Otakuism

This show has the perfect combination of moe…

Wooh first anime of the new season! God eclipse is fast. Pumpkin Scissors was something I originally was rather tentative about (mostly because of character designs), but after watching it I definately am going to continue with it. Pumpkin Scissors is set is set in a kind of modern world that looks like europe, with a bunch of WWII technology around. In this world the Empire and The Republic of Frost have apparently been at war for a long time, though it has now ended in a ceasefire. It is now three years since that ceasefire and things still aren’t good. Famine and disease are everywhere and soldiers without work have become bandits. That’s where the Pumpkin Scissors unit comes in. Their a ” War Relief Unit ” that cleans things up obviously. The three man group is led by the spunky and idealistic Alice, who also constantly waves a sword around. The first episode is based around the group meeting Roland, a mysterious superstrong ex-soldier with a wicked ass gun, and their deposing a local bandit group.

…and manly.

PS feels like an adult shounen story. Roland is the super-strong character with a mysterious and deadly past who goes on an adventure with the more naive sidekick character. The adult part comes of course from this also being a military anime, with all that realistic physics and stuff (we’ll forget about Roland’s gun for now). I’m loving Roland, mostly because he managed to destroy a tank by himself (oh shi-! he’s solid snake!). That’s manly. Alice is also an awesome character. Her charisma and shear bravado are just infectious to me. The sword waving is also a nice touch. Animation wise I thought everything was alright, even if this is from Gonzo, but I’m one of the few people who really likes Gonzo so it’s all good. Op and Ed were nice, loved the Op (when’s that single coming out?) and the Ed was very cute. I love how the dog just bites people on the head and everyone thinks it’s alright. Hopefully Pumpkin Scissors is a good indication of how this season is going to be, because if so it’s all gonna be awesome.

Roland’s gun in action.

Can I get another “Oh gawd Al is Hawt!”?

I finally mananged to get through the rest of Demonbane today, and I have to say I’m quite satisfied with the ending and the series as a whole. Oh now I know the game is probably a million times better and I would love to play it, but taking Demonbane on it’s own merits I quite liked it. It isn’t a series for everyone really, especially if you like serious anime with competent plots. Demonbane is just about cute moe demon books and hot-blooded mecha action, which is fine with me. I was drawn into Demonbane first by how outrageous everything was and how easy it was to make fun of. After ep. 7 though the show went darker, dishin’ out more plot and battles. Really plot is the show’s biggest weakness, but I still enjoyed the later episodes a lot. I think how over the top each one was compared to the last really helped. This is definately a show to marathon.

Daijuji Kurou: pedophile extraordinaire.

Now a short long plot description from where I last left off with ep.7. Al was dead but Kurou continued to fight anticross with the help of Elsa, killing a lot of them. Eventually Al does indeed come back (I’m not sure how though. I think she never really died in the first place.) and her and Kurou discover the Shining Trapezohedron and use it to kill Claudius. In Anticross Augustus kills the last member, the big red hair guy, and goes insane summoning Chutlu, so Kurou and Al go to fight him. During the fight Augustus is Killed by the mecha Nameless One piloted by Ennea (yeah the little annoying catgirl we thought was dead). Turns out her name is actually Nero (that cool bondage chick we saw) and she’s the last member of Anticross. She and Kurou fight, her wanting Kurou to kill her, but at the last moment Kurou stops to save Ennea and have her be with them. Too bad that can’t happen, as Master Therion (another dead character) bursts from Ennea’s body in a bloody mess. Apparently he’s been reborn, with Nero as his mother and the god Yog-Sothoth as his father. He then uses Ctuthlu to summon Yog-Sothoth and open a gate to the nether realms of space.

Still lookin’ kind of cool there Kurou.

Kurou of course goes after him to stop the world from being destroyed. During their epic fight (seriously this was epic business. I swear every character’s name must have been yelled at least ten times.) we all realize that all the character’s have been traped in some sort of time loop (like Higurashi without the killer loli’s) and this whole fight has been arranged by Nya aka. Nyarlothotep (the big breasted mystery woman) to release the old gods. Though even old gods can’t stand up to hot-blooded yelling and she’s killed by Kurou. Therion and Etheldrea go on to live happily together and Kurou and Al end up floating in space. Using the last of her power Al sends Kurou back to earth. Eventually Al comes back also, apparently helped by…Kurou and Al. Wiki tells me that it’s their elder gods self’s or something. Doesn’t really matter as it was still nice for them to be together.

Elder God’s Al and Kurou. Al needed to wear that outfit more than two episodes.

Whew that’s a lot. As you can see it got kind of confusing with all the dead character’s coming back, but it all worked out. I’m so glad Therion and Etheldrea came back. One, Augaustus was a terrible villian, and two Etheldrea was too cute to die. I’m glad she got a happy ending. Only thing I don’t like is that from viewing the Demonbane fanbook released I know that Ruri and the church lady have bigger parts and I’m sad we didn’t see them, especially Ruri as I really liked her (mostly her striped pantsu). I would reccomend that people should watch Demonbane, but only if you know your not getting into something serious. Best to just make fun of the early episodes, and after it get’s serious you’ll like the charcters so much you won’t care. Wonder what the chances of a translated Demonbane game coming out…?

Awwwwwwwww…