This is a Popura centered episode even though it’s quite obvious what happens in the end. Souta still doesn’t want to crossdress to make Popura happy… Also, its pretty obvious that after she saw his tall sisters, she lost faith in him.
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Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
This is a Popura centered episode even though it’s quite obvious what happens in the end. Souta still doesn’t want to crossdress to make Popura happy… Also, its pretty obvious that after she saw his tall sisters, she lost faith in him.
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Ah, summer, it’s that time of season where you want to be at the beach (unless your beach is polluted by BP’s oil spill, damn bastards) or at the pool. What happens if you are stuck in school? Well…
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After Souta reluctantly crossdressed as “Kotori-chan” so Inami could keep working in the restaurant, Popura, the one that Souta likes now have a desire of wanting Souta to crossdress as a girl. You know that most males do not want to crossdress… They would not even do it for love? Also, in Episode 11, it becomes so tense that Yamada thought about this love triangle between Inami, Popura and Souta.
…
Sawako is under pressure because she wants to keep her pure image around the freshmen. However, the former members of “Death Devil” want her to participate in playing music at a wedding reception since the bride thats getting married used to be part of the band. Sawako refuses and the Light Music Club devises a plan to eventually force her to play.
You might be wondering how well they will perform without Sawako. We will find out soon enough.
In the last season, Sawako revealed that she had a wild past because the boy she wanted liked wild girls. However that pretty much backfired as she went too far and he rejected her. If she was so talented, why she stopped now? It’s because purity and hardcore death metal does not mix.
Wait… Haven’t I seen something like this before?
When I saw the girls in K-ON spying on Sawako, I thought about Nogizaka Haruka Episode 4 when they were spying on Hazuki. In the the first half of the episode is focus on following this one person. It was the same, except it was a lot shorter and the girls got caught as you will find out.
The funniest thing that happen when the girls were spying on Sawako? The short, light brown hair woman noticed them all along.
In the end, Yui cries because she spent the most amount of money. It happens because sometimes, we want the best and the greatest that we sometimes spend too much money.
By the way, that girl… isn’t she…
Actually, she is a nice person. Her name is Norimi and she finally tells them what is going on. She wanted Sawako to play with the former members of Death Devil at a wedding, but Sawako declines. It’s pretty difficult since Sawa-chan had image problems.
This scene is probably the funniest scene in the whole episode. Passing notes during class is somewhat typical when students are up to no good. Mugi passed notes to Mio. then to Yui and Ritsu. The reactions from Yui and Ritsu is hilarious. Yui says that Mio’s handwriting is cute and Ritsu draws some scary shit that would make Mio laugh. The response is pretty obvious. Sawako catches them and they get time out in the hallway as Mugi had wished for…
Usually, standing in the hallway is a punishment like shitting in a corner… It’s so elementary, yet the girls make standing in the hallway a fun punishment. I highly doubt it will happen in real life, but it was pretty funny.
Now that they were unable to get Sawako to participate, they help Norimi and dress outlandishly…
Whose idea was this? Well, of course, Norimi’s!! You know when something doesn’t feel right, but you don’t want to blow your image, but you have to do something… Sawako flips, went on stage and started to play. She blew everyone’s expectations away on Death Devil. After performing, she realizes that she had done it and her image is completely ruined!
In the end, I knew that the girls couldn’t pull it off because it’s not their type of music. It seems that they do better with fluffy J-pop music instead of metal and I don’t blame them. Some people are simply better at a niche than others.
Well, I guess Sawako would be popular either way, so it’s no use of holding what you like most back. Sawako shouldn’t be so worried about the past because she is so talented. People change and grow up once they graduate in high school. The students aren’t going to make fun of her just because her past. Heck, they might even be amazed about it. Lastly, people look up to others who are talented, so she take advantage of that. If she does, she will remain a good role model.
Next Episode: It’s so freaking hot… can’t move… Yep, summer is in full force and you might be wondering… Where is the Air Conditioning?
8.9/10
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
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…
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?
Yui rans into the grandmother and she gives some snack… Yui also introduces her to Gitah.
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.
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…
And the result…
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.
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.
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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Well, when the show gets weirder, it get even more funnier than before! Also includes a present surprise.
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.
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:
At the ranks of Hideyoshi, Aoi-chan and now Souta-kun! Oh dear lord, we can never get enough traps…
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.
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?
Episode 8: 8.4/10
Episode 9: 8.7/10
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….
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.
They are usually in the same class… Some more troubles:
Don’t depend on Yui with anything… she manages to forget the octopus and…
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:
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.
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
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
I bet all those Mio fanboys are raving this after they had a tea party commemorating Mio.
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…
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:
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.
Fangirls are still squealing…. Not only that, the cake looks nice.
Although Mio doesn’t like Ritsu and Yui asking about scary stories…
Not only, they take advantage of this by asking Mio embarrassing questions. Also, do I smell some Mugivision going around here
When the fangirls look at the sideshow…
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:
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
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:
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…
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.
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!
An enemy right near the checkpoint. When you respawn, you get hit again and lose a life. That is just fucked up.
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
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
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:
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
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…
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.
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.
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.
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
Yes, it’s rainy season and it sucks badly… April seems to be the month where it rains so much that you need to wear a raincoat or use an umbrella. Not only that, outdoor after school activities get canceled or put indoors because it is so wet out. There was a few occasions in my life where I stood out in the heavy rain for an hour. After going inside, I was all soaking wet, even when I have an umbrella and jacket on. Yui is the same way, trying to protect her Gitah. Getting wet by cars splashing water, puddles, a dog and falling down to the ground. This is a reason why Yui is wearing this maid outfit. I wished she kept it on since it looked so cute, but oh well…
This is a funny thing since hardly anyone would dry their clothes in the dark music room. Well, you have to put it somewhere so it could dry. However, Ui never broke the news that it was Yui’s and it left hilarious reactions on Azusa’s and Jun’s part.
Azusa discovers online shopping where she bought various things for cheap such as a guitar raincoat that comes with a guitar desiccant, a wall mounting guitar hangar, finger trainer and a training CD. Azusa really loves to buy random things online. Buying online is usually beneficial as it costs less and you can buy items that is normally not sold in stores in the comfort of your home, but some might get too overboard and then have their place filled with unnecessary things lying around the house or apartment.
When Yui starts replacing the strings in her Guitar, the funniest scene happen when Azusa said that Yui shouldn’t talk so dearly to her Gitah every time. This makes everyone else think that Azusa is jealous of Yui and saying it is a love triangle. I laughed.
Musical Instruments are very delicate and very sensitive to temperature and moisture. I know this because my Clarinet is made out of wood. However, I won’t go so far and wrap it with plastic and tape. It is pretty foolish because it’s hard to take off. This is why all the members decided to leave the instruments at school, but…
There are some people that are emotionally attached to their musical instruments like with Yui. This is because Yui brings it home every day so that she can practice on it and even sleep with it! Normal people won’t do that with their instruments, unless they are like Yui…
There is some things in life that some people give names to… Computers, cell phones, instruments, Weighted Companion Cubes (no, I’m just kidding about the cube part)… you name it! I even name my computers and my iPhones after my favorite anime characters such as Fujibayashi Kyou on my Unibody Macbook Pro. Laugh of me if you want, but I am proud of it.
Yui suggests naming her bass “Elizabeth” which Mio refuses to call it by. However, Mio calls it “Elizabeth” by the end of the episode, with the others peeking at her and giggling. Azusa also calls her guitar “Muttan.”
In the end, this was a pretty fun episode with the girls doing some funny stuff… To my surprise, what will Ritsu and Mugi name their instruments?
8.7/10
Album Title: Thousand Enemies
Artist: Girls Dead Monster (Singer: LiSA)
Catalog Number: KSLA-0052
Release Date: May 12, 2010
The Crow Song Album and marina’s singing has proven to be mediocre because something was missing from the vocals… expression! As a result, the vocals sounded so dull and flat that it lessened the playing of these songs. If I were Jun Maeda, I would be crying in my sleep because the vocals ruined my music composition. With the new singer for Yui-nyan, do you expect a fangirl of Girls Dead Monster to sound better than the predecessor? I have to say that the vocals in this album sounds marginally better than the previous, but it is not perfect.
If we compare the instrumentals from Crow Song and Thousand Enemies, there are some obvious differences. Crow Song had more energy, but not so good vocals. In Thousand Enemies, we have better vocals, but lacks that energy shown in Crow Song. So, there is a tradeoff here: more energy but not so good vocals or good vocals but lack of energy. Pick your poison! Also, I found something wacky with the vocals midway of the song (around 3 minutes in) in the following:
Mayotta toki ni ha kokoro no chizu wo atashi ni misete hoshii
Sore nara yukisaki sugu wakaru kara
Jibun ja wakaranai dake
Something doesn’t sound right with these lines. It seems that LiSA’s vocals for those phases went out of tune or something… Overall, it is a good sounding song, but not nearly as rememberable as Crow Song, despite the not so good vocals.
Rain Song sounds like a JPop Rock song. Comparison to Alchemy, this song seems to be more polished since we don’t have stuff like vocals going out of range. Like with Listen!!, they seem to play it safe after the big disaster they have with the vocals on the first single. Not perfect, but a good listen.
I can’t say that the albums aren’t consistent as it follows the pattern from the last single. Highest Life is a ballad but unlike My Song, this song is not an acrostic. Highest Life is a good song, but has flaws. In some instances, LiSA seems to go out of range for a few seconds, but not like marina, which seems to get the worse of the out of range vocals.
Overall, LiSA’s vocals seem to be a big improvement over marina’s mediocre vocals, but that is saying too much about the album. Comparing the instrumentals to Crow Song, the former had a lot more energy and excitement, but if we had better vocals, it would have given a better result. That excitement was simply not present in Thousand Enemies, but in return, we had better sounding vocals for the most part.
Lastly, I don’t get this… Why assign dedicated singers to these insert songs instead of using the voice actors? I’m guessing they want a professional to do it, but come on… you have to give them a chance!
7.7/10, Good
It has been nearly one year ago since the first season K-ON!. When I first watched it, I actually enjoyed it and more so since in 2009, I was already in college and graduated from High School. I still enjoy the second season of K-ON! as much I did with the first season. So, how come I still enjoy this moeblob, music slice-of-life anime? For several reasons.
First, It brought back past memories on how my high school life wasn’t great compared the girls in K-ON and how they are enjoying school. I have attended a public high school where some or most of the students are from higher class families. The school I used to attend didn’t have a good environment because there were some students who do drugs, going out drinking, and obsessed about relationships for example. I was one of those teenagers that don’t do these activities. I had friends, but gradually I stopped talking them when college started. I was a minority in the school and the school was not a multiracial school. As a result, I was picked on and bullied in high school. These were the reasons I didn’t like my high school years compared to college years. Now looking back at K-ON!, they don’t suffer the problems and it seem that the girls actually enjoyed going to school and having fun after school and eating cake and drinking tea. I wished my high school years was like this… less teenage rage and more on enjoying school and having fun with after school activities.
Second thing I can relate to K-ON! is the music aspect. Yes, half the time spent on the whole season is watching them drink tea, eat cake, socialize, and etc, but they actually play. In middle school, I enrolled into concert band since 7th grade up to the last year of high school. I played Clarinet back then and gradually, I started to get better with the lack of practice since I spend time on the computer. Although I never got first chair in my high school years, I did enjoyed playing music. The same happened with Piano. Ever since I started when I’m young, I hardly ever practiced. However, I managed to play those pieces with some minor mistakes. I am talented like the girls in K-ON! who manages to play the songs perfectly without any practice. It was quite amazing. Since college however, I haven’t really touched the Clarinet and the Piano, but I should start playing again with Anime Music of some sort.
Lastly, K-ON! is not all about the moe factor or moeblobs. There is always going to be moe-haters, mecha-haters, action-haters, romance-haters, you name it! Deep down from the shallow perception of moe, K-ON! has what all the qualities slice of life anime have. Slice of life stories relates back to your or anyone’s life and past experiences. Although K-ON! may not a masterpiece, it is still a pretty good and well balanced slice of life Anime that most who can enjoy that enjoys the genre. Then again, isn’t a slice of life story supposed to be a mere image of everyday life? We may not see a person like Yui in real life, the character personalities can be a possibility.
Life experiences and the music is what makes me watch K-ON! like I do with the slice of life genre. While some people may not like this genre because of the lack of plot, I think most people would enjoy it as there is other elements in slice of life such as comedy, drama, romance, etc.
Attribution Information
Fanart used in this post is made by 眼鏡虫
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be taking a bite of every one of them if they aren’t so closed… No, I’m just kidding.
This is obviously the story of Ui, Azusa and Jun who are left behind since they are not on the trip. Compared to the trip, this looks less fun, but still enjoyable.
…
Like I have said before on Melative… I complained continuously on Inami’s fear of men… it is becoming really ridiculous that her Arrhenphobia have been going on so long and over exaggerated to a point where it’s becoming a major flaw in WORKING!!. After seeing so many times of Inami punching men, I came up with this conclusion after watching Episode 5:
Inami isn’t WORKING!! for me anymore… stop punching… it’s getting really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really old.
That is right, Inami is becoming my least favorite character because of this. I mean, I would want to like her character, but it’s becoming flawed because of her extreme Arrhenphobia and the tendency of punching them. Well if she does this in real life… I don’t think they would tolerate it that much. She will probably get fired for punching all those male customers and even get arrested for assault and do some time in jail, which is something that I wouldn’t like to see.
Unlike Working!!, K-ON! is still working for me since they don’t have this annoying running gag that makes it old. Working!! is not like K-ON! and the jokes are really getting old. Not only Inami’s overwhelming fear of men, it is falling into the hole of never ending jokes that have been used over and over again and not being fresh. Working!! is supposed to be the Anime that moves away from the usual school setting, but weaknesses like the running gag of punching men and some others I haven’t mention that it is rapidly reducing it’s strengths it had with the setting. Despite this, it still managed to give me several laughs, but they really need to get some more fresh jokes soon or it will be in a pool of disappointment. The only characters that don’t disappoint me are Popura, Kyouko and Yachiyo.
I still wonder, if we get Aoi-chan to go to that resturant, would Inami punch him? Not likely because (s)he is a TRAP! When Inami finds out that she is a male… she will punch him like she did with all the male customers… Seriously now… Inami… Get over your fear of men… NOW!
Most often times you will normally see a girl or a boy cook rather delicious food… for example, Akiko’s cooking (except the Jam…) and Usui’s “moe moe omelet” as shown in Episode 4. However, there is a dark side of good cooking… horrible tasting food! Food that doesn’t taste right or tastes funny. Not all cooks are created equal, but I will focus on some instances of horrible cooking in Anime I had watched so far.
…
Finally got caught up and from these three episodes, Yuri goal is to eliminate Tenshi (real name: Tachibana Kanade) because Yuri thought Tenshi was the god… The only problem is that she isn’t and couldn’t rebel because she is the student council president.
Yuri is a big bully and the SSS is becoming a gruesome bullying group. She intended of making Kanade loose in the baseball game just to make her cry? Also, what about the breaking into her room just to get information on her? Now, Yuri executed her plan to make Kanade fail all her exams just to ruin her reputation and have her kicked out of student council? Well, yes… and that was the result of it after the exams were over. Like with Haruhi, Yuri has no morals or even proof that Kanade is actually god or not… Just go ahead and go along with the Anti-Tenshi plans without knowing damn well that Tenshi is a human like all of them meant to be.
In contrast to Yuri’s bullying… it’s just as gruesome as real life bullying. Bullies have no morals and just doing it because they have no self esteem and think that by bulling a student or a person that is weaker than them, it will make them more powerful… What would that do to help the victim? With bystanders not doing to protect the victim from the bully… what would that do to the victim with all the pain and suffering like with Kanade is suffering after losing her position in student council after the SSS tried to sabotage her tests?
Tachibana Kanade needs a warm hug… I feel sorry for her on how she is mistreated by Yuri’s outrageous plans to get rid of her.
Thoughts
Away from the Kanade bullying by Yuri… I felt that the 4th and 5th episodes being very enjoyable and funny. However, the 3rd episode was filled with melodrama. Iwasawa’s story was very sad and I sympathize with her since she never got to finish her goals because the injury caused by one of the parents fighting. The music is exactly what I have said in my review of Crow Song single, so no need for the explanation…
This also brings up a new point after watching Episode 5, even good people who rebel even get eliminated… and also, Tenshi didn’t get eliminated after she was removed from student council, so I don’t really know what is Yuri’s reasoning that if you obey Tenshi, you will get eliminated. That is simply not true at all.
With the 4th Opening done by Yui’s singer, LiSA (don’t know why, but they probably don’t want the voice actor for Yui to sing) which was pretty decent, but I still perfer the Piano version.
Overall, although the comedy scenes are out of place, I think it is still a very good series so far. The animation has been really good so far compared to the first episode. Perhaps, they will animate Little Busters! next? Who knows…