Life in Quadrant 4

Lately there’s been a ton of stuff going on IRL, but that’s not quite the scope of this blog. So I guess I’ll write about the rest of the stuff I haven’t yet written about! I suppose.

Nyan Koi is quite the fun show; it’s like a rom com with talking cats! Cats are cool, right? To be honest, given the name, I expected it to have catgirls or something ridiculous and end up being a mindless fanservice sort of show the way Kanokon was. Except with catgirls instead of fox/wolfgirls. Though I suppose a female cat would technically count. It veers into harem territory a few episodes in, it has that refreshing, enjoyable feel that don’t often turn up in shows like this. Also, twintail twins pop up around the 6th episode.

I’ve just been catching up on Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu ~Purezza~ and I must say, there’s nothing at all to say about it. It’s the same show as it was a few seasons ago. Later episodes seem to focus less on the Nogizaka Haruka and the Himitsu part, it seems, but I haven’t gotten there yet. Lately, there seems to be a number of references (ie: ToraDora, replete with tiny tiger). Not totally sure if the show intends to take that direction, given its closeness with anime/manga/etc-related culture though I suppose a joke or two wouldn’t hurt. Just please don’t blend that together with SeiZon. That… Just won’t work.

I don’t quite remember who recommended Kimi ni Todoke, but I owe him/her my thanks. There’s just so much I love about the show. I mean the main cast of characters is such a likeable bunch, like how Sadwako always frets over every little thing so much that you just want to jump over and pat her and go “Aw, it’s alright.” Or how Kazehaya always helps bring her out of her conundrums.
Having just watched episode 5, Ayane and Chizuru’s talk on the bridge at night was one of the highlights of the episode for me. The way two friends can just have a heart-to-heart talk on something that was bothering them was really something for me; I like to joke around a lot and avoid serious discussion – it’s always hard (near impossible) for me to really talk about what I’m feeling and stuff. That they were able to sympathize with each other about their thoughts and feelings about Sawako so openly was just touching.
And I suppose that is exactly how this series on a whole feels. Sawako makes friends with Kazehaya and co. and enjoy being with each other. There are a lot of problems and misunderstandings along the way, but through communicating with words and gestures, their own feelings reach each other, as they reach me.

Trapeze, or Kuuchuu Buranko, for those who want the romanized official title, is an odd beast. It’s loaded with all sorts of crazy visual effects, probably some rotoscoping, random animal heads, and what appears to be three different personae of the same doctor, but behind all the sparkly filters lies a pretty simple show. The structure goes in a particular pattern: A patient comes down with a particular disorder; he gets sent to the psychiatric ward. The good doctor Ichino does some weird diagnosis which isn’t really much of a diagnosis. Though there is a massive vitamin shot which he really gets off to. After that, he basically becomes the push for patients to realize that it’s something within them that they need to change, which they do. They walk off cure, and bettered as persons. Or something.
It’s almost like an Iyashi-kei show. Except, high on psychotropics. It’s visually taxing, but surprisingly, but once you’ve gotten used to the abstractness of it all, light viewing at its very core. Or I could be missing something and all the weird stuff is actually a ton of symbolism thrown all over the place. Not that I can manage to decipher all that.

After over two years, Bones follows up on its rather brilliant (which I hadn’t realized til way later) work Darker than BLACK -Kuro no Keiyakusha- with Darker than BLACK -Ryuusei no Gemini-. Hm, to be honest, I have no clue as to how to evaluate this. It seems to be going with a harder, edgier feel, starting from the soundtrack’s industrial-ish tone, to our beloved pinup boy, Hei, who has turned from consuming boatloads of food to consuming boatloads of alcohol. Nothing wrong with it, though I do miss Yoko Kanno’s lovely jazz/postrock work. And let’s not forget the scoring on Yin no Piano and Tentai Kansoku. The soundtrack was one of the defining aspects of Darker than BLACK, and I’m not sure if the soundtrack will be as memorable as the last one was.
And another peeve – do we really need to see the pseudo-mahou-shoujo-esque cut of Suou bringing out her outdated anti-tank rifle every single time? It just doesn’t feel right when you watch the show – the flow gets interrupted as the show shows you a naked girl grabbing heavy arms teleported in by a little pendant. As does seeing Hei all rugged. Shave plz.

A lot of (two) people (whose online aliases I’ve forgotten) have compared to To Aru Kagaku no Railgun to “older” shows. I do get where he comes from… Vaguely. If anything, I could compare the show to… You’re Under Arrest? Okay bad comparison, but the point is that unlike other shows where you have a grandiose plot with a big bad enemy and evil underlings with all the trappings, TAKanoRailgun tosses all of that away and instead goes with a more down to earth setting with girls just living their lives. It just so happens that a good number of them have ESP to spice up the show, is all.

Like Kiddy Girl-and, except that happens in space.

Oh, another thing – many people expressed their dislike for Kuroko’s rather particular voice, but I find it to be… Fitting for her character. Plus seeing her go wild (over Misaki) is just entertaining as a whole.

Seiken no Blacksmith is a fantasy anime staring a magical blacksmith guy with an ego, a 50-year old girl that transforms into a sword that doesn’t actually need to hit anything to hit anything, a gutless girl who loves to proclaim her social position, occupation, and name – usually in that order, and a loli voiced by Toyosaki Aki. Also that was a very long run-on sentence.
It’s incredibly, incredibly plain, boring show that runs the gamut of the usual clichés (whoa, accent mark!) like “Fighting for my friends”, and a mysteeeeerious hooded black guy that does bad things, I dunno, to terrorize people/to achieve his own evil ambitions (which may or may not have a heartrending backstory/explanation)/just for kicks.
Except this is made worse by the Katana faggerjackery (thanks lolikit!) and self-wanking about how this magical sword cuts through just about everything like a knife through butter, albeit like a very fragile knife.

White Album:
Touya is still a dick.

Also: Bakemonogatari 13th installment shows that it is still awesome as hell.