NouKome – 02
Congratulations on another NouKome episode!
NouKome impressed me with a pretty funny first episode, and characters that felt a lot fresher than their looks would have you believe. But this show is definitely one that could go either way, so how did the second episode hold up after the girl fell from the sky?
Way Bigger Deal Than It First Appeared
This is how she’s “helping”
So what was a weird happening has now gotten Kanade a call from god himself, and a ‘capable supporter’, who can’t remember anything. Not even her name. So she ends up being called Chocolat, and she does remember that she’s there to help him get rid of his curse. But they don’t really get into why he’s got a curse in the first place. Hopefully we’ll get more information about that later in series.
Why would you not stay like this?
But back to that call from god, how do you really know that it’s god calling? Especially if he sounds like some goofball slacker? Well, maybe he could do something, you know, like turn Kanade into a girl! Here’s where I (and probably everyone) figures that Kanade made his first wrong choice. But that’s how it goes, and he’s back to a guy. It’s a shame that god doesn’t know more about what’s going on, but apparently he’s new on the job (wait, what?). Just that Kanade has to keep completing missions and his curse will eventually go away. But fail to complete a mission, and he’s stuck with it for life. Easy, right?
Starting to wonder what Furano is feeling
Not so much. The first mission is to make stoic, snarky Furano laugh from the bottom of her heart by the end of the next day. And that seems like something that Kanade’s just not up to, in between having to make choices to keep naked Daiko (that sexy neighbor…) from appearing bound in the classroom. The best he can muster is some lame jokes, and Chocolat’s idea of a last resort of tickling Furano into laughing (this doesn’t work, btw).
Sensei’s going for the kill
But of more interest to me was the exchange between Kanade and Douraku-sensei. She seems to know an awful lot about his Absolute Choice, including the conditions of the curse, that we didn’t really see Kanade tell her. Either she’s jumping to some pretty coincidentally correct conclusions, or she’s got something she’s not telling us, especially after finding out that Chocolat fell from the sky. Does she have some connections with god? It’s also intriguing how she’s the one adult who seems to know about it, and will we find out that she is the one who approached Kanade about it and has something to do with this whole situation?
Back to the misson, at the end of the deadline day Furano finally excuses herself only to be followed up to the roof by Kanade, where he’s surprised to find a crying girl lamenting the fact that ‘he’ will think she’s weird. Of course, the million dollar question is whether Kanade heard what she was crying about, or whether he just saw her crying, and thinks that he made her cry. The other thing that doesn’t make sense is what causes Furano to act the way she does toward Kanade. She’s obviously got some sort of crush on him, as she’s blushed pretty hard multiple times when seeing him, and also looked concerned when he reacts badly. Is it just that she is a weird person? Or is she afflicted by something supernatural as well?
This is a really good image for the show
Hidden Gems
Moshi-moshi? Kami-sama desu!
One thing I’m really starting to appreciate in NouCome is the obvious and non-obvious references that are thrown in. A lot of them were related to god’s appearance in this episode, from his call ringtone (part of the New World Symphony) to the mail notification (Bach’s Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor) to even the picture on the phone when he calls, a rendering of the Borja Jesus fresco restoration.
This look isn’t working for me
On the other hand, it seems like the show has stuff that just doesn’t work each episode too. “Kanarin” running around the house with Chocolat following him / her was terribly animated and completely unfunny. Fixing it by standing on his head and shouting “John Manjiro!” wasn’t bad (although I had to look up who John Manjiro was), but it made a concept I find interesting (turning a guy into a girl) and made it a bit tedious. I’m also not really a fan of some of the artwork, particularly the closeups of the girls eating. Something about their lips just seems wrong and not cute or pretty. There were also some pretty bad continuity derps, like putting Chocolat on the convenient side of the table when Kanade was standing on his head.
Sensei definitely knows more than she’s letting on
Overall another fun episode of NouKome. On balance, the humor worked, and tried to move away from ludicrous choices in favor of straight character comedy setups. Finding some of the more hidden things was fun, and the different ED animation, this time themed on Furano, was nice. I think that one of my favorite things overall is the flow this show has, and how the characters just go with it, especially Ouka, who I think is my favorite character even with a limited appearance this episode. But Furano was definitely cute when worrying about what Kanade thought of her. I want to see what her story is.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 88 comments
This is the kind of show where I turn my brain off and just take in the stupidity in, where by doing so, makes me actually enjoy watching.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I get the feeling that I enjoy watching this show more than I should. There are the parts that bug me (like that running around sequence I mentioned), but all in all, it’s a lot more fun than it seems at first blush.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Personally I’m with you on enjoying this show. I know we’ve had our differences before *cough* InuHasa *cough*, but Noucome is actually funny. =)
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
more i watch on this too much making ha ha ha & poor kanade really give having that curse is one thing.
but yet do missions from god to rid of curse yet make it perfect or yea you’re so screwed kanade.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I mean, he’s screwed from the get-go with the missions, cause how do you make that girl laugh sincerely?
POWUH: iLurker with 11 comments
I can safely conclude that the absolute choices is how sensei ended up as the sensei she is now. First hand experience.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
One thing I wonder is if he picked the ‘bad’ choice, would the choices get easier? Although he did pick Choice 2 one time so far (to turn back into a guy), every other time it’s been Choice 1. Maybe they can switch them up more.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 39 comments
I really like ouka too, the way furano go towards her and call her judge and hig five her. lol
She had actualy some pretty much remarcable aperances in only two episodes i mean i already loved her at the stily pose, but we actualy had a big list like: “So i tought i would climb the wall” abazuren Z, “oh are you hot? Then…” and the list goes on, i think next ep will have some romantic talk betwen her and kanade and he sayng something silly manking her laugh.
Did anyone notice we’v seen more skin from kanade than any other of the girls, also what the hell is up whit god??? i liked him tought lol
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
God seems like he’s new on the job, and maybe not so quick on the uptake. It’s an interesting take on that, that he can instantly turn Kanade into Kanarin, but can’t just get rid of the curse? And also what was that soap opera about how he became god in the first place? Strange and certainly not what we’re used to with a god figure.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
After watching the 1st and 2nd episode, I can safely say NouCome, Meganebu! and KlK are the Kings of Comedy of fall season.
The jokes in EP2 have fallen a bit, but it still have enough funny gags like the Flippant God and Kanarin to make me laugh XD And we finally have a plot too! So it seems like the sensei and Yukihara is also a victim to the curse?
And damn, Kanarin with long hair is cute. He should’ve picked choice #1 :V
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
That’s something I honestly didn’t think about, that Furano is also suffering from the same kind of curse. That would be quite the development.
I dunno about comedy this season. It’s NouCome, Non Non Biyori, and then a big drop off for me. I found Megane-bu hopelessly terrible, and I don’t know if I’d put Kill la Kill in the ‘comedy’ bin, for me it’s more ‘Fight of the Week’. Unintentional comedy goes to Walkure Romanze for being dreadfully bad. But other than that, there’s really nothing that’s that funny (maybe Yushibu? maybe?)
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Well, I consistently laughed at NouCome and Meganebu! AFAIR. For KlK, its either “WOW WTF IS GOING ON” or “LOL WHT R U DOING”.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’ve called this, in context of how it just throws scenarios, tropes, weirdness, et. al at you so unapologetically, “The Dropped On It’s Head to Much Younger Sibling of Kill la Kill”.
But I do bust a gut more often than not when watching it, and it does have a certain charm. Plus we get some interesting background on LOLi-sensei.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
This show is totally “Let’s throw it all at the wall and see what sticks”, but seems to do it in a more coherent manner than, say, InuHasa did.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
If anyone is interested, I gave the Irrational Typesetting Wizards translation/encode/commentary a try. It’s a bit half baked in spots, and you have to pause to get some of the historical commentary during the choice spree. But I think the choice of word for Absolute Choice is pretty keen.
If nothing else, OP/ED translation….
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
Chocolate is probably the worst part of this show, but so far she hasn’t really mattered that much.
It seems to me like that some of the other characters are either dealing with or had to deal with absolute choice or something similar, that would explain the Sensei. She actually did have a line about how the absolute choice effected her life, I’m just not sure how seriously we were supposed to take that…
Also, in before Sensei is a loli because she failed to do a handstand and shout John Manjiro.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…oh, the lack of shouting John Manjiro is the toughest thing to face…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I initially took it as very figuratively, that she was overstating how much Kanade’s affliction had ruined her / his life. But it does give the impression that she had the same thing happen to her and that she knows an awful lot about it.