All posts by draggle

Steins; Gate 21 — The Hostage has Escaped

Steins; Gate,

Through death.

So this was another Mayushii episode, the calm before the storm in which Okabe spends some time with her before the final battle.

I’ll be honest: with Okabe’s all-encompassing drive to save Mayushii, I’m surprised that even Christina’s impending death was able to sway him from his course. But as Mayushii dies again and again, I expect him to at least attempt something (if Christina doesn’t do it herself first). Christina’s death may be the key to preventing Mayushii’s death: her murder is much more suspicious than Mayushii’s diverse array of deaths, and seems to have a clear-cut cause other than the spirit of the universe conspiring against her. This also means that it will be easier to prevent. And who’s to say if Mayushii won’t die just a day later in the original universe as well? What Okabe really needs to do is bring the watch to get repaired, that should keep her going for a few more years.

This episode continued to bring home how unavoidable fate is in the Steins; Gate multiverse. Okabe tried to commit suicide to save Mayushii, only for her to jump in front of the car to save him. The only way to change fate is to run away to a different timeline. But this seems to me like an intrinsically selfish action, unless we accept the notion that there is one true universe, the one Okabe inhabits. Otherwise, the characters in all the other universes are still left to their fates. It is only Okabe that gets a happy ending. In this sense, to say that Okabe is doing everything for Mayushii’s sake is foolish. The Mayushiis that will die, will die, regardless of Okabe’s actions. The only thing he controls is whether he lives in a universe with a living or a dead Mayushii.

On her deathbed, Mayushii confesses that she is grateful she was finally “useful” to Okabe. Of course, Okabe does not feel the same about this particular act of “usefulness,” but regardless… She mentions the same thing on the phone, that she is being a burden to Okabe. And then once again in the graveyard, where she worries about Okabe’s suffering. My guess is that Mayushii’s realization of self-worth will be integral to her eventual salvation.

The bleeding over of the parallel universes continues in full force, with Mayushii now remembering her own deaths and all of the lab members, including Suzu who she should have never met in this timeline. Soon everyone will be seeing Steiner. The only one left is Christina, and once she does remember the past universes, I’m sure she’ll make more sense of things than Okabe.

Speaking of Christina, the dialogue between her and Okabe continues to be superb, twenty episodes later. Here’s my favorite sequence from this episode:

Ah, I can’t get enough of this. I’m kind of surprised Okabe actually thought he was fooling anyone though. The next episode should be good: it looks like it will be Christina-centric, with her hunting the building she was killed in for clues.

Hanasaku Iroha 21 — The Bitch is Back

Hanasaku Iroha,

The old Minko returns.

There was a lot going on in this episode: Enishi and Takashi decide to get married, the inn prepares to host their wedding, and Minko throws a fit.  The part about the wedding was good, except for the couple acting all love-dovey. I didn’t think these two could possibly get more annoying, but I’ve been proven wrong. I especially liked that we got to see a bit more of the grandmother’s past.

Minko’s trip to the beach with Tohru was entertaining, where he reveals he wants five kids. Minko isn’t so sure about that plan. She wants to have his children, of course, but five seems a bit too many. Tohru realizes that Minko is upset about something, and thinks it is about the difficulties of becoming a chef. Man this guy is dense. Minko gives a near-confession, and then Tohru starts talking about how great Ohana is. Minko gets jealous and returns to her old ways of calling Ohana names and attacking her in the bath.

So… I guess this is a step towards more drama? Another fight with Minko is not exactly what I had in mind though. In the earlier episodes, it added a lot because we didn’t actually know Minko yet, and Ohana was having all these other difficulties moving to the inn. But now, it just really doesn’t raise the tension for me. How are we supposed to take this fight seriously? We all know that Ohana has no interest in Tohru, that Minko likely has no chance with Tohru, and that Minko throws fits like this all the time. They’ll reconcile in a day or two. The funny thing is, Ohana seems to just be rolling her eyes at Minko’s routine as well. She doesn’t even bother chasing after Minko after being assaulted in the bath. When Minko shuns her at lunch time, Ohana just goes to eat with Yuina and Nako. Now that Ohana actually has some friends, Minko’s fits are less effective. In fact it’s probably backfiring, as Minko is the one without any friends now.

The ending of the episode, where it’s revealed that Enishi won’t be inheriting the inn, seems to be the lead in to the show’s conclusion. I’m guessing that either Ohana or her mother will become the heir, or the grandmother is planning to shut the inn down. The latter option seems more likely, since then there will be some final battle: Ohana and friends must save the inn from closure. I do hope they resolve Ohana’s love life though. Or realistically, just have Ohana do anything other than smile and look cute. It’s been how many episodes now since anything happened involving her?

Dantalian no Shoka 06 — Magical Lyrical Libricide

Dantalian no Shoka,

One thing I can say for sure about Dantalian: it never does what I expect it to. This episode came as another big surprise. The creators completely ditched Dalian and Huey to instead focus on a new pair of Phantom Book collectors— Flamberge, the bearer of the long-lost library, and her keykeeper Hal, a Libricide. The two have some feisty banter similar to Huey and Dalian, but their game mainly focuses on insults such as “piece of junk”. It became a bit repetitive in comparison to the more original infighting we’ve become accustomed to.

I spent most of the episode wondering when Hal was going to fulfill his title of Libricide and start burning books. But I was still surprised by how he did it— by placing a book into his Raging Heart-style staff of Sutr and burning it to cast a powerful single use AoE spell. It’s a cheap shot but limited ammunition.

I have to wonder— the title of Libricide suggests that Hal and Flamberge’s goal isn’t to prevent the misuse of Phantom Books and collect them, as with Huey and Dalian, but to eradicate them and their influence on humans. Will this be a cause of conflict between the two groups in the future? Dalian has the world’s largest library of Phantom books, after all, and didn’t worry about letting those children who were corrupted by the books live. And it appears that the two keepers from this episode are chasing another book keeper who gives away books. I kind of thought it was Dalian at first, but I highly doubt she would give away books like that. This episode seems as if it could be the beginning of an overarching conflict.

One last thing about the two book keepers: try comparing how their books are extracted. Flamberge’s extraction resembles a Caesarean section. Hal reaches in to pull a beast out of the womb (or fallen world) as Flamberge screams in pain. On the other hand, Dalian’s extraction sequence is dignified and nearly orgasmic. Dalian loves books so checking them out is pleasurable, and the checkout counter is located near her heart. Flamberge and Hal seem to despise books, so checking one out is painful and the checkout counter is located in the nether regions of Flamberge’s body.

This episode’s villain and short story were solid, but it was more by the book (ha ha ha ha) than what we’ve become accustomed to: a woman raises an army of puppets to comfort the living in a town devastated by war.

This week’s book is a collection of Taoist sutras. The most famous Taoist work is the Tao Te Ching, if you’ve never read it before then knock yourself out, it’s great. The other item of interest is Hal’s staff, the staff of Surtr. Surtr is a Norse giant who will destroy the world at Ragnarok with his flaming sword (sword / staff, close enough).

Mawaru Penguindrum 06 — Making Out on the Couch

Mawaru Penguindrum,

Ok, this episode helped to satisfy my Shouma and Ringo shipping. 🙂  We got some lover’s quarrels, helping the girlfriend carry luggage, a heart to heart talk with Ringo’s mother and even a make out session on the couch. I’m wondering if as a Ringo and Shouma fanboy it’s time to update my blog banner.

Now that that’s out of the way, it turns out that there’s much more to Ringo than it seemed. The reason she’s stalking Tabuki isn’t because she’s in love with him. It’s because she wants to become her sister who was in love with him, to fulfill her “destiny” and bring her family together in an effort she christens “Project M”.

This makes Ringo seem even crazier than before, but I love it. Not just because it frees her up for Shouma (although that is an excellent side effect), but because it transforms her from your garden variety stalker into a more interesting shade of crazy. I also appreciated how the creators explained so many things through this one twist— Ringo’s parents’ divorce, her relationship with Tabuki, and what turn out to be the tragic origins of Curry Day. It now makes a lot of sense why Tabuki also celebrates Curry Day. Originally, I simply assumed he stole the idea from Ringo. It also casts Ringo’s relationship with her parents in a new light. Based on the fact that Ringo now lives with her mother and isn’t all that close to her father, I would never have guessed that her mother was the one who used to neglect Ringo in favor of her dead sister.

One last thing about Ringo. At first I thought her sister died when she was young, but her sister must have been quite old when she died to have done the… erm… *activities* in the diary. You can tell that the mother didn’t pay enough attention to Ringo from the fact that Ringo’s reading material was definitely not age appropriate.

For risk of sounding like a broken record, I’d like to once again point out that the creators are putting a vast amount of detail and creativity into the animation. For example, just look at all the stuff in the fridge, the crazy antics of the penguins, and Ringo’s delusions. Did everyone notice the Death Note on Ringo’s desk? Penguindrum has so much going on at once that it never gets boring.

This week had some non-Ringo developments as well, centering around Kanba. I know, I know, they’re much less exciting, but deserve mention nevertheless.

The two remaining members of the league of Kanba’s evil ex-girlfriends get hit with the memory erasing slingshot, but this time Kanba is there to witness it. I have to say that Kanba appears to know much more about what’s going on than the audience does. He appears to recognize the husk of the sling ammunition in the hospital room, and warns the girls that they are getting in deeper than they should. What does he know?

The biggest question now is how everything is related. Kanba is paid money with a penguin seal, the slingshot girl shoots penguin bullets and has her own penguin, and both Ringo and the slingshot girl are executing a “Project M”. What ties each of these things together? And did Kanba become involved with the penguins before or after Himari’s possession?

Usagi Drop 07 — Sleepover

Usagi Drop,

Usagi Drop is one of the shows I look forward to most each week, and this episode didn’t disappoint. For a “slice of life” show about parenting, Usagi Drop sure knows how to keep things exciting. The pacing is perfect, and there’s always something interesting going on. It’s making an excellent use of its short length, unlike some other shows this season *cough cough* No. 6 *cough cough*.

This episode centered around Haruko and Reina running away from home, but this timely event was actually used to explore Daikichi’s life just as much as Haruko’s.  It served as an excuse to look at Daikichi’s love life, as well as his relationship with Yukari (Kouki’s mother) through the eyes of an outsider.

It’s pretty amazing how fleshed out the relationship between Daikichi and Yukari has become— and even more so when you consider the fact that Yukari has barely shown up on screen. Her only screen time this week was the brief meeting at the grocery store, and playing dress up with Rin. The creators bring their relationship to life just through a conversation between Daikichi and Haruko, and indirectly through Daikichi’s relationship with Kouki. Hanging out with your dad while your mother buys clothes must be a memory shared by all boys with two parents, so this scene cemented Daikichi’s fatherly role for Kouki to me.

I enjoyed the discussion about marriage too, especially the part where Rin and Reina interrupted, and contrasted marriage and divorce to come to the conclusion that everyone wanted what they didn’t have. Kouki’s rather oblivious questioning of Daikichi’s marriage prospects was a nice touch as well. And Haruko’s words may make Daikichi put some more thought into Yukari’s marital status.

What I like most about Usagi Drop is how understated it is, and how it communicates so much seemingly with so little effort. My favorite scene from this episode was quite simple and short: it’s dark outside, and Rin is rushing home to see Reina, tugging Daikichi along behind her. They turn in front of the house, see it’s lit inside, pause, smile at each other, and head inside. This scene lasted the entirety of fifteen seconds, yet it said more than many shows do in fifteen minutes.