... Man, can I not think of an intro right now. This is what I get for deciding to post this in the evening instead of sleeping and posting it in the morning. Oh well -- it's done right now, and I'm not going to watching anything, so whatever. Up it goes!
Anime discussed: Akagi, [Baka to Test to Shokanjuu, Hanamaru Kindergarten, Shugo Chara! Party, Sora no Woto
UNMEI KAIHEN: Durarara!!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kimi ni Todoke, Nodame Cantabile Finale, Ookami Kakushi
Akagi eps 1-7
Akagi is adapted from a manga of the same name by the man who penned Kaiji. They share some similarities -- most notably in character design and the fact that they both involve gambling in seedy places -- but Akagi is definitely a different series, particularly where its lead character is concerned. In the latter series, Kaiji is a bum who contributes nothing of worth to society and is only able to achieve his true potential once he is backed into a corner and must defend his life; however, he is ultimately a good man with clear morals, which is why he ends up a loser. He attacks inherently amoral games from an ultimately moral standpoint, and fails -- the one time he does win, he loses everything because the man he goes up against is the most amoral man possible.
Akagi, on the other hand, is perfectly amoral and thus well-suited for staring down -- and cheating against -- yakuza thugs. He's a cold-blooded killer, someone with ice water running through his veins, and who is unafraid to do anything necessary not just to achieve victory but also to eviscerate his opponent. The main difference between Kaiji and Akagi is that where the former is simply trying to survive in this harsh, brutal world, the latter knows he will survive; instead, to drive up the stakes, he plays an eternal game of chicken with his opponents, pushing the insanity further and further until the man on the other side folds due to the pressure. Akagi is chaos. If he played Kaiji, he would beat him 99 times out of 100.
It's that mindset that makes Akagi and Kaiji interesting looks at gambling, even though they are at heart exciting thrillers. They show what it truly takes to be an elite gambler -- and it's not always what society values most. In fact, it's rarely what society values most, but that probably makes Akagi all the more impressive. He constantly dances on the edge, balancing himself precariously on the line between rationality and insanity. Dude is freaking crazy. (And he is not just crazy on the mahjong field, either, as ep4 shows -- guy legitimately shoots a bully twice in the kneecaps. And Akagi is supposed to be 13 btw. WTF? He's a sociopath.)
Anyway, these seven episodes mark the beginning of Akagi's legend -- he's a 13-year-old who finds himself challenging the yakuza to mahjong (that sounds ridiculous out of context), and ends up striking a bit of history for himself. These episodes are exciting, but I also bet they just scratch the surface of Akagi's skill. Can't wait to see what kind of ridiculous shit he pulls as the show progresses.
eps 8-12
These episodes skip forward six years and find Akagi as a factory worker who gets drawn back into the world of yakuza and mahjong when a Fake Akagi tries to steal his thunder and mooch off his legend. Fake Akagi has some nice tricks -- a near perfect memory and solid logic -- but isn't anywhere near as cold-blooded and ruthless as the real Akagi. The yakuza men who witnessed Akagi in his two legendary battles quickly notice that he lacks the fire they witnessed, but the main bosses don't care because Fake Akagi is pulling in some decent coin. There's a nice bait-and-switch pulled, however, when a showdown with Fake Akagi is built up, only for Akagi to instead face off against a mahjong hustler, Urabe, who gets Fake Akagi in way too deep in a bet.
Not too much to say about this set of episodes -- Akagi himself is an interesting character. His amorality is actual amorality -- he's not truly evil so much as he does what he wants, when he wants, and deals with the consequences of pushing his behavior to the limit. Akagi helps one of his co-workers get out of a rough spot when three bullies gang up on him and hustle him out of his paycheck with some mahjong; however, Akagi does not do this out of the goodness of his heart. Rather, it's more that he wants the pleasure of crushing three people who think they're hot shit because they can steal money from an amateur. Akagi doesn't feel anything in particular for or against the guy he helps.
This also extends to when Akagi plays against Urabe. If he actually wanted to help the yakuza get out of a tight spot, Akagi would have contributed from the start. But he throws the guy he helped into the fire knowing that while he might do well at first, eventually he will dig himself into a huge hole against Urabe. That's what Akagi wants -- the worst possible situation to step into versus the most confident opponent possible so that there will be that much more pleasure in tearing Urabe's heart out and raising it to the heavens.
Aside from that, Akagi is more straightforward than Kaiji, although I do love the nastiness of the setting.
ep13
Putting ep13 on its own because it is the episode that actually ends the current arc instead of ep12. Anyway, I was a bit off about why Akagi sends his co-worker, Osamu, to battle Urabe first. As his brief statement on his values in gambling -- that feeling of putting your whole life on the line in a gamble and suffering a meaningless death should you lose -- suggests, Akagi is all about pushing the stakes as high as possible, but he also uses Osamu's game as a way of scouting Urabe and gathering intel on him. The cold-blooded analysis of Urabe's character and playing style by Akagi is by far the most interesting part of this episode; however, there is also a bunch of mahjong strategy mumbo-jumbo that completely flew over my head because I don't care about the game at all, so that almost made me fall asleep.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu eps 9-10
I'm torn. Kikuko Inoue is undeniably hot as the older sister character. Unfortunately, she is also a two-joke character who gets rather old pretty quickly -- much like everything in this series, it seems. Blah. They have the same exact reactions to everything. It's so obnoxious now. I'm really just soldering on because I enjoy the artistic flourishes ...
Ep10 is a bit better, but the funniest part of the episode is that the plot actually seems to be kicking back in after being abandoned for most of the season. Just about every anime comedy does this. It's hilarious now.
Durarara!! ep9
Seiji is a freak. That is all.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep47
Ed's nicknames for his chimera companions got me to thinking: How kickass would a Donkey Kong/Lion King crossover be? Scar was smart and manipulative, but he never had a real bruiser backing him up (the hyenas don't count). How menacing would he be with Donkey Kong at his side? And this would also open the door to have Pride Rock as a Donkey Kong level. A win-win situation.
Hanamaru Kindergarten ep9
That Panda Cat manga author has to visit the kindergarten classroom some time, right? I kept waiting for that the entire episode. Just imagine the reactions of Anzu, Hiiragi and Koume when they find out the dude they talked to in the park writes that manga they obsess over. I was actually waiting for something like a scene where he writes the three girls into the manga as a brief cameo. Oh well. Also, Mayumi was the sister who Nanako was talking to in an earlier episode, right? I didn't recognize her at all (because I watch way too much stuff and have a bad memory), but then she was introduced as Nanako's sister, and I was all, "... Damn, I don't remember her at all." Whoops!
Kimi ni Todoke ep22
Sawako's dad must have been a really awkward youth in his day.
Nodame Cantabile Finale ep8
No joke this week: This episode is one of the best from any of Nodame's seasons. Great romantic drama the whole way through, with a truly memorable ending. Awesome.
Ookamikakushi ep9
The post I wrote for this episode is one of my favorites so far. I think my theory holds up quite well; after all, if any of us was Hiro's father, we would probably neglect the kid, too. Guy just can't keep his dumb ass out of trouble.
Shugo Chara! Party ep21
I think the Rikka x Hikaru moments have become progressively more adorable has the series has gone on. There has to be some sort of chart measuring this. If not, maybe I should create one myself. In any case, I have actually found myself enjoying Shugo Chara! Party much more lately. I think it is because I have finally accepted its limitations, and really have a feel for its rhythm now (but not its Rhythm, that fuckhead).
Sora no Woto ep10
Wow, the info is tossed out left and right in this episode! The obvious is with Rio: She is the illegitimate daughter of an affair between a king/prime minster/whatever and her mother (Rio's mother, not the minister's ...), so she is the half-sister of Princess Iliya, who drowned while saving a girl (not directly stated but heavily implied to be Rio). Because Rio is third in line to the throne, what she can supply is most likely stepping into her sister's place and hopefully generating peace by marrying the emperor of ... Rome? Alternate history alert! Clearly this series isn't taking place during the heyday of the Roman Empire, so could it have fallen and risen again? Or something else? I am not at all a scholar of European history, so any suggestion I make would probably be completely without merit.
Anyway, I hope Rio is able to avoid this fate somehow, since someone who apparently starts and stops wars based on his marriage situation can't be a great guy.
