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Arpeggio of Blue Steel

Arpeggio of Blue Steel

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Chiaki’s stream of consciousness writing on Arppegio of Blue Steel – WARNING, spoilers

Starting in Episode 5, let me make a list of all the things I don’t give a damn about:

Episode 5

  • The 4 minutes spent on Haruna walking around in her lingere and then playing dress up

  • The 3 minutes spent on bathtime.

  • The important things in this episode could have been summarized into about 5 minutes – backstory on Makie and the Vibration warhead

Episode 6

  • So I don’t mind the arc with the little girl, or her backstory

  • Here’s what bugged me, this girl is suddenly weeping upset over creating the warhead that would kill the fog because of Haruna, a girl she’s known for like what 12 hours?  That’s hardly enough time to be more than years of wanting dad’s approval

  • On the flip side, 12 hours of knowing the girl changed the fog warship girl from who knows how many years of killing to not killing anyone and being willing to like, die for the girl?

  • The trip and fall to alert the girl to the soldiers

  • Teddy Bears fighting, enough said

  • Not bad fightscenes in this episode, primarily the whole thing

  • The emotions in this episode felt completely forced, I did not believe the bond between Haruna or Makie in the slightest so the climax and whatnot didn’t feel realistic nor was I invested

  • Okay we got to see Iona be a bit of a badass, that was nice, even if it was like 3 seconds

  • The army guys were just sitting at a tent, just, chilling, at a tent.  It’s in the middle of an assassination raid and they brought folding tables and a tent?  Seems unpractical as hell.

  • At the end of this episode I can only think of one line:  “Spike, I hate three things, kids, pets, and women.  Why are all three neatly on my ship?!”  (pets=talking stuffed animals)

Episode 7

  • Girl snuggling with a sharpie body pillow of a man who tried to blow her up in lingerie sleep wear in the first 3 minutes, talking about showing engines.

  • Girl popping from a robot to hump another girl.

  • Slamming your torpedoes into me joke in the first 6 minutes

  • The fact that this became a harem show.  WTF, can’t we have a show that can have women in it and not turn them into a harem?

  • The fact that all we have accomplished in 10 minutes is girls fighting over girls, and boys, and reaching a base

  • Somehow, I’m starting to like a girl being a teddy bear over a girl, at least I don’t have to watch her trying to bang anyone in that form

  • Repairing scene with the girl moving the points of light was kind of a cool concept

  • “What is this sensation?” Iona says, haven’t they been together for like 2 years?  Does Iona only realize she gives a damn about Gunzou when there’s a host of other chicks taking interest?  GOD!  Typical woman

  • AND 16 minutes in we are on a beach,  F-THIS

  • I don’t care how important what you are saying is, how touching the music is, or how character relations are being developed.  IF the shot has a bikini girl’s ass in the foreground, it doesn’t matter.

Episode 8

  • Glad they addressed a reason why all the mental models are girls.  And that it was a rather clever reason – ships are always female.

  • Maya, just, annoying for the sake of being annoying

  • That teapot did not make six cups of tea, the little things, the little things!

  • In the middle of important plot points and discussion regarding the future of humanity and the world?  Let’s have a BBQ!!

Episode 9

  • I get it, so far their big crux is about finding a world in which everyone can get along and be happy.  But, they’ve spent so much time on trivial things and had the fog and humans work together so easily there’s a distinct lack of tension created.  It doesn’t feel like an impossible notion, it feels like there’s one ship that doesn’t agree and everyone else is cool with it.

  • Oh and the magical girl ship transformations are getting old

  • I’m tired of ‘the power of love’ being used for everything

  • They’re having a super naval battle and just… chatting in the third dimension during?

Episode 10

  • you know what, just, eff it.  Sister ship twins?

  • I’m already bored, knowing this series will end in a “lets all be friends” finale

  • Once more, Gunzou is hurt and I don’t really care.  Despite him being the main character he’s had relatively minimal screen time and development.

  • Can I say, as an American, I feel odd about the whole “America is the savior, give our technology to America” vibe?”

  • I like the music, especially the theme they play when Gunzou is dying

  • I really wanted to be super emotional, but I just, couldn’t

Episode 11

  • Wait, so like, they struggled to take on 2 of the fog ships in the beginning, and now they’re just straight mowing them down in a single flipping shot?  Nagara class ships super awful or something?

  • Oh yeah, they couldn’t actually kill anyone

  • AAAAAND muther trucking death star

Episode 12

  • Its like the death star and the eye of Sauron had a baby

  • I dont even know if we’re fighting under the ocean, on the ocean, or in space, this has gotten stupid

[starrater]

mangirl

Mangirl!

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Mangirl!

Studio: Dogakobo

Dir. Nobuaki Nakanishi

Wri. Masahiro Yokotani & Reiko Yoshida

 

SYNOPSIS

A team of girls with zero experience in manga editing are off and running toward their dream of creating the biggest manga magazine in Japan! They seem to do nothing but run into problems and failures… But still they’re working hard every day!

 

REVIEW

+ Characters are cute and well differentiated visually.

 

+ The show has a very colorful, glossy look to it. Everything kind of looks like candy, especially the characters’ hair.

 

+/- Music is unremarkable. At least it’s not inappropriate and distracting. Theme song is cute, but a little irritating and manic.

 

– Very clearly made on the cheap. Not a big need for action, so nothing to complain about there. Lots and lots of static frames.

 

– The central conflict of the show is simply running this magazine. Each episode has it’s own conflict that emerges and gets resolved within the three-minute runtime. Because of this conflicts are resolved almost as soon they arise, often with nothing more than a jump cut and a line of dialogue like: “Somehow we overcame this obstacle! Yay!” It really feels like this show wants to be a full-length half-hour program, but simply doesn’t have the time to explore its episodic conflicts in an interesting way.

 

– Aside from the two most prominent characters, performances aren’t all that varied or unique. Everyone has the same cute cadence to their voice, which doesn’t lend much to their characters. The show has barely enough time to showcase the individual characters’ idiosyncrasies, so you end up with impressions like “the crazy one,” “the serious one,” “the kinda dumb one,” and “the one who likes donuts.”

 

Overall it’s a pretty cute, mildly interesting (albeit probably inaccurate look) at the manga publishing world.


[starrater]

2.5 donuts out of five.

kon

K-On! (Season 1)

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Alternate Titles: None

Original Japanese Release Date: April 2nd, 2009

Episode Length/Run-time: 14 episodes

Summary:

Yui Hirasawa is a high school freshman and she needs a club to join.  She discovers a club on the brink of extinction, the light music club.  Yui joins the current members of the club Ritsu and Mio and later, Tsumugi and Azusa, as they save the club and become best friends.

Review:

K-On is a “moe” anime.  There really isn’t much to it.  Five girls get together after school and eat cake and have tea and occasionally, practice rock music.  That’s about all there is to it.  Like most “moe” shows, this one wastes many of its episodes on mindless content that is meant to serve one purpose, being cute.  These episodes include school festivals, trips to the beach, and endless sessions of cake eating.  So at this point you might wonder, “how does this show get a 4/5?” The show does have some good things going for it that make it likely, one of the best, if not the best “moe” show out there.

The show, aesthetically is very pleasing.  First off, the music in the show is fantastic.  Making it’s way to the top of Japanese pop charts, the opening and ending themes, “Cagayake! Girls” and “Don’t say “Lazy”, make the music very special.  This not only because the songs are good but because the themes are performd by the seiyuu actresses themselves; Aki Toyosaki with Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Satou, Minako Kotobuki and Ayana Taketatsu.  In addition to the music, the visuals are excellent as well.  I think it’s a shame however that good production values get wasted on watching “moe” girls tripping all over themselves.

It was also nice watching the girls working towards their live performances together, something that is sorely lacking in the second season.  As a musician, it was also quite interesting watching Yui trying to learn the guitar.   So in the end, this is a pretty nice show that really does what it’s intended to do very well.  In terms of a “moe” show it’s much more tolerable than most and because the characters are enjoyable and the music is great, it’s generally a show that can be recommended to most audiences.

[starrater]

bamboo blade

Bamboo Blade

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Alternate Titles: None

Original Japanese Release Date: 2007

Episode Length/Run-time: 26 Episodes

Summary:

Toraji is a high school Kendo teacher makes a bet with his friend who is also a kendo teacher that if Toraji can assemble a team which defeats his team then he will give Toraji free meals at a sushi restraunt for a whole year.  Now Toraji is focused on finding girls to join the club, driven by the need for food.  In doing so an unlikely group of girls with their share of quirks are assembled for the kendo team.

Review:

The best way to describe this anime is a harem with no romance.  It’s one guy, a lazy dude bringing a bunch of girls together for food, bringing a bunch of girls together.  And even though it’s about a sport it doesn’t seem to be the focal point of the series.  The relationship is really what’s important between character to character.

This anime is not really about the kendo, don’t walk into it expecting to learn something about kendo.  The Kendo does go through the motions but it’s not really focused on the actual action.  It’s focused on the mental aspects of the game and less on the movements.

As far as plot it’s hard to describe, being a heavy slice of life anime.  The kendo doesn’t come up all that often surprisingly, and trying to get the team together is most of the anime.  Most of the footage is on the girls lives and their day to day lives.  It really attempts to be a slice-of-life anime despite having the sports persona.

It’s enjoyable, yet average.

Reviewed by Neokage from the Otaku Momentum Podcast

[starrater]

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