Incubeartor
Summary:
Mariya exhorts Kanako to live up to the academic legacies of her teacher father, CalTech elder sister and prestigious middle school-attending younger sister but the latter ends up leering at the Archery club girls before being caught by the Dorm Mistress and is put into a special place, where time flows differently, to concentrate on her studies. Released after a year has passed for Kanako (but just a week for everyone else), she is surprised by some of the changes. Ryuken has a new piled-up hairdo while her desk has been decorated, by Ayari, in rhinestones and other gaudy baubles.
Honoka appears with the two Ryuken Defence Force flunkies and proceeds to give Kanako a makeover but her touch, and Kanako’s imagination, causes an epic geyser of a nosebleed. Kanako somehow manages to complete her makeup exams but returns to the dorm to learn that a contemporary Japanese history-based card game tournament starts tomorrow; it’s compulsory and the lowest scoring student will have to watch all 165 episodes (45 DVDs, 4,370 minutes) of the Legend of the Japanese Heroes boxset without a break and without blinking but it’s already too late for her to acquire her own set of cards.
Reaction:
My face when I see yuri goodness
This week we learned more about Kanako’s family; I was LOL when she always thought that her elder sister was an idiot because Kanako couldn’t understand all the physics terms she was using but I suppose mostly it was due to how her elder sister couldn’t stop talking about guys. I wonder if Kanako has ever tried to lead her younger sister down the Righteous Path of Yuri though. There was some surprisingly touching talk about how Mariya and her “elder brother” at Mihoshi no Mori (which Ame no Kisaki is the sister school of) were a talented imouto-oniisama archer pair. I was also surprised to hear “Dear Mother In Heaven” soliloquy from Mariya where he sounded vulnerable for once.
Kanako’s delusions about Yuzuru being attacked and attacking Satsuki-senpai were actually not totally implausible – to me at least. Speaking of Yuzuru, I was also surprised how she had only picked up archery in high school (but had been trained in rifle, bowgun and Western archery) even though her name comes from the words for bow (yumi) and string (tsuru). I definitely want to see more Mariya fangirling and Satsuki-senpai sexual harassment by newcomer Komachi Yamaki (voiced by Chiaki Omigawa).
Great surprise reference to Legend of the Galactic Heroes – it’s certainly long but it’s not that hard to marathon given how it’s got a compelling story, great cast and not a single filler episode. Not so keen on the new OP though – the song featured some nice contrasts between Mariya’s angelic and demonic sides but the predominance of re-used footage from the first season was a disappointment. Needs more Mecha Matsurika!
This post was written by...
Zyl – who has written 233 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
I have a penchant for Bishoujo, Oneesama and Yuri character dynamics. Genre-wise I enjoy drama and satire; tilt-wise I am terribly weak against self-consciously arty farty styles and reference humour. Sieg Lunamaria!
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this ep was great cause it had more mariya. and matsurika.
we need more fangirls.
Matsurika is great when she can’t be bothered. But also when she’s full of menace e.g. her Dark Face when Mariya was chatting to her club mate after archery about siblings. I do miss her insults of Mariya though.
LOL The reference to Legend of Galactic Heroes was an unexpected surprise. One of those series that I have no problem marathoning, except for the fact that going through the whole series nonstop would literally take days, if one includes the movies and prequel series.
Still haven’t seen the movies and prequels yet. OTL
The prequels (particularly Spiral Labyrinth) aren’t a required watch, but the movies ARE (well, the pilot movie less so, as the first few episodes are much better really).
One more reason not to watch this show!
I kid, I kid. Mostly.
I really really hated her performance as Mitsuba in SYD. Unfortunately it was also the first time I ever heard her so it left a really bad impression.
Her work as Minko (esp her ‘baka’ in Ep 06) has been so much better. P-ko in Arakawa was ok and she was actually quite good as weak and weepy ‘My Curry is Full of Carrots’ Nazuna in Hidamari Hoshimitsu.
Her Nazuna was fantastic, she needs to be cast in more roles like that. Minchi is pretty good, I’ll chock it up to a good voice director though. The guy in charge for Hanasaku is a pretty big name in business, and he’s been getting some great performances out of the entire cast. Note the brilliant casting against type for both Toyosaki and Noto.
That’s Jin Aketagawa, right?
Casting against type for Toyosaki, Noto and Omigawa has been excellent while Kanae Itou is cast exactly as typed but also great since she hasn’t had a meaty lead role like this for a while.
The LotGH reference made me giggle some. Unfortunately, that was about the only thing that did. This episode suffered in comparison with prior ones, since it focused a little less on Matsurika and Mariya and more on the girls that no one cares about. The two still had plenty of time to shine, and I enjoyed it, but their presence in an episode generally dictates its quality.
This episode was certainly less funny than previous, especially the first two, episodes. Hopefully the character development, wrt Mariya, is building up to something other than just gag humour.
So it’s true that Kanako can be replaced with a teddy bear!
Pretty much, ja.
It’s not that I don’t like Kanako, she just doesn’t have too many surprises up her sleeve to keep her interesting.
I was more pleased with the new details we get on Kanako’s background. I thought her father was only a teacher, but he’s actually well known. I guess Mariya IMMHO gave her rosary to Kanako to get more connections. Be friends with the daugther/sister of well known people. But with the sudden Dear Mother In Heaven” soliloquy from Mariya (it doesn’t seem like
herhis mom past away yet, and come just be an old fashion letter) but I’m still confused why they would put the similarity in there.Oh man please don’t tell me they’re related!!!
PS I enjoyed Chiaki OMIGAWA voice acting since I first heard her in Natsu no Arashi as Jun-kun. Nazuna is my favorite out of all of them. I haven’t watched Seitokai Yakuindomo Orz!!! Its too hard, I enjoy the 4 koma but the first episode was too long for me to bear!!!!! ORZ
I get the feeling that Mariya’s mom has indeed passed away but that Mariya was closer to his grandmother who has also passed away – thus the significance of the rosary. Which they haven’t touched on again. Grrrr…
Haven’t seen Natsu no Arashi as I’ve got a blockade on everything by Jin Kobayashi for the same reasons as Kabitzin.
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