Moar graphs!

FINAL EDIT:So after I thought I fixed this post last night, I wake up this morning only to notice that the links from animeblogger and animenano 404′d and the post itself had nearly half the content cutoff, orz. So for the last time, after yet another rewrite, I’ll repost this. If it screws up again then I’ll take it as a sign that it was destined for phail anyways.

Though the reference post was a few months before I hit the blogging scene, I always thought it was a hilariously nerdy idea, ridiculous even. Well skip ahead half a year and here I am carrying out said idea. The fall season probably wasn’t the greatest one to start off with because numerous shows haven’t hit their completion/halfway points yet, but I’ll make do with what I have.

Kanon 2006

Average episode rating: 9.00

As most entries here at Ani-Ari start, Kanon is first up. It’s the top ranking anime this season from a statistical point of view and with good cause. A remake of the an already popular anime and even more popular ero-game, and backed by the production company which turns everything it touches into an instant cash cow; Kanon was made for success. Overhyped? You bet. Overrated? I’d say only slightly.

Kanon started off with a bang…well, a glomp followed by a bang. The introduction of the taiyaki thieving loli Ayu with her multiple “Uguu~”s as well as Nayuki, both sleeping moe mode and her bra scene, made for an excellent start to the season.

The episodes to follow saw the introduction of many more characters: Kaori, Shiori, Mai, Sayuri, et al (Kitagawa?) to form the harem affectionately known as “Sad girls in the snow”. The rapid introduction of multiple bishoujo laid out KyoAni’s difficult task in ensuring that they each got a respectable amount of screentime and a faithful translation from their ero-game arc.

And so episode 3 started things off with the introduction of Sawatari Makoto, the original lolikit. Her arc was centered around the discovery that she is really a shapeshifting fox whom Kyon’ichi met many years ago and has carried a grudge because he abandoned her when he had to leave. This portion of Kanon has the most fluctuating ratings because I wasn’t 100% satisfied with how KyoAni decided to portray the events. Makoto’s degradation was drawn out and over dramatized, whereas her departure, which should have been over dramatized, was given an uplifting feel. Some people thought this was a good move, but looking back, I would have liked the arc to be a little shorter and more of an emotional suckerpunch at the end. Though at the time of watching Makoto’s arc ending I gave it high ratings, I’m sure there must have been a reason so I won’t change them.

After a half episode transition where Kyon’ichi rapidly gets over Makoto, we’re thrown into Kawasumi Mai’s arc. The ratings of these episodes are consistently high because I feel the episode pacing is being done exceptionally well. While I prefer Makoto’s character over Mai and Sayuri, the pacing of the latter arc has been much better so far. There aren’t any needless filler shopping scenes or the reading of the same manga thrice, there has been continuous development and action throughout. Plus it has the waltz scene, made of so much win that it has been compared to SHnY’s “Live Alive”, though eventually declared inferior.

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for some random yuri

Kanon’s technical aspects are obviously above average, being a KyoAni production and all. Animation and character designs are beautiful, hell the supporting cast of Kanon looks better than the main cast of YoakeNa and Kujibiki Unbalance put together. Music is also great, lots of classical pieces that add to the impact of the scenes, lawl @ Canon in D.

With the highest ratings and comparatively low deviation, Kanon is definitely one of the best animes this season, just take a look at blog aggregators every Friday and see count how many Kanon posts there are. Although statistically the best, I personally do not feel that Kanon is THE best anime this season, mostly because of it’s remake status and the fact it’s so overhyped causes some bias against it. It remains to be seen how Kanon will continue to perform, it’s living up to its expectations so far, but the Nayuki/Ayu arc will be the climax of this series, to pass final judgment before that is impossible. I look forward to reviewing the latter half of Kanon in the winter 2006 post, should this blog still live at that point =D.

PS: Yes, the perfect rating on episode 5 is solely because of the bath scene :3

Gift ~ Eternal Rainbow ~

Average episode rating: 7.79

Second under the microscope is Gift ~ Eternal Rainbow ~, my personal favourite amongst the original series (that is, excluding: Kanon, Death Note and Negima). Gift is about a town who’s inhabitants have a strange power called Gift, when a Gift is given under mutual feelings, a miracle occurs that makes the giver/receiver happy. When given under one sided or malicious feelings, the Gift goes berserk and causes pain and misery in an often ironic fashion.

Gift has the beginnings of a typical school romance and so I wasn’t very impressed, however as the graph shows, that quickly changed as the rating quickly ascends and peaks at episode 3. This is, of course, due to the appearance of Riko, a goddess among siscons. Soon after her introduction Kirino is pushed out of the picture and Haruhiko’s love for his imouto comes rushing back. Episode 3 tops out because of Riko’s implied confession and Haruhiko’s gutsy direct confession soon after.

However, things take a drastic turn for the worse at this point. Riko initially turns down Haruhiko and the series suddenly turns into a pile of garbage, filler like episodes with characters who have potential that is quickly wasted with irrelevant sidestories. These episodes only serve as minor build up to the upcoming angst, providing a bit of background on the power of Gift and the happiness/pain that can come with it.

The revival of the series comes at episode 8 when Haruhiko and Riko are on their school trip and they reconcile their love for each other. This episode also sets in motion the series of events that would take the Riko, Haruhiko, Kirino love triangle on an angst filled rollercoaster of emotion. Prior to leaving Kirino asks for a love charm from a temple as a souvenir, having started his relationship with Riko, Haruhiko denies her request and all hell breaks loose.

The following episodes are full of drama which, although corny at some times, was my main draw to the anime. Sure I knew that it was going to be a Riko ending but every passing week left me wondering how far Kirino would go to get Haruhiko back. Though I was a little disappointed that she didn’t go Kaede-level psycho, I was still quite pleased with the episodes leading up to the ending and the ending itself. Though the dip at the end is because of the rather cliche final episode, renewal of friendship is fine and all, but the speed at which Kirino forgave the two lovebirds is rivaled only by how fast Light went from wussy civilian to murderous mastermind, but that’s for another entry.

All in all an excellent series. Animation wasn’t spectacular but it got the job done, gigantor eyes though O_O. Music was mediocre and repetitive, but again, it fit the situation and didn’t detract from the experience. This anime isn’t going to top any blogger’s year end list, but it was an entertaining watch and worthy of entering my archives.

If this turns out to be a surprise turnaround ending OVA a la Kashimashi, I’m going to hurt someone

Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na ~Crescent Love~

Average episode rating: 5.21

EDIT: In the original post Adun commented that I was extremely lenient with the ratings for YoakeNa. Realizing that it may give the wrong impression to other possible viewers I lowered the scores to reflect my true thoughts. Sorry YoakeNa, reality is harsh, but hey 5.21 is still a pass =D

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: Damn that’s a long title. Thankfully this should be the last entry I’ll ever have to write on this series. YoakeNa is the definition of wasted potential. I don’t understand how something with such revered source material turned out so horribly, I probably should have taken that opening sepia-toned battle sequence as a hint of the horror that was to follow, _|￣|O.

I went into YoakeNa expecting a romance drama with a touch of fantasy and A LOT of Feena, so much so that I became a self-proclaimed member of the FFF. What were fans greeted with instead? A LARGE SPHERICAL GREEN ORB! Yes the cabbage that has become 4chan /a/’s idol, competition for GARcher in Saigar, and the symbol for poor animation quality.

YoakeNa had a rocky (but full of potential) beginning, filler-esque middle, craptacular main plot and a WTF deus ex machina end rivaled only by Mai HiME for the worst “they should have stayed dead” finale. The final scene caused me to tear with joy, not because Tatsuya and Feena got married “many years later” but because the series was finally over and it was purging the phail with tears.

YoakeNa has been a punching bag all season, taking abuse from many a blogger, so why did Danny, Hinano, myself and countless others keep watching? Train wreck syndrome. It was an anime so bad that you couldn’t help but keep watching, carrying only the SLIGHTEST glitter of hope that it would turn around. But then Tatsuya’s dad shows up and you realize you’ve just wasted four hours of your life in 20 minute intervals.

I think it was Kurogane who said something to the effect of: Bad art mars good drama. That was exactly the case here, there were some parts that I wanted to take seriously, but the quality of the animation was just so detracting that I couldn’t enjoy it. The wreathlit arc brought potential salvation with an interesting character and an ever so slight recovery of animation, but the Jurgen shows up and it all went to hell.

With such revered source material, and Feena, it really was a shame to see YoakeNa go down the path it did. Who knows, maybe one day it’ll get a remake and become the success we all know it could have been *nudges KyoAni*.

- – -

Well, it took three rewrites and a whole lot of frustration, but I’m finally done with this post. It was a little longer than what I had originally planned, especially my YoakeNa rant, but it’s a decent start. The graphing and analysis takes a bit more effort than I thought it would, but it’s fun to look back at a season and try to break down what I was thinking at the time.

Due to the fansub delay with many of the shows this season I’ll split these posts into blocks of three. Death Note, OtoBoku and either Geass or Tokimemo should be up next. Until then!

~ Shirukii ~

Click to enlarge

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL! Another week has passed and some fansubs have decided play catch up as GNU fansubs releases 3 eps of OtoBoku and YourMom finishes off YoakeYori, finally ending the suffering.

Kanon 13: 9/10

Pikyuu~! Check here for a more in depth review, but more of the same from Kanon, which is of course a good thing. Screentime all around with lots of Sayuri and Mai, some obligatory Nayuki and Ayu, and disappointingly scarce love for Shiori, no one cares about Kaori.

Animation took a slight hit to recover from the budget eating waltz from last ep, but this is KyoAni we’re talking about.

Death Note 12: 9/10

Another solid episode from Death Note, although my level of excitement for this show has severely declined after the numerous spoilers I’ve been subjected to. Having a rough idea of what happens, who dies and etc is a real killjoy in terms of suspense.

However, as mentioned many times before, it’s the battle of wit between L and Kira that keeps me watching. The introduction of Misa has scared the crap (literally?) out of L and has caused Kira to panic because…well, she’s an idiot (comparatively speaking, Hirano Aya <3). I'm looking forward to how she shifts the balance of power around and whether she will use or be used by Kira and L.

Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru 8, 9, 10: 7/10, 8/10, 8.5/10 (respectively)

OtoBoku was losing much of its appeal lately, but the school festival brought it roaring back to life. Takako has become one of my favourite bishoujo of the year, sorry Mariya but the red head tsunderekko needs moar love. Plus, Mariya must maintain the long standing tradition of osananajimi by getting figuratively screwed and cast aside. Hopefully this series rides the TakakoXMizuho relationship to the end with some Mariya angst to spice things up, I’m still waiting for an osananajimi to out psycho Psycho Kaede.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na 11, 12: 6/10, 8/10 (respectively)

Fina-freaking-ly over, this show had so much potential and by episode 3 it had succeeded in ruining it all, with animation that could only come from giving a 5 year old child a pencil and paper during an epileptic seizure. WTF at the deus ex machina ending, Tatsuya should have stayed dead, that would have made for an angsty yet fitting ending as he gives his life for his beliefs. But noooo, random alien technology, headed by his father no less, saves his life and the live happily ever after. *FFF membership on suspension until I learn japanese and play the ero-game*

So with the year’s end and the fall season coming to a close, I might gather some energy for some wrap up posts. Maybe I’ll hop on the bandwagon and do one of those trendy “best anime of the year” posts that have been going around? In any case, have a safe and happy new year, don’t drink and watch anime or make insane resolutions that you know you can’t keep. ^^

~ Shirukii ~

Click to enlarge

May not look like much, but this is the replacement for those lengthy episode summary posts. That’s not to say I’ll stop doing episode summaries and analysis completely, but they will be scarce and random. Instead I’ve decided to employ a ranking system, it’s pretty self explanatory, series in the right column, episodes in the top row and rankings fill the cross sections. I’ve also included running averages and standard deviations, the latter being a measure of how tight the cluster of rankings are. Basically, the larger the number, the more inconsistent the ranking of the series.

[aside] I’ve heard many conflicting opinions on this fall season, some are saying it’s been excellent while others are cursing the mediocrity. Personally, I feel it’s been a decent season. Aside from heavy hitters the likes of Kanon and Death Note there have been a few diamonds in the rough such as Gift ~Eternal Rainbow~ and Asatte no Houkou. However, one thing that leads me to think this season isn’t doing so well is the speed of the fansubs. I have only been watching ongoing series for about a year – a year and a half (previously having just marathoned completed series) so I’m not entirely sure if this is normal. But this is the first season where I’ve noticed that more series that are lagging behind in terms of fansubs. Is this because fansubbers have lives as well and went through exams the same as the rest of us or is it that the popularity of the series and therefore anticipation of the subs is at a low? [/aside]

Hopefully someone has an answer to that, it’s been bugging me for a while. But I digress, onwards!

Kanon

The above image alone is enough to convince the majority of its awesomeness. The Kanon remake is one of the series I find myself anxiously anticipating each week, and having already watched the original that’s quite a feat. With multiple moe modes centered around the overlying theme of sad girls in the snow accompanied by KyoAni animation, how can you lose? On that note, despite living in Toronto, there’s been a serious lack of snow thus far. Plenty of sad girls though, sporting the “I just got wtfpwned by that exam” look.

Death Note

Extreme writing, extreme potato chip eating, extreme cell phone calls, and something about the rise of a God, Death Note has a lot going for it. The amount of intellectual fencing that goes on between Kira and L is what draws me to this show. Both risking their lives as they play a game of wit and tact where the slightest oversight could be fatal, one of the best plots I’ve seen since Monster. Too bad I’ve been spoiled multiple times by readers of the manga…bastards. The introduction of Misa in the latest ep was interesting, it’s sure to change the entire dynamic between Kira and L. She sounds too much like Haruhi though =\

Asatte no Houkou

This show surprised me, I hadn’t started watching until episode seven or so, I decided to dl it on a whim. I was taken aback at how much I liked it. The pacing and style reminds me of Honey and Clover, though the story is quite different, a slice of life drama with a twist of fantasy. The characters are what really draw me in though, while not being overly complex, they each have their own intricacies and interesting pasts. On a related note, this is one of the few series where I’m not rooting for the imouto, Shouko FTW! It may have something to do with the lingering loli image of Karada, I’m usually all for lolis but she had very little moe appeal. Kudos for charging head on into a life without her Hiro-nii though.

Gift ~ Eternal Rainbow ~

Ah, here’s my siscon fix for the season. Gift, in my eyes, ranks as the best original harem/love romance of the season. It’s what DCSS should have been, Riko has looks one step down of Kotori and a personality one step down of Nemu, great combo. Kirino can go die though, ffs she’s annoying, perhaps it’s because she has the same seiyuu as Aisia whom I also disliked, but I just can’t stand her. Though she is a catalyst for RikoXHaruhiko, so despite not liking her, I will admit that she is a necessity to the plot. If you aren’t watching this, give it a shot, if anything it’ll bring back happy memories of Da Capo…or incite murderous rage from Kotori fanboys.

Negima!?

Following neither the manga nor the previous Mahou Sensei Negima series, this show is all sorts of crazy. Much like PPD it’s filled with seemingly random, yet hilarious, arcs as well as the ever changing blackboards. Not the best show of the season, but it sure is a looker, the perfect anime if you’re looking to stave off boredom for half an hour. Ep 4-6 arc was made of pure winnage, though lacked SecchanXKonoka love =(

Tokimeki Memorial

Tokimemo started out as a off the wall school comedy reminiscent of School Rumble and while it retains some of that randomness, it becomes more predictable by the minute and in my opinion should have chosen to go full harem or full sukuran clone. What’s left is a decent story about your typical undeserving and indecisive male lead with three bishoujos competing for his love. The energetic sports bishoujo Tsukasa, the shy yet dedicated Mina and the composed ojou-sama/iinchou Sayuri. We seem to be heading for a Sayuri ending, which disappoints me because I’ve fallen into the Tsukasa camp. Tsukasa FTW! Though she seems to have a couple loose screws o.O

Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru

Psst. Mizuho, you’re covering the wrong area. Mizuho does not have a penis, cast those worries aside and fap with pride! I was expecting a Strawberry Panic replacement with OtoBoku, but alas, hopes of yuri have faded to nothing but a dream. That’s alright though, onwards to a Takako ending! That’s not a spoiler, just my hopeful victor.

Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro na Crescent Love

How did an inanimate green sphere get nominated for Saigar? Decent story, terrible animation, hyped ending, I’m still puzzled as why I continue watching Yoakena. I’ll attribute it to the “so bad it’s good” Train Wreck effect. There’s plenty of drama and angst, but the poor animation quality overshadows all good aspects and the overall effect is ruined. I have a very difficult time ranking this show, thus it has the highest standard deviation of the bunch.

Happiness

Watarse Jun. That is all.

Dropped:
- Kujibiki Unbalance (terrible characters)
- Lovedol (terrible everything, exempt: “I sing for revenge” lawl)
- Su(mo*6) (couldn’t get into it, possible revisit in the future)

Possible pick ups:
- Code Geass (something about pizza hut?)
- Pumpkin Scissors (despite the name…)
- Hatakari Man
- Souko no Strain
- Haruhi Live Action porn

Recommendations on these would be great. Other than that, I’m absolutely clueless as to what’s coming up in the winter season, anyone willing to fill me in on what looks to be good?

Til next time!
~ Shirukii ~

That’s probably what I look like after watching each ep of YoakeYori

Ok, so as much as many others and I have been bashing this show, it hasn’t reached complete train wreck status just yet, last week’s beach episode proved that. However, beach episodes are relatively hard to screw up as it’s just filler. This week’s ep finally got into some major plot developments and was the make or break point of the series.

The episode begins with some high political tension as the moon and the earth try to reconcile some of their differences. Delegates from each side have a heated debate, supposedly about food and resources being scarce on the moon. The representatives of the moon feel like they’re getting screwed over and the representatives from the earth feel the moon is demanding too much, it’s just like real politics! XD The debate is calmed down when the tea arrives and the earth president cuts in nonchalantly to break the tension.

But of course, no one (besides me >_>) gives a damn about politics, we want Feena!

And Feena is what we got, albeit so horribly generic that it was somewhat painful to watch. Typical harem cliches were used to suggest FeenaXTatsuya, ie. hands touching as they reach to grab something, Tatsuya walking in on Feena in the bathroom, Feena putting her toothbrush in his cup, Tatsuya buying her a cute coffee mug…etcetc. But however unconvincing, at least they seem to be progressing a bit.

Or so you’d think! Until political pressure gets in the way as the relationship between the two begins to raise some eyebrows. It’s suggested that some tragic historic event was based around the same situation.

This is where Wreath comes in, FINALLY! Goth lolis ftw? She has a telepathic link with some unknown voice that tells her to disrupt the relationship between Tatsuya and Feena so that history doesn’t repeat itself. Now I’m not sure how getting hit by an ice cream projectile, eating at Samon’s and almost getting owned by a car accomplishes that…but at least she got some screen time!

The episode ends with Tatsuya getting lectured by his onee-san and Feena gets lectured by Karen on their growing relationship. This causes the two begin to distance themselves, with Feena being unable to even look Tatsuya in the eyes =(.

Thoughts

Another meh-ish episode, as is to be expected at this point. The attempt at plot and character development wasn’t a complete failure, but the genericness of the montage killed it. The lovey-dovey suggestive scenes that were used have all been played out before in mass and since it lacked a creative spin or high quality animation it was rather unimpressive. But generic development is better than no development at all…I think.

The political aspects of the show are actually quite interesting and I’m saddened that they probably won’t be using it as a plot device very often. I think they would have been much better off restricting the TatsuyaXFeena relationship politically rather than using some unknown historic tragedy, which I’m betting is Tatsuya’s father and Feena’s mother. I’m hoping for a best case scenario of them using this and combining it with political pressure to cause maximum angst! This show has a serious lack of angst =(

Although I said I’d try to not comment on it, animation disappointed yet again. The character designs continue to be generally deformed and inconsistent. Backgrounds are at a complete loss, it’s been a while since they’ve introduced any new venues or done any revamps to the existing ones. But lacking animation can always be overcome by superior plot and character, so I STILL have faith that we’ll get a ZnS-like ending.

Not much else to say regarding this episode or the series in general, I don’t know why I’m still watching it but I’m too far in to drop it now XD Though I wish I had chosen to blog Gift ~ Eternal Rainbow instead, it’s far more interesting and has Da Capo vibes

Wreath ftw! She even has a passable chibi form…the fork on the other hand =\

~ Shirukii ~

Slight redemption!

While still far from perfection, YoakeYori is showing faint signs of redemption as its beach episode did not end up as a complete disaster. Though I’m still wary about the series as a whole since it’s pretty difficult to screw up a beach episode. And with next week’s episode preview showing it to have the potential to be either excellent dramatic tension or more boring than a static physics lecture, I still remain tentative about the continuation of this series.

Pretty typical beach episode, a staple in most harems, which means an onslaught of swimsuit wearing bishoujos. Score. After a small scare with chibi trying to squeeze its way in during the opening moments we’re quickly back on track as the girls show off their ridiculously proportioned bodies one by one.

The predictable beach montage proceeds with shots of girls splashing each other, a swimming lesson and a perfectly broken watermelon.

The fun starts when Takano brings around a small boat, and I mean small, and somehow crams the 10 of them on it for a cruise around the island. The ship promptly sinks and Tatsuya’s harem ends up stranded on an island. The initial panic that is associated with the possibility of death is subdued by Feena who reasons that they will be rescued soon enough once they notice she’s missing and so they continue to enjoy their vacation.

We get some plot development as Tatsuya and Feena get some alone time. As Tatsuya marvels at Feena’s determination in life he reaffirms his goal to make it to the moon one day. This causes a flashback to when he was little and met a purple haired loli who’s mom had just died, who coincidentally happened to be from the moon…who had royal escorts…*click* OMG FEENA!? Ignoring the perfect set up for a moonlit, seaside reunion kiss, Tatsuya opts to pinches her nose again. Lame.

The rest of the episode was kind of a blur, I was struggling to keep awake but I did manage to hang on to some of it. Something about Takano setting the whole thing up and the island not really being deserted. Some more Feena perfection as she masters swimming in a few days…aaaand I seem to remember some alcohol induced yuri, some alcohol induced yaoi and, of course, some obligatory Jin bashing.

Thoughts

Not the greatest beach episode ever, but not exactly a failure either. The animation and character designs were a VAST improvement from our lovable cabbage sphere, but nothing groundbreaking. And with the exception of Feena (who gave off kotori vibes) swimsuit designs were rather uninspired, which was disappointing.

Plot development was kind of iffy in this episode. I’d like to believe that Tatsuya is a fairly intelligent human being, and as such I fail to see how he could remember the childhood meeting in such detail and not piece together the connection to Feena. But I guess all is justified in the name of plot device, continuity just got massacred though =(.

Another gripe I have with the path that this show is going down is that there seems to be a serious lack of competition. Feena is already being built up as the clear winner. There was so much potential in a Natsuki vs Feena battle for Tatsuya’s feelings. Even though we all know that the childhood friend always loses to the newcomer, it still would have added some much needed drama into an otherwise static relationship plot. Not that I’m not happy to see Feena reigning supreme, but what good is victory if it’s handed to you on a silver platter, ne ojou-sama?

I’m finding it difficult to blog about YoakeYori, which is usually a sign that the series isn’t worth continuing. But conversely, there’s this part of me that has a faint hope that the ending will be awesome, not basing this on anything it’s just intuition. So I’ll stick with it, it may not see blogging completion on an episode by episode basis, but I think I’ll watch it to the end and at least do a wrap up.

The August Soft production team needs to visit a real beach

The wonders of alcohol

Uguu~

For Haruhi’s sake, KISS HER DAMNIT!

~ Shirukii ~

Thank Haruhi-sama this scene wasn’t chibified

I’ve been on the fence as to whether or not to continue YoakeYori for a while now. Much potential seems to be going to waste, but I still have this fleeting hope that it’ll pull a ZnT and rock us with the ending. Until then I’ve decided to just turn my brain off and enjoy the ride XD.

Filler episode this time around. Plot, relationships and the likes take the backseat as complete randomness takes over. The beginning of the ep hinted that we may see some Feena character development with the numerous allusions to politics and Feena’s mother. But alas, chibi mode kicks in and ruins all hopes of serious development.

Ignoring the potentially awesome flashback setup the previous scene had going for it, we join Feena, Natsuki and Tatsuya reminiscing about the past. Suddenly they spot a dog drowning in the river, Feena heroically jumps in to save it. With unparalleled grace and ease, Feena glides through the water, snags the puppy and rips through the current back to shore as Natsuki and Tatsuya look on in awe. Chibi mode butts in and ruins what could have been a suspense filled riverside rescue.

The reality is that Feena can’t swim and had to be rescued by Tatsuya. With Feena laying unconscious on the riverbank and Natsuki KO’d by embarassment, Tatsuya knows what must be done and goes in for the CPR-chuu. But chibi mode rears its ugly head and destroys yet another generic, yet potentially entertaining, scene. *sigh*

After taking a shower Tatsuya enters his room to find Takano using his TV to watch a collaboration of the female cast of YoakeYori taking baths. Only to disappear when Mai, Mia and Feena enter, leaving him with the blame.

The rest of the episode left my brain wanting to eat itself. Some randomness about Mia wanting to clean Tatsuya’s father’s study only to be stopped by a swarm of murderous locusts…or something along those lines. Toss in the worst Indiana Jones parody I’ve ever seen and yet another episode of YoakeYori whizzes by leaving me unimpressed and not exactly on the edge of my seat for the next release.

Thoughts

The one good thing I will say about this episode is that the animation quality has been bumped up back to an acceptable quality. The only problem with that is…THEY HAD TO RESORT TO ANIMATING HALF THE DAMN THING IN CHIBI! -_-” Everything is great in moderation, but when there’s this much SD being thrown around it just detracts from the overall enjoyment of the show.

The plot seems to be going nowhere despite the immense potential and the near perfect set ups. Relationship wise, everything is static, FeenaXTatsuya progressing at a snails pace, TatsuyaXNatsuki doesn’t even seem to be a possibility at this point. TatsuyaXMai shows some promise as she pins her half naked onii-chan down only to interrupted by Feena and Mia…

…what? >_<

I think YoakeYori still has the potential to turn itself around and become a great show, but right now its made of nothing but phail. But I shall persevere! So don’t lose hope everyone! The faith of the FFF will prevail!

The good

The bad

The sexually suggestive

If SD interferes with the next episode in any shape or form I shall be celebrating Watanagashi at August Soft’s studio

~ Shirukii ~

Random Expected, typical chibi!

Sporting uninspired plot devices, recycled jokes and noticeably lazy animation, the third installment of YoakeYori is the most unimpressive thus far. The episode starts off with an interesting premise, Tatsuya heads out early Sunday morning to work, leaving Feena confused about the meaning of a ‘job’. Curiosity in tow, she follows Tatsuya and watches as he goes about his daily routine at the restaurant.

Carrying obvious ulterior motives, Jin asks the curious Feena if she’d like to give working at the restaurant a trial run. Feena jumps at the proposition and ends up doing a flawless job at waitressing, much to the disappointment of Jin who was expecting horrible failure and the need for comforting afterwards.

Cutting his losses, Jin suggests Feena try her hand at cooking, and if Yakitake Japan! has taught us anything, the best way to hone cooking skills is to in contest form! The challenger? Master Carbon herself, Natsuki. Some pre-competition complications arise with the buying of ingredients at the same place and etc etc, nothing too interesting happens though.

Onto the actual competition, a blatant rip-off of Iron Chef, which I’ll assume was intentional…but not funny in the least. Feena continues her streak of perfection, beating out the competition (who manages to burn everything from salad to soup to cake) in every category.

However, Natsuki’s terrible cooking gets her some sympathy points from Tatsuya, who happily eats her charcoal-like food with a smile and words of encouragement. Feena shows her very first flaw, slight jealousy. And so in a desperate grasp for attention, Feena mimics Natsuki and burns next morning’s breakfast. Of course this works perfectly as she is treated to the same sympathetic and loving treatment Natsuki received the night prior.

Thoughts

Bah, despite my relative praise for the previous two episodes, I really can’t find any redeeming qualities in this one. The comedy was just plain uninspired, drawing off cliches from other animes (Yakitake style Iron Chef match up) and even recycling its own jokes several times (Natsuki paddle).

The base idea of having Feena work at the restaurant seemed like it was going in the right direction. I was thinking of something more along the lines of Jin’s fantasy, wherein Feena royally screws up everything she does and comes running to Tatsuya for help. But instead we saw her perfect ‘ojou-sama’ type personality bloom even further, and while there’s nothing wrong with this per se, it’s just unentertaining to watch such a perfect being float around.

The cooking contest was doomed to fail the moment it started imitating Iron Chef. I would have rather seen some struggling in Feena’s cooking prowess which could have led to a nice “Feena learns to cook” montage…but no, a few hours with a knife and a chopping board and she’s an expert.

After reading the nuances about animation on the previous episode I had decided not to judge the quality of the show based on its animation rather than its content…but come on, wth happened here. There were so many animation shortcuts it was difficult to watch. The inherent flaws in character design and detail stuck around from the previous episode, but further deteriorated by a blatant overuse of chibi scenes. I still maintain that content is far more important than animation, but when both are lacking, they do doubly the harm on one another.

We did get to see slight character and plot development between the Tatsuya-Natsuki-Feena triangle, but it was childish jealousy that ended up being the driving factor at the end. However, it in no way justifies the 20 minutes of filler that was endured beforehand.

Hopefully the next episode redeems this series and it becomes watchable again, because I’m not going to sit through another 9 filler episodes along these lines.

Old’d

69 episodes of Yakitake renders this parody utterly useless =(

~ Shirukii ~

Takano-san, approved!

*EDIT* After having it pointed out by Danny over at Novastorm and rewatching to verify, I just realized…the animation in this episode totally sucked. It wasn’t spectacular in the first episode either, but wow…what the hell happened lol. I guess I was too busy with the episode content wise I suppose.

The second episode of YoakeYori (alliteration ftw) begins by introducing Feena in all her seifuku glory. Having arrived and settled into her new housing, Feena gets ready for her first day at school. In typical fashion, Feena gets placed in the same class as Tatsuya and Natsuki. Oddly enough, there is no attempt to hide the fact that Feena is the Lunar Princess as it is told to the students right from the start.

The first half of the episode is pretty typical “A day in the life of…” progression. Feena is modeled as the perfect girl: top notch studies, skilled athlete and a beauty (to paraphrase Natsuki).

Having just had gym before the lunch period, the very hungry Natsuki, Tatsuya and Feena trio find themselves with no food and not enough time to get some. Enter Mia who, ignoring her hime’s orders, comes to the school. However, she brings food with her, so she is quickly forgiven. Toss in some Takano-san brand comedy, Tatsuya dubbing Natsuki “Master Carbon” for her ability to burn any food she makes and of course some random chibi and that we’re on to some more relevant plot progression

Being a princess Feena often has public duties to attend to, much to the dismay of Tatsuya, who has clearly fallen for her at this point. Feena struggles to balance her diplomatic and personal lives as Tatsuya tries to find some way he can help Feena. Unable to come up with anything major, he decides that all he can do is be there for her whenever she needs him, good times or bad. This is all done in a melodramatic and angsty style…which is completely ruined when Tatsuya’s habit kicks in and he pinches Feena’s nose XD

Thoughts

I liked this episode a lot better than the first. As I expected YoakeYori is shaping up to be a typical love comedy anime with the potential to go harem depending on Natsuki and the other girls.

I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence (hoping not) but it seems like male leads in harems are getting less wimpy. Kyon, Saito, Yuuichi and Tatsuya, to name a few, seem to be breaking the typical wussy mold that male harem leads usually fall into. Tatsuya isn’t exactly a playboy, but he’s clearly not afraid to speak his mind (ex. his critiques Feena’s seifuku look).

The pacing of the story seems to be doing fine so far. This episode saw Feena’s introduction to her school life, complications due to her political obligations and some nice FeenaXTatsuya development. Now if only Natsuki went psycho Kaede on us we’d have one hell of an anime XD Although we all know by now that childhood friends typically get screwed over…figuratively of course

The major complaint I have for YoakeYori, so far, is third party characters. The story is centering on Feena and Tatsuya and all other characters have been relegated to background scenery. Mia served only as a deus ex machina to Feena’s hunger, Natsuki seems to be distant competition at this point and I don’t even remember the names of the green haired clarinet player, Natsuki’s brother/father or Tatsuya’s sister. Takano-san is the only other character who is getting meaningful screen time, and I don’t even think he was in the game XD

And, as mentioned in the above edit, the animation wasn’t exactly stunning this ep. With the exception of the one scene where Tatsuya and Feena bask in the moon, the animation shorcuts were painfully obvious. The overuse of chibi in the classroom scene coming immediately to mind. Hopefully this is resolved in the eps to come.

However, despite its many flaws, I’m going to stick this one out. I knew nothing about this anime coming into it, my decision to watch it was based solely on the main bishoujo Feena. But after two episodes I think there’s enough potential for goodness to keep watching, and if nothing else it’s a good way to waste 22 minutes on a Saturday morning XD.

This season is very much a rehashing of old ideas, tried and true. With two remakes and a flurry of typical harem-esque anime, I wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking in terms of originality. I think this type of season couldn’t have shown up at a worse time. With shows like The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi and Hachikuro II fresh in our memories, the genericness of the shows this season are screwing them over doubly. With the exception of Kanon and Death Note, almost guaranteed successes, the other series don’t have anything particularily revolutionary to offer. And so, in the wake of a megalomaniac tsunderes, aliens, espers, time travelers, and pseudo-loli centric drama this bulk of this season seems to be failing to impress the majority.

So maybe it’s just me…but I’m absolutely loving it. Current fall standings:

1. Kanon
2. Death Note
3. Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
4. Negima!?
5. Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na
6. Lovedol ~ Lovely Idol ~

Kujibiki Unbalance and Gift Eternal Rainbow have yet to be rated due to a lack of subbing =(

I’m going to have to disagree

FFF (Fap Fap Feena) gathers intel.

Katana wielding bishoujo <3

This has to be the weirdest fetish I’ve seen

And of course…random chibi!

~ Shirukii ~

Imagine the chaos that would erupt if this power were attained

Damn that is one looooong name for an anime, I’ll have to think of an abbreviation. Well this is only the second new anime I’ve watched this season as I’m really trying to keep my ongoing series to a minimum. Reason being that when I watch a show I feel compelled to blog it and also university life often has more pressing things for me to attend to. So unless someone would like to take my calculus test this coming wednesday for me…I’ll have to try and hold back the anime fan inside who wants to watch every single show.

Because the subs for this show are most likely going to come out around the same time as Kanon, I have to set priority. Kanon will get the full summary, thoughts, screenies and pro/con while this series will be written in my lazy aftermath, getting only the ‘thoughts’ and ’screenies’ sections. So with that in mind, onwards!

I wasn’t expecting too much from this anime, thankfully, because the opening scene would have completely shattered my expectations. I thought the opening was really cheesed, unnecessary and just plain bad. Thankfully (by some grace of Haruhi) it got better as it went along. What looked like a really crappy war of the worlds anime quickly spun around and became what I was expecting, namely a romance comedy.

Roll out the list of character archetypes because they’re probably all here! Kawaii imouto, childhood friend, ojou-sama, meido, power tripped onee-sama, ecchi brother (bonus points for getting called “nii-san”) and etc. I suspect this cast will only grow larger as the series progresses. Not to say that this is a bad thing, but the characters (aside from Feena) seem to lack originality, it’s bad when I remember a character by their stereotype moreso than their name.

The general premise and plot of the series seems to do the job, it’s not the deepest of plots (award goes to Monster), but for the purpose of the show I think it does fairly well. Basically the Moon Princess comes to earth for a homestay in this lucky guy’s house in order to study the planet and improve relationships. And that’s pretty much it, once you get past that it’s all harem comedy afterwards, gold!

Returning to the topic of characters…I think the producers of this anime picked these names specifically to make the seiyuu struggle with their pronounciation. Mia Clementis and Feena Fam Ashlight? It is my belief that names with L’s in them are chosen specifically for comic relief, no other reason makes sense >_<

Anyways! Trying to remain on topic amidst my seemingly random and fragmented writing, let's talk about technicalities! First off, animation, not exactly groundbreaking stuff here, in fact it's sort of subpar when compared to other animes of this era. Backgrounds are very detailed and character designs, while nice in general design, have some flaws in detail and proportion. In terms of backgrounds, they're pretty generic and boring to look at. There are also a lot of animating shortcuts with the most obvious being the chibi animation. It looks like the producers are trying to pass it off as a series gimmick and I actually think the technique is used effectively and comically...but that doesn't discount the fact that they're just being lazy XD

Audio is actually not too bad here, the OP and ED weren't extremely catchy, but I think they're fitting to the story's mood. Background music was pretty much non-existant if you don't count the opening sequence and some scattered melodic piano pieces. Voice acting was actually pretty good, Natsuki and Feena stand out as very fitting, Feena's voice in particular is hawt! =D The rest of the cast is passable, though I find the maid EXTREMELY annoying D=

All things considered I think the series is off to a decent start, it's not about to topple Kanon or Death Note for anime of the season, but it's a nice time waster. If it continues along the path of high school comedy/romance, I'll stick with it. If it turns into a pseudo mecha/war of the worlds type anime then no volume of Feena fanservice could keep me on board.

That’s a really nice TV

Voice activated TV and they still use notepads? Wth?!

I lol’d

Not as funny the second time around, still provoked a surpressed laugh though

Ki o tsukete! (lol, chibis)

Again, not as funny the second time around =(

Hmm, upon reviewing this rather subpar post I’m not sure if I’ll continue to blog this series in the future. Writing another detailed post on a Friday night after school has drained me of my energy and Kanon has drained me of my writing skills is probably not the best idea. But we’ll see how it goes. Expect Death Note and Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru posts when they are subbed. Until then, oyasumi na sai!

~ Shirukii ~