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ファイト／ステイナイト 
November 8, 2006 | 
12 Comments
I had difficulty finding internet connection while at the beach so in the end I didn't post anything. Anyway, the trip was good but while I was there, I realise that I spend too much time blogging so I intend on cutting back a little bit. Unfortunately that means I will stop blogging some series episode by episode. I'm thinking that I will take out 2 or 3 shows out of my current schedule and put them on a 'weekly impression' entry. At the moment I'm thinking of putting Pumpkin Scissors and this series on that kind of entry mostly because I don't really enjoy these series as a whole. There are bits of each series that I like such as the characters in Pumpkin Scissors and the story in Welcome to NHK! but it's not enough to motivate me to follow them episode per episode basis. I'm sorry about this. I know it's very slack of me to do this but I also want to do other things in life and it's been hard to do so lately because there are so many good series this season.
September 23, 2006 | 10 Comments
I can't believe that it took me one and a half day just to complete this post. Everytime I tried to finish it off, there's always something to distract me. Anyway, this seems to be a good halfway point for the story. I am surprised to see Satou actually achieving something here. I thought the entire galge production will come to a halt due to one thing or another. I'm glad that doesn't seem to be the case. Having said that, I think he suffers from a major setback in episode 10 since I highly doubt Misaki is really what Satou imagines her to be. This makes me wonder how Satou's progress would look like if it's represented in a chart. Will it actually look as if he's on a downward spiral with a little 'ups' in between, or will it actually look like he's moving upwards with a few sharp 'downs' from time to time? In addition to this, who do you think should be with Satou? Misaki or Kashiwa? I personally think Satou is better off with Misaki.
September 12, 2006 | 17 Comments
At a time like this, I wonder how this adaptation would have been if the drawing is a lot better. The interesting storylines in these episodes deserve a better design treatment than what they ended up getting. However, this show proves that a good storyline can sustain a mediocre character design while the reverse hardly ever works. It helps that all supporting characters in the series are fleshed out rather well, instead of existing simply to support Satou and his story. This also shows that although Satou thinks that he has a big problem in his life, nearly everyone in his vicinity also has his or her own problem to deal with. If I remember correctly, this is the part where the storyline in starts to show that Satou's and other character's problems are just a minor part of a larger problem in society.
September 4, 2006 | 7 Comments
This is not a bad episode although it's not as funny or raunchi as the manga's version. Instead, the anime writers decided to come up with their own original fanservice. On the positive side, this episode includes an insert song performed by Makino Yui, 「ダークサイドについてきて」- Dark side ni tsuite kite. Speaking of song, I'm starting to get used to the ending theme now although I admit that this is mostly because of that Hikikomori Monkey. That creature would have been a perfect merchandising item. I want one that can dance around and make silly poses. I think someone should come up with a Tamagotchi version of that creature. One where you can encourage it to go out of the house so it won't stay as a Hiki. It can then make silly poses when you forget to feed it or dance around when it is happy.
I am starting to feel the crunch now as my backlog grows longer and my real life gets busier. I think some backlog trimming needs to be done and I'm going to decide what series I won't cover anymore over the weekend. I'll most likely continue series that I'm up to date with and a few others which I will select over the next few days. Also, if you're looking for the next episode of Honey and Clover, I'll put up the screenshots as soon as I can get the raw. For some reasons, getting a raw for this week's episode is really hard. There is only one provider and the person's connection is unreliable. Anyway, enough talking about other series. This is actually a really good episode which places its focus on various reasons that turns people to withdraw from society. This is actually the point where I start to like the series because it stops making jokes about Satou's condition and starts addressing the issues that caused him to become a Hikikomori.
This is a nice, introspective look at all of the characters from the series. It's in this episode the writers reveal that Satou is not the only character with a problem. While his problem is quite serious, other people around him also have equally disturbing issues. I have to admit though that at times this series is a bit hard to follow mostly because of its animation style. While this episode is a mark improvement from last week, in general the anime doesn't look as good as its manga counterpart. The only thing that draws me back to this is the storyline. This episode is a good example of this. While it's been a slow process, it seems thing will change a little bit for Satou from here on. It also makes me wonder if you can call someone a Hikikomori when he/she actually interacted with at least 3 people on a regular basis?
The animation in this episode is unbelievably crappy. Everything from character design to proportions are inconsistent. They are not as bad as xxxHOLiC 14/15 but it's still bad nonetheless. Some of the drawings actually look really messed up that I actually wondered if it's intentonal. Either way, I hope this is just a one-off irregularity but since Gonzo produced this, I can't help but being worried about how the rest of the series will look now. Thankfully the story is good enough to sustain my attention throughout the episode. It's a shame that they changed the 'ultimate moe' drawing to something less scary in here. In the original manga, the drawing is quite repulsive to see and illustrate the ridiculousness some of those character archetypes featured in anime/manga/games.
This episode is hilarious. The part where Satou fails his first attempt at Eroge game was amusing. When I first saw it I thought "Oh, that's interesting, I didn't know there is a Casablanca ending in one of those games". But then I look closer at the screen and realised that in Casablanca, the two male characters don't grab each other's ass. In general, however, this episode has been toned down from the original manga. Misaki still calls Satou "Lolicon" when she catches him red handed about to photograph a bunch of high school girls. But the girls in the anime are not as young as the ones in the manga. It doesn't really matter in my opinion because when Satou looks at his own horrific reflection in the mirror, that scene perfectly captures the idea that Satou is at the lowest point of his life.
Sorry for the late review but I just come back from a trip to Nagoya and Nara. I'll try to post the detail on Kongetsu tomorrow. At the moment though, I'm just trying to keep up with the reviews because I know I'll just have more backlog if I don't do them. Anyway, I'm quite happy with the second episode. I realise that there have been concerns raised regarding the toned down content of the story. However, I don't think this is a problem because the story has never been about making Satou the sickest and most vile character in anime history. Admittedly, it does appear this way if you've only read the first few chapters of the story. Having said that, the main content of the story is an examination as to why Satou and other characters fail to connect with societies in general. How did they get to this point and what could have been done about it.
Opening Theme: Puzzle by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino (12.1MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
This is a slightly disappointing adaptation animation-wise. I think those who expects this to be similar to Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu will be especially disappointed. NHK ni Youkoso! definitely lacks the mass entertainment factor that Suzumiya Haruhi possesses. However, if you're into character development and an in-depth look into the problem of modern society, then this is a good series to watch. The opening theme, Puzzle, is actually quite pleasant to listen to. Unfortunately, the animation that goes with the music looks quite bad which is unusual for an opening scene.
