Mahou Meido Meganekko

Well, the new season has delivered us a bunch of new shows, most of which I admit I haven’t bothered to watch. I have made it a point to catch all three of the fanservice shows thus far, so at least I can talk about those. I also watched what I thought was going to be the most intriguing: Daughter of Twenty Faces. It turned out to be the most disappointing, so I’ll take a break from the fanservice to look at it.

The early translations of the plot were a little confused over whether the girl was the thief, or whether she was running off with the thief (turns out to be the latter). The first would stretch credulity more than a bit, but it might be fun. The second might be more logical, but risked being boring in concept. Still, it had a chance to be reasonably entertaining. What I expected to get was something like the 60’s crime capers, or Lupin crossed with It Takes a Thief. Suave good-guy/bad-guy as the protagonist, over-matched police, seemingly airtight security, and inventive tricks that leave the viewer amazed at how badly hoodwinked the good guys were. The show was indeed set in the 1960’s, and “The Thief Known as 20 Faces” even had a gimmick: he would always warn the owner what he was coming to steal, and when. And then he’d steal it, no matter what the security. Cool, right?

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There appears to have been a failure of some sort today that claimed the last 48 hours or so of posts and comments. HM has restored part of them, but the pictures aren’t all back yet. I’m waiting to see what happens before I start re-uploading.

UPDATE: Upon contact with the host, they advised me that a scheduled hardware replacement had occurred (it seems I should visit my control panel and their forums much more often so I’d know these little things), and it was suggested that my posts ended up on the old server due to a slow DNS changeover. (Like FOUR DAYS slow). They copied the old database over to replace the “new” one, but the pictures weren’t a part of that, so I’ll have to replace them tomorrow.

If I have time.

UPDATE 2: Well, they transferred the new pictures directory for me. I’m glad I don’t have to do it, and HM gave me prompt service when I asked for it. It’s just that I’m still annoyed that it was necessary. It happened because the DNS propagation was absurdly slow; the new server was put in place on the 17th, but I was still unknowingly going to the old server on the 20th. Presumably, so were most folks.

Not that I could have gone to the new server even if I had known, without the correct IP. I have no knowledge of where visitors ended up, but I can guess from the lack of reaction to the pics/articles; I don’t expect comments like Jason gets, but I did think the lack was odd.

If anyone posted a comment and it’s gone now, that’s the reason.

This weekend is turning out to be pretty rough, I’m exhausted, and I’m getting behind on articles. Not like I’m on a schedule, but I’d like to review one show every day for a week or so.

Since I obviously won’t, despite CG #3, and Daughter of Twenty Faces #1 being out, here, have a few more pics from Kanonkon. I mean Kaokanon. I mean Kanakon! Ah hell, I blame Wonderduck.

(And I’ve only had a chance to watch the first ten minutes of DoTF anyway, but I’ve got problems already. The “I can’t respect this show” kind.)

Ok, a couple of non-cheesecake shots above the fold. First off, I made a mistake.

This is not the bad guy. He’s authoritarian, and scary looking, but it’s not a given that he’s a bad guy, let alone the bad guy.

This is the bad guy. Dammit, Souské, haven’t you killed Gauron YET? Sorry bout the mix-up–it was the obvious family resemblance.
(/whistles innocently )

And here’s his two hench-students, shy Mio (left) and hothead Kiriyama (on right). Kiriyama is also a spirit, exhibiting super-speed at one point.

Kawaiii!

Unnamed twins who quietly eat and watch the hijinks, until their drinks get spilled

Um, and my time abruptly ran out. Maybye more later, after i watch ep #3. If I get to.

Update: Ok, I’m in the middle of the 3rd episode. This show is winning, so far. The self-parody has me cracking up — Chizuru is reading up on sure-fire ways to win her guy, so her younger brother Tayura mentions her selection of reading material to Nozomu… and hilarity results as they start trying to one-up each other with a deliberate selection of animé clichés, such as the Badly Cooked Breakfast, the Accidental Collision (on purpose), and dialog taken out of bizarro land: ‘”Smile” (Yes, she says that)’ {actual subtitle. The rest of the class gets into it with hilarious commentary: “Oh look, now she’s activated the ‘mistaken lovers’ flag!” which segues into a game-show spoof, when the inevitable bentos come out.

The fork-o-phone added the a completely surreal counterpoint to the backdrop that appeared from nowhere.

We get a name for the bad guy: Kumada. He’s a student, which I should have expected. Inevitably, he’ll turn out to be the student government president, which would mean he’s violating their rule about not getting involved with humans. The same rule that he’s using to excuse his interfering, of course.

And now I’m off to watch more. If the plot turns out to be reasonably decent, it really might win.

Update 2: The second girl is a frog spirit. And about how she produces the oil in that scene, I don’t want to know! The whole thing was a setup for both girls to get oily and rub all over Kouta. The humor just gave way to total pandering. Not an improvement.

Update 3:This one goes below the fold Not safe for work! (Or if the Texas CPS is looking over your shoulder.) I just thought the oily scene was pandering…

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A post wherein we consider the subjects of foxes and football, even if it isn’t the season for either….

If this show fails, it will be because the male lead (Kouta Oyamada, first-year student) is a total wimp. He’s a shrimp; a nice kid, but small, child-like, completely non-assertive, and not what you’d call “leading-man material.” He looks like Doug Flutie hanging out at the defensive linemens’ drills.

If this show succeeds, it will be because the first female lead (Chizuru Minamoto, second-year student) is a fox. Literally and figuratively. She is also permanently in season where Kouta in concerned, as she fell in love at first sight. Must have been his similar reaction to being caught in a rainstorm. (”Neat!”) She waits before school every morning and pounces — almost literally — on Kouta, who is just too embarrassed to enjoy it. If his head’s a football, she has no intent of letting it be stripped from between her very ample breasts.

NSFW below the fold.

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More posts are coming. Getting the pics and writing a few notes, because I can’t keep track of the names in multiple anime without them. I’m checking out more of the crappy spring season that I should be, going through all the fanservice shows ones first. Hope to have the write-ups coming out about one a day, starting tomorrow.

Surprise ecchi winner: Maid Guy. Nipples! Oh, and there’s allegedly a plot, too. Who’s trying to kill all the descendants of super-rich granddaddy? The personality dynamics aren’t what I expected either.

Biggest loser so far: To Love-ru. It’s Urasai Yatsura meets UFO Princes Valkyrie. Bigger tits, fewer nipples. /cry. Loser-boy in the middle. Somehow one or both keep ending up naked, but nothing happens. Note: I like marriage proposals on Deviluke — you grab the girl’s breasts. Wait, cop a feel and end up before the altar? Just a sec, here, that would make turnover in Houston’s topless bars about 100%. Per day…

Racing for the bed bottom: Kanokon. Goyshuso-Sama Ninomiya-Kun with doggie-girls, instead of succubi, and probably a plot. Even bigger loser-boy in the middle. If they’re making a subtle joke about sexual harrassment in this series, I’ll give them a ‘+’ for that. “Hey, you’re right, she’s the only girl that pushes him to the floor; maybe he’s not [a sexual harrasser], after all?” Of course the second girl shows up to tackle him at that point. “Wait, yes he is a sexual harasser!” Wait, whut? Ok, I could somewhat buy Shungo resisting one or both of the women; he was moderately bad-ass. This loser kid should have been had by both girls repeatedly; he hasn’t got the gumption of a wet noodle.

Wagaya: Nothing exceptional so far. The fox spirit seems a little less sexually ambiguous than previously billed. Needs fanservice. Inheritance in that family is weird. How come the 16-year-old is now the head of the family? (Never mind, I figured it out…)

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: high-energy, low humor. Needs everything, but most especially a brain. It’s quirky and over-the-top, I’ll give it that. I predict they will not find the child of whomever-it-is-that’s-supposed-to-destroy-the-world by the end of the series. In other words, scenario, not story.

Tower of Druga: Stole its opening from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, by making the first episode a really bad* parody of really bad video-game adaptations, then ending with a cliff-hanger. It was chuckle-worthy, especially the meeting with the final boss. *For certain values of bad, that is.

Penguin Girl Heart: Where’s the fansub? A big-breasted female otaku and nobody’s fansubbing it?

Chico, Heiress of the Phantom Thief Oh, come ON! There’s at least 3 groups doing Code Geass, someone’s got to do this one!

Update: Soul Eater: Saying “this is like Bleach” is like saying “Naruto is about ninja.” Well, yeah, that’s true as far as it goes, but… Anyway, the fanservice on the late-night edition is less than on Maid Guy, while the art style is, well stylistic, tending to a cross between CLAMP’s stick-figures and Bobobo’s weirdness (artwise only — no “Because I’m a torpeedo!”). If anything, the show might be Bleach crossed with A Nightmare Before Christmas, with a touch of Yumeria. Specifically, Ishigari. Full of low topical humor (a witch is named “Blair” for instance) it will evidently follow three youngsters that want to be demon killers, and their three partners (the “soul eaters”) who look like humans but transform into weapons. The fanservice is the exclusive domain of Blair, at least in this episode.

Let me be brief: UFO Princess Valkyrie, redeux. Perhaps crossed with a bit of Urasai Yatsura. Junior high 3rd year or senior high, first year. Therefore, no nudity in the otherwise plentiful fanservice. (As if.) Even Lala’s costume looks like it’s from UFOPV (Specifically, the Valhalla princess that time travels and hangs out with her future & past selves.) Art style seems to be simplistic and deliberately crappy, maybe even a bit 90’s retro at times. Oh and the plot? Shapely teen girl runs away from arranged marriage, flees to Earth (landing in nebbish kid’s bath, with his hands on her breasts–she doesn’t mind), gloms onto the kid, who has an attack of “little-head cogitation” and defends her against the big baddies who show up to take her home. He decides this was a bad idea, and wants nothing more to do with her, so of course, he later accidentally confesses to her instead of his intended classmate. Therefore, she accepts his marriage proposal.

Hoo boy. I can’t wait for the cooking contest to break out. Quality anime is really thin on the ground this season, isn’t it?

Did anyone ever sub the last episodes of They Are My Noble Masters?

Lulu is pretty cool… as long as he’s in control. put him physically in danger, and he’s not so hot.

Some very interesting turns that I did not anticipate, and a pretty decent last second twist ending for the episode. I can see that we are going to drop a lot more hints about the Geass power Show ▼

And did they ever draw Kallen ugly this episode. Her arms looked like sticks, but hey, plenty of shots of her in the bunny suit. Yummy.

Y’know, I wonder why her Knightmare is the only one that the pilot doesn’t sit in, but instead she looks like she’s piloting a Stratos 4 plane, or riding a motorcycle. Oh wait, all those shots from behind, and of the bunny outfit cleavage. Which she’s still wearing in the Chinese Consulate, by the way.