Hiromi, present day.

Hiromi as a child.

I like True Tears because, unlike most anime, the characters don't have the exact same hair during flashbacks as they do in the present.

Kyo and Kaminagi.

Joining my list of characters in need of better shows is Kaminagi from Zegapain. This is not to say that Zegapain was a bad show, but Kaminagi was far and away the best part about it, and it's a shame that the rest of the series couldn't measure up to her awesomeness. (For those of you keeping track, some other characters in need of better shows have included Kotori from the Da Capo series and Aoba from Jinki:Extend.)

Lunamaria without her skirt. Oh, and Kira in a ZAFT uniform for some reason.
And Meyrin needs to take Athrun to the mall again.
I think all his non-Orb clothes went down with the Minerva.

I somehow completely failed to notice that Lunamaria ditched her skirt in the final moments of the fourth Gundam SEED Destiny compliation movie until Zyl pointed it out.

This raises the question as to WHY?

1. Hack job by Sunrise animators suffering from the Itis after too much free Pizza Hut caused genuine error.
2. Wants to be taken seriously as a Gundam pilot. (Hey, it could happen.)
3. Finally realized that all those elevators at PLANT are made of glass.

It was probably the first reason, but I can almost argue that it was the second reason since Lunamaria did get herself some non-trampy street clothes with phony FAITH logos on the lapels.

Lunamaria, this is a prime opportunity to start sucking up.

Clearly Lunamaria has Special Forces envy.

Joining the list of likable characters who really need to be on better shows is the fetching Aoba from Jinki:Extend.

Aoba

I had high hopes for Jinki:Extend, but it painfully failed to live up to its potential. So many problems. Where to begin? For one, I found most of the other characters besides Aoba unlikable. Akao in particular annoyed the Hell out of me. Shiba was okay, but she barely had any decent screentime, either.

Exasperatingly, Aoba was also woefully absent for far too much of the series as the plot jumped among various stories and timelines. When you have a character as charismatic as Aoba, it's probably in your best interest to actually keep her in the show, eh.

I really didn't like the many contrivances. For example, the obligatory training episode with its Tiny Heart Syndrome crisis really could have been handled better—especially if you consider Aoba's escape in the first episode.

I also could have done without the very out-of-place pseudo-moe-lesbian service. It was really unnecessary and blatantly gratuitous.

Jinki:Extend sponsor eyecatch.

I rather wanted to like Jinki:Extend. It's not all bad. The OP's and ED's nods to classic giant robot anime series were nice touches. Aoba is great, but never had a chance at carrying this show alone. The sponsor-message eyecatch is also great if only for spawning a lot of parodies. (E.g., Galaxy Angel and Gundam SEED Destiny.)

Lain

After listening to several years of hype and raves, I finally watched Serial Experiments Lain.

I am sorely disappointed. Biggest let-down since... well, since 9 1/2 Ninjas. By the time the final episode dragged its way across my screen, all I wanted to do was hack off Lain's ridiculous pigtail/sideburn with a giant pair of hedge clippers and throw it into the ocean.

I'm really not sure how to describe it. The whole series is pretty much like the last two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion played at one-sixth speed, without any music, with fewer likeable characters, and without any giant robots, combined with Ghost in the Shell without the firefights and simulated nudity.

I would have liked it considerably better had I seen this in 1994 when the fusion between The Wired and "the real world" would have been an interesting concept. Now, everyone knows that The Wired would really be nothing but a brainless vessel for bad amateur porn, soulless advertising, and the chatter of countless illiterates.

Sorry to all the Lain fanboys, but this series would have been much more interesting if it had been about her best friend. Serial Experiments Arisu—I'd watch that.

By the way, Vampire Hunter D is also garbage.