One of the most fundamental and essential concepts present throughout all of Magi is the romance of adventure.  The romance of adventure is not an idea that unifies the romance between two characters with the genre of adventure (although one could argue that a powerful bond existed between Aladdin and Alibaba), but one that quantifies the stylization and presentation of adventure that is largely romantic and idealistic.  Whether it was questing through treacherous dungeons, relying on the help of mystic, majestic djinns and their phantasmal magic, fending off monsters and assassins alike or hunting for treasures of unimaginable wealth, the image and feeling of adventure in Magi was portrayed as glamorous, glorious, rewarding and extremely passionate.  Magi wanted to show these elements of adventures through this distinctive perspective which then helped enthuse and entertain the audience.  As you can imagine, this concept had a significant and permanent impression in Magi.

Before beginning, it’s worth nothing that almost all adventure stories are romanticized to some degree.  Whether in the form of ancient temples teeming with ferocious monsters and tormenting booby traps or evil villains and wicked wizards seeing control or domination or any form of magic that either helps or hinders, all adventure stories contain some amount of idealistic imagination to aid in its storytelling and entertainment.  Even adventure stories that are based on examples from real life are likely to be embellished or dramatized to a certain extent, especially those passed on by hearsay or distorted by time, or built up to make it so that the story is worth telling.  Of course, Magi is no exception with its story.  For example, you can take various elements of Magi, say the dungeons or the djinn, and replace them with real world counterparts to further illustrate how romanticized this anime is.  The action and adventure in Magi is essentially romantic, being used to represent its challenges and its rewards, its struggles and its triumphs in such a way to make everything seem more spectacular, more remarkable and above all, much more enjoyable.

The romance of adventure in Magi had an impact well beyond that of just the dungeons and magic.  The themes of searching for lost friends, rescuing slaves, preventing war and even saving a kingdom are all storylines that were portrayed as romantic idealizations in Magi.  And this is expected, especially considering that these ideas are what the story of Magi wanted to be.  Considering the presence and degree to which these stories are told and these adventurous elements were employed, its clear that Magi wanted to be a grand tale that catered to our desires, of a story that both intrigued and fascinated us.  Just as the stories of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights delighted audiences for centuries with its classic tales of might and magic, Magi too develops its story in a romantic manner that plays tribute to the work that inspired it.

To me, this post means more to me than the last individual anime post in the foreseeable future.  To me, this post symbolizes two characteristic of blogging an anime that pushed me in this direction, one being the perturbing lateness with my posts and the frustration that stems from it.  You see, I had the idea and theme for this post since midway through the very first episode of Magi.  However, instead of writing on this subject for the very first episode, I decided to save the topic for a later episode, one that’d be more appropriate and for one that’d be on time.  As the episodes rolled on, I began to juggle more on my schedule and subsequently, I began to struggle finding time to watch anime, let alone write about it.  Trying to watch over a dozen anime each season and write about them, even something as simple as a paragraph or two proved to be more challenging now than it was last year or even a few months ago.  And when I did find the time, I often found I was neither in the mood to watch or write about anime.  It had arrived at the point where I began to rationalize that I didn’t have the time in me to write individual posts like these anymore without sacrificing quality or value.  I do wish I could return to this format and style of blogging since it allows me to do develop ideas much better than my weekly posts, especially when exploring themes, explaining my opinions, and grasping certain practices and styles of anime and storytelling in general.  If you look back at the two-and-a-quarter years of which I have done these individual posts, you’ll see how my understanding, my writing, my voice and my appreciation for anime has evolved over these years from just this blog and these shows alone.  But it also represents a period of which I had more free-time than I do now which is why these posts are going to halt for now.  So when I think back to this post and this topic on ‘the romance of adventure in Magi’, I’ll always think of it more as the post that symbolizes what I want to do with blogging and the reality that I just can’t do it right now.  But rather than end this with something sentimental or emotional, here’s a picture of Morgiana to make you feel better.  I hope you enjoyed!

This week: why I’m not buying the ‘death’ scene in Kakumeiki Valvrave and what leads me to believe so, some recommendations for Yamane on how to properly use a syringe in Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, questioning the geographies, organizations and structures of cities in Shingeki no Kyojin, Suisei no Gargantia, and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, and some additional thoughts on the setting in anime.

Best episode of the week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending up this week: Hataraku Maou-sama!

Anime trending down this week: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 14)

Considering that the team tournament and individual tournaments are only a day apart, you really have to question how fatigue, both mental and physical, will play a role for competitors who play in both.  Consider players like Chihaya and Megumu who both play in several games on the day of the team competitions versus Shinobu who gets to relax all day and prepare for the individual matches the following day.  You really have to think players who aren’t in the team competition are at a significant advantage, especially since we see fatigue setting in for the cast of Chihayafuru after 3 or 4 or 5 matches compared to the distinct possibility of playing 10 matches in the span of 30 or so hours.  With this substantial handicap placed against Chihaya and Megumu, I don’t predict that they’ll go very far or perform very well when the individual tournament begins, but it will be nonetheless be interesting to see how they perform regardless of fatigue or other factors.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 2)

Someone needs to take Yamane’s ‘death syringe’ away from her until she learns some proper syringe and needle etiquette.  For starters, I hope she switches out her needles after every poke in order to reduce the risk of blood-borne pathogens, like hepatitis or HIV, from infecting her friends or introducing bacteria to sterile sites and causing cellulitis or sepsis.  Not only that but changing the needle out after every injection will prevent the tip from deforming, which certainly isn’t pleasant.  And what’s with her injecting people in the neck and forearm?  That certainly isn’t safe or the preferred method of injecting someone.  Considering the needle she’s using, at least go for the deltoid muscle.  Like, you really have to wonder if anyone taught her how to handle the Killing Goods that she inherited or if she just picked them up and began injecting everyone with everything she could find.  And another thing, how exactly is she getting ahold of these medications?  Not necessarily concerned about the financing which is probably astronomical for a mere teenager but how does she hold the licensing to purchase these drugs, especially the sleeping on that she administered to Iwai and Kiri?  But whatever, it’s just dumb fun and mindless action, and trying to answer these questions usually means killing the fun and action itself, so let’s not go there, especially since those two are the best aspects of this anime so far.

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation (Episode 2)

Yellow and blue seem to be dominating colors for Devil Survivor 2, present as saturating overtones throughout the entire episode.  Really, if you go back and just scan through the episode, you’ll notice how much of a presence yellow, and to a lesser extent blue, has in Devil Survivor 2.  Thinking back to the other Atlus anime that aired last year, Persona 4, that one also had a very powerful presence of yellow throughout it, too.  In fact, it is almost overwhelming at times the amount of color that Persona 4 and Devil Survivor 2 uses in some situations.  From here, the question becomes, what significance do the colors yellow and blue play in Devil Survivor 2 or why use these colors to this extent in the first place?  There doesn’t seem to be any clues or any hints as to why yellow and blue play a predominate role in Devil Survivor 2, but it should be interesting to find out if the subject is ever explained or explored.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 2)

Okay, be honest, did anyone else try to make ‘Black Pepper Fries’ after watching Maou-sama?  I’m not sure if there’s a secret recipe at MgRonald with a dozen or so ‘secret spices’ or if they’re pretty much normal French fries with black pepper sprinkled all over them, but I tried this myself soon after finishing the first and during the second episode of Maou-sama.  Rather than ransack my spice rack and experiment with whatever I had, I sprinkled some coarse black pepper over a full-serving of fries and at them alongside my viewing of the second episode.  I must say that eating my version of Black Pepper Fries was a delicious treat while watching this delightful anime and I’m considering making this a habit for at least the next few episodes (or until they come out with a new type of French fries to serve at MgRonald).  If you’re curious yourself, I highly recommend trying it yourself, especially since it’s relevantly simple to prepare for something so yummy.

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride (Episode 2)

You really have to feel bad for the forgotten characters of Hyakka Ryouran: Matabei, Hanzou and Kanetsugu.  Not only are these characters destined to be in the background of every fight, mainly because the series hates them and won’t let them become Master Samurai, but they’re destined to be in the background of every episode, too.  Every time there is an event or story going on in the anime, it revolves around Yukimura or Sen or Muneakira or Juubei or someone other than the three forgotten characters.  Instead, they’re stuck doing support jobs like helping these main characters with the least amount of screentime possible.  And when the situation arises that a new Master Samurai must be crowned, a silly monkey suddenly appears, gets an entire episode to itself (!!) and serendipitously becomes a Master Samurai for no justifiable reason.  Yeah, after helping out with everything for an entire season, the series just passes Matabei and Hanzou over and gives everything to a new character that never put in any work or effort.  Yeah, so much for being a bodyguard and friend to both Yukimura and Sen for all these years.  And let’s not forget Kanetsugu, the best character of this series; she deserves a power-up and an episode to herself, too.  Well, based on the preview for episode 3, we might just get that with a Kanetsugu-themed episode coming up next.  Hopefully the series doesn’t find a new way to screw us out of something good.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 1)

Quite a bit happened in the first episode of Valvrave, but one scene sticks out in particular for me as being the most significant and meaningful.  When we saw Shouko run from her group to help a pedestrian stuck in a car, we witnessed her death when an energy beam landed right beside her and blasted the whole area into nothing more than a silent, smoldering crater.  Yeah, so we can close the book on her character now, right?  Well, that’s where I want to say that Valvrave is wrong and that it only appears that Shouko is dead.  Sure, we saw the whole explosion and whatnot, but there are enough details present to suggest that she’s still alive and will make a return to Valvrave.  The first point is that we never saw her body.  It could be that the energy beam that killed her also vaporized her body but not finding a body after a death scene is always a flag that they might return later.  Another point specific to that scene is that the energy beam landed next to her, not on top of her.  This might be significant in that someone else (the passenger in the car) may have shielded her and protected her as her body was flung from the site of the explosion.  Furthermore, we know that Shouko is an important character to our protagonist, Haruto, so it makes sense to bring her back for whatever reason later on in the series.  Those three points alone are generally enough for most shows to have a character to reappear after a ‘fake death scene’, but Valvrave introduced one more concept that reinforces my idea that Shouko will return and that is the whole system of losing one’s humanity.

As we saw with Haruto at the end of the first episode, people who operate Valvrave reject their human life and become some sort of superhuman vampire-thingy that can survive what would surely kill any normal human being.  And seeing that the Valvrave mobile suit was underneath the school the whole time, what’s not to say that Shouko was a test subject and lost her humanity like Haruto?  Given how we only learned of this concept after Shouko’s ‘death’, I believe that she had gone through the same process once before and that we never thought that she could survive a blast through such a means since we never knew such a means existed until after the ending credits rolled.  Not only that but having Shouko survive through such a means plays well with the other three points listed previously.  Given that and everything else that we saw in this first episode, I have a strong reason to believe that Shouko is not dead in Valvrave and that we’ll be seeing her at some grandiose and magnificent time near the end of the first season, probably killing superhuman Haruto because she’s a villain or something and then having us wait 3 months between the two seasons of Valvrave.  Remember, you heard it here first!

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 2)

Having such a densely populated area located on the outer-most region of the walls is a terrible idea.  Even if this area were the slums or a township of disadvantaged or impoverished people, it doesn’t make sense for a settlement of such a size to be located near such immediate danger, even if the titans were unable to invade for over a century.  Not only that, but it doesn’t make sense for a village of such wealth (considering the appearance and structure of the buildings) to be located in such an area.  It’s not like being located on the edge of the walled empire provides an advantage to trade or resources or agriculture or anything.  I could understand if it were a military outpost to keep a watch for the titans and to maintain a milita, but it looks more like an urban city than a citadel.  And after taking a quick look at the population geography of the nation of humans, it doesn’t seem that there are really any densely populated areas around this specific hamlet, instead with most of the people choosing to live within the center-most walls and concentrating around that area.  So as to why the humans choose to build such a compressed and urban settlement right next to the least defensible area in the empire is beyond me.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 2)

Considering that the surface of the Earth is covered entirely with water and that mankind lives atop floating flotillas, you can’t help but wonder where the source of fuel comes from that power these seafaring vessels.  I’d like to assume that these ships are powered by some sort of renewable energy source, like solar power, because that would make sense given the extreme lack of resources that these humans face, but the structure and shape and just the general feel of these ships screams out to me that they utilize some type of fossil fuel like oil or coal or something.  Then again, you don’t see smoke billowing out of these ships and you already know that coal or oil or natural gas are probably impossible to harvest now, so it’s probably not anything analogous to what we use now.  But still, seeing these retrofitted steel behemoths and roaming the oceans, you can’t help but wonder what sort of dated fuel source they’re using, even if it’s something like solar power or wind power or something like that.  Either way, I’m curious to see more about the technology of Gargantia, how it impacts the lives of its crew and its citizens and how the people live sailing around the globe in this nomadic lifestyle.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 1)

Who exactly thought that Academy City would be a good idea?  Okay, first things first, how does a city with over 1.8 million students, 80% of the total population, support itself considering how overburdened the adult workforce must be.  Not only do these students need to be kept in schools and academies of various sizes and structures, each having their own staff and faculty, but then you have to employ all the various shops and groceries and other commercial businesses in the city, not to mention government, police, healthcare, transportation and utilities, with the remaining population.  I don’t think Academy City could support any form of industry within its borders, including light industry.  Unless there is a massive population of commuters living in the suburbs not included in that population statistic, I don’t see how Academy City functions.  Furthermore, who’d send their kids to school there considering how dangerous and targeted the city is?  I’m not sure how far away the rest of civilization is but I’d worry about sending my 12 or 13 year-old kid there for the next decade of their life.  You have all these punks and hooligans causing trouble every single day, various organizations trying to take over or destroy the city and immature brats running around with ESP powers that could pose danger to anyone that looks at them the wrong way.  Now it makes sense why they have to enlist students as an ancillary police force.  And what happens when you graduate?  Do you get booted out of the city or are you forced to find a job there?  Are there places of higher education within Academy City, like universities or specialized schools or places for job training?  Just how strict is Academy City on its population policy so that it maintains a student population of 80% of the total city?  Oh, and one other major issue is that of taxation and how exactly the city is funded.  Considering how wealthy, clean and structured the city is, I assume that every one of the 1.8 million students are paying out their asses in board, tuition and taxes to stay at these private schools in Academy City.  You have to assume that the net flow in wealth coming into the city is well into the tens of billions based on the USD.  Really, the society of Academy City is intriguing to me, trying to understand how such a city is structured and how it functions.

As you can tell by the last three subjects on the last three anime, I have an undying fascination with the setting of anime with a particular interest in the geography of cites, especially in those that are similar or wildly different than the real world.  Unfortunately for me, these questions are hardly ever examined and, less frequently, answered.  But then again, maybe that’s the reason why I enjoy thinking about these subjects so often and why I look for the solutions on my own.  Either way, I always find myself enchanted with the various settings of all the anime I watch and I hope these questions and thoughts provoke or inspire you to think critically about the diversity of settings in all the anime you watch.

This week: thinking ahead on how the weather could be used as a means of conflict in Suisei no Gargantia, weighing in on two fascinating story mechanics in Kakumeiki Valvrave, the fantastic use of voices in Chihayafuru 2, and examining the personalities of Emi in Hataraku Maou-sama! and Misaka in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S.

Best episode of the week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending up this week: Kakumeiki Valvrave

Anime trending down this week: Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 15)

Sound is essential to every anime.  Whether it’s in relation to the music, the voice acting, the ambiance or whatever, sound is a vital aspect to every anime.  In Chihayafuru however, the voices of the various karuta readers shows an even greater capacity in how the use of sound plays an imperative role in this anime.  As we already know per the rules of karuta, once the first sound of the poem begins, the players are free to swing their arms and aim their fingertips to the corresponding card.  With the rules of karuta structured like this, we find a great deal of significance placed on the readers in every match, often times amplified when Chihaya or another player pounces at the first syllable.  However, in this finals match, we’re treated to Yamashiro Kyouko, a grade 7 certified reader, which is pretty much the very best of the best.  For her character, not only does she need to be a talented voice actress but also one that understands and enunciates as a professional karuta reader does.  Not only that, but to have the impact that her character has and for her voice to have that imposing yet impassioning effect, she needs to be better than all the other karuta readers before her.  With this in mind, we can find a new form of appreciation in the karuta reader and in Kyouko’s voice.  In addition to that, it’s worth noting that the other karuta readers deserve recognition too, since each has had to learn the system and rhythm and pronunciation to be karuta readers in this anime, even the ones that turned out to be ‘bad’ readers since they had to learn how to do it properly and how they would flub it up.  Hopefully now, with the sudden appearance of Yamashiro Kyouko, there is a newfound appreciation of karuta readers and how the use of character voices plays a fundamental role in Chihayafuru.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 3)

Let’s face it; we knew the fights in Crime Edge were going to be bad.  When the deadly weapons that the characters use to ‘kill’ each other are a pair of scissors, a syringe and a sledgehammer (I notice a pattern…), you figure that the fights are going to be a disappointing if not dismal.  And yes, this is before you factor in Kiri’s superhuman speed that materialized out of nowhere, like even the story wasn’t aware it was going to happen and wasn’t sure where the episode was going with it.  But the worst part about the fight in the third episode of Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge is how the opponent, the Sledgehammer of Crushing Disintegration, never had his character explained.  In fact, during the fight, he never spoke a single word.  Now I realize that people love to complain about how things aren’t realistic when characters say their names and explain their motives during fights, but there are a couple of reasons why we see it so often in stories like these.  First, this isn’t real life, this is an anime, so let your logic run loose and forgotten while you enjoy (or try to enjoy) this show.  Second, it’s an effective method of storytelling despite being clichéd and corny in nature.  Yeah, people don’t tell each other their secret plans and all that in real life but it’s the one chance the character had to elaborate on himself, explain why he appeared now and why this fight is necessary and to help relate his situation back to Kiri’s own as an Author.  Really, the decision to leave this first real opponent in the dark is a poor decision on Crime Edge, especially since there was amble room to explain what happens to an Author without an Instead and what the Author’s wish was that could tie back into the pain and obsession the Authors must endure.  But no, instead, we have a missed opportunity here for Crime Edge.  Without a doubt, this is the principal reason on why I found this fight to be a severe disappointment.

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation (Episode 3)

Is it just me or does it seem like everyone has pointy, elf-like ears in Devil Survivor 2?  At first, I thought it was just Makoto who had tipped ears like that, but in the third episode, you also see it’s prominent in Keita’s appearance as well.  After scanning back through the episode, there are instances where you see it in others too, like Daichi and Io.  So do these characters have legitimately pointy-ears or is there something else going on that’s causing it to only appear so?  Well, given its inconsistency with other characters, and the fact that doesn’t appear to be another race of humanoids in Devil Survivor 2, I figure that this is an impression or effect that I have with this particular character design or art style.  The way the ears are drawn here just seem to be pulled upward or inward, in a fashion that leaves them looking pointier than other, rounder anime ears.  Looking back at some of the summons, especially Lilim who has genuine pointy ears, it becomes clearer that this is merely an effect of the character designs or art style on certain humans.  So yeah, there doesn’t seem to be any significance on the shape of the ears in Devil Survivor 2 besides being slightly different than what we see as the norm in other anime.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W (Episode 3)

Why are there even fights in Nyaruko-san?  Unlike most other fighting anime, Nyaruko-san doesn’t have an emphasis on fights or even have a system that configures and organizes power levels, fighting styles, strengths and weaknesses or anything to that nature.  It’s just, ‘there’s gonna be a fight, let’s power up and win’.  It’s not like the characters train or anything to become stronger or better.  It’s not like the enemies are stronger and that there is some challenge or reward in these fights.  They’re just plot devices used to end these story arcs.  Really, Nyaruko-san would be significantly better without these fights and if they just replaced them with jokes.  And yes, I realize that the majority of these fights are comprised of comedic material and that they’re used in a way to set-up for other jokes, but this time could be managed better to include more jokes or better jokes that relate to the story arc and the characters.  To be, the fights in Nyaruko-san are always unsatisfying and disappointing and I hope that the series begins to steer away from them and use its time better, especially if it can include more comedy.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 3)

In the first three episodes, Emi has come across as a tsundere bitch who hates everyone and everything.  You’d think as a Hero of the human race, she would be a kinder, gentler soul with empathy and compassion etched firmly in her heart.  In reality… she’s exactly that: Emi is actually a thoughtful, caring, and kindhearted girl to everyone that isn’t Sadao or his underlings.  Pretty much every time we’ve seen Emi thus far is when she’s around her mortal enemy, Sadao, and so she reacts in a way that’s vicious, intense and hateful.  However, when she’s around other humans, the people that she herself is trying to protect and save, she shows her truer self which is one of a caring and benevolent nature.  Although you figure she exploded in front of Chiho out of pure jealousy, you could also see it as her concern of a human falling in love with Sadao, only to be stolen away, tortured and murdered by the Demon Lord himself.  Because of the way Maou-sama is directed and given the way the story has progressed, we never really see much of Emi by herself or when she’s around other humans and not pre-occupied with Sadao.  Given what we’ve learned about her character in the past and how she acts around humans in our world, we can ascertain that Emi is actually a compassionate and loving girl who just happens to be passionate or extreme in her feelings toward the world’s greatest enemy.  She really is a sweet person and I hope that we see more of this side of her soon.

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride (Episode 3)

Sorry Kanetsugu but your competition of finding the #1 maid at the dojo is doomed for failure right from the very start.  There can’t be anyone who’s more maid than Hanzou because her character is always a maid.  Sure, right now, everyone is working as a maid in the maid café but these are only costumes worn by the girls to provide a better experience for their customers.  None of these girls are actually maids, they’re only pretending to be.  That is except for Hanzou who’s genuinely a maid and a samurai.  So by trying to hold a competition among the girls to find the #1 is completely asinine when you already have a character who is full-time maid in this series.  And when the plot device that is the maid café dries up eventually, Hanzou will be the only who’s still being a maid in this series since that’s what her character and her costume dictates.  After all that, do you really have to question who the #1 maid is in Hyakka Ryouran?  I think not.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 2)

I can’t figure out which is more intriguing in Valvrave thus far, the whole death/survival/vampirism mechanics going on that allow Haruto to live or the enchanted, supernatural powers that energize and operate the aptly named mecha, Valvrave.  Although both components are inevitably linked to each other, the two are being used to very different degrees in the anime and have fundamentally different roles in the story at this point.  To me, the whole aspect of Haruto’s bite-and-control-someone-else mechanics are more interesting since it can have a wide variety of applications in the story while also being unique in nature.  I’m curious to see how the anime employs this fascinating concept further, especially since I can see it being used for dumb, goofy stuff that Sunrise always likes to do with its stories.  The Valvrave system is the less interesting aspect to me simply because we always find these mobile suits powered with special mechanics that make them the strongest in the series.  Although I am interesting in discovering the source of the light, the operating system that requires the pilot to reject their humanity and the superpowered God-mode, I just find this to be the same old story as we see in any generic mecha anime.  Hopefully there’ll be something there that makes the mobile armor in Valvrave interesting but I can’t say that it captivates me like the life-and-death mechanics going on with Haruto’s character right now.

And yeah, I’m delighted to learn that Shouko is still alive after everyone was crying and complaining about her ‘death’ in the first episode.  Sure, it didn’t surprise me as much because I predicted it would happen after the events of the first episode, but I’m happy either way that she’s back in the series again after a brief absence.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 3)

Given how crazy and fanatical some anime fans are, I seriously wonder if more potatoes will be consumed in Japan, solely because of Sasha’s character and her love of potatoes.  If you remember last week, I tried making my own black pepper fries after watching Hataraku Maou-sama!, and now I’m in the mood for some baked potatoes after watching this episode of Attack on Titan.  I can’t help but wonder if other anime fans around Japan are craving potatoes too, now that we have an endearing, delightful character who loves them and loves eating them.  I guess we should keep our eyes focused on the streets of Akihabara first to see if otaku and anime fans alike are developing a taste for potatoes, especially if any place starts some promotional or Attack on Titan-themed entrees where potatoes are the prominent feature.  And yeah, you can tell I’m really hungry at the time I wrote this piece.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 3)

Although the first three episodes of Gargantia have been relatively turbulent, the weather and the seas have been calm and clear.  Every episode thus far has shown brilliant blue skies above and a peaceful aquamarine ocean below for our heroes to travel on and travel through.  But how long will this tranquil excursion last provided that we know how forceful and terrifying the weather can be?  And seeing as that everyone in Gargantia lives atop this seafaring flotilla and knowing that Red’s mecha is built for space warfare and is not necessarily tailored to Earth, you figure that at some time in the future, stormy waters await our protagonists.  I believe that in some episode soon, a hurricane or a tropical storm of some sort will encroach upon this civilization that lives aboard these floating vessels and in these maritime cities.  And when this happens, I believe the humans will be faced with some extraordinary but remarkable challenges.  I’m not sure how the stormy weather will affect Red’s mecha or Chamber’s performance, but the combination of wind and rain will certainly play some role.  As for the cities themselves, you have to think that any powerful hurricane has the chance to capsize or sink these cities, especially depending on the size of the waves or the speed of the gusts.  If that were to happen, try to imagine how that would impact all the characters and how it would change the composition of their fragile civilization.  I’m already interested to see how these characters will perform against this vengeful and violent form nature rather than continuing stories against other humans or an alien species, especially since there seems to be an environmental message embedded in the story of Gargantia.  If it turns out to be true and there is some human versus nature sequence in Gargantia where the weather plays a vital role in the story, you know I’ll be excited and overjoyed.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 2)

How do you define Misaka’s personality in Railgun?  In Index, it’s easy to define Misaka’s personality since she is the standard tsundere archetype, especially around Touma.  But in Railgun, the character dynamics are altered and her relationships are predominately with Kuroko, Uiharu and Saten.  Not only that but Misaka’s role in Railgun is unlike that of her role in Index with her being both the protagonist and hero here in Railgun.  As a result, Misaka acts differently between the two anime if only slightly.  But given this change, it’s nearly impossible to define her as a tsundere in Railgun since Touma plays a minimal role here and we hardly ever see her switch back and forth between the tsuntsun and deredere.  So how do you define Misaka in Railgun?  I’m perplexed by this issue and curious to see what others thing but the more I think about it, I suppose that Misaka fits the hero archetype in Railgun better than anything else.  Although she does match well with a number of different archetypes, she doesn’t fit one perfectly like she did in Index.  In fact, she’s a bit more plain and ordinary in Railgun compared to Index too, but Misaka is featured better as a character in Railgun and is able to do more as a character, too.  So just what exactly is Misaka in Railgun?  Maybe after another 24 episodes, I’ll have a better idea.

This week: the theme of forgiveness and tolerance in Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride, questioning the utilization of steampunk technologies in Shingeki no Kyojin, those awkward color filters in Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, and beginning to understand and appreciate Emi’s character in Hataraku Maou-sama!

Best episode of the week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending up this week: Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san

Anime trending down this week: Chihayafuru 2

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 4)

For whatever reason, color filters exist in Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge.  Though there appears to be no rhyme or reason why these oversaturating and often baffling filters appear, it seems as if they’re meant to denote a significant or dramatic scene.  That’d be an interesting choice of effect should the scenes that employ these filters be actually significant (or extrapolate to why these are more significant than other scenes) or dramatic.  Instead, these overwhelming colors consume our focus away from the scene in more of a distracting manner than anything empowering.  Not only that but the colors lack intensity and excitement and there doesn’t appear to be any sort of system that denotes what the colors represent, though that’s really the least of our concerns at this point in regards to the anime.  So without any clear indication to what these filters mean and a shaky execution of how they’re used, I can only hope that Crime Edge moves away from this regretful choice in art style and move away from something abstract and toward something tangible to help enhance the anime’s experience.

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation (Episode 4)

Although there are important characters dotted all across Japan, the constant cuts back to HQ and the other JPs departments significantly undermines the plot and action in Devil Survivor 2.  While it’s fine to flip back and forth to show people in different areas doing different things, it only makes sense when they are directly involved in the scene at hand, as it is when the anime switched between Hibiki and Nitta.  The same can’t be said when the anime alternates between the characters in Tokyo, the Kyoto branch of JPs, and the other members of the sizable cast of Devil Survivor 2.  The end result of jumping back and forth between these sites and these characters is an unfocused episode that seems easily distracted and impulsive.  Sure, the characters play an important role in each episode, but the anime doesn’t need to transition between these sites every couple seconds.  Although I don’t mind seeing Makoto a dozen times each episode, her role could effectively be replaced by her barking orders through a cell phone (although, I have to admit, I’d probably complain about this would be lazy animation).  We don’t need reaction shots of all these characters after every single development nor do we need to hear them speak some psychobabble about their computers being hacked or how close they are to being killed because things are suddenly theatrical.  No, what’d help Devil Survivor 2 from here on out would be to focus on the matters at hand, especially during action sequences and battles and save for the cuts back and forth between different sites and different characters for segments that require these characters to converse with each other.  Devil Survivor 2 should strive to have more seamless and uninterrupted episodes, ones that focus its concentration and attention to the characters and matters at hand and stop being so easily sidetracked and preoccupied with characters who aren’t there and aren’t affecting the story.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 4)

The fourth episode of Hataraku Maou-sama! played a fundamental role in solidifying Emi’s character and showing us reasons on why she’s so emotional and so conflicted at her current predicament.  After spending some more time with her character and exposing her backstory in a meaningful manner, we’ve earned some insight into what makes her character so complex, so compelling and so interesting in Maou-sama!  Really, Emi has the strongest personality and the boldest persona in Maou-sama!, but the reasoning behind her character seemed weak and lacking before this episode, especially since she was so intently focused on killing Sadao despite relying on him in this world.  But with the fourth episode spending some quality time on Emi’s past, one which shows her tragically removed from her father due to an escalating war and the eventual death of her father due to the demon armies, you can honestly begin to understand Emi’s motives and appreciate her character better.  In addition to that, you can merge this backstory with what we know of her character from these past three episodes to comprehend the conflicted and anguished profile we see before us.  And while Emi’s story isn’t the most glamorous or stimulating or expressive, it works well for the story and characters of Maou-sama!, especially when you consider that Emi was already the best character in this show.

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride (Episode 4)

Considering that Hyakka Ryouran is a mindless action, ecchi harem anime that spends more time on boobs and panties rather than actual characterization or anything intelligent, it might be surprising to note that this episode successfully incorporated and expressed themes of forgiveness and tolerance in this episode.  Yeah, the episode had a message embedded within it that explored how Juubei’s forgiveness of Gisen and her tolerance toward her manipulation saved her life from certain death and helped Gisen gain acceptance in the dojo.  Yeah, the anime actually had something meaningful and expressive in it which is surprising since there were about a half-dozen pairs of naked breasts in this episode and a nude guy to go with it, too.  Then again, it’s not like this episode focused on this theme intently and developed it into a moral or the entire point of this episode.  Rather, the whole message of forgiveness and tolerance was woven neatly into the immediate story about Gisen informing the girls about Samurai Brides and trying to manipulate them against each other while she benefited from the controlled chaos.  But still, it’s rather impressive to see Hyakka Ryouran have something intelligent and meaningful in it, especially since I thought the anime was a source of purposeless entertainment where my brain could check-out for half an hour.  No, the fourth episode of this season won’t change how I watch this anime or how I appreciate it, but it does show that this anime has some merit behind it and some intelligence backing it up.  It still isn’t the reason to watch this anime nor is it a reason that makes this anime any better… it just means that Hyakka Ryouran has some positive messages in it, which means it’s somewhat more than just T&A for the better part of half-an-hour.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 3)

There’s what’s realistic in an anime, and then there’s suspension of disbelief… and then there’s Valvrave the Liberator, which is in a league of its own right now.  After the third episode of Kakumeiki Valvrave, you really have to wonder if all this hilarious, nonsensical bullshit is supposed to mean anything or if it’s camp-style fun taken way too far in a Sunrise-esque mecha anime.  Like, Valvrave has already gone past the point-of-no-return in terms of its silliness and its implausible actions.  No matter what it does from this point forward, it’ll always be labeled as a series that went too far.  Whether that’s a bad thing or not has yet to be judged, but so far, it’s worked in Valvrave’s favor for unintended (or maybe purposeful) hilarity.  To say that L-Elf’s absolutely perfect planning and escape, even though he had no clue where Haruto would be, when he’d be able to make his escape, how he’d find, carry, set-up and detonate all his explosive within that 15 minute time-frame from when he’d escape and be found, that the ship would be at the exact location and encounter the exact issue that’d render the collision as an earthquake… I mean, this thing goes on forever and this is only one episode.  You could do the same thing for episodes 1 and 2 as well and probably make one for episode 4 and 5 and all the rest if you really wanted to.  The point here is that Valvrave has a certain bizarre charm about it when it comes to being unrealistic and preposterous… but that’s what makes it enjoyable and amusing as a series.  Whether this is good or bad in the long run has yet to be determined, especially with fans evaluating it from differing perspectives and coming to opposing and often conflicting conclusions.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 4)

The steampunk technology in Attack on Titan is quite unique and exhilarating, watching characters fly around with swords drawn that have controls for pressure-controlled hooks and cables that suspend them and launch them through the air.  However, you have to wonder if this is the best use of such a technology in regards to fighting the titans.  For example, what do the soldiers do when there are no trees or walls around for which to attack a giant?  Well, considering that the hooks from the pressurized cables are strong enough to pierce the brick/stone façade of the massive walls, you figure that they can easily pierce the flesh of the titans.  Well then, why don’t they just launch those cables at the titans and use them to pull them down, targeting the legs of these monsters from a couple angles to trip and disable them?  Or better yet, why not just invent guns that use the hooks as a projectile if they’re so effective?  The military technology in Shingeki no Kyojin is rather remarkable but its use and effectiveness really has to be questioned at this point, especially since we keep hearing how the Recon teams are easily decimated when facing even a single titan.  Maybe there’s something else going on that we don’t know about yet, but you figure that there’s gotta be better ways than flying around in only a few select settings and hitting them in the back of neck with swords.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 4)

Since the beginning of the anime, we’ve been in the dark about Red’s character, but the fourth episode of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet offered us some clues about Red that help us understand his character a little better.  What we’ve seen of Red paints him as a traditional overzealous, self-assured, and straightforward soldier who has a set line of thinking and always responds in the manner that best suits him, his army and the entirety of mankind.  His steadfastness in this manner has shown him come into conflict and even begin to question his teachings, especially after meeting various members of the cast and getting to grow friendly with the bold and endearing Amy.  Couple this with the fact that we saw a flashback of him visiting a younger version of himself in some sterile, all-white lab with stasis chambers, and you have to really consider the fact that Red might be a cloned soldier to fight the Hideauze.  After evaluating his appearance and how long he’s been in military combat, how his straightforward way of ‘military thinking’ is almost programmed into his brain to be the best, most-economical fighter, the fact that there’s a younger version of himself somewhere in the universe, and the fact that he is forging an ocarina without knowing what it is or why its significant, seem to indicate that he is a clone or something incredibly similar.  Right now, I’m leaning toward the idea that the humans create clones, even from candidates who are sick and “would otherwise be disposed of”, to fight against the alien races as disposable soldiers.  These clones are designed in a way to be the ideal soldiers, not only in their training but also how they understand and evaluate everything around them.  In regards to the wind instrument that Red is carving, I’m not sure if memories are retained or transferred between the original and the copy, but it does seem like Red remembers his former self having one and wanting to make one too while stranded on Earth.  As for any other details or hints or clues in these past few episodes, I believe that they point toward Red being a clone, though I think it might be best to wait and see how this plays out in the next few episodes.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 3)

One of the best aspects about Railgun is how this side-story provides an alternative perspective on certain events in Index and how the two series compare and contrast with each other.  Consider the story of all the Misaka Sisters who we were introduced to in the first season of Index.  While it seemed like the story was sufficient in that series, we’re able to go back and reexamine the Misaka Sisters again with this new perspective from Railgun.  With this, we’ll be able to learn more about the Sisters and be able to connect it with the events that happened later in Index.  And although this merely appears to be supplemental material to the story in Index, it appears as though there is its own story here for Misaka in Railgun that was never acknowledged (or possibly even through of) when Index documented its story.  It does make me happy to see a story be retold like this through another source and from another angle, almost like two people recalling a single event but from very different backgrounds and who saw very different things.  It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out, especially with how it connects to the Index story, almost as if this is a prequel to those events.

This week: why the beach episode of Suisei no Gargantia is entirely appropriate and meaningful, what we can infer about the settings in Hataraku Maou-sama! and how they will dictate the story from here onward, why I have been impressed with how Devil Survivor 2 handles its extensive cast, and the main reason why we return to Kakumeiki Valvrave every week.

Best episode of the week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending up this week: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride

Anime trending down this week: To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 17)

The finals match against Fujisaki offers the cast of Chihayafuru the opportunity to play against themselves… or at least a doppelganger version of themselves with some minor quirks and differences.  Across from Taichi is someone who seems to be equally as smart but differs in their karuta rank (Class A versus Class B) and openness of their sexuality (obsessive versus reserved for Chihaya).  Nishida’s opponent is also heavy-set and playing with a heavy heart after his brother was removed from the line-up of the finals match.  Tsukuba’s partner is eerily similar to Tsukaba in that they’re both annoying and forgettable and Tsutomu met his opponent, Makoto, when he was scouting Fujisaki, so the two share some knowledge of each other though they seem to be the least parallel among the others.  And of course, Chihaya is matched up against Rion, who like Chihaya is somewhat of a prodigy in karuta though her love for the game is only observable when her grandmother is reciting the poetry.  So with this current set-up, it’s as if we’re looking into a bizarre mirror of Mizusawa when we’re watching them play against Fujisaki.  How this will measure or impact the characters has yet to be seen but, given how similar they are to our familiar cast except for certain specific differences, you figure some type of character development will occur for each player before the final card is claimed.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 5)

I am aware that a majority of school-setting anime have a discernible lack of adults in them, but Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge has been completely devoid of all parents and teachers save for Kashiko’s mother who runs the local beauty parlor.  Hell, in this episode where the schools go out for a camping trip, there weren’t any teachers around, only high school kids who were helping out.  Sure, we’ve seen a handful of other adults in the series but none of them belong in the authoritative role that would otherwise be there to support our cast of characters.  This exclusion of trustworthy adults leaves Kiri and Iwai without anyone to turn to in these dire or zany situations.  Just think about how a parent or a teacher could help Kiri or Iwai, even if it was something minimal.  The fact that there are zero parents and teachers up to this point is somewhat significant in how it fits into the whole ‘death game’ model that Crime Edge seems to enjoy.  With the inclusion of helpful parents and teachers, there would be obstacles and barriers that would otherwise complicate scenes or make them more practical.  And of course, who’d want that in an anime like Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge?

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation (Episode 5)

The cast of Devil Survivor 2 continues to expand and expand with every passing episode and has ballooned to roughly 14 distinctive characters in the span of 5 episodes.  It’s no easy task to introduce so many distinctive characters while executing a story, several extensive battles, and a couple of infodumps that explain the setting and the mechanics.  Rather, I’m actually very impressed and pleased with how Devil Survivor 2 has presented its cast and how its characters fit together with each other.  Why do I feel this way?  Well, for starters, I actually know virtually all of the characters at this point whereas in virtually every other anime this season, I can’t name even half their cast.  Another point is that each has had some significant screentime where I’ve begun to establish a foundation for each character, and I have a general idea of their personalities, too.  The same can’t be said for most anime in regards to their cast.  And each passing episode of Devil Survivor 2 has had meaningful development on its cast, so seeing the various characters of this swelled up cast progress on their own is nothing short of fascinating.  I couldn’t be happier with how Devil Survivor 2 has introduced its cast in these introductory episodes but how it handles them from here out and in regards to the story is still up in the air.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 5)

With the first story arc of Hataraku Maou-sama! eseentially over, I have come to the realization that the two settings that constitute Maou-sama! will serve entirely opposite purposes in this anime moving forward.  Pretty much everything that comes from Earth will be related to the comedy or romance and anything that transpires from the fantasy realm will be related to the story or comedy for either Sadao or Emi.  We can infer this from Maou-sama! given that characters (and thusly, their problems) can travel back and forth between the two realms, thereby linking any events from the fantasy world with Sadao and Emi who are still on Earth.  This means that while the world progresses and the wars wage on, Sadao and Emi can be interrupted at any time for whatever purpose.  As for the events on Earth, not much can happen here that will impact these two characters besides more love-triangle mechanics and comedy.  It is extremely unlikely that a storyline will originate on Earth since we’ve already seen that it doesn’t have any considerable source of magic, that everyone here is already underpowered and that humans have no reason to target Sadao or Emi who are both financially-struggling young adults.  Should something stem from an event or person on Earth, they’ll likely have some assistance and motives that connect it back to the fantasy realm that Sadao and Emi are originally from.  So with that in mind, we can guesstimate how events and storylines will play out merely from the setting from which they occur.  Of course, with new characters being instituted in last episode, things may change slightly but this rule should be the norm from here on out in Maou-sama!

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride (Episode 5)

The ‘beach episode’ is often regarded as one of the worst types of episode there are in anime; a non-essential, unnecessary episode filled with bikini-clad fanservice and recycled comedy that does little more than destroy brain cells.  But when it comes to a series that just doesn’t care what it does, it turns out that the beach episode is easily the best episode. Easily.  Hyakka  Ryouran knows its strengths and knows what its audience wants and it delivered with an episode heavy in both fanservice and comedy.  No, there wasn’t any of that nonexistent plot, lackluster character development or annoy harem antics going on in this episode.  Instead, it was just straight up fun and entertainment in the form of a series of amusing jokes at each character’s expense.  The end result is probably the best episode of this entire sequel (or even possibly series) of Hyakka Ryouran, though there is hope that it will retain this charm for future episodes to come.  Let’s hope the plot of this anime is forgotten and the series just churns out episode after episode like this one.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 4)

The real reason you keep watching Valvrave every week is to see how it will top itself from last week.  After four episodes of absolute absurdity and ridiculousness, Valvrave has quickly become one of the most exciting and entertaining anime of the season and it increases with every inexplicable and silly twist that it pulls out.  Not only that but there have been so many details and motifs embedded in the anime, there’s a sense of purpose to this reckless and ludicrous chaos.  The anime is certainly heading in a direction (which one exactly is yet to be seen) but it makes the journey there worthwhile with every twist and turn imaginable (with several unimaginable ones, too).  Even if it ends up with something messy or nauseating or something completely incoherent, at least the voyage that is the story of Valvrave will have served its purpose as being electrifying, amusing and unquestionably satisfying.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 5)

Alright guys, I know you like your system of steampunk cables and that flying around the forests and cities makes you look cool and all, but… it’s about time we reevaluate your strategies and come up with something that, you know, actually works against these titans.  I mean, when you’re completely ineffective and lose an entire unit in the matter of a few minutes (part of it was their fault for not knowing here the hell their enemy was), you’ve got to step back, look at the situation and say, ‘We’ve got to do something about this.’  Think about all that time that was wasted training these soldiers only for them to end up being the hor d’oeuvers for the invading titans.  All that time and effort and resources… wasted.  And it’s mainly derived from an ineffective and complex method of cables and swords that is extremely difficult to master and even harder to execute in practice.  What’s more is I can’t help but notice is that everyone is using this method, too.  You know, we heard that the methods of cannons worked for a bit, even if it was able to immobilize them for a bit, so why not have a unit of gunners work to immobilize a titan and then have a spiffy sword-cables guy go in and finish him off?  Or maybe do something with fire?  Fire is always effective.  The point here is that mankind relies too heavily on this ineffective method of slaying giants and that you figure, within 5 years of the titans invading the outer wall and causing chaos and turmoil for humanity, that there’d be some better way of taking out these titans than what we currently see.  Maybe as the anime progresses, we’ll see some advancements in military technology that will replace this method of cables and swords and replace it with something much more successful.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 5)

I’m actually rather surprised at the amount of criticism and backlash that’s been levied against the fifth episode of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet.  Whereas people have berated the episode for being nothing more than pointless fanservice layers on a superfluous and expendable narrative, I found the episode to be entirely appropriate for Gargantia, especially with its current placement in the series.  Really, isn’t this what Gargantia is supposed to be?  Consider the series thus far from Ledo’s perspective: he’s spent his entire life in the military, fighting against a freak alien race, and always thinks and evaluates everything in a strictly economic and effective manner.  Chamber informs him that, following the battle he participated in during the opening scenes of the first episode, that he would be given a chance to vacation which Ledo contemplated the purpose of.  With him crashed and stranded on Gargantia, he’s had to quickly adjust to a completely different lifestyle where he tries to find his purpose on Gargantia.  Furthermore, his own steadfast and failsafe philosophy is being challenged too, by Bevel, who asks him what he would do with his life once the war is over.  Not only that but Bevel is a chronically ill child who, according to Ledo, has no value and would otherwise be disposed of back in space.  What this has done is place Ledo in a very upsetting and perplexed situation, one in which he begins to question the foundations and teaching of his entire life.  And now, with the fifth episode of Gargantia, Amy and the girls decide to introduce Ledo to ‘fun and relaxation’.  Yes, the whole point of this beach episode was to place Ledo in another distressing situation, one in which he was searching for a purpose in his presence here but quickly escalated into a time of enjoyment and pleasure.  It just so happened that this episode turned out to be a bit sexy and wacky with the bikini-clad girls sunbathing and the regrettable crossdressers chase, but each of those points were there to heighten or enhance the amusement and entertainment of the audience.  In fact, the use of fanservice and comedy in this episode was likely a method of conveying the fun that Ledo was supposed to feel to the audience.  Hell, look at the two missions that Ledo and Amy were sent on: get steak sauce for the barbecue and turn on some sprinklers.  Like, the whole point of this episode was to show Ledo how to have fun and the anime wanted to have fun with the audience.  Now I completely understand that many anime fans don’t care to see underage girls prance around in skimpy swimsuits or see banal crossdressers acting flamboyant over a cute guy’s ass, but I feel that the intent and message of the episode was communicated to the audience effectively.  This episode is entirely appropriate for Gargantia and one of the best at forcing Ledo to question his past as a soldier in the military.  To say that this episode was a mistake or a disaster is to ignore what Gargantia is about.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 4)

Really?  Did we get an entire episode of Railgun where nothing happened?  Like, some anime can pull that off with either comedy or general slice-of-life storylines, but nothing significant or worthwhile happened to Misaka the entire episode.  From start to finish, nothing literally happened.  I don’t mind that we saw the maturity of a Misaka Imouto clone and that Misaka came across one in the very final scene, but the rest of the episode was an absolute waste.  I don’t often contemplate dropping an anime after I begin it but these first four episodes of Railgun are really tempting me.

This week: thoughts on the lack of an education system in Suisei no Gargantia and how it impacts its society, making the best character in Railgun even better, the surprisingly intelligent and effective humor in Shingeki no Kyojin, and my fascination with the audiences in Chihayafuru 2.

Best episode of the week: Chihayafuru 2

Anime trending up this week: To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

Anime trending down this week: Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai 2

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 18)

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Chihayafuru, more amazing than even the karuta players themselves, is the audience members that observe and commentate over the matches.  For the finals match occurring in these recent episodes, this role has largely been reserved to Kanade, among others, who is sitting out with an injured, swollen finger.  What I find absolutely astonishing about these audience members is that they are able to watch all five concurrent matches simultaneously and provide commentary for each.  What’s more, their commentary is always accurate, appropriate and insightful.  And whenever something significant or special happens to one of the players, such as after their internal monologue about how they need to correct themselves, they are right there to back up that moment with some worthwhile claim or commentary.  So while all these characters are subjected to sitting in the back of the playing hall, these characters are all eagle-eyed spectators who create roles for themselves in the anime despite being coaches, benchwarmers or other fans of the game.  What these characters are able to do, to watch, understand and commentate on 5 individual matches occurring at the same time, is nothing short of remarkable in Chihayafuru.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 6)

Given the frequent reminder that Iwai’s hair is virtually indestructible, appearing to be susceptible to only a select variety of the Killing Goods, you’d figure that Iwai would learn to use her hair to her advantage.  That is, you’d hope that Iwai would learn to use her hair as an insurmountable shield or barrier during all these attempted murders.  Then again, from what we’ve seen in the story, it only appears to work against blades that try to cut, trim or shear the hair, but you figure that it would expand to other forms of attack given its role and purpose in the story.  Now, I’m not saying that the characters should test this theory out and try to fire bullets at her hair or burn it with fire or acid, but you figure that Iwai’s hair would defend against even those forms of assault.  So given the nature and indestructability of Iwai’s hair, you would think that someone would devise a plan to train Iwai in how to use her hair to ward off attacks and attackers to increase her survival.  And if any of the characters were intelligent enough to implement such a crazy and cunning strategy, who knows, maybe one day Iwai will be able to repay Kiri back for everything when she uses her hair to block a bullet or blade to save his life.  Then again, you figure Kiri would want something else from Iwai given his infatuation with her, but I’m sure saving his life is fine with him, too.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 6)

Given the duration of their extended stay and their acquired knowledge of urban Japan’s elaborate and perplexing society and structure, you can’t help but wonder why Sadao and Emi haven’t landed better jobs yet.  There are a number of factors present that would suggest the two could and would find better work, too.  From what we’ve seen in their decorative pasts, both characters are intelligent, charismatic and dynamic, skills that they could put to much better use than managing a fast-food restaurant and dealing with angry/stupid people on the phone all day.  Not only that but the two characters have both shown a desire to move up in this world, though Sadao is narrow-minded in his approach and could reconsider for something more along his goal of world domination.  And while it’s true that neither has any education, training or work experience, you could consider a host of jobs that Sadao and Emi would potentially qualify for if they just sought employment in those fields.  For example, Sadao would definitely earn more money working in the construction or manufacturing industries provided he demonstrated his competence, diligence and industriousness, not to mention that either would be better suited for his theme of world domination.  As for Emi, a career in modeling doesn’t seem outrageous given her appearance and charisma, though advertising herself like that would make her an easier target for assassins or something.  If not, Emi would also be aptly suited for construction or manufacturing too, among other occupations, considering her history as the Hero of an entire world.  But enough about trying to pigeonhole jobs to these characters based on the limited information we’ve been given, the point of this review was to highlight the fact that they’ve been living in Japan for several months now and have yet to find better employment than what they originally secured.  After learning, adapting and assimilating to Japanese culture, you’d think that Sadao, Emi and all the other characters from Ente Isla would be readjusting their position and moving up in the world.  Oh, and they have magic too, so why not use that a couple of times and fabricate a degree or some cash cards or something?

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 5)

Every time you see A-Drei, you see H-Neun.  And every time you see H-Neun, you see Q-Vier.  Oh, and you also see X-Eins, too.  Like, any time you see one of these characters, you see the other three, too.  All four of those characters are always together… always together, whether they’re waltzing around a school during a mission, saluting their supreme leader or sitting around the longue watching highschoolers sing about how much better their lives are than their friends and families who are living under an oppressive military occupation.  It’s as if they’re all joint at the hip with each other, creating some awkward circumstances of a quartet of dudes walking in a square facing outward (and don’t even ask how they’d go to the bathroom, let alone sit in a chair).  But whenever you see those four characters, you only really see one: A-Drei.  Pretty much what I’m getting at is that these 4 characters are pretty much one personality at this point, which is dominated by A-Drei who has a personal vendetta against L-Elf.  The other three characters, though proficient soldiers and spies, have done little to establish their character in this series and are effectively just another piece of A-Drei’s character.  Sure, every time you see A-Drei, you see three other characters but, at the same time, you only see A-Drei since he’s the only one of the four that matters.  It’s kinda awkward at this point but all that needs to happen for these other characters to establish themselves is to break away from the group and have the anime spend some time on them individually.  But until then, I’m going to think of this quartet as some chimeric beast with four heads where only one matters, almost like a Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy boss.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 6)

Despite Attack on Titan constantly dealing with fear, torment and death, the series has some surprisingly good, intelligent humor embedded throughout.  Furthermore, the comedy is spread nicely throughout, even incorporating it into more serious or dramatic scenes.  And the types of comedy presented in Attack on Titan are incredibly diverse too, ranging from the wacky, nonconformist characters, to the visual sight gags (I am positive some of those Titan designs are done on purpose for this season), to the clever one-liners.  What’s more, is that the constant feeling of dread and danger throughout has a further enhancement of the comedy since it feels less predictable than when comparing it to straight-up comedy or slice-of-life anime.  For example, if this were a comedy, you might expect to see a silly Titan run down a narrow thoroughfare and not be as surprised.  In Attack on Titan, however, when you see the little girl point back and ask her mommy what’s going on, you figure it’s going to be some heinous, bloodthirsty monster ready to pounce on the crowd and devour the girl or her mother.  Nope, instead it’s some silly Titan speeding down the road without a care in the world.  It is moments like these where the humor in Attack on Titan is most effective and further enhances the entertainment aspect of this anime.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 6)

Even though Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is debatably the best school anime of this season, with Ledo being the mysterious transfer student who can’t quite fit in at his new high school which is the sandbox that Gargantia represents, there is a surprising lack of generalized and specialized knowledge among the seafarers of this floating flotilla.  But then again, given the structure and functionality of this ocean-crawling society, is an education system really necessary?

The issue was originally highlighted when Ledo questioned Chamber on why all the children were running around and playing on the deck when they should be diligently studying in a military academy.  The fact that there is no education or training system in place on Gargantia (except for maybe a system of apprenticeship) means that this human society is largely uneducated and unskilled.  For example, there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of industry or manufacturing on Gargantia.  Instead, virtually everything obtained and used in this anime, from the skimpy bikinis the girls wear to the giant, underwater robots to the metal used to repair the ships, comes from whatever source the people are able to successfully salvage.  Ah, but this brings up a good counterargument to which one would address that an education system would be unnecessary on Gargantia.  Why would the people need to study and train when virtually every occupation on this ship is selling goods, providing services, and the trio of fishing, farming, and salvage.  There really isn’t any capacity for people to work in any industry on Gargantia given its unique situation nor is there a need for people to study and research the world given what’s going on.  Suppose that if the people were somehow educated enough to develop an electrical system to harness the energy of tiny, electric ocean bugs, these people wouldn’t have the resources or equipment to create such devices.

The fact of the matter is that an education system is largely unnecessary in Gargantia and that society is surviving and functional as it currently is.  The problem, however, is that this lifestyle is unsustainable and that they’ll eventually run into issues of scarcity, especially if there are issues with salvaging goods and materials.  But again, at that point, would an education system really be appropriate to addressing the problem that stems from a lack of resources?  Really, the topic is entirely debatable, but my stance on the issue is, even though it is somewhat surprising to see an advanced society exist without any form of an education or training system in place, it makes sense given the unique setting that is Gargantia.  Of course, it is worth noting that this argument is based off my own observations of this anime and that there is no industry/manufacturing on Gargantia, unless we want to believe that there are factories onboard creating nylon and spandex for revealing swimwear and others creating microchips for the variety of aquatic robots among other products.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 5)

Misaka Imouto has always been the best character in the Index/Railgun franchise and now they’ve made her better.  Not only was Misaka Imouto 9982 clever, amusing and enjoyable as a character but her story, from conception to extinction, was very expressive and endearing, something that I greatly appreciate in an anime.  Watching her go from an indistinguishable and featureless clone, incubating in a status tube in some research facility, to whatever range of emotions she left before being crushed to death, was a character story that came across as disturbing, depressing but also entirely satisfying.  You can’t help but feel some compassion and empathy for the young girl, who makes a genuine friend with her original, before fulfilling her purpose and dying in a dubious experiment.  The whole story felt complete and appropriate, forcing Misaka to change and act in regards to the experiment, and with the added bonus of comedy that helped make Misaka Imouto 9982 both hilarious and engaging.  It is a shame to see such an enjoyable character meet such a premature demise, but hopefully we’ll see some other clones appear to help fulfill her void and continue to expand on the curious role that is Misaka Imouto.

Last week: appreciating the dramatic visuals of Chihayafuru 2, the use of bright, dazzling colors in Suisei no Gargantia, the divergence of Chiho’s life in Hataraku Maou-sama!, and the sudden emotions and expressiveness of Mikasa in Shingeki no Kyojin.

As always, since we’ve reached the halfway point of this season, the order of the shows will now reverse, now starting with Railgun 2 and finishing with Chihayafuru 2.

Best episode of the week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending up this week: Chihayafuru 2

Anime trending down this week: Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 6)

Although you wouldn’t expect an anime to present and debate various issues in the field of medical ethics, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S does a fine job of raising the question with the role of Misaka’s DNA and the purpose of the clones in this Sisters story arc.  The part in particular I found fascinating is when Shinobu found Misaka sitting silently on a street bench and the two began discussing the Sisters Project.  What surprised me about Misaka’s character is how she seems to be more intent on getting revenge against the researchers who lied to her and used her DNA for cloning purposes rather than ending the project and saving the 10,000 clones of her that are schedule to die.  Of course, she’d love to stop the project herself if she could, it’s just surprising to see that her mind starts off with that subject first rather than saving the clones of her that are specimens in this experiment.  Of course Railgun doesn’t go much further or explore the topic of medical ethics in greater detail, but it does provide some discourse for the topics relevant to the story, presents it in a way that’s easy to understand and does it in a way that doesn’t force the audience to feel one way or another.  It’s rather distinctive and fascinating to see an anime present something in this field without making the issue one-sided or having the villains be cartoonishly evil.  It’s actually rather respectable how the series presents a subject of a stimulating nature like this, and I certainly hope to see more ethical questions as this Sisters arc continues.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 7)

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is an anime of colors; bright, vivid and happy colors.  That is until this episode which ditched the otherwise sunny mood of the previous episodes and featured a number of serious and intense scenes between the characters and their potential alien threat.  As a result, the change in the atmosphere shifted the anime from its cheerful, easygoing self to one that was somber and serious. And of course, the dazzling colors were affected too, being dampened and darkened to reflect this change.  I’ve always found the use of colors in Suisei no Gargantia to be expressive and demonstrative of the mood and the general feel of the characters, presenting Gargantia and its cast as simplistic and relaxed compared to Ledo and Chamber who exist merely to defeat the Hideauze.  In fact, that’s why I believe Ledo’s and Chamber’s color schemes are so neutral and plain compared to the vivid and colorful cast.  However, with the Hideauze being located on Earth and Ledo seeking to restart his mission of eradicating this threat, the series lost some of its intensity and brightness and turned to something darker and something much more serious.  As the series continues to progress toward its climax between Ledo and the alien invaders, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the dazzling colors fade away, especially if there’s more conflict and emotion between the characters to reflect his mood.  That’s not to say that the brilliant display of colors and the visual appeal of the series will be lost as we reach the second half of the series but that the feeling of this series has gone from sunny to cloudy, possibly approaching stormy, and that Gargantia has seen its colors change accordingly, becoming muted and nowhere near as vivid or vibrant.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 7)

Mikasa has always been a quiet, stoic character, choosing to remain calm and collected rather than showing her emotions like every other character in Attack on Titan.  However, the seventh episode of Titan showed a dramatic change in her personality and how she responded to various stimuli.  In fact, it can all be traced back to the moment she learned Armin that Eren was a delicious appetizer for some random Titan.  Ever since that moment, Mikasa has showed a range of emotions on her face, contrasting greatly with her previous self and becoming more like the other characters of the cast who express their emotions so well.  The whole episode is really demonstrative and expressive of Mikasa’s character and how much Eren and her family means to her.  Not only that but she responded to emotion from others as well, something that wasn’t necessarily evident in previous episode.  Still, this might be a momentary hiatus of her character as she vents and unleashes all her emotions as once, only to return to her resigned and peaceful self thereafter, but I’d love to see this Mikasa endure for the remainder of the series, especially with how effective and rousing her emotions were in this episode.  Not to say that I didn’t like the old Mikasa who was always stoic and emotionless but that this is an improvement on her character, be finally validating her emotions and actions in an appropriate and satisfying manner.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai. 2 (Episode 7)

Waiting this long to have Sena finally appear and have a part in an episode is criminal.  Criminal, I tell ya!  At least she’s still as hyper and horny and excited as ever, so that’s still fine.  That and it took forever for something to happen to Kuroneko too, although you figured it was only a matter of time in this sequel.  Still, you really have to wonder about the direction of the series when the content thus far has effectively removed the two best characters of the series for so long.  Well, at least now it seems that OreImo 2 is on the right track, so let’s hope it stays this way from here on out.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 6)

Seeing as Module 77 is floating around aimlessly in space (or so it appears), you have to wonder why Dorssia or the ARUS are having trouble with it.  Think about it for a second and the solution seems really simple for either side.  Imagine Dorssia attacks Module 77, much like it did in this episode, and baits the Valvraves away from the ship to fend off its attackers… why not then have another ship approach Module 77 and hold it hostage?  It’s not like Module 77 has any way to defend itself, especially if the Valvraves are pulled away to fight somewhere away from their home base.  Hell, it shouldn’t be this hard for the most powerful force in the universe to fight a highschool with giant robots.  Of course, we can’t have imagination or creativity on the part of the antagonists in this series because it would otherwise end the series at episode 6, well before the entertainment and value of the series is delivered.  As for the ARUS, the nation that has pledged to protect Module 77 from JIOR, why not have them steer Module 77 toward their territory?  After all, with Module 77 floating around in space, it shouldn’t be too hard for a few ships to steer it toward the ARUS’s Dyson sphere or Earth or wherever.  It’s not like the kids will be able to do much about it, especially since they wouldn’t want to start a war with the ARUS while already needing to fend off Dorssia’s frequent assaults and occupation of JIOR.  Not only that but I’m sure there are other methods for either side to turn the war in their favor and to force Module 77 and the Valvraves to cooperate with their side.  You figure something will happen that will eventually break this stalemate, though you have to figure it’ll be Dorssia given that they’re the aggressor in this current situation.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 7)

Consider the challenges and difficulties in everyone’s lives.  Whether it is attempting to conquer two realms, trying to slay the world’s greatest evil, or finding the simplest route between two dimensions while conserving as much magic as possible, everyone faces some unique burden that makes their life stressful, strenuous or, at the very least, problematic.  Oh, and then you have Chiho, who goes to school, has a part-time job and an obvious crush on the cute guy at work.  To say her life is simple would be wrong to ignore all that she’s going through as a budding teenager, but, by shifting perspective and comparing her to everyone else in Hataraku Maou-sama!… yeah, her life is simple in light of all those zany characters.  And really, the contrast between her and the rest of the cast is rather quite stark.  Not only does she not have to worry about finding her way back home, or at least not through crossing dimensions with unfathomable amounts of magic, but she doesn’t have to worry about fighting or fending off mysterious assassins, so long as she still is friends with Sadao and Emi.  Oh, and unlike the characters that migrated here from Ente Isla, she never had to look for a home or find a job to survive.  What’s more, since she’s receiving a formal education by going to school, she’ll have access to more jobs that are easier and earn better pay in the future.  And in addition to that, she probably has plenty of friends in Japan too, so she doesn’t need to rely on a tight circle of otherworlders from Ente Isla.  It is rather amusing to see how different her life is when compared to the rest of the cast in Maou-sama!, especially since she is one of the main characters of the series and spends most of her time with Sadao or Emi.  Of course, because of that, you figure she’ll be tied up in some of their crazy situations as the series goes on, possibly even making the trip to Ente Isla in the near future.  But even so, Chiho is easily the most fortunate of this anime by leading the easiest and simplest life in Hataraku Maou-sama!

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation (Episode 7)

Finally, some humility!  After virtually the entire first half of the series flipping between too heavy and melodramatic, Devil Survivor 2 introduced some lighthearted entertainment, fun and fanservice in the seventh episode to show that it doesn’t take itself as seriously as it once did.  Although this episode did dabble in questions of saving mankind, what defines a human or humanity, and all that jazz, this episode also played around a bit with the required physicals and the cast just having some downtime together without any of the Septentriones around to bother anyone.  Not only that but it helped expand some of the newer, better characters too, like Otome, Joe and Airi.  Perhaps the series needed to wait until three of its better characters showed up but it’s finally capitalizing on its cast by having them differentiate parts of the series to make it more fun, endearing and definitely more enjoyable.  Although we shouldn’t expect this transition from serious to fun for much longer, especially with the next impending attacks, it does provide some hope for more lighthearted fun and entertainment in the future, especially with the climax still a few episodes away.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 7)

Given the budgeted time and bulky story that is Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, I can’t help but wonder how Kiri and Iwai spend their time when they’re not preventing the next attempted murderer from obtaining their wish.  Although each episode focuses intently on developing the Killing Goods and the few central characters of the series, quite a bit of time has passed since Kiri and Iwai met on that fateful day.  And though we know that Kiri gives Iwai those daily haircuts at no charge, the rest of the time has been omitted.  We can assume that the two lead characters see each other during this time given their proximity to each other in the series and the need for Kiri to be present, with Crime Edge, to give Iwai her necessary haircuts.  But do they go out together as a couple?  Do they stay indoors, in the mansion, and play Uno all day?  I’m really quite curious about the extent and reality of their relationship outside these various killing sprees by the other characters and how their relationship has evolved in the eyes of their friends or the public in general.  I suppose that with the limited number of episodes and the extensive story that is Crime Edge, we won’t be treated to any episodes that explore this subject adequately, but there have been plenty of hints in the previous episodes to suggest one solution or another.  Still, with one of the most pivotal and interesting aspects of the anime being the relationship between Kiri and Iwai, I wish there was some more dedicated material to the subject rather than another episode of “criminal-of-the-week-with-murder-weapon-that-is-something-stupid-that’s-gonna-lose-to-Kiri”.  Fortunately for me, it seems that this formula is about to end, at least with the anime approaching the climax in the upcoming weeks.

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 19)

Just about every aspect of Chihayafuru is outstanding and I could go on and on about virtually any subjective or objective trait of this anime.  This week, I want to highlight the its excellence in how it arranges and presents its visuals, particularly the shots where several characters are positioned together in relation to a moment or scene.  Like the main image of this review, a scene showing the anxiety of the audience moments before the final card is claimed, these shots are rather quite frequent and always remarkable.  What makes each of these shots visually appealing is how everything is arranged, with the characters placed as such with various contrasting colors and enhancing filter, and how you’re able to witness the character’s expressions while simultaneously seeing what causes them to have these emotions.  It communicates the scene effectively and expresses the emotions, or in this case, the passion suitably.  Even if you already felt the anxiety, this shot reinforced that feeling for the audience by echoing it with the spectators.  And though this is just one example, there are many other shots like this where you have the characters staged in such a fashion that really emphasizes the mood or the moment.  It’s really quite fascinating to see these shots in anime as they are saved for only the most dramatic or shocking of moments.  And when given the opportunity here, Chihayafuru makes the most of it with how well it presents these images, aesthetically and demonstratively.

Last week: the re-sensitization to death in Kakumeiki Valvrave, the complexities of saying ‘farewell’ in Suisei no Gargantia, individual versus team karuta matches in Chihayafuru 2 and a thrilling, informative look inside the police department in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S.

Best episode of the week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending up this week: Chihayafuru 2

Anime trending down this week: Devil Survivor 2 the Animation

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 7)

*Academy City Police Headquarters, Criminal Investigation Division*

“Hey, Steve.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“A couple fires broke out at research labs again last night.”

“Really?  Again?  How many is that now?”

“Uh… that’s a total of 12 in the past 3 nights now.”

“Geez, sounds like we’ve got a serial arsonist on the loose now, targeting just these research labs.  I wonder what they’re after…”

“Shall we head out to the sites to begin the investigation?”

“Nah, I have a better idea.  You know that Judgment whatchamacallit.”

“You mean those middle-schoolers who are paid minimum-wage and who go around the city thinking they’re, like, ancillary police staff but just glorified hall monitors?”

“Yeah, those kids.  Let’s have them take care of this investigation for us.  Why not?”

“Wait, what?  I thought they were only there to discipline delinquents and punks and whatnot.  Now you want them solving crimes?”

“Since when have they been doing just that?  Maybe in the first episode or two, but since then they’ve always involved themselves in these major crimes one way or another.”

“What about Anti-Skill?”

“What about them?”

“Why not have them take over this investigation?  Hell, they’re pretty much the only active police force in this city.”

“Yeah, but they’re here for, like, hostage situations and terrorists attacking and that sorta junk.  You never see them pushing paperwork, performing investigations or hell, when was the last time you saw them in court?  Plus they always have Judgment around with them to help for whatever reason.  You figure a SWAT team would need kids around for help?  Puh-leeze.”

“So, you mean you want to have some unqualified, ill-equipped kids go around the city, investigating some serial arsonist who’s caused hundreds of millions of dollars [convert to yen if you wanna get serious about it… as you can tell, I’m not] in damage, probably putting them up against some armed, deranged criminal, quite possibly an esper with the capability of killing these kids within seconds?  What are you thinking?”

“Well, honestly, those kids pretty much do all the work for us in the city.  Since when have you seen the police do anything in Academy City?”

*momentary silence*

“Exactly.  Let’s just drop a line with those kids over at Judgment, let them squeal with excitement, and in a few days, the arsons will stop and the case will be over.”

“Okay… well what about the triple homicide from yesterday, what…”

“Judgment.”

“And about how the Roman Catholic Church is sending their army to…”

“Judgment.”

“And…”

“Judgement.”

“So… what do we do here at the Police Headquarters here in Academy City?”

“See that fridge over there?” says Steve, pointing aimlessly toward the break room, “Why doncha grab us both a beer, sit back, and let these kids handle all this shit for us?”

And that’s my impression of how Judgment has the jurisdiction and power it does in Railgun.  The End.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 8)

Farewells aboard Gargantia are probably about as frequent as there are non-fanservicey episodes of this anime; not at all that common.  The reason why there aren’t more farewells in this setting is because ships don’t want or need to secede from Gargantia, mainly because there are more services and opportunities for the individuals that join with these other ships and that there’s safety in numbers, especially for a fleet as large as Gargantia.  As a result, Gargantia typically only sees growth in its community and an expansion of its fleet, joining new ships into its network and integrating them into this flourishing society. Given the structure of this setting and how these communities form, people aren’t free to move whenever they want, simply because there is no land, no other cities and no jobs to drive them elsewhere.  Not only that but given the system of contracts and political regulations, it’s not easy to earn independence, especially if there are forces opposed to those breaking away.  And what if you don’t own the ship, how would you even begin departing from Gargantia if you have no control over the ship in the first place?  However, that’s not to say that there are arguments or disputes or other events that cause ships to break away from Gargantia, as we saw with this episode.  However, you’d have to imagine that these encounters are quite rare and that for the people affected by these changes, the departure is quite an exceptional and stressful experience.  Since people don’t usually part from each other, they simply aren’t experienced at handling these departures.  There’s no reason why Amy, Saaya and Melty didn’t expect that they’d grow old together as best friends for their entire lives.  So how do you say goodbye, possibly forever, with no other forms of communication once their ships are below the horizon?  It’s gotta be real tough for these girls to say ‘sayonara’ to each other, much more than what we’re used to as an audience.  I wish the episode had emphasized this more when Amy and Melty were talking to each other, making the departure harder on the two characters than what we saw, but the scene came across as satisfactory for what we should expect.  Still, I thought that the two seeing each other for the last time (or so it seems) would be something more emotional and sentimental than what we received.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 8)

So, is Attack on Titan a mecha anime now?  Not quite but it’s getting there with the eighth episode of Shingeki no Kyojin, with it being revealed that Eren was inside the Titan, supposedly piloting it like how we imagine mecha pilots control their robots.  Still, there are plenty of differences between this monster and the humanoid robots of mecha anime and other differences in structure, enemies, fighting and setting that keep the two distinguishable from each other… but you can’t help but think of this as somewhat similar to a mecha anime given how Eren harnessed the titan for himself and saved the day with his spontaneous heroics.  Maybe as the series goes on and the mechanism is explained, then maybe it will evolve into some derivative of a mecha anime at that point.  But for now, Attack on Titan is still that incredible steampunk/fantasy-action hybrid that we’ve come to love and appreciate.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 7)

Have you been desensitized to death in Valvrave yet?  Well, after seven spectacularly eventful episodes (and even then, that’s still being meager to what’s transpired), you probably are like Inuzuka, witnessing a bloody and lifeless Haruto and thinking, “Oh boy, not this again!” But when the twisted, grisly corpse of Sakurai floats by, you can’t help but feel similar to Inuzuka who quickly turned from nonchalant to ghastly in two seconds flat.  Just seeing her gruesome body there, floating aimlessly among the wreckage of the war field, really emphasizes death again in this series, one in which we’ve seen Haruto survive twenty or so bullets, stab wounds and other assaults that would surely kill any non-vampire human and Shouko miraculously surviving a giant laser blast.  Having Sakurai’s death here, the first ‘authentic’ death of the series, does well to refocus the audience into its bearing and magnitude.  Before, death was just another typical event in the daily lives of these high-schoolers, nothing too strange or exciting, especially after seeing Inuzuka’s reaction to Haruto’s latest “death”.  But now, death has some meaning to it, some weight to it now and it begins to lose that sensitization that we felt once before.  Of course, when it comes to Haruto and any of the other Valvrave pilots, we will still continue to be desensitized to their deaths and whatnot, but now we have to reevaluate how to feel about the remainder of the cast, those unfortunate folks who don’t get to reset once their life counter hits zero.  It just goes to show how impactful and influential Sakurai’s death really is for Valvrave.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 8)

It’s rather amusing to see Emi, who’s only lived in Japan for a couple of months, to be the supposed expert of Earth to Ente Isla residents when chaperoning Suzuno around Tokyo.  Of course, when assessing the situations of these characters, it makes the most sense for Emi to be in this position, having lived on Earth longer than any other Ente Isla human, actually knows the people and culture of Ente Isla, and she is an intelligent, caring and typically tolerant person, too.  Still, it’s humorous to see people go to her for information about Earth when she herself is still a stranger in this strange land.  Emi herself is no expert at Japan by any means, especially since she still is preoccupied with a stressful, minimum-wage job that dictates her schedule and is stalking an eccentric guy who works at the fast-food chain the next neighborhood over, but she’s the best available option for any travelers who are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of Ente Isla, looking for something nice and quiet in Japan.  I suppose as the series goes on and Emi becomes more accustomed to Japan, she might be able to help better situate travelers from between the two realms, especially if she can coordinate and secure proper housing and employment for Ente Isla residents before making the trip through space-time.  You also have to wonder if Emi’s influence will also affect Ente Isla too, in that her presence and expertise in Japan will translate to changes in the culture or customs in Ente Isla, such as bringing over food and festivities that Emi might particularly like (although I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what Chiho does whenever she makes the expected trip to Ente Isla in the near future).  The point here is that while it is hilarious to see Emi guide people around Japan as the resident expert from Ente Isla, she really is the only one suitable for such a position given how everyone else has zero experience compared to her couple months of experience.

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation (Episode 8)

You know, up until the point when the sky began dissolving into that black nothingness known as the Void, I began to think that the deaths in this anime were absolute.  That these characters were gone.  That they were actually dead.  But no, with something as outrageous and bizarre as the sky itself disappearing, you know that the ending will need to be something so outlandish, so extraordinary that Hibiki will need to recreate the world or something and thus, bring back all his friends that died during these battles with the Septentriones.  Like, for a moment, I was kinda happy to see an anime that wasn’t afraid to kill its most enjoyable and amusing characters, but with this twist in the plot, you figure that with something so irreversible as the existence of the entire world fading, that death is just a minor obstacle in what the eventual end of Devil Survivor 2 the Animation will be.  I can’t say I’m terribly surprised by this turn of events but I’m still disappointed all the same.  The one good thing to look forward to is that we’ll eventually get to see the return of Otome and Joe at some point, so maybe I should be thankful I’m getting that rather than nothing to look forward to for the finale.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 8)

Okay, seriously, who has a play going on during the middle of a formal dinner party?  Like, there aren’t any chairs or tables for them to sit down and enjoy the show, people probably have their view blocked if they’re trying to watch in the back, and what about all the people who still wanna walk around and converse with each other?  I wonder if the crew working on Dansai Burni no Crime Edge were trying to think of fancy, formal events and came up with “dinner party” and “play” and decided to synergize them together to create a new paradigm that defines fanciness and formality and ‘really serious important adult stuff’.  Too bad it sucked.

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 20)

Although it feels as though we’ve been in the team tournaments for the entire season of Chihayafuru 2 (not really, only since episode 3 onward!)… wait, has it really been that long?  Yeah, it seems we’ve been focusing on pretty much just these team style matches for the entire second season of Chihayafuru, something that has been both outstanding and gratifying but also quite stubborn and tiring.  While the entire story arc was undoubtedly fascinating and intriguing, the constant wear and tear of watching team match and team match really gets to you, especially after 17 episodes worth of it.  That’s not to say I don’t still enjoy these karuta matches but I markedly prefer the individual matches more than the team ones.  And it was the same with the first season of Chihayafuru, when I enjoyed the series watching the team matches but fell in love with it during the individual tournament matches in the second half.  The main reason for my difference in enjoyment is that these matches focus on a character on their own than compared to the team matches when it focuses on several characters.  Here, in the individual matches, there isn’t anyone else to help them out should they have an issue they can’t overcome; it’s just them alone and their challenge across from them.  Furthermore, the opponents of the individual matches were much more interesting and were developed to a greater degree than any of the previous team match opponents.  And on top of that, the matches have a different style, a different flow and a different feel to them that make them feel quicker, more concise and easily, easily more dramatic.  So with that, I am looking forward to the individual tournament for the remainder of the second season of Chihayafuru… but the only problem between this season and the last is that there are hardly any episodes left in this season.  The only thing that this singles to me is at this tournament will be cut shorter than the one last year and that this season of Chihayafuru, according to my opinion, spent way too much time on the team tournament than on the individual matches.  Then again, I should probably reserve my criticisms for the series until after everything has emerged, but still, with so few episodes left, I think I can get away with being a little preemptive on this irritating issue.

This week: rants against the esper level system in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, why I hate student governments in anime with Kakumeiki Valvrave, setting up Rion for much more in Chihayafuru 2, and the stereotypical sad backstory for lolis in Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge.

Best episode of the week: Yuyushiki

Anime trending up this week: Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai. 2

Anime trending down this week: Kakumeiki Valvrave

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 10)

To me, the whole esper ranking and classification system is odd and incorrect.  First off, the ranking scale is based on how powerful and how useful their abilities are.  I can understand that, but what type of criteria is used to evaluate it?  I’m sure if you ask around, you’d see that people have different opinions on what makes an esper strong and what makes their abilities useful.  Take Kuroko’s Teleport for example.  With a little bit of creativity, she could literally be the most powerful character in all of Academy City.  So why is she stuck at being a Level 4, especially since her abilities are some of the most practical in everyday life and in battle, and not among the elite in Level 5?  And why does the series treat this classification system as scientific fact?  Is there a device or instrument out there that’s calibrated from Level 0 to Level 5 that accurately measures a person’s ESP-ness?  The method employed by Academy City, the System Scan, is certainly questionable as a way to assign levels, especially after missing people like Touma.  And what scientific measures are they using to determine their powers?  What exactly do they think they’re measuring and how do they have scientists that work off this system to enhance their powers?  Like, how is it theoretical that Accelerator can be the only Level 6 with his abilities?  How do they know there’s room for improvement or that Misaka’s Electromaster can’t become Level 6 on her own?  Hell, just look at what Misaka can do with her ability, including hacking into intricate computer systems, cling to and run on walls, sense spatial movements through electromagnetic disturbances, and the ability to control anything metallic, just to name a few.  Really, the whole idea of this scientific esper ranking system is just wrong, especially with how people treat is as an understood fact.  To me, the level system for espers is opinion rather than fact.  And as a result, it should be treated as an opinion and that people should reconsider the esper abilities on their actual strength and usefulness rather than being assigned a number based on some suspect scientific instructions.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 11)

Just how many other fleets and other societies are there roaming the oceans in the world of Garganita?  It has been established that there are numerous other societies of seafarers out there who connect their ships, like Gargantia, but it has never really been states how many there are out there or how those societies differ from each other.  All we know about the other fleets of ships is that there are pirates out there that like to exploit the weaker ones and that everyone gets their power from those lightning bugs, so they need to sail the world in order to power their vessels.  So how exactly does this cult society appear randomly?  After sailing around for decades, wouldn’t you figure that these ships would have established communication with each other?  It’s not like these ships just materialized and these people appeared out of nowhere, except in the form of the story of Gargantia.  Just how do Pinion and the others not know about this flotilla and their crazy cult ways?  Sure, it works in the form of story to surprise us, but realistically, this shouldn’t surprise anyone that’s lived for more than a couple months on Earth.  And what about the people who live on the land, what are their societies like?  Because as we saw from the maps, there are chains of islands out there that would be the peaks of mountain ranges today.  There are a number of dubious details missing here in Gargantia about the world, the various human societies and how they interact with each other.  Then again, the story of the anime has been squarely isolated on Garganita throughout, so it is somewhat forgivable considering a social studies lesson in the middle of this anime wouldn’t really be necessary for the story to advance (but then again, neither were the fanservice episodes).

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 11)

So the plan is to place the giant boulder in the hole in the wall to block the titans from entering?  That seems alright, because then that’d block the sole access point for the titans and it would allow for the humans to retake the city and the land they once lost.  But, consider this for a moment, what will prevent the titans from pushing the boulder out in the first place and retaking the city?  Now, this is considering that the titans aren’t coordinated to form a unit of its strongest members to push the boulder out of the hole in the wall, but you have to figure that after some time, the titans will dislodge the boulder from its resting spot and gain access to the city again.  And of course, this is considering that the strength of these titans are comparable to Eren’s titan and that a handful of them, pushing the boulder together, would be enough to free the boulder from its position.  Unless there’s another part to this plan, I think that this idea is doomed to failure.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai. 2 (Episode 11)

How awesome is it to see Kyousuke live on his own?  Not only that, but think about his situation, too: he doesn’t have to pay rent, he doesn’t have to pay bills, he probably doesn’t have to pay for food (unless he’s going to eat out every night) and all this while still going to high school.  Not to mention, he’s got cute girls visiting him in his apartment, but then again, that’s kinda always been the case and not really a result of living on his own.  But think about it for a moment, and you have to admit that Kyousuke is pretty damn lucky to be in this situation.  Hell, if I were provided the opportunity when I was in high school, I know I would’ve thrown myself at the chance.  Living on your own is tremendous and I always enjoy seeing these stories unfold in anime.  Seeing it here in Ore no Imouto 2 is fantastic, and I’m hoping to see this story arc last until the end of this second season (because that would be a great way to end this sequel).

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 10)

There are few things that I hate worse than student governments in anime.  Although it does play a semi-serious role in Valvrave the Liberator, student governments are always pretend institutions that kids pay way too much attention to and value way much more than they should.  What legitimate power do they have?  How do they keep people in check?  They’re always just a silly role to give shitty work that administrators and teachers don’t want to students who are eager to suck up to anyone in any form of authority.  Yet, in anime, they’re always depicted as these revered, prestigious, elegant students who the student body, en masse, treats objectively better than their individual peers.  Honestly, who gives a shit about this kinda stuff?  Actually, how do you give a shit about this stuff?  At least in Valvrave, the new student government is an actual de facto government for the space module, but without any sorts of laws, enforcements or system of justice, how will everything work?  In real life, it wouldn’t, but at least for the characters of Valvrave, the anime won’t spend too much time on the impossibility of this issue and thankfully, return back the story at hand.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 11)

What amuses me the most about Hataraku Maou-sama! is how the Ente Isla immigrants have struggled to make new acquaintances with humans after quickly befriending Chiho and Rika.  Really, you figure that Sadao, with his new compassionate and sociable personality would have made other friends besides Chiho or that Emi, with her gracious and amiable nature, would have won over more than just Rika.  I understand that their missions aren’t here to make friends, but you would’ve expected them to expand their social networks a bit after living in Japan for several months.  What I mean to say is, that it’s still surprising that the only human who’s caught up in the messes that seep through from Ente Isla is Chiho.  Why aren’t there other humans, such as Chiho’s friends or other coworkers, who befriend Sadao or Emi and get caught up in these misadventures, too?  It might balloon the cast out a bit much for a show like this, but it would nevertheless be interesting to add a few new humans to the mix to alter the dynamic of the series a bit and refocus it to amusing events on Earth rather than various plot points crossing dimensions.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 11)

Every backstory to every loli is a depressing one.  Either they’re like Emily and they’re impoverished with no hopes of an enjoyable life or they have family members die (Yamane) or they have some mysterious disease (Iwai fits that) or something that makes us sad to see a little girl go through such hardships.  It’s like every loli is required to have some form of a sad story or depressing past, just to make us feel bad for them or something.  It’s like, without it, the creators fear they won’t appeal to us.  They create these stories so that we feel ambivalent or conflicted toward them in that they deserve some forgiveness for whatever mistakes or errors they make.  It’s actually quite amusing to see all the various stories these characters go through, especially since these sob stories often have no real weight on the actual storyline besides giving us a moment to think, ‘oh, that poor loli, I feel so bad for her now.’  Honestly, I would have rather seen a story about how Emily became the assassin she is today, going through rigorous trials and experiments to be the seasoned killer that she is.  To be fair, not only would that have helped expand her character than eating a sandwich, but it might have drawn more of an authentic emotional attachment to her character by showing that she loves her Papa despite going through such hardships.  Now that would be something meaningful and worthwhile to help elevate Emily from just another ‘villain-of-the-week’ to a ‘decisive antagonist’.

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 23)

Given the frequency of Rion’s character during the high school tournaments, you can’t help but wonder if they’re setting up Rion’s character for a larger role later on in the series.  Of course, with the second season of Chihayafuru ending shortly, we won’t be seeing Rion again for quite some time, but the way the series has treated her character and how she’s played against Chihaya and Taichi (and the fact that she still will still be in school next year), you have to figure that there’s some grand plan involving Rion later on in Chihayafuru.  On top of that, with her facing against Taichi in the B Class finals, you figure that she’ll be in A Class next year and ready to get revenge against Chihaya, Taichi and Mizusawa’s karuta team.  I certainly hope there is more planned for Rion following this high school tournament, especially since she could really develop into another rival for Chihaya, one that looks up to her to compete against her, unlike Shinobu or Arata.

Last week: the various contrasts and distinctions between Index and Railgun in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, why Shingeki no Kyojin has stagnated and stalled recently, how the minor characters have flourished since the transitions in Suisei no Gargantia, and a rant about the powers of the moon in Hataraku Maou-sama!

Best episode of the week: Suisei no Gargantia

Anime trending up this week: Chihayafuru 2

Anime trending down this week: Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 11)

The eleventh episode of Railgun features a scene where the spin-off and the original overlap.  That is to say, we were able to revisit those first couple of minutes of To Aru Majutsu no Index where Touma meets Misaka again, but only from the perspective of Misaka in Railgun. I always love and appreciate scenes like these where you witness the same event over again but from a new perspective or that you’re given new information.  And for that, I applaud Railgun for redoing the scene again, just 5 years later and with much better art and animation.  The one problem I have with this scene is how stark of a contrast this is from the rest of Railgun.  Since the scene was lifted directly from Index, it features and older, more cautious and less developed version of Misaka as compared with what we see in Railgun.  The fact of the matter is, we’re inserting an older version of Misaka here after watching her mature and evolve as a character over the remainder of Index and the entirety of Railgun.  What contrasts this old Misaka and with what we saw from the first 10 episodes of Railgun is that her powers are much more limited, her tsundere personality was much more pronounced and her dialogue was very flavorless.  In regards to her powers, we’ve seen Misaka hack into ultra-complex computer networks as what was required of the story, but here, it’s much more controlled and tame to the point where she’s unable to select what cans she wants from a vending machine.  You can tell that as Index and Railgun progressed, Misaka’s power began to develop and progress more as was required of her and the story at those points.  Misaka’s tsundere personality was also highlighted in this scene which contrasts deeply with the current storyline in Railgun.  In the previous ten episodes, Misaka always appeared to be calm, cool, and confident, but here, she quickly flips between her tolerable ‘dere’ side and got angry for virtually no reason twice here with Touma.  As for the dialogue of this scene, it seems like Misaka’s character was dumbed down a bit compared to what we see in Railgun.  I suppose this was done on purpose because Misaka’s character was new to Index at the time and it wouldn’t make sense to have her have this heavy of a backstory at this point in Index.  As a result, using the same scene from Index again in Railgun was a nice touch to show where the two franchises intersect but it does show how much Railgun has grown as compared with the infacy of Index.  To put it lightly, it really highlights the weaknesses of Index and how the writing and the characters have improved significantly since then.

Also, it’s worth mentioning the significant contrast in fanservice between Index and Railgun.  The one thing that they did manage to change from Index to Railgun was eliminating the shot of Misaka’s shorts and the pantyshot thereafter with Misaka Imouto’s striped panties.  Railgun has always been an anime without any real ecchi aspects whereas Index featured countless shots of panties, naked girls and other fanservice meant to delight the audience.  Really, it’s a shame they went to such a degree to eliminate such a scene (where Touma realizes it’s Misaka Imouto by seeing her shimapan versus the shorts) while keeping everything else unchanged and out-of-date.  Althought it might have upset the fans that they changed some of the dialogue and whatnot, it would have drastically improved Misaka’s character and kept it consistent with everything else we saw in Railgun.  So while I did enjoy seeing this scene again, transplanted from Index into Railgun, it could have and should have been better.

Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 12)

One aspect that I adore about Gargantia is how splitting up its cast has allowed minor characters to flourish.  Whereas characters like Melty, Pinion and Mayta were rarely used or even utilized in the first half of Gargantia, each has seen a phenomenal amount of growth and development now that their ships have parted from Gargantia.  For Melty, she was able to establish her independence as a character and it allowed her to show how she’s different from her two friends, Amy and Saaya.  In the first half, Melty was always together with Amy and Saaya and they always functioned as a ‘group’ rather than three individual characters.  Melty was never really becoming her own character until recently and her new role showed her contrast with Pinion and the others about the treasure hunting and leaving the Gargantia fleet.  As for Pinion, his character was always secondary to Bellows in terms of treasure hunting.  Whenever Pinion was around, it seemed his character was mainly used to conflict with Bellows or for comedy or something.  However, after splitting off from Gargantia, we finally began to realize what Pinion was all about and why he had the motives and desires that lead him to depart from Gargantia.  Like Melty, it helped establish his independence, but it also began to show he was an authentic character with a purpose and motivation rather than some silly guy who was ‘evil’ or in over his head.  And even though Mayta still has a minor role in the series, acting as a subordient to Pinion in the treasure hunting operation and becoming a gunner for the forgotten technologies, her role prior to the departure was just standing in the background and saying 2 lines.  Now, Mayta actually has lines, makes appearances and helps out with the story events.  It really shows how a background character can actually become a “someone” when the opportunity presents itself.  With so many characters left on Gargantia, it makes sense that these characters were able to grow in their absence and push the series in a different direction than before.  By using its cast in this way, and by showing their development as a result of this transition, not to mention how they impacted the direction and progression of the story, is one of my favorite aspects of Gargantia.  It is somewhat sad to know that when they do go back to Gargantia, their roles will be reduced again, but at least we were able to see them grow and mature which is more than we can say for other characters who are slotted in roles like these.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 12)

The Defense of Trost is definitely a momentous and distinguishing point in Attack on Titan but, considering that we’ve been in this scenario for over half a dozen episodes now, it does feel like the anime has stagnated a bit and lost the momentum from earlier in the series and even at the beginning of this story arc.  These past three episodes especially highlight how the action and pacing have slowed and that the energy and fear that previously drove the series have been replaced with monologues and expositions.  Furthermore, we’ve already seen some of these scenes before where people are struggling with their gears or their guilt or their fear or how they witness the death of their friends, so it really hasn’t shown anything new despite it being novel experiences for most of these characters.  I do expect the series to pick up its pacing again when the Defense of Trost arc finishes and it can’t come too soon for someone who’s growing impatient like I am.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Episode 11)

L-Elf has always been that calm, cool, emotionless super-soldier, though we’ve seen him show a range of emotions since ditching the cold-hearted military of Drossia and joining the ranks of JIOR’s teenagers.  Still, L-Elf has yet to really show the emotion of ‘surprise’ or ‘shock’.  Perhaps this is in part due to his ability to see into the future with his uncanny ability to predict events.  Or perhaps the reason here is because L-Elf has seen so much violence and carnage that death, destruction and loss are as normal as waking up and eating food.  Whatever the reason, seeing L-Elf mildly surprised about Shouko’s cooking is about as close as we’ve seen to the most common emotion of everyone else in Valvrave.  I wouldn’t be surprised myself to see if L-Elf does seem surprised before the anime takes a break for the summer, but I’m really curious as to what could surprise him given how he seems to be reading directly from the script and knows exactly what’s about to happen even before the most astute observers from the audience can even consider what’s going to happen.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (Episode 12)

So Sariel, the archangel, has is power augmented by the moon.  Okay, that’s fair.  After all, the moon is a celestial body that’s significant to a number of religions, societies and the history of mankind.  And I’m fine with the idea that if Sariel gets closer to the moon that his power increases even further.  Sure, maybe it’s like a magnet to the moon’s light or some type of power sink and can absorb the power better when he’s closer to the moon than not.  But seriously… GETTING CLOSER TO MOON DOESN’T MEAN FLYING UP IN THE SKY!  The moon is a staggering 384,400 kilometers (238,900 miles) from the Earth.  Having Sariel fly like 10-20 meters up in the air and exclaim how his power is getting enhanced is bullshit.  What’s the difference between where he was before and where he was now?  An astounding 0.000000026% increase.  Yeah.  Just look at all those zeros.  Just look at it.  That’s be like me saying “I’m super close to Tokyo” after taking a step to the west.  Or not even… to cover the same distance that allowed Sariel to power up from the moon would only take 20 centimeters for me.  Sure, it’s true that I’m closer to Tokyo like Sariel is closer to the moon, but it shouldn’t make any difference in how it enhance his powers.  So, yeah, I call bullshit on Sariel (for both his powers and the fact that he’s a terrible character).

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Episode 12)

I’ve finally reached the point where I just don’t care anymore about Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge.  Often times, I do reach a low point in an anime where I begin to care less about the characters or the story, but at the very least I’ll continue to pay attention to the dialogue and the actions on the screen, hoping it’ll entertain me or make me laugh.  But for Crime Edge, it’s fallen so far, I don’t even really bother to read the subs now.  The story and the characters in the anime have been, to put it nicely, a disaster and, with one episode remaining, it seems like the anime will be unable to wrap up everything and deliver an ending that the beginning and middle of the anime promised.  I mean, what’s the point anymore knowing that there’ll be some unsatisfying resolution that’s untrue to the original manga?  Although, to be fair, it isn’t so much of the anime’s time schedule being a problem as it is being that the story was incredibly mundane and that the characters were all uninteresting.  Still, it’s few and far between that I’ve reached this level of boredom and disinterest with an anime, so at least I’ll remember Crime Edge for something.

Chihayafuru 2 (Episode 24)

I’ve always found the pacing of the matches in Chihayafuru to be incredibly awkward yet appropriate given its presentation and style.  What I mean by the awkward pacing is that, during a match, the time between the reading of two cards can take up to 12 minutes while the 6 cards that follow take 12 seconds.  As a result, the matches can either drag on forever or occur too quickly, never really reaching that sweet spot in the middle that feels both dramatic and exciting.  Still, this difference in pacing does fit Chihayafuru well, especially with how it showcases how all the characters are thinking between cards and how, as a result of their thinking or planning, they’re able to take advantage of the match within the span of 6 cards or so.  However, I believe I’d prefer Chihayafuru to have a more consistent pacing throughout its matches without having to sacrifice the thinking or the swings in momentum.  One way that this could work is to have these sections of thinking be spread over a few cards, so that way there are no extended durations of downtime during the episode, as we frequently see in these finals matches.  Instead, by spreading the internal monologues over 2 or 3 cards, the pacing wouldn’t be sacrificed and we’d still have action sequences when the cards are read and the players swing.  Furthermore, I believe it’d be somewhat more realistic to have the players be thinking while playing the game and having to be constantly interrupted from their thoughts to play the game rather than to sit there on the mat and think for a 10 minutes like they currently do.  Nevertheless, I do enjoy how the matches are carried out in Chihayafuru, though I would prefer them to have a more consistent pacing and evenly distributed action.

And so, with this final chapter, the first half of Needless comes to a close.

As with any finale, Needless 114 is and will be met with a variety of emotions and reactions among its fans, especially since the manga is ending quite abruptly after 10 years of serialization.  For some, the response might be simple and straightforward, but for many, it will be complicated and conflicting, particularly for those still asking those unanswered questions or wanting just the slightest bit more.  For me, being in the latter group, the Needless finale does leave me with mixed emotions.  On one hand, the developments in these final chapters answered numerous questions, connected many loose story points together, gave the series a conclusion that truly unified the manga, its concepts and its story, and presented it in a way that’s ready to launch Needless into its continuation, Needless 2.  On the other hand, there’s just that lingering sensation of feeling unsatisfied with this culmination, that these final chapters were rushed and that the manga didn’t end the way that it wanted.  Or that it deserved.

The main contrast between the positive and negative emotions surrounding the final chapter of Needless can be primarily divided between what happened in this chapter and how it happened.  To me, I feel entirely satisfied with the content of this chapter and how it ended its story.  This final chapter was able to conclude the present storyline while also answering some of the most pressing questions of the series, both of which are arguably the most significant responsibilities assigned to the finale. When evaluating a finale by those two standards alone, Needless was able to accomplish that.  Of course, there are plenty of questions still remaining in a series such as this, especially those revolving around Cruz which still need to develop and be resolved.  However, with the most pressing issues currently being between Blade and Eve, the finale was able to accomplish that.  Furthermore, the finale was able to unify the stories and characters of Blade and Eve together in a way that sets the foundations for Needless 2 in a logical manner.  Furthermore, it can be stated that of all the questions and queries still lingering unresolved at the end of Needless, that we can have faith in Imai Kami eventually revealing their answers but in Needless 2.  After all, he had done an excellent job with the story of Needless, as evident with my high opinion of this ending.

The main issues that I have with Chapter 114, however, are derived from another issue entirely: the storytelling.  To me, manga are hardly the best medium in which to narrate and describe a story.  One such reason is that a serialized manga is constricted and often compromised by other factors, such as the number of pages, deadlines, illnesses and other factors caused by the magazine or its publishers.  As a result, these final chapters of Needless felt rushed compared to how the story was narrated previously.  For example, the pacing, progression, comedy and fanservice felt entirely different between the Eve’s Story arc and the City arc following Chapter 100.  In the Eve’s Story arc, developments did not progress without appropriate or thoughtful dialogue nor did the fights end too quickly or without thoroughly establishing the characters and their cause.  In the City arc, plot developments occurred and were resolved almost instantaneously or they were cut-away from suddenly.  The fights felt disjointed and felt too quick and easy, as though the effort of battling between two super powerful beings was ignored or forgotten.  And though I did enjoy the actual developments of these chapters, the plot was often dumped on us in the form of lengthy expositions and monologues, which is contrary to the style of storytelling from previous arcs which focused more on actions and fighting than talking and flashbacks.  It almost feels as if there were some external forces at work here, putting pressure and restrictions on Imai Kami’s storytelling that reduced the ‘would-be’ conclusion of Needless from many more chapters down to what we received.  Hell, it has happened before with some of his Needless one-shot manga that occurred prior to the Needless serialization.  So with that, I have an uneasy feeling that the finale to Needless was not the proper, encompassing finale that Needless deserved.

However, in the end, my overall opinion of the finale is a positive one.  One of the main reasons why I have a positive impression of this chapter is that I am satisfied with how Needless 1 will connect to Needless 2.  To have the sequel already beginning in the final moments of this chapter fills me with joy, optimism and enthusiasm for when Needless 2 will begin this series again.  Knowing these details and seeing all the various loose ends be connected together (and the return of that memorable Needless humor) leaves me with hope that Needless will return to its origins when it makes its return.  As with any finale, the ending always has different pacing and developments compared to the beginning and middle of a story, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see that these climactic chapters of Needless were somewhat different from the middle of the series.  And of course, with any fan, they fall in love with the beginning or middle of the series, so any deviation from that format or style will be met with mixed emotions and reactions, just like this finale for Needless.  Nevertheless, when Needless returns in the form of Needless 2, I’ll be as eager and enthusiastic and emotional as ever before.  I can only hope that you, as a fellow fan of the franchise, after reading 114 chapter of Needless, are right there with me when Needless makes its grand return.

**Warning: spoilers below**

As for my thoughts on the specifics of this chapter, I will admit that I disappointed to not see Setsuna or Kuchinashi make an appearance here.  I would’ve thought with the two appearing as monsters, transformed due to the tainted cells of an Angel and being controlled by Black Attraction, that we would have seen some resolution with their characters after being returned back to normal by Blade’s Almighty.  Not only that, but I would have expected some resolution between Setsuna, Kuchinashi and Mio, especially since we saw the trio walking together through the halls of the Simeon hunting down Cruz.  To see Mio just leave with her new friends is not surprising, but I wish there was some dialogue between the two parties, especially since the three are my top three favorite characters.  And while on the subject of my lingering questions, I wonder what happened to Kasumi.  She was wheeled into the room in her wheelchair, in a comatose state, and seemed to disappear or be ignored for the remainder of the manga.  Her role was absolutely essential for Gido’s character, yet we never really had any answers to her character besides appearing very briefly a few chapters ago.  And what ever happened to Ishiyama and Triple Six?  And let’s not even get started on Cruz who has about 100 questions of his own that still need to be answered (though, admittedly, you knew there never was enough time to answer even half of Cruz’s questions in the City arc).  My point here is that, while I did appreciate the ending with Blade and Eve combining to defeat Saten and then forming the protagonist of Needless 2, Adam Neuschwanstein (though still called Blade in Chapter 114), I wish there was more room to answer all these unresolved questions in another chapter or epilogue.  These are the specific reasons why I felt so unsatisfied with the finale of Needless and why I felt that these chapters were rushed due to external constraints and pressure.  I’d love to see more information on the series soon and that may just occur with an article titled “Needless History” coming out in next month’s Ultra Jump.  Hopefully that will have some of the answers I, and other Needless fans, are looking for.

As for my other general impressions of the chapter, I absolutely love the color spread to begin this chapter, with just about every character appearing together for one final moment of glory.  To see everyone there, after 10 years of Needless, is really a special treat for anyone who has read the entire manga.  All those faces, all those memories, all those jokes and knowing just how far the manga has come is really special.  I truly appreciate that as a gift for the readers and fans of Needless.  As for the remainder of the chapter, there were some spectacular double-page spreads here that really highlights the mastery of Imai Kami’s art style.  These drawings were very clean and clear, really showing a high amount of effort and detail put into this final chapter.  And while the comedy had been reduced and minimalized during the climax of Needless, this final chapter saw the return of that familiar and unforgettable style of comedy.  The final chapter didn’t have too much in the way of ecchi material, not really any different from the other recent chapters with torn clothes, visible panties and general nudity, but it was more tasteful and tactful (and meaningful) in this chapter which allows it so serve a greater purpose.  Then again, Needless has always found a way to make everyone’s panties important or an ecchi be somewhat meaningful, so it shouldn’t be too surprising to see the same thing done here.  Still, it’s great to see something like that final joke being the end to Needless.  But even better than that was probably the double-page spread right before it, with our new set of heroes setting out and ready to begin Needless again whenever it makes its revival.

I guess from here on out, the only thing left for us, as fans of the franchise, is to keep our eyes on the news and wait for an announcement for when Needless 2 will begin again.  I might do another, more encompassing review of the Needless manga soon, but besides that, it looks like this is the last I’ll have to say about Needless for an unspecified amount of time.  The only thing I have left to say, besides thanks for reading this far into my review and thoughts on Chapter 114 of Needless, is that I hope you enjoyed Needless and will continue reading it when Needless 2 starts! (older versions of pictures here and here)

The calendar has turned and July is upon us, marking the conclusions of a number of beloved anime last week and signaling the advent of dozens of new shows for the next three months.  As with every other season preview here, this one will take a complete and comprehensive look at all the shows airing this Summer with a special focus on all the new franchises and series premiering for the first time.  Also included in a quick note about my plans for this season which will include a hiatus to some extent which will likely changed how I write about anime this season.  So with that, onto the anime for Summer 2013!

Regarding my planned hiatus over the Summer, I will be moving sometime shortly and beginning to work more than ever before, which leads me to believe I will be taking a break from blogging for a while.  If I can manage my time and find a way to keep current with a number of shows and write about them every week, then I’ll likely continue to blog the various anime that I watch over the next three months.  However, I am planning for the event that I am unable to blog, so I am putting a warning here and will make another announcement later should I actually take a vacation from blogging.  That being said, I’ll also probably have a lighter load of anime this season as compared to previous seasons, so even if I do continue to blog, I’ll likely be watching fewer shows than normal which will give me a lighter load to watch and write about every week.  However, that load really depends on the quality of anime this season, so let’s see what’s coming out this month, starting with the sequels and other continuations.

Summer 2013 features the return of a number of familiar series and franchises in the forms of various sequels, spin-offs, alternative adaptations, and other forms that continue otherwise popular or established anime.  Returning this month are: Fate/kaleid linear Prisma Illya, Futari wa Milky Holmes, Genshiken Nidaime, Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun 2, Highschool DxD New, Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai 3, Kingdom 2, Monogatari Series: Second Season, Recorder to Randoseru Mi, Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS, Rozen Maiden, Senki Zesshou Symphogear G, Senyuu. 2, Tamayura: More Aggressive, and Teekyuu 2.  As always, if you’re already planning on watching these shows or even the slightest bit interested, you probably have already experienced the anime once before and have a decent understanding of what to expect.  If you don’t and you’re planning on watching one of these shows, watching the all the previous seasons will do more for you than anything I could ever do, so I recommend that instead.  However, of the anime I am somewhat knowledgeable about and am planning on watching this season, here are my thoughts:

Monogatari Series: Second Season

Opinion: The original, Bakemonogatari, is a favorite of mine.  And while Nisemonogatari and Nekomonogatari failed to live up to my expectations in relation to the original, I am anticipating that these continuation of the latter novels will have a better opportunity to recapture the illustriousness and brilliance of the original Bakemonogatari.  I don’t expect it to surpass Bakemonogatari, but I’m expecting it to be second in the series and one of the better anime of 2013.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Teekyuu 2

Opinion: The original season of Teekyuu is probably easily my favorite short anime.  And with episodes lasting only 2 minutes, it’s the only anime that I can vouch that will leave you laughing for more than the duration of each episode.  Okay, not all of it is as great as some episodes, but the series so far is only 24 minutes and well worth your time.  I’m expecting this second season to be more of the same.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Rozen Maiden

Opinion: Although I haven’t watched the original Rozen Maiden that aired back in 2004, I am expecting to start up this retelling of Rozen Maiden should it begin from the very beginning and not from some other time-point in the story.  If it does require prior knowledge and a previous viewing of the series, I’ll probably try to squeeze in the original sometime before falling too far behind.  Or at least, that’s the plan.  Otherwise, I’ll be watching Rozen Maiden this Summer.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

Senyuu. 2

Opinion: Senyuu is a delightful comedy, though it does suffer from some minor (and major) faults that keep me from being too excited for its return.  For one, I wish they’d do away with the whole lolicon aspect (and the lolicon characters) and keep the show toward its silly and innocent aspect.  If so, then I’ll hail this second season as a victory in the enhancement of anime.  If not or if it becomes worse, then I don’t mind cutting ties with series.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

Tamayura: More Aggressive

Opinion: Tamayura is an anime I want to love.  It has a descriptive and vibrant setting, a cast of characters that has developed well over the previous dozen episodes and an endearing message that is effectively told in each episode.  What’s holding me back, and what’s really damning about this series, is that the episodes are often extremely boring and that I don’t like anyone in the main cast except for Kaoru.  After seeing that Tamayura is returning this season, I immediately recalled my last experience with Tamayura ~hitotose~ being regrettable and deciding that I wouldn’t continue with the series again.  But the more I think about it, the more I want to give this anime one more shot to make sure I’m making the right decision.  It really depends on how boring the first episode is or how annoyed I get at either Norie or Kou.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

So, with the continuing anime section complete, all that remains of the Summer 2013 anime season preview are all the new anime that will debut this month.  With a total of 20 (or thereabouts) new anime airing over the next two weeks, it seems as though this will be a rather light season in terms of anime, though considerably heavy when including all the sequels and all the shows spilling over from the Spring.

The order of anime listed below is neither chronological nor alphabetic but ranked in order of my personal anticipation and how likely I believe I will watch that anime this season.  Every anime is evaluated and placed into one of five tiers ordered: Will watch, Likely watch, Maybe watch, Doubtful but it gets a shot, and No dice.  Within each tier, the anime are listed alphabetically.  Dates are not included because who knows when and where these shows will be subbed and available to watch (which really is the most important!).  So with that, let’s take a look at the new anime for Summer 2013:

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui! (It’s Not My Fault That I’m Not Popular!)

Opinion: Having read a couple of chapters of Watamote, I know exactly what I’ll be getting into with this charming comedy about a luckless girl and her simultaneously humorous and gloomy misadventures in life. What I enjoy about this comedy as compared to others is how it does intersperse some depressing storylines within its humor while also incorporating heartwarming moments as well.  It also helps that the story, characters and setting are all simple too, meaning the anime can focus on the comedy first and foremost.  I just hope that the anime has decent production values to supplement my enjoyment of this anime.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation

Opinion: Although I’m a complete novice when it comes to the Neptune series, I’ve always been a fan of the art style and character designs of Neptunia.  But what differentiates this from Date-A-Live which also features Tsunako’s art/character designs, I find the characters, story and setting to be much improved from its cousin series.  Neptunia just seems like a fun, casual anime that incorporates elements of video games into its entertainment and humor.  I do have some reservations with this series, however, and I do have a sinking feeling that this will be rather mediocre or mundane, but at least I already know I’ll like the art and animation of this anime.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Kokousei (Danganronpa: The Animation)

Opinion: The style of Danganronpa is what caught my eye about this series and the premise, of a survival-game murder-mystery is certainly interesting.  I’m not exactly sure how I’ll enjoy a series of this nature with survival-games being among my least favorite genres, but Danganronpa interests me more than any other anime for this Summer.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this series plays out, especially considering that it seems to be one of the more popular and highly anticipated anime of the season.  However, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be keeping it around, especially if its style is a bit too much or a bit too heavy for my preferences.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Gatchaman Crowds

Opinion: I have fond memories of watching Gatchaman as a kid on television, though this version, 41 years after the original, seems to be slightly similar but almost entirely different.  I haven’t been able to find too much about the series and the promotional art doesn’t seem to show a strong resemblance to the original, but it does sound like a group of kids protecting the Earth and fighting aliens, so it has some parallels beyond its name.  Since it’s really unclear at this point on what it’ll be, I’ve got about a medium-level for my anticipation of this series, meaning I won’t be surprised if I love it or I hate it (or if it’ll be right here, in the middle, when the series ends).

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon)

Opinion: After the disappointment that was Moyashimon 2, I’m looking forward to another agricultural school anime in the form of Silver Spoon.  However, unlike Moyashimon before this, I’m planning on keeping my expectations for this one to be low, especially in terms of its comedy and its focus on science.  Hopefully then will my expectations then be met or exceeded but I can also see this anime being slightly or somewhat boring depending on how it presents itself and the whole school curriculum and slice-of-life aspects of being in the agricultural industry.  As compared to the other anime in this tier, this one is one that I’m looking forward to the most.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (The Sunday without God)

Opinion: Although I’m not terribly interested in the story or concerned about the characters at this point, I am fascinated by the art and style of Kami Nai.  The art, animation, scenery, music and cinematography from the PV alone are reason enough for me to be excited about this series, so I desperately hope that the anime mirrors the style presented to us in this promotional video.  The doubts I have about this series though, revolves around the story and the characters which seem to be the weaker links at this point in my evaluation.  I guess I’ll know whether I want to watch this anime or not after giving it an episode or two.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu

Opinion: I’m not expecting too much from C3-bu except to be amused and entertained.  I’m not sure how much the show will have in the ways of comedy but, judging from the PV alone, it seems the action sequences have surprisingly good production values and that the focus on military survival games does make it interesting after watching shows with somewhat related settings like Girls und Panzer and Upotte!!.  Hopefully this anime will be like the former in its focus on military drills and comedy since I did enjoy Girls und Panzer overall.  However, if this turns out to be something like Upotte!!, I might consider dropping it pretty quickly.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Uchouten Kazoku

Opinion: Uchouten Kazoku has a fantastic visual style, an intriguing premise and a setting that injects a little bit of fantasy and folklore into a modern Japanese metropolis.  This anime has the potential to be one of the best of the season, solely based on its visual style and animation, but I do worry that the anime might drabble into bland and boring like so many other of P.A. Works’ anime.  I haven’t fared well with the studio’s anime lately, so hopefully this show can reverse the trend and delight me with an amusing story to pair with its phenomenal art and animation.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Free!

Opinion: I can’t say I’m terribly excited to watch Free! but the anime does feature some rather pleasant visual styles and a focus on sports, which is a genre that has grown immensely for me over these past two years.  I have virtually zero appeal in the story and the characters at this point but I hope they grow on me as I continue to watch this anime.  That being said, if the swimming aspect takes a literal dive and the show focuses on slice-of-life or mundane comedy, then I wouldn’t mind skipping this one for the summer.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Day Break Illusion)

Opinion: Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou, also known as Il Sole Penetra le Illusioni, does interest me with its wide array of colors, adorable cast of characters and the promise of magical girls fighting evil tarot cards.  That said, it does sound like a poor man’s version of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but that alone shouldn’t stop me from giving this anime a shot.  What worries me the most at this point is that it’ll be rather generic with its overall plot and have episodic content throughout, akin to many magical girl shows, and I’m not entirely sure I want to watch something like that this season.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Kiniro Mosaic (Yellow Mosaic)

Opinion: What’ll make or break this anime is how amusing its comedy is and how much I indulge on its slice-of-life aspects.  It’s definitely a cutesy, moe anime that features girls doing nothing, so it’ll either be an adorable 24-minutes each week or 24-minutes I’ll spend watching some other anime.  I think I’ll have a pretty good idea of whether this is worthwhile or not after the first episode, but I hope it proves to be entertaining given its charming art and characters.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku (Chronicles of the Going Home Club)

Opinion: I’m not really sure how the comedy will be presented in this anime, so I’m a bit skeptical about it at this point.  After watching one episode, I should have a general idea of what to expect from this series, not just its comedy, but also its characters and if there’s any meaningful story or just pure entertainment value.  It’ll get an episode to start, and we’ll see how it goes from there.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Servant x Service

Opinion: I can see myself watching this anime if it’s a short 3- or 5-minute show but I have my doubts if it’ll be the standard 24-minutes.  It does have the promise of comedy which is something I always appreciate, so if that works out, this will be a keeper.  I also hope to have some insight in how the health and welfare section of the local government works, so hopefully it has some comedy focused on that instead of just generic office or work comedy.  So like most of the other comedy anime before this, it’ll be the humor that decides this one for me.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

And all that remains are the anime that I have virtually no interest in watching.  The reason why these anime are slotted here is because they either appear to already be flawed, boring, or simply outside my demographic.  While these anime may in fact be watchable to some, they do not appear that way for me.  I doubt I’ll watch any more than the PV linked in their sections but there’s always a chance for me to pick one or two up every season, so not all hope is lost for these shows.  However, for most of them, there’s already zero chance I’ll even think about them after writing my opinions for each.

Blood Lad

Opinion: These types of silly comedies only work when the characters are energetic, exciting and over-the-top.  Unfortunately, everyone in the cast of this looks bored and listless, like lifeless bodies raised from the dead.  Oh, that’s the point of this show?  Well, then no thanks.

Plans for this show: No dice

Brother’s Conflict

Opinion: Hahaha… no.

Plans for this show: No dice

Fantasia Doll

Opinion: I’ll probably watch the first episode but I really don’t feel like keeping up with this anime for a whole season.  It has some merits but nothing that really interests me this season.

Plans for this show: No dice

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou (Dog & Scissors)

Opinion: I just can’t see myself enjoying this anime… or it being even remotely good.

Plans for this show: No dice

Kimi no Iru Machi (A Town Where You Live)

Opinion: Not really in the mood for a romance, especially where the setting is as bad as this one.  Do we really need another story where a girl is forced to live with a guy like this?  I know I can do without this.

Plans for this show: No dice

Love Lab

Opinion: This seems to be the weakest of all the schoolgirl comedies this season, so unless all the previous ones fail and this one proves to be entertaining, I probably won’t watch this.

Plans for this show: No dice

Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist

Opinion: If the comedy is worthwhile, I might take a gander at it later, but it doesn’t appear to be all that amusing.  That and it’s way outside of my demographic, so I’m fine with passing it up for now.

Plans for this show: No dice

And with that, the Summer 2013 Season Preview is over.  All that remains is waiting for all these shows to premiere and for us to watch and evaluate each one on whether they’re worth keeping or not.  What’s next for me will be my First Impressions posts, which will provide actual insight and opinions into how each anime performs and what my plans will be for this Summer.  Until then, I sincerely hope you all have fun watching and enjoying all the new shows this season!!

This post reviews: Free!, Stella Jogkuin Koutouka C3-bu, Danganronpa, Love Lab, Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, and Servant x Service.

I realize that about a dozen shows have aired at this point and that, as always, I’m late with these posts, so if the show you’re looking for isn’t in this post, it should be up sometime soon… hopefully.

Watching:

Stella Jogkuin Koutouka C3-bu

Honestly, C3-bu probably belongs in the Undecided section since I wasn’t terribly impressed with the first episode, especially with this style and set-up in the shadow of Girls und Panzer and resembling Upotte!! with its girls and guns motif.  The anime has only a minimal amount of originality so far and the all-girls club at school has become so tired and cliché it’s becoming a negative.  The only positive here is that the girls actually do what the club says, but we’ll have to wait and see what future episodes hold, especially if cake and tea are involved.  Regardless, the first episode proved to be somewhat entertaining with its cast and comedy and the battle sequence at the end proved that it takes the survival game aspect seriously but with some lighthearted fun, too.  To say the episode was enjoyable would be accurate but that mainly stems from the action sequences at the end.  The first episode did lay a solid foundation as this anime has room to grow with its characters and story which should be facilitated by the girls shooting each other with airsoft guns.  The art is a bit cutesy, helping out with the lightheartedness and comic aspects of this anime, and the animation was rather remarkable during the battle sequence, leading me to hope that the survival games in this anime are drawn as well as this first episode.  Overall, the anime did enough to warrant me keeping it and I have faith that it’ll continue to be fun throughout but this one is probably destined to mediocrity, even in a mediocre season like this summer appears to be.

Danganronpa

With the first episode of Danganronpa serving exclusively as an introduction to the characters, the setting and the plot, we weren’t able to infer much about how the remainder of the anime will play out or even how the episodes will be structured.  Nevertheless, given its unparalleled style and fairly interesting plot, I have to say that Danganronpa has me interested in what it has to offer.  The art and animation are what stands out to me the most, particularly with its striking character designs and attention to detail.  The cast hasn’t really had enough time to establish each character beyond what they look like and what they’re good at, but it seems there’s plenty of potential for them to grow, provided they don’t end up dead first.  As for the story, Danganronpa seems to have strong elements of comedy, mystery and horror at this point which is a unique combination that has caught my attention, but I’m curious which one will dominate as the series progresses.  Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode despite it being 24 minutes of introducing everything, so I figure the series should get even better once the real action starts in episode 2.  Definitely a series worth keeping around for now.

Love Lab

Love Lab’s first episode was cute, charming and comical, a combination that’s a reliable recipe for success.  Add in some rather humorous (and impressive) animation and a pair of characters with ideal chemistry and Love Lab actually comes in as one of the best anime of this summer.  What makes Love Lab so enjoyable is that everything seems to fit in well with each other.  The style of comedy is mild and situational but the presentation is often physical or visual which fits in nicely with its delightful art style and smooth animation.  The characters both have amiable personalities, making them both fun to watch, and they complement each other by how they contrast each other.  Furthermore, the anime has hardly any substance to it and all the romantic aspects are downplayed for comedic purposes making this one a pure comedy through and through.  I was originally expecting this to be have heavy yuri or romantic undertones to it but there was none whatsoever in this first episode.  And as for complaints, I don’t have any.  Love Lab has proven to be the most surprising of all the shows this season and is already among my favorite for the Summer.

Servant x Service

Another comedy, Servant x Service features a style of quick jokes around an office setting that focuses on workplace humor and other young adult circumstances.  Servant x Service is pretty mild but consistent when it comes to its comedy and it doesn’t try too hard with irrational or unbelievable characters, so it’s actually pretty fun to watch.  That being said, it doesn’t really ever become hilarious but it does lead to a number of smiles and smirks throughout.  The art and animation for Servant x Service is actually pretty basic and uninspiring, but it’s sufficient to keep its characters cute and to deliver the comedy in an appropriate manner.  It doesn’t seem like it’ll be one of the better anime of this season, unless it grows quickly with its comedy and characters, but I do like its setting and its adult characters as a change of pace from schools and teens like every other anime in this post.  Furthermore, I have a sweet spot for this anime because it does remind me slightly of my work, especially the aspect where people yell at you for no goddamn reason when it’s something completely out of your hands.   So while it isn’t near the top of this season in terms of comedies or other aspects, this one is certainly a keeper for me.

Undecided:

The six anime in this post were fairly easy to determine based on what I like and what I’m looking for, so there’s nothing here.  All that remains from this first week review are the two anime that failed to convince me that they’re worth watching…

Dropped:

Free!

In what’s probably the most polarizing anime of the season, thanks in large to a cast of supposedly sexy and scantily-dressed teenage swimmers, Free! seemed like one of those anime that’d you’d either love or hate.  But after watching just one episode of Free!, I realized I feel into a third category that seemed to be underrepresented among the hype and the hatred: boredom.  The first episode of Free! was completely underwhelming and unimpressive, a combination that kept me largely indifferent throughout, much like Haruka’s reaction to everything that isn’t water, swimming or speedos.  His apathetic personality, together with Makoto’s anxiousness and Nagisa’s happy-go-lucky nature, left me with no real feelings or connections to any of the characters.  At least Rin is a jerk and likes competition, so he’s somewhat enjoyable as a character, but was too much of a bitch to his friends to make him likable.  And honestly, with all the club anime going around, I have to say that swimming just doesn’t do anything for me.  Surpisingly, the art and animation seemed to be subpar for Kyoto Animation save for the brilliant and gorgeous water effects, but it felt like watching a lower-quality episode of Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! that wasn’t funny or charming at all.  I was actually kinda hoping that Free! would be fun or interesting or even original, but it seems to be another run-of-the-mill school club animation without a plot and without an interesting cast.

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku (Chronicles of the Going Home Club)

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku is yet another school club anime, except instead of being a club that actually does stuff, this is a club about girls who go home after school… or so it seems.  In reality, it’s another anime about a bunch of girls who get together and do stupid stuff.  Yeah, it’s another one of those anime.  Unfortunately for Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, it doesn’t really have any merits to it besides the fact that you can stop the episode after 6 minutes and not feel bad for yourself.  None of the characters are particularly interesting or enjoyable, being a grab-bag of your favorite anime tropes, like the super rich girl, the strong tomboy, the super energetic club leader and two wildcards.  The comedy is always something silly or wacky with the main girl shouting a punchline like, ‘That’s so crazy!’ or something to that effect.  I can’t say I’m too terribly impressed with the art, especially with so little in the way of animation, but I suppose it would be the best aspect of this anime if I had to choose.  Either way, I decided to go home myself after only a few minutes of this unsatisfactory anime, and I strongly suggest others do the same.

This post reviews: Kirino Mosaic, Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou, Monogatari Series Second Season, Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi, and Uchouten Kazoku.

Looks like there’ll be three parts for my First Impressions posts for Summer 2013.  After this, I might post a couple of Weekly Anime posts before I go on hiatus, though I might try something different for the month of July.  I guess we’ll see once these posts are finished up.

Watching:

Kiniro Mosaic (Yellow Mosaic)

Easily the cutest anime of the season, Kiniro Mosaic is a delightful and entrancing anime full of endearing moments, heartwarming skits, and a style of adorable comedy that makes you want to hold and hug the characters instead of laughing at their jokes.  It also helps that the art and animation are presented in a way to compliment these elements, always in a bright pastel style and frequently featuring chibi characters and simplistic, cartoony faces.  It’s easily the most charming anime of the season and I couldn’t help but find myself smiling throughout.  As for the substance of this anime… well, let’s just say it really isn’t the strength of Kiniro Mosaic.  I doubt that Kiniro Mosaic will have much in the way of a plot or character development, though you figure that something will have to happen for this anime to fill a full season.  You figure the anime will be primarily comedy and slice-of-life, something which this anime seems to succeed at, though you figure there will be stories throughout.  It’s hard to say exactly what this anime will be like since most of this first episode was reliving a flashback when Shinobu lived with Alice in England and then introducing Alice’s arrival in Japan.  I hope that the anime stays as cute as this first episode, but I wouldn’t mind sacrificing some of that cuteness for an original plot and expressive, emotional characters.  That being said, the captivating and charming nature of this anime is reason enough to watch Kiniro Mosaic and any sort of meaningful plot and character maturity will be an added bonus to what is already a delightful anime.

Monogatari Series Second Season

I’ve always loved the Monogatari series, though lately, I’ve been a bit disenchanted with the series.  I feel in love with the first few episodes of Bakemonogatari, specifically Hitagi Crab and Mayoi Snail, but the remainder of the series kinda pattered out when it became obvious that the show was following a repeating pattern and offered nothing new besides another addition to the harem and another unique obstacle to solve.  I immediately forgot all this by the time Nisemonogatari started and dove head-first into the series only to otherwise regret my decision by the time the incest reared its ugly head and the Tsukihi arc was almost forgotten.  Nekomonogatari rekindled my interest for the series by recalling some of the more favorable aspects of the early episodes of Bakemonogatari, but it never recaptured that magic that caused me to fall in love with the franchise in the first place.  Enter Monogatari Series Second Season which begins the series again by revisiting all the girls of Bakemonogatari with follow-ups to their original issues which spawned the stories of the original anime.  Hoping for something different or, at least something to differentiate it from all the others before it, I have to say I am somewhat happy with what the first episode of Monogatari Series did though I’m reserving my opinions until more of the series and the sexualization reveals itself.

That being said, I absolutely love that the series began again without Araragi appearing and instead, focusing on Tsubasa, the evolution of her problem and her complicated but amazingly engaging relationship with Senjougahara.  It certainly helps Monogatari that this was the first time to see the series through the perspective of someone other than Araragi and that we were able to witness a wonderful conversation between two of the girls, so I was pleased to see that.  Furthermore, I found the writing and the use of those unique ‘Scene Cards’, particularly the ones that read ‘It didn’t hurt at all.’ ‘Yet it hurt a lot.’ to be brilliant displays of character expression and self-reflection.  And I do like how the girls have changed too, with Tsubasa having short hair, ditching her glasses and with Senjougahara also wearing her hair short.  Oh, and having Senjougahara playing around with Tsubasa in her underwear, this time with crab panties instead of the distinguished stapler/scissors/boxcutter panties from before, was a nice tribute to the original Bakemonogatari.  That being said, the only real negatives from this series are that the art, cinematography and directing for this series feels the same as all the others before it and, while still entirely unique and often breathtaking, it has become a bit anticipated or expected.  Like I mentioned before, I want something more from Monogatari to differentiate it from the series or to do something that replicates the magic from Hitagi Crab/Mayoi Snail that I loved so much.  Either way, you probably get the point that I’m expecting a lot from Monogatari, so hopefully it can deliver in either one of two ways that I’m looking for with this new season.  And even if it doesn’t, it still will probably be my favorite of this Summer.

Uchouten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family)

Uchouten Kazoku is an anime that has featured quite a stunning and gorgeous visual style but left me feeling unimpressed with its story thus far and its limited cast of characters.  The strengths of Uchouten Kazoku lie in its illustrations and its animation, both featuring a distinct presentation that rank among the best of this year.  The first episode featured numerous scenes with large amounts of seamless, dazzling animation which is certainly pleasing to my eyes.  I wasn’t really certain whether I’d like the character designs or not, but after seeing them move around in the elegant world that they reside in, I’ve grown to like these character models, especially since they facilitate the high-quality animation that this anime should be known for.  The setting, mixing together the heritage of tanuki, tengu and humans in Kyoto is certainly something that appeals to me.  However, that’s about where my praises for this anime stop, as all that really remains are the story and the characters.  I can’t say I find any of the characters particularly interesting or engaging, though I do enjoy Yasaburou Shimogamo’s sense of individualism and adventureism by running around the city dressed as a trap in that serafuku.  However, I fear that once he looks like a guy again, I probably won’t like him as much, so hopefully he crossdresses for the remainder of the series.  As for the story thus far, I can’t say I’m particularly interested in it either.  I do seem to enjoy the storytelling thus far and how the story has evolved, but the romance isn’t really all that enjoyable, at least not as much as seeing the tanuki and tengu sides conflicting with each other.  I hope that the anime begins to take another direction soon with its story.  Otherwise, Uchouten Kazoku had a fun first episode with its magnificent art and animation, so I’m looking forward to watch more, even if the story and characters don’t evolve the way I want them to.

Undecided:

Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Il Sole Penetra le Illusioni/Day Break Illusion)

Although Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou featured enough positives in its first episode to warrant watching a second, there’s still that sinking feeling based on its PVs and its Opening animation that this anime just won’t be that good.  The main reason why I have doubts about this anime is not because this strongly resembles a poor man’s Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but that this series will try too hard to make itself seem serious despite it having no emotions or progression to validate its depressing and thoughtful nature.  For example, the whole tentacle plant attack and murder of her friend were done without much in the way of expression or significance, but rather came across as cheap and petty shock tactics.  The same can be said for the runaway truck and the mansion on fire, too.  And while it is unfair to compare this to Madoka, it’s almost like someone explained to them some of the highlights of that magical girl anime but forgot to mention the character growth, the writing and dialogue that made that anime so enjoyable.  The PVs and the Opening animation seem to reiterate this point with scenes of blood, tears and despair, so all the warning signs are there, after watching the first episode, to think that this anime will be little more than a frustrating plot told through substandard storytelling.  That being said, I did find a few aspects of the story to be enjoyable, particularly the day after Fuyuna died, with Akari going on as normal, so I can’t say that everything about this story is terrible.  I do figure that with everything introduced, we’re in for a bit of an explanation in the second episode, so hopefully then I’ll understand the direction of this anime and whether it’s a positive or a negative.  The art and animation aren’t too much more than mediocre and it is super loli (though with the number of loli anime this season, it really isn’t that significant), but I do like the cutesy, colorful style that was featured in this episode and I thought that the battle sequence at the end was visually appealing with its use of colors and animation.  I’m not sure what to think about the characters right now, but they seem to be a pleasant group of girls.  I guess I’ll have a better idea about them and the story of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou after the second episode and, by then, I should know whether this is worth keeping or not.

Dropped:

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (The Sunday Without God)

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi is one of those unfortunate anime where the negatives simply outweigh the positives.  What was particularly damning about Kami Nai is that none of the characters were enjoyable, with Ai being another tiresome, lackluster loli and Hampnie being an absolute dick.  The comedy and chemistry between the two seemed to be lacking and the whole situation that Ai was placed in, with the whole village being slaughtered like that, came across as detached and confusing.  I can’t say I really enjoy the setting of this anime either with no births and zombies predominating the world but it did show the potential to grow depending on the various villages and settlements Ai visits.  The art was one of the few positives of this series, though I did run across a few scenes where the quality dipped and a few others where the quality nosedived.  And really, I just kinda felt bored throughout the first episode which left me with a poor impression of what’s probably to come in future episodes.  I mean, if I’m already feeling apathetic to the characters and the story at this point, there really isn’t much reason to continue, especially when the other aspects of this anime fail to differentiate themselves to me.  Hopefully this anime will improve but I won’t be sticking around to see whether it does or not.

This post reviews: Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!, Silver Spoon, Gatchaman Crowds, Choujigen Game Neptune the Animation and Fate⁄Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya.

Just a quick note before beginning with the aforementioned anime, I’ve decided to keep Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou which was previously cited as undecided.  The second episode showed enough promise and growth to justify keeping it, despite the fact that it does have some questionable issues and is largely mediocre.  Still, the anime has proved to be entertaining, so even if there are issues with the story or the emotions, it still is worthwhile to watch.

Watching:

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui! (No Matter How I Look At It, It’s Your Guys’ Fault I’m Unpopular!)

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!, which shall be effectively and thankfully shorted to Watamote from here onwards, is one of those few comedy anime that excels at more than just comedy.  Often times, comedy anime are sufficient to produce laughter and amusement, but suffer in other categories like characters, story, art and animation or whatever.  Watamote however, as shown through its first episode, proves that it won’t have an issue with these aspects, but rather, uses them to its advantage in its comedy.  The main character, Tomoko, has a unique combination of social anxiety and narcissism that constantly puts her in hilarious situations.  Thanks in part to her awkward and shy behaviors; the visual aspect of the anime is fraught with uncomfortable situations and responses by Tomoko which usually end in laughter.  And thanks in part to her bold and analytical internal monologues, which combine beautifully with how she acts; she’s able to add comical commentary throughout all her misadventures, effectively doubling the fun and entertainment of every scene.  As a character that will be leading and carrying this anime, having someone as strong as Tomoko is essential.  As for the story, there’s enough variety as misfortune in Tomoko’s life to keep the anime feeling fresh and funny.  Thankfully, the anime doesn’t really try to analyze Tomoko’s social anxiety or her behavior, so any growth in her character should feel genuine among all the comedy.  And the art and animation in Watamote is a wonderful display of excellence.  No doubt, director Shin Oonuma (ef – a tale of memories, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Tasogare Otome x Amensia) knows how to spice scenes up with unique, unparalleled illustrations to keep the anime visually appealing and he’s doing the same with Watamote.  And all this without even really mentioning the comedy which is among the best all year.  Watamote is definitely a keeper for the Summer and one that I highly recommend to anyone, even if they aren’t even remotely interested.

Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji)

Is there an obligation that anime set at an agricultural school are required to be educational?  Silver Spoon debuts as an anime about a young, naïve city kid finding himself in rural Hokkaido at an agricultural school simply because he wanted to get away from his parents and this was the only school that offered dorms.  Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.  Silver Spoon offers a distinctive approach to the typical school anime by focusing on agriculture, teamwork and providing tidbits of actual education through its story and characters.  And while this does mirror Moyashimon on multiple fronts, it doesn’t focus intently on microbes, fermenting and brewing which gives it an entirely different focus and a seemingly unique approach.  I don’t have much of a problem with the cast besides that the main character, Yugo, who is supposed to be educated but acts dumb and dense when things slightly ‘agricultural’.  That and I don’t understand why we aren’t getting more of Aki who’s clearly the best character, but that’s another issue altogether.  I do enjoy the story by taking place at an agricultural school, especially after Moyashimon 2 left me feeling disappointed and unsatisfied last year.  The comedy and humor is present but not entirely effective, but that figures to change once we’re more familiarized with the cast, their personalities and the quirks that will eventually drive the humor in this show.  The first episode wasn’t anything spectacular but it did show that the anime has all the right tools and materials to build a fun, educational and valuable show with enough potential to be one of the best this season.  It’s a keeper.

Gatchaman Crowds

What a fantastic show, Gatchaman Crowds.  Thanks almost entirely due to its lead, Hajime Ichinose, the first episode of Gatchaman Crowds was a delightful blend of hilarity, vitality, action and excitement that left me impressed.  Hajime is an instant hit, with her Energizer Bunny-level of energy and her unmatched enthusiasm, she’s just fun to watch, even during infodump scenes or otherwise ordinary dialogue.  If this one episode proved anything to me is that this show is worth watching for Hajime alone.  But thankfully, Gatchaman Crowds has more than just that.  The cast thus far is extremely positive outside of Hajime, especially with Sugane being able to carry the plot thus far and Utsutsu providing the eye-candy by wearing her underwear (called swimsuit but that’s clearly not a swimsuit) casually around teammates.  The mascot character of the series, Paiman, was the one character I was worried about, but being voiced by Aya Hinaro really reduced my fears about this character, especially since I think of her character now as Haruhi Suzumiya but less crazy.  The plot has that typical Gatchaman feel to it with the theme of defending the planet from aliens, but it seems to hold promise of going in a different direction with a number of villainous characters featured in the opening animation.  And while on the subject of Gatchaman, the number of motifs and references to the original are a pleasant touch, highlighting this show’s inspiration without being too obvious or blunt about the subject.  What’s really enjoyable about the art and animation is its use of colors and motion, especially during the scenes with 3D models moving and fighting.  Overall, the anime is impressive and inspiring and an early favorite of mine.  I’m excited to see where this anime goes, especially with a main character like Hajime leading the way.

Fate⁄Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

So, just a bit of forewarning, I’ve never watched or read or even researched anything from the Fate/Stay Night universe, so I’m coming into this series without knowing really any more than the names “Saber” and “Rin”.  That being said, I found Prisma Illya to be easy to follow for an outsider like me and enjoyable to watch despite the fact that our lead heroine, Illya, was naked for half the episode.  The show is a humorous take on the whole magical girl genre but with the characters of Fate/Stay Night, giving the show a clever and amusing premise that makes it more appealing than your typical, non-franchise magical girl show.  The comedy was genuinely funny, which is a promise for future episodes, and the dynamic of the series seems to be earnest, though this first episode was primarily used to introduce the characters and setting and show how it’s different from the original materials.  The one thing I’m a little concerned about was the high amounts of loli fanservice in this first episode, but I figure not every episode will have an extended bath scene like this one did, or even things like pantyshots, moving forward.  I don’t have much to say about the characters or story at this point, besides that I do find them mild positives thus far, but the humor and setting are enough alone to warrant me keeping this anime for the future.

Undecided:

Choujigen Game Neptune the Animation (Hyperdimension Neptunia)

I came into expecting Hyperdimension Neptunia to have nothing in the way of intelligent characters, a paramount plot, cerebral writing or anything that’d make it a quality anime that I typically prefer.  I did come in expecting to see cute and exciting girls have fun with each other in amusing situations and for there to be fights in battle suits that dazzled the audience.  So with that heading into the anime and no knowledge prior of the games or franchise, I came out feeling entirely mixed with this first episode.  While I did enjoy the adorable characters and the visuals of this series, I felt somewhat disappointed by the humor in the series save for the Yuu Kobayashi joke at the very end (which actually was the funniest thing all season, go figure).  The battles were even worse, probably the most damning aspect of the anime, with minimal amounts of animation and action that could’ve been easily replaced by still frames of the girls in various poses and accomplished the same goal.  The characters aren’t exactly dumb but they don’t feel all that intelligent or rational either, instead being basic anime archetypes at this point.  The writing and dialogue was rather simple and basic, to the point where it felt almost elementary, and it didn’t really go into depth in the characters, story or setting leading me to believe it’ll be mainly fanservice for the fans of Neptunia.  But still, I came in expecting most of this, so it doesn’t really surprise me that Neptunia is here for mainly cute girls and fun.  I want to keep the anime around if it doesn’t try to develop a serious plot where the girls will save Gamindustri from destruction (although you know that that’s what’s going to happen) and is instead all about fun and humor.  I’ll probably end up keeping the show around for the absolutely lovely character designs but don’t expect me to enjoy it all that much if the series stagnates or fails to improve.

Dropped:

Nothing here, which means that this concludes my thoughts and reviews for the first episodes of this Summer’s anime.  All that remains now is to transition back into the traditional style of Weekly Reviews for a majority of these anime.  So until then, enjoy all these new, wonderful anime this season!

During whichever week this belongs to: complaints on the detective/mystery work in Danganronpa, how Index continues to undermine Misaka’s character in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, excitement over distinguishing Fu’s character in Tamayura ~more aggressive~, and a slight but refreshing and welcome change in Monogatari Series Second Season.

Best episode of the week: Monogatari Series Second Season

Anime trending up this week: Tamayura ~more aggressive~

Anime trending down this week: To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

Danganronpa the Animation (Episode 2)

Although I don’t have much in the way of complaints with Danganronpa thus far, I do feel the need to voice my disappointment with how the anime is handling the material between the murder and the trial.  In the game, this time is intended for the player to create a foundation before going into the trial: to hunt for clues, to gather evidence and to begin to construct an idea about who the murderer might be based on how they interpret the material before them.  This process allows the player to understand the case before them.  In the anime, it’s pretty much glossed over with a quick montage of characters finding items for less than a minute and off to the trial!  I figured that translating this material from the game to the anime would be difficult, but I never thought it’d be painful or meaningless like this.  Instead of creating value or meaning behind the items picked up, the anime just gifted them to us without requiring or stimulating any thought or perception.  Rather than actually letting us connect the dots, the material was literally thrown at us.  It’s like the anime wanted to avoid this perceived down time and tried to minimalize it as much as possible.

And since I never like it when someone complains about something without offering their opinion on what would make it better, my thoughts on the matter could go in either two directions to improve this aspect of Danganronpa.  First, the one I’d prefer of the two, would be to show the characters searching for clues but to not explicitly show the items being picked up.  Since the anime wanted to gloss over this section quickly, why not have Makoto standing over a dead body, make a remark about some evidence without stating it explicitly and then move on, only to finally present it during the trial.  In this situation, the anime isn’t teasing us or giving it to us effortlessly but instead, puts the sleuthing solely on the characters rather than the viewers.  The second option would be to spend more time on the detective side of the story; to have the characters talk and think through the evidence they’re gathering and attempting to build a case before the trial.  In this situation, it uses the characters and the evidence together to help guide the viewer in the murder mystery.  Either of this changes would shift the perspective of the detective work and the mystery significantly, clarifying the issue of how the audience is supposed to perceive their role in the murder mysteries of Danganronpa.  Right now, the material between the murder and the trial is handled awkwardly in Danganronpa, giving us a minimal amount of detective experience and a quick overview of the evidence about a minute before heading to the trial.  It could be significantly improved with a little more care, so hopefully the anime will learn from its mistakes and go in one of these directions in future episodes.

Gatchaman Crowds (Episode 1)

Is it a bra and panties or just some fancy, frilly two-piece swimsuit?  The clothing choice for Utsutsu in Gatchaman Crowds is definitely the eye-candy of the series, but rather than enjoying her for her shameless sex appeal, I find myself curious about what exactly she’s wearing.  Given just the appearance of her clothes, the shape, style, cut and color, I originally thought she was walking around comfortably in her underwear.  However, when Hajime meets Utsutsu, she comments on her clothes and calls it a swimsuit.  Now correct me if I’m wrong, but you usually don’t see a garter paired with a bikini, nor is it common to see a bow on a top.  Then again, it’s not like it’s impossible given the variety of styles of clothes seen in anime, especially for one like Gatchaman Crowds.  Perhaps the only way to answer this question, underwear versus swimwear, would be if the series was kind enough to focus on Utsutsu more and provide more of her in terms of screentime and detail.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who would appreciate such a change, even after we settle the whole bra and panties versus bikini paradox.

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Episode 2)

One thing I don’t get about the new school in Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou is… why is there a new school?  The entire student body of Sephiro Fiore, the combat unit of tarot card using magical girls covering as a school for lolis with disproportionate heads, is an astonishing 6 students, which increases to 9 if you include the trio of Tendou sisters (but let’s not include them, shall we?).  What’s the point of this school exactly, especially if all they’re doing is taking the same classes as regular students with nothing in the way of training for combat?  Why not have these various girls attend their regular schools and call them together when there’s an emergency or something?  It doesn’t make much sense to set up an entire school for half a dozen students, especially when their courses are perfectly normal like music, PE, and chemistry.  It doesn’t seem like the girls are doing anything special there than besides building their own chemistry together, but couldn’t they be doing this as an after-school activity or some special club?  Or better yet, Sephiro Fiore should integrate combat, tactics and magical girl history into their curriculum, alongside the likes of mathematics and literature.  Regardless, I do enjoy the aesthetics of their school more than the cookie-cutter designs of Japanese schools and it does have a dormitory for the girls to live in, so it’s not like I completely hate the new setting of Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou, I just question its purpose as a school for these girls.

Monogatari Series Second Season (Episode 2)

Unlike the previous anime in this franchise, an impressive collecting spanning Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Nekomonogatari, this new season of Monogatari has been devoid of its protagonist, Koyomi Araragi, and given the series a refreshing change of perspective that bodes well for the series moving forward.  Whereas the previous three series repeated the pattern of Koyomi aiding a female character with her particular quarks, a pattern that was growing weary and tired after such frequent and constant use, Monogatari Series offers the series through a different perspective in that we’re seeing what happens when Araragi isn’t around.  That’s where I find the charm and enthusiasm in this new anime.  Rather than having Araragi bike around town and talk to various girls in one-on-one conversations, we’re seeing the story through the eyes of the affect girl and seeing how she lives with her problem.  It’s a fascinating turn of events and one that I wish had occurred earlier in the series since it changes the dynamic of the characters and the storytelling to a much greater degree than anything that Araragi could do on his own.  I hope to see the eventual problem with Tsubasa resolved without any aid or appearance by Araragi but I can’t say that Senjougahara has been much in the way of help besides providing a roof over her head and so much needed friendship that has crossed the yuri line on several occasions.  Oh, and that’s the other thing… even without Araragi around, the series still manages to retain its renowned sex appeal with a stimulating shower scene, some suggestive sleeping poses and the return of Senjougahara’s school supplies panties.  I’ve got to admit, this season of Monogatari is off to an incredible start.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 14)

The series of walls that surround the human civilization in Attack on Titan has been referenced multiple times as a marker to denote wealth and especially safety.  But with the fourteenth episode of Titan, does it also signify a difference in time periods?  You’d always hear about how people would want in the Wall Sina, the innermost fortification, since it offered the most safety… but maybe there’s more to it than that.  After a few scenes, showing of the city within the deepest walls, you notice how very different this society is from those inside Wall Rose and Wall Maria.  First, and probably the most noticeable, is probably the clothes, with people wearing suits, top hats and bowties.  Compare that to the tunics and trousers worn by the citizens outside of Wall Sina, and you notice a stark difference in clothing patterns that spans several hundred years, from Middle Ages to the 19^th Century.  If there was anything to reiterate the gap of wealth between the two, this would be it, but it does hint at a more advanced society, too.  Another major difference between the two is that the people inside Wall Sina were looking at newspapers whereas the others were reading a notice in a village square.  Although it doesn’t say anything about the difference in education, it does highlight the difference in wealth again and that the people inside of Wall Sina are more advanced than their counterparts.  One more aspect that might denote a difference in the time periods between the two is the horse-drawn carriage.  Virtually everywhere else in Titan, have we seen crude wagons and wagonettes used but here, within the wall of Wall Sina, did we actually see a large, stylish, painted carriage.  Again, this may just be another sign of the wealth behind the walls, but it does show yet another difference in the technology between the two sides.  Of course, the idea that the people behind Wall Sina are in a different time period than everyone else was merely in jest, but there are enough instances of a difference in technology, culture and society to believe that the one within Wall Sina is more advanced than those outside of it.  I doubt that there’s any meaningful reason as to why there is such a blatant difference between the two beside wealth, but it might be interesting to see what happens if these are all hints toward a greater conspiracy going on.

Silver Spoon (Episode 1)

Say, what about fishing?  Or more better yet, what’s the deal with the lack of ichthyology in Silver Spoon?  We know that Ooezo Agricultural High School is renowned for its curriculum involving livestock, especially since the anime has primarily focused on horses, cows, and chickens with crops being second and everything else third, but what does this rural, agriculture school offer in the realm of fishery studies?  You’d figure that since Japan consumes some of the highest amounts of seafood in the world that an agricultural school like this would house a department or offer courses in aquatic and fishery sciences.  Then again, with the school situated in the middle of Hokkaido, the question becomes, where would you teach these kids about fish and fishing?  I suppose a school near a body of water would make the most sense, probably one on the coast as to teach techniques and science about properly fishing the oceans, so maybe there’s a sister school or a satellite campus where students can learn about that food industry.  Still, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been any mention of fish or fishing at this school, especially since they seem to eat it during breakfast alongside the eggs that they harvest during class.  It might be a niche interest here in rural Hokkaido and an afterthought to these students, but I hope to see some fishing (especially how it contrasts farm life) here in Silver Spoon.

Tamayura ~more aggressive~ (Episode 2)

One of the issues I had with Tamayura ~hitotose~, the series prior to this one, is that Fu’s character never really established her own identity as an individual.  Instead, it always felt like she was just the figurehead of the quartet that was Fu, Kaoru, Norie and Maon.  With the new season establishing the photo club as a fundamental subject that highlights the ‘more aggressive’ theme, there’s hope that Fu will begin to distance her character from her friends.  Not only will this help differentiate her character from the others and put her in a position for her character to grow but it will also provide new opportunities for her to expand and understand her love for photography beyond snapping photos during excursions and hikes with friends.  It’s rather amazing how just a few episodes into this new season that Tamayura has begun to address the issues that I had previously with ~hitotose~.  All that needs to happen for this to be the perfect sequel will be if Kou and Komachi can mysteriously disappear and never be mentioned again (although I’d gladly settle for just Kou if the opportunity presented itself).

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 14)

Although my memories of this Sisters Arc in To Aru Majutsu no Index tend to be positive or favorable, I can’t help find myself irritated and distressed at it now after going through so many episodes of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S.  The main reason for this change of heart is solely based on how the writing and storytelling of Index undermines and belittles the Misaka we’ve grown to know in Railgun.  A major reason why this problem exists is because Index was written well before Railgun was and, as a result, Railgun is required to revisit the writing of Index in order to recap this story arc.  However, between the time that Index was written to the time that Railgun began the story again, we’ve seen Misaka’s character grow and develop independently of Index’s variables and become a remarkable protagonist on her own.  We’ve grown to understand her personality and her motivations, how she responds to various stimuli and seen her power grow from a simple manipulation of electricity into stupidly overpowered feats of imagination.  But now, after all that growth and maturity, Misaka’s character was stunted, reduced and retarded.  Her powers were meaningless in Index as compared to Railgun.  Seriously, she was able to hack into some of the most impenetrable security networks in Academy City and now we have to expect that she can’t operate or control a simple vending machine?  And don’t get me started on her personality and dialogue toward Touma now after seeing her through about 30 episodes of Railgun.  Really, I appreciate the fact that Railgun is going back to revisit this arc and explore it through Misaka’s perspective.  Really, I absolutely love the idea to show this story again but through the eyes of the other protagonist and show how it affects her and integrates into her character.  The main issue I have with this is that, at this point in Index’s story, Misaka was still in her infacy and everything that she did was experimental to see where her character would end up.  Now that her character has fully matured and became well defined, it feels stupid and silly to force her to revert back to this infancy stage for the sake of completing this story arc.  Now I can only hope that this Sisters Arc ends rather quickly and that the series can return back to what Railgun is supposed to be: Misaka kicking ass and taking names.

Uchouten Kazoku (Episode 2)

The mother of the Shimogamo family, simply referred to as ‘Mother’ by her children and ‘Prince’ by her fellow billiards buddies, is an outstanding specimen of a character if I’ve ever seen one.  Her flamboyant personality is charming and sophisticated.  Her choice in clothing not only matches but enhances and accents that personality perfectly.  Her style and her presentation is engaging and entertaining.  And her look is simultaneously both beautiful and handsome.  And all that without mentioning how she’s a caring single-mother for her four luckless sons, can transform into an adorable red-furred tanuki and is scared of thunder and lightning.  I typically don’t obsess about characters like this right off the bat in a new series (okay, I’m lying, I do this all the time), but the Mother in Uchouten Kazoku is such a fantastic and fabulous and flashy character, that I love how she contrast everyone else in this series by punching it up with fun and amusement without becoming silly or losing her meaning in the series.  I’m looking forward to whatever role she plays in the series moving forward, not only from an entertainment perspective but from a story perspective, too, particularly if she plays a pivotal role in the lives of her four sons moving forward.

About 2 weeks ago: why I’m bored with Uchouten Kazoku, the impact of alternative hairstyles in Monogatari Series Second Season, how Zoe’s character contrasts everyone and everything in Shingeki no Kyojin, and why the clothes are my favorite part of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou.

Best episode of the week: Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

Anime trending up this week: Servant x Service

Anime trending down this week: Uchouten Kazoku

Danganronpa the Animation (Episode 3)

I’ve always kinda wondered that if they made a Phoenix Wright anime, based off the franchise of popular videos games, if it would be better to follow the mechanics of the game when it came to the investigations and trials or if changed the structure to match a looser, more liberal approach to dramatic lawyer action.  Danganronpa provides us with a glimpse at what it’s like to take the mechanics of a detective/trial video game and put it into an anime which was the former of my two options.  The style comes across to me as having mixed opinions.  While it does capture the style of Dangranronpa and manages to work well within the context of the trial, the downside is that it feels almost too blatant and automatic, helping to ruin the fun and mystery of the trial by putting so much emphasis on the bullets and accusations.  I mean, having the wrong text just blow up on the screen before the audience has time to even read, let alone think or react, pretty much spoils to you what’s supposed to happen.  Nonetheless, it does hold that Danganronpa-style to it that helps keep the game’s charm in this anime and helps differentiate it from, say, a Phoenix Wright-style objection.  And speaking of that, if I were to reevaluate my opinion of a Phoenix Wright anime after witnessing a trial in Danganronpa that mirrors a ‘true to the video game approach’, I’d almost actually rather have it be a more liberal approach that doesn’t feel all video game-ish, but one that still captures the style and themes of Phoenix Wright (for clarification, having the objection come out after a witness is done speaking, then revisiting the fallacy rather than having GIANT TEXT appear on the screen and Makoto using a bullet).

Gatchaman Crowds (Episode 2)

3D-CGI has always turned me off, especially from an early age when the medium began to debut and the graphics and apperances were still in their primitive state.  The form of using 3D-CGI has developed greatly over the past couple of decades and, with its growth and maturity, I’ve warmed up to the style, though I still tend to dislike shows that are entirely in 3D (a reason why I’m such a fan of anime is its resilience to remain 2D and gorgeous).  That being said, I find the use of 3D models and animation in Gatchaman Crowds to be one that I can’t help but like.  The use of these 3D models, the appearance of these models and the animation used to seamlessly integrate them into a 2D world is nothing short of spectacular and a testament to what 3D-CGI has become and what it can do.  I think this is the first anime besides Tiger & Bunny that I actually like and enjoy the CGI in.  Perhaps now, with the technology reaching new levels and finding forms that keep fans (like myself) happy, that 3D-CGI will begin to find more applications in the field of anime.  It still doesn’t mean I prefer it over 2D animation but that it isn’t an eye sore or a reason to dislike an anime like with so many previous television shows and movies.

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Episode 3)

Perhaps the greatest attribute and strength going for Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou right now is the dazzling and magnificent selection of clothes the characters wear, particularly the magical-girl forms whose costumes tend to be more elegant and extravagant versions of their traditional everyday clothes.  Hell, even their pajamas are cute and stylized and you can only wonder what they’ll be wearing when the inevitable beach episode occurs around episode 7 or 8.  But compared to other shows with similar themes, stories and characters, you always get a mirage of school girl uniforms, either a serafuku or blazer and miniskirt, and then a skin-tight, sexy uniform or frilly, frilly, girly outfit for the magical girl transformation.  And while I still enjoy those styles for the most part, Gen’ei Taiyou has done a remarkable job at selecting the outfits for its cast of characters, making them all vastly different from the each other and helping distinguish and accent each character’s personality, color, and Tarot card-themes (like the little suns, stars and crescent moon motifs that dot their clothes).  I think, right now, that the design, variety and quality of clothing is my favorite part of Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou.

Monogatari Series Second Season (Episode 3)

Since the setting of Monogatari is a sparely populated metropolis that barely breaks double digits, one populated by a single teenage boy and a handful of horny teenage girls, you’d figure that there wouldn’t be salon or hair stylist to provide the characters with alternative hair styles for this new season.  So unless a traveling barber visited the two and gave all the girls special discounts, I’m kinda curious how all the girls got these new hairstyles.  Never mind that, the new hairstyles are easily the biggest difference between this and the previous seasons of Monogatari with many characters having improved hairdos (Tsubasa, Senjougahara, Karen), some characters having different styles (Kanbaru), and some just having an outrageous style hair that makes me miss their former (Tsukihi).  Because I am me and have a thing for short hair (who would’ve guessed), I have to admit that I am loving these alternative hairstyles and that, as a result of seeing them with this slightly altered appearances, I’m having to reevaluate how much I like and enjoy these characters now.  It’s really amazing how such a simple and mundane procedure it is, to change someone’s hairstyle like this, can have such a profound effect like it has had on me and other fans of the series.  And while I still enjoy seeing Senjougahara wearing her hair long or Karen wearing her ponytail, I find it refreshing and inspirational for this season of Monogatari to change the styles of just about every girl, to give this season something new.  I’ve got to say, I’m really enjoying the cast more with these different hairstyles, though I wonder how long this effect will last or how it varies from character to character.  Either way, I’m glad to see something like this happen in Monogatari and I’ve got to find and thank whoever did these wonderful haircuts.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 15)

Even though Zoe’s character is portrayed in a comical, almost wacky manner, I absolutely love how she contrasts the rest of the cast in regards to Titans.  Hell, even her portrayal as a whimsical and humorous character helps reinforce that contrast since that itself is a distinction of her character, too.  Regardless, it’s refreshing and stimulating to see a character of her caliber being interested in the Titans to such an obsessive degree whereas the remainder of the cast would gladly trade anything they had to live another day without seeing a Titan.  And going one step further, Zoe is the only character to really show genuine compassion to the Titans though you could argue that her experiments are rather cruel and painful.  Still, you’d never see a character in Attack on Titan cry over the death of a Titan like Zoe did when she found her two ‘pets’ were murdered.  I can’t help but find her character to actually be my favorite as a result, finally seeing a character who breaks the common mold of the series over scared or fearless people who hunt or run from Titans.  Zoe is different.  And not only that, but she’s portrayed in a comic light that makes her character fun and amusing while also being intelligent, informative and able.  It’s great to have a character like Zoe in Titan, especially now after having the same or similar character archetypes through virtually every episode before.  My only hope from here moving forward is that she’s featured frequently, that her character grows along with the story and that she doesn’t find a premature end like so many other characters in this anime.

Silver Spoon (Episode 2)

Teachers in anime are kinda a neglected bunch of characters, often portrayed as comical or motherly background characters that really don’t do much in the way of inspiring or stimulating their students unless they’re one of the five members of a shitty harem anime.  That being said, I find the new equestrian teacher in Silver Spoon, Nakajima, to be just the opposite.  He’s a teacher first and foremost but he also assumes that mentor role with Yugo and his other students.  But especially with Yugo, who’s not really sure he wants to be in the equestrian club or even wants to be at a rural high school in general.  I have a feeling that considering his presence (alongside Mikage in the equestrian club), that Nakajima will have a substantial effect on Yugo’s character at various points throughout Silver Spoon.  He has that certain air, that certain quality to his character that hints that he’ll have a significant impact on the story of Silver Spoon and on Yugo’s character.  So with that, I’m looking forward to what Nakajima will do in Silver Spoon, especially considering that none of the other teachers have made a noteworthy impact to date.

Tamayura ~more aggressive~ (Episode 3)

How quickly do my opinions change.  I remember enjoying the Tamayura OVA, struggling and disappointed with Tamayura ~hitotose~ and considering not even picking up Tamayura ~more aggressive~ after remembering how discouraged I was after the 12-episode TV run.  But with just three episodes into Tamayura ~more aggressive~ and I find myself in love with the franchise like never before.  Perhaps it’s because the new characters, Kanae and Shimokamiyama, provide refreshing roles in the series in how they assist and develop Fu’s character and that the two biggest problems for me (Ko and Komachi) have had minimal screentime.  Or maybe because the series is focusing on the newfound Photography Club and on photography in general as compared to previous episodes of ~hitotose~ which alternated between charming stories and boring snorefests.  But with this new season of ~more aggressive~, Tamayura has taken a more aggressive approach to its characters, its story, its themes and its presentation and the sequel to this franchise is off to a fascinating start.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sequel score more than one point higher than an original, especially since Tamayura ~hitotose~ places last in Autumn 2011, but this has been the biggest surprise of the season, especially since I was considering skipping the series after my disappointment two years ago.  Thank goodness I gave this anime a shot and have felt rewarded ever since.

Uchouten Kazoku (Episode 3)

Despite being the most popular anime of the season according to anime bloggers, I can’t help but find myself bored with Uchouten Kazoku and I think I know why.  My main issue with the series is that it deals too much with politics.  Between the Shimogamo family’s internal struggles and those with the other Tanuki clans of Kyoto to the internal rumblings between the Tengu clans to the ‘Friday Club’ to Incident A and Incident B and just everything that everyone talks about… it’s all political and it’s all a bit peculiar at this point.  It’s a little hard to develop connections with these characters and these events when they all happened in the past and all are interwoven to create the complex and extravagant setting that is Uchouten Kazoku, but it’s all that every really happens.  Everyone is focused on the past and virtually every dialogue is tied to one of these prior events or are political in nature.  And, as a result, I can’t help but find myself uninterested when characters are talking about some event that happened in the past, especially when it’s all that ever happens in an episode.  So while I do appreciate the level of detail and complexity in Uchouten Kazoku, I have to question its relevance and purpose to the story and to question to what degree does it necessitate, especially since it’s reached the point where it’s begun to negatively affect the story and the characters.  But then again, maybe that’s only the case for me seeing how it has unrivaled popularity among other bloggers to date.

And before I forgot, while I’m on the subject of the past in this post, doesn’t Yasaburou’s male human look kinda remind you of Ted “Theodore” Logan’s look from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure?  I mean, that black vest on that white T-shirt and that mullet-style haircut with tight jeans… doesn’t it just scream 80’s fashion whenever you see Yasaburou?  I think he needs to go back to being a trap with that serafuku like we saw in the first episode.

During sometime, whenever Week 4 happened to be: the brilliant aesthetics and visuals of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, the magnificent and expressive use of creativity and imagination in Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu, the appropriate use of mild comedy in Tamayura ~more aggressive~ and Karen being the only stupid character in Monogatari Series Second Season.

Best episode of the week: Uchouten Kazoku

Anime trending up this week: Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou

Anime trending down this week: Hyperdimension Neptunia

Danganronpa the Animation (Episode 4)

I think the fun and entertainment of watching Danganronpa (and the whole point of playing Danganronpa) is to put yourself in Makoto’s situation and think about what you’d do to escape Hope’s Peak Academy.  I’ve come to the conclusion already that if I were to commit one of the murders in order to get out, the best time to do it would be to commit one during the investigative periods when everyone else is focusing all their time and energy on another murder.  That or just kill everyone all at the same time so then you automatically go but it’d be pretty hard when they’re spread throughout the school.  Either way, I’m kinda thinking we might see a murder like that sometime soon.

Gatchaman Crowds (Episode 3)

Hajime is already a personal favorite given her genki, positive and jovial personality that always brightens and energizes every scene of Gatchaman Crowds that she’s in.  And though we’ve seen her surprised and pout and wearing her grumpy-pants, we never really see Hajime stray her from constant emotion of smiles.  I do wonder if or when we’ll ever see her hit other famous emotions, like sad or mad or confused or anxiety, but I do hope we see her character challenged somewhat in Gatchaman Crowds.  I’d especially like it if something like this happened soon, although that depends entirely on the story and how her character reacts to whatever events occur.

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Episode 4)

The more I watch of Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou, the more the series grows on me and the more I enjoy watching this entertaining anime.  And as the series continues on, I realize more and more that the aesthetics to this anime, that is the combination of artistic details (Tarot Seira’s eyes), color, style, presentation and theme, are what I am enjoying the most.  With this episode featuring multiple Madoka-isms (to put it simply and politely), I found myself paying close attention to the use of artistic motifs and textures and colors to express the contrast the Tarot/Daemonia world has from the real world and how this gives it a personality and feeling that’s both expressive and substantial.  Combine that with the costumes and clothes, the very same ones I obsessed about in the last post, the use of colors and symbolism (especially with each girl’s Tarot card) and the cutesy, charming nature of the character designs and the anime comes together as something special, even beyond its visuals and adorable art style.  And as the series moves on with its story and characters, perhaps down a road that I might not enjoy or want, the one reassuring aspect is that the aesthetics will continue to dazzle and impress.  So even if the anime begins to tumble downhill or take a nosedive, something which I’ve always feared from the beginning with this anime, I’ll know for sure that I will enjoy the aesthetics of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou throughout.

Monogatari Series Second Season (Episode 4)

Is Karen the only ‘stupid’ character in Monogatari?  Considering that every character say something clever or meaningful or significant at some point in the series, it always seems as though Karen is the one who doesn’t think long enough or hard enough and let’s her personality or aggression get the best of her.  Like, back during the Karen Bee arc, it was her foolishness and naïve nature that lead to her burning fever.  In the previous episode, Senjougahara tricked her, and rather quite effortlessly, to take Tsubasa into her home.  And just in this episode, when questioning about ‘fire’, Karen gave her opinion on it (meaning justice) only to retract her position when Tsukihi countered with ‘love’.  You could even count Karen’s aggressiveness, like forcing Tsubasa to play cards with her and her little sister, as part of this problem.  Hell, throw in her meager attempt to stack cards as part of this problem too, especially in light of Tsukihi and Tsubasa’s majestic and stable castles.  Either way, it always seems as though Karen’s character is a little bit slower than the rest or her mind doesn’t move as fast as her mouth (or her legs for that matter).  It might just be that her character is never in the right place or the right time for some meaningful or deep or profound monologue or statement of self-reflection or one life, but it just seems to me that Karen is the stupidest of the characters in Monogatari.  Then again, it might not be that she’s stupid but that she’s a bit too energetic, a bit too hyper, or a bit too aggressive with her personality, that she acts before she thinks.  And if that’s the case, then it’s nice that she’s smart, although you’d hardly know it with the way she talks and acts.  Either way, it’s always fun to see what’s going on with her, whether she’s stupid or not.

Silver Spoon (Episode 3)

Watching Yugo’s transition and transformation, from starting out as an urban kid who’s developing and maturing into a rural expert, is rather quite remarkable considering the stark contrast he’s facing from where he was to where he is now.  The thought of that made me question how often these teachers see kids from outside the rural catchment area that the school draws from and how these teachers handle these kids.  Furthermore, how do the teachers handle kids who are experts in certain subjects based on their prior experience and what their family farm specializes in.  If I had to guess, I’d wager that the school doesn’t see too many kids from urban settings or ones who have no prior experience or interest in agriculture or farming, and that students who venture out there are motivated by something, such as veterinary sciences, food processing or civil engineering.  And as for students who specialize in certain areas, you’d figure they might just take the class as an easy ‘A’, though you never know what they already know and that some aspects of the class might be beneficial, especially if there are other techniques or technologies to farming that the kid has had no prior experience with.  Either way, I suppose everything works out just fine for all the students of the various backgrounds, especially since the teachers thus far have had an exceptional interest in helping the students with their struggles and adversities so far.

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu (Episode 4)

Yura’s imagination, often somewhere on the border of dreams and delusions of grandeur, really took a giant leap in this episode, and really captured my attention right as the series was beginning to stagnate and level off in mediocrity.  But the wild and expressive dreamscape she had, combined with stylized art and beautiful imagery, really differentiated this episode to me from the rest and shifted the course of the anime in a whole new, positive direction.  Just the story, the symbolism and the use of her delusions finally came to fruition and meaning for her character.  Not only that but seeing that imagery and that significance add some missing creativity and purpose to the series that moved beyond Yura wanting friends or the C3 Club wanting to win more survival games.  I hope the anime can continue to build off these dreams that Yura constantly has since it provide some spice and variety to the series.  If the anime continues to do that and find meaning or demonstration in these dreams, then I’ll have to reevaluate how much I enjoy C3-bu and how well the anime is performing, beyond the airsoft battles and girls chit-chatting over tea.

Tamayura ~more aggressive~ (Episode 4)

The comedy of Tamayura is very quite appropriate for a healing anime.  Considering that the humor is tailored to shorter, quicker jokes, often accompanied by chibi characters or cute expressions, the reaction from the audience is often smiles or chuckles rather than bouts of laughter or needing to spit out your drink all over the screen.  If Tamayura were like that, it really would distract from the healing, feel-good type atmosphere and theme the anime has going for it.  The brief jokes with simple smiles are all this anime needs.  And those smiles go a long way to help with the healing aspects of the anime, too.  So while I always enjoy comedies for making me laugh and enjoy myself, I do enjoy the comedy in Tamayura ~more aggressive~ for being applicable to what the anime needs and how it fits in with everything else in the anime.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (Episode 16)

If there’s one thing this arc achieved in Railgun S, it is that Misaka Imouto has reinforced her position as my favorite character in Railgun/Index’s universe.  More importantly, it’s that Misaka Imouto’s sense of humor and personality were put on further display and meaning than what we’ve seen before and that her character is one of the most humorous and adorable in this extensive anime/light novel franchise.  I can only hope that we continue to see these clones wandering around Academy City in the remainder of Railgun’s second season, especially since my favorite episodes were the ones where Misaka Imouto was featured prominently and had ample time to make jokes at her older sister.

Uchouten Kazoku (Episode 4)

Without a doubt, the best thing in Uchouten Kazoku is the internal dynamic of the Shimogamo family.  Watching the family partake in the Obon festivities in Kyoto has been the highlight thus far of Uchouten Kazoku and it was in large part due to the dysfunctional family finally spending time together as a unit rather than as individuals occasionally meeting up with one another at various points along Yasaburou’s story.  But with the Mother’s flamboyant behavior and charming personality, Yaichirou’s stubborn yet anxious nature, Yashirou’s timid and dependent character, and Yasaburou’s determined (but only sometimes) style, the family fits pleasantly together as a unit and really brought the episode to life, from start to finish.  I can only hope to see more of the family together as the anime moves forward, especially if they can put in situations like this again where they’re all together for something both spectacular and crazy.

This week: being fanservicey but not being a fanservice anime with Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu, finally satisfying my curiosities in Shingeki no Kyojin, theories on why I can tolerate the melodrama in Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, and a simple suggestion to make Uchouten Kazoku even better.

Best episode of the week: Monogatari Series Second Season

Anime trending up this week: Shingeki no Kyojin

Anime trending down this week: To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

Gatchaman Crowds (Episode 4)

I’ve always been a fan of Mamoru Miyano’s voice acting (Light from Death Note, Takuto from Star Driver, Taichi from Chihayafuru, Masaomi from Durarara!!) and having him voice the alien, Berg-Katze, in Gatchaman Crowds is an absolute treat.  Not only for me but apparently for Mamoru, too.  Just listening to his playful voice, often uncontrolled or untamed in the best way, you can tell he’s having a wonderful time voicing this mysterious, flamboyant and extravagant antagonist.  His voice acting has been specular and has helped aid Berg-Katze’s character to appear more crazy and dangerous than any action he’s taken thus far.  Mamoru’s talent really matches this role considering his range and use of vocals, and he’s been a perfect fit for Berg-Katze in this revival of the Gatchaman series.  And best of all, you can tell from the way he’s voicing Berg-Katze that Mamoru is loving every minute of this performance.  I’m always happy whenever a seiyuu goes above and beyond with their presentation of a character but it’s even better when you know they’re enjoying it as much as I am.

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Episode 5)

Thick and sappy melodrama is often a turn-off for me, particularly when a show tries its damnedest to play it as entirely serious and profound when, in reality, it comes off as something ridiculous and is often chided as a result.  So while Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou has thick, sappy melodrama, why do I not mind it or even enjoy it in parts?  Perhaps one reason for my tolerance of this style of storytelling is because that there’s some actual authenticity to this drama when characters die.  There’s no bullshit in Genei Taiyou when a character dies and everyone forgets about them.  So from that angle, I can understand why some of the drama is so hard on some of the characters, especially when they try to hard to prevent it and come up empty-handed.  The other might be that I’m not as emotionally invested in the characters or story in Genei Taiyou as I have been with other anime.  That’s not to say that I’m not enjoying this anime, considering it’s probably my candidate for the best surprise of the season, but more of a byproduct of me enjoying the anime for entirely different reasons than the characters and their depressing stories.  That’s not to say I don’t share some of their emotions when they’re sad at the death of a friend or father figure, as was the case with this episode, but more that magnitude is entirely different.  Maybe if I were more emotionally invested in the series and then it tried to pull this melodrama on me, then I’d be more disappointed, but I don’t think the series has done really anything wrong despite resorting to melodrama in almost every episode.  Or maybe I’m just more tolerant of it in general?  Who knows.  Either way, this is one of the first times I’ve been able to endure melodrama to this degree without wanting to bash my head on the corner of my desk or drop the series completely.  Hopefully Genei Taiyou manages to stay this way until the end…

Monogatari Series Second Season (Episode 5)

If there’s one consistency to Monogatari, whether Bake, Nise, Neko or this, it’s that the final episodes in these mini-story arcs are always a favorite.  Just the way each episode manages its climax, its emotions, its subtleties and its satisfying conclusions; every ending throughout the series is a gem to watch.  Really, what more can I say after the conclusion to Nekomonogatari: Shiro?  Maybe that I want to watch it all over again with a better understanding to everything in the story?  If I had the time (and you know I don’t, considering how late these posts always are), I’d leap at the opportunity (as well as tackling my ever-growing backlog, too).

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 17)

As I mentioned thirteen episodes ago, questioning the limitations of the steampunk technology (the 3D-maneuver gears) that the humans rely upon to defend the titans, what would happen if there were no trees or walls around to use when fighting the titans?  Well, now we have our answer with our heroes out and about in the great wide open, with not much in the way of trees or buildings to use when needed to defend or fight against a titan.  Not only does it change the entire dynamic of the series with the characters needing to reinvent other ways to combat these titans but it also provides us with the opportunity to see just how valuable these walls and building are considering how these elite soldiers are largely ineffective without them around.  So with the series moving into this change of setting and entirely different landscape, it should be fun to see what happens next.

Silver Spoon (Episode 4)

If the fourth episode of Silver Spoon is accurate, I feel bad for the farmers of Hokkaido.  For so many of those students to miss out on freshly-made or gourmet or even just cheap, hot pizza, you can’t help but feel bad for them.  Even here, driving through dinky, dusty rural towns of a couple thousand people, there’s always a couple pizza places.  And hell, isn’t Ooezo Agricultural High School situated in a decent-sized city in Hokkaido?  Why can’t the students just visit a local pizza joint after clubs are over but before curfew?  I don’t know, maybe Japan just hates pizza, but judging from the reactions of the students, it couldn’t be further from the truth.  Or maybe it’s just not as Americanized as I expected it to be with pizza being a significant aspect of their regular diet.  Well, if it were up to the students, it probably would be.  Heh, wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the students do something with pizza whenever this manga/anime is over.

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu (Episode 5)

C3-bu actually has quite a bit of fanservice, especially with this beach episode with the girls all in their bikinis and using two bikini tops as flags, but it doesn’t feel like a fanservice anime like so many others.  Perhaps it’s because C3-bu has the restraint to prevent the show from diving into the “ecchi territory” where there’s bouncing boobs, upskirts and panties, and sexually-suggestive situations.  In fact, C3-bu has had none of it, with the most fanservicey material being girls bathing in a hot springs a couple episodes back.  And while that still is considered ecchi to some, it’s pretty much the mainstream for late-night anime now.  Maybe the series drew a line that the animators dare not cross, akin to what happened with Girls und Panzer (though it did have frequent bathing and I did catch a couple upskirts in that anime).  Still, whatever C3-bu is doing, it knows that it doesn’t want to be labeled as an ecchi anime though it is pushing the envelope with episodes like this.  Nevertheless, I don’t think the series will do much more than this, especially since we’ve already checked off the hot springs episode and beach episode already.

Tamayura ~more aggressive~ (Episode 5)

Considering how much Kaoru, Norie, Maon, Kanae and pretty much everyone else devotes their time and attention to Fu, you can’t help but wonder why Fu doesn’t return the favor and spend all her time helping out and obsessing about her friends.  Like, when was the last time Fu planned a hike to a special area to inspire Kaoru and her love of scents?  Or what about Fu gathered everyone else together to help encourage Norie with her cooking?  And has Fu really ever helped Maon decide what she wants to pursue since she’s always undecided about what she wants to do?  Nope and no to all three.  Instead, it’s all about Fu.  And no, I don’t mean to say that Fu is selfish or avaricious but she clearly doesn’t care about her friends as much as they care about her.  Or if she does, she never goes to the same lengths to show it.  If there’s one thing I’d love to see, it’d be for Fu to do all the behind-the-scenes things to help one of her friends to return the favor that everyone has done for her.  Too bad I don’t think anything like that will happen, at least not in Tamayura ~more aggressive~.

Uchouten Kazoku (Episode 5)

If there’s one suggestion I’d like to make to Uchouten Kazoku to make it immensely better than it already is, it would be to have the Shimogamo family to spend more time as tanukis and less as imitation humans.  For one, it would help reinforce their characters are a small, simple and vulnerable family of tanukis that’s suffered and struggled since the death of their father.  Another reason why I’d prefer this change is that it would further contrast the difference between them and the humans that they’re so afraid of.  And finally, the real and only reason why I wanted to write this mini-review for episode 5… they’re just so damn cute.  I absolutely love how adorable these little creatures are and almost feel jaded at times when they’re human throughout the whole episode.  If we saw the Shimogamo family at home conversing and arguing at tanukis… oh God, imagine how cute that’d be.  Imagine how much everyone would love it, especially if they fought and wrestled, too.  So yeah, the more the characters are in the tanuki form, the better.  Much, much better.

This week: appreciating the visual aesthetics of Uchouten Kazoku, the use of emotion in Shingeki no Kyojin, pink blood in Danganronpa, and the team failing to act as a team as a strength for Gatchaman Crowds.

Best episode of the week: Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

Anime trending up this week: Love Lab

Anime trending down this week: Silver Spoon

Danganronpa the Animation (Episode 6)

I don’t know what it is about the pink blood in Danganronpa, but I don’t like it.  Whether it’s intended to make the deaths more cartoony or kiddy or simply less frightening, it’s an aspect that seems to distract from the overall mood and theme of the series with death and despair as major hallmarks.  But pink blood?  If anything, the pink blood almost laughs at the whole notion of despair, doom and gloom that the series seems to love.  Why not just go with red and have everything line up?  Really, what’s the deal with the pink blood?  Unless they’re robots from Key the Metal Idol, I don’t get it.

Gatchaman Crowds (Episode 5)

Although the six Gatchaman heroes from a team, complete with their own secret hideout and badass leader (J.J. Robinson), they rarely act or function as a unit.  Really, besides meetings, briefings and general hangout sessions, when have we ever seen more than 3 or 4 of them together for a mission or objective?  Instead, it’s like it’s a collection of misfits who just so happen to share some similar interests but go about as individuals.  It’s rather quite pleasing to see some dysfunction and disconnect between the characters and their leaders in Gatchaman Crowds, so seeing them work like this, with the possibility of them acting like a team later on, is a strange positive for this series.

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (Episode 6)

Look at their heads.  Then look at their necks.  Unless their necks are reinforced with steel rebar and concrete, I don’t understand how their necks work.  Like, not even from a physical standpoint of trying to understand how it supports the weight of their heads, if you think about it anatomically, it still doesn’t make sense.  And no, I’m not trying to be funny here; I’m legitimately concerned about their health.  Fortunately, it appears as though the adults in this series don’t suffer from severe cases of ‘moe gigantism’ in their heads, but still, the anorexia in this anime is just as disturbing as the Daemonia who kill little girls for fun.

Shingeki no Kyojin (Episode 18)

I have trouble recalling an anime with such a distinct and constant use and expression of emotion like what you see in Attack on Titan.  Every character in every episode has distinguishable expressions on their faces and in their voices.  You can clearly see how every character feels whenever they’re on the screen.  Just the art and aesthetics of this series do so well to convey their emotions, especially with how strong they are at times.  It’s almost overwhelming at times, the amount of passion and excitement you see in just about every scene.  And it’s really quite entertaining too, especially since you can share in the experience or mock the series for being too over-the-top.  Either way, the constant onslaught of overpowering emotion is one of the best things Attack on Titan has going for it, especially now that the action has picked up to match the already-established emotions.

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu (Episode 6)

How do the girls get away with bringing guns in the school?  And how does an all-girls school even allow them to cosplay in bikinis for a ‘wet paper contest’?  I realize I’m not supposed to be thinking about stuff like this, but still… suspension of disbelief only goes so far… that and I despise having school themed episodes like this in anime like C3-bu, a show where the interest and excitement clearly lie beyond the borders of Stella Women’s Academy.

Uchouten Kazoku (Episode 6)

I’ve always been a fan of the art, color, lighting, animation, aesthetics and cinematography of P.A. Works, always hailing it among the best in the industry, but Uchouten Kazoku raises the bar for what P.A. Works is capable of and what a quality anime should look like.  Almost everything in Uchouten Kazoku is visually appealing, thanks to a careful combination of the above qualities, and this episode seemed to highlight this anime’s strength in a select few scenes.  Really, the words right here, right now don’t do this anime the justice that it deserves and only can truly be appreciated by the fans watching and studying its beautiful illustrations.  I can only hope that these screenshots do the series credit, especially after the masterpiece that was episode 6.