October 30, 2010
Kuragehime Ep2: Awkward Fear
Does their fear of the Stylish stem from an almost intrinsic psychological fear, or an irrational phobia? It would seem that out of everyone, only Tsukimi seems “immune” to this issue they all share. Mitsuki’s happy-go-lucky and positive approach is apparently a toxin to their own happy existence in their own special world where, for them, nothing can touch them.
How then would this affect them now that a Stylish has entered their world?
October 29, 2010
Amagami SS Ep17: Unrequited Love
How many of you can easily name a series where the main protagonist changed in the middle of the story? Not much I can probably tell you, which makes it a bit surprising that the creators opted to shift the perspective from Junichi to the girl in question. It is however different inc concept since this series isn’t one continuous tale, and because the lead female became the focal point at the start of her story, it doesn’t neatly qualify as a shifting of protagonists.
Still, it might do the series some good to have different focus this time around, and based on my opinion that this is the best opener of the series so far, they may be on to something here.
October 28, 2010
The World God Only Knows Flag 4: Dedication or Obsession?
We rarely get to see galge outside Japan for the English speaking world, with the exception being eroge, so it’s a bit expected for most people not to really see how big the galge world is in Japan and the culture that follows it. Galge is one of the biggest gaming markets in Japan in it’s regular and adult forms, and if you know Japan, you know there’s always a rabid following.
Normally you’d think that given it’s magnitude, quality assurance would be of paramount importance, but as Keima reveals to us, even galge can be as buggy as any Fallout game ever released.
Yet he trudges on. God does not simply give up on damsels in distress!
That burning desire for success.
Asuka Sora is considered the uncapturable heroine not because the game is hard, but because of shitty quality testing. Bugs abound such as but not limited to corrupting sound files, sprite flipping, sprite substitution, save file corruption and bricking. It’s a technical nightmare to the casual gamer, but a mere challenge for a God such as Keima. By now we all know that there is no such thing as a heroine that cannot be captured as far as he is concerned, and for him all it really requires is more than the usual effort to free. Every heroine deserves freedom.
In his own words, there are no bad heroines, only bad games.
Godraging.
Elsee said it best: He may be a goofball, he may be eccentric, but this is the reason why he’s good at what he does and why he will succeed in capturing escaped demons when others could not. Again you can call it dedication or much easier simple obsession, but in reality it’s more likely both. He may be obsessed with galge to the point of completely ignoring everything else, but you have to respect the dedication he puts into them. He plays not only because he needs to, but also because he wants to. He wants to save those heroines and see the ending.
It adds a greater degree of depth towards his character that others only see is a gamer freak who does nothing but press on his PFP all day. I’m not denying of course that it’s unhealthy and he really shouldn’t be ignoring the rest of the real world, but by now we already understand that he must have some reason why he chooses the galge world over the real world, and we cannot help but have some degree of respect for something that goes beyond simple obsession or dedication, but it’s practically his passion. Galge a part of him as him as much as his hand or foot is.
Respect his authority.
Presentation wise, I think the best part of this episode are the loops, specifically how it simulates the visual novel style of repeating the same scenes with different choices to see different outcomes, dialogues and CGs. Naturally that’s the way to play such games anyway, so I guess I should give props to the studio for trying to adapt that concept to animation, though the looping thing has of course been done before. It was funny and enjoyable to watch Keima’s struggle for perfection, his unwillingness to give up even when faced with a seemingly eternal cycle of repetition with no end in sight. It takes god-like skill and dedication to defeat bugs that are practically so hard coded into the game that the entire game’s development team even gave up on fixing it.
I think it speaks a lot about his character.
Admit it. You'd do anything to save her too.
Even if it was a great adaptation, I still have to ask myself if it really needed a whole episode to do. This is one chapter in the manga and they stretched it to fit half an hour. From a characterization viewpoint I think it did it effectively to dispel the assumptions that Keima’s just a crazy megalomaniac on the run from reality and show the dedication and passion he has for what he does, and not because he’s a candidate for the asylum.
But even if they could make it into a great 30 minutes adaptation, they didn’t need to make it one.
If this season is really running only for 12 or 13 episodes, they have a lot of ground to cover if they really want to try and finish the entire story by the end of season 2. They could cut out stuff to make it fit, but from that view making something this long doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Because I’m too brain dead to figure out what Manglobe plans for the series, I’ll assume they have a plan for it since they’ve been doing great so far. In the end this episode boils down to two: either you want a extended but great adaptation, or a shorter one to have more content in the long run.
And as much as I liked this episode, I think I’d preferred a more compressed piece from them.
He can already see the ending.
Next weak we’re getting I guess Kanon since the preview is about an Idol, and because she showed up, I guess we’re getting Haqua too. I’m curious to know actually who’ll be voicing Haqua, since so far the girls of the series have been spot on in casting, so I hope they pick a good one for her.
October 26, 2010
Yosuga no Sora Arc Review: Kazuha’s Heart
So it’s an omnibus format. If you also watch Amagami then you’ll know that the omnibus format is really just a technical term for a cosmic reset that allows the story to redo itself down a different path from a specific point in the story. Amagami does it, and so did Tatami Galaxy, as well as a bunch of other shows I can’t seem to name right now.
As for the show itself, if it can carry itself having to reset at the end of every path… well time will only tell. As it stands, with Kazuha’s route first, I think it might be able to do it at least adequately.
Everything is under control!
Regardless of series or the genre, omnibussing will always cause a story to be compressed, and this is my biggest complaint with the series and this arc so far. It feels really, REALLY rushed, because the essentials of the Kazuha route it would seem only existed for 2 episodes, with the first two episodes of the series being the typical common routes of the series, with the end of episode two being the branch point where all other routes begin. For those not familiar with the Visual Novel format, consider it the point where the stories diverge depending on the choice of the player/main character, with each choice essentially leading to a specific girl.
That said, two episodes it really cutting it close, and though I am unfamiliar with Kazuha’s route I can still tell that it was rushed to fit two episodes, with the probable cuts here and there. Kazuha’s central drama as we can see is her guilt as a younger sister and her blaming her father for abandoning her half sister.
Shock factor.
And while Kazuha’s feelings may be understandable, I can’t help but think that it really all stems from a misunderstanding on her and her father’s parts, mostly because she thinks her father is abandoning Akira when in fact she is able to be there and see when he does show that he does love her as a father. Kazuha’s anger and hate seems misplaced to a degree because she made a hasty conclusion from faulty information, and immediately believed that their father abandoned Akira just because he doesn’t “show” it publicly.
Maybe we can say that he’s trying to do it discretely, but he’s trying to do it nonetheless. I can’t fault him for that because extramarital affairs are generally frowned upon, but that’s no reason to abandon your own flesh and blood. He shows Akira the same love he shows Kazuha, and it took Kazuha all this time to realize that love itself takes many different forms, and being different doesn’t mean it is absent.
Cliched, yet touching, gesture.
What episode review would be complete without discussing SEX.
Yeah considering the amount of masturbatory fanservice this series has already shown, I guess the creators thought might as well go and do it, which is pretty much bordering the line between ecchi and downright hentai. The fansubs I got obviously got butchered by censors, especially the breast massages and the finger actions. Well you got to give them credit for getting away with what they did, even if it’s likely to leave people more than wanting.
Which means we can expect the same level of controlled gratuity for every arc. For the Sora shippers, you know what that means.
Father-daughter talk.
Sex sells, but it doesn’t always save.
So in the end my point still stands that Kazuha’s central story problem felt a bit forced, slightly artificial and rushed. To me the conflict between her and her father felt a bit trite and convenient that could have easily been resolved years ago if he just told her, and if she didn’t simply jump to conclusions about her father and her half sister. Then again, we wouldn’t have a plot if it was that simple, so as the starter arc for the series I could probably forgive it for its weakness.
It just felt rather weak all around. Not terrible, not exactly good, and not bad either. Just absolutely average. I’ll hope that the succeeding arcs are stronger than this.
You didn't think I'd put screenshots of them doing it did you?
Next week is Akira’s turn, which resets back to the branch point at the end of episode 2, whichever it is. Here’s to hoping for better involvement and plot strength in her story.
October 23, 2010
Panty and Stocking w/ Garterbelt Ep4: Lingerie Run
I totally understand the issues Briefs has with going naked, like him having to carry a massive package everyday and having to keep them away from the jealous eyes of less endowed beings who’d likely go blind if they see it.
Though of course, unlike Briefs, I have no real qualms in letting it loose should the situation warrant it…
October 22, 2010
Amagami SS Arc Review: Ai Get!
Usually when I think Hot Springs, Onsen or whatever they call it in your language, I think of a bunch of beauties bathing bare as men peep and gawk like little children. Said spring usually has an inn with good food, and the end result is usually some pair or whatever ending up together despite the guy’s habit at sneaking a peek. Not that I’d blame them because every man with a pair of testicles is subject to such temptations on a daily basis.
But for this show, there are no peepings, no inns and no good food. Only a pair in a rather isolated but actually rather romantic setting, getting together, probably getting it on, and confirming their feelings for each other.
October 21, 2010
The World God Only Knows Flag 3: A Daughter’s Pride
This is the type of megalomania you usually see in extreme fictional characters and usually applied on their fellow people. You don’t always see such grandiosity in a strange meta scale. We’re watching a show about character extending his megalomanic (sp?) muscles over a fictional character inside a fictional world. The metaphysics of this plot device will hurt heads so I won’t go into it in detail.
Megalomaniacs are probably hard to properly play. There’s usually more than the overinflated ego and the loud voice and laughter, so it takes a lot of skill to properly play one. I haven’t been very positive about Shimono’s work as the Kami-sama of galge, but with this episode suffice to say that he’s really warming into the role.
He might just pull off something awesome in the end.
Skipping TWGOK Ep2 Post…
Due to exam time and a few file related problems, I decided to skip the blog post for The World God Only Knows episode 2. As of this post Ep3 had aired so I’m going straight for that.
October 20, 2010
Panty and Stocking w/ Garterbelt Ep3: The Battle for Bartholin
Usually when a friend of mine tries to make a sex joke, I roll my eyes. I roll them even farther back when he tries to really, really extend the joke beyond a sound mind. I’ve heard a lot of sex jokes in my life as a man, which is almost 26 years at this point, so really for the most part most sexy and risque comedy is old news to me. That was until this show came along.
So really, how long can a someone extend a sexy joke gone far, far beyond it’s intention? Waaaaay far?
That’s apparently what the second part was trying to do, and actually, it did it well.
October 19, 2010
Yosuga no Sora Ep3: The First Girl?
So… is he going to kiss and romance every girl he’s going to meet?
There are at least 4 viable women here including his sister, all of them almost head over heels for him, all slowly getting reeled in by the charms of an all natural harem lead. How this will end, should he actually romance all of them, remains to be seen.
The most important question, of course, is what Sora’s eventual response to all this would be. Much more when she learns that Haru’s pretty much got a girlfriend now that’s… well that’s not her.
Medical Student vs. Anime 