Monthly Archives: May 2012

Weekly Musings – For the week ended May 28

Posted on by fnzna
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主食は紫陽(ry / クラソラ

They say good thing comes in pairs (Wikipedia). This saying is especially true for this week: not only did I get the chance to go to Anime North and see Twitter friends in real life, this week’s anime were generally excellent, with some series that were doing not that great for the previous weeks displaying their best episode this week. While it is all joyful, it is a bit troubling also, since I was not able to see some of those good episode before I had to hand in my ballot for Anime Power Rankings for this week because of Anime North, which in turn made me overrate some shows while completely leaving some really good episode off the ballot. I doubt that it will change the result that much, but it is still a bummer to see you not actually voting what you actually think is the best. (FYI, I voted Apollon, Space Bros, Natsuiro Kiseki, Tsuritama, Hyouka for APR)

Fate/Zero – Episode 21 (14 points): The week’s Fate/Zero can be divided into two main parts, the first part being the confrontation and battle between Rider and Saber. While the main battle only lasted a short time, a lot more time were spent on the race between Rider and Saber. The idea of the race itself was an interesting idea, since by definition Rider must be excellent in races, and because of Saber’s special ability of riding, she is also quite equipped for races, and putting the two for a race around the roads with different types of mounts (horse chariots vs motorcycles) is just an obvious but awesome idea. Aside from the idea, the execution of the race was fluid, all to remind us of how excellent ufotable is at making such animations. The second part….O DANG YOU GEN, how much more despair must you put into your characters. As if making Kariya take Sakura’s magic wasn’t suffering enough, now he must face anger and rejection from the one that he loved and did all to help. Ya, the second part of the episode was quite haunting, especially Kariya’s speech… Lastly, it is really embarrassing, but it seems that I was totally off in my conclusion in my previous Weekly Musings, at least it is good to see that Rider is still true to his beliefs, but it is also true that the toll from the previous battle have caused him to be more reserved.

Sakamichi no Apollon  - Episode 7 (13 points): After few episodes of mediocre jazz-lacking episode, we are finally given a powerful and touching episode between Kaoru and Sentarou. Yea while the first part is more of the romance drama, which I don’t enjoy a whole lot, there is always this issue with the strained friendship between the two, something which I like more. Then finally, coming in full conclusion, the two finally overcame the wall with music, complete with Ritsuko commenting on it and tearing up. The scene where the whole school running to the gym to listen to the two is a nice addition, but really it is the ability to finally incorporate jazz so deeply into this episode’s plot that I have finally put this episode back so high.

Nazo no Kanojo  X – Episode 8 (11 points): Aside from the difference between male and female in relationships, this episode shows the similarities of responses between the couple, with Tsubaki tearing up as he understand the texture of Urabe’s oppai’s and then with Urabe tearing up when Tsubaki starts licking her ears. By the end of the episode, we can conclude that both are akin to tears of happiness, but it is interesting to see how with the similar responses the other partner can interpret it so differently. In this episode we also see Urabe starting to experience and get confused by physical pleasures, to the more intimate levels of relationships. Also, seeing Oka fogging up her glasses because of the strong emotions she received from Urabe’s saliva is pure gold. Lastly, the music continues to do a great job in adding the whole mystery feel in the idea of dating and knowing your partner.

Smile Precure – Episode 17 (11 points): The rumored 6th Precure has appeared, and his name is Cure Gorilla. O man, that comedy duo, I don’t care if they are actually based on a real comedy duo or not, but they are pretty jokes. Yes, with Kansai-ben and comedy, this is another Akane episode, and man does Akane shine (ahahaha) during the battle this time. To be honest, I was a bit tired out by how active they were in the beginning, but that was made better by the good amount of jokes in this episode. I lost Yayoi in jankenpon but that’s OK, since Akane is the star this episode, and surprisingly, I enjoyed on how well Reika played the confused tsukkomi here. Yet, the best scene is still the ‘transformation’ scene of Cure Gorilla.

Space Brothers – Episode 8 (10 points):  With Mutta knowing his results and going back to Japan, it concludes what was discussed for the last two weeks. Aside from the potential cliffhanger from the end, there wasn’t really anything special or anything that stands out. It is still a steady solid show, taking time to develop the plot slowly, sadly making it less interesting than some of this week’s shows.

Natsuiro Kiseki – Episode 8 (9 points): With the four going on a trip to where Saki will move to after the summer, the show again does not shy away from the issues of coping with the moving of a close friend and more so, Saki’s unwillingness to voice her opinions in this whole issue. While it is still fun and games as the four enjoy of what it might be the last trip the four has together, a big focus was on Saki unease of going to the island, and her personality of just “going with the flow”. O ya, since friendship is a major plot in this show, I’m continuing liking this; too bad this week was ruined a bit by QUALITY animation.

Sankarea – Episode 8 (8 points): As much as I don’t like Rea’s father, I do think the presence of her father and the issues that arises from her father is much more interesting to look at than just a love triangle between Rea, Chihiro and Wanko. It is interesting when you compare Chihiro and Rea’s father (I think I have talked about this already), but in this episode in particular, Chihiro was fixated on filming Rea for observational purposes, while as we can recall, Rea’s father did something similar to Rea at her birthday, all to ‘measure her growth’. While it is argueable both are filming her for observational purposes, we see two completely different responses from Rea, one of embarrassment and another of disgust. Obviously, Chihiro is doing so out of care and want to know more about her so he can help preserve her better (as his responsibility), while her father is well….hmmm, to protect her from all traces of evil, and to preserve her innocence? This is why Sankarea is more interesting when Rea’s father is in it, since it compares the issue of love (Chihiro) and obsession (Rea’s father).

Others: Tsuritama (7), Hyouka (6), Saki Achiga (5), Mouretsu (4), Tasogare (3), Jormongand, Eureka AO (2), Zombie desu OTD (0)

What do you know, both Tsuritama and Hyouka didn’t even make the top 7 after all, sigh.

Anime North 2012 – Pulling all-nighters since there are no more buses

Posted on by fnzna
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While I have been to two other anime related fairs back in Hong Kong before, this is the first time I have been to an anime convention in North America, and also the first one that I have decided to stay for more than one day. In that respect, Anime North was a relatively new thing for me, especially of the presence of event that are not just related to buying stuff directly.Most of all, it was the first time I get to meet and chill with people that I had known through Twitter previously. Honestly, I think if it weren’t for my Twitter friends and others, my first Anime North experience wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as it was.

Sleep More/ Sleep Less

I decided to go to Anime North around mid-March, but forgot to arrange a place to stay until later. Since I was going alone, my best bet was to try to share a room with the people from my university’s anime club, Ctrl-A, yet since I was so late at arranging it, by the time I finally got around to post on the forum about sharing rooms, of them must had everything arranged (no one replied). Since I don’t live in Toronto, I ended up staying at my friend’s place for Anime North. While his place is not necessary far, as it has access to TTC, the ride from the house to Anime North took a bit over 1 hour, with the necessary buses stopping around 1-2am. In order for me to actually get back home, I had to make sure that I leave Anime North every night by around 12am,  that ended up forcing me to skip the latter half of Gunbuster movie (the more exciting part （　ﾟ Дﾟ）) on Friday ngiht. Not wanting to skip more late night viewing, I opted to sleep in one of the all-night rooms for Saturday, with first Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko then the first part of Saki playing while I ‘try’ to sleep. Needless to say, I didn’t get any quality sleep time on Saturday night, which makes my trip back to Waterloo on Sunday night extremely tiring..

I guess the take away for me is that I really need to find a hotel for Anime North if I really want to stay in Anime North as late as possible, that means more cash used and earlier preparation. O and that I’m starting to get old, and can’t really stand all-nighter anymore.

Plan before you enter war

lining up...such a long line ;A;

Talking about preparation, I should have known that Asakawa Yuu was going to be the guest for the convention, if I did I wouldn’t need to spend extra cash for more Azumanga Daioh stuff (though both the omnibus and the poster is a good addition to my Azumanga Daioh collection), and would have just bought my Azumanga Daioh DVD set and Star Ocean: Till the end of Time game for her to sign (TBH, as much as I like Azumanga Daioh, I would have preferred to have her sign the Star Ocean and not both on Azumanga Daioh related merchandise). Also, I guess a better planning would have helped, as I think I was going to events almost in an ad-hoc manner, with only few events that I have predetermined that I want to go, though I guess if I was too rigous in my planning, I might not have went to some of the events that I did (for better or worse).

O talking about schedule, there is some serious problems with the scheduling for the anime showing rooms. Usually for the rooms, they rotate anime every hour, but since most anime episodes clocks under 30 minutes, usually there is the problem with having about 10 min left after finishing 2 episodes, leaving some extra time before the next show, but not enough time to start another episode of the same show. So do they continue with the same series or start the next series early?  Most of the time they chose the latter, pushing the next series about 10-15 min late. This was evident more than once, as I went into a room on time, only to see that the previous show was still continuing. The worse offender was the change between New Prince of Tennis and Ozma, as they started a new episode of Prince of Tennis when it was clearly time to go to Ozma. I ended not getting to see Ozma since I got fed up of them starting another episode of Tennis.

Talking about anime showing, another issue I had with Anime North was that they rarely had any indicator to differentiate between sub and dub. This caused me to enter to a show only to realize that they are showing the anime in dub. Dang it, now I cannot unhear Yurippe shouting in English. (Mind you, Redline dub was borderline acceptable, since the whole movie feels so western, I ended up leaving just because I am still curious to hear the whole thing in Japanese)

Imports were too expensive

Call me spoiled by the cheaper prices in Hong Kong, but I found all first hand imports to be expensive, usually 2x as much as I would usually buy. I know, the Gundam model prices are close to what you can get in stores in Markham/Richmond Hill, but well, I haven’t brought one model in Canada so far (also because my interest of building Gunpla died down since starting university). Other than Gunpla, I was mostly searching for artbook, Aria artbooks in particular. I saw two booths in the dealers area that sold Aria artbook, with both selling around 60-70 CAD, which is higher than if I just got it directly from Amazon.jp (well not really true, since if I’m getting it through Amazon.jp, I would getting all 4 artbooks, making the shipping less expensive per book than if I just got one book). So in the end, I didn’t get any imports with the exception of the (most likely used) doujin game Glove on Fight, created by the same company that made Melty Blood. I’m not much of a fighting game fan, but I guess it would be a good item to collect. As for the rest of my loot, it consisted of manga (translated to English), music CD’s (used and North American version), English version of pixiv artbook, and an Azumanga Daioh poster; all of those items are not imported but merchandise made for the North American market.

Morning Rescue cosplay (that is not me)

While the main reason that all of the CD’s I purchased during Anime North was North American version (and hence less valuable) was because they were used, I was also weary of buying ‘imported’ CD’s from the convention. Not only was the imported CD’s expensive, some of the CD’s that was sold there looked fake based on the covers. O this applies to the figures sold there to some extent, some just looked fake also.

After all these ranting, you might feel that I didn’t enjoy Anime North, that is quite far from the truth. Yes, while there are some things that can be improved, I genuinely had a great time during the convention overall.

Asakawa Yuu + other stuff

As far as I can remember, this is the first time I have been so close to a voice actress. Yes, while I’m not a fan of her, but having the ability to shake her hand, get signatures, take a picture and to even discuss about what my t-shirt (I got the t-shirt from pi day) means, it is all an unique and special experience. The Q&A panel with her was also pretty fun and quite knowledgeable. Fun because of how much fun the fans and Asakawa Yuu has with each other, and knowledgeable of knowing more about the roles that she voiced in (I’m surprised that she actually have roles where she talked rough) and the differences between western and eastern (Japan in particular) fans. It was a pretty interesting and fresh experience.

Talking about panels, one another panel that was interesting was the Katawa Shoujo panel. While I skipped the first half of the panel, which they seemed to have went through a presentation, it was a panel where there was high amounts of interactions between the audience and the panelists, with many jokes thrown around., and some outright weird stuff happening (people hugging together, what was that). Aside from all the jokes and fun, like the game, the panel had a period where they discussed the underlying message of the game, of how the disabled people are humans themselves, and that was, in a bit, quite touching.

Tomodachi

Last, but actually the most important, is the impact that others had in my Anime North experiences. Even way before the start of the convention, I was looking forward to meet people that I have known through Twitter in real life, and really, it did not disappoint. Whether it is the lunch gathering that we had on Saturday lunchtime at Sushi-ya and trying to fit 12 or more people onto two tables that should only fit 8-10 max, or it is the two times I had Harvey’s (I’m sure I don’t want to eat any more Harvey’s for the following few weeks), all those times really helped make my Anime North experience more entertaining. Aside from eating, I was also to join few Twitter friends for walking around, browsing around and going to panels and shows, it was all  really memorable and fun. Even in anime viewing, it was more fun watching with my Twitter peeps, so that we can discuss about the scenes, laugh together and obviously, disagree on who is the best character in Smile Precure (I’m still siding for Akane, especially after the latest episode).

Aside from Twitter friends, some total strangers also made parts of the convention more enjoyable. One was when I traveled alone to the further hotel for a game of Settlers, forgetting that I might not find any one wanting any more players. There were a table of 2 that were waiting for their friends to come (would have been a full game if the friends came since there were no 5-6 players expansion), the 2 ended up deciding to play a game with me as they wait for the other 2 friends. Ya, I lost in the end, but really, I was surprised that I even got to play one game. Another was when I was trying to sleep, and there were few people in the same room trying to sleep also (no one was actually there just to watch Denpa or Saki). From time to time, we just have small talks. Nothing really special, but just a good experience.

To the staff and volunteers of Anime North, thank you for arranging this event for us anime fans can come together and just chill and hang out (but there are still places where you can improve), to both the Twitter and nonTwitter people that I met during Anime North, you presence and interaction with me really help make my whole experience of the convention an enjoyable, I really mean it. I am sure that I will come next year if I’m still around Toronto next year May.

My loot

Weekly Musings – For the week ended May 21

Posted on by fnzna
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夕子さん / 軽部かる

This coming weekend, from Friday to Sunday, I will be attending Anime North, mostly just to go and see how an anime convention is like in North America (went to one in Hong Kong before). For anyone else going to Anime North, just hit me up on twitter to hang out. =P. That being said, since I’m at Anime North, I will most likely be missing shows from Friday to Sunday, meaning I have some catch up to do after the convention. You know what part of Anime North I’m looking for? It is to meet up with people that I have known through Twitter. Also since I don’t have anything really planned during Anime North, talk to me on Twitter or email =P.

Without further ado:

Fate/Zero – Episode 20 (14 points): You know what, since the very beginning of the second season, someone important dies in every episode, and this episode follows the trend by killing off Maiya, which is kind of a pity since we didn’t really get to know more the relationship between Maiya and Kiritsugu (that speech only seemed to surface that), so her death was less heart-breaking then, say, Natalia (so a bit of a let down). Aside from Maiya’s death, this episode was mostly all talk, with each surviving master, bar Kotomine, getting their own focus. We see the toll that the previous battle had on Iskander and how he not only had to hide his presence, as opposed to being constantly visible before, and ultimately used underhanded methods for battles, and not running to the battlefield with pride. Kariya’s sequence was even more cringe inducing, of how he was given Sakura’s magical energy obtained from the process that he was fighting the War to get Sakura out of. In short, we see both the desperate situation that each are in and their resolve to win and obtain the Holy Grail.

Space Brothers – Episode 7 (13 points): This episode is just the continuation of what was started last episode, with the idea of luck being tossed around again, but also we are given a bit more about Mutta’s quirks and ability. Yea, it is less fresh and less touching, but since it just progresses what was revealed last episode, I still enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I guess also because of the change in my personal life recently that I can relate more with the show. While I didn’t recently get fired as Mutta did, I have finished all my undergrad courses the past April but do not have a full time job lined up, and hence is currently undergoing job search. The tension of going through the interviews, the depression of knowing you did a bad job in the interview and knowing that you are likely to not go into second round. With all those happening recently, it is no wonder I was tearing up last week, because of how much encouragement that last week has shown.

Nazo no Kanojo  X – Episode 7 (11 points): You know what, this show has a great formula, and as long as they are able to follow it properly, and to make each episode different enough to make it not boring, I will continue to like this show. This week, we deal with Tsubaki’s sickness and Urabe’s possibility of joining a club. Within those two issues, we again see Tsubaki’s desire to want her all for himself, and Urabe’s happiness from knowing his desire. This shows the differences between male and female, of how male tends to think more physical, so our desires when we are in a relationship tends to be more physical, whereas females tends to be more emotional, and hence they tend to desire more the emotional aspects of their partner [citation needed]. This is shown through Tsubaki’s sadness from the idea of Urabe possibly not being there with him when he is walking home from school (physical presence), he hugging her when he is happy for what Urabe did/said (physical touch), and finally by Urabe putting Tsubaki’s nametag on her leg, showing ownership of her legs, and by extension, her body. As for Urabe, she was happy when  he supported her during the race, and from knowing that he would be sad if she joined track team, both showing how much Tsubaki cares for Urabe. When I put it that way, the relationship between Tsubaki and Urabe is nothing out of the ordinary, but really, for both of them, fresh new to this dating thing, every step is mysterious. Again follow The Untold Story of Altair & Vega’s for more in-depth write up.

Aside: You know what, I sometimes do find Oka to be annoying, espeically for her to intrude the relationship between Tsubaki and Urabe, but I guess she is important in helping their two in progressing their relationship. [Ok, I donno why I like it]

Tsuritama - Episode 6 (11 points): If we are to put arcs into this show, we must have gotten through Yuki’s arc this or last episode, since in this episode, Yuki, fully enjoying fishing, have stopped having any kind of panic from talking to people, showing the fruits of both his friendship with Haru and Natsuki and his new found hobby of fishing. With that arc done, this episode was more so a lead in to Haru’s arc, where Akira actually is finally a major part of the story (and not just being awesome and DUCK). To be honest, I am quite surprised at the gradual but unexpected development (the plot twist seems a bit…alien), and as always with this show, I will just go with the flow and see what this twist will lead us to. (I seriously need more fish puns)

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia – Episode 6 (10 points): After few mediocre episodes, we are given a more dark episode, yet the twist is that the scary part of the episode was not of any ghost’s doing, but initiated by a human’s hatred and then exploded because of humans’ fears. I have talked about it in Anime Power Rankings about the display of herd mentality in this episode, first used as the means of spreading of rumors, and then later of how it ended up being Yuuko being the scapegoat for relief for their own fears. Me, looking at this, is at least hoping that some of these people who cooperated the act of trying to sacrifice Yuuko as pure BS (aren’t we past the dark ages of doing human sacrifices and such), but it strikes to me on how often irrational stuff like these spreads like fire and we believe it without questioning it just because it is someone close to us that thinks it is correct. This episode reminds us of how terrifying humans ourselves can be….

Natsuiro Kiseki – Episode 7 (8 points): Singing Singing Singing. The four main characters are voiced by Sphere, so an episode where the four girls sings must be a good episode. Also, this episode again shows how friendship is not always fun and games but sometimes arguments will happen just because of differences in personality.

Sakamichi no Apollon  - Episode 6 (8 points): While this is an improvement from the last episode, romance still takes a huge chunk of the show, with a bit of friendship issues discussed/implied in the latter half. I’m a fan of the latter one, but not the former one. Yes, the show is solid, just as I have said how Ano Natsu de Matteru is solid, but I just don’t like the whole icky feeling from romance. Well, at least Karou and Sentaro’s friendship is being shaken now (and the intrusion of rock and roll to the jazz community), so next episode should be pretty good.

Smile Precure – Episode 16 (8 points): First off, I was and still am not a big fan of Reika, maybe it is just because I have yet to know more of her. While this episode does focus on Reika, it still does not seem to reveal much of her, in particular, her conclusion to this episode felt lacking. To add to the insult, I might have known more about the other 4 girls from Reika’s chilling with them then Reika herself. I guess the Defrosting the Ice Queen trope is in another episode. O, I also lost to Yayoi, maybe that is why I’m finding this episode less enjoyable.

Others: Hyouka (6), Saki Achiga, Mouretsu (4), Zombie desu (3), Jormongand, Sankarea (2), Eureka AO (1)

Dropped: Accel World – Episode 7: No Accel World, you don’t use the word Memory Leak like that, it has a totally different meaning to me. And for the preview, no, I don’t want loli fanservice. In general, the show just feels too blend.

Weekly Musings – For the week ended May 13

Posted on by fnzna
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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 by fnzna
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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.