Weekly Digest: 7/13/12 – Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, Accel World

July 14, 2012Guardian EnzoUncategorizedAccel World, Anime, Digests, Koichoco, reviews

[SubDESU] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 02 (720x400 XviD MP3) [C31328A2].avi_snapshot_03.07_[2012.07.13_21.52.20]

[Hadena] Accel World - 14 [720p][7F3D3E2B].mkv_snapshot_18.22_[2012.07.13_21.22.36]

I’m surprised to hear myself say this, but by the end of this episode of Koichoco I found I was rather enjoying it.

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate – 02

Let’s have no illusions, this is pretty formulaic stuff – though by their very nature VNs are formulaic, so that’s no condemnation. I can’t really quantify what it is about this show I like – in addition to the familiarity it’s also nothing special visually, and the cast is trying a little too hard to really sound natural. Yet like it I do – sort of, anyway. If anything I guess it’s the fact that there are some genuinely weird things going on, like the visions Oojima has in the premiere and pretty much everything about Yume (it’s always great to have Ogata Megumi – who gave arguably the most important performance in seiyuu history – in a major role again, though I haven’t figured out if her performance here is genius or terrible).

The anime has also done a good job of teasing some mysteries so that I’m actually curious about them, like Chisato’s aversion to chocolate. And I see reason to at least be hopeful that the show is going to make a fairly in-depth exploration of student politics, with the added element of the spy novel stuff hovering the background. What Koichoco hasn’t done – and what Mashifony did almost from the start – is give us an indication that the characters were really outside the mold, and that something original was going on there. The anime seems to be pushing the Chisato route pretty hard right out of the gate, though Shinonome seems like the most interesting girl to me. So far the character side of this isn’t doing much for me, but there’s enough in the plot and overall tone to keep me around for at least a little while longer.

Accel World – 14

It’s a new cour, and with it a new OP and ED – both pleasant enough but nothing special, though the ED animation is pretty funny and somewhat intriguing.

I continue to see Haru-Chiyu flags everywhere, though I know it can never be. Her “cooking for my future husband line” – quite non-specific – and the fact that Haru was the first to see her naked – though I suppose it’s all a tease on the writer’s part. That peepshow was courtesy of our new friend Noumi, the boy who causes AW fans everywhere to rage to the point of catatonia. I don’t quite see it, myself – yeah he’s a snarky and cocky SOB, but aren’t our villains supposed to be people we love to hate? I’m not expecting all that much subtlety in terms of the good guys and bad guys in this series, to be honest, so I’m perfectly happy with a theatrical baddie to spice things up a bit – if he were a few years older, I would practically expect Noumi-kun to twirl a mustache.

He has a certain sense of style, too – the locker room switch was pretty clever, and Noumi certainly seems to be a couple of steps ahead of Haru and Taku in the mental department without needing to use his “Physical Burst” command. Three seconds for five points? I guess that’s an OK deal – but I can understand why he wants to blackmail Haru into being his personal burst points bank, because if he’s using physical burst for practice kendo matches all those five-pointers will add up.

Seems to be that the purpose of this arc is to give Haru and Taku – even Chiyu – an enemy they can do battle with while Kuroyukihime is in Okinawa taking movies of her Chanpuru, and one that won’t have them biting off more than they can chew. Thus I don’t expect him to approach anything above mid-boss levels, and in any case I think I can already see the seeds of his eventual downfall – his adolescent hormones, as he seems to have a thing for Chiyu.

Guardian Enzo

15 comments

A

Anonymous
July 14, 2012 at 5:14 am
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I see you can handle your poison. I'll wait for UTW.
b

belatkuro
July 14, 2012 at 5:29 am
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Satsuki is definitely my favorite girl for this show. Looks like Morishima Haruka and with Hibiki's VA, Asakawa Yuu. Win.
That last part with Chisato is definitely something. It's an okay episode, though the yaoi guy is starting to annoy me.

As for Noumi, I'd rather not repeat myself as you already know what my reaction is to him. I'm just gonna mention that the content of the new OP really makes me excited for the future episodes. Next episode will be a mixed bag according to the preview, with that rock formation and Ash Roller, and the conclusion of that fight which will be surprising.
H

Highway
July 14, 2012 at 5:32 am
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I enjoyed KoiChoco episode 2 quite a bit more than episode one, even though it didn't let up with the introduction of new characters. I agree that Satsuki really seems like an interesting character, and a lot of the one-dimensionality I feared they'd stick her with based on the first episode is gone, since they made her an actual person, not just the person who callously wants to get rid of their club.

I actually like that they're keeping the options open, unlike Mashiroiro Symphony, which I felt focused too much on one girl at a time, for multiple episodes. I thought they gave enough time to Satsuki, Chisato, and Isara in this episode to keep them all viable. I also was intrigued more to find out Chisato's story. What's with that ritual? And I am very interested to find out more about Michiru.

This episode made a lot of progress in turning around my initial feeling about the show that it was too many people introduced too soon. I still think the entirety of the Food Club is a bit much, but overall not bad. The only thing I'm not sure I'll like is all this scandal stuff, which seems a bit forced.
I

Ishruns
July 14, 2012 at 6:03 am
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Dropped Koi to Senkyo, had enough on my plate without it and I doubt I'll be missing anything good enough to pick it back up. The orange-green haired one seems to enjoy straddling and being groped by the guy who doesn't want to (I take my leave now). Typical Tsundere, typical ending girl, too typical for me. I think Mashiro was the last eroge anime I completed since I watched Utawarerumono a year ago.

For me this was the worst episode of Accel World since Taku's fight with Haruyuki. It was a stupid bit of fanservice caused by the neurolinker-eye hacking thing (which if it had existed prior to this would have been misused to the limit by anyone in the world, so an anti-virus for it should have existed in a well thought out world).

It's also no coincidence that the first episode without any Scarlet Rain, battles and hardly any Kuroyukihime with added Chiyu is the worst for me. Why would she press her body against his in the shower. If you want to hide him wouldn't it be better to be closer to the door so that their vision is obscured more (farther object looks smaller than a closer one). I truly wish for Chiyu to be the first major death (real death), hopefully next episode. Also I think Kaji Yuki has told Sunrise what a great success GC was and that AW would be better with a bit more ridiculousness, sexual abuse, random fanservice, stupidity and convoluted characters (Noumi).

Bet a tenner that SAO is better today.
t

tokwa
July 14, 2012 at 6:23 am
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Koichoco episode 2 is okay, I guess? I agree with the comment above me that Mashiroiro does feature many girls at the same time. For example, why did protag suddenly got attracted to the purple haired one? That is the reason it became a soo generic looking. The only unique about that show is the troll ending and the very likeable protag. As for koichoco, the show does not feature the girls one by one but as a whole.

It seems that the show has an a-plot(concerning about the protags election) and a b-plot(the misadventures of the club) then combining it and also the awkward drama in the end. It does manage to remove some cliches(e.g. the boob groping) although not all of them(bicycle crash)… But what really makes the series unique is that for some reason there is NO TSUNDERE. All in all, it's trying to be unique but it can't. Unlike some series out there(Who is imouto?).

Lastly, is it me or the protags this season seems to be not so generic? Koichoco has a unique personality, Who is imouto is kinda a swag and Estetica is pretty darn badass.
s

sikvod00
July 14, 2012 at 7:38 am
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I fail to see how it was so out of the blue for the MC in Mashifony to fall for the purple-haired girl (totally forgot all their names!). Sure, she wasn't the one I was rooting for, but it certainly wasn't a "troll"–there was ample evidence in previous episodes that they were attracted to each other and it was blossoming into romance.
s

sikvod00
July 14, 2012 at 7:44 am
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Regarding KoiChoco, I find the idea of him running for Student Council President so that their useless club won't get disbanded utterly lame. They even admit in the episode (twice) that using student funds to do nothing more than laze around and eat snacks is reprehensible. That part of the show irks me off the most for some reason… =/
g

grm_rules
July 14, 2012 at 11:21 am
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I feel like that too, but thats exactly one of the things I find interesting. I mean, how will they convince the other students? How will their campaign be like with such a lame objective?
Such things are making me curious. And for sure they'll learn something with all this and so their club/all clubs will change in some way, what will that be could also be fun to watch.
t

tokwa
July 14, 2012 at 11:44 am
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It's not that I root for the twin-tailed tsundere one, I mean giving her a character development for 8 episodes then just abandoning it is not a very nice thing to do to the viewers. I know probably they intended to do that since the beginning, but you could only do that in a 2 cour show. That's why it became like Amagami in the last 3 episodes.

Couldn't agree more about koichoco. Sure, the premise is kinda lame but according to the VN that's not the reason why protag wants to run for president. So, yeah…
B

Beckett
July 14, 2012 at 8:07 am
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I'm going to go ahead and declare my support for Satsuki to be the winning girl in KoiChoco at this time. Based on the character interactions of this episode I felt she had by far the most natural compatibility with the male lead.
d

doodle god
July 14, 2012 at 8:58 am
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GE, what is this "arguably the most important performance in seiyuu history" by Ogata Megumi???

I'm going to… take a stab in the dark and guess that it's… Kurama from YuYu Hakusho!!! That's right, I go way way back! ha! Seriously I still can't believe that was a dude! All my childhood I thought he was a girl~~! You can only imagine my surprise a couple years ago while reading a wikipedia page. I'd have totally dropped my fork had I been holding one. That's how surprised I was. I still can't believe it to this day!! Look at his photo and tell me that's a boy~! (Thanks for totally ruining my mild childhood crush, Japanese anime!) Nowadays I look back at YuYu Hakusho with a whole different view as it's 4 boys show instead of 3 boy+ 1 girl show.

eh, what, GE, it's not that? hmm then surely you meant Sailor Uranus!! There! I covered all bases now. well, except for the one character which shall not be named! uhuhuhu
d

dv
July 14, 2012 at 9:20 am
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Digest form? Has these shows dropped to a certain level? Even AGE is not longer in digest form!

If the reason she cant even chocolate is just that she is allergic to it… it would be certainly disappointing. Could be used as a plot device to poison the girl but still I hope the reason is something more.

Talking about a sudden switch of female lead, i think the most sudden is still Akane-Iro. With Shuffle not far behind.
b

belatkuro
July 14, 2012 at 10:06 am
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I think it's because Enzo doesn't have any show to partner with AGE in a digest form in those days. Yet.
He found one now for AW and will likely find one for AGE.
admin
July 14, 2012 at 4:16 pm
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^^^^

I'm open to doing single posts for AW if the ep is outstanding. This was actually pretty close to my normal post length anyway – in fact, I've done digests for AW several times.
n

noodles
March 29, 2014 at 6:33 am
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oh mannnn. Having watched SAO a year ago and now finally watching Acce world.. I find the comments about SAO being better to be hilarious. I found AW way better SAO for now but that might change as I continue to marathon the show.

Weekly Digest: 7/13/12 – Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, Accel World

Guardian Enzo

15 comments

Anonymous

belatkuro

Highway

Ishruns

tokwa

sikvod00

sikvod00

grm_rules

tokwa

Beckett

doodle god

dv

belatkuro

admin

noodles

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Guardian Enzo

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15 comments

Anonymous

belatkuro

Highway

Ishruns

tokwa

sikvod00

sikvod00

grm_rules

tokwa

Beckett

doodle god

dv

belatkuro

admin

noodles

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