Hidan no Aria 07 — *yawn*

Hidan no Aria,

Another typical episode of Hidan no Aria. A third of Aria screaming at Kinji and calling him stupid (because we certainly haven’t hard Rie Kugimiya do that enough!), a third of Shirayuki acting tragic in a kimono, and a third of Kinji running around like an idiot and clutching his cellphone.

For the first third of the episode involving Aria, I think I’ve already exhausted the same complaints for every other episode, so I’ll skip that. For Shirayuki they have unfortunately decided to neglect her crazy side, and turned her into another cute innocent unfortunate girl needing a manly man to protect her. I would feel much more sympathetic for her if she spent less time trying to steal a kiss and more time cutting her rivals to pieces.

But I can’t wait for the next episode! Who is the person who’s taken Shirayukii hostage? I can’t tell because of the crazy synthed voice and the fact that his presence is cloaked in shadow! Is it Durandal and will Aria finally get her revenge? Kyaah! </sarcasm>

Steins; Gate 08 — Genderswap

Steins; Gate,

This episode consisted of Kyouma trying random things to change the past. The things he did seemed innocuous enough, but I think they’re going to end up having larger consequences than it initially seems. This is especially the case with Moeka’s message. I don’t think anyone actually saw what she typed, and I’m very curious as to whether she actually sent the message she said she was going to. Kyouma didn’t check very thoroughly to figure out what changed from the past, and I’m wondering if the IBN is still lying around his lab.

My suspicions about John Titor’s identity have shifted from Moeka to part-time girl with this episode. She seems awfully familiar with John Titor’s message and curious about Kyouma’s reaction. Plus she does seem to know something about Christina from the future. Perhaps she even had something to do with Christina getting killed in the alternate timeline.

Somehow Ruka’s gender has managed to become even more ambiguous with this episode. I doubt that he’s a girl now, if only because eating habits don’t actually influence gender. Still, if the message was sent not while Ruka’s mother was pregnant but before, it’s possible that Ruka has become a male.

Dog Days 08 — Trickery

Dog Days,

This was an improvement over the most recent episodes due to the return of some action, but it still isn’t up to the standards of the first few episodes. The creators have committed what is in my opinion the most common blunder of anime comedies— trying to add some serious plot, and forgetting that people are watching the show to have a good laugh.

I think another problem may be that the creators are overreaching with too many characters. So many of them are completely useless, and we don’t know anything about them. Namely, the ninjas on both sides, the maid corps, and the King’s honor guard are mostly useless. We’ve seen too much of these random people and not enough of Shinku, Eclair and Riko. There’s the same problem with the battles: the first couple of episodes had great fights because we were able to watch things develop on a small scale up to ridiculous proportions, with humorous banter between the combatants. The battle in this episode was just a slide show of every single character spamming AoE spells on small fry.

I enjoyed the first few episodes of Dog Days because they were funny. To make the show funny again, I think they should focus on jokes and a few of the characters instead of some prophecies, demons, and friendships between princesses. It’s impossible for anyone to take a show with this sort of premise seriously anyway.

Norageki! Review — 7.25 / 10.0

Reviews,

Norageki shows a tale of five people and a cat who escape from prison. I don’t want to say much more in fear of spoiling all of what is a rather short story.

The first thing you’ll probably notice about Norageki is the experimental animation style. There’s a heavy use of CG. In my opinion the still frames looked pretty nice, but the motion of the characters leaved a lot to be desired. It didn’t look natural at all.

The plot is decent for something that fit in 25 minutes. Same with the characters – they have potential, but again, we don’t see much in 25 minutes. I think the show could have made good use of some extra time.The male characters in particular didn’t get enough time to develop. Everything was decent, but there was just nothing that wowed me.

This OVA has a similar setting to the movie Moon, if anyone’s seen that, although the way it uses the setting is quite different.

  • Plot / Script – 8 / 10 – Interesting story, if not the most unique (the setting, if nothing else, is similar to Dead Leaves)
  • Characters – 7 / 10 – Have potential but don’t develop fully (particularly males).
  • Production – 7 / 10 – Unique style, but blocky motion
  • Overall – 7.25 / 10

Recommendations – Moon (non-anime), Freedom, Dead Leaves

Hanasaku Iroha 08 — Taking Charge

Hanasaku Iroha,

With her grandmother at the hospital, Ohana is the only one who can stand up to Takako’s preferential treatment plans. Even the head cook is cowed by her. Ohana is really starting to become an integral part of the inn, and even her grandmother seems to trust her now.

This episode took a welcome step away from the stand alone comedic episodes and back into the drama of the first few episodes. There were still funny parts (Ohana’s delusions of playing old maid were hilarious, as was Ohana’s Hayate meido dash through the town in a kimono), but with Ko back in the picture, the grandmother falling ill, the sudden burst in business, and something going on with Tohru, it seems that the plot is beginning to move again. This isn’t to say that the earlier episodes were bad or unnecessary. They were necessary, and will make the remainder better of the show better with their character development. But from now on things should get more exciting.

This episode ended on a strange cliffhanger of sorts with Ohana opening the door while looking for Tohru’s wedding. It kind of makes me wonder if something unexpected will be behind the door… like Tohru getting married himself without telling anyone. Poor Minchi.