hontou ni Stripey Insists Sisters Cry Oniichan Now

Extracting the goodness of the projection being x handler

What a turnaround it's been for Asura Cryin' - I checked out the first two eps, on Xellos-_^'s suggestion, for Tanaka Rie goodness and was quite ambivalent about it; miko x giant mecha x world destruction mix (or what IKnight called a meze) has already been done by Kannazuki no Miko, ya know? And the latter had nonsense doramaz yuri to boot.

But I was well pleased with the third episode. Said Aroduc: "Man, why didn’t they start this show here?" And Kurogane compared it to Nanoha A's. Actually Asura Cryin' did manage to grab my interest late in the first episode. hinano detected it too but it was not sufficient to soothe the fangirl rage - the moment that Misao told Tomo to open the box, my fears of I Mustn't Run Away Syndrome were washed away by the tides of Schwarzchild's Darkness.

I think I took to the show much better than Hinano because I really like Misao; her chara design is easy on the eye (especially with the school uniform), her voice is pleasant enough to the ear, she's balanced in her behaviour towards Tomo (no Louise-like jealousy or whining or apathy) but, most of all, she brings out the best in Tomo. Putting together the opening scene, the flashbacks and the conclusion of the first episode, it's clear to me that Misao is Tomo's Promised Girl and Most Important Person - this series will be driven by his desire to save her. Now if only he can remember the circumstances that sealed her as a Burial Doll and made her into a Projection Being in the first place. Argh, my hatred for amnesia as a plot device (call it Love Hina Trauma) is only matched by my hatred for I Mustn't Run Away.

While Hinano and usagijen have voiced righteous disapproval of Tomo's hairdo, for me, Impz nails it WRT Tomo as the main male lead:

For one, we do not have a wimpy, whiny piece of crap for the main male character. He is decently timid but he is just a normal balanced guy. Anime like this, particularly mecha shows, tend to make the male character either abnormally brave or totally gutless. It’s refreshing to see a typical guy going around trying to figure out what is going on. He is not trying to save the world or anything, just protecting his friends.

All of this was good enough to carry me through the mediocre second episode. It concentrated on introducing Takatsuki, the other main female lead in Team Tomoharu. But I still can't really get a handle on her or her relationship with Tomo. In contrast, the second episode of Queen's Blade did a much better job of introducing and getting me to understand the motivations of the miko Tomoe.

Besides the action scenes in Ep 3, I also enjoyed how Team Seishirou (the First Student Council aka Badly Played Paladin in White) is such a Stripey team.

• Siscon! Elder versus younger sister rivalry for the Oniisama.
• Light Haired Loli in bonnet, ribbons and lace.
• SRS LIFE N DEATH OF IMOUTO DORAMAZ
• Said imouto was playfully cute but now is emotionally mature and self-sacrificing. Or as Stripey might say on the latter aspect: ???????

P.S. Kurosaki reminds me of Ciel.

P.P.S. Gloomy Dark Society girl with sword and hair over one eye gives me good Signum-neesan vibes. Looking forward to seeing more of her.

45 frames and almost 1 MB. orz

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Related posts:

1. Asura Cryin EX016
2. Asura Cryin EX014
3. Shuri arc stabilizes Asura Cryin'