Running out of stuff to watch. Working’!! finale, Bakuman II 13

With these two episodes, I have officially run out of shows to watch, at least of the ones I’m following. I even watched the Toradora! special (what’s with the art?) and the one for God Only Knows (zzzz …) to fill out my watching, not to mention my Bakemonogatari rewatch to get ready for that spinoff that’s equally hard to spell. So here we go.

Working’!!, much like K-ON!!, had a decent but uneven first season which did not make me optimistic for the second, which then proved to be better. In both cases the shows’ obvious strong points were undermined by things that weren’t as effective or overused. In Working!!’s case, Inami kept hitting people, which is fine, but they harped on it so much that I desperately wanted to see an episode about something else. With Working’!!, it was different. Inami kept hitting Takanashi, but not every episode, and other, appealing aspects of the show filled in the vacuum. What we got with season 2 was a consistently funny slice-of-life series with winning characters interacting flawlessly, and sharp comic timing. The show plays with the idea of a final episode by setting up a misunderstanding (where would Working’!! be without misunderstandings?) about Poplar quitting. It’s ridiculous, but a little sweet when the characters all try to imagine working life without her. Naturally, it’s Yamada who starts the rumor, which should have been a giveaway right there, and Poplar skips through the episode asking for exam advice and wondering why everyone is acting so weird. Oh, just like the last series, Maya, the “normal” girl, is given some screentime–in the final episode, poor girl. I looked forward to this series every week, something I didn’t expect, but there’s a ray of hope: there’s nothing to prevent Working’!! from having a third season.

Aoki did not expect this turn in the conversation.

Maybe because it’s been a while since I’ve watched it, but I enjoyed Bakuman II 13 more than I had anticipated, or maybe it’s just a good episode. Takagi and Aoki start to have innocent conversations about the opposite sex–for their manga! ReallY! I’m not lying! Anyway, they talk on the phone, and talk, and talk, and it’s morning. Aoki, who has never had a serious boyfriend and pretends to be aloof about it all, is becoming just a little smitten with Takagi, while he, perfectly happy with Kaya, is completely oblivious to the situation, maybe because he doesn’t understand women, which is why he’s talking to her in the first place. Meanwhile, Aoki is trying to understand the female heart they way a Shounen Jack reader understands it, I guess, meaning, not at all. Since she seems to have little idea what she herself wants, she needs all the help she can get. Iwase interferes, and, if Aoki just realized it, give her a perfect female model to use. Then a three-way conversation goes a little bizarro and leaves Takagi and Aoki scratching their heads, while Iwase, a beautiful, published author of fine literature, announces she will beat Tagagi at making manga. I can’t remember an episode as funny as this one, though it gets less funny when Kaya discovers a mash note Iwase slipped Takagi (which he never read). Now I’d say it’s a potential tragedy, except this is Kaya we’re talking about. In other words, it may start with tears but it will end with her kicking Takagi’s ass. I’m very fond of Kaya, so I’m looking forward to it.

Episode dump: Chihayafuru, Tomodachi, Working’!!, Tamayura, Horizon

Kana gets a little carried away if there's poetry involved.

Since Chihayafuru 12 became available to me the moment I had finished with #11, I might as well take care of it now. The prelims are done, the nationals are head, Mizusawa is going to represent all of Tokyo … and nobody else cares. That’s the nice irony that this show gives us, the fact that you can become so devoted to something which really is not that important, at least in the practical modern world. It’s shown here by the Empress (grumpy old advisor lady) not understanding what the fuss is about, and Chihaya’s family not seemingly knowing or caring that she even went to a tournament that weekend at all, because her model-sister is on TV. Chihaya’s reaction to this is rather sad. She’s so used to it that she just shrugs it off and joins the family to watch the tape, which makes the payoff later in the episode more emotional. The rest of the time is spent practicing under tougher competition at various clubs, with Chihaya feeling the pressure, reassuring bonks on the head by Taichi, and checking up on the morale of Desktomu, who’s grades are slipping, and who, strangely, does not care too much. But the best moment comes at the end. Kana reminds us that these cards they’re batting around have poems on them. They represent a culture and history that must be remembered, even if they seemingly have no practical use (she doesn’t actually say that, but it’s clear that the creators want that point made), which leads to Chihaya later saying she sees “her” card as bright red. Especially notable in this series where all the colors are washed out. And what does Omi Jingu, the Nationals venue look like? Yup. Lovely moment. Sometimes I think this show’s at its best when it’s not filled with frantic tournament action, when it moves more slowly and allows the metaphors and imagery to drift in.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 11 doesn’t do much of anything until the very end. That’s okay. For me, half of the show’s fun is watching the characters screw around with each other. This week it’s the local summer festival. We get the scene where someone wants to go but doesn’t want to admit it, and soon everyone winds up going (the excuse is to eat takoyaki), we get rather too much of Yozora and Sena competing in games normally beneath them, Kobato and Maria going at each other, etc, the only difference being just about everyone is wearing a yukata, except Yozora, who’s character is always in danger of veering away from healthy misanthropy to stick-in-the-mudness. Apart from the end, the highlight was Kodaka trying to define Rika’s stock anime character and the Comiket flashback including the Ore no Imouto characters. As for the end, well, I’m glad they got to the revelation, and I’m glad Kodaka realized it himself, but there was nothing leading up to it at all. Yozora cut her hair, Kodaka made the connection–that’s it. Kind of a letdown. But it should give the final episode some extra spice.

Working’!! 12 is mostly about Inami and her androphobia, but that’s okay. The season has done well in not overemphasizing it, rather, using it as part of their now-extensive comic arsenal. What’s more, Inami’s gotten better and has in fact set a record for days in a row not punching a guy. Not only am I happy that the show’s not weighed down with her, but enough time has passed that I’m happy for her character; she’s about the only one there capable of growing, well, apart from Takanashi’s little sister. And it’s a good episode all around. Also, so many little bits are worked around the Inami story that it feels balanced. We get bits with Yamada and her bear (the other crisis of the story), with Kozue, and Yamada’s brother and Inami-stalker, and almost all of them are funny. The dialogue and visuals mesh together in inventive ways to tell the jokes, my favorite bit this week being Satou’s slow and unnoticable backing up when Yamada and Poplar take Inami on the “Wagnaria man tour.”

Farewell to Tamayura – Hitotose. It’s an eventful little episode, as these things go. The “Ourselves Festival” goes by without a hitch. When Maon sat down to do her reading I inwardly cringed, but it was a better story this time, and it had special effects (and later, we learn that she killed off the main character!). Little Komachi’s photographic additions to the exhibit (all of Norie being angry) was a nice touch. Best of all, it was all over halfway through the episode. After that it’s New Year’s Eve stuff (I rather like watching depictions of New Years in anime), a call from Chihiro, and Sayomi drags the girls off to see the New Year sunrise … only to have the car balancing on the edge of a steep incline, another thing I didn’t expect from this show. But they get to see the sunrise from a new angle, people stop and brings them warm food and heaters until the tow truck can arrive, and it turns into a party on the roadside, a good way to end this sweet and innocuous series. It sometimes got too sentimental, especially at first when Fuu was still getting over the loss of her father, but at its best it drifted along with few words, and invited us to enjoy the everyday moments of life along with the characters, with some gags tossed in at just the right moment. Not bad.

The most profound battle of wits since the Marx Brothers' 'Swordfish' routine.

I hoped that Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon 12 was its final episode, but apparently they want to squeeze as much confusion out of this premise as they can. As you recall, Muneshige is about to fire Lype Katarripsi at Mushashi, but Futayo decides she’s not done yet, gets off the ground, and beats him. Something to do with her father’s legacy, since he had beaten Muneshige before. Muneshige is fine with this and falls unconscious. Then we get to the real action. Toori’s at the wall of sins, or whatever, talking to Horizon, or rather, the automation that carries her soul. It’s love declaration time! She says the world is more important than his wishes, so he announces he’ll become king of the world and lists just about every single weird thing we’ve seen in twelve episodes and balls them up into “Us.” It’s a long, eloquent list, an impressive speech overall, so naturally she rejects it. So he says he loves her. She says, being an automation, love is a foreign concept. So he talks about her boobs, she (and everyone watching) calls him disgusting, and announces that their personalities are “parallel,” so it can never work. Perfect! Toori plays that game where you reverse every sentence so that their contradictions wind up agreeing with you. This works just fine until he brings up her boobs again. After the Pope tries to interfere he accidentally touches the deadly wall (actually her boob, which is on the other side of it) and now he has to deny his greatest sin, which really isn’t much, since it wasn’t entirely his fault. They survive the trial, Horizon is rescued, hooray! Parallel lines meet above the horizon! Hooray! Let’s end the series right here! … Unfortunately, there are too many other characters standing about, and a few armies. It looks like they have to fight a war first. Maybe next episode.

Penguindrum 23, Working’!! 11, Horizon 11

I’m not sure why, but Mawarau Penguindrum 23 seemed to have absolutely no sound to it. Okay, voices talking (Sanetoshi’s low voice especially), the alarm noise used to introduce flashbacks, and clocks ticking, and a song during the closing credits, but everything else around them felt completely silent, like unimportant things had been stripped away. The episode was tense and sorrowful, although, again, no one is actually dead yet.

The first scene flat-out tells us what is going on. Sanetoshi was going to kill a lot of people sixteen years ago, but Momoka stopped him, at some expense to herself, and thus were born two penguinhats and two dark bunnies. As an aside, why one black hat and one white one, while you get two black bunnies? Anyway, this itself feels like the sort of fairy tale they were banding about many episodes ago. Maybe because it’s far in the past that the story’s rough edges have smoothed down to something more universal. If that’s the case we have to assume the fairy tale hasn’t ended, since the hats and bunnies aren’t done yet.

Interesting comment ...

We learn a few things and see a few that seem to break the show’s rules. Masako dies but is brought back by Sanetoshi, simply to prove a point. But she seems aware of what happened and refuses to accept it, only that Kanba stop listening to Sanetoshi. Kanba, apparently, is now the lost one of the family that he now denies having, well, apart from Himari. Meanwhile, Shouma, in vigil over Himari’s anticipated deathbed, has a dream where Himari articulates this. It’s as if Shouma has replaced Kanba as Himari’s rescuer. While in my mind I’m thinking “Wrong person to ask. Shouma hasn’t done anything all series.” Indeed, Kanba shows up and dispatches (but does not kill) Kanba rather easily, making me wonder what’s going to happen next week, when it’s down to him.

Tick ... tick ... tick ...

Indeed, Kanba/Sanetoshi seem in full command of their battles. Ringo is stopped. Both halves of the diary are burned (unless Yuri pulled another fast one, but I doubt it. I think her role in this series is done). Maybe it’s the ease with which Kanba/Sanetoshi achieve their aims that give the episode its serious, silent feel. There was little visually to surprise or delight us. They have showed us all the symbols already. There was only the completely unexpected (and, frankly, wrong-feeling) moment where the penguinhat actually talks to Shouma. There is no one left to speak for it; I guess it had to talk on its own. That’s the only reason I can think of. Next week is the finale. I have no idea what is going to happen, but I’m hoping to find out what the hell a penguindrum is, and for more life and energy. And more sound.

This serious-looking moment is actually silly as all getout.

Working’!! 11 spends some time with Satou, oh, and with Yamada looking for her stuffed bear. It’s a typical Working’!! instance of misunderstanding. He tells Mitsuki to leave Yachiyo alone, which Yachiyo overhears and assumes means Satou’s confessing to Mitsuki, I think. So both Satou and Yachiyo go around in a funk for a while, long enough that we pay a visit to see how Takanashi’s sisters are all doing (fine). And another conversation where both parties discuss something the other doesn’t know anything about, Working’!!’s specialty, and it’s resolved in that everything is the same as it was before. One thing to remember about this show is that nothing much really changes, unless they introduce a new character. I am relieved, however that the episode is not only not Inami-centric, but that we barely see her at all. Come to think of it, whatever happened to the normal girl, the one with glasses? The best moments, sadly, have nothing to do with the main story, and involve the sisters, and the bit where everyone just walks away from Yamada.

The Pope!

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon 11 has a few battles of more or less equal inanity. The first one has Mushashi’s God of War (two girls) attack the bad guys’ massed army by flinging something at it. It seems to work. Bodies fly everywhere. Everyone else on that side just stand around watching as Neito Argent Loup Mito Tsudaira (cal her Mito. Her title is even longer) finally lands. They continue to stand there as Mito, the enemy, walks right past them and up to Toori, sho gives her noogies of appreciation. She goes back to fighting the army, who JUST STAND THERE, until Pope President Innocentius of KPA Italia tells them they weren’t the good soldiers anyway. Here’s his real army. And top prove it, he casts a spell using his mortal armament, the “armament of mortal sin for lust, stateis Porneia,” that seems to tak away all the enemies’ strength. I bet that other army wished they had that kind of support. So Toori signs a quick contract that endows him with 1/4 of the ether in Musashi, provided his offering of happiness remains. He can’t be unhappy. Since I’ve never seen him without a smile on his face, this should not be a problem. He plugs into the good guys, literally, and they start pushing the enemy back. Meanwhile Masazumi, (botched sex change, remember?) challenges the Pope to a one-on-one, and some other guy takes on Galileo, who has armed himself with “Ptolemaic theory” defense, but is undone by punching by the months of the year. I didn’t quite get that. Oh, and Futayo takes on Tachibana Muneshige again, but loses this time. So now there’s a big gun pointed at Mushashi; there’s a lot of talk about what this means, but a big gun pointed at something is always serious business. That’s all we need to know. Or want to know.

Chihayafuru 10, Working’!! 10, iDOLM@STER 23, Horizon 10

In Chihayafuru 10, I find it improbable that Chihaya’s team would go to their first tournament and actually win the thing. It doesn’t feel right for a series that has done so many other things well, so far. On the other hand, they have a crisis and overcome it, and everyone uses their strengths to overcome the team’s weaknesses, so it’s all right.

Not really a team, yet ...

It starts lightly. They’re wearing traditional clothes and feel a little embarrassed, Chihaya recognizes some old enemies and treats them as friends. Poor Retro-Kun doesn’t seem to know what hit him. The matches start, and Kana actually gets a win! Yay! But the crisis is upon them, actually, two or three of them.

First is Desktomu, he of great brains and some arrogance, but almost no playing experience. He gets wiped out in his matches and lets his immaturity come out. Feeling he’s bringing the team down he announces he’s leaving. They don’t need him there, anyway. Basically a poorly-timed sulk. Taichi may have some issues of his own, but he shows a moment of good leadership here. He tells him that he can sit out the semifinal match but to be ready for the final. In other words he smacks down a subordinate junior and at the same time reassures him that he’s needed. It works. But Desktomu’s sulk has bad effect on Chihaya.

Just breathe ...

Part of Desktomu’s rant was that he believes Chihaya wants to get to the nationals in order to meet Arata again (well, that’s his excuse, anyway), and that he’s just a pawn in her plans, a fifth member because they need five members. This knocks Chihaya sideways and she finds herself losing in her semifinal match against a mutually supportive, upbeat, not to mention loud and distracting team. A real team. Chihaya’s side hasn’t meshed that well yet. Here’s when Taichi shows his second good moment of leadership. He scatters cards all over the place and while picking them up goes to each member and gives them reassurance. Breathe, Chihaya. And you get your come from behind victory with the sound of hands slapping mats amplified and the swelling music, etc. I would like to point out just how effective the show is with the hand slapping. It’s a percussive motif that punctuates every important moment of the match. Well, as I said, I don’t buy how they made it to the final match (and I guess we’ll learn a lot more about the smirking villain on the other side next week), but as usual the show was executed well enough to cover for it.

My biggest problem with season one of Working’!! was that Inami and her androphobia overwhelmed the rest of the show. I know they were playing the romance angle, but there were plenty of other good things in the show that we didn’t see enough of because of it. Season two has largely kept the punches and romance in a better balance, but now the series is in danger again. We recently had an episode featuring the two, and now we have another. Well, it was enjoyable enough. Everyone played to their strengths. My favorite bit came early on with Satou and Inami on break at the same time. Inami frantically tries to make conversation and not hit him, while admiring Satou’s calm exterior, while Satou’s real thoughts deliver the punchline. Poplar throws in some good moments, and Souma even manages to add some well-timed comments while not for once being despicable. Actually, it’s unfair to single him out for that. Everyone working on the show has refined the comic timing that even a Inami-weighted episode is still fun to watch.

iDOLM@ASTER 23 brings us the bad vibes that were temporarily held away from their most recent triumph and the holiday episode. It really is a good thing, you know, that everyone’s so busy. Haruka knows it, and when she reads an article about some of her coworkers in a magazine while the taxi rides past billboards and TV screens showing other idols also making good, we feel the pleasure she’s feeling. But when the bad vibes start happening you’re not sure exactly what she’s feeling bad about. Is it because everyone’s so busy they can’t get everyone to the New Years show rehearsals? Are we going to see them on stage, unrehearsed and failing? Is it because she’s not seeing any one of them? She’s seeing quite a few. Her beloved Producer isn’t exactly ignoring her. Because they won’t be doing that daytime show any more? Is it because they’re going their separate ways? Because that was inevitable. Is it because Miki told her that she definitely wants the role they’re both going for, so that “working together” wouldn’t be accurate (I know exactly what Miki means, and she’s nice about it, but she really could have phrased that more gently)? Or is it because the stage crew didn’t close the FUCKING TRAP IN THE FLOOR??? WHERE WERE THOSE ASSHOLES TRAINED, ANYWAY?? … I vote for all of them.

Your lesbian techno-witch image for the week.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon 10 manages to bring us what is meant to be a thrilling battle AND its usual endless backstory and techno-cult-babble. Which is not so amazing considering one side of the battle seems to freeze when the other half gets going. Let’s see … Horizon is still captive, behind a disintegration wall. In this world, disintegration means you will see your greatest sin replayed before your eyes before you’re devoured for it. You can avoid that by denying your sin, but who can deny their sin? While the theologians among you sort that out, we see the enemy’s Tercio formation (which exists, BTW), and that is discussed until Toori decides to just run ahead and start the battle. We see the danger of the Tercio immediately, when it opens up to reveal a HUGE gun in the middle. But Adele rebuffs the shot with her heavy armor retainer (big mecha), which causes her some pain and a little annoyance. Everyone on both sides stops to marvel at her old-fashioned suit for a few minutes, then the good guys line up directly behind her and push her in front of them. So the Tres Espana and other bad guy airships launch missiles, but they are rebuffed by maids wielding bows and that one whose name I forget. Who am I kidding? I’ve forgotten almost all the names in this show. So the now-burning Tres Espana unleashes a God of War (flying mecha) and the lesbian witches go to fend it off after a magical girl-style transformation, using Techno Magic. The sleepy blonde witch is knocked unconscious but is revived by a pep-talk from an old guy. The blond sets up her big attack by saying “White magic creates plus power. Black magic creates minus power. Guess what you get when you combine the two?” I’m thinking that this is the least inspiring description of a weapon I’ve ever heard, but it works. Then the ground forces, who have all paused to admire the battle going on in the sky, get back to work. The good guys are split in two! But they launch a god of war of their own. End of episode. So much for THIS show until next week.

Normal, everyday people in episode nines: Chihayafuru, Bakuman II, Working’!!

With Chihayafuru 9 the show has moved from an interesting, complex story about three young people and how their relationships can affect their desires to a more routine show about forming a club with lots of newbies and going for a championship. Not to say it’s going to stay like that. Arata, that absent force behind Chihaya’s passion for karuta, lurks in the background, sending a text message at the end that thrills Chihaya, but not Taichi. But Taichi’s acting oddly too, refusing to let her into his bedroom (or is just because that’s where they hid the cake?). We don’t know exactly what is going on with them. And why does Arata text Taichi and not Chihaya? Other than that the episode is all about training and bonding. The group gets along very well right now. Porky, surprisingly, supports everyone and cheers the loudest when Kana gets her first card. Desktomu is obsessive but not rude. Apart from that there’s the question of the big tournament coming up, where to practice, the miniscule club budget, the things you usually see with club stories, things not really worth writing about. Unless Arata shows up early, the next big thing in the show should be the tournament.

What's up with the weird look the characters get sometimes?

Starting a new creative project is always fun. So many possibilities, nothing seems tired, yet. But in Bakuman II 9, our boys are working for a magazine with a narrow readership and an editor with ideas which may not mesh with theirs. So a lot of scenes here are arguments with Miura. Saiko wants to do a one-shot with the hope of getting it serialized. Miura wants a regular serialization submission, AND he wants a gag manga. And back and forth they go. Little bits like Aoki rejecting Nakai’s confession, and Aoki’s subsequent, charming talk with her would-be new editor give variations on the constraints different manga artists undergo. And in the end our boys pull off a gag manga that’s not funny and a funny manga they want to make dark, and a third piece, and there’s more arguments, more overachieving, and a final challenge. Other highlights include weird facial things, Eiji giving career advice while drooling toothpaste. Typical stuff.

For our third comparatively realistic show today we turn to Working’!! 9, an ordinary, average episode where nothing much gets overdone and everything balances with everything else. At least that’s what the ideal Working!! episode is like. This one’s pretty good. Satou gets to make deadpan reactions to Yachiro’s buying a cell phone, meanwhile her old buddies are spying on her to keep her away from dangerous people. Takanashi’s drunk sister is around to liven things up, Yamada gets mad at Takanashi and runs away, Inami DOESN’T hit anything, and Poplar is hardly seen at all. It’s mostly splendidly timed as usual, though I think they’re in danger of overusing the long pause before the punch line.

Working’!! 7-8, Tamayura 7, Boku wa Tomodachi 7, C3 8

I’m tired for reasons I don’t get, too tired to write, but here are some extra-quick thoughts about some shows.

No, Soma, it really isn't. Asshole.

Working’!! 7-8 exhibits some of the show’s strengths and weaknesses. There’s a molester who hangs out on the way Inami goes to work. This alarming news reaches the Wagnaria staff, and is diffused in a number of silly ways until you almost forget there’s something to be worried about. Because working is a day-to-day routine, and big things don’t usually happen. This is a good thing about the show. It can take some event and have each character play with it from their angle until it’s run its course, and by then the characters are paying attention to something else, if anything. That’s a strength. The show’s weakness is when they get on too long with something. The molester is an odd person who is probably Yamada’s older brother. The show has some fun as he tries to examine each female staff member (and we learn some very interesting information about Takanashi which I’m not sure I like, in terms of character, though it leads to a very sweet moment with Inami), but the Soma decides not to let them meet, and far too much time is spent with that. Well, now that they’ve introduced the molester maybe they’ll move on. The only other important news is that Nazuma is now as tall as Takanashi, meaning Popura gets petted on the head a lot.

The girls are in the back.

Tamayura – Hitotose 7 whips out its usual feel-good, as the girls prepare for yearly festival, one that Fuu never got to see with her father. Of course it threatens to rain, of course it lets up in time. It’s a nice touch that Kaori is as keen on Fuu having a good time at the festival this year as Fuu has. And again we get a lesson on subtle background music. It never seems to start or start, it just always seems to be there, or not there. Perfect for a show such as this. And I particularly liked the tune for when the rain comes.

Admit it. You did stuff like this too.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai brings up a dilemma that I’ve seen before. Intelligent people who have no need for new technology can come across as blithering idiots when forced to learn to use them. It can be sad, as I learned at my old job when the economy went sour and many laid-off people came into the library to make new resumes, but could barely use a mouse. Here it’s not so sad. Our friendless bunch learn to use cell phones. There’s an amusing but completely unbelievable scene where Yozora and Kodaka learn catch up on what the cool kids (a year younger) are doing with their newfangled infrared gizmos. Then, this being the type of show that it is, once they’ve learned few things about their phones, it’s time to abuse them. A typical, usually funny and mean-spirited episode.

C3 8 has the gang removing Sovereignty’s curse and thus saving her and Shiraho. Not that it matters. I watch it for the visuals. Here’s another good one.

I only wish C3's story was as good as its art.

Episode dump: Guilty Crown, UN-GO, Kimi to Boku, etc etc etc

Guilty Crown 4-5 brings us Shu’s indecision between following a repressive regime who thinks it’s saving the world from evil viruses, and the rebels headed by a megamaniacal handsome guy who everyone claims is wonderful. He wonders if he’s just jealous because of Gai’s charisma and the fact that everyone follows him blindly and tells Shu to shut up whenever he asks why, jealous because Inori seems to be shacking up with him, pissed off because Inori lied to him about her feelings (in fact, the lie is a lie, as she broke orders during to raid to rescue Shu). And he has that little pen which could bring the regime down on him. Meanwhile he is training with the Funeral Parlor, so we get all the “newbie in over his head scenes.” Shu is a wuss and maybe a turncoat (he hasn’t decided), but I share most of his suspicions. I don’t like either side. At least the show makes it clear that we’re not supposed to. And now that they’ve apparently blown Gai up, who knows what will happen next. It’s done in a ham-fisted way, but once again, the action scenes are great.

Now THAT'S how you introduce your corpses.

With UN-GO 5 the pattern is pretty much set. Shinjurou will try to find a murderer, while the crime’s circumstances lead to the exploration of more philosophical issues. With this one it’s the concept of sacrificing your life for others. Cynical Shinjurou doesn’t believe it’s possible; people are too cowardly and venal to do it of their own free will. He’s wrong, and meets his first humiliation of the series because of it. However, it only leads himm to refine his view. People can die for others, and it’s beautiful, and it makes the people who survive because of it even scummier. Or something like that. To prove it, we get the gold bricks denouement, which really doesn’t prove anything except that Shimada was a scummy guy. On the other hand, that was a terrific way to introduce the murder: have the corpses roll out of a sculpture during a public unveiling. Excellent bit. Oh, and I’m glad that Kazamori is going to be a regular in the series from now on.

I’m thinking of dropping Kimi to Boku, and I’m rather sad about it. I liked the first episode very much, the deadpan delivery, the slow, lazy nature of the whole thing, but after episode 2 it became clear that that was all it had. Yuta and Yuuki will continue to antagonize Kaname no matter what, the blond kid will remain forever clueless … It’s a wonder they’ve remained friends all this time. If they don’t throw in a new wrinkle soon I’m going to lose my patience completely. As for episode 6, it’s mostly flashback about when Kaname started to wear glasses, with the usual cat metaphors.

It's hard for me to drop a series that looks like this.

C3‘s latest story arc has left such an impression on me that I thought I had skipped an episode, because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going on. Konoha was injured or something? All I remember was Sovereignity and dolls. Not that it really matters. With Horizon I watch because it’s more fun not to know what’s going on. With C3 I watch because of the endless visual treats it gives me. Who cares about Fear’s curses, or the curse of Savernity, or whatever. Give us more moments like the above.

Tamayura – Hitotose has found its groove. Episode 5 is cute and sweet and gentle without being dull or cloying or annoying. The fact that it begins with Fuu meeting a biker gang certainly helped. That was the last thing I expected to see in this series. Even after it had settled down and reintroduced the teary Chihiro, it floated along smoothly in that way these type of shows are supposed to do. At one point the girls are admiring the view, the music is fading out, and I expected a new scene to start. Instead, the scene continued, the silence now making its own statement. The episode’s main point, that shy Chihiro was glad that Fuu had new friends but was lonely herself, was understood throughout but so understated that no one bothered to bring it up untl the very end, when the girls all pronounced themselves new friends of hers. I hope this show can keep it up.

Working’!! has been in a groove for a while; episode 6 just keeps it going. Having the manager’s minions come in to botch things up work, was a good enough story. “I fell in love with the way she beat up my brother,” is one of the show’s better lines. The second half was more affecting. Part of it was some satisfaction I felt when Takanashi finally snapped. I can’t say his answer to Kyoko’s question was any better than hers, but he’s put up with way more shit than anyone else in that restaurant. It’s about time he let some frustration loose. The resolution was sweet, and the inevitable gag was perfectly timed.

Hey, I’m sorta kinda getting caught up! Only 12 more episodes in my queue!

Ben-to 3, Guilty Crown 3, Working’!! 5 (whoops), C3 5

First, it’s time catch up (by one episode) on the two shows I’m watching that have backlogs. The thing is with shows like these is that they’re usually the ones I’m enjoying the most. I’ll be about to click on one, but think “I think I’ll save it for when I need to watch something I know is good.” And a day passes, and another … And now I’m thinking I’ll just watch one of each, because I want to save one for when I need to …

Ben-To 3 brings us new contestants in the battle brawls. Geez, is there anyone out there who DOESN’T fight for bento?

This is after a bizarre opening involving You running around in his underwear, for reasons we’ll learn soon enough, in fact, quickly after the credits, when Ume decides to punish him because Oshiroi hangs out with him too much. You know, the usual. Meanwhile, Oshiroi is proving herself to be the most entertaining character of the lot. Even if she’s really not involved in the scene, furtively looking at You in his underwear, she steals the scene. Anyway, You is invited to join the Hounds, yet another batch of people after the bento. In their spare time they’re the schools kendo club. And they have strategies which make it relatively easy for them. Easy food! So tempting!

You makes his decision

But the show makes it clear that something’s wrong with this. First, they’re “hounds,” like in dog, and You is striving to be a wolf. And You is not satisfied with the food he wins with them. We know why, and the show, alas, doesn’t do a great job of making him realize. He just reminisces about a game he used to play, pauses, and Sen smiles. And while the next battle is fun to watch, well, they all are, I don’t quite like how You makes his decision to leave the Hounds. They gave him an invitation and allowed him to get a taste, so to speak, with no pressure and the utmost respect, but he turns on them in the middle of a brawl. Not very classy, even if the kendo instructor does not disapprove. Other than that, it was another fun as hell episode.

The other trouble with having multiple episodes around is every now and then I get sloppy and click on the wrong one. Which is why I’m talking about Working’!! 5 today, not 4. But with this show, does it really matter what order I watch it in?

It's a long story.

The little events are as follows. Everyone grumbles because Kyoko’s lazy and spoiled and eats too much of the restaurant’s food. Yamada decides she wants to be spoiled, too, more parfaits are eaten, to the point where Kyoko isn’t allowed any more food, and they find a lost little girl, and SHE gets spoiled. The gags mostly work. The show lets the characters drive them home. You can imagine Takanashi’s reaction when he finds the cute little girl, and the other characters’ reaction to his reaction. And the show has gotten good at using beats before gags, or tossing the gag out in different ways, such as an inaudible conversation between Yamada and Takanashi. What’s more, Inami didn’t hit anyone! Not once! Yeah, this show has taken a step up in quality since last season.

Yup, it gets worse.

At the end of Guilty Crown 2, a noitaminA show, for chrissakes, the sexy thing Inori who has all these weird powers, did that standard anime thing and transferred into Shu’s school. Maybe it was just an aberration. Nope. The next thing you know, Shu goes home and finds Inori has moved in. To “protect” Shu, because he had been spotted in the raid by a schoolmate. The rest of the episode mixes wacky high school hijinks, poorly done, with a more serious issue of what to do with the witness when they find him/her. The morality issues were handled well, in fact, much better than expected, with a surprise ending that made me think this might be a better show than I expected. But there are a hell of a lot of flaws in this thing. Inori, supposedly sent to protect Shu, did a piss-poor job of it. The boss of the Undertakers, or Funeral Parlor, whatever, having shown his visage on TV, walks around the city like he’s no terrorist at all. Maybe it’s that Void thing he has. As for those voids, they’re not a bad invention, at least in how they manifest, but right now they just work as a gimmick to drape this show around, like many other anime SF shows, and certainly not like a noitaminA show. The disappointment continues.

Just one of many great images of Whats-her-name.

I guess C3 is like too many other shows that tries to do several types of shows at once and makes a mess of it. Which is not to say that it’s all bad. As I’ve said before, some of the visuals are fantastic. When it decides to do dark and bloody, it does it with panache. This week we saw the end of the battle with ,,, er … I can’t remember her name, so, in honor of her favorite word, I’ll just call her “Bitch.” A fitting name for such a twisted girl, and the show loves to show every sneering pose of hers in every combination of angles and colors and art styles they can think of. I got the impression that the animators really loved this character. It’s like a labor of love. I thought she was a one-trick pony myself; you note how I can’t even remember her name. But they did such a great effort with her defeat, a montage that made me actually pity her, that I feel kind of bad that I forgot it.

Fear gets some good imagery too. I could see 'EF' doing this.

The show’s concept isn’t all that new. Fear has to learn to control herself in order to free herself from her past as an instrument of torture, i.e., she is a potential time bomb sent to live with your typical harem lead male, with (so far) two buxom girls vying for attention. Laying on thick slabs of cult-babble doesn’t add to the originality, either. Let’s see, Ueno, the class president, who had been patiently waiting at the door since last episode for the Bitch to take her hostage and slice her up, turns out to be Not Dead Yet because of her cursed bondage underwear, called Ginstrang’s Love, and also has the River of Black Strings as a weapon. She’s an ancester of Chia, but is not a member of the Knights of the Rear Guard but instead an unwilling helper of a research institute called Nightcrawlers. Hmm. The Index franchise does names better. The Bitch’s sword (Dance Time!) notwithstanding.

Pretty much my reaction to the show's backstory.

I don’t mind a mash-up of bloody supernatural combat with cursed weapons with silly harem hijinks, but C3 just doesn’t do it well. The fake sex business near the end was tiresome, not titillating, and nothing really comes together well. But it looks so good that I’ll keep watching.

Penguindrum 15, UN-GO 2, Working’!! 3

Mawaru Penguindrum 15 explains something we’ve all been wondering in the context of Yuri’s sad life and current passions.

Apart from her bandages Yuri’s physical abuse is never shown. This being Penguindrum, it’s suggested in symbolic fashion using a ridiculous, huge David tower, sculptor’s chisels, and especially the chink-chink-chink sound they make (which the show exploits during Masako’s wounding speech prior to her attack). But there is more than enough violence in her father’s words to damage Yuri, or any small child. Is it enough to justify what she is doing to Ringo now? Of course not; it makes her actions understandable, is all. Oddly, Ringo is awake and telling Shouma over the phone that she’s freeing herself, or something, all of which sounds like a suicide message. It’s possible she’s still drugged. One more observation about the show in general: it turns out Shouma is at the same inn, and is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Yuri and Ringo. Were this most other shows it would be the most ridiculous coincidence possible. But since this is Penguindrum we (or I do, anyway) just shrug it off. The show goes by its own logic. Besides, maybe Sanetoshi was behind Shouma’s friend winning the raffle.

We get a sweet moment where Himari sees her friends turned idols wearing the scarves she made for them on TV. They call her a “dear friend,” yet it’s a little scary that Sanetoshi was behind it. Is he behind everything? Probably. But most of the episode is about Yuri, befriended by Momoka (finally we see her!) and brainwashed and abused by her sick father. Momoka is a little too good to be true as she reaches out to Yuri even though she has no reason to, explaining that everything is beautiful. But I guess that’s why so many people are mourning her death. But she’s a little sinister, too. She calmly explains her diary’s powers to transfer lines of fate and that she can get rid of that tower (replacing it with a landmark that should leave a few heads spinning) and all the helicopters waving around it like she was saving another rabbit. The fact that she endures great pain to do so suggests we’re not dealing with a sane mind.

Back in the present day we get Masako’s attack on Yuri for the other half of the diary–naturally, since it’s at a hot springs inn, it involves ping-pong–and then, oddest of all, the fact that Yuri put Ringo (back in her robes) side by side with Shouma, as if his appearance had made her change her mind, that maybe Ringo was better off with her “Prince Charming.” AND she admits to Shouma that she was the one who stole Ringo’s half of the diary. Why tell him? What game is she playing now? I guess we’ll find out eventually.

I’m not going to say a lot about UN-GO 2, except that it’s clever, fast-paced, and bizarre, as episode one was. It goes by in a second; it’s like a blur. Maybe not the best thing for a detective show with murder mysteries. I’m busy trying to figure out a bit of information while they’re speeding past a second or a third. I was never very good with murder mysteries, anyway. But I love the show’s sense of style along with its speed. I’m having fun trying to figure out what Inga is all about, and Kaishuu, even while I stumble of Yuuki’s ramblings over, in this episode, breakability. Also interesting is the world they live in, a post-war Japan full of ruins where no one seems to be suffering, at least badly, and the police state the country’s become, thanks to such cheerful and real-world sounding legislation like “The internet Privacy and Protection Act.” On the other hand, I wonder if the show gives too much credit to the suppressors. Can you tell me that there is no possible way for Yonaga recordings to get distributed? That they can shut down downloads all over Japan just like that? What about encrypted files? What about torrents, the way through most of us get to watch this show in the first place? The show’s opinion on who controls technology is a tad naive. But no matter.

Izumi meets Inami.

At leaast with Working’!! I don’t have to think too much, or scribble endless notes like the other two shows here. Well, except that I can never get the sisters’ names straight. What little plot the episode has concerns Izumi, the gothy author sister, and her belief that she will be ignored if her beloved brother gets a girlfriend. She sees Popura in a photo and assumes her brother’s a pedophile. She will rescue him from pedophilia! And that way, she won’t lose him! If she has the energy. Ironically, she meets the real possible girlfriend, Inami, and takes a liking to her. Once again the show uses half-knowledge as a basis for laughs, that and excellent comic timing. The other highlight concerns Nazuna volunteering at the restaurant, and doing a better job than Yamada.

Yamada's cute when she's evil.

Naturally, Yamada’s plans come to naught. It’s always fun when Takanashi’s sisters tag along.

Twos: Phi Brain, Horizon, Working’!!

Phi Brain 2 polishes off the cliffhanger, gives us a new puzzle to solve, and throws exposition at us. A typical episode two. Nonetheless, it wasn’t bad. After the cliffhanger (well, Kaito had pretty much solved the puzzle at the end of last week’s episode, all he had to do was pull the rope) we learn that using the Armband of Orpheus to augment his own abilities drains him physically, and poor Nonoha gets to add “hero-carrier” to her sidekick duties. As for the exposition, it turns out all the great old ruins are actually puzzles you have to solve, and if you do you get to be god or something Godly. To which Kaito says:

That's what I'd do too if I heard such a silly backstory.

And we meet Gammon, a game-genius rival who isn’t involved in this big adventure, who’s duty it is to scream his own name, be a smart as Kaito, and bug him. You know he’s going to have a bad end because his goal for solving puzzles is money. Also he steals Kaito’s puzzle-tron and goes off to get the next treasure before Kaito can.

I must say, I’m not very impressed by the puzzles they’ve shown so far. The big one involving ropes and pulleys was too big to see on the screen, and this one involving cars in a parking lot sliding around (you’d think they’d have a more fitting use for a motorized vehicle) looks pretty easy. I’m not saying I could solve it in two minutes like they have to, but I could solve it in time. Well, until the puzzle creator got and changed the rules, condemning them to death until Kaito does the “glowing armband and eye turning red” thing and comes up with an innovation. I’m still not sure about this show. Kaito is just another grumpy genius. Nonoha, however, is a solid and unannoying sidekick. Next week they’re going to bring us a bratty child genius, which would bug me except they poke fun of the idea in the previews. Okay, this show has a sense of humor about it, too.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon 2 is like ep1 with its constant barrage of exposition, but ep1 had a entertaining chase in it. Ep2 does not.

Instead, it has this.

The closest thing we get to a decent conversation intended to convey backstory was early on when Tenshi (?) talks with a woman about her past and the woman tells her to try the “Path to Remorse.” It worked (or half-worked, because it still wasn’t much good) because the info we got was tied in with Tenshi’s personal problems and a decision she has to make. But, come to think of it, the Path to Remorse” is the only thing I remember about it. We then switch to a classroom scene where a character has to read out a history text (more backstory). Worse, she does it in a halting voice. When someone else takes over it doesn’t get any better. Worlds collapsing, or joining up, and wars and I guess their side lost. Or something. Meanwhile procedural rules concerning the school pass by and all of a sudden Toori (the main character, and the only character where I am certain of the name, because everyone says it a lot) gets punished for some reason.

'Oh yeah? Well I saw YOUR mama ...'

We’re back to Tenshi(?) again, talking to a robot. We get more of her backstory, her getting deported midway through her sex change, mother dead via virus, the usual, then a ship passes by. Why it’s there is explained in great detail. Never mind that normal people, or fictional characters in a better-written show, would talk that way. Then … err … I forget, but whatever it was it had a backstory. Then it’s back to Toori, who’s going to confess to horizon, who may not exist (more backstory), and gropes a girl’s boobs for practice. I think I may watch another episode of this just to see if I can figure it out. This show is harder than any puzzle Taiko’s faced yet.

So it’s a relief to watch Working’!!, a show with not much of a backstory and hardly any plot at all. And frankly, I don’t remember the first season being as good as it’s started out this time.

A show that's easy to understand.

As I mentioned, it still doesn’t have a plot, but that’s not a drawback if the scenes are funny, and in this episode they are. Let’s see … Yamada wants a family so she decides to learn more about Soma, so she decides to stalk him. Popura tells Takanashi to be nicer to Inami. Then Otoo shows up, to Yamada’s delight (a father figure!). Popura tries to get back at Sato for all the times he’s been mean to her. And Yamada wants Otoo to adopt her. But the characters are all weird enough that you get sparks no matter who’s paired with whom.

Also, unlike season one, the show isn’t weighed down by Inami constantly slugging Takanashi. She hits him just once, almost as a throwaway joke after a discussion with Popura about how she’d make a good mother. And because of the situation, and the timing, I burst out laughing. That’s the way it should be. Once an episode. I’m sure Takanashi would agree with me. If there is something that weighs down this episode, it’s Yamada’s plight. A young girl with no family who lives in the restaurant’s attic. Her greedy self-interest only barely manages to balance the sadness of her situation. In some other show they’d make a point about how the people around her are her family, but, happily, this show doesn’t need to explain the obvious. It would only get in the way of the jokes.