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.

New Shows: High School DxD, Amagami SS Plus

I suppose there has to be a show or two like High School DxD every season.

One of the few bits with no boob or panty shots.

Issei, a typical oversexed high school male, is lamenting the fact that he’s been at his predominantly female school for about a year, and he still hasn’t touched a boob. No wonder, when he spends the whole time talking about it with his loser friends or trying to peek into the girls’ changing room and getting beaten by the kendo club for his trouble (I cheered for the kendo club). We know things will change, though, because the episode’s first moments have him going on poetically about the blood on his hands matching the color of a girl’s hair, though even that had a closeup of a girl’s chest. In fact, half the episode seemed to be closeups of one body part or another. Anyway, a cute girl he’s never seen before asks him out and at the end of the date she turns into a winged demon, mutters something about the Sacred Gear, and kills him. This is where Issei’s one-track mind actually earned from admiration from me. Even while he lays there dying he can’t stop thinking about the peek he got during his killer’s transformation scene.You have to admire a character so devoted. Since he is the main character naturally he doesn’t die, well, he does, but he’s turned into a demon by Rias, the red-haired girl, just as he’s waxing poetic again. Later he revisits the fountain where he died and is nearly killed AGAIN, this time by a guy in a trenchcoat, who, happily, doesn’t undress. When he wakes up, Rias is naked in his bed. You get the idea. I might watch another episode, but frankly this first one did nothing to me. Issei isn’t interesting at all unless, as I said, his devotion to sex distracts him from more important things, like dying. I’m a little curious about these different demon factions walking around. Otherwise … nah.

Let’s look at another high school boy with certain thoughts on his mind. Junichi and the girls return for Amagami SS Plus (or is it Amagami SS +” or “Amagami SS+ Plus?”), and apparently we’re going to get a couple of episodes for each girl showing the aftermath of the big romantic moments we saw in season one.

Ayatsuki! Kaoru! Junichi! Welcome back! Oh, sorry to interrupt ...

We start with Ayatsuji, Junichi’s last conquest not counting the stalker and Miya, who doesn’t count. She’s running for student council president and chooses Junichi as his running mate without telling him, which would be a typical Amagami thing to do, but then it gets spiced up more when a total stranger named Kurosawa also chooses him. What’s more, the preliminary rankings give Kurosawa a big lead (love the threatening violins during this part). After some cheerful campaign scenes, including Sae in a swimsuit (she’s running to overcome her shyness. How much you want to bet that was Miya’s doing?) and a bit where Ayatsuji poses for a poster, they’ve nearly caught up. So Kurosawa tries to screw up their relationship.

Kurosawa being evil.

This entire time no one was completely sure why Kurosawa chose Junichi as her vice-president. Was it a sort of confession, as Kaoru suggests, or because she has a grudge against Ayatsuji? Junichi being a typical male, he can’t help but consider the former and falls right into the trap. Sigh, Junichi, when a girl you barely know jumps up and kisses you, and you have a girlfriend, you should pull away, not just stand there! This is akin to the “boy falls on top of girl, accidentally puts hand on boob, doesn’t remove hand” syndrome you see in too many series. And it’s disappointing behavior from him. Junichi has always been distracted by his hormones but earnest in his girl-wooing. He doesn’t look around. Yet here he is, letting himself be kissed in front of Ayatsuki. Oh, well. Apart from this one lapse Junichi is the same as he was in the first series, making the occasional mistake but somehow knowing what the right thing to say is and usually saying it, when he isn’t kissing knees or belly buttons. I’ve said it before: he knows what to say to a girl. The rest of the cast hasn’t skipped a beat, either, though I’m waiting for Miya to whip out her “Nish-shi-shi-shi!” laugh. Happy to see Amagami back.