Eureka Seven AO - Episode 7

Generation Bleu's headquarters are under attack by the shape-shifting being known as Truth - even though he sounds like a reject from Fullmetal Alchemist, this is no time to worry about such things...

As Truth continues to wreak havoc throughout headquarters, the powers that be have a number of concerns - not just for the IFOs and their pilots, but also for something hidden away within the depths of building... just when will organisations stop hiding their darkest secrets in the basement?  As Truth does the rounds searching for, well, the truth, it seems that the depths of Generation Bleu isn't his goal at all - indeed, he's looking for someone rather than something, and he seems to find it when he comes across Ao about to escape in his IFO.  Despite being shaken by Truth's knowledge of Ao's mother, he still tries to make good his escape in Nirvash, only for Truth to follow before showing what might just be his shocking true form.

Things take rather a strange leap from here, as we return to Okinawa and find many of the usual suspects there - with the island becoming a profitable haven on account of its Scub Coral, most ideas of resistance have vanished, and Naru is up to her usual tricks of sneaking around despite her illness.  Even Ao is present on the island, taking Naru to see the Scub Coral... but is that really Ao?  Of course not, as the "real" Ao appears and gives chase - this all seems to be in vein however, as Truth showing himself in his terrifying other form gives Naru the information she needs to decide to follow him, no matter what Ao tries to do.  All of this seems like nothing but a nightmare as Ao comes around in a Generation Bleu hospital room, but unfortunately for him truth is equivalent to his dreaming fiction in this instance.

Although Truth's place within Eureka Seven AO still feels a little "off" within the show's world as a whole, he's certainly put to good use here in terms of shifting the focus of the series substantially - his place in the first half of this episode makes for some good explosions if nothing else, while the second half is disjointed and a little confusing initially before everything wraps around the shell of the story nicely to make for an episode that is ultimately satisfying.  In fact, "ultimately satisfying" probably sums up Eureka Seven AO thus far quite nicely - it still needs to cement and solidify its ultimate goals even at this stage of the series, but everything it's done to move in that direction thus far has been enjoyable to watch so it seems to be achieving what it's set out to thus far.

Tsuritama - Episode 7

After a summer of hard work, Yuki finally has the money he needs to buy his own fishing gear.  It's a daunting task... but more importantly, why is Haru suddenly not even vaguely interested in fishing?

While their "Bermuda Triangle" incident seems to have been enough to put Haru off the hobby for life, Yuki, Natsuki and Akira carry on fishing whenever an opportunity arises - indeed, we've now reached a point where Natsuki is leaving Yuki to make his own decisions and decide upon his own strategies rather than teaching him how to go about catching fish.

More importantly than such things however, news reaches us via his sister that Natsuki's birthday is coming up, with his family planning to celebrate the big day by - you guessed it - going fishing.  With his friends also brought along for the ride, it looks all set to be a great day, but that would of course be reckoning without the fractious relationship between Natsuki and his father.  As this comes to a head, and another strange incident at sea threatening those upon the captain's boat, a number of relationships are thrown into turmoil as the strange behaviour starting to manifest itself around Enoshima becomes an ever-greater problem.

As I've mentioned over previous weeks, my main issue with Tsuritama continues to be its reliance on fishing as the central arbiter of everything it does - every piece of drama, every argument and each moment of plot progression is carried out with a fishing rod in close proximity, and it does nothing but suffocate the otherwise well-played family drama exhibited by this episode to the point where it significantly weakens its impact.  Alongside this, the presence of Haru and the whole "alien thing" has also done little to move on the other elements of the show up to this point, although it seems as if these oddities are finally going to come to the fore over the next week or two.  I'm still trying my best to like Tsuritama, but at this point it seems like it's something of a lost cause for me.

Lupin III: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna - Episode 8

Fujiko Mine is at it again, but this time around the subject of light fingers is a decidedly interesting one, belonging as it does to a fortune-teller proclaiming to have a rather unique ability - the ability to predict the day of someone's death.

Unlikely though it seems, the abilities of the man in question - Shitoto Chandler - seem to match with the cold, hard facts of the corpses left in his wake.  What is perhaps even more interesting is that all of these individuals are former victims of Lupin himself, creating interest from numerous angles from those simply interested in the lithograph that is the basis of Chandler's predictions through to the police in their continues attempts to track down and capture Lupin himself.

With Daisuke Jigen dragged into the mix to boot, we're once again served up twists and turns aplenty as Jigen runs straight into a trap meant for Lupin, before the man himself helps to bust Daisuke out of police shackles.  Ultimately, the truth behind Chandler's ability remains a little uncertain, but what we do know is that he has links to Fujiko's past, which is becoming an ever-more integral part of the series above and beyond her proclivity for stealing shiny things.

Having suffered arguably its first misfire last week, this feels like Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna getting back to what its best at - a simple but tightly written story with twists and turns aplenty and a smart premise at its core, further bolstered by the increasing focus upon Fujiko's childhood as we progress through the series.  It's this broader storyline that's actually becoming the most intriguing facet of the show at the moment thanks to its enigmatic handling, and I really hope it's all leading somewhere that isn't a dead end.  Even without that, the blend of art style, setting and premise remains deliciously compelling for the most part, and now we've steered away from faux history back towards the franchise's roots this is once again a great little viewing experience that succeeds in standing out from the crowd.

Medaka Box - Episode 8

While the student council handles all of the suggestions and elements of student relations, someone has to keep law and order around Sandbox Academy, and that job falls to the school's disciplinary committee, otherwise known as the student police.  Or, judging by the first half of this week's Medaka Box, the fashion police.

At the forefront of all of this is Harigane Onigase, a hard-nosed disciplinarian and a stickler for the rules.  When the lax dress code of the student council comes to her attention she goes bananas, and before we know it Hitoyoshi and Akune have been properly dressed and Mogana has been stripped of her swimming costume.  That leaves only Medaka herself who, of course, refuses to budge when it comes to changing her uniform.  Similarly bull-headed, Onigase looks to take matters into her own hands, be it by fair means or foul - the trouble is, trying to understand Medaka's mindset is beyond even the smartest of students, so our disciplinary committee member has no chance, leaving us to chalk up another victory to Medaka.

Things take a turn for the clichéd as we enter the second half of the episode with a continuing focus on Harigane - this time, an attempt to arrest Shiranui for eating on school property ends with her handcuffed to Hitoyoshi in typically slapstick style, making for a rather unique walk of shame back to the disciplinary committee office.  Things only get worse once Medaka herself gets involved, as we end up with the student council president added to our handcuff train, in turn making for distractions aplenty from the task at hand as Medaka goes about interfering in everyone else's business.  Still, at least her presence saves Onigase from her toughest foes, while also providing the answer to how to bust out of those pesky handcuffs.

Another week goes by, and Medaka Box still shows no signs of breaking into anything other than predictable and shallow storylines - still, at least this episode's offerings managed to prove themselves as passably entertaining and mildly amusing rather than leaving me writhing in my seat while I waited for the episode to end.  This is, of course, me damning this series with faint praise yet again, which says a lot about how big a disappointment this show continues to be - Nisio Isin isn't exactly my go-to man for forgettable story-telling, but between this and Nisemonogatari his association with anime is fast becoming anything but a "must-watch" label when it comes to choosing shows.

Kids on the Slope - Episode 7

His childish tantrum has certainly but some distance between himself and Sentarou, but in other respects Kaoru's life seems to be going rather well as he becomes increasingly comfortable in his own skin, bringing him some surprising new-found popularity amongst his classmates and the like.

Despite this, there's still pain to be found in the rift that has developed between himself and his friend, who continues to rather half-heartedly carry on with his own classmate Matsuoka's band in preparation for the culture festival.  If this isn't tough enough for Sentarou, things are about to become a whole lot more problematic, as the love triangle between himself, Jun and Yurika comes to a huge head; a proverbial wave which crashes upon the shore and breaks everything to some degree or other.  We can even pretty much trace the exact date of this incident - around July 17th, 1967, the day of jazz composer and saxophonist John Coltrane's death.

Even with those relationships in tatters, and no sign of the fallout between Sentarou and Kaoru healing, the show must go on, with the latter working as part of the student's committee to organise the festival while the former finally takes to the stage with his new band-mates to give his big performance.  It all seems to be going pretty well too, until an unknown problem cuts the pwoer to the band's equipment, leaving them floundering.  As Kaoru is roped in to help track the source of the problem, he overhears the real reason for Sentarou's taking part in the band - just the spur that he needed to realise his own selfish foolishness.  With no sign of the technical hitch being resolved, Kaoru decides to buy time with an impromptu piano recital... quite the event in its own right for the onlookers, and even more so once Sentarou joins in to turn the whole thing into an impromptu jazz session.  Before we know it the whole school is trying to crowd into the hall to catch a glimpse of what's going on - nothing heals old wounds like good music, it seems.

After throwing so much melodrama at us over the course of this episode and part of the last, Kids on the Slope was certainly setting itself up to require a big pay-off - and boy did it get one.  Kaoru and Sentarou's impromptu session is pretty much the poster child for "simple but effective" - a basic, and even rose-tinted idea, but one which carried so much power and hope upon its shoulders that it worked utterly to make for a beautiful resolution to some of the current elements of its story.  The blend of likeable characters and great music carried off the whole idea with aplomb, always keeping it believable ("keeping it real" if you'd rather), and backing it up with animation to match.  If you want to know why you should be watching this series, the last five minutes or so of this episode lays it out more vividly than my words could ever hope to.

Jormungand - Episode 7

The mission in hand may be all about beating Chang's troops in the race to reach Doctor Miami, but for Valmer things have just gotten decidedly more personal.

Once she spots Chang's assistant, and more specifically her combat style, something breaks in Valmer as it takes her back to a turning point in her life - a turning point which, of course, came in the middle of a warzone as she saw her troops wiped out in front of her eyes... well, eye, as this same incident also was the moment which gave birth to the need for her trademark eyepatch.

Meanwhile, Koko is having to keep tabs on things from a more diplomatic perspective, all the while seemingly unknowingly under surveillance from Scarecrow and his current assistant Chocolade.  Although our impatient arm of the law is hoping to get some juicy evidence of illegal dealings under his belt, it seems that he's reckoned without Ms Hekmatyar's cunning, and before he knows it Scarecrow is forced into acting as Koko's escape plan as Chang receives word that his plans have gone awry, cutting short both his attempt to capture Minami as well as losing any hope of wreaking revenge on Hekmatyar.

These two elements combined to make for a pretty decent episode - I'm still not convinced by Jormungand's action credentials in terms of animation quality but it worked well enough on this occasion, and the episode was more notable for some smart but low-key little twists and turns to keep its story interesting.  Then again, there's something a little frustrating about the end of this arc, as we're still none the wiser about Koko's plans as they pertain to Doctor Minami, which leaves the viewer feeling as though they've missed something rather important... important like the whole point of this particular story arc.  Still, Koko's headed off to England yet - watch out K-ON movie, you've got competition!

AKB0048 - Episode 4

Now that their war games are over, it's time for the wannabe future members of AKB0048 to meet their real immediate futures - training hard as successors to the idols they so love.

The first performance the group gets to see upon arrival at their new home for the foreseeable future also provides a stark tale of how not every story here is a success, as a performance by the group themselves is preceded by a warm-up act by an idol duo who are known as the only survivors of a "cursed generation" - unable to progress and become full-fledged members of AKB0048 themselves, and with all their fellow idols having left, these two individuals are left in limbo.

What's more, one of this pair - Kanata Shinonome - happens to be the sister of Sonata, and given her position she's unsurprisingly not too happy to see her younger sibling.  As her complaints fall on deaf ears, the episode progresses to tell us a little more about Kanata - most importantly, her drive to become a member of AKB0048, which is one of vengeance rather than a love of song and dance (which is what you get for having a final audition based upon military strength rather than singing, I would wager).  With no heart for her work, and the stress of having her sister around, it seems as if Kanata is going to crack - but can the power of music save her?

After threatening to do something hugely interesting with its premise last week, AKB0048 enters more predictable territory this time around - melodrama based around the desire to become a successor to the idol group's existing members, ever-more ridiculous positioning of entertainment into an environment where military force is used against those who support such "deviant" art forms, and CG that jars against the rest of the animation whenever dance routines are required.  It's the schmaltzy resolution to this week's drama that really irked me the most though, as it proved to be as predictable as it was contrived, turning around years of hatred with just a single song.  Even AKB48 aren't that good, and it signals the moment where I can officially expect nothing worthwhile to come out of this series.  Lightsaber microphone notwithstanding, that is.