The Return of the Recap 11

Please don’t move your hand Hibito

This will be the last one of these for a few weeks. I’m taking a real vacation for once, though that doesn’t mean I’m going to be quitting to pursue other ventures. I’m nowhere near good enough for that. Anyway, nothing really about the week passed. It would only be a long story of tear-filled disappointment and crushed dreams. Another action packed week as far as cramming stuff in. Also, I waffled massively on some of the shows I said I dropped last week. I can’t get a grip on this season either.

Currently Airing Top 5

That has certainly enhanced his interrogation techniques.

Jormungand: Perfect Order

Jormungand is back for another season of intrigue and international arms dealing. There were a few character introductions and shifting dynamics for this season. Koko now has the CIA fully after her. The infamous Doctor Miami took in Karen after the humbling defeat she suffered to Valmet last season. Plus, Koko has a mole in her midst, though she’s revealed nothing. Then there’s Jonah, who will clearly be at the center of some plot involving the crazy Hex. I don’t think CIA agents would be as crazy or there would be far more stars on that wall at Langley. Continuing

I hate to use this word again, but the lead up to this was troubling

Sukitte Ii na yo

And the shoujo series this season I do like continued strong. This episode was really about insecurities. Asami has her perception that she is seen as nothing more than a pair of breasts by anyone, Mei is unsure about her relationship with Yamato, Miki has never had her feelings reciprocated and Kenji wanted to express how he really felt about Asami. Mei ultimately gets the ball rolling on this with Asami and Kenji clearing the air, which leads to Mei and Yamato clearing up their situation outside the karaoke place. That scene still bothered me with what has come up recently. It could just come off as repeatedly kissing a girl makes her like you. Maybe Yamato needs some flaws.

Wait, so a year ago you were no longer able to see your girlfriend, and that other girl died a year ago. Must be a coincidence.

Zetsuen no Tempest

The second episode of this Shakespearean magic drama saw a surprising alliance built out of two supposed enemies. First, however was the attempt to solve the mystery of Aika’s killer. Unfortunately, that doesn’t come to a real conclusion, but it does allow for the resumption of the battle between Yoshino and Evangeline, which ends when the former shows his willingness to kill the other. Yoshino then reveals who the girlfriend he refers to is, while at the same time Mahiro fights a powerful foe. Out of any of the new shows this season, this continues to be the one of the few I can find enjoyment out of unironically.

She’s a really big fan of the same person she lusts over constantly.

Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne

I don’t know what it is about this show that keeps me watching. The simple structure of this episode gives away just how little there is, but I can’t stop watching. Have I been conditioned to accept this now? Anyway, it goes like this: there’s the plot portion which is the revelation that Akito’s been writing incest erotic fiction that Akiko is a huge fan of. The rest is just Akito being troubled by the other characters openly being tsundere. I also only just watched the OP this week. Real classy stuff.

That’s what you get for defending yourself against a small girl.

Hayate no Gotoku: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

This week the cliffhanger involving Ruri was resolved by simply having her move into the apartment building completely unfamiliar to people who only watched the two seasons of the anime. She then proceeds to kick Hayate’s ass using Russian fighting techniques only to be called a bully when he fights back. The production still looks really cheap.

Getting scared of everything and having stuff explained to you by other characters is a sign you’re in the wrong field.

Psycho-Pass

Psychopath, get it? So the first of the 2 new Noitamina shows, which will be running for the next 6 months, is a fairly derivative crime-thriller/social commentary effort written by Urobuchi. Also, Hanazawa Kana returns to the block in another show meant to change anime, like I don’t know, Fractale. Here’s how I felt about the first episode. It felt like it scraped parts off of Dennou Coil, Ghost in the Shell and strangely Vanilla Sky. I think there’s a good show under all of this potentially. I was just troubled by how the rape scene became central to the plot of this episode. Continuing

The Rest of the Week

You should probably eat that taiyaki miso.

To Love-Ru Darkness

I’m going to stick by this show, even if I have to endure the awful subtitles. I think the best part of this show is that as central to the plot Rito is, the story doesn’t have much to do with him at all. Sure, everyone lacking Y chromosomes seems infatuated with him, but this is really a story about trying to convince people to follow their true emotions. Yami wants a normal life, Mea is busy getting her to kill Rito, Momo wants the harem plan so everyone can be happy, Nana just wanted a friend, etc. Sure there are lots of extras that can only be seen on the DVD release, but there is more beyond the fanservice fest this franchise is known for.

There’s only one man who could have improved this scene of grown people dancing. Yes, Yamakan.

Space Brothers

This series seems to take steps backward plenty of times. Right now the buildup to Hibito’s launch was delayed by this filler episode. It’s the story of that DVD Mutta produced in the last episode. It’s a fake, but one made with care. That’s why it’s precious to Mutta. There was also the birth of Mutta’s headbutting of people bullying Hibito. Not much plot, but something interesting for someone.

There are multiple bath scenes in the same episode. What?

Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb

Hiro and Sae were still on their trip to Hokkaido, where they got up to…pretty much the same things they always do. So back at the apartments, Yuno felt the need to do something with Nori and Nazuna. So they went to the public bath. No need to do that at the end of the episode then…nope they had to do it again. You can’t go changing the formula like that.

To be fair, by the end of this scene it didn’t seem titillating anymore

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

This season seems to be all about taking social issues and creating very problematic shows about them. The main character in this show, Sorata, was forced to live in an apartment for special students who cause problems for everyone else because he wanted to take care of a stray cat. Since he was accomplished enough at that, it was decided that he should also take care of a girl who is probably autistic. That’s probably not a fair comparison, but it really looked like it from my point of view. I still want to give this concept a thorough look, however. Continuing

A few more of those and Rikka could have her own version of Botchamania

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

I was a little tentative in continuing this show for another week, and it did nothing to alleviate that feeling. The particular points of interest I had in the episode this week were Rikka insisting that Yuuta refer to her by her given name and the introduction of Kumin, whose last name is written as May 7th. It created an interesting dynamic between Yuuta and Kumin. Yuuta is so haunted by chuunibyous that he wants to maintain as much social distance as possible, while Kumin seems to adore Rikka’s enthusiasm. However, at the same time, I could have done without the filler budget busting animation of the fight happening in Rikka’s imagination.

How did you figure out that someone was hiding under that box?

Little Busters!

The story moves on in creating a baseball team to the issue of Rin’s lack of friends outside of the group. She comes out looking like a scared cat as she is sent on a quest to discover the secret of the world as revealed when she was playing with cats. The baseball scene is rather tired really. Komari doesn’t know anything about the sport, there’s no need to milk so much time out of it. Also, Riki has narcolepsy. It isn’t like that is going to be the key to saving a bunch of people or anything.

Oh no, the memory of the winner of my worst harem lead competition is coming back.

Robotics;Notes

Anyone expecting the next Steins;Gate will have been disappointed to have watched the next Chaos;Head. It’s pretty amazing how they can make two different shows in the same universe so vastly different in quality. There’s already an overpowered main character in Kaito, who seems able to destroy anyone in the in-story mecha combat game. However, I don’t expect this to simply be a show about trying to build mecha that can battle competitively. I watched both as they aired, so I can’t see why I can’t tolerate this either way. Continuing

Aladdin doesn’t discriminate based on gender

Magi

This looked really terrible. The best joke in the episode involved moobs. Every character seems hopelessly naive about the world. The first episode on its own was fine as it is, but I just can’t bring myself to continue watching this show for the prospect of continuously having Aladdin teach Alibaba morality and bail people out of situations with his Deus-Ex Machina flute. However, I could be convinced to continue this. Tentative

From left to right: Having too much fun in that role, token male character, loli princess

Ixion Saga DT

That DT at the end of the title, it has to do with the main character’s desire to lose his virginity. Yes, it’s a quest in a game world about a man trying to get laid. At least this show is up front about it. Also, Fukuyama Jun clearly has the best role of the season though I don’t think he can keep the cross-dressing maid act funny for an entire season. Otherwise, there wasn’t that much I particularly found interesting. Dropped

I had that same expression after watching this.

Girls und Panzer

“But you blogged Upotte!, why would you think this is terrible?” you may find yourself asking. This first episode suffered from a lot problems with it’s characters. It felt like there were characters whose sole purpose was to fulfill the same role as the character of Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers movies. The main character, Miho, probably has the worst friends of any protagonist this season. The student council is purely evil and one wonders why anyone would work with them. But really, it’s just girls driving poorly rendered CG tanks in the opening that killed it for me. Dropped

Washing the rice that way is about as tedious as, you get the picture.

Busou Shinki

Why did I watch episode 2 again? Maybe it was the hope that something different would happen, like a focus on the battles. This week it was really just about introducing a new character, Hina as she is called by the absent owner of the Shinkis. Ultimately, I was really let down by how the most action filled part of the show revolved around tentacles and an octopus being mutilated for food. The master needs his takoyaki after all. Definitely Dropped

Funny fact: I have tried hitting a tennis ball like that.

Teekyuu

I’m trying to write this section in less time than it took the episode. So this is yet another one of those short anime that tries to cram in as many jokes as possible in 3 minutes. In this case, most of them revolve around the lack of ability at tennis. I was there so many years ago, with enough practice and building of endurance, the inside jokes in my high school tennis team moved on to other things…but I don’t want to talk about it. Damn, it still took me longer than 3 minutes to write this. Dropped

Offscreen, defenseless animal getting beaten up. Later onscreen, high school girl getting beaten up.

Code:Breaker

This actually came up in the podcast I participated in earlier this week. The main gist of it was violence against girls was perfectly okay. As soon as an animal gets beaten up that has to be censored. Apart from that scene, I can only describe the rest of the episode as overly pretentious dirge. No interest in continuing the burning man saga here. Dropped

Argh, get it away from me.

Aikatsu!

The terrible CG will not escape me. I don’t want to have to take bleach to my eyes to forget it. Basically, this is a promotional video for a card game involving idols. The characters aren’t very interesting and can pretty much be ripped out of any other children’s card game show. The creators were probably really proud of all of that CG too. Dropped

In what universe is this even considered a good idea?

Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter

What is even worse is making something else to market recognizable brand name cars to kids. Oh my goodness, is that a Prius. Wow, that cool teacher is driving a GT-R for some reason. Why do they even let children drive cars to begin with? That’s especially true of cars that transform into mecha. That transition doesn’t fool me, not that I care enough to keep watching. Dropped

Terribad

It’s completely relevant to the plot to have men thrusting their pelvises in this girl’s direction.

Ultimate Teacher

This week’s terribad anime wasn’t that bad. It managed to go 90% of the way before there was the usual gratuitous nudity. So the story here is that in the most cosmopolitan (*cough* racist *cough*) town in early 90s Japan (where else would you see Mexicans, guys on camel back, random black guys holding spears), a new teacher is brought in to a school filled with delinquents. The head of the delinquents is Hinako, who then has to fight the new teacher to show that he isn’t needed. However, he was infused with the DNA of a cockroach which makes him impervious.

Surprisingly, I did find this entertaining enough to not put this near the bottom of my overall ranking. There was a bit of stupidity regarding Hinako’s clothing. The source of her power was in wearing certain panties. The way the dub continued to say “velvet pussy panties” repeatedly was dumb. However, that was canceled out by a visual gag where one of Hinako’s friends quickly discovered the evil teacher was wearing thousands of pairs of the same type of panty. To its credit Hinako held her own, even after another guy with insect powers joins the fight. (63.42/100)