Anime of the Week (5/12 – 5/18)

Anime of the Week – Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S
	Nothing makes your heart stick in your throat more painfully than having a righteous cause, but finding yourself powerless in the face of your seemingly invincible adversary. But giving up never enters into Misaka’s mind and I can’t wait to see how she puts that fighting spirit to good use.

May 12	Leviathan Ep. 6 I’ve been wondering how these reluctant girls were going to get roped into saving the world… but who’s the kid?
	HenNeko Ep. 5 It’s a real treat to watch Yukari Tamura do her tsundere. And Azusa also shows how to turn things around when plans go awry.

May 13	Gargantia Ep. 6 It’s my theory that the Hidiaazu are not aliens, but are a species from the Earth that hitchhiked with humanity into space.
	Attack on Titan Ep. 6 Yes, yes. Backstory is important and we’ve established that Mikasa is badass. Now can we finally start moving forward?

May 15	Samurai Bride Ep. 6 Another second season that’s not living up to its predecessor because the writers just wander aimlessly without focus.
	Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 6 We’re missing a lot of the complexity the characters showed in the game through their relationships with Hibiki.

May 16

Yuyushiki Ep. 5 If anyone is interested in how my thought process works while I’m brainstorming, watch this anime. It’s about like that.

May 18	Date A Live Ep. 7 What this series was missing has arrived—a sense of foreboding and dread that has really ratcheted up the suspense.
	Crime Edge Ep. 7 We shouldn’t become overwhelmed by our jealousy of what others have, but instead pursue that desire in our own way.
	Railgun S Ep. 6 If we can draw a clear line between chemistry and biology, why is it so hard to draw the line between animal and human?
	Maou-sama Ep. 7 In the words of Elie Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference,” which is why Emi still cares about Sado.
	Red Data Girl Ep. 9 I don’t get the impression a deific being would enjoy empty flattery, but it would be foolish to make her angry, too.
	Samurai Bride Ep. 7 With the plot finally starting to get rolling, it feels like the first half of this series was just wasting time.

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Approach Phase – Another Blog has Arrived

As I close in on the two-year anniversary of Ashita no Anime, I’ve decided to split up my content for the sake of keeping things organized into specific audiences who may not appreciate how I’ve just been dumping all of my interests into a single blog.  Ashita no Anime should be about anime and while the games I’ve been covering here are anime-inspired, that’s not really the same thing (in Ghostbusters terms, I want to avoid crossing the streams).

As you may have guessed, I’m a prolific card gamer here in Japan and I’m currently playing four different games—Weiss Schwarz, CHAOS, Victory Spark and Precious Memories.  The focus of Approach Phase will be Precious Memories, but now that I have a home for talking trading cards in general, I think I’m going to finally start expanding on some other, related projects that I think you’re all going to enjoy.

The process of moving content from Ashita no Anime to this new blog is still a work in progress (a lot of links are still empty) so keep checking back over the course of the week and be sure to update your links so you don’t miss out on any new information.  Also be sure to follow my new Twitter feed specifically for TCGs, @approachphase.

Anime of the Week (5/5 – 5/11)

Anime of the Week – Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S
	A terrific balance of comedy and philosophical quandaries juxtaposed by some sinister dealings to maximize the tension level, last week’s episode was a perfect example of why the Toaru franchise is brilliant.

May 5	Leviathan Ep. 5 Don’t you hate it when everyone goes fishing, you’re all using the same bait, but you’re the only one who can’t catch one?
	HenNeko Ep. 4 After Yokodera got his facade back so easily, I was worried the conflicts in this story weren’t resolving dramatically enough.
	Red Data Girl Ep. 4 What is going on here? There’s a lot of people with supernatural connections at this school, but who regulates it all?
	Red Data Girl Ep. 5 Why is it so viscerally satisfying to see an egotistical overachiever get brought down by an unexpected turn of events?
	Red Data Girl Ep. 6 If we learned anything from Totoro its when anime gets too deep into its own mythology it starts making its own rules.
	Red Data Girl Ep. 7 I always find it interesting to think about the various ways we apply morality differently to animals and humans.
	Yuyushiki Ep. 3 To anyone who decides to come to Japan from June to September: be prepared for hot, humid, energy-draining weather.
	Muromi-san Ep. 2 I wish I’d been able to made the connection between “leviathan” and “Levia-san” without having to get it explained.

May 6	Gargantia Ep. 5 So even Gargantia has a red-light district. They said it’s good for him, but talk about throwing Ledo into the deep end.
	Attack on Titan Ep. 5 Just what are these titans? The story is trying to explain them, but in doing so it may demystify them too much.

May 7

Yuyushiki Ep. 4 Unlike Yuzuko, I very much like wearing my glasses because it has the additional side-effect of making me look smart.

May 8

OreGairu Ep. 3 It’s said that discretion is the better part of valor, but sometimes the situation calls for standing up for what is right.

May 10	Crime Edge Ep. 6 Women are often accused of forcing men to be mind readers, but that doesn’t mean males can’t make their own feelings clear.
	Maou-sama Ep. 6 Ugh. As episodes that connect story arcs go, this was poor. I see where they’re coming from and going to far too clearly.

May 11	Date A Live Ep. 6 What happened? Was this episode concepted by the writer’s teenage son? Even as onsen episodes go, this is darned campy.
	Railgun S Ep. 5 It’s interesting to consider just how much of our personalities are determined by our upbringing and how much is DNA.
	Red Data Girl Ep. 8 It seems to be human nature to resist change at every opportunity. But we need to accept that change is inevitable.

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Friday Cards & Box Promos

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
	Chisato Sumiyoshi (01-001) Cost: 4 Source: 1 AP: 40 DP: 30 When your character named 「Chisato Sumiyoshi」 approaches and is put into your trash, when another one of your characters named 「Chisato Sumiyoshi」 approaches, it gets +20/+20 until end of turn and then stand it. It may approach one additional time this turn. Types: School Uniform
Thoughts and comments
These days in Precious Memories, the cards that can approach more than once each turn are usually the strongest, which tells me the Chisato deck is going to be the KoiChoco deck to beat.

Card of the Day

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
	Michiru Morishita (01-013) Cost: 2 Source: 2 AP: 30 DP: 20 During your opponent’s turn, this card gets +10/+10. [Approach/Both]: {0} Put this card into your trash. This card and a card with the same name or type gets +10/+10 until end of turn. Types: Kimono
Thoughts and comments
I assume that the timing on this card’s second ability allows it to get the +10/+10 bonus to deal the damage to a blocking or blocked character…I’ll have to check that. But having to put it into your trash to get the bonus…I’m not sure what’s up with that. Perhaps there’s some other KoiChoco cards that combo with this effect because I seem to recall another card with that ability as well. Difficult to call, but as of right now, it looks very weak.

Card of the Day

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
	Nozomi Edagawa (01-082) Cost: 3 Source: 2 AP: 40 DP: 30 When this character approaches and your opponent plays a character, your opponent discards 2 cards. When your character named 「Nozomi Edagawa」 approaches and deals damage to your opponent, discard 1 card, then draw 2 cards. Types: Swimsuit / Goggles
Thoughts and comments
There’s a lot going on with this card, but it all seems to err on the respectable side of the spectrum rather than try to do anything particularly spectacular. Really, I think this is a sad set of abilities on a 4-star rarity (the equivalent of Magic’s mythic rare).

Card of the Day

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
	Satsuki Shinonome (01-062) Cost: 4 Source: 2 AP: 30 DP: 30 When this card approaches or blocks, choose 1 of your opponent’s characters. That character gets -10/-10 until end of turn. [Approach/Both]: {1} Draw 1 card. This card gets +10/+10 until end of turn. Types: School Uniform / Glasses
Thoughts and comments
It’s always valuable to have an ability that you can dump your 1 source cards into for card draw. I think this will be stronger on defense so that you can choose the character you’re blocking for the -10/-10 target because you can’t guarantee that your opponent will cooperate and block with the character you want (or block at all for that matter).

Suisei no Gargantia – Morality of Feast and Famine

Based on my own research into philosophy and my experiences on the subject, it’s clear that morality cannot be categorized into good or bad, black and white.  It’s ever-shifting and depends entirely on the circumstances a society or even an individual finds him or herself in.  The culture clash at the heart of Suisei no Gargantia illustrates one of the times in which humanity might be forced to put aside its notions of protecting the weak and that’s the emptiness of deep space.

The thought of euthanasia and weeding out those people deemed incapable of contributing sticks in most people’s throats, but I think the key thing to remember is that Ledo comes from a very different society than we’re used to—one based solely on the quantity of resources. In space, limited supplies and proper allocation would be paramount to survival and it shows that when backed up against a wall, we’re capable of making tough decisions that are necessary for the benefit of all. Food, water, electricity and even oxygen are as precious as life itself (literally the essentials of life).

Anime of the Week (4/28 – 5/4)

Anime of the Week – Suisei no Gargantia
	No matter how much training and discipline the most hardened soldier may have, at the end of the day he’s still human and something humans never truly forget how to do is relax.

April 28	OreImo 2 Ep. 4 Ugh. The premises this second season keeps rolling out are getting more and more ridiculous. I expected better than this.
	Valvrave Ep. 2 I get it. Unrequited love is a common trope, but no half-assed confession has made me want to upturn my desk more than this.

April 29	HenNeko Ep. 3 Why does society accept that all men are perverts, but if a man wore his desires on his sleeve nobody would trust him?
	Yuyushiki Ep. 2 I always enjoy these natural-thought-process moe anime with wandering ideas that make you feel smarter for watching it.
	Gargantia Ep. 4 It’s a good thing that morality is a malleable concept that can be molded to fit whatever circumstances face humanity.

April 30

Attack on Titan Ep. 4 It’s important to develop the setting and characters, but there’s no reason it can’t be done while telling the story.

May 1	Leviathan Ep. 2 Sometimes complexity is overrated and this series is doing great keeping things simple yet still telling a fun story.
	Leviathan Ep. 3 Like the heroine, I also love barley tea, but using it to defeat monsters never occurred to me. This series has me hooked.

May 2

Leviathan Ep. 4 This series celebrates the unique traits that men and women possess and by working together we can make each other stronger.

May 3

Maou-sama Ep. 5 Even if it’s not intentional, once you’ve invested a considerable amount of time into something, it becomes more precious.

May 4	Date A Live Ep. 5 What has been seen cannot be unseen, but sometimes what has been done most certainly can be undone.
	Railgun S Ep. 4 I think we forget that if a clone of ourselves existed, it would almost certainly be a separate person and not a slave.
	Crime Edge Ep. 5 It’s still kind of sad, but it’s nice to see a role reversal where the girl is clueless about the guy in love with her.
	Samurai Bride Ep. 4 Women worry far too much about changing themselves when the man who will love them thinks they’re already perfect.
	Samurai Bride Ep. 5 The problem with unnecessary sequels—all the best ideas were in season one and season two is just a spectacle.
	Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 4 Everything is proceeding out of line with the game. Time will tell if that was the correct way to tell the story.
	Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 5 I’ve played the game, so I know the backstory and context and I’m still lost. Is there any hope for the uninitiated?

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Spring 2013 Recommendations

I had unbelievably low expectations going into this season because the only titles I recognized from my previous experiences with anime, manga, games or image boards were Railgun, Devil Survivor, Samurai Bride and OreImo.  Of those, only the first two filled me with optimism.  However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover spring 2013 to have a lot of gorgeous gems that I never expected to find.

1. Suisei no Gargantia

A mecha story about a clash of cultures.  I know this is going to be awesome because I keep rewatching every episode over and over again to soak up the writing, which masterfully interweaves the exposition of the beautifully expansive setting with moving the plot forward at a steady pace.

2. A Certain Scientific Railgun S

Mikoto Misaka is possibly one of the best designed characters in the history of anime.  Proud but not boastful, rich but not extravagant, powerful but still humble, she was the centerpiece of an awesome story in her first season and I expect to see nothing less from the sequel.

3. Hataraku Maou-sama

A once powerful overlord brought low finds there’s more to life than he thought he knew.  Humbled by the circumstances he finds himself in, will he be able to reform his ways or is his darker nature all there is to him?

 

4. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge

Contrary to what other reviewers have said, this anime is not about magic scissors that can cut otherwise indestructible hair. It’s a delicate dance of opposites attracted to one another who create a beautifully poetic symmetry through their partnerships.

 

5. Attack on Titan

In a word…EPIC.  In this world of vengeance it’s go big or go home as the last stronghold of mankind literally stands with their backs against the wall to fight what by all rights ought to be an insurmountable foe.

 

6. Date A Live

While not the most sophisticated of premises, applying dating game logic to real life yields some surprisingly comical interactions.  But the real treat in this series is how well it manages to tell a story through the actions of the characters rather than having to walk the viewer through every detail.

7. The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat

The strength of some series lies in their art style, others have great music and still others have amazing writing.  This show does respectably in the first three categories, but where it’s impressive is in watching its terrific cast of voice actors practice their craft.

8. Yuyushiki

There hasn’t been a really good moe anime since Acchi Kocchi, but this title is showing promising signs with its freshly endearing art style and story that randomly follows the daily lives of the trio of quirky girls that make up the primary cast.

 

9. Red Data Girl

On the surface this is just a pretty environment that is dominated by an ominous and foreboding atmosphere, but dig deeper and you’ll find it’s one of those tense stories where emotions run high and the ability of the writer to make the audience feel for the characters is paramount.

Honorable Mentions

Zettai Boei Leviathan ∙ Devil Survivor 2 ∙ Samurai Bride ∙ Muromi-san ∙ My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU