DonKangolJones’ Images of the Week: March 27th (My blog’s not dead, it’s napping!)

I’ve fielded quite a few questions on and off Twitter as to whether the status of my blog would be best conveyed through an obituary.  Rest assured good readers that it is no more than a strange combination of bad timing, fatigue and work.  And to prove it I’m coming back strong with more anime, manga & perviness than ever.  But before I start I’d like to give my heartfelt condolences out to the people and Japan who are still enduring after the horrible disasters of earthquake, tsunami and a possible nuclear meltdown.  I suggest anyone reading this find your nearest, reputable charity and put some effort into helping those people.  I used Red Cross, you can use whatever you like.  Every bit helps.

It feels a little awkward mentioning such a serious subject on my goofy little blog, but even a curmudgeon like me doesn’t mind helping this cause.

Anime Images of the Week

There’s only so much ground I can cover from what has been an absence of over a month, so I’ll just hop back a couple of weeks.

With the exception of Gosick, I believe all of the other currently airing series I enjoy are ending soon.  That said, the show hasn’t been overshadowed by anything in even the slightest.  It’s what I would call an “easy watch.”  It doesn’t make me overly emotional when I watch it, but it still invokes feelings.  The latest arc gives me needed hope for the series as some much-needed emotional links have been made between characters, and I’m even enjoying Grevil’s presence in the story.  In short, I’ve gotten into a groove with this series that allows me to understand it better.  And as I’ve said before, I really do recommend the show.  It’s not great, but it’s very watchable and you won’t regret it.

Now for all the heavy hitters.  Star Driver is reaching its peak.  It has been a long, measured and calculated road to this point.  It has not however lacked for drama or its trademark light (very light) comedy.  It did something very different and artful by having an entire episode revolve exclusively around the play that’s been talked about all series.  I enjoyed the somewhat subtle way they decided to tell the backstory.

The next episode finally put some long questions to rest.  Would the Emperor’s seat ever be filled?  What would happen when Takuto met his dad?  What would happen when Wako and Sugata make their choices?  As a mecha fan I’m now very anxious.  These last two episodes may determine if I put it with the especially rare company of Evangelion and Rah Xephon.  That’s right.  I’m saying this show may be a classic.  But I’ve been saying that all along.

Madoka Magica for me is the Winter anime season.  It always punctuates every week by being more depressing and introspective.  As a big fan of Revolutionary Girl Utena, I have to say that I’m enjoying it quite a bit.  As blunt and violent as it tends to be.  It’s deliciously, subtly evil.  And as depressing and pointless as it wants to make you think it is, it does a good job of dangling specks of hope in front of you.  I think I may be watching another classic.  In a few weeks I’m sure I would have made the correct bet.  Just please don’t let there be a #@*%ing Mai-Hime ending.  Or you will see some serious #INTERNETRAEG.

By the way, Emperor J’s episodic blog post for episode 10 was probably my favorite one for that episode.  At the very least I respect thought out dissenting opinions.  Check it out if you’re caught up.

I’ve also been trying to keep up Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha at the same time as Madoka.  It’s been a somewhat bumpy (read: boring) ride, but things have picked up nicely.  Surprisingly this show has gotten a bit dark around the halfway point, and I find myself subtly falling love with Fate and her familiar in this story.  Who knows?  I may prove to be a real fan of a show in this genre after all.

I don’t quite know what category I want to throw Yumekui (Dream Eater) Merry into just yet.  I suppose Merry is a magical girl in her own right, but I get a weird Inu Yasha type feeling from this story.  To me that means I’m watching a shounen-type show for girls, or at least something that could be considered widely appealing.

That doesn’t really matter though because I’ve fallen in love with the show’s art and some of its characters.  My favorite being the maniacal, homicidal, deadly cute Mistleteen, also known as the Sea of Trees.  She gives off this strangely appealing and attractive vibe from  a character that I rarely see.  Anemone (Eureka 7) and Liang Qi (CANAAN) being the only examples of characters I’ve seen really pull it off in anime I’ve watched from the past two decades.

The show itself has proven to be slow-paced, but interesting.  I just hope the staff makes the right choice and don’t poorly conclude things in this season.  I would like for them to make room for a second season because there still seems like there’re so many unanswered questions and so much more to explore.

The last of the anime I’m keeping up with is the ever popular Shiki (I finished the middling A Certain Magical Index recently), and of course Bakuman.  A show everyone seems to be enjoying more now that they’ve spent less time on that ridiculous, damn near lifeless romance.  I’ll save my comments for Shiki for a hopefully soon upcoming Check-in Station.  And maybe I’ll do a Check-out Station for Bakuman, but it may not be necessary as I’m sure many of my fellow anibloggers like Ghostlightning, Scamp and Shinmaru with have plenty to say about its accomplishments and failings.

Manga Images of the Week

I have to be honest and say I crammed what manga I could into this post.  The disasters in Japan didn’t just wreak havoc on the anime schedule.  The posting of manga and my reading it has also been delayed.  Especially for the Shounen Jump material.  Something that did stand out to me though was this new manga (potentially a pervy one) called My Lovely Ghost Kana.  I’ll give credit to Vucub Caquix (no I don’t know how to pronounce that) for this one.  It’s not often you see a guy “bonk” a ghost.  At the very least, it’s not something I see very often (read: never).  Also, Fairy Tail has been damn intense for a while now doesn’t show any signs of slowing down in the immediate future.  I’ve been telling myself that I’m peeking ahead at the manga since I officially only follow the anime, but at this point I should probably just admit that I’ve been “reading” Fairy Tail for a few months now.  I’m just a lazy bastard that didn’t want to make posts for every chapter like I do with the other big shounen battle manga.

Pervy Images of the Week

And now for the grand finale, my pervy images of the week.  I crammed for this one, too.  But I did get a decent amount of diversity in for this post.  If you need any explanation for the Nanoha pic with the staffs in it, then let me explain.  They touched staffs.  Everyone knows that crossing staff is ultra pervy.  Other than that I don’t have much else to say.  Enjoy the damn pics and thank me later.

I’m looking forward to next week when I’m hoping to see god-tier Star Driver, a return of many of my fun shounen manga and hopefully I’ll see even more of Mistleteen in this upcoming episode of Yumekui Merry.  And in case anyone may be wondering (and I doubt it), I’m not doing a post for Sai Mecha.  I spend enough time debating mecha fags on MAL and Twitter.  I don’t need that stuff showing up to my blog, sh*tting on my doorstep.  We’ll have it out during the voting.