Enter the Imouto

キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━！！！

Miya is a miracle of the universe

<what title says>

Genetical engineering and teen drama

So. Shun raised a death flag around the size of Jerusalem. What else?

I love the distressed Saki. "Should I leave Maria for Mamoru's sake? But no, that won't work... Am I right to date Maria? Isn't it just following my genotype's stress relief algorithms? But what about my Shun? What is Satoru doing? Why don't we all just become a happy fivesome? But wouldn't this be just giving in to our genotype? [...]", and so on, and so on.

I love the setting too. Heck, can't you smell all the angst?

And I love all the sexual tension. Unlike some normal book, the sexual tension here is... creative. Ha. I said already about Saki's thoughts, but... even leaving this aside, it's really fucking fun to watch the sexual tension with gay couples as a base for it.

Let's see what will happen from now on... probably we won't see much next episode, but that's ok. The pacing's just like that.

That being said, besides the ED and the amazing OST, this adaptation is still shit. Not as shit as before, but... sigh. Also, the VA for Satoru's rebound is terribad.

Side notes: chapter 386

Hamster is the best girl.

Leaving this aside, Ruka is surely annoying. She decides on something, and stays true to it... which is okay, but she just jumped on the decision that she loves Hayate, and proceeded to screw up everything from there on for the sake of that idiot. Well. Can't blame her too much, she is just lacking in the intelligence department, as observed... and Hata is probably just using her to get Hayate to realize his own feelings. As with Hinagiku, kind of. Hinagiku had main role in getting Hayate to admit to himself that he loved A-tan. And Hinagiku got one of the worst rejections possible, after which she kind of got sidelined, not as a main love interest. That's why she hasn't annoyed me to hell in the last 200 chapters. Ruka will probably be used in a similar way, then thrown like a dirty rag to the side too (yeah, getting a major secondary role, and all, but still only secondary). Considering the anime adaptations by Manglobe, and the themes that Hata is putting in the last hundred chapters or so, it will probably be how Hayate reaches the conclusion that he wants to pay his debt to Milady back himself, and how he realizes that even without the debt, there is no way he could leave her. Which I imagine will make himself an even better/more enjoyable character, and I will be fuck-yeah-ing for hours after I read the relevant chapters, but... for now... Ruka is annoying.

Eh. That was just a side note to the story, as long as Hamster's there, and Nagi continues to grow up as a human, nobody cares about stuff like Ruka.

P.S. I am still at 40/78 of the JC Staff adaptation... I wonder if I will ever finish it...
P.P.S. Aika is the only character I do not trust, so... ch386 ends in a cliffhanger for me. Fuck. I am actually worried what will happen...

Ideas behind MaoYuu (part 0.9)

Really, I can't even begin to count all the ideas that the author of MaoYuu incorporated inside. It already has most of the "fuck yeah" moments in human history in its story... Ha, it even has the Russia winter wars in the making. Besides this? The technological progress behind the Age of Discovery and, later on, the Industrial revolution, the printing press, the first universities, bringing new crops from the overseas territories, the potato that saved Europe, Protestant/Anglican churches, a flavour of communism, large quantities of medieval economics theory, and so much more... Oh well, I caught up with the manga, time to lament a little how bad the anime will be... for no other reason but to lower my impossibly high expectations. Ah, and omake:

Fried Chicken and Rice Balls

So. When is the last time you saw such a line, which was not emphasized to oblivion how caring, loving, erotic it is? Completely normal acts, the meaning of which gets exaggerated by the stiff japanese society... Hell, I myself am so touchy-feely, that if Yuuta's behaviour this ... second half of an episode counted as "confession of true love", I would be a proud follower of Key-kun. Not that I am not, but... even I cannot love dozens of girls. So yeah. While I was watching this scene, my thoughts were along the lines of "now I will be laughing really much if people start using this as an example that Yuuta likes her"... and, several seconds later, the realization hit me.
The director is by no way trying to imply with this scene that Yuuta loves her. Care, yeah, romantic feelings, heck no.
...no less expected from Ishihara. That's one of the guys who got me into anime in the first place.

But that's not all. Noooo, Ishihara is far from all that matters here.
See, this season brought us Shin Sekai Yori. If nothing else, SSY anime emphasizes the importance of good directing and good money saving techniques in the animation. Because, let's be honest: SSY the anime sucks monkey balls. And even this mishmash of an adaptation does not manage to hide the pearl that is the original novel. The converse is also true: even good directing and amasing animation cannot straight out the lackluster source, as seen in Hyouka for example.
And, now for the best case scenario: even Ishihara and KyoAni with a huge budget cannot overshadow the original novel.
This is romance done right. Now, this is not the only method to do romance right, and we are still in the early stages of them falling for each other; but for 8 episodes in, it isn't bad at all. Considering that we'll get probably some more timeskips, and the very last episode will show them getting together, for example after the school festival, I think the pacing's a-ok. Leaving this issue aside, let me elaborate a little, trying to topologically sort the mess of a tree that constitutes my thoughts at the moment.
So, the general guidelines that almost any fictional work fails:
1) The characters must be characters by themselves too; we do not need somebody defined by his significant-other-to-be. Nor do we need plot devices, or machines that shout VICTORIKAAAAA KUJOOOOOOOOO at each other, which shouting for some reason being taken as an ultimate sign of love. I think there is no doubt Yuuta fulfills this condition; even though he is the PoV, he strikes as a reasonable guy, somebody you would drink a beer with and have a laugh about youthful indiscretions. Which, y'know, is enough; if you feel a character as a human indeed, the character is well written. And what about Rikka? Yes, on the surface she seems like a one-trick bunny. But, deep down it seems, no, if we accept Yuuta's words, it is certain that she puts her little head to good use, and that she is more than just the outer shell.
2) The characters must be equals. Must feel each other on an equal standing. That's why I have been arguing against Haqua for so many years already... she felt inferior to the genius Keima; but, well, with the endgame of the Goddesses arc I think she finally mustered some confidence --which is good. As for Yuuta and Rikka... no, Yuuta may think what Rikka does is embarrassing as hell, and he may take care of her, but he certainly does not feel superior to her. If you ask him, you may get "But of course I am better than her", but he wouldn't really feel that way. Rikka, on the other hand, has plenty self-confidence. Seems like that entire act of hers is based on her self-confidence. And confidence in her father, but that's the same thing nowadays.
3) We generally don't need too much drama. Yeah, it worked beautifully in ef. But the setting there was such; actually... the best pair was indeed the one with least normal setting: Renji and Chihiro. That was beautiful. But that's not the only way to be beautiful. That normal, common relationship between Yuuta and Rikka, watching it develop normally, not being forced by drama on every corner... it's good too. I like it.

Now, humanity loves the number three, and, as we are optimizing and linearizing the tree only locally at a time, that's all you get as guidelines. What am I going to use them as a proof of?
These characteristics of this series... they all come directly from the source. They are further developed by the adaptation, but they, as key themes in the anime, you can feel how they are the underground... I mean, underbook ley lines in the intersection of which the animation was built on. Hooray, I have not even read the book, yet here am I, claiming it's worth spending time on it.
But... when was the last time we saw a well-made adaptation of a well-written book? The first example that comes to my head... is Haruhi. Certainly Haruhi, if we limit ourselves to KyoAni's production. Sweet. For first time in years, I am not lamenting the fact that KyoAni's doing everything else but working on my second season! Now, you'll excuse me, I have to drink to that.

We all need a full-lesbianism S2

The central theme in Symphogeah is how one of the heroines wants to fuck the main character, but she, as a MC, is always busy with boring stuff like saving the world.

And I probably don't even need yuri googles.

Putting this aside; the first time I watched Symphogear I marathoned it on the large TV, and the experience was simply beautiful.

Then, thinking back to what mishmash I just finished, I wondered if I am not just overexalted, and the adrenaline rush is affecting my judgement. But... continually in this last half an year, no matter when did I decide to watch a segment of it again, no matter what I felt at that moment, I still thought it great.

Something is wrong with me, eh?

Screw that, the very act of giving a chance to Symphogeah means something is probably wrong with you, so I am just going to enjoy the heck of Volume 3... one more time for tonight.

In Anticipation

Imagine this animated

then weep

as it will never be animated with the glory it deserves

MaoYuu, volume one, reread n+1