In this episode, the focus is now on the twins (Hozuki and Bonbori) and Ganruyuu. They go to a ball to try and defeat the mysterious woman that murders people in this mission.
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Backlogged
Otome Youkai Zakuro – Episode 04 – Susukihotaru Overcoming her Timidness
Like the last episode of Otome Youkai Zakuro, this episode focuses mainly on Susukihotaru and Riken over the investigation of the dubious sword obtained by a shopkeeper. The sword has some significance in revealing Susukihotaru’s hidden power inside of her that allows the revealing of a person’s select memories from objects.
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Obligatory Three Episode Taste Test – Otome Youkai Zakuro
Since I have dropped Yosuga no Sora because it was too provocative for my tastes, I was able to pick up another show to fill the emptiness. Aorii from Major Arcana suggested that I should watch Otome Youkai Zakuro, which is a fantasy and alternative history kind of show. To be frank, I have read her editorial on it and I found the show rather interesting, so I decided to try it out myself…
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Fall 2010 Anime Season Taste Test Score Card
With the taste testing of Anime coming to a close, I want to share my overall thoughts about all the Fall 2010 Anime I have tried out. Compared to last year, I tried out a total of 5 series, which is up from three shows from last year. Most of the shows mainly consisted of comedy slice of life shows, which is not shocking at all considering it’s my preference for Anime after all. 1
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- Original Image Source ↩
Story Analysis – Ookami-san: Ryuuguu Otohime and Usami Mimi
In the third episode of Ookami-san, the way they parodied a well known Aesop fable, The Tortoise and the Hare that its worth analyzing what the moral of the story they had in Ookami-san’s parody of the original.
Fanart used in this post is made by ちるく
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Two Episode Taste Test – Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi
It is one of those shows I picked up late and probably the one that everyone is talking or complaining about. Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi is a slice of life, romantic comedy that parodies a good number of folklore out there. If you have seen in the picture above, Ookami is the wolk and Akai is Red Riding Hood. A better and comprehensive explanation written by Aorii from Major Arcana gives you a very good idea which folklore the characters are based from. If you know a lot of folklore, you probably recognize them pretty easily.
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Kaichou wa Maid-Sama – Episode 22 – Gone Camping?
It has been weeks since I covered Maid-sama, so I expect more Hinata development after he reunites with “Misaki-chan.”
The class has a field trip to the mountains where they first work their butts off and then have a camp out on the forth day. The only problem is that all the males get the intensive work while the females get the easy work! That did not work well in the end when the students arrive at the campsite. Because of the deprivation of pretty much everything else, the male students goes girl crazy at the end.
As you see in the picture above at night, Hinata and Misaki get locked into a storage shed. The whole event kind of reminded me when Kyou gets locked in with Tomoya in Clannad. The only down side is that they don’t really do anything funny. Nevertheless, it was a pretty hilarious moment and it requires the awesomeness from Usui to save them.
You might be wondering, when Misaki is going to reveal the person she truly likes? It seems that she doesn’t have the self-confidence to admit it since she is a Tsundere after all. In addition to her indecisiveness, the rivalry between Hinata versus Usui and they fight with each other. It’s not likely that this rivalry between them will be solved until the very end when Misaki finally reveals for whom she likes the most.
In the end, it was a decent episode and it was pretty fun. The relaxation in the mountains was good on restoring the spirituality of the male students. Then again, they went girl crazy at the end, so they should really consider not giving such a heavy load of work compared to the females. Lastly, Misaki, just decide what guy you like already! It’s really not that hard to decide which boy you like considering you nursed Usui back to health and you are completely annoyed at Hinata. Then again, love is always difficult when it comes to tsundere girls and that is a fact.
Next Episode: Hinata finds out Misaki’s secret.
Verdict
8.5/10
Anime Digest: K-ON!! Episode 22 and Kaichou wa Maid-sama Episode 21
Over the course of last week, I kind of got caught up writing editorials, reviews and homework that I completely forgot about writing my thoughts about K-ON!! Episode 22 and Kaichou wa Maid-sama Episode 21. Since there isn’t really much to say about them, summing my thoughts in one post is enough to satisfy.
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Seitokai Yakuindomo – Episodes 5-6 Overall Thoughts
I have to say, Seitokai Yakuindomo is probably the mildly enjoyable series in the 2010 summer season since it has funny jokes with Episode 5 more so than Episode 6. Yet, our completely sane Takatoshi keeps getting these galage magazines because everyone thinks that all men are interested in those kind of things. It doesn’t surprise me either because like Takatoshi, I am not so interested in ecchi or rather the erotic works out there since it’s not worth polluting your mind with junk (like porn and no offense to people who like these kinds of content).
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Seitokai Yakuindomo – Episodes 3 and 4 – Overall Impressions
In Episodes 3 and 4, Aria and Shino goes on a class trip and later we see bonded Pedobear! Its going to be a wild wide.
Note: I am still playing catchup, so these impressions post has to be in the same format like what I have done with Seitokai no Ichizon.
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Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 20 – Yukimura and his Imouto
Given that Yukimura lost the Footman Competition because of his lack of manliness, now his younger sister is now doubting his manliness with her preference for Usui as her Prince. This sounds so wrong in many levels. This date reminded me of Mei going out on a date with Tomoya to piss off her older brother. The only difference is that Usui didn’t go overboard by having Ruri call him “onii-chan.” If they did, Misaki would be angry at him for life for being a lolicon and his perversion.
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Two Episode Taste Test – Seitokai Yakuindomo
I thought there is already a show with a Student Council filled with girls with one male character? In a sense, yes… but that one had a ton of Anime and Otaku references. As you noticed, Seitokai Yakuindomo is completely different since all the girls are rather perverted. ironically, the male character seems to be the only sane person in the school.
This is a two episode taste test. This is the overall impressions I have for this series over the two episodes. The third episode will ultimately decide if I should continue the series or drop it.
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Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 19 – The Moment of Truth…
From a continuation from last episode, Misaki-kun and Usui become partners in beating the so called Footman contest… The question is… how well they do?
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Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 18 – Igarashi… He’s Baaaack!
Remember Igarashi? He is that guy for whom Usui beaten up for nearly raping Misaki in Episode 8. He’s baaaaaaaack with vengeance! Basically, he wants to demolish the block of buildings that also include the Maid Cafe and build a fancy butler cafe to piss Misaki off. How does Misaki get back at this jerk? Why of course, participate in a Footman contest, but its for males only! Well, Misaki got a way.
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Kannagi – Episode 11-12 – The Drama Kicks in Sky High!
Before I watched Episode 11, I would have thought that they will go down the same path with comedy since the other episodes were like that. However, good things have to end and we have to let the drama kick through.
In Episode 11, Jin couldn’t take the unluckiness he was receiving including falling out a window. He ultimately blames Nagi for his problems. Nagi in turn leaves Jin all alone because she thought she was causing trouble for Jin.
Compared to the last ten episodes, Episode 11 and 12 had a change of pacing. The comedy is turned into drama with the whole ordeal over finding out information about Kannagi, a god that Nagi claimed to be. The general lack of information makes the whole situation a bit difficult, especially when the last resort is a grandmother that talks funny. I know this was supposed to be a serious scene, but I couldn’t think straight with her mouth opening very widely when she talks.
The overall situation in my opinion is Nagi’s fault, not just Jin’s. She seems to be too be a bit too self centered and spoiled for attention. She is too consumed on her goals of getting followers and destroying impurities that she cared less about Jin. This is why Jin reacted like this because Nagi was just causing trouble for him. Some of the trouble Nagi caused is making everyone think that Jin is gay or double timing with the two other girls. Besides the trouble Nagi caused, Jin and Nagi seems to have a hint of romance going on, which explains why Jin feels so depressed after Nagi left him. He really needs to get over the trouble Nagi caused and save her… or something that that. If not, we may as well let the other girls fight over him.
Overall, the drama scenes were okay and weren’t drawn out so long. Hopefully in our finale, we will have Jin and Nagi reunite with each other and learn more about her true identity. After that, we have a special and I would be complete with the whole series!
One more thing… Zange-chan kicking the three guys butts in an alley? That was so out of place after my mood changed from the drama.
Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 17 – The Epic Beach Volleyball Match
In the pursuit of Aoi-chan to have Nagisa accept his crossdressing lifestyle, Misaki and Aoi-chan participates in a Beach Volleyball Tournament… However, for Usui… he has other reasons to participate in the tournament.
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Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 15 – Kanou Soutarou and Girls
You would have thought that Soutarou would win this round with Misaki hating Usui forever. The spell did not work since Misaki stayed up from Usui saying irritating things. As a result, Misaki gives Soutarou the harshest punishment ever! Have him work with a group of girls, every boy’s dream, except for Soutarou.
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ef – a tale of memories – Episode 1 – First Impressions
I don’t care about minori scolding me for watching their materials since they don’t want to show outside Japan. I’m going to watch it since it was just collecting dust. Last year, I was going to start ef ~ a tale of memories, but I never did since I got sidetracked with other shows. Since I’m not watching much this summer, I will do it now.
Unlike the previous visual novel adaptations, ef has two male leads instead of one. This is because the original source material, ef: a Fairy Tale of Two had two separate stories. The first story consists of Hiro Hirono, Miyako Miyamura, Kyosuke Tsutsumi, Kei Shindo, and Yuko Amamiya. The second consists of Renji Aso, Chihiro Shindo, Shuichi Kuze, Mizuki Hayama, and Yu Himura. The way they adapted the story is pretty organized since they show the first story first and then the second. Combining both stores would make a big mess and it wouldn’t be enjoyable that way.
The first part of the first episode involves with the first male lead, Hiro on Christmas Eve. On his way home to the Christmas Party, some girl took his bike to try and get the purse back from the snatcher. Later, Hiro finds her unconscious on the street with his bike completely broken. The girl gains consciousness and she reveals herself as Miyako. She gives up on getting the purse back and then drags him to someplace. The second par of the episodet involves with another male lead named Renji who finds a mysterious girl at an abandoned train station named Chihiro. She keeps a diary and suffers from amnesia (she only has a memory span of 13 hours). Towards the end of the episode, Renji promises to become friends with Chihiro and leaves…
The story itself is rather interesting and a bit more down to earth than some of the visual novel adaptations I seen. That said, the series is nicely animated, but there are some of the usual “SHAFT” elements like this:
This weirdness they have in some of these scenes simply don’t make any sense. It looked as if it was some “Mind F*ck.” Besides from that, the scenes and the characters looked rather nice and colorful.
From the first episode, the adaption of the ef visual novel looks very promising. Although not on the same level as Clannad, it’s definitely going to be pretty much the same, except that its more realistic (then again, Clannad is more realistic than the other two visual novels Key made). Because of this, I will most likely to continue on with the series since I’m interested on how the male leads will fulfill the girls’ dreams.
Not to mention, Miyako, Chihiro and the girls are rather cute!
sola – Episode 7 and 8 – Aono vs Matsuri… over Yorito
After Matsuri’s disappearance caused by Aono’s promise to Matsuri, she finally gets her chance to win over Yorito and start life over again as she did in the past. However, Yorito does not like this and tries to find Matsuri…
Given Aono’s past of being forced to live forever because of Matsuri, it’s no surprise that Aono wants Yorito back. So, why not do some sleazy trick to persuade Matsuri to leave forever so she would have Yorito for herself? It’s a genius plan and she even goes on a date with him.
Like in Episode 5, Aono gets a chance to go out with Yorito and make him forget about Matsuri. She goes to some places such as the plush shop and riding the rails. In a later scene, she loses her umbrella like Matsuri did in the first episode and gets really wet. Yorito tries to buy a towel, but he finds Matsuri and chases after her. Aono tries to prevent him, but couldn’t. She weeps while Yorito finds Matsuri in an abandoned building and reminded her of the promise she made. While kissing, he mindlessly stabs Matsuri and it gets into his dreams (and of course, Matsuri self-heals from that stabbing).
How about brainwashing Yorito to make him forget about Matsuri and tell her that she is gone? This is Aono’s plan all along. We knew that she was up to no good by hiding everything away from Mana… Mana eventually gets back into the house and bring him back to his senses with a picture of Matsuri that one of her friends took and sent.
I never knew that Aono would be that malicious. She was always seen as a very quiet girl that doesn’t talk often. After I seen the actions from her, I was proven completely wrong. Probably there is reason she wanted to get rid of Matsuri. If Aono gets rid of Matsuri successfully, she would be cured from her “Yaka” status and could stay with Yorito forever. Or maybe, she is jealous of Matsuri since Yorito spends way too much time with Matsuri and not with herself? Whatever the reason, Aono seems to be serious in achieving her goals…
From the two episodes, I have noticed that the pacing of the story sped up in a tenfold like CCY mentioned in his comparison post:
While both are pretty slow through the first episodes and only kick in about halfway, sola feels a lot faster and feels a lot more breakneck with the plot twists.
Although plot twists like shown in episodes 7 and 8 aren’t so bad, it’s definitely not the smoothest as the excitement ends suddenly at the end of the episode. It was shown with episode 8 when Aono and Matsuri started to have their battle against each other. It makes people wonder, who will win? We will have to find out in the next episode.
And this isn’t the last plot twist, there are more plot twists coming where that came from.
Verdict:
8.7/10
Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 14 Impressions
Well, Usui was tricking the woman-hater and we all know Yukimura is a great crossdresser as proven in the last two episodes.
Episode 14 was a enjoyable episode, but not much advancement. As we all know, Kanou Soutarou of Class 1-7 hates women. He is basically a genderbent version of Misaki, except that he is more violent. With the growing population of females attending the school, he fears this the most. He tries to take down Misaki who is pushing this trend, but it fails. This makes me think that this female hater is a bad guy. He really needs serious help to get rid of his hatred of women. If he can’t, why not go to a different school or be home schooled if he can’t deal with it.
As with Aoi-chan hypnotism of believing that he is an actual girl, Usui can never get hypnotized, even by that female hater. However, everyone else can because they were tricked into believing it. The female hater goes so far and places a spell on Misaki to hate Usui. However, Misaki sadly slept 5 minutes before the spell comes in effect… The result could be funny since Misaki is pretty much a tsundere when it comes to the relationship with Usui. In reality, Misaki loves Usui, but she doesn’t want to show it.
With the concern of Misaki and Soutarou’s spell, what will truly happen to her? Will she hate Usui or not? Not to mention, open house is the next episode and we know that Soutarou will try to sabotage Misaki’s plan. It makes me wonder on how it will turn out, especially that Yukimura is crossdressing yet again. Man, Yukimura crossdressing will probably top off Aoi’s crossdressing by the rate its going.
Verdict
8.6/10
Kimi ni Todoke – Episode 1 – First Impresions
In real life, the physical appearance of a person is important, especially when you are a girl. The truth is that most people prefer good looks over ugly looking people. This leaves people who are unattractive to have low self-esteem and feel a sense of loneliness.
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Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 13 – Meeting a Old Friend
Traps and Delinquents… What else can you wish for?
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Kaichou wa Maid-sama – Episode 12 – Sports Festival and Maids?
There is not much to say about this episode since it’s a sports festival episode. The contest is against the freshmen, seniors and the girls team.
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Hayate no Gotoku – Episode 13-14 – The Transfer Test and…
In Hayate’s quest to protect Nagi, Hayate gets to go back to high school by transferring into the same school Nagi goes to.
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