Internal Affairs

Three weeks into the new season, and most shows hold steady, for the most part. I’ve begun to sort of rank and file things into what I watch sooner than other shows, and consequently I am leaving
some shows unwatched due to having other things to do. Such is the life of a regular person with a regular job trying to hold on to the glory of chinese cartoons every week.

This week I’m going to touch on Kill la Kill, Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio, Non Non Biyori, Outbreak Company, Kyoukai no Kanata, and Freezing: Vibration.

 

 

Kill la Kill
“If blood is power, women have the upper hand here.”
Kill la Kill continues to style where most shows have gone before, except here the main villain dons her BEST ARMOR early on in a show of force against Ryuuko. At least we got an explanation of the uniforms and their power, which cut (huehue) into some of the action this episode. The thing that sort of disappoints me is that this show is basically set up for a NO MORE HEROES format, it’s gonna be a MID BOSS of the week until she fights her way to the final battle with Satsuki, in which she’ll probably either obliterate her, or Nanoha-zone her.

Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio -Ars Nova-
“The Hunt for Harem October”
So having finally finished the daunting task of reading all of the available chapters of Hayate, I turned my attention to Ark Performance’s Arpeggio manga. Let’s just clear the water now, it’s much, much better than the anime I’ve seen so far. I say this only because of the use of CG in the characters in the animation, it just looks too jerky. If I put that past me though, it’s pretty much playing chapter-for-chapter, though we’re still early in. Considering this is a half-season show, I kind of expect them to probably go through most or all of what I’ve read, which is the first eight volumes. The first two episodes alone cover the entire first volume up to the battle with Takao. Much more happens from here on out, and I’m hoping they don’t skimp on much of the middle volumes as more girls are introduced. It’s a compelling story to me because naval warfare is something I’ve always had a soft spot for, without actually volunteering for the Navy. Sadly, much like Shingeki, this too may fail to impress visually as it has in illustration, and it’s such a shame, because you would think the studio responsible for Black Rock Shooter TV would be able to leverage much more success here.

Non Non Biyori
“Remember the golden formula, Tiny = Cute”
Dammit Silver Link, how can you come off something like Watamote last season and deliver the standard slice-of-life experience from almost the opposite viewpoint without skipping a beat? Now, don’t assume I am calling this a masterpiece, but it’s always refreshing to have a show that doesn’t try anything funny and just concerns itself with delivering a smooth, stupidly-cute experience. The countryside setting sort of lends itself to a slow-world experience, and I kept thinking of Hanasaku Iroha, before realizing nano.RIPE did both OPs, so that was probably why.

Outbreak Company
“CLASS WARFARE”
I have mixed reservations about shoving political and social messages into a show. Done correctly, it can be a great way to shape the story and characters, but done simply for the sake of going around afterwards and telling everyone you’re “tolerant” is like belittling transgender people, cutting them a check for several thousand dollars, and then patting yourself on the back. But in this case, I’m actually enjoying the fact that the show is not dodging the question many shows have before, when it comes to someone from another world coming into yours, and trying to impress their values on yours, how should you react? Of course, I am sure this is meta conversation for the US’ actions around the world, but if this is coming from Japan, that’s pretty funny. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for Japanese society and culture, but they have some pretty weird social customs and other issues that equal out many of this country’s shortcomings.

All of that aside, I am unfortunately siding with the half-elf here over the flat-chested princess, but Ensign Chesty trumps both in looks and personality. I’m sure Petralka is being set up for the tsundere role, but she just doesn’t do it for me where the other two do. Oh right, story, plot… uh…

…yeah.

Kyoukai no Kanata
“Has your anime been saved? Has your lord cometh?”
I have a terribly high pain threshold for even the most mediocre of shows. Only when a show is so insipid and blatantly uninteresting do I drop it. The flaw in that logic is that I will probably miss two or three shows a season that match my tastes but I didn’t get to either because of too many shows, or its premise was different than I expected. Kyoukai no Kanata has not reached dropping point for me, but it’s very difficult for me to place it higher in my playlist than many other shows. I mentioned before that it was a fun show, and I stand by that line, it is a fun show, but you pretty much have to remove the KyoAni label from the show and try not to think about any of their previous work in order to enjoy it. Think of this like Enterprise, the Star Trek that no honorable Trek fan would watch with the Trek linage attached, but might admit is a great science-fiction show on its own without the attachment. Once you attach yourself to all of KyoAni’s work, you immediately draw all of the conclusions and relations to their universe because they aren’t very brilliant in giving us something that isn’t peppered with callbacks to previous shows and characters. Add to the fact that Mirai’s GRIMDARK is that she killed someone, who was being possessed by a spirit, was completely unconvincing as an argument for why she should be the tragic heroine. Far from it, she is more like the clumsy heroine who will probably win the day completely by accident and take no credit for it, or try not to, and be cute-as-buttons for it because she is wearing glasses. Well you got me there, KyoAni. Fuck you why do I love glasses on girls so much?

I get it, KyoAni, you want to be JC STAFF, but if you want to play in that universe, you’re going to have to shed your usual devices and play hard ball. No one is going to take your supernatural fantasy show seriously when you’re cracking nonsensical jokes with GITAH? faces.

Freezing: Vibration
“Elizabeth tits are all I’m getting and I’m HD ready~”
I almost made the mistake last week of downloading Freezing: Vibration from Horrible, until I realized that it was the censored version. Baleeted, waited for Hiryuu. There is nothing I hate more than forced censorship when there doesn’t need to be, versus passive censorship that you know will happen because it wasn’t going to show them anyway. Freezing continues to be Freezing, and compared to the first season, where it lacked in animation quality, this season lacks in upfront action. That might change soon, as the E-Pandora arc starts to ramp up to the real reason we’re here, and if things fall the way they should, it’s going to be pretty awesome.

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Quick update for this week, didn’t feel like covering every show. Will try to hit some others mid-week or next week. Got the important ones, anyway. Saimoe continues into November, will get that site fully updated tomorrow. Everything else, whenever. Yep.

Me and my Disgaea D2. When I find time for that, that is. 🙁

Being an adult is suffering. You college and high school kids got it easy.