Anime Blog Online

Archive for March, 2010

Found this over Twitter:

Working!! seems to be the latest victim of some bloggers who delight in harshly criticizing certain animes. Since I’m relatively new to this world, I didn’t really notice this trend until last year, when I saw that suddenly many bloggers were making fun and criticizing the anime Kampfer – I almost decided not to watch it, but something caught my attention. That was that in a very short span of time, several blogs had panned it, often in a similar style and only after watching one episode. Of course, after watching it I realized it wasn’t half as bad as they said it was. In my old blog I termed this the “wolf pack mentality” of some bloggers.

Here we should make a distinction between not liking an anime and bullying. It’s fine if you don’t like K-ON or Working! or Kampfer and write about that. You comment why you don’t like it, fine. However, many people just enjoy bullying both the show and its viewers. It appears that certain blogs exist with the sole purpose of criticizing shows all the time, and I wonder why those people watch shows they don’t like – is it only so they have material to criticize? And if you only watched a couple of episodes and then dropped it, why keep talking over and over about it?

In fact, this is related to elitism. You don’t gain respect -that is, you don’t look like you have good taste- if you don’t criticize a show every week. Elitism, criticism and taste equating that there are some shows, especially popular ones, that you must criticize just for the sake of building and maintaining a reputation. I dealt with this in another essay.

Personally I’ve been trying to avoid this, to actually look positive, ever since I started this blog. There is a scene in Aria the Origination where Alice-chan is talking with Alicia-san and she asks why Alicia never gets angry when Akari (or even Aria-shachou) makes a mistake.

I want to do something like that. I prefer to focus on the positive qualities of any show I follow – it doesn’t mean I won’t say I didn’t like something, but I won’t insist on that, I don’t want some black aura coming out of my blog. And if I don’t really like a show, I will just quietly drop it, maybe comment why I dropped it, and end of the story. For example, Queen’s Blade. I dropped it, I didn’t like it. Should I make fun of it -and its viewers- every week?

Source: My extended anime “tweets”

QFT’ed.

This is why when people ask me about Omamori Himari or Negima anime… OH WAIT THEY DON’T EXIST.

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… and another season of Hidamari ends. This time not with a poignant note or anything, since they spent the whole episode making tomato buffet, rather on a feeling that says, “we’ll be seeing each other again.” At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a 4th season is announced by the end of this year.

While I enjoyed it, as a good de-stress-ing show, I can’t really say much about the show itself. I guess that’s the thing with me and iyashikei shows, I just don’t really go talking about them much, but I do appreciate them as a way to unwind and relax without much expectations. One thing I would say about Hoshimittsu is that it’s the best season of Hidamari for me so far, mostly because it feels that SHAFT got the pacing and the time-skipping thing down well this time round, rather than the confusing chronological mess of season 1 and 2.

Liked: Yes (7 out of 10)
Rewatch: Unlikely.

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Oh Tsucchi, those words will surely come back to “bite” you again one day, heh heh.

Yeah, see.
(But… oh Anzu-chan’s such a good girl T_T)

Herp derp, another confession blocked. Yamamoto-sensei is truly an impregnable fortress of dense. Even Anzu’s sympathizing with him, hurrrrrr…

Of course I can’t forget about the first part, can’t I.

Man… Anzu sure has good genes there, then again, this is HER dream .

For a dream sequence though, god damn Gainax for ending it on such a moving tone. Even the whole sequence was infused with a dose of melancholia, despite the happy tone on the surface.

Was really worried a bit we might have another Gainax end here, hurrrrr….

Overall, Hanamaru Kindergarten has been quite an enjoyable ride and Gainax truly shows their skills haven’t rusted, making an anime that moves the heart, tickles the funny bone, tastefully excites the amygdala AND still make it a show accessible for all. There’s iyashikei, comedy, romance, drama and generally pure fun all in one package that really ends up greater than the sum of its parts. Just a shame there’s not really a very signature sound for the show, since I didn’t like the OP much and the ED’s are generally artistic experiments. OST is also a rather bland affair to me. Well, not everything’s perfect!

Liked: Very much (7.5 out of 10)
Rewatch: With the right people.

Badass DS playing is badass.

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Darker than Black Gaiden 2 is finally tying the series in from the first to the second one.

Hei and Yin’s escape from Tokyo gets more and more iffy and dangerous with every stop, latest one being Hong Kong. It’s here finally where Yin is really starting to show signs of changes… like this;

and this;

Durr hurr hurr, who are you and what have you done to my Yin!

Evil Yin is… well, disturbing. After all we know about her, seeing her saying venomous things like this with that ice-cold expression does make it very unnerving.

This episode is also finally brings in the new characters of DtB2, such as Madame Oreille, Sawasaki and Kanami (post-credits) in to the fold. I do want to know exactly what is the cause for Yin’s changes and looks like the Gaiden will be answering that.

A rewatch of Ryuusei no Gemini might be in order after this.

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Kobato and Fujimoto reenacting Tsubasa:RC

So it turns out Kobato is a dead soul given a chance to reincarnate to her beloved one’s side if she manages to collect the konpeito. And the hat was to hide a crown that somehow marks her as one.

I think I rather prefer the implied hints in the manga that said she’s actually an Angel.

But, well, given that this is an anime original, I guess I cannot hope for much there in terms of ground-breaking revelations and such. Plus this is a show running on NHK, so yeah….

So what happens is Fujimoto, using his POWER OF LOVE, fills up the bottle for Kobato which in turn, allows her contract to be completed. Her wish is granted, which means she’ll be wherever she wanted to be with initially, not at Fujimoto’s side.

Buuuuuuuut of course, it’s already been implied that her loved one was actually Fujimoto anyways, so eventually, as Kohaku explains, they’ll meet again and…

…they do! After a few years of course and when Fujimoto is finally working to be lawyer, while Kobato is reincarnated as the grandchild of some rich old family.

What’s more, thanks to some random konpeito (suspecting you here, Ioryogi), Fujimoto and Kobato both regain their happy memories of their one year together, medetashi medetashi.

Yup, happy but extremely clichéd ending.

Admittedly, I enjoyed Kobato more than I should have, mostly thanks to being able to hear cute cute cute Kana Hanazawa every episode. In fact, (or it’s just me) we even got to hear her singing get better and better every time she sings the Kobato song! Ioryogi also added a rational voice of concern to the whole thing, acting as both comedic relief and as a brake from the show getting too sugary sweet.

Overall, I’d say Kobato was a good fluff show, but don’t expect much from the story, hurr.

Liked: For Kana (5.5 out of 10)
Rewatch: No.

©2010 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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… and Gintama ends at 201 episodes over 4 years of airing.

Since I picked it up in it’s second year, Gintama has been consistently the most funniest, random and sarcastic series ever. While it’s a shounen anime technically, it NEVER takes itself seriously, except maybe in moments of serious.

With a cast of minor characters that ever keeps growing but never overstaying their welcome, Gintama was truly a fun show to watch and keep up with. I am pretty damn impressed in fact, at how they’ve kept their humour fresh all this while, with the cast poking fun at everything in pop culture. I think it’s probably harder to think of something they haven’t poked fun at than the other way round.

Man, I am so going to miss this show. That’s one consistent, weekly dose of laughter gone now. Durr hurr hurr .

Liked: Extremely (9 out of 10)
Rewatch: Maybe I should start back from the beginning and watch one episode a week till the show resumes back.

©2010 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Watch everything that sounds remotely interesting to you.
Drop those that suck after the 3rd episode.

After all, who coulda thought that Hanamaru Kindergarten would end up one of the hits of last season? Certainly not by just reading these silly season previews I reckon.

That’s why I never really write them out for my blog. You never know what turns out good and what turns out shit in the end.

But okay, here’s a list of what I intend to try out for this season:

• Angel Beats
• Arakawa Under the Bridge
• B-gata H-kei - “Bishojo virgin high-schooler seeks 100 casual sex partners.”
• Hakuouki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~
• Heroman – Let’s see how Japan rapes American culture.
• Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaoh
• K-ON!! – Just because I know townberry’s gonna watch it anyways.
• Kaicho wa Maid-sama! – Shoujo guilty pleasure.
• kiss x sis
• Mayoi Neko Overrun!
• Sarai-ya Goyo – Noitamina
• Senko no Night Raid – China-dresses
• WORKING!!
• Yojohan Shinwa Taikei – Noitamina

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A-tan!!!!! わ～。°（°´д｀°）°。～ん

And so, Athena and Hayate’s “End of the World” arc is resolved, with a tearful confession and subsequent farewell. I truly feel it was rather sad and a huge sacrifice on A-tan’s part to let Hayate go back, but well, love is..

Of course, there’s still a bunch of unanswered questions and Hayate’s missing older brother to expand upon, but for the time being I guess this will wrap up the extremely dramatic vacation arc of Hayate no Gotoku.

To be honest, I wonder how Hata will handle to the transition back to the comedy mode. Or will he continue making Hayate no Gotoku a lot more serious than before?

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One girl.

Her trumpet.

An imminent war.

Who will triumph?!

(man this would be so perfect for a movie poster)

Well, there’s a rhetorical question if there was ever one.

Despite myself, I teared up a bit when Kanata started playing Amazing Grace in hopes of getting the message down on both sides. It was.. well, a brave and noble gesture. Oh well, what am I to quantify that, all I know is that it was pretty damn touching.

Princess Rio!

Of course, Kanata’s not the real reason the war stopped. Rio finally appears in the nick of time, as expected, bringing along a whole Royal Guard detachment to announce the peace deal and end the war for good.

And it even ends well for her, despite being betrothed to the Roman Emperor, who is apparently a great guy despite the rumors we’ve heard earlier, and actually let her went back to Platoon 1121 to enjoy her youth, hurr. Now I kinda wonder what he looks like and all. It’s kinda sad we don’t really see much of the Romans apart from dear Aishah.

Overall, I guess So-Ra-No-Wo-To was a nice show, even if it was a bit underwhelming at the start. Heck, the world seemed more interesting than the characters (…well actually it still is), and I think there’s quite a good opportunity to expand the universe here. Not like they haven’t capitalized on it, with a DS game coming out and all. And there’s also still 2 more unaired episodes as well, not like it’ll probably contribute anything big to the whole story or whatsoever.

Still, Soranowoto was surprisingly engaging after a while (and with lowered expectations), especially on the episodes where Rio was leaving them, and this final episode in particular (as gimmicky as it was). Oh and I guess the Mafia no Woto episode was pretty damn funny too, even if it failed a bit. It also gave us one the of the best OP’s this season, Hikari no Senritsu, which is probably going to be on my “favourites” playlist permanently.

Liked: Yes (6.5 out of 10)
Rewatch: Not in the foreseeable future.

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Hurr… why so emo, Tsucchi?

Despite the dramatic change of mood and tone, I quite liked how this introspective episode was done, especially when we thinking that Tsucchi was actually depressed over his failed confession last week. Turns out he went waaaaaaaaay past that and in to truly deep and dangerous territory; the meaning of working. Only one more step to the really dangerous spiral that is “the meaning of life”. Seriously, whenever I fell in to that whirlpool of thoughts, I truly felt that life was pretty damn meaningless.

Thankfully, Tsucchi has great friends around, and Anzu really shined through this episode with her persistence to cheer up Tsucchi. Coupled with a few nudges by Sakura-senpai, looks like that was enough to elevate him back out from that dangerous condition.

Also, this episode offered to explain a little about the reason behind Yamamoto-sensei’s “denseness” by using the “I have an objective to achieve.” reason. Quite a lame copout, I thought, but at least Tsucchi got to know about it. Let’s hope it does motivate him to do better from now onwards.

Finally, the preview is saying that he might be confessing to her, again, in the final episode. Wonder how that’ll turn out, considering what was just achieved in this episode.

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