THAT Animeblog

More importantly what is she thinking about?

I never did expect to like Toradora! much, still while I have mild levels of love for Taiga toradorable though she maybe (as she is loli enough to reside three miles past the point of uncomfortable and has yet to use her wealth to provide Takasu with decent ingredients) I did find myself liking Ami more and more as the episodes go by. I like her not only because she looks more developed biologically than Taiga but also because she is so deliciously insincere that it is hard to read her character and her motives. While there have been many who have wondered if Ami-tan ever did take off her mask I do suppose she has, instead of pretending to be an air head the whole time, shown much more of her mischievous self and insincere tone to those around her. Perhaps the Ami we see now is the real Ami, a person with a unique gift for obfuscation. If nothing else Ami has no problem using a ball with lethal force against Yusaku.

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Here we go again at the stupid stuff.

As the title says it, there’s filler… and there’s filler. The previous two episodes, despite the rather letdown conclusion, was decent filler that would not hurt any series at all. This week’s filler was something rather unexpected. Oh, if it helps, next week seems to be YET another filler.

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KeyAni fanboy, reporting in.

Once again I have taken on the responsibilities of creating the monstrosity known as THAT’s various season previews. At least since I’m doing it from the start Impz can’t whine and pawn it off on me halfway through. Plus, I’m OCD about getting everything exactly right and consistent. I have not changed anything about the format since the last two previews, so it should look fairly familiar to most of you.

Much of this info is pulled from Fansub Wiki, AniDB, AnimeNfo, ANN, Wikipedia and random blogs. So thanks to those fine sites for their databases.

Notice from the Office of the NKVD: Just so that there is not misunderstanding like last time this is a preview not review that “p” makes one hell of a difference. These are our initial expectations final thoughts will not be up until the show is over and done with. Again preview not review. That is all.
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I don’t think anyone is actually watching the series right now due to the fact that everyone hates baseball even if the series is hardly about hardcore Baseball. It just shows how Prince of Tennis and other crap shounen sports anime has all but demolished any credibility in the sports genre. It’s sad because the psychological twists rivals any thriller/mystery I ever watched.

I actually love this episode for two reasons: a total mindfuck, and the rendering of an excellent pitcher to total crap with compounding tactics. The above pitcher is Kira, a pitcher for the opposing Mariners team. Tokuchi’s delaying tactics caused Mariners to be in a panic, and the coaching staff decided to rush Kira into pitching without practice. With more and more pressure put on Kira, Kira eventually lost so many points that he no longer want to pitch anymore. It’s truly amazing how sports is not really all about talent, but also mentally battering your opponent into submission.

In the same case, that is why some people who are not exactly intelligent or excellent are able to command so many people under their charge. They might not be awfully smart, but they do know how to manipulate effectively to shift the momentum to their side. Tokuchi’s intelligent play to intimidate, confuse and bewilder his opponent eventually resulted in Lycaons gaining back to 16-16. For those who do not know baseball, to catch up from 0-16 down to 16-16 is almost a miracle. To do that in an inning? Impossible, but the mental game of Tokuchi did it.

If I have to give a reason to watch this, it will be Tokuchi. Any person who likes psychological thrillers can try this mind-numbling strategist as he toys with his opponents’ head. You will never know what he will do next.

Here is the second part of the AFA report by Impz. Check the previous report as well! As usual, the same warning applies. If you wish to see your cosplay pictures, you can go to Ooga’s entry about cosplayers. His entry has enough pictures about the cosplayers in the convention, so I prefer to focus on something different. Due to time constraints, there will be a part 3 AFA report, and that will be about Sky Crawlers and a few other miscellaneous comments.

In this part of my report, I like to focus on one of the major exhibit attractions on display: Genius party beyond. If you have not heard of this, it is a series of short clips by famous anime directors to experiment on various themes. Some of them are so experimental that I totally do not understand but all of them have a clear distinct feel that portrays the personality of the director. Here is a small collection of the exhibition, if you missed it.

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Hot chick alert! Hot Ebony chick alert!

*Insert random fangirl kyaa-ing here*

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Break into the world of the 100% Faye, Touma. A warning: It’s impossible.

You thought I have dropped this again, didn’t you? The truth is that I was simply trying to find the best way to blog this series, and I think I found it. Since the world of To Aru Majutsu no Index is about levels, it is also time to rank the characters every single episode. Sure, this idea isn’t new around, but it is appropriate just for an anime like this.

We will be using the FAYE % gauge to evaluate the greatness of each character in this episode.

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