...what are you watching...

Oh, Finally.


Denyuuden 24! the end. I liked the short intro to the Black Hero devouring the Lonely Demon. I'm pretty certain it was inspired by another story about a lonely fool sacrificing his body for so-called friend..I can't recall the title. And I actually liked the open-ended conclusion, too. Because my initial impressions were wrong, I ended up pleasantly surprised by this fantasy epic. It didn't turn out to be a parody of fantasy like the 'legend of legendary heroes' title suggests, and the characters didn't just go around collecting magical relics like they were ordered to. The characters developed interestingly and unexpectedly which is all you can ask for in anime these days.


The biggest flaws were in the inconsistent animation production and the rather generic character design. I think the manga version and novel illustrations are also fairly ugly. ~9/10 rating~ giving it a higher rating than most, since the friendship between Ryner, Sion and Ferris actually gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. Ryner and Sion are very much like Code Geass's Suzaku and Lelouch..though likeable and unique enough not to be tiresome. If they decide to continue onto another season, I'd definitely watch. I think Ryner and Ferris join the opposite side of the war when they learn what Sion had been doing behind their backs.

Katanagatari 12! the end. After what happens to Togame, Shichika basically goes against all of her orders. All the swords get humorously broken; the tenth was cute. The blond princess somehow redeems herself though I'm not quite sure how I didn't end up annoyed with her. Because you get attached to Shichika's relationships with prior characters, namely Togame, the end was a little sad.



Despite the title of the series, this isn't your typical shounen series, the fight scenes mock actual shounen anime and were usually ridiculously short. I suppose the focus was the push-and-pull dialogue between the characters. I didn't really like the character design, but it grows on you. The overall production style of the show was fair. Even if the episodes were extra long and they cut corners, the flaws were not too obvious. There was a rich palette and the background scenes were all very screencap-able. I did find the 50 minute episode per month not a real benefit. 50 minutes is a long time to listen to Nisioisin's dialogue and from month to month, you forget what just happened. ~8/10 rating~ I'd still recommend the series.



Denyuuden 23! Ah, a small break from all the dense, gloomy events of the last few episodes. It's Sion's birthday celebration. And then ends with an expected twist. If not for the fact that this isn't a popular series, there'd be some hardcore doujinshi running rampant. One more episode to go, right? or maybe a 2nd season?



Tegami Bachi: REVERSE 11! Did I ever mention that the very purple palette gets tiring to watch. Maybe at the end after they get rid of the artificial sun, there will be a change in palette and the munchkins will come out to play. The nuns working for Reverse meet their end (or they could have just lost their hearts?) Lag finally conveys his heart to Gauche. I read a little further in the manga and I like the twist that will come. I'm glad that this season has more depth. Last season was 85% throwaway.

Togainu no chi 10! some planes bomb the blond pervert's home interrupting Rin x Il Re x Akira's battle. This show was scarily terrible, but finally improved just a smidge near the end of this episode. The flashback was funny; unintentionally, of course.

Denyuuden 22! is a confusing episode with Ryner's father and mother, Sion and his Fallen Black Hero personality, some human experiments, and the fact that Gastark knows everything about the main characters.

Otome Youkai Zakuro 9! A bland episode where everyone chases a pseudo-youkai who needs a love confession to disappear. Tsundere...zzz...

Kuragehime 7! Kuranosuke does some things...zzz...to build up the next episode.

Togainu no chi 9! Akira's blood cures Keisuke instead of killing him. Rin takes Akira's tag, so that he can challenge Il Re. zzz...

Arakawa Under the Bridgex2 8! Amazoness reappears and seduces Riku. Her crush on Riku is funny. I like the short introspective narratives in the beginning of each episode.



Denyuuden 21! Excellent episode. Sion shows more signs of cracking, but his loyalty toward Ryner tentatively holds against Flouade's wishes. Great cliffhanger, too. Wish all the episodes had been animated as nicely as this one; even though there's an important event in this episode, I swear they put more quality into episodes where they show the huge-breasted female characters...more bounce on screen. I reeeally shouldn't have started watching this since this series is only building up to a larger story (evidenced by the numerous novels written thus far) which may or may not get animated.


Tegami Bachi: REVERSE 9! Lag convinces Niche's sister that all humans aren't that bad. Niche is left with her sister for awhile. Maka calls Lag, 'hikari' as if it were some preordained thing; so other there's another puzzle for the series to solve. Niche and her sister were adorable little babies. I haven't seen 'Tangled' yet, but there were some nice hair attacks in this episode which reminded me of the Rapunzel reboot commercials.

Kuragehime 6! Kuranosuke takes the girls out for an enjoyable evening. His brother, Koibuchi, gets tricked into bed for political reasons. Pretty good episode.

Togainu no chi 8! Akira finally shows some emotion after finding out that someone who is hooked on the drug cannot be cured, but vows to help Keisuke anyway. The pacing of this show is tedious, and the animation is still laughably bad at times, too.

Here's an amusing clip of the HP cast learning to speak 'American'. Two.5 hours turned out to be not as long as expected.

Denyuuden 20! Luke, another pink-haired Gastark guy, Ryner, Ferris and other eye-guy fight in this episode resulting in Ryner being able to suppress his power on his own. Ferris also shows that she is not so tsundere as she once was. Ryner being the 'solver of all equations' is intriguing.

Kuragehime 5! The girls go to protest the renovation of their street; or the fact that they will be kicked out of their home. They run away from the meeting in fear of the people in suits. Kuranosuke gives them a makeover.

Togainu no chi 7! a bunch of nothings happened in this episode.

For various reasons, I kept missing BBC's new Sherlock while it was on tv, but the three episodes are online at PBS. It's probably wrong to say that it reminds me of House MD without the hospital (since it should be the other way around). I liked the introduction of Sherlock's brother.

Hey, no surprise, there will be a new Full Metal Alchemist movie. The trailer features Al in his armor, so random filler it is. "finally tell the story of forbidden bonds"..I laughed at the tagline.

Tegami Bachi: REVERSE 7! Finally to the juicy parts of the story. Lag travels north as rumors of Noir spread. He is able to see what happened to Gauche after he lost his memories (but not how it happened). Niche remembers that she was born in the nearby town..cliffhanger.

Kuragehime 4! Tsukimi, Kuranosuke and his older brother go to the aquarium. Tsukimi is not wearing her glasses, can't see them, and thus, is more comfortable with the brothers. Plus, she is excited about the jellyfish. Kuranosuke gets irritated when he sees his older brother comforting Tsukimi. Love triangle established.

Denyuuden 19! Ryner visits a refuge where other children with 'special' eyes gather while leaders at Roland and Gastark are wondering about who Ryner is. Luke catches up to him; cliffhanger.

Otome Youkai Zakuro 4-5! Episode 4 focuses on Susukihotaru and Riken while bigger enemies lurk in the shadows waiting for Zakuro. Some of the enemies come out in episode 5 and suggest that Zakuro's mother is a alive. We get to see Bonbori and Hozuki's powers in action, too.

Denyuuden 17-18! Flouard kidnaps Milk, so that he can manipulate Luke into killing Ryner. Interestingly enough, Luke is actually a match for Flouard. Klom gets an arm destroyed by an evil Lelouch twin. Ryner runs away, is found by Ferris & Sion, but then runs away with the evil Lelouch twin. Episode 18 was animated oddly...remembering random episodes of Naruto with stylishly cheap animation. I hope they don't use that technique too often.

Togainu no chi 4! I keep falling asleep during this show. I think the 2 main characters fall in love at the end, but maaan, are they boring.

Spent some time sorting a couple thousand photos, here are a few if anyone wants to see. So fun being a tourist.

Arakawa Under the Bridge x2 3! Sweet episode. Riku tries to learn more about Nino and tries to apologize when she gets angry.

Denyuuden 16! gotta love the plot twists after a recap episode. We learn of Ferris's family which was bred from incest. Ryner gets a sound warning from her brother and from Luke. Poor guy.

Kuragehime 1! Jellyfish Princess?

+ Lovely geek opening visuals (Star Wars, Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, etc)
+ Great production from Brains Base
+ Interesting slice-of-life story

Quick impression ~ A young nerd and illustrator-wannabe who has an obsession with jellyfish lives with other female nerds. All of them have nerd-like hobbies, and have no experience with boys. They get a new roommate who happens to be a drag queen. So far, this has been the most interesting new show this season.

Denyuuden 15.5! a recap by Ferris's iittle sister, Iris. Iris is the token annoying, frilly dress-wearing sister.

Tegami Bachi REVERSE 3! zzz...smells like a filler.

Togainu no chi 2! Akira and Keisuke meet Rin who shows them around. I know that fans of the BL game are excited, but I don't sense enough BL angst. Akira is a brick wall.

Soremachi 2! The opening is so happy. For characters that have no sex appeal, there were an awful lot of crotch shots. Some of the SD faces remind me of Yotsuba&. In this episode the maids try to think up ways to attract more customers.

Togainu no chi 1! based on a BL game.

- Mediocre animation
- Zzz character appeal

Quick impression~ It's pretty sad when the boobs on a female anime character are drawn incorrectly. The main character, Akira...a sort of stoic Squall-like guy is accused of murder and agrees to participate in a killing game for his freedom. I don't really see the hot BL potential in this, but do recall numerous doujinshi running around out there.

Denyuuden 15! Adorable episode which features Ryner & Ferris heading back to Roland's castle to assassinate Sion. The ongoing tension surrounding Sion is slightly lifted by their visit. It's very nice to see that Sion still hold's Ryner's impossible dream as his goal for the kingdom; it's also nice to see the BL fanservice between the two. It's amusing how vocal Ferris is about Ryner's 'perversions'. The next episode looks like a recap. The way this show is progressing, it might become as interesting as Juuni Kokki was.