Monthly Archives: November 2010

Gurren Lagann: DVD 4 (Episodes 15 – 18)

By | November 25, 2010 at 12:32 pm | No Comments

Even though this disc had 4 episodes, it effectively only had 3, as episode 16 was completely a recap episode.  In any case, we finish the first half of the series with the defeat of the Spiral King and his warnings that he was actually protecting humanity, and that once “a million apes” were on the surface, basically something bad would happen.  However, beyond this we don’t really know anything, other than the fact that the Spiral King seemed to believe that he was acting as a guardian against Simon’s spiral power.

You might want to get that checked=

You might want to get that checked out by a dermatologist

As for the “7 years in the future” part, it’s going to be hard getting used to the characters being older now.  However, the new government under Shion seems to be suffering from the same ills of many revolutionary governments: it starts out strong as a result of the initial enthusiasm and idealism, but soon gets weighted down under the weight of the fact that many of the people leading the nation are neither very competent to do so, and don’t really want to in the first place.  While Shion seems competent, he doesn’t seem very enthusiastic, and while others may be enthusiastic, they aren’t very competent.  Meanwhile, people who see this, in this case Rossiu, get frustrated and radicalized by the fact that his fellow revolutionaries, well, suck at governing (and, in conjunction with the attack of the anti-spirals, cause mass unrest) and decides to take over the place himself.

I’m still not sure why the anti-spirals think that the spiral energy will cause the destruction of the universe, though I guess my thought is this:  if the spirals have a tendency to advance rapidly, and have rather unchecked passions, that could lead to several consequences such as, say, the destruction of their own planet.  However, if you expand this thought upward, perhaps they fear that spirals wouldn’t stop at a planet, but might cause the self-destruction of a galaxy or even the universe itself.

In any case, this series seems to have gotten a bit more interesting now that we’re in this new time frame.  We’ll have to see if it just resorts to massive mecha battles like it did to begin with, but hopefully the plot will start getting expanded some.  There is already evidence that it is, with Rossiu taking over.

Yosuga no Sora: Episode 8

By | November 24, 2010 at 12:33 pm | 2 comments

And, to no one’s surprise, Sora did see Nao and Haru getting it on when they were last in town, and Sora sees it as Nao trying to steal Haru away – something she finally can’t hold in anymore when she catches them doing the deed again.  Though, Sora’s hatred for Nao still seems to go deeper than one would expect from her just seeing Nao and Haru getting it on, so I’m wondering if there is still more to it than that.  This arc looks like it will go for at least one more episode, so we’ll find out I guess.

You can't get with Haru unless you let me join in too!

You can't get with Haru unless you let me join in too!

I figure that, since Haru and Nao are trying to get Sora to forgive them, that’s the most likely final result for this arc, though Sora is pretty stubborn.  The way this episode went, I could also see Sora doing something rash like trying to throw herself of a bridge or something, but it doesn’t seem like this series would do that.  But then again, with us resetting for every arc, something like that could happen and then “reset” for the next arc.

As for trying to get Sora to “forgive” them (for what, really? It’s not their problem she’s jealous, really), I’m not sure just being nice to her is going to be enough, though I’m not sure what more they can really do.  Maybe someone will finally go off on Sora for being selfish or something and that will finally make her snap out of it.

The one girl we haven’t really seen anything of since the first episode, however, is Kuranaga, the class President, whom was one of the first girls Haru ran into in the first episode (I think Akira was first and she was second).  However, she is still hanging around in both the OP and second ED, so I’ll be surprised if we don’t see more of her.  Let’s say episode 9 is the last episode of Nao, that would give us 2 episodes each out of Sora and Kuranaga.  If what I’ve read is right about episode 7 being a shared episode between Nao and Sora, just like how episode 2 was shared between Akira and Kyou, then perhaps that means the final arc – and the winner – will ultimately be Kuranaga.

Letter Bee – Reverse: Episode 8

By | November 23, 2010 at 12:31 pm | 1 comment

So we learn about Niche’s background: that she was born 200 years ago, after a pregnant woman drank from the holy lake of the Maka and…has a twin. As the twin daughter of the woman who drank the holy water, the residents of Blue Notes Blues consider her to be cursed, which is why she warned Lag not to tell the townspeople about her (though based on their description of the twins, it didn’t take the Mayor long to figure out what Niche was)

Niche's REALLY big sister has a bone to pick with the townspeople

Niche's REALLY big sister has a bone to pick with the townspeople

Naturally, the citizens of the town had the story of what happened completely wrong after hearing the story from Niche’s very grown up sister.  She also revealed an interesting tidbit about Spirit Amber being mined quietly from the land, which caused it to become cold, and not the Maka’s disfavor (as the Maka never really cared about humans in the first place).

Unfortunately, Niche’s sister didn’t really finish her story in this episode, so we’ll have to wait until next week.  However, we have several mysteries:

1) who mined the spirit amber?

2) why did it remove the geothermal energy from the land, and did those who mined it know it would have that effect?

3) why didn’t Niche grow like her sister?

4) why can’t the Maka converse with humans anymore?

5) why are the Gaichuu frozen in the cave, and why did Noir/Gauche go there to get one?

6) why were the children born half Maka?  was that the price for letting the woman live until her twins were born?

7) why didn’t either the Maka nor Niche’s sister sense Lag as a human? (which just adds to the mystery of why he has a spirit amber as one eye that was already there)

I was wrong about Niche being a byproduct of the experimentation that Reverse says the government is doing, but is it possible that Lag is a result of said experimentation?  His mother was kidnapped to the capital after all.  This episode just made this show jump over Yosuga no Sora for 3rd and it might challenge Index II for second best that I’m watching if the next episode is as enlightening as this one is.  A lot of questions answered, but just as many new ones created.

Cardcaptor Sakura – Episode 47

By | November 22, 2010 at 9:54 am | 1 comment

It’s the start of season 3, and Sakura and Kero have been bored since Sakura captured the last of the Clow Cards, Mrs. Mizuki is away in England for an overseas trip, and Shaoran is planning on heading home to Hong Kong now that the Clow Cards have a new master.  However, there is a new transfer student from England in Sakura’s class, Eriol Hiiragizawa, who takes an unusual interest in Sakura.

Eriol Arrives, but for what reason?

Once again, this series pull out an excellent episode to start the third season off, and they aren’t exactly hiding what, generally, Eriol is.  He’s clearly a magician there for Sakura in what way.  However, for what reason he’s there and what powers he has, is still a mystery.  Also, the fact that Toya had a new transfer student in this class likely isn’t a coincidence either.

This will really be Sakura’s first test as master of the Clow Cards, especially since, for whatever reason, she can’t seem to activate them anymore.  This could also have something to do with the fact that the Clow book changed as well.

This episode also had several funny points in it, such as Tomoyo teasing Shaoran about liking Sakura, and the fact that he has a new “rival” in Eriol.

Full HD gallery is below the fold

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Oreimo: Episode 7

By | November 21, 2010 at 12:31 pm | No Comments

This show seems to get better and better.  First, we have another one of Saori’s line (this time via text – and oh by the way, she has got to be my favorite character outside the primaries). Next, we have Kuroneko giving a perfect impersonation of Kirino, which just made Kuroneko look totally out of character but was still hilarious.  And then of course the massive battle over Meruru (where I feel like I took sides with Kuroneko for most of it, though Kirino had some fair points too, I guess)

Kirino is wet...and wants to take Kyou to a hotel

Kirino is wet...and wants to take Kyou to a hotel

Also, I”m sure someone is taking Kirino’s idea of a planet filled with nothing but little sisters and turning it into an anime series as we speak.  Though how can one have a planet with only little sisters.  Don’t they have to be little compared to something else? (not to mention how were they born, unless the planet has some form of female-female or asexual reproduction).

In any case, Kirino seemed to let her guard down quite a bit when they went into town for “research.”  First, she wants Kyou to buy her a ¥30,000 (~$360) ring, letting out that it’s only natural if she “gets it from the one she loves” (and then pretends to be talking about her story).  It obviously doesn’t take long for Kyou to figure out that the trip is less about her research and more about her getting stuff for herself, which ultimately led to Kirino dumping cold water on her head to prove she wasn’t selfish, then a trip to a hotel she could clean up.

Since this show is put up on ANN a week after it airs, I’ve gotten bits and pieces about the episode elsewhere, and I thought I’d add my thoughts to it:

1) No, I didn’t think much of the shower scene.  She was wearing a robe, and not a revealing one at that, and I don’t find the act of her wearing one after showering to be particularly shocking or even abnormal (maybe it is in Japan, but I don’t find it such).  I’m sure it was meant to add to the tension, but it seemed like people were overreacting to a scene that I felt was pretty tame.

2) No, I didn’t get any major sense that Kirino has a brother complex in this episode, other than her comment about the ring.  Otherwise, it just felt like an episode where Kirino has been lonely and wanted to be pampered by Kyou, but is too proud to actually admit to the fact, and so came up with “story research” as a cover story for it.

Given the first comment I saw on twitter about this episode was “why don’t they just fuck already,” I was rather expecting more from this episode in that regards than what was there.  I’m not saying I don’t like the episode.  Just saying that, once again, it seems like people are overreacting over not very much.  Maybe the writers will finally do a “real” scene like that between the two, but there is still little to suggest that either character is going down a true brocon or siscon road to me.

Anyway, while maybe not the best episode of the series, though the first half was pretty good, this series still hold a stranglehold as the best series I’m watching this season.  Of course, Kyou leaves us with the teaser that “never expected what was to happen later.”  Since this series is basically been teasing over the whole siscon and brocon thing all along, I would expect something similar regarding Kyou’s comment.

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