That core, that shit-of-the-shit: Ano Natsu de Matteru.

Some people go through life noting what gives them hope. Some people commemorate what restores their faith in humanity. Or in institutions, countries, television. In anime. Others do the opposite. We call them pessimists, or in layman’s terms, “the worst.” Before I’m accused of being a pessimist for saying that Ano Natsu refreshes all the loathing I carry for anime en general, I should note that I’m not usually bent on digging up the horrible things in life.

This is just that bad.

Mainly I just like to hate on the things idiots like. If it helps you to think of me as a troll, feel free. I’m mainly penning this in order to have an “eligible post in March” for the stupid Aniblog Tourney. It seems they learned their lesson last time and invited me this year. Popularity contests are the most important thing in the world, so I care a lot about winning.

So I’m here to plant my flag in the 2012 ABT, and I’m doing it with everyone’s favorite little poopwreck Ano Natsu. Don’t know what a poopwreck is? If you’re as mindless as Ano Natsu’s Onegai-Sensei-ripping-off “creative” staff, you’ll need an explanation…

poopwreck, n.: Like a trainwreck, but instead of a train (which goes fast and looks cool) going off a set of tracks, it entails a shit (which doesn’t move and smells like rotten ass) going off target. Whenever you witness it, you know you should commit suicide, because either it’s yours (in which case your ass is probably ineligible for LK cock) or it’s someone else’s (and you’re the creepiest fuck in the world).

So where does Ano Natsu go wrong, you might ask.

What is its crime?

I could say the obvious thing—that it’s downhill from the start, and that it’s unwatchable 2.5 minutes in—but I’m going to go farther. I’ve been largely silent lately (earning myself the title “lapsed”), and I feel I owe my readers, fans, and forlorn lovers a little something special. A real post. With real thoughts. Written in real words. As a bonus, I’ll leave sarcasm behind for the rest of this post. I think I overdid it last post. I got to the point where even I didn’t know whether I liked Thermae Romae or not. So just this once, as a reward both to you and to myself, I’m going to be straight with you.

Majime na Lolikit
• The moment I knew Ano Natsu was shit came in its second episode.
(For the record, I’ve watched eight of them, so none of this “judging a book by its cover” bullshit.)

Allow me to describe the scene: Kanna (the bitch), Kaitou (the pussy), Ichika (the slut), and Kaitou’s older sister are sitting around a table. The older sister is leaving for a while, and this means that Kaitou and Ichika are going to be living alone for a while. Kanna interrogates Kaitou, largely because she’s the bitch, inquiring into his plans with regard to participating in nightly Ichika buffets.

A master of motherly rhetoric, Kanna says something like this of Kaitou:

“Just because he’s living with a pretty senpai, it’s not like he’ll get up to any funny business or funny business, or funny business, right?” (sic. some fansubbers or something)

She and the older sister glare at Kaitou, repeat that “right” a few times. Ichika is grinning awkwardly, and Kaitou’s spinning into a defensive flurry befitting the pussy. He denies all implied accusations and promises not to violate his foxy guest. Kanna and his older sister say they’re relieved, but are clearly still suspicious.

Let’s examine this moment.

Where is Ichika’s agency?

No, let me know when you find it, I’m interested.

… what was that?

You don’t know where Ichika’s agency went?

Well holy fucking shit you’re right! It’s gone! And who took it away from her? Was it a bad rapist? Was it an evil misogynist? No: it was her “supporters,” the other two women at the table. Along with Ichika’s agency, they’re also robbing Kaitou of his individuality (prejudicially assuming that he’s a violator) and me of my will to watch the show. By putting the abstinence onus on the guy, and not saying a word to the girl, they are totally disempowering her and validating any idea the guy might have that the girl is just sex object—one not to touch, yes, but one nonetheless. One that couldn’t, you know, say “no.”

And one that couldn’t say “yes.”

Listen, I’m all for telling guys that it’s not good to rape people. And maybe Kaitou needs to hear this, though he really doesn’t seem like a rapist to me. But the moment the dialogue around sex excludes either interested party, it becomes a reactionary bullshit fest. The choice is put in Kaitou’s hands. He can choose to have sex with Ichika, though Kanna is counting on him not doing that. He can choose to not have sex with Ichika, and that will make him a good person. She has no choice in the matter. It’s being made for her by Kanna and Kaitou’s sister, and that’s not how sexual choices should be made. It’s her body. It’s her life.

Ano Natsu is by no means original, and that applies in this department as well. We see this kind of conservative crap in tons of anime. There are countless cultural norms and mores that entail guys being warned not to force themselves on girls. These norms turn the girl into a listless slab of meat. “Good luck, Ichika. I really hope Kaitou won’t rape you, ’cause we all know you’ve got no say in the matter.”

But Dr. lolikit, you might object, it’s just anime.

Anime is culture. Culture is education. We learn lessons from every thought we consume. I hope you learn the lesson I did from Ano Natsu (that it’s shit), but there are other lessons one could learn from it. I have friends who like this show, friends who have fallen victim to it. It’s not just that moron Hanners. And even Hanners could do to understand the piss he’s drinking. I’m a benevolent guy.

Is it too much to ask for a show to signal some forward thinking, some progressive attitudes toward sexuality? Is it too much to ask for a show to not rob its female characters of agency over their own bodies?

If your answer is yes, you’re a failed human being.

And to all failed human beings, I say this: anime will always be an abhorrently flawed genre so long as Ano Natsu-level bullshit runs rampant within its boundaries.

Lolikitean Christmas continues. The anime of the day is Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, AKA The Mouthful.

Ano Hana (2011-04-14)

Description

Six childhood friends grew apart in high school. One of them is Jintan, now a shut-in. He gets a request to fulfill a wish for Menma, the only one of their friends to have stayed the same over the years. In order to grant her wish, he will have to find and reunite their old friends.

Links: Official ANN

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Can’t blame Jinta for remembering love.

…

…

Even if I mostly remember wanting to punch Menma in the face.

Thanks.

EDIT: IT WAS SHANCE UGHHH

Man.

What a faggerjack.

(I’m still not blogging, I just wanted to attack the guy one more time.)

But with these latest [blog posts about OreImo], I am seriously considering ragequitting the animehedron. Its motives are so obvious, it always resorts to the same arguments, and the writers are so annoying! The first 3 years really did show a lot of promise though, so I’m going to give it another week and see.

What a fucking pansy. I’m gonna show him how it’s done.

/rapequit

“What did we do to deserve this shit?”

I’ve said my bit about the flaws in the show. I won’t repeat myself here. But I am amused. Not because the show made me laugh. Not because the show made me cry. Nor, in fact, because the show was so goddamn stupid to the point of becoming an instant classic.

Rather, because the aniblogosphere is so incredibly predictable.

It’s like, seriously, guys? Are we so important? (Oh, right, bloggers, n.—self-important egomaniacal masturbators) If there’s a chance to rage, we rage. If there’s a chance to mock others for raging, we mock others for raging. Everyone sits on their own high horse, be it moral (“I can’t stand incest! I thought this show was above that!”), aesthetic (“I can’t stand Kirino! I thought she was better than bitchdere!”), or meta (“I can’t stand these other bloggers! I thought they would manage to keep their heads on!”).

As OreImo’s fourth episode proliferates its scars across the aniblogosphere, we’re rapidly turning into a cavalry regimen.

And I?

I stand proudly with my feet each on the saddle of two separate horses, wielding my axe high above my head. “Bring it,” cries the the good doctor, “show me one of you to rise above this pointless bickering!” I watched, I waited. Forty-eight painful hours passed by. And finally, at long last, a challenger stepped forward: someone who promised change, someone who expressed disdain on the meta-anibloggery level, someone who ostensibly sought to rise above the “shitstorm.”

And that challenger’s name was Valence.

mmm graphs

He laughed, he cried, he pointed out the idiocy. Here we have a man truly touched by the full gamut of animemotions! Both accepting his annoyance with the show and his undying love for it, he indicated the irony inherent in his own stance. And to top it all off, he did this all by applying graphs to the show.

I think the crowning grace of this post is that in the same single image he damned OreImo, penning a discomfort index, and made an extremely derpy concession: note where the fanservice scene lies. Yes. That’s right. A local minimum in the discomfort index.

Beautiful.

Truly a scholar and a pervert, Valence sets an example for the enti—

What?

The post continues beyond the image? Wait a sec…

Before you accuse me of being a hypocrite, I admit, this post sounds critical, I know. But what I want is for everyone to just relax.

You can flame each other once the show is over.

What the fuck is that?

Qualifying beyond qualification, equivocating beyond equivocating, hedging beyond the hedge. “Before you call me a hypocrite, I know I’m a hypocrite!” … isn’t that hypocrisy ‘sono mono’ ? Jeez. So much for Valence’s valence.

One potential messiah debunked and defenestrated, the good doctor returns to waiting. He sits. He waits. He sits. He waits. Will another challenger appear? One who will unite the aniblogosphere behind a banner of #animehipster uncaring, one who will bring irony and justice but most of all ironic justice to bear in our eternal fight against the chilling effects of the eternally raging shitstorm?

In simpler terms, “can’t we all just get along?”

Valence betrayed us by putting an expiration on his proposed truth. We can attack each other to our heart’s content once the show is over. Sounds like American politics: “just wait a bit longer…”

Can we all just get along?

No.

And I, Dr. lolikitsune, am perfectly fine with that.

KIRABOSHI~★

Anyway, ghostlightning writes,

In theoretical terms, here is what I am:
I am a post-structuralist by education.
I have a soft-spot for deconstruction.
I am a post-colonial reader by inclination.
I am a structuralist by habit.
I am a liberal humanist by sentiment.

To which all I can say is: bro, you’re trying too hard. Sometimes, there’s more than one truth.

*rimshot*

Pretty much everything I tackled yesterday was trash; today we’ve got four keepers, more or less. These are all on my Current list, at least—your mileage may vary. After all, not everyone enjoys chaff as much as the good Dr. Elkay!

Yosuga no Sora (2010-10-04) Fall Series

Description

Having lost both parents, the Kazugano twins, Haruka and Sora, decided to move in and live with their grandfather of whom they are fond of. Other motives, however, contributed to their decision to reside at their grandfather. Kasugano Haruka and his sister Sora have lost both their parents in an accident, and with them all their support. They decide to move out of the city to the rural town where they once spent summers with their late grandfather. At first everything seems familiar and peaceful, but changes come as Haruka starts to remember things from his youth.

Genre: romance
Status: airing
Time: Mon 23:30+JST
Episodes: 12
Specials: 5
Duration: 24m

Links: Official ANN

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This pilot episode resists panty-shots for 20 minutes… only to shower us with tits and sex in the last six minutes. Uncensored nipples, a decently hot masturbation scene—and I’m like, I’m sooooooooooo confused!! But this is not a bad thing. Keep us guessing, Yosuga no Sora! Stay classy, and keep us guessing.

One thing I have to say I’m really digging here is the shamelessness of it all. It doesn’t pull punches. Male lead Haruka is unabashedly the sexiest thing ever to the point where people so much as lay their eyes on him and their panties dissolve in overflowing juices. Must have been a grizzled old man driving the rich bitch’s car, else we’d have seen one hell of a car crash.

I look forward to more of this, and will almost certainly go the distance. Awwww yeah.

(More substantive things will be said as I blog further episodes, beyond these survey posts.)

Psychic Detective Yakumo (2010-10-03) Series

Description

In order to help a friend possessed by a spirit, Ozawa Haruka knocks on the door of her university's movie research association. There she meets Saitou Yakumo, a rude, unkempt young man with a red left eye, who is said to have spiritual powers. At first Haruka is skeptical, but she comes to believe him when he conveys messages from her older sister, who died when she was a child. Together, they work to shed light on the terrifying events happening at their university. But this is only the prologue of what's to come...

Genre: mystery, supernatural
Length: 13
Status: airing
Time: Sun 23:00+JST
Duration: 25m

Links: Official ANN

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Let’s get another long pan on those eyes… no, that wasn’t long enough, let’s do it again!

(This really feels like Spiral and Avenger’s illegitimate child two decades down the line, when it is more mature than either of its parents were when they had it. Whether this unholy union will produce an angel or a devil remains to be seen. I’m holding out for the “just a 16 year old girl” option.)

Shinryaku! Ika Musume (2010-10-04) Fall Series

Description

Squid Girl has come to the land from the depths of the sea to conquer humanity for its pollution of the ocean. Unfortunately she ruins the first house she uses as an invasion base and has to work to pay for repairs. Of course, she can't overcome the Aizawa sisters who manage the house, so who knows whether she can subjugate humankind.

Genre: comedy, slice of life
Theme: Beach, Invaders
Status: airing
Time: Mon 26:00+JST
Length: 12
Duration: 24m

Links: Official Official Official ANN

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Refreshing sea-side comedy! Tentacles aplenty! Dumb verbal quirks! And somehow I am not turned off. We’ll see if the second episode wears out the series’ welcome and turns it into something that is annoying and nothing else, but for now I am entertained. Keep squirting that ink, Squid Girl!

Hyakka Ryouran (2010-10-03) Series

Description

The story takes place in Japan in the early 21st century, in an alternate reality where the Tokugawa Shogunate has remained in power. In this reality, student councils are tasked with oppressing schools. Yagyuu Muneakira is a high school student who rebels against his student council with the help of girls who've had the names of famous samurai heroes passed on to them.

Genre: action, romance
Theme: ecchi, samurai
Episodes: 12
Status: airing
Time: Sun 24:30+JST
Duration: 24m

Links: Official Official ANN

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The answer is epic win. If nothing else, this show is rocking the season (the year?!?!) with its distinctive art style. Mad props for that—it seriously puts Katanagatari to shame, and looks like it’ll be what Queen’s Blade always wanted to be in terms of how visually appealing its fanservice is. “T&A isn’t everything; it must be aesthetically satisfying,” quoth the #AnimeHipster.

(I actually watched this pilot a long time ago—when the pre-air version came out—but didn’t think to mention it here until now. But there it is! Fall 2010, epic samurai schoolgirl fanservice! Enjoy!)

Ciao.

That’s it for your third glance at the new season, notdotq’s Fall 2010 Grope Test. Tune in next time for… a Listen Test? A Watch Test?

I’ll try to be brief.

Panty & Stocking (2010-10-01) Series

Description

A company of ghosts has moved into Daten City, taking advantage of human greed. Two angels, Panty and Stocking, are sent from heaven to exterminate them -- but in reality they got kicked out for bad behavior.

Episodes: 13
Time: Fri 27:00+JST
Status: completed
Duration: 24m

Links: Official Official ANN

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I don’t even… I don’t know who or what decided that PSG would be the most important thing ever, but apparently otou-san used it to kick digitalboy off the internet. I Am Okay With This™. As for the anime stripped of its meta anibloggery context, meh. I don’t need it. I wanted to enjoy it—I really did—but the visual cacophony was just a bit too much. I’ll stick with it for an episode or two longer, but I can’t see myself getting very far.

The transformation scene—well-shared across GRSI—is very, very nice, though. 8)

MM (2010-10-02) Fall Series

Description

The story centers the life of Taro Sado going through high school. He came to realize his masochist personality and attempts to conceal this from his crush. To fix it, he enrolled in his school's "2nd Volunteer Club".

Genre: comedy, romance
Length: 12
Status: airing
Time: Sat 09:30+JST

Links: Official ANN

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I was not super impressed by this. The OP and ED suck donkeyballz and the lead girl’s voice actress sounds like she’s trying too hard to emulate Hirano Aya. Among the nicer things were the friendship between the bros and the trap—but I fear nothing compelling will come from this plot thread. I’ll keep watching this, but not with high hopes. While masochism is fun to laugh at, and while many of the show’s situations are kind of hot if we let ourselves stop and understand, “oh, she’s getting him off,” I don’t enjoy Sado’s beaten-up face so much.

It just doesn’t suit my aesthetic.

Bakuman (2010-10-02) Series

Description

Moritaka Mashiro, a junior high school student, content to live out a relatively normal life as any other does, is persuaded by his classmate, Akito Takagi, to become an aspiring mangaka when the latter realizes his natural talent as an artist. However, Moritaka is reluctant to pursue his dream as his uncle, once a mangaka with his own serializations, died from overwork trying to regain his lost status. With Akito's help, Takagi gets another classmate and his school crush, Azuki Miho, who is an aspiring voice actress, to voice in the anime adaptation of their future manga once it is completed. However, Mashiro also proposes to Azuki, who surprisingly accepts only on the condition she will marry him when both of them have achieved their dreams. With a goal set before him, Mashiro begins a long and struggling path to become a famous mangaka.

Length: 25
Status: airing
Time: Sat 18:00+JST
Duration: 24m

Links: Official ANN

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Bakuman, already a borderline mediocre manga by virtue of its shitty premise, fallacious conflicts, and flat supporting cast, had nothing to gain through animation. It has neither action nor ambience. The only two aspects where a TV adaptation could have helped—vocalizing the dialogue and providing a pleasant soundtrack—just weren’t what they needed to be. Add to that the fact that J.C. Staff is pulling its usual “we already made Honey & Clover, please allow us to rest on our rotting laurels” spiel, and you’re left with a really, really bad idea.

I think I’ll pass.

My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute (2010-10-03) Series

Description

For several years, Kyousuke's relationship with his younger sister Kirino has been cold, to the point that they only share greetings. But one day, Kyousuke finds a moe anime DVD fallen in their entry hall. His interest piqued, he looks for the owner, only to realize it belongs to Kirino. He's shocked, but more surprises lie just ahead...

Genre: comedy
Theme: imouto, otaku, secrets, siblings
Episodes: 12
Status: airing
Time: Sun 23:30+JST
Duration: 24m
Length: 12

Links: Official ANN

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Best show of Fall 2010? It’s hard to say from here, but it’s sure dazzling next to its competition. Allow me to quote myself.

DUDE THAT WAS AWESOME
===
No, seriously. Great soundtrack, fantastic visuals, interesting characterization, compelling narrative, good jokes. Characters blink; facial expressions change realistically. And the pacing is great. I can’t wait for more.
===
Best anime of the season? y/n

To answer myself:

y

Interestingly enough, Kirino (aka the hottest little sister ever, a nubile proto-Nobue) is voiced by the same wannabe-ogre who voices Mio in MM!. She tries much less hard to sound like Aya in this show, however, which is bonus points.

Parting shot…

Well, this has been way too much like “real” anime blogging for lolikit, so he’s gonna bust outta here and hit the figurative hay. G’night, bitches!