The Nutbladder Ranking: 2010-02
February is 2 days too short I think. It’s jam-packed and I could use that extra time…at least so I can make more progress on the UC Gundam backlog. (I’m holding off on Unicorn until The Time Is Right. Even if that usually means RIGHT THIS MOMENT.) So much stuff, so little time. Let’s get on to it.
[Just to recall, this is just a list of things I found notable during this month.]
10. A tie! Natsuki Shinohara ~ Blessed Mode and Bakemonogatari 14. We all know what Bakemonogatari 14 is, and how Yui Horie is still the sliest slycat on Seiyuu Street. But Natsuki Shinohara’s “Blessed” form from Summer Wars is totally Nodoka all over again. Good thing Hanafuda is mostly pulp (well, the digital form would be weightless anyways). The two are notable, so I noted them.
9. The Megatokyo Anime Chara Grand Prix – I run a single-elimination contest and a bunch of crap. I talked about it before but it’s kicking into gear now. There were a lot of hot pics to be farmed on those parts. Here are a few. It’s heating up, in fact Mio (and Tieria…) just got eliminated by Ruiko Saten, to give you an idea how it works. Some people take it too seriously, but it’s part of the fun.
8. Yin – Darker than Black OAV 1 is totally Yin service, and probably for good reasons, being largely absent yet so integral to Darker than Black season 2. Poor Suou.
7. Kananagatari – The second episode was much more enjoyable because they didn’t have to spend much time on exposition, so instead they spent the entire episode on exposition of a different nature. If you know how I write, you probably know how I enjoy that TL;DR, NisioisiN dialog style. From what I can remember, way too much of the first episode was spent explaining crap, not that it was bad per se, but it took away from trying to entertain. Episode 3 soon!
6. Qwaser ED – By ED I mean the single, but the video is still pretty fun to watch, even including the special one with that MisatoMinori Chihara song. But it’s Qwaser, so I don’t think much of it. The single is probably only weak on the grounds that it took itself too seriously, but it would not have worked if it didn’t take itself seriously enough. It’s not Ladies x Butler, Lucky Star, or K-ON, so I’m not sure how that fantastic group of vocalist seiyuus NOT work it out. I almost feel sorry for Ayumi Fujimura. Oh, the guy from Sound Online remixed the thing for track 2, and I really, really dig it. Here goes hoping ED2 is not totally bad…
5. Moe Mobsters – While I think Durarara is still my #1 show called for this season, Sora no Woto is very much the “otaku” show this season, because it totally eats up that database mentality, on top of providing an exquisite look at a brave new world. I don’t really care about the character drama so much in the first place, so it never bothered me that; it’s all about their world, their culture, their way of life, their way to fight, and their destiny. As you can see it’s pretty much an angle that only otaku-types will approach anything with, so… Just sprinkle some moe mobsters on top and it’s perfect fan service.
4. Colors…on Hideyoshi. I thought it’s brilliant. Props to whoever came up with that idea.
3. Marble – I really, really like some of the tracks off Kuusou Jet, which they released half a year ago. For some reason I’ve been listening to that album a lot lately, and track 12 has really gotten to me in a way this song has. Sigh. Marble has got me good.
2. Mai Mai Miracle – I talked about it briefly in the last post, and it is a really neat film. Shinko, Kiiko, and Nagiko makes the oddest bunch of friends ever…in the Asperger syndrome kind of way. At any rate, I’d go watch it again even if it is boring!
1. Noloty – I am GAR for Noloty. I believe not the one who believes in her, because he is a bad boy (a beastman!) but the Noloty who believes in the one who believes in Noloty, because everything is hers anyways. I thought that was a great play on words, too. Too bad it was not the taken-for-granted-literal truth, as opposed to the simple-literal truth. If we were to examine from the perspective of ethos of Bantorra (the story), we will probably get a different picture than the ethos of the Armed Librarians. Yet at the same time, just as Noloty was an odd one among her peers, so was the various pawns and cogs and their masterminds. I wonder what would happen if Enrique ate her book…
Well, I know a few stray voices out there cries this, but I firmly join their chorus that Takakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra is an excellent series, if for the narrative and characters alone. It is quite the ride. I wonder if the books are nearly as good…
Natsuki’s powered-up form has wings, yes, but she wears a fancy kimono and snazzy ear-rings; no halo, no Western-style angel appearance. Not like Nodocchi, really.
I need to resume Bantorra some day.
Not like Nodocchi? Totally like Nodocchi. You might as well mention they’re designed by different people and the different in cup sizes. Winning draw smackdown in online angel form? Yeah.
That final card play did remind me of Saki. I suppose you’re right, I probably had stopped paying attention to the over-the-top tile-smacks by the time the Nodocchi form became a regular part of Saki, and forgot.
Yet Noloty was not in your “Twelve Haruka Tomatsu 2009 Characters” list.
She wasn’t that awesome last year :p