Fighting Spirit–Episodes 21 and 22
It’s time for Aoki’s match! He wins! I was glad to see it, given that the way he and Kimura talk, neither of them ever seems to do particularly well. Poor Aoki though, after the packed stands for Hayami, the curtain-raiser match, all of the girls left leaving just a handful of spectators.
Midori Days — Episodes 4 & 5
I think I’ve reached a certain amount of peace with this anime and its terribleness. I shall not enjoy it, but I think my most fervent rantings against it have subsided, at least for the time being.
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Fighting Spirit–Episode 20
A slightly uneven episode, but overall pretty good. Takamura’s moment was entirely too short for my taste though.
Fighting Spirit–Episode 19
I actually wasn’t planning on riding my exercise bike tonight (thereby watching Fighting Spirit), but I had to have something to get the icky taste of Midori Days out of my mouth, so I went for something that I knew would be enjoyable. Thankfully, episode 19 was better than the previous, but I’m missing the usual energy that’s in the show that wasn’t shown until the last couple of minutes this time.
Midori Days–Episode 3
I need to learn that being obsessive about something is not a good thing. Particularly when the obsession leads me to do things that are painful–physically or mentally. Reading more of the Twlight series even after absolutely hating the first two books. Doing double workouts until I nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
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Fighting Spirit–Episode 18
I must admit, this has been my least favorite episode of the series. It just felt boring–but at the same time, that was incredibly fitting! It wouldn’t have been right if this episode was as fun as the others–that’s not Kobashi’s style.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Today I had the opportunity to watch this lovely anime film. I wasn’t sure what I would be getting into when starting it. Would it be deep or shallow? Light or heavy? Fun or dramatic? Enjoyable or boring? With the exception of “boring,” the film ended up being a combination of things. It was light and fluffy in part, but it certainly found its depth in other parts. While most of the film was easy to watch unfold, like being wrapped in a fluffy blanket, some parts were heavy and moving, evoking feelings of near heartbreak. One thing it was not, as much as the viewer might think to the contrary, was predictable.
The basic story is simple enough: a high school girl finds herself able to leap back in time, and uses this power to make changes to the really bad day she had. Of course, like most time-travelling films, she becomes aware that her tweaks to the past are having negative consequences on the future–very serious ones in some cases. The rest of the basic story is a tale of a girl and her two best friends. Two guys and a girl, but in a relationship that is very far from being a love triangle. They just love being around one another playing baseball, and all three worry about what will happen if one of the others gets a significant other. Baseball with just two people is simply playing catch, after all.
What’s nice about this film is that it isn’t solely the predicted morality tale of messing with the past. Instead, a fairly suprising twist is tossed in during the last quarter of the film that takes it a level up. If it weren’t for that, I’d call it a good film. For going beyond the stereotype, however, it’s much more apt to describe it as very good. It’s not, however, a masterpiece. But not everything needs to be.
Between the enjoyable and compelling story, simple but sweet art, lovely score, and wonderful voice acting by the seiyuu (with the exception of Makoto’s wailings–those just didn’t work), I can truly say this was an incredibly enjoyable film, one that would be good to watch again every so often, just because of the wonderful feeling it gives you.
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Midori Days–Episode 2
I almost made it through this episode without the bile coming. I really thought my initial impression was wrong. But then there came the fatal final five minutes. Gah.
