Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
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. Original Image Source]
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After Sora took off her dress from the cliffhanger, we expected that she is going to seduce Haruka. Unfortunately, she fakes us out and only wants Haruka to measure her for the school uniform. Cue uncontrollable rage…
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Well, this is probably one of the strangest visual novel adaptations I ever saw so far. Yosuga no Sora is simply crazy on what they throw at the viewers in the first episode… We have this pretty white hair guy, a sister of the same age, an already made harem and of course the risque scenes[3. Because of the nature of the content, I couldn’t place that many snapshots since the blog is PG-13] of some girl doing you know what and some twin incest. Because of the rather mature content, It makes me feel so guilty when I watch this show that it could even be considered a guilty pleasure [1. A bit of an understatement], more so than Kampfer ever will be.
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Air is one of the most memorable shows I seen besides Kanon, Clannad or even 5 Centimeters Per Second since it was Kyoto Animation’s first Key Adaptation that was faithful to the Visual Novel. As a result of how well Air done in terms of animation and story, it gained a fandom and hatedom.
In spite of this, Air still remains a masterpiece for several reasons; it conveyed the summer theme rather well. Also, it had a historical backdrop and scenes with emotional impact the viewer receives. [1. Original Picture Source]
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The final episode was heartbreaking and heartwarming…
The last scene where Misuzu reaches her goal and hugs Haruko was so emotional that I almost started crying. At the same time, it was heartwarming since Misuzu could stay strong because of her mother’s (Haruko) love. When she passes away in Haruko’s arm, it was very heartbreaking for Haruko and the audience to bear.
Nevertheless, what people say about Air being a snobbish Anime is simply not true in my opinion. It shown a beautiful life that was cut short by something unfortinate. Tragic and sad events is what makes people stronger and make us value our lives as a beautiful thing. This is what makes Air so emotionally powerful compared to the other stories.
Goodbye Misuzu… I will miss you forever! ;-;
9.5/10, A, Masterpiece
Overall Review is coming shortly!
This definitely has to be the second most emotional episode with the last episode being the most emotional out of the whole series.
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After the tragic ending of Kanna, we are brought back to the feature where Yukito gets incarnated into this crow that Misuzu talks to. From there, we learn more about Misuzu’s family problems and of course, some really cute moments.
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It was nearly a year since I have watched Air. The reason I left the show collect dust for the reason of being occupied on other Anime. It was not until recently that I started where I left off because Flak was taunting me by trying to spoil the ending for me. This is probably an incentive to complete the remaining 4 episodes I haven’t seen yet so I can write a final review on it.
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I have to admit, it was a pretty emotional episode as the four girls are finally graduate and leaves their school behind for college. In addition, it was quite funny for Yui to hide the gift from Sawako to give for appreciation. This pretty much makes her worry about Yui a lot during the graduation ceremony. In the end, it seems that she loves the gift she receives from her students a lot.
As for Azusa, she has not gotten over the graduation anxiety and she broke down towards the end. Yui gives her some mementos (the four girls freshman picture and a five petal flower) to her. Afterwards, the four girls played a “thank you” song to Azusa with the four girls singing. It was one of the best songs in addition to U&I. It was emotional and a happy song that pretty much marks the happy continuation of the friendship even though Azusa still has a year left in high school. After they played the song, they do an encore and it sends happily ever after.
I have to admit; K-ON is probably the most emotionally happy comedy slice of life ever. Forget the haters, I enjoyed and liked it since it brought nostalgia when I was having fun with my friends in high school. It even surpasses Lucky Star over its random comedy. K-ON in my opinion shows the good and simplest things in life, friendship and living life to the fullest. It’s also fully evident in another familiar slice of life show. I’ll keep that a secret. :p
Next Episode: Time for Azusa to get some new recruits… Final Review will be written after I watched the second Extra Episode.
10/10
9.45/10, A, Masterpiece.
Even though the four girls seems to be a bit nervous about leaving the school behind and entering society by going to the same college, there is a reason to feel like that. The fun memories they had together in the Light Music Club bonded the friendship together. That friendship allowed the girls to decide on going to the same college to learn, play, and socialize together in their eternal and happy friendship.
After I looked at this episode, it reminded me of my senior year. I had fun with my friends when I went on a field trip with the bands or the time I socialized in the lunchroom. When graduation came, I know that the real world is going to be different and my friends would be going separate paths. Three years later, I am still surviving college rather well with a good outlook in my life.
For the girls, I think they will have an even brighter feature considering that they are together. It makes me wonder if they going to continue having a band right into college. They most likely will since they enjoy making music along with drinking tea and eating cake. As for Azusa, there is no doubt that she is going to miss them. Nevertheless, I think she will survive considering she still has Ui and Jun as her friends. Later on, she can apply to the same college once she graduates and reuite with her other friends.
The tape recording of all their music is very significant at the end of the journey as a memento. This allows them to treasure the fun memories through their songs and give inspiration to the newcomers who want to carry on their legacy.
In the end, these kinds of moments is what caused whole perception of K-ON being just a moe comedy change into something of a life lesson. Strong and good friendships is what makes life a beautiful thing and the girls are living proof of it. They are ambitious with their studies while having a fun time. In my opinion, this is what friendship is all about and there is no doubt that the last episode will leave us with an emotional and joyous impact once they graduate and start their new chapter in their life.
If you wondering about the title… That is how fast a cherry blossom petal falls.
Several people in the blogosphere, namely Flak and Kimaguresan have suggested me to watch this slice of life/romance/drama movie called 5 Centimeters Per Second. Considering that I have not watched a movie from Makoto Shinkai, which is a well-known director who directed movies that are bittersweet and appealing to the eye, I had high expectations. After watching the whole movie, I was pretty impressed even though the story did not a happy ending.
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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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Continuing with the analyzing of the arcs I played in Kanon, the next girl’s arc I am going to focus on is Mai Kawasumi. She is viewed by everyone as an anti-social, quiet girl who seems to have this urge to go to the school at night with a long, sharp sword. There could be a reason why she is like this because of the events that happened in her childhood she couldn’t get over.
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Back in 2009, I wrote an informal post about Shiori’s Arc after I had finished it. I was disappointed that I haven’t gone deep enough in analyzing and adding my thoughts about her arc, so I decided to go through and redo the review as I attended. No, I’m not going to cover what was different in the Anime adaptation, but analyze the story and give my own thoughts along with it.
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Surprisingly, time goes by very quickly when you are having fun with friends. After all, four of the girls are seniors and they had to perform their greatest to make the memory last forever. From the three festival performances, this is probably the best out of three and was pretty heartwarming. Some observations:
The sad realization is that it’s their last year they would be performing in front of the crowd. We know that good things have to come to the end, but never let go of the fond memories they had with each other. As we let the festival go away in the sunset, we should realize that K-ON is not all about girls doing cute things or eating cake and drinking tea. Its all about friendships, which is one of the simple things in life. Most people might have even gone through this feeling after graduating from High School or College and leaving old friends behind. In the end, as the girls did in this episode, we should remember the times we had fun with our old friends and never let them fade away…
Next Episode: Time for the Yearbook pictures!
9.5/10
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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The school festival for the girls have now arrived! How does Mio and Ritsu perform in their class play of Romeo and Juliet? We will find out soon enough.
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While Junchi had a good time kissing Kaoru in the belly button, Miya was spying on him as always… Since Miya is pissed off, Kaoru became a bit upset when she sees her mother going out with another person.
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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.
Like in Haruka’s arc, girls seems to hate kissing on the lips for some reason and want to be kissed in unusual places instead. Last time this happened, our hero kissedHaruka puppy style, but what he came up this time with Kaoru?
And while you at it, we might see a more pissed off Miya?
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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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After taking a three day break from Anime and catching up with some other stuff, I decided to watch more Nanoha. Apparently, Nanoha got her butt kicked two times with Fate. Two losses was enough to make Nanoha go in “emo” mode for a little bit and change her approach in getting those Jewel Seeds and how to deal with Fate.
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As Haruka’s arc begins, we saw a few good scenes that came out of the arc. The excitement happened as a result of Haruka having an enthusiastic personality. Does our male lead, Junchi reaches his goal of finally getting a lover on Christmas Eve? We will find out soon enough.
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Kanon, released on June 4, 1999 was a visual novel that changed the bishoujo game industry forever. It featured deep melodramatic story lines for each girl that gave a sense of sympathy and sadness (along with the optional eroge scenes). The one that was behind this masterpiece is Key/VisualArts. They continued to create other masterpieces like Air and Clannad that released several years later.
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