An episode of talking, talking and more talking by people we barely know or care about.

I guess Pixis’ speech was supposed to be inspirational. Like last week’s speech by Armin, the creators did their best to make it as epic as possible. Shouting from the top of a giant wall, facial closeups, bulging eyes, et. cetera et. cetera. But while Armin’s speech worked, Pixis’ falls flat. It’s a combination of the facts that a) the content of his speech is pretty standard, go fight or we’re all screwed military talk, and b) we just don’t know Pixis well enough at this point.

Pixis is supposed to be some badass crazy man, but so far all we’ve seen him do is talk and be less crazy than his men in not wanting to execute people all the time. The creators seem to want to imply that he’s some half-insane, crazy badass. But what have we seen him do to support this thus far? Absolutely nothing. Unless you want to include smoozing and boozing with some dumb merchant and leaving when the Titans showed up. Not exactly the most compelling testimony to his badassery.

The second speech, made by the random grey haired assistant to the previous episode’s crazy guy, is even worse. No pressure, dude. But if you screw up it’s your fault that everyone will die. Even though we ordered you to do this despite the fact that we know you have no idea if you can or not.

Eren’s reactions are the most annoying part of the episode though. “I must become a symbol of hope for everyone!” *Barf* What made the initial episodes of Shingeki no Kyojin so unique were the dark setting and the fact that there are no heroes. I sincerely hope the show doesn’t converge to a more typical shounen show. It reminds me of the Berserk manga at this point. It was awesome at first, with Guts killing / getting killed by disgusting monsters all the time. Then suddenly the main character is a cute little girl and Guts becomes a lolicon.

War, War, What is it Good For

We’ve seen this idea in anime before, *cough cough* Code Geass *cough cough* plus what I thought was many other shows that I can’t seem to recall at the moment.

Shingeki no Kyojin takes this idea to its logical conclusion. A war to end war never works. Even Eren can see that.

Can’t wait until we get to see Suzuno’s weapon in action.

Well, this wasn’t the best episode of Hataraku Maou-sama by any means. It’s getting a tad wrapped up in the seriousness of its story for my taste. I imagine we could have wrapped up Suzuno’s internal conflict in half the time without any loss, and had more time to focus on the jokes, which is what matters in a show like this.

It’s unfortunately quite common for good comedies to fall apart in the end by attempting to integrate some serious plot line with serious feelings. It pretty much never works. Hataraku Maou-sama does better with this than many shows, but still, it feels like a lot of wasted potential having to sit through this philosophical discussion of whether to kill Maou for much of the episode.

The only way the serious storyline can work is if they keep up the humor. To an extent they did, for example with the punchline of Chiho’s speech. But that doesn’t change the fact that most of this scene was simply tedious.

Further Thoughts

They did one thing right with the serious plot, in making the villains hilariously evil.

Nice plot device. Makes more sense than the usual “just happened to run into each other.”

Poor Ashiya, he’s still out with constipation. Hilarious, but preventing me from shipping him with Emi’s friend from work.

Yes, Valvrave has a rape scene. Yes, I still think Valvrave is the best thing ever. I guess I’m a terrible person.

The Rape Scene Controversy

Some background: many people on Twitter were very angry about the existence of Valvrave’s rape scene.

I don’t understand this idea that shows aren’t allowed to include rape scenes if they aren’t “handled well.” I’m not even sure what that means. It’s not as if Valvrave portrayed the rape in any sort of positive light. It made it come across as a terrible thing, in fact. Is it a necessity that every show involving rape provide some nuanced social commentary?

Another objection I heard is that rape is just being used for shock value. That’s true, probably. But so? This is a TV show, not a newspaper article. Shows use murder for shock value all the time and no one bats an eyebrow. Remember Chambers crushing babies with his bare hands the other day?  Are we supposed to boycott Binbougami ga because it uses poverty for shock value and makes fun of the poor? Because that would actually make way more sense to me. Why is rape unique in that it’s not allowed to be used for shock value?

It was suggested that the issue is that some people are especially sensitive to rape. Which is, of course, completely understandable. But should media never include things that offend people? That seems a bit extreme, and I don’t think anyone who objects to Valvrave’s rape scene would actually argue this. So my question is, what makes rape special? Why is rape unique in that it should never be included for shock value unless it is handled properly? Honest question here, I’m having trouble understanding all the flack Valvrave is getting.

As a (mostly irrelevant) aside, I personally found Maoyuu Yuusha’s treatment of race, religion, poverty and colonialism much more offensive than Valvrave’s rape scene. But that doesn’t mean it should never have been made: in fact, I find it quite edifying to better understand other peoples’ perspectives, as horrifying as they may be. Same thing with the many extremely nationalistic anime, such as Gunbuster, Gigantic Formula, Gasaraki, etc. I got a lot out of watching those since I hadn’t realized people actually still thought that way in this day and age. In short, I think it’s actually beneficial to be exposed to things we find offensive, if just so we can realize that not everyone agrees with us and that these arguments are actually important and have people on the other side. And I’m an adult, it’s not like I’m going to suddenly become a xenophobic Japanese nationalist by watching cartoons. But none of this discussion is all that relevant to Valvrave, since Valvrave makes the rape come across as a terrible thing anyway.

The Actual Scene

OK, away from the controversy surrounding the episode and onto the episode itself. The transitions between the rape scene and Shouko’s speech were an excellent idea.

Dream big! Do what you want! (Haruko rips Saki’s clothes off.)

Let’s find new things to do! (Haruto finds a new thing to do.)

The contrast here makes the two scenes all the more disturbing. Is it really a good idea to do what you want? Probably not. Is Haruto even doing what he wants? Nope.

Haruto was actually violated as well. I guess the true rapist is Valvrave? I’m kind of disappointed now that L-Elf knocked Haruto out when he lost control in the cockpit earlier.

Valvrave Logic

I still see lots of people complaining that Valvrave makes no sense and trying to point out logical errors in the story. That’s kind of missing the point…

Valvrave is a parody. The holes in the story are the same holes shared by every other mecha show but presented in such a way that it’s obvious how ridiculous it all is.

For example, consider the scene with Shouko at the temple. “She was fighting… fighting all alone.” This one’s not really specific to the mecha genre. I mean come on, pretty much every anime has this scene at some point. And it’s always completely obvious that said character was suffering all alone. And then the person talking decides to become a hero and the whole situation is magically resolved.

Valvrave takes this exact same formula, in that Valvrave a) conveniently ignores the fact Shouko’s father is probably dead for ten episodes, b) makes Haruto assume that Shouko was not aware of something regarding her father that was all over the news, c) makes it completely obvious that everyone in the school is an idiot for not having realized that Shouko may have been worried about her father, and d) resolves the situation in such an idiotic way by having Haruto promise to search for him immediately. Of course none of this makes a whiff of sense. That’s the point! It never made a whiff of sense any of the other hundreds of times we’ve seen this scene in other shows either!

Same idea with everyone’s reaction to losing their humanity. Haruto takes the typical protagonist’s route: Woe is me! No one in all of human history has ever suffered as much as I have! I must bear my pain and sorrow alone forever!

Then Valvrave has fun with this dumb reaction by allowing the subsequent pilots to have other, more believable reactions which are hilarious only in comparison to the idiocy we’re used to from our mecha shows. Saki had a glorious reaction: “Sounds good! I hate humans anyway, and now at least I’ll get to become special! It’s all okay!” Now the new guy, first of all, doesn’t even read what’s going to happen, and then just thinks it’s badass. Way more believable reaction than Haruto’s angsting over what it means to be human.

Further Thoughts

She helps out clubs, cheers at games and brings people snacks. Definitely qualified to be prime minister. Also, why does it matter whether Shouko’s dad is dead? I thought they declared independence earlier… doesn’t that mean he was no longer the prime minister anyway? Not to imply that I give a crap about whether this show makes any logical sense, of course.

These lines… Not the first thing I would do on the moon.

So much to do when we get to the moon…!

Some subtle foreshadowing here.

Ahahaha once again, like every anime ever made, except normally Haruto would beg her to kill him. Here instead Saki volunteers to kill him, with pleasure!

And once again, a line that crops up in so many anime. Except it’s even more hilarious since Haruto hadn’t even asked her to kill him but is delighted when she volunteers.

Already this is becoming a stratified society where not everyone has equal rights. Regardless though, L-Elf is the last person I would trust with the ballot box.

Can you guys imagine how glorious it would be if L-Elf and this girl teamed up? They’d be completely unstoppable. I’m shipping this. Assuming it doesn’t work out with Haruto, of course.

UPDATE: Crap, I somehow managed to leave out the best line of the episode! Saki, telling Haruto that it won’t work out between him and Shouko:

Ahahahaha what good lord Valvrave. > 666 / 100

It’s not Urobuchi Gen unless we have the blood of genocide on our hands (literally).

I had a hard time buying Ledo’s remorse in these episodes. Now he’s crying about killing squid fetuses because they evolved from humans? Didn’t he, you know, massacre actual humans a few weeks ago and not give a crap? This makes it hard for me to buy his sudden conversion to a peacenik hippie and lover of all creatures with human DNA.

I’m glad that Chambers gave him a good talking to. Ledo, listen to the robot, he’s way smarter than you are. The fact that the Hideauze evolved from humans changes absolutely nothing. It’s wrong to kill the intelligent, peaceful squid babies whether they are humans or aliens. It’s arguably less wrong to kill the intelligent, belligerent space squids who are trying to murder you whether they are humans or aliens.

This whole idea of the squids being “human” is especially interesting considering how inhuman both spacefaring groups have become. The Hideauze are inhuman for the obvious reasons. But Ledo’s society is also dehumanizing. They are bred to be soldiers from birth, and have no other purpose in their lives.

As Chambers says, it’s a conflict between two different survival strategies (seizon senryaku!). One turns people into replaceable parts in the machine called civilization. The other (at least from what Chamber has said) removes the limits of the human body and hence eliminates the need for civilization and other people entirely. It seems like the conclusion we’re heading for is that the middle way is the best way, represented by the Gargantians’ way of life.

Of course, this is Urobuchi Gen, and Pinion is currently busy trying to recreate the end of the world, so I’m fairly confident that everybody’s screwed regardless. Yay!

I’ve been hating on this show lately (gotten a bit bored) but episode 10 was great. Finally Takao is being honest with himself. He’s even admitted he doesn’t understand Baudelaire.

He’s realized he’s a piece of shit, now he just needs to realize that that doesn’t make him completely worthless and that people will love him despite it (such as his mother and Saeki). Then he’ll be well on his way to growing up.

Let’s hope he manages to put this whole idea of “ordinary” people out of his mind while he’s at it. I’ve never met an ordinary person before. Pretty sure they don’t exist.

Further Thoughts

Pretty sure Saeki is the biggest freak of the three of them.

Ahahahaha teenagers.

Yeah, she’s clinging to this naked guy, definitely weird. Great scene though.

Is it just me or does Saeki’s dad look exactly like Takao?

As in seemingly every anime ever made (particularly of the shounen variety), the characters in Shingeki no Kyojin this week confronted two questions of utmost importance: 1) should Eren ditch his friends and go it alone, and 2) is Armin completely useless. The answers are 1) no and 2) no. Big surprise. Hopefully we’ve worked all this out of our system now and we get back to kicking giant ass with pneumatic grappling hooks next week.

Despite the inanity of the questions this week’s episode asks, the delivery continues to be superb. The scene where Armin tries to convince the commander not to kill them was intense, especially the way Armin’s voice acting and the animation came together during his impassioned speech.

Armin realizes the commander has stopped thinking entirely (couldn’t help myself from cracking up at that line), turns around, and sees Mikasa and Eren who haven’t realized anything is wrong and remain fully confident in his ability to get them out of the deathtrap they’re stuck in. Some great drama here.

In response, Armin tosses logic out the window and makes a desperate emotional appeal, complete with a salute. They’re pulling out every tool in their toolbox here to build up the tension for the one final moment when the commander’s hand falls to signal the cannon. This show takes all the time it needs to build up the excitement for that one moment. Most of the episode, in fact. It’s similar to Hellsing Ultimate in that regard. The downside is that the story doesn’t move very quickly: however, the parts that we do experience have a much bigger impact as a consequence.

After building up all this energy for the execution, Pixis stops the fall of the commander’s arm in a giant anti-climax. Which of course only makes me look forward to the next climax all the more.

Further Thoughts

This guy’s pretty amusing. Looking forward to seeing his interactions with potato girl.

More like he hasn’t stopped thinking entirely like everyone else…

Am I the only one who found this eyecatch regarding yeast rather suspicious? It seems strange that some yeast should only be found within the center wall, and that it has such miraculous properties. I wonder if this is somehow related to the nature of the titans and the walls, or if it is just a red herring.

More gorgeous Makoto Shinkai cloud porn.

GuardianEnzo explained my fascination with Makoto Shinkai perfectly in his own post, so let me quote him:

Like so many great artists, what I think really sets Shinkai apart is his vision. What do I mean by that?  Quite literally, as with someone like Monet, the true genius is in how he sees the world.  Shinkai somehow has an innate ability to look at a place or object and see the essence of what makes that thing unique, special and beautiful…

That’s the same feeling I get out of Shinkai’s films. Some people go searching for beauty, traveling to exotic locales halfway around the world. But beauty isn’t in how something is; it’s in how you see it. Shinkai sees how beautiful the mundane, ordinary things of this world are: clouds, rain, shadows, trains, and the strangers you walk past every day. Shinkai’s films help the viewer realize this.

The Garden of Words is a love story between a student and an older woman, and shares a similar bittersweet feel to his other works but in a more concise form. It’s beautiful.

My only complaint, and the reason that I gave it an A- rather than a solid A, is that the film tried to go out with a bang when it really ought to have gone out with a whimper. The two lovers embrace and this pumped up, cheerful music starts playing. It’s a happy moment, for sure. But not much has changed. All their problems are still on the table. The music did not match the moment, and that was the final thought the film left me with.

But still, a beautiful film. Highly recommended.

• Storytelling – A - Despite the age gap, managed to convincingly sell their relationship.
• Voice – A - Clouds, rain, Shinkai’s unique feel.
• Characters – A - Poured more into these two characters in 45 minutes than most shows manage to do in 26 episodes.
• Attention Grab – A - Perfect length to match the story.
• Production – A+ - It’s Makoto Shinkai.
• Overall – A-

Recommendations – The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Hotarubi no Mori e

This week we move onto the traditional themes of accepting the importance of your own happiness, getting mad when other people decide to help you fight, and pink naked space ghosts. All of these are necessary in any mecha anime, so it’s no surprise they’re making an appearance in Valvrave.

Valvrave’s unique twist on it is that the guy gets rejected by the dead girl. A bit different from Setsuna F. Seiei’s girlfriend who waited for him until she was eighty something to make love to his hot metal body.

We get two new robots. The coolest is the gangster guy’s:

Yeah that pretty much sums up why Valvrave is awesome right there. He rips the thing in half with his bare hands, then blasts it to pieces with lasers. Pretty sweet. And then when it seems like things can’t get any better, it turns out the new mecha actually has eight arms.

Oh wait, I stand corrected. She says this just when I was about to rewind to count, too! This show…

Further Thoughts

I crack up way more than I should while watching this.

Seriously… traditional jelly bar ration things… these people are geniuses.

Excellent translations for this guy’s lines.

Oh crap she’s hungry! Hungry for BLOOD!

Ahahhaha this guy is great. I love how no one gives a single shit about giving up their humanity except Haruto who has a martyr complex almost to the level of Setsuna F. Seiei over the whole thing.

> 666 / 100, as usual. Can’t wait till next week!

Well okay. Pretty epic music and 3D effects for… this. It would be fine if they were building up for some big joke, but they just had Maou tame the crocodiles and proceeded to ignore them completely. All for the sake of convincing Suzuno that Maou isn’t completely evil.

And anyway, I thought we’d been through all these self-doubts over Maou’s wickedness before with Emi. Is there really a need to go through it all again?

The whole episode suffered from difficulties with disjointedness. We’re at home for a bit, we find a monkey, crocodiles escape from the zoo, we see a haunted house… but the chain of events felt like it was tied together simply for the sake of plot convenience. We get a few laughs out of each event and then move on as if it never happened.

The episode did have some funny moments (such as everyone talking with their mouths full while eating nearly-expired noodles) but these moments were few and far between, especially compared to earlier episodes. I guess that is to be expected when this is the swimsuit episode which is largely an excuse to display Chiho’s enormous chest.

But yeah, I’m sorry, that’s just disgusting. Please cover those up in public. Thank you.

The one thing this episode did get right was Emi’s faces. Her pissed face, deadpan look and smirk are all hilarious.

Some more details from Jenna:

The Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG is a guidebook to finding magic and wonder in your everyday life. It’s designed for telling charming little fantasy stories with, heart-lifting and soul-cheering stories, things to leave you with a smile; as well, of course, as a couple of doses of laughter, adventure, and fun.

I’m hoping that this game, in forum and tabletop play, can help gaming groups tell stories like those you see in Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Tutu, Princess Mononoke, and Revolutionary Girl Utena—stories of personal growth and the wondrous qualities both people and the world set against a haunting or eccentric backdrop. (I suspect it’ll also be good for projects you’ve covered like Valvrave, From the New World, and Mawaru Penguindrum but I haven’t fully tested that out even in my head.)

Support the kickstarter if you’re interested! I’m a backer (although I know absolutely nothing about tabletop RPGs).