It’s another group blogging effort where we each write about something given a topic. I know it’s a little soon since the last group blogging thing was only a few days ago; you’ll live. If you haven’t guessed, the topic is “Autumn Season, 2007.”

I thought about comparing this season’s shows to others aired this year. Despite my efforts, it didn’t seem like a worthwhile cause. There are good shows, and there are bad shows. Overall, the survey is made of a common ilk. That is to say, the types of shows are fairly common. The stuff we have grown used to seeing. Myself; Yourself can be seen as a continuation in a long line of high school dramas. Ghost Hound is another sci-fi show that seems destine to fail where it showed the most promise, a captivating story. You’ll find that isn’t exactly my problem with the show. Finally, Shugo Chara is plainly excellent shoujo comedy, something that has been missing from my viewing schedule for a while.

For this post I’m going to talk about three shows I’ve been watching. Then there will be a little discussion about viewing and blogging. Of course, I haven’t seen every episode of every show that has aired this season. I’m simply going off history and those that I have viewed.

Myself; Yourself:

The story of the boy returning to his home town a little older but not the least bit wiser is fairly standard stuff. If not common, it isn’t groundbreaking with regard to building a plot. One of the issues I’ve had with the story is that it hasn’t produced any unique aspects that would set it apart from other high school dramas of recent memory.

We have the inept male lead and a couple of possible romantic options given by two of the female characters that will, or already has, lead to a love triangle. Everyone thinks the heart is the most romantic shape, but I think the triangle is severely underrated. I may not be the first to express this sentiment, as I seem to recall reading it elsewhere. I doubt many would disagree. We all love a good love-triangle.

Beyond all else, this show has what has come to be known as, “Very good ‘nice boat’ possibilities” (actually, I just made that up). Put another way, will we be able to categorize this as a “slice-and-life” show?

If it ends with Sana and Nanaka getting together combined with a lot of crying school girls then I’ll be happy.

(more…)

“…crying school girls…” - check!

It’s rather embarrassing that I would do a mid-season review of some of the shows I’m watching and coincidentally not watch episode eight of Myself; Yourself. This episode turned out to not only be a very good episode but also a turning point in the story.

Many of the other bloggers who did Fall ‘07 reviews mentioned the necessity to not rush one’s judgment based on superficial content. Something I don’t recall being mentioned was the intentional way a story is structured to put all of the really good stuff at the end, near the climax. It seems evident that Myself; Yourself will not have multiple story arcs (or subplots apparently). Those facts initially lead me to expect something “big” towards the end of the series. This is fairly standard stuff. For the most part I still expect a quick climax and conclusion.

I think the key point here is Nanaka. Naturally, with all the buildup around her character, I’m enticed to discover what it is that caused her so much pain. Nanaka’s emotional outburst added the emotional charge that this show needed. It was all about our expectations. We knew that she was suppressing her feeling, and we could tell that those emotions would burst forth eventually.

Watching it finally happen is a release for the audience as much as it is for her character. It should have happened earlier. Although, then we wouldn’t have been treated to a moody evasive Nanaka. Honestly, do we not all like moody evasive Nanaka.

I was expecting a gradual escalation of the story line and was totally unprepared for a transient point in the series where the story would get even “better.” Silly me, it looks like that’s exactly what happened.

On another note, Aoi’s tendency to jump to conclusions makes me think she has a dirty mind.