A double feature for today, for two shows that could not be more different from one another.

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Mike: While I really enjoyed many parts of Kurozuka, I think you definitely got into it more than I did. At least until the end, I was more or less watching it like an action show.

There really were only two fundamental questions on my mind:
1.) What is Kuromitsu really up to?
2.) What’s going to happen when Kuro finally faces the Red Emperor?

#1 is more or less answered.
#2 is what’s so confusing.

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A few days ago, I finished watching Kannagi. And I think I’m going to be the minority here and defend the relatively serious concluding episodes.

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(Among the fucking annoying construction noises of some damned skyscraper right outside of my apartment for the sake of some rich fucker’s gay union with the corrupted government - something of something straight out of ’80s Tokyo I bring you this review from Taipei, Taiwan, the ass end of the earth. Bleeding from my ears as I write this.)

I’m sure many of us cried a tear of regret as we tossed our coke cans away (not the small bag, the can!, the can!) However, as I watched this show last night drinking beer, the first thought (unfortunately yes, the first) was that a fat dude with glasses, not unlike myself in many aspects, was living in my Kirin beer can. The rather ugly thought made me pause for a moment as my hand stayed inches away from what’s in my dictionary, the water of life. I withdrew my hand and cringed at the though of kissing some nasty jiisan who was licking his lips waiting for my carbon dioxide (definitely not every yao/BL fan girl’s dream, I’m sure). Nonetheless, Disgusted with the concept, I still watched and drank. I really did like Kitamura Eri-like voice of the main girl, and the main guy at least had enough sense - cynical ones, approved by me, the Demon King of Cynicism - to poke, experiment with glee, and even molest what he thought was his imagination; Hey, after all, delusion, not unlike in Chaos; Head, can really be fucked with (sometimes with your girlfriends, Rosy Palm and Thumberina).
But of course, the somewhat slapstick humor quickly came to an end and the usual caring and passionate confession from the protagonist came, despite my fervent prayers.

“Well, I don’t know but I can’t help and care about you!”
Or some shit like that. It’s all the same!

So I mean, yeah, with all the cynicism aside, it’s a concept, and yes, as painfully as I have to admit, a revolutionary concept for a boy-meets-magical girlfriend show. However, what was funny was the director, who was so blatantly gay but not the BL kind. The unique mix of the director’s blunt-force trauma-like gay behavior and the odd concept straight out of a single, lonely can-mania’s head (I guess) makes this a unique harem show (or not). I mean, with Melon as concubine number 1 and the gay director as number 2, I’m certainly looking forward for the rest of them to show up in surprising ways!

As if.

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First review of the year! Akiyuki Shinbo strikes again–or does he?

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This is dounjin? It most certainly is! The simple, almost flat (not in chest size - don’t go there) character drawings not to mention personalities and not so impressive plot (but that’s all right) smell like doujin, which is all right if it gives me what I want…uh, don’t ask, you don’t wanna know (read: BOOBS)… But here’s something I would like to get cleared before asking the in depth questions of how they got the funding to get big names in seiyuu-dom to voice act -

WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THAT BOOMERANG STUCK IN HER HEAD??? Did some Maoi tried to hunt her down and struck her with a boomerang and left her as she was??? I mean, OK, I guess she’s a fairy or something…Like I don’t know, a boomerang fairy??? Do they have that in Japan?

OK, now I got that out of my chest, let’s consider some serious questions. First, I would like to know how they got Kikuko-sama, Rierie, Sawashiro Miyuki, Nakahara Mai and a couple others on board? Is this production so interesting and so great?

Aside from a bunch of lolis that I read are few hundred years old? Nothing. Again, the background is pretty good, but with CG that’s not incredibly difficult for people who do it a lot, but the characters are flat. I don’t wanna say it but even the seiyuu’s actings were a little flat, except Rierie, who always manage to do maid characters well, and Kikuko-sama, who makes a great story-telling oneesan. But most of all…

Damn, the drawing is bad. But hey, this is doujinshi group so that’s to be expected. I’m just shocked that professional, big name seiyuus would bother with this. How much did this doujin group pay them, or, how did they get the money for it?

But you know, if I were in a doujin group, this would be a dream come true. Can you imagine if the Genshiken manga/anime continued with the plot that somehow they made enough money to hire professional seiyuu? I guess that didn’t happen because nobody though that was possible in real world, which Genshiken was a fictional reflection of…

Well, Touhou did it. I just wish the animation was better. At least their dream came true, but their animation and character design really must improve. It really looked like they put everything into the background creation but skimped out on character designs. One word, FLAT. And this time I mean that kind of flat as well as the 2D like aspect of the drawings.

I’ll watch more of it for the seiyuus, maybe.

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This fifth installment of the ‘12 moments’ series is about True Tears, which was the best show of last winter amid some rather lackluster selections. True Tears was not always the most realistic or the most well-plotted of series, but it did have good animation and took its characters seriously enough to make them more interesting than not.

One of the best parts of the show’s conclusion was the last song Shinichiro sings as he bids Noe farewell. The breakup between the two was one of the strongest parts of the entire series, because it managed to strike a good balance between the recognition that Noe had changed his life for the better and the knowledge that he really loves someone else. The show was notable for its animal analogies–roaches, chickens, among others–and at first glance they should have been too hokey to work. That they did to an extent is a testament to the relative strength of the characters.

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Season 1 of Toradora concludes with a simple, yet affecting portrayal of friendship–which encapsulates all that has gone right with a show that I never expected to be so good.

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As I have a much larger article to write tonight I’ll keep this one short and sweet.

The 3rd moment is a memorable, cleverly written scene from episode 3 of the slice of life/action/loli dramedy Kure-nai–the three way conversation between Shinkurou, Murasaki, and Yuuno. The rapid-fire, back and forth conversation was, if anything, reminiscent of a sharply written stage play or a Woody Allen film. Witty dialogue isn’t much heard in anime and it was one of the things that made the show, whatever its flaws, one of the notable shows of the spring season.

The 4th moment is really, in some ways, a holdover from the most notorious show of 2007–it’s the final scene of the School Days: Magical Heart Kokoro Chan OVA. It is, in many ways, a fitting tribute and acknowledgment of the biggest anime meme of the previous year, though arguably the moment the creators themselves do it is the moment when it loses its cachet. This wasn’t as immediate as the Nice Boat reference in last fall’s ef-a tale of memories, but it’s an example of humorous fan-pandering.

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Of course everyone makes up and kiss up (blood sucking, nevertheless), but of course, another happy ending in Otaku season (catering to Japanese and some Asian Otaku - remember, unlike American ones, Asian Otaku don’t like sad endings and rather not be cynical) Ready? OK! Here it goes -

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