Continuing onto the first season, we finally arrive at the cultural festival… and they decide to do a Cosplay Cafe… how great… =p
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moe
Moe (萌え) is a Japanese slang that refers to strong affection towards characters that are usually female.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 5
Haruka is on the sidelines again, but Yuuto spends more time with Alice-chan… and also a unexpected guest arrived that happens to be someone that was at Haruka’s birthday party in the last season.
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episodes 7-8
Episode 7 is the continuation of the cliffhanger in Episode 6. and Gento finally flips out when he found out Haruka’s secret and go using his private army in trying to get her back which pretty much ends in a epic battle… or not… Episode 6… Mika going out on a date with Yuuto… and she’s only 14?!…
I know…. I know…
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Kobato – Episode 4 Impressions
While looking at this, I read on AnimeSuki that there are cameos from the Shoujo manga, Wish, another one of CLAMP’s works, which isn’t that long (4 volumes and 24 chapters)… Kohaku seems rather sweet… though.
Basically the story goes like this… Kobato discovers Kohaku while she was tearing while looking at the trees and reveals that she is from the heavens. Being bothered by it, Kobato follows Kohaku with another man named Shuichiro that she seems to love, but couldn’t go on a date since he is working most of the time. Kohaku reveals that after Kobato gets soaked at the mansion while she was performing some kind of spell. Kobato tries to get amusement park tickets and failed… but eventually gets them from Fujimoto which Kobato crashes into him, and she help delivers news papers in return. At first, Kohaku doesn’t accept the tickets, but Shuichiro comes and accepts them and they go on a date in the amusement park. Meanwhile, the rabbit messenger gives a message to Ioryogi that Kobato must fill the bottle within the 4 seasons, meaning one year. After hearing that message, they are back at the apartment and the bottle did not fill and stay the same since Kohaku’s heart did not need to be healed which got Ioryogi upset and giving Kobato a -100.
Have to say that the episode is done pretty well, although it’s a filler and just fanservice for the CLAMP fans (no, it’s not panty shots… sorry, but you won’t find them here). Although I never heard of Wish before, I still enjoyed it even though I have no knowledge of it… I also find the episode pretty funny as well and we finally figured out what is the rabbit that shown in the middle of the episode is.
So far, I think they are doing a good job with Kobato so far… but then again, it will continue on into Winter, but we see when we get to the 12th episode to finally figure out how the season is going… so for now, we wait… until she fills the bottle.
Rating
8.9/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 4
As usual, the Yuuto and Haruka relationship is so sweet that it tastes like diabetes… at the same time, Diomedea seems to love shoving fanservice in our face after they had a field day with the last episode… and distracted the tone in this episode… but still good if you ignore all the fanservice crap that is going around…
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 5 and 6
Although there are some fanservice that gone above in the fifth episode, the sixth episode was very funny… including tying up fat otakus who cut in line… and helping Shiina with swimming.
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Kobato – Episode 2 and 3 Impressions
Kobato seems to be the bedrock of moe…. Perhaps because Kobato is so moe and also a genki girl… But what some may find is that Kobato still does stupid things like Yui does in K-ON! which may turn people off with this series, but the stupidity isn’t as bad in Kobato than in K-ON! where you have two characters doing stupid things (not as it was a bad thing).
In Episode 2, Kobato starts to work at a nursery and heals a heart of a young boy whose mother is working hard and picks him up from the nursery late and Kobato praises his mother and they played afterwards. Episode 3, when Kobato gets her umbrella back, Mutsumi sees Katsuragi walk with another girl and Mutsumi gets upset and becomes depressed. Kobato asks Katsuragi to walk with Mutsumi and share a umbrella together and Mutsumi comes once she heard what Kobato is doing. Katsuragi reveals that he was walking a girl home since she didn’t have an umbrella and he had no relationship with that girl. Then, it started to rain and Kobato have them borrow her umbrella, thus healing another heart.
Surprisingly, what I did notice is that they did a cameo with the two android twins, identical from the ones in Chobits, another series by CLAMP… They sure love their crossovers.
Overall, I think these two episodes were pretty good… although Kiyokazu is still being pretty mean to Kobato still… and Kobato looks pretty cute in her new outfit, don’t you think. :p.
Verdict
Episode 2-3: 8.7/10
Kobato – Episode 1 First Impressions
Have you ever seen so much moe in your life? Well… I have when I have some sudden urge of wanting to watch this… and this being the 2nd CLAMP series I watch since Card Captor Sakura… but never got to finish because they stopped airing it soon after because the dub is RUINED FOREVER?! So, this makes it 9 years since the last time I watched a anime series adapted from original content from CLAMP.
This episode was pretty good with good animation and music… I have to say that Kobato in comparison to Yui from K-ON!, they almost have the same personality, except that Kobato seems to be alot sweeter and less lazier than Yui… This is how she acts when she tried to sleep on a bench with a newspaper as a blanket, opening the trash so the crows peck at it and the hotpot… does this ring Yui vibes, anyone?
This explains why Kobato is so moe… but since this series is being covered by many bloggers, I won’t write a synopsis on this one and just write my thoughts about it. So far so good… so I might continue watching this as long it’s enjoyable and good.
Verdict
8.5/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 3
This episode was okay, but the only problem is that the excessive type 2 fanservice, mostly Touka pantyshots… This episode alone had more fanservice than any episode of Nogizaka Haruka in any series and this episode alone can beat the number of panty shots Shiina had in the first season… That got to be bad… so bad that it’s good…
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 3-4
To catch up with the series, I watched Episode 3 and 4 and they were pretty funny filled with comedy and some fanservice… *cough* It seems that Haruka’s younger sister, Mika have very dirty thoughts for her age…
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Kannagi – Episode 8
This episode is another fanservice filled due to Daitetsu coming up with wild conclusions regarding the relationship between Nagi and Jin…
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 1 and 2
As I recalled, I skipped the first episode because of prejudice, but after watching the first episode, the episode consist of 65% fanservice and 35% actual content… The first episode wasn’t bad, but with the fanservice going on, it was too much. As I thought about the first episode after it aired, isn’t the title “Purity” a oxymoron?
The second episode however…. You have to find out by clicking “read more”.
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 2
This episode is pretty funny in a sense because Haruka shows more “Otaku” related stuff about her :o…. wait, isn’t this supposed to be a secret?
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 1 Thoughts
When there is a hot spring, you have to expect EXCESSIVE FANSERVICE?!
Well, that what I can say about this episode… This episode is basically one those episodes like Episode One of Clannad After Story with the Baseball episode, it’s a filler to reintroduce you back into the series and the characters. However, when you see a hot spring, you have to expect excessive fanservice, which isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
If I compared this episode to the one I previously saw in the first season, there is actually a big difference. Sure, the first episode only shown a moderate amount of fan service, but the amount presented in this episode is a bit too excessive. What does this mean with the high amount of fanservice, you can expect the decrease in quality of the story… For instance, you can compare the amount of fan service vs the quality of the story line can be pictured like a demand vs supply graph. For instance, As the quality of the story is high, the amount of fanservice is low and the amount of fanservice is high, the quality of the story is low and the equilibrium point being the equal balance in the story quality and the amount of fanservice shots. For the most enjoyment while maintaining the quality of the story, I rather have it at the equilibrium so that people can still enjoy the fanservice that that series provides while providing a good story.
Overall, I cannot rate this episode or give a full thought about how the whole second season is going to go due to the high amount of fanservice in this episode… I’ll leave it up to the next 4 episodes and hope that the fanservice is not excessive in the next few episodes and hope for the best that it will get better than this.
Verdict
Unrated, –/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 1
The very unlikely show I would watch, but after looking at the post about wifes and I seen her name on it and looked it up… Oh crap…
Anyways, I decided to watch it for myself and see what I thought of it… so here it goes.
Synposis
Ayase is a normal high school student who doesn’t seem to want to think about girls due to the fact of the two girls in his household. While returning the overdue magazine Nobunaga Asakura had, he sees Haruka acting strangely and after she checked out a magazine from the library, she bumps into him, which caused the magazine to drop onto the floor and him seeing it causing her to run away with tears. Days after, she started to avoid him and eventually, he said that he won’t tell anyone about her hobby, which made her happy… but one thing… the magazine was due on the same day, so they went back to school at night and finally returned it. This is when the relationship between them started.
Thoughts
Although it may be a generic moe show with moeblobs doing moe things in shows like Lucky Star and K-ON!, but this is a pretty enjoyable series from watching the first episode, although it’s light on the story aspect. As you suspect, Haruka’s qualities make you think that she is a Mary Sue, but no since her flaw seems to be her “Otaku” hobby, which in reality is looked down upon since Otakus stereotypically don’t seem to have much social skills in comparison of geeks and nerds and have a obsession of anime and video games. Haruka like you expect, is a moeblob like character and she is cute and clumsy, which is probably why some people seems to obsess over her alot…
Animation was decent, but with a few flaws.
Overall, I thought it was a enjoyable show, but I won’t expect much from the storyline… but I will keep watching unless it goes south after 4 episodes…
OP/ED
OP: Tomadoi Bitter Tune – Miran Himemiya and Chocolate Rockers
ED: Hitosashiyubi Quiet! – Kana Ueda, Mai Goto, Rina Satou, Kaori Shimizu, Mamiko Noto
Sounds decent enough…
Rating
8.3/10
Nagisa, why she is the ideal girl, which screams moé! – Part 2
Nagisa during the progression in Clannad have overcome her challenges of reviving the Drama club and also made new friends, but unfortunately, she got sick again, which caused her not to graduate with Tomoya. In After Story, we will touch more on the path with her eventually marrying Tomoya and deciding on giving birth to a child.
During the course of After Story, the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa develops further. Towards the end of summer, Nagisa became sick, which resulted in being held back for another year. While Tomoya wanted to stay back a year, it would be foolish to do so anyways.
During the next school year, Tomoya moves into a apartment and start working while Nagisa finishes her school year. Although she couldn’t get the Drama club up again, she still seem to survive the whole school year with friends from the music club. Nagisa during that period help make food for Tomoya, which proves that she still seems to care about him alot, especially about her being concerned about his left shoulder.
Although Tomoya didn’t make it to Founder’s Day due to his mistake, she didn’t mind anyways…
Another instance with her caring about him alot is the night after asking about the swimsuit, Tomoya was avoiding the question about his father and insists on meeting him one day. When Tomoya was about to get a promotion, it was cut off by his father’s actions which made Tomoya deciding to move away from the city, which Nagisa doesn’t want since she seems to like the city and wants to make him happy living in the same city instead of running away from his problems. In meeting his father at the jail, Tomoya starts getting angry at him and walks away. With him angry, Nagisa chases after Tomoya before he punches right hand to a wall, but couldn’t stop it and injured his hand. Nagisa having seen what he done, gets him to stop. In this scene, Tomoya gets engaged with Nagisa so that they will become strong.
After marriage that happened after Nagisa graduated, she takes a job at a nearby restaurant that opened. After saving her, the manager reveals that she is a hard worker. In contrast with Shiori, although she is weak, she still managed to survive to have fun with Yuuichi and also attend a whole week of school.
And yes, the famous scene and she did the impossible…
In her decision of wanting to have the baby, she seems to want a home delivery, although it’s not safe due to her conditions. The decision to have it at home is not only because she wanted to see and hold the baby after it was born, but throughout the course of her relationship of Tomoya, she have grew stronger as a person… but the only problem is that the changes of the city causes her to become more ill since all things can’t stay the same forever. Even though she is strong, the illness caused by the city changing so rapidly caused her tragic death which caused everyone to be crushed with devastation the fact that Nagisa herself through the course of After Story to become stronger, but unable to because of the bad luck. This is why most people can sympathize with her (maybe more so with the visual novel than the anime). Although she have overcome the hardest challenges and become strong with the help of Tomoya and his friends, she was unable to survive, until Tomoya collects the light orbs to help save Nagisa and also Ushio from the horrible fate. In comparison with Shiori and Misuzu, there is a reason why we can also sympathize with both. Shiori in a sense that she is rejected by her sister and had her relationship with her sister and being strong until her birthday. Misuzu is that she is a sweet and innocent girl, which is unfortunately stuck with a curse and dies in her aunt’s lap on the beach which made many people’s hearts crushed with a bucket of tears and she was given no chance to live, unlike Shiori and Nagisa although she was offered a reincarnation along with Yukito.
Next Post, I will conclude why Nagisa is the ideal girl and sum up both parts with the full argument.
Attribution Information
Fanart used in this post is by 小倉 脩一 (ogura shuuichi) Source
Nagisa, why she is the ideal girl, which screams moé! – Part I
After seeing a post about wifes and anime girls and watching the CLANNAD movie, it made me think about something about Nagisa and CLANNAD. In the previous two posts made a few months back that I mentioned about moe although I never really talk about moe or the so called moe competitions out there, but it’s quite evident I really like, Misuzu and Shiori. There is one character I haven’t touch that have both personalities of these girls I mentioned… Nagisa Furukawa.
Nagisa is the combination of Shiori and Misuzu in my opinion. Misuzu because the fact she is a shy girl and doesn’t have any friends because in the case with Nagisa, her friends have long been graduated and she is innocent. Then, why Shiori have anything to do with Nagisa? Shiori in the sense that Nagisa have a similar sickness, but her determination and unwilling to give up. Also, they both have a interest in drama since Shiori mainly watches drama while she was at home and Nagisa have a interest in drama with her determination of wanting to revive the Drama Club. Another thing with Nagisa and Shiori is that they are ordinary and wear plain clothing. If you notice the clothing that Nagisa and Shiori wears, you know why.
Nagisa is like Shiori and Misuzu in a sense… We take them for granted until they are gone. (in Nagisa’s case, in Clannad After Story Episode 16 until she returns in Episode 22).
Nagisa starts out in the beginning of the show as a shy girl and unable to walked the hill since her friends have graduated and she no longer have the courage to walk up the hill. With the help of Tomoya, she was able to walk up the hill on the first day of school.
Sadly, her illness causes her to get held back in her last year of high school and caused her loneliness. In today society, we rarely see that, except with quiet and shy people.
Nagisa seems to show her determination to try and revive the club although the club seems to shut down when she opens the door with shaky hands and being melancholic after seeing the packed boxes, but she doesn’t give up. Next day, she makes a poster:
Like with Shiori with her obsession with ice cream and Misuzu with her “extra thick peach nectar,” Nagisa continues the tradition with Dango because they are cute although not as popular as it was used to. Big Dango Family resembles a cheerful and happy world where people and famlies get along and flourish. This is important later on since CLANNAD is about families after all… and Nagisa starts one with Tomoya later on, but at a expense (which will be talked about next part). Also, the poster seems to bring out Nagisa’s personality, as her being innocent.
Nagisa wanting to see Tomoya to play basketball waits in the rain, which in contrast is sorta the same thing with Shiori, which disobeys the doctors order just to see Yuuichi after school. Nagisa realizing that Tomoya can’t shoot and apologizes since she know that she was wrong and faints because of her illness.
Later on, Nagisa makes friends with Fujibashi twins, Kotomi and Fuuko and starts to warm up instead of being shy and lonely.
Another trait that Nagisa seems to have is she is naive. For instance, Tomoya grabs Nagisa and runs away from Sunahora. She protects Tomoya from Sunahora since she thinks he is trying to make Tomoya gay and admits that she is Tomoya’s boyfriend, which caused Sunahora run like a nut job. Although she doesn’t mean it, she eventually start having a relationship with Tomoya since the two seems to have a lot in common and that they both care about each other.
Tomoya reacting to someone who wants to help Nagisa after she fell and hurt her leg in Episode 16 of Clannad… Now there evidence that Tomoya does love Nagisa romantically. In the visual novel, the relationship starts right after Tomoya embraces Nagisa after the Nagisa gives up on the Drama Club since she want the choir club to keep their advisor.
With the growing of Nagisa’s relationship with Tomoya, she seems to care for him a lot more before she met him, even after she performs her play, she still cares about Tomoya and doesn’t want him to do anything wrong. For instance, with the PA calling for Tomoya and him running away, she chases after him and drags him back by pulling his arm. This proves that Nagisa, although she is ill is caring and also very determined, which is not the case with Shiori and Misuzu (they do care, but not the same as with Nagisa and Tomoya.). The way how she try to revive the Drama Club with the help of Tomoya, Sunohara and friends and her performance on stage shows her determination of achieving her goal.
However, her dreams of performing stage drama came at a price since Sanae and Akio have to give up their dreams to take care of Nagisa, which caused herself to become melancholic and also caused her to suddenly cry on stage after the curtains were lifted up after being reminded of Akio’s dreams of performing theater after watching a video of him performing before her performance. With the encouragement from Akio and Sanae, she was able to break from her depression and able to achieve her dreams that her parents have sacrificed.
After sweeping away her tears, she starts to perform her play, which is flawless… both in the Anime and TV show:
Like with both the TV series and the movie, Tomoya officially confesses his love for Nagisa, which have been evident across the whole season (and also the Nagisa arc in the Visual Novel). Tomoya and Nagisa seems to be the dream couple… most say… but I still prefer Tomoya and Kyou… *runs*
Next time, we will discuss why she is the ideal girl in the 2nd part of the story, After Story.
Attribution Information
Fanart used in this post is made by moonknives,
Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season Episode 14 – Sighs IV (END)
Finally, a episode where Haruhi doesn’t act like a complete jerk. The conclusion of Sighs is pretty good, but still there was a few things that bothered me about it.
As the SOS-Brigade wants to complete the movie, something happened the night while Kyon falls asleep while editing.
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Kannagi – Episode 7
Episode 7 is a filler, obviously, but unlike all fillers which are highly repetitive in nature, this one is actually good… and also have good comedy values as well.
In this episode, Nagi locks herself in the closet because of something Jin did that made her not to forgive him.
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Air in Summer – Episode 2
Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season Episode 13 – Sighs Part IV
This episode pretty much made me hate Haruhi so much because of her despicable and outrageous actions, I should of rename this arc: “Everyone hates Suzumiya Haruhi” because she is being the biggest b-word in the world… but that would offend some fans…
During the filming of the film, Kyon starts to get annoyed and eventually flips out at Haruhi for mistreating Mikuru.
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Kannagi – Episode 6
Here comes the obligatory Maid Cafe episode… and is currently the funniest episode and filled with moe overload, otaku references and etc.
Nagi and Tsugumi decides to get a part time job and…
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Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season – Sighs Part III
This episode continue’s Haruhi’s quest to make a movie with the SOS-dan. The SOS-Dan continues to film in the park and Mikuru-chan does her famous Mikuru beam…
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Air in Summer – Episode 1
In this episode, Kanna and others decide to go on a adventure to find her mother. On the way there, Kanna discovers the outside word for the first time.
This episode is probably the most light-hearted episode in the series… and we learn about more about Kanna, but yes… more Tsundere moments…
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