Imouto Obscura

The Daily Lives of High School Boys (or “Nichibros” for those who speak in 140 characters) is about high school boys, unsurprisingly. What’s surprising to me, however, is how it attacks the subject of female siblings.

Their faces are all shrouded!

“Mom, innocent people are dying in this cartoon!”

Sometimes, when it’s not busy showing the good stuff (i.e. whatever’s the fetish of the season), anime deigns to provide us with scenes of civilians being slaughtered due to an enemy threat. There’s the occasional creative death (Zambot 3), incredible displays of carnage that abruptly change the show’s mood (Eureka 7), and the blink-it-and-you’ll-miss-it (Macross: Do You Remember Love). But most often it’s just screams and stampedes, as if the display of dying cartoon characters is something creators would gladly wash their hands off from.

Nice Sci-Fi Details In Mouretsu Pirates Episode 1

Mouretsu Pirates is one of those questionable premise shows that you’ll either love or hate. While I liked it, I was surprised with how it used its sci-fi setting to its advantage.

While not everything is entirely futuristic (there’s a maid cafe after all), the show puts attention to detail in spots that I applaud for:

Gunka no Baltzar

For my random historical military fiction fix, I’m reading Gunka no Baltzar. It’s set in 18th century Europe (with country names changed), and the main character is an aspiring Weiben (which is all but Prussia in name) officer who’s sent to become an advisor to a neighboring country’s military academy.

12 Moments of 2011 #1: Conversational Meta

This post is part of the 12 Days series.

The Universal Century is not too long as opposed to other fictional timelines, but its 150 years have been fraught with the major war or two, and a dozen different petty conflicts.

Secret Santa 2011: Bokurano

This post is part of the Reverse Thieves’ Secret Santa Project.

Bokurano was a show I’ve been wanting to watch but never had the time to, and my Secret Santa was kind enough to offer it for my viewing. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

12 Moments of 2011 #2: The Beacon of Song

This post is part of the 12 Days series.

2011 marked the year that the second and final Macross Frontier movie got its video release, much to the elation of many Macross fans. It proved to be much better than everyone had expected, and is near the top of my list for the best offerings of the year.

12 Moments of 2011 #3: A Child’s Fear of Death

This post is part of the 12 Days series.

Episode 3 of Usagi Drop sees Rin wetting her bed and (vainly) trying to hide it. When Daikichi finds out, Rin asks him some hard questions.

“What’s it like to die? Are you going to die before me?”

12 Moments of 2011 #4: The SAME Appreciation Club

This post is part of the 12 Days series. Title in reference to this post.

I have a lot of fond moments from Nichijou, Kyoto Animation’s crazy experimental sakuga anime. But the one I want to write about is the last part of episode 23. where Mai visits Professor to (presumably) atone for scaring her with dogs in the previous episode.

12 Moments of 2011 #5: No Surrender

This post is part of the 12 Days series.

General Borcuse was a great antagonist. Voiced by Kazuya Nakai, he had this scary, drawling voice that commanded fear and respect from both his allies and enemies. His calm demeanor was contrasted with how violent and merciless he was on the battlefield. In spite of this, he was a doting father and caring husband.