Stein’s Gate 15 — I am mad scientist!

Steins; Gate,

In this episode Suzuha explains her mission and what happens in the future. It turns out to be a dystopian society ruled by CERN, where Christina is revered as the creator of the time machine, and Okabe is considered a terrorist who led the resistance that Suzuha belonged to. Suzuha has actually gone back in time not only to find her father, but also to find the IBN 5100 to hack into CERN’s database and delete their records of Okabe’s messages along with their knowledge of his invention of the time machine. Daru works on fixing Suzuha’s time machine so that she can complete her mission and save Mayushii in the process.

It seems increasingly likely that Daru is Suzuha’s father, as I predicted. Seems like we should find out for sure next episode. The conversation between them was nice, but a bit heavy-handed in my opinion. It’s become a bit too obvious that Daru is her father. Even Mayushii has noticed. Or perhaps all this is just a red herring…? (I doubt it)

Heavy-handed would describe much of this episode, actually. The entire explanation of the future from Suzuha may have revealed a bit more than necessary, and it seems to be a rather generic dystopian future. I’m sure there’s more to it, but I’m still a bit disappointed. I’m the kind of person who enjoys the mystery and the process of finding the solution more than the solution itself.

The biggest question that remains now is Moeka— what is she doing and who is FB? Since she is trying to prevent the invention of the time machine, I’m guessing that she doesn’t work for CERN. Perhaps she’s from a different resistance group than Suzuha, whose goal is to stop CERN by preventing the invention of the time machine entirely. This seems like a much better plan, actually, except for the fact that she’s already too late.

Hanasaku Iroha 15 — Jealousy

Hanasaku Iroha,

This episode just blew me away. I think it was one of the best episodes of Hanasaku Iroha we’ve had so far. Yuina truly came into form as a main character, as Ohana’s can-do attitude has begun to rub off on her.

The scene in the bath with Yuina and her fiance was spectacular. The socks. The SOCKS. Then her fiance tells Yuina that he only wants to marry someone who will work there with him, like Ohana. And Yuina’s jealousy sets in. When you have a character who has been so indifferent towards everything up to this point— her many confessions from classmates, telling her fiance she didn’t want to work at an inn, and not helping when the part-timers quit— it becomes all the more effective when they do show some emotions. Even when it’s such a mild display compared to what Ohana does all the time, it has so much more impact because of how different it is from how Yuina usually acts.

Their reconciliation was touching, as Yuina attempts to work but fails miserably, and Yuina decides to become an inn manager after all. She claims she has been opposed to the idea due to having an inn as her home all her life, so I’m guessing that next week she’ll be coming to Kissuiso.

As an aside, the use of the evening light falling into the bath room during Yuina and her fiance’s conversation was a great touch. I loved the evening colors and how one side of Yuina’s body was in shadow. It made everything feel much more dramatic.

As for the rest of this episode, it’s interesting to see (but not all that surprising) that Ohana’s grandmother has such a reputation. From Ohana, Minchi and Nako’s helping at the inn, we had an aha moment when Ohana realized that she had actually learned to be a waitress. But honestly, this entire half episode was worth it just to show how Yuina wasn’t offering to help so we could have that bath scene.

Steins; Gate 14 — A Little Help From My Friends

Steins; Gate,

After many more tries attempting to save Mayushii on his own, Okabe finally decides to tell Christina what’s going on. Fortunately, Suzuha overhears their discussion, and the three work out a plan to save Mayushii. Apparently Okabe was only jumping to nearby world lines, where the future diverged only by a little, and they need to make a larger jump. Fortunately it turns out that Suzuha is John Titor and happens to have access to the crashed UFO which is actually a time machine.

Okabe’s increasing desperation managed to up the notch even more from the previous episodes. He begins to catch on that nothing he does is working, and even tries something different: asking Moeka questions at gunpoint. He probably should have taken her cellphone before her gun, but oh well. It doesn’t seem like Moeka is actually with CERN, but works for FB, whoever that is. I’m not going to speculate much since episode 15 is already out and any speculation would likely be proven wrong in short order.

Okabe finally gives in and talks to Christina too (well, more like she forces him to, but whatever). Interestingly, he decides to attack Moeka head on and alone before he decides to talk to Christina or Suzuha. Okabe and Christina have the most interesting and dynamic relationship in the show, and it managed to become even stronger with Okabe’s breakdown. He calls her by her actual name and even learns that she wants her own personal fork (wtf? why?). The part where as he left for the past, she mentions that in the past she wouldn’t know he called her Kurisu was touching. Christina has an excellent mad scientist laugh too, by the way.

The revelation that Suzuha is John Titor wasn’t particularly surprising. One thing that is somewhat unexpected is that Suzuha appears to have known Okabe in the future, as she has a device he invented and seems to be aware of his Reading Steiner ability. I suppose her coming to work at Mr. Braun’s store wasn’t a coincidence then. This seems to suggest that there is a deeper reason for her presence than recovering the IBN 5100.

We also learned that the Steins; Gate universe doesn’t seem to subscribe to the butterfly effect theory.  There are only a few points where history diverges drastically. The Gulf War, Y2K, and the invention of the time machine. I’m not really sure why the first two are so special: the gulf war seems much less significant, than, say, the fall of the Soviet Union only a few years earlier, and I don’t think Y2K was ever that much of a threat aside from the usual conspiracy theorists who predicted that the world was going to end. They just got more attention for a while. Now 2038 may cause some more significant problems…

Hanasaku Iroha 14 — Beach Trip

Hanasaku Iroha,

I’d mentioned before that Yuina has been largely neglected, and this episode rectified this.  Ohana’s school visits a hot springs for the class field trip, and it turns out that the hot springs they’re visiting are managed by Yuina’s fiance. Their inn can host a large number of people, but doesn’t have as good a staff or management as the Kissuiso. The entire part-time staff quits the next morning, and Yuina dumps her fiance by telling him she doesn’t want to run an inn.

Typically beach episodes are cliche and pointless fanservice, but the trip in Hanasaku Iroha was actually a good idea. It allowed the characters to escape to a new setting where they would have a reason to interact with Yuina. It also added some impetus to the inn management side of the story by allowing us to see a completely different management style. Ohana and Nako’s reactions to being guests in another inn were priceless, with them arranging the shoes automatically, criticizing the staff and waking up early to set up the futons.

Yuina’s development was good— it fleshed her out, but didn’t really surprise us with too much about her that we didn’t already know. She has almost the opposite personality of Ohana. Ohana wears everything she’s thinking on her face, but Yuina always appears indifferent, even when she is being confessed to or dumping her fiance.

Minchi’s confession scene went pretty much as expected. This is the problem with making up your own words, as Ohana also found out this week with her “fest it up” and Yuina’s usage with lesbian undertones.

As you may have guessed, I’m back from my trip, and there will be a flurry of updates on Iroha and Steins; Gate today. Since I’m late to the party, I’m planning to do a single first impressions post for the new season instead of one per show like I usually do (once I catch up, that is). I’ll decide what to blog next season after watching the first episodes.

Denpa Onna Review — C

Reviews,

Makoto moves to a small town to live with his aunt while his parents are away, and meets his cousin Erio, who claims to be an alien and walks around wrapped in a futon. He forms a harem with two other girls, Maekawa and Ryuuko, and embarks on a quest to gain as many puberty points as possible.

Denpa Onna is cuteness overload, and this is the show’s main draw. Erio is sparkly and acts like a little kid, Ryuuko more or less is a little kid, and Maekawa’s main task is dressing up in random cute costumes. Makoto’s aunt is also disturbingly cute (see the image below). If you are obsessed with all things moe, you’ll love Denpa Onna.

If you aren’t… well, it still has its good points. It’s a SHAFT show, and Shinbo has managed to tone down his style to levels where it complements the story rather than dominates it.

As for the characters, most of them are excuses for more cuteness. Maekawa, Makoto’s aunt and Ryuuko are definitely entertaining to watch, although they aren’t particularly deep or anything. Erio really annoyed me though. She really starts out as nothing more than a moeblob who gets carried around wrapped in her futon in her cousin’s bicycle basket. She develops some over the course of the story… but not much.

The male lead, Makoto, is an improvement over your usual spineless harem protagonist. For one thing, he can hold his own in a conversation (he plays the tsukkomi). In addition, he’s a bit cynical and recognizes how boring he is in his accounting of the puberty points he earns each episode.

The dialog is fast paced and witty, as expected from SHAFT. As for the plot, we get to see a bit of Erio leaving her shell, but otherwise there isn’t much. The focus really is the cuteness.

  • Plot / Script – 8 / 10 – Fast and witty script from SHAFT, not much of a plot.
  • Characters – 7  / 10 – Moeblobs, but still entertaining (aside from Erio).
  • Production – 9  / 10 – The usual SHAFT stylistic effects, but managed not to go overboard.
  • Overall – C

Recommendations – Bakemonogatari, Haruhi, Arakawa Under the Bridge