Hunter x Hunter 9 – Red Eye

Step off, spider. Just step off.

Definitely starting to feel this remake now that it’s getting to the good stuff. This is actually a perfectly paced episode, I think — draws out the challenges to the point where there’s a little bit of tension, but not so much that the challenges lose any novelty they possess. Let’s face it: The candle challenge and that ugly doucheprick trying to intimidate Kurapika into giving up without throwing a single punch aren’t exactly the most clever plot points in the world. But the former at least forces Gon to use his head a bit to be victorious, and the latter mostly serves as a peek into Kurapika’s obsession. He hasn’t really done that much up to this point, so there needs to be an opportunity for Kurapika to fuck someone up and remind the audience how awesome he is supposed to be.

Sister Princess Saturday Report! No. 16 – Assassination

The day started out so normally — and by that, I mean it started with a thick haze of tedium and emptiness.

Wataru on the steps of the house, deep in thought: He had a whole five brain cells whirring away. The subject of his thought was the upcoming school sports festival. Important tests that would determine the direction of the remainder of Wataru’s life? Not a thought spent on them. Sports festivals, however? He treated them as if they were life and death situations. Don’t ask me why. I am simply the messenger.

Hunter x Hunter 8 – Tonpa Is Such a Douche

Apologies for not writing my usual Sister Princess post yesterday. It was my birthday, and I thought it would be slightly better for me to hang out with people and have a bit of fun before work than to spend my entire morning writing a 1,000+ word post perverting a siscon anime. :p Rest assured, however, that the posts will be back next week. I have the feeling the next episode will be quite painful to watch, and will therefore provide good fodder for a post.

Anyway, Hunter x Hunter! As previously mentioned, this is the part of the anime where I got interested in the proceedings. This to me seems like a proper, interesting test for our intrepid heroes — running through a dangerous forest and risking one’s life in the pursuit of delicious ingredients is all fine and good, but this latest test has a few things going for it: There’s a conflict and a goal engineered into the concept, and everything’s simple to understand. You’ve got to get to the bottom before 72 hours are up. The majority chooses where everyone goes, creating the potential for dissension in the ranks. (Obviously, if you’re so petty as to let something like that rankle you and throw you off your game, then you are not hunter material.) Right now, though, the choices are simple, and nobody has to really admit that he made a certain choice, which diffuses the chances for dissension just a little bit for now. They’re making the choices quickly, too, which I guess is partly a product of having a limited time to get the hell out of Dodge.

Vampire Wars and the Joy of Terribad

The most common reaction to one of my favorite pursuits . . .

I watched the OVA Vampire Wars yesterday, and I was struck by how much I truly enjoyed it. It’s not “good” in the sense that most people consider the word, but it’s thoroughly entertaining, and in a way that to me goes beyond irony. And it got me to think about how I enjoy so-called “terribad” anime: That, much like how I watch anime normally, I can deal with some disappointments and less than stellar shows in pursuit of something that really speaks to me and moves me — though with terribad, that often involves being moved to laughter. But enjoyment is enjoyment, right?

Hunter x Hunter 7 – Netero Is a Lying Bastard

What a crock of shit about not touching either Gon or Killua during their little game. The evidence is right here, old man! He pushes off not once, but twice in this episode. Nice work setting up the ground rules and then flagrantly violating them!

This is one of the episodes I enjoyed during the early part of the original series, and it’s still fun here. It’s a concept that pops up repeatedly in Hunter x Hunter: Gon and Killua think they are totally awesome, and then a character shows up and demonstrates that they are not actually the hot shit they believe. In this case, Netero shows Gon and Killua that despite their advanced physical abilities, a real hunter can make that look like an 8-player deathmatch in Perfect Dark. Folks in the Hunter x Hunter universe also like to use games to test ability — with restrictions on the tester, of course. That’s probably a normal shonen thing, come to think of it (makes sense, considering the target audience), but it can be fun when done correctly.

Sister Princess Saturday Report! No. 15 – Purple Haze

After the events of his jaunt with Karen, Wataru decided to keep some distance from her for the time being. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something about her conduct frightened him and caused a bizarre sort of physical pain. It was almost as if Karen hurt Wataru on purpose! For a normal person, this realization would of course be quite obvious, but for a neanderthal like Wataru it was nothing short of a revelation. It was as if God Himself had melded minds with Wataru and taught him the secrets of the universe, and afterward Wataru forgot everything except for that which was so recent that it could not possibly leave the brain of even one so undisciplined as Wataru’s.

Hunter x Hunter 6 – Only One Episode for Cooking? Pinch Me!

So, for you fans of the original Hunter x Hunter, Hisoka and Menchi totally switched hair colors, right? I’m not crazy, am I? I swear this is the exact shade of blue-green Hisoka started with in the original series before switching to red after the Hunter Exam. (LOL SPOILERS HISOKA IS STILL IN THIS AFTER THE HUNTER EXAM LOL) And the red Hisoka’s sporting now is similar to the red Menchi has in the original series. Could Madhouse be saying something?!?!?! DUN DUN DUN

Anyway, as with most of the remake episodes so far, I am of two minds on this episode. On the one hand, this is even lamer than the cooking bullshit in the first series. I thought the cooking crap was dull, but at least there is kind of an interesting twist to that where the hunter trainees have to experiment to come up with the exact dish Menchi requests. Here they’re just roasting pigs and hoping for the best. What the fuck kind of test is that? Come on. I like Menchi and all, but the test here makes it look like she’s blowing smoke out her ass with the whole “HEY GOURMET HUNTERS ARE LIKE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW” spiel. If they’re so awesome, then they should think of a test that doesn’t suck.

Sister Princess Saturday Report! No. 14 – Servitude

Before I get into this post, just want to say apologies for not getting a new Random Shit post out yesterday. Haven’t been feeling quite my best this week, but I think I’m getting over it now — I’m at least well enough to slap together this weekly post, which is good, because I wouldn’t want to fall behind on a modern classic like Sister Princess. Anyway, back to your weekly dose of siscon fun torture!