Ah My Goddess TV - 07

As should be obvious from the fact that I have a blog - it's practically an underlying assumption of anime blogs - I like digisubs. I don't get why so much effort goes into elaborate karaoke visuals, and it infuriates me when subbing groups "present" a show, or "thank" people at the end of one - as if the work they've done was even a fraction of the work that went into making the show in the first place (I've worked on film sets, and I've subtitled movies. Trust me, there's no comparison.) And I speak enough Japanese - and know enough about video standards - to know that the claim that digisubs are "better" than commercial releases is laughable.

But the ability to see TV anime as it was meant to be seen - a week at a time, integrated into the fabric of my daily life - would be worth it even if the people responsible were ten times as stupid and arrogant. If you were to ask me, I'd tell you that the amount of money a well-designed pay version of the same service could get from me would probably only be limited by my disposable income, and the fact that such services don't exist isn't quite as ridiculous as Fox lamenting that Alias's ratings are dropping because nobody who hasn't watched from the beginning has a bloody clue what's going on, and then nastygramming people who host torrents of the first season - but it's close.

So, then, why is it that every time a show gets licensed, my first thought is "Now I won't be able to get it for free anymore?"

(By the way, it's not free. You pay for Internet access, and you probably pay a fair bit since it's broadband. I've figured my own cost of downloading an anime episode from time to time - it's easier when I'm on a bandwidth-limited system - and it's typically ranged from 10 to 20 cents. And there's a video store a few blocks from where I live that rents anime DVDs for $1 each on Sundays. So, if a series gets a dense release, it actually costs me less to see it legally sometimes. So I'm in a contradiction already - but I don't think that thought is coming from the rational part of my brain.)

Still, I remember when everyone was thrilled when a big-name show was announced. And I haven't even been watching anime that long. Now I worry that my favorite shows will be licensed. And it doesn't help when I go online, and I feel like the few sane voices are crowded out by the previously "responsible" people coming up with bizarre reasons why the show isn't "really" licensed, or they haven't gotten a letter asking them to stop yet, and everyone else crowing about how they'll still be able to get episodes, as if everyone and their dog doesn't know about those sites too...

I don't think this is healthy. Study after study (and common sense) tells us that we make decisions first, and then ignore the arguments that disagree. And these shows create very deep emotional connections with us - they're designed to. I worry that the code of "fansub ethics" - which was created mostly as an excuse to watch anime, after all - won't be able to stand up to the force of "wanting to see more Misuzu."

Not that I care about Ah! My Goddess anymore - I mean ye gods. I was thinking I'd give it 'till Urd and Skuld show up, but one excuse to quit is as good as another.

previous episode

Air TV - 07

For those of you feeling like you're stuck in a rut, I recommend taking four exams in five days. It cleanses the soul wonderfully.

And, while you do that, in between trying to grasp the subtleties of queueing theory and Bayes' Law (and trying not to watch too much Kaleido Star, which is so gloriously fluffy that I can watch ten episodes and feel like I've barely seen one) you can try to get a handle on an episode of Air in which the fundamental point is that nothing much happens.

Or, rather, nothing that anybody tries works. The walls are closing in on Yukito and Misuzu; heck, the show's start to feel like a lazily programmed game. Go to the beach? Nope! (Can't make it.) Try to ignore Misuzu's dreams? Nope! (And get a fresh scar for the trouble.) Run away? Nope! (No buses.) And meanwhile, anyone who might be able to offer support is either rejected or leaves.

No, I don't think this is laziness; I think it's underscoring Yukito's sudden helplessness. Remember, he solved Kano's and Minagi's problems with not much more than a wave of his hand (and almost literally that in Kano's case) but he seems totally lost with Misuzu. (I wondered about this earlier; whether Kano and Minagi would serve as, essentially, warmups. Superficially, it seems to work - Misuzu combines the "echoes of history" from Kano's arc with Misuzu's family dysfunctionality - but the vital difference of Yukito being strongly invested in whether things work out makes me not really like the idea.)

Besides, the really interesting question is: why has Misuzu never been to the beach? The easy answer is that she's never had friends to go with. But, then, she said something awfully strange about her dream of a festival - she was standing alone, looking in from outside, and yet the first thing she says about the dream is that it was "fun." Since when?

Well, way back in the first episode she talked about how she'd like to take wing, and "see everything on land looking so small." We know she has a romantic streak, and she's drawn to tragic stories (at least, that was the reason she gave for her dinosaur fixation.) She seems just as happy to be "holding back" on going to the beach as she was to be going. And her first reaction on hearing that Haruko's skipped out is "I love Mother" - with no elaboration on why. Could it be because she leaves Misuzu to her loneliness?

If Misuzu's in love with the idea of being a tragic heroine - not an uncommon affliction for teenagers - then it might explain why Yukito's at such a loss. Kano and Minagi just needed to be shocked out of their ruts - but how do you help someone who knows exactly what's going on, and is just fine with it?

Yeah, I'm reaching. Air makes me want to reach; that's probably one of its strongest points. I've spent the last couple days with the opening's phrase "todokanai basho" - unreachable place - going through my head whenever I think about the beach; I desperately want to apply some specific metaphor, but I don't feel like I have enough textual evidence to work one out.

The part of me that's asking what I'd do, though, says "adulthood;" Misuzu's childishness (and mood swings) would be the outward sign of a refusal to accept any emotions beyond black-and-white "love/hate." Which would create a subtext rejecting the culture-of-cute that has thirty-year-old women pouting and snuggling stuffed animals; eventually, Misuzu would abandon her hyper-cuteness (in particular the "Gao" affectation) and resolve to move beyond being the ephebophile-bait that made her attractive to all her fans in the first place.

I have absolutely no good reason to believe that's even close to what's going to happen. But, hey, that's not the point!

previous episode
next episode

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ - 05

A lot of the theories I've been throwing around about Mahoraba so far have centered around the idea of Narutakisou as refuge - the island of traditional tranquility in the middle of bustling Tokyo. There's a lot to argue for that even in this episode, e.g. the trials of grocery-shopping, and the comparison between Asami (who's never out of uniform) and that cell-phone-toting teenager.

But it doesn't seem to be working for Sayoko - Narutakisou isn't offering her any escape. In fact, the outside world seems almost to be invading - driving up to the door of the quiet, graceful ryokan in a big clunky truck and turning what is, for the other residents, a pleasantly sparse and airy room into a dungeon of boxes. (They may not have any furniture to hide, but they do have a window that they can't get at. Not turning on the light doesn't help much either.)

So it's not at all surprising that Sayoko, who really doesn't have anywhere else to go, is scurrying under the floor when things get tough. Given that the implied premise of an escapist show is that escapism is good, or at least necessary, it follows that the lack of any such escape would be one of the more awful things in its world. (Although that's sort of a reach, and probably is more of an indicator of the mindset that caused Akira Kojima to create Mahoraba as opposed to some other sort of manga.)

Ryushi, though, is getting a bit of help from these two. Oh, sure, he complains, but the truth is that this is the first time in the show he's actually managed to finish everything he wanted to finish. Even more important, the sexual tension that's been the dominant theme of his life for four episodes is suddenly not around anymore - he's actually mostly comfortable, late at night in that cardboard-box dungeon.

previous episode
next episode

Ah My Goddess TV - 06

The March of Setup continues. Has it started to seem to anyone else like the anime team is trying to get to the late parts of the manga as fast as they possibly can? Word is they're skipping a fair amount of early plot material.

It's at the point, now, where it really begs the question: why start the show over? I don't think anyone would have complained if we'd jumped in, say, a little after the OAVs and started introducing characters who haven't been animated yet. One possibility, of course, is that Tenchi Muyo! has so infected the industry best practices that starting continuity over is now seen as the default option for revivals of old shows.

I can't discount that as a factor, but there's a lot of talk flying around about Fujishima being unsatisfied with the early parts of his manga, so it seems, at a glance, like that particular trend is only a convenient excuse to jump in and do some fiddling.

But - here's the thing - the fiddling that's happening is completely trivial. Sure, it's maybe more realistic that the old temple was inhabited this time, and it was established early on that Bell appearing to Keiichi was intentional, but the show is thematically unchanged. It's still exclusively about how nice Keiichi's Love-Love Life is. It's still "wish fulfillment" in the most literal sense possible.

Even more so, maybe, because Belldandy has such a central role. I can't think of one thing this episode that didn't happen at least partly at her instigation - she's practically taken on the role of Writer's Hand. All she needs is a silly little machine to complete the ensemble.

Actually, what's probably being established is the total ineffectuality of our normal, physical world against Keiichi and Bell; I could probably argue that as some sort of love-related metaphor, but I can't really see where I'd go with it. It does set up the idea that whatever obstacles they face are going to be either supernatural or internal.

previous episode
next episode

I only hope I last that long

Good luck and thanks to my alphabetical neighbor David, who left the anime blogosphere yesterday, and who I just discovered attends the same university as I do! This is what I get for never attending the anime club meetings.

I'm still new enough at this to not be sure how to respond - but I can say that the support I've gotten from David and other bloggers has been incredibly gratifying in these early days. I owe you one.

Air TV - 06

I've just spent half an hour trying, and I can't for the life of me figure out Minagi's mother's name.

This is important, because I'm trying to figure out if I (or Kyoto Animation) just didn't care about her name, or if she actually doesn't have a name. I suspect the latter, because if I'm right, it opens up a tremendous can of worms.

Normally, a missing name on someone suggests that they're not meant to be a full-fledged character - they're just foils for the other characters. But Minagi's arc has added a second association: Michiru's missing last name is one of the critical clues to her nature. I'm left wondering if (and why) Minagi's mother is being compared to Michiru.

What's more, despite what appears to be all sorts of emotional scarring, there's absolutely no strife between Minagi and her mother. In any conventional drama, you'd expect that scene in the garden to develop into a climactic shouting match - but, instead, Minagi's mother regains sanity the instant Minagi wants her to.

I hate repeating myself in every post, but this is fast becoming a thesis central to my understanding of Air: The characters all get what they want.

In other words, I think posing as Michiru was what Minagi wanted - not what her mother wanted.

It's an awfully convenient arrangement for Minagi, after all. Nobody has to deal with the pain of loss. Minagi doesn't have to go home to a shattered household if Michiru's the only one who has contact with the household. She gets a little sister who's adoring and devoted, without the messiness of a normal sibling relationship. And, best of all, Minagi doesn't have to form any emotional bonds if it's Michiru who takes care of all the family relationships.

I think that's what Minagi meant by "Everything started with my sin." Plus, it adds a subtle second meaning to Michiru telling Minagi to smile - remember, Minagi "stopped smiling" (and, apparently, stopped feeling anything, and started talking as if stoned) right around the time the various Michirus started to be major forces in her life. "Smile" is shorthand for "be honest with yourself and other people about your feelings."

If I think the shorthand is clear here, though, I suppose I have to go back to Yukito constantly telling Misuzu to "smile." It seems less clear there - yet, if he does mean to encourage her to open herself to actual relationships, Misuzu's sudden and total retreat starts to make some sense. (Again, it strikes me that the only important question relating to Misuzu's collapse is why she'd want to collapse.) It hasn't seemed to help that Yukito has allowed Misuzu to pull away while he goes through other storylines - meaning that we haven't seen much of Misuzu, and I still don't have many ideas.

previous episode
next episode

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ - 04

It looks like everyone - in the show, and on the web - is well and truly terrified of Tamami. Yes, me too - this episode added the Medusa Gaze Attack (cr. Satoshi) to the already ominous blackmail tendencies. But I think there's a problem developing.

It's now been pretty clearly established that Kozue - that is, the Kozue personality - is totally oblivious to sexuality. The "good man" sequence in this episode especially hammers that point home, but there's also her confused reaction to Tamami asking "Am I in the way?" at the park bench. When she absolutely can't avoid the subject, she swaps personalities to escape.

But given that, and given that Tamami seems to be acting as Kozue's guardian (e.g. the way she doesn't offer to leave after asking that question in the park, or the way she fends off Ryushi's classmates) it's suddenly unclear what, exactly, Tamami thinks she's blackmailing Ryushi with. If she's trying to shelter Kozue, she'd hardly show off those sorts of pictures - plus, it's not obvious that Kozue would even understand what they depict.

Ryushi, though, seems to take the threat seriously. Maybe (heck, probably) he just hasn't worked this out for himself yet, but I have another theory, which is that it's not about Kozue at all. Ryushi's reaction to Megumi suggests that he shares the common harem-show-hero trait of fearing his sexuality; I have a funny feeling that that's actually what Tamami's threatening him with. Do as I say, or I will force you to admit that you're a sexual creature.

(Miyabi seems to have the same understanding. Her "punishment" - woman takes man into dark closet - is meant, I think, to inspire sexual thoughts in viewers. And, wow, Ryushi can't imagine anything worse.)

I'm now on the lookout for parallels between Kozue and Ryushi's characters; I think they have essentially the same problem, and I think that's going to be the core of the show. The big difference so far is that Kozue is being sheltered by the other Narutakisou residents, and Ryushi is very, very not.

previous episode
next episode

Jinki: Extend - 03

Okay, first of all, a 1024x576 resolution doesn't mean anything if you crank the noise reduction up so high it obliterates every detail. Good grief, digisubs have been around for more than five years now and still people don't know how to properly encode a video file.

Venting aside - I can't imagine anyone from Nanashi's actually reading this anyway - I'm delighted to see some character development actually happening outside the narrow requirements of the plot. Aoba's still a cipher (although I can hope that, once she settles into pilot-hood and can start acting on her own instead of just reacting to developments, she'll get better defined) but I've already talked myself into being a Rui fanboy.

We saw just a little bit of Rui last episode, in which she was the consummate professional, and I was mostly wondering if that obviously greater experience and professionalism would inspire respect, envy, or hatred (or a combination thereof) in Aoba. Now, though, we've had a genuine introduction, and the chance to see the way she pouts when she thinks nobody's looking.

That's right - I think Rui's Rei Ayanami act is, well, an act; she's not emotionless because the show creators thought they needed a silver-haired emotionless girl, but because she's trying to act like a Real Pilot. And, for some reason, I love the idea of a Rei Ayanami wannabe so much.

In fact, I'm starting to think that I was too hasty in dismissing the idea that this show was aiming at a certain Nadesico-like self-referentiality. Instead, maybe the difference is of attitude: Nadesico clearly thought mecha shows were fundamentally ridiculous, and showed them no mercy. Jinki, on the other hand, is affectionate - it thinks the cliches are basically good ideas.

In any case, I have a weakness for the sorts of shows that are self-aware enough to subtly parody fan expectations, but not self-aware enough to realize the absurdity of an episode that begins with The Horrors Of War and ends with a robot soccer match.

previous episode

Ah My Goddess TV - 05

It looks like I haven't been understanding this show correctly so far.

At the end of episode 4, I thought I knew - and, more importantly, Keiichi knew - what he meant by "soba ni ite." I thought the phrase "stay by my side" had carried romantic connotations since time immemorial, and so, I thought it was clear that Keiichi's wish was a romantic proposition.

Apparently, though, Keiichi doesn't agree; at least, he doesn't seem to think he's made any commitments. It's very possible, of course, that he's just being stupid, or in denial - "going to the museum together" doesn't violate "stay by my side" in any way I can see.

Or, and I think this is the most likely possibility as well as the least palatable, the whole plotline was just thrown in to finish "setting up" Bell and Keiichi's relationship. After all, if they were serious about creating a misunderstanding, it wouldn't have been resolved in only one episode.

But it's done, and now not only do we the audience know that Belldandy and Keiichi are in love, but they know it too. And I'm stunned - I'm absolutely floored - that this show didn't consider those questions, or the process of answering them, important enough to spend more than a couple of episodes on them.

We're now only five episodes in, and the interesting problems have already been solved. All that's left is throwing obstacles in the characters' path, which of course they'll overcome, because they love each other. Of course it's probably going to be funny, and well-animated, and maybe even romantic - I'll probably keep watching - but I have a feeling that it's lost its chance to be special.

We have the manga - it's not going away. Is it really more worthwhile to triage old material, and decide which plotlines should be rehashed, than to do something really new with the fresh start?

previous episode

Air TV - 05

If you've never set up an equatorial mount before, you probably didn't notice that Minagi's telescope wasn't properly balanced. It shouldn't have fallen like that when she released the lock.

It's hilariously funny because, well, it's true. Here's a candidate for the explanation I was looking for three episodes ago of Minagi's half-stoned speech patterns: she's carefully not allowing herself to actually feel anything. That's why she vocalizes her expressions, e.g. saying "blush" out loud, but not actually blushing. It looks at first like just a cuteness affectation, but if it was, then all the girls (or at least Mizusu, who's a colossal, writhing mass of cuteness affectations) would be doing it too. Instead, I think it's about conscious control; saying "blush" means concluding, through a sequence of reasoning, that the current situation is one in which blushing is warranted, which is not involved in an actual blush.

Obviously, Michiru is involved. A comment over at Matthew's lays it out:

Notice that Michiru never had a family name ? Who in THIS world does not have a family name ?

And given AIR had a supernatural theme to it....
You should roughly get an idea now.

To that, I'd add the repetition of that heavy crossfade visual effect drawing a parallel between Michiru and Alternate Kano, Michiru's sudden disappearance in episode 4, and, most importantly, the way Michiru can't blow bubbles - in other words, she can't affect the physical world in any non-trivial way.

That's just confirming suspicions, of course, but this is where things get interesting. I've speculated before that the "supernatural" elements of Air are actually expressions of the repressed desires of the characters; Michiru not only provides Minagi with the little sister she wanted, but with an "other half" - specifically, the half that has emotions. Since Michiru hasn't faced family traumas (heck, we still don't know what happened to Minagi's father) and she can't affect anything really, it's safe for Minagi to feel things through her.

Changing topics, I'm mostly baffled by Misuzu's breakdown. Obviously, it's the external manifestation of whatever changed in her dream - voices pulling her down - but, well, I'm mostly baffled by Misuzu's dreams, too. The best I've done is a guess that they're meant to indicate a conflict between a desire for freedom and a desire for human relationships; in that light, it seems like Misuzu's started to feel "tied down," panicked, and tried to push people away. (How much do you want to bet that that episode at school involved Kano?) I'm not really satisfied with that, though; I hope things will get clearer once the focus shifts fully to Misuzu.

What I'm really interested in is the hints at the beginning of the episode of an actual storyline for Yukito; first, he has that dream about loss (followed by the sledgehammer symbolism of Misuzu walking out of a bright light) and then he spends the episode saying things like "So that's what a harmonious relationship is like?" There's not much to go on - based, mostly, on the preview, I'm now harboring suspicions that Yukito really likes his "wise traveler" image, in the same sort of way that Misuzu really likes living alone with Haruko, but is starting to harbor doubts that he wants to stick with it (again, in the same way as Misuzu.)

I suppse the next episode will tell if this is a real thing or if it's just a diversion to set up Minagi's story. My fingers are crossed - this could get really good.

previous episode
next episode

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ - 03

Somewhere along the way, during these first three shows, Mahoraba has crossed a threshold vital to shows that take place in old boarding houses: Narutakisou now seems, to me, like a place I might like to live.

In fact, I'd argue that that's the fundamental test of these shows. Their aim is to present an attractive fantasy - the more skillful ones make their points by playing up particular reasons the fantasy is attractive, and thereby encouraging behaviors that the author thinks are important.

Problem is, I'm not sure Mahoraba is that skillful. The prime virtue it seems to be pushing is escapism; it's been three episodes now, and there's been only one scene that took place outside Narutakisou. Whenever Ryushi wants to do his schoolwork, something pushes it aside. And there's Narutakisou's location: it's an island of tranquility in a sea of skyscrapers.

(By the way, how can this relatively-low-income group afford to live there? If the neighborhood justifies building skyscrapers everywhere, the property values must be through the roof. If Japan has a property tax, the Aobas must be heavily subsidizing everyone's rent.)

Or it might be more complicated than that - it might be a story setup. Kozue's DID can also be simplistically interpreted as the expression of an escapist impulse. That, along with the fact that the other inhabitants have been tacitly enabling her, fits the idea of Narutaki as a escape - but then Ryushi comes in and starts to look awfully like a classic disruptive influence. After all, he's ambivalent at best (and terrified at worst) about this one-woman harem.

It's a contradiction, probably, which means it could easily be a source of conflict - on the other hand, it's probably too subtle to be sure yet. This show's defeated most of my other theories, after all.

But it is fun, given that hypothesis, to look at the different characters' feelings about telling Kozue about her other sides. Megumi's afraid of it - which makes sense, mostly, since she's been waving alcohol (an escapist symbol) in everyone's faces for two episodes. But Tamami's using it as a blackmail threat - or, at least, she's making blackmail threats that skirt awfully close to the dreaded revelation; it's certainly a more cavalier attitude than Megumi's taken.

Hmm. I wonder if that's why the Aobas are subsidizing her rent...

previous episode
next episode

EDIT: I'm starting to suspect that the interpretations of Kozue's personalities are more elaborate than I thought. Satoshi, it turns out, put up this very good analysis of the stuff I lazily glossed over up above way back when I had barely seen the first episode.

This is why I originally told myself I would read other blogs before writing my own posts. Moving Satoshi up in the bookmarks folder so I'm less tired and prone to miss things once I get to him... (I'm sure I'll get the hang of this "blogging" thing eventually.)

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ - 02

I think maybe Kozue has been watching too much anime.

After this episode, and the surprise of Kozue having more than one alternate personality, I should be wary of drawing more conclusions - a bunch of previous theorizing I did based on the idea that girl-becomes-aggressive-when-riled would be a central premise of this show has been totally shot down. But crazed, unwarranted jumping-to-conclusions is what I do here, after all, so I'm not going to stop just because it seems unwise.

Here's my new theory, then: In this episode, when most of the characters have been defying the expectations that the first episode set up (Megumi showing a motherly, mentoring side, for example, or Tamami's familiarity with the fireman's carry) Kozue's personalities have been enthusiastically throwing themselves into portraying anime stereotypes. If I'm right that this show is setting itself up to comment on, rather than embrace, that sort of stereotype (and I still think I am) then I can hope for a lot of meta-jokes coming out of those characters.

Ryushi's reaction to "Saki," though, seems to be the emasculation that's the usual reaction to the "crazy tomboy" character - although I think they're having a little bit of fun with the implications. Especially when you consider how thoroughly Saki rubs it in (making fun of his "girly face") and Ryushi's depressed reaction. The loss of his domestic goddess - and the sexual connotations of the event that brought it on - are having a rather profound effect on Ryushi.

I think that's the actual meaning of his fear reaction the second time Kozue gets a shock; he's not afraid of Saki - well, he is, but he's really afraid of losing Kozue. Mix in the fact that both shocks are sexual in nature, and you have quite a metaphor going; Ryushi is being given reason to fear sexuality, which he associates with loss-of-purity (and, heck, to some extent, castration.) It strikes me that that's awfully close to the usual mixture of complexes carried by male leads of harem shows - I suppose the question is whether Mahoraba will set them up as a real story arc or just settle into the premise and see how long it can go without resolving it.

previous episode
next episode

Ah My Goddess TV - 04

I think I have to give up my hopes of an ambivalent Belldandy. I might still be able to make the argument, if I strained myself, but at this point we've seen a little of Bell when she's not around Keiichi, and she doesn't seem any less solicitous. And then there's that thrill she has at the prospect of going to college with Keiichi...

It's nice to know, though, that I wasn't alone; Sayoko's having just as hard a time believing that Bell's the doormat she appears to be as I did. (Although - didn't Keiichi tell Belldandy not to tell anyone she was a goddess last episode? Oh, man, I'd give anything to have it turn out that Bell was consciously messing with Sayoko, but there's no way that'd happen.)

I wonder, in fact, what Sayoko's relationship to those of us in the audience who've also been trying to find chinks in Bell's armor is; certainly, I feel a kind of backhanded kinship with her after this episode. I have a funny feeling that this episode's plot is a rebuttal to us nonbelievers, with sort of a reluctant olive branch there at the end.

Considering all this, it's tempting to write Bell off as an essentially passive actor; she reacts to things that happen around her, and does what she's told. That's, after all, the most memorable thing about her character in the old OAVs. Except it's not true her; if you look more closely, just about everything that's happened so far has been at her instigation: appearing to Keiichi, finding the temple, going to college together, hacking the student database - in fact, when Sayoko tries to pull the plot off the rails of Belldandy's Plan, she's soundly rebuffed.

I could, even, (and watch me bend over backwards just like I said in the first paragraph I wouldn't) revise my understanding of Belldandy again: maybe, she's trying so hard to fall in love with Keiichi not because she's supposed to, but because she wants to. It's not out of character for a deeply invested traditionalist like her to be in love with the idea of love, or for her to want to go to college with Keiichi because she thinks she's supposed to want to spend time with him. (And she doesn't even have to be jealous - the Ultimate Force does that for her!)

And meanwhile, Keiichi isn't willing to admit that he has a girlfriend! Sure, in previous AMGs, he was arguably the victim of his own misunderstanding, but, as I've said before, that's not at all the case here. He asked Belldandy to be his girlfriend, and she said yes - it's not really any more complicated. So he's got some combination of fear-of-commitment, fear-of-emotional-engagement, and fear-of-women swirling around in his head. I'm expecting this side of things to become clearer once Urd shows up and brings, at the very least, the fear-of-women into the foreground.

previous episode
next episode

Administrivia: I now have a handily disposable gmail address that I can put on my sidebar without worrying about turning my uiuc.edu address into The Spam Hole. So I can now be reached at ginsweater@gmail.com.