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.

Something That Couldn’t Be Said

[What's a Tomogara, you say? Try the Shana info page]

Last week, I said something to the effect that I’d be OK with Shana doing that Bleach/Dragonball thing where a single fight draws out for a whole season, if they’d just get us out of the void of nothingness that the show’s been stuck in almost since day one. Well. I said “almost.” Good thing, too, as that appears to be their goal. Is this going to end up a 200-episode show with drawn-out action scenes and minimal character development? Maybe I just can’t be happy either way, but I was sure glad something happened this week.

Recap, The Summary of Injustice

Turns out Zarovee the Collation Flux is a Jaeger, which sounds like hunter but is really more of a decoy. He’s here to pull Yuji away, thus luring the Flame Haze into a trap set by the Wanderer, a giant slug-shaped cannon. His ability to clone himself keeps Yuji at bay: attack me here and I’ll eat some souls over there. So most of the first half is spent with Yuji’s incessant internal dialog as Zarovee leads him to the designated spot. During this time, Shana takes care of Yuji’s mom while wearing a pink sweater, thus sealing the deal on her transformation from killing machine to useless girl.

Funny, no one takes me seriously when I make that threat

Zarovee is planning to draw her out by taking Yuji to a strategic location. Fortunately, Yuji susses this trap out (easily, Zarovee’s a pretty dumb Tomogara), and when he happens to see Tanaka and Ogata on the street, he starts yelling crazily to signal them. If you remember, Tanaka quit the henchman game, but he can’t let it go — so he visits Margery anyway after about 8 minutes of internal debate, with shame in his heart. Unsurprisingly, the kinder gentler Margery-san forgives him, and her and Satou take off to… do nothing the rest of the episode.

Pan to the sky.

It involves a thousand meangingless terms designed to impart an illusion of depth to an otherwise barely-written show

To be fair, they do contact Shana and Wilhelmina, who do all the slug-fighting after Yuji cleverly casts his own Fuzetsu to take care of his situation and kills the fuck out of Zarovee. I’m sorry, but for a guy who’s never done this before, he sure seems to have no qualms about ramming the Blutsauger through the middle of a human-looking thing begging for its life. He even breaks one copy’s neck with his bare fucking hands.

at the intersection of hopelessly GAR and needlessly cruel, there stands the New Yuji

All seems well, but in the place where the Slug Cannon was destroyed, a huge explosion drowns out Yuji’s attempt to make some apology none of us care about.

What We’ve Learned

Action is back! So is fanservice, apparently. And Yuji understands why Shana and Kazumi are mad at him: he wasn’t ready to leave the city, he was lying to himself, and now it sounds like he wants to stay after all, to protect it.

Oh god I think I just got served

One thing hasn’t changed. When the camera cuts to a new character, that character will have a sweaty distressed expression and will make a small grunting noise. Every time.

Thoughts

As president of the Margery-San fan club, I apologize for that.

Next week, the explosion is revealed to be Sabrac the Destructive Blade, Wilhelmina’s old arch-enemy or whatever, so the time to kill of a major character might come exactly one season after she joined the story. Either way, I say again — the action is back, and hopefully it’s not going anywhere this time.