Seeing that I've managed to while away most of my late-evening reading AnimeSuki (and, uh, reading eroge blogs), I should probably spend some time getting stuff off my mind.
First of all, I saw a ghetto itasha today. In Berkeley. On Shattuck. It was the
Fruits Basket triumvirate, painted on the hood of an old yellow car. I must've done a triple take for once. I thought about taking a picture, but I'd had enough embarrassment for one day. "Ita"-sha indeed.
Last week I watched Geass R2 7-12 in one sitting. What can I say? Apart from the school stuff, it was pretty good. As usual the sudden turnabouts were pretty amusing in their credulousness. Like WTF methane clathrates? A million Zeros? On the other hand, Zero showing up at the reception was pretty awesome, and we got a glimpse of the Gawain system. I'm also finding myself appreciating the fanservice more, to my chagrin. Like, the girl at the forward right command console :3.
Episode 13, though, was something of a letdown. Writers never seem to know what to do with characters like Shirley. What happened at the end of 12 should've been a catalyst for some real character development, but nooooo, they took the easy way out. And what's with Orange-kun? He was convinced so easily? Well, I'm hoping that the rest of the series takes the high road.
What else did I watch... 7-12 of
Allison to Lillia. Not bad, but not that great either. This series is a bit too credulous as well.
Real Drive has been pretty good so far, though the female character designs are somewhat strange. It's like the guys are hyper-realistic while the girls are... hyper-realistic in a different way.
Kara no Kyoukai is pretty darn awesome. Part 1 wasn't all the way there, I felt, but part 2 was quite compelling. ufotable has really got the atmosphere going, and the quality is spectacular. And there's five more parts to look forward to!
Gosenzosama Banzai Banzai ep 1, via Ureshii, was rather peculiar. It felt extremely procedural, like it was a stage play, especially near the end. And the way the characters are drawn: bunraku? Pret-ty bizarre.
From this season,
Telepathy Shoujo Ran is more interesting than I expected, although still standard fare. I like the OP... didn't know that it was possible to drawl in Japanese.
The first episode of
Hidamari Sketch x 365 was fabulously outrageous. That Shinbo guy is really pushing the envelope. It's a testament to SHAFT's abilities that they can change gears from something like
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei to something as moe as
Hidamari Sketch. (And it seems rather more moe than the first season...) The part with the arrows... waah WTF. Ume-tentei...
I gets it now.
I've only watched a bit of the first Mahou Tsukai (etc) episode, but the simple animation versus the "real" backgrounds is stark and jarring. Will reserve judgement for the time being...
On the manga side of things, I must express my appreciation for
Watashitachi no Tamura-kun. Dunno if there's an otaku term for "weird girl", but weird girls and tsunderes are at the top of my list. :3
Bleach was really good up to now. The past arc could've gone on for more chapters. Not that anxious to see what happens in the main chronology, but I did forget about the hollow-using people.
One Piece is in a really awesome place right now. Strong enemies, strong allies... it's always great when they draw the veil back a bit further.
Shin Angyo Onshi came to a finish. For now, repeat after me: Munsu is badass.
Un, that's all for now, as far as consumption is concerned. I have been transcribing things for future scanlation purposes:
Discommunication Seireihen,
Mokke,
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. Why did I choose seinen manga? It's more interesting. Unfortunately it's also waaay beyond my current level. If you come into my room late at night, you'll hear me muttering, "multi-RADICAL, dude" while searching WWWJDIC. Yeah, scary huh.
