Kurogane's Anime Blog

God no, a.f.k! For god’s sake, “tsundere” doesn’t translate to bipolar! It just does not for god’s sake. You want bipolar? That’s Akira-sama, okay! And “kitsune udon” IS NOT literally “fox udon”!

But in any case, I so damn agree with Kona-chan, twintails on Kagamin needs to stay! It just needs to! Kagamin is getting x10 multiplier on moe points for that! Kagamin was the awesome this episode, by bringing down the bread-eating scaffold and “tsukkomi”‘ing the sand for the long jump XD. Moar Kagamin 4TW!

And I’m starting to like Miyuki, thanks to her ED last episode (awesomely GAR!) and her relay race this episode. Winning by using her “assets” is so win. So WIN! Also, nice dodge on Konata’s scavenger race question. I’m seriously wondering what the truth was.

Also, Tsukasa trying to play her recorder was so cute. And she even tsukkomi’ed Konata, lol.

P.S. Konata’s fanart really did appear in this month’s Newtype! Kyo-Ani are truly awesome people. I think I’ll buy that issue for posterity.

I wonder why am I still watching it. At first, I picked it up because of the A-list of seiyuus, then I continued with it because I saw it had some potential, but now, I’m getting a bit jaded with it.

Actually, I’m getting bored of Haruka hogging most of the airtime along with her somewhat, erm… strange obsession with her mecha, Imbel. Idolmaster has a really large cast, but they aren’t given enough airtime, seriously. Out of the nine episodes up till now, Haruka has probably 75% or more of the airtime. And the only character apart from Haruka which had an episode focused on her remains only Yukiho-chan, sigh, and she’s not exactly my favourite character.

The other thing is that the show is taking itself somewhat seriously, in my opinion, especially on the Haruka-Imbel relationship angle, which, to me, just feels really overdone already. The show needs to be less serious and, uh, dark, I guess.

Still, I guess I will watch on just for the heck of it, and since I’ve already come this far, I might as well put some hope in to it. But unless the show starts to get more interesting, either in a dramatic way or a character-driven way, Idolmaster is going to be deigned to the forgettable anime pile.

Hint: More Iori-chan plz. A Yayoi is fine too.

The first pictures of this month’s Megami are slowly streaming out. After a less satisfying issue last month, it seems the Megami team has picked the pace back up and this month’s issue looks quite nice, with ample fanservice from risque poses to calming ones. Yoko sure looks hawt, the Lucky Star gang are in meido-fuku and there’s even an Onegai Sensei pinup as well. Wonder if that means a new Onegai series is in the works…

Funnily, what happened to sola? Hopefully there’ll be a Matsuri/Aono spread.

おたんじょうびおめでとう、こなちゃん！

Man, she’s possibly the best gag character in anime, second only to Fumoffu’s Sagara in terms of absurbness. The awesome combination of loli, otaku and boke has already secured Kona-chan a spot in my Top 10 list.

This week’s Lucky Star was especially funny thanks to Konata-chan. I wonder if the director upped the comedy levels in conjunction with her birthday today. Even from the first minute, I was already in stitches, no thanks to her and her father, who finally appears in a talking role this week. Gotta love his passion!

I’ll do my entry for this week’s episode later, maybe when the subs are out. This week’s ED is totally whacked by the way… man, Aaya-chan has to improve on her english singing, XD.

Via Anime News Network.

The July issue of Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine (on sale May 25) announced that a new television anime adaptation of Kōsuke FujishimaYou’re Under Arrest police comedy manga is in production. The issue also previewed artwork being drawn for the series.

Onetime Gunbuster mechanical designer and Burst Angel director Kōichi Ōhata will direct, and Natsuko Takahashi (Spiral, Gakuen Heaven) will oversee the scripts. Although Ōhata and Takahashi are new to the You’re Under Arrest franchise, Atsuko Nakajima (Ranma ½, GetBackers) will return to adapt Fujishima’s characters as she did for every animated incarnation since the original video series.
Source: Moon Phase

A bit unexpected, but I’m nonetheless happy about it. Reminiscing back on, You’re Under Arrest was my first serious anime and probably the starter of my otaku road. While the second season was less than inspiring, here’s to hoping that the third season shall fare better, I still have a small crush on Miyuki in my heart ;).

It has been a really fun ride all the way. I salute ufotable for that nice touch of incorporating the OP sequence as curtain closer for the episode, further emphasizing the message the final episode wanted to send.

Definitely, Manabi Straight lived up to my earlier expectations, even if I doubted it for a while at times. Possibly one of the best “school life” genre anime. I so miss my sekolah menengah (high school equivalent here) days and friends all of a sudden.

The soundstage is set between episode 06 and 07, timeline wise and the basic premise is that a Lost Logia has been detected on Earth, in Uminari City again… which basically means it’s homecoming for Nanoha-tachi, bringing with them along the new rookies as well. Highlights include loli x shota action (Kyaro is scary), Hayate’s revelations and the apperance of the long missed Arisa, Suzuka, Arf and other people of Uminari City.

A short, track by track guide after the leap.

Continue ->

It’s the twintails I tell you, the twintails!

So, erm.. yeah, I’m watching Otogi Jushi Akazukin for now. It’s got it’s ups and downs, but it’s not bad a show to watch. Sigh, even the kid-targeted anime nowadays are moe enough to watch :P.

Again, I reiterate, the manga version of Negima remains superior, with the current Asuna-in-training arc. A bit of a filler chapter this time round, which means a lot of moe fanservice and Akamatsu is on a roll with this issue.

Starting off light, we have some KonoSetsu action of our dear ojou-sama trying to “heal” her loyal protector’s wounds….

Continue ->

(Sorry for the sucky pics. The StrikerS Raw Syndrome to be blamed for it.)

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Right after getting mentally pwned by Konata’s “Gokigenyou”, next is Nanoha’s White Devil Mode, making it’s first appearance ever.

After the boredom of character introduction and continuous training, interspersed with the new henshins and a little battle here and there, here comes the first shocking plot twist of Nanoha, which was what made it indirectly awesome. And dear god, Nanoha has now truly cemented the “White Devil” name for her with this episode, with that no-holds-barred (ok, actually she did hold back a lot, or else Tiana would’ve been converted to energy already) punishment she inflicted on poor inferiority complex Tiana.

So an explanation for the events goes something like this:

Basically, Tiana is emo over the events last episode where she almost killed her partner (and lesbian crush) Subaru. While she starts to practice hard, the rest of the cast is given a crash course in her past where her brother was one of the TSAB elite but died in a case and was labelled “useless”. Tiana is traumatized by that and seems that she wants to fulfill her brother’s dream therefore explaining why she went in to the TSAB.

Later on, Subaru and Tiana decide to practice a new combo move and they do so earnestly. As part of their training, Nanoha holds a mock battle between her and the both of them, and Subaru starts off by distracting Nanoha with close-combat while Tiana does her long-range attacks. It turns out that Subaru’s close range attacks are a distraction to make Nanoha concentrate her barrier on Subaru, and Tiana sneaks in from behind to deal the finishing blow.

Before getting hit by it, Nanoha recites “Raging Heart, Mode Release” and catches Tiana’s gunblade with her free hand, while the other still holds Subaru’s Revolver Knuckle. She goes really, -really- mad, and asks them why are they doing such reckless moves thus rendering her training useless. Tiana starts going emo and decides to shoot Nanoha down, but before she does that, Nanoha tells her to “calm down” and uses back Tiana’s own Crossfire attack on her, followed up with a mini Divine Buster, rendering her unconscious… as Subaru, captured in Nanoha’s binds, watches on helplessly…

Moral of the Day: Do not. I repeat, DO NOT, piss off Nanoha, unless you are SS+ or you have valid reasons for doing so.

I NEED EPISODE 09 NOW.
I NEED EPISODE 09 NOW.
I NEED EPISODE 09 NOW.
I NEED EPISODE 09 NOW.