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!

My……my bread is….!

Summary:

After seeing the skeleton remains in the run down apartment complex, Yuzuki starts to believe that Ai is simply playing another trick on her. She leaves with this in mind, but before she can escape, Ai begins to show her familiar visions of the past. This brings Yuzuki back to scenes of her younger life, as her father returned one day to give her an early birthday present. The Mikage family was of course happy, but a few days later, Yuzuki’s father passed away due to a bus accident. During a later press conference, it was decided that the blame would be put on the driver. This was despite the fact that the bus breaks were faulty. This caused several people to hate the Mikage family, as Yuzuki’s mother Sayako fell to severe stress.

Despite being offered a job by her childhood friend Satoshi, Sayako and Yuzuki still suffered from the opinions of those in the town. Satoshi even advanced on Sayako as she started to become sick, causing her to leave even this small hint of salvation. Unable to find hospitals to take her in, Sayako eventually left with Yuzuki to take shelter in a shrine. She prepared to kill her daughter here, but was unable to as two cheerful girls appeared to make a prayer. Sayako died shortly after, however, leaving a feeling of revenge in Yuzuki’s heart. As Yuzuki recalls, she herself had died shortly after. With this, Yuzuki agrees to take Ai’s role as the Jigoku Shoujo.

Preview: Quote the Raven, “Nevermore!”

Impression:

Cliched, predictable, but somehow effective! There’s something about Japan and their way of displaying unrealistically sad situations. From Yuzuki’s coincidentally losing her mother’s keychain to a lethal step attack, to the never ending sight of broken down homes, angry posts, and distasteful looks, I couldn’t help but think that I’ve seen this all before. Still, seeing a loli Yuzuki’s revengeful eyes in dark red was absolutely delicious. I genuinely felt angry at the townspeople for their irrational treatment of the Mikages as well, finally giving me something of a real attachment to Yuzuki’s character. I’m curious to see how things will go with the seemingly soul-less Akie and Wanyuudou next week, but with only one episode left, I suspect there will be one more dramatic change before Yuzuki can truly take Ai’s crown.

First epic raws, and now this!? Moyism (aka Santa Clause) recently held a giveaway on his blog that offered his extra copies of Nana Mizuki’s LIVE FIGHTER to lucky contestants. I entered at last minute just for fun, but to my surprise, I ended up winning the Blue Side of the dvd!

For those actually unfamiliar with the popular idol, Nana Mizuki is a renown and talented seiyu singer. Some of you may recognize her roles as:

• Oboro in Basilisk
• Fate in the Nanoha series
• Tsugumi in Jigoku Shoujo
• Hinata in Naruto
• Touma in Minami-ke
• Moka in Rosario + Vampire

And among several others, she also plays Rin in one of my recent favorites, Rideback, as well as Rina in the seemingly popular White Album this season. Aside from her impressive amount of voice acting roles, she is a spectacular singer to boot! Mizuki is easily among my top favorite seiyu because of this, and I listen to all of her albums on a fairly regular basis.

You can read the winning entries here, and to my knowledge, there should be a part 2 to tie things up in the near future!

(….I’ve also heard that if you act quickly, Moy will be giving away his entire figure collection!!!)

The worried Chiaki. My final impression is included!

Summary:

Haruka seems to be troubled about something one day, which Chiaki brings up to Kana. Kana initially suggests that Haruka is simply worried about dinner and breakfast preparations, but the two sisters soon discover that this isn’t the case. This brings the girls to come up with plans while Haruka is at school. Uchida and Yoshino visit Haruka at the apartment while the other sisters are still out, and Haruka finally mentions to them that she is worried about Chiaki and Kana’s recently strange behavior. Uchida and Yoshino simply suggest that she do something to make them laugh, and when the girls practice this, Haruka is brought to laughter with them. When Chiaki and Kana arrive home, Chiaki despairs at her belief that Haruka actually wants sisters like Yoshino or Uchida. Kana suggests that she is wrong again, however, joining the laughter by suggesting a game of niramekko (staring game) with everyone.

Chiaki wakes from a frightening dream in the middle of the night, then deciding to sleep with Kana. Haruka finds Chiaki quite attached to Kana the next morning, as she learns that Chiaki had a nightmare about Kana’s leaving to buy something and not returning. Chiaki refuses to leave Kana’s side for quite awhile, but as Kana gets tired of this, she eventually takes a nap in the afternoon. As Haruka returns home from a day out with her friends, she is greeted by a waking Kana quickly attaching herself to her. As Chiaki then explains, while still holding onto her older sister, Kana had a bad dream about Haruka going to the bathroom and never returning.

While Uchida and Yoshino are visiting the Minami apartment, they make preparations for Tanabata. Kana decides to make a wish of her own, though she refuses to let the others see it. Kana leaves to buy groceries afterwards, but not before being denied the ability to buy sweets by Haruka. Kana ends up taking awhile to return, and when Haruka and Chiaki read her suggestive card, they start to suspect that she has run away from home. This makes the girls recall previous interactions with Kana, as they start to cry. The two girls prepare to leave in search for their sister, but by then, Kana returns to the surprise of Chiaki and Haruka. Upon celebrating Tanabata later, it is revealed that Kana had two parts to her card. In reality, she had only wished for more meat.

In other places, Hosaka has a frightening dream about losing Haruka.

Impression:

Awwwwww~. While this episode didn’t feel like any of the episodes proceeding it, I did appreciate it for the slice of life and family themes. I don’t think there’s anyone out there with siblings who can say they haven’t experienced similar events. Chiaki’s attaching to Kana was adorable, as was her mistakingly believing that Haruka did not love her anymore. I’m also surprised that there were actually references to previous episodes this week. I guess this overall felt more like a second season episode than anything else. But while this was nowhere near as funny as most of the episodes we’ve been getting recently, I do feel like it ended the series gracefully. After all, Minami-ke is a show about family and friends in the end.

Final Impression:

I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard that Minami-ke was going to have a third season. While I had suddenly become a huge fan of the series after the first one, Studio asread had made a wreckage of the series in the second season. I went into the third season hesitantly upon hearing that this studio would again be handling the production, but fortunately for all of us, they had took all of their criticism constructively. Okaeri went back to the roots, and brought back everything we loved about Minami-ke in the first place. Gone were useless characters like Fuyuki and bad anime original episodes, as we once again experienced a blast of nostalgic humor.

Some fans may have been asking for more Hosaka or even Mako-chan, but I felt like their absence was necessary after being overwhelmed by them in the first two seasons. I do wish that the one new character to show up, Hitomi, had more screen time though. She had an astounding one segment of one episode to work with. Still, with some characters taking a backseat in this season, others started to shine. For one, I’ve definitely become an Atsuko fan after this season!

So yea, overall, the third season of Minami-ke was a blast. Sure, some of the production could have been better in the art/animation department, but that wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying the show. Going into another series after this would probably be overkill though, so I’m hoping asread (or anyone else) stops while they’re ahead.