The Sensei Next Door: Local Lingo Edition

Every once in a while I’ll introduce you to some “local” otaku terminology, as I’m going to be using them in my posts and it’s probably a good idea that you know what they mean. These aren’t officially part of the anime lexicon, but I kinda think they should be. ^_^

And, since I’ve been talking about this in a few posts this past week, I should probably explain it:

Flamenco

proper noun.
Shorthand for the anime series Samurai Flamenco, which spent 6.75 episodes as a series about people trying to be superheroes in the “real world,” and then suddenly became a show populated with actual supervillains, robot monsters, and doomsday devices.

Personally, the series’ sudden shift to frenetic absurdity didn’t work for me at all (I actually dropped it at Episode 13 and am still kind of upset about it). Others thought it made the show more entertaining. The point is, the first 6.75 episodes were a VERY different beast from what followed.

verb. (slang)
When a show starts as one thing and then suddenly and inexplicably becomes something else. Mind you, this is no gradual process – a Flamenco is a “blink and you miss it” situation, when a series pulls a 180 so fast that it gives you story whiplash. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to the story – and the viewer, of course.

Uses: This term works as a noun with a verb (“pulling a Flamenco”) or as a straight verb (“unless this show Flamencoes, it should be really good”). Alternate versions include “Flamencoing out,” “Going full Flamenco,” or whatever else your little heart desires. Yay language!

Rule of Three Review, Digest Edition: Space Dandy 2, Akame ga Kill!, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun – Episodes 2-3

“Easy like Sunday morning,” my ass.

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In addition to our many new shows, I’ve also got my sports show carryovers to watch (Baby Steps and Haikyuu!!), plus Sundays are usually my translation days, to say nothing of the cleaning and grocery shopping and annoying Adult Stuff I should be doing, so… Yeah, there’s a lot happening. You’ll have to forgive me if I cluster these, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. And so…

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The Sensei Next Door: Give a Show a Shot

The Three-Episode Rule

This rule exists somewhere in the Big Book of Anime Laws (probably under “T” – I suspect we’re smart enough to alphabetize this thing), and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

Now I’ve seen some people argue that you should do this for every show, but I wouldn’t go quite that far. I think the “Was the premiere so bad it made you want to punch a baby?“ Rule takes precedence. Still, the general agreement among the anime community is that, if the premiere caught your interest even a little bit, then you should stick around for at least two more episodes before you decide to drop the series.

It’s a good rule for most TV, really (anime or otherwise), and one I like to follow as well. Usually by Episode Three you have a pretty good idea of a show’s trends – its strengths, its weaknesses, and where it tends to land on the spectrum between the two. Granted, there’s always the chance the show could pull a Samurai Flamenco and force you to abandon ship (I’ll always love you, Episodes 1-6.75!), but percentage-wise this happens fairly infrequently. Plus three episodes gives you time to get invested in the characters, pulled into the story, and really just to see where the whole mad adventure is going.

I’m explaining all this now because later today I’ll be launching into my “Rule of Three Reviews” (yay new segments!) for all the summer shows that made it out of Premiere Week. I’ll blog shows either individually or in groups of two, let you know how they progressed and where they stand, and how I’ll be blogging them (or not) from here on out.

Oh – and I’ll be pushing the really good ones at you like an Adderall dealer during finals week. Here’s hoping we can find you a new favorite this summer season!

Panning the Stream: Nobunaga Concerto, Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance

The stream is running a bit on the dry side.

I was really hoping to get a third show to go with these (which is to say I was hoping Funimation would finally get around to streaming Barakamon seeing as how they LICENSED it I mean what are you WAITING for, an INVITATION, because HERE’S YOUR INVITATION STREAM BARAKAMON ALREADY RAWR), but it looks like we’ve run out of licenses for the moment.

So then, here’s the final pair of shows to trickle down the stream: one mixed bag followed by a big bag of awful. I’ve also included the shortlist of summer shows airing but not (legally) streaming, which I’m still waiting to review. Enjoy!

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The Hero Appears! “Ping Pong” and the Asobi Spirit

In which the Josei betrays her English major background by writing a nice long essay about Ping Pong the Animation, the so-good-it-makes-me-angry anime based on the manga by Matsumoto Taiyou (Tekkonkinkreet) and directed by Yuasa Masaaki (The Tatami Galaxy).

Probably it goes without saying, but Here There Be Spoilers. I’m assuming anyone reading this has watched the entire series – so if you HAVEN’T seen it yet, you should go to Hulu or Funimation and watch it all right now, then come back when you’re finished.

The rest of you can hit the jump and read on. Go go ani-crit!

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