I want to remind everyone who participates in Anime Club (and those who want to participate in the future, of course) to nominate a series for us to watch after we're finished with Ichigo Mashimaro. Right now we have Escaflowne, Genshiken, Kannagi and (assuming Ace isn't joking lol) Slayers nominated, but the more choices, the better, so get nominating, everyone!
Anime discussed: 07-Ghost, Axis Powers Hetalia, Basquash!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Higashi no Eden, Ichigo Mashimaro, Kanon (2006), K-On!, Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team, Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta, Natsu no Arashi, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Sengoku Basara, Shugo Chara! Doki, Souten Kouro
-- 07-Ghost ep4: Ha, didn't take long to out that old man as being evil; or, rather, it didn't take long to out the demon that possessed him. The fight between the ghosts and the Kor is pretty cool (Frau's giant scythe that he apparently nicked from someone is especially badass), so I'll look forward to future fights with them, one of which comes up in the next episode, according to the preview! Yay! Things don't look too hot for Mikage, judging from the end of the episode, but I don't think he's dead. Instead, I think Ayanami has some spell that will enable him to control Mikage's will, which will kind of suck because then he'll be forced to fight it out with with Teito. At least Mikage would never knowingly betray Teito, even upon deadly threats to his family. He's a keeper.
-- Axis Powers Hetalia ep14: lol @ Italy grabbing Germany's ass. Ooh la la. The Germany Simulator cracked me up, especially the Engrish narration that accompanies the normal Japanese narration. I couldn't even understand it half the time, haha. Austria being angry and the loud Italian are both quite funny. Germany needs better disguise skillz, though. When you can't even fool France, you know you're doing it wrong.
-- Basquash! eps 3-4: Hm, I keep waiting for this series to really grab me, but it's not happening right now. Not really sure what it is -- the series looks good, has voice actors I enjoy and the characters are likable enough. I think the premise is still bugging me. The concept of bipedal, basketball-playing mecha is pretty silly, and their use hasn't expanded beyond being a simple gimmick. Blah. At least my boy, Yuichi Nakamura, gets a bigger part in this episode. I'll keep hanging around because of him, the visuals and the slight hope that the story will go somewhere decent.
And, hey, I got ep4 before the end of the week. Don't know what it is, but this episode clicked with me more than other episodes, even though it is of similar quality. Maybe it's because everything is ridiculous to the point of silliness instead of annoyance. The Miyuki fanservice just gets an, "Eh ..." out of me because it's so blatant, but the fanservice with Haruka makes me laugh because it's so over-the-top and obviously goofy (you can't see boobs as big as she has and not laugh at 'em; they're ginormous). The fact that she has a foot fetish to go along with that makes it even funnier lol. As always, the show looks good and has good action -- looking forward to the battle among Dan, Iceman and Sela heating up more. Still wary of this series a bit, but my confidence is boosted slightly with this episode.
-- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep4: Holy fucking shit. I heard beforehand that this would be a sad episode, but good lord. What makes the twist even more horrifying is that the show gives you just enough information to get an inkling of what's to come (my thought process got as far as Tucker being responsible for his wife's disappearance and the dog being involved somehow, but I was unable to put the pieces together before the reveal), and then when you almost have it, boom! Chimera!Nina. Right when I saw Alexander with Nina's hair, everything made sense to me in a flash, and I believe my reaction was, "... No. Oh no. No no no no no. Oh god, no." Agh. It felt as if I was punched in the gut. I was ready for something horrible because of the effort put into making Nina a cute little girl and Alexander an awesome dog, but damn. Aside from being emotional, this story does an excellent job of highlighting the corruption in the State Alchemist system, whether it's State Alchemist abusing their positions of power for greed (such as the example offered in the middle of the episode) or the benefits offered, leading people like Tucker to commit unimaginable atrocities to keep their jobs. I do enjoy that this series wastes no time in taking the "good" side and undermining it just enough to consistently raise questions.
And, um, Scar. Wouldn't want to cross paths with that dude, that's for sure.
-- Higashi no Eden ep4: More of an information episode than something that really drives the plot forward, but more info is definitely appreciated. From what we are told, there is only one Supporter, and he or she is also a Selecao agent whose purpose is to keep the others in check and make sure they stick to the rules. The endings of last week's episode and this episode put to rest any suspicions that Akira may be the Supporter -- and right now, I am doubting that he might have been the Supporter in the past, too. It doesn't seem as though this game would allow any wiggle room even for Supporters who do not want to be Supporters anymore. At the moment, everything seems to be coming back to the theme of games. Why does this all have to be a game? Why do the agents have to jump through hoops to get things done? Why is this whole situation set up to be practically impossible for the agents to achieve any real results? (Other than it being symbolic of reality, haha.) Are there more feints that we just don't know about yet? Right now, all we have to go on is that yet another figure outside the rules, the appropriately named Mr. Outside, recruits the Selecao agents, explains the rules and sets them on their merry way. But does he explain everything? Kondo seemed convinced that this game exists just to make everyone look like damn fools -- are the Selecao agents all handicapped from the start?
An interesting idea I have read in a few places is that perhaps the Supporters do not exist at all. Maybe they are just a bit of informational warfare on the part of Mr. Outside to screw with the heads of the Selecao agents and keep them in line. We don't know for certain that the Supporter killed Hiura. What if it is another Selecao who is afraid that Hiura might be the Supporter? Hiura is certainly suspicious at first that Akira might be the Supporter. Bah. I am not used to theorizing this much with shows, haha.
-- Ichigo Mashimaro eps 9-10: I agree with Dagger. Let's just make Ichigo Mashimaro the Miu Show and be done with it. Miu screwing with Chika over her weight is horrible but hilarious. (The cake eating is so mean, haha.) Miu being a total a-hole with the bean balls to Nobue and then her absurd refereeing when the girls play soccer cracked me up too. She's cold-blooded. Miu's epic jerkery continues in the next episode, with her hypnotism and then her ditching of Chika on the way to the lake. Miu would be such a bad little sister, but when it's happening to someone else, it's hilarious.
-- Kanon (2006) eps 9-10: Sad episodes are sad. As Des writes, watching Makoto gradually lose her humanity and basically turn into a fox in a human's body (which she is already, I guess, but whatever lol) is tough to watch. Not quite as sad as Clannad's first storyline (Fuuko!! ;_;), but it compares well. Looking forward to seeing which character gets the spotlight next.
-- K-On! ep5: Man, I am surprised at how much funnier this show gets with each episode. Sawako-sensei is absolutely hilarious in this episode, from her surprise show of energy when she is desperate to grab the photo album from her days in the Light Music Club to her offscreen training that wrecks Yui's voice (I cracked up so hard when Yui sings and sounds horrible). There are so many other great moments in this episode, too: Ritsu following Sawako around and commenting on her appeal to students and teachers; Sawako going crazy with a guitar in her hands once again and ordering around the girls ("We're sorry!!"); Sawako going into flasback mode; Sawako being hilariously self-conscious about her image; everyone's reaction to the absurdly cute and fluffy lyrics Mio writes; Yui using her cute appeal to get Ritsu to name her the singer; and so on. I am really impressed with K-On's sense of comic timing and pacing. Every joke works well because KyoAni has the character reactions down perfect. (They should by now, since they've honed that skill with practically every series they have created, haha.) Only thing that is weird to me is how quickly K-On! is flying through the school year. The school festival episode is seriously next week?! I thought that would be at the end of the season! Wow.
-- Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team eps 1-12: Solid OVA. I kind of like that it's basically a war movie with Gundams. 08th MS Team is a somewhat refreshing watch because the Gundams are close to what they'd be like if it were possible for them to be made today -- they're powerful, but they're also relatively fragile. In a lot of cases, a well-placed laser shot or something similar is enough to either fell mobile suits or severely damage them. There is also just one true ace pilot in the series, and he pretty much beats the piss out of the 08th MS Team. The pilots are all normal soldiers who have to work together to survive the battles (even the main character isn't really that much better than his comrades). 08th MS Team offers good action considering the limited abilities of its mobile suits. Most of the characters are likable, as well. It won't offer anything epic and crazy like most Gundam series, but I like it as a story that shows what Gundam wars are like from the perspective of the grunts rather than the insanely skilled ace pilots.
-- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam eps 1-15: I'm feeling so many conflicting emotions about this series, haha. It took me a few episodes to really get into the story, but it has sunk its claws into me now that the fights are getting more intense. (Also, I heard this series is rougher with its characters compared to other Gundam series, but damn, it doesn't waste any time killing people who are important to certain characters.) Watching "Quattro" in action (he is a CHAR) makes me want to see the original Gundam even more now. He's pretty badass. I can't help but think there is a Metal Gear Solid 2 situation going on here, though, because I despise the main character, Kamille; he's such a fucking whiny ass dork, and he serves mainly to make Quattro/Char look more awesome. There is also a lot of random goofiness in Zeta Gundam. Some of you may have seen this video before. It highlights a running theme in Zeta Gundam: Namely, random characters getting punched for no reason whatsoever. Seriously, it's like a western -- someone punches one guy, it sets off a chain reaction starts and then the fists are flying. It's completely ridiculous, but it cracks me up every time. There is a lot of pent-up rage in Zeta Gundam, apparently. The story and Char are enough to balance the parts I don't like/the goofiness, but as a result, I can't watch more than a few episodes per day, haha. (I think I've watched exactly five a night since I began the series.)
-- Natsu no Arashi! ep3: Bleh, I am not really sure I want to continue with this series. Even my infatuation with SHAFT has its limits. There's nothing particularly WRONG with this episode, but maybe half of it is entertaining at all. The best part is the banter between Hajime and Sayaka. They are a funny pair. I like Hajime and Arashi at the claw machine, too, even if it gets a bit goofy at times. The extended scene with Murata is horribly unfunny, however, and the part where Hajime and Arashi travel back to the World War II era is basic time travel stuff. Maybe it will be a bit more interesting once it's explained later; for now, though, it is sort of dull. Eh. I'll give the show one more episode before I decide whether to drop it.
-- Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ ep3: Feels like it has been forever since I watched this. Zwei's training is now over -- he's learned everything he can from Ein, and in this episode, he puts these skills to the test in a practical assignment, which of course involves Inferno killing two birds with one stone by removing a weapons contact gone awry. Not too much to say about this episode aside from that Ein is a good teacher, and the fight between Zwei and the Navy SEAL is good and intense, as expected from this series. I'm looking forward to Phantom now getting into the meat of the story since Zwei is officially a member of Inferno.
-- Sengoku Basara ep4: Most of this episode is spent setting up the sure to be glorious battles in the next episode; however, even with that, there are some little things that add up to make this episode entertaining. Norio Wakamoto and Sho Hayami teaming up as ultra-evil bastards just about has me swooning. As someone who can't resist a good, villanous voice, it's wonderful to hear Hayami launch the creepy factor to 11 and then hear Wakamoto be the foulest, most frightening force of nature imaginable. (Plus, Oda has his headquarters in a blood-soaked cave where he sits upon a throne atop a pile of what are surely his enemies' skulls. So evil.) Sarutobi messing with Sanada's head is hilarious. ("Master, you don't really understand women." Haha.) lol @ Sarutobi x Kasuga. I really want to see the new character, Nagamasa, in battle now. His tenuous alliance with Oda is definitely not going to last long. Also, if Masamune and Sanada have one final battle to end the series, then it will be the most epic thing ever. Count on it.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki ep28: I wish this episode showed off a bit more of Kukai's brothers. Kukai's relationship with his oldest brother is highlighted, but his other brothers are probably interesting, too, aside from being fangirl fodder, haha. Ah well. At least Tadase is on his way to being better now. He's all set to kick some ass in the next episode. Yeah! I hope Amu is finally able to cast aside the bad feelings she picked up after Ikuto left, too. An emo Amu is not a good Amu. Sadness. Ikuto's evil Chara Change still looks badass, btw. Hopefully he'll be able to split the difference and come up with a Chara Change that is good AND stylish.
-- Souten Kouro ep2: In this episode, Cao Cao falls in love with Shui-Jing, an Italian (or whatever the equivalent around that time was) servant girl who works in a tea seller's shop. But then Zhongchangshi (one of the most powerful positions for eunuchs in the Imperial Court) Zhang Rang swoops in and takes her for himself before Cao Cao can marry her. Then, of course, shit happens, in the worst way. The first half of the episode, where Cao Cao and Shui-Jing fall in love, is all right, but the emotion isn't really strong enough to justify the slow pace. Things pick up later in the episode when Cao Cao kicks some ass; however, I didn't like this one quite as much as the first episode.
