I must confess to being bitterly disappointed with how Nagasarete is turning out and this episode, despite the Mikoto fun, was probably the last straw. I don’t expect anime adaptations of manga to follow the source material exactly but the way the story was changed removed the things which I found most promising – mostly because I favour the approach of building up Rin as a credible rival to Suzu, thus aiding the realization of her feelings for Ikuto leading to cute jealousy and apron wars 4TW. But alas.

The opening sequence had been good; Ikuto has finally seen a side of Rin that he finds to be "proper" girly behaviour. One of the charms of Manga Rin is that she’s actually a very girly girl at heart despite her Natsumi Tsujimoto-class strength and rough speech mannerism. Of course, IMHO, her attractiveness to girls also raises her Charisma through the roof.

Mikoto, lesbian ninja and Rin’s Biggest Fan. Anyway, she’s definitely not blood-related to Rin – in the manga, it’s shown that she comes from a separate family which is (what else?) a ninja clan. Taking up carpentry is just another way of stalking Rin.

My feelings exactly – by this time in the story, manga Suzu had started to show more awareness of her feelings for Ikuto and consequently more fun hijinks.

I still think that klutziness is not moé but Rin’s incompetence as a carpenter is one of the humour points in the manga that I enjoy. She’s in the trade due to family obligations even though she’s clearly not suited for it – which makes it even better when Ikuto is impressed by her cooking skills and her beauty in a kimono (in one of the later chapters of the manga) as she is very touched by how he appreciates and likes what she would really like to do for a living.

My manga-to-anime grumble for this scene is that it just concentrates on Rin’s accidents and removes all the elements that build up to Suzu’s awakening. In the manga, Ikuto is prevented from saving Rin from herself because the imminent physical contact triggers an attack from Mikoto – Ikuto has to constantly dodge her missiles and he is successful mainly because of his ability to sense the killing intent. However, in the last accident of the day, the killing intent doesn’t come from Mikoto…

Instead we get another ‘Zettai Muri’ SEED mode from Ikuto which is getting kinda old. Sigh.

The good atmosphere of this scene is also spoilt in the manga, but not by Mikoto’s huge atomic melon. Instead a work tool is hurled between them. Rin blames Mikoto even though the latter protests (truthfully) that she’s barely had time to draw her shurikens. While Rin is chasing Mikoto around, Suzu confesses that she had thrown it but doesn’t know why. Later back home, Ikuto and Tonkatsu can’t sleep because Suzu is radiating anger and jealousy. Instead, in the anime, just as we think that Suzu has come to understand the concept of love, it cops out with a series of awful awful cheap puns that aren’t even funny. orz

I give up already.

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

While there has indeed been Ikuto x Suzu development, my interest in the series has been flagging of late. I think I’d prefer it if a credible rival was built up against Suzu (preferably Rin) but I just don’t see that coming, given that Suzu is clearly the promised girl. Another not so good sign is that the manga starts to suffer from cast stagflation with Mei Mei and then Shinobu joining the regular cast.

Rather sad indication that the thing I’m enjoying most right now are Mikoto’s antics. orz

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

I think this is the first time I’ve ever bought Animedia magazine (GBP 6.80 at Japan Centre, Piccadilly). Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by Megami’s gorgeous posters and generous fan service as I found Animedia much less satisfying than my recent purchases of Megami and Comp H – even when including their exorbitant shipping and handling. Needless to say, it was still a testament to covergirl StrikerS Nanoha’s pulling power that caused me to fork out for this.

The highlights inside this issue for me were:

Cute sticker sheet of SUNRISE characters from GSD and Code GEASS. Anything with Lunamaria in it is good.

Who needs a wedding dress when you can have school uniform + veil? As well as two brides??

Apparently it’s big news that Maria is 17. I’m somewhere between Jason/Ender and Mentar on this one. Likes: Breaking the fourth wall with that narrator who sounds like Mikael from Pani Poni Dash!, Rie Kugimiya as Nagi, Rie Tanaka as head meido Mariel Maria, MELL’s ED. Dislikes: The ‘見せられないよ！’ sign, the other rich girls, Maria not evil enough, KOTOKO’s OP (unhappy memories of the second Shana OP augh).

Ayane has a surprisingly gentle expression while Suzu *finally* shows some signs of jealousy – to be honest, Nagaserete is starting to drag for me… The headline also just screams how Ikuto, Suzu, Ayane and Yukino are all definitely under-aged. orz

Some kind of Gundam SEED Destiny fanwork called SEED SUPERNOVA? And the score of SECRET AMBITION as well as a whole bunch of other songs. Since I can’t read music, it just went totally over my head.

Posters from Kamichama Karin and Saint Beast. I haven’t watch either series but I think I’ve been corrupted by Megami to the extent that such posters don’t even appeal to me for the art style.

The cover didn’t dare to show Nanoha’s Fate-coloured pantsu which is remedied inside. No footwear either. The body of text above her head is speculating about whether Nanoha x Fate are love-love!? Great to see that Japanese fandom are keen on NxF 4TW too. LOVE-LOVE DESU!!

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