Minami-ke Tadaima - Episode 1

It might not be the pinnacle of slice of life anime comedy, but nonetheless winter brings the return of the Minami sisters for the fourth (yes, fourth) season of Minami-ke.

In this latest series, we rejoin Haruka, Kana and Chiaki as they fight off unknown supernatural forces in a post-apocalyptic Japan... okay, not really, nothing has changed in the life of the main characters as they go about their home and school lives as per normal.  This brings us a number of skits to open things up in Tadaima's first episode - Kana attempts to garner someone to help her study after another far from stellar test score, which needless to say isn't all that successful, a fortune suggesting that Kana is about to meet a potential boyfriend gives her something to get excited about even though poor old Fujioka is entirely overlooked once again, and deciding when to pack away the kotatsu causes a little friction and debate in the household, as well it might.

All of this combined to make for an opening episode that was decent enough - not the absolute heights of hilarity, but with a few laughs and smiles to serve as a reminder of why the series has managed to last through to this fourth anime season, and a respectable springboard for the rest of the series moving forward.  It's also a pretty good example of what Minami-ke is about as a whole - a nice little show with some fun characters and ideas, but not one that's ever likely to set the world on fire, and a series that you can pick favourite moments from rather than entire favourite episodes.

Nekomonogatari: Kuro - Episode 4 (Completed)

Come the end of the penultimate instalment of Nekomonogatari, Araragi had seemingly decided that he would quite happily die for Hanekawa's sake.  "Be careful what you wish for" is what I'd normally say here, but Koyomi is the kind of lad that actively pursues his goals...

That said, Araragi's choice of behaviour after his latest meeting with the "meddlesome cat" seems rather odd, that being prostrating himself before Shinobu for the remainder of Golden Week.  There is a method to his madness however, as eventually she tires of his begging and yields an almighty treasure - a rather impressive sword named Heartspan, which has the ability to kill oddities without so much as touching anything that isn't an oddity, rather handily.

Thus, the only problem now facing Araragi is how to track down Hanekawa - not a problem at all it turns out, as he simply messages Hanekawa requesting her help.  Possessed or not she soon arrives, seemingly in complete control of her "meddlesome" body - not that this makes her any easier to deal with from Araragi's point of view.  In fact, his plan is centred squarely on winding up his opponent, which means some drastic measures are required before we get to see the even more drastic measure Koyomi has taken in an attempt to win the day.  It's therefore rather a bummer when this final desperate effort looks set to backfire; cue an appearance from Shinobu to save the day, and her master.  Thus, Hanekawa is safe and sound, and Araragi has an answer about the extent of his feelings for Hanekawa, even if he won't even admit them to himself.

So ends an intensely pleasing four-parter that, after a first episode that went in the wrong direction, succeeded in being closer to Bakemonogatari than Nisemonogatari.  Then again, I'm not sure even that's particularly correct - Nekomonogatari: Kuro goes to darker and more vicious places than either of those other outings for the most part to the point where it's emotionally affecting despite being overblown at times.  This series also feels like the best opportunity we've had as viewers to get the measure of our protagonist to boot - this story might have been about Hanekawa, but it was just as much about Koyomi, the fascinatingly contrary and loathsomely lovable fellow that he is.  This isn't your milquetoast would-be harem lead for sure, and as a fully fleshed out individual he actually stands up to Senjougahara as a character you could write a book about.  With that kind of characterisation and those constantly eye-catching visuals, it's hard not to like Nekomonogatari a lot.  Which is probably why I liked it.  A lot.

Nekomonogatari: Kuro - Episode 3

This third and penultimate instalment of Nekomonogatari sees Araragi paying a visit to Hanekawa's empty house - a visit which greets him with a vision of unspeakable horror that literally leaves him running home crying.

Upon arriving home, it seems that word has already reached the Fire Sisters about the "monster cat" attacking people in town, leaving him needing to think fast to stop them trying to interfere and thus putting themselves in danger.  After a couple of days of no news as Oshino's progress with Hanekawa and the oddity possessing her, Araragi pays a visit to his hangout only to find a bruised and battered Oshino who has clearly been given a sound thrashing by this supposedly "low-level" oddity.  The reason for this is quite simply - Hanekawa's genius and knowledge of tactics and strategy have turned this irritation into something far more dangerous.

As she continues to roam around town, Araragi finds himself paid a visit by Hanekawa during a rather unfortunate moment in their classroom - cue a long, meandering dialogue about how this oddity is acting as stress relief for Hanekawa by attacking people, and why she's decided to take this course of action in this particular case given that her decisions would more traditionally err on the side of the selfish.  Despite this act of charity, the oddity clearly has no intentions of giving Hanekawa back her body though, which leads Araragi down a troubling train of thought...

Although this instalment of Nekomonogatari was dialogue-heavy even by this franchise's standards, it was no less compelling for it - the reveal about Hanekawa's home circumstances, or rather their truly dire nature, was affecting even with such an over-the-top treatment, and the rest of the episode had no shortage of interesting discussion.  It may not be as snappy or cleverly comic as Bakemonogatari, but there's still plenty to enjoy here regardless as we move onto the story's finale.

Kokoro Connect - Episodes 14-17 (Completed)

After a not inconsiderable delay, Kokoro Connect returns to deliver its final story arc, Michi Random.  In other words, this means a new phenomenon for the quintet of the Cultural Research Club to deal with - and it couldn't come at a worse time, coinciding as it does with Valentine's Day.

Before we even get the skinny on what this latest phenomena might be, we see Taichi getting shot down by Iori as he uses Valentine's Day to reaffirm his love for her - a surprising turn in itself, but perhaps less so once we learn that the group are currently suffering from "emotional transfer", where an individuals inner thoughts will be randomly broadcast to some or all of the other members of the group until Heartseed has had his fill of this particular scenario.

Needless to say, having your personal thoughts blurted out to your friends and crushes is an uncomfortable business, particularly in the case of Nagase, who is already trying to reconcile her outward personality with her inner feelings.  Torn between these two different sides of herself, and after finding herself exposed thanks to Heartseed's meddling, Iori pushes away her friends in the belief that they don't know, and could never understand, the "real" her, even going as far as lashing out at Yui and love rival Inaba for what she perceives as their selfishness.

When Iori turns down the advances of another boy who has taken a shine to her, she finds herself the target of bullying from another girl who had a crush on the same person - along with her friends, rumours soon spread about Nagase's "bitchy" true identity, in a series of events which eventually spirals out of control, swallowing up the rest of the club's efforts and even taking a violent turn.  But perhaps this is exactly what Iori needs to confirm her feelings about her friends, and to come to terms with her own identity....

Even after a substantial break from the series, this was a top-notch return to conclude Kokoro Connect - another strong core concept which drilled fearlessly into the show's backdrop of teenage insecurity and self-identification, with a major focus on the one character who struggles the most with those issues without losing sight of the other love stories and relationships going on within the group.  This makes for a great ending to a very good series, filled with the kind of characters you don't typically see in your average high school anime show - no matter how caricatured they might be to some extent, there's something easy to relate to in watching the main cast comes to terms with who they were, are and want to be, and how that fits in with how the rest of the world views them.  In short, I really hope we get to see some more from this light novel adaptation in the future, so fingers crossed the controversy which plagued this series last year (understandable though it was) doesn't undermine the larger project as a whole.

Nekomonogatari: Kuro - Episode 2

After his depressing encounter with Hanekawa earlier that day, it's time for Araragi to pay Shinobu and Oshino a visit, proferring his blood for the former and some doughnuts for the latter.  At least, that's the plan...

Instead, this is the point where we discover Shinobu's sweet tooth and love of said doughnuts - something to which she's willing to go to decidedly un-vampirelike lengths to procure from Araragi as Shinobu's behaviour as a sullen child turns into something more akin to a hungry dog.  This is but a distraction from more pressing matters however, that being Hanekawa's problems at home - something which Oshino quickly picks up on despite Araragi missing out certain details, in a story that takes a worrying turn in Oshino's mind once Araragi relates how Hanekawa had found and buried a dead cat just before they parted ways.

Of course, this being a prequel as it is, we already know what this means - that an oddity has attached itself to Hanekawa, and while Oshino heads off to confirm this possibility at the location where the cat was buried, it's up to Koyomi to check in on Hanekawa herself.  What Araragi finds instead is something altogether more troublesome, a part-feline individual prancing around in some very familiar underwear - what's more, she's done some serious damage to Hanekawa's "parents", and has no compunction about ripping Koyomi's arm off in a flash.  While this wouldn't normally be a major issue for our protagonist, the fact that this particular oddity carries the same "Energy Drain" ability as a vampire does some equally severe damage to his ability to regenerate.

With its line in incestuous fan service out of the way, this second instalment of Nekomonogatari feels far stronger than the first, and more importantly it feels far closer in tone to Bakemonogatari - something which serves it in good stead as it builds up the real crux of its story here.  Hopefully now that a fire has been lit under this story the second half of this outing will be remembered more for some decent story-telling and characterisation than pandering to the fans.

Bakuman Season 3 - Episode 13

The risk of PCP's "crimes" being carried over into real life has been a burden which Ashirogi Muto has had to carry almost from the outset with their current work, but even then surely they never expected someone to commit a bank robbery in the name of their manga?

While both the magazine's editorial department and Mashiro are both willing to shrug off the negative publicity and carry on in the same vein as though nothing has happened, Takagi struggles to come to terms with the situation to the point where it quickly effects his work, seeing him submitting watered down or repeated ideas rather than the fresh and smart content for which he is known.

Once Hattori and Mashiro face Takagi with this fact, things actually get worse as the duo's writer tries even harder to sort himself out to no avail, exhausting himself in the process.  With news breaking of another crime being committed in PCP's name, it seems that Takagi is at breaking point as the manga slides down the rankings while word reaches the duo that Eiji is about to take top spot in the rankings for the first time - could he be about to exercise his ability to have a manga cancelled against PCP?  Thankfully, the cause of Ashirogi Muto's current crisis is also its salvation, forming the basis for a story idea that sees their work shoot back up the ranking.

Once again, all of this combines to create a compelling one-off episode of Bakuman that fits wonderfully into the wider narrative - if anything, you could argue that Takagi's crisis was resolved a little too quickly and easily where it could have stretched across a couple of episodes, but it still made for another great story as the series goes from strength to strength.  With Eiji back in the picture and a possible showdown between himself and Ashirogi Muto on the cards, things show no sign of slowing down as Bakuman heads for the finishing line.

Nekomonogatari: Kuro - Episode 1

The -monogatari juggernaut shows no signs of abating as one of SHAFT's big-hitters, and what better way to start the year (or end 2012, depending on how you look at it) than by offering up a prequel to Bakemonogatari, taking in Tsubasa Hanekawa's Golden Week experiences which occurred before the events of that series.

First though, Araragi is in need of some advice from his sisters, most notably Tsukihi, as he has a very simple question that needs answering - what does falling in love feel like?  Despite having a boyfriend, Tsukihi doesn't have a precise answer to this question, love being the nebulous thing that it is - we do, however, ascertain that it isn't directly related to a desire to grope a girl's breasts.  Indeed, it seems as if Araragi is rather over-excited about certain things, to the point of even groping his sister, which suggests that his lust for Hanekawa... sorry, "Miss H", seems to have clouded any feelings of love.  Still, at least Karen has a far simpler answer as to what love is all about.

As Araragi heads out to find a suitable magazine to ease his frustrations, he finds himself bumping into the object of his interest... or rather, he finds himself flipping her skirt for some reason.  With a hefty plaster covering a bruise on her face, we learn all about Hanekawa's situation with her family - or rather, the lack of said family - and the occasionally violent upbringing which she seems to have justified and accepted, to Araragi's disgust.  With her stress clearly already starting to build, I'm sure we can all guess where things are headed....

After being left largely disappointed by Nisemonogatari, I had hopes for something a little more from Nekomonogatari; judging by this first of four episodes however, the series is a hit and miss affair in terms of delivering what I hoped... or more specifically, its delivery of some thoughtful discussion about tough issues was offset by clumsily over-the-top fan service that continues to go way beyond anything Bakemonogatari ever attempted, much to my chagrin.  As much as I like the Fire Sisters and think that add quite a lot to the series, the incestuous elements of the show threaten to overrun the more legitimately good writing also on show here, and while I appreciate the show's visual flair as much as ever such moments are becoming more and more off-putting the more blatant they become.  I can only hope that Nekomonogatari manages to move on from such things as the focus of its remaining episodes shifts.