All posts by draggle

Fall 2011 — First Impressions

Seasonal Impressions, ,

I’ve loosely ranked this season’s new offerings from worst to best. I did the same thing this summer as well, since I was away and couldn’t make individual first impression posts. I found the last list useful, both for reference and to compare with how things turned out at the end in my post-season post. This time the list will be more concise since I’ve already written at length on every first episode.

Overall, this seems to be a step back from the last two seasons, but last season especially was an outlier. So I’m not going to read much into it. Anyway, Penguindrum is still airing, so I have no complaints.

22. Maken-ki!
Pointless fighting and fanservice show of the season. This has to have the most worthless protagonist I’ve ever seen in an anime. And I’ve seen a lot. Dropped.

21. Tamayura ~hitotose~
I already said everything that needs to be said in my post. Dropped

20. Kimi to Boku
Tamayura, but with cynical whiny men. Dropped.

19. Mashiroiro Symphony
Makes Hoshizora e Kakaru Hoshi look inspired. Dropped.

18. ϕ Brain
Starting to bore me. What’s the point of a show about puzzles, if you can’t solve the puzzles? Soon to be dropped.

17. Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
As the show progresses, it’s less and less clear what it’s supposed to be about. It’s terrible, but in such a way you can’t tear your eyes from the unfolding disaster.

16. Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!
The first episode was pretty good. But then they dropped the fighting, lost all sense of focus, and turned it into your typical harem.

15. Shakugan no Shana III
Off to a good start. But it’s Shana.

14. Persona 4
Too faithful to the game. The second episode slowed down and was a vast improvement.

13. Working’!!
Still funny (esp. Yamada) but the jokes are getting stale.

12. Ben-to
Ridiculous, humorous premise.

11. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Second episode was better, it’s been pretty funny.

10. Chihayafuru
I’m usually not fond of this kind of thing, but Chihayafuru is quite solid.

9.   C³ : Cubed X Cursed X Curious
What can I say, I like crazy people.

8.   Hunter x Hunter
Off to a great start, especially for the notoriously slow shounen fighting genre.

7.   Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing
I still have no idea how this will turn out. Could go either way.

6.   UN-GO
Same thing: no clue where this will go.

5.   Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Childish, but solid and enjoyable.

4.   Shinryaku!? Ika Musume
Still going strong, they aren’t out of jokes yet.

3.   Fate / zero
Starting off slowly, but I’m confident it will get better once it gets going.

2.   Guilty Crown
It sure looks pretty. So far the characters are lacking, but hopefully the first episode was just a tease.

1.  Mirai Nikki
It’s intense and thrilling, but wouldn’t have made my top five last season.

What did you think of this season’s shows? I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments!

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Mirai Nikki 02 — Bombs, Kisses and Frilly Dresses

Mirai Nikki,

Well, that was fun. Explosions, frilly dresses and Yuno, what more could anyone ask for?

The Ninth

She’s one of my favorite characters from the manga (next to Yuno). For those of you wondering (warning: spoilers), she will come back, better than ever! With an eyepatch!

But really, we haven’t seen much of Minene yet (and it was the same way in the manga). Right now she’s just a crazy terrorist who shoots smoke bombs out of her skirt and pulls a motorcycle from hammerspace, but she becomes much more interesting as the story progresses.

Yukiteru, and Why I Don’t Hate Him

I often complain about spineless male leads and how much I hate them. So let me clarify: I don’t hate pathetic characters. What I hate is indifferent characters. For example, take the typical harem protagonist. He is surrounded by beautiful girls, but treats them all equally and has no interest in taking anything further. He lives his life just walking around town and tripping into girls’ breasts. He is a “nice guy” who just accepts things as they are. If a character himself can’t be assed to care about his own life, then why should I?

Yukiteru is different. He’s pathetic, spends all his time on his phone, and has no friends. But he isn’t indifferent. He knows exactly how pathetic he is. He hates himself more than anyone else does, and wants to change.

This episode did well at showing how Yukiteru feels about himself. He is deathly afraid: first of getting blown to smithereens, and second of his newfound stalker, Yuno, in that order. He has to rely on Yuno to survive. And you can tell from his words, shaking and eyes just how much he hates having to depend on her. But he’s desperate. He even kisses her to get her to help him (although hey, I bet he liked it).

Which brings me to another point: in what other series are the lead characters, who just met, kissing by the second episode?

The Trouble with Adaptations

The trouble with an adaptation, especially of a manga that you loved, is that you’re constantly comparing it to the original. If you thought the original version was amazing, it’s hard for a second attempt to measure up.

So, in line with this pattern, I enjoyed this episode, although not as much as I enjoyed the same part of the manga. Three reasons I can think of: a) I already knew what was going to happen, so there was less of a thrill, b) it’s harder to get the pacing right in an anime, since the reader of a manga can skim through the pages as fast or slow as desired, or c) the anime simply was not as well presented. I’m leaning towards a combination of (a) and (b).

However, already knowing what’s going to happen doesn’t always lessen the excitement. I’ve been rewatching Code Geass (for the sixth time!) and have found it nearly as exciting as my first watch through. So we can’t entirely blame it on already knowing what’s going to happen.

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Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing — First Impression

Impressions,

This episode didn’t get off to the best start. We had a little girl strip to her undergarments and sleepwalk out the door of an airplane. Next, the OP includes three naked girls and another girl fondling some guy’s private parts. Then we accuse enemy commanders of being perverts, and watch a princess go skinny-dipping.

Fortunately, the fanservice mostly disappeared for the second half of the episode, which was a vast improvement. The battles look nice at least, although I still prefer the style of the original Last Exile.

But where are the male characters? This isn’t going to become K-On in the sky, I hope? The battles give some hope, but the politics at the moment are much too simplistic, and the character designs too childish.

The music for the opening fight sequence was downright obnoxious. And what rate does this planet rotate at? Those moons were drifting by at an unbelievable rate.

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Fate / Zero 03 — Rider vs. Clinton

Fate / Zero,

I can’t make fun of Waver and Rider too much this week, since the segment with Rider watching TV was hilarious. Buying B-2s, but hating stealth? Bill Clinton, a more formidable foe than Darius III? Riiiight.

Forcing Waver to the top of the bridge was amusing as well, although that may only be because I enjoy watching him suffer.

Conspiracies

So it seems that Tohsaka was in on the plan to send assassin to the mansion. But does he know that assassin isn’t actually dead? I’m guessing yes, the plan is probably to fool the other masters into thinking assassin is gone until they get stabbed in the back.

A bigger question, though, is whether Gilgamesh knows. Tohsaka is acting as Gilgamesh’s servant (which is quite amusing, I might add) but it seems that he isn’t being entirely level with him.

Finally, what is Tohsaka planning with the independent action class skill? For those who aren’t familiar with the original F/SN, the archer class can stick around for a few days without a master, while the other classes disappear more quickly. Is Tohsaka planning to die? I doubt it. But there are other ways to lose your servant. We know that in the end, Kirei will end up as Gilgamesh’s master. So it’s a question of how we get there.

A Date on the Beach

Irisviel continues to annoy me. She’s boring: Ilya but without her cruelty or childishness. Basically she’s too perfect. And with Butler Saber the problems only compound.

I’ll be honest, although saying this is almost heretical: I have never particularly cared for Saber. She’s too perfect. I greatly prefer the horribly broken characters such as Sakura (maybe this is why I like Ringo from Penguindrum so much).

Other Matters

Saber’s riding skill allows her to fly planes like she’s holding onto the reins. OK, whatever. This kind of stuff makes me think that this entire story is fanfiction. Why does it matter?

Kiritsugu is cheating on his wife? Well, the wife is kind of cheating on him too, so…

They could stand to pick up the pace a bit. It’s already the third episode and most of the time has been spent with people standing alone talking to themselves. We’ve had people claim, at the end of the episode, “the war is beginning!” not once but three times. Seriously, just start the war already.

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Mawaru Penguindrum 14 — Yuri

Mawaru Penguindrum,

I guess her name should have been a hint. Amazing episode.

The Tragedy of M

Why is Yuri’s play tragic? The ending seems happy at first glance: Yuri and her lover fly off into the sunset, arm in arm, on the wings of a swan. But the reveals from the remainder of the episode paint the play’s ending in a different light. Yuri’s marriage is a lie meant to make her forget her past with Momoka. There is no love between her and her husband: they are but tied together by the cruel wheel of fate (as the swan is tied to the ceiling), unable to fly free. The lie they have constructed weighs down their dreams and true desires, just as the false swan is burdened by the weight of the couple. The feathers that they once used to fly are torn from their wings and scattered in the wind. Tabuki and Yuri are birds in a cage. This is the Tragedy of M(atrimony).

The Princess of Lies

The episode’s title, the Princess of Lies, refers to Yuri’s status as a celebrity and her propensity for lying. It also appears to be a clear reference to the Prince of Lies, Satan. The tragic character of Milton’s Lucifer bears many similarities to Yuri.

All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deifie his power,
Who from the terrour of this Arm so late
Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy and shame beneath
This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods
And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event
In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc’t,
We may with more successful hope resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal Warr
Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,
Who now triumphs, and in th’ excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n.

Paradise Lost 1:106-124

Lucifer wages eternal war against heaven, even though he must surely fail: so, too, does Yuri (and Kanba) wage eternal war against fate. With deceit and guile, Yuri lures the unsuspecting Ringo into eating the fruit of carnal knowledge (and hopefully Ringo will share some with Shouma). Yuri claims that she has abandoned her past, but this is a lie: in her pride, she will not bow down to fate and sue for grace. Her body is that of a monster, and no one will ever accept her again.

So what is the mystery of Yuri’s body? I’m going to guess that she isn’t entirely a woman. She’s having an affair with a woman who dresses as a man, and apparently only a woman can satisfy her. So yeah.

To briefly incorporate the ongoing gnostic comparisons, the archons (Yuri) see the reflection of Sophia (Momoka) in the waters, and long for her. When they see the same light of Sophia (Momoka) within Eve (Ringo), they rape her and she bears their children.

Ringo and Shouma

Gah, this was too much. I’ve been shipping the two of them since the second episode, but really, this has exceeded my wildest expectations. The scene where Ringo clung to Shouma’s shirt as he refused to accept her forgiveness was too adorable. He even has her crying. I don’t think she ever did that for Tabuki. The aftermath was adorable as well, where it turned out that Ringo had elaborately planned out her “I wasn’t waiting long” greeting and was embarrassed. I could say more, but just have some pictures.

Other Observations

  • Note Yuri’s bondage ropes: they’re red. She and Ringo have become entangled in the strings of fate.
  • We see Yuri / Akiho’s car. I was wondering when they’d import this from Utena.

  • Masako’s entrance to the subway car was awesome. While she knocks out the men in suits, her penguin replaces Kanba’s perverted pictures with pictures of herself. Then Masako places her foot in a very suggestive position. Kanba is a top-notch womanizer, as his eyes are focused up her skirt the entire time, even as he trips her.
  • Masako’s words seem to lend some weight to the theory that Kanba and Himari are not actually related.
  • I liked Sanetoshi’s answer to when Himari will be released from the hospital: “When the secrets of the world are revealed.”

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