Hunter x Hunter 5 – You Won’t Like Hisoka When He’s Excited …

So although I wasn’t huge on the beginning of Hunter x Hunter, this was one of the parts I liked — where the viewer really gets to see Hisoka in action.

Hisoka is a dangerous man. That much is clear from the start. But he separates from “normal” dangerous to “crazy” dangerous with how he toys with the main characters. It’s apparent that he could kill them any time he wants. Hisoka beats the shit out of Leorio with ease, and although Gon gets the jump on him, it’s not long before Hisoka has Gon in his clutches. But he doesn’t kill him. Why? Because, as Kurapika later explains, Hisoka senses that Gon can become someone greater, and therefore more worthwhile to kill. It’s more fun to kill someone who will push you to your limit, right?

Sister Princess Saturday Report! No. 13 – The Story So Far

It occurs to me that after 12 rather lengthy chapters that you, Dear Reader, may desire a brief respite from this heavy, dramatic tale. That is fine. But instead of bringing you up to speed on what has occurred thus far — because it truly is a worthless story, if I am being honest — I will recap the story as it would have unfolded were I the supreme being of the universe and had control of such matters. I am the one telling the story, after all, so why should I not have some degree of control? If only I didn’t have these blasted notes to go by . . .

Random Mashup Shit #3

Future Diary episode 3

I wonder how far the series will ratchet up everything before it ends. We’re just at episode 3, and already the psycho stalker girlfriend has a pile of bodies she’s hiding in a closet. Just an unfortunate happening (wink wink) that Yukiteru stumbled upon the corpse room while hanging out at Yuno’s house after their oh so charming date. It sort of reminds me of Infinite Ryvius, which spent the whole series slowly ratcheting  up the tension, and then when things got to the breaking point, the story whipped out a shit ton of crazy plot twists. They should have been unbelievable, but they worked because the tension is manipulated so well that the audience almost has no choice but to be invested in the characters.

Hunter x Hunter 4 – Man-Faced Ape lol

I had the same reaction when I watched the original Hunter x Hunter. There’s no fucking way Leorio is a teenager. He dresses way too fancy. And he has a suitcase! He has to be in his mid-20s, at least. Where’s his birth certificate? Can he verify his age?

Anyway, while I’m trying my best not to compare this series to the original, I can’t help but think that I enjoyed the conceit behind the reveal of Leorio’s past more in the first series. Basically, this is where it’s revealed that Tonpa is an utter douche: He leads Leorio in another direction, and there’s some hallucinogenic sap or whatever at the end of the path that Tonpa uses to paralyze Leorio. And from there, Leorio fights against his past and doubts coming up to haunt him, and he strengthens his resolve to become a Hunter and help the impoverished.

Sister Princess Saturday Report! No. 12 – Deserted Island

When we last left our (opposite of) intrepid adventurers, they were lost on a deserted island, with no snacks to speak of. Unfortunate, that. The Sisters appeared to have all gone missing, too, which is also unfortunate, I suppose. Not really unfortunate from my point of view, of course, but I am sure someone out there finds it unfortunate.

“No, really, who are you?” Wataru asked, looking Mamimi up and down. As much as I would like to insult Wataru for forgetting the name and face of one of his (fake) sisters, Mamimi really has had nothing to do with the story at all thus far. In fact, I wonder the reason for her existence. I seem to recall that she is supposed to have some sort of mission, but she really has done nothing at all with that, hasn’t she? A most foolish young woman. Then again, her lack of antics have for the most part kept her away from this ridiculous tale, so perhaps Mamimi is more cunning than initially expected.

“I’m your sister, stupid,” Mamimi said.

“Oh,” Wataru replied. “Sorry, there are so many of you that it’s difficult to keep track of sometimes . . .”

Random Mashup Shit #2

Chihayafuru episode 3

I d’awwwed at Team Chihayafuru and lol’d at Dr. Karuta. I wonder if he’s ever scared kids away from karuta due to being so overbearing at the sight of young blood playing his beloved game. Anyway, the developments in this episode went by a bit quickly for me, but that is probably part of the point — the three young’uns got precious little time to play karuta together, but it was pretty awesome while it lasted. I thought the over-the-top emotion worked pretty well, too: When you find something you’re passionate about, especially when you’re so young, it’s this big, massive thing. It occupies your entire world. Chihaya’s reaction to Taichi and Arata moving away is silly and selfish from the perspective of an adult; however, from her perspective, it’s at least understandable, because this big part of herself that Chihaya has recently discovered has been ripped away from her. At least the doc gets her to understand, though.

The only part of the episode that really struck me as ridiculous is the bit with Chihaya’s sister where she’s like, “Chihaya should just keep gushing about how great I am.” That’s a bit too absurdly egotistical for me to swallow, haha. Most things with Chihaya’s family tend to take me out of the show, actually . . . they’re by far the least subtle element of a show that isn’t particularly subtle in the first place.

Kenya Boy – A Cinematic Masterpiece of WTF

And so begins the odyssey of WTF that is Kenya Boy . . .

I wish I had the time to give this movie the exhaustive treatment it deserves, but unfortunately, it is not to be. However, I will take the time to outline some of my favorite aspects of this amazingly bizarre movie, while leaving a few secrets for you fine viewers to discover should you take the time to watch it. And you should! This is one fucking crazy ass movie.

First, though, the basic story of Kenya Boy is that this kid, Wataru, and his family are in Africa just before the Japanese officially enter World War II. Wataru and his father go into hiding because the British will be like, “WE MUST KILL ALL ORIENTALS” and somewhere along the way, Wataru and his father become separated. The movie is about Wataru’s search for his father over the course of several years . . . along with all sorts of other craziness.

(P.S. There’s a second page for all you lazy fucks who don’t actually go to blogs themselves to read posts.)

Hunter x Hunter 3 – Shit In a Can

Leorio does not approve of laxative-laced juice beverages!

Anyway, I thought this episode was kind of dull. Weirdly enough, it actually seemed to stretch things out compared to the original series. The first Hunter x Hunter gets the introductions and whatnot over with in the first half of episode 6, without any hint that Tonpa is a total douchebag. As far as our main characters know, he’s just some random dude who has taken a shine to them and doesn’t have several cans of Explosive Diarrhea Classic on him. Then again, I guess they still don’t know, but are sort of on their guard, so the trick he’ll eventually pull can still be done. (Not really a spoiler since you all knew he would do something again later, right?)

Sister Princess Saturday Report! No. 11 – We’re On a Sub

If I had my way, I would spent the rest of my days reminding everyone of Wataru’s pathetic rescue operation, but alas, there is unfortunately more tale to be told.

Despite the fact that they lived on an island caught in the throes of a perpetual summer, the Sisters offered to take Wataru on a vacation. The true purpose of this “vacation”, however, was lost on Wataru, as it always was. He learned how to swim — sort of — but was nonetheless always caught up in the tide.

The final preparations were being made before everyone cast off to who knows where. Wataru ran into Kaho in front of the house.

Random Mashup Shit #1

So I’ve been waiting to see if another series would scratch that blogging itch this season, but although a couple have come close, I haven’t totally bought into anything (or maybe I’m just lazy and want more time to play Mass Effect 2). That’s not to say what I’ve been watching is bad, of course. There’s been some decent stuff released so far, and I would like to write a bit about them all. So I figured I would do something totally creative and innovative utterly unoriginal and write quick thoughts about whatever the hell interests me each week. Hopefully I won’t be writing about the same series each post, because that wouldn’t be fun at all.