No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

Sunday, January 27

Anime

Kotoura-san

Wow.  Talk about mood whiplash.  This show flip-flops between cheap sight gags and a brutally honest and realistic depiction of how people in such a (admittedly far-fetched) situation would respond.

I'll keep watching for sure, but it's leading the pack for most uneven show of the season.

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Tuesday, January 15

Anime

Quicklings

Vividred Operation: At least they choose from only the finest cliches.

Tamako Market: That chicken/parakeet thing needs to go.

Kotoura-san: Much better first episode than I had expected.  Could turn out to be genuinely good.

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Tuesday, December 25

Anime

We Interrupt This Special Bulletin For A Program

So I'm on holidays for a bit, and I was planning on catching up on my anime watching between bouts of Minxing and spring cleaning.  I've already assembled two new computers and a RAID array and fixed my old RAID array, so I deserve to relax a little.

On my to-watch list at present are:
  • Hidamari Sketch season 4
  • Strike Witches (all of it, haven't seen any)
  • Dog Days (again, all of it)
  • Mouretsu Pirates (watched the first few episodes, then got bushwhacked)
I've missed most of the past five or six seasons, so any suggestions from that time frame would be welcome.

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Thursday, August 30

Anime

The Melancholy Of Tari Tari Connect

With many sadnesses, I gave up on Moyashimon Returns after three episodes.  It's just not the same.

What I have been watching is that show about the high school club with no clearly defined purpose that  has two boys and three girls as members and one of the girls ends up falling off a bridge and/or horse and landing on her head but then gets better.

THAT are following both Kokoro Connect and Tari Tari if you are seeking detailed reviews.  Well, mostly they're shipping for Inaban x Taichi and any girl x any other girl, but they post reviews as well. 

Both shows are solid if not groundbreaking (though Kokoro Connect at least has that potential), but involve Japanese teenagers, so a default Category 2 angst warning applies.

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Wednesday, July 18

Anime

My Little Zombie Can't Be This Cute

Sankarea.

What?  No, I mean seriously, what?  Spectacularly uneven show, a mishmash of romantic comedy, slapstick comedy, drama, tragedy, horror, harem, and fanservice.  While it pulls off most of the individual elements pretty well, the whole is about as cohesive as a sack full of angry raccoons.

And worse, while it's clear that no-one involved had any idea where the story was headed, the events within the story are tiresomely predictable.

On the balance, I rate it two little zombie kitties out of four.

My usual sources, THAT and Sea Slugs, didn't touch this one, but Random Curiosity provided full (and warning, spoiler-laden) coverage.

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Sunday, July 15

Anime

Cute Pandemic

A trap in full gothloli costume gazing rapturously up at an industrial rice polisher?  Moyashimon has Returned.
 
/images/Moyashiiii.jpg
Um, yeah.  I dunno.

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Anime

Gender Blender

Kokoro Connect.  This is the one that looks just like K-On! only with boys* as opposed to Tari Tari, the one that sounds just like K-On! only not with boys.

First episode was pretty good.  If it continues this way, as a character-driven series circling around the McGuffin, it could be a standout, because the characters are generally quite engaging.

Music and animation are decent enough, if unremarkable.  The character designs are fine, as are the voices, particularly Miyuki Sawashiro as Inaba.  (She played Celty in Durarara!! and the landlady in Hidamari, so it's another unexpected but oddly perfect voice in the line of last season's girl-shaped space bee.)

So I'll be watching this one - assuming I don't end up dead again, which is not a given.

Now, when does Moyashimon Chronic start?  Huh, Miyuki has a role in that too.  Wait, it's already on?  Why does no-one tell me these things?!

Episode 2 Update: Huh.  It did an Immelman Turn when I was expecting it to zig.  Interesting, though.

* Some.**
** Sometimes.***
*** Probably. 

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Wednesday, July 04

Anime

The Nargun And The Pop Stars

For a rock, that thing has a wicked sense of humour.

Natsuiro Kiseki.

(THAT, which has a talent for this, titled the show Magical Rock Trolls Four Girls.)

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Friday, June 08

Anime

Ano Natsu De Matteru - Fin

I previously wrote about this series back in January, and then a spaceship crashed on top of me and I died.

Or something like that.

Anyway, I just finished watching it, the first series I've finished since, I think, A Channel last October.  It's been that sort of year.

So, inconvenient spaceship collisions aside, what about the show?

It's pretty good.  Enjoyable.  It's a slow-moving nostalgia warm-fluffy one-hanky piece (has to be some drama involved) with cute girls (the boys are outnumbered eight-to-two among the regular cast), lush rural scenery, a weird little mascotty thing, and railcars.  So all the essentials are covered.

/images/IchikaAndMascottyThing.jpg

Not much in the way of any actual plot, though.  That's not necessarily fatal; A Channel skated by on charm and won my heart.  Ano Natsu de Matteru is...  Well, it's nice.  It's a pleasant watch.  It's not going to set the world on fire, it's not a classic for the ages, but it's well-crafted and enjoyable, with some genuinely funny and surprising moments.

The ending doesn't try to resolve everything, but it does provide closure; I found it satisfying.  Watching episode 12 I couldn't remember if it was a 12 or 13 episode series, but no, that was it, no episode-long coda.  (Not that I would have minded.)

So recommended, yes.  You don't need to put it on the top of your watch list, but just the thing for a rainy weekend.

Three out of four little mascotty things, the same as I gave it originally.

Update: Steven took a look, and it pegged his angstometer.  So be warned on that respect.

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Friday, June 01

Anime

Mysterious Girlfiend X

It may help to think of her as a girl-shaped space bee.

The ick factor aside, this is not only the best-show-from-the-worst-premise for the season, it's possibly the best show starting this season.  Nice old-fashioned designs, great artwork, it moves at its own pace but without putting me to sleep (Hyouka).

Well, based on one episode, which is all I've had time to watch due to bizarre networking issues at my day job.

Oh, and minor spoiler:

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Friday, April 06

Anime

Someone Needs To Find The People

Who animated this, and throw money at them.

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Monday, April 02

Anime

Moyashimon Evolved

After five long, lonely, kiviak-free years, Moyashimon returns to Noitamina this July.

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Sunday, February 19

Anime

Katawa Shoujo

Right.  That reminds me why I don't like this sort of game.

I don't have any problem at all with the game subject or material; they're fine, and deftly handled.  It's the shallowness of the decision tree that I have a problem with.  At least when Mass Effect screwed you this way, you could mostly either apologise or shoot someone.  Sometimes both.

Right now, I give it a big meh.
more...

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Sunday, January 22

Anime

Rinne No Lagrange

Genki girl meets super-science flying battle robot.

Thoughts:
  1. Which one, though?  One of the stable ones or one of the metastable ones?
  2. Wan.
  3. Where did those come from?  I'm sure they weren't there before.
  4. Aww, now they're gone again.
  5. Guess it's one of the metastable ones then.
  6. Wan.

The robot fights are formulaic, but the characters and the character designs work for me, as does the art style generally and the music, both op/ed and incidental.

It's nothing groundbreaking, but it has a beat and you can dance...  I mean, it's enjoyable enough so far.

Two and one half little fishies out of four.  Wan.


/images/Rinne-NowYouSeeThem.jpg

Now you see 'em...

/images/Rinne-NowYouDont.jpg
Now you don't.

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Wednesday, January 18

Anime

Ano Natsu De Matteru

Also known as spoiler.

This one is actually good - funny, well-written, well-acted, beautifully drawn, and willing to hit the tropes head-on or dodge them balletically as its whim takes it.

One thing that intrigued me while watching the show was when it was set.  One, no cell-phones or computers anywhere; can't be twenty-first century.  Two, skirt length, can't pre-date the mid-60's.  Architecture (the school has a large, curving glass wall, for example) and transport (the very few cars we see are neither boxy nor sleekly curved) both suggest the 80's or 90's.  The male lead has a Super-8 film camera, and it's not highlighted as an anachronism, which points to the early 80's.  But there are shelf stereos - CD only - and the cordless phones are bulky but not that bulky, which suggests at least the late 80's, probably the 90's.

That aside, it has a busty redhead, a tomboyish girl who goes hmph, and a twintailed girl who goes ufufufu.

Oh, and railcars.  All in all, it's a real throwback, a 90's style comedy with 2012 production values, and definitely one I'll be watching.

A solid three little fishies out of four. 

/images/AnoNatsu-ContainmentFailureImminent.jpg
Warning!  Containment failure imminent!  Warning!

/images/AnoNatsu-Eeehhhhh.jpg
Big sister and the hmph girl.

/images/AnoNatsu-MascottyThing.jpg
Obligatory mascotty thing.

/images/AnoNatsu-UfufufuGirl.jpg
The ufufufu girl.

/images/AnoNatsu-AndTheDitz.jpg
And the ditz makes four.

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Anime

That Papa Show

Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!  Also known as Oh, right, the whole of Wikipedia is blacked out.

A college-aged boy ends up looking after his niece and step-nieces after their parents are lost in a plane crash.  Some genuine moments of comedy and tragedy, but the storytelling is heavy-handed and it strays too close to ick territory for my liking.

Could be worse.  Knowing the Japanese, could be a lot worse.

Two little fishies out of four.  Maybe half a point more if we get to see more of the monorail.  Monorails are good.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:21 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Wednesday, December 28

Anime

Tiny Snow Fairy Wait What?

We're all familiar with this, of course:



But I'm apparently just a little too young to remember this:



Or, for that matter:


more...

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Sunday, November 13

Anime

Chihayafuru

It's from a josei manga series of the same name centered around - and I kid you only very slightly - full-contact snap.

It's actually not bad, a ray of light in a pretty dull season.


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Sunday, October 09

Anime

A Channel - Fin

Got the chance to finish watching this series this evening, and it really is an underappreciated little gem.  While it treads ground covered by shows like Azumanga Daioh, K-On!, and Hidamari Sketch, and while it's a bit uneven in places, its charm holds up throughout.

And the sixth omake is brilliant.

There's an OVA on the way, so that's something to look forward to.  With only two volumes to the manga I don't know if there's enough material for another full season, much as I'd like to see it.

Recommended.



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Sunday, August 14

Anime

Hidamari Sketch!!!!

Season 4 announced.

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Tuesday, July 26

Anime

This Site Is Now One Of Just Three Hits On Google For

"She really is a crazy busy bee."

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Monday, July 25

Anime

Wait, What? (Insect Edition)

Maya the Bee was anime?

I always thought it was a European series.  But then, I was watching towards the end of my don't-care-so-long-as-it's-animated period, so I wouldn't have noticed either way.



The American dub had a different - and lame - theme song.  The version we got in Australia had the original tune* with translated lyrics, which is apparently the case for most of the rest of the world:

France


Germany


Poland


Russia


Hungary


Czechoslovakia, as was


German remix, apparently broadcast in Spain (the Spanish theme is less lame than the American version, but still not the real thing)


Polish polka version, sung by an unreasonably talented 11-year-old


Finland


Slovenia


A live Czech version (Karel Gott sang the original German, Czech, and Slovak versions)


Israel


Greece


A German / Czech co-production


Portugal


Wait, Spain had the real thing too, as well as their German remix and their Latin alternate-universe version


Another German version on Spanish TV or...  something - this one actually changes languages midstream


Netherlands


Croatia


Honestly, you could hum the tune of this show to anyone in the world between the ages of about thirty and fifty and form an instant friendship...  Except for America.  Oh, and Italy.  They messed it up too.

The odd thing, though, is that English version is not the song from my childhood.  That version went:

There is a land that you can't see,
Although it sometimes isn't there;
And that is where you'll find a bee,
With so much happiness to share.
And if you ask her for her name she'll say it's Maya,
The one and only little bee called Maya,
Maya has so many friends you see;
She really is a crazy busy bee.
She's always going to exciting places, Maya,
Meeting friends with different faces, Maya,
Maya, everyone loves Maya.
Maya (Maya), Maya (Maya),
Maya tell us about your day.

I got most of that from memory, and then found this page which had all but the opening verse, and in the right order.  (As soon as I saw it I realised I had some lines the wrong way round.)  I found the opening verse on some random page on Facebook.

Now, let's see if I can find that one as well.

...

Mmmmmno.

Oh well, here's another version in...  Don't know any more.  I think that's Croatian.  (Looks up.)  Yes, Croatian, which I speak fluently...  To the extent that I can recognise Pcelica Maja when I see it twice just a few minutes apart.



* And by "original", I mean the version composed by Czech songwriter Karel Svoboda.  The Japanese theme song is nearly as bad as the American version.

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Wednesday, July 20

Anime

Usagi Drop

So I had a free half hour when things weren't actually on fire, and I watched the first episode of this.  I still have the latter half of last season's shows to watch, but I wanted to pick up one episode of something, and Usagi Drop was something that sounded like it might be good.

And it is.  It is very good indeed.

Oh.  What's it about?  It's about a thirty-year-old guy who moves in with his aunt, who scolds him all the time.  Yes.  Yes, that's what it's about.  Heh.

Four plummeting bunnies out of four.*



* Just as a reminder, the scale is out of four, and the scores range from -1 to 5.

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Tuesday, July 12

Anime

Mashimarium

An exotic atom with a nucleus comprising three cutinos and a chaon, orbited by a solitary oneeon.

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Tuesday, June 14

Anime

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Still Short But Not Quite As Short Take

Yes, I really watched the whole of the new series of My Little Pony.

The thing is, while there is no question but that the show was created solely as a cynical exercise in manipulating little girls into getting their parents to exchange their hard-earned dollars for mass-produced plastic toy horses, it is actually pretty good.

I was persuaded of this first by the existence of Weird Al PMVs* and then by the Ponycast put out by the combined forces of the Anime World Order and Greatest Movie Ever podcasts.**

And, despite its origins, target audience, and current status as an internet meme plague, I really enjoyed it.

http://ai.mee.nu/images/Derpy.jpg?size=540x&q=95

* Pony Music Videos.
** I've listened to every single episode of both.  Twice.

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