Mermaid fail, Encore passes, Dash FTW
Seto no Hanayome
Koji Oe wouldn't mind a second season. I'm not so sure. I felt that, wrt the OVAs, the franchise has lost some of its charm.
A small note on the etymology of Funga
The Miuness of Minami Ke caused me to revisit one of my favourite moments in the Ichigo Mashimaro OVAs, as I felt the three sisters comedy was very funga. I first heard it used in Ichigo Mashimaro OVA 1 when Miu shouted it as Nobue-nee was speaking to a potential employer. And then Nobue-nee uses it to terrifying slow-burn effect in the following scene (complete with a terrific scream BGM):
Dojikko is NOT moé
Not to me at least, either by the Ken Akamatsu's or Haruhi's ('turn on') definition of moé. Extremely dojikko (clumsy, goof ball, klutz) anime characters make me think of the Darwin Awards. Having just seen the second Ichigo Mashimaro OVA (waiting for the subs before I fanboy about Nobue-oneesama), it seems that Matsuri's dojikko nature is part of her moé appeal. Likewise Konata thinks that Miyuki's clumsiness makes her cute too. Kurumi, the Invincibly Moéless Girl in PPD!, seems to think so too.
Stress Testing the Okazu-Hetero Criterion
It's odd to hyphenate the words "Okazu" and "hetero". I hasten to ground this in a primary source - Erica's post about how she responds to a yuri series - if the relationship was a heterosexual one, would she still go "Cool..." or "HAWT!" Given that I am pre-disposed to accept her assumptions about norms and aesthetics (except when it comes to Ikkitousen *puke*), I also think the Okazu-Hetero Criterion is an excellent heuristic.
Except when it comes to the first Ichigo Mashimaro OVA which Erica also enjoyed. Ok, there's no overt romance but IMHO it would still be unbearably creepy if Nobue was an oniichan instead of an oneesama. In the former case, even if Chika, Miu, Ana and Matsuri had also made the gender switch. There's just something about the way that I've been socialized that gives a lot more leeway to female-on-female touchy-feeliness. Which further reinforces my belief that Oneesamas are win. 
Ichigo Mashimaro 12
The Christmas episode! There's lots of snow and it's time for snowmen and Santa adventures.
Ichigo Mashimaro 10
When I saw the above scene, I just thought of abq. (;^_^) Nobue summons the girls to join her at the lakeside café for cake. Hilarity ensues.
Top 10 Anime Oneesamas
Keeping the momentum going, here's my top 10 list of favourite anime elder sister types [edit: from recent series]. Seems that the hontou ni class of anime blog has captured the siscon niché of the market (;^_^) - with Stripey specialising in girls who like their brothers a bit too much while one area of focus for me is Oneesama types. Pretty big difference still, within this niche. Stripey gets his shivers down the spine from such instances as Nemu's "Niiiii-san!" or Pacifica's "Daisuki dayo!" so technically his niché is "cute girls with elder brother complex" (but that's too wordy so he'll just stick to "siscon". In contrast, I get my thrills from the girls listed below.
The screencap above says a lot about my criteria. She must be an actual older sister to someone or if not, she is addressed as such or have the term associated with her. Hawtness is an obvious criteria. Significant screentime rules out Suzuka's elder sis or Motoko Aoyama's aneeue (both of whose names escape me). Character traits like natural leadership, bossiness, domineering also given high weight. Respect and ownage a big bonus while extra credit is given for oneesamas with imouto admirers who want their "gouhoubi".
Ichigo Mashimaro 9
The "Chika worries about her weight" episode. I appreciated Chika, as a character, much more as a result. Previously she seemed fairly backgroundish - providing the link for the other girls to Nobue-oneesama, being one of Nobue's foils and Miu's closest friend/victim. Didn't enjoy Miu's antics this time round as she relentlessly teased Chika about her weight gain. While I could understand how cruel young children can be and that it was necessary to drive the plot, it was much less zany or original compared to most of her previous capers.
Ichigo Mashimaro 8
Miu shows a very interesting way of taking a class test. Kimono wearing and ninja hijinks prior to attending the festival where Miu attempts play at a stall and the main drums. They miss the fireworks and have a mini-session back at the Itou driveway. Richard and James!
Recent Comments
- Bakemonogatari 14 (4)
- Sora no woto 6 (5)
- Sora no woto 5 (13)
- Crusader: I’d...
Series & Themes
Maki Maki Blogroll
- omonomono
- h.c.staff
- byakuya
- mono no aware
- daijoubu
- wakaranai
- josh's anime blog
- yasashii sekai...
- minaide hitorigoto
- drastic my anime blog
