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I’ll come out in say it–the second season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu isn’t that great. Well, half of it is great. The other half isn’t so much.

The good half is the part that plays on the strengths of season 1–that being the romance between Yuuto and Haruka. To make it even sweeter they layer on an extra level of fanservice, which I don’t disapprove of. However, the reused trope of them constantly ALMOST-BUT-NOT kissing does get old after a while. I know it’s crazy talk to expect progress from shounen romance, but c’mon. I guess they did kind of almost maybe have sex, that part was hot.

The other half is either the show focusing on Yuuto’s other haremettes, or some crazy drama. I don’t mind the focus on the other girls–especially if they are of the lolita variety–but at times I wondered if there was a point to an episode focused entirely on Shiina. And even though I did enjoy episodes which focused on the lolita portion of the cast, I’m watching this show because I want to see Yuuto and hot-otaku-girlfriend Haruka GET IT ON. I can read Kojika if I want to partake of little girls being naughty.

Oh yeah, and they’d do well to not forget the otaku angle. Just sayin’.

This isn’t anything I haven’t said before, I just kind of want to summarize what’s been floating around in my head as of late. The bottom line is: Season 2 focused on things it didn’t need to focus on poorly, and didn’t focus on what it needed to long enough.

I’d like a season three, but only as a way for the staff to atone for their sins. If not, I’ll just stick to looking at this hot artwork, and re-watching season 1.

(Ok, I’m a sucker, I’ll probably watch season 2 again if I ever get around to re-watching the series.)

Some weird things have happened to the sequels for both Natsu no Arashi and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. It’s almost as if they’re… not as good. Which is strange, since I’d say they both started off one-upping their originals. What happened!? I hate writing negatively about things so often, but this shit needs to be said.

Let’s start with Nogizaka Haruka. The first series was a nice and cute romance that hit some good buttons for me, and I came out thoroughly enjoying it. The main attraction of the first series was the titular Haruka herself–she’s simply an adorable girl who happens to like the crazy anime junk I do, which obviously makes her attractive to dudes like me. This new series started off pretty well, and raised the bar even higher with delicious amounts of fanservice, but around half-way through they totally forgot why their limited audience was even watching this show–that being, Haruka herself. I already addressed the show succumbing to harem tradition, and while I like the others girls well enough, they’re sidekicks. Second bananas. The diverted attention towards the other characters (especially Shiina, dear god) did knock the show down a bit, what’s really killing it is their attempt as a season finale.

The last season ended with some average-level drama that was all fun and good, and I felt ended the series well. There’s a very specific problem with how they’re doing that this time around, and it’s a complaint I have with the series as a whole, that being: Where the fuck is Haruka? I would think the people behind this TV show know that their audience is limited (The main girl isn’t some tsundere, there’s an actual romance between two people and not ten.) and they would know why they’re watching the show. If so, why divert attention from it? That’s not what people want. Honestly, I’d have no problem with this current arc if Haruka had more than five minutes of dialogue.

Next is Natsu no Arashi. The first series was a fun-but-not-perfect show that had some inspired drama and some good jokes, topped off by a tame-but-interesting SHAFTXSHINBO touch. This second season opened nicely with a bunch of fun time-traveling vignettes, but after a while they grew a little stale. At around that point they decided to switch to some drama again, and while I welcome said drama, how it comes about and how it’s resolved just doesn’t really move me. I wanted them to at some point address Hajime’s affection for Arashi seriously, but how it’s addressed and how it’s resolved is almost good, but not quite there.

A similar thing could be said of the production of the show itself. It seems SHAFT isn’t really giving it their all. It’s not like the animation is bad or anything, there’s just a lack of heart, I think. Kind of like Maria Holic–the “SHAFT Look” is there, but it’s merely cosmetic. It doesn’t seem like there’s much else to it.

As far as the story portion of both of these shows go (and this applies more to Haruka than it does Arashi) the blame can probably be left in the hands of the original authors, but as far as Natsu no Arashi’s direction goes, well, I really expect more out of SHAFTXSHINBO.

Hopefully this blog will become less of a Debbie Downer in a bit. Hopefully.

Speaking of Haruka and her secret, there have been some people (read: two) who have noticed that the second season of one of my favourite shows from last year is no longer about her secret. They also put forth that this is detrimental to the show. I will admit that the staff has kind of forgotten about Haruka’s secret after about an episode or two, but I’ve been enjoying the other episodes just as much, specifically episodes four and six. I think instead of referential fanservice, they staff is going more for overt “oh my god, Haruka fell on Yuuto in her underwear” fanservice, which is 100% fine by me.

If anything, though, I do think the show is falling into some patterns that I don’t quite like. These things were always present in the show, but they never bothered me. For example, in this current season, whenever Mika and her group of misfits wants to cause trouble, there’s always some outside force preventing them from doing so. Similarly, Haruka and Yuuto’s relationship is progressing at a pace of one step forward, two steps back. Like I said, things like this were present in the first season to some degree, but now they’re getting a bit tired, so I hope they spice things up a bit in further episodes.

What I liked about season one was that while Yuuto clearly had  harem, the relationship between Haruka and him was more or less set in stone, and it was the focus of the show. As such, it was less of a harem show and more of a cute light romance, a genre which is–quite frankly–of short supply these days. The second season is falling back more on harem tradition, especially in the way it gives certain characters glamour episodes allowing them to activate flags with Yuuto. While this doesn’t bother me too much either (I did enjoy the episodes focusing on Tsundere-chan and Alice) it is distracting when Yuuto and Haruka are already a couple. The focus on Shiina is especially laughable, since I’m pretty sure they wrote her off as a  love interest a few episodes ago. I mean, she is kind of cute, but doesn’t hold a candle to Haruka.

I do however think that the show’s highs make up for the lows, even if the highs are simple things like Haruka being naked or in cute outfits more often, but the writers should really bring the otaku angle back for a more balanced viewing experience. Yes, I like seeing Haruka’s nipples poking through a Santa outfit. That’s hot. But I also like seeing Haruka getting excited over whatever random anime she’s watching. I also enjoy focus on loli characters like Alice and Mika but… Actually, they can keep focusing on Mika for as long as they want, she’s my second favourite character.

But anyway, balance. That’s what it’s all about. I think this new season has lost the balance that made season one successful in my eyes. Maybe they should fall back on novel material for a change. I want to see Haruka and Yuuto in London!

There was other media represented in the book, but I didn’t care about any of them except for Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. And I guess Railgun.

I paid 60 bucks for this, and considering I got a nice dakimakura cover out of it, I think it was a good deal. Would have rather had paid 2000 yen at Mandarake or something though.

Yeesh, just when this blog was getting classy with reviews of obscure manga shorts and interviews with cool people, I throw it all away. Now Matt Alt won’t ever want to link to the interview.

I’m sure someone has done this already, but whatevs.

I kind of like the show’s new opening, but it lacks a certain something compared to the original. I guess this sequence makes up for all that, though.

Nyankoi

Even though Nyankoi suffers a bit from a slow setup episode, the following installment proves that it has the right stuff to be an amusing–and somewhat heartwarming–series. While the setup isn’t unique, the gimmick is. Though, for talking cats they could stand to aim a bit higher. The animation is nice so far, and I enjoy the character interaction. If it can keep up the quality, it may end up being a nice little series.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza

The sequels really make it difficult to say much about them, especially when what they deliver is more or less the same as what came before. Which is good, mind you. Much like Natsu No Arashi and Sunred, Haruka delivers more of what it did well in its first season; a romanticized, fantastic, hearts and rainbows love story between a normal dude and his adorable otaku girlfriend. And this season seems to be piling on the fanservice (of the エロい variety) a bit more, which makes it all the more sweeter.

Anime like this is basically my comfort food, so I can’t say anything bad about it.

Seitokai no Ichizon

In theory I should like this show,  but in practice it’s an utter failure. While I do think the characters and their outfits are extremely cute, they’re rendered through Studio Deen’s bland colour work and limited-in-a-bad-way animation. (SHAFT shows are limited-in-a-good-way.) It also doesn’t help when the best part of the show is the part where they’re talking about how lame they are, and the rest is filled with not very clever or well delivered references to anime that’ll be old in a year. It shoots for the heights reached by the first season of Hayate to Gotoku and Pani Poni Dash! but falls flat on its face. I’ve seen two episodes, and if its third doesn’t move me, it’s getting the axe.

However, if there are doujin, I will fap to them.

I know THE FIRST THING that’s coming to your mind is, “But wah, you already own that Kaede figure.” And to this quite understandable query, I will reply with this–that Kaede figure was the first PVC I ever got, and as such I didn’t know how to take care of it, so I left it in the sun for an extended period of time, and it got bent up. I tried to fix it up, but my mortal hands can only do so much. I saw the same figure in Mandarake for 1200 yen, so I figured I may as well buy it.

With that matter taken care of, I bet you are now wondering, “But wah, you don’t like Rei! Why do you have a figure of her in a bikini?” Well, see, my friend found that figure on the street. Literally. Standing straight up on the street, right out side of club Sega. I offered him 1000 yen for it.

Her tummy is soft!

Original Post

I’m not really sure how much humour one can spin from some poor sap coming to the realization that he is in fact trying to explain the existence of Tentai Senshi Sunred porn. But I tried, and here’s the resulting comic. And, just so you know, Tentai Senshi Sunred porn does exist. It does. It does. Sometimes it crosses over with Jigoku Shoujo for some weird reason.

Speaking of doujinshi, the Nogizaka Haruka doujinshi I spoke about a while ago is finished and ready to be sold. All you have to do is drop me an email at wildarmsheero(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject “Doujinshi Pre-order.” You don’t have to divulge any personal information or give any money yet; I just need a number of people who are interested. I will then give this number to the guy printing the things, then you can buy them. So, it’d be nice if you didn’t change your mind at the last minute. It’s only $3, so you can’t really go wrong. That’s the price without shipping mind you, but the shipping shouldn’t be too much. We’re only shipping within the continental US, by the way, and maybe Canada. No international orders just now. Anyway, here’s the front cover, back cover, and a sample page. The book is around ten pages including covers, is non-ero, and fairly comedic. If you like the comic’s brand of humour, you’ll like this too.

In another bit of site related news, my 2008 anime retrospective is done. I think it’s a fairly decent rundown of things if you share my tastes in shows, so give it a read when you have some time.

Aaaand that’s all for this week. Fairly short rant, but not much has changed between this week and last week. I have a six episode backlog that developed over the course of the night, so I’m going to start working on that.

Provided that you are not jaded as all hell, every year it is not usual to come out with a select few shows you absolutely love, and would most certainly watch again. These are special shows. Shows that you look forward to each week. Shows that touch your heart. Shows that do nothing but fill you with joy. Here’s the shows that did that for me in 2008.

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I have no idea how these came out so well.

Shingo may be lost in the wild, exotic and dangerous lands of World of Warcraft, but that doesn’t mean the fine art of reviewing anime, manga and game figures is dead! Far from it! With him eternally lost in a land of wonder, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers must stand and pick up the slack. As such, I have four great reviews right here, coming towards you at the speed of a Rocket Punch!

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This is an issue of Megami Creators, also acquired from when I raided Seiya’s house. This issue features the work of Shaa–you know, the Nogizaka Haruka artist—and on the cover it reads “Shaa ga kuru.” Those in know will recognize that this is also the name of Char Aznable’s theme song. しゃあ and シャアsound exactly the same, just in hiragana it’s the Nogizaka Haruka artist, and in katakana it refers to The Red Comet.

Man, my Japanese professor sure would be proud!

I think I told you guys I’m doing a comic project for a friend of mine. I’m not sure if I mentioned that it’s a Nogizaka Haruka doujin, but it is. Here’s the penultimate panel. I wrote 目が!! next to Yuuto’s face because he reminded me of the guy from Laputa, a movie I really should see, but only because Nico Nico Douga loves it so much.

I just got the main sketches finished. Next thing to do is to go back through and fix all the dumb looking panels, of which there are six or seven of. I don’t want any QUALITY in a project I’m getting paid for. Made that mistake with Otaku USA! The last panel in the entire comic looks really bad, because at that point I was just sick of drawing and just wanted to be done, so that’ll need some real fixing up. It probably needs a background, too.

After I’m done with that, it should be smooth sailing. Cleaning the lineart won’t be hard, since that’s just tracing over the sketches on the lightbox, then I have to add some shades and stuff, which should take a good week if I’m focused. When that’s all done, all I have to do is make cool back and front covers, then print the sucker off and mail it.

Download

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Omo, a drunk Jeff Lawson and myself sit down and talk about Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu for about an hour. We probably go way deeper than we need to about a show like this, but whatever!

Also note how I only begin to say things of merit once we start talking about fanservice.

Guests

• Jeff Lawson
  
• Omo

Songs

• Opening Song– “Tokimeki Fortissimo” by Miyu Matsuki
• Ending Song– “Muteki no LOVE & PEACE!” by N’s