Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
Sakura, the fangirl of this Indie band… We knew this was coming by the preview shown in the last episode. Don’t worry, it’s a bit better than the mediocre Girls Dead Monster singles I reviewed. It seems like anime these days starting to include some sort of band. First Suzumiya Haruhi, next K-ON, then Angel Beats and now, Kaichou wa Maid-sama… I think I lost track now! :p
Sakura is really cute and innocent! However, does she deserve what coming beyond the horizon? We will find out!
…
A lot had happen since I last watched Angel Beats. Episode 8 is the battle to save the real Tenshi with the reprogrammed cloning ability by Yuri. In Episode 9, Tenshi looked like she is in an eternal sleep while they have others rewrite the program. Meanwhile, we get more of Otonashi’s memories after the train crash. Otonashi I have to say is a pretty strong character that doesn’t seem to give up and give others hope, but at the same time didn’t survived after the help crew came. The whole 7 days was like you see in Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 where people are left without food and supplies and some dying on the streets. Same case scenario here, but in a train wreck and both ends are covered with rocks.
Retouching on why people end up in this “purgatory,” people come here because they couldn’t live out their youthful days, as Tenshi put it. Life can be unfair and good people might pass away even if they didn’t want to. Life has many variables that it’s nearly impossible to get an accurate meaning of life. People need to live life to the fullest and not end up with a life full of regrets. That way, people can remain optimistic and strive for their goals.
Otonashi and Tenshi seem to want to help others, even though it means that the person disappears. However, Angel Beats seems to have so many unknowns because we don’t know exactly what happens when the person disappears. Does the person get reborn as someone else or reincarnated? Perhaps humans who are in this “purgatory” don’t want to disappear because they are afraid of the unknown. We won’t know exactly until the next few episodes.
This ultimately means that Tenshi gets back her student council position and the rest of the season focusing on clearing people’s regrets? I won’t know until I watch, so stay tuned and remember to have a box of tissues beside you… It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster ride!
Album Title: Little Braver
Artist: Girls Dead Monster (Singer: LiSA)
Catalog Number: KSLA-0055
Release Date: June 6, 2010
If you haven’t heard enough of the rather mediocre music from Girls Dead Monster, there is more! A few weeks back, there was a promotional video on Little Braver, but I didn’t take a look at it because I don’t want to go and spoil it. Several weeks later, the single is released. Have LiSA improved her rather mediocre and rather forgetful performance of the “Thousand Enemies” single? It’s only slightly better, but I am still not convinced if it’s good enough. LiSA seems to sound good on the lower notes, but she still goes slightly out of tune in some areas. Not as bad as Thousand Enemies, but that is saying too much about it. The songs are still pretty forgettable and made me wish that they had better singers singing these songs…
Little Braver is the song that was shown in the promotional video. It starts off with a calm intro and when LiSA enters. This is where the good composition gets drown out by the mediocre vocals. It does sound slightly better than Thousand Enemies, but it’s slowly goes downhill from there. The songs feel pretty dull and the higher pitches like with the previous album sounds slightly ever out of tune. Not only that, Little Braver is pretty forgettable several minutes after. Little Braver is an okay song, but it doesn’t try to go beyond the mediocrity of Girls Dead Monster.
The intro of Shine Days sounds pretty well like the intro to Alchemy and it’s a pretty upbeat song. This is probably the best song out of the whole single, but it’s hardly perfect. It still have several flaws like the slightly out of tune pitches on the higher octaves and it’s slightly dull. It’s an okay song, but still forgettable like the rest of the songs LiSA has sung. It’s worth mentioning that at 4:30, her vocals are barely audible…
Lastly, we have Answer Song, which is probably the most disappointing song out of the whole album. The performance of the song felt a bit messy and somewhat dull. I don’t feel any energy in this song, except mediocre singing that could put me to sleep. Probably the worst song I heard from LiSA.
I don’t know what they are getting at by not letting the seiyuu sing! I’m pretty sure Eri Kitamura and Miyuki Sawashiro are fully capable of singing, but no! Lets pick two amateur singers that doesn’t necessarily represent Japanese Indie scene and fuck up all 9 songs! Thats how I feel about the whole Girls Dead Monster thing and it’s a big disgrace. Jun Maeda does a wonderful job in composing these songs and these singers go out and ruin the work he worked hard for. It’s just like making a good game with good game play, story and graphics and the orchestra go and fuck the music up. Like I mentioned in my rant in the last paragraph of my Pure Pure Heart single review, they choose singers that can’t sing properly and resulted in the mediocre and disappointing performance of these songs. Girls Dead Monster will never reach the appeal of Houkago Tea Time because their songs continue to have flaws with the vocals, which make them rather forgettable. Houkago Tea Time is simply more polished, sounds better and the vocals don’t go out of tune so many times that it makes me cringe.
Not only that, there is more Girls Dead Monster singles that is coming out and what can you expect out of them after hearing the first 9 songs? More disappointment. They are making a mockery out of Girls Dead Monster and milking it what its worth from the hype. Believe me, My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song sounds like heaven compared to the mediocrity of all the Girls Dead Monsters songs combined.
7.0/10
Somewhat irrelevant to HeartGold, but whatever…
After three months and a few weeks, I have finally beaten Red, which people say that he is hard to beat. Well, I managed to beat him with minutes, so yeah… Since I completed pretty much everything in the main story, I will share my thoughts about Pokemon HeartGold.
Back when the original release of Pokemon Gold and Silver came out back when I was in 5th grade, I have played this game a lot. There was only 251 Pokemon back then and I also bought Pokemon Stadium 2 for a bit more fun with 3D battling. Fast forward to today when I am a college student now finished Diamond and Platinum, when the remakes of Gold and Silver was revealed, I wanted to play it. After the English release back in March, I have started playing it and the nostalgia factor came back.
People who have played this game will notice that most of the story and the maps are pretty much the same, with minor differences. These differences included updated mechanics since the Second Generation (basically, it has everything from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum), berry trees replaced with Apricorn trees (since the 4th Generation has a different berry system compared to the 2nd generation), Battle Frontier, Pokéathlon (essentially a sports version of the Pokemon Contests), Revival of the Safari Zone and other changes to music and graphics. If you compare the graphics to D/P/Pt to HG/SS, the newer remakes look slightly better. There are some minor changes to the story to take advantage of the new graphics and such.
If you played Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, you will immediately notice that the menu is moved to the touchscreen since there is no Poketch. This allows you to easily access your Pokedex, Pokemon list, Items, Save, etc. Another thing I liked is that you can lock on to using the running shoes without needing to hold B down. Another improvement is that you can set two key items for easy access. This made it easy to use the fishing rod without needing to unset the other item. The PokeGear is pretty much the same, except that you can store an unlimited amount of phone numbers. However, this can be annoying since your PokeGear will keep ringing at random moments after you get out of a building, defeat a Pokemon/Trainer, etc.
Like in Pokemon Yellow where you have Pikachu following you, in HG/SS, you can have any Pokemon walk with you, as long its on the first slot of the Party. This is where you can find accessories for the dress up mini game like in D/P/Pt and check your mood of your Pokemon.
The game is pretty easy since I used my other game to Effort Value train the Pokemon and send them back to the game. I managed to beat the first 8 Gym Leaders in 21 hrs and 47 mins, beat the next 8 Gym Leaders in several hours later. However, when it was time to train for Red, training got very frustrating. Compared to D/P/Pt, HG/SS does not have a VS Seeker. This meant that you had to rely on trainers that call you, weekly rematches of Gym Leaders depending on the day and the Elite Four. The lack of a VS Seeker is the biggest flaw in this game because they push the PokeGear so much for rematches that it becomes a gimmick. I liked it when I can battle trainers on demand since I can level up quicker and go on. Because of this, I had to resort to trading the Pokemon to my older games, train them and send them back. I even battled the Elite Four (I deposited my money before doing this) until I lose and I do it again over and over again. Eventually I managed to beat the stronger Elite Four’s Pokemon 6 times because my Pokemon were already on Level 70s to 90s. If I had the VS Seeker, it would have been done in no time and I see this as a flaw in the game. If HeartGold/SoulSilver is the only game you have, be ready for a long level grinding up to Level 82 or higher because if its below level 82, you won’t stand a chance against Red.
Talking about Red, he was incredibly easy (Beaten on the first try after 74 hours of playtime). I beaten his whole team with these Pokemon:
If you properly Effort Value train the Pokemon along with the right natures, you will stand a better change against Red’s Pokemon since I highly doubt Red’s Pokemon are EV trained.
Another flaw with the international release is that they replaced the slot machines with this incredibly hard Voltorb Flip. Basically, it’s a game of chance that involves no risk. I don’t really care about the games, but they took away the ability to buy coins. So, the only way to get coins is beating Voltorb Flip, which I found very frustrating, even with a helper. Eventually I gave up and bought the items in Platinum. Slot Machines replaced with Voltorb Flip was simply the worst change they made in the whole game.
Now to the positive aspects of the game… The Pokéathlon is the Sports version of the Pokemon Contest. There are five game modes (Speed, Power, Skill, Stamina and Jump) depending on each performance stat. You can raise these stats by blending Apricorns and giving the Apricorn shake to the Pokemon. Honestly, I only tried Speed and Jump since they are the easiest out of the five, but haven’t tried out the other three. They consist of three events that takes advantage of the touch screen on the DS. The games are okay, but they take some time getting use to. Once you get use to these events, they will go pretty easy.
If you notice, the cartage of the game is different from the others. This is because it contains an infrared sensor used by the PokeWalker. PokeWalker, as the name suggests allows you to send a Pokemon to level up by one and raise happiness. You can find items, catch Pokemon and send watts back to your game. Basically, the PokeWalker is like those Pokemon Pikachu gigapets that you walk around with and earn watts. I’m guessing that Nintendo and the creator of Pokemon wanted to get people off their butts and start exercising. However, there are always going to be some cheaters… On Youtube, I saw people taping their PokeWalkers to phonographs and fans. They even go so far to build a MindStorm device to have it shake the PokeWalker. That pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the PokeWalker and its pretty sad.
For me, I have used the PokeWalker a few times by bring it to college to generate watts. Ever since the Spring Semester was over, the PokeWalker is sitting by my bedside collecting dust. I rarely use it nowadays since I have a lot of stuff I bring with me when I go out.
Lastly, there are a few mechanics changes to this game. Breeding for Individual Values is a lot easier since you can just have a Pokemon hold a single-stat EV enhancing item and keep the IV of that Pokemon. Like with Platinum, additional moves that was previously unavailable for various Pokemon is now available. This allows for better move set building.
Overall, HeartGold is a great remake of the original games. There were some flaws, but I enjoyed the nostalgia factor and the pretty graphics and music. If you played Pokemon in the past or still like it, I recommend this game… Although there were a few things that bothered me about the game, it didn’t impact my enjoyment of the whole game and I will continue to play it as long as I can.
One last thing… If you want to do any online activities with my Pokemon Game, my friend code 0818 6384 1156. If you want to do a Battle, I only do Level 100 Singles with no Ubers and Hax Items. Contact me via my XMPP address or Twitter (as a Direct Message) if you want to arrange a battle (See “About chikorita157″ page for my contact information). I’m usually online throughout the summer at 10 AM to 11 PM Eastern Time.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by わっこのやろう
She got distracted…
Final Exams… Does this remind you of something?
Final Exams seems to be the period of time towards the end of the school year or semester where stress levels goes to the max. Last minute studying and/or the pressure that if you don’t do well on the finals, your final grade will tank adds more to the already high stress…
As finals approach, Yui forgot about it and panics. Yes, I to admit that I was goofing off on the internet when I was studying for various subjects. The end result is that most of the grades turn out great, except one that I won’t go into since its embarassing. It’s somewhat difficult to focus on studying the material when you have several distractions like your mobile phone, laptop, television, etc. Believe me, I don’t have the study habits of Yui…
Study Groups are usually helpful, unless they goof off…
Note taking is probably the most boring thing to do. In most of my classes, teachers usually teach out of the book, which makes little sense of taking any notes and just study from the textbook. Sometimes, I record the lecture, but I forget to listen to them after I recorded them. However, there is an advantage of note taking because you study what the teacher covers so you don’t have to study the whole textbook. Also, there could be things that the teacher covers in class that isn’t in the textbook.
Going back to the show, there are funny differences on how these girls take notes in class. Mugi seems to take the neatest notes (Yui gets a copy of them), Mio draws cute things on hers and Ritsu sleeps in class like with Yui… Guess who seems to have the higher grades? No need to guess… While they are studying, Yui fools around with a crossword puzzle and distracting the whole study group. What was the purpose of having a study group if they are going to fool around?
Hyper Ultra Sadistic Mint… I don't want to know the taste or feeling of it…
Yui rans into the grandmother and she gives some snack… Yui also introduces her to Gitah.
They were so cute….
I have remembered my grandmother on my mother side taking care of me and my sister. She use to do stuff like taking us to places and doing stuff when my mom isn’t around… until 3rd grade when she got a stroke and unable to look after us anymore. By then, we are a bit grown up. She is still around living by herself in senior housing that is a few miles away from I live.
I’m guessing that Yui had a great childhood by looking at the flashbacks. Also, you see Nodoka in the last scene of the flashback. Lastly, this is the second time I saw Ui as a child which she looks really cute.
When Yui got home, she doesn’t study and practices guitar instead. Great study habits since it won’t get you very far. So, she studies more at school, but like aways seem to drift way when something distracts her.
Oh dear lord… No normal person would mix up soy sauce with sugar.
Like Azusa says, no normal person would mix up soy sauce with sugar…
Yui decides to do the talent show for Grandma as solo because she didn’t want to distract the others from studying for finals… Azusa agrees to help, but on one condition…
Azusa forces Yui to study on a schedule…. No breaks whatsoever.
And the result…
Yui still goofs off… drawing Azusa as nekomimi… Does this signify anything? Absolutely Nothing…
They practice and Grandma comes over when she notices Yui. Yui introduces Azusa to her and the Grandmother leaves. They decide on the duo name, which is YuiAzu. Next day after Yui studied all night, she finishes her exams and a day after, the talent show.
They look cute, but this is just funny…
After cracking up some jokes from Yui, they started to play a song. This pretty much reminded me of slap-stick comedies like Angel Beats… oh wait…
They play a different version of Fude Pen, which is a song played last season and also in the Houkago Tea Time single. Overall, their version of the song sounded okay. Half-way through, they ran out of time and they got the concession prize. I find the whole thing funny, but if Yui hadn’t acted so funny, we could have heard more of the song. Anyways, Grandmother was happy even though they didn’t win and they had dinner with Ui.
Surprisingly, Yui passed the finals with high scores, even though she was goofing off!
This was a rather enjoyable episode. It simply proves that there are people out there that are a lot smarter than they act. Yui is one of these characters, which seems to be this childish genki girl and manages to pull through even with the talent show. However, don’t do this in real life, especially in college because every grade counts in the end.
Next Episode: Sawako and hopeless love? Oh, this is going to be interesting!
8.8/10
Album Title: Pure Pure Heart
Artist: Houkago Tea Time (Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana)
Catalog Number: PCCG-70075
Release Date: June 2nd, 2010
1. Pure Pure Heart
2. Sakuragaoka Joshi Koutougakkou Kouka [Rock Ver.]
3. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental)
4. Sakuragaoka Joshi Koutougakkou Kouka [Rock Ver.] (Instrumental)
5. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Guitar1])
6. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Guitar2])
7. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Keyboard])
8. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Bass])
9. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Drums])
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Right in the stomach!
Well, when the show gets weirder, it get even more funnier than before! Also includes a present surprise.
Hold up… not this time…
Episode 8 is a mediocre hot spring episode. It was mediocre because they never gone inside the hot springs. Obviously they went because the water main broke in front of the restaurant and they couldn’t use water. Another funny part is Kyoko slept in and they had Satou take the girls to the springs and… he ran out of gas. Go blame BP on that (and also the damn oil spill in the Gulf that is still going on). There is some Inami development, but most of it comes in the next episode. Overall, it was a nice episode, but I think the punch is getting redundant again.
Crossdressing? Why did you ask me that?
Worth nothing that Souta seems to hate crossdressing because he was forced to crossdress by his father. Inami wants him to crossdress because her father found out that she got a present from a man and if he finds Souta, he would force Inami to quit the job.
Inami’s father is just horrible… Why would you teach a child to hate men because you don’t want her to wed? Eventually, they have to so they can raise their own family of their own. Also, not all men are bad… Kinda reflects back to Misaki’s strong dislike towards men in Kaichou wa Maid-sama. Overprotective parents are harmful to a child’s future… just don’t do it.
Souta gives in this time to help Inami. With the help of the others, we get this result:
Holy crap! We got trapped again!
At the ranks of Hideyoshi, Aoi-chan and now Souta-kun! Oh dear lord, we can never get enough traps…
Inamis jealousy of bust size again…
How it was done… Too bad they didn't keep the glasses…. It would have been a Meganeko trap.
Kyoko's reaction to Souta's crossdressing = priceless.
I can never get enough of this. Also, her name is Kotori-chan and believe me, after this episode I think we are going to see many pictures of her on pixiv/danbooru. He gets some practice from Popura and others. He became uncomfortable and wanted to quit. However, Souma will blackmail him with his cute baby picture. Although his girly voice has some feminine quality, I wished it was more feminine because it was somewhat lacking. Probably they didn’t want to overdo it, so whatever…
Now they put it to the test when Inami’s dad come. Kotori introduces herself to Inami’s father and he takes out the gun. Her father thinks the girl is a man crossdressing by how tall Kotori is… Inami runs over saying that she is a girl. Inami gets fed up and then saying that she hates her father. Who wouldn’t? If I was her, I would punch the lights out of him.
Holy crap… Kotori-chan flipped.
Later on, Kotori-chan flips after hearing what he done to Inami and s(he) almost punched the lights out of him… Who wouldn’t because he is a terrible father? Kotori makes him apologize to Inami and he leaves afterwards. This makes me think that the whole purpose of Souta crossdressing is to teach Inami’s father a lesson that he shouldn’t be overprotective of Inami and let her date men.
In contrast to Misaki’s situation with her father abandoning the family and leaving the debt behind, Inami is also in a similar situation. Her father is simply horrible, making her carry a heavy metal sheet in her school bag to hit men and showing movies that shows the negative aspect of males. I knew this would backfire at him in the end.
Although Inami’s the weakest character in the whole series because of the over-redundant punching of men, I can’t blame her because she was psychologically manipulated by her father. The fear of men is simply fabricated and eventually, she will get over it like with Misaki.
Overall, Episode 9 is probably the best episode in the whole season… Episode 8 was enjoyable, but not on the same level. This makes me think that they are pushing for a Inami and Souta pairing… What ever happened to Popura and Souta? Not Popura enough?
No, she isn't mad at you… heck, she might like you. 
Episode 8: 8.4/10
Episode 9: 8.7/10
Even though the content in this episode looks fillerish, it was actually in the manga too.
…
Unfortunately, Yui and Ritsu didn't submit their career plans…
Senior year… Time to think about what college you are going to… But Yui have not decided what she is going to do.
Talking about colleges and admission exams….
It's blinding me!
In my senior year, I knew what I wanted to be… an Accountant, but I haven’t applied to any schools since I haven’t finish taking those SATs and ACTs… I didn’t get in the school I wanted at first, so I had to transfer in after sophomore year. Not only that, taking these tests are pain in the ass.
Yui quickly faces her decision on colleges and her future, but she doesn’t know what to be… A NEET? Good idea, but do she really want to be supported by her sister and parents for rest of her life? Most people wouldn’t like to live with their parents for rest of their life… it gets pretty embarrassing.
How about “undecided”? You cannot be undecided on colleges because she has to go somewhere. Most of the time, students in college have a “undecided” major simply because they don’t know what they are going to do. Once they become “decided,” some of their courses won’t count and they have to take even more courses.
Ritsu and Yui gets called down to the facility office and of course, rejected and they try to ask about Sawako’s past. If she looks perfect, why she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet? Maybe because of her outrageous past? I don’t know…
The story on how Yui met Nodoka is pretty funny.
Crayons aren't food… Don't do this or you end up having a mark on your face.
They are usually in the same class… Some more troubles:
I don't think this is the right way to cook it.
She forgot the octopus for the recipe…
Don’t depend on Yui with anything… she manages to forget the octopus and…
Tako-less takyaki! You can laugh all you want because its so funny.
but people manages to forgive her because of her innocent looks. Don’t worry, she improved a little bit…
There is another funny moment in her life when Yui wanted to be a Kindergarden Teacher in this writing assignment assignment:
My dream is to become a kindergarten teacher. I want to become a kindergarten teacher and play with kids forever.
And the whole class laughed at her… even though she didn’t notice and yes, that is so like her… Even the other jobs are unsuitable for her including an office job.
Mio was more shyer than she is now in her childhood:
More like a bookworm at best…
Ritsu picking on Mio as a child… like she always done…
My sister was pretty shy when she was young, but it took awhile to break away from it. Ritsu have teach her well to overcome the fear of speaking to an audience for her piece of writing she got a reward on. Pretty amazing, although not everything that Ritsu teaches is useful.
Yui tries to write Musician down and hand it in and the paper got rejected because notice that she put it in the wrong area… It was supposed to be in the bottom section silly.
And yes, that make her laugh… and the first time too!
This episode is pretty enjoyable not because of some character development. It relates to my time when I decided on my future plans. I’m sure other high school seniors, college students and graduates have the same feeling. The question remains… What will Yui eventually decide on her future for real next time? I guess we will never know…
8.75/10
Sorry for the delay… I was playing Half-Life 2 (which is a good game like with Portal) and totally forgot about the last few matches… so I guess I have to write them up…
Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more. Second Page contains the Round 2 Followup. Note that I won’t be doing any digests next round since I have already reviewed all the blogs in the tournament.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by 竹家ﾕｰｷ@待機.
…
It’s more like Misa-chan playing right into Miyabigaoka Academy’s Student Council President’s trap…
…
When I really need to do these digests, I forget now since I have no classes at the moment. It was a week and a half since Spring Semester ended, so I will try to roll these posts a bit more quickly than what I am doing right now.
Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by 悠夜
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Album Title: My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song
Artist: Lia, Toda Aoi, Maeda Jun
Catalog Number: KSLA-0054
Release Date: May 26, 2010
When something gets animated, the theme song will get referred to as the national anthem.
– Ken from Seitokai no Ichizon
Typically, all the Key Anime Adaptations always had great opening and Eeding Themes (Tori no Uta, Last regrets, Megumeru, Toki wo Kizamu Uta, Light colors and others). Angel Beats is no exception to this, except the insert album songs from Girls Dead Monster since the vocals sound like they were amateurs. From hearing the songs over and over again, I think this is a pretty solid album overall with some tiny flaws (some minor screeches in a few areas in My Soul, Your Beats! and vocals being soft in Brave Song), but nothing that serious. Both songs have strong instrumentals and sound really beautiful, especially with Brave Song.
The intro of My Soul, Your Beats! has a simular feel to Toki wo Kizamu Uta (A Song Engraved in Time) from Clannad After Story… Heck, the vocals sound similar. From the song, I like how the piano and the guitar is played in the background as it gives this feeling of being blown away because of how powerful it is. Since it’s Lia, the vocals are solid. Nothing else to say about My Soul, Your Beats! as its a very good song. No need to recommend as most people will like this off the bat.
It’s worth noting that while I was listening to My Soul, Your Beats, I was comparing this song with Lia’s past opening themes with Key (Tori no Uta, Light colors, Toki wo Kizamu Uta). While My Soul, Your Beats is a good song, it lacks the emotional feel from these three songs. However, Brave Song conveys that feeling, which is the next song in the review.
Honestly, it took several listens for Brave Song to click in, but it has the feel of Chiisana Tenohira. It pretty much fits in with the whole premise of the show. The vocals from Toda Aoi seem to be a bit soft at first. After listening it a few times, it fits in well with the song although not as good as Lia. The strength of this song is the lyrics that can compare to Toki wo Kizamu Uta as it has emotions that’s not present in My Soul, Your Beats. Although most won’t get Brave Song from listening it to the first time, but after a few listens, it will click in. Maybe not like Go Go Maniac since I still can’t get over the screechy vocals from Toyosaki Aki.
By the way, Brave Song is the song that is played when the rocket goes off, which I found really strange.
From listening to both of these tracks, Jun Maeda should be proud that his Opening and Ending Themes are not ruined by mediocre vocals from marina and LiSA, but with more established singers. Lia delivered just like she alway do from all of her tracks I had listen to. Toda Aoi on the other hand isn’t as refined as Lia, but her performance of Brave Song turned out pretty good. Nevertheless, this is a solid single and is a recommended listen if you are watching Angel Beats or like Jun Maeda’s compositions.
8.9/10, A-/B+, Outstanding
Beware, this episode has a lot of MugiVision…
I bet all those Mio fanboys are raving this after they had a tea party commemorating Mio.
Fangirls are fascinating creatures…
Fanboys and Fangirls are facinating creatures that seems to love and be so passionate what they like way too much. In real life however, these Fanboys and Fangirls can get so annoying to fan haters that the fan haters and the fanboys/fangirls go out on an all out war. In K-ON!!, they seem to not show that negative aspect. No matter how much those Mio fanboys want to be at the tea party, they can’t go since it’s an all-girls school.
Considering how popular Mio is after that pantsu Nice Bowl incident doesn’t help the fact that she is shy. Not only that, she generated a lot of fans that she thought they were stalkers…
Caught Red Handed!
In a past incident, the former student council president, Sokabe Megumi is actually behind the Mio Fanclub! No wonder she knows how to make tea! Also, Ritsu tried to add some Mugivision while Mio was telling about what happened with the Mio Fanclub which I found rather funny. Not only that, the whole club plays for Megumi before she graduates… and the club gets handed down to Nodoka although she doesn’t want to…
Megumi is the biggest Mio fangirl out there that she could surpass all those Mio Fanboys in real life. Not only that, she wants an autograph from Mio signed as Mio-tan… I laughed.
Now onward to the party:
Holy crap! Mio themed items!
The speech isn’t much of a speech with Mio biting her tongue, lips and also with someone saying Shish kabob that makes Mio laugh. Fangirls love it when they see her quirkiness.
Azu-nyan and Mio cutting the cake with embarrassment.
Fangirls are still squealing…. Not only that, the cake looks nice.
Ritsu and Yui is having a field day with this…
Although Mio doesn’t like Ritsu and Yui asking about scary stories…
The fangirls are… They will be satisfied with anything…
Not only, they take advantage of this by asking Mio embarrassing questions. Also, do I smell some Mugivision going around here
They look so cute… Also, why Ritsu is in every picture? It's her pictures, obviously…
When the fangirls look at the sideshow…
They are liking it.
Mio afterwards share a very strange poem that sounds like a love poem… ouch… Next, they play “Pure Pure Heart” which sounds really good, on the same level as Fuwa Fuwa Time from the last season. At least its better than the mediocre music I had listen from Girls Dead Monster…. Ugh… Not only that, the insert single is releasing in another week, so I will probably get a chance to review the full song. Will it be better than Fuwa Fuwa Time? We will find out soon.
When they take group pictures with Mio and the fangirls, Azusa sends a group picture to Megumi who can’t come to the party. Look at how much she grew in the last scene:
Oh look how much she changed after she graduated…
Girls grow more mature and beautiful once they graduate and enter their adult/college life. Also, the last scene as pretty heartwarming indeed… especially when she is the #1 fan of Mio… Take that Fanboys~
Even though I am not a Mio fanboy, I found this episode rather enjoyable… This episode pretty much done it for me along with Episode 4 and others. It makes me wonder… What will happen to the Mio Fanclub once Mio graduates? That will leave us speculating about it until the end of the season.
8.9/10
Just don't ask why the hell I'm playing this…
On Wednesday during the week of finals, someone on Twitter was playing this game called CLANNAD spelunker, which is essentially a Clannad themed version of the original Spelunker on the Atari. If it has Clannad characters, it must not be that bad… you will be mistaken when I show how hard this game really is.
Warning: There is a lot of swearing when I made the post.
It is pretty odd to have a game such as spelunker and slap Clannad characters in it… Well, yes… it’s so out of place… Now to the gameplay:
Character Selection Screen
Although I can’t read Japanese, it doesn’t really matter since its pretty obvious. In Clannad Spelunker, you can play as Nagisa, Kotomi, Tomoyo and Yukine. I’n guessing that each character has different abilities… I don’t know… but whatever.
The goal of this game is to explore caves, collect treasures and defeat enemies… Sound easy, right? You will find out sooner…
What? I just died from that jump? WHAT????!!!!!
That is fucking bullshit! I died from that fall? Yep, I did and it wasn’t that high… Note that when you lose a life, you go back to a place in the level… Note that when you hit a checkpoint, you will get sent back there when you lose a life
The game fools you in thinking the game is easy. Compared to the original spelunker which is one hit and game over, Clannad Spelunker gives you 4 tries and you can replenish them by collecting the hearts. Not only that, its pretty hard to get on the damn ropes that you will end up falling when I realized that I need to use the double jump. You are going to use the double jump a lot to get to these places. However, the controls feels like shit that you will end up doing a single jump and lose a life because of the fall. That is fucking horseshit!
In Super Mario Bros, you can jump further without dying even if you fall from a high platform, but in Clannad Spelunker you die from a high jump. The developers made the game feel so hard that nobody can beat it in one sitting or without saving. Believe me, you are going to die a lot in this game. And yeah, if you lose all your lives, there are NO continues…
Forgot to mention, there is a save function, but I have no idea how to use it.
Seriously, this enemy looks stock…
It seems that the makers of Clannad Spelunker are not creative. We get stock characters like ghosts, bats, blobs and witches. Can’t the developers be a bit more creative? They should have added dangos or starfish… but whatever… Not only that, they have insane amount of hit points. It takes 6 hits just to defeat that ghost. Not only that, if you don’t hit them fast enough, they get you and you die… and you know thats bullshit!
Fuck! That is not fair! I just respawned there and I died just like that… Thats bullshit!
An enemy right near the checkpoint. When you respawn, you get hit again and lose a life. That is just fucked up.
What is a wedding head dress doing in a cave? Also, it looks cropped out of somewhere.
After dying so many times in getting to that treasure chest, I finally get to it and what I found? A head dress? What the hell is a wedding head dress doing in a treasure chest? I would have thought there would be something like gold, but no. I think they had done this since it’s Clannad themed. This wedding head dress from what I recalled is from Kouko Ibuki from Fuuko’s Arc. I grabbed the key and bullshit…
Fuuuuuuck! I fell and now its game over… I was so close, but now I have to do that over again? F that!
I died… I gave up afterwards since I couldn’t even beat the first level!
What is this game intended for? Certainly not Clannad fans or fan of Key…. It disappoints everyone just because the game is too fucking difficult! Even with the four lives compared to the original, it’s still too fucking hard. It even compare to the difficulty to Transformers: Convoy no Nazo, which is known to be the most difficult Transformers game out there. Clannad Spelunker is on the same level difficulty as the latter. Clannad Spelunker just redefines the definition of Nintendo Hard, a game that is very difficult and gives no mercy.
What would be my suggestion? Stay the hell away from this game, unless you like dying every time you fall or hit an enemy… This game is basically trial and error. Every time you play, you will get better until you get stuck again… and believe me… you will die a lot and I mean it!
Pros: It’s a Clannad themed Spelunker game!
Cons: Intense difficulty, poor controls, stock enemies, unfair respawning, no continues (without saving).
6.2/10, D-, Below Average
Ah, Kampfer… The Genderbending Anime that hasn’t been. Kampfer was a big disappointment across the board not only because of the excessive fanservice, but they dumb down the main character to intolerable levels so he would be hated just like Sakura… They did just that… They made Natsuru into a big idiot and a sucker for Sakura, who is obviously taking advantage of his female form. Also, he didn’t gave a sh** about the other girls who want the male Natsuru. Hell, probably the only sane character in this story might just be Shizuku… As I remembered, I only watched Episodes 1 and 6 before dropping this piece of crap… but I will go more in detail on why this show is a piece of crap.
Nogizaka Haruka Purezza’s fanservice may be bad, but it cannot compare to Kampfer. Kampfer is fanservice laden to beyond belief. The typical stuff from most harem anime plus clothing being ripped, more censor steam, boobs and then some. Not only that I heard they put references in completely random places. What kind of Anime does that? Oh wait…
From what I have seen from the two episodes I seen, It was a disaster. Girls randomly battling each other with more fanservice shots, Natsuru obsessing over Sakura, and girls obsessing over Natsuru and wants to dress him (or her) in outrageous outfits for example… That what I got from it and it definitely didn’t play well for me. What Purezza and Kampfer have in common is the weak male lead. Yuuto’s apparent flaw is that he let everyone else step over him and not being aggressive enough. However, Natsuru got to be the lamest, even Yuuto’s niceness can’t beat Natsuru’s pathetic life. Natsuru knows damn well that other girls in his harem (Akane, Mikoto and Shizuku) wants him, but he completely ignores them and go for the manipulative bitch called Sakura Kaede. Natsuru likes her because she is obviously the prettiest girl in the school, but you have to know that appearance isn’t everything. This can apply in real life. The prettiest girl ever can be the most manipulative bitch out there and wants you to do things for her all the time.
Not only that, the ending from reading it on various anime blogs shown to be a big disaster. What Ode to Joy have to do with anything? Funny thing is that Purezza took the same cue from Kampfer and did its Ode to Joy thing, but not nearly as lame as Kampfer. Want to power up, let’s take more clothing off… Bullshit! After that final scene, absolutely nothing is resolved… That is just bullshit. Not only that, people ask, what the hell we watched after looking at Episode 11. I wonder too, what did I watch/read about? A pile of shit!
I can go on with Kampfer, but there isn’t really much more to say. Kampfer disappointed everyone across the board. Not only that, they ruined the story by making the male lead even more of an idiot than in the Manga. It’s worth noting that not only the story is horrible, but the music too as what zzeroparticle said in his Kampfer Soundtrack Review:
Katou’s messing around with musical genres is a double-edged sword and while Kanno and Iwasaki are able to draw forth memorable music by doing so, Katou displays no such skill and ends up cutting himself badly because he’s simply not good enough to deliver wide-ranging music that consistently engages the listener.
And it shows when you listen to Kämpfer’s music. The task of composing a diverse musical portfolio taxes him to the limit and he doesn’t have a whole lot to give. In the early part of the track, there’s a glimmer of promise; the melody is solid, catchy even, and just when you enter the bridge, you come back face to face with the opening melody. Development? What development?
By reading this, you know that Kampfer is a pile of shit since it suffers from not so good storytelling, uninspiring and completely random music, an incompetent male lead and a horrible ending. From this, what do I expect out of Kampfer? Absolutely nothing, except watching it with other people for amusement on how shitty this Anime is. Nomad could have done a better job on Kampfer, but they bombed it like on the same level of Action 52… Maybe not as horrible as Action 52, but it’s still bad. So yea, Kampfer is probably the most horrible Anime I watched so far excluding the Endless Eight fiasco with Suzumiya Haruhi S2.
Notes: My plan was to originally rewatch up to Episode 6, but the problem is that most of the torrents by then were pretty much dead, so I have to use what I already know.
What? Now she is living at the restaurant?
Believe me, this anime gets stranger by every episode. Nevertheless, this episode was pretty good and better than the first 6 episodes
Needless to say, they introduced a new character called Yamada Aoi, who has a hair style like Mio from K-ON!. The funny thing is that she causes havoc… It’s like bringing a dog you bought from the pet store. When you leave it home, it makes a mess of the house, trying to take stuff out and pooping on your furniture. Yamada is just like that breaking dishes and cups, taking all the spices, taking shelf space for herself and causing trouble with her peers. Don’t worry though… she will be tamed soon enough.
Yamada can’t help it since she doesn’t have a family. She tried to make Yachiyo her mother, but as you know… she is obligated to Kyoko… It’s just like a boy trying to take away someone’s girlfriend… you just don’t do that (and we know that because Kyoko wants her parfaits). She also causes some drama between Satou and Yachiyo… Believe me, she is a very troublesome girl.
Not much to say about this episode, except that it is a vast improvement than the earlier episodes. The problem that was present on the first half of the season such as the over-redundant punching of men from Inami is pretty much gone that it made the show more enjoyable. I know it had potential, but under the pile of meh, it didn’t deliver. Episode 7 pretty much change that view a little bit and it is redeeming itself. However, I need to watch the last 6 episodes to be sure it doesn’t go down the same path as the first half of the season. It may have a lot of flaws, but it’s not bad overall… if the material remains consistent.
8.5/10
Summer fever sets in and I totally forgot yet again… Oh well!
Not summer yet, but close to it… Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by ミサコズ.
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Been really slow on Angel Beats! since it first aired because I want to watch it with the best subs, but now I am caught up with the 7 episodes, it’s time for my midseason impressions on it.
Angel Beats! is the Sora no Woto of this season. Sora no Woto was unpredictable because it was an Anime Original that led people to do a lot of speculation on what will happen next. We get the same with Angel Beats! since it is also an Anime Original. I can’t say if this is a good thing or not, but it makes things pretty fresh.
Angel Beats features drama and comedy stuffed into random places. Unlike previous Key Anime adaptations like Kanon, Air and Clannad, they were pretty consistent with comedy in some episodes and then drama placed in a few episodes. The pacing was consistent since they focus on each character’s arc separately. We don’t get that in Angel Beats because the comedy is jumbled up with the serious sections. This could be the small flaw of the show as a whole as it makes things feel slightly out of place, especially with Episodes 2, 3, 4, and 7. For some people, it can make people feel that they can’t take the serious scenes seriously. If only Angel Beats had 24 episodes, I would think this pacing issue would ease a bit.
The animation for the whole show is pretty good, but there are some instances that the animation looks a bit quirky as shown in the following:
Just don't ask what the animators were smoking when they made such an ugly scene like this…
Not nearly as bad, but still… mehhhh….
Well, I don’t know what the Animators were thinking when they made these scenes…
The story is pretty much up in the air. In some episodes, they focus on a character’s memory that I found pretty melodramatic and tragic, but not nearly the level seen in Clannad After Story. Since the story is unpredictable, I can’t really comment on it as a whole until the end of the season, but it remains interesting.
As for the music, they have done a very good job with the instrumentals and the opening and closing songs. The only problems I have are the singers of the insert songs as I mentioned in my reviews of the Crow Song and Thousand Enemies single reviews. The singing from marina and LiSA felt amateurish and doesn’t sound professional as they go out of tune in some instances, ruining the whole premise of the song. What they should have done is let the voice actor do the singing… but meh…
Overall, Angel Beats is pretty good, but not a masterpiece. There are flaws like pacing issues, animation quirkiness, and amateur singers for insert songs that prevents it from being perfect. If PA Works pulls through with Angel Beats, they may become a viable candidate against Kyoto Animation if Key plans to do an Anime adaptation of Little Busters!
Fanart used in this post is made by 逢鍵ゆう
Reverse Traps? NO WAI!
Kaichou wa Maid-sama at first looks like a shoujo anime, but it is pretty different not because it had a maid cafe, but it didn’t contain one of those clichéd female leads in Shoujo Anime such as Fruit Baskets, which I gave up watching after one episode. Some view this as a satire of moe and maid cafes in general, but its pretty deep.
Misaki Ayuzawa isn’t like the clichéd, “mary-sue” like character found in the typical Shoujo anime. She is a strong character that has a lot of energy, which some may view her as not taking the traditional gender role as a female. This is reinforced in several episodes. First instance is with Aoi complaining that Misaki isn’t dressing like a female would and see her smack down some purse-snatchers. Another instance is when Misaki was held hostage by two stalkers and Usui have to end up saving her by distracting them. In the latest episode during “Ladies Days” when the workers at the maid cafe dress up like men, Usui reinforces the idea that Misaki is still a woman.
The issue is that she hasn’t gotten over the dislike of men because of what happened when her father left the family and left her family with all that debt. She gradually gets over the dislike of men, but it will take some time. At first, she had a strong dislike for men, but after driving the whole class boy’s away from their festival activities and bringing them back, she became less harsh. Even though she is less harsh, she still punishes them if they break the rules.
Usui is essential to Misaki’s character development. He could be viewed as the “Gary Stu” of the show since he seems to be perfect at everything such as cooking, grades, beating people at chess, jumping off buildings with a few bruises, etc. However, that is not the point. He pops out of nowhere and get Misaki annoyed, when though he loves and care about her. Misaki finds him annoying because her general dislike of men, but I know damn well that she likes him secretly with all that blushing. Would that make her a tsundere then? Perhaps. By caring about her, he tries to protect her from trouble and try to break dislike of men.
The overall premise of the story so far is Misaki getting over her dislike of men while protecting her reputation as Class President when she is secretly working at a maid café. Obviously, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is a satire of all the “moe” factors out there. I wouldn’t be surprised that maid cafes in real life were like this. However, people who work at maid cafes can be viewed negatively since it has some negative connections to Otakus. This is why Misaki wants to keep it a secret, although those three guys at a high-class school already found out in Episode 7. However, I wonder how that will pan out next episode.
Overall, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is unlike what I have seen in Fruit Baskets… It is an enjoyable shoujo romance comedy anime that has a deeper meaning on gender roles. Not flawless, though, but if you still on the fence on this… just do it, not just because it has maids, but for the story.
I have finally decided to get myself an iPad, which some people say it’s a big iPod Touch or iPhone and seem to hate it so much. I played around with my 16 GB Wifi iPad, loading some Anime Blogs from Anime Nano and the functions on the iPad. I even Jailbroken the device. So far, my experiences with it is great and its better than any Netbook out there. It won’t replace my Macbook Pro anytime soon, but it will definitely kill netbooks or make them evolve into multitouch tablets without keyboards and trackpads.
The iPad is really light and weighing only 1.5 pounds and almost just as thin as the iPod Touch. Here is a comparison between a iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 2G, Nintendo DS, the Macbook Pro and the iPad:
iPad features a 9.7 inch LED display with IPS Technology. Most netbooks come with TN LCD panels and most of these netbooks uses CCFL backlighting, which makes them thicker and use a bit more power. There are some people that say the backlit display will hurt someone’s eyes and e-ink is better for long use! From using it for hours, it did not strain my eyes considering that it uses a IPS LCD panel. It also depends on the brightness, which the screen is set at.
Although the iPad only comes with a dock connector, there is a connectivity kit that is sold separately. It provides a USB connector that allows users to hook not only digital cameras, but USB Keyboards and headsets. Jailbroken iPads can use USB storage devices with some hacking. It also comes with an SD adapter to load pictures, but cannot play back video from it.
iPad also comes with Bluetooth. If you don’t like the touchscreen keyboard, you can pair a Bluetooth keyboard to the device. I own an Apple Wireless Keyboard which I paired with the iPad. It makes input a lot easier than the touchscreen keyboard.
The iPad is pretty minimalistic. The only controls is the volume, orientation lock and power/sleep button. This doesn’t matter much since the iPad is controlled mainly by the touchscreen.
iPad runs on iPhone OS 3.2, which is also used on iPhone and iPod Touch. However, iPad can now use iPad applications that feature more functionality than the iPhone/iPod Touch apps. I loaded Twitterriffic, a Twitter Client and some weather apps. They look amazing.
Youtube is also upgraded on the iPad too because of its big screen. Not only you can view videos in full screen, you can change the view to show other information while the video is playing. You can also play embedded Youtube videos within Safari without leaving the application like on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
MobileSafari is like the one on the iPhone, but upgraded. You can now add bookmarks to the toolbar for easy access. Since MobileSafari is based on Webkit, websites will load just as they would on the Web Browsers on your desktop/laptop. When I first unboxed the iPad, I loaded up Melative and the library updating works perfectly.
Some may be disappointed that there is a lack of Adobe Flash. This is because Flash is known to be a resource hog and the primary cause of browser crashes. Instead, HTML5 is implemented for video and stuff. Some sites are already adopting the service, but not all sites have it fully implemented.
How about WordPress on iPad? WordPress loads fine on the iPad. You can make new posts with the WordPress iPad application or the web interface. However, the visual editor does not work on the iPad nor uploading new content. This can be a problem if you want to upload pictures. The good thing is that you can write up new content and then add the pictures before publishing.
WordPress on iPad with Wireless KeyboardThe other functions on the iPad such as the iPod is just the same as seen on the iPhone/iPod Touch, but expanded. There isn’t much needed to be said about them.
The iPad comes with a full size keyboard on the touch screen, which is better than the netbook keyboard. I found that the landscape keyboard a lot easier to use, but I still need the time to get used to it. I won’t use it for prolonged use.
iPad also contains iBooks, which is a ebook reader. It allows buying of books from the device. It also allows users to import e-pub ebooks. So, if you want to import a translated light novel that wasn’t licensed yet, you can do so by converting it. I haven’t tried iBooks extensively, but it looks nice.
iPad at the moment does not have multitasking, although iPhone OS 4 will provide multitasking. Jailbreaking at the time being can give users the ability to multitask (with ProSwitcher or Backgrounder). I done this on my iPhone 3GS and I didn’t notice an impact on performance.
However, there is some things that the iPad cannot do. Viewing Fansubs is one of those things as they require a special player like mplayer to play them and iPad does not support MKV files. They need to be converted to be played on the iPad, which can be time consuming. If you want to watch Anime on Crunchyroll, it will work on the iPad, since they already have an iPad app.
Another thing the iPad won’t do is run desktop applications. Sure, iPad has an office suite and can do pretty much anything the App Store provides, but if you want to use a desktop application such as Photoshop, you still need a computer. Want to play computer games like Audiosurf, Half-Life 2, Portal or visual novels? You still need a computer for that.
Lastly, you are pretty much stuck what the AppStore provides. Unless you jailbreak your iPad, you are stuck with what you have. With a jailbreak, you can do pretty much what you want to do with it. I do this with all my devices so I can customize and add functionality that Apple won’t allow.
Battery Life so far is pretty good. For use at 50% brightness with volume set on high, the percentage didn’t drop so much… but still not sure it last 10 hours, although there are reports that it lasted more than 10 hours.
While the iPad can do most of the basic tasks such as surfing, music playing, viewing photos, email, Instant Messaging and Twitter, it still not a complete replacement for a Laptop/Desktop. iPad is the role model of what Netbooks should be. Traditionally, I found Netbooks completely stupid because they use a bloated OS like Windows and come with small keyboards and trackpads. The iPad will push competitors to change their model and start making netbooks that uses only a touchscreen, some form of Linux and using mobile processors like ARM. Several competitors are already doing this such as HP’s WebOS Slate and others.
While iPad won’t replace the computer since you can’t watch fansubs or run Photoshop on it. However, it will allow the full web experience without flash and allow you to make posts on your WordPress blog. So if you out often, you can take your iPad and make you blog post on your Anime Blog and then edit it later when you get back on the computer.
Would I recommend it? Probably, but before making fun of it irrationally and saying it is just a big iPod Touch, play around with it to see if it fits your needs.
I got a bit sidetracked yet again with the iPad. I decided to get one and it works great so far… and I got distracted and yeah… forgot about the AniBlog Tourney…
Since I have a real iPad now, I will review blogs on my iPad instead. Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more.
…
Yes, this is a trap….
It’s about that time again where we are midway through the Spring 2010 Anime Season. Working!! and K-ON!! is closely compared as they are both slice of life comedy anime. However, which one I think is better so far? You will find out soon enough.
Working!! is supposed to be a fresh new experience with the setting mainly taking place at the restaurant. So far, Working!! is not delivering because of the content. The problem I see is overused jokes or using them way too fast that they get old pretty quickly. Most of the comedy I see is slap stick or the running gag such as Inami’s over exaggerated Arrhenphobia to the point where it gets completely annoying. Because of this, Inami is the weakest character in the whole Anime and the most unliked. The only characters I like is Popura, Kyouko and Yachiyo, and there is not enough of Popura, even though Shouta seems to like her the most…. What happened? Did she became unPopura or something?
Unlike Working!!, K-ON! does not suffer this problem. Yes, the beach scenes were a bit redundant last season, but from the second season, it remains fresh to me and I still enjoy it a whole a lot more than Working!!. K-ON! is simply more polished because Kyoto Animation had experience with comedy anime in the past. The problem I can see is that A-1 Pictures doesn’t seem to have any previous experience with comedy anime. They will hopefully gain more experience once they pick up a few more comedy Anime adaptations in the future.
Now to K-ON!!. Besides from the not so good opening, I quite enjoyed it. It is slightly better than the first season and I continue to enjoy every bit of it. I have nothing else to say…
If someone saying that K-ON!! is outdated sh** and Working!! is better… That is simply bullsh**. Working!! needs to solve its flaws to be better than what it is right now. I know it has potential, but I am simply not seeing it. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it. It’s just that I am not enjoying it as much as K-ON!!. It’s simply an average comedy slice of life that is stagnating, not improving on its content…
It only took Otonashi grabbing him to convince him.
The SSS finally know that Naoi is behind the massacre, but how about Otonashi convincing him to stop this madness?
The highlight of the story is Naoi’s past. The first half of the episode didn’t matter as much compared to the second half.
Being locked up alone really sucks.
Naoi being locked up to play while his other brother does the more important stuff is very typical. This seems to happen frequently to younger siblings. Usually, the older brother/sister gets more attention than the youngest sibling. I never had that problem in my life, but I’m sure others had trying to get more attention from their parents.
This is a very important quote that will pretty much change Naoi’s life and holds some significance towards the end of his story:
You’re the one who died.
A lot of work ahead of you now…
Parents always want their children to succeed in life. Probably, the only way for a younger sibling to do gain more attention is from hard work and succeeding. However, some people aren’t cut out at some things even they put their full efforts. In this instance, Naoi swaps places with his brother so he can have an important meaning to his life, but sacrificing his previous life. Naoi faced a lot of difficulties because he was simply not good at pottery like his father and his brother. Eventually he got it with an award, but he did not do nearly as well.
Tragedy strikes and…
It makes you wonder… What Naoi achieved in his life since his father can no longer train him? Nothing. He considers himself as a failure because he does not have the skills and he have to take care of his father for rest of his life. He failed because he was trying to be more like his brother instead of being himself, which is why the quote “you’re the one who died” holds true. Being yourself and hard work is the only path to success.
Besides from Naoi’s story, the episode is a rather a good one. The joke seems to be somewhat out of place. It kind of reminded me of the previous Key Anime adaptations that had a period of comedy and then turning into a melodrama. With the pacing in Angel Beats being slightly fast, it gets out of place. Now with Tenshi on their side, will Naoi join in as well after Otonashi bringing back to his senses? We will find out next episode.
8.8/10