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Archive for December, 2009

First part of my 2009 in Review article. Only shows I’ve completed watching are in this list, divided in to four tiers of descending “accumulative entertainment value”.

GOD Tier

Bakemonogatari

Senjougahara-fascination in full swing.

Toradora

Poor Ami~n

Maria+Holic

“o..o..o..o..onii-sama no. IJIMEKKOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Ristorante Paradiso

Almost made me gay for megane-jiisan’s

Eden of the East

Mass Naked NEET Event.

Seitokai no Ichizon

I’m still rooting for Key-kun’s Harem End.

Awesome Tier

Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo

Epic space colony battles. Badass Asimo deserved more screentime.

Saki

Rin Shan Kai Hou is rather cheating.

Kanamemo

Lolicon Hocchan and musical episode made my Season.

GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class

Most educational anime I’ve watched this year.

Sora no Otoshimono

Flying panties are awesome.

Kuchuu Buranko

Second most educational anime I’ve watched this year.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei

Resolves a lot of questions for the series + lots of focus on Rika.

Okay Tier

CLANNAD After Story: KEY should stop using those deus ex machina devices so much.
Zoku Natsume Yuujin-chou: Needs more youkai.
Denpateki na Kanojo: The fastest way to happiness is to look awak from reality.
Asu no Yoichi: Better than I thought.
Hayate no Gotoku 2nd Season: J.C. Staff redeemed themselves.
Fight! Ippatsu Juuden-chan: Would’ve been Awesome tier if they didn’t overuse the urination trope.
Taisho Yakyuu Musume: Would’ve been Awesome tier if they won the last match.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: Did KEY had a hand in writing the last few episodes for this?
Ontama: Short and (bitter)sweet.
Darker than Black Ryuusei no Gemini: Didn’t learn from its predecessor.
Aoi Bungaku: Batshit insane Nana Mizuki was the highlight.
Kanokon OVA: Rather iyashii-kei, surprisingly.
Nyan Koi!: Just barely in here.
Suzumiya Haruhi II: Not counting Endless Eight that is!

Shit Tier

Kurogane no Linebarrels: Only watched it for the name similarity.
Asura Cryin’: Causality loops are mindfucking.
CANAAN: SUGOI SUGOI SUGOI SUGOI
Chrome-Shelled Regios: Felli was in the wrong show.
Tales of the Abyss: Even gg didn’t finish subbing this shit.
To Aru Majutsu no Index: Adaptation Decay.
Gundam 00 2nd Season: The Innovator’s names.
WHITE ALBUM: Give me back my boyfriend.
Tower of Druaga The Sword of Uruk: Needed more Ropers.
Munto TV: Pretentious as fuck.
K-ON!: A music anime with sucky music.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni: DEEN Adaptation.
Princess Lover!: Took itself as a joke.
Kampfer: Ode to Joy.
The Sacred Blacksmith: Cecily is annoying.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza: WHITE ALBUM wannabe.
11eyes: The sex in the penultimate episode was just a vision? GODDAMNIT.

In total, 43 shows completed this year. I’m surprised at how much I managed to watch despite thinking about how slow this year was. Then again, I never did keep track of the number of shows I watched for the last few years…..

Part 2, which consists of other miscanellous accolades, should be up tomorrow!

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FUCK YEAH JUN-CHAN!

Because mahjong is the way to settle international diplomacy. RISING SUN, BITCHES.

P.S. Taro Aso is a cool motherfucker here.

Next stop, China, ROFL. I can’t wait till they get to the Hitler arc.

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Fuck yeah, I missed this shit. Yabuki-sensei is truly the master of Fanservice-moments, even if he can’t tell a proper love story for shits and giggles.

There’s even a To-LOVE-ru cameo too!

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Finally, after 4 months of waiting, the noble people of Witch-Hunt has delivered! Episode 5 of Umineko just 48 hours before C77 starts was kept to, amazingly!

Before reading, be warned this is a seriously long post (72 screencaps) and it has spoilers, so if you haven’t read the VN yet, be forewarned!

>>After a long wait to grab a copy of the game, finally installed and starting.

>>Begins with a very short recap on all the Beato gloating scenes…

>>I think the previous episodes have made it clear, but Strauss is a fucking idiot. Poor Natsuhi.

>>Hmm, Kinzo’s spirit says that Beatrice will help the “true head” of the Ushiromiya family, and the position is not passed through blood, but through spirit and conviction. Is this implying something about the game?

>>So… Beato vs Battler has been resolved, but Lambda and Bern are hijacking the game pretty much for their own entertainment, resulting in Beato’s catatonic state.

>>Damn, Bern is way scarier than Lambda. She can make you think she’s helping you, but she’s actually only caring about herself!

>>Just as expected from Rosa, making Maria think it’s her fault she can’t go to Disneyland when it’s actually because she wants to attend bad meeting.

>>Huh, Natsuhi has another child?

>>And he wants revenge for…. 19 years ago? Wait, isn’t that close to Battler’s age…..

>>Bern and Lambda’s banter are sickeningly sweet and gross… “Ooh, you’re gonna dip me and bean paste and bite me? But in that case I wish you would dip me in hone~y. In return I’ll cook you in sugar water” whaaaaaaat?

>>Shit, Battler’s description of Ange’s diarrhea was pretty damn gross.

>>And the first day begins in earnest. Battler has to be reminded about the epitaph again.

>>”The witches keep calling me incompetent.”… well, that’s because YOU ARE. Sometimes.

>>And Erika finally arrives! Nice BGM.

>>Interesting, Lambda and Bern brought Battler to the Sea. Or Ocean. Yes, the place where all the Fragments are.

>>Epitaph solving time! Lots of important clues are expanded upon and new ones are given.

>>LOL, Beato are you going to punish evildoers in the name of the Moon? (Hey someone do a SailorBeato spin-off)

>>“intellectual rapist”

>>She really is an unpleasant woman… with a small heart too.

>>LOL WUT? The man from 19 years ago was Lambda changing her voice to scare Natsuhi? Geez.

>>Ange….. ;A;

>>Lambda and Bern show off more of their unpleasantness….

>>Okay that’s something I didn’t know. So Umineko’s pretty much a record-setter in the mystery genre now?

>>Ahaha.wav, she sure got told by Battler here!

>>Gohda…..! You just can’t resist being a pretentious prick even at the wrong times eh? Learn to read between the damn lines! Poor Natsuhi.

>>And Dlanor finally debuts!

>>LOL, the Siesta’s are hillarious as usual. “turn caps lock off and try again!”

>>Damn, this showdown between Mystery and Fantasy is going down way more intense than I expected.

>>This part is just so hillarious no matter how many times I see it. Die the Death Sentence to Death Great Equalizer is the Death.

>>”I wouldn’t put it past Grandfather.” amirite?

>>Yeap, I sure wouldn’t put it past him!

>>Battler vs Dlanor is epic.

>>And so was this…

>>Oh god dere-dere Beato!

>>Man, Erika SURE GOT TOLD! Ahaha.wav

>>Yeap, I wouldn’t put it past Grandfather!

>>Awww… shucks, more dere-dere Beato. Do EET, Battler!

>>Fuck yeah Battler!

>>Erika SURE GOT TOLD. Again.

>>This totally made me like Dlanor.

>>”Please stand. On one leg.”

>>Whiny bitch.

>>……… what????!

>>Are you a pervert?!

>>… crazy bitches.

>>Okay, she really is a pervert.

>>Also, a bitch as well.

>>Ouch.

>>Double ouch. Critical hit to Natsuhi.

>>She has to rub it in some more too.

>>Rapeface Dlanor :3

>>Dammit! Stop defiling poor Ange any more!!!

>>More rapeface Dlanor :3

>>Too bad he can’t use the red truth yet.

>>Noooooooooo! Battler dies?!!

>>Wait… what?!

>>Shit, that is fucking low.

>>Those damned witches.

>>Lol, so the Sisters are American?

>>Nasty pair is nasty.

>>That was a rather short Tea Party. Well, on to the Ura Tea Party.

>>Beato ;_;

>>That’s true. It would be pretty weird if we just assumed there are no hidden doors, traps, poisons, etc in real life.

>>Dlanor provides help to Battler by explaining the purpose of the Decalogue. I have to admit, what they are discussing here is pretty true. The Decalogue is a useful guidepost to start thinking from. Also related: P=NP problem.

>>Haha, I agree with Lia here.

>>LOL poor Battler getting teased by Lia and Dlanor.

>>Finally realized it?

>>”Tsundora”, lol. More like “tsundere”.

>>I wonder what Battler figured out?

>>Beato! ;_;

>>And the counterattack begins!

>>Endless Sorceror time!

>>Fuck yeah, Endless Sorceror Battler!

>>Lol, getting counterattacked by the Knox rules they so arrogantly used must hurt.

>>Dreamenddischarger! FUCK YEAH RONOVE! The “Yes , your majesty!” was epic win.

>>Owned by Kinzo. Again. Suck that, bitch!

>>Even the sisters join in the fun.

>>And the Golden Truth strikes!

>>Hey, Lambda’s not that bad.

>>Lol, trying to push the blame back to Battler but failed. Didn’t Bern already proclaim she gave Erika the Detective post earlier?

>>Man, that was seriously one crazy way to argue back.

>>Oooh, Erika made Bern angry!

>>Bern… is really horrible.

>>Dlanor comes to Erika’s defense.

>>You had better keep to that, Battler!

>>So, rematch in the next game?

>>And the game ends.

Phew, that was a shorter read than I expected it to be. Episode 5 proved to be a great opening act for the Chiru arc of Umineko, although it introduced a whole number of new concepts and characters (Dlanor is more awesome than I expected), as well as drastically unveiling the true natures of some of them.

For example, while it has been shown Bernkastel is one cold bitch, she really lives to that and more in this arc of Umineko with her ruthless piece of “Erika” and how she generally treats everyone else in the game. Heck, she’s actually making Lambda look harmless in comparison. I wonder how will she top this off in Episode VI.

This Episode also is pretty crucial for explaining a lot about Natsuhi and how dedicated she is towards the Ushiromiya family, and I have to say I felt really sad for her when she was wrongfully accused of the crimes in this iteration. Even worse was when Bern and Erika implied she committed adultery with Kinzo. Man, that was a seriously low blow.

Also, Beato’s gone in the end of the Episode, and it’s now up to Battler to do battle with Erika and explain all the mysteries that have been presented so far. I’m having mixed feelings about that really, but it does make Battler’s transition in to the Endless Sorceror logical.

Well, Episode VI is due out soon. Let’s all pray Witch-Hunt can release it in 4 months again. I’m still seriously impressed they made Episode V in time for C77. Good job!

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Uh…. what is that? Is that what I think it is?!

This scene was surprisingly unexpected, making it rather hawt.

D’aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw Suou dying….. ;A;

And Yin finally gets to speak to Hei.

The only clue of what happened between them in the Gate’s core.

And Suou didn’t die! She just got transferred to the other world.

While apparently, Hei and Yin just disappear in to the night sky. Or something. I don’t know.

So… apparently the prophecy didn’t mean destruction of the world… it was the creation of a new one. Or something. I don’t know. This episode raised more questions than it answered! Like the first season! Only worse!

While most of the Suou-related mysteries are answered, in their place we get a whole new set of questions… like what exactly has Yin evolved into, since there was a mention of “evolved dolls” and it was implied that July is one of them. Evidently they add in back emotions to the Doll, but it apparently also gives them powers to take people’s souls(?). Also the exact mechanics of Shion’s copy power and the ME Network shit are kinda left vaguely answered, and most importantly was how the heck they populated the alternate Earth Shion created. Did they… use Hei’s h4x Contractor power?

And there’s also Madame Oreille, with her oh-so-fabulous futuristic sentai bodysuit and hover car and her part in Shion’s plan. I will assume that they wanted to recreate the original Earth… but it seems she didn’t leave the Gate world in the end, staying behind. Looks like Mao a.k.a Ricardo and her go a LOOOOOOOOONG way back too.

And finally… what really happened to Hei and Yin? They pulled off another disappearing act this time too. Gawd… I just wish… wish… that we get to see more of them. It was seriously… disappointing at how ambigious this ending was. I am just going to pray that the OVA’s coming out with the BD releases will provide a proper picture of what happened to them. Also I guess a rewatch of this series is in order as well…

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As promised, the swimsuit fanservice episode. Without actually going to the beach! Instead we have curry making…. LOL

First off… welcome back good ‘ol pervert Kuroko! It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen her overbearing, exhibitionist side.

ICE BURN there much, Kuroko?

Saten… unexpectedly has a pretty nice rack there.

Kuroko has to choose the darndest swimsuit of all the designs that they have there.

Uh…. what?! Well, this is definitely extreme. Sad choice of accessory though.

I did LOL a lot at Uiharu actually playing with the python and thinking that it’s cute and all.

And Konori-senpai just totally blows everyone out of the water with her dynamite proportions.

Introducing…. the Biribiri Rice Cooker! Guranteed to save you over 99% of your electric bill!

Ahahah at the Touma cameo at the end and Mikoto accidentally broadcasting herself playing with that childish bikini to the whole city.

Also, Railgun confirmed for next season too! Preview for 14 looks like it’s gonna be another anime original episode. Eyebrows from earlier is reappearing too.

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BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER.

Man, checking Tokyotosho is so integral to my online experience that it was hard for me for the past week to adapt to the fact it’s down. Well, it’s basically (one of) my homepage(s) and it was sad seeing the Tachikoma every time I loaded my browser.

Here’s to hoping TokyoTosho will stay up and coals to be delivered to a certain place.

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While I’m still not done done with my Honey & Clover rewatch (Gonna ‘restart’ it after I’m done with Midori no Hibi, since that’s the one with a deadline) and also not done deciphering this interview with Umino Chika in Manga Kitchen, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to bear with this little teaser:

usagijen: I just read this “Manga Kitchen” book/mook/whatever
usagijen: which features various manga series wherein “food” is a motif of some sort
usagijen: or that food, in some ways, had a significance in that series
usagijen: thought it’d be soo relevant to scrumptious!
usagijen: and it so happens that H&C is featured in that book, the very first one too.
usagijen: ever wondered why the opening of H&C is the way it is?
Seleria: nope
usagijen: apparently, food was like one of the main motifs in the show. there’s no one episode where you don’t see the characters eating something
usagijen: then in the interview with umino chika, she likened love to food.
Seleria: uhuh
usagijen: you eat it, becomes part of your system… gives off different flavors. can be sweet, bitter, sour, etc
Seleria: if you have too much you’ll get fat?
usagijen: that too
Seleria: and if you don’t, you die?
usagijen: hahahaha
usagijen: but hey that could be too!
usagijen: thought of other analogies as well
usagijen: depending on whether you ‘let go’ and move on from a bitter experience, you end up letting it out of your system completely (excretion lolol), or it becomes a poison that’ll make you rot
usagijen: now I’m making things up haha. but it could still be possible
usagijen: it was also said that for takemoto, food was there when he fell in love (first encounter with love), coz he had these croquettes morita gave him that time (he asked hagu if she wants to eat it with them).
usagijen: then it was also through food that he saw the ‘end’ of the said love… the honey&clover sandwich
Seleria: lol
Seleria: you’re reading a lot into this
usagijen: nonono. these came from chika umino herself (except the food-love analogy bits that I added)
usagijen: so it’s.. official!
Seleria: ahahaha
Seleria: ok
usagijen: which explains why the opening is the way it is
Seleria: so that’s why there was scary food there )
usagijen: oh, something was also mentioned about the weird foods that hagu and yamada were into
usagijen: something about… the perception of women re: food or what.
usagijen: like, girls can see food as ‘cute’ (moe? lol)
usagijen: but guys can’t understand it
usagijen: how food can be cute
usagijen: somewhat like guns are for men, according to umino chika-sensei haha
Seleria: huh
Seleria: food is cute
Seleria: …….
usagijen: food can make us feel moe. for guys, not quite so
Seleria: maybe i am a guy
Seleria: )
Seleria: im pondering on
Seleria: what makes food cute
Seleria: coz i cant see it
usagijen: lol
Seleria: but i love pudding
Seleria: )

Merry Christmas everyone! Till I come up with a coherent post out of this ‘Food Motif in H&C’ topic, ja~!

Related posts:

1. Life Goes On… with Honey and Clover
2. Remembering Love On Halloween: Daa! Daa! Daa! and Aka-chan to Boku <3
3. Beyond the Blogging Crossroad Part 1: A So-called “Love Affair” with Animes

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Wishing a Merry Christmas to all my readers celebrating it today!

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Hurr… that wasn’t too bad for a final episode, discounting the stupid CG DRAGON Kinzo turned in to. They pretty much captured most of the important points of the Tea Party, including the small bombs (LOL). Obviously though, they failed to capture the epicness of the Red and Blue word spamming properly. I mean, Beato barely fought back and just pretty much wanted to let him kill her from the start! Also, they totally forgot about the fourth game. Like, LOL WUT?

As for Ange’s death… could’ve pull that off better. I am a bit sad they didn’t put in the burger joke at the Ura Tea Party lol.

Overall, I’d say Umineko anime was pretty much another adaptation failure, but at least it got more people interested in the series! I can bravely say I am one of them.

Ahhh, I can’t wait for Episode V!

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