And now for near a moon has passed,
with ceaseless training and practiced oratory before vending machines.
And soon the day of the fated interview to join the ranks of House Crab Gratin would be upon them.
Seeing the dire need of his charge, Junichi III drew upon all his powers,
revealing himself to be a powerful wielder of magicks,
and summoning to her side five great heroes and the Nishishi.
Sae the Meek now faced her first trial,
to journey to the cafeteria,
that realm of pan and set course menus that flow from the hands of divine lunchmaidens,
the prepackaged fruits of education taxes delivered unto students unwise enough not to bring their own bento.
But Sae trembled at the lunchmaidens’ power and Junichi knew he must act.
He called upon the very veil of Zeus,
that sight altering gossamer cloak that changes the sight of mortals,
and which allowed the king of the gods to abduct fair Europa.
Descending upon the heads of the lunchmaidens,
it emboldened the heart of Sae the Meek.
And to further aid her throughout that day of trials he summed the Five Heroes.
Rihoko of the Dojikko to ease her mind with causal words,
Kaoru the Sexhair to be her emissary to House Crab Gratin,
Haruka, most sly and daughter of Aphrodite herself to distract the Nishishi,
Queen Tsukasa to carry the burden of beakers and thus leave the lab empty for the task,
and mysterious Ai whose words of encouragement were like a heavenly song.
.
One more test awaited Sae under the virtuous leadership of Junichi III that day,
that she must have the speed of Hermes when running late for her duties,
and thus with maximum fanservice he bade her change into the garb of athletes as they perform before Olympus,
and once more into a form most pleasing to Poseidon.
And the gods were pleased!
And to their favored OTP Zeus extended his hand,
tipping Sae forward onto Junichi so that he experienced the touch of her womanly breast.
And but for the Nishishi, there was much rejoicing.
Thus did that day end and another began,
with a journey to the Springs of Koedo,
realm of the myriad Doctor Fish and their fierce eyed guardian beast.
In the pools of the ravenous fish Sae, Junichi, and the Nishishi did sit,
and the final test administered.
They nibbled away at her feet in the manner of the Sexhair on Junichi II’s ears,
and her voice made a sound most pleasing to Junichi and the Nishishi.
But through it she maintained some composure,
passing the test before the fearsome guardian spirit overcame Junichi,
and sent all three to House Tachibana to play the game of the Fates.
Her training complete, Sae’s epithet was now removed,
and most unmeekly made her first declaration of affections,
to claim the heart of her beloved.
.
Commentary from Codicer ExecutiveOtaku, Imperial Librarium
- Everything went better than expected! Seeing Sae early on during the other arcs, I was really dreading how this one would turn out. But good job Amagami on really doing something different and combining it with making Sae a much more likable character than I ever would have imagined. The three week time skip worked perfectly, allowing Sae to become more outgoing, and hence less annoying, while still keeping it from seeming like it was out of nowhere. By the end of it she’s become almost as forward as Kaoru during her serious moments.
- While I doubt this will top the Haruka arc (but I’d love to be proved wrong again!), I think it’s pretty safe to say that barring a total fiasco ending this arc has already outdone the entirety of the writing in the Kaoru arc. Sure, they have different tones since this one is not as dramatic and serious, but even if you filter out the different sorts of style each has the Sae arc is already delivering better character development. And it’s keeping its fanservicy moments wacky and in-line with the tone of the arc. No ‘just for the hell of it’ bellybutton kiss this time with no buildup or context.
- Miya is proving to be quite a fun character to have around so much. Another element of this arc that’s making things quite entertaining.
Oh Sae, pretending to be so coy. Indeed you have come far!
><strike>My</strike> Miya’s face when she walks in on her brother and Sae.
Haruka wants a little Captain in-, er strike that, my counsel has advised me to invoke my Fifth Amendment rights.
Again I invoke the Fifth.
Miya geometry.
22 Comments
OK, the narrator now sucks, UTW’s right. Kinda gets annoying.
anyway; Doctor Fish = Win! That absolutely brought out the ecchiness from Sae, LOL! Jun’ichi Mk.III is very straightforward on this episode, especially that he really likes to see Sae’s big jugs… hahahahaha! Dam*..this arc is my number 2 after Haruka’s… I hope this ends in a very fun way.
Well, I guess Mr. Narrator would be there for the last 2 episodes [obviously]; Next episode will be serious I guess. Must be all about a confession from Sae.
~And hey, we get to see again EO-sama’s Rihoko earlier in the episode! This get our hopes up that it’ll be a likeable arc before Tsukasa’s turn! yay!
~Am not expecting much from the Ai arc but, considering what I’ve read in the manga [Amagami: Love Goes On] I think it will be all about drama n romance? Who knows what kind of adaptation it’s going to take… that’s 2 weeks from now. 
oh yeah, there’s also goin’ to be another addition to the Women in Jun’ichi’s life; introducing Risa Kamizaki: http://bit.ly/9QnvaR News: http://bit.ly/cxz1kh
follow up on my comment:
ooppss… sorry on the image link, ‘hotlinking not allowed!’ LOL! anyway, here it is –> Risa Kamizaki: http://bit.ly/bS4YBY
My hopes increase in order of the last three arcs. Not sure about Ai, I’m liking Rihoko, and I’ve loved Tsukasa right from the start. And hopefully they’ll all stay on course like this arc and the Haruka arc. Not that the Kaoru arc was bad, but it just wasn’t up to the standards of pacing and creativity set by arcs 1 and 3.
Risa series? Cool! I have no idea about her character, but I’m always up for more from the creators of Kimi Kiss and Amagami. Thanks for the image and link
lol @ “and the gods were pleased”
I do agree that this second episode proved to have a bit more character development than the Kaoru arc, Sae is a bit less annoying, and Miya is fantastic. However, I am not a fan of the narration, though I do see it’s purpose. I also don’t like how outright pervy Junichi is in this arc. I mean, he had his perv moments in the other two arcs, but this arc is putting way too much emphasis on Saes breasts imo.
Yeah, the focus on Sae’s “huge…tracts of land” is a little annoying, but not enough to dampen my enthusiasm or enjoyment of it. The narrator seems to divide fans pretty evenly, though I’m firmly on the ‘love it’ side of that division. But it seems that everyone is happy to see more Miya in this arc, and she’s really showing herself to be quite a fun ‘secondary and a half’ character.
I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is… more NISHISHISHI!!!
Nishishishi gives me fever. Fever when I hear it. Fever when see the sight.
EO, these Homeric poetry-style episode summaries are hilarious.
Very happy to hear that you’re enjoying them. I’ve committed to using a different style each arc as an experiment in different kinds of posts, and so far it’s a really fun opportunity to try out new things. I’ve written in faux Homeric or Shakespearean style in short commentary before, but never as an entire post. I feel so scholarly breaking out my Iliad and Aeneid writing posts about Amagami of all things every week, lol.
Lol.. Despite disturbed with her voice, My eyes and my mind cant get enough with those mild fanservice. And glad to see finally haruka hugged miya hahaha.. Also sae dare to step forward with her current relationship with junichi.
Mild is a good way of putting it, and aside from her falling on Junichi (which is pretty overdone in just about every rom-com show) I’ve been liking the slightly more subtle sort of fanservice in this arc. It makes for better comedy anyway. And the two timeskips so far in this arc are allowing Sae to develop as a character, but they put in enough character moments for her that it feels natural. Definitely liking the pacing this arc.
Fun, if bizarre, episode. The blogging style is also fun to read, and a vaguely appropriate counterpoint to the arc’s narrator.
I didn’t have much hope for anything in this arc given historical treatment of Sae’s character type (and, as evidenced by EO’s comments, other people’s views of said character types would probably get on my nerves too), but I’m finding it quite enjoyable. There are some things I like better than the Kaoru arc, some not quite as much, but I like both better than the Haruka arc.
Glad you like the format for this arc, it’s a chance to try new things and I figured that it’d be more fun using this mock-epic style on this less serious arc instead of saving it for another one.
Wow (or should I say u-waoh), most people seem to prefer the Haruka arc to the Kaoru one. Not that I dislike Kaoru, but why did you prefer her arc? I actually like her as a character more than Haruka, but I didn’t like the pacing in her arc as much. I’d like to hear another viewpoint on it though.
I guess for me it was that Haruka as a character was like nails on the chalkboard. Virtually everything she did aggravated me, to the point I was ready to drop the entire series after the second episode. This is, unfortunately, fairly common for me (though usually not to this extreme). Certain character types that it seems 90% of the viewing population absolutely adore, I find irritating and annoying.
While it’s perhaps somewhat unfair to compare with the entirety of the Haruka arc when I didn’t watch episodes 3 or 4, I don’t feel like torturing myself just to find out what happened.
On the other hand, it’s rare to see a Kaoru-type character treated seriously. She reminds me most of Asa from Shuffle! (the only other series that I can think of with this sort of matchup), and in fact the overall pattern of her story is somewhat similar as well. While there were some minor weaknesses in her story, I mainly attribute that to the fact that most directors flat-out don’t know *how* to approach such a character, given the excessive emphasis on certain other character types, and that Kaoru-types are usually considered disposable rivals.
I’m generally less than thrilled with Sae character types, as they usually drift towards the Mikiru archetype (and in this case, they seem to be deliberately parodying that, given her hair color, height and breast size). Approaching it in a more comedic theme, though, really helped change the flow of the story and made her a lot more enjoyable.
Aside: I have enough experience in writing, and in reading/watching poorly laid-out stories, that it’s easy for me to rewrite plot lines in my head to have them make more sense or flow better. As such, the critical factors for me are the characters themselves, and the comedy (I’m not so good at writing comedy). As long as certain key points are hit, and the story doesn’t become absolutely stupid, I can work around writing inefficiencies.
As such, my enjoyment is primarily based on the characters themselves, the overall story (rather than any particular specifics), and how much effort I had to put into rewriting. The best stories have great characters and no rewriting needed (actually, above that are stories that force me to really think), however I’ll take a good character with minor rewriting over a bad character with no rewriting.
It seems that any of the girls not into Junichi is only into other girls. Or into both Junichi and other girls, as was Haruka’s case. This is a good thing.
I guess Sae’s into vore. Getting turned on by things EATING HER FEET. If it was just tickling, she would be laughing (like Miya) or holding it in (like Junichi). You’re not fooling anyone, you sex-deviant you.
That whole guardian thing was way random, even for this arc.
The narrator wasn’t bad this time. Only really showed up at times when a little joke was appropriate.
Junichi is just being a helpful pervert (even with all his pervy ideas, he still manages to keep his head on straight enough to honestly help her out), but Sae wants more. And apparently he doesn’t get it, as he’s too busy thinking about what’s important to realize feelings of the heart (as opposed to feelings of certain…lower organs).
And he really does get it. Wear the loose robes so the girls don’t see the raging boner he gets from
his sister in the sexy white one-pieceSae in her bikini (personally I thought the school swimsuit was way better).The ED is growing on my. Sounds like an old pop song, which is my guilty pleasure. But the visuals, not so much. At least not the super-cutsety parts (which fortunately aren’t often or very long).
I too am greatly enjoying how Haruka is showing up in the other arcs to pursue Miya. Now if only that were an arc!
The guardian of the pond was WAY out of left field there, unless there’s some legend that I’m not aware of that would make it fit with the situation. The funny thing about Junichi being more of a pervert this time is that that trait is matched by him being much more clueless about picking up romantic signals than even Junichi mark II was. So far his abilities to notice such signs have been declining, but I have a feeling that this arc will be the nadir and he’ll be back to something more like his predecessors during the Ai arc.
that anime are so good and thats alright resived hehehehehehehehehehhe
I take back what I said last time, Junichi 3 is quite the pervert, though I don’t really mind. I hope that the “bellybutton kiss” of this arc is in fact substituted by the ecchi fan service we have been getting. Sae has some pretty cute scenes, once more, yay!
Oh, and I agree with you, the romance feels quite a bit more genuine(by anime standards), especially on Sae’s part. Junichi seems to have a perverted crush on Sae, but his feelings haven’t quite extended past that. Sae has obviously begun developing feelings, actually judging from the last line, she might already be aware of said feelings.
I’m wondering if his putting his hand on her stomach during the vocal training in the first episode is this arc’s equivalent of the behind the knee kiss and bellybutton kiss. The way they’ve done more fanservicey moments has been at the same time more understated and more frequent this arc than in the previous two. But who knows, there are still two episodes to go.
Sae coming out seemingly so strongly about her feelings for Junichi this early on relative to the past arcs may be quite a good sign as far as romance goes. I could see things developing into a more serious stage next episode with the final one left with plenty of time for seeing the two as a couple and having a Haruka arc-esque denouement at the end. Given the more comedic focus of this arc, I think such a storyline would also serve the purposes of creating a balance of moments that are good for both drama and comedy.
Miya : Why aren’t you in your swimsuit?
Nii-ni: Because no one would enjoy it.
Narrator: The boy knew it perfectly well.
LOL at Junichi breaking the fourth wall again. Amagami writers really know how to make subtle jokes. Man, if only Sae got a better VA she’d probably my 2nd fave characer next to Haruka.
Amagami SS – Guaranteed Ear Worm – Miya’s Can Can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAavGv-OzXY
Too bad this doesn’t fit anywhere in the episodes. Given Miya’s greater involvement in the current arc, I’ll just leave it here.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say that barring a total fiasco ending this arc has already outdone the entirety of the writing in the Kaoru arc.”
Ah, but there’s less distance between the leads in that arc, since they’re friends to begin with. And I dare say its lesser reliance on quirks/antics makes it the most truly substantial to date. Perhaps of all.