It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 44, and Sakura watches Yukito compete in a archery tournament. However, Kero fears that the catastrophe that will befall the world may be soon at hand.

Oh boy, here we go. The last of the Clow Cards and the last, and arguably most powerful and dangerous of the elemental cards: The Earthy Card. Except this episode ends in a cliffhanger (the first of the series, I think) as we have to wait until next week to see how Sakura and Shaoran actually deal with Earthy. I’m sure Sakura wishes Glow was the last Clow Card, or something, though.

The reason Kero came along with Sakura, other than the fact that there was only one Clow Card left, is the fact that Sakura had her dream with, presumably, Yue in it. The only time Sakura has had a dream where someone new appeared is when she finally meets that person. If she’s now having a dream about Yue, Kero probably suspects that she will be meeting him very soon, and it doesn’t look like it’s a prospect he’s looking forward to.

Kero seemed to possibly suspect that Ms. Mizuki was Yue, but the fact that Yue appeared to be separate from Ms. Mizuki in Sakura’s dream, and she said she had “other duties,” seems to indicate that this probably isn’t the case.

It’s also curious about how Toya said that there are no coincidences, only necessity, especially after Yukito remarked that it was a coincidence that he was there working. That strongly suggests (if it wasn’t already somewhat clear) that Toya working wherever Sakura happens to be hanging out isn’t merely a wild set of coincidences.

Cards Captured: none
Card Count: 51

I’m not watching this show, though it seems like it sounds better than it’s description made it out to be at the start of the season, so I may catch it eventually.

It’s Angel Beats episode 9, and Otonashi waits in the hospital wing for Kanade to awake. In the meantime, he has another flashback to the train wreck, where he does his best to help the other survivors, but end sup dying himself just before help arrives. When he wakes up, the now awake Kanade reveals the truth about where he is to him.

This episode really launches us into what appears to be the final and climatical arc of the show. We see the rest of Otonashi’s memories and, with information from Kanade, can pretty much conclude the following:

1) Suicide is, at the very least, not the exclusive way to appear in this place. When I saw that there was more to see about Otonashi, I thought we might find out that he either killed himself, or at least sacrificed himself. Neither really happened (at least directly), so that, along with Kanade’s comments that people are here because they had a “troubled youth” pretty much puts a dagger into the heart of the suicide theory. I still think some people might have done it, though it makes Yuri’s statement that no one committed suicide as being more plausible. Otonashi is the first person from whom we find out how they actually died, though.

2) I believe that they truly are dead. I think this episode effectively ended the “matrix theory.” While it was still plausible, even after we saw Otonashi die, since I’m sure someone would argue “but! They could have thrown him into the machine after that!,” I think the fact that Kanade assumed that Otonashi had donated his organs would highly suggest that he is, in fact, dead. (though I guess some people could argue that even she might be unaware that she’s plugged in, but I think Occam’s Razor is pretty much pointing to the “they’re dead, Jim” theory)

Of course, the third conclusion we can draw is that it was Kanade’s mission all along to try to help everyone to live without any regrets, though I think people had pretty much already figured that one out a while ago.

I was also right from my thoughts a couple episodes back that Otonashi would probably lose his regrets by helping the other members of the battlefront lose theirs, and now he’s basically acting as a double agent for Angel within the Battlefront. The problem Otonashi has is that Yuri isn’t stupid. She almost certainly knows that someone revealed their plot to frame Kanade, and she almost certainly has figured out that the one person with both the knowledge and motive is Otonashi.

As Otonashi stated at the end of the episode, he’s going to need to find out the pasts of the other Battlefront members to figure out the best way for them to lose their regrets. However, I think the toughest nut to crack is going to be Yuri. Otonashi may ultimately need to have Yuri believe that she is a successful leader and defender of the battlefront. That’s going to be hard to do if she starts having members disappear left and right. I think the logical step would be to try to get Yuri to disappear first, but I doubt that’s where the show is going to go. Maybe they can get some of the other members to disappear, and then have a “final battle” between Yuri and Kanade, where it appears Yuri has won (but which is actually staged by Kanade and Otonashi).

If there is one question that I’m still truly unsure of, it’s this: what, exactly, is Kanade? Originally we thought she was some Angel, then, during the exam episode, I was leaning towards believing that Kanade was a soul from a human who had died, like everyone else, but now I’m again unsure of that. Though I’m not sure what she really is if she’s not that. It could just be that she’s been there so long helping people that she’s figured everything out, or has been given knowledge about where they are by virtue of being the President. If she is a human soul like everyone else, what are the chances that she, and not Yuri, will end up having the worst memory of all?

I think that episode nine of Angel Beats! was the series’ strongest in a while. What humour was there was fantastic, the drama was good and a key character’s backstory got the attention it deserved. A clear direction for the rest of the show’s run was also forged, and it looks like we’re in for a fantastic last few episodes because of it.

Otonashi’s backstory played a large role in this episode, and I was surprised at the similarities between it and William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies. They appeared to such an extent that I’m wondering if the backstory was a bit of an homage. Thinking of it as such, the train crash in Angel Beats! is equivalent to the plane crash in LoTF and the general setting of the train tracks is like the deserted island. Character-wise, Otonashi seems a lot like Ralph – and, to a lesser extent (because of his knowledge), Piggy. Of course, there was a twist as there was your typical Key melodrama mixed in, with Otonashi inspiring everyone and then dying just as the others were saved. The big difference between this episode and LoTF, though, was that Otonashi successfully led the group – with all but him and one other surviving, and order being kept – and faced no real opposition.

I felt as though the sole purpose of the backstory was, naturally, to flesh out Otonashi’s character, and I believe that was done well. Here, we saw him as compassionate and an excellent leader; I think this is foreshadowing the fact that he will be the person to lead everyone out of the afterlife. The events that took place after the reveal of his backstory seem to confirm this too.

After recovering his pre-death memories, a shifting of goals for Otonashi took place: he switched from the goal in his past life (to save lives as a doctor) to the new objective of making everyone in the afterlife-world happy, so they can transition out of it together. Because of this new aim, Otonashi and Kanade now share an ideal and will work together, and I really love that. Yuri is, essentially, the enemy right now – which should prove to be extremely interesting – because she opposes this ideal. I’m also curious to see what his new creed means for Otonashi’s relationship with the other SSS members; he’s pretty much a double agent now and I’m unsure of how they’ll react when they, and particularly Yuri, inevitably discover this. In any case, there’s a clear direction for the plot to go in now and I’m very glad for that – I think the series will be less chaotic now. It also seems as though we’re set to discover much more about the characters’ pasts and that’s something that I’m eagerly awaiting too.

Finally, Kanade and Otonashi’s relationship seems to be developing quickly and the fact that they’re working together now should continue this trend. I’m pegging them as the couple that will come out of this series. On the topic of this, I have to say that I’m impressed by the show’s treatment of their relationship: usually, romance in series geared towards male viewers (and especially those with moe under/overtones) tends towards either the madly-in-love pair who can’t stand to be apart or the HAREM END side of things. Angel Beats! isn’t doing either and also isn’t sacrificing the characterisation it’s built up for Kanade or Otonashi to accommodate their possibly-budding love, and it has to be commended for that. In any case, I’m very interested to see how things go on this front and on many more; Angel Beats! is once again something I’m very happy to be following.

A water main breaks in front of Wagnaria, so they have to take the next day off. Everyone decides to go to a hot spring together to have fun. Souta is concerned about Inami going, and decides to go to watch over her after Nazuna kindly does his chores for him.

This is rather unique in anime: a hot spring episode without a hot spring, and where they spend time actually building up characters rather than having everyone hang out naked all episode long.

Souta and Inami’s relationship is still, understandably, rather awkward, with Inami wanting to be treated as normal, but Souta not really being able to because of her condition, though he still tries his best. While neither of them would admit to it, I’d say that what they did in this episode would pretty much qualify as a date. I mean, who else is willing to put his face on the line to protect other innocent men from Inami?

And while Inami may still be punching Souta 3 or 4 times a day, I think it’s just from them being able to hang out closer than they used to. At the start of the series, if Souta was as close to Inami as he was for most of this episode, he probably wouldn’t have a bone that wasn’t broken in his body by the end of the episode.

There were a couple hints about the Jun/Yachiyo relationship, though they’re still kind of in the “too awkward to even hang out” phase. I’m amazed that Yachiyo was willing to go onto the hot springs while leaving Kyouko behind. Maybe this is the first sign of a break in Yachiyo’s absolute devotion to her?

I’d say that this episode was less funny and more plot, though there were still some funny moments. I had to laugh at Inami doing her best to not punch Jun, though it ended up being Yachiyo that caused them to nearly almost wreck. Then Souta caught Inami with his claw hand to keep her from taking out an innocent guy who accidentally bumped her.

Aoi, meanwhile, was just kind of annoying. It’s like they kept having her pop up to remind everyone that she was actually there. But I’m not sure she really did anything. Poplar didn’t do much either (once again) other than come up with the idea to go to the hot spring in the first place, but after that, she was kind of lost as is per the usual.

I still find it rather odd to have Poplar showcased as the lead female, only to have the shoe, effectively, be about someone else (Inami). I don’t think it makes the show bad, it’s just…odd.

P.S. Nazuna is quickly becoming one of my favoriate characters.

As you might have guessed by the title, yesterday marked the start of my match in the second round of the Aniblog Tournament. You may have also guessed that this post is the type of post that at some point, maybe after trying a bit of bribery or trash-talking or arguing for my superior worth, I’ll ask people to please go here to vote for The null set. And you’d be right on both accounts, but I’ll try to keep this interesting for you nonetheless.

Three Reasons Why You Should Vote For The Null Set

1.   I Have a Cute Nephew

And I have the pictures to prove it:

If that’s not a good enough reason to vote for me, I don’t know what is.

2.   I’m From Youngstown and I Know People

Sure some cities have nice sounding nicknames like ‘The City of Brotherly Love’ or ‘The Big Apple’ but my hometown has cooler sounding nicknames:  ‘Mob Town, USA’ and more recently ‘Murder Town, USA’. And don’t think these nicknames are misnomers, in the 90’s, for instance, Youngstown had the highest per capita homicide rate in America for many of the individual years of the 1990’s and we were either #2 or #3 all the other years.

3.   I’m Part Elven

If J.R.R. Tolkien is right about how elves develop a yearning for the sea the first time they get near it then it’s conceivable that I’m part elven because I seem drawn to it. Look how often it’s come up on my blog, here and here and here. In two months I’m going on a week long vacation at a beach house and that’s in addition to the beach trip I just went on (found a bunch of nice sea glass) and another trip sometime in June. Here’s some new pictures I took on the most recent visit.

Isn’t my blog the most awesome, so go here and vote for The null set now.

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Okay, so this list wasn’t a serious one, though, everything said about me true. I do have a cute nephew and I’m proud of being from Youngstown and I do enjoy going to the beach. I included being from Youngstown because it is an important part of who I am. If you look past the nicknames and the murder rate and the inability to park your car on the street because sooner-or-later someone will break the windows in – I still think of it as a great place to live, it’s got the second largest urban park in America behind Central Park in New York City; the people are by and large good, hard-working people; and I’m optimistic the worst of it has past and the future will be a better one for Youngstown.

Now for the serious list as to why I think people should vote for The null set.

Three Reasons Why You Should Vote For The Null Set

1.   Unique Philosophy to The Null Set

I wanted The null set to be a successful anime blog and not wither away after a few short months. To do this, I needed to find something that would separate this blog from other blogs and I needed to believe that whatever this blog did, it had some importance to my potential readers.

What I eventually came up with as The null set’s mission is to get people to watch good anime, even if that means trying something they normally wouldn’t and to steer people away from wasting their time with bad anime. This influences everything I do, even if it’s not apparent. I normally write my anime posts as if the audience reading them has not seen the anime in question which means including as few spoilers as possible, among other things. The types of anime posts I write mainly – impression posts of new anime, series reviews, season previews, and seasonal/yearly anime awards – are designed with this mission in mind. I’d rather have people spending time watching good anime then spending time reading what I have to say about good and bad anime.

2.   Wider Variety of Content

I have only the highest respect for episodic blogs and their ability to cover the same shows week in and week out; I’d probably burn out quickly if I tried. I think the format, however, is very constricting and it would limit the quality of my blog since many of my most read posts and the posts I’m most proud about wouldn’t fit into that format.

For example, there was my rebuttal to Mr. Sherman, president of Bang Zoom, about the impending death of anime in America and from a couple of years ago, my two-part (1, 2) rebuttal to the “documentary” that Otaking put out. There’s also this post where I used the licensing patterns of the anime from 2008 to show that instead of blaming fansubs, maybe studio execs should be looking at the shows they license; the post still holds up well though there’s been some more licensing of 2008 anime shows since I wrote it back in November.

From time-to-time I like to pit two series or two characters against each other to see who would win. The most read one remains the Haruhi vs. Gurren Lagann one I did back in 2008 but the one I had the most fun putting together was the Haruka Minami vs. Ibuki Ikaruga battle because I was surprised by the winner.

I also enjoy dabbling with Photoshop because it exercises my creative side a different way then writing does. The result is often posting wallpapers that I’ve made. The Soul Eater ones (1, 2, 3) have been the most popular; my Toradora ones actually got linked to by a Japanese anime blog which I thought was great. My favorite wallpaper was one I did for Bakemonogatari that splices Araragi and Mayoi onto a picture I took while on vacation at Washington D.C.. I also once tried out vector tracing using Muraski from Kure-nai. And I also sometimes take the time to stitch together those pan-up shots the animators do of a really awesome outfit/character. The latest was one I did the other day after watching episode 5 of Katanagatari and I might as well share it with you know as thanks for reading this far down.

There’s also those posts that are hard to categorize except to say that something about the anime I was watching or manga I was reading at that time interested me and I wanted to share. There was a recent post about fixing a joke I read in the Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei manga, there’s this post where I mention anime songs that make me cry, the post about how animators seem fascinated with the night sky, a post about how anime needs more mature characters, and the post where I talk about When an Anime Becomes a Keeper.

3.   Winning Would Do The Most Good For The Anime Blogosphere

I struggled with how to word this one without sounding presumptuous and I still don’t think I quite got it right. I’m not saying that my anime blog is super important or even more important than my opponent, Bokutachi no Blog, but the feedback I received during the first round and pressure to make my blog competitive for the second round pushed me to improve The null set and winning in this round will push me even harder to improve the quality of The null set to make it competitive for the next round. I have several ideas that I think would make very interesting posts which have been kicking around in my brain for a while now, waiting for a good time to get written, and trying to win in the third round would be a very good reason to get them written. I’m even thinking about bring back my weekly anime review.

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So, hopefully, something I said has convinced you to go here and vote for The null set in the Aniblog Tournament; I’m currently behind by a little bit but with your help, I might just win.

Yes We Can! With your help The null set can win.

I wasn’t going to try the bribery route but I just had an idea that attempts to bribe while still keeping within the parameters of running The null set like normal. If I win my second round match-up, I’ll watch and write a series review of any one randomly selected anime (up to say 40 episodes in length) picked from a list generated of people leaving a comment at this post saying that they voted for me and the name of the anime they’d like me to review. Of course, I can’t verify if the winning person did, in fact, vote for me but I’m willing to trust in my readers. And  no matter the legitimacy of the comment, I’ll still be reviewing a show I haven’t done yet and I’ll only do it when I win so it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Filed under: anime, general anime interst, meta/office keeping, other wallpapers and pictures

As usual, if you see me criticizing something about your blog, it’s nothing personal.  I tend to tear apart people’s websites when I do comparisons such as this, so just keep that in mind.  If you want my input about about the three categories I’m using, read the first page of this post.

Aniblog Tournament | HTML Bracket

[Personal Comment]: Oh yeah, and don’t forget to vote for me in the AniBlog tournament.  Today is the last day to do so! [/Personal Comment]

This group of reviews might be kind of short, cause I don’t have much time to write them up. Sorry.

Round 2, Day 15

Vote Here

Match 29 – #6 blogSuki vs. #59 Unmei Kaihen

Design: I’m not really one for blogSuki’s design.  I think they pull off the one-post-per-page thing as well as anyone can hope to, but it’s annoying to have to click to see each and every article.  Also, no category list. Search is at the bottom.  It’s laid out nice, but there are just some other things about it I don’t like.  Unmei Kaihen is on wordpress, so I can’t say too much about it, but there is nothing particularly wrong about it.  I don’t think it’d be enough to keep me from voting for it, if it came down to it, but I just don’t like the one-post-per-page thing blogSuki does.  Winner: Unmei Kaihen

Post Style/Rate: Neither site has a problem with post rate.  I like how blogSuki does the full-width image thing, but they have some IPIP going on as well.  I think Unmei Kaihen paces out his images a lot better. Winner: Unmei Kaihen

Content: I think this is a close call.  They both write good entertaining posts.  I might give the slight edge to blogSuki, though. Winner: blogSuki

Overall: I think how blogSuki does their blog, some of the weaknesses pointed out in the design and post style sections are minimized to a great extent, and I kind of feel like just ignoring those two sections because of that, which would give it to blogSuki by a nose on content.

Winner: blogSuki

Match 30 – #27 Bokutachi no Blog vs. #38 The null set

Design: Both use wordpress, so there is only so much I can say.  I guess I thought that Bokutachi’s sidebar was a little less cluttered, so I’ll go with them.  Winner: Bokutachi no Blog

Post Style/Rate: Bokutachi doesn’t have a problem with post rate.  The null set, however, does seem to. They have 7 posts in May, but they only have 4 in April, none in March, and 4 in February.  Bokutachi has some IPIP going on, though.  I like The null set’s post style better, so I think that cancels out the post rate issue. Winner: Push

Content: Bokutachi seems to be all over the place as far as their posting style (even for the same author).  Sometimes it’s a long recap with a paragraph of review. Sometimes it’s seemingly all review. Sometimes it’s something else.  I just kind of think that The null set writes more per post, writes more consistent, and writes slightly better.  Winner: The null set

Overall: Since the first two categories were effectively equal, winner of content wins.

Winner: The null set

Round 2, Day 16

Vote Here

Match 31 – #22 Atarashii Prelude vs. #86 Desu ex Machina

Design: Atarashii Prelude has a pretty good design concept overall, I think, though I’m coming to dislike these “featured content” things at the top, just because they usually don’t actually say or do anything useful most of the time.  Also, category list is awfully low on the page. And can you have more ads, please?  Dexu ex Machina uses a somewhat common theme, however.  Despite that, while I think Atarashii definitely has the better design concept, I think some of the smaller things just started to add up.  Winner: Desu ex Machina

Post Style/Rate: Atarashii only has 6 posts since the start of April which is not very good.  Desu ex Machine doesn’t post a whole lot, but they at least posts more than Atarashii does.  Neither blog has any particular problem with post style, though Desu does seem to do some IPIP in their K-ON posts.    I’m not sure it’s enough to make up for the post rate, though.  Winner: Desu ex Machina

Content: While Atarashii Prelude doesn’t post much, what they do post seems pretty interesting for the most part.  Desu has some interesting stuff, though I think the post more non-anime related posts than I might be happy with.  I think on this one, I’ll give a slight edge to Atarashii. Winner: Atarashii Prelude

Overall: So this is another case of quality of content per post vs. post rate.  I think I liked Atarashii’s content more, and while Desu ex Machina posts more, I don’t know if they post that much more.

Winner: Atarashii Prelude

Match 32 – #11 Anime Diet vs. #75 Anime Princess

Design: Anime Diet definitely has a snazzy design, and unlike some of the other snazzy designs I’ve seen, this one is actually somewhat user friendly (though they do have one of those featured content things).  Anime Princess’s design is OK, but nowhere near Anime Diet’s.  Winner: Anime Diet

Post Style/Rate: Anime Diet has no problem with post rate, while Anime Princess does, posting, I think I counted 11 times since the start of April.  Anime Diet’s posts seem rather sparse on the images, but otherwise seem to be OK.  Anime Princess looks OK too in some posts, so they look like they do some IPIP in some others.  I think overall this section goes to Anime Diet as well.  Winner: Anime Diet

Content: Anime Diet seemed to be rather wordy in their posts, and both blogs seemed to have a somewhat similar level of quality, so I’ll throw this one to Anime Princess by a nose.  Winner: Anime Princess

Overall: I think the win by Anime Princess in content was very narrow, while I think Anime Diet’s win in the other categories were much bigger.  Probably enough to overcome the things I didn’t like about their content.

Winner: Anime Diet

So that wraps up Round 2!

Anime DVDs

May 25, 2010
Air Gear – Box Set
Armored Fleet Dairugger – Collection 2 (S)
Bleach – Volume 28
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Part 1 [DVD & Blu-Ray]
Hell Girl – Box Set
Hell Girl 2: Two Mirrors – Collection 1 (S)
Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Fox – Volume 1
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple – Season 1 Box Set
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple – Season 2 Part 2

Manga

May 25, 2010

Fairy Navigator Runa – Volume 1
Negima! Magister Negi Magi – Volume 26
Stolen Hearts – Volume 2
Teru Teru x Shonen – Volume 7

May 26, 2010

Honey/Chocolate
When the Heavens Smile
Yashakiden: The Demon Princess – Volume 2

May 31, 2010

Big Adventures of Majoko – Volume 4
Black Butler – Volume 2
Black God – Volume 9
Cat Paradise – Volume 4
Kobato – Volume 1
Kobato – Volume 2
Megaman Megamix – Volume 2
Megaman ZX – Volume 1
Ninja Baseball Kyuma – Volume 3
Pandora Hearts – Volume 2
Street Fighter – Volume 6

At first, I didn’t think much of this episode. It seemed too heavy on the drama, too light on the comedy. But it’s in situations like this where blogging a series can really change one’s mind. The more I thought about the episode and as I rewatched it for taking screenshots, I grew to really like it. It certainly got melodramatic at times, but it was still damned funny, and we found out more about Riku’s past, probably more than in any other episode before it.

Somehow, I feel that this final shot is very representative of this episode.

The father-son relationship was at the core of this episode. Of course, it’s sandwiched by scenes involving Riku’s own father. The pre-OP scene, instead of the usual monologue, featured a flashback to Riku’s grade school days. Instead of being another gag featuring the Ichinomiyas’ crazy motto, it showed Riku being damaged by his father in a much more commonplace way: his father’s lack of affection. Like many boys his age, he greatly looked up to his father and wanted to make him proud. And despite his father’s admonishment, this feeling seems to have stayed with him throughout his life. I especially loved the short shot of the father and son above the river. There was no need for any words; just seeing it was enough to be able to tell exactly what was going through Riku’s mind. It’s telling that the flashback was the one and only act of rebellion he had taken against his father.

Given that, it will be interesting to see how Riku’s father’s entrance in the coming episodes will move the plot. He didn’t necessarily seem to have malicious intent in that final scene, just severe disapproval. But the scene firmly placed him into the classic villain’s chair, so he’s sure to be a (negative) force in the show. I would guess that he’ll come around eventually and want what’s best for his son, but the cynic in me hopes that he will simply be left behind, wanting but unable to regain control of his son who has gotten a taste of freedom for the first time.

What has been seen cannot be unseen.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Takai. It’s hard to say that I really like him, but he certainly became a lot more likable as the episode went on. Yes, his back story was too abrupt and did little to make him more sympathetic, and his love for Riku is… unhealthy. But at the same time, he was far more caring of Riku than his father was, and that tearful moment after he saw Riku and Nino kiss was very sweet. His joy in that scene showed that despite his obsession, he wanted what was best for Riku and was ready to let him go.

Sure, you saw it coming a mile away. It was still cute, though.

And speaking of which, yes, there’s the kiss! A lot of anime, just like Riku, treat that first kiss as a very big step in a relationship. But this show, like Nino, took it quite coolly. Actually, it was probably because of Nino that it didn’t seem like much of a step in their relationship at all. Nino did it in such a matter-of-fact way, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Which, of course, it was. I liked how Nino was still clueless after the kiss, asking Riku if he was affected because he was hungry.

The scene that followed with the conversation between Nino and Sister really showed this contrast between her and Riku. Having Riku in the background celebrating was the perfect reversal to Nino’s dragonfly chasing scene earlier in the episode. At the same time, Sister continues to seem like the most lucid member of the group, as he points out how the relationship has changed both Riku and Nino. Given that we don’t know much about Nino’s past or what she was like before the events of the show, it’s very meaningful to here sister say, “Thanks to [Riku], I was able to see you smile.” It reaffirms the theory that Nino is hiding a painful past with her excuses of being a Venusian.

Besides all the seriousness, though, this episode was really funny. Riku’s attempts at passing off Sister, Shiro, and Maria as business associates went as badly as you could imagine. Of course, Riku’s choices were limited, but, with Maria especially, did he really think it would go any other way? And it was icing on the cake to see the chief, Star, and Nino run to the scene just when things seemed to be going well with Shiro.

The visual gags in the episode worked really well. Riku’s quick KO of the chief, Nino’s dragonfly chasing and Riku somehow joining in, Riku and Takai inspecting each other’s teeth for cavities, they all had me laughing out loud. And I’m starting to enjoy Star’s character more and more. His homophobia might be downright despicable, but that’s what makes the trauma he suffered even more enjoyable (okay, his pun “homodachi,” on “tomodachi” (friend) was pretty funny). Though I can no longer think of “starfish” in anime without thinking of Clannad.

Yeah, "homodachi" might not be a bad way of putting it.

So contrary to what my first impressions were, this was a strong episode. The show is almost 2/3 of the way done now, and unlike most of Shaft’s works, this one actually has a cohesive plot that flows through the episodes, so I’m expecting things to accelerate towards a climax in the next few weeks. Surely it will involve Riku’s father in some way. Still, 5 episodes provides a lot of time, so this could be just another aside in showing the progression of the romantic story between Riku and Nino. Then again, Shaft could do like they did with Natsu no Arashi! and save the final episode for a pure gag-filled fun-fest unrelated to the main story; given the similarity of the 2 shows, I wouldn’t be surprised and would actually enjoy it if they did that.

The preview initially made it seem like the kappa was smoking a huge blunt, which would make perfect sense given the context of this show, but it was actually a cucumber.

AIC is one of those animation studios that really puzzle me. Most larger animation studios have multiple animation teams that can work concurrently but AIC seems like the only animation studio that so formerly breaks it down; there’s AIC, AIC Plus+, AIC Spirits, and AIC A.S.T.A.. Each sub-studio has done good work, for example, AIC A.S.T.A. was responsible for the excellent comedies Tenshi Senshi Sunred, Sora no Otoshimono (which is getting a second season and was just licensed ) and Bamboo Blade. AIC Plus+ with the slice-of-life/comedy G.A. Art Design Class and AIC Spirits with Ga-Rei: Zero. Of these studios AIC A.S.T.A. has been the most consistently good studio and the most inconsistent has been AIC. They did very well with Sasameki Koto, Asu no Yoichi!, but only  slightly good work with Nyan Koi and yawn-inducing work with Ookami Kakushi. With Mayoi Neko Overrun being produced by AIC, this makes prognosticating the quality extremely difficult but it was worth a look.

Rating for episodes 1 to 7 – 5/12  C+
Anticipation Level: 1.5/5  Below Average – Low

The Story

The owner of a rundown bakery known as the Stray Cats likes to take in strays, be them orphans, cat-girls, or an occasional rich girl with a lack of friends. She also likes to travel the world, helping those less fortunate then herself, leaving the strays to struggle together to keep the bakery open (the bakery’s main selling point is the beauty of the owner which only brings in so much money).

The Fine Print

Perhaps the strangest thing about Mayoi Neko Overrun is the lack of an overall director; each episode is directed by a different person. The results of this production decision – being wildly uneven (genuinely good/hilarious one episode and a real snoozer the next) and the story feeling very disjointed – seem obvious to me and leaves me scratching my head, trying to figure out why an animation studio would want two completely unnecessary strikes against it’s own show.

Another problem with a setup such as this is the tone of the show is off. It is possible for a show to be both comedic and emotional/drama-esque, Key shows for example, but it takes a fair degree of talent and mastery to do it right. And, apparently, it takes a single overseeing director that can weave the various threads together and get them to work because Mayoi Neko Overrun has failed to successfully pull this off. When the show is in comedic mode it’s to the detriment of developing the characters and story and when it’s in serious mode it’s to the detriment of the comedy and keeping the show entertaining. An overloaded semi-tractor trailer has more agility then Mayoi Neko Overrun.

The show is further hindered by it’s characters, or, more exactly, the lack of development of the characters beyond their initial stereotypical character-types. At the start of the show we had the clueless, kinda loserish, male main character; the violent, easily angered female childhood friend to the male main character that harbors deeper feelings for him but doesn’t realize she has these feeling but for some reason gets angry when other girls pay attention to him; the mean and haughty rich girl who’s unconsciously unhappy with life and just needs a friend; the perverted male sidekick who’s just interested in 2-D girls and being an otaku. And seven episodes in we still have these stock characters.

If Mayoi Neko Overrun was a full-tilt comedy then developing the characters would not have been so important but it’s not and so developing these 1-D characters into at least 2-D characters would be much appreciated.

I can almost hear the voices that will be out there reading this post and thinking – this show sounds bad, how did it get a C+ and not something lower? I’d respond by saying that it’s amazing how a smallish percentage of a show being legitimately good brings it’s overall score up when the rest of it is doesn’t out-right stink. Two episodes have stood out so far, eps. 4 and 6; if the whole series could have been as good as episode 4, Mayoi Neko Overrun would be a solid B show and if the whole series could have been as good as episode 6 then Mayoi Neko Overrun would have been a solid A show. What made these two episodes good was the show pushed itself into 100% full-tilt comedy mode with a heaping helping of absurdity. It was deliciously good; much better then the slice-of-life/drama/comedy show Mayoi Neko Overrun is trying to be and not succeeding at.

At this point, I can’t recommend this show to anyone; even the most devoted cat ears fans would be wasting their time with Mayoi Neko Overrun. Part of me wishes I could just drop this show but the occasional flashes of competence makes another part of me worry that I might miss something good and, since the latter takes precedence, I’m left watching this mediocre title.  The upside to this is that I will be able to definitely say if Mayoi Neko Overrun is worth a watch or not – keeping others away from it, if it’s not and getting people to watch it, if it is.