Shameful Otaku Secret!

Revisited

As Geass wraps plot twist after plot twist around their poncy little pastry (or is it, more likely, a calzone?) and stuff it with a filling of cheesy fanservice, there is other really good stuff on right now as well, stuff that gets me going like a cellphone in a young kabuki maiden’s pocket.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

Watching Kyouka on TV kind of makes me wonder if this is what Kyon and the SOS Brigade felt like. I love how she calls the audience “pigs.” Why does Yuuko have to be such a punching bag, though? I thought this was a comedy. My overall impression is still kind of ho-hum — such a random premise has to do some weird shit just to hold up week after week, and I’m not sure dramatic elements are right — but there’s a lot worse out there. Plus, Ginka’s managed to be gay and GAR at the same time.

Kurenai

Still being straight-up awesome. This week’s episode was light-hearted characterization, but the writing is so smart, there’s no way you could call it filler. Why do I like Kurenai so much? Because unlike any other male anime lead, Shinkurou seems like someone I might actually let babysit my kid. Certainly the only one with a bony weapon growing out of his arm. But what bothers me is, with Yayoi following them all the time, isn’t Benika effectively paying for two bodyguards? Animation continues to be good, though some character designs still put me off in a weird way.

Toshokan Sensou

What a blast. Aside from a totally ridiculous premise — basically an amped-up version of Fahrenheit 451 in which books are highly regulated but libraries are self-governed paramilitary organizations — this is a great series with a twist: it’s one part action and one part shoujo, which gives it a unique feel. Rarely outside of a true girls’ series is there such a winning female lead. And Production IG’s digitally-assisted animation tops their work on Blood+.

Special A

I don’t know why I’m still doing it, perhaps I like Jun Fukuyama more than I let on. I have now taken to watching the OP and ED because the singing is so incredibly awful. Rubbernecking at a train wreck, as it were.

Golgo 13

This week’s episode was boooooring. Blah blah blah guns, blah blah M-16, blah blah let’s try to kill Golgo 13. News flash, dumbass: HE CAN’T BE KILLED. Get back to Duke fucking a prostitute and assassinating someone, already. Still the GARest thing that will ever be on TV.

The Tower of Druaga

There’s a YouTube hack that lets you save any vid with a high-quality version into an mp4 on your computer, which is nice because I can watch it on my iPhone. I might be squandering Gonzo’s good will, but I call Fair Use, bitches. Especially when the iPhone/Touch’s actual YouTube app allows access to about jack shit percent of the videos on YouTube as a whole. Getting away from all that, this show has amped up its charm over 5 episodes, and when combined with free legitimate release and an amazing OP, it makes a series you really should be watching.

Kaiba

This.

This. Kaiba. This is why I wanted to write an “other shows” post to begin with. Sometimes we need to be reminded, with all the clichés and harems we both enjoy and deride in equal measure, why we started watching anime. Kaiba is why. Haters, stop bitching about vapid shows like Kanokon and To Love-Ru and start putting an antidote in front of your eyes. Lightly “H” series with tons of panties and a grade-schooler’s perception of sex are not “adult” — they share only ink and acetate in common with this very adult show. In the space of three episodes, it’s managed to be imaginative, fascinating, sexy, unsettling, and even heartbreaking. All with a design that looks deceptively like a kid’s show.

A lot’s been made of the animation, to me it’s a strong suit. Madhouse is usually very straightforward in style, but they manage to get crazy when it counts, for instance Satoshi Kon’s stuff. Here, they’re doing absolutely amazing things. Just watch the OP, you’ll see they mean business.

Kirameki

As much as I went and talked up the anthology factor of Shigofumi last episode, I’m also really digging the character developments that happened here.

Recap

We begin with a Kasai Haruno, a young would-be editor who’s apparently deemed useless by her publishing company; unexpectedly, she’s given her first real job after three years — editing for Mikawa Kirameki. Coincidentally, her younger sister Natsuka is the same girl that Kaname called when he saw the phantom Fumiko on the roof.

Sorry, dear. This is anime. You just can’t compete with a comatose girl.

Natsuka digs the nerdy type, and though she knows all Kaname really wants is to grill her about Fumiko, she is excited to have him over.

Let the stone throwing commence.

When Haruno forgets her map on the first day to her new job and Kaname helps Natsuka scan and email it to her, Kaname’s obsession brings him and Natsuka to the bizarre glass Mikawa complex as well. But that’s not all: Mikawa Kirameki is the recipient of a Shigofumi, and guess whose job it is to deliver it? Fumiko, of course. And Kirameki seems to roll with it, for some unknown reason.

So the end of the episode is a pretty unexpected turn of events as all the characters converge on Mikawa’s remote glass castle thingy.

What We’ve Learned

Fumiko did indeed shoot her dad back in the day, though obviously he still lives. She is well aware of her sleeping body in the hospital, which she calls her “other half.” And Kirameki is even more “eccentric” and cold-hearted than we’ve been shown in previous clips.

Thoughts

Kaname’s obsession with finding answers is pretty hardcore, but it’s getting to be a plot contrivance. Natsuka is a shy girl, so maybe she wouldn’t have really stopped him, but it seems like bad form to follow your sister to work on her first day, especially when she works for The Fucked-Up Poet (isn’t that another Shakugan No Shana character?). At any case, we’re made to accept that in order to get all the recurring characters together in on place at the same time. I suppose I’m OK with it, because it’s still a fine show, and the merger of anthology-style and recurring characters in this episode is pretty interesting.

Looks like next week is the flashback to Fumiko shooting Kirameki that a lot of people are probably pining for at this point. Seems early to lay those cards on the table, so hopefully there is a lot more planned for the rest of this season’s episodes.

Scream

I often justify my habit by saying that I love a good serial: I can even call my favorite live-action American show, Lost, a pretty good time for all its faults. But in truth, I like a good anthology as well. It’s just regular-episode television that bores me. Whether comedy or drama, sticking the same characters into various situations with only a vague semblance of progressing story is wasted opportunity if you ask me. At any rate, Shigofumi is turning out to be a great anthology.

Story

Bad news

While Episode 5’s delivery to a cat was largely an excuse to develop Fumiko’s back story, this time it’s a more strict anthology route. A meek kid named Kikukawa is bullied mercilessly at school and another kid, Morishita, sells him out to protect his own ass, even though he snoops on internet message boards and sees how horrible things are for Kikukawa. Eventually, Kikukawa tops himself and Morishita finds himself the recipient not only of the bullies’ torture, but a vengefully-written Shigofumi from his dead classmate.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor your sorry ass…

Tying things together, Fumiko’s former classmate is still exploring the mystery of what happened to her. His detective dad worked the case of her father’s shooting, and he confirms she’s been in the hospital for three years. So… as I feared, she is indeed a Fuko. Sigh.

Welcome. You’ve got mail.

Thoughts

I think one of the reasons why the anthology route works for me is the ability to change tone and vary the stories without jacking up the flow. Compare this to the sweetly sad episode with the tennis player, and it’s obvious you couldn’t do those same two types of episodes in a standard show. This one was dark as hell, and it made me wonder at the realism level of the psychologically brutal bullying. Is it really that bad? I suppose it’s probably not too far-fetched.

The Show

This is the first I’ve written on Shigofumi, another series you can chalk up to my flu. Now I’m up to my eyeballs in weekly anime, and though I’d still drop them all just for True Tears, I’m really enjoying this odd beast. Again, the anthology factor is a change of pace, Fumiko’s deadpan delivery is fun, and overall it’s just a slightly less conventional kind of enjoyment. It’s that change of pace that also sets it apart from perhaps its nearest comparison in recent memory, the repetitive Hell Girl. It was created by Ichiro Okouchi, the writer behind Code Geass, and Martian Successor Nadesico director Tatsuo Sato. I suppose the Ruri comparisons probably aren’t just in my head.

JC Staff (Shakugan No Shana, Azumanga Daioh and a ton more) does their typically capable job of animating, with the same dash of computer assistance you see in Shana.

Music is a pretty decent part of Shigofumi; incidentals are often suspenseful and kind of eerie. The OP (by Ali Project) is just odd, kind of makes me weirdly nervous in a way that makes a suitable prep for the show.

I’m looking forward to watching more, and though it’s not as rad as that other show about death and uh, notes, it’s a pretty good break from harems or action shows with no action.