Saving the world through the power of… podcasting?

Hello everybody and indeed, the MetaCast of Fosh, Overcooled, lvlln and I get together to talk about the Spring 2012 season as it hits its midpoint. This episode was recorded on May 14th and unfortunately, Kyokai wasn’t able to join us ;_; Has Sankarea still been really good after the early episodes? What about the action in Jormungand? Is Eureka 7 AO worth watching even if you haven’t seen the original 2005 series? These questions and more are discussed on the podcast. Enjoy!

SHOW NOTES

00:00-01:12 - Introduction: Fosh’s Tune (“Escape” by Hemenway from Eureka Seven AO)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wmVUQhawSI

01:13-09:04 – MetaPowuh

• Anime news – Fosh
• Game news – Jrow

Music from Sakimichi no Apollon OST

09:05-09:42 - Promo: AAA Podcast

09:43-41:50 - MetaProject Part A: Spring Shows

• Space Bros
• Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
• Medaka Box
• Accel World
• Sankarea
• Lupin 3: A Woman Called Mine Fujiko
• Phi Brain 2
• Fate/Zero

41:51-43:15 - Intermission: Jrow’s tune (“Esoragoto” by Nano.RIPE from Sankarea)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEKkpAueQjo

43:16-1:27:40 - MetaProject Part B: Spring Shows

• Mysterious Girlfriend X
• Dusk Maiden of Amnesia
• Jormungand
• Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
• Kids on the Slope
• Tsuritama
• Eureka 7 AO
• Hyouka
• Quick Hits: most of the other stuff

1:27:41-1:33:10 – Shoutouts/Wrap-up

• Jrow: Caraniel, Nodoka-chan
• Fosh: E7AO commenters, Krizzlybear (epic smile posts <3)
• lvlln: @mirroredanime @necorare (bitmap) @rune_devros @snazerine @chrisbzay
• Overcooled: SCCSAV Phi-Brain group

1:33:11-1:34:32 - Outro: Cool’s tune (“Ice Cream” from BACK-ON)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL_kdHUuPns

I could totally see Koko shipping these two together <3

Shanta-kun shows off his fan service! Try not to stare or you will go blind…

Ku ku ku only six more episodes of this crazy ass series to go! Whenever I think about one of my favorite series coming to an end I get a little sad, but I always look forward to second season announcements or maybe a possible OVAs in the future? So anyway time to start the review! In this episode, Nyaruko battles Kuuko and saves Mahiro’s mother from “danger” and fun in the sun later.

Alien verses alien?

Kuuko-”How long do we have to hold this pose!?”            Nyaruko-”FOREVER AND EVER UNTIL THE END OF TIME!!!”

So when we last left off Nyaruko was preparing to square off against Kuuko. Their fight wasn’t anything amazing or fantastic, however Nyaruko spent most of her time throwing her fists and a few powerful kicks to send Kuuko flying through the air… Seriously, where did she even learn to fight? I assume Nyaruko watches hours and hours of television and anime? Oh and what a sneaky way to fight using fake photographs of yourself to distract the enemy. I started to die laughing when Kuuko randomly started to strip after she lost the battle, but I think Kuuko started to show off her hardcore M side at last; now if only she could try to love Nyaruko-san without her dirty thoughts of getting busy with her every ten minutes or so.

My mom can’t possibly be this into video games!

Yoriko-”One moment please while I transform into awesome kickass mom!”

Yoriko-”Time to play rock paper forks with these evil monsters.”         Ruuhii-”You are one evil mother…”

Yoriko takes care of all the trash mob before dealing with the boss.

Yeah, so turns out Yoriko wasn’t in any sort of danger in fact she was only “kidnapped” after she heard Ruuhii mention some brand new video game console she was working on called the Xoth 731. This is clearly a parody of the xbox 360, but I will get into the references a bit later. So, yes Yoriko was in no real mortal danger and proved she could take care of herself thanks to her amazing fork skills, while taking out a random pack of evil fish aliens! Damn she is one bad ass momma…or maybe she is just extremely curious about space consoles? My own mom in real life plays lots of World of Warcraft so I can really see some similarities between Yoriko and my own mom minus the aliens and fork related fighting moves.

Burn baby burn!

Kuuko-”Rest in peace you magnificent machine! I WILL MISS YOU!”            Hastur-”Should we stand this close?”

There was an interesting chat between Yoriko and Ruuhii about expensive hardware and game production before Kuuko killed everything with awesome fire. I really want a PS3 at my house, but I have the same issues with buying an overpriced machine with little to no games! However every new system eventually comes down in price soon or later…and poor Kuuko! She was really heartbroken after she had to destroy the Xoth 731, but she is another dedicated video game “queen” after all.

Hastur is really the main character.

Hastur-”I finally get a fanservice scene and I am stuck with a hippo with wings…”

Breakout characters come and go but shouta alien boys are a rare breed or are they? Just kidding I am sure there are more alien boys out there. So what happens when Hastur tries to leave earth!? HE RETURNS OF COURSE and really, did we think he would leave Mahiro forever? He successfully transferred into their school and Hastur got invited to a beach trip with everyone, but Nyaruko had to get in his way and his ultimate love for Mahiro. I bet there are some new shippers out there for Hastur and Shanta-kun! Damn that little alien creature is so cute, but he is easily beaten by Noah the sloth from Eureka Seven Ao.

Invasion of the perverted aliens

Mahiro-”Why do I suddenly see all these hearts?”         Nyaruko-”It means we are now one.”           Hastur-”YAY!!!”

Mahiro-”Uh shouldn’t we keep this PG?!”                   Nyaruko-”I only know rated R things, Mahiro.”

During the first few scenes on the beach, Mahiro is eventually dragged out to play with Kuuko, Nyaruko and Hastur and each of them had their own perverted thoughts. Like Kuuko desperately wanting to get with Nyaruko; while Nyaruko wants to sink her teeth into Mahiro and Hastur has the same desires with Mahiro… Good lord that poor main character, everyone wants him in the worst way possible. Not to mention that ending? Damn I think everyone should feel a bit worried for his sanity! After all we all have seen enough Haiyore! Nyaruko-san to know she might look innocent under all that cuteness, but her true form is a giant terrifying tentacle monster…

Reference material all over the place

Erio would be so proud of you right now, Kuuko.

Ruuhii-”RISE UP MY CHILDREN AND BUY FIVE XoTh 731′s  today! Or I will be forced to live on the streets…”

Like usual I am able to catch some of the obvious references and this week is more of the same! Starting off with Kuuko and Nyaruko’s epic fight, but after reading I can gather it wasn’t a DBZ parody after all like I originally thought. The next parody style reference follows Kuuko with a mattress tied around her straight from Denpa Onna aka amazing Erio cosplay. I was seriously waiting for that one to appear with all the talks of aliens. Next reference up is the famous Xoth 731 and the HS3 which are clearly parodies of xbox 360 and PS3 along with the CCE or Sony Computer Entertainment oh and Ruuhii’s famous OBJECTION pose. But there were a few I missed along the way. If you are interested in a longer list you should stop by the Nyaru Reference blog for more detailed breakdowns of every episode so far.

Best of the best Nyaruko-san this week.

Nyaruko used secret ninja technique: Fake sexy bikini shots

Kuuko is very sad she never got to play any new video games this week.

Nyaruko-”I have been saving this bikini ever since episode one! Enjoy.”

Happy late mothers day, Yahiro! I hope you have a relaxing day in the sun.

End thoughts

So what are we in for next week? I think we might jump back to the hardcore comedy we loved with the first few episodes, but I suppose there is more stuff to pull from the Lovecraft novels, right? In the last review there were talks of siblings of Kuuko and more for Nyaruko!? I think the producers could easily spawn a story out of that somehow. I can just imagine Mahiro’s reaction after seeing more aliens appearing inside his house…I think he should move to a remote island in the middle of nowhere and hide forever. As fun as that sounds to throw in more siblings we might be in store for some romance scenes or hardcore day dreams from Nyaruko? Maybe Hastur breaks the door down before Nyaruko can get busy with Mahiro!?

Overall this episode was really hilarious and very random thanks to things like the epic troll with Yoriko joining Ruuhii just to test some new space video game console; but I can remember a few commenters talking about that so high five for those that caught that. What else…the beach part of the episode wasn’t a crazy fan-service themed episode; however we are not fully clear of the dreaded swimsuit themed episode just yet because it returns next week to service our hearts and minds.

Preview

Hastur-”Nyaruko-san did what to my beloved Mahiro!? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Stay tuned for Nyaruko’s beach adventures part two!

There is no puzzle Kaito can’t solve…except how to drink from a cartoon giraffe cuppy.

Hey there, puzzle freaks! Seeing that Kyokai is letting us experiment with posts now (check out her Fate/Zero posts), I thought I’d try something different too. All I did was sort my thoughts into sections and cut out the summary. I doubt many of you will miss it, anyways. I hope you like it! And if you don’t…I hope you tell me that it sucks so I can change it!

Reaction

I liked pretty much everything about this episode aside from the puzzle itself. The build-up was a little slower than usual, but it was nice to see the gang just…chilling.  Kaito used to be quite distanced from everyone, but it seems like he’s letting himself have more fun nowadays. He has friendly eating competitions with Gammon, pays attention to his devoted stalker Cubic, and even compliments Ana on her cup design. It was sweet. Instead of diving right into trouble, we’re reminded of how closely-knit this group has become. This may be the signal for someone to start switching sides though. Rule of anime number 678, if more time than usual is devoted to showing a beautiful friendship, IT WILL BE SMASHED INTO PIECES VERY SOON.

The biggest problem here is this week’s puzzle: another very static creation that doesn’t allow for a lot of interaction. Movement is restricted, so most of the time is spent standing still and talking. Compare that to other versus puzzles such as Gammon riding a motorcycle against Bishop or the final puzzle versus Rook. This puzzle is incredibly boring in comparison, and I have no idea why they’re stretching it out for more than one episode as if this were a shounen anime with fight scenes. Despite it being a very dull puzzle, I did enjoy some of the dialogue between Cubic and Melancholy. Most of the Order characters have been a bit flat, and this little flash of Melancholy’s harsher side helped to ameliorate that.

Overall, a pretty good episode that combines a boring puzzle with some teasing dialogue that faintly brushes against the dark truth the Order holds close to their chest.

Analysis

Jikukawa: Poor, poor Newton. Jikukawa has carried on through his disappointment over not being a Phi Brain child all throughout season 1, taking consolation in being useful for many other things. He saved Kaito once, and worked with Cubic to get past the POG’s protective program to read their secret files. Now he’s barely even included in what Kaito and his friends are doing, and he has to face constant slights from the Orpheus Order. Sure, he does some back-up work, but all in all, he’s been forgotten. When was the last time you saw anyone hanging out with Jikukawa? His feelings of inadequacy will have to show at some point, and this might be his weak point that the Order will attack to try and get him to betray Kaito. He can’t wear the Orpheus armlet and the Order is working on making a universal version that everyone can wear…Their interests coincide to a certain extent. It would take a bit more to push him over the edge so that he ignores the psychological issues that come with donning such a twisted artifact, but if they’re going to make all of Kaito’s friends turn on him…This is the most likely angle they’ll approach it from regarding Jikukawa.

Gammon: He’s totally back to normal after his puzzle slump, except for one thing…he seems to be completely unabashed when Nonoha is practically in his lap. What happened to him blushing like a maniac every time she so much as touched him? I want to scream “BECAUSE HE LOVES KAIITTOOO” but it’s more likely that they’re setting him up to be with Elena now, since Nonoha is basically off-limits. I doubt this show will ever really go the romance route though, so Gammon and Kaito will remain single with their respective lady friends continue to try and catch their attention. Gammon may also have come to terms with Nonoha liking Kaito, and he accepts Kaito as a good enough man for her. That’s a huge step for someone as stubborn as Gammon. It sure took a while, but they have a strong mutual respect for one another now.

Speculation (aka CRACK THEORIES):

Kaito’s childhood was predominately spent going to the Crossfield Academy or being groomed into a puzzle beast by his fake parents. It’s no big stretch of the imagination to assume the Orpheus Order hails from the Crossfield Academy. They’re all smart, so it makes sense…but things are a bit fishy. Kaito was very elusive and only hung out with Rook as a kid, from what we can tell. If he actually spent time with other kids, that kind of makes his flashbacks to only ever being friends with Rook rather disingenuous. It’s really bugging me how Kaito could have such a large memory lapse of not one but five different people who he personally snubbed in some manner. Based on what I know about memory processing, he’d only forget it due to:

1. blunt trauma force to the head (concussion)
2. lesion of the hippocampus or other brain areas related to memory (very, very unlikely)
3. disease that affects the memory, like Alzheimer’s (lol no)
4. traumatic event that has been suppressed
5. unimportant memory that was never encoded into long-term memory in the first place.

Will I ever learn to stop applying real life logic to this show? No. Never!!!! My best guess would be that Kaito just didn’t give a damn about these 5 random kids who pestered him since his world revolved around Rook and Jin. Melancholy’s BIG BETRAYAL was having her puzzle insulted. Is she…is she serious? In that case did Kaito just promise he’d buy a matching necklace to Freecell but then he didn’t? IS THAT THE BIG GRUDGE GOING ON HERE THAT SPARKED THIS SERIES OF SERIAL MURDER ATTEMPTS VIA PUZZLES? =_= I really hope the real reason for their hatred isn’t so petty as what we’ve been told so far.

Although 4 or 5 seem the most likely, there is also another more kooky possibility. Bear with me here. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s also possible that the entire Orpheus Order never met Kaito. Klondike and Whist might have implanted some memories into their brain (okay, this is where I throw away neuroscience and go back to animu logic) so that they have this fake hatred towards Kaito. Think about it…how would all these people of different ages be in school at the same time as Kaito? In the end, it could be that their Orpheus armlets are ALSO prototypes, and giving them a rival such as Kaito was a convenient way to test their thesis and get some quality data.

I’m horrible for not committing myself to any one theory, but those are my thoughts laid out. Why? Mostly for me to read over them again later when the show has progressed and laugh like a hyena at this madness. Remember Mawaru Penguindrum and Madoka and how bloggers would come up with elaborate theories from only the slightest of hints? This is like me with Phi Brain, except I’m trying to squeeze the Da Vinci code out of a crayon drawing by a toddler. I can’t stop myself…it’s too fun!! Mixing logic and Phi Brain just NEVER WORKS, so I can’t wait for this show to prove me wrong and go somewhere wild. Feel free to share any theories about what’s up with Kaito’s past and such! Last week, you guys really made me think about what Whist’s role in this show is. I look forward to you all supporting my unhealthy addiction to this show.

Bonus Screenshots:

You know you have it rough when NONOHA tries to tell you that you did a good job

“Okay, okay….Was THIS the card you were thinking of?” “Whist pls, it’s been 5 hours.”

I’m switching my degree to Puzzology so I can buy my own shopping mall mafia base.

Preview: Pinochle challenges Kaito. More importantly: a flashback to Kaito’s past with Freecell!

And so the mystery of toilet bowl-chan unfolds…

Hello everybaddy! Recently I’ve been in higher spirits as I’m finally left with one last exam (which also happens to be Japanese) and then I’ll be free! I am still running on a super high and I am literally bouncing in anticipation for Hyouka yaaaaay.

On Houtarou’s subtle prompting, Eru decides to involve Mayaka and Satoshi to help her solve the mystery centered around her uncle. The Classics Club has their first official meeting outside of school, and at where else would it be other than their club president’s glorious house mansion?

This is like Farmville all over again

Their meeting goes surprisingly smoothly and efficiently (despite several breaks in between to switch locations to admire the wonderful pond and fill their hollow stomachs) and information reels in from all four members of the club. Condensing their long discussion, what they basically established from the research was that the incident happened 45 years ago in June, and subsequently caused Sekitani Jun, Eru’s uncle, to be expelled in October. The incident happened at Kamiyama High, and was mainly instigated by the Classics Club president, Sekitani Jun, although the entire student population was involved.

And here we observe the members of the Classics Club in their natural state

The question now is why and how did the incident happen? With the theories of Eru, Mayaka and Satoshi shot down, they all look to Houtarou with high expectations. His genius brain then somehow links the entire dump of information they had uncovered, and comes up with a spectacular conclusion – the students were standing up against the teachers and principal, who had originally wanted to shorten the cultural festival to less than five days. No violence was involved, but they could’ve planned a boycott, which left the school management with no choice but to negotiate with the students and restore the cultural festival to its original length – at the cost of the expulsion of Sekitani Jun.

With the mystery “solved”, the Classics Club parts for the day, but Eru still has a lingering thought in her mind – if what Houtarou said was true, then why did she cry so hard?

“Watashi wa kininarimasu!” Oh no Eru, not again

Houtarou is brilliant!!! I think I might consider marrying a fictional character. I find myself enjoying most episodes nowadays because of the amazing ways in which Houtarou’s brain works. Although the solution to the mystery wasn’t of the breathtaking, mind-blowing kind, in a way it’s still awesome that he could come up with a conclusion and link all the evidence together on such a short notice. Although Eru’s thoughts at the end of the episode and the title of the next episode “The Truth of the Classics Club and Its History” kind of suggests that his deductions may not be entirely right, I still think he’s pretty close. The pacing of this episode was slow, but that’s Hyouka for you, and I feel the beautiful animation, the interesting characters and the easygoing vibe of the anime more than make up for it.

I’d also like to point out the intricate uses of different themes in this anime. During the first part of episode 4, Houtarou and Satoshi had a little lover’s quarrel friendly debate about colors in relation to their personalities. The scene felt out of place, maybe unnecessary really, but that’s what makes it worth thinking more about. Of course, Satoshi describes himself as a rose-colored person, but Houtarou disagrees and says that he’s shocking pink. The selection of such a neon color is pretty obvious as Satoshi portrays your typical obnoxiously loud, outgoing character who likes to stand out, but perhaps there’s more to this – “My default status is shocking pink, nobody can change it, I can’t be dyed.” Many people have commented that Satoshi has the least character depth out of all the Classics Club members, but this might be hinting that there’s something more to him. He’s usually easygoing and lucky, and it felt weird for him to say something so… rebellious? His cheerfulness may just as well be a façade, and it seems as if he’s hiding something important that could possibly change our entire opinion of him. I don’t mean he’s like inherently evil or anything like that, but maybe he has a dirty little secret that makes him different from others. Don’t even get my fujoshi mind started on this, but it’s worth looking into, and I hope that they’ll expand on this.

On the other hand, Houtarou is grey – again, pretty obvious why. Grey is associated with being a background color and the words “calm”, “composed”, and “conservative” may come to mind. Houtarou is exactly just that, but another thing about grey is that it doesn’t really have its own unique, prominent characteristics – to put it in other words, grey may be easily dyed. And I think that’s exactly what’s been happening. Ever since meeting Eru and becoming part of the Classics Club, he’s been changing. Whereas he couldn’t be bothered to do anything unless it was absolutely necessary, Eru and her strange mysteries have been inexplicably influencing him to work his brain, to do more than he usually does. Her own colorful personality is rubbing off on him, and he’s slowly being dyed. I could go on all day about colors and personalities (I see Eru as violet and Mayaka as green) but in short, I really do appreciate these little thought-provoking scenes that Hyouka presents, and they are interesting to analyze. I’d also like to hear your thoughts on this – do you think that that scene had more to it beneath the surface?

♥（ﾉ´∀`）♥（ﾉ´∀`）♥（ﾉ´∀`）♥（ﾉ´∀`）

Last year I played a joke, this year, I don’t think anyone would appreciate the same thing. So, yeah, not going to quit anytime soon! You will always find Metanorn around, with new posts on daily basis because we make sure that you are entertained 24/7. We talked about an aniblog’s age last time and of course, it can’t be similar to a human’s. So, if we take the assumption of a three years’ growth being equal to an actual year, then Metanorn is around the kawaii age of twelve, which means it’s the beginning of rebelliousness! And you can already see us rebelling against our own previous format and adding more interesting content to the site as the years go by.

This anniversary comes at an interesting time for me because I got promoted in my current job TODAY. So, seems like this month has been good not only for my online life but RL as well. Every year, I set challenges for myself and team. Surprisingly, we do even better than our expectations (touch wood) and this is the time I not only say hat’s off to my team but a very gracious thank you, because it’s not easy balancing online life with RL but my writers do it brilliantly and awesomeoferricly. So, this is the time for our own merry-making and a pat on the shoulder for partying on for more than four years. Let’s hear it from the team because we don’t miss ANY chance of celebrating and group hugging. Not to mention, over-loading you with awesome sauce of MOAR interesting posts. Expect us! But before all that, Metanorn Team took out some time to look back at the good times and how important this animanga community has become to them:

Click on the image for an enlarged version

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From Metanorn Team, with L♥ve

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Metanorn has hit yet another impressive milestone. The site itself has been here for 4 years, meaning I’ve been around for only a quarter of the time Metanorn has existed. I’m just a tiny speck in the life of this site, but I’m glad that I’ve been able to be a part of making this site grow – even if just a little bit. I love writing for Metanorn and getting to chat with all of you wonderful people, so seeing the site which I call home grow another year older is heart-warming. Well..okay…maybe not heart-warming, but it’s nice that Metanorn is still going strong! Even if I didn’t get that fateful acceptance e-mail, I’d probably still be here as a commenter.

Since the beginning, Metanorn has been all about bringing some fun and excitement to the aniblogging world with fresh ideas and the highest quality of writing we can all manage without turning blue and keeling over. That much hasn’t changed. Although, we have certainly grown bigger (even compared to year 3) with new writers and new readers. So thank you to everyone who is a part of the Metanorn family – from the lurkers to our very own ringleader Kyokai-sama!

FOUR years! Four glorious years! And Metanorn is still growing stronger than ever!! I am so touched and overwhelmed and proud at the same time I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. (BOTH!) Till this day, I still admit that I’m awed to be part of such an awesome community here and Metanorn, team and site visitors alike, have become more of a family to me than anything else. Just less than half a year ago I was a super-lurker hiding in the deepest, darkest corners. And now… *BAWLS* In the few months that I’ve been aniblogging here, I’ve spent many long nights writing episodics, recorded the first-ever podcast in my life staying up till 4am because of crazy time-zone differences, met countless wonderful people that share the same love for anime and Japanese culture. Metanorn has grown to be an irreplaceable part of my life and simply coming to this site everyday makes me feel so happy!

I honestly cannot imagine life without Metanorn and just- what would I even be without you guys! No more obsessively refreshing the page every 30 minutes, no more waiting in anticipation for interesting comments.. BUT that’s not gonna happen for a long, long time. xD Metanorn is a place not only for people who enjoy watching anime alike – more than that, I think it’s really somewhere where you can feel you belong. That’s what’s so precious about this blog, this community we have here – that’s something that’s not going to change. Metanorn is on it’s way to becoming the best blog ever in the entirefreakinguniverse, and I’m looking forward to watching it grow bigger, better and badder for many years to come. …Have I mentioned how much I love you guys already? (*T▽T*)

Has it been 4 years already? Man, time flies. I remember before I received the results of my application to Metanorn that I had two reoccurring dreams all the time. One was that I made it in. The other was where Kyo had sent me the harshest email ever saying “NO. GO AWAY. WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE”, but then Sephiroth from FFVII was my dojikko childhood friend (it was a sight to behold).  To this day I still don’t know which version I prefer. …What I’m attempting to say here is that even 2 ½ years after I started stalking this place, it’s still amazing. Even with Kanzie and Tsui gone (to tell you the truth, I keep assuming they’re both dead with all of this talk of being ‘gone’ or ‘moved on’), Kyo has done so much to raise Metanorn to the powerhouse it is today.

A year later, and I’m still excited to be here. Kyo is THE greatest boss lady in the world. No, I’m not even kidding. She’s so fabulously organized, she knows how to handle situations LIKE A BOSS and my admiration for her has quadrupled over the year. The rest of the team? Meh, they’re alright. (I’m kidding. I just had to add some tsun in there to balance out the dere. THE TEAM IS AMAZING and Metanorn just wouldn’t be the same without them.) So yeah, happy birthday Metanorn! ヽ(´▽｀)ノ Let’s make this year as fabulous as the last!

Four years!~ Wow, it’s amazing that the blog has been around for so long and has grown so much over time. I’ve only been here a few months, but ever since my first week here at Metanorn I’ve felt such friendliness and patience from everyone, bloggers and commenters, and that says a lot about how amazing the community at this wonderful blog truly is. I never thought I’d be here, happily spending my afternoons writing about one of my favorite hobbies, chatting with so many great people from around the world, and in general having so much fun being a part of something I love. It has also helped with my procrastination, so woo~ (｡-_-｡ )

The team is more incredible then I ever thought possible. (seriously yo, these people get stuff done!) Kyokai somehow manages what, like 13 of us, taking on SO much work and spending so much of her time to put together templates, and graphics, and plans, and documents. She’s one of the most impressive people I’ve ever met, and it’s no wonder the blog is going so strong! I can only imagine where Metanorn will be a year from now … Kyo will probably be leading an army by then! Jrow and Fosh are just as impressive, putting their awesome voices together for podcasts and editing. Ness’s work with graphics is beyond amazing. OC, anaaga, Kara, Hoshi, Hime, Zabo, Miyu,and lvlln are all brilliant writers. All the commenters add so much to every post! AGH YOU ALL ROCK. HAWT, OUT. \(-ㅂ-)/

Whoa four years of Metanorn!? Can you even believe that?! I always look forward to writing post after post on this blog, but the readers and commenters really make Metanorn feel like my second family. So we are four years old and still going strong with our writing, editorial works and the always fun MetaVerse! Soon we will finally hit twenty episodes; sure sounds exciting! Anyway I look forward to writing more about anime and of course laughing like a crazy person with everyone on the podcast, but I have to give a shout out my awesome team of writers and friends on Metanorn! LET’S AIM FOR A FIFTH YEAR! WOOOOO!! HOOOOOO!!

Over the few years I have been with Metanorn, Kyo and the team has inspired me to try new things like editorials, versus posts, MetaJump creating crazy captions and of course some experimental podcasts and tons of creative stuff to come your way! Besides the fun inspiring ideas I really love tag teaming posts as they have always been quite special to me, but my main goal is to pretty much tag team with everyone on here at Metanorn in the future. So, prepare yourself for more epic tag team posts and more caption work from me! Thanks for the support throughout the years.

Woohoo, happy birthday to Metanorn! 4 years doesn’t sound that long, but on the internet, that’s forever. Spring 2008. At that point, K-On, Bakemonogatari, and A Certain Magical Index did not exist in anime form, Redline was 5 years into production, Haruhi was still a single-season anime series, Masaaki Yuasa’s most exciting work was an original science fiction series called Kaiba, and I had yet to start my first job out of college.

Yeah, a lot can happen in 4 years. To think how far this site has come, starting out as a solo episodic blog following Vampire Knight and Soul Eater in the Spring 2008 season. Now this place has a solid stable of bloggers, covering a variety of shows from many angles, its own podcast and Flash visual novel, and, perhaps most importantly, a vibrant community of readers and commenters. And it continues to grow and improve, its brightest days still ahead. But already this is quite the accomplishment, so let’s take a step back to celebrate a very happy birthday for Metanorn.

To be honest, it took me a long time to collect my thoughts around Metanorn celebrating its fourth year. Lately I haven’t been as consistent or active as I would like to due to school, so I’m feeling like I shouldn’t be allowed to be part of a joyous celebration such as this because of the work I haven’t been able to contribute. That being said, I’m happy to see Metanorn is running just as awesomely as it has done these past three years. All the work Kyokai has done to make Metanorn bigger, better, and more badass is truly awe-inspiring, especially for a slacker like me who takes an hour just to work up the strength to type a single paragraph on a word document. I also commend my fellow writers here for blogging two or more shows while working, going to school, and/or doing other things both online and offline. You all inspire me to work harder and improve my time-managment/blogging skills, as cliche as it may sound. The team here is truly incredible and I couldn’t ask for better people to blog alongside with.

It’s unbelievable to think I’ve been here for a year, growing along with Metanorn; I’m glad though as I am able celebrate another Metanorn anniversary with the fabulous Kyokai, my fantastic teammates (new and old) and the great commentors/lurkers who have stuck by for so long. Even if I have to work from the backstage, I’ll be here for Metanorn to celebrate anniversary after anniversary. So cheers, and let’s celebrate a fantabulous fourth year here at Metanorn with more incredible posts and features to come~!!

W00t Metanorn is at its Fourth Year already! Congrtulations Metanorn and our Boss Lady Kyokai! *throws yaoi everywhere* I feel a little bit sad though because my portion is only 1/4 of the age *sob* But of course, I’m planning to spend more time here! *shake fist*… Ehm, anyhow, I remember the first time I joined Metanorn. I was such a total n00b LOL I’m actually laughing when I remember it. Seriously, I just sucked at making posts. Not to mention how I literally lived in a cave because I had NO IDEA how to work with BBC Code and stuff like that (hint: they’re not made by me). My only assets were my high school degree (I didn’t even finish high school at that time) and the scripts I made for Met’Amour (they’re long). Man, I didn’t even go through the proper procedure. Kyokai was all like, “YO GURL JOIN MAH HAREM I GOT COOKIES” and I’m like “WAIT WHUT SRSLY? YEAAHH COOKIES.” So yeah, I actually had my doubts. I had such little confidence when I first started.

But then everybody literally helped me. They answered my n00bies questions that little kids could’ve answered. They gave me feedbacks when I asked for one (real feedback too!). Kyokai even tolerates my procrastination. I’ve had so much fun in Metanorn even though I’ve been here only for a year (not counting the one year as a commentor! Hehe). Everybody’s so friendly and encouraging. I get to learn new things from METANORN (yes, I’m actually learning something by writing about anime). It’s been great! And of course, everything is all because of Tenchou Kyokai <3 Metanorn is nothing without her. Thank you so much Kyokai! And let’s add up Metanorn’s age, slowly but surely! *throws more yaoi*

Metanorn celebrating 4 years of existence. What is that in Aniblog years? Does that make it middle-aged or should we get the site a cane? All kidding aside, a lively team as we are is as much thanks to the site’s longevity as are all of you commenters (and lurkers). Meta’s done a lot of cool thing over just this past year alone and I think the site’s 3rd year was a lot of fun for everybody. Things are going just as great as ever in this shindig, so stay tuned for some more awesome stuff in Meta’s 4th year in its attempt for world domination!

So how does a somewhat oldie blog stay fresh? With new ideas, new fun projects and new approaches to what you know us best for. You’re seeing it in the way Kyo, Fosh and I are doing episodics of the Spring shows we’re covering; you’re hearing Fosh & I talk about Eureka 7 AO in addition to text; we’re also starting to transition toward having the podcast available for live listening. With a big team that’s in pretty good communication with each other, the possibilities of new content and improving what we’re best known for are plentiful and creative. But let’s not forget… we have all of this with you the reader in mind. Your comments are greatly appreciated and makes doing this enjoyable and worth the effort.

So it’s that time of the year already? Man, time sure flies by when you’re busy with life stuff. It really doesn’t feel like it’s been a year already since we last celebrated the wondrous anniversary of Metanorn. I suppose you could say that I’m still months behind in thought and probably life. But aside from that… woooooo~! It’s Metanorn’s 4th Year Anniversary!!! We shall partay hard for the rest of May. So expect many things to come to Metanorn in celebration of this event. XD

Aside from that, I’d like to say congratulations to my fellow staff members. Without you, Metanorn wouldn’t be as progressed or to the point that it is now. We’re all busy with our real lives outside of the aniblogosphere and yet we find time to help this baby grow. As well, this is a big congrats for Kyo who has stood beside this site, keeping it cool, keeping it smooth, and keeping it hawt. What would Metanorn be without it’s all-mighty death perception fierce ruler? It would probably be boring and I would have never found this site. We’ve made it another year team, let’s relax, celebrate and get ready for more exciting things to come. Metanorn shall continue to evolve and we’ll be one step closer to the world domination where I shall be the treasurer and control all yo monehs… ahem… As well, we can’t forget the viewers and the fans~! You followers, commenters, fangurls/boys, lurkers and stalkers who make Metanorn lively… Thank You. This celebration is for you too. Cheers~

Wow. I just hit one year and I feel like I’m awesome and then I find out that Metanorn’s reached its FOURTH year. FOURTH. That’s seriously FANTASTIC. Suddenly I feel even COOLER for being part of something that’s so amazing! Metanorn was my first aniblog ever and despite the fact that I don’t have as much time to blog as I would like, it’s always going to be really important to me. I love everybody on the team and I’ve made some really awesome memories with a lot of them and you guys too, you beautiful readers, you. *pinches cheeks* I’d like to single out Kyo here though because, seriously, she makes this all happen. She truly loves Metanorn and works so hard at this with all her RL obligations as well. She’s created a big, happy Metanorn family that I feel honored to be a part of. CONGRATS ON THE FOUR YEARS METANORN! Job well done, Kyo and the team. *GROUP HUG*

This year was tougher for me so I couldn’t be around like I used to because of my job and school. But fear not, I was there, I’m ALWAYS there! behind the scene making sure that everything is working fine and taking good care of the server and the site. However, I couldn’t give enough attention to JuStChat so that’s why it’s all ruined now, but it doesn’t matter, we now have an awesome IRC channel, active around 24/7.

Metanorn’s popularity has grown so much that we now need corporate class hosting solutions and it’s very own rack mounted server. We are receiving in average 10 page requests per second 24/7 day and night from all around the globe. Standard hosting services aren’t good enough for our awesomeness. I wish the Metanorn Team best of luck because if I have taken care of the backend, they have beautified the front-end with amazing posts and update. May this new year for Metanorn be even more awesome than the last one. Numbers are proving me right.

Well… You’ve heard it! The team has spoken and everyone is all fired up to keep you entertained! Metanorn completes its fourth year with around 6.9Million visits (7M would have been awesome, right?! so close), around 2,800 posts and 46,100 comments. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND CHEESE!!! Seriously, Metanorn Team is awesome (huggles), and I appreciate their contribution to the site every single day. Also, we couldn’t have done it without our community (our valued regulars and lurkers), who made Metanorn more of a fun place to hang around. So, old or new, let me catch you up to speed on what we have been up to last year and how to get in touch with us:

• Subscribe to our: RSS | Podcast | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | dA | Youtube
• Hang out with us ANY TIME OF THE DAY on our IRC Channel: Client | Web
• Want to be part of our blogroll or for any query, contact: Kyokai | Team (check individual IDs)
• Our content additions:
  • Didn’t miss a single season preview
  • Haven’t missed a single day without posting (since 25^th July, 2010)
  • Reached 5M unique visits
  • Switched to dedicated hosting
  • We partied around the year with many Birthday celebrations
  • Metanorn’s 2011 Year Ender Awards
  • Successful 3^rd cycle of ANTM
  • Growing list of Editorials
  • New Projects:
    • E3 2011 Coverage
    • MetaVerse Podcast
    • Anime Conventions coverage 
    • Meta Jump for Shounen lovers (On-hold right now)
    • Games Section got a boost with many added reviews
    • Second Aniblog Tourney Highlights, covering 152 blogs

I won’t ever get tired of saying it, so thank you (I should make this part of my email signature while I’m at it), for hanging out with us and let’s do the same for many more years to come. Cheers to Team and our Regulars/Lurkers; now join us for the party in Meta HQ and party till you drop! Just don’t swing by our dungeons. Welcome!

PAAAAAAARTYYYYY TIIIIMEEE!

Chihiro is having the time of his life: filming zombie ero.

Last week’s conclusion was intense, I’m surprised nobody lost a limb … but now we’re faced with a new issue, how is Chihiro going to explain this to Wanko and his family!? Onward to one of my favorite shows of the season!~

I apologizes for the late post. Hawth gave me his stuff since Sunday, but I didn’t even started this until yesterday. My schedule is a little bit messy with all the studying now… Anyways, let’s move on to Sankarea shall we? And see if Chihiro stays in one piece this episode.

Chihiro’s dream has come true, the zombie girl he’s always fantasized over is no longer just a figment of his imagination, but clearly he’s a long way from understanding the inner workings of the undead. After Chihiro is released from Rea’s tight grasp, Wanko realizes his dark secret. She accuses him of murder, but he gets no opportunity to explain as Rea soon disappears out the window to follow Babu.

He soon finds her in the hydrangea fields next to the temple, chewing on the poisonous leaves alongside Babu. Rea comes out of her previous state and is back to normal, completely unknowing of what went down only minutes ago. Wanko and Chihiro’s grandpa appear, and the latter explains the three rules of caring for a zombie. Regular exercise, a cool body, and the daily consumption of hydrangea leaves. He then tells Chihiro some shocking news, that the decay, even with the rules, cannot be stopped.

“Whaddup dawg, wanna join me? This weed is edible!”

“To stop Rea from rotting, you have to get a piggybank ride from half naked girls and touch their boobs.”

After some convincing, Chihiro’s father allows Rea to stay with them. Wanko isn’t too pleased with it, but puts on a smile and leaves. Later in the day Chihiro starts a journal to record information regarding Rea’s zombie-ism and even records her on video. Wanko delivers some clothing for Rea to wear and goes as far as to say she’ll buy some more later. Chihiro soon feels an unbearable sadness, as the reality of Rea’s state finally hits him. She’s dead; she’ll never be a normal girl again.

This is the part where Rea goes all lesbian for Wanko then ditches Chihiro.

Rea and Chihiro go for a walk at night, with the excuse that she needs exercise. The butler from Rea’s mansion follows them, keeping a close eye on their actions. Rea soon also comes to terms with her death, but is still admittedly happy because being a zombie in the free world is better than being a possession of an obsessed father. Chihiro promises to take care of her, and realizes he must soon find a cure to her decay. Later on Chihiro is almost hit by a truck, but Rea saves him by throwing him backward with great force. He’s hurt in the process, but she licks his wounds to disinfect them.

omnomnomnomnom

Hydrangea Leaves:

Chihiro x Daddy, anyone…?

He actually has a face

Geez Deus, you forgot your 13th Diary

“Cut! You guys are doing the scene wrong! Rea’s supposed to be naked!”

OISHI~

Watanuki in disguise!? #CLAMPiseverywhere

It took a few episodes, but the obvious truth was formally revealed in the only plausible way for a show like Sankarea, a half-naked stroll across the roof and into a hydrangea field! From all the comments I’ve been reading, and from common sense, the solution to Rea’s problem was to be expected, but I’m now believing the entire ordeal was simply to distract us from the real issue, you can’t stop a body from decaying no matter how many poisonous leaves you shove into its mouth. The old man’s explanation was a bit of a curveball, I was naively under the impression that the decay would be stopped from such an obvious answer, but in fact it’s not an answer at all, just a temporary diversion from a natural phenomenon. Unfortunately my eagerness to hear the rest of his surprisingly ominous dialogue was spoiled by Wanko … but let’s be honest, he deserved to get something thrown at him. (Such bad timing!)

The emotional conflict between Rea and Wanko was also touched on this week more so than last. This is no more than speculation, but Rea’s inner jealousy last week seemed to be a small factor in her transformation to the wall-climbing, breast-licking “demon” that attacked the very same girl she was distraught over. Maybe distraught is an exaggeration on my part, but Rea’s selfishness and lack of reserve seemed to define her “other-self”, which are also traits of jealousy I believe. In fact I’d go as far as to speculate that her emotional state played a large part in her loss of control

The appearance of the butler gives us good indication that good ol’ what’s-his-name will be rearing his ugly mustache into the picture again. Chihiro is in for some trouble, not only does he now have to solve the decaying problem, but he has to avoid the powerful influence of Rea’s father. A man who can single handedly cause an entire family to leave town can sure as hell take care of a teenaged kid.

A writer here at Metanorn, lvlln, brought up a good point a couple weeks ago, that the mourning aspect of Rea’s death was ignored in favor of highlighting the positive aspects of escaping her past life. It was nice to see that the issue was touched on this week, with Chihiro realizing the “unbearable sadness” that he undoubtedly feels, but doesn’t show. Watching her eat the hydrangea leaves put things into perspective, she can never live the life of a normal girl, there are obstacles she’ll have to deal with on a daily basis. Rea is still stubborn however, perhaps she truly believes being dead was the only way to escape, or maybe she just hasn’t come to terms with it yet? I for one would never be happy if I couldn’t taste food or even sleep … Anyway, this is getting me depressed, until next time!~

This episode was… meh, I guess. I don’t know whether it’s actually the episode or it’s just me. I wasn’t in my best mood when I watched it. It’s just that I feel as if the usual charm isn’t there. The animation isn’t as striking as the previous episodes too. Everything feels so… Normal. Even the SHAFT feeling wasn’t there (few but not much). Episode six feels like some random episode of a random anime. I suspect it’s because of the sudden information dump that I’m not used seeing in Sankarea, but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and say it’s just me. The colors are still superb though. I will forever love colors in this anime.

Of course, episode six is not that bad. The information dump is actually pretty useful. It seems that Chihiro’s grandfather has been experiencing stuff behind his family’s back. This is pretty interesting, considering how senile this old man is. How can he experiment stuff if he’s going to forget them five seconds later? Maybe it was his experience during his younger days? Who was his test subject? This one I really want to know, because somehow I have a feeling that it has something to do with Chihiro’s mother. And since Chihiro’s father experiments on zombies, that means he’s not a zombie right? Yeah right. If he’s not a zombie, why would he be eating hydrangea leaves then? So my theory is that Chihiro’s grandfather is a zombie and has been trying to find a way to cure himself. Or at least, to prevent him from rotting. Of course, my theory has this big flaw: if Chihiro’s grandfather is a zombie, but why isn’t he rotting then? Maybe that’s why he’s going senile. Gah, I know I’m not making any sense, but I don’t want to let go of the “my grandfather is a zombie” theory.

What I find the most interesting in this episode is the new relationship between Wanko and Rea. As soon as both of them met each other’s eyes, the anime crews isolate both of them, giving the girls their own world as they stare into each other’s eyes. I can’t help but seeing that as the start of their rivalry. BUT I also have this feeling that their relationship will be more than rivalry. What is it? I don’t know. Maybe the girls will bond more as friends rather than as rivals? Maybe. I just think that they will be more than just rivals. Probably BFF.

And haha, lvlln got what he wanted. Such luck. The tragic aspect of Rea’s death has been brought up. But by Chihiro since Rea still believes that being dead is better than being alive within such messed up family. I agree with Hawth that Rea is just being stubborn, not wanting to accept the fact that her death is something to be mourned over. And what sucks is that Rea’s body won’t stop decaying. How will this love relationship survive if the girl won’t even be “alive”? I can only see this anime ends disastrously because the facts laid out there are not favorable at all. Either one of them dies, or both of them die. And besides, it seems that Rea is going to be out of control soon. She’s liking Chihiro’s blood more than she’s supposed to.

Preview: Wanko is getting the spotlight now. She deserves it! Though it seems that there will be more dead bodies, seeing the mummified hand that’s being pulled out from the ground.

Moe. MOEEEEEEEEEEE!

Moral of the story: Life’s a bitch, deal with it!

The recent Fate/Zero Kiritsugu’s arc gave me quite a challenge. If you have been keeping up, I’ve been experimenting with my episodics and having the Type-Moon knowledge, I just thought to make this a special post on Kerrytugu. Like before, I won’t be recapping anything rather throwing explanation wherever necessary. This episode is also Shiki approved because we get not just one, but technically three Kara no Kyoukai reference.

Now that the panther’s out of the bag, rather than wasting my time on reviewing what happened, I’ll divulge myself into the character that is Emiya Kiritsugu. Love him, pity him, hate him, despise him; do whatever you want with him. Because he won’t even glance back at you (unless you are a carbon copy of Shirley or Iri), being oblivious to everything except his ultimate goal of saving humanity. Tall declaration for anyone but at least he’s 200% sure about it and doing everything in his power to achieve it. You have to give him props for that.

The feature that ruled his life is misfortune and loss of every single person that he came to care about (father, first love, and mother, while his right arm and wife are in danger zone as well). There is no explanation of what happened to his biological mother except for the fact that he had been with his father since he opened his eyes. It’s said that he was born in Arimango island but anime wasn’t clear about this except for Shirley making fun of his name, which was not in novel. Most probably his mother was a local that Noritaka married after exiling himself to the island. Who could have passed on due to some labour complication soon after his birth? Not sure about this but Kiritsugu had been the resident of the island most of his childhood years if not all.

Catalyst

Noritaka caused the biggest event in his life, making his normal life go up in flames. People can contest that it was Shirley who stole the potion but who do you think influenced her to do so? Who kept on saying with a serious face that this is all I can do; grow numerous beautiful flowers, which would never bloom to their full glory as their life span was controlled by his experiment? Of course, to Shirley he was the god, who wanted to cure cancer and the reason she gave her own body to show the experiment as success. We know the results but it still breaks my heart thinking about how Kiritsugu decided to kill his own father, only to stop him from making more failed dead apostles (vampires), like Shirley. His childhood was over in the instant he fired that gun (FYI, there was no dagger play in the novel, the gun was the only weapon supplied by Natalia, which she regretted forever later).

A gaping question remains, why was his father so important that Association and Church both came after him? Well, he was special, being given the title of Sealing Designation. These are the special magi, who have inborn special abilities that Association vie to acquire their live sample/study/family crest, while Church wants to eradicate them if they go rogue (complete termination). Given this title means that the magus will either live a life of hermit (self-exile and only in few cases, teaching their magic to selected disciples; like Aozaki Touko), or Philosopher (who do whatever to reach their magical goals and experiment nonstop; like Araya Souren). Noritaka was a mix of both and as soon as the organizations got wind of his research, they came after him.

Her name is Koko, she is loco, I said OH NO!

Following Mother’s Footsteps

The decision to keep Kiritsugu came naturally after. As Natalia worked with the Association for Noritaka’s capture; with her connections, she got around half of Emiya family’s magical crest transferred to Kiritsugu’s body later so that he could use it to hone his killing skills. Of course, Association made sure that he won’t use the crest powers to walk down his father’s footsteps (like hell, he would). And the concept of origin bullets via the Contender was just another weapon that Natalia added in his arsenal along with the innate skills of Time Manipulation (as shown in his combat against Kayneth).

Backpacking with Natalia in war zones, which were sometimes influenced by the then ongoing war between Magus Association and Church, even his teenage years didn’t last too long. Seeing death over and over again made him mature for his age so that depth of his voice even in teenage years makes sense. Without Natalia even realizing, she forgot that she always worked alone and Kiritsugu just fit right in. Till her last moment, she agreed to the fact that Kiritsugu has too much potential because he never got cold feet of a killer except once in his life (against Shirley). This was the same instinct that she trusted him with to make a decision to submerge her plane with 300 ghouls because that was the only way to quarantine it, rather than starting Resident Evil all over again. Their conversation was touching and almost waltz-like, saying everything they wanted to say, while knowing full well what the other was expecting. After ending his own mother’s life to save the many faceless New York citizens, he ended his teenage years with gory screams of frustration and anguish. Yes, he’s not so emotionless after all but such moments come rarely.

Walking on the Thorny Path of a Killer

Even when Natalia was around, they often took missions from the Sealing Designation Enforcers (Association taskforce specifically made to retrieve all Sealing Designation research), and same happened after she passed on. During his death mongering to save humanity (as per his own definition), he came across Maiya, a warzone soldier. She was rescued by him and from then on, she became his weapon, considering him her god. She did whatever he said, silently and without hesitation. An interesting fact, half of her tongue was cut during her warring days, which is the reason of her slight lisp.

After some time, Kiritsugu was hired by the Einzbern to kill all magi in their path to acquire the Holy Grail and that is when he met the vessel, Iri. He never thought, he would find love again but he did and the ten years he spent there were one of the best of his life because there was no killing (he also left smoking, just because his brand wasn’t available there). Though, he was powerless in stopping the oldman Acht in magically experimenting on Iri for her to give birth to Ilyasviel, his precious daughter. You should remember his lament from the first episode that aired.

He went through all of that because he wants to acquire the grail and literally eradicate every man like his father off the face of this earth. And he has almost readied himself to see his wife sacrifice herself too (though this was not by choice but destined since her inception). He has nothing to lose; he’s a lone wolf, walking towards his ultimate goal, which is not flawless but riddled with blood.

Graveyard of Loss

Such, a heart-wrenching story… I remember reading this and literally stopping for a while just to take everything in. There were some additions by ufotable to the story that really made the kid Kiritsugu seem more human. That high jump off a cliff to almost aloofness towards Shirley and slowly realizing his feelings, were all little crumbs that led to gather strength to fire that shot. Like any other boy, he wanted to be a super hero of justice, who can save the planet from all kinds of morbidity. Though, only very few take it so seriously and make it their lifelong goal. The past events sure escalated everything but this is not the end and you can already guess more suffering looming on the horizon. I have no positive words to say except for the fact that enjoy this story because you rarely see such adaptation and to such detail. There’s no good end, kids, but even with a bad end, some hope would still be left.

Let me leave you with some positivity though, because it’s Type-Moon Trivia Time!

During our live stream of this episode watch on Saturday, we got a question from Magus _Killer that if the first baddie Kiritsugu killed during the chase scene that opened the recent episode was Araya Souren or not. Well, no way, because he was uglier than Araya and a magus of his caliber won’t run like a sissy. Though, most of you did miss some wondrous Kara no Kyoukai references. Let me put you up to speed:

• So, who did a cameo appearance in previous episode? None other than Cornelius Alba, whose pyro skills we missed in the movie, but damn, at least he looked more sane this time.
• Technically a reference: Natalia’s character design is very close to Aozaki Touko’s original designs from KnK novel minus the megane (she had short light-purple hair unlike the red pony-tailed siren we saw in the movies).
• That cigarette packet that Natalia passed on to Kiritsugu is identical to the ones Touko used in Kara no Kyoukai: Paradox Spiral as the brand she liked.

Preview: Back to the Holy Grail war; see what the Broskander is cooking! Also, Kariya’s still alive and more than kicking. Till next time, ja ne~

Gazelle-”Can we become breast friends forever?”       Rebecka-”I am immune to your puns… now go die.”

So the last episode showcased the crazy and creative piloting skills of Ao or maybe it was just dumb luck? Either way I could get used to his way of fighting the G monsters or secret as the team of Generation blue calls them. This week I am going to try a brand new writing experiment/format; I hope you enjoy it.   Plot this week follows Ao joining Generation blue as they visit their main base to learn the ropes.

I can totally get down with Elena for my magical contract! What about you?

Scenery porn all over the place!

Mountains-”Does this turn you on, baby? WELL DOES IT?! You are a creepy person…Yes, you are.”

This week we got to see some fancy locations throughout the episode, like the super ramp used by the massive ships, but does it look familiar to you? I swear when I saw that giant ramp I started to instantly think about the giant ramp from season one of Eureka, the one Gekkostate used to escape. Then again my mind is a bit fuzzy over the first season. Besides the fantastic ramp, we got to see inside the mountain with Ao exploring the city, but it doesn’t seem to be very populated. I think it is more of a military base and less of a civilian area? The last bit of scenery porn comes with the next G-monster creating that massive hurricane,which definitely looked amazing.

Impressive science and technology

Mechanic-”Sorry, kid, I am way too busy playing Angry Birds to do anything important.”            Ao-”Wow…seriously?”

Christophe-”Hmmmm I have no idea what button to hit anyone know? Before I blow the place up?”

From tablets and smartphones, Eureka Ao showcases a lot of modern tech; I know Elena keeps something tech-ish with her whenever she has downtime for her anime needs. Alright maybe we don’t have those advanced mechs or giant aircrafts, but hey one day we will have those things right? So what about the science section of the episode? We had some “science” with the reveal behind Ao’s eyes allowing him to see ultraviolet rays and other special wavelength, which affects the way he sees the world compared to everyone else. Also thanks to Gazzelle, we know they are researching the cube things from the scub burts, but what does the main headquarters do with all those cores that they collect? I assume the cores are used to power their giant city, but who knows maybe they are creating the scrub bursts just to collect more glowing cubes?

New team of moe pilots.

Ao-”Not sure if ultra cute girl or annoying little kid…”

Yes there are more teams of children who saaveeee the world, with team “Goldilocks” or as I call them fairy tale themed team number two next to “Pied Piper”. I wonder if there is a Cinderella team or maybe a big bad wolf team consisting of all dudes? Anyways, the Goldilocks team consists of Maggie, Chloe and Maeve, who seem to have a really easy going setup so far, meaning everyone cares for each other or are they more like siblings? They certainly acted more like a trio of sisters rather than pilots. With that team we have the super huggable Bruno, so maybe he’s a teddy bear type? He does appear to enjoy giving out free hugs, allowing his pilots to eat a mountain of pancakes with unlimited toppings! I wouldn’t eat before a mission though… Anyway, those three instantly feel in love with Noah for sure.

Elena and Fleur being mean to Ao?

Ao-”Dude, what is with these girls?”             Elena-”Skin-ship is important!”            Fleur-”Uhhh I love your hair…”

Fleur-”Dude, he was like so hot…”                 Elena-”This is not what I had in mind for fan service.”

So, Elena seems to be the comical character or as Jrow calls her the otaku girl. She definitely won me over with her “sign a contract with me” quote from Madoka and who could forget her fan-service scene with Noah? Damn what a lucky sloth, but it did look like he was not enjoying that bath at all. Also, was Elena being mean to Ao this episode? I mean she did compliment him on his cool hair color and I think she was kind of keeping an eye on him and dropping hints of info when he needed it. However, Fleur on the other hand wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to become his tour guide. I think she was on the side of trying to let Ao figure out his purpose with them without pulling him to the side for orders to FIGHT! Yeah both girls did give him the cold shoulder at the start, but I think the team of Elena, Fleur and Ao will be just fine…I hope Ao remembers to knock before entering the bathroom if he hears running water and to wait for the girls to change into their flight suits before him.

Random moe-ments

Teddy bear helmet adds a thousand to her hnnnngg power levels.

Epic sloth skills or clever use of stuffed animals? You decide.

There were a lot of Hnnggg moments for me! Like the obvious treatment of the adorable Noah. He was getting tossed around like a two dollar…just kidding! More like a cute stuffed animal? And who knew he could run so fast? Maybe he is a hybrid alien sloth!? YES! THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING. The next moe-ment turned out to be more of a romance-moment with Fleur blushing after she got a good look at Gazzelle, leaving me to just shout NOOO! DON’T FALL FOR HIM! Well maybe she is totally into older men? What else…ah yes the loli-pilot-hnngg-girl! Did you see her helmet? It was a bear! I guess it fits the Goldilocks theme quite nicely, huh?

Extra super awesome mecha fun!

ROW ROW FIGHT THE CUTENESS!

Daily lives of awesome older guys doing older guy stuff!

Clearly, it is missing some flames.

Who knew sloths could bounce like that?

Wrapping up

Overall this episode was more of an introduction to the main base, various operations and the reveal of the other teams, but what is the true intention with Generation Blue and the other teams? I guess destroying monsters and saving the world is just part of the job or is it a part of something darker? As in them creating the scrubs for more cores? I hope we find out soon. Also what happened to the Goldilocks team? It appeared they were struggling with the new G-monster, but of course Generation blue is up to save their asses or did the other team suffer a few casualties along the way? I sure hope none of those new girls get taken out this early…

Preview

Elena-”I hope this battle ends fast! I have a backlog of anime to watch.”

Team Generation Blue to the rescue! Expect some amazing action with the next episode.

Mikoto Urabe, truly a dream girl.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Last episode of Mysterious Girlfriend X featured some good fun and more fanservice than this show is used to, and the preview for this one promised some more drama, which I’d be happy to get back to. Let’s see what it had in store!

Sort of an episode of 2 halves, though the 1st flows seamlessly into the 2nd. The 1st features Ayuko Oka playing with our main couple through the drool and sweat exchange that she discovered with Mikoto in episode 4. After forcing Akira to have ice cream with her and shocking him by calling Ueno by his first name, she licks his sweat to find that he was fantasizing of being called Akira by Mikoto. Later she relays this information to Mikoto before taking her drool to find that Mikoto was thinking of the same thing. Both times, she acts unsolicited and without permission, then teases the other person over her discovery.

Oka forcibly takes Mikoto’s drool, then teases her about it.

Understandably, Mikoto is upset at Oka, but she can’t hide her blush or deny her claims.

With the concept of “first name basis” in their heads thanks to Oka, Akira and Mikoto stop at a park on the way home to cool down a bit. When Akira goes off to buy some drinks, Mikoto falls into a deep sleep from which Akira can’t seem to awaken her. Until he decides to try calling her by her first name, which gets her up with a warm smile. He sees the smile as an indication that she liked it, but he can’t get up the courage to do it again. Perhaps caused by this little encounter, Akira dreams that night of taking a smiling photograph of Mikoto in that crazy city, and he decides that he needs a real one. But while Mikoto is willing to let him take pictures of her, she refuses to fake a smile for a photograph, which leaves Akira downtrodden.

Mikoto’s real smile that inspired the dream.

On another day, Akira is waiting to meet up with Mikoto when his old middle school crush Aika happens to run into him. She is interested in going for a coffee to catch up, but he turns her down. Once she leaves, he discovers that Mikoto was hiding and eavesdropping. She isn’t angry but something is clearly bothering her, and Akira asks her if she would have been upset if he had decided to accept Aika’s offer. Mikoto responds by giving him her drool, which causes him to start crying. She explains that that would have made her sad, not angry, and his tears are those she would have shed if he had gone for the other girl. Akira tells her again that he is over his old crush, and that Mikoto is the one for him now, which makes her smile.

Akira doesn’t miss this opportunity to take a photograph of her genuine smile, and Mikoto accepts, but right when he presses the shutter, she sticks her tongue out and makes a face at the camera instead. He is disappointed at first, but looking at the (Polaroid-style instant) photograph again, he tells her that he will treasure this picture because it’s of her. Mikoto responds with a huge volume of saliva suddenly flowing from her mouth, much like at the end of episode 1 following Akira’s confession.

That’s the best you’re gonna get. If you don’t like it, I can cut it up for you (but really, this is a far better photo, don’t you think?).

Mikoto can’t hide how moved she is by seeing Akira treasure her picture.

This was the best episode of Mysterious Girlfriend X so far. It was thanks to a combination of many things, not the least of which was the wonderful Ayuko Oka, who, through her appearances in the first half, took the energy level of the show up a notch. The way she treated the drool connection was as if it was just another tool for communication, a way to get into the pair’s heads and pull out what they were holding back. Since Akira and Mikoto have approached it so far with caution and a sense of wonder, it almost felt as if Oka was abusing this magic. Then again, perhaps she was using it exactly the way it’s supposed to be used, to cut through our inhibitions and reveal what’s in our hearts.

Oka is clearly enjoying this new power that Mikoto introduced to her 2 episodes back.

I can’t shake the feeling that it’s also a crutch, though. Mikoto clearly values honesty highly, as we saw by her refusal to fake a smile for a photo, but like any teenager, she sometimes has difficulty being open with her feelings. She depends on the magic to get her true feelings across to Akira when she can’t adequately put them into words. It’s a great device for nurturing the relationship between these two naive and awkward adolescents, but I hope that the story involves them learning to cast away this crutch and to reach each other’s hearts without magic. There’s still a long way to go, seeing as they’re still too embarrassed to call each other by their first names, and Akira can’t even let his best friend know that he’s in a relationship at all.

I had fun seeing Oka tease our protagonists, and overall this episode had the best comedy from this show. The way Akira responded with awe at Oka calling Ueno by his first name was as hilarious as it was adorable, and the timing was great during the juice sharing scene in the park as well as in the photo sessions. The quick music cut at Mikoto’s refusal to smile may have been cliche, but it felt right at home in this show that has an old-fashioned feel. And how about Mikoto’s gift to Akira, a photo far superior to the regular smiling headshot he had expected?

This episode was also the most emotionally affecting one, the encounter with Akira’s old crush feeling more significant than the one with Mikoto’s suitor Ogata back in episode 3. The maturity (honesty) on display here by both Akira, who turned down his old crush in as classy a way as possible, and Mikoto, who was open about her jealousy but did not let it control her, was heartwarming to watch. In particular, the latest drool exchange that led to Akira crying was beautiful due to its camera use.

I wanted to embed this video in the post, but unfortunately YouTube took down my video the moment I uploaded it. Please click on the image above to go to the video on my Tumblr page.

After the 1st episode aired, I commented that the cinematography reminded me more of a live-action show. By panning the camera instead of cutting back and forth to the characters here, the scene caught pretty much the entire climax in one cut. This technique is almost never used in anime with their plethora of quick cuts (if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, try keeping track of the longest cuts you see in the next anime episode you watch – you’ll understand), but it’s often used in live-action shows (and movies) to give conversations a more stage-like feel, as if the audience is there with the characters. That’s how it worked here: showing Akira’s first lick, his involuntary tears, Mikoto’s explanation of those tears, and Akira’s reaction to that all in one cut made it feel more natural and believable.

The cinematography was a major contributor to that scene being so powerful. I just hope this isn’t the peak in drama, because it was done so well and it’ll be tough to top. I love how the show creates tension over very small, seemingly trivial things, such as calling one’s partner by their first name or seeing one’s girlfriend in a swimsuit for the first time. But that tension doesn’t feel artificial or melodramatic because of the frankness with which these naive characters approach the issues. Given that our couple hasn’t really run into real (traditional) speed bumps quite yet, I’m sure there’s plenty of room for the drama in this show to grow into something even greater by the end.

Preview

Looks like people will be getting sick. And Oka’s sticking around!

Friendship is for life

Gamers out there, I’m just now getting to Arkham City and Infamous 2.Also of importance, a new MetaVerse episode is going to be recorded tomorrow, so expect that out real soon and also keep up with the Eureka Seven AO impressions that Fosh & I are recording each week.

“Lullaby of Birdland”

Rejection via Tin Can Telephone

It’s gotten much easier to break up with someone since ’66

It’s words Kaoru surely knew were coming, but it still hurt to hear them. As is usually the case with these awkward romances and such, Kaoru kind of falls back into what he wanted to be when he started at the school. You can’t be hurt if you keep your distance, though ultimately that leaves only you to hurt yourself, shutting people out. That’s what makes Sen such a great friend, being persistant and even visiting his house in the evening hours trying to get him to come back. It is interesting that they really didn’t say a word about the “phone” chat between Kaoru and Ri’ko, as if Sen didn’t want to spill the beans that he was in the know about what happened.

Sentarou’s a step closer to finding out who Ri’ko likes, but it’s really only by default. His curiousness is natural since he is a childhood friend and he was snooping in on the conversation, but what if he’s, in a weird way, kind of worried that it’s him?

Brother Jun + Yurika

Jun is a cool guy, no debating that. But is he a good guy? I’m not so sure. Yurika makes it pretty obvious that she’s interested when bringing up the sweets shop his family owns, and it seems he might already be “shacking up” with her. I’m not sure why there are so many letters from Yurika stuffed in his door’s mail slot, but what if there’s something to that rumor about him with that faction? No duh we’re all rooting for Sentarou to get the/a girl, but underneath that cool guy stuff, I’d like to know some more about Brother Jun.

Bromance Yaoi

Well well, this is an interesting development. What once was thought of as a bromance is approaching yaoi territory.

Just messing. Anyways…

Kaoru’s Mother

Kaoru went through a range emotions when going to meet with his mother. Tears over how things went with Ri’ko and not wanting to meet his mother, he was close to becoming the guy he seemed to be the very first time he arrived at school, and that would’ve sucked. Luckily, Sentarou made sure that his new best bud didn’t pass up the chance to meet his mother. As someone who’s mother abandoned him, Sentarou surely wouldn’t pass the chance up if he had it.

Meeting with Sayoko did benefit him in the end. Having someone that could pinpoint the source of his grief and loosen him up, Kaoru has come back to Welcome Records and looks to be in good shape. He also now can say he’s seen his mom and leaves her with a record hoping they can meet again.

There is a detail about why Kaoru’s mom and dad split up that the manga covers. The following spoiled text comes from events in a certain chapter. Show ▼

Time heals all wounds

Overall, the pacing went from fast to almost breakneck speed just judging from past episodes and how events transpire in this episode. In past reviews, I’ve praised the fast pacing and have loved how emotions are able to be seen through little things that the characters do and say. This week I feel Apollon might’ve been in rush mode, and that was before knowing that other stuff. It is the cost of squeezing as much manga into a noitaminA-slotted series, but I think I strangely prefer it this way.

I wouldn’t consider this episode of Apollon my favorite ep, but it still does plenty of things interestingly like with Jun/Yurika and bringing Kaoru’s parents into the mix at a time when he was at his lowest of emotions. It’s good to see that Kaoru does get along ok with his father instead of there being an awkward distance between the two.

I did miss the music performing on the show which took a week off in favor of Kaoru and Sen traveling to a new area. I loved how episodes 3 & 4 used music to restrengthen the friendship between the two boys. Hopefully will get some more fun jazz tunes next week.

Fujiko adds “seducing women” to the special talents section of her resume

I’m not sure if writing about Mine Fujiko is an appropriate activity for Mother’s Day, but ah well. Here I am anyways. My mom’s away for business, but I’ve already sent her some mushy words and wished her the best on this special holiday. Have you? Get on that right now if you haven’t! Yes, stop reading this and do it! Done? Alright, good, let’s get this show on the road then.

This week, Fujiko is posing as a teacher in an all-girl’s school so she can edge her way into the heart of a girl named Isolde. Her father was a famous researcher, and her necklace is the key to deciphering them and unlocking their secrets. Fujiko-sensei is very popular amongst all the girls to the point where they’re all fiercely in love with her, so they quickly grow jealous of all the time Fujiko is spending with Isolde. A group of her more devout fans gang up on Isolde and cut her hair in a church to try and make her more ugly. Isolde visits Fujiko in tears for some grief banging to heal the pain, but things don’t go quite as planned. Isolde knocks Fujiko out and ties her to the bed, revealing her identity as Oscar. Yes, he’s been undercover all this time to try and catch Lupin and Fujiko, and no one even noticed.

He leaves Fujiko to marinate in some wine and then sets out to catch Lupin..by letting himself get captured. He plays the role of the fragile girl quite well and lowers Lupin’s guard so much that he barely reacts in time the same group of mean girls appearing with guns. They try to gun down Lupin and Isolde, but he manages to outrun them and escape to a green house. This is still within Oscar’s plan, as the greenhouse serves as a prison for Lupin and the girls obey his every command now. Now all that’s left is to have Zenigata pick them up. Unfortunately, Fujiko escaped already. She tricks Oscar into thinking that she is torturing Zenigata by playing recorded clips from when they were having sex, so he reveals the secret of the paper. Lupin also escapes somehow, leaving the two of them to split the reward while Oscar is humiliated.

Bonus Screenshots:

“Mmm, you smell like money. Uh, I mean…honey.”

Don’t worry, I’m sure these owls know exactly what they’re doing.

C’est vraiment romantique (until Lupin’s hand slips and he gets a feel of the wrong kind of lumps)

End Thoughts:

So, how many of you saw that twist coming? I did. I thought Isolde’s voice sounded like Oscar’s as soon as she spoke, and she had the same rosy lips, blue eyes, and long eyelashes as well. I spent the rest of the episode waiting for him to reveal himself. The twist was rather clearly telegraphed, but I still enjoyed the episode nonetheless. It was predictable, but still kept the Mine Fujiko spirit flowing the entire time. What’s more perfect than having her seduce an entire school of girls? I love how her sexuality is being pushed so far that gender doesn’t even matter; Mine Fujiko will have her way with you no matter what. As expected, this makes Oscar her ultimate rival. He will never fall for her that way…although that doesn’t mean he’s impervious to her other thieving skills, such as that tricky necklace swap. I prefer seeing Oscar chase after Fujiko instead of Zenigata because of how much he loathes her and all that she is. While everyone is kissing her feet and risking their lives to steal alexandrite peacocks to win her favour, Oscar is hissing in dissent at her very existence. It’s a nice change, and it makes Oscar a little bit of a special character to me. The only temptation he’s liable to give in to is anything related to Zenigata, as seen by his desperate attempt to save him in the end.

I’m not a big fan of yuri, but I did like the shift from the perfect, schoolgirl romance that shifted into Oscar kneeing Fujiko and tying her to the bed. I know teacher-student romances usually go down the drain, but….never quite like that. XD It would have been better if I hadn’t seen it coming, but oh well. I mostly liked how the directing took a step back up, and the framing of the shots seemed better and the imagery a little more artsy and interesting. It made Oscar’s reveal a little more dramatic and interesting to watch. I especially enjoyed how he re-recited that forlorn love poem, but in a completely different context. It was never for Fujiko – it was always for Zenigata. The wine-pouring was probably not something a normal person would do, but whatever, it looked cool. The schoolgirls suddenly getting a hold of guns was also pretty out there, but I’m not one to be too fussy about details in an action anime. Well, except Zetman, which had so many glaring flaws that I…whoa, almost went down a dark path there. Let’s forget all about that horrible stain that mars my blogging track record.

I hope to see more episodes like this one! I may have seen Isolde being Oscar and Fujiko using the sex tape for her evil doings, but the concepts were still cool. Fujiko recorded that thing ages ago, so there had to be some planning involved to make sure that scene would become important later on. Very nice. This week even had a little bit of Lupin, although he played a very minor role. He’s usually against Fujiko, but it seems like thieves will band together if they have a common enemy (the police). I doubt they’ll ever team up again unless it’s necessary, but I do quite like when they act close and work in unison…even if it’s just to help steal something and throw the cops off their scent. Lupin can’t have his precious one-day-to-be-stolen Fujiko handed over to some pigs now, can he?

One last thing I want to talk about are the odd, colourful “flashbacks” to a child version of Fujiko being tested on by….owls. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this, but Fujiko never acknowledges these memories herself. Based on the Lethe River theme (and the recurrence of what I assume are lethe butterflies) that’s been going on for a while, I guess she’s just…forgotten her past. It’s a shame because I really want a NON-CRAZY version showing what the hell happened to her as a kid. Was she experimented on? The flashbacks (or what I assume to be flashbacks) are all terribly weird and incoherent. Hmm. At least they’re pretty.

Leaving already? Stay for some wine, darling~

Just a metre more away from the boat, and they’d be catching sharks instead

Have I mentioned that I’m flying off to Japan to participate in an immersion programme at the end of this month? BECAUSE I AM 8D Incredibly excited at the moment and I’m definitely going to ask my host family to bring me fishing. And then I will possibly shout ENOSHIMA DOOON! and embarrass myself and everyone else around me horribly. YAAAAY.

Lucky Miyu, flying off to Japan and living out everyone’s tsuritama fishing fantasy! I’ll be curious to find out how many people suddenly become interested in taking up fishing after this series finishes airing. Have any of you rushed out to buy your own fishing pole yet? I’m starting to want to…

Yuki has become such a fan of fishing that he decides to buy his own fishing gear. Sadly, he’s too broke to really afford…well…anything. Natsuki sees how badly he wants to become serious about fishing, so he suggests working on a fishing boat with him. Ayumi (or “Captain”) takes customers out on his boat, and hires people to help lure in the fish and aid the customers in getting the caught fish on board with nets. It’s a perfect job, because they get to do what they love while earning money…to do more of what they love. Captain agrees, and thus their boat adventures begin.

The first day at work is quite eventful. Yuki can barely even stand up on the boat let alone follow basic instructions. Natsuki catches the first mahi-mahi in order to lead the rest of the school towards the boat for the customers to go nuts over, while Haru and Yuki go around with nets. Haru does fine, but Yuki snaps his net in two and starts to freak out when the customer (rightfully) asks what the hell he was doing. Captain steps in and diffuses the situation with humour, and everyone keeps at their job until the ride is over. Let’s not forget about Akira, who kind of forgets about being a spy and enjoys his fishing a little too heartily.

“What happens if one of us falls in?” “Well, I guess we’ll find that 5-headed dragon a bit earlier than scheduled…”

You would think getting a pay cheque would make Yuki feel fantastic, but he feels far too unworthy of it after messing up so badly on the first day. Captain tries to console him, but he still feels bad about it – and everyone notices it. The next day, Yuki is nowhere to be seen, so Akira boldly claims that the redhead turned chicken and abandoned his duties. That turns out to be far from the truth. He arrives late after spending all morning fixing the net he broke (duct tape? glue?) and does a much better job this time. He manages to even stand up!

The more Yuki works, the more he gets used to talking to people and catching fish. Natsuki even offers to let him be the instructor and catch the first mahi-mahi. He sweats a few buckets and runs around the entire boat before he catches it…but he does. Not only that, but he’s able to yell “CAST AWAY!” to the customers in a loud voice. He’s got a huge ego boost now, and it’s translating to his everyday life. He can actually talk to people now! Sort of! As Yuki becomes a dazzling star(fish), Akira watches from the shadows and convinces himself that friends are the worst thing ever.

Happy, happy, happy, AKIRA. One of these things doesn’t belong…

Little Details:

Haru needs water to live, and he sleeps with his toes dipped in a bowl of water.

The cat fighting with Tapioca matches how Akira feels about Natsuki, Haru and Yuki.

It looks like they need water pretty damn often <_<

Akira is actually a TSUNDERE! I-it’s not like I actually want to fish or anything…

End Thoughts:

The three of them have come a long way since the first episode where everything was awkward and tense and angsty. Now it’s all happy gay smiles and rainbows!  (≧∇≦)/ Okay maybe not, but I really enjoy watching the easygoing vibes and silly grins that they were giving each other! ALL the bromance! I was heartened by the fact that not only Haru, but Natsuki too had such trust in Yuki when he showed up late for the second day. The usually stoic Natsuki had that look of utter calmness and determination that psssh, he’s going to show up anytime now. And I was just really heartened by how much their friendship has grown. Beautiful relationships everywhere in Tsuritama :’)

I was also wowed by how open Yuki has become after merely 5 episodes of hardcore fishing! In the first episode I couldn’t even imagine him looking like anything other than his signature constipated-drowning-look, but now that glorious smile, that brimming confidence when he was leading the other passengers makes me feel like a proud momma. In this episode we get to see that Akira is also actually really lonely underneath that “I don’t need any friends because I’m cool like that” façade. His only real partner is the most adorable duck on the planet Tapioca, and that’s pretty sad considering that he’s human too. Although it’s kind of obvious that in a few episodes time he’ll probably join the fishing party too and then more fun interactions would ensue! We’ll see. 8D

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. Who would’ve guessed?! I am really intrigued by (un)natural phenomenon like these (National Geographic is my favorite TV channel – yes why am I so nerdy), so I’m very excited at its possible inclusion in the fate of the world! With all the hints that Haru and his sister have been throwing around, I’m expecting some huge face-off between them and a gigantic monster sleeping at the bottom of the sea.. with tentacles. Japan is famous for their scary sea creatures, although I doubt Tsuritama will ever give us something that frightening xD Four-headed dragon is still entirely possible though. I can kind of see how fishing, of all things, could possibly lead them to confront this creature. After all that character development, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Haru directly telling them “let’s go kick some Godzilla’s ass to save the world!”, but many cheesy anime plots could also be used in this context. Let’s say, captain gets swallowed by the giant sea creature and they vow to defeat it and save him. That is really cheesy. But whichever direction Tsuritama takes I’m sure it’ll still manage to do it beautifully. With only 6 episodes to go, they should probably be moving on onto the saving-the-world part now. I will definitely miss the slice-of-life episodes that we’ve been enjoying, but I’m still waiting in anticipation for upcoming action and dorama. This is Tsuritama, ever so unpredictable.

There’s something really magical about the way Tsuritama portrays fishing. There’s a difference between an exciting scene in an anime and a scene that genuinely makes you feel excited. As soon as emotions have the potency to cross over from the screen and affect your mood, you know you’ve got a good anime on your hands.  I know I keep making this point, but think about how this sounds on paper: I was excited to see a boy stand up on a boat. Sometimes you don’t need crazy, interweaving storylines, pretentious speeches and picture-perfect animation…sometimes you just need some fun.

To echo Miyu, this week really emphasizes Yuki’s growth into a more sociable and confident person. He talks as easily to Natsuki as he does to Haru now, he outwardly announces his love for fishing, and he’s even slowly branching out and communicating with strangers. Remember when Haru had to drag him to go fishing? Now he’s come to love fishing as much as he loves his newfound friends. Together, fishing and his buddies have kindled feelings of self-worth and confidence. Yuki panics only when he feels like he can’t handle a situation – but with his newfound self-esteem, he feels like he can meet these challenges and thus doesn’t panic. Well, he doesn’t panic as much. I know that talking to someone doesn’t seem much like a challenge, but it is for something with Yuki who is bordering on the social anxiety disorder line. He’s getting there, and his friends are gradually coming to understand how to accommodate for his shyness. Natsuki understands that Yuki just makes that face when he’s nervous, and tried to step in to help Yuki when his net broke and he seized up in front of a customer. It’s just that Mr. Pink Shirt got to him first.

Look at our core trio of characters. Yuki has let his passion for fishing change his life for the good, Natsuki is opening up and rarely seen frowning anymore, and Haru is slowly learning human ways through mimicry and experience. Everyone is undergoing some sort of metamorphosis into a better person, all the while becoming a more tightly-knit group. Then we have Akira, who scuttled out from under the woodworks this week to play a more prominent role. He’s still at square one. Akira has no friends, and shoots down any notion of ever changing that. At least “for now,” as he says. I don’t think Akira understands what friends are really for. Saying “I don’t need friends right now” makes me believe he sees them more like tools that are handy at times, and cumbersome at others. Why he feels this way and how he got this far in life without making friends, I do not know. Especially since he’s in a organization where he has to sit in a room all day with a bunch of guys and watch surveillance videos. You would think one of them would be his friend. So far he seems to find friendship to be a very unappetizing concept, yet at the same time…he’s a bit lonely.

I think it’s Akira’s turn to change now. I originally couldn’t help but see him as only a foil to Haru and his plans, but I’m starting to realize that he has to join the group too. It’s clear that despite the mental walls he’s set up to prevent him from getting close to people that his life is a bit empty. He’s also a bit in denial over his joy for fishing.  He’s a harder nut to crack than the others, I would think, but he should come around (at least a little) by the end of the series. I still have trouble picturing him getting too intimate with anyone (no, not like that!), but everyone else has already come so far that either A. someone else has to change or B. something will happen to screw everything up. Episode 6 might start going into more of that dark drama, or focus more on catching that fish that Haru keeps going on about. Just for the record…I’m still hoping that Keito dies. That’s some grade A drama right there.

Sea you next week!

Getting down with some action and development.

Yo~ I finally have some time to review my shows. The Aniblog Tourney Highlights sure took a lot of time but I am happy with its results. Also, things have sped up in two episodes and without even reaching the midpoint; we have had lots of progress. I’ll try to be short and sweet so let’s get set go!

Jealousy can be blue too

The evident faceoff between Taku and Haru has been long time coming and I’m just glad they fought it out. Not playing the I-am-evil-just-because card but a proper explanation of why Taku went against Haru wins in my books. Jealousy is one of the oldest themes in romance but most guys are stupid in figuring out the fact that not everyone their girlfriend talks to or care about have special privileges like them. This one became more ‘complicated’ because they have been childhood friends and Chiyu has always gone far ahead in taking care of Haru (no wonder, he felt all pitied). Getting the full attention of the girl you like is any guy’s dream but however the circumstances, Taku shouldn’t have been such a douchebag about it.

After whatever transpired, I literally have to roll my eyes at the exaggerated way Taku’s character showed malice. I mean, in the end all they had to do is communicate properly and resolve. Of course, it’s Haru’s good moral fiber that didn’t let him abandon a friend, even when Taku had been a backstabbing douchebag. I definitely would like to see him grow to a better character rather than one of those, HAHAAA-fooled-ya-I’m-still-bad stupidity.

I believe I can fly

Haru’s Wings

I’m really not surprised here because the main character has to have a unique trait that is never before seen. The animation was beautiful and Haru’s return after almost losing it all was pretty awesome. Of course, seeing Hime (seriously, Kuroyukihime is too long to type!), had to trigger a reaction and no, it wasn’t any level up or special mojo. I’ve confirmed from the people who have read the original material that the wings were always part of his avatar, he just didn’t realize it. Like Hime described previously, duel avatar is made subconsciously by individual burst linkers so Haru’s avatar is everything that he wanted to be and his wish of soaring the sky activated that innate ability.

I’m here to encash my metal hugs, braah

Taku Vs Haru aka MECHBROS~

What’s an action series without some amazing shafting?! Cough. So, I present to you MechBROS. No seriously, they were so enraged that they had to show it repeatedly by firing their big bad weapons at each other… I literally had Evangelion déjà vu; who can forget Kaworu shafting Shinji, huh?! I would have liked the fight to last a bit longer but an underdog rising above difficulties and saving his friend valiantly in process was still pretty good. Also, mechbro hugs ftw~

Haru, “They are really pointy, you know… Did you get inspiration from Madonna?!”

Nega Nebulous

Somebody give me my bet monehhs because I was right about Hime not kicking the bucket. This is no Wolf’s Rain guys so getting main character killed at such an early stage would have been totally anticlimactic. Though, the recovery was too fast and her declaration of Nega Nebulous to rule over and challenge the remaining kings came faster than you could say steel knockers! Of course, the plot has to move and progress happen but I had a rather silly smile on my face seeing Haru princess-carry Hime across the Accel World arena, while she continued her declaration. Hime definitely knows what she’s doing and has already strategized to make the neutral zone her stronghold. I’m reminded of the Order of Black Knights here, fighting for justice, but are the populace suppressed in anyway? This is a game after all with the only plus point of acceleration. Is level 10 just an excuse to rule them all by Hime or she was honest about meeting the maker? I guess we’ll find out.

HHHNNNGG.

I-it’s not like I love you or anything!

In the first episode, Hime seemed one of the most distant characters out of the whole mix but she has definitely grown on me now. After confession, she seems to be cuter, taking care of what hairstyle Haru would like and going an extra mile in seeing the advantage for her man. Seriously, Haru is one lucky dude to have turned the ice queen Hime into a HNNNG moe girl, who blushes and fidgets. Her endearing factor was definitely fabulous max with that Bakemono Senjougahara hairstyle.

Play~

Taku’s connections

Just because Takahiro Sakurai is voicing the Blue Knight, Vanquish, I had Phi Brain déjà vu all over again (the seiyuu of Taku is the main character Kaito in that series). Though, why he went easy on Taku is still a mystery. I have a hunch that Taku might know Vanquish’s real identity? I can be wrong but the way he was submissive and everything sure raised a lot of hint flags. Also, one of the Blue Knight bodyguards, Cobal and/or Marga could be Taku’s kendo club captain if the subbers (I used Commie), got the gender right. Hime is definitely on to something with some usurping relating kendo club because they seemed to be linked to the Blue faction stronghold. Though, this time around, I don’t think Taku’s on the betrayal mode because he’s been honest in helping Haru level up.

Another addition to Haru’s harem, check.

Meeting the One

I definitely like the bodyguard of Accel World and she’s level one?! How can that anomaly be?! Yeah, I’m using Matrix references again but I can’t really help it. Even if her badger avatar was complete lulz, she seems to be totally badass and always-ready mode; except for her typical harem boob-grab introduction. Looking forward to the upcoming fight, which I’ve heard will be pretty awesome. I want to see this tag team in action.

Chiyu, “I won’t accept your relationship until you supply me doujins…”         Haru/Taku, “……..” 

K.I.S.S

In other words, keep it simple stupid! Most of my, where-is-the-connection-guyz query got distilled this episode because we finally saw the friendship angle in retrospect. Their kiddy slippers still prized by Haru and Chiyu are a sign that they still care, while Taku’s competitive nature made him forget the fact that the dude he was so jealous of actually considers him a very good friend. I sighed in relief, seeing them share junk food (bonding food!) and talking things out. Chiyu was annoying in a first few episodes but now even she has grown on me. Throwing books and what not was adorable. Also, for the guys out there, she provides the needed fanservice with shorty shorts and shower scenes. Yeah, I know why majority likes her but everyone has their own reason.

Overall, I’d say, this was the best episode so far (not Fate/Zero level, mind!), of this series because things are finally coming into perspective. As I said before, I wasn’t bothered with the pacing but the lack of character connections and how they could love/hate each other left, right and center. Iso from Nabe, highlighted to me on our IRC channel that it’s much better dealt with in novel/manga so if you had trouble like I did, rest assured things happened for a reason. The current episode specifically made a lot of things clear and I’m glad to see Taku out of the doghouse. Though, not in front of Hime because she’s pretty sure, he’s been up to no good. I hope the differences are dealt with soon as he has been helping out Haru by tag-fighting with him. If he was that bent on getting Haru out of the game, he could have just challenged him for a duel after Haru’s points went down to 8. On the other hand, our main hero definitely needs some lessons on perseverance because such mistakes can hurt him in the long run.

I’m still curious about why Chiyu is not a Burst Linker; though, there are chances she will become one soon. Also, I want to know more about all the kings and Vanquish’s deal with or without kendo. So, what are you looking forward to and any predictions? Do share your personal experience with this bumpy ride of an anime. Till next time, ja ne~

Preview:

Hopefully, bodyguard megane-chan will help Haru out of his current fix.

Chris-chan’s rainbow puke in 3D is truly a sight to see.

Well, I missed out last week due to me not paying attention, but here I am for this week’s KoreZom! This season has really been dishing out the humor (at this point I’m even going to go as far as to say that it’s better than the first in that regard). Will this continue for the rest of the season? Hopefully.

Woooooo it is time for some more fun with Kore wa zombie! Sadly if you are tuning in every week to see some sort of plot development, however I have high hopes for the plot to show up soon! Anyway time to enjoy some random fun with Ayumu, Yuu, Haruna and Seraphim. Plot follows Mystletainn getting repaired and Ayumu attending a school festival.

Dai-Sensei enjoys a good bubble bath while chatting with Ayumu.

Starting things this week, we catch up with the famous Dai-Sensei taking a bath while she is on her “phone” talking to Ayumu about the latest news on Haruna’s chainsaw of doom finally getting repaired at last! Of course she uses Mystletainn as her own personal bubble bath machine; yes apparently you can use a chainsaw to create a relaxing bathing experience. After receiving this news, Ayumu heads to school where he runs into a strange man wearing a lab coat who pukes up a lot of blood! He also passes on a special ring to Ayumu for some strange reason… Yes accepting random rings from strange men is totally normal right?

Ayumu-”I can’t read that, Yuu, but whatever it is I will always Hnnnnggggg for you!”

Scientist-”Will you become my first husband?”          Ayumu-”I have enough weirdos after me so no thanks!”

So Ayumu takes the ring and heads to school for the all-important cultural festival! You know what that means right? Haunted houses and every damn café you can think of, but Ayumu’s homeroom invited Haruna to assist in the festival and they decide to run a haunted café as their theme. Whoa is that original or no? Just kidding, anyway the next few days Ayumu, Haruna, Yuu and Seraphim help setup the various festival booths. During that time Ayumu uses Mystletainn to wipe out every memory of his cross dressing from episode one! That sounds perfect right? However the next day he ends up wearing a wedding dress! Damn I don’t think our zombie hero can escape the fate of being a cross dresser…

Ayumu-”I can’t resist the drunken moe powers.”                 Chris-chan-”Hic…I know right?”

Ayumu forgot to wear his awesome glasses this week.

Haruna-”You will become the bride of a super genius magical girl!”              Ayumu-”I hate my life…”

After the class puts him through hell. Ayumu meets Yuki and they end up outside together just in time for Yuki to enter her “confession” mode. But everything goes horribly wrong as she triggers a random trap that knocks her out triggering the release of a giant fire monster that lives inside of her… Yeah, I forgot about that random fire creature from season one. Thankfully the strange man who puked up blood arrives and tells Ayumu to use the rings to seal away the monster; however, Yuki freaks out and assumes they are officially married thanks to the wedding rings.

D’awwww would you look at the happy couple?! Congratulations Yuki x Ayumu.

While Yuki freaks out over her new rings, Haruna rushes over to Ayumu to inform him of a pair of Megalo appearing at the school and the two of them transform and defeat the monsters. Hooray double kicks of death… After that Haruna gets a headache using Yuu’s magical powers to transform…the episode ends with a non-drunk Chris-chan watching Ayumu and Haruna very closely.

Haruna-”Dude are you ready to kick ass!?”                   Ayumu-”Yes I am so ready to wear another dress! Er wait no!”

Enjoy the super awesome transformation sequence!

FINISH HIM!!!

Chris-chan-”Silly mortals! You have no idea what I am preparing…muahahahahaha!!”

Extra zombified fun

Someone get this guy a truck full of tissues or maybe a real doctor?

Chris-chan-”Fetch me some top quality liquor and then maybe we can get serious.”

Haruna rocks the glasses look quite well, don’t you think?

Ayumu-”Daaaum girl you is gangster.”                  Haruna-”I KNOW RIGHT!? I GOTTA SCREAM!”

End thoughts

Crossdressing Ayumu! Oh how I’ve missed you! Haha, he just can’t escape his fate of being a crossdresser. Having Haruna back (simultaneously!) is cool too. …Is it just me, or is this season trying extremely hard to give the characters more equal screentime? I swear, pretty much everyone in Ayumu’s harem has had a pretty equal amount of attention (though Yuki seems to be getting a lot more than anyone else). Hell, even that normal girl in his class who’s name I haven’t bothered to memorize has had a ton. I wasn’t even aware that she was all that important. On a side note too, ultimate tsundere girl and Orito seem to be getting along rather well (HOLY CRAP! Character development that actually stayed developed!). Potential side pairing? Hell yes.

Oh man, that guy who keeps coughing up blood and talking about what his doctor said is a great addition to the cast. Hell, I think he’s effectively become my favourite character and I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who the hell he even is. …Though on that note, I have no idea wtf was up with Yuki this episode either. What was with the tree? Am I forgetting something or was it as vague as it looked? Also, how the hell do you plan on getting married if you’re too embarrassed to kiss a guy? Sigh, anime girls. The developments with the ring were cute though. I’ll forgive this anime for having zero lasting relationship progression… this time.

W-was that a hint of plot I saw there?! In any case, it looks like it will be Chris’ time to step in sometimes soon if her increasingly frequent character appearances and more serious scenes are to be believed. …I still REALLY regret reading and effectively spoiling myself on her character. There is so much going on now that I could speculate about… But yeah, it’s going to be a great reveal for sure.

Wow this episode was better than the previous week! This time we have Mystletainn getting repaired at last and Dai-Sensei acting like her old happy self, but who is that new blood puking scientist guy anyway? I swear I thought it was the King of Night when I first saw him standing outside Ayumu’s house…sadly it was not! But he did help Ayumu with those rings so I don’t think he could be a bad guy. And what the hell was going on with the adorable Chris-chan? When she wasn’t plastered she actually started to talk normally, but she did not last long before downing another full bottle…after the end of this episode I wonder what she is plotting or is she even evil at all? They certainly are setting things up for a decent plot at last.

Other than a brand new character introduction, we have more romances popping up between Ayumu and random student aka Taeko; however I think she always had a thing for Ayumu anyway. But she really is not the only one that likes him! Because we have Sarasvati and Yuki after his heart, but who will he choose? Probably no one and I know we all have our own pairings we love in the Kore wa zombie universe. Personally I like the pairing of Yuki and Ayumu or Yuu and Ayumu? I know Haruna in past season was practically head over heels in love with him…maybe you prefer the extreme butt love of Sarasvati instead?

It was nice to see the return of magical Haruna and that double Mystletainn kick used against that dumbass monster of the week; seriously where do they come up with these monsters? This monster was asking the girls for their cup sizes! LOL-WUT? I guess they are running out of ideas for different Megalos? So yeah there is some decent plot in the background at last because we only have six more episodes to explore this world, but I hope we jump right into something exciting soon.

Preview

These face reactions are basically how Fosh looks like after every episode…

More undead adventure time next week! Prepare yourself for something awesome…I hope so anyway!

We are here with our last highlight of Aniblog Tourney with a mix of blue and yellow to finish off round 2.

Yeah, it was a long journey and we sure squished more in the last one but yeah; this brings us to the end of round 2 of Aniblog Tourney. It has been a bumpy ride, I must add with many a doramas unfolding from poll rigging to content finger pointing. We are still however riding the wave and would look forward to our readers’ support because we joined this tourney to have fun rather than anything else. We tip our proverbial hat to Nopy’s Blog, Maserbeamdotcom,  Anime Vision, Hanners’ Anime Blog, Animemiz’s Scribblings, Blog of the Hawk, AstroNerdBoy, Trzr23, Super Fanicom, Foomafoo, GAR GAR Stegosaurus, AniRecs Anime Blog, Chaostangent, Prede’s Anime Reviews, Continuing World, Yaranakya, Karmaburn, Kuriosity, Slightly Biased Manga and Nigorimasen for sticking around to round 2. It’s an eye-opener for some that most of the new blogs are leaving the seeded blogs into dust. The new generation is sure showing their fresh bloodlust. Also, congrats to Bokutachi no Blog, Loli Salad, Moe Fundamentalism, Sekijitsu, Anime Viking, Emory Anime Club, Shinde Iie Anime Blog, Anime B&B, We Remember Love, Anime Instrumentality, Whiners, Open Your Mind, Kritik de Animationskraft, Just as Planned, Yuri no Boke, Desu Ex Machina, Empty Blue Blog, Jinx, Lemmas and Submodalities and Marth’s Anime Blog for making it to the next round. I’m not sure if they will be held timely or not but you’ll be hearing from the staff soon enough. Without any further ado:

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Author: Name Start Date: August 2006 Main Categories: Anime Review, Editorial Site Type: WordPress/own hosted/Blogspot Frequency of Post: Bi-weekly or more Last post on: May 8, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 8, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Kritik der Animationskraft Tourney Poll: Polls Closed

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Author: Kevo and Aeroblip Start Date: May 2009 Main Categories: Anime, podcasts and Editorials Site Type: dasaku hosted Frequency of Post: Weekly Last post on: May 7, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 8, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Yaranakya Tourney Poll: Polls Closed

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Author: Evirus Start Date: April 2002 Main Categories: Anime Review, Random Site Type: Own-hosted Frequency of Post: Weekly Last post on: May 6, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 9, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Empty Blue Tourney Poll: Poll Closed

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Author: NovaJinx Start Date: June 2007 Main Categories: Anime Site Type: Own-hosted Frequency of Post: Weekly Last post on: May 10th, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 9, 2012 Tourney I Participant: No Versus: Kuriousity Tourney Poll: Poll Closed

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Author: Connie Start Date: July 2004 Main Categories: Reviews, Editorials Site Type: Own-hosted Frequency of Post: Daily/Sporadic Last post on: May 10, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 9, 2012 Tourney I Participant: No Versus: Lemmas and Submodalities Tourney Poll: Poll Closed

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Author: Tom Start Date: May 2006 Main Categories: Anime/Manga thoughts, con coverage Site Type: WordPress hosted Frequency of Post: Weekly Last post on: May 9, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 9, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Marth’s Anime Blog Tourney Poll: Poll Closed

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Author: Klux Start Date: February, 2006 Main Categories: Animanga reviews Site Type: Blogspot-hosted Frequency of Post: Every other day-ish Last post on: May 10, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 10, 2012 Tourney I Participant: No Versus: Oishii Anime / Seventh Style Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: TheBigN, dm00, nomadotto, Link Start Date: February 2007 Main Categories: Anime, Editorials, Manga, Reviews Site Type: WordPress Frequency of Post: Sporadic Last post on: April 15, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 10, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Illogicalzen Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: omo Start Date: Technically 2006; December 2010 Main Categories: Anime culture, random Site Type: own hosted Frequency of Post: Dailyish Last post on: May 10, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 10, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: A Product of Wasted Time Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: Author Start Date: June 2007 Main Categories: Anime Review Site Type: animeblogger hosted Frequency of Post: Daily-ish Last post on: May 9, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 10, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: The Untold Story of Altair & Vega Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: Canne Start Date: November 2007 Main Categories: Anime and Editorials Site Type: WordPress-hosted Frequency of Post: weekly Last post on: May 4th, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 11, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: The Otaku HQ Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: Glo (glothelegend) Start Date: December 2008 Main Categories: Anime, Random Site Type: WordPress Frequency of Post: Sporadic Last post on: May 10, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 11, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Silence is Golden Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: Shinmaru Start Date: August 2009 Main Categories: Episodic, Editorial Site Type: WordPress-hosted Frequency of Post: Bi-weekly Last post on: May 10, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 11, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: Shades of Grey Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: EhNani, Jura, KT Samurai, Serimorph Start Date: July 2007 Main Categories: Editorials Site Type: Own-hosted Frequency of Post: Daily/Sporadic Last post on: May 9, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 12, 2012 Tourney I Participant: No Versus: Daifuuku Anime Blog Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: Xanadu (and family) Start Date: June 2007 Main Categories: Manga reviews Site Type: Own-hosted Frequency of Post: Bi-weekly Last post on: May 8, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 12, 2012 Tourney I Participant: No Versus: Lost in America Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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Author: Martin Start Date: December, 2008 Main Categories: Anime/Japan culture reviews and editorials Site Type: Own-hosted Frequency of Post: Sporadic Last post on: May 9, 2012 Site Link: URL Match Date: May 12, 2012 Tourney I Participant: Yes Versus: World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko Tourney Poll: Live Poll

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I hope you enjoyed this long series of highlights. The round three blogs really don’t need any introduction because they have been around for more than a while. I want to especially mention the red group captain, Baka-Raptor, who has been kicking around since February 2006! Personally, the only blog I wasn’t aware of was Analoghousou but then I found their archives and felt reassured. Thank you for tuning in week after week and I extend the same to my cohorts (Fosh, anaaga, Cools, Hawthorne, Kara and Jrow) for doing this extra work along with their usual series reviews. The tourney in itself is not even half way through so depending on time, I might chime in some time later. But for now ja ne~

Another first-year graduation is in order! This time to celebrate and give some love to the third batch of senpais~

Our four year anniversary is just a few days away and what do we have here? Another one-year party of our awesome senpais. I rabu them for doing what they have done (not only being awesome anibloggers but awesome people as well), and I’m sure a lot of our regulars feel the same. The Metanorn boys and girls are very special and they are first friends than team members, who have strengthened the fun fiber that is our site. Every new hiring has added a new flavour to the team and every year, I just marvel at the things we have achieved.

However, in particular, we are here to celebrate a big milestone of one year for Jrow, Kara, anaaga and Zabo. I moseyed down the memory lane of how these four have grown and contributed to Metanorn. Like their predecessors, they have built examples for the ones who followed in and for this special occasion, I went back a year for highlighting their posts and added awesomeness. The rest of the team has also pitched in with their congratulations with some very personal messages. Let’s begin!

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Wishes from the Team

Come on and join in the weird dance partying to wish the senpais many such more years~

So colorful, it hurts.

Well, I promised a mid-series review and here it is! …Yeah, I’m still here after 14 episodes of Precure. I’m nowhere near tired of this yet. Even if it is aimed at children half my age, it’s still waaaaay more fun then it should be~.

The story:

So the whole story behind the Precure thing is because Marchenland was attacked by the evil Pierrot and the queen of Marchenland had to sacrifice herself to seal the evil away since the evil side stole the Cure Decor (which is the source of the Queen’s power). …Yeah, apparently the Cure Decor have more functions then just creating giant fruit or becoming interior decor. So on the evil side, they’re collecting bad energy to revive Queen Beryl Pierrot and on the good side, it’s Cure Decor. Now the Precure were ahead of the bad guys for a bit since they have less to collect, but ever since the bad guys have switched to the blue nosed Akanbe, which aren’t created from Cure Decor, there have been no Decor to collect. The blue nosed ones are immune to regular Precure attacks. To defeat these new monsters, the Precure have a power up that involves tiaras and rainbows. Bitches love tiaras.

Developments:

So, uh, it’s been a while and all of the Precure of this series have been introduced now, as well as other characters. So we still have the energetic heroine, Miyuki and the obligatory mascot, Candy. Miyuki hasn’t had that deep of character development yet (…not that I expect her to go through any), but we’ve learned a bit about Candy. While she’s a crybaby, she tries her best at everything and really is trying to help the Precure. …Which admittedly, makes her slightly less annoying. Only slightly though. … She also transformed into a Precure in an episode, (but in reality that was actually Miyuki, so I don’t think it counts).

On to the new Precure, there’s Cure Sunny (the mahou shoujo with explosions), Cure Peace (mahou shoujo Pikachu), Cure March (that one mahou shoujo voiced by Inoue Marina) and Cure Beauty (okay, you’ve got me. I can’t think of anything to call her). Each of the Precure have had at least one character-oriented episode to themselves thus far. …Minus Reika/Cure Beauty. Now I don’t think they’ll have any crazy character development for any of the other Precure either, but we have learned a bit about each of them. For instance, Akane/Sunny’s family named their shop after her (while her poor, neglected little brother gets nothing xD). Also, Nao/March is afraid of bugs. Though other besides the small character perks , the team is your stereotypical group of cheerful middle schoolers in mahou shoujo anime. There’s also been the introduction of Candy’s older brother, Pop. Since Candy has the attention span of a toddler around shiny things that make noise, he was the one to tell the Precure about this series’ backstory.

Now for the bad guy’s side. These guys come from a place called the Bad End Kingdom and their appearances range from old to weird. So to name them we have Wolfrun, Akaoni, Majorina and Joker (I bet you can’t guess which one is which). Now I’m sure you can tell from the names that a LOT of time and effort was put into coming up with them and the people behind this should get awards for their creativity.  At this point too, I think we can safely assume that all of them are fairly stupid (minus maybe Joker. His fabulousness knows no end). The Precure aren’t exactly the brightest around either, but they’re at least a couple steps above them. Pierrot might be more of a threat, but I guess we’ll find out more about that in 8 or so episodes assuming that they keep up their bad energy collecting rate. Now, these characters are pretty stereotypical bad guys as well (they’re all selfish, etc.) and while they all have a few individual perks, nothing really makes any of them stand out. However, Joker seems to have a different agenda then the rest of them. He was the one who came up with the blue noses and he has yet to fight the Precure. Will he be important? Most likely. Will the Precure still be able to kick his ass (give or take a few power ups)? Duh.

So far, this season of Precure has followed the real life dorama/ bad guy of the week pretty consistently. It doesn’t matter where either of the sides go, they just happen to bump into each other. It’s pretty damn convenient that the bad guys just happen to attack Kyoto when the Precure are there. They could have easily gone to the usual city, had a bad energy spree and revived their master already (I will never understand the level of dedication these mahou shoujo baddies have for their fallen/ sealed/ mildly incapacitated leader).  Hell, if the bad guys just kept up their hit and run strategy for an entire day all over the city, even with the Precure there, they could have their bad energy in no time. Though on that hand, I don’t think any of them are smart enough to plan that far ahead and Joker looks like his interests lie elsewhere. … As much as I’d love to see something outrageously new and innovative in this series, this hit and run MotW formula has gotten Precure 9 seasons already, so I guess the people in charge of this are scared to change it up too drastically.

That being said though, this formula isn’t boring me at all. Sure there’s little to no character development and problems are only contained within the individual episode with little to no continuity, but it’s nice not having a character angst for weeks on end. Sure the real life problems seem a little superficial sometimes, but at least they’re 100% solved by the end. There’s something satisfying in that. Also, they have the weekly reminder in that bad energy collecting clock thing that the storyline IS moving forward. Even if it looks like nothing is going on now, at least it looks like Pierrot will come back in 8 or so episodes from now. I can’t really talk since I’ve only seen the really old Precure stuff, but this series seems to be using a lot of gimmicks and comedy for it’s episodes. I mean, we’ve had a body swapping episode AND a shrinking episode already. It’s magical dorama as opposed to something realistic like having internal conflicts between the team. Also, it’s cute how some of the events of the episode correspond with the air dates. There was an April Fool’s Day episode on April 1st and next week it looks like they’re having a Mother’s Day episode. Do all of the Precure series do that? In any case, it’s a nice touch.

The animation also is REALLY nice as well when compared to the last season of this I saw (Yes! Precure 5: the season that is apparently notorious for lacklustre animation). The colours in this are SO FREAKING BRIGHT and it’s even worse now that I watch this on a Mac. It’s great. Sure, there are still some spots that are really obvious bad animation (the characters’ fingers look like they could cut through paper) and I’m probably going to go blind before this season is over, but the atmosphere to this show is great.

So yeah, it’s still extremely traditional, but Smile Precure still manages to stay interesting. The character interaction has been great for both team Precure and team Bad End. Hell, even between the good and bad characters there’s been some great interaction. …Though some might be a little too great. I’ve seen a ton of Miyuki and Wolfrun shipping and even after 14 weeks, I’m still not sold on the idea of those two as a couple (why internet? Why would you do that???). But yeah, fan craze aside, this is a great addition to the Precure franchise and I’m still excited to watch this week after week.

Extra sparkles:

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Okay, I’m done scarring you guys for life. See you again in a few episodes!

That awkward moment when you realize you’re being stalked by a naked man missing half of his skin

Well I’ve hit my one year mark at Metanorn! ….It really doesn’t feel like a year. Hell, I probably wouldn’t even have remembered that it’s been a year if Kyokai hadn’t told me. ANYWAYS, Tasogare has skipped over even more of the plot, so we’ve hit the cultural festival already.

It’s straight from summer into the school cultural festival for the school and the paranormal investigations club is holding a haunted house. …With a real ghost. Like she did with Momoe, people can see Yuuko if they’re put in a state of mind where they expect to see something, so she has the job of scaring people. As per usual, her and Niiya are off in their own world but Kirie however, is rather irritated this episode. She storms off dragging Momoe with her. …However what seems like 5 steps out of the clubroom, Kirie manages to get them lost.

They end up in front of the science lab and Momoe suddenly recalls a story about a heartless anatomy model. Apparently the model literally and figuratively lacks a heart and goes about killing humans that see it to replace it. They go in there anyways and Momoe actually finds an anatomy model without a heart. Think that she’s going to die, Momoe starts freaking out. Kirie’s solution of calming her down? YURI SOLVES EVERYTHING. …Okay, fine, she just hugs her, but still. Momoe comments on how calm Kirie is, but then Kirie shows her moe side by crying over a skeleton scaring her. In the end, the two become closer friends because of this and they decide to tour the cultural festival together… Anatomy model in tow since they plan on bringing it as a prop for the haunted house.

While Yuuko is busy scaring people, Kirie meets Momoe’s friends and gets roped into dressing like a cat maid and helping out at the imouto cafe that their class is holding. She does surprisingly well. However, when she looks in the mirror, she gets irritated again since with her wig, she looks a LOT like Yuuko. With that in mind, Kirie runs straight to the haunted house where Yuuko appears and confronts Kirie about how she wants to be like Yuuko. Kirie strongly denies this, but then Yuuko appears as Kirie and says that she’s just afraid of not being able to love herself.

Kirie runs out of the room and bumps into Niiya. Despite her looking a LOT like Yuuko, Niiya knows she’s Kirie right away and this just pisses her off. She goes on a rant about how she looks just like Yuuko and asks why he like a dead person so much when she looks alike and is still alive. His answer? Being alive or not doesn’t matter when it comes to love. Also, he’s more concerned about the fact that he has a view down Kirie’s dress. With the knowledge the Niiya is just a necrophiliac and he in fact DOES see her as a female, Kirie feels better and realizes that she was just seeing her worst fears inside the room. With that, she finally touches Yuuko (albeit by pushing her aside), her and Momoe are better friends and all is well again.

Even Kirie gets in on the Yuuko groping action

End Thoughts:

Well, uh wow they skipped a lot of the plot. To put this in perspective, this episode has already jumped to volume 5 of the manga. …There are only 7 volumes out right now with only one chapter coming out per month. Now I’m even more convinced that they’ll have an anime original ending (or maybe an ending of cut up pieces of the important stuff they missed). This episode cut out a bunch of details, but was a surprisingly faithful adaption to what happened in the manga. … Though maybe I’m just surprised at how faithful it was since I’m half expecting this to go waaaaay off track sometime in the future. Truth be told, they’ve been pretty good with following the manga pretty closely, but just cutting out a TON of details and subplots.

… I never thought I’d say this, but I think I ship Momoe and Kirie. I’m not even into yuri and I can’t deny the absolute adorableness of the two together this episode. From the manga, I’d say the closest these two were was just friends, but the anime added in those other scenes with them exploring the festival as well. This was the part in the manga where I stopped wanting to murder Momoe every time she appeared since she actually serves more of a purpose now. It’s great that Kirie has a friend now since maybe she’ll become a little less… tsun from now on. Kirie’s attraction to Niiya seems a bit out of the blue since it’s only been 2 episodes since they’ve met and there hasn’t really been that many romantic situations for those feelings to develop. Hell, even Momoe has a better reason for hanging around him since she has the whole admiration thing going on. …Though on the other hand, Kirie might have just been a bit possessive since Yuuko has clearly labelled Niiya as ‘hers’. Since Kirie had that whole inferiority complex going on, she might have just been trying to tear Niiya away from Yuuko to make herself feel better. Well, in any case, she has her inner problems solved for the most part, so hopefully her character becomes more likeable from this point. …Or at least hope that she gets along better with Yuuko.

Speaking of rushed developments, one could say that Niiya and Yuuko came on pretty fast. He confirmed his feelings for Yuuko for sure this episode, but there hasn’t been all that much between them. Sure, Yuuko is as clingy as ever, but really, I’d say the biggest development (on screen since it’s been like half a year since they met in anime time) was episode 3 where he accepted Yuuko for what she is. Ah, well. I imagine they’re trying to complete is entirely in one season since they keep rushing things forward at breakneck speed. What’s important here is that the two do like each other and one of them being dead isn’t that big of a deal for them.

… The effort put into the background still amazes me. The detailing of the flooring in the old school building was so… so… detailed. Again, I wonder how students are even allowed to roam around that place since it’s obviously a health hazard, but I don’t even think I’ve seen a teacher (or an adult for that matter) in this yet. There weren’t any wild coloured skies going on this episode, but the imagery they did with the anatomy model was fun. It was also a witty replacement instead of zooming in on Kirie’s er, assets (which is what any other show would have done). I’m amazed at how they turned a random object into a likeable character. Anyways, SILVER LINK played out some more of it’s strengths in animation this episode. Let’s see what else they have up their sleeves.

Preview: 

In case you’re wondering, yes that’s Niiya and yes, he’s in a skirt. Also, I’m 60% sure that these are cosplays. 

“Oh no! Kaito found my Rubix cube x Sudoku fanfic!”

Ahh, there’s nothing like sitting down and chilling with Phi Brain in the summer, where it doesn’t matter how many brain cells die from watching stupidity. Although that won’t last for long since I’ll be back in class again during the summer, studying for the dreaded entry exam into med school. *sighs* But never mind that, because now is the time to savour my freedom and watch anime all day long! Oh, and blogging too. That’s why I’m here.

Gammon isn’t doing so hot lately. He’s so enraged at the Orpheus Order’s attempt to convert his sister into a genius serial killer that he can’t focus on creating puzzles for his magazine gig. His rankings are dropping sharply, and Kaito even remarks that his recent puzzles are full of mistakes and…hatred. After school, Gammon returns home to unwind and cool his head a bit. However, Miharu isn’t very street smart, and seems really good at letting life-threatening people and objects into the house. Doubt is standing in the dining room, smiling and drinking all of their tea. Didn’t you know Gammon loves tea? He’s so pissed that he almost beats Doubt to a bloody pulp then and there.

Not wanting to stain the rug, Gammon goes outside with Doubt. Apparently this takes so long the sun has now set, leaving the two of them facing off in a dark alley. Doubt explains that he skipped an important Orpheus Order meeting so he could ask Gammon to join them. He tries to punch Doubt, so it’s pretty obvious that’s not going to happen, despite the time-keeper’s smug grin. He gives Gammon time to think about the offer. He thinks about it alright. He thinks about it so much that he gets the rejuvenated POG members to suss out their headquarters and relay the info to him so he can bust in and raise heck. Finally, someone is taking proper initiative!

Not cool, man. He was just trying to give you a brofist.

Immediately after leaving, Elena tries to talk Gammon out of his more physical approach, but to no avail. It’s time to bring out the big guns! Elena phones up Kaito (presumably) and arranges a puzzle showdown between Kaito and Gammon. She frames Gammon by putting up a giant challenge written in BAKA morse code (a la season 1) on the school walls. Kaito accuses Gammon of looking down on him as a Solver specialist and challenges him to a series of puzzles. He has to race to the roof and solve all the puzzles.

It’s pretty easy stuff. Kaito just snatched up all of Gammon’s puzzles and added a bit of his own flavour. Gammon scoffs at them at first, but he’s quickly reminded of the joy he had when he made those puzzles. He also has a flashback to a scene that never actually happened, where he decided to solve a puzzle in Kaito’s place just for fun instead of for money. Finally, Gammon remembers what is truly important in life: puzzles. Glorious puzzles. Doubt receives a refusal letter delivered by the POG shortly after. “Foolish”? More like “F*CKYOU”!

PEZZLE TIEM:

“We’re almost done the paperwork that lets us be main characters on the show!”

“Hello, I’d like to order a pizza delivered to the man hanging upside down on Root Academy’s Roof. Thanks.”

Ohhh, is this like those Miku concert holograms?! Woww!!! Sing for us, Freecell!

“Kaito, this is pointless. Let’s go home.” “I think I see a nickel jammed between the cracks.” “OUTTA THA WAY, BAKAITO!”

End Thoughts:

Everyone’s high regard for puzzles in Phi Brain has always been something that pushed an already preposterous concept (solving life-threatening puzzles) further away from normalcy, right into the realm of the ridiculous. Instead of normal friendship speeches, we get friendship speeches about puzzles. Ana speaks to animals, Kaito can communicate with puzzles, and nothing is explained. It’s so cheesy that it transcends stupid, and makes you wonder if this show is actually written by some super genius with a higher IQ than Plato who understands the true nature of puzzles. It’s been a while since we’ve had an episode steeped in so much “puzzle-sympathy.” You would think puzzles were living, breathing human beings with the way everyone talks about them this week! It’s like a comedy-callback to the fledgling episodes of Phi Brain season 1 where it was purely “so bad it’s good.” Such lovely memories! I can’t wait to watch this with my fellow black sheep of SCCSAV on Skype. What, you thought me calling Phi Brain out as nonsensical was a complaint? Far from it! When it goes this far with the puzzle thing, I can’t help but feel like a puzzle-shaped void in my heart has been filled.

Every episode has some sort of puzzle-sympathy, it’s true, but episode 5 felt like it ripped through the fabric of space and time and revealed a dark abyss housing a cold, terrifying alternate dimension. Truly, the Phi Brain universe is a twisted alternate dimension where our logic simply does not apply. Elena talks Gammon out of doing something such as skip the risking death part and just capture Orpheus Order, and convinces him to instead go head-to-head in a puzzle deathmatch. He could have gone in with reinforcements – the police even – and rid the world of them easily. But no, that’s taboo. That’s considered jumping off the deep end! I spent all this time wondering why Kaito was so eager to continue risking his life for puzzles and it turns out the answer is because that is the inherent nature of this…this..Phi Brain universe. I just…wow.  By the end of the series, Kaito will reach Phi Brain and physically become THE ULTIMATE PUZZLE. Then Nonoha will cry on his rubix-cube body and the camera will pan up to the sky as some sassy latin music plays.

Focusing back on the actual episode instead of getting excited over how silly Phi Brain is (it’s really silly!), we have a nice Gammon episode on our hands. Gammon switched sides to the POG last season because they both had the united goal of defeating Kaito. Even then, it seems like he was actually a double agent (that, or no one really gives a shit and decided to forgive him anyways). It doesn’t make sense for him to join the Orpheus Order and it makes Doubt seem really dumb to try and convince him. It would be smarter to make an ultimatum such as “join Orpheus Order or your sister gets it” instead of insulting him and then hoping that counts as persuasive skills. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to flatter someone when you want them to do something for you. Gammon’s rejection was predictable, but I really did enjoy how he was brought out of his puzzle slump by Kaito and Elena. His love for puzzles and Kaito’s pure variations of Gammon’s own creations got him through his depressed period. Awwww, how touching. As much as the puzzle-of-the-week format works for Phi Brain, I like when things are switched up a bit. Kaito as a Giver and Gammon as a Solver was definitely a fresh new format. It also confirms that Kaito knows jack-all about making puzzles. Not quite the God we think he is, eh?

Another big plus about episode 5 besides not containing a shred of sensibility and being full of Fukuyama Jun shrieking like a banshee was the presence of the POG. Remember when they used to give puzzles to Ana, Gammon and Cubic in order to kill them? Remember their merciless death sentences that they gleefully gave out without even being controlled by Orpheus armlets? Yeah, they’re totally good now. I don’t know how you’d explain that change of heart, but okay, cool, nice to see that the POG is catering to the booming puzzle industry needs without slaughtering thousands. Why is this such a plus? Because Rook is probably still the boss, and I’m hoping this means he’ll make another appearance. A cameo. A fluffy white circle in the corner of the screen. ANYTHING! They brought every other character back and even gave them a taste of glory, so why not the tormented stalker himself? I think I saw his name on the official site’s cast list, so I’m staying hopeful. I’ll be waiting, and complaining every week until Rook appears. Yes, that is definitely productive.

Before we go…What’s up with Whist, guys? I want to hear your ideas, because I’m too busy making fun of this show (while thoroughly enjoying it) to even think about speculation right now.

Preview: Some sort of team battle at school. Rook isn’t there so who cares?

Melancholy is actually like 25. I’m calling it now.