Ballet Witch

The hero this school deserves

Princess Tutu is back, and with a slight break from usual as we have a Shakesperian episode! My knowledge of A Midsummer Night's Dream isn't all that good, but it still made an interesting shakeup with a different form of theatre. And, interesting, with another ballet student this time, just to make things even more confusing!

I could probably talk in great detail about the connections to the play, but my lack of knowledge is gonna show through in record time, so instead, well, let's talk about the episode itself. Bottom herself, or Hermia as she would probably prefer to be called, was a pretty cool character. Her ability at reading others emotions because she always found herself in the background was a nice touch, and helped flesh her out in quite a realistic way, and the way she chose to apply this skill, despite her own percieved limitations, really set her apart. Probably one of my favourite one episode characters, for all the right reasons (as opposed to some other favourites, like Femio), and that's saying a lot. She really deserved the, perhaps unexpected, end her story got.

As for the rest of the episode, there was quite a lot going on. We learn, from Drosselmeyer himself no less, that all of Mytho's heart shards that were hidden in other hearts have been returned to him, but there are still other pieces left. Mytho himself is more conflicted than ever as a result of this (or, specifically, his pride returning to him), and is taking it out on Rue. It's actually quite interesting. Between this, Kraehe, and Fakir's actions towards Mytho at the start of the series, we've seen some genuinely nasty sides to all of the main cast (barring, of course, Ahiru). It's a brave choice, particularly in the genre, but I should probably hold off talking about how it pays off until we see more, of course (it might be a rewatch, but it's always worth refreshing the memory). On top of that, there was a nice romance thread throughout, and also some comedy. It thankfully averts some of the expected results of a misunderstanding in a romcom you (or more accuratly, I) was bracing for, and the confusion over ballet poses between Hermia and Cat-Sensei was very comical.

That guy yelling at people to be quiet in the library is back again. The most important role in the series, that.

So I've been trying my hand at fanart recently, and turns out I'm still pretty bad at drawing! Still, I'm actually pretty pleased with how some of them have been going, even though I'm still mostly at the sketching stage. Anyway, I thought I'd post something here, as I might as well have something to show for it, so I present this! A combination of two of my favourite magical girls, Sayaka wearing a cross between her outfit and Princess Tutu's!



Yeah, it's bad. But hey, without practice, none of us are going to improve! Or something like that!

No screenshot today because it's late and nothing jumped out at me. Sorry!

Love Live is back, and we're in Akihabara to visit a maid cafe today, because the show knows its audience. Next episode looks like the beach episode too, so that's definately a thing.

It wasn't a... bad episode, all in all. Nozomi is still a creep, but it was a good episode to give Kotori a bit more character, especially since she's been around a while. We learn more about her, and why she joined Honoka to become an idol.

And... I don't really have much more to say about this episode, it was fairly light, which doesn't have to be a bad thing, even if I do have some issues with it. It's a fun show, but one that doesn't need much discussion. Nico had some good scenes again, and they pushed into another idol's terf. Will that become an issue? Stay tuned and find out, I guess.

Until next time!

Awesome sauce!

In our quest to watch more up to date anime, we've moved on to Love Live. So we're about a decade further than we were before at least! It's actually been a couple weeks since we watched the first two episodes, but luckily they had a 'Previously On' before the opening, to make sure everyone's up to speed. I'm not used to anime this plot intensive!

But continue the plot does, with or without us, as the trio (still a trio, despite what the opening wants to tell us) prepare for their first idol performance! It doesn't go entirely well, but then hey, they've still got a lot of episodes to get it right. And to fill out the rest of the cast. I'm enjoying it so far, it's decent if unspectacular. There's one or two things I'm still not too hot on, but we'll see how it goes. And yep, I'm aware I'm half a decade behind the rest of the world here!

So yeah, looks like I don't have a whole lot to say about Love Live just yet (it being so long since I saw the first episode probably plays into that!), but I'll probably have more to say once we're further along. Until next time!

I haven't forgotten this! We just haven't anime'd these past two days! We'll continue soon!

So we've basically decided Lillie is the most evil character in this show.

My rewatch (how many rewatches is this now? The first for a while, anyway) of Princess Tutu has resumed after a long hiatus. I'm watching this with a friend who's never seen the show before, I feel I have to introduce it to all my friends. This is the sort of stuff you need to put up with when you're friends with me. Anyway, we took a break from watching anime for a while, and now we're at it again!

Some thoughts on the show so far - I'm still enjoying it, it's stood up to time surprisingly well. Amazing to think that this was made in 2002. Also, I always forget how downright creepy Fakir is at the start of the show, like wow. I mean, he gets character development, but without any context his actions are... wow. Sure, he was in a bad situation, but he didn't handle it at all well.

As for the episode itself, I enjoyed it. Mytho's gradual fall (not literally this time!) continues, and this time there's a lot of screentime for Ahiru's two friends, who are all too often falling into the, uh, main character's two friends cliche. Where they don't have much to do aside from showing the main character in her 'ordinary' life, which isn't the focus of the show. So that's a very welcome change! Pique gets some good focus, admittedly as the victim of the week, but at least she gets more screentime. Why do I always like the characters who appear the least? Plus, she dances Giselle, which a lot of the episode's plot revolves around, so it's always nice to see a ballet I'm familiar with (Giselle is referenced throughout the episode). I'm not really here to review stuff, but it's good to see side characters with potential given their time in the spotlight.

Lillie's still evil. But that's why we like her.