The mean green parody machine.
Yurikuma Arashi Recap – Episode 3: “The Invisible Storm”
The moment of truth.
Beforethoughts
I considered dragging out the tension like an extended drumroll (durarararara…), but instead, let’s spend the last half of the post talking references and the first half talking personal reaction, which is this: I’m sticking with Yurikuma Arashi. I wasn’t sure if I would last week, but this episode assuaged a lot of my fears and gave me hope (and some outright confirmation) that my initial readings of this show weren’t completely off the mark. There’s still plenty of time for Ikuhara to step on a land mine and blow this whole, crazy experiment to the Moon Kingdom, but it’s looking slightly less likely that that’s going to happen, at least.
Utena Watch Party: Episode 21
In which the mean girls take center stage, and you just know they wear pink on Wednesdays.
Click here for an explanation of the watch party, and an invitation to chime in with your own thoughts (Tumblr tag: #Utena Watch Party).
For Returning Viewers, Vrai’s episode analysis is here for your reading pleasure:
And my own newbie-friendly commentary is below the jump.
Sailor Moon Newbie Reviews: Episodes 71-72
Sailor Moon: Encouraging you to quit your crappy job since 1993!
No week with an Ami episode can ever be a bad week. Throw in some villain redemption and a climax revolving (literally) around a black muthafuggin hole, and we got ourselves a recipe for a good old-fashioned Sailor Moon Romp.
So let’s get right to it.
Yurikuma Arashi Recap – Episode 2: “I Will Never Forgive You”
Creepiest. Harem. Ever.
Beforethoughts
I had the same relationship with Episode 2 of Yurikuma that I had with Episode 1: On my first viewing I felt deeply uncomfortable and incredibly wary about writing about it. But after some thought, a second viewing, and a little bit of online research, I became invested in the series again.
Panning the Stream: Sequels and Carryovers Edition (Winter 2015)
Hello Ikebukuro, my old friend.
There’s a flipping mountain of sequels and carryovers this season, so I won’t spend a ton of time on them all, but I did want to touch base with the shows that came back, and let everyone know what I will and won’t be watching (at least for the time being – if the new winter shows prove disappointing, it’s not impossible that I’ll finally get around to trying out Log Horizon or Fafner, but I wouldn’t put any bets on it).
Familiar faces below the jump!
Panning the Stream: Maria the Virgin Witch, World Break, Samurai Warriors
So scratch my last comment about there being no “middle-of-the-road” series this season.
Because this season is so heavy on sequels and carryovers, we’re actually pretty close to the end of the (licensed) new premieres, and I was finding myself with a lot of shows that were pretty much locks and very few that were hanging out in limbo. I’d still say that’s mostly true, but we do have one hard “maybe” this time around, worthy of a meet ‘n’ greet but definitely a series I’ll be playing by ear in the coming weeks. Past that there’s a big N-O and much smaller one, as we quietly close the curtain on the first week of the winter season.
Panning the Stream: Death Parade, The Rolling Girls, Gourmet Girl Graffiti, Fafnir Unlimited
Now that’s more like it!
This season is shaping up to have very little in the middle-of-the-pack range, as it seems that I either like a premiere a whole lot or pretty much hate it, with very little middle ground. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you: It makes it easier to know what to keep and what to drop, without having to give a bunch of series 2-3 episode trials run beforehand.
The good news is that this batch has a pair of premieres I really enjoyed, which is about the only thing they share – well, that and their own unique sense of style, I suppose. They’re a breath of fresh air from all the cookie-cutter series out there, and I can’t wait to tell you all about ‘em.
Panning the Stream: Assassination Classroom, KanColle, Testament of Sister New Devil, Saekano
Well, one of out of four ain’t… okay, actually, yeah. It’s pretty bad.
I’m watching Death Parade as soon as I add this post to my queue because I suspect (hope!) it will warrant a full meet ‘n’ greet, too, but since that first day of Magical Boy and Bear excitement, the trickle of new winter shows has been pretty uninspiring. Fortunately we’ve got some good sequels and carryovers, or I’d be getting downright depressed.
In this post, we’ve got one ball of strangeness with some potential to at least be pretty fun (and possibly more than that), and past that a whole bunch of generic, fanservice-y bores. But let’s start with the potential, so we don’t all feel too depressed going into our weekend.
The Josei Next Door 