Shameful Otaku Secret!

Premature Speculation, if you will (ew…)

Ha you assholes I beat you to it. I’m old, see, and that allows me to be judgmental. Actually, I’m not that old, but I’m prejudging anyway.

Best OP: The Tower of Druaga.

This was a hard one. Lots of great tunes and animation this time around. Kaiba’s ethereal opener with English lyrics shows you exactly what kind of beautiful and haunting 25 minutes are about to happen. To Love-Ru’s tantalizing but stylish OP turned out to be the best thing about the show every fucking week. Even the gay-ninja saga Nabari No Ou, which I don’t really care for, has a great song by a previously awful band (VELTPUNCH). But Druaga gives us clever credit placements, a jaunty ska-rock tune that turns dramatic toward the end, and most importantly, a question that we have to ask weekly: are we being faced with a an alternate reality situation in this series?

Best Music in general: Macross Frontier.

There is a two-part quiz to establish best anime music in a season.

1. Is there a Macross series?
2. Did Yoko Kanno do the music for any series?

If you can answer “yes” to either, you’re set (some of Macross 7’s butt-rock aside). We can answer “yes” to BOTH this season. Aren’t we fortunate bastards? Ranka’s “Aimo” is Yoko Kanno’s best tune since my favorite one, “Myung’s Theme (Voices)” from Macross Plus. But here’s the close runner-up, “Ninjin Loves You Yeah!”

Train Wreck of the Year: Geass R2.

I stopped blogging it, mostly because everyone else already was. But I still watch, usually open-mouthed. Time after time it leaves me in slack-jawed disbelief as the camera pans out to millions of Zeroes! Orange-kun comes back from the dead! LeDouche quotes Light Yagami! Tits flow from Sunrise’s pencils like a mighty Mississippi of mammaries! Underage heads of state with no tits at all convene, possibly panty-free, in a soundproof room in Zero’s giant truck with a fucking panda on the side being driven by CC and covered in fucking Cheese-kun window stickers! FUCK! Where does it end?? This quote from Derailed By Darry sums it up pretty well:

Code Geass R2 is genius on so many levels, just not on the classical “well-written” level.

Fantastic observation. I realized this week that there is nothing out there like it, and yes thank you jebus I’m grateful for that, but there is a bizarre brilliance in the over-the-top-ness.

By the way, mai waifu on Geass: “Oh, is it time for your stories?”

Biggest surprise: Tie! Daughter of 20 Faces and Kamen No Maid Guy.

20 Faces had potential from the get-go, being from Bones, but it was clear that early on their attention was focused mostly on Soul Eater. However, the series consistently played out so solidly that I find myself waiting for it more all week than any other. To top it off, the last episode was jam-packed with the kind of ballsy direction and stylish animation that are Bones hallmarks.

Maid Guy was a surprise simply because it turned out to not be shitty. Yes, the animation budget was probably fished out from between Madhouse’s couch cushions, but at least they don’t save money by having all the characters drink tea for 10 minutes per episode like some other Madhouse shows. Kogarashi is a previously-unseen mix of hilarious and frightening, and I will gladly watch every week to find out what crazy Maid Guy Power will be unveiled next.

Best First-Episode Experience: Soul Eater

Yes, it’s a shounen/action/talking-during-battles kind of show, but Bones aimed to prove early on that they could execute with style. I immediately re-watched the first episode because my head spun too fast to figure out what was going on the first time.

Voice actor of the season: Megumi Nakajima as Ranka Lee

Open auditions are apparently a very good idea. She out-acts most of the rest of the cast, and her tongue doesn’t sound nearly as thick as Sheryl’s on those Engrish song lyrics. Shin sums it up much more clever-style.

Best Shoujo: Toshokan Sensou

Dear Itazura Na Kiss, I still love you, and I think you embody your genre like nothing else. Unfortunately, a new character who is vulnerable and real but not quite so pathetic as the usual shoujo heroine has risen up, and she’s really tall! Plus, as a boy, I find all the guns to be exciting.

Dear Special A, Toshokan Sensou’s ensemble cast is far better than yours. Also, I never liked you.

The wiener

Drum roll…. OH SHIT Copping out. But unlike most people who don’t believe in superlatives (like me) I will pick the “best” show of the season. Just not until the end.

I’ll say this, though — it’ll probably start with a K, whatever it ends up being.

Her future’s so bright…

I still don’t know what to make of this show. Masamune Shirow and Production IG put their heads together and give us fanservice first, then filler?

Recap

An avatar called Iron Schwartz (I shit you not) from the Metal built for streetfighting, with a propensity for dislocating his opponents’ joints after defeating them, gets uploaded into an android. That android subsequently goes berserk dislocating random shoppers at the mall.

Minamo happens to be in the mall at the time, looking for expensive antique diving sunglasses she can give to Haru. But when she finds them, Schwartz-bot thinks they’re his and starts chasing her all over the place. After a bit of chase scene action, Nyamo-chan runs into a real-fight club where her brother is sitting with Holon, grilling her over her fighting techniques.

Souta, with some help from Holon, manages to give himself an ego boost by defeating the unbeatable Schwartz, but not until after Minamo tries to stop the fight by giving the robot the glasses. Unfortunately, the expensive glasses break, but at the end, Haru bestows his own old ones on her.

Thoughts

There were actually a couple laughs in this episode, mostly from the hilariously brutal droid with the hilariously ridonkulous name, Iron Schwartz. His habit of dislocation is so over the top and gnarly that it’s actually funny, as is the moment when a patron of the fight club tries to shake his hand and gets his head kicked in. It’s like when punches in Fist of the North Star go through people’s faces. You just have to laugh a little. Minamo’s little sunglasses war when she first meets Schwartz has great comic timing too.

But what are they playing at, anyway? Five episodes in, we’ve just barely established the gist of the series, and already we’re blessed with filler? I can’t see how this will have any bearing on the overall story — it didn’t even really have Haru in it. And while we’re complaining: if it can’t have any meaningful plot, why not a little touch of fanservice? You know, outside of those now-infamous and oddly satisfying Real Drive thighs. But Shirow is Shirow, and true to I.G. form, even this episode looked fantastic, so I’d be silly to quit now when they could have so much more in store.

Virtual Harisen time

Everyone is still all hopped up on Geass — There are almost as many people blogging it as are subbing it, even though I’m pretty sure the shark is just a distant memory at this point. And don’t even get me started on Not-So-Special-A, which for some reason people seem to like.

Anyway, here’s where I tell you what I like, then casually berate you.

1. Kure-nai

Yes, it has occurred to me that people are in fact watching Kure-nai, but it’s so good that everyone should be watching. This is a treat, a treasure. It’s an unexpected gem, and much like True Tears last season, it snuck up on me. It’s a show of contrasts. The bouncy poppy OP and ED conflict with the sober, eerie shamisen during the next episode previews. The ultra-cute interaction between Shinkurou and Murasaki (and their bizarre neighbors) contrasts with the ultraviolence that occasionally crops up, and the lighthearted nature of many episodes is the ultimate contrast with the seriousness of the plot. It looks like next episode will really bring that home as the two sides clash like they haven’t since early on.

Why you aren’t watching? Murasaki is a real child, no a loli. You sick fucks.

2. The Daughter of 20 Faces

Come on, everyone. You love Aya, don’t you? Of course you do. I’m sure you also love a good caper. And who in their right mind doesn’t love an airship (Hindenberg aside)? Twenty Faces may look like Roger from Big O, but he’s your classic thief with a heart of gold, and while there aren’t Geass-level (read: ridiculous) plot twists, it’s a clever show with an awesome Aya Hirano lead character.

Why aren’t you watching? Because Bones put the entire 2008 fiscal year budget into Soul Eater. Or perhaps you’re too busy buying Pizza Hut to care, aren’t you? You make Aya cry. Happy? UPDATE: I just watched the newest episode, and enough people died to make even you degenerates happy.

3. Real Drive

Absolutely zero love for Real Drive, what’s up people? Is it because Stand Alone Complex is a little racist? Have we given up on Masumune Shirow forever? We’re Americans, we’re supposed to love Shirow no matter how much he hates us. Production IG has even thrown us an olive branch — a young girl lead character — and given us panty shots for peace offerings. I thought as western anime lovers we were supposed to be raised on this Gibson-esque cyberpunk shit.

Why aren’t you watching? Perhaps the Age of Moe really is upon us. You’re all a bunch of pansies! Also, everyone seems to have stopped subbing it. Audible sigh.

4. Allison and Lillia

Much like Real Drive, Shinsen seems to have given up subbing this in favor of stuff 8 other teams are already working on, but AniYoshi is still trucking, thankfully. And much like 20 Faces, this is a nice slice of retro adventure. It’s got a laid-back feel, and a casual romance element that never gets in the way of the fun. Plots move by incredibly fast, and sometimes with way-too-easy resolutions, but it doesn’t dampen the bright charm of the series.

Why aren’t you watching? It’s just not flashy, the art style is retro, and of course, they skip right over the parts where people are in high school. Really, you can go without uniforms for 20 minutes a week, can’t you?  You ungrateful philistines ought to be ashamed. Or you ought to go watch me blog the show at Yukan.

5. Kaiba

I can’t say it enough, people. Kaiba is a monster. It seems to prompt a lot of people to analyze it, but for me it works largely on the emotional level.

Why aren’t you watching? Not enough talking? Too round? I don’t know! I swear to god one episode had panties! Are you watching it yet? No? You disgust me.

We should be bowing low and thanking whatever deity we believe in that we live in the era of instant fansubs, and we should be enjoying those fruits.

Are there any shows out there that you feel aren’t getting enough love from the otakusphere?