Genshiken 2 – Episode 8

This episode covers chapters 38 and 37 of manga. Yes, in that order. In the beginning Ogiue gets a letter telling her that she’s been accepted to the next Comi-Fes. She tells Ohno how uncomfortable she feels about making a book and selling it to everyone. Ohno courages her and the two end up cosplaying together. In the latter part of episode, Ohno is trying to recruit new members to Genshiken. Kuchiki tries to help, but ends up making things worse and they get zero new members.

In my opinion changing the order of these two chapters for the anime worked really well. They’re both more or less about cosplay, but chapter 38 is much more serious and it stood out better when it was before, not after, the more lighter chapter 37.

There wasn’t too many highlights in this episode, though. Since everything went almost completely like in the manga, there’s nothing new in particular, except for Sasahara’s nosebleed. I was really hoping they would focus on Kuchiki more to make him the star of this episode. Good episode, but I’ve liked previous ones better.

I, Otaku – vol. 1

When I picked up I, Otaku, I was very sceptical. After browsing through the book a little, I thought the characters didn’t look like otakus at all, but I decided to give it a chance and bought the book. I’m glad I did.

I, Otaku offers a different view at the otaku culture. Whereas in Genshiken all the otakus, except for Kousaka, are sort of geeky and introverted characters, the otakus in this manga are less geeky and more outgoing. The main character, Sota, is a “closet otaku” who doesn’t want admit that he’s an otaku. When his girlfriends learns that he’s an otaku, he’s no longer so ashamed to show his true nature to people around him so that’s it with the “closet otaku”-theme.

Also, I, Otaku is not a guidebook to the otaku culture like Genshiken. When I first picked up Genshiken, I knew next to nothing about otaku culture and reading Genshiken probably made me realize I’m an otaku too. I’ve learned almost everything I know about otaku culture by reading Genshiken. However, I, Otaku probably doesn’t open to readers who don’t know what otakus are. In think this manga is trying to make it look so that all the otaku are crazy fanboys who spend all their time on money on anime, figures, plastic models and such. In my opinion, otaku and fanboy aren’t the same, though the line between them is very, very thin.

But for readers who know what otakus are or are otakus themselves, will sure find I, Otaku, an aggravated and sarcastic portrayal of your avarage anime fanboys, an amusing read. Definitely a manga recommended to every fanboy and otaku out there!

Dragonaut – Episode 8 (spoilers)

After escaping from the Lindworm unit, Jin is planning to return to the Earth, find some small village and live peacefully with Toa and Gio. However, Toa sees a dream where she’s reminded of her mission, whatever that is, and turns herself in to ISDA.

Enter Emozuki! Kazuki has come to the Moon in order to take Gio back and have his revenge on Jin. He offers to give Toa back to Jin, if he’s is willing to let him take Gio back. Ofcourse, in case Jin can’t have both Toa and Gio, he’d rather have Toa.

Widow, Kazuki’s dragon, sneaks in the ISDA headquarter and escapes with Toa. Toa and Jin are reunited once again, but she isn’t willing to return to Jin. Prepare for a shocking revelation: Toa was the dragon who destroyed the shuttle and killed Jin’s family!

For some reason, it suddenly feels like I’m watching Inuyasha, though I haven’t ever watched it to begin with. Toa’s character is getting really annoying and wishy-washy. At times she wishes to be with Jin, then she thinks it through and decides it would be better not to involve him any further, but then gives in to her feelings and wants to be with Jin above anything else. The cycle goes on and on and on…

I hope they would break the cycle before it gets any worse and come up with a real plot, not just pointless shilly-shally that won’t lead anywhere. There’s nothing worse than repetitive plots with a couple of plot twists that are used endless over and over again. If this goes on, even fanservice won’t save this show. Hadn’t Willow been around, this episode would’ve been completely worthless.

Genshiken 2 – Episode 7

In this episode, Madarame, Tanaka and Kugayama graduate. Since this episode practically marks the end of Genshiken – Part 1, I had really high expectations. Gladly, they were all fulfilled! The scene from Kujibiki Unbalance was really nostalgic and definitely the highlight of this episode. It takes you back to the beginning of the very first episode of Genshiken that began with an obscure scene from KujiUn. Also having the ED from the first season of Genshiken played as the ED of this episode, gave the ending a nostalgic touch. Some of the flashbacks felt a little pointless to me, though, but I didn’t mind.

Altogether, it was another great episode. It’ll be interesting to see what direction the anime will take next. The latter volumes of manga focus intensely on the relationship between Sasahara and Ogiue. There’s been hints of something like that all over in the anime and now we’re hopefully getting to see it happen in the anime as well. I’ve always liked the latter volumes the best, so I’m really excited to see how things will turn out in the anime.

Though to be honest, I still haven’t read the last volume. What’s taking so long Del Rey?

And I have to give Sasahara credit for his brilliant line in the preview: “Just like fujoshi try to pair everything up, I guess we males just moe towards everything”. To desribe that genious line with one word: truth.

Dragonaut – Episode 7

When I heard this episode would be a swimsuit episode, I was expecting some filler-ish episode filled with fanservice. Well, there was fanservice but not as much as I was expecting. Machina in her bikini was a sight to behold. Too bad Garnet didn’t join them.

So, Jin, Toa and Gio are visiting a hot spring near to the shop where Toa was hiding. Of course the Lindworm unit finds out where they are and attacks. Their fierce fighting makes the floor collapse and they fall down to the sewerage below.

Jin and the little girl with twintails are separated from everyone else. A series of flashbacks reveals some details from her past. Her name is Sieglinde Baumgard and she’s a child genius. Judging with her name and blonde hair, she’s probably foreigner which makes her kinda plain character because foreign child geniuses are kinda common. Luckily, the flashback where she is riding on her dog and sleeping with him, made her look totally moe to me. Good job!

Once they get outta the sewerage, Jin and co. escape. Meanwhile on the Earth, Kazuki meets a woman who promises to help him get his revenge. She turns out to be a dragon and now they’re heading to the Moon.

Although I didn’t quite get as much fanservice as I was looking for, this was rather good episode. The fighting scenes are still pretty solid, which is good. The plot isn’t still very special, interesting enough to keep me watching but nothing awesomely special. Since they’ve scheduled 25 episodes, they’ve still got plenty of time to make it turn into something unique. I try to keep hoping for the best, but I’m rather pessimistic person and it’s Gonzo after all.

Hope for the best, expect the worst. That’s all there is to it.

Genshiken 2 – Episode 6 (spoilers)

This is the episode about Ogiue going to ComiFes under disguise. It was pretty much like the one seen in the manga, except the scene where Ogiue eavesdrops the guys of Genshiken was expanded. At first they’re talking about common otaku stuff, but then they start discussing Ogiue and what kinda character she is. They imagine what she would be like if she was a character in a dating game. The way they compare her to a character from TokiMemo was kinda amusing since it’s actually the only dating game I’ve ever played. I don’t remember that character though. Anyways, when it seems like Sasahara noticed Ogiue, she decides to make her leave, but ends up bumbing into Ohno. As the result, all the doujinshis in her bag end up scattered on the floor. Ogiue gets really embarrased, because she swore everyone she wouldn’t be coming to ComiFes, and decides to run for it.

Yabusaki made another appearance in this episode. Since I’ve read the manga, I know what her role will be. But for someone not familiar with the manga, the scene where she stalks Ogiue will probably leave the watcher rather clueless. Then again, how else could these Yabusaki parts be handled? If they explained her connection to Ogiue this early, some of the latter events would be spoiled right away. So, everyone who feels like they’re missing something, don’t worry, you’re not supposed to know this stuff yet.

Altogether I’m very happy with this episode. They were successful with adapting the original story and writing some new content. The extended scene was really interesting and humorous. I hope they can come up with new material as good as this in the future as well.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Episode 6

Moralia and AEU are having a joint exercise to provoke Celestial Beign to take action against them. Details of Setsuna’s past are revealed, as he is fighting face to face against a man from his youth, Ali Al Sarshes.

In a way, lots of things are happening in every episode, but there is actually very little action. Ofcourse I wasn’t expecting to see another anime overflowing with action and GAR like Gurren Lagann, but political scheming and such just isn’t my thing. I’ll keep watching this anime for some more, but if it goes on like this, I won’t force myself to watch it anymore.

I usually don’t go crazy about any voice actors, but Kenji Fujiwara has wonderfully manly voice! I was glad to find that Ali Al Sarshes, the character he’s voicing in Gundam 00, is worthy of his brilliant voice.

Dragonaut – Episode 6

The Lindworm unit is send to the Moon to capture Toa. Because Kazuki has lost the control of his dragon, Gio, he must stay behind. His anger towards Jin is building up and ready to explode.

Meanwhile at the Moon, Jin and Gio are looking for Toa, but it seems to be she’d rather not be found. She doesn’t want to involve Jin any further but realizes she can’t deny her feelings anymore and decides to seek Jin out.

When Toa and Jin are about to be reunited, Lindworm unit attacks them. While Gio is fighting Howling Star, Toa and Jin try to flee together, but Machina and Amadeus separate them. Machina asks Toa why earth-born dragons were born and Toa answers that it’s destined to be so.

Jin is held captive by Lindworm unti and about to be taken to the authorities. Akira, who offered to do the job, releases Jin and lets him to go to Toa. Now Jin and Toa can finally be reunited with no distruptions.

Decent episode, I guess. Last one had more fanservice, but this one had some good fighting scenes. When Gio summoned his sword, he did that cliched pose where you point your sword at the camera, making it look really big. I don’t know the origin of pose, but I’ve seen it dozens of time before. Guess that can be considered a homege or something like that.

The way Jin and Toa were shouting each other’s names when they were reunited was kinda cheesy. No, make that totally cheesy.

My last source of complain would be the transformation scenes. I find it really bothersome to watch the same sequence over and over again. Well, at least it’s pretty short, but I’d still rather not see it once more. It’s been used only twice thus far, but that’s more than enough for me.

The next episode is going to be some beach episode, so prepare for fanservice!

Genshiken 2 – Episode 5 (spoilers)

In short, this episode is totally gay. However, it’s still one of the most amazing episodes in Genshiken. While Sasahara is helping Madarame fill his work application, Ogiue walks in after hearing some misunderstandable dialogue and sees Sasahara pulling Madarame’s tie. Because she is a fujoshi, she instantly comes to the conclusion, that there must be something fishy about Sasahara and Madarame’s close friendship. She lets all of her yaoi fantasies loose and imagines some disturbing scenarios. Her fantasies get crazier and crazier and soon all the members of Genshiken are involved in a complicated homosexual relationship. The scenes that represent Ogiue’s fantasies get more disturbing, as the episode goes on, to the point where it gets rather graphic. To save the episode from being all gay, we see a scene of Ogiue bathing and a shot of naked Ohno.

I love the way they made Ogiue’s fantasies the main part of this episode. In the manga, her fantasies were limited to only one panel, but in the anime there are plenty of scenes about them. I’ve never watched or read yaoi/shounen-ai, but I could still understood some of the parodies. I really love this episode! So what if this episode was gay, it’s been a while I’ve seen something this hilarious. And Kuchii’s “Nyoro~n” was totally great! I love the way references to modern otaku culture are integrated into Genshiken anime.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Episode 5

In the fifth episode, we learn a little of one of the Gundam Meisters, Allelujah Haptism. Sergei Smirnov and Soma Peris of Human Reform League are testing their new mobile suit. For some reason being too close to each other, Soma and Allelujah undergo strange change of behaviour. The alternative personality within Allelujah is awakened and Soma goes berserk causing one of the gravity blocks to disconncect. With hundreds of innocent civilians in danger, will Allelujah just leave them be or ignore the orders given to him and save them?

Well, this episode wasn’t all the special. Sure, we learned something about Allelujah, Soma and Saji and Louise, but the plot itself barely advanced at all. Guess it can’t be helped since Gundam 00 is scheduled to be 25 episodes long and the second season has already been confirmed.