Ho-kago Tea Time - Gohan wa Okazu / U&I (K-ON!! insert single)

As soon as the girls of K-ON's light music club stepped out for what would be their final high school performance a couple of weeks ago, it's pretty obvious that there would be some new songs closely followed by a new insert single to rake in a little more cash from the franchise, and lo and behold here it is in all it's glory, featuring both new tracks shown off during the aforementioned episode.


First up is Gohan wa Okazu, which is the kind of typically energetic tune you'd expect - it's nothing spectacular to be honest in comparison to a lot of this show's previous output (in terms of both insert songs and opening/ending tunes), but it is horribly, horribly catchy. Once you've listened to it a couple of times don't expect to shake it out of your head any time soon, and a chorus that you don't exactly need a degree in Japanese to be able to sing along to you only makes the situation worse. Somehow, I could imagine this tune winning the Eurovision Song Contest, such is its daft but likeable power as it lodges itself in your brain.

Following up this slice of frantic pop is U&I, which is a (relatively) more sedate and "serious" affair... well, as serious as a track from a K-ON insert single can get at least. This tune is decent enough, but there's nothing that particularly stands out about it, putting it some way below the insert songs from the first season - it just carries on and does its think for four and a half minutes without offering up anything instantly catchy or memorable, which is actually quite a rarity for a song from this franchise. It does improve after multiple listens to some degree, but not enough to make it any kind of classic, and shorn of the relevance of the episodes it appears in we're left with a slightly dull effort.

Of course, the single also contains instrumental versions of both tracks, as well as renditions which omit single instruments to make you wish that someone would bring out Rock Band: K-ON or something one day - not that this will ever happen, of course. Overall though, I have to confess that this feels like a pretty weak part of K-ON's musical output - naturally it was never going to stand up to the show's opening and closing songs, but it also struggles to some extent against the series other insert and characters singles. Of course, if you're a huge fan of the show then you'll still lap this up, but by the same token it's no Fuwa-Fuwa Time.

Shiki - Episode 9

Although the end of Shiki's previous episode seemed to spell peril for Natsuno after his discovery of the truth surrounding all of the deaths in the village, we actually get to see next to nothing of him in this ninth instalment of the series, instead focusing our attention once again upon Doctor Ozaki and his own efforts after figuring out that vampires are causing the aforementioned spate of deaths.

Thus, much of the episode is spent following both himself and priest Muroi as they keep the old lady Setsuko under the clinics care, watching her night and day to see what is going despite the physical toll it is clearly taking on Ozaki in particular. Even after the first night of keeping watch the young Doctor is showing obvious fatigue, concerning his mother enough to send his wife to look after him, although ironically it appears to be her who endangers him most (albeit inadvertently) later in the episode.


After an uneventful first night, it's the second night shift of carefully watching Setsuko that finally yields results, with her dead daughter Nao "dropping by" to pay her visit and thus proving their worst fears. With no invitation to enter the clinic, any danger passes swiftly, only to return as an even more major problem the following night, with Tatsumi able to enter the clinic while a number of other "Risen" are on hand to do their worst and drain Setsuko dry to grab their fill of blood. So, despite his best efforts Ozaki has been foiled again, so what on Earth do they do now?

As I discussed last week, Shiki is finally beginning to emerge as a decent series from under the burden of its expectations and initially glacial pace to start demonstrating the abilities we looked to see from it right from the start. In these terms, this was certainly the best episode yet once again, proving to be reasonably adept at being somewhat creepy while also holding a fair amount of tension throughout - not enough to make it a classic or a memorable piece of horror story-telling, but a definite improvement nonetheless. Now that the last couple of episodes have manoeuvred the pieces on its chess board into prime positions, this should be time for the series to shine from this episode forth - let's hope it makes full use of the scenario it has so painstakingly set up to deliver its payload with full effect.

Amagami SS - Episode 10

After introducing us to Sae Nakata last episode, Amagami SS' tenth instalment scoots us three weeks further on from those goings-on, to a future where a freak accident involving wolves has caused Sae's voicebox to be ripped out, leaving her unable to speak. At least, that's what I was hoping might have happened in that three week period, but sadly not - Sae still has a voice, and it's still pretty irritating, although I'm guess I'm getting used to it, much like the drone of a slightly faulty washing machine.


Anyhow, despite the passing of those three weeks Tachibana is still trying to "coach" Sae in preparation for a job interview at a restaurant, with limited success... it appears that we've now progressed to her being able to talk to vending machines, but not much else. Tachibana's training probably isn't really helping, considering what it consists of making her change clothes in front of him (leading to an inevitable "oops, I slipped up and fell on you while wearing my swimsuit just as your sister walked into the room" moment) and taking her to a public baths where fish nibble on your feet (does such a place really exist? Anyone wanna rent out my fish tank?), causing Sae to actually sound slightly less like a whining refrigerator, much to Tachibana's pleasure. Come the end of the episode it seems as though Sae is all but set to confess to her senior... but that isn't going to happen just like that given her personality, is it?

I know that I really should have gotten used to Amagami SS' plots proving to be absolutely daft by now, but you know what? I really haven't. Preparing for the working world by changing clothes in front of a guy? Feet-nibbling eroticism performed by fish? Conversing with vending machines? If someone can send me over a little of what the script writers for this series are smoking, I'd be most grateful, it's clearly some pretty potent stuff. I guess the utter insanity (and indeed inanity) of it all actually makes the show's viewing experience fun in its own unique way, like a fluffy car crash where you know everyone is surrounded by pillows so it's okay to enjoy watching. If there's one positive to be said for this series so far, it's that its hard to guess what's coming next - while that puts it one step above a lot of visual novel adaptations, it doesn't make it any less coherent, but I guess we're now at the point where if you're still watching, that randomness simply doesn't matter.

I wonder though - is the fish-nibbling this story arc's moment of sexy weirdness (or weird sexiness, if you prefer)? I'm going to be oddly disappointed if that means we'll be deprived of Tachibana feasting on an unusual body part this time around, although my bet is that he might have a go at recreating the "fish incident" himself...

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 10

Something is clearly afoot from the outset as we hit episode ten of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, with all of the Otogi Bank's members called to a meeting by the club's president. The reason for the urgency is obvious enough - somebody has been running a smear campaign against the bank, even going so far as to finding out about their secret basement "lair" and reporting it to a local paper, although the bank's members were smart enough to deflect that particular problem.

Still, this is obviously an issue, and one which the bank's president decides to fight by offering big discounts to anyone who wants to request something, causing the Otogi Bank to be overwhelmed with requests - this means hard work for all of the club's members, but on the other hand it gives them a lot of loans to cash in if required, as well it might be if Onigashima's student council president Shirou Hitsujikai is anything to do with what is going on as suspected.


As the episode progresses, both Ryouko and Morino are hit with distractions from their work for the bank - in the latter case this comes from Saburou Nekomiya, a boy who promises to teach Ryoushi how to fight and protect the girl he loves, while Ryouko runs into a girl named Reiko Kokonoo who claims to have been dumped by Shirou and left to the mercy of his cronies; a story which Ryouko eats up despite it seeming rather too convenient for the tastes of even Ringo. Come the end of this instalment, the "divide and conquer" approach builds up to quite the crisis for the Otogi Bank, and more specifically Ryouko - now certainly isn't the time for Morino to be sparring with a stranger, that's for sure...

Throughout this series, Ookami-san has seemed to be at its best when it has a more all-encompassing storyline to focus upon, and so it proves again here - as everything begins to stack up and the plot begins to gather pace, so this episode succeeds in ramping up the tension and worry quite nicely to its inevitable cliff-hanger to lead us into the final couple of episodes of the series. If only the whole show could have focused on this bigger picture and the more interesting facets of its characters it could have been quite something; as it is, I suppose we'll simply have to enjoy the more compelling moments as they come, but thankfully it looks like we're at least headed in that direction as things draw towards a big finale.

HEROMAN - Episode 23

Just as Lina and Joey's heart to heart looked as though it might go somewhere important, the pair of them are interrupted by a phone call from Professor Denton, which of course leaves Joey having to run off to fulfil his responsibilities as a hero as always. At this point, what we've all known for some weeks now is reveal - Will is really the good guy in the current set of circumstances, as the remnants of the Skrugg force seem to be up to something decidedly sinister, joining all of the dots of the various goings-on of recent episodes.

While Agent Hughes implores Joey and company to help them figure out what is going on, whoever or whatever is behind these rejuvenated Skrugg forces beats them to the punch, attacking the White House with those rather handy tentacle things previously seen on that government-owned island and taking over the building while also blocking all communications inside it. "What would they want with the White House?" ponders Hughes. Hmm, who knows, it's almost like you had the most powerful man in the world inside or something... that said, there's more to it than that, as it seems that there's also a secret bunker used for experimentation under the White House, which of course is exactly where you'd put anything dangerous and liable to cause trouble, right?


Anyway, the rest writes itself from here - It's going to be up to Joey and Heroman to save the day with backup (and some nifty upgrades for the latter) from the NIA, setting the scene for the final few episodes of the series while also giving us an intriguing parting between Lina and Joey to mull over. It has to be said that there was a certainly feeling of "this is cool" watching Joey and Heroman preparing to jump from the fuselage of an aircraft to begin their attack - a cool factor which has been lacking too frequently since they finished scrapping with the Skrugg. Ignoring the slightly clunky plot points which have brought us to this point, everything is nicely poised for some ass-kicking, breath-taking action over the next week or two, and I can only hope that HEROMAN doesn't disappoint in that regard as it really could do with a memorable finale.

Strike Witches 2 - Episode 9

Episode nine of Strike Witches 2 begins with us spending some time with Perrine as she helps with rebuilding efforts in her native Gallia - An occasionally depressing task, not least when she's led by a young girl to a bridge that has been destroyed, leaving her lamenting the inability to put it right, knowing that even she doesn't have sufficient funds to get it fixed. This preoccupation with said bridge inspires her to some feats of daring against the Neuroi when she's next called into battle though, that's for sure.


Anyhow, no series such as this one would be complete without a beach episode of sorts, and that's exactly what we get here, dressed up in the name of "training" to spare us any more blatant excuses for putting all of the girls into swimsuits. Once that training is over however, Perrine becomes more than a little excited by Lucchini's discovery of what appears to be a treasure chest at the bottom of the sea, and after working their way through an array of chests within chests they eventually comes across what purports to be a treasure map.

Of course, Perrine can smell the opportunity to make some money and get her home town's bridge repaired, and so she sets off with Lucchini, Miyafuji and Lynette in tow to find the treasure, leaving the rest of the Witches worried as to their whereabouts and eventually following them. Cue Sakamoto getting drunk via some kind of booby trap (who gets drunk simply by having wine tipped on them? I must investigate this!), a giant moving statue, and a disappointing revelation for Perrine at the end of it all, tempered with an inevitable happy ending to her bridge conundrum.

As episodes of Strike Witches go, this was pretty much par for the course, giving us a bit of action before launching into some rather daft plot points that were nonetheless kind of entertaining if you can ignore the fact that they don't really make much sense at all. If nothing else, it was actually nice to see Perrine get a bit of an outing where she isn't acting aloof and stuck-up all the time, while Lucchini's presence always leaves me marvelling at Chiwa Saito's voice acting skills - that voice sounds hard to carry off.

K-ON!! - Episode 22

It's coming up to Valentine's Day as we hit K-ON!!'s twenty-second episode, leaving Azusa pondering what to do about giving her seniors in the light music club chocolate - A quandary that seems like a no-brainer until you remember that we are talking about a club that includes Tsumugi, after all.

Arguably more important than handing out chocolates is exams for the rest of the girls however, although this gets pretty short shrift in a sense this episode - we see them study a little, watch them waiting for the train to attend the exam's for their preferred future educational establishment, and most importantly of all see the results come in from those exams at the end of the episode.


The rest of the time is spent in more light-hearted fashion with Azusa finding herself ably assisted in her cake baking exploits by Ui, and rather less ably assisted by Jun (even I know how to make a chocolate cake Jun, come on now!). However, actually making the cake is of secondary difficulty to Azusa compared to actually giving it to her senior friends - her first attempt is stalled by Mio being given chocolate by some of her fans, and her second is ruined simply by Azusa's emotions themselves before she finally gets to dish out her delicious cake after school thanks to the kindness of the others.

Speaking of Azusa's emotions, although this episode doesn't (and couldn't possibly) match what we went through a couple of weeks back with this series, it doesn't quite let us off the hook in that department either, as Azusa is reminded forcefully once again that her time left with her light music club friends is limited, which she understandably finds hard to bear. Her role throughout this episode is actually quite sweet, but not to the point of being overly saccharine, as the series roles on to its climax in a way that it seems is going to be tinged with a whole lot more sadness. Still, the good news at the end of the episode leaves me even more tempted to put money on us seeing K-ON!!! post graduation in the future - perhaps when I'm eighty I'll still be writing about the latest anime series, K-ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...