First Impressions / Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru – 03

「猫省年」 (Neko Shounen)
“Catboy”

Continuing on from last week, this whole “student & teacher” relationship thing started to feel a little overplayed (except I love hearing Sugita Tomokazu, so I don’t mind). At least, that’s what I thought until a stark (but hilarious) reality check comes tumbling in and destroys all of Hotori’s teacher loving affection. What would you expect a teacher to say if you asked them, “Did you happen to fall for me?” Yeah, I didn’t think of anything positive either. Plus, new character this week!

Amagami SS / First Impressions

Amagami SS – 16

「七咲逢編 最終章 コクハク」 (Nanasaki Ai-hen Saishuushou – Kokuhaku)
“Nanasaki Ai Final Chapter – Confession”

Between Ai and Junichi running the girls swim club’s oden booth and Itou Kanae walking away with the Miss Santa championship because Haruka was a no-show, the founder’s festival as a whole didn’t quite have much relationship-related development in it. The two of them were alone together, but too busy serving the endless line of customers that the other members of the swim team were bringing in.

First Impressions / Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai – 03

「ドライヴ・マイ・カー／パーティーはそのままに」 (Doraivu Mai Kaa / Paatii wa Sono Mama ni)
“Drive My Car / A Party Like That”

So it turns out the secret to dancing (and how everything in the world works) is the infamous Konami Code, or at least that’s what any avid gamer will probably conclude. Between that and the big Zaku head bicycle carriage, I wasn’t sure what made me chuckle more like a big geek, but watching Keima work his magic on the surprisingly poor Mio as well as Elise whine about not being able to wear a cute outfit made this episode one to remember.

Miscellaneous / Random Musings

Thank You For Your Continued Support!


Since taking over Random Curiosity, various generous individuals have e-mailed me asking if they could show some financial support for the site. While I had thanked them for their kind gesture at the time, I was intent on keeping the blog self-sustainable as a fan site, regardless of how much my double-edged personal standards made it feel like a second job. What’s more, it just wasn’t in my “style” to accept donations even in light of some trying times when I was forced to change web hosting earlier this month. However, I admit the thought of just dropping all the extra work that goes into maintaining the site and looking forward to days of an abundance of free-time did cross my mind at one point. I found myself working tirelessly for four days straight exploring options to configuring software to get things back up, and ran into one problem after another both in setting up the new server and in real life, and seriously started questioning why I’m working as hard as I am — almost always at the expense of sleep.

* More after the jump…

First Impressions / Hakuouki

Hakuouki Hekketsuroku – 14, 15

「蹉跌の回廊」 (Satetsu no Kairou)
“The Cloister of Failure”

While I originally planned to go with a short manga-style post with a handful of screen caps using the filmstrip layout, I had taken so many after watching these two episodes that arranging them nicely would’ve been more work than just going with the usual format. If I continue taking so many caps, I’ll likely be sticking with this going forward as I cover this series on a bi-weekly basis. If nothing else, the latter gives subs a chance to catch up so that people will actually read my posts. 🙂

First Impressions / Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls – 03

「剣姫（マスターサムライ）の正体」 (Tsurugi Hime (Masutaa Samurai) no Shoutai)
“The Sword Princess’ (Master Samurai) True Identity”

Seeing as all the female characters have yet to be introduced, I haven’t even considered comparing the ones seen thus far. However, if I were to make an early pick, Sen would be my favorite at the moment with that feisty tsundere-like attitude of hers.