Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yoshii’s sister showed up and started a wave of shenanigans.  She’s here to stay, but the episode doesn’t focus on her.  Instead, it spotlights the cast as they all come together to advance this thing we call a plot.  After seven episodes of treading water in various pursuits, the series tries to return to its roots.  Let’s get this show on the road.

The episode starts with Himeji trying to confess her love to Yoshii one day, and failing.  The next day Yoshii wakes up to his sister trying to kiss him again.  She prepares “food” for him, which is really a bunch of “nutritious” drinks.  Yoshii goes to school and finds Voyeur making a profile of all the girls’ breast sizes.  Typical.  Hideyoshi’s sister comes in and berates the class for acting like idiots and never trying to improve themselves.  Ironman finds Yoshii and makes him carry the next exam papers down to the safe.  Unfortunately, he mixes up everyone’s possessions with the tests as well.  The class joins forces to try to break into the safe.  Hideyoshi’s plan fails miserably, but then Kyouji Nemoto shows up to help them.  Of course, he just wants the papers to cheat.  He berates the class for being too stupid to take advantage of their break-in, but Himeji counters with a passionate speech.  Yoshii and Yuuji talk about the state of their class, and realize that almost 3 months have passed.  They resolve to declare another ESB, but first, they break into the vault again and leak the exam to invalidate Kyouji’s stolen papers.

As I expected, Yoshii’s sister hasn’t added much to the series.  That said, I don’t think any of the characters lacks enough common sense to think drinking a liter of liquid for breakfast is healthy, and I enjoyed that little exchange.  What comes out of left field in this episode is the return of the plot, and I mean all of it.  We’ve got Himeji trying to confess her love, the return of the goon that messed up the computer room in episode 8, and a resolution to declare war on the school.  Also, the series again points out the value of the class working together as a team.  The comedy takes a bit of a backseat in this episode for the sake of plot, but I don’t think that’s a terrible thing.  The jokes have gotten stale.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Minami bashing Yoshii, but you can only watch Voyeur snap so many photos or Shouko tase Yuuji so many times before it’s boring.  They really needed to generate new material.  Do you remember when they had funny battles at the start of the series?  I’m really hoping for those in the final episodes.

Last month on Katanagatari, Shichika and Togame retrieved Zantou Namakura from the tragic villain Ginkaku.  The next sword on the list is Sentou Tsurugi, or the thousand swords.  The weapon has fallen into the hands of Meisai Tsuruga, the matriarch of a shrine and yet another foe with a tragic history.  What are you going to do now Shichika?

The episode starts with our heroic duo climbing the thousand steps outside of the shrine.  Shichika ends up carrying Togame up to the top, where Tsuruga greets them.  The two women retire to discuss the terms of their visit.  Tsuruga lays out the challenge: Togame must identify the original Tsurugi, while Shichika must defeat her in combat.  A shrine maiden attempts to kill the strategian, but Tsuruga blocks her and sends all the girls away.  The leader calls Shichika in to tell him about the purpose of the temple.  It serves as a refuge for broken women who have nowhere else to go.  Despite hearing the story, he stays determined to defeat her in combat.  Maniwa Kuizame shows up to claim the sword, but Tsuruga dispatches him with ease.  Togame believes she has found the original Tsurugi, and the battle begins.  Tsuruga lures Shichika into a trap, and then explains her past in detail.  Shichika “escapes,” and the two face off for a final rush between his martial arts and the true Tsurugi.  He emerges triumphant upon slaying her in a single blow.

The shrine maidens set the framework for this episode.  Many of the girls suffered severe abuse at the hands of men.  The psychological damage is so extensive that they cower in fear of Shichika, even though he would do them no harm.  They all came to the temple looking for a sanctuary, both for their broken minds and from the crimes they committed.  While their assailants may have raped or abused them, in the eyes of the law, they are guilty of murder.  As a result, they also have to keep their faces covered so no one can recognize them.  Their circumstances force them to live in isolation for the rest of their lives.  Tsuruga puts their welfare ahead of her own life.  Thus, Togame offers aid from the Shogunate to take care of the temple and pardon the women for their crimes.

Tsuruga is quite an interesting character.  She lost her father to the rebellion.  To gain power and influence, she used the skills he gave her to kill hundreds of people.  Then, she found salvation, but only by treading upon the bodies of her comrades and an innocent priest.  Finally, she has helped all the girls at the shrine to repair their damaged minds, but they will have to pay with their souls.  Everything she set out to do has reached fruition, but she did it by paving the road of her life in blood.  To her, the ends do not justify the means.  At this point, she doesn’t feel she has the power to break the cycle, or no longer thinks she’s fit to try.  Following Shichika out of her trap seems like a tactical blunder, but she herself says she thought she would probably die.  Like Ginkaku before her, Tsuruga ultimately wants death, and she knows that Shichika is fully willing to grant her wish.

On that note, Tsuruga also mentions a belief in fate several times.  Let’s look at the events in the series through that lens.  When Togame’s father died in the rebellion, it set into motion events that would cause her to resent the empire.  Since Shichika is the only heir to the anti-sword style, fate dictated that the two would meet.  Their search means that so long as they live, they will eventually meet every person who bears one of the twelve swords.  Tsuruga believes fate decided that her multi-sword style would bring her in contact with the Tsurugi that perfectly compliments her.  This means that her path would have to cross Shichika’s at some indeterminate point.  The ensuing battle would finally allow her to feel death’s embrace.  When you look at it in this manner, Tsuruga’s death broke her cycle, but served to prolong Shichika’s.

Finally, we need to look at Shichika’s character development.  You probably have trouble sympathizing with him given the way the writers have constructed his character.  When Tsuruga questions him on why he fights, he states that he does it because Togame wishes it.  It evokes thoughts of a soldier that carries out his duty with no regard for the task’s morality.  That idea is firmly rooted in reality.  Many times, we kill our enemies because they tried to kill us without taking a moment to think about why they tried to kill us.  Even when he’s given the opportunity to learn Tsuruga’s motivations, he ignores it.  This leads Tsuruga to accuse him of ignoring it simply because he doesn’t want to think for himself.  She is absolutely right, and he even admits it.  Think about it.  Tsuruga and Ginkaku are not truly evil characters.  At worst, they are simply misguided.  Their only real crime was standing in the way of Shichika’s, or rather, Togame’s goal.  He never questions if the ends justify the means.  I have to wonder if a real fight for his life would get him to start examining his actions, and it seems that Sabi will put him through hell next month.  I’m looking forward to it.

Last week on Sora no Woto, a rainstorm assaulted the town of Seize, and the town mobilized to save the day.  We also learned about Courier Klaus’ backstory, and he finally became a hero.  This week, we meet the old woman Jacquotte, and through her explore Rio’s life.  This wraps up a lot of points rather than providing much fodder for speculation, so let’s get underway.

The episode starts with Rio burning a letter, presumably the one she received from her father.  At the same time, Noël and the girls have almost finished the tank.  Kanata wants to look into Iliya’s past, but Filicia’s records are “missing.”  Kureha fills her in on the details instead.  Yumina shows up and asks for help finding Jacquotte, and Kanata drags Rio off with her.  The two find the woman building a house for her long-lost son, and decide to help her with chores around the house.  While Rio chops firewood, Filicia remarks that the Roman army has redeployed troops.  Kanata and Rio leave to gather supplies, and Rio talks about how she first came to the town.  Then they retire to the old woman’s house, and she relates her past to them.  Afterwards, she goes out to die, quite literally.  Rio plays Amazing Grace again, and then entrusts her trumpet to Kanata.  Under her tutelage, Kanata has become a fine trumpet player, as well as a fine young woman.  Content with her work, Rio has finally decided to leave and carry out her task to protect the family she loves.

This episode finally puts Rio’s whole story into perspective.  She is the illegitimate son of the Archduke.  Her father never came around to see them, and he resents him for that.  However, Iliya did visit, and Rio loved her elder sister.  Iliya allowed herself to become engaged to the emperor of Rome to end the hostilities.  Unfortunately, a tragedy cut the Princess’ life drastically short.  While on a morale building tour, she tried to save a drowning child.  She lost her life instead.  The war dragged on for yet another year until the two armies struck a truce.  Of course, Rio never got over it.  She still hated children because of the one who took her sister away from her.  She fled to the town of Seize, which she symbolically views as a dead-end for her life.  In the process, though, she met Kanata, which allowed her to slowly grow as a person to become more like her sister.  With the help of Jacquotte, she finally finds some means of closure.

Jacquotte fell in love with a wealthy man, and became pregnant with his child.  However, this man had a family and a wife who could not bear children.  He took her son and left for his home, promising to return one day.  The story curiously reflects Rio’s own, so she asks how the woman can deal with her grief.  Rather than allowing the past to drag her down, she always looked forward with hope.  She remembered the good times she had before the man left her, and focused on his promise to return one day.  As a result, she has lived a long and largely satisfying life.  The point of this story boils down to how you should view loss.  You’re always going to suffer loss, whether by your own power or because of unforeseen occurrence.  You can’t undo it, so simply dwelling on it is not going to help anyone.  To get through life, you have to focus on the good in your past, live your life in the present, and always aim for the future.  Life is short, so live the best life you can.  This realization finally snaps Rio out of her depression.

At first glance, this episode wraps everything up into a nice package, and to an extent, you would be correct.  However, a few plotlines still exist for the final episodes.  First, Noël has almost finished rebuilding the tank.  Since they already put it to use to save Klaus and Kureha, I doubt they would spotlight it again unless it will see another use.  I think the second DVD bonus episode will focus on how they got the parts.  Second, they still haven’t resolved the fire maiden plotline that started in the first episode.  The story shunted the legend off to the side for quite a while, but in this episode, they bring it back into focus.  However, this has served its purpose by reflecting Rio’s character, so we can safely live without a blatant resolution.  Finally, we know Roma fought Helvetia and that they’re mobilizing the army again, but that nation remains an enigma.  We don’t know their motivations in all this, mostly because we have never met anyone from there.  The next episode will introduce a wounded soldier from Roma and address that issue.  I’m looking forward to it.

Springtime is supposed to be a time of rebirth… but will it be a healing time for the weary, scarred-for-life anime fans out there who are tired of being fed crap each season? Don’t get us wrong, there have been some really good series in the past 3 or so years, but there’s also been tons of legitly horrible shows.

The consensus at BH is that this season’s fairly lame again, but there are several shows we think might be decent or even good. And since we have more bloggers on board, we’ll get a broader look at the season than usual.

The usual disclaimers: We try not to hate on something too hard without watching it (except for the ecchi trash) and all of this is subject to change. Episode count information is scarce this season, and even definite air dates are unknown for some series, especially the ONAs.

Ai no Kusabi
13 episodes?, starts releases in March, animated by AIC

CJ: So this is a remake of an old yaoi OVA? Interesting that they should be bothered making a remake, but I’ll pass; yaoi’s not my thing.
Crisu: I’m not a yaoi fan, but based on the apparent track record of this show’s longevity, I perhaps ought to look into this if I were a fan.  A strict social system is in place that allows males to serve other males (insert teasing here), the highest-ranked ones are forbidden to have sex (oh the tension), and there are slums in a neighboring city where such rules don’t apply (conflict and suspense).  Looks like a lot of good elements to see boys yearn for one another.  I won’t be watching, but I’ll probably hear about it from a few people nonetheless.
Dave: I should start by saying that man love isn’t wholly my bag. (I did, however, see one of the OVAs a while back.) This is what you get when you mix yaoi and Ghost In The Shell. No, really. It’s hard to define just what sort of Orwellian overtones exist here, but if the critical reception of the manga is any indication this should be worth watching if it’s up your alley.

Angel Beats
starts in April, animated by PA Works

CJ: Angels are overdone. Girls with guns are overdone. Why do I get the feeling I’m going to watch this anyway?
Crisu: Yes, definitely. I am a Key fan, so it’s a must-watch. And PA Works will be a treat — gives me a break from KyoAni for a while.
Rakuen: An organization in the afterlife wants to war against God. They’re sure going to have hell to pay. Well, the trailer looks certainly looks interesting; though I have a feeling the fanservice stick will hit it a few times. That never killed anyone though, right?
Raphael: Wow, what a pedigree! Original story by Key, animation by PA Works and the trailer looks stunning. I’m also a sucker for supernatural battle-type shows and the afterlife theme seems really interesting. I can’t wait for this one.

Arakawa Under the Bridge
starts in April, animated by Shaft

CJ: Most of Shaft’s shows haven’t really caught my eye, lately, though I have been really meaning to watch Bakemonogatari… Maybe I’ll follow this, maybe not; I think it’ll come down to what the blogosphere says and how much free time I have.
Crisu: I see a star-head man and a green (frog?) man. And it’s by Shaft. Nevermind, this is TOTALLY normal.
Rakuen: A guy almost drowns, but a girl saves him. He becomes her boyfriend, but has to live under a bridge with her. I am very confused here, and the commercial doesn’t really help clear things up, though it prominently features a kappa. MAL lists the genre as comedy, which seems like a given, so I will try to give it a shot.
lvlln: I’ll definitely be watching this primarily for 2 reasons: it’s being produced by Shaft, and it stars Maaya Sakamoto as the female lead. I don’t know anything about the source material, but I have greatly enjoyed the unique spin Shaft puts on their adaptations, whether they be drama or comedy or both. And I could listen to Maaya’s voice all day (in fact, I sometimes do, putting her music on my playlist). This is one I would definitely like to blog.
Raphael: This is one of the shows I’m eagerly awaiting. It’s Shaft, it’s got a strong voice cast and it looks both fun and bizarre. I’m definitely going to check this out and I may blog this.
Dave: I’m not really sure what I can say about this. Plotwise, it just seems like an archetypal Love Story. Visually, though, I want to touch the Star Guy’s head. I bet it will make me invulnerable.

B Gata H Kei
starts April 1, animated by Hal Film Maker

CJ: Wow. I am a nun compared to this chick.
Crisu: o.O Hrm. The synopsis gives me a negative impression just based on the aspiration itself. But that could just be the lonesome single me taking out my frustrations on an anime character. Most likely a comedy or the plot wouldn’t really go too well on TV; my first impression of the artwork is good. I’ll wait on the reception.
Rakuen: If you heard a cracking sound, that was my soul breaking just a little bit more. A girl wants to become a promiscuous socialite but finds the boy of her dreams. I’m going with pure ecchi trash on this one.
Raphael: I quite like Hal Film Maker, but seriously. Yuck. Even if the humour is good, I don’t think I can get past the premise.

Black Rock Shooter
unknown start date, animated by Ordet
(Admin note: Most sources are saying this was originally announced as a Spring 2010 series, but there’s nothing indicating that on the website now. Draw your own conclusions…)

CJ: I really couldn’t care less about an anime based on a Hatsune Miku song… I mean, really, what is the plot of this thing going to be? Supposedly the creator of the character has a whole world fleshed out and everything, but… Eh…
Crisu: Am interested! The pilot was super short, but it gave a glimpse of what could be. It stirred some talk in ISML land, so I don’t know what will become of BRS come 2011. She definitely has the looks. And the ability to fight could rival Shana (although the Flame Haze has a lot more story behind her).
Rakuen: I honestly have no idea about this, but I already see a tremendous number of members logged on MAL for it, so I think I will take the plunge on it.
lvlln: I found out about this one by being a fan of Supercell. I liked how the PVs have stayed true to the art from the original video. The fact that the PV uses the original track as well leaves me wondering if they’ll actually have Hatsune Miku as the voice for songs in the show. I hope Supercell is involved in this in some way and that maybe we’ll get to hear Black Rock Shooter sung with Nagi’s wonderful voice. Definitely gonna be watching this.

D.C. ~Da Capo~ Ext
starts in April, animated by Feel

CJ: Do you really think I’m going to waste my time on generic moeblobs?
Crisu: A retelling? Since I hadn’t gotten to the original series yet, would this be a decent substitute to catch up on it all?
Rakuen: I never watched any of Da Capo, and looking at the series history, it just looks like a passable harem anime built over an eroge. If I understand what little information I can even find, this is like a reboot for the series, and so it’s possible to jump onto this boat if you want. Of course, I could be wrong, but I’m still not really going to care about this series.
lvlln: This fascinates me because way back around 2005/2006, I had watched both seasons of Da Capo back to back. I regret the hours I sunk into that greatly, but it fills me with wonder how I had managed to sit through over 18 hours of such a crappy series. So I’m pretty biased against the show, but I think I’ll watch at least a couple episodes, in a way similar to revisiting an old enemy from middle school. At the least, I wonder if they’ll bring back all the same voice actors.

Giant Killing
starts April 4, animated by DEEN

CJ: This looks cool, but I’m not really into soccer or underdog stories. Maybe I’ll give it a chance if the blogosphere starts saying it’s awesome, but I don’t really trust Studio DEEN anymore…
Rakuen: Here comes another sports anime this season. However, unlike the others, the total underdog story kind of appeals to me. The coach has to pull his team all the way out from rock bottom. I like the animation style as well. So, if I were to pick up a sports related series, I would pick this.
Dave: Couldn’t they just have called in Beckham? Joking aside, my biggest point of interest about this is how you can stretch something that has the same premise as Angels in the Outfield or Remember the Titans into a full-length series (though, since it’s a manga, I guess…). I think I’ll give this one a watch just to find out the answer.

Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan
starts in April, animated by DEEN

CJ: Haven’t we had enough wanna-be Byronic heroes for one decade already?
Rakuen: This series tries to put a romance story into the history of the Shinsengumi. I’m not sure what to make of this one. It sounds like a little potential is there, but it screams bishonen and has the potential to devolve into reverse harem. Of course, romance with swordsmen fighting demons is hardly a unique concept either.
Raphael: This is potentially interesting, but I’m thrown by the setting and character designs. So once again, a probable “no”.
Dave: Game-based anime aren’t really doing much for me, but it’s certainly an interestingly-sounding premise, so who knows? I might be surprised by this. Also, it has swords. Can’t go wrong with swords.

Heroman
starts in April, animated by Bones

CJ: This one will either sink horribly or swim quite well… Probably the latter, since it’s Bones. But it’s worth watching the first episode, whether the outcome is win or twisted lulzyness.
Rakuen: I can’t find a video of this on Youtube, but the preview image just screams that it’s trying to be very American in a Japanese culture. You just don’t build a robot sporting the Star-Spangled Banner otherwise. I’d rather watch Iron Man.
Raphael: My thoughts towards this are pretty much the same as mine for Iron Man (switch “Madhouse” with “Bones”) except I think I’ll dive in and watch the first episode of this one, because the art looks strong.
Dave: I want this to be Stan Lee’s take on Giant Robo. I really, really do. I want to watch this.

Hetalia season 3
starts in April?, animated by DEEN

CJ: Maybe I’ll watch this just to get Jenni to stop nagging me…
Crisu: On my list … as well as the prior seasons. I know they’re short; it won’t take me long to catch up! But any bit of learning in anime, even if it’s silly, is praiseworthy for the attempt.
Rakuen: Completely missed Hetalia, and I have no stake in trying to catch up. I’m sorry if that makes me uncool.

House of Five Leaves
starts April 15, animated by Manglobe

CJ: I’ve been meaning to check out the manga via IKKI, but I might as well just try this. The concept doesn’t intrigue me that much, but it’s worth a shot, just for the sake of trying something different…
Rakuen: I am a sucker for samurais and swords as well. This time we have a shy and unconfident samurai. After everyone else throws him out, he ends up joining a gang though, and finds himself sucked into the work and motivation. It sounds like it’s trying to explore the concept that darkness isn’t necessarily evil, which again, is a mechanic I enjoy, so I might give it a shot.
Dave: Now, I didn’t really watch Secret Blacksmith, and it’s been a while since I dug out Michiko to Hatchin, so my relationship with Manglobe has become a bit stale. They’ve never failed to deliever visually, and given that this is yet another period piece (hi, Samurai Champloo) they’ve certainly got the experience to do it. Looking forward to this.

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou
starts in April, animated by Artland

CJ: This… looks dumb. Like, legit shounen-y trash. There could be potential in this, but I’m really not seeing it, especially with the lame promo art.
Rakuen: Just looking at the promotional image screams ecchi harem. What’s worse is that it sticks itself into the magical academy ground that many series have already treaded. Maybe if the spring season were less populated, I’d give it a look, like Omamori Himari from this season. There’s just too much going on already to justify watching it.
Raphael: Iffy on this one, but there’s a solid voice cast and I’ll definitely check out the first episode. This could be the show that I watch (and enjoy) but would never tell anyone in RL about, a la Saki and Kampfer.

Ikkitousen – Xtreme Xecutor
starts March 26, animated by TNK

CJ: You know, if I wanted to watch hot girls fighting, I’d go watch women’s wrestling or something.
Rakuen: This is one of those Three Kingdoms heroes as hot girls anime, and it’s the fourth season. I have actually looked at both the anime and manga in the past; you really aren’t missing much here. It’s not much more than your standard ecchi combat fare.
Dave: Lord, is this the Spring season or the Three Kingdoms season? I kid, I kid. Dragon Destiny did mildly interest me though, so I’m not writing this off yet. Not to mention that I’m a college-age male and thus am not immune to the charms (or lack thereof) of fanservice…

Iron Man
starts  in October?, animated by Madhouse and Marvel
(Admin note: Iron Man has allegedly been pushed back to October, but we’re leaving it in this preview just in case.)

CJ: Hmmm. Part of me wants to write this off because I pretty much hate the superhero genre. Part of me wants to embrace this because it’s a fusion of Japanese and American talents. And the last part of me just wants to watch this out of curiosity… Which means I will be trying the first episode.
Crisu: Introducing Tony Stark, the bishie! I watched an anime version of Batman once, and I swear I did not recognize Bruce Wayne until someone said his name, even though he had been on screen and speaking for several minutes. I was like “No way that could be him” … but it was. And so I expect the same in this anime. However— Iron Man gets to exploit the anime laws of energy blasts and flight a lot more than Batman can, so I expect this to be exciting.
Rakuen: Marvel is giving Madhouse the opportunity to animate Iron Man. Apparently, there’ll be a different Marvel character for the next three seasons as well. I would pay out the nose for Deadpool to be in there somewhere. For now, I think Iron Man is cool and I want to see where this project goes.
Raphael: Eh, I’m kinda iffy about this. It could be great, with Madhouse at the helm, but it could also crash and burn. I’ll probably wait to see what the consensus is in the blogosphere before giving this a shot.
Dave: Hey! Finally, I can watch an anime version of one of my favorite c-OH WAIT NO I CAN’T. I’m used to video games getting delays, but anime? Preposterous.

K-ON! season 2
13 episodes?, starts April 6, animated by KyoAni

CJ: Never watched season 1, and probably never will. The music was pretty good, though, so I’m glad a second season is being made. At the very least, I’ll check out the OSTs.
Crisu: Well I already went through the whole first season; might as well keep going. Mio is cute, sure, but she’s rather overdone. Azusa also doesn’t seem to have a very defining personality; she’s just the helpless target of moe-based attacks. I mean at least Mikuru is a time traveler and knows classified information. I kinda want them to play music more … and not just go on a picnic. Bring back a new Lucky Star season if you want simple stuff like that. Much better characters there.
Rakuen: I tried to watch the first season and didn’t get past the first episode. Then again, I’m sure you don’t need my recommendation here anyway. If KyoAni’s announcement didn’t get you pumped, you’re probably not interested.
lvlln: I feel similarly about this show as I do about D.C. ~Da Capo~ Ext. Except the first season of K-ON! was wildly more popular, and by the time it had come out, I had learned to stop watching a show if I hated it. Indeed, I only watched the first 4 episodes of season 1. In any case, given how popular this show was, and how I did mostly enjoy its music, I’ll be giving the second season a shot. Pretty sure I’ll be dropping it quickly, though.
Raphael: So I watched the first series. I enjoyed the first series. The first series made me laugh. But I can’t help but feel like I’m losing my patience with the girls of Hokugou Tea Time. A solid “maybe”.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
starts April 1, animated by JC Staff

Crisu: This sounds pretty interesting.  Reminds me briefly of the Railgun episode where the tough-as-nails dorm manager also has a soft romantic side.  Though I’m not sure if the heroine here does the maid cafe because she likes it or because she just needs the money.  It’s a nice contrast, though, and perhaps is a great excuse to slip in moe shots of a tough character — a forced tsundere appearance if you will.  But heck, she might actually be one.  With JC Staff behind the reins on this, I feel it has potential.
Rakuen: A girl tries to lead her school as the class president… but she works at a maid café. Amazingly, this lacks the ecchi tag on MAL, which in some ways gives me hope. I haven’t seen a good romantic comedy since, well, ever. I might try it if I have time.
CJ: This……… I……… This is just. No.

Kiss x Sis
starts in April, animated by Feel

CJ: Do I even NEED to provide caustic commentary for this one? No? Good.
Crisu: Ah, wow. I watched the OVA and admittingly enjoyed it. But an anime was not on my list of expectations. Oh goodness. But I guess I can’t help but check it out. It’ll probably be heavy on the censorship save for the DVD releases. I just find the situation so awkward — two step-sisters wanting to jump you at moment’s notice .. and your parents APPROVE — that I’m very curious as to what crazy situation the writers can come up with next.
Rakuen: It’s kind of refreshing to have a series that is exactly what it says on the tin. Of course, it’s still an ecchi comedy with pseudo-incest in it, but at least it’s honest!
lvlln: I tried to read the manga when it first came out a couple years ago, but I couldn’t. The premise is just too much of an ero-setup to take seriously. So it might have worked if it had actually been hentai, but as an actual anime or manga with no “payoff,” it just isn’t interesting. Not gonna be watching unless some shitstorm breaks out on the internet about this. I don’t think that’s likely.

Mayoi Neko Overrun!
starts in April, animated by AIC

CJ: Screw catgirls, I want more of the cats in Sketchbook ~full color’S~.
Rakuen: Yep, another ecchi comedy involves cats, and this one has a stepsister too! I believe this is the third season in a row with one of these, perhaps it’s become a niche trend again. While I did watch Himari this season, I’m don’t feel even remotely interested in this one.
Dave: For some strange reason I can’t comprehend, I get flashbacks of Bottle Fairy when I read about this. Though, I can’t quite tell which direction this series goes in. They take in catgirls, but then what? My money’s on Michael Vick making a cameo appearance here somewhere.

Ookiku Furikabatte ~Natsu no Taikai-hen~
starts April 1, animated by A-1 Pictures

CJ: OoFuri (released as Big Windup! in the US) has a bit of a following among girls, and it’s baseball, which I love… But I haven’t watched the first season. Still, maybe I’ll give this a shot if some of the other series I want to watch this season suck.
Rakuen: I don’t really get into sports anime, and as this is the second season, I doubt that I will get into this either. If that’s your thing, by all means go for it.
Dave: Again? All of my female, under-21, baseball-loving friends told me I’d love this (and oddly enough that’s a surprisingly large constituency), but, no. I make an enemy of Japan when I say that baseball is not my favorite sport, and by extension I’m not too thrilled about an anime based around it.

Rainbow – Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin
starts April 6, animated by Madhouse

Rakuen: Another Madhouse show, and I am definitely interested in this series as well. It focuses on delinquents who went through a rough time of reformation and their lives after release. From some of my previous posts, you might know that I love the delinquent characters because they have so much room for growth. I hope someone picks up this series.
CJ: Rakuen’s description makes it clear that this is one of the most original concepts this season. That said, I probably won’t end up watching this, just because I’ll be busy following other series. Doesn’t mean I won’t give it a try, though.
Dave: This one sounds good. Haven’t read the manga but there doesn’t seem to be any mystical overtones, so that’s a plus. It kind of gives me a vibe akin to The Outsiders, only probably much more violent.

Senko no Night Raid
13 episodes?, starts April 5, animated by A-1 Pictures

CJ: The art was what caught my eye first… And then the concept really got my attention. Since it’s A-1 Pictures, it could be really good, but it could also fall flat. Just because it’s about spies doesn’t automatically mean it’s awesome. I’ll give this a try, but if the lead ends up being an uberawesome James Bond-wannabe Gary Stu, we’re gonna have problems.
Rakuen: This is the original work to replace Sora no Woto in the Anime no Chikara timeslot. The short of it is… spies in China. Now, I am a fan of the TV show Burn Notice, so I have a definite interest in spies. Of course, I imagine this will be more dramatic and less witty, but that’s fine too. In addition, the trailer has a big explosion as an added bonus.
Raphael: I’m looking forward to this. I love spy dramas, and the setting is definitely different to the usual anime fare. It’s also being animated by A-1 Pictures, which I consider to be a leading studio, and is showing in TV Tokyo’s “Power of Anime” timeslot, so I’ll definitely give it a try and may even blog this.
Dave: Now this is something I really like the thought of. I watched the trailer and it really does look neat, plus it’s got that 1930’s espionage thing going for it.

Shin Koihime Musou – Otome Tairan
starts in April, animated by Dogakobo

CJ: Why are they making another one? Can we steal the funds from this and pour it into another season of Darker than Black please?
Crisu: I want to know more about the Three Kingdoms saga in general. And yes this anime is not the best source at all for it, so I totally expected it to go just one season and then disappear into the vault. But nooo~. Maybe I’ll just go play Dynasty Warriors again. Or, yeah yeah I know .. actually read the book. x.x
Rakuen: Speak of the bloody devil, it’s the other Three Kingdoms ecchi series. MAL rates this slightly higher, and it’s only season two, so if something possesses you to watch one or the other, you might want to go with this one.

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru
starts in April, animated by JC Staff

CJ: Are there gonna be joke subs for this one? I’d watch those. The Hanamaru Kindergarten ones were hysterical, this one could be even better!
Rakuen: I’m not interested in shounen ai. However, an empath as a main character at least sounds like a good framework for a story, so if you do like the genre, you might try it.
Dave: I read the description for this one and just kind of made my “wat” face. It seems like there’s some kind of veil of mystery surrounding the plot of this, but I’m just not interested.

Working!
starts April 4, animated by A-1 Pictures

CJ: This looks like fun, but comedy usually isn’t my thing. Still, the art looks pretty nice… I have a heavy bias towards shiny things… Maybe I’ll try this, especially since A-1 Pictures has been on a roll lately.
Rakuen: Okay, this looks somewhat interesting. Undoubtedly, someone has done slice-of-life in a restaurant before, but I missed the boat on that one. This might fulfill my desire for a second comedy this season. If you think about it, all kinds of shenanigans can happen in a kitchen…
Raphael: If it doesn’t rely on moe too much, this could be a lot of fun. One of the strongest voice casts this season + a good studio = potential blog for me. I’m definitely going to look at the first episode.

Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei
starts in April, animated by Madhouse

CJ: A series about a guy’s college life… I could glean some tips from this. Especially since I’ll be pretty young for a freshman. ;_; Anyway, this looks like it could be either really good or really boring, but I might as well try it.
Rakuen: Another Madhouse show! This one comes out of the brain that gave us Kaiba, but it doesn’t look like it will be a mindscrew. Instead, it’s about a guy looking back on his college life. Just from the animation style, I can tell this is not for everyone, but at least try to look past it and give it a chance.
Raphael: Great director, and it’s part of the noitaminA timeslot, but I really have no idea how this will turn out. I’ll probably watch the first episode and end up making a snap decision within the first 10 minutes.

Yutori-chan
starts March 16, animated by Actas

Crisu: Pastel colors! Too cute! Will it be enjoyable? ^_^
CJ: The feminist in me is puking violently at the sight of those pastels… and that hair… Well, moe in general makes her puke, but that’s not the point. Enjoy this one, Crisu; I’ll be over here rereading Fullmetal Alchemist to bleach my eyes…
Rakuen: A high school girl gets a job at a toy factory. The episodes are two minutes long and distributed by e-mail. It also looks like it actually started in the winter season, and no one noticed it. I hope you aren’t too heart-broken by the loss.
Raphael: I actually like the art of this. If it’s sweet and fanservice-free, I’ll check it out. But yeah, once again I am enlisting others to do the dirty work for me. :P

Before I begin, one thing I forgot to write in the catch up is that there is an organization of vampires called Telomere that was behind all of the assassination attempts on Mina. One of the members was a student who lead the charge against the human students in episode 7. I mention this now because they take a central role in the plot of this episode and presumably of the episodes going forwards.

Well, the Vampire Bund has now been established, so a new plotline begins to develop. The episode starts off almost like a hentai, with a young boy waking up to find his “older sister” trying to jump him. The young boy’s name is Yuzuru, and the “older sister” is actually Nanami Shinonome, the former student council president who was turned into a vampire very early in the show. The scene ends with her fleeing after forcing herself to stop from biting the boy.

It has been a month since the events of episode 7 and the opening of the Bund. It has a very strict border policy, with vampires not being allowed to leave as they please. Vera, the head vampire bodyguard/assistant for Mina, reports to her that some vampires have been breaking this rule, and so she is order to investigate.

At the high school, the students who had been victimized in the previous episode have all been “vaccinated” (they never do explain how they can “vaccinate” turned vampires ex post facto), but all of them have still opted to leave the school. Yuki considers quitting the student council as well because it hurts her to see Mina and Akira together. But after she and Mina talk things out about Akira and learning that there are some aspects of her relationship with Akira that Mina is jealous of, they become friends.

Mei Ran makes a brief appearance early in the episode. She visits Akira in the classroom, flirts with him a bit. It is revealed that she has a pendant which is a replica of one that Akira vaguely recognizes. It will probably become significant later.

The real meat of the story starts when during her investigation, Vera catches Yuzuru trying to break into the Bund. When he reveals that he’s looking for Nanami, Vera takes him to Mina, who decides to set up a net to catch her in the act. The net is successful, but Nanami does not listen to Mina’s orders, making her realize that she has a different master. After a short chase, they run into the master, a vampire by the name of Hysterica (va: Rie Kugimiya ). Vera recognizes her, and they seem to have a history that stretches at least a 100 years. Last time they met, in 1918, she had been known as Francesca.

She also has with her a sizable army of undead-like vampire followers, also immune to Mina’s words. A fight scene breaks out between Beowulf Elite Eight, Mina’s royal guard team made up of wolfmen, and the rogue vampires, while Vera takes on Hysterica herself and Akira goes chasing after Nanami. When they catch up, they see Nanami in pain over her love for Yuzuru, not wanting him to see her this way or to turn him into a vampire, but still having the urge to do so. Yuzuru suddenly appears, and tries to chase Nanami who starts running away from him, but not before Hysterica also appears, pushing him away and grabbing Nanami.

She decides to retreat for now, realizing that she’s outnumbered and outmatched, but not before giving an ominous warning that she is planning on something that will show the “fragile humans” the power of vampires. She escapes by creating a diversion by exploding 2 of her undead vampires, who had been rigged with explosives.

Well, this episode was really filled with a lot of content, and it was a lot more intelligible than most of the previous episodes. I’m glad to see even more of Mei Ran and to get a glimpse at what her story is all about. Still nothing concrete yet, but the pendant tells us that unless it’s just a red herring, she will definitely play a bigger role in the rest of the episodes. Yuki seems to have gotten a mostly happy ending, as she learns that she can let Mina have Akira without having to give him up.

But given the more interesting stuff that happened in this episode, I hope that there isn’t too much time spent on Yuki and the love triangle. Nanami was a character whom I wrote off as dead after she first got attacked by vampires, but she had returned in episode 6 and now plays an even bigger role, although I predict she’ll step aside to Hysterica and the bigger Telomere organization that’s behind it all. The opening scene with her reminded me a bit of the latest episode of Baka to Test. The anime industry definitely went through a little sister phase for a while; is it now going through a big sister phase?

I liked how Hysterica was presented as a character. I didn’t realize Rie Kugimiya was going to be in this, and it’s nice to hear her play a character so unlike her usual roles. Besides her voice, the sharp angles of the features of her face, the stark contrast between her thick eyebrows and her skin, and her maniacal facial expressions worked well to present her as a very sinister character. Her former relationship with Vera interests me as well. It seems that they used to be on the same side until some event or decision they made split them apart, and I hope the show explains that a bit more.

The fight scenes were short, but were again pretty well done, like in episode 7. Shaft isn’t traditionally known for using a lot of action in their animation, but it was quite fluid and, more importantly, very well directed. Mina’s take down and destruction of Hysterica’s weapon was beautiful to watch. I don’t expect action to be a major portion of the show going forwards, but if there are little scenes like the ones in this episode, I’ll be happy.

This episode finally had a legitimate ED sequence. Same song as before, but there’s actual animation and stuff going on instead of slowly zooming out of a slowly colorizing picture of Mina in lingerie. The imagery reminded me of some of Shaft’s other OPs and EDs. The high-contrast, very dark imagery reminded me at times of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei’s final ED (Omamori), while the moving gears and chained up Mina was reminiscent of the OP from the 2 Ef series. Overall, it was a pretty standard Shaft ED, but nothing to write home about.

To start off, let me introduce myself. My name is Raphael and I’m one of the new bloggers here at Borderline Hikikomori. Pleased to meet you!

Working!! is one of the shows slated for the upcoming season, and one that I’ll be blogging. Set in a family restaurant called Wagnaria, it’s a slice-of-life comedy that revolves around the lives of the men and women who work there. In this first (preview) episode, we meet Poplar Taneshima, a wide-eyed and ditzy waitress who is tasked with finding a new part-timer for the restaurant. She begins her search by asking her schoolmates but after no luck with this method, she sets out to recruit strangers. She literally runs into high school student Sota Takanashi, who mistakes her for a lost child. After she clears the air with him and inadvertently reveals that they go to the same school – and that she is, in fact, older than him – he happily takes the job. He’s brought back to the restaurant and introduced to lazy assistant manager Shirafuji Kyoko, as well as Jun Sato and Hiroomi Soma, both chefs, and Yachiyo Todoroki, the sword-carrying “crew chief”.

Following this is a somewhat bizarre turn of events where Sota compares Poplar to an insect behind her back, calls twenty-eight year old Kyoko “pretty old” (and gets crazy shifts as a result), and later watches as she fights some customers who are teasing Poplar… and then orders some friends to rob them. Towards the end of the episode, the new recruit meets another member of staff, the man-phobic Inami Mahiru, who greets him with a wild punch to the nose. Suffice to say, Sota has realised that working at Wagnaria is going to be interesting… to say the least.

I quite enjoyed this episode. The art is done in typical A-1 Pictures style (see Sora no Woto), with smooth animation. The cast, especially the male members, give strong performances and the character designs are sweet but nothing special. The atmosphere of the show was fun and lively, with a strangely calming effect despite the occasionally frenetic pace of the jokes. Since this is a slice-of-life series, the fate of the show is really going to depend on the strength of the characters. I’m not entirely won over by them as of yet, but I feel confident that I’ll grow to be very fond of them within the space of a few more installments.

The full run of Working!! will begin on April 4.

WOW! Kagura snapped and her Yato blood took over! That was a crazy fight, always awesome to see a small girl take down a guy over 3 times her own size, as an extra she was wearing sexy black leather heel boots! And look at that pose showing her dominance! So awesome~ P.S: I’m watching this on [...]

To start, I’m lvlln, a new writer for Borderline Hikikomori, and I’ll be blogging Dance in the Vampire Bund for the rest of this season. You can read my profile, if you wish.

7.5 is a recap episode with no new content whatsoever, as far as I can tell. But I figure this is a good chance to play catch-up, as no one at Borderline Hikikomori has been blogging it since the first episode. My subjective thoughts on the series, I already wrote about on a post in my own blog, so this post will be mainly a recap of the story so far.

Mina Tepes is the queen of vampires who outs their existence to the human world. Due to her large holdings in some Japanese companies, she blackmails the Japanese government into accepting her demand that some island off the coast of Japan be reserved as a haven for vampires, the so-called Vampire Bund.

Akira Kaburagi Regendorf is the male protagonist, a high schooler who lost all his memories when he was 16. It turns out that he’s a wolfman (he can transform at will) and had made a promise with Mina a long time ago, a promise she considers to be very important. He starts to regain his memories as the episodes go along, and he begins to act as Mina’s bodyguard.

There have been a couple parallel  threads that mix together in the episodes so far. One is the political intrigue that takes place behind the scenes, as Mina negotiates her demands with the Japanese government. There are also a couple assassination attempts against her. The other is the high school story: turns out that the high school Akira attends is one founded by Mina, designed specifically to cater to vampires. Once the existence of vampires become public knowledge, a conflict starts brewing between the vampire and human students of the school.

Both protagonists play important roles in both stories, but it wasn’t until episodes 6 and 7 when things started getting interesting and the 2 stories really intertwined. Akira, who had been completely loyal to Mina up to now, becomes angry when he learns that the grandson of the prime minister of Japan had been kidnapped and turned into a vampire in order to coerce his agreement to the establishment of the Vampire Bund. Meanwhile, the conflict has reached a tipping point at the high school, where vampire students freely bully and even convert the human ones. Akira, convinced that Mina and the vampires are the enemy of humans, leads the human students in a sort of rebellion at the school.

Episode 7 was the climax, as the vampire students manage to get into the human ones’ hideout, and Akira and Mina come just in time to save them. Turns out that Mina also takes the side of humans, as she doesn’t condone the behavior of the prejudiced vampires and is, in fact, cracking down on them throughout the world. Mina, upset at Akira’s insubordination, fights him, but Akira ends up saving her life once again, so they make up. Episode 7 ends with Akira returning as Mina’s bodyguard, as the latter announces the creation of the Vampire Bund.

There’s a lot of stuff I glossed over for the sake of brevity, but that’s been the main plot thus far. Beyond the protagonists, there are a couple other significant characters. Yuki Saegusa is a classmate of Akira and seems to hold romantic feelings for him. She also has a promise with Akira, and she had given him a ring before he had lost his memory. Though she and Mina did argue a couple times, in the end, she seemed to have surrendered Akira as belonging to Mina.

The other, Mei Ran, is a female vampire who appears in front of Akira to help him at the most opportune moments, using her hard candies as weapons. She’s saved Akira on a couple occasions and played a brief role in episode 7 without appearing, as her hard candy deflected one of Mina’s blade stabs. She’s an anime-only character, so no one really knows anything about her or what her motivations are yet.

Anyway, episode 7 ended very much like a series ending with a pretty tidy conclusion and credits during the final scene instead of an ED sequence, so episodes 8-12 will likely be a new “arc” with a whole new story. I believe/hope they will reveal more about Mei Ran, and explore further the history of Mina and Akira. I think Yuki’s story is pretty much over, because Akira belongs to Mina now, although I’m still curious about the state of their relationship before Akira had lost his memories.

Episode 8 is out already, so I’ll be watching it soon and reporting back.

A quick filler post on a few favorite twintails and the characters sporting them. I was thinking of going through the list of twintail characters from the Twintail Club over at My Anime List…but damn, that’s too many and too much time needed for a simple filler post. And so, what I decided to do [...]

Last week on Durarara!!, the cast explored the concept of searching for something, with Celty and her head forming the main plotline.  This week, we get to see exactly the origin of the current situation, and find out just a little more about the motivations of the characters.  In some ways, this is the most confusing episode yet.

We begin with Namie narrating a bit about how everyone in the world is fake, except for her, of course.  She talks to her brother the night before, but afterward Mika (Celty-head’s proper name) throws his cell phone in the fountain.  This allows her to pull Seiji off the grid.  Namie goes to Izaya for help, and while he works, she reminisces for a bit.  Her uncle obtained Celty’s head, and one day she brought her brother in to see it.  The head immediately mesmerized him.  Namie started to work at the family research center and moved the head there for examination.  Seiji stole the head and hid it in his house.  One day, a girl from school followed him home, and he assaulted her.  His sister came to clean up the mess, and thus, Celty-Mika was born.  Seiji and Mika stumble upon Shizuo and Celty.  The two men fight while Celty pursues the girl, but she loses her through Mikado’s interference.  Namie mobilizes her forces to search for Mika, while Izaya flips out over wanting everyone to love him.

First, let’s focus on Celty.  She came so close to retrieving her head here, but lost it.  When she goes home to talk to Shinra about it, she voices her fears that she has spent the last 20 years of her life searching, only to find her head attached to another body.  I’ve read around the forums where a lot of people are saying she just should have taken the head.  She certainly could do that, and had this event happened at the start of her search, she might have killed the girl.  As she has steadily become more human, she has also developed a sense of morality.  You can see this at work earlier when Celty saves the girl Izaya toyed with.  Rather than simply retrieving her head, she actually wants to talk to it.  She realizes her head might not want to return, though that’s definitely not what she wants.

Next up is the Seiji-Mika-Namie triangle.  Namie loves her brother romantically, and will do whatever she can to make him happy.  To that extent, she keeps him supplied with money and cleans up his messes, even approving the procedure to turn Mika into Celty.  Seiji acts incredibly unstable.  He reacts with quick violence when opposed and lacks the ability to articulate his thoughts.  Shizuo easily dispatches the.  Mika is the enigma here.  Perhaps the obvious solution here is that Seiji really did kill her and Namie brought her back to life.  On the other hand, several forums have pointed out how easily they could perform plastic surgery, and that the company can alter memories.  Seiji said that he thought he killed her.  In addition, a rival corporation is chasing the head, so it makes little sense to put it out in the public.  Finally, Mika recognizes Izaya’s text messages and trusts his guidance, which is something she couldn’t do if she didn’t have memories from before the procedure.  Now I’m really up in the air about which theory is correct.

Finally, we have to look at Izaya and Mikado.  Izaya works in information brokerage.  He also fancies himself a master strategist, with his “map” of characters represented by chess, shogi, and go pieces.  His ultimate goal is for everyone to love him.  Armed with this new information, you could reasonably conclude that he leads the Dollars.  However, that jumps the gun.  First, he provided the names of all the foreigners for Namie to capture.  While Izaya definitely enjoys screwing with people, the list affected members of the Dollars, so that move makes little sense from a management perspective.  Additionally, the ganguro girls showing up to distract Celty are just too forced and convenient to overlook.  We dismissed their claims of being in the Dollars before, but if Mikado leads them and made the call, their claims may not be so farfetched.  On that note, with Mika in Mikado’s possession, the plot and the narration are back in his court for the next episode.  I’m looking forward to it.

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yoshii had to save the day by infiltrating the school’s server room amidst a maelström of Evangelion references.  This week, his sister comes home from the States to check up on him and decide if he can still live on his own.  Big Sister is watching you, Yoshii.

Yoshii’s sister, Akira, shows up in a bathrobe, which she says she changed into on the train.  While she appears smarter than her brother does, she lacks even more in the common sense department at times.  She has come home to grade him on his living conditions, which starts a rolling counter that changes throughout the episode.  She forbids him from hanging out with girls, but… guys are okay.  Of course, this gets him in trouble, first at school when everyone thinks he’s hiding a girlfriend.  Then they all follow him home and that doesn’t settle well with big sis.  He devotes himself to his studies so his sister will get off his back and leave him alone.  Yoshii almost pulls it off too, except that he put the answers in the wrong boxes.  Oh well, there’s always the next exam.

Honestly, I found it difficult to write about this episode.  After last week’s excellent showing, I had hopes that this series could get back on track.  Unfortunately, all it does is retread the fanservicegasm of Episode 6, except with yaoi and incest references included.  On that note, I am tired of some character’s sister magically showing up to try to throw a wrench in the workings of a show.  It works well sometimes, but in this case, it feels like some shiny distraction to keep us from noticing the lack of comedic substance.  Maybe if Yoshii had talked about his sister in the past it would be different, but not even the cast knew he had siblings.  On the positive side, it did show that Yoshii’s fits of brilliance aren’t just a coincidence.  He can perform well if he just puts himself to task.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling the writers will immediately shunt that revelation off to the side like so much in this series.  This week wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible; it was just decent.

Editor’s note: To clarify, I’m not mad because of the lack of plot, I’m mad because they played the “sister card” cop-out completely straight.  I felt the same way about Hanamaru Kindergarten when Tsuchi’s sister showed up, except Hanamaru handled it better.

XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD ~~~~~~~<3 Normal Face: Cute~<3 Menacing Face: Lovely~<3 Blushing Face: HHHGGGGNNNHHH~~~~<3 Tomomi is always in control and always with her head up high, so it was a treat seeing her unable to hide her embarrassment when Akiharu told her he wanted to be her wife! XD P.S: For the rest [...]

While I could have continued to talk about Klaus and Kureha in my Episode 09 post, I figured I could do better by devoting a post to them alone.  Kureha holds Klaus up as an idol, and very clearly has a crush on him.  On the other hand, Klaus is nowhere near the man she thinks he is.  The episode delivers a contrast of the idealized hero with the realistic hero.

First, we have Kureha’s idol.  Right off the bat, she calls him the Desert Wolf, as well as Miracle Klaus.  This guy is so amazing that he has two nicknames!  He tattooed his platoon insignia on his chest, so you know this person is loyal to his comrades and takes his duties seriously.  We also have Kureha’s testimony from episode 05.  There, she says the Major once crossed a desert in a tank with no supplies.  It took him three days and at the end of the journey, he took down an entire enemy fortress!  Klaus is a man’s man and fits the ideal heroic image almost to a T.  Clearly, he would be right at home in an action flick or an old war movie.

Klaus the Courier does not even come close to this image.  He’s shy and bad with words, so he can never find a way to tell Kureha he’s not the person she really idolizes.  He has more than a problem with speaking.  He also fears dangerous situations.  He’s so scared of sidling back up the rock wall that he sends Kureha ahead of him.  For those of you keeping track, she is not only a girl, she is also one-third his age!  When the rock slide strands the pair during the typhoon, he has no great plan to escape and consigns himself to their fate.  He does a good job of mustering some false bravado to cheer her up, but you can tell he doesn’t truly feel that way.

When the trumpet blares with a message of hope, though, he pulls himself together and vows to protect Kureha.  When the anchor fires he springs into action to secure it, but the unthinkable occurs.  The ledge starts to break apart, with Kureha stuck on the wrong side.  Would he let his fear get the better of him and leave her to die?  No, he puts himself into danger, reaching out to save her.  Yet he still can’t quite reach, and his half of the ledge drops into the torrent as well.  Somehow, he manages to pull her out of the water, and just before she collapses, Kureha tells him that he’s still the man she admires most.  The old wimp of a courier has become a hero.

Why don’t we hear more about this type of hero?  When we watch an anime, read a book, or view any other medium, we look for a specific type of person.  We want to see the man or woman who can give a stirring speech, rallying the forces of good in their darkest hour.  We want to see a person who puts their life on the line and ultimately prevails.  We want Kamina!  We want Saber!  We want this ideal hero, in the process glossing over the details.  In short, reality is unrealistic.  Take some time to notice the details.  Kamina maintains a constant sense of bravado so Simon can believe in him.  In reality, Kamina fears death, and he actually looks up to Simon ever since the kid saved his life.  Saber has her greatness thrust upon her when Britain needs a ruler.  Throughout her reign she dealt with feelings of inferiority, and even while dying reflected only on her failures and wished for a different life.

The idealized hero has no place in reality.  There isn’t a single person out there that wakes up in the morning, decides they’re going to save the world, and then does it.  That person exists in only one realm: fiction.  A true hero is a person just like you and I.  They live.  They fear.  They bleed.  They die.  What perhaps makes them different is that when faced with insurmountable odds they can swallow their fear and ignore the pain to protect those precious to them.  Even if only for a second, one person can make a world of difference.  Klaus closes with these words:

Listen up young lady.  What someone watching sees and what the person front and center feels are completely different things.  The glasses we call admiration are always out of focus.

The experience doesn’t magically transform him.  He’s still a coward.  With those words, though, you have to reflect upon the legendary Desert Klaus.  Was he really this great hero like the history books read?  Alternatively, was he just a normal kid that repeatedly found himself in impossible situations?  Perhaps he crossed that desert without any supplies, not out of a sense of duty, but because he had no other choice.  We probably will never know.  What I do know is that Klaus the Courier is a true hero.

Yay for Recycling The Chest Wars Begins! This is an interesting idea concocted by Panther from the Deathseeker. Basically, we’re supposed to write about what types of breast we like and choose a faction, either the Boob Lovers Side or the DFC Lovers Side. I have written about breast before, about HUEG BEWBS. This is basically a [...]

Last week on Sora no Woto, Kanata stared at a telephone for 18 minutes, though the call at the end ended up being somewhat important.  This week kicks the drama back into gear with a life-threatening typhoon, as well as spotlighting themes of both depression and hope.

The episode starts in the garden, and while the girls work, Rio starts playing a jazzy blues piece on her trumpet.  Along with this, Kanata notices that Rio is becoming detached and depressed, though Kureha waves off her concern.  Klaus knocks on the door in the middle of a typhoon, and he bears a high priority message for Rio.  He stays the night, but soon after Yumina comes seeking aid.  Seiya has gone missing.  The troops mobilize, with Klaus and Kureha finding Mishio, and then Seiya.  They successfully get him to safety, but a rock slide destroys their path.  While they await rescue, Kureha notices the Major lacks the tattoo that “Miracle Klaus” should have.  With the townspeople’s aid, Noël mobilizes the tank to fire an anchor.  Klaus protects Kureha and returns her safely.

First, it’s time to focus a little more on Rio.  The blues represent sorrow and sadness, true to their name, and Rio certainly acts the part.  She’s not picky with her food like usual, and Filicia notes that she’s been forgetting things recently.  The two senior officers share some level of confidence since Filicia vows to continue covering her mistakes.  Additionally, we see that Iliya signed the letters Rio has read throughout the series.  She likely continues to read them to keep some link to the dead princess alive, so she probably hasn’t reached closure.  Indeed, when she sees the rapids the typhoon has created, she immediately flashes back to Iliya’s casket.  The phone call from her father and the message she receives only exacerbates the problem.  Right before she opens the message, the emergency calls her away.  All of this stress finally causes her to snap about how she hates children, especially disobedient ones.  Filicia calms her down, but that leaves us with a question.  Did Iliya die trying to save a child?

Despite the depressing mood Rio exerts, we also see the other side of the coin.  Hope still exists, and  nature repairs itself.  Klaus takes a moment to look at the growing wheat fields on his way to the base, and the orphans admire their small garden of eggplants.  We also see Noël’s experience in the garden with a pill bug.  With the level of surprise she displays, you have to wonder if this is first time she’s ever seen a pill bug, and perhaps it represents life returning to the area.  Seiya even wants to risk his life to save the eggplants he planted.  While that’s clearly stupid in the grand scheme of things, on a basic level, these plants represent life that he and his friends have nourished and sustained.  They serve as stark contrast to the barren wastes of No Man’s Land.

Even more significant, though, is the tank itself.  The tank largely represents war, and we saw clearly the devastation they can cause in Filicia’s flashback.  Recall way back in episode 4 that Noël feared the use of her machines to kill people.  Kanata reassures her by saying she’s sure people used the tank to help people.  You can say what you will about her ditziness at times, but Kanata hides a great deal of perception.  That perception pays off when Noël uses the tank to save the two soldiers.  The show’s message between the two episodes is clear: the tool is not the problem, rather, it is the person who wields it.  Even though people generally build tanks for warfare, with a little thought a person can use it for a peaceful purpose.  I imagine the experience put Noel’s mind a little at ease.

I would love to talk for a bit about Klaus and Kureha, but this post is already becoming quite long.  Perhaps I’ll revisit them later.  The next episode’s title is Departure – When the First Snow Falls.  We know the nations have had little luck with the peace talks, so it’s probable that war will break out again, sweeping up our cast.  It also implies that winter is fast approaching.  If history has taught us anything, winter warfare always causes unnecessary expenses in resources, as well as human lives.