アニ・ノート

He’s such a tsundere for Shinbo in this post:

I’m really glad that I ended up picking this show back up, because boy, was this episode awesome! For this episode, I feared a bit for Kanako and Yayoi’s lack of airtime, but this episode worked out really well. This episode was full of nice and clever touches. When I watched Tsukuyomi Moonphase about half a year ago, I really was tired Shinbo’s style, and the subsequent Shaft-series of a tale of Melodies and Maria Holic only made this worse for me. But I really have to say, that with Natsu no Arashi, I’m back to being a Shinbo-fan. Of course, I still believe that the third season of Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei is going to suck unless proven otherwise, but I’m also pretty much looking forward to Bakemonogatari.

I concur, Arashi 11 was great. But the plank is set even higher now. I’m curious to see if Shibo can make up an ending for an anime made from a running manga, and a manga by Jin Kobayashi to boot! If he pulls it off, it’s going to be awesome.

It’s astonishing how blatantly, intentionally unsophisticated this show is. I mean it in a good way, of course. Take, for instance, the way they introduced Kukuri. Although, there are some nice touches, too. For example, watch how Uranami gets Kukuri the bear and stops to watch the play. But it’s 10 against 1 than the creators will go nowhere with this. It’s just not their level of presentation.

Mushishi for 6-year-olds.

Blatant Evirus-baiting, too.

After Sixten’s announcement about the change of format from VN to a light novel, the Chapter 1 of Sunrider is made available at Samu-kun’s place in PDF format. It’s a good thing, because their flash refuses to work with my Flash 10 plug-in.

The effort has moved away from anime, but nonetheless.

The Eve no Jikan was a title that I approached with anticipation and trepidation, and possibly it didn’t help. I suspended it weeks ago on 8 minute 45 seconds mark in ep.1, after learning the word “区別 / kubetsu” (”difference; discrimination”). Yesterdays Penny-Arcade pilot Automata reminded me about this sadly stuck show. I don’t have the mastery to explain the difference, but the strip seems to take a far more agreeable take on a similar issue. Andrew Cunningham summed [early] Eve no Jikan as “tragedy porn, emotional voyeurism“, which definitely was not my thing. Or perhaps I just don’t like how the robots with whom the viewer is supposed to sympathize seem insolent or creepy.

There was a lot of peer pressure to watch EnJ. Hikago even said directly “hey Zait, if you’re not going to watch Pale Cocoon, at least watch Eve no Jikan”. There was a lot of coverage, by Nick Istre, by Martin (nee Badger), by now retired Totali, on Hunting the Elusive [First Win], and elsewhere. Because this ONA is the talk of town, I am loth to drop it officially, therefore the suspension. But honestly, perspectives are not very good.

It’s not very important, but the gonzoistic 3D was sort of ok, not too offensive. I’m not hot on it, but if the story were interesting, I’d overlook it.

I continue to burn through shows at an alarming rate. This time it’s UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie (aka UFO Princess Valkyrie) that gets tossed into the reject pile after 4 episodes.

Two principal things peeved me the most about it:

First, damage to others: The comic property damage is an enshrined tradition, but something about the way Sanada razes swaths of the town is played wrong in Valkyrie. Do we know if she killed anyone (even if they are disposable background characters)? Not that the creators care, apparently. The way she enslaves random passer-bys is creepy as well. And nobody has any balls to complain about it.

Second, Akina: The tragic situation is, her loved one is actually dead. If she were to reconcile herself with the fact, she would be much better off, but instead we receive the wacky hijinks squeezed from her very natural inability to let go. That’s just disgusting.

I understand that I’m supposed to watch for fanservice only, but in my view the fanservice in UFO Princess Valkyrie is not all that good (although experts seem to imply that it’s watcheable ["it" being the fanservice — Ed.]). If I were to watch for pure fanservice, nothing short of Magikano would satisfy my standards, and Valkyrie falls far short.

Weirdly enough, the best art and animation is reserved for close-ups of the lead’s little sister. It’s actually great, but so much for fanservice.

Just one side note, check out the special “relocation carpet bag” pattern:

On the left is the same pattern in Sekirei. There must be a certain tradition or a reference behind it.

UPDATE: Steven comments further.

When young people fail to appreciate Azumanga Daioh, I usually tell them “wait until you’re 35″. Another truism I’m fond of repeating is how there are two kinds of Azumanga watchers: those who laugh when Osaka loses her soap and those who cry (sadly, I never saw Attack No.1, so I cannot appreciate Kagami’s riddle directly, but it may be something similar). And almost a decade since the show premiered, there are now people who watched from both sides:

I really do need a better way to take this pictures. Anyway to the point, Azumanga Daioh was a series I watched with my sister in 8th grade, and have fond memories of us rolling on the floor laughing our heads off as well as me singing the “Cooking is so fun” song with my friends at recess. I tried to rewatch this series as a junior in high school, just to find that while I was still mildly amused at the jokes in Azumanga Daioh, they were no longer laugh out loud funny for me. However, I had over time developed a deeper understanding of some of the deeper themes in the show – yes, I believe they exist – as well as a deeper understanding of Japanese culture.

What really stuck with me however was the ending of Azumanga Daioh when the first time around I had previously found it lame. What had changed was now 95% or so of my friends were graduating and going on to college, and I actually find some comfort in the ending of Azumanga Daioh as we go our seperate ways. As Chiyo-chan said, it’s not really the end. Not really.

I am not quite certain how much culture Azumanga brings to us, aside from practical things like teaching how to hold chopsticks, but in general I think it’s an indicative testimonial.

Due to the way they were presented at Crunchyroll, I watched Magical Play 3D before the proper series, and what a surprise it was. It’s dark and violent, at the level of Naruto. The difference is, Naruto may be naive, but he is not oblivious to the wrongs of his world, whereas the lead of Magical Play cries for some serious smacking up the head. The awesomeness of Nononon serves to atone the silliness a bit.

Is it just me, or does Coffee look a lot like Queen Latifa (in Chicago, for instance)?

When selecting Ikki Tousen I fell a victim of my unfortunate tropism for shapely fighting women, triggered by Chizumatic’s top rotation. Unfortunately, while some frames are pretty, the series itself turned out to be a species of violent porn with pornographic voilence. I used to go around and say how Naruto was “brutal” and “barbaric”, but Ikki Tousen goes way beyond. The problem is, Naruto’s world is brutal and barbaric; but if we say that, there are no fitting words to describe Ikky Tousen except by analogy (seen any Japanese porn recently?).

The biggest disappointment was Ryomou, who turned out to be a psychopatic bitch with a sadistic bent (of course). By the way, Wikipedia says: “Her psycho side is not nearly as bad as Ryubi, Sousou and Hakufu.” What a pit of lies.

The only reason I lasted for 3 episodes was the shocked disbelief at the vileness of it all.

Oh, and you know what’s the saddest part? Kan’u nearly won Don’s babe poll (nose to nose with Lafiel). It means that so many people watched this garbage far enough to Kan’u to actually appear.

In AMG S1, I was looking forward to eye candy, and it does not disappoint. The visual implementation is breathtaking.

However, I seem to be unable to abstract the story away. I hate the lead shackling Belldandy in the way he’s done. In my mythology this kind of tricky wish is reserved for villain’s comeuppance[1]. I developed an unhealthy attraction to Mishima, who’s going to be a sorry comic relief, I just know it. And so on and so forth. So, I do not itch to see more. Maybe one day I check out Urd, if my DVD queue drains completely.

UPDATE: Steve sums it up better:

And yeah, there was always something intensely creepy and strange about the wish Keiichi made, and the fact that it was granted. But then, Beldandy is also rather creepy and strange.

[1] For example, I’ve read a sci-fi story where an astronomer sold his soul to the devil in exchange for future services; the foolish devil agreed. In his arrogance he was certain that any desire of a mortal must be finite, and so signing a blank check was not risky. But the services turned out to be a help in studying the physical universe in its entirety.

I hoped to see another Magikano and somewhat surprisingly, the art was similar. I even rushed to check the production studio… For Yumeria it’s DEEN, but for Magikano it’s impossible to determine. However, “similar” does not mean “same”. I don’t even have a single tasty screencap. And obviously, the story is absent here too. But where Magikano had Yuri Kurosu, Yumeria only puts forward the ripe woman and the cousen. Put together they are perhaps 1/3rd of Miss Kurosu’s power.

I don’t think I’ll be watching any more of it beyond the first 5 episodes.

IN REVIEW on Chizumatic:

He’d like it if the “lay on hands” part was ecchi, and a few times it is, but usually it’s the girl’s shoulder or hand.

Notably, in Sekirei the power gain is directly proportional to how overtly sexualized the contact is. At some point, Seto makes use of it to charge Hibiki and Hikari and they seriously inconvenience Tsukiumi, who is nominally many ranks above them. I think it makes way more sense. In Yumeria the whole thing is just played for laughs. It’s legitimate, but not as interesting.