Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s

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Still nothing lyrical about it, but it was a nice ride.

This series which was a spinoff to a Triangle Heart game has just started to live a life all its own. With all new character additions, and a plot that is just as exciting, Nanoha’s world is getting more vibrant. This new season begins some time after the first ([Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha->]). Nanoha and Fate have since become very close friends, and with the backing of the Asura crew, we see more focus on the workings of the Time-Space Administration, rather on delving on just Nanoha.

This makes it seem as if the first series was an introduction to our main character, and then the second series expands on the idea by making it more of a team effort. Yup, Nanoha has her new friends and allies join her. Or rather, Nanoha joins the crew in yet another mission. Well, they need lots of magic firepower after all, because the new enemies are quite plentiful too. A certain book called the Book of Darkness is bound to cause havoc around the magical dimensions again, and it needs to be stopped. The knights who protect the book is composed of three hawt girls and a familiar. The master who is supposed to control the book is actually this frail but cute girl named Hayate. Despite Hayate being the master of an evil book, she is this kind and sweet girl who tends to the knights, and even consider them as “friends” instead of slaves.

See a pattern again? Yup, in almost the same story setup, the enemies in Nanoha A’s are given more than enough backstory to make it seem that they will also be powerful allies in the end. In the first series, some enemies become friends, and so this will not be a big surprise the second time around. We know that cute Hayate and the gang would eventually be on Nanoha’s side, so all the viewers need to do is enjoy the ride on how they get there.

It does have its usual share of plot twists and stuff like that, but the best thing about this new season are the fight scenes. Yup, this is an age in which even young witches use brute force ([moetan->] quote). The Nanoha series have lots of surprisingly awesome action scenes. Nanoha A’s has tons more of them, but eventually it withers off as the plot starts to thicken. Near the end of the series, it becomes some boring firepower festival, in which all the characters show off their uber-magical powers. Heck, it even becomes videogame RPG style, with magic spells being blown to the enemy one after the other (there’s even a healing spell lol). Well that’s just a nitpick, as Nanoha A’s boasts awesome animation in some of the other fight scenes.

Animation runs quite consistent, which is a great plus. Fanservice becomes a minimum for this second series, which is good considering I was quite annoyed with it in the first series.. The OP is quite laughable to me, because it reminded me of certain Gundam Seed opening sequences. Heck, I can even replace the Nanoha A’s OP song for a Gundam OP (try it on Invoke, it fits too well) and laugh out loud. The other music are quite nice too.

The very end of the anime came as a disappointment, not because of anything bad, but because it may have closed the possibility of yet another season to come. Of course, it’s not final, but I really hope the Nanoha series continue. This is one sequel that is up on par with its original counterpart, and it’s kinda rare to see that kind of consistency. Yup, it still has me screaming ‘sequel!’ at the end. Cheers for more Nanoha!

moetan

moetan

My lunatic friends! Glad to see you again!

I’m no English expert. English is my secondary language. While I am very literate with it, I do make some mistakes, especially when it comes to grammar. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you could see grammatical patterns of mine that may be non-standard, and essentially, erratic. I think that even in this paragraph alone a linguist would argue that some of the sentences have wrong grammar. At the very least, you would understand what I’m talking about, right?

Along with my life-long learning of the English language is my fascination with Engrish. Engrish is an oh-so familiar term among us anime fans, because of the hilarious way the Japanese attempt to speak the language. The Japanese language is quite different from the English language (most of which is because of the R and L sounds), that is why some Japanese have some difficulty in speaking, translating, and even writing in English. The end result is sometimes funny. That is why this certain series of English language study aids made in Japan struck a note. It is a study aid like no other, and seems to be intended to punch more Engrish in rather than making people learn the language the right way. Plus, it’s a sure-fire hit for otakus!

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Moetan is a set of books (and now even an audio CD) that tries to be a quick English-Japanese dictionary of sorts. It actually has a story part, consisting of short stories written in English, with matching moe~ drawings of characters. Then a summary of some English words used is listed along with its Japanese translation and a sample sentence. Those sample sentences create the hilarity of the entire book. Some sentences are really funny because it either has bizarre use of words, reference some kind of Japanese otaku culture, or just plain Engrish. (click here for a sample)

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The main character in the CD (Pastel Ink) is voiced by well known anime seiyuu Tamura Yukari. sounds like a popular anime seiyuu I know, I just can’t pinpoint who. Her English is quite, well, Engrish. Sometimes I don’t even understand the English words she’s saying!

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Aside from moetan, moetan II and the moetan listening CD, I see many other moetan stuff in the website. One is a rather amusing iPod nano spoof advertisement of the small book version of moetan, aptly called moetan nano. There also seems to be a towel on sale, apparently with a rather provocative drawing of a moetan character. There also seems to be a online mobile game, still teaching English words. A figure also seems to be on sale, as well as other books related to moetan. Hmm… that’s a lot of moetan for you.

With all those cute little things, plus a chance (no matter how little) to make a person’s ‘Engrish’ a little better, moetan seems to be a very weird mix that somehow works out rather well. So try your best in it, my lunatic friends!

Here are some more examples I picked up from the moetan listening CD:

AgeThis is an ‘age’ in which even young witches use brute force. (Raging Haato! – Nanoha)

GenerallyBe careful, the prettiest character is ‘generally’ a man. (‘usually’ should be a better word)

GrowIt embarrassed everyone involved, that the child actor keeps on ‘growing’, while the character he plays doesn’t. (LOL Harry Potter)

IllusionForeigners who come to Akihabara usually have the ‘illusion’ that most Japanese people have special hobbies. (everything is an illusion)

JudgeNever judge a book by its cover, it will only bring you grief. (yea right)

ReleaseFor God`s sake! They ‘released’ a remade version of the game without an additional heroine! (happens in some console versions of bishoujo games)

ReservationI heard that sales were to be by ‘reservation’ only, but boxes were lined up in the store window on sale. (ooh that reminded me of [XBOX 360->xbox-xrated], hehe)

SergeantThe rank of the frog seems to be ‘sergeant’. (Keroro Gunsou!)

To Heart 2: Episode 11

This is supposed to be the main plot of the entire series, but I only have few things to write about, really.

[Game->toheart2-tamaki-kousaka] – Tamaki events
This episode is an anomaly. It completely put To Heart 2 into a different direction. It should be as expected, but one may wish it wouldn’t go this way. The success of the original [To Heart->] and failure of [To Heart ~Remember my Memories~->] is how they treat this… the game called “love”.

imageimageimageimageimageimage Continue reading To Heart 2: Episode 11

To Heart 2: Sango and Ruri Himeyuri

Generic disclaimer: Same basic rules apply as in my [To Heart 2->toheart2] project. Please do comment or contact me in case I have mistakes in describing each girl’s scenario.

Playing this scenario went off smoothly as well. The HMX maid robot stuff was incomprehensible to me though, but generally since this story is about the Himeyuri twins, it doesn’t get too much focus. It’s rather nice that some predominant To Heart references like Kurusugawa Electronics and HMX-12 come into play. And so without further delay…

image Continue reading To Heart 2: Sango and Ruri Himeyuri

Miu-chan Punch

While Miu-chan isn’t my favorite Ichigo Mashimaro girl, she definitely has some of the best punchlines in the anime… well… because she’s a super-baka.

Unfortunately, her punchlines (and some weird actions) usually come with a literal ‘punch’ from her Nobue-oneechan. It’s a recurring event where Miu-chan has her face flat on the ground, or something similar.

So, let me list the number of times it happened, kay?

*NEW* OVA Episode 1

Miu wrote gibberish things on Nobue’s resume
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Episode 1 (3)

Nobue doesn’t remember why she entered Chika’s room
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Nobue promises to buy Matsuri-chan some pudding
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Matsuri-chan is being wrestled by Miu-chan
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Episode 2 (2)

Chika-chan and Ana-chan are talking about making milk tea
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Miu-chan writes something and shows it to Ana-chan
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Episode 3 (1)

Matsuri-chan is doing the nekomimi act
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Episode 4 (1)

Chika is getting annoyed with Miu’s doctor play
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Episode 5 (2)

Nobue is asking if Miu blurted out Ana’s embarrassing surname (Coppola) to her class on purpose
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Miu is annoying Matsuri-chan while eating
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Episode 7 (2)

Secretly filming Chika-chan while asleep…
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Miu still has it
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Episode 8 (1)

Miu is throwing Chika’s CDs like shurikens
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Episode 11 (1)

Nobue notices that Matsuri-chan still believes in Santa Claus
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Episode 12 (4)

Still hell bent on revealing to Matsuri-chan that Santa doesn’t exist…
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Miu (Santa) is supposed to hand over a book to Nobue (reindeer)
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Miu is imitating some kind of RPG game this time
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Matsuri-chan wakes up and saw (Miu)
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DC++

Let’s start the ball rolling!

Who will win Junichi’s heart in Da Capo Second Season?
Would you even care?

This post is a DCSS analysis post. I’ll keep track of all the craziness, on how much these Da Capo girls love the boring male lead. I’ll reward each DC girl with points depending on the events that happen. And to keep things crazier, I’ll do this in the prententious and entirely fictional DC++ programming language! Don’t take the programming thing too seriously though, it’s just for presentation purposes. And of course, the point system is entirely my bias, so it’s just my personal analysis on who leads the race.

Please do check this post often because it continually updates.

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As of Episode 10:

Current Tally:
Kotori = 24 (+20 +3 +2 +2 -10 +3 +3 +1)
Aisia = 29 (+1 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 -3 +3 +3)
Nemu = 33 (-5 +3 +30 -3 -5 +10 +3)

Kotori is extremely side-character lately. Nemu seems that way as well in the latest episode. Looks like the new D.C.P.S. characters will share the limelight with D.C.S.G. new character Aisia, although it seems that despite episode 10 being a Tamaki episode, Aisia shares or steals the spotlight from her. I want another Tamaki episode, so I hope the format for this second season is the same (bring in a filler ep. or two for each character, then also a ‘dramatic’ finale ep. for each character towards the end.)

Mako = 4 (+2 +1 +1)
Miharu = 7 (+2 +2 +3)
Moe = 1 (+1)
Alice
Nanako = 3 (+3)
Tamaki = 4 (+1 +3)
Izumiko
Mystery Girl
Sakura = -4 (-5 +1)
Yoriko = -4 (+1)
Kasumi = -5

============================


^define major girls {
[kotori]high contender for junichi’s heart, and one of the most popular bishoujo ever[/kotori]
[aisia]new contender, a magician, and temporary maid of the junichi house[/aisia]
[nemu]previous winner, has just come back, the school nurse, and still asakura-imouto[/nemu]
}

^define minor girls {
[mako]my favorite DC girl, may she not be in junichi’s evil love arms[/mako]
[miharu]banana freak, nemu’s most active yuri lover[/miharu]
[moe]mako’s sister, has the best body proportions, has the worst mind sanity[/moe]
[alice]new DCPS girl, has amazing acrobatic abilities, has the most quiet reputation[/alice]
[nanako]new DCPS girl, manga addict[/nanako]
[tamaki]new DCPS girl, some kind of traditional japanese girl[/tamaki]
[izumiko]she’s the pink bear[/izumiko]
[mysterygirl]probably some of you know already, but i’ll keep this as a mystery for now[/mysterygirl]
}

^define hiatus girls {
//note: The hiatus girls (including Nemu) start up with -5 points in the tally.
[sakura]a previous major contender, currently nowhere[/sakura]
[yoriko]the ever-loved nekomimi maid, maybe still a cat[/yoriko]
[kasumi]a DCPS girl, seems like she’s not around yet[/kasumi]
}


^ events {
[miharu]Well, the banana incident left Miharu a bit of banana-phobia. I’d give her points for waking Junichi up sometimes.[/miharu]
[kotori]Definitely Kotori has the lead here. We see her walking home with Junichi, which I assume has been an everyday affair. Even taking a bath in his house… whoa! Definitely posing to be one of Junichi’s major heart grabbers![/kotori]
[aisia]First appearance. She says “I’m hungry, falling into Junichi’s arms. Kotori saw the whole thing. Hehe, did it cause Kotori some bit of jealousy? Dunno, but I’ll give her a point up.[/aisia]
}

^ deliberation {
[miharu]2 points[/miharu]
[kotori]20 points[/kotori]
[aisia]1 point[/aisia]
}


^ events {
[kotori]She’s been trying to find Junichi here, and even helps him out for Aisia’s sake.[/kotori]
[aisia]Very quiet girl. She’s trying to find Sakura’s grandma, with the help of Junichi.[/aisia]
[sakura]Because of this, maybe memories of Sakura linger on with Junichi, so I’ll add her a point.[/sakura]
}

^ deliberation {
[kotori]3 points[/kotori]
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[sakura]1 point[/sakura]
}


^ events {
[aisia]O MY GAWD! An extreme change of personality, Aisia becomes a maid! Junichi is Goshujin-sama![/aisia]
[nemu]All of Junichi’s thoughts about Nemu is bugging me quite a bit. I’d give her 3 points this time, based on how often he thinks about her… for almost 3 episodes already.[/nemu]
[mako]Mako’s not very happy that Aisia is living with Junichi, so Aisia stays with the Mizukoshis for a while.[/mako]
[moe]Well… she helped out a bit so… one point.[/moe]
}

^ deliberation {
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[nemu]3 points[/nemu]
[mako]2 points[/mako]
[moe]1 point[/moe]
}


^ events {
[aisia]Another Aisha-centric episode. She thinks the school is some kind of Hogwarts, and invokes magical chaos all in the name of her beloved master.[/aisia]
[kotori]Helping out. I think she’s being continually pushed away these days.[/kotori]
[tamaki]Offers to help find Aisha.[/tamaki]
[mako]Helps find her too… and continually gets angry with Junichi (a little sign of affection)[/mako]
}

^ deliberation {
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[kotori]2 points[/kotori]
[tamaki]1 point[/tamaki]
[mako]1 point[/mako]
}


^ events {
[aisia]Yet another Aisha episode! Gets in some… sticky situations with Junichi. And instead of goshujin-sama, Aisha calls him as Junichi now.[/aisia]
[kotori]Helping them out of their sticky situation.[/kotori]
[mako]Helping them out as well.[/mako]
[nanako]One of Nanako’s manga characters definitely looks like Junichi. She blushed when Aisia noticed it.[/nanako]
}

^ deliberation {
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
[kotori]2 points[/kotori]
[mako]1 point[/mako]
[nanako]3 points[/nanako]
}


^ events {
[nemu]Ah… yes! The so-called ‘evil’ has returned to haunt the DCSS crew! Junichi’s coming back to his sis-con![/nemu]
[kotori]The shock on Kotori’s face! Plus the cold shoulder! It’s a negative for Kotori fans![/kotori]
[miharu]Junichi seems unusually happy that Miharu has some kind of love life. Of course it’s a misunderstanding, but her yuri-complex just rose with Nemu’s return. As butterfly effect I’ll give her some points.[/miharu]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]30 points[/nemu]
[kotori]-10 points[/kotori]
[miharu]2 points[/miharu]
}

^ notes {
– Why is Mako not so close to Nemu this time around? In season one Mako used to be one of Nemu’s best friends. Ooh, she seems so distant this time. I’m afraid Mako’s slowly turning into the sidelines. And being Suginami’s fight-partner for so many episodes already… the shame. I want a Mako-centric episode NOW!
}


^ events {
[nemu]A misunderstanding tipped her down a bit, but I think it’s never major. Misunderstandings always happen with Junichi and Nemu anyway.[/nemu]
[kotori]Aah… good strategy. Keeping your enemies closer eh? Kotori gives Nemu a little ‘yoroshiku’ on their pet talk.[/kotori]
[aisia]Aisia talked a bit of sense to Junichi, so her ratings go up this time.[/aisia]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]-3 points[/nemu]
[kotori]3 points[/kotori]
[aisia]5 points[/aisia]
}


^ events {
[nemu]The misunderstanding continues, and it even brought about the Dark Nemu accent. While Junichi realizes his mistake toward the end, Nemu is burying herself deeper into despair.[/nemu]
[kotori]Keeping her enemies closer again, this time, she talks to Aisia. Kotori is very, very sneaky. At the same time, she doesn’t involve herself on Junichi and Nemu’s conflicts. Smart.[/kotori]
[aisia]It’s Aisia’s first slip. She tried to do something amusing in the heat of an Junichi-Nemu fight, with bad effect.[/aisia]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]-5 points[/nemu]
[kotori]3 points[/kotori]
[aisia]-3 points[/aisia]
}

^ notes {
– Dark Nemu is in full Force this episode. I like the way she talks when she does that. It’s so formal and at the same time angsty.
– I really, really hate that Mako isn’t even concerned about Nemu’s problems. Her character doesn’t seem to be carried over from the first season. What’s with that?
}


^ events {
[nemu]Nemu and Junichi finally made up! Are we back to incest mode?[/nemu]
[aisia]Aisia helped solved Nemu and Junichi’s mini-fight.[/aisia]
[miharu]Miharu helped too.[/miharu]
[yoriko]Yoriko’s master appeared.[/yoriko]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]10 points[/nemu]
[aisia]3 points[/aisia]
[miharu]3 points[/miharu]
[yoriko]1 point[/yoriko]
}


^ events {
[nemu]Spent so many days watching DVDs with her nii-san. What bonding! (half-sarcastic)[/nemu]
[aisia]Thought that miko powers = magic. Annoyed the baseball team, but at least had a bit of good result.[/aisia]
[tamaki]Showed off her miko powers! Go Tamaki![/tamaki]
[kotori]She’s… just… there.[/kotori]
}

^ deliberation {
[nemu]3 points[/nemu]
[aisia]3 points[/aisia]
[tamaki]3 points[/tamaki]
[kotori]1 point[/kotori]
}

^ notes {
– This seems to be the start of a filler arc surrounding the new characters which were not in the first season. As a result, minimal point system will be attributed because this does not concern Junichi too much anyway.
}

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

summer of loli

’tis the season to be loli, falala lala, lala la-la…
(that was lame)

This is the ‘loli’ group of anime that I’m gonna watch this season.

This already constitutes 4 animes. There are [more->summer-of-the-others] to follow. I told myself I shouldn’t be over this limit. I’m going on overload.

But can I ever resist the loli-licious-ness? Not to mention the moe-licious-ness? Or the kawaii-licious-ness? Or the…

Ichigo Mashimaro
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Five girls, one ambition: make us laugh at their silliness. This is post-Azumanga Daioh comedy, but much loli-er. Frankly, it was very entertaining! The naughty fanservice of the manga toned down, background music at a minimum to shift focus to the hyper-funny dialogue, and the girls drawn ever so cute! My anime of the season!

Kamichu!
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She has just become… a god! And so this young kid experience the perils of discovering and controlling her power, all the while being a student and falling in love with this weird guy. Many say it is as inspired as Ghibli works, and it shows a bit. The thing literally “moves”, it is fluidly animated, and very imaginative.

Paniponi Dash!
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Weird teacher + weird students + outer-worldly weird factors = over-the-top craziness anime. Yes, each girl has their own share of weirdness. The animation shifts quickly between SD, loli, and kawaii styles, and the OP sounds like it came from the 70’s (from the animators who gave us the classic nekomimi-mode, btw)!

Petopeto-san
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Transfer student is an ero-ero petopeto-san. Whatever that means, she is apparently very “sticky”. If your body sticks hard enough to her body you will literally stick, and only by sleeping will you be set free. Look at that first victim. Lucky guy.

Last Impressions

I’m in a pinch like never before.

After the previous season ended, 4 of the animes I was watching were finished. I was thinking along the lines of picking up 4 new ones to watch for this season. But seeing that the number of interesting animes exceeds that number, I guess I’m gonna put some of the titles in the backburner again (meaning “maybe” watch when I’m not busy later on). Hence, my last impressions.

This is a post about the animes where I watched the first episode, and decided not to continue with it for now (or for ever).

Amaenaideyo!!
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Oof, I accidentally deleted the raw episode. This screencap came from a preview vid which I still had. Since I won’t want to download this abomination once again, it’s bye bye for this anime. I simply didn’t like it.

Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken
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There is nothing wrong with this series. It’s just that I’m really trying to free up myself in getting too many anime and having brain damage later on. This having Rumiko Takahashi character designs would be a treat for those fans who miss Inuyasha. I think the story would be quite good too.

Okusama wa Joushikousei
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Okay, wife #1 is a high school student. Is it even legal? In any case, if someone else would know that this girl is married with her own teacher at school, they’ll be in big trouble. This girl wants “more” than the no-xxx relationship that her husband is treating her currently. This girl is hawt for some action. Unfortunately, this goes into the backburner simply because I’ve had enough of fanservice, and students hitting on teachers. Nothing new here.

Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo
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Wife #2 is a magical girl who loves her town. Her husband is nowhere in sight though. She does silly things like talking to a vacuum cleaner. Then that guy with glasses (not her husband) came to live with them. So I guess we will see him every episode tripping and stumbling over the magical girl. Sorry, she’s taken, and moreover, no kiss allowed. While the music reminded me a bit of that old TV show Bewitched at first, their “wild” magical transformation sequence instantly turned me off, and the fanservice seems oh too pointless. Ok fine the wife is hot, and the other magical girl is loli, I get the point. Sorry, this is a backburner.

D.C. Onsen

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Do you miss Nemu and Sakura already?

D.C. Onsen is a separate fandisk bishoujo game, where the story seems to be about Suginami inviting Junichi and some girls for some onsen “fun”. This is really a rather short game, and no save/load are possible.

I think you could insert this sidestory around the early stages of the first season. In this game, Nemu doesn’t know about Moe yet. Moe is Mako’s elder sister. Also, the Nemu vs. Sakura fights are still comic and petty, unlike the dramatic stuff of the later episodes.

Well, what else can I say? All the stuff here are typical “onsen” stuff. You know, the baths, the eating, etc. Nemu and Sakura vying for Junichi’s attention especially at dinner time. Some rowdy stuff happen like the rock-paper-scissors strip game between Junichi and Nemu. Ooh…

What I like most (of course) is the Mako part. She gets surprised when she’s been seen window-shopping over those souvenirs. Junichi bought her one, which made her blush a bit. YAY!

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Futakoi Alternative

Futakoi Alternative

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[Futakoi->] was ok, but it seemed that the fans were not quite impressed with the first series. After all, Futakoi is a huge franchise of Dengeki G’s, composed of magazine features, albums, merchandise, and games. Having loved the CG illustrations of Futakoi, they seem to be disappointed with the bland look of the first series. Now, Futakoi Alternative, the second anime series based on the franchise, aims to make disappointed fans believe in the power of the anime medium again. Are they successful?

Futakoi Alternative started off EXPLOSIVE! True to the concept of Alternative, the 6 twins of Futakoi now hold a powerful arsenal of military apparel in the opening sequence. How about that? These are moe~ girls with guns and firepower! Episode 1 was equally powerful, as it pits now featured twins Souju and Sara with this guy named Rentarou in a whole lot of action-packed mess. Really, it was a fast-paced, kick-aaa episode, with high-class animation quality no less. For fans, it is a dream come true already. But the greatness never stops there. While not as action-packed as the first and last few episodes, the middle episodes feature yet another Alternative, dramedy.

The episodes fully describe these three characters, from the main viewpoint of Rentarou. The main theme of this series is “the three of us”, in which Rentarou, Sara and Souju face trials of everyday life as being the three of them, together. Sometimes funny, sometimes filled with sadness, they continually try to survive their everydays. The character development of these three are SO detailed, you might think Gainax helped ufotable in making this anime. Also, Futakoi Alternative seems to hit on anything anime culture had in store, including its [own->futagozuka] and some popular [anime->squid-no-jutsu]. Even Onsokumaru (some yellow ball character in ufotable’s 2×2 Shinobuden) is there in cameos. And as I mentioned, the numerous [Gainax->ufotable-and-gainax] references that seem too good to be true (even a Human Instrumentality Project parody was part of the plot).

This anime also has an incredibly interesting slew of new characters aside from our Futakoi girls. The whole town is filled with interesting people. The craziest policeman in an anime, as well as a generic fat sidekick, then a baker girl, a biker sidekick of Rentarou, a seemingly yakuza leader with a metal arm, and his gang of thugs really colorize this weird but peaceful town of Nikotama. Even a polar bear appears sometimes, and of course the main enemy which is the squid. Wait, are we missing the twins yet? [Kira/Yura->gothloli] and [Lulu/Lala->futagozuka] are the twins with secondary focus in this anime, while Kaoruko/Sumireko, Ai/Mai, and Ui/Koi were seen only in a few. While they have short appearances, theirs are quite meaningful in a variety of levels.

As episodes unfold, “the three of them” are starting to break up because something big is going to happen after Sara and Souju’s 16th birthday. This results in high levels of drama, where the three try to define what really is their relationship to each other. Rentarou, being the immature poor guy who only lived in the shadows of his legendary father, struggling through the everydays with the twins, is often in this monologue. This in effect develops him greatly as a character. This kind of character development is so detailed it’s rare, more so considering he is a male character. Normally we loathe all those dorky male leads in bishoujo animes right? Well well well, this time there’s something to like in this particular one at least.

Having action, comedy and drama in one package requires lots of creative styles, and Futakoi Alternative did not disappoint. From the consistent animation, each variety of [music->musical-surprise], and creative direction. Futakoi Alternative reeks of quality. Never thought something so “alternative” could be so good, and considering the cross-genre boundaries broken by this anime, I’ll be excited to think that anime shows may be getting more innovative these days. We need more anime like this.

imageThis is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

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