First Impressions / Sora no Otoshimono

Sora no Otoshimono Forte – 08

“Tomoki!”

「空に響く天使達（ウタヒメ）の声」 (Sora ni Hibiku Tenshi-tachi (Utahime) no Koe)
“The Angel’s (Songstresses’) Voices Resound in the Sky”

With the arrival of Chaos, the comedy takes a backseat this week and the emotion-filled drama unfolds in its place. Much like the first season, Nymph is the one who’s victimized again, as Chaos uses her strong emotions against her. After all the focus Nymph’s been getting since her chain was cut, I was really pleased with the way it culminated to this.

First Impressions / Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru – 07

「愛のナイトウ避行」 (Ai no Nai Touhikou)
“Loveless Elopement”

So when they say “Slice of Life”, I suppose you can take it as literally cutting a slice out of your life and animating it. What’s cool is that since we are all different people, all of our experiences are different – and what makes slice of life so great is that anyone can take that slice of whatever they’re showing and almost feel like they could be a part of that, even if that person has never experienced it.

First Impressions / Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai – 07

「Shining Star」

After three episodes, Kanon’s arc finally comes to a close. Given its progression, I question whether three episodes was really necessary to begin with though. Looking back, they probably reiterated her insecurities a lot more than they had to to get that point across, and also took the better portion of an entire episode to show how Keima was being supportive of her — something that Ayumi’s arc managed to do just as well in a single episode.

PV / Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin

Hikasa Youko – LOVE Machine PV (Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin)

[flv:Seikimatsu_Occult_Gakuin_LOVE_Machine_PV.mp4 550 310]

Remember the third Anime no Chikara project last season that turned out to be a little bit of a surprise hit? Well, the first two volumes of DVD/BD releases have been available for some time now, and included with the first one is an anime PV of Hikasa Youko’s cover of Morning Musume’s 1999 hit song “LOVE Machine”. For those with a 3DTV, the Blu-ray release also included a 3D version of this little bonus, which is a part of the character cover songs included in each volume. The theme for the character songs in this series is covers of popular songs from the 1990s simply because the series takes place in 1999. Unfortunately, the later ones don’t feature PVs of the other characters’ songs, but the second volume does include the first of four mini side stories. The first one is titled “Welcome Tsucchii” and is more or less an animated short akin to what you’d expect from a picture drama, and shows Maya with Ami when they were kids and found a legendary snake known as a Tsuchinoko and made it their pet. It’s cute in the sense that we get to see more of Maya’s occult fascination when she was a kid, but doesn’t really add anything to the overall story. I actually prefer the video above with the characters all busting a move near the end of it and Fumiaki freaking out about Junichirou’s corpse’s head falling off. See the full post for some caps of the side story.

First Impressions / Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls – 07

「大日本を覆う影」 (Dai Nippon wo Oou Kage)
“The Shadow Cast Over Great Japan”

“My cottage!!!” That may sound ridiculously random if you haven’t watched this episode yet, but those who have should know what I’m referring to after Kanetsugu decides to make the doghouse outside Yagyuu dojo her new home. I actually went back to that scene several times and found it just as funny as the first time, thanks to Toyosaki Aki’s haughty yet amiable portrayal of our purple-haired disposable samurai.