Sakamichi no Apollon 09 — Romance Done Right

Sakamichi no Apollon,

Wow. This episode completely blew me away. The best episode of the season, by far.

Sakamichi knows how to do romance. To overgeneralize broadly, romance anime tend to come in two flavors: first, the endless back and forth of will they / won’t they, filled with love triangles, such as Kimikiss and True Tears. Then, there are the star crossed lovers who only have external obstacles and their own fear to overcome, such as in Whisper of the Heart.

Both of these styles have their charm (I adore all the shows I mentioned above), but Sakamichi walks a fine line between these two extremes and manages to succeed. There are love triangles which add some tension, but the characters aren’t fickle. The only one who sort of changes her mind is Ritsuko, and I would argue that she doesn’t really change: she simply comes to understand herself better.

My favorite scene was the one where Kaoru met Ritsuko at the park:

Kaoru clearly hasn’t gotten over it. Continue reading Sakamichi no Apollon 09 — Romance Done Right →

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?!! Of the Dead Review — D+

Reviews, ,

If you watched the first season, the sequel is more of the same. Only without even the pretense of having a purpose. It seemed like three quarters of this show was playing dress up and generally pandering to the audience. Now, to be clear, I have nothing against playing dress up and pandering to the audience. But when that’s all your show is about, there’s a problem. Continue reading Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?!! Of the Dead Review — D+ →

Colloqium: Queen’s Blade 6 + 7: A World without Pants

Queen's Blade: Rebellion,

This week’s post is a collaboration with John Sato, Reiseng, redball, and Foshizzel (who provided pictures).

draggle: One of the major ways in which the world of Queen’s Blade differs from our own is that pants do not appear to have been invented yet. All of the female characters (human or otherwise) wear either dresses, short skirts, or undergarments alone. As a study in cultural anthropology, this lack of pants leads to many interesting cultural differences, including the apparent lack of shame at having one’s undergarments exposed. Continue reading Colloqium: Queen’s Blade 6 + 7: A World without Pants →