Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Episode 1
Awr, man… I was determined not to like this!
Calling a spade a spade (because, y’know, it is), Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is grade-A manufactured rubbish. Ever since reading about the show’s original premise, it was painfully obvious that this anime would be constructed meticulously from well-known tried-and-tested components with the aim of checking every tick box on the anime fan’s wish list. Clumsy, moé, sweet, gentle, good-at-everything, admired-by-all female lead who loves Akiba’s produce as much as we do? Check. Dweebish, uninterested, dorky-yet-assertive male protagonist? Check. Every frame’s a fanservice frame!? Check. Reason for aforementioned cute female lead to rely upon aforementioned boring guy? Check. It’s all there, laid out like a delicious smorgasbord of 2D niches ready to be devoured by a pack of salivating otaku with thick-rimmed glasses and pockets stuffed full of Suzumiya Haruhi bunny-girl figurines. Yeah, really. More…
Itazura na Kiss - Episode 14
Waaaah! It finally happened! Irie finally gave in to Kotoko’s persistent pestering and agreed to marry her. But, man that episode moved quickly! So much happened that even the OP was forgone just to gain that brief extra minute-and-a-half. For once, though, I’m not going to complain about pacing. I simply enjoyed this too much.
I never followed the original Itazura na Kiss manga - something I regret more and more with each passing episode of the anime - but at the same time I’m glad for not knowing what’s going to happen next. I mean, I really didn’t see that wedding happening. At least not until the series finale. At a guess, I probably would have said that the rain scene would result in tears (the sad type) and perhaps Kotoko would have settled for Kinnosuke. It would have made for a predictable ending, sure, with Kotoko and Irie finally realising their suppressed feelings for one another sometime around episode twenty-three. In fact, this episode could have slotted in later on pretty inconspicuously. More…
Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo - Episode 1
So the long awaited Zero no Tsukaima series three finally shows its tsuntsun much less deredere face and, after the let down ending of the previous series, the pressure’s certainly on for it to live up to the awesomeness of those better early episodes. My initial take on episode one of Princess no Rondo, was to be honest, fairly mediocre.
It seems that the classic Zero no Tsukaima formula is still suffering from the same old problems of series two – namely too many characters and too fast a story. In that short twenty-five minutes alone, we learned that (spoiler alert here) Saito is no longer bound to Louise by contract (rune markings, Familiar-hood, whatever), Louise is not the only Void magic user and Saito has competition from another Void familiar himself. Oh, and that elf from series two – you know, the one that essentially ruined the entire series’ credibility and reputation – she has a known name. And address. Seriously guys, whatever happened to pacing? More…
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