Changes made to content

... room, making for a unique conversation piece. ⏎Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko ⏎ Rating: 4 ⏎ Review: After being buffeted by romantic comedies lazy (A Bridge to the Starry Skies), prurient (We, Without Wings) and plain discomfiting (Astarotte's Toy) it's easy to despair for the shonen romantic comedy. The genre has always been spotty, but seriously, this season had me worrying that it was well and truly deceased. And then along came this strange, beguiling little charmer. Like a great many great romantic comedies before it, Denpa Onna takes the bones of a flogged-to-death romantic premise and on them builds something fresh, interesting, and even exciting, in the process reminding us of why we slog through the Bridge to the Starry Skies of the world. I believe mind-hugs are in order for everyone working on the show. ⏎ We begin with the bones. Makoto Niwa, like so many romantic-comedy leads before him, is moving to a new town, where he'll live with his perpetually absent aunt. Unlike his predecessors, however, Makoto isn't heading unawares into romantic complications. He's counting on them. He's been living in cow-pie central his entire life and he's damned well going to take full advantage of his new situation. This is not to be. His plans die a messy death when he spots what appears to be a legged mattress in his aunt's foyer. Makoto, it turns out, won't be living alone. He'll be living with his futon-encased, thoroughly insane cousin Erio. ⏎ The raw beauty of SHAFT's production is quite stunning. Akiyuki Shinbo keeps his worst impulses in check, turning out animation that is sleek and instantly captivating without being batsh** crazy. Makoto makes a fine lead: sarcastic, self-possessed, resourceful, and with a perfectly healthy interest in the opposite sex. His aunt, an exceedingly odd woman whose conversation is the verbal equivalent of drunken boxing, adds energy and unpredictability. But the real reason Denpa Onna works so well is Erio. She's no moefied eccentric; she's a genuine basket case, unique in the annals of romantic comedies, capable of making the most mundane events thoroughly surreal by her mere presence. She is also, when finally and fully revealed, the most eye-poppingly gorgeous lead in years. Not to be missed. ⏎ Aria the Scarlet Ammo ⏎ Rating: 3 ½ ⏎ Review: Takashi Watanabe at the helm, JC-Staff-powered visuals, Rie Kugimiya as a tiny girl with an outsized temper and mayhem-wreaking skills to match, and a plot that combines violent intrigue with standard-issue romantic comedy...could Aria the Scarlet Ammo be the de facto return of Shakugan no Shana? Maybe, but hey, there are worse things to be. ⏎ Our hero is Kinji Toyama. Only he doesn't want to be a hero. Thanks to a rather dubious genetic ability, the Toyamas have been heroes for generations. Kinji wants no part of that. To that end he intends to transfer out of his current school, which is less a school than a fully-armed boot-camp for kids training to become mercenaries (called "Butei"). On the day he decides to withdraw, however, he is targeted by the "Butei Killer," who plants a bomb on his bike and sends an automated Uzi after him. He's saved by one Aria H. Kanzaki, a slip of a girl with some serious combat skills. In the ensuing shootout, Kinji's congenital affliction manifests itself, turning him briefly into a bon a fide knight in shining armor. Aria is not pleased. ⏎ There's much about Aria the Scarlet Ammo that is worn, but there's no denying it has promise. It's action-packed and good-looking, and its world is amusing as well as riddled with possible mysteries and machinations. Rie Kugimiya is basically just reprising her role for Shana, but this time she's paired with Junji Majima, with whom she has proven chemistry (think Toradora) and whose character is both instantly likeable and refreshingly strong (physically and mentally). Kinji's white-knight transformation, and ensuing fight with a gang of Uzi-armed Segways, is alone worth the price of ission. The show does have an unfortunate habit of following heartening revelations (the emergence of Kinji's strutting alter-ego) with disheartening ones (Aria instantly moving in with him), but the good generally whips the bad. If it builds some emotional depth and works in a few good sucker-punch twists, there's no reason it couldn't replicate Shana's little-series-that-could performance. ⏎ Sket Dance Episode 2 ⏎ Rating: 3 &frac...