I never thought it was possible, but apparently there is a show about a doofy-looking nice guy who takes in a bunch of cats and has no idea what to do with himself and has made excuses for that all his life. Only I am fat and I don’t live in a dorm with crazy girls and a shut-in programmer. Come to think of it, I used to long ago. Minus the crazy programmer. That turned out to be a crazy gamer. Well, anyway, I dropped Seitokai because >360p and picked up two other shows this season, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo and Tonari no Kaibutsu.
Have you seen Mahoraba: Heartful Days? No? You might want to. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo reminds me of that show in so many ways it was amusing. Sorata Kanda is an average kid in high school who is kicked out of the school’s regular dorms because he chose to keep a stray cat. Instead, he goes to live at Sakura Hall, an off-site dormitory for “problem students”, only the problem is they are geniuses and artists respected in their fields who don’t interact with the regular students. Since moving in he has taken in a number of stray cats and vows to find homes for them so he can move back to the regular dorms. His plan is sent spiraling however when Mashiro Shiina, a gifted artist and painter from England, moves into the dorms to attend school with Sorata and company. The only problem is, she is a complete klutz who focuses so much on her work, she doesn’t know how to dress properly or function in normal society often. Sorata is stuck between trying to realize his dreams, and caring for Mashiro when no one else wants to, including her relative and RA of the dorm.
I don’t like to Gary Stu anime, I think it’s horrifically retarded to be one of those kind of weeaboos that is like ZOMG I IDENTIFY WITH THIS CHARACTER HE IS SO ME MY LIFE IS JUST LIKE HIS because that is retarded and stupid. But fuck man, I couldn’t help but bleed SO MANY FEELS at the first five episodes of this show and this kid’s struggle to realize a dream in video game programming. I work in technology and have thought about being a programmer often, but having not learned it at all in my life, making excuses, not bothering, it’s interesting to see it happen in a goddamn anime. The feeling will pass, I assure you, but besides that, this show is pretty damn fun to watch, between the massive innuendos and Mashiro’s complete naivety, it’s such a good watch and even gives me a Toradora-like feel to it. Definitely on my top recommended list for the season. Also, it’s a full 24 episodes. Bonus~
TLDR Watch This: Mashiro, secret hopes that Ryuunosuke Akasaka is in fact Cyber-X, cats
TLDR Don’t Watch This: lack of Sayoko and CARDBOARD BOXES
Sub Group: Horrible
First Rating: 8
Speaking of Toradora, I got a similar Toradora-like vibe on another new show I picked up, Tonari no Kaibutsu. Shizuku Mizutani is a first-year high school student who has spent her entire life studying, and not much else. It’s even to the point where she has poor social skills and no real friends, because she chooses to study over anything else. During her first day, she witnesses a boy get into a fight with others and wasn’t seen from afterwards, even after his suspension he refuses to return to school. Tasked with bringing him some handouts she unwillingly meets Haru Yoshida, a brash guy who gives off an off-putting demeanor and has no social skills. He interprets her bringing notes to him as an act of friendship, and starts attending school again following her around and acting as if they are best friends, even lovers, much to her dismay as it interferes with her studies. But when she finds out he was the top of the class at the beginning of the year and barely studies at all and gets good grades, she harbors contempt against him, but something also triggers her to open up towards him, kicking off a series of odd adventures for two anti-social people learning to interact with one-another.
Why Toradora? The story and premise is so similar, a tsundere girl and a Yankee guy hooking up and slugging through series of unfortunate events. The visual style is very intriguing to me, and it took me a long time to put my finger on it, but it closely resembled Usagi Drop in many ways, but I don’t think there is any connection at all between the two, so maybe it was just me. Regardless, I really fell for this show more so than other entries this season, perhaps it is because of Mizutani’s dead-pan expressions and demeanor, perhaps it is the eccentric cast of characters, but it’s got a flair that makes me want to watch more, and after finishing those six episodes, man, more is fucking where?
TLDR Watch This: Mitty-face, Haru’s complete lack of common sense, and Natsume’s almost-perfect Minorin
TLDR Don’t Watch This: Mizutani reminds you of Maka and then you expect Soul to pop out of nowhere.
Sub Group: Commie
First Rating: 8
As it turns out, the government has been experimenting on kids with super powers without anyone knowing, but when you place a dude in charge of the project who has a little girl in need of OOOOORRGAAAAAANS, well, predictably one pulls a Steve Jobs and appropriates those in any way possible. CODE:BREAKER sets the stage for a showdown between Oogami, Toki, and Sakura, and a pair of fake Code Breakers using the powers of little kids to no effect. Sakura gets a glimpse of the underworld she hasn’t seen before, and why Oogami and the others fight for what they do. But it isn’t enough to keep her from believing he is evil. To top it off, more SUSPENSE lines up for the next episode involving another Breaker, and we might see more Balloon Tits. Exciting, right?
This week’s Little Busters gets a little dark, as Komari seeing a dead animal triggers a repressed memory of her brother’s death and the events leading up to it, which causes her to breakdown in front of Riki on the street in the rain. It’s kind of a tough event when you consider Komari is a pretty bright and cheerful girl in this show, and this show so far has really yet to hit a low note, but this could be the prelude to more we’re going to see soon enough, if what I’ve read holds true.
So I added two new shows.. whoops. Dunno how I missed those before, but considering Initial D is on a monthly release and Seitokai won’t get released in a higher res for awhile, this keeps the balance up and allows me to finish some other fare. Will work on getting Joshiraku finished soon, that’s my next goal, then we’ll work on SEED or Tenchi.
Best. Sunday. Ever.
