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Seeing as how I am very very late to the party, I’m not going to talk about what made Nadesico an amazing show. I’m sure you can find a zillion reasons by asking anyone who’s been around anime for a long time, or better yet asking the man who I think explained it best and inspired me to watch it (among other things) Omoikane (who’s name’s origin I now understand, haha) Instead of why the show was great (see: amazing characters, burning passion, etc.) I want to talk about my reception of it.
My reception is currently a reflection of my recent rewatching of Welcome to the NHK. I’ve gotten used to it, but it is still an amazing sight. Had I seen this show before Eureka Seven or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, I’d have found myself in tears at the end, raving about the beauty of manly passion and following your dreams. No, I’m not saying my reaction has weakened, in fact, it’s just grown stronger. At first, when I saw this kind of show, I was completely blown away by the spirit and inspiration which oozed from it. Shows like this are what keep me going - what showed me how to live and push me onward toward the future. Shows like this are the things everyone should know about and come to understand. Because I’ve gotten used to them, Nadesico didn’t leave me in an emotional stupor, but the emotion is just as strong. Like with NHK, which had bewildered me the first time I watched it, I now watch it only thinking of how I know it’s truths well. Of course, those two shows have entirely different messages, but that’s not the point XD.
My only question now is how is this supposed to infiltrate my top 5? Are all of my five going to be mech shows about a man’s romance? XDDD
Probably the most surprisingly great episode of the Fall season so far has been Bamboo Blade. The story is one of a kendo club that is on the verge of extinction. The teacher in charge doesn’t care much, and the only student participating is a rather ditzy but kendo-obsessed girl determined to keep practicing. Well, one night the teacher and an associate teacher from another school make a bet - that if he can train a team of 5 girls to beat the other guy’s team of kendo girl them he will treat him to a full year of free meals at his dad’s sushi place. Being poor, the teacher accepts and begins his quest to find some young kendo talent.
I actually found myself laughing out loud several times throughout the episode. The best moments being
- When the teacher swings the sword up and crashes the lightbulb
- The girl starts to walk out the door and gets her backpack stuck
- The 3 various balls and random professor fly out of nowhere and she bats them away.
This show has great promise to be awesomely hilarious and great plus the main character is adorable beyond comprehension. Plus, the animation is excellent. Lets just hope it doesn’t always take till the next episode airs to get subs..
Do you like Mushishi? Your sold. Mokke is a show about a pair of sisters who live out in the country with their grandparents. The reason being that the older sister can see and interact with weird supernatural things, and her younger sister to whom she is very close is easily possessed by those things - meanwhile their grandfather has extensive knowledge of these beings.
I had some pretty high hopes for Mokke, and while it didn’t fully live up to my expectations, it also changed them to something that I think I will enjoy very much. Mokke is very quiet and rural - in that respect it reminds me of Figure 17 (it helps that the little girl looks like Hikaru) but the most common comparison is definitely going to be Mushishi.
Mokke is different enough from Mushishi though to make it worth watching - Mushishi had very interesting creatures which are dealt with in interesting medicinal ways. Mokke has interesting creatures that are dealt with in more spiritual or tactical ways, so in that way it will be a new experience.
The music in episode one was excellent and while it is very calm for the most part, the confrontation scene still managed to be intense. I retain high hopes for the future of this series.
Do you enjoy/know the first thing about the Shinto religion? Then you’ll probably have a lot of fun with this show since it seems to use terminology of the subject liberally along with it’s own set of story guidelines. Rental Magika (or Rent-a-Magician) can pretty much be summed up by it’s title. It’s about a group of magicians who do jobs when they are needed. The format looks to be monster-of-the-week style in a way reminiscent of Trinity Blood or Witch Hunter Robin.
Episode one was not very impressive - the animation was pretty weak, especially for a first episode and it didn’t seem all too original story-wise. However, the show has a very interesting visual style that will either make or brake it as a whole.
The first episode was about 50-60% battle which was good, because I have a short attention span, but the first battle wasn’t exciting at all - your standard anime fight. However, the second fight had some great visual effects and enough trippiness to get me interested. However, if the whole go-into-trippy-universe-with-dizzy-effects is episodic it will quickly loose it’s luster. So overall, I think by the second episode it will be easy to determine if this is a uniquely presented action show, or a lame cheap boring ignorable poorly animated failure that’ll end up on [AS] next year.
You can’t really beat a movie that is totally pointless, ignores reality, has a boob shot in the first 5 minutes and unleashes ruthless, hilarious destruction with some of the coolest fight scenes ever. Oh, and yuri undertones.
Well, I happened to catch Project A-Ko on te Funimation network. Normally, I would have ignored it after one look at the character designs (yes, I’m that silly) but since I’d recently seen it on a yuri show list, I decided to watch it. And I’m glad I did, because it was great. If I were to compare it to something, it would probably be Ranma 1/2 since both involve oddball destructive comedy mixed with kewl action scenes. I don’t think Ranma ever racked up quite the kill count A-Ko does, though, lol. Tell me, what’s a more fun way to get to school than pulverizing several houses on your way? Not much.
Some things that deserve noting - boobs are awesome, C-Ko was adorable throughout - mechs explode REALLY easily - the all-female alien race was simultaneously hilarious and very disturbing - GIANT BLACK TRANSVESTITE!!! - your average Japanese high school is indestructible.
The battle between A-Ko and B-Ko inside the school was fucking great, even though it defied rationality constantly (spinning A-Ko by her legs, yet they were aout 2 feet away from the wall, lol.) The only parts that ere lame were when the fight was about to start and it suddenly cuts into outer space for some randm fight, and again when the fight is nearing conclusion and the aliens come to earth - the whole dogfight between the earth forces and aliens was cool and all, but horribly paced with the rest of it. I just ended up loosing attention during those parts, but the rest was good enough.
Anyway, the movie was obviously horribly cheesy and therefor mondo-awesome. A must-see for action fans.
Sometimes it’s nice to get a little lighthearted romance in-between heavier shows that you’re paying attention to. After watching so many ZOMG great shows in a row, it’s fun to just chill for a day and watch something completely fluff. Kashimashi fills in that gap.
BTW, this show is better than a lot of people gave it credit for (it doesn’t help that the opinions I heard were all either absolute hate or pne guy who loved it to death.) I mean, mind you, there is pretty much nothing that makes the show stand out, but nothing that really deminishes it, either.
One of the chief complaints I heard about this series was that ‘they reuse the same jokes in every episode’. Let me tell you this - if you thought the series sucked because of that, you are a dick. A bitch ass dick, for real. The repeitive jokes take up about 30 seconds of combined time in each episode, some don’t appear in certain episodes (last episode is dumb-joke-free and second-to-last was mostly) and the show is only 12 damn episodes long. Plus, sometimes the jokes are funny in certain alterations.
Anyway, getting down to the show itself, first let me say that this show IS an erection. That’s why I claimed it ‘raped’ me. After all, I couldn’t manage to watch for more than 5 minutes without getting an erection all seres long. Here we have 3 girls with great personalities, awesome character designs, nice boobs and THEY ALL WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH EACH OTHER…. COME ON!!!!! The hentai material is endless! (BTW, i haven’t had the chance to go on a Kasimasi porn hunt, so I’ll surely get to that soon enough…) Not to mention the guy who becomes a girl was already girly to the point that he was practically a chick. I guess there’s the alien guy’s ass’ multiple appearance to cancel it out, though.
As for the actual story - like I said, it’s fluffy romance. Now, there is the twist that the main character used to be a boy and a space-ship crashes into him, turning him into a girl, the girl he’s got a crush on [spoiler] can’t see men, and he lives with aliens [/spoiler]but the romance itself is pretty standard love-triangle stuff. The funny thing about the characers in this show is that we have three girls who are almost stereotypical - the physically active girl who’s a childhood friend and secret admirer, the quiet girl who the main character falls in love with, and the increadibly girly girl (who was once a guy >_>) - and yet all of them manage to break (I’m tempted to say ‘fall from’) these steryotypes. All three of them have the ‘care about them, don’t want to hurt them’ attitude towards each other that they can’t seem to conquer, and there’s the indiciciveness on all sides (right down to the last episode even.) Either way, I enjoyed the characters (I’m an unbearably indecicive person myself) and generally had fun from start to finish.
Naturally, there were a few things I didn’t like about the series. The whole ‘can’t see men except you’ thing was prroly done, I think. I mean, how the hell can you turn down a girl who can only see you? And this comes even more into play when she’s not only unable to see anyone, but if she falls n love she can regain vision - AND help a whole alien planet. The choice was rather obvious by then.
The other major problem was the ending. Wow. We get a 24-minute episode and more than half of it is dedicated to the girl she didn’t choose?! not to ention she only spends about 1 minute of screentime with the girl he did choose. But here’s the clincher - after all that ‘things can’t be the same’ whining, everything just foes back to how it was before, only with more romantic involvement on the chosen girls’ part. Seriously, what the hell were you all crying so much over? And anyway, there’s the obvious cliffhanger saying ‘go watch the OVA - episode 13′ but I’m not going to, since from what I hear it’s basicaly just ’she chooses the other girl’ which I think is lame and pointless, not to mention I supported the choice she makes from the beginning.
So despite the bad ending, I thought this was a pretty cute fluffy show that, like most courtship romances, I wish I could see a continuance of >_> In any event, it’s not a bad way to waste a day. (Though honestly, if it weren’t for t3h yuri, there’s no way I’d have gven this show a second thought >_>)
School has started, so it may take me a while to finish Mai-HiME
I love this show.
I had like 3 things I was supposed to write and kept thinking not to post till I was done with one of them, but since that never seems to happen…
best show ever after episode 2! Seriously, I havent loled this much at anything in a while.
First of all, the dynamic between Fuuka-chan and Zetsubou-sensei is hilarious. While they contrast in world views, both of them have very similar personalities and levels of intelligence, especially in that they both take thigs way too far. I love how easily she convinced him that the hikki girl was an evil creature XD
Like many comedy of this type, a lot of the humor was based on the misconceptions of the individual characters and this show does that aspect very well, IMO. The troubles with each of the three girls were enough already, but then they all form together for a climax of immense proportions! I get the feeling every girl in this class is going to end up after the sensei XD
Some of my favorite parts were Zetsubou-sensei’s ‘Travel List’, the hikikomeri girl, the stalker girl showing up in an outfit similar to the teacher’s and her wall of pictures, and of course all of the suicide attempt stuff.
Watching this and reading NHK at the same time is probably bad for my mental health XD
EDIT: Almost forgot,Manabi Straight, Hidamari Sketch and Lucky Star references = win.
Hero! Ai amu heeya too teru yoo abauto Moetan! For those who have never heard of Moe-tan, it is a series of books created to tech Engrish to the otaku of Japan. It follows the adventures of magical girl Ink-chan who is trying to help Neo-kun learn english. For each word or phrase in English, it gives an example that references some anime. Naturally, these phrases are horrible. Including…
Weapon: “My ultimate weapon is the China cannon attached to my groin.”
This Pokemon reference that seems to have pig and mouse confused…
Punish: “Every time the hero wins, the trio is punished by the pig like creature.”
And my personal favorite…
Bet: “When I fell in love with the her, I thought that the girl was my stepsister. I bet if I had known she was my real sister, I would not have fallen in love with her.”
So why am I posting about this now? They made an anime about it!
Meet Ink-chan. Even though she looks about 6, she is in high school (so of course her friends make fun of her. There’s another in her class with the ailment, though). Ink-chan has a major crush on a boy in her class named Nao-kun, but she’s a short crybaby, and he’s a otaku and kind of mean. Well, Ink-chan has this master plan that she and he are going to go to the same university and fall in love and graduate and get married. Unfortuanetally, due to his English grades, Nao-kun may not be able to go to college (though he doesn’t care all that much.) Meanwhile in some other dimension, we see a powerful mage escaping trial and death and running away, only to be subject to some kind of test by a king in the clouds. The king says he will have to face a trial and the mage is sucked into a wormhole.Ink-chan looks up to see a duck falling from the sky.
Yep, it’s the mage guy. She takes him back home and the duck announces that he wants her to become a magical girl and help people. At first she will be a weaker magical girl, but she will become strong. When Ink-chan realizes she can use this to help Nao-kun, she accepts the offer and becomes…
Magical Teacher Ink-chan! Anywho, the rest i will not spoil.
As for my first impressions, this show is rediculous and adorable. It’s not really funny enough yet to be a comedy show, but it’s cutesy enough to not be boring. I can see it getting more comical as it progresses. i just want to see what kind of horrible English phrases they produce throughout.
If you’re the type who shys away from loli fanservice (AKA you have a stick up your ass >_>) then you will not like this show. It pretty much sexualises this little girl. But if you can ignore that and just watch the show, you might find something you like. Especially if you like Magical Girl shows.
Doujin Work is a 4-koma manga (like Lucky Star, AzuDai and Hidamari Sketch) now being turned anime. The story is about a girl named Najimi who stumbles into the business of writing doujin and her journey to become rich through her art. If you don’t know what a doujin is… abandon this show now.Anywho, if you’re the type who never has time for anime, then this is for you. The episodes are only 15 minutes long (and they move so fast, you feel like you just started watching when it’s over ^^;;). If you like a total loli cast, this show is also for you. Although even if you don’t care about the lolis, it’s also got this guy.
If you aren’t swooning right nowm there’s something wrong with you!!! Oh, and the opening theme is awesome.So, getting to the story itself, it starts of with Najimi and her uber-adorable friend…
On the train. Her friend keeps passing out, and there are some jokes. I warn you, the jokes in this show are pretty hardcore at times. This is a show about doujin, mind you. Our adorable friend right there is a doujin artist who claims to mostly draw rape scenes XD Plus her doujin circle is known as…
Najimi’s friend convinces her to help run her booth at a convention as a sales partner. That’s when they meet the silver-haired guy who’s a doujin artist apparently. After a short conversation about the kind of profits earnable from doujin making, Najimi makes up her mind that she wants to draw doujin since she is an artist and ned the money.
Personally, i thought this show was cute, funny, intriguing, and I totally love the characters. I’m ready to see more!
So, I’ve been yelling at myself for being 4 eps behind on Hayate
Ever since my relative dislike of ep 10 I had been thrown off, but now I’m more than glad I got back to the series! 12-14 definitely got me back into it and reminded me why this is one of my season favorites.
I find it interesting how the anime is so very different from the manga and yet manages to be so alike. for instance, where I am in the manga (I’ve read the first 3 tankouban) Hakuou academy does not even exist, nor any of the characters that go there, and Hayate has not met any of his friends from his old high school. And yet, anything involving the Sanzenin family and the other rich kids is completely intact with the manga. The fact that they are able to fuse in entiry new plot-lines so well is interesting. I give my props to the studio.
The thing this show pulls off above everything for me is comedic timing. I noticed that in the more recent episodes it has become less about referencing tons of things, and more about situational comedy, which I’m happy about since I never got half the damn references which always annoyed the shit out of me (though this particular reference cracked me up to the point I had to pause the show.)
As far as the story itself goes, I love the direction it’s flowing in. Before, it seemed like the show was divided into two areas. The first being episodes that were totally faithful to the manga, and the second being episodes that were completely disruptive to the manga (AKA all at Hakuou) though now it seems they’ve started to alleviate that a little. The new additions to Hayate’s ever-growing harem are nice as well. The girl who’s his old high-school friend is now one of my favorite characters.
(>_> <_< *inserts funy scenes)
Anywho, I’m glad that the show has become better, since I was liking the manga more for a while, but now I think they’re tied. It’s definitely worth it to keep track of both.
Okay, so I went almost 2 weeks without posting. It’s not that I wasn’t watching anime, or tha tI was away from internet access, I’ve just been really lazy. I have a lot of stuff I want to talk about, such as Claymore (which I’m caught up on) and the new G-L, DTB, and Hayate (which i’m way behind on >_<) as well as some movies I’ve watched. Anywho, starting off, Lucky Star.
Lucky Star 11
Okay, so I’ve finally gotten around to episode eleven, and as of half way through, I’m thinking this is the lamest episode since the first one. Seriously, that long-ass dragged out conversation at the beginning had me going…
I dunno, but I’m ready to jump off of one…
… you know, seriously, I can hardly even stand to watch this. This has been the most droning, boring episode of this show yet. I mean, when they start talking too much, it’s always been where the problems start arising and the better episodes are the ones that spliced the chatter with cool little things and moved at a faster pace. This epsiode has bored me to tears. I seriously am struggling just to keep watching.
Also, whereas this show usually at least delivers a semi punch-line, this episode seems to sometimes get onto topics and drop them before even getting to a punchline, unless it was just that much lost in translation.
Prolly the best joke yet was the ramen one. I liked that one. in fact, from that point on it was all relatively cool, and gave a tiny spark of life to an otherwise completely and utterly dead episode. Also, Lucky channel wasn’t funny >_>
This is the last time I’m going to say it - if you arent watching this show, start immediately. Not only is this the best show this season by a longshot, but it easily takes the place as best show this year and is climbing many peoples’ charts as one of the greatest of all time. Between the powerful episodes 8 and 11 and the generally great episodes that have built the framework of this stellar anime, anyoone who isn’t enjoying it simply has bad taste :p
Like the last 2 episodes, this one had excellent pacing and got a lot of action in, which is something that simply wasn’t happening in earlier episodes, and was actually what I considered this show’s one majot flaw. Seing as how GAINAX claims this part of the show to be influenced by the 80s where the last one was 70s, I can only assume that this has something to do with it. I haven’t really seen any mech shows from either of those time periods, so I can’t claim to know for sure.
In any event, this episode had both the fun beach part and of course the massively awesome battle. While it is true that many of the battles have simply been Simon getting beaten up only to come back 10x stronger and deliver azzhammer to the enemy, the battles have at least been pretty cool. I’ve noticed some other things that I’m blaming on the 80s influence since there doens’t seem to be any better influence. First is that the Gurren Lagann’s moveset has become less about pulling things out of it’s hat and being totally random and has now been mostly focused on taking big-ass brills and blowing people up with them. Aslo, the cross-splosion has been getting used a lot. I can’t help but wonder if, when they do the 90s, they’ll use Eva influence. i think it would be kind of ironic.
I was happy to see Yoko not only come to accept Nia but to finally switch out of truber-bitch mode and become a likeable character again. On that note, I also like how many characters got decent airtime this time around. while the main focus was Nia and Yoko, we also saw lots of (get ready because i don’t know a single damn name) gay mechanic guy, big lips crazy man, ringleader dude (well, he’s been around a lot recently anyway), the kids, and others who are gradually filling into viable characters. Now lets just wait for all of them to die >:)
One day went from ‘nothing to do’ to ‘catching up to do’ ^^;; In any event, we’ve got Gurren 11, LS 10, and a special treat - Hidamari Sketch 8 was finally subbed! YAY! This is the only show I can say I waited a month to see an episode of and wasn’t disappointed! Also, I apologize for the lack of pics; if you would, please hop over to Mistakes of Youth for a stunning gallery of images for G-L 11.
Lucky Star 10
I really have to know why Tsukasa is obsessed with balsamic vinegar XDIt deserves to be noted that this episode takes the cuteness of their outfits to a whole new level. I’ve liked how they’ve made certain outfits reappear to keep a sense of realism, but certain ones like Tsukasa’s red and black stripes are welcome additions to the wardrobe.
OH. MY. GOD! The scene with the store clerks is the greatest thing ever animated! (exaggeration) That’s exactly what this show needed to take it back to it’s full height! Purely amazing! My jaw was hanging open!
“Even TV is starting to look like 2ch” XD we could say the same of 4chan and G4 over here…
Kona’s dad = coolest dad on earth. “A scene from my dreams!” Someone buy this man a lolipop! I love how the tears all of a sudden start pouring down his face as well. Plus I would like to snuggle that red sweatshirt Tsukasa was wearing…
Real quick: hair switch = strange, Kona’s mom = goddess, Kagami = getting funnier with each episode it seems, Shiraishai cameo = awesome, Kagami-sama = why did they translate it as ‘Kagami the great?’
Shiraishai’s speech was great, though not laugh-out-loud funny or anything. and …. wait… was Akira just SCRATCHING HER CROTCH?!?!
Gurren-Lagann 11
First of all, if you’ve been watching this show and haven’t seen this episode yet, go watch it NOW! Second, if you haven’t been watching this show, you have no excuse not to at this point! If episode 8 wasn’t epic enough, episode 11 reminds and solidifies G-L’s greatness. this episode is made up of nothing but pure win and epic greatness. Not only that, but I’d consider it to be the most well-paced episode yet (the lask episdoe was pretty good there, too, i think it’s something to do with the supposed ’80s theme’)
I could go on and on about Nia’s immense loliness or how much of an ethereal badass Simon has become, but I don’t feel like repeating what has been resounding from deep within the depths of every anime-shaped crevice of the internet. You need to watch this now, no explaining.
Oi! since I’m not watching a longstanding anime right now, I had time to catch up in Lucky Star, Darker Than Black, and watch the new Hayate as well. Now all I need is to watch them Denno Coils and I’ll be set for now. Anywho, here’s some reviews and prolly some pics. (I know this one wasn’t from this ep, but it was prolly my favorite part of the whole show so far)
Episode 9 - Lucky Star
hooray for ep. 9! This is the Lucky star I know and love - now, it wasn’t as great as ep. 7, but I still liked it a lot. Once again, it had a lot more jokes and a lot that were really fun. First and foremost, I think Tsukasa may have passed Konata as my favorite charactre. I know, shock! But it’s for good reason. While kona-chan does have a side of myself to her, her presonality kinda runs in circles. Like, I know she’s an otaku, but she never ever turns off. It’s less against her, and more against watching her for 26 episodes.
The thing about it, though, is that I could tolerate her always being otaku, if she did different things every once and a while. she complains about the same things, brags about the same things, and at this point we’ve seen some of her mannerisms used up to 3 times in only 9 episodes. There’s time to add on, but if it goes like this for 26 episodes it will be progmatic.
On that note, I was actually really impressed with Kagami in this episode! Note that I’ve never been a fan of hers since I hate the Tsundere character type, and I was tired of her always bitching, but this episode brought a whole new side (which also gives hope for kona’s change.) Firstly, she was way better friends with Kona in this episode, and it almost seemed like she was closer to her than Tsuasa was.
Next, there was the cafe scene. First of all, I loved this whole scene, but there was one part that really got me. When the maid comes over and leaves saying ‘peek’ I couldn’t stop laughing. Totally brilliant timing. but the best part ws Kagami really showing her dramatic and possibly more eccentric nature than she lets on. I’m willing to bet she sings in the shower XD
Anywho, the reason i vote Tsukasa my new favorite character is sheer adorability. Every time I see her I just wanna squeal and glomp her, lol. I wish I had a Tsukasa body pillow…
In any event, another highlight from this episode was when Konata was applying the eyedrops to Mikuru.
Lucky Channel was definitely restored to its former glory as well! the whole part about how to take pictures in public was funny, but the part where he was looking through the camera at her was the best. Akira-chan really is the perfect idol, lol. Also, high-five for ‘My pop never even hit me!’ XD
Episode 10 - Hayate No Gotoku
*saw the pic and couldn’t resist XD*
I agree with others that this episode seemed very shinbo-esque at times. Much as I love anime references, this show has always bothered me with the fact that I don’t know a lot of the references, especially since they bleep parts of them out, making it harder to read naturally. Certain references I did get were awesome. Was… was that Viral from Gurren Lagann who shot out of the giant slime?! Also, the combination reference of Gatekeepers 21 and SoulTaker (which only supports the ‘Shinbo’ theory) was kewl.
I can’t claim to have really liked this episode all that much. It was a cool episode of a show, but not a cool episode of Hayate no Gotoku. I watch this show for Nagi’s adorable attraction to Hayate, hayate’s awesome action, his super-cool personality, and such. I have always thought of the school counsil as annoying throw-away characters, so their abundance in this one was l4me.
Parts I did like were the beginning when she was playing video games with Saku, the bit about Maris being over 17 since it was an afterword from volume 2 of the manga (interesting they animated it) the parts where Klaus would cut it (once more, very shinbo-esque) and a few other moments. Overall, though, I’d say between episode 9 and 10 of thi show a lot of my faith in it has been lost, especially since I’ve been reading the manga, which is relatively superior as of yet.
Episode 8 - Darker Than Black
(thanks again to Jigglyness of Otakuboards for the banner)
Okay, so I finally got around to watching Ep. 8. I gotta say, it was pretty boring, really. The only thing that made this plot all that great in episode 7 was the funny stuff, and without that, it was just sorta lame. If you look back on the episode, it really covered hardly any ground at all, not to mention the detective guy parts simply weren’t exciting. Even the fight scene was brief and rather plain. All in all, I’d call this my least favorite episode thus far.
After waiting way too damn long, i finally got around to watching episode 8. It was alright - by no means the best yet. There were some parts that made me smirk or giggle, but a lot that had me kinda bored.
Firstly, it took me a while to get back into it. The beginning wasn’t very powerful, once more simply playing around with the group dynamic, but once it got into the whole athletics festival it was kinda fun. Kona’s dad was a riot of course, and it had a generally good feel about it.
Probably my favorite joke this episode was when Tsukasa is imagining herself as Kagami’s older sister XD also, the part where Tsukasa was trying to play recorder was adorable.
The lunch line gag was kind of weak, mostly in it’s absurd longevity to deliver very little funny. Also, I didn’t even crack a laugh in this Lucky Channel episode. Like everyone, even Shiraishai, said - they’re starting to get repetitive. Anywho, alright, but no ep. 7 >_>
Wow! my blog turns up in google pages! That’s the first time any of my pages has done that! Color me excited! Anywho, this whole page system theing isn’t working out. I talk about the episodes in posts anyway, so i’m deleting the pages.
Well, since I feel it’s important that for people reading my blog understand my atyle, I figured I’d talk about my favorite anime. Not to mention I want some damn reccommendations!!! I won’t be bringing up Neon Genesis this time, because everyone knows what that is, and it would be pointless. If you don’t care about my favorite anime, skip down to my talk of Gurren Lagann 10. If you don’t care about Gurren Lagann… well, that you’re not my friend XD
My top 5 favorite anime (other than NGE)
1. Welcome to the NHK - Yes, I watched this only 2 weeks ago, as you can see by scrolling down the main page (assuming I haven’t already knocked it off) but it very quickly grabbed my heart. NHK is not only a show I can relate to with frightening accuracy (this makes me cry) but a roadmap to my future, if you will (probably minus nice high-school girl who tries to help me, lol.) This show dominates all the other psychological shows for the simple reason that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has what I would consider an absolutely perfect blend of hilarity and depression - psychology and lightheartedness - fantasy and oh-so-harsh reality. It made good use of binding together multiple plotlines, but best of all was a cast of lovable and utterly memorable characters. This show was satisfying to me all the way through and when it ended it created the perfect mix of happiness and utter devastation in me (AKA I overreacted and got depressed ^^;;) I can’t wait for this to come out in the US and I need to find some way around the evil 18+ of the manga.
2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Don’t patronize me! I swear to god, I had no idea about the bandwagoning or even that this was so popular when I saw it. I remembered that a friend of mine had used a picture of one of the characters as an avatar before, and another person kept talking about it on Otakuboards, so I thought what the hell. I was completely oblivious to the hype - hell I was even watching it on youtube >_< In any event, this show wins my heart for every reason there is. It’s a comedy that destroyes comedy cliche and promotes an eccentricity that I completely adore. This show was a total joyride and, of course, how could you not love the characters?!
3. Kanon 2006 - This is the only show that has ever actually made me cry. I’m almost embarassed to admit it, but this show made me increadibly emotional at all times. When the girls cried, i cried, when they smiled, i smiled. I probably sound like a complete and total wuss right now, but damn it, I loved this show, so i don’t care! not to mention there was Yuuichi who is unequivically awesome.
4. Kino’s Journey - this is an anime for relaxation, reflection, and deep thoughts. This is the kind of anime that makes you think, but keeps you entertained without overdoing it. I find it to be increadibly humble at all times and has an air of realism that you just don’t see in dramatic stories. Kino is a great character, and her dynamic with Hermes is always fun. This is one of the rare shows that plays well on all sides of the field. The calmer episodes are all done well, and the fighting scenes are equally great. Almost every episode catches you off-guard at some point with some kind of unexpected twist - some more expected, but others that make you full of shock and surprise. The last 2 episodes are some of the most heavy-hitting I think I’ve ever seen.
5. Serial Experiments Lain - This one might even just be a case of my fanboyism toward deep, intricate plotlines, but I’ll be damned if i’m going to say I didn’t like it. I think Lain had to be my favorite part of this show. Her story was so sad, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the almond-eyed kiddo. the ending was spectacular in my opinion, and that’s mostly all that I can remember. I really need to watch this one again.
(couldn’t find any good G-L pics FWR)
Gurren Lagann Episode 10
Well, while episode 9 was good, it did leave some to be desired. Kamina’s abscence and the seeping depression, along with Simon’s whole Shinji-style bitchiness was driving it downward, but Episode 10 more than makes up for it! first of all, I still stand by that kamina was an amazing hero who i couldn’t help but love, but I did think he would have become repetitive after a while. Nia does a great job of filling the gap - she’s strong and absoluetly adorable with the best hair I have ever seen! Simon was still all wussy, which kind of sucked, but the high-octane excitement all around him was fun. I think this was one of the best paced episodes yet, seing as how they managed to get a lot done and keep it interesting. Will be looking forward to ep 11 and more nia-chan!
You never really realise how new you are to anime until you face a situation like this. You’re watching the new episodes of several series each week, but you also keep reading about all these other series that are apparently really cool, and then you’re facing down two 26-episode series that you need to watch, and also trying to figure out if they take precedence over the new episodes that you also need to watch, and how you can base all this around going to school and forum time. Then you remember that you forgot to finish Mushishi and all hell breaks loose XD
Luckily there’s only 2 weeks left of school. I had been wondering what I was going to do this summer and now it has become clear - I’m going to spend the entire time watching countless anime. Hopefully my brain doesn’t explode, lol. Anyway, I just got ep. 9 of hayate no Gotoku out of the way, and now there’s and episode 8 of LS and I still gotta catch up on denno coil 2 >_<
Also, a note about the blog itself. i’d just like to disclaim that none of the images I use are mine - I just pul them from photobucket. Evidently even the Fukoi image belongs to Wildarmsheero (kick ass, BTW!)
Episode 9 - Hayate no Gotoku
Anywho, the 9th episode was pretty cool. It lacked much of the over-the-top goodness of others. There was almost no 4th-wall-breaking or WTF?! moments. We see a little character development, though with the one pink-haired girl I think they forgot what she had been like before >_< She wasn’t quite so OMG Tsundere earlier. I think my main problem is that with other episodes they crammed tons of action into 22 minutes but with this one it was just one plot. Also SEVERE lack of Nagi, my favorite character!
Talk about having too much free time, lol. I decided to use my 3rd day of weekend on watching Futakoi Alternative (UFOTable, the people who did Manabi Straight). One could say I’m pretty far behind, but hey I’m not exactly an experienced otaku >_< I also caught Gurren 9 so i’ll edit this later today with the review of that, but I’m rather pressed for time at this moment, so I’ll just put my review of Futakoi below. Oh yeah, and I erased the Sola page for the reason that I couldn’t care enough to continue watching. If I block-watch the rest, I’ll talk about it in a post, but otherwise I may just ignore it eternally.
Overall, I can safely say I really liked this show, despite the issues I thought it had - issues that I felt to have been resolved by the end. This is truly a pure love story, and I respect it for that, with a perfect ending for a romantic such as myself, lol.
There were some slow parts, but they were only a problem in the earlier episodes. I think the problem was that they tried to use situations where we would feel a certain way about the chracters, but they hadn’t yet introduced them in a wy that we would care enough yet. Of the first 6 episodes, while I really loved episode one and four, there were only certain parts of other episodes I liked.
From 7 on, though, it really makes up for it as a great series. There are still some issues, but when you watch the whole series, the way the whole was projected seems to work out. The show can be really sad or really happy, super-desolate or hyper-energetic, and it does both sides of the field well.
I’m glad I watched this right after something like NHK, too. This show isn’t meant to be deep, it doesn’t make you think hard afterward. It’s just a simple, lighthearted, fun, and well-made romantic action comedy (and I mean comedy in the drama sense.) It leaves only one question for the audience….
HAPPY DESU NEE?!?!?!
The last 3 episodes were what really clenched it for me, though. They are positively EPIC. I haven’t seen an ending quite so crazy in a long time. That’s another thing that makes this show interesting - in a lot of episodes it seems like a pure romance and you completely forget about all the 12-year olds with machine guns and giant fire-shooting squids, but when they reappear, it feels almost natural.
i don’t want to spoil the ending, but i will say that it is positvely awesome and pulls the story together exactly the way I wanted to see.
Okay, okay, I messed up. i was supposed to add my impressions of LS 7, and DTB 7 before, and now the subs are only days away from there being an 8 for each. I think it’s time I did some justice. Not to mention G-L is past ep. 9 now, so that must be spoken of as well.
Darker Than Black episode 7
Episode 7 was both awesome and absolutely hilarious! Firstly, the detective and his assistant make a great team, and funny together.The pink-heaired cosplay-obsessed loli otaku girl was awesome. Not just for those reasons (and not just cuz of the sexy kitty outfit)… okay, mostly for those reasons XDThe entire scene where the detective went into the house I couldn’t stop laughing. From the creepy maid to the part where she was cleaning his ears (WTF?!?!) though the best had to be when he said ‘I pissed myself a little there’ XDZOMG at the cat guy’s powers revealed! But then why do we never see him as any other animal?
Lucky Star 7
Episode 7 may have been my favorite thus far. Far as I’m concerned, the show keeps getting better and better.
Reason i liked it more than 6 is cuz 6 was trying to be funny throuhg being extreme, while 7 was just plain funny. Also, this was the least jumpy of the episodes. It focused on 3 name things - cell phones, Konata-chan talking fancy, and the dentist incident with Miyuki-chan.
I loved every joke in this one, but there were some definite highlights.
- Any time Konata-chan talked fancy - just loved it!
- Konata’s email being iluvgirlswithglasses. That was the defining moment in Konata-chans character for me, and as far as I’m conerned, it proves everything XD
- When Tsukasa was trying to figure out her phone number. Tsukasa is starting to fight Konata fo place as my favorite, simply because she looks soooo adorable when she concentrates on something or gets lost in her own head.
- Konata’s dad trying to call her XD
Although Lucky Channel was by far the funniest thing this show has done yet. The very second it started and I saw Shiraishai in oiogtails and Akira looking away, I burst into laughter and couldn’t stop the whole duration. I almost cried laughing.
Also, is it just me, or has the animation climbed a whole new level? The girls always looked fluid, but this episode had them moving constantly and watchin them was… mesmerizing… also, i think I need to read Sgt. Frog.
And so, completely without warning, a Hayate no Gotoku page goes up! HAHAHA! Yes, i’m now watching this one as well, and also I’m hoping the ep 9 subs of Gurren-Lagann show up today. Nut more importantly, I just decided, upon completion of watching it, that Welcome to the NHK is my new second favorite anime taking over Haruhi’s place. Why is below.
[WARNING! EXTREME SPOILERS FOR WELCOME TO THE NHK!]
I just finished watching this last night (watched from like 12 to 24 in a marathon, lol) and this is probably now my third favorite anime of all time, pushing Kanon out of the way. In fact it might even surpass Haruhi for the number 2 spot. This anime really toyed with my emotions and coincided exactly with my way of thought. The creepiest part, though, is how well it relates exactly to my current situation.Like in the anime, I was on an emotional roller coaster for like 6 months, and now I’m at the point where i’ve decided that even though life is fruitless, there’s no reason to die yet. This anime, I think, carries the most truth and the biggest life lesson I’ve ever seen in a show. The ending was really great. As much as I was begging to see Misaki and Satou kiss or at least hug, I think the more subtle ending worked. And also, who would’ve guessed Satou would have become a traffic cop?!The best part to me, though, is just imagining their future. I know both could just up and kill themselves at any moment, but I don’t think they will. I can see the way their future will probably play out. They continue to do the lectures, gradually fall more in love, after Misaki-chan graduates they’ll get married, and go on with the rest of their lives. I don’t doubt there will be those ‘this is worthless, I should die!’ moments, but overall I think their situation was so perfect in the end it makes me smile just thinking about it.And now, I need to quickly avoid thinking about the series at all. Whenever i watch something like this, I always get really deperessed. Because while you know that everything worked out, you can never convince yourself that it would actually happen to you. That instead, you’ll die all alone. But at the same time, you think ‘wasn’t that the point? that it can happen?’ I always end up thinking about it too much and getting really sad and crying. So I’ll stop ^^;;
EDIT: ZOMG no one told me the spoiler tags were unreadable!!!
Okay, I waited a couple days between posts, yes, I know. Had to sort something out, but it’s cool now, and this ain’t no damn livejournal so I’m not gunna talk about it :p in any event, I have some new episodes to talk about… 7 of LS and DTB as well as I need to watch 2 of Denno Coil, and now that the rest of Manabi Straight is out, i have to watch that soon as well. All of that, though, can wait…
Yeah, okay, so I’m rather late to the party with Welcome to the NHK considering that it’s broadcast ended about 6 months ago, but I’ve been streaming this all at once and absolutely loving it. I can relate heavily to Satou (which, no matter how many times I think about it, frightens the hell outta me.) and the overall plot is just fun and brilliant. It’s one of the only shows I’ve seen that’s deep and psychological while also being really funny; and crazy in a sort of Paranoia Agent way. Satou’s imagination is a wicked world that brings a load of WTF to the table, lol. I can’t help but love the perverse nature of this series…
I’m only up through episode 7 so far, but I’m anxious to get back to watching. Either later or tomorrow I’ll update on LS and DTB.
Wow! A small benchmark for sure, but a benchmark nonetheless. And now knowing that me clicking it has no effect, i can’t help but be excited. The question is, how many people are actually returning and checking up on it? Those are the ones I’d like to extend special thanks to! I can’t believe there are actually that many people interested! I’m so glad.
Anyway, not much is going on today. I have to say, I’m jealous of all you who can wacth raw anime and know what’s going on - having to suffer the struggle of subs is an arduous journey. You have to find out which subs are trustworthy and it sucks when you’re stuck with one simply cuz it’s all you can find. I personally can’t do torrents — the only computers I have access to are ones I have to be increadibly careful with and I will get in massive trouble if i mess them up. So basically, I’m just using streaming sites for the time being.
I’m on the edge of my seat over Darker than Black 7, Lucky Star 7 — both of which I believe have already aired… ? and also Gurren-Lagann 9 is sure to be a treat - for those who haven’t guessed by now I’m already a huge fan.
I’m also a huge fan of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and apparently somethings up. the ASOS Brigade site is talking about Anime Expo a lot on their site. there’s naturally a bbunch of speculation - the most popular theory being that one of the seiyuu will show up at the con. If that’s the case I have no reason to get excited because I have no way of going to AX, but there’s also the idea that the English novels could be released, and THAT I’m excited about! Now, I realize that it’s beyond easy to find English translations of all the novels on the internet, but as a collecter it is my duty to own the copies! (and prolly red them over and over!)
Admittedly, though, when I read the first novel i didn’t find it as interesting as the anime at all. It’s good, but it just lacks that explosive energy of the constantly-moving haruhi and pals. Besides, Kyon repeats himself a few too many times. It’ll still be good to see them, though, because past book one is a whole ton of new/expanded on content that I’m dying to see. (I haven’t read past book 2 out of general laziness)
As for the English DVD release, you can bet I’ll be getting the special edition box. Appalled as I am by the cost of the special edition DVDs, i refuse to watch this show in chronological order. When my fanboy sense tingles, it rumbles >_<
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