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ファイト／ステイナイト 
*sigh* Why do I always get into crappy situation like the one I'm in now? FYI, I'm typing this from my office now because I can't get into my apartment. I foolishly forgot to bring my key with me when I left the place this morning. I know I should call Locksmith but it's late at night and I don't feel like waiting outside until the guy comes and they usually don't tell you when they'll come. Oh well, at least I still have an internet connection here or else, it'd be mind numbing waiting until morning. Anyway, moving on to the actual series, unfortunately this episode sees the rating goes down a little bit. I wonder if this is because the episode feels a bit repetitive? As usual, Eri and Ogurin don't get too much screentime either. Eri did provide some advice for Ruka in this episode and is it just me or did everyone else also get the impression that Eri knows the truth about Ruka? And although she said otherwise, I still think that Eri doesn't actually cope with loneliness all that well. If this is true, then expect to see a change in her mood starting from next week.
This is one of my favorite HOLiC stories because it's a straight up horror stories that the series often do a good job of. I can't help but being creep out everytime I see the figure that Watanuki see from outside the house. Although realistically, how many people would actually go in and investigate said figure in real life? I'd personally leave it alone. This is one thing that characters in horror stories like this one can't seem to grasp or understand. Instead of just staying away from it, they have the need to investigate it, which of course, leads them to experiencing the horror. Of course, if they didn't go in, then there wouldn't be a horror story in the first place. In a way, horror stories relies on its characters to investigate the very thing that terrorize them, in the process, they get terrorized even more. Anyway, to celebrate another creepy story, I decide to recycle the idea that I used in Episode 10 of xxxHOLiC. I basically told a horror story and asked others to do the same. You don't have to if you can't but it'd be good if you can because sharing horror stories is fun in that creepy kind of way.
I have a mix feeling about this final installment of Metal Gear Solid. On the one hand, I'm glad that I'll finally be able to play the latest and final chapter of the series. On the other hand, it's a bit sad to know that this will be the series' final swan song. I've been a big fan of the series ever since Playstation came out and the series have been one of the most entertaining games I've had the pleasure to play. Anyway, the official site for the game is now open with all sorts of movie from the latest press conference. The game is finally completed and is set to be released on June the 12th. The official trailer feels a tad cheesy (complete with a cheese-tastic "Evil is Powerful but Courage is SOLID" tagline) but I think that's Kojima's intended aim. The press conference also released several adverts featuring Snake and other characters promoting game-related merchandise such as a W62S Sony Ericsson phone, Regain drink, t-shirts by UNIQLO, and even an alarm watch. Note: if you're not interested to play the flash game on the website but still want to get the extra items (wallpapers, mp3s), there's someone who's played the flash game and posted the freebies that you get if you played it.
All MGS 4 website bonus content (all credit goes to MGS TUS board poster, Dema)
Once again, sorry for the crappy screencap quality but this is the best I can do at the moment. Anyway, it looks like the decision for Night to be more robotic in this adaptation is not really the actor's choice. When Night turns his head left and right in a robotic manner at the start of this episode, I realized that this is a direction from either the script or the director. This is rather unfortunate because the interesting thing about the manga was that Night actually looks similar to human just like those Replicants in Blade Runner or those Cylons in Battlestar Galactica. In this adaptation, however, Night acts more like an old-style robot, complete with creaking noise when he turns his head around. It's not surprising that Riiko feels uncomfortable around him because no matter how human his outside appearance, he still has some robot-like elements, just like those creepy Terminators.
I'm always amused with this particular part of the series no matter how many times I've read/seen it. I just think it's very dramatic and a bit harlequin-romance-esque. Especially with Yuuki saying "Together, let us commit the most unforgivable act". The first time I read it I though they were going to have sex but much to my disappointment, it's just more blood sucking. On a hindsight, this could just be an allegory that the author used to represent sex without the magazine censoring every single bits of the story. After all, the basic idea of the scene in question is that of a pre-marital girl willingly giving herself to a guy. Interestingly enough, for some reason vampires are often seen as sexual deviants, possibly because the act of sucking someone else's neck was considered taboo back then and still is for some people. What's amusing is how this element of taboo actually sexualizes the concept of vampirism more than it scares people away.
I think part of the problem that this series had before is because the writers try to stretch one volume of the manga for one episode. Vampire Knight writers realized that this is impossible and does a good job of mixing up a few chapters but that's not the case with this series. Thankfully the writers start to realize that this is not the way to go and starting from this episode, they combine 2 chapters to make one episode. I also realized now that the majority of Special A's stories are more like a straight-up romance between Kei and Hikari than a comedy involving the rest of the Special A members. I know I've said this before but it needs to be repeated because I think the side characters like Tadashi, Akira, Ryuu, and the twins are a lot more interesting to see. I don't like Yahiro though, I think he's as annoying as Kei so watching this episode is similar to seeing two annoying people at once. It doesn't help that I think the animation is not as good as last week's episode.
Although Death the Kid can be pretty stupid, Miyano Mamoru does a good job of voicing him. In a way, Kid reminds me a bit of Tamaki because the voice that Miyano employs for this particular character is pretty similar to the voice that he used for Tamaki. Death the Kid is not the only thing that is funny about this episode. The pairing of Black Star and Soul as partner is a pretty amusing concept as well. In fact, the whole Soul/Black Star vs. Death the Kid turns out to be very funny, making this the funniest episode thus far. It makes me wonder if I actually prefer this kind of comedic-based episode than the endless fight ones. Oh well, let's see what happen next week since that should be the one where the group goes on a mission again. But between this and last week's episode, I definitely enjoyed this one a lot more.
Air Date: October 2008
As everyone probably already know, there'd be a continuation to Nodame Cantabile anime coming up this October on Fuji TV's Noitamina block. Ttitled「のだめカンタービレ 巴里編」(Nodame Cantabile Paris Hen), the series will hopefully be similar to the drama version in that, it doesn't go beyond the manga storyline since the last time I checked, the manga is not completed yet. I am actually a bit apprehensive about this since it seems like the producers just want to capitalize on the series even though the series is nowhere in completion yet. Moreover, they ended the first season in such a rush that they just showed parts of the stories as static stills that shares space with the ending credit.
At any rate, sequels seem to be popular in the anime industries these days, which understandable since the fans (including myself) lapped it up but at the same time, it does make one wonders about originality. At times like this, I'm glad that Honey and Clover manga is finished. This means there's nothing that greedy producers can do to milk its popularity apart from doing various drama adaptations. Speaking of which, I'm still waiting for the US adaptation of Honey and Clover drama. Just kidding, Japan. Don't even think about it. I think three live-action adaptations are more than enough. Anyway, there are other sequels that we'll see this year or next year, click after the cut for some preview.
Update: included better images.
The solution to the problem that Lelouch faced on last week's episode turns out to be a lot more interesting than what I had anticipated. It still surprises me to see Rolo helping Lelouch willingly like this. It looks like Lelouch's pep talk has really got into him because his turnover from enemy to ally is very quick. I do wonder about the rest of Lelouch's alliance though. Because at the end of the day, he's still a Britannian. What would happen if the rest of Black Knights find out about this? Sure, several members like Karen has accepted it so far but would others be happy as well if they know that their leader is actually a Britannian? And then there are 'uneasy' alliance that he's made with unwilling parties like Villetta or willing but possibly have other motives like Li and the Chinese Federation. Most importantly, there is C.C. IIRC, so far we still have no idea what she demands from Lelouch in exchange of giving him geass. What if at the end of the series, her request ends up being in conflict with Lelouch's interest? Will Lelouch honor her request or betray it?
I just found out from the official website that there's some kind of cell-phone based, short drama spin-off series called "Eri, My Love". The series will be distributed every week and the story will show Eri's private life, which is not shown much in Last Friends. That sounds interesting and a good thing for Mizukawa Asami since her character hasn't exactly been getting much of a focus here. But I feel like I'm missing out on the story even though the website claims otherwise. I hope we'll get to see it as well someday. On a happier note, DramaWiki points out that this episode actually got a 19.9 rating, a 4.0 jump from its usual 15.9 rating. This puts it on the same level as a normal Nodame Cantabile episode. I hope that this increase is not just a one-off incident though atlhough I admit that I didn't expect this drama to end up being this popular even though it features at least 3 principal casts from Nodame Cantabile. But the writing has been quite good and the characters' motivation are easy to understand/sympathize even if you can't put yourself in their position.
