Like totali, the latest episode of Kannagi has gotten me rooting [Kabitzin Geass canceller ACTIVATE!] cheering for Tsugumi too. But, in our previous discussions, Stripey won’t even place Tsugumi in the running. The reason? He didn’t like her hair style and her large forehead.

Well, fair enough, I steadfastly refused to watch his favourite series of KyoAni-KEY hell, especially AIR. Just because I dislike the chara design, particularly the eyes, so much. I only succumbed to Kanon because of SaYuri.

So one could go on and on about the plot, the characterization, the animation budget etc. etc. (or the lack thereof) but I’m sure we’ve all had a series or two that we just could not and still cannot bring ourselves to watch or how we can’t bring ourselves to support a particular character simply because we think that the chara design is fugly. Like beauty, it may only be a shallow response to something that’s just skin deep. But deep down we just gotta have something that’s pleasing to our beholder’s eye.

Just like the time when Stripey was explaining to this DVD store clerk why he wasn’t going to buy Nanoha StrikerS after splurging on the As boxset, rattling off all his deeeeep reasons, when I just couldn’t resist piping up from the other end of the store: ‘Well, his real reason is cuz Fate isn’t loli anymore! Ahaha~♥’ TSUGUMI REVENGE!!

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

To Aru no Majutsu no Index

My former hot favourite, it has been weighed down by extended dialogue, conversation, exposition. I’m moderating my expectations and buying into Aroduc’s forecast of ‘another episode or two of mediocrity before it gets good for 6-8 episodes and then finishes sort of awkwardly.’ And his proposed solution. But that’s for another post.

ToraDora

Though Stripey has abandoned this series, Evirus’s title hit the nail on the head WRT to how this series has made a strong comeback. Ami’s definitely the missing spice all this while, a catalyst that has speeded up and enriched the inter-chara dynamics. Loved her speech to her stalker that personality doesn’t matter if She’s Got The Look. But it’s precisely because of it’s the Power of her Dark Side that I’m looking forward to forthcoming episodes.

Kannagi

The lead-in and build-up have been pretty consistent. We’re introduced to the core relationship between Nagi and Jin first. The rest of the cast gets inducted at a reasonable pace and we’re starting to see the complete ensemble bounce off each other in credible and enjoyable ways.

Ga-rei Zero

Interesting use of the ‘starting in the middle’ device for the first two episodes and then going back chronologically to lead back up to the climatic point at the end of the second episode. I’ll like how it’s been handled thus far; we know how where all this is going to lead to but we don’t know how. The details of everyday life and relationships become ominous signs for the coming avalanche.

The voice was struggling to articulate words that Maxi heard without realising they were a warning: they were foretelling the radical change that his life was about to undergo. It is normal he did not understand this, because these discreet signs that destiny sends us can only be read with the passage of time, when it is already too late for them to act as a proper warning…

Edgardo Cozarinsky, The Moldavian Pimp

And what a pumped up Minorin OP!

Mouryou no Hakou

This is very disorientating, there’s definitely strong momentum but it doesn’t seem to obey the normal laws of physics. And, the possibility of yuri aside, I seem to be drawn to it for the exact same reasons that Author is repelled by it.

Well, I did enjoy The King in Yellow precisely because it was macabre, dripping with peeling decay, the vanished echo of lost glory and the crying and laughter of mental illness. Certainly agree with Keiri that this is the dark gem of fall.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

Kawashima Ami, who appeared in Ep 5 of ToraDora, gave me serious Asakura Ryoko vibes. But on further reflection, aside from the long blue hair and coquettish giggle, the resemblance broke down quite quickly. Hypocrisy is not something I could accuse Ryoko of. After all, she still has the same consistently cheerful manner when she’s doing her ‘Pretty please you’re Haruhi’s spokesman’ to her ‘Let’s gut you to get some reaction from Haruhi’ to Kyon. And also because Ami doesn’t seem to have Ryoko’s level of naughtiness. Furthermore there’s no possibility of some evil psychotic lesbian action from Ami in the way that we can expect from the Ryoko of The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. *Sigh* Nonetheless I’m looking forward to see how Ami becomes integrated into the core group and how the dynamics will play out – mostly because it’s a welcome departure from more Taiga-abuse of Ryuuji.

On the treant front, Stripey has moved firmly into the Zange camp while I’m joining totali in the Nagi fan club. She’s got her cute girl, nun-cosplaying idol act; on the flip side, there’s her willingness, nay, eagerness to be nasty to Nagi – though that may be completely justified given Nagi’s haughtiness. For me, the most troubling thing about Zange is her possession of Hakua. It might be an arrangement by mutual consent, it’s still damn wrong. But as this series doesn’t seem to be the zero sum type of anime, I’m looking forward to see how Zange will release Hakua and reconcile with Nagi.

©2012 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.