Monthly Archives: June 2011

Wandering Son – Episodes 8 & 9

By | June 30, 2011 at 12:06 pm | No Comments

So the bunch of 7 gets broken up into different classes starting the new school year. Maho doesn’t think Anna will like Shuichi dressing like a girl, but she doesn’t care and they actually go out on a date with him dressed as one. Meanwhile, a boy that used to make fun of Shuichi in elementary school, Doi, is in his class. despite warnings from Makoto and Yoshino, Shuichi tries to become friends with him, with Doi asking to see him dressed up as a girl, and eventually convincing him to come to school in a girl’s uniform.

Shuichi finally "comes out" by coming to school as a girl

Shuichi finally "comes out" by coming to school as a girl

The end of this episode really comes to the head of gender equality, especially when it comes to transsexuals.  Shuichi’s coming to school wearing a girl’s uniform was effectively him coming out that he was trans, since everyone would know about it at that point, and I think he pretty much was aware of it, saying that his parents would be surprised by it.  However, we’ve already seen him being treated differently than either Chizuru or Yoshino was by being taken to the nurses office and being sent home right away, which is where the issue of gender equality comes in.  We’re obviously going to get the full brunt of the reaction of what Shuichi did in the next episode.  While I think most of his friends will be OK with it, what about his school and what about his parents?

Also, there is the question of Doi. Has he really turned a new leaf or was he, as both Yoshino and Makoto warned, just leading him on and trying to embarrass Shuichi in front of everyone? I have a feeling we’ll find out in the next episode as well.

I’m still kind of surprised that the Shuichi/Anna relationship is still going on, though we hardly saw any of it in episode 9.  I suppose this could impact that as well.  Anna may not be bothered with dating someone who dresses up in private or when no one can tell, but may have a problem dating someone known to everyone as a cross-dresser.  But we’ll see  I guess.

Wandering Son – Episodes 6 & 7

By | June 29, 2011 at 11:49 am | No Comments

So they have the play, which is a blast, and gives Makoto confidence.  Meanwhile, Shuichi is growing through more growing pains as he starts getting pimples, and asks Anna for advice for controlling them (as his sister won’t help him with it).  The pair start hanging out more until eventually Shuichi gets a crush on  Anna and asks her out.  This causes Yoshino to start backing away from Shuichi and causes Saori to withdraw from her friends completely.

Love or just a crush?

Love or just a crush?

It looks like several things may happen due to this thing with Anna.  First, it looks like since the main reason why Saori has been stubbornly hating on Yoshino is no longer valid, the two seem like they may start making up now.  Also, I think Yoshino may be becoming aware herself just what her feelings for Shuichi are. Kind of ironically, I think she could ignore them as long as she was the focus of his attention, but now that he’s dating someone else, her real feelings will start to come out.

As for the relationship with Anna, I have a feeling it’s going to only be temporary.  I kind of feel that Anna’s feeling for Shuichi may extend merely skin deep because he’s cute, and Shuichi may only have a crush on her due to how much time they’ve spent together, but that’s it.  But I guess we’ll find out anyway.  I think she’s seen him crossdress before, so that shouldn’t be a problem I wouldn’t think.  It’s just a matter of how much they actually like each other and how far away Shuichi is willing Yoshino and Saori to get for Anna’s sake.  I”m betting not very far.

Wandering Son – Episodes 4 & 5

By | June 28, 2011 at 12:29 pm | No Comments

Shuichi and Saori are continuing to combine their two scripts together for the class play, but aren’t getting very far, so the teacher asks for volunteers to help them, resulting on the whole group of 7 (Shuichi, Saori, Yoshino, Sasa, Makoto, Chizuru, and Momoko) working on the play. Unfortunately, Saori’s “friend” Ninomiya swings by and ends up spilling the beans on Shuichi to everyone. They finally finish writing it (with it being little more than Romeo and Juliet) and end up drawing for roles, with Romeo going to Saori and Juliet going to…Makoto.

Summer Fun

Summer Fun

Shuichi and Yoshino have continued anxieties about growing up.  Yoshino is still trying to find away to make herself look flat, and got depressed when Momoko told her she had a womanly figure. Meanwhile, Shuichi is worried about when his voice deepens and he starts growing facial hair.  To pour water on him even more, Saori asks what he plans to do, such as have an operation when he’s old enough, but he just says he hasn’t thought that far ahead.

One kind of has to feel sorry for Saori in a way.  You know she’s going to be the one left out in the love triangle, and I”m pretty sure she knows it too, which is one reason why she is always in such a bad mood, especially when around Shuichi or Yoshino. The scene where Yoshino gets angry so Shuichi doesn’t have to I think just shows that, while even though Yoshino denies it, she and Suhichi will eventually get together. Though she may have another rival soon in Anna, who seems to have a thing for Shuishi.

H0wever, while Shuichi says that Yoshino is the one who knows him best, I think that’s true in some respects, but in others, I think Saori has him nailed down too, such as nailing the fact that Shuichi wants to be loved as a girl by a boy Yoshino.  Saori may very well know him best, but I just don’t think she’s the one for Shuichi.

Catching Up and Summer 2011 Season

By | June 27, 2011 at 2:31 pm | 2 comments

Now that I’ve fully caught up on the shows I had been watching and blogging when I left off in February (even if they haven’t all been posted, the reviews have all been written and are in the queue), I thought I would go back and hit up some series from the winter and spring that looked interesting that I missed, as well as talk about what shows I was looking forward to in the summer 2011 season.

A look into what I've been up to for the past 5 months

A look into what I've been up to for the past 5 months

As far as going back, even though i already had three series from the winter season that I was working through, how can I not go back and give my thoughts on Madoka Magica, given all the hype I’ve seen about it online?  It’s #13 on MAL and all so I think I’ll go back and see what all the hype was about.  I’ve kind of learned from experience that if I put off watching a series people are hyping until later, it may be quite a while until I actually do get around to watching it, so I thought I’d go back and do it while I had the chance.

I wanted at least two shows from the Spring 2011 season as well. I didn’t want something that would spill into the summer season, so I needed something that was 13 episodes or less, as a result, there were a couple 26 episode series that looked interesting that I skipped over.  Instead, I’m going for Moshidora and Ano Hana.  Ano Hana came based on a couple of recommendations, plus it looks like the most interesting  shorter show from the spring anyway. I’m picking Moshidora, partly because there aren’t many other interesting choices, and partly because it seems unusual: a management centric show, applied to baseball, targeted toward a middle aged audience.  It’s something different so I’ll give it a try.  I’ll run through these series in groups of 2 or 3 episodes just because they’ve all already finished airing at this point.

Now, as for the Summer 2011 season, I was debating between doing 2 and 3 shows, but since the two shows at the top of my list looked more serious, or at least not goofy, I decided I wanted to add a third goofy show to the list.  As a result, my list of shows for the summer are: No. 6, Usagi Drop, and Morita-san wa Mukuchi.  Usagi Drop looks, based on previews, to be the class of the summer shows, so I have high expectations for it. No. 6 ventures into a type of show that I typically don’t watch very often, but the premise seemed interesting enough to give it a try.  I’m hesitant about Morita-San, partly because almost everyone working on the show is green, and the trailer was kinda iffy regarding production values.  It’s also a 4-koma, which can make it very hit-or-miss.  However, it seemed like the best choice out of the possibly goofy shows, so I’ll give it a try, and maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Letter Bee: Reverse – Episodes 23 – 25 [END]

By | June 27, 2011 at 11:37 am | No Comments

Noir, Lag, Conner, and Zazi launch their assault against the Gaichu Cabernet in an attempt to prevent it from reaching Yuusari Central, but find that it has no holes in it’s armor. It assaults the Bee Hive, only to find it empty, with Dr. Thunderland having nursed the sacrifices back to health and evacuating them. Largo and the Maka then arrive and the Maka, Niche, and her sister damage Cabernet enough to allow Noir and Lag to stop it. However, Lawrence sacrifices himself to revive it, and Lag has to use all his heart to shine as bright as the artificial sun to attract the Cabernet’s attention and completely destroy it.

Lag dishing out a healthy serving of heart

Lag dishing out a healthy serving of heart

So that ends Letter Bee.  A few things are left unresolved, such as whether the artificial light is bad after all (and if it is, what to do with it), as well as what exactly is Lag.  Niche’s sister said previously, and noted again that Lag merely had a human form, indicating that deep down he isn’t human.  The question, though, is what is he?  Just pure heart, or what?  At least he knows his mother is in the central city, contrary to what Lawrence had told him.  We still don’t really know why she was brought to the central city, though.  I think it’s suggested, though not stated explicitly, that she may actually be the empress (or whoever it is who leads Amberground).

Overall, I think this series was pretty good.  I think it could have had a little bit more direction, but the story was good and it didn’t overdo the action, and the action that it did have was done well.  It perhaps dragged on for longer than it should have at times, but I don’t think it was too bad.  It was fun watching Lag develop, and one kind of gets attached to all the Bees, whether it’s Lag, Zazi, Conner, and yes, even Jiggy Pepper.  It was also good to see Lag turn Noir around from his cold original self into someone more like Gauche. In any case, I seem to have a more positive feeling about Reverse than the first season.  At least there wasn’t as much crying it seemed.

This series had to recover from a mediocre first season and a slow start to the 2nd season, but I think it did so pretty well, especially once we started getting down to it.  The last half of Reverse especially seemed pretty focused and well thought out, giving one enough hints to answer some questions while still leaving others unanswered or even creating new ones.  While the remaining questions do drive me crazy, I guess I can live with them.

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