Threes: Symphogear, Amagami +, Lagrange
(Note) I am going on vacation after today. I expect to blog as I go, but it will be more sporadic until mid February.
I think I like Hibiki this way.
Senki Zessho Symphogear 3 isn’t much. Some clumsy development livened up only by Hibiki’s goofiness, but it throws a curve or two at us. The first time Hibiki transformed, at the end of episode 1, she had a black, grinning head that not only did not fit, but was a little frightening in this otherwise straightforward world. I thought it was just my eyes, but now she returns to it. She’d been shown all episode going into battle and mainly running for her life, but this time she was genuinely angry. She had really wanted to see the shooting stars with her friend, and instead she had to break the date with no explanation. Not only does her fact turn into that ghoulish mask, but her voice is overcome with rage. Naturally, she slices through the attacking Noise like they were just colorful blobs of jello. Very interesting. The rest of the show isn’t up to this moment. It’s all exposition (why do the Americans want Durandal turned over to them?), more anger from Tsubasa, and cute school scenes. And after Hibiki’s transformation, the evil grin goes away the moment Tsubasa arrives, and it’s all declarations of intent until some unexpected newcomer shows up. Who the hell is she? This show has the potential to be interesting if it could clean up its approach a little.
Amagami SS Plus 3 turns to Rihoko, the silliest girl of the lot, and the only one who didn’t succeed in nabbing Junichi first time around. So this isn’t really an afterstory of a love but the first story continued for another two episodes.
Junichi saves this level of tact for good friends.
One reason for her failure is that she is so endearingly (or, if you prefer, maddingly) hapless. When Junichi, letting his hormones interfere as he tends to do, suggests that they measure each other’s height and chest and add them up, she accepts it as the most normal request in the world. As for Junichi, this interest in her boobs doesn’t suggest anything more than those hormones; he still has given no indication that he’s interested in her. If there’s going to be any movement here, Rihoko is going to be the one to do it, which hasn’t worked before. Even the agreement to cook for Junichi, to help cure his “heat fatigue” (actually caused by staying up late watching porn) won’t get her very far, especially if Nishishishi’s there, too.
The tea, er tennis club girls are plotting something again.
This being a Rihoko episode, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t see the tea tennis club girls again. They livened up every scene they had in the original series, and they don’t disappoint here. They mess with Rihoko’s mind a little, give her an eel to feed him (the best cure for heat fatigue), and play with her mind some more. What’s more, they want Rihoko and Junichi to get together. But apart form the eel, there’s not much they can do for her. Instead, to bring the episode to a crisis which I’m trying to figure out, a classmate named Makabe puts a move on her. Junichi sees this. It’s hardly a crisis. Junichi has shown no interest, so why should he be jealous? Rihoko tells Makabe no (but it’s drowned out by a train), so it’s not like she’s wavering. And we already knew Makabe was planning on hitting on girls every chance he got this summer. So what’s the big deal? Well, the big crises, such as they are, are not the reason why I watch this show anyway.
It looks as though they're planning an acrobatic move.
That prophecy the guy at the end of Rinne no Lagrange 3 is muttering about the green, blue, and orange ones waking up and releasing demons sounds pretty dire, especially since Madoka and Lan are the blue and green, and the ditz will certainly take up that last color soon, but as it’s followed by such a trippy ED sequence it I think he’s got his legends wrong. It was hard to take any of the battle seriously when Madoka acts so silly in her Ox Thing, renamed Midori. She spends more time taking care to get knocked into empty lots so as not to hurt anyone and singing her Jersey club song to mount any sort of offense. Not that she knows how to fly the thing, anyway. This almost bamboozles her opponent into thinking she has a secret technique. Yeah, the bad guys in this show aren’t the brightest lot, either. We also get Lan the alien, unable to mind-meld with her own ovid because of her fears of what she will become (maybe Hibiki in the first show ought to worry about that), until she sees Madoka, singing and fighting bravely, out of ignorance. That bit was predictable, but it moved the plot along, sort of. All they do is scare the bad guys away. Three episodes in and I’m not sure where this is heading.
Nisemonogatari 3, Moretsu Pirates 3, and another visit to the baths.
Nisemonogatari 3, the show with subsumed plot and brilliant conversations moves on. This time there might actually be a crisis.
It turns out what has led us to this point is all play. That is, all the girls play with Araragi-kun, and he plays back. They’re happy, he moves on. This time the play continues with Kanbaru, the sexual assault we saw last week is completely ignored or forgotten, or maybe some form of verbal play brought to the viewer through visuals. Because now they’re just sitting there, happy. The books seem to have been moved to help decorate the traditional gardens outside. They play a card game (competitive Kabaru is upset because she loses, moreso because Araragi doesn’t care) and this after playing Life and Twister with Sengoku, not counting the verbal play that is almost a constant in this series. This time the banter about who Araragi will marry and who will be his mistresses. Araragi gives his straight-man responses and eventually moves on.
And finally, there’s a palpable threat. A mysterious man named Kaiki is hanging outside Kanbaru’s house. He mutters things about truths, chats up Araragi a little, and saunters off. Everything about him is threatening. The blood-red colors and grumpy cellos have a lot to do it. It’s the first time all series that I began to worry about Araragi, especially when he decides to follow. What he discovers we don’t know. The next thing we know he’s running into Senjougaraha.
Araragi-kun wins an argument, for once.
At first it’s the usual. She insults him, he takes it and scores the occasional point by correcting a reference or error of logic, which satisfies her. Again, more simple wordplay. She repeats again her old line about killing him and any girl he’s been unfaithful to her with, but we’ve heard it before. So has Araragi. We’re waiting for the next thing, mentioning Kaiki. Wham! Now we know who Senjougahara is protecting him from. But again, right now it’s all play. Araragi gets this answer out of her but now he’s at a loss. It isn’t until the real crisis happens that the show makes a shift. Something important to Araragi is in danger. He breaks out of the handcuffs easily. He could have the entire time. He didn’t because of his basic kindness and consideration, the thing he’s been showing to the girls since episode one. They wanted to play with him using their rules, for whatever reason. He was happy to play along. Turns out that he was using this same consideration the entire time he was chained up. Senjougahara hates and fears Kaiki and didn’t want Araragi involved. In her strange mind, that meant kidnapping him. He understood this and played along. But play time is over now. Interesting that Senjougahara tries a few verbal tricks to hold him back, and when she sees that it’s useless, she looks at him with love and admiration. In spite of circumstances in this show, it’s what you do and not how you talk that is the most important. Maybe that’s why all those fast-talking girls like Araragi. Now, if someone could tell me what that phone call at the end was all about …
SPACE!!
I’m still looking for something bodacious in Moretsu Pirates and failing. In fact, every time something big is going to happen, someone says “Okay, not yet,” and the crisis goes away. This time the electronic warfare cliffhanger (hack attempt) goes away once the ship decides to fight back, though there was something about a button Marika pushed somewhere. As for the various orgainizations interested in abducting or killing Marika, they’re holding off until she becomes a pirate, so she can have a hand in the next privateer license negotiation, or something like that. Marika doesn’t understand it either, so it’s okay. After that there’s a nice scene with her dull friend about being dull, and then everything waits until she finishes her exams (there’s an entire scene for that). FINALLY the yacht club gets to go into space, where hair comes down in zero gravity, and the big crisis, where a mast deploys too early and gets tangled up with another. Kane and a half-dozen girls spacewalk (complete rookies, untethered, but the ship seems to have its own little gravity well, since they can stand on it) and fix it. Ta-dah! End of episode! Oh, we get hints from Kane and Misa about being watched and probably pursued, but chances are, the way this show is going, they will go away too.
Relax, it's just a naked Roman from the past.
In Thermae Romae … heh.. well, our hero Lucius invents a small indoor bath for a geezer, and discovers the concept of shower hats, all from the flat-faced people, ad all for the glory of Rome! Episode 4 is more amusing, as he is called on by Hadrian to build a relaxing bath and the miracle of modern-day Japanese toilets. I wonder what he would have done if he had pressed the bidet button instead? Once again the crude animation makes the whole thing even sillier. Next week it’s the grand finale! Will he become Hadrian’s new lover? What will happen to Lucius?!?!?!
Inu x Boku SS 2, Bakuman II 15, Natsume Shi 3
From the setup, I didn’t think Inu x Boku SS would be such a sweet show. I’m sure we’ll get darker material soon, but episode 2 makes this feel like a friendly monster series rather than a dark one. We saw hints of what it could become last week, but this time there is no major crisis, one minor one, and the thrust of the story had to do with loyalty and seeking rewards for it.
We get a lot of Soushi’s declarations of eternal loyalty for our tsundere heroine Ririchiyo … Can you call a character tsundere if we see all her inner insecurities right off the bat? Much of the charm of the tsundere, apart from her method of abuse, is the moment when you see the gap in her defenses, a peek at the dere inside. But we already know what’s going on Ririchiyo’s mind. We already know she’s messed up and why. Technically, I don’t know if she qualifies as a tsundere or not. … Anyway, we also see that she isn’t taken aback by Soushi’s actions; apparently she saved his life once and has quite forgotten about it. She is bothered by her faulty memory and by the fact that in spite of his annoying tendencies to do everything for her, he is sincere and should be rewarded somehow. And so lies our story.
The episode's scary scene.
Such as it is. Much of the episode involves shopping for things, with Sorinozuka tagging along for no apparent reason except to add some humor relief and contrast to Soushi’s sparkling. It’s pleasant, but you figure they have to toss something dark and supernatural in sometime, so they have another Ayakashi Kan tenant, Kurata, vanish. With what little we’ve seen of this weird girl (with the scariest supernatural persona of the bunch) we should have known it would come to nothing, but off they go to search. Interestingly, Ririchiyo is the one who charges out first. She doesn’t do much to back up her “don’t care” claims. And so we get what amounts to the threatening part, which really isn’t all that threatening. Just annoying. By the end we’ve seen a lot of gags and Ririchiyo has decided the only thing he can do to reward his faithful dog, er, Soushi, is be a friend. It’s done sweetly, as I said, but it’s not overdone, though I wonder how much of this we’re going to see in a supernatural show.
The workingman’s anime, Bakuman II, concentrates on being a silly romantic comedy for episode 15. It does pretty well.
Lets see. Kaya is angry because she thinks Takagi is seeing Iwase and/or Aoki on the sly, and Miho is mad at Saeko because he lied to her about it, and about the romance between his uncle and her mother long ago. Right there we got prime soap opera material. I hate soap operas, so I’m happy to report that they veer off this mindset almost immediately by having Saeko get equally mad at Miho, also, no one’s done anything actually wrong! The most they’re guilty of is trying to be decent to people to the extent it causes misunderstandings–and then lying about it to prevent the misunderstandings. So all we got to do is sit down the appropriate people and have them talk it out. And fast! All this moping and sticking noses in the air is beginning to affect their work, and they just got first place for their latest story!
CAUGHT!
A good romantic comedy will pile on the misunderstandings further, but before that we get some disgraceful behavior from Nakai. Aoki’s story finishes second because of the artwork. The editors (struggling with their own internal politics) suggest Nakai take over that job. I never thought even Nakai would behave the way he did when she asks him, but her reaction is the most satisfying moment of the episode. No, the most satisfying moment was when we get another potential embarrassing moment for Takagi, in a moment of ridiculous coincidence found only in romantic comedies, but it ends all right with everyone happy–BECAUSE THEY TALKED IT OUT! Oh, and Takagi proposed. That certainly helped. Now Kaya and Aoki are friends, and everyone’s happy. Thank heavens. This plotline was threatening to get tedious, but I have to admit it was fun watching them close it.
Natsume Yuujinchou Shi 3 gives us a single-episode story to make up for the relatively dramatic series opener. I mean, how dramatic or important an episode can it be if it has tribbles in it? Time to kick back and relax as Natsume rescues a karu (tribble) from some crows and takes it home. Later a youkai whose name he’s returned threatens to burn down his house if he doesn’t return the house gets burned down. Somehow he recalls the ring snagged on the karu (whom he’s named “fluffball.” For a boy gifted with certain abilities, Natsume doesn’t often show a lot of imagination), and now has to track down the little thing.
This might take longer than Natsume thought.
The other problem is that the karu are little-known and misunderstood even by other youkai. Hinoe and others plan to drive the critters out. As for the karu, they prove to be a reasonable lot–unless they’re threatened. It’s just right sort of small episode the series needed after the big stuff. Next week it looks like another bittersweet story, Natsume’s speciality.
Last Exile Fam 13, High School Boys 2, Papa no Iukoto 2
It’s been so long since I’ve seen Last Exile – Fam do a current episode that I’d forgotten what the hell was going on. Bad guys attacking the Silvius is all I know. I don’t remember how Fam, Giselle and Millia wound up in the hands of Dian, the Glacies pilot they had helped before.
Dian is going to be Fam's friend whether she wants to or not.
It’s a quiet episode (mostly). Fam and Gisey work to fix their damaged vanship and in the meantime bond with Dian as well as they can. It’s a good thing Millia can speak Glacies, or who knows what would have happened, for they’re in Glacies territory, and Dian is the only person around (she apparently has time off, and a direct link to vanship supplies. Which is weird considering their own ships are nothing like Fam’s). So she becomes their cultural liaison, not to mention entertainment, for their stay. Nothing really new in this story; Fam and the girls are lively, while Dian is, while not sour, reserved and cynical. In a cute scene (hell, all the Fam scenes here are cute), Fam describes the Grand Race and how she wants to make it a reality again, while for Dian that last race was the end of peace for Glacies and the beginning of the time when flying means fighting.
Dian has good reason to be cynical. The Federation is mounting an attack on Glacies, using provincial navies. We get a quick scene with Lillia, who is not happy, and officers praising Augusta, who shouldn’t be happy but is. When she’s going to make her turn the show gives no hints, unless it’s her companion/nurse who does it. But the attack is saved for the final moments. Everything before is a meeting between two cultures which don’t trust each other and culminates in a lovely bit where Fam takes Dias up in the repaired vanship to feel the wind. It’s the first moment of this grey episode where we see the sun. Good stuff, but next week it looks like there’ll be plenty of battling. Well, in this series, that’s good stuff too.
Daily Lives of High School Boys 2 has another handful of uneven vignettes. Seriously, I don’t know what it is with this obsession with girl’s underwear is. On the other hand, some running gags are beginning to appear. I like the girl by the river thing. I like the pointless activities going on behind the main pointless activity, like Hidenori climbing on top of Toshitaki. But what I liked best was the odd school play they put on during the closing credits. It makes absolutely no sense at all, and meanwhile other cast members sit in the audience with either mild amusement or disgust. Good stuff. I just wish they’d lay off the underwear for once.
Off to the orphanage with you! HAHAHAHAHA!
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai 2 takes a nosedive. Episode one showed two sides of Yuuta’s life, his typically disgusting but entertaining college life and the new family life he had yet to adopt. All well and good. We had some possibilities for cheap laughs and sentiment. This episode starts on the sentiment side. Yuuta takes care of the three girls for a day, then learns it’ll be for a week. It was only after the parents had left and they over-extended the twinkle twinkle scene too far that the “Ah, fuck!” realization. “They’re not really going to give us this cheap plot device, are they?” And when I mean “cheap,” I mean the easy way they get Yuuta and the girls living together on a permanent basis. It’s actually worse than that. It’s cynical, emotional manipulation heightened by hearing all the adoring “oniii-chans” up to then. All I can hope for is that now that they’ve set up the situation the show will grow stronger, like Cross Game, though it feels wrong to compare a great series to this one.
Another 2, Chihayafuru 15, Ano Natsu de Matteru 2
Another 2 sets a mood much like the first episode did.
Daily lives of haunted middle-school boys.
It’s fascinating to watch. When I think about it, very little happened this episode. It was mainly a series of conversations with Kouichi maybe learning in each one just a little more than he knew before. Misaki gives him more vague warnings. The class goof, Sakaki, says a little too much and is stopped by Mochizuki. We meet the school librarian, Chibiki, who tells him to move along when Kouichi had spotted Misaki reading in there. Chibiki gives no indication that he can see Misaki sitting there between them, but he acts as though he’s protecting her. Or maybe Kouichi’s going to be late for class. Who knows? Only the hospital nurse and his relative give him a normal conversation. Oh, let’s not forget the classmate who’s “head of countermeasures,” or Mochizuki, who paints lemons in the style of Munch. Apparently Class 3 needs countermeasures for something. But every time one of them is about to offer a little more explanation, someone shushes them. Kouichi isn’t a complete wuss, he’s snooping about on his own, but he could be a little more proactive. Or maybe he’s just spooked.
This is all done with the same dying grey colors we saw in the first episode. Does the sun ever come out there? There are all those quick and away cuts to mannequins. And the sounds! Wind gusts when Misaki issues a warning. Crows caw at her. School floors creak to great effect. Cell phone signals echo after the phone is put away. And the score! Really, this is the most effective use of sound and music to establish an eerie mood since Ghost Hound, and that was four years ago. It all comes together when Kouichi follows Misaki to the creepy doll store, where he gets a bit of a shock, and so did I. That’s about the only real plot move we’ve had yet, yet the episode flew by without me noticing. And now, at the end, Misaki has revealed something, her missing half, perhaps (Halves is a metaphor they’re tinkering with), maybe the plot will move forward a little quicker. But it doesn’t have to. No hurry.
I had worried that Chihayafuru, otherwise an excellent competition series, was heading too far into fantasy when the Mizusawa team made it to the finals, but since then it’s handled its karuta responsibilities more realistically, and it follows through with this, as everyone on the team winds up where all but one of the contestents will.
Well, she gets five cards (interestingly, Sudo, in the A finals, manages more) against Shinobu, still champion. What’s more, she managed to regain her composure and not fold, AND she manages to turn her defeat into a lesson. She now knows how much better she must get, and has an idea or two how. In other words, it was a learning experience. It’s the best, really the only good outcome for her unless the show was going to dive into fantasy. And to spice up the story, she has made Shinobu remember her, and not only for recognizing her T-shirt.
Second. Always second.
The other main battle, Taichi in the class B final, is just as interesting. This one is at least close. It’s been a long and exhausting day. Taichi is beginning to make mistakes. There’s an excruciating moment where he seems to run through the positions of every remaining card in his head, and I thought he had gone into a mental fugue state and was about to collapse just as Chihahya did two episodes ago, or we’d pan back and see that his opponent had meanwhile snagged five cards. But no. He just loses. This sets up a fascinating moment. Second place. His parents would not approve. And he’s probably second place in Chihaya’s heart, too. Yet he’ll be damned if he lets them see him cry … Then he sees his teammates crying for him. Speaking of Chihaya, she deserves a rebuke for completely forgetting about their matches and having to be told that Taichi was even IN the finals. Oh, well, strip all that aside and this was one of those midway episodes where the heroes lose but grow tougher because of it. After all the drama I could really use a filler episode now, but when Arata comes back it will be drama all over again …
Guess Kanna's mood.
With its opening flashback of Ichika flying about in hyperspace, dreaming of some place with trees and a lake, then crash-landing on earth, Ano Natsu de Matteru 2 starts out as a SF story. But by the end it’s clear that this show’s going to be about the trees and lakes (and high school) rather than hyperspace. That bothersome moment where Ichiga was spotted hugging Kaito while wearing only a towel is quickly glossed over and somehow forgiven (well, not by Kanna) and after that it’s all about normality. Ichika buys clothes. They plan a movie. Lemon (a quieter, more cunning Taiga) gets them drunk. Stuff is said, little of it important. What IS important is that Ichika is going to find all the trees and lakes she wants in this series, and to expect anything more is to expect too much. I’m not sure we’re going to enjoy it asmuch as she will. The show’s going all over the place setting up the situation, and what are they going to do besides make the movie, try to hide that fact that Ichika’s an alien, and have Kanna jealous all the time? But it’s agreeable enough for now.
Silly SF episode twos: Symphogear, Aquarion, Lagrange
It’s not much of a show, but Senki Zeshou Symphogear is so over the top that I don’t care too much.
... I ... I ... I have to ... SING!
When we left Hibiki, she was surrounded by Noise creatures, trying to protect a your typical little girl, and she’s just sprouted weird armor that only covers part of her. what does she do? She starts to sing! And all sort of magical/technological stuff starts to happen! Well, she jumps too far, smashes into things, all while singing. At one point she’s hiding around the corner from them, while singing! It was glorious, goofy moment–even for an anime show. What’s more, Hibiki not only sang, she sang poorly–not out of tune, but the way any of us would sing if we were running around while scared to death. When Tsubasa enters the fight, her singing is controlled, like she was actually mouthing something she had already sung in the studio. Ahem, well …
One of Tsubasa's many funks.
Some less weird but still weird moments follow the Noise’s defeat. Hibiki is arrested, presumably because she’s a powerful weapon now, but at HQ a party awaits her. Introductions. Meanwhile, Tsubasa seethes with angst in the background the whole time. She does that a lot this episode. We know exactly why: here’s a silly little thing who seems to have the same powers of her beloved, late friend and mentor (and who knows what else), and after a sweet little scene between Hibiki and her roommate Miku, we learn the details: during the big fight some of Kanade’s sacred relic found its way into Hibiki’s chest. What makes it even more galling for Tsubasa, they can’t be removed. Is that why Tsubasa’s telling Hibiki they have to fight at the end? Does she want to cut her open and get the fragments, or is she just pissed off because Hibiki blundered into her battle? Is this a metaphor for a solo act who’s forced to work with a partner? Is this the girl’s Tiger and Bunny? Well, no. But Tsubasa has the same problem that Bunny had. Her obsession with the past prevents her from becoming an interesting character. For that reason, ditzy but brave Hibiki is much more interesting right now. But we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile, more goofy singing while fighting, please. And make it sound bad!
Aquarion EVOL is just as nutty as Symphogear, and it has better visual effects to boot. It doesn’t have an angst-ridden Valkyre, but it does have lots of horny boys and girls who are kept separate from each other. this Holy Angel Academy, where they train elements is strictly segregated, but no one has given us a decent reason why, unless this whole Aquaria/Aquarion business merged with Roman Catholocism along the way. That would explain some of the school/church trappings, though not the barbed wire on the wall (known as the Berlin. Heh). The episode is to get us and Amata comfortable in new surroundings. The guided tour by Cayenne, who hates him, Mikoto’s the making of friends, etc. The friends bit gets ridiculous. Walking about and mooning about Mikoto, Amata meets Andy, who’s earth-displacing power makes him a great digger. So they go under the wall, accidentally see too much of Mikono, yet don’t get caught, even though they’ve left behind a big hole … On the other hand, you get another idea of the difference between Amata and Mikono. Amata’s always considered himself a freak because of his powers, but here he meets others just as freaky. He’s happy. Mikono, powerless (as far as we know), doesn’t even belong in the school and looks forward to the time she can leave. Other than that, the show gets even more inane when they do a mock battle and Amata is made the Head. When? Why? And as for the battle itself, all I know is I never thought I’d see ORZ as a battle strategy. Ridiculous. If it didn’t look so good and have the earlier series resonating in it, I’d consider dropping it now.
Still more ridiculousness in Rinne no Lagrange 2. The jist of the episode, apart from some exposition that explain why the bad guys are around, what Kyouko is doing skulking around, etc, is that Madoka was so successful on her first sortie was that she was just winging it, or, as the smiling alien Moid and she both say, letting the wind take you. Sounds good. Except this is a very serious organization we’re dealing with and they don’t like trusting their lives to something as capricious as weird. So, Madoka, there’s another attack. Madoka, get on this augmented sky-scooter thing, and remember, the fate of the world is in your hands.
One thing I like about Madoka is that she wears her emotions on her sleeve. Needless to say, she doesn’t do so well, and soon she’s underwater after taking maybe two hit, and having second thoughts, which, btw, is when the craft stopped listening to her. Her demeanor is bizarre. Someone has just tried to kill her, she’s underwater, and she’s just sitting there, moping. And suddenly, her cellphone gets a signal (she got lost in the complex looking for bars but in the ocean she gets them) and the next thing you know her aunt is chewing he out.
We don’t get to the conclusion of the fight, only learn that there are now two bad guys, one deciding he better help bail out the other. The bad guys in this show are pretty haphazard about it all. The first one got captured, we expect (judging from the preview voice-over), the other went out without permission, and the third one is trying to clear up the mess. The good guys aren’t much better. Youko’s been trying to sneak into the base ever since they “confiscated” her research. Now, the base is on a man-made island and surely they have the jurisdiction to kick her off it if they want. But their reaction when the phone call starts (it’s piped into HQ) is of mild annoyance. And I won’t even start with the Muginami, the ditz pilot who wandered into one scene and out again. Why isn’t she in action? Oh, well, it’s not the strangest event of the show, of of the day’s viewing. You can’t beat anime for silly science fiction.
Nisemonogatari 2, Moretsu Pirates 2, Kill Me Baby 2
With Bakemonogatari, I knew that through all of the odd conversations and weird visuals that they would get back to solving the latest problem–eventually. Early on in Nisemonogatari I don’t even know what the problem is.
I thought it was going to lead to why Senjougahara had chained Araragi up. I assumed it would be because of something that happened at Sengoku’s house. This is when I wasn’t thinking that, though this sequel was supposed to concentrate on his sisters, they’d had little do to do with anything yet. This time they get a little introduction by Araragi, who seems to be the central character, and the suggestion that their Fire Sisters tag is somehow fake. Then after an excellent OP, the best of the season, I think, it’s time for more odd conversations. First we get his visit to Sengoku, where she not-so-subtly flirts with him (every time this happens I wonder what will happen if Senjougahara finds out) and talks about the aftermath of her snake affliction (see first season). Karen and Tsuhiki are mentioned, but I couldn’t figure out exactly why. Something about spreading rumors. But in spite of that I went Aha! Now the plot will move. Well, maybe.
Next we get our first real conversation with Karen, the athletic and aggressive sister, who spends most of the scene on her head. Talk of community service and some big thing she’s working on, which, in this show, may have nothing whatsoever to do with Sengoku. But she’s a fun character, as they all are in this show, and it’s fun listening to them banter (and blinking at the countless cuts to different angles) even if I don’t get the gist of the conversation or why they’re bothering to show it to us.
I've always liked Kanbaru's room. All that light and shadow. All that red.
Finally Araragi’s off to help Kanbaru clean her room. This time I pretty much got the gist, though not the reason why they they bother. Kanbaru isn’t as perverted as she claims to be. Well, says Araragi. Kanbaru proceeds to “defend her innocence” on this matter by sexually assaulting him. At which the episode ends, and I’m wondering if we’re ever going to get to why Araragi’s chained up. Senjougahara, by the way, doesn’t appear in the episode at all. As usual, my two thoughts upon finishing an episode of this franchise are “Huh?” and “When’s the next episode coming out?”
Why, Marika, everyone mother worth her salt has a cache of automatic weapons.
Okay, since there’s nothing particularly bodacious about the show in spite of its name, I’m going with Moretsu Pirates from now on. Now we’re in episode two and the exciting battle in the maid cafe over Marika. Except Kurihara has dragged her out of danger, so no exciting battle to watch there. After Kurihara explains the obvious to her, that the cafe was filled with all sorts of special ops and security forces because of her (were they ALL planning to kidnap her?), she winds up with Ririka in a car driving to nowhere for a bit of mother/daughter. It’s not a bad scene. Both Ririka and us at home are watching Marika for her reactions to things like, oh, the fact that her father wasn’t actually dead all this time (but is now. I’d be a little pissed about that. Marika has shown very little interest in her father), the fact that her mother was a space pirate, and that she still has a trunk full of heavy weaponry and likes to blow holes through abandoned tanks in the desert. And plus we get an important speech about the “power of a pirate,” which is, among other things, the ability to make a good decision and the freedom to follow through on it. Marika’s reaction? She drinks it in, cautiously.
After that we get started with a yacht club practice cruise, headed by the new advisor, Kane. All right! Let’s go have some space adventures in that yacht which is mysteriously a former pirate ship which no one but Kane knows about! Nope. We get a long inspection scene followed by one where Marika and Kurihara discover someone is trying to engage in electronic warfare with their vessel, i.e., someone’s trying to hack the system and take over. So now we get more talk. Now, all the talk in this scene and the one before gave us useful information, not to mention a glimpse of Marika and Kurihara bonding, and I’m glad when a show decides to explore the futuristic environment to make it feel more realistic (in spite of that, the girls’ hair stay perfectly in place in zero gravity), but it does slow down the story. At the end, Marika has only just decided to take on the nefarious attacker, and the ship is still moored at port. Well, maybe next week.
Hide and seek.
Kill Me Baby 2 is much like 1. Yasuna bugs Sonya, Sonya hurts her, Yasuna tries again. Something comes up that Sonya can’t handle. Agiri shows up to drawl a little. It’s funny enough. I expect in a few episodes Yasuna will drive me crazy, but for now I’m kind of liking her antics. I feel a little sorry for the bear, who didn’t seem to be bothering anyone.
Twos: Natsume, Amagami +, High SchoolDxD (goodbye)
Natsume Yuujinchou Shi 2 finishes up the little story by making it more complicated, but returns to an important theme in the franchise: friendship.
Matoba just doesn't get it.
Matoba has taken Natsume prisoner, unaware that he has the book of friends with him. Indeed, does Matoba even know about the book? I can’t remember. Anyway, he proposes that Natsume join the Matoba clan, and, I assume, help exorcise youkai. He’s done thorough research on Natsume, he says, he knows all about Natsume’s lonely past and how much work it is for him to cover for his abilities. It seems his thorough research hasn’t told him a thing. The entire series has been about how Natsume has overcome these problems. It’s sort of sad to see such a formidable man as Matoba completely miss the mark like this, but it gets worse for him. Youkai are never friends with humans. They all want something. That’s the only possible way to think of them. Geez, how did Matoba get so knowledgeable about youkai and still know absolutely nothing about them? In addition Natsume could have pointed out that he was a prisoner in Matoba’s house, and that other humans aren’t famous for fair dealings, either. Not that it would have mattered.
After the dialogue we see what’s going on in the east forest outside the mansion, and we see just how wrong Matoba is. Hinoe and Misuzu are concerned about Natsume and are rushing to investigate. Not because they want the book of friends, not because they dislike Matoba (and they have every reason to), but because their friend is in trouble, never mind that he’s a human and smells funny! And so we get a series of misadventures them, the Matoba old lady, and then it’s back to the house where first Rokka’s youkai threaten Natsume from outside, and then Matoba threatens Rokka from the inside, until Nyanko finally says fuck it and blows a hole in the wall. What was he waiting for? Oh, well.
After that we still have to clear up the problem with these youkai in the east forest who want the book of friends to protect themselves, and who believe Natsume has imprisoned their leader Rokka. They’re working under the opposite assumption. Natsume’s a human and therefore unfriendly. It takes Rokka himself to clear this little matter up. Well, they’re also threatened by Nyanko … Maybe it dawns on Matoba as he watches the procession of friends fly away, destroying the spells he cast in the forest along the way, that he doesn’t know as much as he thought. Nah. Still, it’s a lovely moment, that flight, also the subsequent scenes with Natsume’s adopted and completely human parents, making sure he dresses warmly before going off to be with his friends, human this time. I wonder if the show can take this idea of friendship any farther, but every time they do it feels so new and fresh that right now I don’t think they need any more.
With Amagami SS Plus we go straight to last week’s cliffhanger, with Kurosawa kissing Junichi when Ayatsuji shows up. They even bring in the evil violin music to heighten the sense of threat. After Ayatsuji drags Junichi (by his tie, of course), I’m nearly trembling. What terrible revenge will she inflict on him?
Ayatsuji isn’t stupid. She knows full well that Junichi was tricked into that meeting. She’s not even annoyed that Junichi wasn’t pulling back, or maybe she knew by then that Junichi gets bewildered easily. She’s annoyed that he was gullible enough to be tricked into the meeting in the first place. But that’s Junichi for you. He assumes the best out of people, even the evil ones. That’s one reason he’s able to circumvent any harmful defence a girl throws at him. Another reason is he knows exactly the right thing to say. When Ayatsuji makes him promise to not kiss other girls, he takes it a step farther and declares his love. Ayasuji, always in control, is suddenly at a loss. Well done, Junichi!
Dreams CAN come true!
There are no underhanded shenanigans after that. The candidates give speeches. The students vote, they are about to post the winner … commercial … and then the election is over. After that it’s quality time with the girlfriend with a real-life return to the dream that started the story arc, one of those little touches that makes this show fun to watch. The only thing we wonder about is: what the hell is going on in Kurosawa’s head? She has a look of pure maliciousness when Junichi was dragged away, but at the end announces that she’ll do every underhanded thing she can to get him. She’s perfect for the series. She should get her own story arc.
Go away.
After two episodes of High School DxD it’s time to stop. It’s not the nudity or near-nudity that bugs me (that much), but I’m sick of Issei’s drooling idiocy. Which is a shame, because he shows a little more backbone this episode. A little more. As for the episode, Rias gets them out of the “mother finds boy in bed with girl” crisis and then we get a talk about the different supernatural forces at play in this world. Demons, Fallen Angels who try to kill them, and Humans who aren’t crazy about them, either. It’s only interrupted by moments for Issei to drool some more. He goes on a mission, which is actually amusing and mundane, and then he’s attacked again. And more exposition. Without the lewdness this is a predictable show, and not very interesting. WITH the lewdness I can barely watch. One more show dropped.
Back to ongoing shows: Chihayafuru 14, Last Exile Fam 12, Bakuman II 14
Now that I’ve survived the crush of new shows, it’s time to look at three that have been on awhile.
In Chihayafuru 14, Arata has promised Chihaya that they’ll play again, which means it would be in a tournament, but not this one. He’s gone just as quickly as he left. The only reason he appeared at all, as far as the present story was concerned, was to get Chihaya back in fighting form for the individual matches the next day. Well, okay, also to remind us that he’s still there. As for the individual matches, almost the entire episode was spent against Shinobu, the Queen. Never has the show spent so much time concentrating on one match before, and its an intense one. It also looks one-sided. She’s blindingly fast, even able to snatch away a card Chihaya was covering (be fair, Chihaya was getting rattled by then). Most of the episode is like that. Shinobu taking card after card, Chihaya (and Taichi and the tennis lady) watching with shock, wondering how the hell anyone can beat her. And soon there’s a huge lead. Any breaks in the intensity (or despair) come from odd moments, like Shinobu noticing Chihaya’s T-shirt and vice versa, or when someone accidentally douses the lights. And each time they do we go to “Chihaya reflection time,” where some moment from the past, a bit of advice, whatever, comes to her. But there are no quick turnarounds. The show is too smart to simply turn the match on its head because of one little insight. Instead, Chihaya’s little epiphanies accumulate. It’s only late in the match that she manages to score a couple of cards. Around the time I was grimacing because the match wouldn’t end this episode. She’s still way behind, but she got a card from Shinobu’s back row. Time for a comeback. I hope it doesn’t take all of next episode. My heart won’t be able to stand it.
Fam and Millia met earlier than they think.
The overall tone of Last Exile Fam 12 is so happy that I was a little disappointed that they had to throw Farahanaz’s assassination in at the end. For the most part it’s not only a flashback but a beautiful shared memory between Fam, Giselle and Millia, well, again, until the … Even some of the art, like the cheering crowds at the Grand Race, is cartoonish, though I’m sure that was simply budget. Come to think of it, the racing vanships didn’t seem as well-animated, either, or maybe it’s the same; since it’s a flashback and no one was shooting at anyone … well, again, until the end. But the overall mood is a good one. We see characters early in their lives, the cute meeting between Millia and Fam that surely neither of them remember now. And we get an idea why Farahanaz was so beloved as a queen. And there are just enough clues and foreshadowings to let us know that that it can’t last. That it might be impossible to live happily ever and enjoy a grand race every year. You wonder if this is what Fam is thinking when she wakes up from her dream in the back of truck plowing through a snowstorm. Or maybe that gives her the motivation to bring forth a day like the one she once had–minus the killings.
The only thing I’ll say about Takagi/Kaya in Bakuman II 14 is why the hell didn’t he tell her the truth straight up? And then Saeko makes it worse by saying their meeting was purely by chance, and now HIS relationship is screwed up, too. Apart from the little unrequited flutter in Aoki’s heart there’s nothing romantic about the situation. If she’s still pissed off by it, well, you can’t do anything about that. At least these little moments of are worked into the larger, more mundane story about working out their gag manga, wondering if they ought to be working on such a manga (the editors argue about this more than our heroes do), visiting all the other artists, none of whom seem to be having a good time, just working life. It just now comes to me that Bakuman is more than the story of two boys aiming for the top. It has become a story about daily working life. And while most careers don’t involve competing for a top spot in the manga world, the struggle to meet deadlines and work in a personal life are universal for anyone who’s out there in the job world. One more thing. What was Aoki thinking??
The last of the new shows (for now): Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai, Inu x Boku, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Thermae Romae
Is it this kind of show ...
Maybe I’ll call it Listen to Daddy; I can’t be bothered to write Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai (whoops). For a show set in the realistic present this is one of the odder first episodes I’ve seen. We have Yuuta, college freshman, beginning to do all the things college freshmen do, like get drunk off fumes, engaging in strange club initiation rituals for a club he had no intention of joining, having a guy move into his apartment against his will … When all of a sudden we jump to the family he’s left behind, his mother, a father-in-law who had two daughters from a previous marriage, plus a 2-year-old of their own, I think. A messy family life to contrast with his messy (but more typical) college life. It’s like two different shows, both good.
... or this?
It’s fun watching Yuuta trying to manage his college career and half-heartedly chasing the beautiful and monumentally weird Raika (‘Yo-yo-yo’). It’s also fun watching him playing with his 3 year-old niece Hina, though with the oldest niece we, alas, have the perhaps inevitable scene where he walks in on her while she’s dressing (and he stands there in shock, not closing the door. Sigh). Apart from that bit, the family relationships are more complex than normal, and the show has already taken pains to show they will work with them seriously, which again, will make a good contrast to Yuuta’s college life and Yo-yo-yo. I’m very interested to see how this show works out.
After that mashup of two different story types, it’s a pleasure to go to the comparatively straightforward Inu x Boku, where we meet Ririchiyo, the poor little rich girl, and the latest in a line of small, young snarky ones. She’s moving into a highly secure apartment complex where just about every tenant has an SS agent protecting them. But we see some differences between Ririchiyo and Victorique, et al, from the start. First, she’s moving there because she wants to be alone, second, it’s clear early on that her snarkiness is an act, and she’s aware of it. What’s more, she doesn’t like her “bad habit.” Since she’s a lone protagonist and not a girl who’s brought mysteries, I guess we get this out of the way quick. Very soon she’s being overly-helped by a guy named Soushi, who declares his undying service to her and sparkles a lot when he complements her, which is most of the time. Ririchiyo, always with a rude remark, doesn’t know what to make of him. And so it proceeds. We meet other tenants and their guards, all of whom are amusing, and of course there’s more to this than the show lets on until the creators get tired of the mystery, I suppose, and introduce a random burglar who gets all the characters to reveal their true nature. Not bad. I’m not buying Ririchiyo’s reasons for moving to such a place, and their attempt to explain it during an internal monologue didn’t help; it was too long, too. But I like the characters, including Ririchiyo, and the way the show mocks itself–Soushi’s sparkly complement moments makes a nice running gag. The show’s worth viewing for a while, at least.
The Daily Lives of High School Boys is funny enough. It would be easy to compare it to the previous all-boy high school series Kimi to Boku, so I’ll do it. But rather than talking about the differences I’ll talk about one similarity. The boys in both series have way too much time on their hands and fill it with stupid activities. Whether you like their activities or find them consistent with your own high school life (which is perhaps why I brought up the “too much time” business) is up to you. It’s all done in short sketches so you have plenty of chances to compare. I can’t see any such boy trying on his sister’s uniform, or freaking out TOO much when you see your friend walking with a girl. On the other hand, Hidenori’s riverbank scene with “literary girl” struck home. Was that why I found that scene the funniest (even though they wind up being rather cruel to the poor girl)? While these boys aren’t really stupid, they don’t know enough about certain things. Tadakuni, Yoshitake, and Hidenori have seen the TV shows and movies we have and know how to play the roles (much of the humor comes from watching them do this), but they’re at a loss when forced to take it further.
2011 was an off year for NoitaminA. Their slice-of-life shows were mostly okay (I’m maybe the only one out there who was let down by AnoHana), but everything else besides UN-GO were unimaginative SF clichés or downright messes. What’s worse, they were mostly shows with no imagination. So it’s a relief that they kick off with Thermae Romae for a couple of weeks before switching to, sigh, Black Rock Shooter. Our hero, Lucious, is an unemployed Roman architect who gets sucked down a mysterious drain into modern-day Japan bath houses, where he learns the innovations and returns, just as mysteriously, to Rome. The first two 15-minute episodes are amusing. Luscious is taken aback by the “flat-faced” foreigners who suddenly surround him, and the Japanese are amused by the foreigner’s naivite. Have some fruit milk, Lucious! Have an egg and some sake! Look out for the monkeys! It’s made funnier by the crude animation and cutouts. Lucious is usually in close-up, looking almost like a statue, maybe switching expressions once or twice. Terry Gilliam’s MP work had a bigger budget. A good way to kill a few minutes and get a little education on bath houses in general. It won’t make any best-of-the-year lists, but at least it shows that someone in noitaminA still has the fortitude to do something different.
