Episode 10 of the 12 to air this season and although things are starting to shape up to give us all the nice mellow ending that everyone would be content with, somewhere in my gut there’s a little man screaming out that we haven’t seen all there is to offer. That there is something hidden in the plot just waiting to pop. And while on one hand I really want things to settle so that the anime can end, I also want something BIG forcing there to be a second season (hey I really like that show ok).
As I mentioned today was relatively slow but not in any negative way whatsoever, we had quite a bit of personal growth where Kanna and Tetsurou is concerned and Mio is very gradually coming out of her shell. Although our main characters Kaito and Ichika were not the focus of this episode, the few moments where they had their screen time was nothing less than fastastic (especially at that point where Remon slides Kaito that *clears throat* item ). And for those who failed to notice >.< Kaito not only immediately knew what it was but stashed it into his pocket, and although it seemed as if he only took it so Ichika would not see it. When the need arrives *whispers* Kaito you’re good to go. (more…)
This week’s episode of Ano was nothing short of a masterpiece hitting a straight 12 on the Richter Scale. Flashing back to last week we ended with a cliffhanger where the rescue pod that was sent down to pick up Ichika got destroyed (compliments to our tag team of Rinon and Kaito) and with Kaito injured in the process she had to use her ‘skill’ to heal him.
Now of course the explosion of an alien pod is going to attract quite a bit of attention and Ichika’s friends had just enough time to arrive on scene to see Ichika in her vulnerable state. Now I will give it to Ichika, while she could’ve hid it or make up some sort of excuse she didn’t, she immediately decided to fess up and tell her friends what she really is
Over the last few days i’ve been thinking that the spring season is almost at an end. There’s more or less only a month left for every anime to either wrap up and come to an end or to get the viewers so riled up that the powers that be have to be off their rockers to not allow them a second season.
Now as you should already know I try to keep my anime list organised here http://myanimelist.net/, and one of the requirements that I have set for myself is that I rate each and every anime that I have had the pleasure of watching. This one is no different, currently it has an ongoing score of 7 but I’m strongly considering moving it up to a notch. It may not seem like much but to me it’s a big deal. The difference between a show rated 7 and one rated 8 is a hell of a jump. So now the question remains… How good is this show? Well, for one its good enough for me to be considering a 9.. And how good is that you might ask? Pretty damn good. The only thing that might make its score fall and remain as a 7 is if the producers decide to screw up the momentum as we approach the end.
This week’s episode for instance was a perfect example of why Ano Natsu de Matter deserves such a high score. We have Remon approaching Tetsurou’s older sister with a proposition, one that her busybody nature would not allow her to turn down To catalyst the ongoing struggle for love going on between each of our protagonists. To that effect we have the usual ‘test of courage’, now I believe I need not explain what that is nor what each protagonist hoped the outcome of this excursion would be (all can be inferred from image on top right). (more…)
I remember a few years back I was going to a friends house when I saw this little poodle in the opposing yard, being as small as it was it slid through the bars of the gate and came into the road barking at me. Being no stranger to dogs I calmly took a step in its direction and shouted BOO! It immediately ran back into the yard, and shot to the back of the house as fast as its tiny legs possibly could and while I stood there literally dying of laughter… I saw him/her coming back with Butch (the name implies all).
The fear and unexpectedness I felt at that moment reminded me of this episode, whereas episode 6 was like that little poodle, it needed to be there to have this grand, final explosion which we call episode 7. We confirmed that Kaori’s sudden feelings for Kaito was partly.. PARTLY! due to her recently having a breakup with her boyfriend and in fact she only made the trip to Okinawa to help her get over it. Of course after having been shot down last episode she decided to be very mature about it and move out of Kaito and Ichika’s way.
Even Arisawa (finally remembered her name) as forceful as she is had to back off when she saw what was going on with Tetsurou and Mio. With that said I feel I should give Mio some recognition, she not only confessed her secret (of being a nudist) to the person she loves and a (semi) stranger and rival, she confessed her love to Tetsurou even while knowing what his answer would be all in one go. I’d say that takes some guts so hats off to you my dear Mio and Good Job. (more…)
There is a scene in “The Mummy Returns” where one of the minions, Jacques, goes “It is cursed! It is cursed!” That is how I feel about C³. That stands for “Cube x Cursed x Curious”. Now, I gave an overview comment of it a while back; this is the full review and it is another Frankenstein’s monster, in that it is made up of bits and pieces from other shows.
Yachi Haruaki lives by himself, as his father is always away on these buying sprees, where he finds rare and unusual objects. One day, another of these trinkets arrives, this one being a cube, black and heavy. Since he gets all kinds of weird objects, he thinks nothing of it. Later on that night, he is awakened by noises to find a naked girl, in his kitchen, noshing down rice crackers.
It is discovered that she IS the cube. Given a name, Fear Cubrick (Ice Blue on the right), we learn that she is a cursed tool, used for centuries to torture and kill thousands of people. She has been sent here in the hopes of purifying her and removing her curse. And for some magical reason, Yachi seems to be curse-resistant and the house is located in a kind of No Curse Zone, so nothing affects them (except a direct attack by some Guardian of Justice or what have you.)
Sadly, there are those that wish to destroy Fear and she is almost immediately under a direct attack by some Guardian of Justice or what have you. Peavey Barowoi tries to kill her, as Fear is mean and evil and vile and does terrible things to kittens and puppies. Coming to the aid of Yachi is Konoha Muramasa, a childhood friend. She and Fear are at loggerheads, as Fear constantly refers to her as ‘cow udders’. (more…)
This week’s episode of Ano Natsu de Matteru was pretty interesting develomentwise but overall I found it to be a tad disappointing, as i’ve said before the thing I loved the most about Ano was its unexpectedness. I’m sure that you all can agree that each romantic comedy has a few cliché elements that well, gets a bit repetitive. As ‘The Droid’ Noted in his post Not a Big Fan of Fan Service
I can pretty much guarantee that every romantic comedy will have at least three opportunities for fan service: a day at the beach, an afternoon of clothes shopping and a night at the bathhouse. Three guaranteed sessions!
Well today was that guaranteed beach session, I do give though that they tried their best to mix it up somewhat by adding the even more cliché fateful encounter with a childhood friend (who just happens to love you unconditionally) but it just felt somewhat lacking. Maybe its just me for having such a high expectation for the show but hey, lets wait and see. (more…)
There’s nothing like the fresh summer air to make one really appreciate the gifts given to us by God, the trees, the clouds and most of all the women. Episode 5 reminds us that we are not watching a korean drama but instead a very well scripted (and animated) anime. I dont believe it was ever the point of focus before but in this episode we bore witness to quite a bit of oogling from Kaito at Ichika’s 92-58-88.
But enough on that, its now summer and believe it or not things are starting to progress even faster (don’t worry, nothing is compromised with the blazing fast pace). The filming starts and I would swear Remon knows Ichika’s identity because she gives her (and Rimon) the perfect role to play…. herself (themselves). Unfortunately for Kanna, due to the fabricated feeling of security the filming allows she finds herself more and more frustrated as it enables the romantic pair (Ichika and Kaito) to freely express themselves emotionally. Sad to say we got a glimpse of her true colours and it was not anything like what Cyndi Lauper imagined.
I resisted this one for a while, as the title initially put me off. “The World God Only Knows” sounded like one of those megalomaniac shows, where some power-hungry fiend wants to take over the world. No, it is a delightful romantic comedy that isn’t really all that romantic, but is quite funny, and a rarity that the second season is better than the first.
It tells the story of Keima Katsuragi. He is a caliber of NEET, in that he shuns all human interaction. Oh, he goes to school and gets amazing grades, but his entire focus is on conquering the hearts of ladies. He has, in fact, conquered 10,000 of them……..too bad they are all VIDEO GAME girls. He is so good, that he has a title, The God of Conquest. Everyone comes to him to ask for help in how to beat the latest dating Sims games. He has played them all, on all platforms and has almost every copy of them. (His room could be a caliber of museum, as he has every gaming system. I am sure there is an Atari 2600 in there).
One day, while going through his e-mail, he gets an oddly worded challenge, daring him to take on the task on wooing girls who have a void in their hearts. He takes the challenge, not knowing what it all means. The letter has come from the Demon World. It seems, owing to some bureaucratic bungle, souls have escaped from Hell and they need his help to recapture them. Demons, however, are not the sharpest bowling balls on the rack and they somehow thought he has conquered 10,000 REAL GIRLS. Also, he has to take on an assistant, the rather ditzy and clueless Elucia de Lute Ima, better known as Elsie (who has spent at least the last 300 years as a maid). (more…)
Ah Yes! There’s nothing like the fresh scent of rivalry to catalyse ones relationship, and thats exactly what were having :). Unbeknown to Ichiko, Ogura Minami (Tetsurou’s older sister) was just that, popping in and using her acute ‘I can cause some trouble here’ senses, grabs hold of Kaito and takes off for an afternoon of frivolous activities. Now a few things must be taken into consideration, Ogura is really good looking (appearance-wise she’d be my personal fav XD) and from what I can tell its in her nature to use that to her advantage, you then mix that in with her slight promiscuous aura and as a result you have a really riled up Ichika.
Of course at first she tries to convince herself that she’s just so emotionally involved to that point of stalking them because its her duty to ‘take care’ of Kaito but pssh, I think after today we have an Ichiko who is very much aware of her feelings for our protagonist, after all its a given rule that if you come from a distant planet you can only kiss an earthling one so many times before falling hopelessly in love…. Cute right?
I’ve always wondered why they give this show its name (Eng: ‘Waiting in the Summer”) but as it progresses I think i’m starting to get a general idea of why…. unfortunately that ‘general idea’ is nowhere near concrete enough for me to be able to put in into words and so ill be taking a raincheque on explaining that one :). Anyways in this episode we simply have the resolution of a misunderstanding and i suppose some slight progression in terms of the relationships between pretty much all the characters confirming what one could call a love tri… well.. pentagon… (Kitahara > Tetsuro > Kanna > Kaito > Ichika) of which all is one sided.
Now after Kaito’s very vague and uncompleted confession to Ichika during the last episode we had this result; Kaito believed that she knew he was going to confess but rejected him because he was not nearly good enough for her,whereas Ichika believed Kaito was going to tell her that he knew she was an alien and therefore she was afraid that he would be calling the ‘MIB’ (men in black) to arrest her.
Psssh, who said aliens weren't afraid of anything?
