minami-ke, of christmas and eves
Categories: anime, episodic review, minami-ke
Tagged: minami-ke
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What’s a little Christmas without a little Minami-ke?
It seems like I blink, and it’s almost over. Minami-ke is down to a single episode left, and I’m partly dreading the instant remake. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that they changed the hair colors… slightly… but seeing blonde Chiaki and red head-ish Haruka and the possible lacking of Black Bible faces and blaxpotation background music… well… I’m scared.
Since I just praised the show in my Best of 2007 feature, I’m spare yet another recap of what makes Minami-ke great. Nonetheless, this episode continues to deliver the goods. Start with some Kana/Chiaki violence, toss in some Haruka is amazing, season with some gender confusion, dash of males on a fast track to Celestial Being, and top with a trippy stuffed bear, and that’s a recipe for a great holiday episode.
Funniest Moments
For a holiday episode, there sure is a lot of violence. Nothing says peace on earth than blowing a bit of it up! The Futurama way! Ho ho ho! It’s time to get jolly on your naughty asses!
But… sisterly love… that’s more like it!
Kotetsu slug Kana. She does it so well!
This is madness!
Madness?!? THIS IS SANTA!
(If the Fujioka-bear/Alaska bit and the loincloth Santa bit went on for a bit longer, I’m sure we could splice those with the various Kana/Chiaki violence scenes to make a Minami-ke 300 parody trailer. Kyrios knows that they have those 300 parody trailers for pretty much everything else.)
Just like Leonidas at the beginning of 300… I have seen the trailer to the Meet the Spartans movie, and, as far as I’m concerned, Taniguchi signing Koi no Minori Densetsu is the epitome of spoofs. Nothing will ever top it. Don’t even try. It was he perfect whirlwind of just the right guy, the right subject matter, and the right time. Not even a Minami-ke 300 parody can top it.
Remember when I was bitching about staring at a phone booth for six minutes during ef? I know that phone calls aren’t the most exciting things to animate (especially without Keitaro around), but I guess it just shows how Minami-ke does it (and does it well): Haruka waggling her ass. Now would you rather stare at this or at a phone booth for six minutes?
… or at least tossed us some Miya-Miya emo facial distortions during the phone call. Sheesh.
“Stop trying to hit me and hit me!”
I have a soft spot for crying Chiaki.
(And if this isn’t me baiting for a YTAMR comment, I don’t know what is.)
Chiaki’s four hit bakaero combo was just an epic smackdown. Kana really had no possible response for it… except maybe “THIS IS SPARTA!” and kick her down Emperor Palpatine’s bottomless pit.
(I kinda understand why the Spartans would have a bottomless pit, but I don’t understand why Palpatine would have one… with no guardrails… in this throne room. And if I were a chief architect of a death star, wouldn’t I go, “Mmm… you know, our emperor’s kinda old… maybe we should put some guardrails in.”)
Right now, my Wardrobe Power Rankings™ goes:
1. Minami-ke
2. Gundam 00
3. ef ~a tale of memories~
4. Clannad
5. Moyashimon
Ever thought that a Kyoto Animation series would fall out of the top three? To a Sunrise anime? Isn’t this like seeing the Florida Marlins in the top three of team salaries in baseball, with the Yankees at number four?
There were a lot of outfit changes this episode, though Kana didn’t break out her “I AM BOSS” T-shirt. I wonder if you can buy an “I AM BOSS” T-shirt down in Akihabara these days. It’ll go well with my Rasheed Wallace “Both teams played hard” T-shirt.
Egads… is Minami-ke a subliminal advertisement to go watch Black Bible… though I did laugh at the H-ish sound effect during Natsuki’s daydream.
(I do wonder if Touma does get his… her… soccer equipment. This unresolved scenario might top the last episode of The Sopranos. Though, not that Herculean of a task.)
(And, yes, her brothers are idiots. At least they aren’t cross dressing idiots. Speaking of which, I was disappointed we didn’t get a Mako-cakes Santa… or Mrs. Claus. Now that would have made up laugh up a lung,)
Haruka is amazing.
15 Responses to “minami-ke, of christmas and eves”
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Haruka is indeed amazing!
but I dont know about you, but in that picture above “But… sisterly love… that’s more like it!”, doesn’t it look like Chiaki is getting some secret “B-Feeding” action? Oh how Chiaki loves Haruka, can’t blame her….now excuse me while I curse Chiaki out of jealousy…..
well since Minami ke is getting a second season in… about 2 weeks, all is not lost
@ Ragz: Not second season, a remake. Like Kanon. Only there isn’t a 4 year gap.
As per screencaps go, you’ve got the shot that doesn’t make Hosaka look really creepy. Where? Look behind Santa, and you might recognise a familiar head…
Not much can top Stuffed pedo-bear beating the crap out of Grizzly pedo-bear to earn the right to become the second Fujioka and Chiaki’s S&M toy. Not a bad fate, but Id rather have Chiaki as my wife.
Another fantastic episode. Minami-ke continue to impressed. But as my enjoyment of the series increase, my fear of the new ‘remake’ series increase.
Seriously, why can’t we have 26 episodes of this? What if the remake is no good? Grr… I’m nervous :D
Chiaki really went after Kana judging by the snaps of her pajamas. As a student of a martial arts, I know it helps to have a crisp, clean uniform (sometimes helped w/ starch) to make those kind of snaps with your punches. Either Chiaki is really good or Haruka has some serious laundry skills.
And yes, Haruka answering the phone is amazing. It is sad to see the series end so soon.
And Natsuki wore the [Baby] shirt, just before he goes and does his now-famous impression of a Pavlovian-trained boy who faints at the thought of Haruka-neesama’s cleavage. Yes, he is indeed a big baby, and more so for fainting instead of bleeding out at the memory of a narcoleptic, half-undressed Haruka-neesama.
It’s always good to see Chiaki show more expressions, and to give Chihara Minori some more ‘meaty’ roles that don’t involve monotone voices; upset Chiaki and ‘ohmyGod,Santashowedup’ Chiaki isn’t quite as good as Yuko Goto going ‘anta baka?’, but it’s not something to dismiss either. You did miss the preview for the next ep, showing Chiaki lying atop Haruka-neesama, however.
And Okawari looks a bit like a harem or romantic-comedy series, alas. :P I fear for the future; it’ll may end up being like going from KyoAni doing Fumoffu to Gonzo doing the first season of FMP all over again…
Since there will be two Minami-ke shows in the 1907-08 period, by two different studios, with different artwork…can Haruka be up for both winner and runner up in Saimoe 2008? Is that legal? Can we make it legal? I want to see the Mimami-ke Wars of Saimoe if the three sisters can make it from both versions of the show into the contest. It would be fun.
1907-08 LOL.
Let’s go predict gravitational redshifts!
Rather than looking for an I AM BOSS t-shirt in Akihabara, might this suffice for the time being? :P
http://www.zazzle.com/i_am_bos.....4474047062
*slap* Okay I’m better now. Been typing for an alternate history site set in the 1900s, so I’ve been typing 1909 and the like for hours.
Still…for 2007-08, can we have double Haruka for Saimoe? She is amazing after all.
Can a secret banchou be moe? I suppose I’m no expert, and she’s certainly amazing.
Palpatine would lose villain-cred if he didn’t have a bottomless pit into which he could be thrown. Hafta keep up with the Joneses, you know.
God DAMN it. I hate leaving comments with that last picture in the way to block me and having to stare at it for minutes on end while blood rushes to certain valves.
… Hayami 13. I mean, Minami-ke 13. Oh thank you, Hayami-senpai. I KNEW we could count on you to hit every criteria required for ‘show of the season’.
“Hey, Emperor Palpatine, we were thinking about putting some guardrails around your 10-foot deep pit.”
“Why? Do you think I am old and infirm?”
“Er… No, sir! Just forget I said that! What I meant to say is, let’s make the pit bottomless! Since there’s no chance you’ll trip and fall down it! Please don’t kill me!”