Hello…contrary to what a few(very few) people might believe,I’m not dead.While I am living a life close to that of a dead person,I should let it hinder my writing.See I even had time to fix up this cool picture from the ED single CD cover.Its MINE ALL MINE!!

Um,I guess I should start out with things I left off a few months ago:

Toradora

Apparently I’ve not talked about it for 3 months?In fact its been so long I don’t even know if I remember how to write a proper post.

Well,to say the least, its still one of my top picks for the fall season,though I really liked Michiko to Hatchin too,perhaps more so than Toradora now.

Taiga:

Up till now I don’t see much character development for taiga besides the fact that she’s still slow, klutzy,predictable,naive and a tsundere.The only perceivable change I sense is that she’s now more attached to Ryuji than ever and that she’s perhaps more open about her feelings.

Ami:

I like her the best so far,while she may come off as a shallow bitch early on she’s slowly coming to terms with who she really is and embracing that fact that she’s not a sweet bishoujo idol.But it doesn’t stop her from acting like one.And of course there’s her totally ambiguous relationship with Ryuji.She seems hesitant to take the initiative for fear of rejection or rather fear of being in a relationship.Might ruin her modeling career? Over time she’s become an entertaining one to watch besides the normal Minorin antics.

Minorin:

She’s a lesbo,end of discussion.jk

Ehh..I liked her in the beginning but hat soon faded into a well of mixed feelings.I have no idea what is going on in this crazy girl’s head.She seems easy to read enough,the bubbly girl next door type of character,probably with a secret crush on someone.But no,she’s started out energetic and lively >>>creepy and crazy>>somewhat deep >>>I don’t know anymore.I think I started to get her better when he made that UFO and ghosts speech to Ryuji but she’s been giving mixed signals ever since and her recent fight with Ryuji just adds more doubt to the role she plays here.When will we know more about her?We practically know at least the basic background of Taiga and Ami,but here we have zero info.She’s -> the girl who Ryuji likes ->has weird habits ->does tons of part time jobs -> likes horror->possibly a lesbo.

Ryuji:

The typical nice guy.Tries to fit in and be a good friend to everybody.Has a father complex.So far I still don’t think much of him though.I would rather end this with him just going for Ami if given a choice right now but people keep(spoiler alert) saying Taiga ends up with him(spoiler alert)

Ehh I don’t really like the rest of the cast that much to give them a mention but I do hate some of them

The parrot:

WTF is up with this freak of nature.Okay I don’t hate this thing…,but it is creepy.

Taiga’s dad:

Total asshole in my eyes.He probably lost his nuts in an accident and now needs Taiga to complete his new family with his new wife.

That guy Taiga has a crush on:

Screw him he’s gay.

Overall:

Up till episode 13,I guess it kinda did meet my expectations to a certain degree as what I’d expect from your typical romance comedy.My only regret was that there isn’t enough background story to envoke enough emotions for the supposedly emotional scenes.Hell,I spent last week watching some anime I havent watched in 7-8 years and I cried like a sissy boy at times.(You didn’t read that)WhenI rewatched this,not even a sob.Rewatched some Code Geass,a couple of sobs no tears.They just don’t make’em like they used to….

I guess the show’s saving grace would be the comedy during the episode usually spawned from some Minorin or Taiga influence.Otherwise it just barely holds up in terms of raw plot because love triangles,even pseudo love triangles don’t do much to impress me.

Now you would probably ask,why I said it was good in the first place.Well, its good compared to everything else out there at the moment that is.

A good 3.5/5 I’d say.

General Stuff:

Okay so putting that aside,this should run till the start of the Spring season,though I can’t give any guarantes I can even keep up with the bloging on the series because college life appaently sucks.Speaking of which,the main reason I went afk for 3 months was because of that very problem including the fact that my computer was broken for a few weeks now and I only discovered what the hell was wrong a couple of days ago.

Omni put up that “Vote for the best anime this year” thingy apparently again.I didn’t vote for Code Geass or Macross Frontier or whatever because I’m weird.*psst* Vote for Wagaya no Oinari-sama*cough*

Cheers & Happy 2009,I know I won’t be.

This episode featured Kushieda Minori,the hyperactive teen who has apparently been living her life a little too positively(Zetsobu sensei reference wtf?).Speaking of which,Zetsobu sensei was a real funky title to digest for me though.Ryuji spent most of the episode drooling over Kushieda.It seems like Kushieda is somewhat of a weirdo in all aspects.Loud,bursting with life,vivacious,and perhaps a little too much of that for your average teen with a disgustingly positive outlook on life.I was not convinced though.I’ll talk about that later.

Take two!!

So Kushieda apparently is really active in terms of her social life.Softball team captain,holding multiple jobs at once.Pseudo maid girl,karaoke slut,you name it.Ryuji is of course blabbering nonsense about how “キラ~キラ”(sparkling/radiant) she is while getting his ass kicked by Taiga.Unconscious jealousy?Perhaps.The was a side plot developing with Kitamura and Taiga,when they met by chance when Taiga was delivering goods at her forced job.I’m now convinced that the animators intend to save the spoilers about what happened between Kitamura and Taiga last year a secret and unfolding it as we go along,which would mean we did not completely ditch the novel’s original storyline with them just skipping that part.By the way….Taiga can’t ride a bike.Awww…

Dogs have very distinct markings on hem.Some at birth,some induced.Take “Pochi” here for instance.

Meanwhile Ryuji is doing ecchi things with Minori while they accidentally got locked in a storage room.NOT.Well he should have.Instead he sings songs and plays baseball.But its here where I saw another side of Kushieda.Mainly her soft side.I had a sneaking feeling that Minori is just puting on a mask with all this insanity.Working 10 jobs at once?Insanely positive outlook on life? When your trembling in a dank storeroom with Ryuji,I can see that there is more to that than a personality disorder.

“Okay so do I jump on her directly or from behind?” —Ryuji’s inner mind

My hypothesis is that she’s hiding some secret etc from everyone.I believe that Ryuji was only attracted to her in the first place because of that fake front she was putting up.Smiling all the time,having the confidence to do anything.The total opposite of himself.Someone to look up to.Reminds me of the weirdo girl from NHK in Yokoso’s case.Though I hope I’m wrong….
But Taiga rescues them in the end…err sort of.

Owners tend to have great emotional bonds to their pets.Take for instance how the owner punishes “Pochi” for its misbehavior,all out of love.

So…besides the fact that some people commented about the drop in production quality,it was OK.Yes the quality dropped,I noticed it too but what the heck,we can blame that on the economy.

Random shit:

Besides that,I’m pondering on whether to buy Claymore or Ouran,(by Funmation).I saw the shit they did with Ouran when they streamed the stuff for free and I’m not impressed.Its those stupid voice actors again.Can’t be helped since voice acting isn’t actually a lucrative job market out there….

I’m getting mixed responses from lots of people with obviously very conflicting opinions about the anime so far.Especially the handling of episode 2.It is claimed that the light novel was “better” in that it included more material particularly those which build on Taiga and Ryuji’s relationship or friendship at this point.I would assume that this is the “romance” aspect in this romance comedy.Yea,plenty of comedy but not enough romance?

For me I do appreciate the aesthetics of romantic relationship between characters, however lets not forget that this is potentially a 13 episode series thus not alot can be done in that time frame.We can’t be idling in the first volume of the novel for the first 5 episodes now can we?Do we just prioritize satisfying the minority of fans who actually read the light novel?In a fan’s point of view,we’ll say “YEAH”.But from a business point of view particularly with the world’s pathetic situation as of now,its suicide.Let it be known that a substantial amount of anime fans are not the patient type.Thus to cater to the needs of the whole,some compromise is needed.In that sense it would seem fair even to me.

“The generic pie in the face with a twist”

Besides…google said there was 8 volumes so far so there’s plenty of room for a season 2.Ahem…now lets backtrack to the anime itself.Needless to say,if the anime was a disappointment,then the novel must be one heck of a read.Yes I did notice the rushed turn of events but the light humor partially helped to offset the potential confusion.

Now she switches to Honey & Clover’s Hagu?

Taiga now freeloads of Ryuji(particularly his food) and his mom doesn’t mind.They proceed to their evil plots to realize each others dream of getting each other’s best friend,at the expense of whom ever that may stand in the way,with Taiga at the helm.Naturally they tend to fail due to Taiga’s apparent klutzy nature.Ryuji though, always stands by Taiga,since “he can’t abandon her” for some reason.I can’t either frankly.Just looking at her would compel any cold hearted bastard to help her out,much less some guy like Ryuji.I was told that the lamp pole attacking incident was an important turning point in the novel.Needless to say,it did seem out of place and needed alot of imagination as to the symbolism behind the act as well as the apparent absence of most of Ryuji’s inner thoughts.A scenario we always see with Honey and Clover,where these monologues play a vital role in developing each individual character.While I did enjoy H&C I was never actually convinced that it was a “huge” success.Hey,ask enough people and you learn that its hardly popular with the guys while the girls were too obsessed with CLAMP pretty boys or any other bishounen,such as those in the form of “Shugo Chara” <—-I enjoyed Pokemon better than that.

In the end Taiga gathers the courage to confess to Kitamura,but I doubt he actually got the message.Before that,Taiga had to clear up the misunderstandings due to her being closer to Ryuji these past few days.THe lamp pole incident handed an ultimatum to Ryuji,that they’ll only be friends after she confesses.Ryuji,insists to stay by Taiga’s side like a “dragon” and Taiga vows to try harder next time.

So my thoughts about this anime from the impressions I made last time were largely accurate.However,I’m basically against anymore of this breakneck plot progression speed.If its only to speed up the intro then I guess thats OK?

Opps I almost forgot to say a word of praise about the wacky OP.Techno loli? =3

Tigers are my second favourite animal,my favourite is the cat girl.

Its another manga adaption and nope I didn’t read this one yet…Why?Thats a tough one.I just skipped over this since the summary didn’t get my attention lol.But the anime did however.It seems that many liken this to Zero no Tsukaima and such but I don’t give a damn frankly.”Toradora” or “Tiger Doll” is,for me,a real fun ride.I was impressed with what I saw from the first 5 minutes.Strange characters everywhere.Well queer as in less stereotypical than your usual bread and butter shounen anime.

Its good to see hard working parents.Just look at that dedication for her kid.

The first episode gave me the impression that the story will revolve mostly around the daily interactions between Ryuji and Taiga.Sounds bland?Well at least it takes up a smaller bit of my already limited attention span as well as I can sort of have the option to follow the raw version if I choose to =| .

RAWR!!

So the story is basically about this guy named Ryuji who has a scary look on his face all the time,apparently he inherited it from his dad.His mom is a….slut?And his dad is a mafia ring leader?Whatever.But it sets things up nicely for the meeting between the Tiger and the Dragon.Taiga beats the shit out of Ryuji though and the story progresses from there.Somehow they find out that they both have crushes on each other’s best friend.So Taiga sorta turns Ryuji into her slave boy and to give her some help in pursuit of love..

Kyaaa~~

It was a barrel of laughs to say the least.Apparently its better than the manga equivalent version.However,I would just like to emphasize that the comedy genre is largely influenced by the animation studio’s craft and cunning.A good script can be a bad one if the director is an idiot.So far, the guy isn’t an idiot as far as I’m concerned.Also,lets not forget that Taiga is just so damn cute.Loli + Tsundere.As Borat would say, “WAWAWEWA verie nice”.

No OP sequence this week…but the ED was great,I have to get my hands on the mp3 =].Anyway I dunno if anybody else at Yukan wants to blog this but whatever.Its just my impressions of the show.

Sekirei..yeah the anime I liked to blog best this summer.No it wasn’t because of the delicious fanservice and uncensored episode where people were walking around naked in the bathroom WITHOUT THE STEAM.Sekirei,the manga itself was frankly not a manga that could claim to be a masterpiece of any sort,but kept people interested just enough for it to pull off survival and now an anime.

I helped him speak his mind a little

Overall,the anime actually bettered the anime in some aspects.Including introducing the various subplots at a fast pace(some may like I but I didn’t enjoy it too much) and of course they pulled off Kuu’s character to perfection.In fact I was left pondering why I didn’t pay more attention to her earlier in the manga(her cutesy whines and such).I realized that it was because the mangaka put most of Kuu’s “speech” into SFX(sound effects) and yea I don’t really bother reading hiragana much unless its freakin obvious.I have since rectified that.

SPOILER ALERT

Surprise butt sex?!Minato turns to the dark side…even men can’t keep their hands off him..

But of course I doubt its the last we’ll see of this anime,given the open ended conclusion to the series.It just screams SEQUEL.Nevertheless we’ll just have to wait patiently for the manga to develop further(a year at the very least) for the second season to develop.With that said,I’m particularly interested in the second season of R+V Capu?Whatever.Since I’ve heard some rumours/spoilers around that Tsukimi(main loser) becomes less of an asshole.

So lets go through the scores and tally up the results shall we?

Animation —– 7.5

Nothing special really but it didn’t suck so bad either

Plot ———- 6.5

Busty girls killing each other ? No matter how I try to deny/twist the truth, that’s the harsh reality I have to face.But recently the manga is revealing an actually plot!! Sort of.At least I have something to look forward to instead of random battles.

Characters —- 9.0

Hey I like interesting characters above anything else.And Sekirei has a really diverse cast.You can probably guess that my loli senses were tingling throughout the series.I have also become more wary of women with “exploding” boobs.You never know when they’ll attack lol

Music———-9.0
I just love the ED(Dear Sweet) and the lyrics are darn cute to boot.

Enjoyability — 8.0

Duh if the characters are cool I’ll most likely enjoy it.But I realized that its not everyone’s cup of tea so I lowered the score.**Applies he fanservice fans in general

Replay value—5.0

Its a little iffy since I never liked to rewatch anime unless its of the comedy genre.Hell I never rewatched Geass either since I’m too lazy.With the exception of the scene where Lelouch blasts a hole in Euphie(die bitch!!).Ahem so unless you just wanna rewatch this for the wacky antics of Minato’s many “legal” wives then go ahead and buy the DVD.

Non-important stuff:
So since I’ve started university life err a few days ago in LA, life’s been sucky as ever(can’t download anime or people will sue me?!).Or maybe I’m just some emo loser.Hopefully when I get past the first few weeks I can say otherwise.

For some reason I feel so dead these few days…might be that lingering flu I’m having.Nevertheless I found time to watch Sekirei (^_^)

Flashback:

Tsukiumi announces she’s the official wife but draws protests from the Minato fanclub.

To solve this problem everyone is declared to be his wife =P

Kuu sneaks in a kiss with Minato

Somewhat a confusing scene here >.<

Ahh the bondage slave I was talking about in the summary.

“What’s up with the maid outfit!”

Scary as ever Miya-chan…

Normally I don’t mind traps but somehow this doesn’t fool me one bit (=.=)”

Having boobs larger that your fists automatically means a 90% chance you’re a Sekirei in this anime.

Summary:

So up to until now we’re at Phase 2 of the Sekirei Plan.Most of the Sekirei have been winged and now the city is closed off for them to start their battle.However,alot of interesting subplots developed since the last time I blogged this…like how Minato got his hands on another Sekirei,Tsukiumi(cool name btw =P) or rather a another “wife” as she would call it because they’ve done it and such(just a kiss not those other stuff)…Meanwhile,we’re introduced to some single numbered Sekirei who are supposed to have kickass abilities,Tsukiumi(no.9) is one while the Black Sekirei(no.4) is another one and Miya-dono(no.1).Yea…the landlady is a Sekirei.It seems that as long as someone has huge boobs,there’s a 90% chance its a Sekirei.Interestingly,Minato’s sister is restraining herself from raping one of the few boy Sekireis out there while she does have occasional nosebleeds over him.And well now she’s taking him shopping…in a girly outfit (=.=).Not exactly a trap but…Ahh and the nutty professor explains a little on the origins on Sekirei,but I do recall this was slightly overdue according to the manga’s time line but who cares.Sekirei originated from space alien folks judging from the space craft Mr.Prof found.After the announcement of phase 2,many obscene battles were taking place.Among them is a bandage wrapped Sekirei aimed at S&M fetishists.

Thoughts:

I’ve been so depressed lately that ali I could watch are ecchi flicks (>_<) well its probably because of this overload of stress I’ve been keeping under wraps since my teaching job started(thank god my contract ended).But on that note I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far.Not a masterpiece by far, but an entertaining rendition of a popular shounen title.It could be also because I space out more often while appreciating Kuu’s loli cuteness that I turned a blind eye to most of the flaws(multiple subplots as well as an unclear main plot for those unfamiliar with the series).So go out there and watch this if you haven’t done so already.

On my life altering experience as a teacher…I’ve never been so glad to be single with NO KIDS around.

Kuu is just plain adorable

I guess Kuu makes up for her lack of any assets with her umm ability to look good in animal costumes?

“Hey what about that blow job that I thought was coming after the sweet talk?!” -Inside Minato’s head

Seriously its probably one of the few times that an anime adaption can rival the original manga.In actual fact, its not that hard is it?Anime adaptions have that moving pictures and sound advantage to work with yet some still fall flat on their faces.So this episode was well again pretty much a bunch of subplots bunched together but still managing to keep the viewer interested.I’ll just go over them on a point basis so I don’t get mixed up.

1.Kuu-recovered and living in Miya-chan(landlady’s house)

2.Chi-chan(Kuu’s “other half” is still looking for Kuu)

3.Seo quit his job for vague reasons and occasionally freeloads off Miya-chan on the basis of being a friend of her late husband)

4.Chi stumbles into Minato’s sis and she goes all rabu rabu over him/her(he looks likely to swing both ways)

5.A stalker like sekirei infiltrates the house to investigate Minato.

6.Musubi is getting fighting lessons from Miya daily.

7.Uzume-chan reveals that she’s living separately from her ashikabi

8.Kuu and Musubi dress up as a maid and stuffed animal respectively to give Minato and me some nosebleeds.

9.Minato fails to get the jump on Musubi during a romantic like atmosphere.

Thats all I could think of when I was writing this post =/

So this is shaping up to be a pretty good ecchi/shounen flick.I especially love Kuu’s “moe” antics,seeing it in motion rivaled that of Azumanga’s Chiyo-chan.So its 2 thumbs up for everything I’ve seen so far.Flawless in almost every aspect except that I would have liked it better if that put some censorship on all the bath scenes so I can be more excited when the uncensored DVD version comes out(Think Simca from Air Gear folks)

Aside from that I’ve actually started to get bored from watching To Love-ru so much that I’ve got no motivation to blog about it =.=.Why?Nothing much to talk about since it either,never happened/not supposed to happen,they raped the original plots etc.Not that I don’t like it.Its just that it doesn’t warrant any noteworthy mention.So when it does deserve some love,I’ll tell ya.

Random bullshit ahead

Ahh… so I’m basically stuck with my job since my boss somehow managed to convince me that I can’t quit no matter what.Stupid bureaucracy!!

The new soul eater ending is the new song that’s stuck in my head now =)

I forgot that Hard Gay is officially no more and has since moved on.Man I’m slow.

“The black sheep among a herd of cows” aka Sekirei 108

Episode 2 basically covered a bunch of manga chapters.The move in to Miya’s house/”villa” and what followed suit was the main theme here.There was also a little foreshadow of the coming arc about Kuu-chan(the girl stuck in the tree).Certainly while they did cover alot in one episode in chapter terms….looking back at the story,most of the pages were used for semi or total nude shots of Musubi.Anyway,at the Miya house,the landlord is introduced as a really hot young widow with a “oni”(demon) like personality.Sweet and sugary on the outside but scary when provoked.Then there’s that “other guy” living in the house who claims to be working at a host club and the big surprize that there was another Sekirei living at the Miya house.I had a hard time remembering whether they were suposed to fight nude or just with their bath towels on.Hmm….anyway,I liked the “replacement” fanservice scenes added since a naked bath house fight is surely not suitable for public viewing.

Episode 3 was where the good bit starts.We finally see a serious Sekirei battle between Musubi and another Sekirei..yea I forgot her name again…not that she was of much importance though.She served as an example of what happens when a Sekirei loses a fight.In this case she got her tattoo erased which causes her to be totally incapacitated and is banished from her master forever.What were they fighting for?Over Kuu-chan,a loli like Sekirei,no.108 who has plant like abilities.She was the one who cushioned Musubi and Minato’s fall from a few hundred meters in the air back in episode 2.Besides that,we also see the S&M chick’s master.He’s Minoto’s colleague from his new part time job and a total loser from the looks of things.But the highlight of the episode was definitely the naked Sekirei fight with Musubi coming out on tops.Believe me,the manga’s version was VERY detailed and the anime’s version took it as far as possible without turning it into hentai.Finally….*victory song* “You have captured Kuu-chan”"New data has been added to your Pokedex”.Kuu gets and orgasm along with her wings after kissing Minato,which officially makes her Minato’s Sekirei too.Apparently, its fine to have many Sekireis or sluts around you.

Well all this talk about Kuu and such reminded me of this “Kooh” from some obscure MMO I play.Just some random bullshit I throw in my posts sometimes.

Thoughts:
Well,it stayed pretty faithful to the manga but the anime is going too fast imo.Its covered up to chapter 10 with these episodes alone and I left out a few minor stuff that happened along with the summary because sometimes they run several chapters in the same time frame so it gets really complicated to talk about all of them now.

Pros:Giant boobs
Cons:Slightly messy storyline so far.

Uhh…did I download the wrong video?

Luckily I didn’t make a mistake.The story centers around the school idol’s deep dark secret.Yes,Nogizaka Haruka is a Akiba-Kei aka anime fanatic =O Pictured above are Yuuto’s roomates?

On the outside she’s a perfect girl.Beauty,brains and musical talent aplenty.Until that is,Yuuto,a boy rumored to be gay,stumbles upon Haruka in the midst of her escape from the library after checking out a limited edition anime magazine.

This face single handedly turned Yuuto straight.(And gave me the moe-ness I was looking for)

Huraka naturally freaks out since her cover is blown and proceeds to avoid all contact with him.Yuuto is slowly isolated from the school community due to his seemingly frigid relationship with the school idol.

They do clear things up eventually…with Yuuto helping her return the magazine before the due date…

Uhh so the end seemed like they agreed to start seeing each other(somewhat)….is this how otaku date each other?

Not much can be said about the story though.Besides the abusive bitches Yuuto lives with,I found Haruka’s character design and personality really appealing.Its almost like she was modelled after Miyuki(Lucky Star) with a little bit of otaku-ness added in.Basically, I just watched this for the moe moe/rabu rabu feeling I expected to get from watching Haruka =3 I think it has something to do with the story suddenly reminding me of *cough*those*cough*H-games.

Also,my university is forcing me to learn about beers and why I shouldn’t drink too much of it before I enroll in autumn as well as a bunch of stuff I don’t get….so I’m a little behind of my episode write-ups >.<

The everyday life of 2 non-blood related siblings

Ahem,I was slightly dissapointed Mikan didn’t flinch at the sight of Rito’s “manliness”.I bet there wasn’t much to look at in the first place.

Seriously when will they stop messing with the manga?This time Goku aka Lala’s dad comes by and he does the opposite of what earned my respect and adoration.Instead of shamelessly groping every girl on campus he just directly confronts Rito.And they throw in a Lala confession which is not due to appear anytime soon.And they made Rito seem like he’s got balls.Which is also not very true at this point.Because he only got them after a few more characters and filler arcs passed.Though he recently lost them again….a sad story.Anyway,Lala’s dad comes to earth and takes over a body( a really nice one at that).He threatens to blow up the earth with his super saiyan powers unless Rito becomes the number one man in the universe.Rito regains his resolve to do just that after emerging from his room after worrying of over the monumental task.

Episode 14,was just a relationship building episode with Haruna for Rito.More accurately,Rito is cheating on his fiancee and seeing another woman.It was all cleverly masked as just a routine Rito follows to build up some muscle.Haruna just happens to be walking her dog and is going the same way Rito is.However,because Rito never had the guts to try anything it always ends up a total mess.He even got into Haruna’s apartment and had her alone in her room.He lightened up the atmosphere with some small talk.They “accidentally” trip over.Rito is half naked and on top of Haruna.But he hesitated to go for the kill.What happens?Her sister comes back and well spoils the fun.BOO!!

Thoughts:
Besides the striking resemblance to Goku that Lala’s dad has,the episode was a sad rendition of the original.I mean,it was so lame in comparison that I delayed writing this for 2 weeks.How could they forget that Lala’s dad is a perv?How could they just cut out the scene where he molests all the girls in the school in less than 10 minutes?

Episode 14,never happened,but it was acceptable.As in,I can visualize the situation happening somehow.But Haruna only started trying to seriously go after Rito…after a few “close encounters”.Yea..but I can’t seem to recall exactly where.Oh right,probably after they introduced Oshizu(she won’t be in the anime I think).

Bah!!Thats enough ranting.Now go forth and watch anime =P