Monster post will be up tomorrow, because I am still recovering from a crazy night at work yesterday. All the crazy just had to be saved for when I returned from two days off, didn't it?
Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini, Eureka Seven, Kampfer, Letter Bee, Nodame Cantabile, Shugo Chara! Party, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Trapeze, Umineko no Naku Koro ni
UNMEI KAIHEN: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kimi ni Todoke, Monster, Sasameki Koto
Axis Powers Hetalia ep45
This episode is really boring. I guess Switzerland and Liechtenstein's story is kind of touching, but it's also not funny at all. Hooray!
Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini ep8
Kind of a sad episode, what with Tanya biting it because of Shion, although neither Suou nor Hei knows this, which leads to strained relations between the two. I like that Hei is continuing to be a contractor father figure of sorts to Suou; however, he is not doing an especially great job of it because building relationships is not exactly in the contractor playbook. Doesn't really help that Suou is a contractor teenager, which means she is doubly unable to deal with all the emotions running through her, so when Hei gives her seemingly conflicting advice (when he is really just telling Suou to not be afraid to defend herself if need be), she has no idea what to do with it.
The story is still a bit slow in coming out. Misaki and Genma are uncovering bits and pieces of information, and Misaki seems to have uncovered something by listening to some old audio recordings, but I knew we wouldn't find out anything new about that this episode. Not really sure if we'll find out anything new next episode, either, since the preview comes off like a comedy episode. With Kiko and Gai around, a good chunk of the episode will no doubt be dedicated to comedy. Hopefully that won't be the majority, though, because it is kind of late in the game for a comedy story ...
Eureka Seven eps 23-26
This is the point where Eureka Seven makes the leap from "very good" to "something special". Renton comes face-to-face with all the complexities of all the conflicts in the world. When he runs away from the Gekko-Go, it's as if everyone on there is against him; in the beginning of ep23, he reflects briefly about how the crew would call him slow and inconsiderate when he would clean around the ship, but that Charles and Ray Beams praise him for his work. Their ship feels comfortable because Renton is receiving the love he never got from Gekkostate. Renton even slowly adjusts to the idea of calling Charles and Ray his mother and father, even though it embarrasses him a bit because it has been so long since he had proper parental figures in his life.
But life with the Beams is not that simple. During a mission, Charles and Ray must transport a dying, wheelchair-bound Vodarek girl to her homeland, where she will be able to die in peace, according to her parents, since she is unable to get a life support system due to the prejudice against the Vodarek stemming from the government's anti-Vodarek propaganda and the actions of a few extremists sects of the Vodarek, whose battles are part of the cause of the chaos in the city. (Nobody said anime had to be subtle about its real world allusions.) However, Renton cannot stand for this injustice, and during the citywide curfew time he takes the girl and wheels her to another hospital. She's not particularly welcome, though; even one of the doctors working there is hesitant to help the girl out, because the victims of the attacks freak out about a Vodarek girl being in the hospital. Renton's understanding about the victims of war grows a bit deeper -- people don't just die as a direct result of the fighting, but they can also be victims of collateral damage as well. And this can lead to a terrible hatred.
Renton's understanding unfortunately grows ever deeper when he learns Charles and Ray's true mission: After letting everything slip about the Nirvash, Gekkostate and his famous lineage, Charles reveals he and Ray work for the government and are planning to capture Eureka and lay waste to Gekkostate. Renton's reaction is interesting. He has the initial, "WTF IS THIS I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS" reaction at first, of course, but he grows not so much accepting of their choice, but more understanding, because he gets the conflict a bit more. It's not just terrible villains on one side and great heroes on the other; there are good people and bad people, but there are mostly people who wish to protect what they value. The people at Gekkostate have reasons for fighting even though they were pricks to Renton, and Charles and Ray have reasons to fight even though they treated Renton with love and care. And it forces Renton to think about what is really important to him -- he has loved his time with Charles and Ray, but he absolutely cannot stand by while they capture the girl he loves and kill the people who take care of her. Renton has not grown up completely, but he really mans up here. I also like that Charles and Ray respect him enough to allow him to make his own decision, and do not try to stop him, even though they admit that they may have to kill Renton if they really need to do so.
While Renton is off developing his character, Eureka and Holland are undergoing vast changes as well. Curiously, Eureka seems to achieve growth by "growing down" -- when she first appears in the series, she comes off as if she is imitating Holland's cool, seemingly mature air he has about himself. She is detached from everything and isn't even 100 percent into raising her adopted children, even though she makes the willful choice of taking them in and bringing them up herself. But Renton opens up an entirely new world of emotion for her, one to which it takes a good deal of time for her to adjust. When Renton is gone, Eureka realizes she wants to be with him more than anything else in the world. She takes an enormous step here -- she stops relying totally on Holland when he lets her down by not bringing Renton back to the ship, and she goes out to make things happen for herself so that she can have a partner with whom she can change the world. By the time Eureka is able to reunite with Renton (one of my absolute favorite moments in the series), Eureka is almost a completely different person -- she is actually acting her age, a young girl overjoyed to be feeling true love for the first time in her life.
It takes Holland a while to fully adjust to this world as well. For reasons that will be explored later on in the series, Holland is still resentful of Renton and how Eureka has chosen Renton over Holland. He protects and encourages Eureka in every way possible except the one that matters most -- her path to love. Thankfully, because he really has to come to terms with Eureka's love after she rejects Holland after he fails to find Renton, Holland turns the corner and becomes bar none the coolest character in Eureka Seven instead of a raging asshole. It takes a lot to seriously evaluate one's flaws and to adjust one's role in life if that role is not at all what was expected before. But Holland is able to accept Renton, especially after Renton mans up and puts up an awesome display with Eureka after helping to save her.
Unfortunately, the saddest part of the Beams arc is still to come ...
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep34
More Kimblee tangent: People need to dress warmly in Briggs, correct? And Kimblee will go there for healing soon, right? There is only one solution to this -- Kimblee needs a full-on fluffy, white pimp fur coat, with an outrageous pimp hat and sunglasses to match. He can keep his kickin' white suit because it is already pimp enough. Do this for me, Kimblee. Come on. You know you want to.
Kampfer ep9
The show is hinting really hard that Sakura has 1) Been a white Kampfer all along or has become one recently, and 2) That she knows Natsuru is also the female Natsuru. Not exactly sure where this will ultimately go, but hey. At least the show goes back to being enjoyably trashy this episode instead of bland and boring like the previous one.
Kimi ni Todoke ep9
A tangent from last week I want to talk about this week: Sports episodes in non-sports series are almost always awesome. Maybe it's because I am biased as a sports fan, but I cannot remember a sports-themed episode in a non-sports anime that didn't deliver the goods. The baseball episode in Haruhi Suzumiya is fun. The soccer episode in Eureka Seven is hilarious. I hear the baseball episode of Samurai Champloo is pretty kickass. And so on and so forth. I hope Kimi ni Todoke does a full-on soccer and/or volleyball episode soon.
Letter Bee ep9
There's enough crying in this episode to set off like three flood myths! The meeting between Sylvette and Lag as they go through Gauche's memories (in wonderful HD!) is drawn out sooooooooo much, with random things showing how dedicated Gauche is to his work and how he was followed by some mysterious hooded dudes before he split town and left his gun with Sylvette. And then Sylvette and Lag cry a lot. I don't mind crying so much (Lag and Sylvette even poke fun at each other for it), but damn, they must have placed a bet beforehand over who could get away with the most waterworks during the episode. You know who really deserved to cry? Connor. He didn't get to eat any pizza at all, and he probably paid like $8 a slice for that shit! I'd be crying, too. If Letter Bee were sponsored by Pizza Hut, then he wouldn't have that problem, though, because they could hook him up whenever he is hungry.
Monster eps 15-16
lol The Baby is such a creepy little shithead. For anyone who already despises him (I assume this is everybody), he'll get his eventually. His entrance is so weird, though, haha. Reminds me of the backward-speaking dwarf from Twin Peaks, dancing in from behind a curtain.
Nodame Cantabile eps 4-11
Haha, for a romantic comedy, there has been quite a bit less romance than I expected. Nodame has definitely been making advances toward Chiaki, and Chiaki shows hints here and there of growing closer in a more meaningful way to Nodame (plus there are the side-story romances -- most notably the romance from long ago between Stresemann and the director of the music academy), but I like how their closeness has come more as a natural of the two of them pushing each other to find their true musical directions. With the end of the first half of Nodame, I sense this series will be cut in two -- the first half dedicated to Chiaki understanding what it is to connect to an audience through music with one's personal style instead of being so dogmatic about playing perfect music to the note, while the second half will be about Nodame discovering her true passion for music as a result of wanting to stay close with Chiaki. Mirroring Nodame and Chiaki's relationship with Stresemann and Momogaoka's relationship (with Nodame as the talented but unfocused Stresemann and Chiaki as Momogaoka, whose talent had the potential to take her far beyond places even Stresemann could have dreamed of) is a good way to show the urgency Nodame feels as she really discovers the depths of her love for Chiaki.
So far Nodame has definitely been pretty silly and childish in the way she expresses her love of Chiaki. It's funny and lends her a kick of charm, but what the ending of this arc really pushes is that Nodame will have to grow up in her own way if she wants to stay with Chiaki. (Note added after watching the whole series: That's one motif I like -- how Nodame is into lots of childish things and dreams of teaching children, because she's afraid of entering this adult world where she will have to work to apply herself and find the limits of her talents. It's just easier for her to slip into childishness.) He clearly likes her -- even if he is too proud and grumpy to directly show it -- but eventually his pure passion for music will allow him to overcome his fear of flying and take him far beyond Japan. Nodame's dream of being a kindergarten teach is an admirable goal for sure; however, it is also a dream that has nothing to do with Chiaki, so she has to decide which is truly more important to her. And to stay with Chiaki, Nodame has to decide how deep her dedication to music really runs. She obviously has a boatload of talent and a mass of untapped potential; as the story has shown so far, it is simply that her work ethic is dwarfed by her proficiency. Chiaki has been pushing Nodame all along to take advantage of that talent. Deep down, I believe even now that Chiaki wants to be with Nodame, but he simply could not stand being with someone who is not as passionate about music as he is. It is just the way he is wired. Chiaki's ex-girlfriend, Saiko, touches upon that when she explains just how difficult it is to be with Chiaki because he is so instinctively critical of himself and others.
But, yeah, just to steer things back to this specific arc, I enjoy Chiaki's evolution through the beginning of the series, from the miserable failure of his first conducting job to his realization that to succeed at conducting he needs a major personality overhaul to his realization that a person who falls outside the strict boundaries of classical music can still be talented to his hilarious run as Stresemann's pupil/personal assistant. All natural development and quite fun. I'm going to miss Stresemann. He's a totally over the top character and quite silly, but he's so damn funny. Plus, you have to respect a guy who can be a total player even at that age. I guess he is just good at disarming people with his goofiness. I'll miss Stresemann's hardboiled assistant as well. She is a pretty hilarious character for how few episodes she is in. I hope they show up again in the future.
eps 12-16
lol Nice swerve at the beginning of this set of episodes with Nodame's total urgency to play the Rachmaninoff piece with Chiaki being a temporary impulse. After that, she's all, "Whew, that was a lot of fun! Bye now~~~" while Chiaki is left angry and frustrated, haha. I like the give and take between Chiaki and Nodame, and how he is trying to push her to unleash her full potential, and she is resisting because she's not totally into it. The story is like a Honey and Clover-lite exploration of artistic talent, the burden it can place on some people and the frustration of seeing someone with limitless talent not utilize it to its fullest extent. Where Honey and Clover explores talent from the point of view of someone relatively talentless (Takemoto) looking from the outside in on people whose talents dwarf his own (Hagu and Morita), Nodame takes its cues from someone amazingly talented (Chiaki) who sees someone equally talented (Nodame) who cannot match his tireless work ethic.
It's almost a reversal of the Honey and Clover situation -- where Takemoto struggles to understand the lives and motivations of the talented, Chiaki struggles to understand how someone so great can toss everything away on what seems to him to be a whim (he does not at all believe Nodame is suited to be a teacher, and he is probably right). The one thing that keeps Chiaki from applying as much pressure on Nodame as possible is that in the back of his mind, Chiaki realizes that Nodame ultimately needs to choose her path. If she is going to utilize her talents, it will be because she wants to use them, because she feels that passion for the piano welling up from inside her. Several times Chiaki realizes the way he pushes Nodame is similar to how teachers, reporters, musicians, etc. keep pushing at him to take a single path they believe all successful conductors must take, while Chiaki instead embarks upon the path he envisions for himself. When Chiaki prods at Nodame too much, that is what pops into his mind -- the thought that there is not just one path to success.
Talented people should want to express their talents for as many people as possible to witness, but that is the decision of the talented to make. Some people want it, and other people don't. Is it a crime to deny the world of the fruits of one's talent? Maybe for other people it is. Probably for the talented person, as well, if that person refuses to move forward simply due to a fear of failure or of finding the limits to one's talents. But to Nodame's credit, at least she isn't loafing around or acting as a waste of life in general. She is just not totally into the piano, although that may begin to change now that she and Prof. Etoh have an agreement to push Nodame a bit harder with her piano lessons.
There have been some tiny hints that Nodame didn't have such a great time growing up (when Prof. Etoh smacks Nodame with the harisen, a quick flash hints that Nodame's father, or another relative, or a teacher, was prone to smacking her as a kid too), and that her unwillingness to become truly great at the piano may be connected to that. I don't really have a comment on that yet, except to say I hope that if this is indeed the direction in which the story goes that it is done well, because it's a delicate issue and could really derail the story if it's done for cheap drama. (That's part of the reason I was not too fond of the two-episode arc where Chiaki and Nodame visit one of Chiaki's uncles, whose family is on frosty terms. The end of that storyline is a bit too ridiculous and sappy, and this is from someone who is willing to swallow a lot of sap. Hell, I liked the ending of Kanon and couldn't swallow this ending.)
So, yeah, the series has developed in a much more interesting way than I anticipated, and I hope it keeps this up! One final note: One of my favorite random developments is how Mine and Kimura (the violinist with a bowl cut, who is played by Hiroshi Kamiya) become best friends after despising each other the first time they meet. Those two are hilarious in the short time they are shown together. I demand more of them.
eps 17-23
Man, I love how much Nodame has surprised me with its depth. There are a couple of story bits that bug me (I hate the hypnotism development, and the way Nodame's traumatic past is touched upon very briefly in the finale after being built up for a while is kind of disappointing), but overall I love Nodame's journey from being a chaotic student who barely knows what she wants in life to being a person who is seriously dedicated to unleashing her talents not because everyone wants her to, but because it is truly what will make her happiest in life. True to herself, Nodame is all over the place at the end, giving her all in the piano tournament but also wildly frustrated when she learns her talent has not developed to the point where she can take the win in a prestigious event like that. She has a good amount of confidence going in, but with the way she plays, even if it is unique, it's easy to sense that there might be one thing holding her back from being truly great.
Maybe it's that, before the ending, she is afraid to make that leap to fully embracing her talent. Her loss in the tournament reinforces this fear, which is why she is so snippy with Chiaki, even when he offers to take her to Europe with him; Nodame says she participated in the tournament solely for the money, and that she didn't have fun onstage, but her look when she soaks in all the applause after her performances says differently. Nodame is just pissed that she lost, which, while a temporary setback, could also be taken as a sign that she is finally taking her music seriously.
And so the story goes as she races back home to her family, sees how stagnate her life will be if she does not take hold of it now (despite how well-meaning her family is), and she decides that, yes, it would be best for her to continue training so that she can achieve her new dream of performing with Chiaki onstage. Chiaki, meanwhile, doesn't have quite as much drama in his life, but he is bringing his time in Japan to a close by performing a final time with the Rising Stars orchestra, including a rendition of the Beethoven tune he so memorably screwed up during his first attempt at conducting. It's a cool moment, and I like seeing how the orchestra members have developed, including the two girls who Chiaki cut from the orchestra before. I like that they worked their asses off to the point where Chiaki was proud to have them playiing with everyone else. Hopefully some of the others will show up from time to time in Nodame's second season. It just will not be the same without Mine, Miki, Kimura, Masumi, etc.
The ending of the series is really sweet and stays true to the development of Chiaki and Nodame's relationship as well. There's no forced kiss, and Chiaki doesn't hug Nodame simply because he likes her a lot -- you get the feeling he hugs her more because he is happy that she is finally taking a direction in life in which she can be confident. Nodame is pursuing music because she wants to, and not because everyone else wants her to do so, and it is the same for Chiaki. He can understand the happiness that comes from choosing one's direction in life.
So, yes, like Mononoke, Nodame Cantabile ended up being much better than I anticipated (and I anticipated something pretty damn good!). I hope the series can keep this level of quality going through the second season and beyond!
Sasameki Koto ep8
For anyone who reads the Sasameki Koto manga, does Aoi read the same Maria-sama ga Miteru type book in that? And if so, since it appears she is crushing on Murasame, have there been many Murasame-sama ga Miteru jokes made among the fandom? If not, I've got to worm my way in and copyright that shit post haste.
Shugo Chara! Party ep9
With the Shugo Chara! manga apparently coming to an end next month, I wonder if Party will also be the final incarnation of Shugo Chara!? As much as I have enjoyed the series the past couple of years, it would probably be for the best if it came to a relatively quick conclusion instead of dragging on needlessly. This episode has pretty much the same problem the others do -- enjoyable, but it feels like one segment of a better, longer episode. Plus, it needs moar Hikaru.
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun ep9
The fight between Kuroko and the random thug is pretty good. Probably the best in the series so far at actually making it seem as if one of the main characters could be defeated. Kuroko actually has to use a pretty desperate move to get out of a sticky situation. Good show. Saten's development is nice, too. Poor girl is bowing to the pressure of being powerless among people with incredible powers, and even though I don't want her to use the Level Upper, she probably will use it in the next episode. That said, I can't help but be curious about what her power is, and if it would actually stick after using the Level Upper, or if it is something that is only temporary. I also demand more sleepy scientist.
Trapeze ep7
I like all the Yakuza/gangster cliches thrown into the episode. My favorite is the birds flapping across the screen. Always a classic. This episode made me laugh a ton in general because the guys in it are the two goofiest gangsters ever. Everything they do is so over-the-top, and of course it is meant to mask that they both house silly fears and ultimately don't want to cause too much trouble with each other. There's a lot of posturing involved with being a gangster; there's also a lot made about sticking to "the code", which dictates what a gangster can and cannot do. They have to stick to these rigid rules, but they are reluctant at best. When Seiji, Irabu's newest patient, needs to get a fellow gangster out of a sticky situation, he does it by challenging his rival to a game of Russian Roulette. Seiji sweats the first shot out a lot, partly because the gun is a sort of point (which he fears) but also because he's putting his freaking life on the line, and the other guy reacts like, "Holy shit, man, are you friggin' out of your mind??" It's not always a great idea to stick strictly to Da Rules, even if there are repercussions.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni ep22
A couple of interesting changes now -- in this arc, Kinzo is the main villain rather than Beatrice, and he is referred to as "Lord Goldsmith" by all those who are normally Beatrice's furniture (along with the Siestas, who were summoned by Evatrice). We'll see what changes are brought about by Kinzo being more proactive. Right now he's already planning to unleash a test upon the young'uns to determine if any of them are worthy of being his successor, since his lousy children all suck. Not really sure what will be involved in the test, but it is sure to involve a bit of murder. This leads into the second major difference in this arc: Maria is not just supporting witches in front of her family, but she is actively claiming to be a witch in front of them now. Is Maria involved with Kinzo's plan? Or will she, too, be tested? Maria has been portrayed as being firmly in Beatrice's court in all the anime's arcs, despite (presumably) not surviving any of them, so I'm not sure how she will react to Kinzo being in the position of power rather than Beatrice.
(Something interesting that I really should have thought of -- is Kinzo really Kinzo at all? Kinzo so far has been reclusive, completely ineffectual or embracing death. And yet he is now a badass. Right. The non-magic explanation is that he's pissed off and finally grew a pair. The magical explanation may be that he is a creation of Beatrice ala Evatrice.)
Also, Maria still creeps the hell out of me, but Rosa goes so far in her rejection of Maria (that may take place in Maria's mind) that it is difficult to not be a little sympathetic toward the little creeper. It's always been pretty easy to see why Maria is so screwed up, but this episode just takes it to the only extreme Rosa had avoided so far. The neck breaking death is pretty squicky; I actually physically recoiled from that.
