Episode twos and ones

Damn, I still can’t get 10-bit files playing right on my machine. It’s not only the bricks, but the fact that mplayer overwrites each screenshot I take with the next one. It happened last week, too. So this is the only one I got left. Damned if I’m going to play the episode again to get more …

Well, let’s see. Fate/Zero 2 has a lot of scenes of the servants getting to know their masters. We start with Waver and Rider. I hated Waver from the start, and dreaded having to watch his scenes, but Rider is a hoot, the exact opposite of the little punk. What’s more, he’s more than happy to slap Waver around if he says something stupid. Maybe not what a servant is supposed to do, but it adds a fresh dynamic to these relationships. Then it’s a parlor-room scene between Irisviel and Saber, and more talk about goals. Then we meet a fun-loving killer and his accidental servant, Caster; all I’ll say is that the servant/master shows yet another side … poor kid. Waver/Rider are comlete opposites while Ryuunosuke/Caster are of the same mindset, a sick one. It also shows that the show is perfectly able to get cruel and depraved if need be. It will be fun to see what happens when Caster’s desire for the Grail clashes with Ryuunosuke’s … simpler desires. To finish off the episode we get a battle. Wait, one of the servants is dead already? I’m not buying it, or there’s something to the master’s strategy that he hasn’t shown yet. “Go kill Tohsaka. Don’t worry about Archer.” “Duh, yes boss.” Don’t worry … Sheesh.

'Once more unto the breach, dear friends ...'

Ben-To has the best premise of the season, one of those “only in Japan” type ideas. But this doesn’t mean the show is going to be any good. Take that show where they mixed baseball with Peter Drucker. Awful, just awful. Ben-to, however, has a more promising start. Our hero, Satou, finds himself unconscious in the supermarket and nobody caring much apart from a white-haired girl who says something through the window. It’s only the next day when he returns that things become a little more clear: he was a victim of brawl over the half-priced bento. On the third day, bandages and all, he finds himself competing, only to get knocked unconscious again thanks in part to the girl, known as the “Ice Witch.” There are lots of good little bits strewn throughout: the brawl doesn’t start until the guy with the half-price stickers is finished and leaves the floor. Afterwards, two opponents say a cordial goodbye, until tomorrow. Some of the characters are interesting, like Oshiroi, the bespectacled thing who is too fascinated by Satou’s injuries–Aoi Yuuki strikes again. We’ll have to learn more about Ice Witch Sen. Satou scores points by being both appalled by the fighting and drawn to it–or maybe he’s just starving. Yes, the series has promise. But my big question is: how the hell are they going to milk an entire season out of this premise?

She LOOKs scary, but ... well, okay, she IS scary.

Mirai Nikki follows Amano, a weird kid, who likes to observe rather than participate, which means he doesn’t have any friends, except for an imaginary one (Air Friend!) named Zeus. Turns out Zeus is god himself, and for kicks he sets Amano’s phone diary to show what will happen in the near future. It’s great for Amano at first, aceing tests, avoiding bullies, so we’re waiting for the bad stuff to happen and to get some moral lecture, some monkey’s paw type conclusion. So I’m getting a little bored … then the show ups its game. A girl named Yuno seems to know too much, and then his phone diary announces his death. Suddenly the show has gotten interesting … only to fall a little flat as there’s this serial killer to dispatch, and Deus shows up again and explains the rules to what turns out to be a twisted game. Last one left standing becomes god. Looks to be a confusing time-paradox type of show with lots of mayhem, but with one difference: Yuno is another contestant, and she swears she will keep Amano alive, which is good, but she’s a stalker who’s out of her mind, not so good. I don’t normally care for shows like this, but when it was on its game I was fascinated. Also, I didn’t expect the funny coda. If the show continues to keep me off balance, I’ll keep watching.

Squid girl II 2 had it’s best moments early on, when Ika goes to the elementary school and rouses the kids to join her in her plans for invasion. That’s it! Infect their minds when they’re young! She should have thought of this before! Too bad an incident in the playground distracts her into a silly soccer game. As for the other skits, hmm, I can’t really remember. Cosplaying and weight loss.

I started watching C3 confident that it would remain the same–dumb and predictable, so I could safely drop it. But the show had other plans. Mainly, this woman showed up.

After the usual first-day-of-school shenanigans this crazy lady named Peavy Barroy comes out of nowhere and attacks our cute little girl now named “Fear Kubrick.” Harauka and Konoha join in the fun, and it’s soon blood and screaming and distorted faces. Not only that, it’s directed well and looks great. Alas, I have to keep the show for at least another week.

So I watched ep2 of Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinashi. Last week everyone was playing military games and it wasn’t very interesting. This week they go after a lost dog and discover a warehouse full of weapons, henchmen, and ninjas. It still isn’t interesting. The hero is bland, though his sister is a lot of fun. Miyako can’t go a paragraph without an innuendo. The others just run around. Even the dog was dull. Dropped.

Some shows continue, others finish or restart, and two cross over

I thought that The iDOLM@STER 13 was the final episode, but apparently they’re just getting started. This episode does, however feel like a finale as the girls perform their first big show with some minor complications. Like the main act running late because of a typhoon, and then, just for fun, a flat tire, and then traffic. I was waiting for the plague of locusts.

Last-minute show changes.

This all resonates with me. Anyone who’s ever performed knows the feelings the girls go through: pre-show jitters, key performers running late and the scramble to cover, wardrobe malfunctions (offstage), all of which happens to them. Plus, it’s their first really big venue, an important concert if 765 Pro is going to keep getting bigger. How they overcome the big and little crises will come as no surprise, this is a predictable show, but iDOLM@STER is always a little better than its source material.

While each character gets a moment, some characters are more equal than others. Thus Miki gets a lot ot time. As she and Makoto (who, alas, isn’t as equal) are my favorites, I don’t mind a bit. Plus, she still has to make up for her antics of the past two weeks. And so, because they’re adding and mixing up their repetoire to give Ryuuguu Komachi time to get through the typhoon, flat tire, locusts, zombie attack, etc, she has the choice of doing several exhausting dance numbers back-to-back, to which she, of course, agrees. And though it’s not easy, she succeeds. She not only carries the team but she turns some heads in the audience.

Of course, no one fails. They struggle and have panic attacks, but in the end they turn an audience who are impatiently waiting for Ryuu Komachi into 765 Pro fans (Ryuu Komachi finally do show up but we don’t see them perform. It isn’t their episode). Utterly predictable. What gives the episode an extra bump is the collective energy of the girls (iDOLM@STER’s best weapon) and solid direction and animation (its other best weapons). The concert scenes combine the two、 The girls give their all while the camera whips around them and the audience energy feeds them. Nice stuff. Since it’s not the finale after all, I wonder what they’re going to do to top it?

SKET Dance 26 is pretty funny, especially after the two-part downer they broadcast before. I bet I’d find it even funnier if I watched Gintama.

As it was, I could only guess at some of the jokes. Happily, the episode makes things easier for me. SKET Dance loves to break the fourth wall, so it’s natural that the characters from both shows would recognize that this is a crossover episode, and I was able to learn something about Gintama just by watching the characters interact. They play with the fact that Gintama is an established hit and SKET Dance is new, “A poor man’s Gintama,” says Gin-san. Kagura is rude to just about everyone. Shinpachi, I guess, is the butt of a lot of jokes. And then there’s the staff to consider.

Two Tomokazu Sugita characters meet.

You get the idea. Everyone bickers about the other’s show of doing things, discuss their time-slots, and, because I suppose there should be a plot, race through back episodes (while the Gintama characters mock the blatant show padding) in search of Shinpachi, and then his glasses, since he’s fading away from “separation from his primary feature.” Oh, and since they’re using a time machine, Switch tosses in a “Too-do-doo!” just for fun. It’s that kind of episode.

Audience age differences.

The gimmick had the desired effect, too. I watched the Gintama side of the crossover. Lots of jokes about Gin-San and Bossun’s inadequacies as leaders, a direct ripoff of the Toriko/One Piece crossover. Good stuff. The creators obviously had a lot of fun doing both episodes.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni finishes. I can’t say that the second season lived up to the first one. There were too many slow moments where they tried to push the romance buttons, even though the show depends on the characters never actually giving in to romance. Though it’s okay when there’s a misunderstanding that causes Yoshi some grief, if not broken bones. And there weren’t enough battles, not enough frantic manuvering and outlandish schemes. Yes, there were some inspired moments, but they were loosely scattered about. But if they want to take a stab at a season three to redeem themselves, I’ll happily watch it.

And finally, Squid Girl is back. I dropped the first season fairly early, but what the hell? There’s nothing else to watch right now.

Aww, look at the cute widdle vengeful invader!

… And I’ll probably drop it fairly early, again. It’s got a fun idea behind it, a being from the depths of the sea, hell-bent on revenge, who’s just so cute that you can’t take her seriously. Plus she’s got that cool hair, er, tentacles. But the side characters don’t have much to them, and many of the stories just don’t pan out well. It’s most fun when Ika’s in invasion mode, contrasted with the relaxed beach lifestyle she’s trying to destroy. I’d like to spend a day or two relaxing on that beach and watching Ika’s antics, but I don’t know if I want twelve episodes of it. We’ll see.

World God Only Knows 3, Arakawa 3, Shinryaku 3

The world God Only Knows 3 polishes off the Mio story. It starts well enough, but takes a dull turn. Frankly, I think every story arc will.

Keima and Elsee learn Mio’s secret, but she learns that they were eavesdropping. Normally this would be trouble but Keima is resourceful enough to use it to his advantage. Since her chauffeur pooped out on her (and why was he even bothering to drive her around in the first place?) Keima offers his services using a rickshaw, which gets more elaborate (and heavier) every morning. This sight gag works for just long enough for the romance to take shape.

The turning point comes when Keima escorts Mio to a fancy party that her late father used to take her to. Now, the point is made that Mio must forget about being rich, though she is afraid that if she does she will forget her father. Taking her to such a party won’t help. It’s only when a couple of party-goers mock her that she begins to turn. Sadly, it gets maudlin here. I said that every story arc will; there will be a moment where the girl’s inner troubles will come out and she will turn to Keima while violins play. Though I like the irony that the next episode he will start from scratch and woo a different girl. For Keima there’s a Sisyphus aspect to it.

Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge 3 also has a sentimental ending, but in this case I don’t mind. First, it’s not a girl of the week, but Nino. Second, Arakawa rarely does this sort of thing, and when they do they do it well. Basically, Recruit finds some tapes belonging to Nino and plays one of them. She’s upset about it.

We’ve never seen Nino this angry before. Their reconciliation takes up the entire episode. It’s not often the show devotes so much time to one thing. Half of the time is taken with coaxing Nino down, the other with Recruit continually crashing the girls’ slumber and commiseration party. Normally, Recruit is scrambling around acting stupid because he doesn’t understand the oddballs around him; here, he’s simply trying to make amends to the girl he loves. This gives the whole thing a weight the show normally doesn’t have.

When they finally come back together, after a touching speech by Nino, we see again that these two aren’t just weirdos living under a bridge, but individuals who genuinely love each other. All the other eccentric characters can do is stand to the side and watch.

Shinryaku! Ika Musume 3 isn’t bad.

I sometimes ask that while watching this show.

First Eiko decides Ika needs to be scared so arranges a test of courage. Ika’s obliviousness holds up well here. She sees no reason to be scared of ghosts, and when she encounters some she thinks they’re just nice humans. Said obliviousness holds up less well in the second part when she mistakes floating toys for killer whales. They do the annoying thing by having Ika act a certain way while the others misunderstand what she’s up to, leading to more complications. It’s a comedic technique that gets on my nerves quickly.

In the third story we meet Nagisa, a new employee, and the only one in this show so far who reacts to Ika with anything resembling terror. You know, she has a point. Ika can be dangerous, and she’s a squid girl who wants to take over the world. She vomits squid ink! Hardly anyone in the show thinks this is weird at all, only Eiko, because she’s usually relegated to straight-girl status. As for Ika, FINALLY someone up here reacts like they should. The story goes on with this a bit too much, but overall I found it refreshing.

Aww, look at the cute widdle object of terror!

Index 2, Amagami 15, Shinryaku! 2

A Certain Magical Index II 2 begins its first story arc. I had forgotten how confusing this world can be.

Steyr hasn't changed.

I spent much of the time going “Hey, I remember him … er, who is he again?” and scribbling a lot of notes concerning people and factions. Happily, the show goes from Archbishop Laura Stewart filling in Steyr about his new mission to a silly scene where Index and Maika the maid (rotating on a robot) talk about nothing at all. The fact that Steyr kidnaps Index while Maika just turns around and around is amusing enough, but more so when she delivers the ransom note (still rotating) and Touma sighs. It’s just Steyr.

Good job, Touma! Even if you had no idea.

We need the silliness because the actual story requires a reference tome larger than any that Index has in her head. Let’s see … There’s a book of incredible power called the “Liber AL vel Legis,” which can only be translated by one person, Orsola Acquinas of the Roman Catholic Church. But a renegade group called the Amakusa Catholics have both stolen the book and Orsola. Steyr is out to rescue both, using the Liborum Prohibitorum if need be, which Archbishop Laura Stewart has given him, even though he may have to go against the dreaded Kaori Kanzaki, one of the twenty living saints on the planet. Agnese Sanctis is also there to assist him (Meanwhile Touma just happens to run into Orsola on the street). Anyway, everyone’s now waiting for the stars to align so that the Amakusa Catholics can move using the vortices of the Miniturized Pilgrimage. Got that?

Oh, and Touma accidentally walks in and sees Index and Agnese naked, so he gets bitten a lot. This fills out the episode. A typical story arc begins, Index-style.

In Amagami SS the Ai story arc continues on its unhurried, amiable way. Junichi gets tickets to an amusement park and invites Ai and her little brother along, but the brother falls sick, meaning it’s just the two of them. Funny how that happens. We get typical amusement park scenes, well, at least until we hit the haunted house. I think they slipped Junichi a little LSD. He starts seeing things he shouldn’t see in such a place, and Ai gets … transformed.

What’s fun about it is Junichi’s reaction. I mean, what would you do your possible girlfriend became a bowl of delicious, piping-hot miso ramen, especially if you also had melted butter? It’s one of the weirdest erotic scenes I’ve ever come across. And it’s never explained. The next thing you Junichi is sucking on Ai’s finger. She’s a bit peeved about being eaten. Later she kisses him. Such is the way the Amagami romances roll.

We move to more serious things. Ai is not chosen to represent the swim team in a certain race and gets upset. Once again Junichi shows his own, odd way of showing concern. He should have at least taken his shoes off. So at this point they’ve bonded, even kissed. What’s left for the arc finale? The preview scenes look very interesting indeed.

Shinryaku! Ika Musume 2 is about the same as the first. Ika goes around either being naïve or bratty. Oh, we meet a couple new characters.

First, Goro, whom she bonds and un-bonds with, misinterpreting what a lifeguard does. It does force her to rescue a human when he can’t (namely because she’s stopping him), the closest thing this aquatic invader gets to a moral conundrum this episode. It’s not much. We don’t even get an answer to the question: how the hell could Ika possibly drown, anyway? The second story isn’t much better. Ika insists that they throw her a birthday party, and they humor her. Her bratty side comes out this time. But it DOES have fireworks.

In the third story we meet Sanae, who takes an instant liking to Ika in the worst way. It’s basically an excuse to dress Ika up in various costumes for you fans out there who are into looking at cosplaying squid girls. You know who you are. But Sanae has a cute dog who bites Ika’s tentacle, so it’s not all bad.

More premieres: Awakawa 2, Psychic Detective Yakumo, Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Awakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge starts on probation. I liked the first season well enough but by the time it was over I thought it had run its course. The sequel is certainly going to be the same—the citizens acting weird and Recruit reacting to them. That’s pretty much what I got from this episode.

Nino has a strange and perhaps prophetic dream and that somehow leads to Recruit asking her to move in. Nino doesn’t get it and Recruit ends up living at Nino’s place while she lives in his. Various characters appear, expecting Nino, and act wacky. Yeah, so far this episode is more of the same. So is the next section, where Recruit looks for a lost baseball and meets a threatening amazon. So now we have another eccentric character. Then there’s the annual marathon.

It’s more of the same, too. Everyone uses their eccentricities as strategy and then drop out. This was all entertaining enough but I’m still not sure I want to watch another season of it. However, Nino’s dream was cool. It makes you wonder if they’re going to get back to it.

Psychic Detective Yakumo looks to be routine. A guy (Yakumo) who can see dead souls and the girl (Haruka) who has a case for him and will probably become his Margo, or lover, or both.

Haruka has a case for him. She and classmates went into the “closed room” of an abandoned classroom building and since then have either committed suicide or gotten possessed. After the antithesis of a meet-cute scene Yakumo takes the case. The story is told straightforwardly and with little excitement except for certain plot twists. But there are a couple things about Yakumo which help the basic premise. First, he can see spirits, even talk to them, but he can’t exorcise them. Second, though this is a paranormal show this first story at least works more in the real world.

Well, ghosts sometimes give him a hand.

Yakumo is practical and goes for the logical conclusion rather than the supernatural one. For all the spirits that pop up from time to time the killer is flesh and blood, and any supernatural connections are deliberately exaggerated so that people will laugh at them. That’s nice, but apart from little bits of detective work the story itself was dull. The killer’s identity was obvious at the fifteen minute mark. As for the main duo, Yakumo is your typical mysterious laconic rebel-type while Haruko has no personality at all. This makes for some dull conversation. This show’s also on probation.

There’s nothing special about Shinryaku! Ika Musume either. Just a silly comedy about a squid girl who decides to take revenge for the damage humanity has done to the oceans. She decides to make a beach restaurant her home base.

The invasion isn't going as planned.

In spite of her genuinely dangerous tentacles Ika doesn’t do much to inspire shock and awe. The family running the restaurant take her in for no particular reason except her usefulness waiting tables. Ika goes from defiant to submissive in turns. It goes on like this while they introduce the other characters. We have the grouchy Eiko, young Takeru and Chizuru, the oldest sister. Each of them play off of Ika as she learns more about the surface world. Takeru is probably the most fun since no matter how threatening Ika gets he thinks she’s the coolest thing in the world. Chizuru is quiet and sweet and very dangerous. But it’s not all that entertaining. They perhaps underestimate their young audience by having to explain some of the jokes, so it drags. I was indifferent to the series until the last part.

One squid ink spaghetti, coming right up!

The fact that they went this far gives me hope. Since they can’t repeat the shock value of the first time, not much hope, but I’ll keep an eye on the series for now.