Series Review: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

"You were...trying to make yourself taller, weren't you?"

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a funny kind of show.

Naturally, I mean that in both senses of the word. First off, it's a 'funny' show in the same way that someone like me might smell 'funny', with a style far removed from most slice-of-life shows. You come to SZS expecting a standard bright, cheerful school-life comedy and what you get is something you might expect from the British and their flying circuses.

It's a type of show that's insulting and off-the-wall, with continuity thrown to the winds in favor of sheer insanity in numerous disconnected sketches. And compounding this is that distinct SHAFT style, with the plentiful camera cuts, the occasional strangely-framed shot, and parody after parody of every aspect of both anime and society.

It's quite simply, an anime that you're unlikely to see the likes of again (barring its sequel, Zoku SZS), in style and in concept, for good and for bad. A show like this feels highly experimental in nature (at least for me, who is used to comparatively sane slice-of-lives), a kind of 'what happens if I press this?' on a six-hour scale, and naturally as a result it has its great moments and it has its annoying moments.

Luckily enough, for the most part Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is 'funny' in the gut-busting sense of the word as well.


(Unless you're prepared for spoilers, that is.)


I can only guess that all three are here because they are SHAFT show heroines.

As has been expounded on all of forty-eight hours ago, characters are what make slice-of-life shows great, and SZS looks to deliver with a quite large core cast that keeps on growing, with each newly introduced member of Nozomu Itoshiki's class. But what's interesting about SZS is that it takes a different approach than shows like Minami-ke, in that it focuses more on cast-plusplus-ing (er, adding new characters) than really developing the existing ones.

Most of SZS's half-episode sketches involve introducing the next member on Itoshiki's roll-call, and each one is done quite well. Each character in the story has their own distinct personality trait, one might say defect, and over the course of 10-odd minutes we usually see that personality evolve as the character comes in contact with the equally demented world of Itoshiki.

The best part of the cast is the wonderful way in which pretty much all of them are messed-up or out-of-place in some way, from Fujiyoshi (first name?) the yaoi fangirl to Meru the internet troll to the incredibly normal girl (whose name, naturally, I forgot) and ever so many more. Their interactions are even better, when the frequently closed-minded personalities clash, whether it be Chiri's OCD perfectionism forcing itself on other characters, or Kafuka's optimism radiating out. Words don't really describe the amount of humor that seeing Chiri trying to evenly divide a 4-strawberry cake for 5, 6, and eventually 7 people, and finally resorting to liquefying the whole thing in a blender.

Additionally, an aspect of SZS touched on in a few episodes, but perhaps not fully realized is the deliciously anti-harem style of it. Your standard harem show with a bunch of cute, happy, pleasant girls (no doubt childhood friends from X years ago) going hardcore deredere over some nondescript male is entirely dime-a-dozen (especially around these parts of the internet), and the ridiculous way in which SZS turns a cliche like this on its head is 110% awesome. Here, a pessimistic, insane, and slightly suicidal teacher racks up a bunch of love interests including a stalker, an OCD perfectionist, and a shut-in (hikikomori), who all pursue him with almost disturbing enthusiasm. (Don't forget, they're his students, too.) It's a concept that is all too enjoyable, and I wish that SZS had poked more fun in this area.

Still, what the show does do will generally leave you on the floor, rolling with laughter. With nearly every half-episode being a character introduction, and with every character being drastically different or strange in a new way, there are a lot of winners in the bunch.

Not to mention, the show has a simply obscene level of depth to it, one that can stretch a 25-minute show to 30 or 35 with the sheer amount of pausing needed to catch all the in-jokes.

SZS features what apparently is the SHAFT trademark Mighty Morphing Chalkboard, with a changing message written on it each scene. These range from in-character notes, to random commentary, to subtle pokes at other anime; it's a great way to extend the viewing life of a show in seeing things you didn't see before - as long as you don't mind breaking up the flow of the episode a bit to pause.

Not to mention, SZS does some not-so-subtle pokes as well. Whole minutes of the show are devoted to parodies of TV shows, commercials, and pretty much anything you can think of. If you don't get it, it's probably a reference.

Which herein lies one of the minor flaws of SZS. One would think that not understanding a show would be a major flaw, but here it's just a manner of getting in the right mindset. Honestly, if you're trying to 'get' SZS, you're probably watching it wrong. On the incomprehensible scale from 1 to 10, with Cardcaptor Sakura being a 1, and Lucky Star a 10, SZS would solidly smash through the glass ceiling with something on the high side of twenty.

It's the full package; when it's not doing random references to Japanese commercials, it's slapping together scenes in a disconnected manner, and when it's not doing that, it's busy being discontinuous. I think the epitome of this is when Itoshiki gets utterly flattened by a runaway trolley at the end of the penultimate episode, only to return perfectly fine in the final episode (which, incidentally, acted exactly like a normal episode, introducing two characters with next-to-no sense of conclusion).

I really did wish that sometimes the show would at least pretend that past events had happened - if only because I wanted to see a 'sketch with no punchline' - but overall the show still manages to make it work with the sheer over-the-top-ness of the show. Taking it seriously is taking it the wrong way. It's not the 'brain in park' level of fanservice shows, but more of a 'clutch disengaged', where you kind of coast downhill and let the show take you where it wants.

Something that's more worrying about SZS is when the humor goes wrong; there are many absolutely brilliant moments in the shows that wouldn't be possible without the dark style of it, but sometimes in trying to be funny it trips over its own shoelaces.

This is usually apparent in characters like Maria, the illegal immigrant. A lot of her humor revolves around her combination of poverty and enthusiasm about the country. She's kind of the pitiable character, the poor beggar that everyone in the show can't help but love. But often times a lot of the jokes regarding her backwardness come off as more 'social commentary' than true humor. It's tough to draw the line between comedy and straight xenophobia sometimes.

Likewise, SZS started going down to the Fanservice Mart when it realized halfway through, that panty shots were a lot cheaper than the joke over at the Funnies-R-Us; however, those who are less sexually repressed find that these gags contain only about a quarter of the taste, and, unlike what the back of the box says, aren't just as filling.

Kae[d/r]e the pseudo-yandere flipped back-and-forth between her Japanese nice-girl and foreign lawsuit-threatening persona (another touchy gag) almost as much as her skirt flipped up, which only occasionally was part of an actual joke, instead of the far more common 'dead space / transition panties.'

Kiri the shut-in and Chie the actually kind-of-level-headed character also succumbed to the same form of random sexualization usually confined to fanfiction, bookending funnier jokes with spontaneous yuri. Maybe it's the sunlight-fearing geek in myself, but Kiri really had a lot more potential than that, which was only realized at the start and end of the series.

Barring these pratfalls, though, SZS's humor largely works well, with enough redeeming moments, and enough of a different feel from the norm, to earn a solid Konata thumbs up (Good job!) in this category.

Visually it's a treat as well, and while it's not the most graphically stunning piece, it does enough tricks and has enough fun to stand out in an above average way. The art style of SZS feels very distinctive - one might say much more traditionally Japanese - and the way that SHAFT mixes it up as usual with crazy camera shots, graphical style changes, and especially the visual gags, makes it enjoyable to watch.

The OP sequences in particular deserve special mention. the first OP, made solely of black title cards, feels cheap, but the mixing up of the 2ch copypasta in the lightning-fast text segment warranted a second look (especially with a bunch of censored words that made it feel like a puzzle to understand). The second OP was ADHD central and showed a lot of that distinctive SZS edge, from the flashes of yuri bondage (among other entendres), to the faces with kanji on them, to the random real-life shots superimposed, it's a lot to take in. And the third OP, shown for only two episodes, was a bit cheap in the animation department but had enough text to make it all worth it, with joke upon joke that could only be discovered though master subtitling and frame-by-frame viewing.

The songs were plenty worth it too; the SZS soundtrack had a couple songs that were memorable, although not MP3-player worthy, but the OP / ED were absolutely fantastic. "Damn Twisted Person", the first OP, was a demented hard-rock song, while the second, "Gouin ni Mai Yeah", was more typical, yet still listenable, J-pop-style stuff. "Zessei Bijin", the ED theme, as you may remember, is one of my all-time favorite songs, with a jazzy, swinging beat that's infectiously catchy, and the lyrics, like Damn Twisted Person, fit the show and its amusingly twisted feel very well.

Sayonara Zetusbou Sensei is a show that probably turned a lot of a people off. The subbing was (understandably) slow, the humor was a bit questionable in the middle, and the insanity might be a bit too much to bear. But overall, I think it's a stand-out slice-of-life show that deserves at least a peek.

It doesn't have that universal appeal of shows like Azumanga, doesn't have the great cast of Minami-ke, doesn't have the charm of Lucky Star. But what it does do right is that it is unmistakably its own type of show. It's different, it's provocative, and it still has a great, funny cast. Try it, and see just how much fun being left in despair can be.

-CCY


Since it was inherently hard to find Kiri with anything more than her trademark blanket on, we'll go for #2.

(If Minami-ke is a "better than good", Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a "not quite great.")

(For some reason, I'm finding a lot of slice-of-life casts to be head-and-shoulders above many of the harem shows I watch. Is it because they're flatter, so that I can't really see their flaws? Or is it just that they're just less tailor made for moe, and more for funny?)

The Path to the Post:
A few posts around the anime blogging networks that I browsed through in order to help make this post possible, which didn't really have a place in the de facto post to be cited.
* Concrete Badger's final episode post at The End of the World mentions the Britcom element of SZS as well as providing some other interesting analysis on the show, the final episode, and apologetic culture.
* Ascaloth at Riuva touches on the amusingly discontinuous nature of the show, the parody elements, and more.
* Don't forget, there is a second season; first episode post courtesy of recap blog Tenka Seiha.

Series Review: Minami-ke

"Haruka-neesama IS amazing."

Actually, wait, that's not a quote, nor is that Haruka. Have your pick of catch-phrases for the obligatory quote to kick off the post, then:
"NINOMIYA-KUN!!"
"Bakayarou!" (spelling brutalized)
"SENSEI!!"
"Rare expression!"
"*Hosaka's extremely strange laugh*"

And I'm sure I'm missing very many. It's a slice-of-life show that, like many, is simply filled with personality.

One of the shows that many have named as one of the better school life comedies in recent times, what Minami-ke does best is both embracing and breaking the bounds of slice-of-life shows.

Like many, the focus of the show revolves around a bunch of female characters in one place, and their adventures both at school and at home.

Unlike many, there actually are guys in this show, and even if they do get abused all the time like the uncommon male in a slice-of-life, their presence is very real and very central to the show.

Like many, the show relies quite a bit on repeated gags, both of the 'in rapid succession' and 'in every episode' types; some of which work well, others which do not.

Unlike many, Minami-ke doesn't shy away from the romance side of things, frequently left unexplored in slice-of-lives. Rather, it makes great fun of it.

Probably the best aspect of this show is the breadth of it. It has a bit of physical comedy, a bit of verbal comedy, a bit of disturbing comedy, and even a few Lucky-Star style sympathetic moments. Characters are introduced nearly on an episode-by-episode basis, and they nearly always come bearing new gags. Minami-ke does a great job of feeling like a contained snapshot of a limitless universe, where the characters were not the only ones in the world.

(And thus, neither did that make them the gods of that world. That review is coming later, I swear, officer!)

It's tough to gauge whether Minami-ke is truly the best comedy of recent memory, especially because the genre itself seems to be spreading out - there's dark humor (Zetsubou), the connective shows (Lucky Star), the relaxing shows (ARIA), and so on. Minami-ke feels the closest to what one might call the original school-life comedy roots, with the likes of Azumanga Daioh, and in that slot it functions quite well as a show.

Maybe it's a bit of a put-down to call it 'yet another good show from the fall season', but that's what it is; not forgettable, by any rates, but not legendary, either. The kind of show that lives on in catchphrases more than moments. And that's fine.

Oh dear, I've concluded the post already, what to do after the jump?

(Oh, and SPOILERS ARE BOSS, even though it's tough to spoil a show like this.)

The most important part of a show like this is definitely the characters, for in a comedy they serve two purposes.

They deliver the jokes, first and foremost; a good character can build up a stereotype around themselves, carve themselves a niche, so that when you see a half-naked guy cradling a fish you can laugh and go "Oh, that Hosaka."

Secondly, a great character will develop themselves by occasionally breaking out of that stereotype, by being actual, developed characters. Slice-of-life shows don't have to have the same rapid, smooth-flowing pace that other shows, like visual-novel adaptations, tend to maintain, but it's important that there be at least some sense of continuity as the show travels along.

Shows like Azumanga work because of this factor, that helps to achieve the same goal as any other anime; to make the viewer feel like they're really there with the character. Since slice-of-lives don't carry the same dramatic impact as others, in this case it's that sense of growing up with a friend; you learn about them and get to know them very well, and you can sense the little changes in them, you can be surprised when you see a side of them that doesn't appear very often.

While it doesn't seem like this happens very much in this type of show, it's quite essential and it tends to happen a lot more than you think (Plot? In MY slice-of-life?) - very few shows get away without a sense of major continuity, and that's because they're so insane and off the wall that they don't need it.

Minami-ke is one of the shows that works the 'constant evolution' factor quite well, in doing it in two ways. The first one is the easy one to do, that many shows do, and that is by introducing more characters. Minami-ke has a simply huge cast, from both pairs of the three Minami siblings, to the two-plus classroom friends that each girl has (one 'normal' character and one insane one, amusingly), to even a few token adults that show up. Not to mention, the legendary Sensei and Ninomiya-kun.

New characters can add a lot to the show, freshening it up with their new personalities and with the relationships they form with the other characters, romantic, comedic, or otherwise. And Minami-ke works it well in making so it doesn't feel like forced introductions; the characters have always been there, you just haven't seen them, or something of the like. Each character has their merit, and that's what makes it work.

Likewise, the main characters of Minami-ke aren't stagnant either. At first glance, Chiaki's the sarcastic, sharp-witted child, Kana's the energetic dunce, and Haruka's the wise, kind lady. They could easily be distilled down to their essences and pronounced near-copies of other, similar characters (in order: Tsuyuri [Doujin Work], Tomo [AzuDai], Alicia [ARIA]). But, you'd find out you'd be wrong.

Chiaki is a manipulative character less on purpoes, but more out of her childhood innocence. She doesn't know a lot about romance, or about people in general, and so her strange reactions to, for example, Fujioka's love letter, or the gender-bending Mako and Touma (?) are made even more amusing. Not to mention, of course, her sisterly love for Haruka, a key weak point.

And one that Kana's all too happy to strike. Taking a look back at her, she seems like the type of character that would appear in a murder mystery: the happy-go-lucky person that no one would expect of being the mastermind behind everything. Quite often, Kana is very air-headed and gullible, but she's shown great flashes of genius, of being able to deftly manipulative those with romantic or otherwise logical weakness. She is an entertainingly curious character, a "what if I do this?" type with no regards for sanity.

Haruka is actually much the same way, except in a more reserved manner. Her kind demeanor really feels close to her true self and not forced at all, yet she can play mafia boss like the best of them. She's well-meaning with her friends and siblings, and always tries to be kind to everyone, but even she shows lapses of judgment and mind. And a bit of skin too.

Minami-ke's fanservice (does shouting "cheap transition!" make it more so?) is actually pretty survivable, for someone who reacts to breasts in anime with the attitude of a 6-year-old scared of cooties. A few shows have left me in despair (now that's subtle) in how when the comedy well began to run dry, they replaced it with cheap fanservice instead, but the rare undergarment shot or otherwise exposure in Minami-ke is more productive than anything else. It's used as the means instead of the ends, as part of a joke or gag, and that's when fanservice works best, for risque laughs.

Aside from having a enjoyable and quite large cast of characters, the other thing that Minami-ke really deserves accolades for, as hinted at, is its approach to romance, and of the female-male interaction in general. Most slice-of-lives, at best, give these kind of jokes a glancing blow, with an occasional "you ever wonder why there are no guys in our lives?" non-sequitur, but Minami-ke tackles the issue in style.

There aren't many heart-pounding, blush-inducing moments that one would expect from a romance, naturally, but rather there are plenty of comedic scenes - or rather, characters - that revolve around romance.

Fujioka is probably the one that plays it the straightest, as he fills the role of well-intentioned guy that can't get a move in edgewise on Kana; effectively his tactics of trying to sell screen doors to submarines (it just doesn't work the same) are smirk-inducing alone, but when he's followed up by his own equally-lost stalker, things get great, like in the four-way busy-signal-fest in the final episode.

Hosaka's on the other end of the scale, with a creepily-obsessive-guy demeanor that's played both to his benefit and his expense, or maybe both at the same time. His devotion is awe-inspiring but laughably aimed, as he frequently lapses into entertaining stereotypical daydream sequences involving him, wife material Haruka, and miniature Kana and Chiaki kids, who are funny all their own, such as when they pop up from under Haruka's clothes during a romantic moment, demanding food.

Makoto (if anyone doesn't call him Mako-cakes by now) is the true idiot of this show, upstaging even Kana. As the elementary school kid he's extremely gullible, especially combined with a strange crush on Haruka (out of your league, kiddo) that makes him susceptible to both much Chiaki hate and Kana manipulation. As such he spends most of his time in drag, as he gets much closer to Haruka in his female form, to the point where everyone thinks he's kidding when he announces he's a guy.

In fact, great amounts of literature could be written for the amount of disturbing but downright hilarious cross-dressing that goes on in Minami-ke, with not just Mako but Touma, the other-family Minami who wants to be a guy. As such, 'gender swapping' is taken to new heights, with the enthusiastic efforts the two of them put together, in their own way, and with the amount of confusion that both they and their fellow characters have about their true identity.

The final thing that really stands out about Minami-ke is that it's a show with quite a bit of full-circling going on. I like nothing more than seeing a thread opened at the start and closed at the end, perhaps because it makes me feel smart or perhaps because it's a good way of establishing the previously-defined continuity.

There are a few examples of this - such as Kana kiss-attacking Chiaki in episode one, and a Minami relative returning the favor to Kana in the final episode - but none probably more distinctive than the legendary adventures of Sensei and Ninomiya-kun.

The two of them fulfill numerous purposes in this show. First off, it's an amusing parody of overdramatic soap operas, with more than a fair bit of ridiculousness to their adventures. This is evident in their second power, the strength of their running gag; whether it be the cries of "Ninomiya-kun! / Sensei!" or the speeding black car, it's repeated enough times to be hilarious, while still retaining some freshness in just how (and who) gets owned by a car this time. Not to mention, the epic video game in episode 4.

Finally, the show mirrors Minami-ke in coming to an end in the final episode as well; it's kind of a show within a show in that regard. Who didn't feel a mixture of amusement and delight when the speeding car drove right by Sensei in the final episode? It's a great example of how to start, maintain, and conclude a running gag in a show like this.

Moving away from characters, the more sensual aspects of the show were relatively average, although not in a negative way. The graphics were a bit better than the norm at least, with a few things that stood out; the tear-drops faces and dramatic eyes were distinctive, and occasionally the show would break out some downright stunning camera angles. And while the soundtrack didn't have anything memorable, it was nothing ear-rending, and the OP and ED were repeatable, if not a bit typical, songs.

It's tough for a slice-and-life to strike it big, if only because funny moments tend to be less impression-making, less memorable than dramatic, emotional ones. Double so since those elite slice-of-lives tend to be the ones setting the bar for every other one out there. Minami-ke has it tough in a sense, as even though it's really the only kind of its type for the fall 2007 season, it's got that big looming shadow of Azumanga over it.

Luckily, it was smart enough to step out from under that shadow; instead of trying to climb the back of giants it went ahead and made its own mountain, carved a path that, while familiar, was unmistakably its own. It tried to be different and it worked; I doubt that it will be a trend-setter nor a champion for other shows to knock off, but Minami-ke is definitely what could be filed as a "better-than-good" show. One that won't rock shake your soul, but one that will make you definitely feel like your time was well spent.

But as you know, Minami-ke's going into overtime with MK Okawari, where we'll see if the quick second season serves to heighten or tarnish its glory, while the hype for Haruka is still hot.

-CCY


(If there's one thing that bugs me, it's that I didn't devote a single other post to Minami-ke.)
(Seriously! ef! It's coming soon! As long as I review within 13 days it should be fine...)

The Path to the Post:
A few posts around the anime blogging networks that I browsed through in order to help make this post possible, which didn't really have a place in the de facto post to be cited.
* An extremely in-depth review - two parts! - over at neko's thinkbox, which shares a few of the viewpoints I held.
* Jason's many Minami-ke posts over at AoMM, which are funny as always, catchphrase-coining as always, and contain a few astute observations too.
* Stripey's post on fanservice and it's right place, which pretty much is dead on the money.
* And of course IKnight (random post linked), for pioneering this trend in blog citing.

But wait, there's more! Tokimeki Memorial 17.5

That's right! Call now and we'll throw in a bonus episode of Tokimeki Memorial absolutely free! We're talking a full-length, 25-minute, OP-to-ED piece of TokiMemo side character goodness at no extra cost! Click in the next five minutes and we'll even throw in some Mina fanart and a blog post!

Infomercials aside, C1 released a DVD-only episode of TokiMemo recently, and having seen ef through to conclusion, I'm taking a post to do some light episode reviewing so I can take some time to gather my thoughts about such a show like ef, which I can't say yet is 'great' or 'ok', but merely 'important'.

A bit of a tangent, to throw another question out there; which approach do you believe is better to reviewing a show? Would you rather get your thoughts out right when the series is done, so that all the material is hot, fresh, and emotionally charged? Or is a cooler approach, waiting for some time to pass so that the show can be reviewed more objectively, better?

Is it even possible to review a show objectively the first time around? It's tough, considering how I tend to envelop and immerse myself in the show's atmosphere, which lets a lot of minor flaws float right on by. Is it even necessary to review objectively, considering very few of us watch objectively?

All right. That's enough thinking, I think I've cleared you for some Koayu fanservice. But don't be fooled - the 17-and-a-half-th episode of TokiMemo is quite enjoyable still, bringing that typical TokiMemo charm to the table.

(Maybe in the future I'll answer these questions, but until then I ask them with the curiosity of some mix of a philosophy professor and a existentially challenged - to mince words - teenager. Not that I plan to be either.)


This bonus episode, like a few of the episodes in the main series, focuses on a specific side character; this time, it is the swimming captain, Koayu Utsumi. She's the one known throughout the show for being the requisite Body by Jello girl (i.e. fanservice central), putting together a voluptuous figure and a swimsuit for maximum fan-attracting power - although it seems a lot of girls in TokiMemo have their own fans, especially inside the show's canon.

Koayu actually showed up outside of her swimsuit in the anime, something that amusingly - and sadly - I didn't realize until this episode. She's actually the blue-haired girl on the left in the above screenshot; you might recgonize her from the over-enthusiastic fish-catching contest Mina and Tsukasa participated in during the cultural festival. I guess the anime was a bit too realistic by shielding the identities of the swim teams with their swim caps - hair really is one of the easiest way to identify someone in a show like this.


Anyway, this episode revolves a lot about how Perverted Guys Have Left Koayu in Despair, replete with a couple "I'm so embarrassed of my breasts. There's so huge. Here, look, audience at home" moments to kick off the episode.


The story, in a sense, kicks into gear when Koayu accidentally knocks a soccer ball into the pond, infuriating the team members and causing her even more guilt and agony. She attempts to resolve this by transforming into Superman, but unfortunately she only has a swimsuit on under her school outfit.

Incidentally, there was actually a reason behind this, as Koayu states later, "having a swimsuit on at all times makes her look smaller". And quite badass when she throws her outfit open. Nothing like a sensible transformation sequence.


Anyway, Koayu is paralyzed by the drooling fanboys that crawl out of the woodworks to gawk at her slightly-more-curved swimsuit figure - it's silly, kind of like adding horsepower to an SLR McLaren, I must note - but never fear! Shiny Bishonen Guy is here!

Actually, he's the soccer team captain, and he dives into the river in dramatic fashion to retrieve the ball. And I mean dramatic fashion. He puts a lot of effort into retrieving it, which makes me wonder how he is working so hard when he's going with the current.


He gets the ball back and swims to shore, whereupon he shortly dies. Koayu runs to his side, proving that he really is unconscious by the sheer fact that he didn't pop open an eye to steal a glance at her.

Yes, that was funny, and entirely untrue.


Actually, him dying was apparently not too far off the truth, as the hospital scene explains, especially since he can't swim. The two of them talk for a bit and Koayu is promptly smitten with the man's try-your-best attitude ("If I'm not good at something, that doesn't mean I shouldn't try and change that"), a stark contrast to her own.

Not to mention the fact that he doesn't try to sneak a glance at her assets at all, and, y'know, he's shiny. Dang, if life was this easy I'd cover myself in sparklers and just go around staring at people's faces.


We cut to the swimming scene where Koayu is looking incredibly distracted, a mood that she will continue to keep up for most of the episode. It seems that love has affected her in a strange way - instead of going straight to happy squealy hanyaa~n mode, she's more pensive, maybe contemplative. One can only wonder what thoughts are going through their head. It's certainly a different take.


Koayu's spacey looks confused and worry the swim team, primarily Mina, who looks absolutely swoon-inducing with her hair down. I have no shame in saying the episode earns it's Certification of Time Well Spent right here.


Koayu spends a few scenes walking past all the sports officers with a confused look, so that they too may act confused, except at her confusion. It's revealed that the four sports club leaders are actually quite good friends, and already have plans to go to a sports college together and become world dominators in their sports. It's a case of like minds binding together.

See, this is what you call "side characters with story". Even if it's just a little bit of depth, what it brings to their otherwise lighthearted antics is really something.


They call a meeting at the local maid cafe - or at least, a cafe where maids work - and discuss what to do about Koayu, over "exciting glasses of low-fat milk", which they promptly pour entire cans of energy/vitamin supplements into. What we don't see here is the "exciting syringes of clear liquid".

Incidentally, if Koayu would look to her friends, she would find two more likable - or at least amusing - guys who don't care about her size...or at the very least, misinterpret it in their athletics-orientated ways. "Muscle is more important than fat!" I can only imagine the equivalent is a anime fan walking up to someone concerned about small chest size, patting her on the shoulder, and going "it's a status symbol."


Eyecatch, and then it's to the exciting bit of the show where the main characters get some screentime! Tsukasa and Mina, both sports players, are consulting Riku about what to do to cheer up Koayu, when Sayuri walks by. Riku immediately begins making a big deal out of nothing in that typical harem lead fashion, but Sayuri just wishes him 'good luck' and walks off. Such a contrast from the Sayuri that will show up later...

Riku, Tsukasa, and Mina eventually resolve to cook a grand feast for Koayu and co.. After all, the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach, which is great, except for the fact that Koayu's a girl. Still, I've seen proof that both genders are equally partial to food.


If you've been here at Eternity long enough (that probably deserves a pun all its own), you know why I screencapped this.

Anyway, the food for Koayu deal is your typical well-intentioned thing that goes wrong, as the home ec teacher pictured about cooks some fish for the final dish, which sends Koayu, naturally a fish lover as an extent of her swimming fanaticism, into a panic.


The next step is the three sports friends taking Koayu on a trip to visit their dream college, Japan Athletics University. I have no idea if this sort of thing actually exists, but it's certainly an amusing thought for an academics-orientated student like me. I just can't picture it.

Koayu still isn't convinced of much, and continues around in her funk until she stops by the soccer field at the university, where she meets...


Yup, it's him again, and his name is revealed to be Ken Syuto. They share a talk typical of a one-sided crush, where one person does all the blushing and the other person does all the useful talking. Ken talks a lot about his love for soccer, and reinforces his "never-give-up" viewpoint from earlier. Finally, this message seeps down to Koayu, who realizes what a strange reaction she's had to meeting him, and how much she's pushed away what she really loves.


She contemplates on this in a Not Gratuitous At All, No Sir shower scene (here's a hint: not what's pictured above). I can sympathize with the shower being a nice private place to think in comfort, but somehow I'm disappointed with how the episode threw its fanservice balance out of whack. Many male viewers will find a lot to do that involves whacking here, but I stick to my strangely impersonal note that apparently full moon shots are less of a no-no than topless shots, given this scene. The more you know.


Fast-forward to the next day or so, where the three males in this story are relaxing on the hillside talking about the upcoming school trip to Hokkaido, which, uh, actually is upcoming in the next episode or two. I take note of this because lying on a hillside, watching the sunset with no worries seems like endless amounts of carefree fun, something that I would like to enjoy sometime, kind of like riding a gondola on Mars.


Koayu walks by, and Riku notes the fact that she doesn't look much better in terms of mood than before, while completely missing the choice angle that he has. That's why we like you Riku - you're naive. And stupid, but mostly naive. After this episode, I almost want to elect Ken as Riku-for-a-day and see what magic he can work with Mina, Tsukasa, and Sayuri.

As Koayu passes by the soccer place again, the kids are in another uproar, this time over a cat that is floating down the river; to its untold demise, if you listen to them talk.


Koayu, who seems like a natural defender of cute things everywhere, steps up to the proverbial phonebooth for SuperSwimmer transformation part two. The perverts show up again, but with the face and advice of Ken running through her mind, Koayu ignores them all and makes a dramatic rescue of the cat, all while that awesome violin music is playing. It's so awesome that even the perverts can't help but be moved by Koayu's action.

We flash forward to Japan Sports U again, to show that Koayu has become a confident person again, just in time for the swim tests. Roll credits.

Overall, it's probably a pretty cookie-cutter episode as far as character exposition goes. Introducer character, introduce recurring scene, develop character and fix their problem, conclude recurring scene, cut, edit, ship.

It's not something that I dislike, though, because it kind of gives off that warm, slice-of-life feel, which fits nicely in the gap between harder-hitting, more emotional shows. It's simple viewing, and that's fun for me.

Plus, like Nagato fanboys the world around, I'm all over any little piece of development for the things I like, for example this series, and seeing that C1 is going to translate some of the TokiMemo bonuses was a pleasant surprise that I'll continue to look forward too.

The TokiMemo cast continues to expand and be developed into a larger and larger group, and that's something I enjoy.

-CCY

(So many Series Review posts stacking up at the end of the sea-

uh, I mean, Mina is awesome. Shy yet confident, win win win.)

Series Review: Myself;Yourself

"What are you saying? In love, age and gender does not matter."

Myself;Yourself is a strange show. It's kind of like a do-it-yourself visual-novel show would look like.

You know, the kind you see in magazines and TV ads. Quick to set up, easy to assemble, and cheaper than a name-brand. Certainly, a lot of Myself;Yourself is almost cookie-cutter harem/visual novel fare, and a lot of it is put together following the simple included instruction manuals and diagrams.

An appealing female cast outnumbering the males? Check. Replete with the loli, the tsundere, the dojikko, the nice girl, and the older woman? Double-check.

Light-hearted opening episodes leading into serious drama and conflict? Yup. Revolving door of characters getting their turn in the spotlights? Got it. Myself;Yourself is, largely, by the numbers, at first glance.

But like a well-assembled kit car, it has that special touch that makes it more than the sum of its parts. The show has a shiny finish to its paint, a personal touch, that sense of caring that most machine-assembled shows lack. The drama's a bit more dramatic, the characters a bit more fleshed-out, it's more enjoyable and fun a show than one would believe.

Unfortunately, there are flaws by this same hand-assembled approach. It's not as professional as the ones the pros make; the pieces of the show don't always fit together exactly, and some of the parts show clear signs of a rush job, of time suddenly running out.

And for this reason it's tough for me to pass a judgement on Myself;Yourself. It's a good show - definitely one of the better in a season full of visual novel conversions - but not top tier, and it struggles to compete with the Shuffle!s and solas. I don't regret my time spent watching it, but really wish that it had been just a bit longer - Myself;Yourself pushes the boundaries of a 1-cour show, but in the end is dragged back to reality by the physical limitations of time.


(Listen to Aoi.)

One of the elements, that will likely be one of the polarizing elements of M;Y, is the drama element. The show, like many recent ones, evoked cries of School Days upon the shots of a bloody knife, and this is one case that I'm willing to say it's not too far off the mark. Myself;Yourself, while it doesn't push itself to the same ridiculous levels, definitely has some intense character-vs-character conflict (although of a slightly different kind), and I consider it a sort of barometer for these types of shows as a whole, a sort of Dorama Lite.

The drama itself, as some have said, was a little unrealistic at times; Asami's personal story, I'm willing to forgive, but the amount of trauma that heaped up on the Wakatsuki twins, from the parental mess to the school troubles to what Asami added, was simple insane. You have to admire them for staying sane through it all but you have to wonder how much drama is too much for a show like this.

I enjoy shows that can make me angry, that can shock me, that can make me laugh in insanity, and so Myself;Yourself worked well for me in this regard. It really gave me a reason to anticipate Wednesday evenings for thirteen weeks, really was one of the few shows that I could simply not wait for the next episode. Some may call it melodrama, some may call it bad storytelling, and I don't blame them. But in this case, for me, it was a hit, and not a miss.

Probably the second stand-out thing about Myself;Yourself is the broad scope it has, doubly shocking for a 13-episode show. It devotes time to nearly every one of its characters; while it could have gotten away, maybe, with just the main paths of both Sana and Shuu (and thus, Nanaka and Shuri), M;Y instead gave a lot of screenspace to Asami, her side characters (Grandma Kaji among others), the teacher, Yuzuki, and what seemed to be the throwaway loli, Hinako.

What results, on the most part, is a well-developed cast full of likable characters. Nearly everyone has a story, a defined personality, and if not an appeal a plea for sympathy. Nanaka seems to be the ice queen, but she's just a girl recoiling from trauma, willing herself into a normal life. Shuri seems happy all the time, but she's hiding away her true feelings. Yuzuki's outreaching personality stems from her desperation to be recgonized. Hinako's mix of maturity and childness is surprising for someone of her type. And Asami's double personalities, one of jealousy and one of kindness, simply astound. Only Aoi is truly left out, and that is something that I cannot decide is a good thing or a bad thing, considering how Asami factored into the story at the end.

Somehow, due to how the show is spread out, the cast seems quite memorable. They're a standout bunch, and I enjoy the fact that none of them particularly stand out as a "good character" or a "bad character". Certainly, Asami is more the villain, and Nanaka more the victim, but all of them have two sides to them, at least subtly, which makes for a cast which isn't spearheaded by one or two main girls stealing the show.

On the other side, of course, the plot suffers as a result. Part of the reason that the drama bounced so harmlessly off many viewers was the fact that it was, pretty much, out of left field. There was a definite crush for time near the end of the show, with multiple stories needing to be resolved, and so there wasn't as much foreshadowing as would have been liked; I bow down to anyone who even had a hint of Asami's shock twist without spoilers.

Instead, a lot of time was devoted to side threads which arguably went nowhere. Two and then some episodes spent on Hinako, who really had no appearance beyond that in the climax final three episodes of the show. A plot involving Crazy Grandma Kaji that fizzled out, a cheap lead-in to Asami's reveal. And, of course, all the light-hearted time-wasting in the early parts of the show. Why?

For good reason, of course. Myself;Yourself, despite its looks, is a show that isn't afraid to be different - Owen calls it "post-harem" - and its free-roaming plot is just but part of this concept. Without the side storylines, Myself;Yourself would be very streamlined, very no-nonsense; certainly the Sana/Nanaka is quite intense at points, but it does fall on the predictable side, and the added side stories allow for more mystigue, more intrigue, and in the case of some of them, a sort of mellow break. Hinako's story of discovering love versus a simple crush, is warm and pleasant, while not being boring, a good example of how loli-style characters can work without setting off the pedo siren.

Additionally, the multiple-plotline style of M;Y, while not as apparent as other shows in the same season, allowed for all this to go on without horribly compromising the show. Sana and Nanaka might be the 'main' couple, but arguably they didn't really feel that way overbearingly. Hinako's development was aided by not just Sana, but also Aoi and Shuu, and the Wakatsukis had an arc to their own, with the focus on Shuu instead.

Speaking of the Wakatsukis, the subtle elements of their relationship, which others might label siscon, are refreshingly done as well. Instead of leaping over the line hand-in-hand like many have been apt to do, Shuu's caring for Shuri blurs the line between brotherly love, and true romance. It's definitely well-done, and brings more of a warm sensation to the show; whether they are lovers or not, the bond that they share is admirable.

But, on the other side, there are chances that Myself;Yourself takes that don't pan out so well.

As much as I hail the side plots of this show as something essential, I do wish, sometimes, that we had cut back on them a little bit, if not only so that the last episode was not so rushed. Even if we had just cut out the OP or ED in the final episode, it might have been enough. But the rushed conclusion that M;Y had to pull in its closing moments left bad tastes in many a viewer's mouths.

As far as time jumps go, it wasn't a horrible one. But M;Y seems to stretch the "leave some ends open" thing a bit far. It's never really revealed what happened to Asami to have her turn into a good character, nor is the Wakatsuki's relationship, 10 years on, expounded on. (We don't even see their faces...) Sana proposes to Nanaka, but they cut out the actual reveal - blasphemous in a show that, ironically, lacks in romantic aspects itself.

Confessions, kisses, you name it; Myself;Yourself is surprisingly devoid of the kind of thing you would expect in a show like this. It might just be a different approach to the genre - Mike at Anime Diet calls it a story "more about self-realization and discovery", and this is enjoyable too, but, after all that effort to get Nanaka to open up, Sana must be at least a little dissapointed.

Still, I think the ending was passably done. Given how quickly the sand was sinking through the hourglass, I was pleasantly surprised with how M;Y managed to conclude most of the stories, in one way or another. Certainly it could have been done in a better way, but given what it did, it's a closure, one that felt at least moderately fulfilling.

I think Myself;Yourself is stuck in kind of a hard place in regarding to scheduling; there isn't quite enough storyline among all the characters for a full 24-episode show, but the main plots can't fill 13 episodes alone; as such, instead of trying to drag out the main stories to silly length, trimmed versions of the other characters' stories were added. It seems the better choice of the two, at least.

Touching on the sense elements briefly, the music of Myself;Yourself wasn't spectacularly memorable, being your typical visual novel fare. There were one or two ace violin pieces, especially the arrangement of the OP/ED themes, though, and the OP and ED were both musically enjoyable and upbeat if not that powerful.

Graphics were equally kind of 'there', with no glaring defects nor shining moments. Picky viewers may take offense to the fact that everyone bleeds WD-40, but that doesn't concern me a whole lot.

Voice acting was above average - Asami managed to make her monologue emotionally affecting, despite being, well, entirely random, Shuu and Shuri managed to put impact to their powerful moments, Nanaka and Sana I don't remember much about, in either way. Aoi's childish Chiyo-voice was survivable by me, and was kind of cute at times, but the way she screams is pretty awkward.

Fanservice in the show was delivered courtesy of Miss Aoi as well, although it only lasted a few episodes and was quickly faded out. The show managed to make it kind of amusing as well, if not in delivery but in concept (it surprises me when I see a new way to do fanservice, in this case, chopstick groping), so this doesn't affect the show adversely.

A dramatic visual-novel-type show like this warrants the obvious comparisons to School Days, but personally it seems uncannily similar to sola in the way it goes about. Both shows are extremely intense, with plot and emotions, at the expense of a smooth flow. Depending on who you ask, both shows' conclusions are great full-circle exercises, if not a bit ambiguous. sola is arguably the more well-timed series, while Myself;Yourself is more all over the place, but the two shows have a lot of differences as well, the latter being much brighter, much more unabashedly harem-alike.

For reasons like this Myself;Yourself is probably not going to appear out of nowhere and win Japan's vote for best 2008 anime, but I have no doubt in calling this anime one that's vital for those who enjoy visual novel conversions or harem-slash-romances. It's not a harem show in the typical sense but only in the cast sense, as Myself;Yourself revolves more around the individual story of each character, and tying these stories together, than around how each character ties to the main character.

It's a kind of a restyling of the well-worn model of visual-novel/harem; it retains enough similarity to the ways of old, but changes enough aspects to liven things up. Some changes might be unnecessary or unwanted, but given the resources and timeframe available, the amount of freshness that Myself;Yourself brings to the table makes it a highly recommended watch for fans of the genre.

-CCY

(Not much extra to say for once...well, in retrospect, it sounds like Aoi's story doesn't intertwine well with everyone else's, so there's another reason.

Also, here's an incredibly thought-provoking if not unrelated paragraph I came across while researching, courtesy of the defunct Like Water:
In the end, anime is a hugely personal entertainment medium. It caters to individual fantasies, and makes you believe that you are the center of the fantasy (exemplified by harem anime). This makes it very difficult to "dialogue" on anime the way you might a good fiction novel, or the way you would a great movie. You wrap so much of yourself into the story and the characters that you feel like you have your own private world with these people, and it's something that others can't take from you. This is why anime is so addicting, and why people who enjoy it tend to watch so much of it. Who doesn't want their own special world that others can't even comprehend or touch? We can share it to the extent that we say what characters we like, or what particular moments touch us, but we can't really share the depth of feeling that draws us to anime because it's something that lies deep in us, something that we let few people touch.

It seems to be a blog that was frequented by 'older' names in the anime blogging circles, but I reccomend anyone to check it out for the frequently introspective articles taking a close look inside the anime fan themself.)

Artbook Check! II: Da Capo / Cardcaptor Sakura

It's been a while since my last - not to mention only - artbook post, not in the least because I don't do much purchasing of obscure anime goods; somehow, my sense of reason has managed to continue outstripping the little anime fan in my head that screams "moeeeeee~" at every figurine, pencil board, and plushie that I see.

This may be a result of the fact that these novelty goods are, to be subtle, ridiculously expensive at times. Probably mostly because I'm a student on an overly cheap budget, first and foremost, but secondly because, well, I don't see what you can do with a figurine outside of taking pictures of it, playing Smash Bros. with it, or making disturbing 4chan gifs with it.

Artbooks, though, have been a fondness of mine, if only because they tend to give some semblance of value to me - after all, you can browse them over and over, they have lots of pretty pictures, and if I ever actually manage to learn Japanese they might just be good reading material.

Additionally, I've recently become figuratively married to a little bookstore chain in southern California called Book Off, which offers a lot of new and used books (of which I can hardly tell the difference), ranging from standard English novels, to manga in both languages, to magazines, and - as you may have guessed - quite a few anime artbooks. Depending on the chain, you might even find some DVDs of both regions (spotted some Japanese Shuffle! LEs and AIR and Tsukihime boxsets), or import video games.And all at great prices too - my previous purchase of the Shuffle! On the Stage artbook was half the price I saw at Kinokuniya. Good stuff.

Unfortunately however I am not getting paid royalty fees for this post so I'll move on to the two latest artbooks I added to my meager collection, and that would be that of Cardcaptor Sakura and Da Capo.

(Note this post actually has pictures, so those of you stuck under a 56K rock still, look out. And for those wondering about the camera work, well, let's say my house was undergoing a small earthquake during the five minutes I was filming. Or maybe my camera hand was drunk. Maybe you need glasses. Or maybe it was a rush job and I was using a borrowed camera.)

Actually, both of these shows, being the monoliths they are, span multiple artbooks, but resources afforded only a small peek at the rabbit hole.


First up, the Cardcaptor Sakura artbook was a veritable steal at $4, half off of its normal price (although the other ones were normal price, mysteriously). The artbooks look to be split up into the show's respective sections, with one covering the Clow Card arc and one covering the Sakura Card arc. There was an additional one for the second movie, The Sealed Card, and presumably one for the first one as well, which I didn't spot.

The one I picked up was the Sakura Card artbook, which handily says on the back in English, "The Complete Book of TV Animation 'Cardcaptor Sakura' Part 2", so I'll take that as the title for it.


It's a pretty comprehensive artbook as well, with an episode overview of each episode of the Sakura Card arc, from 47-70, in the "story digest" section taking up about half of the 120-page book. Each episode summary spans two pages, the front of one and the back of the other, featuring about 20 commented screencaps from the show with a long paragraph below it. It seems to be pretty in-depth, although, since I'm illiterate outside of spotting Sakura's name, all I can really say is that the pictures are a great throwback and that chibi Sakura is incredibly adorable.


There are additional screencap segments for the third-season OP/ED, Platinum and Fruits Candy, with lyrics. Later on in the book there is an interesting segment which displays some of the storyboard planning behind the two sequences, as well.


What follows in the second section is the traditional black-and-white character sketches, featuring six pages of Sakura costumes (Tomoyo's busy, y'know.), and a page devoted to all the other main characters (Tomoyo, Syaoran, Meilin, Eriol, etc), with the remaining few pages in this section devoted to background scenery and side characters, and the aforementioned storyboarding. It's cute and heavily commented stuff but the black-and-white sketches have never really been a main draw for me.


Likewise with the cast interview segments, which are almost entirely if not completely illegible, although I did learn interesting things, like how just about bloody everyone in CCS is voiced by a girl. Yukito I figured, Kero I remembered (since her VA did Haruko from AIR), but I didn't figure on Syaoran. Touya and Eriol are the only guys from the main cast.

Also, there was more liberal sprinkling of chibi characters here (although admittedly sourced from the orginal animation), which was always a plus. The interviews give two pages at least to all main characters, and half a page to a lot of 'side' characters, right down to Nakuru / Ruby Moon and Fujitaka. Even the directors (I assume) get interviewed.

This about wraps up the content in the book, outside of the advertising for other CCS stuff, such as the Tetris spin-off which heads the 'games I irrationally want' list, and the 18 DVDs - or, if you're feeling retro, videotapes (this is circa 2000, after all), at a cheap 6800 yen. No worries - the first volume is a wallet-sipping 5000 yen. Almost makes the remastered set look cheap.



Extras are sparse but there, as the book includes two postcards (which I can't imagine that anyone would actually use) and a small poster (bigger than standard paper but smaller than a Megami pullout) featuring a shocked-looking Sakura against a black backdrop with Eriol and his minions in the background. Overall, CCS The Complete TV Animation Pt. 2 is still a steal at $4, and would still probably be worth it at it's standard $8 - especially since it's listed at 1500 yen on the back of the book.



My second purchase is what can only be described as the Da Capo Box, as that's pretty much when I went on when buying it. It was shrink-wrapped, so it was pretty much a prayer purchase. It was formally called "D.C. Collaboration Stories", and the fact that it was big, thick, and didn't look to be H seemed to make it a good deal for $13. And while I may not be doing backflips like more striped Da Capo fans might upon such a steal, I still consider it a fairly reasonable purchase.


It's a three-part set, which would explain why it comes in a box, for one. The first part, and the most important, naturally, is the flipping huge book. It's 300 Spartaaaaaaaan pages long (that joke stopped being abused fast, as an aside). That's a lot.



It opens promisingly - once I figured out that it read right to left - with a bunch of stunning fanart by what I can only assume are other famous artists. I say this because I recgonize the Shuffle style of Aoi Nishimata. There are 9 full-page (and note that a page here, as opposed to CCS's A4 size, is roughly 8.5" by 12") illustrations, most of them worthy of being pulled out and pinned to the wall, if that's your sort of thing.

What follows is a roughly 100-page collection of a bunch of manga stories drawn by different artists. Each is about 10-20 pages, and what I could glisten from the pictures they span:

- Magical costume dress-up Sakura
- Some flashback involving loli Sakura and Junichi, plus Miharu

- Nemu being typically clingy tsundere after Junichi runs around with some large meganekko in what can only be a giant misunderstanding
- Something involving Kotori, which should be enough for her fans

- Something involving Moe, which gives her more development than two seasons of anime despite me not being able to read Japanese
- Miharu x Junichi adventures
- Something involving Suginami, Mako, and a possible pairing of the two. Second only to Mayumi and Itsuki in 'best comedy duo that needs romance'.
- Nemu reminscing about Junichi and their amusement park trips in the past and present
- NekoNemu. No one knows why.

Plus a few 4koma.

It's a pretty lame collection because there's no Yoriko vast range of manga by a bunch of people with different art styles, and since they give time to nearly everyone except Yoriko, fans of Da Capo who don't mind Yoriko getting the shaft, especially those who can read Japanese, will enjoy this segment unless they have any pity for Yoriko.

(Well, she did get one 4koma.)


What follows after this is the game CG collection with 100% more Yoriko, which is always a fun read (and by read I mean look) for people like me who are wholly unfamiliar with the original source game. I lucked out in that this section is entirely non-ero; it barely misses work-safe due to containing the 'pre ero-scene' CGs where the heroines are in a state of vague undress.


Each character has their own section here averaging from 5 to 10 pages. Each section includes a large character portrait, a list of character sprites (interestingly, Kotori has more than double anyone else's at nearly 70 poses, while most have 30-odd), and the game CGs at about quarter-page size. Of course, everything is annotated by a bunch of flavor text which I'm sure says...something.


It's informative since you can glean a lot from the images (such as Yoriko's ending, which apparently involves either her or Misaki coming to school as a real girl), and, failing that, you can roll on the floor and/or agonize over why there's a CG of Suginami in a half-naked maid outfit.


After this, there's about 20 pages of straight text, interrupted by scarce CGs; I'm assuming this is a sort of mini-story of its own; it's titled "Another Story", and each character gets their own section. I'm not sure if this is just copy-paste from the game(s), or original content, but either way, reading material right here.

Then there's few short sections, one being a walkthrough for each of the characters, another being a corner for fanart (of the postcard kind), the third being the 'buy stuff please' segment, (Note they sell shirts for every character but Yoriko.) , and the final segment closes off the book with some sheet music for what I presume are the game OP and ED themes.

Additionally, there is a CD that comes in the Da Capo Box, but unfortunately I seem to have been ripped off as my box did not come with a copy of it. It looked to have some game (of, I imagine, token value) on it, along with what I'm guessing is a short visual novel and perhaps some bonus images or something.



The third item in the box is a vintage 2003 calendar, which I imagine was more useful back in the day. It features 7 images (2 months apiece, plus one image for the entire 2004 year) which cover all the main characters. I guess, since it's old, it can be cannibalized for more art posters, since the art here is quite good except for Yoriko who of course has the only NWS shot in the calendar. Stupid cat maids..

In the end, essentially I did just buy a $13 book in a box, but it was a fairly 'worth-it' purchase, given the size of the book and the appeal of its contents, both in comprehensible and incomprehensible form. I'd recommend it to any D.C. fan, especially if you can actually get it with the CD. The back of the box says that D.C. Recollection Stories retails for 3200 yen.

These were the two purchases that I felt were worth covering - Book Off also has random $1 books like the 500-page Gran Turismo 2 guide I found, and I snagged a $5 copy of Megami 90, but the former is only tangentially related and the second is covered far too well by Kurogane, so there you go.


Also, I have no idea what these Kanon trading cards are, but they're ten cents apiece, and, well, Kanon.

-CCY
(We apologize for the fault in the rampant Yoriko fanboying. Those responsible have been sacked.)

(We apologize again for the fault in the excessively bitter Yoriko fanboying. Those responsible for the sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.)

(The directors of the blog hired to continue the post after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they also think highly of the characters of Kotori and the Mizukoshis. Also, they have been sacked. The post has been completed in a entirely different, raving fanboy style, at great expense and at the last minute.)