Nisekoi – 05

Swimsuits and keys.

Another week, another Nisekoi, except this time it’s swimsuit time. This is, after all, a high-school romcom, and every high-school romcom needs a swimsuit episode, whether it is at the beach or the pool. However, this fifth episode of Nisekoi, appropriately titled “Swimming”, manages to be more than just fanservice. Don’t get me wrong, “Swimming” had more fanservice than Nisekoi episodes one through four combined, but it also contained some vital plot development that will undoubtably have important ramifications in future episodes. Well, as important as plot development gets in Nisekoi, at least.

Nisekoi 2nd character popularity poll results released!

And the winner is….. Onodera Kosaki!

Full Results:

Toaru Hikūshi e no Koiuta – 05

My Vengeful Wind Priestess Can’t Be This Cute.

I think that it is safe to say that I haven’t seen a story featuring a couple with a darker past than Toaru Hikūshi e no Koiuta’s Claire Cruz and Karl La Hire in quite some time. This week saw another Toaru Hikūshi episode that mixes dark character flashbacks with more typical slice-of-life/military training action, except this time those flashbacks were from the perspective of Claire Cruze, aka Nina Viento, the girl who has fallen in love with the boy whose parents were killed in in the coup d’etat that she symbolized. Toaru Hikūshi certainly hasn’t been afraid of dumping large amounts of backstory on the viewers in the form of flashbacks, and while the storytelling technique might seem quite simple, it is definitely effective at creating sympathy for the show’s characters.

Toaru Hikūshi e no Koiuta – 01-04

Sky politik.

Even before the season began, I had high hopes for Toaru Hikūshi e no Koiuta (The Pilot’s Love Song). Mainly because I enjoyed the movie Toaru Hikūshi e no Tsuioku (The Princess and the Pilot), which is based on an LN by the same author as this series (Inumura Koroku) and set in the same universe, but also simply because Toaru Hikūshi is quite unlike anything else airing this season. I’m glad to report that the series has lived up to my expectations so far by delivering a solid mix of romance, politics, and aerial adventure.

Tonari no Seki-kun – 05

Master craftsman.

Another week, another Tonari no Seki-kun. Except this week’s episode, “Eraser Stamp”, represented a bit of a break from this series’ normal formula. By leaving the usual setting of the show and introducing a new character to interact with Seki-kun, “Eraser Stamp” managed to freshen things up a bit and prevent the series from feeling repetitive.

Noragami – 05

Temptation and sin.

Of all the winter 2014 anime that I am watching, none has impressed me nearly as much as Noragami when it comes to the ability to deftly mix light-hearted comedy with more serious, and often downright sad, plot points. I’m not talking about a dark comedy – a show that uses serious subject matters for laughs – because that isn’t what Noragami is. It delivers its serious moments in an utterly matter-of-fact manner, much to its benefit. Episode five of Noragami, “Borderline”, was a wonderful example of how an anime can shift through different tones without seeming hackneyed or superficial.

Noragami – 01-04

I didn’t really know much about Noragami before the season began. As a result, I wasn’t planning on writing episode reviews of the series. However, it has become of the shows that I most look forward to each week, so I figured that I should start covering it on Faulty Reviews. Its Sunday airtime is also fairly convenient. To catch up, though, I’ve created this recap post to provide short reviews of the first four episodes of the series.

Nisekoi – 04

The megane menace II.

Every now and then, I’ll come across an episode of a series that somehow just “clicks” in my mind. You know, the ones that manage to do just about everything right, relative to the rest of the series. Episode four of Nisekoi, “The Visit”, may just be one such episode. I’m not saying that it is perfect, or that it is anime at its best, but it just might be Nisekoi at its best. Of course, we are only four episodes into the series, so it is to early to declare that with full authority. However, “The Visit” certainly does a wonderful job of delivering exactly what I wanted the series to be.

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha – 03

Bothersome brothers.

It must have been brother’s day in Kyoto during this episode of Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha, given the focus placed on the elder siblings of both Uka-sama and Inari herself. Episode three, titled “Elder Brother, Swarm, Excessive Love”, was probably the best episode of Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha to date. It managed to deliver backstory, comedy, and romantic developments, and it did a wonderful job of nailing each element.

Tonari no Seki-kun – 04

The King of Games.

Go, a board game dating back to the ancient Chinese dynasty of Zhou, is renown for both the simplicity of its design and the depths of its stratagem. However, I will likely associate the game with rabbits fighting bears for the rest of my life, thanks to this episode of Tonari no Seki-kun. I’m beginning to sympathize with Yokoi.

This episode, titled “Go” in keeping with the characteristically simple nomenclature of the series, is much like the past three episodes of Tonari no Seki-kun. That is to say, it is both very funny and quite unexpected. For having such a simple premise, Tonari no Seki-kun has impressed me time and time again with the originality of its stories.