Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Clannad ~After Story~, Code Geass R2, Cowboy Bebop, Diebuster, Excel Saga, Kemono no Souja Erin, Kurenai, Kurokami, Lovely Complex, Maria Holic, The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan, Minami-ke Okaeri, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 s2, Munto (TV), Nyoro~n Churuya-san, Rideback, Shugo Chara! Doki, Tales of the Abyss, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Toradora!, White Album
-- Asu no Yoichi! ep7: Aw, poor Washizu got left behind and didn't get to see his beloved Ibuki at the beach. Sad. Anyway, this is a moderately entertaining beach episode. Angela brings the fanservice with her enormous jugs. Good lord. That leads to this image, which is just about the scariest fanservice image I have seen in lord knows how long. I like Angela, but jeez. Her spine is going to snap in two. Poor girl. Next episode seems to be heavy on the Washizu (and it introduces a new character!), so I am happy.
-- Axis Powers Hetalia ep5: I keep wondering if Italy's goofery will ever grow old, but so far it has not. It's hard to hate a guy who is so excited about finding crabs. Plus, I agree with his general philosophy that pasta goes well with pretty much everything. (That pasta/sand sculpture is amazing, btw.) I also enjoyed the easy to understand flow chart of international aggression. My favorite: "England -> Russia: Grr."
-- Clannad ~After Story~ ep19:
Dear Clannad,
I am sorry I ever doubted your place as the best show of the fall season. As pennance, please let me cry my eyes out for many more wonderful family moments. Thank you.
P.S. USHIO AND FUUKO ARE THE MOST ADORABLE PAIR EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to hug them both.
-- Code Geass R2 ep13: Pretty strong episode here. After last week, I feared for Shirley's well being, but I didn't think the show would pull the trigger with her (literally) so quickly. Wow. I always kind of liked the poor girl, so the ending to this episode is pretty sad, even if it's Lelouch's "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!" is a tad over the top (although that isn't really surprising, given what I am watching). I disliked Rolo before, and now I downright despise him, even though he will likely justify it as protecting Lelouch since Shirley mentioned Nunally and all. What a prick. The bits with Jeremiah are interesting. I like the twist with him seemingly joining the battle with Lelouch. Right now I am not sure I completely trust him -- he seems sincere in his love for Lelouch's mother, but he definitely has a bad history with Lelouch. We'll see. *fights off intense urge to download the rest of R2*
-- Cowboy Bebop eps 1-18: Damn, no matter how many times I see this series (this is my fifth run through, I believe), I still get giddy like a little kid for each episode. Watching it in Japanese is a bit weird, though, because the English dub is so ingrained in my mind. I don't believe I can evaluate the original fairly, at least in comparison to the dub, but I do like it. I'll take Norio Wakamoto as the lead villain any time. It's also kind of fun hearing some of my favorite seiyuu pop up in the most random places. For instance, my boy Keiji Fujiwara plays a weapons dealer that Spike goes to for information in "Stray Dog Strut." He's not listed in the credits (there are no Japanese VA credits in that episode, for some reason), but I know it's him. I can spot his voice a mile way. And then Jouji f'n Nakata plays the HAL 9000-esque weapons satellite in "Jamming With Edward." Awesome. Apparently, Yui Horie also provides a bit of laughter during "Speak Like a Child." Huh. As for favorite episodes ... the Vicious episodes are a given, obviously, and I also love "Honky Tonk Woman" (Faye's debut), "Toys in the Attic" (a hilarious horror parody with a fantastic 2001-esque ending thrown in for good measure) and "Mushroom Samba" is brilliant (the hallucinations always have me rolling).
-- Diebuster eps 1-6: Friggin' awesome. Anyone who loves Gurren Lagann and has not seen Gunbuster and Diebuster needs to get on that now (if you like FLCL, that is also good, since Diebuster's visual style is similar to that show). Diebuster is like the prototype for Gurren Lagann -- it's absolutely gorgeous and has amazing battle sequences, there is more guts and heart in one episode than most anime can manage during their entire run and the heroes do everything short of destroying the universe to defeat the bad guys (come on, Nono and Lal'C achieve victory by splitting a black hole to destroy the Space Monster). Speaking of Nono and Lal'C, I like them a lot, especially Nono. She is the type of character who could be really annoying in the wrong series, but she fits in perfectly here, so she is great. The more effort and guts, the better, I say. The ending put a huge grin on my face. There are Gunbuster references all over the place, but learning that Diebuster is set in the same timeline as Gunbuster and shares the ending of the original OVA is just awesome. I believe my exact words were, "OH MAN, THAT IS SO COOL!!!!!" And it is. :D
-- Excel Saga eps 14-26: Man, the second half of the show is actually much better than I remember it being. The two times I watched Excel Saga before, the second half seemed to drag on a bit, but I enjoyed it much more this time. Huh. Maybe I just really like the Municipal Force Daitenzin shenanigans. And hijinks in America. And post-apocalyptic hilarity. And Satsuki Yukino as Ropponmatsu. Speaking of that, in the end, I still prefer the dub, although once I got past my intense familiarity with the English voices, I enjoyed the original version more than I did before. Showtaro Moribuko as Iwata is pretty funny, as is Ryoutarou Okiayu as Watanabe (once I got over associating him with Akio Furukawa every scene, anyway, haha).
-- Kurenai eps 3-4: The plot thickens! Even though the series is 12 episodes only, I'm a bit surprised that so many questions are addressed this early in the series. Shinkurou's power has to do with a bone he can protrude from his elbow to combat people -- it's pretty damn strong, too, since he flung people all over the place with it, but he also has to deal with nasty wounds (the thing cuts right through his skin). Also, he is close to Benika because she saved him when he and many other children were kidnapped after an airport bombing that killed his parents (interestingly, it seems Ginko was there, too, so they share a close history). Soon after that he began training with Yuuno's family, and Benika recognized his talent and took him on as a dispute settler. There is good character development in these episodes along with the bits of story, too. I like that the history also sheds a bit of light on how Ginko and Yuuno relate to Shinkurou. Plus, Shinkurou and Murasaki are getting closer to the understanding that Benika wants from them. Murasaki learns quickly from her mistakes, and she wants to be genuinely helpful to Shinkurou, since he is protecting her, which is nice.
-- Kurokami eps 6-7: Not a bad couple of episodes. Keita gets the odds stacked against him a bit more by learning that 1) He isn't a Root, so a bunch of people are gonna try to kill him to get his delicious Tera, and 2) He is a substitute contractor, and not a true contractor, so every time he synchros with Kuro, it sucks a bit of life force from him. He's gonna look oooooooooooooooooooold eventually, unless he finds some way around it. (I wonder if it exists?!?!?!?!?!) Also, Kuro's brother is definitely a dick. No bones about it. As usual, the fight scenes delivered. Good stuff.
-- Lovely Complex eps 15-16: Haha, Maity is quite creepy at first (teachers hitting on students is always a bit squicky), but it's good to know that he is just using Ootani's jealousy -- which is probably the only thing that would penetrate the poor dope's thick skull -- to spur him into action regarding Risa. Before that, though, all the stuff with Risa starting a fan club dedicated to Maity is just damn weird lol. I guess Risa just used it as an escape from her feelings for Ootani, however. There are a couple of instances where the way she glances at Ootani reveal her continued feelings for him. Try as she might, Risa just can't lock Ootani away in her heart. (And she HAS tried, A LOT.) At least Ootani is gradually moving closer to Risa. The bike ride is a sweet ending to ep16.
-- Maria Holic ep7: LOL @ the 20th Century Boys reference during the omake at the end of this episode. Awesome. Anyway, this is a fun episode, although it is not as funny as the last one. I did enjoy Kanako's ZETSUBOUSHITA fake out. The different sides of Mariya in this episode are fun, too. This show should let him balance between being a popular student and being a jerk to Kanako more often. It is hilarious how offended Mariya is at the suggestion that he and Kanako are good friends.
-- Marimite 4th ep6: A bit more interesting than the last episode. Yumi's mom is awesome. The parts where she teases Yumi are hilarious. I also enjoyed the conversation between Rei and Sachiko in the beginning. Rei needs to find a balance between being with Yoshino and also letting Yoshino have her independence. Right now she can't seem to find a middle ground, but I think the fact that she was moved by Sachiko's decision to go to Lillian University means she might be inspired to find that middle ground. Touko and Yumi are becoming closer now, as well -- let the courtship begin!! (The part where Kanako grabbed Touko's hand amused me a bit. She's trying to get Touko to the party, so in a way, it's as if she's giving Touko her blessing to be Yumi's soeur.) I'm not sure what I want Yumi to do in regards to Touko's secret. The show is hinting that if Yumi doesn't get the info, then Touko will be suffering alone. Hm.
-- The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan eps 1-4: A bit less weird than Churuya-san, but I like it more so far. My favorite episode is the one with the SOS Brigade Quiz Show. Haruhi as a quiz show host is very funny -- I rolled when she introduced Yuki by name and then referred to Kyon as "the others." Gonzalez is not a bad name for a dog, btw.
-- Minami-ke Okaeri ep7: Man, this is a great episode. It might be my favorite so far this season, actually. I wonder why? Oh yeah -- lots and lots of Mako-chan! Hooray! The three-legged race in the beginning is a cute story of bonding between Mako-chan and Chiaki, and it builds into a great punchline (literally) at the end when Makoto gets a little too chummy with Chiaki. The second skit is even better, with Kana realizing the power she wields over Mako-chan and being quite dastardly with it. The number of times Kana laughs in the background with the knowledge that Mako-chan is a man is awesome. (Random note: Mako-chan should not be allowed to be as adorable as he is. This is a crime.) The next bit continues Mako-chan's evolution and brings up the problem of Makoto becoming more girly (in personality), and also the problem of what will happen when people really notice he isn't as girly as he should be (physically, which brings up a hilarious moment when Mako-chan imagines himself with Haruka's figure). I love that he has become Kana's ranting partner, haha. He also becomes good friends with Chiaki, which leads to an uncomfortable bit of closeness when juice is spilled on Mako-chan, and that leads to a horrible double entendre from Chiaki that made me roar with laughter. My mind is way too filthy. So, yes, hilarious episode all around.
-- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 s2 ep20: Damn that bastard Ribbons!! As if it weren't obvious before, part of Innovator 101 is elimination of emotions. Ribbons and his like-minded Innovators clearly view them as something to be destroyed, because they tie the Innovators to their human origins. (Revive's comment that the plan went awry because of Anew's female emotions is particularly telling.) The evidence in this episode further establishes that the Innovators are not born without emotions, and that Tieria is not an anomaly -- Ribbons needed to take over Anew and feed her his Innovator spiel so that she would ignore her feelings for Lockon and kill him. He cast aside her will and numbed her emotions because he thinks it's right. Without emotions, the Innovators are little more than Ribbons' puppets. (This might be part of why Regenne is rebelling against Ribbons. He probably does not want to be controlled.) But, yeah, Anew is dead, and although Setsuna pulled the trigger, Ribbons is more at fault here. Had he not interfered, I believe Anew would have gone with Lockon. Oh well. At least Anew was not completely evil; she just became kind of a prick for a few minutes. This episode is also not a great omen for the eventual Saji/Louise showdown, especially since Louise is more Innovator-esque now. Random note: I like how Anew's attitude toward Soma hinted that the Super Soldiers are sort of like failed Innovator experiments -- perhaps they were the rejects before the Innovators figured out how to truly morph mankind into their species.
-- Munto (TV) ep5: Decent episode, but not nearly as exciting as last week's. Get back to the battle scenes, Munto!! Probably the wildest part of the episode is learning Kikuko Inoue's character cut out her eyes for Munto to use, or something. Any kind of eye violence always makes me squirm. Not much else I want to mention, except that it appears Yumemi is FINALLY close to getting to Munto's world. Just do it already. My gosh.
-- Nyoron Churuya-san eps 1-3: What a strange series, even for something connected to Haruhi Suzumiya. KyoAni does weird things when they are not releasing oblique hints about a second season of Haruhi. Anyway, uh, I actually don't have much to say about this, except it is kind of cute in a weird way. My favorite episode is the second one, where Haruhi puts Churuya in charge of a fake fire during a fire drill, and then when the SOS Brigade escapes, Haruhi states that Churuya has died, since she is still in the building. That's cold blooded.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki ep19: Pretty fun episode. The power of Su's chocolate defeats all. Amu's parents need to show up more often. Amu's mom teasing Amu about giving chocolates to a boy she likes is funny, and so is Amu's dad gobbling all the chocolates Amu made for the Guardians. NOM NOM NOM. I am excited about next week's episode, because KAIRI IS RETURNING. Hopefully it will be more than a one-shot appearance. I like the little guy, what can I say. Most balls of any of the male Guardians, because he was actually up front about his feelings for Amu.
-- Tales of the Abyss ep20: Not a bad episode. Arietta's death is sad, but I don't think it's quite as sad as Ion's from the episode prior, if only because Arietta isn't developed as much (in the anime, at least). The duel between her and Anise is pretty cool, though. Mohs' transformation is weird as hell. I guess he isn't content with being the Faux Pope. Good to see Dist is still a major part of the story. The more of him, the better.
-- To Aru Majutsu no Index ep20: An OK episode, I suppose, but again I would rather the show have used this time to focus on the main story. A lot of this episode comes off as doing things to fill time -- lots of rather dull speeches by characters who probably will not mean much to the plot after this. Eh, oh well. Looking forward to the final arc that will probably leave things hanging while the show gets another season! :D
-- Toradora! ep21: Damn good episode here. Biggest thing, obviously, is Taiga's pseudo-confession to Ryuuji at the end. Again, she's trying to do the Minorin thing by pushing down her feelings and prodding Ryuuji toward what she believes he wants, and it's hurting her. Now Ryuuji has a choice -- he can keep going for Minorin, or he can turn his feelings toward Taiga (and obviously there is something there that has been present from the beginning of the series). Taiga, too, has the choice of continuing on her present path or fully realizing her feelings for Ryuuji. I think the show is going full on into the Ryuuji/Taiga pairing now. Is it predictable? Of course it is. Some people may care about that, but I think focusing on its predictability is missing the point. Romantic-comedies, like most stories, are not about the end point. They are about the journey. I guess I just can't understand why people would be so bummed out about a predictable ending when the journey to get there has been so fantastic. Toradora! has done very few things wrong from the start. Frankly, it has earned this ending more than just about any romantic-comedy anime I have ever seen.
Then there's the fight between Ami and Minorin. That is pretty dramatic and well done. Things have been boiling over with those two for a while, and I think the tension built perfectly until it was released with those two hard, visceral slaps. I feel kind of sorry for Ami. She realizes she is acting like a fool (and she has next to no chance with Ryuuji now), but she is so used to burying her feelings and putting on a face that it's practically a reflex with her. She lashes out at Minorin and barely realizes she is doing it. Minorin hits the nail on the end when she says Ami is probably jealous of Ryuuji's feelings for her (I wonder if Ami even considered that Minorin could catch on to that). It's clear that Minorin still has feelings for Ryuuji; it remains to be seen whether her feelings for Taiga are stronger.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent comedy in this episode. Haruta and Noto have really added a lot to the show since they have joined the main group. I love them teaming up with Kitamura to wake up Ryuuji. Them going crazy in the girls' room while Ryuuji goes off on one of his insane cleaning moods is also hilarious. Haruta's cluelessness about what Ami and Minorin were arguing about is the icing on top of a great scene. "Which country was Ami-chan talking about?" xD He is so great.
-- White Album ep8: I keep going back and forth about this series so much that I am going to get brain whiplash. When I first finished this episode, I was so confused by Touya's actions that I did a somewhat scathing write-up. After thinking about it a bit more, well, I am not going to say I condone his actions by any means, but I do understand them a bit more. Touya is plagued by indecision. He cannot make a choice that will cause him to settle and actually commit to something (his "goddess of the day" thing is a symptom of that). I think he really does care for Yuki, but there's a part of him that is really afraid to declare her "the one." Without that drive to commit, he won't work for her, which is part of why they are drifting apart. (Yuki has concealed her feelings from Touya a bit, so she is partly to blame, too, but most of it is Touya's problem.) Touya is so unfocused that he is actually more concerned about not being to help Misaki than he is about betraying Yuki when he finally gives in to Yayoi's advances. From what I have read, Touya has received varying amounts of hatred and pity -- I am somewhere in the middle. I think he's an idiot for screwing up his relationship with Yuki so badly, but I feel a bit sorry for him because he didn't purposefully try to sabotage a good thing. His personality is just unable to handle it. If he cannot commit to Yuki, though, then he needs to do the right thing and just break up with her before he hurts her in a far worse way.
