AoD Advance Review: Shrine of the Morning Mist Vol. #3 [Archive]

Chris Beveridge

04-20-2005, 10:02 AM

Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/3813.php)

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In Summary:
Shrine of the Morning Mist is a decent little series that has some really nice hooks in it from the start with the Priestess Club and the way they work myth and magic together into a modern setting. But the series suffers from being predictable so that as you see it hitting all the marks along the way, not too much surprises and you can see what's going to happen next. The characters are what make the show enjoyable with their little quirks and interactions though so all of it is brought to a decent close here but nothing that's earth shattering in the slightest.

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Fencedude

04-20-2005, 10:08 AM

Alyssa Searrs will be here in 5...4...3...

Suwako Moriya

04-20-2005, 10:22 AM

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The characters are what make the show enjoyable with their little quirks and interactions though so all of it is brought to a decent close here but nothing that's earth shattering in the slightest.

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Yeah it's definitely true that there is nothing really earth shattering about the show. Although that's probably true for several series I love. Still I definitely love the quirks and interaction between the characters. The episode 4 recruit scene completely sold me on the series. It's also a reason I love Chika Yurikusa, but I still love Seiko Rikiishi a bit more. The newer characters were kind of fun too. Especially Kuriko.

Suwako Moriya

04-20-2005, 10:30 AM

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Fencedude said:
Alyssa Searrs will be here in 5...4...3...

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Watch as people get shocked over the idea I took 20 minutes to reply to the original message. Are you planning to do these type of posts. When/If review threads come up for Bottle Fairy, My~HiME and Rozen Maiden?

JackProton

04-25-2005, 03:22 PM

I finished the series this past weekend and have to say that I really enjoyed this final volume of the series. The quirky characters and humor and heartfelt nature of the show kept me coming back but the themes of loss and redemption echoing throughout the series and, especially, the finale made the conclusion a very satisfying one. And, while the story didn't do anything particularly ambitious, I don't feel the series ever made any promises to. There were certainly enough twists and unexpected events and humor to keep the show interesting along the way and more than enough heart in the mix to make it a worthwhile journey.

And, on top of that, I never once felt the show was pandering to the audience which I find quite refreshing these days.

Suwako Moriya

04-25-2005, 07:58 PM

The only thing I wish is that Hiro would have had a better role in the show for someone who is supposed to be very important. Then again that would have meant less screen time for Chika and Seiko. I take that back I'm glad his screen time wasn't that good.

JackProton

04-27-2005, 03:53 PM

/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

I thought the role-reversal was interesting with the girls protecting Hiro and Hiro taking a more passive role. As for Hiro moments, I especially enjoyed how Koma and Hiro bonded.

Chika and Seiko, eh? Kind of reminded me of Martain Successor Nadesico's Ruri and Azumanga Daioh's Tomo. In a good way, of course. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Suwako Moriya

04-27-2005, 04:26 PM

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JackProton said:Chika and Seiko, eh? Kind of reminded me of Martain Successor Nadesico's Ruri and Azumanga Daioh's Tomo. In a good way, of course. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

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It also helps that I love both Ruri of Martian Successor Nadesico and Tomo of Azumanga Daioh. I can also see why Chika reminds you of Ruri and Seiko reminds you of Tomo.

EmperorBrandon

04-27-2005, 11:19 PM

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Alyssa Searrs said:
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JackProton said:Chika and Seiko, eh? Kind of reminded me of Martain Successor Nadesico's Ruri and Azumanga Daioh's Tomo. In a good way, of course. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

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It also helps that I love both Ruri of Martian Successor Nadesico and Tomo of Azumanga Daioh. I can also see why Chika reminds you of Ruri and Seiko reminds you of Tomo.

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Seiko has reminded me of Tomo before, in appearance but also a little bit in personality. I can see the Chika and Ruri connection too.

I was kind of disappointed that Seiko and Mizuho didn't get to be more like "friendly rivals". Really liked the interaction between them in the Seiko episode, but there's nothing much past that and Mizuho sacrificed herself in the end. I know that Mizuho and Yukie owed their lives to Ayatachi, and he did end up doing a lot of good in the end, but I thought it really sucked that they didn't get to come back. /images/graemlins/sad.gif

EmperorBrandon

04-27-2005, 11:34 PM

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Alyssa Searrs said:
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Fencedude said:
Alyssa Searrs will be here in 5...4...3...

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Watch as people get shocked over the idea I took 20 minutes to reply to the original message. Are you planning to do these type of posts. When/If review threads come up for Bottle Fairy, My~HiME and Rozen Maiden?

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Heh, I think you got yourself branded by using up to three different characters from Asagiri no Miko as your username. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif When Mai-HiME gets an R1 release, you'll probably be a target again. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

After all, I've posted in almost every Magic User's Club and Princess Tutu topic to come up, yet I've had no one jokingly anticipate me on any of them... Though B-Rad did get me on a "VA's gone by" topic with Misty Daniels. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif Guess if I change my name to "Sae Sawanoguchi" or "Fakir", people will start expecting me too. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Suwako Moriya

04-27-2005, 11:39 PM

It would be nice if they could have survived, but it would have to be done in a logical way. I don't think the show had enough time to make a "revival" of Yukie and Mizuho plausible. Still at the very least they did a lot of good. Ie they were close friends to Kukuri. Thus that made her very happy over all. Plus she and Ayatachi can now move on. I wouldn't be surprised if those two got together. Still in regards to Seiko and Mizuho. Yeah it would be nice if they were rivals. Speaking of which. Yukie and Shizuka seem to be friendly towards each other. Which is sort of the reverse of Seiko and Mizuho.

EmperorBrandon

04-27-2005, 11:57 PM

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Alyssa Searrs said:
It would be nice if they could have survived, but it would have to be done in a logical way. I don't think the show had enough time to make a "revival" of Yukie and Mizuho plausible.

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Yeah, that's something I'll agree on. Could have made the series longer, but if it was like a normal 26-episode series, then maybe it would be a little too heavy on filler (win some, lose some). I did really enjoy the episode that went into their past, though (I have that freaky devilish children-chanting song stuck in my head now /images/graemlins/happy.gif)

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Still at the very least they did a lot of good. Ie they were close friends to Kukuri. Thus that made her very happy over all. Plus she and Ayatachi can now move on. I wouldn't be surprised if those two got together.

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Nah, they got to keep the love quadrangle thing going on between Yuzu, Hiro, Kukuri, and Kusugi. I think there may be some truth in what Seiko suspects /images/graemlins/devil.gif

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Still in regards to Seiko and Mizuho. Yeah it would be nice if they were rivals. Speaking of which. Yukie and Shizuka seem to be friendly towards each other. Which is sort of the reverse of Seiko and Mizuho.

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Yeah, I noticed that. I remember them finding out about Kukuri's identity, but did they with the other girls? We never really saw any reactions of the girls to Mizuho and Yukie being gone in the end (and of course, Kusugi's identity is still secret).

Suwako Moriya

04-28-2005, 12:01 AM

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EmperorBrandon said:Heh, I think you got yourself branded by using up to three different characters from Asagiri no Miko as your username. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif When Mai-HiME gets an R1 release, you'll probably be a target again. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

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Ah of course the name change thing again. Still I think that's only part of the reason. I also talked about Asagiri no Miko a lot in the past. Of course I moved on, but I still enjoy the show to this day. I should really marathon it once I have volume 3. That will be fun.

Suwako Moriya

04-28-2005, 12:09 AM

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EmperorBrandon said:Nah, they got to keep the love quadrangle thing going on between Yuzu, Hiro, Kukuri, and Kusugi. I think there may be some truth in what Seiko suspects /images/graemlins/devil.gif

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Ah, but of course. That would have made things even more interesting. Especially if each of them fell in love with the other three. However my fantasy involves Seiko giving up on men and instead going after Chika. Then a jealous Izumi and Seiko fight for Chika. What? At the very least I sometimes believe Izumi is in love with Chika. Then again my thoughts are sometimes insane.

As for the Develish Chanting song. The Children looked familiar didn't they? Ie they looked like younger versions of some of the cast. Or at least some of them did. Not saying they were the same people since I'm sure they weren't. But it's kind of cute they did so.

As for your last part which should be spoiler marked. Yeah it would been nice to see the others' reactions to Yukie and Mizuho. From the truth about them to their final act./spoiler]

EmperorBrandon

04-28-2005, 12:20 AM

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Alyssa Searrs said:

What? At the very least I sometimes believe Izumi is in love with Chika. Then again my thoughts are sometimes insane.

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Well, I do think Izumi has a crush on Chika. Shame that there really wasn't too much of that in Vol. 3, as I always thought it was pretty amusing and Chika's sarcastic reactions are cute (which just makes Izumi even more obsessed...) Really hope Seiko finally ends up with a guy, though she's definitely seem to be the object of fanaticism for some girls. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

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As for the Develish Chanting song. The Children looked familiar didn't they? Ie they looked like younger versions of some of the cast. Or at least some of them did. Not saying they were the same people since I'm sure they weren't. But it's kind of cute they did so.

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I didn't notice that. I'll pay attention to that next time I watch. Of course, Yukie and Mizuho were very cute in their child forms. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

EmperorBrandon

04-28-2005, 08:21 PM

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EmperorBrandon said:

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As for the Develish Chanting song. The Children looked familiar didn't they? Ie they looked like younger versions of some of the cast. Or at least some of them did. Not saying they were the same people since I'm sure they weren't. But it's kind of cute they did so.

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I didn't notice that. I'll pay attention to that next time I watch. Of course, Yukie and Mizuho were very cute in their child forms. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

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I see you what you mean about the children, though it's somewhat hard to tell because their faces are all shadowed.

In a way, the thing with Mizuho and Yukie reminds me of Princess Tutu with Ahiru's original form not being human and having to go back to being a duck forever in the end. Still, Ahiru being a girl was only because Drosselmeyer wanted to use her to manipulate the story. Also, it was less of a disappointment knowing that Fakir still loved her in the end, even though she would have to remain a duck. Mizuho and Yukie assumed human forms of their own will because they wanted to play with the children, and only at the very end (after they had already sacrificed their human forms for Ayatachi, in order for him to be rid both of his curse and the punishment Yagarena gave him) did they feel they were loved and had a reason to stay around (Kukuri). It really made there situation very tragic in the end.

Suwako Moriya

04-28-2005, 09:36 PM

Interesting note about how Mizuho and Yuki remind you me of Princess Tutu. I have to say as a side note I like how Princess Tutu ended. What really surprised me was the fact Mythos chose Rue instead of Ahiru. A long standing automatic win thing was broken. The other girl actually got the guy in the end. Then again it works out better that way considering what happened in the end.

Back to Shrine of the Morning Mist. The main thing I paid attention to was the hair styles of the characters involved in the flashback scene to be honest. That's what first made me think "Hey they look like younger versions of some of the cast. They must have decided to base these children on existing characters for the fun of it."

EmperorBrandon

04-28-2005, 10:22 PM

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Alyssa Searrs said:
Interesting note about how Mizuho and Yuki remind you me of Princess Tutu. I have to say as a side note I like how Princess Tutu ended. What really surprised me was the fact Mythos chose Rue instead of Ahiru. A long standing automatic win thing was broken. The other girl actually got the guy in the end. Then again it works out better that way considering what happened in the end.

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Yeah, I really liked that it ended up that way for Mythos and Rue. Not that any of the other characters were much better off, but Rue really had it bad throughout much of the story, being tricked into being a raven by her "father" and generally being miserable about being unable to obtain Mythos's love throughout the whole ordeal. To see her finally get her prince in the end was very beautiful. Not to mention I would have been kind of disappointed if Mythos would have gone with Ahiru in the end.

And that ends me going off-topic a little bit (the greatness of Princess Tutu's ending compels me /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif)

JackProton

04-29-2005, 03:13 PM

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Alyssa Searrs said:
The main thing I paid attention to was the hair styles of the characters involved in the flashback scene to be honest. That's what first made me think "Hey they look like younger versions of some of the cast. They must have decided to base these children on existing characters for the fun of it."

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Good eyes! I just kept wondering what what the heck we were doing this far back in history. But I do love surprises. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

EmperorBrandon

04-30-2005, 12:37 AM

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JackProton said:
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Alyssa Searrs said:
The main thing I paid attention to was the hair styles of the characters involved in the flashback scene to be honest. That's what first made me think "Hey they look like younger versions of some of the cast. They must have decided to base these children on existing characters for the fun of it."

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Good eyes! I just kept wondering what what the heck we were doing this far back in history. But I do love surprises. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

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Reincarnation, probably...