Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Another episode 2

My car…is fixed! Well as fixed as it was before last Thursday. It is drivable and that is all that matters. Rejoice everyone. When something is taken away from you you realize how important it was/is in your life. Wonder how many people get along just fine without a car in Japan?

Another piece of YAY news….my Christmas present for the husband came into day. XD Maybe tomorrow when the internets rebel against Congress I can clean my car and take nendoroid pictures. Oppies I guess I spoiled what it is.

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I think everyone watching this show feels that way too.

But for now it is anime blogging time. Up now is the anime Another. Episode 2 and the mystery keeps rolling in. Spoilers for a lot more creepy dolls!



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Cue the ominous flower petals!

Episode Summary: Despite Mei saying to stay away from her Kouichi seeks her out. She warns Kouichi that IT may have already begun. In art class everyone impresses Ms. Mikami with their scary lemon drawings. Kouichi grows closer to Yukari and becomes friendly with Mochizuki. Mochizuki and his scary lemon invite Kouichi to join the art club. Mochizuki nervously asks Kouichi what he thinks of their teacher Ms. Mikami. Walking back to the classroom Mochizuki confesses he feels uneasy about everything and thinks the entire class feels the same way. Teshigawara (MOG what is his first name..) walks up and makes sure the mystery is on the down low. But Kouichi sees Mei and walks away from those two in mid-sentence and closes the door on them. Mei is in the library drawing what looks like a naked doll. She talks about liking winter rain and if the boys warned Kouichi to stay away from her. The librarian dude randomly comes out and tells Kouichi to run back to class, no mention to Mei. Kouichi tells Aunt Reiko about the creepy library dude. He then talks about how he was invited to join the art club. He doesn’t have skill in drawing but would like to go to an art school to learn about carving and sculpting. Aunt Reiko is like your dad is going to be mad and you won’t have any marketable skills…but reach for the sky nephew!

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Is there more to that question that meets the eye?

Later Kouichi goes to hospital to talk with nurse Sanae. She thinks he is there to talk about horror books but Kouichi has an important question to ask. Did a young girl from his school die when he was staying in the hospital? Nurse Sanae says she doesn’t know but will find out for him. Kouichi warns her not to get trouble by doing so. Kouichi notices that Mei is not in class again and he has the sads. After school Izumi questions Kouichi again on whether or not he had been to town before. She has the sinking feeling she has met him before and it bothers her she can’t remember where. Izumi is updated on what happened while she was out of school (that Kouichi had contact with Mei) and out of anger almost tells Kouichi what her class job o protection really is when Kouichi sees Mei and runs off. He loses track of her but walks by a random creepy doll shop and decides to go inside. Oh but not before Nurse Sanae calls and says a girl did die last week and has the same last name as Mei. WE SEE FOLKS! But Kouichi marches forward after the call is randomly dropped. An equally creepy old lady is running the shop. She implies that there are some items for sale that a high school boy can’t afford. She allows him to walk around and look at the creepy dolls. Kouichi goes downstairs and sees a doll that reminds him of Mei. Mei comes out of nowhere and says she likes these creepy dolls and points out her favorite ones. She then asks if Kouichi wants to see what is under her eye patch. So she takes it off and THE END!

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A crazy lemon on drugs and run over by a car you mean.

I think this was a relatively good episode. I am trying to pay closer attention to details since I seem to be failing at that with Mirai Nikki. Or maybe the things I thought were interesting in the episode were obvious to everyone. Regardless time to discuss things.

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I was talking to you!!!! My sentence was going to be awesome and spoil the series!

First things first. Kouichi is weird. Like really weird. He is surrounded by semi creepy seemingly alive classmates yet he is focused on the one really creepy maybe dead classmate that is never around. He could be in mid-sentence with someone and he walks away to find Mei. Like “Yes I am interested in finding out more about the art cl OH LOOK MEI”. That is seriously how he was acting. It makes me wonder why he is so interested in what Mei is doing. He met three classmates in the hospital first. Mei was afterwards. While she is a pretty girl and obviously mysterious….why is he acting like that? He seems very drawn to Mei for no reason. Maybe that is part of the mystery to the show, finding out why Kouichi is so drawn to her?

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A random interest being mentioned? Must find out more!

Second thing of interest in this episode was Kouichi showing interest in something. Art. It came out of nowhere to me. Yes it is only episode 2 but there are usually clues to those types of interests. Probably way over the top clues. Like maybe having a few art books in his personal room, looking up at interesting architecture, something anyway.

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Such a serious little face!

Maybe I feel that way because it has been presented that Kouichi has an interest in horror books. Maybe I am just shocked that someone is shown having more than one interest. So while I have been focusing on the horror book comments I find it interesting this sudden maybe interest in art. Especially given the fact that he said carvings. Dolls are carved, eyeballs are carved out. Just saying.

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Then what was that handshaking test about?

I thought Izumi was out of school because of an injury .That doesn’t seem to be the case. But she did tell Kouichi what she does do: works out plans to keep the class safe. So maybe she was out preventing some awful thing from happening? Maybe going to the BlackMarket for Japanese youth? Because you know how all teenagers in Japan have access to scary weapons. Also something to note is that Izumi seemed ready to tell Kouichi something. Not sure what but it appears she was going to tell Kouichi why she has to protect the class. Only Kouichi saw the pretty Mei butterfly and ran off to see how shiny it looked.

So at this point I am not sure why Izumi wanted everyone to keep a secret from Kouichi if she was going to spill the beans the next day. Maybe she was going to only tell part of the truth? Like Mei is an evil girl who likes to hurt us out of an long time grudge. But keep out the important facts like Mei is really dead and maybe Kouichi is too.

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Or just walk away. Anytime something important is being said Kouichi walks away or the phone cuts off. I SEE!

I think the majority of the classmates are trying. Not sure if that is all an act but I think some of them genuinely want to get to know Kouichi. Mei and Izumi put little seeds of doubt in my mind that people fear Kouichi. But maybe they have reason to be. Either way some of these kids are trying to carry on with their normal lives. Joining clubs, talking to the new kid, and trying to keep a deep dark secret hidden. You know the normal teenage things. It will be interesting to see their personalities shine before they are taken out one by one.

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His students seem more alive outside his classroom though...

I think the homeroom teacher is half dead or something. Maybe it is hard teaching a bunch of kids that are considered dead anyway. I am not seeing much interaction between the other students in the school and this class. So maybe the teacher feels as if there is no point in trying. They are cursed anyway.

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Is that a confusion face or a AW CRAP he knows face?

The interactions between Kouichi and the nurse are weird. Was Kouichi really in the hospital that long? I understand bonding over a common interest but for Kouichi to go back to the hospital and talk to the nurse was weird. She seemed okay with talking to him just about horror stories and all. So their connection seems weird. I am not sure how much I can trust what the nurse is saying. She did look a little like X__X why is Kouichi asking and her information was fuzzy at best. So what is her deal? Too low on the totem pole to know what is really going on or playing dumb to help keep the secret?

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Will all of Class 3 end up here by the end of the series?

Now onto the random doll house. Since House of Wax comes on like every single week on one of the movie channels my mind jumped to that. Basically the movie is about a group of teenagers/young people who find out all the wax sculptures in town are really dead people. So when Kouichi was walking around looking at all the dolls I was wondering if these were representative of any dead or future (and soon) victims in this town. The old lady running the shop said that there were things that Kouichi couldn’t afford. Maybe a life size doll made from the corpse of a human? So this ties in the reason why the dolls are all over the episodes. Obviously something important is going on in this shop. Accident my butt. Wouldn’t it be creepy if when the original girl died they made her into a doll and talked to her? XD But my bet would be that maybe Mei was killed and is in her doll body? Just a thought.

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And these are her favorite dolls because.....

So another House of Wax reference came up in this episode. Mei pops up in the doll shop and says that she likes these half naked creepy dolls. She has hinted that she was visiting her other half in the morgue. Now she has said she is less than half. I personally believe she might be disfigured or lost that eye because she was born a conjoined twin. That maybe the reason why she is alive is because they were separated in a risky operation and the other twin died. And it is that person that is running around creepy people out. And as a stretch maybe she impersonates Mei with the eye patch and what not.

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Cliffhanger!!!

So in conclusion…we know nothing yet folks. And that seems to be part of the fun. Guessing and speculating on what could be going on. Is Kouichi dead? Is anyone dead? When will the body count start? Why are dolls so creepy? I doubt we will have any answers soon but it will be fun to watch the slow reveal. Yay for fun.

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Um Dad can you come and pick me up? You dropped me off in CrazyTown.



4 comments:

eternia said...

The creepiness is good, but this episode didn't advance much of the plot, right?
My heart was totally jumped out when I thought that Mei's doll started talking.
:-)
It would be funny if the dolls turn out to be mere haunted house decoration and don't have any significance to the plot.

Keith said...

I like the suspense but I agree Kouichi is such a freak.

I"m going to spend my whole day chasing around ghost girl and going to creepy doll stores. What a healthy lifestyle!

Does he want to end up in the hospital from some freak accident again? He just got out of it...

Anyway, don't worry more craziness awaits us. Guilty Crown episode coming up lol :)

eternia said...

Ahh. Guilty Crown.
Last time I said is there a point in continuing this anime?
Turns out they skipped to 2 months after the apocalypse, in a normal school life! They don't show anything about how the people suffer and deal with the apocalypse after-effect. Just crazy.

Christina said...

Eternia- I think they are overdoing it with the cut aways of the dolls. But the internets are telling me the dolls will be important. Creepy but important. I see no cuteness in them though...nendoroids for all!

As for the plot...yes it seems to be going slowly. But since no one has sung songs about butterflies and coffee I am okay for now. XD

But Guilty Crown is such a hot mess. Time to party folks! What dead people?!

Keith- I hope there is a good reason why Kouichi is being such a freak. He is in a new place yet is walking away from people midsentence over some quiet girl? Maybe that is an important clue that Kouichi is drawn to her out of the legend/curse. Hopefully anyway.