In the interim, I skipped ep05 since I wasn't going to be writing about it, and I almost completely forgot what A Channel was about. Such is the fate of this kind of anime; I mean, I haven't seen Lucky Star in two weeks and I can't remember a thing about it.
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| Fanservice in an anime that's geared towards females...? |
So, the three episodes in this batch were pretty unrelated, as usual. Ep04 revolved around Nagi's desire to lose weight, ep05 on Run's desire to go to the beach, and ep06 on Yuuko's desire to finish her questionnaire. Essentially, it's the same type of slow-paced randomness that we've come to expect from A Channel. As Rho eloquently put it: "It's hard to make fun of this, because they don't do anything wrong. ...They don't really do anything."
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| Tohru's future friends~? |
Ep04 wasn't very memorable, mostly because I don't think I could empathize in any way to Nagi's desire to lose weight. For one thing, she doesn't look fat in any way to me...in fact, I think all the characters in this show have severely disproportioned (as in, too thin) arms and legs. The part about Tooru interacting more with her classmates was nice; I really do hope that she gets some friends that she can hang out with without feeling left-out at times.
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| I've never been able to build sandcastles... Sadface. |
With all the focus put on bodies and shape, it's pretty clear that all the girls (and everyone?) thinks that Yuuko has the best body. It's hard for me to understand, because everyone looks pretty much the same (with differences in hair and sometimes breast size). I can't really understand when they talk about slender legs (too thin...) or waist size (they all look the same...). If I had to say something, then I guess I'm glad that Nagi talked to her friends about her dieting (not particularly willingly, though); it gave me the sense that they were really friends, unlike some of the school friendships we see in anime (I'm thinking of Anaru and the two she hung out in, in AnoHana).
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| Indeed, I think (Japanese?) girls are really comfortable with one another... |
Nagi's desire to lose weight (and all the dietary information that episode contained) was slightly curbed by her friends telling her that healthy exercise and a good lifestyle was important. Whether or not she put those thoughts into action remains a mystery; she was worried about her "fat" once again by ep05. (Although, I can't blame her; all the swimsuits the girls decided to wear - including the one that Tooru couldn't wear because it was too big - were pretty revealing. And yet girls in anime question it when the boys get all lecherous...)
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| This was the best of all her swimsuits - she must have agreed, since she bought it. |
After the slightly dull ep04, I'm glad to say that ep05 was much more interesting (although not so much, in the grand scheme of things). After some more nakedness by the girls, the remainder of the episode focused on the desire to go to the beach, until they actually went to the beach. I did enjoy the scene in the mall; I'm amused by the thought of trying on those swimsuits. What panties are you wearing? If OreTsuba is anything to go by, the average Japanese girl's panties are larger than the bikini briefs that Yuuko tried on. So...?
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| I feel like Run's breasts got bigger and bulgier throughout the entire episode... |
This was, pretty much, a super fanservice episode. I don't understand; I can't see the average guy wanting to watch this anime. (Or maybe I'm hideously wrong.) I guess it felt kind of boring, despite being more interesting than ep04, because there were no guys around. I can't stand shounen often for that very reason; there's no girls around, at times. I like a balance, or some semblance of a balance; that's why I can handle OreTsuba despite it being harem-type. I think I would definitely like A Channel more if it showed a balance of guys and girls (something that Nichijou does well, actually).
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| I was seriously confused with Run's questioning. |
Before I continue onto ep06, I need to make a comment. On the way home, some of Yuuko's hair got caught in the doors of the train, and then Run asked about her cuticles after they got it out. I thought that Run was being
crazy because, as far as I remembered, cuticles were on your fingernails and toenails. But, hey, what do you know, there's
some on the hair, too. Stupid Run, teaching me things in my own language...
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| Seriously, are girls like this? |
Ep06 picked up immediately with the lesbianism - I mean, the randomness. This episode was focused on the career questionnaire, and the majority of it was how Yuuko forgot it at school and needed to get it. (One question I had at that point was why they needed to wear their school uniforms. I mean, they were
breaking into the school, so...? I guess it's just a form of discipline.)
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| So, girls are touchy-feely and also evil to each other. ...tsundere?! |
The opening scene of Tooru having fallen into the crack of her bed and needing to be rescued was pretty funny. There were actually a lot of amusing scenes in this episode (one that comes to mind
instantly is Yuuko running to the freshman class with a mop and bucket because she thought that was a fire, and the events thereafter); I'm thinking that there's a chance that Yuuko is my favourite character - that, or she's tied with Tooru. Honestly, the thing I dislike the most about Tooru is her dependence on Run; it makes me sad when she's sad. So far, Yuuko hasn't really done anything that elicits sadness from me, so that's +1 for sure.
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| So, when there's a female majority, they're bound to take advantage of the sole male... |
As with previous episodes, I was still kind of bothered about the lack of gender balance in this anime. Before the male teacher (doctor?) showed up in the "beware of molesters" scene, I had actually completely forgotten about him. He has an eccentric personality (it's not really necessary; being the sole male in a show full of females should make you stick out), but I think he hasn't shown up enough to be impressionable. Either way, I hope for more men to show up eventually; I really can't enjoy this show fully with such a lack of male presence.
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| I would have thought that Man Vision would produce ecchi, not shoujo. |
I found almost the entire latter half, where the quartet had to break into the school, to be pretty good. It's good to end this batch on a high note; I won't wonder why I'm watching this show for the next batch, then. Surprisingly, this batch ended up following a strange crescendo - ep04 was the weakest and ep06 was the strongest. It might have to do with my like of characters; I guess that means that I like Run better than Nagi (or that weight-obsessed part of Nagi is what I dislike). I do hope for some more Tooru-focus in the future that isn't lonely and sad; I want to see her character grow and flourish into
evilness happiness. Of course, any screentime for Yuuko is greatly desired too.
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| Run in the future? No, it's just Run's mother. |
On a final note: does anyone else notice how the characters look just like their mothers? I can't recall if we've met any of the fathers, but Run and Tooru both look
exactly like their mothers, as though they were the product of some bizarre and impossible asexual reproduction on their mothers' parts. Am I reading too much into it? I mean, the mothers aren't even side characters; they're just fauna, at best. My overactive imagination is so overactive...
~Aaro
