@Michael: yep, the same Wil who seemed to be sleepwalking through the entire arc and deliver the answer towards the end in grand style. I did think he was intelligent in a bookish sense but as thick as two short planks otherwise; at this point I’m starting to see him differently.

kaze ex machina

Nice example of mixing loan words. I like it! ^_^

In the event, they provided a kaze ex machina which blew the bad guy off the roof.

P.S. a couple more plot holes:

Why did Bad Guy burn kidnap the princess, burn the palace etc. in the first place? 10 years on, he is on track to political power, but there isn’t any indication of how or whether his crime facilitated this.

How did Princess Francesca come to be taken to Fiona’s village (unscarred, despite the fire) to die? Given that she was, why did the royalists not do the Fraancesca/Fiona exchange at this time?

I can get the source novels for this, but I’d have to let someone else read it for me lolz. Unless I get really interested and I find myself sitting through it and actually reading it. Let me see what I can do.

“normally ‘good as gold but thick as mud’ Wil”

Have you been watching the same Wil as I have? He is a nerd who also happens to be fit and good at target shooting. He’s alway been the brains of the outfit, while Allison does the enthusiasm and action.

…an anime equivalent of Mystery Science Theater 3000…

They’re called Epic Win iirc, but sadly they seem to have suffered a relapse of Hiatus Disease! The Golgo 13 movie does have the Huerrgh! factor going for it I guess, but this arc really did make me laugh for all the wrong reasons at points.

@Karura: Good to hear it! I look forward to the lulz that will ensure. *thumbs up*

@Sagacious1: I like that theory. It implies that Ben and Fi were sheltered by the open door or something, but it sure makes more sense than the guy just falling.

@Hanners: the BGM and end theme are a but meh but the op is superb. For reference, this is the worst anime I’ve seen…surely you don’t think this is worse than Golgo 13?! 0_o

@IKnight: it does indeed have a lot of potential. As for the planes, they’re 1930s era, so a wee bit slower than, say, WWII era models. I’ll give your mini-blog post a read and a comment in a bit.

@Ez: I did start to wonder where the knives were coming from. In that sort of politics, aren’t they used for stabbing rivals in the back?

@Owen: if you took English as far as A level you still have two years on me since my education was pure science post-16 (a decision I regret to this day). Agreed that I really need to read the original novels though - not only for curiosity’s sake but to get firm evidence as to whether it’s a sloppy adaptation of a good story or a faithful adaptation of a bad one. Even if it is the latter, what is stopping them deciding “I don’t like the way this bit reads. Let’s change it.”?

Which brings to mind that episode of ZSZS where you had Itoshiki and his students taking the mickey out of directors who did unimaginative works and then said in their defence that they were “just following the original!”.

(I’d say “Art imitating art”, but I’m more concerned about whether or not I used that bit of Brit slang properly more than anything)

Allison is like the anti-Kino. Kino was a quiet observer, when she chose to act, she did so cooly and effectively. Allison, in contrast, is quick to act and heedless. But I keep watching the series for her and clueless Wil.

Whoever made the OP also knows what they’re doing — the OP alone has better direction than much of the series.

Exactly my thought. The guy was carrying two huge knives at his own conference. I don’t know about you but that seems pretty irrelevant seeing that for safety he might as well have brought guns or something else.

On the off side, I got this funny moment where I thought he was Rambo or something. xD

A real pedant might complain about anagnorisis, but to be honest I don’t have a problem with your use of it here, especially since Allison to Lillia is (presumably) not a Greek tragedy. And that list of grievances was pretty amusing - though I think running men might have been able to keep up with really early aircraft take-offs, but I’m guessing the biplanes in this show are a bit more developed than that.

Also this post provoked some lengthier thoughts which I felt would be out of place if I just dumped them in these comments, so they went in the MAL blog.

Unfortunately I haven’t been too excited by the plots seen thus far, and I loathe the music to boot (it really isn’t my scene) so I’ve come away with an impression that doesn’t fall all that far short of WORST. ANIME. EVAR.

Sagacious is right though I think, Nihito gets blown off the roof by the wind from Allison’s plane. Which, to be honest, is pretty hilarious in itself.

Although I certainly feel your pain on this series and have toyed with the idea of dropping it myself. ‘Tis a shame since I like the characters of Allison and Wil so much, but outside of the people doing the music and art no one seems to have the slightest clue what they’re doing.

I’ve been wondering about the novels, myself. The thing is that Kino consists of a series of short-stories (fables, really), not novels. So I suppose the answer to the question: “Would the author of the Kino stories make these mistakes?” is, “Maybe”.

Still, I’ve seen blog comments on the series that complained that the richness of the first novel was completely lost in the first story-arc, so maybe the novels really are much better.