Back again in what will likely be the last post of the year unless I squeak one in before. Lot of things to cover, so let’s not waste your time.
After a rabble-rousing eleventh episode of Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai we finally figure out who his childhood friend really was. What? You knew already? I mean, they totally didn’t give it away several episodes ago? Well what the fuck man, where was I? Surely I jest, I knew this too, however I was unprepared for her to Haruhi her hair to fit the part. Haruhi is a verb now. FYI. Not sure how this show is going to end, but frankly, I hope it gets more. I’ve certainly enjoyed every episode.
The odd thing about Mirai Nikki is when it tries to be funny in a serious manner, it’s rather terrible in its execution. But that is easily forgivable in Yuno’s crazy-ass methods of shooting first, dragging Yuuki, and asking questions later. Now there is some temporary truce with Ninth, and I see her sticking around for awhile in this show, at least until the end where Yuuki kills everyone, becomes God, and brings everyone back. Cause you know, that’s how they roll. Maybe.
Things continue to heat up in Shakugan no Shana Final as Shana and Co. head into the gate in search of Darth Yuuji and his followers, while Sophie and the army of Flame Haze continue to mount their attack on the castle. Fortunately, we get to see her in action quickly as she removes Decaberia from action before he could take out their main force, but realizes quickly the enemy reinforcements they thought would be late to the party, show up early. Meanwhile, Keisaku and Margery share an intimate (read: LEVEL UP) moment before we see her get ready to get back in action soon, which is awesome because the party was missing its Druid. I moved Shana up in the ranks because rightfully, this shit is getting good, the dull wait was worth it.
Gundam AGE geared up and down as the crew handed the UE another loss, but at the hands of losing Don Boyage and many of his forces. Still, enough data was gathered for the AGE system to make a speed version of the Gundam and put it on par with the suit that faced off against Flit, likely piloted by Decil Galette. The ship docks at another colony to meet the man who would be helping coordinate the attack on the UE nest. Flit meets Yurin again, whom was adopted by the man, but was short lived when Flit and the crew had to leave again. I suspect she, like Decil, have some sort of Coordinator/Newtype/Innovator power that allows them to sense their surroundings, and Flit likely as well. Still, I’m ever curious how this show will progress, because of the character listings on MAL for his son and grandson. I assume there will be timeskips at some point.
Working continues the crazy adventures at Wagnaria with more Inami-style hijinks, this time centered around her text conversations with Takanashi. Clearly kittens make for a good ice-breaker, much to Izumi’s disarray, as she doesn’t want him to leave so he can continue taking care of her. Also, Yamada tries to claim she can take care of herself, but that is laughable at best. The manager tries to cross-dress for snacks, but her tits do not allow for it, and Soma almost gets Inami-PAUNCH’ed, but Sato intercepts it with Yamada’s bear. Just another day at work.
I’ve read a lot of Twitter and blog traffic and most folks don’t like Guilty Crown. I’m going to have to be that guy who begs to differ, in a couple ways. I’ll start off by saying that it is not Ghost in the Shell: Stand Along Complex. Not even close. There are similar plot elements, but the characters are too flimsy and one-dimensional to compare to the fuckwin awesomesauce that is GitS:SAC. To compare it to Code Geass, is a better comparison, but still not quite the mark. CG had better characters that often times would be unpredictable and change the story with it. Guilty Crown has been fairly predictable from the start, and even with it’s latest TWEEST involving the stone that started it all, I can only imagine this is going to bump Shu in the direction he should have been going from the start. Despite all that, I actually am enjoying this show and what its worth, despite the criticism.
I often forget to watch UN-GO because I keep forgetting to add it to my torrent bookmarks, so it ends up being the last thing to watch, and after you watch 10 other shows, fatigue sets in and I end up saving them for another day. Despite all that, it is a fantastic if not puzzling show at times just trying to follow what is going on. The introduction of another supernatural character and its handler kinda threw me for a loop, but it’s to be expected. In a way, this show reminds me a lot of last season’s Dantalian no Shoka in many ways. Hopefully it doesn’t mimic the same though.
What makes a show like Ben-To hard to rank each week is that it is fantastic, but there is so much fantastic happening ahead of it. Rather annoying. After the twins beat the Ice Witch last week, she ends up getting sick from the ordeal and misses class, while Satou tries to help care for her. They agree to get her well enough for Grilled Eel at the local store where she plans to challenge the twins to a rematch, only to make herself sicker from leaving the A/C on. Meanwhile Kaneshiro finds out what really creamed the twins three years ago and races back to warn them of it occuring again, as he steps off a train in the final scene of the episode.
Meat, snow, and the secret of Chizuru’s power are on the docket for this week’s Ika Musume and they were pretty solid episodes. I actually enjoyed the snow episode the most, finding it hilarious that they would combat the hot with the snow, and the snow with the hot. Also Ika in winter clothes was rather humorous. I’m surprised Cindy was surprised though at the display, being the head of the nerds and all.
Finally, on the bottom, as usual, is Maken-ki. I’m afraid introducing the “big bad” in the last episode is just poor taste for a show that had a sliver of promise as a proper show, but then I discarded the notion of it having a plot and watched it for the fanservice from the second episode. My hope though is it gets a DVD/BD release and remove some of those goddamn sun rays and blurred lines so I enjoy my tits and ass proper. Jesus Japan, have some respect!
Last episodes of the season are this week or next week, depending on the holiday schedule. Regardless I will probably not have another post up until either next week, or the week after into 2012, depending on how shit stacks. I have this week off from work though, so I will be doing the Winter 2011/2012 Preview Chart soon. A few shows from this season carry over, so I should have a fairly full roster again next season.
The beat goes on.
