...what are you watching...

Inuyasha: The Final Act 23-26! the end. While Naraku and his few dozen clones were probably the most annoying 'bad guy' ever in a shonen anime, Inuyasha and his friends were fun to watch. I'm sure I would have read the manga and watched more consistently if not for length and repetitive nature of the middle of the series.Just how much power-up does a good guy need? I suppose I might say the same of Naruto (I think Naruto comes out of training to find out that he is still weaker than Sasuke and needs more training again and again). While Inuyasha has the cute ears, Sesshoumaru is still my favorite character. I do like how the children (and Jaken) are in awe of him, how fluffy his tail is, and how nice his eyeshadow is. Though parts of the story and driving conflicts were conveniently resolved, and simplistically contrived (especially during this speedy part of the anime series), overall, I appreciated seeing the last parts of the manga animated. The end was cute, and I like how they touched on how simple their (Inuyasha, Naraku & Kagome's) wishes were. I was also amused that the shikon no tama had an 'evil' side. And at the end, Inuyasha and Kagome were good together. ~8/10 rating~ It's an excellent shonen series for the younger crowd...although if you started with series 1 episode1 and just now finished everything, I'm sure you've aged ten to fourteen years...scary, right?

Went to see Alice and yes, plenty of visual yummies, but the development of the story was rather cringe-inducing.
( what I thought was going to happen... ) The CGI was pretty lovely at times and then reminded me of Gumby-Spiderman at other times. That thing near the end? Did they really have to add that?

Working! 1! The first of the new spring shows is about employees who work at a family restaurant. Did the one guy say that the fries would take 17 minutes? What kind of fries take that long to cook. This turned out to be a typical megane male character in a new environment series. Takanashi (voiced by Fukujun) is recruited by a tiny moe-female upperclassman to work in a restaurant. The place has the typical cast of stereotypes. *snooze* The series doesn't really start until April, but eh, no more please.


Nodame Cantabile: Finale 8! It's a shame the half-asleep animation team worked on this episode since it's somewhat of a pivotal moment in Nodame & Chiaki's relationship. There were some odd transitions? Anyway, Nodame proposes out of desperation for a new goal or something like that. But Stresemann comes in to lure her into the 'dark' side via magical circle a la Negima or CLAMP. Btw, the 2nd movie trailer looks like it'll cover some of this, too...along with inserting old character side stories.

Letter Bee 22! The 2nd part of the arc which uses very cheesy methods to show us that Gauche Suede is worth looking for. He crosses the Sahara to help Dr. Thunderland Jr....I see slash potential.

Inuyasha: The Final Act 19-22! It was ridiculous how easily Naraku got ahold of Kohaku's shard, and ridiculous how Kohaku survived. The best part of this series is seeing how the other characters interact with Sesshoumaru. The final battle is turning out to be mildly interesting though predictable.

Katanagatari 1! And I thought Zetsubou Sensei had alot of dialogue. This show beats 'em all with how much the characters like to talk. I wonder if NisiOisin is as verbose in person as all the characters he creates.

+ Nice style, but
- Simplistic animation at times
+ Quiet humor in the form of sarcasm
- Once a month episodes, so we'll be here a full year
+ Episodes are 50 minutes
- Bland opening/ending songs

Quick impression~ A swordless swordsman gets convinced to find 12 'special' swords by the overly confident daughter of someone his father killed. The bad guys who have the swords sorta remind me of those in Rurouni Kenshin. I think the dumb jock and genki female pairing isn't what I was hoping for, but because we occasionally hear what the jock is thinking, it becomes amusing. Btw, the way they left the sister on the island was odd.


Inuyasha: The Final Act 17! Ah, another lovely Sesshoumaru episode. So the 'evil' part of the Shikon jewel takes a piece of Naraku's body and attacks Sesshoumaru to get to Kohaku. Inuyasha gets pretty upset when he thinks Sesshoumaru has been defeated. I rarely make complaints that a series is rushing by too fast, but this 'Final Act' season really could use better pacing, so that we can savor certain events. Anyway, Sesshoumaru surpasses his father to create his own sword (and grow his own arm back) and hopefully, will stop internally whining about Inuyasha's sword. But really? that was the best part of the series.


ETA: I was wondering where all the yaoi anime went, but hey, Nakamura Shungiku's Sekaiichi Hatsukoi will get animated! It's basically Junjou Romantica all over again with slightly less smut.

Solved the Windows7 x mkv =>freezing problem by updating the nvidia driver.

Kobato. 14! This episode raises the question, "what is a 24 hour TJ Maxx doing in Japan?" (there's a little 24 over their heads)

Inuyasha: The Final Act 15! The most adorable Sesshoumaru x Inuyasha fight yet. Yes, it was still about the swords, but haha--Rin's comment.

Aoi Bungaku 11-12! the end. Ryunosuke Akutagawa's The Spider's Thread and Hell Screen are featured in these last two episodes. Kubotite's got the character design for these. The first story is about a man, Kandata, who murders indiscriminately. He is eventually captured, sentenced to death, and ends up in Hell. He did do one tiny, good thing while he was alive, and is given the chance to escape Hell's torture. The second story is about an artist who is asked to paint a mural of the King's kingdom in the King's future resting place. Well, the artist paints hell in the crypt for obvious reasons. The artist can only paint from what he has seen, and when he gets to the final touch to Hell, the King is eager to oblige him of the subject. It's good to know that classic Japanese literature is as macabre as the stuff American schools make you read. The anime twist to these stories were pretty awesome. ~8/10 rating~ for a lesson in classic literature and crazies galore.



Inuyasha: The Final Act 13! I think the encounters between Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha are more interesting than any of the Naraku battles. In this episode, Sesshoumaru is annoyed that his Maid (ha!) attack is incomplete. We learn that Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha have to work together for the attack to be complete...though the characters' interpretation of their father's legacy is slightly not-so-positive. Funny, as always.

Kobato. 10! Thought it was a little creepy that the organ started playing by itself (especially since it wasn't the self-playing kind). Fujimoto is almost the highlight of the episode, but then we find out that he has a pretty dull background story..I swear we saw this in CCS. But heeeey, Misaki and Tamayo (from Angelic Layer) are giving away free beer! They couldn't be giving away free cookies or something? Apparently beer is a cute and innocent product in Kobato-land where it is given away freely. Kobato wins at this season's most wtf writers.

Haha, went back to read wtf CLAMP wrote when they got to this part. Exam 9 translations by Jamie say it all.

Inuyasha: The Final Act 11! With this episode, I remember why I quit watching the first time around. Random, pointless fighting, another weak bad guy gone.

Inuyasha: The Final Act 9! is about Sesshoumaru and his mother who is pretty, darn funny. He gets some easy-as-pie training from her. Gotta love the cool, stoic male characters that have kids trailing after them; like Hei (from DTB) and Batman. Totally amused at how Jaken had to explain Sesshoumaru's sad face and happy face to Sesshoumaru's mother.

Takakau Shisho - Book of Bantorra 2-7! reassessed my impression of this show after the 2nd episode. It's good once you get past the ridiculously huge boobs on one of the main characters (you know those things are going to be hanging down around her knees in 20 years...what is the attraction?). Colio and Shiron's arc started off a little slow, but it was pretty interesting how they were connected. Colio started off as a 'meat' character (emotionless zombie-like character used by the Church) who is touched by Shiron's story when he accidentally 'reads' part of her book. Her power of seeing the future somehow allowed her to see him. Hamyeta Meseta, the big-breasted woman, is more interesting in the action scenes, and so far, the bad guys/the Church are bent on killing her. Episode 5 starts another arc (the opening visuals changed to feature the cast rather than those ugly graphics). I wonder if each arc will feature a 'meat' character who is corrupted, and used by the Church. And then, they get saved by the Librarians. Of course, there are snippets of a bigger story in the background. The animation isn't the best, but consistent. The factors that make this show unpopular could be the dull (bordering on fugly) character design and the uneven pacing.

ETA:
Inuyasha: The Final Act 7! I just noticed that in the opening visuals, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's swords have different powers from what they just recently obtained, so they aren't as close to a final battle than originally expected. Have to give Kikyou credit for devising a plan to defeat Naraku without much effort, but it's a shame Naraku figured it out.

Bakemonogatari 13! the first of the online streamed episodes...booo hiss online-only anime. Araragi takes Hanekawa to Oshino to help her with the cat problem...yes, not much progress with the cat story, but the episode started off with Araragi being so happy with his date last episode that he molests a little girl in broad daylight. She, in turn, bites him.


Inuyasha: The Final Act 5! Inuyasha needs to train so that he can use his new powered-up sword. He visits an old man whose innards were stolen by a youkai. These plot points still seem to wrap up quickly. I gave up on the first series, since there was no end in sight, but this series seems to focus on all the main characters gaining power..hopefully, for the final battle.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood 28! organized chaos.

Inuyasha: The Final Act 3! Sesshoumaru's continuous sword-envy has always been a source of amusement. Most of the episode was a filler focused on Shippo. It felt disjointed, but it had its moments of humor. The last couple pieces of dialogue were especially amusing.