Winter 2014 – First Impressions, Part Two (Chuunibyou S2, Nisekoi, Sakura Trick, Hoozuki no Reitetsu, Sekai Seifuku)

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Management: As you may have noticed, I’m rolling these “first impressions” into my standard Week in Review posts. Hope nobody finds that unforgivable.

And with this week, we have our full set of premiers. And what a set it is!

Well, not really. Pretty mediocre set, to be frank. Having checked out the first episodes of close to everything that sounded interesting, I’m beginning to think this will actually be a great season to dig into the ol’ backlog.

Not to say there’s nothing I’m enjoying. Running it down…

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Chuunibyou S2 – Episode 2

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Still covering this, I guess. I mean, I don’t know. It’s Chuunibyou, you guys. I suppose as the person actually writing the piece, I shouldn’t be the one questioning the reason for its existence, but… yeah. It’s Chuunibyou. My analysis is it will probably be chuuni as fuck and also adorable. What added value can I actually provide?

Well, I am watching it while eating a delicious sandwich. I guess I could…

Alright, here’s Bobduh’s guide to making italian subs.

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Why Don’t Anime Characters Ever Have Parents?

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Question:

Why is it so rare that main characters in anime actually have parents? Or if they do have parents, they’re away on an extended trip, or just never show up in-show. Given how unlikely it is any teenager would be left to their own devices in real life, it seems weird that this comes up so often in anime.

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White Album 2 and the Futility of Everything

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“My bridge is burned, and perhaps we’ll shortly learn/That it was arson all along/Can we just get home, sleep this off/Throw some ‘sorry’s’ and then/Do it all again.” – Frightened Rabbit, Late March, Death March

So, I just watched White Album 2, and holy shit you guys. Holy shit. Don’t even know what to say, but I gotta say it anyway. Let’s get through this one together.

White Album 2 has a very dim view of human nature. Not even Evangelion dim, where cruel things happen to broken people pretty much continuously. Evangelion is optimistic – it features plenty of hardship, but the message it puts forth about its characters is fundamentally a positive one. White Album 2 is, like, School Days dark. Everyone’s awful and selfish and wrong. Nobody learns, everyone suffers, the moral is sadness. It’s a hard show for me to square any real intention on, much less enough of a point to actually write a coherent essay. In the end, nobody really wins, and the only question you’re left with is the one the characters ask themselves – where did it all go wrong?

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Sekai Seifuku – Episode 1

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Alright. It’s all up to you, Sekai Seifuku. Space Dandy is too silly, Chuunibyou’s just Chuunibyou, and Hoozuki turned out to be like Lucky Star except somehow even more dull. If any show is going to end up this season’s dark horse candidate, it’s gonna have to be you. Don’t let me down!

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Kill la Kill – Episode 13

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TIME FOR KILL LA KILL YOU SHITHEADS. Aw man, it has been a while. Maybe it’s actually out of kindness that Trigger left us not with a cliffhanger, but with a kind of underwhelming plot-resolver – that certainly made the vacation break somewhat more bearable. Then again, my permanent neural link to twitter has informed me this episode has some serious holy shit moments in store, so I guess I shouldn’t be taking anything for granted.

Anyway. Hope you all enjoyed your new year/holidays/satanic gatherings, and it’s good to see your cold, anonymous handles again. Let’s ring in the new year with some KILL LA KILL.

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Chuunibyou S2 – Episode 1

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Hey guys. Bobduh here, maybe talking about the best show of the season. Or maybe talking about nothing at all. Who knows! Anyway, I have a secret.

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Winter 2014 – First Impressions, Part One (Space Dandy, Noragami, Nobunagun, D-Frag!, SoniAni, The Pilot’s Love Song)

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New season! Action and excitement and maybe a handful of new shows worth watching. I’m actually doing distressingly well relative to my own preview – every show I was anticipating has proven watchable so far, and we’re not even a third of the way through the shows I listed. Let’s run down the new highlights.

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Monogatari and the Monster Inside

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The real world is a scary place.

Not because it’s full of monsters, though we’ll get to that. It’s scary because it’s full of other people. Because it’s full of risks, and setbacks, and harsh truths. It’s scary because to truly look at it, you have to first look at yourself, and acknowledge what you see. Engaging with the real world means acknowledging and embracing every ugly, selfish thing that makes you You, and being honest with yourself is the hardest, scariest thing of all.

Monogatari is a story about liars.

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End of the Year Podcast Part Two

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http://youtu.be/phKa8P9VSt0

More rambling about the year in review, this time covering our favorites from the Summer and Fall seasons, including Monogatari, Uchouten Kazoku, Kyousogiga, and whatever everybody else cared about. Also Kill la Kill, Gatchaman, White Album 2, Samurai Flamenco, etc.

Once again, you can find a list of all our many participants and a timestamp breakdown over at Deadlight’s blog.