Crowning Moments Of DokiDoki: Spring 2012 Week 3

Ah, what’s the point of setting deadlines if I don’t meet them? Yeah I know, I guess it confirms me being an “M” since it’s such a torturing feel when you get past them, and I do that more often than I should. Oh wait, even before that, isn’t assigning the task of blogging about anime to yourself considered a bigger act of masochism? So even if you disguise yourself as the most despicable elitist you should still have the heart of an “M” when you blog animu. man, this logic.

LOL whatever, just forget the prior jumble. Last week has been the most active ever for Vanikawa Toppa, and so I’m more enthusiastic about wasting precious time doing this sort of stuff now, even if I still complain every once in a while haha! I’m tricking myself into thinking that getting a total of 22 votes in the poll last week is some kind of achievement, even though I’m not getting any comments from voters lol. Oh well, I’m happily living with that:

5. Hyouka 1:

Jorougumoé

For better or worse, context is almost irrelevant to how striking this scene was. I mean, the main trio were having a rather dull argument about locked door mystery at the time but that didn’t matter one bit. I was almost yawning and just then, the screen started getting overflowed with countless filters making it feel like a photoshop session on time-lapse was going on! It was one of those delicious eye-candy moments and it tasted really nice, I was having one idea in mind as I was looking at the screen captured above: “oh, this could look fantastic as a desktop paper right?”

credit: I learned about Jorougumo upon reading this excellent post by Marina (Anime B&B), you all should go and have a look already!

4. Natsuiro Kiseki 4:

Love needs no magic, magic ruins love..

Gotta say this scene wouldn’t have had the same effect if it wasn’t for the great acting in it. I mean, it was straightforward climax to a body-swap story, the moment where mixed feelings get sorted together in front of the love interest. It seemed as if Yuka didn’t really realize that she was borrowing a body that doesn’t belong to her until the instant when the one who owns that body, Saki,  seemingly got a bit closer to her crush, Takashi, all thanks to Yuka herself carelessly acting on her, Saki’s, behalf. *err explanation didn’t go as straightforward as I hoped ww* So then a reality check slapped Yuka in the face and she started crying. It was touching because it felt sincere, and it also reminded me that even the most cheerful in the gang can get their feelings hurt sometimes..

p.s. in case someone didn’t know calling your classmate of opposite gender by first name is some serious romantic development in Japan lolz

3. Fate/zero 16:

“Kisamara! You feel no shame at all?!”

Ok that marks the most horrible death in Fate/zero so far. *dammit Urobuchi you sadist* It was gruesome and full of despise, kinda uncomfortable to watch even. I wasn’t the biggest Lancer/Diarmuid fan but I couldn’t help feeling extremely sorry for the way he was forced to commit suicide, he was unfortunate to have a pathetic excuse for a master but he was also miserable that he could never rebel against the feeble wish of such master. It was amusing yet upsetting how Lancer even gazed at clueless Saber with a spiteful look during his last moments of rage, that felt really heavy and it helped that we weren’t shown his face as he did.

2. Sakamichi no Apollon 3:

Anime Bestest Jazz Nakama

The romance segment of Apollon is doing a great job with decent development each week, yet it should be obvious that it’s not the main attraction of the show. Instead, every time I start playing an episode of Apollon I see myself anticipating the part where all of us (both audience and performers) forget about the drama and let jazz tickle our souls. I loved how this feel was explicitly apparent when Kaoru and Sentarou were having a fight and the atmosphere kept getting awkward, it was still awkward till the moment they started hittin’ jazz notes together. Kaoru resisted the urge to smile at first, but it only took him few more seconds to burst in laughter. Seriously, it’s enough for me to board Apollon hype train as long as we keep getting quality jazz sessions of this kind.

1. Eureka Seven AO 3:

“Let’s do some effing justice…”

So yeah, I guess it would defy justice if I didn’t bring up the most passionate speech we had in any of the airing shows last week here in this post. Really, it was admirable to see the younger generation of Okinawa finally accepting Ao as a fellow resident of the island and standing up against the cowardice of their parents, especially Gazelle here. I mean hey, if his regretful words burning with shounen justice didn’t make your kokoro go all dokidoki then I wonder what else might will. This should go without saying, Gazelle wins bro moment of the week yo!

Readers DokiDoki Spring 12 Week 2: Excalibur!

~Updated Spring Season Watchlist~

1. Accel World

2. Eureka Seven AO

3. Fate/zero

4. Hunter X Hunter

5. Jormungand

6. Kuroko no Basuke

7. Lupin III: Mine Fujiko to iu Onna

8. Natsuiro Kiseki

9. Sakamichi no Apollon

10.Tsuritama

11.Uchuu Kyoudai

12.Sankarea -NEW-

13.Hyouka -NEW-

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Eureka Seven/Eureka Seven AO Terminology Guide for Noobs

I complained about this before, so I did some search to look for what all these abbreviations in Eureka Seven means (and ate a major spoiler in doing so but oh well). If I come across anything I missed, I’ll add that in the list as well. Hopefully, making sense of the dialogue will be less frustrating from now on:

Scub Coral: raw energy source

Trapar: Transparence Light Particle (clean energy source)

Compac Drive: ?amplifiers enabling humans to interact with machines?

LFO: Light Finding Operation (the name given for E7 mecha)

Nirvash: unique LFO (Nirvash TypeZERO shown above)

SOF: Special Operations Force

KLF: Kraft Light Fighter (military LFO)

Coralians: ??????

-Eureka Seven AO exclusives-

IFO: Intellligent Flying Objects (successors of LFO)

FP: Flying Platform

SDF: Special Defense Force = JAF: Japanese Armed Forces

Loploss: Low Orbit Strategic Locating Satellite

Triton: Air Assault Landing Ship

ZOA: Zone Out of Action

Scub Burst: a destructive phenomenon initiated by the Secret when it has available Scub Coral outcropping

Quartz: the center nucleus of a Scub Coral outcropping*

Coralians: G-Monsters = The Secret??

*By removing the Quartz, the Trapar waves in the surrounding area plummet and the Secret that is seeking out the Scub Coral to initiate a Scub Burst will disappear. It is one of Team Pied Piper’s missions to collect Quartzes. (Source: wikipedia)

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Crowning Moments Of DokiDoki: Spring 2012 Week 2

So here we have another awesome week of Spring season. Both Goemon’s godly samurai techniques and Mutta’s embarrassing romance bits didn’t make the cut for me to talk about them this week, compared to when I struggled to find stuff to fill my posts with in the past Winter season. Yo keep it up animu!

Oh by the way, a few readers voted in the poll last week and it did the trick of making me believe in the slightest chance that some of you are actually reading my babble haha. Hereby I decided to keep the trend going until who knows when:

5. Hunter X Hunter 27:

ZUSHIIIII!!

I admit that I didn’t take chibi martial artist Zushi seriously before this moment, but then as he was readying himself for this stance I instantly got impressed! Atmosphere felt heavy, Killua became frightened, and I was anticipating what comes next… “ZUSHI!!!” broke that tension. I kinda wish it didn’t, but part of me was glad that it did. *cuz also didn’t want Killua to fall behind Gon again otherwise ugly bloodshed was gonna happen there :p*

4.  Eureka Seven Ao 2:

WELCOME BACK EUREKA

Alright, I’ll take this opportunity to complain first. So what the heck are all these abbreviations/vocabs in Eureka Seven about? FP? LFO? IFO? SFO? typeZERO? Trapar? Bahh at least now I know what Scub Coral looks like, and that it’s kind of natural explosive I guess. Yes, I’m a total no0b when it comes to mecha so I don’t appreciate it when a show like Eureka Seven/Ao tries to shove all its technobabble down my throat. Anyway all that aside, the battle between what looked to be a Nirvash *I can use this term here right? :p* and  the Secret *Ah, Mugann look-alike* was still brilliant! I think I already prefer Ao over E7 if only for the improved visual feast it offers, so that’s understandable right? Pfff I can’t stand being ignorant anymore that I’m starting to dig E7 for whatever reason now, I guess there’s some homework to be done then.

3. Tsuritama 2:

Akira Agarkar Yamada

I’m fascinated by this show, and among the many weird things that fascinates me about it Indian dude with a goose is alluring on a whole different level! I know that Sugita Tomokazu acting the role has something to do with his charm, but that’s just one of many reasons which makes Agarkar stands out. There is this eccentric charisma he has, which even creeped Haru out. And then the goose.. Also man, Agarkar theme OST when? =(

2. Fate/zero 15:

Excalibur!

Budget-burning moment of the week? Seriously, it was all the details in Saber’s water-walk and sword-strike which made this scene as breathtaking as it turned out! It was supposedly the first time we get to see the true worth of Saber’s heroic spirit so it had to make an impact, and yeah ufotable succeeded in making that, even if it was done by the assistance of burnt cash haha! The conversation between Gilgamesh and Iskander was a great follow up/closure as well, it added needed substance to the pretty outer shell afterward.

1. Jormungand 2:

Jonah LULZ

In a supposed-to-be-depressing settings of war, I find myself loving the smirky spirit Jormungand has. That elated anti-climatic moment where Koko orders her men to empty their weapons and surrender felt awkwardly fun! And then she gives another order Engrish-style as if she’s mocking that moment even more, “Minna DASSHU!!” *lolol* I would be bursting in laughter as well if I was there, damn it looked hella fun! Gotta agree with the soldier too, Koko is a lucky girl to have such an understanding team to command, errr I mean KOKO WA RAKKII GARU w w w

Readers DokiDoki Spring 12 Week 1: Love Noir

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Crowning Moments Of DokiDoki: Spring 2012 Week 1

I’m giving a shout like everyone else, Spring 2012 is shaping up to be one of the best seasons for anime! I’m stuck with the biggest watchlist since I started watching anime weekly, and it seems more diverse than ever. So then comes crossing my fingers that we don’t get disappointed halfway, but I’m also pretty optimistic now. Having big list of shows gave me troubles picking up the moments I really wanted to share, and I might have messed up a little and cheated by choosing the stuff that doesn’t require me to think about what to write haha! Oh and I kinda felt like experimenting to tempt more people to skim through these posts, so I added a poll this week just because. :p

As silly as this sounds, let’s dokidoki now:

5. Fate/zero 14:

“Matte, Maiya!…”

I’m surprised at how much I missed that grim tone of Kiritsugu, I can keep listening to the way he says “Maiya!..” for hours without getting bored haha!

4. Mirai Nikki 25:

SUDDENLY BERSERK ACTION *GASP*

I dunno how I feel about the way the plot is progressing right now, and I find myself disliking Murmur since she became relevant to it, but all that aside I still immensely enjoyed the fight scene with Ninth! Seeing such fluidity in each movement reminded me of the rare occasions in good old Naruto anime where a special team was called to animate the important battles in a ridiculous “kneading” style, or that’s how I like to imagine how it was haha.. *gotta thank Asread for wasting all their budget on that*

3.  Kuroko no Basuke 1:

“I will be your shadow.”

Because the stronger the light, the darker its shadow. It’s simple, get it? YEP THAT SHOUNEN LOGIC THAT I LOVE. Just keep making sense of stuff that doesn’t make sense and I’ll keep getting hyped for you Kuroko!

2. Sakamichi no Apollon 1:

Feel them drums!!!

Was it the jazz itself? Or was it that dynamic percussion animation that had me drop my jaw in awe? Add to that Sentarou being such a fascinating individual so him on drums brought further flavor of charm, and then I could not resist.

1.  Lupin III: Mine Fujiko to iu Onna 2:

Love Noir

I was torn between the moment in the coffin and the moment with the empty gun. I ended up choosing the scene where Jigen got confused when all the emotions he kept suppressing abruptly slipped through to the surface. I could see everything in the sudden change in his expressions, and my god that was fantastic! Plus the great BGM that was playing, and *ahem* Jigen’s shockingly handsome smile. The ice-breaking moment of suicidal romance couldn’t fit in any better place other than a coffin for the dead, and the way it rolled was just damn perfect!

EXTRA:

~Spring Season Current Watchlist~

1. Accel World

2. Eureka Seven AO

3. Fate/zero

4. Hunter X Hunter

5. Jormungand

6. Kuroko no Basuke

7. Lupin III: Mine Fujiko to iu Onna

8. Natsuiro Kiseki

9. Sakamichi no Apollon

10.Tsuritama

11.Uchuu Kyoudai

12.Ozuma *err so tempted to drop this*

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Omae Umasou da na: Circle Of Life – Dino X Animu Style

I was planning to have a break from DokiDoki this week since it’s the start of new season and I’m busy hunting for shows, I mean I rather focus on one thing with a clear mindset than force myself to do everything in a rush. Luckily for me, You Are Umasou movie came out this week and I was already so hyped for it since long ago, so writing about it was the natural decision I came up with even before watching. And oh man, did it not turn out just brilliant! I loved every-bit-of-it I don’t know where to start nor where to end speaking in this little review here, so I think I’ll just say whatever comes to mind and then hope that the formed scramble will convince anyone to pick up You Are Umasou and see how good it is for themselves.

The story begins with a herbivorous dinosaur mother saving an egg of T.rex baby from doom. I won’t say any more than that to avoid spoiling any part of the fun. That’s all what you need to know for now, and even if you didn’t get interested in the OMG!KIDDY!PREMISE and secretly wished for some kind of DINO!BEASTLY!GORE I highly recommend giving You Are Umasou a chance to prove itself despite all that.

It is a movie aimed for kids, but that’s by no means a reason to hold adults *anyone* from enjoying it as well. Actually, I dare say that the best of movies are the ones aimed for all ages and succeed in sending various messages and lessons in relation to who is watching these flicks. Making a work that harbors different levels of enjoyment and appreciation is obviously a difficult task, and You Are Umasou did an exceptionally great job with that!

If I had to praise one thing about this movie I would definitely pick the characterization of its cast, it’s amazing how it took You Are Umasou only 1 and half hours to create a whole *rather large* set of memorable characters each with distinctive personality of theirs. And how each one of them develop their strengths and flaws during showtime. Another plus is that no one is inherently evil. Seriously, it’s rare to find stories without THEM EVIL figures and usually these turn out special in more ways, Omae Umasou is one of the excellent examples of how brilliant that can be.

Gotta love the “references?” to The Lion King that I could point out *or lol I might be reading too much into things*. A rather obvious one is the scar on Baku’s face, and Omae Umasou goes even further than just adding measures for badass character design by constructing a relevant backstory behind that.

I am overwhelmingly delighted by how Omae Umasou turned out, I find it hard to explain what an awesome experience it was. A measurement I like to use to tell how good is anything to me is by sensing how much I feel attached when I think about it, but lol subjective self-centered judgement. Then again, who believes in the fantasy of objective opinions bwahahaha! Omae Umasou is a movie made for kids which was able to refresh the fading rainbows of my mind, and re-broadened  my ideas about life. It also had me lose some tears in the process. Attachment for any form of entertainment hardly gets deeper than that, right? Then that should classify Omae Umasou as an exceptional quality entertainment. Wah I can’t wait for the family to gather so that I can get them to sit and rewatch Umasou with all of them again!

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