Here’s a few new anime & manga motivational posters for the week of 7/6/2009. Feel free to share and enjoy these posters, but please at least give me a link or track back if you’re going to post them to a board or forum, Click on the poster to view at full size, enjoy.

         Ran and Midori head off to the middle school’s courtyard and they tell Rui and Rin to follow as quickly as possible. When they arrive at the school they follow some large cat prints to a large tree where one of their teachers falls out the tree, he’s very gravely wounded . Soon, Rin and Rui arrive on the scene, and as their teacher begins to regain consciousness. As he’s about to tell them what happened a large leopard leaps from the tree to attack Rui, Ran repels the creature with her power, and then the leopard demands that they have to give it back to them, ”Chara”. Ran is shocked by this because “Chara” is the name that Junpei and nobody else calls her.

        Back at home, everyone is eating breakfast at Ran’s house when the TV reports a growing number of animal-human attacks, Midori asks Ran if she’s worried about what the leopard said? Yes. Later, the kids find out that classes have been cancelled because of the attacks. Rui asks Ran if she’s still worried about Junpei? Yes. So, he tells her that they should pay him a visit. As the kids (minus a sleeping Rin) make their way to Junpei’s house, many strange events are going on, the weather is unnaturally bad, and large groups of animals are on the move.

        At Junpei’s house the kids find it damaged by animals,  and when they begin searching for Junpei a tiger starts to attack them only to be foiled by a torch wielding Junpei. They retreat to Junpei’s room, and they block the door with dresser. Junpei tells the others that the tiger is his brother (Taka), when his brother returned from college he changed into the tiger, and he asks them if it sounds crazy. Rui says, not at all, we thought that there was a link between the earthquake and the strange animal/human happenings.

         Just then, the tiger breaks through Junpei’s door, Ran and Midori don’t want to hurt Junpei’s brother so they setup a barrier and Ran tries to communicate with Taka. Ran tells Taka to come back to them, but he says he can’t, he says that he’s so tired of it all. After Ran drops the barrier, Junpei attempts to talk with his brother by asking him why he no-longer wants to be human? Taka calls out to his brother, saying that he should understand, then something causes Junpei to change into a leopard, and he chases after his brother who fled the house. The kids try to chase after Junpei and his brother but quickly lose them, Midori says that she’ll try astral projection to widen her reach over the whole city, she doesn’t know if it’ll work. After Ran and Midori project themselves over the whole city they hear a voice calling all the animals back to the Great Mother’s place to regain the world for themselves, and the meeting place is the beech tree at their middle school.

        When the kids make it to the school they find all the animals gathered there, and they also figure out that everyone who felt the earthquake has been transformed into animals. A very old lady, the same lady they met at the restaurant emerges from the tree, the kids can feel the anger and hatred coming from the animals over their mistreatment and the mistreatment of the planet. Ran calls out to them but Momoko (their old teacher) tells them that their memories have been erased, and those humans have lost hope in world of waste, hatred, and never ending war. Midori asks Momoko if she’s human, and Momoko tells her that she’s not human she’s a monster just like Midori. Ran’s says that they’re wrong, not all humans hate animals and want the world to fall into ruin and war.

         The old lady uses her powers and transports Momoko, Midori, Ran and herself to another plane/place where she transforms into a wolf spirit/god called Oogami. Then Oogami tells them a very very old story, back before the time of humans the aminals lived in harmony with each-other and nature. The first humans also lived in harmony with animals and nature, so the animal spirits had faith in the first humans and took a long sleep. But, when they awoken they found that the current humans are not the same humans they trusted, the current humans think that they’re the most important creatures around and that humans feel that they’re even more important than nature or the planet. The humans that turned into aminals are the remainder of the creatures that went into that long slumber, they are of human and animal nature and would have remained human if they were happy with the direction of the world. Now, Oogami says humans must be removed from the world so its natural order can be restored. Oogami says that Ran and Midori are slightly different from normal humans (they have some powers), so she’s been watching them for a long time but has come to the conclusion that they’re really not different from the rest of the humankind. Oogami says the time for talk is over, and she summons the other animals to her side. Well, that’s all for this episode.

        Well, here we are at the final showdown of the series, mankind’s treatment of the planet and its creatures has comeback to bite them in the ass. The theme of man vs nature/humans destroying the natural world are found in many anime like; Mononoke-hime, Green Legend Ran, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Prétear, and many many others; and the final solution is usually found in the kind and caring heart of a teen-aged girl. So, no matter how bad it gets, Ran and Midori will try to show kindness instead of power in their final showdown with Oogami and her animals. While the girls in Telepathy Shojo Ran have telepathic powers instead of magic girls powers the finale solution will most-likely be a Deus ex machina magic girl ending with love being victorious over hatred.      

       This episode begins with Kanon and Marin finally finding Urin hiding from the fierce storm,  Marin and her sister share a tearful reunion. Then we see that something has been released from the statue covering the sealed shrine/crypt.  Marin thanks Kanon for finding her sister and she tells her that she’s her first friend from the sky world.

        Just then, they’re interrupted by a walking and talking turtle who asks them if they’re the priestesses. The turtle then releases an orb of light from his hat and  it flies to Marin; he tells her that she is the priestess of the sea that will defeat Sedna. Kanon takes off because she thinks that this is all a fraud, and Marin starts to go after her but the turtle stops Marin. He tells her about her responsibility as the priestess of the sea,  he is the turtle elder, he became a stone guardian to await the day that Sedna became unsealed, if Sedna regains her full power, the sky, the sea, and everything will be plunged into darkness, someone broke her seal. He says that Sedna was split in two, half sealed in the sky, and the other half sealed in the sea, when Sedna was unsealed she used the rain to return to the sea to located and try to unseal her other half. Marin needs to locate a priestess of the sky to unite the sea and sky powers in order to defeat Sedna.

         On her way home Kanon runs into her mother who tells her that she descends from a long line of shamans and fortune tellers, and that she has to become one or weird things will start to happen. Later,  Kanon lets loose her “evil aura” because she thinks about getting dumped and something from the sea responds to her aura. Back with Marin and Urin the turtle tells them he feels a evil heart. A woman comes from the sea and attacks Kanon saying that she senses an evil soul; Kanon runs away and tries to hide. The creature soon finds Kanon and easily captures her, but Marin, Urin, and the turtle find them.

         The turtle tells Marin that it’s time and Marin begins to transform into a magic girl. After her transformation she begins to battle the monster while Kanon refuses to believe what her eyes are seeing; Urin wants to aid her sister but the turtle tells her that she has no power and will only get in the way. As Kanon is watching the battle her emotions begin to change, and the turtle begins to react to Kanon and he releases a red orb of light which flies to Kanon. 

         The turtle tells Kanon that she is the priestess of the sky and that she has to use her powers to stop the evil, but she still refuses to believe. After a tearful appeal from Urin to save her sister, Kanon realizes it’s her fault that the ring was lost and Urin unsealed the monster. Kanon transforms into the priestess of the sky, and begins to help Marin with her battle.

        Marin fires her sea cleansing attack at the monster, and Kanon follows it up with a sky fire attack, and just as the monster is about to be destroyed Marin stops the assault. She thinks she knows the monster, and she’ thinks she’s a friend. Marin runs and embraces the creature, and her hug purifies the creature, transforming it back to its original form then she returns it to the sea. The turtle then tells the girls that they are descended from the linage that originally sealed Sedna and that they were destined to meet, Marin returns the ring that Urin found back to Kanon who says that they’ll probably never meet again, as Kanon walks away, she thinks to herself that this is not her problem. Well, that’s all for this episode.

          Well, this was supposed to be a magic girl show and it took until the second episode to show us which girls would be chosen for the task. I assumed that Marin would be one of those girls but I didn’t figure that Kanon would be the other one; I thought that the shrine priestess who was singing at the festival would have been the second magic girl with Kanon using her fortune telling abilities in some support type role.

         In a classic sense, Kanon doesn’t fit the traditional pattern of a magic girl. Magic girls are normally, above all else, of pure heart, innocent, and usually free of excess anger, hatred, jealousy, and spite. Another thing that surprises me about Kanon’s selection is her age, she’s eighteen or very close to eighteen years old, a magic girl is supposed to be a girl not a woman, most magic girls are usually around middle school age or a little younger when chosen to become a magic girl. See; Usagi and the other Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon (age 14), Nanoha from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (age 9), Hikaru-Umi-Fuu from Magic Knights Rayearth (age 14), Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura (age 10), Tutu from Princess Tutu (age 11 or 12), Ririka from Nurse Angel Ririka SOS (age 10), Nagisa and Honoka from Futari wa Pretty Cure (age 14).

        Now this age range applies mostly when speaking about human girls who are chosen to be magic girls, when talking about magic girls who originate from other worlds or dimensions their age range is much more flexible because for the most part these girls, no matter their real age are considered to be much purer and free of the corrupting influence of this world. This would apply to Marin, while she could be much older in real terms than Kanon, she’s very pure and innocent, basically the human world corrupts much quicker than other realms. 

       Where Marin and Kanon fit into the classic magic girl genre is that they are chosen to become magic girls because they are descendants of the two priestesses that originally sealed Sedna. See; Usagi from Sailor Moon (reincarnated daughter of the queen of the moon kingdom), Chacha from Akazukin Chacha (the infant daughter of the king and queen of the magical kingdom). Another classic theme of the magic girl genre is the chosen magic girls have their powers granted/activated by a person/magical helper from another realm; both Marin and Kanon have their powers granted/activated by the Turtle Elder in the form of light orbs that enable them to transform into magic girls. See;  Himeko from Hime-chan’s Ribbon (her power is granted by princess Erika in the form of a ribbon), Miho from Fancy Lala (a mystery man gives her Mogu and Pigu who turn into a pen and sketchbook which allow Miho to transform into Fancy Lala).

        Lets not forget two other magic girl classics, the transformation sequence, and the attack phrase or gesture. In almost all (as far as I know) true magic girl anime, the magic girls have a transformation sequence in which they are stripped naked (shedding their normal existence) and then they are clothed in a magic girl battle outfit (symbolizing their new, more powerful nature); most magic girls have to use a attack phrase, attack gesture, or both. While the reasons for this requirement are never made clear it’s been assumed that since the magic girl in her transformed incarnation is not her true form so the magic girl must use the gestures and phrases kind of like using the controller buttons of a game console to use special moves. Both Marin and Kanon used transformation sequences and attack phrases during their battle with Sedna’s monster.

         Now, getting back to the pure heart issue, normally in the magic girl genre the pure heart is one the most important factors in a magic girl’s ability to fight and defend. The strength of the magic girl’s heart is the key to almost everything, the stronger and purer her heart is, the more powerful her attacks, her defense, and her will to fight becomes. Mostly a magic girl’s power will only fail when she loses heart, and a magic girl will be the most powerful when her heart is overflowing with a love for the whole world and it’s creatures, and with a belief in the goodness of people. While I think Marin will have no problem with the love and belief issue; Kanon has a long way to go, she needs to believe in the magic and shed her bitterness over being dumped by her boyfriend.

      All in all, I think I like the direction Sea Story is heading. I’ve always been a big fan of the magic girl genre, and I feel that a really good magic girl anime represents what’s best in anime; sweet, kind, and pure girls defending the world from evil with their main weapon being a strong and loving heart. Until next week, “in the name of the moon sea and sky, I shall punish you!”

One bit of warning, please forgive me if I’ve misspelled any of the characters names, it seems like they’ve thrown more names at me in this first episode than some shows have for an entire series, I’ll correct them as the series goes on, plus I’m on my fourth…fifth..now sixth, Crown and Coke.

       This episode begins with a old man (Kinzou) finding out from his doctor that he only has 90 days left to live, and after hearing this he calls out to a woman that he’d give anything just to see her smile again. We then see a young man heading by boat to an island called Rokken, and it’s entirely owned by the Ushiromiya family (his family).

        When the boat docks we see several people disembark and they are, a young man named Battler the narrator, another young man battler’s cousin George, a very young girl and Battler’s cousin Maria and her mother Rosa, a married couple, Battler’s aunt Eva and uncle Hideyoshni, and Battler’s parents Rudolf and Kyrie. The disembarking group is greeted by Battler’s hot cousin Jessica and two house servants.

        A typhoon is heading towards the island and it’ll probably be raining by nightfall, Maria point to a rocky peak, and cousin Jessica says that where the old shrine was located but it was destroyed by in a storm, Maria says it’s sinister. As everyone is walking up to the manor house Battler says that the Ushiromiya family gathers back here once a year to discuss what’s been happening with the family. We also meet three of the house servants, Chiyo an old lady that Battler calls granny, Kanon a very quiet young man, and a middle aged man named Gouda.

      Once they enter the house, Jessica tells them that Kinzou is doing well and that you can’t tell that he only has three months left to live, and Battler meet another servant girl named Shanon (hot maid girl).

       Later, Krauss, Kinzou’s oldest son, calls his father out saying that everyone is now here, Kinzou yells at him to leave him alone. As Battler, Jessica, Maria, George, and Shanon are walking through the house Battler spots a new painting and asks about it, Jessica says that it was just commissioned. Maria says that it’s a painting of the witch Beatrice, and Jessica says that grandfather thinks the witch still lives.

      As the whole group sits down for lunch Battler gives us some family history, in 1923 their wealthy family lost almost all of it’s wealth and family members in a great earthquake, and in less than 20 years grandfather (Kinzou) rebuilt the family’s wealth to even greater levels than before. Then discussion of the family wealth begins to take place with Eva accusing Krauss squandering the money, Krauss wife Natsuhi tries to defend him, but Eva calls her a whore and a rented womb, Krauss makes Natsuhi leave the room.

       While the money discussion is going on, George, Battler, Jessica, and Maria are back by the painting, Battler is looking at a stone inscription and Maria says that’s where the gold is hidden, Jessica says the legend is that 10 tones of family gold is hidden (roughly 300,000,000 USD). Then Battler explains the family legend, grandfather (Kinzou) traded his soul to the witch Beatrice for fame and wealth, and he received 10 tones of gold from her, Battler thinks it’s BS, but Maria says witches do exist.

       Back in the greed room, the other siblings lay a bunch of conditions down on Krauss about how and when father’s money will be divided, basically they tell him that he can have half the gold and money if he coughs up 10 percent now and the rest by the March following dad’s death. Krauss responds by letting them all know the he knows of all their own financial problems, he would like to help them but he doesn’t know where the gold is, so they should work together to solve the Beatrice riddle.

       While the money talk is going on, Jessica, Maria, George, and Battler are at the beach having a picnic, Jessica and Battler laugh about the whole witch story and this worries Maria. She says the witch will be angry so she gives Jessica and Battler each a charm that she says will protect them from the witch and evil magic.

       When the group is heading back to the house Maria notices that a rose she and George marked is missing, Maria gets really upset over this, and her mother Rosa wants Maria to go inside the house but Maria refuses and starts crying. Rosa slaps Maria around for a while but Maria refuses to leave so Rosa tells her to stay outside.

       As the storm begins to rage, Maria is still outside looking for her rose and we see a golden butterfly (?) leaving the rose bed, and we see Kinzou shouting to Beatrice that he’ll give everything back. Later, Akira asks the group where Maria is? Oh shit, everyone realizes that Maria is probably outside in the storm, and they rush out to find her. Rosa is the first to find Maria, she rushes over and hugs her and says she’s sorry about everything, then they notice that Maria has an umbrella, Maria says that the witch Beatrice gave it to her. Well, that’s all for this episode.

      OK, here we go, this series has received plenty of hype but I don’t see what the big deal is yet. I found the initial plot to be interesting, but it’s basically gonna be a treasure hunt with mysterious events occurring to the main players, Maria, Battler, and Jessica. So far, my impressions of the main characters are; Battler-he’s likable enough, minus his stupid breast infatuation; Maria, the typical young girl that has a sensitivity to the supernatural, her mind isn’t clouded by adult programing, she still believes in magic; George, he seems nice enough; Rosa, she seems to be a good mother that’s under financial stress; Jessica, a nice girl who cares about others and will keep Battler’s urges under control; the rest of the adults are more worried about money than anything else; Shanon, Battler’s promise girl (?); the old man Kinzou, a typical person who’s made a deal with the devil and doesn’t want to payoff in the end; and finally the witch Beatrice, I haven’t figured her out yet, maybe she and Kinzou have something more than just a contract between them, maybe a romance in the past.

      Well, I’m going to give this series a couple of more episodes before I pass judgement on the product because the plot has potential. So far I find myself caring about Maria, George, Jessica, Akira, Shanon, Battler, and maybe Krauss and his wife and the servants, the rest just seem greedy to me, maybe my opinion will change.  

       This episode begins with a young girl (Fumi) crying at school, and we hear a voice telling her that she’s always so fast to cry. Then the series moves forward several years to the present day. We see that Fumi’s family has been away for several years and they have returned because her father has gotten transferred back onto town, and it’s Fumi’s first day at her new school.

        In the kitchen Fumi is talking with her cousin Chizu, she tells Chizu that she never should have come back to this town and she doesn’t want to be here. She asks Chizu to stay awhile longer, but Chizu says her vacation is finished and she can’t stay any longer. Then we jump to another girl’s house (Akira) she running late for school and her mother tells her that her older brother will drive her to school. Her brother tells her that her new uniform suits her and he’ll drop her off at school, she refuses and tells him to drop her off at the station, she’ll be embarrassed to be dropped of by her brother, and he tells her that she’s only cute when sleeping.

         After Akira gets dropped off at the train station she bumps into Fumi at the station and they board the train together, while riding the train Akira notices that Fumi is crying because she’s getting groped by a guy on the train. When Akira sees that Fumi isn’t doing anything about it she stomps the guys foot and saves her. After leaving the train, the two girls walk together towards school, and when Fumi has to split off she thanks Akira for her help. As Fumi walks off, Akira says that seeing such a tall girl who cries is kind of cute, and she heads off towards her school.

         Later, we see that Akira is beginning her first year at a private girls school, and that Fumi is attending a public girl’s school. At Fumi’s school we see that she’s very quiet and shy, in contrast to Akira’s outgoing and lively personality. Later, we see three girls from Fumi’s school looking for new members for their drama club so they asks Fumi. But, Fumi doesn’t want to join a club, they tell her that club membership is required at this school. The girl (Pon-chan) who asked Fumi to join their club introduces her friends Miwa ”the fluffy haired girl” and Misako ”the short haired girl” to Fumi. Even though Fumi tells Pon-chan “no” she agrees to have tea with her on her way home from school.

        As the school day ends at Akira’s school we see a girl (Kyoko) introduce herself to Akira, and they walk home from school together. At home Akira tells her family about Kyoko, she says that she gives off the air of a princess, and her brother asks her if she’s sure that she belongs at that school. Soon Akira’s mother gets a call from her old friend and they’re going to hookup and she wants her daughter to be there, and when they meet up we see that Akira’s mother is a old friend of Fumi’s mother. So, the two girls from the train manage to meet up with each other again.

          Then the memories come flooding back to the girls, Akira was the girls who always comforted Fumi when she was little, Fumi always cried easily and Akira was always there for her, and they were best friends when they were little. Fumi thought that they would always be together forever, but Fumi had to move because her father had to transfer work offices. Both girls had promised to write each other, but neither Fumi or Akira ever wrote to one another.

        While the mothers talk, Fumi is hanging out in Akira’s room and Akira tells Fumi how much she’s changed, she now taller than her but she’s flat chested, and Fumi now has a sometimes scary face. Back at home, Chizu is up in Fumi’s room talking with her, and Fumi tells her about every thing that’s happened. She even tells her cousin about the flat comment, to which Chizu says they might be small but they’re perky. After a little while, Fumi’s mother calls the girls downstairs where she presents Chizu with a cake celebrating her upcoming wedding, Fumi is shocked at the news and Chizu says she’s sorry.

      The next morning, Akira rushes out of her house to head off to school, and we see an argument between Akira’s brother and her mother. Akira’s mother thinks that he’s too worried about his sister and not worried enough about his own future, like his future job after her finishes college. When Akira makes it to the train station she sees Fumi crying by herself, Fumi is upset about her cousin’s marriage, she thinks that it’s only natural for Chizu to get married because she’s a girl. Akira walks up to Fumi and hands her a tissue and makes a comment about how easily she cries, Fumi than thinks about how a 10 year time leap occurred in an instance. Well, that’s all for this episode.

         Well, I like the Aoi Hana manga, and I really like this anime adaptation. When I watch most anime that contain yuri subtext or a yuri storyline I find them too over the top and silly. But, I think that the yuri subtext in Aoi Hana is very subtle and nicely done. I think that Akira and Fumi make a nicely contrasting couple, Akira with her perky and outgoing nature matches nicely with Fumi’s overly serious and sensitive nature. I look forward to watching how Akira and Fumi will fit in at their new schools, how they’ll get along with the other student, how they’ll make new friends, and how they’ll rekindle their old friendship.

         This OAV episode begins with Hayami watching Hosaka doing some planning on how he’ll cook some food for Haruka, and she decides to interject herself into the situation. She tells Hosaka that Haruka’s cooking is about love and his is about ego, so he can’t make her happy. He tells her she’s wrong and that his feelings are pure, she realizes this but she feels his approach is wrong. As Natsuki is walking down the hall Hosaka passes him and exudes such bad vibes that it even scares him.

         Later, as Chiaki is doing some grocery shopping, she and Hosaka run into each other, Hosaka picks up some carrots and says that they’re filled with love, Chiaki also picks them up and wonders if they’re filled with love. Later, as the three sisters are eating dinner, Chiaki blushes as she looks at the carrots and thinks of love, and she soon manages to eat a carrot.

         The next day, Hayami’s games with Hosaka backfires on her, Hosaka corners her in class and basically performs food rape on her to prove his love for Haruka. Also, Haruka takes Chiaki’s acceptance of carrots too far, she starts planning all kinds of carrots dishes for dinner.

        Back at the Minami household, Yoshino stops by and Mako-chan asks Kana if she thinks that Yoshino has found out about his secret identity? Kana says that she’s smarter than Uchida, so maybe, but she won’t say anything because she’s a sadist, because that would ruin all the fun. After Mako-chan hears this, every-time he looks at Yoshino he sees evil thoughts and intentions coming from her. When Yoshino talks with Mako-chan he takes all her words as meaning that he’s been exposed, and Kana’s no help to him. Haruka tells Kana to clean the tub but Mako-chan’s so frightened of being left alone with Yoshino that he/she volunteers to do it for Kana.

       While Mako-chan is cleaning the tub, he thinks that he’s finally got some alone time, but Yoshino comes in and says she’ll also help. She sees that Mako-chan’s skirt has gotten wet and wants to wipe it off, Mako-chan says she’s OK and tries to get Yoshino to leave. They end up slipping on a bar of soap and end up falling into the tub, Mako-chan breaks his fall so he doesn’t land full force on Yoshino. Later, Yoshino says that she’s surprised that Mako-chan’s so strong, it’s almost like she’s a boy (wow, this would make a great start to a great H-dojin where a sweet innocence young girl discovers a hidden trap and the benefits of having a trap for a friend).

        Later on, Kana, Chiaki, Uchida, Touma, and Maki are hanging out and the topic of Valentine’s day comes up and Kana wants Maki to give advice to the other girls. Maki asks Uchida what the it means to win on “V-day”, and Uchida says it’s to get candy from someone you like. Maki says, wrong, winning is getting candy from anyone! Chiaki is unsettled by the idea of getting candy from someone she doesn’t know (come on Chiaki we all know that strangers have the best candy), Kana tells Maki that Chiaki isn’t suited for V-day, and this sends Chiaki to the floor. Then Touma says she’s been getting candy from strangers for years, she always eaten the chocolate that her brothers have gotten for V-day.

This one is for Chiaki.

       Kana then tells Maki that Toumalives in a different cultural world from the rest of us so just ignore her like Chiak, and this sends Touma to the floor with Chiaki. Uchida asks them what she should do because her fated lover hasn’t shown up yet, and Kana plays a joke on her and she ends up on the ground with Touma and Chiaki. Soon, Kana realizes that she’s ruined every one’s mood, and tries to lighten up the mood by asking Maki about her happy V-day experiences, stunned silence.

       When Haruka returns home with chocolate every ones mood improves, and soon the doorbell rings. Kana goes to answer door saying it’s probably Fujioka sending all the other girls into a panic, Maki says it’s improper to let guys see the girls getting ready for V-day, and poor Fujioka is just standing outside the door. While Fujioka was on his way to the Minami-ke household he saw Hosaka standing by a advert for V-day, of course Hosaka is being Hosaka, but it serves to remind Fujioka that V-day is coming soon.

           Once Fujioka finally gets in their house, Chiaki assumes her natural seat on Fujioka’s lap, and Maki asks him who he wishes to receive candy from? Chiaki asks Maki where her courtesy is, Chiaki says that guys are sensitive to this issue, and Fujioka’s body twitched when V-day was mentioned. Maki smiles and calls into the kitchen looking for Kana, and Chiaki says that Fujioka’s body twitched again, making Maki even more happy. Maki tells Fujioka that there are things as a guy that he can do about it, so struggle. The next day at school, Fujioka asks to hold one of Kana’s books for her then he hands it back to her, and then day after day he tries to help Kana and get closer to her, but every time he does so he melts down from being close to her. Kana is perplexed by Fujioka’s behavior and goes to Keiko for advice who says it’s probably about the upcoming soccer competition, but he’s really stressing about V-day.

         The next day, the big V-day, Kana come to class and gives Fujioka a dark sweet chocolate bar making him very, very, happy. Keiko tells Kana that she thought that Kana didn’t care about V-day but she gave Fujioka chocolate anyways? Kana forgot that today was V-day and thought she was giving Fujioka a chocolate bar for energy during his soccer stuff. Then we flash over to the high school where we see Hosaka waiting with a rose for Haruka to give him some chocolate that will never come. Well, that’s all for this episode.

          I found this OAV/OAD (I don’t really care what it’s classified as) to be very enjoyable and interesting. Minami-ke has aways been a series that centered around the  human desires of eating and drinking along with friendship/companionship, a vast majority of the episode in one way or another where centered around the kotatsu or kitchen table and involved food and eating. 

        Throughout  this whole episode all the characters were pretty much the same as before but it was quite nice seeing Kana doing something kind for Fujioka, unintentional as it was, if she had known that it was V-day she never would have given him any chocolate, but to me it’s the end result that counts, Fujioka is very happy. Hell, Kana has no idea how much stuff she’ll probable get in return for Fujioka on white day.  I think that it worked out perfectly for Fujioka, Kana’s so dense that if he told her outright that he liked her, she’d think that it was some kind of crazy plot. Every one around Kana and Fujioka knows that Fujioka likes Kana, except Kana, even the fortune telling trick told Kana that Fujioka will be her future husband. Also, I found it very amusing how Hayami’s games with Hosaka backfired on her in a most satisfying way.

         Eat Drink Man Woman, the desire for food and sex (or just a crush) wets the human palate, Minami-ke has always been about a good meal and good friendships (and hopes for more), so I found this entree of Minami-ke to be a very fulfilling meal, seconds please.

       This episode begins with Madame Curie having trouble with her sliding balcony door, Gali offers to fix it, but instead she calls Leonardo da Vinci for the repair. After a little while, Gali and da Vinci start arguing, Madame Curie tell Marika that Gali is jealous of da Vinci’s genius. Then da Vinci spots Marika and calls her cute, he asks her if she would like to model for a painting? Yes, of course, if Pet can be in the scene.

        After he finishes the painting, da Vinci gets bored and begins to tear up the place so he can build some of his inventions. Gali starts yelling at him, but all da Vinci says is that he’ll fix the place later. He finishes building a tank and chases Gali around the place, and soon they all blast through the building’s walls. As they’re falling to the ground da Vinci uses a remote control to call his helicopter to save them, but that soon falls apart. da Vinci hands everyone a parachute, da Vinci & Marika’s parachutes function properly but Gali’s parachute opens letting nothing out but a banner.

          da Vinci and Marika float back to Madame Curie’s balcony while Gali falls to Earth making an impact crater. When Madame Curie sees Marika and da Vinci she tells them that it looks like they had fun, and she tells da Vinci to just to fix everything up. As da Vinci runs around fixing the place up we see Gali crawling out of his crater. Later, da Vinci reveals two paintings, the first one is of Marika that looks beautiful, and then the second one is of Gali and it looks like a shooting target. Well, that’s all for this episode.

     Well, this was another strange and wonderful episode of Marie & Gali, this time Marika gets to meet Leonardo da Vinci, and he portrayed as a kindly old man who has a hidden streak of mad genius in him. During the course of this episode Marika and us the viewers are treated to some of da Vinci’s most famous drawings and inventions, including his helicopter, bat hang glider, tank, and the Vitruvian Man drawing (see below for some of da Vinci’s original works for comparison).

       Another interesting thing about Marie & Gali is that most people who run into Marika find her very cute or at least attractive. I think that a major reason for this is that the town of Gali Hubble has almost no, or at least very few (as far as I’ve seen in the anime), cute or attractive girls/women under the age of about 30, so Marika’s a prime target. Overall, I found this episode to be laugh out loud funny, and I look forward to each new episode.

Thumbnails of some of da Vinci’s original work.

      Sorry for the delay in my weekly (or at least bi-monthly) motivational posters feature. I had a hard few weeks at work, and I had to keep the 3D GF happy. So, here’s a few new anime & manga motivational posters for the week of 6/29/2009. Feel free to share and enjoy these posters, but please at least give me a link or track back if you’re going to post them to a board or forum, Click on the poster to view at full size, enjoy.

        This episode begins with the chill of winter visiting our K-on! girls, Mio looks like she’s working on a project, and we see Ritsu walking down the street alone and she looks lost without her precious Mio-chan. All the girls are waiting for Yui in the clubroom, when she finally gets there she’s says she feels too cold to play guitar. Yui says she should try playing with her gloves on, and Ritsu says she’d like to see that, that doesn’t go very well for Yui.

        After a while, Mio and Yui notice that Ritsu is zoning out, and when they ask her what’s the matter she says it’s nothing. Later, Yui invites everyone over her house for a hotpot on Sunday, but everyone has something to do. As they’re walking home, Mugi says she has something to do and quickly takes off, the girls speculate on whether she’s meeting a BF or something, this causes Ritsu to blush.

        It seems that everyone has their little secrets; Mio asks Ritsu what’s bothering her, Azusa wants to do some shopping and she doesn’t want Yui there, and Mugi has mysterious places to go. Then the next day we see what everyone was hiding;  Azusa ran off to buy some stuff for a cat she’s watching for a friend, it looks like Mugi giving the working life a try, Mio is heading off the write a song, Ritsu has been ruminating over a confession letter she got, and Yui is keeping encased in her warm bed.

        As the day progresses, we see how each girl deals with her situation. Azusa at first is uncomfortable with the cat but soon she and the kitten get along just fine, and soon she names the cat Azu-nyan #2. Mio arrives at a cold and windy beach and says this is the perfect place to write a song. Ritsu starts playing around with her hairstyle, but she thinks she looks weird. Mugi is trying her best to be a good trainee at a world famous burger chain. Ui and Yui are out and about doing some grocery shopping, and they talk about how no one is coming over.

          Then a funny thing happens, Mio finds out that she can’t get any writing done and she wishes she had went to Yui’s place instead. Ritsu who was shopping with her little brother gets left alone when he goes off to hangout with a friend. Azusa gets really nervous when she thinks the kitty is getting sick. Mugi is making some mistakes at work, and she’s so upset she starts crying. But, a silly text message from Yui about  hotpots gets all the girls’ attention, Azusa calls Yui and is in a panic about the cat, and Yui and Ui stop by her place to look at the cat, it was just a hairball. Soon, Yui gets text-ed back by everyone, she finds out about Mugi’sjob and every one elses status, and everyone meets up at a table outside Mugi’s job site.

        Once all the girls get talking, Mio asks Ritsu what she thought of the song lyrics she left in her mailbox the other day. Poor Ritsu, her heart was sent all aflutter for no reason, and she tells Mio to not do such old fashioned things like leaving hand written notes. The next day in the practice room Mugi tells the girls she’s going to work till the end of the year. Then the topic switches to warm hands, and how much it would cost to rent Budokan, if they’re going to play there they’re going to have to rent it after all. Well, that’s all for this episode.

       Well, this was a pretty mellow and cute little episode, everyone except Yui and Ui seems to have had a little secret or personal crisis, and even though all the girls intended to spend their Sunday alone they still ended up together at the finish. Like I said in my episode 12 review, Yui is the glue that holds all the girls together, her silly hotpot text saved the day for the other girls. Yui’s message stopped Mugi from full meltdown, it got Mio away from her cold perch, it solved Azusa’s cat problem, and it stopped Ritsu from going crazy over her guy issue. Well, this series has always been more about girls bonding than girls forming a serious band, and that’s the way this episode ended, girls sharing tea and sweets, how sweet.

         Well, when I saw that Junichi Sato (Goldfish Warning, Sailor Moon, Magic Users Club, Doremi, Kaleido Star, Tutu, Aria, and many other anime) was involved in directing a new project I became very interested. I was delighted to see that Junichi Sato was directing Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~ (Sea Story), I have been a big fan of Maho Shojo genre for many years, and when I hear Junichi Sato’s name I think magic girls. So, here follows my review of episode one of Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~ (Sea Story).

         This episode begins with a ring sinking down into the sea and being found by two beautiful young girls (Marin and Urin) who live underwater. Then we go right into the OP and it consists of scenes from the girl’s underwater experiences and scenes occurring on land. The opening tune is called “violet” by Marble and it’s a very mellow and low key tune that’s gives the beginning of the series a slow paced feel.

Shots from the OP

        After the opening, Marin (the older sister) wants to go to the surface to return the ring to its owner, Urin (the younger sister) tries to stop her, saying that the sky dwellers might hurt her. Urin also tells Marin that the Turtle elder went to the surface and never returned, Marin is not dissuaded by her sister’s arguments and says that they won’t hurt her. Marin goes and gets some sort or golden bracelet, but before she can leave for the surface, Urin says that she can’t let her sister go alone, so she also grabs a bracelet. Marin and Urin hitch a ride on a stingray, and they say hi to a boy named Sam as they head towards the surface.

         After Sam sees Marin and Urin off, he runs into another girl who asks where Marin went? When she finds out that they went to the sky she becomes worried and thinks to herself that we’re protected here, but the light and darkness of the sky is very powerful. After they surface, the girls look around while holding their breath, then they go below water and say the they should try the Melkator rings. After they put the rings on their wrists, they surface again and find out they can breath the surface air.

       In the town that’s near the sea, we see that some sort of festival is taking place, everyone is walking around enjoying the activities. The scene switches to a young girl named Kanon, she’s walking through town wearing some sort of outfit, then we see her enters some sort of fortune telling booth. Kanon sees her mother inside and complains that she wearing her outfit, her mother says nobody will know the difference. Kanon gets really mad when her mother insinuates that fortune telling is scam act.

       As Kanon’s mother leaves, she makes a crack about Kanon’s boyfriend, Kanon gets really angry and we see a flashback of Kanon getting dumped (?) by her boyfriend, and she throws a ring into the sea. Then we see Marin and Urin walking through the town trying to find the ring’s owner, Urin doesn’t like the surface and wants to return to the sea, but Marin stops because she sees a mysterious girl (a Shinto priestess?)standing on some rocks singing a folk song about the town. Marin thinks the song is beautiful but Urin forces her to continue the search for the ring’s owner so they can quickly return to the sea.

        As a depressed Kanon is hanging out in her fortune telling booth, she hears some girls calling out about a ring with a fish design on it and she rushes outside and grabs the ring from Marin and smashes it to the ground. Marin then picks the ring up and Kanon grabs it and attempts to throw it away but Marin stops her from tossing it away, Kanon asks Marin to mind her own business. Just as Marin finally gets Kanon to calm down about being dumped she sees her old BF with another girl and her blood begins to boil again, and this time she tosses the ring into the forest. Marin goes after the ring, and Urin tells Kanon that you sky dwellers are mean, before going after her sister.

      As Marin is looking for the ring she gives some of the locals a dose of fan service, and Urin tells her sister that they should go home because that girl (Kanon) can’t feel kindness and beauty, but Marin says that she can sense that the ring should be returned to the other girl. Later, Kanon changes into her school uniform and heads outside, she hopes that the other two girls aren’t looking for that ring. As she walking by the seaside she sees her old BF with the other girl and gets angry again, but she soon calms back down after remembering Marin’s words.

        As day turns to night we see that both Marin and Urin are still looking for the ring, Urin wants to get the hell out of town and back to the sea, and Marin’s outfit keeps giving fan service to the town. As Kanon’s almost home, she hears a girl comment about why some other girls are walking around town in swimsuits, so Kanon goes searching for them. When Kanon finds Marin she says she won’t find the ring, but Marin tells her she’ll find it. When Marin and Kanon sit down, Kanon asks her where she found the ring? Marin tells her that she found it while walking near her home, and Kanon thinks she’s stupid because she knows she threw it into the sea. Urin is still looking for the ring when she sees a torii (shrine gate) along her path, so she enters the gate and follows the path.

        As Marin is talking with Kanon, and Urin is walking down the path, the town’s starts it’s fireworks display scaring the hell out of Marin and Urin. Urin begins to run down the forest path in fear, and Marin crouches down and plugs her ears, Kanon wonders what’s going on with that girl. Marin soon calms down and begins to enjoy the show, but Urin continues to run down the path, eventually tripping and falling and ending up near the base of the shrine, and Marin soon realizes that her sister must be frightened and heads off to find her. Urin starts to calm down when she sees a shiny object lodged at the base of the shrine, she’s found the ring, she attempts to get the ring but the base is too heavy so she begins to push on and kick at the base of the shrine, and some seals begin to break.

         Finally, Kanon suggests to Marin that they check the temple for Urin. At that moment, Urin manages to get the ring but her efforts tears the two seals open, and Urin says she hears someone calling her. Is it her sister? No. She hears a voice asking her to remove the lid from the sealed shrine. Marin and Kanon begin making their way down the path to the temple. Urin begins to push and push at the lid until it slowly opens, then a great swirling mass of black vapors escape from the sealed container.

        As the black vapors escape the container bad stuff begins happening around the town, the seas gets rough, the moon gets blacked out, it starts to rain, and the vapor even touches the ring. Urin starts to become frighten so she grabs the ring and hides behind a tree. As Marin and Kanon make their way to the shrine all hell breaks loose, lightning begins to strike the countryside, it even strikes a statue near Urin and its eyes begin to glow, Urin cowers in fear and calls out for her sister. Well, that’s all for this episode.

The ED song is called “Tōmei na Inori” and it’s performed by Masumi Itō, and the song is very low key and relaxing in nature, the background scenes fit the mood of the song.

Shots of the ED sequence.

        Well, this was a pretty interesting opening episode, full of light and darkness. The contrast between light and almost dreamy underwater home of Marin and Urin and the fast paced and noisy world of the “shy dwellers” was very well done. At times, certain points of this episode had pacing that reminded me of Aria or Sketchbook, and other points had the fairy tale feel of Tutu. But, this being a opening episode it’s hard to get a real gauge on the direction the series will take, most of the episode was spent giving us a introduction to some of the main characters and their personalities.

        Marin and Urin come from the “other world”, a world mostly lacking any real hate or danger, so they’re basically pure hearted girls who seem to be free of any petty malice or vices found in our world. Marin is pure, almost to the point of being naive, she looks for beauty and love above all else. Urin is mostly the same as Marin, but she’s quite a bit more leery and distrustful of the upper world. Kanon seems to be a bit too serious for her age, and she seems to let her feelings and emotions express themselves a little too openly.

        Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~ is supposed to fall into the magic girl genre of anime, so I’m betting that Marin, Urin, Kanon, and maybe the unnamed Shinto priestess will form some magic girl team. Marin and Urin clearly fit the mold, two girls from a magical realm enter our world with the aid of a magical item (the rings). Kanon has, or at least she hints that her fortune telling is the real deal and takes offense when her mother suggests otherwise. Now, getting to the unnamed Shinto priestess, don’t all anime Shinto priestesses and Miko have some spiritual powers? Well, I’ll be looking forward to see how this series develops, I’ve always loved the way Junichi Sato has directed shows from the magic girl genre, and I’ve liked how he’s done the slice of life genre shows.