Gen X Otaku 1971: the OG blog

Don't mis-understand me, Senpai: Thoughts on extreme reactions to Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san!

So, full disclosure, I really f*cking love this show....I'm current on the manga and have the next volume on pre-order for when it drops in August.  I'm also current on the anime adaptation on Crunchyroll, and I think they're doing a fine job.

But oh my GAWD some people have some really shitty Galaxy Brain takes on this show.  The hatred for the titular character out there is REAL, way worse than Kirino from Oreimo.  It is largely misplaced, because holy fuck a lot of people simply don't understand this show or this character.

I'm going to try and re-capitulate what I (micro)blogged about obsessively on Twitter last night from memory, without too much copy & pasting.  I'm also closing comments because I don't want to deal with the haters who already don't fucking know what they're talking about.  

(Deep breath, heavy sigh)

Look, if you've never dated a hyper-aggressive flirt, it's easy to misunderstand this show.  I have.  I've dated someone who was a real firecracker and a dead ringer for Nagatoro on a number of levels.  I understand the type.  When I say hyper-aggressive I mean the kind of girl who won't take "no" for an answer, the kind of girl who tosses aside the idea she's supposed to wait for the guy to make the first move.  The ex-girlfriend in my case was someone who I initially asked out and got politely rejected by....but it put me on her radar, and when she dumped her then boyfriend she came back after me.  Relentlessly.  Now, it's pretty shitty when guys hound girls and wear them down until they finally relent and go out with them on a date.  But when the shoe's on the other foot it's disorienting.  I don't want to go into more personal detail than that but all of it is prelude to saying that people are really misjudging Nagatoro-chan from the get go.  While her dimwit friends definitely ARE traditional bullies, she is not.  Not really.  You can make the strongest case for bullying behavior in Ep.1, when she pushes him into the canal.  Except----she feels badly about doing so.  She didn't mean to, she didn't realize he was so lightweight that with her athlete's strength she could send him flying.  

Others have characterized  Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san as "Dark Mode" Takagi-San and that's a fair comparison.  In fact I'd argue Nagatoro is more directly comparable to Takagi than I initially realized.

In Takagi-san, her principal problem is the fact that girls mature emotionally faster than boys do.  Takagi-san has mature feelings of affection for Nishikata, but he's too wrapped up in their past prepubescent rivalry to notice.  She "teases" him, sure, but Takagi-san is low-key flirting with Nishikata and he's too dense and immature to pick up on it until the very end of Season 2 in a finale that's so heart warming I cried.

With Nagatoro we have the reverse problem.  She's high energy but emotionally immature.  Her body has changed, she's blossoming into a young woman with all that entails....and her libido is off the charts!  To be blunt, Nagatoro is horny as hell.  But also therefore sexually frustrated.  She doesn't have a clue how to smoothly flirt with boys or be subtle.  She's a bit of a jock so she just charges blindly forward.

Nagatoro isn't a "sadist" or "pure evil" or any of the ridiculous things I've seen some guys say about her.  She's a hyper-aggressive flirt and a handful but she's not (really) mean spirited.  Her curiosity is genuinely piqued by her Senpai.  She walks over to him of her own accord, genuinely curious.

One issue I do have with the anime adaptation, I'm not a fan of the dehumanizing language conveyed in the subtitles....the manga softens this scene....

Species?  Yikes.

Anyway, ironically I think it is self-described Incels and their internalized misogyny and self-pity that prevent them from interpreting this show in any but the worst possible light....they lambaste the titular character to an absurd degree, refusing to believe she has genuine feelings for her Senpai.

But the manga and the anime both provide ample evidence that she does....you have to have empathy for both Nagatoro and her Senpai to truly "get" the beauty of this show.  Over and over Nagatoro, in the manga and in the anime, will "get out over her own skis" and let her real feelings slip.  Every time she goes maximum mean-girl mode in the anime, look at her face....she's BLUSHING LIKE CRAZY....because doubling down on the aggressive flirting/messing around is the only way to sustain her courage and not die of embarrassment.  

When she antagonizes him with the clippers he protests loudly and she relents.  He lays down a boundary and she respects it.  It's her friends who are the bullying assholes and ignore his pleas for mercy.....She hears him in distress and comes running....and she's plenty pissed too because her friends used deception to get her out of the way to engage in their mean-spirited bullying....which is qualitatively different from the aggressive flirtation Nagatoro is engaged in.  But the incels can't see it because they're blinded to it....but that's in their heads, not in the show.

When he does finally let her cut his hair with actual scissors and a comb, she shows real skill.  He gets an actual good trim from her that improves his looks.  It's such a sweet and loving act....but others call her SADIST.  Nope.  

When they get lost in the joy of playing video games in her room during the rainy day it's such a wholesome moment & so sweet.  How could anyone hate that?  But some guys do, I guess.

The whole practical joke with the bean buns....Nagatoro is almost despondent with the idea of him touching another girl's boobs before hers, even when he explains the joke and that he didn't really do it....Nagatoro recovers enough to try and replicate the practical joke but it backfires on her when one of the buns slips out of her shirt and she accidentally gets her wish....becoming the first girl he's ever touched in that way.  He unknowingly gropes her for several seconds and of course she whacks him because this is a RomCom....but  she doesn't swat his hand away or back her whole body away from him....she's in shock but also aroused....but she can't admit she's aroused....but she is, which is why she lashes out violently.

When she's pretending to be a vampire and actually mounts him...grinds on him....it's so overtly sexual but she's too caught up in the fantasy to be inhibited...the fantasy element just heightens her arousal.

She also coyly suggests to her Senpai that he should be bolder with her...that she could make it worth his while....she's not lying.  She desperately wants him to; their relationship won't go anywhere if he doesn't at least try.  She's trying to goad him into acting.

She has a dream that clearly shows her fears about him rejecting her, about losing him....she has genuine FEELINGS for him.  It's plainly obvious on the page & screen.  Yet there are douchey incel guys who just won't see it.

This show reminds me a little of Horimiya and how confident Hori-san is with Miyamura.  Hori knows what she wants and goes for it.  She makes Miyamura acknowledge her feelings and his own.  Likewise if Takagi-san were Nagatoro's same age they'd totally be best friends and gossip about their boyfriends, and both would probably look up to Hori-Senpai, too, if they were at her school.

This show is the surprise hit of the Spring, at least for me.  The anime adaptation is moving faster than the manga but I don't mind.  It feels very much in keeping with the spirit of the manga and its overall arc.  

I'm not claiming Nagatoro's relationship with her Senpai is completely healthy, nor is it the best way to go about things.  But I will defend Nagatoro from the charge that she's just evil and manipulative and doesn't "really" feel anything for her Senpai.  That's just patently false and all the evidence is there showing otherwise.  Nagatoro loves her Senpai, she just can't yet bring herself to say it....but she makes her heart flutter....only he gets that kind of special attention from her....to guys she genuinely doesn't like she's much colder and more cutting.  He makes her light up with joy & excitement.   This show is so endearing and so sweet, I can't get enough of it.

Finally Finished MM! (aka "Abnormal Psychology 101: The Comedy Anime")

I recall I first saw the first four episodes of the English dub of MM! when it was screened at Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park very soon after its release in 2014.  I was a much younger anime fan back then and very much enjoyed the over the top "shock" comedy of this show and didn't think too deeply about it.  I enjoyed it enough that I was motivated to order the physical release on DVD.  However, being a younger, less experienced anime fan I did not know the production history and accidentally ordered a DVD copy of the earlier sub-only release from 2010 issued by Sentai Filmworks.  I guess I didn't pay close enough attention to the product description but when I popped in the DVD and got Japanese only after having gotten used to the English voices I was Mio-level PISSED.  I packaged it back up and returned it to Amazon for a refund.  I wanted to get the bilingual copy; I was aware of RightStuf! but back in those days I was still using the RightStuf! Print Catalog and tear-out order forms and mailing a personal check (read: I'm OLD).  Anyway, I was gun-shy of ordering the wrong edition again and so just never got around to it.

Fast forward to 2021, and I'm finally getting around to re-watching it on HIDIVE.  I still enjoyed the "zany" humor and "shock" comedy much as before but a few things did hit differently for me than they would have back in 2014.

The "incest" and "oedpial complex" subplot is still weird and gross...chuckle worthy but ew:

The cross dressing best friend was intended as comic relief and still basically is, and he is depicted as a totally straight dude who just so happens to like to sometimes dress in drag.  Such people do actually exist, then as now.  But with greater visibility and awareness of actual trans people in 2021, I looked at Tatsukichi Hayama (葉山 辰吉, Hayama Tatsukichi) differently and with more empathy than I would have in 2014.  Not least because I have actual trans friends now that I did not have in 2014.  But a cross-dressing straight guy was just a punchline in 2010 when this was originally released in Japan and when the original light novels were first published.  Contemplating him/her/them as ACTUALLY trans just wasn't in the cards in 2010.

The main story of course revolves around this potential love triangle....Low-key tsundere sadist Mio Isurugi (石動 美緒, Isurugi Mio) voiced by Monica Rial, hapless self-described "super Masochist" Taro Sado (砂戸 太郎, Sado Tarō) voiced by Blake Shepherd, and admitted "Androphobe" Arashiko Yuno (結野 嵐子, Yūno Arashiko) and unintentional original source  of Taro Sado's awakening to "super Masochism" back in Middle School.

I had very nearly forgotten that Arashiko Yuno (結野 嵐子, Yūno Arashiko) has androphobia from a very specific incident shown to us in flashback, namely that she is a sexual assault survivor.  The perpetrator was one of the most attractive & popular boys in school.  He tries to force himself on Yuno but she resists...it's unclear from the flashback if she was also raped but regardless it is the source of her deep and prolonged fear of any and all men.  Taro Sado does eventually confront Yuno's assailant and challenges him to a fight.  It doesn't go particularly well for Taro until Mio lends a hand and the two of them open a collective can of whoop-ass on the dude.

Have to admit, was not a big fan of the Lolicon subplot either with Noa Hiiragi (柊 ノア, Hiiragi Noa) voiced by Brittney Karbowski.  Brittney does a fine job voicing her and some of the episodes she's in are pretty funny....but the show pushes her as a potential romantic partner for Taro a little too hard and it feels skeevy....even though she's technically a High Schooler and actually of appropriate age for Taro, just a late bloomer & a bit, shall we say, under-developed....

 

Mio Isurugi (石動 美緒, Isurugi Mio) doggedly tries to "cure" Taro of his "super Masochism", usually involving all manner of cruel & unusual physical "punishment" that only exacerbates the issue...from stepping on his crotch in her spiked high heels to whacking him hard with a paper fan, usually escalating to a metal baseball bat with a cute bow tied to it, frequently defenestrating Taro out the nearest window and high into the sky....

The most uncomfortable episode for me was probably Episode 8, "A 'B and L' Patterned Love"
Transcription: "B de L na Hen'ai Moyō" (Japanese: BでLな変愛模様)....Mio resorts to the idea of using post Hypnotic suggestion as a behavior modification tool, with unpredictable results....the main "joke" being clued by the title, containing the letters "BL", the designation for "Boys Love", aka, Yaoi....in short, Mio unintentionally "turns" Taro gay for the episode and he develops romantic longings for his best friend, cross-dressing Tatsukichi Hayama, who does not feel that way about him, and tries to act on these longings in the most awkward ways imaginable, much to Tatsukichi Hayama's annoyance...Taro not being very mindful of consent, etc.  Arashiko Yuno is devastated by Taro's apparent new orientation and tries to woo him back despite her androphobia by trying to get him to notice how sexy she is, which of course fails to move Taro.

It's played for laughs of course but it just feels uncomfortable and unintentionally homophobic in an era where social conservatives are still pushing bogus religion based "gay conversion therapies" and doing real emotional trauma to LGBT+ youth in 2021.  And it's not super great when Mio realizes Taro is "accidentally" gay and curses him for still being "a pervert", especially considering the history of LGBT+ rights and the struggle for recognition and affirmation by Mental Health professionals.....like wowza, the 1960s called & they want their outdated psychiatric evaluation back, please. 

Anyway, so the story can be done with this comedic sub-plot, Mio has to once again beat Taro straight and back into his square one, i.e. his baseline "super Masochism" that is specifically triggered when a "beautiful girl beats & curses him"....which Mio and Yuno deliver in equal measure....Mio by means of her subconscious sadism and Yuno whenever Taro accidentally gets too close and triggers her androphobia and she punches his lights out.

MM! is still entertaining in 2021 but more of a "guilty" pleasure now than it would've been for me in 2014 had I finished it then.  The light novelist behind MM! has unfortunately passed away so there won't be any more of it, but if it were rebooted today it would need serious revision and updating.  I do still think some of the "zany" comedy would still work but fetishizing various mental illnesses and abnormal psychological conditions as stock characters for comedy in 2021...just doesn't feel super great...it feels like a story that punches down.  I think it could be re-written respectfully and still be funny & entertaining in 2021...I'm not the one to do it but I definitely think it's possible.  Sidebar, I also noticed the repeated visual gag references to Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon (Tuxedo Mask) and laughed out loud every time....something I likely would've missed in 2014.

MM! is still streaming on HIDIVE and a re-issue of the Blu-Ray is currently advertised as coming soon on the RightStuf! website.  I have not seen the MM! OVA and apparently Sentai Filmworks declined to license it for inclusion with the main series.  Obviously this show is also VERY fanservice heavy....Mio and Yuno are very pretty, shapely girls and the camera leers at them often....they are the eye candy that sells the show and eventually become low-key romantic rivals for Taro's affections.  Personally I think Yuno is more deserving....Mio gives it a good effort and wrestles with admitting her real feelings for Taro...but I don't think she's quite earned it by story's end....but everyone throwing her a surprise birthday party at the end was touching and sweet.  Tears stream down Mio's face and she doesn't fully understand why she's crying, but she basks in the glow of her friends love for her.  It's a Christmas Episode and a decent capper for the series.  MM! is not for everyone and the humor feels a little dated and out of step with today's standards.  It's a product of its time and should be enjoyed as such.

Heart in a Heartless World or Helpful Fox Senko-San

So I finally finished watching the recent Simuldub of Helpful Fox Senko-san via the FUNimation streaming service that I subscribe to.

It was very adorable and endearing....the titular character Senko is an 800 year old Fox-Spirit Demigod who has decided to take pity on a hapless salaryman in modern Japan who apparently does some sort of unspecified business work in an office involving information technology and handling lots of spreadsheets & reports.  Voiced in English by Kristen McGuire.  I couldn't help thinking about Marx's pronouncement about religion while watching Senko....which is actually more compassionate towards religious folk than most later Marxists realize or are willing to acknowledge...

Marx wrote:  "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". 

If you've watched Helpful Fox Senko-San,  see if this paraphrase doesn't fit her...she is, after all, a quasi-religious saint-like figure for the Japanese context....a handmaiden of the gods, effectively.

"Senko-san is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions."

Kuroto Nakano (中野玄人 Nakano Kuroto) is definitely the poster-boy for alienation under modern capitalism, and he seeks comfort in Senko's busom and fluffy fox tail.  She is his refuge and solace in the cruel modern world.  She represents traditional Japanese womanhood, the loving wife, etc, only minus the serving the sexual needs because that would be kinda gross for a Loli-esque character to do....this is teased a little for laughs but never pushed because the creators are aware that'd be crossing a line.  And Kuroto Nakano (中野玄人 Nakano Kuroto) is enough of a gentleman not to lust after Senko in that way.  And in any case, each day at work beats him down so hard his libido is probably suppressed in any case because he's just too tired for sex or sexual thoughts.  If only Senko were more like Shinobu of the Mongatari franchise with an "adult" form she could transform into at will.  But that's not what this show is about.  (Sidebar, Shinobu definitely likes to tease Araragi-kun in her Loli form and getting him beaten up by his sisters for being a creep around Shinobu even though she actually sets up him, e.g. getting into the bathtub with him, etc....and even though she has that full-bodied Adult form, she prefers existing in her cutesy Loli form, devouring doughnuts.)

Senko tries mightily to be a good wife to Kuroto and the show is basically a slice of life showing the different ways she pampers him and comforts him after a hard day at the office...and also tries to teach him to relax and enjoy life more along the way....learn to set boundaries between office life and home life, etc.  But Capitalism is a dark, malevolent force and the Gods at one point charge that Senko isn't actually successful at helping Kuroto.  Senko protests that she IS making a difference, every day, and announces her intention to stay by Kuroto's side until he grows old and passes away...even though it will break her heart all over again just like the last time she pampered one of Kuroto's ancestors a century or more ago.  Senko is selfless and giving.  

The anime is somewhat inconclusive and I'm sure the manga goes into greater detail and has a longer story arc.

Oh, Holy Knight (OVA)

So, has anyone else out there seen the one-shot OVA "Holy Knight"? Apparently it got a dub, but my local public library only has streaming access (via Hoopla digital) to the original sub version. Anyway, it feels like a 60 minute product pitch for a proposed much longer series that never got green lit. The pacing is crazy fast and it throws every anime trope and the kitchen sink in, too. It was reasonably entertaining I guess, but also left a lot of unanswered questions. The main character's sword, with cryptic Russian writing on the blade (which looks cool, but when I paused it and tried to read it, I noticed it was mostly nonsense, full of consonant clusters that don't actually get used in Russian, etc.), is a bit of a red herring, at least in this OVA. Seems like it should play a bigger role but they ran out of time? It's kind of nuts.  In the image below, the character is looking into a mirror, so the script on the sword is shown as a mirror reflection also (which come to think of it violates literary Vampire canon, but whatever)...but even if you flip this image and try to read the Russian script, you'll see the nonsense I'm talking about.  The Russian double "ii" (with special mark over the 2nd "i") only appears at the end of words, not internally within a word, like it does on this sword. 

Still, I found it considerably more entertaining than all of Vampire Knight, but I guess that's because I'm definitely not in the target demographic for Vampire Knight (teen girls & women) while Holy Knight was definitely made with dudes firmly in mind (Read: it's unabashedly pervy and weird).  I'm identifying vampire chick Lilith as the main character, even though ostensibly the main character is intended to be milquetoast audience insert character Mizumura Shinta, your average everyday Japanese high school student. 

This OVA feels like a condensed re-cap movie for people who want to re-live in condensed form the "highlight reel" from a 26-episode regular series.  A series that never got off the ground, apparently.  Which is unfortunate, because the foundations of a rather good supernatural action show are present and could've been reworked into something great or at least respectable.  The OVA teases an awful lot of potential but doesn't have the time to pay them off or adequately develop the characters or anything.  It makes the OVA very frenetic and kind of incoherent.  The "moral" of the story, if there is one, is "fuck tradition, fuck destiny, we'll make our own future and find love".

It's sort of Romeo and Juliet only with Juliet as a vampire chick who's inexplicably horny and half-Romanian, half-Japanese, carries around a weird Russian sword, while Romeo is your average Japanese high school dweeb who's also horny but awkward around girls and has a childhood best friend with big boobs who totally wants his dick but loses out to weird foreign vampire girl.

I was entertained, but damn this is a weird show.

Wakfu is worth a watch!

Wakfu (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although my favorite entertainment medium is Japanese anime, I'm also attracted to other animated shows that show a heavy influence of Japanese anime, from Teen Titans to RWBY to the recent French cartoon Wakfu, which is based upon a videogame franchise.  It's now streaming on Netflix (and was apparently on American television some time back) and has an English dub, and a Spanish dub (which I sometimes watch) besides the original French audio.  The characters have definitely grown on me, especially Evangeline, the coaxing blonde female elf that every male character goes gaga for, even more so than Princess Amalia herself, who's definitely pretty too but also a "prissy princess", personality wise, while Evangeline ("Eva" for short) is a no nonsense archer & bodyguard.  They are members of main character Yugo's traveling party, along with Az, Ruel, and Percedal.  Wakfu is basically the in-world term for "magical energy", sort of like the Star Wars "Force" of this fantasy realm.  It flows throughout the world and only those specially attuned can summon up and use Wakfu to create magical spells and manipulate matter and energy.  Not unlike the Anime Fairy Tail, this world emphasizes the outsized importance of specifically Dragon Magic.  Yugo is the Eliatrope brother of little dragon Adamai.  In fact, Yugo is the last Eliatrope still living as far as anyone knows.

They oppose the evil Xelor who calls himself "Nox", a being who builds terrifying clockwork automata that wreak havoc upon the countryside.  He has ambitions of capturing all the world's Wakfu and remaking the world anew.

 

It's definitely worth watching.  The characters are likeable and engaging.

Heck, I watch it mainly for the Evangeline & Amalia fanservice...no no, it's not THAT anime, e.g. no panty shots, jiggling boobs, etc.  It's just these characters are really easy on the eyes is all...

My best Pre-order Blu-Ray ever; or, Finished Toradora! (spoilers!)

The main characters of Toradora! (from left to right): Ryūji, Yūsaku, Taiga, Minori, and Ami. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, I just finished my Blu-Ray Deluxe edition of Toradora! last night, including the OVA.  Without a doubt, the best Blu-Ray Pre-order purchase of Anime I've ever made.  I thoroughly enjoyed that series from start to finish.

I know a lot of people complain about the ending, and yeah, it's kind of bullshit, but I wonder how many of the people complaining the loudest simply #ragequit at the credit scroll and stormed off?  Because if you want your happy ending you have to put yourself in Marvel Movie viewing mode and sit through all the credits through the end and f*cking pay attention.  In a perfect ending, Taiga should've broken the fourth wall and cursed the viewer out..."You think I'd give up on my man after all THAT?  DUMBASS!!"  Anyway, it was great, even if the midway point to the credit scroll of Ep.25 was kind of a big middle finger to the audience.   The true ending (post credits) redeems it.

As great as the main characters are, I think the one I feel most for is Minori Kushieda.  That pained expression on her face in the penultimate episode, where Ryuji is attempting to lie about having rescued Taiga in the snowstorm, it was so well rendered as to be simply heartbreaking.  The pain in her quivering eyes was palpable.  Her look of "...how fucking could you!" at Ryuji.  Minori just breaks and refuses to be a part of the farce any longer.  She blurts out the truth, that it was Ryuji who saved Taiga and not Kitamura.  She could've added for emphasis "I was f*cking there!! I started to go after you but HE (points) pulled me back to go after you himself.   Because he loves you dammit and you love him."---of course, the beauty of this anime is that all that extra dialogue is unnecessary, because Minori's face says ALL of it in that scene.

She's totally justified at blowing up at them both...She spends the latter half of the series in a deep depression...because she's in love with the same guy as her best friend whose life is way more effed up than her own and who desperately needs Ryuji to keep her world from falling apart...Minorin has to push aside her own feelings and suffer in silence while Ryuji and Taiga keep deceiving themselves about the nature of their relationship and their feelings for each other.  The series did a good job keeping me guessing at Minorin's true feelings right to the end.  I knew she was upset and in pain and putting on a brave face for several episodes, but her confession did genuinely surprise me a little.  Though I suppose in hindsight it was alluded to indirectly when Taiga forced the two of them together on the street and Minori had to grab Ryuji by the hand to keep him from wandering into traffic and immediately blushed with embarssment and muttered "Stupid Taiga Stupid Taiga Stupid Taiga" under her breath.  The show does a good job of keeping Minorin's feelings opaque and does dangle the possibility of her being an in-denial lesbian.  Minorin even says as much out loud, questioning herself.  Plus she's a jock and aggressive softball player, and a little weird generally.  Hell, she could actually be bi.  But it was oddly gratifying to learn she did have love for Ryuji after all, though that love also caused her enormous pain, too.  But you can't really help who you love...a lot of it's involuntary and it does sometimes hurt, especially when other considerations prevent you from acting on those feelings.  Minorin is the very best friend you could ever want.  She's loyal, quirky, cheerful, and willing to endure a great deal of emotional pain for the friends she loves and cherishes.

I had trouble relating to Ami Kawashima...one of my Twitter friends kept insisting Ami was "best girl" in the show, and I held back my judgement until I had finished, but I just don't see it.  I get that she has strong feelings for Ryuji and she's right to point out and criticize the almost creepy, quasi "(surrogate)father-daughter" dynamic at play in Ryuji and Taiga's day to day relationship...but Ami's such a passive-aggressive b*tch it's no wonder she only knows how to catch Ryuji's attention with her body, but instantly repulses him when she opens her mouth and starts talking.

Anyway, besides Toradora! I also recently watched and finished Flowers of Evil.  I know the rotoscoping is very off putting to a lot of viewers but I didn't mind it myself.  As you know, I generally don't go for sub-only shows but I made an exception for this one.  It was good, but its stock in trade is the emotion of dread, and the episodes themselves have such emotional intensity that I could only stand to watch 2 maybe 3 episodes back to back.  The "bad girl" chick, Nakamura, is actually kind of hot.  I joked on Twitter that I only later realized that she's essentially a gritty "real life" tsundere, insofar as she treats him like shit and curses him out and it takes a long time to figure out she actually has feelings and desires for the main character.  The main character idolizes the popular girl Saeki, but feels unworthy of her.  The whole arc of the show is learning that rough-and-tumble Nakamura is more closer to who he really is rather than what he merely wishes himself to be.  He can't actually handle angelic Saeki as a flesh-and-blood girl.  The real thing could never live up to his abstract ideal.  On the other hand, earthy, vulgar Nakamura represents the dark, untamed female sexuality he actually craves but is too chicken-shit to admit it to himself or acknowledge it.  She's his dark soulmate, every bit as misanthropic and nihilistic and self-loathing as he is.  I'm glad this was picked up by Sentai Filmworks and given a North American home video release (I bought it on Blu-Ray), but it was a commercial flop in Japan, so it's highly doubtful a Season 2 will be forthcoming, which is unfortunate, as the final episode contains a lot of "flash forward" style previews of what a Season 2 would've looked like, and it looks freaking awesome.  *Sigh*  So, like Roundpeg of 2Lazy2Botaku so often says, yet another case of "f*ck you, read the manga" (which I am doing and it is pretty awesome in its own right).

I also liked Knights of Sidonia.  In fact, I liked it so much, I'm rewatching it again on Netflix in Spanish this time for the sheer hell of it.

Other anime I'm futzing around with include the usual Toonami stuff (Space Dandy, Attack on Titan) and also a few selections from Crackle.com, such as old episodes of Ruroni Kenshin (aka Samurai X) and a mediocre sci-fi action series Viper's Creed that I'm mainly watching because it's dubbed in English and looks kind of cool.  I sometimes watch an episode before bed on my iPad, mostly.

Oh, and lastly I'm working my way through Psycho-Pass on Netflix as well, which is a damn fine anime in its own right. Dystopian sci-fi police drama and dark as hell.  Likeable main character, strong supporting male character, etc.

First impression, Mayo Chiki (Ep.1-4)

Mayo Chiki! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just returned from a screening of the romantic (harem?) comedy Mayo Chiki, new from Sentai Filmworks.  It was initially a sub-only release (copyright 2012) that was later dubbed (2014), and it is the new dubbed version that we got screened for us tonight at Alamo Drafthouse.  I was doubtful of Mayo Chiki at first, and some of the initial conceit of the show reminded me a little too much of MM! but nevertheless it was surprisingly entertaining with very likable characters, even if the premise seems a little fanciful and far-fetched.  It relies on a tried and true anime trope, namely the female character dressed as a boy but who's obviously a girl (to the audience) but this is later revealed as a huge surprise to the other characters out of the blue.  I speak of "The Butler" to the richest, prettiest girl in school.  A "Family Butler" who hails by the name Subaru Konoe (近衛 スバル Konoe Subaru^?), pictured right, and is voiced by Genevieve Simmons, who also voiced the titular character in Mysterious Girlfriend X.  She is the loyal, fanatically devoted servant to Lady Kanade Suzutsuki (涼月 奏 Suzutsuki Kanade^?), who is not only Subaru's master but also her childhood friend, and also, as Kanade later reveals rather opaquely, teasing at a "Yuri" relationship, Kanade's "first love" as well.  Because Subaru is regarded as male by the rest of the student body, the rest of the student body wants to know if main character Kinjirō Sakamachi (坂町 近次郎 Sakamachi Kinjirō^?) is the "uke" or "seme" in their "obviously yaoi" relationship.  See, Kinjiro accidentally walked in on Subaru in the boy's bathroom stall and caught sight of her very girly panties and shapely feminine rump.  The truth revealed, Kinjiro is sworn to secrecy by Lady Suzutsuki, who playfully sets him and Subaru up, playing matchmaker of sorts.  But she muddies the waters a bit by flirting with Kinjiro herself and hiding Kinjiro's budding relationship with Subaru by pretending to be actively dating Kinjiro herself, to throw Kinjiro's snooping kid sister, Kureha Sakamachi (坂町 紅羽 Sakamachi Kureha^?), off the trail.  However, by episode 4, Kanade playfully kisses Kinjiro, leaving him even more befuddled.

The craziness of this story is made possible only by the fabulous wealth of the Suzutsuki family and their unique arragements with their hereditary, nepotistic servants.  But if you can just simply accept this conceit, the story is actually quite engaging on an emotional level in very surprising ways.  It reminds me a little of the recent FUNimation release "Good Luck Girl" in terms of overall mood & feel.  I do like this show and it is a potential future buy, but probably not as a bleeding edge new release.  I have other priorities in the near future, like Part 2 of Attack on Titan, etc.  I'm glad I attended this special advanced screening and will definitely put this title in my "consider buying" note in my iPhone.

Nearly done with Blu-Ray Disc 1 of Toradora!

Toradora! manga volume 1 cover. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

**Spoiler Alert**

So I just finished watching up through Episode 8 of Toradora! on Blu-Ray with the English dub.  So many feels, especially in Episode 8!  I teared up when Taiga declared from the bottom of her heart at the top of her lungs that "Ryuji is MINE!!!"

Although I remember a lot of the story from the manga still, the anime adaptation and voice acting pack that much more emotional punch.  It was a welcome reminder of why I love this story so much...precisely because both Ami and Taiga are just so complicated and messed up in the head!!

My heart goes out to Taiga because she herself doesn't fully understand her own emotions.  She still has her naive puppy love for Kitamura, but literally everyone else around them can see she's actually falling for Ryuji.  Her explosive, possessive jealousy whenever Ami flirts with Ryuji is a dead giveaway.  Ami's not the only one being dishonest about who she is and how she feels.  Both Ami AND Taiga are deeply flawed in their own ways, not to mention at each other's throats as social rivals.

Ami has the problem of acting cutesy and innocent in public but in reality being quite vain and abrasive, selfish and rude.  She admires Taiga for her ability to be abrasive and nasty OPENLY.  She also admires Taiga's take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude that emboldens Ami to confront her own stalker and put the fear of Gawd in him.  Taiga criticises Ami's two-faced nature, but Taiga won't confront the division in her own heart, the fact that she's infatuated with Kitamura but falling in love with Ryuji in a deeper, more mature and profound way.

In Episode 8 (spoilers!), Ryuji is nearly drowned when a bunch of classmates fall into the pool on top of him.  He probably takes an elbow to the head, is forced under water and starts drowning.  Aisaka saw what happened and the last thing Ryuji sees is new swimmer Aisaka swimming desperately towards him to save him.  After nearly losing Ryuji, Aisaka comes undone emotionally...her emotions are laid bare and raw, she won't let anyone come near Ryuji, she's crying hot tears of pain, relief, anguish and love.  That episode especially and the few preceding ones make me very happy I preordered this Blu-Ray.  The emotional drama and turmoil is amplified even higher in the anime adaptation than was conveyed in the manga.  I love this series so far and look forward to where it's going.  I anticipate I'll soon be passing where I last left off in the manga proper.

Oh, and the anime makes it way more obvious that Minorin is probably a lesbian in denial.  This is harder to pick up on in the manga. 

I look forward to seeing where this story goes.

Got in my Toradora! pre-order.

Cover art of the first DVD compilation released by King Records, featuring main characters Ryūji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A brief post to confirm I got in my deluxe Toradora Blu-Ray/DVD Combo preorder from an online anime retailer who handles NIS America merch.  I've watched Episodes 1-3 of the dub and so far I like it very much.  It seems to be moving a bit faster than the manga series.  The male protagonist Ryūji Takasu is voiced by the same voice actor, Erik Scott Kimerer, who voices the main male protagonist of Accel World and plays Alibaba in Magi. Johnny Yong Bosch voices Kitamura, Ryūji Takasu's best friend and Aisaka Taiga's unrequited love interest.  Christine Marie Cabanos (Madoka of Madoka Magica, and the titular character of Squid Girl) voices supporting character Minorin (Ryuji's main secret love interest) and Cassandra Lee voices Taiga.

I like it so far, and my box set includes a nice art book that is also translated into English, which is an added bonus (I was fully expecting this to be left untranslated and just pretty to look at).

I'm on Volume 6 of the Manga, which is ongoing in English.  I'm looking forward to enjoying the complete series on Blu-Ray.  Please don't spoil it for me, but I've heard the ending for Toradora! is kind of a dissapointment.  So I'm hoping to just enjoy the journey as I go.  There are just some tender scenes in the manga where despite their ostensible love/lust for other characters, it's painfully obvious to the reader that Ryuji and Taiga are meant for each other.  I remember one cell where she's crying from anger and frustration, tears flowing down her face and Ryuji is just holding her gently, from behind and above her.

I accept Cassandra Lee as Taiga, though I am left wondering who else among the BangZoom! regulars were up for this role.  I think Christine Marie Cabanos definitely works better as Minorin; would not have cast her as Taiga.  I accept Erik Kimerer as Ryuji--I guess Bryce Papenbrook can't voice EVERY hero/protagonist for BangZoom! these days ;-)  And I'm fine with JYB voicing a supporting character.  I'm very glad I preordered this.  Now just waiting on my Eva 3.0 Blu-Ray to come out.