Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi (A Dark Rabbit has Seven Lives) discussion thread

[EmperorBrandon]

いつか天魔の黒ウサギ

Airs Saturday, July 9 at 01:05 JST on Teletama.

Animation studio: ZEXCS

ANN entry (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12422)
Official site (http://kadokawa-anime.jp/itsu-ten/top.php)
Niconico simulcast (http://ch.niconico.com/channel/ch60047)
Crunchyroll simulcast (http://www.crunchyroll.com/a-dark-rabbit-has-seven-lives)

Note
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[EmperorBrandon]

Well, looks like we have another fanservice and action-filled series with a seemingly immortal male protagonist from Kadokawa. Except this one feels rather mediocre, and I can't be surprised given it's ZEXCS animating...

Saitohimea is always so cute and cheery, even when she says she going to curse and kill... Seems rather dull so far, though I do like her long multicolored hair.

I was wondering who it was voicing Haruka, and looks like it's Mina. I don't remember Sohara sounding like that - seems more sweet-sounding overall this time.

The Gekkou creep has a rather misogynistic start. All of the girls don't seem to care and get encouraged by his insults...

I think my favorite part of the episode was Mirai's reaction to Taito becoming a bloody mess with a severed head.

[FUNiOP]

Yeah, my first thought was that this seems just like Kore wa Zombie desu ka? except it doesn't have the insane humor, which kind of kills any enjoyment I could have gotten from it. The animation looks pretty mediocre, and I know they're just adaptations, but somehow I don't think I've ever liked any ZEXCS anime. Well, that's probably it for me on this one...

[TheGreenMan]

Himea is cute...or a psycho. Forcing a kid to be your beloved, immortal protector?
Super cheerful friend. She's going to bite it.
Are all the girls at his school sadists?
Is the loli being fucked in the ass? Wait...no, she isn't.
Trucks. #1 killer of lolis.
Decapitated.
Let's torture a loli.
Himea grows up.
And is stabbed by the shitchou.

[EmperorBrandon]

Are all the girls at his school sadists?

You mean masochists?

[bear]

Yeah, my first thought was that this seems just like Kore wa Zombie desu ka? except it doesn't have the insane humor, which kind of kills any enjoyment I could have gotten from it. The animation looks pretty mediocre, and I know they're just adaptations, but somehow I don't think I've ever liked any ZEXCS anime. Well, that's probably it for me on this one...

I got a Fortune Arterial vibe out of it and I can see the Kore wa Zombie connection after the truck. First part of the Arterial OP reminded me of this one.

[TheGreenMan]

Are all the girls at his school sadists?

You mean masochists?

I guess I meant masochists.

[HitokiriShadow]

Uh, well, this is certainly one of the more interesting opening episodes of the season in concept, even if the execution leaves something to be desired.

And I love the ED. The very first notes were incredibly Hymnos-esque, so I was not at all surprised to find out that Shikata Akiko did it. I'll definitely have to import this ED.

Too bad my video player is a little bitch and often can't handle the audio for some reason during OP/ED scenes. I think its the karaoke subs that screw it up, so, additionally, screw the stupid karaoke subs that people keep putting in these videos.

Also too bad about the annoying, stupid and pointless censorship though. So its totally fine for us to see his headless neck, but suddenly it has to be censored when its being put back on? We can have fox-girl's panties fill the screen, but they have to block out a few random girls' panties when they're oggling Gekkou? I can at least understand that a station may feel the need to not show some things on TV at times. But this is just so painfully obviously there *purely* to annoy and get a few extra DVD/BD sales.

[something]

Episode 1:

- That's some serious gradient hair going on. Shifts between completely different colors. Actually, the color sense of this show is just weird in general.

- A female classmate wants Haruka as her wife. =D
- Wow what is up with the audio? It sounds like they're in a fish bowl and we're watching them from outside. It's so obvious it has to be intentional, but for now it's distracting.

- Oh great, throw idiotic censorship into the mix too. Come on it's just fucking panties. This show is not making a good first impression.
- No, the shitty audio is still hanging around. Let's check another version... no, same problem there, using a different source I'm pretty sure. Jeeze I hope this is just, like... the girl from the start watching them from afar, using some technique/tool that distorts sound a bit. I can't listen to a whole show that sounds like an echo chamber.
- Anyway, I really like Haruka. Too bad she has no chance.

- Okay, why are panties okay now?
- I love striped thighhighs girl. Gekko has already worn out his welcome though. Didn't take very long.

- Uhhhhhhhh... they censored what there, exactly? We saw the severed head and the body it was severed from, but them going back together warrants censorship? I don't even... god I hate utterly random censorship.
- Glowing crotch huh. Oh please, as if they actually drew anything under that.
- Himea grows up nicely.

The red, purple and blue color palette is so... well generally not attractive but Himea looks good at least. Expectations are kind of low for this one but it could turn out alright. Oh and I think the sound stopped being weird by the end. I was getting kind of distracted and didn't pay as much attention though.

[Fencedude]

And I love the ED. The very first notes were incredibly Hymnos-esque, so I was not at all surprised to find out that Shikata Akiko did it. I'll definitely have to import this ED.

Haha! Yeah, I knew it was her from the very first notes. Incredibly distinctive style.

Anyway, show is interesting enough, Taito seems pretty decent. Himea is great, as is Gekkou's sidekick. Gekkou's getting kind old already though.

Though the first thing that came to mind when Taito get hit was, "kore wa zombie desu ka?"

[Fencedude]

That sure was some Fukuyama being Fukuyama.

I kinda like Gekkou now, actually.

Anyway, looks like this could be pretty decent all in all.

I like how Taito's not whining about his situation, and is completely into the idea of protecting Himea. Though I feel kinda sorry for Haruka, but thats what she gets for being the most Osananajimi Osananajimi EVER.

Also it seems that you can tell important female characters by the gradiant hair.

Someone should check and see if the first part of the ED theme actually is hymmnos.

[Fencedude]

So the school is an intersection of dimensional rifts. That...makes sense. I guess.

I'm betting that since Haruka has gradiant hair, she's probably not quite human, even if she doesn't know it herself.

Mirai's way too much fun, even if she is Pikachu.

[Fencedude]

ARGH

SLOW THE FUCK DOWN. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!

Seriously, the show is just rocketing from one plot development to another, without explaining anything or giving it a chance to sink in.

And now there's something going on with Haruka!

I have no idea what was actually going on this episode!

[HitokiriShadow]

So Himea wanted him to say by her side and cursed him with semi-immortality.... after knowing hm for all of 5-10 minutes?

Wow, they spent almost the entire episode fighting.

This show sure loves pantyshots of Mirai. And Himea's hair is... very unique. She's got this color gradient thing going except instead of colors that actually kind of go together, they're pretty much opposites: pink and blue. Then on top of that, she has these... sparkles, particularly around her head. Very odd.

The childhood friend also has a bit of color gradient going on in her hair, though its a lot less severe.

[HitokiriShadow]

Ha, some hellish insects from another dimension swarm out of the student council room and Himea's just like "Oh, how fortunate of us to have the pleasure of seeing such an unusual sight." Even after one eats Taito's head, she's not reacting at all. She's all smiles and saying things like "Yeah, they're carnivores, they're so happy to have such a feast (humans) around them" and is not the least bit concerned about the situation.

Gekkou was remarkably calm for stumbling upon his parents chewed up corpses. He reacted as if Hinata had just broken a coffee cup or something.

And for some strange reason, I really don't think Mirai is at all upset about Gekkou "cursing" her despite her claims as she tells the story.

Nooooooo, my precious hymnos ED isn't being used this time. But I like Mirai so I don't mind her getting an ED focused on her, as long as this is a rare thing and not, like, every other episode.

[HitokiriShadow]

.... Uhhhhh, that was a bizarre episode and I'm only very vaguely aware of what was going on.

What I *do* know is that I'm getting tired of Himea constantly breaking down, crying, giving up, and then begging for Saitou's life. That shit needs to stop.

And I have a feeling I'm going to be very annoyed at the reason for Himea basically begging Saitou to fuck her brains out next episode, because while I love what she's doing in theory, anime girls (the main love interests, at least) aren't usually allowed to be that awesome and direct. They're required to be chaste and then blush to the point of near-muteness at the mere allusion to sex.

[Fencedude]

GAAAAAAAAAAAH

PLEASE TELL ME WE ARE DONE WITH THE PEOPLE LIVING INSIDE HIMEA. PLEASE.

And we didn't even get the Hymmnos ED song.

I still have no idea what is going on!

[HitokiriShadow]

*sigh* Yeah, as expected, its not actually Himea that was saying that.

Man, that was a really boring episode until the last 60 seconds or so before the ED. I just could not give a shit about the stuff with the Rapture personality (though I would much prefer what we initially saw be Himea's standard personality than what it actually is), and the first half of the Gekkou/Tenma conversation didn't make the slightest bit of sense. They dragged like half an episode's worth of stuff over an entire episode. Yet I still barely know what the hell was going on for these past two episodes.

And can I have my hymnos ED back? Please?

[HitokiriShadow]

Wait, the main character has a little sister? How did it take 6 episodes to learn this?

And suddenly Haruka becomes really, really interesting. And really fucked up. She was terribly disappointed when Gekkou's brother decided to NOT kill her. It's looking like the Haruka personality we've seen might be a fake, cover personality. I'd wondered last episode if her weird behavior might be because she's actually that Ramiel Lilith or whoever, and the scene in this episode heavily implied that she was, though its quite possible that there's more than one person/thing that the Tenma want dead.

We meet another new girl named Aomi who is pretty fun.

But GODDAMMIT WHERE IS MY HYMNOS ED!?!?! ;_;

Anyway, this was a huuuuge improvement over the previous two episodes.

[Fencedude]

But GODDAMMIT WHERE IS MY HYMNOS ED!?!?! ;_;

Yeah no fucking kidding. And when does the goddamn single come out!?

Anyway, Taito has a sister? What the hell? And he needs to tell Haruka that he's involved with Himea, because this barely-there love triangle subplot is stupid.

Aomi seems interesting, and she has gradient hair, which means she's important.

[Fencedude]

Most important things first: THEY USED THE HYMMNOS ED!

Anyway, stuff happens, we find out how Taito survived in episode 2, blah blah blah some cat like thing blah blah Aomi still hasn't done anything really except be incredibly sexy in the eyecatch.

[HitokiriShadow]

Wait, what exactly are they looking for? Why are they not saying anything about Taito apparently dying just from using some magic? Why is he suddenly back in school eating Haruka's lunch and then right back in these other worlds with Himea? What the hell was with that conversation with the cat? They were fighting, Taito suddenly says something about giving blood, and the cat just announces he'll serve them. It made no sense. And the rest of the conversation only made the bare minimum of sense.

That was the worst episode yet. We now have official plot reasons for Himea doing jack shit of interest and needing to be constantly protected and saved by Taito. Goddammit. It's not like she's been an interesting character since episode 1, but still. The only thing of value in the entire episode was Lolipop girl's brief appearance (okay, and Mirai's, but she was relatively boring this episode). This show desperately needs more Lolipop girl. And more Evil (or whatever she is) Haruka. Because Himea clearly isn't going to be doing anything interesting.

At least I got my Hymnos ED again.

[HitokiriShadow]

But GODDAMMIT WHERE IS MY HYMNOS ED!?!?! ;_;

Yeah no fucking kidding. And when does the goddamn single come out!?


Amazon.jp lists it as In Stock right now. I have to penny pinch a bit to afford the things I really want, so I canceled my order for it and will re-order it some other time. It's not like I won't still be able to listen to the full version in the meantime.

[Fencedude]

Yes. Its awesome.

The B-Side, LOST CHILDREN is pretty good too.

And seriously they could drop these onto an Ar Tonelico Hymmnos Concert and I wouldn't bat an eye.

[Fencedude]

You know, I should be up to date on this, not other, crappier Vampire shows. Ah well.

Anyway, Beach/Training! Aomi is along for reasons that seem to be very vague, and Cross-sensei is definitely hiding something.

And at the end, Haruka shows up and interrupts Himea's cuddle time with Taito. I don't get why this love triangle even exists. Taito should tell Haruka he's sorry, but he can't accept her feelings, he already is in a relationship with Himea. AND ITS NOT EVEN A LIE. HE IS. Dammit.

[Fencedude]

And standard love triangle stupidity ensues. Thankfully, Aomi's awesomeness saved the episode.

Shame it seem she's dying of non-specific anime disease.

And I feel so sorry for Suzae-san.

[Fencedude]

Ok, that was pretty good. Haruka's abducted, Cross says they can't go rescue her.

Haruka's abductors tell Himea they'll return Haruka in exchange for herself, and Himea, being an idiot, agrees. Though she has a very meaningful talk with Aomi first. Then Aomi goes to Taito, and tells him what happened.

And it turns out that it was a plan by Haruka's observer personality to, in essence, kill herself and eliminate Himea as competition for Taito. Not a bad plan, actually.

Aomi's just a bit too good at what she does, there is definitely something more up with her..

[Fencedude]

Everyone gets to be awesome here!

Oh yeah, and Hinata showed up for some gratuitous taunting and forshadowing.

Highlight of the episode was Gekkou showing that yes, he really does care about Mirai, a lot. And Himea being completely badass.

[HitokiriShadow]

Yay, Izumi finally gets some decent screentime. She's a lot of fun and easily my favorite character. And apparently she has some awareness of what's going on with Taito being immortal and all of the others having some sort of magic abilities. She's not at all surprised at anything she sees while she's there. It's not all clear why she knows this or how she finally managed to get herself into the council and brought along though.

And yet again, not hymnos ED. This show has one of the best EDs this season, but only wants to use it once every ~3 episodes. What the fuck?


And at the end, Haruka shows up and interrupts Himea's cuddle time with Taito. I don't get why this love triangle even exists. Taito should tell Haruka he's sorry, but he can't accept her feelings, he already is in a relationship with Himea. AND ITS NOT EVEN A LIE. HE IS. Dammit.

Yeah, I really don't get this either (other than LOL anime, obligatory romantic rival, etc.). He clearly doesn't have the slightest bit of romantic interest in her and he obviously knows she's interested in him. He hasn't shown any indication he just can't bring himself to hurt her feelings or some crap like that either, and it should be vary obvious to him that doing nothing is causing her more pain than turning her down.

I'd say he must just not want to give up his source of free bentos.... but Himea is giving him that too.

[HitokiriShadow]

Izumin continues to be awesome. Sadly, she's apparently suffering from some sort of serious illness and isn't expecting to live very long.

Good job Taito, now you're making both of them sad. God, this love triangle is getting really stupid. "Oh noes, the other girl that Taito has shown no real interest in confessed to him and he hasn't responded. TIME TO GET REALLY DEPRESSED ABOUT IT!"

No Hymnos ED YET AGAIN. God this show is pissing me off with how its handling the EDs.

[HitokiriShadow]

Wait, the beach trip is over? This was kind of an awkward shift after the previous episode. It didn't at all give the impression that the training was over and that final scene of episode 9 really needed a bit of follow up, its rather awkward to just drop it like that. Oh, and didn't they need to do a test before they could leave?

Anyway, Izumi is the highlight of the episode, since the bulk of it didn't make sense until the end (Why are they taking over the school? Why do Taito-tachi need to go back? Oh, the portal) or involved Himea being stupid with the whole self-sacrifice by handing oneself over to the enemies without talking to anyone else about it first.

But the post-ED scene was pretty awesome. This whole thing was planned by the other Haruka personality, who was created by the Seraphim to observe Taito, as a way to seal herself away (and by "seal" they apparently mean "destroy". And she gets to get rid of Himea, to remove an obstacle for the "normal" Haruka (its not clear which one is the original personality, if Haruka was originally a human that had this other personality implanted in her or if she was never human to being with and the "normal" Haruka is a constructed personality) at the same time.

I had been worried that at the rate the show was going, it wasn't going to be able to address ANY of the numerous lingering plot threads established from previous arcs, but at least its dealing with the Haruka personality issue to some degree.

And Jesus Christ, I watched three episodes today and not a single goddamn one had the Hymnos ED.

[Suwako Moriya]

(Why do I keep forgetting to cross post for shows?)

Saitohimea is pretty and err the aging scene to make herself fifteen was interesting. Make of that statement what you will.

Haruka, I'm going to feel so sorry for. She lost before the show even started. That being said, there's always the potential for finding better.

Mirai is awesome, fun, and lovely. She deserves plenty of screen time,

Gekkou deserves to thrown into a fire, but that would be considered cruel to the fire. Why do I get the feeling if he killed one of those fan girls the rest would be like "Kill me too"?

There are some definite kinks to work out, but it has some potential. (Hey maybe I'll actually finishing try the shows I'm supposed to try before the Autumn season starts)

[Suwako Moriya]

Gekkou comes off a bit better this episode. Helps to do things aside from being a complete jerk.

Taito is certainly dedicated to Himea. Speaking of Taito, I wonder how many times he'll be one death away from dying in battles? I ask stupid questions.

Himea's hair is amazing.

Mirai continues to be "love" and her other form is nice too.

Yeah, with characters like Mirai and Himea, I plan to try more of this.

[Suwako Moriya]

Maybe I need to re-watch the first two episodes, but I have to ask. WTF did the male lead do to everyone in this series? Not only do we have the male extras deciding "It's a crime for any girl to like the male lead". We have the female extras being the same exact way. Usually the girls take up the role of auto-hating the female lead the second any guy dares to like her.

Well, this episode does answer the question of what Himea is. So she's in fact a witch. Wait, someone get her a hat, quickly!

So the school is an intersection of dimensional rifts. That...makes sense. I guess.

Well, at least they didn't wait until 90% of the way through the series to give some type of explanation. Still the part about the age limit, I wonder how long before that becomes a plot point. That's assuming the characters will even age in this series. Yes, I realize even if the source material gets that far, the anime may not.

I'm betting that since Haruka has gradiant hair, she's probably not quite human, even if she doesn't know it herself.

This bet better be won. If there's one way to give Haruka a stronger role in the series, this would be it. In any case, her "scene" in between the info dump stuff almost feels like foreshadowing.

Mirai's way too much fun, even if she is Pikachu.

So that explains her appeal, they found a way to make Pikachu much better.

[Suwako Moriya]

So jealous person who is clearly using a teleprompter to give the generic "weak human" speech is possessing Himea.

Taito, I have a suggestion for you. Go on random side quests. Don't worry, we'll turn this anime into an RPG temporarily to prevent the plot from advancing. Maybe after gaining about say 75 levels, you'll be able to do something besides hope things get better before your lives run out.

Well, it didn't take long to give indication of what type of role Haruka will have in the story.

[Suwako Moriya]

So the question of the day. Will Ramiel Lillith turn out to be as "bad" as they're claiming?

In any case, this series is making me wonder if I skipped a cour worth of episodes or something.

For some reason I imagined Gekkou dragging Mirai off on a date and her not realizing what happened until after it was over.

Himea seriously needs a therapist.

Dramatic speeches of devotion are nice, but getting them almost every episode might not be a good idea.

Wait, what are the chances of Himea herself being a fake personality? What are the chances that I asked a stupid question?

[Suwako Moriya]

I am now expecting Haruka to snap and do something crazy before the series ends.

Aoimi has potential and she deserves to be on the council just because she's Aomi.

Well, at least Taito was thinking about a way to improve himself.

Why do I get the feeling Gekkou's first word was an insult?

[Suwako Moriya]

Aomi still hasn't done anything really except be incredibly sexy in the eyecatch.

Which has to count for a lot. In any case, it was nice to get some explanation about things.

[Suwako Moriya]

Sorry show, but neither the episode or the preview has convinced me that Aomi is normal. Something has to be up. I suppose she'll be one of those characters that reveals herself in a vague way.

The timing of Haruka's appearance is questionable. Assuming that's not just another illusion by our dangerous teacher.

A teacher that both comes off as a villain and ally at the same time. I have no idea anymore.

I like how Himea is showing sides to outside of begging for Taito's life now.

Mirai in a school swimsuit provided some thoughts and I won't say what they are.

[Suwako Moriya]

And standard love triangle stupidity ensues. Thankfully, Aomi's awesomeness saved the episode.

Shame it seem she's dying of non-specific anime disease.

Aomi has definitely been a solid addition to the cast and thus makes the series better. As for the whole anime disease, bad disease. You better not take her away from us. Well, maybe if we're lucky she'll be treated as so important she gets cured of whatever it is.

The plot, it can cure you of anything. Then again it can also kill you by using things less deadly than what you can survive. (Stupid RPG Logic)

[Suwako Moriya]

Himea, you like to pretend you're tough and bad ass. Yet, you lose you credibility by being an idiot. Seriously, I never understood that. If a given person was "good" enough to actually let someone go after an "exchange" then they wouldn't have have kidnapped them in the first place.

Sure, it turns out they were in a sense working for Haruka's other personality, but I would not be shocked if they end up betraying her as well. They seem to be the type to do so.

Does the Teacher have some secret desire to be the final boss? Sometimes it feels like he's more of a danger to the group than the villains.

[Suwako Moriya]

It's nice on occasion to see Himea be awesome. I like this better than her "Please, I'll do anything" strategy.

Personally, I would have been tempted to let Himea kill both of them. Yes, I know the plot will favor letting them live, but even so.

I'm still shocked over the idea of Gekkou actually caring for someone. It does not computer.

Oh, and Hinata remembered that he's the main villain.

[HitokiriShadow]

Oh, right, I completely forgot about that cat-spirit thing that the show has explained jack shit about (and has the honor of being the focus of the show's least comprehensible scene so far).

I'm happy that this show is finally using the ED song again.... but that was a very strange place to use it as an insert song.

And it was nice to see a main character actually not really accomplish much for all of his Main Character Will Power And Shouting About Love, Commitment, Justice and Stuff Powers. After all that, he just collapses. All he really did was buy Himea time. For once, she more or less rescues herself (technically the cat thing helped her, but whatever).

.... And the love triangle continues to be really strange and stupid. It's beyond stupid that Himea goes to tears because another girl confesses to Taito, before he even reacts and after he makes it clear he's not interested in reciprocating those feelings. He's bound to you for life and he just showed how goddamn much you mean to him in this episode, you fucking moron.

[Fencedude]

Fanservice!

...yeah, best part was Izumi having skinship with Himea. Himea is now suffering BOOB ENVY over Haruka. What the fuck. What the hell is wrong with this girl?

Oh yeah, and the twins are now part of the team, for some reason that was never actually explained.

Taito's sister got a name, Yuica. She's pretty cute. She should try to hook up with Haruka.

[Suwako Moriya]

Taito's sister got a name, Yuica. She's pretty cute. She should try to hook up with Haruka.

Nice to finally have a name for her. Also, this suggestion works for me in part because it gives Haruka a way to be part of the family. The other option isn't viable anyway.

So instead of trying to rush a conclusion, they simply go for a "Let's have fun for a bit and then remind people there is still danger to deal with". Which is about the best we can hope for here.

The fanservice of the girl was appreciated. Even if the censorship got in the way sometimes.

[HitokiriShadow]

So we end with an episode with baths, onens, boobs, asses, fanservice, imouto, and most importantly, lots of Izumi being awesome.

I don't quite understand how Mirai counts as "a little girl" so Taito wouldn't be interested but Himea doesn't. I mean, personality wise, sure, but she was talking on their bodies when they're pretty much the same. Whatever.

And I really don't get the point of putting those seals on the door of the sauna. First person who leaves loses.... why bother locking it? Oh, and apparently the two Seal Breaker guys are now friends with Taito and the gang.

Then we end with a plot tease for a second season that's never going to happen. So maybe that "Lil" is Ramiel Lilith.

And yay, the show actually ends with the Hymnos ED. With the way this show has been handling the EDs, I figured there was a decent chance it wouldn't use that one here, and I was prepared to rage hard about it. I'm still annoyed at the ED situation in general, but at least it ended on a good note.

[Fencedude]

And yay, the show actually ends with the Hymnos ED. With the way this show has been handling the EDs, I figured there was a decent chance it wouldn't use that one here, and I was prepared to rage hard about it. I'm still annoyed at the ED situation in general, but at least it ended on a good note.

Its kinda sad that the number one thing we looked forward to in this show was the ED song.

But it is a very good ED.