Archive for June 2005
School Rumble 21 — Hanai Strikes Back! Karen Shines! Onee-san, Revisited
June 28, 2005, 2:20 pm
The thing that I love about this show is that it centers all around confusion and misunderstanding. At the root of everything, of course, is the Harima-Tenma-Karasuma love triangle thing. And then from there it’s just degenerated into a big mess. But it’s a big amusing mess, unlike most other comedies like this. Which is why School Rumble wins where so many others don’t.
Tenma’s attempt to fight back against Lala was so freaking adorable. (It culminated in that third cap. Poor Tenma.) Karen’s crush on Imadori is also adorable, although I totally think she could do better.
I wasn’t expecting to ever actually meet Harry MacKenzie, but here he is! (His name appeared in the first episode, causing much confusion for Harima, since their names sound almost exactly alike.) I also wasn’t expecting to see Onee-san again, but here she is, too! Who in the heck knows how the mangaka keeps all these characters straight, but he sure did do a good job.
—Erika | Comments Off
(posted in the Anime, School Rumble category)
Yakitate!! Japan 23 and 24 (one hour special)
June 28, 2005, 12:33 amEpisode 23 — The Sticky Showdown!! Azuma Kazuma vs Kanmuri Shigeru!
Episode 24 — Meister Flying in the Air!! Who Will Be the Winner?!
The Pantasia Newcomers’ Battle wraps up in a one hour special! It was great seeing afro!Kawachi and the Meister’s peacock in all their animated glory. The peacock was especially great when it was running amok at the end of the episode.
One character who really amused me more than in the manga was the nun at the afrochurch. Her mannerisms were really hilarious to me for some reason, and I laughed hysterically when she called Kawachi a pig. Poor Kawachi, the boy doesn’t get enough love. At least the next episode will be all about him!
I know that it’s sacriledge for me to say this, since this is a shounen battle show and you’re always supposed to root for the main character, but I really feel bad for Kanmuri. Poor guy did his best, but he just got pwned by Azuma and his backwardsass bread skills. And I do have to admit that Azuma’s ability to figure out all this complicated bread stuff all on his own without any training does get a little grating; for some reason, it’s more annoying to me here than it was in the manga.
Kanmuri’s extreme dorkiness made episode 23 for me, and the Meister’s reactions made episode 24. Even though I don’t like the anime quite as much as I like the manga, there’s always something in each episode that just makes me squee when I see it animated. That’s just the way it goes, I suppose.
—Erika | Comments Off
(posted in the Anime, Yakitate!! Japan category)
Yakitate!! Japan 22 — Just Before the Finals!! The Black Shadow that Approaches Kazuma!
June 27, 2005, 10:08 pm
At the beginning of the episode, there was a lot of flashbacking and recap… I was worried that the whole episode would be like that, but it finally got itself back on track (something that more shounen anime need to learn to do… I’m looking at you, Naruto).
Kanmuri is so freaking adorable. Awww… I just want to hug his head. Poor guy, stuck around Yukino all day. Of course, in a battle between Kanmuri and Azuma for Most Adorable, it would have to be Azuma. He’s such a spazchild, you can’t help but love him.
Speaking of which, Yukino scares me. A lot. She scared me in the manga, but now that she has a voice and a creepy laugh… scary. She has the same seiyuu as Seiji’s sister Rin in Midori no Hibi, which is fitting since I always thought of Yukino as being Rin if she finally cracked and started torturning little kids. And Yukino even tortured little kids in this episode! So there you go, I guess.
The next episode is a one-hour special. Oooh, shiny.
—Erika | 2 comments
(posted in the Anime, Yakitate!! Japan category)
Loveless 11 — Warless
June 25, 2005, 12:07 am
Um, okay, so… plot? Come back? Please? I’ll give you a cookie…
This episode wasn’t bad. Not at all. I really enjoyed it because it was random and fun. But when you only have two episodes left in a twelve episode series, you don’t make a happy random fun episode. Not if you want to actually wrap up your plot. But yeah, after this I have little hope that this series will have a conclusive ending. There’s just too much there, and I was unsure whether or not it would get wrapped up in two episodes… I’m positive that it won’t get wrapped up in just one.
But it was cute!! Soubi and Ritsuka holding hands is like the cutest thing ever. And it amuses me that Kio is like Soubi’s version of Yuiko. They’re both annoying sidekicks that won’t freaking go away or die or anything. Also, is it bad that I was laughing hysterically when Yuiko was freaking out on the ferris wheel? I almost wanted her to fall out. She is so irritating. Yayoi must be on the crack or something.
Also, why the heck do Kio, Hitomi, and Ritsuka all have the same therapist? Is there only one therapist in the whole city? Holy geez.
I am going to obtain internet at Anime Expo next weekend just to download episode 12. It will be a thing of beauty (and hopefully plot!).
—Erika | 3 comments
(posted in the Anime, Loveless category)
Stellvia DVD 4 — Episodes 11-13
June 23, 2005, 3:07 pmCan I just take this opportunity to say how much I hate only having three episodes on a disc? I mean, I’m always very unlikely to sit and watch all four or five episodes on a longer disc, but only having three always seems so anti-climactic. Okay, now that I’ve said that…
I’ve had this disc for a while, but was reluctant to watch it. When I first started watching this show, it gave me the impression that the Great Mission was going to be at the climax of the series. But then it happened in episode 10, so I wasn’t really entirely sure what to expect after that. And when it seemed that what followed would be a plot with some kind of aliens of all things… well, I got a little concerned.
But now that I’ve finally sat down and watched the disc, I have to say I’m very happy with how it’s turning out. The episodes on this volume meandered at a very leisurely pace, which was nice after the chaos that was on disc 3. I especially enjoyed episode 12, the obligatory Christmas episode, wherein Shipon and Kouta-kun finally hook up (yay!). The best part was Shoujin-senpai (the ninja of the Big Four) trying to give Shipon a ninja throwing star for the top of their Christmas tree. “You can paint it…”
I still don’t really understand the dynamic between Yayoi and Ayaka (although I’m starting to see why the yuri fans are all over them), nor do I understand the dynamics of Shipon’s family. What the heck is the deal between Shipon and her mother? It confuses me more than anything.
And now we’re going to go fight aliens yay?
—Erika | Comments Off
(posted in the Anime, Stellvia category)
A note about DVDs
June 23, 2005, 3:07 pmWhen I post for DVDs, I’m more than likely going to make one big post for the entire DVD, unless the DVD is extremely long. This is to make up for the fact that I don’t watch the DVDs on my computer, and thus cannot cap them (and even if I did watch them on my computer, I can’t cap them from my normal DVD program); without the caps, there wouldn’t be much point in making seperate posts for each episode.
Back to our regularly scheduled blog~
—Erika | Comments Off
(posted in the Sitely category)
School Rumble 20 — It’s Gone! This Is Gone Too! Whatever Will We Do?
June 23, 2005, 12:06 am
School Rumble is such a lovely little non-sequitur show. I feel the exact opposite about it as I do about Eureka Seven; where I want plot in Eureka Seven, I don’t want plot in School Rumble. Just because School Rumble is such a gag series to begin with, that I feel like plot almost reduces the humor involved.
This ep was very Harima-centric, which is always quite cool. Even though I love Tenma-chan just a bit more than Harima, I still enjoy the Harima eps greatly. And the interaction between Harima and Yakumo is so great! Realistically, Harima and Yakumo make a much better couple than Harima and Tenma, if only because I fear that a Harima/Tenma relationship will never actually occur because they’re just both too damn stupid to get their acts together.
The sequence at the end with Lala reminded me so much of Pedro in Excel Saga. It made me giggle.
—Erika | Comments Off
(posted in the Anime, School Rumble category)
Eureka Seven 06 — Childhood
June 22, 2005, 11:17 pm
I love all things Bones, so of course I am impressed with the shininess of Eureka Seven. The animation quality is sooooo nice… so nice that I can overlook the fact that there really isn’t a plot yet and that one of the characters looks ridiculously like Envy from FMA.
I really was getting annoyed with those stupid kids that Eureka takes care of. Like, really really. So I wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect of a whole episode about them. And, true to anime!child form, they pissed the hell out of me. But after the climactic mech battle (which made me wish I knew more about the military stuff in this world more than anything else; why did they need a mech battle again?), the kids got infinitely more tolerable. Thank goodness.
Eureka is cute. Renton is.. well, he’s a shounen hero spaz child. And I’m just waiting for some real plot to appear. C’mon, Bones, I know you have it in you.
—Erika | 2 comments
(posted in the Anime, Eureka Seven category)
Monster 48 — The Scariest Thing
June 22, 2005, 1:59 am
Well well well, it’s Detective Runge, everyone’s favorite guy. Even after 48 episodes, his weird hand twitchy thing still freaks me out.
[spoiler paragraph - highlight to read]:
It seems extremely strange to me that Johan would go through all the trouble of coming to visit Suk’s mother to get at the tape just to record over the ending of all things. He could have very easily just taken the thing, or even recorded over the entire thing. Unless there was something really groundbreaking at the end of that tape, it seems like the stuff that got left on was pretty damned incriminating. Hum. And there’s also the matter of the author of “The Monster Without a Name” and his relationship to Johan and Anna… I guess he’s their father? That would definitely make the most sense. Well, we shall see.
[end of spoiler paragraph]
I am not surprised at all that it took Runge less than half an episode to stop being on vacation. That guy has some serious issues.
—Erika | 2 comments
(posted in the Anime, Monster category)
Bleach 18 — Reclaim! The Power of the Shinigami
June 21, 2005, 9:19 pm
The titles of the Bleach episodes are really stupid. Like, Naruto-level stupid. This one especially.
Not a whole lot happened in this episode. No Kon either. :\ I have to admit that I really wasn’t the biggest fan of this whole arc in the manga; at the very least, not the beginning of it. I never really like the whole training and powering up aspect of shounen shows. On top of that, I felt like the anime version of Ichigo’s fight with Ururu was kind of lame. But Orihime made me smile, and that face that Ishida made when he saw cat!Yoruichi talk was just too funny (as seen in the caps).
Hopefully this thing will pick up with Ichigo-in-the-hole.
—Erika | Comments Off
(posted in the Anime, Bleach category)
Theme tweaked by Erika | Polaroid base made by Kayleigh
Based on the Starburst Theme designed by Claire
powered by WordPress 1.5 | valid XHTML and CSS