Mystery…we have…cute characters…we have…a city where unnatural is found, an atmosphere that remembers you of Higurashi.
Hiroshi Kuzumi and his sister Mana-chan, along witht their father…end up in this palce where Hiro seems to be the best thing that ever happened. A girl instantly falls in love with him, people are so nice to him, everybosy treats Hiro like he’s some kind of God.
But like always…something goes wrong. People start to die or dissapear. We have these impressive characters..some kind of death-bringers, just like the one below.
Great story…a dark atmosphere..great music and audio-video matching. Also moe characters…mostly lolis. It looks promising and with a suspense note above.
Every episode will offer a few hints about the true facts that are happening there.
The final part of my look at the surprisingly decent fall season is the countdown of the best titles of the season. This is always a difficult process since I enjoy so many different types of shows and there’s no clear-cut way of comparing a slice-of-life show to a shounen action show to a thought-provoking SF drama set in the near future but at the same time, it’s fun because it helps me focus on exactly why I like certain shows.
The first step in the process is to figure out how many places will this season’s top list include. The number changes from season-to-season based on the number of quality shows that I feel deserve to be mentioned. This narrowed the field down to eight shows and now the task turned to ranking these shows that I considered great shows of the season. Picking the number one spot was fairly easily but the rest of the list felt like pulling teeth so; whereas, I’ll argue that all eight of these shows belong on the list, I won’t argue to hard over the exact order.
And with that, let’s head to the countdown.
8 – Blue Literature
The use of classic modern Japanese literature as source material pretty much assured that Blue Literature was going to be this season’s most unique and thought-provoking anime. And because it was Madhouse animating this, Blue Literature also had this season’s best production values as well as high quality storytelling. So, with all that going for it, it might seem strange why this isn’t ranked higher; I’m even a bit shocked why I just couldn’t place this higher and believe me, I kept trying. In the end, I realized what stopped this from going even higher is that, while it’s obvious the stories picked are very well written, only one of the five stories used ended happily and it’s much harder to really get swept away by sad or depressing stories. I know that sounds shallow, and maybe it is, but I read plenty of depressing books and it’s not like current events have looked positive in a long time so is it so bad to gravitate towards those anime that make me laugh or feature characters that are just a bit better/heroic then the vast majority of people walking this planet, myself included.
7 – Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
I continue to deeply love where the story of Full Metal goes; the conspiracies get deeper and more insidious, the dangers get more threatening, and the world of FMA gets more complex as new characters and their ambitions get introduced. The majority of this season, however, had the show in build-up mode with very little pay-off which explains why this didn’t get ranked higher; I expect next season to contain much more pay-off in the form of super-awesome confrontations/fights and resolutions to at least some of the plot threads that have been introduced and will probably rank much higher.
6 – Sasameki Koto
At first, I wasn’t expecting too much from Sasameki Koto but I was quickly won over by the quality of the characters and the show became one of my favorites that just happened to be a yuri show. The main character, Murasame Sumika, was dealt a very tough hand – she likes her best friend, Ushio, in that way and Ushio likes girls as well, just not tall athletic girls like Sumika so Sumika has to bite her tongue and be the caring best friend after Ushio gets rejected by the cute girls – and her struggle to do the right thing over what she wants to do help made Sasameki Koto a great show. Other memorable characters included the boy who fell for Sumika and started cross-dressing (and became a female model) because he knew she liked girls or the girl who always, and I mean always, had some sort of food in her hands. Sasameki Koto could have finished higher if the ending had been better.
5 – Sora No Otoshimono
The biggest surprise on this countdown is the presence of Sora no Otoshiomono on it; not because it’s a terrible show but because it wasn’t a terrible show. It should have been just like almost every other ecchi comedy series – generic and not very good or funny. Instead, Sora no Otoshiomono expertly cultivated an absurdist, over-the-top feel that repeatedly surprised and delighted.
4 – Cross Game
What can I say, Cross Game just continues to chug along making awesome look easy. The highlight of this season was to see how a new character shook the show and it’s characters up but that was hardly the only thing that made this cour of Cross Game good. We got a marriage proposal whose answer depends on if Kou’s team can make it to Koshien, new possible pairings like Azuma x Aoba, general Kou coolness, and new storylines like Aoba trying out for Japan’s national female baseball team.
3 – To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
After the second episode of Railgun I was ready to drop it because I was sure that the manga author had once again screwed up; this time focusing on shoe-horning as much Kuroko antics as possible into a manga and disregarding such important items as plot, characters, and story. Then a funny thing happened, the show started to actually work. The four main characters were fleshed out and developed a great chemistry between them, a deeper story was first hinted at and then expertly told, and let’s not forget how cool Misaka’s rail gun ability is (especially when J.C. Staff has the budget). I think I actually squealed in joy when I realized that Railgun was going to run past the fall season into the winter season.
2 – Astro Fighter Sunred Season 2
Okay, I admit to holding this list up so I could watch enough of this season of Sunred that I could place it on this list and feel justified in doing so. I just love this show to bits. I was a little worried that the second season would start to feel a little stale but each episode seems to offer a different reason why this show is so awesome. For example, one episode featured the leader of evil organization explain how they have to itemize all their expenses so the worldwide headquarters will reimburse them, another episode featured both the hero and evil leader attending the neighborhood meeting and the hero get called to task for not properly sorting his garbage like the evil leader, another episode featured a gadget the evil organization created that allowed them to pinpoint where the hero is but all this did was force them to attend a funeral, go to a very high-end restaurant, and almost receive a very serious beat down by two other heroes when they finally realized that they could just call the girlfriend of the hero (who has made friends with the evil organization) when they wanted to know where he was located. I’d go so far to say that once I get around to rewatching this show, I think there’s a good chance that Astro Fighter Sunred would earn a spot on my top 5 comedies list.
1 – Kemono no Souja Erin
And as much as I loved Sunred, it still didn’t get real close to unseating Erin from this season’s top spot. Once I realized how good this series was, I just knew that this last cour of episodes when all the various stories were threaded together would seriously rock and it did. What I didn’t expect was the little tease they did at the very end for the next two books of the source material that’s coming out this summer. It’s a great scene by itself but I’m already salivating over the idea of Kemono no Souja Erin getting a sequel. One of the ways this show really sets itself apart from a lot of other anime is the process in which the show’s hero is tried and tempered before stepping into the role as hero; it made her an especially memorable character and made her convictions that she fought for all that more real and worthy to fight for. I’ll say right now that Kemono no Souja Erin has better than a 50% chance of getting named my top anime of 2009 when I get to that list.
–
So this fall season turned out better then I initially thought it would but I don’t see myself saying the same thing for the winter season. There’s a couple of good shows but it’s just a couple and I’m be talking about them soon.
Finally got to watch Katanagatari, it was one of the only series I had been really looking forward to this season; and thankfully it didnt disappoint! Such a good 1st episode – the longer running time meant adequate time could be spent on introduction and build up without having to completely dispense with the action element. Now this based on an NisiOisin series of novels so, as expected, there is a lot of dialogue with plenty of interesting word play going on. As with Bakemonogatari this will be a difficult series to sub, but Mazui did a very good job on this inital episode.
The story itself of a search for 12 legendary swords, is extremely simplistic and there are plenty of familiar feeling shounen tropes flying about the place – but the writing and presentation is done in such a way that its fresh feeling. The characters are very likeable, and already have a lot of personality – I’m looking forward to more banter between the two leads and some major character development to raise them up above their archetypes. There is plenty of scope here, but with such a generic plot all will be dependent on the scripting and character interaction to make this series original and memorable – however saying that inital impressions are very positive in my opinion!
The animation is the thing that really catches my attention though – White Fox are a fairly new company with only one full series (Tears to Tiara) under their belts, but they have turned out an impressive looking show in Katanagatari. From the promo art and PV we already knew this had eyecatching designs, but seeing the finished product was wonderful. The clean, sharp lines, bright primary colours and stylistic character designs really help make this series something a bit different. I’m actually quite glad that SHAFT didnt get this show as they may have overloaded it with quirkiness – the plot doesnt need that really, the choices White Fox have made mean the animation in Katanagatari can be simple when it needs to be, and eyecatching during the action scenes with very little visable effort – very nicely directed.
The music is also superb – great OP and ED, but also a fantastic soundtrack! The voice acting is top notch – Yukari Tamura as Togame is particularly good as was Chihiro Suzuki as the motormouthed ninja Koumori. Yoshimasa Hosoya who plays Shichika is a touch lacklustre – but he’s a fairly new seiyuu and didnt have all that much dialogue in this 1st installment (since Togame and Koumori did most of the talking) so I’m sure he’ll improve.
So pretty impressed by the 1st episode of Katanagatari – goes without saying that I’ll be keeping the show on; pity it only comes out once a month though
People always ask me this question “Why do you love anime? It’s kids stuff” or Anime is boring. It’s just like boring old cartoons” or even “Why waste your time watching anime? You might as well watch a movie or a tv series? It’s much interesting.
People think that anime is just an animated character doing some on the screen & we are the dumb people who watch it. I mean….WHAT”S UP WITH THAT!!? Anime is not something boring or lame or even stupid. They say things like that because they have never experienced anime the way we do. Have you even encounter things like that before?
I think its mainly because the people saying such things are stereotyping all anime with anime like Pokemon and Dragonball which you could say is childish.
In my opinion, some anime is much more in-depth and thought-provoking than many movies. love to watch animes, it is one of the greatest inventions that japanese ppl came up with. Many of my friends too tease me about watching “cartoons” however these are way more than any cartoon ever can be.
To me anime is what i get high on, it is what i use to get away form it all, i just love anime. ANIME is the best!! It frees me from STRESS! haha!! Sometimes I can’t relate with my friends because they’ve been talking about american series like desperate house wives, etc.. I only watch anime. childish it may seem, but it’s a lot better than any other programs! CERTIFIED ANIME FREAK! hah hah!
When it comes to playing mahjong, I am a very recent convert. I’m not good by any stretch of the imagination and I generally make bad decisions, but it’s generally fun and I like the way the game gives you the ability to make constant decisions so that you don’t feel entirely subject to the whims of fate and luck while still incorporating those very same aspects into the game itself. But as fun as it’s been, I knew I had been missing out on the full experience by playing only against people online and against Char Aznable on my DS.
Then fortune struck. Sub of Subatomic Brainfreeze (aka Dave of Colony Drop), himself a newbie in the wild world of mahjong, notified me that someone was holding a live gathering in the NYC area to play reach mahjong, i.e. the Japanese style of mahjong used in all anime and manga. And so we decided to hit it up, see how we stacked up against these other players who more likely than not had far more experience than we did.
The first thing I noticed was just how tiny the Japanese mahjong tiles are. They are significantly smaller than Chinese tiles, almost to the point of being cute. The second thing I noticed was that playing live is awesome.
Having played against real people with real mahjong tiles at a real mahjong table while eating real Pringles, I have to say that I much prefer it to online mahjong. On a basic level, it’s like playing video games with people next to you on the couch instead of playing against them through X-Box Live. But more than that, I loved the feel of the tiles and the way in which I had to manually pick them up and discard them.
I also loved how there was more to go by than just people’s tiles, like their energy; I’m definitely no Akagi Shigeru, but I think anyone can appreciate that element of the game.
Speaking of Akagi, it turns out that almost everyone there had learned how to play reach mahjong because they saw the anime. Basically, everyone was a nerd and that is definitely an environment to which I’m accustomed. I’m waiting for the people who got into mahjong because of Saki to start arriving.
In the end, I played two games total, one East-only game, and an East-South game that was aborted early due to time constraints, getting second place in the first game and first in the second, scoring a few decent hands and calling, “Pon!” and, “Chi!” with gusto. Knowing my results you might think that I was being modest when I said I wasn’t good, but I really do mean it. I don’t know how to score, I can’t do multi-sided waits, and a lot of it I would chalk up to luck. Next time I play, I’m likely going to end up in last place. But that’s the way mahjong rolls, and it’ll still be fun as hell.
Alright, time for another additional Rainmeter skin for your desktop enhancement pleasure. Since I’ve created a Konata Rainmeter skin previously, I think it is not fair if I don’t create another character from Lucky Star series. So, Tsukasa Hiiragi it is for this time Rainmeter skin. I’ve added lots of stars to accommodate the theme so I hope it is not too distracting. Anyway, enjoy the skin I’ve created for you. Have a nice Monday guys!
So I finished the anime Gravitation!
I started on it YEARS ago, but never had to desire to finish. But you know… my break is ending and I’m bored. So I watched it all in like 2 days xD
Yaoi much? Not really actually!
It’s more the concept of… forbidden love. What people don’t want but I guess gravity holds them together x3
That’s the point right?
I thought it was cute. Reminded me of another yaoi I watched… but that one was waaaay over the top.
This is for the storyline basically..
It made me laugh xD
But I wont reccamend it to any guys, duh. For girls? Meh. It’s like… when my bro says I’m getting my hopes up. Like I believe once I said a guy was cute, and he was gay. And my brother is like “really? You’re getting your hopes up” Cause no matter what It would’ve never worked out! Duh.
I just find it funny so that’s now an inside joke. xD
That’s about it for me. I think… think… that I can get another anime in before school starts! Lets see..
I’ve been talking a good deal about both giant robots and slice of life anime as of late, and in doing so it was perhaps inevitable that the notion of combining both would start to percolate in my head.
At first, mecha and slice of life would appear to contradict each other. Mecha is generally about some kind of story and conflict, be it good vs evil, big vs small, one team vs another, whereas slice of life has its focus in the non-events of life. Is it possible to reconcile the two? I say yes, and all you have to do is start with Patlabor.
Now for those unfamiliar with Patlabor, the basic premise is that in the near future giant robots are used in labor jobs such as construction and demolition, and have essentially become a part of everyday life. Some unscrupulous people get the bright idea to start using these mecha to commit crimes, and so a robot-based police force called “Patlabor” is formed.
So envision the Patlabor scenario in your mind. Now, get rid of the robot crime and by extension get rid of the robot police force. There’s your slice of life mecha show. Instead of focusing on capturing criminals, the story becomes about the daily hijinks of working a normal job as a robot pilot. If you want, have the characters younger and center the story around the training process, like Gunbuster’s early episodes minus the competitiveness. On that note, make the characters all cute girls if you want, though honestly speaking I don’t think such a thing is necessary for slice of life.
So basically, giant robots without the fighting. I know, pretty exciting, right?
This is from episode 22 of Ouran High School Host Club. It’s a moment I refer to sometimes when talking with friends about anime, and I was kind of annoyed that I just could not find it on google image search. So here it is. It’s Kasanoda the mean-looking son of a gangster’s dad making a reference to Yokoyama Mitsuteru’s manga series Giant Robo.
Use it, spread it, maybe use it to trick Ouran fans into watching Giant Robo OVA. On that note, maybe you can use Renge-chan to convince someone to watch RahXephon.
Strange name for an anime…but since it’s on the new 2010 list..I said that I should try it.
Durarara:
And I’m proud I did that. The mystery of the name continued in the plot…From what I understood, this boy, Ryugamine Mikado, moved to the city in order to continue his studies.
He was a shy guy and he seems a lilttle bit scared by the number of human beings that surround him. All this changes after his best friend presents him the city and some people he knows. Then Mikado gets familiarized with the local urban legend.
Now this is the part that made me keep on going. There is this rider, sort of ghost or something, headless that keeps the peace in the city. The dark motorcycle that he owns is sometimes spotted by citizens. A very great first episode, this one…must continue with the rest of them.
Disclaimer: This began as an article about my personal feelings about Kurau: Phantom Memory. It ended up, several hours later, as a somewhat melancholy twelve-hundred word essay about my social and relationship difficulties. If that’s not something you want to read about, turn back now. I also wish to make clear that none of the comments within are specifically aimed at my internet friends. I know that you all lead other lives, and I appreciate any time you do take to converse with me. For those sufficiently interested or voyeuristic, read on…
Recently, I have been watching a series called Kurau: Phantom Memory. Even with four episodes still to go I feel justified in saying that it is one of my favourite television series of all time, and this is due in no small part to the emotional impact it has had on me. Kurau is a very engaging show in which all of the major and even supporting characters are well developed and realistically motivated. That alone would be enough to earn it a place in my affections, but what has seen it take it’s place alongside some of my very favourite things so quickly is the way it has made me feel. It has affected me in a way few things ever have; Firstly it has moved me to tears, but secondly it has done so in a very rare way because it is not simply the events on screen which have moved me, but also their relevance to my own life.
More than anything else, Kurau is about human relationships. In particular it is about loving relationships, those where people really do care about one another; Kurau and her father, and then her ‘pair’ Christmas; Doug and his young son Ted; The ill-fated Yvon and Jessica. But more than that because through his work looking out for them Doug comes to care about Kurau and Christmas, and through their shared experiences Kurau and Christmas come to care about Yvon. There are several more examples of emotional bonds being built between characters like this through the course of the series and as a result, you as a viewer come to care about them all. But there is also another emotional thread running throughout Kurau which is what particularly affected me, the clue is in the title of this article. The theme is one of longing, of wanting something which is not forthcoming so much to the point of it being hard to bear. And in Kurau it is a longing for people, to have and be with others you care about. Kurau initially longs for Christmas, the other half of her ‘Rynax pair’ to manifest herself physically so that she can be with her (Humans who are exposed to Rynax energy take on new characteristics and powers, one of them the need to live as a ‘pair’. This is presumed to be a specific individual, but it is later revealed that does not have to be the case). Kurau feels alone and incomplete without Christmas, and also longs to see her father again, as he does to see her. Later on, the tragic figure of Yvon simply longs for someone, anyone, to be his ‘pair’ eventually encountering the similarly lonely Jessica who eventually reciprocates through her own longing to be with someone (and looking to even appreciating his forthrightness, after initially being scared by it). It was the destruction of Yvon and Jessica’s new found happiness which affected me the most.
I don’t want anyone to think that Kurau has depressed me, I was often very happy for the characters (which is interesting because that’s the opposite reaction I have to seeing real people in loving, fulfilling relationships, which is a kind of jealous rage) but even that sense of joy at their happiness has made me realise just how great my own sense of longing for meaningful relationships is. I decided recently I would attempt to change the aspects of my life I was unhappy with and the largest looming issue was that of my social life, as partly through circumstance (but mainly through my own choice) it had dwindled to absolute non-existence. So for a while I have been attempting to connect with others by several means. But it seems that because I’m the kind of person who is very open and honest with others about myself and my feelings I have a tendency to freak people out or drive them away, even here on the Internet (after all, I’m the kind of person who would write a very personal article like this one and place it in the public domain; I’m probably making some of you who are reading this article uncomfortable right now). I try and start conversations and they fall flat, and I think the main reason for this is the reserved nature of others vs. my own way of telling everything exactly like it is. I behave, and will continue to behave in this way because I believe in what Mahatma Ghandi said: That “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. I am the real me every second of every day because I have no wish to deceive people. I won’t play the silly, selfish games I watch other people play to get what they want from each other (in any circumstances – this is one of the reasons I decided not to continue with a career in retail. The customer is not always right. I can’t and won’t treat people with respect or courtesy who don’t deserve it). What I would love most of all is for my honesty and spontaneity to be reciprocated. So far however, it has not been.
In terms of relationships I do have, I have a loving family (who I badly neglect primarily because of my desire to form social connections outside of those I have with them) and several on-line acquaintances for whose friendship I am grateful, as it is currently the only social interaction I get on a day-to-day basis. So I do not feel utterly alone. But nevertheless, I am physically alone. None of them can help me when like Kurau I lie awake at night wishing there was someone there with me, or like Yvon I get so angry and upset at others’ refusal to reciprocate my desire for companionship (though for me, it’s a case of doing so in private after the fact. I don’t go around assaulting people the way he does). Longing is a painful thing to experience, but no matter what I don’t want to go back to ignoring it like I was before, and filling that hole in my life with the emotional Polyfilla of consumerism and mindless entertainment; Because if I do that I know I will never have my desire for social contact fulfilled, just as I know I will never achieve anything if I don’t actively pursue it. For a long time I thought so very little of people, and thought that I could do without having anyone around. But you know what? I have to admit that I can’t. For a long time I wasn’t giving people a chance, but now that I am I find that they aren’t willing to give me a chance. Perhaps I’m singling out the wrong people, or looking in the wrong places. There have to be some people out there who feel the same way I do about life, about love and about friendship, don’t there? But if so I can only frustratedly ask the same question Kurau and Yvon ask themselves…
*insert epic sky picture with sparkling teeth here*
Yay~ I’m pretty fast with this one this week! I’m not gonna wast much time on the intro since so much happens in this episode! If you’re up for an emotional rollercoaster ride, read on!
The episode starts with Sawako facing Kurumin after Ayane and Chizuru told her Kurumin is the one who spread the rumors about her. Sawako is kinda overwhelmed by it and asks if she also spread the Sawako-banchou rumor. Ayane and Chizuru burst into laughter after hearing about it.
"I defeated both Taiga and Haruka Minami... teme!!"
Meanwhile Kurumin is getting pissed over their behavior in background. Sawako still doesn’t understand the point, but Ayane tells her Kurumin just made up the rumors on the spot and that she’s just retarded. Kurumin snaps and shouts they should quit calling her an idiot. She continues rampaging while saying other Kazehaya fans also helped her spreading the rumors.
The three girls sweatdrop as their astonished by her reaction. Sawako still believes in Kurumin’s innocence, Kurumin tells Sawako the hard truth.
aha! I won the bet! now where's my money?!
Kurumin says Sawako is an obstacle for her that was in her way. Sawako asks Kurumin if she hates her, which Kurumin replies with a simple yes. She even asks if she just noticed it now. Sawako is paralyzed and thinks back of the moments where Kurumin greeted her with a smile brighter than a thousand suns. Kurumin looks away from Sawako and finishes her lines with saying she never thought of Sawako as a friend.
Chizuru and Ayane get greatly annoyed by Kurumin’s terrible attitude. They tell Sawako to fight back, but the poor girl is too shocked from the moment before that only tears roll down her cheeks.
Chizu loses control and lets her emotions run freely… literally.
RASENGAN!!
Chizu calls out to Kurumin who looks up surprised. She walks up to Kurumin and tells her she doesn’t care if she keeps on insulting or hurting herself, but she won’t allow her to say anything more about Ayane and Sawako. And that she won’t forgive her if she makes Sawako cry once more. Sawako and Ayane are touched by Chizuru’s warm speech.
Kurumin looks down and after a moment she tells Sawako she plays dirty. Then regains her agitated attitude and says she uses people since they also use her and forget about her once they don’t need her help anymore. Ayane sighs and reasons that Kurumin won’t change her method. Because of that, she taunts Kurumin by saying…
Why don't you just tell it to Pin?
Kurumin is in a tough position now, but her pride doesn’t wanna lose. So she stays stubborn and rockheaded saying Ayane should just go say it. Then the bell rings and Ayane tells Sawako and Chizu they should go to the volleyball match now. Chizu and Ayane leave, but Sawako doesn’t, not until Kurumin tells her to leave and earn Kazehaya’s sympathy again. Sawako wipes her tears away and leaves, Kurumin drops onto her knees and remains on the same spot…
Lost the game and not willing to admit defeat...
A bit later, Sawako catches up with Chizu and Ayane. After panting a bit, she begs them not to tell Kazehaya about the rumor thing. Chizu and Ayane are kinda surprised and they answer they weren’t really planning on telling him anyway. Sawako reasons that Kurumin would never wanna have the person she likes to think bad of her.
Ayane suddenly tells Sawako she’s sorry for shocking her earlier. Sawako is overjoyed and hops around saying she should be the one apologizing for getting them involved in the first place. Chizu and Ayane reassure Sawako it’s fine and that they were just worried about her, but Sawako answers she didn’t really care about the rumors since she’s used to them already.
Then it’s volleyball time. While Ayane and Chizuru play, Sawako realizes she has to tell her feelings to people in order to make people understand about her. And wonders if she can also reach to Kurumin that way…
While walking outside, Chizu sulks and complains on how the lost the volleyball match. Suddenly they notice some girls gossiping about Kurumin who didn’t just the soccer match. The three continue their way to the soccer field for their match. Sawako wonders if Kurumin is still at the same place as earlier.
During the soccer match…
SUMMER HURRICAAAAANE!!
…Sawako thinks back of some moments where she talked to Kurumin. While Chizuru scores the final goal, Sawako wonders if Kurumin saying Sawako was the first one hearing about her feelings for Kazehaya, was also a lie.
Chizuru bumps into Sawako to celebrate, but Sawako doesn’t react, she tells Chizuru she had to tell something to Kurumin back there. Sawako runs off and Ayane who hands Chizuru a towel says it’s normal since Sawako didn’t say a word back when Kurumin admitted.
Later, Kazehaya finally arrives at the soccer field. He asks Chizuru and Ayane about and then says he couldn’t be on time because of Pin bossing him around. The same Pin suddenly makes his appearance as well. He starts bragging about how epic he was when he told Kurumin she’s too young for him. Chizu and Ayane suddenly empathize with poor Kurumin…
the host club can't even match his ego...
Who's the ghost now huh?
After Pin gets pulled away by Kazehaya, Sawako arrives at where Kurumin’s (still) sitting.
Sawako kneels in front of Kurumin who isn’t really pleased with Sawako’s company, but Sawako gets straight to the point.
That took... 13 episodes and 17:13 minutes.
Kurumin’s eyes widen, Sawako admits she actually wanted to tell it to her back then and that it’s the first time she was able to put it into words. Inside, Sawako feels her heart beating, it feels similar to the moments she’s together with Kazehaya. Sawako now understands how Kurumin felt when she admitted her feelings to her.
Kurumin tries back away saying she isn’t Sawako’s friend, but Sawako interrupts by asking if Kurumin was nervous while confessing her feelings and if she was happy afterwards. Kurumin jumps up after reflecting upon Sawako’s words. She shouts that Sawako is just in her way, that she can get close to Kazehaya without even trying and because of that, she hates Sawako. Kurumin’s eyes get filled with tears as she says she loves Kazehaya so much more than Sawako.
Sawako feels and understands Kurumin’s feelings and says Kurumin is a lot cuter now than back when she first met her. Kurumin answers she also knows she’s cuter, but it has no use when Kazehaya doesn’t fall for her…
Now this is drama on its best...
Kurumin knows that Kazehaya doesn’t have his eyes on her since she’s always watching him. Now also with tears piling up in her eyes, Sawako tells that she can only admit her feelings to Kurumin, just because of the fact that Kurumin knows so many things about Kazehaya…
Sawako ends with saying that she doesn’t envy Kurumin for her looks or because she’s a good match for Kazehaya, but only because she noticed how cute she is when being in love with him…
_
Thoughts :
Oh my…
This isn’t the best time to write down my thoughts since I’m still pretty moved by this episode, but still… it’s a blogger’s duty!
This episode was amazing… it covered so many flows of emotions that a rollercoaster would jealous if it noticed all the loops of this episode. We jumped from epicness when Ayane and Chizuru confronted Kurumin, to the best comedy joke ever with Pin and ended with the best tearjerker of the season…
Seriously, I’m perplex about the voice acting, the animation and the soothing music from that last scene. I can truly empathize with Kurumi’s feelings, I think everyone can actually… it feels really annoying when there’s someone you like, but he or she doesn’t even notice you. I just wish I had a friend like Sawako for those moments… Don’t worry about me though, I’m fine~
But anyway, I think Kurumin’s arc isn’t over yet unlike I thought last week, though I still wonder what’ll happen after this. For next week, Kurumin seems to confess to Kazehaya, though we all know how that’ll end if that’s the case… so I’m not sure what to expect.
Finally got to watch Katanagatari, it was one of the only series I had been really looking forward to this season; and thankfully it didnt disappoint! Such a good 1st episode – the longer running time meant adequate time could be spent on introduction and build up without having to completely dispense with the action element. Now this based on an NisiOisin series of novels so, as expected, there is a lot of dialogue with plenty of interesting word play going on. As with Bakemonogatari this will be a difficult series to sub, but Mazui did a very good job on this inital episode.
Skin Name: Tsukasa Hiiragi Rainmeter
“Wah!♥~“
“。。。”
“Itadakimasu!♥“
*SFX: chichichichi*
“Hmm…??”
*Its Dead*
“Ufufu”
“Come to me”
“Hi there”
“Hm… You’ll Pay”
Asakura: “It is no use I control all the data in this room”
Shana: “Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!”
Shana: “White panties eh, well mine is white too!”
Shana: “You are finished”
Shana: “Haaaaaaa!”
Shana: “HUH?!”
Asakura: “ufufu I told you ne★”
