Misato, Shinji, and the Difficulties of Empathy (Eva 3&4)

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Revisiting That Vampire Loli In the Crazy Bathroom (Nise 4 Redux)

Omo and ghosty are right, Nisemonogatari is porn, but you know my corner of the blogosphere isn’t going to let the discussion end there. Whereas my first post on episode four chronicled the chaotic confusion that came over me when I watched it, today I’ll be examining what it is I really saw, and determining how I want to see it from now on. It will be uber-kimoi—I’m not fucking kidding.

A lot was going on when I watched episode four the other day. Before I started, ghostlightning had hyped me up like crazy on how badly I needed to watch and post about it. From the start of the Shinobu scene, I was already thinking about how I was going to post about it, while also being overwhelmed both by what I was seeing and by the facts of what I was seeing—one of the most relentless onslaughts of fanservice which I’ve ever witnessed. I quickly lost track of the subtitles and didn’t know what the characters were talking about anymore, so I started messaging ghostlightning to share my incredulity. The result of everything was exactly what you saw days ago.

Now that I’ve rewatched and really taken in the scene, I can react to everything and figure out how I feel—and there’s a lot to figure out. The sheer density of happenings in this scene is more than enough to make it the most memorable scene in anime I’ve watched since… well, Bakemonogatari.

NISE 4 – I DIED. (CLICK THE IMAGES)

Wow, Hanekawa looks way cuter with short—

God Damn .hack//SIGN Episode 4

Usually, the phrase “deliberate pacing” is used as a compliment. It’s a way of saying, “this series is slow, but it’s slow on purpose to create a certain atmosphere.” To name a show that I’d compliment as deliberately paced, Texhnolyze is the first that comes to mind. I do think that .hack//SIGN is deliberately paced, but I don’t think that this is a good thing.

Fucking MADLAX Episode 4

By now, some of you must be wondering, “who the hell are Bee Train, anyway? WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?” To answer that question, I’ll give a bit of history on the studio.

Steins;Gate Stands To Steal My Declaration Of “Best Dialog In Anime”

Is it just me or does it look like she's not wearing underwear?

Since 2008 I’ve been considering Kure-nai the almighty champion of anime dialog, but I’m starting to feel like Steins;Gate could steal the crown. I actually like that the show moves slowly because it means more time for this fucking brilliant dialog. Hanada Jukki deserves one hell of a pat on the back for this.

Insult of the fucking month

It also may steal Kure-nai’s spot as the fastest a show has gotten a guaranteed spot on my favorites list. Kure-nai got it after episode 6. This show will have it if the next episode stays as awesome as it’s been.

This explanation was perfect

That’s all—I don’t know what it is but this show compels me to episodically blog it.

How to Make A Minor, Expository Supporting Role Kick Ass – Tomatsu Haruka in Sora no Woto Episode 4

Note 1: Never appears on screen alone.

It’s pretty common in movies and shows to have characters that exist solely to expose the plot. They can play major supporting roles (usually a mechanic or scientist) and even have some personality and character, but often they’ll just be random, nameless classmates commenting on something like how one student hasn’t shown up in three days, so that the main character finds a reason to be curious about them. In a plot-driven anime that features a classroom in its opening episode, you’re definitely going to have one of these. I find it funny when these characters show up because they’re such a blatant “writer’s convenience” (as called in an episode of Billy & Mandy).

On the Eighth Day of Kurisumasu My Imouto Gave to Me: NONSTOP AWESOME From Strike Witches 2

Strike Witches 2 is a perfect sequel. It takes what the first season did and improves on it from front to back, with better writing, more emphasis on the characters being awesome (as opposed to just sort of being there as they were sometimes in S1), and a whole lot more memorable events. I can’t remember much about the first season—I enjoyed the characters (mostly for their designs) and the general premise, but there hadn’t been anything in the show that really stuck with me, which is why even though I felt myself being instinctively defensive of it, I could never say that much good about it.

2 cures that entirely. Almost every single episode is memorable for one reason or another, and the series is riddled with moments of ultimate badassery. Being as “moments of ultimate badassery” are always my favorite part of anime, this meant a lot to love for me. Besides that, it got rid of other things I didn’t like about the first series, like all the in-fighting that came from Perrine (this time, she’s as much of a lovable character as the rest), and general lack of presence from others (everyone gets their moment in S2, and none of those moments are throw-away.)

There’s definitely more than one moment of awesome worth highlighting here, so I’ll just pull all the biggest ones.

On the Second Day of Kurisumasu My Imouto Gave to Me: Pussy-Lickin’ Good Entertainment from Seikon no Qwaser Episode 4

[nsfw] Seikon no Qwaser was some of the most fun I’ve ever had watching anime. The only group who was subbing the uncensored version of the show (it’d be utterly meaningless to watch Qwaser censored) was SubDesu, who used shittily-encoded 360p videos and had blatantly not-proofread subs which skipped lines and almost never used proper grammar. Even so, the shittiness of the video kinda added to the wonderfully trashy experience of the series, which is what made it so great to begin with.

Qwaser is kind of like a modern grindhouse film—it’s not that the show is awesomely bad, but that it’s purposefully awesomely bad, and that self-awareness is what allows it to simultaneously be just plain awesome. Qwaser gave me a number of truly spectacular moments, and I may highlight more than one in these 12 days, but the most memorable of all comes from the forth episode.

Maria Holic 4 – But Yesterday Was Friday the 13th!

So, the song that sounds like The Final Countdown actually plays quite frequently and also in a piano version. There’s a good chance it was playing before I noticed it too, lol. The fact that it’s a central song dissuades me a little but it sounds SO much like The Final Countdown that I refuse to believe it isn’t a reference.