Random Anime Picture #17: Why I Like Clannad.

-Clannad, ep21

It's not my favorite KeyAni production (that's Kanon '06, of course), but Clannad has a LOT more humor than anything "serious" they've done before, excepting FMP: Fumoffu, a straight-up comedy series.

Slice-of-life + KyoAni + Key + humor = win.  Lots and lots of win.

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Random Anime Picture #16

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Random Anime Picture #15

-ARIA the Origination, ep09

Possibly one of the finest anime episodes I've ever seen.  I went back and watched it again, as I'm feeling a little glum tonight.  The first time I watched it, I had no idea what was coming, so it was as much a surprise to me as it was to Alice.   This time, however, I knew what was about to happen... and I still got a goofy grin on my face.

That's good storytelling. 

I find that I really don't want ARIA to end.  After 49 episodes (to date) and one OVA, you'd think that the show would start to feel like it was dragging on, but it has stayed fresh for me.  Even Kanon didn't give me that feeling... when it ended, it was time for it to end.

In fact, only one other series has evoked the "don't be over yet!" feeling from me: Azumanga Daioh, my favorite show of all time.

I believe that, with episode 09, ARIA has joined Azumanga and Kanon as My Favorites.  Nobody is more surprised than me.

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Random Anime Picture #14

-ARIA the Origination, ep09

Over at Civilis' place, I said that Alice had become my favorite character sometime in season 2, and that the recent string of episodes about her had cemented that feeling.

So when the events of episode 09 played out, I will admit to doing something much more appropriate for a college hoops game than for the laid-back ARIA...

Cheering.

I know this means that the series is heading into it's last episodes, and that certainly makes me sad, but if that's the cost for seeing (and hearing!) episode 09, it'll be worth it.

It's been a rough couple of weeks here at The Pond, what with the cold, and the tooth extraction (which had a complication that entailed an emergency visit to the oral surgeon... on a Saturday night, too), and End-of-Fiscal-Year at the Duck U. Bookstore, and there's a problem that I'm not at liberty to discuss but is extremely worrisome to me (more than the others combined, actually).  In other words, life has blown chunks recently.

This episode didn't make it all go away, but it did allow me to (mostly) forget about the problems for a while.

And Alice smiled.

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Random Anime Picture #13

-ARIA the Origination, ep08

That'll tide you over until I get the ARIA post I mentioned last week finished.  That darn ick made it impossible to write clearly...

...then it's F1 time again!

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Random Anime Picture #12

-Yotsunoha, ep01

How many fetishes can YOU find in this picture?

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Random Anime Pictures #11

-Spice + Wolf, ep08

"Hey, I've got a great idea for a show."
"Okay, tell me."
"Medieval economics.  We'll follow a guy in a cart around as he goes from town to town trading pepper for apples, and then for wheat.  It'll be great!"
"..."
"Whaddya think?"
"ARE YOU INSANE?"
"Huh?"
"Medieval economics?  There's no way people would watch that!"
"B-b-b-but... why not?"
"Not enough girls!"
"Mmm... how about we give him a wolf goddess disguised as a teen girl as a partner?"
"NOW you're talking!"

You wouldn't think there'd be any chance that a show like Spice + Wolf would be interesting, but it is.  Unfortunately, it's interesting because of Horo (the abovementioned wolf goddess), not because of the main premise (medieval trading) or storyline.  Horo's feisty, clever, witty, and her ears and tail are cute (as she'll tell you at any time)... and she's practically the only reason to watch the show.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a series that's so dominated by a character.  There's one episode where she's not on screen until the final thirty seconds, and it's really bad.  I mean, REALLY bad: "two guys sitting in a room, talking" bad.

I can't recommend Spice + Wolf, but there are a lot of worse shows out there... and please note that I'm watching it to the bitter end.  Maybe we'll figure out why Horo the wolf goddess looks more like a fox than a wolf...

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Random Anime Picture #10

-ARIA the Origination, ep06

I'm currently working on a post about an aspect of the ARIA world that's bothered me for a while.  It's not a problem with the show at all, but one of those things that's like the socket of a recently-pulled tooth... you can't help but poke at it with your tongue. With any luck, it should be up on Sunday.

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