Spring 2010 FI (Part 3 [Mayoi Neko, K-On S2])

Will this season’s awesomeness never cease? I sure hope not, but for your reviewing pleasure today I bring two Waku Waku’s to the table: K-On Season 2 (I bet some of you are surprised) and Mayoi Neko Overrun. (Mayoi Neko Overrun is more than the typical review = some analysis)

K-On Season 2 = Waku Waku

The first season of K-On to me was like Obama during the 2008 presidential elections (overrated). When I saw the Mio fandom I initially got it, but the further we traveled into the season the more and more it annoyed me. Perhaps I’m just trying to be one of those reverse trend bloggers who decidedly disagrees with the majority because I can and I think it makes me cool/controversial. Regardless, I found the OVA incredibly slow and had trouble staying interested. Cute girls being air headed and doing cute things only goes so far with me: I generally have to remove my face from my palm to hide a yawn (and that’s as far as it goes). Thus, when I turned on the first episode of Season 2 I had relatively low expectations and what’s more I was even prone to dislike out of habit.

Then Kyoto Animations happened. The source material is ok at best. I’ve read the mangas and derived limited amusement from them, but Kyoto brings the whole thing to life. They took the peanuts comic and gave us Fight Club. In mere moments they reminded me exactly what I loved about the first season: The Music. I loved Yui playing the guitar as they showed the other girls walking to school. If anything it shows just how much Yui has grown as an instrumentalist, but it also shows how much she’s grown as a person. She goes to school specifically to practice something, to get better. It might be just me, but I felt this was a big gaping hole in the first season. They focused on everything in the band members lives except for the actual aspects of the band itself. I want to see them play, get better, and perform with only a little bit of the relationships mixed in. That was perhaps the best way I’ve ever seen a second season open.

Luckily it put me in a good mood for the rest of the episode. Although the first half dragged like normal I was excited to feel like the second half was moving and focused (on recruiting new members). The jokes tied together better and left me without my usual boredom or disgust. I really hope this continues and in light of my hopefulness I have awarded it Waku Waku and a Yin No Piano Badge to Kyoto Animations. They have won the KickAss Performance award. (Clap Clap Clap)!

Mayoi Neko Overrun = Waku Waku

Mayoi Neko Overrun begins like this: Female child crying, female childhood friend waking up male childhood friend, male childhood friend’s face ends up in female childhood friend’s panties, and (surprise surprise) this is followed by violence against male childhood friend.

That’s it, It’s finished thought I!

But it wasn’t finished. It was followed by the OP from HELL:

I wanted to cry during the OP. It was soooo bad. I thought they had turned this show into everything else (only worse); I thought Mayoi Neko was ruined before it even started. I waited in despair praying that the stupid OP would end so I didn’t have to listen to the horridly bad song anymore. And pass it did:

They’ve killed this show and its characters thought I while filling my bathtub with warm water. However, just before I tossed my monitor into the warm bath with a fistful of razors something surprised me:

I’m intrigued; go on Mayoi Neko Overrun what will you follow that line with:

“Paralleled Lines” replies Mayoi Neko Overrun.

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Kanae Ito sold Fumino Serizawa so completely at that point I put my monitor back in its proper position on my desk and continued to watch the rest of the episode.

I was wonderfully surprised. Overall AIC did a great job (despite the OP and ED [I reserve my right to despise them]). The production values weren’t amazing, but they covered for it by creating a highly stylized feel; like watching a Gainax anime.

I really felt that this anime was different. If I were to lay out the plot points and basic character designs I would be hard pressed to actually show you any individual part that was different from any other anime. Chise acts like a typical Ojou-sama, Fumino Serizawa is the Tsundere childhood friend, Nobuhik Okamoto is your average harem anime lead, and his friend Narukoi is your typical comic relief Otaku rooted in the 2D world. Mayoi Neko Overrun proved to me that cipro purchase cheap tabs without prescription it’s not the individual pieces that will make this a good show, but the combination of those elements into a completed puzzle.

Chise is the doer: She’s lonely without her parents and in desperate need of friends and a support network. She’s hilariously bad at showing it, but she’s working really hard to become a part of Nobuhiko’s community (where he is the center). Chise has taken the “smash us all together strategy” by trying to force them all to participate in her thought up events. It’s not going as planned, but she promises a constant string of plot and scenarios in future episodes.

Fumino is the morals: She makes sure that everyone is up and running and that no one is out of line. She’ll push those who fall behind and pull back those who have gone too far ahead. Her determination spawns from a tie she’ll never be able to break with Nobuhiko and her strength has been forged by tough times.

(Oops reverse everything I say about Narukoi and Ieyasu, I mixed the twos names up) Narukoi and Ieyasu are the comic relief: They are another facet on the diamond of Mayoi Neko Overrun. Ieyasu hones an understated form of visual humor while Naruko is much more in your face and ridiculous. They provide great foils for characters like Fumino and Nobuhiko. Naruko pushes Fuminos buttons while Nobuhiko and Ieyasu form that calm grounded ampicillin buy online center that make the rest of the cast look as eccentric as they are.

Last by not least Nobuhiko Okamoto is the hub (I’m not including Otome or Nozomi yet, because they haven’t really landed on the stage). order discount pharm Nobuhiko is a different type of hero than I’m used to. Sure he is shown protecting Fumino at an early age, but I would like to point out now that I believe Nobuhiko stands for the domestic hero. He understands other people, and though the delivery at the beginning of the show might have been a little condescending, he for the most part sees exactly what his friends need. I like it; for once it shows that a Knight in Shining Armor doesn’t necessarily have to wield his fists. Nobuhiko takes all of his friends problems seriously while also making his small appearances as the words of wisdom in between the other characters doing crazy things. He’s the first protagonist I’ve seen in a long time that doesn’t have to be the center of attention. It’s his ability to not be in the midst of all the action that makes him the center of the group, the emotional ground and the thing that connects them all. I love that he’s not overmatched by the opposite sex nor by the situations he ends up in. I hope that remains consistent because I like him like I liked Takizawa from Eden of the East.

There are of course other hilarious elements to the show. Like Chise’s maids who are quite the ironic pair. I believe Kanae Ito is doing an amazing job as Fumino. I can’t believe that she’s the same VA as Saten because her line deliveries have really driven some jokes home.

Also Horie Yui alert:

Is that Minorin? It seriously sounded like her ;).

The best part is that Mayoi Neko Overrun delivered what I really wanted from it. I even asked for it. I wanted to be left with that feel good message at the end of the episode; characters taking small steps towards happiness and solving small problems. IMO it’s the group, not the individual characters, which will carry Mayoi Neko Overrun through a brilliant run. Individuals will play their part and some of us will still have favorites (Chise looks like Becky-Sensei [She is so cute]), but the cohesion of those independent elements will be memorable in its own right. I really like it and I hope you guys do too.

(And it doesn’t hurt that it’s pretty )