Despite being one of the admins for the aniblog tourney I’ve been pretty hands off. Most of the credit for the work goes to Scamp, Mefloraine and Renn. But as someone who also helped kick off the first aniblog tourney, I’ll give you a little insight into the thinking behind the tourney.

The goals of the aniblog tourney:

1. It’s intended to be fun. I think most people are pretty level-headed about this. Winning the tourney doesn’t get you anything. And “best” is subjective anyway.  There’s “winners” and “losers” because you need some level of competition to keep it interesting. But the competition is in a friendly sense. The tourney was meant to be fun not srs biz. And I think for the most part, people have embraced the spirit of it.
2. It’s meant to introduce people to new blogs. The first tourney was rather successful in this regards. Anecdotally, visits and subscribes went up for many blogs. Were they sustained increases? In some cases yes, in some cases no. But the tourney can only do so much. To take a metaphor, the tourney merely leads the readers to the water, it’s up to the individual blogs to get their readers to continue to drink.
3. It’s meant to build a stronger tie within the aniblog community. One of the main criticisms of the tourney was that it’s a “circle jerk” and to some degree it is. But in essence, it’s necessary to engage the community. But the hope was that through the “inside crowd”, the casual reader would stumble onto the tourney and find new blogs. A casual aniblog reader isn’t going to find the aniblog tourney on his own. The jerk must be initiated by one of the participating jerkers. Did we succeed with this? It’s hard to tell for sure. Sadly, WordPress stats are limited and we have no idea how many percent of visitors are new visitors. One of my thoughts for the next tourney is to give it its own URL and host so we can use GA to track those stats better. But roughly, we do know that if the tourney receives 2,500 visits a day, it’ll drive 700-900 links to participating blogs. Based on the typical new/repeat visitor rate, logically, a substantial percentage of these clicks should be from non-circle-jerking, regular readers and not from other participating bloggers.

Admittedly, the tourney isn’t perfect.

• We debated various voting methods. Shorter matches. Longer matches. 4 blog faceoffs with 2 winners. Etc. Ultimately, we went with the method we did because we thought it was the best balance between speed (the tourney is probably already too large and too long-running) and not making people feel bad about losing (although, you can debate whether or not the 4 separate vs. matches are better in that regard vs. doing a 4-blog match with 2 winners and 2 losers.
• We debated qualifications, again trying to find the right balance between being inclusive (and we wanted to include as many new blogs as possible) and not running too long.
• Seeding is always a conundrum. How much should longetivity play in it? Activity? Traffic? Comment counts? Prior performance? I mean, except for the handful of superblogs like Random C, Psgels or Sea Slugs, you could move blogs all over the bracket and be fine with it. However, the concept of playing up seniority and past performance was the idea that if you’ve been around, if you’ve been in the tourney before, then you’re probably fairly well known. The first couple rounds were intended to give smaller, newer blogs their chance in the sun.
• Poll gaming is always a difficult issue. If we make the aniblog tourney self-hosted in the future, we’ll look at non-PollDaddy options. But even IP tracking isn’t foolproof as it’s pretty easy to game via proxy. Honestly though, our best defense is to rely on the voters to play fair. Our options from a technical standpoint are limited.

There are probably other areas where we’ve been deficient and can improve upon. But I think we’ve tried to take what we’ve learned in the first tourney and improved upon it for this version. And based on the feedback we hear and the things we observe, we’ll try to improve upon it in v3.

With all that said, let’s talk about the match up. I’m matched up with Avvesione’s Anime blog, which was a new blog to me. You should vote for Avvesione, because at this stage of our blogging life, he/she is a much more harder-working blogger than I am. Plus, he/she puts a nice spin on the typical episodic style. Basically Avv has taken what I’ve wanted to do with episodics and actually done it consistently and effectively.

It’s not just a slice-of-life any more, it’s literally real life. No, I don’t mean that in a good way.

True in most cases.

To be honest, out of all the shows that are airing this season, I had the highest hopes for Hyouka, because it was one of the few that I didn’t know what the plot would be about. In addition, the trailer poster for Hyouka was simple gorgeous and on top of that, it would be produced by KyoAni. Thus, it seemed to be worthwhile to place all my hopes on this show.

However, that’s all out of the window as of today.

Yes, I salute those who have the energy to watch this show.

No, I’m not actually bashing Hyouka *yet*, but rather, I have to say, the first impressions seemed rather boring. I love the art, I love the characters, and I love the music. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to be engaged with the plot. I’m literally sitting at my desk at 8:00PM PST falling asleep, unable to believe at how…”un-attractive” the plot is. It’s not that I don’t like mystery anime, but rather, this one didn’t have any “dramatic” cases to solve or anything that gave me an incentive to think about what’s happening in the show.

On top of that, the whole first episode made me feel like I was right back at school…even though I just came home from it. In an odd way, it was both amazing that Hyouka could replicate high school to such a detailed degree, but also annoying, because I’m trying to watch this anime to get away from school. Not to feel like I’m right back in it, doing extracurricular activities.

Baby, you're cute, but just being cute doesn't do much for me.

I’m not sure what’s going on with Hyouka because of this lackluster episode. Is it because it literally wants to replicate “average life” in high school? Is it because it wanted to have an excessive amount of potentially irrelevant dialogue to make the show seem sophisticated and scholarly? Is it because  the plot actually sucks?

Who knows, but to be honest,  Hyouka doesn’t seem like a “mystery” show that I would anticipate for every week, and in fact, I’ll most likely turn out to be marathon-ing this show. As much as it disappoints me to say this, but I’m definitely not going to pick up Hyouka until it has finished. Just because this show has jaw-droppingly gorgeous art, doesn’t mean it’ll be an amazing show.

Trippy stuff.

So with my decision to hold-off Hyouka until later, that means I won’t be covering any shows this season. I already turned down potential shows that I would watch (ie Sankarea or Medaka Box), but I already know what will happen, so there’s no point in posting episodics about shows when I know their whole story.

However, I was truly disappointed in Hyouka because I had such high expectations for it. It wasn’t that it was “bad” to the point where I hated the show, it was just a whole lot less dramatic and interesting than I thought it would be.

See y’all next season~

Correction: I don't watch anything I don't have to watch.

Between Fate/Zero’s continuation, Tsuritama, Acchi Kocci, Sankarea and probably Hyouka (once I get around to it) I’ve been pretty pleased by the quality of the summer season. Traditionally not a very strong season. spring season (Thanks Kim. I apparently have no idea what month we’re in >_<). With that said, it’s looking increasingly like I’m probably not going to pick up a show on a weekly basis, and will probably swoop in and write about different shows randomly. Figured it’d be good for a change of pace.

Not a fishing fan? No problem.

What am I doing watching Tsuritama? Is fishing fun? Fishing is boring. I hate fishing. Although it’s not necessarily a bad topic from an anime standpoint, because the actual act of catching the fish is a lot of fun. It’s the 99% of waiting in between that’s boring. But wait, I’m not watching Tsuritama for the fishing. And honestly, Tsuritama is as much about fishing as Full Metal Alchemist was about the ins and outs of alchemy. If you’re cynical, I suppose you could call it Director, Kenji Nakamura’s take on cute boys doing cute things. Except there’s only one cute boy I suppose, and by cute things we actually meant random things like going fishing, getting squirted by mystical water guns and meeting your well-endowed alien sister. Does that not sound appealing enough? Perhaps you’re not convinced.

In search of one missing Kusuriuri

Well then, why am I watching Tsuritama. Well, I’ve referenced Nakamura a couple times already so I might as well provide some background. Kenji Nakamura, director of the Bakeneko Arc in Ayakashi, Mononoke, Kuchuu Buranko, and his most recent work, [C] has been one of the ambitious and interesting directors in the industry. Not everything is a hit, I wasn’t a big fan of Kuchuu Buranko and while I really liked [C] it had it’s up and down moments. But his design sense is very unique. And unlike another director with unique style like Shinbou, Nakamura’s style varies drastically from show to show, both visually as well as how he tells the story. So with that in mind, I decided I’d give Tsuritama a shot, even with my lack of interest in fishing (funny how I don’t give other sports animes a chance… although I do want to watch Hajime no Ippo, but that’s an aside).

Bullying reaches another level

So what makes Tsuritama worth watching? Well, it’s got the quirkiness I expected, but at the same time, the show’s humor is pretty accessible. It’s not a show that’s going to draw a love/hate response like Kuchuu Buranko was. If you’re generally a fan of laid back, slice of life-like shows that focus on personal growth then you’ll probably enjoy Tsuritama. But for those who prefer a little extra “something something” in their anime and hate predictability, there should also be plenty of interesting subplots to follow. Are Haru and Coco aliens? What’s up with Haru’s magical water gun? Why the duck?

Mark Tsuritama down as one of the more intriguing shows for the summer.

Watch Tsuritama on Crunchyroll!

That is, if you were to describe “nostalgia” as the year 2007 and the show, Lucky Star.

It’s hard for me to explain exactly why Acchi Kocchi gives me Lucky Star vibes. It’s certainly not the first 4-koma mimicking the laid-back, Seinfeldian observations of life humor that Lucky Star seemed to do so well. And it’s not just because nekomimi Tsumiki looks like a bizarro version of Konata, nor because Hime is basically Tsukasa’s spiritual twin sister (with Tsukasa’s seiyuu Kaori Fukuhara reprising her role to boot). I mean if you just look at the casting of the show – the fact that there’s non-Shiraishi guys playing significant roles, and the everpresent romantic subplot between Tsumiki and Io would seem to make Acchi Kocchi an unlikely comparison to Lucky Star. Yet, two episodes in, each episode has felt like I’ve transported myself back a couple years to watch a Lucky Star spin-off. I think the biggest reason is that both Acchi Kocchi and Lucky Star have a unique way of setting up their jokes in that, they lead into it, the joke happens, and then a character will comment on it nonchalantly, as if it were a normal part of the universe.

I’m not a huge fan of Tsumiki, but being that Tsukasa was my favorite Lucky Star character, I’m thrilled to have Tsukasa 2 reborn. Actually, Hime reminds me of a mix between Tsukasa and a grown up version of Hanamaru Kindergarten’s Koume. They look basically the same too. I’m also thrilled to hear Kaori Fukuhara do more roles – loved her as Tsukasa and as Astrea in Sora no Otoshimono. She needs more roles. It’s also nice to hear Nobuhiko Okamoto be subdued. He has a unique voice, but he’s been typecasted into the screaming, whiny shounen lead a bit too often recently.

I used to love 4-koma/slice of lifes, but have been bored by them recently. Acchi Kocchi is the first one in a long while I find myself interested in, definitely worth a watch.

Oh man, Fate/Zero is back and the first episode just reinforced everything I love about the show – it’s big, it’s beautiful and off the charts charismatic.

Unlimited Tentacle Works

I suppose if I were to nitpick, I’m a little disappointed that Caster didn’t have a better imagination and instead gave us a standard (although huge!) tentacle monster. I’m looking forward to seeing his Noble Phantasm of COOL. The one thing I’m having a hard time gauging is Saber’s power level – we’ve seen so little from her, especially compared to Gilgamesh, who seems to be at a completely different level.

I'm on a ship

Speaking of Gilgamesh. HOLY MONKEYBALLS. Excuse my inner fanboy, but the airplane chase scene between Gilgamesh and Berserker was both incredibly random and impossibly awesome. One of the things that raises Fate/Zero beyond typical fare is the choreography and direction of some of the action scenes – it’s cinema level, it’s like sitting back and watching something from a stylish, bombastic summer action flick. Hopefully they’ll keep the action up and the long stretches of exposition down this season.

How a picture can make a great scene

Loved the ED, and I really liked learning more about Kiritsugu and Irisviel through the screens. I hope they do this for all the masters, because I have to admit I still have a hard time telling the masters apart.

*Crying, flipping desks, bawling eyes out*

I often hear that when people cry, they look ugly. Ichika, you defy all logic, you gorgeous creature.

As you may all know, Ano Natsu has been receiving fairly mixed reviews. While I can obviously point out some bad parts, but in general, I do believe that the good aspects of the show heavily outweigh the negatives.

However, before I can delve into my review, I’ll give you guys the usual episodic summary first.

Beginning from where the penultimate episode left off, the finale begins with the group getting saved from the car crash thanks to Rinnon deploying himself as a gigantic airbag. Then,while Ichika and Kaito run off, Remon takes the initiative to fight off the “I Lost Track of Which Number This is” rescue bot that they had hit.

Badass, she is.

As they escape through the forest to get to a local train station, Ichika and Kaito encounter yet another rescue bot and while all seems doomed, Emika somehow sent a robot from her ship (in space) to aid Ichika & Co. which arrives just in time to disable the rescue bot. However, not before long, the robot gets up, but this time, Rinnon decides to pilot Emika’s robot, thus fending off another rescue b0t.

Thanks to Rinnon, Ichika and Kaito are able to board the train to get to their destination. On the way there, they have the “lovers-chitchat”, which albeit very adorable, it seemed somewhat unnecessary (actually, later on, it just made sentiments even harsher, so it was of purpose).

Never have I "HNNNG"-ed so much from a train scene.

Just before the cute couple arrive at their destination, the show goes back to cover what is going on with the rest of the friends. Remon, whose robot seems to have failed and has been teared to shreds, is suddenly saved by a barrage of rockets, which is shown to be fired from a group of…dun dun dun dun…MIB!

On the Tetsuro X Mio front, their motorcycle just seems to run out of gas, but luckily, they’re saved by “Satoshi” and his group of MIB. Yes, that Satoshi, as in Tetsuro’s brother-in-law. Also, on Kanna’s end of things, she runs into Manami, who seems to have been ordered by Satoshi to a certain location, which is none other than a rendezvous to Kanna (which, of course, both are unaware of).

Where's the obligatory Agent Jay and Kay?

So with the group safe and sound, Ichika and Kaito arrives at the destination, just in time. Once they arrive, a strange glowing-diamond floats out of the water and it “links up” with Ichika’s mind. At first, Ichika wonders why Kaito is in her mind too, but then the explanation is because “she gave him her cells to save him from dying”. During their “vision”, they seemingly travel back in time, and notice that the tree behind them had some carving in Ichika’s native language, but as they come back to real-time, that “tree”, is nothing but a rotted stump.

Total bummer.

So with that, and a lack of evidence of previous alien-human relation, the rescue bot(s) appear out of nowhere,  jump on the couple and seize Ichika to take her home.

How does it feel, getting restraint by a gigantic egg?

Obviously, before Ichika gets taken away, the lovers exchange their “OH I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER”-esque lines. Okay, okay I made it sound really lame and unromantic, but this scene, in actuality, totally made me cry, especially since it just hit me on how heavy the vows they exchanged on the train were.

So while Ichika is being deported, some sort of “genetic information lock” is…well…”un-locked”, and they learn about the previous alien-human encounter, and they all find out that the conditions were almost exactly the same as Kaito X Ichika.

He does, and it's in Andromeda, the galaxy that's right next to us. I think FedEx might work.

After the letdown, the time skips to a couple of weeks later, when summer break has ended.

At school, we can see Kaito has turned back into what he was like at the start of the series, calm & collected. When Kaito returns home after school, Kaito finds out his sister has returned from Bolivia. From there, his sister picked up a Bolivian native garment for Ichika, only to learn that she has “left”.

The next day, Kaito & Co. learns that Remon is about to transfer “away”, but before Remon leaves, she hands Kaito the tape discs of their film that they “almost completed”. The group is about to inquire more from Remon, but before they know it, she disappears.

You don't say.

That same afternoon, the group heads over to Kaito’s house to watch the film…and lots of crying ensues. I certainly cried, so shouldn’t you? Anyways, the “incomplete movie” contains scenes of the “actual film”, Kaito’s awkward first confession, the Kaito X Kanna date, and more Ichika X Kaito dokidoki moments.

After that sentimental scene, Ano Natsu seems to skip forward to a bit later, when Kaito & Co. have already graduated. During a school event, the “movie club” is showing the “movie” that was left behind by the previous movie club (no doubt, Kaito & Co.)…and when the camera zooms into the film, it shows Ichika wearing the native garment that Kaito’s sister brought back from Bolivia and saying that her ship crashed again. Thus, it shows that Ichika has finally returned to Earth, became reunited with Kaito & Co, and they finally completed their movie after all.

medetashi, medetashi

This made my season.

Final Impressions

Wow, nothing short of wow. Anyways, same deal as with always, going to divide this up into sections and ratings out of 10.

Plot:

My god. I would like to say this is a great story, but that would be just an understatement. As much as I know there are a lot of people who thought this show was not good, and vice versa, I have to simply say I’m in love with this show. No, I’m not joining the bandwagon of Ano Natsu fans, but I have my own legitimate reasons. As for the plot, it was unbelievably real, especially to me. In some events, this was remarkably similar to something I had previously experienced, albeit she was not a crash-landed alien. Other than the ultimate love-story plot, Ano Natsu had surprised me at multiple times such as Satoshi being in the MIB, Remon not being of Kaito’s generation, and Tetsuro’s feelings for Kanna etc. With that, it kept the show very interesting to watch with all the necessary plot twists and what not. Certainly a show I’d recommend to other people for its story. Solid, and a well-deserved 9/10.

Mafia boss? No, just MIB.

Characters:

To start off, I was fairly amazed at the character progression. Each character improved themselves over the series, and for example: Kaito being able to speak about his feelings, Tetsuro having the guts to get things off his chest, Mio being more open and talkative, Kanna being more supportive of Ichika, and Ichika becoming more aware of other’s feelings. While it’s not a lot, but it’s quite a noticeable growth, so definitely kudos to the writer. Also, as I said before, several plot twists were caused by such said developments, thus, the character development was directly proportional to the show’s course and making the growth seem relevant. In addition, some of the character growths were completely unexpected, such as Mio being much more aggressive towards Tetsuro and Ichika X Kaito developing into the cutest couple ever. While it wasn’t totally “SPECTACULAR” with the character developments, it was certainly worth noting. I would give it a higher mark, but due to some minor development issues (just some small details that I didn’t like), I’m going to give it a 8.5/10.

You know that doesn't work...what are you, 8?

Music:

The OP/ED were just damn solid. The tunes from both songs somehow just gave me a “spacey” vibe, while sounding just purely decadent. As for the BGM, I don’t really recall hearing any notable parts, so that’s something detracting from the perfect OP/ED. As for the animations, they were fairly well done, and especially the OP. The way they made the OP was just simply wonderful, something akin to watching an “old film”. While the ED wasn’t as cool as the OP, it still had some good animations, and it accompanied the music perfectly: light, soft, and soothing. If it weren’t for the dearth of awesome BGM, this would’ve scored perfect in this category. Sadly, just a 8/10; not a mark I’d like to give, especially considering how much I loved the OP/ED songs.

A cute dokidoki screencap to the end the series :3

Conclusion:

Without a doubt, Ano Natsu de Matteru will be near the top of my lists. Though I didn’t give it a full “10/10″ in the categories, it’s certainly a personal favourite that I can treasure, especially since it hits real close to home with all the scenes. To be honest, I think I find Ano Natsu’s plot to be one of the best ones I’ve watched in a long time. Anyways, Ano Natsu is definitely a show I’d recommend to any of my friends (including those who don’t watch anime), because the love story is so real that I doubt any self-conscious teenager would fail to recognize. Undeniably one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while.

I have a love & hate relationship with this show. I want to watch it, yet I can’t bear to watch it. It’s not that it’s bad or anything, but the romance in it just seems so remarkably real in comparison to some high school romances I know/experienced. Because of that, it’s a pain to watch because it invokes sentiments, but, I still believe the show is good enough to warrant me to watch it.

Did y'all miss me?

Before I go on to the post, I must apologize for being extremely flaky for the past 2 seasons, but life events, you must understand. Anyways, I won’t delve too much into a lengthy apology, but I’d just like to get that off my chest.

So as I was saying, Ano Natsu is a show that I love, yet it hurts me so much to watch it. While the romance scenes are considered somewhat “cheesy” in my opinion, but that’s what recent “real” high school romance is like. Forget all that “popular girl dates hot jock” sort of thing you can see in North American high schools, because this is what a true high school romance is like in Asia.

Because of the detail to realism, Ano Natsu sparks quite a few sentiments in me, so whenever a certain scene gets ridiculously similar to an event that has happened in my life, I bawl my eyes out. Yes, I cry, because men who actually love their women, cry.

Textbook sibling introduction. Emika's face is priceless.

Anyways, in this week’s episode, we start exactly at where episode 10 drops off, when Takatsuki Emika shows up. It appears that Emika is here to “pick up” Ichika because she is, instead of being just reported as “shipwrecked”, but rather “missing”. Upon Emika’s arrival, she lectures Ichika, and only to find out she has a boyfriend, Kaito…which causes her to go nuts.

After things settle a bit, the siblings and Kaito go back into the house and decide to talk this over some tea. Despite trying to come to a different solution to “SHIP ICHIKA BACK”, Emika insists that there is no other solution. Apparently there seems to be quite a lot of stiff “Universal” laws that prevent Ichika’s species from making contact with species like ours, so Ichika is in a great deal of trouble.

In the middle of the chat, Ichika decides to “jump” to another location, just to avoid further talking with her sister. Luckily, she runs into Kanna, and they chat about the current situation. During their conversation, Kanna basically talks Ichika down about how “weak” Ichika is and how Ichika shouldn’t just give up on Kaito like that if she really loved him so much. Meanwhile, Kaito and Emika decide to go to another location to chat, where Kaito proposes to tag along into space, but that’s obviously not allowed as well.

In alienspeak, that means: "Get the f*** away from my sister".

So after all that family drama, as Kaito and Ichika walk home (from different locations), Remon confronts Emika for a “certain reason”  and while that goes on, Kanna reports back to Mio and Tetsuro about the events that just happened. Not wanting to waste any precious time, they rush to Kaito’s house.

At Kaito’s house, Ichika, wanting to give up on Kaito, tries to “teleport” via Rinnon, but somehow she can’t.

As cliché as this sounds, Tetsuro, Mio, and Kanna show up in time to disable Rinnon from allowing Ichika to “jump”. After that, all the members of the “movie” declare just how much they want Ichika to stay behind and how they’re all willing to help her stay.

No cute extraterrestrial pets were harmed in the making of this scene.

…And since this is an anime, or more less, something that plays upon real-life romance, the female subject bursts into tears and looks like the most precious thing in the world.

Don't you just want to hug her and tell her that she means the world to you?

Again, after all the drama, Remon shows up with good news and tells everyone that there is a way to save Ichika from going back.

With a plan that seems to have sparked from Remon and Emika’s conversation, if Ichika manages to locate the “genetically” imprinted “place”, then they could prove that Earth is not a planet that’s classified to be forbidden to make any contact with. Thus,  the group asks Ichika to jump them to a local “resource office”, and from there, Tetsuro and Kaito bring back several maps and documents.

After many hours of toiling to find a “unreported” location on the map, the group is finally able to locate it. However, their celebration is cut short as Emika sends a static-y transmission saying that the League is coming to forcibly take Ichika back and that they don’t have much more time.

Trying to jump to the location on the map, Ichika finds out that the League has jammed any form of “jump” technology to be used. With all hopes seemingly to be lost, Remon shows up in time with a minivan and the group set off to the location.

If a girl says this to you, marry her, and do ALL the dishes.

On the way, Remon reveals that she also received some alien technology from Emika, which should aid in delaying their pursuers before they get to the location. Among the items, there are 3 cubes that “mimic” the biological signature of Ichika, and a signature jamming blanket, which should dampen Ichika’s presence from the pursuing “Rescue Bots”.

On the way, the first Rescue Bot appears, and Tetsuro & Mio offer to distract the Rescue Bot by deploying in a Vespa (that somehow seemed to be on the minivan) and taking one of the signature cubes. After Tetsuro & Mio leaves the minivan on the Vespa, the Rescue Bot decides to go after them, and before long, a second Rescue Bot appears to block off the duo. Trying to evade the second bot, the duo veer off course and goes through a bunch of trees, before somehow landing safely on a lower road. While crashing through the trees, Tetsuro proposes a date to Mio, who promptly agrees. *NEW COUPLE!*

Despite the “new” couple distracting 2 of the Rescue Bots, a third one appears, and this time, Kanna volunteers to take the 2nd cube as a distraction.

It's okay to be a tsundere, but I don't think this is best of times...

Not before long after Kanna leaves, a fourth Rescue Bot appears, but this time, they’re saved by a huge mechanical arm on top of the minivan (I really would like to say “DA FUQ” at this moment, but it’s Remon’s van, what can you expect?). After the fourth encounter, Remon gives Kaito his camera back and tells him to start filming as this is the “climax” of the film.

Understanding Remon, Kaito starts to film, but suddenly, the minivan hits an invisible fifth Resecue Bot on the road and crashes.

She's definitely a better driver than me. And I thought I was good.

At this point in the anime, there’s nothing for me to say other than “wow, what did I just watch”, in a positive way. That last 5-6 minutes of Ano Natsu 11 was probably one of the best scenes I’ve seen in recent anime. Maybe it’s just my weird Sanjigen tastes, but it really stood out and shone to me.

Since this anime has taken so many odd curves here and there (though some were quite predictable), I can’t say for sure what will happen in the finale. After all, Remon still has that last signature cube, and because the show is produced by J.C. Staff, this means the ending will probably be something that can appease fans.

Don’t worry, I’ll be here on Monday night with a detailed review and what not.

Can’t wait to see the finale!!!

Nisemonogatari’s heartwarming (not terribly so) family ties season comes to an end.

The picture speaks for itself

Araragi’s Mawarai Penguindrum aside, I was glad to see Tsukihi recover so quickly. Power of the phoenix indeed.

Posed, but not poised

Gruesome battle scene with Araragi aside, it was a fairly predictable end to the show. I never really doubted that Tsukihi would be fine in the end, especially so when Kagenui described Tsukihi’s situation as ultimately being harmless. I talked earlier in the season about how NIsemonogatari lacked stakes, and again this arc is a reiteration. If Tsukihi’s situation is harmless, then of course we know she’ll be fine. The fights become just for show. If she was a ticking time bomb, then there’s some stakes behind the battles.

Loli Shinobu > Teenager Shinobu

All in all, Nisemonogatari was an acceptable sequel to Bakemonogatari. Showy without much substance. But much like Shinobu, I prefer the prior loli version.

Shinobu is so cute. Tsukihi is so cute. That is all…

Such a pragmatic little sister

Ok, maybe not. Nisemonogatari could’ve slowly slinked off with the softcore porn and gratuitious wincest and lolicon and well… even though I’ve complained about it most of the season, I guess I would’ve been ok with it. And then the show decided to throw a pretty big twist at us. The two curious characters we met last week – exorcists – not for exorcising the two semi-vampires, but Tsukihi who is or isn’t Araragi’s real sister.

Shinobu has the best faces

Brutal and graphic. Just like how I like my violence.

There was more intensity packed in the three minutes where demented Ranka obliterates Tsukihi and Araragi erupts in a vampiric murderous rage than we’ve seen all year. Part of the shock/wow factor comes the vast difference in dynamic. It’s like if you’d been walking a marathon for the first 25 miles, and then strapped on a jetpack for the last mile. I wasn’t sure how the scene would develop, but I certainly didn’t expect to see Tsukihi so explicitly and violently dismembered. Again, great use of colors and design in that scene.

Heroes in the white light?

It’s a shame Kagenui and Demented Ranka showed up so late in the game. Are they good guys in the traditional sense, in that they’re removing an evil presence? Maybe? If Tsukihi is like a parasite, it would be good to remove her. But what if she’s a beneficial parasite, is there any harm in allowing her to stay? And what about the risk of future costs? Kagenui and Demented Ranka raise good questions, but it’s so late in the game, I doubt we’re going to get to enjoy mulling them much or get a good answer to them.

Watch the latest episode of Nisemonogatari on Crunchyroll.

I’m not even sure you can consider the introduction of a couple of mysterious characters who may or may not have some connection with Oshino a major breakthrough for the plot, because with only two episodes left, I’m very skeptical about how big a role Kagenui and Ononoki will have.

May serenade the galaxy with emo breakup songs

I am declaring an early Ononoki Fascination movement. If you’re not impressed by the fact that she’s managed to escape Araragi’s harem clutches three minutes after meeting him, then perhaps you should be enthralled by how she looks like a demented version of Macross Frontier’s Ranka. I’m looking forward to Ononoki’s OP, which no doubt will include carrots.

I still remain on the lookout for Tsukihi, who has had about 30 seconds of screentime in her namesake arc. What a travesty.

Hnnnngghhh?

Also. Hachikuji is too much cuteness and mature conversations. That is all.

Watch the latest episode of Nisemonogatari on Crunchyroll.