spice and wolf 4
Categories: anime, episodic review, sayonara zetsubou sensei, spice and wolf
Tagged: sayonara zetsubou sensei, spice and wolf
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“Lawrence, I’m pregnant.”
(Andohbytheway, after this season wraps up, I’m retiring from anime blogging, but unlike bloggers who just fade into the sunset, I’ve decided to go out with a bang. My last post will be thin slicing the new season, spring 2008 edition.)
Did I just casually mention I’m retiring? Well, psyche. I’m not. The correct name for this post would be Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 3. I just felt like casually mentioning something with even one iota of shock value. Episode 3 of ZSZS (nice initials… I think) is one of the few episodes that actually lives up to the premise of the series. Just a bit wacky, a bit far-fetched, a bit confusing, but at the end, riveting entertainment.
This episode was arranged into three parts: Harumi searching for inspiration for her yaoi doujinshi, the riff about duty, and the riff about casually dropping shocking news. Starting with Harumi, this seven minute segment was by far the most ridiculously riveting yet nonsensical seven minutes of anime since… since… I don’t know. I had to chuckle at the ridiculous amount of Sunrise-related paraphernalia that Harumi had in her room. Besides random shots of the Gundam Meisters (including a Setsuna figurine and Gundams posed in a post that would even make Melissa Mao blush), she had Code Geass stuff as well as a random manga volume of Loveless. (I know it ain’t Sunrise, but it’s still the Gundam 00-related.) I think Shaft saw the Friends ED for 00 and just had to tear into the series after that. I think one of my readers said it best in that Sumeragi’s and Ms. Wang’s breasts get larger as the Meisters get more and more “friendly” as a way to compensate. I think the same is true for Code Geass as Bunny Girl Kallen is just a distraction from Lulu x Suzaku x new character. I don’t care. I’m still looking forward to it.
Normally I’m giddy enough with apt Sunrise references, but that wasn’t even the best part of the segment. Oh no, that was Inoue Kikuko making an appearance just to do her “jyuunana-sai desu!” bit. Only instead of the usual, “I’m 17!” she goes “I’m 17… and 9,619 days!” That was probably the funniest anime-related line I’ve heard in a while. Just inspired comedy. While Harumi was lounging around in her underwear (we’ll get to this soon) thinking of hawt guy x guy action, the radio was on blasting away with a typical Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei radio drama… and it was actually pretty good. I did have a complaint that with all the text and stuff going on, I ended up pausing every like 15 seconds. It was just ridiculous.
So while we had OH GEASS NO anime merchandise and Inoue Kikuko joking around in the background, the foreground featured a scantily clad Harumi deciding what to draw. It was riveting. At some point, one just has to expect that a scantily clad girl, alone in her room, browsing for male gay pr0n on the internet, would just… slip. That was the riveting part. I was honestly peeved every time Kaere flashed her panties because it distracted from the Harumi watch.
(And I haven’t even got enough words or time for the Brain Age and other references.)
(Or how I have this idea for a reality TV series. We’d get cameras and just watch Strato try to translate this series. I think it would be almost as riveting as the Harumi watch. Hey, if they can make a #$!@ reality series out of “Searching for the Next Elvira,” they can sure make “Fansub Survivor.” Screw it, I’m putting it down in my idea book next to Moe of the Dead.)
The second segment with Pink Supervisor’s riff on duty was basic SZS material. It’s not bad, and infinitely superior than yet another new character introduction segment. I think a lot of his riffs are like the quickie, condensed, and more non-nonsensical anime versions of Seinfeld. I can almost picture Jerry and George going over the same topics, just with even more social dysfunction surrounding them. I think in essence, that’s what SZS is. It’s the anime remake of Seinfeld. Or maybe Curb Your Enthusiasm is a better analog, but, in either case, Larry David is prominently involved. Definitely, Itoshiki-sensei is the Larry David of anime.
What was great about this segment was that they kept Inoue Kikuko involved, and they even mentioned her “jyuunana-sai desu!” bit as a matter of duty. They also went into like 50 more examples, about 48 of which went over my head. I think that’s about the same ratio for any Japanese person watching the Crazy Eyez Killah episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I did the Aki Hoshino reference! She’s like the Cindy Margolis of Japanese women.
(And I haven’t even gotten into how Kiri actually played a part in the episode!)
The last segment was Pink Supervisor’s riff on casually dropping shocking information. Yeah, I can picture this being a Seinfeld / Curb episode as well. I thought this segment was the weakest of the three, but it did feature Rin, who is my favorite Itoshiki clan member. I do enjoy all the naming puns, even if I had to look up a dictionary to fully appreciate them. The fact that all of the Itoshiki clan has such tragic names is funny in itself.
The ED for ZSZS features better animation than the episode itself. Like, beyond the first episode, I’ve yet to see animation better than this ED. And, oh, Harumi sure looks like Tieria…
(Spice and Wolf 4 tomorrow… maybe… if I haven’t quit blogging by then.)
(And, again, I’m not retiring. Well, not until 4/1 at least…)
29 Responses to “spice and wolf 4”
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Damn it Jason! You almost got me there with the title for this post.
Anyway, just finished ZSZS, a good episode with some very funny references and stuff….
The day you quit blogging, I’ll quit from anime…
Man Jason, you had me there with the “retirement” statement.
Buf if you ever retire, I will unleash my army of Bunny Girl Kallens to bring you back!
Definitely my favorite ep of SZS Season 1 and 2 so far, mainly just because of the first doujinshi skit
DONT DO IT JASON.. DONT QUIT BLOGGING. PLEASE. goddamn ur shit is awesome.
aww i got trolled, ur a f-aggot
LOL at above comment. The power of Aki Hoshino compels you!
dammit don’t do that again, man. you gave me a heart attack.
Reminds me of that heart attack i got when i saw a giga drill breaker for the first time…
mm gurren lagann…
mm…darry….
Man, that shot of Harumi taking off her shirt has got to be one of the hottest, most erotic, echii shot ever. Definitely one of the greatest moment of 2008! :D
Even a lurker posts to tell you: don’t stop blogging.
There is something in your articles i still haven’t found elsewhere.
GEKIGAN PUCH! If you ever stop blogging I ll kill a random DFC Nekomimi Meido and Itsuki. He deserves it.
From Switzerland with love
Melonpan Oneesama
DAMNIT YOU GOT ME OMG.
…i thought this was a spice and wolf post.
SHAFT rules. Being smaller means you have to take risks and do something different.
I’m disappointed that the Inoue character wasn’t a Belldandy parody. =P
>>Did I just casually mention I’m retiring? Well, psyche. I’m not.
YOU BASTARD
If/when you do stop blogging it’ll turn all your readers into Pink Supervisors.
“I’m in despair! Jason’s retirement has left me in despair!”
So you’ve been watching ZSZS on the sly, eh jason?
NO HORO! SAY IT AIN’T SO!
FWIW, If you got that picture where I think you got that picture, allow me to say that it was a complete PITA to stitch together. And only after having spent 3 hours avoiding office work, and fighting with GIMP, did I return home to check on my home PC only to notice that I hadn’t bothered to adjust the color balance between the two halves.
THIS is why my manager should issue me a new monitor.
good god you almost had me in tears with that retirement statement.. it hurt almost as much as jordan’s second retirement after the finals in ’98 ;(
Retiring? Sorry, I was disctracted by Aki Hoshino’s legs sensually wrapped in fishnet stockings before the information hit my brain cells.
What?
I am sorry but I do not recall anything but the Aki Hoshino picture …
Oh you ass, you giant ass. You’re lucky Hoshino’s legs are enough to appease 99% of your readers (including me).
considering Jason’s meido fetish, i am surprise there is nothing here about Fabiola, the new maid in Black Lagoon.
For about half a minute I was in despair…
Then I was derailed and all was good again. So where were we?
Crap I fell for it.
Thanks to you I had to dely eating dinner just to sympathize your supposed leave from the anime blogosphere
Anyways, I’m glad that SZS 3 is looking good. I need that check that out.
NOOOES!!!!! Are you really quitting blogging?! You’re my favorite blogger! If you quit, who will provide me with my substantial amount of gimmick posts, wallpapers, thin slicing, and RANDOMNESS?!?!? *crawls into a corner and begins to sob uncontrollably*
Wait a minute? YOUR NOT QUITING?!?!? *jumps into fruit bowl and performs 16-hour guitar solo*
I guess I should read the whole post before I fall into despair O_o…
Wow… you really riled the troops.
I suspected something was fishy as soon as I was the Horo pregnant joke. I was skeptical after that.
I’ll admit… you ALMOST had me… one more random picture and I might have snapped.
Never, ever again, you bloody bugger.
Honestly, and rather impossibly, this was more depressing than going through Gurren Lagann 8 for the first time.
Woah, woah, is Kiri the Hikikomori or the housewife?
Whew. You really got me riled up, man. No more “Just Shoot Me” jokes? No more football-anime relations? No more… AOMM/DbD? I’d fall apart, man.
At LEAST tell me if you liked ‘dat Eurobeat I sent’cha.
Technically, are they fishnets or thighhighs? fishnet thighhighs?.. retire what now?