UN-GO 05 — Shitting Gold Bricks

UN-GO,

Out his tank.

You’re Shitting Me, General

The thing I love the most about UN-GO is how the mysteries are actually mysteries. It’s highly non-obvious how the cases will turn out.  I mean, take a look at this guy:

How can he not be evil? Any intelligent viewer will instantly think that this guy is the murderer. I decided he was the murderer before there was a murder. And these three heroes? Psshaw. How could this “bombing” possibly not be an inside job? Then the son reading the tragic story turns out to be an actor? Guilty as charged.

But the thing is, UN-GO assumes the viewer is intelligent, and takes advantage of that. We cycle through several other theories before arriving at my initial ideas. Then I thought, “Hey! That’s what I thought! These people aren’t idiots!” Only to immediately have my theory (and Shinjuuro’s) shattered by Inga’s question. But then at the end of the episode, after many more twists and turns, it turns out he was still guilty of a different crime.

There are so many layers to the mystery. As I mentioned before, it’s like an onion. And the characters and mysteries are actually intelligent. It’s not like Gosick where the mystery is completely obvious in the first five seconds and we spend twenty minutes watching the detective act like a moron.

Horseshit

I think there was supposed to be some heartbreaking scene about the defeated detective giving up on the truth and on humanity, when he was talking to Kaishou’s daughter and she was bawling. It didn’t really strike a cord with me emotionally though, because I was busy laughing hysterically at her horse. She overhears her father’s conversation and immediately goes bounding off on her horse. When she starts crying, she nearly tramples Shinjuuro to death. She definitely lied about why she uses the horse in that earlier episode.

The horse was funny, but a bit out of place. There were a few other scenes that stood out for being great though. I especially enjoyed Inga’s appearance as a female in this episode, as she snuck up on Izumi. Izumi beats Saber for girl in suit of the season, hands down.

I also appreciated seeing everyone’s reactions to the unveiling of the truck, at the beginning of the episode. I had already concluded that the terrorist attack was an inside job, and it was nice to see Shinjuuro share my opinion. His sigh here was more expressive than any words could have been. The contrast is even more pronounced when we have the audience applauding, Inga oohing and ahhing, and Kazamori just staring blankly ahead.

Bullshit

A.K.A. my own random thoughts, which are actually utterly brilliant, but I had to continue the theme in titles.

  • What a dumb place to hide gold bricks. He should go dig a hole somewhere instead of hiding them in plain sight in a museum.
  • I love having the stereotypically evil guy who loves war preaching to the main character about the beauty of humanity. The best part is he actually means it.
  • Great idea with the red marks on the face being the big hint! I thought it was strange when I first saw it, but didn’t think much of it, and it ended up being so critical.
  • Overall, a great episode. This has managed to become my favorite show that’s currently airing, next to Penguindrum.

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

Mathematical Proof that Yuri is a Realm of Endless Possibilities

Discussion,

Well, exponentially greater possibilities, at least.

One of the great things about yuri (or yaoi, or, even better, bisexual characters) is that the number of possible shippings increases exponentially more with the number of characters. Let’s look at why yuri is awesome and learn a bit of graph theory while we’re at it!

First of all, how do we define a “shipping”? Generally, the term refers to a single couple: for example, I have been shipping Ringo and Shouma in Mawaru Penguindrum. However, people can ship multiple couples in a single show: for our purposes, we’ll refer to this set of pairings as a single shipping. To simplify things, we’ll assume that every character is matched to a single partner. So no threesomes or harem end.

Love Graphs

To count how many possible pairings a show has, we’re going to construct a “love graph.” Let’s start with the basics: what is a graph? The graph G = (V, E) is a set of vertices V and a set of edges E. An edge links two vertices in the graph. So in the love graph, each character is a vertex, and edges represent possible romantic links. So (a subgraph of) the love graph for Kimikiss would look like this:

We have the love triangle surrounding Kazuki, Kouichi’s love triangle, and Eiji as Kouichi’s rival for Mai. Note that the graph is bipartite: we can divide the vertices into two sets, such that all edges in the graph cross from one set to the other, simply by picking a set of boys and a set of girls. The pairings in Kimikiss are all straight.

The number of possible shippings, then, is the number of matchings on the love graph. A matching is simply a set of edges which share no common vertex— a set of couples where nobody is two-timing.

Of course, the pairings shown on the above graph are only the ones that the show itself encourages. What if we think that Sakino and Sanada make the perfect couple? Nothing wrong with that (except that Sanada is an asshole for choosing Mai and deserves to die alone and unloved). So the graph we would consider for Kimikiss in counting the number of possible shippings has edges between every pair of characters of the opposite sex. If we permit bisexual pairings, then the love graph becomes complete: there is an edge from every character to every other character in the graph.

Harems

Your typical harem has a single male character of consequence, and n females who are interested in him. How would this love graph look?

It would also be bipartite: the male character is linked to every female character, and there are no links between the female characters. If the graph has n females, then, the love graph has n possible matchings, and there are n possible shippings. Note that no perfect matching exists in the harem love graph: n-1 females must die alone and unloved. This is their lot, and we shall shed no tears for them.

Heterosexual Romance

Now let’s consider shows like Kimikiss and ef, where we have a similar number of males and females. Assume there are n characters, with an equal number of males and females. In this case, a perfect matching exists: to simplify things, we’ll count only the number of perfect matchings, where every character is part of a couple. Once again, the love graph is bipartite, with two fully interconnected vertex sets of size \frac{n}{2}. There are \left(\frac{n}{2}\right)! such pairings. (To see this, we have \frac{n}{2} females to match the first male to, \frac{n}{2} - 1 females to match the second male to, etc. )

Yuri / Yaoi / Bisexual

Next, consider a yuri / yaoi / bisexual show such as Yuruyuri or Simoun, with a cast of n characters, any two of which are a potential item. Now our love graph is complete: every character can form a couple with every other character. Once again, we’ll count the number of perfect matchings. Assuming n is even (which it must be for a perfect matching to exist) we can determine that the number of perfect matchings is \phi(n) = (n-1)(n-3)\cdots3 \cdot 1 using a similar argument to last time.

Conclusions

To summarize:

So, the number of characters being equal, a show where the genders are evenly distributed has \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{n}{2}-1\right)! times as many perfect (well, for one gender) matchings as a standard harem . And yuri shows have

\frac{\phi(n)}{\left(\frac{n}{2}\right)!} = \frac{1}{\frac{n}{2}} \prod_{i=1}^{n/2 -1} \frac{2i+1}{i} \ge \frac{2}{n} \prod_{i=1}^{n/2-1} 2 = \frac{2}{n} 2^{n/2-1} = \frac{1}{n} 2^{n/2}

times as many possible perfect matchings as a heterosexual show.

So there we have it. Yuri is awesome, a realm of exponentially greater possibilities. Q.E.D.

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing 04 — You go Goat!

Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing,

This… has got to be the strangest piece of fanservice I’ve seen in a long while. What the heck, goat?

Overall, this episode took a step back, slowed down and took a closer look at the characters over dinner and a planning session.

Yuri Goggles ON

This whole episode was screaming yuri. First we have Fam and Millia sharing a bed.

Then we had this onboard the ship:

Ah, so many possibilities!

We’re also back to more fanservice, like the first episode: we have Fam and Millia in their undergarments, Millia failing to put on Giselle’s shirt, and that goat. It wasn’t nearly as jarring as the first episode, however.

The Action

The slower parts were enjoyable. This show has this cutesy feel to it that’s hard to explain: it manages to look childish and cute, but also seem somewhat mature at the same time.

The real highlight for me is the action though. That vanship chase and attempted capture were pretty exhilarating. The creators know how to do this right. Many shows (*cough cough* Shana) think an exciting action sequence involves people staring at each other and shouting out their motivations and the names of their next move.

But no, the exciting thing about action shows is that anything could happen next: a moment’s difference in timing can mean the difference between life and death. In this episode, see the vanship’s entry into the ship as it submerged, for example, and Fam and Giselle nearly drown. Also the midair fight between the two vanships: that was pretty exciting.

I will say though, I found the portrayal of the Silvana a bit off-putting. They’re supposed to be a world renowned ghost ship. And their captain has to fly out personally to deal with a single unarmed vanship after they’re blinded? A bit of a disappointment: I’d have expected them to be at least mildly competent. But whatever, it is more exciting this way.

Finally, a quick update: we now have a Google+ page. Follow us here!

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

Mirai Nikki 05 — Go Go Power Rangers

Mirai Nikki,

I feel like I never have anything to say about this show except “Crazy people! This is awesome!”.

Twelfth — Last and Least

Not all diary holders are made equal. And Twelth is certainly among that group.

Come on. I mean, he wears a paper bag over his head and plays at being a power ranger? The ‘Diary of Righteousness’? At least he didn’t last long.

One thing I do like about this show is how most of the characters don’t actually want to win the game and become God. They just keep doing what they would have done anyway, but with supernatural aid. Twelve fits in this pattern, along with Yuno, Yukkiteru, and Fourth.

Goodbye Sixth

She wasn’t here for long, and she won’t be missed much, but Sixth was decent while she lasted. The whole backstory with the ball and her tragic past were yawn inducing, but bearable. I did like the twist they pulled with her at the end though. It’s pretty similar to Yuno, except they didn’t give any hint of her true leanings until it was too late.

It was a bit unbelievable (ok, completely unbelievable), but who cares? Mirai Nikki’s appeal does not include logic.

Still, Sixth did fulfill a useful purpose: to make Yukkiteru trust Yuno again. Sixth appeared much more innocent than Yuno, but ended up being equally deranged. Yuno, at least, is crazy about protecting Yukki, albeit in her own messed up way. I can only imagine that by the end of the game Yukkiteru will have developed some profound gynophobia.

Also, I love a jealous Yuno. That scene where Sixth was dragged into the wall was much more funny than it should have been. Not to mention Yukkiteru getting dragged in opposite directions by the two girls. What a player!

Yukkiteru also is starting to become less of a sniveling coward. Ok, well he’s still sniveling, but he’s doing it while he’s running to save Yuno, not when he’s running in the opposite direction.

Ninth and Fourth

(Spoiler Alert) This is something I don’t entirely understand myself. Pairing up ninth and fourth makes absolutely no sense.  One is a cop and the other is a terrorist. But it works so well. Honestly, they are my favorite couple in the series, above even Yuno and Yukki.

Opposites attract, I suppose. But I think part of it is that there’s just so much tension undergirding their relationship. Star-crossed lovers and all that.

Dismemberment and Rape

These sure are popular topics lately. Not that I’m complaining. I love crazy people. With Mirai Nikki, C^3, and Penguindrum, this has been a pretty good season for insanity. And for dismembered limbs.

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

Fate / Zero 06 — Reckless Driving

Fate / Zero,

This is more like it! The war is finally getting going.

Problem: Your series is slow and filled with talking heads.

Solutions:

  1. Explosions.
  2. Murder.
  3. Betrayal.

This never fails. Unless you’re Guilty Crown.

Boom!

What a great scene at the hotel. Waver’s teacher is inside, sipping wine in his penthouse suite, confident that no one will reach him through all the traps that have been laid. And no one does. After making sure that everyone has evacuated, Kiritsugu simply levels the entire building. He doesn’t even need his servant or magic to win the Holy Grail war!

Speaking of which, Kirei doesn’t seem to need his servant to win either. If he had gone to fight Gilgamesh himself, I don’t think the result would be quite so one-sided.

I doubt Lancer’s master is dead yet though. Waver’s got to be the one to take down his teacher, and that woman was just introduced. My understanding is that she provides the mana, he provides the command seals. What exactly is their relationship though? They didn’t seem to be on the best of terms. Co-workers at the magic school?

Serial Killers

So Chibinium was right last week: Caster thinks Saber is Joan d’Arc.Why? Is is it just because they look the same?

In a universe where King Arthur is present a thousand years after death, however, I’m inclined to think it isn’t a coincidence. Could Saber have been summoned as a Heroic Spirit in France while Caster was alive?

Speaking of which, I wonder why Caster is so obsessed with Joan. Is it because he loves her and wants to serve her once again, or because he loves her and wants to burn her at the stake himself?

Either way, this “Babel Tower of corpses” is going to be fun.

Betrayal

Gilgamesh’s betrayal of Tohsaka is coming into place now. The reason: because he’s “boring.” I have to agree with Gilgamesh for once. Tohsaka certainly is boring.

Kirei’s conversation with Gilgamesh was pretty interesting. What does Kirei wish for? He doesn’t even know himself.

It looks like we’re in for a session of teaming up on Caster next week. I hope he doesn’t die first. He definitely has the potential to spice things up. The teaming up makes you think about the original Fate / Stay Night though: why didn’t Kirei do the same thing to stop Caster and Rider when they began to murder people? I suppose it speaks to his character.

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!