More Dogs in Heat?

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Ubu Roi

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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Posted in All Reviews, Cheesecake, Fansub Review, Random Nonsense, Snap Reviews | 7 Comments

Kanokon, or “Dogs in Heat”

Posted on April 18, 2008 by Ubu Roi

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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Posted in Episode Reviews, Fansub Review, Random Nonsense, Snap Reviews | 7 Comments

Yeah, yeah…

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Ubu Roi

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.

Posted in All Reviews, Fansub Review, Snap Reviews | 4 Comments

To Love Ru

Posted on April 15, 2008 by Ubu Roi

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?

Posted in Episode Reviews, Snap Reviews | 3 Comments

Code Geass, Turn 2

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Ubu Roi

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 now that there’s three people confirmed to have it, and at least one of them did not get the power from CC.

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.

Posted in Episode Reviews, Random Nonsense, Snap Reviews | 1 Comment

More Code Geass

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Ubu Roi

I’ve been thinking about the situation implied by this episode, but it’s got to go behind the spoiler tag…

What I can piece together so far is that Suzuku pulled the trigger, but the shot didn’t kill Lelouche. It did result in his capture though. CC got away, and managed to take a few remaining members of the Black Knights deep underground, probably with Gerhard’s & Kallen’s help. But the emperor knows that as long as CC is on the loose, there is still a danger, and he wants her back under control. So they implanted fake memories in Lelouche, returned him to school, and placed Villetta there to watch him. Rollo is probably an agent (I keep thinking I know him from earlier in the series though) also watching him. As the guy said, bait. Sure enough CC shows up to rescue Lelouche — and succeeds, despite it all.

However, what this scenario means is, the emperor is still choosing to overlook Millie and her family’s involvement with Lelouche. It’s probably politics. However, the gig is obviously up for Lelouche. I don’t see any way he can continue the double life. All along, the Emperor has known what he was up to and where he was (not surprising, really). Lelouche didn’t know that, but know there’s no way he can not know it now. So I’m going to be pretty damned peeved if we go right back to the same formula with him spending time in high school in his public identity. Unfortunately, I think that is exactly where they are headed. We’ll see.

Update: Daniel notices something. And as for the open question he poses, the Martian Successors have her!

Posted in Fansub Review, Snap Reviews | 7 Comments

Code Geass R2

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Yep, it’s just as messed up as ever. Complete “WTF?” and I enjoyed every minute of it. Well, except when Lelouch got a little megalomaniacal at the end of the episode, and they didn’t have to reprise that exact scene, but hey, it was still good crazy fun. Well, except for the part of Villetta being his P.E. teacher? And where did his “brother” Rollo come from?

Actually the answers will be fairly well implied by the end of the episode (except for one… what the hell happened at the end of season one?), but they open TONS of questions… like what the hell is really going on? I really don’t see how they could possibly make a mess this convoluted ever make sense in the end, but, you know, the charm of CG is that the plot is so crazy, I don’t care if it ever makes sense. I’m good with it, as long as it doesn’t insult my intelligence.

Much, anyway.

Bunny-girl Kallen, in a mech. I’m in luuuuuuuuv. 🙂

Posted in Snap Reviews | 1 Comment