Disclaimer: Aaro is not in a good mood.
It was such a long wait for this episode~ HorribleSubs was later than usual and, as of writing this, Shikkaku has yet to release it. *sigh* Of course, a part of me almost wishes that this episode hadn't come out at all. But, anyway, on with the (stupid) show~
It was such a long wait for this episode~ HorribleSubs was later than usual and, as of writing this, Shikkaku has yet to release it. *sigh* Of course, a part of me almost wishes that this episode hadn't come out at all. But, anyway, on with the (stupid) show~
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| One of the few ecchi scenes and it's not even that great. |
Before I begin, please note that I don't hate this show. I just didn't like this episode. It was (probably) necessary to the story, but I really detested it. It raised more questions than it answered, and it even focused on my least favourite character. I was dreading this episode for quite some time now; we finally got to see Haneda...and it was not worth it.
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| The epitome of Japanese culture: avoid conflict. |
Just like I presumed that I would hate Haneda, I did. I despise his character. He's soft-spoken and gets flustered easily; he's praised as some kind of god even though he does nothing (to be fair, he might; we've just yet to see anything); he gets goodness dumped in his lap but won't take care of it properly; he gets walked on by everyone but gives them the "benefit of the doubt"; what else do I really have to say? This episode started off on the wrong foot for me simply because it had Haneda in it.
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| Why does she look so old while he so young? Damn fetishes... |
Rushing straight through, Haneda and Asuka have been dating for two and a half years. By the end of the episode, it becomes clear that, on the surface, it's in name only, since Asuka hates people (right...) and wanted to stop the rampant confessions (so she picked a guy that wouldn't really ward off any potential suitor). Deeper down, he's deeply in love with her (we knew this from ep01) and she quite obviously has some kind of feelings for him (or is simply extremely needy despite hating people).
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| Really, "cyanblue"? I look forward to Magentared and Turquoisegreen. |
Every time Haneda was "summoned", he returned to the world we've seen him in prior (and the others only during the opening), where he was heralded as the best thing to happen since sliced bread (which is pretty overrated to begin with, so chew on that). Nothing was explained, but it was constantly touted that Haneda's was awesomesauce. In fact, the second time he got summoned served as a massive cocksucking session, where multitudes of named people (who, in the panning of the crowd, had real figures instead of generic, grey space-fillers) talked about Hawk's awesomeness. What did he do?! The best part of his entire time in the other world was finding out that the other three of the Four Rainbow Feathers (confirmed to be heirs to the throne) are: Garuda the Wise (we haven't him met yet because he is said to be captured; I assume it's Itami), Eagle of the Eternal Wind (Chitose), and Falcon of the Underworld (Narita; he continues to be my favourite by having a non-lame name). By the way, Haneda's name seems to be Golden Hawk Cyanblue; I can't tell if that's actually it because it doesn't fit the motif...and is exceptionally laugh-worthy.
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| Of course he looked. You showed him. He's just being nice. |
Haneda's time in the "real world" pushed home his pushover nature, wherein he got walked all over despite being the class president. (This is a far cry from other anime, where the class president is usually some Super Bishie Leader. ...wait, am I thinking of only shoujo?) He had this habit of talking aloud to himself about things that would usually get him admitted to the mental asylum, and then we would find out that he wasn't alone...but the other people wouldn't comment on whatever he was talking about. It felt like a Shakespearean soliloquy, which I suppose I can overlook because I do enjoy Shakespeare.
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| I want some kind of bunny paraphernalia like that. |
The best part of the episode was Narita's minute-long appearance at the very end. It wasn't as though he was walking around the town or anything; he found Martinez (the black man that Alice the Jailbait hangs around with) being wheeled into an ambulance. Hm, that genuinely seemed like story to me. It was coupled with Narita desperately praying with the catchphrase ("may peace prevail in the world") and then some creepy laughter as he comforted Alice. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was story. It wouldn't bother me so much that the story showed up only at the end - I mean, it's an oft-used tactic - if it wasn't Haneda who had been the focus of the rest of the episode. It was basically showing me a snippet of something I wanted to see after making me sit through stuff I didn't want to see...and then ending for the week. Trolls.
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| So, it's the chicks that fly and yet the useless men are the Four Rainbow Wings... |
Haneda being the main lead is almost a dealbreaker; luckily, I'm perfectly willing to continue watching for the other two male leads (all the females really look alike; it took me a long while to tell the difference between Naru and Kobato). I don't have any high expectations of this series, given its genre, but even then this episode was terrible. It's gold for Haneda Fans (I know they exist). I must note one thing of hilarity: this episode played like the imagination of a typical lonely Japanese boy. Interspersed with his humdrum school life was fantastical moments of high-and-mighty roles in a surreal world. Haneda better not be crazy; that is a twist I do not want.
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| Somehow, Chitose and Narita will appear together. I hope it's in the real world~ |
The preview showed no signs of Haneda, which makes me happy. I look forward to seeing more of the other characters and their girls. Hopefully, I'm in a better mood next week so I can accept it if Haneda should show up for extended cameos. I've learned my lesson; I won't watch [C] with Rho any more.
~Aaro
