode would have been in April and I’ve seen an August date on a calendar in the previous episode) for Ami to figure it out, but her folding bike while great for a short commute, is not so good for the distance cycling she’s interested in doing with her friends.

Long Riders 03 – Road bike!

This episode starts out with a short recount of Ami buying some more cycling gear; this time some bike pants and a skirt to go over them. I’ve actually never seen serious lady cyclists wearing a skirt before but I think it’s a great idea. I normally prefer a short skirt and leggings when I ride but I am not serious by any means, and I prefer wearing skirts over pants in general.

Ace Attorney 03 – Pink Clothes Appreciation

It’s time for another installment of Ace Attorney. What kind of ‘turnabouts’ will we see this week?

Maya looks super distressed at the start of her trial. I suppose this makes sense though, I’d imagine anyone would be concerned if they were charged with murder, especially if they were innocent. I believe that in this fictional country, the death penalty is a possible sentence for convicted murderers as well, making the trial extra high stakes.

Long Riders – Omake

Owing to the episode delays this week, I don’t have a new episode of Long Riders to write about. I was browsing the Long Riders anime website and found that firstly, the routes ridden by the girls in the anime are based on real locations, and secondly, that there’s a short fictional blog post covering each route written by Ami. You can look at the cycling routes for each episode here. This week I’ve decided to bring you a translation of the websites blog post for episode 1 plus a little general information. I am by no means fluent in Japanese, so my apologies if I get something wrong! I’m never going to learn more kanji if I don’t use more kanji, so this is a learning opportunity for myself.

Ace Attorney 02 – Miso ramen and burgers

 

I’m back for the second episode of Ace Attorney. I’m really enjoying seeing the story develop so far despite some of the other problems in the production of this series which seem to continue into this episode.

Right at the start of this episode, we’re introduced to a new character, Mia’s younger sister, Maya. It looks like the clock statuette from the previous episode’s trial has been filled with important evidence and Maya has offered to hold onto it for her sister to keep it safe. I wonder what sort of evidence this is and how it will end up affecting Phoenix?

Long Riders 02 – Getting into gear

And I’m back with another weekly dose of cute girls doing things on bikes! The episode does not fail to deliver either with the cute, or the bikes.

Ace Attorney 01 – Phoenix …. Naruhodo*

*Naruhodo （なるほど） is both Phoenix’s Japanese name, and also a Japanese expression similar to ‘I see’ or ‘So that’s how it is’. There will probably be more terrible bilingual puns in this blog’s future.

 

I am vaguely familiar with the Ace Attorney franchise and watched the first episode of this show when it aired, but previously hadn’t found the impetus to keep watching. I’ve played Dual Destinies but none of the older Phoenix Wright games. I’m planning to do an episodic review of this series, sharing my thoughts on each episode. I know that the series didn’t have great reviews owing to its somewhat slavish sticking to the original story material, but firstly I feel that it’s important to make up my own mind on anything that I view, as I occasionally find that popular opinion is divergent from my own, and secondly, the fact that the plot sticks so closely to the original source material should hopefully be a great way to familiarise myself with the game’s plot.