Weekly Musings – For the week ended May 13

Posted on May 17, 2012 by fnzna

つり球 / おか

In all, I think this week is kind of lackluster. While there are some really, really good episodes (Space Brothers), a lot of this week’s episode just seem meh; a lot of them actually just feel like it is an intermission episode between two arcs/plot (Jormungand, Eureka 7 AO) so that while it had time to deal with other parts of the show that it is not usually talked about before, it either end up not executing it that good or just because the element that made me like the show in the first place absent or less prominent (Koko not being the main part of this week’s Jormungand) . Also since May 13 was Mother’s Day, three of this week’s shows incorporated mothers into the episode, either as a main device (Smile Precure) or just a small mention (Fate/Zero), and in general, I’m pretty surprised on how directors are able to take real life event into their shows:

Space Brothers – Episode 6 (15 points): I actually teared up a bit while watching this. As I have stated on Anime Power Rankings, this episode was really inspiring, something that I presume that the anime is set out to do. The idea of luck was tossed around quite often in this episode, of how Mutta believed that he is really unlucky, yet at the same time, unknown to him, a judge looked at his situation and went out of his way to help Mutta. This judge not only know him when he was little, but was further set on supporting him because of the judge’s similar past. Heck, this is one huge coincidence (you just can’t believe how lucky Mutta actually is), bordering on fantasy (there is no way that all these things would align to each other so nicely), yet, because of the solid foundation the show had laid before in showing all the details and all the connection to real life events, this whole coincidence just looks like a small ray of hope in the depressing reality of Mutta, and maybe also to some of us who are not in the best of situation. Just seeing how Mutta is supported in the most critical moments is just really touching.

Fate/Zero – Episode 19 (14 points): O Fate/Zero, I don’t know if it was planned or not, that is just such a depressing way to celebrate Mother’s Day. This is the second episode about Kiritsugu’s past, with this episode detailing the time he was under Natalia’s care. While the first was also solid, as we saw how the various mission have made Kiritsugu more and more stoic, and to have a short sequence where it hinted to form his current ideology and strategy, the best part of the episode is in the second half of the episode, where Kiritsugu communicates to Natalia over radio. Within that chat/small talk, they discussed of how they see each other as family and talks as if everything is fine (while both and most likely the audience also know that there is no way that the plane can land safely without releasing the bees also, creating more victims). In short, it does a good job of showing how Kiritsugu became more and more broken. (Source: Reverse Thieves)

Tsuritama - Episode 5 (12 points): The animation is lively, the characters are quirky (and sometimes a bit annoying), and there is a good amount of character development in every episode, this show is growing on me.

Smile Precure – Episode 15 (12 points): As if I have forgotten about Mother’s Day, Smile Precure did a whole episode about Mother’s Day, showing how important it is to give graititue to your mother (;A; I’m sorry that I only called my mom and not get her something for Mother’s Day). Aside from seeing how Miyuki fails at helping her mom and laughing at her, it is also interesting to see what the other four Precure’s made for their mom, showing their personality and their relationship between their family. Also, the Precure’s were relative collaborative in their attacks, and YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Akane/Precure Sunny for stepping up to help Miyuki and to stop Woflrun’s from dissing Miyuki. O and next episode preview, what is this…

Saki: Achiga-hen – Episode of Side-A – Episode 5 (11 points): Call me biased, but the reason that I forcefully made Saki to be so high in rankings is because of it finally being what I like about it: the characters either on the mahjong table playing or discussing about the game. Finally. The characters are still blend, they are all still rather weak, but at least they are playing the darn game and not just going on about chessy lame stuff. This finally feels so much more like a Saki sequel; now all is missing is the over-the-top playing style or abilities (comeon, I’m not asking a character of Saki caliber, but someone cool like Hisa).

Nazo no Kanojo X – Episode 6 (11 points): Similar to last week, while there are nothing really to write home about, it just a simple cute story between the two, with each episode of them finding a new aspect that they don’t know/haven’t tried with each other, investigates it and finally understand each other more and grow deeper in their relationship. The Untold Story of Altair & Vega talks more in detail about the episode.

Sakamichi no Apollon - Episode 5 (9 points): Yes, this is the same show that I ranked it as #1 last week. This episode is mediocre. Suddenly Kaoru’s mother is introduced (relating to Mother’s Day) and this episode talks of how Karou went to see his mom. In the end, more questions were raised than answered, leaving us hanging there for answers (and not as a cliffhanger, but as a “we-might-talk-about-this-later” type of hanging), and while we do see a temporary solution to the tension between Karou and Ritsuko and see the tension between Yurika and Junichi, the whole episode just feels off from the usual plot.

Natsuiro Kiseki – Episode 6 (8 points): Upon dropping Upotte!!, I decided to watch Natsuiro Kiseki, a show that have been getting solid rankings on APR and a show that I was on the verge of watching in at the start of the season (but forgot about it as the season went by), and to my surprise, it is pretty good. Yeah, it is the same old “4 cute girls doing cute things” setting, it does a decent job in viewing the more serious aspects of the friendship between the 4 and about themselves, not to mention the distinct personality that each characters brings into the friendship and the show.

Rest:

Sankarea (6), Hyouka, Tasogare, Mouretsu (5) [filler episode + QUALITY animation] Eureka 7 AO, Zombie desu (3), Jormungand (1), Accel World (0)

Dropped: Medaka Box – Episode 6: The show is just too shounen, with most of the times spent on the action. The characters are one dimensional, and therefore, I don’t really care about them and their battles. For people who enjoy One Piece, Naruto, Bleach they might like it. I guess I just don’t like shounen manga/anime in general, putting it as on-hold (not really dropped, but since I rarely go back to my on-hold list, it is good as dropped).

Weekly Musings – For the week ended May 6

Posted on May 10, 2012 by fnzna

坂道のアポロン / マサト

Nothing too surprising this week. Space Brothers is becoming a bit better since they are finished with the more mundane astronaut test (for now), Apollon is continuously solid, made even better by connecting back jazz to the over plot, Mouretsu gave us a fine example of how to attack an opponent that seemed to be undefeatable at first, and worse of all, Upotte!! gave me a nasty aftertaste, with me reacting to it by dropping the show half way through it (since I dropped Upotte!!, there is one less possible points given to each remaining shows).

Sakamichi no Apollon - Episode 4 (14 points): As if the staff of Sakamichi no Apollon have read Aftershok entry about episode 3, jazz became much more prominent in this episode, riding side by side with the love triangle plot. The emotional aspect of the development in episode 3 was shown in greater detail in this episode with the effects it has on Kaoru during the practice. The idea of the rich (Kaoru) and the poor (Sentarou) was lighted viewed upon during this episode, showing how different, yet similar, their upbringings are. Along with their background, a bit about Sentarou’s reason for wearing the rosary was revealed. Lastly, the closeness that Karou and Sentarou has by the end of the episode can be seen in the live performance, where it was Kaoru pushing Sentarou (instead of Sentarou pushing Kaoru earlier) to play properly (though that friendship might be tested again later as it is hinted of the addition of another node in the relationship graph). Again, I shall point to Aftershok of Anime Instrumentality for a more in-depth view of the episode.

Fate/Zero – Episode 18 (13 points): I am pretty happy that my commentary landed on this week’s Anime Power Rankings, so I guess you can go there to read about my views on this episode…or I can regurgitate it…: While this episode of Fate/Zero is solid, it just doesn’t feel the same without ideologies being thrown around (as seen in the first half of the episode), especially this episode takes place after the defeat of Caster (14-15), the defeat of Lancer (16), and death of Tokiomi (17), all with huge amounts of different ideologies, personalities being mixed together. Hence, this is why I do think that the first part of episode 18 feels a sudden leap and at maybe even out of place. Yet, as I have said in APR, that thinking is just absurd, since the image in the first half of episode 18 is more close to what most of us experience than the whole freaking Holy Grail War (it is not like most of us are mages fighting to survive). This unease of the normality and hint of romance (Kenny has toward Shirley) help us to understand of how much Kiritsugu has departed from normality, and how he was cast into the world of mages and mage killings, all began by his dad’s research. Ya, Kiritsugu has some screws lost in his head when he decided to murder his dad, but comparing the past that he lived in and the hell that he went through in second half of episode 18 and onwards, you can’t really blame him for blaming his dad for messing up his life.

Mouretsu Pirates – Episode 18 (12 points): A course that I really liked last term is computer security (as you might have seen from my several more security related posts) and hence I will jump at anything that can be viewed a security-related way; this episode of Mouretsu is an example for this. With the Bentenmaru under attack from Jenny uncle’s ships, they decided to discuss various tactics that can force her uncle to be retreat. Knowing that the uncle himself cannot be easily exploited, they went after Jenny’s fiance, and finally, with the help with the original Bentenmaru crew, used solid proof detailing the shenanigans between the uncle and the fiance’s dad. So instead of trying to win hazardously, the utilized the Principle of Easiest Penetration, and found the easiest method to find dirt to force the uncle to retreat (or to nullify the marriage, so the pursue is useless). Then, the original Bentenmaru simply hacked into Hugh and Dolittle and found useful documents against Jenny’s uncle, again pointing to the importance of data security. Finally, during the raid, Bentenmaru broadcasted the raid live, hoping that when the proof were revealed, everyone can know, similar to how a whistleblower will leak some information through Wikileaks, hoping that the the target origination cannot deny or silence people from the information (since it is so readily available). All these good use of strategies just make me leap for joy. Chiaki going gun crazy this episode was pretty good also.

Smile Precure – Episode 14 (12 points): I liked both Kyoto episodes, with the previous episode focused on the failures of Miyuki and this episode focused more on the other four character, with Miyuki taking the back seat. This episode we see more of Nao more delicate sides (and her vast expressive expressions), with her not taking hunger that good, while we see Yayoi being all hyper thinking the whole trip as a RPG game, and they both shine in this episode. I also liked the contrast between Miyuki/Yayoi and Akane/Reika/Nao, where one team was actually enjoying the trip, while the other team was basically running all around trying to find the other two…Why you make them suffer so, Miyuki ;A; Lastly, the battle scene was pretty interesting, with Akane, Reika (almost out of character) and Nao flying around, ‘playing’ around with Akanbe. Again, refer to Baka Laureate for more about Smile Precure.

Space Brothers – Episode 5 (11 points): Finally we are done with the examination part, and Mutta gets to go to visit the Huston NASA Space Center to visit his brother. We see more the interaction between Mutta and his brother, and the personality of each and such. Nothing much is really happening, but it is good to visit the relationship between the two brothers.

Tsuritama - Episode 4 (10 points): I guess I’m finally warming up to this show. From seeing the APR results and seeing people talk about this show on Twitter, I know that a lot of people are liking this, but for the longest time, I’m just confused on how people find this so excellent. After reading a post from The Untold Story of Altair & Vega, and being more observant of the stuff talked about in the post, I guess I understand more of Tsuitama and both the relationship between the character and the character change (mostly of Yuki) that happened in the previous and this episode.

Nazo no Kanojo – Episode 5 (9 points): I think last week’s episode was kinda awkward, so it is good to go back the the more cutey, simple love between the two character for this week.

Hyouka - Episode 2 (8 points): As I have said from last week, I watch and enjoy this show is because Oreki’s personality. This episode, we see the disconnection that he has with the rest of the world around him, feeling how distant away he is from the three other characters while they were chatting; I would be lying if I said that never had the mentality of the world being distant and that I’m just observing it.This connection to my older self [mind you, I would like to think that I'm less distant from people nowadays] is just what make me want to watch Oreki more, and by extension, Hyouka. It seems that not only am I connecting to Oreki’s personality, but lostty of Anime Princess can also relate to Oreki.

For the rest: Jormongand (7), Eureka 7 AO, Sankarea (5), Zombie desu OTD, Accel World (4), Tasogare Otome x Amnesia (2), Saki Achiga (1), Medaka Box (0)

And least:

Upotte – Episode 5 (Dropped): This show thrives on moe and references to guns. So in episode 4, while the conflict between M16A4 and L85A1 was weird and made me close to dropping it (it is not moe anymore), I could have laughed it off by saying that M16A4 is the stereotypical American being all mean to others and to say it is a reference between the conflict between the real guns themselves. In comparison, I see no references to back up Sako’s sadistic personality other than the fact that she is based of AK’s as far as I can tell (which does not make sense either, since Gariru was normal). I stopped around the scene where Sako was repeatedly shooting Funco at close range.

Weekly Musings – For the week ended April 29

Posted on May 5, 2012 by fnzna

夫として、父親として、/ 椿屋

This season is my second season participating in Desu ex Machina‘s Anime Power Rankings, and it seems that I tend to have different tastes from most people. Seeing that I’m now a NEET and hence have more time to write about stuff, and viewing this as an opportunity to view more anime blogs, I have decided try to keep a “weekly musings”, talking about the current season shows that I have watched and have ranked against each other. Since the ranking that I have made for the shows are mostly for APR, it will be based on the timetable that APR has given (ending in Saturday night, with some Sunday shows included). I will list the show in descending points, where each point is given to a show that I feel is superior to another show (for example, if I watched 12 shows this season, the max points that a show can have is 11). Without further ado:

Fate/Zero – Episode 17 (15 points): While less awesome than last episode, we were finally shown what is inevitable for anyone that went through Fate/Stay Night. In a sense, this episode was one that might relate to Fate/Stay Night more than any other episodes (Rin’s scene and the dagger Azoth). I particularly liked Reverse Thieves’ post on this episode.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia – Episode 3 (14 points): As I have said in my post about Tasogare, I really liked the implicit social commentary about the idea of how people view others based on what they know of them already, no matter if those info are correct or not. I like stuff like this, so I’m just biased for this show. The fact that they were able to turn a generally boring (for me) genre, horror to make it more romantic and fun is also a plus. As suntzuanime did mentioned, there is an issue why Teiichi is seeing Yuuko the way he is seeing Yuuko, I figured that it would be something that is revealed at the very end, like a twist that was hinted back at the end of episode 1.

Sakamichi no Apollon - Episode 3 (13 points): I tend to agree with Aftershok of Anime Instrumentality’s views about this episode: while I agree that the plot is really well done, a part of me want it to be more about jazz.

Moretsu Pirates – Episode 17 (12 points): I know, the last (including this episode) might not have been the best, with the Yacht Club messing around and such, but you know what, I liked seeing the Yacht Club learning and such. This episode was another episode of them being bold and doing stuff, yea, they might be way more clumsy then the normal crew, but it shows the difference in experience that is independent to character and talent, but how the latter two can help fast track the former. Ya, that yuri scene was still pretty lolwut.

Hyouka - Episode 1 (11 points): Hatters gonna hate, according to APR seems that the first episode of Hyouka was not well received. I liked it. I like Oreki’s personality, not because he is fabulous and such, but that I can relate to his personality to an extent, of just going through each day finding the easiest path to do anything, though the end of episode 1 might suggest that he might be slowly opening up to Chitanda,because he actually likes her or that he, from experience, knows that it is easier to go along than to try to go against them. Lastly, the animation is really good.

Space Brothers – Episode 4 (10 points): While still solid, it was still a pretty mundane episode.

Smile Precure – Episode 13 (10 points): Wow, this really should be higher…maybe I still don’t want to confess that I’m actually enjoying this show etc… This was a pretty fun episode, with seeing how Miyuki fails in so many different ways, and the other four girls trying to support her in their own ways. Krizzlybear of Baka Laureate did a good job in pointing out the different interesting parts of this episode.

Eureka Seven: AO - Episode 3 (9 points): To be honest, nothing really stands out much for me in this episode aside from the girls going on future nico nico douga, blogging and singing karaoke as Miku/Ranka (?).

For the rest of the shows: Tsuitama (8), Sankarea (7), Jormongand (6), Nazo no Kanojo (5), Accel World (4), Zombie desu OTD (3), Upotte (2), Medaka (1), Saki Achiga (0) since I’m just going to talk about the top floor(# shows/ 2) shows for the week

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 8

Posted on May 4, 2012 by fnzna

うみねこEP8ネタバレ絵 / YUO

I’m opening this game board one last time…… for you, Ange… … – Battler Ushiromiya, episode 8

What a long journey it has been, of waiting and playing each episode as it releases. According to Wikipedia, the first game was released on the summer of 2007, just as I was entering into university (guessing a <1/2 year for the English translation, so within 2007). Episode 8 released at winter of 2010, and as I recall, it took the translation group, WitchHunt, longer than usual for the last episode to be fully translated, so I didn’t really get around to playing it until around end of 2011 or beginning of 2012, which is around the start of my last term as an undergrad. So I guess Umineko been with me for my whole university. Finally going through all the episodes, all the battles between the characters, all the shenanigans etc, seeing how the story finally concludes does bring a tear or two….through….

I would be lying if I said that I’m not surprised or disappointed with how Episode 8 ended up. I was surprised, since episode 8 went in a different direction that I didn’t expect (though that is expected to a certain extent; I stopped trying to predict what will happen next since episode 4 or 5); disappointed since the episode3 didn’t fully wrap all the murders in the previous episodes, and that it didn’t really give us what really happened in the Rokkenjima Incident.

Coming off Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, I fully expected that Umineko would take a similar structure to Higurashi, where the first four episodes/arcs would lay the foundation of the mysteries, while the last four would be the solution to the mysteries that was laid before. Heck, I couldn’t be more incorrect. While the first four episodes did lay the foundations, the latter four episodes didn’t really provide the solution to the mysteries. Episode 5 looks like a solution to the games from first 4 episodes at first, but the conclusion from that episode brought us back to square one. Episode 6 and 7 provides us with more characters, more information, but doesn’t directly solves what was laid out in episodes 1-4. So, still hoping that I would get a solution episode like one of the ones found in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, I played episode 8 and came out disappointed, though in highlight, I should have been able to see episode 8′s direction. Continue reading →

Horror Genre of Spring 2012

Posted on April 27, 2012 by fnzna

I don’t like horror, I don’t like gore (I still haven’t watch Gyo), I don’t like how some of the characters are in horror genre shows, I also am not a big fan of the atmosphere found in horror genre. Hence, I usually won’t go out my way to watch anything that is categorized as horror, even if it is anime. For example, I dropped Another by the end of episode 2 because of the atmosphere, the characters being really boring (comeon, can’t someone at least smile once), and the overall creepy feel to the whole show. Even if Another was a good show I don’t think I will watch it, I just don’t like this kind of shows. Well, guess what, in a decision to force myself to watch more shows for the Spring 2012 season, I picked up two horror shows, which both are still interesting enough for me to continue after the third or fourth episode.

Sankarea

HNNNNNNGGGGGGGG (episode 4)

So Studio DEEN can make good shows apparently. When I was looking at the posters for upcoming shows for Spring 2012, I shortlisted Sankarea precisely because Sanka Rea looks like Saten Ruiko and nothing more, but was hesitant since it is by Studio DEEN and has ecchi listed as one of the genre. After people praising this show, I picked it up and was myself surprised what was in store for Sankarea. While this show does have a bit of supernatural and undead as a major part of the story, it seems to be merely used to talk about more heavy issues. The initial spark of the story, the Chihiro’s desire to resurrect his cat, touches on the issue of coping with the death of a family member. While for Sankarea, her situation heavily describes a broken family and a victim of sexual harassment by her dad. Aside from the heavy topics talked, I really liked the contrast between the male and female leads. We see that the Chihiro has a normal, uneventful but close family, while Sanka Rea has a rich but dysfunctional family (where there is no emotional closeness to each other excluding Rea’s dad to Rea). For Chihiro, while having an affinity for zombies, his act to resurrect his cat was not because of his desire to see an undead cat, but to return the natural days where the cat is a part of the family, and hence he longs for the past where the cat was still alive. For Sankarea, her death means the freedom from her father’s control and abuse, hence she long for death. This contrast between the background and the intensions of the two leads was well played. And man, the animation is pretty too.

It is a pity that episode 4 was pretty high in the fanservice department, please let this be an exception instead of the norm.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

When I listen Choir Jail, I'm reminded of Umineko ED and Ali Project (opening)

Now this plays straight to the whole feel of a horror show: a constantly dark animation, the characters as a part of the Paranormal Investigations Club, deals with ghost and horror stories. The only problem is that the ghost itself, who has amnesia, gets jealous, and interacts normally with the other characters, and hence livens up the whole mood of the show. Yes, the show does contain some Yuuko fanservice, but it is used in a way that a bit of importance to the plot (not that I don’t have an issue with that). Episode 1 was a good idea, to compare how someone who can’t see Yuuko would have seen the sequence (Momoe) and someone who could see Yuuko (Teiichi), but wasn’t too interesting. For episode 2 and 3 we were shown the idea of how Yuuko would manifest herself to the viewer according to how the viewer knows of her. Not only was this a good idea to see the relationships that the three character has to Yuuko, but I’m sure hidden somewhere would be some kind of social commentary on how we see others based on what we know of them already, even if what we know of them might not be true. Add that with the idea of how others and knowledge can shift your view of Yuuko (episode 3), Tasogare is an appealing show that I will continue to watch.