big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

[Doppleganger]

Apparently it's an otome game, which is rather rare from the male dominated demographic for VNs of this type. Unfortunately, now my interest is piqued. Why would it be so misogynistic, I wonder, if women are putting food on the tables of the creators? Double entendre not really entended.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Apparently it's an otome game, which is rather rare from the male dominated demographic for VNs of this type. Unfortunately, now my interest is piqued. Why would it be so misogynistic, I wonder, if women are putting food on the tables of the creators? Double entendre not really entended.

I've heard there really isn't a very big feminist movement going on in Japan, so maybe they're not as aware of where the line between abuse/misogyny and normal goes? There's also the bit where abusive men with tragic pasts are getting girls wild even in the western parts of the world nowadays, Japan's just been doing this schtick for a lot longer.

I read up on Diabolik Lovers. Truth be told, the whole thing would work way better without the vampire aspect. It's plenty crazy without it! But yes, I can once again say:

IT'S STILL BETTER THAN TWILIGHT.

Maybe it's a culture thing, or an S/M thing. Hell, pretty much all of the dudes in this show are described as "sadist" or "do-sadist" (which is like...a monster-level sadist I guess? ). This game and the CDs of the series are apparently hugely popular.

Oh yeah, let's not forget Yuki Kaji as the creepiest man-child since Honey-sempai and Rei's (Free!) VA in a role that requires him to call the main character "Bitch-chan" constantly. I kid you not. Wish I was.

[Midgeorge]

Holy crap I'm so happy, I've been looking for a soundtrack from Nisemonogatari for AGES and I've finally found it.

Anyone who watched Nise will remember it as

Spoiler: show

the soundtrack that played when Yotsugi destroyed the upper half of Tsukihi's body and Koyomi went mad.

[The Morg]

Oh man, just watched the first episode of Diabolik Lovers. It was... interesting.

You can tell it takes place in Japan because of the attempted rape in the entrance hall which is for "greeting guests".

And then they go straight into calling the main character "chichinashi" and "bitch-chan". And this is all before any names or character introductions take place!

There's even a Honey-sempai!

There's also apparently lots of incest and stuff later on.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by The Morg

And then they go straight into calling the main character "chichinashi" and "bitch-chan". And this is all before any names or character introductions take place!

Thing is...she did introduce herself. The Vamp Bros just don't give a f*ck.

[lilboocorsola]

Haven't really looked at the fall series yet, but the only ones I'll probably pick up at first are the continuations of Magi and Little Busters, since I'm curious about both.

Watamote 11:

...This hit my heart in more ways than one. Damn, what's with all the almost-tears this week. =/

Spoiler: show

I was biting my own lip out of semi-bitterness over past events the story reminded me of (not necessarily following the episode's message or plot exactly), but that final act... Even though it was clear what was about to happen, it filled me with warm fuzzies and wiped away any bad/brooding thoughts before they even got a chance to breed. The lovely music really helped too, and I liked what they did with the closing animation.

Would've been nice if the series concluded here. Starting from the ending song up until the preview, I honestly thought this was the final episode.

While I'm here, may as well talk about last week's ep:

Spoiler: show

Kind of dull, but I could relate to trying to find a "special private place" to call your own. Though if I were Kuroki, I would've just sat on the floor after the desks were moved. That's what my friends and I did after the giant cushion at our "spot" was taken away soon after we found it. (We got chased out of several other areas first for being too loud.) We stayed there for all four years of high school, and as far as I know the tradition has carried on with the underclassmen who joined our group. (Although I hear it's mostly just Magic players now.)

The next part was pretty slow, though I appreciated the idea of trying to create a "do-nothing" club in reality and obviously getting rejected. The many Haruhi references were cute (though it got a little tired when they showed up again in 11). Also the song was pretty.

[Doppleganger]

Is Valvrave season 2 among the Fall shows?

[Talon87]

Watamote: Episode 11.

Spoiler: show

ABOUT TIME! Have been waiting for Tomoko to make a friend at school all season long. It's nice to see that an upperclassman cares about her now, enough to remember her name and check up on her and stuff. Good! Good!

Could relate to Tomoko's comments on Yuu's breasts smushing up against her. Didn't think the social anxiety involved in such hugs extended to women: always figured Tomoko's concern was one purely in the domain of men. Interesting to see that that wasn't the case ... assuming Watamote's author either is a woman or else is a man who did his homework, that is.

When Tomoko cut her hand, I could relate to that as well. Had a slightly similar experience in fifth grade.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Watamote: Episode 11.

Spoiler: show

ABOUT TIME! Have been waiting for Tomoko to make a friend at school all season long. It's nice to see that an upperclassman cares about her now, enough to remember her name and check up on her and stuff. Good! Good!

Could relate to Tomoko's comments on Yuu's breasts smushing up against her. Didn't think the social anxiety involved in such hugs extended to women: always figured Tomoko's concern was one purely in the domain of men. Interesting to see that that wasn't the case ... assuming Watamote's author either is a woman or else is a man who did his homework, that is.

The manga is produced by a pair called Nico Tanigawa (one does the story, one does the art). The Internet seems to refer to this team collectively as a "her" ("she" has a Twitter account, too!), but I have no idea if it's a team of two women, two men or a man and a woman.

As for the thing you related to...

Spoiler: show

yes, it does extend to women as well. Even staring at another woman's cleavage has happened to me on multiple occasions! (Note: I consider myself heterosexual, with maybe a hint of bi-curiosity.) I've also asked female friends a few times, and they too admit that if they see a very nice cleavage/ass/etc. they will stare, want to touch and so forth. I don't think finding things attractive (sexually/aesthetically/etc.) is tied to one's gender.

[Doppleganger]

I've been playing Grisaia a bit in between LOTGH hits. I'm at a scene where Amane drags Yuuji to the market. I thought to myself "you know, she sounds kind of familiar...".

Of course, while I do pride myself at having a pretty decent discerning ear, I did fumble the ball a bit earlier with the teacher Chizuru, who was Komari in Little Busters and I couldn't tell. I think with time I could have gotten it, but BBB spilled the beans right off the bat.

Amane sounded too familiar to play conservatively, so I looked her up...

>Sora Yukimi (PC), Hiroko Taguchi (PSP)

It's Sumika!!!

[kaisap112]

Started watching Hikaru no Go. Already hooked after one episode: I don't understand a thing about the game itself yet but darn is Sai fun to watch. Though one question:

WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE PURPLE LIPSTICK?! WHY DOES HE HAVE IT?! It's literally THE ONE AND ONLY THING I am bothered by while watching this show.

[McSweeney]

I think that being a fancy boy was considered cool and manly back in the Heian period.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by kaisap112

Started watching Hikaru no Go. Already hooked after one episode: I don't understand a thing about the game itself yet but darn is Sai fun to watch. Though one question:

WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE PURPLE LIPSTICK?! WHY DOES HE HAVE IT?! It's literally THE ONE AND ONLY THING I am bothered by while watching this show.

I speculate it has to do with one or more of the following.

Heian-kyo Feminity: around the time of the Genpei War (circa 1180), there were two major classes of emerging "proto-samurai". The first, the Taira, were a clan who primarily resided in the capital, Heian-kyo (today's Kyoto). The second, the Minamoto, were a clan who primarily resided outside the capital. Amongst many stereotypes each clan had of the other, one stereotype was that the Taira were more effeminate than their Minamoto cousins. This doesn't mean that they were more involved in same-sex relationships or things of that sort. It just means that Taira men, stereotypically, were seen as "girly men" compared with Minamoto men. They talked more politely / less gruffly. They cared more about "girly" hobbies like song, dance, art, and poetry. (This is not to say that Minamoto men didn't care for those things too! Just listing off the stereotypes.) Their women were generally considered to be far fairer and ladylike, the women of the Minamoto considered more "rough 'n' tumble" like the boys. You get the picture. For these reasons, I suspect, the artist may have elected to give Sai purple lipstick as it really, really clearly stands out to modern viewers as something which is effeminate (lipstick) without necessarily being too much so (it's purple, which is a pretty exotic color; it's not like it's lip gloss or red lipstick).

Now, you may be wondering, "Taira? But I thought Sai was a Fujiwara?" Indeed he was. The Fujiwara were the Taira's political predecessors. (In fact, they were the clan that Taira no Kiyomori more or less wrested power from in the 12th century.) But the thing is, they were even MORE notorious for their femininity, not less! Indeed, like I said, the Taira were basically a clan of "proto-samurai" (before there was technically such a thing as samurai in Japan), as were their Minamoto cousins. The Fujiwara were no such thing. The Fujiwara were court nobles through and through. Indeed, the Taira and the Minamoto both were originally branch families who were assigned to be the court's protectors. Why them? Because the Fujiwara were much too busy with courtly matters to be chipping their fingernails.

For what it's worth, this stereotype about Kyoto being an epicenter of femininity in Japan didn't fade away after the Genpei War. In fact, pretty much throughout the remainder of Japanese history -- and into the present day! -- the men and women of Kyoto are considered to be amongst Japan's most feminine. That works very nicely in the ladies' favor! Noooooot so much in the guys'. ^^; By contrast, their neighbors in Osaka are considered the modern stereotype of a gruff, masculine people. This is one reason why girls from Osaka are often depicted as being quite embarrassed by their accent and why they make attempts to hide it. On the flipside, many of modern Japanese's slang elements or corrupted pronunciations derive from the gruff Kansai-ben associated with Osaka. Why? Because teenage boys want to sound cool and macho no matter where they hail from, and what better way to try to sound gruff 'n' tough than to emulate the macho Osakan accent?

Quoting from Wikipedia:

Kyōto-ben (京都弁) or Kyō-kotoba (京言葉) is characterized by softness and an adherence to politeness and indirectness. Kyoto-ben is often regarded as elegant and feminine dialect because of its characters and the image of Gion's geisha (geiko-han and maiko-han in Kyoto-ben), the most conspicuous speakers of traditional Kyoto-ben.

Heian-kyo cosmetic practices: I dunno about lipstick, but I do know that the clans during the Heian-kyo period were known for their unique customs that set them apart from one another, including differences in cosmetics. One of the things the Taira were famous for was staining their teeth black. (This comes up, famously, in one of the chapters of the Tales of the Heike where a Minamoto adult confronts a Taira boy on the beach of a battle near the sea.) Even the Minamoto clansmen back then thought the practice strange, so it's not like this is something that all Japanese men did back then and which only modern people find weird. No, even some of their contemporaries though the practice very strange. ^^; So what does this mean? Well, it means that maybe, just maybe, either:

1. the Fujiwara were known for purple lipstick and I've just never heard that
2. the artist is playing on readers' familiarity with these cosmetic differences between the clans and is trying to lend Sai some "Fujiwara flavor" (even if it's not historically accurate) by giving him purple lipstick

Personally, I'd assume it's B. But if it's A, I'm not surprised. I don't claim to be an authority on the habits of Japan's ancient peoples by any means and this is one thing I honestly may have never come across.

One thing to keep in mind, if it is in fact made up by the artist, is that the fuji in Fujiwara represents wisteria, a famously purple flower. That's likely one reason for having the lipstick be purple specifically. Because purple is "a very Fujiwara color" just by name association alone.

Closing comment: You asked about the lipstick, but everything I've written here also applies to Sai's other feminine traits.

[McSweeney]

Interesting. I had an idea of the stereotypes associated with Kansai-ben speakers, but I didn't know that some girls try to hide their accent because of said stereotypes. Makes sense though. In one episode of Air, Misuzu's father comes back to get her from Haruko (his sister). At one point during the argument, the Kansai-ben speaking Haruko says to him, "And stop speaking with that dialect, it makes me sick!" he must also be a native Kansai-ben speaker, but he "sold out" and adopted a more standard dialect in order to look more respectable or something.

[deoxys]

Watamote 11:

Spoiler: show

Not much to say other than a very cute episode. When Tomoko reached for the balloon but was pulled in for a hug instead... the sound I made was not human. Absolutely adorable.

[lilboocorsola]

Monogatari 12:

Spoiler: show

Moe girl with white snake-hair and red eyes? IT'S MARY AAAAAAAHHHHHH! *flails*

*cough* In all seriousness, it's nice to see Nadeko again. ^^; Feels like it's been forever since she showed up. I remember her previous story was pretty weak so here's hoping this one is better.

(But man, the timing is such a perfect coincidence. "Take off that blindfold"? Eee, it's like a preview of Kagepro~ <3)

[Midgeorge]

Monogatari 12:

Spoiler: show

This is probably the only average episode of the series, in my opinion. Its not that anything was done wrong, its just not all that much happened. It was certainly one of the prettier episodes of the series, using effects and weird minimalistic artstyles to portray certain things, however. I wasn't too keen on seeing Nadeko really depressed throughout the entire episode, but looking at the character development for the series so far I'm sure that'll change. REALLY loved the non-chronological introduction as well.

Another thing: I'm really enjoying the themes that are discussed in the series so far. Whilst Nise focused on whats fake and what is real, this series focus' a lot more on human emotion; Particularly Envy & Jealousy. Kako spawned from Hanekawa's envy for multiple things, and now I think Nadeko's problems will spawn from her envy of Shinobu (I think), and how she wants attention from Koyomi by making herself a victim.

Looking forward to the coming episodes.

[Doppleganger]

Grisaia

I'm honestly not too far in this despite almost a week's effort. Part of it was the highly engrossing space adventure of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which fits my taste more than a slice-of-life does. My preferences are of course for adventure, exploration, technology, and the ecclesiastical, and Grisaia (while initially exploration) doesn't quite fit that.

It's interesting, because the opening evoked images of Ever17 and Muv-Luv Alternative but the story is a lot closer to Katawa Shoujo in setting. The characters have louder personalities, though (barring Kenji). No, it's not even like Little Busters given the dearth of other classmates.

That said, I'm not bored to tears, or disliking it. The writing is entertaining but could be better...for example, this logic leap.

Originally Posted by Grisaia

"Is that the issue here? I mean, I do remember pronouncing 'snail' as 'smail' back when I was in elementary school for a while, but...after my sister pointed it out to me, I stopped making that mistake."

"...Didn't you have someone to point out that sort of mistake for you? Your mom, for instance."

"...nah...since Mom hates me..."

How does an observation of a mispronounced word → asking about parents? I mean it's not completely out of left field...the idea popped into Yuji's head as a conclusion for why he stopped mispronouncing, but there's a logic leap between reaching that assumption and then asking the girl about her parents.

Maybe I don't have a grasp of Yuuji's personality yet. But I wouldn't have asked something so direct & personal out of the blue. I'd have said "my sister would always correct me if I mispronounced a word" to kind of egg on Makina to reveal that info, if it was so painfully interesting I wanted to know. But otherwise, this felt like a lazy lead-in by the writer into personal information exposition.

I wrote a lot, but it's little incongruities or countenances like that which I take notice of. Not wholly uncomfortable, just a bit...odd. Almost robotic.

[Talon87]

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya:

Watched Episode 07.

Spoiler: show

Loved the first two-thirds or so. Though I was half expecting Ilya to magically grow a dick and ... [/seen one too many futanari yuri doujins] ^^; But yeah, maids rock, Miyu's always been cute, and finding out she's actually Luvia's maid is just wow.

Final third I wasn't as keen on. I don't like Ilya having no control over her power. I don't like that her power is portrayed as recklessly powerful. But most importantly ... I didn't like Miyu's telling Ilya that she never wanted to fight with her again. Felt completely out of left field, especially since we'd just had their super bonding scene previously.

On to Episode 08!

[Talon87]

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya:

Watched Episode 08.

Spoiler: show

So this was the boring filler episode I'd heard whispers about. ^^; Yeah, didn't really care for it much myself either. Ilya's lolis are not the least bit interesting or entertaining, and unfortunately they took up like 80% of the episode.

However, the episode did have two saving graces. First, the boob size scene with Ilya's two maids (and later Shirou). Second, the very realistic-feeling scene where Ilya tells Rin she's resigning. Both of these scenes made the episode avert total failure.

With only one servant and two episodes to go, it's looking like another two-parter awaits me! Guess I'll find out once I finish 09.

[Doppleganger]

Kanojo ni Naru Hi

A pretty okay short manga related to an idea/twist I proposed to BBB a while back, so it caught my interest. It involved a guy who spontaneously changes sex and the chaos it brings about with regards to her best friend and the people around her. I guess, to a certain extent, you could extend it to a transgender kind of scenario since it's male - female, which is a lot easier to do with surgery than the reverse. The guy still has a boyish (androgynous) face though, compared to the really girlish looking females.

As to why the change happened...

Spoiler: show

It appears that the human race has been consumed and replaced by insects or some kind of alien, since the humans spontaneously change sex at certain ages when the population reaches an imbalance of sexes. Mamiya spins a cocoon to undergo a metamorphosis of sorts in the final chapter.

[Talon87]

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya:

Watched Episodes 09 and 10. Spoiler thoughts first, then non-spoiler thoughts.

Spoiler: show

I enjoyed these two episodes. Like so much of the series before them, Episodes 09 and 10 represented the best marriage of the FSN franchise with the genre of a magical girl anime and delivered fans of both some fun treats.

For instance, in the visual novel, Berserker is never one of the final enemies. In the Fate path, he falls third (only Rider and Archer precede him); in the Unlimited Blade Works path, he falls second (only Rider dies before him), and even in the Heaven's Feel path, where he sticks around the longest, he isn't his normal self and he still dies while Saber (Alter), True Assassin, and Rider are still alive. It is in the Fate path, specifically, where players are told all about the mighty Hercules' stone skin and how he has seven lives and has to be killed seven times in order to stay dead. Sadly, that very same scene ends up explaining that Berserker'd already been killed a multitude of times prior and then has all of his remaining lives consumed in one flash of Saber's attack with Caliburn. What's nice about Prisma Ilya, then, is that here we get to see Berserker at his best. When I first realized that they were saving Berserker for last, I was disappointed. "Great, " I said. "I realize they're saving the Servant with the most special connection to Ilya for last, but boy is this going to be an anticlimactic battle. Especially now that we have Excalibur already under our belt!" But I was delighted to see just how wrong I ended up being. The author of Prisma Ilya did a really nice job of stretching Berserker's seven lives out and making him a truly fearsome opponent. Since none of the girls knew how many times they'd have to kill him before he stayed dead for good, each time he was killed but then came back to life they were like "Fuuuuuuuuuuck. " Since so many of the lethal attacks they threw at him only robbed him of one life at a time, he got to stick around for quite a while and be quite a badass. One thing I especially liked -- and that we never got to see in the FSN visual novel -- was the idea that Berserker could basically employ stall tactics with his stone skin: that by forcing someone to deplete their mana in order to even kill him once, let alone a multitude of times, he could then attack them when they were utterly defenseless. We see this with Miyu when, after a long fight, she loses the last of her mana -- and before she has a chance to ask Sapphire to donate her some, Berserker smartly grabs hold of Sapphire, rendering Miyu little more than a scared, helpless little girl. Basically, this fight ended up becoming some really cool fan creator service for Berserker. He finally got his chance to prove why he's no pushover in the Holy Grail Wars.

Another thing I loved was all of the epilogue stuff. Loved the accidental kiss and Miyu's reactions to it. Loved even stronger the scene at school with Ilya's annoying friend Tatsuko and Miyu's response to all of Ilya's other friends. Dere indeed! Loved the bit with Rin and Luvia at the end with the destroyed helicopter. Was it a slightly contrived way to keep them in Japan a little longer? Sure. But I still enjoyed it.

Bazett showing up is an interesting little surprise. I wonder what role she has in the Prisma Ilya universe. Not going to look it up; will find out when we find out via Season 2. I wonder if this means there's hope of getting Caren ...

TBH though, as much as I did enjoy this first season, I'm not really sure how the author can keep it going without it becoming an artificially prolonged money grab. Like, I feel as though the story as established is pretty much over and done with. Collect all seven cards in Fuyuki City, check. (Established by the fact that the closed space kept shrinking each time they got a Class Card and that, by the time they confronted Berserker, they were down to one skyscraper's worth of fighting space.) Give those cards back to Rin and Luvia, check. Hand them over to Zelretch ... technically not check (since they haven't yet), but pretty much check since they phoned him and he was like "Good work." Ilya and Miyu becoming inseparably best friends, check. All known threats to Fuyuki City's peace eliminated, check. (And I mean, really: the city's never been established to have threats to its peace anyway. All of this fighting has been happening in alternate dimensions.) Really, the only unresolved issue as of the end of Miyu's scene at school is the fate of Ruby and Sapphire: didn't Rin swear she'd drag Ruby back with her to Zelretch once they got the last Class Card? That's the one unresolved issue in my opinion. And it's the sort of thing I could've easily written off given Rin's unexpectedly hasty departure. In fact, that might have been how I would've personally had the girls go back to Japan: they could've handed the cards over to Zelretch at the Clock Tower and he might've been like, "Well done. Go ahead and return my wands to me then, and ..." and then have him reprimand the girls and send them back to Japan to fetch the wands once he discovers that they left them behind with two schoolgirls. Anyway. Not a big deal. All I'm saying is, I felt like "Season 1" was more of a series than a season and gave really satisfactory closure. So while I'm interested to see what Season 2 will bring us, I hope it's not going to feel contrived.

I went into Prisma Ilya with a pretty negative attitude. "This looks like a show meant 100% for lolikons. The animation looks like shit. The trailer is boring. The premise sounds dumb. FSN reimagined as a magical girl series? Seriously? " I ended up checking it out only because I enjoy the Nasuverse as much as I do and because UTW declared they were subbing it come Hell or high water. What I ended up discovering ... was what in a weaker season could've easily been my pick for the best series of the season. It's impossible for Prisma Ilya to compete with Rozen Maiden or Genshiken, but it still managed to work its way into my heart with alarming ease and speed. By the end of the first episode, I was already having doubts about my initial condemnations. By the end of the second, I was ready to give the series a 7/10. By the end of the third or fourth, I think it was, I was ready to upgrade it to an 8/10. It didn't manage to bubble up beyond that, and in fact by the end I found myself grappling with whether I should give it a 7 or an 8 -- but the fact that a series like this could make me choose between two such relatively high numbers is already an impressive feat. I went into Prisma Ilya pretty much hating it on sight alone and I've come out the other end quite happy I chose to watch it.

Was the series as good as Carnival Phantasm? Well, no. ^^; Carnival Phantasm remains the single greatest parody series I think I've ever seen. But then again, Prisma Ilya and Carnival Phantasm are two very different beasts. While Carnival Phantasm is sort of like a Saturday Night Live or MAD TV with Nasuverse characters, Prisma Ilya is more concerned with answering the question "What would happen if we took Fate/stay night and, while keeping a lot of elements the same, changed it to a completely different genre?" While I still prefer Nasu Kinoko's original universe to the one Prisma Ilya affords us, I'm still impressed at how well the Servants from the Holy Grail Wars work when reimagined as Cardcaptor Sakura-style cards which imbue the magical girl and/or her magic baton with special powers.

Would I recommend Prisma Ilya to your average anime fan? No, not before recommending other Nasuverse offerings to them first. The series is, I fear, too plain or too dull if you're not already invested in the characters it's recycling. For example (Episode 09 spoiler) ...

Spoiler: show

Seeing Irisviel come home and be with Ilya in Prisma Ilya is pleasant fan service if you're a fan of Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero and you fully appreciate just how much, in the original series, this mother loved her daughter and how they were separated when the girl was still so very young. But if you're not already a fan of these series and these characters, then Iri simply becomes just some boring mom character who stereotypically gives her daughter advice while being semi-ignorant and semi-cognizant of what her daughter is getting herself into. (Think of Madoka's mom from Puella Magi Madoka Magica.)

But would I recommend Prisma Ilya to the fan who has already played Fate/stay night? Who has already read the Fate/Zero books? Who hungers for a full English-language translation of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia? Yes, yes I would. If you're a fan of any of Nasu's Fate universe works, then you owe it to yourself to check this one out. I can't promise you'll give it anything more than a 5 out of 10, but I'm confident you won't give it anything less than that. After all, if it was able to make me warm up to it, I imagine you'd have to be even more against lolikon anime than I am to go into this one and still end up hating it.

Plot: 6/10 without appreciation of the fan service, 7/10 with it. The plot is fine. It's a pretty standard "normal girl becomes a magical girl, grapples with the various aspects of what being a magical girl entails" story. But the thing is, it's meant to be. It's meant to be this really familiar (even stereotypical) tale because that way you ensure the audience fully appreciates what you've done in taking a story that wasn't at all a magical girl anime and then somehow turning it into one.

Characters: 6/10 without appreciation for the fan service, 10/10 with it. Ilya's always been a personal favorite in Fate/stay night, and I enjoyed her here just fine (even if Kadowaki Mai's voice could get a little annoying at times. ^^; I love you, Mai! ). But who really stole the show for me were (minorly) Luvia and (majorly) Miyu. Luvia because I find characters like her fun and because I've been interested in her ever since seeing artwork of her years and years ago when F/HA first came out. Miyu because ... well, because she's Miyu. If you don't find yourself loving this girl by the end of this series, you have no soul I dunno what to tell you.

Animation: 7/10 overall, with 6/10 for humans and 8/10 or 9/10 for combat mana, fire, explosions, etc. There were times in some of these battles where I felt like I was watching ufotable-quality animation, which really, really shocked me. There were other times (sadly far more frequent) where I'd see the characters' faces and feel like this was some low-budget anime from 2006. That doesn't mean the characters' faces were always poorly animated though. Sometimes (especially with Luvia and Miyu; coincidence? ;o) the faces were really beautifully drawn and felt like 2013 mid-high quality stuff. But yeah, the point is, you won't be sticking around for the animation ... unless it's the combat animation in which case bon appetit!

Music: 6/10 I guess. I never really noticed it aside from the OP and ED. That means it was doing its job and wasn't bad or annoying. Might have to go back and make a conscious effort to relisten to some of the tracks.

Replay Value: not sure, but I imagine it'd be mid-high to high. I could easily see myself rewatching Season 1 before Season 2 comes out if Season 2 won't be out for another two years.

Overall: 7.5/10 if we were allowed to award half-points. I feel like it's not as good of a series as most of my other 8/10-rated series, but I also know I enjoyed it more than many 7/10s.

[lilboocorsola]

One thing I want to say about episode 09 of Illya is that...

Spoiler: show

...I'm disappointed that Miyu didn't offer her umbrella to Illya in the ED. =3= Although given the development in the final episode, perhaps it's better to keep some distance between them...

[kaisap112]

WataMote is officially over.

I gave it a full 10 on MAL. 'Nuff said. IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET, DO SO NOW OR BURN IN HELL!

Now I'm continuing watching Wifebeaters the Animation Diabolik Lovers. So much "WHAT IS THIS?! WHY IS THIS?! I DON'T EVEN" this week with episode 2. The length per episode is now officially 15 minutes for all episodes, including OP and ED (by sheer coincidence and with no relation to the show[/sarcasm], the OP is called Mr. Sadistic Night).

[Talon87]

Watamote:

Watched Episode 12, which apparently is the final episode for the season, so sayeth Kaisa and UTW. Coulda fooled me, minus the different-from-normal placement of the OP credits. ^^; It felt like just another episode in the story, for better or for worse. Kinda shocked, tbh, that we're not getting at least one final episode after this one before taking a break, but whatever.

Spoiler: show

I felt bad for Tomoko that the cockroach thing didn't end up panning out the way she had hoped it would.

I'd like Tomoko and Imae to become friends, but I'm slightly concerned -- given this author's penchant for misery -- that Tomoko's creepy "mwahaha, I want to steal Imae's magic for my own! " attitude towards her may eventually be found out and cause Imae to no longer like her. Sure do hope that won't be the case. Sure do hope that, instead, Imae and Tomoko will become good friends. Lord knows Tomoko could use one at school.

If they come out with a second season, would I watch it? Possibly. I think it'd depend on various factors, but as of right now if you were to tell me that we were getting Season 2 this January, I imagine I'd be planning on tuning in for it. As for a review of Season 1 ...

Plot: 6/10. Insofar as the show can be said to have a plot, it was fine, I guess. Some moments were pretty good, but there were others that made you go "Oh my God D:" and were mildly distressful. ^^;

Characters: 6/10 too. Tomoko is pretty much our only main character we have to work with and she's just not interesting enough for me to really get excited about one way or another. I'm sure for viewers with whom Tomoko resonates this is very different, but for me, I dunno, just wasn't feelin' it. I want to like Yuu and Imae more, but the one's sadly little more than dude-wtf-she's-15 sex appeal while the other we've only just met and know little about. We'll see. Tomoko's other family members and classmates aren't really interesting to me either. I think this'd be a solid 5/10 if not for Yuu and Imae.

Animation: 5/10. Fairly standard.

Music: 5/10. Likewise. Not really crazy about the OP or the ED, and the rest of the music is background music I don't really want to listen to but at the same time don't hate when it comes on. It's not bad, but it's not Kajiura Yuki either.

Replay Value: hard to say, but I guess medium to medium-low for me? Would be a solid medium if I liked the show more.

OVERALL: 5/10 or 6/10, mood depending. It was fine, but if I'd known back in July what I know now about it, I probably would have dropped Watamote in a bid to lighten my load. Now that I've seen all of Season 1 though, I'm mildly invested in Tomoko's fate and so I am curious enough that I'll probably want to watch Season 2, other factors depending.