For no good reason, I am ignoring the unwatched pile and rewatching Dai-Guard. It's a 2000 vintage character show, with a grotescue mecha playing the role of unifying thematic element. This would be the 6th or 7th pass, if I counted, and I begin to appreciate Ooyama quite a bit more now.

The "now" means that initially I quickly became a fan of Chiaki and Rika, and even contributed their descriptions to Rob Kelk's fetish site. Chiaki is a modern reimagining of Yamato Nadesico, and I was always weak for the type. Rika is a real engineer where Parfeit of Vandread was a weak parody (Rika is also a prodigy, scientist, and an insensitive jerk).

Dai-Guard is commonly brought up when the discussion of the Japanese nuclear problem in anime comes up. A major story element in it is how "OE weapon", which for all intents and purposes was a nuke, was used to destroy heterodine (the monster), with the attendant collaterial destruction. So, Japan cannot have nukes, but OE weapon is fine, at least legally — the show makes a big deal of how evil it is. Certainly, the big robot is much better in that scheme of things.

So, aside from being a sympathetic young lady, Ooyama is given the job of hammering on the point by being born in Hiroshima, and then joining the company because she wanted to help along with the alternative to the OE weapon. Thus, the creators establish the complete parallel between nuclear and OE weapons. Oh well, at least she's not generally angsty. That role is given to Ibuki.

Of course, being a second echelon character, Ooyama is not given as much attention as Ibuki, who would've been the female lead if any love were involved. But at least we get to see her at home. Tanigawa is not even given that much. Damn shame, if you ask me. Just look at the picture!

But no, it either the office, or group outings. Speaking of the office...

When I went on vacation, I visited the Tokyo office of our company. And it's looks exactly like the stereotypical Japanese office of Dai-Guard, with one sad exception: women are not made to wear smart uniforms. BTW, check out the Irie's skirt with a side cut.

On a completely unrelated topic, look at the menu behind Akagi:

I can make out ayako don, katsudon, and tempura don. Go me. Well, the forth kind of donburi reminds a mystery... Judging by the price, it must be vegetarian.

UPDATE: J. Greely informed me by e-mail that the last donbury is chuukadon, a kind of seafood.