Code Geass Episode 3: The Deceptive Soldier

Episode 3 saw quite a bit of introduced characters in terms of the school life aspect of this series. Milay, the student body president, Shirley, Neval (to whom we were introduced in the first episode of the series), Nanaly (Lulu’s sweet sister) among other minor characters. Lelouch learns a bit about his powers and the growing complications of Britannia following the Shinjuku incident. Of course, following the events of the last episode leads into a rather sticky situation, not only for Lulu’s actions in that role, but the recognition of a classmate who appears to be the “terrorist” he assisted in Shinjuki. Further, this episode almost has this same “classmate” discovering Lulu’s double identity.

Is he smart enough to get out of the predicament, or will the book close on him? Well, the answer’s a bit obvious considering this is only episode 3 of the series, but if you want to find out, read past the cut and the cute picture of Lulu and Nanaly (small picture, but I lost the original file unfortunately, sorry). I will say this episode had some rather interesting developments, and the animation is still consistently nice and crisp.

Nodame Cantabile Lesson 3

Note: an overdue entry, although this was crafted quite a while ago. Actually episodes 3-6 are already crafted, but needed screenshots, so I’m posting these in succession as I come along.

New episode of Nodame Cantabile, and already the humor is still top notch. I really like Nodame, she’s crazy XD In this episode, however, it looks like she has a rather (read: unattractive) rival for Chiaki-sempai’s sentiments….uh oh. Not to mention Chiaki really doesn’t like Nodame referring to them as a married couple. That bucket of water should have been enough to cool Nodame down, but we don’t know if Chiaki did it or not (I’m assuming he did ).

All in all, terribly funny episode. My reflections come beneath the cut and after the picture of Nodame relaxing to Chiaki’s piano playing.

[My Favorite Things] Recommended J-Urban/R&B/Soul Artists and Songs (Female) – Part I

Here exists a topic that I approach with a bit of timidness, primarily because I’m not certain how well received the J-Urban industry is in Japan as well as worldwide. For most, J-Urban comprises the genres of R&B, soul, hip-hop, and rap in the Japanese music industry.

I have a few select favorites in this industry, though it could be argued that some of these artists may not be strictly J-Urban, but more or less J-Pop. It’s a difficult line to draw, especially for artists that seem to be multi genre. Take Crystal Kay’s influences from an early Janet Jackson, or Ken Hirai’s crooning vocals covering a wide range of songs in the industry, even covering one of Norah Jones’ songs “Don’t Know Why”. You also have J-Urban groups such as Soulhead and Double (who is now a single performer after her sister passed away ) who blend hip-hop and pop rather seamlessly, and in interesting ways in some modes. Then you have the idols like Utada Hikaru and Namie Amuro (“Queen of Hip Pop” anyone?) who are well received figures in pop and blending R&B but the attribution to J-Urban may not be as clear cut.

I’m not so much making a ranking with this list as I am mentioning some noteworthy artists in the genre, and this entry will focus on female artists in this genre only. I’ll also include pictures in this entry for each artist respectively, as well as a few names of songs of note (hopefully it won’t run up my bandwidth too much).

Artists and details under the cut.

[First Impressions] Romeo X Juliet

I didn’t really hear about Romeo and Juliet until after a few episodes of the series came to be, thanks to a few recommendations and some rather interesting discussions surrounding the series on a few anime sites I’m a part of (Animenfo included ). I didn’t know it was GONZO’s latest series, following in an adaptation format similar to Gankutsuou (The Count of Monte Cristo). Only this series doesn’t have the awkward animation in the first go, but truth be told, I loved Gankutsuou for the animation, plot and characters.

Romeo and Juliet rather grew on me judging from the first episode, both in terms of the beginning plot and the animated sequences. Lena Park sings a rather lovely rendition of “You Raise Me Up” (yes, the Josh Groban song) for the opening theme, while a J-Rock band 12012 sings a somewhat catchy ending theme called “Cyclone”. The latter song I didn’t like as much at first…until I realized I had listened to a really crud quality of the song, and it grew on me as I heard it from a better perspective. I wouldn’t say it’s that great of a song, in most modes though. Yet, I’m still going to check out the band and their work, since I haven’t heard of them before this point.

For the animation in Romeo X Juliet: really crisp, clear cut settings, from the opening battle sequence where the characters seem to run for their lives to the setting where Juliet enters the ballroom: just breathtakingly lovely. I think the atmosphere also reminds me of what I loved about Good Witch of the West and Gankutsuou: the settings and the well-to-do atmosphere of the series.

I can’t say much on the content of the first episode, as I will leave that for further discussion when I blog the series, but I will say the series definitely caught my attention on first glance, so we’ll see how this series progresses. I definitely have high hopes for the series from here on out, but I won’t sing its praises until I see the series in its entirety.

Venus Versus Virus Episode 12: White Future [Final Episode]

In a way, I’m actually glad to place my foot at the finish line for Venus Versus Virus. It’s been quite a while since I started the series and now I’m finally finished. Needless to say I’m breathless for the wrong reasons, unfortunately.

VVV isn’t a great series; it’s not even one I’d recommend as it doesn’t really leave a strong impression in my mind. The character construction could have been much better, the animation values more consistent (though this improved quite a bit as the series went on), the allusions treated more succinctly, and the events…well, in areas where it could have sped up, it didn’t, in areas needed slowing down, it refused.

It tries hard to appeal to a dual audience, but it doesn’t quite establish what it wishes to be. I thought this might have been more of a shounen series considering the whole “girls with guns” aspect and the sci-fi undertones, but as it progressed, the romance aspect lent to more of a shoujo audience. So it’s one of those give-take series that doesn’t really know what it wishes to be.

I can’t say that VVV didn’t have some trace of legitimacy, because it draws from rather fitting sources in religion as well as gothic undertones. Yet, it never uses those sources in full to embellish or deepen the series in terms of meaning-then again, one could say that it never intended to do such and it’s just for fun. In the same vein, it tries to be cool and keen to the times, sometimes even cute with the event-by-event interactions between characters (namely Sumire and Lucia…even Lola with her obsessions with chocolate, which I found to be cute and worth the laugh). I definitely appreciated some of those interactions in the aftermath. Sometimes they were simply funny and some were just downright cute. The downfall, and I think those of you who have watched the series note, is the over-saturation of drama, almost melodramatic in the sense where it really didn’t need to be, especially since it had pressed itself out as a combination of comedy, romance, action and drama. It didn’t seem well balanced, and gets worse as the series moves forward. Furthermore, the only strong, constructed characters (if you could call them as such) were Lucia and Sumire. Nahashi did have a bit of background and you could certainly note him for that, but Lola and Lyla’s characters were not explored that much.

Let me make one point clear: this series had not a trace of main psychological themes/conflict: absolutely none, and those who might have thought along that route missed the point of the series entirely. Religious allusions, though, were definitely what this series was “trying” to aim for, but didn’t deliver well.

The ending will probably make most people pull their hair out: it’s inconclusive; for others, however, it’s quite sweet in a tragic way, but it doesn’t make a full definitive statement as to the fates of the characters, which is a problem and somewhat of a cop-out either way you look at it.

That stated: moving on to the extended discussion of events and reflections upon episode 12 beneath the cut, as well as an appropriate scan of Lucia and Sumire.