12 moments in anime 2009; how a harem should be “done”, Touya’s philandering ways!

For my 10th entry in my “12 moments in anime 2009” I’m choosing the philandering ways of Touya from the White Album series.

 

       In the harem themed anime of the past such as Ranma ½ and Tenchi Muyo the guy at the center of the harem had many redeeming qualities that would lead the girls surrounding him to want his DNA. The harem leads from the past weren’t pathic punching bags for all the tsundere chicks in his harem like Keitaro was from Love Hina, and I could no more picture either Tenchi or Ranma getting slapped around by all the women in their lives as I could ever picture myself putting up with any of my former girlfriends/lovers slapping me around to show me that they love me.

 

      So, what the hell happened to the harem genre and their males leads over the intervening years? Well, my personal theory is that in the past, anime in general was targeted and viewed by a larger general audience, and those shows made back their production costs, and then some, by being popular enough to actually make money off of commercial advertising. So, as television audiences and anime audience’s numbers began to slip the production companies had to reley on sales of VHS tapes and later DVD sales to make a profit. 

      This situation led to these types of anime being targeted towards the hardcore buyers of DVDs and away from trying to attract a large diverse audience. So, where we once had male leads of harem type anime where female viewers liked them and male viewers looked up to and aspired to be like them we’re now left with male leads who are avatars for lonely/sexually impotent male viewers who spend more money on anime then getting laid.

 

        Even in a harem anime such as Bakemonogatari where the male lead, Koyomi, is a pretty tough hard core guy and surrounded by attractive females who are available, he’s sexually impotent. Koyomi gropes Mayoi and both enjoys himself and loathes himself for the act but can go no further, he leers at Nadeko who’s attracted to him and available but does nothing, and even when he finally gets Hitagi as a girlfriend he practically had to get dragged kicking and screaming to their first date, she did all the work. Then we have other harem type anime such as Kiss X Sis, Kanokon, and Kiss on my Deity where the male leads practically have pussy shoved in their faces everyday and they’re so pitiful and impotent it’s no wonder why Japan has a negative/zero population growth problem judging by how these males react to women.

Loser #1

Loser #2

Loser #3

 

       So, all this ranting brings be to Touya from White Album, the hero of this post. While Touya may be many negative things such as; a very bad boyfriend to Yuki, a man-whore, a liar, an unreliable person, and a piece of shit, he’s certainly not impotent. When Touya gets that loving feeling he’s not contented with a little panty shot, he wants what’s underneath that thin piece of cotton, and he knows where his sausage belongs. Out of the six main girls in Touya’s harem he’s filled the love canal of three of the six girls (Yayoi, Misaki, and Haruka), and made out with two of the remaining three (Rina and Yuki).

Hit Yayoi many times.

Hit Misaki and left it.

Hit Haruka and left it.

Kissed Rina and wanted to hit it.

Yuki, the girlfriend, kissed her and been trying to hit it the whole series.

       So, in the spirit of the awards season Touya wins the erect penis award for knowing how a man should react to readily available lonely women. Yes, Touya’s shining example should be a guiding light to all males involved in harem situations: Yes, Keitaro you should have slammed every chick before settling on Nauru; Yes, Keita you should bang both Riko and Ako before picking one; Yes, Kouta you should have deflower both Chizuru and Nozomu; Yes, Yuuri you should really taste Mashiro and all the other girls around you; and Yes, Koyomi you should have acted first by picking a girl and doing something; you’re all losers compared to Touya.

All male harem leads please read the following advice.

 

Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog site update, Christmas 2009 edition.

     Well, tis the season where all the good little boys & girls are rewarded with nice gifts for their good behavior; have you been naughty or nice this year?

       OK, now down to business, I haven’t dropped White Album, but I’ve decided to try something a little different for the last part of the second season. After falling several episodes behind due to work conflicts and the subbing schedule I’ve decide to stop doing episodic reviews and instead do a character by character study as soon as the series finishes. I think White Album is a trashy and naughty soap opera, and I love it.

        Also, I’ve decide to participate in the Twelve Moments of Anime 2009 project, so I’m currently working those posts. I’m also finishing up on my Best Anime of the Past Decade posts, and I’m also finalizing my Top 10 Anime of 2009 list. Because all this shit is going on, my episodic coverage might slow down so I’ve decided to do a Christmas 2009 anime stocking stuffers post each day featuring Christmas themed anime pictures, Christmas themed Asian Idols Pictures, and anything else that’s Christmas related that I think you might like.

 

White Album II episode 3 review; Rina quits, leaving her brother with Yuki, the chosen one.

 

       This episode begins with Touya waking up in a hotel room from a dream of his childhood, Yayoi has left him a note saying she’s in the lobby’s cafe. Touya joins Yayoi who’s already eaten, and Touya thanks her for not destroying Yuki’s letter to him (I thought it was destroyed). Soon, Yayoi tells Touya about the upcoming Venus music festival hosted by Touou TV, only young female singers can enter, and the festival decides the future singing stars. Touya asks Yayoi about Rina and the festival, she says that Rina had two chances to enter but she was always scheduled for other jobs. Eiji’s doing? Yayoi says that’s probably right. And this year? Yayoi says who knows.

 

       Touya and Yayoi continue to talk about the festival and he finds out that only one singer can enter from each production company, so it’s Yuki or Rina. She tells Touya that Yuki doesn’t know about this, and she goes on to tell Touya that he should realise that his should be the end of his & Yuki’s love.

 

       Next, we see that Misaki and Akira had to take Touya’s dad back to the hospital and they left him a message on his answering machine. Then we see Touya walking home after he refuses to let Yayoi drive him home, and we see him buying another copy of Yuki’s single from a music store. When Touya finally gets home he listens to Akira message telling him to hurry to the hospital because his father has gotten worse.

 

       Later, we see Yayoi picking up Yuki at her apartment, and Yuki notices that something is bothering Yayoi. Then we see Touya finally arriving at the hospital, and then we see him telling Misaki that his father just had a blood pressure spike and that he’s going to be alright. Misaki then tells Touya that she knows that Yayoi has been picking him up at Echoes, and does Yuki know? He, says it was just once, and Misaki says, so Yayoi takes care of Yuki and him? Touya just leaves it at that.

 

       Later, as Misaki is leaving the hospital she overhears Touya talking with his uncle, she finds out that his father is much worse off than Touya’s been telling everyone, and she also hears that if his tests don’t come out OK they might not be able to operate. Misaki goes back to visit Touya’s father, he thanks her for the nice time he had, and he also tells her to get along with Akira. He goes on to tell her to forget about his son, and she says she’s sorry.

 

       Later, we see Mana and Haruka still hanging out, Haruka asks Mana about Touya, and she dodges the question. Then we see Yuki trying to get in contact with Touya asks about his father and so forth. But, as time passe, we see that Touya’s is spending all his time at the hospital, and he’s even doing all his college studying there.

 

       Then we see a meeting at the production office that includes Eiji, Rina, Yuki, and their managers. Well, the topic of the meeting is the Venus festival, and Rina says she knew this would come up. Eiji says, so you don’t want to enter, and Rina says you know that I’ve always wanted to enter. Well, as Eiji is trying to say that Yuki will be chosen Rina says she’ll save him the trouble by saying that she’s quiting her brother’s  production  company and going solo.

 

       After Rina says this and leaves the meeting Yuki goes into shock, Yuki tries to stop Rina from leaving the room but Rina walks out the door. Yuki goes to chase Rina down, she catches Rina, but Rina separates herself from Yuki, and says she’s sorry. Yuki tries to get Eiji and Yayoi to stop Rina from quitting, and Yayoi tells Yuki to wait in the car, and she’ll drive her to Rina’s house.

 

       When Eiji and Yayoi are finally alone, she tells him that it’s Hiraki who’s been following her and taking picture. Eiji says he’ll handle it by telling him he’ll not notice his activities or he’ll take legal action. He asks Yayoi is she’s OK? Yes. And the youngster? There’s nothing between us. Eiji tells Yayoi that if Yuki’s hurt he won’t forgive her.

 

       Then the scene switches to Echoes where we see that Misaki is now working there, and we see Mana and Haruka stopping by for a visit. Then we see Eiji thinking about all the things that have happen with Yuki and Rina when he gets a call from Kanzaki asking for a meeting. Then we see Yayoi and Yuki stopping Rina’s car because Yuki wants to talk with her, but we also see that Rina is avoiding the meeting with Yuki. The episode finishes with Touya hearing Yuki’s voice on the answering machine saying she wants to hear from him, and he seems like he’s almost in tears after hearing her call.

       Well, this was one hell of an episode, and the shits really hitting the fan now. So, we find out the stalker wasn’t Eiji but Hiraki, and now Eiji will look the other way, but if Hiraki doesn’t quit his activities he’ll sue him. But, what was really interesting is trying to figure out what the hells up with Eiji’s and Rina’s relationship; why did Eiji stop Rina from entering Venus in the past, why is Eiji using Rina as a stepping stone of Yuki, and why the hell doesn’t Eiji have any loyalty towards his sister after all the years they’re been together?

       I really liked how Rina finally decided to break with Eiji after she comes to the conclusion that he really doesn’t care about her career, she’s got more balls than all the men in this series put together. It was also quite interesting to see that Touya knew all along that his father was in much worse shape than anyone knew, and as his father’s condition worsens he’s right by his side. Also, it’s quite funny seeing how all the girls still want Touya including Yuki, Misaki, Mana, Haruka, and even Yayoi seems to like his magic stick more than would have been necessary to expose the stalker. I continue to find Eiji to be really strange, while he doesn’t want Yuki hurt, he knows about Yayoi and Touya. Well, it’ll be really interesting to see Yuki’s reactions when she finally realises that she’s just a plaything in Eiji’s game, maybe she’ll quit and join Rina’s new production company.