I’d been losing passion for this blog for quite a while. It’s not the hobby of blogging myself that I’m tired of, because I often find myself wishing I had something worth blogging about. It’s more that I can’t find any anime that I want to write about anymore. I had strongly considered putting an end to More Shadows after the completion of Spider Riders, but I gave it a few weeks and discovered Sola soon after, temporarily restoring my enjoyment in a series. Then came the summer, and I can’t say I feel strongly enough toward any one series to want to actively write about or even follow them. I’ve even temporarily given up on most of the spring shows, save for El Cazador (and the Japanese, uncut version of Spider Riders, which can hardly be counted as something new.)

I don’t want to say something as conclusive as “I’m closing down this blog.” The fact of the matter is, I still don’t want to. I’m jst going to say that I’ll probably stop blogging for now. I hardly write anything anymore as it is. I may do a few upcoming episodes of SR by request, only because I already said I would, but aside from that, I’ll probably end up waiting around for a while. The best stuff always tends to premiere in the fall, so hopefully something there will really catch my attention and bring my passion back.

Unfortunately, there was no new ED like I hoped, not even a slight alteration to either theme’s animation. However, there was new footage and some new BGMs. If not new, they were at least less-used ones, because I don’t recall them. I especially died over the BGM used during the scene with Buguese and Aqune. It was so pretty. Now if only they were actually doing something romantic, so I could obsess over it. Let’s exclude the fact that for once Aqune is actually joining Buguese in staring out his favorite window, and I’m deluded enough to squee over that.

The BGMs in general were really great for this episode. I remember I thought it was a rather dissapointing episode when I watched it dubbed, especially considering the major revelation about Aqune and Corona. However, the Japanese version was more enjoyable. I especially liked how they played the instrumental version of Koi no Keshiki (the 2nd ED). It was really fitting for this episode.

Sadly, Igneous is no longer spouting hysterical poetry, but he is speaking in Engrish, so I win either way.

New footage of Loraine. I think this is the most we’ve seen of her ever, even counting episode 52. I wonder what the line going down her face is supposed to be. A tear?

>_< I took all the good screencaps on my orignal post.

Don’t expect a post for 41, because it’s too boring and plotless to write about more than once.

The entire episode occurred in the past, explaining Ellis’ backstory. On thanksgiving, Rosenberg visits the Professor involved in his experiments on Ellis. In order to get Ellis to comply to the tests, he gives the professor a teddy bear to give to Ellis as bribery. It works, and things return to normal, but the Professor is still developing a soft spot for Ellis. He comes into her room one day, taking Ellis’ teddy bear off the shelf. Ellis returns from building a snowman and comments that it’s her favorite. She shows the Professor her snowman, which she designed to look like him. The Professor then takes Ellis in by the fire to warm her up. Ellis asks him why, but he doesn’t respond. While speaking to Rosenberg again one day, the Professor refers to Ellis as “the girl,” rather than “the specimen.” This surprises Rosenberg, and makes him curious. He goes into Ellis’ room and takes her favorite teddy bear. When Ellis finds it in pieces, she becomes very upset, causing her powers to activate. The Professor, who expects that Rosenberg was behind this, is able to stop her by holding her. The Professor watches her sleep that night, and comments that she really does have these demonic powers. However, he touches her face, knowing that she is still just a girl. Ellis’ tests continue as usual, and she becomes capable of using her powers faster. However, Ellis’ data is the same, and this makes Rosenberg suspicious, even though the Professor denies submitting false data and isn’t bothered by threats of being fired. Rosenberg suggests taking Ellis outside, but the professor denies it, as it isn’t safe for “the specimen.” However, he does so anyway, taking her to various places. He and Ellis become very close over the next year. One day, Ellis asks him to stop running tests on her, and the Professor agrees to this. It’s finally thanksgiving again, and the professor plans to celebrate with Ellis. While he works on cooking the turkey, Ellis asks him what she should wear. As he likes both her outfit choices, he asks her to pick. Ellis wants him to, so he says to wear something nice, because they’re celebrating. Ellis changes into a white dress and gets out a present for the professor. She presents it to him, saying that she loves him. They embrace again for a moment, and the Professor says that the two of them should leave. However, he’s then shot.

This episode was high quality, the best so far, even though LA wasn’t in it. Although, much as I love LA, he’s been dethroned as my favorite character, as I instantly fell in love with the Professor. I just love characters who may have been doing something wrong, but do reveal that they have a soft side because of someone they love, and can change themselves. Not to mention, the man is gorgeous. I can see why Ellis would love him, even if he’s much older than her. Fully knowing his fate made this episode painful, but it was beautifully dramatic. I had been wondering if perhaps Ellis wasn’t the one responsible for the Professor’s death, and this episode made it very, very likely that this was true. We don’t know for a fact that the gunshot killed the professor, but we know he died soon after. Seeing Ellis’ reaction to the destruction of the teddy bear she loved, I’m betting Ellis’ psychotic breakdown in the flashback that the show began with was a result of the murder of the human she loved. While it is still possible that Ellis killed him, possibly due to freaking out over the gunshot, I’m betting Rosenberg was the murderer. Even if he’s innocent in this case, I seriously think he’s an irredeemable creep now. He’s involved in something very questionable, by creating people like Ellis and LA with witch powers, and then keeping them to be studied. He also was responsible for the teddy bear setup, making it more probable that he was responsible for the gunshot as well. I wonder how this episode fits into the story anyhow. I mean, I know it’s pre-series, but I wonder if this is someone’s flashback or memories, or if they’re just trying to show it to the viewers, so they can get a better idea of what led up to what we were thrown into. Either way, I still loved this episode to pieces and I want to see what happens next, back in the main plot.

Moetan
I was a bit reluctant to give this one a look after all the bad reviews it got. Like others, I was hoping for a show loaded with bad engrish and funny anime references. Instead, I got a mahou shoujo anime for lolicons. However, the first episode was a lot of fun. The characters look very cute. Although, I’m having a near impossible time believing that Ink is in the same grade as Nao. I thought she was about 5-6 when she first showed up on screen. Aside from that, there were some other pretty funny things. While I could do without the ero-duck, I did find it funny when he was digging up all the perverted things in Nao’s room. It was also kind of amusing that Nao has to be taught in terms of otaku subjects to learn English. He doesn’t seem to be a lolicon though, which is bad news for Ink. Even having her come into his room in her skimpy magical girl clothes didn’t seem to effect him. I actually feel bad for the girl. If she looked her age, she might get Nao to like her. I’ll give this another episode at least, because I’m curious to see if this will develop a plot (and if Nao and Ink will get together.)

Mushi-Uta
If I’m not driven crazy by the lack of color (sometimes it got so dark that I had to more really close to the screen to see what was going on) I think I might like this show. In any case, I love the OP and want the MP3. I kind of have no clue what the plot is, however, even though the raw was pretty easy to follow. There’s lots of giant bugs attacking people, and apparently dreams play an important role. It also seems that Kusuriya Daisuke, one of the people involved in the bug battles, is now posing as a regular student. I also think I read somewhere that he’s a bug himself, but I can’t confirm that. The giant evil bugs kinda remind me of Spider Riders, but the bug theme and the lack of sense they make is really all they have in common. Oh, and the green-haired girl is adorable. Hopefully she’ll get more screentime next week, as she only appeared in the very beginning and very end.

Since my oldest SR thread is getting a bit lengthy, I think it’ time to start a fresh one, at least so I don’t end up with one with 100+ comments again. (Not that I don’t like comments. I love them, actually. I just fear for the loading time of various pages.)

So now we’ve reached the end of the 3rd quarter. You know the drill. Hunter fights Stags. Stags attempts suicide jumps from the castle and lives. Buguese an Aqune steal the Oracle Key. Nuuma castle starts to fall. Hunter and Corona save the castle. Unsurprisingly, it’s not very different from the dubbed version. There’s dialogue differences as usual, but none that vitally changed the plot. I’m pleased to say that there’s still subtle Buguese/Aqune subtext in 38. The biggest change (and this isn’t saying much) was made to the ending of 39. In the Japanese version, Stags went off on one of his psychotic moments, complete with overly drawn-out meniachal laughter. I remember he was acting pretty crazy in the dub, but the scene wasn’t nearly as ridiculous. I have a feeling that was edited because it was much too random. I don’t think I was meant to be laughing from amusement when the episode ended, since it was a rather serious episode.

Episode 12/38

Episode 13/39

Buguese looks so cute in the picture where he’s grabbing on to Portia. I was never under the impression that Buguese and Aqune could fly, so it’s amazing how they can suspend themselves in the air briefly.

I have taken notice that certain episodes just have an incredible amount of eye-candy. Even if the episodes aren’t that great, it’s hard to limit myself when screencapping. While on the subject of prettiness, here’s hoping for a new ED theme next week (especially if it has Buguese/Aqune looks cool.) It seems likely that there will be one, as each of the previous ones have lasted 13 episodes.

I’m back, and I had quite a lot of fun, especially when I was dressed up as Aqune from Spider Riders on Friday. I didn’t stay for the 3rd day, but oh well. The only thing negative I can say at the moment is that I had a strange case of the shakes. Occasionally, I would just start going into a shaking frenzy for no good reason. I hope I’m not getting sick, although that would never surprise me.

Things I watched
Kodocha 01-03- Too funny. It seemed like it had the potential to take a serious tone after seeing the end of the 3rd episode, which pleases me too. I’d like to continue with this one some time.
Suzuka 01- Saw the first episode a long time ago, though I don’t remember it much. Looks enjoyable enough.
Hitohira 01- Very different. It looks rather intriguing and I might pick up the next few subs to see where it goes.
El Cazador 01- I’m watching this now. Yes, of course I liked it. LA is <3!
Busou Renkin 01- Meh.

Purchases:

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Nanatsuiro Drops
I wasn’t hugely impressed with this one, although it did make me laugh a few times, but I wasn’t expecting much anyway. If anything, the art is cute. It might be decent and I do like mahou shoujo anime, so I’ll see if it gets any better. The plot is rather absurd, as it focusses on a boy who gets turned into a sheep plushie after drinking something that a dog-eared man dropped. Now he’s working with a girl named Sumomo and trying to get her to collect star drops. It’s uh… weird.

Doujin Work
This one started off kind of slow, but got more amusing as it went on. It has potential to be rather funny, but I don’t expect much from it, since the episodes are only 13 minutes and the animation wasn’t too impressive. It probably didn’t have much of a budget. From what I got so far, it’s about a girl who’s trying to sell doujinshi. Her name is Osana Najimi, amusingly enough.

Zombie Loan
This is my favorite of the summer anime I’ve sampled so far. It has a rather interesting premise and the potential to be really great. I’m just not certain if it will use this to it’s full potential. It could turn out to be bland and cliche. The basic plot involves a girl named Michiru, who can see if a person is dead when she takes off her glasses. She discovers that two boys who helped her earlier, Chika and Shito, have black rings. Actually though, they’re not dead, becasue they’re working for a group called Zombie Loan in exchange. Michiru ends up involved with them. However, it turns out in the end that she might be dying, as she finds that she herself has a black ring.

So let’s see:
-Aono tries to kill Matsuri
-Yorito takes the blow and dies
-Matsuri gives up her life to make Aono human again and dies as well
-Takeshi and Mayuko are all happy, but once again estranged from the main plot
-Aono returns home and becomes friends with Koyori again
-Aono meets Mana, who now loves the sky as much as Yorito did
-Aono, Mana and Koyori live happily ever after, taking pictures of the sky and kicking vending machines for tomato juice

Well, that wasn’t the ending I expected at all, but I loved it. It was very fitting for the series, happy enough to satisfy the part of me who likes happy endings, but not sickeningly happy. I was afraid they were going to find a way to pull off a reset ending, which I would’ve hated. However, Yorito and Matsuri remained dead and forgotten by all but Aono (and possibly Takeshi and Mayuko, but they’re another story.) One thing that made Sola a memorable series is that it was full of great characters. They were somewhat simplistic, but still very likable. I’ll admit I had a hard time liking Aono at points, but she was made to be sympathetic enough that I could never hate her. Matsuri and Yorito were both very fun eccentrics and I liked the relationship between them. Their characters worked well together. Koyori was the flattest character of the bunch, but cute enough that I couldn’t help but like her. Mana turned out to be an incredibly sympathetic character and one who grew on me quite a lot. Takeshi and Mayuko will easily be my favorites though. I got hooked on the show mostly because I was trying to figure out their mystery and I wasn’t disappointed by their side story at all. I also loved their relationship. While it was rather tragic in a way, it was still adorable at times and their interactions often made me laugh. It was also cool to see how while they weren’t connected to Yorito-Matsuri-Aono mess, their story intertwined with it at times and they had quite an effect on things. I’m very much looking forward to the two DVD episodes of Sola and hope they only better the story, not make me regret watching them.