The World God Only Knows: Goddess Arc - 03 [Review]

In this episode, Keima plans out his conquests and uses the skills that he had learnt from his previous conquests, in order to make sure that the girl will fall in love with him. Watching Keima move from girl to girl is funny in the sense that he’s a “player” but is also quite sad considering his progress.

What made episode 3 great was it’s characters. The World God Only Knows excels at story telling and it's developing characters. An example being Chihiro. When Keima and her met, she ‘hated’ him and went out of her way to be mean to him. Look at her now. She’s having calm, collected conversations with him, conversations that would really only occur between friends.

Though, we still have the issue of Kanon. Conquests aside, Kanon is dying up in that room and Keima knows it. It’s a joyous thing to see Keima get so serious of a girl. When he started ranting about his games and how life should be like them. I thought it was brilliant to see Keima have a reality check. Life isn’t a game. In order to save Kanon, Keima is willing to do anything.

Episode 3 was amazing because even though they crammed so much in, it didn’t feel rushed. It was done perfectly. And, when it did feel rushed, the viewer didn’t tend to notice because it felt almost like it was meant to be that way. Keima is hurrying to save Kanon’s life. If he’s sitting around doing nothing every episode I think people would complain more. Just saying.

To conclude, The World God Only Knows is getting better with each episode. So far, this has been my favorite episode of the series, encompassing all of the best bits from the first two series into one 25 minute episode. That said, I’m hoping there’s more drama next episode so that we can see the Goddesses arc as it was meant to be seen, the most serious arc in The World God Only Knows so far. 

Happy Birthday Akarin~!

"Shape My Story" by Anna Yano (Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu! OP) [AMV]

[Video Source: xSlayce]

Rou Kyuu-Bu SS! Episode 3! [Review]

Happy Birthday Tomoka!

The match tenses up a bit ever since Ginga became the temporary coach! The 5th grade team had a big improvement in teamwork and overall playing ability, though they still lost. Tomoka's fake out against Mimi was very nice as well as her blocking of Mimi's scoop shot. At first, I thought Subaru had to coach both teams, but then they revealed it was Aoi, which will probably spice things up even more!

The following day, Tomoka invites Subaru to her birthday party, so after school he asks Aoi to help him pick up a gift for Tomoka. Aoi had quite the misunderstanding about who Subaru was getting a present for, she thought it was for her and was quite disappointed.

During the party, the girls insisted to let Tomoka sit on Subaru's lap, much to the later's embarrassment. Later Tomoka receives gifts from everyone: from Maho, Saki, Hinata and Airi - a basketball ball. Aoi Tomoka gave Tomoka the cutest ribbon for her birthday. From Subaru, a towel, which Tomoka happily accepts. And on next day, Subaru and Tomoka happily have a training session like always.

I really liked this episode. The first three episodes have been very enjoyable so far! 

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi! Episode 3! [Review]

Quite an unexpected ending!

Things started out with Ai and Hampnie proceeding their journey. Ai dreamt about her mother.  While walking across a rope bridge spanning a waterfall  which is undoubtedly one of the most loveliest composition scenes in this anime season. Hampnie and Ai see a firework explode overhead.  Hampnie suddenly kicks Ai off the bridge and the things were never the same again.

The main problems I've had with this episode itself (apart from Hampnie's death) were mostly the pacing. Hampnie's wish alone would have made a good intra-episode, but on top of that, they had to reveal that he was Ai's father, the events with the group kidnapping him, they reveal about Ai's village, Hampnie's real name and the ending itself. There was really no explanation, they more or less dropped out of the sky to make the plot happen. I think all this would have worked better both with more buildup to the events, and more time spent on the events themselves.

I won't deny that the moment when Ai, Yuri and Scar busted into the cabin to rescue Hampnie was artfully staged. It had a rare combination of beauty that this anime has proved itself deft at creating, and the slow-motion was used to great effect.  

Apparently Hampnie was granted his wish - to die a "normal" death, where has leaves behind loved ones and carries a few regrets with him.  It's only when he realized that he had a reason to live that he was granted his wish to die - only the power of regret liberated him.  It's a very interesting and poetical turn of events. After Hampnie awoke undead, he apparently went against his own ways in order to spend a little time with his daughter before he was given his proper burial.  For me, I would have liked to have seen some of that time, and not just in a 30-second flashback.  Hampnie deserved better, and so did the series. There was real emotional power here but not as much as there should have been.

The question is whether Kizuna/Hampnie is really dead. Hampnie was sullen, mysterious, a classic dark hero - and far more interesting than Ai or anyone else we've met so far.  Fortunately the premise itself is an interesting one, and in terms of world-building Kaminai has already proved to be well above the average - so there is considerable hope for the show, even if Hampnie is really gone.  But great characters make great anime, and I hate to see them go under any circumstances this early in a series' run - it remains to be seen whether there's anyone else in the cast who can pick up Hampnie's mantle.

Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation! Episode 2! [Review]

The second episode was a very enjoyable experience because Blanc, Rom and Ram finally get some time in the spotlight. Rom and Ram is so adorable even though they cause trouble by doodling in one of Blanc’s favorite books!

Anyways, Neptune and her friends (except Blanc) take Rom and Ram to a retro theme park that references a bunch of 8-bit titles! Some of which being: Super Mario Bros and Tetris! There were golden coins, pipes, turtles and peaches (perhaps a reference to Princess Peach) which makes a nice touch to the retro theme.

Like the previous episode with all those Dogoos, a lolicon Trick and Linda kidnaps Rom and Ram for a ransom. Thankfully, the others come to save Rom and Ram and had fought the two villains off. Blanc is the most surprising as she looks calm, but has an explosive personality as seen when she beats the hell out of Trick!

Overall, the anime remains enjoyable despite not playing any of it's game titles. It seems that they are going to focus first on the three different goddesses and their sisters before getting into the focal point of the story. I really enjoyed the characters of this anime, as they have a special charm to them along with the references to the video game culture.

Either way, it feels as though that Vert is next in the spotlight in the next episode! 

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu! Episode 3! [Review]

Episode 3! ヾ(*д*)ﾉ゛

Well, I had a feeling that there might be a tournament-style layout (Girls und Panzer) and here we are! A high school airsoft tournament! Though, it’s not going to be a focus point of this series, and it won’t take up every single episode from now on. The entire tournament was done in just one episode (^～^;)ゞ

The first few games must have gone really smoothly for the C3-bu, especially in the first one. I don’t think any of the members sustained a hit, and even Yura-chan managing to take someone out by flailing wildly. While they did rise through the tournament ranks fast, I’d liked to see a bit more of each match than just still shots. However, I do understand that most of the first half was to set things up for the match against Meisei Girls’, a primary rival for our C3-bu. These girls are overwhelmingly strong, and there’s no doubt they’ll be turning up in future episodes, especially as their leader, Haruna Rin seems to be Sonora’s frenemy. Sonora seemed friendly enough, but that’s some strong dislike coming from Rin. They probably have some deep history together from their time in America.

I'm having mixed feelings with Yura-chan’s decision to forfeit right at the very end. On one hand, I can understand her fear – she’s a newbie, who’s been thrown into a high-level match against veterans who took out almost everyone in the C3-bu (including Karila and Sonora) easily. But then again, the forfeit it really didn’t sit well with me – my first verbal thought was “she’s surrendering?” There’s that shame associated with giving up, you know? I’d actually expected Yura-chan to charge in and somehow take the flag – or at least, give Rin a good sense of the hidden talent Yura has for airsoft. But she chose to forfeit instead. Why didn't she fight to the very end? （；へ：）

At the end of this episode, we get to see Yura-chan's sudden change in her hairstyle. Why kind of change was that? All her lovely hair is now gone! ｡゜(｀Д´)゜｡

Anyhow, looking forward to the next episode! ヾ(^ ^ゞ