Onii-chan no Koto… 10

Onii-chan no Koto,

Star Driver and Zombie will be delayed for obvious reasons. You can donate to the Japanese Red Cross here.

Apologies for the map covering a quarter of the screen, but honestly, it wasn’t really blocking much. I can’t for the life of me figure out where this show is trying to go. The first episode was funny – and Nao still is an interesting character. But every other episode has just pushed her into the background reliving the same jokes and following Shuusuke around, peeking from behind bushes. Why don’t the creators let Nao and Iroha actually do something for a change instead of stalking Shuusuke? It was somewhat funny for the first episode when Iroha did it, but my tolerance was exceeded long ago. It doesn’t help that they overused Kondou for a series of episodes, which pushed Nao and Iroha into the background, only to apparently forget about her now.

And now not only do Nao and Iroha remain as stalkers, but we get two new characters with barely any time left in the show. What in the world were they thinking introducing this cosplay girl? She is ridiculous (in a painful way) and her sister is not much better. I guess Nao having a yuri lover could have potential, but otherwise I couldn’t see any point to this episode. I guess the joke was supposed to be how shameless Shuusuke was? It might be funny except this is the punchline for every other joke in this show (the other half being that Nao and Iroha are stalkers).

They already passed the point the manga ended a while ago (it hadn’t gotten to the trip to the pool with Kondou), so this may be part of the problem.  The manga probably had enough material for at most six episodes (and a lot of this was too drawn out). Some shows manage to make anime original material which is better than the original series, but this is not one of them. Every original part the creators have attempted has been, frankly, a dismal failure. Overall this series has been quite disappointing, although in retrospect I shouldn’t be surprised. The director, Keitarou Motonaga, has a history of poor adaptations with one notable exception.

Fractale 08

Fractale,

In which the clones make their appearance and Phryne’s father molests children.

On the positive side, the frequency of the “Clain is a pervert” jokes seem to be decreasing, although there were still a few too many in this episode. I do have to admit that I laughed when Clain appeared out of the grate under Phryne’s skirt.

The scene with Phryne’s father helps to explain a bit why she was running away and her reaction to her attacker in the last episode. But I’m not really able to take him seriously as a villain because of how he’s been presented in the earlier episodes as not entirely competent. His very appearance screams “comic-relief character”. So now when he does these very disturbing things, it’s a bit hard to buy. The same thing is true of Enri and the rest of Lost Millennium suddenly starting a massacre. It’s just… where exactly did this come from?

Some shows have a similar contrast being seriousness and playfulness, such as Narutaru and Higurashi, but I feel that these are much better executed. Even though everything is bright on the surface of these shows, the creators make it so you can sense that there is an undercurrent of darkness behind the facade. Fractale completely lacks the feeling that it’s hiding things or that anything is deeper than it seems.

The show has a similar problem with the setting – it’s just jumping around all over the place, but there is no hinting of more to the world than what they’ve shown. Everyone lives in mobile homes? A ruined town which is off the grid? Oh, now they live in dopple cities? How about some shepherds?A secret based with some clones? The creators seem to be trying to create a large, diverse world, but they’ve neglected the parts that tie the world together. The characters just tend to show up at locations almost by accident, and are surprised by what they find there. Shouldn’t they know something about the world they live in, as should the viewer over the course of the show? But the various locations are almost entirely disconnected, without a sense of a larger world that ties them together. (case in point: the priesthood didn’t seem to have much if any influence in the city)

Bandage-Phryne was sad though. 🙁  Even if it was completely predictable what would happen. Bandages make everything better.

Hourou Musuko 08

Hourou Musuko,

Hooray, somebody else understands how awesome Chiba is! This show has a lot of characters, all of whom are quite strong and well-developed, but Chiba stands out as my favorite. She’s just so refreshingly selfish and honest. There’s none of this do I / don’t I and no effort to put up with anything that bothers her. Characters in anime (and Japanese culture in general, from my impression) seem to always be concerned with appearances and politeness. As a rude, obnoxious American I do not share these values and love the way Chiba tells it like it is.

I’m also enjoying Ana’s character from this episode. Her relationship with Nittori is so cute. I wish there were more shows with middle schoolers who entered actual relationships and acted like… middle schoolers. Oh, and bonus points for the glasses.

But she loses points for talking in the bathroom. Talking at a urinal is bad enough, but from inside a stall…?

This show is moving really quickly, which is both a strength and a weakness – there’s no risk of getting bored, and they’ll be able to fit more into the short timeslot, but some parts need less time spent on them than they deserve. There were a few things I seemed to have missed / forgotten at the start of the episode – I hadn’t realized that a new school year had begun, and didn’t remember why she was skipping school again. But the creators have been doing a great job at fitting as much in as possible – the show flows really smoothly in spite of how much they’re stuffing into every single episode.

Chiba once again had the awkward quote of the episode award. And Nittori’s awkwardness-breaking attempt was hilarious.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 10

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica,

In this episode SHAFT takes a play from Higurashi’s book and looks at the possible futures Homura has gone through and her transformation from someone even less decisive than Madoka into a total badass. The contact lenses and stolen weapons helped too. It turns out that shotguns are stronger than magic wands, even if you’re a magical girl. Oh, and Madoka finally became a magical girl and Mami came back to life (each multiple times). LOLOLOLOL

Now both Homura and Madoka have been fleshed out quite thoroughly. These were the only characters that were missing, so I’m expecting the rest of the show to head straight to the climax. Still, one question has noticeably not been answered – what did Madoka wish for all the other times she became a magical girl? Perhaps a wiser wish could lead to a brighter future, particularly now that she knows more about Kyuubey’s true nature beforehand. Such as wishing for a xenocide of all the Kyuubey aliens and the witches and the return of the souls of the magical girls. I highly doubt this will happen though, or any particularly cheerful ending for that matter. The best I would hope for is either a reset ending, given the creators’ history, or Homura dies but Madoka doesn’t. Or Madoka wishes she could stop Homura from becoming a magical girl and the universe explodes, or they become yuri time travelling pals and abandon the world to its fate.

The pacing was particularly excellent this episode – by the time the episode was over I hadn’t even realized we’d passed the halfway mark. The music was integrating very well and served as a driving force. Needless to say, the animation was beautiful as well, particularly in the scenes of the Witch’s realms and the Walpurugis Night. They had more variety than usual in these scenes as well.

An aside: In case you haven’t seen it already, I highly encourage you to check out this Homu-homu Homura-chan video.

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? 09

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka,

Why is it petting you, you ask? Why not?

Overall a stronger episode than the last few. The rolling ferris wheels and giant stuffed animals falling from the sky have my whole-hearted approval. The drama with both Eu and Sera’s decisions were well done too. But Yuuki’s transformation and Ayumu’s power of love was way too corny.

First of all, where exactly did that golem thing come from again…? There’s a difference between funny nonsensical randomness, like the yellow animal thing, and randomness because the creators just pulled something out of their rear ends. Second, the power of love winning like that is just way too corny and overused, so much so that it isn’t even funny in spite of how ridiculous it is, just depressing. Besides, any actual drama with Yuuki working is hopeless since I (and I’ll assume everyone else) never liked her in the first place. The only way I can see to have made scene work is to do what this series does best – over the top ridiculousness. Yuuki’s golem should have been a ramen bowl or something, and Ayumu could charge through a bullet cloud of noodles, having his dress ripped apart in the process, to defeat the golem by drinking all the broth, which would transform into Yuuki and a bonus kiss scene. Why do so many comedy series feel the need to insert some terrible corny drama?

I’ve noticed that Sera’s insults seem to be improving from the rather generic piece of s**t which accounted for every other word out of her mouth in the earlier episodes. The “wait, you always looked like that” in particular was perfectly timed.