My Internet shut down early last night. Lame. Hopefully those issues sort themselves out soon, because I don't want to deal with randomly pooping out again. =/
Couple of new UNMEI KAIHEN posts: Eps 1-3 of Genshiken and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Canaan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Genshiken, Golgo 13, Hayate no Gotoku!!, Kanamemo, Kemono no Souja Erin, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, 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 ep30: What a strange episode. England visits Japan for some reason and sees monsters, even though Japan believes he is hallucinating the entire time. And then Japan sings the ED, which isn't quite as entertaining as Germany taking the reins a few episodes ago.
-- Canaan ep7: Just as I was wondering if there would be any limit to Canaan's power (especially after she uses it to hack into the computer and rewrite the target area for the missile launched by the stealth bomber), her ability to sense the "color" has been altered, though in what way I am not sure, nor am I sure why this is. (Then again, I am not really sure how the hell Canaan's color sensing abilities enabled her to hack that computer! Maria's pops escaping that bomb blast with a fake video is also a wtf moment.) Most of this episode is pretty good, though, despite that unbelievable stuff. It's like a big budget action movie -- you just ignore the inconsistencies and weirdness because it is so exciting. Alphard being all "omg wtf" at Maria's amnesia means those two obviously crossed paths in the past. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Maria's dad and Sham knew each other, and they are some sort of seven degrees of Kevin Bacon to everyone in this story. As far as Alphard's plan goes ... I guess she just left the joint in case Canaan didn't get rid of the bombs, even though she believed Canaan could do it? Is she just trying to push Canaan as much as she can? Who knows wtf she is thinking. And poor, crazy Liang Qi gets tossed out on her ass, although her crazy crazy GET SOME GET SOME love for big sis Alphard isn't going to let her give up too easily. She's running into Canaan some time soon. Got a gut feeling.
-- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep20: Pretty good episode. I wish it went into a little more detail regarding Hohenheim's characterization (he comes off a bit colder and more aloof in this episode than he does at this particular point in the manga), but it's no biggie. Everything else -- Ed digging up his mother's grave and Ed's conversations with Izumi and Al -- is pulled off well and pack a lot of emotional punch. My heart really went out to both Izumi and Al during this storyline. The torment they both dealt with is just unimaginable to me. To believe you killed someone you love dearly has to be the most horrible feeling there is. Next episode should be packed with some good action, so I'm looking forward to it!
-- Genshiken eps 1-3: Man, hearing that whistle leading into Genshiken's OP gives me such nostalgic chills. And it's only been a couple of years since I first saw the series, haha. What I immediately liked about Genshiken when I first saw it is that it's an anime specifically for crazy anime fans, but it's not super obnoxious about it, or anything. There is very little patronizing of these characters like you might see in other anime, or Stateside. Genshiken just shows everyone as they are -- passionate about anime (Madarame), cosplay (Tanaka), art (Kugayama), games (Kousaka) or just everything in general (Sasahara). What would seem like abnormal obsessions to most people are treated normally in Genshiken because they are perfectly normal to these people. And, really, outside of the occasional gonzo opinion or insane act of extreme otakudom (mostly supplied by Madarame), everyone in Genshiken is relatively normal. Everyone has something he or she is super passionate about, after all. The Genshiken group is just a step or two beyond that is all, haha.
But what's also enjoyable about Genshiken is that it just makes you smile a lot. From Sasahara's initial fearful journey into the dark corner of the college where Genshiken sets up shack, to the club's attempts to put Sasahara at ease with his fandom by going on expeditions to Akihabara, buying doujinshi at Comifes, playing fighting games at Kousaka's pad, and so on. It's all normal, geeky stuff, but in the Genshiken group you really sense kindred spirits, and you can't help but think they'd be awesome to hang around with for a few hours. I could be in the most horrible funk imaginable, and watching Genshiken would perk me right back up. That's its power.
My favorite out of these first three episodes is the Comifes one, just because I've been there with Anime Expo, except of course on a much smaller scale. (Which is saying something since AX had 44,000+ people this year!)
-- Kanamemo ep6: Not a bad episode. I'm starting to warm up to this series, despite how generic it can be at times. Haruka is a pretty shameless character (both in action and conception), but damn it, she makes me laugh the most. Guess that shows how shameless I am, too.
-- Kemono no Souja Erin eps 27-29: Oh wow, this show really went all out with ep27. I love the look of the Hikara of Erin's imagination -- the fog looks so twisted and menacing, and yet so artful at the same time. Des has compared this series' art style to Wind Waker several times in the past, but still, I cannot help but think that is what hell would look like in Wind Waker. Well done. The emotional reunion between Erin and her mother in Erin's mind is also wonderful. I'll admit to tearing up a bit at that point. The death of Erin's mom has hung over her for so long; I hope Erin can finally get some peace with that. Ep28 has the result of some subtle foreshadowing done in ep27 -- the death of Jone. It hits especially hard, because the announcement is so frank and heartless (since Jone's son is a douche). Erin is now completely on her own again: Her mother and now her foster father are dead. She's really strong now, however, so she can definitely handle it. This episode, aside from those issues, is a really great tribute to Jone. He clearly affected a lot of lives for the better and changed Erin and Esal for the better due to his friendship with both. Jone was a kickass character, and I'll miss him. ;_;
Ep29 is pretty intense. It begins with Lilan being completely adorable -- she even purrs when Erin brushes her! -- but in the middle comes the reminder that, at heart, Lilan is still a beast. Erin's brushing accidentally tweaks something in Lilan's back/shoulder area (maybe a wound that has yet to heal, although I don't know if Lilan can reach there), which surprises Lilan and causes her to attack Erin. It's such a tense moment, more so because the show does not skimp on the harm Lilan causes Erin. Really painful stuff. But despite this setback, Erin resolves to move forward and prove that humans and beasts can form connections based on love rather than dominance. This episode shows that it will not be easy (would not be surprised to see more violent setbacks), but if anyone can do it, Erin can.
-- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 ep10: Man, it is nice to write about a non-"Endless Eight" episode of Haruhi Suzumiya! Haha. Anyway, "The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya" covers the making of the movie seen in the very first Haruhi Suzumiya episode, so everything that made absolutely no sense there will make some sense now. But, first, we need Haruhi bossing around Mikuru and Kyon of course. This is OK as a build-up episode -- I mean, anything is great after "Endless Eight", but the real fun will come once the movie is being made.
-- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED eps 41-50: Pretty good final set of episodes. Does not let up on the intensity or the twists for very long. Probably the biggest one late in the game is that Le Creuset is a defective clone of La Flaga's father. I actually kind of like this because it lends some real weight to Le Creuset's mission to send the universe into total chaos and collapse. He isn't a "real" human in the eyes of the Earth Federation, so he cannot side with them, but he is also different than the Coordinators (he shares some abilities but also ages rapidly), so he is kind of an outcast with ZAFT, too, although only he is aware of this. All he sees are two large scale political organizations using racism to split the populous for their own gain, so he resolves to make sure they destroy each other. That said, the man is friggin' nuts.
The battles at the end are pretty damn good. They have some of the most exciting action in the whole series and even made me briefly forget how much I hate the whole look of SEED. There is some pretty silly stuff around ... namely, the main Gundams are ridiculously overpowered, maybe even more so than they are in Gundam 00. Only when Le Creuset goes after Kira in the final couple of episodes does it really feel like the main characters are challenged in any way lol. (Those three douchey Earth Federation soldiers totally do not count. They are the Trinities of SEED -- they look strong when they first appear, but it soon becomes apparent that they are outmatched by the mains. And they're annoying as shit.) The only way ZAFT can match these crazy ass Gundams is to unleash its CRAZY NUCLEAR DEATH RAY ala the Memento Mori from 00 (but the GENESIS is much more powerful than that). The first time the GENESIS is fired is actually a really intense, disturbing moment (in that good plot twist way), so I can sort of forgive it for being a late game power up. The very last battle is all lasers and shit flying everywhere and it's cool to watch, even if it's like, "What is going on?" every once in a while.
Some nice character moments at the end, too. La Flaga's Heroic Sacrifice is really good, if a bit predictable. He goes out like a badass, though, so it's cool. I also like Natarle's Heroic Sacrifice. The very soul of her character is that she is raised to go by the book at all times, and it really hurts her to follow orders with which she personally disagrees. Then Murata Azrael comes aboard her ship, being a racist douche and ordering destruction everywhere, and at the end it finally hits Natarle that she has to take a stand against the Earth Federation corruption no matter what. So she goes down with the ship and brings Azrael with her. Good show. Hell, even Flay isn't half bad in these final episodes! She's not good, mind, but she is not a character created to be especially strong, so anything positive she does is nice.
Probably the worst part of this final run is the shipping. The relationships on this show feel so forced. I never got into Lacus x Kira at all. Lacus is kind of a dull character (like a poor man's Euphemia from Code Geass), and she and Kira really have zero chemistry with each other. Kira x Cagalli was sort of interesting to me, but, uh, that ain't gonna happen. Athrun x Cagalli is just whatever. I could see it building from the first time they met; however, it suffers from the same problem as Lacus x Kira. Neither Athrun nor Kira were really created to have much chemistry with women lol. (I bet there is tons of Kira x Athrun shipping in the SEED fandom.) Thankfully, the romance isn't really focused on that much, but when it does show up, it is sort of ridiculous.
Overall, SEED is an OK series. The first third or so is pretty bad -- it moves slower than a salted snail and is quite dull despite the action. It improves bit by bit up until around ep29, which is where SEED starts getting really good. But man is it ever a slog to get to that point. I would totally understand if people dropped the show long before then. If I were watching when it first aired, I probably would have, myself.
-- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny eps 1-12: Well, it's not bad so far. I like that it's moving quicker with the story than SEED did at the beginning. Don't know if I could have handled another god awful first half. The new character, Shinn, is kind of eh. His anger against Orb and the Earth Federation is justified (I'd be pissed, too, if my family was randomly killed in an attack), but his despair is kind of goofy right now. His line about the flowers being destroyed despite their beauty just made me laugh because it is so ridiculous. How many hours did he spend stewing in his room thinking of that line, huh? But I do find it interesting that the story is being told largely from the perspective of ZAFT, whereas in SEED the ratio is skewed mainly in favor of the Earth Federation.
Some things are making me raise an eyebrow, though. One of the new characters, Meer Campbell, is just ... what. She is a Lacus Clyne impersonator who is being used by PLANT's chairman as peace propaganda to temper the anger that comes as a result of the Earth Federation trying to annihilate ZAFT with nukes. Works for me, but I am not sure what her purpose in the story is going to be beyond that. She's really trying to be Lacus, and it's just ... weird lol. The eyecatch also shows either Meer or Lacus with Shinn, and I am dreading whatever stupid way the series brings that about. Then there is the whole thing with Mu La Flaga. I heard he was brought back to life, and it's dumb, but wow. So far SEED Destiny is trying to turn him into a Zechs Marquise type (from Gundam Wing), complete with mask. Maybe Sunrise thought it was being clever, because Takehito Koyasu voices both La Flaga and Marquise; however, he appears to be a part of the force that is spurring the Earth Federation and ZAFT into another war. Either his memory was erased due to his Heroic Sacrifice, or his connection to Rau Le Creuset made him crazy, or something, because, uh, this is not the La Flaga we know. If he is pulling off a Xanatos Gambit, it had better be one HELL of a gambit, because it's just dumb right now.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki ep45: I knew the random kid who appeared before Amu a few episodes back would be important, but it's interesting that he has a connection with the Easter Director. Is he a grandson? A nephew? Or someone else entirely? And what is his connection with the Embryo? Mr. Director wouldn't think his presence would be useful unless he helped out with that somehow. Hm. And, yay, we're finally getting the backstory between glasses man fangirl bait Ikuto and Tadase, but teasing it at the end is quite mean.
-- Spice and Wolf II ep6: Solid enough episode, even if half of it is spent with Horo explaining her Xanatos Gambit to Lawrence, who nearly messed up the plot with his own Xanatos Gambit until he finally realized what Horo was doing. Economics + Xanatos Gambits = confusion! But, yes, everything turns out well when Lawrence realizes he should have just trusted Horo all along (why hasn't he learned this yet?!), and he gets to smugly enjoy Amarty getting owned later on. An interesting tidbit revealed in this episode is the fact that Deanne is actually not human -- she is an animal in human form, sort of like Horo. (It's never really clarified whether Deanne is a pagan god like Horo, or if she is just some weird creature in this world. I hope there are more people like Deanne around, though. Would be pretty cool.)
-- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 ep6: Pretty good episode highlighting the internal struggle of Mari between going straight to her hometown to see if her mother and daughter are OK (there are fires raging there, along with the earthquakes), or remaining with Mirai and Yuuki to make sure they stay alive. It's a tough choice to make. No parent wants to feel powerless to help his or her child. I would probably be sick with worry; Mari is a damn strong person to be able to think clearly in the face of such a crisis. It is clear throughout the episode that she is desperate for any knowledge that her family is alive and well, but she has also accepted the role of Mirai and Yuuki's protector, and she just cannot abandon that so easily. Mirai and Yuuki want to help Mari (I awwwwww'd when they showed up with the motorcycle so that Mari could get home quicker); however, I really think Mari has come to love Mirai and Yuuki like her own family, so she is going to stick with them until the end. These children are strong, but they are not strong enough to be thrown to the wolves.
-- Umineko no Naku Koro ni ep8: So, hey, Kanon's power is kind of interesting. I wonder if the other butlers/maids have similar powers, since they all seem to have a connection to Beatrice. Is it that connection that gives them the power, or is it something else? As Battler would say, "Not enough information right now." Speaking of, I've read a ton of bitching from visual novel fans about the verbal battle scene between Battler and Beatrice near the end of the episode. I guess it is supposed to be more epic in the game, or something. It's a solid scene, but I get the feeling that, as far as the anime is concerned, that scene is mainly an intro to the new rules set by Beatrice for the game -- namely, that statements she makes that are the absolute truth will be in red. Battler picks at Beatrice's scenario, whittling it away until he comes up with a non-magic scenario for the deaths in the chapel, but with the way that scene turns out (with Beatrice mocking Battler by saying his solution precludes a member of his family doing the deed, which he also denies), I could kind of see why it wouldn't be huge and epic. But maybe that's just me saying that without having experience with the visual novels. Anyway, still too early for me to try to figure anything out, but I look forward to more of Beatrice trying to show Battler what's what. Also interested to see how solving the riddle ties in with solving the mystery behind the killings. Meta!Battler seems more concerned with proving Beatrice wrong right now, even though he admitted getting the answer to the riddle is the key to staying alive.
As far as Beatrice's truths are concerned ... the one that stands out to me the most is the first, which has Beatrice making the distinction that everyone entered through the front of the chapel, regardless of whether they were dead or alive at the time. The scene at the end of the last episode clearly shows everyone alive in the chapel with Beatrice, so why does she even bother to make that distinction? Is she doing it just to screw with Battler, or is there some sort of meaning behind it? (Battler doesn't seem to pick up on it, anyway, so maybe I'm just reading too much into it. xD) And with the key, is there any reason for Battler to not think Beatrice took it back from Maria? Beatrice wants to confuse the issue by telling Battler no magic = one of his family members did it, and it's clear at least this go around that she is trying to imply Rosa murdered everyone, but she doesn't say anything that excludes her as one of the suspects doing her business without magic. There's just too much we don't know right now, though, haha, such as what else Beatrice has up her sleeve, what limits there are on her magic (and there are limits, or else she would not have wanted that mirror destroyed), etc.
Just a few other things: Hopefully the other Seven Stakes are as hawt as the first two. (Also guessing that they were around in the first arc, but we just did not see them.) I want the trend of the Ushiromiya women immediately going after the shotgun for protection to continue. Everyone dead with candy stuffed in their stomachs is yuck. And I LOL'd at Rosa smacking Maria upside the head and saying, "How many times have I told you to stop that creepy laugh?!" EXACTLY WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS WHOLE TIME. Shit, I bet Maria did it all. MURDERER, MURDERER, MURDERER.
-- Vision of Escaflowne eps 23-24: AGH NO DILANDAU WHAT DID THIS SHOW DO TO YOU. EVERYTHING ALLEN TOUCHES TURNS TO SHIT, I SWEAR. AGH. ... Glad I got that out of my system! I guess I should just be happy Dilandau actually returned at all. Brought a tear to my eye to see some good ol' burning and pillaging once again. It seems as if it has been so long since we had any of that! But, uh, poor guy can fight for only so long before succumbing to the trauma of crazy. That's what repeated insane experiments will do to you. (It wasn't so bad when you threatened the rest of those shmucks, but damn it, you crossed the line with Dilandau, Newton!! YOU'RE GOING DOWN.) Aside from Dilandau's return, the best part this week is Hitomi telling off Allen when Allen tries to keep her locked up and in front of the stove. Hitomi became sort of annoying for a while, but that put her right back in my good graces. Suck on that shit, Allen.
-- Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ep6: Haha, this might be the funniest episode so far this season -- at the very least, the measles skit (about doing certain activities early in life so that they won't cripple you if you do them for the first time as an adult) made me laugh more than anything so far in Zan. The funniest example of this is the strong reaction of people who don't read much to cell phone novels. ("They're dying of a disease! I've never read such a sad story!") Somehow this develops to everyone convincing poor Majiru that if he doesn't do pervy things as a child, then he'll get the death penalty if he does them as an adult. And, of course, he makes a very clumsy pass at Chiri, who tortures the little guy. It's so wrong, but Majiru's frightened, deathly white face as he repeats, "Touching breasts isn't good" is hilarious. Nearly as funny is Nozomu laughing Majiru's horrible punishment off with, "Looks like it was good medicine for you, Majiru. I think you've learned not to recklessly touch breasts when you grow up." About as cold a reaction as you can get lol. Chiri just gets creepier as the episode continues: Her description of "meat doll" had me going, "o_O" the whole time, and she turns ruthless when Nozomu attempts to resolve the problem of having students fall in love with him by making the relationship as complicated as possible (he gets up to 50+ people before the students revolt and murder him). About as dark as you can get, haha.
