Weekly Digest: 7/20/12 – Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, Accel World

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[Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_21.31_[2012.07.20_21.23.41] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_07.30_[2012.07.20_22.16.50]

Anime crying, boy…  If you’re going there, you better have earned it.

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate – 03

[Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_02.58_[2012.07.20_21.05.08] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_05.17_[2012.07.20_21.07.27] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_09.13_[2012.07.20_21.11.23]
[Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_09.30_[2012.07.20_21.11.40] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_11.10_[2012.07.20_21.13.20] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_12.37_[2012.07.20_21.14.48]
[Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_13.10_[2012.07.20_21.15.20] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_14.21_[2012.07.20_21.16.31] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_14.49_[2012.07.20_21.16.59]
[Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_16.57_[2012.07.20_21.19.07] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_17.44_[2012.07.20_21.19.54] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_17.47_[2012.07.20_21.19.57]
[Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_18.43_[2012.07.20_21.20.54] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_20.24_[2012.07.20_21.22.34] [Pomf] Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - 03 [21F853B1].mkv_snapshot_22.01_[2012.07.20_21.24.12]

It would be hard to get any closer to the edge for me with Koichoco in terms of blogging.   It’s just barely interesting enough to keep going for the moment, and Fridays are a pretty slow day for the most part.  But it’s a near thing, and if next week’s ep doesn’t do a bit to raise the bar for me, it might slip back to “watching” status.

So why, then, is this formula VN adaptation interesting enough to consider blogging?  If I had to pin it down, the number one factor is that it manages to do one or two things every episode that completely surprise me – and do so more or less in context rather than just pulling something random out of its ass.  That makes me interested to see what it comes up with next week, which is a good talent for a show to have.  A good example this week was the scene between Yuuichi and Hazuki-sensei.  To say it came out of left field is accurate, but no more so than propellers and masks that only the male lead can see.  Koichoco doesn’t bother explaining any of this sort of thing yet, which seems like a good practice.  I knew Hazuki was Shinonome-san’s sister, but there’s obviously a backstory with Yuuichi – making her dinner and then burying his head between her breasts?  Let’s put it this way – I sure hope there’s a backstory.

I’m a political junkie so the “Election” wing of the story is interesting too, with the dynamics of the various power groups in the school slowly being revealed.  It makes perfect sense for the outgoing President and the Public Safety Commission to back Yuuichi over his more dangerous rivals, and a “strange bedfellows” political story is always intriguing.  But of course any dating sim is eventually going to stand or fall on the relationships, and in the “Love” sense I don’t really have much stake yet.  None of the characters is really making much of an impact for me – Chisato seems like the obvious choice for main girl but Mashifony did prove that can be a ruse.  Problem is I don’t have strong feelings for any of them yet – apart from Chisato and Shinonome (my fave so far) they’re either comic relief or eye candy (other than the hors categorie Yume of course).  Michiru is going to be the next to get her exposition, apparently, which could be interesting as she’s voiced by the very talented Imai Asami.

Accel World – 15

[Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_00.24_[2012.07.20_22.10.22] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_01.10_[2012.07.20_22.11.09] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_04.10_[2012.07.20_22.13.29]
[Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_04.43_[2012.07.20_22.14.03] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_08.18_[2012.07.20_22.17.38] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_08.45_[2012.07.20_22.18.05]
[Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_11.31_[2012.07.20_22.20.51] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_11.53_[2012.07.20_22.21.12] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_13.05_[2012.07.20_22.22.24]
[Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_15.51_[2012.07.20_22.25.11] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_17.35_[2012.07.20_22.26.54] [Commie] Accel World - 15 [B0A963FC].mkv_snapshot_21.39_[2012.07.20_22.30.59]

I confess this episode of AW annoyed me as much as any for quite a while.  Funny thing is though, it wasn’t the much-loathed “Dusk Taker” Noumi that did it, it was everybody else.  Noumi might be an unscrupulous little prick but at least he didn’t spend the entire episode breaking down in tears at the slightest provocation.  If people were all as easy to cow as these three, I’d be tempted to live my accelerated life the way Noumi does too.

I don’t know quite what to might of Haru’s descent into simpering loser here – either his entire character arc to this point has been a mirage, or it’s merely sloppy writing and he’s going to have just a miraculous a turnaround and snap out of it.  I guess I can sort of understand Chiyu’s reaction, as she’s new to Brain Burst and frankly a bit of a spoiled princess to begin with and Noumi was certainly unkind to her.  But even here I would have hoped for better, and from Taku too, who joined the crying brigade when Haru said some nasty things to him about their odd three-way relationship with Chiyu.  On the plus side, at least he publicly acknowledged the elephant in the room, that Chiyu obviously prefers Haru – though judging by Haru’s reaction I’d say he’s squarely in Kuroyukihime’s clutches.

I suppose the table is set for an inspirational return to form for Haru, and the vehicle (pun intended) for that seems likely to be Ash Roller and his guardian, Sky Raker (Endou Aya).  Endou-san is just about incapable of giving a bad performance, but there’s a pretty high burden of proof for this miracle turnaround with me, because the descent into character oblivion this week was pretty unappealing.  I’m certainly not going to turn on Accel World because of one unfortunate episode, but undercutting the entire character arc for the lead seems like an unfortunate choice, and I don’t see any easy way out of the box the series has written itself into – not without some lasting damage to the show’s credibility, anyway.

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Guardian Enzo

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19 comments

  1. S
    SQA
    July 21, 2012 at 6:42 am
    Reply

    On KoiChoco:

    I liked the current President and how he worked the group. He obviously had researched all of them enough to know their names before going there. It's nice to see a character actually do the work, and he was such a smooth operator.

    I was so confused by the MC at the teacher's place. I actually double checked it was her and I wasn't really confusing people. There's obviously something more to his family background or he's just been hitting on his aunt for the past 2 episodes. Either way, that was quite a random thing.

    On Accel World:

    Haruyuki's personality has always changed to serve the plot. He's never had any true progression or regression, it's just he's badly written. I pointed this out back in episode 1. (He was actually 3 separate personalities between eps 1 & 2) So anytime his personality is front and center he just doesn't work. The closest thing to his "core" personality is selfish asshole. And that's only sometimes.

    Taku has something of the same problem, though not to the same degree. Chiyu just didn't have much of a personality for a while. Niko & KYH are both fine, however. Actually, this series without those two is pretty terrible.

  2. B
    Beckett
    July 21, 2012 at 6:56 am
    Reply

    Something about Koichoco is really appealing to me. Aside from the obvious fact that Satsuki is mega cute I think the thing that keeps me coming back is that it seems there is a lot going on in the background. Like you said, Enzo, it has some kind of surprise up it's sleeve every episode. The scene with the teacher was very strange, while they were eating it seemed like a VERY stereotypical anime scenario. We've all seen the teacher who knows the student outside of school and freeloads regularly while making fun of him at every opportunity a million times before. But things got legitimately weird right before he left. There's shenanigans afoot in this show and one surefire way to make me keep watching a show is to have unanswered shenanigans. I just can't wait for the next episode because I want to know more about these questions.

    As for Accel World, I had a hard time watching this episode at all, to be honest. Haru was being so incredibly pathetic that it was legitimately painful to watch. Not very believable either. I've suffered from low self esteem most of my life and even I can't imagine a scenario where I'd just roll over and take what Noumi is doing. Easily one of the most pathetic displays I can recall ever seeing in a show. Luckily Ash Roller came along and injected some life into the episode because if it had bitching and woe is me for the entire episode it may have gone down as one of my least favorite single episodes of any show ever. I honestly expected more from Taku too, very disappointing episode all around.

    Incidentally this show can redeem itself in my eyes if this arc ends with Noumi receiving a swift kick to the testicles, just saying.

  3. I
    Ishruns
    July 21, 2012 at 7:49 am
    Reply

    I remember someone commenting before that this arc of AW would truly annoy you GE. And since I generally find that what annoys you annoys me as well, I think I'll skim until its over this arc is over. Noumi is an ass but his type of character is an unfortunately frequent occurance in anime, Haru falling back to pre-taku fight loserliness and Chiyu, well just being herself, which is worse than listening to Megan Fox talk (Look great, listen like nails on a blackboard). And I feel sorry for Taku being caught in their stupidity as he seems to be the only one left in Tokyo with a bit of backbone and brain.

    As for Koi to Choco, after dropping it last week, I thought I'd try the 3rd episode and lasted 10 seconds. Something about the secondary colors hair girl's voice is incredibly annoying to me. I have to find her Seiyuu and black list her alongside Hisaka Youko and Kaiji Yuuki as approach with massive bias.

  4. admin
    July 21, 2012 at 3:43 pm
    Reply

    But everyone seemed to be saying it was Noumi who'd annoy me, and really, it seems like it's Haru and Chiyu who're annoying me. Compared to them Noumi has been vastly entertaining.

  5. F
    FlameStrike
    July 21, 2012 at 10:14 am
    Reply

    Lolol that damn Pork. Good job socking him Taku! I actually liked this episode since he was beaten down so much. I don't know how, but Haruyuki seems to ignite a sadistic side in me. Of course I don't really hate him, and I would enjoy seeing him rise again, but it's just so satisfying to see him get beaten and pwned.

  6. V
    Vince
    July 21, 2012 at 1:03 pm
    Reply

    I for one wasn't that surprised to see Haru going back to emo. Even when he got the wings, he was very dependent on Kuroyukihime. For a guy whose wings were utmost importance, he gave them away too quickly and too easily. Especially against a guy who is made of gimmicks. If he was a little wiser, he wouldn't rush into it.

    As for this new antagonist Noumi, I hope he has some sort of motive or history behind. At first he seemed like he had some kind of history with one of characters Kuroyukihime knew but I'm still not sure about the timeline. I don't really have favourite characters in this series, they all seem to be archetypes at best. I guess I'm watching it because I was looking to see if there's some sort of development for this diminutive lead. It looks like I have to wait longer.

  7. A
    Anonymous
    July 21, 2012 at 1:48 pm
    Reply

    This weeks Episode of AW was really annoying to watch. The sudden Personality change of Haru back to a selfloathing crybaby highly reminded me of shuu from Guilty Crown, whose own Personality throughout the series was as consistent as the winning Numbers at the Lotterie.

    If there is more of this in the current Arc, then I can see where the Fan rage is coming from.

  8. H
    Highway
    July 21, 2012 at 3:09 pm
    Reply

    One KoiChoco question I'm left with is whether Satsuki is both the same hard person she shows to her sister and during the election sequences and the extremely likeable person she is with Yuuichi. Is that just for him, or is it the way she is with other individuals she doesn't have a historical problem with (like Hazuki).

    Also, "mom"? What the whaaaa? I'm really hoping there's no hidden sister stuff going on here.

  9. P
    Pata
    July 21, 2012 at 3:20 pm
    Reply

    I think AIC is having a hard time adapting koichoco, basing in the visual novel, many things happened before what happened in the first episode. Like the weird girl being already a member of the club. 12 episodes is certainly not enough to adapt this… With its huge cast it almost impossible to develop the characters. That's the problem of having a huge premises like election. Since we don't get how the system works, they have to explain it. (They could use visuals or graphs, watching a person speaking with the mouth movement is only up and down was very boring to watch, seriously AIC be creative…) I'd give this a 7/10, noitamina series can do it, AIC maybe you can too…

    AW, was just annoying. I mean I only watch the awesome OP and the hilarious ED. But whats in-between, i usually fast forward it cause it either bores me or get pissed about it. Sunrise, you have 11 volumes, get on with it!!!!!

  10. H
    Helen
    July 21, 2012 at 3:57 pm
    Reply

    *headdesk* Agreeing with you on Accel World, it feels like Haru has never really grown or changed as a character and that's never a sign of good, even decent, writing. This one really tested my patience, my favorite part of the episode was Taku punching Haru just because at least one character hasn't lost all of their guts because of this.

  11. P
    Pen3
    July 21, 2012 at 4:42 pm
    Reply

    The "mom" text is just a cover up since that childhood friend gets jealous easily and over reacts. They are in no way related.

  12. K
    Kentaiyoshimi
    July 21, 2012 at 6:42 pm
    Reply

    I agree completely on how Haru was really annoying this episode. The lack of character consistency reminded me too much of GC, as others have mentioned (it doesn't help that the seiyu is the same). I can get behind Noumi acting they way he did, since we all love to hate the villain, but Haru acting like a whiny brat really peeved me.

    While I understand Haru is devastated by the loss of his wings (and his main raison d'etre), he really needs to direct his anger to Noumi, and not on his ally/ best friend.

  13. M
    Mentar
    July 21, 2012 at 7:11 pm
    Reply

    You need to be strong, guys. If you felt RAGE about this wasteland of an arc before, I need to warn you that things are only about to get even worse end of next episode. Be prepared and stay the course.

    As for the rest, let me be brutally blunt: Haru always was and unless a miracle happens always will be a whining sniveling self-pitying cowardly loser. It's in his genes. Unless he finally grows up a bit and develops a trace of self-confidence, he will ALWAYS relapse to this pattern in times of crisis, as long as he doesn't have someone like KYH to direct him. If there isn't someone to tell him what to do in order to overcome hardship and adversity, he'll always relapse to his old patterns of behavior. That – as annoying it is – is actually no "bad writing", it's actually fairly realistic.

  14. C
    Cybersteel
    July 21, 2012 at 7:40 pm
    Reply

    Enzo… You forget that Haruyuki is voiced by Kaji Yuki and that by itself is a curse to any character.

  15. admin
    July 21, 2012 at 7:56 pm
    Reply

    Kentai, it might also be pointed out that the screenwriter is the same as GC, too.

    Cyber, I really haven't found Yuuki to be a major problem in and of himself in this case. I think the issue is with the way the character is written.

  16. K
    Kentaiyoshimi
    July 22, 2012 at 3:32 am
    Reply

    Man, I really need to pay more attention to these kind of things. It is true though, that this was how Haru was written, and we can't really blame the screenwriter/ seiyu for the source material.

    I've largely gotten over Yuuki voicing Haru, but the resemblance to Shu (both voice and behaviour) in this episode was just too much. And anything that reminds me of Shu leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
    It may be unfair to compare for AW to compare it with GC since AW was written before GC, but c'set la vie.

  17. admin
    July 22, 2012 at 5:55 am
    Reply

    Every Kaji Yuuki performance is almost exactly the same, so it's hardly surprising Shu and Haru sound alike. Yuuki is basically like an analog clock – he's right twice a day. Occasionally it's "Haru o'clock" and he finds a role that fits him. Sometimes he's fairly close, and sometimes – especially when he tries to do anything dramatic – he's a full six hours off.

  18. B
    Beckett
    July 22, 2012 at 9:56 am
    Reply

    Yeah… I was just watching Hanasaku Iroha where Kaji played Kou and the first time I heard the character I said to myself "Shit, it's Shu AGAIN." Even when he's playing a completely different type of character he's pretty much only got the one voice, I honestly can't figure out why this guy is popular enough to keep getting leading roles.

  19. A
    Anonymous
    July 22, 2012 at 12:59 am
    Reply

    Just wait a couple of episodes and you will see the real RAGE

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