Haha, glad you got round to finishing Toradora! Andi, I'd been meaning to watch it for a while when I did, after seeing it I wish I hadn't left it as long.
The 'one more' scene at the grandparents house was one of the most well pulled-off scenes I think I've seen in an anime.
Very nicely animated, quite amusing in it's own way, especially considering the characters and just felt 'right', as well as being completely adorable. The series itself was good, but as a single scene, that one scene from is definately one I think I'll remember
The whole return of the diary and the picture under the picture also just neatly tied things together in a really nice heartwarming way, yet extremely believably given the characters.
I do think a lot of how right the second half does things at points, derives from the slower time the first half of the series takes with you, as although its slower viewing in it's own right; it's really about giving you a chance to get to know the characters and realise that actually, they've probably all got a good shot at the gold in one way or another.
Arguably, viewed in its own right the first half is a different beast (much like Kanon), but then the series is just that, a series, rather than being two series, so you were always intended to be able to watch both together, and that's part of the pacing progression.
In some ways, my main dissapointment with the series was not the typical complaint on how much the ending rushed, but the extended time span at the very end (although the final scene with the locker WAS funny), as it just didn't feel realistic and almost left a bit of a downer on the ending.
Luckily I've since discovered that this seems to have been an arbitrary decision to boost tension for the anime, and that the original source material places it as a much more realistic couple of months, so I tend to think of it that way, as it just feels more 'on the mark'.
Still, was a nice warm-hearted ending in the least.
In other news - just finished watching "A Place Promised In Our Early Days"... really ironic timing given the film mentioned above
Absolutely beautiful, although the comparative lack of detail in the character designs was a a shame, as it held back the film from being one of the most visually stunning animated pieces I've seen.
Story was a bit trippy, although I think I've got my head around it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the happy ending, as for the last 10-15 mins of the film I'd had a horrible sense of 'bad end' foreboding.
Whilst it was SLIGHTLY bittersweet in that the girl lost her memories, and the realisation that the time afforded had offered her, you came away with a feeling it wasn't going to matter and that she'd almost certainly rediscover the most important part.
My only gripe with the film was perhaps pacing, it wasn't always a very fast film, sometimes feeling quite slow, and it wasn't one that flew by without me noticing the time, not to say it was a bad film, as that sort of thing and how you gel with a movie is always personal, and sometimes is even dependant on your mood when you watched it (I watched it in two shots with my brother).
On a completely different note, I'm almost done with K-on!! and have to admit to being a little disappointed with the second season, its still lighthearted good fun but the actual music and music related activities seem to have taken a backseat this season, and those were really some of the main reasons I began watching season one. Also, with the exception of the second ED, No thank you, none of the new music has really been to the standards of the first season, which is a shame as I really like female fronted rock regardless of language.
Unless anything changes, from memory I'd give season one 8-8.5/10, whilst this season edges more to a round 7/10. Fun, with no major flaws, but lacking the spark, energy and emphasis on music of the first one, feeling like a series with twice the length but half the focus, as well as half as much actual music.
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), with submarines and city ships ... and pirates ... and mecha ... this all combines to make a reasonably fast paced adventure story. The characters are fun and the story is pretty good. Despite having little in common, (ignoring the large submarine aspect), it did remind of the first season of Full Metal Panic in terms of story pacing and style.