Dantalian no Shoka 11 — A Flying Machine that Flies. Nein.

Dantalian no Shoka,

A flying machine that flies. “It was a tiny article, devoid of pictures of any kind, about the Wright brothers,” begins Ias, speaking of the article he found on the ground while doing hard labor in the mine, as he dunks the ball into the hoop. “Though I couldn’t read yet, I instinctively knew what it was about.” He catches the ball as it falls through the net, and passes it to Huey.

“I remember that newspaper too.” Huey twists past Ias and takes a shot. “My dad made such a fuss about it he fell down the stairs.” The ball swishes through the net, and the two best friends join in uproariously laughter at Huey’s father’s misfortune. Now, what better time to recite a 14 year old newspaper article by memory, than over a friendly game of basketball?

Dantalian no Shoka’s brilliant writing has truly soared to new heights, like the wings of a German triplane sailing into the setting sun. We are reading mystical newspaper articles not with the eyes, but with the heart!

This exchange was but one of many gems hidden in this episode.

Heil Goth Loli!

On the second to last episode, a new character is introduced, Rasiel, the library of Raziel (this was the only reference of interest this week). Rasiel is the most compelling character Dantalian has yet seen. Rasiel, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

I love thy dance beneath the silver moon,
the flutter of thy dress which makes me swoon,
thy lengthy socks which seem to never end,
thy broken eye that no doctor can mend.
Thy youth is no concern to you or me,
with breasts voluptuous and round to see.
Rasiel! Hand me the key to thine eye!
Yet alas, I am dead, and say goodbye.
The Bride of War, Daughter of Germany
Honor and laud to thee! Heil, goth loli!

Truly, Rasiel is “the supreme mystery that no man can approach”.

Eternal Friendship

Huey and Ias’ deep friendship will surely last until the end of time. When they first meet, Huey’s first words are that he will kill more people than Ias. But Ias’ gaze penetrates Huey’s soul, just as it penetrated the words of the newspaper in his youth, and he can see that Huey is not a warrior. Ias reads a passage from a book, and Huey is deeply moved. They become bestest best friends forever.

We can tell this because of their deep bonding while playing basketball, and their discussion about how much they love the Wright brothers. They make a solemn promise that they will meet Orville Wright, ask him if he is happy, and get his autograph.

Unfortunately, before they can keep their promise, Ias goes and joins the Germans for personal reasons which go unexplained. We could speculate, but we don’t want to intrude on his privacy, now do we?

A Compelling Plot

This episode had one of the most complex, interleaved plots we have yet seen from Dantalian. We begin with Huey and Ias’ first meeting, and the budding of their lasting friendship.

After the opening, Huey and Ias are trying to kill each other. Ias has joined the Germans. Huey almost loses Dalian’s key, but luckily catches it. This is all so exciting!

Next, we jump to a bar, where Ias tells the bartender how he wants the war to continue forever so that he can finish writing his book. You can feel the depth and intensity of his character here.

Then in a shocking twist, Ias falls unconscious at the bar. He opens his eyes to find himself surrounded by a sea of flames, and we see Rasiel laughing maniacally in front of him. What could have happened?

Ias wakes up from the nightmare to find himself alone in a mansion with Rasiel. She seduces him (we’ve already covered how). He kisses her hand and decides to finish the book he is writing. Then comes the deep bonding over the basketball game.

Now we jump to a giant monster striking down airplanes with its hand. This episode has such smooth, logical transitions. So this is the power of Ias’ phantom book?! Huey is in trouble.

Oh, wait! Huey wasn’t there! That was some other people it swatted down! Now it’s sunny out, and here’s Huey. He reads part of Ias’ book too, and tells Ias that he already died in Paris, with the one he loved. Oh, so that’s why Ias joined the Germans! His lover died and he was broken. I was wondering about that. I’m also wondering about how they can talk to each other while flying airplanes on opposing sides. I bet that’s the power of the phantom book too!

Huey, crying, shoots down Ias. I was a bit teary-eyed here too. The power of friendship!

Ias’ plane crashes and bursts into flames. Ias makes it out unscathed. But wait! Rasiel is waiting for him. She gives him a gentle flick, and he falls over backwards, dead. What a shocker! No, wait! He was already dead, and a phantom book brought him back to life so he could write another phantom book. What Huey said wasn’t a metaphor after all! And the person who brought him back to life was… the BARTENDER from earlier! Who is actually a PROFESSOR!

We end with Huey lighting a fire in front of a “no smoking” sign. What will the final episode have in store? Will Huey and Dalian fight the evil professor? Will Dalian eat more sweets?! Tune in next week to find out!

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Mawaru Penguindrum 11 — Cry, Monkey Bitch

Mawaru Penguindrum,

This episode was a small step backwards in terms of craziness, but a giant leap forward in terms of Shouma and Ringo shipping.

The Joy of the Hunt

Kanba visits Masako’s mansion, and we learn that Masako sees people as hunters, hunting for the “true form of the object of one’s affection.” What is the true form of her affection? Just as it was with Ringo, I doubt that it is as simple as wanting Kanba as he is. She also claims that love is just a hormonal imbalance in the brain. But her masked allusions to a childhood promise to Kanba and Kanba’s portrait suggest otherwise. This brings us back to last week’s discussion of dualism: Ringo, who claims to be hunting for love, actually isn’t; and perhaps Masako, who claims not to be hunting for love, actually is. Ringo tries to construct a false fate, and Masako attempts to deny a true fate.

Let’s look at one piece of interesting imagery from this segment: When Kanba accuses Masako of being a stalker, images of the stalk of a plant appear. Masako claims she is not a stalker, but a hunter, and the stalks are replaced by crosshairs on an elephant. Hunting and stalking are functionally equivalent, so why is Masako so fixated on being known as a hunter? Observe how Ringo and Masako both engage in the hunt: Ringo seeks to build up a relationship with Tabuki, while Masako destroys her rivals and tries to gain control of Kanba’s life forcibly. Ringo desires a slow, growing love (like a stalk), while Masako (claims she) desires fealty and power, like a hunter.

But the symbol on Masako’s teacup is a stalk, not a hunter. And Masako’s penguin spends the entire segment making out with Kanba’s. Plus there’s the portrait and childhood promise. So is Masako truly a hunter, or a stalker disguised as a hunter? The guise of a hunter may be designed to hide from herself the fact that she is in love.

Ringo’s Realization

I’m completely biased, but I liked how they made Ringo realize that she loved Shouma. I prefer relationships where the couple doesn’t fall in love at first sight: this is too convenient and easy. I prefer when they have to jump through hoops and struggle, as Shouma and Ringo certainly have. So having the two lovebirds start out hating each other gets bonus points from me.

The epsiode begins without Ringo realizing how she feels towards Shouma. The audience knows, however, from a few hints, such as Ringo’s reaction to Shouma’s accusation that she shouldn’t have given up the diary. I should point out here that Shouma had the same reaction as Kanba in the previous episode: preventing his kidnapping didn’t merit risking the only way they had to save Himari. He is actually angry at Ringo for giving up the diary to save him. So for those predicting a fallout between the two brothers, it doesn’t look like we’re there quite yet.

On the train, Shouma tells Ringo “you’re you, not your sister!” and says that he won’t help her. “You’re you, you!” is one of the lines that pisses me off the most in anime— it’s so common, and so profoundly meaningless, yet it never fails to cause an immense transformation in lovelorn girls. Here, though, with Ringo literally trying to be her sister, it actually made sense for once.

After this, Ringo leaves the train, angry that Shouma has abandoned her (another not so subtle hint), and makes another love potion. We could interpret the frog as representing Ringo’s perceive destiny, as she is the princess (Momoka) transformed into a frog (Ringo), and when she kisses the prince (Tabuki) she will turn into a princess and everyone will live happily ever after. But here she is afraid of the frog, and unwilling to press it to her face. Ringo is having second thoughts about this destiny thing. Later, when reading the directions, she repeats the line “he’ll fall head over heels for you” to herself. Could she be thinking of someone else, after her fight?

This time, the love potion actually works, and Tabuki turns into a love-crazed mutant frog. This makes me wonder, though: perhaps the last love potion worked as well. Shouma’s penguin ate it. I believe that that one didn’t only last for a night, too.

Anyway, Ringo says no to Tabuki at the last minute, and Yuri saves Ringo from being raped by a drugged-up Tabuki. Perhaps as an effect of Ringo’s desire for Tabuki wearing off, Yuri doesn’t appear quite so evil at this moment. Yuri has realized before her that Ringo is in love with Shouma, and even gives her some advice. Ringo returns home and meets Himari and Shouma.

Ringo expresses her love best through violence.

Her accusations against Shouma lead us to the next question: what is fate?

Fighting Fate

I’ll be honest: I think that the idea of fate, in the sense that every aspect of your life is predetermined, is downright silly. Even if we don’t have free will, and everything is controlled by hormones in the brain, we still have the illusion of free will, which is much the same.

But there are other understandings of fate which are less nihilistic. The word fate has a variety of different meanings, and usually people neglect to clarify which meaning they’re using. So most conversations of fate tend to leave me bewildered: what are they talking about? Let’s look at a select few versions of fate, in decreasing order of the control it exerts on human lives.

  • Predeterminism. Everything is fixed, and you can’t change it.
  • Destiny. The final result is fixed, but there are many ways to get there. (e.g., Stein’s; Gate, predestination) The idea of soulmates, where destined lovers are connected by the red string of fate, is an example of this.
  • The Gentle Hand of Fate. There is a “fate” of sorts, but it strongly influences reality rather than controlling it directly. Astrology is an example of this.
  • Conciliatory Views. There is a fate, but it is fully determined by freely made human choices. (e.g., much of Christianity) There may be exceptions for things which are fully outside of human control, such as predestination.
  • No Fate. There is no fate, and all is the result of human choice.

There’s another spectrum that views of fate fall along: is fate fundamentally a good thing or a bad thing? Some see fate as a good thing (such as with the idea of soulmates), some see it as a bad thing (such as absurdists, who consider it “despicable”) and others see it as neither strictly good nor evil (the astrologists and the conciliators).

So when Mawaru Penguindrum discusses fate, which version is it referring to? This seems to vary depending on the context. The Takakura seems to have quite the absurdist view, with fate being the despicable death of Himari and their parents.  Ringo ascribes to the idea of a positive gentle hand of fate, attempting to bring reality back in line with its supposed destiny so that her family can be restored. Masako professes to believe in predeterminism, claiming love is a chemical reaction in the brain.  Tabuki takes a more mixed view, similar to a popular Christian perspective (replace fate with God):

Sarin Gas Attacks

So it looks like everyone talking about the 1995 Sarin gas attacks was on to something. In this episode, Masako mentions a “curse” from 16 years ago, and Ringo claims that her sister died 16 years ago, on the day that she, Shouma and Kanba were born. Does not sound like a coincidence, especially with all the “95”s on the subway.

Furthermore, Shouma and Kanba consider themselves responsible for the death of Ringo’s sister. How could this be possible if the attacks happened on the day that they were born? Perhaps it has to do with…

Recycling

There has been plenty of recycling imagery throughout the show. First, in the OP, there is the red circle with two arrows that crops up next to the librarian (also, in the train for the previous picture). The penguins make their first appearances in recycling bins. Then there’s Himari in the child broiler. And in this episode, when Ringo says that her sister passed away and she was born on the same day, the sign appears again. I believe there are other appearances as well.

Note how all of these appearances center around death. This makes me wonder if the idea is that lives are being recycled. Ringo seems to think that because she was born, her sister died. And since Shouma and Kanba entered the world, two other people must leave it. By being born as twins, they have screwed things up, and so an extra person must be removed from the world to restore balance. Perhaps this is their sin. Himari’s time in the child broiler gives off the feel of recycling as well, like she is waiting her turn in purgatory to return to life.

Which brings us back to Masako’s metaphor at the beginning of the episode. The emperor penguins hover at the edge of the iceberg, waiting for another penguin to dive into the sea first to see if it gets eaten by seals. Both Himari and Mario are afraid to venture on from death, and are waiting for someone else to step off the galactic railroad first.

Final Thoughts and Questions

  • Himari’s “Little sister’s orders!” seem quite similar to the penguin hat Himari’s attitude. And the above shot was rather suggestive.
  • Masako’s group does not have the other half of the diary. Who does?
  • What is Kanba’s secret?
  • What is the source of the memory-erasure balls, that Kanba also seems to know about?
  • I like how Himari’s penguin tells Shouma’s to stop being a glutton here:

Further Reading on Episode 11

8thSin Fansubs
The Untold Story of Altair and Vega
Lost in Anime
Moe Sucks
Hachimitsu
Iwa ni Hana

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No. 6 Review — C-

Reviews, ,

No. 6 began quite promisingly, with Shion abetting a wounded fugitive on a stormy night in the dystopian city of No. 6. Shion is caught, and his family is placed in internal exile. Later, he witnesses some mysterious deaths by bees, and narrowly avoids death himself at the hands of the city. He escapes with the help of Nezumi, the boy he saved many years ago, and they begin living together in the slums outside the city.

Unfortunately, once they leave the city, everything goes downhill. Shion becomes a housewife, and they spend the next six episodes doing nothing in particular, hanging around in the slums. I guess you could claim that they’re “developing” the characters, but when both of the characters make me want to wring their necks, this isn’t really a positive thing. Shion has the emotional stability of a five year old girl, and both Shion and Nezumi are bishounen who act like they’re a seme and uke taken out of a yaoi doujinshi. Plus, the entire script reads like the lines from a bad play. I’ve been told this is part of the charm, but I don’t get it.

For this entire time, the creators more or less forget about the city of No. 6. Warning: Spoilers Ahead. They seem to realize this around episode 9, and send Shion and Nezumi to talk to the underground guru who tells them everything about the city in an extended monologue. It turns out there is a giant fairy rainbow bee who is possessing the girl who wants Shion’s sperm, who has been thrown into prison by No. 6. The city of No. 6 kills babies and old ladies, and has piles of dead bodies hidden beneath the floorboards. So Shion and Nezumi must defeat it. Then the final episode comes along and makes the rest of the series look like it made sense.

No. 6 follows in the lines of Fractale and [C] as bad noitaminA sci-fi shows. All three of them had their own flaws: Fractale had no idea what it wanted to do, [C] was utterly nonsensical, and No. 6 had two conflicting visions of where it wanted to go (as a romance and dystopian thriller) and ended up going nowhere at all.

  • Plot / Script – D – Overdramatic, reads like the script of a bad play, and they forget about the titular No. 6 for half the series.
  • Characters – C – Inconsistent and obnoxious, especially the leads.
  • Production – A – Bones does know how to make things look nice.
  • Overall – C-

Recommendations – Fractale, C (if you actually liked this), Shangri-La, Innocent Venus

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YuruYuri Review — B

Reviews,

With both YuruYuri and Nichijou airing, this season has been a great one for comedies.

YuruYuri follows in the footsteps of Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star and K-On in chronicling the lives of a group of high school girls. The main variation on the theme in YuruYuri is the abundance of explicit yuri elements. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

When watching a comedy, there is only one question that matters to me: is it funny?

For YuruYuri, I can say yes. The jokes are generally fresh and funny, the pacing is tight and upbeat, and the characters are unique. Kyoko, in particular, is a joy to watch— she is always full of surprises. Akari’s eternal invisibility is amusing, as are her opening eyecatches, and Chinatsu is downright evil, which makes for some good fun too.

On the negative side, one joke in particular goes a bit too far— the nosebleeds. When Kyoko and Ayane do anything suggestive, Chitose takes off her glasses, puts on her yuri goggles, and bleeds out her nose. Her visions were funny, but after twenty or so times it was a bit much.

Otherwise, it was a great comedy— funny, fresh and with characters who can keep your attention. Assuming you don’t mind the yuri, of course.

  • Plot / Script – B – Consistently entertaining and funny.
  • Characters – A – I loved Kyoko especially.
  • Production – B – Who cares as long as it’s funny.
  • Overall – B

Recommendations – K-On, Lucky Star, Softenni, Saki

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Sacred Seven Review — D+

Reviews,

Arma has the power of the sacred stones within him! Ruri, a rich girl with her personal army of maids, and Kagami, her butler, visit Arma and recruit him to join in their fight against the darkstones, evil stones which are… evil. We follow the adventures of Arma, Ruri and the rest of the rock collecting club.

We can already tell from the premise that this is going to be bad. But how bad? Well… pretty bad, as it turns out. With maid armies, Egyptian pyramids, and the power of rocks, the plot is dumb and predictable (you can tell the scientist will be the final boss the first time you see him). The characters are annoying and uninteresting, especially the two leads.

With that said, it could have been much worse. The creators seem to realize how hopelessly dumb the premise is, and for the most part, they don’t take it too seriously. For example, see all the dumb jokes revolving around rocks and Hellbrick. Of course, it’s also possible that I’m putting thoughts in the creators’ heads, and they approached this whole thing seriously… but in a way, that would only make it funnier.

The battles, which are the main focus of the show, are well done and entertaining in an over the top way. Don’t expect any sort of realism or logical consistency here: it’s just full out hot blooded action, complete with transformations, mecha and maid armies.

Overall, it’s a dumb show,  but good for some clean brainless fun and explosions if you’re in the proper mindset.

  • Plot / Script – C – A terrible premise, but I guess they make the most of it.
  • Characters – D – Boring, cliched and annoying.
  • Production – B – It looks fine.
  • Overall – D+

Recommendations – Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan, Full Metal Panic

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