My few days in Vegas makes this week a bit shorter than usual, but I'll make up for that next week, since I have a ton of series to catch up with. Yikes.
Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kemono no Souja Erin, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Shugo Chara! Doki, Souten Kouro, Speed Grapher, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Valkyria Chronicles, Vision of Escaflowne
-- Axis Powers Hetalia ep26: Haha, this is a pretty good close to the first season, actually. The Busby's Chair (which is an actual chair) thread throughout the episode really cracks me up for some reason. Russia constantly thwarting England's attempts to get America to sit in the chair is awesome. More drunk!England would be welcome, too. Kind of surprising that he can't hold his liquor, though -- or maybe America is just able to ingest superhuman amounts with little trouble, haha.
-- Cross Game eps 13-15: Haha, yes, the wheels are starting to fall off for that bastard coach. Couldn't wish it upon a better person. Hopefully the old coach's new fire and all the scrub team's work will pay off with a win. Watching that douche leave the field in disgrace will be sweet indeed. There are also some interesting developments with Azuma now -- his older brother, Junpei, is on the scene now, and probably not coincidentally, Azuma has actually show some, gasp, feelings, most notably with his decision to not play in the game against the scrubs. He definitely believes the asshole coach is not the right person for the job, so getting a better path to Koshien is part of that choice, but I think Azuma can also see clearly what it takes to be a real team, and he sees that the scrubs have it and the varsity squad does not. To really eke out the full potential of a team, they have to play like a team and not as a group of individuals. Azuma was a prick in the beginning, but he's starting to get it now. Punching the metal pole in front of the coach and claiming it is a bruise is just awesome.
As to what Junpei has to do with this, well, he is clearly the driving force behind Azuma's baseball career. Junpei's hitting skill plus the fact that Aoba's dad recognized him means Junpei was a pretty big, famous player before his foot injury. Perhaps Azuma contributed to the injury (accidentally or otherwise), or maybe he just loves the guy so much that he wants to achieve what his brother was unable to. Even with Azuma as reserved as he is, there is obvious affection and admiration for Junpei on his part. Azuma acts as he normally does, but there's something in his body language and the way he addresses Junpei -- calling him Nii-chan even! -- that makes his love readily apparent. Junpei is a bit worried about Azuma, since he tells him to slow down a bit and actually enjoy the game more.
-- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep16: OMG SAD EPISODE IS SAD. Not that much focus on the Xing characters this week, which I suppose makes sense since this episode is all about Ed, Al and Winry finding out the sad truth about Hughes' death. The scene with Gracia hit me especially hard -- she is trying so much to hold up and be a source of strength for the Elrics and Winry so that they will not fall into despair, but she cannot help but cry when she is all alone and memories of her husband come bursting to the surface. So freaking sad. :( And, uh, the Homunculi are starting to become little creepers with their spying now: Envy morphing into random state workers to case people for information and Lust actually dating Havoc. Haha, I didn't think Havoc's girlfriend would actually figure into the storyline until Lust mentioned her boyfriend, at which point I went, "... No way." I am jealous of and frightened for Havoc all at the same time. Also, Envy is a prick. Obviously Envy turning into Maria in front of Hughes will be the "decisive" evidence. It remains to be seen if Envy is smart enough to have procured evidence that actually has Maria's mole instead of evidence that does not; if it's the latter, then I bet either Roy or Riza would be smart enough to spot the discrepancy.
-- Kemono no Souja Erin ep24: Damn, the battle between Shunan and Nugan is intense as hell. The seeds of loyalty that Damiya planted in Nugan a while ago are starting to pay off for him; although Shunan is not completely frustrated in his efforts to change the country, not having his brother on his side is definitely a severe blow. That crafty Damiya.
-- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 eps 5-6: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS MUTHAFUCKIN' "ENDLESS EIGHT" ON MY MUTHAFUCKIN' SCREEN.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki ep40: OMFG KUUKAI TOTALLY GOALTENDS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EPISODE, WHAT A PRICK. I totally LOL'd at Ran, Miki and Su forgetting what the hell the X Characters were. It's been so damn long since they've fought one of them. (Side note: Before all that goes down, Amu watched what must have been the most boring basketball game ever. They don't show it, but the score is 18-8 in the third quarter. These kids suck.) Gotta say ... I am glad that Nagihiko has resolved at least some of his issues, but his Guardian Character looks like a freaking douche. Seriously, he is like the Shugo Chara! version of Poochie. Temari >>>>> this douche. Yuck. Kuukai and Daichi already fulfill the awesome sports guy quota. Go back to the drawing board, Nagihiko.
-- Speed Grapher eps 11-15: OK, now this show is starting to get a bit crazy. Suitengu has stepped up to the plate and set his plan in motion, killing Shinsen and her mysterious manager, who involved Shinsen in some sort of ceremony that would guarantee her stardom. (Perhaps something that would release latent powers ala what Kagura does as the Goddess?) Alas, Suitengu kills Shinsen before she can shed any more light on that. Hardly a shock. Ginza being so jealous and possessive of Saiga is kind of surprising, though. I guess even some of the cooler characters are not immune to the general greed that pervades this society. Only thing I am really hesitant about right now is the potential of Saiga x Kagura. If it's just a relationship based on companionship and protection, then I could accept that; but it would not sit well with me if it got more romantic. They don't have enough chemistry to pull that off.
eps 16-19: So, Suitengu is on a Count of Monte Cristo-style mission, eh? Not totally surprising. I like his flashback episode, especially the parts with his formative years in war, but man, the whole thing is nearly ruined on account of absolutely terrible Engrish. Could not take a single moment seriously with such heavy Engrish being thrown out everywhere. Those scenes are probably a billion times better in the dub. The scene at the end of the episode, with Suitengu releasing all his frustration on the dope who actually tries to barter his daughter to get out of his debts, is also intense and well done. And holy crap that guy's face is a bloated pulp of yuck after Suitengu is done with it. Yeesh. Don't know why I didn't suspect a trap in the two latest episodes. Poor Saiga just keeps getting suckered into everything under the sun. He cannot catch a break.
eps 20-24: Pretty solid ending for a solid series -- nothing really spectacular, or anything, but it's true to the message the series preaches the whole way through. It is annoyingly vague regarding the aftermath of the world after Suitengu royally screws the economy with his death. Is the world really changed after five years? Is it still in the process of changing? Is it still the same, even after Suitengu executes his grand revenge? Saiga, Kagura and everyone else seem relatively happy, so I suppose the world changed for the better, but I don't really care for the easy simplicity of the epilogue. Tsujido's death makes me feel kind of sad. He is probably my favorite character in the show -- on the bad side, but more so because he is incredibly loyal to Suitengu than any natural inclination toward evil on his part. Wish he could have gone out in a better way than being shotgunned in the face. Ouch.
Speed Grapher is a good but flawed series. The later episodes are much better than the beginning, because they almost completely abandon the mix of monster-of-the-week and slow development of the plot that dominates the first half of the show. That mix makes for awkwardly paced storytelling, so I am glad Speed Grapher becomes more focused as it goes along.
-- Souten Kouro eps 8-9: Been a while since I watched an episode of this series! The Yellow Turban Rebellion is squashed much quicker than I anticipated, and the series moves on to the battle between Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo, who quickly takes control of the capital and usurps the power of the Emperor with ease. And gallons of blood, of course. I think because it had been such a long time between episodes, this series had to remind me that it likes the blood just a little bit.
-- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 ep2: This is more along the lines of what you'd expect from a natural disaster type show, although I think it is a well done example of it. The scene where Mirai and Mari find Yuuki is an especially affecting scene, mainly because Yuuki is such a likable little kid. Gotta say, I breathed a sigh of relief at his survival. BONES does a solid job of making the post-quake convention center look like a dank, menacing place, ready to crumble at any second. I almost kept forgetting that the smoke is from fire rather than an outpouring of steam from deep within a cave. After finding Yuuki, this episode is mainly about the beginning of a shift in Mirai's feelings and outlook on life. You know she is going to appreciate life and her brother more after nearly losing him to the earthquake, but for now she retains a bit of her teenage cynicism, as evidenced by her belief that Mari would not return from her trip to her bike. Nothing super amazing, but perhaps it will pay off in an interesting way next episode.
-- Valkyria Chronicles eps 9-10: Hey, it's another old friend back from the dead! Good to see my return to this series pay off with a couple of strong episodes. I like the look into the other side in ep9 -- the more I see of Selvaria and Jaeger, the more I like them, and Maximillian does not seem to be a truly horrible person, at least not compared to the people who are trying to oust him. The new kid, Karl, is OK as well, although he has the handicap of being a bit too naive about the war, which is why he is used so easily. Ep10 builds the relationship between Alicia and Welkin (including the tidbit that Alicia is an orphan), and then transitions into a tense stand-off between them and an Imperial soldier. Good development; shows that the poor guys fighting the war are not all bad people. It's the ones promoting the war who are the real dickweeds.
-- Vision of Escaflowne eps 15-16: Ugh. The romance is SO awful on this show. Like, ridiculously awful. Every time I am really getting into some aspect of the story, Escaflowne seems fit to derail all the momentum with some inane Hitomi x Allen conversation, or Millerna bitching about Allen, or Van's dumb ass stumbling upon Hitomi accidentally falling into Allen's arms and being like, "omg wtf :(" Good lord. Just cringe-inducing stuff. The only romantic scenes that are even tolerable right now are the Dryden x Millerna scenes, mainly because Dryden isn't spouting emo garbage bullcrap every five seconds. He gets in, playfully flirts with Millerna a bit and then gets the hell out of there. Gotta hand it to him, the man has a solid gameplan. Anyway, uh, this Atlantis stuff is moving like crazy now. We've got weird shit happening everywhere, so what happens next will probably either be totally awesome or start the complete derailment of the series. Frankly, I am prepared for just about anything. Bring on your craziest plot twists, I say, Escaflowne!! Also, my poor Dilandau is being mind raped by doctors. Yikes. We're going to plunge full on into his backstory soon by the looks of it. A crazy guy like him has to have a crazy ass backstory, right? That's what I am hoping.
also inb4 miss a says "you'll see" lol
