天下制覇

Outside of GR, I think this was the most action packed thing I watched this week.

Impressions:

Arakawa easily takes the day for the best episode of today. Hell, it was a pretty good episode even without those other two disgraces predating it. Let’s start with the bad though. The budget continues to be… well… let’s call it very visible. Minutes 6-11 or so were about 95% distance shots and closeups of eyes or lips. Add to that overly melodramatic music and the show trying desperately to be emotional and I started dozing off. You are a show about insane homeless bums living under a bridge in what I suspect is an opium field. Drama is not the strong point here.

Thankfully, the five minutes before that about their first date was quite entertaining, and both Stella and Maria afterwards are already two of my favorite characters on the show. I’d have expected Kou to be a little more suave, but at least his ineptitude was amusing, particularly trying to carry Nino like a princess. Stella is a half-breed bipolar martial artist in the vein of Punie, without a magical girl chant… yet. There’s really little else that needs to be said to explain why that’s far better than a jealous bum with a star for a head. Maria’s not quite as amusing as that, but she did have some fun banter with Sister at least. I just hope these two aren’t immediately shuffled off to let Kou rant at crazy men some more.