Penguindrum 17, Chihayafuru 5, goodbye Mashiro-Iro Symphony (finally)

Mawaru Penguindrum 17 was, compared to some of the other episodes, fairly normal. But there are the usual portents such as the fact that Himari is feeling better much too early in the episode, Sanetoshi having a cryptic solo conversation about the nature of truth while grooming his bunny (not a eumphimism), and a later conversation between Yuri and Keiju that given extra weight by the LACK of anything else, no music, no penguins vs. octopuses, just Keiju sensibly telling Yuri that the sins of the father cannot be passed down, etc, while Yuri mutters about how sensible he is. Hoo, boy. Should have seen it coming.

Normalcy.

It looked for a while like the pressure was off Himari. While she still does the penguin thing (and has another suggestive scene with Kanba–apparently he can still protect her), she was almost ready to be discharged. While they have not yet gotten her the penguindrum (and it’s obvious by this point that she doesn’t know what that is, either), the diary is no longer the issue. Let Masako and Yuri fight over it. Ringo, too looked to have a peaceful future. Maybe their family is cursed after all. All of a sudden, for reasons I don’t understand, Yuri decides to take revenge on Himari–perhaps it had been Shouma at one point, but Ringo has a crush on him, so he’s off limits(?). So it’s a relief when Masako shows up, Clint Eastwood style (gosh!), for another of their battles using strange imagery, gatlin guns vs gatlin bows, red petals vs white, arguing purity vs experience. Phew! Himari’s off the hook for once. Now, just get her back to the hospital and …

Oh, shit ...

As I said: should have seen it coming. Keiju is the only non-family member in the show who has always sensible and compassionate. Early in the series he was a bit of a victim, too. It’s always the quiet guys, or it was his time to turn, or they ran out of characters to do crazy stuff with. All I know is that Keiju as a threat is somehow scarier than any of the other characters, because he HAS been so sensible, and no one saw it coming.

Unless he’s got something else in mind. Wouldn’t put it above this show.

Unlike Penguindrum, where you have no idea what’s going to happen next, I predicted pretty much everything that would happen in Chihayafuru 5. In fact, I was a little disappointed in the show that Arata’s reasons for quitting Karuta was so predictable. Arata’s grandfather, a god of the game, died, and he hasn’t been able to touch a card since. We knew that last week without having to be told. But in this show, mood and character are as important as story. We may have guessed the events, but it’s their unveiling, and their impressions on Chihaya that are the important thing. Chihaya is a beautiful, young girl full of emotions and care for her friends, and she missed Arata terribly. And her reactions are what you’d expect, i.e., she cries a lot and a lot of leaves and petals fall around her. What makes her different from other manga/anime girls of this type is she is also a doofus, running with excitement when there’s no reason, collapsing on the train floor, writing little notes for her upcoming conversation (not used, but when Arata stumbles across them it’s the thing that possibly reminds him of the endearing girl that was his best friend once), yanking Arata off his bike, and so on. Taichi goes from protector to jealous suitor to asshole, sometimes combining the traits. As for Arata, since we know what he’s about right now, he’s the dullest. That’ll change once he gets back in the game. Meanwhile the aforementioned leaves and petals fall or float by and the orchestral score plays on, though it’s getting a bit repetitive. Now it’s on to form the club, and meet the archer-girl looking at the poster. As good as the main characters are, it’s about time we met some new ones.

About the only decent part in the episode.

Finally I say goodbye to Mashiro-Iro Symphony. I was two episodes behind, I got to see the whole “Sena’s secret” thing play out, and it was even duller than I expected. She’s poor (but by her own choice. She could go back to being rich at any time, I imagine). When they all learn about it and are stil nice to her, she immediately drops most of her tsundere-ity and becomes another boring-as-hell character. The episode is like this. People are nice to her, she is shocked and fights back tears, over and over again. The scene pictured above, with a girl I forget the name of, was the only part of the episode I enjoyed. At least she had an emotion beyond happy and teary. Ack, goodbye.

Threes: Bakuman II, Mashiro-Iro, Boku wa Tomodachi

Bakuman II 3 is no different from the others. Our boys keep working and concentrating on their dreams and a speed bump slows them down a little. This time it’s Nakai, Aoki’s assistant, who’s been ditched because Aoki wants to do something less shonen-ish. Nakai swears to work outside her window to show his dedication to her work. Sort of like a mangaka stalker. The fact that Nakai is in love with her complicates matters, and the fact that she is planning to collaborate with the young, flashy pop idol Koogy. But at least the story concentrates on Nakai and Aoki as professionals, so when she returns to him it’s out of a newfound respect for his work. But still, the whole relationship is a tad creepy. I frankly don’t believe Nakai worships her manga abilities that much, no matter what Saiko thinks. Meanwhile, our heroes can’t concentrate on their own work out of worry. This is almost more interesting than the odd love drama they’re witnessing. Fukuda tells them to forget it, concentrate on their own work, but they can’t. How do you balance a precarious professional career with the concern you have for your friends? The episode doesn’t delve into that, just hints at it in passing.

Not what you think, which is a shame. It would liven this series up.

Mashiro-Iro Symphony 3 is also no different. It just plods along, from scene to scene. Some of the silent moments are supposed to be fraught with emotion, but actually they’re simply dull. Then the scene ends and they move to another dull scene. As for plot, it’s basically Sena and Shingo working together as class reps, Shingo still getting the hang of it and Sena bitching at him. Then he gets better at his job, other girls start turning to him for help, and sure enough, Sena’s heart begins to defrost. We get so many long, dull moments of Sena wavering that I thought she was going to confess right here in episode three. Sena’s about the only interesting character of the lot, so I hope she can keep up her tsundere persona for a while longer. Because after that the show will have absolutely nothing.

Ah! Now that's more like it!

For the first time, Boku wa tomodachi ga Sukunai 3 has some lengthy scenes involving Sena. Unfortunately, they’re not terribly interesting. We learn that she’s very good at what she tries to do (in this case, learning to swim), and she’s spoiled. When Kodaka tells her off, and she’s moved because it’s the first time a boy her age has done so. So Sena, though more interesting than Mashiro-Iro’s Sena, has some predictable traits. And we learn that Yozora was his childhood friend, and that Yozora knows it but Kodaka doesn’t. Another sign that this might be just another school anime after all. Never mind, there are still plenty of good bits: Sena is forced to read the lines of an eroge to prove it’s not dirty, and Yozora secretly recording the whole thing. That’s the sort of misanthropic behavior I watch the show for, and it was especially welcome after enduring Mashiro-Iro Symphony. We also meet Kodaka’s little sister Kobato, a cute little thing who quotes gothy lines. I thought at first meeting “She’s fun. I hope we see more of her.” Sadly, we see too much when she jumps on top of him naked when she’s upset. Well, again, it’s worth enduring a few predictable moments and lapses of taste if I can have Yozora snarking at someone.

Kobato's cute when she's gothy.

More twos: Chihayafuru, Mashi-Symphony, Kimi to Boku

Chihayafuru 2. Wow. I didn’t know karuta was a blood sport.

Violence and autumn leaves.

We remain in the past, to the threat Taichi delivered to Chihaya the class ignoring her for being nice to Arata. In true elementary school fashion it escalates into a challenge: if Taichi takes even one card from Arata in the upcoming tournament, it’s Permanent Ignore time. So important, yet so childish! At this point I’m expecting a few thrilling tournament scenes, like any anime series, which we get, but it’s spiced up beautifully. Before the match Taichi goes from jealous rival to asshole, getting Arata wet with soda, then, worse, stealing his glasses. By squinting at the cards Arata manages to memorize them, but apparently mussed-cards can be replaced in any order, so after a few turns he’s at a loss again.

It gets a little silly here, as Chihaya, seeing Arata’s pain and frustration, and pissed off by the whooping classmates, pushes Arata aside and takes his place. Is that allowed? I guess so. She wins some hands and uses some profound insight concerning the card Arata named after her and wins the final. Typical stuff.

But this show is proving to be better than just a competition-based anime. The repercussions for winning and losing are broader than bragging rights. Chihaya excitedly phones home to tell her family the good news, but they’re wrapped up with their older daughter, and even that daughter dismisses her. Meanwhile Taichi’s mother is disappointed in him. No winning video to show to dad! He should stick to games he can win at. So Taichi has gone from jealous rival to asshole to sympathetic victim of misplaced parental values. Worse, he still has a thing for Chihaya, and this match didn’t help his cause. Well, at least he makes up with Arata.

And all these events are understated. There’s some excitement in the matches, but the orchestral music flows around it as if it’s a small event happening in a much larger world. The score also overemphasizes some of the quieter scenes, but that’s a small quibble. This show is about more than kurata, that’s obvious. Chihaya’s new-found love for the game may actually come from her attraction to Arata. It’s not clear yet. It’s too soon to tell for Arata and Taichi. The only thing I’m worried about is that the gamme will give away to the love triangle they’re developing. This show has potential for more than that.

WIth those uniforms, they have a head start.

Mashiro-Iro Symphony 2 plods along the same way episode one did. A week into the school merger and the new students, especially the boys, are not being accepted, probably because Sena doesn’t like them. Shingo proceeds to help out the male cause by walking into the girls’ bathroom, the girls’ changing room, and finally, accidently looks up Sena’s skirt. The first two you can write off as ignorance, but you’d think that someone would tell the boys where their facilities are, though it doesn’t help that Shingo has that male harem lead tendency to forget to knock. As for the skirt thing, he had that one coming, even if his chalk drop was accidental. So many scenes of the boys sitting around lookig dejected, spaced with a few encounters with the one or two friendly females. Then the show just as unsubtly brings the boys into the fold by forcing them into cooking lessons, and they happily coexist with the girls and everything’s better. End of episode, apart from the predictable class rep elections at the end. This show has no subtlety or nuance at all. The music is bland. It’s sometimes pretty to look at, though. I’m giving it one more episode.

It happened again. I was watching Kimi no Boku 2, wondering what would happen next, where the tulip metaphor would lead, and wondering if they’d keep the cat theme fromm last week (yes), when all of a sudden I’m pitched forward laughing at something–and wondering why.

The moment I'm talking about.

Half the fun of this episode is watching the mysterious girl, Sato, wreak her terrible revenge on Shun for daring to be nice to her. Sato is loads of fun for the entire episode because she’s so cute and obvious in her plotting, but sinister enough that she actually bothers the boys. Also, we wonder why the hell she’s doing it. The other half of the fun comes from the boys trying to figure out, in their bored, distracted fashion, the same thing. To them Sato is like some odd woodland creature they’ve spotted while hiking, one that keeps throwing acorns at Shun. Or in the show’s case, rocks. The conclusion gets a little too sentimental, but it’s saved again by the boys’ drollery, and Sato’s mixed emotions: hating to be given help, but actually liking that someone made the effort.

This moment was good, too.

New shows with transfer students: Persona 4, Mashiro-Iro Symphony, Taken-Ki!, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

Allez Oop!

Persona 4 – the Animation is just another introduction episode. We meet characters, there’s hints of threat, something scary happens near the end, and, depending on how much time the show has, the hero discovers his hidden power and transforms, or they put it off for another episode. You can get an idea of how good the series is going to be by how they handle these opening bits. Persona doesn’t start well. We meet Igor and Margaret, a creepy geezer and a robotic lady, and the geezer almost immediately hits us with exposition. Not a good sign. Then we meet the protagonist, transfer student Narukami, who seems to have no personality at all. I know he’s just transferred from Tokyo to the sticks and is out of his element, but he could give us some signs of life. He meets classmates, we jump to a murder, to school, to little Nanako singing a song, a spooky thing happens, we’re back at school (and those are the ugliest school uniforms I’ve ever seen). It all feels thrown together. Oh, and when the scary part happens Narukami does indeed discover his hidden power. I think they ran out of things to do. Not promising.

Speaking of ugly uniforms ...

Mashiro-Iro Symphony doesn’t look too promising either. It’s not quite as bad as the premise: Boy goes to a new school which until now has been all-girl. First off, his sister, Sakuno, is also attending, and other girls from their old school, and other boys, so though we have a harem situation here it’s not going to be a panties-flashing-fest. But what we get instead doesn’t fill me with hope. It tries to be lush and romantic, lots of talk in the intro about the color of girls and boys when they’re together while white snowflakes fall, but mostly fails. The first scene, where transfer student(!) Shingo tries to track down the lost Sakuno while a furry thing hops around being cute, takes nearly half the episode (then she wants to take a bath with him. At least he’s shocked by this). The next day they enter the new school and have a few conversations, all of which take far too long and drain away whatever emotion the scene is trying to evoke. Shingo is a typical dull male lead. Sakuno is a typical helpless, devoted sister. And those are the second ugliest school uniforms I’ve seen today.

Like Mashiro-Iro, Taken-Ki! has a transfer student(!) boy (Takeru) going to a former all-girls’ school, and it starts out with a romantic mood as a girl named Haruko goes to his apartment to escort him on the first day. However, this mood is undone somewhat by the fact that Haruko’s boobs are unnaturally large and we keep getting panty shots. Two minutes in Takeru falls on top of her and is grabbing her boob. Six minutes later, a girl falls on top of HIM. Near the end, a girl deliberately jumps on him, this just after the second girl has planned to kill him. And all four wind up living in the same dorm room! Himegami still plans to kill him (but apparently it’s nothing personal, it’s ordained), Inako claims to be his fiancée, and Haruko, who has one of those “childhood friend” crushes, moves in to keep an eye on everything. You can’t blame her. During all this, Takeru’s mood goes from bewilderment to fear to lust and back again. Oh, there are student duels to win and powers (maken) to obtain, none of which Takeru knew about before enrolling. … Well, it’s certainly livelier than Mashiro. It doesn’t just plod from one scene to the next. But I don’t know how much I’ll be able to tolerate.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is another traditional first episode, like the others here–with one difference. It’s funny.

Transfer student (Yes, we’re 4 for 4 with transfer students!) Kodaka is half British, he’s got blonde hair, so everyone thinks he’s a delinquent. An unfortunate series of events his first day doesn’t help. A month later he accidentally sees loner girl Yozora talking to an imaginary friend, and they have, believe it or not, a serious, intelligent (and funny) discussion about making friends and how they can’t make them. Yozora might be a great character. She’s aloof and abrasive, seemingly disdainful of friendship, but obviously a little lonely. She is also just weird enough that you can see why some people might avoid her. Take her “secret message” on their club’s flyer. But she can also cut through bullshit, pointing out that at their religious school “You can get away with just about anything by adding ‘the word of God.’” And in a delightful irony, their first club recruit is someone Yozora can’t stand. These are, after all, people who have trouble making friends. And so it goes. Just about every scene has a good moment, a bit of irony or a killer line (“Air friend!”). If there’s a weak spot, it might be Kodaka. He is, after all, not antisocial. His loneliness is partly bad luck. And while he’s an effective, snarky straight man, he doesn’t do anything beyond following Yozora around doing her bidding. But overall, this series has a lot of potential for fun.