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Old 05-20-2013, 04:59 PM   #5101
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
You say this every time, and every time I have to point out that what you're saying is dead wrong for myself and for many others. I enjoy many incest hentai stories and I root for many incestuous couples in regular anime, but I 100% do not have any incestuous desires myself. You're trying to say "People who have a thing for little sister characters never had a little sister of their very own. People who did have one never like the little sister characters best, never root for them to wind up with the protagonist, etc." And that just isn't the case. I knew plenty of people who've been all four boxes of that Punnett square. Guys with little sisters who are "Yay incest stories! ", guys with little sisters who are "Boo incest stories! ", guys without who are "Yay! ", and guys without who are "Boo! " Hell, right here on UPN, I'm pretty sure we have me, you, and Mcsweeney already accounting for three of those four squares. I really can't stress this point enough though, Doppel: many, if not most, people who are ideologically aligned for {controversial thing X} do not necessarily want it for themselves. Just because you're pro-gay marriage doesn't mean you yourself are gay. Just because you're pro-incestuous pairings doesn't make you yourself someone with incestuous desires.
Hah, I had a feeling you'd call me out on this because you always do, but I never would have ima...yes I would. :P

There are two pillars supporting that opinion of mine: Westermarck effect and the pheromone/olfactory impact of HLA. I see a double layer of anti-incest checks at both the biological and psychological level. But this is only for average people, individuals with exceptional drive or understanding can overcome one or both layers.

As I was telling BPK a week or two ago, I can force myself to read some incest stories by pretending the characters aren't blood related, convincing myself they're lying or that what I'm reading is a fake story. Of course that makes the experience so antagonistic I tend to stop, but the rejection is so deeply ingrained in my psyche I'd probably stop being myself if I could accept it.

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And even if we go into sexual fantasies, I believe that the vast, vast majority of fans of incest stories in hentai do not want that relationship for themselves IRL. It's the same with a lot of hentai fetishes really: it's hot when it's happening with somebody else in fiction, but it's not something you want for yourself in real life. Fans of netorare don't dream of their own wives being stolen from them. Fans of hypnosis porn don't dream of their wives and daughters being stolen away through their powers of hypnosis. Fans of mother x son porn don't want to do it with their own moms nor do they want their wives doing it with their sons. So on and so on and so forth. You've got this huge logical fallacy embedded in your brain that you try to support through your own personal identity: "I am appalled by incest; and I have had the experience of having an actual little sister; therefore, I believe that 99.9% of people who have ever had little sisters of their own would never, ever, ever be okay with stories which celebrate incestuous pairings, pornographic or otherwise."
I'm not sure we can prove this, though, even in a thought experiment. What you say is 100% true for the English speaking world but I'm not so sure about Japan which is very different culturally. Would a single, only child guy who loves little sister incest harbour incestuous feelings if he was suddenly roomed with a little sister he otherwise had no relationship to? It's a topic often explored in hentai or normal manga but that kind of scenario almost never happens IRL, even in a large population like what Japan has. Guys are never going to be provided the opportunity to muse over this situation's implications.

Ultimately, while fiction could explore all possibilities, I wouldn't believe any particular one because it's derived on an expectation of behaviour and not observed on true behaviour.

What I like to believe, because it's amusing to think about, is that real life only child Japanese herb men wish they could have little sisters to do what they see in manga/anime, but because they know it won't happen don't think beyond the shallow implications of such a relationship.
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Old 05-20-2013, 06:36 PM   #5102
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The problem with the HLA argument you're falling back on is that it betrays you at the historical national population level. What I mean by this is, historically, we would expect the common people of most nations to be xenophilic as opposed to xenophobic by your line of reasoning. Why? Because a given kingdom's or empire's HLA markers are going to be much, much more homologous than those between one kingdom or empire and one other kingdom or empire. Russians should prefer Zimbabweans over fellow Russians; Czechs should prefer Chinese over fellow Czechs; Brazilians should prefer Arabs over fellow Brazilians. But what we see instead of majority xenophilia minority xenophobia is the reverse: the majority of pretty much all countries display gross xenophobia and a strong desire to breed "with [their] own kind", while it is only the minority who display the whole "foreign = exotic, exotic = desirable, PLEASE BE MY GAIJIN WAIFU" mentality.

In America, you don't quite see this as much. In America, you see a lot of people -- perhaps even the majority? -- who display the "foreign = exotic, exotic = desirable" mentality. But the difference between contemporary America and our historical examples is that America is one enormous melting pot of ethnicities, and most children go through the public school system and thus are exposed to boys and girls of all sorts of skin colors and eye shapes and hair properties. But when you go to a country like modern Japan (still largely homogeneous), you still find rampant xenophobia as the default, with only the occasional eccentric being on the lookout for a gaijin waifu. Why should that be if you're right? Why should that be if you're so correct that we are, at a genetic and at a cell surface marker level, incentivized against inbreeding and are incentivized towards seeking out the people who are most genetically unlike us (while still retaining their humanity and thus their capacity to produce fertile offspring) and breeding with them? The Japanese school system isn't teaching Japanese children "Revere the Emperor! Expel the barbarians!" And it's not teaching them eugenics either. Yet even from a very young age, children tease and resent those who are different while liking those who are the same as them. This is, from a strict "Hybridization is the best genetic strategy " line of reasoning like the one you're taking with HLA alleles, completely counterproductive. Yet it's what happens by default.

Your Westermarck example is a scootch better but it only addresses the issue of "nurture incest" (i.e. sexual attraction between two individuals who were raised together from a very young age) and not your stumping point about "nature incest" (i.e. sexual attraction between two individuals who share the same biological parents).
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Old 05-21-2013, 12:39 AM   #5103
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I've watched the past few episodes as background noise (the window under everything else, couldn't see it) and...it's not an indicator of good things to come when you see the first 10 seconds and then the last 10 seconds and don't feel like you missed a damn thing. I only watched so far because I was promised Kuroneko and the Otaku Leader, but what I got was the bitchy sister, her whimp loser of a brother and her yandere best friend. Are Japanese anime fans seriously masochists enough to truly enjoy a character like her? Would've run her over with a truck at Season 1 Episode 1 myself...

Another reason I prefer SNAFU: the characters don't drive me up the wall. And no "let me bang my sister" plot, which, even as a sister of three younger brothers, I do not understand. Why is it such a huge thing in Japan?
I guess tsundere fans are eating her extreme tsundere thing up. Tsundere fans are most likely horrible masochists. Afterall, characters like Narusegawa and Chidori (FMP), who constantly beat the fuck out of the main guy, were popular at one point. I personally find the whole thing very offputting and almost maddening. You wouldn't need the police if beating your lover was the right thing to do!

I never minded the whole incest thing. I mean, the incest in Koi Kaze made me REALLY uncomfortable, but that's more an age thing I think (I need to rewatch that sometime.). I just hope an anime has an incest pairing that's actually well done.

Tick Tack!
I finally decided to start on this. It's interesting that you can change Nerine's mother. Actually both potential mothers for Nerine are very interesting characters, and Nerine herself is great as always. Alot of this is typical harem stuffs, but as long as I enjoy the characters, it should be fine. My expectations aren't high, but hopefully I'll atleast enjoy reading a little bit. I just hope the potential mothers for Nerine don't fall in love with the main guy. That'd be pretty lame. Finally, it was nice to meet Sia's mother!
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Old 05-21-2013, 12:50 AM   #5104
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I never minded the whole incest thing. I mean, the incest in Koi Kaze made me REALLY uncomfortable, but that's more an age thing I think (I need to rewatch that sometime.).
Agreed. I'm an incest fan, but I never had any desire to watch Koi Kaze because he's this fat neckbeard looking guy sweeting on his sister who's like half his age, ew, just, no. I used to love sibling pairings but not as much anymore (maybe because I once downloaded this zip file that had like 100 incest doujins in it and I got burned out on it). Now cousincest is my fave.
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Old 05-21-2013, 10:13 PM   #5105
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Lil' Bluey

So after watching this AMV I'm kinda curious about Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee). A quick search tells me Dopple and BBB have seen it. Would you guys recommend it? Seems to have a cool (pardon the pun) atmosphere, and I like the idea of "letters containing people's feelings". Also those stars kinda remind me of Gratitude Crystals from Skyward Sword.

Last edited by lilboocorsola; 05-21-2013 at 10:21 PM.
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Old 05-22-2013, 02:02 AM   #5106
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It's fantastic. Practically a magical girl show where the main girl cries every episode! Oh, but Lag isn't a girl. Does not matter.

BBB and I liked different seasons more, but they're both excellent. I can't laud praise of TB anymore than I have.
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Old 05-22-2013, 11:47 AM   #5107
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Yeah, Tegami Bachi is a very nice show. I would certainly recommend it.

Lag crying every episode is kind of annoying, but otherwise it's fine.
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Old 05-22-2013, 05:46 PM   #5108
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Annoying, endearing. It's all the same thing.
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Old 05-23-2013, 02:17 AM   #5109
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Tick Tack!
I finished reading this. Tick Tack was a letdown. I mean, my expectations weren't very high, but I did hope for some decent twists on the Nerine's mother thing. Like I was hoping there'd be a somewhat complicated situation happening. Sadly it was straightforward, "Make Nerine's father get close to the other girl and Nerine changes." The characters are entertaining, and Ai is downright lovely. It's just a shame that everything else is poor. The writing is poor, and 50% of the title is excessively long H scenes. They also really skimp on any details. What happens to Ai and Sage after each route? They don't bother telling you (for alot of them)! Tick Tack! gets a 6 from me. I might reread Shuffle sometime.
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Old 05-24-2013, 06:32 AM   #5110
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Dang, I gotta share this.

For some reason I've been reflecting back on Summer 2007 - roughly from June through August of that year. Looking back on my anime history, 2006 was the intro year where I got my face slapped with a lot of killer shows, but 2007 was perhaps the most profound for me. 2008-2009 are kind of lost years I think, with ho-hum seasons and less memorable experiences. I had a vague inclination of the shows I watched back then, but had to read BBB's original suggestions box to confirm what exactly I read/played (I did not know BBB saw Asatte no Houkou as recently as 6 years ago!).

I think of that summer as "sci-fi" summer, because it was during a rough time I had in Economics, I was doing weird things like cooking late at night, walking around town and exploring my environment, and watching shows speculating on human advancement in technology and the like. It was a time of optimism for the future, despite troubles of the present. That reflected the anime and VNs I experienced. Stuff included,

The King of Braves GaoGaiGar
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Planetarian
Ever17
Mahoromatic
Kanon
Gunbuster

An assortment of sci-fi titles, mysteries, or a combination of both. All excellent titles that I haven't had nearly as much consistent quality in subsequent seasons, although it was an assembly of good titles from across time, not from that season specifically. Mahoromatic is the only outlier of the group, but it's still memorable, just not in the right way.

I think, until this season, I haven't had a stacked plate of entertainment since that summer. Sincere gratitude to those who pulled me out of my game universe to return to this reality so I could enjoy it.
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Old 05-24-2013, 05:35 PM   #5111
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Relistening to .hack//SIGN music. Rewishing that .hack//SIGN had not had such a disappointing final portion. Wondering when we'll get our next shot at a "stuck in an MMORPG" story. Remembering Sword Art Online. Sighing. Laughing at said sighing. Once again wondering when we'll get our next shot at a "stuck in an MMORPG" story.

But speaking of SAO, I was actually thinking of it too, just this last night while relistening to its second ending, "Overfly". Great song. Man did I enjoy Sugu's story arc. The plot of the series may have been pretty retarded at times, but man if I don't love Sugu and her story.

I should get back to work on those brackets for SaiWaifu.
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Old 05-24-2013, 06:06 PM   #5112
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Kisei Kanojo Sana

Masukawa Karato is an ordinary guy. Kind of. He's got a horny cousin who makes no secret of wanting to incest him and a cool, female transfer student secret admirer. But otherwise he's pretty normal. His Dad isn't, though, he's a famous biology professor and closet mad scientist. His careless father leaves some petri dishes on the dining room table and the cousin, thinking it food, throws the dish into Karato's mouth to hurry him through breakfast.

Karato is plagued by dysentery and abdominal pain, and later that night discovers a tapeworm proglottid erupting from his belly-button. The tapeworm proceeds to turn into a girl named Sana, who proclaims she's going to protect her host, Karato, from threats.

Yes, you heard me right. Karato's magical girlfriend is a tapeworm that's infesting his own digestive tract.

I'm not sure if it's the humidity, the lack of AC or my running shower, but I think my room just got a bit steamier.
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Old 05-24-2013, 06:45 PM   #5113
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Kisei Kanojo Sana

Masukawa Karato is an ordinary guy. Kind of. He's got a horny cousin who makes no secret of wanting to incest him and a cool, female transfer student secret admirer. But otherwise he's pretty normal. His Dad isn't, though, he's a famous biology professor and closet mad scientist. His careless father leaves some petri dishes on the dining room table and the cousin, thinking it food, throws the dish into Karato's mouth to hurry him through breakfast.

Karato is plagued by dysentery and abdominal pain, and later that night discovers a tapeworm proglottid erupting from his belly-button. The tapeworm proceeds to turn into a girl named Sana, who proclaims she's going to protect her host, Karato, from threats.

Yes, you heard me right. Karato's magical girlfriend is a tapeworm that's infesting his own digestive tract.

I'm not sure if it's the humidity, the lack of AC or my running shower, but I think my room just got a bit steamier.
This synopsis has driven my anime-cynical friend to declare severance from the anime world. Many laughs were had.
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Old 05-25-2013, 11:33 AM   #5114
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PhotoKano: Halfway through Episode 06, and just taking a break from all the ridiculousness of it to report in on something else first. Will offer thoughts on 06 once I finish it.

First, I prematurely surmised that PhotoKano was going to be another Amagami SS (spoiler boxing because long):

Spoiler: show
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Kaisa, your concerns pretty much describe Amagami SS, which is what I keep comparing this series to in my own concerns. That's exactly what that series did (and many similar harem eroge adaptations have done). They had the protagonist meet everybody ... and then he would date one girl at a time over 2-3 episodes. It went something like this:
  • Episode 1: meet the gang! hints of who he'll be dating first end this episode
  • Episodes 2 thru 4: dating the first girl! (it's the student council president)
  • Episodes 5 thru ?: dating the second girl
  • Episodes ? thru ?: dating the third girl
  • and so on
  • final batch of episodes: dating the main girl / the "canon ending" girl
  • bonus episode: dating this one girl who got cut from the anime; also hinting at the incest coupling with his younger sister that was present throughout
PhotoKano seems to be following this pattern pretty darn closely, even down to the whole "let's have the Student Council president be the first girl he dates" angle. (Or at least, that was the impression I was left with at the end of Episode 02. Nothing's official still and the last thing I saw, at the start of Episode 03, seems to suggest that he may even start things off with his other of his two childhood friends, the athlete who is always brimming with energy.) So yeah, if the whole idea of "let's sample a delectable bite of each of these scrumptious girls :3" turns you off, Kaisa, I think you may as well quit watching now. I very much doubt that PhotoKano is going to turn out to be the next Clannad.

Doppel, you're probably right that for their target audience the signals aren't mixed, but for me who is outside of their target audience, it's totally mixed messaging. I wish they'd just pick an angle and go with it instead of constantly flickering between both.

Then, after Episode 04, I wrote "Earlier, I theorized that this series would play out like Amagami SS. Well, I was wrong" and proceeded to explain how Episode 04 had revealed that this series was not likely to follow Amagami SS's pattern at all. (Again, spoiler boxing because long):

Spoiler: show
Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
PhotoKano: Through Episode 04. The series certainly earns its nickname of PornoKano, but it's so softcore and so innocent that it isn't enough to sully the series' occasional moments of charm. That stated, the series is nothing particularly special -- it's basically your standard dating sim but this time told from the perspective of a protagonist who's an amateur photographer.

Earlier, I theorized that this series would play out like Amagami SS. Well, I was wrong. So let me get that out of the way. The series hasn't had Maeda date one girl at a time. In fact, he hasn't dated anyone just yet. But he has flirted with / started to develop a romantic relationship with ... nearly all the girls. By the end of Episode 04, the pack order goes something like:
Practically his girlfriend:
Niimi (his childhood friend; the school idol)
Nonoka (his other childhood friend; a top female athlete)
Muroto (the student council president)
Mai (the loli gymnast)

Has had some chemistry with:
Kanon (his little sister)
Rina (the girl who likes to cook; the large-breasted girl with the long blondish-brown hair)
Tomoe (the quiet girl who admires Niimi and swore Maeda to secrecy)
Ootani-sensei (the student teacher)

Not much chemistry yet:
Sanehara (the girl with the short dark hair who's Member #3 of the other photography club)
Uchida (the girl with the long bangs covering her eyes)
the president of the other photography club
Like, it's pretty clear that this won't be at all like Amagami SS. Instead, PhotoKano looks like it'll be a fairly typical harem anime: the protagonist likes ~every girl, ~every girl likes the protagonist, and he interacts with each of them every one to two episodes. You can definitely feel where the series has given us events from each of the girls' individual routes. Like ... the scene in the hallway is probably a Nonoka+Muroto scene. The scene at the shoe locker with Niimi is probably the Niimi route's version while the same shoe locker scene (different outcome!) with Mai is probably from the Mai route. So on and so forth. Given this, I could easily see PhotoKano being just a 12 or 13-episode series. Unlike Amagami SS (26 episodes @ 3-4 episodes per girlfriend), this feels like it's just going to be a 12-episode story of Maeda's adventures with all of the girls put together, without him ever officially dating any of them.

Might just stick with it at this point. Maeda hasn't been too perverted, and I do like several of the girls.

Well, Episode 05 comes along ... and completely obliterates my Episode 04 claims and proves that I was right all along about the Amagami SS angle. This series, it keeps loving to trick me!

Episode 05 was the first of a two-parter dedicated to the Niimi Haruka route wherein Maeda focuses 100% of his energies on his childhood friend and the school's top idol. It was an okay episode, but Episode 06 so outrageously tops it that I find myself not really having much else to say other than "I was wrong that I was wrong about Amagami SS! " So with that now said, I'll go resume watching Episode 06 and post about it shortly.
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Old 05-26-2013, 02:03 PM   #5115
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PhotoKano: So, I finished Episode 06 off yesterday. Where do I even begin ...

Spoiler: show
Sexual Innuendo:



Every once in a while Haruka would say or do something which had crazy obvious sexual innuendos to it. The sample above, from the very first post-OP scene of the episode, is one stellar example. Normally we might just write something like this off as a perversion of the viewer's mind rather than one of the writers; however, ...

Unhealthy Male Fantasy, So Sayeth Katawa Shoujo?:



... there were a lot of other signs throughout the episode that this story has been written by men with fantasies for men with fantasies. One example, shown above, was having Haruka seemingly live entirely for Maeda. Now don't get me wrong: I think it is completely healthy and romantic for each person in a couple to share in the heartbreak of their partner's failures and the happiness of their partner's achievements. So I'm not saying that what Haruka said is, all on its own, something we should be busting out to the torches and pitchforks for. However, not pictured here and yet perhaps the most obvious example of Haruka's defining herself almost entirely as someone who lives for Maeda ... was the fact that she underwent a total overhaul (both exterior and, to some extent, interior) in order to become a woman who struck his fancy. He indicates that they should discontinue playing soccer together, so she gives up on the sport altogether (as opposed to just giving up on soccer with Maeda). He indicates that she'd be cuter with her hair longer and more feminine dress. So she grows her hair out and tries to dress and act more girly. Am I saying that growing your hair out or changing your wardrobe for a guy means that you have no self respect and are just a Barbie doll following patriarchal orders? Well, no, I'm not. As a man who loves long hair on girls, I can honestly say that I'd be delighted if a girl I liked who had short hair decided to grow hers out; and furthermore, I imagine that if I were myself a girl, I'd probably grow my own hair out if I had a crush on a guy and he indicated that he likes women with longer hair. All I am saying is, the depiction of Haruka in this episode was less one of Niimi Haruka and moreso one of Maeda's bride-to-be. It happened often enough that I couldn't help but to notice it.

Mixed Messages:



This series really struggles with mixed messages. I've brought this up before, and it comes up again here in pretty hilarious fashion: the show puts on airs about being not pervy but then goes full perv on us. They have Haruka acting shy and covering her breasts with her arms and asking Maeda not to stare ... and then minutes later she's posing for him in some pretty sexy shots like she's some teen idol and he's some professional photographer. And if cleavage shots weren't risque enough ...

CRAZY Messages That Every Male Would Love To Hear:



... Haruka really kicks things up a notch when she tells Maeda that she's not comfortable with his flustered attitude towards physical intimacy with her, and she pretty much orders him to fondle her. (The fondling is not pictured here, but yes, it does happen. He pokes and gently squeezes her breast with one hand.) This is the same girl who told Maeda "Don't stare! " half an hour ago. And now she's telling him "Quit treating me like a princess on a pedestal! SQUISH MY JELLY FAT CHEST ADORNMENTS!" While I'd love it if women in the real world were like Haruka, i.e. if we could all just cut the pretense and the rigamarole of Dates 1 thru 3+, that's simply not how the real world operates. You don't go out on a first date with someone and by the end of the first date they're ordering you to fondle their breasts. And if you do? If I'm fucking clueless about how real life works? Then man, hook a brother up.

Outcomes Which'd Never Happen In Real Life:



If Haruka's response to Maeda's shyness about physical intimacy is unbelievable, other events in Episode 06 are just out of this world unrealistic. For me, the biggest of these was when the Photography Club invited Haruka to their photo exhibit and showed her all the photos that they'd taken of her over the course of the semester. See those four screencaps above? Here's what should've happened if PhotoKano were anything like real life:
Haruka: ... ... ... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! *runs away in terror*
And here's what actually happened because PhotoKano is nuts (paraphrased) :
Haruka: ... :'D , oh Maeda-kun, I love it! You guys may keep the pictures. Yes, please do! I wish you good luck with your exhibit! I hope everyone enjoys all these wonderful photos you took of me.
Just ... no. Haruka's reaction to the exhibit and how it was revealed to her was ... it was just not believable.

I'm really rather surprised that the writers decided to tackle Niimi Haruka's route first though. From what I understand, Haruka is the main character of the video game and she also seems to be the "primary catch" of the scenario in general. It's kind of ... odd, to me, that they'd lead off with Haruka rather than finishing off with her with a bang. Since I know that Episode 07 deals with the one girl in the other photography club, and since I know that Episode 08 deals with the student council president, and since I've further heard that Episode 09 is going to be dealing with Maeda's other childhood friend (the athletic girl), this leaves us with only three remaining girls to finish the series off with: the gymnastics loli, the busty girl who loves to cook, and the quiet girl who envies / admires / yearns for (? ) Haruka. Any of these three feels to me like an odd choice of girl to devote the final story arc to, as usually the final arc is reserved for the True Path girl. (Although I love Rina, the cooking girl, so I'm okay if she ends up being the Ultimate Waifu as set up by this show's writers. )
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Old 05-26-2013, 03:01 PM   #5116
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PhotoKano:


Watched Episode 07. Thoughts:

Spoiler: show
For the most part, I enjoyed the episode. Sanehara was cute, both outward and in, and her story at the end which explained why she'd become the way she'd become was sad and believable.

My biggest complaint with the episode, though, was how unrecognizable Maeda was. He was like a completely different person in this route! And the way he was acting in this episode was pretty ridiculous, too. ^^;

Yuki, I can see now why you were acting confused / unresponsive when I kept referring to Episode 07 as a "beach episode". Stupid UTW! They fooled me. Their screencap for this episode was one of the pictures Maeda took of Sanehara at the beach, so I just naturally assumed that ... *sigh*, well, anyway, now I know why you were acting like 06 was a beach episode and 07 was not. Because 06 was a beach episode while 07 wasn't outside of like 30 seconds of footage. Whoops.
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Old 05-26-2013, 09:36 PM   #5117
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Episode 08 dealt with Murato-senpai, the student council president. One of my least favorite of the bunch, Murato was a nice enough girl but hers was a pretty awkward arc. I can't help but to feel that it would've been much better in the original video game, where I imagine the player spent 5-10 hours to get through it, versus the twenty-minute treatment it got here.

Spoiler: show
Murato's reason for rejoining the swim club was never adequately explained. The implication was that she had quit it in order to buckle down on her studies for college entrance exams (this was stated); that this didn't help as her score was still embarrassingly low; and that (here's where I'm filling in the gaps) she rejoined the swim club because "all work and no play make Jack a dull boy," and it turned out that once she was not 100% studying but rather 60% studying 40% having a boyfriend and being in clubs and stuff, she did much, much better on her entrance exams. Problem is, they never came out and said this. ^_^; They just showed Murato having rejoined the swim club and being happy to have done so. No explanation given. For all you know, her attitude was "Fuck exams. I'M DOING WHAT I WANT TO DO!" and she rejoined. Or for all you know, she passed her exams in between when we had the conversation regarding the failed ones and when she signed back up for the swim team. It's never explained. I realize that there's only so much you can do in 20 minutes, but sheesh! This would strike me as a pretty major deal both to her plot as well as to her character!

Another thing which was never adequately explained was why Murato allowed herself to be blackmailed by Maeda, given that her reason for being late to school was that she had accompanied an elderly man having a medical crisis to her father's hospital. In fact, why did she even need to sneak in? Why didn't someone on the hospital staff provide her with a signed note to present to the front gate guard + principal's office explaining her reason for being late? But back to Maeda's blackmail ... was Murato just a masochist? Did she enjoy being blackmailed? Again, in hindsight you might say that this was weakly attested to (like in the early scene where she's rather enthusiastically posing for the camera in the shoe locker hall despite her outward protestations), but like, it would've been nice if we had gotten more than Maeda asking her why she allowed herself to be blackmailed and Murato simply replying, "Who knows?"

Maeda was back to normal this episode ... or at least he was moreso his usual self than he was in the Sanehara episode. (Seriously, what the hell was up with him there? ^_^; ) So I was glad for that. I didn't have a huge problem with Sanehara Path Maeda or anything, but it's just that I don't like it when a character inexplicably becomes a completely different human being between the prologue and a particular girl's path.

One final thing:

Spoiler: show

DAT VOLUME.
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Old 05-26-2013, 10:28 PM   #5118
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Dang, Talon sure loves Photokano!

From the first episode I found it rather boring. What could he find so engrossing about it?

Perhaps...this?
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Old 05-26-2013, 10:52 PM   #5119
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Originally Posted by Doppleganger View Post
Dang, Talon sure loves Photokano!

From the first episode I found it rather boring. What could he find so engrossing about it?

Perhaps...this?
Dude, I beat you to it. (You clearly didn't expand the second spoiler box in Episode 08's post.)
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Old 05-26-2013, 11:29 PM   #5120
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Nope nope, I still plan on watching this as far as I go, although it's right there with CROSS CHANNEL as really boring watch. I mean, I could go for romance, but there's so many little nuances that turn me off, and no central magnet to draw me in.
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Old 05-26-2013, 11:33 PM   #5121
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It's a hell of a weak romance series. But meh, I started it and feel like finishing it, so.
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Old 05-27-2013, 01:24 AM   #5122
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Student council president is my least favorite girl out of the bunch. I don't even want to watch her episode :p
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Old 05-27-2013, 01:36 AM   #5123
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You have to watch hers before you'll be allowed to watch the athlete's. (Seriously, why the hell aren't they ending with either Haruka or her? The two likeliest love interests for Maeda!)
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Old 05-28-2013, 12:08 AM   #5124
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Gonna start Garantia soon. But for now

Date-A-Live!

This is probably the funniest show of the season after Maou-sama, but for entirely different reasons. BBB called it stupid and dropped it half-way through the first episode. I went twice that length and concluded it's not really stupid...it's clinically retarded.

But because it's so blatantly vacuous, I got some legitimate laughs out of it. Like, I've found Nyaruko and Hentai-Ouji cute/moe at times, but never laugh out loud funny. That happened here. The inappropriate dramatic moments were pretty knee-kicking too in a One Punch Man style of straight-faced gag.

I think I'll follow DAL for a few more episodes. I'm curious where it'll go, since a pregnancy PSP VN is already on its way to anime store shelves.
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Old 05-28-2013, 12:26 AM   #5125
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So I watched all 12 episodes of "Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai!!" in 2 days. The main character reminded me of a humorous Lelouch. More pervertedness, and more athleticism (although relative to the other characters in the show, still weak).

Harem type thing, could've used more episodes as development. Sometimes split an episode into 2 different stories. Was fun enough to watch, kept me entertained.

6.5/10.
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