以上！

amane~ ^_^ (家庭教師のおねえさん) - click for gelbooru

Hey there folks think I’m pretty overdue for an update here ^^;;  Curious why the updates have dried up?  Want to know what I’m up to? (well, normally i wouldn’t be so bold as to suggest people would actually be interested in that but hell, that’s one of the main reasons for twitter, no? ^^;;)  Read on for some enlightenment and even some anime blabberings if that’s your cup of tea.

First things first let’s talk about updates… things have dropped off quite a bit this past month, even below my record low I had previously ^^;  Biggest reason?  Laziness.  There, I admit it!  Well, maybe not the biggest reason, but the most shameful ^^;

click for gelbooru~

Next big reason is… well, if you’ve been monitoring my preorder list at tsukiboard… well, it’s lookin’ pretty dry lately ^^;  The only new review I have pending at the moment in Selvaria, the other is the alternate color Sheryl… BRS anime version is in stock but I have her bundled to ship with dead master… ‘course that’s not to say i don’t have anything to post about.  But if you’re here for the figures, then actually, yes, I have very little to post about at the moment ^^;;

Hoping some exciting stuff will come on the market soon.  Lately I dunno but nothing’s really been tempting me like it has in the past.  Even with Alter I just find myself holding out for slightly more epic 1/7 or greater releases (otherwise I would’ve been all over the railgun releases :P  well… saten’s face looks weird to me too ^^;).

aaand finally there’s the distractions reason ^^;

As you can see I’ve been busy on the starcraft front, but actually the more consuming part has been following the pro scene.  I actually haven’t been playing too much lately but I haven’t missed a single match in season 2 of the GSL Starcraft 2 tournament ^^;  Love watching the epic play, learning about past brood war champions and watching new players come out of nowhere… highly recommended :3  If the korean scene’s not your thing, an exciting MLG season just wrapped up with Team Liquid dominating!

King’s Bounty has also been a huge distraction.  Real cheap on Steam but man it packs a lotta game play.  Think it took > 60 hours for me to complete the first one.  (and damn it’s hard)

click for gelbooru~

Steam had already been bleeding my wallet and spare time… forget if i already posted about it, but recettear (pictured above) took up another 32 hours. (sorry, no touhou characters in the actual game :P) I loved the concept and got more than my money’s worth for that one.  Puzzle quest 2 I’ve logged 34 more hours…

and to top things off i started playing dragon age again ^^;;;; (only played through 1.5 characters ’til now)

oh whoops, almost forgot another huge reason… we were trying to schedule a fumigation for the house i live in for the longest time… and ‘cuz of that i was reluctant to unbox anything until the fumigation was done.  Figures that it took almost 2 months to get the whole thing resolved, but yes, that’s finally over with so that’s no longer an excuse ^^;

Alrighty, at any rate that’s my long list of excuses.  I’ve no intention of stopping so rest assured things will keep on rolling here at wawawawasuremono.  Just, as I’m sure you’re used to by now, slower than before ^^;  Thanks for continuing to stop by, これからも宜しくお願いします～

working!! ep 8

So then, against my better judgment I’ll keep this post going with a brief rundown of anime I’ve been catching up on lately (see, I haven’t been neglecting all of my akibakei hobbies ^^;)~

Finished up working!! some time ago now… gads, was that back in the summer?  Loved pretty much all the characters and in my book that puts in firmly in the thumbs up category ^^  Slice of life lovers, this is highly recommended.

senjyou no valkyria ep 20

So I actually ordered Alter’s Selvaria without having seen or played Valkyria Chronicles.  Fiiinally got around to seeing the anime (since I still don’t have a ps3 orz) and damn I really enjoyed this one too.  Yes yes, I’ve heard the game is 1000 times better, so I will be sure to follow up with that someday ^^  But at any rate, here again, toootally loved the characters, Selvaria is so kick ass.  No cutting corners for the drama in a war setting either (well, I’m trying to keep this spoiler free… but not to say this is better than the game, but compared to some of the other stuff i’ve seen recently, nicely done imo).  Really solid, left me wanting more so I’m glad to hear the game has so much more to offer ^_^

Oh how could i forget.  WTF SPOILERS in the 2nd OP???!?!?  Not really sure why they did that orz.  I mean, I had sorta suspected it by that point but I don’t think there was any strong evidence for it yet?  meh.  Anyhow…

tokyo magnitude 8, ep 4

Yeah, I’m really behind ^^;  Tokyo Magnitude 8 I thought was ok.  Glad they didn’t stretch the series out to 12 or more episodes… though even then I’m not sure I think the execution of the final episode(s?) was necessary… not bad, worth a try.  I’ll have to discuss this (well, all of these ^^;;) in more depth later…

baka to test to shoukanjyuu ep 3

Baka to test to shoukanjyuu!!  I already have a soft spot for love triangles… add in the okama kataomoi, the trap, an abusive couple, tsundere, a voice actress that sounds like chihiro (was surprised to find out it wasn’t the same ^^;)… would definitely watch more ^_^

seitokai yakuindomo ep 7

yet another series with seitokai in the title.  Yet another winner in my book ^^;  Love the humor (slice of life with a bit more of an ecchi slant ^^;  though this ain’t no yosuga no sora ^^;;).  suzu and shino are probably my favorites ^^  Wouldn’t mind another season of this either :P

Also finishing up k-on!! while watching ore no imouto & ookami-san to shichinin no nakamatachi… enjoying all of those as well :3  Unfortunately none of these seem to lend themselves to epic figures!  Well, guess we’ll see.  Hopefully there’ll be some good releases/announcements as wonfes winter approaches~

Alrightythen, that’s all i got for now.  またな～

以上！

KOS-MOS!!!  Yeah, I got her.  Yeah, she was insanely expensive.  But hot damn, this is how 1/4 should be done :P

Just to a bit of warning, this post is gonna end up at over 40 pics ^^;;; But hey, she’s worth it :P

Hell, I have 4 pictures of the box ^^;  It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a picture of the cardboard box my figures get shipped in, but this was a special exception ^^; And if you were wondering how big her box was, well, there are the dimensions right there.  The inner box was only maybe 1 inch smaller in all dimensions.

Simply massive box, and like the other polystone figure I’ve gotten, no windows or anything.  Just nice and simple.

Love all the little labels they put on the box ^^

I didn’t take any pics of the packing material… but it was basically just a double decker styrofoam sandwich.  Head, base, and some miscellany on the top deck, and her body and sword and rest on the bottom.  After some assembly with the nicely diagrammed instructions…

Took a lot of photos zoomed quite a bit out to give you a sense of her presence with that massive blade.  Man, it’s impressive.

Very simple, yet effective pose, though best enjoyed from the front ^^;

To give you a sense of the massive scale we’re talking about here…

That’s good ‘ol 1/8 KOS-MOS by Alter.  Looks like she gets up a little past 1/4 KOS-MOS’ knee. ^^;

Trying to fit her in the frame was quite the challenge.

Really beautiful details from head to toe, love the stockings she’s wearing ^^

The laces on the boots could’ve been a little more detailed but hell you probably won’t be viewing her from behind anyway.

Because of her scale, all the text on her outfit comes out nice and (mostly) sharp, a very nice touch.

These gold… bronze? colored side pieces above were actually among the pieces that needed to be glued on.

and man her outfit is short.  Don’t know why i didn’t notice that before ^^;

And that flap of her outfit just barely keeping her modest ^^;;  After seeing that I had to do a little investigative work…

So this hand held, overexposed pic is proof that somehow, yes, she is wearing pantsu. Just being thorough.  ^^;;;

Did KOS-MOS have this outfit in the first two games?  I must admit I never got around to the third ^^;;;;  Yes it’s pretty blasphemous considering I acquired this figure but the game was never my favorite.  KOS-MOS transcended that though :P (Xenogears, on the other hand, was pure win.)

Not to dump all my closeups at ya in a row, let’s step back a sec, shall we?

Quite a different shoot having her fill frame with the blade cropped off with my 50mm backed up against the wall ^^;

Just love how obscenely massive she is with that blade.  Very impressive, impossible to fit in any shelving I have thou ^^;

The pieces over her oppai are actually attached by magnets (actually, same story with her arms), which means you could display the twins if you’d like…

…but unfortunately that means you have some weird white boob caps on display.

Wonder if it was a licensing thing that prevented them from giving her normal oppai…

Base is more than a solid disk, yet still nice and simple, which I like.  No need to draw your attention away from  her awesome beauty.  Unfortunately I think a little more detail would’ve been appreciated on her feet and ankle dagger thing.

Still with me?  ^^;

You’ll see some of the logos/text on her is this weird splotchy ink, but that’s only at macro distance.  Looks normal to mere human eyes.

Mmmm just love the chains on her hair.  And nice colors here ^^

Haven’t done any high angle shots in a while have I?  Maybe I have.  Thought it was moderately interesting given her insane blade :P

Another look at her hair and those chains~

And rather than try to fit that entire blade in one frame, here’s the bottom half ^^;

I hope I fit the pin in all the way… ^^;;;  Would be pretty terrible to have that massive thing falling all over my surrounding figures ^^;;

Ufufu dark and mysterious kos-mos!!  errr…  well, i tried ^^;;;

Just look at innocent face :3  mmmmm

Loooove the blue eyes.  Gorgeous.

…unlike this close up photo of her head thingy.  Ah well.  ^^;; No it doesn’t look that dingy in person ^^;

Mmmm just look at her :3

Lots of these angles are really similar… but hey, it’s 1/4 KOS-MOS.  Bear with me :P

Seeing that her blade was somewhat transparent, tried lighting it up a bit…

Turned out ok I guess.  Unfortunately some of that hard light was making some harsh highlights on her outfit.

And again, for any first time readers… all these pics are 1920×1280, so click away if you’d like to oogle in high resolution.

Feel like I should update my banner with something kos-mos :3

Just love that face ^^

With size such a noticeable attribute of this figure, wouldn’t be a meronpan review without some size comparisons, now would it?  Pictured above we have nendoroid petite tsukasa, nendoroid reimu, 1/8 alter kos-mos ver. 4, 1/7 alter vivio, and 1/6 alter swimsuit kos-mos… And even 1/6 barely gets up to 1/4 KOS-MOS’ stomach ^^;;

So there she is!  Yet another reason why I’ve been cutting my acquisitions back this year ^^;

Used the splendid Tokyo Hunter for this transaction, always a great option if you’re looking for rare or limited figures.  Heck it looks like he’s even taking orders for the touhou DDs.

If this looked a bit familiar, perhaps it’s the previous Volks gk you’re thinking of… E2046 did a recast and both wolfheinrich and tier have some lovely pics up of that version.

The end all figure for KOS-MOS fans!  woohoo!

以上！

Saber!  How many Fate/stay night figures can I acquire before I play the game?  … … ^^:;;;

Maids and Lily are fine and all but for a sword wielding babe, it’s about time we have a nice action pose.

When it comes to cast off or extra parts or whatever, this is how I like things.  Nice and simple.  Two swords to choose from and they both fit easily into her hands.  ^_^

Went for the no background just to try and spark some creativity for today’s shoot ^^;

Nice metal peg for support  ^^

Only problem with her pose is that her arm blocks most of her mouth.

I guess that could be a positive thing if you’re tired of yelling expressions ^^;

Base is pretty nice.  Are manufacturers finally leaning away from the plain bases?  Or maybe it’s just the ones i order ^^;

Excalibur has a nice solid feel, though I’m still waiting for a nice chrome finish someday :P

Armor is likewise solid.  No crazy gift armor but a faithful representation of the original art ^^

Now unfortunately that… what do you call it… gah, words fail me.  The front flap of her outfit… has some sort of weird problems…

It almost looks like a piece of plastic is covering it and there are air bubbles trapped.  As far as I could tell there wasn’t any film on it thou… ;_;

Good ‘ol gauntlets.

Boots~

And saber being saber… this is as close as you’re gonna get for pantsu

Something about her head, ribbon… outfit details… feels like they could’ve been a little finer.  But it’s still not bad as is.

The charged up version… errr… “Invisible Air”?  is made of clear plastic but unfortunately that means without some fancy lighting it looks pretty dull ^^;;

Luckily with some lights and post processing we can get it to look energized :P

In a bit more normal lighting:

Think I shoulda taken more full body shots to show off the pose…

Full shot of invisible air

mmmm really shoulda rotated lily so they were both facing the camera -_-;;

And alas the group shot didn’t turn out at all as I would’ve liked.  White balance is on the warm side, but when I correct it the pic looks a bit too flat… Ah well.  I’m sure I’ll order another fate/stay night figure someday and take more pics then.  Isn’t that rin coming out soon? :P

I think this version is my new favorite for armored saber… hard choice if i had to pick between her and alter maid ^^;

A great saber in a solid 1/7 scale.  Definitely recommended.

以上！

Hmm looks like I”m about a month late with these pics but better late than never.  FREEing’s rendition of mio, this time time based on her famous mmq scene ^_^

Before we move on, in case you need to remind yourself of the meme,

^_^

According to tsukiboard it’s been over a year since my last FREEing purchase.  Lotsa Alter and GSC ^^;

Hadn’t been planning on getting more k-on figures (especially considering i’m not getting the whole alter set) but loved the scene and couldn’t pass this version up ^^;

Listed at 1/8 and she feels like a proper 1/8 (unlike VN02 ^^;)

Hate to sound like an alter fanboy (not that i’m not :P) but she feels like she’s missing a bit of that alter finish… nevertheless i think she turned out quite nice ^^

And jeez they made that skirt short!

Sorry about the black background… she’s blending in a bit much ^^;

Shoulda taken a pic of it but i love how in her packaging there’s a heart shaped support for her hands ^_^

Kinda mixed feelings on her expression.  Sometimes i think it’s just right but other times I feel like it’s slightly off…?

Turned on highlight tone priority for this session though i’m not sure how much it helped ^^;

Now again I know she’s just a 1/8 from FREEing but still couldn’t help but compare the details on her outfit…

mio

saber alter

mio

saber alter

Though one thing mio brings to the table is shimapan :3

Think I messed with the white balance unnecessarily for these shots… ah well

And coming back to that skirt again…

Base is pretty vibrant so a word of caution if you’d prefer something more subdued.

Not sure if it’s the figure, me, or both, but just wasn’t finding much inspiration for my shots this time… only 20ish images today.

As far as the figure goes though I’d say that’s just a product of her sculpted to be viewed head on.

In case you were wondering how she stacks up to Alter’s release:

I’d say she fits in quite well ^^

If you prefer mio in mmq mode unfortunately your choices are pretty limited… the only other one i could find on tsukiboard was this banpresto release ^^;  Luckily I think FREEing delivered a pretty faithful rendition so fans shouldn’t have any reservations picking her up ^^

以上！

Despite having picked up Alter’s metatron (ugh, forgive my horrible white balance from back then ^^;;), still haven’t partaken in an Demonbane.  As such al azif was able to convince a purchase out of me on execution alone ^^  Really liked the preview shots and orchid seed didn’t disappoint!  Little warning, Al Azif has some nsfw castoff!

I believe this is my first Orchid Seed figure.  Think the only reason I don’t have many more of their figures is that usually they’re a bit too far on the ero side of the spectrum for my collection ^^;

Found it hilarious that 75% of the box is for her stand and ribbons ^^;

Speaking of which I was not pleased to see that I would have to attach a shitton of ribbons to her ^^;;;  And they’re all different!  Luckily they did include some assembly instructions but still made me nervous given my history with little parts ^^;

Her base is really neat… but unfortunately it was actually a bigger pain than all the ribbons!  For some reason the book doesn’t really attach neatly even though it looks everything’s lining up.  To make things worse the book is hollow (or feels as such), so I was afraid to apply too much pressure and possible crack something…

After finally getting the book down I was also surprised to find the pegs for her feet were also really hard to get attached ;_;

Wasn’t able to get then in without twisting them on one at a time first… and even then I ended up detaching the book from the base on accident… gads it was like 30 minutes before I had her assembled!!!

Thankfully that’s all over with… at least until I move again ^^;

A bit of a departure from the usual anime character proportions… al azif has a bit more meat on her bones than the average gal :P

From what little I do know of her, Al Azif is normally of more loli proportions… not sure if this is a re-imagining of her character or some sort of transformation (in which her clothes stay the same size ^^;).

All the ribbons seemed a bit overboard when I first saw her in the box but after getting everything attached I like how she looks ^^

Anyone able to tell me what the funny looking wing things on her back are? ^^;

Ah well, on to some close up shots…

oppai!

Those pantsu really look stretched to the limit ^^;

Bit of a chip or something on the paint but unless you’ve got your face planted in her crotch I doubt it’d be noticeable :P

Moving on to less ecchi shots…

Love the detail on her finger nails ^^  Crop from above pic:

One of her feet has this weird standoff that doesn’t firmly attach to the base… made getting that peg to fit even more of a problem ;_;

You can see it here not quite resting flat ;_;

Other foot attaches well enough after you finally get it on the peg.

Really liked the base in the preview shots, wish it fit together better but otherwise pretty satisfied.

Nice long hair~

Decent detail in her outfit~

Like her expression a lot for some reason

Time for some oppai~

You have to remove a couple parts of her outfit to get to her bust but once you do you can remove it (in my case with much difficulty orz) and replace with the bare oppai.

Personally won’t be using it since not only would that creep out my roommates way too much but it also just looks sort of weird that her outfit only got destroyed in one place like that ^^;

Alrighty, I think that pretty much covers her oppai option ^^;

Triple ahoge ftw

Some high angle shots~

And low angle~

Top pic w/small dof:

Nice 1/7 release with good execution and an interesting base… a bit pricey at 9800 yen though I got her at amiami for 7520.

Didn’t see to much of her around, I suppose not as popular? ^^;

以上！

At the risk of being horribly inaccurate I’ll go with the spelling on the box for this one ^^;

Been awhile but finally here’s another Alter review… their latest entry to the StrikerS series!

I am the master of mediocre box shots! ^^;

For those of you not familiar with the series, well hmm I guess it would constitute a spoiler huh… Skip to the next paragraph if you care ^^;  Anyhow, as I was saying, Vivio is indeed that little orphan girl (heterochromia-philiacs eat your hearts out :P) that gets adopted by Nanoha and Fate, making the ultimate yuri family.  I forget the exact reasons but you know, latent powers unlocked, transformation sequence engage, blamo we have adult vivio ^_^

Par for this series of releases she stands at a monstrous 1/7, giving signum a run for the money.

Speaking of monstrous I had forgotten how much of a bust upgrade her transformation had granted her ^^;

*ahem* we’ll get back to that later, but for now:

Was kinda having trouble find different angles/framing and ended up with a ton of similar shots… guess I’m getting out of practice ^^;;;

Wouldn’t have minded if her pony tail was a little more detailed but at least it’s got a nice flow to it.

If I remember correctly her uniform sorta compliments her numbers allies.

Sporting some sort of body suit so no pantsu today.

My room is the dust capital of the world.  orz

Base is… base is also par for the series ;_;

We don’t get to see much of adult vivio fighting but she does have some sort of weird energy ball attack which is what I assume we see here.

Alrighty back to that bust shot…

I mean jeebus that’s quite an upgrade.  To those unfamiliar with nanoha… no the series isn’t just service ^^;

x’mas eyes~

Dramatic framing?  Well, I tried ^^;

I think the lower angle shots turned out better…

Liked getting the entire energy ball thing in the shot below…

…but kinda liked the framing better with her off to the side… ^^;;

or maybe portrait, low angle?

You may have noticed the group shot missing from my shamal review… was lazy since and delayed it for this review ^^;

I think that’s everyone so far, right?  Left out chibi nanoha since technically she’s a movie release and I was out of room ^^;  Had to crop off the top and bottom and use my 50mm but i managed to fit everyone somehow ^^  (though stupid signum is sticking her sword in hayate’s face ^^;)

Tried taking some other shots but i think they’re only only passable resized down ^^;

Ended up just focusing on vivio ^^;  Sorry hayate, vita, you’ve been relegated to bokeh duty.

<3  Maybe they’ll come out with a StrikerS movie… think the figure looks way better than the anime at this point ^^;

ep 25

Especially as a follow up to the lamentably forgettable Shamal, Vivio’s another great addition to the lineup ^^  Which reminds me I really need to get around to reading vivid ^^;; 2nd volume already came out a while ago i think?

Once again, would recommend stopping by Tentacle Armada for some really awesome shots.

Totally off topic: Previously I only followed a small group of folks on twitter so that I wouldn’t be overrun by tweets all day… decided to part with that plan and so now I should be following pretty much everyone.  yoroshiku na~

Slightly on topic:  Still in the queue: moe moe kyun & sheryl!  Al azif in the mail!

以上！

So I apologize for my tardy reviews ^^;;;

Vivio, Mio, and Sheryl are all waiting in my queue but I still haven’t been able to tear myself away.

Luckily Tier has you covered for Vivio.  Awesome pics, check it out if ya haven’t already.  Check it out again if ya have, it’s great ^^

Had a whole post but it was mostly just inconsequential ranting so I’ll just leave it at this:  awesome game.  Single & multi both very solid.

Looks like I’m currently a low diamond 1v1 player though I’m happy to play whatever else. Send me a tweet if you’d like to look me up in game.

En taro tassadar!

And we’ll see if I can get those reviews out in the next week or two ^^;;;

以上！

Don’t know the exact instant it happened but that bad apple video is now the #1 all time most viewed video on niconico!  If you somehow haven’t seen it check it out here.

If you don’t have a niconico account here’s a youtube version:

While we’re at it, here’s some other tribute’s I’ve come across as the madness unfolded.  If you’re familiar with the characters and the themes, this medley is really awesome (niconico).  It takes the theme for each character as they appear on screen and somehow mashes it into one awesome song with the bad apple beat in the background.

For those that like source material, here’s the original video request that the awesome one was made to fulfill (niconico).  There’s actually a bunch of other videos that people made (some quite good), but I guess none of ‘em were able to snatch up those 8 million views like the silhouette one ^^;  The title loosely translates to [the uploader wants to see] Bad Apple PV [someone draw it!].

If you’d rather not dig up all of those other videos, someone combined a bunch of them into one ^^ (niconico). (fun starts around :40)

Or if you want the direct comparison of the silhouette vid to the original request, we’ve got that too :P (niconico).

And of course don’t forget the video that got onto CNN (niconico).

…or the one carved out of real apples (niconico).

Or if you’re tired of song being taken too seriously he’s a contribution that takes things another way ^^ (niconico).  Best enjoyed if you can understand the Japanese but I’m sure those familiar with the characters will be able to understand it just fine ^^

Anyhow that’s all today.  Alstroemeria Records ftw.

以上！

angel beats op

I have yet to find a format for these anime posts that i’m happy with so in the meantime… here’s some rambling steam of conscious stuff to help me come to closure with this series ^^;  ~major spoilers~

In a good news & bad news situation I’m a bad news first sorta guy so let’s start with the things that didn’t work out for me…

Yuri

I didn’t think it’d be an issue for me but surprisingly her haruhi similarities did have a negative impact on the show for me.  I kept finding myself comparing her/the show to haruhi, highlighting reasons why the quirkiness worked for the SOS-dan but not in Angel Beats.  Right from the start my first thought was, “ugh, why is she trying to be like haruhi” ^^;;;

angel beats ep 2

She’s got that same aggressive, “I’m always right” sorta personality… coming up with weird plans that feel awkward and out of place… but instead of regular world to act all this out, you’re in this weird purgatory wondering whether or not anyone has any idea how things really work.  Are her plans stupid?  Brilliant?  Because of the haruhi similarity I was inclined to feel like they were just stupid plans and her whims being carried out… and it gave her a “bad haruhi copy” vibe ^^;;  Also it really threw off my sense of what kind of show it was gonna be.  Was it just trying to cater to haruhi nostalgia or other recent hits?  Or be a serious drama or…?  Oh, and having a band in the show?  my first thought was, “they must’ve thrown that in there since k-on was so popular.”  prolly not true but that’s just the mood seeing yuri/haruhi put me in.   Which leads me to…

Pacing/Atmosphere

It really just didn’t sit well with me having the slap stick antics in a deathless society suddenly juxtaposed with the very serious flashbacks/resolutions of issues the individual characters were dealing with.  Not that I’m against comic relief in a dramatic series… I actually like those scenes very much to help you build your relationship with the characters.  But angel beats takes it a little overboard…

angel beats ep 2

Case in point – episode 1 you’re trying to figure out what’s going on, you find out that they’re in some sort of afterlife and can’t die, hahaha there’s a trap that knocks people out of the building if they don’t knock on the door right or whatever… episode 2 people are dying (for the moment) left and right as they navigate traps aaaaand *bam* we find out yuri’s 3 siblings were murdered in her previous life.  … … … ummmm ok.  Child murder in the midst of slapstick death antics  -_-  Just really didn’t work for me.  Why have such a sudden transition?  It was only episode 2!  I hadn’t developed any sorta feelings for yuri (especially since i was trying to fight the urge to compare her to haruhi) so rather than tragic the story just felt awkward and out of place.

angel beats ep 2

Basically they took what could’ve been a really shocking/disturbing reveal and dulled it down by shoving it in their viewers’ faces prematurely.  It’s like meeting someone for a first date and they bust out with, “oh yeah, did I tell you my mother got murdered last week?”  I mean… you can’t help but feel sorry for them but you’re shocked just kinda want to shrug it off and get on with things.

Also I think this sort of stuff works a lot better when you’re dealing with real world emotions… which I argue we are lacking in Angel Beats due to the lack of death in purgatory.  Lots of shows take fantastic elements in their heavy drama then mix it up with slapstick and lighter toned episodes.  Take code geass for example… really serious story at times with character death mixed in with occasional school festivals or cosplay?  Making a giant pizza?  The valentines day game?  But they haven’t altered your core reactions to tragic situations.  They’re not rewiring your emotions.  So with the lighter episodes you bond with the characters and appreciate the fleeting periods of happiness they get to experience.  Tragedy strikes and you’re that much more attached to the characters’ loss.

angel beats ep 9

Angel Beats on the other hand is trying (well, maybe not actively trying but effectively causing you) to rewire your reactions towards death and violence by eliminating any lasting consequences… while trying to build on back stories that rely heavily on your original interpretations of such -_-  Well, at least, that’s how it ended up playing out for me orz

I think the series would’ve benefited without the “no death” rule in the purgatory they were trapped in… did they really need that element?  I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be terribly hard to write it as such.  Honestly, why were they trying to craft an environment where death didn’t matter when the series revolves so heavily around death and matters left unattended because of it?  I guess maybe you could say it’s part of a theme that no hardship, not even death will prevent people from coming to peace with their lives?  But was that worth sacrificing the show’s pacing?

angel beats ep 10

Definitely not saying that a show needs to be all serious or all funny… but it’s just that this show puts you in a new world with new rules so personally it was just really hard to appreciate the lighter moments the same way.  Usually those moments give you a breather from the serious stuff, brief moments of joy to share with the cast and become more familiar with them… Angel beats felt more like they took 2 different shows and just tried to mash them together ;_;

On the other hand…

So then, despite all that I did like main story they were trying to tell… people trapped until they could come to terms with their regrets, wishes and what not of their previous lives…

Once I finally got somewhat acclimated to the bipolar nature of the show making death a slapstick gag one moment and a tear jerking tragedy the next, i finally was able to build some attachment to the characters.

angel beats ep 7

I’m quite the softy so otonashi’s backstory in ep. 7 & 9, yui’s passing in ep 10 and pretty much all of ep 13 were all able to produce some tears from me ^^;  So not to say any series that makes me cry is good but it definitely means I’ve developed a relationship with the characters which is always a good sign.

angel beats ep 8 ed

Music I enjoyed… though I suppose that may have actually hurt my appreciation of the series overall ^^;;  I say that because it was so nice and solemn… somber.  Made me feel like I was watching a serious drama instead of a comedy/drama fusion ^^;

With eva as one of the first anime i watched, rei type characters get on my good side quickly… made it pretty easy for me to like kanade ^^  Though i wish we got to know her better.  …and to that end… why did otonashi like her so much?

In the end

In the end I just feel like the series could’ve been so much more.  To anyone who’s ever played a good tear jerking visual novel perhaps you’ll agree with me when I say this just scratches the surface of what a good story could be.  I really haven’t played too many but all of them I think had better execution/cohesion than angel beats.  I think either delaying the onset of the serious back stories and easing into it more towards the middle would’ve worked better or maybe starting out more serious and giving the audience a break with lighter stuff midway would’ve been a better approach?  Again though, it may just be that the whole premise that you couldn’t die in purgatory really didn’t work for me.

fortune arterial

Alas I have no background in literature or film so I can’t articulate my complaints with anything but an amateur’s vague sense of dissatisfaction… so yeeeaaah, I won’t try to convince any of you who liked it that I’m right ^^;  But for what it’s worth, the series just felt off to me and I wish it was executed better.

Guy has his thoughts posted in this post which seem to echo my general feelings towards the series.  I won’t be so bold as to say he agrees with me but if nothing else I guess I can say I’m not alone in my disappointment ^^;  (plus he mentions shigofumi, which I noticed he rated as a 10/10.  not sure i’d say it’s perfect, but i’m pretty sure that’s a vastly under appreciated series ^^)

ETERNAL on the other hand enjoyed it very much if you’d like a contrasting point of view.

TLDR

Despite my complaints, overall I think I’d prolly have to say the series was above average, but again it just felt like it squandered an opportunity to be top notch.

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