Amagami SS

[Marik]

[UTW] Amagami SS+ plus - 12 - 720p: Torrent | Magnet | DDL1 | DDL2
[UTW] Amagami SS+ plus - 12 - XviD: Torrent | Magnet | DDL1 | DDL2

[Buffalobiian]

So that ends all the main arcs. It's been a nice enough watch overall that I can safely say I'm glad they made a second season. Being supplementary material, it would be unfair to expect this to be as good as the original, but I held those expectations anyway.

Overall ranking of arcs:

Good: Tsukasa
In between: Haruka
Unsure: Rihoko, Ai.
Bad: Sae, Kaoru

Tsukasa's arc wins hands down. The dynamics between the couple were more or less in line with how they acted prior to SS+. This was the arc that actually felt most like a continuation of SS.

Likewise, the thrill and Junichi's constant feeling of trying to entertain Haruka was also consistent with the first season. She might not be my favourite character, but this arc had progress throughout the two episodes - something that the majority of other arcs lacked.

Rihoko and Ai are in the grey zone. Ai's still as wife-material as ever, but the constant angst over not seeing Junichi for Christmas felt..amplified. It doesn't feel like it should be that big a deal, and I resultantly got a little annoyed at how "lonely" Ai was feeling. Rihoko's arc is probably the only arc that actually exceeded its original in SS. It was a rather vanilla case of Junichi realising he likes Rihoko, so no excitement points there.. but also nothing to turn your nose at either. After getting friend-zoned last series, Rihoko really did deserve a little something for her efforts.

Sae and Kaoru were my biggest disappointments. Well, Kaoru's arc was all downhill for me ever since her second ep in SS. The first episode back then had plenty of flare.. the rest ran on (dwindling) afterburners. Sae's arc dynamics changed dramatically. She went from timid-girl to 2nd-yr-school-idol. While Kaoru's was more or less a continuation of her SS arc (with lap-drawing scenes here being the only reminder of the greatness Karou's very first episode displayed), Sae's felt completely foreign.

Junichi's usefulness seems to be the trend here. He was actively involved with helping Tsukasa and securing Haruka (took 1.5eps), to being rather neutral in Ai/Rihoko and finally just darn right pathetic in Kaoru/Sae. It's interesting how in a harem-show-for-guys, the key to enjoyment is actually the male lead himself.

That said, Junichi is supposedly completely absent in this next ep (I'm not sure if it's TV or BD only), but I'm sure I can enjoy it without him.

edit: right, it's disc-material, as Marik pointed out long ago.

[Marik]

[UTW] Amagami SS+ plus - 13 - 720p: Magnet | Torrent | DDL1 | DDL2

[Buffalobiian]

Mia, the melons, meat buns and pancakes were all very tasty.

gochisosama!