April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers

Holy fuck. I was not expecting that.

( Cut for spoilers. )

I kinda really seriously find out what the deal is with the hair, though.

Oh Mai Otome, will you never cease to mess with my mind? ♥ The plot may be coherent, but you will not be able to appreciate how utterly bizarre some of the characters and relationships are until you've seen Mai-HiME.

That was extremely promising. At the moment, I'm torn between marathoning the next six episodes, and marathoning Mai-HiME eps. 16-26 so I'll be better prepared to try and figure out exactly how the two shows are supposed to intersect.

See, CLAMP? This is how you make a canon AU worthwhile.

~edit~

Spoilers in the comments.

That was considerably more satisfying than I'd been led to expect. The Yamada/Mayama/Rika love triangle is indeed left totally unresolved--unless you agree with the show that Mayama's unrequited love for Rika is True and Right and Mature, and will obviously win out in the end, and that Yamada's unrequited love for Mayama is troublesome and shows that she's just an foolish young thing who won't grow up unless Mayama cuts her out of his life and lets his emotionally manipulative boss seduce her, in which case, the final episode resolves things just fine.

Ah, but Takemoto and Hagu...♥ They grew up so much. And the last two lines were just perfect.

This show has the potential to be enormously entertaining. It reminded me of Scrapped Princess, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam Wing, Kyou Kara Maou, Soukyuu no Fafner and a whole crapload of other things, all at once, possibly because of the character designs. It is not, mind you, likely to be as good as any of those, or good at all. There is a distinct possibility that this show will be horrifically stupid. But very entertaining. To wit:

1) It has pretty boys.

2) The pretty boys are all gay for each other, quite literally upon first glance.

Y'all know me. The prettiness and slashibility of the male characters falls fairly low on my list of priorities in picking new shows, and I prefer let a show or manga unfold the relationships at its own pace, before ruminating on what works for me and what doesn't, or which characters might make a good couple that won't happen in canon, looking for corresponding porn, etc. But they are just that pretty, and the show is just that gay. Agate and Beryl get shoujo bubbles when they look at each other in passing; Beryl forms an instant obsession with Agate. Agate and Chalce have, like, telepathic sex when they're flying in their planes and they see each other for the first time; Agate crashes his plane into the water so he can rescue Chalce, whom someone more sensible probably would have given up for dead. And Chrome seems very attached to his brother.

3) I like action-y, political shows with mecha and treatises on human nature, even when they're very shallow.

4) Their mecha are planes. They have big metal feathers, like the ones in Clover. They look like the offspring of a biplane and an eagle, and they're so, so pretty. They are prettier than the boys, which is saying something. I really enjoyed the fight scene because I got to look at the pretty plane, until they shot it full of holes and it crashed in the ocean.

This show is very cute. Ryoma eventually reveals that he does indeed have more than two personality traits (so far: reserve, drive, and now, macho pride). Not that I wouldn't be okay with just the two, but nuance is good. I have a clue what he's about, now.

Ryoma and Momo failing so badly at doubles tennis made me laugh out loud. Nothing helps you to get along with a rival like having your asses handed to you together, I guess.

Regarding Ryoma's cheerleader...probably, this show is never going to be a good show for girls; that is a common characteristic of boy's manga: sometimes, the girls in them are plot devices at best, and you have to accept that or reject that at the outset. But I kinda want to like her, even though she's just a puppy, and it's frustrating that the show keeps almost giving that relationship depth...and then not. It hints at some kind of "I'm not interested in people, but somehow I like you" dynamic between them...and then doesn't do that. And then she's a tennis player herself, and he gives her tips....and there's no follow-up. And she might understand him better than other people because she she doesn't project her own issues or ambitions onto him like everybody else...but then she doesn't know him at all. Bah. BAH. ::fist-shaking, yo::

FMP: TSR 4

Bah.

( Not particularly spoilery. )


Prince of Tennis 2-5

( Cut mainly for length. )

I'm watching this more or less on a whim. I loved Fumoffu, but a brief encounter with the FMP manga convinced me that I wouldn't enjoy the original series (too much standard mecha-y drama, not enough funny). However, I've been hearing good things about this, so, what the hey. (If anybody on my flist has seen the original series and is watching this, too, lemme know how they compare. I might be persuaded to run out and rent the first one.)

It looks and sounds pretty good. The production values are nice and the voices sound right, that sort of thing. It's interesting to see Sousuke in a battle. He seems so natural! In Fumoffu, he was always out of place--that's the joke. But this is where he was raised, where he belongs--his speech, his skills, his mindset, everything is appropriate for his environment.

...that is, up until he's separated from his unit, and casually tells his commander that he'll be fine, and he can't die here because he has to hand in school work the next day.

Yeah, I'm sold.

The first episode of this was so boring that I put the show aside for six months and didn't think about it the whole time. Nevertheless, between anime blogger raving about Aoba and the promise of possible lesbianism to come, I felt it was worth a second shot.

I don't think I like Aoba for the same reasons as the fanboys. The usual reason cited for her awesomeness is that Aoba loves making plastic models, and is entranced by mecha--every fanboy's fantasy, the girl who loves playing with the same dolls they do. I don't care about mecha in the slightest. I like dolls of characters, not machines. (Which reminds me, I really have to watch Rozen Maiden one of these days.)

However, otherwise, Aoba's a ganbatte heroine with a very cute outfit (sort of a shorts-and-halter top version of mechanic's overalls over a white shirt), and that's enough to make me like her.

Not enough plot for my taste, and the random flashbacks--or flashforwards, whichever--are confusing, and I gather they're not going to get any better. The male cast is boring and mostly made up of jerks. There are two nice ones, but they're still boring.

Episode 3 introduces two more female cast members, who instantly make the show entertaining, interesting, and gay. Walking-up-to-crying-girl-and-hugging-her-so-her-face-is-in-your-cleavage gay. Giving-her-a-ride-in-your-mecha-to-a-moonlit-lake-and-swimming-together gay. Drying-off-naked-together-under-a-blanket gay. Booyah. Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, Aoba goes off with the lead boring male again, but this is very promising anyway, especially since in the flash-whatevers, there's a genki female soldier troop.

(And Sailormoon. I really have to watch Sailormoon.)

Whoa! Weird. A little on the expressionistic side, and not in a good way. Overall, beautiful, highly watchable, and an interesting alternate take on the story.

( Spoilers for series and movie within. )