So I was watching Valkyria earlier and was very happy to see that it got a new OP. That is, until I realized how massive a spoiler they threw into it by showing that Alicia does indeed have Valkyria blood in her (enough to face Selvaria for the matter). It's a plot twist that wasn't totally unexpected given how they've hinted about it in the past, but damn it I would have liked to see it played out in the series and not completely spoiled by an opening sequence several episodes before it happens. *shakes fist at A-1 Pictures*

In my ongoing attempt to finish up the shows I've been watching and get into the new summer ones, I finally got around to watching the last episode of Ristorante Paradiso. And with that, I have to say that it was a lot better than I was expecting. Omni blogged the first couple of episodes awhile back and as I sort of expected, the series didn't appeal to a lot of people. As strange as it may sound, that alone made me more inclined to check it out for myself because, well, I like to be a trendsetter. Well not really (because that requires effort and I'm lazy), but the premise of the show sounded so different from your usual anime "rinse and repeat" formula with teenage characters, super powers, mechs, and all sorts of crazy stuff.

Instead (of your usual crap), we have a story about a young woman who heads to Rome to find her estranged mother and meets a bunch of intriguing OLDER men working at a restaurant there. That's right, OLDER men! (...and women too I might add!) I know that might not sound all that interesting, but the series manages to cover a lot of story and showcase a lot of character intricacies in its short eleven episode run. The ending was pretty sweet too, in the sappy kind of way. While I enjoyed the series throughout, the ending itself made everything much better by giving off a good sense of closure.

Anyway, Ristorante Paradiso is still probably targeted towards the older crowd (which I guess I'm a part of now), so if you fit that bill and are looking for something different, you may want to check it out. To those who have seen it already, let me know what you think!

(Streaming episodes with official English subtitles can be found on CrunchyRoll here.)

I was asked to comment on the latest manga chapter of Bleach, so here goes:

Since this episode was basically the exact same as last episode, I'm not even going to bother with a summary this week. All of the changes were relatively minor (their clothes, Yuki wearing the mask this time, Haruhi not needing to be prompted about cicadas, and so on), though Kyon was slightly more suspicious this time around. Like last week, Kyoto Animation reanimated everything from different angles and with different shots, and it sounded like all the lines were re-recorded too. I'm sure by the end of all this, if not already, the voice actors will be able to recite those lines by heart.

I can't decide if Kyoto Animation is doing this to troll us, or if they're buying time so that they don't have to actually cover all that much new material, or if this is stunt for the sake of pulling a stunt, or what. Whatever the reason, as I said earlier, I'm really hoping that they don't do this for eight straight episodes or for the rest of the season. I wouldn't put it past them though, and I'll probably go into next weeks episode expecting it not to conclude again.

Well, the Endless Eight arc didn't finish again. In fact, it ended pretty much exactly like the last episode did, with Kyon putting things off, which means we're in for the same stuff again next week. And who knows, maybe they really will keep it going for the rest of the series - the thought of it makes me shudder. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Kyoto Animation would try a stunt like this, however it's very discouraging for someone like me who wants to see more new stuff. It certainly doesn't give me any extra motivation to blog this episode or watch next week's, but of course I still will (though it'll be after I write up Umineko). Ugh...