Hourou Musuko 03

Hourou Musuko,


I really love how this show manages to have such a large cast of characters and yet treat all of them with such depth. It’s really the only series I can think of that has managed to do this so well aside from Simoun. But the more remarkable part is we’re only at the third episode so far! The way they manage to interleave all the characters together works really well – in most shows there tend to be certain episodes that focus on certain characters, but Hourou Musuko hasn’t fallen into this trap. This works so well because character development isn’t about the characters themselves, but about the relationships between them.

This is illustrated perfectly by Maho (Nittori’s sister) in this episode. When she is with her brother, she is rude to him and mostly tries to ignore him. When she is with her modelling friends, she gossips and is a typical teenage girl. And with her boyfriend she is a bit shy and embarrassed. The viewer builds a consistent image of Maho through these conflicting actions she takes depending on the situation. And this is true of nearly all the characters. Nittori acts differently around Mako-chan, Chiba or Takatsuki; the afro-girl sucks up to Chii and ignores everyone else; Chiba is rude to most people, friendly with Sasa and obviously putting on moves with Nittori.

I think that so far my favorite character is Chiba – she knows what she wants and does her best to get it, even though she knows it is more or less hopeless. This is part of why I like this show so much – there’s none of this “I love everyone equally” crap that so many shows seem to be into. Middle schoolers are middle schoolers and actually have relationships and fights with each other.

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica 04

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica,

After Mani’s death, in this episode the terror and fear just keep piling on as this show gets better and better! This is by far the best series Shaft has produced at least since the first season of Zetsubou Sensei. I was concerned that with this episode Madoka would try to emulate Mani and fulfill her duties after her death, or make a wish to revive her, and I’m really glad that the show hasn’t taken that route (at least not yet). There’s often a tendency to let a death float around for a while to let it sink in, but I think this tends to lessen the impact. Which if you want your characters to retain their sanity is probably a good thing, but who would want that?

The way this episode just kept building the tension up and up was just spectacular. It started off gradually with Sayaka’s visit to the hospital and discussion of her friend’s broken hand and lost ability to play the violin. Then Madoka completely breaks down at the breakfast table, and is put off by Sayaka on the way to school who is awkwardly faking a happy conversation. They cry together on the roof, and the creepiness goes up a notch with Kyubey’s comments all with his disturbing smile. Then Madoka has an emotional discussion with Homura as they walk. All of this time there’s an overriding sense of foreboding building up that something terrible is going to happen.

After the break all hell breaks loose as Sayaka’s friend mutilates himself. Kyubey of course appears at exactly the right moment. Seriously, he creeps me out. Then Madoka and Sayaka’s mutual friend joins in a group suicide with prompting from a witch, and Madoka follows him. This is where the atmosphere the creators developed really pays off, as Madoka attempts to prevent their suicide, is attacked by the suicide squad, and enters the witch’s world. She’s rescued, of course, but Sayaka’s timely arrival in a way makes the situation even more dark and dreadful. The way that this episode built up the sense of horror and fear throughout was nothing short of spectacular.

Baseless Speculation

It really strikes me as odd that the girls have been running into witches so much now, even though they have never seen them before. I have my doubts that this is a coincidence. I wonder if Kyubey has some control over them and is sending them to convince Madoka to become a magical girl. Also, my impression is that Homura was not a magical girl chosen by Kyubey. They’ve never spoken, and Kyubey even called in another girl in spite of the fact that Homura is there. I wonder how Homura became a magical girl? And we still don’t even know why they want the grief seeds.

Onii-chan no Koto 03

Onii-chan no Koto,

This episode was hilarious, even more so than the first one. When they started out with the a date followed by Nao stalking them I was a bit worried since this setup is used so often and is usually quite boring. However, the levels of sheer ridiculousness they took it too made it quite funny. They had what, 3 groups of people stalking their date? And then we had Nao stalking her stalkers, and Iroha stalking Nao afterwards with her telescope.

The best part of the episode though was Nao’s reaction afterwards. She and Iroha totally have Shuusuke under their thumb. For me this is what sets this show apart from so many other harem shows – the female characters actually have some spunk. In other shows they just tend to be satisfied with being one more member of the harem. They tend to even get along with their rivals and there is hardly any conflict – usually they don’t even view the other characters as rivals. It’s generally not even clear whether they’re after the main character, and even if they are, they usually don’t do anything to get him. The thing with this show which I like is there’s no do I / don’t I angsting; instead it’s about how they’re going to get him (and in a way which satisfies their own brother fetish). This leads to much better comedy than dramatic tension which isn’t really tension at all since you know who he’s going to end up with (generally no one by the time the show ends).

Shuusuke’s reinitiation into the AGE was great as well. The funniest scene of the episode however has to go to Nao and Iroha’s meeting in the hallway at school and their classmates’ reactions. It isn’t only Shuusuke who’s terrified of them.

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka 03

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka,

Unfortunately this show is still not as funny as the first episode. Ayumu’s friend in particular was not too interesting – he is just way too predictable. Every other harem show has a protagonist’s friend who is basically identical. Still, there were a few jokes they threw into his story which were amusing and salvaged it from being a complete waste of time, such as the mask. The Jenga match was also pretty amusing.

We have some interesting plot development with the accusation that Eu is the serial killer. There’s definitely something more to it though. I am hoping that the girl in the hospital will turn out to be an axe-wielding maniac, otherwise she is just too boring.

Star Driver 16

Star Driver,

In this episode we concluded Mizuho’s arc and finally got some development regarding Takuto’s past. The conclusion of Mizuho’s arc was quite satisfying with a happy ending for both her and her sister. And she actually gained some self-awareness and deflated the faux romantic tension. Next episode we will most likely be getting a new song with a new maiden to focus on (I am guessing class-rep and then Wako for last, but who knows). Right now the class-rep is the character we know the least about, so I am curious to see what her story is and why one of the Maidens is helping the Glittering Crux. Besides, we don’t even know what the goal of the Glittering Crux is.

I was a bit confused in this episode about why the Glittering Crux even need to determine the Maiden’s identity at all if they could seemingly just break the seal in zero time. Why didn’t they do that earlier?

Takuto’s past wasn’t too exciting, but we did learn the source of some of his odd sayings. The rest of the story will need to resolve the questions about Takuto’s father. It was quite surprising to learn that Head is a galactic pretty boy as well. My impression was that there was only one. Maybe Takuto and Head are stepbrothers or something. Or Head is Takuto’s father. Now that would be hilarious.

The battle this episode really stepped it up a notch too! Up until now it always seemed like Takuto would win (except for the time Sugata helped him) but this time I honestly thought he would lose. My predictions here are a bit slanted due to Utena however. But it turns out Takuto has a huge libido! I wonder if the word libido has the same connotations in Japanese as it does in English. My impression has been that it is libido in a Jungian sense – the energy that is perceived as “striving and desire” – rather than the more common and Freudian meaning of sexual desire. If it is the latter case, then it’s no wonder Head lost – he even sent Sakana-chan away. And once Wako gets in her cybody it’ll be game over.