Currently Airing Anime

oreimo s2 ep4
FANSERVICE EPISODE OF THE YEAR, ALL YEARS
LITTLE BROWN GIRL STRONG

 Spoiler

YOU HAVE NO IDEA


NO IDEA

 Spoiler

DOUJINSHI CANNOT BE MADE SOON ENOUGH, I WANT IT 5 HOURS AGO

GOD YES PLEASE

Red Data Girl 03~04: The visit to Tokyo (was that ep 3 or 2?) was pretty lame. I'm finding it very hard to sympathize with the main character, and I'm way more in line with being as pissed off as Sagara is. The whole Wamiya thing was silly. Sagara suggest something completely reasonable to ensure their survival. She finally grows a spine and does something, though we have no idea, and she has even less of an idea, of how much she can actually do. And then, we're left off with her being useless again. The new characters made episode four a lot more interesting, with a much more defined supernatural aspect, as opposed to her just being afraid of shadows. At the same time, she's annoying. Still. It's getting better I guess, but I don't look forward to this show.

Devil Survivor 2: I think I despise this show. It's really bad.

DATE A LIVE 03~04: The love polygon thing is way too absurd, even for someone who enjoys RomComs as much as I do. The fact they're trying to make these super-powerful beings fall in love with one person, and don't even consider the bloodbath that could occur........ That being said, YOSHINONHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Hataraku Maou-sama! 04: I'm liking the characterizations quite a bit. The bawww background for Emilia along with the humanization of Satan brings an interesting aspect to their interactions. I'm not sure if I've seen many types of scenarios like this, where a character has a complete lack of understanding of, in Satan's case, pain and suffering is and how he causes it, and now he's recognized this and doesn't want to continue it. This is one of my preferred shows this season.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S 03: I wonder how this setting appears to someone who doesn't know the Index story and is completely new to Railgun, seeing Mikoto cope with the idea that she may have clones running around. I'm hoping this season will reconverge with Index's current story, and involve some delicious AcceleratorxLast Order action. Because if it's 24 episodes to cover what the manga has so far, it seems rather excessive. Hopefully, there isn't a lot of filler because I didn't particularly like much of that from the first season.

Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko 03: hmmmm Something about this episode fell flat with me. The previous episode showing Azuki Azusa being bullied and in despair really shook it up, but I felt they lost the tension built up from there. Tsukiko's story coming through really brings it up, but then we're reminded that MC didn't remember her at all. I'm not liking the MC that much now. The way his voice comes out feels very tryhard.

Yuyushiki 03: I love these types of shows. This week's in particular was quite nice. The pool sequence at the beginning and having it cut so short got me good. I really liked the summer themed antics. Reminds me that sweltering death is approaching.

Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties 03: I loved and despised this episode. First, it gave us an amazing look at her majesty A-tan <3. And then we're reminded of how horribly neglected she is in the main series, and how her arc still hasn't been animated. I was looking forward to seeing that so much, as it was probably the most enjoyable arc of the manga, with a very strong tension built up, with good depth between the her and Hayate, but we're still left wondering why she's become a loli, how many chapters later? 200?

Suisei no Gargantia 04: This episode really underlined some great things. I enjoy the contrast of an efficient society where the unnecessary are eliminated with the necessary conditioned to ignore it, compared to the classical human compassion. The scene where we see his brother with the flute and being eliminated really brings a darker edge to the show. Combined with the final scene, we're given the strong possibility that Ledo won't want to return to the Galactic Alliance, whereas Chamber will have to follow his programming, and the conflict that would ensue if they do find a way home. I'm still expecting a Hideauze in the ocean.

Evangelion 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo: First off, I'd like to say that the ED is fantastic. It's been so long since I've listened to anything from Utada Hikaru, so I found a discography =]
This is my interpretations of the story thus far:

 Spoiler

From 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone, we glance at episodes 1~6 of the anime. Shinji is dragged into a war to save mankind. Despairing at his lonesome life, where his father is never there for him, and his mother passed away, he finds himself with new friends and comrades. A minute difference from the anime is his interactions with the rest of the cast. He's more openly intimate with everyone, becoming close friends with Touji and Kensuke, and at the end of the movie, after rescuing Rei, holds her hands. This exemplifies the title of the movie, showing that he isn't alone, that he does have friends, comrades, connections with people that he cares about.

In 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance, a stark change from the original series is shown. Compounded with the previous movies' hints that the world is not exactly the same as the TV series, we see bloodstained oceans and new character(ization)s. It shows Shinji's progress forward in his life, gaining the approval of his father etc., as well as Asuka coping with her loneliness that Shinji overcame in the first movie, and Rei's awareness of being an artificial existence. A lot of focus is put towards Rei, and her advancement towards a regular human being through her interaction with Shinji (i.e. the eating aspect, showing compassion).
And then the track change. The complete deviation at this point, showing Touji no longer the pilot of Unit-03, and Asuka being there brings things over the edge. Shinji is once again forced to kill with the Dummy Plug, but this time it's Asuka, who's shown such a strong step forward in her role, volunteering in the first place so the others can be at Rei's dinner party. The song being played when the Dummy Plug fights the Angel is the Elementary (or is it Preschool?) School Graduation Theme, if I recall correctly. Having been shown Gendo's envisoning of Yui in Rei, he realize he's still after the same goal, and combined with Shinji's rage after having seemingly killed Asuka, we see him blame his father's lack of loss the reason he doesn't understand him. Shinji leaves, having lost everything, throwing away his SDAT player, his only connection with his father, and his only escape from reality. Coming back to the title, he returns after being shown Rei being eaten by the angel. Realising he's going to lose one of the last things important to him, he goes to save her, enacting third impact.
As the credits finish, we see Mark 06 throw the Lance of Cassius, piercing Unit 01 and stopping Third Impact.

In 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo, everything is different. Basically nothing from the preview shown at the end of 2.22 is even in the movie, leading to either drastic design changes, or implications that they occurred in the time skip. As Asuka and Mari retrieve Unit 01 from space, we're shown that Asuka still cares about Shinji, asking for his help as they try to stop the angel. Much of the time spent on Wunder shows the crew untrusting of Shinji, who enacted Third Impact, and Shinji questioning whether or not he really saved Rei, having his SDAT with him that she retrieved, but she herself is nowhere to be found. When Rei appears again in Mark 09, he goes with her, not being able to trust Wille. This is built heavily on the relationship he had formed with her in 2.22, being his most trusted ally, and having risked everything to save her. He finds that she is not the same though, acting like a doll, a direct contrast to Rei-02's self-awareness and will that she presented to Asuka in the last movie. Kaworu shows the same homolust towards Shinji, willing to do whatever it takes to make him happy. As he fixes the SDAT, we see the track number now at 28, when it was previously at 27 in 2.22, and only ever a 25 to 26 in every other continuity, showing a step forward again. As they play the piano together, Shinji seeks a connection with someone, unable to find it in Rei who no longer remembers him, or cares for that matter, and the members of Wille seemingly abandoning him, collaring him like a rabid dog. Kaworu tells Shinji that he has the power to change the world, to (Redo) everything.
As Kaworu and Shinji descend in Unit-13, Asuka and Mari attempt to stop them. As Shinji is about to take the spears, Kaworu realizes they are both Longinus, with Cassius nowhere in sight. The importance of this scene shows the Redo aspect of the movie. There should only be one of each lance, Longinus for the black moon, and Cassius for the white moon (seemingly in this continuity, as it was previously believed to be Longinus for both moons). In either case, we're clearly shown Cassius at the end of 2.22, meaning that either there is a replica Longinus, or possibly a Longinus from a previous iteration of the world that's been Redone. Rei's unit in the meantime attempts to take down the Wunder, being called a Vessel of Adam, as it tries to connect with the Lilith based Unit 01. Asuka manages to stop her, showing her previous compassion towards Rei-02, asking this Rei what she wants, rather than what she's told to do.
Kaworu once again dies in front of Shinji, despite his efforts in this and the last movie to interact and "save" Shinji. As he's ejected, we see Kaworu's figure fly away, being left in the Unit, and the Fourth Impact is stopped. Mari tells Shinji that he still has to save the princess, referring to Asuka, and as Asuka retrieves him from the entry plug, she accuses him of not saving her again. This scene appears to be contrasted with 1.11's Shinji taking Rei out of her entry plug, as well as 2.22 where Shinji couldn't save Asuka from Unit 03, and End of Evangelion, where Asuka 'dies' to the MP Evas. Shinji is left completely helpless, having sceen Kaworu die and destroying the world once again (?), unable to Redo and bringing what appears to have been the worst possible outcome. They meet up with Rei, and plan to rendezvous with Lilim (Humans, i.e. Wille), as they walk through a desolate wasteland. The somber setting fits amazing with the ED.

The Redo aspect brings us back to what everyone was speculating in 1.11 and 2.22, that this is possibly a recreated world from the remains of End of Evangelion, where Shinji and Asuka are the only two left. Combined with the hints that Kaworu has given, constantly referring to past encounters despite being shown this is the first time Shinji meets him, we're led to believe he remembers or knows something, and wants to guide Shinji to happiness.

Overall, the story in 3.33 is far too confusing, especially compared to the previous two. As I've seen stated in other areas, the story seems to pander way to extensively to existing deep fandom, with not a lot of aid explaining things, and that was fine for 1.11 and 2.22 as the deviations were understandable with the story flow, but with the path they took for 3.33, 4.44 will need to be amazing to make up for the confusion, as many plot points are left unexplained, and there's definitely not enough information to make up for it.