Author: SuperMario

A Place Further than the Universe – 07 [The Ship That Sees the Universe]

by SuperMario, posted in A Place Further than the Universe, Currently Watching:

“I boarded this ship to do catchy, witty, sensational reporting! I want to open the treasure chest of Antarctica that my mother wrote about with my own hands! Everyone, let’s go to Antarctica together!”

Although Universe is a show about the girls heading off to freaking Antarctica, the last couple episodes make it clear that this is more about the journey than the destination. At such, I don’t really mind the lack of “what will happen in Antarctica” plot thread, if anything beside being the place that “further than the universe”, the show need to tell us why it attracts people in the first place. Everyone has their own motivation to go to the South Pole, as we’ve already seen in the girls; and this episode again shines in how they bring the adults’ goals to the table. As a result, while this episode takes place in Australia, unlike Singapore last week we just have a little glimpse here and there about the place, given the central setting of this episode is the ship itself and the people who board on that ship. This expedition just barely makes it there: they lack the supply, the people, the funding. What keeps this ship staying afloat is the determination of the past members – broken people. The people who give up part of their lives, the people who have lost hair, have gotten divorce, have lost the jobs and might have nothing when they return, yet they’re here in pursuit for this trip.

The first half runs much lighter in tone as we see the girls snooping around spying, led by our formidable Yuzuki that lead to some hilarious situations (I love how Hinata couldn’t care less about all this, just look at her in the screenshot), and how Shirase just keeps getting worse doing her sensational report (she’s as stiff as the wood, man). In addition, at this point I enjoy the girls’ interactions greatly, all their stupid hijinks together have such natural chemistry (like how Mari and Hinata always in synch when it comes to prank, or just look at Shirase’s multiple expressions while she was holding a stuffed bear).

There’s a solid reason behind their spying though, up until this point the expedition has been received negatively by the media. They are lacking in everything, and even some of the crew doubt about their chance of accomplish anything. The more they investigate, the more they realize that it was Shirase’s mother determination that started it all and Gin and Kanae, and the group at large want to fulfill what she started but couldn’t finish. Universe makes us realize that sometimes, these ambitious quests come from a very personal dream. Shirase’s mother is the heart that keeps these people moving on, or to be more precise, keeps them from moving on, given parts of their soul remain in Antarctica forever. And if Shirase’s moving speech at the end is any indication, that spirits will continue to live on for generations.

2011 Anime Retrospective Summary – The Shortlist

by SuperMario, posted in 2011 Anime Retrospective

It’s me, Mario again, for an update of the 2010 Retro Summary. Like I mentioned last time, 27 shows were watched, eliminated/picked based on how much I like to follow them till the end.

SHOWS THAT WERE DECIDED BY THEIR PREMIERE EPISODE:

10 shows are eliminated, while 4 shows are picked during this period.

IS: Infinite Stratos: Easily the blandest debut for this 2011 retrospective, thank you IS (short for It’s Shit) for making my job of dropping shows fairly easily.  Right at the beginning we have a fight that we have absolutely no idea about, all the girls flash their moves and the main guy finishes it off. Then my little interest is drained when I learn the facts that 1) this mecha fight is supposed to be a sport game and 2) somehow our main IS the only male who can drive this thing, make him an automatic winner in girls’ eyes. I dropped out this one fast. OUT

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?: I find the whole premise dull rather than funny, and the show already features a girl naked in several occasions, which never is a good sign. A main guy is having a harem of eccentric and downright annoying girls, while himself doesn’t fare much better to stand out. OUT

Mayo Chiki: The fact that right after just one day since I watched this I have a hard time recalling the plot should tell you how much I care for this show. Let’s see, a guy who “by chance” sees a crossdressing girl in her underwear, grabs her boob and that said girl vows to kill him before comes to live with him. Nah, nah, NAH. Why do you have to rely on such cliché crap, anime medium? OUT

Kimi to Boku: This one is more “cute boys doing cute things” and I must admit I’m not within the target demography for this. There are some strong moments about friendship but I have a hard time caring for any of those guys, especially the male lead. The animation is especially lackluster. Dropped. OUT

Beezebub: One of two shows about the son of Great Evil messing up with simple daily life. It has some amusing laugh and that kid is a delight but is it good enough for me to burn through its 60 episodes? No, Also I find the humor a bit bland at times. OUT

Ben-To: Only anime can make a series out of such ridiculous premise: about a bunch of “professional hunters” who hunt… half price bento in a supermarket. And because it’s anime, characters are the types you’ve seen in other shows before, the action and the violence are over the top and ridiculous. I’m in a camp who buying a full price bento anyway so I guess I don’t see the appeal of this show. OUT

Phi Brain: This first episode plays out well the puzzle aspect of the show, otherwise it’s serviceable. If it was a current seasonal show I can continue to watch it, but for the purpose of this summary there are literally 30 plus other shows that worth watching more. I still don’t really like the main lead, who is your typical shounen protagonist that can easily leave his friend behind in the quest of becoming stronger. Another problem with this show is with the guy who already overpowered like this, it takes out all the suspension the puzzles might have had. OUT

SKET Dance: The last two shows are a good example of using a “false protagonist”, that is a main guy who becomes less relevant as the episode goes on. I found this SKET club rather charming with formulaic team members: a brain – a muscle – an info guy but the case in question in this episode leaves a lot to be desired. For once, I don’t buy the bullying aspect at all and that machine voice from the info guy gets on my nerve every time. Could be a decent watch but once again it just doesn’t stand out enough for me to spend time watching 77 episodes of it. OUT

Yuru Yuri: Like the title suggests it’s yuri banter all the way. I like some of its satire aspects, like the fact the main character is constantly ignored for her lack of presence. Or the yuri banter can get out of hand in a hilarious way. Still, there is no real plot and that is a huge issue since it sometimes feels it goes nowhere. Not cute enough for me to spend more time with, it seems. OUT Continue reading “2011 Anime Retrospective Summary – The Shortlist” →

2011 Anime Retrospective – The Introduction

by SuperMario, posted in 2011 Anime Retrospective

Hey folks, welcome to another one of my attempt to catch up with the old shows. First of all, my thanks to all of you readers who gave a kind support for the 2010 Summary. Truth be told I a bit hesitate to start it over again, given I fully aware of how massive and time consuming this project going to be. But damn, I guess I’ll try my hardest until real life commitment has an upper hand, right? I won’t rush anything this time, so it’ll end when it ends. Unlike last year where I wrote it in one supermassive black hole post, this time it’s my intention to semi-review shows every few weeks, so you guys can stay up to date to the progression of this summary. For future reference, you can look for this little project under the “2011 Anime Retrospective” tab.

To keep things short, here’s what I’m about to do:

  • MAIN LIST – These 26 shows are the ones that I will 100% follow in full (20 new shows and 6 sequels)

Winter:   Madoka – Wandering Son – Level E – Gosick – Supernatural the Animation – Kimi no Todoke 2 – Mitsumodoe 2

Spring:     Steins;Gate – AnoHana – Nichijou – Tiger & Bunny – Hanasaku Iroha – Hyouge Mono – Kaiji 2

Summer: Mawuru Penguindrum – Usagi Drop – The Idolmasters – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – No.6 – Natsume 3

Fall:    Hunter x Hunter – Chihayafuru – Fate/Zero – Mirai Nikki – Bakuman 2 – Working 2

 

  • QUALIFYING LIST – And below is the list of another 27 shows that I intend to give them some episodes-treatment before settling down for another 10 shows

Winter:   Fractacle – Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? – Beezebub – Yumekui Merry – IS: Infinite Stratos

Spring:    C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control – Ao no Exorcist – Deadman Wonderland – Shouwa Monogatari – Hen Zemi – Sekaiichi Hatsukoi – SKET Dance – Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko – Moshidora

Summer: Mayo Chiki – Yuru Yuri – Dantalian no Shaka – Kamisama no Memochou – Blood-C – Kamisama Dolls

Fall:    Guilty Crown – Haganai – Un-Go – Tamayura: Hitotose – Ben-To – Kimi to Boku – Phi Brain

 

  • MOVIES – I will watch 5 out of this list

A Letter to Momo – Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below – From Up On Poppy Hill – Hotarubi No Mori E – Tezuka’s Buddha – (The Princess and the Pilot) – (K-On  the Movie)

Next post, I will give some quick comments for shows from the Qualifying List based on their first few episodes and form the full watchlist for the 2011 Summary.

And it’d be more fun if you guys can jump in as well. For example, if you find any show that I’ve missed out, shoot up in the comment below, I can give it at least a check-up, because put it simply, I don’t want to miss a thing.

Bye for now, see you in a few days for the next post.

After the Rain – 05 [The Scent of Rain]

by SuperMario, posted in After the Rain, Currently Watching:

It’s a bit of a slow episode this week, with the appearance of the show best character (Tsubu!), Tachibana becomes a pepping Tom, Kondou’s unexpected popularity amongst his staff and Tachibana plays a motherly role to Kondou’s son. Well, I said “slow” in regard to the romantic development between our two leads compare to last few episodes, but the central romance still progresses gracefully. This episode splits into two parts, one we have Tachibana visits the manager’s house and the other one involving our cute little hamster. At first, Tachibana finds a chance to voluntarily take his son to his house, without any ulterior motive I’m sure. She even gets into the house while he was away, and comes hiding in the closet when he gets back home in the Blue Velvet fashion (“She wears blue velvet”). While in there, we see her fascination to know more about Koundou’s private place: the messy bed, the empty fridge, the bookshelf that has all the books about being a successful manager or “How to do an install trick” (great details here as you can see how Kondou thinks about his position within his choice of book), and the work room where there are papers lying around.

While hiding in the closet, Tachibana both overhears and overheats the conversation between him and Tachibana. It’s the time like this when his personality can be shown the clearest: he doesn’t have to pretend to please someone else, he doesn’t need to make any formal gesture, but the guy behaves earnestly, just like the way we see him in early episodes. Yuuto tries to get him into take care of a little hamster, on a ground that he can visit him more often. The manager reluctantly accepts it, and reveals that he loves reading books. I noticed in the closet where Tachibana was hiding, there’s a box that said “1990”, makes me wonder if they’re his manuscript from way back. I like the smart visual motifs when Ameagari cuts to the manager waving his hand in rejection, match-cut to Tachibana waving her hand out of the heat, to Yuuta waving his spoon while eating. I also like the way Ameagari underlines many Tachibana’s actions this week as sensual (like how the tea spilled over her shirt revealing her bra, or how she is physically blush when wearing her crush’s oversized shirt; and other of her activities with the father and son as part of a family (she was cooking for his son, they were walking together in the rain), both of these affect Kondou, obviously, further challenging him on what her role is gonna be in his life.

But both the lovebirds could never have guessed is how suddenly Kondou regains his popularity through the staffs’ mutual love for our little hamster. Tachibana is jealous with this newfound recognition where she finds it difficult to reach him anymore, and jealousy has never been this adorable. In fact, look more closely and you might realise that Tachibana is walking a thin line between showing her affection to the man she likes, and manipulating his life with her sheer determination. For now, I’d rather say she never cross the other line, but it’s a close call. She snaps the high-spirited mob to back to their work, while announces to the manager that she’s the first source regarding any hamster-related issue; an act of monopolize him I would figure. Ameagari almost reaches halfway point, but the execution to this sensitive romance drama still remains thoughtful, quiet and graceful as ever.

Violet Evergarden – 05 [You Write Letters That Brings People Together?]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Violet Evergarden

That’s more like it Violet Evergarden. With this episode I have the feeling the shows find its right footing. Violet Evergrden works best when it weaves the emotion of human relationship into its larger-than-life narrative. Everything feels grandeur and it’s the right kind of grandeur. Take this episode, we have the Princess and her Prince Charming, we have the marriage to bind the two nations together, we have the “love at first sight” story that could rival Romeo and Juliet, and we have the whole nation expecting their exchanged love letters because… eh… “The King’s Speech is for all to hear”, I suppose? It’s structured exactly like a fairytale love story if we ever have one. In all honesty a royal wedding is indeed a grand event so I enjoyed throughout how the two lovebirds eventually come together.

Narrative-wise, there are two improvements from this week’s episodes including 1) the necessary time-skip and 2) Violet Evergarden goes extra details to the settings, which is a welcome sign. The time-skip allows Violet to be a full-fledged doll who write beautiful and skilful love letters (Can you believe that? I still don’t) and I’ll be honest to say she’s better this way. Violet is plain as a character and she has a predictable and not-that-good character arc so the more she stays out of the show’s focus, the better. This episode uses her just about right. Always lurking in the background supporting the love nest, but at the same time gives some crucial actions that positively advance the plot AND underline how much she has matured. Secondly, while the war itself and the post-War life have been mentioned several times before, this is the first time we see other countries, along with their politics and their own cultures. This country Drossel (or to be more exact, the royal palace-part of it), for example, is glorious with flowers and rich backgrounds and the visual is certainly the best looking one so far. This is the direction I want to see more of.

The story of this week centres around princess Charlotte of Drossel, who apparently is arranged into marriage the Prince of Flugel, whom she met only once before. Violet is there to write love letters to sway the heart of the Prince. Plain and simple. The more these letters exchange, the more we see the story goes beyond that. I like the fact that it’s Charlotte who pushes forward on picking the suitor that she loved – the one who consoles her under the moon when she got all frustrated. She’s not the character who waited to be pick up by some random Prince, thank God for that. The letters at first are written beautifully and the reception seems favourable, but there’s a lack of sincere in the letters. It’s Violet’s job to write letters that bring the heart of the sender to the receiver, but sometimes too much big words, flashy writing that make one feel taken aback. Charlotte can’t tell if those feelings written in the letters are genuine anymore and the letters that Violet write aren’t really her letters anymore. Violet’s resolve – making the Prince and Princess write their own letters – really hit it home because how clumsy but honest those exchanges feel. It certainly is feel-good fairytale romance but when its heart is on the right place I don’t have much complaint.

I start to see the patterns from the show regarding developing the main girl-of-the-week. Usually there is a main arc, the one the girl is currently dealing with (this week it’s Charlotte’ relationship with the Prince) and there is a sub-character arc that shed some more light about her character. This subplot for this week is her bond with her maid Alberta, the one who raised her since she was born and her fear of moving into the new place, leave behind her previous life. While it has some merits, this plot thread still leaves a lot to be desired. But I have little else to grumble, except for a subplot which attempt to boost Violet’s personal journey about Gilbert’s brother who accuses Violet for being a killing machine, in which you already know how much I give a damn for. It has been a rather long way, but I can finally regard Violet Evergarden as a heavyweight title of this Winter season.

A Place Further than the Universe – 06 [Welcome to the Durian Show]

by SuperMario, posted in A Place Further than the Universe, Currently Watching:

Are you serious girls? Durian ice cream is damn delicious. Durian is THE KING of fruit. Not kidding!

Now that our girls are heading out of their nest, and literally in the middle of their journey, it’s obvious that Universe need to create some kind of conflicts for the girls. But I say this, Universe knows how to pull a compelling little drama, mostly because those dramas still focus on developing the core members. While I’m not too fond with the end result where everything reverses back to status quo, the way Universe explores the relationship between my girl Hinata and Shirase through their contrasted stubborn view is so well-developed. The tale of this week is one of the most common situation first-time travellers find themselves in – lose their passport or their money. Actually, the show is pretty spot on in detailing many pitfalls new travellers always make: making noise in the airplane, buying too much souvenir stuffs, eating overpriced foods, storming into tourist spots… I have travelled a fair bit myself and I have been in Singapore a few times so I’m happy to see that Singapore’s many famous attractions are accurately portrayed and all the details (like the flights, the hotel) are depicted exactly like in real life. And yes, durian is a big thing here in SEA countries. Don’t judge.

The conflict arises when Hinata can’t find her passport (in one of the show’s great quirk about Yuzuki can see through her friends whenever they’re lying or hiding something – must be because she’s an expert of acting), which might lead to the delays on their next flight to Freemantle, which in turn could result in them not be able to get on the ship on time. Although there’s no denying that it’s a forced plot just for the purpose of creating some conflicts, what grab me into this little drama is the two girls act the way I WOULD ACT if I fall into either one of their shoes. Shirase tends to freak out when her plan doesn’t go the way she wants, and going to Antarctica has been her top priority. Hinata understands that and she doesn’t want to bring her friends, or her pride, down because of her own mistakes. Even me in real life I have the same kind of mentality like Hinata, where I feel uncomfortable knowing the others being considerate of me instead of what they really want because I can’t tell what they think anymore. It’s like a veil of friendship’s obligation that cover the honesty and then things just become more complicated than it should be. Of course it isn’t that strong a reason enough for me to quit school (Hinata has balls), but I can get behind her decision not want to be a burden to her friends.

But being said that, I totally feel for Shirase’s side as well. Obviously, setting foot into Anartica is important, and they’re so close to achieve that dream, goddamnit; but it’s not the only important things for Shirase. Going there together with friends worth so much more and what is a more meaningful way to spend a million yen over a friend’s bad deed (and yes, Shirase’s argument has more weight because she has a big stack of cash and a big stack of cash does solve everything). For me, the show comes up with the best option for her to use what she had been saving up for years in an anti-climactic yet wholly satisfied fashion. So imagine my disappointment when the money eventually got back to Shirase in the end. Never mind, while this episode is clearly just a stepping stone for a big journey coming, I’m still happy with what we have here. Seeing Singapore in anime is a huge delight and Universe never forgets to throw our girls into some kind of trouble, because simply overcoming those troubles will make them more mature, and what doesn’t kill them will make them stronger.

After the Rain – 04 [Gentle Rain]

by SuperMario, posted in After the Rain, Currently Watching:

NO. I don’t like this third wheel development at all. Obviously, this romance is going to meet heaps of obstacles along the way, but it’s better not this. Suddenly, a side character having a creepy treatment, force the plot moving forward right before the two having a date together? One thing that upset me is how Ameagari makes it pretty clear about the conduct of this character Kase. He’s anything but nice. Plain and simple. He’s manipulated and dirty and annoying. No, Ameagari. You don’t brute-force the plot to squeeze out some drama like this, and you don’t make a guy evil so that we have to root for the main duo, ever. But for what it takes, Ameagari succeeds on making me worried for Tachibana and her forced date. Although received a clear signal from Tachibana, this dude keeps on pestering her to extend the date, including forcefully grabs her hand and later kisses her. Dirty little bastard! He even goes so far to say that the romance between her and Kondou will never work. And by his behaviour I’m sure that this creep will do his best to make his claim true, whatever it takes. I’ll be honest that I don’t like this Kase dude as a character and as a role in this story. Such a pity but I consider this as Ameagari’s first major misstep so far.

That date also serves as a parallel to Kondou and Tachibana’s date, as it happens in the goddamn same place, with the same sequences: horror zombie movie first (anyone noticed the same man in suit in front of their row?), then a sip of coffee and later a walk on a bridge. Such repetitiveness is meant to highlight the differences in Tachibara’s mood and the contrast between two dates. When she’s with Kondou, a “downfall of mankind” type of film suddenly becomes entrancing, coffee feels sweeter (well, literally) and the outside background is bathed with such pink and dreamy color palette. The time feels longer (like it’s stopped) and the linger for those moments feel much stronger. Kondou, on the other hand, thinks that the date would bore her so fast (wrong!) and there is a beautiful moment when he is again taken back to his youth self with his first black coffee experience before realizing that he was the only middle-aged man with a young girl in the shop. It sure is the taste of bittersweet youth. Last week, his excuses had always been about the reception of other people and Tachibana’s own well-being, but this time it’s all about his own feeling: that he would feel uneasy seeing her youthfulness because he can’t stand the fact that he isn’t young anymore. Pretty neat development here.

This episode is light on rain, but fear not since there are a whole leg fetishes going on here. Ameagari is excellent of underlining small body movements to convey the mood of the characters and in this episode, the focus on legs not only tell you the temporary state of mind a character is in, but also the distance (or lack thereof) between Tachibana and certain characters, signifies their intimacy. Ameagari still has its chops for sensitive visual storytelling, especially the sequence on the bridge takes my breath away for its beauty and moody atmosphere, but at the same time I consider this episode my least favorite episode so far, given that it opens to another conflict that I’m not fond of. Remember Ameagari, the drama works best when it comes from the struggles within the characters themselves, not from some outside creepy force that tries to blackmail AND then spill out their romance to everyone.

Violet Evergarden – 04 [You Won’t Be a Tool, but a Person Worthy of That Name]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Violet Evergarden

Slowly and gradually, Violet Evergarden keeps getting more powerful. This episode’s main success has to be the fact that it gives a proper emotional story to the characters around Violet. Iris takes the main stage this week with her first request, which “coincidently” comes from her hometown and our Violet joins in as a typer for this request. Violet is still annoying as hell but at least now she has a self-awareness of not be able to read the full context. It might not be the most subtle approach but at least now I feel like we aren’t following a robot talking and writing letter. I’m not 100% sure on this but based on the fact that Iris is an anime original character, there’s a high chance that this episode is third original anime material in a row, makes me wonder when and in what ways KyoAni approaches the light novels’ materials.

Not that I have any issue with this original-anime episode. Violet Evergarden the anime makes it quite clear that this is not necessary story about Violet but more of the stories about her clients that eventually develop our main robotic girl; and they will pretty much follow the same formula of the past 4 weeks. Meaning we still have to endure the amazement of the clients whenever Violet takes her gloves off (I am getting sick of it) or her Auto Memory Doll bow (which is breathtaking), but when the clients are much more well-grounded than this Doll, I’m happy to be on boat. Majority of us has been gushing about the show’s impressive visual and complaining about Violet’s Evergarden’s lackluster script, so I want to take this opportunity to address another strength of the show that not too many viewers noticed: the audio. I’m not the biggest fan of the score, but the sound mixing has been spectacular so far. Take Violet’s bowing for example, the sound of her moving steps, of her clothes blowing in the wind make her action feel grandiose. Or the sound of the typing last week makes up the right tone and atmosphere for this show.

While last week was an examination about the inability to communicate what they want to say from Luculia to her brother, this week it’s all about “lying”, as in people use excuse and reasons to conceal what they feel and think inside. Take Iris’s parents for example, using a pseudonym to lure Iris back for her birthday party, which is a disguise for choosing a future son-in-law. Or even Iris, who lies about being popular at her job and who gets real angry like a teen girl when her crush joins the party. It is because she had a feeling for him, then being rejected that she doesn’t want to meet the guy. Another contradiction that make human such a fragile and illogical feature. The letters written by Violet this week are a marked improvement from last week’s simple-but-to-the-point letter, and demonstrate that she has gained a better grasp of at least empathy with the feeling of her friend. And wouldn’t you know? Not only the share a history with “I love you” statement, their names also come from flowers’ name, which handily gives Violet another character development thread: finding out the true meaning of her name given by HER MAJOR, subtlety be damn.

A Place Further than the Universe – 05 [Dear my friend]

by SuperMario, posted in A Place Further than the Universe, Currently Watching:

When you embark on a new adventure, you leave behind all the things normally tie you down. It’s one of the central theme of Universe’s this week episode. Bravos to Universe who manages to scratch an itch that we don’t know we have. Not only Mari and her friends saying goodbye with their normal routines, they are breaking chains with all the established relationship at the same time. Not in a bad way since Mari was over-reliant to her friend Megumi up to that point. Honestly, I didn’t see the final confrontation between Mari and Megumi at all, but it was a welcome surprise. This conflict is emotionally charged and directly addresses many core themes of Universe. But before addressing that, I certainly relate all too well to Mari’s last scan through her room, then her house before going off to the new place. Granted it’s only three months in her case but the show nails that melancholic feeling. I moved not only interstates, but also overseas a number of times and every single time this was a moment that got to me personally: the feeling of saying goodbye to your “home”, and the knowledge that the next time you come back it won’t never be the same again. But I understand this is Universe’s main message: Breaking free and embrace new changes because when you’re out of your comfort zone, you’re forced to grow to adapt. And that’s is the joy in life, to experience life to the fullest.

Megumi and Mari’s friendship, I should note, had always been kind of unbalanced to begin with, way before we encounter them for the first time. Mari has always relied on her friend, and overtime Megumi just takes that for granted, feeling that she’s a big sis, although technically they are in the same age. So imagine how Megumi feel when that “little sis” won’t stay cute anymore and grows rapidly and begins to surpass her. I do have a feeling that final conflict comes a bit out of left field, but it’s because we don’t see that dark side much given we were entirely in Mari’s perspective. Megumi feels jealous with the sudden shifts of Mari, and wanted to make their life harder so that Mari would notice. All the hints are there (it did cross my mind last week how the hell her Mother/neighbor knew about this, so thumps-up to Universe for a proper foreshadowing), but the girls are too “moron” to even pick up the signal that Megumi was the one behind all that. Or it’s just like how my Hinata mentioned “Don’t fight mean with mean. Hold your head high”. That all those rumors are just so insignificant, that all Megumi’s effort isn’t even worth to unravel. Mari has apparently moved on so much.

But like our Mari, Universe is an optimistic show at heart. All these dark emotional outbursts are only a way to bring out the hopeful sentiments that the very act of admitting that one feels empty and worthless is a right step to change and improve oneself. It’s all about characters pushing others to be a better people. That’s why instead of resenting her friend for what she did, Mari embraces her with a powerful line “Breakup rejected”. This episode is another necessary step of their own journey, and I hope as the show goes further down under, it still remebers to develop our main girls. Shirase will have a chance to know more about her Mother, and from the worn-out shoes I hope there’s more in store for Hinata to develop, even Yuzuki I hope Universe gives more room for her character arc (I only know her through her wanted to be a normal girl and her wish to have friends – I need more). Next stop, Australia (or maybe Singapore? Why Singapore in the last credit?), bring it on and make life crazy, girls.

After the Rain – 03 [Raindrops]

by SuperMario, posted in After the Rain, Currently Watching:

Gosh, the romance tension sure escalated quickly, which for my money is for the better. This week we have Tachibana in both her lowest and highest (AKA entirely in her unstable mood), the 45-year-old clueless victim who tries his best to brake the relationship from going too far, and a coming date of the two at the end. The last part stands to me as the only sour (last) note to this extraordinary episode. You see, that “date” is obviously a plot device so that the two of them can spend more time together, and it breaks the established mood although by that point I was already invested in the two of them and their romance to let it pass. The factor that I appreciate the most out of this episode is of course, Kondou’s reactions to Tachibana’s confessions. Ameagari skates the thin ice in this sensitive issue but the show manages to pull it off with even more sensitive approach. The guy not only act like a normal 45-year-old guy would do, but he convinces her with many sounding, sensible reasons and appropriate actions. Responding straight to Tachibana about her confession, for one thing. Giving her two main reasons to reconsider her options, one of them because of the huge age-gap (which she couldn’t care less), and the other because of his own empty self (an empty middle-aged boy with no dream or hope – so much honesty here). The second reason is important here, he feels himself unfit for someone like Tachibana, whose life is just at the beginning of her stage, and she’s attractive on top of that.

But it’s the emptiness that seemingly bring the two together. That brings me back to the first half of this episode, Tachibana meeting the track club members. After seeing them enjoy running and making progress, she’s deeply frustrated and left. A brief montage of the events led to her injury further demonstrate the fact that 1) now that her track career is gone, Tachibana feels empty, thinking that she has hit the thick wall ahead. And 2) she meets Kondou in the exact time when she was at her lowest point, the moment really gets into her that she finds the spark in the man. Many could say that it’s unrealistic, but I totally believe that’s how young people fall in love, especially the love at first sight. That frustration from seeing her being left behind by the wheel of present and the track field which once made her special lead her to pursuits the love to Kondou AGAIN, in the rain (it sure rains like hell in Ameagari). And when the message is out there’s no holding back there, for both of them.

This third episode makes it the first time we entirely see the events play out from Kondou’s point of view. After he tries his best to avoid the love message from Tachinaba in every possible way he can think of: first seeing it as a formal compliment from the girl, then taking it as a dream, then as a prank (there are nice little sequences play out in his head there); he deals with her the best way anyone could. What really sells me is the way Ameagari displays his perspective in an insightful and subtle manner: we could see his nervousness through his drinking the can that had cigarette ash in (he experiences the true bitterness of that love, as some might say), or through him searching for cigarettes but couldn’t find it. His thoughts as well, are so personal but well-placed and honest. Despite all the “you should reconsider this” stuffs, I can see how her confessions affect him in a good way. He feels flattered by the thought of someone attracted to him, he feels young again (with the smart visual of him in his teen self), he feels love and being loved again. And honestly, what is wrong with two people falling in love?

My bottom line: this is the best episode not only for Ameagari, but I consider it the best of episode I’ve seen so far this Winter season. I’ve heard someone compare this to Wong Kar Wai’s romance films. While at first I thought this’s too early a game to make any concrete statement, with this episode I do feel a resemblance here, especially the way they develop well-grounded characters we care for and their mature love relationship.