Despite all contrary evidence and rumors of OH DEAR GOD WHY traps (as opposed to “Mako-cakes awesome” traps), I’m pushing on with H2O, if only because of the Shana II Theory of ‘Hey, it might actually not suck…somewhere down the line’. Although H2O hasn’t had one season to prove itself already.

I suppose I should be more aware of the fact that harem shows actually can and will suck, even though I’ve been extremely lucky so far to watch nearly all good ones. Well, we’ll find out as H2O advances. Commence liveblogging!

(It’s at this point that I rue not getting an episode of True Tears, Shigofumi, Minami Okawari, Hidamari Sketch – yes, I’m slow – or just about bloody anything else to watch to tonight. At least this will make KimiKiss in half an hour look uber awesome.)

Hmm, Beaten Up On A Lot Girl has some flashback of Hinata; this in combination with her oh-so-canned “I’ve been waiting a long time” line pre-OP means that she has some hardcore ronery backstory going on or something. Might be an interesting point.

For some reason, I got this huge flash of Asa-sempai when Otoha, or whoever it was, glomp-tackled Hirose. Ooh, she did the back-slapping too. Definitely Asa.

For some reason…it seems I’ve used “for some reason” already. Shame. But anyway, it seems pretty unexciting that Hirose has vision again. You think at least one person would be like “oh my God you can see!” after the seeing-stick -raping-fest of last time.

Hey, Hinata fell in water and didn’t get her shirt all Harem-Show Soaked. We’re moving in the right direction.

There’s some backstory and/or rumor about some demon bringing ruin to the village. Combined with the sudden silence of Hinata, I can’t help but think this is related to Beaten Upon Girl.

“Hamaji…why are you suddenly in maid clothing?” Dead on the money there with that remark.

Ah, he spotted Beaten Up Girl’s school outfit on the other side of the bridge. Ah, he spotted more that at the river. Ah, they gave the ‘lol, girl bathing!’ pan the eyecatch lead-out. Well, this appears to confirms my prediction from five minutes ago.

(Middle schoolers, pshaw, who needs DFC?)

Oh, we’ve gone to a non-serious sequence post-eyecatch, with the girl threatening Hirose with a knife in a ‘I’m going to kill you for peeping’ way. Or was she…dead serious?

I still don’t get what’s going up with Hinata, she’s probably the most redeeming of the show in character and plot. She seems to be the mole – or at least the parent wants her to be. But her family’s evil, because a butterfly flew into the light and burnt! Or something.

The sad part is, I’m finding Beaten Up Girl (if I were funny, I’d change the acronym all the time) a little more attractive, now that she’s showing a hint of dere-ness, not to mention, the whole “I should be hated” thing. ‘Cause I’m a rebel like that. Tell me not to like you, sure. OK, now they’re overdoing it with Hirose waking up Kohinata; although, I did smile at the whole sequence. Easy to please, yes sir.

“Hirose-sama, please make one with me. I want to be with you.” Man, I really love zoning in and out of attention.

Incidentally, they were talking about pinwheels.

Can’t decide if Hirose’s mix of naivete and kindness is heartwarming or frustrating; the same goes with Hinata’s coming on to Hirose, or Kohinata’s vague coldness/tsundereness (or, all the beating done on her; interesting or disgusting?).

Oh, hey, stuff burning. Whose parents died, aside from everyone’s? It looks like childhood Hinata had some trouble too. That’s interesting.

And what’s this about ‘not being able to do anything before’? Does Hirose have some past with Kohinata, or is he just trying to make up for lost time in general? He really is being surprising kind to Kohinata. Is it love, guts, or stupidity?

(Oh snap, happy music and smiling montage. Relationship plusplus.)

I like how Crisu puts it at Borderline Hikikomori: “Status of soul – still not rocked”. I agree in general, although I think there is some saving grace to this show, if not barely. This episode raised quite a few questions, so I’ll hang on to it.

SHE IS WAITING IN THE AIR wait no. Well, they started with a shot of the clouds a la the AIR OP. Not to mention, some monologue slash poem thingy that I would put money on it being repeated in 11 episodes, or 23, or whenever the show’s epilogue rolls around.

A bit of liveblogging this time around, just to go back to roots. Having fun with this feature. And hey, it seems that the much-talked-about ‘weird features’ of H2O are kept in the anime, given by the weird…animal…things in the “Presented By” segment. I wonder why more shows don’t put animated stuff here; that was one thing I liked about Doujin Work.

Can’t decide whether this show is taking itself seriously or not. The beginning says yes, the wild animal chase says no. Should I put “smothered by a girl, entirely not on purpose” on the drinking list? I’ll get the root beer.

At least blind kid went for her face when groping instead of her – wait, never mind. Somehow, I have a feeling if I sarcastic my way through this it will take longer than an episode of Zetsubou Sensei.

Do blind people really walk around with their eyes closed? Ah well, realism in anime, who am I kidding.

Also, they’re middle schoolers. I suppose this is an eroge, so they all failed numerous times so that they are all 18? Or, perhaps, they’re really thousand-year-old artificial life forms? I never fail to amuse myself with that.

Hmm, I think I always start out hating an anime, but then I go all tsundere for it and start liking it; at least, that is what I hope for H2O. None of the characters are particularly likable at the moment, except for maybe the clumsy, spacey Hinata.

Alright, so we’ve established that they like fanservice. And they’re not afraid of panty shots. Good job. Well, Shuffle! still turned out well.

I think we’re supposed to pity Kohinata because the bratty school idol and her stupid followers beat the living tar out of her. Oh, she just smashed some dishes and snapped at the male lead. That’s because she’s just being tsundere, a rebel, and a cold person, who just needs love! No worries!

…Right.

Ooh, y’know what would be fun? If Hinata is actually some evil contract killer out to get Hirose, which is why she’s being so nice and sucking up to him. At least, that’s my crackpot theory of why her grandfather knows his name already, and calls him Hirose-sama. Always talk good about your “clients”.

There’s clearly some supernatural aspect to this…I wonder how much emphasis will be put on this. Additionally, how much of this feel-good “you can do it if you try!” stuff will we get. Way to empower those closet otaku, anime.

Extremely nonplussed about H2O so far, but it’s long and far between shows that really grab me from the first episode. Doubly so for harem shows, simply because the logistics of character introduction and the concept of ‘light-hearted intro segueing into something more interesting’ hold pretty firm. The animation quality worries me though, it’s a bit behind the times; but I’m not ruling this show down yet.

OK, that chibi section at the end of the show was really cute and made the overall taste left in my mouth a lot better. How simple I am, eh? That concludes tonight’s Mystery H2O Theater 3000.