I forgot to share the funniest part of yesterday: My boss decided to tell me about being hired full-time while we were both taking a wizz in the restroom. I was so delighted by the news that I forgot to be weirded out. What the hell, man? Rule No. 1 of restroom etiquette: You don't talk to each other while at the urinal. I'm in the bathroom to do one thing only; I don't need to be engaged in conversation while that's going on. At least wait until I am washing my hands.
Anime discussed: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Cross Game, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Hanamaru Kindergarten, Katanagatari, Red Garden, Shugo Chara! Party, Simoun, Sora no Woto
UNMEI KAIHEN: Durarara!!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kimi ni Todoke, Nodame Cantabile Finale, Ookami Kakushi
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu eps 6-7
Yuuji has it pretty damn bad. Yeesh. Anyway, this is funny as usual, but it's also pretty much the same jokes we have been seeing from the beginning. I doubt they'll stay funny six or seven episodes from now, so I hope this series isn't on the road to becoming stale, because that would be pretty disappointing. Methinks it's time for more new characters.
Ep7, though ... this series is really starting to lose steam. It's funny, mind, but the same basic mannerisms and characteristics are carrying the comedy without anything fresh being brought to the table. The carnival trip is a valiant effort, but it wears itself out by the end. I hope BakaTest is able to liven things up pretty soon.
Cross Game ep43
Haha, I love Coach Daimon getting it stuck to him again. How do you like them apples, dickface? I thought the story would build toward Daimon vs. Seishuu, but this outcome is also good -- should be a better baseball match-up, anyway. Just two teams who play baseball the right way going at it. Good times.
Dance in the Vampire Bund ep6
Man, what a turnaround Vampire Bund has made, eh? I enjoyed the first episode, hated the next two and have liked the past three. I feel like everything is really clicking for me now, whereas the beginning jumps all over the place, and in a mostly annoying way instead of the normally endearing Shinbo way. The political storyline is pretty interesting -- Mina is showing more of her darker side now, doing everything possible to secure a homeland for the vampires, and even putting that ahead of her relationship with Akira, who is pretty pissed at the extreme actions Mina takes. (She orders the prime minister's grandson to be turned into a vampire when the prime minister tries to play hardball with her, and she is downright apathetic about vampires running around the school turning students into vampires.) For Akira, Mina has tried balancing her vampire self with a more "normal" persona to fit in with humans, but she's always going to stick with vampires first. It'll be interesting to see if that is reconciled at all.
Never thought I would be saying this after the beginning, but I'm genuinely excited to see the next episode of Vampire Bund. It still has its retarded moments (Akira and Yuki's relationship is straight out of Generic Anime Bullshit 101), but overall I'm glad I didn't drop the series.
Durarara!! ep6
Dollars looks like a fun group. Where the hell is my e-mail?! Not sure I can handle the torture, though. This episode presents it pretty whimsically, but apparently in the light novel and the manga, the torture is much more brutal and creepy. So Durarara!! is definitely not afraid to go the Baccano! route with its characters (i.e. even the good guys have moments of extreme darkness).
Also, it is just me or is Celty/Selty/whatever moe as hell? Hottest headless mythological creature ever.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep44
Haha, Ed is a bit more hardcore than usual in this episode. I guess surviving a freaking metal pole being shoved through your abdomen will do that to ya. I'd like to see a full on action movie that just follows Ed going on crazy adventures with those two chimera. Based on their chemistry in this episode, I think they could pull it off. If Arnold Schwarzenegger could carry action movies for an entire decade, then Edward Elric sure as hell could. (What? He's a fictional character, you say? I don't believe you!)
Hanamaru Kindergarten ep6
First half of this episode is OK. More of Anzu trying to appeal to Tsuchida, except she is thwarted because Yamamoto has big boobs (inb4 lol gainaxing). The second skit, with Tsuchida's little sister, is more fun. She's pretty standard as far as anime little sisters go, but new blood is always welcome. The kindergartners take advantage of her pretty quickly, though lol. She cannot resist the cute.
Katanagatari ep2
Liked this episode much more than the first -- instead of just unleashing a bunch of info dumping, the conversations between Togame and Shichika feel much more clever and fun, especially their long conversation about Togame's report as they walk through the desert. Togame takes the adage "history is written by the winners" very seriously, haha. Kind of a fun bit of fourth wall breaking without being too obnoxious or cutesy about it. I love how Togame breaks down the basics of being a hero for Shichika, who is feeling way in over his head, haha. Pays off in a pretty awesome way in the climactic moment of the episode, too, when Shichika is able to use Togame's lessons for a practical purpose.
The swordsman Shichika has to take down in this episode, Ginkaku Uneri, is way more interesting and cool than the blabbermouth from the first episode as well. I'm just a sucker for the honorable villains, I think. The hint of tragedy behind the guy is good, too. This post points out an interesting visual trick with Uneri -- namely that he himself is sheathed like his sword, bound to a room where he supposedly has all the advantage. Once he is out, like his sword, he loses all advantage; but when he is able to create a situation where he is able to properly unsheath his sword, then he is at maximum power. Just a cool detail that I didn't think too much about during the course of the episode.
So, yeah, this episode made me way more excited about the rest of Katanagatari. Can't for next month's episode!
Kimi ni Todoke ep19
Even though this episode is predictable, the ending really got to me. The perfect moment of melancholy on which to end the episode. Poor Chizuru. ;-;
Nodame Cantabile Finale ep5
This episode does the best job in Finale of integrating the stories of the side characters (Li and Tanya, with a dash of Rui even though she is not technically in this episode) with the continued advancement of Nodame's relationship with Chiaki. Mighty big coincidence that Rui wants to play the same song with Chiaki that got Nodame all excited. Is that girl psychic, or something?
Ookamikakushi ep6
Hiro is about as confused as I am! The sides are switching so much that I can't tell who is trustworthy and who is not, or even if anything we are viewing is a massive red herring in disguise. Damn Ryukishi07 building up these natural feelings of skepticism within me. First Nemuru's family seems suspicious, but now they seem kind of good ... but they're back by an entire village that seems suspicious. And pharmaceutical guy helped Hiro out before, but he also seems suspicious. Don't these people have something better to do than look suspicious all day?
Red Garden eps 6-11
This series is getting pretty twisted, with the personal lives of the four girls being put through the wringer as they have to deal with a ton of things that are totally outside their control. It's revealed that the girls are fighting the man-beast things because of a curse that Lula's group has apparently placed upon Hervé's family (the one who was there when the four girls died) that causes the family -- and maybe acquaintances? -- to turn into these feral beasts. Still don't know the whole story behind that battle yet, or even which side is actually the "good" side (if there is indeed even a good side; Lulu is giving these girls a second chance at life, but she's not doing it for her own health -- she does it so that the family cannot use them for purposes of procreation to find a loophole in the curse). So I won't speculate much on the reasons for this huge battle, since I'll in all likelihood be way off.
But I do find it interesting how the girls are using their second chances and really examining the worth of their lives. They're in the most extreme of circumstances -- they must kill people to keep their own lives going. The ones they fight have transformed into beasts, but it's tough to forget that they used to be people like any other. So they really have to think hard about whether their lives, as they are, are worth continuing in this way. There's a ton of disillusionment running through the girls right now about themselves and the ennui of their lives. Kate is fed up with the hypocrisy and elitism of Grace (she pretty much stays solely because of Paula), Rachel is fed up with the shallow materialism and lifestyle of her friends, Claire's life is stalling because she cannot focus and do something to get herself out of her rut and Rose is frustrated with her own weakness and her inability to grow up and be an adult (she's basically a kid who has to take on adult responsibilities before being ready for them because of her family situation).
My favorite part of the series so far is how the girls have slowly grown closer to each other and how their vastly differing personalities bounce off of and support one another. They often clash when they're on the job -- by sheer force of personality, Rachel and Claire are usually the ones who have to take the lead, which leads to spats with the other two -- but in their daily lives, they have people they can lean on and support in return. You wouldn't think, say, Rachel and Rose would be good friends, but they have grown surprisingly close in the past few episodes. Actually, it seems as if Claire is the odd one out, although she too has been getting a bit closer with her friends (having a sleepover in her apartment with them recently helps). That's the most frustrating part of the series so far because Claire is my favorite of the girls. I want to see her move out and neutral and go forward with her life. She seems to be making some moves right now, but she'll probably have to deal with her father (who keeps being brought up) sooner or later to truly keep going with her life.
Shugo Chara! Party ep17
God, I fucking hate Rhythm so much. What a friggin' tool. Every time he opens his mouth in this episode, I want to punch him in his shugo nutsack.
Simoun eps 22-26
Wow. I absolutely love how the plot is turned on its head at the end and becomes completely different than what is expected. Instead of being a war drama, as the series appears to be all along, it instead shows its true colors as a coming of age story. (Even though this is really what it had been going for the entire time.) The war abruptly ends, with the allied nations having the upper hand over Simulacrum and putting their foot down in the negotiations by demanding the disbandment of Chor Tempest. This forces everyone to confront what they have been avoiding all along -- growing up. Everyone has her reason for being in Chor Tempest, and some of them say they have decided what gender they want to be when they go to the Spring, but their extended stays as Sibyllae are really allowing them to avoid the difficult choices that will mark the beginnings of their lives as adults. Instead, they're stuck dealing with things they cannot reconcile -- Paraietta's unrequited love for Neviril (and the terrible feelings that arose in her because of it), Kaim's unrequited feelings for Paraietta, Alti's unrequited feelings for Kaim and so on down the line.
The only ones who are able to truly face their feelings head on at first are ironically the only two who presumably never grow up -- Neviril and Aer. They really are a true pair because they complete each other in such a satisfying way: Neviril provides the thoughtfulness and introspection that Aer lacks (because she is so clear, direct and impulsive with her feelings) while Aer provides the passion and thirst for life that Neviril does not have (because she is so often hiding from the complexity of her feelings). It could be said that they are running away from their responsibilities as people on the cusp of adulthood, but the true irony is that the world itself is running away.
When Dominura looks into the spiral engine of the Simoun, she sees a vision of herself in the past, influencing the people to develop the culture that will eventually lead to the formation of Simulacrum -- and that will, down the road, lead to the war itself. This war pushes the hostilities of each nation against each other. Instead of growing to understand one another, they fight for control of supplies and dominance over the land. They stall in their views of each other and resort to unleashing violence instead of resolving the actual core of their problems. This cycle is repeated in the final episode: Years later, as the former Sibyllae have all grown up and moved forward, the countries that had been formerly allied have instead decided to go to war. The world is stalled in a cycle peace that inevitably crumbles as nations declare war on each other. They run away from making difficult choices that may lead to peace and instead opt to blow the shit out of each other.
The lead priestess wants Neviril and either Aer or Paraietta to use the Emerald Ri Majon to travel to the past and completely undo the war. However, is this also not a form of running away? Once a choice has been made, it cannot be undone. The entire society of Simulacrum pushes its women to make a permanent choice of sex when they reach a certain age. They teach the girls to choose wisely and live with those choices. But in secret they have a chor going whose mission it is to change history. Doesn't that completely go against the messages given to the Sibyllae from the beginning of the series? Adulthood is about making choices and living with the consequences of those choices, and the whole society goes against that completely. The Sibyllae are brave for making their choices, not bitching about them and moving forward -- Neviril and Aer included. All they need is each other. They have the approval of their friends. Why not go to another place?
I absolutely love Simoun -- great characters, great story, great development. Absolutely the best series Studio DEEN has done, even better than the four seasons of Marimite. I had to read up a bunch on the series to really grasp some parts (and I'm sure that there is still a ton of stuff that has flown completely over my head), but I attribute that more to the series itself being packed to the gills with secrets to discover rather than sloppy storytelling or anything like that. Simoun is without a doubt a modern classic.
Sora no Woto ep7
Really intense episode here, maybe the best in the series so far. I've read a bit of debate about the "vision" Filicia has in this episode with the spider bots wreaking holy hell on the world. I'm torn as to whether to accept this as reality or an exaggeration; I don't think the spider tanks Filicia's crew fights in her first flashback are quite as advanced as the ones shown later in the episode (and the later flashback should theoretically be set in an earlier time), but then again, we don't see the tanks do much of anything before they're blown to bits. A point for the exaggeration deal is that Filicia and her fellow soldiers seem like a second-generation group of fighters to me. Humanity's ass is being kicked so hard that it needs to rely upon women (not traditionally seen as soldiers; the invaders needed to beat the sexism out of mankind, I guess) to carry the military, or at least do the grunt work. I doubt Filicia saw the worst of the destruction firsthand; or, if she did, she was too young to really remember it. So I'm torn, haha.
And the identity of our mystery woman is finally revealed -- she is Princess Iria. What her kingdom is, I have no idea; is it just limited to this area, or is she a worldwide princess? What is her role in all this? Does she just go around inspiring young girls to find their redemption? In any case, Filicia had a pretty rough life before ending up as captain of this group. She's gotta try pretty damn hard to be a source of strength for these girls.
(Side note: Random dash of existentialism from Filicia! Making your own meaning in the world, indeed.)
