I spent a while trying to get a good shot of this

I’m on my third day of formal Japanese lessons (college sponsored program BTW, I’m not in college).  The informal ones being  all the anime I’ve watched, aswell as what my sister has taught me. It feels great finally  getting to learn a language I’ve wanted to learn. And being familiar with alot of terms has prepared me well. Whats even better, is that in turns out the teacher I have, is the same teacher my sister had.

What else

Code Geass: It’s been a somewhat sad ride now. Episode 13 having the death of Shirely hit me hard. I almost had been expecting it, but I didn’t want to believe it. It will be insanely hard rewatching the whole series knowing her ultimate fate. But I think I should be happy that she finally got to grasp the truth and still love Lelouch. Jeremiah Joining Lelouch was a surprising move. But I was crying on the inside when he was stumbling over to Lelouch telling Lelouch that his loyalties were for Lelouch’s mother and not V.V.

Episode 14 isn’t much better, with the Lelouch commanding the deaths of the scientists simply because he hated how the power of Geass had tormented Shirely. Suzaku looks like he may be threatening Kallen, but since the show often misleads us. It’s best to wait before making a conclusion.

V.V. getting beaten was an expected move. I like how Cornelia and Lelouch had the same thoughts

Talk about a  nice conclusion to the episode though. Lelouch finally getting face to face with the Emperor.

Wagaya no Oinari-sama: For some reason I’ve just found this show kind of fun. Similar to how Minami-ke was very fun. It works much better as a comedy than an action series, and thats why I’m watching it.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Still hard to tell whether or not I’m going to like this in the end. I actually skipped episode 10 because it was moving too fast and was kind of forcing it’s humor.

Summer season:

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: It aired. And I enjoyed it. There’s been abit of a mixed reaction for the series. But enjoyed the opening episode. The opening animation had a creative start which made showed a magazine cover getting compiled in photoshop. Just watch it to understand. I like the song itself aswell. On the show itself it’s just fun comedy, I’m easily pleased. Mamiko Noto seems very perfect for Haruka herself. The protagonist Yuuto is played Wataru Hatano who hasn’t had many major rolesm but he does a good job.
On the comedic material. It’s seems to be situational humor, and also a parody of the otaku culture in general.

BIRDY the mighty DECODE: Knowing only the plot for this show I was ready to like it or hate it. I found it fun. The action is pretty smooth. The voice work is fine. The story is just simple (aliens on earth basically) so you can’t get too angry at it. The voice work was for the heroine (Birdy) was particularly nice, Saeko Chiba plays Birdy. And you may know her as psychologically troubled Nina from Code Geass or some other roles, but with her role as Birdy, I won’t be forgetting her name anytime soon.

World Destruction: Like Birdy. I was I was ready to like it or hate it. And from the fist episode I don’t know. Overall it kind of reminds me of Druaga. Both are based off videogames, both have some serious, both have some ridiculous silliness, etc. The plot of this show sounds serious (People wanting to remake the world by destroying it) but overall it’s hard to take seriously when the world is populated by Anthropomorphic animals that just look dumb. So overall I was expecting a serious show, but I’m not getting one. Voice work was alright. Maaya Sakamoto has a nice voice.

Sekirei: I’ll probably make a post about Sekirei one of these days. I had seen abit of the manga back in 2007. I watched the first episode, it was fine. It motivated me to check out the manga again….and I ended up reading all available chapters. Voice work has been good. Saori Hayami has been getting alot of roles lately, I liked her first major role in Touka Gettan. And I enjoy her voice as Musubi here here.

Zero no Tsukaima  ~Princess no Rondo~: ….I don’t even know why I’m watching this. It’s the third season and it’s not different from the last two.

Whilst randomly browsing through site I came across a certain manga. WonderThree.
Onto WonderThree by Renga Kijima

Well first I looked at a small description. It said that you had to: “know about Kanon to understand the story”.
First of all there are a few series named “Kanon”. But of course there is one that stands above all, the visual novel based series by KEY, that Kanon.

But upon looking at the artwork, I said to myself: “No way is this a manga related to that Kanon”. The artwork of most things related to Kanon is very…..positive looking with traits of the female characters emphasized heavilly.

Then I realized my error.

This manga is based of that Kanon. A retelling that depicts the characters differently and the story much more seriously (this is what I’m saying after 4 chapters read). The core plot point that has been changed is the fact that the main character does not have his amnesia which cause him to forget everything he did years ago, before re-entering the town he stayed in. This allows the sotry to move much faster

Overall it’s intriguing. From what I’ve read, aside from a few things, I can’t really say where the story is headed (ie. how it will be exactly different from the original). But the what stands out the most is the artwork’s serious design and the personalities of some characters.

Artwork

Yuuichi (the protagonist) is drawn to be a much more serious character than he originally was. The female cast is drawn to maintain their the hairstyles that defined them (otherwise you wouldn’t be able to call this Kanon). I spefically liked how the artist drew Mai.

Mai is drawn with a nice punk-ish look (giving her a jacket, as opposed to the long-skirt she is often seen with). Also notice Yuuichi’s posture (yeah not the great spiked hair).

I personally love the a character designs (it’s possible that there are few that I dislike). The art is very “sketchy” and I love sketchy art (almost more than I love solid art). One good thing about this artwork in comparison to other artwork related to Kanon (keep in mind this may sound confusing) is the fact that the characters all look the same.

Looking at the artwork presented in the 2006 anime. You can notice that the male characters have a somewhat different look to the female characters. While WonderThree gives all the characters the same design.

I’m not saying that “all-same style for gender” is the best, infact I liked the character designs of the 2006 anime very much (I really liked the good colors). But it’s very cool the change it brings.

Let me just sum it up. The characters look mature and serious. And while contrasting the cute and perky characters, it’s just a interesting thing to see.

Personalities

Yuuichi is serious and quiet. This interesting because since I have not played the original work so I have no idea what would be a correct portrayal of him, but the 2006 anime had him a very sarcastic. All the other characters however are a bit quiet aswell. So it’s all the same.

I particularly noticed that Nayuki mentions Sayuri’s 3rd person talk is irritating which I though was funny and also very demonstrative of how the characters are in this work.

Speaking of Nayuki, I like how the author made her both different and similar to her original design. The original Nayuki often has a semi-humorous-optimistic conversations with Yuuichi, those conversations are sort of maintained but with a different type of humor (or without humor at all).

Atmosphere

The most striking thing. Is the lack of dialogue. If you look at the other Kanon manga (which there are two of, here’s one). You’ll find lots of text on each page. WonderThree’s first chapter has about very lines of dialogue for first 43 pages. I find this to be very cool because it allows dark but beautiful scenes to be shown without any distraction

Probably the best example is this shot. With the shadows on the tree and the movement of the capsule

Or maybe this shot :). With the awesome shading. The use panels is very good in this manga.

Conclusion

I might write a full summary of WonderThree after I finish it. But I recommend it for anyone who watched Kanon. It’s stylish, and it’s fun to see it’s approach at telling the story of Kanon

I’m very happy someone on the net is translating. Otherwise I wouldn’t have heard about it all. So thanks again SCX-scans.

]]> http://greathesit.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/wonderthree/feed/ avisch http://greathesit.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/more-news/ http://greathesit.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/more-news/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:23:20 +0000 avisch http://greathesit.wordpress.com/?p=100

Yeah still haven’t written on Geass. Guess I’m filled with a wierd rush of freedom after being done with exams and all.

But some news

ef ~a tale of memories~ is getting a sequel. Something I’m very happy about. ef was one of my favorite anime of 2007, and is possibly my favorite drama series and also one of the reasons I love studio SHAFT. I’ve decided to rewatch it even.

The sequel will be name ef ~a tale of melodies~. I had actually anticipated that there might be sequel considering that the first anime only covered about 3 of 4 relationships in the original visual novels (there are 5 total relationships if you count Yu and Yuuko, the semi-narrators of the story) and so there was obviously more story to tell. And so with the 2nd game having been released. It was inevitable for the another anime to come out. Characters confirmed are: Mizuki Hayama and Shuuichi Kuze (who the relationship is between), Nagi Hirono (who is Hiro’s sister), and of couse Yu and Yuuko. It’s also been said that Hiro and Miyako will appear because their relationship will affect some things.

The 1999 visual novel by Leaf, White Album, is getting an anime. Aswell as a PS3 remake and manga to go along with it. This was a bit of a surprise.

So far anime based off Leaf works have been based of Leaf’s more well known games (I could be wrong though). The previous game-turned-anime have been Toheart, Toheart2 (and other games related to both), and Utawarerumono. A Utawarerumono OVA and Tears to Tiara anime are set to air in the future.

I’m unsure if White Album is particularly well known (though it does have a small wikipedia article). I remember reading at one point that the protagonist wasn’t considered to be very…..bright.

But I’m very intrigued and I hope to check it out. Seiyu info shows that Aya Hirano, Nana Mizuki, and Tomokazu Sugita play the main characters.

Personal news

I’ve gotten to watch the first 2 Kara no Kyoukai movies. I watched them ASAP (which thankfully wasn’t that long after they were fansubbed, the subbers are damn fast too). I will making some intricate posts on them. I am very excited about the third movie, because of the chapters I’ve gotten to read chapter 3 is my favorite.

I’ve finally gotten to play some games from the Touhou series. I’ve been sort of gradualy introduced into the series through the use of doujinshi, videos, the good wikipedia article, and especially the music. I’ve gotten to play Scarlet Weather Rhapsody , Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil, and Imperishable Night. And since my previous experience with curtain shooters is not much…..I am not that good (though alittle bit better than I was in Ninja Gaiden HAHA). I do find the series fun lots of colors. And it’s even made me consider finding out how to program games with bit graphics.

I really love the music, it has a optimistic feel to it with it’s own perspective tone. The tracks I like are:
Plain Asia
Invisible Full Moon
Lunatic Princess
UN. Owen was her?

The manga series Mahoraba was finally completely scanlated/translated. Kuro has a good write-up of this.
Mahoraba is one of my favorite manga. It’s just very simple and had a lot of appealing side characters with their own subplots. I had started watching the anime (never finished it though). But that got me into the manga and eventually I just kept on reading that. The ending is nice and gives conclusion to the side characters which is very nice.

I’ve been checking out Busou Renkin, both the anime and the manga. Originally I didn’t have any interest in the series because for some reason I didn’t find alchemy+action appealing. But I decided to try it out after I found Ryoka Yuzuki was voicing the “action girl” and main heroine Tokiko. Whn i watched the first episode I then realized “HOLY Jun Fukuyama voices the protagonist”. Which was a very pleasant surprise because I like Jun Fukuyama’s style, and he is very good at voicing the hot blooded Kazuki.

Also I REALLY LIKE the opening. MAKKA NA CHIKAI!

Because apparently I have no motivation to blog Code Geass, and will be three episodes behind tommorrow. I have decided to review/post about something other than anime.

So onto Kieli volume 1. Published by Yenpress. Written by Yukako Kabei. And drawn by Shiori Teshirogi.

First of all. After reading it for awhile. I noticed something that I couldn’t put my finger on. And then I realized it. The story seemed like something from a light novel. And sure enough i looked ot the back of the book it had a message by the author of the light novels commending the artist of the manga for great work in adapting the characters.

The orginal light novel is named “Kieli: The Dead Sleep in the Wilderness” (or atleast that’s the name of one of the stories). The light novel is complete now with a total of nine volumes.

The setting and story are as such.

The setting is very interesting. Semi-post apocalyptic. Long ago humanity has colonized a planet with abundant resources. Eventually a war broke out with one side dominating the other with the use of soldiers known as “The Undying” . So called because their high-powered artificial hearts prevented them from aging or dying due to the regenerative properties their hearts allowed.

For the side that won. The Church (who was apprently the lead authority) ordered all the Undying to be killed. And through teams of hunters with high-powered weapons, the Undying were hunted down. The present time is 80 years after the war.

But overall despite the setting being very dark and bleak, the story is generally optimistic and even heart warming.

The heroine is the titular Kieli. A teenage girl who can see spirits. And because of this, she is abit socially isolated from people. But by no means is she anti-social.
By coincidence. She meets a man (who looks around 20) named Harvey after she mistakes him for dead body. She later comes to realize that Harvey is an undying and he can also see spirits, and he even carries around a radio containing a spirit known as the Corporal.

The chapters are long. Or atleast long enough that the first volume contained only three chapters. Overall the story seems to be about Kieli and Harvey traveling. So it’s hard to tell if there will be an ongoing to story.

My opinion:

When I first picked it up, I thought it be a very fast paced manga. In other words it would throw me into the story and I would get everything fast. But this is not the case, and it is very good because of that. The story takes good time in setting itself up.

The characters. Kieli is not a character with strong aspects (this was my way of saying: “She’s not heavilly tsundere, a klutz, or shy”). If there was one aspect of her that you can pay attention to…you could say she’s very  spiritual and happy about little things. Overall I really like how she’s given development. And her friendship with Harvey connects with that.

Harvey sort of comes off as the “I don’t care about people” type of character. But with sympathy of course. He’s hasn’t show off alot himself yet. But he has shown dislike for his long life, but not in a  very overly-angst way. And I find that very good.

The art of the series is very clear and very consistent. The way the manga-ka drew the clothing is nice very nice. The expressions are also cute…..it’s just very solid art all around

Translation (or other things):

This was my first purchase of a series that Yen Press had licensed. And overall I’m very pleased. Honorifics are maintained.

I really like how they did the onomonapeia (funny thing to get happy about I know). The translators left in the literal pronounciation on the side of the sound effect (using small text), and then in paranthesis stated the meaning (also in small text).

Since Yen Press licensed the Higurashi manga, I’m now looking forward to purchasing their volumes of it.

Well I still need to make Code Geass R2 episode 9 impressions. But it looks like I will have to write them along with episode 10 impressions…..because I’m slow.

But lets see what I’ve been up to

What I’ve been watching

Kure-nai: Probably my favorite show of the spring season aside from Code Geass. The show’s premise is simple and the animation is great. It’s also comedic, with the comedy being very easy going and not forced. I particularly love the combat which is martial arts and (to me is) quite realistic….aside from people being bashed through walls. I’ve cought up with the series. And there are 2 episodes left to watch

Wagaya no Oinari-sama: I hadn’t really figured the show out after the episode. But it’s becoming clearer on what it’s all about. It’s a comedy and action series. It’s comedy is very fun to watch, me and a few other bloggers have noted how Sakura’s imagination is probably the highlight of the series so far. The action has gotten better since the first few episodes which is very good. I’ll continue to watch it.

Blassreiter: The show has no focus. I’m sick of it. It’s just depression with pointless flashbacks that give no development of the characters whatsoever. I was kind to the show at the beginning. But now I’m just annoyed at it. NOT WATCHING ANYMORE.

Tower of Druaga: Also from Gonzo. I need to catch up on this. I would compare this series to a coffe smoothie with kiwi in it. It’s either a comedy or a serious story……trying to blend itself together. And it works from what I’ve seen. I’m on episode 4…..and there are 1 or 2 episodes left. Oh yeah this series is win for me because it has Yukana in the playful-evil role….which is the best role for her (I always love characters like C.C. - more active than just mysterious)

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Fansubs are slow (understandable….considering the fast speech of the main heroine). Episodes 3 to 7 have made this series look a bit boring…because of one thing. Trying to put drama in a full auto comedy anime doesn’t really work. And here it’s really awkward. I will keep watching…but I really hope the comedy overshadows the boring drama.

What to expect in the summer.
(Not 100% sure all of these are summer shows)

So far there have only been a few summer shows that I’ve been aiming to. Recently I’ve found that there will be an anime of the light novel “Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu” which has a plot that may not seem original considering the current use of “girl who is an otaku” theme. But it looks very intriguing. And Haruka herself is voiced by Mamiko Noto which is just plain great.

Of course there is also the Shina Dark anime by SHAFT. And since I love the manga I’m ready for the anime. Also Daisuke Ono voicing Exoda is fucking great.

I’ll post more as they come

Hand motions: The pride of CLAMP characters.

I honestly couldn’t tell.

Episode 7 Impressions:

First some complaints. This episode used alot of animation from the last episode to begin it. I felt that was wierd. It made things slightly less dramatic.

So with the aftermath of episode 6 Lelouch falls into depression. I guess this where Lelouch needed to have some internal conflict. I think it’s safe to say that he feels confused because he doesn’t know if Nunnally would respect his actions as Zero. For this episode I liked the part where Rolo turns on the televisions which shows that Lelouch is very scared.

Laughing to the heavens….You’re so great Lelouch

Rather than Lelouch or the Pizza Hut sign I’m focusing on the girl on television…..was she designed by CLAMP aswell?

Yeah there was already one doujin on this…..I can see more coming.

I’m annoyed that Kallen and Lelouch’s relationship wasn’t really given alot of time here. I was happy to see that Kallen was able to stop Lelouch from going on refrain. This flashes back to R1 where her mother became a victim of the drug. It was good to see those feelings touched upon.

I’ll sympathize with KallenxLulu fans in that this didn’t follow through

Abit close…..

Gokujō Seitokaicho!

Lelouch remembers that he’s not just doing things for Nunnally anymore. It’s a touchign scene. It reminds why I like Lelouch, he is good person at heart and cares about his friends.

On Rolo. I don’t know what to think. Rolo is stll very devoted to Lelouch. But I can definitely see that this plotline is being maintained and it will lead somewhere…..likely somewhere sad.

And then of course Lelouch kicks back by destroying the Brittanian navy without being on the submarine. You can be sure that Suzaku was thinking “HAX!”.

C.C. is thinking “I’m not happy”

This moment was too cute. C.C. has a smile but doesn’t want to share it with Kaguya. Kaguya also got some nice screen time with her “Three Court Ladies” thing.

Episode 8 impressions:

Not much happened in this episode till the end. But it definitely was a good episode at shedding some light on things.

Worst assassination attempt ever…..

We know no that the “live” Geass is still active on Suzaku. I was a bit surprised that they didn’t wait until some key event to show it. Anyway it’s an important detail and It was good that they showed how it’s affectign Suzaku……another sad thing will result of this.

And Nina…..Along with Suzaku. Nina is one of the characters that everyone has been yelling (negatively) about. I personally don’t like her cause she’s the most annoying mentally unstable character I’ve seen in anime (keep in mind I usually really like the whole “mental instability” moe concept……but also keep in mind that I’m not a HUGE fan of the more recent yandere icons). Anyway, Nina is a very quintessential Brittanian and I dislike that. Particularly her inquiry over why Schneizel didn’t conquer France and instead opted for peace. Thus showing that Brittanians do not have the perception that having your country taken over = BAD.

Schneizel is coming off to me as more suspicious. I feel that he will have his part in the whole “sense of self” theme in Code Geass. Though I do think that some of his feelings to his siblings hold true. But overall I can see him trying to aim for the Brittanian throne in the future.

Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that Nunnaly….mentioned back in R1 that Schneizel could beat Lelouch in chess. Perhaps the reason Schneizel hasn’t confronted Zero is because that his way of playing chess (ie. not taking action until the last moment)

And then the big thing. 1000000 ZEROs! And honestly who could have seen this coming? The only thing that ever implied this was the episode’s title (something around “Millions of Miracles”). And so the Zeros are exiled.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed this but there was alot of “Let’s cause a massacre” feelings from the Brittanian side. It’s almost as if they wanted to kill tons of Japanese again. It’s actually kind of funny that they actually surmised that Zero would be in the crowd.

And Suzaku does something good in realizing that the goal of Euphy was to let Zero go. And Ms. Romeyer really needs to be shot down from her position.

Yay!

I really liked this scene. Now one of four (or five if you want to include Nunnally) people that know Zero=Lelouch. Sayoko had a great reaction: Juts smiling. I really hope she’s featured more throughout, but I’ll still be happy with the amount of screen time she gets now and then (her diary entries are the best

And so with the Black Knights heading over to China….I will write up episode 9’s impressions.

]]> http://greathesit.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/code-geass-r2-07-08-the-plot-is-moving-fast/feed/ avisch http://greathesit.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/code-geass-r2-06-nunnallyyyy/ http://greathesit.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/code-geass-r2-06-nunnallyyyy/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 22:45:34 +0000 avisch http://greathesit.wordpress.com/?p=61

How much more dramatic would this shot be… if the Guren wasn’t in it?

Damn you Suzaku…

Like Shirukii posted.

General runthrough of this episode was…

Rollo uses his Geass on Suzaku to allow Lelouch to explain the situation to Nunnally. While also being able to maintain his cover.

When Nunnally is sad…I get sad

We see that Nunally is going to be heading to Japan from California. And Guilford is dumbly reprimanded
Cecil and Lloyd appear. And apparently Guilford’s been special Knightmare unit.

We see Kaguya and the Chinese Empress are friends and that Kaguya is leaving to Area 11

C.C. and Lelouch talk. Lelouch expresses his anger to the fact that Nunally is being used. And Also to V.V.
Then we get a scene with V.V. and the Emperor revealing their pact to be killing gods.

C.C. luvs gropping things. Too bad Lelouch hasn’t been included yet

Black Knights attack the ship that’s bringing Nunally in hopes of taking her. Ok…their trying to retrieve someone, first of all they could only do this once in R1 with perfection…I don’t see why it’s going to work now.

Awesome air fighting follows.

The eye is the last thing you see….

Eventually. Lelouch ends up in the garden (yes a garden inside a ship…with birds even). But takes the rest of the episode to reach her.

Suzaku, Anya and Gino show up. Showing off and beating the Black Knights

Kallen (or should I call her Karen?…I’ve been debating this) in the Guren Nishiki gets blown off the ships by the Lancelot CONQUISTA. Lacksharta reveals herself and sends the Guren a new float unit and parts. And then fights the Knights (of Rounds).

HAX!

again…HAX!

46 seconds REMAINING!

Finale ends up with Lelouch getting confused over to take Nunnally with him or not. Suzaku sweeps in takes her. With Lelouch screaming out her name.

Impressions:

Well the completion of where the last episode left off was satisfying. It wouldn’t have mattered even if Rolo wasn’t there. But I guess Lelouch doesn’t like lying to Nunally (as per their promise in episode 3 of R1) but apparently it’s OK to hide the fact that he’s leading a rebellion against an entire nation

Lloyd had the wierdest reintroduction…walking like he stepped off a merry-go-round. Though it was still nice to see him and Cecil. Also it appears Lloyd cannot do anything seriously and he calls the emperor “Kotei-chan”….uhh Charles is around 60 Lloyd

Suzaku doesn’t care…

Actually I was surprised that Cecil and Lloyd didn’t get more time in this episode. I bet they’re saving it for next episode were they talk to Suzaku about his goals and all.

I liked the scene with Lelouch and C.C. talking. Particularly the chess board (now with the origami on it)

Crane beats all.

I expect that the crane is supposed to show how he’s fitting Nunally into his immediate plans. I just liked it because it has the whole “life is like a chess game” thing to it. Sunrise did use it back in Gundam SEED though (which I haven’t watched BTW).
V.V. and Charles’s plan to “kill gods” renders an interesting element. They could be talking metaphorically. I actually doubt that though considering that the shrine is supposed to be able to do such a thing
Then of course Charles calls V.V. his brother (niisan) after V.V. calls him young. I wonder if V.V. actually met Charle’s as a child, cause that would make their relationship have another unique angle to it. And this makes me wonder more about C.C.’s and V.V.’s goals, it’s never been stated that C.C. is directly opposed to V.V. but we don’t know exacly what C.C.’s goal is so….it’s all speculation for now

That paragraph was too long.

I imagine with the Black Knight’s submarine back we have all their awesome supplies: Toudou’s cool Black Frame, and even possibly the Gawain.

Rail riding now?

Action was pretty cool. Not surprisingly I thought the fight on the floating ships seemed very perfect for a game. They even had a countdown timer for god’s sake.

Gino and Anya. Despite not getting any development, still remain to be interesting characters. Gino doesn’t seem very battle hardened for being a Knight (of Rounds) but since this series has alot of emotions I expect we can prepare for him changing. Anya remains to be a very funny Yuko Gotou (voiced) character. So I definitely hope for more development on them

Black Knights is run by women. No one’s complaining

Ok now you know Gino is great.

You mean the….

I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner. The Mordred is very much like Gundam Virtue from Gundam 00.
That particular pose is very much like the pose Virtue is seen in. I’m not complaining (I rarely complain about “re-used designs” as people call them) I just thought it was funny I didn’t realize it.

All I can hear is BATSU GAMMU!

Vulnerablity is moe

And so next episode we see how Lelouch becomes morally conflicted again by comtemplating whether he should remain Zero and such. Oh yeah their seems to be a refrain marketer involved.

EDIT: I forgot one important detail of this episode.

This episode gave the clear indication that throughout R1, Nunnally did not know that “Zero = Lelouch”
However the ending shows that she heard Zero yell hear name, and now she is wary of that.

This episode reminded me of why I like Nunnally. She’s pretty determined as Lelouch is. I think it’s actually reasonable to assume that her goal is the same as Lelouch’s (ie. World were she and him and everyone else is ok). The fact that she’s continuing Euphie’s plan is interesting and ir definitely shocked Lelouch when she took out her hand in the same way.

Anyway things keep changing in Code Geass and I think that these surprising elements are for the best.

… Tomatoes are better in soup anyway

Ughh…Even later than the last Geass post.

Yet another episode I love. It had comedy.
Once again. No summary just impressions

When Lelouch, Kallen, and C.C. are talking it really makes me happy. Lelouch’s and Kallen’s relationship is much more interesting now (actually ever since episode 2… of R2). I hope we get more moments like this because it definitely gives the show more depth.

Zero/Lelouch lying to the Black Knights gave me the question: “Will Lelouch ever tell them his true goal?”. I’ll be really excited if that happens in a episode. But Lelouch is smart, if he told the Black Knights: “I want to destroy Brittania and rescue my sister” it’s possible that the Black Knights wouldn’t trust him so much.

The music in the opening scenes impressed me, it set an interesting mood.

Lelouch and Suzaku meet, and they both recall their past together. I think it was interesting how this part was basically showing how Suzaku and Lelouch are similar (ie. they think the same way about things)
I suddenly realized that when Lelouch refers to Suzaku as: “My first friend” it shows how close they were. Imean it’s easy to see from the fact that they disliked each other when they first met. But it also shows why Lelouch cared so much for Suzaku at the beginning of R1.

And of course the main part of this episode was the party sequence. Rolo ponders about killing Suzaku, and why Lelouch likely doesn’t want him to is because it would be way too easy and he has to consider Nunally.

The “Knights of Rounds” finally get more speaking lines….though they should have gotten more considering the episode was named after them…or maybe it was just applying to Suzaku.

Zino is a pretty fun guy and apparently loves “commoner’s schools”. Of course most of us are focusing on how chummy he is with Suzaku and this sets him up as a piece that will get hurt which will enrage Suzaku. Souichiro Hoshi’s voice is actually good in this role. Seriously: it’s like hearing Keiichi (from Higurashi) in the Code Geass universe.

Anya is more Yuko Gotou love. She didn’t get many lines here. But recording moments were pretty funny. And so I’ve heard she’s got a dark past, and this episode showed her isolation easilly.

The part with Lelouch and C.C. was pure fanservice. First of all…she was pushed by Lelouch and that was funny enough. Kallen joins in. Then C.C.’s rattled around.

And the sound of her hitting tomatoes was even more fun…

Lelouch and Kallen also have good conversations.

We also got more of the obligatory “Lelouch is not good at P.E.”. Poor guy I know what that feels like.

And using Ohgi’s relationship with Villeta…he uses more blackmail tactics. I’m alittle confused by this, because usually Lelouch saves his cards. But it was fine. But I wonder why he doesn’t worry about Villeta sneaking a report back to Brtittania, but Lelouch is not 100% overconfident so he’s got something planned I bet.

NUNNALLY WO!

And the ending. Damn you SUNRISE! Once again the cliffhanger was damn good. Nunally is now the governor-general of Area 11. And so Suzaku annoys the community….again.

Lelouch will hate Suzaku even more now.

I feel that Nunally as the governor is good because it likely allows the story to focus on Nunally atleast alittle bit each episode. I still love that small shot of her in the OP with Lelouch reaching o

And next episode we get to see how Lelouch fakes his way out of knowing Nunally and how the Black Knights will not be destroyed by atleast 3 powerful Knightmares. Oh yeah and how the Lloyd and Cecil come back

Other stuff

On Arthur. I don’t understand why they keep him around. He keeps taking important possessions of others.

Shirely is being featured alot more. And she needs to put her hair up more…she almost looks tsundere.

Well Blassreiter will probably be considered the latest addition to the relations of Japan and German cause let’s face it: Japan luvs foreign things, especially German numbers. Seriously there are many anime/visual novels/light novels/manga that are full of them…..And I can’t name any right now.

This is my rant on Blassreiter, Nitro+, and Gonzo.

Blassreiter is actually set in Germany. But this doesn’t really affect the story (keep in mind that seeting does indeed affect the story).

Anyway it’s a weird show. First of all the only reason I ever heard about this is because of Nitro+’s involvement. GONZO is a wierd animation studio, and thus almost any series that they make can be considered wierd (”weird studio = weird studio” is not always the case), they are known for their use CG (which is used for cars, weapons, dragons, areas, nametags, and hairpins), I’m not a bothered by their CG cause I see other anime use CG to both major and minor extents (Kaiji and Sousei no Aquarion come to mind) and I’m not really critical.
Blassreiter’s fighting scenes are almost all 90% CG and some of them are pretty cool. The Blassreiters (I’m going to call them that other than: fighting bikers, Demoniac riders, other dumb title) are fine in design.

I’m sort of a Nitro+ fan because I love the look of their games. And they have proved that they can mix wierd elements together and get brilliant stories. I’m not the only one who shares this opinion.

As an example let me present how they likely brainstormed “Gekkou no Carnivale”

Guy1: Werewolves are fun…
Guy2: True
Guy3:…Taxis…..A werewolve TAXI DRIVER…who..
Guy2: Finds an android-doll!
Guy1: and it’s set in Italy!

And there you have the plot of Gekkou no Carnivale

Now to describe Blassreiter.

The story is actually somewhat simple for Nitro+’s writer (Gen Urobuchi). It’s easily summed up as: Germany, Fighting Motorcyclists, Cyborg disease
In 5 episodes the story hasn’t really given anything exciting, it hasn’t been predictable though….because it’s been so simple.

The story has alot of sad feeling in it so far. So far the main heroine’s younger brother is picked on by bullies, the two hero characters are isolated from other people because of their transformations, and overall the story is quite bleak.

The character development hasn’t been really heavy. Gerd basically has had his life changed and likely the series will reflect on this. Otherwise the development for the other characters is relatively null.

The presentation is interesting though… They waited until episode 3 to formally introduce the main character (Joseph). While Gerd (who is also a main character, but not considered one by ANN) disappears for a few episodes before coming back. There is a gnostic feeling in the series, which I think could have been made more interesting (I don’t know how though): the special forces (XAT) station is a church, in the second episode there is constant praise of god in the latter half.

So yeah. I can’t really talk about Blassreiter very much because not everything has been introduced. So thats all for now. Also: there are no screenshots cause I’m lame and view the series off Youtube.

This makes skateboarding look fun

Yeah this damn late. Sorry

I’m not gonna write a summary of this (but why would you read my summary anyway? When you have tone others to look at…..ok then again why does anyone blog?). The episode is mostly just moving the plot forward. Lelouch’s plan getting revealed after it’s outcome.

Everyone has posted C.C. and her gun moment. So I will aswell.

Li shows his political prowess and impresses C.C. (so you know that he must be cool) looks like Li isn’t going to destroy the Black Knights. Just making a point to them. He kills Gaohai, with a string-blade soon after.

Lelouch saves Ougi, Tohdo, and the other members. By using the environment to his adavantage and riding a SHIELD BOARD!.

Anyway what Lelouch was able to manipulate Rolo’s feelings to get him on his side. Rolo background is pretty simple, he’s been an assassin from birth and all he really cares about is completing his mission. And thus his emotional side is because he has no idea family is. Though I think we already heard that back when it was briefly mentioned last episode. Lelouch gets out of getting his “gun-pointed-at-head” sitation by using Rolo’s devotion to his mission by bringing up C.C. and her importance.

Villeta had a interesting reaction when finding out Ohgi had been freed. I’m happy how the series is still able to maintain it’s subplots while moving the story.

Impression:

This makes the 3rd or 4th scary cellphone conversation in Code Geass.

Lelouch “saves” Rolo after Geassing some specifics to a Brittanian soldier (who is Darlton’s son, likely one of the adopted ones that was mentioned in the picture drama). Rolo becomes grateful. And Lelouch then compares using Rolo to using a rag that he will toss away later.

On this aspect. I think it’s pretty obvious that Rolo’s emotions will become a problem later. I think Lelouch’s rant at the end of the episode is more him just declaring his anger, I think he could almost be lying to himself. My thoughts are as such: Obviously Lelouch is really annoyed insanely angry at Brittania and Suzaku for rewritting his memories and using him. Lelouch could be taking pleasure in a sort of “you used me, now I’m using you” feeling by manipulating Rolo. So a weird form of revenge if you will.

So anyway. This episode surprised me. It seemed alittle too “uncreative” when Lelouch saved his comrades by simply using the whole “use environment against the enemy” thing….maybe Brittania will actually take that into account for all combat operations now.

I thought the Gurren’s fighting here was cool. The the blast-arm never gets old.

I didn’t know raidation could block bullets….still awesome though.

The cliffhangers of these episodes just keep getting better. Now we have Suzaku in front of Ashford to end this episode. Kudos to the directors/writers/storyboard people.

So next episode we get to see how Lelouch and Suzaku glare at each other without anyone knowing….the theme “sense of self” will come up again…I’m sure

Anyway I think a funny scenario would be

*Suzaku and Lelouch meet*

Lelouch: Well thanks you bastard for having MY MEMORIES REWRITTEN
Suzaku: Yeah? Well you killed my girlfriend! That didn’t feel good either.
Lelouch: I wouldn’t rewrite your memories for killing my girlfriend.
Suzaku: You don’t have a girlfriend
Lelouch: …. I have an accomplice.