Hooray for the triumphant return of My Week in Anime!! I had an enormous amount to catch up with, and even after delegating thoughts on completed spring series to my best of the spring season post from earlier in the week, this entry is still an absolute monster. Staying on top of current anime takes up a crapload of time, jeez. xD Glad I enjoy doing it so much!
Anime discussed: Aoi Hana, Axis Powers Hetalia, Azumanga Daioh, Bakemonogatari, Canaan, Clannad: Another World -- Kyou Chapter, Eureka Seven, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kanamemo, Kemono no Souja Erin, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2, Minami-ke OVA, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Shugo Chara! Doki, Speed Grapher, Spice and Wolf II, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Vision of Escaflowne, Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
-- Aoi Hana ep1: I really like this first episode. The style, especially, is something that really draws me into the series. Very soft and elegant. Not much heavy drama or anything like that right now, although the ambiguous relationship between Fumi and Chizu is an interesting enough thread throughout the episode. (Fumi definitely did not know about Chizu's upcoming marriage, as evidenced by her BSOD facial expression.) Other than that, it is a relatively basic intro episode, but again, the style is really grabbing my attention and giving me confidence that the show will develop in a good way.
-- Axis Powers Hetalia eps 23-25: Aww, Lichtenstein and Switzerland are adorable together. Throwing Austria into the mix just makes it hilarious.
-- Azumanga Daioh eps 21-26: Stretch run is just as enjoyable as the rest of the series. Even the episodes that are essentially repeats of ones from earlier in the series (the sports tournament and the study trip) remain charming because the show puts a fresh spin on them. Just makes it more obvious how bad a lot of Azumanga ripoffs are at emulating that formula. Also love how naturally the show emphasizes the girls' friendship without shoving it in your face, and how it makes everyone equally awesome and funny. Early on, Tomo was my favorite, but by the end I loved all the girls. (But Tomo still probably makes me laugh more than anyone on the show, although Chiyo is almost as funny when people are messing with her. And Osaka is just in a world all her own.)
-- Bakemonogatari eps 1-2: Damn, this series is dripping with style, which is not entirely unexpected from SHAFT. But they really seem to be going the extra mile here; this is definitely the best looking first episode of the season. I am all for it, too, since SHAFT's last two non-Zetsubou Sensei series (Maria Holic and Natsu no Arashi!) are disappointing in various ways. Really like the leads, too -- Hitagi is cool and Chiwa Saito hits all the right notes as her, and Koyomi is more interesting than he first appears (and, of course, you can't go wrong with Hiroshi Kamiya as your male lead). This episode is a bit light on story, but the style and characters totally carry the episode. I'm really hoping this show cashes in on its enormous potential.
And now ep2 has me a bit curious about where the show is going, although that is not to say this episode isn't really good, because it is. The second half, especially, is really intense and well done, with Oshino summoning the crab god, the intensity of Hitagi letting her troubles be known and her plea for forgiveness from the god and Koyomi's narration of the problems Hitagi and her family had, completely with amazing accompanying SHAFT animation. This series is really talky right now, but SHAFT plays off it so well with the visuals that I hardly even care. (It is the same with ef - a tale of memories and a tale of melodies.) I like the solution at the end -- that Hitagi's extreme weight loss is due to her missing feelings and connections (a spiritual problem) rather than it being something physical. It's surreal but makes sense at the time. Hitagi's problem is at least partly solved, but then again she still has her frayed relationship with her mother to heal, and it would not surprise me to see the cult pop up at some point in the series. We don't know anything about Koyomi's background, either, other than he was a vampire, apparently. And the school president from the first episode visited Oshino at some point, which is interesting. So I guess this series does have plenty of room to maneuver from here on out, haha.
-- Canaan eps 1-2: Better first episode than I expected, although slightly confusing because it throws you right into the action with little explanation. But I don't mind that so much when it is done well. (Also, reading this blog post helped clarify a few things for me.) There are some interesting elements involving synesthesia that have me excited about the potential direction in which the story will move. And, really, that kind of sets the tone for this episode -- it is all about the sensory experience right now. Canaan is excellent visually, with a lot of great detail and color. The action is pretty damn good, too. If it weren't for Bakemonogatari, this would probably be the most visually appealing first episode of the season. Only downside to this episode is that Maaya Sakamoto barely says anything (and she only hums a bit). Moar Maaya plz.
And the second episode is pretty damn good as well. Lots of kickass action throughout the episode. Really loving Maaya Sakamoto's character right now -- doesn't sound anything like any role I have heard her in before, and she pulls off some amazing acrobatics. Love that she can so easily intimidate and overpower Rie Tanaka's crazy younger sister character, too, although there is obviously a bit of resentment there. The car chase is great, even if there are a couple of points where Obvious CGI is Obvious. (Side note: I was too into the episode to notice that my boy Jouji Nakata voices the cool taxi driver who shows up about two-thirds into the episode. lol @ me) And the fight between Canaan and the old dude is fantastic. Some fun gunplay; the battle also makes solid use of the environment. This episode really seized my attention, haha. Along with the great action, a question from last week answered, since it is pretty much presumed now that the men from last week died due to the UA Virus mentioned near the beginning. Eager to see how that ties in with the synesthesia stuff from the first episode.
-- Clannad: Another World -- Kyou Chapter ep1: Hm, I am always happy to get more Clannad, and I did enjoy this, but really, Kyou and Ryou never interested me as much as the other characters, so there is a pretty clear limit to how much I was destined to like this OVA lol. Nothing particularly wrong with the episode, mind. The conflict is solid (if a bit cliché for twin characters, although there are a couple of tweaks to make it more interesting), and it looks nice, as expected from Clannad. But I just could not get totally into it. I think it's because the story is already closed. It's a nice peek into an alternate reality, but I like Clannad's true reality so much more, so the emotional investment is not really there for me. I will say I do really like the scene at the end where Kyou has cut her hair so that she will look more like Ryou, mostly because it is kind of crazy. Tomoya changed his mind just in time -- girl was ready to go bugfuck nuts if he had not have loved her.
-- Eureka Seven eps 1-10: Re-watching the series with my sister (who is seeing it for the first time). After the wonderful action and introduction in the first couple of episodes (featuring Holland as the most mature he is at any point in the first half of the series), Renton joins Gekkostate ready to grow up and become an awesome man and win over the love of his life (which is really just an intense crush at this point in the series), but he gets bitchslapped by reality when he sees that the majority of the Gekkostate crew is just as immature as he is. Except they are a bit worse because they are adults, and thus have all sorts of powers they can lord over him, such as the power of being much bigger than Renton, and the power of seeming much more wise and worldly so that they can lead Renton into doing all sorts of retarded things. (Which is the basis of one of my favorite early episodes, "Absolute Defeat," where Renton goes on a super secret important mission for Gekkostate.)
What I love about these early episodes is that they are all about character development but never at the expense of the overall plot. They are not as heavily plotted as the super epic second half of the series, but the big picture is always there, subtly lurking in the background. Eureka Seven throws out a TON of stuff for the eagle-eyed viewer in these episodes -- Holland's relationship with Renton's family, and in particular, Diane; Holland's connection with Dewey; the search for Norb; and so on. It might be a bit difficult to piece everything together without having all of the information, but Eureka Seven constantly invites the viewer to think about even the tiniest of details.
And then you have the personalities of the crew firmly established, in particular Holland's dangerously easygoing attitude, his insane mood swings (it's a very tense moment the first time he wallops the shit out of Renton), the stubborn way he makes up for his mistakes and the way he is tormented by his past. I wonder what my sister will think when Holland shifts into full-on asshole mode in the upcoming episodes. Almost forgot how immature Talho is in some of these episodes, as well, but she is a bit more willing to face up to the past and confront things. (Then again, I don't she ever killed anyone in the name of a crazy government.)
As for the dub, I am enjoying it so far. No real complaints. Crispin Freeman is the clear stand-out as Holland -- he measures up to Keiji Fujiwara, which is a huge compliment from me, because I believe Holland is Fujiwara's best role. Johnny Yong Bosch handles Renton a hell of a lot better than I thought he would, although his voice sounds maybe a bit too childlike at times. No biggie, though. Stephanie Sheh is a solid Eureka. I am just glad she was not asked to do some retarded moe voice. She is like the American Mamiko Noto to me: When she goes full moe she is annoying as hell (to paraphrase Robert Downey Jr., you never go full moe), but with this kind of character that has some depth to it and where she can scale it back a little, she is pretty good.
-- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood eps 14-15: Um. Where do I begin? Friggin' awesome episode all around. (It even inspired me to make an OtakuBoards thread!) The fight between King Bradley and Greed is ridiculously awesome. That is why Bradley leads the military. (Well, one reason why, anyway ...) Poor Greed had no clue what hit him. I am really sad to see Greed go, by the way. His character is pretty kickass, and this also means the exit of Yuichi Nakamura from the series, which is a tragic event in and of itself. Every series could use more Nakamura. Moving on to the big reveal ... MIND. BLOWN. Bradley is a clearly shady figure from the beginning of the series, and it is no big shock that he is in league with the Homunculi ... but that he is actually one of them????? Insane. My heart was pounding for a good while after that plot twist, haha. Well done, FMA. Good to see that more and more people are becoming increasingly suspicious of Bradley/Wrath. Mustang is prowling Central now, Ed and Al know something is afoot and Izumi definitely does not completely trust Bradley either. (Maybe the only really disappointing part of this episode is that Izumi does not get a chance to kick some more ass. Boo! Boo, I say!) And then there is Father, and I am getting a strong Hohenheim vibe from him, which is also quite mad. Crazy bastard going around fathering children to use as sacrifices for mad projects. Yikes. Really sad moment at the end when Ed awkwardly brings up Hughes in conversation, and Armstrong is like, "Um ... *DODGES MAJOR CONVERSATIONAL BULLET*" It will be ridiculously sad when Ed and Al learn about THAT after they get home.
And now for ep15. These Xing characters are intriguing, all the more so because they're traveling with people who are directly opposed to each other (and I do not think I am wrong in believing that Ling and May are from different clans). Happy to hear Mamoru Miyano on the show -- now FMA is one Hiroshi Kamiya short of having all the main Gundam 00 pilots. (Allelujah/Hallelujah = Kimblee; Setsuna = Ling; Lockon = Mustang; Graham = Greed; and Ali = Hughes.) It will be interesting to see how far Ling will go to secure the Philosopher's Stone. He has already indicated that he will stoop to anything, including humiliating himself, so that his clan will rise to the top of the food chain. I like the casual bit of world development, too, with Ed elucidating on just how war torn his neck of the woods is, which obviously figures into Father's plans, although to what extent I do not know since I have no clue what the full scope of his plan is (it does provide a nice cover for creating Philosopher's Stones though). Speaking of, Riza stumbling upon Barry the Chopper is a bit too convenient of a way for Mustang and his crew to affirm the shady nature of the laboratory, haha. But oh well. Guess they have to catch up with Ed somehow. Also, moar Riza with her hair down plz kthx.
New OP and ED are solid, although I think I prefer the first pair for now. Next episode should be plenty sad -- Ed, Al and Winry will finally learn about Hughes' death. I wonder if Ed and Al will be pissed at Armstrong for not telling them sooner?
-- Kanamemo ep1: An OK first episode -- it is a pretty basic comedy right now. Kana Nakamachi is a newly-orphaned girl who gets a job at a small newspaper-selling business with a group of strange girls. There are some funny moments but nothing really mind-blowing; this is mostly an introduction episode, though, so I am expecting a stronger effort in the next episode. Something that is raising some red flags for me, though, is the potential lesbian couple, mainly because I do not think this is the type of series that will handle that well. We'll see, I guess. Actually, we won't see, because I ended up dropping this show. Too much else to watch.
-- Kemono no Souja Erin eps 18-23: These episodes mainly set up Erin's life at the beastanarian school (there was no way she was not passing that test), how she fits in and her taking care of the baby beast-lord that was wounded during the attempt to assassinate the queen. (By the way, that beast-lord is omfg adorable. <3) Best episode is ep22, with my boy Ial being incredibly badass, taking out two Saigamul even though he is still recovering from the wound he got defending the queen. The next episode is not far behind that in quality, though. Good scene at the end, with everyone standing behind Erin and vowing to not let power-hungry officials in the government take advantage of her ability to take proper care of the beast-lord.
-- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 ep4: No more "Endless Eight" srsly.
-- Minami-ke OVA ep1: Funny episode, definitely would have fit right in with Minami-ke Okaeri. Hosaka is awesome in this, being super serious about making Haruka a kickass meal and putting the fear of God into Natsuki Minami as he passes Natsuki in the hallway. Then he acts like a madman while Chiaki shops for food at the market. "These carrots are overflowing with love!" Oh, Hosaka. The next skit, with Mako-chan being super paranoid that Yoshino has seen through his act, is nearly as funny. His delusions of Yoshino being the most evil person in the world are great. All the Valentine's Day stuff later in the episode is sort of weird because, you know, it's been five months since Valentine's Day, haha. Oh well. Anything that leads to more insane monologues from Hosaka is welcome by me.
-- Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ ep14: Haha, I thought it would be just a matter of time until the series began to imply that Phantom is alive. Not sure whether I am leaning toward the person actually being Ein, or someone else (perhaps Cal with a crazy alter ego). Interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of the Scythe Master as well. He's putting little chinks into Claudia's plan (although she doesn't know it right now), and he will probably become more bold as time goes by. And, of course, there's the conflict with Reiji, who wants to keep Cal safe from Inferno but doesn't want her to become like him, although she has some of the natural aptitude he also possesses.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki eps 38-39: Kind of weird to see the battle between Lulu and Amu end so decisively and so quickly. I guess the creators just wanted to get through Lulu's story, since there really is not much more to do with her now. (Lulu is an anime-only character, as I recall. There must be enough of the manga out now to enable the anime to cruise with that for a while.) Lulu is all right, but Nana I am definitely sad to see leave the series. She grew on me a lot. Ep39 is fun. Amu's dad makes me laugh so much whenever he gets a bit of time. He is such a ridiculous character lol. I love that he never gives any thought to, you know, asking his wife to enter the Love-Shout contest with him. :P Yaya being into it to such an absurd degree is also hilarious. The best part of that is Yaya shouting at Rima, while Rima is still all, "-.-" xD Looking forward to getting more into the whole Death Rebel storyline. The show keeps teasing us with hints of epic battles, and then they end after like a minute or so, haha. They have to pull the trigger some time, right?
-- Speed Grapher eps 1-10: Hm, I am actually a bit surprised at the supernatural element to this series. Not that the supernatural is strange in anime, but I did not expect Speed Grapher to dive headlong into it from the get go. This series is pretty good so far, although I hope it does not spend too much time and focus on Saiga and Kagura on the run from Suitengu. Speed Grapher has done a solid enough job of feeding little plot revelations here and there, but it should almost be time to really get into the meat of what Suitengu is trying to accomplish, since there is clearly more at stake for him here than simply acquiring money/resources and running an insane, hedonistic brothel. Hopefully the show is starting to get into that, though, since the monster-of-the-week portion may be over, with Suitengu finally stepping in himself to try and take back Kagura. At least the first portion is entertaining enough because the villains are interesting. (lol @ Takehito Koyasu as the crazy rubber dude. The dentist guy's introduction scene is also the freakiest dental scene I've ever seen. Yikes.) Also love that "Girls On Film" is the OP. I've had that stuck in my head all week now.
Probably my only real complaint is that the series is a bit heavy-handed with its themes sometimes. (The greed of society, personal freedom, and so on.) It's never over-the-top obnoxious about it, so it is not so bad, but it's not exactly subtle, either, haha. Ah well. If an occasional lack of subtlety is a show's biggest trouble, then I can deal with it. Actually, now that I think about it, one other aspect of the series that annoys me a bit is that the resolutions of some episodes are too contrived. Like, when Saiga battles one of the people Suitengu sends after him, it often devolves into "How can we use Saiga's camera power to get him out of trouble this time!!" It's not a huge deal, but it would be nice if Speed Grapher strayed from that.
-- Spice and Wolf II ep1: Fuuuuuuuuck, Horo is awesome. The way she plays around with Lawrence and the way she effortlessly one-ups him and keeps him on his guard is still wonderful. Lawrence has made a ton of great strides, himself; their relationship is so natural now. It will never get old. Also hilarious is hangover!Horo. Holy crap, I laughed SO hard every time the scene cuts back to that face she makes while she lays in bed, miserable as hell. Aside from all that fun, this episode introduces some plot elements for the season -- mainly the search for Horo's homeland. There is definitely a bit of tension on that front; ironically enough, it seems to be coming from how close Horo and Lawrence are now. Horo genuinely cares for Lawrence, so she does not want to cause a ton of trouble for the guy, but Lawrence does not want to push Horo away, either. Kind of tough for Lawrence, however, since he really has no clue how he is going to find Horo's village. There is also a new character introduced, Fermi Amati, who is a fellow member of Lawrence's guild, and who quite clearly has the hots for Horo. Sorry to say that probably won't turn out too well for you, big guy.
-- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 ep1: Interesting first episode. Obviously to make this work and not be, you know, boring, BONES has to really develop character, and I think this opener does a good job of building this family. There's definitely a bit of quick sketching going on, but the relations of the family are somewhat interesting, even if the little brother is the only really likable one of the bunch at the moment (and, of course, he is the one in danger of being killed by the earthquake, haha). Like, the dad tries to be cool and distant as a mask for being sort of selfish and indecisive, while the mom tries to be a good parent but is mostly consumed by everything outside of parenting. And all that rubs off on the girl, who is at that age where certain people (myself included) are just irritated by everything in the world. Even a robot convention doesn't interest her. Who wouldn't have fun at a place like that?! I am curious as to when this series will introduce more people into the mix (because I don't think this family will be the focus for the entirety of the show) and how their stories will be mixed in. Will they be similar to this episode and show their lives leading up to the quake? Will they focus on the aftermath of the quake? A mix of the two? There is a lot BONES can do here. Also, I want to spread this blog post around, because it says a lot more interesting things about this episode than I could ever think up.
-- Umineko no Naku Koro ni eps 1-2: Liking the series so far, although I can't help but wonder if there is going to be a reset at some point in time, haha. The maid getting proposed to in the second episode by George set off SO MANY red flags, though. If I heard about that, then I would have stayed the hell away from her the rest of the night, because it was a sure thing that she would be murdered lol. Anyway, back to the show -- I am getting an Eternal Darkness vibe from it right now, which is cool with me. Love that game. So there are a lot of elements set up so far: The enormous family, the mysterious leader of the clan (who does not have long to live), a hidden treasure with a sort of curse attached to it, someone among the 18 on the island who may be a witch, and so on. Can't wait to see how everything is turned upside down later! Also, Maria is really creepy. I guess Yui Horie is trying to outcreep Mai Nakahara this time around. Freaky.
-- Vision of Escaflowne eps 13-14: It certainly is weird to see someone like Dilandau scared shitless. But I guess such a crazy guy has to have crazy followers who would protect him even after they die. Now that is dedication. The heroes can't catch a break with the Escaflowne either. They just got it fixed, and now it is frozen solid, or something. Someday they need to look into getting that mecha insured. (Although no insurance company in its right mind would write up a policy for mecha. They would all go out of business.) Kind of interesting that the Atlantis seal is being unlocked roughly halfway through the series. That is a huge red flag for serious shit going down in the upcoming episodes. No way that turns out well.
-- Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ep1: lol, this episode definitely tries to outweird Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei's opener, though I think it falls slightly short. (Nothing is really going to top Nozomu being abducted by a group of beach pissers and being turned into a mole cricket/human hybrid.) But, yeah, pretty good first episode regardless. I love how often the first skit shifts tones. Starts off as normal with Nozomu railing against superstitions, then it turns into a prison story, then it turns into a violent prison break (with all the girls slaughtering random mooks with great animation) and then Nozomu is worshipped by random students as a good luck charm. This show sometimes ... I also like Chiri somehow getting crazier (how she keeps doing it, I don't know) and Kafuka spreading embarrassing photos of Nami and Nozomu onto the Internet. Haha. Good start to the new season of Zetsubou Sensei!
