Another great year. Maybe not as great as 2006, which produced three classics: Simoun, NANA, and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. But 2007 was full of interesting shows.The top ones for me are one show from last spring -- Lucky Star -- and two from this fall -- ef ~a tale of memories~ and Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku.Lucky Star began by alienating much of its potential audience. The humor was so unemphatic, and the show had such spare drawing and animation that it was unrecognizable as KyoAni work. But although it may not have had many belly laughs in it, I found myself laughing quietly in my bones from start to finish.Hirano Aya really created something in Konata's comic burbling voice. The sly earthiness of that voice was the foundation of the whole show, it seemed to me, setting up the other voices to seem even more moe. And the script provided the kind of humane absurdity I love in a comedy. The un-KyoAni-like animation was KyoAni-like in two things: in its great consistency, and in the smooth animation of movement.ef ~a tale of memories~ was a complete surprise. The preview made me fear that the voice actors -- who came over from the game -- might not be up to the task. How wrong I was. This show is true art, made by Shinbou Akiyuki's protege Oonuma Shin from an ero-game by minori.Once again, many animephiles were put off by the show's style. Its visual complexity seemed pointless and confusing. In fact, every one of those odd angles and strange palettes has an emotional purpose. This show is great romantic melodrama, underpinned by powerful music from Tenmon, who does background music for Shinkai Makoto's work (e.g., Byousoku 5cm). The interwoven romances are fascinating, and the characters really have individual character.Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku expertly traces the emotional currents in a girls' school with a difference: the top girl in the school is actually the commander of a hidden alien warship, in disguise. And her new roommate is the only survivor of the annihilation of the population of an entire small island in Japan five years before. Humans don't realize that the disaster was caused by a malfunction in the hidden ship's propulsion system.The life of girls at the school is interwoven with the progress of an impending alien invasion of Earth, and with the progress of the relationship between the commander and the survivor. I guess the yuri undercurrents may have alienated a slice of potential viewership here. The leads are played by Yajima Akiko (Crayon Shin-chan) and Sawashiro Miyuki (Shinku in Rozen Maiden), both of whom seem to me to be at their best. Yajima-san's 40-year-old voice fills her character with youthfulness.It's a little early for final judgments, and Blue Drop and ef could yet end badly, but I have come to trust the people making them, and I don't think that will happen.My judgments are rooted in my personal taste, and there are other good shows that just didn't happen to suit me, or weren't in genres I appreciate. I couldn't watch more than a few episodes of Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, for example. The pacing and the style of humor just didn't do anything for me. But I could recognize what a good show it was, in its way. Anyway, here are comments on some shows of note, by season:Winter 2007:Nodame Cantabile -- My enjoyment of this show was probably impaired by the fact that I knew the story too well, having already watched the TV drama version. But the music was wonderful, and so was Kawasumi Ayako. Her Nodame may have been the best seiyuu performance of the year. And Seki Tomokazu was her match as Chiaki. Real character development all round.Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora -- I took this strange show a lot more seriously than most people did. It won me by its bizarre storytelling and eroticism. Yahagi Sayuri and Matsuoka Yuki were both outstandingly moe.Manabi Straight -- Here's another show that I loved at first, but that seemed to dry up as it went along. The emotional bonding of Nonaka Ai and Hirano Aya's charcters in episode 4 made that one of the year's outstanding episodes for me. The animation was sharp, bright, and attractive.Hidamari Sketch -- This is one of those shows that I will praise, but that I haven't finished watching. In that, it resembles Negima!?, another show from Shinbou Akiyuki's group at Shaft. The animation was great, the voice-acting superb, the humor enjoyable. But I could get all I needed in a half-dozen episodes. I think that ef~a tale of memories~ takes Shinbou's style to the next level, both in the effectiveness of the images and in the strength of the story.Les Miserables ~Shoujo Cossette~ is a well-made and emotionally strong show that is just nearing the end of its 52-week run now, in December. Nazuka Kaori does a fine job in the title role, but it is Victor Hugo's classic story that gives the show its punch.Spring 2007:Emily of New Moon -- More or less completely ignored by animephiles, this show was one of the best of the year. Good animation and backgrounds, a solid story (by Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables), and excellent voice-acting, particularly from Kawakami Tomoko (Utena, Misuzu in AIR) in the title role. Beautifully evoked feelings.Hitohira -- The first half of the series was very strong, with complex relationships well portrayed. But it seemed as if they they were spinning their wheels by the end. Kawasumi Ayako, and particularly Yukino Satsuki, were brilliant in this show.Hayate the Combat Butler -- It has some funny episodes, and has clearly maintained its popularity, but it became very same very soon, for me.Claymore -- Outstanding voice-acting by Kuwashima Houko and Paku Romi. Hou-chan's performance is another candidate for best of the year. Loathing monster anime as I do, it was amazing how long this one held my attention. One of the best shows of the year, with some shocking drama and real style.Seirei no Moribito -- More outstanding voice-acting, particularly from actress Andou Mabuki. The animation, when it was at its best, was to die for. The story was interesting, but seemed to take a long time to play out.Touka Gettan -- Few people liked this show, but I loved it. It was a brilliant idea to have the story go in reverse order -- episode 1 was chronologically the last episode in the story. But like other shows directed by Yamaguchi Yuji (e.g., Yami to Boushi to Hon), it seemed more interested in playing with its world than in telling the story, and a lot of episodes seemed like filler, as far as the story was concerned.However, this show was one of the highlights of my own anime year. The performance of 15-year-old Hayami Saori as Momoka was wonderful, and her singing of the ED was even better. And one of the episodes written by seiyuu Noto Mamiko was very sharp, making me think she may have a second career awaiting. The sparkling animation and backgrounds were a never-ending source of delight. Carnelian's character designs were animated by Nishida Asako with her usual sensual flair.Saiunkoku Monogatari II -- It started well, but I have had trouble finding time to watch more. Perhaps the 39 episodes of season one were enough for me. Kuwashima Houka continues to help make Shuurei a great character, the first female official in a kingdom that is a fantasy version of ancient China.Darker than Black -- A story well told and well animated. The relations among the "contractors" -- friend and foe -- were fascinating. The voice-acting was terrific, particularly from Kiuchi Hidenobu as Hei. Directed by Okamura Tensai (Wolf's Rain).Dennou Coil -- Outstanding animation from Madhouse, and every so often an episode stands out, but in general I don't find the show very interesting.Emma 2 -- A good show that I am just finishing. Excellent voice work and writing, with some beautifully portrayed emotion. Kobayashi Sanae as the fiancée, Touma Yumi as Emma, and Touchi Hiroki as Hans are particularly effective, in my opinion. A Japanese sensibility understands so well these nuances of feeling and conflicts between love and society.Koutetsu Sangokushi -- I'm not going to call this show "good." But I mention it as the most bizarre adaptation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms I have ever experienced. The yaoi undercurrents between Miyano Mamoru and Koyasu Takehito are wonderful.Summer 2007:Sky Girls -- This show seems to have slipped under everyone's radar, but is quietly and enjoyably proceeding toward 26 episodes, propelled by the wonderful voices of Kawasumi Ayako, Gotou Saori, and Itou Shizuka. The revealing outfits of the girl pilots promise more fanservice than the show actually delivers. Perhaps that turns off both people who like fanservice and people who don't. And the fact that the relationships in it are more important than the fighting probably turns off a big whack of fans. But the voices and the evolving friendship among the members of the team have brought me this far -- despite the silly monsters.Mononoke -- Fascinating animation. Good seiyuu performances (Sakurai Takahiro, Tanaka Rie, Kuwashima Houko, Yukana, Hayami Shou, Seki Tomokazu, Midorikawa Hikaru, Namikawa Daisuke). But perhaps my taste is not elevated enough for this. The stories I saw just didn't engage me.Mushiuta -- A weird story involving people being taken over by symbiotic insects. The story didn't grab me that much, but the way the seiyuus made the relationships work did. Nabatame Hitomi and Asanuma Shintarou were excellent. And in this show Hanazawa Kana established herself as one of the most moe voices in anime.Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei -- Dark comic brilliance from Shinbou Akiyuki and seiyuus including Kamiya Hiroshi, Nonaka Ai, and Sawashiro Miyuki.Potemayo -- A bizarre and funny little show. It's a comedy about a small toddler-like creature that the protagonist finds in his refrigerator beside the mayonnaise. Kitamura Eri as the male protagonist is excellent. Hanazawa Kana as Potemayo shows she can do hilarious grunts and squeaks as well as moe.School Days -- Of course, you can't talk about 2007 without talking about "nice boat." All I'm going to say is that the show was basically garbage, even before the violence started. But it did have an unexpected ending. And it did create anger and frustration in the viewer, so it was not without its emotional effects. For those who don't know, "nice boat" was a reaction posted in a Japanese forum when an episode of the show was suddenly taken off air because of the violence in it and replaced with images of what looks like a ferry in a Norwegian fjord.Autumn 2007:Genshiken2 -- It took me a while to start this show, but I've marathoned up to date, since I am enjoying it so much. Perhaps the romantic aspect has hooked me. Certainly the portrayal of the travails of the characters has. The voice-acting is excellent, particularly from Yukino Satsuki, Kawasumi Ayako, Hiyama Nobuyuki, and Mizuhashi Kaori.Sketchbook ~full Color'S~ -- I love some episodes of this gentle slice-of-life comedy, but sometimes a pall of sameness seems to descend. Being fairly calm already, perhaps I don't need further calming. However, Hanazawa Kana's moeness is off the scale at all times.Ghost Hound -- Production I.G.'s "20th anniversary production" seems unaccountably to be being generally ignored. The animation is good Production I.G. work, and the story and voices (Fukuyama Jun, Houshi Souichirou, Yajima Akiko) work very well for me. A show with atmosphere.Minami-ke -- I didn't really get the first episode. I thought it was too imitative of Ichigo Mashimaro, especially with Inoue Marina's wholesale theft of Orikasa Fumiko's Miu voice. But since then, the show has grown and grown. Inoue-san, Chihara Minori, and Satou Rina are doing very well. There are a couple of LOL moments in every episode. And now we have warm, humane, rather loony versions of both the trap and the reverse trap.Clannad -- Since I watch anime for emotion rather than animation, KyoAni's visual magic is enjoyable but not a deal-maker. In fact, I was lukewarm toward this show until the past two or three episodes, when my tears started to flow. Works for me. It's great to see KyoAni hire such big-name seiyuus as Nakahara Mai, Kuwashima Houko, Nonaka Ai, Noto Mamiko, Yukino Satsuki, and Inoue Kikuko.KimiKiss ~pure rouge~ -- Director Kasai Kenichi has given this ero-game story a maturity and complexity that remind me of his Honey & Clover2. Fine performances from Tanaka Rie and Koshimizu Ami, and particularly from Ikezawa Haruna (Yoshino in Marimite) as Mao-oneechan.Kodomo no Jikan -- I mention this show not for its quality, especially, but because it has the most obtrusive censorship I have ever seen in an anime. The version intended for broadcast clearly must have preserved much of the loli fanservice of the original manga, but then the distributors at the last minute decided it had to be censored. This was done with ugly animated squares, screens, and noises. The show is actually about the life situation that drives the third-grade protagonist to her "adult" acting-out, but the censorship makes even that aspect of things hard to follow.OVAs:ICE -- I'll just mention a couple of OVAs that might have escaped people's attention. ICE is a bizarre yuri sci-fi story with muddy animation and some amateur voices, but I enjoyed it a lot. I sometimes find amateur voices more emotionally believable than polished pros.O-kane ga Nai -- This show is for people who don't mind a little aurally graphic yaoi in their anime. Especially for those who want to hear Fukuyama Jun as a somewhat unwilling uke. I kid you not. But I found the story interesting through one episode, at least. Perhaps because it's the first yaoi anime I've ever seen.You'll notice the complete absence of anything like Gundam. Sorry, I still don't really get the appeal. Gundam00 seems fairly uninteresting to me, well-made as it may be. I enjoyed a number of episodes of Gigantic Formula, but for the relationships rather than the gundams. Dragonaut just seems poor to me. As for mainstream science fiction, I watched a few episodes each of Toward Terra... and Heroic Age but lost interest. They are both still on my "to watch" list.Finally, although I'm not really including films in this survey, I have to mention the greatest animation of this year -- and perhaps of any year: Byousoku 5cm, by Shinkai Makoto. This is more than just art, it is religious art. The filmmaker Ingmar Bergman said that all true art is art in praise of God. Byousoku is a Zen version of that. It is like a series of haiku moments showing us a world more real than reality.
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Where did all the shoujo shows go?This question came across me as I popped in Marmalade Boy into the DVD player last night. It should be apparent to most people that old anime are unmistakably different than new anime in all sorts of regards.Perhaps it's a fault of the genre Marmalade Boy (girls' romance) is compared to most shows I watch today (guys' harem), but there really is no such thing as 'moe' in a lot of the old shows, and even if there was, it probably wasn't by design. Likewise, other cutesy things such as the 'chibi' form, present in the 'shoujo' shows of today like Shugo Chara, don't exist.Things are simpler looking, without fancy 3D CGI effects; everything is done with simple animation trickery. There is, unsurpisingly, a retro feel to all these retro anime, from the animation to the music and more.Now I'm not one to harp on how one era of anime is better than the other, having known very little of the 199X years of anime outside of English dubs and Cardcaptor Sakura, but it seems quite apparent to me that there has been a mass shift of sorts of the types of shows presented for consumption.Quite simply, there are next-to-no real 'shoujo' shows left today.Now, I will admit that I don't go out seeking girls' shows, but perusing a list of all the fall 2007 shows there seems to be a great dearth in feminine fare.All that's really left is the ever-resilient 'magical girl' strand, which I doubt will ever die, but even this is becoming increasingly infiltrated by male-orientated shows. What seems to be missing is the Marmalade Boys of today, the girls' romance shows.Certainly there are romances today that girls could enjoy, such as KimiKiss, but most of these still have a decidedly masculine audience that they pursue most of the time, what with the full body pans and the focus on the male leads and the girls throwing themselves at them.The days of those shiny stills of guys' faces, of the bishonen and all the squee-ing involved, seem all but assimilated by other shows. They still show up, yes, but they cannot survive on their own, it seems.Whether this is a good thing or not, it's uncertain. Being a guy I am not fond of seeing 'dreamy guys' in anime but there does seem to be a growing discontent among some places about how females in anime are becoming increasing stereotyped, true or not, and girls' shows, being aimed at girls, tend to have the most well-fleshed-out female characters.There are guys' romance shows that can do a reasonable job of this at well (one could almost argue a case for Clannad) but in the end there's only so much one can do before the largely male fanbase starts complaining about how they are being cheated; for example, KimiKiss had a bit of a backlash when in the start it felt more like a girls' romance than anything, but it's lapsed pretty much back into its original, mostly-guy-orientated (although not overbearingly so) genre.The unsuprisingly male anime fanbase - if you can picture the stereotypical geek for a moment - probably does more for this situation than anything else; as many dissenting voices that we hear against moe and against cliched characters, they are still drowned out by what I imagine is a large mass of people demanding their tsunderes and their childhood friends and their ridiculous harems.One would think I am part of the mass, but being a typical "counterculture" teenager who doesn't like to agree with anything I find myself preferring a more balanced view, as I've argued time and time again. Yes, I find shy, deredere girls to be adorable, and yes, I'm a sucker for a sad story, no matter how contrived, but even I can't survive on a diet of this alone. Which is why I don't just watch the harems by themselves but also dabble in a bit of the Very Manly Shows, and the magical girl shows as well.Which is why I personally thing it's a little alarming that there are very few of the girls' romance shows out there; those that are left are usually of the magical girl variety, which is very good and all, but somehow I find myself missing a simple love story without frills, without relatively unrealistic characters. Old-school girls' romance like Marmalade Boy may be a little melodramatic at times with all the drama that has to come out of a love triangle (or, quite often, a larger polygon) but it's refreshing, with typically a balanced view from both sides of the gender divide.It's not to say that magical girl shows are inferior - rather, I've seen many of them put together an interesting premise - but sometimes it just gives off a contrived feel, the whole "let's fix everything with magic" concept. Undoubtedly the magic is just training wheels for a character to develop themselves, which is good in the end, but sometimes it's nice to watch a character learn to walk on their own.Y'know, without the three minutes of stock footage every episode, and all.It probably just boils down to my packrat nature in that I'm sad to let anything go or see anything end, and so despite the oh-so-cheesy nature of something like Marmalade Boy (which I must say, was spoiled pretty well in the OP sequence) it's still something that I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more of these days.I like all sorts of variety...in the one genre I watch.-CCY(A closing thought...could this also be because the girls' tastes are changing as well, away from the stereotypical romance shows towards other genres I wouldn't identify as 'shoujo'?)
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Random ankle shots spotted: 2
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Thoughts of Mao > Yuumi? hmmm I think I’ve been bitten by the lazy blog bug, as I found myself spending more time with my PSP than ever before… hence the delay of this post >.> Have to get my blogging drive back in the coming weeks, and finish up more of my supposedly planned posts~! Now for this episode of KimiKiss, we finally see the series taking the childhood friends turn romantic couple direction, though the final outcome of this remains to be seen. I’ll be happy with whoever they pair-up actually, so long as they give the relationship depth and/or development~ With more than 10 episodes to go, everything is possible. I just hope it won’t be a not-so-mature melodramatic ride like Marmalade Boy. [ This is only an excerpt for the post! Go the the website for the full content + pictures + links. ]
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Of note is that I finally finished up Seirei no Moribito, which was completely awesome. Also finished Portal in one sitting, and came away extremely impressed. In fact, it’s hard to overstate my satisfaction. Top Picks: Kimikiss Pure Rouge: It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a solid romance series [...]
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The experiment would never go through with this cat.Scientific analysis of anime strikes back.Unfortunately none of the shows I watch are complex enough to involve any actual scientific theory beyond the hand-waving "if I say a bunch of fancy terms I can confuse you into submission" stuff, so what little knowledge I can derive from the shows I watch is of the humorous kind, which will probably send physics majors into convulsions.Most of the theories are based off evidence from the current season, so consider it as you will a sort of praise for all the enjoyable shows of fall 2007; although, there are a few classics in the bunch as well.So get out your pencil and get ready to take notes, there will be a quiz on this at the end of the - you in front! I see you reaching for that 'read more' link...(Relative spoilers for Myself;Yourself, Clannad, and KimiKiss, and major spoilers for Kanon.)Or this one.Ayu's Backpack:Let us take a hypothetical situation where a taiyaki-loving girl is placed in a coma with an angel doll. When seven years are allowed to pass, there is the possibility that she may astrally project herself relative to the viewpoint of a returning male protagonist. Whether she is a projection or real is subject to the contents of her winged backpack, which may or may not be empty, proving either conclusion. However, if the backpack is not opened it can be stated that the girl may perhaps be in a state of flux between astral and non-astral, existing as a sort of 'uguu'-form.Sometimes I wonder if the teacher's mentioning of Schrodinger's Cat in Kanon 20-odd was on purpose or not; as a conspiracy theory, I can't overlook it. The implications of Ayu existing, or rather, not-existing are very open-ended at times; where does she go when Yuuichi is not looking? Does she still exist at those times? And why is she wearing the red hairband? These are the questions that fans that dig too deep - like me - love to ask, even if we know there is no answer.This theory comes in many popular flavors as well:Kaiji-obasan's Cat: An object belonging to a creepy old lady which may or may not be a cat is placed in a box and buried by two high school students. At a point later in the plot, the contents of the box may be revealed to be one or the other, but until then, the main protagonist gets slapped around a lot.Again, another case of 'ridiculously amusing parallels'. Although, with the way Myself;Yourself is mostly choreographing itself, the contents of the box should be obvious...Fuuko's Starfish: A girl astrally projects herself from a coma, again, except different and much more well-received by fans. She carves starfish and passes them out to students, but all the while, her physical condition is worsening. When she reaches the point where only certain students can recgonize her, her state can be claimed to be in a state of flux, where she neither is completely real nor completely astral.Trying to think about Fuuko's arc made my head hurt in the end; how she managed to carve and give away the starfish without, being, well, physical, was confusing, especially near the end when she was only able to be seen (and physically recgonized?) by Nagisa and Tomoya. Not to mention the ninth episode, where she's kind of there in spirit but not in body for a lot of the time.The second half of Fuuko's existential crisis was the fact that I couldn't decide whether the story was going to kill her off or have her make a miracle recovery. In the end, neither happened, and it's probably for the better; this way it does not have the cheese factor of Kanon's 'all better!' nor of AIR's 'look, she died! it's sad!'. I'm still not fully sold on Clannad being the best thing since sliced sad girls in snow, but it definitely presents itself in a more realistic manner.Three Laws of Minami:1st: Every train of thought continues in its current state, until acted upon by another train of thought.One of those things that always seems to work well as comedy is when a character's imagination completely runs away from them. Moments like Chiaki manipulating Kana to think Fujioka's out to get her, or pretty much anything involving Hosaka, I think are genius. Maybe that's a bit of my evil puppetmaster side showing.2nd: The hilarity produced by a particular character is directly proportional to the Idiocy Rating of the character and thus inversely proportional to the character's brain size.This is essentially the same as above, since this one usually leads to the first law. Note that one's idiot rating can have spontaneous spikes (cue Haruka biting into a onigiri wrapper), so it's not like one character is consistency more amusing than the other; just that masterminds like Chiaki often do more in setting jokes up for other characters than anything else.3rd: For each sister there is an equal and opposite male foil.Part of what I think sets Minami-ke apart, aside from awesome camera angles (at least in ep. 1), is how it Actually Has Guys in it; at least relative to most slice-of-life shows. You look at Lucky Star, or Azumanga, there's one guy, two, tops, and they really only play a bit role. But the guys in Minami-ke star in a lot of gags, mainly because they've proven they can be every bit as idiotic - and thus, funny - as the girls.I mean, come on. Mako's made traps funny.Conservation of Manliness:The total amount of manliness - and conversely, moeness - in an anime watchlist always remains constant, although said constant will vary from viewer to viewer.I used to consider myself to be one who watches a lot of female-orientated shows, since my list contains a lot of romance. But now realizing that a lot of said shows are actually male-orientated harem romances - something mostly unheard of in America, land of the action - I realized that I have a surprisingly low tolerance for genuinely feminine shows, even though I can stand a lot of moe shows.Therefore, when I watch something that breaks the pink-o-meter like Shugo Chara (ballet, minute-long transformations, negaaative haaato, etc), I need something adrenaline-filled to restore the balance of the world. Something like Kaiji. You can draw your own mental pictures of me injecting Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors straight into my veins.(Although, do I need a countermeasure for all the naked guy-ness of episode 8?)Laws of Haremdynamics:0th: Two characters in love with one character are at war with each other.And if their names are Sekai Saionji, Kotonoha Katsura, and Makoto Itou, you're going to get some serious forces resulting from this equation.But for some reason, it does seem like the most interesting conflicts in harem romances come from one-on-one duels, instead of the five-girl free-for-alls (since, in the end, only Setsuna could be considered the other bit player). For some reason girls in anime are incredibly good at taking a number and waiting for their arc. Perhaps this is because it would be hard to create such an epic fight without it becoming incredibly, ridiculously, soap-opera-dramatic. Still, I'd like to see someone try it.1st: The change in two character's relationship is equal to the work done on the relationship by its surroundings.One dedicated to KimiKiss; it certainly seems that Mao is doing all the work in setting up Kouichi and Yuumi. Perhaps, combined with the fact that their relationship is a virtual lock, that's why I find their relationship the most uninteresting, despite the fact that said "oh look I'm too shy to confess to a girl" love stories should be the most endearing to people of my age. Who knows.Nevertheless, Kazuki's and especially Mao's stories seem to be quite the interesting ones, although these two relationships are self-sufficient enough that they break this rule. 2nd: Love flows from hotter objects to less attractive ones.A humorous poke at the basis of harem shows. Seriously, if I see one more brown/black-haired, easily-flustered Incredibly Nice Guy surrounded by a bunch of beauties - as much as that might appeal to any potential viewers - I will have to make vague promises of revolting. There's a reason people like Tomoya work so well, because they have an edge in addition to their soft side.3rd: It is impossible to create a male lead that is perfectly efficient.See above. You can't have your cake - er, harem - and eat it too, but so many characters are simply horrible at harem managing, or even just seeing the writing on the wall. Yuuji and Sana are bright enough characters, except where it counts in noticing that their Designated Love Tsunderes are completely jealous due to some misunderstanding involving another girl. Or the aforementioned Kouichi, who just might take three-quarters of KimiKiss waiting to ask Yuumi out. Maybe I'm asking too much of characters that I'm supposed to pretend are "just like me" (since a lot of harem makes no bones about being escapist), but I'd at least like to think I could do a better job in their shoes.Ah well. I don't plan on turning my back on a genre that's been so moe to me any time soon. I complain because it takes forever for the gears to be set in motion; like a car with really bad turbo lag, it just takes a while before the awesome hits.-CCYBonus observations:* I can now officially say I am watching Shugo Chara mainly for the nekomimi bishies, since Ikuto and Amu's personalities are the real interesting ones of the bunch.* Konoe and Shijou, two girls this season with no sense of the world around them, are voiced by the same VA. Coincidence? Or something far more sinister?* Why does Key have no love for the glasses girl!?Here's a cat I could never forget.
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Go Umisho! Oops, wrong show.
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  Or in some cases… a swim meet.
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KimiKiss pure rouge Episode 8 - Where is the Love? Kai is smooth~ as usual ;) This has got to be my favorite episode so far. My doubts and confusion with the previous episodes, particularly regarding Mao and Kai, were more or less cleared up (or am I merely putting on that pretense?). There are no romantic developments between Asuka and Kazuki yet, and I wonder if the pairing will become Asuka x Eriko instead of Eriko x Kazuki =P (This post has been a little delayed because I am still, a little sick. I’m not going to the office tomorrow just so I can… sleep~ LOL) [ This is only an excerpt for the post! Go the the website for the full content + pictures + links. ]
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