neko's thinkbox

I believe summer should be all about the beach, the blue sea, and girls in bikinis with light swords.

I believe summer should be all about the beach, the deep blue sea, girls in bikinis and, of course, light swords.

Thanks everyone for all the comments to the first batch! Maybe this summer isn’t as draughty as it seemed to look like. And without further ado, here are five more series to muse about.

Note, if you don’t want to be spoilt on certain series, you can simply click on any quicklink in the post and you should only see the series you want to read about. (I wrote enough crap per series to fill the height of a 1050px screen, so you won’t see what’s above or below.)

List of series in part two:

Sora no Manimani
Taishou Yakyuu Musume
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Umi Monogatari
Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Sora no Manimani

Star? More like radioactive matter, right.

Star? More like radioactive matter, right.

Ah, I’ve had a few heartful laughs in this episode.^[1] So, Saku returns to his home town and meets his old nightmare of a childhood friend, Mihoko, who drags him into the newly formed Astronomy Club. Yep. …of course, the emphasis lies on the introduction of the characters, so let’s move on.

My first thoughts about Mihoshi? I seriously hate her. Selfish and pushy little… ARGH! GO AWAY.DON’T LOOK AT ME WITH THAT FACE, YOU DEVILISH WOMAN.^[2] And much to the contrary of this hyper extreme genki maniac^[3] litfag bookworm Saku is a loser, a wimp of a man. Back then, he was smaller than Mii, so I sortof understood why he never dared to speak up, but now he’s almost twice her size! Why can’t he just be a man, and be consequent for once in his miserable life? Instead of being forced to do something he doesn’t likeHumping for example. In front of everyone.^[4] he could just have gone for the Literature Club and have some geeky, adult fun with the student council prez.
BESIDES. And I will sound very hypocritical here. She looks much better than Miho -FFFFFFBFFFFFFFFFFFFFF WAT YES, YES, I know, I am a notorious DFC lover and I usually avoid oppai/tsunderes, but I will gladly make a exception here. Her blush in this sceneAllright! I’ll join the litfag club right away! was cuter than any of Mihoshi’s ultra naive-looking(-but-with-devious-intents) expressions. Additionally, it seems that ever since I watched Aoi Hana yesterdayFumi is beautiful., I am starting to like meganekkos. The rest of the characters seem to be all right, although that anemic astro club president sure feels a little… out of placeHow many liters of blood did he cough out in this episode??. (Also reminds me of Hyatt from Excel Saga.)

I guess the story will be all about club activities and field trips, mingled with romance (possibly love triangle or more). In short, your average school life romcom. The (imo boring) theme of astrology doesn’t really connect with me, but it’s not bad. What I really though is the top notch animation quality and design. The OP was good fun too, I am still laughing at that guy kamehameha-ing his cameraOr was this a Hadoken? Meh. for no apparent reason. XD And in the OP as well as in the ED, the astrological signs of all the staffers were displayed. Might be trivia, but it’s a nice detail nevertheless.

All in all, Sora no Manimani might not be BLOODY BRILLIANT, but it does shine bright enough to make me watch on for now, probably because I just want Saku to kick Mii’s sorry butt in the future. :3c
By the way, here’s another entry for this summer’s “Sexiest Noses in Anime” contest. I honestly never thought anyone could have a tennis ball shaped noseWhat a SPLENDID NOSE. MJ is nothing against this guy..

Taishou Yakyuu Musume

Koume's guided singing tour of Tokyo was pretty cute, although I kind of got the wrong idea of this anime at first.

Koume’s guided singing tour of Tokyo was pretty cute, although I kind of got the wrong idea of this anime at first.

Bluntly said, Taishou Yakyuu Musume is… boring. However, there is something in this anime that kind of triggers my interest.

The whole post-WW1 setting is a very interesting era to place such a story in. In such an early and conservative age where emancipation of women was pretty taboo, PE classes were most likely non-existent for girls (at least in all-girls schools of high standing). Because of this old-fashioned mentality that women were raised (read: destined) to become well-mannered and devoted housewives, the idea of having a group of middle school girls wanting to play and progress in such a violent boy’s game must have been pretty revolutionary back then.

Their motivation might be a little whimsical at first, though. Just getting back at a random man for hurting their pride seems a little… weak. Incidentally, that man was a baseballer, so of course they would want to eventually kick his ass in the same sport to prove him wrong; but it could as well have been a boxer or a catcher/wrestler. What then? But beyond that, I don’t know if many girls of that time would have wanted to jeopardize their future social standing on such a petty revenge. However, I do understand that they would want to escape their cocoons with their rigid conventions and laws and have fun by themselves too. It is pretty unusual though to see girls in kimonos and sailor fukus (as opposed to today’s jerseys) wear baseball gloves and throw balls, but perhaps that will change in the course of the series. I am sure these few females were the precursors of modern women’s softball.

The animation quality as well as the design look fairly traditional and smooth (I did not expect JC Staff to be behind this though), and the humor in this series is pretty natural too. I have no real complaints against the general atmosphere at all, it is as one would expect of a slice of life anime; but as fascinating as the topic I described above might be, it does not really catch my attention. Perhaps I just wanted a better introduction of the characters, or have a bit more of the baseball element (like in Cross Game). So I might need another episode to judge if it is worth watching or not. And I don’t give a flying shit if Mamiko Noto is in it or not, the seiyuu doesn’t make the anime.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

This is a realistic example of a modern family. Son plays PS3, elder daughter goes through puberty, and father doesn't care at all.

This is a realistic example of a modern family. Son plays PS3, elder daughter goes through puberty, and father doesn’t care at all.

This is one of those series where you simply cannot say anything about it without having watched the second episode. It starts with the apocalyptic scenery from after the quake, then returns back to the annoying life of Onozawa Mirai only to progress to the point when the earthquake actually happens at the end of the episode.

Well, I guess Mirai will now realize how selfish and immature her behavior was with her brother and with her parents, now that there is the probability that she might not see them ever again. But apart from wanting to return home to her parents, I don’t really see how much this anime can make a difference. Perhaps it will tell the same story from different points of view (scooter lady, the lady they met at the shop, and the couple who bumped into Mirai at the entrance) to create some sort of plot continuity, all the while relying on their data to make the devastation of the city and the recovery efforts as “realistic” as possible?

Bones SciFi at its best, or just a failed attempt at creating a dramatic story? We shall definitely see next time. I do like the plain design of the characters though. It kind of reminded me of Natsu no Sora.

Oh, and the opening was pretty much disappointing. I thought I was watching an ending. This has got to be the worst animation-song mismatch ever. But maybe it will change in the next ep.

Umi Monogatari

Probably the flattest chest I've seen this season.

Probably the flattest chest I’ve seen this season.

Yareyare. I’m torn about Umi Monogatari. On the one hand, we have these perfectly shaped girls with beautiful emerald eyes who can breathe underwater without gills, and on the other hand a veeeeery uninteresting plot.

Sure, I love swimming! I would love to skinny-dip with Urin, do some breast stroke with Marin, and dive into Kanon, if you catch my multi-track water drift, but apart from the obvious viewer baits (tight bikinis, oppaiThis is like, so exploitable. Even the couple in the background is startled., DFC/loliFlatter than a pancake!, buttocksThis is a clear invitation for surprise buttsechs. Or bukkake.; in short the whole service package at once), all I got was a lousy opening of pandora’s box. Now I guess some cursed turtle will appear, or something bad with the ring will happen, but really, I’m not interested. …were it not for the characters.

Marin reminds me a LOTHer expression in this picture is that of Ai, though. of Akari Mizunashi. Probably the same dullnessStarfish?/obtusenessFlounder?, the same cheerfulness, the same positive attitude, I don’t know. I really expected her to blurt out a heartful “hahi!” to bind me to this anime until the end, but there was none. So far. Err… Urin, yeah. DFC, DL, you call it. Even monkeys will eventually learn to use a stick to reach inaccessible places, I really doubted Urin would make it. Good, she might not be that primitive and stupid, but she obviously broke the sealShit happens. during the process, and voided the warranty of the island.
But the most interesting character by far is Kanon. While short-tempered girls aren’t that rare these days, yanderes are getting rarer and rarer. So I fully appreciated her everyWHAT?? singleWAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHA NYAHAHAHAAA momentFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF of wrathful and delirious rage.

Okay, so the characters are cuteWell, it’s just the usual SD though. and unique. The comedy bits are quite funny, I laughed a lot. The animation and soundtrack are oll korrect. The OP felt a little out of place at first because I expected this anime to be a little more dynamic and less fanservice-y. It might have potential but for now, it really doesn’t stand out in this already meager summer season. Sad to say, I am not interested in watching this series any further for the time being.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Would you like to touch mine too? FUCK NO!!

Would you like to touch mine too? FUCK NO!!

A large family disputing over their heirloom which is ten tons of gold, and a riddle leading to this treasure. This sounds so much like a mystery thriller, and I almost expected Kudou Shinichi to appear behind Battler to solve that riddle. Just kidding. But this reminds me indeed of a Detective Conan special where a dozen of detectives were gathered in a castle to solve a similar complicated riddle. And with so many contenders, the only logical train of thought would be that they will conflict and eventually kill themselves until there is only one person left to collect the treasure.^[5]

The point is that there is a large sum of money at stake, and with the already tense relations within the Ushiromiya family, they probably will kill each other, one after another, and blaming it onto some major evil – in this case, the witch Beatrice (who I believe is just an influential person to bring about the downfall of the family.) …Well, that would be it if it was a conventional thriller. Of course, I have not read any of the Umineko novels yet (neither have I ever finished Higurashi which is the spiritual father of Umineko) so I cannot say how it will progress, but I am fairly interested.^[6]

Characters are okay, although introducing thirteen characters at once can be a little confuzzling. I suppose the least exposed people will be killed first, then. Watching this immediately after Umi Monogatari, I thought Kanon was the same person as in that series. But apparently it’s a he. A quite emasculated heFucking traps are everywhere.. Oh well.
I must also mention Maria, she is… weird. Uuuu uuuu uuuuuuuu weird, you know? And sometimes, her gaze emanates a certain psychopathic auraK-k-k-kowai na kao. akin to Rena’s in Higurashi… pretty disturbing. Quite the dangerous loli, I’d say.^[7] No wonder her mother wacked out so soon. Probably reminded her of the sleepless nights Maria’s moaning and crying gave her, or so. Remember, kids, don’t try this at home!Well, when everything fails… screw pedagogy.
I also like the overall quality of this anime. The opening stunned me with Italian lyrics, the ending not so. It was a fast-paced omnium-gatherum of metal and classical, really busy and confusing. Plus I don’t think the voice really fit here. I loved how the next episode title was inlined within the animation though.

Well, I am not really surprised (considering the amounts of praise and advertising this series has received) but I am pretty much satisfied. It does live up to a certain expectation of mine, and it might become a pleasant, thrilling watch.

That’s it for this batch. Quite a lot I decided to watch, though I probably will apply my Rule 7 (batch marathon at end of series) on some. I guess the rest of the summer anime will be cleared with the next post, stay tuned!

1. I suddenly feel inspired to write a meta on laughter. Someday, it will come. [↩]
2. Or I shall taunt you a second time. …I always wanted to say this. [↩]
3. who in her usual outfit reminds me of Torako from Hyakko [↩]
4. although, of course, he WILL end up liking it because Mihoshi will coerce him to… with her BODY. [↩]
5. Of course, only one person effectively died in that episode; the detectives were smart enough not to give into such greedy behavior and conspired against the mastermind of that meeting. But that is another matter. [↩]
6. Probably because I am into Detective Conan and other thrillers recently. [↩]
7. And her black crown is a clear ripoff from Arin’s black crown in Pangya. I call plagiarism. :P [↩]