Happy post-food coma week folks, coming off of the final day of my four-day vacation from work, this week’s haul of episodes were interesting to say the least, as we come into the final weeks of the season. In no particular order:
I’ve started to read the manga for Tonari no Kaibutsu last week because it’s too much fun each week that I need to hit it from another angle. This week is the cliche school festival episode, and Mitty continues to battle with Haru over their relationship as another visit from Yuuzan sets off more conflict, but not before Haru accidentally socks Mitty in the mouth again. Guy can’t catch a break, and neither can Chizuru from the looks of it either. I dunno what it is with this show, it’s nothing revolutionary, but it brings out every feel I had while watching Toradora. Maybe I just have some retarded notion of understanding 2D characters again. Troublesome. Hoping the rest of the manga is as good as this shit is though.
Continuing from last week’s revelation that Rikka’s source of “eighth-grader syndrome” came from her father’s death and family’s omnishambles (HAHA FOUND A USE FOR THAT WORD IN A REVIEW, SUCK IT!), this week’s Chuu 2 Koi picks up with Rikka and Yuuta ending up on the train back to the city while everyone else stays at her grandparents. Unfortunately for Yuuta, her syndrome is still in full-effect, so the chance encounter of her winding up staying at his place did nothing for his pseudo-relationship goals. I have to admit, finding out the source of her delusion was the death of a family member resulting in the family falling apart kind of changed my viewpoint of this show a bit. Having delusions born from a desire to want to be someone else, someone different in a world where you’re just a normal, boring adult, is what kind of made the first half of this show fun to watch. But the more I think about why I got into anime, I think that had my parents not divorced and I made different choices, maybe I wouldn’t have fallen back to animes and internets to provide me with the interaction I’ve never sought from other people. So when they reveal the source of her delusions to be what it was, I kinda felt sorry for Rikka, and even Yuuta in a way. He tried to explain that even adults can hold on to delusions, that they can believe in something different, and fuck if I didn’t >that feel to that. Being an adult sucks. =/
The end of the Oarai v. Sanders tank battle is here on this week’s Girls und Panzer, and Oarai pulls out the surprise win after discovering in the last episode their communications were being tapped by the enemy, they switched to cellphones and proceeded to keep them on the ropes. Even losing two tanks during the chase, they manage to defeat the flag-tank, before being defeated themselves by the enemy’s big tank. They won the match, but by a hair. The episode ends with Mako having to leave quickly to see to her grandmother, which means we’ll get her character episode it would seem next week.
Another character appears in this week’s Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, which turns out to be Kanda’s little sister Yuuko, who immediately goes after his relationship with Mashiro and Nanami, seeming very attached to him, to the point where she is working to be accepted to Suiko to be with him. Typical hi-jinks and hilarity ensues, including slip-and-fall scenes and bath-time groping fun. The underlying plot remains the same, Kanda is waiting to see if his video game proposal is accepted, and still no appearance of Akasaka.
Things heat up in the final seconds of this week’s Robotics;Notes as Suburu’s dreams ended in the last episode, but the possible realization of GunBuild-1 was made as the team secured new parts to continue building the full-size robot, but not before a melody rings all of their PhoneDroids at once and then an unknown girl and partyvans arrive. This is likely the introduction of NASA, who like CERN in Steins;Gate will likely be the antagonist organization in this series. The solar flares that have occurred, and will occur according to the notes Yashiro discovered, lead to a cover-up that will likely start to unravel. This series has a full season on it, so hopefully all the beans won’t spill at once, but if you’ve seen Chaos;Head or Steins;Gate, this should be familiar to you.
Las Vegas-bound in this week’s Hayate no Gotoku as some Zero-reject crow dude who seems to be in cahoots with Ruri tries to kidnap her, but is thwarted by Isumi and Hinagiku. Soon after, Ayumu and Hinagiku set off for New York, while Ruri “disappears” and is presumed heading for Las Vegas, so Nagi and Co. head to Las Vegas and retrieve the watch that her father had, which gives terrible luck to whomever holds it except on 8:40 twice a day (both hands on the eight). Maria holds it briefly but hands it off to Hayate after floor ventilation systems below keep lifting her skirt up. Hayate claims to be used to misfortune, but will the watch shatter the only fortune he has left, Nagi. GOD MY OH.. plot? In my Hayate? This can’t be right.
The real turning point is starting to occur in this week’s CODE:BREAKER as the first CB, and now enemy, Hitomi, appears on stage set before Sakurakouji and the others as he vies for her “power” of nullifying a Breaker’s power. Almost all of the Breakers assemble to defend her, even Oogami and Toki who are shaking off the effect of “Lost”, having used up their powers defending the school in the previous episode. What is going to happen now? Dunno. This show is weird.
I was very, very behind on Space Brothers, eight episodes behind to be exact, so I’m now caught up to the moon landing and eve of the announcements of who will be JAXA’s next astronaut. In watching these eight episodes, I’ve seen some pretty interesting things. I always like to see how Japan interprets America, a lot of anime just throws up some generic surroundings and stereotypical Americans, but they really did try to capture the feel of Houston, Johnson Space Center, Cape Canaveral, and Kennedy Space Center. Even the rocket launches, the viewing area outside, and the grounds around the launch looked pretty close to what they are, although I’ve only seen pictures of KSC. JSC I had the fortunate to visit back in the mid-90’s as they were in the final stages of the ISS Project, they had a mock-up of what the finished modules would look like, and also had some training modules under water in the large pool for astronauts to train. One of my bigger regrets in life is that no one really pushed me towards the space program, and I didn’t push myself to become a part of it. Even if I didn’t become an astronaut, just to have the privilege to work with NASA or a related company would have been something worthwhile to me. That’s what makes this show worth watching, it’s about space, and it’s about dreams, and even though I didn’t have the foresight to make mine a reality, I certainly hope we, mankind, reach space as a whole someday, not just a few people, but everyone, starships, colonies, and everything. It makes me with I could live forever.
Kudryavka ends up the focus of this week’s Little Busters when she needs to find a roommate, mostly because she doesn’t want to be alone. The search went on most of the episode, from Rin who is too scared to have anyone else room with her, to Yuiko who would molest her, and Mio who warned her mountains of books would crush poor Kud. In the end, she settles for the Disciplinary Committee head, Kanata Futaki, who needed a roommate, and often uses her dogs for patrol. I kept wondering when the real meat of this show would kick in, but I notice it’s now showing at twenty-six episodes on MAL, so it looks like we’ll be in this for the long haul.
Regarding Tenchi, I’m stalled on the third OVA, and I still need to obtain Universe, so I might put out a first part of that review covering the OVAs next week, and another post covering Universe and the movie, since that’s in the same “universe” later on. After that, we’ll go back to the wheel and select another show. Also the holidays are coming up, so expect sporadic updates.
