Nisemonogatari 04: Wherein The Things I Will Not Write About Will Tell You About My Worst Nightmare About This Series Coming True

[Nisemonogatari 03]

Hanekawa is powerful. She is a joy to watch. It is revealed how she dominated Senjougahara over the phone in the previous episode. She told her basically “Do as I say or I will ask Araragi to be my boyfriend.” This is delicious in that the most powerful moment in the previous episode is the reinforcement of the Hitagi x Koyomi love story/pairing, and that this casual revelation undermines everything. It makes Senjougahara weak and vulnerable and not just some crazy tsudere service machine.

Also, Hanekawa is amazing with her new look. Yeah the meganefags are screwed over, but her short hair and no-glasses look is far superior to her usual frumpy moé look, and even her crazy cat version. She exerts her power and influence over the Araragi household, and Koyomi has the good sense to listen to her. I don’t think she’s all well, and the show is subtle enough to hint this without being overbearing, and this (and her eventual showdown with Senjougahara over Koyomi) will be something I look forward to watching.

This means I will have to endure what things that follow (after the jump) that I am not going to say anything about anymore. My silence should say pretty much everything.

Check-in Station: Gundam AGE eps 1-15 (The worst dreams are the ones that give you what you want.)

I’ll eat a little crow on this one.  I did tweet that I was gonna enjoy “oldfag” hating on Gundam AGE before the series got started.  I figured that with the kiddie designs and some of the mecha designs I peeked at that I wouldn’t get too deep and my enjoyment wouldn’t extend past laughing at its attempts at greatness.  Sure there may be some surprise moments of awesome, but I had placed my bets on Gundam Unicorn impressing me.  But once I started watching I started to wonder if would just be “remembering love” or if this would truly make me “see the tears of time”.

Redemption is Incomplete Without Death–Cowboy Bebop 16 “Black Dog Serenade”

[Cowboy Bebop Session 15 “My Funny Valentine”]

Several things strike me about this session.

1. This is a story of old men.

Even during the flashback, the characters were already old, or rather at the prime of their respective detective and criminal careers. The episode itself felt old, film noir old, so old that Faye asking Jet about growing his arm back at the beginning of the episode got her a very (grouchy) old man response.

2. It is musically stark.

A typical session has around 3-5 pieces between the credits. Sometimes the pieces are repeats from previous episodes, sometimes for just a few bars. Check out the track list for this episode:

• Tank! (TV edit) – opener
• Space Time [unreleased] – intro of Udai.
• Space Time [unreleased] – Udai kills Dig.
• Cosmos – Trumpet solo played during Jet’s flashback.
• The Real Man – techno piece that plays as Jet flies Hammerhead over to the prison ship.
• Cosmos – Udai’s revelation of the truth.
• Farewell Blues – Jet’s final scene with Fad/end of the episode.
• The Real Folk Blues – end credits, sung by Mai Yamane
• Mushroom Hunting – funk piece played during the preview for Mushroom Samba; sung by Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch

It’s really just Cosmos and Farewell Blues ain’t it? Why? Why is Jet’s story so quiet? Why deny it even the sad notes? Compare it with the song list from “Sympathy With the Devil.” You’ll find it pretty bare. “Ganymede Elegy” was pretty soulful for Jet, this one had nothing… a past that catches up with him not to free him, but just to put into order the people he’s killed off in his heart… with their respective deaths.

Amazing Grace and Redeeming Love

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see.

Begining with Episode 40, Eureka sevenN starts its final opening sequence for the series. The opening verse from the song is from a iconic 18 century song “Amazing Grace”. Amazing grace is a song with a “message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit.” In the homestretch of the show, redemption and love is found for three of our protagonists; Captain Jurgens, Lieutenant Dominic, and Anemone.

Check-in Station: Rinne no Lagrange eps1-3 (I’m really starting to hate this show.)

The groans!  The pain!  I suppose the end of this episode wasn’t bad, but for the most part I felt like the first 3 episodes of this series could have been rolled into two.  There was a lot of faffing about this episode, a lot of silliness.  And plenty of things that I know Ghostlightning would have cringed at in viewing.  The whole nonsense about Madoka hopping about the city trying to save it just irked me.  All she had to do was just leave the area.  Hell, she shouldn’t have charged in the first damn place!