Check-out Station: Watamote ep12 (Dreams, delusions and great direction)

So sad, we’ve come to the end.

We begin (or end) things with a bit of a refresher. The school year has moved on, the cultural festival is over, and Tomoko is still stuck in the same rut. Though it seems she’s adjusted rather well to her circumstances and position. Though, truth be told, she really hasn’t made any progress aside from avoiding the usual trap of falling into bad situations because of her delusions. That said, the delusions don’t go away; they’re only sadder more internal ones. Tomoko tries again and again to imagine the fun she should be having at this point in her school career. But every time she imagines something happy and ideal, the cruel, cold reality of life swats down her imagination.  And when she tries to recall exactly what she’s done up to this point, she nearly dies

Watamote ep11: she’s very good – at cutting up!

The episode, and Tomoko’s day start off with her trying to avoid work as much as possible. With the festival right around the corner, her class, just like everyone else’s, is hard at work building and crafting what they need for respective attractions. Tomoko rangles up the duty of cutting up a few flyers, with the plan of avoiding as much work as possible by padding out this one simple activity. Unfortunately, her plans are ruined twice, once

Watamote ep10: to the bitter end

Hope springs eternal, but it’s only despair that seems to last forever. Tomoko wishes for nothing more than a fresh start with a new semester starting up. And that’s exactly what she gets, as she’s moved from prime loner territory (the back of the class by the windows) to square center in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by the very students she’s loathed from the beginning of the school year. What burns inside of her is a seething desire to see justice be done, and by justice she means Battle Royale style murder. Adding to her discomfort, the Culture Fair (something any anime watching veteran should be familiar with by now) is right around the corner. What this means for Tomoko is that she’s going to be forced into group activities.

*shudder*

Watamote ep9: your desires should not equal your expectations

The home stretch! Tomoko is in the home stretch now. With summer nearing its end, she’s running out of chances to make an impression and lasting memories. Though looking back at her past two episodes, I wouldn’t say she’s accumulated much in the way of stories worth bragging about, nor positive memories. So I can’t totally blame her for falling into a few more delusions while the summer heat is still frying her less than common sense.

WataMote ep8: liar, liar, life on fire!

Let’s stop pretending. Shouldn’t this show be given a different, but equally ridiculously long title like, A Series of Unfortunate Failures of a Unfortunate Fool? No? Yeah, no. That was a failure all by itself.

Liar, liar, lick spit,

Your tongue shall be slit,

And all the dogs in the town

Shall have a little bit

– some old book of nursery rhymes

There’s something to be said about the ability to consistently fool someone. And that’s that it’s a commitment.  Everytime you lie to someone, you have to make the decision

Watamote ep7: it’s best to make sure you always stick it in the right hole

What a sad, sad episode. And I thought episode six was depressing. We’ve already been shown how lonely Tomoko is, she honestly hasn’t a friend in her school. And the bright lights of summer just expose her even more. It’s almost like leaving a vampire out in the sun, except she melts more slowly, so the death is longer and more agonizing.

It’s all just one terrible series of failures after another. She starts by spending the first few days just in her room on the internet, doing every

Check-out Station: Kirara

I don’t watch many OVA’s and when I do I spend very little time talking about them.  Something about them gives me a feeling of inconsequential material.  Though on the plus side, OVA’s are the old stomping ground for creativity in the medium.  Anime isn’t as popular as it is, and doesn’t gain some of its rabid fandom (and if you’re an OVA fan, I consider you rabid on some level) without stuff that goes straight to video.  So with that, I wondered if Kirara would be worth forty minutes of my life.