*pats himself on the back for writing throughout the week instead of saving it all for today* This post is so much less stressful now, haha.
Anime discussed: Asu no Yoichi!, Axis Powers Hetalia, Clannad ~After Story~, Code Geass R2, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Hare+Guu, Kemono no Souja Erin, Kurokami, Lovely Complex, Maria Holic, Minami-ke Okaeri, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Munto (TV), Shugo Chara! Doki, Soul Eater, Tales of the Abyss, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Toradora!, White Album, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
-- Asu no Yoichi! ep4: lol, I like Chihaya. She is pretty fun messing with Yoichi's head and sizing him up to see what type of person he is. Of course, this show being like it is, she does this by hitting on him. Whatever works. I wish there were more of Washizu in this episode; him freaking out about what to wear to impress Ibuki's family is amusing, but the poor guy gets maybe a minute of screen time. Not enough for my favorite character, I say.
-- Axis Powers Hetalia ep2: Liked it a bit more than the first episode because there is a consistent main story (such as it is lol). Helps that I thoroughly enjoy Italy so far. PASTA PASTA PASTA! Germany is a good foil for him, haha.
-- Clannad ~After Story~ ep16: Oh. My. God. Nagisa is not my favorite character, but her death is just ... wow. It's amazing that Clannad can foreshadow an event so obviously, deliver it and still manage to make it emotionally powerful. Everything about that scene twisted my stomach into knots: The bright lights, Nagisa's POV, Tomoya's desperation, Ushio's crying and Nagisa slipping slowly into death. Urgh. Tomoya is slipping into dark, dark times next episode; he certainly blames himself for Nagisa's death, although the pain he's feeling is turning him into a fool (there is absolutely no way Tomoya's presence did anything but improve Nagisa's life). This is a dangerous time for Tomoya -- this darkness could lead him down the path to repeating his father's mistakes. I hope for a speedy recovery, but with eight episodes remaining, I think Tomoya has much more pain left to endure.
-- Code Geass R2 ep10: Pretty exciting episode, actually. While the guys backing the Chinese Federation are annoying as hell, I like Xingke and enjoyed watching him outmaneuver Lelouch at every turn. It appears as if Britannia and the Chinese Federation are looking to off him as quickly as possible, but I hope he sticks around longer than that. At any rate, the next episode should also be pretty good, with Lelouch backed against the wall yet again and looking for any way possible to break free from this situation.
-- Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu eps 2-12: The first part of the series is pretty funny, but the second half is downright hilarious. I cracked up hard at pretty much everything in eps 7-12. Sousuke and the effeminate rugby team, Tessa becoming a student for two weeks (and Weber's hysterical plan to peek in the women's hot spring bath), the surrealness of Bonta-kun!Sousuke training the yakuza, Sousuke going "girl hunting" and everything with the "deadly" bacteria in the final episode ... all fantastic. Nothing much to say except that I laughed a lot, and this more than makes up for my disappointment in The Second Raid.
-- Hare+Guu eps 21-24: Hare is going to end up in a madhouse at this rate. The major event in these episodes is the introduction of Robert, who acts as a bodyguard of sorts for Weda. He's a hilariously gung ho character, and the team he has formed with Guu is wonderful and has hastened Hare's inevitable mental collapse by a few years. And now that Clive is in the city, I hope he sticks around for the final two episodes. I am ready for some epic funny.
-- Kemono no Souja Erin ep2: I don't know what it was, but I warmed up to the series a lot during this episode. Maybe it's because Erin is a likable kid. I dunno. She's pretty sharp, though. Don't know how long I will enjoy the villagers taking care of random Toudas, but I am interested to see how Erin gets swept up into the larger plot (which I assume will involve the war going on in the world).
-- Kurokami ep4: Sweet, Jouji Nakata is playing a character on this show. Interest levels are rising! (Actually, his character was introduced last week but is more prominent now. Whatever it takes for me to hear more of his smooth voice of badassery.) Aside from that, this episode is all right. Keita is still reluctant to completely trust Kuro, because she kind of barged completely in on his life, although if she hadn't made the contract, he would be finito. The baddies are moving behind the scenes -- the glasses guy is a Keita doppeliner, while the boss lady is a doppeliner of Keita's friend. And now Kuro and Jouji Nakata's awesome character are going to throw down. Whatever works!
-- Lovely Complex eps 9-10: The show went in the direction I thought it would go, and it has been pulled off well. I am just glad Risa has not been totally mopey since Ootani turned her down. She's been down, for sure, but she has at least made an active effort to pull herself together. Now I suppose this is the part of the series where Ootani slowly flashes on that he likes Risa as much as she likes him. Aside from that, there are the usual amusing shenanigans and whatnot.
-- Maria Holic ep4: Another episode with a relative lack of Mariya, but the parts when he is around are pretty funny, so it's not so bad. He is really scary though. The main story is pretty amusing, with Ishima becoming a samurai (<3 <3 <3) to protect Kanako from Ishima's raving fangirls. It's hilarious seeing Kanako fretting about Ishima following her everywhere but being unwilling to tell her to take a hike, because she enjoys the attention so much. Unfortunately, samurai!Ishima seems to be a one time thing. Sigh.
-- Marimite 4th ep4: Pretty fun episode. Yoshino freaking out over finding a soeur so that she doesn't look like an idiot in front of Eriko is pretty funny. She's so awesome, haha. I also loved the elder generation (Eriko, Sei and Youko) playing a game of "Spot the Soeur." The show is strongly hinting that Yoshino will wait a year so that Nana Arima can become her petite soeur, which is fine by me since she seems pretty cool from what little we have seen. And although Kanako has apparently taken that stick out of her ass for good, I must again repeat my plea that Touko become Yumi's soeur. It's the right thing to do.
-- Minami-ke Okaeri ep4: Bizarrely enough, the third season is doing the exact opposite of the second season -- presenting a lot of Hosaka and relatively little of Mako-chan (although I think I saw Makoto in the preview for the next episode). I love Hosaka, though, so I am glad he's getting more of an opportunity to shine. His fantasy about giving Haruka his umbrella made me laugh, especially when he unbuttoned his shirt in anticipation of an embrace, and then it's revealed that he unbuttoned his shirt while off in la la land. Haruka is pretty funny in the first segment. She's most enjoyable when she breaks character, and it's all the better because it does not happen often.
-- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 eps 21-24: Good lord, SciFi, way to serve up the Gundam this week! In a way, this is also kind of cruel, because this foursome of episodes is utterly merciless. On the one hand, Michael and Johann Trinity die by the hand of Ali "Awesome" Al-Saachez (good riddance to those assholes), and Nena gets f'ed up pretty badly. On the other hand, LOCKONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN :( :( :( :( :(. Man, saddest moment in the first season by far. And then, of course, ep24 ends with Setsuna going one-on-one with Alejandro, while Gundam fans frantically pull their hair out waiting for next week to arrive. Besides the heavy stuff, I enjoyed rewatching Setsuna take it to Ali with the Trans-Am, Tieria completely changing and swearing to AVENGE LOCKON~!, Hallelujah punting Allelujah aside and taking over and Alejandro and Ribbons getting owned by Aeolia Schenberg, even after Alejandro shot him in the head. Take that, douchebag. Next week is going to be epic. Can't wait!
-- Munto (TV) ep3: I think I am slowly warming up to this series, even if it seems as though it will be forever until it gets to the new content. The story where Suzume visited Yumemi while Yumemi was sick, just so that she could eat lunch with her, is kind of sweet and shows the strength of their friendship, which I liked. The kids all gathering to cheer on Suzume and Kazuya is kind of cool, too. Now that Yumemi is finally in the other world, I hope the story will move faster.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki ep16: UFOs ftw. I like it when the characters in Shugo Chara! show interest in the most random things. Case in point: Tadase has been a fan of UFOs all his life, apparently. Aside from that, I like the development of Lulu's character since the Christmas episode when she partied with Amu's family. She hasn't been totally on board with Easter's plot from the beginning, and now she is showing signs of guilt for using children's dreams for her own means. I wonder what will happen when she finally becomes good and joins with Amu and the rest against Easter. Hopefully she won't be put on a bus like Kairi. BTW, the preview for ep17 makes it look epic -- Yamabuki always makes me laugh, and if she's going to be imitating Amu, then all the better.
-- Soul Eater eps 6-8: Finally decided to give this series a shot, and I have liked it a lot so far. Like some other people here, my favorite character is Death the Kid -- his obsession with symmetry is very funny, and Mamoru Miyano plays him well. Soul is a close second. I like his chemistry with Maka; they can be a funny comedy team, but it's not difficult to take them seriously when they're being, er, serious. Plus, it's just funny when he breaks his "cool" facade and acts like a total goofball with Black Star. Dr. Stein and Shinigami-sama are great, too. Also, I think Medusa has good potential as a villain. At the very least, since she's voiced by Houko Kuwashima, I can pretend she's Evil Tomoya. Yowza! Lastly, I am a fan of the series' visual style; I agree with 'Gome that it is reminiscent of Gurren Lagann, which is a good thing. It's different enough to be unique, though.
-- Tales of the Abyss ep18: So, our valiant heroes have halted Van's plan and saved the world ... or HAVE THEY?? Haha, it's WAY too early in the series for Van to bite the dust, even if there is someone behind him. The messages Luke and Asch are getting hint at Van's continued existence ("One who would seize glory" aka Van "is trying to capture me"). Plus, he just got owned far too easily. I can't accept this. Aside from that, for some reason I am greatly amused that after saving the world, the first thing Luke does is hole himself up in his room for a month. Good job, hero!
-- To Aru Majutsu no Index ep17: Good episode, action-wise, but I was a bit confused by the resolution to the plot at first, and then disappointed once I thought everything through. A swerve of sorts is pulled with the revelation that Touma's dad didn't knowingly create Angel's Fall, but all the occult stuff he bought and placed around his room apparently, by chance, was the exact arrangement needed to summon Angel's Fall. Then there's also the little shrimp, whose name I am forgetting at the moment, who is actually an angel and not someone from the Russian Church sent to help with Angel's Fall. And then this angel wants to destroy the world to get back into Heaven, I guess. I don't know. This arc ended quite strangely. First episode was fantastic, so the ending is disappointing for sure. There's also a new OP this week -- I like it well enough, but I do miss "PSI-Missing."
-- Toradora! ep18: I feel dumb for barely realizing Rie Tanaka is the teacher. Jeez. Aside from my dumbitude, this is a good episode. It's kind of amazing how much Taiga's situation has changed and how naturally it has happened. The scene where Ryuuji throws Taiga the Christmas tree part is indicative of that -- everyone in the room just comments on Taiga's reflexes and jokes around as if it were a natural occurrence. She's not an outsider anymore; she has friends and support. The most interesting parts of the episode are Ryuuji's conversations with Ami and Minorin. Ami has hinted about wanting to help Minorin, but now it is as if she is trying to break Minorin and Ryuuji apart. I don't believe she's doing this out of malice, though; she knows how Minorin feels, and I honestly think she doesn't see a situation in which Minorin and Ryuuji can be happy together, due to Minorin's guilt. There's a side to Ami that wants Ryuuji to herself (as evidenced by the starting over from scratch comment), but she definitely notices Ryuuji's natural connection to Taiga, so she is subtly prodding him in that direction. Her comment that Ryuuji is taking on a "father" role with Taiga is quite perceptive on her part. It's interesting, because I'm not sure she's sold on a Taiga/Ryuuji relationship panning out, since she doesn't think Ryuuji completely understands himself and how he relates to Taiga.
With Minorin, her conversation with Ryuuji is obviously a metaphor for her struggle to reconcile her feelings for Ryuuji and her desire to do right by Taiga. "I lost control of the ball and it broke something very important to you" -- she believes if her feelings become stronger, then she will destroy the friendship Ryuuji and Taiga have, and she doesn't want to do that. But Ryuuji's attitude toward the broken star shows he believes relationships can be mended even when something between people is broken. (And why wouldn't he believe that? Something similar happened when Ryuuji butted in on Taiga's relationship with her father.) So, yeah, a lot to take in there, haha. I'm so glad this show has gone the Honey and Clover route in making people really think about the relationships.
-- White Album ep5: Damn, this show is getting crazy. So, Yuki's manager wants to protect Yuki from the potential of another scandal like the one that hit Rina, so to do this, she pushes Touya toward breaking up with Yuki and offers herself in Yuki's place. Jeez. Touya definitely isn't going for that, though, since she came off as cold and businesslike rather than as someone who has a genuine interest in Touya. Even Touya could feel that her kiss had no passion behind it, haha. As hot as Yayoi is, all it really did is strengthen Touya's resolve to stick with Yuki. But, now, Misaki needs Touya's help, so there is another wedge driven between Touya and Yuki.
-- Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei eps 10-11: I am now convinced that Chiri belongs on Higurashi instead of this show. Good lord, the woman is crazy. Her idea of "detuning" is about as batcrap insane as most of her ideas, and her intricately detailed wish is just ... yikes. I always feel as if I need to watch these episodes again after Anime Club, because Chiri's thorough insanity always dominates my thoughts when I sit down to write this lol.
