Updated Anime List

I doubt anyone pays close attention, but I’ve just updated my list of animé (see the menu above) with a complete reformatting and short reviews of about a dozen new series, including Bakemonogatari, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimou, Druaga, and Summer Wars, among others. Other multi-season shows have had their reviews expanded. I may get around to adding a few more this weekend, so check back later.

Update 11/27: Added Index, Railgun, Kampfer, Bastard!, Seikon no Qwasar, Princess Resurrection and more.

Update 11/29: Reworked my Scoring System page, and now I’m going back to grade the postings in the list.

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Gut Check

Natsumi rules, dog-boys drool.

Seriously, she’s all but pissing in her panties here (Akamatsu’s got more taste than that), but picks herself up and keeps going.

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Well, now that you ask…

So over at Chizumatic, there’s a discussion going on about what the best shows this season are. Well, no, really it’s a discussion on what people think their personal favorites are or aren’t. As we hit the midpoint of the season, I suppose I should weigh in. So here’s what I’m following, worst to first:

Edit: Not making the cut: MM, My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, Panty and Stocking.

If they did a benefit concert for meido, would it be called M-aid?

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Overdue Order

It’s been several months since I’ve patronized RACS, but I finally got on the stick and put an order in:

Kanokon – DVD 1. Obligation buy. All that’s left out there, because I waited so long.
Gurren Lagenn – boxed set. Well, now I’ll finally watch it from start to finish, I guess. While there were parts of it that I liked (from the episodes I sampled) there was also a lot that annoyed me, and I’ve held back for a long time as a result.
Mythical Detective Loki boxed set. – Not expecting the world here, but I’ve been thinking about this one the last two trips through Frys.
Murder Princess – Obligation buy. Wasn’t all that great, but enh. I’ve missed too many obligations lately.
Sekirei, Season One – boxed set. Also an obligation buy, and given what dreck they turned the latter half of S2 into, as far as I’m concerned, the obligation ends here. It was looking pretty good, up until the writers decided to ignore the manga completely, and turn the head of MBI into a fruitcake who would blow up his own headquarters for kicks. (No, not exactly, but I don’t care any more.)

Sekirei S2 and Omamori Himari shared the same major failing, which is why I probably won’t be buying the latter either. They both take a male at the center of the harem, who had developed some competence in the manga, and turned them into drooling idiots in the anime. I’ve got some faint hope that Samurai Girls might let Muneakira man up a bit before the end, but given that the power scales are going to be too different, I’m betting anything he gets to do will be along the lines of “oh look the spear-carrier is getting to fight too!” Feh.

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Samurai Girls RomCom Scoring

The conceit here is that Steven made up a scoring system to judge romantic anime comedies by. Now really, it doesn’t judge their qualities; if anything it’s really just a measure of how many tropes a given comedy has inserted. I think it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, so I’m about due.

To the right is the number of points that can be scored, to the left the number this series has scored:

(2) – 2 or more people seriously contending for the affections of one (1 point for each serious contender)
(1) – …who trickle in (1)
(0) – …who aren’t human (1 for each)
(0) – …who have special powers (1 for each)
(1) – Dorky hero (1) [I’m interpreting this as how “in control” he is]
(1) – …who has a unique power (1)
(0.5) – Klutzy heroine (1) [Jyuubei, in normal form]
(1) – …who has a unique power (1) (came out of nowhere, unique effects to her appearance)
(0) – Love expressed as violence (1) [Fortunately, no]
(1) – Obvious choice (1) [appears to be aiming for a harem ending, or unresolved]
(1) – Women with exaggerated figures (1)
(1) – Jiggle (1)
(1) – Panty flashes (1) (Samurai Girl Panty Blitz!)
(1) – Ecchi (1)
(1) – Joshikousei (1) [In theory. Sen is technically in a school uniform, but she’s the only one.]
(1) – Meido-san (1) [Hanzo, even though she’s not strictly a maid, dresses and acts as one.]
(1) – Accidental exposure (1)
(0) – Accidental groping (1) [surprisingly, not a bit. Muneakira’s hands have never accidentally gone anywhere inappropriate]
(1) – Swimsuits at the beach (1) [coming up in ep.6]
(1) – Bathing and yukatas in a bathhouse (1) [Bathing sans yukatas. Is that an extra score?]
(0) – Kimonos at a summer festival or cultural festival (1) [not yet]
(0) – Girl’s locker room (1)
(0) – Cosplay (1) [although I should count their “descended” outfits]
(0) – Romances among secondary characters (1) [Well, Hanzo’s got a yuri crush on Sen, but they’re not secondary.]
(1) – Meganekko (1) [Hanzo]
(0) – Annoying relatives (1) [Unless Sen’s brother is going to turn into this, it’s not likely.]
(1) – Meddlers (friends or family) (1) (Two of them.)
(0) – No romantic resolution at the end (1) [Pending, but I’m figuring on it.]

Total: 18.5, but I’ve got some explaining to do. This system is designed for contemporary-era, normal world stories. Stories in other settings, especially magical, can completely break the system, and that’s what’s happening here. The entire premise of the story guarantees that there will be multiple magical girls, and given that they have to at least kiss to seal the contract, they have to consider the lead male at least tolerably passable. Thus I only scored Sanada and Sen as competitors, as Jyuubei isn’t especially romantic in her released form, and treats Muneakira a a beloved brother in her normal form. The others may admire him (or loathe him, in Hanzo’s case) but aren’t competitors. I did not score the girls as having special powers (Master Samurai forms), because they’ll all have it by the end, per the first episode. I did score Jyuubei as the only “unique” power, since she is apparently extra-planar in origin. I thought about scoring it for Sanada’s photographic memory and speed-reading, but decided it was just a throwaway joke. Sen is the “obvious” choice, due to length of relationship, overall maturity, and social factors; but mostly because Sanada is only 15 and still looks ten. Of course the 0.5 “klutzy” score is due to Jyuubei’s being klutzy only in her ditz form, and not especially then.

A final bit of cheescake below the fold, so maybe NSFW:

Edit: Sorry, left out the divider!
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….But I’m Too Blind

Well, so much for that guess. The Tsundere Princess has gone dere-dere.

As a matter of fact, the left one does appear to have descended a bit...

Well, a couple of notes: Hammer Girl, a.k.a: Naoe Kanatsugu, the Warrior of Love, a.k.a. the purple-haired, twin-tailed girl, rivals ditz-form Jubei for stupidity. She’s sent by Sen’s brother, who has figured out that his sister is protecting Sanada and Matebei. Since she knew Sanada from way back, he figures she can infiltrate the dojo under the pretense of being Sanada’s friend, and spy on them. Unfortunately for his plan, she actually is nursing a tremendous grudge against Sanada for an embarrassing prank when they were just kids. As a result, she barges in rather violently, with a cover story that makes no sense, engages in a flashback that everyone objects to, and then, realizing that she’s outgrown her nemesis by a foot and several cup sizes, enjoys ragging Sanada mercilessly.

Um.... why? Do you provide it as a side job? (Survey says: Please Kami-sama, No!)

Unfortunately for her, Sanada has spent the last month working out the principles of her transformation, and has realized the kiss is only needed for the contract — in fact, her transformation can be self-initiated….

Poor Kanetsugu probably only landed halfway to the next prefecture, given that she was able to walk back by that night.

Well, it’s late and I’m not going to do a blow by blow, but a few random observations are in order:

Props to the comedic dialog, I’m enjoying it.

Most…common….camera…angle… Samurai Panty Blitz Tactics!

Poor Muneakira, to be such a nebbish trapped in this harem. Looked like he was going to man up for a bit there, but for reasons I can’t fathom, he chose to be a punching bag.

Yes, of course he was being blamed for all the women trying to kiss him.

Something I failed to mention in the earlier article: Sen’s reason for summoning Muneakira is that children are disappearing. While thinking about his newfound ability, he suddenly realizes that all of the children are from families of Master Samurai. I suspect the Greater Japanese Intelligence Agency will not be challenging Sherlock Holmes anytime soon, if nobody noticed that before now.

Jubei does not seem to be able to self-initiate without the kiss. Might be possible, she just hasn’t grasped the method.

Oh crap, beach episode incoming.

I’m outta here…zzzzzzzz

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We Should Have Seen It Coming…

So at first, it looked like Samurai Girls was going to be the story of one really powerful busty samurai, one reasonably manly guy (Yagyuu Muneakira), and a bunch of (mostly busty) scrubs. That would not have been much of a story unless they came up with a villain equal to the super-saijin, and then the rest of the girls would just be spear carriers. Fortunately, it’s not the story being told. It’s very clear that there will be several super-powered samurai girls, but not necessarily fighting each other — at some point, they’ll be defending Japan. Somehow, I managed to forget that little detail, as shown by the opening minutes of episode 1. Tonight, I was forcefully reminded of it. As of Episode 4, it’s become obvious that this is actually a harem show, with the usual inept male (Muneakira) at the center. In Episode 1, he was reasonably assertive. Granted, he wasn’t really in control, but then he was dealing with a bunch of nuts in the Student Council, and Hanzo wasn’t exactly the most stable person to reason with. But ever since Yagyuu Jubei showed up, he’s been pushed around by the women. If it isn’t Tsundere Princess Sen trying to stake him out as her territory (without actually, you know, claiming him), it’s Jubei in her ditz mode or loli genius Sanada-kun losing any semblance of common sense. Below the fold, it’s going to get into spoilers…

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