Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora ep 1 - 6 (Complete)
Seventeen-year-old Yuichi Ezaki is in the hospital for Hepatitis A. Constantly sneaking out at night, he incurs the wrath of his nurse, Akiko Tanizaki. When Yuichi notices a cute girl in the East Wing, Akiko encourages him to befriend her. The girl is Rika Akiba, and as their relationship develops, both she and Yuichi must come to terms with the possibility that Rika may not have long to live.
I really, really enjoyed this show. You wouldn't think it would be long enough at just six episodes, but it manages to cover it's story perfectly without feeling like it's cramming too much into not enough time. It's a touching little drama (I admit, it got me tearing up near the end), but also manages to provide some lighter humorous moments, mainly provided by Yuichi's friend Tsukasa and his Zebra Mask.
I really like the characters. Yuichi is a good kid, but a bit dense at times as most boys his age can be, especially when a girl is involved. Rika has her tough side, but she's not a caricature; someone who's lived their whole life with a serious heart condition might very well develop a gruff facade to mask their real personality. Akiko is probably my favorite: while she doesn't hesitate to beat on Yuchi when he's being an idiot, she genuinely cares about him and Rika. The only character I didn't much like was Rika's doctor, Goro Natsume. He treated Yuchi badly most of the time, even beating him up once in a drunken fit of anger, and generally tried his best to sabotage Yuchi's and Rika's relationship under some twisted desire to spare them potential pain. It did add a nice complexity though, to see the parallels drawn between Natsume's past and what was happening between Yuichi and Rika.
If you want to see something short and sweet, this is a good little gem to turn to. I highly recommend it.
Revolutionary Girl Utena ep 1 - 2
I've been interested in seeing this series for a long time, and now that I have the chance I decided to go ahead and tuck into it. To give a short summary for those not acquainted with the show, it revolves around Utena Tenjou, a girl attending Ohtori Academy who desires to be a noble prince after a childhood encounter with a real prince left a strong impression on her. She winds up fighting duels with members of the student council for control of Anthy Himemiya, the "Rose Bride."
So far I'm liking it. It's a bit trippy, but I've seen plenty of trippy anime, so that doesn't really bother me. I like Utena so far, but it's too early to have any thoughts about the other characters (except obviously that Saionji is an abusive bastard).
The one annoyance I perceive in advance will be the repetition of the song "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku" (Absolute Destiny Apocalypse) during each entrance to the dueling arena. The song played during the duel in Ep 2 is also... strange. I'm not sure what rattling off the names of different geological epochs and ancient creatures has to do with dueling. Like I said, this show is trippy.
Toradora! ep 5 - 8
And with the introduction of Ami Kawashima, things get even more interesting. It can't be just "Help me get together with your friend and I'll help you get together with mine." Nope, gotta throw that curve ball in there.
Naturally, I don't like Ami one bit. That sickening facade of cute innocence, and always trying to cause grief for Taiga. However, that rivalry does make this a very entertaining batch of episodes. With this added distraction, Ryuji seems to have lost his focus on Minori, and I'm convinced that Taiga has feelings for Ryuji, she just hasn't realized it yet.
With the gang going off on summer vacation together in the next episode, I'm eager to see where this goes.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 S2 ep 7 - 10
This season continues to push the limits of seriously epic.
I'm happy that Allelujah finally helped Marie remember her past and true personality, it'll be interesting to see her working with Celestial Being now.
When it comes to the Innovators, I'm with Tieria. I think they've hijacked the plan for themselves and Ribbons is lying, I have a hard time believing Aeolia ever intended for a brutal organization like A-Laws to be created to unite the world. And I really want the good guys to find out that Wang Liu Mei is playing both sides for her own amusement, especially now that she's helped to build an apocalyptic super-weapon for the bad guys.
And holy crap! Hallelujah! Oh, and Ep 8 was great. I loved finally seeing Tieria masquerading as a girl. XD
