FLCL The Great

I read a post from Borderline Hikikomori about episode four of FLCL. I commented:

I was in elementary school when FLCL aired on Cartoon Network. I remember I used a ‘tape recorder’ to record each episode.

I was in sixth grade just as Naota was in FLCL. Obviously this show wasn’t designed for children in mind, but at the time, it was exactly what I wanted.

Ohh! It tickles.

Seriously, all of these high level topics mixed in with humor that a sixth grader to appreciate. That’s pretty neat. Looking back on old high quality anime like that, ten years ago now, is interesting. back then, I thought it was visually stunning but now it’s just a blur of it’s former beauty.

Committed.

Big Deals, Index

Maybe what I really want is more Railgun and less Index. Yeah, that’s actually what I want.

After all the time Touma spent with Index, you’d think this kind of situation would hardly phase him.

'Uhhh... Index-san... there's nothing to see?'

And the other stuff

When I wrote this post, there was only one summary. I can think of only one thing: obvious magic is obvious, in that case. I mean, if the lying from the first series, the lies about Index’s memories, weren’t enough to tip everyone off that the Catholic Church is a liar, I’m not sure what else anyone could do to get the point across.

Timely commit.

Ryanime’s Off Season Time

You might have noticed a huge span of time where I haven’t said a word. You might have noticed that I never covered Index 2 at all. Let me explain my reasons for those things.

Absence

I’ve been busy. Working seriously bites my time off in chunks. It’s also sad that I really do prefer doing Calculus problems instead of Blogging. Even this post is going to be short because, really, I don’t care right now now.

Still Going

I’m actually still watching episodes. Of what? I absolutely love Squid Girl. It’s way better than Index 2. That brings me to my second point; Index 2 sucked. I took the screen-caps of Index 2’s first episode two weeks ago or so and I was applauded at just how bad it was. I saw Railgun, then Index 1 and now Index 2 cannot measure up. At all. Surely it gets better like wine as I progress down the line of episodes, but that’s what marathoning is for.

I’m also watching this season’s new maid-show, you know, with the clumsy and no very maid-like girl? I can’t remember the name right now and refuse to look it up. It’s pretty good.

Not Really

I haven’t actaully seen Maid-show or Squid Girl in a while. I’ve been watching the first season of Letter Bee. Why? It reminds me of D.Gray Man. The hero of the story is young and unaware of his hidden powers, his true meaning. The world is similar, industrial punk, in a way. It seems more cheerful in a way, not as mature as D.Gray Man was, but nonetheless, pretty excellent. Allen Walker and Lag Seeing are very similar. Lag is a poor name choice though.

Finally

As soon as I’m done marathoning all the way through Letter Bee and then through whatever has come out of Letter Bee Reverse so far, I’ll return to the regular posting schedule.

Last commit.

Weekly Tweet Recap 2010-10-16

  • Wait. Wait. Wait. Amagami SS has a new OP. Wait. #
  • Amagami is winning. #
  • So it has been two weeks since the last Amagami. Tonight I took 117 screencaps. That's about 90 more than I normally take. #
  • Updated thematic. Found out that it caused every image caption to become bloated. Spent the last 3 minutes fixing that. #
  • You'll love my full feed for the blog: http://ryanime.com/feed/ #
  • The World Only God Knows EP 1 – http://ryanime.com/2010/10/09/the-world-god-only-knows-episode-1/ #

Amagami SS – Episode 14 – Ai’s Math Skills

Since we were buffered for a week for some strange reason, I decided to put an intermission up last week. Tokyo Broadcasting ruined that, but let’s move on. Ai was back this week in less than full spirits because of her last math test. It seems that if she failed on it again, she would need to take remedial classes and not be able to attend swim practice. We also have a tiny revelation about what she thinks about Junichi.

The biggest surprise was the new OP for this week. It no longer features each girl in order of arc appearance. I found it strange. It also seemed to focus on the class president more than any other girl but that simply may have my imagination.

The three everyone loves the most.

Summaries! Where art thou summaries?

At the time of writing, nobody else had posted even the slightest review of the second episode of Ai’s arc. That seems strange of course because it’s been out for at least three days now. School seriously gets the best of everyone, doesn’t it?

Fine. You have this one.

As Junichi, Umehara, and Kaoru went to check out the rumored cute new library assistant, they come across Ai borrowing a math book for her removal exams. Seeing this, Junichi offers to teach Ai math. During one of those tutorial sessions at the library, Ai mentions her brother, who hasn’t been paying attention to her lately. Ai wants some advice from Junichi, him being a guy and bit childish and perhaps understanding of her brother. After a bit of misunderstanding concerning her, Sae and Miya the next day, which made him apologize to her in a perverted manner infront of Ai’s teammates, he advises her to spoil her little brother a bit, since her little brother only wants her attention. To thank him, Ai then offers to Junichi the toy she was supposed to give her brother as a present, with Junichi showing her how to use it, awing a few kids at the park. That night, after checking on her brother Ikuo, Ai thinks of Junichi before going to bed, and, seemingly falling for him, wishes it is morning already.

From Wikipedia’s Article on Amagami SS Episodes.

Slugs posted a summary! Hooray!

aI think Junichi is a Kid!

Looking over that summary, a professional wrote it. Let’s begin this episode though. Umehara invites Junichi and Kaoru to join him in the pursuit of the cute girl in the library. When Kaoru suggests that Junichi use his anti-straight-forward role to make everyone move away from the checkout desk, he gets slightly agitated at that thought and causes a commotion. Ai happens to be nearby checking out a library book and then she pulls them all aside because they’re drawing attention. Ai needs help in math because she failed a test recently and if she doesn’t pass the next one, she’ll have to stop swimming for remedial classes.

Your strength in 'kinky' is going down.

Then Junichi, the super hero, jumps in and offers his only strength: math.

There is a brief departure from the library for just a moment where the arc air time stealing Haruka comes to visit Hibiki in the pool. She comments on not seeing Ai.

It's amazing she didn't head straight for the library.

Back in the library, Ai talks about her brother. She has those eyes that get me going. She says that her brother seems to ignore her but still wants her attention. At least this reveals a partial understanding of why she is so mysterious but there must be more. Oddly, she also explains to Junichi that he seems childish and like a kid. Which is why she thought he might be able to help her out.

So does Junichi.

The next day, Ai, Miya and Sae are having lunch. After Junichi asked Miya if she knew anything about Ai’s brother, she brought it up at the table. Sae comments on how she thinks they’re both lucky to have brothers because it would be fun. Recall the last arc where Junichi said to Sae, “You’re like a sister,” and Sae replies, “No, I don’t want that.” Her mentality about siblings has changed between the two arcs.

Miya's the only lucky one.

And then the comedy starts. Miya introduces Sae and of course shy, she pushes her self against the table during a sitting bow. This cuases Junichi to stare, causing Miya to launch into her meat-bun rant.

Junichi comes to understand that small is actually better than large!

It was priceless. If you didn’t see it, you missed out.

It's kind of creepy for his expression to be so mellow when she says that.

Ai wasn’t extremely pleased with his comments about her and Miya’s size, so she quickly left. More things happen but not much of serious interest that isn’t already mentioned in the summary.

Finally

Ai is interesting. She’s addicted to the swim club. She has trouble in math. She thinks Junichi is a kid. These things don’t explain she looks so mysterious. Something else must be lurking behind her demeanor and I must know. The way she teased Junichi in the first episode is odd too. Would you do that to someone you met only a few hours earlier? Maybe, if you’re daring. Maybe, if you’re mysterious. However, she feels like she’s falling for Junichi at the end of the episode. That’s surely a sign of things to come, isn’t it?

What tickles a little and feels pleasant?

Committed.