Amagami SS+ 06

One of the better episodes of the series. There was not too much silly shit that would take time away from the sappy love stories we’ve grown to love.

Oh, the humanity!

I didn’t particularly like the excessive use of flashbacks. I doubt there are many viewers who haven’t seen the original SS. What I did like was the fact Junichi is finally getting his Mojo back and acting like a cool guy. He even bought an actually good Christmas present.

Nice choice dude.

The ending of this arc was sweet but it was eclipsed by the wonderful preview of Kaoru’s arc. Sexhair is back and I couldn’t be happier. Too bad we probably won’t get to see a retelling of the “bad friends” story. That was the one of the better arcs in SS.

YEAH!

Halfway through the series and the experience has been quite pleasant so far. 2/3 of the remaining girls are God tier so it will only get better. I have been noticing a certain lack of black humor and despair in my posts. I’ll try to remedy that fact by reading the only book ever written by Rudolf Höss. I think his book Kommandant in Auschwitz: Autobiographische Aufzeichnunge fits really well with the SS theme. It also gives me the possibility to compare if watching Guilty Crown feels worse than reading that book.

Thx bro, you saved Christmas.

Nisemonogatari 05

Damn, being a business student, that speech made by Kaiki Deishu made him a real hero in my eyes. I’m rooting for the bad guy in this series. In all honesty I know about Epicurus and I believe in his hypothesis about money and material giving only so much happiness.

Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in. - John D. Rockefeller.

What else? Well I never got the idea of wiping the sweat off sick people, especially from siblings. Haruka and Sora know what I’m talking about. Judging from the end of this episode the Araragi family will soon know the downsides of anime healthcare.

This doesn't cure people.

Damn this Bee arc is long. One thing that has bothered me in this “bee” arc is that the “bees” in this anime are clearly wasps. Though, this might be a translation error.

It's a wasp!

Yet another good episode in the books. I have also read that Guilty Crown has somehow turned into a good show, maybe I should catch up.

*The noise when you choose Suuri in RAY's Jokeripokeri and the card is Pieni.

Amagami SS+ 05

I know the Japs have it hard in school but snatching poorly performing students from their home during the night like they were counterrevolutionaries in soviet Russia is a bit extreme. Do you know what else was extreme? The reaction these two lovebirds had on the fact that they can’t spend the Christmas together. When you really like somebody you don’t need some “special” day to make being with that person feel awesome. Well this is anime and the arc needed the drama.

Демократия победит!

Junichi was again caught peeking at the girls swimming team. I think the “ecchi” word has been thrown around too much. Most people don’t even know the real meaning of that word. Luckily we have dudes like Sion Sono who can explain this with a wonderful two minute scene from Love Exposure. If you think part of the reason why I linked that is to show of my (pretentious) knowledge of Asian cinema, you are absolutely correct.

The quintessential ecchi moment.

Well let’s not only talk about the bad things. We finally got to see a “body-part” scene although this time there was no kissing involved. I think probably because Kaoru holds the monopoly on belly kisses. Anyways more of this please.

I wish they had used more than 100¥ to draw this scene...

I haven’t seen the original SS in a while but I remember it being somewhat better than SS+. Maybe the two episodes per girl pace is a bit fast. Luckily they’ve saved the best girls for last so at least we have something to look forward too.

Sad xmas

Nisemonogatari 04

Well this episode just made this show a harder sell outside of Japan. The very long bath scene with some seriously dubious imagery will scare away the mainstream westerner. Well the crazy bastards in the US tried to sell Kodomo no Jikan in the States. Boy would I have wanted to be in that marketing team who was in charge of selling that project. Fortunately, as long as one keeps watching stuff like this episode in his/her safe basement lair there’s no real threat from cars with flashing blue lights.

And someone past surprise at habits or inclinations or turns of events, and who don't confuse himself or sitting in judgment with our lord in fucking heaven.

What else happened in this episode? Oh right, the nekolady (Tsubasa Hanekawa) cut her hair. She also had very long pieces of dialogue but I couldn’t make head or tail what the whole thing was about. If you want an educated opinion about the dialogue go check what Vahvin had to say about Nisemonogatari if you understand the stupidest language on earth, Finnish.

I normally like girls with short hair but cutting it was a mistake in her case.

I wonder how long the Bee arc is going to be? If my deductions are correct there will be five to six episodes per arc depending if this is a eleven or twelve episoder. I have seen both figures around the internet but knowing Shaft there will probably be some “Vitun köyhät” style blu-ray trickery involving post TV run episodes.

This looks like Denpa Onna.

No idea what will happen next week. Hopefully something that involves some fast paced animation. What do I care, I just made this last sorry excuse of a paragraph to make the post look nicer with text around the pictures.

You're lucky that i don't eat fast food. Otherwise I would talk about this shot.

Amagami SS+ 04

I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room. Why the hell was Junichi flipping through that photo album while Rihoko was in the bath? That’s maybe one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen in an anime series. This won’t happen in real life. The dialog in general was very slow and awkward. I’ve listened to some of the Amagami “radio plays” and I quite liked the faster paced dialog. Fatso is my least favorite girl so it’s not like I care what happens in this arc.  That said I still would have liked to see more grinding in the “reward” scene.

My baby pictures?

One other thing I did not like was the use of the infamous “convenient trip”. This show ain’t To Love-Ru Darkness where the trip is used in the right way to create creative angles. What I’m saying is that the trip should be used as a visual aid and not as a plot device. If you don’t believe me go find a cute girl/handsome guy and fall on top of him/her. I seriously doubt you will advance your relationship in the right direction with that person using this method. Especially, if you are a +100kg neck beard who crushes the girl’s spine turning her into a real life Katawa Shoujo character.

Like magnets.

Damn what’s up with my dark thoughts today? One can really tell that this episode didn’t put that much joy in my life. I really hope next week’s new arc staring Nanasaki Ai will be better.

The situation every time I try to make a move on a girl...

Nisemonogatari 03

We finally get to see a bad guy. Deishu Kaiki didn’t do anything devious but the tense music and grim visual language scream bad with capital letters. See that I.G you don’t have to make your bad guys curb stomp orphans to make them look bad.

Oh he's bad.

Senjougahara is as thorny as ever. Araragi got more viciously verbally assaulted than a black man in Nurmo. We even got back to the first scene of the series where Koyomi was held hostage by a cold Senjougahara. The scene was clever word play until a disturbing text message and a baffling phone call that magically made Senjougahara dere come out.

Tsun

Next week we will probably see some Hanekawa. She’s the only girl from the original series that’s not yet been introduced in the new show. I wait with great anticipation if her character has changed after the Neko shenanigans. Whatever the case more Yui Horie is never a bad thing.

Dere

I really shouldn’t wait this long until I write my thoughts. I’ve damaged my brain with ethanol and hits to the head so my visual memory ain’t that hot.

A picture of my mind. Mostly blank.

Amagami SS+ 03

So much drama, SS+ is really turning into a soap opera. I can’t imagine that rape-kun was featured in the original game. Be that as it may I really liked the more outgoing and brave Junichi of this arc. Also, Rihoko seemed more lovable than in the original SS. She’s still no match for the “better” girls but maybe if she lost a few pounds…

It's funny because in my country boys and girls twice the size of Rihoko are considered average.

I think we also got to hear the first “Nishishi” of the season. I wonder if imoutos will go out of fashion anytime soon? It doesn’t seem very likely when there’s an abundance of girls like Miya (Kana Asumi) on the anime market. Nothing is for certain though, some great minds have declared that Moe is dying and from the ashes of this great genre will rise a new and existing genre called “wonderful girls”. I don’t know if any of that was really said or if I’m projecting my own wishes in order to make them reality.

She's a real gem.

Let’s get back on point.  There’s a faint odor of autopilot that this show emits. I only hope the ending will be different than in SS. Friend zones are more sad than hurt puppies and they also are among the very few drama devices that can make my stone cold heart ache. I bet Rihoko has her greasy fingers crossed that she can escape this sad predicament.

Serious business.

Fuck, I would be pleased with this post only if the title was ” Memoirs of the crackhead” but that is sadly not the case. I’m having a hard time focusing on the writing and Capsule  blasting at ~80 decibels doesn’t help. I hope next week’s episode will have some more shock and awe to make writing something easier.

Way to ruin the awesome and safe mood created by the desolate alley, douche.

Guilty Crown 12

Holy shit, the show presented us with a good episode for a change! No, actually this episode is a worse travesty than children with AIDS but could you imagine if this show somehow managed to turn the boat around and make the second half epic. It seems as if this episode was the moment of truth that defines the final direction the show is taking. Can’t say I’m all that surprised about this turn of events. This show has been on cruise control towards fail from the first few episodes and I.G has decided to push the gas pedal instead of the break.

The face of every person affiliated with this shitty project.

As if the writing of the show wasn’t bad enough, this week we get to witness some incogitable things. Apparently Shu isn’t a normal boring high school faggot but instead an instrumental piece of the world order whose action matter.  I could point out the fact that this thing was written in to the script to gratify the broken ego of a lonely otaku but since I lack any skill referencing psychological/social  articles we will have to take my reasoning with a grain of salt. The whole “lol I forgot my past” came out of the bush anyways. At least I don’t remember Shu mentioning that he had a huge gap in his memory. Remember, Shu didn’t forget an alcohol filled weekend but an actual family member and his surprise surprise BEST FRIEND Gai.

The exact moment where he chose the Beta patch.

While we are on the subject of the newly found sister Mana and the newly deceased Gai let me say this. The only good part of the episode was when Mana tried to save the show by converting it to Yosuga no Crown. Too bad it was too little too late, but I appreciate the effort. I would actually have forgiven every mistake this show has made thus far if Mana would have asked Shu: “Am I a good girl?” after the kiss. I think I just managed to destroy the last shreds of credibility as a honest source of anime information.

Am I a good girl?

Is anybody willing to bet against the fact that even after a major catastrophe like the one that befell the city in the series the whole gang will probably be in school studying in the next episode. This is a hypothetical situation that will never happen but if modern Japan made a Hiroshima 1945 high school anime I bet the horribly burnt and disfigured students would be studying in the charred remains of the local high school one day after the bomb drop. Anyways I can’t imagine anything good will come out of next week’s episode.

What the fuck was this marriage bullshit?

If you have noticed that there are a lot more spelling mistakes and broker sentences in my text here is the reason why. My proofreader has been cruelly taken from my side by the Finnish Military so it’s up to my own lazy ass to check for any mistakes.

Nisemonogatari 02

After watching this episode the only thing I could remember was a suspicious game of twister and the fact that I was hugely entertained during the +24min run of the episode. Upon closer reminiscence I have to say that this episode was a real blast. Shaft is throwing money at the screen just because they can. I hope this continues in the future.

Who the hell plays twister with socks on? There's better grip barefooted.

Koyomi missed so many Nadeko flags that it’s not even funny. Well this ain’t so bad since Kana hanazawa can make the fumbling Nadeko sound so moe lovely that it hurts. The other seiyuus were also hitting the mark. Eri Kitamura was her pro self and Miyuki Sawashiro as the delightfully raunchy Kanbaru did a smashing job.

Why is modern Japan referencing Bruce Lee when they have their own (better) action heroes like Sonny Chiba as Takuma Tsurugi?

Enough about the voice work, let us move to the expensive world of animation. I could probably have watched this episode on mute and I still would have been more entertained than watching some other shows with the sounds on. There were quite a lot of shenanigans going on in the backgrounds and with the animation in general.

This episode had more red books than China in the 60s.

Damn this show is good. I think Shaft and Shinbou are giving the fans just what they desire. Now it’s time to see what is happening in the opposite end of the spectrum. It would be nice if I somehow can muster enough courage to watch the next episode (12th) Guilty Crown. What I’ve heard/seen suggests that the episode provides a lot more ammo for hateful slander against the show.

If I were any smarter I could tell you what this frame means. No such luck though.

Amagami SS+ 02

 First things first, how the hell did Tachibana-kun manage to reverse that NTR situation to his advantage in such a short period of time? It’s maybe the magic aura that surrounds that shed or more probably the fact that Junichi is hardly a player who can juggle several girls at once. Whatever the case might be props to him for the “love” comment that caught the girl off guard.

Unexpected development

The episode was quite predictable after the shed incident. The election theme fit quite nicely to the current situation in Finland where “the people” as Timo Soini calls em choose a person for the monumentally unimportant role of President of Finland. The guys and gals running for office in SS+ could have learned from our real life politicians and demanded for example that no immigrant students are allowed to their high school. Better still they could tell that they will bring back the Markka and reverse any past unpopular political decisions. Well we did not actually hear Tsukasa’s speech so it may very well be that that is exactly what she said.

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!

 The final “reward” scene that happens in the end of every arc was a bit meh in my opinion. There have already been enough swimsuits in this series. I don’t even get why the Japs are so fascinated by the one piece swimsuit. I thought only fat and ugly people are supposed to wear those. I’m just kidding, there are plenty of nice looking one piece swimsuits made for example by Emilio Pucci.

That much steam will surely cause some water damage.

 Next week will get to witness if Rihoko is able to dodge the hurdle that’s called friendzone. There will be a lot of tea drinking and eating sweets if the past is anything to go on. BTW I was right in my prediction that the arcs are two episodes long.

We need more Lovely.