The past week has been absolutely crazy.  I haven’t had much time for myself between throwing myself at my senior project and visiting my relatives in the neighboring state.  However, I did manage to watch most of the shows I’m following this season.  I still have a bit of catching up to do, especially with Moshidora’s slightly unique airing schedule.  It hasn’t stopped me from compiling another list of personal highlights for the week.  This week, I’m highlighting Denpa Onna, Dog Days, C, and Hanasaku Iroha.

Denpa Onna – Losing Control

So Makoto has come up with this brilliant idea to shake Erio loose from her alien theory.  He’s going to scare the hell out of her by riding down a hill on his bike at top speed, then swerving at the last moment.  Unfortunately, either he doesn’t understand physics, or he has no common sense.  It’s already difficult to stop the bike normally, but now he’s got another person’s mass to overcome as well…

For the love of God, ABORT!

When he realizes his mistake, he freaks out.  Then, he figures his only option is to go completely balls to the wall and jump his bike.  Even when you’ve lost control of the situation, charging straight through it might be the best option.  They get soaked, but at least they’re not dead!

Dog Days – _____ Has Entered the Battle!

To me, Dog Days resembles Dynasty Warriors.  If you’ve never played the game, I mean it’s technically terrible but highly entertaining anyway.  They also both rely on Hero characters who can completely dominate the battleground (like Sengoku Basara).  Whenever a new Hero enters the battle, they can’t help but show off their abilities.  This week, we got three!

Please welcome a trio of Femme Fatales.

Of the three girls, Yuki is easily my favorite.  First, sorry pirate lovers, but ninjas are awesome.  Second, she’s not a fan of being interrupted, as the unfortunate nameless captain found out the hard way.  Third, she can team up with Rico to rain destruction from the heavens.  I hope she sticks around for the rest of the series.

C – He Wept Bitterly

CPAnime on this blog has covered the info dump aspects of the episode, and Thoughtcannon at MSIUD thoroughly covered the morality aspect.  I latched on to the resolution of Souchiro and Kimimaro’s conversation.  Souchiro found out his father used to visit the Financial District as well.  He was initially successful, but eventually lost everything and resorted to suicide…

I miss you... dad...

When someone seemingly abandons you, it’s easy to demonize them in your mind.  He pursued his own interests.  He was selfish.  It’s not my fault.  I can wash my hands of it.  Kimimaro’s explanation really gets to the kid.  Losing someone because they wanted the best for you is so much harder to accept.  It shattered Souchiro’s closure.  He dismisses Mashu, sits down, and weeps.  If C does nothing else right for the rest of the season, at least in that instant, it moved me.

Hanasaku Iroha – Oyasumi Ohayo

I’ll close the post out on a lighter note.  Ohana has struggled to get Minko to like her.  I don’t think it will ever happen, given the great lengths Minko has gone to to hate her.  It certainly didn’t help when Ohana insulted her crush without even realizing it.  That unfortunate exchange led to this brief but delightful scene…

If it didn't work the first time...

...what makes you think the second will be better?

You have to admire Ohana’s drive, even when it comes to making friends.  I kind of hope she never succeeds in this case, especially if the tension between them keeps making scenes like this happen.

That wraps up my thoughts for this week.  If you’ve got any comments or highlights of your own, please, feel free to share them!

So the the anime-based music video for Perfect Day the top track to their latest album Today is a Beautiful Day was released a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty phenomenal. Telling the story of two girl friends who somehow grew apart, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another anime work based on a Supercell song. And it simply puts Black Rock Shooter to shame.

First of all, look at the art. Just look at it! It’s beautiful. The sparkles and feathers, the bloom and lighting give everything an almost angelic feeling. The shakycam effect is overused a bit, but for the most part it works, because the moving camera adds just a touch of reality to this world. Some of the backdrops are gorgeous, with the crisp detail and lighting reminding me of Makoto Shinkai’s works.

Like Supercell’s song’s tend to do, it captures perfectly the emotions without necessarily going into the details of what happened. The innocence of childhood friendship. The pain of having to say good bye. The shock, and then gratitude at the sudden encounter. These emotions feels stronger and more genuine than whatever Black Rock Shooter had to offer with its story about Yomi getting jealous of Mato.

And I absolutely love the blue haired girl’s design! The hard angles, especially in the hair, remind me a bit of the characters from Shiki, but they’re not nearly as harsh. I could get lost in those wondrous round blue eyes. The simplicity of her clothing is appealing, and the little flourishes like her boots or the tight loops of her necklace stand out well against them.

But what I love most are the bandages on her legs. They’re not wrapped bandages like the kind you see on Abiru or Rei, but rather the rectangular stick on kind. And they’re just plastered all over the place around her knees, as if willy nilly. Instead of giving the image of weakness as bandages tend to do, they give her a tough and masculine one, like Lark with her chipped tooth.

Anyway, Today is a Beautiful Day came out a couple of days ago, and I highly recommend it. 6 of the 13 tracks are songs that were released on singles before – most of which I talked about in my 12 Days of Christmas post – but the new tracks are great. And the final track, Watashi e (To Me) is a follow up to Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, the Bakemonogatari ED, providing some concluding remarks to that song. You can find translations to most of the new songs on Words of My Life.

I bought the limited edition with the DVD on YesAsia, but the regular edition is there as well.