Arakawa Under the Bridge 13 – A Great Finish to a Good Season

As I had guessed might happen after the last episode, this season finale was a stand-alone episode, unrelated to the main story that had concluded in episode 12. Still, it wasn’t pure comedy like I had predicted, and the last half was a heartwarming way to end the season and to tie together the most important threads of this show.

The parade to close out the night.

Working!! 13 – Sayonara, Wagnaria (With Added Sentimentality!)

The finale of Working!! was extremely similar to every other episode of the series, and it delivered exactly what we’ve come to expect from the show. It had clean, character-driven humour, with some slapstick and development thrown in for good measure, topped off with fun music and solid production. It was these similarities along with a distinct lack of closure that made it feel like the show really didn’t want things to end. We were even introduced to a new character! But I’m not complaining. (After all, since I’ve loved the rest of the series, I suppose it’s only natural that I loved this episode too.) And I’d be absolutely rapt if Working!! got a second season. Oh, and…

This post took a little while to work on!

Giant Killing 13 – Now With TF2 Metaphors!

This is the game that never ends.  Yes it goes on and on my friends!  Some people started playing it not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue playing it forever just because…  What’s that, it ends with this episode?  And they won?  Awesome!  Watching this game was like playing a bad round of 2Fort.  One team decides to turtle up so it takes forever for the game to end.  The turtling team wins, not through a fantastic offense, but because one or two players outmaneuvered the enemy team and scored all the captures.  Then everyone celebrates because the game finally ended.  This Team Fortress 2 metaphor continues, but I’ll help you keep up.

Yes, I know, shock and awe, the game actually ended.

Bakemonogatari 15 – It Was Worth the Wait. Now Let’s Move On.

This is it. It’s finally here. The wait is over. On Friday, 6/25/2010, the final episode of Bakemonogatari was released as a streaming video on Shaft’s website. The 15 episode series took just 1 week shy of a full year to complete. The final episode was released 122 days, or just over 1/3 of a year, after the previous one.

Let us bask in this moment just a little more.

It's finally the last episode!

Okay, that’s enough. Part of the big deal of having a new episode released is that there new content to watch, after all. And as the finale to perhaps the most popular series in the last year, there was plenty to look forward to. The conflict between Tsubasa’s Cat and Koyomi finally came to a head, creating some excellent tension-filled moments that were finally released by Shinobu’s triumphant return. And the denouement following provided a hopeful conclusion to this cynical series, a conclusion that I found to be both touching and enjoyable.

Angel Beats! 13 – And it all came to an end. [Major Spoilers]

The finale of Angel Beats! was, like the rest of the series, a mixed bag for me. Several questions were left unanswered but despite this, I still felt quite pleased with the ending. I also felt that, with less to cover in this episode, the pacing was better here and even though we didn’t get all that much closure with regard to the plot, I do believe we got closure with regard to characters… well, at least some of the characters.

Yes. Cry, Otonashi. It's all over.

Durarara 24 – The Reset Button

What a long and varied ride Durarara has been!  We began with a rollercoaster of overlapping plot points as we introduced the characters.  This built up to Mikado’s dramatic reveal as the leader of the Dollars.  Then we had all the possessed madness as Anri took a level in badass.  Finally, we ended with three mopey teenagers learning the vital lesson to trust in each other.  So where exactly does this episode leave us?  The director essentially pressed the reset button.

It's like it was all some kind of strange dream!

Arakawa Under the Bridge 12 – God from Machine

So this episode actually concludes the father-taking-over-under-the-bridge saga. The title of episode 99 (the last story-based episode), “Conclusion,” pretty much puts the nail in that coffin. The way the story ended was a bit unexpected and abrupt, but it was a strong episode nonetheless, with the 1st half being as funny as I’ve seen the show be, and the 2nd half being extremely heartwarming and sugary sweet.

There were so many great shots of Nino this episode, I've decided to stack this post with them.

FLCL 1&2 – Fooly Cooly and Firestarter, 10 years later

FLCL is a show that really needs no introduction. In the US, it gained a lot of popularity in 2003 thanks to its airing on Cartoon Network with an excellent dub. But of course, this 6 episode OVA existed for quite a while beforehand in Japan.

In fact, it was 10 years ago today, June 21, 2000, that the 2nd episode was released on DVD. While I didn’t watch it until over a year later, I figured that this 10 year anniversary was a good time to write a little something on the 1st 2 episodes of this show. Why didn’t I do this on April 26, the day the 1st DVD came out? Well, to be honest, I didn’t even think about the fact that this year is the 10th since the release of FLCL until a few weeks ago. But it turned out pretty convenient for me, because I had experienced the 1st 2 episodes together as a set.

Giant Killing 12 – Wonder Boy

For the last two weeks, ETU and Nagoya have been competing for supremacy on the field.  This week, they continued their struggle.  Next week, guess what?  Yeah, they will still be playing.  I have a criticism for Giant Killing now, and its all about the pacing.  Condensing all the losses apparently means they feel they can spread out this game over four episodes.  It generates a weird rubber band effect for the plot flow.  That’s a more general complaint about the series, though, so let’s talk about the episode.

Carlos, don't you understand it makes no sense to stand still on the field and talk!?

Why I Hate Rei Ayanami

Before I try to defend this statement, let me start by saying that I used to love fruit loops. When I was younger I would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But as time wore on I started eating less and less of the stuff. Whether this was because I stopped picking up what Toucan Sam was putting down or I realized that fruit loops just plain sucked, I will never really know. But getting back on topic, there may be a third possibility. To borrow a business term, a product has brand equity (value) and over time this equity can rise and fall due to a variety of different factors. One of these potential factors includes the adverse affect of cheap imitations. So perhaps my current hatred for fruit loops is due to my mom who decided to save a few bucks by buying the bulk sized knock off (I was eating them for every meal, so it’s understandable).

You're probably wondering where this is going.