Next on the menu: Cake and Torch

This was an interesting episode, as it shows us one of Shana’s earliest experiences (if not her first) taking over the existence of a torch, as she’s done with Yukari Hirai in the TV series (she did say that wasn’t the first time she had done that, after all).  However, clearly Shana’s inexperience doing this, and her general disregard for humanity at the time, causes her to be a bit too direct when trying to investigate how the girl became a torch.  However, I found it odd how Shana could sense what the girl’s everyday routines were, but couldn’t look at the girl’s memory to see what her fight with her mother three days prior was about.  In any case, it seems like Shana got a lot better at learning how to act like the torch, and is getting a better appreciation for humanity by the end of this episode.

Am I the only one who dug Shana’s outfit at the start of this episode.  There was just something about it that made her seem more badass than usual.

Series: Yosuga no Sora
Media: pwq Fansub – Episode 1

Kiss Sis!

Geh, nothing says that a series is going to be great than every girl going mellow-mellow the literal instant they see the male protagonist.  I mean, really. He’s nothing that special.  Akira, the girl who knew Haru from before, I can understand, but everyone else just elicited a facepalm from me after a while. Speaking of Akira, she seems to have some hints of Yuri between herself and shrine maiden Kazu, though whether that’s real or just the show teasing, I guess we’ll find out.

Meanwhile, Sora appears to have a full-on brother-complex over Haru, despite the fact that she’s outwardly distant from him, which I think has just intensified due to the death of their parents.  This is brought to a head when she tells Haru that she thought he had run away after he didn’t answer any of her text messages while he was at school (he forgot his phone) and then later that night, she strips in front of Haru and asks him to have sex with her

While the two might have played house or doctor or whatever when they were little, Haru doesn’t seem to harbor any romantic feelings for Sora anymore, so she’s likely to get rebuffed.  That in turn is probably going to make their already rocky relationship worse, since she’ll probably take it as him rejecting her as a person and not just as a lover.

Also, I’m not sure when I’ve seen blatant female, well, masturbation on a supposedly non-hentai show before.  I knew this was an H-visual novel, but they often tone things down for TV, and while I”m sure this has, this is still one of the more explicit shows I’ve seen in quite a while.

As for the future of this show, I think the jury is still out. Hopefully the other characters will be fleshed out a bit better.  I don’t really expect all the characters to be explored in the first episode, but there is always a danger with a series like this that it’ll go more towards the mindless fanservice direction in stead of actually trying to tell a story.

Show: Letter Bee: Reverse
Media: Crunchyroll, Episode 1 (series episode 26)

Cry, Baby, Cry

I’m trying to remember exactly what happened at the end of the last series, but in any case, Lag finally finds Gauche, only to find that he’s lost his memories, which Lag suspects is from losing his heart.  Worse, Gauche now works as a Marauder, doing the work of an anti-government group known as Reverse.  He is deponent over not being able to bring Gauche back, but is only chewed out by Sylvette of all people for being a crybaby.  Meanwhile, Niche feels like she’s a failure as Lag’s dingo.

Ah yes, I had almost forgotten how much of a crybaby Lag was.  I know it’s a running gag, but it’s already damn annoying.  In any case, they didn’t waste any time telling us who Gauche, now known as Noir, works for and what their aims are.  There isn’t really much more we can say about this episode at this point.  In any case, it looks like the next episode will be the Grand Adventure of Trying to Get Niche to put on Her Underwear Back On.

This is a series that has been on my watch list for literally years, probably since I started watching anime 5 years ago or so.  However, I never really got around to watching it…until now.

Series: Now and Then, Here and There
Media: Netflix Online, Episodes 1 – 13

If you open the dictionary and look for “gut wrenching and depressing,” this show will probably be listed under it.  Now and Then, Here and There is truly a work of depression, desperation, and despair.  It puts the eternally optimistic Shu into the world of wanna-be ruler of the world King Hondo.  The rule under the despotic and paranoid King Hondo is brutal, even by historical standards, yet many of the characters there cling to some hope or another that helps them get through the hells of day-to-day life, and to rationalize the brutality they’re forced to inflict on others.

Now and Then, Here and There certainly can’t be criticized for not going “there,” wherever “there” is.  It doesn’t shy away from the unpleasantness of conflict, such as forcing children to fight, soldier’s raping of captured women (and resulting pregnancy of the victim), and the indiscriminate killing of children.  It is no surprise that even the ever-optimistic Shu finds himself becoming despondent in the face of such evil and brutality, especially when everyone is too afraid to stand up to it.

If any moral can be derived from the show, it’s that, while shit happens, and that life isn’t fair and the worst things can happen to the best people, one should try to live the best you can with what life dishes to you, even if it serves you a steaming pile shit served with a glass of vomit.  Of course, doing that is much more easily said than done, as Shu observes and even experiences for himself.

There were a few instances where I thought Shu’s outlook on life was counter-productive or over intrusive, however.  First, he absolutely refuses to kill anyone, even when they probably damn well deserve it, or when doing so might serve the greater good.  I realize the moral is that one should act to remain righteous, even in the worst of times,  but sometimes the moral thing to do is to eliminate an evil before it can do even more harm, even if means killing.  Shu’s absolute aversion to killing, or even resorting to violence at times, often extended the grief for everyone, just so he wouldn’t (literally) get blood on his hands.

The second instance that comes to mind is when he pleads with Sara not to abort her baby.  Now, the issue of abortion is clearly a very touchy topic, and granted, bashing a rock against one’s stomach isn’t exactly the recommended way to go about causing a miscarriage.  However, his actions regarding Sara’s pregnancy I found nearly borderline preachy, like something I would hear from people protesting outside an abortion clinic.  And while it’s not my business if someone decides to keep their baby after getting pregnant from being raped, I found Shu’s almost shaming Sara into keeping her baby, despite her wishes, to be rather overbearing.

In the end, I thought this was a pretty good series, story wise.  I thought it hung together well and told a good story while portraying the world that Shu found himself in.  I thought the animation quality might have been a tad dodgy for a series made as late as 1999 (not that I’ve seen many from that time, but shows that I have seen from then, or even a little earlier, seemed to be of a little better quality than NTHT).  However, it was still good enough to where I didn’t pay very much attention to it.  If you’re willing to stomach a series such as this, I would definitely recommend it.

I give thanks to THAT Anime Blog, from where I stole my screenshot