Yeah, you probably want none of that.

A town that had experienced 100 years of safety from the Titans comes under attack in this first episode. The opening installment was largely a journey through the town to discover just how complacent everyone was against an attack from the Titans. Eren, however, wants to be free from the city walls even as Mikasa constantly sides with his mother and stops him. They even get involved in a fight and stop Armin from being beaten up. However, lo and behold, the Titans attack the town and one ends up eating Eren’s mother as he can only sit back and watch while being carried in the arms of a man he called drunk a few hours earlier.

Probably more than any other series going into this season, this was the one that was projected to be good. Not popular like Oreimo, but just good. So let’s start with the story on this one. In a nutshell, this is a pretty standard story about a kid who wants to see more of the world, but is constrained by the society around him. The outside world being dangerous is just the same as not walking into the tall grass on Route 1.

There was one especially touching moment you rarely see from any fiction of this type. The losing soldiers coming home. It wasn’t just the look of defeat on the people who ran away from battle, it was also the fact that they knew that they had completely thrown their lives away at trying to fight an enemy far too powerful for them. Such was their emphatic defeat that even they couldn’t lie to the mother of a deceased soldier and tell them they did anything worthwhile. If anything, that scene alone validated this episode.

I guess a lot of where this show goes depends on how the characters develop. From my perspective Eren just seemed excessively whiny and weak. Mikasa, on the other hand, seemed like a strong female character that should be commonplace by now, but she didn’t really talk all that much. I’m expecting some sort of role reversal between the two of them. As for the character of Armin, it felt like he was just voicing what the audience was thinking just a bit too well. Of all the things this show has going for it, we don’t need a Basil Exposition character.

As for production quality, Production I.G. have put all they have into this to make it into a high quality adaptation of a highly praised manga. The musical direction was pretty much par from where I was watching. So overall, I can’t really complain too much about the effort that went into the production.

Reasons to Continue Watching: An interesting world with strange creatures and character development from Eren and Mikasa
Reasons to Drop: Has a very pretentious quality to it and Eren seems too weak to start with.

My Verdict: While not my favorite episode from this first week of the season, it has more potential than anything else. I will be continuing this one.

Oh my God, I was wrong/It was Earth all along

A young mecha pilot survives a battle, but ends up being cast off into deep space before waking up on a strange world in the first episode of Gargantia. A young pilot, Red, enters his last battle before he is allowed to take on citizenship and reproductive rights on a new world. The battle ends up in a complete defeat for his side, plus he is unable to save some allies in trouble and his commander sacrifices himself to help Red get away. However, at the last minute he is hit by an enemy as his fleet passes through a wormhole. He then wakes up in a hangar where a group of strange people are trying to open up his mecha. He then tries to escape only to find out exactly where he is.

I think this episode successfully pivoted on the type of story it was going to be. In the early portions, it looked like it was going to be about a soldier bored of war having to adapt to a different type of life. By the end, it had turned into a sort of fantasy adventure episode even if this fantasy world turned out to be Earth. Considering where Red was in his life at the beginning of the episode, this may turn out the best thing to happen to him as a person.

As for the rest of the characters, they do look seem pretty standard for the type of series that involves outlaws on the fringes of society. I mean there is the cute girl with a cute animal and that older woman who is the boss and probably muscle of the operation. Plus the other men seem like the types who would have jobs like salvaging. However, most of the dialogue in this episode was between Red and Chamber, the computer on his suit. Chamber really filled the role of an interesting character, even if he was very logical in his conversations and also seemed able to command Red to some extent. That was the standout part of this episode in my mind.

For production quality, this was among the best produced episodes I have seen so far this season. Production I.G. definitely brought their best team in making this. The two different settings in this episode could have thrown in some inconsistencies, but they did well to combine deep space battle against alien monsters with the grittiness of a ship at sea.

Reasons to Continue Watching: Outstanding level of production and a fantastic setting
Reasons to Drop: Little prospect for action and lots of misunderstandings coming soon

My Verdict:  This was easily the best of the first episodes to date. It was really fun to watch throughout as well. So I will definitely be continuing this one.

Conveniently, these giant spiders have an erotic sensibility

A boy from the provinces journeys to Edo to fulfill his father’s duty in the first episode of Mushibugyou. Jinbee travels to Edo to join the Mushibugyou, a group of skilled fighters who fight against the giant insects that plague the capital. He meets a girl named Oharu who explains why the Mushibugyou exist before one of the insects shows up, kills a man and takes Oharu away. Jinbee then runs off to rescue Oharu only to be seen as outclassed by the members of the organization. He defeats one of the spiders and shows great potential in the process, but ultimately he has to be saved by the strongest member, Mugai.

This is one of those shows where there will be little, if any, surprises in the story as the series progresses. Jinbee will slowly earn the respect of the rest of the Mushibugyou as he alternates between showing flashes of potential and lots of training montages. As he works his way up to Mugai’s level, the reason for the insects existence will be revealed as well as the identity of who or what is behind all of it.

With that said, there was one quite obvious problem I had with this story. The role of Oharu was very troubling. If I were to simplify her down to the most basic level, she is just a bunch of naive hopes and dreams hidden behind a pair of gigantic breasts. So for all of her dreams being fulfilled by having the Mushibugyou protect the city, there’s twice as much effort put into showing them bounce and almost come out of whatever she happens to be wearing. That’s a real shame.

As for the rest of the characters, with the exception of Kotori, the leader of the group, the rest of the Mushibugyou seemed like arrogant asshole characters. Even the kid who messed around with paper dolls gave off that kind of vibe. I suppose they get the job done, but the heroes of Tiger & Bunny they are not. Also, the reason why Jinbee is involved and not his father is utterly laughable. A feudal lord’s son wets himself in fright and he has to pay for it by cutting up his own leg. That’s supposed to be one of those “that’s just how it was back then” sort of deals, but really?

Production quality on this episode was pretty low when it came to matters that didn’t involve Oharu’s chest. Cheap CG buildings, characters that didn’t move realistically, Mugai’s entrance into the battle being over-the-top camp. Also, the decision to have these insects roar is up there as one of the worst ideas for animal related effects since Jaws: The Revenge.

Reasons to Continue Watching: A story of a boy overcoming the odds and the period setting
Reasons to Drop: Not visually coherent and terrible use of Oharu as a character

My Verdict: It’s not interesting enough for me to continue watching, not even ironically.

Typical period costume

Two boys named Arata in different worlds switch places in the first episode of Arata. The real world Arata has to deal with bullying and betrayal by those close to him as the fantasy world Arata has to disguise himself as a princess to save his tribe, then run away after witnessing a coup overthrow the previous ruler. Due to some magical force, the pair switch places and the real world Arata has to run away from pursuers then fight to protect those who trust him.

There is a massive problems with this show from the off and it’s clearly the characters. There’s just a contrast between the two Aratas. On the one hand, there’s the Arata in the fantasy world, who seems like a worthy character trying to do the best he can to save those closest to him. Hinohara, on the other hand, just seems like he whines a lot even though he has family to support him. He’s also done something that makes everyone in his school hate him to some extent. It’s like Daniel in the original Karate Kid movies. You know when he would always have people who wanted to beat him up because he was Daniel. I hope that reference isn’t too dated now.

The problem with the characters kicks in at the end. The whiny kid is able to channel powers so he can protect the people in the Hime Clan. He’s the chosen one even though it doesn’t feel right at all. As for the other Arata, there’s no sign of him at all. He’s probably going to end up becoming extremely popular with everyone and have tons of friends living the life of a high school king because he’s a good person.

As for where the story is going, the guy who hated the Hinohara one is going to end up being transported to the other world. That’s because he hates him so much you know. The whiny kid will end up growing in confidence before he has to face the personal demons inflicted by his enemy when they were in middle school. The good Arata will also come back to lend a hand in the final battle. Before then, it will be interminable.

As for the production quality of this show, the CG flames were pretty awful. Otherwise I don’t really have much in the way of complaints in the visual department. For an episode which featured a man trying to cross-dress as a princess, the fact that it didn’t look awful should be taken as a slight compliment. The special effects aren’t very promising though.

Reasons to Continue Watching: A character learning to trust people again and a decent fantasy setting
Reasons to Drop: Whiny main character who doesn’t deserve what happens to him and comically bad high school characters

My Verdict: This was utter garbage. It’s probably better to watch one of those fish out-of-water bad 80s movies over this.

This is the cute side of sadomasochism.

Three girls spend their first days of high school doing everyday things then dropping in on a club with zero members to look things up on the internet in the first episode of Yuyushiki. This trio, Yui, Yuzu and Yukari spend their time messing around with each other in a friendly, if sometimes borderline erotic, way. In their first few days in high school they spend most of it wandering around before they come across a poster asking for members to join the Data Processing Club, which has 0 members. They later end up in that club room at the invitation of a teacher, and spend an afternoon looking things up online and making jokes about them before heading home for the day.

This is a classic healing-type anime in the sense of story. It’s a full-length episode made up of stories that come from 4-koma. The only plot element you can really expect out of this series is time passing. So what you are left with in judging a series like this is the main cast and since this is a comedy, the quality of the jokes. Are these girls any more than eye candy? Are they likable individually and as a group? Do they all seem to have good chemistry with one another?

From the first episode, it felt like it was a bit of a mixed bag. The orchestrated joke elements weren’t really working for me. As a result, the first 15 or so minutes firmly put this show in the dropped category. Then, when they actually got into the club room and started just talking and looking stuff up online it completely changed my opinion.

It was almost as though something changed in the direction of the show. The first 2/3rds felt like an uninspired direct adaptation of some early chapters of the manga. The final third felt completely freed from that constraint. Dialogue felt pretty natural and it was like I was watching a group of friends interact with each other like real people and not like they were scripted into doing so. I have no idea if that was the case in how this episode was produced, but it felt like two completely different shows with the same characters. So basically, more of the characters acting freely and less of the scripted jokes.

Finally, about the production values for this show. They honestly aren’t very high, nor should anyone ever expect high production from a healing-type series set in a high school. It’s not like they are doing Neo-Venezia or Earth on the decline. It’s just passable and I’m more than willing to live with that.

Reasons to Continue Watching: High school girls having fun and natural dialogue between characters
Reasons to Drop: There’s a perverted edge to parts of this show and the jokes can be awful

My Verdict: There was enough in this episode to warrant watching a second episode. This does have potential to fall on its face more than I’d like though.

You’re very much different, Emi.

The 2nd episode of Maou-sama presents the reunion between the Demon Overlord and the Hero in a most unusual fashion. The Hero, who goes by Emi in this world, confronts Maou and threatens to kill him with a cheap knife. After some police intervention, they go their separate ways, though Emi continues to monitor how Maou lives his life. Finally, she offers to stop bothering him in exchange for his not wanting to return home, but they are interrupted by a sniper who is able to use magic bullets. Losing her purse on the way home, Emi has to ask Maou for a place to stay for the night.

One of the amazing things this series has done in the first couple of episodes is to blur the general opinion on who these characters are supposed to be. Maou had killed numerous people back in the old world, and now as a low-wage shift worker flipping burgers he’s a hero of sorts. Emi, has the comfy job and is trying to play the hero role by defeating the Demon Overlord, but she ends up stalking Maou and otherwise ruining his daily life.

The clash between the powerful and the powerless.

The idea behind this series plays on the concept of the “underdog.” At some level, most people want to be pulling for something that has the odds against them to succeed. It’s a concept most associated with sports. Think of Giant Killing as an example. The story of ETU and their inferior players taking on Nagoya and their trio of foreign players and Osaka with their superior firepower and those make interesting stories even if it is about 22 men, some grass and a ball.

As it’s applied to Maou-sama, Maou and Ashiya and Emi all came into the world with essentially the same thing, nothing but the clothing they were wearing and their appearance. From that standpoint, it seems unfair that Emi ends up with a better result simply because of her appearance. At some level, most of us want them to end up with about even results, but it’s not meant to happen here.

This is an interesting scene for how uninteresting it is.

That leads to another thing I’ve found very well executed so far, the complete dedication of this series to the banalities of real life. Working at the customer call center for one of the nation’s biggest telecom operators and taking angry calls all day can be frustrating, but it pays better than other jobs. However, being able to live comfortably, but yet being completely alone apart from work can seem like the saddest thing in the world. All that time and no one to spend it with. On the other hand, Maou and Ashiya barely have enough money to scrap by, but they have an aspirational goal even if it is unrealistic. They are much happier even as they are in poverty. Emi simply doesn’t have anything to aspire to beyond killing the two people she has a shared experience with.

As a romantic comedy, Maou-sama still has to play itself out. As a story of an underdog fighting against society, it plays the part very well. As subtle pieces of social commentary go, Maou-sama does its job with precision.

Absolute quality here.

An indecisive high school boy finds himself caught in the middle of a war in the first episode of Valvrave. A boy named Haruto lives his life on a neutral world where war is but a distant thing. He’s willing to let himself be trodden all over until the girl that he loves is killed in the crossfire as their world comes under attack. He pilots a mecha that a group of terrorists was trying to seize and ends up saving the day to the acclaim of everyone there. Then he gets out and is killed by one of the terrorists, until he gets back up and attacks him.

This was easily the most problematic of any of the first episodes I had seen this season. I was even hesitant to write this post because it would just bring further attention to a series that absolutely does not need it.

Anyway, the comparisons to Mobile Suit Gundam are obvious in that their first episodes are fairly similar in plot structure up to a point. That’s where the Valvrave creators stepped in and decided that Gundam simply doesn’t work. The main character doesn’t need to have a childhood friend, so fuck Frau Bow Shouko. It wasn’t even like it was a surprise that she died in the first place. All it took was the boy band terrorists killing people and knowing about Haruto’s feelings to really put the pieces together. If you didn’t see that coming, you weren’t really trying very hard. The same goes for the “twist” in the epilogue. The Valvrave asked him to give up his humanity, he did, so the rules of normal death no longer apply to him. Of course it’s reasonable to become a zombie after that.

Then there’s the overt geopolitics that this series seems to be trying to take on. Code Geass does outstandingly well in comparison to Valvrave in this regard. It feels like this series is already taking on a revisionist theory of pre-war Japan. The nation that is neutral is clearly a proxy for Japan, and the two nations fighting around them are proxies for Europe and the United States. Everything seemed well with paying them off to go away, but oh my god it made us weak at the same time. Even Eden of the East hinted at this underlying current of thought in contemporary Japan, but it never just fully endorsed it immediately like Valvrave has.

As for production quality, Sunrise did not hold back in making this look amazing. Whether that’s the mechanics, flight battle physics or breast physics, they went for as good a look as they could get. So it isn’t all terrible when it comes to Valvrave, but if that alone convinces you to watch, God help you.

Reasons to Continue Watching: Fantastic looking action and a zombie edge to a mecha series
Reasons to Drop: Completely trashes mecha series of the past and the director clearly hates humanity

My Verdict: My advice would be to watch Guilty Crown instead, then you will see the bar that even this show can’t clear. Dropped with extreme prejudice.

I’m now interesting for being uninteresting.

A boy who wants to be able express his mind and a girl who wants to hide her emotions prey to a cat statue and get more than they wish for in the first episode of Henneko. Youto happens to be an extremely perverted high school boy who is somehow perceived as an upstanding student, but he wishes to be able to speak his mind openly. He hears about a cat statue that grants wishes if an offering is provided, so he heads to the statue and meets a girl named Tsukiko who is there because she no longer wants to express her feelings so easily. They pray to the statue and the next morning Youto earns the nickname of the Hentai Prince and Tsukiko is completely emotionless. The pair have to learn to deal with their new situation and another girl who seems to have Youto’s facade.

I may be alone in this regard, but I found the characters far more interesting prior to the change than they were after. Tsukiko in particular bothers me in this regard. She is transformed from a girl who is able to speak her mind and feels like a complete person to basically a simple puzzle. To its credit, Youto’s attempts to get Tsukiko to laugh aren’t played with the same level of perversion as his interactions with every other character in the episode.

Conceptually, this series seems rather odd with how it treats its characters. It’s almost like they felt that in order to make it a good comedy, they absolutely had to make the characters one-dimensional. It pretty much invalidated the first half of the episode in my mind. It doesn’t even matter where these people came from. Instead, what we are going to be left with is a half-assed comedy around set pieces involving a fake ojousama character, a boy with no filter and a pretty generic silent girl who hurls insults. There’s not much of a need to construct a larger story on top of that.

As for the production quality, it’s about what you would expect from the first episode of a J.C. Staff produced series. Lots of bright colors and the like, but it all felt as empty as Tsukiko’s character in the second half of the episode. I don’t know how many episodes this series will be, but I’d imagine with the late start it won’t be enough to stretch the budget too far.

Reasons to Continue Watching: Interactions involving Azusa, Youto and Tsukiko and comedy that doesn’t take itself seriously
Reasons to Drop: The characters from before the change don’t matter and intentional disregard for character development

My Verdict: This series will be more popular than anything I wrote above will imply. As a comedy, it really didn’t deliver anything at all for me. Dropped.

I’m really liking the subtle character design change when Emi gets serious.

The 3rd episode of Maou-sama reveals a plot to kill the Overlord and the Hero, but also reveals Chiho’s attachment to the other world. The episode starts with Chiho preparing for her big date with Maou, while Emi takes a call from a semon from the old world who wants to kill both of them off. Later, she has to bail Ashiya and Maou out of jail, before ending up stalking Maou on the date with Chiho. Then, Chiho reveals that she can understand communication from Ente Isla before Emi interrupts the date to warn her to stay away from him. They fight until there is an earthquake which traps Emi and Chiho. After Emi uses some magic to put Chiho to sleep, Maou emerges from the rubble in demon form and wants to save everyone.

I think this episode did a switch on the usual theme for this episode. Where before it was a show about extraordinary people doing ordinary things in ordinary circumstances, this episode was about those same extraordinary people doing extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. This was all rather thrust upon them by this evil person who wants to kill both Emi and Maou. As a result, the comedy which came from the pair being forced into silly situations is greatly reduced.

Never has a fight over a fast-food worker involved such classy women.

I think it was exactly the right tact for an episode that ends with an earthquake. You really wouldn’t want slapstick comedy followed by civilians being crushed by falling cement. It just doesn’t work in that scenario. So the conversation between Emi and Chiho over the latter’s involvement with Maou took on a more serious tone than one would expect. This wasn’t an comic clash between two people interested in a guy who flips burgers for a living. No, this was a battle between a young girl who wanted to had fallen for someone she thought understood her and a woman who tells her it will only end badly.

For the most part, I think Emi shined brightest in this episode. The way she carries herself is with a full-blooded commitment to getting what she wants or admonishing those who do things she sees as evil. Yet when the earthquake happens, she remains as calm as any person possibly could in that situation. I think it shows that the attributes of someone who would be considered a Hero archetype have been transferred into a young office worker very well.

Those clothes still fit him remarkably well. Are they made by the same company that did Hulk’s pants?

However, I do still have some reservations about the new direction this series seems to be heading. It did fantastically well showing the confusion of 3 people who have to adapt to an entirely new world with no support. It also did well to show both the struggle of two people trying to live off of a single low-wage job and of a single woman living alone without making the audience pity either situation. Whether it can succeed in this new direction of trying to find the person after their lives while also pursuing a pseudo-comedic love triangle type of story is really an open question. If it can pull that off, then this may well end up among the most interesting series in a while. If not, it will be an admirable failure with this episode as the beginning of the end.

Emilia was much different a while back.

The plot kicks into another gear this week in Maou-sama as more and more people cross over into Japan from Ente Isla. As Maou finishes rescuing all the survivors from the attack underground, Emi remembers her youth with being forced to fight against the Demon King because she was the daughter of a goddess. Then her father was killed as her village was torched by the general Lucifer. Now, Emi has to deal with the fact that the one she was trying to kill turned out to become a decent person once he learned about humans. After Maou’s landlord comes in after Chiho misunderstands Emi and Maou’s relationship, she reveals that she knows exactly what’s going on between the two worlds in a not so subtle way. Chiho ends up running into Lucifer, who destroys another building as two of Emi’s allies from Ente Isla prepare to arrive in Japan.

If this show wants to be taken seriously, it can’t do scenes like this.

I think it’s safe to say that this series has now pivoted from a comedy that poked fun at the absurdities of everyday life from an outsider’s perspective to now becoming an action drama with magic users in Tokyo. Sadly, I just don’t see this working very much at all since now I have to take a guy who works full time at McDonalds as a serious action hero. It’s made even worse by the fact that he can transform back into the Demon King to bail himself out. I’d take it better if they played it completely straight, but Lucifer’s character and magical abilities just take that out of the equation.

That said, there was one thing this episode did well in my opinion. The flashback to Emilia’s youth was completely unnecessary up to the point where it revealed that Lucifer was behind the death of her father. Where it succeeded was in Emi’s speech to Maou. There’s that classic phrase “never meet your heroes” because they will never live up to your expectations. This was a reversal on that classic phrase. How disappointing must it have been to Emi to discover that the person who was the source of her desire to avenge her father was but a hard working, low-wage lackey who happened to care about other people when he had to live with them? I guess in a way it is like finding out that the guy in a pro wrestling feud is a heel actually donates to charities is actually a nice guy when he isn’t trying to maintain kayfabe.

Now this was just ridiculous.

As far as the episode goes, it was fine. However, the direction this episode took the series is non-reversible. There won’t be much in the way of romantic comedy love triangles anymore. It will just destroy the dramatic angle they are clearly edging for now. The angle where the landlord knows what is happening could have been played for comedy, but it was too serious here to get it back. Even Emi’s friend talking about Kobe could have worked better if the series hadn’t settled on going deadly serious the rest of the way. As much as any episode recently, this could be considered a Pyrrhic victory of an episode. Good for the week, but terminally damaging the series as a whole.

Since the last installment of this particular feature, the following has happened to all of the shows I had been watching:

• Oregairu – since picked back up after I dropped it on episode 1, see I can change.
• Space Brothers – Dropped after the 3 consecutive recap episodes reminded me of how badly this series has been edited.
• Devil Survivor 2, Attack on Titan, Aku no Hana all dropped for being too boring in my opinion

I sometimes worry about stuff like this, probably too often. I find a series boring, it then becomes popular. Or the reverse, I like a show so much early only to have it go in a terrible direction. It feels like I cannot win sometimes. It just becomes a problem having my finger so far off the pulse of what the rest of this community is watching  that I just kill conversation, or get left out entirely. Perhaps I intentionally isolate myself when it comes to the series I watch. Yet it just feels like I’m insulting people by responding “oh, I dropped that” when a show comes up in conversation.

Anyway, that’s obviously not of much concern to you my readers, you want my thoughts on the shows that I’m still watching instead, so here you go.

Currently Airing Top 5

お前はもう死んでいる

Yuyushiki

The series that may turn out to be the best of the season from my standpoint is Yuyushiki. It succeeds by keeping it very simple. It’s a group of girls with outstanding chemistry between them. None of the three is one dimensional. Case in point, the one who seems the dumbest of the three, Yuzuko, is actually the one with the best grades and does her homework. Yui seems the most responsible of the group, but never in the overbearing way that it could go. Ultimately, this ends up being the rare series in this genre where the cast is more than the sum of its parts. I’d even go as far as to say that this is off to a better start than even K-On. Why didn’t I choose to blog this episodically?

Closer to Hideyoshi than I thought.

Oregairu

I put this episode up here because it led me to the most discussion of any character I’ve had on Twitter this season. That would be the tennis club member Saika. Now this conversation involved debating whether he was more like Yukimura from Haganai or Hideyoshi from Bakatest, which I’d have to say is more like the latter. Apart from that, I’d have to say that Oregairu has somehow made a decent start despite lacking any characters who are relatable to. Even this week’s story about Hayato trying to make his classmates friends fell apart at the end when everyone rushed in to join his group.

Emi falls down stairs.

Hataraku Maou-sama

Mahiro holds on to this story’s MacGuffin.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

For once, an episode acknowledged just how dumb a plot arc was. This whole story was simply about messing with the idea of how to tell a story. So there was a lengthy conversation in this episode on which part of the previous episode was really foreshadowing what happened in this one. Then there was the notebook in which the evil monkey that was conjured up was invincible because it was written like it came from a grade schooler. Nyaruko is just so self-aware that it can get away with going for a meta story like that.

This isn’t awkward at all.

Date A Live

Date A Live isn’t so much a harem show as it is a test of will. This is one of the better looking shows this season, and all of that effort goes toward Shidou getting into various misunderstandings with Tohka and Origami being a creepy stalker. The new spirit by the way happens to be fairly interesting in using a hand puppet to talk, and she seems rather timid in a not wanting to hurt people sort of way. Plus, I think this episode did a good job of not doing the typical harem thing of having girls who had been “conquered” just go away for a while. He has a relationship with Tohka now, and he can’t just ignore her.

The Rest of the Week

That’s just wrong on so many levels.

Aiura

The other girls doing nothing show this season is one of those 2 minute short series, so I’m not going to spend too much time on it apart from noting the obsession with crabs and Steve Jobs in the opening animation. Really, this episode wasn’t so bad as it just focused on names after their teacher gives a quiz asking for them to write her name. Kanaka’s answer is so left field it earns her special recognition, but then it was back to the normal nickname stuff from the first couple of episodes.

That’s the last thing Fumi was expecting when she opened that.

Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties

This week was the Athena episode, which is something of a problem if you had watched only the anime. She’s Hayate’s first girlfriend from 10 years ago, but that’s never really played up for much. Rather she’s just another ojou-sama character. I fully expect Hayate fans to tell me I’m wrong there. Anyway, this was really a chase themed episode as Hayate and the others try to track down the money that Fumi’s dog Armageddon that Sakuya had originally given Wataru in cash. It’s horribly contrived throughout, but as a comedy that’s acceptable. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t that funny at all.

Gen? Really?

Gargantia

I’ve started playing this little game with anything written Urobuchi. When the first incident of something sexist happens in an episode, I cease to to care. After episode 2′s 20 minute spell, this week went 8 minutes. It isn’t that I decided to stop watching, it was more that I didn’t really think the episode was trying to make me sympathize with the self-insert pirate leader over the people of the Gargantia. Going forward, that’s going to be the major issue. It’s going for moral ambiguity when it comes to Red and his actions, but I feel more for the people who don’t have a massively superior technological edge.

This girl named Rina carries 6 4 large round objects.

Photo Kano

There’s just something about this show that keeps me watching. I know it’s absolute pants, but it tries its best at trying to be good in its own mind. I think that moment really hit when our protagonist, Kazuya, was inexplicably allowed to photograph all the girls in the gym doing sexy stretches. How the hell does that happen? There’s no contrivance involved in it, the scene just sort of happens. I suppose the one interesting thought I got out of this week’s episode was the whole idea of leverage. Kazuya keeps going to the well against the willing student council president. Now Kazuya is in debt to that gymnastics girl. I don’t use their names at all because it’s not as though this series cares at all.

Why am I in such a stupid scene?

Oreimo.

Here is a case of running out of ideas. This week just felt like they producers had run out of ideas, so let’s just go entirely to pandering. It also did that thing where it attempts to do the same joke repeatedly until it’s funny. In this case it was Kirino spotting Kyousuke with Ria in compromising situations in almost every scene. Plus, let’s not forget that it also had the longest 100m race in history. Next week looks even worse with Kirino now asking Kyousuke to be her boyfriend. I’m sure it’s some sort of act, but it’s just silly how the other main characters have been shoved out of the way.

There is nothing strange about mermaids in this world.

Muromi-san

I liked this show initially, but the way that it has handled introducing new characters in the last 2 episodes has been really poor. I can’t be the only one who thinks that it lingered far too long on the Harpy attacking Muromi. I think it could have gotten away with the terrible memory joke once, but it kept coming and coming and coming over and over again. I hope this series doesn’t become the latest example of the consequences of following a show entirely because of the vocal cast, but it’s not looking good.

Spring Average Seasonal Ranking

For those curious about how those first 3 weeks of my votes went, it was like this:

• Week 14: Maou-sama, Senyuu, Little Busters!, Oreimo., Titan
• Week 15: Gargantia, Maou-sama, Nyaruko, Hayate, Date A Live
• Week 16: Gargantia, Maou-sama, Yuyushiki, Nyaruko, Hayate

With the way these series are trending, I wouldn’t expect the top 2 to stay in those overall positions by the end of May. Of course, this is all subjective and my taste sucks, etc.

Terribad

This may be a spoiler for this, but there is in fact no ending.

Roots Search

This was one of the early ones from the group that I just happened to miss the first time around. So what would be the best way to describe Roots Search? Probably as a space horror along the lines of Event Horizon (although never anywhere near as nightmare-inducing as that cult classic) but ultimately deciding not to go anywhere with the story in the end.

The central relationship in this story is between Moira, a female crew member, and Buzz, the pilot of a ship that brought along an unexpected passenger. The rest of the crew proceeds to be killed off because the alien projects their inner desires before blowing them up. This continues for about 30 minutes as they ponder existence among other things. Eventually, it gets silly when Moira, after witnessing her lover Scott die horribly, quickly falls in love with Buzz amid an idealized future in her mind. So they blow the ship up, accepting certain death and when it does they wake up in an entirely different world. And that’s it. It ends with no explanation at all.

For a terribad movie, this had plenty of ambition. Plus, for something from 1986, the idea was rather different from the norm. With a running time of just 40 minutes, it actually doesn’t feel like 40 years, but still that ending either means they ran out of budget and/or ideas.

Time of First Female Nudity: 21 minutes, 58 seconds (though it’s a dead body)
Rating: 46

Emi combines armor and formal business attire well here.

The 5th episode of Maou-sama saw some unusual alliances form as Emi, Ashiya and Maou combine to save the city from Lucifer’s reign of terror. The episode immediately began with the confrontation at the end of the last episode, and Maou deduced that Orba Meier from the Holy Church on Ente Isla was working with Lucifer. A battle then progressed throughout the city before Maou teleported to a location with many people around. He appeared to be mortally wounded, but the despair of the people around him brought his powers back. The final battle occurred as Chiho watched and afterwards Maou returned the city to its previous unharmed state before returning to work in his quest to win Employee of the Month.

No caption could do this justice.

Prior to watching this episode, I was caught in two minds about where this series had gone wrong. Either it could have stuck to the social commentary angle of how life is hard for outsiders without any sort of social support or it could continue on the angle of great people who were no longer great. In the aftermath of this episode, they’ve gone in another direction. Maou wants to stay on Earth, but the situation in Ente Isla will dictate that he has to return to save humanity from itself.

Orba Meier showing off the Earth version of God Mode.

It’s going to take most of the series to get to that point, so instead there’s going to be plenty of filler. Expect lots of Maou and Emi pretending not to get on while Chiho shows herself to be more of a force to be reckoned with than expected. Lucifer will also take on the henchman role as well. At the same time, expect some mentions of how bad life is getting on Ente Isla as the Holy Church continues to be corrupt without Maou around.

This is going to hurt.

Now, for the episode itself, I thought it was quite an entertaining watch. I think it finally captured Maou’s determination to stay on Earth. That all it took was for some people to give him a place to live, a job and a high school girl madly in love with him is pretty remarkable for being rather unremarkable. I mean think about it. He simply has basic needs met; a roof over his head, a place that allows him to earn money and feeds him, plus people who love him. Maou’s definitely more human than we thought.

You probably shouldn’t tell the girl who always thinks of you that you can make her forget about you.

Then there’s Emi’s role in this episode. It’s rather interesting that she now continues to hang around since Maou is pretty much okay living on Earth. Maybe it has to do with how easily someone from the Holy Church was able to work with evil for his own personal gain. I’d like to think it actually has to do with life on Earth. Modern Japan is peaceful, she has people who care for her because she’s Emi and not the Hero, Emilia and there’s nothing like the internal politics of Ente Isla for her to get stuck in. Her mission was to kill Maou and return to a peaceful world back home, but instead she found her peaceful world included Maou.

Since it’s Cinco de Mayo, may as well throw in Mexico’s greatest anime character.

Yet another week has passed in the world of animation from Japan, as well as real time of course. It’s safe to say that we are now firmly entrenched in the middle of the season. Typically, I find that this isn’t a very interesting part of the season. Usually, the really terrible shows have been weeded out by now. Those that do fail in the end will be known about 5-7 weeks from now. So what we are left with is a bunch of shows trying to make things interesting. So how did they do this week?

Currently Airing Top 5

That would be called rain. It’s similar to taking a shower.

Gargantia

For the first time since I could remember, an episode of an anime in which Urobuchi Gen was involved did not feature anything misogynistic in nature. So what we were left with was actually exactly what I was expecting from this type of series. A pilot who is used to war having to adapt to peaceful scenery and trying to find his place in new surroundings. This episode conveyed that idea in the best way possible. Red was shown slowly adapting to the language of the natives as best as he could, but at other times he was pretty much useless to the rest of the Gargantia residents. Also, his moment of sadness when he remembered someone who showed him how to make those flutes was actually really well executed. On the downside, since Urobuchi is involved I expect manly deaths and slow drawn out deaths/rape of women now.

Lucifer makes the best faces.

Hataraku Maou-sama

Best episode to date.

Oreimo.

It’s starting to become fairly obvious that the quality of an episode of this franchise is directly proportional to the amount of Kuroneko. The first half of this episode was fairly dumb stuff. Kirino needing to convince some model scout that she has a boyfriend so she can go away, so she chooses Kyousuke to fill the role is about the level of story you would expect from this massive franchise. When it gets to the part where Kuroneko has to sell some doujinshi at the Summer Comiket does this episode get interesting. Here, it becomes a group of friends with a similar interest who happen to be selling some books for profit. The fact that this part of the episode is most entertaining and features Kirino in as minimal a role as possible is not coincidence. Only at the end where some guy comes in and appears to be her real boyfriend does this episode come off the rails.

The switch has been flipped to insane.

Yuyushiki

This week wasn’t as great as last week for the 3 girls looking up stuff on the internet. I think it started to fall back into the 4-koma that it was adapted into this week. I think the only real moment where it broke out of that this week was when Yuzu was trying to convince Yoriko (the one students have taken to calling “Mom”) that she doesn’t really have a mother. As much as Yui struggling to stay awake may be entertaining, I just didn’t find the secondary characters who became part of that story very interesting at all.

Saki is an outstanding bartender.

Oregairu

I’m just not buying Hachiman as a main character. It was as though he was written as the most self-insert fan-fiction character at times. He’s perfect when it comes to solving problems, but he rejects women like he thinks he’s some sort of bad-ass. I think that’s the major problem with this show, it has to make the other characters who have a relationship with him one-dimensional in order to not look silly. I mean, what is the point of Yoshino now? She’s part of a rich family, but can’t relate to people and is generally useless as a result. Maybe that’s the point; to make Hachiman look good. The more interesting characters are the single-episode characters related to the problem in each episode. So a girl working as a bartender to pay tuition is more interesting than the people trying to figure out what she is doing at night.

The Rest of the Week

Exactly what I was thinking too.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

This was a Tamao episode for as entertaining as Shanta’s RPG quest was. I think that was actually the problem. She’s just on the periphery and never even attempts to follow her feelings. It’s frustrating enough when a harem lead does that, and this is a harem comedy after all, but to spend so much time on a minor character doing the same thing is just filling time. She should just give up on Mahiro and go with Takehiko. They’re paired together in the OP for a reason.

I may not be an expert, but trying to pick up a girl by the breasts seems like poor form.

Photo Kano

This was the episode that was supposed to create some sort of depth in the relationship between Kazuya and Haruka. Instead it just feels kind of petty. Kazuya acts like the typical harem lead lacking in confidence when everyone starts trashing him in secret. Then he acts like a real man in the last third of the episode until the silliness that is the scene of him screaming in the rain. What is this, some sort of 80s teen angst drama? I’d almost wish this was going omnibus format with an ending of this story being this episode, but it’s not going to happen. The other girls will just take pity on him, and unlike say School Days, there will be no pity sex.

Another “Because Origami” moment in Date A Live.

Date A Live

Sure the Yoshino story was resolved in this episode, but the episode was completely unremarkable in nearly every aspect. Origami continues to be the scene stealer in each episode in my opinion. The completely head-over-heels while maintaining no emotional expression at all is an example of what some may call gap moé. The big revelation this week was that Shido had some spirit power in him which explains the being able to heal after being shot thing, but this week’s resolution showed that it kills any sort of dramatic tension now.

This is a teacher. That’s the joke.

Aiura

There’s a teacher that can pass as a student. This is supposed to be cute. It’s really just over the top dumb. Why can’t they just fully animate the crab story they have in the opening animation. That would work a lot better.

They can do good visual jokes every once in a while.

Hayate Cuties!

How could the Sakuya episode be so dull? Why do they keep riding Fumi like she is the main character? Was this really a Chiharu episode in disguise? I don’t know about any of those questions. All the matters is next week’s Hinagiku episode. It’s the make-or-break episode for this 4th season. However, I’d imagine that almost everyone with an interest in Hayate has already given up on Manglobe. It’s still possible for it not to suck.

Fuji shakes those things.

Muromi-san

There’s the name gag that the girl with comically oversized breasts is named Fuji. Other than that it was a typical Muromi episode in that it tried to make the same joke over and over. This week is was Muromi repeatedly punching Fuji in the breasts. To quote a character from Kuragehime, fat does not work like that. The only other highlight I would take from this episode was the cicada yelling. The talking animals have been one of the best features of this series, and it continued in this week’s episode.

Updated Spring Season Average Ranking

Terribad

This girl in the middle (name doesn’t matter) ponders the great question of our time.

Baby Princess 2D Paradise 0 [Love]

This week is a rare example of a terribad anime that I would have actually voted for in the Anime Power Rankings legitimately. That’s more of an indictment on the lower portions of the top 5 than a statement of the quality of this particular anime.

So what is Baby Princess? It’s an adaptation of a light novel which centers around a high school boy moving in with his new step-sisters. All 19 of them. You read that right, nineteen. They are all one year apart, and it’s surprising that the mother hasn’t featured in one of those freakshow TLC reality shows, but I digress.

Now you’re probably thinking that there’s all the potential for this to be a typical skeevy OVA. There’s a little of that, and thankfully it is limited just to the older sisters. Also, it lacks the parts of Sister Princess that makes you hate a world that allows that sort of thing to exist.

As for the plot of this episode, it’s pretty much an onsen episode. Yotarou, the lead of this piece, just documents it with his camera, saves a couple of the girls from going over the poorly positioned waterfall, then ends up re-enacting The Hunt for Red October in the family hot spring.

While I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who is trying to watch good anime, I can only give it the faint praise of, “it isn’t as bad as the premise indicates.” That won’t go on a poster anywhere.

Time of First Female Nudity: 2 frames at 15 minutes, 41 seconds otherwise lots of strategically placed obstacles
Rating: 61.2

Corrections: This post originally stated that there was no nudity in Baby Princess, this has been changed to correct the error.

The horror, the horror…

Maou, Ashiya, Chiho and Emi go on a late-night adventure at Chiho’s school in a quest to solve a school mystery in the 6th episode of Maou-sama. With a conspiracy raging in Ente Isla, Maou celebrates his promotion to shift supervisor at work with some restaurant fare with Ashiya. However, his money is quickly being evaporated by his new roommate Urushihara (Lucifer). In continuing their quest for more magic, Ashiya and Maou head to a high school where Chiho happens to be a student. Emi joins them in an attempt to stop them from regaining their magic, but eventually they find that the whole thing was just a ruse.

New girl? Check.

This was about the type of episode I was expecting last week. There’s only two moments in this episode that pertain to the long term plot. Those would be the discussion of killing Emilia back in Ente Isla, and the appearance of the woman at that discussion at the door of Maou’s apartment. So as much as the landlord’s disgusting photo and Maou’s promotion to shift supervisor may seem like plot events, they’re really irrelevant. I think this qualifies as your standard mid-season non-event episode.

Well done Hero.

So the question I have to ask on the back of that is how good was this episode? Basically in the brief time after watching this episode, I’m quickly forgetting many of the details of this episode. I think come the end of the season this episode won’t matter at all. I don’t think there was any character development in this episode either. So if you are marathoning this episode from home, you can skip this episode.

Warning: Shipping in Progress

Now as for the stuff I did find interesting in this episode, there was the re-introduction of Urushuhara now as a NEET, and a pretty lazy stereotype as well in using those around him for personal gain. However, he did help in that bit of phone hacking, but where did Maou get the money to pay for that? Chiho’s friend at high school is into shipping men she’s never met. The burger restaurant’s jalapeno fries sound like an interesting idea. You get the idea, these are all minor points, but that’s what stick in my mind. Next week has to do better with the new girl.

I decided to do something a bit different than I’ve normally done this season when putting together the weekly rankings. Instead of keeping a running ranking as I have done, I waited until the end of the week to put them together. Then I came to find out that I’d rated 2 series in my top 5 for the first time this season, including the number 1 vote. So why not do something entirely different for the whole post? This won’t end well will it?

Currently Airing Top 5

Those are some big plots there.

Photo Kano

Taking skeevy pictures of your childhood friend;
It seems you’ve started a trend.
This show has attracted directorial talent
Despite the theme being anything but gallant.

It’s so…big.

Suisei no Gargantia

Using a futuristic mecha as a grill,
Doesn’t fulfill the need for thrill.
Gargantia’s stereotypes of the worst type,
Leave plenty of with which to gripe.

Nothing odd about this scene.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

Taking character relationships to a new level,
That Kuuko can seem like a cute red devil.
As the situation causes Nyaruko to become uncorked,
There is no shortage of characters to be forked.

“I’m going for you next”, Ashiya didn’t say.

Hataraku Maou-sama

An episode that by intention was slow,
My monitor I was tempted to throw.
Introducing another cute foreign girl,
Is but an attempt to give the plot a whirl.

Being a shop owner is a noble job.

Muromi-san

Otohime just wants the quiet life,
But Muromi keeps twisting that knife.
An episode that beats Space Brothers in astronomy,
Also has the victim of a brutal underwater economy.

The Rest of the Week

Who says this show isn’t classy?

Oregairu

Misunderstandings are merely anime’s basis,
To maintain character stasis.
Despite the praise that comes its way,
I can only find Oregairu okay.

The logical reaction to being a character on this show.

Oreimo.

There are as many people in an amusement park,
who can also see this show has jumped the shark.
Incest isn’t so much as avoided here,
Because the staff won’t make it disappear.

Yukari as a child in a bath towel? Yukari as a child in a bath towel.

Yuyushiki

Viewers feel like kings,
Watching girls doing cute things.
Yuzu and Yukari confessing their love,
Captures that feeling above.

This season’s hit yandere character.

Aiura

When seeing a body lying on the street,
Avoid touching it with your feet.
Among this cute trio there is a killer,
Because that scene was merely filler.

They derped the designs here, how?

Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties

The Hinagiku episode Manglobe has managed to choke,
Because in its own mind this company is broke.
For the Maria episode this does not bode well,
Since that will put the fans in a padded cell.

A rare moment of emotion from Origami.

Date A Live

For a hot springs episode this was poor,
Even with Origami playing the role of voyeur.
The new spirit girl joins up next week;
Needed since the plot was turning bleak.

Updated Spring Average Ranking

Catching Up

Silly spirits.

Haitai Nanafa

Okinawan girls and spirits in short format,
Renders a story as nothing but a doormat.
The quality of the plot is not quite treason,
Yet it performed well enough for a 2nd season.

Terribad

She can cry through her glasses. Unbelievable Jeff!

Saishuu Shiken Kujira

I wrote on this series back in 2009,
And its Key material it tried to mine.
Crazy ideas this series does not duck,
So in turns into a giant clusterfuck.

Sorry Chiho, you’re shamefully underused this week.

The arrival of a new neighbor ushers in new conflicts and divisions in the seventh episode of Maou-sama. Having been invited by their landlord, Kamazuki Suzuno moves in next to Maou and the others. Meanwhile, Emi gets a gift from Ente Isla in the form of a vitamin drink that actually replenishes her magical power. After everyone runs into each other at Maou’s apartment, Emi quickly deduces that Suzuno is also after Maou’s affection. Eme then catches her up with proceedings back in Ente Isla where people may be trying to pursue Emi all the way to Japan. This turns out to be the case as Emi is attacked that night, though she is able to survive with the help of a convenience store worker. Finally, Chiho and Maou make a shocking discovery in the bento provided by Suzuno to Maou.

Yes, read the directions on these things, kids.

This was actually a quite peculiar episode. All of the actual action and story related elements were happening around Emi. She has the story of what’s going on back home, she has means to get her magic power back and she’s the one being attacked. At the same time, there’s this little vein in this episode of unexpected people facing new challenges, and that’s where I’m going to start with this episode analysis.

Ooh, a rival appears.

It’s really covered in two different parts, but I believe it is an attempt to affirm the value of those who work at service-level jobs. Maou has fully embraced his elevation to shift manager and it’s just around this time that he has his first major test. A new KFC SFC branch has opened near them and they may be challenged for customers. Fortunately, he has the full backing of his boss Kisaki, who will leave him to handle the duties during what may be a challenging time for their store.

The hero of this story doesn’t have a name.

More fascinating was the convenience store scene. The cashier suddenly finds himself involved in a fight between two magic users who are wielding a sword and a large scythe between them. Did he simply hide and call the police? No, he called the police then went to help one of the store’s regular customers in the best way he could. Then he also convinced Emi to stay behind for the police to interview. He followed store procedure and also did something rather heroic for someone in such a small role.

Urushihara learns a skill.

The contrast to this is poor Urushihara. He’s just a NEET, and is treated with something close to contempt by everyone else in this series. I really don’t know what to make of the message that sends to the viewers. Maybe it’s an attempt to push those unemployed viewers into working low end jobs and trying to make it seem like there’s opportunity even if it’s really hard at the start.

This is a declaration of war.

Finally, it looks like Suzuno’s entry has turned this show into a full-fledged harem series. Now I have to judge it like that, which means I may have to hold it to a higher standard than I was before. Suzuno is the new entry to the relationship, and she is already making her move by playing a sort of traditional wife’s role. The kimono is the obvious indicator there. That leaves Emi on the back foot as she now has to act like she’s trying to protect 2 girls from Maou instead of one. Eme has her nailed as acting like she wants to spend more time with Maou. As for Chiho, her role was much reduced this week to comedy. Brutally shaking Maou as he unveiled his bento despite knowing what was coming. These 3 have to come together in the same place pretty soon I think.

Wage slave chucking oranges>Magic user with scythe.

As for the story aspect of what happened in this episode. Seeing Emi being attacked and a new person going after the Ente Isla survivors is something I really didn’t care about. I think this series shines when it does extraordinary things with the mundane. Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things is this series equivalent of turning an action movie’s final act into robots hitting each other. It’s entertaining, but incredibly shallow.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, it’s actually really hard to find pictures of some characters from Photo Kano that aren’t perverted. That above was the best I could do with a few minutes effort from a certain popular Japan-based artist’s hub. It wasn’t a particularly different week or interesting week, rather I’d think of it as just another week in the middle of the season. That didn’t mean there were no standout episodes, there were 2 of those this week, but the spring season is turning into a bit of a letdown.

Also, a bit of news. Next week I will be blending into the scenery at various locations in downtown Boston, so I will not be doing the recap. Also the Maou-sama post will be delayed if I post it at all. No repeats of the 3-state Koichoco post from last year.

Currently Airing Top 5

Unexpected directorial elements abound.

Photo Kano

I’ve learned a hell of a lot about how this series was put together and in many ways is similar to my favorite series of 2012, Sengoku Collection. It takes a bunch of talent to do an episode or two as guests all while building on the basic Photo Kano story. This week’s episode was storyboarded by Yuasa Masaaki (Kaiba, Tatami Galaxy, many others of that ilk), and his work is only obvious on Hikari’s flashback to her losing friends when she was younger. You could say the storyboard was so good they could give it to debutant episode director Machida Koichi and it would work. I doubt the process was like that since they surely collaborated on this episode.

So about the episode itself, it’s the omnibus format at it’s most simple. Hikari is the girl of the week with a complex about having friends and smiling. Kazuya in his determination to get a picture of her smiling does a bunch of funny stuff in trying to get her to take a picture of a person. Much like an arc of Amagami, he succeeds and there’s not even a perverted element here unlike last week. Well, maybe the post-success photo shoot counts, but you would have to be looking for it. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it this season’s Sencolle, but I think this series has come on strong.

Yuzu really wants to see what’s in the closet.

Yuyushiki

This show continues to be my surprise of the season. I didn’t think I was one for this type of show, but the characters work off each other so well that I can’t help but like it. So I can’t tell you much about what happened for story in this episode apart from the trip to Mom-sensei’s place and Aikawa’s friends trying to stop friendship NTR from Yui, Chemistry between characters and keeping the structure simple have led to this show being quite successful in my mind.

Look at this high level of production and character design.

Gargantia

This series is at its best when it is trying to make Ledo experience new things. While there was plenty of that in this episode, there was a bit too much of his past for my liking. His suffering from PTSD when looking at the octopus really betrays a character who seemed bored of battle in the first episode. When he is fighting, I just lose interest in his character or what the fight is about. When he is watching the belly dancing of Amy and doesn’t understand what he is feeling, then this show is much better. This is supposed to be a show about a fish out of water trying to find his way in new surroundings and his purpose in a new labor market. I just don’t think it works as well as a story of a traumatized war veteran unable to escape the past.

Make a move for God’s sake.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

The conclusion to the Kuuko wanting to be Mahiro’s wife arc came this week in a rather silly way. Get Kuune to fall asleep in the separate dimension they were using for spare rooms, then throw the key away. Anyway, the important and best part of this episode was the scene in Mahiro’s bedroom where Nyaruko pinned him down trying to get an answer from him. He’s an indecisive character, reluctant to go down any route like a normal harem lead. But it’s really more understandable considering they are Lovecraftian alien monsters in moe form. Nyaruko steals this episode by pulling off the being depressed about Mahiro not making a move and trying to push him at the same time. It goes nowhere in the end, but it feels like it did at the same time.

Best girl, even if I’m the only one who believes so.

Date A Live

The final spirit is introduces in Tokisaki Kurumi. She can’t be killed apparently as Shido’s newly introduced younger sister manages to kill her again, but she’s back in school the next day. Kurumi’s also different from the others as she’s actively going after Shido instead of having to be seduced like the others. Kurumi is actually a breathe of fresh air in this series as there is finally a sense of drama introduced by her presence. She’s different from every other character, and she’s more dangerous on the surface than anyone else. I can’t say the same about Mana since she just seems like Token Little Sister #2. So more action and suspense in this harem series ahead, and that’s a good thing.

The Rest of the Week

Calling to another dimension is undoubtedly expensive.

Hataraku Maou-sama

A disgraceful victory celebration.

Oreimo.

The screams of fans everywhere means that there is finally a winner in the pointless contest of which girl wins. Kuroneko’s confession is successful after a brief waiting period, so now it’s about trying to figure out how to be a couple. In the process, it’s sort of destroyed what’s left of the story. It’s just going to peter out as none of the other ships matter anymore. Trying to be an exploration of high school romance in an innocent way has already proven to be far beyond what this series is capable of, but it’s going to try to go for it anyway. Prepare for boredom and failure.

The level of character this show should be aspiring to.

Oregairu

I am really having problems with the writing in this series. It’s really and ridiculous pretentious whenever you get the characters into a group and talking. It turns into dialogue that would make sense for characters in their 30s, but they are supposed to be 17. It means I can identify with these characters on a level I really should not be. Also, the prospect of having 10 older people devoting their time to trying to get 1 girl to not feel alone as a story arc feels like it is blowing things out of proportion. Instead of trying to make something unimportant feel more unimportant, Oregairu has only succeeded in pointing out how important it thinks it is.

Really, do not do this at home!

Muromi-san

I believe that all the characters have been introduced by now, so hopefully they can get to actually constructing jokes from these characters now. See this week, they introduced the kappa named Kawabata. He’s just really awkward and carries around strange food items. It doesn’t make for very entertaining stuff to be honest. Then in the epilogue, Sumida and Hii-chan were stroking cucumbers erotically. The only thing I found funny was the eating poisonous mushrooms segment. It’s horribly irresponsible like everything else in this series.

With eyes looking like that, should she not be going to the hospital?

Hayate Cuties

Manglobe continues to Manglobe this franchise. This is the episode devoted to the three idiots in the Student Council that always bother Hinagiku and call Hayate Hayata. The only thing that is really notable about this fact is that it probably draws more attention to the terrible character designs. I mean, what the hell did they do to Miki, is she suffering from liver failure where the whites of her eyes match her skin. What the hell Manglobe? Besides that, the writing for this continues to be nothing more than par at best, so far from good enough to distract from the horrible production quality.

Physics homework, right?

Aiura

For a 2 minute series to already be repeating the same jokes from previous episodes on episode 6 is pretty appalling. This week the 3 girls go to Kanaka’s place to “study” when really they mess around as always. They bother Souta, Kanaka’s younger brother because her room is in disrepair. I suppose my problem with this series is that Kanaka is the one carrying the comedic value, but it leaves the 2 other girls as passengers. Saki and Ayuko occasionally play the straight man role opposite her, but I have no feeling for either of them as characters.

Updated Seasonal Average Ranking

Earth, OMNOMNOMNOM

Big Wars

This week’s terribad entry comes from the director of Dirty Pair in the 1993 OVA Big Wars. For an early 90s OVA this is pretty standard cheesy sci-fi/action movie filled with as much sex as they could get in and still be allowed to sell it to under-18s.

The basic story is that humanity had expanded to other worlds and with that came the consequence of dealing with alien beings called “The Gods.” Why one would choose to make an enemy seem so unbeatable by name seems odd, but I digress. Anyway, these aliens work by penetrating the minds of people and turning them against other humans. As this is skeevy in nature, it actually turns women into nymphomaniacs. Why!? Because our protagonist perfect human Captain Akuh can kill her and then spend the rest of the movie haunted by the act.

The movie then makes a terrible pacing error of spending too much time on that instead of the actual war in Big Wars. Akuh is captaining a special new ship that is supposed to be humanity’s last hope against The Gods, but instead the focus is on the past horrors witnessed by members of the crew of which most get killed off quickly after that. A better way of summing up the pacing is really this comparison. About 24 minutes are spent on Akuh and his lover having sex wherever they happen to be and 30 seconds are spent on summarizing human history in the 300 years before this movie takes place.

So finally, the part where I try to convince you to or not to watch this. I suppose if you really want to watch some Skinemax-esque sex scenes followed by a bunch of characters you won’t care about suffering from PTSD and with a conclusion that is done better in Battlefield Earth, then God help you and yes you may like this. For the rest of you, this is not horribly appalling nor is it any good. In fact you’ll probably struggle to remember much after an hour of watching this. Good for you if you do.

Time of First Female Nudity: 25:36 (Though after two different sex scenes where little is seen and much is heard)
Rating: 43/100

Symbolism…

It’s been about 9 months since I last did one of these as there just hasn’t been much in the way of motivation. In this installment, we have a Kawamori vanity project that was seen as one of the best shows of 2012 at least within the Anime Power Rankings blogging community. For everyone else, it sits at a fairly pedestrian 7.5 on MAL. What drew me into doing this series is first, the series is pretty well known for being incredibly nuts both in direction and in story, and second was the fact that this is a second season. I didn’t watch this because I still haven’t seen the original Aquarion series.

Is there any other reaction to being told that you will be responsible for re-populating humanity.

Now to the episode itself. It feels very much like a last episode of a mecha series as far as the story was concerned. That was a little disappointing as I was expecting it to try to carve out something new, but it felt like it was trying to be flashy while really being conformist. To use an analogy, I think of mecha anime as the serious business genre of anime, where the work environment is stuck in the 1950s where everyone wears suits and works long hours. Here comes Kawamori working his long hours wearing…a suit, but with sneakers (meanwhile harem anime staff dress like hipsters). This isn’t necessarily a criticism of him, he’s probably one of the few people who has a singular focus when making new anime. He’s all about making sure the audience has fun.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy watching this episode, even though it was pretty obvious where it was going when I figured out what was happening. I mean, how could you not enjoy super robot attacks becoming ever more absurd as the minutes pass in this episode. I suppose the obvious shipping angle this episode seemed to present that had long since passed would be a disappointment if the relationships didn’t turn out the way one would have liked. I still think this episode was more about spectacle than anything else.

Naked humans floating through space, that’s a trope, right?

Now onto the part where I always fail in these posts; where I try to guess the plot based that lead up to this episode. As far as I can tell most of these characters are reincarnations of characters from 12,000 years previous when a terrible betrayal happened and there was much sadness. That led Toma, our villain of this piece, to try to get revenge by destroying humanity. That same incident also led to love being if not banned, at least frowned upon on Earth, but it didn’t stop the self-discovery teenagers of this series from going down that route anyway. Eventually Toma gets his means of revenge by using both Mikono and Zessica in different ways before this last episode where he discards the latter. I hope that’s somewhat close.

I see what you did there…

Now for the scores:

Character Development: B+ These are fully formed characters for the most part. The only issue I really had was Amata suddenly having the 12,000 year old romantic revelation at the conclusion which was needed for shipping completion I guess.

Plot Comprehension: A- There are really few surprises when it comes to understanding the plot. I think it’s pretty easy to understand once you’ve watched enough mecha series.

Unintentional Comedy: F I don’t think Kawamori is capable of doing unintentional comedy. Every little absurd thing about this episode was clearly intentional. While you may think that “Evol is Love backwards” was funny, it was designed to be cheesy.

Deus Ex Machina: No I may be jaded by super robot anime, but they almost all work out like this anyway. I didn’t really see much that was horribly contrived in the ending, though Zessica nearly being choked out by Kagura was pretty close.

Sequel Potential: Minimal I suppose there’s always the possibility they could prequel this to the same reincarnations only failing, but that’s not a sequel. This was a rather clean ending, fortunately.

Grainy image of Boston Globe writer? Grainy image of Boston Globe writer

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since, “Son, don’t go to anime conventions. They just drain your money and prevent you from having the advantages that you should have over others.”

And so it was that I set foot in the terminal at Logan International Airport on a sunny Thursday morning. My mission was clear, try to find a guy who looked like he had endured a bus ride from Reno to San Francisco then a flight to New York and then to Boston without sleeping. No small task considering how many people do that, it must be in the tens. Anyway, in a flannel shirt, this driver of carts greeted me and we went to claim my luggage. Baggage claim is always a strange experience every time I’ve come across it. It’s not the unusually shaped bags or anything, its the fact that random people seem compelled to intervene and keep the luggage moving smoothly around the mechanical loop. It’s not like anything is going to break.

A bus to a train station, a conversation with a creepy old dude obsessed with a hockey game from 7 years ago (We won, get over it), a couple of trains and a short walk later, we arrived at a shady hotel. The overworked staff let us check our bags because the third member of our party was still in the middle of attempting to break an historic record. So off we went to Five Guys where I told stories of my brief period of writing for a college newspaper while sitting directly across from a clipped story written by the rival campus rag. Also, there was a scene from Jormungand set in a Five Guys, but you probably knew that already. A couple hours of messing around with fat pigeons who were going aggro at each other and imagining a fountain swallowing the parents of the eager man guarding it and our party grew to three.

Since he booked the room and all, it’s worth mentioning that he also drives carts, but neither of them was that Irish bloke everyone associates with cart driving, or Lelouch. Since he insisted on it, he will be referred to as Dr. Gonzo. An ironic name considering the relative lack of drugs and booze in the rest of the story, but that’s what he wanted. After checking in to our room, I glanced around at what we would be spending the next 4 days and 3 nights in. Artwork removed from the walls? Check. Ceiling plastered over from a massive water leak? Check. Cramped bathroom that smells of cat urine? Check. A solid 2-star hotel this was.

Clever Marketing Here, but that’s only the 2nd worst unofficial anime character use I’ve seen in person.

The fourth member of our party arrived later, with a basketball and tons of hairspray in bag. As I’m trying to withhold identities here, there’s really no sufficient way I can identify this person without giving away their identity, so you in the audience will have to figure out who I’m referring to. That’s how I challenge my readers.

Off we went to the real hotel to collect the badges for the convention all while laughing at people who camp out on day 0 for hours when just a couple of hours later we were in and out within 5 minutes, those suckers. We were joined by a vowel-less writer from that aniblog tournament winning blog thing everyone forgot about from last year. We went to a restaurant where I was conquered by a calzone as large as my head. It was a disgraceful defeat as the other two who had ordered the same thing finished them.

A terrible sleep followed a night of watching the Bruins lose. A good thing I had brought my pillow too, so I could sleep on something that didn’t feel like a sheet wrapped around unclean balls from a Chuck E. Cheese ball pit. I had my own breakfast, then when that wasn’t adequate I was dragged to the Prudential Center where we could enjoy it’s finest Mexican specialty restaurant, Qdoba. Dr. Gonzo wanted a pale imitation of his native food as well. Their strongest salsa left me yearning for the Mexican restaurants of home, which actually tried to put flavor in their salsas, but it filled me up nonetheless.

To put it roughly, they want the annual per capita GDP of Liberia for the cost of Oreimo on Bluray

And so it was off to the convention proper, where after passing through some really half-assed security the group went to the mecha gone bad panel. It was really just typical terribad moments from the genre, nothing entirely special apart from the Gurren Lagann clip as it actually aired in the US. Mmm, Quizno’s. We also ran into multi-site podcaster and Idolm@ster fact checker, oh what do I call him here, FC, for Fuck Comcast, since it screwed up appearance on FAP.

After that was a split up was a trip to the dealer’s room. The very place my father had once warned me about. It just sucked up my wallet’s contents with these 4 inch tall figurines proving too much to resist. However I was able to negotiate the prices down using a technique I learned from a trip to a games convention in March. Find flaws in the packaging that you don’t care about and try to knock some bucks off. It secured me 3 things that would just spend their days silently staring back at their owner with the names of Shiori, Kanon and Charlotte. Oh well, money going away from me. It wouldn’t be the last time.

Later the bad touch panel duo joined our now 6-person party at the hotel. The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur as I was feeling kind of odd. It was well enough that I was capable of handling the bar food and overpriced brews that I ordered there and also stalked Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy, who was plugging his book on a man who couldn’t find a baseball stadium he lived mere blocks from. There was conversation of dubs that had been lost to time, accounting tricks to somehow get a profit, Sword Art Online being set to be the most popular piece of fiction on the planet and of wishing of having the money to fly off to Brazil next summer. Still have to qualify for that one first, though. Also someone spent actual currency buying Love Love, that poor man. Then there was the visual-kei band, whose mixture of guitar riffs from the early-80s got tiresome quickly, and people sat down at their new stuff.

After another terrible night of sleep, it was a cold day in Boston Saturday. This was convenient as I was also developing a sinus infection. Really? Thanks, Boston weather. Not much to say about this day until the afternoon. I ditched everyone and did what I considered to be the proper thing, watching the Champions League final. I couldn’t miss the hipster’s team of choice fall to a noble 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich. Poor Dortmund, about to have their team torn apart. Regardless the lack of a way of cooling a liquid dictated that I drank a 6-pack over the course of the match.

Something like a Five Guys, right?

Later, I met with the group and we recorded a podcast that was abruptly ended by [entire section removed for references to an unhappy event that revolves around someone else having too much to drink (No, not me.)] Back to the Five Guys for more food and then it was off to the bad touch duo’s panel on bad touching. It was informative I suppose, but then I was fully feverish at this point. Back to the hotel and then to sleep where apparently a 3 hour drinking session was commencing in the hotel lobby and in the bathroom to our particular room. The back of the toilet proved to be the only useful part of the room as it turned out in the end as it was able to cool cheap wine well enough.

The final day brought me face-to-face with 2 particular quandaries. Was the final visit to the dealers room going to ruin me and is my local walk-in clinic open on holidays? Those answers were as Yozora, Yukimura and ugh, Cecilia proved yes and yes. The rest of the day was spent trying to survive the trek back to the train platform, then the transfer to the other train and the good byes to everyone who I had met on this journey. Finally, I made it to the airport 4 hours and 5 minutes before my flight was supposed to leave. If you know anything about TSA rules, you would realize that’s 5 minutes too early.

How to kill that much time? I suppose that was the reason why I brought my Vita. They do exist in the wild, really. And I still needed some food and there was a place that had a turkey and brie on flatbread sandwich. Why does this exist? It should have been too niche to be a thing. Finally, it was on to the plane where I would be pursuing the Triple Crown on my Vita before pain aplenty on landing. If you’ve ever flown with sinus issues, you’d know what I mean.

Among the most insane convention purchases ever?

So some lessons I learned from this trip. Consumerism is destroying modern society, conventions like this are increasingly becoming places for old men (no, not really old except for the cool old dude at the bad touch panel) and the weather in Boston typically sucks. This convention is in March next year, so nor’easter it is. Physical media as far as anime goes seems to be waning as streaming seems to be the only way to get consistent revenue. Which means what is left is overpriced trash series, overpriced mediocrity that was being promoted like hell and overpriced crap that was meant to be exclusive. As for the illness, I was able to see a doctor and get some medication. Also, mall food court food in general sucks beyond a single meal. Enduring it 3 days in a row ruined my stomach, as well as the burgers and fries and sodas. I should just buy normal food. Next time I guess.

Special thanks to: Dr. Gonzo and the Other Non-Irish Driver of Carts, Unnamed Roommate, The Bad Touch Duo, Vowel-less Writer, Podcaster A, The Girl Whose Panel I Missed on Saturday Because of the Football, The Popee Cosplayer Who Gave Out LoGH trading cards, that Texas-based Entertainment Company Who Gave Out Free Stuff, that Japanese Company that has no Idea how Markets Work (the consumerism part above) and you readers who remarkably put up with the stuff I post year-after-year.

I’ve really been thinking hard about this blog lately. Mainly the new season is coming up and on some sites there are polls where the audience is asked what shows should be blogged for the coming season. My big concern is that if I were to do something similar I’d end up with around 4 votes total. I’ve dealt with the relative unpopularity of this place before, but from a perspective of someone writing for an audience it makes it hard.

I can put it down to a single word: expectations. I basically do not have any. No one is holding me to any sort of standard. So I could just post a pile of horribly argued garbage filled with strawmen and it wouldn’t matter a bit. It really makes me wonder if I’m actually any better of a writer than I was when I started this back in 2008. So while I do enjoy writing, I guess I question whether it is doing me any good here. Especially with completely dropping the posts on Maou-sama and no one saying a word on it.

Anyway, on to the actual weekly recap. I’m actually getting really tired of writing on the shows that continue to be bad every week, so I’m going to a top 5 and a list of the rest. If there’s terribad, I’ll throw that in too. If anyone comes in expecting me to cover all 11 shows, you probably should have said something at some point. These will probably be more detailed in later weeks if they stick around, but for now, it’s probably best for my state to only stick to the normal level of detail. Sorry everyone.

Currently Airing Top 5

Yes, Yuzu is trying to make you cry.

Yuyushiki

This was easily the most perverted episode to date, but it also expands on the secondary trio of girls in their class. Eventually it looks like it’s going to turn into a six-character show and I think they did well to introduce Fumi and Kei. Meanwhile, Yukari and Yuzu get obsessed by making Mom-sensei cry. She only cries in certain types of movies though. And I can’t ignore the last line in the episode when Kei tells Yui to touch Chiho’s chest because it’s amazing.

Nonoka is a true warrior.

Photo Kano

The team behind this series is having a lot of fun with these single episode stories. There are a lot of visual gags in this episode. My favorite was the samurai gag after Nonoka’s challenge. They transform into period costumes and after that gag ends they are still briefly wearing those afterwards. This isn’t a very sketchy episode either, and apart from a few moments early on those have been largely absent. Yet, I’m still questioned on why this isn’t just another fanservice heavy terribad anime. I’d write a post, but that would go unread.

Someone finally jumps!

Date A Live

The story finally kicks into something that resembles a final battle. Shido threatens to kill himself to save Kurumi, Kurumi kills one of her other selves only to show her true power in front of Mana then Kurumi uses her time shifting power and suddenly everyone is trapped when Kotori shows up to save the day. This series can do drama better than most series in this genre and Kurumi’s character mercilessly killing people has made it dark in a good way.

Just jump the gate, come on.

Hataraku Maou-sama!

So I’ve silently dropped this from weekly individual posts. The reason for that is I don’t want to keep writing the same thing over and over this week. If anything from this episode is memorable, it would be Ashiya’s story he invented to explain the back story between Maou, Ashiya and Emi to Rika. That took plenty of thought and imagination to have that somehow make sense. The rest of the actual story seems to be heading to an obvious showdown between the guy at the chicken place and Emi while Suzuno puts pressure on her to kill Maou. There’s just no more focus on the mundane anymore, and it’s a shame for it.

Mastered that in a single day.

Hayate! Cuties

This week’s episode was the Ruka episode. She would be the aspiring mangaka/idol who happens to have feelings for Hayate like everyone else. I think there really wasn’t much for Manglobe to screw up in this week’s episode. It’s a fairly tight story where she has to learn how to ride a bike and Hayate teaches her in the hardest way possible and then Hayate has to step in and cross-dress in order to step in as a backup dancer for her. The character designs still look horrible, but less so in Ruka’s case. I figure they will be back to screwing up Ayumu’s story next week.

The Rest of the Week

6. Muromi-san

7. Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

8. Aiura

9. Oreimo.

10. Gargantia

11. Oregairu

Updated Seasonal Average Weekly Ranking