I’m a little disappointed that Miyafuji’s friend isn’t a main character. She reminds me of Asakura.
Well, I decided to take some time away from work and planning to go abroad to watch a little bit of anime. I decided to watch the first episode of Strike Witches or Loli no Pantsu by the general fanbase due to the fact the characters don’t wear any pants. I actually liked this first episode, and didn’t really see too many problems with it other than the lol no pants.
This episode was full of her. I was happy and then fapped.
I liked this episode. Episode 16 really got me interested because it wasn’t over the top ESPECIALLY nothing like the previous episode which was just weird and full of DERP. I actually wasn’t expecting this episode to be too good when watching at first. When I saw Cornelia dressed in what seemed like a straight jacket bondage wear outfit thing, I was worried that this episode was gonna be another shitty one. At least she was only on screen for a brief moment, and the episode got only better. It just felt more like what I would expect of Code Geass whatever that means. I liked the political stuff going on and the random guys from the Knights who we haven’t seen much of so far starting trouble. Cecile and Lloyd actually show up for the first time or what seems like it this season. I complained about the BGM of the last episode but oddly enough I really liked the BGM for this episode and really fit the various situations in this episode. Etc. Etc.
I started watching Kaiji lately for whatever reason. Someone on /a/ gave me a long list of good anime. It must be good anime because I’ve seen a lot of what was on it already but I still have a lot to see that is on it. Anyway, I pretty much picked Kaiji at random. It’s totally not the type of show I would normally watch, but sometimes moving outside what you’re familiar with is a good thing like with this show. I knew this was “that show that has characters with huge noses” but other than that I didn’t know much about Kaiji. I actually thought it was the Mahjong one by the same guy but that’s called Akagi, I guess.
So basically you have this guy named Kaiji who is a bum that gets this debt from his friend because Kaiji co-signed this one document and his friend couldn’t pay. Kaiji is then thrown into an underground gambling kind of ring where people go through extreme gambles to win tons of money fast. This is all with harsh costs and the gambling is viewed as sport by rich people as they watch people like Kaiji and others scramble to live through the life and death gambles that are set up. Kaiji is protrayed as a fallen hero. He’s the main character that does well when thinking critically. (Some of the stuff he notices just surprises me. I wouldn’t pick that up at all!) But he and a lot of other characters cry a damn lot. As informed by an Anonymous on /a/, the crying is to show that despite Kaiji’s toughness and what not the crying is to remind the viewer that he is weak-willed, which he is.
In all honesty I found the first episode kinda boring. I even complained about it on /a/ but then I’ve actually been making appreciation threads for it now. It’s a good suspenseful show about gambling. Not just regular gambling. Brick shitting gambling filled with violence that can cost you your life! Although, each arc kinda stays longer than it should and things kinda drag on while they could have been explained easier. It’s all to build tension and it works. I like the interesting narration, which helps to build tension as well. The narrator says stuff like, “As Kaiji trudges through the mud he sinks deeper and deeper in fear.” Or something like that and then they’d show him actually doing that. I thought that kind of imagery to explain the various emotions and situations was neat. The only real time I wanted the show to move on was the first arc, which seemed to just drag on for a long while.
Kaiji is also full of a lot of hard truths about life and how humans act which makes me uneasy because I don’t want to think about it. Kaiji is definitely a show that paints a picture of that side of reality. That money makes the world go round. Only the top people are in control and we’re just trash trying to get by. Mankind is just walking a straight path alone, and all they can really depend on is themselves no matter how well they get to know each other. Feelings like trust and friendship have no meaning and can easily be broken especially when money is involved. It’s also has some harsh criticism about those that haven’t worked to better their lives and just get themselves into a slump like Kaiji. “They live meaningless lives. They waste their precious days over nothing. No matter how old they get, they’ll continue to say, My real life hasn’t started yet. The real me is still asleep, so that’s why my life is such garbage. They continue to tell themselves that. And they age. Then die. And on their deathbeds, they will finally realize. The life they lived was the real thing.”
So, in some kind of weird way the guys who are setting up this gambles are also trying to enlighten these guys that are putting their lives on the line. I really don’t look to much into this though since they’re all pretty much a bunch of arrogant bastards that really don’t care about them either way. Especially the chairman. Wow. If you’ve heard the phrase, “You can’t bullshit and bullshiter.” you’d apply it to that guy. The way Kaiji ends was absolutely brick shitting and had me on the edge of my seat. Would Kaiji win or lose? He has to win because he’s the main character! He has to put that guy in his place! I’m not going to spoil it because it was pretty damn awesome.
Kaiji so needs a season 2! I would recommend Kaiji to anyone. Are you up to some gambling?
Wow, this OVA was absolutely excellent. I couldn’t even believe I was watching something associated with the Clannad story. If the entirety of the Clannad TV series had the level of atmosphere, emotion, story, and direction this episode did I think I would have came out of Clannad enjoying it a lot more. Maybe this is a taste of what is to be expected in the After Story? I cried during the last few scenes between Tomoya and Tomoyo on the snowy road. It was very touching. It didn’t even feel like 27 minutes went by at all. Very enjoyable.
Blargh. To quote an Anonymous on /a/ about this episode, “It was like a Gainax mindfuck episode, except less DEEP and more DERP.” which really sums up the episode entirely. Who was I to think that Code Geass R2 would get any better? This episode was shit. I don’t care how much you want to sugar coat it with DEEP discussion or finding somewhat interesting things to talk about in the episode. It was jumbled and hard to follow at times. It made me wonder if I had missed an episode or not. It’s like you have episode 14, then this weird one, and then 16 which seems to continue from 14. Episode 15 just feels out of place at this current point.
I don’t normally pay attention to background music unless it’s awesome (like in Kaiji) or shitty, and the background music in this episode was rather annoying or maybe it didn’t seem to fit some of the scenes that were going on.
Definitely enjoyed the less trippy areas of the episode more than the ones about C.C and Lelouch. I have a feeling either Ougi is going to lose his memory or Villeta will again, but I dunno. C.C reverted back to being a kid again or something so now she actually seems kinda appealing to me being all shy, scared and what not.
I’ve just given up hope regarding R2. It’s never going to return to form. It’s never going to be like season 1 again. It’s never going to get any better because this is already episode 15. I have been so let down. R2 is such a downgrade from season 1. Sure season 1 wasn’t awesome but I at least had fun watching it and it was enjoyable. I didn’t start watching season one until at least episode 13 was out. If it wasn’t that enjoyable I wouldn’t have marathoned all those current episodes, and just dropped the series all together. The target audience for R2 (children) is really starting to show. I want to drop R2 but I want to at least see it to the end. Damn it. Well, back to Kaiji because that is awesome!
Two days. That’s all it took for me to finish this 26 episode show. I’ve seen other shows where I could watch a lot of episodes in succession but I think with this watch I was really, really interested in how it would turn out in each episode which doesn’t happen very often with shows I watch.
Planetes has great animation lacking that ever so popular bright colors and cute character designs. Great character development which I think is it’s strongest point. Most of the show takes place in space but I think it really could take place anywhere. Through a good portion of the show before the major events of the show started to occur I was thinking about how I could see something like this happening in everyday life. You have this guy, Hachi, who is really good at his job, and meets a girl who just joins. They eventually start dating but after a while Hachi just wants to push himself more after he starts to learn more about himself. For some reason the image of a young guy working at a fast food restaurant came to mind here.
The first few episodes were all slice of life like and were all in good fun for a while, and things honestly don’t get more serious until at least episode 13. I think without those slice of life like episodes I wouldn’t have grown to love the characters as much as I did in the second half. The characters are absolutely lovable. Well, the guys of the debris section are at least. Overall it’s really awesome to see how the characters grow from episode 1 to 26. Some characters I agree with and others I don’t. I definitely loved Tanabe and Hachimaki the most. I loved seeing the two of them grow throughout the show. I also liked the minor characters a lot too. The chief and assistant were pretty funny for your average joe looking minor characters.
Actions of some of the characters (and those you never really see) really got me pissed off towards the end. The thing about this show is there is no clear cut good and bad. I’m against the actions of the terrorists in this show and I don’t agree with their aims and what they try to do to fulfill those but then the third world countries aren’t benefiting because of the first world countries just moving right on ahead making these less fortunate places go into civil war because they can’t compete. This really just brought back all those feelings I have that are anti war, and my hatred of big corporations and secret dealings just raise to the surface. I really got teary eyes here and there. I just couldn’t understand how these terrorists could kill innocent people. Thinking that by killing others who had nothing to do with the starvation and death happening in the third world countries it would some how make things right. A lot of the themes and ideas in Planetes really deal with things that are going on in the world today, and that hit home.
This was definitely a great watch for me. I loved it. If you’re sick of the current trend of anime. Want something interesting themes, ideas or realism. Tired of bright colors and cute designs or want something with strong character development I would say try this show out. Now, I need to get the manga.
YES! You are the greatest female I’ve seen in anime in a while! I’m not sure what it is but I like Ai Tanabe’s earnestness, kindness, willingness to help others and bright personality. It’s a little funny how she finds that love can conquer all problems which is probably a pun off her name Ai = love. Anime needs more strong female leads, but not snobby instead very down to earth. Loved Tanabe-san since episode one and am enjoying things even more now that she and Hachimaki are an item. Sooooo cute. I am such a sap for romance. Honestly, the space setting is just a setting for this romance story, and I am aware of the various themes that seem to crop up but I’m a little disinterested since they’re like, honestly, a said in passing thing. I think Planetes strongest point is its awesome character development. It’s such a character driven anime. Started watching this yesterday and I’m already on episode 15. Planetes is a very good show!
Lately, as I’ve written before I just cannot seem to enjoy anime as I have been in the past year and a half. I’ve been told to just lay off it for a few weeks or months, but I just haven’t listened because I am still a little stubborn like that. This feeling isn’t anything new because I went through a similar issue back when I was first entering college. It was a transition from high school to college life. I was battling feelings like maybe I need to stop watching anime because I’m in college now or anime is just for kids I need to stop watching it. Kind of feelings. Eventually I grew out of those kinds of feelings only to enjoy anime in a new way.
Hm, SZS Preface wasn’t too bad. Hell, I enjoyed it for a Shaft made episode. Interesting how Shaft just kinda has blank stuff in the background to save budget only to use it towards scenes that matter. The humor was pretty bizzare but I’m pretty much up for anything nowadays since anime is starting to bore me. Well, at least the genres I’m familiar with. Hopefully it keeps this level of entertainment for the rest of the series.
Ok, so it only took Code Geass R2 14 episodes to start getting good. This episode really gave me my fill of much needed action after so much bullshit talking, insignificant battles, bullshit drama, and lol slice of life. It was pretty much pure action where Lelouch and the Order just massacre the Geass cult. It’s just awesome to see C.C look at people that she knew only to see them shot dead instantly. Very awesome. I was really hoping that Lelouch would have had the chance to use the bomb he strapped onto Rolo’s Knightmare during the battle with V.V. I wanted to see Rolo go KABOOM! Later we find out how Suzaku was able to do all the awesome stuff he did. He was taking drugs and now he wants to give some to Kallen to date rape her. Suzaku is so cool. Episode 15 doesn’t look as good as this one was but I have a feeling more plot points will be answered.
