Shameful Otaku Secret!

Ah… Twins

Critical info:

• Vintage: 2005
• No. of episodes: 13
• Episodes sampled: 6 & 7
• Notable personnel: not really
• Origin: Sequel to Futakoi
• Themes: Detectives, action, twins, harem?

Futakoi Alternative is one of those series I missed the first time because it was in one of those “dark periods” where I wasn’t watching much anime. This particular sample, of a series that is on some level about a guy who takes over his dead father’s detective agency which is located in a strange world full of twins (I think), reveals the two flaws in my random sampling system.

First, I’m always tempted to hit the middle episodes, where you’ll often see a change of direction in the series. TheBigN talked about this series in particular having a major one. And, if I find that I really enjoy the episode(s), I’ve probably run into serious spoilers for the time when I start it over and watch for real.

I’m not too sure about the spoilers, but I did really like these couple episodes, and I could sense the directional change (toward the serious) without having too much knowledge of what was going on. Other than that, there seems to be a lot of madcap action and, dare I say, zaniness to be enjoyed in Futakoi Alternative. Plus Rentarou smokes a cigarette in one drag, it’s pretty boss.

From a passing glance at the blogs, including Kabitzin’s posts on the subject, it looks like the series has its merits and its fans. And from the mix of action, laughs, and soapiness I saw, I do believe that I’m going to give it a shot.

Howdy! Bye, now!

Oh, Chiko. I don’t envy you. Your aunt’s still trying to off you with soup, or the occasional desperate and ineffectual sneak-attack on a boat. Your best friend thinks you’re a novelty and occasionally pretends to be you just to get in trouble. Your only real friend is your murderous aunt’s servant. And now the latter two, along with the numbnuts detective who “found” you, have all gone hypnotized by some white-haired zombie cyborg demon doll who’s in love with Twenty Faces.

Oh yeah, you’re homeless, and it’s raining. That just sucks. What? Cyborg woman is holding your only friend ransom… Jesus.

Well, all is well, since you’ve found Twenty Faces! Sure, zombie doll bitch is all about killing you out of jealousy, but didn’t we all know that Akechi secretly was Twenty Faces all along?

Wait, he’s not? Okay, so Twenty Faces just disguised himself as Detective Akechi. Hm. Still following, just less so.

So Twenty Faces kills zombie doll lady, cool, but then he falls off a blimp to save you? Ouch! Meaning, you got him back, stabbed him while hypnotized, finally came to your senses, and he’s gone again?

Wow. Did I mention I don’t envy Chiko?

What the hell is going on?

The reunion of Ken, Chiko, and the Boss didn’t have time to be sweet and sappy because they were pretty much under threat of death the whole time. I think that gave us a nice indication of the new darker and more urgent atmosphere — that it’s never going to be the happy Robin Hood’s merry-men party that they used to be living in. Of course, an eyepatch is always a dead giveaway too.

Cyborg-love-interest is gone, but so is Twenty Faces. Or is he? The scene near the end of episode 13 really hints that he’s actually dead this time, but his work isn’t finished, and TF seems like the kind of guy who would gladly cheat death to get the job done.

Say what you will about Twenty Faces (no one is saying much, actually), but these past three episodes gave me what I like the most about the show. First, the rare action scenes are creative and well-animated with a sense of style that I think only Bones could really pull off. And more importantly, the story keeps me guessing, something it’s been doing ever since Twenty Faces disappeared. Love it. I also love the way the writers gave viewers an “I knew it!” moment when Akechi turned out to be Twenty Faces, only to take it away by revealing that he wasn’t.

This backstory on Akine really seems superfluous, and cyborg lover went down pretty easy (she just kind of gave up living), but I can’t say I have real complaints about the direction of the show lately.

As a side note, anyone notice that the visual effects in the OP make noise now, like motion graphics on a Fox TV broadcast? Kind of goofy and lame.

Rose Madder Colored War

Wha? That’s pretty specific. I suppose at least it’s not sea foam green, I hate sea foam green. I do like a little action in my action shows, and Shana finally delivered this week.

[Incidentally, link to the Shana Info Page resides here de arimasu]

Recap-ish

Not much to speak of, story-wise, it’s all one big fight. The explosion that rocked the fuzetsu-enshrined Misaki City last week was none other than Sabrac the Destructive Blade, notorious assassin and arch-enemy of Wilhelmina Carmel, currently contracted by Bal Masque to kill the shit out of Yuji.

And she’s here to prove she hasn’t quite passed the torch (huuurrrr) to the next generation of Flame Haze yet.

Shana and Margery are taken out of commission by Sabrac’s initial attack, and that’s further exacerbated by his “Stigma” attack, which causes all their wounds to continue bleeding and fail to heal. So Wilhelmina is forced to take him on by herself, despite her own Stigma-ing injuries, all the while towing Yuji around in a trail of ribbons. Turns out he’s not so bad-ass against a real villain, but he doesn’t have that many episodes to prove his mettle.

Seems the guy can’t really be stopped, so the battle maid’s final move in the episode is to let him capture a decoy Yuji while the real one escapes through a sewer tunnel.

Kazumi shows up, why I don’t know, and she has a nice little chat with Shana while the world ends.

Thoughts

I suppose I asked for it, nothing but action this week. There was some really cool animation with Wilhelmina’s ribbons, a new trick where she could create realistic dummy with those ribbons, and some incredibly huge explosions and attacks — all of which Sabrac managed to come out of unscathed.

I dunno, something about the first season’s climactic explosion of action really sold me more than this has so far, but there are a couple episodes left to really whip out the big guns. The first season’s mix of (admittedly weak) drama into the action was a lot more effective too; this time the two sides are way too separate and neither seems to stand on its own all that well.

Still, I do think they can pull a big explosive climax out of this. I just hope this super-unbeatable Sabrac isn’t taken down by something really stupid.