Swamped: Changes, Magical Boys, Kuroko, and Other Thoughts

The Change is here! Last Monday, I started my weekly column at Beneath the Tangles. I can't balance both that and my Rewind posts. In fact, I won't even call these other posts "Swamped" anymore. I might still write the occasional Rewind post, and I have one series I might adapt from an essay, which might work better here than at BtT. But none of that is happening this week.

Instead, a few quick responses to the anime I've been watching lately...

Hakone Yumoto attacks the chikuwabu monster with a loving kick,
soon to be followed by love-powered magic. (ep 1)

I just watched the first episode of Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love! (aka Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!), because I wanted to laugh. I went to the right anime. It's a parody of magical girl anime, and wow... those magical boys are downright ridiculous. I'm not sure if I'll watch more, but I had fun with the first episode. Their serious discussion about oden reminded me of food discussions in Lucky Star. And the chikuwabu (an oden ingredient) that came to life reminded me a little of the vegetables in Dai Mahou Touge.

It occurs to me that I've watched more magical girl parodies than magical girl anime that take themselves seriously.

Kuroko's Basketball continues to excite me. Also, I am still convinced that Akashi is secretly an alpha dragon. Or a vampire. He has hypnotic cat eyes. That's not natural! Anyway, this dude is scary. I kind of expected him to be a decent fellow, despite the scissors incident in the second season. Kuroko followed him for a long time, after all. But now...

Akashi orders his opponent to lower his head. Look at that shadowed
face and those feline eyes... (ep 5)

Akashi, kiddo, you need an attitude adjustment. For your own good, I hope Kuroko and Kagami manage to defeat you. This whole "emperor" act won't fly in the workplace. Just saying.

I'm trudging through Log Horizon 2. I'm six episodes behind, and it'll be a while before I catch up. I really like the world building and the scenarios. I like learning more about the characters' RL pasts, too. But something about it just doesn't excite me. It's probably the pacing. I mean, one secondary character spent an entire episode reflecting on his past and then giving a speech about it—a long, stereotypical, rally-the-troops and reflect-on-our-friendship speech.

I'm caught up on Daiya no Ace again. My favorite thing about this show is the team and the way they rally together. Not much more for me to say on that front right now.

I just watched the first four episodes of Death Parade so that I could read Japesland's post about it at Beneath the Tangles. So far, I'm not a huge fan. But I'm intrigued by the way they portray human nature. Every episode, people are put into extreme circumstances, and their true nature comes out. The fear, deceit, suspicions, and warped self-images come to the forefront, and it can paint a disgusting picture (the husband in the first episode had a few particularly unflattering close-ups, involving sweat, tears, and saliva, I believe). As I watched, I thought, "Yep. This is what sin looks like."

I finally finished Zankyou no Terror (Terror in Resonance). I went a couple months between the tenth and eleventh episodes. It's a serious, rather dark anime, and I wanted a break from such things. But I still like it. The story and characters are intriguing, and my mind actively works to pull the puzzle pieces together. And the animation is great. If you watch the edges of the screen, you'll realize that "camera" is unsteady... in fact, it seems to be resonating with something, like the air after an explosion.

I'm also watching Shirobako and Durarara x2, but I've written enough for today. What's your favorite anime this season?

Kuroko's Basketball S3 Ep. 1: My Anticipation Bubbles

Sometimes, I let the fangirl in me run loose in a blog post. This is one of those times.

In case you weren't aware, I'm a big fan of Kuroko's Basketball (Kuroko no Basket). I talk about it so much, I've quit using its full name, and I mostly stick to Kurobas. When I heard that the next season of Kurobas would come out this winter, I was super excited. I tried not to let my hopes get too high, though, just in case Crunchyroll didn't get the right to stream the newest season.

Crunchyroll slowly unveiled their streaming list for this season, and Kurobas didn't show up. I grew worried. I gave up. I double-checked the release date—some sites said the season wouldn't air until March, so maybe I just had the air date wrong. Then I found out that the first episode was online. I hurried to Crunchyroll... no new Kurobas. My stomach dropped. My fears came true. If Crunchyroll didn't have the new season, then who would? Not Hulu, I was sure... though I checked just in case.

Then, I remembered the list of legal streaming sites Justin put together at Organization ASG back in July. Maybe, just maybe, one of the less popular sites would actually turn up something good... and yes, yes one did! Daisuki.net, we have just met, but I sincerely love you.

More than half of the episode was used to recap the last season. I didn't mind this at all—partially because I understand that it's been a year since season 2 aired... and partially because I love almost every minute of this series anyway, no matter how many times I've seen it.

Fangirling aside, there are two players I'd like to highlight in this post. One of them, I hate. The other, I fear. Both add to my already-bubbling anticipation.

First, meet the new enemy, Haizaki Shougo. Not opponent—enemy. I'm normally slow to judge characters, but this guy earned my hatred in less than a second. And yes, I use the word "hatred" very carefully. I've met plenty of athletic characters with bad attitudes, but I usually have to see them hurt my friends on the court before I add them to my "Hated Characters" list on Anime-Planet. Even then, I'm pretty forgiving toward the juvenilles.

Haizaki, however... ugh. I think this screenshot says it all:

Haizaki holds Alex by her neck after punching Himura (bottom left).
Kagami (right) has just caught up to them.

Himura Tatsuya, Kagami's childhood friend and rival, stood up for Alex when Haizaki hit on her. (Seriously, dude? Seriously? How disrespectful can you get? Not only is this sexual harrassment—she's an older woman! You disrespect women, you disrespect your elders, you disrespect humanity, you disrespect basketball... UGH.) I have a feeling Himura would do the same for any woman, but Alex is his and Kagami's mentor. This is personal. And if it's personal for these dear characters, then it's personal for me.

Remember, Haizaki behaves like this in uniform, right before his next game. If the authorities caught him, he'd probably be kicked out of the tournament. He doesn't care. He even states that he doesn't really like basketball. But he used to be on the same middle school team as the Generation of Miracles, and he'd like to take down at least one of his old teammates.

No one likes him. Aomine, Kuroko, and Kise all speak from experience when they say he is bad news. To make it worse, Kise's knee is apparently acting up. I have a sinking feeling that Haizaki is the type to take advantage of that.

Kise and Haisaki have a history. I completely agree with the sentiment
Kise expresses here, but I decided to censor the crudeness, since I'd
rather not worry about my readers' reactions.

Oh yeah, and Kuroko's old captain, the scary Akashi? He kicked Haisaki off the team back in middle school. That's a pretty significant testament to this guy's disposition.

Speaking of Akashi... I only caught brief glimpse of him in this episode. All he did was walk with his teammates, but that's enough to excite me. Over the past 50 episodes, I have learned to fear this small, pink-haired athlete. He's only had one significant scene, but his reputation precedes him. The entire Generation of Miracles clearly respects him. He has never lost a game—in one episode, someone said that winning is as natural to him as breathing. He doesn't slack of in practice, even though he's miles above most of his peers. And he became captain of his team even as a first-year. I have anticipated seeing him play for about 50 episodes, and I think I'll finally see him in action this season. Excuse me while I go squeal in excitement...

Akashi Seijuuro rises in the background of the ED sequence. Look
at those cat-like eyes... he scares me far more than Haisaki, and
in a very different way.

I really need to find a friend to watch this with. I love cheering, squealing, and jumping up and down on my own, but the real sports fans look like that have fun when they have friends to cheer with. Then again, I might not be quite as expressive if I had an audience. Maybe it's better this way.

My cheeks hurt from smiling. Goodness, I can be quite the fangirl at times. Time to calm down and go to sleep.