Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai 02 — Nokemon

Ano Hana,

So far, Ano Hana is my favorite show of the spring season. I think it’s something everyone can relate to— growing up and changing. The friends you once had as a child you grow apart from. The audacity of trying to bring your childhood friends back together makes for some interesting chemistry.

I really like the characters for both Anjou and Hisakawa. Hisakawa is just plain awesome, quitting school to fulfill his dream of traveling the world, believing in the ghost stories of his friend he hasn’t seen since they were children, and asking a girl to play Pokemon with him.

Anjou is leading a double life, which I really appreciate if the creators can pull it off convincingly. On one side, she hangs out with the “slutty girls” as Tsurumi calls them. But then she also works at a video game store, carefully organizes everything she owns in bins, has a crush on a guy who doesn’t go to school, and is happy to spend an afternoon playing Pokemon.  I think most people have multiple “personalities” of sorts to fit the occasion (at least I do) but most stories will simplify people into having a single face.  Anjou’s also a tsundere of sorts, but to an extent that’s believable in an actual person— getting mad at Jinta for not going to school and generally being an idiot, and turning bright red when they brush elbows. So she isn’t a Taiga or Louise, but has her moments.

The Nokemon certainly brought back some memories as well. It makes me feel old when she said that the Gold version was ancient. I had Blue and then Yellow, and was beginning to grow  out of it find other interests as Silver was coming out…

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica 12 — Yuri Trans-Am

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica,

As predicted, Madoka makes a wish not bounded by logic and becomes a Godess, defeating witches before they are born so that the magical girls can live happily. It was a satisfying ending which left everything resolved, but a bit too much Shinbo. Also the Gurren-Lagannesque galactic sized battle and the Trans-Am yuri scene were not strictly necessary.

While the middle of the episode was lackluster, particularly the Trans-Am scene and extended epilogue, the beginning and the end were well done. I especially liked the twist at the end where the witches are replaced by magical beasts and Homura works together with Kyuubey to fight them. It’s nice to see that it isn’t all happily ever after.

But overall, the finale was surprisingly straight forward and predictable, and lacked the twists and turns which made the earlier episodes so enjoyable, so I must say I was a bit disappointed.

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica 11 — Livestock

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica,

Shaft made good use of the extra time they had to make the last two episodes, and it really shows. This entire episode was simply gorgeous from start to finish. Homura’s battle was especially great— although it’s unclear who wrought more carnage on the city, Homura or the witch.

Kyuubey further explained the Incubators’ interactions with humans, spanning from prehistory to the present day, without which humans would still be living naked in caves. The humans are like cattle to the incubators, and without them would still be living naked in caves. But the Incubators treat the humans as sentient beings, and get their consent first. They link the Incubator’s interactions with Prometheus, Joan de Arc, and the Creation of man (at least that’s what I caught on my first watch through).

Perhaps the most interesting revelation from this entire conversation is that some Incubators do develop emotions, and are treated as mentally insane. Ironically, Kyuubey seems to say that the Incubators would not have problems with entropy if they themselves had emotions. It reminded me of Raymond Smullyan’s Planet Without Laughter— give it a read if you haven’t already, it’s short. Any explanation I give of the story won’t do it justice.

Homura’s Sysyphean struggle to save Madoka is further developed, as Kyuubey reveals that it is hopeless and self-defeating. But in his explanation to Madoka, he may have revealed a way to escape the fate of magical girls. “Any wish bound by logic can be twisted.” Perhaps there is a way out if Madoka can make a wish not bound by logic.

On an administrative note, I’m back from a trip and will be playing catch-up for the next few days.

Infinite Kanako

Discussion,

I can only imagine that Kanako’s version of Infinite Stratos would have been a tremendous improvement. We’d get a main character that wasn’t a spineless wuss. The IS battles could be replaced with a side-scrolling seafood shooter with Matsurika as mid-boss and Maria as the final boss. And best of all, with lesbians our bipartite love graph could be replaced with a complete graph for exponentially more possibilities. Germany X France, anyone? Too bad France would surrender quickly. (sorry, couldn’t resist)

Steins; Gate 03 — Mini Black Holes, the LHC, and Bananas

Steins; Gate,

Steins; Gate really stands out for its great dialogue. The exchanges between Okarin and Christina, and the computer guy in this episode were especially fantastic. I could just watch an entire show just about them fighting with each other. They can all push each other’s buttons just right.

However, the second half of the episode was rather disappointing. Way too much technobabble. Time travelling microwaves are only going to make less sense the more you try to explain them. Just allow your viewers to suspend their sense of disbelief instead of trying to explain why time travelling microwaves work. The more you try to explain it, the harder it is to ignore.

The same thing is true about the hacking, although the SQL injection is an improvement over the usual hacking by 3D space shooter. Still, it would be nice to portray CERN as somewhat competent if they are supposed to be the big bad guy. And the ending creepy email message, “Human is Dead”, was just kind of pathetic more than foreboding or worrisome. I’m guessing that it would sound more intimidating if English isn’t your first language.

Next episode it seems that Okarin may meet John Titor, and I’m curious to see who this is. It doesn’t make any sense why people from the future would need an old IBM machine— hopefully they won’t bother trying to explain this too.

Steins; Gate has a great chemistry between the characters and makes great use of it, but is getting too wrapped up in the details of its pseudoscience. Trying to explain illogical things like this only serves to take the mystery out of it and point out to the viewer that it doesn’t make any sense. I personally enjoy watching shows about conspiracy theories because they’re confusing and mysterious and fun to speculate about, not because I like to have them explained to me.

On an administrative note: I will be traveling this weekend starting Thursday, so the site probably won’t be updated until Monday. I’ll be trying to catch up for what I’ve missed early next week.