I was arguing with Stripey that Ga-Rei Zero has been disappointing. Because Kagura was whiny – definitely not a Good Job from Minorin here. The middle part was just dumb. See also #2-5 in Baka Raptor’s post. *But* having just read tjhan raging on the manga (which I didn’t pick up because I thought the art was fugly), I’m starting to think that Ga-Rei Zero was another case of asread being able to make the most out of rather poor source material so I’ll still give it Good Job overall. But not as far as declaring it the top series for Fall 08.

However balance has been restored returned to the Force in Minami Ke Okaeri! Everyone is lovable again – at least for the first four episodes that I’ve seen. I’m wondering who should I credit/blame? Okawari shared the same director and series composer as SHUFFLE! – Hosada Naoto and Suzuki Masashi – could it be that their forte is eroge conversion? They scored a lot of points in my book by going for the non-obvious ending. But without another asread eroge conversion to test this hypothesis against, it’s hard to say this way or that. Ga-Rei Zero was a joint effort with AIC Spirits and I’m too lazy to track down whose staff did what. Anyone more industrious? Details, on ANN, are still scant about the team behind Okaeri but I hope the asread team led by director Oikawa Kei will keep up the Good Job!

Picking one favourite moment from each of the four episodes thus far:

The pen divination scene was nice especially Kana’s wonderful potential future husband. (This must be totali‘s geass at work, dammit!) Honorary mention for Haruka’s hair toss in the OP. Yes, Oneechan x Hair toss = WIN.

Devil Chiaki and Curry Fairy Song has captured the hearts of moyism, Kurogane and Suguru but forcing myself to choose one, Hosoka is Dah Curry Man. What I especially liked how it serendipitously helped Chiaki out of her pinch and that she, with real childlike innocence, actually took to this weird but essentially harmless display pretty well rather than having the more grown up kimochi warui response.

Ringo no Hako (Box of Apples) is something I could totally relate to. There was a potluck get together at my home when everyone, and I mean everyone, brought Old Chang Kee curry puffs. We had over 40 freaking curry puffs. And no beer. No beer!! Enough to make grown men weep. ;_; Anyway, loved the mystery before Uchida opened the box. And it stood up very well to rewatching. Including the aftermath for Uchida and Touma. Aaah, Uchida is so lovably stupid that I’m never tired of her. And I could just about start to believe that Mizuki Nana voices Touma from the way she skipped into her house, full of anticipation of the pudding from that store beside the station. Well, until she used the ore pronoun again. *cue Index glass shatter eyecatch*

Doggy Kana, Chiaki, Haruka and Touma FTW. Taiga has just got to see this. Of course, this leads to the Iron Claw scene that the OP has previewed already. Iron Claw is indeed the proper waza of the Oneesama! Do you know of any other users besides Tama-nee and Haruka? Honorable mention also for Kana’s ominous speculation that Haruka could like Natsuki and Chiaki’s initial OH SHI- D: reaction.

I dearly hope the goodness can be sustained right till the end of Okaeri and keenly await the return of the One, the Only, the Mako-chan.

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

Again, I agree with most of what Aroduc’s said about this episode in particular and the series as a whole. But evoking Totali Love Power, there were three characters that caused me much merriment in Okawari: Uchida, Touma and Hayami-senpai.

I wasn’t much amused or annoyed by Uchida in the first season; in fact, I didn’t really notice her. But from the end of the first episode when she turns up at the empty flat, her genki duh-ness has been a constant source of hilarity for me. Love the way she goes: ‘Heh heh~~ ’

Touma was introduced quite late in the previous season, much to the consternation of Nana Mizuki fans, but she’s been employed very effectively especially in contrast to Mako-chan in this season. I still can’t believe that’s Nana Mizuki!!!

Also got to see more Hayami-senpai in Okawari. Though in this case, quantity doesn’t quite win out on quality; the second Juice Incident was less awesome than the first Juice Incident though it did add fuel to my speculation that Hayami-senpai has a thing for Kana. Fujioka, watch out!! -_-;;

Mmmm… I’d love to trade places with Kana…

Well, of course, Haruka wasn’t going on the foreign exchange program. The little hints like Haruka looking at the English book wasn’t quite convincing enough; it would have added to the tension if alternative care arrangements for Kana and Chiaki were being considered. There’s also the issue of the absent parents, surely some sort of parental approval was needed for the exchange to go ahead? All these questions made it implausible to most of us that Haruka would leave. But then again the possibility should be completely plausible to Kana and Chiaki, thus their antics in this episode were believable and credible.

Overall, it was an enjoyable if quirky slice of life ride. But I do like slice of life in the first place anyway. Can’t say that I was wowed by asread’s major post-SHUFFLE! outing but I won’t be ruling them out like I do with GONZO. Perhaps their real strength is in eroge adaptations? Will have to see what their next offering is like.

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

A great reason to visit the sick bay.

Uchida moments always get me. I just know that she’s going to face fault but I still laugh when she does. The pathetic but strangely genki way she does it is also quite endearing.

I. STILL. CAN’T. BELIEVE. THAT’S. NANA. MIZUKI.

This was another brilliant scene, some of which will unfortunately get lost in even the best of translations. It’s a great combination of jokes wrapped up in the honorifics (Erica is always right) and then bouncing the honorifics off the gendered pronouns. Touma is upset that Fuyuki refers to her as ‘kun’ which is normally used for young boys (or socially inferior men IIRC, e.g. Chairman Kihl addresses Gendou with ‘kun’). It gets even more messed up because Touma protests that she is a girl except she uses the ‘ore’ pronoun (even more masculine than the ‘boku’ pronoun, with the very casual and thus more male ‘da’ rather than more neutral ‘desu’ ending): ‘Ore wa onna da!’

And the joke rolls on; even Touma who wanted to be called by the ‘san’ honorific, feels that it doesn’t quite suit her at all. It’s definitely kun for you, Touma-kun! All her future girlfriends will probably be calling her that too.

Heh heh! :3 Paper rose 50 yen. Band aids 300 yen. Uchida genki clumsiness. Priceless.

ALL HAIL ONEESAN! ALL HAIL ONEESAN! ALL HAIL ONEESAN! ALL HAIL ONEESAN! ALL HAIL ONEESAN!

Fujioka being tagged with ‘Father’ was also LOL. The first thing that came to mind was Chiyo’s dad as imagined by Sakaki. ‘I AM BULLETPROOF.’ That’s why you don’t show people the piece of paper that they got them picked. I’m still wondering what Konata’s description was. So many unspeakable things come to mind. :3

Jason will definitely go into denial and invite us to shoot him again.

Perhaps then Yoshino can teach us, the trapped, an adult skill she has apparently mastered. The skill of ‘not knowing even though you know perfectly well’. It’s not self-denial but a dynamic management of awareness. That’s the second thing they teach you.

Haruka doramaz coming soon. This is where I disagree with totali and Aroduc about the significance of Fuyuki. I’ve never liked his character and most of his scenes were quite a drag. But it seems to me that now his dramatic purpose has become clear. Chiaki was perturbed by his sudden transfer even though, like most of us, she has never really liked him, never really got along with him and has just had to deal with him because, well, he’s there. But suddenly he’s not. And it’s disturbing. How we had taken his presence for granted. How suddenly he just vanished. Even though nobody really gave a damn about him. And now, the threat of the same thing occurring again. But with our beloved Haruka-neesama. *Dun dun dun*

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