Diary of a tard: Week 1, May 2012

Wednesday, May 2

The festival resumes in chapter 42 of Hyakko. New characters grace us with their present as they come to the school for the festival. The most important new character for this chapter is certainly Suzume's twin brother, Tsubame who is one mischievous boy. He became the tourist guide for the other new characters who are basically family members of the existing characters. They got distracted a lot by food and then come across Kitsune and Ayumi holding hand as they heading to somewhere. My heart literally jumps at this. Being a busybody, Tsubame and his new friends stalk them both. When they go their separate way, Tsubume doesn't waste any time to confront Kitsune and ask him what is going on. Kyaaaaah~ oh but wait a fucking minute. You know what? Hyakko pulled a fast one on us. Apparently Tsubame is dead. It was just Suzume playing dress up as her twin brother, thanks to Kitsune's suggestion when they were kids. Suzume apparently grows up with a dual identity. I'm not sure whether it's healthy or not but... if it's Kitsune's idea... (trololol). So this chapter pretty much focus on Suzume. We only get to see Torako at the end (apparently with Shishimaru by her side both dressed up in vampire theme outfit. wOOt~). Good chapter indeed.

I spotted Keima in between the pages LOL as well as that hat girl from Kujibiki Unbalance

Saturday, May 5

Episode 2 of Sakamichi no Apollon: Nishimi lets Kawabuchi comments on his music gets to him so he secretly played on the piano whenever his aunt is out of the house. Obviously he wants to impress Ritsu and feels like Kawabuchi is in the way of that. He couldn't be so wrong. Anyhoo, he was cornered by a bunch of bullies on his way back from school one day. Lucky for him Ritsu saw what was happening and reported to Kawabuchi who of course rescued him. Nishimi tried to salvage his male ego but oh boy he was clumsy and only became the joke of the day. I lol'd and loved him because of it. When they went back to Ritsu's shop, Brother Jun was already waiting and they (Kawabuchi and Ritsu's dad) didn't waste time to do a live session. Nishimi was dragged to play the piano and boy he enjoyed it a lot, especially when he thought he could have a date with Ritsu. Unfortunately it didn't go according to plan as Kawabuchi tagged along. Instead of the library they went to the beach instead. I must admit. I sorta envy the relationship between Kawabuchi and Ritsu. I had that once but then he just have to get married at an early age. This is where the show confirms Nishimi's feeling for Ritsu and how Kawabuchi met the love of his life. My BL heart breaks a little...

if you know what I mean

Daily Lives of High School Boys episode 5: (1) we all have done this: making up script as we look at other people interacting. Fun times indeed (2) Motoharu is bullied by his older sister's friends. No one can save him. (3) I couldn't help but LOL'd when Ringo was saved by the "hero" from them three unlucky kids, who think that she was being harassed. Instead of worrying about their well being, they continue to pretend as the bad guy in order not to embarrassed the hero. How noble. (4) Yoshitake and Hidenori met an old friend with a girl who looked mighty displeased. Turned out she was his sister who has lost her contact lenses LOL (5) Hidenori reminiscing his childhood hero who saved him from the bullies. Imagine his face when he found out that it was Yoshitake. (6) The literature girl yet again appeared at the river bank and Hidenori was pretty much crying inwardly for help. Oh man, I lol'd pretty hard for this one. Sugita just fits perfectly and he really did make the scene comes alive.

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First Impression: Sakamichi no Apollon

Kids on the Slope is another anime that is featuring in noitaminA for Spring 2012, besides Tsuritama. It is a show that was setup in the year 1966 which is refreshing given that you won't see female students wearing mini skirts to school, and there are no fancy school uniforms. It is all back to basic.

Lets take a walk into the past, ladies and gentlewomen.

(c) pixiv id 3299945

Since I have watched Tsuritama, I can't help but noticed the similarities between the two shows of noitaminA this season. They both deal with the protagonist having trouble adjusting to new school even though both are used to transferring from one school to the other, both has issues with panic attack and then making new friends through something that they have in common. In this show's case, it is music. Specifically jazz music.

But it doesn't necessarily means that it is a bad thing though because the way these two executed their story are very different indeed. While everything is bizarre in Tsuritama, it is quite the opposite for Sakamichi no Apollon. There is restrain and subtlety involved as they delved deeper in the bond that they are creating for these characters. It is more heart-felt in a way.

There is obviously connection made between Kaoru Nishimi and Sentarou Kawabuchi. You can already tell that much by their first encounter. It was too obvious to not notice the chemistry between these two. Sure, Nishimi went all red whenever Ritsuko said something cute but it wasn't her that cure him from having seizures/panic attack. Like he said, what kind of magic is that?

It's BL magic of course!

Nishimi keeps transferring school because his dad is a Marine officer and isn't around much so he has to stay with his relatives from time to time. He sorta looks up to his father and adores him. He plays the piano to fill in the emptiness in his heart whenever he missed his dad. His mom left them both which kinda affected Nishimi a little, if not much and the absent of his father doesn't help much either.

Kawabuchi is the class delinquent. Everyone is afraid of him except Ritsuko who knows him since they were children. He isn't bad, he is just misunderstood by his peers and the people around him. For example, just look at the way he treated Nishimi. He might be rough but that is just his style. He is good with drums and I have a weakness for the person behind the drums. I mean, I fell for Ritsu, didn't I? Just like Nishimi, I too was very impressed with the way he plays the drum. I can't wait to see him and Nishimi start playing jazz together.

I have to say that I am loving the old style art and animation which of course fits perfectly with this show. I have never heard of Tezuka Production before but I have to give credits to them for making everything about this show so good from the arts, animation to the seiyuu and most importantly the story itself. Kudos to Shinichiro Watanabe for the excellent directing as well. Those angles and camera shots during Kawabuchi's fight and Kawabuchi playing the drums... well, suffice to say that it made me fapped. Then again, this is to be expected. He is the same director that directed Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo after all... and those are masterpieces.

I who usually don't give a shit about the OP and ED, is certainly giving a shit now, especially with that ED. For some reason it touches my heart and believe it or not, I shed tears the first time I listened to it. For a foreign song that I don't know the meaning of the words are to do just that... brilliant indeed.

noitaminA has certainly made up for what they were lacking for the past couple of seasons. I couldn't be more grateful and this show is definitely getting my approval. I don't care how fucking busy I am, I will make sure that I won't be missing these two shows from noitaminA.

art & animation 10/10
story 10/10
characters 10/10
sound 10/10
enjoyment 10/10
overall 10/10

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