Kimi to Boku Ep05

I forgot to mention it in the last episode, but I've dropped Yagami and picked up Sage for this series. Yagami started really lagging behind after the first few episodes, and they've yet to catch up (have they just dropped it?), meaning that Sage is a much better choice. Given that it's essentially the same subs, the only loss is the font colour.

This episode began during the month's worth of summer vacation (I thought it was only two weeks in Japan?), and followed Chizuru's attempts to get the gang together for some hanging out. His personality still sticks out even though it's been a while since he's been introduced; I wouldn't say that he doesn't "fit in", because I feel like his character is not meant to fit in. Even so, I do tend to feel a little sad about his role sometimes. The twins turned him down right away in order to continue their video game together, and Kaname turned him down simply because it was Chizuru. The only person that accepted him into the house (the "true" reason for the earlier rejections being the intense heat outside) was Shun (which gives me hope that Chizuru will soon get Shun to cut his hair!).

At least he caught it before he started growing out his hair.

Shun's girly ways were at a high during his scene, as he was baking treats (perhaps to take to the others?). Chizuru displayed his typical "caught in the the flow" style by turning just as girly as Shun, before freaking out at what was going on. He reformed quickly and began running out the door, probably worried that hanging out with Shun would be detrimental to his "manliness". Once again showing how Chizuru doesn't fit in, Shun offered to ask the others to the festival that evening (and they all seemed to readily agree). Once again though, it didn't feel that bad because I really think this is Chizuru's character; he proposes outrageous things and I'd like to believe that, should any legitimately good ideas come around, the others wouldn't be spiteful enough to turn him down anyway. It's kind of like Ouran.

Masaki really thought it was a one-on-one date? Shun sucks at wording.

This episode continued the love triangle theme from the last episode (with Kaname, Shizuna and Hisako) by introducing a third point for Shun and Masaki - Chizuru. I can't say I didn't see it coming, but I was probably in a little bit of denial. I still want to be, because I just don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand, I want Shun and Masaki to be together. On the other hand, I don't actually dislike any of these characters, so it's hard to pick just one pairing. This is one of the first times this has happened - probably because this triangle was introduced so early, whereas Ouran's situation with Tamaki, Haruhi and Hikaru came long after I became a Tamaki-Haruhi shipper.

The man knows what he wants.

The festival played out with Chizuru running around excitedly, convincing the others to pool their money and share snacks so they could try everything. When he found out that Masaki liked Shun (since Kaname decided to share, essentially), he was pretty flabbergasted, but attempted to brush it aside. When Masaki lost Shun's present (a giant teddy bear hanging off a keychain; of course she was going to lose such a thing), the group got together to attempt to find it (while Shun headed off to get fireworks with Hisako and Shizuna). The love triangle became completely set-up when Chizuru was the one who got it back for her (from an unscrupulous vendor who had found it and decided it was a prize for his game), and he felt a little put-out that Masaki didn't thank him nearly enough (instead fawning over Shun, of course).

I'd like to see more of the twins in the next episode.

This was a very typical episode, right down to the fireworks at the end of a festival. I'd like to see a festival episode one of these days that doesn't follow this trope; I'm sure groups of friends (and couples) exist out there that don't enjoy all of these things as though it's coming off of a checklist. Anyway, the group played with fireworks before the larger ones burst in the sky, and minor scenes hinted to future turmoil - the two love triangles, for one thing. I wonder what Shizuna's deal is; it seems like she's had some things happening in her life (that, or she feels like she's "old").

How could you hate that, Kaname? No soul.

My interest in this show isn't waning, despite its slow pace, because I think I was prepared for it to be slow after the first episode. I don't know what I want to see in the future; a setting of an all-male cast in shoujo slice-of-life is still new to me and I think I have way too many expectations and desires to be able to voice any of them.

~Aaro

Kimi to Boku Ep04

This turned out to be one of those anime that I don't feel like picking back up if I take a break - however, after watching an episode, I want more. It's not perfect, but it still has a good hook.

This episode was pretty heavily centred on Kaname, beginning with a goukon that Chizuru decided to hold with the group (including Masaki). Due to the uneven numbers in gender, Chizuru decided to have Yuki and Shun pose as girls. His drive for the goukon was simply that youngsters needed to do it - I think he meant "socialize", but even then this was ridiculous. I wonder about Kaname's underlying sadness; such a thing can't be good. I hope he's just ennui in the sense that some people tend to blow up their emotions even though it's not that serious; otherwise, I wonder why he's so depressed.

That's all it takes to fall in love.

It turned out that Kaname knew his teachetr, Azusa-sensei, from a long time ago, based off the flashback to their days in kindergarten. (There's been a lot of those so far; now that more characters have been introduced, I wonder if they'll be more included from now on in these character-building side stories.) Basically, Azusa-sensei did some kind of "co-op" at the kindergarten when he was in high school, and Kaname saw him as a threat for Kaori-sensei's love. It doesn't look like Kaori-sensei ended up with Azusa-sensei or anything (I have this thing against teachers ending up together; it's just a little too well packaged...), and neither Kaname nor Azusa-sensei seem to understand that they met before (maybe Kaname does and just doesn't point it out).

Rich housewife?

Predictably, Kaname came down with a cold after the goukon from earlier in the episode was washed out. I say "predictably", but it's always annoyed me how easily some characters in anime get sick after being drenched with water. After just watching another episode of Working'!!, it's just a burning question in my mind. Can people really get so sick so easily? And on such a regular basis? That aside, Kaname was so sick that he couldn't go to school and the others (except for Masaki, whose role in this episode was minimal at best) came to visit. Shun thought that Yuki and Chizuru had taken notes, but it turned out they hadn't. (In fact, the two had really just come to "borrow" Kaname's notes.)

I wonder where Kaname gets his personality from.

It's interesting to see how young Kaname's mother looks and acts; is she actually a young mother, or just a wannabe? (If Kaname's family is rich, like the insinuations, then could this "mother" actually be the trophy wife?) The funny thing is that being so clingy with your son looks cute on anime, but is actually kind of creepy in real life. However, Kaname seemed to handle his mother well enough, and was all-too-happy to have her head off to the supermarket. On her way out, she ran into the childhood friend - Aida Hisako, who seems to clearly have a crush on Kaname. It's really nice that Chizuru is new to the group, because then the introductions don't feel forced at all (plus, the writers need to come up with less quirky ways of revealing characters' names and "positions", meaning less room for error).

He does like older women, after all.

This episode seemed to have the theme of "love" (or something similar), seeing as how it showed blatant hints of Masaki's crush on Shun during the goukon scene and made it kind of clear that Kaname had a crush on Hisaki's older sister, Shizuna. I wonder what kind of development I can expect with this series; I deeply want Shun and Masaki to be together, but I'm not really that invested in the other characters' relationships (yet). I do hope there's at least some development with this anime; as nice of a change of pace as it is to see a group of boys instead of a group of guys, I still don't want it to be about nothing.

Go get him, Masaki!

So, the episode right after Chizuru's big introduction included some other introductions too. I guess the character list isn't over yet, despite all the characters from the OP already being around. The next episode seems to feature the typical summer festival. My only question is when will Shun get his hair cut?


~Aaro

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi S2 Eps04-05

After a long break from anime (forced on me due to Real Life Things), I chose to get back into it with some BL. It was either this or Kimi to Boku, which is pretty borderline BL in itself. I just wanted feel-good without the slowness (Tamayura) and with a steady plot that didn't feel erratic (Un-Go).

This batch began with another Hatori-Chiaki-Yuu story, hopefully once and for all settling the Yuu matter so I can stop referring to them as a triangle (probably not, though), and then contained another heartwarming Ritsu-Takano story. I must say, watching ep04 was kind of irritating as I worried about all the possible ways it could go off into the dark side, but it ended as unrealistically cheerful as always. The Ritsu-Takano story progressed their situation by leaps and bounds, rekindling my hope that maybe they're finally out of the courtship and into a relationship.

What a ridiculously giant bed...

Ep04 began by showcasing Chiaki's dependence and attachment with Hatori; I don't understand why they don't just live together already. In fact, I don't understand why they didn't live together even before they got together; they were such good friends and Hatori was always over anyway. Seriously, people and their wasting of money on rent... Anyway, Chiaki obviously wanted more in the relationship, and the episode was clearly heading into the "confession" territory, which is a nice touch after the way ep03 ended. The matter of Yuu was always around, as Chiaki still thought of him as a friend and called him up to hang out in order to alleviate his boredom. I did empathize with Hatori quite a lot; it's sad that Chiaki seems to be walking into the danger zone that is Yuu so often.

What the hell? Have you never held a knife before?!

Chiaki's happiness and excitement for a date with Hatori was dashed when the editor turned out to be busy with work. In bitter retaliation, he decided to head out by himself, running errands (like buying manga) and trying not to feel bad about not getting to watch the new movie, Panda Warrior (is this supposed to be a play on Kung-Fu Panda?). I wonder if the general Japanese population still goes to theatres to see movies; I understand that it would be kind of weird if Chiaki talked about pirating given that this is an anime and the essential reason some studios are backing CrunchyRoll is to stop some of the pirating. Abruptly ending my tangent, back to the episode.

An uke protecting himself?!

Chiaki invariably managed to see Hatori with some random woman and felt insanely jealous upon realizing that this was Hatori's ex-girlfriend from high school. How coincidental! I live in a city, and I assume that these people do as well, and I've never really "ran into" people anywhere, especially not at such critical moments. I suppose Chiaki could have been near Marukawa when this occurred, increasing his chances... At any rate, Chiaki's anger drove him to yell at Hatori (on the phone) and then run to Yuu - again. I sincerely worried about this scene, as Chiaki began drinking and Yuu kept drawing him. When Hatori called Yuu's house, the scene took the typical turn of Yuu telling Hatori that he was going to steal Chiaki, hanging up the phone, and then returning to Chiaki in order to attempt some forceful touching. I was happily surprised to see Chiaki punch Yuu - surprised and satisfied, because too often in BL the uke is shown as a pansy.

Happyface.

Hatori arrived suddenly - of course - and attempted to beat up Yuu, who had just been thoroughly rejected by Chiaki. As Chiaki pulled Hatori away and the two left, I wondered if perhaps Yuu had given up. (It was a little annoying to hear that Chiaki would be calling Yuu later; way to pour salt on his wounds after the rejection. And really, at this point, wouldn't it be a good idea to stay away from him, seeing as how he tried to force you into sex? Ah, this stupid uke.) The make-up scene between the two really accentuated why I love this anime - there was no extended drama as everything came out into the open right away. The ex-girlfriend that Hatori had been seeing was actually working at Marukawa, meaning Hatori was working (despite the woman touching his face lovingly; I guess girls just do that?), and Chiaki announced quite clearly that he loved Hatori. As unrealistic as this scene was - in reality, too often the Chiaki-character would actually sleep with the Yuu-character, or the Hatori-character would actually be seeing his ex-girlfriend - it did make me happy about this pairing again. (I really hope Yuu can stop being a thorn now.)

I hate Valentine's Day too.

Ep05 returned to Ritsu and Takano, showing the situation in the department at the start of the year. Due to the special issues printed for Valentine's Day, the editors were extremely busy (despite being extremely busy before the Christmas break, too; what a tough job). The situation with Takano advising Ritsu on getting a mangaka to listen to the editor's storyboard changes paralleled with the personal Ritsu-Takano situation a little bit; Ritsu was obviously trusting and depending on Takano a little more. In similar vein, it was also nice to see that Ritsu has been advancing career-wise; whereas he used to need Takano's assistance in getting through a meeting with the higher-ups (where he'd have to justify his decisions), he was able to get through the one showed in this episode on his own. I can't tell if Takano was saddened by that - that Ritsu wouldn't need his help any more - or pleased by it - Takano seems to want an equal rather than a subordinate.

Wow, those are some seriously red cheeks.

The plot device for the week was Ritsu's fiancee (Kohinata An), finally putting my confusions and questions to rest. Apparently, Ritsu's parents got together with his childhood friend's parents and decided to have their children marry, but Ritsu never took it seriously. This makes it clear that Takano has always thought that Ritsu left him due to his fiancee (whereas Ritsu's reason for leaving was actually much weaker than that). While Ritsu grappled with his feelings about Takano, An showed up to give him a present. She wasn't overbearing at all and were I not on the Ritsu-Takano ship, I wouldn't think she was annoying. But I am, so I do. Women have no place in BL.

There's always so much pushing around in BL...

After a kiss on the train ride home, Takano seemed dejected to find An at the front of the apartment building. However, Ritsu (after walking An to the main street for a taxi) found his way into Takano's apartment and in a display of courage that was only shown before in their high school days, he confronted Takano with the full explanation of the situation. When Takano revealed that An obviously loved Ritsu, Ritsu said he had already rejected her a long time ago by telling her that he loved someone else. As if that was a confession (I wish Ritsu would be a little bit more like Chiaki...), the two seemed to have made-up and held each other to sleep...I think. It seemed like they would have sex, but they were fully clothed and falling asleep, so...

And yet I never see them cleaning up the messes they make.

The next episode seems to focus on Chiaki and Tori (I think...?), so I'm pretty annoyed with the shift away from Ritsu and Takano. I want to see more about them! I really can't tell how much of a couple they are at this point; they're still really skirting around the issue. Oh well; there's pretty much the entire season left to go.

~Aaro

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi S2 Eps02-03

So far, the subs I'm getting from Sage (CR rips but touched up a little) have not been that bad. The moment that "-chan" gets translated as "-poo" again, I'll probably just cry in frustration.

This batch included a focus change, wherein ep02 was about Ritsu and Takano and ep03 jumped to the Hatori-Chiaki-Yuu situation. Seeing how ep01 went, I would have been incredibly angry with this switch had ep02 not gone so well. The way it was described by Envy (how dare she spoil the plot for me; I should return in kind) was that Ritsu and Takano were finally together. After getting over my rather embarrassing girlish squealing manly happiness, I actually watched the episode and, more or less, she was right.

I'm sure the printers know clearly what's going on.

The plot point of ep02 was that, despite it nearing Christmas, the editors at the Emerald Department were incredibly busy due to the inconveniencing deadline changes posed by the fact that members of other departments (like the printers) were going on holiday breaks. Even with these busy days, the relationship between Ritsu and Takano could still grow. The aftermath of their night together was downplayed, since Takano seemed to be able to leave Ritsu alone instead of getting immensely pissed off that it was forgotten, but Ritsu still internally thought about it. These kinds of thoughts, around since the end of Season 1, made me pretty excited for the episode, Envy's spoilers aside.

That is a little shameless. But Takano probably sees Ritsu in a personal light.

After a particularly difficult day, Ritsu (thoroughly saddened by the fact that Takano had slept with him despite dating Yokozawa; to my relief, this misunderstanding didn't continue for much longer) came back to office to find out that work for the day was done and Takano and Yokozawa were just leaving. After Takano headed back up to grab something he'd forgotten, Yokozawa mysteriously took it upon himself to ask Ritsu if he was doing anything for Takano's bitrhday, occurring on the 24th. When Ritsu opted out, he also asked Yokozawa if the two of them were dating, and Yokozawa once again confirmed it. I guess it's not hard to have a misunderstanding when one of the guys is earnestly affirming it...

You probably could have done this a few episodes ago...

The full brunt of the fact that Takano had slept with Ritsu despite being in a relationship sent Ritsu into a spiralling emo world, where he tried to avoid Takano, but he seemed to shape up a little by the time the department headed out to dinner together after work one day. On the train ride home, he maturely wished Takano a happy birthday - an opportunity that Takano took to almost "guilt" Ritsu into hanging out with him on the day itself. Despite his attempts to get out of it, the 24th saw Ritsu getting picked up by Takano for a long drive. While there, the two really did seem to bond - and by that I mean that Takano really just yelled at Ritsu.

So he's dealing with a tsundere lover. Good luck.

It's difficult to summarize such an important scene. Takano seemed to finally get through to Ritsu, asserting that he and Yokozawa had dated in the past (though it was more of a heartbroken daze for Takano, as it occurred during college and he was still getting over Ritsu), but there was nothing there any more. As they headed back to car, Takano shared that, while the two had still been dating back in high school, he used to imagine the things they could do for Christmas - a story that really seemed to affect Ritsu, as he had been thinking back to those days at the very beginning of the episode. The idea that they slept together (in the car, I assume) was pretty obvious, but I'm not sure what to make of the end of the episode. They're not particularly "dating", as far as I see it (unless ep05, which I assume to be their next episode, proves me wrong), but it's pretty clear that Ritsu is a lot more open to the concept instead of being so heavily in denial.

Having seen the OVA, this is only a re-statement.

Ep03 began with Chiaki hard at work on the manga, along with Hatori at his side. It was a pretty cute scene when Hatori begged Chiaki to provide a full-colour spread for that month's publishing since the mangaka meant to do it was in the hospital. Chiaki was having a hard time getting it done, despite trying his best, and a big part of that was because Yuu hadn't really spoken to him since the time Chiaki ran away from the hot springs trip (to Hatori, of course). However, Yuu did come through and showed up, rallying all the assistants together and taking some of the leadership role so that Chiaki could focus on his own tasks. As he said later, Hatori had actually called him for it.

In some shoujo, this would blow up a lot more rather than be settled right away.

When Chiaki fainted (due to overworking and not sleeping), Hatori spent two days taking care of him (and not going to work). The day that Chiaki finally woke up, he came to the realization that he had really begun to love Hatori (whereas before, he was most likely not so open with his feelings). This kind of warm and fuzzy scene made me really worry about the next one, considering that the situation with Yuu was pretty clearly there. When in a later scene, Chiaki tried to help out one of his assistances by talking her up to Yuu, the truth finally came out: Yuu was in love with Chiaki. I can't really remember if Yuu knows that Chiaki and Hatori are going out (as a definite thing, not just suspicions on his part), but the point of this scene was not for Chiaki to suddenly get feelings of confusion.

There's a lot of themes of drinking yourself silly...

Hatori heard Yuu's confession to Chiaki, and his jealousy kept him from hearing the full extent of Chiaki's response. It was nice that Chiaki was so resolute with his feelings; I worried for a moment that he would actually waver. At any rate, the consequence of this conversation was that Chiaki and Hatori didn't speak for some time (other than for work, which wasn't that big of a difference), so Chiaki took it upon himself to set a time to talk one day. Hatori showed up with lots of emo, as he had apparently been avoiding Chiaki because he thought a break-up was imminent. It was pretty emotional to see just how deeply disconnected he was with Chiaki, despite being in a relationship with him.

Ah, no one ever comes out and says things clearly...

Chiaki finally had enough of Hatori's "accusations" and fought back, essentially yelling out that he loved him. While embarrassed, he did manage to say what he wanted to say - that he was in a relationship with Hatori out of choice, not out of force or anything like that - and this scene probably culminated in off-screen sex. I was really glad that this episode solidified the relationship more, instead of causing some drama, and I'm not surprised that the situation with Yuu isn't over yet. As his parting lines reveal, Yuu is still aiming for Chiaki, despite knowing clearly that Chiaki doesn't have feelings for him; I don't find this to be a bad thing because it's really only helped out the Chiaki-Hatori relationship every time. What a convenient plot device~

Hatori's jealousy seems to lead to good things these days.

The preview of ep04 shows that the focus will stay on Yuu-Chiaki-Hatori, with perhaps Yuu being more aggressive. Knowing this mangaka, though, I have hopes that it won't turn into "traditional shoujo" with forced kisses and wavering feelings. I'd prefer the happy kind of realism.

~Aaro

Un-Go Ep02

The way this idol moves reminds me of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu opening.

This episode is a lot better than the first, but still not good enough to return the show to my good graces. This episode definitely has more pace and is considerably less boring compared to its predecessor. For now I'm getting the earliest releases because I don't care much for quality of subbing. If I do decide to archive it, I will likely pick up Doki or Commie's releases because they are more tactfully done.

This episode begins with Yuuki and Inga waiting in a very, very long line up to purchase a new "song" for a Dol-pli. These are glasses that allow the user to load said "song" and see a 3D holographic image of an idol singing a song. These "songs" can be purchased mostly on the software black market. The backstory of why such harmless media is blacklisted is not clear to me. However, current Japanese regulations regard these songs and Dol-plies as propaganda. Their distribution is very tightly controlled forcing people to purchase from the black market. The contrast of futuristic technology and archaic thinking is in line with the first episode. A notable banned idol group titled Yonagahime is mentioned and the conversation is quickly hushed, as though the walls of the back alley buildings have ears.

Aaro: I'm pretty sure that the song for Dol-pli wasn't really being sold on the black market, and Yuuki's friend wasn't a black market software dealer (he just didn't some illegal things). For one thing, that line was pretty long and conspicuous for it to be the black market. What I'm assuming is that buying hard copies of the songs was one way to attempt to circumvent the fact that any data uploaded to the Internet would be policed, making it very hard to get through censors sometimes (this episode highlighted a post-war super-policed Japan). The reason this "harmless media" is blacklisted is due to propaganda; songs containing a secret message would be very harmful and the current post-war government has decided to take a rather hard-handed approach.

Our next murder is delivered.

We then cut to an apparently irrelevant scene where a woman pays a taxi driver to pick up her luggage from a residential address. Being an unlicensed driver and therefore a shady character, his curiosity tempts him to open the luggage in hopes of finding valuables he can cash in on. Instead he finds the corpse of a publicly known businesswoman. The victim, Osada Hisako, used to be at the head of the pop music industry during the war and is currently a wealthy investor. The suitcase was left with the guard at the residence by an unknown, undescribed man. Koyama explains the murder to Kaisho Rinroku who sets up a press story. A cross dressing restaurant proprietor, Aramaki, is suspected of the murder and being the woman who leads the taxi drier to the suitcase with the body. He pursued her with stalking interest and disposed of her when she resisted.

Haha, Yuuki is so shy around pretty girls.

Yuuki and Inga are invited to the residence of the murder victim. Her daughter, Osada An, is a well rehearsed songstress who greets them with a song which Yuuki records because he likes her voice. She firmly believes that Aramaki is not the culprit. She knows that her mother visited a well reputed hotel monthly and requests Yuuki's help. She also briefly blurts out something about Yonagahime before realizing the issue was taboo. Panda Inga accepts, with expected flourish, on Yuuki's behalf. As they depart, Yuuki asks An if she wants to become a singer to which she responds that it has always been her dream.

Inga looks so out of place.

Yuuki makes his way over to the black market software distributer whom he intended to buy the Dol-pli song from in order to learn more about Yonagahime. The group is completely banned from circulation today and he was not in Japan during their peak years. The backstory here is the last piece of information you need to piece together the episodic mystery. Yonagahime was a idol group that received national acclaim during the war for the the cheery, patriotic pop songs they performed. The reason for their widespread fame is linked back to their debut. The group originally had four members but debuted with only three after losing one to the first terrorist attack on Japan. Their debut single featured all four girls making the deceased member, Anzai Eri, posthumously famous. They got the compassionate attention of an entire nation who cheered the three on with unconditional love. Following the end of the war, Yonagahime was forced to disband. Yuuki and Inga recognize the Eri's voice, which puts Inga in her creepy happy place.

Even with her short hair, she looks like a girl to me.

The duo then follow up with each of the living, now retired, members of Yonagahime and discover that they are not allowed to pursue solo careers in entertainment ever again. In their meeting with two of the members, Yumeno and Kumi, they learn that the victim met these two to give them money on a monthly basis. This episode it is Inga who throws around baseless accusations like "Hey, if you wore a disguise you'd look like a man. And see, you're a man woman team." She insinuates without proof that these two women are the culprits, making them the obvious plot decoy. (Women, they can be so annoying.) When Inga asks a question about Eri, Yumeno runs for the washroom crying. This excites Inga into chasing her.

Her transformation is as glamourous as she is.

Yuuki manages to stop Inga, who transforms into her womanly form because of her lust for truth. Her character is developed much more than I expected in this episode. Firstly, what is that wardrobe? Seriously, I would think the counterpart of something as cute as a panda would be less gangly and whorish. Inga manhandles and disciplines Yuuki before demanding the question of truth she should confront Yumeno with. Yuuki, out of sympathy, tries to retaliate against Inga. However, his effort are futile and Inga sneaks up on Yumeno to ask her the truth about "Who's the fourth member of Yanagahime?" Despite Yumeno's vehement resistance efforts, she is forced to reveal the identity of the fourth member. It turns out that transformed Inga is a truth-seeking devil incarnate, or so I believe, and she's out and about to learn what real humans are made of. (Not physically, spiritually. She's not a cannibal for crying out loud.)

I like the onset of evil that occurs every time Inga has a revelation about truth.

Before Yuuki confronts his suspect, he verifies Eri's with a voice recorded on his cellphone. Black market software distributors come with so many benefits. I'm not sure why the confrontation happens in a cemetery at Eri's grave. The murderer, Osada An, confesses to the crime she committed against her mother with an elaborate explanation of the story you have probably already pieced together. An's mother used her voice to create a fictitious fourth member for Yonagahime to boost their popularity. The ploy worked brilliantly but prevented An from realizing her childhood dream of being a signer.

Why didn't you think things through first!? Did you ever stop to wonder why Yonogahime never performed again?

This is where Koyama steps in to tell the three what the "reality" of the situation was. Aramaki, the murderer, was found dead because he committed suicide to escape prison. Osada An is still forbidden from singing under the New Internet Privacy and Protection Act, the same regulation which banned the circulation of Yonagahime's music. Yuuki, after a long philosophical rant about the fragility mankind and his continuous search to provide worth for his existence, accurately deduces that Kaisho Rinroku was the mastermind behind the "death of Anzai Eri"; the popularity of Yonagahime was his ploy to raise spirits during the war. Instead of denying his omniscience, Rinroku quietly listens to Yuuki while trying to terminate every upload and download of Yonagahime music from his super-terminal.

Aaro: In the end, Rinroku was unable to stop every upload/download of this file. Leading up to this scene, the various shots of files being terminated with "illegal data detected" messages were interspersed with some of the downloads actually finishing. Rie, while watching a stream of news, got an email with the song as an attachment, showing how quickly the song had begun circulating. The final scene was of Rinroku leaning back with a coy smile on his face, obviously giving way to rampant proliferation of this particular song. What this means for his character is up in the air; he's obviously less "evil" and more "idealistic".

Kare wa dainamiku desu~

My final thoughts...? I enjoyed Yuuki's character a lot more in this episode. He seem too flat and one dimensional in the opening episode. He shows a lot more emotion in this episode. I'm not sure if it's a one time occurrence (maybe because the mystery hit close to home somehow) or if he's going to be more engaging from this point on. Inga's eccentricity took some shape but still has little to no basis. She keeps getting weirder without any explanation as to why she is weird or why Yuuki tolerates her. Rinroku's role in society is further clarified which piques my interest. All in all, Un-Go took a step up but is still hanging off the bottom rungs of the ladder. The preview for the next episode reminds me of a mini arc from Tantei Gakuen Q. We'll see how it pans out in seven days.

Aaro: This episode allows this series to redeem itself a little bit more for me. The story (mystery of the week, actually) was well conceived, dealing with themes of propaganda, war crimes (i.e. propaganda being okay during the way but becoming taboo and banned after the war), and (slightly) the force of guided masses toppling a regime. These themes are pretty obviously very heavy for this kind of anime; it's giving me even more flashbacks of Gosick where serious themes were presented even with a light-hearted feel throughout most of the series. I hated the story-telling of this episode; that's a given, since I'm more interested in the story of this obviously character-driven anime. I dislike this show a little less, but I can't say that I like it and look forward to it unless I begin to like any of the characters first.

/Envy

The iDOLM@STER Ep15

This episode seems to make it seem like the three main girls of this anime are Haruka, Miki and Chihaya. That's a little annoying; I don't particularly like any of them that much. Where is Takane?!

This episode was an all-idol one again (although, undoubtedly, the trio I just mentioned got most of the screen time), featuring a TV show that apparently the girls do every week. This may have been their first one (which would explain why Producer was so frowny-face and stressed out the entire time). I really like the concept; it's a pretty good way to get publicity and the viewers do seem like they liked it.

I wonder why the children liked pulling Iori's hair so much.

The show, It's Live! Sunday (what kind of name is that?), was pretty much a variety show, where the girls got to be a part of different segments. I was pretty pleased to see that Ryuuguu Komachi was neither in the spotlight nor placed together; Iori, Azusa and Yayoi were at a nursery to predict the weather. It was cute to see how the three of them got along with children in very different ways. The scenes shifted quickly, making me feel that their entire trip out to the nursery was a little hollow, but variety shows are usually like that.

Sadly, it looks like a boy cross-dressing.

Yukiho and Makoto were at a clothing store, with Yukiho's stated intention being that she wanted to make Makoto cooler. After giving Makoto free reign, however, the result was quite disastrous - sadly. I thought Makoto was really into girly things; I assumed she had learned a lot from magazines and whatnot, even if she couldn't put it into practice. Anyway, Yukiho turned out to be a girly-girl (although I knew that already) and dressed up Makoto properly...as a man. The girls in the audience went crazy over the transformation, further destroying Makoto's dreams of one day being a girl.

Wow, ordering from a vending machine.

From Takane's scene, it's further solidified that she's a rich kid. (I know a little about her through my research into the games, but not so much.) Her segment was exploring ramen, for which Ami and Mami tagged along. (Their twin comedy routine wasn't particularly that funny; I'm typically not into that type of humour.) Takane continues to further pique my curiosity, and I do wish they would focus on her already. I wonder what kind of idol she's most suited as, since I've yet to see her sing or dance or act. I can't believe I'm so interested when I know so little.

I would watch the movie just for this.

The extended promo clip for a movie confused me a little; I had no idea if it was a joke or if the idols actually had gotten a movie. If it's the latter, then wow, they've really moved up. The mecha theme reminded me of the other anime, Idolmast Xenoglassia, which used most of the same characters and was set in some kind of Gundam world (I didn't watch it and have no plans to). Haruka as the evil villain and Takane as a scantily-clad boss made me want to know more; I would really like clarification if this is for real or not.

It's just funnier that Miki doesn't even care.

If there was any kind of story or growth going on, it happened with the three anchors. Miki seemed to be quite natural and in her element, while Chihaya was at the other end of the spectrum. When Producer told her she needed to relax more, she worried about it. However, she didn't particularly show changes, other than bursting into fits of laughter at various points after Haruka bashed her nose in accidentally while trying to open a box. I wonder if there will be another Chihaya-focused episode; the one that she had earlier didn't really "finish" her story. However, if she's a main character (more so than the other girls, I mean), then her story can just be recurring, no?

I wonder if Producer is dealing with this seriously or setting it aside again.

This episode also added to my dislike of Miki. Her come-ons to Producer were stronger than ever, with the rest of the girls (or, at least, Haruka) noticing that she was being quite outgoing. I don't know what to make of this; I can pretend that it's a joke, but it's hard to tell. Either way, Miki tried to tone it down while she was on-camera, but slipped up once and called Producer (who was off-camera, of course) "Honey". However, no one seemed to mind, so it's okay - for now. I mean, if she becomes more popular, this could undoubtedly become a scandal. I just don't see her allure, as it stands.

I wonder where she was and if it was a realistic challenge.

The next episode seems like it might involve this aspect, so I'm dedicating an entire paragraph to it. Hibiki's challenge for the week was to get to the studio by the time the episode was over, from an unknown location (most likely unknown to her as well). They checked in with her from time-to-time, and the last time they looked at her, she had no voice feed from the studio and was running through the rain. The show ended with the anchors promising to keep Hibiki's progress updated on the website, and the ED showed her smiling as the rain stopping and the sun came out. It might be too much to ask that the next episode has to do with her (I'm basing this off of the shot of Producer looking around in the wilderness for someone), but I'm hoping. I find her character still interesting right now.

This came straight out of millions of shoujo manga.

While it's not like the show is getting worse, I don't feel like it's getting better either. I just can't find something here that's gripping me. Perhaps I would if I actually liked more of these girls.

~Aaro

Kimi to Boku Ep03

I accidentally picked up Sage for this episode. I couldn't help it; they were the first release! Due to the minuscule differences, I'll most likely be archiving Yagami because of their prettier typesetting, but I really need to get into the habit of waiting. My bandwidth cap won't let me download multiple releases.

This episode was the long-awaited introduction of the final member of the group, the foreigner Tachibana Chizuru. Despite being quite obviously non-Japanese (with blond hair and blue eyes), his Japanese name suggests that he may be half-Japanese (or that he adopted a Japanese name for easier interactions). The episode didn't beat around the bush at all, jumping right into the introduction of the transfer student after the OP. As expected, Chizuru was quite excited and outgoing, obviously geared up to fill out his role in the group.

He's like a bouncy ball.

It took a few minutes after he sat down, but Chizuru ended up recognizing Yuki as the kid that he had met once in his childhood. (It was mentioned, after all, that Chizuru was "returning" from abroad.) Yuki was not really receptive, however, insisting that he had no idea who this boy was. During the break between classes, he went to hang out around Yuta, although Chizuru found him quite easily. I can see that this blond boy will fill not only the boisterous role but also the dense one, as his first thought upon seeing Yuta together with Yuki was that they were clones, genuinely sounding surprised when it was revealed that they were twins.

So, he's either going to be a ladies' man or a wannabe. I think the latter would be funnier.

The next few scenes dealt with Chizuru attempting to get Yuki to remember him, including as they lounged by the poolside by the gym class. It became obvious that Yuki had some kind of recollection, but was not admitting to it. While the twins were at the bookstore (Yuki reading the manga chapter from the magazine, while decided whether or not to buy it), Chizuru recalled that he had given Yuki a "cool toy" outside of the park at the end of their meeting and relayed the information over. I was actually taken back a little when Yuta revealed that he remembered something like that happening, bringing up the question of who it was that Chizuru had made friends with.

Foreigners can be scary!

With neither of the twins wanting to accept that they knew him, Chizuru's dejected expression actually made me extremely sad. I'm not good with themes of loneliness, which is partially why Natsume Yuujinchou has stuck with me so much, and it was hard to see Chizuru being so downtrodden. He stopped approaching Yuki (which seemed like it bothered him as well) and kept all of his thoughts to himself. However, when approached by a bunch of high-and-mighty seniors (bullying is rampant in Japanese schools, isn't it...), Yuta and Yuki came to his "rescue" without hesitation.

Ah, these twins. So calm.

I had hoped for some "cool action" to take place, but that really wouldn't be in the twins' characters. Instead, I got a quirky handling of the situation that actually made me like the dynamic of these boys a lot more. Yuta stepped in instantly, just curiously asking what was going on. As he became the next target, Yuki came over since he had finished his manga volume and asked Chizuru where the next one was. As he began taking the blond boy away to go search out the next part of the story, Yuta pretended the principal was around to give all three of them the chance to run away. It was a cautious and non-violent way of dealing with the situation, one that I feel is far more realistic than the typical display of jumping into an actual fistfight.

Aw~ Young children really don't look so cute, though.

While the boys ran away, Yuki had a full flashback about what had happened years back. It was a little unclear if he had remembered all of it from the beginning, or if bits and pieces had come to him until the big picture showed up at this very moment. Either way, it was during a time in summer when Yuta was sick and so Yuki was at the park all by himself. Chizuru showed up, not knowing a word of Japanese at the time, and the two wordlessly got along and played together. The scenes of the two young boys was really cute; it was especially nice to see Chizuru's personality showing despite the language barrier (which wasn't really a barrier for me, considering his words were translated in the subs along with Yuki's).

I'm sad to report that this was the only time I was sure it was German being spoken.

Essentially, Yuki was hesitant to see Chizuru again since their last play-date had ended with the blond boy falling out of a tree and getting a gash on his stomach. Chizuru wasn't mad, but Yuki felt insanely responsible and muted since he couldn't even apologize. So, when Yuki got sick and couldn't go outside, he seemed a little relieved. Chizuru waited outside the park, as he was about to leave, and found Yuta running an errand. Thinking it was Yuki, he handed over the "cool toy" that he had won in a vending machine on their first meeting and ran off. Yuta immediately passed the toy onto Yuki, not knowing its full significance, and Yuki was overwhelmed with guilt at what had happened.

Yuki has a soft side too~

The scene after the flashback ended was a little difficult to understand, as it was interspersed with Yuki standing on the rooftop during daytime (while his encounter with Chizuru, the "real" scene, was happening at sunset). Either way, Chizuru found Yuki and commented that it was definitely him and not his brother that he had played with as a child. He also commented that they weren't clones; Yuki simply kept reading manga in the face of danger, after all. Yuki's comment that Chizuru should have pretended it was Yuta he knew made it clear that he still felt guilty; this emotion was a little alleviated with Chizuru revealing that, despite it hurting, he hadn't wanted Yuki to apologize at the time. Essentially, he had never blamed Yuki or felt angry.

I'm glad Masaki likes Shun. It's interesting.

The episode ended with the running joke throughout the episode finally being resolved - Chizuru had initially thought that Shun was a girl due to his long hair. With this, I hope the plot point of how he cuts his hair has begun, although the preview doesn't really make it all that clear. (I'm okay with Shun-Masaki development, though that might be asking for a bit much.)

~Aaro