Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Ayakashi, Baka to Test to Shokanjuu, Hanamaru Kindergarten, Kemono no Souja Erin, Shugo Chara! Party, Sora no Woto
UNMEI KAIHEN: Durarara!!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kimi ni Todoke, Nodame Cantabile Finale, Ookamikakushi
Axis Powers Hetalia ep51
Oh, hey, Hetalia is back. Woo! This is an OK episode. America and Japan watching a horror flick together is kind of funny, but America's over the top reactions are more grating than amusing.
Ayakashi eps 1-4
Ayakashi is a horror anthology series on which the story that would eventually spin off to become Mononoke (a great anime in its own right) originally aired. However, the first story in the series is an adaptation of Yotsuya Kaidan, a very famous Japanese ghost story. (Reading that Wikipedia article helped give me a bit more historical grounding, although the story is universal enough to be perfectly understandable on its own.) Basically it's about this asshole ronin who has a pregnant wife whom he treats like total shit, and he does all he can to make her life miserable, eventually trading up to a younger wife whose father can get him some good money. To get rid of the old, pregnant wife, new wife poisons her ... but when the now dying wife learns the truth behind what's going on, her ghost wreaks holy hell upon everyone involved in this terrible scheme.
As a straight-up ghost story, it's pretty effective because the ghost doesn't pull any punches in haunting the fuck out of those who have wronged her, and the imagery is fairly creepy and violent (the rats are particularly squicky). It's rougher than what you see in Mononoke; it's a completely different style, though, so I didn't expect it to be the same. This adaptation is also interesting because it deliberately plays up the fact that the story was originally a kabuki play, and that this is a story and not fiction to draw in the viewer (although it achieves that nonetheless). The original author of the story acts as the narrator; also, the final 10 minutes of the fourth episode acts as a reflection on Yotsuya Kaidan's place as a story and spins an intricate web of urban legends about the curse of the story spreading outside the story itself.
It's an interesting meditation on what we look for in stories -- "The story behind Yotsuya Kaidan is cursed because the audience wants it to be cursed" says it all. We want to believe in our stories heart and soul, good and bad. We want our stories to not only reflect reality but also to affect it. A story like Yotsuya Kaidan shows how poorly women were treated at the time, but it also acts as an outlet for these same women to achieve some measure of vengeance against their oppressors. Likewise, it takes a man in a position of power, and who abuses that power, and slowly strips that power from him until he is in the position of those he has tormented all his life. We want to believe that this is real -- we want to believe that if you do something incredibly fucked up, that the big, bad curse will haunt the hell out of you for years to come.
eps 5-8
This set of episodes is about the forbidden coupling between a man, Zusho-no-Suke, and a forgotten god, Tomi-Hime. Although the story has violent moments and a somewhat creepy first episode, it strikes me more as a tragedy than a horror story. The love between the human and the god both purifies and corrupts them -- it enables them to feel something they have never felt before, but in the process, Zusho-no-Suke slowly transforms into a demon, and Tomi-Hime's people become susecptible to mortal injuries due to Tomi-Hime being the source of their power. (I presume feeling human emotions erodes the godly powers of these creatures.)
That part of the story is interesting, but truth be told, I wasn't into this set of episodes as much as the first four. This seems like a more straightforward adaptation of a classic horror story, whereas the first story was told through an interesting filter. I did like the twist at the end, with the falcon that Zusho-no-Suke had been raising turning out to be Tomi-Hime's mother -- this form is the end result of her unnatural relationship with a human. That makes the ending a bit more poignant.
eps 9-11
These three episodes are the reason I wanted to watch Ayakashi in the first place. Mononoke's final arc takes the characters in this "Bake Neko" story and spins a new tale with them; however, it is vastly different than what is seen here. Actually, the story as a whole has several differences in tone and style with Mononoke. It feels like the rough draft before the awesome final draft of Mononoke. The Medicine Seller is especially jarring -- he's much more expressive (instead of being eternally detached), is more direct with his insults and actually has a difficult time putting away the Bake Neko at first. Maybe this is early in the Medicine Seller's career, when he was still a bit wet behind the ears.
Anyway, this story is farily standard for the Medicine Seller: A woman is about to be married off, but then she dies on her wedding day. The family thinks she was murdered; however, the Medicine Seller -- who just happens to be passing by, of course -- believes it to be the work of a mononoke. He does his thing -- gathering the shape, truth and reasoning of the creature -- and dispatching it, even though the family members are pricks who hide the truth at every opportunity, which makes it more difficult for the Medicine Seller properly handle the creature.
The final episode is definitely the best in the series. Really intense stuff as the woman's story finally comes to light, and then the Medicine Seller kicks some ass by going Super Saiyan transforming and beating the utter shit out of the Bake Neko. Very cool, kinetic fight scene. That was probably more impressive than any fight from Mononoke.
Ayakashi is a solid series overall. As a fan of horror, it's always cool to see the horror stories that develop in particular cultures.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu ep8
Not really too much better than the other episodes, but as a mecha fan I do enjoy the lean to those types of references this week -- tons of Evangelion references (including the headmaster keeping the famous Gendo Ikari pose basically the whole episode), a bit of Gundam, Code Geass, RahXephon and so on. Wouldn't be surprised if there were some sort of Macross reference that flew over my head, too.
Durarara!! ep8
Not a bad episode this week, but sort of underwhelming for Durarara!! I like the theme of lost and found, and I like seeing Shinra be a bit miserable because he is such an untrustworthy git, but the episode as a whole is fairly uneventful. The major thing is the reveal that Mika Harima actually is wearing Celty's head (given that Seiji, you know, calls her "Celty" and all), but most people -- including myself -- guessed that weeks ago, so it's not a mind-blowing ending or anything.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep46
And it begins -- pretty much everything from here on out is one humongous battle climax of awesome. I can't wait to see everything make it onto the screen. Ed/Greed vs. Pride/Gluttony in the next episode should own pretty hard. And that isn't even close to the best of the battles to come ...
Hanamaru Kindergarten ep8
lol How many rivals is Anzu going to have? Even though Hanamaru Kindergarten is innocent overall, it's still weird that the happy message at the end is, "Keep trying, other little kindergarten girl, and maybe one day you'll have a shot at marrying Tsuchida!" That's more bizarre than heartwarming. I hoped there would be more of the yakuza leader and his strange yakuza ways in the episode, but no dice, unfortunately. Oh well. Also, Anzu looks absolutely bizarre with a tan. And Hiiragi is cute as a button while teaching passersby on the street about healthy fatty acids in fish.
Kemono no Souja Erin ep50
It's very weird that a finale that had so much prior build-up ends up feeling rushed, but there you go -- I think most everything about the moral difficulty of fighting a war vs. standing pat, the relationship between humans and beasts and everything else was simplified to make this episode more "dramatic". The drama feels really manufactured, though -- Erin is shot with an arrow, and then placed into a hoard of Touda -- seemingly mirroring her mother's death -- when it's pretty much a sure thing that she'll live. I didn't want Erin to die, mind, but it feels like Erin is going the cheap route for drama when it usually avoids doing that. Speaking of cheap drama, I rolled my eyes at the pathetic way Damiya goes out, going unhinged and trying to stab Seimiya, only to be sliced up by Ial. For someone built up so much throughout the series, Damiya sure is jobbed out in a lame way.
I don't want to hate on the episode too much. It's entertaining enough and a decent ending to a great series that got better and better as it went along. But anything better than a great ending is disappointing. That aside, I'd still recommend Erin to anyone, especially anyone who likes good fantasy. I'm not even into fantasy, generally (fantasy stories usually have everything I hate in fiction), and I love this series. That should say something about how good it is. Beautiful, complex and unafraid to put its characters to the grindstone -- I just wish it could have stayed that way until the very end.
Kimi ni Todoke ep21
I think this is the best episode of the series so far -- it has a real Honey and Clover feeling to it with its simplicity and bittersweetness. This Chizuru arc has really hit the drama out of the park, I think. Doesn't completely make up for the first couple of arcs being almost completely botched, but still. Hopefully the series can finish off strong.
Nodame Cantabile Finale ep7
It makes me sad to see Nodame so sad. :(
Ookamikakushi ep8
I'm kind of hoping there is some sort of bad end to this series, and that the current story is barreling straight toward it. Does Hiro really deserve to live at this point? That guy is such a dumbass. Let Sakaki get his revenge, and then everything else can crumble.
Shugo Chara! Party ep20
lol Of course Rikka's Guardian Character is calm and polite.
Sora no Woto ep9
Good episode, but the silly plot twist with Klaus almost ruined it for me. "Oh, he looks the same and has the same name as the famous war hero; he just hasn't had the heart to tell Kureha that it isn't him yet!" Ugh, that is just unbelievably stupid. Thankfully, the rest of the episode isn't that dumb. The actual rescue operation itself is fairly exciting, and I do like the theme of people being completely different than the conception of those who idolize them. I just wish it were broached in a less retarded way. Really, the series has already been hitting on that subject with Rio and Filicia.
Speaking of Rio, it's almost certain at this point that she is of higher standing than she is letting on to everyone else but Filicia (and possibly Kureha, who seems to know Rio fairly well). Rio knew the princess, and she flashes back to the princess' funeral (?) while running to the bridge above the flooded river. Could the princess have died while trying to save Rio? I can't remember what Rio presented her ranking as while on the phone last week, but it sure as hell was not "Major Sergeant", so Rio is clearly WAY above her current standing (even though she is all of 17 years old). What is in that letter delivered to her? Is it an order to return to wherever it is she belongs?
