[Fall 2013] anime orientation week

[Yuki-Anne]

So far hubs and I have been disappointed with this season. The only ones we like are Kyoukai no Kanata and Megane-bu.

[GeneD]

Beyond The Boundary ep 3:

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (yikes, that was quite the scratch ).

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: The lack of blood made me think at first that it was an old scar/birthmark type thing. Also yay for magic scarf.

I can see how next week's Kyokai no Kanata is going to go down.

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Akihito gets possessed by the whatever, which is convenient because unlike Mirai's friend that she killed, he can't die. Problem solved.

^ Yeah, I figured that, too ... however SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I don't think that's going to stop it for good-- it seems way too tempting of final-boss material to beat this early on. (Unless the *real* final boss is that Sakura girl...)

Yeah unless they throw in some twist, the preview gave away the whole of the next episode, which is really silly unless they do in fact have a stellar twist and the preview is a calculated misdirection... I'm not holding my breath though. I also think, MangaRocks!, you might be reading too much into SPOILER: Highlight text to read: the shadow thing. Yes it might seem like a big deal, but it often happens that a seemingly really powerful big bad is introduced early and then defeated, so that when the real big bad shows up, we know that things are going to get serious. Obviously I don't know if that's going to be the case here but we'll see I guess.

I'm hoping that we see why Miria's family is shunned and their power called a curse. So far we've just been told that oh it's super bad and everyone hates them, but we don't actually know the reason do we? I mean, I really hope that it's not just that they're the only ones who can bloodbend, because frankly that would be pretty dumb.

I'm a bit confused about who that Sakura girl is, that wasn't very clear.

Also, maybe it was the translation I had but how was that Hiroomi grabbing Akihito's waist? I don't care if he's half youmu, that's not where a person's waist is. >:/

Kyousou Giga ep 2: From the OAVs I was under the impression that SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Koto was from the "normal"/our world, but her back-story was so much more interesting and awesome. And if that is our world, at least it wasn't "normal". Weirdly enough, although the series has quite a few mysteries that make me curious, I'm not hung up about getting answers at all, just happy to be along with the ride.

Kill la Kill ep 3: Well the explanation about the uniforms was interesting.

[MangaRocks!]

I also think, MangaRocks!, you might be reading too much into SPOILER: Highlight text to read: the shadow thing. Yes it might seem like a big deal, but it often happens that a seemingly really powerful big bad is introduced early and then defeated, so that when the real big bad shows up, we know that things are going to get serious. Obviously I don't know if that's going to be the case here but we'll see I guess.

True; I've certainly seen/read/played my share of media where that did indeed occur. I just thought it'd be a shame if SPOILER: Highlight text to read: there was all that buildup to a big boss that seemed like it could be pretty interesting, and then suddenly it's gone within the first couple of ep.'s, with the possible interesting things that could've been done with it left unexplored. It would seem like a bit of wasted potential to me. Then again, maybe I was expecting something I shouldn't have, LOL...

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Also, maybe it was the translation I had but how was that Hiroomi grabbing Akihito's waist? I don't care if he's half youmu, that's not where a person's waist is. >:/

LOL! Oh man, every time that got mentioned I kept thinking the exact same thing.




Samurai Flamenco ep. 2:

Oh gosh. The main character is such a dork... (And LOL, his manager really *is* terrifying. ) Still on the fence as to whether or not I actually like this show, but at the moment it's amusing enough that I don't mind watching it every week, so I think I'll go ahead and commit to watching the whole thing now.


Galilei Donna ep. 2:

I'm totally loving this. I love the historical-secrets/mystery, I love the high-tech-future setting, I love the conspiracy, I love the main characters, etc. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Also, whoa-- definitely was not expecting the episode to end with *that*...


And Nagi no Asukara ep. 3:

Wow-- there was actually some character progress.

I also liked the fact that the banishment actually had a fairly logical explanation SPOILER: Highlight text to read: as a strict deterrent to sea-people having kids with land-people, since due to said kids not being born with Ena, they become land-people, and thus it depletes the sea-people's future genes/numbers, etc. Also, whoa, no wonder Tsumugu knew all that stuff about the sea-people-- SPOILER: Highlight text to read: since he's apparently descended from one.

BTW, LOL at SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Hikari's "taste in men" line + Kaname's agreement. And the whole sequence from SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Manaka's apology through the playing in the water had me genuinely grinning.

So, yeah, I actually quite liked this ep. (the first one of this series I truly did), and now I'm (hopefully) looking forward to the rest.

[GeneD]

Nagi no Asukara ep 3:



The casual sexism put me off big time and I realised I don't care about any of these characters. Maybe if I had more time right now, but I just don't have the patience to waste any on annoying, mediocre nonsense. If I hear really good things about it I might give it another chance later. I was mildly interested in the dilemma and dynamics of the sea-people dying out, so maybe if that becomes a focal point...

Galilei Donna ep 2: I was unsure about this after ep 1 but really enjoyed this episode. The family focus and conspiracy plot is really cool and I'm excited to see where it all leads. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I just hope Mom and Dad Galileo are okay.

Samurai Flamenco ep 2: 'Twas fun, I want to see more plot since I'm not sure exactly what direction the show is going in.

[Kaori]

Belated comments on Yowapeda ep. 2:

- Very amused by Onoda acting like an otaku (loved the line about the cockpit of a mobile suit). This episode also really accurately demonstrates how much being an anime fan is in Japan is a social stigma.
- "Mommy bike" is a pretty poor translation--it is faithful to the literal meaning of the first half of the word, but these kinds of bikes do not have a connotation of being for mothers: everyone rides them, particularly students, males just as much as females, as Onoda demonstrates. "Basket bike" or "commuter bike" would be better.
- Japan's speed limits tend to be lower than America's (generally similar numbers but in km/h instead of mph, e.g. 30 km/h instead of 30 mph), so to ride a bicycle as fast as a low cc scooter (or a car obeying the speed limit) is actually possible.
- Kanzaki might be right about the seat position she gave to Onoda being the most powerful, but it's ultimately not a good seat position because having the seat that high will make the rider hyperextend, which causes injury. Also, you need to be able to touch the ground with at least one toe.
- In contrast to ep. 1, I really enjoyed this one. All of the jokes about Onoda being an otaku, and Imaizumi whizzing by motorcycles and cars on his bicycle, remind me of why Yowapeda amuses me so much, and the extra bit after the ending song was hilarious.

[ClosetOtaku]

Coppelion is playing faaaast and loooose with reality. It might be a rush for those military equipment otaku out there, but SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I can't really see using a B-2 Stealth bomber as a getaway car. It tries to maintain drama and suspense through stereotypical, over-the-top, SPOILER: Highlight text to read: pity the poor girls who are the genetically engineered freaks type revelations, but kind of rings hollow. I'm getting ready to invoke the "6-episodes-and-you're-done" clause for this one.

[MomentOfInertia]

Coppelion ... SPOILER: Highlight text to read: using a B-2 Stealth bomber as a getaway car

Well, now I have to look at it.

[LastLfan]

Still need to watch the second ep but log horizon seems good so far, also gonna start yowapedal and my metal choices are interferingwith my school romantic comedy.

[MangaRocks!]

Golden Time ep. 3:

LOL, I don't even. What is *with* the 'clubs' at this school? SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I mean, first it was the male-enslaving 'tea club' in the last ep., and now it's a religious cult? What the heck?

Gotta say, though, as absurd as all that is, in context Banri was totally awesome getting the others out of there (and getting their forms back as well). (Also, at least the cult was kinda genuinely scary as opposed to... well, the just-super-uncomfortable-what-the-heck-ery of the 'tea' girls. )

The nice thing about this ep., though, was that it finally gave some character background on, and a little depth to, both Banri and Koko.




Kill la Kill ep. 3:

Y'know, this show is so OTT bananas (though actually in a kinda weirdly logical way? ) that I don't even really have words for it at this point (and yes, I know, this is just ep. 3-- I can only imagine what I may or may not be able to find the words to comment on later in the season ), however (minus the annoyingly heavy fanservice ) I'm certainly being entertained by the spectacle.




And Beyond The Boundary ep. 4:

Well okay then, I guess I was wrong, LOL-- SPOILER: Highlight text to read: because the shadow thing *was* completely defeated. (Oh well. I was right about Sakura being the dead girl's sister, at least... ) And anyway, they did make things a bit more interesting (like the memory-labyrinth, etc.) with it beforehand, too, as well as making its three-stage defeat pretty intense, so I guess I'm cool with that.

Man, though, while I kinda figured that something like Akihito's youmu-half-awakening might happen, I was *not* expecting it to be so creepy. (Nor that his power was so incredible. But that certainly explains that one flashback with all the blood on his hands...)

Oh, and that little exchange between Mirai and Akihito at the end was really sweet.

Whoa, though, what was up with that scene after the credits? SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I knew someone had taken the real stone, but now I'm really curious as to who the old man was and what was up with the "this should keep the Society busy" or whatever line...

[MangaRocks!]

Samurai Flamenco episode 3:

Hahaha, alright, I've finally warmed up to this now. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Oh my gosh this entire episode was way more amusing than I'd expected. And the line when Red Axe was crying... and the clever misdirection to fool the manager... and the scene after the credits... Yep, I think it's safe to say that I like this now.


Galilei Donna episode 3:

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Well, at least their parents are both alive, though the amnesia thing with the mom was a little cliché; but I'll roll with that one for now. I was also kinda surprised that the middle sister had such an inferiority complex, which I found mildly irritating. However, now that the bad guys have been outlined a little more and the treasure-hunt has finally been set in motion in earnest, I expect the next episode will pick things back up again.


And Nagi no Asukara episode 4:

Wow, Hikari really *is* getting better. And even the two little troublemaking girls had a bit of character development.

Also, that SPOILER: Highlight text to read: "We can't let the surface have the people of the sea right now" line sounded rather ominous. I wonder if it's just to prevent the SPOILER: Highlight text to read: sea-race-dying-out-by-attrition stuff, or if there's something even bigger he was referring to...

[Kaori]

Yowapeda 3:

Can't recall if this is the first appearance in the anime of those seniors in the bike club or not, but it is definitely the first appearance of the third main character (the red-haired kid at the end), and I am really looking forward to listening to more of his Kansai-ben. By the way, realistically speaking, the whole premise of this episode (Onoda's catching up to a road bike on his basket bike which weighs twice as much, while going up a steep slope, when the guy on the road bike is putting forth his true effort) is impossible.

[GeneD]

Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta ep 3: Interesting "world building" information. Next week seems to be a "beach" episode but I hope it's not just filler since I want to get back to whatever the bad guys are up to.

Kyoukai no Kanata ep 4: The most amazing thing about this series is how they managed to take such a lot of compelling concepts and managed to make them so very bland. I'm should probably just stop talking about it.

Samurai Flamenco ep 3: The resolution of the fake Flamenco, and Goto's reaction, was hilarious.

Galilei Donna ep 3: In which apparently everyone hates Middle Sister except me who thinks she has the most rational reaction. Maybe cause I'm a middle child too... Anyone else keep getting the oldest and the Galileo otaku mixed up? Boo on the cop-out with the mother.

Kill la Kill ep 4: Nice deviation from the norm. I find I usually don't have much to say about every episode.

Kyousou Giga ep 3: I love all the background bits and pieces. The characters are getting fleshed out so nicely, e.g. the priest brother was not really that interesting to me before and this episode totally changed that. Next week is Yase and I can't wait for Myoue's episode. Also it's streaming on Crunchyroll now so none of you have an excuse to not be watching.

EDIT:

Yowapeda ep 3: Yay I was waiting for the Hime Hime song to come back. The post credits scene keeps up the trend of being the most hilarious part of the show. I only noticed now that it's set to run for 38 episodes, which is definitely longer than I'm used to watching at the moment. Are sport shows usually two cours or more or is the genre too wide to generalise?

[blkmage]

Shounen sports manga tend to be long, yeah.

Everyone in Samumenco is a huuuuuuuuuuge dork and it's glorious.

I don't think I mentioned it yet this season, but Nana Mizuki + t.m. revolution continues to be the absolute best.

[KazeShiki]

I mentioned it, but I surprisingly am not a fan of Kakumei Dualism. Although after hearing the full version, I do like some parts more than the chorus. I wonder how long they'll continue to push this collab, since they've been marketing it like crazy since the beginning and have gone so far as to appear at each other's concerts, plus AFA and a number of other duets and crossovers on TV.

Kyousougiga too good. Gunpla too.

Arpeggio 3: yeah that wasn't surprising. Takao is the true moe heavy cruiser. Shame the only other good design is maybe Kirishima.

[MangaRocks!]

@GeneD / @KazeShiki: Alright, now I'm interested. If I was going to start watching this new series of Kyousougiga, though, I assume I should watch the first 6 ONA's beforehand?


Golden Time episode 4:

LOL, well, at least *that* club (finally!) seemed pretty normal. And also LOL at them (again!) totally not paying any attention whatsoever during that lecture. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: As for the romantic plot: Ah, so Mitsuo has seriously set his sights on Chinami-- good for him! And I'm glad he was finally able to make things clear to Koko-- apparently shattering the delusional side of her once and for all-- because now it looks like things will get much more interesting. (Especially with that apparent reveal of who Linda was...)


And Kill la Kill episode 4:

This was even more insane than usual, LOL (...several times over, in fact!). But either this was just so completely ridiculous, or I'm enough used to the tone of the series now-- or both -- that I was literally just laughing the whole way through this thing.

[KazeShiki]

@GeneD / @KazeShiki: Alright, now I'm interested. If I was going to start watching this new series of Kyousougiga, though, I assume I should watch the first 6 ONA's beforehand?

Actually, they made it such that the majority of the ONA material was repeated, except it in much more linear and easier to understand format, filling in the blanks that the ONAs left us with. I think it's fine to just start with this season.

[GeneD]

Ninja'd by KazeShiki but putting my reply up anyway.

@GeneD / @KazeShiki: Alright, now I'm interested. If I was going to start watching this new series of Kyousougiga, though, I assume I should watch the first 6 ONA's beforehand?

Mmm no you don't really have to. Episode 00 of the TV series = the first ONA (2011) and so far it seems that the 2012 10-minute ONA's will be completely incorporated into the current series, which expands a lot on each of those. It might even be a good idea to just watch the series starting Ep 01 since, depending on where they're going with the story, some stuff in Ep 00 might be considered spoilers... But then other things might be less clear so idk.

If you don't end up watching the ONAs, I at least recommend the last one, which you could watch whenever in relation to the series I guess. I particularly liked that one and though it rather lovely.

[drill]

Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova - Episode 4: This episode was pretty good however, SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I was disappointed that Takao didn't show up to help win the fight. I'm a bit sad that there seems to be no character development alongside the action, but I guess they can't do that in just 12 episodes.

[MangaRocks!]

@KazeShiki / @GeneD: Ah, alright-- thank you both for the info/advice!

[MangaRocks!]

Beyond The Boundary episode 5:

Oh gosh, I can't believe the guys said all that stuff about Mirai right in front of her.

Anyway, I liked the fight, as well as the little bit of character development for Mitsuki; and the festival was nice, too.



Samurai Flamenco episode 4:

Bwahahahaha, SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Maya as "Flamenco Girl" was pretty awesome, if more than a bit... er... overzealous. Also, that was quite the subversion of my expectations when SPOILER: Highlight text to read: instead of her actually liking Hazama as I had figured, at first it looked like she actually liked Morita , and *then* she ended up falling head over heels for Goto-in-uniform!



Galilei Donna episode 4:

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Very suspicious of that phone call...

Anyway, it was a little too convenient that they just happened to meet the dude who invented a portable surgery-robot thing and then Hozuki falls from a roof, thus needing his help , but oh well. (At least middle sister's attitude improved... )

(...Y'know, oddly enough, with the two Noitamina shows this season it seems that each week my like for one is inversely proportionate to my like for the other-- for example, the first couple of weeks, I liked Galilei Donna's episodes a lot more than Samurai Flamenco's; but now these past couple of weeks it's been exactly the opposite. Hmm...)



Nagi no Asukara episode 5:

Great Akari- and Miuna-focused ep. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: At first I was annoyed at the dad for what he said to Akari, but then when he told Uroko that in the end it's her choice to make, I forgave him, LOL. And with that verbal push from Hikari + a better understanding of Miuna's feelings, she finally did make the choice that she really wanted to, and I'm really glad of it.

BTW, getting more curious as to what the big ominous thing that the sea-god keeps referring to is, as well-- he's getting more insistent about the land and sea's separation...



And last but most certainly not least, Kyousougiga episodes 0-4:

Oh my gosh-- that was addictingly intriguing, downright hilarious , surprisingly (and very genuinely) touching , and overall just totally awesome! I absolutely love what I've seen so far-- in fact, this has literally just become my favorite show of the season-- and I cannot wait for more!! (Thank you very much for getting me interested in this, you guys! )

[KazeShiki]

@Mangarocks - glad you're liking it so much! The very first OVA made me hope for just some crazy, entertaining shenanigans with colors, but they've since managed to further impress me with actual plot and character background.

Nagi 5 - I guess I got my wish for Akari plot. I'm liking the show more than I expected to, for now.

Golden Time 5 was just cruel. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Best friends with matching mirrors is reaching the pinnacle of friendzoned. Poor Banri, what did he do to deserve such cruelty.

[MangaRocks!]

@Mangarocks - glad you're liking it so much! The very first OVA made me hope for just some crazy, entertaining shenanigans with colors, but they've since managed to further impress me with actual plot and character background.

^ Exactly! When I watched ep. 0 I had no idea what I'd just seen but it was so entertaining that I couldn't help wanting more, and then all of a sudden there was in fact a real, intriguing plot and a bunch of great backstory and character development and relationships and etc., and then I just fell in love with it.

Golden Time 5 was just cruel. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Best friends with matching mirrors is reaching the pinnacle of friendzoned. Poor Banri, what did he do to deserve such cruelty.

^ LOL! Poor man, indeed. (Though, judging by the OP and ED, I kinda doubt it's going to stay that way... )

Also, the SPOILER: Highlight text to read: supernatural element finally appeared in this ep.-- and while I have no idea what purpose it will come to have in the story just yet (...apart from SPOILER: Highlight text to read: causing the amnesia, + maybe unraveling a little backstory, I mean), that concept could be rather interesting, depending on what happens with it.

[GeneD]

@MangaRocks! Yay, so glad you like Kyousou Giga.

Things I've been watching that I don't have much time to comment on:

Galilei Donna ep 4: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Best part was when littlest sister bounces off a scrapheap and is healed by an injection.

Kyousou Giga ep 4: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: That pink clapping youkai is amazing and hilarious. Overall I think I enjoyed it a bit less than last week although I love the concept for the things they don't want just floating away. So excited for Myoue's ep this week.

Samurai Flamenco ep 4: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Although I think her methods are excessive, Flamenco Girl is pretty great.

Yowamushi Pedal ep 4: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: My go-to series on a Monday when I'm peeved that the Yozakura Quartet sub isn't out yet. I was smiling all the way through this ep without having a clear reason why.

Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta ep 4: I'm curious about the pacing of this compared to the manga? Is anyone reading it and how well does it match up? I'm asking because the overall plot is kinda slow and seems to happen in between random/fanservice bits.

Also Kill la Kill and Kyoukai no Kanata episodes 5.

[ForeverInspired]

After a few disappointing episodes last week, I am really excited about most of this week's episodes. Besides BlazBlue - which I still am having trouble following and can't stand this week's spa episode, Coppelion, Tokyo Ravens, and Yozakura Quartet have provided great action, drama, and character development. Also, adding a young male character in one of them didn't hurt. I'm absolutely ecstatic! This is why I stuck through those shows! They better keep this up.

By the way, is anyone else concerned over the number of shows that are going to be rolling over into the next season? Some of them are really interesting - making me debate whether it is a good thing to have so many episodes of that goodness or whether it will mess it up with such a long run. However, the biggest problem that I am facing after having a look at the next season is that there are tons of shows that look really good again... just like this fall season. The problem is that I was able to compensate this season since I had no continuing shows, but I'm going to be stuck once winter comes. As of now, I highly doubt that I will drop any of the longer series. What do you all think about this?

[MangaRocks!]

^ Not quite sure what's all coming up in Winter just yet, but I certainly have no intention of dropping anything that I'm still watching, so I guess I'll do whatever I must to make it work, LOL.



Kill la Kill episode 5:

...Y'know what, I can't even comment on this anymore.



And Beyond The Boundary episode 6:

LOL, oh man-- this entire ep. was just completely, utterly ridiculous, and it knew it; but while it *was* just skippable (albeit somewhat parodying) filler (which apparently even the episode's writer apologized for, LOL ), I can't say that I didn't enjoy the SPOILER: Highlight text to read: 'music video' at the end. I *do* hope this gets back on track next week, though...

[ForeverInspired]

^You know, I couldn't help but start laughing (nearly going into hysterics ) once that scene came on at the end of Beyod the Boundary's episode 6. Really? That was all the build up was for???? O.O Nothing happened???? This was the exact opposite of what I had been hoping for, but I can't say that it wasn't engaging. It seems every series has to have that one episode that is filler. I guess it's better to get it over with now rather than when the show really comes in full swing.

[blkmage]

10/10, the idoling was the best part of all of Kyoukai no Kanata so far AND we got Minorin singing so I don't see what's not to like

[MangaRocks!]

Samurai Flamenco episode 5:

Well, it's been trending this way for a few weeks already, but after today I am now quite confident in stating that out of the two Fall noitaminA shows, I definitely like this one the best. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (...And yes, that's even despite the whole {unfortunately continuing} Mari/Moe thing. ) Anyway, I quite like the new setup that was established in this ep., with Samurai Flamenco splitting away from the Flamenco Girls (plural because it now includes the other two idols in Mari's group ), and Goto now apparently working with Samurai Flamenco in a truly official capacity. I have a feeling this is going to get even more fun from here on out...


And Galilei Donna episode 5:

...Case in point: Most of this episode seemed like it was actually on its way to restoring my original level of like for this particular series after its last few (IMO) kinda meh ep.'s-- in fact, I quite enjoyed most of it. However, I'm getting rather tired of the 'convenient' plot devices the series has used lately, and the faulty 'logic' that its otherwise-supposedly-smart characters have also been using; and this ep. unfortunately happened to feature both of those. For example: I found it pretty LOL (and I don't mean that in a good way ) that none of the girls SPOILER: Highlight text to read: could even recognize a church from the inside-- I mean, hello, stained-glass windows and pews? One would think that even non-church-goers should at least be able to recognize that, especially when they know that they're specifically looking for an old church. And also that ending-- horrible and sad as it genuinely was, there were so many obvious death flags throughout the ep. that I was expecting something to that effect right from the start, which gave it far less impact; and, worst of all, didn't the kids *just* find a huge, deep vault-- the entrance to which was literally only a couple of feet away from where Karen was sitting-- not five minutes beforehand?? Seriously, it would've been the perfect bomb shelter, and it was literally right there! But no, they had to try to get *out* of the building instead, using the most exposed way possible, complete with tons of glass overhead... ...Y'know what, writing all that out has made me more annoyed than I thought I was. Not enough for me to drop this (yet), but I am going to switch around the order that I watch these two shows, so I can end off my Thursdays with the one I enjoy more.

[Kaori]

Yowamushi Pedal ep 4: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I was smiling all the way through this ep without having a clear reason why.

It is that kind of series. Glad you're enjoying it.

Yowapeda ep. 4: Enjoying hearing that Kansai-ben, but Naruko is just not as cool a character as Tasuki. By the way, in case anyone didn't realize this, that guy in the yellow car that Naruko just casually starts talking to is definitely yakuza.

Yowapeda ep. 5: ^___________^

- "Cycling makes me hungry": This is so true. It's not quite to the same extent as what Onoda is experiencing, but I get that 'I ate so much but I'm still hungry' feeling pretty much every day that I ride my bike to work.
- The race course that Naruko talks about looks gorgeous, and I love the part where Naruko is talking about racing up mountains at unbelievable speeds on bicycles. The stuff he says about needing to eat and drink during actual road races is accurate AFAIK; the creator of the series is an avid cyclist himself, so although some of the characters' cycling styles and the things they do on bicycles are unrealistic and really exaggerated, facts like the relative weights of bicycles or rules and strategies in road races tend to be trustworthy.
- IIRC this is maybe the first time (other than in the opening credits) that we get a good look at all of the members of the cycling club, so I guess this is a good time to comment on them. If you take a look at the body types of the members, you'll notice there's some variety: you've got some tall and lanky guys, some short and lanky guys, and Tadokoro who is a ball of pure muscle. This is a pretty accurate representation of something I find to be interesting about cycling, which is that there is no one body type that you have to have in order to be a good cyclist; they come in lots of different shapes and sizes.
- Onoda is a really sweet kid (and that's one of the things that I really like about this series--the protagonist is just so extremely nice).
- I think this episode's post-credits short was the funniest yet.

[MangaRocks!]

Nagi no Asukara episode 6:

*snort*-- of course they found a way to have swimsuits even though the sea-people don't need them... It wasn't bad, though, IMO. (Well, I mean, except for the bit with the SPOILER: Highlight text to read: nail... *shudder* ) Anyway, I did like that there were some other classmates who finally opened up a bit and joined in helping to make the doll, too (even if it was just mostly because SPOILER: Highlight text to read: each of them seem to have a particular sea-kid that they're starting to like, LOL ).



And Kyousougiga episode 5:

Have I mentioned that I love this show to bits?? It's magnificent.

Comments on this ep.: The backstory of Myoue-the-younger was intense; I now like his girlfriend quite a bit; the bike sequence was brilliant; the entire scene in the field was beautiful; and holy crap, that ending...! Is it next week yet???