we're finally notdotq anymore

The problem, Diane, is that you don’t see your failures as personal deficiency. This allows you to take the moral high ground and mercilessly upbraid others, regardless of the situation. All I need to do is adopt that attitude of yours, and then I’ll be able to wish from the bottom of my heart that you wind up like your mother, a scrapped cum-dumpster in a mental junkyard.

So today was notdotq’s first birthday. Yay~
Anyway, onwards for my second post of this nature ever. The last one was on the promo of Joshikousei and that flopped… oh oxygen, did it flop. Hopefully this won’t go that route.

So Doremi translates the above as “a story of girls being played with by destiny…”

Does that sound promising? Frankly, no. But then it’s got all the artsy crap you’d expect of some emo Key story. In other words, if the execution’s there, it’s all there.

DC CHAR DESIGNS

As if Otoboku wasn’t bad enough, the Da Capo character art person/people got hired AGAIN. Yuck. I can think of some people who will be pleased… I’m not one of them. Every time I see those faces and hair styles, I think of the pro-ana adopted little sister vomiting sakura petals. It doesn’t help that this show’s apparent heroine wears a choker/collar thing, faintly reminiscent of Nemu’s cat collar.

NINJA

My attention has been had.
The stained glass in the background indicates that the setting is a church. The ninja-girl is clearly facing off against Maria-sama. Will she win and take her girlfriend home…? Or will she lose to those damned Catholics…? I know is emo Key ninja anime set in Lillian Jogakuen would be win, and I know that this girl is a lesbian. Probably a Buddhist, to boot.

WTFSWORD

Man with sword… title with “sky” in it… is this a Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora redux? God I hope not. Once through was enough. The moment I see mechs, I’m geeing the eff oh.

…HELLO, LOLI IN BOX

Expectations at this point? None. Hopes? Wild. Blogging? FUCK YES. Shirukii, let’s go for this one :)

All in all, it’s been good. The priestesses saved the world, turned into angels, shared a gentle kiss, and are now living happily together. And who gets locked up on the moon? Shiratori Kuu becomes the sacrifice, Orochi is sealed, and our two heroines have their every wish fulfilled.

Himeko was able to smile again.

“Say, Himiko. What’s your real name?”

Best moment of the show. All series long, Chikane’s been calling herself Kaon and Himeko’s been calling herself Himiko. These are the names that Het-chan gave them; these are not their real names. The implication of this question on Chikane’s part is that Het-chan did in fact rob them of their identities.

Himeko never answers this question, the show doing “the anime thing” and having her trail off into a pan into the sky, but it’s quite obvious that her “real name” is Himeko. Meaning that Chikane is, in fact, Chikane. Meaning that not only have I been right this entire time, but … fuck, the spinoff of the flagship of yuri vindicates me.

Of course, the star of everything is, once again, Chikane. Most interesting character ever, and while that isn’t as evident in this series as it was in the original, she’s still incredibly strong. She says intelligent things and has an incredibly deep understanding of her own feelings—in effect, being the only one in the whole show capable of making good decisions. Making good decisions in anime is VERY RARE, actually.

Chikane… you’re beautiful, smart, and you have a mean serve in tennis. I wish for your happiness with Himeko :)

If this post has so far not captured and depicted my attitude towards Kyousora, take a look at my previous posts on the topic. Of course, it should be damn obvious what I think. Look at my screenshots, read my words, think for yourself, and you may well come to the same conclusion as I. My taste is impeccable, after all.

A Kannazuki no Miko OVA would be nice… >_>

“KUU!!”

Fill in the blank. He’s ______________ .
a. friendly
b. dangerous
c. a creepy madman swinging a sword around

Do you choose to go with him, Shiratori Kuu?

LOLPWNED

I like how they didn’t even bother drawing the vines separately. They’re all like, “let’s save all our budget for those feathers later in the episode, and just draw a rough shape in MS Paint and fill it greenish.” It’s classy (and looks shitty as hell). There’s just like… this blob of green around Kyoushiro’s midsection. wtfslimegirlraep?

OUR POWERS COMBINED, …!

So the AAs group together to form a super robot formed of each one’s strong part (the loli’s legs, Setsuna’s right arm, Chikane’s left, and Kuu’s… head…? So Kuu’s strength is her brain? How come I was never aware of this before?!) and proceed to pwn the sky. Those feathers (hot snow?) start falling, and the world is perfect in the eyes of one fucked up mad scientist. Hey, now would be an alright time to fanboy about Chikane some more. See, she’s the “sword of the left hand,” and left-handed swordsmen include… oh, Link, for one. Link, being pure win, relays that to Chikane through left-handed swords. Mmmhm.

“MY CUTE CIELO!”

Yeah…? Cute, eh…? I don’t know what kind of hobbies you have, but earlier you told your little brother that he intoxicates you. … while having a flashback to lying in bed naked with him. And then you told him that he should always be crying. That’s creepy shotacest right there, boya.

“NOT THERE KYOUSHIRO, IT’S NOT CLEAN!”

Hot. Surprise. Freefallingthroughhotsnowskyfromgiantmechandcrumblingstonespiralstaircasesex. HSF, for short. Did I mention that it’s hot?

Episode Summary

Kazuya sexes Kyoushiro, USSR, Himeko, and Apron-kun get pwned, Chikane is hot, Kyoushiro… uh… here, let’s put his thoughts into a song by Tom Petty:

“I wanna free-fall… out into NOTHING! I wanna leave… this… world for a while!”

And so ends the episode.

Thoughts

The only way for Chikane to have been even hotter this episode is to, instead of having said “yes” to Mejingjord, having said, “I have given my life for her, and she for me, and we will continue to, for we are the priestesses of the sword.” Well, even without TOTALLY OWNING with a direct KnM reference, she manages to be pretty damn cool. Parts of what she says tie into her last words to Himeko in KnM; she isn’t ashamed of her feelings, she won’t run, she won’t hide, she can tell them to anyone, and she will protect them.

If only this show had more focus on Chikane and her character mattered at all, the show might be good. A major problem with Setsuna/Kuu/Kyoushiro is that they are flat, whereas Chikane, who was the strongest main character of KnM (and, in my humble opinion, one of the strongest anime characters across the board), is well-developed, and… has a character.

I hear people enjoying the show, some for reasons that for me are reasons to dislike it, and some for what I believe are shallow reasons: a friend of mine likes it for the seiyuu. The main reason that I dislike this show isn’t the poor animation quality. It’s not even the crappy premise… KnM proved to us that “priestesses saving the world with robots” could work. It’s that the “empty” (thanks, Kuu) characters and unbelievably bad execution combined make me think “wtflol” at every point along the way. That’s not how anime should be… comedy even shouldn’t be “wtflol.” It should leave you with some clue of why you’re laughing.

This, a more or less serious romance-drama, makes me think “wtflol” and that’s a major mark against it.

Thoughts for the last episode?

I’m going to watch it soon (have it downloaded already) and blog it. I’m making no predictions. All I know is I want something for Chikane and Himeko other than “a brief scene where [they] reunite and bid farewell.”

Thoughts on the show as a whole through this point?

TedFox puts it quite well: “bla bla…”

(Oh, and I apologize for a lack of screenshots. There were too many awesome moments for me to capture, my brain overloaded, and my fingers went numb.)

Shadro pwned me.

He deleted his Kyousora post that I was linking to in order to make me look like a dumbass. I concede.

Also, 200th post.

This one’s a bit of a shocker, so make sure you’re not standing/eating/drinking/wearing pants as you click that “continue” link…

Drumroll, please?

» Continue reading this…

I… I was going to bitch about Saigar once it was over. I had a lot of rage at some point, and I held on to it, expecting to unleash once the results were out. I was going to moan about how the contest wasn’t really about gar, but more about 4chan spam, and about how I’m not as influential as 4chan, and about how I’m a lolicon, and… well, to make a long story short, I realized how emo such bitchings would be.

I’m not going to bitch about how Saigar was one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever subjected myself to (up there with watching Soul Link and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu). I’m not going to bitch about how I want more attention. I’m not going to bitch about how Drm is still the only good anime blogger.

But honestly? My two cents?

…

Nanoha should have fucking won.