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?
…
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 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.
…
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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Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season – Episode 11 – Sighs Part II
Episode 11 continues the Sighs arc and we see the filming of the commercial and battle scene with Mikuru… in a Waitress costume…
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Air – Episode 8 – Summer Arc Part 1
This episode is very enjoyable and who knew that that Kanna (or Kannabi no Mikoto) would have a personality of a Tsundere…. Although it’s abridged, Air in Summer two episode special covers more content over the abridged, two episode Summer Arc in the main series. It’s recommended to watching this episode before watching the Air in Summer special.
In this episode, Ryuya promises Kanna to go on a journey to find her mother and the three of them, Kanna, Ryuya, Uraha goes on a long journey to find her mother.
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Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season – Episode 10 – Sighs Part I
The airing of the first part of Sighs was a breath of relief since Endless Eight finally ended and a new story arc is now starting… this time, Sighs pretty much covers how the SOS-dan makes the amateur movie, “The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru.” This first episode was alright, but there are several things that bothered me about it. More after the jump.
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Mai’s and Sayuri’s Arc: VN and Anime Differences
Instead of wasting my time watching Endless Eight and ending up with unnecessary rage, I decided to play more of the Kanon visual novel and now this time… Mai’s and Sayuri’s arcs. Although there are a few differences from the Anime and the VN concerning Mai’s and Sayuri’s arc, they managed to adapt the whole arc with some changes… ones that will be mentioned below (contains VN spoilers)
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Shiori’s Arc: VN and Anime Differences
As I have mentioned several months ago about Shiori being my most favorite character and it still is… but I started on playing Shiori’s arc in the Visual Novel… but noticed some differences… but the anime seems to be very accurate and also left out some parts since Ayu is the principal character that Yuuichi ends up in the Anime.
This is what I noticed: (VN spoilers ahead)
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Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season – Episode 4… When will it stop?!
There is not much I can say for this… but this is what I can say:
Auuu~ Have watched the 4th episode, and I have the feeling that this is the worst episode so far… it’s almost a complete rehash of Episode 3. I know that summer supposed to repeat in Endless Eight and they want to make it so it repeat until they solve the mystery, but is it really necessary to have 3 episodes of the same story. I rather have them complete it in two episodes.
Because of the repeating of the same thing, I didn’t enjoy it that much… and I cannot give it a high rating, so I give it a 6.5/10 . I would give it a lower rating on the forums, but people would start complaining if I done that, but actually… It should really be rated 5/10
Hopefully the rest of the season don’t come out like this episode. This episode is a complete letdown for me.
Verdict
5/10 (lowest score ever for a Haruhi Episode… and I retracted my last rating, so it’s now 5/10)
Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season – Episode 3 Impressions
I thought Episode 3 would be exactly the same thing as Episode 2, but I was proven wrong… Apparently, Haruhi made the two weeks in summer in a ever repeating spiral time space which make the future not exist because of it. This Episode atleast have a good twist to it so it was more interesting, but at the same time, contained unnecessary fanservice that I protested earlier, but atleast it was not overdone. Regardless, the episode was more interesting than the latter part and hopefully Kyon solves the mystery of the repeating summer… and yes, 15,000+ repeats of the two weeks is alot.
Verdict
8.7/10
K-ON! (First Season) – Final Series Review
Notice: This is a review of the first season of K-ON I have written two years ago, not on the second season. A full review of the second season will be written in the near future.
After watching all 13 episodes of K-ON!, it is probably the most enjoyable slice of life/comedy/music anime so far in the spring season. Despite some drawbacks in a few episodes, the content of the series is pretty good and paired up with better animation than Lucky Star, K-ON! Is probably the 2nd best Kyoani comedy/slice of life series behind the Haruhi series.
Content
K-ON! Anime adaptation is adapted from the 4 panel manga which two are published so far up to this date and still continuing. The story involves with a new freshman named Yui and don’t know what club to join. Meanwhile Ritsu and Mio wants to join the light music club, but since there is a lack of members, the club was almost about to be cut. Soon, Tsumugi, a high-class girl who owns a music shop joins after changing her mind about joining the chorus club. Then, After Yui saw a poster on the light music club, she decides to join, but not able to play the guitar. After she obtained the guitar, over time she got better at playing. Club activities usually involve having tea and cake after school and cosplaying by Sawako towards the middle of the season. Next year, Azusa joined the club and soon they perform at the 2nd festival and named the band “Afterschool Tea Time” (or something like that)
Although there were a few instances of the beach episode being complete rehashes, the most of the series were different and also enjoyable with good comedy. In some report, the anime series cover 90% of the manga, although some of the content is made up to fill in the missing parts like in Lucky Star, it’s still good.
Animation
The animation style of K-ON! Is a mix between Haruhi and Lucky Star, but K-ON’s animation was a lot more detailed compared to Lucky Star. However, the animation is lacking a bit and not up to the beautifulness of Kyoto Animation’s Air, Clannad, and Kanon remake and the awesomeness of Haruhi and FMP.
Characters
In K-ON! We have the four main girls, including two others who play a part later of the series and also the irresponsible teacher, Sawako-sensei who rather drink tea and also cosplay with other members.
Many will find who watched Lucky Star that the character designs are very similar with some exceptions. Ui, Yui’s younger sister who is a lot more mature than Yui and takes care of her and Azusa-chan, a Tsundere, but not that much… and have a very timid personality.
Lucky Star to K-ON! Character Comparisons (for comparison
sake):
Tsukasa -> Yui
Kagami -> Mio
Miyuki -> Tsumugi
Konata -> Ritsu
Music
Although some will find the background music somewhat bland, the performances are the selling point of K-ON! The performance music and the single albums of K-ON! sound outstanding although there are a few instances. Another thing is that the OP and ED sold over 100,000+ copies within a few weeks which means that it’s proved as a success.
Conclusion
K-ON! is a great, lighthearted slice of life/comedy series that most people who are a fan of slice of life/comedy series should watch. However, some naysayers continuously said that the series is horrible… which isn’t the point. K-ON! may disappoint some because it’s not like Beck which have music performances frequently also with some fights, but if you look for what it is and have a open mind, you may end up enjoying it. Although some may be bothered by the moe factor in K-ON, the moe don’t bother me nor I have praised it because it have moe. However, if you enjoyed Lucky Star, you will definitely have no problem enjoying K-ON! Like Lucky Star, some people might want another season… but with the fate of FMP so far, not for awhile.
Overall Rating:
8.8/10, B+
K-ON! – Extra Episode Impressions
K-ON! Extra episode pretty much gave the same results as the Haruhi S2 Episode 2, Endless Eight with various people in the light music club doing their things which caused Yui to wanted to make a hotpot all alone with her younger sister, Yui during winter vacation. This involves with Azusa-chan taking care her friends cat, Mugi getting a part time job, Mio going to the beach and try to make up lyrics for the next song and Ritsu babysitting her younger brother. IIn the second part, they started to have trouble and eventually Yui texted all of them on hotpot ingredients and her getting a reply. In the end, all of them meet up at the fast food restaurant.
The episode was enjoyable and also somewhat mediocre like the Endless Eight, but it was still not a bad episode as some naysayers make it out to be. However, this episode is a lot better than some of the Lucky Star episodes.
Verdict
8.5/10
Final review on the whole K-ON! Season will be posted in the next post.
Interesting Findings
The computer Mio is using is the White Macbook which is made by Apple. It seems that K-ON! have alot of product placement throughout the series. A comparison
Another finding is that Ritsu looks wierd with the bangs down.
Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season – Episode 2 Impressions
After waiting for decent fansubs, It took me awhile, but I finally got on hold of good-enough fansubs. In this Episode, Haruhi decides to do a epic list of summer activities ranging from swimming, buying yukatas and going to the summer festival, goldfish scoping, fireworks, insect catching, bonfire dancing, and etc and able to do it in few weeks… but Kyon never finishes his homework after that..
I found the episode entertaining… and yes, it’s slightly better than the 2nd beach trip in K-ON!, but still not as exciting as I want it… and Endless Eight is probably the most mediocre chapter in the Haruhi light novel series. Regardless, it was a entertaining episode, so I will give the benefit of the doubt and give this episode a 8.5/10…
Also, Episode 2 revealed the new OP, which sounded okay, but I still perfer Bouken Desho Desho? still…
Verdict
8.5/10
K-ON Episode 12 – END
This is the final episode of K-ON (story wise, there are two more episodes, one airing next week and one on a DVD/Bluray) and the finale was done pretty decent dispite not pleasing some people who watch K-ON! for the wrong reasons which I will explain in a different post… but most will enjoy this light hearted series… never the less.
The Good
Ui impersonating as Yui: This is probably the funniest part in the first half of the episode… Yui’s younger sister, Ui look very similar to each other despite having very different personalities and Ui… surprisingly plays perfectly compared to her older sister.
However, her cover was blown after saying Azusa’s, Ritsu’s and Tsumugi’s name.
Yui’s obsession of fishing lobster: Nodaka tells them a story about Yui acting strangely and fishing for baby lobster. After Nodaka goes into the bathroom, she finds the bath tub filled with them… It’s pretty eccentric behavior to me… and also, hilarious.
Yui’s singing of Fawa Fawa Time: If you thought Mio sang that song well… I seem to like Yui’s version alot better… It kind of reminds me of Kyon’s Imouto singing in her Character Song Image album…. Not to mention, the performance was done pretty well…
And lastly…. Tsumugi’s picked radish eyebrows:
Now… The Bad
Slow Start: Although the second part was more exciting, the first part was a bit slow… until Ui impersonates Yui which is funny…
Unnecessary Cosplay scenes: Yes, I would count these cosplay scenes as fanservice, but wasn’t necessary for the final episode.
Ending Thoughts
Dispite a few things that bother me, the finale was outstanding… and it’s almost on the level of awesomeness of Haruhi’s performance…. However, some people might miss K-ON! like people missed Lucky Star soon after the season end and people who like this show will probably want more… just like the Haruhi fans want a second season which came true and hopelessly, the FMP fans who want a second season but haven’t got one… However, the manga of K-ON! is not ending yet… and more is coming so it’s highly recommended to read the manga to ease the pain of K-ON! ending… K-ON!, to me was a good experience with it’s flaws, but it’s a great lighthearted show after watching something tragic like Ef or any of the Key anime adaptations.
Verdict
9.4/10
K-ON! – Episode 11
With the festival approaching, crisis started to occur within the light music club.
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