Hi, guys. Last night was pretty badass, wasn’t it? And yes, I am talking about the anime, not Gene’s loss in Company of Heroes. I told myself I wouldn’t mention the post-anime activities this time because, at that point, it really is just like some big circlejerk or something (which is something we’re trying to make sure this blog is not). So this post will only be about anime. Here is a picture to prove it.

That said, we should probably get on to the anime. Last night we watched 5 and 6 or Ore Imo, and then Giant Robots: Moar Lazahs Gundam 00: Aliens In Mah GunDAMNs Awakening of the Trailblazer.

…Oh, yeah, the name of the post. Well, misunderstanding not only because “aliens try to understand humanity by assimilating them, and humans don’t really appreciate it” but also because of the, you know… prejudices and misconceptions associated with otakus as shown in OreImo. For instance, Ayase trying to hate Kirino because she likes anime, games, and porn–all of which apparently turn us into killers and stuff.

Awesome. Anyways, moving on!

Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai 5-6

I’m already getting tired of reviewing this show every week. Chances are you already know I like the show, and I’m not going to to deeply into anything because Gene is already doing that for me.

OreImo, though. Good show. We’re already, like, halfway through it, right? I’m interested to see how it all pans out. Ayase started pissing me off a little bit, but again Kyousuke saved the day and made himself out to be a bad guy, all for his sis. D’aww.

Episode 6 was weird in that there was almost no Kirino at all.. and everyone seemed to be excited about that. Am I the only one who doesn’t hate Kirino (yet)? It might just be a matter of time, but… ah, we’ll see. Looking forward to next week.

Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer

I admit I have a sort of fondness for Gundam. I’ve seen a couple of the series (Gundam 00 was not one of them) and I sort of grew up with them, getting action figures, building models (I still have an unfinished Perfect Grade RX-78-2 at home which I need to hurry up and finish one of these days), and playing the video games.

I’m not the only one, either. When I mentioned that we were showing Gundam 00 this week, I got both Robbie and Chris (a couple of my roommates who Gene and Chris might remember) to come down and enjoy the movie. Chris is watching the series now as I type this (he started last night, lamenting ‘Look what the anime club has done to me!’; it was pretty awesome).

Anyways, having said all that, it was pretty much a given that I would like this movie to some extent (if only I had seen Trigun, I’d probably be saying the same thing a week ago). Even not having seen Gundam 00, the story of every series is more or less the same–colonies versus Earth. The only difference, really, is the characters. In this case, I kind of wished I had seen the series first, since then I probably would have enjoyed the film on a more emotional level, watching familiar characters get blown out of the sky and whatnot… but ultimately I didn’t really need to.

Even the Innovades aren’t really new, actually, seeing that the original series had Newtypes, which basically have the same function of being the ‘next step of evolution’ for humanity.

Anyway, about the movie… it wasn’t too bad. It was definitely less interesting at moments, and I wish I knew who many of the characters were, but like Gene said, there isn’t much one needs to understand about giant robots blowing up aliens in space. Any other question can probably just be answered by “GN Particles” or “Quantum neurowaves” or whatever they were talking about.

The action–which is probably what this show was really about–was well-animated and all over the place. It was pretty awesome watching some of the Gundams pull off the tricks they had, particularly the, um… what was it? The Cherudim? I don’t know. The one with all those different rifle bits, you know. Whatever they were.

That said, it’s still very… Gundam, minus the military fiction (since now it’s about aliens, apparently). There are weaknesses inherent in being Gundam. It’s hard for me to watch it without feeling like something’s missing, like there’s something ‘dated’ about it. It misses some of the charm and interest of other modern anime; it may be just because I hadn’t seen the series, but it doesn’t seem like caring about the characters in this show is a huge issue, which is kind of a problem. I didn’t really worry when Setsuna was in bed with apparent ‘dain bramage’, and once the humans started getting completely curbstomped by the ELS, I sort of knew how it was going to end–they couldn’t win in combat, so obviously they would raise the white flag or something.

The ending was… interesting, though. I get what they were going for, and it was a little silly, but it was still kind of cool. Giant space flowers are almost as good as giant robots. It just kind of emphasizes the absurdity of aliens in the Gundam universe, though.

Still, it was exciting and explosive and I liked it, for the most part, even if it isn’t an anime masterpiece. I’ll consider trying out the series for old time’s sake, just to see how it goes, despite how much I don’t really have the space for it on my computer. Oh, the things I must watch.

Anyway, that’s it for this week. Please add to my comments with your own.