Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% – 04
Apathy and Engrish!
…The ending to this has really grown on me, ridiculous dancing and all. In fact, this anime in general has grown on me. There’s just something about the totally unrealistic scenarios and random singing in this show that makes it appealing to watch.
Right from the start we get Bishies #1, 3 and 4 dancing with as much coordination and fabulousness as the ending has. After they’re done, they Haruka how they did because they’re practicing for a dancing test going on later next week. Haruka compliments them, but Masato says that the other two lack rhythm and can’t keep up with the beat.
Just then, Ren walks by with his plethora of fangirls and says that he bought a rose garden and will give it to whichever girl sweeps him off his feet. Masato doesn’t care and then tells Haruka to start the music again so he can get down with his funky self work on his dancing. Ren sees the two talking and gets jealous that they’re together or something (over which one though? XD).
He walks over and tells Masato that Haruka and him are joined together by fate and then asks if she wants to see the ocean. Masato however, tells her that he’s just playing with her and to not believe anything he says (because we all know Ren already has a thing for Masato).
Tuxedo Mask did it better
Shou then comes and asks if Ren is going to turn in some lyrics assignment. Ren doesn’t seem to care though and then his teacher Hyuuga Ryuga (that’s kind of an unfortunate name) comes and tells Ren that if he doesn’t turn it in by tomorrow, he’ll be expelled. Ren just ignores him though.
Let’s see how many main characters we can fit in this one courtyard at once
Later, Natsuki shows off some cookies he made while the others talk about what a slacker Ren is. Otoya brings up the fact that the two were childhood friends and Tomo brings back the plot point that they’re both sons of important financial groups.
Meanwhile, Masato and Ren are in their room and Masato flashes back to when they first met met. Masato was at some fancy rich people party and was being antisocial when Ren walked up and asked if he wanted to go somewhere more private ditch the boring party and go elsewhere. The two then went and had fun times in a nearby pond.
He also flashes back to his circumstances for coming to the school. Masato was only allowed to come because he promised that it would only be for a year. His situation is the opposite of Ren’s (who also conveniently flashes back at the same time), who was forced to join the school to become a human billboard for his father’s company. This show isn’t improving my impression of rich people whatsoever.
Ren goes to the rooftop to write, but ends up playing his sax instead. Haruka is attracted by the sound of his playing and he begins to hit on her, but the sheet of lyrics falls out of his pocket and Haruka picks it up. She expresses her happiness over him at least trying not to be expelled. Ren brushes it off and says that he should leave the school anyways. Masato, who heard the whole thing, tells him to gtfo then. Ren just laughs this off too, says that the school is a waste of time and then rips up his page of lyrics, causing Masato to punch him. Haruka runs off to go look for the ripped up pieces of paper.
“Dear diary, mood: apathetic”
The next day, Ren is absent from class again and is instead hanging out with the school’s flock of sheep to make himself feel better. He begins whistling a song and flashes back to his childhood where he was trying to watch a movie of his deceased mother (she was an idol or something) and his father freaked out saying that he thought he threw everything involving Ren’s mother out. Ren then went to a park and cried while he listened to one of his mother’s recordings where she came up with a tune (the same one he was whistling) for her unborn child (Ren). To summarize, he had a horrible childhood.
While he stares off into space, Haruka appears beside him and starts reading out his lyrics. He thanks her for skipping class to look for them (Wait. She was looking that whole time? Did she stop to sleep?), but she tells him to express what he really feels and to not give up because his sax playing showed his true feelings. After telling him this, she runs off to try and find the rest of the missing lyrics. She even has her friends look for them too.
The deadline passes though and Hyuuga gives up on Ren. Just then, Ren’s voice sounds over the PA system saying that he finally wrote the lyrics for the assignment. He then asks for everyone to listen to his true feelings. Like every other episode before this, the bishie starts singing, problems are solved though music, blah, blah, etc.
Tsukiko, wtf are you doing here?
Afterwards, Haruka is walks around in the hallways and she runs into Tokiya. End of episode.
Final Thoughts:
And so ends bishie of the week’s problem. Okay, fine. I like Ren’s character a bit better now. I’m a sucker for tragic backstories. I still don’t understand his initial attraction to Haruka though. Sure, she doesn’t fawn over him like every other female in the school does, but that’s no reason to randomly join her harem. Hell, Masato liking Haruka because he saw her and her evil organization of demonic tone deaf children sing in the park once was a more legitimate reason than Ren’s. Oh, wait. I’m supposed to be pretending that this show makes sense. Whoops. Ignore my rant.
Haruka’s harem seems to be building up pretty fast. 4 episodes in and she’s already pretty much got 3 guys. Just how will they be spending the next couple episodes? Tokiya seems like he’ll be a bitch to get though so maybe they’ll spend at least two on him. Oh and I guess there’s the whole route that involves Kupuru, but they’ll probably save that for last or something because it really wouldn’t fit anywhere else. They could also spend a few episodes building on the already established relationships too.
My one problem with anime that involves musical instruments (and isn’t about a band) is that the characters move waay more than they should when they’re playing them. I’ve played the saxophone before. You don’t need to move around that much when you play it damn it. I know that it’s to make the animation look more interesting, but it’s just very annoying for me. I’m loving the eargams at the end of every episode though with the bishie of the week singing. I’ve always liked the idea of character singles so I can’t wait for the full versions of these songs to come out (if they haven’t already). Haruka should sing sometime too! If she doesn’t, it will just be a waste of having Miyuki Sawashiro as her seiyuu. Then again, would Haruka’s character sing…?
Preview:
The preview is a lie.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 58 comments
ren playing the sax = epic sax guy >_>
also i completely agree with you about wanting the character singles to come out XD i want them catchy-bishie-song on ma mp3 now >o<
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Right?! They’re super cheesy but sooooo good at the same time.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 339 comments
I can usually keep a straight face and enjoy this show until they start singing. Then it all goes down hill and I just laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh god XD
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 339 comments
Also, I have the same problem with anime that involves drawing. Saiko, Nizuma, I love you but no one does that when they draw, no one.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
They lost me after the beginning dancing this episode =3. Oh yeah, they do that a lot when drawing too. Why can’t anyone in anime do anything without overexaggerating? XD
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 39 comments
I have to say that the art is amazing…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
It really is. A-1 is doing great so far with the animation quality. The colours are really nice too.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I agree with cent percent~ THIS HAS GROWN ON MEEEHH! I even like the out of sync dancing now. C’mon singles, come out soon now!
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahahaha I can kind of take the ending seriously now (okay, thats a lie XD). I really like the harmonizing done in the song now that I can look past the BL undertones.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
I know what you mean about the instrument part. It always pisses me off when the characters move A LOT when they play violin. What’s worse, their movements don’t match up with the rythm. I usually go “FUUUUU-”
First half of this episode is full of homolust. I think Jinguji is attracted to the girl (lol what’s her name again?) because she’s close to hijirikawa. HOMO I TELL YA, HOMO
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
and lol in the ED they reminds me of KissMyFt2 from JE
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I know, right? His fingers weren’t even moving with the note changes this episode. It’s extremely frustrating. Have the animators never played an instrument before?
Ahahaha apparently it’s even worse in the game where Ren has an inferiority complex with Masato and is all “I’m going to out do you in everything!”.