After being completely bored with Aoi Hana, I decided I would check if it was genre or story that put me to sleep.  So I hooked-up with this seasons Yuri title, Samameki Koto.  Here’s the standard website blurb:

Sumika Murasame is deeply in love with her cheerful classmate and friend Ushio Kazama. Ushio is openly lesbian but… she’s likes cute girls, and Sumika, top student, class representative, black belt in karate, is all but cute. Even worse, Sumika herself is terrified of endangering her friendship with Ushio and chooses to maintain the status quo, as much as it pains her to hide her feelings…

Sounds pretty standard.  But this show is so much more.

Sounds like a sound pla…WHAAAA!?!

It started strong, as you get a real feeling of the friendship and attraction between the two main characters.  But as we go on, they mix hard hitting emotion with just the right mix of goofy fun. Kazama is an absolute airhead.  Murasame attempts brings a level head to the table and fails miserably dealing with the craziness of the situations around her.  I so wanted Akemiya-kun (see above pic) to have more of a role, but I’m guessing he’ll be regulated to comic relief soon enough.  This is definitely a cast I want to see more of.

We’ll have more about this series as I play catch up, but you have to be aware, this series has it out for me PERSONALLY.

Tell me about it…

You know, Mr Blogger, you have been writing about Haruka’s Secret for 17 episodes now.  I get the sense that you see something in this show, but frankly, I don’t sense the joy in your posts that I see with your other favorite series.  So while the screenshots tell the story of this weeks episode, you and I need to have a chat.  You, my friend are addicted.

Addicted to crappy anime.

They’re coming to take me away, haha…

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Remember that show about the boy that transforms into a girl and battles other girls with either magic, guns or swords, and the mysterious Moderators who arranged those fight?  Well neither do the writers, and frankly, that’s turning out awesome.

THE CAKE IS A LIE!
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While I try to keep an open mind about the cultural differences seen in anime, there is one trend that makes me cringe. One trend that makes Australia try to ban manga. One trend that makes me erase my hard drive before I go on vacation.

Loli.

Yea, they went there…

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Ipecac is a funny word. I was introduced to it during various storylines of the Bloom County comic strip.  I was completely unaware of how to even pronounce it.  Thus I looked it up, came to understand it and made it my own.  Do the same, go look it up right now.  I’ll wait.

Now that you’ve returned, you know why it’s not a good thing I choose to describe episode 2 of Haruka’s Secret with this word.

This filler episode is pretty much the same filler episode as the last three.  You have your overheard misunderstanding.

\
You have your running gag.

You have your cliche anime lesson

And you have your parting line that can SO be taken the wrong way

It gets better next week…sort of.

This series comes with some high expectations. It’s an ugly duckling shojo tale that’s right up my ally. It comes highly recommended due to a very popular manga. My initial assessment is how I typically approach this type of thing – guarded.

Mr Grabby Hands

Thus I’ll fall back on some visual aids, and present “the list”. First the positive:

Kawaii!

• In a departure for me, I love the female voice actress. I normally can’t even tell the voices apart unless I have a visual. Sawako’s voice doesn’t fit her image, and that is exactly the point. In this case I consider her voice a facet of her personality.
• The story is exactly as advertised, and exactly what I love.
• Sawako is a great heroine, the right mix of sympathetic and clueless. I think it’s unique, feel free to point out others.

Some negatives:

Kowaii!

• I don’t trust Kazehaya’s motives. Maybe they explore them more, but having him jump right in as the love interest feels wrong.
• They’ve established the click of friends too early, which means the conflict is comming. See my essay about Losers to see why I am not looking forward to this.

What, Ryūji isn’t enough for you?

In short, this remains on my must watch list.  Let’s see where the rollercoaster ends up.

I have noticed a trend in both anime story pacing and my attention span. You usually will get 2 or 3 introductory episodes, some filler, then an ending arc. And after those first episodes, my attention takes a nose dive. This was the case with Sora no Manimani, which I dropped after episode 4. But thanks to the astronmy club theme, I revisited it this week, powered through a few episode, and found myself devouring the latest 5 episodes in one sitting. What I discovered as I reveled in the astronomy club flashbacks (which are frightningly similar to my own, minus the love interests) was that there was a decent story and some lovable characters buried in this quirky show.

Up front, this show does suffer from Main Characteritice, where the central character is actually the weakest, but the story is bolstered by the cast (see Suzumiya, Haruhi).  Mihoshi is eternally happy despite the tragedy in her life, and only ONCE in the first 11 episodes do we see a real chink in that facade.  Saku just kind of wanders through the show as things happen to him.  It’s a common male anime character trait, but none the less annoying.

Yes, she’s a Muppet

That leaves the rest of the cast to carry the show, which they do with gusto.  Starting from the bottom up, Sayo is underwritten and underutilized, but maintains the adhesion of the group thanks to being the one person who knows everything from the beginning.   I was hoping the story would focus on her at some point, but it appears not to be.

Oh, the potential

The President takes a bit to get going, but he develops into a strong personality despite the weak body.  Heck, he even seems to be the one guy who gets a girl out of all this.

Dawg is a playa, what can we say?

Hime and Edogawa are played a lot for comic relief, but Hime especially develops as a fleshed out character, and not just the foil for the main character.  She tugs on my heart strings for the simple reason that she develops into a full fledged member of the Astronomy Club after joining simple to stick near Saku.  It doesn’t hurt that the comic relief is actually funny too.

what you lookin’ at?

Fumei is the most interesting of all.  She is set up as the foil to Mihoshi, both in school activities and in romantic interests (if I believed Mihoshi had any).  Over time, she is fleshed out as a character, shown to be a real leader and friend of Mihoshi’s.  As is usually the case with my favorite characters, I’m sure she’ll be completely forgotten by the end of the series.

Get out there!

One episode remains for Manimani, the season finale.  Once I find it translated, I’ll be back to see if it changes these conclusions any.

(note – for this episode of this show, I’ll put up with subtitles my video player can’t render, so you have to too)

We’re full into the Fall season with my most anticipated show of the year, Nocturne Girl’s School Lacrosse Club!

no, wait…

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To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) is a side story more than a sequel to the equally long titled To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index).  While it’s not excluded, at this point there is no reason for the main characters of Index, Toma and Index, to show up, as the show focuses on two side characters, Misaka, the electric user, and teleporter Kuroko.

seen here in their natural element

In addition, they introduce Uiharu (the one with the flowers), Kuroko’s partner at Judgement, and Saten, her Level 0 friend.

Ah friends…can’t live with em, can’t kill them and hide the body

This series picks up with the awesomeness that Index provided, starting out with silly high school hi-jinks and ending with breaking up a bank heist.  In classic Index (or I should say, Railgun) style, this:

Leads to this:

Leads to this:

Let me explain the concept of a railgun – an electromagnetic force is used in series to propel a metallic object at incredible speeds, turning it into a super projectile weapon.  Now apply this concept to someone with control over electricity and a coin, and you have the basis for the title of this show.  I don’t ever recall Misaka using this technique in Index, either, but it’s a damn good idea.  More like this please.

On a side note, this is disgusting:

A good anime usually has a background theme that follows along with the plot and character development.  Usually, the emphasis is on background.  The whole purpose of this show seems to be to present the majesty and wonder of the night sky, as character and plot take a back seat.  I am certain every day in this world starts out with this gag.

I wanna see Hime try to swallow her head…

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