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    Upcoming Anime: Chu Bra!!

    Chu-bra!! is a fast-approaching TV anime adaptation of a popular and unabashedly erotic manga published in the renowned Comic High! Serialization. Comic High! is known for producing high-quality manga with a strong fanservice bent, including the controversial Kodomo no Jikan, and seriously ecchi High School Girls. Like those two manga, this one is interestingly also written by a woman, Nakata Yumi. It would seem that these days the men in the manga industry either don’t have the balls or the experience to pen a decent ecchi manga! Several volumes of the manga have been released, and the first two chapters have been translated, and it is solely through my exposure to the source manga that I am at all interested in the upcoming anime version. I’m not usually one to get enthusiastic about a series that blatantly flaunts fanservice without any attempt at plot or characterization. That’s essentially what this is, but the key component is that it’s GOOD fanservice, unlike the Queen’s Blade or Ikkitousen. You could say that this H-toned manga offers tasteful fanservice with its focus on cute characters and nice art. As the title suggests, the theme to the ecchi is underwear, so expect to be overloaded with panty-shots and a huge variety of underwear. The premise makes no attempt to mask this focus:

    The story centers on Nayu, a middle school girl who shocks her schoolmates on the first day of school by wearing black lace panties. She likes this kind of underwear, and she tries to “spread the word on the merits of [these kinds of] underwear” via an underwear club with her schoolmates, who are worried about their bodies’ development and which underwear to choose.

    The protagonist and perpetrator behind much of the fanservice, Nayu, makes her fondness for underwear a way of life! The origins of her passion and wisdom on the topic of braziers and panties lie with her casual career as underwear-tester for her friend who designs them. But the pantsu-mania extends from her bedroom into her middle-school when she earns reputation for keen advice on styles and sizes! Yep … the plot, if you care to call it that, is about as thin as they come. But that doesn’t matter when we’re barraged by images of cute, half-dressed. And they really are cute; the characters designs are very easy on the eye, and they come in all shapes and sizes to maximize the fanbase. There’s the flat-chested girls, the one girl with the gigantic bust size, and the even more voluptuous teacher. All bases are covered. So the source manga is good (shallow, but good). The anime being good is a different matter. Fortunately, a trailer was screened at Comiket 76 which shows plenty if promise:

    You can see that the art quality looks very high, especially for this kind of series. There’s lots of detail and the colour palette is good. Visually this looks like a pretty flawless transition from manga designs to anime ones. The series is being produced by ZEXCS, who have created some other fine works, including Umi Monogatari and a personal favourite of mine, Macademi Wasshoi. Things are looking all-green in this area. The other thing the trailer shows is that full-colour panties are far more exciting than black and white ones! So it’s therefore important to know that the series will be airing on satellite/cable TV channel, AT-X. This of course means it should be completely uncensored! If everything goes according to plan (keikaku doori!), then this should turn out to be the ultimate pantsu-fetish anime ever to have been created! There’s still an important factor to consider though: will the seiyuus be up to the task of making the characters fun and likeable? Here’s the cast list:

          Nayu Hayama: Minori Chihara
          Yako Jinguuji: Minako Kotobuki
          Haruka Shiraishi: Sayuri Yahagi

    Minori Chihara has played a wide variety of roles and, I think, has proven herself more than able to take on a character like Nayu. I especially liked her as Coopa from Druaga and Chiaki-sama from Minami-ke. I honestly haven’t heard much of Sayuri Yahagi. I must be subconsciously avoiding her anime or something. But I have heard her play the very sweet Rima from Shugo Chara. Rima had a lovely voice, so I’m hoping that’ll apply here too. I’ve gotta be least excited about Minori Chihara though, who hasn’t really pulled off anything memorable yet. I guess she wasn’t half bad at playing the soft-spoken Tsumugi from K-ON! Overall, the main cast looks fine, no risky newcomers but no really big names either.

    In fact, on the whole, this is shaping up to be as good as I could’ve hoped. It’ll certainly fill my fanservice quota for the coming season!

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    Mahou Sensei Negima ‘Another World’ OAD2, Vol. 28 LE release!

    It’s that time again! Released alongside the special edition of volume 28 of Ken Akamatsu’s contemporary manga masterpiece, Mahou Sensei Negima, comes the second OAD episode in the ‘Another World’ series, unleashing a massive shockwave of ecchi and awesome. At the moment I type this, the raw isn’t yet widely available, but investigating the comments and pictures shared by fans and proud owners of the new release reveals a good picture of what to expect, and gives a good look at all the sexy extras crammed into the package.

    The pictures used in this post were obtained from the sites listed at the bottom of this page.
     


     
     

    The primary attraction of this release is the next installment in the anime adaptation of Negima we’ve always wanted! Okay, maybe not the animated Negima we’ve dreamed of, but this new slew of OADs being released by SHAFT far outshine all previous attempts at converting Akamatsu’s fantastic manga, in both quality and faithfulness. This OAD episode clearly continues on right where the last one left off – Negi and the rest of his posse have been separated and disparately strewn across the vast Magical World after their gateport clash with villain, Fate Averuncus. It would appear that this episode only manages to cover the stories of Chachamaru and Chiisame fending for themselves in the fantasy wilderness and eventually being reunited with Negi.

    A lot of people are a bit worried about the fact that the OAD is going so slowly, and I have to admit that it’s kind of unusual that they spent so much time working on fairly unimportant chapters such as these when there’s so many more chapters to plow through before they catch up to the manga. But luckily, I really, really enjoyed these chapters from the manga. Having the girls isolated from their leader and champion was a new experience. Especially in the case of Chiisame, where you really got a feel for her vulnerability as a regular human thrown into this dangerous new world. My main disappointment rests with the fact that they didn’t include the lovely Setsuna/Asuna bathing scene, which was simultaneously hot and cute in the way it showed their friendship. That’s for next time I guess (OR ELESE!).

    The thing that no one should be complaining about is the fact that they kept in the fap-worthy fanservice from the manga totally unaltered or uncensored!! KITTA!! We get some awesomely dirty tentacle rape for poor Chiisame-san (she just wanted a normal net-idol life and now she’s been violated by a slimy fantasy creature ;_;), and the first extra-erotic “charging” scene between Negi and Chachamaru. The orgasmic charging session looks pretty exciting, although Chachamaru saves up her greatest climax for pactio foreplay later on. I think Negi needs to charge up some of the other girls, if you know what I mean. Chachamaru is probably the only sexually satisfied character in the whole manga!
     
     

    Damn Chachamaru is hot. But the Chiisame tentacle rape really steals the show. This is one of the best-looking tentacle rape scenes I’ve ever seen! And I haven’t even seen it yet. Chiisame’s expressions, the careful placement of the tentacles, and the subtle slime - it’s gloriously perverse! .. what has anime done to me!?

     
     

    She totally came. Chiisame is looking cute!

     
     

    As before the disc comes with an audio commentary, and also features some neat character design art, shown below.


     

     
     
    Per tradition, the limited edition release of the manga has received an enticing erotic upgrade. As far as I’m concerned, nothing can beat the sheer nosebleed-inducing hotness of the Setsuna-stripping that graced the civer of volume 25, but this is also kind of nice. I’ll never say no to Yue fanservice.

    The Yue panty-shot is sexy, but when I saw the regular cover of Yue and her schoolmates riding brooms I kind of figured that the limited edition cover would reflect the magic stripping race they all had. Some more torn off clothes would have been very nice ^^

     
     
    This time the packaging is hotter than ever though, featuring a swimsuit-clad Setsuna and Konoka in a shy and super erotic pose!

    We’ve seen this image before but it still overwhelms me. I find these two girls among the sexiest of the Negima cast, and this is amplified when they’re together, letting the imagination run wild with yuri fantasies. And Setsuna is in that vital object of otaku fetishism, the school swimsuit. Wow!

     
     
    The bonus rare item this time is a nice-quality Negi card that will be part of a set of 27 pactio cards:
     

    Lookin’ good, Negi. I always thought Negi looked coolest with his torn cape and holding his staff.


     
     
    Overall, it seems that Ken Akamatsu and his publishers/marketers have really been doing their fans justice with these OAD and limited edition releases. Not many manga get great releases such as these. As for the content of the OAD, I’ll have to wait a bit longer before I can truly judge, but it looks to be a wholesome intake of win that should satisfy most fanboys! The timing of this release was also good because it will help keep the enthusiasm flowing as Ken Akamatsu takes an unprecedented several-week break. But there’s also some bad news. Apparently we’ll be waiting till May next year before the next OAD. May! COME ON …

    And I still wish Del-Ray would get their game on and help captivate their American audiences with extras and releases like this. I am damned positive that a good number of Negima fans, including me, would pay extra for limited edition goodness.

     
     

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    To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 07 - Plot!

     

    04: 「 Ability and Power
                     能力とちから」
     

    Rating:    

    Well this is a new experience – a Railgun episode with plot! Finally an episode has come along and done the right thing by adapting a chapter faithfully with the right pace and very little padding of original content. Alongside episode 1 , this has been the most direct adaptation of the manga, and finally pushes the series into its first crucial step of actually introducing a plot. You could argue that the foundations for this ep were laid slowly in episodes prior, but this is really the first time we’ve had actual ongoing plot to sink our teeth into. Due to the frivolous tone of the earlier episodes I think you could watch this episode straight from the first ep and not notice any discontinuity (certainly you could skip straight to episode 5). Given the fact that stuff’s actually happening that qualifies as mildly exciting, combined with the absence of excesses of original content to bring it down, the show gets a significant upgrade on the ‘interest meter’. And I have to say that my faith in the show has been tentatively reignited - this might turn out to be an entertaining, dramatic and stimulating anime after all, and not just a template for cheap yuri gags. But despite steering the show in a better direction, the episode still fails to capture the magic of the manga, and stumbles on a number of nagging flaws, including subpar production quality and occasionally awkward dialogue.

      ✔ The episode’s action peak - that short but sharp moment of danger and panic as the bomb reaches an imminent explosion that threatens to kill Misaka, Uihara, and an innocent young girl, was executed perfectly (one of the few things that has been). The animation in this sequence was good and the timing was really effective, maximizing the alarm and drama of the girls desperately trying to save each other. Misaka fumbling with her railgun ammunition was a surprisingly tense moment. Good stuff!

      ✔ I noticed that the music wasn’t horribly bland this time around. This anime has very little original BGM compositions, and the better BGM tracks that crop up are just taken straight from the To Aru Majutsu no Index anime. I’m pretty disappointed by the fact that they are recycling Index music rather than creating their own. It doesn’t help shake the cheap feel the series exudes. Plus, an original selection of music would have helped give Railgun its own identity and style. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but there were a couple of good new pieces of music this time around, including the BGM behind the opening Judgement meeting which I really liked a lot. Musically, this has been the only decent episode thus far.

      ✘ The animation quality of Railgun continues to waver. The animation is only really good for a few key scenes, once or twice an episode if we’re lucky. But in general I feel the animation just isn’t acceptable. The movement of the characters is jerky and unnatural, the designs are often off-model and generally do not look nearly as attractive as they should. It’s sad that a manga with such great artistic flare isn’t given the care and attention in production that it deserves. Index was animated so much more smoothly and the art was generally a lot crisper and appealing. The visual production for the series is the major thing holding it back at this stage (now that it’s gained a plot).

      ✔ The writing in this episode was good overall, even in the areas where the script wasn’t lifted from the manga. I especially liked the conversation between Railgun and Saten. Those two, despite being opposites of a kind (the ace of Tokiwadai and a level 0), share common ground in the sense that they are probably the most down-to-earth characters in the series. Saten might go a little funny when she catches sight of Uihara’s skirt, but otherwise she is a relatively normal girl. Because of that, these two characters have a great chemistry (which is something I think the manga never really capitalized on). Kanae Itou, one of my favourite new seiyuus, proved her worth in this scene. I don’t know about you, but I think she really conveyed Saten’s sense of dejectedness over being useless.

      ✘ I couldn’t really put my finger on it but the scene where Misaka was checking out those peer-disapproved pyjamas wasn’t nearly as sweet as in the manga. It might be the mediocre production values of the series bringing down the win of scenes like this.

      ✔ Isn’t it funny how Touma seems a lot more awesome when you don’t see too much of him?

      ✘ I’m feeling less sure that Satomi Arai was well cast as Kuroko (which may just be part of my reservations about how her character is being portrayed this episode. Her voice is just too shrill sometimes..

     

     


    Continue reading To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 07 - Plot!

    Sora no Otoshimono 4

     

    04: 「Love and Yet Another Triangle
                     愛とトライアングルふたたび」
     

    Rating:    

    ‘The flock of panties have returned!’ sums up this bizarre but frivolously fun episode of Sora no Otoshimono. They’re back by popular demand! Well, maybe not, but I have to say I didn’t expect them to make a comeback after their teary departure only a few episodes ago. When peace-loving Tomoki opens his window to take in the tranquil morning, he is soon mobbed by the returning panties. And that pretty much sets the tone for the remainder of the episode; much like their departure their arrival heralds an episode overloaded with underwear and pantsu-related humour. Only this time they stretched the ridiculousness to a new peak of absurdity - including exploding panties, and porn magazine defence pantsu-robot. As a self-prescribed pantsu-fanatic I am always delighted with the prospect of such an episode. Unfortunately, I was let down in a couple of ways. The main problem was that, despite being drenched in epic quantities of panties, there was very little in the way of girls wearing any. You know, actual fanservice, like panty-shots and girls undressing. Somehow pantsu strategically distributed around a house just isn’t as exciting. There was enough hotness for the episode to pass, but for an episode with a premise like this in a show that relishes its ecchi status, I expect a little more.

    The other problem I had was a shortcoming in the humour department. I can’t really put my finger on why I found the previous pantsu-saturation episode more entertaining (and titillating) than this one, but it lacked that usual oomph that Sora no Otoshimono had. The jokes kind of fell flat. The episode was still fun from a fanboy perspective, but it didn’t have that Seto no Hanayome-esque edge of riotousness. By the time Tomoki was fighting his way through the projectile-pantsu onslaught of his own robot creation I was leaning more towards cringing rather than laughing. I think my issue with the episode boils down to it just being a bit too silly without having the sharp humour or self-ridicule to pull it off right. On the upside, the production on the show remains consistently great, and it was still pretty enjoyable even if it wasn’t as funny or fapworthy as it could’ve been. As a bonus, the long-awaited Nymph finally made her entrance (although it was a fleeting cameo in the epilogue).

      ✘ I felt they kind of undermined their own plot, thing though it is, by having Icarus spend the day with Mitsuki while her master, Tomoki, was delegated the punishing task of fighting his way out of his explosive house. It calls into question whether her loyalty to her master is conditional or by her own choice. Anyway, I thought she was connected to Tomoki by her chain (even though it’s invisible), so he surely could summon her and use her powers to get out of the situation. Unless I missed something it just seems like a bit of a lazy way to write this little sidestory. I mean, they don’t have all that much of a plot, it couldn’t be too hard to stick to what they’ve established..

      The best fanservice moment came when Mitsuki took Icarus underwear shopping. The underwear she picked out for Iacrus really WAS super-cute and fitted her angel status perfectly. The wings on the bra and panties are lovely!. I thought that scene was cut a bit too short (extension saved for DVD releases perhaps). I wanted a good look at Iacrus wearing them! Well, that might come later in the series. Mitsuki is good at picking underwear for others, she should refine her own choices a bit. Her striped panties this episode were and improvement, especially the pink-striped ones (sadly now-deceased ;_;). Lucky Tomoki got a mouthful of them..

      Mitsuki ended up in a nopan predicament yet again! Poor girl ^^ We don’t get any good flashes, sadly. For those who’ve seen how GAINAX played the nopan episode of Abenobashi for maximum eyecandy should agree.

      ✔ Finally! Nymph! And her role is kind of interesting. She might mix things up even more than I thought. I wonder if she will be an addition to Tomoki’s pet angel collection, or perhaps she has a different master? I’m intrigued. And the scene where she appeared definitely had an air of mystery to it.

      ✔ Have to admit I loved the boner gag at the end. Something had to ruin his hero status. Poor Tomoki got a crushing Mitsuki-chop. His body is just being honest!

      ✔ I really appreciate the fact that each episode has its own ED relevant to the episode. It’s something anime should do more often as it’s a last bit of fun to finish the episode off with instead of the same old song. Also, I have to say Tomoki has an enviable dirty magazine collection.

     

     

    Continue reading Sora no Otoshimono 4

    To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 04

     

    04: 「Urban Legend
                     とある科学の超電磁砲」
     

    Rating:    

    I probably shouldn’t have watched this episode right after the recent Darker than Black episode; the season’s biggest success pitted against it’s most disappointing - I just hope my judgement hasn’t been clouded. It’s worth noting that although I say this is the most disappointing show of the season doesn’t mean I think it’s the worst - it definitely isn’t. it’s just that, once again I finished this episode with that sad feeling that the truly excellent seinen manga has not nearly been done justice by this anime adaptation. I’m not about to jump ship though. By not being nearly as shit as last episode this episode has pulled me back from the doomsaying stage. Rather than being a disposable waste of time about a story-of-the-week, the episode traded story instead for some appreciable character development and some fleshing out of strange and interesting the Misaka/Touma relationship. Maybe one day an episode of Railgun will be able to deliver story AND character development.

    So, although not much happened again, what did happen was at least entertaining enough to be called worthwhile. For Misaka fans it was good seeing her in full-throttle Biri-biri mode. If you look at her character from two perspectives you could say her Railgun side is her cool, composed and sassy, and her Biri-biri side is her tsundere mode. Her crush on Touma brings out her fragile emotions, causing her to flicker between a dangerous bully and a stuttering, blushing young maiden. Her dialogue with Touma is always lots of fun, and accounted for all of the best moments of the episode. I admit I really cracked up during the flashback to their first meeting, when Touma showed up to save her from the forceful advances of a gang of delinquents, only to have his plan of pretending to be her boyfriend thwarted. That and his subsequent humiliation of Misaka by calling her childish is classic Touma/Biri-biri material. Their later moonlit duel was well-animated and featured some interesting tactical use of Biri-biri’s abilities. One consistent plus for Railgun is that, when it does have an action scene, there is little risk of it being choked by a spiel of invasive exposition.

    On the other hand, these highlights are kind of worrisome because those scenes are essentially lifted from the manga intact. The original content of the series remains comparatively mediocre. I’m already wishing this had been a 12 episode series - the less stuff these writers have to slip in the better. The introduction of Academy City researcher, Harumi, was taken from the manga and altered a bit to fit it into this episode. Harumi’s character is suitably mysterious and quirky, but this seemed like a really odd way to introduce her - just an arbitrary coincidence. In the manga, they met her while investigating a Judgement matter relevant to the Level Upper case .. not just because she was wondering around trying to find a car park. It seems that’s consistent with the more comical tone of the anime over the manga :\

    And while I’m on a downhill rant, I have to bring up the portrayal of Kuroko’s character again. For all the cute, moe fun we got with Biri-biri this episode, Kuroko’s was pushed further done the route of a shallow gag-character. Her extreme reactions to Saten’s urban legend murmurs were just .. inexplicable. Believe me when I say that Kuroko from the manga would never have reacted like that. She may have strong perversions when it comes to Misaka, but she also has a sharp wit that would lend her the ability to delineate fact from fiction. And I don’t think Misaka would ever have had to tie up the manga Kuroko (maybe coming close to though XD).

    This was an enjoyable episode because there was a hefty amount of Misaka goodness to be had, and because the interactions between her and Touma are great fun. There were a few brief smatterings of fanservice as well.

      ● Harumi’s public stripping was not quite as good because Kuroko wasn’t there to react by lecturing her on being more lady-like XD. That was definitely a lot more fun in the manga. But if she managed to get an urban legend started about her, maybe we’ll get more regular Harumi strippings?

      ● Her taste in drinks is truly terrible. But I bet that was a drink Yue would love!

      Wasn’t that a fantastic episode for Misaka fanboys? We haven’t had a hit of cute Biri-biri in anime form for far too long! She’s just so moe when she blushes and gets flustered! I especially loved when harumi was trying to call her a tsundere this episode. Come on, Biri-biri, admitting you’ve got a problem is the first step!

     

    Continue reading To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 04

    Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza 03

     

    03: 「Ah, it hurts …
                     あっ、痛……」
     

    Rating:    

    I can’t say I was a big fan of the first season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. I was probably just having Lucky Star withdrawals at the time, but what I really wanted from the series was a strong dose of moe, a bit of humour, some good otaku in-jokes and perhaps a spark of romance. Sometimes the series hit that mark but often it got bogged down in this self-pitying tone that really grated on my mind. By that I mean, I really got the sense that there were a bunch of otaku watching it tearfully empathising with Haruka having to keep her anime and akiba hobbies a secret or risk being shunned by society. The show felt like it was patting those insecure viewers on the back, but simply annoyed the hell out of me in this respect. Fortunately, the second season has moved on to a much lighter tone befitting of its actual content. Melodrama just doesn’t suit a show filled with maids, imouto-characters and super-moe girls!

    So this season has been really quite enjoyable so far! The characters are still as adorable as ever, in fact I think they’re cuter than they were before, somehow. Haruka herself is utterly dazzling as the shy, soft-spoken, pure-hearted maiden. Her interests in anime and otaku culture are completely unbelievable, but the series has never tried to mask the fact that it’s forsaken reality for the sake of satisfying otaku fantasies! Haruka is the ultimate otaku dream girl, dere-dere, beautiful, innocent, gives off an aura of dependence, and, most importantly, shares our obsessions! Truly the perfect girl - 100% waifu material! I usually hate it when anime try to tick all the boxes like that when making a character, but there’s just something about Haruka that makes it impossible to resist. Other characters contribute to the moe levels of the show too: the mischievous younger-sister, Mika, adds some much needed loliness; the maid characters don’t stand out individually much but hey, they’re fucking maids!; Shiina is cute despite her reduced role this series. In short, you won’t be disappointed in this show if you dig moe girls.

    This episode introduced a new character actually, an obligatory tsundere-loli voiced by the queen of tsundere, Kugimiya Rie. Her name is Hazuki, and she’s a rich, snobby girl with an arrogant attitude but a well-hidden dere core. Personally, she got on my nerves very quickly and never really got off them. I usually end up falling for most tsunderes but Hazuki’s bitchiness crossed my shit-line (much like Louise’s did). This is no fault of Kugimiya Rie’s though; as usual, her stuttering was as brilliant as ever. I swear Kugimiya Rie can blush with her voice. Her prominence this episode cut back on my precious Haruka time! Unforgivable. On the up side, they didn’t skimp on the fanservice - a trend that can be said of this 2nd season in general. The almost endless flow of panty shots and innuendo meant I could pretty much zone out, ignore what Hazuki was complaining about and just enjoy the eye-candy. There were many lovely sights to be had, shown below.

    But overall it felt like a bit of a wasted, tangential episode. And it was kind of annoying at times. I’m looking forward to seeing the love-triangle start to heat up again. I want to see what Shiina pulls out to try and seduce Yuuto to the dark side! Either that, or I think a few more yuri rape scenes would be in order!

      ● What was the deal with that massive horse? It scared the fuck out of me just because it was so bizarre and out of place. Definitely the strangest this anime has got.

      ✘ The two permanently drunk bitches (sorry there’s no other way to describe those two) still get on my nerves every time they appear. They seem to serve no purpose but to repeat the same dead joke over and over again and to annoy the hell out of me. Their loud-mouthed and crass personalities remind me of the teacher character from Mahoromatic. Fortunately, even with their powers combined they cannot matches the annoyingness of that woman.

      ✔ I’m totally impressed by the OP. It follows a similar concept as season 1 but totally one-ups it in terms of the visuals. There’s so much detail and motion packed in there I keep scanning it to pick up new things each time I see it. Great stuff!

     

    Continue reading Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza 03

    Sora no Otoshimono 3

     

    03: 「Angeroid Commander 0
                     エンジェロイド0シレイ」
     

    Rating:    

    Sora no Otoshimono is one of those anime that has nudged its way into an already overcrowded genre but which effortlessly stands out and pleasantly surprises by reaching past people’s expectations. I think everyone had reservations that this would be another mind-numbingly generic ecchi anime, but with every episode it has proven its ability to entertain. Last week, with the all the panties and, well, all the no-panties, I thought the best thing abut the show WAS the fanservice. It delivered copious amounts of droolworthy fanservice scenes and, most importantly, delivered it in a fun way and with top-notch production values. But this episode shows it has strength beyond maneoucering its cute girls into embarrassing/sexy situations. There was practically no fanservice at all and yet it was still really enjoyable. I can’t even really explain why anymore, except to say that this episode demonstrated the show’s ability to do comedy more than the others have so far. There’s a surreal element to the series that stops it from feeling too generic. The manliness factor also increased in the form of Eishirou, as did the moe levels with some dramatic development for the stoic but earnest Icarus herself.

      I definitely gained a strong moe attraction for Icarus this episode! Before she seemed like a pretty empty, large-breasted vessel for fanservice, but now she has definitely developed some cute character traits. I certainly wouldn’t say she’d a deep or complex character, and her personality is largely defined by the typical moe palette: submissive, childish, pure of heart, wants to please, etc. But, as someone easily ensnared by the trappings of moe, I find her utterly adorable! I want one! A pet-class angel in chains .. it’s the ultimate fetishism! SUGOI SUGOI!

      Tomoki patting her head was just too cute. She just loves it <3 <3 HHNNNNNNNNNGGG.

      ● Still waiting for Nymph to show up. Is she going to be Tomoki’s servant as well? I ask because this guy doesn’t even deserve one, let alone two. He hasn’t been abusing his powers nearly enough (although he still gets fanboy kudos from me for handcuffing Mitsuki!).

      ✔ And every series needs a bit of arbitrary GAR. I’d previously pinned Eishirou as a freaky nerd type of character but apparently he is a badass outdoor dude, a highly intelligent scientist and an all-round man of win. I cracked up when I saw his ‘house’. Sorry Eishirou, I misjudged you! Not sure about you’re taste in Pretty the 2nd though. You can use one of my figures if you want!

      ● That watermelon is creeping me out.

      ✔ Why are the productions values so fucking awesome? The soft-style shading, which reminds me of parts of Macross Frontier, just gives the show such a unqiue and attractive finish. But the animation is great, the backgrounds are well-done, and details like the sunlight gleaming of the water - it all adds up to a very well produced series. The studio, AIC A.S.T.A., really surprised me with this one. I assume they’re betting on some good DVD sales for this one, and I hope they get them!

      ✘ I have to admit to being a BIT disappointed by the lack of ero content in this episode. A shot of Mitsuki in wet and transparent clothing is nice (especially as she had some nice underwear on this week), but it doesn’t compare to last week!

     

    Continue reading Sora no Otoshimono 3