A Channel Eps10-12 [END]

This ended up being the last of all my backlogged list because, in the end, I liked it the least. (Well, other than AnoHana, but that I do on a weekly basis, so...) I'm very happy that this anime finished; I think any more and it would have begun feeling like a chore (as if it doesn't already...).

If I liked Tooru before... *heart*

This batch incorporated the end of the series, although there was nothing special done about it (expectedly). There was a lot of focus on Tooru in these three episodes, but most likely because the final "plot point" of her being lonely was "explored" in eps11-12. Ep10 had her getting a cat, while ep11 provided some flashbacks to a few years prior along along with Tooru's birthday (in modern day) and ep12 was essentially a relaxed day at school (and then out for dinner). Tooru felt as lonely as ever; with no specific resolution at the end of ep12, I don't know why they would bother to show more of it specifically in ep11. With the series having drawn to a close, I really have no strong feelings.

Nichijou Ep13

In the middle of watching A Channel, Rho sauntered over and wanted to see Nichijou. Ergo, here's the post on ep13. How can I say no to her? It has nothing to do with how slow and difficult A Channel is.

Aw~

Right after the halfway point, I was a little disappointed to see that there was no new OP or ED. Of course, Nichijou might be a 26ep series, in which case the next episode is the halfway point. It's not important enough to go check up on. This episode suddenly involved a huge plot point - Nano has the okay to go to school! I was very, very happy and this definitely brings Professor up in my books. (The entire episode was pretty much school-themed, most likely as a result of this huge story development.)

Steins;Gate 13 - The Inevitability

Well, I was expecting the time leap to move more than just a few hours; I was pretty sure they said two days. I guess that would make things too easy, being able to jump so far back. Being able to only go back a few hours makes things much more "balanced".

This Isn't Love! - Musings on Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi

Disclaimer: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi is a Boy Love series. It has men paired with men.

Although it's only been a day since I finished the series, I feel like now is as good a time as any to review it. After all, considering this is BL, I'm obviously going to have a slight bias no matter what. It's one of my favourite genres.

The most oft-used picture. There were very little flowers in the series itself.

The similarities in Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi to Junjou Romantica are jarring, and there's a reason: it's done by the same person. A lot of BL series tend to be incredibly emo (such as Mirage of Blaze), and it'd been a really long time before Junjou Romantica that I had seen a really happy shounen-ai series. Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi utilized the same formula, causing it to be a delight for me. With little character-development and a very simple story, this was a very situation-driven anime about the simplicity of love (in a BL setting, of course).

30-Sai no Hoken Taiiku Eps11-12 [END]

I actually meant to write this last night, since I was really looking forward to watching the ending of this anime, but I was absolutely exhausted after a day of combing Hong Kong hunting for nail polish (stupid Pearz...). A day later, I've finally finished watching this, and I'm actually really very happy with it.

So, she's a shotacon.

Ep11 focused on the aftermath of the fight leading into the making up, incorporating some hilarity such as Natsu having ballooned into a morbidly obese woman due to her depression leading to a very unhealthy lifestyle. Ep12 suddenly shifted gear to focus on the relationship with the gods instead of their relationship with each other - however, considering their relationship had stabilized, it was only right to do a traditional wrapping up. In the end, it did finish on a sad note since the gods couldn't stay forever, but the future shots of Imagawa and Natsu added happiness.

Hanasaku Iroha 13 - Like Mother Like Daughter

This episode seems to mark the end of another arc. I am really disliking this entire arc-based approach, though. It's way too disjointed and you don't get a need to continue watching the anime since the flow is broken.

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Eps11-12 [END]

Maybe it's the pouring rain outside, but these two episodes really had a completely different feel than usual. With the series finishing up, I can't help but already want a Season 2. So addicted...

As demure as it gets.

This batch focused entirely on Ritsu and Takano. It was very emotionally-charged on several levels - Ritsu contemplated his career decisions (since he originally wanted literature, not manga) and also his relationship with Takano (including what he actually wanted). Yokozawa butted in just as he did before, demanding Ritsu's unconditional disappearance. The episodes (and the series) ended with lots of subconscious development on all fronts, although there were still unanswered questions (like what actually happened 10 years ago between this pairing).

May Peace Prevail in the World - Musings on OreTsuba

Once more, it's been a few days since I finished watching OreTsuba, and a lot of the inconvenient feelings of rage have subsided. I'm ready to tackle the disappointment that was this eroge-adaptation.

While initially my favourite character, Naru ended up tied with Kobato.

I had absolutely no preconceptions or biases going into OreTsuba, mostly because I caught much of the first episode by-and-by while Pearz was playing it next to me. Seeing the massive ecchi content in ep01 was a huge turn-off, and it just continued with the obligatory nonsensical scenes beginning the next few episodes. However, it was very clear that there was a story underneath and that the ecchi content was just the gift-wrapping, so I eagerly persevered. I was greatly disappointed not because the story or characterization was bad but rather because the anime failed miserably at telling it. It was obvious that the planning had been poor, turning a visual novel into a simple 12ep anime, and it showed very clearly.

Dog Days 13 - Just as Planned...

Well, I can't say that I didn't expect that he would be able to return again. The huge problem I had was the over-dramatized leaving ceremony. It was clear that after such a failed climax, nothing even remotely bad could happen. I seriously don't know what they were thinking with such a drawn-out goodbyes.

Two Eyelashes - Musings on AnoHana

It's been only a few days since I finished watching AnoHana, so I think it's a good time to try to be objective (and spoiler-free) about this anime. I'm pretty neutral about this, slightly on the negative side.

The main characters as they look in modern times.

The premise of this anime was pretty interesting; it was essentially a slice-of-life coming-of-age story. However, with weak characterization and weak plot development, it ultimately fell quite short of living up to my expectations. Despite numerous attempts throughout the episodes to introduce new plot twists, it ended up going down the same road that had been predicted since ep01. More importantly, it became a chore to watch each successive episode, with the last one almost causing me to fall asleep.

[C]ontrol: The Money of Soul and Possibility In Review [2/10]

This is a spoiler-free review of the anime, in case people decide that they don't want to get spoiled with the amazing PLOT that they had going. You can see my thoughts on the final episode here, if that was what you were looking for. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed this anime in a way that was not intended, which included bashing all the problems.

Nichijou Ep12

I actually did watch this episode a handful of days ago, when Rho woke up one morning and decided that we needed to. But Hong Kong really just takes the willpower to do anything out of me. How evil.

I love dogs so much...

Now at the halfway mark of the series, there's really nothing new going on. I've been noticing more and more detail in the episodes that I didn't catch before; apparently, that has to do with my growing like of this series. This episode, as usual, featured a lot of the trio (Mai, Mio and Yukko) and the Nano-Professor-Sakamoto situation. I'm beginning to see the side characters getting more airtime (like another segment with Annaka), but it's not stable enough to say that the number of main characters has grown.

Tiger & Bunny 13 - A Trust Between Partners

Wow, we're over halfway through the series. This week's episode concludes the Jake Martinez arc. I feel that it is a pretty feel-good episode to finish it up; I definitely prefer this format over the episodic Criminal of the Week. Though, those episodes seem to provide character development, so I don't mind them too much.

AnoHana Ep11 [END]

Given that it's pretty late at night and I'm so tired, I really wanted to go to sleep. But I forced myself to watch AnoHana instead. ...it wasn't worth it.

Some more scenes from their childhood would have been nice...

The last episode of AnoHana dragged on for so long that I had the irresistible urge to skip through it just to get to the end. I stayed with this anime for two reasons: I have an uncontrollable urge to finish things and I wanted to know what Menma's wish was. After finding out pretty early on (though not early enough) what it was, I lost a lot of my willpower. Sadly, I continued onto the end and the forced emotions were quite forced. Wrapping up a story has never been so try-hard.

Hoshizora 11 - The Second Rejection

This episode reaffirmed that Ibuki was the best egg in the basket. I knew her failure was coming, but I can't help but feel disappointed to see her fail. I guess I should be happy that we got two episodes dedicated purely to her, rather than the one episode that everyone else got. I am mainly disappointed that the worst girl of the bunch is going to win.

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai Ep12 [END]

Despite this episode coming out days and days ago, I only just finished watching it. Hong Kong seems to eat up an exorbitant amount of my time, despite there not being much to do. That's almost how I feel about this episode.

Are we sure she's not crazy too?

The final episode wrapped things up nicely. Regardless, it disappointed heavily. Haneda (as in, Takashi) showed up almost not at all this entire episode and Youji took over permanently. This meant that he was seen in Chitose and Narita's shoes, as well as his own - the school (which, theoretically, was what Haneda was doing all this time). As an ending, it was solid. As an ending to a story, it sucked...a lot.

[C] 11 - Con + TROLL = [C]ontrol

Since when was the yen the strongest currency?

I can't believe how well they picked this title. This is 10/10 because they trolled me so well that I didn't even see it until the final episode. It was humorous how many Dues Ex Machina they stuck into this final episode. They needed a new one to better explain the previous one they put in. That is the epitome of pro-trolling.

Steins;Gate 12 - Jedi Mayuri

The force is strong within this one.

Omg, this anime just gets better and better. The cliffhanger left off at a pretty important part; it was obvious that something was going to occur, but something of this magnitude was not expected. This is definitely the best anime of this season at this point; I mean, just this mid-series plot development is better than entire climaxes of these other anime.

Hanasaku Iroha 12 - Ohana the Antagonist

Tohru wants the entire family at once!

This happened to be a nice turn of events for me. These last few episodes are starting to flow together instead of being just individualized, which is much better. Ohana finally seems more resolute and it also helps to learn that the Tohru X Ohana is sooo happening.

Denpa Onna 09-10 - What Next, a Time Traveller?

These two episodes worked well together for a pairing. They both centred around the new plot point and the upcoming baseball match to decide who holds the festival. I was seriously considering dropping blogging episodically for this anime, but I decided to persevere through these final two posts. This anime just feels less and less enjoyable lately. This is the only anime I torrent and watch days later.

Dog Days 12 - The Long Farewells

So, we quickly learned of the prerequisites to sending the Hero back to his own world, with a super duper twist. *le shock* Sadly, at this point, a dramatized version spanning two episodes would probably have been better than the crappy prophecy that turned out horribly.

Tiger & Bunny 12 - The Rampage of Jake Martinez

We are nearing the mid-season climax as this episode picks up where we were left off last week. Tensions run high during this week's installment as we get our fair share of drama and watch our lovable heroes getting their asses handed to them.

[C]antankerous 10 - The ECONOMICS is Mind-Blowing

Talk about a crappy-looking macroflation, compared to the other two.

I was considering splitting the episodic stuff and the economic stuff into two separate posts. Then I realized: there's nothing episodic that's important, other than a few more plot holes, so why not just stick them together? I mean, they did a sloppy job just slapping everything together, so it seems only fitting that I do the same thing when making a post. Why there are people that still think this anime is the best thing to ever happen is beyond me.

AnoHana Ep10

This episode was so bland and yet angering at the same time that I couldn't bring myself to finish the post in one sitting. What are they doing with this anime...

That's a lot more powder than I'm used to in my fireworks...

The penultimate episode of AnoHana incorporated a good amount of sadness and crying, and very little resolution - everything that has come to define this series. There was a little bit of hinting at deeper stories - such as Poppo's remorse at having been left out once upon a time, and Menma's secret talks with Jinta's mother about reincarnation - but with only one episode left, I have no idea when these things can possible be properly deepened. After the long stretch to the fireworks at the end of the episode, Menma didn't disappear. Whatever the final episode will do, I hope it'll at the very least reveal her wish.

Hoshizora 10 - The Fate of Madoka

Well, I have been waiting for this episode for quite some time. They showed glimpses of the past between Madoka and Kazuma quite a few times, enough to insinuate that this will eventually occur. I was pretty shocked at how this turned out, though; it was nothing like I had expected.

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai Ep11

The Spring Season of anime is almost coming to an end, which means a lot of the shows that I had to sit through, secretly raging inside, are wrapping up. I'm really hoping that at least some of them have good endings...

She went through 3 costumes in just the one scene. Pro.

This week's episode of OreTsuba tied up the major loose end of Haneda - as in, he finally came back from Gregatgard and Asuka confronted him on the matter of his sanity. While the first half of the episode was just a "regular day", the second half very clearly revealed to the viewer (and Haneda) that Gretagard, under no circumstances, was real. With the way this episode ended, I assume that the series finale will solve the question of Haneda or Youji (I'm voting for the latter).

Steins;Gate 11 - Serious Academic Anon

Things are progressing slowly again, but the difference is that they've finally shown me enough to keep me hooked into wanting more episodes. With pretty much everything I am watching this season feeling like it is going to shit, this is the single ray of hope with promises of a brighter future.

Dog Days 11 - When Insert Songs Aren't Good Enough for Redemption

O RLY?

I am a huge fan of insert songs, but it still wasn't enough to even come close to redeeming this anime. I haven't seen such a badly-done ending in quite some time. It is one thing to fall back on crappy cliches with the ending, but when they fail to hold any sort of tension within the viewers, they have failed in creating a climax.

Nichijou Ep11

After a slightly embarrassing occurrence earlier today in the subway, involving hunger, a heat stroke, and some blood, Rho brought me home and ordered me to bed rest...then headed out with Pearz. How caring. I guess it's time to focus on Nichijou.

Where could it have hidden that?!

This episode of Nichijou was as good as ever, and there were no scenes that I felt annoyed with (which usually happens with Nano-Professor interactions). Some side characters (like Daiku of the go-soccer club and an unknown old man) got a good amount of screen time, but much of the episode was Yukko-centred.

Shiki Ep20.5 - It's Not That Hard

Nichijou ep11 is delayed because I woke up this morning to find the release of Shiki ep20.5 (taking place between ep20 and ep21, obviously). This is a little random, since I didn't do episode reviews on Shiki (or a final review, for that matter), but I really couldn't pass up the chance to talk about it.

I wonder if they're missing any characters; I can't remember.

This episode focused on the villagers breaking into the irrigation system, where a large number of shiki had been hiding, and showed far more violence than I recall the surrounding episodes depicting. I suspect it might be because this was a DVD release, so the violence didn't need to be toned down. Two main characters were depicted, the shiki Nao and the human Hasegawa. This was as incredibly emotional episode, with the unspoken feelings of the characters clearly conveyed.

Tiger & Bunny 11 - Politics of Sternbild

Instead of what I thought would be an Origami Cyclone-centric episode, this episode is more focused on the the decision-making process by the higher-ups of Sternbild. This episode isn't very exciting and is filled with a lot of low quality drawings, but I just can't bring myself to hate a T&B episode because of how much I love the characters (Kotetsu, in particular).

30-Sai no Hoken Taiiku Eps08-10

I can't believe how excited I was to watch and write about this. It doesn't mean I think it's a great anime or anything (it's pretty average); it's just incredibly refreshing to see such breakneck-speed development.

Underaged cross-dresser fanservice. You can see the bulge.

This batch of 30-sai moved along quickly with the relationship, covering the first kiss, a date, and the first argument (which led to a temporary "break-up"). The female gods really stole the scenes, which made me happy since I had hoped that they weren't useless. It ended with a cliffhanger, since the couple wasn't actually back together, but I can't wait to see how far they progress by the end of the anime.

Hanasaku Iroha 11 - A Bit of Insanity

I agree.

Finally, an episode to reignite my flame for Hanasaku. It has been quite some time since I found an episode enjoyable. Maybe it's because they finally decided to add some drama to the story, moving back to Toyo (and staying for at least the next episode).

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Eps09-10

I went through a bout of ennui earlier today, when I was just lolling around in the midday heat of June. I started ep10 and had to abandon it about 5min in; I just couldn't focus. But watching (and finishing) Final Approach made me crave some "proper" romance, so I became focused again.

Girls like this kind of stuff...?

This batch of Sekai-ichi featured the two non-main couples, finishing up the story between Kisa and Yukina (which began in ep08) and then providing another fixing of Yoshino and Tori. While ep09 wrapped up nicely, without requiring any further direct attention this season, ep10 still didn't complete the story of Yuu and his place in the Yoshino-Tori pairing, so I wonder about the focus of the remaining episodes. Either way, it was business as usual.

AnoHana Ep09

This is late only because gg was so slow in releasing their version. Earlier today, though, I really wondered why I was waiting for a specific group; there's very little chance that I'll be archiving this anime, so it doesn't even matter which group(s) I have. With that in mind, I'll pick the first one that comes out next week.

This is really the best character so far.

I'll be honest about it: I didn't like this episode so much. I'm really trying, but I can't sympathize with the overall angst of all the friends. I won't say something like, "They just bottle it in and don't talk about it," because that's wrong; they've been voicing it so far (Yukiatsu several times showed off his obsessive side, Anaru confessed her feelings just a little while ago, and so on). I just don't think I like this anime too much. This episode was the aftermath of the friends finding out that Menma really existed, and deciding to gather to fulfill her perceived dream of fireworks.

Hoshizora 09 - Trials and Tribulations

This is an extremely delayed post because I got my new laptop yesterday. Being bought in China, I had to wipe the OS and re-install all the drivers and such, which is what I spent my time doing rather than the post.

I don't think sunlight works so selectively...

Wow. Just wow. It has been a while since I had to close my laptop in rage quite a few times in one episode. Hina, who has had little to zero development the entire anime so far had an episode dedicated to her. That isn't necessarily bad; it's just that the general scenes in this episode kept making me facepalm.

[C]ollapse 09 - The Solid Understanding of Stocks

Those are some nice eyes and hands he's got...

Another episode of [C] goes by as I question just what the hell they are trying to do. The entire episode was dedicated to showing the huge effect of Singapore exploding and Mikuni's decision to try to fix things. At least we got to watch how useless Kimimaro was through all of this.

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai Ep10

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Shikkaku released ep10 already, considering it's only Thursday morning (night in Beijing) and I don't usually expect OreTsuba until sometime on Friday. Given last week's revelations, I was waiting with bated breath for this week, and it didn't disappoint at all.

It's turning into yuri!

This week featured Narita in the cockpit for nearly the entire day, seeing as how Chitose did most of the work last time. With no sign of Haneda, this episode already began with high marks. Seeing Narita at school, dealing with things in his own way, was awesome in several ways: for one, he's my favourite character and for another, it solidified how much I dislike Haneda and his methods (or lack there of). Like with the previous episode, a Scramble occurred about 60% through and Chitose was available for the remainder. Overall, this was really an excellent episode for this anime.

Steins;Gate 10 - Jello of Death

So, things seemed a bit less serious this episode with a bit of revelations. It wasn't as much of a shock episode as the last one but still, it was a nice "break" from that final super serious moment. It was good nonetheless, because it finally confirmed my theory of who John Titor was.

Nichijou Ep10

The watching and posting of this episode was invariably delayed due to time spent in a nail salon with Rho and Pearz. There were flowers and polka dots being created everywhere, but no Nichijou to be had. Luckily, that's all over now.

Yummy stuff~

This episode was slightly less funny than the previous one, but it was ultimately because one of the long scenes featured the Professor (and we all know that I'm not too keen on that little girl). However, Nichijou is pretty consistent with each episode being around the same "humour level" as the previous one. This episode contained a very funny scene with a "new" character: Annaka of the Big Bow. There were also the usual shorts (I felt that maybe there were more in this episode than before, but that's unsupported).

Dog Days 10 - Anti-Climactic-ness

The hero becomes a TRAP!! 

Wow, that was amazingly anti-climactic. This was portrayed as the death of Millihore, and yet the Big Bad Boss died pretty easily. With another 2-3 episodes left, this leaves me to believe that another final boss will show up. At least, that is all I can hope for to redeem this anime.

Rant From The Past: Shiki

Warning: This is chock full of spoilers and walls of text.

Pearz just finished watching Shiki yesterday, and the proximity made me recall all of my thoughts on it. I first watched this anime about two months ago, and had wanted to write a review but it's from Fall/Summer 2010, which is pretty old. It's not right to review something from so long ago...!

My inner fangirl went crazy.

I first heard about Shiki when perusing 2011 anime on AniDB, and recall waiting eagerly for it to finish so I could watch it. The picture above actually pulled me into the anime; I imagined from the makeshift description at the time that it would be kind of like Ghost Hound. It ended up being nothing of the sort, instead incorporating more supernatural and gore, with some philosophy gingerly sprinkled about. Ultimately, the characters are what made Shiki, since the story itself wasn't especially unique.

Saya no Uta In Review [9.5/10]

Well, this is my first visual novel. I picked this one up due to the large amount of pictures of Saya cycling around, which made me curious. Reading up a small description of the game added to that; it was a mix of gore-ish and thriller. Now, I don't usually like anything gore-related due to my weak stomach, but I made an exception with this one.

Big Bang Age In Review [8/10]

So, after playing Sengoku Rance, this game was recommended to me, so here it is. I actually beat this quite a while ago, but I've just been too busy. As I write the review, I've only played through it once and gotten one of the endings. I haven't had time to go through a second time, thus judging by how long the first time took.

A Channel Eps07-09

Pearz should arrive in Beijing in 12ish hours, which means lots of meandering and site-seeing along with Rho. (I should buy better shoes to keep up with the two of them running around...)

Tooru is very tsundere with Yuuko.

This batch doesn't seem to really incorporate the character-focused episodes of the last few episodes, instead opting to portray daily life with a central theme. Ep07 focused on the activities as summer vacation neared an end, ep08 showed the first day back after the vacation (and was Tooru-focused, slightly), and ep09 showed the friends celebrating Halloween (or some semblance of) in their own ways. For me, it was a quiet batch to watch on a lazy summer evening.

Tiger & Bunny 10 - Ouroboros' Reveal

I think this is pretty neat.

As the title suggests, Ouroboros comes out publicly in this episode. I didn't expect them to show up so openly this early, but this may indicate that our final boss will be the person pulling the strings behind Ouroboros - or, perhaps, even someone else entirely. Since the episode focuses on one of the main plot lines, namely the death of Barnaby's parents, I found it very fun to watch.

Hanasaku Iroha 10 - Why Didn't You Take the Dramatic Route?

This episode was entertaining for all the wrong reasons. For a moment, I thought that this anime was going to take a really good turn for the better, but then they chose to go the "drama-free" route. I guess I'm not alone when I think that this anime has been going downhill. Even the pre-orders for this BD were pretty low (almost one FRT low) for such a high production anime; hopefully, they will make it passed the anime-saving line.

Nichijou Ep09

My plan with Nichijou at first was to take it from a 4-episode post to a 2-episode post, but doing just this one episode made me realize that I can do a weekly post. Considering I had once thought this anime inferior to A Channel, I'm really startled.

How is that not right...?!

I'm not sure what the connecting factor of this episode was (food?), but it was extremely funny. It kept up the style of humour that I've gotten accustomed to, and there were plenty of signs of continuity throughout. No new characters were introduced, and no "minor characters" got screen time. I'm hoping that'll change in ep10, but it won't be a dealbreaker if it doesn't. I'm really enjoying the comedy.

Denpa Onna 07-08 - Rockets to Pierce the Heaven

Random side character, 'cause I can.

I probably had enough to talk about to write separate posts for each episode but I've been really busy lately. Combine that with my lack of motivation to blog about this due to my dislike of it, and here we are. So, we got a episode largely centred around Maekawa, and then an episode around Meme. This show just leaves me so uninspired lately. There's just nothing worthy to really talk about...

Cause I'm Leeeeaving, on a Jet Plane

...don't know when I'll be back again...

Homu Homu art is always relevant.

Well, actually I do know, but that's just silly semantics. I'll be leaving for a vacation to Beijing, where Rho and Aaro are, and then we'll all head to Hong Kong. I know my posts lately have been a bit more delayed than usual (some IRL stuff + slow editing from Aaro), but now it will probably be even more delayed. I'll try to keep my core favourites (Steins;Gate, [C], and probably Dog Days) to post about within 24 hours. There's no guarantee, though. I'll also probably have some random posts of my site-seeing, but I'll see about that.

On a side note, I hate all of you for picking Rho's totally crazy out-of-border thing. This is outrageous.

~Pearz