Random Curiosity

Now that you have a better idea of the new shows around the corner and my personal outlook on each of them, here’s your opportunity to voice your opinion and see what others are looking forward to. If you haven’t already, please refer to the Fall 2010 Preview for detailed information on each of the shows listed. I’ve also added several more promotional videos to the various entries, so they’re worth checking out to get a better impression of what they’re like. Due to the vast number of shows (27), I’ve increased the number of choices from three to five this time around, so that there’s more room for some lesser anticipated shows to be highlighted. As always, comments are welcome if there’s anything you want to add about a particular show or the fall season in general. Let your voice be heard!

Note: The same poll will also be available on the sidebar. It will automatically close on October 1st at 2:00 AM to coincide with the start of the season.

「訣別ノ路」 (Ketsubetsu no Michi)
“Split Path”

Intro
As the last movie ended with a cliffhanger, I was hoping this time would be different (because waiting for the 3rd movie would be agonizing), and it was! Anyway, Rygart proceeds with his plan to talk to Zess, and it succeeds with a little inside “joke” of theirs. Right when that guy said he’s never seen Zess so flustered before, I just couldn’t help but think Zess was totally lusting for Rygart. That certainly made their entire conversation more interesting than it originally was, but Zess reveals he has a daughter later on, which destroyed that possible character dynamic. Then again, he never mentioned a wife, so you never know. Clearly, I have not been exposed to any other sources other than the anime, so it’s quite refreshing to actually guess what could possibly happen in the series for once.

Lee
Of course, I could still predict a couple of moves the characters make just by following the cliches, but the story unfolds so easily and nicely that I didn’t really care about the cliches, kinda like Avatar (yes, the one with the blue people). I enjoyed this series so far mostly because of those reasons. That and the fights are incredibly engaging for me. I found myself easily drawn into the fights, and became increasingly frustrated when Rygart kept fumbling around in such a high potential machine. At first I was like, “come on, slice that bot in half with your claymore already!” Then I realized I didn’t really want Lee to die, because I’m sympathetic like that. Her character didn’t really help with the sympathy though, as she’s only been shown to be pretty much a bitch. One, she was pretty psychotic in battle, with that intense hatred that still goes unexplained so far, but probably had to do with her past experience that we might never see. Two, she completely ruined Cleo’s advances on Zess (apparently Lee secretly wants him as well), and makes fun of her battle ability constantly. So when it was revealed they were actually friends, I thought, “who would’ve guessed?” It’s also hard to believe that she’s only fifteen (and Cleo is like the pedovision of a twelve year old. Would it have been that difficult to just say they were 21 and 18?). That said, I didn’t necessarily hate her character, so I was pretty surprised when she did actually die. Most stories never kill off any character worth a damn, and even though Lee was underdeveloped, at least she was a major asset to Zess’ team. A dying character so early on is a rare thing to see, and it immediately gave the show a more gritty dimension. By killing off actual characters, like in Code Geass, the audience starts to feel much more attached to them. Thus, they’re more likely to become engaged in any future conflicts for fear of other characters. Death is easy to do in a storyline and is something we all are at least a little afraid of, which makes it a pretty good plot device. Not to forget, Break Blade actually pulled out two death cards, as Dan also died. I was actually more conflicted with his death than Lee’s. This is mostly because Dan pretty much died for nothing, and had me wondering along with Rygart whether or not it was his fault. Having his wife show up later was even more painful to see, and I felt Rygart should have embraced her for a little sympathy. It felt like she was holding up a front, and that a hug would get her to let out the needed tears. His comment about Dan at least having a baby was a bit insensitive, seeing as how that baby is now going to grow up without a father. I mean, where would you be without your father, Rygart?

The Battle & Mechas
So, getting back on track, the movie patterns so far have made the show engaging since they sandwich in a long mecha fight in between the development (although that wasn’t boring either). While my inexperienced mecha viewing eyes enjoyed the battle, I’ve read complaints that it was a bit dragged out and had many typical cliches that occur in such battles. These would be the conveniently placed weapon nearby, dropping said weapon at a crucial point, and generally just wailing around with both sides making stupid moves. While I agree to a point, the problems just didn’t seem to be that glaring to me, as each cliche had their reasons. What’s more annoying is the fact that Hodr’s golems just plain suck compared to Zess’. Hodr’s golems are like putty, constantly being shot and destroyed by Zess’ forces. Of course, now they have “The Black Golem”, which dances circles around all of them, if only the one guy that could control it had a bit more skill.

Characters & Story
While it seems there’s many problems with the characters, I’m assuming most of it will be cleared up when the inevitable history of the four childhood friends comes around. From what’s been shown so far, the main driving force of the story will be their friendship and dealing with that conflicting with the directions their adulthood has taken them. This type of story is always enjoyable, and if dealt with right, can always be original in their own ways. Most of the characters are very likable (except the pathetic General True), and it seems from the preview that more may be added. I’m not so sure they can all get the necessary development, but extending the movies to longer than an hour is always an option. The Kara no Kyoukai movies certainly followed this pattern. Rygart so far is an extremely likable character and as such, it’s enjoyable watching him struggle around a world he regards as unnecessary complexities. His father has also been made out to be quite the extraordinary parent, and I found myself wishing he were still alive to see his son finally do something he spent all his money to get him to do. The misunderstandings between Zess and Rygart was like that of a stereotypical shoujo, and when they showed implications of Zess believing Rygart killed Lee, the plot started showing signs of a Shakespearean tragedy. I hope the climax and finale won’t be so similar, with one of the main characters dying because of inevitable consequences, but tragedies do make for epic tales. Sigyn, Hodr, and Rygart seem to make up some flawed love triangle, as Hodr and Sigyn don’t even act like a married couple. They’ve barely been shown together, and Hodr hasn’t shown any signs of caring. They didn’t even sleep in the same room! Looks like the road to Sigyn is just being paved for you Rygart, if only you weren’t also typically dense. However, Sigyn did seem to let him go with ease, but it seemed like this has happened once before in the past, implying she’s probably already over being depressed with an unrequited love. But since Rygart decided to stay to fight for his friends, he may trigger the Sigyn flag once more.

Overall
Besides the “controlling quartz” sounding kind of dumb in the beginning (because lol, why quartz and the idea of being born to control it when they look just like humans is just ..eh), and the whole “main character is a failure but apparently can do one thing that noone else in that world can so he is now special and awesome because of it and the entire storyline is way too normal to be of interest without him” kind of thing, Break Blade does a lot of things right. The animation is breathtaking at times, and the background art is gorgeous, but I feel the character/mecha animation pales to even TV series such as TTGL for it’s just missing that smoothness and snappy feeling. Break Blade is a lot like a B-movie. It never reaches that point where it can shine on it’s own high pedestal above the sea of mediocre anime (even though it gets pretty damn close), but it tells the story well, has some great scenes here and there, and generally entertains without feeling like a waste of time. However, the remaining 4 movies can easily push it over to a triple A title, so I’m excited to see where the story heads. If you’ve got two hours to kill, go see these two movies. The bad thing is waiting for the upcoming movies, as it’ll be quite the wait for the next one. Even though it comes out near the end of this month, that’s only in theaters. Apparently the DVD/BD will be out sometime in November.

If you haven’t noticed by now, this is Kiiragi filling in for Divine. He was rather busy with the Fall preview, and I just happened to watch the two movies. So for movie 3, he may return, but if he’s busy, I suppose I can continue. Hope you enjoyed my two cents instead. Also, since it’s a long post, I made it tl;dr friendly, so just read what interests you.

Preview

「ずるすぎるよ鮎沢、碓氷のアホ！」 (Zurusugiru yo Ayuzawa, Usui no Aho!)
“That’s So Unfair Ayuzawa… Usui You Idiot!”

For a final episode, the writers sure had me second guessing exactly how far along Misaki and Usui’s relationship would get. Most of the episode was about their participation in a lover’s trial game where the grand prize was a “super premium ticket” for the closing festivities at night, so things could have gone whichever way depending on what the prize actually was. Before long, the two of them were completely absorbed in the game itself and things turned into a more lighthearted affair when Misaki started dominating every event with her left hand. With the added stipulation that they can’t let go of one another’s hand and Usui leading Misaki because of it, the time they spent together did come off as a real date. It was cute on various occasions and didn’t stray too far from their normal behavior, which included Misaki’s embarrassment over being chopstick-fed ramen, an event that ultimately turned into a competition among themselves. Given the endless teasing by Usui throughout, I was more or less suspecting that the two of them would grow closer from all of this and things would end off open-endedly. I was mistaken though.

Quite honestly, I would have been completely fine with it if that were the case. After all, the episode started off with Usui feeding Misaki takoyaki and placing cat ears on her head, and led to him putting a necklace on her as proof of their participation — scenes that were unbelievable cute for obvious reasons. There was a bit of subtle fan-service as well, such as Misaki unbuttoning her shirt to make sure the necklace was visible and reluctantly opening her mouth to be fed. Never once did Misaki given any verbal indication that she was enjoying herself, but it was clearly written all over her face the entire time. I don’t ever recall Usui showing that he was having so much fun either. After he popped a balloon with Misaki’s “help”, it was a bit unsettling to see him blushing so much. There just wasn’t something right about a guy like him turning bright red, which goes doubly for Kuuga after the Yumemishi live performance. In the latter’s case, I was actually surprised to hear not one, but three different Yumemishi insert songs performed by Nojima Kenji, namely “Natsukoi Monogatari”, “Yume no Hana”, and “Akane”. In addition to that, he gave indication that Sakura did indeed turn him around by nursing him while he was hospitalized and even had Misaki believing as much too. Kuuga’s real shining moment though was bluntly throwing out the idea that Misaki’s been making Usui wait for a reply all this time to his advances.

Dressed up in Romeo and Juliet-like outfits that they got from their super premium ticket, Misaki’s feelings of guilt for stringing Usui along all this time took a pretty awesome turn for the better. Starting with her bluntly throwing out the question and him responding that it’s not fair to make him repeat himself, Usui smoothly kept the act going for a while until he eventually apologized and backed off. As a result, Misaki finally reached out and started confessing that he’s confused her to no end and that she’s been wanting to hold hands with him ever since the lover’s trial ended. It wasn’t a very direct confession, but did catch Usui off-guard and drew a reaction where he thought he “broke” her. Seeing as they were both suppressing their true feelings all this time, I was a bit taken back by their first mutually consented kiss together that followed suit. This huge step forward in their relationship even had a “formal” confession by Usui to go with it, which was befittingly met with a very unconvincing “Usui, you idiot” in return. I agree that that it was pretty cruel of Misaki to respond in such away instead of confessing her feelings, but this is the girl who started the series detesting guys, so that was a huge confession in its own right. Overall, it was a very cute ending that was much better than I was anticipating.

Epilogue

Final Impressions:

As an adaptation of a shoujo manga, this series provided exactly what I was expecting from a romantic comedy. I always draw a fine line between this kind of shows and what I refer to as a “romantic drama”, as the latter is generally more focused on getting to the end result. In the case of Kaichou wa Maid-sama, the interesting relationship between the man-hater president Misaki and the superhuman perverted alien Usui was never about them hooking up as an official couple and living happily ever after, but the bumpy road getting there. That’s the clear distinction I make when I classify as series as either a romantic comedy or a romantic drama, and I find that aligning expectations accordingly always helps in the enjoyment of each. Had the two of them hit it off early on, there wouldn’t be much of a story left to go on and the series’ main focus would be gone.

As much as characters themselves, one of my personal highlights was having Fujimura Ayumi in the starring tsudere role. Alongside her, Okamoto Nobuhiko continued to reiterate that he can do cool ikemen roles just as well as goofy harem ones seen in Asu no Yoichi. Together, they were a lot of fun to watch and really cute at the same time, which was perfect for this type of genre. Story-wise, the late introduction of Hinata did serve as a nice catalyst to their relationship even though it didn’t quite follow the manga, so I feel J.C. Staff’s decision to do so was justified as far as the anime is concerned. I still would’ve like to see more of Usui’s backstory in light of everything that was hinted at in the ending sequences, but I’m suspecting it might have sidetracked the story a fair bit and taken away from the lighthearted mood they were going for in this adaptation. If a sequel is ever produced, I definitely want to see that subplot revisited though.

As I’ve mentioned several times in my posts already, this series reminds me a lot of Special A because it also involves a superhuman male lead who can’t get a strong independent girl to realize/accept his feelings for her. In comparison, I’m actually leaning towards Maid-sama being the better of the two due to its plethora of goofy characters and wider variety of lighthearted avenues that can be explored. This includes all the other girls at Maid Latte, our three idiots, Misaki’s friends, and of course the cross-dressing Aoi. We can’t forget Aoi as he’s the youngest of the bunch yet always says it like it is. Ultimately, it’s the stars of the show and the more liberal use super-deformed stylistic touches for the comedy that I took more of a liking to. However, for anyone looking for a good romantic comedy, both are worth checking out. In Maid-sama’s case, you also have good production values by J.C. Staff, so you can’t really go wrong with this series. Just don’t come in expecting a romantic drama and you should enjoy the ride most of the way. It definitely has its “throbbing moments”, which is on top of the fact Misaki looks amazing in her maid outfit. :)

「七咲逢編 第一章 サイアク」 (Nanasaki Ai-hen Dai Isshou – Saiaku)
“Nanasaki Ai Chapter 1 – The Worst”

The arc I’ve been looking forward to the most has arrived! Logically speaking, flashing the bottom portion of a swimsuit shows just as much skin as underwear would, yet girls tend to feel that one is socially acceptable while the other is indecent. I guess we can cast another one off to how we’ve all been “brainwashed” by social norms. Personally, I think a swimsuit has just as many sexual connotations as panties, especially when it’s coming from a girl like Nanasaki Ai. If she feels differently about it, all the better. *evil laugh* That being the case, Junichi should just let Ai tease him all she wants about getting aroused by the sight of her skirt flipping up and her swimsuit being exposed. After all, it’s not about the material itself, but the mesmerizing act of a girl’s skirt flipping up that leads to any potential “excitement”. Even more so when she does it voluntarily. Clearly, that’s not something Ai’s aware of, nor the fact that she’s combining two Japanese fetishes into one — school uniforms and swimsuits. Now that’s just asking for trouble from perverted middle-aged men. A swimsuit is not a disappointment! Beware of perverts!

That warning probably doesn’t mean a whole lot coming from the person who just made semi-sarcastic remarks about wearing swimsuits underneath school uniforms for convenience, but! …the point I was trying to get across is that it’s this tomboyish and playful side of Ai that I love. Back when I was researching for the Summer 2010 Preview, Ai’s spin-off manga was something I happened to skim through to get a sense of what this anime would entail. Starting with the swing scene where Junichi caught a glimpse of her “underwear”, Ai’s subsequent teasing about how she’s going to have him and Umehara arrested for being peeping toms is what instantly caught my attention. The fact that she didn’t look like she was joking at all was part of it, but it was more so that cool demeanor she gave off. Plus she’s athletic — being a member of the swim club and all — and you can never go wrong with sporty girls who have a competitive side to them. It’s for those very reasons that I consider her a bit of a tomboy, which contrasts nicely with the other side of her personality that she only shows to people she’s close — the girlish, family-oriented one that’s good at taking care of people. In particular, not only does she do the grocery shopping and take care of her house while both her parents are working, she also happens to do volunteer work on the side by picking up litter at the beach. Quite frankly, it’s the best of both worlds when a girl gives off a sense of independence on the outside, but is actually a sweet and caring person on the inside, and that’s exactly what I love about Ai’s character.

In a lot of ways, she has the same charm points of the stereotypical cool-but-nice kind of guy a lot of girls love, so it may help to perceive her as the female version of that. She’s an example of what fans have coined “kuudere”, a combination of the words “cool” and “deredere” (lovestruck). As such, she’s usually soft-spoken and always respectful to her seniors, which makes her seem a bit distant and closed off. However, she’s like a completely different person once you actually get to know her better, which Junichi ends up being the lucky bastard to do so. Compared to Sae, Ai is a junior who’s completely capable of taking care of herself yet is still a girl at heart who likes to be complimented and have a guy around who treats her well. She is willing to settle for a guy like Junichi after all, so that says something about how (desperately) girlish and sentimental she can be at times. Thus far, their interactions have been pretty frequent and fairly innocent, with their relationship stemming from Ai’s side first just like with Sae. Her questioning Miya about what her brother’s like suggested as much, so it’ll be interesting when Junichi starts seeing Ai as something more than his sister’s friend. Even before getting there, the sheer number of encounters progressed their relationship a lot further along than I thought it would for a first episode. For one, they already walked along the beach together after Junichi helped her buy more bargain sale stuff, plus Ai called him cute for getting flustered by her swimsuit and smiled at the sight of him picking up litter. That’s good progress in my book.

At this point, I’m just hoping that Junichi stays “respectable” this time around and doesn’t mess around with Ai just because she’s younger. I honestly doubt he can pull the same kinky stuff he did on Sae before Ai would slap him to his senses, but the innocence thus far has a much better vibe to it. Oh, and before I forget, Ai’s cool because of the puffy yellow jacket that she wears. It may seem like convenience over fashion, but it still looks good when she’s wearing it. Also, Yukana in a high school role is awesome with her ability to switch between cute and sultry voices. Win + Win = More Win.

* P.S. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when Junichi said Miya’s even cuter when she’s quiet (i.e. shuts up about the shopping district lottery).

ED4 Sequence

ED4: 「恋はみずいろ」 (Koi wa Mizu-iro) by ゆかな (Yukana)
Watch the 4th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

OP Sequence

OP: 「やさしさに包まれたなら」 (Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta Nara) by 坂本真綾 (Sakamoto Maaya)
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼

「大好きがいっぱいの町、なので」 (The Town Filled With Things I Love)
There’s a saying that great things come in small packages, and Tamayura is definitely one of them. Tamyura is a simple and easy going anime, and something that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s also an original series directed by Junichi Sato and produced through ARIA, a company well known for making anime that can really capture the feel of slice of life.

Tamayura is short. When I say short, I mean short. It runs for exactly 15 minutes and 23 seconds. Throwing time management out the window, Tamayura has a full length opening and ending sequence. The opening sequence is very upbeat with an acoustic guitar strumming alongside Sakamoto Maaya’s singing while the ending on the other hand is a bit mellower, with a slower beat and not as catchy lyrics. Both songs are great in their own light, and I’m very happy that such a short OVA has such high quality music.

With the remaining 10 or so minutes, Tamayura manages to show an entire day of our main protagonist, Sawatari Fu, (Taketatsu Ayana) a timid girl entering High School in a new town she just moved into. Fu’s main goal is trying to make new friends, but she’s extremely shy and unable to talk to people naturally, so it’s a kind of awkward watching her fail to talk to others. It’s shyness to the point where she can’t even introduce herself properly to her classmates on the first day of school. Luckily, our protagonist has her childhood friend Hanawa Kaoru (Asumi Kana) to help build her confidence. Kaoru seems to be the perfect type for someone to lean on. The amount that she cares for and understands Fu is clearly visible – which includes saving her from almost falling off a bridge as she is trying to take a picture and quietly cheering Fu on as she tries to make new friends. It’s the simple joy of having a strong bond with a true friend that makes these two such great friends. She also has a scent fetish. Yes, scent fetish.

The main focus of Tamayura falls on Fu’s camera, a Rollei 35s, and the photos she takes with it. The idea that a photo is special and can create special bonds is something that is highlighted throughout the entire episode. A photo of Fu’s late father is showcased in a local photography shop, and it is this photo that allows Fu to finally make her first two friends. Instead of having Fu approaching others, her photos bring people to her. Removing some of the embarrassment of trying to start conversations with others, Fu is able to not only begin talking to others about her photos but finally is able to make new friends.

The sub-plot of the Tamayura focuses on the Tamayura itself. Literally called “Children of Light”, these mysterious orbs of light randomly appear in Fu’s photos. It isn’t clear if they only appear in Fu’s photos, but what is clear is that they sometimes appear when the subject of her photo is someone who she feels strongly for. I can’t help but think that these orbs of light appearing in her photos mean something, especially when this is labeled as a “Healing anime”. They almost look like the orbs of light that Tomoya saw in Clannad, and those orbs were able to grant the wishes of those who could see them.

With a second episode slated for the near future, I’m really excited in what awaits Fu and her new friends. There are still characters unaccounted for in the opening and ending and it’d be nice to see what goes on in the lives of all of Fu’s friends, not just Fu’s.

ED Sequence

ED: 「メロディ」 (Melody) by 中島愛 (Nakajima Megumi)
Watch the ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

「Independence」

Wow, I never thought I’d see the day where episodes of RAINBOW go smoothly two weeks in a row. Given how the series started six months ago, I’ve been approaching each arc like a complete cynic and expecting the worse from every new face encountered. Sugi was naturally the one I was peering at with suspicious eyes the entire time, but he surprising turned out to be a very understanding family man, who’s living alone in a huge house in expectation that his three sons will return home from the war one of these days. Needless to say, it’s a highly unlikely that they’re still alive after all this time even if they are unaccounted for; however, it did go on to reiterate what kind of a person Sugi is. While things were leading up to that revelation, I loved the fake-out they pulled just prior, where Mario didn’t let Suppon in on the fact that Sugi hired Lily as a live-in maid and had him believing he bought her as a personal prostitute. After hearing Sugi tell Lily that he’s going to lend Suppon the money in accordance to they agreement, I had already started giving the old man the benefit of the doubt though. The fact that she came out in very reserved clothes kind of tipped things off as well, but they sure played up the drama nicely to make viewers think twice.

In addition to having Lily’s situation sorted out, it was nice to see the bond develop between her and Suppon as if they were siblings. For a moment, they actually had me going that she might see him as something more. In particular, it was the tears of happiness she cried after realizing that Suppon’s putting himself in harm’s way to try and make her wish of running a small shop come true. While a relationship clearly wasn’t his intent, Suppon sure can act pretty cool for a little guy. The scene where he came back bruised and battered was the best example of it, because it made a statement when the camera zoomed out and showed Igarashi reluctantly following behind. Suppon sure did a number on Igarashi’s Achilles tendon, which had me wondering how he was still walking around on that foot. Anyway, it was a bit anticlimactic to learn that American doctor’s diagnosis of Suppon didn’t find anything wrong with him, even though he did indicate that symptoms may develop later on. For now, it looks like it’s just the trauma of the atomic bomb experience that’s really plaguing him, which could very well explain why his body locking up and the convulsions. The reassuring thing is that he doesn’t seem to have radiation poisoning, since there likely isn’t any type of cure for in this time period.

With the end of Suppon’s arc, it looks like everyone’s had one since their release from Shonan except Heitai. From the look of things, he’s not going get an arc of his own either. The next episode, and presumably the last one in this adaptation, will focus on Mario trying to get back into boxing with the help of Jeffrey and the American doctor, which would be a good way to end things off. It would be homage to An-chan that’s for sure. The preview itself didn’t actually say it’s the final episode, but the “Over the rainbow” title and lack of scheduling for future weeks suggest as much. Whatever the case, RAINBOW’s been an awesome series up until this point and ending on a promising note is all I want to see now.

Preview

「天空（そら）より永遠（とわ）に」 (Sora yori Towa ni)
“To Eternity Beyond the Skies”

After the story picked up with the full-frontal assault on the Neuroi hive, the conclusion to the series was filled with so much good melodrama that I loved every minute of it. At times, it may have been a bit forced, but when Mio restarted the magical dynamo engine with everything she had and got the Yamato to fire its main cannons at the hive, the subsequent explosion and appearance of a gigantic Neuroi core made all the feelings of helplessness well warranted. Who says this series is only about mecha-girls without pants on? It was a desperate struggle with the future of the world on the line and the Strike Witches were completely tapped of their magical powers. To make matters worse, the Neuroi had assimilated the Yamato along with Mio to make use of her shield ability. Evidently, her inability to use shields doesn’t stop aliens from stealing that power from her and using it themselves, leading to a big, “Oh my god we’re all going to die” kind of situation. i.e. An excellent setup for a finale.

More so than the fate of the world and the rest of the fleet, all the witches had in mind was Mio first and foremost. The fate of a starring character in the balance makes for much better suspense than the nameless ones that have probably been dying left and right, so I really liked the inclusion of that last minute twist to the story. It also gave Yoshika an opportunity to shine again like she supposed to as the main character of the series by unleashing a Shin Reppuzan at the expense of all her magical powers. Talk about going out with a blast. While it doesn’t change the fact that Yoshika came in and stole Mio’s thunder by retrieving Reppumaru from the Yamato and just unleashing all of her powers in one fell swing, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t pretty damn cool to see it all play out the way it did. From Yoshika releasing her power to extract the Neuroi-tainted katana, to cleansing and infusing the blade with all her magic, and finally cutting through the red shield like butter, the remixed opening theme playing in the background as she was screamed “Reppuzan!” made the entire scene utterly awesome in my eyes. I’m admittedly a sucker for people diving in head first with no concern for themselves to try and save someone, and an even bigger one to backup showing up to help the crazy person who just did so. As much as I enjoyed seeing Yoshika take to the skies and take to the skies in her weakened state, the other witches following suit brought a bit of a tear to my eyes. What can I say? I have a soft spot for acts of chivalry.

Once the full cast version of “Over Sky” kicked in and the credits started to scroll, it was nothing short of a fulfilling ending from that point on. The alien threat over Venezia, Romagna is gone, Lucchini’s home country is safe again, and the 501st Joint Fighter Wing disbands again having completed their mission. In fact, I really liked all the individual focus that all the characters got in the epilogue, so I decided to include all eleven of them. It was also nice to see them touch upon some of the other characters, such as Hanna, Ursula, Amaki Suwa, and Takei Junko, while subtly introducing some new ones as well — Raisa Pöttgen (Kuzumi Aiko), Nakajima Nishiki (Sanpei Yuuko), Fernandia Malvezzi (Morinaga Rika), Luciana Mazzei (Hirohashi Ryou), and Martina Crespi (Mizuhashi Kaori), the last three of which are members of the 504th Joint Fighter Wing. Overall, a great ending to a very enjoyable series.

Epilogue

Final Impressions:

Despite being the second most talked about show this season among Japanese viewers (only behind K-ON), STRIKE WITCHES and its similarly cute characters never seemed to take off in popularity the same way among English-speaking ones. The whole pantless fan-service seems to be a touchy subject of sorts, even though something more excessive isn’t a problem to most people as soon as zombies are thrown into the mix. Aliens in a less gory variety? Not good enough apparently. For me, this series took the slice of life genre and combined it with action, magic, mecha, and military to produce something unique, and I’ve enjoyed it for that very reason. While the Neuroi aspect is always a prevalent theme of the series, it’s generally not the focus until the very end of the season. Leading up to that, it provided the same type of quirky fun that K-ON did on a weekly basis, just in a different setting and premise. The cast of characters and their various nuances are just as amiable as the ones over there, with the most notable difference being that STRIKE WITCHES rocks it out in the skies rather than on instruments.

Produced by AIC Spirits, this sequel’s jump to high definition instantly made it better than GONZO’s original adaptation. In addition, the use of CG to supplement a lot of the distant shots worked well, and were never too distracting because they would change back to hand-drawn ones as soon as the characters got close enough. One particular aspect that I really liked was the screenplay, which the music supplemented very well in a lot of scenes. This finale was a prime example of that, as I could get a good sense of the emotions the characters were exuding and the tensions they were feeling. At times, it was even adrenaline-pumping, like when Yoshika used all her might to pull Reppumaru out of the Yamato’s deck. Quite frankly, I find it’s the little things such as that which make the series much better than one would probably believe after seeing some promo artwork. The bonus of course is that if someone doesn’t mind the more moe side of things (such as myself), this series will deliver beautifully in that regard with its large cast of characters played by notable female seiyuu. In this particular instance, Seto Saori deserves special praise for filling in for Chiba Saeko as well as she did. I never once found Mio’s voice out of place from the very moment I heard her speak in STRIKE WITCHES 2, aside from the fact that she didn’t quite have the same “Saeko laugh” that she’s notorious for. Even without it, I don’t think I could have asked for a better performance from someone who was trying to mimic the original seiyuu’s portrayal of the character.

Coming into this sequel, I was already convinced that I’d be watching it before I even read anything about it. With one of my favorite studios taking over, there was really no reason I not to watch this when I did the original. Be that as it may, it actually turned out much better than even I was expecting. Part that was likely due to the semi-nostalgic effect from seeing the same cast of character back in action again two years later, but a lot of it was due to the aforementioned production and screenplay reasons. The fan-service actually wasn’t too excessive either, aside from the premiere episode where they went all out to give fans a good reminder that the 501st Joint Fighter Wing is back. As such, I’d easily recommend this series to anyone who’s a fan of shows like K-ON, as well as anyone who’s looking for a cute, lighthearted, yet action-filled series. Given how things ended with Yoshika’s powers in question, I’m curious as to whether or not we’ll see another sequel. However, it goes without saying that if they release one next year or two years from now, I’ll be watching it.

Summary:
Byakuya and Kenpachi are fighting Yammy. They have a rivalry, and Byakuya releases his bankai. Yammy tries to attack them again, but is quickly overwhelmed. However he still has a lot of power left. The espada becomes angry at his injures, and grows even bigger.

In the fake Karakura Town, Aizen taunts Shinji and brags about his power and about how trusting others is for weaklings. Komamura and Hisagi fight Tousen, and they recall his betrayal. After Aizen begins to battle however Tousen reveals his hollow form, shocking Hisagi and Komamura. He cuts down Hisagi in one blow, and easily blocks Komamura’s bankai and beats him down. Komamura accuses Tousen of being corrupted by power and betraying his friends and subordinates. Tousen used to claim one should fear battle and not mindlessly seek power, but now he has fallen low. Hisagi traps Tousen in his chains and wonders what has happened to him, but Tousen stabs him through the abdomen. He states that he is afraid of dying as one of the shinigami.

Preview

Impressions:
Byakuya and Kenpachi really should have finished off Yammy while he was smaller, but instead they were busy with their showdown versus each other. Luckily Yammy still doesn’t look too impressive (he’s flabby now he lost the ultra-toned muscle he had previously) and will probably not be able to beat either of them.
After Gin runs his blade through Hiyori, Shinji’s completely changed demeanor was something else to watch. Aizen’s comment about how Shinji’s eyes seemed like a man who was alive for the first time in a hundred years was quite fascinating. I can’t help but feel that this scene could have been much more dramatic, but unfortunately the lack of a proper build-up and the poor quality of the anime (plus the censoring) in general takes away any possible emotional impact. Aizen’s speech about trust and values in the world also brought up some interesting existential questions, but the long-windedness was really unnecessary. Even though Aizen’s bragging was annoying, he is correct in that he is far too strong. I feel sorry for Shinji as there’s not much he can do against someone so godly.

As for Tousen’s battle with Komamura and Hisagi, the fight really highlighted Tousen’s skill, given the fact that he is blind. He is able to fend off Komamura and Hisagi (both sighted opponents) at the same time, which is quite impressive. Likewise on the flip side, the battle didn’t do anything to help Komamura’s image as one of the weakest captains. His only positive attribute is physical power, but even that isn’t really strong enough. His shikai swinging at full force was easily blocked by an unreleased Tousen. Granted, Tousen was sporting his new (and unsurprising) hollow mask, but the strength difference is sad considering he can’t see. Komamura’s bankai has insane strength as its only power, but still cannot do anything to Tousen who does not have particularly high reiatsu. Hisagi’s not doing too shabbily, and he is able to pin down Tousen and get a shot at killing him. Unfortunately he spent too long being emo and reminiscing about their past and got stabbed as a result. Again, this part could have had much more emotional impact given Tousen’s betrayal and their long history, but failed. All in all though, he isn’t a great character. His philosophy of fear and justice and battle is interesting, but thinking about it, this idea hasn’t worked for Ichigo at all.

「番外編 企画会議！」 (Bangai-hen – Kikaku Kaigi!)
“Extra Chapter – Project Meeting!”

Judging by Yui’s bangs (or lack thereof), this first of two side story episodes takes place some time after the graduation photos in episode 21 and before their entrance exams in episode 22. Revolving around the creation of a recruitment video for their club, this bonus episode could have easily slotted in between, which left me wondering why the decision was made to leave it until the very end. Had I seen the time that Yui and the others spent on this video, I probably would’ve felt differently about Azusa’s situation too. All this time, I thought everyone had totally neglected her and the future of the club once they graduate, giving me all the reason to believe that Azusa would have an emotional breakdown at some point. However, after learning that she had this kind of support from her seniors, it’s no real surprise why she was never even close to tearing up until she saw their graduation diplomas. The only thing I can think of is that Kyoto Animation wanted to build up the Azusa side of the story so that the finale last week would have as much impact as it did, and a cheery lighthearted showing such as this would have thrown a wrench in those plans.

Whatever the case, we’re not only taken back to a time before the girls graduated, but also to the very beginnings of the club when they first K-ON promo video was created using “nurse Mio” as bait. I had almost forgotten the beauty of seeing Mio cosplaying against her will, so Azusa’s discovery of the disc that Mio thought she safely sealed away in a cookie tin instantly made this an episode to remember. It’s just a darn shame that they didn’t go with Sawa-chan’s Hollywood movie idea for their latest video, because what she had envisioned for “THE KEION-BU” was a hit in my eyes. Heck, I’d pay good money to see the full version of that movie if it was ever made. Even the mystery-themed version that Mugi had in mind would’ve been worth watching for all the melodrama. More so than either of those two, I think I would’ve loved to see some of the girls in the extremely flashy outfit that Sawa-chan made this time around. I have absolutely no idea what she was expecting them to wear that with underneath, but I would’ve paid even better money if the answer was “nothing.” Of course, that was never meant to be, so I’m quite grateful for the ending sequences where the girls are actually in cool-looking outfits.

The end result with footage of a lot of their everyday activities — including sitting around drinking tea and eating cake — and a collection of interviews with other students wasn’t too bad though. It was a bit duller than I would’ve liked, but I guess that’s Azusa and her “sensible” idea for us. At least Sawa-chan left in the footage with Azu-nyan in cat ears at the very end after all the editing she did. With the prospect of having a club leader like that, who wouldn’t want to join the light music club? Anyway, the final final episode next time looks like it’ll be about a visit to Sawa-chan’s place. Upon hearing that, I’m admittedly quite interested in seeing what her room’s like. In particular, I wonder if she still has heavy metal posters up or has truly left that part of her life completely behind. One more episode to go!

Preview

Ichigo’s Final Getsugo Tenshou wasn’t quite enough to finish off Aizen because of the Hougyoku’s regenerative powers. To be honest it was a disappointing attack; all that was shown was a huge black streak. It seemed a bit anticlimatic and was just a bigger version of the regular Getsugo Tenshou. Given the cost of executing the attack, FGT should have been better. However, it did critically damage Aizen as much of his transformation was destroyed. To the very end of course, he doesn’t stop his crap talk, boasting (partly in desperation) about how he is rising above Ichigo. I think Aizen still might have had a chance as Ichigo lost his shinigami powers after using the attack, which would have been trouble him. It’s probable he was still able to use hollow powers, but that aspect wasn’t brought up. Luckily Urahara suddenly shows up, and reveals that he had placed a seal inside Aizen. After Aizen was weakened by Ichigo’s attack the seal is able to pierce through Aizen and the Hougyoku “betrays” Aizen. It determines he is not worthy to wield the stone and actually starts to disintegrate his sword. As he has lost his power now, Urahara’s kidou spell is activated and starts to seal him away. As usual, it was awesome watching Aizen writhe and scream as his ego is completely pulverized; the long rivalry between Urahara and the former lieutenant looks like it finally has came to an end, and Urahara has the last laugh. The fact that Aizen is only sealed though, brings up the possibility he will be back, something I would seriously rather not see. For now, I’m guessing it will be on to more information about the Spirit King and his dimension. Urahara seems to have some relationship to the Spirit King, and he reveals more of his own motives for working for the good guys. He really an extremely central character in the plot, something that wasn’t shown previously. Perhaps the reason the whole thing was so anti-climatic was because Urahara, who wasn’t really featured heavily in events up to this point, is suddenly the crux of everything. The whole twist doesn’t really lock together all the elements and so the story comes off as rather dissatisfying. The lead-up is very poor, and on the whole everything that happens just isn’t very smart. The only brain working is Urahara’s, and he shows up only at random points.

As for what happens next: if Aizen is down, there will probably be some flashback for him, then a new villain, and Ichigo will have to do something about his lost powers. There are also plenty of questions to answer, such as Aizen’s past, his relationship with Ichigo, Isshin , the status of many of the other characters (especially Byakuya, Kenpachi and Yammy). And of course, there are still too many other elements such as bankais and Squad Zero to reveal, so we’ll see where the story goes from here.

Sit tight for anime posts

「千の風、美の尋めゆき」 (Sen no Kaze, Bi no Tomeyuki)
“A thousand wind, the search for beauty”

The revelation of exactly who Nostradamus’ Key is didn’t come as any surprise at this point, but it didn’t take away from the epic feeling of the climax to the story either. From Chihiro and Mikaze’s aerial clash of magical proportions to Smile and JK’s struggle with the twin granny demons, the rapid development where everything finally came to light made this series as a whole one hell of a ride. The most shocking thing was Chihiro getting what appeared to be mortally wounded at the hands of Mikaze, and providing some final instructions to Fumiaki before she collapsed. To a lesser extent was Maya’s father still being alive because Chihiro faked his death — confirming the suspicion that the commander in the future is him — and Maya still having the notebook he left for her thanks to Chihiro planning ahead for that as well. In all cases, this episode just went on to show how Chihiro was absolutely nothing like we were led to believe all this time, and made it kind of sad to see her go with the way she put up valiant effort to the very end. Judging from the preview, I’d like to believe that she and her faithful demon-in-disguise assistant are still alive somehow, but I haven’t ruled out the possibility that it might just be a flashback.

As for Maya and Fumiaki picking up where she left off, the confirmation that Mikaze is the key still had impact in my eyes. After all the build-up surrounding it for the entire series, it just wouldn’t feel right unless the suspicion was spelled out in clear writing to drive that point home to both the viewers and the characters themselves. Following the big revelation, Fumiaki proved to be surprisingly cool by reading out parts of the spell and Maya intuitively repeating the incantation after him to ultimately cast it. All the while he was getting beaten and tossed around by Mikaze yet managed to get up every time from all the abusive “training” Maya’s given him. At one point, I actually wondered if Chihiro had cast a protective spell on him with her kiss, but there wasn’t a lot in the way of suggesting that she did. As such, we just have to chalk up saving the future to Fumiaki’s help and the Waldstein Academy that Maya’s father built to activate the spell to rid the world of Mikaze for good. Subsequently, the cliffhanger the episode left off on about the future remaining the same didn’t really come as a surprise to me though.

When it comes to time travel and the possibility of going back in time to change the past, I’m inclined to believe that things would adhere to a “split timeline theory.” In other words, any changes made to that past would set it towards a new future and not salvage the current future from which time agents are sent from. If we were to adopt the single timeline theory, the whole operation would be fruitless since any changes they attempt to make in the past would lead them to exactly where they are now — a barren future invaded by aliens. If stopping Mikaze saved the future that Fumiaki came from, he would have never been sent back in the first place, thus creating a time paradox from the discontinuity in time. In short, it would come down to the situation of, “Which came first? Stopping Mikaze or Bunmei being sent back in time?” As seen here, the latter directly resulted in the former, but if the former happened then there would be no latter. This is where the single timeline theory falls apart.

Based on Junichirou’s reaction (or lack thereof), it looked like he was well aware that their efforts would only ensure that Maya has bright future and purposely withheld that information from his team. Assuming that’s the case, it raises the question as to which future Fumiaki would return to since he seems intent on going back to his own time. Given that he’s currently on the timeline where the world was saved, he would theoretically go thirteen years in the future where the aliens never invaded the Earth. In this new future, another grown-up version of him would already exist though since that’s not the version of the future that he came from. However, seeing as he could contact his barren future even after Mikaze was sealed away, it suggests that he can return to his barren future which is now considered an alternate reality to the one he’s currently in. Why he would want to return to that is beyond me — especially after Maya finally confided in him — so I’m thinking he might just stay in 1999. Oh how I love time travel theories and how there are so many problems with all of them. :)

Preview

「乱戯ノ塔」 (Rangi no Tou)
“Tower of Confusion”

I almost thought I was watching The Tower of Druaga again when Minaka announced that Minato had sixty minutes to get to the top of Teito Tower. The difference was, it turned out to be frantic race up 108 floors that they had to climb using stairs alone. The amazing thing is that Minato didn’t tire along the way and kept up with Musubi, Tsukiumi, and Kazehana just fine. Equally as amazing was Homura showing that he wasn’t in any sort of a pinch at all and could free himself easier by setting his whole body on fire. While the preview last time pretty much spoiled the cliffhanger by showing him no worse for wear, the way he single-handedly chased off Akitsu and Taki actually made up for it… a bit. If nothing else, it did emphasize that he’s a changed Sekirei now the he’s been winged by Minato, which was one of the big things that happened during this sequel. His actual role following that display of power turned out to be rather small though. Not that it really mattered, as the rest of the episode played out in a fairly scripted manner with Minaka setting up mini bosses in the form of the Disciplinary Force to hold Minato up — all in the comfort of his private room on his PSP.

While somewhat cookie-cutter, I didn’t particularly mind the one-on-one fights that were staged along the way. I sure wouldn’t have minded playing the super-deformed Sekirei fighting game version of what Minaka was seeing either, because it looked pretty cool spin on Capcom’s Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, a.k.a. Pocket Fighter. If there’s one thing that this anime original conclusion is doing well, it’s providing a ton of fight scenes in the final stretch. Granted, the setup leading towards that got a little overdramatic when Minato was hesitantly leaving Kazehana and Tsukiumi behind and believing that they’ll be fine on their own. Still, the fights themselves weren’t too shabby. Kazehana versus Benitsubasa got a lot more attention than Tsukiumi versus Haihane, whereas Karasuba versus Mutsu didn’t get quite enough in my opinion. I definitely would have liked to see how far things would’ve gotten between two of the original five Sekirei, which was pretty funny as well since Mikogami had no idea whatsoever about their history together. It seems all he cared about was the fame that would come with having defeated a Disciplinary Force member, unaware that she’s the leader of it.

Admittedly, it was a pretty anticlimactic when Matsu and Kusano reached the server room and disabled all the traps Minaka had set up throughout the building, resulting in the Disciplinary Force retreating like they were ordered. A shame to say the least, as I would’ve liked to see Kazehane give Bentsubasa a good ass-kicking again like she did back in episode three, especially after she was locked up in a small room and unable to use her wind to its full potential. The same goes for Tsukiumi after she was locked in a room and about to be crushed. Despite what Takami had me believe, the trap that Minaka set in the server room didn’t turn out to be that scary either, thanks to Kusano being around to keep the spiky electrical machines at bay. As such, the real surprise is that the crazy M.B.I. president went and activated the self-destruct that he had built into the tower. It sure as hell seemed uncalled for when Minato and Musubi weren’t anywhere near the top floor, plus the Sekirei outside had started fighting amongst themselves like he was hoping for. Talk about excessive measures all to prevent Minato from getting some M.B.I. technology to save Chiho’s life.

With some major landscaping happening as a result of the tower’s collapse, I’m at a loss on where this series is headed even if it does see a third season. For now, the focus seems to be shifting back to the vendetta that Karasuba has with Yume, which she’ll realize through Musubi’s inheritance of her spirit. However, I somehow get the feeling that it will remain pretty open-ended as well, meaning the only real thing that will be resolved is the situation with Chiho. So um, was blowing up the tower really necessary?

* Note: Sanada Nishi’s Sekirei, Kuzuri, Kujika, and Shijime actually spoke up in this episode, but they don’t really have any set seiyuu to play them yet. Instead, it’s just one of the extra voices for the other nameless Sekirei we’ve come across.

Preview

「#25」

The short version of this post would be, “Wow.” Thanks to the climactic end to ETU’s biggest game that spanned seven episodes, this series sure delivered one adrenaline-pumping finish to the series. The excitement was off the scale and reminded me exactly why I picked up this show in the first place. It gave me goosebumps! The biggest surprise is that Natsuki wasn’t able to make good on the chances Gino gave him, but Sugie sure did when ETU was awarded a free kick from Hiraga hauling down Tsubaki. I still can’t believe Hiraga didn’t even get a yellow card for such a blatant play, but the fake-out from Akasaki and Gino on their set play sure made up for it. I absolutely loved the overdramatic way the tying goal played out on Osaka’s side too, because everyone was freaking out when it wasn’t Akasaki taking the free kick. “It’s Gino!” It was even better when Hiraga realized just moments before Gino sent the ball over to Sugie too, since it served as an extra kick in the face to the highly touted Gunners. What happened to all those national team representatives on the defense Osaka!? *does a victory dance*

Coming into this episode, I was really hoping that Tsubaki would score — I really did. In fact, I even had the same look of disbelief on my face when he rung it off the crossbar after receiving a pass from Murakoshi. However, after all that build up that Sera got about his struggles as a forward and never being able to score a goal despite his desperate struggle to do so, it felt only befitting that he’d score the winning goal here and pull off the biggest upset of the season. It may not have been the prettiest goal, diving head first at a rebound and sacrificing his body in the face of Terauchi’s clearing attempt, but it reiterated the fact that Sera’s a player who wasn’t blessed with the talent or the physique to be a superstar yet can still contribute within his limitations by working hard. In a way, it was almost an underdog story within an underdog story, so it was nice to see both him and the team rewarded in the best way possible — giving the undefeated Osaka Gunners their first loss of the season. While this may only be sports anime, the uproar from the crowd and just ecstatic celebration from the team was just awesome to take in. It’s a bit of a shame that Sakai didn’t have a role in this game outside of encouraging Sera when he was injured though. In lieu, reserve forward Miyano and midfielder Hotta sure filled in nicely for Akasaki and Sugie after their tying goal.

Ultimately, the most credit goes to Tatsumi and his strategy revolving around Dulfer’s hesitation to switch out Hiraga. By the time Dulfer finally caved that he had to take his captain and Hauer out, it had already become a huge mind game that him and his players had already lost to. There may not have been any sparks in the closing handshake between the two, but it wasn’t hard to sense the frustration in Dulfer’s eyes. The final group shot of ETU on the other hand was simply bad ass and had me really hoping that their eventual rematch will be animated some day. The next and final episode looks like it’s going to be a purely epilogue-type one, with the exception being Akasaki’s invitation to the Olympic team. Somehow, a lighthearted ending with a curry party feels like a good note to conclude things on.

Preview

「君に届かない」 (Kimi ni Todokanai)
“It Doesn’t Reach You”

Oh my… did the Gachi Ranger misunderstandings just come to a stop? That was the pinnacle of humor surrounding Hitoha, so saying it’s a bit of a downer would be the understatement of the year. Why’d she have to come out of the closet and show everyone she’s a die-hard Gachi fan? To make matters worse (as far as I’m concerned), everyone was receptive to her hobby because they happen to like the live-action super heroes to a degree as well. What the heck is that!? I swear it’s all Miyashita’s fault. She had to get all curious about Hitoha and try to be her friend. For goodness sake, let the creepy quiet girl read her porn books in peace so that the Gachi Ranger misunderstandings can continue! I think the one saving grace is that Yabecchi wasn’t around when that was all cleared up, so at least there’s still one avenue where the hilarity can persist on. The nicer and more understanding side of me says that I should be happy for Hitoha, but it would be an outright lie to do so when it’s no secret that I love the humor that stems from misunderstandings.

Take Ogata Airi for example. After believing that her ultimate rival for Shinya’s love was a soccer ball, she’s now convinced that it’s panties he loves more than anything else in the world. End result: She’s vowed never to wear underwear again out of spite. All that was needed was Futaba passing off some mistaken information to Airi and that thought running completely wild in her mind to produce some hilarious results. That type of material is almost always an easy sell to me, much like when Airi was attempting to perform her version of seppuku to repent for hitting Shinya in the face during dodgeball. Now I know girls can be vicious to one another, but Shiori and Mayumi’s instant change of heart towards Airi took that statement to new levels. It came like a flick of a switch in their brains and filled them with malicious intent, which was pretty priceless because Futaba was among them for no real reason other than stupidity. That’s on top of asking for it in the face with the three girls hopelessly in love with Shinya, a statement that could be easily misunderstood in more ways than one.

Potentially masochistic girls aside, I just love how the actual sadist Mitsuba is so unbelievably weak to further contrast how reality doesn’t live up to the image she gives off. In fact, it’s pretty amazing that the ball she threw even made it to Chiba. As for Miyashita, I’m still not convinced that suffering the fate of being a character defined by the two hairpins in her bangs is enough to make up for spoiling the Hitoha Gachi Ranger fun, but it’s a step in the right direction. Incidentally, her claim to be the most normal one out of the group makes her just as odd as the rest of the bunch too. Anyway, the final episode next week looks like it’s going to center primarily around the Marui household, which may turn out to be an interesting way to end things off if Shinya gets dragged into it. We can’t have the laughs without it being at someone’s expense can we?

Preview

「一般的な恥じらいです／制服は半脱ぎが相場だよ／君なりの露出プレイじゃなかったのか？」
(Ippanteki na Hajirai Desu / Seifuku wa Hannugi ga Souba da yo / Kimi nari no Roshutsu Purei Janakatta no ka?)
“It’s the Normal Kind of Shyness / Uniforms Half-Worn are the Rage / That Wasn’t Your Form of Exposition Play?”

While I’ve said that Kotomi is a dangerous hormone-pumping sex-crazed teenager verging on Shino and Aria’s levels, I’m now inclined to believe that she’s worse than those two. Being younger and infinitely dumber, she has me believing that every brain cell of hers that would’ve been capable of learning is already filled with dirty thoughts. She sure isn’t doing her image any favors by openly talking to her brother about it that’s for sure, leaving me wondering what kind of conversations she has with her own friends. If there’s one sensible person among them, I can just picture that poor soul being driven up a wall as much as Tsuda. In her brother’s case, at least Shino and Aria are incredibly smart and have the whole student council bit to help balance out that unusual side to their personalities.

In comparison, I can’t imagine what unsuspecting people make of Kotomi’s behavior, which is driven by her one track mind about sex even when it comes to guessing answers on her Ousai Gakuen entrance exam. How writing down “3P” (i.e. threesome) got her enough marks to pass is beyond me. At this point, it’s probably safe to say that Yokoshima fudged things up nicely after learning of the inexplicable workings of Kotomi’s mind that amaze even her. Evidently, there’s wrong and then there’s sweaty gym mats wrong. Clearly, Yokoshima must have been having a serious off-day, so much that Tsuda was just as shocked as Shino and Aria about her sex drive not reacting to the prospect of taking a stalk of green onion up the butt. Upon seeing that, I’m going to have to give credit to Kotomi for re-sparking her lustful desire and awakening that fiery home wrecker within her. It’s still amazing how Kotomi herself is right at home in the squeezing hands of Shino, which further reiterated that she’s a failure of a human being she at this moment. Future prospects don’t look good for her, as she’ll likely only have AV idol, AV idol, or AV idol to choose between. At least she’d be putting her money where her mouth is, or more correctly, her mouth where the money is. *diverts eyes*

Kotomi aside, the real treat this episode were the little interactions between the student council members themselves. The New Year’s shrine visit was one of them because of the wishes they made. Shino’s insistence that Tsuda wanted to get laid was a good one, but I’m actually curious as to what Suzu’s wish was. I would’ve figured it was growing taller, but that evil look on her face suggested she was out to kill every tall and voluptuous girl out there. Another plus was Shino’s orgasmic noises from Aria’s massage, which quite honestly isn’t the best that Hikasa Youko can do. Viewers of Seikon no Qwaser will know that she can make way more sexually arousing noises than that. On the other hand, the Valentine chocolates Shino made for Tsuda and cast off as some she received added a nice and flustered touch to the relationship tease, but Aria’s white chocolate-filled “semen” cookies were in a league of their own. I don’t think I’ll ever look at melted white chocolate the same way again.

Seeing as the school was completely devoid of males not too long ago, I can’t blame guys like Yanagimoto Kenji (Shiraishi Minoru) for expecting chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Incidentally, that made it an even bigger kick in the face when he found out that all the girls have abandoned the male species and found companionship among themselves. Aw, now isn’t that sweet? A school full of teenage lesbians. Anyway, with Kotomi “ninja-ing” her way into Ousai with her perverted jutsu, it’s a bit of a shame that the next episode is the last. I was just starting to picture all the antics that she and Yokoshima would’ve gotten into together while teaching one another new and interesting “things” too.

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