On to the next part of my thoughts. Yes, I have more. No, I have no idea why I feel so compelled to write so much about SPanic.

Mangaminx has a couple of comments about the awakening of Nagisa, and I say Ep10-11 has been quite non-subtle about it. Around 19:05 of Ep11, as Nagisa recalls the comments from the other girls, Tamao’s one suddenly triggers a realisation within her( with a SFX sound no less, and see? It was because of Tamao! Tamao plotted it all! Tamao turns straight girls into carpet lovers with guile! All hail Tamao, the Dark Maiden of SPanic!)!

*Erm-hrm* Getting a little side-tracked here.

Anyway, it is cute how the world of SPanic conspires to turn Nagisa into one of them; and I still find it disturbing that up till now, there has not been a single mention of men in the anime series. Maybe we were all wrong in the first place. Maybe Nagisa was not straight in the first place. Maybe Nagisa has been a lesbian all this time, and that she is just… shy.

[[ Question to ponder on. If there were only women in the world, do we still call their relationships homosexual? Monosexual? ]]

I mean… has it not disturbed anybody else that girl-girl relationships are the NORM in SPanic? The students in SPanic talk about GGR as casually as talking about the weather, or something. It is not scandalous. It is not… kept under wraps. If anything, the whole damn campus is one freaking hotbed of sizzling GG-Loving.

To emulate Jeff Lawson, let us imagine that for a while.
.
.
.
.
Okay, back to the topic.

As a male, I have little to complain about, of course. It just rakes on my suspension of disbelief at times, when I am watching SPanic. Mind you, SPanic is the first Yuri-type series I am watching regularly, since I generally find Yuri-anime to be too cheesy to bear. Somehow… somehow, SPanic managed to remain cheesy, but still grab my attention with each episode. Must be the allure of Tamao’s Kaede-Level-Potential to breakdown.

~~~~ ~~~~

Storyline aside, one other thing I wish to praise about in Ep11 is that they raised the quality of the animation. Not to the extent of KyoAni, or even JCStaff, of course, but sufficiently enough that it could be considered… better than average.

For the first time, in a long, long time, they drew the character’s facial side profiles decently. I had no need to cringe each time they pan to their sides. I suppose this supports the cynical view that all the budget goes to the ‘Swimsuit Episodes’…

Still… I find it crazy that the flowers can be better drawn than some of the characters.

No matter though, I got to see Tamao drawn more nicely than before. ^_^

~~~~ ~~~~

Miyuki is still a mystery to me. I have absolutely no flipping idea whether or not she has the pinings for Shizuma. Also… just what is the ‘Dark’ history of Shizuma? Given that the Etoile is supposed to be in pairs, and Shizuma is all alone, I am guessing something happened to the previous junior?

Will SPanic become angsty when they finally enter this particular aspect of the story? I do not know whether SPanic will fall flat for me if they enter angst-ville. Magikano failed to pull it off, terribly if I may add. Karin sort of achieved it. Trigun was… okay. NGE was just too WTF?! Mahoromatic was also ‘WTF?!’, but they still managed to pull it off.

Generally, a transition from comedy to drama is a rocky ride, especially if it is too jarring. SPanic has been doing well so far, I would hate it to see it lose everything by failing to transit smoothly.

~~~~ ~~~~

Cheers.

~~~~ ~~~~

Since Zyl has covered the Yaya parts, I shall cover the Tamao parts.

Some might have been puzzled over Tamao’s actions in Ep10, since it would seem self-defeating to push your object of desire into the hands of your rival; but I believe Tamao was taking a gamble here. A part of her grand scheme to make Nagisa hopelessly ensnared by her machinations.

As Nagisa’s roommate, it would only seem natural to others that Tamao will help Nagisa out with her French, but a problem arises in the form of Chiyo. Chiyo is more competent at French than Nagisa, and this has negative effects on Nagisa’s confidence. Tamao cannot kick out Chiyo though, since it would seem ‘un-upperclassly’ of her, so what is she going to do? What can Tamao do to prevent Nagisa from flunking French, and thereby denying her 3days and 2nights of bunking with Nagisa at Summer School?

Hmm… Nagisa mentions Shizuma and suddenly Tamao has an Eureka moment. Some viewers had the idea that Tamao pushed Nagisa to Shizuma simply because she wanted Nagisa to pass her French, but why did it have to be Shizuma? It could have been some other girl, like Chikane.

Remember. Tamao is borderline, if not outright, psychotic. She has her reasons for doing things, even if the reasons may seem warped.

Tamao is very well aware of Nagisa’s feelings towards Shizuma, and likewise Shizuma’s for Nagisa. Given her scarily complete knowledge of school ongoings, Tamao was also most probably aware that Shizuma could not attend Summer School.

Therefore… Tamao is going to manipulate Nagisa’s feelings.

By giving her one week with Shizuma, Nagisa would have developed happy memories of Shizuma just before going to Summer School. This will of course, cause her to pine for Shizuma during Summer School. Tamao is aware of the potential backfire of course, and she plays her cards masterfully as shown in the preview for Ep12.

Unlike Yaya the “I-fail-to-conceal-my-desires-for-you” Angsty, Tamao has skillfully managed to deceive Nagisa into thinking that she is no more than a best friend. This was bluntly shown in Ep09. As a ‘best friend only’, Nagisa has no reason to exclude Tamao from her circle, even after she falls in love with Shizuma.

By playing the ‘we cannot be together anymore because Shizuma is your only one now’ card, Tamao triggers the protective instinct of best friends in Nagisa, essentially causing Nagisa to rebound back to her. What happens after that? We shall have to wait and see.

Tamao differs greatly from Yaya in that she follows the principle of not going after the target, but making the target come after you. When one chases after a person, that person may feel suffocated by your attentions, since you never know whether your antics will be accepted. By making the person chase after you however, you create a bond of desire. In this case, you make the person insecure about losing you. Guilt can be a very powerful weapon when exploited correctly.

Tamao definitely has the hots for Nagisa. The producer have been slapping this into our faces ever since the first episode. They even made her bathtub scene the ending credit shot for Ep11. Tamao would be naturally worried about her plan not working out as planned, but you got to give her credit for all her scheming.

Also, I liked how they made Tamao be the narrator for Ep11. Ep09 and Ep11 were really Tamao-centric episodes.

In the Tamao and Nagisa relationship, Tamao is like a spider, with Nagisa the butterfly blissfully flitting into her web of manipulations.

~~~~ ~~~~

End Part 01…