Symphonic☆Panty

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Venus Versus Virus ep. 12

(Warning: This entry contains SPOILERS
...and maybe a little confusion.)

And to think, none of this would have ever happened if someone would have just bought Lucia a pair of colored contacts..

..Or maybe not.

Read the rest!

The episode starts off exactly where the last left off, or at least as a flashback.
Nahashi is still gravely woudned from Sumire's assualt, Sumire is still immobilized in big, glowing ball that Lucef put her in, and Lucef is still a bastard.

He greets both Sumire (as Lillith) and Lucia, hoping that they too will be able to appreciate his becoming closer to the ultimate goal of creating a new world. Lucia, unfortunately for Lucef, isn't and (tearfully) lunges at him for the kill right away.

Presently, however, it's Lucia and Sumire's birthday. Lucia (who doesn't know how to put her clothes away, apparently..) is currently waking up from a dream where things were the same as always, and Sumire and co. were busy preparing for the day's party. But, of course, it's all a dream..

Back to flashback, Lucia fails in her attack on Lucef, and Lucef begins to explain to her the type of person her mother truly was -- that she would have wanted this new world, and in fact, Lucia could see her mother again there, if she wanted to...
Apparently, Lilith, who was once tormented by her peers like Lucia was as a child, also wished the world to be destroyed (just like Lucia), and offered her fragment to Lucef. When Lucia hears this, she is of course left speechless.

However, before she gives herself in to Lucef's wishes, Nahashi (what? he isn't dead yet..?) uses a spear to break off Lucia's eyepatch, and implores her to open her eyes (literally) to the truth.
..Being that although Lilith once wished that Lucef would take her fragment and destroy the world, she now knows that she must protect the world that her daughter will now grow up in. Though knowing that Lucef would still come after her regardless, she takes her own life so that he could never have her fragment.

(Is that the reason why it disintegrated, and was placed into Sumire, I wonder..? Ah, who knows..)

Now realizing this, Lucia tells Lucef she'll never believe Lucef's words about his "new world", and is at his neck again. But this is all a minor setback for Lucef. He decides to drop all charades and get down to business (disintegrating his remaining servants, Sonoka and Yoshiki, who were apparently also fragment carriers, and dolls like Ruka and Gai). Even though he couldn't win Lucia to his side, Lucef's plan is already in action -- he tells Lucia to kill Sumire. In doing so, she will obtain her fragment and be able to become the god of the new world. If she refuses to do so, Sumire will kill her, and be the one to create the new world. Either way, the two will have no choice but to fight.

Upon hearing this, however, Lucia realizes that Sumire has begun to cry (little does she know, it's probably because she just saw her boyfreind turn into a pile of soot ( ´∀`)ノ). Seeing this, it becomes apparent that Lucia could never harm Sumire...but let's see what Lucef has to say about that. He takes Sumire away, in order to condition her so she might truly finish her "awakening".

And now, we're back in the present. Lucia greets Lola, who is still with Nahashi's body and Lola hands Nahashi's birthday present to her that was mentioned in episode nine. It's an hourglass (...nice.), and seems to move Lucia enough -- we hear her call Nahashi "father" for the first time ever. She also looks at the flowers left on her dresser, which of course reminds her of Sumire. ..And the grief all becomes too much for Lucia (man, she's such a crybaby now.... ( ´･ω･) ).

Months pass, and winter has come to Japan. Due to Lucef's powers, the world has forgotten about Sumire -- not only her friends, but her very own cousins as well (Riku now longs for a date with Kyouko...and gets one! Good for him~).

All this time, however, Lucia has been training for the day she and Sumire will meet again. Lola also has been doing.. something. And while searching the cupboards for tea, Lucia finds yet another birthday present to her, from Sumire. ..Along with a letter, that reads:

But! It's no time for sentiment, Lucia! Lola senses that Lucef is on the move, and in a perfect display of recycled animation, we're finally sent back to where that scene from the first episode left us.
(Might I add that Lola's pulled out of the action early by Lyla, who reminds her that their role is to watch.. ..wait, what? Who are these people..?)

The fight between Lucia and Sumire had some surprisingly good animation in some points, which was nice to see again, but was unfortunately a little short lived. Lucia vows to this time be the one to save Sumire the same way she did for her, and takes of her eyepatch, unleashing her glowing field of destruction (only this time, in Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy mode).

Lucef attemps to guard himself from Lucia's onsluaght, that has begun to reach where he, Lola and Lyla stand.
..but he's prevented to do so by Lilith (??) and Nahashi (??!!) as ghosts (I'm grabbing my head now). It all seems to be the work of crafty ol' Lola, who thinks sitting back and watching is for squares. Her sister agrees.

And so, as Lucia's field stretches off into the distance, and Sumire charges madly at her, ready for the kill, Lucia admits something to herself, and to the audience:

"Sumire. I'm glad I met you too."

FIN

Impressions:
(on this episode)

the end.

As for the series as a whole, well, I suppose it wasn't all that bad.... ... ..was it?
On a slightly different topic, I see a lot of people complain about the show being false yuri -- I don't think that's true at all! The yuri is lukewarm at best, but it's certainly there. Granted, I'm an old fan of the subtlty of it all. All this in your face yuri is a bit of a turn-off, I think. (´ー｀)ノ

Otherwise, I guess there were a few loose ends here and there (a few...??). For one thing, I'm still a little clueless about Lola and Lyla. ...I wonder if I should go and watch those episodes of this show that I skipped...? ...Nahhh, I think I'll just wait for the manga.

Speaking of which, we'll soon be getting close to 3 months without a release date, much less the actual next volume of the manga, but on the bright side, next week there'll be another VVV drama CD. Who knows, maybe it might give us some clue as to what really happened at the end of this episode!

...Though I kinda doubt it.

Labels: Venus Versus Virus

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 ep. 6

Everytime they yell "YES!" I want to claw my eye out with a pike.
(not a pointed stick -- an actual fish)

Also, it seems I was wrong about Karen not getting along with Nozomi. They in fact seem to be getting along just fine.
Who it seems she will have a problem with is Rin, which is much more interesting, since Rin will quite equally (if not moreso) have a problem with her.

In fact, this time I'm going to guess that eventually it might lead to jealousy over the amount of attention Nozomi gave (and maybe will be giving..?) Karen. She sure seemed pretty hellbent on working with Karen over the past few episodes. ..Though that may just be because of her "Kettei!" philosophy...which is really almost as equally annoying as the "Yes" thing, now that I think about it..

..No..no, the yes thing is much more annoying..

Also, has anyone else noticed that Nozomi and co. seem to be the only ones in the world with the crayola box colored hair? The hell's up with that?

Labels: Pretty Cure

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Monday, March 12, 2007

Rocket Girls ep. 1 & 2

Yukari Morita starts her summer vacation, travels to a remote island, becomes an astronaut, and begins and ends the search for her long lost father all in 2 episodes. ..Am I sure I didn't just watch the whole series?

Read the rest!

Isao Nasuda

Needless to say, I think this show probably shouldn't be taken too seriously... but seeing as it sort of treats itself that way, it gets pretty tough sometimes.

The story revolves around Yukari Morita, a second year highschool student who attends the Neriss School for girls in Japan. ...But we'll get to her later.
SSA (Solomon Space Association) is Japan's mini answer to NASA, is located in the tropical Solomon Islands, and has been planning to send a Japanese into space for some time. ..However, due to an umpteen number of failures, the budget is worn down to nearly nothing. They are left to work with a small, weak rocket that only has power to lift a pilot under 40 kg into orbit. Of course, SSA's trained pilot(s?) are nowhere near that size (nor are they entirely willing to be sent up into that death trap), so SSA's left in a bit of a pickle.

Thankfully, at this moment Yukari just happens to be on her own little expedition to the Solomon Islands (by herself..) -- her motive being to find her father who dissappeared on the remote Axio Island during his honeymoon some 17 years ago. After getting lost and nearly killed, she meets up with a Isao Nasuda, the head honcho over at SSA, who sees Yukari as a gift from God. He offers to help find Yukari's father for her... in exchange that she help them with a little part-time job. What kind of job? Oh it's simple -- so easy, in fact, "a monkey could do it".

..And that's more or less what we get to see in episode 1. Of course, Yukari is left clueless that the "part time job" she volunteered for is actually that of a space pilot until the second episode, but she doesn't take the news too badly (noisily, on the other hand...). After all, to find her father, she'll do anything. ..At least for the summer, anyway.

Luckily, with most of the plot and setting establishment out of the way, the second episode proves to be a lot more enjoyable... especially if you're a bit of a sadist. Scene after scene is Yukari being forced into one embarassing and confusing situation after another on her first day of training, all the while demanding a proper explanation of it all (one particularly embarassing scene worth noting is when Yukari is forced to get naked in cold room in order to get fitted for her space suit. Accentuated by... an incredibly creepy doctor there for the measurements). Of course, all of this torment is still more funny than it is pitiable. ..Or at least I think it is.

The story, however, takes a few unexpected leaps forward after Yukari is shoved out a plane (still training, of course) and lands in a nearby village. She's greeted by a young, happy-go-lucky girl named Matsuri who thankfully speaks Japanese. After Yukari introduces herself, Matsuri notes that the village chief has the same last name as her. What a coincidence!

Long story short, the eccentric village chief is most certainly Yukari's father (verified by Yukari herself) and Matsuri just happens to be his daughter (and therefore, Yukari's half-sister). After a funny/serious scene that included Yukari threatening to take her father home by gunpoint, to two decide on a compromise. Yukari's father (who's name is Hiroshi, by the way) will go home with her, after Yukari goes up into space. This way, Hiroshi has time to say goodbye to his village, and Yukari won't have to ditch the job she just signed up for. So everyone's happy.

That is, if Yukari's father actually believes she'll survive the trip..

Oh and for good measure, Isao hires Matsuri (who also happens to meet the weight requirement) to be Yukari's backup pilot. Two catches in one week! What a lucky man you are, Isao!

Impressions:
Okay, disregarding how realistic it must seem to become an astronaut over summer break, this is turning out to be a pretty good show. Mostly thanks to Yukari, who kind of reminds me of Haruhi (Eri Sendai and Aya Hirano's voices sound similar to me..). This makes the times when things don't exactly go her way all the more enjoyable. Matsuri is good for a token feral girl-character, and has been proven useful (in ep 3) to give way to some surprise yuri (incest..??) moments between her and Yukari. Also, the third astronaut, Akane Miura, hasn't been seen since the first few minutes of the first episode, and I have no idea how or when she'll come into the story. ...But I do hope it'll be soon. She's so cute I fear she may already be my favorite.

Unfortunately, despite all that's going for it, it looks as if this show probably won't get much attention. Seeing as unlike other two mid-season shows (Pretty Cure 5, and Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny) it's not a part of a huge, long-running series with established popularity (former), nor is it a 24-minute panty shot (latter).

Either way, if you're into watching raws, give this show a shot. But I hope it gets subbed sometime, however... granted, with some 40 new shows coming with the Spring season, subbers might become too busy, and this show might be doomed to be overlooked... TT^TT

...Well, at least there'll be more people to sub Idolmaster! （ * °∀°）b
(seriously, even I'm gonna be all over that show.)

Labels: Misc

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