Otakuism

Is it truly impossible to redeem someone if they have killed? At what point does killing create it’s own cycle of vengeance? Is this world really just a dark and worthless hell? Black Lagoon ask’s these questions in it’s own way at the end of this powerful three-part arc. It ends how it must: with the twins dead, Balalaika’s revenge satisfied, and Rock once again seeing the horror’s of the world. Cinematically this was a powerful piece of animation. The first half’s focus was on Balalaika and her calmness in battle. We hardly even see any action, only hear of it through Balalaika’s men. When Hansel does confront her it doesn’t last long. After a couple of taunts he’s quickly shot down and left to bleed to death, right after revealing the nature of the twins “immortatility”. Tellingly all Balalaika can say in the end is that she feels “tired”. Clearly the circle of violence is starting to wear on her as she get’s older.

Revy and Eda need an entire arc devoted to just them arguing.

The cycle of violence appears again in the second half as we shift focus to Gretel, who has mananged to charter Black Lagoon as an escape route. Once again Rock acts as the people person and talks with her. Here we gain an understanding of the twin’s thought processes. After a childhood of being beaten and raped they eventually realized that killing other’s pleased their adults, leading them to only enjoy killing. This of course disgust’s Rock, who goes on to comfort her that there is goodness and kindness in the world. Gretel is moved by this, but sadly can only offer herself for sex as gratitude, so far has her mind degraded. Later Benny talks with Rock and can only say that it’s best to avert one’s eyes in this world. In normal Black Lagoon way it answers it’s questions pessimistically: yes this world is dark and the only thing you can do is avert your eyes.

Ilya?!

Still there is some good news in the Black Lagoon universe. Even though Gretel is killed at the end by her handler, there is still the promise that she is with her brother now in peace. In the black lagoon world peace it seems can only come in death, but still it is a kind of peace that the living can’t enjoy. To this Balalaika starts acting as a foil, clearly a part of her beginning to want peace. And so the narrative cycle comes to a close. The main use of this arc was not for Revy and crew (well maybe Rock’s in it) but for fleshing out Balalaika, her motives, and the philosophy that governs this world.

Well that’s enough of my odd philosophy. I really enjoyed all of this, especially the english song that was put in. It was a terribly poignant and melancholy song, perfect for the twins. Gretel’s death at the end, with blood streaming her face and her staring at the sky, brought me to tears. That’s why I stick with anime right there. A question though. Was the Gretel at the end physically Hansel? That would make sense since Rock was so repulsed when she offered herself. Kind of hard to tell since they both wear wigs. Next ep. seems to be lighter fair, with a female counterfeiter and more Eda goodness. Too bad she’s hanged up the whore clothes ;).

Fall Season: Kickin’ ass and takin’ names.

So now that most of the season premieres are out of the way I think I have an idea of what I’m watching on a regular basis. Of course this can change is some unkown series get insanely awesome later, but that doesn’t happen often. Also there seems to be a ton of pretty good shows this season. Maybe quantity can equal quality.
The list is:

Black Lagoon Second Barrage: A strong start with the twincest arc. I expect good things for the rest of the season. Too bad it’s only thirteen ep. than the original 26 I thought.

Death Note: Surprisingly good adaptation. Isn’t boring even though I’ve read death note. I cite strong animation and music for the reason. Hopefully it can keep me interested for 26+ episodes, especially after the time change.

Kanon: Do I really need to say anything? Kyoani’s treatment has completely blown me away with it’s attention to detail and movement. It has only heightened my love of Makato Fang-chan even more.

Negima!?: A show that wasn’t on my radar at all until I realized that the great director Shinbo was at the helm. Once again his usual stylistic flourish is completely awesome. Also I’m quite liking all the cute girls in negima. Maybe I’ll pick up the manga soon.

Pumpkin Scissors: Ignore the goofy name for this so far excellent post-war drama. The setting is set-up perfectly and our main characters are very likable. Alice is like a more insane Saber and Oland’s berserker mode is chilling to watch. A good gonzo show.

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~: A charmingly off-beat and surreal dating sim comedy. Hard to say where this one we’ll go when we’ve already had nekomimi and karate chicks in the first ep. Hopefully the romance parts we’ll be just as good as the comedy. I gotta get around to watching the second ep. I have lying around.

Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion: Only seen the first ep. so far but it seems very promising. Lelouch reminds me of Light a lot, and it’s always fun watching insane people. I haven’t watched a realistic mecha series in awhile and the designs seem good enough. Now I just need more subs.

Asatte no Houkou: Slowing down a bit with this supernatural slice of life show. I like the characters so far, but I could see this gettin’ old soon if something more doesn’t happen. Hopefully we’ll get a bit more melodrama once the girl’s secret is out. Also old Karada is insanely hot. Good enough reason to watch right there I guess.

Bartender: Classy drinking anime. Too me it did live up to the hype by just having an insanely cool bartender. The mixing of animation, cg, and live-action is also a unique touch. Hopefully there will be more subs soon.

Happiness: Jun is plenty enough reason to watch this show. Although the other girls are interesting also. I’ll keep up with it, but it’s not exactly at the top of the list.

Lovdoll~Lovely Idol~: Watching purely out because of that ” I sing for revenge ” line in the first episode and my belief that there may be a good story in there somewhere. Right now I’m probably just lieing to myself though.

Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo: The megadere pays off for another quirky love-comedy show. Watching this just for how awesome the lead tsundere is. Hopefully there’s enough story for the 24 ep. it runs.

Hataraki Man: I have to admit I loved the whole first ep. I loved the fast pace of everything and the wacky Hataraki man transformation. I kept thinking of ” Trace On ” during the transformation. The animation is great and all the characters look wonderful, especially Mutakata-san. Another excellent show to watch.

Dropped both Otoboku and Yoake crescent love. I really don’t need anymore eroge anime and these just weren’t clicking with me. Though I hear Yoake has mad QUALITY Also still following ARIA the Natural and Akagi from so many seasons back. I think I’m watching more this season than the rest of the year combined. Good thing I don’t blog episode by episode or I’d be in a lot of pain, course than again I kind of am now.

Guess this week’s kind of short also. Luckily however Death Note’s addictingly excellent Op the WORLD was released.

No cover art for the moment. An Akagi is fine too.

I loved Death Note’s Op the minute I saw it. The visuals are excellent, with the apple motif, all the tall buildings, and the close-up on Misa’s eye is awesome. Of course it helped that the song was great and catchy too. The Op the WORLD is out this week along with the not as great Ed Alumina, both by Nightmare. Fitting name. Like I said the Op is great, but when I first heard the full version I thought it was dragged out more, though now I can’t really tell cause I’ve listened to it so many times. The Ed I don’t like as much. For one thing it’s just not as catchy, being slow in some parts and then speeding up, though naturally it’s slower than the Op like all Ed. Also it last way too long than it should, a good minute over the better Op. Though I do like the acoustic guitar parts and the actual refrain part is catchy, the rest just doesn’t work to me. Still great single to download just for the Op. Sad there’s no insturmental track though.

Only one other release this week, and that’s ‘ Katei Youshi Hitman REBORN! ED single Michishirube [Tachibana Keita] ‘. Nipponsei also list a second OST for Coyote Ragtime but I haven’t found it anywhere. As usual all music gotten at Nipponsei.

And this is entirely irrevelent but I have to laugh at the bomb threat on 4chan being taken seriously. Maybe it’s more big football than big oil that controls the country.

Oh how I’ve missed ye catchphrase.

Finally I can watch ARIA again! Hopefully the subs won’t take a huge break now. Really enjoyed ep. 15, maybe because I haven’t watched any ARIA in a long time. It’s nice seeing all the character’s and how they acted as children. Akatsuki being a ” hero of justice ” and losing to ” Big Bro ” Akira (He needs a ‘ but if you kill people they die ‘ line). Wouldn’t she of just said at some point she’s a girl? Especially like how much of an old man Al looked, laying back and sippin’ his green tea, tying into other jokes about him. Alicia looks like a cowboy to me with her boots. Akatasuki must have a bad memory if he can’t remember their first meeting. We need an episode detailing how he and Alicia met afterwards. And in the end everything wrapped up in that we’re all connected kind of way that makes you feel all warm inside. Needs more Athena though. God I’ve missed you ARIA. I gotta go back and rewatch the rest of Natural now. Funny screencaps now.

Obligitory OMG Alice is MOE!

Love Akira’s ” Excuse me what do you think your doing? ” face.

You blew the whole damn thing up!

By God he’s an eternal shota.

Watch out L she has a shinigami to kill you!

Oh Shi-! Multi Track Drifting!

Yaoi MANLY FRIENDSHIP!

Oh Al how your face gives me a hearty LOL.

Finally the subs are here! Ok I wasn’t exactly looking forward to Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo! (damn long name. From here on it’s Megadere after the awesome site name) like I was Kanon or Bartender, but still I like the character designs and tsundere’s. The first episode delivered with tsundere goodness and comedy, giving me a promising comedy show to work with this season. Now to get my meaningless story summary out of the way.

Kept thinkin’ ” Welcome to the Ouran Host Club “. Tamaki’s voice doesn’t help.

” Complicated ” that’s one way to put it. The other is I fuckin’ kill a man with those things.

Mamoru Yoshimaru is a shy green-haired shota character who has just transfered to this super deluxe school to learn Beatrice, as he was saved as a child by a beatrice user. At the school he see’s a beautiful girl and mentions to her how great she looks. This girl ,Ayako Takasu, is the angel of death beatrice user who never smiles and can destroy satellites from earth. However she immediately turns a wonderful shade of red before Mamoru (*cough shotacon) and asks him out. This unprecedented action get’s Mamoru inducted into the student council where Ayako is. Only notable people are the president,voiced by Tamaki, his sister with shiho drill hair, and Mitsuki Fijita, a stalker photographer. There’s some stuff about a lot of break-ins in the school to steal an Astral Fire, but that seems to set up next episode. Mostly the whole thing is Mamoru and Ayako getting used to eachother and Ayako trying to get his answer to her confession while blushing a lot.

Moe: # 1 cause of traffic accidents.

Ayako is definately a ” megadere ” as she falls to pieces just seeing Mamoru. That’s very sweet in a romantic kind of way. Right now it just looks like the only romance we’ll be between Mamoru and Ayako, or so I hope as they just work well together. The scene where Ayako skated down a highway on a car door was just awesome. Shows why she’s the angel of death ; ) I like a lot of comedy scenes, especially Ayako’s stalker guy who, after seeing Ayako’s panties, nose-bled across an entire car window and wrecked it! I love exageration like that. I loved Ayako’s chaffeur Kitukawa. His constantly biting sarcasm and complaints was worthy of the great Kyon. Better see more of him. Only complaint right now is a lack of explanation of what Beatrice is. You don’t even know it’s some kind of magic till near the end. It’s confusing equating beatrice with magic, as whenever I hear it my book fanatic self keeps thinking of Dante’s would be idol. That’s just me of course. Megadere looks to get off on a strong start and will hopefully continue on for awhile, as it has 24 episodes to fill. This will be one the last things I pick up this season I think. I’ll write up a list soon of all I’m watching.

Gartender

I can confidantly Bartender is one of the best things I’ve watched all season. The atmosphere, the characters, the animation, the music, the drinks, everything was perfect. This IS what you call mature (and manly) anime. Bartender is obviously about a bartender. However this is a special bartender. Ryuu Sasakura is the bartender for Eden Hall, a small, picturesque bar in Tokyo. He is famous for his ” Glass of God ” ability, basically being able to make the perfect drink for each person by closly observing them. The main story is told in flashback narration by Kamishima, a man who hates bars and bartenders who has been given the task of designing a bar. After having his design rejected, he wonders the streets until he finds Eden Hall. There Ryuu greets him and serves him his perfect drink, restoring Kamishima’s faith in bartenders and making his bar a success. Also a girl Miwa Kurushima also helps narrate, though she’s more of a main character.

It may not sound like much but Bartender’s appeal lies in it’s ability to completely wrap you in an atmosphere. It’s very hard to describe without watching it. It’s the way cg is used to render the glasses and bottles, looking life-like but not intrusive, the blend of music always in the background, the way the light just shines on Ryuu like he’s an angel. It strikes the perfect note for everyone who has romantic ideals about bartending and the guy always willing to listen to a problem. It all just makes you feel warm inside. On other notes the Op is nice, a jazzy duet with nice animation. The Ed is unique, as the whole thing is real, with the actual singer singing while a real life bartender makes the special drink shown in the episode. A very nice touch for a show that strives to be realistic in every manner. After so much moe eroge and bishoujo mecha it’s nice to just sit back and watch a show about…well just sitting back with a drink. I’m gonna follow this one closely. Hopefully the guy who subbed this won’t make it a one time thing. Also I can say I am terribly GAR for Ryuu.

Notice a trend in the pictures?

Too many shows…

Negima!? is a rather odd choice for me to watch. I’ve never read the manga or saw the first series. Then why am I choosing to watch this? Because it’s directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, the same man who’s created some of my all-time favorites, Tsukuyomi Moonphase, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, and Paniponi Dash. There’s no way I can miss out on one of his work’s. His touch really show’s too, with the Evangeline bits looking just like moonphase (Evangdline herself sometimes seemed the spitting image of Elfriede) and the classroom part was like paniponi, with all girls talking at once and the blackboard messages. Hell you can just tell by the camera angles. Whatever he touches is definately a stylish show above the norm.

Fortunately Negima!? itself seems to have a good story behind it. I’ve heard how the original series basically tore the story to pieces, creating the necessity for this remake/reimagining. The story is about young kid Negi who is assigned to be a teacher at an all-girls school. There’s also some bits about his father, a revered mage, fighting the vampire Evangeline, who is even now terrorizing the school. There’s also dojiko Asuna, shoo in as main romantic lead, who saw Negi use magic. Negima better have a strong cast of characters, with a whopping 30+ girls! All seem unique though, with a couple of eccentrics that caught my eye, like a girl who only cleaned her guns, a ghost, and robot. Hopefully my not knowing the source material will not hinder my enjoyment of the show, and Mr. Shinbo’s always beautiful work. Also I’ve heard the OP already and it KICKS. ASS! Sounds like it’s for a super robot show.

Jun: The Anime

I must admit I had no idea what the story behind Happiness! was. All I knew was that it involved a delicious trap called Jun, and that was that. Now I’m surprised to find out it’s actually about magic, with a competent romance element. Happiness is mainly told from the point of view of Haruhi, an up and coming mage and idol of the school magic section (the shool is split between a regualar section and magic section). When she was Haruhi was saved from some bullies by a kid with magic, who apparently she’s been obsessively looking for ever since. Yuuma is a nice kid with no magic who keeps bumping into Haruhi. Haruhi eventually give him chocolate (this being set during valentines) and hopes to see him again. Later the magic section of school is blown up (conveniant) and Haruhi joins Yuuma’s class. There’s also Anri, Haruhi’s friend and rival to the point where she actually has a magic fight with Haruhi just to find out who she likes. There’s also another girl, an upperclassmen, who seems real spacey. Can’t remember her name.

YOU LIE!

Though of course the real selling point of Happiness is Jun. Jun both looks 100% like a girl and is 100% a boy. Freaks you out that you find him hot right? Doesn’t matter. Everyone’s gay for Jun. Still seems weird that no one cares that he’s a boy. Creates some funny scenario’s though. Apart from Jun Happiness doesn’t seem all that bad. The setting is nice, we’ve seen magic and talking staffs before but there’s still a good dynamic. I like all the girls so far, though Haruhi’s kind of annoying with her stalkerish ways. There were a ton of flashbacks we didn’t need, as all the events happen in the same episode. Right now it’s pretty clear that Haruhi and Yuuma are meant for eachother and are gonna end up that way. The only challenge is how it happens. What’s with all these game adaptations being good all of a sudden?

Tired now. Sumomomo Momomo review tomorrow.