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「ギャランドゥ」 (Gyarandu)
“Gal and Do”
It’s about time we saw some (more) School Rumble cameos in Natsu no Arashi. I was starting to wonder if Tenma, Yakumo, Harima, Eri, and the others were ever going to show up.
While the first half revolved primarily around Hajime trying to strip Jun and drag her to the men’s bath, there were a few unexpected things in the latter half. For those of you who watched Saki, you may enjoy the mahjong bit here where Kanako (“Captain” Horie Yui) absolutely destroys Hideo with ridiculous hands. Yayoi wasn’t too shabby either, pulling off a Saki-trademark-style Tsumo Rinshan Kaihou along with a Kan Dora. As mahjong anime will have us (delusionally) believe, that of course is the “easiest” hand to pull out of nowhere. These scenes had the usual Shinbou Akiyuki comedic flair, minus the ridiculous walls of text à la Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Bakemonogatari I can do without. The usual comedic flair goes for the episode title too, which reads as “Gal and Do” but has connotations of a pubic hair “happy trail”.
Much like the first season, they’ve managed to slip in some more character development and key story aspects when you least expect. After Arashi suggested that Jun might have feelings for Hajime last time, Jun has already returned the favour by asking Arashi exactly what she thinks of Hajime. I’ve actually been quite curious about this as well since Arashi’s been able to dodge the question up until now. Surprisingly, she didn’t deny that she might have feelings for Hajime, but added that she doesn’t really understand love having died before ever falling in love. Quite a perplexing situation to be in indeed. To top it off, Arashi revealed that they (ghosts) only exist during the summer, putting another spin on the title “Natsu no Arashi” — “Arashi of the Summer”.
I liked how they seamlessly changed the mood to a serious one for that scene, but just as easily reverted it back to the comedic one. Based on this revelation, it’ll be interesting to see where this second series goes now. I anticipate that it’ll conclude around the end of summer and what happens when Arashi and the others disappear, which is more than enough to keep me watching until the very end.
The major downside of this episode however was the production quality, which dipped dramatically throughout the episode. Seeing as SHAFT has sent off an incomplete episode for broadcasting, I can’t help but feel that they’re putting out really sub-par work lately. It seems like they’re skimping everywhere and rushing anything semi-acceptable out the door. The only decent scenes here were the close-up shots, but even amongst those, they were still pretty few and far between. The distant shots on the other hand were horrendous, with really messed up looking faces and just overall lack of detail. I seriously hope this doesn’t become a habit with them.
On a separate note, I have to say Omigawa Chiaki‘s acting has improved drastically since her seiyuu debut as Maka Albarn in SOUL EATER. Jun doesn’t sound the least bit hollow like Maka did originally. As some of you may recall, that’s when it sounded like Chiaki was just reading the lines from script and the Japanese anime community trashed her for it. Anyway, this week also features the ending sequene/theme, which is rocking it 8-bit Final Fantasy style.
* While I’m going to watch this series till the end, I’m looking for some shows I can cut back blogging on. I don’t intend to cover 9 shows like I’ve been doing. Due to the lack of reader interest, Natsu no Arashi is likely one (of many) to go. Questions, comments, suggestions are welcome.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「乙女の順序」 (Otome no Junjou) by 白石涼子, 名塚佳織, 野中藍, 堀江由衣 (Shiraishi Ryoko, Nazuka Kaori, Nonaka Ai, Horie Yui)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼
Preview
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ugh looks boring
School Rumble!! The scene where Hajime chasing Jun with all School Rumble cameo appearing is to say, the perk of the episode^^
Rumble! The comical adventures of Jun masquerading as a dude, and running being irritated at Hajime are funny – c’mon, she’s surrounded by big fat naked guys. This new ED is cool, I think it’s better than the OP.
Wooo… School Rumble. Now this is something I gotta see. Hmm, I wonder, as I haven’t seen the 1st season, if I were to pick up this series now, would I be able to follow it? or I need to watch the 1st season too? Anybody can help????
The new ending is special but really liked it.
aweome >:DDD
Keep blogging Seitokai no Ichizon, Sasameki Koto, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza, and 11eyes.
Will Arashi really dissappear when the summer end ? or will she come back when the next summer start ? Why does arashi appear on Hajime timeline ? This prove that they ( ghosts ) only appear on every summer
why don’t drop Sora no otoshimono? I think it is as bas as Kampfer.
I found it surprising that there was a bit of plot in what otherwise looked to be as generic an episode setting as you could hope to find. It made me glad that I didn’t skip the episode, which is what I had planned on doing after watching the previous one. I wouldn’t be disappointed if they took the second season a little more seriously than the first.
I worry about SHAFT’s finances, but as long as their discs are complete I can cut them all the slack they need on the broadcasts. It’s hard to pick a bone with free, given how tedious and labor-intensive animation is.
I’ve always been fond of Chiaki’s voice, whatever her talents as an actress. I’d pay Chiaki to read the ingredient list off a can of soup. I hope she finds work after Natsu no Arashi. If they can put Horie Yui in every anime made in a given year, I think they can find room for her.
HAPPY columbus day, to those that thing it actually matters
i see i saw harima
Wow, I didn’t realize that Jun has the same voice actress as Maka. When I first watched Soul Eater, I was pretty disgusted by how bad Maka’s voice was. When I first watched Natsu no Arashi, I was surprised by how good Jun’s voice is. Drastically improved indeed. On another note, it looks like they might be pushing for a HajimexJun bittersweet ending.
Jun… is… a… GIRL?!
asdfasdfasdfasdfasdf
lol, I didn´t know that :O
Given that this one is simulcast, could I suggest a compromise? Unlike many of the series you cover, I don’t need the screenshots. But I do (and I suspect I’m not the only one) value your opinions. Could you possibly just do a quick episode recap and your thoughts each week about this?
nooo keep blogging this!
Imadori:
I really like SoraOto so far, and from the sound of things from readers familiar with the manga, it won’t be all slapstick humour later on. Given the distaste a lot of people have towards it now, I think that’s a good reason to cover it. The trend at RC seems to be: Omni covers what’s unanimously popular while I try to uncover hidden gems.
Metalsnakezero:
You somehow managed to list all the shows I’m not too keen on continuing to write about, even though I’ll probably end up watching them. I’ll keep your request in mind though. 11eyes in particular proved more popular than I was expecting. (I wasn’t even going to check it out originally.)
NaweG:
Now that’s an interesting suggestion. I could have slimmed down, quick impression posts for simulcasts (and even other shows if need be). Having something is better than nothing I guess, especially when I’m following these series anyway. However, a lot of readers like the screenshots here, as evident by the volume of traffic max7 moves with their image server. While I’d like to believe that everyone’s here for our “awesome insight”, I realize that’s not always the case. I’ll definitely keep this in mind though.
Any reason why RC changed the image display format? I was curious if the previous posts (like Railgun ep 2) have changed, and they weren’t. I don’t really hate this style, but it’s certainly annoying whenever I move my mouse cursor around the images and they appear to “move”.
Omni hasn’t gone back to update his other posts this season, but the plan is to use this style from now on. It just makes the images a lot nicer to view by removing the need to switch to another tab/window. You can even cycle through them with the up/down or left/right arrow keys. I’ve updated all my recent posts with it.
I don’t see the jitter problem you’re describing though. I tried the page in IE8, FireFox, and Chrome and it seems alright. What browser are you using? Also, note that this thumbnail viewer uses JavaScript.
I use IE8. Oh well, I guess I need more time to adapt into this new format.
If it’s giving you problems, it’s likely going to affect others as well, so it’d be good if we could isolate the problem.
That said, do you mind trying another browser to see if it happens there? Also, if anyone else is experiencing this issue, please let Omni or me know.
ahh no. just stick with natsu no arashi.
Love those little moments they do in every episode. The guy asking for the salt, the manga dude, and the random School Rumble characters. Cracked me up the first time I saw Tenma and Harima in the first season.
Kaya @_@
man he actually strip her…haha, and he still dont’ realize he is a she….. man he’s so dum
psh, this series is awesome. Should stick with the good ones rather than the “popular” ones to semi educate people I say 😛
That’s what I try to do. I leave the mainstream stuff to Omni, or at least that’s what the trend seems to be.
He gets first dibs on shows to cover, then I just pick from what’s left over. I’m usually watching most (if not all) of the shows he is though.
there were school sumble cameos on the other series too.
harima and tenma were eating in the shop.
Hmm, I must’ve missed them then. Which episode and what time?
It was in the second of third episode of the first season. I don’t remember well.
second *or* third xD
Ah, found it! Episode 2 @ 16:18. Tenma and Harima are sitting at the counter in the cafe.
From what I’ve read, there are cameos from other series as well, but I’m surprised I missed this one.
Cameos + QUALITY = rage
I love this series! I feel Kobayashi’s work is generally underappreciated in the West, so please don’t drop it.