Version 5.4 ~ Haruhi gave rock and roll to you.

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Dated 3 March 2015: Maria the Virgin Witch is pretty good even if it is a show about virgins and witches

Maria's orbs are huge.

Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch) is quite different from what I was expecting. It's turning out to be semi-serious fare with actual stories and sub-plots about different factions involved in Maria's little war instead of a lurid fan service comedy. (Maria does seem to spend a lot of time on screen being very blonde, very aerodynamic, and mostly nude, though.) Thankfully, her hatred of war and entirely emotional approach to it, though idealistic and childish, manages to not annoy the shit out of me like the other occasions when obtuse anime pacifists carry on about some sort of nonsense or other. Oh, hi, Cagalli. I didn't see you standing there.

Somehow not a potato.

The witch part of Maria the Virgin Witch is interesting enough, I suppose, except that none of them appear to be evil. I guess from the point of view of the show's religious leaders, many of the witches are bad—oh, so bad—but from a modern anime viewer's perspective, I have to say they're pretty good. Especially the Noto Mamiko witch. The virgin part hasn't gotten annoying yet either. Where it goes from here will depend on how it handles its "Stop Using Sex as a Weapon" plot. Like My-Otome, nearly 10 years ago before it, characters in Maria the Virgin Witch have figured out that you can rape away an uppity girl's magic powers. (P.S. Spoilers.) I get the feeling Junketsu no Maria won't simply shrug this off the way My-Otome did, but I hope it also doesn't suddenly turn into a morality play about the Otaku Virtues.

Dated 26 February 2015: Aldnoah.Zero postpones Slaine's looming catastrophe by another episode

Asseylum and Eddelrittuo
I guess it could just be gas.

The standard Aldnoah.Zero caveat about megas spoilers applies again. The following addresses concerns and questions through the first 19 episodes and once more engages in considerable speculation.



Slaine's pistol in episode 13 looks the same as
the one Asseylum waves around in the first OP.



Dated 17 February 2015: The Changing of the Cures was the highlight of my visit to Buckingham Palace

Sure, Window, go ahead and sit this one out. Cure Lovely has got this.

After more than 10 years of Pretty Cure, it's sort of amazing how quickly its one-year seasons pass now. It seems as if it wasn't that long ago when Window was busy making a name for herself as the new Worst Cure Ever. She turned out all right, though, and of that I am glad. A girl can go a long way once she starts distinguishing herself by punching people in the face. As a series, Happiness ChargePrecure! distinguished itself in three major ways: (1) Its filler episodes were actually pretty good, which is fortunate because its high marks didn't hit all that high. (2) It reminded viewers that Pretty Cure as a franchise is decidedly in favor of heterosexual schoolgirl crushes on older boys, no matter what manner of lesbian dreams some of its male viewers might have. (3) There were shit-tons of scrub Cures from all around the world—enough that I fell into despair when I thought about trying to keep my Cure Rankings list updated.

Cure Flora, Aroma, and Pafu
Relax, kid, you'll get used to it.

Following the HappinessCharge Precure! conclusion (which was fairly lackluster in my view), Go! Princess Precure sprang into action, ushering a level-up in CG integration. Thus far, I have a fairly positive view of the new series, partly because of the gokigenyouing, partly because of the ballet, and mostly because it seems to be more about beating ass than cultivating feelings. I know I'm supposed to be opposed to the CG integration as a matter of principle, but so far it's been a net gain. None of the characters seem to stand out all that much for me, but that's the sort of minor complaint they can cure by devoting a few episodes to kicking deadbeats in the neck. If they keep up their early episode aggression, these erstwhile princesses and I will get along just fine.

Dated 10 February 2015: A tail of two catgirls

A catgirl doing cat things.



Dated 4 February 2015: Kantai Collection for the casual landlubber

Kongou sure knows how to make an entrance.


Apparently nobody has had the heart to tell Shimakaze
that she mistook a shampoo hat for a skirt.



Salamandinay and Ange
Oh, Sunrise.


Ange and Tusk
I'm starting to think Ange and Tusk are both bar magnets.


Dated 19 January 2015: Slaine is still a fuck up

You may want to upgrade to a better side arm.

By now, if you've had any interest in the second cour of Aldnoah.Zero, you likely already know a number of spoilers that could be quite disconcerting in their own right, merely from a narrative perspective. Pretending it's possible to talk around some of the specifics to preserve some modicum of spoiler avoidance, I'm going to address one of my concerns while ignoring the bigger problem(s) entirely.