The Real Nun Inside

I only just to-day watched the fifth episode of Arakawa Under the Bridge. I haven't been watching anime as much lately, since the time when I traditionally did, during breakfast, has been taken over by colouring while listening to Howard Stern. But the latest crop of anime hadn't been as interesting, either. Though I do like the second opening of Arakawa Under the Bridge;



It seems to say; "Hey, cross-dressing clergymen; lighten up!"

Arakawa Under the Bridge is better than Dance in the Vampire Bund, and about equally as good as half of Natsu no Arashi's first season. But these new Akiyuki Shinbo series just aren't nearly as good as Maria Holic, Bakemonogatari, and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei. I think the problem lies in a stagnation of excitement over playful, slightly challenging perversion. The odd bondage imagery was almost totally gone from the third season of Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, and then felt awkward when reintroduced in the newest OVAs. This Arakawa Under the Bridge opening somewhat reclaims it. Mainly I wish there'd be a second Maria Holic season.

I'm still watching Doctor Who with dinner, and I'm three episodes into "The Ark" serial of the third season. There are a bunch of episodes missing from the third season, so I went from companions Vicki and Steven in "The Time Meddler" to suddenly having Steven and Dodo. I don't think I like Dodo--maybe it's just because I'm traumatised for having Vicki suddenly taken from me, but Dodo just seems affected and blank to me. I miss sensing the layers of thought Maureen O'Brien displayed so ably.

I don't really miss Ian and Barbara. They were getting to be noticeably homogeneous next to The Doctor and Vicki. But I do kind of miss the group dynamic they created--there were two configurations of teams; The Boys (Doctor and Ian) and The Girls (Barbara and Vicki) and The Normal People (Ian and Barbara) and The Sci-Fi People (Doctor and Vicki). The shifting between dynamics seemed to be a handy way of creating surprising stories, and emphasising Vicki's sort of goofy, youthful assertiveness and The Doctor's weirdness.

I see I've missed a whole companion run in the jump, Katarina. I wish I could've seen how the group functioned. In any case, I hope The Doctor gets more than one female companion again. Not that I'm suggesting anything sexual, though in screen shots I've seen of Tom Baker he does look kind of like a pimp.

I've managed to avoid seeing any footage of the other Doctors somehow, except about one second of Matt Smith when I was channel surfing a couple weeks ago. I'm hoping I can keep myself basically pure.