Sora no Manimani episode 9

I’ve been rather quiet on the Hime fascination front the last few episodes. This is because her chances in the shipping contest are all but gone. However I think I’ll return to my old ways for this episode because Hime simply rocked my fashionable polka-dot socks this time round.

One thing that becomes clearer when taking screenshots: A lot of the colour gets drained out of this anime since half of it takes place at night.

I say this every episode, Hime has no chance with Saku whatsoever. In fact it’s almost painful to watch, she’s so nervous and her confidence is so fragile and she is so goddam fluffy she is mai waifu. I wish the girl the all the happiness she can possibly get so she can reach the end of this series in perfect ecstasy. This fellow, however, grated on my nerves a bit. The guy is clearly a sleaze. He’s part of the Light Music Club simply so he can pick up moe blobs and only joined the astronomy meeting so he could pick up hot fluffy astronomy chicks. I feel like an overly-protective father, keeping my beautiful and pure daughter away from men like him. When they were in that room together and they shot to that picture of the planet, I was half expecting Edogawa to appear with another ‘bowling with the planets’ routine to knock the guy out, but Hime can certainly stick up for herself. Now that he’s gotten a good beating, I might allow him to see Hime again. But I swear if I see that hand go any lower than the waist I’m breaking out my machete.

I always skip the opening and ending to this anime so I never spotted that our new female character, dressed like an english teacher from the 1920’s, was in the opening all along. But the opening so so bland and generic. At least in the closing we get to see Hime wearing a fancy dress with her hair all curled up (yes I am a Hime fanboy, didn’t you know?), but the opening doesn’t really have anything. Rom-Coms often have crappy openings don’t they. It’s not like it’s a requirement or anything. Seto no Hanayome had the best air guitar-worthy opening since Beck, which in turn had the best air-guitar-worthy opening since Trigun, which in turn had the best air-guitar-worthy opening…ever.

Sorry Sora no Manimani, but having CGI constellations will not make the astronomy any more exciting. It may be interesting to those of you who liked astronomy in the first place, but for someone like me who’s interest in astronomy is minuscule at best, non-existent at worst, these long astronomy monologues are starting to get pretty dull. Even Pegasus, who is totally the greatest mythical creature of all time, bar none, cannot save the astronomy lessons. It kinda reminds me of teachers who try to make their subject fun and exciting. It may work for a while but quickly the inherent dullness of the subject matter will filter through and return the classroom to it’s usual lethargic state. I thought it might be more interesting when they got that massice telescope and they’d see some crazy stuff like supernova’s and comets and quasars and shit but all they did was look at the moon. Big whoop.

(BTW, what does the moon look like in your country? I’ve heard in other anime (Honey and Clover I think) that in Japan it looks like two rabbits cooking. In Ireland it looks a bit like the face of a man who’s just bitten down on a lemon slice)

 

 Heh heh, the path for the childhood friend character has opened up for the club president, and in the world of Sora no Manimani, that’s the person you’re destined to end up with.

I heard a bit of a harsh description of Sora no Manimani recently. It’s an inoffensive romcom that you would be unafraid to show to your mother. Admittedly the last anime I showed my mum was Eden of the East (she loved it, and I’m going to have to return home when the movies come out), but I can see what they mean. It’s certainly fun to watch, but it just doesn’t have much that makes it stand out. If I was recommending it to someone all I’d probably say is “it’s pretty funny but keep your hands of Hime”. It’s ratings reflect that too, with a rather unimpressive score of  7.61 on MAL. It has a very low percentage drop rate but the scores are mainly 6-8 with very few 9’s or 10’s. It is fun and I’m certainly enjoying it, but if someone was to ask me what were the best anime of 2009, this anime wouldn’t even enter my mind. Harsh I know. But you know it’s true.

 

Saku stopped this guy just before he was about to have a threesome. Even I feel sorry for the guy.

I can only imagine what the reaction the Astronomy club must have had when they first saw that monster telescope. Consider how much they’ve been clamouring for one since the beginning, even a crappy small one, and the first one they see is that absolutely colossal beast of a telescope. The anime itself didn’t give give an accurate portrayal of their reaction to the telescope so instead of my usual barrage of screencaps, I’m going to combine a handful to tell the simple tale of ‘bigger is better’.

Bakemonogatari…man is that anime awesome or what.