SCREEN SHOTS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Bold text within spoiler tags are links.
Maria Holic ep9
FFFFFFFFF— Trap loli FFFFFFFFF— Why must the show torment me so?! At least there were some real lolis too.
I asked and I received; this episode revealed the incident that caused Ayari and Mariya's split, which was rather funny. Poor Ayari must've had a good bit a childhood trauma due to that, even if it wasn't actually Mariya's fault. And, of course, it just had to be renewed. I laughed at Yonakuni replacing her on the shrine afterwards.
The second half of the episode, about the seven mysteries of Ame no Kiseki, was totally hilarious. It figures that Kanako and her pervertedness would be the source of them all. I have to wonder just how many gallons of blood her body produces each day to keep up with those nose bleeds. Though I have to admit, the girls are quite cute in their school swimsuits.
Nyoron Churuya-san ep4
Silent mode Churuya was funny and made me I wish everyone had such a feature. It would be so nice for dealing with loud and obnoxious people. The other bit of the episode made me wonder if Churuya is ever going to be shown actually obtaining any smoked cheese. Her coming out from under the kotatsu and sucking up poor little Hokori-chan with the vacuum cleaner to get some as a reward made me laugh.
The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya ep7-8
I'm not sure whether to be amused or disturbed at the Kyon X Itsuki scene, so for now I shall go with awkward chuckling. And yesssss, more Achakura in ep8! The cake trap and then the – oh snap! – counter-trap was hilarious. Achakura has a great love/hate relationship with Yuki and it's become my favorite part of the show.
Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th ep9
Hmm, so apparently Touko entered the student council election to lose on purpose and simply motivate Yumi throughout it? Or was there some other reason too? Touko obviously still cares about Yumi in her own sly way but I can't help but wonder if she's got something else up her sleeve with this. But whatever, Shimako owning Yoshino with her sweet smile and making Yoshino spew tea was epic.
To Aru Majutsu no Index ep22
This new villain is not very interesting, other than that she makes eyeballs appear on the walls. Hyouka got a little more interesting now that they spilled the beans on her background but the best thing about her is still her cute shyness. Oh, and her cosplaying in the photo booth with Index was kind of hot. I had higher hopes for this arc, what with the wider array of characters being involved, but it's only got two episodes left to deliver.
A second series seems pretty likely but I wonder how long we'll have to wait for it.
Aria the Natural ep8-9
These were a really sweet couple of episodes. All the girls were beautiful as they gave or received roses during the Festa del Bòcolo. And Akatsuki is always funny in his interactions with the other characters, especially Akari ("Momiko janai!"), though I have to wonder if he's compensating for something with all those roses for Alicia... It was also one of the rare episodes where all three of the primary male characters – Akatsuki, Al, and Woody – showed up. D'awww at Al and Aika.
As for ep9, I'd forgotten all about Akari being afraid of the dark. That was really cute when the power was off and she was squeezing President Aria. But Alicia + Pajamas + Glasses = OMG the moe. Way too beautiful, especially in the candlelight.
Kodomo no Jikan Nigakki ep1
I had totally forgotten I'd downloaded this. Way back in August of last year Menclave subbed a trailer for it so I downloaded but held off on watching Underwater's release in hopes that Menclave would sub it. There's been no word from Menclave about it since, however, so I decided to go ahead and watch it now.
Not-crazy Reiji is funny and I hope he shows up more in future episodes. (Also, more of Mimi's hilarious fantasies about him, plz.) The way he totally dotes on and is protective of Rin (but in a not-crazy way now), yet can't say no to her, was great. But I get the feeling I'll be the same way if I ever have a daughter. I must work hard to resist the wiles of little girls! ... Ahem. I also laughed at Reiji and Aoki both thinking the other was a pervert when they met at the school gate. Rin totally plays them both, just in different ways.
The entire episode was full of laughs, though, and there were only actually a couple really ecchi scenes, one of which was aleady shown in the trailer. Kuro continues to be my favorite character; I never get tired of her scheming and raging at Aoki. And, of course, Rin was up to her usual pranks.
On another note, if you peel back the ecchiness and humor from Kodomo no Jikan you'll find it's actually got some heavy drama centering around the issues of adults and children trying to understand one another and of growing up too fast. (If you can stomach the loli fan service, I recommend the series.) After the incidents in the TV series, this episode had Aoki simply trying to understand Rin better (and getting owned in the process) but I'm curious where the story will go from here. Perhaps this will finally motive me to read the manga.
Shugo Chara!! Doki ep73
The Chara Fight! in this episode was amusing, with Ran, Miki, and Su all getting pissed at each other. Su kind of got dragged into it, though. They made up in the end, of course, but there's an important lesson to be learned from it: Never, ever steal another person's cake. There are few things more scornful than grudges over cake and it took a life-threatening situation (anyone else get an Evangelion vibe from that shot or is it just me?) to reconcile it. Seriously, don't do it.
But the best part of the episode was Amu's failed character transformations. I cracked up when she did the, "My heart: Unlock!" and then it cut back to her just standing there with all the sparklies still around her. It can't beat Tadase and Kukai being forced into skirts but it was one of the funniest moments in the series for me.
And I think the story is finally going to start moving again. I hope. Dia poked her head out for a bit and Ikuto seems to be at the end of his rope. Surely something has to happen soon.
Minami-ke: Okaeri ep8
Ah, Atsuko, so shy and cute. Touma falling asleep on her without her knowing whether Touma was a boy or girl, but still not moving, was great. As was her getting all flustered at Kana asking her about guys. Her thoughts about Hosaka being cool so long as he keeps his mouth shut were also all too true.
Whoo, more Keiko. More poor, abused Keilko. She needs to show up more often. I love that she's finally starting not to put up with Kana's crap as much, yet still gets depressed over it. I can totally see her snapping at some point and slapping Kana upside the head.
The Tower of Druaga: The Sword of Uruk ep4-5
Oh snap, huge info dump in ep4! It all makes sense now! There's still stuff that hasn't been fully explained, of course, and I'm suddenly a lot more interested in the story and where it will go from here.
With everyone entering the Mythical Tower, the real fun began. I don't much care for Henaro (the new character) but Utu was as badass as ever and Melt is becoming even more awesome. Watching Melt interact with Uraagon's group was especially amusing since he actually climbed the Tower of Druaga with Jil's party in the first season and delt with baddies stronger than the other wusses could ever imagine. He's got an air of superiority and exasperation about him and I get the feeling that he's going to take the first chance he can get to blow off Uraagon and rejoin Jil's party – if only to avoid being slaughtered together with the incompetents.
Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai ep7
Oh my, another huge info dump. Well, a huge info dump plus another moment of Gass's badassery and some very awesome drama. And I freaking loved the use of background music in this episode. (I want the OST now.) The music during Gntarl's departure from the United Army HQ made that scene. And then watching the history of the heavenly beings shown to Yumemi (who totally looked like Terra's esper form from FFVI in that part) was incredibly tragic. I'm much more eager for more episodes after seeing this one.
Also, Yumemi is beautiful in her new pink dress and is farther fueling my shoulder blade fetish. Yes, that's still weirding me out a bit too.
Clannad ~After Story~ ep17
I was expecting to bawl my eyes out this episode after the events of the last one but it didn't pile on the drama for long. Sanae was quick enough about dragging Tomoya out of his funk (at least in terms of episode time) and dropping five-year-old Ushio on him. Ushio is utterly, amazingly, incredible-beyond-words adorable. I think she's just what Tomoya needs to recover from his depression.
Hetalia: Axis Powers ep7
It's true, us Americans gorge ourselves on burgers at all times. It's wonderful.
Hayate no Gotoku! ep11
One of the rules of anime revealed itself in this episode: Every rich girl has a crazy grandfather and he will more than likely look more like a shaggy bum than the stupidly rich person he is. Nagi and her grandfather Mikado are no exception. And I lol'd at Mikado's fantasy of Nagi crying and apologizing.
Kemono no Souja Erin ep4-5
I keep wanting to use the word finally in describing events but I guess it's still pretty early in the series. Episodes are just being released slowly. So...
Ep4 finally gave us a glimpse at the Mist People and explained how Soyon came to live in Ake Village. I'm curious about them now and how Erin's heritage will play into the story. Whenever the Mist People are mentioned, though, I always think of Rydia from Final Fantasy IV, who also has green hair and green eyes and came from the Village of Mist. I have to wonder if there's something behind the common theme there.
The Touda egg hunt in ep5 provided another hard lesson for Erin. Her resolve is slowly strengthening and we're slowly getting filled in on too much information about the Touda... Slowly. I don't mind slow anime (see: Sketchbook ~full color'S~) but I get the feeling that things will get a lot more interesting later in the series and that has me a bit impatient.
By the way, I love how this show cuts to shots of random animals between scene changes. People will probably think this is weird but I cheered at the awesomely animated lizard in ep5 and then went, "Oh snap!" when it got eaten by the pheasant. These little scenes and others of the landscape do a great job of showing off the fantastic art and animation.
Aria the Natural ep10-13
I got into the Aria mood tonight and finished off the rest of the box set all in one go. When I first watched the series I was completely enchanted by it and watched episode after episode with hardly a thought to the passing time. It's still a joy to rewatch it as I collect the R1 DVDs, of course, but tonight especially brought back some of that original magic that anime so rarely retains upon multiple viewings. The fact that Aria can manage it is a reason why it's one of my favorites.
This batch of episodes also just contained some of my favorite stories. (Or at least some of my favorites that don't feature Ai. >_>) Ep12, in particular, provides such a wonderful mixture between the mysterious and heartwarming sides of Aria. The first half, with the extreme summer heat and mirages, makes you wonder if Akari will be okay – she actually looks like she's about to faint from the heat at one point. And then when she stumbles upon the cat cafe it even gets kind of creepy. (Now that I think about it, a lot of the parts featuring Cait Sith seem a little creepy at first.) But that leads right into the second half about the Nightshine Chimes. The scene where everyone is out on the ocean, waiting for the chimes to burn out and fall back into the sea, is incredibly beautiful.
And ep13 is an Alice episode which automatically makes it awesome. It's always fun to see Alice's childish side since she usually works so hard at hiding it. I remember doing the same thing when I was little; trying to get from place to place while only stepping on shadows, or other similar little games. (Though not when I was as old as 14...) Through that, and with Athena's assistance, she opened up a little more. It was another step towards Aria the Origination ep9 which, as I mentioned last week, I am still eagerly anticipating.
Lovely Complex ep21-22 (Anime Club, no screens)
The Nobuko x Nakao drama in ep21 was so cute and funny, as is usual for them. They're my favorite couple in the series so it's neat to get an episode devoted to them. Nakao's tough guy act with his cross-dressing harem was hilarious.
Ep22 is where the series gets a bit annoying for me. Another new character comes out of nowhere and causes drama but, unlike Mimi (who seriously should've gotten more screen time instead of this little wanker), he's completely uninteresting. And his emo hair is stupid.
Kurenai ep9-10 (Anime Club, no screens)
The show is rallying for the big finale in the next two episodes. In preparation for that, these two episodes spill the beans on the Kuhouins and really make you come to hate them. Ryuuji, in particular, is a sick bastard whose neck I want to step on.
