Monthly Archives: November 2010

A Certain Magical Index II: Episodes 4 – 6

By | November 15, 2010 at 2:42 pm | No Comments

Ha, now the cross (and why Stiyl gave it to Toma, and why Toma giving it to Orsola Aquinas) makes sense.  I had forgotten that Stiyl was part of the Anglican Church (*makes note*) and not the Roman Catholic church, so my concerns about him after the last episodes were probably mostly unfounded.  I’d think that people would notice if a huge battle was suddenly taking place at a Catholic Church, though.  But wow, two episodes in a row where Index does something!  Maybe this season will be better than the first after all.

Look Ma! I'm Actually Useful!

Look Ma! I'm Actually Useful!

Naturally, the Anglican’s  motivations in all this (not that Stiyl was aware of it) weren’t exactly totally pure either.  It seems like the group that came out the best in all of this were the Amakusa, who were initially portrayed as the enemy (shocking, I know).

In any case, we ended the Orsola Aquinas arc, which seems kind of pointless unless it’s part of a larger storyline through the story, which is probably the case.  It looks like the next arc will be about the Tree Diagram satellite that Index accidentally destroyed with her St. George’s Sanctuary spell way back in episode 6 of the first season.  It also seems that Kuroko has finally met her match (well, someone like Mikoto could probably already beat her, but outside the main group of protagonists).  I wonder what affect that might have on Kuroko’s arrogance in her abilities.  Anyway, having Accelerator (apparently) on their side can’t hurt their chances, though it’s still rather mysterious exactly what’s going on.

I tend to like the Academy City/esper story arcs better than the Church/magic arcs, so I might like this next story arc better than I did the first one.

Letter Bee – Reverse: Episodes 2 – 4

By | November 14, 2010 at 12:10 pm | No Comments

So Niche gets her underwear back, and Lag gets a special canister for his gun that can be used to shoot heart back into someone, but only into the person to which a letter that is inserted into the canister is addressed.  So we know how Lag is going to save Gauche now.  But now Lag is having the problem of actually writing his letter.

I'm the Coolest Bee Around

Other than that, we get to meet Jiggy Pepper, Lag cries some more, and…that’s about it.  Other than the first episode, this series hasn’t really had much to it.  I guess the main part is perhaps Lag just learning about life.

I guess if I had to rate this shows with the 3 others I’m watching this season, this one probably rates as the most disappointing so far.  There hasn’t really been any real aim or direction in the 4 episodes so far, at least that I can tell.  Maybe as we get farther along, things will start coming together, but at this point, there isn’t any real “story” to speak of yet.

Oreimo: Episodes 1 – 3

By | November 13, 2010 at 12:23 pm | No Comments

Pre-Thoughts: This was pretty much the last show I added to my watch list, and the premise isn’t exactly new: a person with a good reputation (in this case, the protagonists’ sister) ends up accidentally revealing that she’s a huge Otaku (or player of eroge games or whatever is the case in this show) and, I presume, they ultimately fight The Man for oppressing the downtrodden Otaku. Or something.  In any case, it looked more interesting than just about anything else left out there so I’m watching it.

If a series is streaming on a site like Crunchyroll, I make it a point not to download fansubs, even if I have to wait to watch it, but I very nearly did (and probably would have) if ANN hadn’t put the episodes back online after stupidly letting them leak (I guess that’s an initiation all new online streaming sites have to go through).  But since it’s back online, it’s back to watching it on ANN.

And after 17 years of trying, Kyou finally gets the upper hand

So we have Kyou, who is, let’s admit it, jealous of his sister’s, Kirino, success in seemingly everything.  However, this success, and Kyou’s lack of his own, has made Kirino look down on him and pretty much ignore him.  This changes when Kirino accidentally drops an eroge (ironically called “Love Little Sister”) that Kyou finds.  So Kirino tries to get the box back, proving to Kyou that she’s the one who dropped it.  Luckily for her, Kyou isn’t very judgmental about it, and the two probably talk more in a 5 to 10 minutes span than they have in their entire lives combined> (Kirino does win points for including School Days in her collection too).

So anyway, while there are several things about this show which are pretty standard (the male protagonist, and the general setup of the show), it seems to me that there are a lot about how this show was put together which makes it a bit different, at least from other shows I’ve seen, and it’s kind of refreshing.  I guess with the very nature of the show, there is the “siscon” tension, but it’s definitely background and humorous, at least to this point.   I can’t really say that anything feels all too forced in this show, other than maybe Kirino’s insistence Kyou share in her hobby to a degree, but I guess that might be expected from someone who is as strong willed and bossy as she is and who found someone who isn’t going to shun her for it.

Of course, like any show only 3 episodes in, this show can still go up or down, but I think it’s definitely on the right track, and may actually be the best show of the ones I”m watching this season to this point.  I’ll just have to see where they take the show now that we’ve done the “brother has found out” and “parents have found out” angles already through 3 episodes.

Gurren Lagann: DVD 2 (Episodes 6 – 9)

By | November 12, 2010 at 11:36 am | No Comments

Well…plusses for DVD #2: Simon doesn’t seem as whiny (though now he’s gone all emo with Kamina getting killed, which kind of surprised me having such a major character apparently killed off so early).  Minuses for DVD #2: It’s still basically the same stuff.  I guess if you like giant robots fighting, then you’ll like it.  Otherwise, I’m still not sure how much there really is here to enjoy (and I’m not necessarily a giant robot person).  There is sporadic humor, anyway.

There's no way I'm dyin'! It's only episode 8!

I guess the one thing that can be said is that they’re starting to expand the story some – with the Spiral King and the Four Generals – though I still have doubts about how exciting that plot line will be if it solely consists of giant robots fighting each other.  I guess the main things to watch from now on are whether there is more to the series to that, and how does Simon (and other characters like Yoko) grow through the series.  However, overall I’ve thusfar been rather underwhelmed with not much reason to think it’ll get much better.  Maybe the one bright spot in the future is what role the daughter of the Spiral King will play in the future.

Apologies to Random Curiosity for stealing a screen shot. I lost my screenshot after having to reinstall my OS.

A Certain Magical Index II: Episodes 1 – 3

By | November 11, 2010 at 11:52 am | No Comments

Pre-Thoughts: I watch this series with a bit of RAEG because J.C. Staff is airing this instead of doing Shana III, but that’s how things go I guess.  I watched the first season, which was OK but not great, but the lack of anything very good in the fall has me once again going back to second season of a series which wasn’t great, but I at least know wasn’t too bad.

Take this cross. Because, as a nun, I'm sure you don't have any of your own

It’s time for the second series of Index and, I guess so far the second season is much like the first: mostly boring with some pockets of excitement.  This set of episodes end before the current arc is complete, but it looks like The Church is, predictably, up to no good, and who we thought were the bad guys are actually the good guys.  Everyone is shocked, I know.

At least Index – finally – did something useful by using her magic to battle the nuns or whoever at the end of the 3rd episode.  Otherwise she is her usual boring, annoying, useless self, though I figure she’ll come in hand or obviously have an important role eventually.  It’s just annoying to have a seemingly useless character hanging around all the time, except for quasi-comedic relief.

As for the upcoming episode, I figure that Index, Toma, and Saiji will end up rescuing Orsola Aquinas, probably with the help of Stiyl whom will probably get disillusioned with the Church or something for trying to kill off Orsola instead of saving her.  I wouldn’t be shocked if Kaori made an entrance, saving everybody’s ass at the last minute either.

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