MetaFap – 49 [NSFW]
With Bonus Muromi-San!
Photo Kano – 13 [END]
It’s everyone’s favorite idol imouto!
This really was a cute look
Bonus 8th Romance story! Well, I don’t know if it was a bonus, but we did get another romance story this week. Personally, I was expecting something like the Amagami SS OVA featuring Miya, where it was how she liked her brother as a brother only, and couldn’t think of romance with anyone. But instead, we got a full-on “I LIKE-like him / her” story. But they went even farther past where they usually go, and instead of just being cousins, Kazuya and Kanon are actually totally unrelated step-siblings. And while Kazuya was wondering if he should tell Kanon, Kanon was wondering if she should tell Kazuya, since each thought the other didn’t remember (really, even if you’re 5, you remember a big thing like your parents remarrying).
Discussing their memories, and what they mean for their relationship
As always, I’m very pro-Love. And if two people find love, then I’m not going to be one to tell them they can’t. But on top of that, I thought it was pretty well done the way both kids in the show realized how much their relationship could change if they were both acknowledging the truth of their relation. They were each happy with how it was going, but each was curious, and wanted more. I thought it was a pretty deft way to handle it. And even more than that, they had an interesting twist with their ‘waiting period’: Kanon gave Kazuya a love letter, but wanted him to wait to open it for over 2 years, until she’d graduated from high school. Then they’d be adults, and the siblings issue would be completely out the window, as well as giving both a chance to back out. But of course, neither of them do, leading to that touching scene after graduation where Kazuya shows her that he read her letter.
And then she gave him a great big hug. I *said* I liked the hugging scenes.
I think Photo Kano did pretty well as a series. I would say that it’s biggest obstacle was expectations: An Enterbrain VN like Amagami SS, trying to follow up that series with a similar omnibus format. But with only half the episodes, and 2 more girls, it just didn’t have nearly as much time with each girl, and that made it difficult to connect with some of them. I thought it was mostly successful, and had some very nice stories. I’d have to rank the stories this way:
- Rina
- Nonoka
- Kanon
- Haruka
- Aki
- Tomoe
- Hikari
- Mai
Who was your favorite?
I’m probably still the only person who’s got Rina up at the top. I actually thought that Haruka’s story gave up a lot of the advantage she had being the only 2-episode girl, because it felt like there was quite a lot of stalling throughout. Nonoka was fun all around, from the gimmicky fantasy stuff in the story to her Love Challenge. Actually, with that list, the only stories I found disappointing or uninteresting were Hikari’s and Mai’s, Hikari’s because it felt so rushed (and not even the Thriller dance could make up for that) and Mai’s just because I found her uninteresting herself. What order would you all rank these girls?
Not even this shot could make Kanon number 1.
And on a personal writing note, I want to give a big sigh of relief because I think I’ve made it through this WHOLE series without using any photography or filming puns, allusions, or metaphors. Whew!
—————–
The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat – 12 [END]
The moment we’ve all been waiting for!
Tsukihi is not amused at losing an important “first.”
Those body pillows on the right make this final eyecatch.
Well, that ending actually explained things quite nicely. Turns out all the memory confusion issues were kicked off 10 years ago when Youto decided to gift his memories to Tsukushi, for Tsukasa’s sake. Now, the origin of the wish granting stony cats is still a mystery, and I’m not sure why Youto’s memories keep getting lost once they “become” memories, but I guess those details aren’t too important. What I can’t let the show gloss over, though, is Tsukasa’s illness. I don’t need in depth information about its pathology, but when you’re using a disease as a dramatic tool, you need to at least give us something plausible to latch on to. What causes occasional coughs and fainting spells and also prevents riding in planes? You can’t just make up a disease that manifests itself in symptoms convenient for the narrative.
The all-girls-still-have-a-shot ending was pretty much expected, and fairly standard for these types of shows. Tsukiko requesting that kiss was pretty cute, but the show didn’t put enough emphasis on romance to make that scene particularly memorable. In the end, I’m still not sure what Henneko was trying to be. It was an ecchi high school harem comedy with romantic and supernatural elements, along with a pinch of teenage angst, but it was halfhearted in all its different aspects. The chemistry between Youto and Tsukiko just felt out of place – with Azusa or Tsukushi seemed more plausible, though both of those were cut short. The fantasy was interesting at times, but it teased at a lot more than it revealed. Worst of all, there wasn’t a whole lot of ecchi comedy, in favor of more serious drama that went down well worn paths. I had a hard time caring about the events in the last part of the show, which is problematic when there’s such a dearth of laughs. The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat is a wholly inoffensive show that leaves me with no strong impression one way or another, and I’ll probably barely remember that I watched it in a year’s time.
—————–
Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san – 13 [END]
Fuji gets the hots for Muromi-san, maybe you will too?
Muromi and Takkun
Darn steam…
The hot spring wasn’t enough for Levia-san
“Muromi on the Shore” finishes up this week, so I thought I’d give the series a wrap-up. It was a bit of a different series, with half-length episodes, rather than just a 3 or 5 minute short, and this gave them a lot more time to tell a story, but keep it tight and fast-paced. For those who haven’t seen the series, the main gist is that Muromi-san is a mermaid who makes friends with Takurou (Takkun) a boy who fishes her up, but there’s a whole cast of crazy characters, from the other mermaids Levia-san (the sea monster, get it?), Hii-chan (friend of everyone), Fuji-san (has big, er, mountains), and Sumida-san (pretty much the only level-headed one), to Yeti and her pet Harpy, to Wiseman the pervy alien in a metal body, to Kawabata the Kappa and Houman (who I honestly can’t figure out what she is). Oh, and all the mermaids (and most of the characters) are old (like hundreds of thousands of years old), but act like young-to-middle-aged women. Muromi actually helped mammals come up on land, the failure of one leading to a long-standing hatred of all toothed whales.
That’s a cucumber, not Kawabata
This show was a fun mix of zany comedy and varying amounts of ecchi, with Muromi having a bit of a crush on Takkun, and him not being interested in her at all that way. Fuji-san IS interested in her that way, but Muromi just wants to abuse Fuji’s mountains (which Fuji doesn’t entirely dislike). Sometimes the innuendo goes quite a bit past innuendo, such as when Kawabata gives them cucumbers, or when Fuji actually gets Muromi to touch her. There’s also friends and enemies, such as Otohime, the previous manager of the Ryuuguujou Castle, who doesn’t get along at all with the mermaids (she thinks they drove her out of business).
Fuji has popular mountains
There’s no huge plot lines, none that even continue from one episode to another. Usually the episodes have a theme, and friendship and love come up quite a bit (as you’d expect). But mostly, it’s just wacky randomness, and for a 12-minute show that works pretty well. I don’t know if it should get a second season, or anything like that, as I’d be afraid it would get a bit old. But the show worked well for what it did, and was definitely enjoyable throughout. I’d certainly recommend giving it a try!
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About Tag Team
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.
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
I gotta go with Haruka no contest; her arc was the most extensive, fleshed out, and well handled (at least for this series)
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
I think the one thing I was really disappointed with Hentai Prince would be that Tsukiko never got her feelings back in the end. :/ I was really hoping to see more facial expressions and more emotion in her voice.
For Muromi, I loved the cast of characters in it. All of the mermaids are funny along with the rest of the mythical cast(that kappa! XD). Sadly I can’t see a second season coming out of it unless the second season has a more over-arching plot than just random gags.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
I, given that the whole story kicked off with Youto and Tsukiko trying to get their wishes back, it would have given a sense of completion and full circle for her to get her expressions back by the end. Unfortunately that whole plot kinda fell by the wayside about halfway in; Youto’s wish for more courage during Tsukushi’s first arc wasn’t followed up on at all either. At least Tsukiko’s alternative ways of expressing herself, such as her excitement when discovering young Youto were really cute.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
HenNeko: I figured that Youto continues to lose his ‘memories’ because the Cat God is capricious and just acts like a jerk because it can.
My impression of the ending was pretty much “Tsukiko wins.” I mean, Azusa didn’t show up in the last however many episodes except as chibi-scared girl, and even before that she’d pretty much been sidelined.
POWUH: iLurker with 19 comments
“and I’m not sure why Youto’s memories keep getting lost once they “become” memories, but I guess those details aren’t too important.”
Huh, this detail was explained. Youto’s wish was to transfer his memories to those who need them. Youto did not explicitly say which memories, thus the cat god keeps transferring his memories. So it’s not (just) out of capriciousness.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
You know, I think we (and Youto) might have actually misunderstood how that wish ended up happening. There were the two cat gods, and maybe while he thought he was wishing on the cat god that would give away something he doesn’t need to someone who does need it, perhaps the wish was actualized by the OTHER cat god… the one that grants a wish in a way you wouldn’t want it to happen. Remember that they weren’t in front of either one when making the wish.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
The Memory Deprived Prince: I loved this show from start to end. I don’t care that it didn’t want to define itself. To me the story was always about how much Tsukiko wanted her guy. Because the kindness he gave her his entire life was important to her. And that his perversion, rather she fesses up to it or not, was not helped by her past actions.
It’s all about the Mermaids: This show was just awesome. The gags were so gut busting, the set ups were predictable, in that way that you would be upset if they didn’t follow thru. I hope to see more of this gang in the future.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Photo Kano – 13 [END]: A nice ending to a nice. One of the things to admire about this series is the pacing in the story. I can’t say that anything felt rushed or forced just to please the viewers. It all felt natural.
I was afraid of the possible incest route when Kazuya started having feeling for Kanon but got royally trolled when it turned out they’re not blood related. Saving that piece of information toward the very end, it shared some similarity with OniiAi.
For choice of favorite girl in the series. In my case, it’s a struggle between Haruka and Kanon.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
For me the important part of their romantic relationship was how seriously they considered both the good and bad of it, and both of them thought about how the other one would feel about it. And then when they discovered there was mutual attraction, that’s when they felt they could move forward with it, slowly. And it was nice that it was slow, even on the scale of a couple years. It’s hard to wait like that, especially with the raging hormones of a teenager, but that’s what they wanted.
And it’s one of those situations where I hope their parents are happy for them as well, because from my point of view, like Kanon said, when she graduates, she’s not calling him “onii-chan” or “niiyan”. She will call him Kazuya, and not really consider him her ‘brother’. So their parents should be happy for their children finding the person they love, just like they did. It just happens that they helped them find that person.
To me it seemed pretty obvious that Kazuya knew something was up from the very beginning of the episode, such that he really didn’t consider Kanon truly off limits. It was never “I shouldn’t be in love with my sister” it was always more of a “Is this the right thing?”
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
The non blood relation was a surprise. I thought that he would walk the incest path, but thankfully he didn’t. I really enjoyed this series, and how each story had something interesting about it. It’s a shame it ended but overall it’s one I did enjoy.
I have to say Nonoka was defiantly my favorite, she was fine and had a fun personality, and the challenge of love was a funny addition to her episode. After that I’d have to say Haruka.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat – 12 [END]: This was alright show and one of Yuki Kaji’s best roles this year. Though can be perverted, he’s proven to be a dependable when the time is right.
Some questions were answered before the conclusion but I wish Tsukiko wasn’t still emotionless. The anticipation of seeing her being expressive again was wasted.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
stony cat – now we know about youto’s memory probs & yer feel bit good give curse of memory probs.
(give at more pervy kaji yuji DxD s2 this summer & s1 dub with Marchi as Rias)
photo kano – sister route to finish it all yet feel good as well give each girls a day in story ep (expect haruka got 2ep story life) yet each did well of it own.
muromi – really show stealer season to watch give same lead as nagasumi in this show yet find to much ha ha ha really where s2 & dub?
now that set wonder summer anime be like??