Freestyling about Free! – Lap 1

I have never loved swimming.

Colloquium: Shin Sekai Yori Episode 8

“Hey…is it fun?

Being alone and chasing after Maria?

Is it fun?”

-Saki Watanabe to Mamoru Itou, Shin Sekai Yori Episode Eight

Colloquium: Little Busters! Episode 6

“If the world is full of things we never wanted to know, is our only option to look the other way?”

ajthefourth: A sneaking suspicion has been building for some time that not all is right with the Little Busters! universe. Well beyond the fact that Komari was allowed to grow up without understanding death – something that anyone who could pass for a parent would explain to their child at a very young age – it wafts through every interaction like a bad stench. Something stinks in Little Busters!.

Colloquium: Little Busters! Episodes Four and Five

She whose smile is, apparently, like the sun.

otou-san: I feel like I really denied everyone the opportunity to witness me foaming at the mouth when it comes to last week’s Literary Bus (awful twitter joke ahoy). But as AJ4 mentioned last time, it turns out I do value the arrival of my firstborn slightly more than Key-shaming. Thanks to our guest Myst for holding down the fort.

As the cast of Little Busters! builds, so does my irritation. The arrival of new characters is always welcome in a harem setup, and an element of contrivance is to be expected just to make it happen. But honestly, I don’t think it’d be that difficult to pump a cast full of girls without resorting to “awful ojousama character just appears and forces herself upon Riki and the Busters while laughing.”

Colloquium: Shin Sekai Yori Episode 6

vucubcaquix: There’s a thematic contradiction brewing in Shin Sekai Yori. Last week we teased out how the show means to comment on the nature of conflict in humanity, and of burgeoning sexuality, through allusions and comparisons to dystopian literature and Buddhist dogma. The opening moments of the first episode showed a nameless child with psychokinetic (PK) powers lashing out violently and indiscriminately; the ensuing episodes seemed to reinforce the commentary that this type of power is corrupting. But whether its influence damns humanity into violence, or humanity as a whole is unworthy of this power to begin with remains to be seen. Either scenario is like some take on original sin, but with a different inherent perspective/locus on the Fall of Man.

Colloquium: Little Busters! Episode 3

“When I’m with my friends, it feels like I really belong.”

ajthefourth: First, a housekeeping announcement. Otou-san will not be here this week due to the fact that he has become a real-life dad, as opposed to a figurative one to all of us in the anime blogging community. He will be back in due time. What this means for this week is decidedly less vitriol, unfortunately, and a mystery guest that I dragged in here, kicking and screaming, who will be introduced in a few moments.

Battle START!

*Myst catches a rubber ducky* “What am I supposed to do with this!?”

*AJ catches a longsword* “Where did this come from? Ah well, let’s go with it.”

Colloquium: Little Busters! Episode 2

“Let’s yakyuu!”

ajthefourth: As mentioned last week, Little Busters introduces a different set-up scenario than previously-adapted Key works by having a main group of five pre-established friends. What this means for our hero, Riki Naoe, is that he’s not isolated due to a recent relocation (Yukito, Air, Yuichi, Kanon) or lacks friends due to his perceived delinquency (Tomoya, Clannad), which already makes him very different from his predecessors. What this means for our story is that there are existing relationships to build upon, ones that will contrast with the developing relationships that Riki is sure to establish with the to-be future haremettes, or baseball team members.

However, the most interesting study in Little Busters, both from a literal and construction standpoint, is the character of Rin Natsume. The fact that she has been included as a “member” from the get-go makes her unique, simply because of her gender. This is no watery childhood friendship, a promise to be lost to memory and the whispering wind, Rin is already well within Riki’s radar because she’s already his actual friend.

Colloquium: Little Busters! Episode 1

“We vanquish evil and deliver justice! They call us, ‘Little Busters!'”

-Kyousuke Natsume, Little Busters Episode One

With Inferior Tactics! Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere Episode Nine

Wait, I was promised a baseball episode!

When choosing to wax lyrical on one episode, and only one episode of anime alone, usually the writer has an idea in mind. A concept. A plan. Often, they will have watched the rest of the series up until that point, and help you along in your understanding of said episode, and the series’s overarching narrative. This is not one of those times, for I have only seen one episode: this episode. Episode Nine of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere.

If you were led here with promises of hilarity, I am so sorry.

Horizon on the Middle of Something Big

And just like that, in walked trouble. “Vuc, I need a favor.”

Day is not the type of dame one can refuse so easily. She’s more of a self-contained force of nature barreling down wherever she pleases. Knowing this, I set my rather significant textbook down and try to proceed as cautiously as possible. “I don’t know if I can help you, but I can sure listen to you.”

“Something’s happening. I can’t go into details, but I need you to tail someone for me.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“The thing is, I came across a tidbit and I need you to help me out. I had a few others on this, but honestly they weren’t able to make any sense out of it. You see this girl, Horizon? She’s in the middle of something big.”