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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Otome Youkai Zakuro – Episode 5 – Twins and the Willow Spider
drama
Shinryaku! Ika Musume – Episodes 4-5 – Shrimp Obsession and Mini Ika
I neglected Ika-chan since I was so occupied with Zakuro. Also, my main laptop, Fujibayashi Kyou broke while I was at college. Since I got a replacement last night, I decided to watch the two episodes I have left sitting.
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Ore no Imouto – Episode 5 – Don’t Falsely Generalize Otakus!
In the last episode, Ayase ran into Kirino when the crew heads home from the Summer Comiket. Unfortunately, Ayase feels a bit concerned about Kirino from a feeling that Kirino was hiding something from her. It ultimately opens the Pandora’s box of trouble that causes their friendship to break apart temporarily.
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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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Amagami SS – Nanasaki’s Arc Final Review
It has been awhile since I watched Amagami SS. The reason I fell behind because I was busy with the fall anime. This is why I did not focus on writing about Nanasaki Ai’s arc in great detail, as I originally wanted to. Since I have some free time today, I took the time to finish it. After I finished the remaining two episodes in her arc, I was very disappointed for reasons I am going to explain. [1. Original Image]
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End of the Taste Test – Yosuga no Sora is too Risqué!
I rarely drop anime that I am currently watching since the flaws are usually insignificant to warrant a drop. Unfortunately, I have to drop it because I could not take the Yosuga no Sora seriously since it feels so trashy.
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Ore no Imouto – Eroge or Why there shouldn’t be a double standard on Violent Games and Eroge
After I watched the third episode, the show gave me some thoughts about the acceptance of eroge games in general. Even though Kyousuke’s father was right about the questionable content in eroge and that minors shouldn’t play it, I support Kyousuke’s argument since it’s unfair to shun eroge while accepting violent video games like Halo 3. I believe the double standard in western society is highly hypocritical since they accept violent games while shunning eroge. Regardless of content, both Eroge and Violent Games could become a bad influence on someone for the questionable content it has. I think this double standard exists as a result of the cultural differences between Eastern Asia (in this instance, Japan) and the West. [1. Image Source]
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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. Original Image Source]
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Taste Test Part II – Yosuga no Sora
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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Taste Test Part I – Yosuga no Sora
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 – Final Review
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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Air – Episode 12 (END) – Final Thoughts
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! ;-;
Overall Rating
9.5/10, A, Masterpiece
Overall Review is coming shortly!
Air – Episode 11 – Family Problems… and Drama
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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Air – Episode 10 – The Second Chance…
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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Air – Episode 9 – The End of Kanna’s Dream
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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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 24 (END, Main Story) – Final Thoughts
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.
Verdict
10/10
Overall Rating
9.45/10, A, Masterpiece.
K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 23 – Overall Thoughts
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.
5 Centimeters Per Second – Final Review
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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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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Kanon – Mai’s Arc and Fighting her Demons
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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Kanon – Shiori’s Arc – The Drama of the Two Sisters
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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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 20 Brief Thoughts
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:
- Sawako worked overnight to get the HTT t-shirts out to everyone. That is pretty nice.
- The audience seems to be excited.
- The first song was very light-hearted, but the last one seems to be heartwarming.
- And of course, we got some stage comedy that took a chunk out of the time including Mio and Ritsu reciting lines from the play.
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!
Rating
9.5/10
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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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 19 – Romio and Jurietsu
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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