Meta Mash – 13

Another fresh Meta Mash for you. Also, Natsuiro is back this week.

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Medaka Box – 12 [END]

The plot was missing this week so we tried to jump off the roof..
So right back to Medaka’s selfless antics for the finale, except without Medaka. Can’t have the title character missing from her own finale! Of course, season 2 is already confirmed, so that’s a moot point. I guess I enjoy the side characters more than Medaka herself, as I think her absence wasn’t detrimental to this episode at all. The new, anime-original characters were very likable. Mochibaru was… an odd girl with blood type AB (every student in the school, apparently), and Yuu Kobayashi was in her element as the spunky Natayama. I was reminded of Hyouka when the show turned into a mystery for a bit in the middle of the episode. Ah, if only Gainax could animate half as beautifully as Kyoto Animation. A bit too much talking as usual, but a fitting way to finish the season.

Medaka Box is not a good show, but this season did finish better than it started, if that’s worth anything. The cliffhanger didn’t really excite me much, but I might stick with it come fall, just to see more Shiranui. Emiri Kato was great, as was pretty much all the voice actors. I know Aki Toyosaki got some criticism, but I thought she played Medaka wonderfully, and it was funny to hear Waver Velvet/Kazehaya Shouta as the pompous Akune. And Romi Paku gave us an excellent sounding villain for the climactic arc. I hope Unzen sticks around.

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Shirokuma Cafe – 12

Fire safety taught by panda bears for children?….oh god they are so screwed.
Hoshi: Guys, I totally ship Miss Sasako and Handa together and not because they’re the only human main characters on the show! This episode gives me semi-valid evidence to this ship! -cough- Anyway, speaking of Handa, the poor guy is just always used and abused by both pandas, especially in this episode. First they cause him trouble at work when they try to fight boredom and then again bring up the issue about Handa not having a girlfriend.

Though with all the trouble they bring to Handa, they do try to help by cheering him up!The ‘Panda, Tired of Boredom’ segment ended up being favorite actually. I find myself laughing more at really random scenes and this half of the episode definitely had them. From the more adult Full-time Panda having a collection of Gundam models, to bringing in random items into the panda area, to getting into the Zookeeper’s office, I was laughing a lot more than I usually do with Shirokuma Cafe episodes. My definite favorite part though was Full-Time Panda breaking out his Gundam collection, heh; I guess I was surprised that Full-Time Panda is actually quite youthful. It was also nice seeing Full Time Panda and Panda interacting so casually at work.We’ve only seen a few segments of the two at work doing what pandas do best, so seeing them doing silly shenanigans was quite entertaining.~

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Sket Dance – 63

A confused catboy has appeared! What will you girls do?
It’s been a while since I’ve laughed so hard in Sket Dance. The scenes were hilarious (as they were in the manga, so that’s hard to screw up), but the voice acting just made it so much better. Hearing Bossun talk more femininely was great. From the last episode, it seems like the seiyuu improved their impressions of the other character since Himeko had a lower voice and Bossun’s was a bit higher pitched. …Either that or they were doing this the entire time and the characters were just shouting too much last episode for me to notice. But yeah, the voice acting was brilliant this episode. They cut out a few more awkward parts (involving Bossun getting changed and Himeko needing to go to the washroom, but Roman covered them pretty nicely in her uh, rant there. …I’m not entirely sure what the whole random fan service segment in the middle was about, but oh man was it ever awkward watching Saya watch the two of them and have no idea what was going on. Cat Tsubaki was fun though. In any case, next episode should be along the same lines as this one… Though I think it might be a bit more serious since Saaya and ‘Bossun’ have a talk.

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Natsuiro Kiseki – 11

Yuka-“One day I will become rich and buy Tokyo! Wuahahahahhah.”
Hohohoho we are slowly building up to the final episode of this addictive series! SERIOUSLY GO WATCH THIS! After a short break from the series last week this episode returns us to the original plot of Natsuiro Kiseki aka hardcore training to become a real idol, which means it is time to stop playing around and actually get serious. Hell even Yuka is pumped up and ready to practice and they actually managed to find time to prepare for a local idol audition, but after arriving in Tokyo Yuka starts to have second thoughts about their dance routine…I guess she felt the pressure and almost snapped? Thankfully she has her friends there to pick her back up and give her some motivation to basically NEVER GIVE UP. Ah the power of extreme friendship! And damn I have to say that Yuka seriously has some really amazing friends by her side watching her back.

So, what about the super famous wishing rock in this episode of Natsuiro Kiseki? Well this week we don’t really get a “wish” until the very end when Natsumi reveals to Saki she might have wished for summer to never end… Of course, the wonderful wishing rock grants this wish! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR ENDLESS SUMMER! Sadly it will only be one episode, but this wish might be something interesting for the girls. I mean they get to try out various things for the auditions and see what works and what doesn’t work, but they could use it to practice or they could waste it doing fun things? I predict a bit of both next week.

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Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan – 11

 Hey buddy! Accel world called and they want their plot device wings back, k thanks.
When it comes to Shining Hearts I just don’t even know what to say anymore. (warning: incoming rant) The entire episode felt like a last ditch effort to bring some excitement into a show that up until now has been very short in thrills and story, not to mention the little-to-no characterization (beyond maybe Rick … MAYBE). We’re thrown into a battle between angel Rick and an otherworldly armada to save some girl who is apparently “important” (for still unknown reasons), and we know absolutely nothing about her because she spent 75% of the show sleeping and the other 25% eating bread or sunbathing … GAH!I gave this show the benefit of the doubt many times because I truly WANTED to enjoy it, but even now when I’m getting exactly what I’ve been asking for (action) it still leaves me feeling disappointed.

Instead of developing this complex scenario of cross dimensions and Kaguya’s past throughout the anime (you know, instead of all the wasted time spent on picking ingredients and delivering bread), they instead decided to dump all this information in our faces with rushed and barely comprehensible exposition right at the very end … and THIS is the result! IMO, they should have focused on episodes like the Melty arc, not this crap. I very rarely get this annoyed watching anime because I usually find something I like to keep me watching (ex. Xiao Mei and the rest of the side cast), but Shining Hearts just has too much wasted potential.I am platinum mad right now, don’t even get me started on the angel wings.

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We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
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17 Responses to “Meta Mash – 13”

  1. anaaga says:

    Oh my god is that Rick flying? HAHAHAHA

    Is Sket Dance catching up with the manga? Cuz if it is, maybe it’s going to end soon. Then I can finally watch it

  2. Samantha Zan says:

    OMGGG SKET Dance, I laughed so hard in this episode! My favorite line is Bossun as Himeko saying that she’s not into hygiene LOL. This episode had me full of shits& giggles XD, though can’t wait for next episode as well, with now the main Saaya issue going to be address even since the start of the ski trip. Well, another good episode of SKET Dance hope it keeps going X)

    • Karakuri says:

      I think I laughed the hardest when they were snow boarding/ skiing and Bossun let out that girly “kya!” I don’t even know why I laughed so much. Yep, next episode should be fun! There were 7 or eight chapters for this entire thing in the manga, but I don’t know how many were covered here. I think next episode should be the last.

  3. BlackBriar says:

    Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan – 11: I wish they spread the development from last week and this week’s episodes throughout the series instead of cramming them together towards the end. It could’ve been so much better. Still, I try my best to like this series and keep watching. Xiao-Mei surprisingly helps to the almost pointless effort and the amped up action is a plus. I want to see Hank’s awesome looking machine in action.

    Madera certainly does make a lot of convincing assumptions considering she doesn’t know the actual situation.

    “Hey buddy! Accel world called and they want their plot device wings back, k thanks.” LOL. They’re lucky they won’t be sued for copyright infringement.

    • Hawthorne says:

      I forgot to mention how excited I am to see Hank go badass on those lizard people! That’s going to be awesome. You’re one of the few people I know who’ve made it this far Briar, or even started SH to begin with. We’re almost there! I’m sort of in a Symphogear mindset now, with all these recent absurd new developments lately nothing they do at this point will surprise me … like Rick suddenly flying.

      Maybe those absurdities are a positive? Idk!

      Either Madera is more then she seems, or the producers are just lazy. ><

      • BlackBriar says:

        Thanks for the compliment, Hawthorne. I kept watching for the hope of seeing the stuff that was shown in the trailer at the start of the season. I keep watching but kept seeing that effort sorely rewarded with a standstill plotline throughout most of the series. Like you said, nothing at this point will be surprising. It’s like anything will be thrown in now.

  4. skylion says:

    Natsuio Keseki: Damn good character development on this show. And some very strong animation. We can see where they spent the money; this episode. They spent the pocket change for that awful animation dump about two shows past. Ah, an endless Natsu in the making! I’m sure I join many in encouraging Natsumi RE: Saki: Just kiss her already!

    • Foshizzel says:

      Hell ya! More people should watch it, but I can understand why due to all the moe-ish character designs! Anyway yeah I can tell they upped the budget for the animation scenes like with the dances and the emotional stuffs with Yuka.

      I KNOW RIGHT!? I was saying the same thing during that scene like SAKI! JUST KISS HER ALREADY ahahahah

      Good times…good times! I can’t wait for endless summer <3

      • Highway says:

        Heyheyhey, it’s not that kind of show! 😉

        From a show that I thought was pretty much a throwaway at the beginning of the season (“oh, hey, the ladies from Sphere are in this, let’s give it a try.” and “did they really just waste 15 minutes having Natsumi and Saki chase Yuka and Rin while attached to each other? And then do the exact same gag the next episode?”) it’s really moved the characters a huge amount, while also having them do a lot of stuff. And it doesn’t feel rushed at all, just a nice pace.

        I kinda wonder what’s going to get them out of this wish, tho…

        • Foshizzel says:

          LOL true it might not be a “yuri” show but these thoughts happen when there are 0 guys around…yeah…just take a look at Rinne no Lagrange or Mouretsu pirates? LOTS of girls anyway yessss Natsuiro is not a yuri series.

          That too! I have no idea who Sphere is besides singing openings for Ika Musume and some other series, but I love the wish part of the series because you never know what they are going to throw at you! The best wish is still the double of Natsumi and the body swap with Yuka and Saki? AMAZING!

          I think the only way to break this wish is probably accepting that Saki has to move on at some point! Either that or all of the girls realize they have to move on? I dunno I can’t wait to see how they fix it.

          • Highway says:

            I was more interested in Sphere cause half-of-K-On + I love Now Loading… Sky (from Asobi ni iku yo), but they’ve done a really good job not coasting in this show like I was afraid of at the beginning. My favorite wishes so far were Invisible Saki and dragging themselves 4 years forward in time to see if they could remember what they were doing, although how oblivious do the younger versions of themselves need to be to not notice they all look the same?

            For breaking this wish, You might be right with Saki having to move on, although if it goes more of a Groundhog Day way, remember that they’re still in the day with their audition, so maybe they practice practice practice until they all-four pass the audition together, referencing back to the question that they get at the interview of “What would you do if only one of you passed this audition?” I really don’t think they’re going to go through a ‘be careful what you wish for’ kind of result, since the wishes they’ve been granted lately are things they haven’t tried to get, just been near the Big Rock’s cousins.

            • Foshizzel says:

              Ahhh wow I never realized they had so much anime related songs…damn! Yeah those set of wishes were hilarious especially the invisible Saki episode ahahah good stuff and yeah I agree why did the younger versions get scared of their older selves? DERP Same hair color/voice/looks >.>

              Hmmmm yeah I suppose either one could actually work I like the idea of only one of the girls progressing as an idol, but I know they would be happy about it with a bit of jealousy of course.

              DAMN TROLLING ROCK! You always mess things up but we love it <3

          • Highway says:

            Oh, and don’t get me wrong, I sure wouldn’t *mind* if they decided to go the kissing route!

            • Foshizzel says:

              Ahahah yes! I am sure yuri fans are out there drooling over that thought huh? I don’t care to much for yuri themes, but I can see why people go crazy for it.

            • BlackBriar says:

              Yuri for the win!!!

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