Posting this way early because I'll be gone most of the day tomorrow and won't be back until relatively late in the day. Don't really want to post this around that time, so up it goes right now! That means no K-On! thoughts this week. Sadness. :(
Anime discussed: Axis Powers Hetalia, Basquash!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hayate no Gotoku!, Higashi no Eden, Kanon (2006), Kemono no Souja Erin, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Shugo Chara! Doki, Souten Kouro, Valkyria Chronicles, Vision of Escaflowne
-- Axis Powers Hetalia ep18: Haha, good to see Hetalia back to being hilarious after letting the quality dip a bit for the past couple of weeks. Nice callback to the Allies spying on the Axis Powers' beach camping fun way back near the beginning of the series -- the fights, short as they are (although we get twice the fun, since the animation is basically reused!), are a lot of fun. I love that America uses China like a Pokemon. So awesome. America bragging and then running away after Roman Empire sings two very strange songs is also funny as hell.
-- Basquash! ep8: As a standalone episode this is not bad. I like the interaction between Dan and Iceman, and the three new girls could be good characters. The hints at something larger are welcome, too; I know I am not the only person who noticed that the markings underneath the sand resemble the markings on the moon. Hopefully something develops soon, though, because a situation where the show has to stall for like half the series until it finally gets to the bigger plot is not good.
-- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep8: Good action episode. The fight between Ed and Number 48 is pretty cool. Nice, fluid action there. Totally knew Number 48 would be able to sneak up on Ed even with his armored head cut off, but I didn't know it would be because he is two people, since Al has moved without his head before. And of course when Number 48 is about to spill the beans about the Philosopher's Stone, Lust kills him. I guess I'll forgive her for now since evil!Kikuko Inoue is still wonderful. A longer glimpse of Envy has shown me that he is weird and creepy (fun fact: Envy is voiced by Minami Takayama, who voices my beloved Kati Manneqin), and Kimbley is really creepy. (What Hiroyuki Yoshino can do with 30 seconds of voice time ...) Don't know what Lust, Gluttony, Envy and whoever else are planning, but despite Envy saving Ed, the outcome of that is going to really suck for Ed. Only plot point I am a bit wary of at the moment is Al's questioning of his nature. Not that I have anything against the idea of that storyline, but I think it's a bit silly that these questions are raised in Al by a vicious murderer of all people. Yeah, he already has his doubts due to the question Ed didn't ask, and he's in the heat of a tough battle, but I can't think it would be that easy to shake Al's faith in his brother. Well, I'll see where it goes, I guess lol.
-- Hayate no Gotoku! eps 1-24: I am enjoying this a bit more than I thought I would so far. The story is just OK (it's pretty standard stuff for the most part), but the enormous number of references, good characters and hilarious situations are making this show enjoyable. Not really sure who my favorite character is at the moment. Tama is pretty hilarious whenever he gets some time. The narrator is always awesome. Katsura cracks me up a lot. (Hitomi Nabatame. <3) Himuro had me laughing quite a bit during his couple of appearances, as well. There's just something about his Seishirou Sakurazuka act that just kills me, haha. I knew going in that there would be a ton of anime references, but for some reason I am surprised at how many references to American culture there are, although maybe I shouldn't be so shocked. It's just weird to see Michael Jackson and Rocky Balboa and the like name dropped in an anime lol. (Although always with a careful censor. :P) As long as the comedy holds up, I think I'll continue with this series, even though I have read about people abandoning it at about this point.
-- Higashi no Eden ep7: Good lord, the last couple of minutes nearly made my head explode from sheer WTFery. Even the fact that Shiratori making that rapist float toward her, growing wings, making the windows explode and then flying out the window is all an illusion is just mind boggling. The helicopter outside likely has something to do with the illusion, but I suspect any real explanation would just make people's heads hurt, so they are probably better off leaving it alone. It does beg the question of what exactly happened to Ohsugi and where he is right now. Shiratori also implies that Akira is responsible for Carless Monday. I wonder if that is something she thinks is true based on a gut feeling, or if she has evidence to back that up, because there would probably be something in Akira's spending records that would implicate him as the perpetrator of Carless Monday if in fact he did do it. Shiratori does know to check the records of other Selecao agents, though, so there may be something there. And, once again, another Selecao agent believes Akira is the Supporter; however, I think that is simply because it is so rare for Selecao agents to contact each other. Why would they need to see each other, except if the Supporter is coming to kill them?
Akira thinks something happened to Shiratori to make her the way she is, but I am of the opinion that she is just a bad person. To quote Chris Rock, "Whatever happened to crazy?" I dunno, the childhood trauma/growing up without love explanation seems too simple and cliché for this series. Shiratori has her own type of "justice" (as insane as it is), and she is ruled by that rather than something in her past. Might be worth noting that the M.O. of the Johnny Hunter is sort of misunderstood here -- Kasuga says she hunts virgins, but if the rapist is any example, Shiratori hunts men who use sex as a weapon, a tool or for destructive gratification.
-- Kanon (2006) eps 17-18: Damn, this storyline took a dark turn in a hurry. I never figured Shiori for someone who would attempt suicide, which makes that revelation all the more impactful. Hopefully she does not do something drastic after running away from Yuuichi; if she kills herself, I think that would cause more pain to her friends than the whole dying due to the sickness thing (which obviously hurts them a lot, too), because then they are going to be tortured with thoughts about what they could have done to prevent it. This is where Sayuri needs to step up and help heal the emotional wounds that have developed due to them being emotionally distant from each other for so long. The birthday part went a long way toward starting the process (that scene as a whole is great, especially Yuuichi and Jun goofing around).
-- Kemono no Souja Erin ep15: Finally, Erin's journey will begin. Feels like we have been waiting forever for this to happen, haha. I like the appearance of the beast-lord at the end, as if it is giving its blessing to Erin for choosing to embark on her own path. Jone's backstory is kind of eh to me. It works as a way to spur Erin on toward the path of learning, but I liked Jone the way he was: An awesome honey guy who taught Erin a ton of stuff. He doesn't really need to be more than that. Ah well. My boy, Ial, is coming back into the story quicker than I expected, so I am happy.
-- Marimite 4th DVD Specials eps 1-5: Just some fun extras on the DVDs for the fourth season of Marimite. The best one is the fourth special, which pits Yumi against Touko in a twintail battle. (Even though I prefer Yumi, Touko's drilltails have the clear advantage.) The way the fight ends up had me laughing a lot.
-- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 ep1: Yay for finally getting some new Haruhi Suzumiya! Much as I enjoyed Churuya-san and Haruhi-chan, it's good to see Haruhi and the gang in their natural environment. This episode is possibly my favorite of the Haruhi Suzumiya short stories, "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody." It's incredibly important to the series as a whole -- not just in how Kyon interacts with Haruhi in the past but also in some of the ideas presented (especially regarding time travel, a lot of which becomes central to the series in upcoming stories) and the way Kyon sees Mikuru and Yuki. But you'll probably get enough of that from me once the anime gets to all of that fun stuff, haha. It's kind of weird watching this while knowing what happens, but it does not really detract from the experience. I just have a big smile on my face from seeing this finally animated lol. I really miss Haruhi's annoyed facial expressions, Kyon's "WTF" facial expressions in tandem with Tomokazu Sugita's perfect sarcastic narration, adult!Mikuru being really hot, middle school!Haruhi being a total jerk, and Yuki saving the day with some incomprehensible mumbo jumbo that we only let her get away with because she's Yuki. (Return of glasses!Yuki ftw btw.) Best part of the episode is either Kyon being like, "... Yeah, that's Haruhi. *mental facepalm*" when he meets middle school!Haruhi or Kyon's eyes pretty much screaming, "AH FUCK CAN I TAKE THAT BACK" when he gives Haruhi the idea to go to North High.
-- Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ ep6: Scythe Master is slowly pulling the strings to garner himself more power and trust at Inferno, which I am sure will bite that organization in the ass at some point, of which only Claudia and her bodyguard seem to be aware. This episode closes the door on the Mafia bit from the last episode, with Ein, Zwei and others at Inferno just killing the hell out of Tony Stone and his crew to get him out of the way. Really crazy, intense scenes those are. A tiny rift is starting between Ein and Zwei, too -- Ein is more the "shut the hell up and do your job" type, whereas little concerns are bugging Zwei throughout the missions (which is the influence of their respective mentors, Scythe Master and Claudia). It will be interesting to see if that rift grows wider.
-- Shugo Chara! Doki eps 32-33: Lulu is pretty awesome in ep32, throwing on some badass dancer getup and temporarily freeing Ikuto from Easter. Too bad he is in no condition to run away from them for long. The ? Character Transformation in this episode is funny. Yaya and Rima being forced to do a Russian dance is the best part. Haha. Ep33 is pretty cool too. More Nikaidou is always a good thing. (Is it just me or does Nikaidou channel Xellos when he tells the class that their dream essays will be a secret between them and him? lol) Lulu is on the outs with Easter, too, so she is getting that much closer to teaming up with Amu and the crew. Might take a bit longer, though, because she still has her own plans regarding the Embryo. Another good ? Character Transformation, although forcing Amu and Rima into a line isn't quite as funny as Yaya and Rima dancing. (I did laugh hard at that kid doing 200 push-ups, however. Is that mean? Haha.)
-- Souten Kouro ep5: Appears as though we'll be getting into the Romance of the Three Kingdoms stuff with the next episode -- at least, Yellow Turban Rebellion is brought up at the end of this episode. Not a lot of Cao Cao in this episode, though. Most of it is about Liu Bei, who also has a burning desire to conquer the world and make people happy. He is so brash and forward thinking that he impresses Guan Yu, a fierce leader, and his brother, and they both join him in his quest. Should be fun to see where everything is going.
-- Valkyria Chronicles ep8: Totally called Selvaria as a descendant of the Valkyur. Go me. Makes me wonder if there are more types like her, or if she is the end of the line. Hmm. She sure impressed the hell out of Faldio on the battlefield, haha. His eyes are wide as hell when Selvaria splits that bullet. And, um, holy crap that tank the Empire has is gi-fuckin'-normous. Good lord. Conveniently enough, Maximillian destroys the ruins before Faldio can find out what Maximillian means by the inscription showing the rightful way to rule the world once again. Faldio saw something in the last episode, but I guess he did not see enough. Argh. Not much more to this episode other than a cute Welkin x Alicia moment at the end. Alicia even has Welkin blushing a bit before he throws her off with a comment about the feeding habits of the babysitter lizards. Oh, Welkin.
-- Vision of Escaflowne eps 1-2: So, hey, finally watching this due to the Anime Club. These first couple of episodes are a solid start. There is some nice action with Van battling the dragon in the first episode and the baddies showing up at Van's home turf and whoopin' some ass, prompting Van to whoop some ass in return in Escaflowne. Poor Balgus btw. I know mentors typically do not last long, but jeez. Guy gets one episode, looks badass and then is impaled. WTF. Not sure if my copy of the series (I am watching the remastered version) has extra scenes, or just little things added on to each scene, but I was way behind everyone else, haha. (If you wondered why I didn't speak much, there's the reason.) On the plus side, the video quality is excellent -- everything looks super sharp. That's a good trade-off. Don't have much more to say because these two episodes are just here to introduce the characters and the world. Things will get more intense and interesting soon enough, I expect.
