momentum for may, reliable 妹 edition
So I remarked in my last post that out of all the little sister type characters, Chiko has been the most reliable. From Ranka to Nunnally, there’s a lot of imouto-class characters. How do the others stack up?
Plenty of Momentum
Ranka
As Reliable As Miss Macross Judging
By far, Ranka is the #1 reason to watch Macross Frontier. She’s way cute, starred in the three most awesome scenes so far in the show (Nyan-Nyan dance, Miss Macross Frontier contest, and her Zentradi mall act), and she has that awesome slug cell phone. (I want one!) I’m going to be all over Macross Frontier if Alto shoves Ranka under the bus for Sheryl, if Ranka doesn’t sing an OP/ED if we don’t get a “Kukuku. Maid Guy Variable Geometry Fighter!”, or if Ranka doesn’t pull off a successful Minmay Defense. Of course, I might be chippy that the Miss Macross Frontier contest didn’t span 8 episodes.
(Macross Frontier is dangerously close to Gundam 00 territory in terms of plot logic traps. Besides wondering why the hell does a civilian organization get the best technology and pilots, is why does the Miss Macross Frontier contest look like a high school production? Don’t the girls usually rehearse first? Shouldn’t the hall be larger? Visible TV cameras like Sheryl’s concert? The original Miss Macross contest was waaaaaaaay better produced. Also, in Macross lore, after the humans and Zentradi made peace, there were still billions of Zentradi warships in the galaxy. Why aren’t they protecting the human colonies?)
(My favorite line so far from Frontier has to be Sheryl getting out of the mass transit system and saying that “everything smells so good.” If the Frontier ship is a homage to San Francisco and the mass transit system emulates BART, it should smell like piss.)
Gaining Momentum
Midarezaki Girls
As Reliable As Their Mom
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki has picked up once Suigintou joined the family, and we’re past the “bully the nine year old girl” storyline. The whole cast is fantastic. Ouka is beyond overwhelmed and seem resigned to just go with the flow (Kyon). Kyouka is a ticking time bomb (Haruhi). Ginka could have been gar but gave up that path to become an okama (Itsuki). Yuuka has the baby-like face and is bullied a lot, but gets the attention of dad (Mikuru). Hyouka doesn’t say much but seems to do most of the family’s heavy lifting (Yuki). Teika spouts honorifics and is very fond of the baby face (LOL FANG-TAN). Chika was a time-lapsed Yuuka (All Woman Mikuru). Gekka, of course, is Shamisen. Only she sounds like Haruka Minami drowning in Hosaka’s special sauce.
Reliable Momentum
Chiko
As Reliable As Kogarashi
If Twenty Face’s den of thieves is a family, then, of course, Chiko would be little sister type. If I were forming an RPG-like party to scale the Tower of Druaga with characters from this season, I would definitely go with Kogarashi (tank, but really don’t need anyone other than him), Chiko (thief), Ranka (priestess/Minmay Defense), Blair (mage), and Fatima (Roper early warning system).
(Chiko’s the entire Midarezaki combined and then some. She has Gekka’s deviousness, Hyouka’s fighting prowess, Teika’s respect for family, Kyouka’s alter ego’s voice, Yuuka’s gentleness, and Chika’s determination. And, of course, Ginka’s trap-like nature.)
Little Momentum
Otome and Yume
As Reliable As A Brother’s Love
One general improvement over Da Capo is that Da Capo II has two sisters for Asakura to pick from, and they’re both vastly superior to Nemu’s wet blanket. My question: how can we get a hot springs scene in a harem anime without overflowing fanservice? How!? I feel cheated. Especially without Otome or flotation devices.
Steady Momentum
Kaede
As Reliable As The Lecture Room
Kaede is Pen-chan’s little sister, and she’s really the boss of the family keeping Pen-chan in check with the “lecture room,” which is quickly approaching “noodle incident” status. I’m positive that Kaede can rule Area 11 without issue.
(I figured it out. Penguin Musume Heart is actually about Hidamari Sketch‘s Yoshinoya-sensei’s school days. Besides the uncanny resemblance to Pen-chan, there’s also the fact both like cosplay and are mentally damaged.)
(I do enjoy Penguin Musume Heart for the reverse trap and the lesbian stalker of said reverse trap. Can’t go wrong with that combination.)
Steady Momentum
Patricia Thompson
As Reliable As The Symmetrical Docking Tag
My biggest complaint about Soul Eater is that it probably will never focus on Tsubaki’s lesbian tendencies. I would have redid the show to pair up Tsubaki and Maka (with Black Star and Soul) just to further enhance those tendencies. And, of course, any episode featuring Black Star and Soul, I’d just watch on 2X speed. But it’s worth noting that in a season strong with fanservice, the Tsubaki/Patty/Liz/Blair bakery only trails the Kallen/C.C./Shirley/Millay/Anya pizzeria.
(Death the Kid might disagree with me, but I think Patty’s and Liz’s docking is plenty symmetrical. And, yes, we desperately need a Megami magazine spread featuring these twins.)
Losing Momentum
Mikan
As Reliable As Lala’s Clothing
To Love Ru is pretty much a paint-by-the-numbers harem love comedy, only out of all the characters, Mikan’s the most likable. That’s a problem, even if she’s the reliable and sensible one in a sea of utter ridiculousness. To Love Ru is falling off my radar because the Rito/Lala/Haruna love triangle is so excruciating. It’s almost as bad as the Yuji/Shana/Yoshida one at the beginning of Shana Second. The thing is, Lala fanservice just isn’t enough to carry the show. There’s better fanservice out there this season, with the deadly Naeka/Fubuki combo, the Da Capo sisters, Chizuru, the Kallen/C.C. tag team, and the Tsubaki/Liz/Patty/Blair bakery.
(Zastin looks like he’s wearing Escaflowne.)
Little Momentum
Kaoru
As Reliable As Loli Fanservice
Would you be interested if I told you that Zettai Karen Children featured Aya Hirano in her Haruhi voice saying things like, “After all, big breasts are best” and “You can see her delicious thighs because of her miniskirt”? Nevermind that the anime itself is a mess of espers and nonsense and had a first episode that featured a penis laser.
(Besides her rampant lesbian tendencies, Kaoru goes berserk at times. While she isn’t a true little sister, she kinda has that kind of relationship with Kouichi. Or at least I hope it’s that type of relationship, because they kinda remind me of Aoki and Rin.)
Steady Momentum
Nozomu
As Reliable As Kouta’s Sex Appeal
Nozomu gets the short end of the stick in Kanokon. Kouta has effectively taken the DFC title, leaving Nozomu jobless. Kouta’s just too nice of a person to say, “Look, if I wanted DFC, I’d just fondle myself.” (I wonder what percentage of my readers are thinking, “Mmm… Kouta should try that.” I put the over-under at 40%.) I vote that Nozomu should just go around full time in that meido outfit since no anime can ever have too many meido.
Stopped
Rin
As Reliable As A Bad Pun
Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. I had a love-hate relationship with this series, and I’m kinda disappointed that it ended without a bang. The first season was nothing but a parade of character introductions, and the second season had a few decent moments, but quickly became formulaic with three despairs a week. The production values were horrible, there were despairs that were lame, and the supposed fanservice machine (Kaere) was weak sauce. Still, there were a few bright spots. The real fanservice machines were Kiri, Harumi, and Abiru. Especially Kiri. Good things always happened with Rin and Chie are on-screen, much like Christopher Walken in an SNL skit. But I really enjoyed Chiri’s transformation from Pink Supervisor’s love interest to “Rena with a shovel. Only if Rena were even more batshit insane.” And, yes, I do want a third season. If only to see if Majiru and Kiri would advance faster or slower than Chizuru and Kouta. That’s a lie. I want to a third season because I can’t wait for the other shoe to drop with respect to Kafuka. I mean… she’s secretly the nice college student next door… advance that plot line!
Momentum Delivered By Pizza Hut
Nunnally
As Reliable As A Sunrise
I predict that by episode 15, Nunnally will revel herself to be the true mastermind. She’ll step off her wheelchair, start walking, and give a smirk that’ll surpass even Chiko’s. It’ll be the anime Keyser Soze moment.
29 Responses to “momentum for may, reliable 妹 edition”
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Kogarashi is definitely an all-in-one multipurpose RPG character (tank,thief,alchemist etc etc). The only thing needed to complement him is a long-range unit and i would recommend Yoko :D
hmm, I wonder what a Kogarashi x Yoko lovechild would be like…
If the micloned Klein Klan was counted in this, she’d be pretty reliable.
Kogarashi can even defeat Psycho Mantis by plugging the controller into his other ear.
He does have a low wisdom score and tendency to get beat half to death though, I’d still want a healer with him.
Humans did not make peace with the entire Zentradi race. Their command structure went to hell around 10,000 years ago and nowadays a lot of them are split into many rogue fleets.
The ones that are coexisting with humans are the remains of Bulldozer’s fleet.
There’s still Zentradi out there who don’t know or even care about humans.
Also, Gundams to do not shoot lasers, silly.
har har har.
Jason, concerning why a civilian organization getting the best pilots and gear, just look at today and how private contractors are operating today in Iraq. They get former special ops guys to sign up for pay that is much better than in the military. The private contractors get to pay a lot in part because they didn’t have to spend money to train them (also because they charge the State Department which has not been keeping track and has been keeping it separate from the military spending). The weapons are a bit of a mystery since private contractors are getting sued in US courts for not providing adequate equipment to their employees.
As for favorite imouto, right now I would have to go with Ranka who looks like she can cook. Mikan can too, but she doesn’t sing. Anyone know if either Otome or Yume can cook? If so, I’ll go for the two-for…
Nyan-Nyan, desu?
>> hmm, I wonder what a Kogarashi x Yoko lovechild would be like…
Too easy.
wow, im already picturing Nunnally opening her eyes and giving Lulu the effect of the geass. OH GEASS NO!
I LOL’d at Hosaka. LOL’d like Patty Thompson.
Ah hah so you were the one pissing on BART! The mystery of the funny smell has been solved, it was Jason all along! :P
Military contractors are a funny lot, when they pimp out their arsenals they pimp them out. For the standard grunt, well our stuff is made by the lowest bidder… It comes as no surprise to me how the mercs got their grubby hands on VF-25s UN Spacy is still waiting for the Frontier Congress to approve the purchases of new weapons.
Nunnally for Empress of Britannia! Let it be the most lolicious Empire more in za wouldo! More loli than China.
For the record, I believe the reason SMS gets the good high-tech gear is because they’re the contractors who are TESTING the high-tech gear for the makers. And they’ve said in the show that it’s hard to get the UN SPACY to move…Clearly, the military has lost it’s touch in the decade plus since Macross 7. Plus, Frontier has been out in space for at least twenty years (Which is one of the reasons there’s so many extra pods attached to the dome), so their military forces have almost certainly gone down the drain since they launched. UN SPACY…or at least the ones on Frontier…probably haven’t coughed up the money to BUY the new Valkyries yet.
Basically, SMS are mercenaries who are backed by the people who MAKE the VF-25s, and/or are specifically created to fight the Vajra. The UN SPACY forces are trained to fight rogue/unconverted Zentraedi…and their VF-171’s are more than enough for that.
As to why there aren’t billions of Zentraedi ships protecting colony planets/fleets? Well…for one thing, nowhere NEAR all of those ships were converted…A rather large fraction of them probably still have no idea that the others have found Culture. Also, even with billions of ships, they’re spread out all over the galaxy…big place. Even billions of ships wouldn’t fill an appreciable chunk of space in a single solar system, if they were gathered together, and by no means are all of those still in working condition, properly crewed, properly supplied, or under friendly control.
Zentraedi are real big..one can only assume they cost a whole lot in resources to feed…better to micronize them, have them help crew human-built ships. Frontier can probably only handle a decent full-sized Zentraedi population because it’s been out for twenty years, and has added what looks like dozens of extra habitation pods.
Yes, I think about these things waaaay too much.
“Look, if I wanted DFC, I’d just fondle myself.â€
After you first wrote this, I realized I had the body of a starved ten year old girl and now I’ll never cry at night again. Or keep my legs unshaved. Or wear my hair short. Or wear boy’s clothing. Oops, am I letting too much slip again?
>>>She’ll step off her wheelchair, start walking, and give a smirk that’ll surpass even Chiko’s.
Is that before or after we get her “Just as planned!” face?
For Macross F: there are Zent ships defending fleets – but most of the ships with the humans are Vlitwhai’s (or however you spell it) and we see some of those with Galaxy. SMS is combat-testing the VF-25 Messiah (yes, they were given a Gundam style name) while the NUNS is low on training and morale but high on paperwork and red tape due to too much peacetime, and most Zentradi remain unconverted – thus the reason that there are still VF’s after fifty years (on top of the psychological reasons as they did win the first space war). Sheryl was talking about the city smelling good and not like a factory (apparently Galaxy is the Macross universe’s slum/Communist Russia), and Miss Macross appears to be a low budget thing on Frontier.
To-love RU: Mikan is the enabled of the story. She knows of part of the triangle, and gets him the alone time with the jared members, like an anti-Akiha. She also gets to catch Lala in compromising positions with Eito, then apologizes for interrupting the apparentvsex and clears out. Plus she enjoys creating set-ups.
Code Geass: I suspect Nunnally will either die, or kill Suzaku to reveal he and oniiaama were pawns of the Emperor and she was his keeper. Or one of those two will engage in siscon/lolicon. :P
A post about sisters and still no mention of Candy Boy. I’m in despair! (also in despair over the fact that I get the reference from the top pic)
>>Oops, am I letting too much slip again?
Don’t worry Amati, I’m sure there is someone on this blog looking for a loli imouto trap.
Have just been watching penguin episode4- think we need the butler and Kogarashi to have face off. The way he admitted that cosplaying as a school girl is his hobby and used an M-16 in a shooting gallery gets my vote.
Andy
>> A post about sisters and still no mention of Candy Boy. I’m in despair!
Completely blown away by the new Ikkitousen promo. I mean, that promo went as far as you could go without it becoming hardcore. It makes Kanokon seem tame.
>> Re: Zentradi
It’s really thousands of fleets with billions of ships per fleet. All you really need is the remnants of the Boddole Zer fleet since that alone is still a ton of ships.
>> Re: SMS
UN Spacey is like the stalwart of Macross. Seeing it so pitiful is like seeing a 46 year old coke ravaged ex-pr0n star Mikuru.
Still, at least in 7 the civilian force didn’t have the best weapons. They just had the craziest pilots. And guitars.
Yuki and Haruhi need some hand-me down VF-11s to rock our world. “Listen to my song” indeed.
There is likely a huge core of Zentradi ships covering Earth and some of the older colonies these days. Though I expect that a large elite group were lost in 2014. The rest of the “Cultured” Zentradi forces are now scattered with all the human colonial fleets. I don’t know how many there are, but you have the older (SDF-2) types and then the newer Macross class fleets, plus whatever they’ve built since Macross 7 and Frontier took off.
The humans and Zentradi must be breeding (or cloning) like rabbits if they are spreading out this much in 50 years after the near complete destruction of Earth. Wonder how Earth is going population wise? No more “all the eggs in one baskest” for the humanoids.
Just saw preview for EP 7 of GEASS: Another ‘Oh GEASS NO’ moment right there.
re: Zentradi:
>> It’s really thousands of fleets with billions of ships per fleet. All you really need is the remnants of the Boddole Zer fleet since that alone is still a ton of ships.
Estimates, based on how many ships were discussed and seen in series suggest that Vritwhai got away with a few thousand ships tops, and since there are millions of unconverted Zent ships out there… the ‘friendly’ Zentradi are outnumbered almost as badly as the humans were, ship-for-ship. So, given there are a lot of Macross fleets, there aren’t a lot of SHIPS to play escort duty; not millions, and not even thousands per Macross fleet. Quite a few accompanied Megaroad-01 into whatever fate took it, some are seen with the Galaxy fleet (getting blown up), and others may be with the Macross Frontier fleet… but not millions. There are millions of ZENTRADI (thank you, cloning tech), but not millions of ships. Most of those millions of ships are ENEMY craft, which is why they’ve got the UN Spacy around still.
Most of Vlitwhai’s fleet got blown up along with Boldoza’s. Those that were left have since been split up, fought off other Zentradi, or else are defending Earth and the nearer colonies. There’s a reason the UN Spacey’s had to build their own frigates and the like – there aren’t enough Zentradi ships to convert. There are probably a few dozen per fleet, but certainly not a huge number.
And in Macross 7, Basara had a VF-19 Excalibur customized… so there IS precedent for civilians with good connections to have top-line VF’s. The SMS was chosen by the makers to flight-test the Messiah, which means that the company is arming them directly… and poaching pilots from the military to equip SMS too (Ozma got out a few years back, and promptly got snatched up. Mikhail, Luca, and now Alto were in flight school presumably to become NUNS pilots, but now have also been headhunted by SMS). Ozma did comment that the military seemed to be getting desperate for pilots – something that current militaries know all too well (you do your tour, get out and then join the private sector for a pay increase and less risky duty along with less bureaucratic runaround).
Besides which, Macross 7’s UN Spacy group still had Max Jenius in it – everywhere else, the UN Spacy’s been a little.. overwhelmed, unless they had a big-name character as part of it (Roy Focker in Zero, Isamu in Plus). Hell, they were the BAD guys (sorta) in Dynamite 7… which had that weird Space Whale thing going on.
>> Basara had a VF-19 Excalibur customized
It was customized with Guitar Hero, not with weapons. Last I remember, it had a guitar for a control stick.
>> The humans and Zentradi must be breeding (or cloning) like rabbits if they are spreading out this much in 50 years after the near complete destruction of Earth.
Actually, most of the breeding can be explained either through DNA^2 or if Hosaka actually spoke to Haruka.
Jason: In-series, IIRC, they say they’ve got cloning tech going to help with matters. Still, civvies with better VF’s than most of the UN Spacy isn’t unheard of, as Basara’s example suggests – since I don’t recall if he had the guitar control stick before they put the Sound Boosters on it.
Remember – the VF-11 was still the mainstay of the Macross 7 fleets, with the VF-17 and VF-19’s being phased in to replace the Thunderbolts, and the VF-22’s being in limited production. Ten or so years later in-series we have the VF-171’s as the main New UN Spacy front-line craft, but with more usage of Ghost fighters like those seen in Plus to supplement them. Pity they’re useless against the EW-capable Vajra.
Poor, poor Hosaka – he probably took the Kogarashi maid uniform on out of shame at his failure to speak with Haruka. Either that, or else he changed his name to Lynn Shaochin, gained a lot of weight and underwent plastic surgery…
Haess, why are we even bothering to analyze a show that has a major premise that sound travels in space?
I’d rather discuss the ramifications of this…
Jason: This is the universe where the power of love and singing destroys whole armies. The reason we’re analyzing it is simple: it has hot girls in it, and this most recent series has every moe point in the book, minus MILF. THAT’S why. That, and Klein Klan combines two of them, which makes for interesting doujin material… especially when cosplayed by Konata.
As for that… I think the ramifications are the doujin writers didn’t work hard enough to integrate the rest of the harem and his mom into it. Speaking of MILF’s, that is. Oh, and Lala’s sisters, who are sorta like Mikan, but more full-figured.
I suggest you watch Macross F Ep 6 now instead. Ranka in hippo-cow jammies is another moe mode I hadn’t imagined until seeing this series.
Basara(dork)’s VF-19 not only had the guitar control stick, but speaker pod ‘bullets’ at the beginning of the series, and it isn’t that SOUND travels in space, but that the energy of the *singer* travels in space. The reason everybody can hear it is because they basically saturate all of the comm frequencies with their transmission, or force them to hear it via the speaker pods (which penetrate or attach to the armor, seal the hole, if any, then start playing…even if there’s no air for the sound to propogate, there’s solid matter in the form of the hull. And sound actually travels more readily in solid matter than air.)
The Minmay Defense is basically nothing more than a combination of wide-spectrum communication jamming, and extreme culture shock.
The Sound Force stuff in Macross 7 went a little bit further…it was the music triggering generation of what amounts to ‘soul energy’, or somebody else’s (Fire Bombers) soul energy being ‘weaponized’. Sound Force was basically the Gurren-dan, except instead of spiral energy/the energy of evolution/determination/whatever…it was the energy of passion. That’s why the UN SPACY sound force tanked, the singers weren’t passionate about it, and were piss-their-pants terrified.
I refuse to participate in the associated poll on grounds of lack of inclusion of Candy Boy.
I’m disappointed in you, Jason. Deeply disappointed.
I figured it out. Penguin Musume Heart is actually about Hidamari Sketch’s Yoshinoya-sensei’s school days.
Excellent observation!
>>It was customized with Guitar Hero, not with weapons. Last I remember, it had a guitar for a control stick.
And as it turns out, it was a lot more useful in fighting the Protodevlin than actual weapons.
I’d add more, but Kendra Kirai’s reply as well as most of the other replies had covered everything important.