Blood-C Episode 12: The Transcription of an Aborted Death Metal Concept Album

Words cannot express just how batty nuggets this last episode got in terms of plot and character derailment. Actually, they can, which is why I’m writing this post. In this final twelfth episode, Blood-C has finally thrown its pitiful story to the dogs, instead opting for filling the finale with twenty-something minutes of creative dismemberment and well choreographed fight scenes. What’s sad is even when playing to the show’s only strength, it still comes across as a lackluster effort, the result of a team fed up with the cold reception that their vision has gotten.

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Kamisama Dolls Episode 13: Hollow Feelings and Mixed Reactions

Kamisama Dolls is a series that lays down several expectations for the audience to have, and meets none of them. This is no more conspicuous than it is in the final episode of the first season (A second season was hinted at with a rather horribly worded English epilogue), and that leaves expectations for that season bone dry. It’s made increasingly clear why a second season would be a necessity to really enjoy this show: It just had too much to cram into a 13 episode run for its own good. Anyway, expectations were somewhat high for this show, which is why the fact that it couldn’t resolve itself very well in 13 episodes hangs thick in the air.

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Hanasaku Iroha: More Satsuki, and It Would’ve Been Perfect

With each of the five big carryover shows from the spring season either ending or have ended already, I feel it’s time to take a look back at the three that I could blog and do a nice, somewhat succinct review, since my writing still isn’t back up to par yet. However, with Nichijou being a slice of life comedy and thus impossible for me to sum up with anything other than “It had its moments, but the charm far outweighed the comedy factor” and me being more than a week late for a timely Tiger & Bunny review (Will get to at some point though), I’m stuck reviewing Hanasaku Iroha. Make no mistake though, it’s not as much of a chore as I’m making it out to be.

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Blood-C Episode 11: Exposition Gone Wrong, and a Continuously Ineffectual Protagonist

Exposition is a necessary evil in a story. While some shows can get away with implying that certain things happen (ala Penguindrum), they’re often very grounded and well developed before they can get away with such things. Foreshadowing is a necessity if you’re going to go this route, which is why it’s essential to build up a strong setting before you can have the audience draw their own conclusions.

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Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 11: The Hunter, the Hunted, and the Utterly Deranged

Well this post is going to be a disappointment. Not the content or the lack thereof, mind you, but I had the most brilliant post idea and I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. So in lieu of that transcendental, life changing post that I’m sure would’ve garnered attention far and wide for how well written, poignant, and insightful it was, here’s a bit on the two huntresses that are making the Takakura brothers run in circles for their sick whims.

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Kamisama Dolls Episode 12: Where in the World is Aki Kuga?

For once, I didn’t have anything to complain about when it comes to the content of Kamisama Dolls. Yeah, it wasn’t great, but as far as penultimate episodes go, it did most everything right. Well, almost everything, but we’ll get to that glaring “almost” later. For once, here are the positives!

Throughout the episode, Kamisama Dolls never let up for the sake of second rate melodrama, like it did in the very special flashback episode. There was no villain who was evil just for the sake of being evil, no teacher who was victimized just because somebody had to be, and no stupid child blindness.

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Ikoku Meiro no Croisee Full Review: Cute, Insubstantial, and Just a Little Drunk

This post brought to you by distilled moe

At times a show will just grab you at the hip, pull you close for one hell of a tango, and let you go only when you begin clamoring for more. These are the shows that make the most impact on you, the likes of Serial Experiments Lain, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and for me, Aria the Animation/Natural/Origination. So after reading the first two chapters of the manga and watching the entirety of this, I can comfortably say that Ikoku Meiro no Croisee does not belong in this category at all. Rather than giving the tango of a lifetime, it lethargically has the audience lead, dragging its feet while begging for a brief reprieve so it can look at itself in the mirror.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee is the newest slice of life series to grace the fruitful realm of manga-to-anime adaptations, centering on a young Japanese girl and her move to Paris to experience the culture. She moves in with Oscar and Claude, a lecherous old man and a blacksmith respectively, who help carry the struggling shopping district that they inhabit through means of sign making and drinking copious amounts of wine.

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Blood-C Episode 10: Another Glitch in the Matrix, and the Return of the Creepy Twins

"Come play with us, Saya. Forever and ever and ever..."

So Saya finally realizes that something isn’t quite right with her world. You’d think this revelation would cast the entire show in a different light, but somehow explaining away everyone dying mysteriously, coupled with contrived circumstances that keep her from thinking about what’s fishy around her, only makes it less entertaining the more it goes on. With E Minor having nothing to write about it, surely a sign of sparse content, I took it as an ominous sign that finding something to post here would be an endeavor worthy of the greatest of intellectuals, which I most definitely am not by any means.

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Steins;Gate Full Review: Operation Skuld Successful

One of the most talked about anime of the year ended this past week, in case there’s a small portion of you who didn’t pay attention. No, it isn’t Usagi Drop or No. 6, especially since they both really weren’t talked about much beyond being called cute and gay respectively. With its dark, relatively limited pallet, quirky characters, and time travel plot, this anime has gained the attention of many of those following the past two anime seasons. That anime is, if the title is as much an indication as I intended, Steins;Gate.

What started as a strange, oddly slice of life-like scifi series centering on a college student “Mad Scientisto” named Okabe Rintarou and his crew of eccentric friends and associates quickly took a turn for the dramatic with the introduction of a means to send thoughts to the past, which caught the eye of evil research organization SERN. Since that point, Steins;Gate really grabbed the aniblogosphere and proceeded to hold on for dear life. And by that, I mean it was really fucking awesome, leading up to a suspenseful, surprisingly satisfying finale.

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Usagi Drop Full Review: Jump Rope and Loose Teeth Make for Surprisingly Compelling Plots

Usagi Drop seems to be the darling of the season, beloved by all who have watched. I mean hell, it got me not wanting to rip out pop group Puffy’s vocal chords for a minute and a half each episode, so you know it’s done something right. Usagi Drop is this year’s main example of distilled joy, something that doesn’t aim to be high art, yet resonates with anybody who’s had to deal with children before. While it doesn’t opt for total realism in an attempt to keep its mostly saccharine portrayal a complete delight to watch, there are more than a few points about parenthood that strike close to home. Yet it never gets too heavy for the audience, retaining a lightness of tone that’s difficult to shake off.

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