Sometimes life is best taken slow. This year has been a roller coaster ride for me, and busier than ever. I spent most of the early year falling out of anime, but got back into it towards the end. The summer season might has well have been nonexistent, but there has been more quality stuff showing up recently.

Of course, the recent natural disaster in Japan has been on everyone’s mind. Which, if anything, got me from one post to two this year. Heh.

Anyways, as much as I hated on Twitter last year, here’s my “tweeted” impression of the year…after the jump!

Spring 2010

• Angel Beats: Had some potential to be good, but had to much dumb crap to counterbalance it.
• Arakawa Under the Bridge: Nino is love! But the jokes in this show weren’t…
• House of Five Leaves: Wonderful. Not as good as say, a Samurai Champloo, but a fun ride either way.
• Ikkitousen Xtreme Xecutor: They’re still making this show. Hakufu is still a baka.
• Mayoi Neko Overrun: One of the most annoying shows I’ve watched in a long time. Extremely painful to watch.
• Kissxsis: What was up with this year and incest?
• B Gata H Kei: Dirty. And hilarious.
• Ookiku Furikabutte ~Summer Tournament~: Man up! What else is there to say except that this was additional awesome on top of an awesome show.
• Working!!: Yuno will never be the main character. PUNCHI! KICKU! ATTACKU!
• The Tatami Galaxy: Artsy. Was great, but unfortunately, I really dislike restarts. Best part was the Ajikan OP!
• K-ON!!: Nowhere near as good as the first one. Cash in on the moe blobs. Ton-chan is the best character.
• Kaichou wa Maid-sama: The most underrated show of spring? Misaka is tsun tsun dere tsun~.
• HEROMAN: I’m sorry, but cheerleaders falling for the nerd in highschool is way too unrealistic. That only happens in college when they realize that they make way more money than the jocks.
• The Demon King in the Back Row: Went from nonsensical to even more nonsensical. Why have plot when you can have service!?
• Rainbow – Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin: IT’S SO…BRIGHT….WHAT DOES IT MEEEEAAAAANNNN….
• Katanagatari: The best thing I watched since Bakemonogatari. Ok, I kid. Ok, I don’t. This was great.

Summer 2010

• Amagami SS: Wasn’t Kimikiss 2. Was very painful to watch.
• Sekirei Pure Engagement: Lost all of the magic the first season had, and replaced it with…climbing a giant tower.
• Mitsudomoe: I was put off by the urine jokes in the first episode, but it got progressively more hilarious as the show went on.
• Ookami-san: Tsundere punch! The fairy tale influence was great. This show didn’t get enough love.
• Asobi ni Iku Yo!: A lot of the shows this year were painful to watch. Add this one to the list.
• Seitokai Yakuindomo: 4koma style sex jokes? Very funny, but also pretty forgettable.
• Shukufuku no Campanella: I can honestly say that I don’t remember what happened in this show….at all.
• Highschool of the Dead: God, I hate zombies. Hey….boobies…

Fall 2010

• Kuragehime: Could have been a great shoujo, but was overall pretty flat. Clara!
• Ore No Imouto: It’s not incest anime! It’s happy family anime!!!!
• Otome Yokai Zakuro: The tsun tsun continues! Another show that didn’t get enough love.
• Bakuman: Manga about making manga. Inspiring!
• MM!: Punchi! Kicku! Attacku! Yet…nowhere near as good as Working!!
• Motto To LOVE-Ru: Much better than the first season, but that’s not saying much at the end of the day.
• Shinryaku! Ika Musume: Gesso gesso gesso…..da wa!
• Yosuga no Sora: Voted the nas-Tiest anime of 2010 by Subculture Anime Blog!!
• Sora no Otoshimono Forte: The funniest part of the whole series was the troll opening at the very beginning.
• Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru: I’ve actually been getting really tired of Shaft’s comedy’s lately, but this ended up being a pretty decent watch.
• Index 2: After Railgun, I kind of forgot where the plot was going with this show. MISAKA is cute though.
• Milky Holmes: Disgustingly cute.
• The World God Only Knows: An enjoyable show, but could have been a lot better if it was less “episodic”. Hopefully the second season won’t be bad either.

Winter 2011

• Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season: STRAWBERRY TIME! Glad to see everything finally get wrapped up.
• Oniichan no Koto: My lil sis can’t be this cute 2. But now with more black stockings.
• Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?: What kind of bread is deadpan?
• Freezing: I love Korean comic art, but when we’re left with the watered down animation style and “plot”, well…….yea.
• Hourou Musuko: Started off as really creepy and awkward, but ended up not being too bad towards the end. I’m sure there are specific audiences for shows like this.
• Infinite Stratos: Complete personality changes after single episodes. This is beyond tsundere.
• Yumekui Merry: Had an interesting plot device, but then ended up being pretty boring all the way through.
• Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu!: There is no green gachi ranger.
• Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica: Tiro…FINALE!

In Movies and OVAs

• Evangelion 2.22: I had chills. Looking forward to that eyepatch!
• Tales of Vesperia: Watched this along side of playing the game. Liked it, but not enough for my attention span to last through the game.
• Eve no Jikan: Extra scenes! Hints at the truth! Cannot wait for the sequel.
• Eden of the East 2: Not sure what happened, but the second movie lost all of the magic that the series had going for it. An unfortunate ending to a possibly great series.
• Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: This was…exactly like the series. Still, looking forward to the future remakes.
• The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya: I heard you like Nagato. A spectacular film. Reminded me why I enjoyed the first series so much.
• Bungaku Shoujo: Relentless storytelling that wasn’t afraid to remind us that we are human. Inspiring.
• Gundam 00: What the f…..THE SILVER SURFER HAS ARRIVED.
• Kaibutsu Oujo: Being a fan of the first series, but knowing how poorly done it was, I’m really glad this got a second chance.
• xxxHolic Rou: I thought Clamp said they were going to end this series. Still, can’t complain about Watanuki’s random rise to badassness.
• Railgun OVA: This show was way more fun than Index.
• Black Rock Shooter: Uh…….huh. I don’t think anyone was satisfied by this. NO ONE.
• Black Lagoon: Is there even a way to complain about this? Too excited about the continuation of one of my early favorites.
• Hidamari Sketch: These just don’t stop coming. But there’s still not that much new to talk about.
• Kurenai OVA: Can’t say I’m too big of a fan of the new direction.
• Shakugan no Shana S: Wilhelmina is still the best.
• Koe de Oshigoto!: Anime is just getting too dirty for me!

In Games:

• Starcraft 2: Got all of the campaign achievements in a week, then got bored and didn’t touch the game again. Tee hee~
• Rune Factory 3: Bought a DS just to play this. And wasn’t disappointed. Can’t wait to play Oceans!
• WoW Cataclysm: I played this game for five days. Then I remembered how much I hate this game.
• Marvel vs Capcom 3: Ordered the special edition. Played for maybe three days during spring break. The game is easy to pick up, some things (Sentinnel) are ridiculous, and I haven’t really been keeping up with the competitive scene. Tron is still the best. DRILL!
• Super Street Fighter AE: Still waiting to be able to play the twins and the…demons!? Third Strike’s return will be great as well.
• Blazblue CS: God, I hate this game. But I still payed 12 dollars for the dlc….fml.
• Pokemon Black/White: I come back to this game after over a decade, and the number of monsters has gone up from 151 to 600+. Those poor kids…

Once again, I spent some parts of the year considering coming back full time. I even sent in a request to get my old server moved to the newer updated ones on AB.net. I haven’t heard back from the new admins yet, but at this point it probably doesn’t really matter anyways. We’ll see what happens, but life-wise, I’ve got more than enough on my plate.

The next year looks like it has a much stronger start as far as selection goes, so I’m pretty excited about that. Hey, maybe I’ll actually be able to keep up with stuff this time…! (doubt it)

Either way, whether I get more involved in the community again or not, I hope everyone enjoys the next few seasons!

You are reading a blog. You are not living under a rock.
You are reading an anime blog. You have some level of attachment towards Japan.
You are reading Subculture Anime Blog. You are of pure heart.

Offer what support you can to the country that provides us with so much of what we love.

List of organizations providing relief, via Super Ryan:

http://exchange.causes.com/2011/03/tragedy-in-japan-list-of-projects-that-need-your-help/ ]]> http://subculture.animeblogger.net/2011/03/16/pray-for-japan/feed/ 10 http://subculture.animeblogger.net/2010/04/12/year-3-in-hiding/ http://subculture.animeblogger.net/2010/04/12/year-3-in-hiding/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:37:44 +0000 Totali http://subculture.animeblogger.net/?p=1076
Miss me?

How many posts must one make in a year’s time to be still considered “in the scene”? Two times? 20 times? 200 times!? If the number is around the zero to one range, I’m totally still here.

….is what I’d like to say, but the truth is, I just don’t have the time for this kind of thing anymore. Between work and studies, taking six to eight hours out of my week to write about anime isn’t something I can afford to do. I recall saying myself that “Time is the greatest challenge for an anime blogger.” in Kabitzin’s interview early in my career, and along with several other lost promises, it seems like that challenge just wasn’t something I could keep up with in the end.

All of that said, it’s not like I stopped watching anime completely. Even if I couldn’t do it on a regular basis, escaping the hobby completely wasn’t something I was prepared to do yet either. So, while brief, I would still like to give some quick impressions of everything I watched in this past year!

Spring 2009

• Queen’s Blade: Huh? Wait…I didn’t watch this…
• Basquash!: Had lots of potential, but unfortunately, the only thing the production team had in mind while making this was the ridiculous amounts of cash they were getting from Nike.
• K-ON!: Guita~! Yui is besto. -And I’m definitely up for the sequel.
• Hayate no Gotoku!!: Much better than the first season. Thanks, J.C. Staff. H-I-N-A Hinagiku.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Really weak first half. Got a bit more interesting when “new” material showed up, but still didn’t live up to the nostalgia that I had for the version I watched as a kid.
• Natsu no Arashi!!: Fell short of my expectations pretty quickly after episode one, but was still fairly entertaining. So yes, there are still SHAFT productions that can disappoint me too.
• Saki: RINSHAN KAIHOU. Koromo saves Etopen. Good person.
• Eden of the East: Johnny!?
• Hatsukoi Limited.: Watched it twice! Gotta love Kei.
• Polyphonica Crimson S: Booorrriiiiinnnggg…..Wait…. Ahh! Nana Mizuki’s voice! Ahhhhhhhh!!

Summer 2009

• Umi Monogatari: Nothing like Aria. Please stop being emo, URIIIIIINNNEEE…..
• Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!: Did you just take a leak? …in…your plug suit? Never taking suggestions from Aroduc ever again.
• Aoi Hana: Started off pretty strong, but kind of fell flat for me at the end. I’ve heard plenty of opposing opinions already though. Personally, I prefer a different kind of slice of life (see KnT).
• Taishou Yakyuu Musume.: It was alright… KIMI GA HOSHI.
• Bakemonogatari: Easily the top spot in anime for me in 2009, as far as airing series go. Senjogahara fascination indeed.
• CANAAN: Psychopath qt was the only good part of this show. Get some.
• Princess Lover!: I didn’t watch this either…. Nice motorcycle.
• GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class: Not quite as strong as Hidamari or Sketchbook in my books, but a really fun ride none the less. Kyoju is besto.
• Sora no Manimani: Made astronomy more interesting! ….kinda. (Needed more Hime.)

Fall 2009

• Kampfer: I didn’t watch this either! No, really… I didn’t…. Come on…!
• Nyan Koi!: Second season, where? Kaede is a qt.
• To Aru Kagaku no Railgun: iPhone is level upper. Believe it.
• Sora no Otoshimono: DearS rip off!!!! Only watched for Hayamin.
• Kobato.: Maaya Sakamoto OP was the best part of every episode. Decent show, but definitely no xxxHolic.
• Kimi ni Todoke: I cried. I laughed. I loved. Easily one of the best of the year.
• Sasameki Koto: Four lesbos and a trap. You’d think this would be more fun.
• Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini: Owen thinks this show is deep. I laughed.
• Aoi Bungaku: I liked some of the stories more than others, but overall, this left a definitely impression on me. Need the OST!!!

Winter 2010

• Sora no Woto: Stop ripping off Kyoani and go back to making Persona, A-1.
• Dance In The Vampire Bund: Gil…Nago. It’s TEA TIME.
• Hidamari Sketch x Hoshi Mittsu: Nazana and Nori are very welcome additions to the cast. Other than that, Yoshinoya-sensei’s slippers are still squeaky. What else do you want me to say?
• Nodame Cantabile Finale: Gyappo! Very good continuation after the Paris chapter. This show really inspires me to do my best in a creative field.
• Seikon no Qwaser: Oh god….oh god….aaaahhhhaaaahhahaha…
• Durarara!!: The series gets stronger as we learn about all the characters, but what really keeps me watching this has got to be the edgy style.
• BakaTest: Was kind of funny I guess. Still not sure why people love this show so much though.
• Hanamaru Youchien: Potemayo 2! With the feel good feeling of Sketchbook and the wackiness of GA! …and not as disturbing as Kodojikan!

In Movies and OVAs

• Kara no Kyoukai: The best series I have watched in years. And by watched, I mean two or three times over. Much love, Type-Moon. This really spoke to me.
• Minami-ke : Same stuff. Stop milking, please…
• Hidamari Sketch EX: See above comment for Mittsu…
• Eve no Jikan: Don’t discriminate against robots!!!! Really looking forward to the movie adaption, as well as the sequel.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Epic. Epic, epic, epic. Superior ending for sure.
• Shakugan no Shana: Wilhelmina is a qt.
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei: I didn’t know this was a lovcom…
• To-Love-Ru: Don’t judge me.
• xxxHolic: Do you expect me to give this anything besides praise?
• Kannagi: Those who couldn’t appreciate this obviously haven’t had any experience in video editing or directing. I laughed lots.
• Summer Wars: There’s a lot of commentary on digital societies these days, but with good reason. A bit nonsensical at times, but the storytelling in this movie was undeniably fantastic. Easily on my favorites list after a single watch.
• The King of Eden: More engrish! More amnesia! More cliffhanger! How long will we have to wait for the conclusion!?
• GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class: GA, Paradise Kiss edition!

In Games:

• Persona 4: Rise is best. PERSOOONNAAAAA….
• Rune Factory: Frontier: Was addictive. Have boatloads of fun until I finally married Mist…..and she wouldn’t stop….kissing the screen….
• WoW: WotLK: I really wish my friends would stop playing this game…so I could stop too. Please don’t play Cataclysm…
• Marvel VS. Capcom 2: So sick of superheroes. Was excited about the re-release at first, but ended up not playing much at all.
• Tatsunoko VS. Capcom: G-FOOOOOOORCE and YATTAAAA-MAN. What more can you ask for?
• Super Street Fighter 4: The introduction of Juri, Ibuki, Makoto was almost as exciting as Chun-Li getting Kikoshou back for her second ultura. Too much to talk about, so I’ll jam on my TE instead.
• Blazblue CT/CS: Ready for dat tuna! Bewbie ladeh!
• Final Fantasy XIII: Very pretty. Very linear. Loved the cast and story, but this won’t be getting into my list of favorite Final Fantasies any time soon.
• Starcraft 2: So is this game coming out or what?

In the Scene

• Moyism: I received the package. I have not had the time/resources to make a proper review/thank you yet though.
• Hontou ni?: Exchanges through multiple parties were to be made. Final transaction has not occurred yet.
• Memento: Garten, where have you gone my love!?
• Sea Slugs Team: Kabitzin, your writers are sexually harassing me. Nama-ko is everyone’s idol!!!
• Random Curiosity: So it finally has to end. This will definitely affect the blogging community dramatically. Omni’s influence was undeniable.
• Twitter: Ruined anime blogging. More posts, less tweets. Please.

There are still a few shows from the past year that I would like to watch, but when you actually step back from all this stuff, you start to realize how much time this hobby actually takes up. I thought about coming back to blogging with a different model several times, but the idea of random meta blogging before inevitably fading anyways just never really appealed to me.

And yes, I have been receiving all of your messages, whether they be through comments, MAL, or Twitter. I’m sorry for not replying. My favorite comments are those like “Random Curiosity was better anyways.” Thanks guys. I love you too =).

I’m really looking forward to in the upcoming year, both in life and in eastern entertainment. There’s a ton of stuff happening that’s gotten me really excited. So, while I won’t be sharing my love with you all as much as I have in the past, I still hope we can all enjoy the next four seasons together!

Love and peace!!!

-Totali

OP: “Future Stream” by sphere – Eh, I don’t really like the OP. It’s really standard, and there’s just nothing that particularly stands out about it. I also wonder what it is with this new fad of creating group names for anime singles that are actually just sung by their seiyu.

Summary:

Arihara Ayumi, and the rest of her middle school friends Chikura Nao, Dobashi Rika, Bessho Koyoi, and Enomoto Kei, discuss the various hopes they have to one day be confessed to by their dream partners. Ayumi’s ideal person is that of a prince, that would carry her like a princess. While the girls carry on their conversation, they are shocked to run into the frightening high schooler Zaitsu Misao. The girls fear for their lives, but in reality, Zaitsu had simply come to give Ayumi a love letter. This causes both laughter and fright in the girls afterwards, mostly the latter, as Ayumi returns home in worry of what she should do. Ayumi seeks help from her brother Yuuji after dinner, but upon hearing Zaitsu’s name, Yuuji further implies the threatening reputation that Zaitsu has among students.

In the following days, Ayumi is further tormented by Zaitsu’s following her whenever he has the chance. This causes fear among all those around the two, as well as a lot of stress for Ayumi at school. When he sees that she is troubled in class, a boy named Mamoru volunteers to carry Ayumi to the infirmary. This makes Ayumi believe that Mamoru is the prince she has been looking for, but after being dropped off at the infirmary, her dreams are crushed upon learning that Mamoru is Zaitsu’s younger brother. Ayumi eventually decides that it would be best for her to properly turn down Zaitsu, but meeting him in the afternoon, the best she can do is to tell him to stop following her in tears.

Ayumi runs as fast as she can away from Zaitsu, wondering why someone like him had to fall for her, until running into another high schooler in the streets. This boy, along with the rest of his gang, capture Ayumi in order to draw Zaitsu to them. Ayumi doesn’t believe Zaitsu would come after what she had done to him, but to her surprise, he does. Despite Zaitsu’s wish to protect Ayumi, he is easily put at bay by the gang’s using Ayumi’s panties to blind him. This causes Zaitsu to suffer attacks from the gang, but when Ayumi reveals that she wasn’t tightly captured in the first place, he regains the ability to take down those around him. Afterwards, Ayumi delivers a finishing blow to Zaitsu, as a scolding for allowing her so much fear during the event. This makes the boys around realize that Ayumi is actually the strongest, and unknown to her, Mamoru had also seen this from outside the warehouse. As the days continue afterwards, Ayumi realizes that her love has just begun.

ED: “Hatsukoi limited (初恋 limited)” by marble – There’s something about marble and shows like this, huh? It’s kind of fun to see all the girls in various costumes, but otherwise, I’m not really for the ED either.

Preview: On to the high school girls.

Impression:

Kimikiss 2! Now with less Eriko.

Actually, this felt more like Kimikiss meets School Rumble… A lot of super duper anime experts are probably already familiar with Kawashita Mizuki’s Hatsukoi Limited, as it stems from the ever so popular Ichigo 100%. While I wasn’t a big fan of Ichigo in the slightest, I did like the first few chapters of Hatsukoi that I sampled. JC Staff actually managed to keep the humor that was in the first chapter, as well as add a slightly deeper theme of first loves (hence the title, I know) to the overall story. I enjoyed the first episode as much as I liked the first chapter of the manga, but as I haven’t read past chapter two at this point, I’m really not sure if I should expect the quality of the writing to go up or down from here on.

The casting is pretty strong overall, from the lovely Shizuka Itou to Mariya Ise (not as a boy this time) playing the lead protagonist. And while I was alerted earlier of budget saving techniques in missing backgrounds among other things, I didn’t find this aspect of the show distracting in the slightest after actually watching the episode. I can’t say the same about other aspects of the show, however, such as extremely SUBTLE shots of camel toe in the screen’s foreground. But eh, overall, I’m really looking forward to watching more Hatsukoi. I’m sure established fans will be even more enthusiastic.

OP: “Falling Down” by Oasis – Wow. Just wow. I absolutely love the OP. Contemporary rock track paired with modern graphic design influenced animation makes this easy on the ears and eyes.

Summary:

On her visit to Washington DC, Morimi Saki gets into trouble with local authorities for attempting to throw change into the White House’s fountain. She is saved by a strange naked man soon after, who is armed with an advanced phone and a pistol. Saki lends the man her coat after being left alone by the police, parting ways with him to reach the airport. When she realizes that her passport was in the jacket though, she begins chasing after him to regain it. The man meanwhile uses his phone to gain hints about who he is, eventually discovering where his current home is. Inside the apartment, the man is brought to believe that he is something of a terrorist. In his closet are large amounts of ammunition, as well as a good number of passports.

When Saki catches up to him, the man decides on the name Takizawa Akira because of the identity’s similar birth date to hers. The two are stopped by a police woman before they can leave the apartment, but Akira dodges this with his certain expertise. Akira and Saki make their way to the airport to return to Japan, but to their surprise, a bombing of Tokyo has been announced on the television.

ED: “Futuristic Imagination” by School Food Punishment – This is somewhat reminiscent of the Honey and Clover OPs, with the use of stop motion animation. I love it as much as the OP, especially stylistically.

Impression:

• Honey and Clover was, and still is the most influential anime I have ever watched. Umino Chika’s character designs will always be respected by me because of that, and they are a welcome addition to this show.
• I love Production IG, not for what I see as the highly overrated GitS, but for their consistent quality in shows like Moribito. This carries into this series, as it gives me somewhat of a Library Wars feel.
• Saori Hayami has been one of my favorite seiyu since Touka Gettan, showing such a high amount of talent despite her young age, and she is just as impressive in this production.

A lot of comparisons and obvious presumptions come with this anime, but despite that, I did end up loving the first episode of Eden of the East as much as I hoped I would. I would complain that things feel as if they are being forced, especially with so many ridiculously unrealistic situations happening at once, but we have to keep in mind that a movie will be following this 11 episode run. I certainly felt that this episode had the pacing of a film, and with that in mind, I put my minor complaints to the side.

With the main setting being in Washington DC, I was already cringing in expectancy of bad engrish as early as the first few scenes. Thankfully, IG had actually hired actual American voice actors for the show. While none of them were high profile people by any means, this at least made things a lot easier on the ears. I do love the attention to detail in that aspect as well, though it was awkward to see the Americans respond so readily to the Japanese being spoken to them.

I’m really liking the comedy and light mystery feel of this show overall. The nude jokes in this episode were too out there to relate to in this episode, but they remained hilarious none the less. I don’t expect them to come back after this episode, but who knows. I can’t say I know what to expect from the plot from here on, but I am liking the chemistry between Saki and Akira. I’m already expecting this to be one of the stronger series of 2009, so I can’t wait to see more.

On a personal side note, Akira and Saki both have the same birth year as me! That will make me relate to the story all the more. =)

OP: “Atashi dake ni kakete” by Omokage Lucky Hole – Is this going to be the first Shaft OP that I don’t absolutely love? While I don’t think it’s particularly terrible, I just feel like both the song and animation are a couple decades behind. This is probably intentional, but still….

Summary:

Arashi wakes Hajime for work, and after doing so, she learns of the special strawberry he has conjured. As Hajime explains, this is a strawberry filled with spices to use against his enemies. Hajime notices that there is currently only one strawberry, however, when there were supposedly three. As he and Arashi learn soon after, Hajime’s grandfather had suffered from one of them recently. Shortly after Hajime and Arashi reach their workplace to meet their usual coworkers, a shriek is heard from outside. This leads everyone except for the couple to check on the emergency. After getting changed, Hajime and Arashi serve their usual customer Hideo. As Hajime does not have a particularly good relationship with him, he asks Arashi of a favor – to take him back in time to retrive one of his strawberries. The two certainly do this, and in the end, it is the shop’s owner that causes Hajime’s plan to succeed against Hideo.

Hajime prepares to carry out his plan against his next foe, another regular customer named Takeshi, but he panics when one of the two cakes in the cooler is missing. As he learns that the cake eaten by Takeshi is not the one that contained his special strawberry, he and Arashi are forced to search for who had taken the other one. The two eventually learn that it was Kaya who did, but she has seemed to lose sight of the said cake as well. With this, Kaya searches enthusiastically for her beloved cake by traveling through time with Jun. At the same time, Arashi and Hajime do the same in order to prevent her from eating the rigged strawberry. Both couples suffer from complications of existence, due to their traveling back so close to the present that their two bodies cannot exist next to each other, but Kaya eventually succeeds in reaching her cake. Despite her happiness, of course, she actually suffers from the trap Hajime had laid for someone else.

ED: “Kirari Futari” by Ryoko Shiraishi – As simple as it is, I like the ED a lot more than the OP. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen live shots used with animation this way, and it kind of reminds me of Karekano.

Preview: The summer continues.

Impression:

Oh man. Welcome back, Shinbo. After the disappointment that Maria Holic was last season, this is the return to Shaft-ness that I needed after being spoiled by Zetsubou Sensei so many times in the past two years. It’s probably common knowledge by now that this series is being adapted from the Jin Kobayashi (of School Rumble fame) manga, and it certainly shows in the character design. While the designs themselves bothered me slightly while reading the manga, as I had actually hoped that Shaft would take their own liberties with them, they ended up being just fine after actually watching this episode. Shaft indeed did take their own liberties with other things, however, as this episode was nowhere close to being like the first few chapters of its source. I suspect that we will eventually get to the original plot at some point (episode titles hint at non-linear storytelling), but sending us straight into the fun stuff certainly helped to make me appreciate the series more (the first chapters of the manga are actually quite boring).

I’m already loving both Arashi and Kaya, as well as appreciating Hajime a lot more now than I did than while I was reading the manga. The high paced humor was just as great, as I felt like this was what The Girl Who Lept Through Time would have been if it was a comedy. I loved simple things like the comedic facial expresions, and while things like the SZS parody are overplayed, they remain hilarious none the less. Needless to say from a resident Shaft-tard, I can’t wait to see more.

What the hell girl? My final impression is included.

Summary:

In an ironic turn of events, Mayama Azusa turns out to be Yuzuki’s first target. This brings her to meet Akie’s father, who had desperately searched for his missing daughter until learning about the Jigoku Tsushin. In other places, Ren and Hone learn that Tsugumi is leaving the town. They suspect that she had come to the town in order to stop Yuzuki, but she claims not only that she did not have the power to do so, but that it was too late at this point. Kikuri also starts to feel strange while with Yamawaro, releasing the Spider that had been using her as a container. After being presented with a doll, Mr. Takasugi travels to Azusa’s house to see her disappear with his own eyes. After peering into her window, however, he decides that he is unable to do it. This disappoints Yuzuki greatly, and afterwards, she declares that she would send Azusa to hell herself. Ai appears to express that this is against the rules, but Yuzuki sends an attack her way before moving on to her enemy.

Yuzuki prepares to send Azusa to hell, but to her shock, Akie appears in her place. She is then send to the Spider’s territory, as he prepares to punish her. Despite having the upper hand against her, and using the image of Akie to do this, Yuzuki is soon saved by the Jigoku Tsushin. Yuzuki wonders why Ai had done this for her afterwards, so Ai shows Yuzuki an image of her younger self. Ai describes that Yuzuki was all alone, before shedding tears for her. Ai describes that people are weak, and that they would always try to save themselves when desperate. The Spider catches up to Ai and Yuzuki, but Ai proposes to take the punishment for Yuzuki. This would cause her to serve for eternity, with no second chances. Yuzuki starts to disappear before Ai later, but Ai embraces her with a kiss to comfort her. Upon their lips touching, Yuzuki sees images of Ai’s past. Of course, the two were the same in the end. With her final parting with Yuzuki, Ai continues her job with the Jigoku Tsushin as always.

Impression:

Really? We had to sit through 26 episodes just to see Yuzuki’s emo angst fest get solved by some awesome yuri action from Ai? Happy endings for everyone? OKAY. What exactly did we accomplish here? So much for plot or direction, with the finale being almost exactly like the first season’s. Shibata Hidekatsu even showed back up as the Spider, in a well animated, yet really anticlimactic final battle. Tsugumi’s simply leaving the town after giving up left me with a blank stare too, as it basically confirmed that Deen was simply looking for an excuse to give her a cameo in the show. The returning plot dealing with Azusa and Akie was all around poorly written, and sadly, I have to say that I’ve seen better from earlier episodes. I did like a lot of the visuals in the final episode though, and I can probably guarantee that every Jigoku Shoujo fan had a smile on their face when Yuzuki said the classic, “Want to try dying once?” line. So, any word of Hell Girl 4?

Final Impression:

I can’t really say much was gained from this season of Jigoku Shoujo. Deen seemed to throw out the storytelling that the first two seasons had in favor of fanservice early on, and it showed. Most of the revenge stories didn’t end up amounting to anything, and some were even comedic. Yuzuki started off as an interesting protagonist, but after awhile, her character simply wasn’t carried out to its full potential. Instead of only being a Tsugumi clone, I guess we got a little bit of Ai in her as well. Great. In a show as slowly progressing as this one, I guess that’s somewhat of an accomplishment.

I will say that I probably enjoyed this season of Hell Girl about as much as the first two (for different reasons), but that’s really not saying much. In all honesty, I’m not even sure what it was that brought me to want to blog this show in the first place. Perhaps it was that cheeky dark side of me, or my secret wish to follow my hero Garten’s footsteps. I will say that watching an episode each week did make things more entertaining though, as Jigoku Shoujo is simply not a show that should be viewed in one sitting. So, while this show was totally in left field for my usual blogging schedule, covering it did end up making me like the series more. At least it’s over?

OP: “Cagayake! GIRLS” by Aki Toyosaki with Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Satou and Minako Kotobuki – Huh…..cute high school girls and a really bad, yet slightly catchy song by the voice actresses. Where have I seen this formula before?

Summary:

On the first day of high school, Hirasawa Yui rushes to campus despite all obstacles. Upon reaching it, she is shrouded with several offers for her to join various clubs. As her friend Nodoka discovers, however, Yui cannot decide on any of them. Elsewhere, a girl named Tainaka Ritsu convinces her friend Akiyama Mio to help her form the light music club. When the two bring this up to the teacher Yamanaka Sawako, they discover that they need four members before they can start a club. Upon waiting for quite some time, the two girls coincidentally find a third member named Kotobuki Tsumugi.

Meanwhile, Yui decides to join the light music club upon hearing about it from Sawako. As she finally starts to approach the club though, she begins to fear that the club will not be what she initially imagined it to be. Yui is greeted by Ritsu all the same, and while the three current K-on members express their enthusiasm, Yui cannot bring herself to admit that she knows nothing about music. Yui eventually comes around to doing so, but the other girls refuse to give up hope. With Mio on bass, Ritsu on drums, and Tsumugi on keyboard, the girls perform a short piece for Yui. Touched by this, Yui decides to officially join the K-on club. Of course, as Nodoka soon observes, Yui still has no idea what she has gotten herself into.

ED: “Don’t say ”lazy”” by Yoko Hikasa with Aki Toyosaki, Satomi Satou and Minako Kotobuki – I like the ED a lot better than the OP, both song-wise and visually. The style reminds me a lot of Paradise Kiss, or even Red Garden, type stuff.

Preview: Getting started.

Impression:

Hyakko, Manabi Straight, Haruhi, Lucky Star….there are too many shows I could compare this one to. Yamada Hisako, animator gone director, had a part in both Lucky Star and Haruhi in the past, so I can’t call that a coincidence. And while I can agree with Aroduc’s saying that this looks more like an A-1 style production, I certainly didn’t think it looked as terrible as he described ( I love A-1 though; more so than Kyoani. *cough*). Despite feeling like I have seen so much of it before, the first episode of K-ON! was absolutely hilarious. There’s just something irresistible about girls as ridiculous as Yui, and I’ve always been a fan of light slice of life humor.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I could feel a lot of Beck vibes coming from the show as well. While this series is nothing like the said anime, aside from the focus on music, I felt all kinds of nostalgia coming to me as soon as Mio started playing her bass. The guitarist jokes were a nice plus too, as a special bonus to those who are familiar with the ones mentioned. I can already see this series going into a Linda Linda Linda direction, and I’m ready for the ride. Just keep me away from those rabid Kyoani fans. No, Haruhi 2 is not out yet.

Look out, Kobe.

Summary:

In Rollingtown on the planet Earthdash, a boy named Dan JD terrorizes the city with the help of his two friends Bel and Ganz. After making money from parts stolen from the surrounding television monitors, Dan implies his distaste in the program that had been airing on the screens. This was the sport basketball, being played by the large robots known as Bigfoots. Using his reward, Dan purchases a small cat-like animal for his younger sister Coco. When she expresses her not needing of such a thing, however, the creature is soon eaten by Dan’s companion Spanky. Dan enters a local court to let out his frustration with basketball, becoming extremely annoyed with the nearby Bigfoots performing construction. Dan is soon met by a girl named Miyuki, who explains to him the various roles Bigfoots have in the current world. Miyuki sees that Dan does not like Bigfoots, but as Dan corrects, he simply does not like their playing basketball.

Having gotten wet because of one of her pranks, Dan follows Miyuki to her home that night. While she does his laundry for him, Miyuki introduces Dan to a particular Bigfoot. After getting caught up in piloting the robot, Dan quickly gains excitement. Reaching for the moon in a high jump, however, Dan’s night ends in a crash. Before he leaves, Miyuki offers Dan a set of tickets for a future basketball match. This brings Dan and his friends to the said event a few days later, though as they quickly learn, this does not turn out to be as exciting as what is put on broadcast. Dan begins to express his annoyance with the sport, and eventually, he realizes that Miyuki is the childhood friend that was once separated from him. Miyuki offers Dan the chance to pilot a Bigfoot once more, bringing him to do just that. Displaying what true basketball is to the fans around him, Dan again avoids the police to put on his amazing display of skill. Before he can make a finishing shot though, a certain player stops him in his tracks. After being released from confinement just a day later, Dan discovers that he has become a legend. In the streets surrounding him, citizens of Rollingtown have taken to playing basketball in Bigfoots.

ED: “free” by Yu Yamada – I didn’t like the song at first, but it did get pretty catchy after a few minutes. I also like the style of the animation, despite how typically simple it is. I’m much more looking forward to hearing the OP next week.

Preview: Let’s play some mecha b-ball!

Impression:

Uh oh, we be stompin’ in our Air Force Ones Bigfoots now!!! I’ve been pretty excited about this series ever since seeing some of its early promotional material a few seasons ago. (I mean, mecha and basketball? What’s not to like?) Add this to the ridiculous cast list and great production, and I’m already hooked after episode one. Of course, with Nike supporting the production, I couldn’t expect anything less.

The first episode was very fast paced, and felt very much like shows like Gurren Lagann or other high style animations that have aired recently. I absolutely loved this aspect of the show, as I never felt a terribly slow part. The concepts set off some of my artistic alarms just as quickly, with the play on futuristic drink bottles, the transitions, and the high focus on the moon in particular, being just a few of the things that caught my eye. I could go on about the cast for quite some time, but I’ll spare the essay. From Shizuka Itou to Kana Hanazawa, this show brings several of my favorite seiyu into one place. I can’t wait to see Hayami Saori’s debut, especially with the new group Eclipse performing the OP.

We only got hints of the overall plot so far, but I am loving what we’ve been shown. Dan’s distaste in what has become mainstream entertainment is such a contemporary theme to play on. The focus on the moon is fascinating as well, especially with how it supposedly plays in with the high technology city. I do have to give a few minor complaints though. While the sexual innuendos were humorous, Miyuki’s 20 second boob shot was just ridiculous. I also hate how she suddenly became the surprise childhood friend, which Japan simply can’t seem to get away from. Several other parts of this episode, mostly character and plot-wise, were extremely cliched too.

Still, overall, this series is turning out to be really fun. While not something I could consider particularly deep, I can definitely see myself enjoying it each week. Oh, and I’m totally thinking about buying the shoes Nike plans on releasing to tie in with the show. Oh yea!