I seem to be watching a lot of these shows. By “these shows,” I’m referring to those that hold little value except for excessive amounts of fanservice.  Well, to be fair, they’re also funny.

But…I’m just going to be honest. This whole thing is just a lame excuse to post this Golden Darkness image I extracted from the last episode I watched.

It started off relatively slow but has always had potential to end really well. It took a while, and I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. Now I can say that Nabari no Ou is a good show…thus far. I’ve only watched the first nineteen episodes, assuming twenty-six in all. Most of that has been development of characters. The main plot is a little light. Basically, there is still time for this show to suck.

Okay, first lets start with the OP, it is my favorite amongst the shows I’m currently following. Yeah, it’s the “sha la la.”

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I’m not really all that hard to please. I’ve stated before, I only ask for a good story and interesting characters. That’s about it. Admittedly, these aspects of a show are very subjective. To that end, it is my opinion that Nabari no Ou has both. Of interest is the show’s male lead. It’s hard not to like Miharu simply because he doesn’t fall into the standard male lead molds.  We don’t often get a main male character that is defined mostly as feminine and apathetic towards the world.

The key element being that “apathy.” Usually, to explain this type of character’s distance from the world, shyness is used. Miharu, at first, simply doesn’t care too much about anything. Of course, we see a refreshing devilish side to his character surface every now and again. Oddly, that devilish aspect of his character tells us much about him. It shows that while he distances himself from the world he doesn’t necessarily have a lack of understanding of that world. In fact, he does understand; yet, he chooses to be seperate from it. Why exactly he has made this choice is exactly what the story seems to be examining.

The outsider, the loner, the outcast. These are all standard fair in the world of anime. In particular, among lead characters, they are used to reinforce the role of that character in the eyes of the viewer. That status plays no small role in the place that the plot has for them.

It also plays no small part in the effectiveness of relating to the viewer. No one really feels “common.” We know too much about the intricacies of ourselves to feel “common.” The problem is that others don’t see us the same way we see ourselves. Taken from the vantage of the outside world, we are remarkably similar. We have two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears, and one nose. We speak and hear. We see and feel. The world has a place for those that are remarkable and those that are not so much remarkable. But, if you asked anyone they would say most people are “normal” or “common.”

While we don’t really feel normal or common, we learn to accept what the world is telling us. That we are normal and common. At the very least, most do not fight the assumption much. We still don’t feel common or normal.

Then we find something that we relate to. We are drawn to it because it seems familiar. There is a substance or spark of recognition. In this story, Miharu finds Yoite. He doesn’t simply empathizes with him. That wouldn’t fit into his character. Miharu is drawn to Yoite.

That which seems familiar in Yoite, he finds confusing. Is it that he is confused by his own intentions, his own self? Miharu stated goal in the first episode is to lead a “carefree life.” Until he developed a connection with Yoite that could be taken literally, as in not caring (apathy). After his interaction with Yoite that goal is pretty much gone.

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Maybe it’s just me, but I think it would be so totally awesome to have bat-wings and a tail =)

After three seasons of Zero no Tsukaima, one would think that the show’s main gag would have gotten old by now.  Well, after much thought and deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that it will absolutely never get old…never!

When taken to its most basic storyline, ZnT is about the dysfunctional relationship between Louise and her boyfriend/familiar Saito. When we take that, put in some domestic abuse, breast sizes that span the entire spectrum of breast sizes, not-abnormally horny Saito, then what have we got? Gold Jerry, gold!

It’s a classic formula Boobs + Beatings = WIN. This is not to be confused with the Rosario + Vampire Lemma, which basically shows that female anime Vampires are a mixture of panties and boobs.

Okay, I knew it was a long shot, but I was really hoping for a Naga appearance in Slayers Revolution. I’ve already watched four episodes and no Naga. After a quick google on this subject, the opinions on random blogs and forums seem to be in a general anti-Naga direction. It would seem to be the “Naga laugh” that is at the root of the problem.

Honestly, it does not really bother me that much. Neither the English dub nor the Japanese version are particularly offensive. I understand the aversion, though.  Although, it may be that a youth spent listening to metal and rock (…and country) at very large decibels has damaged the range of audible frequencies that I can pickup at the upper and lower end of things.

Also, what’s not to like about those huge…spikes.

iDOLM@STER happened to be one of the better shows that I had forgotten about. It was lost in the early busyness that accompanies August and September around here. I uncovered it due to my increasing need for a love story of any kind. I wanted something, anything, to wet my parched lips in the desert of longing I found myself in. In the dry sands of my soul it offered an oasis of truths.

Yeah, I can be a little dramatic sometimes…

The key question is, was it a love story?

The answer is yes and no in my opinion. It depends on the kind of love one associates with the main characters. It is obvious that Haruka loves Imber, but they only hint at a sexual attraction in a few scenes. In particular, the bathing suit scene early on in the anime. The overall impression is that the story is meant to convey a strong inherent underlying bond between the Idols and their pilots.

Imber was shown to have to accept its pilots willingly. Its refusal to let certain people control it was a physical manifestation of its longing to be understood. This leads us into the key aspect of the story, given in the title, often ignored. The title includes the word “xenoglossia.” I admit that I was unaware of the meaning of this word and the word that it is derived from “xenoglossy.” According to online sources, the word implies the ability to speak in a language that is unfamiliar to the speaker. For instance, the ability to speak in Japanese having previously never heard or spoken it before.

In the context of idolmaster it is the ability of the pilots to communicate with the idols. The implications stray from the strict definition a bit. It is more than a simple understanding of vocabulary. Haruka understands Imber on an emotional level. Imber doesn’t speak to her in words or concrete subjects, verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

She literally understands Imber’s heart.

Idolmaster ends as a tale of love, friendship, bonding, and loss. Having finally finished the series I can forgive them for not giving Lori more screen time.

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BTW, it turns out she did yell a lot.