Lost in America - Anime & More

Hunter X Hunter 2011 - 17

2012-01-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

It seems pretty fitting that the “Hunter Vocabulary” this week was “too bad”, because that seems to be the mantra of anyone who crosses Killua’s path.

There was really no way this episode was going to live up to the colossal blockbuster that was episode 16, and it didn’t really try. There was considerable buildup to Killua’s quest for six points, as he’s been almost entirely unheard from during the entire trial, but in the end the only real surprise is that he managed to get his tag without killing anyone. His target’s tag and two extras, in fact, as his target is one of three “brothers” who’s been stalking him, waiting for him to slip up (that’ll be a long wait). The fact that no one died is partly due to Killua’s slightly out-of-character restraint, and due to the fact that the leader of the trio, #199, was smart enough to see when he was beaten and give up his tag without a fight. Killua even took the trouble of deceiving the candidate who’d been trailing #197, the youngest of the brothers and the one stalking him, by getting him to chase after the one wrong of Killua’s “extra” tags.

Killua and Hisoka seem to be the most unbeatable figures in this contest, and aside from each other Gon appears to be the only one strong enough to cause either a problem (I don’t know about that “Gittrackur” guy though…) so there was never likely to be much drama surrounding Killua this time. No, the focus quickly shifted to Leorio and Kurapika. As you recall Kurapika already had his six points even with the “blood money” tags he gave to Hisoka, but Leorio is still sitting on three. Kurapika is nothing if not loyal, following through on his pledge to help Leorio, but for four days they have no luck finding his target (or anyone else) until Gon drops in.

This was a quietly important ep for Gon, I think, in that we left him in a pretty bad place last time. He’s sporting a nasty bruise on his cheek and no doubt some serious mental ones, too, but the point of is appearance, I think, is to show that he’s fundamentally unchanged. He did his pouting and his stewing in the tree, but he’s still willing to go to bat for his friends and still possesses abilities that no one else in the group has. He’s man enough to stop feeling sorry for himself and deal with reality, though he’s physically just a kid. In short, he’s over it – though no doubt still nursing a grudge of galactic proportions – and he uses his super-smell to help Leorio track down his target, the young woman Ponzu who uses chemical weapons as her preferred method of attack. Gon finds her in a small cave, where Leorio insists he go in alone and that the others not help him – a condition which they both flatly refuse.

This has to be awfully hard for Leorio. He’s working with three kids, two of them preteens, and they’re all running rings around him. Frankly he wouldn’t be alive without their help, and it doesn’t look like he’d have any chance to get six points without them either. By the time they eventually follow him into the cave, Leorio is already in deep trouble, having been bitten numerous times by poisonous vipers belonging to Bourbon, the snake charmer – who’d apparently set up the cave as a trap and caught Ponzu in the process. I’m not sure just what to make of this scenario, especially when Ponzu says Bourbon is dead and she’s just as trapped as they are. I can only think that she was lured in by Bourbon and killed him using one of her own chemical weapons – not realizing that he’d made it impossible for her to leave without his calling off the snakes.

Things couldn’t look much worse for Leorio. Not only is he riddled with venom – even after Gon tried to suck out the poison – but he can’t leave the cave to seek help, much less try and pass the test. For that matter, if Kurapika and Gon can’t escape they can’t present their tags, either. Gon being a sort of beastmaster himself would seem to be the most likely to be able to deal with the snakes – he’s already shown himself abnormally resistant to Geretta’s toxin too – but if anything, the dramatics of the scenario seem to be demanding that Leorio do something to redeem himself. He’s been pretty much a useless appendage to this point and if he can only pass on the charity of the kids, he’ll be nursing a grudge as big as the one Gon is nursing against Hisoka.

Mouretsu Pirates - 04

2012-01-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

More of the same on this week’s Mouretsu Pirates – some very nice-looking brainy sci-fi slice-of-life that doesn’t do much to quicken the pulse.

That's not to say this was a bad episode. We did get the interesting nugget of information that privateers are listed in the phone book, and a funny little pearl of wisdom from Kane that gives the episode its title “Breakfast Beats Worrying”. True enough, but this isn’t a show that’s conducive to a whole lot of worrying as it snuggles around you like a nice, soft blanket of geekiness.

I wasn’t surprised to see Marika show some real strategic sense in devising the battle plan against the attacking drone – she clearly has the genes for it. A little more surprising was the fact that she spilled the beans to her clubmates so early, and that club president Jenny Doolittle (Satou Rina) was already aware of her secret (though Chiaki had no idea). As it does with everything, the episode went out of its way to explain every little detail of the plan, as well as the details of how Marika figured out that someone was plotting an attack in the first place. It’s interesting to see everyone testing her in their own way, and how she continues to be unruffled by it.

If you already liked the series I can’t imagine anything you saw this week will change your mind – if anything the ep might have been a hair more engaging than the last two, but mostly it was eerily consistent. People keep saying that the issue some are having with the show (including me) is that it’s “slow” but they’re completely missing the point. It’s isn’t the pace that’s the issue, it’s that I’m still not too engaged with any of the characters or what’s happening to them. There’s no sense of danger at all, certainly – the girls are treating this is a fun field trip, and everyone except Chiaki always has a nice big smile on their face. Basically, the mood of the show is a flatline – there are no peaks and valleys, no emotional highs and lows. Heck, I can’t remember an instance of anyone in the cast even raising their voice. I still enjoy the way the show treats it's sci-fi elements seriously, and it’s cerebral tone is eerily reminiscent of some of the brainy sci-fi series of the ‘90s.

We may finally get some real movement next week, both in terms of the confrontation with the enemy drone – which Marika has resolved to commandeer and turn against its mothership with the help of Vice-President Lynn Lambretta (Hikasa Yoko) and in terms of the larger plot, as the preview suggests Marika will finally be making her decision (not much suspense there, is there?) That won’t change anything meaningfully in and of itself, because again, pacing isn’t the real issue. What’s going to speak volumes is the way the characters react to those events – will we finally see some emotional movement?

Senki Zesshou Symphpgear - 04

2012-01-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

All right all you whiners who wanted to hear Takayama Minami sing again – you happy now?

You know this episode of Senshogear was a “very special” one, because there was no OP – and indeed it was, a little bit of everything and an emotional rollercoaster. In the process it showed me why despite it’s clumsiness and occasional misfires, it’s my favorite of the four Winter series that occupy this sub-genre – because it has more emotional power than the other three put together, for me. And while the animation lapses last week were harrowing, the overall look of the show is very distinctive. It may officially be Encourage Films, with most of the staff from Satelight, but more than anything when I watch this show I think of Gainax, and never more than this week. If there’s any Gainax in the staff pedigree I can’t find it, but I’m guessing there are some major Gainax fanboys among that group.

Senshogear has always had a mish-mash of styles and emotional tones fighting for supremacy, and it hasn’t always worked. Though this week’s ep was arguably the most jarringly discordant yet, it did work for me. It was probably necessary to give Kanade a little more backstory, not just because of the fans who felt cheated by her premature death but because she looms over the story as such a defining presence. That backstory highlighted some of the dark nature of the task the girls in this show have taken on, as we see her arriving at the Second Branch five years past, after the death of her family. Revenge is her only goal, and she undergoes some Wolverine-style torture to help her body become compatible with the relic we know is called Gungnir. It was only her partnership – and soon friendship – with Tsubasa that turned Kanade into the more empathetic figure we saw in the first episode.

Much was revealed this week – in addition to Kanade’s roots, much more light was shed on Tsubasa’s shame at her “failure” two years earlier that resulted in the loss of the Nehushtan Armor and many lives. We also learned more about the way Kanade died – by unleashing her “swan song”, a melodic weapon so powerful that it can destroy the body of the singer. Given that, it should be no surprise that Tsubasa would see it as her poetic destiny to die the same way as Kanade – and she’s given the opportunity with the arrival of Chris (Takagaki Ayahi) who apparently took that armor two years earlier and now has somehow acquired, via that relic, the ability to summon Noise herself.

What follows is a classic Gainax battle sequence full of signature moves and fanservice, but also shot through with Tsubasa’s self-loathing and Chris’ arrogant disdain for it, as Hibiki stands by helpless and impotent. There’s even a douin-ready moment when one of the Noise shoots strands of sticky goo at Hibiki, imprisoning her. Tsubasa uses this opportunity to unleash her own swan song, trying (unsuccessfully) to take down Chris, and to catch up to Kanade in her own mind (again, unsuccessfully – she survives thanks to Second Branch’s doctors). Just who Chris is and why her symphogear ability summons Noise instead of destroying them is unclear, but the encounter ends with Tsubasa near death and the Nehushtan Armor apparently badly damaged.

It’s only natural that Hibiki would blame herself for all that, extending the chain of self-blame another link. Kanade died for her, and Tsubasa tried to – in Hibiki’s own mind anyway. I don’t think she’s right in either case, but it’s understandable especially given Tsubasa’s disdain for her. It’s sad to see how much pain those two cause each other, but of course the difference is that in Hibiki’s case it was thoughtlessness that led her to continually talk of “replacing” Kanade, not malice. Her only solace in the world is Miku, who by now obviously knows something very wrong is happening with Hibiki but – for now – is letting it stay a secret. I love their scenes together and again they’re wonderful here, with Yuuki Aoi doing another wonderful job bringing Hibiki’s pain to life as Miku shows her the (blank) cellphone video of the meteor shower. I have a sneaking suspicion that Miku knows more than she’s letting on, and perhaps much more – but the very thought that she could be betraying Hibiki is almost too cruel to bear, as that would bring unimaginable pain to her.

The episode caps, interestingly enough, with a very funny ED sequence that’s a take-off on the Karate Kid genre, with Hibiki going to Genjurou for martial arts training, to which his first reply is “Do you like action movies?” This is a bit surreal and feels at odds with the dark tone of the rest of the episode, but the training montage (set to Aoi’s humble yet charming singing) totally worked for me. And it may even serve to prove a point, as we’ve kind of reached an “always darkest before the dawn” moment – there’s no one left to do Hibiki’s fighting for her, so she can either give up or do whatever she can to protect the people she cares for, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against her.

ED2 Sequence:

Winter 2012 – Check-in

2012-01-27T23:52:00.000-08:00

How does the season look now that we’re about a month in? About like most of them have lately – pretty good but not great. And why do all four of my favorite new shows have to air on the same damn day?

There are a couple of trends I’m seeing this season, and they’ve been building for a while. First, we’re seeing a lot of “throwback” series – shows that fundamentally could have aired during any of the last 10-15 years. We have a lot of industry veterans dipping their toes back in the pool lately, and probably even more of them this season than any for a while. The second trend seems to run contrary to the first, and I wonder if that retro streak may have arisen partly in response to it – and that’s the decline of the male main character. Males have been on the decline for years in anime as a percentage of all characters, but now we’re even seeing the last bastion – the male MC surrounded by a cast of females – becoming the exception rather than the norm, even in mecha and sci-fi.

In conjunction with this is the emergence of yuri as the dominant romantic undertone in anime, and for the first time I can remember there are more series with yuri romance (implied, anyway) than boy-girl romance. Of course, this is happening in the context that overtly romantic anime are seemingly on the decline altogether, whatever the pairing – as witness Steins;Gate receiving so much support for the various “Best Romance” awards of 2011 despite the fact that the romance – though excellent – is a tertiary part of the story. Implied shoujo-ai is seemingly the hot trend of the moment – it’ll be interesting to see if it retains that dominance permanently, or takes it’s place alongside tropes like tsundere and moe that had explosions of dominance, then fell back to sustainable levels (though not all would agree in the case of either, I’m sure).

Top Shelf:

Another
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: It started off slowly, as a creeping psychological exercise in the mold of Ghost Hound, but the horror arrived big-time in the third episode. Exquisite production values (especially sound), and smart writing make this one of the most exciting shows in many a season.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A
Comments: Beyond a doubt the best four-episode run the show has had to open any season. For now it’s returned more to its episodic roots with a focus on Natsume’s interactions with the youkai world, and it’s firing on all cylinders

Ano Natsu de Matteru
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: The third episode was a blockbuster success, hilariously funny and true to character. This is as classic and retro as anime gets, a timeless RomCom with elements of Onegai Sensei (from the writer) and Toradora and AnoHana (from the director). They’re making it look incredibly easy, but it’s really hard to make a show this good.

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A-
Comments: Finally, it’s here – the slice-of-life comedy from the male POV that gets it right. When a comedy fires this many shots, some of them will miss – but most of them are hitting, with hilarious results. Sugita Tomokazu and Miyu Irino are superb, as is the entire cast.

Thermae Romae
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B+
Comments: What, it’s over?? Well, there’s a live-action coming up, at least. The animation is cheap, the soundtrack is public domain, but the writing is pure genius. This was hilariously witty and full of deft social commentary.

Well Drinks:

Area no Kishi
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: My expectations were probably too high for this adaptation of the popular soccer manga. It’s good, but it's not the Adachi-like masterwork I dreamed it might be. Still, I like the premise for the most part, and I see some nice relationship potential here.

Amagami SS+ plus
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: Everything is toned down from the first season – the length, the ecchi, the sex, the comedy – but it still packs a certain breezy charm. And with so little conventional romance anime being produced, it fills a niche.

Brave 10
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: Not one that was high on my list going in, but a lot of fun and I’m always a sucker for Sengoku-era period pieces. Fitting any realistic portion of the manga into 12 eps is a seeming impossibility.

Papa no Iu Koto wo Kikinasai!
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
I’m still not sure yet if this show wants to be Usagi Drop or Ro-Kyu-Bu!, but it damn well better not try and be both. I don’t see it succeeding in the tightrope dance it’s trying to do, but it’s interesting in an ominous sort of why to find out.

Recorder to Randoseru
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: A terrible choice for the three-minute format, as this odd and silly premise has enough to it to sustain a full-length series. Entertaining but in this format, a throwaway.

Inu X Boku SS
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: It’s grown on me since the first ep, and there is a certain sweetness to it I find appealing. I also like that the tsundere heroine realizes she’s insufferable and wants to change. But, sadly, most of the time I’m just not that interested.

Dropped: High School D x D, Kill Me Baby, Aquarion EVOL

Special Category: The New Breed of Sci-FI

Since we have three (arguably four) shows that are so similar in so many ways, and they represent such an interesting evolution in anime, I thought I’d take a special look at the sub-genre that defines science fiction in anime as of Winter, 2012. While we still have holdouts like Gundam, this season the mecha and sci-fi niche looks very different than it once did. With Mouretsu Pirates, Rinne no Lagrange and Senki Zesshou Symphogear we have three series that share many commonalities. The entire central cast is female. All the main characters attend all-girls high schools. In each case the heroine is asked to take on a burden that pulls her away from her normal existence, in which she was quite happy. The only romance is yuri (thus far, subtly) and what males there are fill the role of stock villains, authority figures or objects of comic relief.

That’s interesting in itself because it’s so different from what these sort of shows have always looked like – even a recent series like Infinite Stratos seems positively quant for having a male lead surrounded by female pilots, never mind the boys’ adventure style of the Gundam series and old-chestnuts like Candidate for Goddess or the Banner/Crest of the Stars series (or even the Tenchi series). And what’s especially interesting is that the man behind both Mouretsu and Rinne, director Satou Tatsuo, is an old hand at old school, having directed shows like Martian Successor Nadescio (and the more modern-looking Uchuu no Stellvia).

In many ways I think Aquarion: EVOL could be grouped in with these other three shows, though it’s a sequel to one of those old chestnuts – though there is a male lead he’s quite weak, and the dynamics of the genders feel very much of 2012. But that aside, let’s take a look at how those other three shows compare – are they as similar as they appear?

First off, we have Rinne no Lagrange (my grade: B-). It’s the most straightforward of the trio, by far. It doesn’t aim especially high, but it does what it sets out to do – it’s fun, cute and upbeat. There’s no emo here, and not much depth of character – Madoka is a charmer, a straight-ahead and optimistic girl for whom her new life is just another adventure. The animation style is appropriately bright and primary colored, and there’s not much subtlety to be found anywhere in the production really. The one element of variability is the three bishounen villains, who may in fact be sympathetic characters and seem to be pushing some shounen-ai buttons with the fans.

Next, we have Mouretsu Pirates (my grade: B-). This is the show dog of the group. It’s classy, dignified and looks expensive. It doesn’t engage in lowbrow stuff like fanservice and so far, hasn’t deigned to show us any real action or really, any danger at all. It’s appealing for what it isn’t – stupid or exploitative or clichéd. But it’s a little bit reserved, too, and frankly not all that exciting. It’s closer to a pure sci-fi series in its fascination with technology, and offers a lot of visual gratification of the non-sexual variety for serious sci-fi geeks.

Finally, we have Senshogear (my grade: B+). It’s the eager, hyperactive puppy of the group – it wears its heart on its sleeve. Symphogear swings and misses more than Rinne and MP combined, I admit – but even so, for me it packs more emotional punch than both combined, too. I like the emotional openness here, the way the characters and their pain are laid bare for all to see. It’s capable of greater highs and lows both visually and dramatically than either of it’s rivals I think – shocking animation lapses followed by glorious orgies of Gainax-style showmanship. It’s my favorite of the three, although it’s also the most flawed.

The punchline? Despite the very different face these shows present when compared to genre series of the past, I think they all have an element of the retro to them. Mouretsu Pirates is really a geeky, intellectual sci-fi series from the 90’s with a 2012 gender identity. Rinne is basically a boys’ adventure mecha series with a female lead instead of a male one, and two yuri love interests instead of a hetero one. And Senshogear is a messy, bombastic take on a classic early 2000s mecha series that could have come from BONES or Gainax – except instead of teenaged boys piloting mechas we have teenaged girls using songs. It’s emo and GAR and hormonally charged, just like those shows were. I think it’s interesting that rather than a revolution in the sci-fi genre, these shows seem to present an evolution. As always, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

So, to sum up:

Definitely Blogging:
Danshi Koukousei, Another, Ano Natsu, Natsume Yuujinchou Shi, Senshogear, Amagami SS+, Area no Kishi

Probably Blogging (possibly in digest form):
Brave 10, Mouretsu Pirates

Toss-up:
PapaKiki, Black Rock Shooter (premières 2/2)

Will Probably Watch, Probably Not Blog:
Rinne no Lagrange, Inu X Boku SS, Recorder to Randoseru

Area no Kishi - 04

2012-01-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

Three episode rule or not, I’m still not sure where I stand with Area no Kishi even after four.

I certainly wasn't surprised to find out that Grey was Nana – that seemed pretty obvious to me from the first time we saw her. But the much more interesting question is this – how did she know Kakeru was going to start practicing at the park that very night? Has she been staking out his house, Yuno-style, waiting for him to appear with a soccer ball? Hanging out at the park every night, hoping he’ll show up? I hope it’s not the latter – even in a country as safe as Japan that’s not a very good idea for a middle-school girl.

I’m not entirely thrilled with the metaphysical angle the series seems to be taking. This whole business of “The Heart Speaks” – organ transplant recipients taking on the behavior of the donor… I know there are people who believe in that sort of thing and I always try to keep an open mind, but I would say that such a belief is pretty far outside the realms of anything medical science can tell us today. I think the concept of Suguru living on through his brother is a valid and even powerful dramatic device, but I’d much rather see it inferred in the odd glance here, the silent memory there (think of the way Adachi used Akane to suggest Wakaba in Cross Game as an example of what I mean). I really think treating it so literally as the series seems to be intending to do sucks a lot of the drama and poetry out of the notion, and it doesn’t help that the psychiatrist Mine-sensei is coming off as a bit of a crackpot, and not a very likable one at that. This whole plot point would seem to have much more potential as symbolism than literalism.

Be that as it may, the cat is out of the bag now and however Area no Kishi deals with the idea, it’s clearly here to stay. I think Nana was definitely out of line in telling Kakeru that the heart in his chest is Suguru’s. She certainly didn’t know he would take the news, and at the very least that’s something for his parents to decide – though she meant well, and in any case I think telling him at some point is the right thing to do. After an initial shocked reaction and a lot of tears, Kakeru seems to have turned the corner and decided that he’s glad to have his brother’s ticker – helped along by a chance meeting with Brazilian U-15 star and Suguru-friend Leonardo Silva (Shiratori Tetsu – please note that the name is not “Silver” as the Crunchyroll subs had it) at Suguru’s grave. Leo told Kakeru that Suguru had shared his view that Kakeru was the “Knight in the Area” he’d dreamed of – and when Kakeru finally breaks down and reads Suguru’s diary later, he confirms this with his own eyes and the meaning of Suguru’s “Last Pass” is rather poignantly revealed.

It appears that Kakeru (how about that cool referee’s whistle ringtone?) is off to Enoshima High School next week, and we’re in for a major time skip. I haven’t read ahead in the manga but I was certainly under the impression that the middle-school arc lasted much longer that this – perhaps it’s a concession to scheduling realities that Shin-Ei is aware of but we’re not (I still haven’t seen an official episode count, which leads me to believe it’s undecided – early ratings have been low, but the manga saw a huge increase in sales last week). Joining him there will be Nana, which leads me to hope that we see some romantic development – Kakeru and Nana together are my favorite part of the series so far – and that Enoshima has a girls team. Because unlike hardball, soccer is s sport that girls can pursue all the way to the World Cup and professional ranks in a big way if they have the talent. Also at Enoshima is going to be Araki Ryuichi, the same age as Suguru was and possibly as great a playmaker – a “Fantasista” as Suguru called him, the Italian term for the great #10s who act as a conductor for the orchestra on the pitch. Araki indeed looks to be the new King to Kakeru’s Knight…

Guilty Crown - 14

2012-01-26T22:55:00.000-08:00

Forget Code Geass – in episode 14 Guilty Crown decided it was “Lord of the Flies”. And on balance, that was a pretty good thing.

After last week’s mediocre affair, this was one of the strongest episodes to date, mainly because it focused on what this show is pretty good at – the dark side of the political struggle that’s occurring and man’s inhumanity to man. It also had the benefit of Shu giving perhaps his most balanced performance, not too mopey yet not unrealistically and annoyingly GAR, either, and of keeping the slice of life and humor (which the show just isn’t very good at) to a minimum. While there were still a few groaners – did we really need yet another Deux ex Void moment when Tsugumi turns out to have exactly the perfect void at exactly the perfect time? – on balance it was dark, moody and very efficient.

I mentioned how strange it was that no one at the school thought it odd that so many new students had mysteriously showed up, and I’ll give full credit to Guilty Crown for bringing that plot into focus this week. With a rebellion brewing and President Kuhoiun Arisa unable to stem it, suspicion finally turned to the newbies as the bullies from last week proved they weren’t one-hit wonders. It didn’t hurt that Segai was expertly fomenting dissent in the ranks of the quarantine zone by allowing them intranet communication, which started a spate of rumors – among which that by turning over Undertakers, someone could buy their way out of the quarantine zone.

The way the Antibodies massacred that group of prisoners was pretty intense, so much so that even Daryl “Viral” Yan looked askance at it. Naturally the rumors of that massacre made their way into the high school quickly enough, where chaos was quickly taking over and Arisa was completely losing control. We saw some real ugliness here – attempts to strip girls so they could check for Undertaker tattoos, guns being pointed at people, not to mention what Inori apparently did to the toughs who tried to check her for tats. Did she kill them, or just beat them into unconsciousness? Impossible to say, but she certainly didn’t want Shu seeing the bodies. It isn’t a complete surprise that Inori was capable of such brutality, but this is the first time we’ve seen her “otherness” portrayed in such a stark fashion.

We learned a lot about the core characters this week, in part due to the genetic resonance meter that Tsugumi produces for Shu, a kind of tire gauge for void strength. Shu himself shows up as a blank, while Inori is so powerful she puts the machine on tilt. We also learned that the other Undertakers (I was wondering when we’d get to that) have taken refuge with Arisa’s Grandfather, who’s planning a sort of resistance movement against Keido’s rule. It starts with rescuing the folks inside the quarantine zone, which is growing ever smaller as Segai contracts it and kills everyone in the way. I doubt Kuhoin-san would be too happy to know that Shu has supplanted his granddaughter as Student Council President, Yahiro having engineered a coup that screams of ulterior motives.

With the reluctant Shu taking the reigns of power at the school, a number of plotlines are opening up that look as if they could be among the most interesting we’ve seen so far. I’m especially interested in seeing what happens with Yahiro’s notion of ranking every student according to their void power, with Shu “reigning over them”. Yahiiro might be working for Segai for all I know, but he’s clearly been mulling this power grab with Shu as the figurehead for a while. The very dubious moral and ethical nature of Shu’s power to use voids has probably been the singe most intriguing element in the show so far – mostly ignored, sadly – but now at last it looks as if it might be taking center stage. With it, the potential is there for Guilty Crown to climb to another level as a series. But given the inconsistencies we’ve seen in the writing so far, I’m definitely calling that a hope rather than an expectation.

Thermae Romae – 5-6 (End)

2012-01-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

What, the conclusion already?

Thermae Romae – 05

One of the things I really enjoy about Thermae Romae is the way I can see some of my own reactions mirrored in those of Lucius. I’m a huge fan of onsen – they’re one of my favorite things about Japan – and yet so strange to foreigners as to take some serious getting used to. And I’ve never felt more a foreigner in Japan than when I’m visiting a public bath, which seems so quintessentially Japanese – and the way they deal with Lucius in their midst is very familiar. Having discovered the monkey bath, fruit milk and the washlet among other wonders this episode’s miracle is the onsen town.

Having been to one or two, I can honestly say the onsen town seems like a bizarre yet wonderful place to at least one foreigner besides Lucius. A whole village where everyone gets to walk around in yukata and geta on the streets, wandering from hot spring to hot spring? Count me in – even if they are sometimes full of tacky souvenir shops selling “hot spring buns” and pimping silly entertainments. The timing of Lucius’ visit is once again fortuitous, as his current charter is to build a bath in the smoldering remains of the Vesuvius eruption, where he runs into some trouble with a local gang of aromatic brigands he tries to win over to this side with promises of potential riches under their feet.

Thermae Romae – 06

And so it ends with Lucius discovering perhaps that greatest of all Japanese wonders, ramen.

Ah, ramen. There’s no food that’s more of a sensual experience – a delicacy that ties all the senses together, and a food of the people. Cheap, democratic and delicious. I really appreciate discovering all the wonders of modern Japan again, through Lucius’ eyes. It’s not just ramen, though, but also gyoza and the sex club – as run (mysteriously) by the same man who led the bandits in ancient Rome, (Touchi Hiroki). When Lucius returns to Rome after diving into the river chasing after his “battle trophy” – the stuffed hippo that will later turn up on an altar – he has his greatest success yet in turning Vesuvius into an onsen village. Romans wearing t-shirts and buying onsen tchotchkes? Why not, indeed.

It’s pretty damn remarkable that a three-episode series with bare-bones flash animation and a public domain soundtrack could accomplish so much, but Thermae Romae really made an impression. I only wish this series had been longer because it ended up being one of the surprising highlights of the season so far. The writing was consistently sharp and full of wit, and I love the way it captured the culture clash between Lucius and the Japanese so perfectly. It’s an extreme and silly example, of course, but the interplay between modern Japanese and foreigners really isn’t so different – there’s that same sense of discomfort tinged with curiosity and a genuine desire to help that I see in Japanese faces every time I visit the country (though less of it now that I can speak a bit of Japanese). The entire series is cut through with moments of inspiration, like Lucius paying for ramen with a Roman silver coin. Can you even begin to imagine what that would be worth? The pawnshop owner could surely retire.

Of course this was ultimately about the wonders of the bath, and I appreciated the fact that in its final scene this humble little anime was able to instill a sense of what the mangaka was trying to communicate. As the strains of “Ode to Joy” played, Lucius sat in the baths with centurions, nobles and former bandits – all of them equals naked in the steaming water. Like ramen the bath is a democratic place, and it was so even in ancient Rome – one of the few places where rank meant little - and Yamazaki-sensei wrote the manga in part to celebrate that, and how the Japanese shared this love for the experience with the Romans.

Amagami SS+ plus - 04

2012-01-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

I know the name of this series is Amagami SS+ plus, but I think it probably ought to be Amagami SS- minus – or at least, Amagami Lite.

My overall impression of the breezily enjoyable sequel is that it’s like the first one, but less. Less episodes per girl. Less sex. Less drama. Less service. Less slapstick. I’ve felt that all along but it really hit me hard this episode. Rihoko was much less clumsy and brazenly lacking in confidence in this incarnation – just amiably clueless. Junichi was both less horny and a lot less cruel in the way he teased her. And there was a lot less tension in the unrequited crush she had on him. The suspense was in wondering whether anything would come of it this time around, but I wouldn’t exactly call it spine-tingling.

Turns out that whole weird business with Makabe was pretty much a non-drama, too. He wasn’t a rapist or anything, and as soon as she told him she was interested in Junichi, he backed off without any trouble. Of course having her words drowned out by the train so we weren’t sure if Junichi heard her was totally cliché, but it’s a non-starter to fault Amagami SS for cliché, since the whole series is really a celebration of anime clichés. Turns out Junichi did hear her, and the rest of the episode was a very low-key dance of awkwardness between the two of them over dinner and a bath at his house, with the old standby of a rainstorm forcing Rihoko to stay over doing the honors for setting up the conclusion.

I was happy to see Rihoko win this time, though it felt pretty much telegraphed from the beginning of the episode that it was going to happen. I still don’t see much chemistry between the two of them but she’s a nice girl, so I don’t begrudge her a little success – though it would have felt a lot more rewarding last season. Not only would she have ended up having sex with Junichi rather than just a kiss, but the payoff would have felt as if it had been earned a lot more – things were so much more complicated, whereas this mini-arc was really no-drama and not much tension. It’s funny that fireworks were a theme, because there weren’t a whole lot of them in the arc itself. The first arc was the same, with Tsukasa’s temper and dangerous side turned way, way down. I know some of it is a function of the half-length arcs, but there seems to be a conscious effort to make this a kinder, gentler (and less sexy) Amagami SS. Next week is swimmer girl Nanasaki Ai, who was my second-favorite of the first season after Haruka. I really hope those two arcs retain some of the snap of the original series.

Bakuman 2 - 16

2012-01-25T17:19:00.000-08:00

Bakuman managed to fit pretty much every annoying character in the roster into the episode for major roles this week, a real accomplishment.

I’m still not enjoying this arc nearly as much as the first couple of arcs this season, which were the best the anime adaptation has offered up so far. Last week’s romance-heavy episode was quite good, but I still generally prefer the manga side of the plot – and this particular direction is my least favorite of all the manga-based arcs so far. It looks as if the issues between the two main couples are going back to the back burner for now – though I feel it should be pointed out that Takagi defended his decision to get married by saying he realized how much he “liked” Miyoshi. But some other romantic entanglements seem to be getting ready to rear their heads and demand screen time.

I certainly don’t mind seeing Fukuda get back into the mix as a major character, and Aoki is growing on me. I confess I didn’t expect to see the two of them as a potential couple but it looks like Nakai’s idiocy is pushing the story in that direction. Fukuda is a terminal busybody but he’s certainly right that Nakai is wasting a great opportunity, and he’s being a good friend in trying to push Nakai out of a comfortable mediocrity and a pointless infatuation with Katou. But Nakai’s stubbornness leads Fukuda to offer to teach Aoki the art of fanservice himself, made all the more necessary when Takagi sets up a disastrous meeting for her with one of those annoying characters, Ishizawa. He’s a character who serves no useful purpose than to be a complete tool, and I hope this is the last we see of him for a while. But it all ends up pushing Aoki into Fukuda’s arms, and while he’s undeniably good for her manga it appears that both of them are hard-up enough to feel something romantic for each other, ill-matched as they seem to be.

Another of those supremely annoying characters, Iwase, is getting back into the story too – making good on her threat to try and draw a manga to prove how easy and stupid manga is (and try and steal Takagi from Miyoshi). The shocking part is that because her editor at her novel’s publisher was a classmate of Hattori, it looks as if he’s going to be her editor at “Jack” – and thus, become the enemy of Ashirogi Muto. I really hate to see that happen, because Hattori is the best thing that ever happened to them and I never gave up hope he might end up working with them again. Iwase has a lot of work to do to convince me that she’s a character worth extended screen time – at the moment, this looks like another unwelcome development and a distraction from what really matters.

This is all compounded by the fact that the two supremely annoying editors, Miura and Yamahisa, are deeply involved in the current plot developments, too. You can add disloyal and opportunistic to Miura’s long list of faults, because it looks as if he’s ready to toss poor Takahama and Business Boy Kenichi – a manga he clearly helped to ruin – over the side and devote all his attention to Tanto. This is the first major Ashirogi Muto manga that I would have no interest in reading, and as such for the first time I find myself sincerely hoping it fails miserably so we can move on to better things.

I derive some hope from the shocked expressions on the two crap editors faces when they read the comments from the serialization meeting – maybe despite Miura’s promises Tanto is in trouble after all. BBK should give Ashirogi a harrowing glance at their future if it gets serialized – a short-life and declining popularity is what comes of dumbing down your work to please a short-sighted editor. I rather expected Aoki’s deep romance – paired with Fukuda’s panty shot masterpieces – to fare well at the meeting, though. It definitely looks as if Sasaki is displeased with the quality of what was presented, so perhaps there’s hope that all these plotholes can he flushed and the series can move on to bigger and brighter tomorrows. And for goodness sakes, can we please get some Niizuma Eiji? His screen time seems directly proportional to how good an episode is. It’s not surprising Eiji seems bored and unmotivated, because what’s happening now isn’t nearly so inspirational or interesting as what we had earlier in the season.

Chihayafuru - 16

2012-01-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

Boring recap ep is boring… But you know, I’ve seen a lot worse. To be honest – I LOL’d.

I’m not terribly thrilled to get a recap episode in a series adapting an ongoing manga that isn’t going to be able to finish the story as is – it seems like a waste to me. But while I question why Madhouse is doing this (money or scheduling crunch being the usual answer) I have to confess it was one of the more entertaining recap eps I’ve seen.

There was some funny stuff here, and I know at least some of it was manga omake material – I recognized the “New Years Money” chapter for sure, because it was one of my favorite omakes (yes, Taichi’s family is loaded). It was also a blast to see everyone’s adorable 12 year-old forms again. I thought the running gag with Taichi in the “Describe your friends with Japanese idioms” game was clever, especially given that “Jack of all trades, master of none” is his self-confessed worst fear about himself. And the bit with Nishida’s sister made me LOL for sure, especially when she revealed her shotacon tendencies and thus, preference for Tsutomu (and Chihaya in last place as the least shota-like team member).

Like the “Animated audio commentary” extras that came with Oreimo, Chihayafuru slyly slipped some revealing character stuff in there too. I love it when a series breaks the fourth wall and uses it as a vehicle to illuminate character – sure it’s a cheat, but so what? I especially loved the second “Idiom” sketch, in which Kana gave Taichi a break with “Easy on the eyes” and Taichi nailed Chihaya perfectly with “Fools rush in”. Confirmed: Tsutomu definitely likes Kana-chan (and I sense there’s some reciprocal feeling there, too) and likes her hard. Well, they all chose her, even Chihaya – but when the second round of “Girl Talk” came around and little-seen classmate Michiru-chan demanded a “serious answer”, even though I knew I was about to be trolled I couldn’t stop myself from leaning forward in my chair, just a little…