THAT Animeblog

A new year is about to start in 26 some odd days…and no Mako-cakes will not be reclaiming his manhood.

Well another year has almost past and overall it was pretty good. Much fun was had, many gut busting laughs occurred, and memories both good and bad were made. So here are some poorly laid out thoughts on 2008 even if Fall is not over. I might do one for fall once all is said and done, but even so this post is already rather long. I hope you all had a fun year watching anime, no matter what your genre. Feel free to add some of your own stuff as this is hardly exhaustive, otherwise relive the rage relive the joy, savor Shinichiro’s tears one more time.

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I can hear the fangirls kyaaing already…

Funny thing when a supposedly plot-driven episode turns out to be a double dose of fanservice hiding in the bushes, don’t you think? Oh well, who couldn’t use a few extra laughs? Call me crazy, but Wagaya’s latest escapade struck me as a thinly veiled excuse to derail into a few fangirl-pandering bathhouse jokes for a change (and rightly so — for being a dual-sexed character, Kuu-chan owes the female audience big time.)

I jumped the gun last week when I assumed that Youkai-Baba would be a central figure in the latest sideplot, which she was, but she wasn’t the ’star of the show’ that I had in mind. You see, I was under the mistaken impression that Noboru and Tohru would be paying a visit to Youkai-baba. You know, at her house. Actually, a sneaky department store lottery was responsible for dictating the setting of this so-called “vacation” — a middle-of-nowhere hot springs resort town, where an equally nondescript conflict and resolution can lazily unfold. Youkai-baba just shows up out of the blue.

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The Mighty Bargain Hunter stalks his prey.

There are good fillers and there are bad fillers. Some build characters. Others build budget. Wagaya’s latest installment thankfully belongs to the former, pausing for a nice slice of life before the next story arc and giving new meaning to the expression ‘comic relief’. Kou-chan works overtime to make Episode 11 into an unforgettable lolfest, so I’ll forgive her for shattering a whole chinaset’s worth of dishes in a single day.

Episode 11 also grants some long overdue screen time to male Kuu-chan, nudges along Saku-chan’s budding relationship with Noboru-kun, and even squeezes in a few deeply touching Kou/Noboru moments. No battles, no backstory, no bawling, no boobs — just a whole lot of laughs. (I apologize ahead of time for the crappy image quality.)

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Oh, Guardian Girls just wanna have fun.

It turns out that Reverse Circle won’t be our golden ticket to Wagaya’s backstory after all — at least for the time being. Episode 10 ties the latest arc up into a neat little package and kicks it aside to make room for the next sub-plot, so there isn’t a whole lot of action or character development to be seen here. Nevertheless, Episode 10 is still rather enjoyable; the plot direction makes a few deft feints towards the sinister before delivering the final blow. And it was definitely worth the wait to see Kou-chan drunk!

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Greetings from the wee hours of the morning! Hunting feverishly for a decent, unclaimed anime to blog, I wound up scoping out Wagaya. Guess I’m a sucker for anything remotely fantasy related…

Episode #09 is a welcome change of pace after eight episodes of rinse-and-repeat monster battles with little indication of an overriding plot direction, just in time to quell my outrage at the fact that ‘Youkai Baba’ probably won’t be showing her face again anytime soon.

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