Seikon on Qwaser 2 annoys me less, Hanamaru Kindergarten 2 not at all

After an ep1 that tested my kind nature, Seikon no Qwaser 2 actually turned out to be pretty good. It’s still routine and full of cliches, but it didn’t present everything in such an annoying way.

One reason is that it started light. After Mafuyu confronts Sasha about what the hell happened the other night, he collapses, and we get a scene where the girls get to knock him off his pins a couple times, dressing him in a nightgown and feeding him. His line “Your borscht touched my heart” is probably the best anime line of the week. In addition, Teresa acknowledges that allowing Sasha to breastfeed is indeed embarrassing.

Then we get the inevitable battle, where the bad person kidnaps sidekick Ayana, and we get a surprise that turned me on my head, except, with a subsequent surprise, we learn who the real baddie is.

I wish they had stayed with Tomo.

A shame, really. Had Tomo actually been the bad person I would have tossed out most of my negative thoughts about the show overall. Having it actually be Ayana I should have seen coming. She had been asking too many questions about the hidden icon, and I remember myself wondering about that.

Oh, parts of this show still annoy me, but at least they keep the breastfeeding offscreen, I only wish they wouldn’t do as much of that to the fighting as they do. The direction in this show makes me scratch my head. But overall, this show has become a little too good to drop.

In Hanamaru Kindergarten 2 we get to see Tsuchida actually running a classroom. As you can guess it isn’t pretty, but he does his best and only gets chewed out by the principal twice. I expected as much. Being a teacher to small children must be an exhausting experience; I’m amazed by the people who actually do it. And poor Tsuchida is still learning the ropes.

I knew Tsuchida's words would come back to haunt him.

Worse, it’s not only the demands of the kids, but those of the fellow teachers that distract him. So while Anzu, Koude and Hiiragi do have an adventure exploring the school, part one is mainly about the adults. The principal declares that each class of kids takes on the personality of its teacher, and I shuddered a little thinking about Tsuchida. But then we have a nice moment where he helps kids with the big slide (seen from Anzu’s POV—I like how they manage to create the sense of wonder these kids feel), and we think Tsuchida might not be so hopeless after all.

Part two stars Hiiragi and introduces Kenji, an older student jealous that Hiiragi knows more than he does. Confrontation after confrontation results in his humiliation. The joke is that quiet, deadpan Hiiragi doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about. Finally, Kenji goes off into the forest at night to prove that there are ghosts there. Naturally, he gets scared. Guess who rescues him.

Love the bear suit.

Actually, it was thanks to Tsuchida, who called Hiiragi’s father, who has frequently taken Hiiragi out there to stargaze. But what’s best about this second half are the closing credits: it’s all Hiiragi’s fantasies.

A violent fantasy, perhaps, but what small child doesn't dream of being big and powerful?

As I said before, the show is good at showing us the experiences of small children from their view. They could, in fact, do more of it. It works especially well here because of the discrepancy between the action scenes and Hiiragi’s emotionless but cute face. Another good episode.