Couple of new posts on UNMEI KAIHEN: ep6 of Bakemonogatari and ep17 of Cross Game. I go into much more detail with these than I do here, so check 'em out if you watch either show!
Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Bakemonogatari, Canaan, Cross Game, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Golgo 13, Hayate no Gotoku!!, Kanamemo, Kemono no Souja Erin, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Shugo Chara! Doki, Spice and Wolf II, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Vision of Escaflowne, Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
-- Axis Powers Hetalia ep29: Russia gets scarier every time an episode focuses on him. He is so weird. Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are also a terribly adorable trio.
-- Bakemonogatari ep6: Pretty good start to the new arc. Kanbaru is potentially a really interesting character -- she has a past with Senjougahara, and, uh, she wants to kill Araragi. (If he didn't have insane healing powers, then she would have killed the poor dope.) Kanbaru's crush on Senjougahara is not a subject that Senjougahara seems particularly eager to talk about, and for good reason: Kanbaru is batfuck nuts. Good lord. But aside from that, there is some surprisingly mature development regarding Senjougahara and Araragi's relationship. At least on Senjougahara's part there is development, anyway. She seems to be the only one really thinking more than five seconds into the future, haha. It's funny how Senjougahara leads Araragi by the nose with just a few well placed words. Oi.
-- Canaan ep6: lol wtf @ the American president in this episode. I can only guess that is some sort of weird satire aimed at American interventionism. It's like Vash the Stampede grew old and fat and became America's president somehow. (This is a future where the American constitution means slightly less than it does now.) Rie Tanaka is pretty awesome in this episode. Good on Canaan for giving her the time to go absolutely batcrap nuts and switch on and off like a bajillion emotions in the space of half a minute. And yay for Mamiko Noto finally speaking, too! Knew Hakko couldn't be completely mute. You don't hire someone like Noto just to have her make tiny gasps all the time. So, uh, it appears Hakko doesn't speak much because if you hear too much of her voice, your brain will freaking explode. (I guess that is consistent with how some people view Noto!) Interesting that Alphard is executing her grand plan roughly halfway through the series, unless infecting all the world's leaders with the Ua Virus is in itself just one step toward a larger goal. (How could you get any larger than that, though?!) And there is confirmation that Alphard knew Siam before she executed him in front of Canaan -- she was the original Canaan and everything. But I guess she wasn't good enough for Siam, and she came back to prove his ass wrong.
-- Cross Game ep17: Aoba is a player. Damn. Speaking of players (world class segue lol), pretty much everyone aside from Azuma has left the team now that the asshole coach has been canned. Whatever. They suck, anyway. This team is going to own. Besides a bit more development with Aoba and Kitamura's relationship, Azuma and Kitamura are basically set up to be BFFs in this episode. I'm of the opinion that Junpei is deliberately taking the apartment search slow so that Azuma can build a solid friendship with someone (Kitamura) instead of obsessively practicing baseball every minute of every day. That Junpei is a crafty man. He is also a man who tore some ligaments during his high school career and subsequently could never play baseball again. Take the method of accident (falling down stairs) and Azuma barking at some kids to not screw around on the stairs, and you have one guilty Azuma who is trying to atone for something that probably really was pure accident.
-- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep19: Well, you all saw me fanboy earlier in the week, but it bears repeating: This is the best episode of Brotherhood yet. Everyone holding off for fear that this series will not match up to the first absolutely needs to watch this episode. It will change your minds in a hurry. Just a pitch perfect translation of Mustang's fight with Lust; perfectly brutal, perfectly exciting and perfectly awesome. The only really sad part is ... NO MORE KIKUKO INOUE!!!!! ;_; My heart cries out for her. You were great while you lasted. <3
-- Golgo 13 ep22: I love it when name seiyuu make cameos in this series (such as when Shinichiro Miki appeared as a rival sniper to Golgo 13). This time around it's Norio Wakamoto making a random appearance at the beginning of the episode, and since it's Norio f'n Wakamoto, you know that is not the only time you will hear from him. Basically it ends up as Norio Wakamoto vs. Golgo 13, and it's super badass, as expected.
-- Hayate no Gotoku 2 eps 4-7: I'd heard that this season focuses much more on the relationship aspect of the series (not too surprising with J.C. Staff at the helm now), and these episodes definitely fall in line with that. I like that Nagi makes some progress with Hayate by kissing him on the cheek, even if she completely bungles it out of embarrassment later by sending him out of the house. And now Hayate is staying with Hinagiku and her crazy mom. Nothin' against Nagi at all, but that's a step up in my opinion. (But, then again, Maria is also not around in this situation. A dilemma. But, hey, we get schoolgirl!Maria because of this, so it all works out!)
-- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED eps 1-10: lol, I hate the look of this series SO much. It just looks so incredibly generic, cheap and stupid, yuck. If I weren't dedicated to giving every Gundam series a chance, I probably would have dropped it again, haha. Anyway, the story is OK so far. I appreciate that some effort is being taken to blur the lines between good and evil, although I don't think it is done quite as well as in some other Gundam series yet. Kira vs. Athrun I could not care less about right now (it would help if either had a personality), but I am intrigued by how La Flaga and Le Creuset act toward each other. On the bad side of things, Lacus annoys the piss out of me, although I will give her some props for the show of strength against Le Creuset. More of that, and less of the stupid freaking airhead act. It's not cute, and it's not funny. Quit it. Flay is just retarded, too. I feel kind of bad for her because her father died, but that doesn't really make up for the racism or the general retardedness. Hope she follows her dad's lead and gets blown to kingdom come. Worst Houko Kuwashima character ever. :(
There's a decent foundation here -- hopefully it gets built upon correctly. Don't let me down, damn it.
eps 11-17: OMFG I HATE FLAY SO MUCH THAT I GOT KICKED FROM CHAT FOR SWEARING BECAUSE OF HER DUMB ASS. AND NOW SHE HAS SPREAD HER RETARDEDNESS TO KIRA YUCK. (The reveal that Flay and Kira slept together is pretty easily the worst thing I have seen all week. Just horrible.) I guess it's sort of justified in Kira's case, because he is feeling isolated by having to fight so much, but he still acts like a total prick to poor Sai, who is only trying to find out why Flay dropped him like he had herpes. (Kira turning into OMG JEALOUS PROTECTIVE BOYFRIEND is fucking stupid on at least 10,000 different levels. Flay fucks you, so she's suddenly the greatest person in the world, but Sai has your back the whole time, and now he's complete shit? Kira, you suck.) It might be my seething hatred talking, but I do not trust Flay one iota right now. She has too much anger boiling beneath the surface, and I sure as shit do not buy that she suddenly and completely forgave Kira for what she sees as his inability to protect her father. (Plus, you know, she hates Coordinators.) She is definitely manipulating Kira into fighting right now; however, something tells me that there is more lurking in her mind -- something really screwed up, and whatever it is will fuck Kira up like there's no tomorrow.
Also, holy shit what the hell is it with all the recapping in this damn show. Just about every episode opens with a minute or two of recap. It's like I'm watching Mobile Suit Kare Kano.
eps 18-25: Agh, I am through ep25, and it only now feels as though this series is actually going somewhere. Seriously, there is a lot of action almost every episode, but the story itself is moving slow as molasses. Blah. Flay is getting less time, although that does not make her any less annoying, and Kira has recovered a bit from being a little doucheshit in the last set of episodes. But I also find myself laughing hard when this show goes through the tsundere motions with Cagalli. It's so bad lol. She's tolerable enough when SEED isn't pigeonholing her into moe, but it happens a lot, unfortunately. But, yeah, the Archangel is finally on Earth and finally getting close to its Alaskan destination, so maybe something will actually, you know, happen now. I can only hope.
eps 26-36: Jesus Christ. Enough with the freaking recap already. My god. One recap episode is annoying enough, but the next episode includes what is essentially 2/3 an episode of recap disguised with exposition from a new character. WTF @ Gundam SEED. However, it is easier to forgive this retardedness during this round of episodes because, gasp, EXCITING THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPEN AND THE STORY MOVES PLACES. A novel concept with this series, it seems. I think I have finally entered the portion of the series people like. Thank god. Eps 29-30 are both really good, intense parts of the story -- in ep29, Kira kills Nicol, and in ep30 Athrun responds by killing Tolle. The battles in both episodes are crazy as hell, mainly because you can really feel the pressure on the ZAFT soldiers to nail Kira's crew, since their chances to do so are running out. Now Kira and Athrun are totally out for each other's blood. Their rivalry is whatever in the beginning, but now I am really getting into it. There is also some movement behind the scenes with Kira's parents, including the drop that Kira has a sibling. Right now the obvious choice is Athrun, for extra tragedy, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone else entirely, such as a new character the series pulls out of its ass.
The fallout of the big fight is nearly as good, with the killer scene being the argument between Cagali and Athrun, whom Orb found washed up on the beach. These are the real feelings behind the battles -- that if they resort to endless bloodletting and revenge, without even trying anything else, then the only way the war can end is as a result of attrition. That's it. Kira kills Nicol, and Athrun kills Tolle. Nothing is really achieved; the anger in both is still there. They have both arrived at a point where they are not really fighting for the ideals of the nations they represent, but rather just for their friends on the battlefield. Kira certainly never bought completely into the Earth Federation's goals, and Athrun probably has doubts about ZAFT now that Lacus is a target. With this has come a re-evaluation of just what exactly they are fighting for. Kira wants to protect his friends, and thus he has resolved to find a way to end the war that does not involve mindless mass slaughter (although he'll still have to fight to protect people). Eventually Athrun will probably move toward that, as well, though we'll see if he completely connects with Kira on that point.
On more plot-related things, I lol'd at ZAFT falling completely into the Earth Federation's (Nightmare Fuel-inducing) trap. The images of all the soldiers just exploding out of existence due to the Cyclops system ... damn. That's horrible. Something that made me facepalm, though, was how the show kept going back to the scene where the Strike explodes. It never shows exactly how Kira escapes, which is fine -- I can deal with just accepting that Kira escaped somehow. But, then, SEED keeps calling attention back to it for whatever reason while still refusing to explain how Kira escaped. If you're going to show it so damn much, stop being such dickheads and show how he got out of there. Jesus.
eps 37-40: Not really sure I like the way it's revealed that Cagali is Kira's sister. The whole thing is so over the top and silly, even for a Gundam series. Pretty shitty way to find out, really. "Well, I'm going to kill myself now, but before I do, KIRAISYOURBROTHERKTHXBAI." Poor girl barely knows what to think now lol. The battles in this set of episodes are pretty cool, although the new pilots are like Trinities-light in annoying factor. I kept laughing whenever some random thing would screw up their mission, and then they had to retreat to fix that up, and then something else would come up, rinse, repeat, etc. Those soldiers are pretty impractical. Nice to see Kira and Athrun fighting on the same side, though. They've both come to the same realization that many Gundam pilots arrive at -- war sucks, and killing people is terrible, but there are times where just have to throw down to protect what is right. Appears as if they will be knocking some sense into both the Earth Federation and ZAFT.
Also, I am arching my eyebrow at whatever Le Creuset is planning for Flay. How the hell could she possibly be useful for anything? Wait. He's going to annoy the universe to death with her!! My god, that bastard!!
-- Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ ep18: Well, the hammer has come down hard pretty much everywhere. I am 50/50 on whether Claudia is actually dead -- can't really accept it 100 percent without actually seeing the body, you know? Then again, she also made it clear that the only way she could survive is with Reiji's help, and since he has abandoned her, I guess Lizzie could have performed a mercy kill after one last morning of freedom on the beach. Reiji is hoping he'll spend a happy life with Elen in Mexico, but, uh, that obviously is not going to happen. For one, Scythe Master has his crazy Nightmare Fuel-laden puppet assassins ready to go. Second, a very alive Cal (big shock) sounds pretty pissed in the preview. I shudder to think what would happen if Inferno were to get its hands on her.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki ep44: Pretty sweet episode. Rima and Yaya are always a fun pair, so it's cool to get an episode that focuses on them. Also, Tsukasa is completely awesome. I wish he were on the show more often. There's obviously a mysterious air about him, because the show has revealed so little of his background, and there are numerous hints that he is a supernatural figure. (I mean, more supernatural than the powers employed by the Guardians and others. lol) His Cloudcuckoolander act is hilarious, too. The bit with the cake at the end had me laughing.
-- Spice and Wolf II ep5: The more I think about it, the more I am becoming convinced that Horo is pulling the strings behind the scenes and setting all this up for Lawrence to prove how many hoops he will jump through to get her back. I mean, seriously, there has been a disturbing lack of Horo lately. She has to be up to something. But whatever her plans are, Lawrence certainly is jumping through a ton of hoops to regain Horo's company. He stands to potentially lose a crapload of money in this deal, he's taking a ton of risks and Amarty seems to be doing everything he can to block every advantage Lawrence gets. That's what he gets for being so smug earlier in the season, haha. And, hey, at least Lawrence finally recognizes that he has a thing for Horo. But how well could that really turn out? Lawrence was curious about how myths view relationships between pagan gods and humans. I am going to guess they are not favorably portrayed.
-- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 ep5: Just a simple, incredibly moving episode. If everything else had not already done it, the collapse of the Tokyo Tower, and the absolute fear that she may have lost Yuuki, truly shook Mirai to the core in ep4. Now, she has come to a realization -- that even though she is hurting badly inside, and even though she is really young, she can still do something and make a difference, even if it is nearly invisible. This thought process is spurred on by Mr. Furuichi, an elderly volunteer who is doing his best to help people out despite the fact that his two grandchildren died during the earthquake earlier in the day. The story with Furuichi and his wife is simply done and quite emotional. There is nothing especially complex about Furuichi -- he is just a kind old man who does not want to see what happened to his grandkids happen to any other young people. He believes the world is for the young; with that in mind, he shuttles people to more comfortable places, helps direct people during aftershocks and passes out water bottles to the thirsty. It's this small, strong bit of humanity that shows Mirai how she needs to conduct herself during these trying times. If only everyone in the world could have the inner strength of someone like Mari or Mr. Furuichi.
That inner strength is going to be vital to both Mirai and Yuuki, because their stop at Mirai's school shows just how much the world has changed. The school is a symbol of familiarity and safety. It's there, nearly whole, despite all that has happened. And, yet, everything is completely different. The room with the beautiful stained glass windows Mirai wants to show Yuuki is dulled with the stain of death and hardship. Mirai is shocked into silence when she sees a person with whom she barely had contact, a girl named Megu whose mother would cook souffles for other people, crying over the loss of her family. Mirai cannot offer comfort, so she leaves with Yuuki and Mari. Mr. Furuichi's kindness is what gives Mirai the strength to change herself, but seeing that scene is what makes Mirai really realize that she has to change, because the world is already different. The development from realizing that change is needed to acting upon that desire to change is slow and quiet, and it totally works. Mirai expressing the kindest, most human thoughts she has had the entire series, while cradled in the arms of Mari, is a great way to end the episode. I'm really hoping that Mirai (and poor Yuuki!) does not have to go through the shock of seeing her parents dead.
-- Umineko no Naku Koro ni ep7: I keep thinking of A Link to the Past every time the Golden Land is mentioned, and then I expect Beatrice to rip off her face and reveal herself as Ganon. It could happen! But, yeah, this is the start of Round 1 in the heavyweight championship bout of Battler vs. Beatrice. ($50 on Pay Per View.) This time around Beatrice has inserted herself into the playing field (in some hot witch frilly clothing no less!) and has converted just about every member of the family aside from the young'uns. (Excluding Crazy Maria.) Guess it'll be young vs. old this round. Hopefully the kiddies won't be all, "AWWWWWWWWWWWWW MARIA" when she's clearly bugfuck nuts and sabotaging them from the inside. More of Battler bopping Maria on the head plz. I'm kind of interested in this Golden Land stuff too. I wonder what Kanon was implying when he said Shannon screwed things up for them. Is it that Beatrice regaining her power was inevitable, and that she may have chosen different people to sacrifice to open the way up to the Golden Land? Or that they might not need Beatrice to get wherever that is? And, again, I continue to lol when Battler is all, "NOPE NOT LISTENING *CLAPS HANDS OVER EARS*" when Beatrice is like, "lol imma witch bitch".
-- Vision of Escaflowne eps 21-22: Definitely a marked improvement over last week's total shitfest, though that obviously is not saying too much. Biggest event is David Bowie Folken's face turn, although it is funny how it comes about. Right up until Van comes to kill him, Folken is all, "JOIN ME, VAN, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER." That is, until ... Folken's cat chicks die their noble deaths. Then, all of a sudden, Folken is like, "OH HELL NO NEWTON" and joins the side of good. It's kind of silly, especially since just a couple of episodes ago, Catgirl No. 1 was like, "FOLKEN'S KISS HAD NO LOVE IN IT." Ah well. Not really going to complain about Folken potentially beating the shit out of Isaac Newton. That dickweed's had it coming for a while now. And, uh, in a show full of wtf, the biggest wtf moment this week is the blonde chick and the snail. That is some subtle Nightmare Fuel, not to mention completely foreboding. "I have a bad feeling about this ..."
-- Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ep5: Don't think it finishes in that strong a way, but I definitely agree with the overall message of the "backscratching" segment, which is that people tend to react harshly when too much hype is put into a certain product. Fans just don't know how to be calm when promoting something they love. The next segment, concerning "leap people" is so weird, haha. A lot of it is about how people inflate themselves or their causes to make them seem more important to others (a running theme in this episode), but there is also a bizarre subplot where Chiri, who is herself accused of being a "leap person", joins a group of "leap people" modeled after the Blue Man Group. wtf xD She also sings for a moment, which is awesome. And the last segment sarcastically congratulates those who ignore the bad things around them on leading a "through life" and being passive in regards to other people. Here, here! lolz
