Anime discussed: Cross Game, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Hanamaru Kindergarten, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Red Garden, Shugo Chara! Party, Sora no Woto
UNMEI KAIHEN: Durarara!!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kimi ni Todoke, Nodame Cantabile Finale, Ookamikakushi
I also wrote a post on the roles of OPs and EDs that plays off my inappropriate EDs post. Check it out!
Cross Game eps 44-45
Haha, wow, the show is really blazing through the tournament, isn't it? I suppose since we all know the finale will see Seishuu square off against Ryuuou, it's OK if we speed through the games and focus on other stuff. The game against Miki's team is pretty fun, if only because there isn't really much drama behind it other than the second years getting their time in the sun. For the most part, though, it's just old teammates bringing the heat to each other. Think of what a powerhouse Seishuu would be had Miki stayed there. Damn. Probably the one story element I don't really care for right now is Akane going to the hospital, but it hasn't really developed into anything life threatening, so I'm cool with it. If the series really plays things up with her, though, I'll probably end up rolling my eyes. Akaishi isn't rolling his eyes, though; the guy is legit worried about Akane, and it is affecting his game. He just needs to visit her and reassure himself that she is fine. And then they can go off on their own ship while the Aoba x Kitamura train keeps chugging along!
Dance in the Vampire Bund ep7
Blah. There was definitely a good episode in here; unfortunately, the execution is completely off. From what I hear, SHAFT had numerous problems meeting the deadline for this episode (there is going to be a week's delay before ep8), and it definitely shows: Everything comes together in a big, sloppy, hasty mess. There are parts that make such little sense that I had to seek out the knowledge of people who read the manga to actually know what the hell is going on. I'm pretty sure there is more story after this, but SHAFT plays it off like the end of the series ... and frankly I have no idea where the story can go from here since this episode sort of sweeps away all the conflicts that had built up to this point. Ugh. This series had actually been coming along so well. Sucks that there are so many problems with it. (I assume these problems are also extending to Bakemonogatari, whose final two episodes have been delayed lord knows how long.)
Durarara!! ep7
I still cannot wrap my mind around Izaya, Shizuo and Shinra all attending high school together. Random comparison, but it's like in Harry Potter when Harry thinks that he can never imagine Dumbledore as a young man. I can't imagine those three as students. That spin-off would be hilarious, though. It would be like your everyday, generic high school series -- with cultural festivals, beach trips, the works -- except every moment fans expect in those series would be "ruined" (i.e. made awesome) by Izaya and Shizuo's constant life-or-death battles, culminating in them fighting while Shinra suppresses giggles onstage as he makes his valedictorian speech. I would watch the hell out of that show, and you would too.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep45
So, um, that fight between Greed and Wrath is pretty boss. Can't wait for the more intense fights later in the series! Pretty soon we'll be entering the territory where the story is just one smack of crazy after the other. Should be awesome.
Hanamaru Kindergarten ep7
Haha, pretty classy ED this week! Kind of nice to get away from the school for an episode and get more of a peek at Tsuchida and Sakura's roots. Bit less Hiiragi than I'd like, but everything she says seemed to make me laugh this week, so I guess I'll let it slide. It's also fun to see Sakura needle Tsuchida. Guy is so easy to mock.
Kimi ni Todoke ep20
All told, Ryu is pretty lucky this arc: Chizuru isn't going to harp on Tohru anymore (even if she is pissed as Ryu for the time being), and Ryu got a bunch of bread after Chizuru fought with him in the hallway (and also his present from the night before). Chizuru will come to forgive Ryu eventually, so he has pretty much made out like a bandit in this whole thing with minimal effort. Bravo.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn ep1
Solid first episode. Everything looks fantastic, as expected. Some pretty exciting mecha fights and a couple of pretty good one-on-one human fights, surprisingly enough. Even Gundam 00 didn't look this good right out of the gate. Storywise, it is pretty typical for Gundam right now. You have the requisite teen protagonist (he has a couple of goofy moments but on the whole is a relatively likable character), separatist space colonies (UC timeline, so of course it is Zeon vs. Federation), Newtypes/Cyber Newtypes (there are a couple of 'em so far, with more to come later I'm sure), overpopulation on Earth leading to expansion into space and so on. I've seen only Zeta Gundam of the UC series, so I'm sure there are plenty of things I am missing, but whatever. (Amusingly enough, I didn't recognize a character from Zeta that I probably should have recognized. Oh well.) This episode basically plants the seeds for a Gundam-type story. Not sure how long it will be before the next episode comes out, but I am definitely looking forward to it.
Nodame Cantabile Finale ep6
I would write something witty here, but I'm still swooning from Chiaki and Nodame's kiss. I'm so easy to please. <3
Ookamikakushi ep7
At first I was like, "Oh, cool, this show is just going to be 12 episodes!" but now I think, given how slowly paced Ookamikakushi has been, that this isn't good. Unless they're pulled off perfectly, I can see the final five episodes just being a total mess because of everything that will need to be revealed and clarified. On the bright side, we only have to put up with five more episodes of Hiro, who has been such a thoroughly useless protagonist in just about every way that it is almost unbelievable.
Red Garden eps 12-22
Hm, I've got mixed feelings about the second half of the series. The main conflict between the two cursed houses really feels like something the creators tacked on reluctantly as a hook for viewers and so that they would have a ready-made conflict to push the lives of the four main girls to the limit (which is the most interesting part of the series). Hervé is the only one of those characters who is of any interest to me; he is actually a pretty well-written tragic figure, a man who goes mad because of the pressure of the curse and his desire to cure his cousin and his sister so that they do not meet the same terrible end as his mother. Even though the guy is a huge dickwad throughout the series, the part where he dies after his sister gives in to the curse, transforms and takes a chunk out of his neck is pretty damn sad.
But, yeah, didn't really care about anyone else involved in the conflict. It has supposedly been going on for a really long time, but I never got a sense of the vastness of the feud and the deepness of the hatred between the two houses. The characters go through the motions of hatred; it feels hollow to me, though. There's some cool action in the final episode, at least, so that makes the whole thing sort of worth it.
The real strength is in the character development, though. I got pretty attached to all four of the girls as they struggled to reconcile the changes within them that these fights spurred on with how they lived the day-to-day minutiae of their previous lives. Unlike with the main conflict, I really felt the girls' need to move forward, the desperation of their desire to change the way they live, to alter the way they see life, to make themselves less apathetic about life and more embracing of it. There are quite a few things left hanging -- Rachel's budding relationship with her teacher, Rose and her family (though I assume her father actually spends time with them at the end) -- but I suppose that is part of the point. People are slow to recognize good things even when they're right under their nose (and I include myself in this), and sometimes they realize what they have when it's too late to grasp it. At least the girls get some measure of happiness before their memories fade away.
My favorite is still Claire (Miyuki Sawashiro probably has a lot to do with that), although I like them all a lot. Rose in particular becomes someone who is pretty damn strong by the end of the series. I smiled as she develops from someone who cowers in fear during the battles into someone who willingly throws herself into intense danger to save her friends. And her devotion to her family is admirable. Rose really has that strength in her the entire time; it takes a strong person to raise a couple of younger siblings at so young an age.
Anyway, a solid, if flawed and weird, series. I'm sort of curious to watch the OVA, Dead Girls, but I hear it sucks. lol
Shugo Chara! Party eps 18-19
A couple of fun episodes here. The personalities of Rikka's parents are not at all surprising -- her dad is a hot-blooded ball of energy, while her mother is more down-to-earth (and voiced by Kikuko Inoue, natch). And man they got through to Hikaru in record time. Amu has nothing on them! Plus, there is more Rikka x Hikaru, which is terribly adorable at this point. Ep19 is all about Utau~ As fun as Utau is, though, we briefly see a tougher side of Amu's mom when she's sticking it to her bosses and being all, "I'M WRITING THIS ARTICLE, AND THAT'S THAT" There hasn't really been an episode focused on Amu's mom, has there? This should be rectified.
Sora no Woto ep8
Kind of a strange episode after the last one, which was fairly serious, while this one shares more of the tone of the first couple of episodes in the series. Kanata watching the telephone is sort of funny but gets pretty boring quickly. But there is some interesting stuff at the end with Rio. It has been hinted pretty strongly that her family is well connected; her joining the army and staying on the ground level could be a rebellion against her family (if that's her dad on the line, then she certainly doesn't get along with him very well -- maybe she partially/completely blames him for her mom's death?), or there could be a deeper reason than that. The "Save Helvetia" comment is particularly interesting. Is there something specific Rio can do to help save this country? Does it have to be Rio in particular?
You know, in a way ep8 is reflective of Sora no Woto as a whole -- there are bits that don't always grab me as a viewer, but it always knows the right time to throw me a bone and get me really interested.
