aloe, dream

So at the beginning of the week I watched episode 13 a couple times, no matter, but I’m [was] currently on my 5th viewing this week O.o What in the world drives me to this? In particularly, it is the first few minutes after the OP, and it has nothing to do with dialog, but the situation, music, and familiarity with the characters makes for a highly amusing little scene. Naturally, the rest of the episode has its perks (sad pun is sad), but I do believe the defining moment starts with a Leopard tumbling through the forest. It’s the power of the strange, but interesting series, The Girl Who Leapt Through Space (宇宙をかける少女). 来た！

Rather than go into the particulars of the most recent episode, it’s better to shine a little light on this imperfect, but awesome series at the half-way mark. My highlights of enjoyment being the characters, the music, and the needlessness of critical viewing thus far.

Characters

I’ll admit I didn’t quite get the point within the first couple episode, but once accustomed to the situation, there is something adorable found in the main character, Akiha, and especially her chemistry with Leopard (highlighted in episode 13). Akiha comes off as an unmotivated personality, as she has little direction early on, but upon meeting Leopard she transforms into an often flustered rage ball, and she does it so well. Perhaps the most attractive part of Akiha is her fluidity, she goes with the flow, and though she tends to argue with Leo, she is easy-going, delicate, and innocent (but may ragestrike HARD).

While she is the highlight for my viewing, Akiha is not the sole attraction,as most of the other characters have interesting likabilities beyond their servicey aspects. Whether it’s Itsuki’s inherent clumsiness or Honoka’s implicit cute-factor ( can I get a なして？ is so fucking adorable, I concur), the characters are light and playful. There is also the misguided duo of Erika and Minato and basically the entire Shishidou family of sisters, notably the elegant soldier, Takane and genius Sakura, who sports sweet skull decorations in her ship and a scarf that drove Leopard insane for a solid 2 episodes. Lest not forget Imo (featured in rage-mode above).

Music

Rather than explain why the music is solid, I’ll point to Washi’s OST review. I will add that the music and sound, in general, have a positive effect on the series, which I only began to noticed in the past few episodes. It definitely shines at the half-way marker, and the fit is near perfect.

Critical Viewing

Most of this stems from earlier posts by Moogy and Chris [ as well as Author], to which I responded on and pondered to this point. While I have little to say about the relation to Mai-HiME, I believe a key to the enjoyment factor is a certain mood of overlooking fairly blatant and possibly terribly produced details. One example being the scene where Itsuki and Akiha had to traverse the laser alarms. I guess one could say the studio was trying, but what’s great is how unimportant such details seem.

Personally, after my spit-take of the mentioned scene, my level of interpreted seriousness floored out, my critical necessity washed away, I was not concerned with plot holes or the likes, and that’s when the pure enjoyment arrived. When we take it simply for what it is, this series has a way to make the viewer smile, laugh, and lightly empathize with the characters and situation. It becomes fully-detached fun, like the whole friends-with-benefits situation … so before we all get lost on that subject, let’s consider the consequences of not being seriously critical.

For one, the series isn’t going to enlighten, and philosophizing (aside from apparent phallic symbolism) would likely be overkill and a pleasure destroyer. Yet, without at least a semi-critical approach, how would one be able to rate such an experience? It already loses points against series that can and were taken seriously, meant something, and were marvelous, and the likelihood of SKG becoming the greatest series I’ve seen is slim-to-none. My most favorite series? Better, but no. A memorable favorite tends to be the best case scenario… and that’s okay.

What occurs is that a perfectly enjoyable series, which need not be perfect, exists. The Girl Who Leapt Through Space, has lowered my critical guard with it’s playful attire, and through Akiha-colored lenses, I find a sense of allure, enjoyment, and a slight bit of pleasure. After all, we may be in this decade of QUALITY, but it’s not to say that enjoyment cannot outweigh purpose. When we accept our enjoyment, what more do we need?