All posts by draggle

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? 07

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka,

In which Haruna gives a brief history of space and time, monsters are defeated with the power of ramen, and Ayumu gets married.

This show is definitely at its best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously and the creators just have fun. That episode with the whale was far and away the best so far, and this episode went more in that same vein of random ridiculousness than the plot-oriented episodes from the past few weeks.

The highlight for me was the Tanabata section of the episode, particularly Haruna’s explanation. Her math lesson was pretty good too, as was the Eu fantasy, as usual. Yuki’s ramen is awesome too. I’m not entirely sold on Yuki as a character yet though, there’s way too much blushing. And she seems really similar to Haruna for some reason – they both have childish tendencies and both seem to be of the smart idiot type (compare: Yuki’s explanation of her ramen and Haruna’s explanation of math). On the positive side, this will probably lead to some interesting arguments. I wasn’t initially  sold on Sera either, and the creators managed to turn into an interesting character, so hopefully my fears are unfounded and Yuki will turn out to be more unique in the coming episodes..

Onii-chan no Koto… 07

Onii-chan no Koto,

In which the A.G.E. goes on a shopping trip, followed by the usual suspects.

This episode entertained me much more than it should have. Shuusuke, Nao and Iroha’s characters are really getting stale at this point. Shuusuke hasn’t done anything recently aside from stare at black pantyhose and look pathetic, and Nao and Iroha haven’t done anything except stalk Shuusuke together. It’s pretty unbelievable that he hasn’t noticed them, but even more, it’s just so old. Can’t they do something else? Why don’t they have some other form of interaction with Shuusuke except stalking him from a distance? And why do Iroha and Nao get along now in the first place?

With that aside, this epsiode really focused on the other members of the A.G.E., and in this aspect it was entertaining. The president in particular has been a consistently enjoyable character. His revelation about his history with the cat was especially funny, as were the club member’s insinuations about each other.

Still, this show really needs to figure out what it wants to do with Nao and Iroha. They do have a lot of potential as characters (especially Nao), and it’s tough to see them completely wasted and relegated as stalkers who make the same jokes over and over again, either enjoying Shuusuke’s patheticness or fondling themselves.

Star Driver 20

Star Driver,

All the build-up is starting to pay off as we enter the final stretch and the answers to the mysteries begin to be revealed. In this episode, we learn more about Takuto’s birth and the fact that Head is actually his father.

So, I’d like to point out that I totally called Head being Takuto’s father from episode 16. 🙂 Cue ten thousand Darth Vader jokes here. Head seems to have been passed over in inheriting the mark from his own father in favor of Takuto. I wonder if Head even realizes that Takuto is his son, with his heart stuck in zero time? I suppose he can’t be that clueless, even though he doesn’t seem to realize how long ago Takuto’s mother left. This also seems to put Head’s relationship with Sakana-chan in a new light, to say the least.

Keito’s first aid skills were awesome in this episode too! Finally we have an anime character who isn’t completely incompetent in an emergency! I wonder how many people die in Japan every year because everyone is too embarrassed to perform CPR? And she even ripped her clothes up too. (… I’ll skip the obvious sequence of dirty jokes here about sucking the venom out vs. CPR, spitting it out…)

This episode raised plenty of new questions in the place of the ones it answered, however. Did the eyepatch guy ever have a son? I wonder if he is related to Sugata somehow, since his arranged marriage seems quite familiar. It also seems to suggest that Takuto’s mother may have been a maiden – is that an inherited position as well? Maybe Takuto and Wako are actually related and we can have the Keito x Takuto ending. I’m pretty sure that Wako and Sugata’s exchange in the courtyard is not what Takuto thought though.

Also, who is the person who Head is waiting for to wake up? He could also be related to Sugata, since his unconscious state is reminiscent of the aftereffects of the King’s pillar. There’s also still an open question as to why Takuto and / or his grandfather are at a higher stage than everyone else. Is this related to why Head was passed over? There are so many questions left unanswered, particularly regarding the history of the island and the Kiraboshi. But at this rate we’re in for a spectacular finale.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 07

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica,

In which Sayaka has a heart to heart talk with Kyouko, Kyoko eats an apple, and Sayaka does something she probably shouldn’t have.

What on earth did Sayaka do to herself at the end of the episode? It was great how they made everything black and white in the witches world so you couldn’t see, even though there was something wrong with her that seemed quite obvious to Madoka. Kyuubey’s hints at the beginning of the episode do not seem to bode well for the state of Sayaka’s soul.

Kyouko turned out to be quite a sympathetic character as well in spite of her eagerness to fight. When she was first introduced she seemed like more of an empty character, brought in to play the role of an antagonist and bust out some crazy dance moves, but now she has quite a bit of depth. The creators did the same thing with Sayaka as well and it turned out excellent. In the first episode I thought she was just some minor side character – so many shows have the friend from class who are there only to either give the main character some tie to the real world or for comic relief. And yet now it seems like Madoka has been thrust into the role of a side-character.

And what a twist, with Madoka and Sayaka’s mutual friend turning out to like the violin boy as well! It did seem to come out of nowhere though – I wasn’t even aware that the two of them knew each other.

This leaves us at quite the cliffhanger for next week though- will Sayaka confess or not, and what was Kyuubey’s suggestion that she listened to? Regardless, things are going steadily in the right direction – downhill.

Hourou Musuko 05

Hourou Musuko,

In which Chiba goes on a killing spree.

And we have yet another amazing episode. I really missed this show over the hiatus. The way the characters are developed is just superb – I honestly don’t think there are any shows that have done this so well since Simoun. Case in point: the guy from Chiba’s church (I’m not sure if we even know his name yet). He hardly had maybe a minute of screen time tops, and we already know so much about him- how he’s in love with Chiba, kind of a jerk, and not easily embarrassed. He already feels more like a real person than three quarters of the characters from any other show this season.

We learn even more about the other characters from their reaction to his question if Nittori was a cross-dresser. The way he said it didn’t really seem that offensive to me – he definitely wasn’t intending to offend anyone, and probably didn’t even realize it was a secret. Nittori didn’t even seem to mind too much, except for the fact that he didn’t want his other classmates to know. Takatsuki storms out of the house in a rage – overprotective much? Chiba tells him he’s a jerk, although I imagine this isn’t the only reason she says that, and Chi thinks Nittori’s cross-dressing is the greatest thing ever.

Chiba continues to be a total badass – she has no qualms whatsoever about saying exactly what she thinks, even if it involves killing everyone, including the apothecary, the friar, and even passerby A. The script for that scene was hilarious, especially how she agreed with Mako’s statement that the world doesn’t revolve around her and Nittori but conveniently left out herself.  Chiba is a great balance to Nittori’s wishy-washiness.