Dropped:Amagami SS Episode 4

“Love”

Mimi: Rejoice everyone! Haruka’s arc is finally over. It’s Christmas Eve, and through coincidences and awkward communication, Haruka and Junichi spend this special day in a gorgeous hotel. They go swimming, confess their feelings later in a hotel room, and 10 years later down the road, they’re married happily ever after. I did think that somehow, they weren’t going to work out or something, but they did. And in just after two minutes of publishing this post, I will completely forget about it without a care in the world. I can’t say anything really positive about this arc except that I rate it average (5/10). That’s nice of me, right? ^^

So far, Junichi doesn’t strike me as an interesting male lead who can be respected. He’s just an overly-polite, cautious boy who will kiss the back of some girl’s knee when the girl of interest leads him on. He might have gotten courageous with the “I will never give up” attitude, but I can’t really feel anything towards him. Come to think of it, I don’t even know a lot about him, and it’s far worse for Haruka. So how exactly can I feel happy for them and laugh at the end? The conclusion to this arc suffered the most because the characters had a quick falling-in-love that lead right into a 10-years-later marriage scenario. Talk about being rushed and forced!

Anyway, Kaoru, you’re up next! ^^

**Edit: On second thought.. -drops- :3 YAY I’m free.

Dropped:Amagami SS Episode 3

“Jealousy”

Mimi: This time, Junichi and Haruka think it’s fun to act like pet animals: a dog and cat. Their first real romantic encounter–Junichi kissing the back of Haruka’s knee in a wellhouse. He gets so worked up over this that he asks her the next day to do it again (many many times), and she seems to get just a tiny bit annoyed. Fetishes FTW? But in other events, Haruka’s really just worried about him hating her because she’s older than him in this relationship, and there’s the issue of dependency. Can she properly depend on him considering he’s a little younger? With a bit of encouragement and advise from Hibiki, Haruka glomps him the next day while meowing. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the scene where Haruka immensely enjoys Junichi feeding her soup in front of everybody in the cafeteria. Uh, yeah, just mentioning it.

So we’re three episodes into this already, as I think Haruka’s arc should end soon, and there’s still no sign of getting any real background from her. She’s still that perfect, cute girl and nothing more. I suppose that I shouldn’t expect that kind of insight into the characters in this anime. Really, I’ve wanted to know why people enjoy watching this so much, and so far I’ve read that “the situations are unpredictable, awkward, and embarrassing” and “this is incredibly realistic.” Yeah, some of the scenes aren’t totally predictable, but the show is still overall cliched, straightforward, and relies on coincidences to get things started. Furthermore, it hasn’t done anything remarkable to make it stand apart from other high school romance stuff. Sure, it’s definitely slice-of-life, and we really do get in awkward situations from time to time, but everything feels too forced and unnatural in Amagami regarding the character’s actions and their conversations. They really aren’t all that believable. And Junichi is turning into a creep.

Dropped:Amagami SS Episode 2

Amagami SS Episode 2

Mimi: So folks, Junichi hasn’t given up, even though Haruka completely rejected him in the last episode.  He bumps into her around school many many times again, including the infirmary, hallway, etc.  She acts like her usual cheerful self, which baffles him, but he’s even more confused when she expresses wanting to hang out with him and not be in a relationship.  The guy just doesn’t get it.  He asks her what her preferences are in a man, and she replies with toughness, leadership, and so on.  Junichi tries to acquire these skills by momentarily picking up wrestling, but Haruka randomly appears and kind of messes up the plan by trying to be involved.

Later on, Haruka drags Junichi to the swimming club because she’s suddenly desperate to swim.  She asks one of the club members if she could borrow her swimming suit, and of course she gets to wear it for fanservice.  However, her friend Hibiki doesn’t allow her to enter the pool and sends them off.  So what do they do next?  Well, they go to the library, and Junichi tries to help the girl find “cute books.”  He bumps into his childhood friend Rihoko (who’s studying a diet book) in the process, but he ultimately finds a few and returns to Haruka who’s sleeping on a library table.

After Junichi stares at the sleeping Haruka for god knows how long, he confesses his feelings to her again once she wakes up.  She actually gets a bit flustered, but here’s the really weird part. He starts asking her if it’s okay for him to feel this way around her, and states that he would just stop if she wants him to.  When she says it’s alright, he thanks her. What a very weird conversation. Furthermore, she kisses him on the forehead because his “furrowed eyebrows” are cute at the moment and skips off.  This gives Junichi all new hope!!!

This episode wasn’t an improvement from the last one.  It’s still quite dry, the characters show no depth, and they’re all just a bit too perfect and one-dimensional all the time.  Afterall, Haruka is nothing but a happy, popular girl who loves cute things. It’s not interesting to watch her, nor is it interesting to see her sleep all the time like she does. I do have to say this though.. There’s no doubt that Junichi is going to end up getting mushy with all of these other girls at some point, so it’s nice to be able to grab bits and pieces of info from them now, such as their personality and hobby.  I’m not saying that these facts are interesting yet, but it’s better than learning nothing at all I guess.

I’m a little curious as to how Junichi will get mushy with some of these other girls though, such as the shy one who’s friends with his sister (Sae), the serious one (Hibiki), the dieting childhood friend (Rihoko), and the frowning one (Ai). As for the girls I’m not curious about, that’d leave the class representative (Tsukasa), and classmate friend (Kaoru).  I just hope that Haruka’s boring arc is over with soon.  But if nothing interesting ever happens, I’m definitely dropping this by the time I go back to college in August.

First Impressions: Amagami SS and Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

Amagami SS

Summary: It’s another highschool dating show.

Alex: How many times can a male in high-school REALLY get all these girls? Amagami SS is pretty unique in the concept- it’s getting different arcs for each character. Meaning, unlike other shows, the male doesn’t have all the hot girls with big breasts chasing after him. But apart from that…there’s nothing much to say about the episode.The fact that it didn’t focus on comedy, and almost didn’t care for comedy could be what sets it apart from others in its genre…if it can’t, it’ll be stuck in the pit of high-school dating anime’s forever.

Mimi: And now for my super duper checklist of cliches! ^^

-Main lead is bland and average-looking

-Main lead has a cute sister who has to wake him up in the mornings, and apparently a bit tempered when he gets close to another girl

-Main lead has a window seat at school

-Main lead has an outgoing best friend who collects chick magazines

-Main lead accidentally bumps into the girl of interest at the library

-Main lead slips in the hallway and gets help from the girl of interest

-Main lead has a nose bleed

-Main lead gets emo from rejections

-Everyone is overly friendly and picture perfect! ^_^ I wish my schools were like this.

I already don’t like high school romance premises, and this was as boring as they usually come.  It has 24 whole episodes planned, so I wonder if this is going to go anywhere interesting.  At least it isn’t an exaggerated comedy or an over-the-top harem; that would be overkill! Though I have to say, the artwork is really nice and soft on the eyes. Might just check one more episode.  Possibly.  Maybe.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

Summary: Your everyday tsundere is part of a team that helps people.

Alex: And the prize for the biggest tsundere of Summer 2010 goes to Ookami-San. With a socially awkward lead who’s actually a pretty nice guy,a tsundere who’s completly typical, maid with big breasts,  sarcastic boss, and really annoying best friend, Ookami-San isn’t looking to hot.The narrator isn’t really amazing, either. Voiced by Satomi Aria, who you might know as Kuroko, from the Toaru series of anime, with the really grating voice and the horrible tone she does for humour. That said, I did manage to get a few laughs out of the resident witch, and her parody of the pumpkin car from Cinderalla.The case this time wasn’t really spectacular, either. A girl who’s idol wants to quit a club…is just a little lackluster. All in all, not an amazing start for Ookami-San.