Nichijou Episodes 16 and 17

The taste of defeat.

I'm finally back from my trip, which means that I'll be dishing out a bunch of lump reviews. Expect alot of these as I'll also be attending to my neglected summer homework before school starts. Anyway, on to Nichijou!
Episode 16:
Yuuko checks out a new cafe, but has know idea how to order her coffee. It's one thing to not know what a doppio is (this is the first time I've heard of the term myself), but to not know the difference between small and tall? Oh, Yuuko. The skit that follows is much funnier, with Mio owning three people and a goat in an attempt to hide her yaoi art work. Mio just keeps getting better and better.

A pre-schooler owning his poor old grandpa in baseball, you don't see that everyday...

Mio is too awesome for words.

This girl is just so fudging awesome.

The second skit is my favorite thus far, and now, Mio is my favorite character in this series. Moving on, the next skit has the girls studying in a fast food joint (no, it was not WcDonalds). The main conflict was that both Mio and Mai needed an eraser. Yuuko wouldn't lend it to them unless they guessed which one of her hands hid it. Of course, Mai figured out how to trick Yuuko into telling them which hand was right. Turns out, she had a character eraser this whole time. The punch line? Character erasers are useless. This wasn't as funny as the skit before it, but it's always nice to see Mai make a butt monkey out of Yuuko. The final skit had Yuuko and Professor meeting for the first time. And it was adorable, to say the least. Yuuko and Professor really hit it off, and the end was actually pretty touching.

The two most immature characters in the show finally meet.

This episode didn't start with one of its best skits, but what preceded after that were all genuinely enjoyable. Mio gets better and better with each episode, and Mai gets weirder and weirder (not that there's anything wrong with that). Yuuko's line at the end of the episode, though not exactly original ("Nano is Nano"), was still pretty sweet. The girls' growing friendship with Nano is also fun to watch. I also hope that Professor will get to interact with Mai and Mio soon, and that we'll see more skits with her and Yuuko together.
This episode gets:

It looks like an arrow.

Episode 17:
The first skit was pretty boring, much like the previous episode's opener, but the skit that follows was...well...Okay, first we have Minorou Shiraishi voicing Sakamoto, now we have Daisuke Ono voicing Crow?! Wow KyoAni, just, wow. Anyway, Professor catches Crow and puts Sakamoto's scarf around him. Apparently, this whole time, the scarf was what allowed Sakamoto to talk. Crow, with his smooth voice and polite personality, immediately wins over the two girls, much to Sakamoto's annoyance. He eventually leaves by the end of the day and the girls bid him a tearful farewell. Sakamoto was pretty upset with his departure too, since Crow forgot to return his scarf. Another enjoyable skit, but what really carried it was hearing Daisuke Ono charm the two girls in the form of a crow. It's no wonder why the guy usually plays the role of bishonens.

Winter already?

The next skit plays out like a silent movie, except, it wasn't in black and white. Mio, Yuuko, and Nano are all freaking out over the last two cards for their tower of cards. Mai, as usual, doesn't give a crap. Nano eventually falls asleep and Mai eventually starts trolling Mio and Yuuko. In the end, the ceiling light falls on the tower of cards. Yuuko places the last two cards on the ceiling light, cheers, and Mio just looks depressed. Mai doesn't care. Okay, this was actually pretty funny mostly thanks to Mio and Yuuko's reaction faces to all of Mai's trolling. Especially this:

It's heart-stopping.

The next skit stars Ms. Nakamura. In an attempt to capture Nano, she ends up capturing (and scarring) that poor mohawk-boy again. Meanwhile, Makoto and that one teacher that has a crush on his sister finally meet. It turns out that Makoto has a bit of a dark side behind that sweet face and  he decides to black-mail the teacher into becoming the Igo Soccer Club's adviser. Annaka comes into the picture, and its EH?!?! all over again. The episode ends with Yuuko contemplating on whether or not she should continue playing the straight man in all of Mai's eccentric actions. This proves to be an extremely hard task because this is Mai we're talking about. In the end Yuuko (unsurprisingly) gives in and decides to continue being Mai's straight man. Yuuko is satisfied and Mai is pleased. Everyone else is freaked out. I will never understand the relationship between these two. While we're on the subject, I'd also like to see Mai and Mio interact more. Not once have I ever seen a skit with just the two of them.

It's always the nice ones.

Yuuko's straight man responses stun potential crimes.

Aside from the episode's opener, the skits in this episode were all enjoyable to watch. It was nice to see some of the other students again, but the crow skit really made my day. The last skit with Yuuko and Mai seemed a little tedious at first, but it worked out in the end.
This episode gets:

No.6 Episode 2 Review

They grow-up so fast. ;-;

Four years have passed since the previous episode and Shion is now working as a park maintenance person. One morning, he and his co-worker discover a corpse in the park grounds, which may be the episode's (or possibly the series') eventual main conflict. Later, he meets up with his old friend, Safu, and we learn that Shion was stripped of his privileges for sheltering Nezumi. Safu also abruptly announces to Shion that she will be studying abroad in No.5. That same day, Safu confesses to Shion in one of the most comedic ways possible, and the two have a somewhat bitter-sweet farewell. The next day, Shion's world is turned upside-down when his co-worker dies in front of him and his corpse looks exactly like the one from the day before.

This girl is so straight-forward. I laughed even harder when she outright tells Shion that she wants to have sex him.

Pretty~

Another reason for me to hate wasps (or whatever this insect is supposed to portray).

As it turns out, the government is EVIL and they attempt to take Shion in out of suspicion because they were eavesdropping on his conversation with his co-worker. Nezumi manages to save Shion at the nick of time and the two leave No.6 behind them.
This show keeps getting better and better. If I had to nit-pick, I think that the time skip was a little abrupt, but if that's how the pacing for the light novel was like, then it's forgivable. There may also be some kind of epidemic forming that will later play a larger role as the series progresses, though the main conflict right now is the fact that the government is now after Shion. And since Shion is pictured with white hair in the opening and ending sequences, I'm guessing he eventually dyes his hair now that he's wanted. Judging by the next episode preview, the show's usual setting will also be completely different, in a more low-tech location compared to No.6.

I actually thought that he was taller than Shion four years ago too. I guess my vision's getting worst.

Foreshadow~

Capped mostly because the sky looks so gorgeous.

This was another great episode and the animation is still top-notch. What I really liked about this episode was, despite the sudden time skip, the viewer isn't left out of the loop since the characters provide all of the necessary information in between. Chances are, we won't be seeing Safu for a while, but I look forward to seeing how Shion and Nezumi's dynamic will work out in future episodes. Shion is also hinted to be infected with the disease that killed his co-worker, so that could either be a plot turning point or another possible explanation for his white hair.
Anyway, this episode gets:

Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 2 Review

Do NOT diss flat chests!

This series continues to exceed my high expectations. Ringo, the brunette from the last episode, gets properly introduced this time around. As it turns out, she's somehow connected to the "penguin drum" that Nadine asked from the brothers in the previous episode. So, the brothers decide to ditch school and stalk Ringo instead with the help of their adorable little penguins. By the end of the day, they find out that they're not the only ones who have experience in the art of stalking.

I just know that they're going to make over-riced plushies out of these penguins.

I still don't understand why Shoma's the only one that always falls down a whole.

Another bomb is dropped in this episode, though it doesn't top the first episode's bomb, this was still pretty big. I've watched series with stalkers before (Gintama, Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei), but they were all usually just played for laughs, but this time, it wasn't funny. It was creepy. SO. DANG.CREEPY. I actually thought that Ringo was pretty sweet and cute at first, but now, I-I don't even know what to think of her anymore.She also owns this pink, fancy diary that might also be connected to the penguin drum, or at least have some kind of significance since it appears in the opening and all (or maybe I'm just being over-analytical).Creepy plot twist aside, the penguins are still so fudging adorable. I don't care how over-priced their plushies will be, I want one.NOW. As for the plot twist from the last episode, it's never brought up. But, I guess they've decided to save that bit for a later part in the plot. Aside from transforming into Nadine, Himari doesn't do much in this episode either.

While I calmly enjoyed the sheer cuteness of this scene, my sister went through another fangasm.

Edward Cullen ain't got nothin' on these sparkles.

What? This is all the screen time I'll get?

Alongside Ringo, another new character is introduced: Tabuki, the brothers' homeroom teacher and the cause for Ringo's...affections...He doesn't do much in this episode either (other than being stalked), but since he's also featured in the opening, he might play a significant role later on. I'll be keeping an eye on him, especially since he's voiced by Akira Ishida (Kaworu from Evangelion, Katsura from Gintama, Break from Pandora Hearts, to name a few), one of my favorite voice actors. But that doesn't mean I'll be biased to him (but I am a bit biased to Shoma since he doesn't have as big of a "sister complex"). I wonder how long this series will keep dropping plot twists at the end of each episode though. And if they can manage to successfully surprise the audience each time. I'm still not sure where the plot is going, but this show is still amazing.

I WANT ONE.

Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back.

This episode gets:

Ikoku Meiro No Croisee Episode 2 Review

I love it when they randomly switch to chibi form.

Okay, since I'm still blogging Gintama and Nichijou, I decided to just take on three series from this season for now: Ikoku Meiro No Croisee (obviously), Mawaru Penguindum, and No.6. As it turns out, Uta no Prince-sama's second episode wasn't as bad as the first, but again, I can only only handle so much due to my laziness. Anyway, on to the review!
Yune continues to experience more of the French culture and sampling some of the nation's cuisine. Claude decides to take her around town that day where Yune encounters more new products. Here, a rival of sorts is introduced: a department store. Claude believes that the department store may bring all of the surrounding stores out of business since it carries just about everything; he is even more distraught when he learns that Yune's kimono is in the possession of the family that owns said store. It's also hinted that Claude may be running low on money which may cause some conflict later on. The little boy featured in the last episode makes a cameo here again, so he might play a vital role later on as well.

I love that even the strands of her hair stand up.

So it's basically their version of Wal-Mart.

Yune makes the cutest faces.

Later during supper, Claude lectures Yune to not force herself to eat food that she doesn't like. Yune explains that she wants to believe that the food is delicious so that she can cook food that Claude and Oscar can genuinely enjoy. But even so, Claude continues to urge Yune not to over-exert herself.
With the introduction of a potential rival/antagonist and new characters (judging by the next episode's preview), I look forward to how this series will handle the additions. The backgrounds continue to be nice and detailed and the characters are still enjoyable to watch. The scene where Yune first tries French bread is absolutely adorable, in fact, I pretty much had the same reaction when I first tried it back in the Philippines. The one that Claude bought probably tasted better, though, since it was still fresh.

And now I'm hungry.

Seriously, Yune, stop being so fudging moe!

I like that they added steam to show that it was fresh. This show makes me hungry.

Another nice, relaxing episode. Claude and Yune's relationship is becoming more and more disgustingly adorable and their cross-cultural experiences are pretty amusing to watch. The last few minutes where Claude tries umeboshi (a type of Japanese plum) for the first time was also pretty hilarious, especially his reaction face. But, since I'm not fond of sour food myself, I probably would have reacted the same way.

*sparkles*

This episode gets: