A few episodes I watched

After three episodes of No. 6 it’s partly what I feared. It’s a not very original dystopia story with rebels who want to see it torn down. But I think the series is aware of this as well and is going to play with our expectations for a while. Rat is a complete bore, justifiably angry, perhaps, but all the bitter thoughts characters like him are supposed to make, not to mention the snarky “I don’t give a shit what happens to them” comments, along with an abrasive smugness toward Sion, who’s only trying to figure out what’s going on, because he can get away with it. But Sion’s humanistic but naïve worldview balances it out. Episode 3 introduces us to another character, and the preview promises even more. Good thing, too. If this series was all Sion and Rat there would be nothing more to see.

Sparkly girl defense.

Rou Kyuu Bu through four episodes has nothing much new to offer. I liked how Subaru coached the girls to victory: convince the tall girl with height issues that she is the small forward, and teach cute, useless little Hinata to flop! That made me smile. Nothing else much does. Give it credit that I kept watching to see who would win the boys vs. girls game, but it’s time to drop it.

At least she has the sense to be embarrassed about her transformation.

I was hoping that Rie Kugimiya’s entrance would liven up Twin Angel, and she has her moments, but with one other exception the series is dull and predictable. The other exception was the battle Misty Knight has in a men’s bath.

Claude tries writing kanji.

The people in Ikoku Meiru no Croisée have problems. Claude is struggling to keep his shop operating in a failing shopping district. There’s the problem of Yune’s kimono. But the show’s tone is so gentle, and Yune is so disgustingly cute, that it’s hard to believe anything really bad will happen to anyone. If they do, it will happen sadly and gently, and will feel bittersweet. I’m an episode behind, so I don’t know what drama will unfold when the rich girl meets Yune. Maybe things will get serious after all. … Nah.

Ohana's movie dreams are shot down.

I’m disappointed that the movie plans in Hanasaku Iroha turned out to be a scam. That is, I’m disappointed for the people at the inn. They were having so much fun! But even when the scam was revealed it was still a solid episode. We had the glaring lack of leadership shown by Erishi demonstrating the power vacuum once Madame Manager leaves, changes in his relationship with Takata, and perhaps his mother. Oh, and now they have a pool. Ohana and the other young ‘uns do nothing this time but join in the fun and observe when things go sour.

Oh, I also watched this.

Inconsequential new shows: Morita-San wa Mukuchi, Nyanpire, Twin Angel

It almost takes longer to say the title Morita-San wa Mukuchi than it does to watch episode 1. Reading about the story probably takes longer. Mayu, our heroine has learned to keep eye contact with the person speaking, and over-thinks her answers, so she winds up saying nothing at all. This can be both good and bad for her.

The good.

The bad.

It’s not a premise to milk half-hour episodes out of unless Mayu has an interesting internal monologue (so far she doesn’t) or her friends are entertaining enough to carry the load (so far they aren’t). But for three minutes worth of gags every week this might be all right.

Nyanpire 1 is 4 ½ minutes, but only three if you cut out the ED. A starving kitten is given drops of vampire blood as nourishment (I didn’t know vampires liked kitties) and becomes a vampire himself. Then he gets adopted, so the vampire blood stuff was pointless.

Apart from the introduction and the overly-long ED, all we get is Nyanpire searching for blood to drink. It’s not much, but the cat is somewhat cute. Let’s bring in more characters and see how it pans out. Oh, and cut the ED, please.

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel: Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!!, henceforth called Twin Angel on this blog, is proof that Madoka did not change the magical girl genre forever.

I’m at a loss about what to say. Just about everything about it is a cliché, so let’s look at the things this show does differently from other magical girl shows: Apparently the girls must power up using each other’s device (showing the value of friendship, I suppose), and during the power-up, they giggle a little. Um, I can’t think of anything else. Okay, that’s unfair. Twin Angels knows what it is, and because of that it can send itself up in occasionally entertaining ways, like the kitty-cat mecha device, but especially this:

Yup, he shows up when the girls are in serious trouble (they’ve been turned into cats), he flings flowers as weapons, and he’s secretly a school classmate, obvious to everyone but the two girls. This made me grin. I doubt I’ll be watching for long, but I’ll stick around to see what else they might have fun with … until I get bored.