A few more things I watched before I stop watching for a few days

Because I can, I will tell you some more of the things I’ve been watching before I take an actual vacation …

Idolm@ster 3 splits the story between the girls’ performance in the sticks, and Yukiho’s fear of men and dogs. The sticks part works all right. The girls adapt and help out in ways they didn’t anticipate. The other part had far too many Yukiho freakouts and bonding scenes and was dull as dirt, except for the performance. She gets the audience to respond to her. I’ve seen it before. Some performers like performing because they like the control they have over the crowd, full of people that they might not be able to handle one-on-one. But that’s my observation, and certainly not a reason to be watching this. Why AM I still watching this?

Okabe runs a lot but he never seems to get anywhere.

I know why I’m watching Steins;Gate. It’s excellent, though I’m so lost with all the time traveling that I don’t quite follow what’s going on anymore. Which is why I haven’t said anything about it. But a couple questions: first, what happens to the old timelines? Do they simply vanish or do they go on their merry way? So while characters regret things that they will lose when Okabe jumps, will those things carry on in other timelines? Second, I found an IBM 5100 on Ebay for about 8 grand, after 1 minute of searching. Why haven’t they thought of that? Maybe they don’t have the funds?

You have to ignore a lot of things in Uta no Prince-Sama in order to enjoy it. In episode 4 Ren was able to come up with a full arrangement for his lyrics in so short a time, and Haruka manages to find all those eeny-teeny bits of paper. Fortunately, the insert song is so forgettable that it’s safe to ignore it altogether. What’s maddening about this show is they give us a painful Ren flashback only to leave questions unanswered, i.e., why did his father hate his mother? And his dilemma about staying or going doesn’t work; does he slack off only because he was forced to come to that school? What triggered these thoughts about his mother? Not a very satisfying episode, even for this show.

In Kamisama Dolls 4 good scenes are followed by dumb ones, and by the end all the antagonists have been introduced to one another, to the regret of Kyohei.

Now that we're all gathered ...

Good scenes include the ones between Aki and mad-scientist wannabe Kuuko, who’s tied him up and attempts to torture him. They’ve both got a twisting obsession within them, but it’s not the same one, and it’s nice to see Aki taken aback by an outsider who’s just as crazy as he is. Dumb scenes include the completely unnecessary bath scene and the one where Aki enrages Kyohei by mentioning “Sensei,” causing Kyohei to go beserk. I hate this sort of thing, when the smug villain says THE BAD THING just to piss off the protagonist so he gets to say “See, we’re actually the same,” in order to justify his own psychotic actions. Like any of us DON’T have a very painful memory that causes us to react foolishly.

Worst of all is the kid who does the smug bit to little Utao, the one character who’s totally innocent. Apart from his voice and his size he’s playing an adult character. The fact he is indeed a kid just makes him more annoying. Unfortunately, he’s obviously going to be a long-term villain in this series, and he’s already started the “You’re the same as me” bullshit by announcing that he’s Kyohei’s brother. Sigh.

Bleh! Bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh!

“If there’s someone you want to see, you aren’t alone anymore.” That’s the message, I suppose, of Natsume Yuujinchou San 4, and I don’t buy it. Or maybe I’m thinking not about being alone, but being lonely, something both Natsume and the unnamed youkai of the week have suffered from.

At first we think the story will revolve around Natsume’s grandmother (or whatever she is) meeting an old elementary school classmate and resolving a little fight they have, but that turns out to simply be the theme for a story involving old friends and differences we remember. We watch it mainly through the youkai’s POV, and she’s a lot of fun. Frustrated by the fact that humans can’t see her, when she finds one that does she takes delight in scaring him whenever she can. Pretty childish behavior, but the youkai in this show are rarely models of maturity. So in spite of the problems she causes poor Natsume, I still enjoyed her antics, sitting in her tree, hrumphing her frustrations.

What she doesn’t realize is that she liked having Natsume around not because she could scare him, but because he could actually see her. Being bitter and immature meant she dealt with this the wrong way. It takes the boy Natsume lashing out at her (and an interlude where she becomes a cat and befriends him—did Natsume know all along?) and finally getting shunted away to the next relative before she realizes this. When she does it doesn’t help her mood one bit.

But even if she hasn’t matured, Natsume has. He knew they parted badly and goes out of his way to visit. It’s a simple ending which leads to the Natsume quote above. Okay, maybe you aren’t alone if you want to see someone, even if from time to time you pretend to the world, like Natsume and the youkai do, that people aren’t worth the trouble. It doesn’t make the loneliness go away. Natsume has learned that sometimes you can do something about that.

Nekogami Yaoyoruzu 3 is better than last week’s (I think. I don’t recall what it was about at all). The gang are enlisted to help Yukina, a manga artist and diviner, make a deadline when her familiars run out on her. So half the show is them making a mess of things, and the other half is them trying to capture the wayward familiars, and making a mess of things. They set up the idea of the cat goddess being useless and then forget all about it. There’s a nice bit where we read a bit of the manga and the characters do the dialogue. That’s about it.

Kagami's attempt at concealment actually works.

In Sacred Seven 4 Alma and Kagami must stop a darkstone from interfering with the school festival. With hilarious results. Well, not really. It looks like next week we’ll return to the drama with … a beach episode. Certain to be followed up by a hot spring episode, a karaoke episode, athletic festival episode, home center episode (To my knowledge, only HidaSketch and K-ON!! have had one. It’s underused cliché fodder), etc.

There, that’s done. Tomorrow I catch a train to do touristy stuff.

I stumble through some more early episodes.

Idolm@ster 2, just like 1, isn’t as bad as I feared. It’s not good, either. It’s not a show I’d recommend to someone I’d actually like to have a conversation with. It’s often inane and it gives an overly-nice view of the idol business, but they do just enough to keep the episode from wallowing in its expected mistakes. What worries me after seeing ep2 is that they’re going to make each episode a little lesson instead of the mindless fun it should aim for. This time it was “individuality.”

Onward, up the great pyramid of ... I forget.

The younger, stupider members, in spite of being professional idols in training, try to be individualistic by and wind up looking like 8 year-olds who who trying out their mothers’ makeup (and bras). And so the lecture begins, with examples. This is actually just fine as we see characters posing for a shoot in ways that show their strengths and keeps them from talking too much. And since we constantly hop from one girl to another there’s no time to get sick of any of them—yet. And in spite of my quibbling, the episode was more mindless fun than moral lesson.

Baka to Test Ni has the same quick, inane gags and setups as before. But it seems different. Was the show this sparkly last time?

Hideyoshi is sparkling!

Three episodes into Morita-san and my reactions are pretty much the same. “Huh?” or “That’s it?” or What was the point of THAT bit?” And why are they so scared of Morita and not treating her like an unfortunate speaking-disable case?

I said before that I thought Nekogami Yaoyorozu 1 was cute. So’s episode 2, but the story was so lackluster that I may drop it anyway. They get a big pot sent to them, Mayu throws it away, but naturally it’s something very important. Everything takes too long, from the discovery of what the pot is all about, to finding it. New characters show up and hang around until they are used briefly, then pretty much forgotten again. Things got a little better when the cherry blossoms bloomed, but then THAT went on too long. But I still find the damn thing cute. I like Mayu’s voice acting. The poverty god isn’t bad, either.

Kamisama Dolls 3 gives us a little background, brief action, and some good plot twists, but the way it accomplishes this does us no favors. First we learn of a rivalry between the Huga and Kyuga families from two extras just before they get skewered by the annoying Aki, and then it’s one new annoying character after another.

New annoying character #1 (on the right).

First there’s Suou who makes a fuss over Utao for too long, and then Aki shows up again to act like a jerk and bug Kyohei. I really get tired of insane murderers smirking about how the hero is the same as he is. The only similarity between Kyohei and Aki is that they’re bores.

New annoying characters #2 and #3.

Then more annoying people show up. We got the posturing Koushiro and some brat who’s name I didn’t get who launches a truck at Utao. Happily, Koushiro is more interested in trying to kill Aki, part of the village family feud, I’m assuming. No wonder Kyohei decided to leave.

And more ones: Kamisama Dolls, Blood-C, Mayo Chiki

I’m not terribly impressed by Kamisama Dolls, but there’s nothing truly bad about it.

A tad reserved, considering they've just discovered a pile of bloody corpses.

After some threatening words on the screen and an unpleasant flashback involving children and two robots (called kakashi) duking it out, and a bright, samba-fied EP, we lurch to the present, where Kyouhei, our average, dull male protagonist, attends college in Tokyo and is currently working on getting sick at a party. Until he and old friend Shiba encounter a bunch of bloody bodies. More stuff happens: Youhei’s sister Utao shows up with a big kakashi which we learn is a god and is alled Kukuri. Aki, the bad guy, shows up and there’s a fight. Aki is recaptured—or IS he?

Oohh, my big friend is going to hit you so hard!

There’s stuff to chew over. Youhei used to be the kakashi’s “seki” or handler, but now Utao has that honor (and she’s still learning. She gets adorably mad when Kukuri messes up). Youhei isn’t happy that his past has followed him to Tokyo. Shiba, though she comes from the same village, doesn’t know any of this, yet isn’t all that flustered when she sees all the bodies. Aki tells Youhei that the village is insane, but since he preceded that with “I’m not insane” when he clearly is, I don’t know how much truth there is to it. This is all interesting. But the telling felt wooden. This happens, then that happens. Oh, it set up the story adequately enough, but there was nothing fresh or inventive to it.

I’m not sure I’m going to follow Blood-C. It’s apparently part of a larger franchise I know nothing about, but ep1 suggests that this is a standalone story. And though it has some problems, it’s not bad.

Saya runs to greet her dad.

Saya is a teenage shrine maiden with some contradictions. By day she’s a clumsy, well-meaning girl who’s often late for school because of cute puppies or stray trash. By night (well, in this episode at least), she’s a dangerous swordswoman who guards her father’s shrine from nasty things. So for half the episode we get the girl at school doing high school things, and in the second half she’s getting knocked around by a bairn.

Saya at her other job.

Episode 1 is uncluttered. It presents us one thing at a time, and takes its time doing it. Sometimes it works, like when we meet her friends, but some moments are stretched too long, such as her little happy song as she walks to school. It was a nice moment, but did they have to start up a second verse? The walk back is overly long as well, but there at least we get a foreboding moment to break things up. On the other hand, though the bairn battle is long, starting from the first confrontation, it’s executed well. Straightforward, both sides getting an edge then losing it. I’m in for a second episode. But I have to ask: what’s up with Saya’s glasses? They NEVER fall off, not even when she’s tumbling across the water for thirty feet.

In a show like Mayo Chiki!, interested in little else but gags and fanservice, you look for little things that might keep you watching. Maybe the gags are actually good. Maybe the fanservice is … well, I don’t really care either way. What other things are there to like about a show where our hero Jirou learns the secret of Konoe the butler?

Jirou is nothing much, the usual harem lead, getting beaten up by his sister every morning and afraid to be touched by women because he gets nosebleeds (interesting take on the nosebleed trope, actually). Konoe’s master, Kanade, is nothing much. Her cruel teasing of both Jirou and Konoe comes off as annoying, not sinister or sexy. There’s a blonde, tanned girl with cat ears, but the episode pays little attention to her. The only interesting thing turns out to be Konoe. I liked the way that her voice would go from girlish to mannish (with dangerous intent) at the drop of a hat. I liked her serious demeanor when we she tried to kill Jirou. Also, like Jirou, she’s a victim. (Or maybe I just like blond crossdressing girls. Charlotte was my favorite character in IS, after all. Forget I said that.) Anyway, I’ll watch another episode or two, but I don’t think Komoe alone can carry this series.