Maid-sama! ep 18 - As for the "A" plot I think all you can say is convoluted schmonvoluted, but that doesn't matter a jot. Quite pleased to see the Miyabigaoka lot back as the antagonists, and we have a great opportunity for more Misa/Usui quality. Also, Misa-chan dansou = win.
Ookami-san ep 5 - What is this?! Actual over-arching plot? Could be a great fillip for the show, tbh, as it seems to want to be comedy moments with a larger focus on character and drama than the straight-up comedy I was expecting.
Amagami SS ep 5 - Oh yes, Kaoru is another excellent love interest. Love her hair, especially. Will be more interesting to see the differences in how things play out next ep with Morishima-sempai back in it.
DenYuuDen ep 5 - Now we're really rumbling story-wise, quite pleased with the level of quality in this show (although Funi's stream seems quite dark) as it was a pretty highly anticipated adaptation.
Mitsudomoe! ep 5 - Mitsuba getting the tables turned on her quite so spectacularly is a definite highlight in this show, she's the best character imo. I guess this episode would class as the show taking it pretty easy? Relatively speaking. Chiba and especially Satou were pretty well used in this ep considering how limited their role was.
Shiki ep 4 - Oh man, yes. This show just gets better. The method of delivery, the setting, the visual style (even the hair, which stood out a little too much at first) it all just comes together and just flat out works and provides an atmosphere unmatched by all but the best shows of its type. Muroi and Sunako, Natsuno's increasingly brittle mental state, Ozaki and the medical side of things all bring their own level of intrigue (although I have well and truly stopped caring what the exact medical terms they're saying are most of the time). The scene in the temple was amazing, especially Sunako's little riff on death, and Muroi seems to have done himself no favors by agreeing to have her back - as we can assume from Tatsumi coming to Tohru's house after being invited at the end of the last ep. Natsuno's hallucinations add tremendous tension to the final scene, as for a long time you can't quite be sure of exactly what is happening, and the cliffhanger still has an edge that it would have lacked otherwise. I don't know that the medical "investigation" provides anything truly satisfying from a narrative point of view, but in terms of world-building and watching people fight fruitlessly against something they don't yet understand it adds a lot to the show. Sometimes I can't decide if it is moving fast without a lot happening, or moving slow with a lot happening, but it does seem to be a two cour series, so shouldn't suffer the same sort of narrative pacing issues that bugged, say, Ookamikakushi. This is looking like a definite import for me atm, the best new show of the season.
Semi-OT, Natsuno's current state of mind really reminds me of Al Pacino's character in Insomnia (which was on TV last night), almost forgot how good that film was.
Strike Witches 2 ep 1-4 - It's been said in a few places already, but ep 1 was mad crazy similar to ep 1 of season 1. Didn't massively suffer from the fact, but still. Ep 2 was all about Mio being too awesome. Who needs defence when you have so much offence? Although Erica's reaction to her cutting of the Neuroi beam was priceless. Ep 3... well, we don't know if we'll get anything quite as exciting as the final two eps of season 1, but I think we might have found an early candidate for the "episode 7" of this season. A touch outrageous. Ep 4 was kind of cool in terms of the "A" plot, even if Trude and Charlotte aren't amongst my favorites. And as someone tried to warn me THERE ARE TWO OF THEM!! Best look-alike imouto reveal of all time, maybe. I reckon the main plot of the season should be easy enough to guess, just hope they get to it soon enough to let it play out at its own pace.
