My Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou Lily Shiraishi 4koma

Wowser whee, what a hilarious run this 4koma had. My mind was all over the place while drawing this, I slept at my desk several times, and while finishing it up, I made such an obvious glaring typo: Lily's name on the title.

Man, was I wiped. So tired, even the weekend didn't help in easing my tension. As usual:

--I've been to a couple of theme parks in my life (Universal Studio's Hollywood, Knotts berry farm, Disneyland, etc), and it always amused me how there was a height limit to some rides, effectively leaving out a lot of kids from having their fun (weren't these parks for them? XD)
--I actually had a tough time with this 4koma. The last 3 panels were set in stone from the inception of this project, but the first one needed to convey a plausible lead-in to set up the joke. At first I wanted to use plain old text, but that wasn't very fitting of me (I draw draw draw). Next I thought of just starting it with her in front of the ride, but that wasn't even informative. Eventually I settled with a narrator type of lead-in, which is where I went all out with my usual art style.
--That first panel was actually a nightmare to draw, as it was about 3-4 times the size of my screen resolution on my device. There were constant zoom in, zoom out's and what not, ultimately lowering my chances of continuing fanart of Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou.

And, that's it for now maybe.

A timeline of my return from sickness to full fledged Anime viewing

Well, I did it. I managed a full year of Anime seasons after my nearly 3 year combo sickness of stomach flu/food poisoning. Though, technically, it wasn't exactly the full run in my prime, but nevertheless, I followed through. Let''s look at my timeline since exiting my recuperation:

Summer 2009


After familiarizing myself with HSDPA internet on my phone, I thought it was time to test the waters on whether or not I can return to watching anime once again, after having missed the entire 2008 year. Whatever the reason was, Princess Lover became the test subject, and for the first time in nearly 2 years, I successfully followed a series from start to finish during it's broadcast run.

Fall 2009

 

 Phase 2 of my Anime resurrection plan involved testing whether or not I can follow multiple series at the same time, while testing whether or not forum participation is possible. Call it a half success, as I was able to follow Kenpufaah, Nyan Koi, Seitokai no Ichizon, Sacred Blacksmith, To Aru Kagaku Railgun, and... that's what I can remember off the top of my head >_>. And yes, Kenpufa's Shizuka(or was that Suzuka>_>) and Nyan's Kanako and the twin supernatural girls, as well as Railgun's Saten were my favorites that season. The breasts of Kenpufa and Nyan Koi played no major role in my decision XD

 Winter 2009-2010

 Phase 3 of my return involved following multiple series while engaging in forum activities over at Animesuki. While it wasn't the breakout season I wanted, series like Chu-Bra and Omamori Himari took center stage in my forum goings. Several other series had my viewing pleasure, but those 2 remained as the most visited topic for me.

Spring 2010

  This is it. My breakout from sickness to healthy. Finally an Anime season where I returned to my true, zany form. It was so successful, having seen me gain 4 pos reps (compared to 2 from OH), a new nickname (Eikotron), the most posts I have ever done in a single, Anime series thread (300), and having almost completely changed the entire thread to my antics. Guess who's back ;)

I actually went... web surfing!

So, I've spent some time going around checking my sources to see what changed since ep 11 arrived and left. I found some interesting stuff, ja.

--Eh, first up. Did we all see the cover for the OST yet? For those who didn't:

 Look at that happy family. Papa Sai, Mama Keena, with their children Lily, Junko and Korone, as well as Sai's in-laws Fujiko and Hiroshi. Ah, perfect day... :heh:

--Hmm, remember when I showed everyone that time when the main page locked the images for Yuri/Yuuko and Bouchizo? Well, they unlocked them now. Remember folks, you saw it here first :heh:

--So that uh, cover for the OST, I cam across that by mistake. Honest:heh: what I really didn't expect to find, was... the cast list. Well this was at my source, for some odd reason I never looked too deeply at ANN's cast page, but... I guess that long time question of mine is answered. Fujiko nii-sama's name is.... Fujiko Brother. No seriously, I had to double take to make sure lol :heh:

--I saw some numbers, which I assumed to be tv ratings and/or viewer ratings or some ranking of Dai Maou. It's been 3 years since I last did this, ok, so I'm not going to quote anything because I'm not sure, but the numbers looked great, and something else, looking at a chart, there was a sudden rise around when ep 08 aired. Huh, wonder what that was about...

--I wasn't going after novel spoilers mind you, so this is a "don't ask, don't tell" moment. Anyways:heh:, I came across some rather detailed info concerning the production so far up to ep 11. First let's start with screenplay (which I know controls how the episode went). It seems that 1 person(I don't have names, sorry, tough day:p) worked on the screenplays for eps 01 to 05(see where I'm heading?). This person's notable works include the 1st season of Zero no Tsukaima, Letter Bee, as well as Sekirei 1 and 2. Next, ep 06-07 screenplays were done by 1 other person, whose notable works include Letter Bee as well, Zettai Karen Children and To Aru Majutsu Index. Notice a pattern yet? Ok, let's continue, ep 08 was done again by the one who worked on eps 01-05, and eps 09-11 were done by the one who worked on 06-07.

Now what I'm getting at, is that I believe it's a common work ethic(I spent 7-8 years in the heart of studio land in L.A., CA) that the screenplay comes first before anything else(pre-production). Everyone remembers the flow of eps 1-5, 6-7, and 8, and 9-11, right? Let me run it down real quick: eps 1-5 had a nice build-up arc to the story, ep 06-07 had some questionable content and a abrupt cliffhanger, ep 08 returned to the roots of ep 02 for a bit, then things sped up from 9-11 to where we are today. So, now we know how this series went fast when it did and when it made sense when it needed to :heh: make of this what you will. My verdict? I'm interested to see how Sekirei 2 will turn out, see if there are any memorable's from this series.

--Anyways, this series went through a number of Directors and Animation Directors of which I can't really set my foot on it. How does one fit almost 4 Ani Directors for one ep? Or does this explain that strange feeling I had when watching ep 11? :heh:

--I did mention I visited the main site, right? Yeah... I think there's a new radio show...

--Uhm... what else is there... uh, mark your calendars for June 18? :heh:

That'll will be a half empty weekend without some Stargate...

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou research series 01 part 3: episode 11

Other little details:

--(My) Eiko just might run head first into things, in her attempt to
look like a hero and take the Blade of Sohaya, it might very well be
used against her.
--In continuation of my previous post, Brave was never destined to
fight against the Maou and defeat him, so Heroshi, being the only
other sane person who knows about Keena's assassination attempt, might
go and help Sai (after Sai changes direction; ie once Keena True
Ending Ver comes into play)
--One likely scenario has Korone administering her Medicine Guns on
Yuri, to banish the monster stuff in her. But with Korone non-existant
in ep 10, this seems unlikely, since I'm leaning more towards Sai
helping out Yuri.
--I'm still thinking about Torii Mitsuko, and just what is she doing
during all this. While I would continue my joke and say Torii might be
Bouchirou's sister or relative, I'm leaning more towards her doing
something for once, with an earlier speculation of mine being she'll
re-activate Korone. But I digress. For all we know she'll probably
continue her "I was never there" appearance rate.
--Lily, well, what can I say. It's amusing her Student Council members
were nowhere to be seen in ep 10, perhaps she tied them up and locked
them away, or we may never see them again. It appears Lily does not
agree with Sai (most likely his "I don't like the system, so I'll
change it" dreams) so we can factor her actions being tied to either
of the two scenario's I painted above. Having her solo her operations
in an attempt to slap some sense into Sai, or for the other scenario
she'll team up with everyone. Hmm...
--I had that earlier theory that Bouchirou planned Keena's
assassination attempt and so this making him one of the gods. But
that's stretching it a bit, but it's clear he and Sai don't see eye to
eye, and for him to be the final boss, well, currently it looks like
he's basically acting in a "best interests" mode, and that it's all
protocol with what he's doing, simply for the sake of the continued
[peaceful] life of society. So far there hasn't been anything to
indicate he has [evil] ambitions, with my two-faced description above
being, his personal face may very well be determined by what Keena
does here on out.
--Continuing my research into episode patterns, episode 11, if
following standard pattern operating procedure, looks to have the
episode start with a scene of the past. Of course they might start
with a continuation of the present, but it'll ruin a perfectly good
opportunity to show some insight into Keena's mysteries. As far as I
can tell, though, is that the only flashback worth visiting is the
truth behind the dove, or Keena's view of the past. Good chance here
to answer some questions.

Well, I think this is it for now. After all, I need some sleep...

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou research series 01 part 2

So to continue the Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou research, let's focus on
what episode 11 would be like.

It's apparent Keena is starting to awaken, no doubt her birthday is
already progressing into half a day by now. Speaking of which, these
characters haven't gotten much sleep the past few hours.

With Keena embracing her destiny, it would just about mean Bouchirou
will carry out his plan, which is for some reason to destroy the Maou.
Thinking about it, they've never gone into detail why it is he went
against the previous Maou. As we currently know, that previous Maou
didn't like the system of Title Declaration, so he goes against that
system. Cue the "guy goes on a evil rampage and so we must stop him"
storyline.

Maybe Bouchirou is being a saint in that he thinks that "if it aint
broke, don't fix it" of today's society. And so he'll carry it upon
himself to safeguard this "system" so as to continue a life without
"war". At least, this is the kind of motive for him that makes sense
considered what we've seen so far. But, that's never the case now is
it? Apparently, he already had his plan in motion to acquire Keena for
his plan to defeat the Maou, but this doesn't look like the path of a
saint, but rather of someone who has their own agenda.

Granted, not everything in Dai Maou has ever gone according to
history, but what we can only work with is, either the novels or what
the anime has presented to us so far. Now I'm a person who treats
anime separate from their sources, if any. While I could simply look
for novel spoilers somewhere in this world, the fact remains the anime
shows very little detail when you compare a book to 20+ minutes of
audio. Now as it stands, by what's presented to us, Bouchirou has two
sides to his face: his government face, the official face that
everyone knows about but doesn't talk about, and his personal face,
the face that drives his actions into doing what everyone thinks he's
doing. So let's see here, his government face says "I've got to
destroy the Maou before he destroys the world." While his personal
face most likely says "I'm the only one who can do it, so I've got to
do it no matter what."

I'm going to go on a limb here and be completely straight up, this
series may very well take the route of Sai being the bad guy here.
Maybe Sai is going about this whole thing the wrong way, in that
violence isn't exactly the answer to everything. and so, perhaps
everyone will attempt to save him before he is lost down the path of
darkness of which he can never return from. Cue Keena carrying out her
promise to save Sai when he needs it.

The other scenario that makes sense is where Sai isn't looking at the
bigger picture. The bigger picture being, Keena, the containment
vessel of the gods that she is, was never fond of Sai going about
killing. So the one here who may need saving might be Keena, after
having absorbed the gods, they (the gods) may not be too happy with
this whole control thing, or rather they probably don't like being
contained. So, to follow Harem Standard Operating Procedure, let's
have everyone support the male lead (Sai) as he races to save Keena
before it's too late. Yeah....okay...

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou Research, series 01

So... lousy week, actually. Lots of ruination and developments
affecting my performance in real life, my anime life has taken a
backseat yet again. Memories of 3 years ago are resurfacing...

Back to it though, the start of my Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou research
posts, meine gott meine gott, how much I could have done if I had the
time. Ahem, my real-life escapades aside, let's tackle something first
from episode 10. Part 01 of my II no DM research.

We learn from this episode that it was the headmaster and Bouchirou
that had a hand in the previous Maou's demise. This means it actually
clears up something interesting:

1. The legend of Brave defeating the Maou, was just that, a legend.
2. Because Peterhausen did not recognize Brave, this confirms that
legend/D-13 was created after the previous Maou's demise.

From this I believe D-13 was created after Sai went missing as a baby,
without him under surveillance D-13 was probably the plan B to take
care of the Maou when he arises later on. What is interesting though,
with D-13 having been created after the previous Maou bought the farm,
the Yatagarasu calling out Hiroshi as a hero would then seem more and
more like the setup I have been theorizing about a few weeks ago. Or
perhaps the yatagarasu is the headmasters' way of knowing ahead of
time where the chess pieces of Bouchirou's next game will be. Of
course, this will probably be a detail we will never see...

The next part I'd like to talk about, is when it is known the source
for controlling the monsters is within the school. Huh huh, one might
simply think it's Fujiko, but what if... it's actually Keena? Far as I
can tell there remains nothing else in the school basements other than
Peterhausen, so that would leave Keena, or... those weird
lights-in-a-circle. Let's see if I can make this Keena theory
something:

--Keena's special.
--Let's pretend Fujiko didn't really have control of the monsters, but
rather they just happened to be heading there to "assist her".
--There's still that egg debalce from ep 08.
--As well as her having some sort of attraction to some of the animals
related to monsters (demon dog, cucumber).

There is of course some things to consider about this theory, like her
not up to war and killing, and being sort of a saint, it's kind of
hard to see her having something to do with monsters.

My take on episode 11, has it as Keena being the deciding factor
between headmaster, Sai and Bouchirou. This isn't about Sai killing
gods, but about Keena not liking the idea of Sai being a killer. Keena
is going to save Sai, and the only possibilities of saving him are:

1. If he is about to kill someone.
2. If he's about to get himself killed.
3. If someone's going to kill him.

I'll say, #1 seems highly likely given the alluded hints of Keena not
wanting Sai to kill someone.

Part 2 of research will continue in a moment.

(Anime research by The mangatron is a feature of his blog where he
puts his mind to the history of anime, and how that history affects
the present, and ultimately future projects in the days ahead.)

Low level Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou prediction

So I forgot to post something earlier, and while my Laptop is still
running autonomously, I'll post something else instead.

After episode 05 aired, I consider ep 06 the start of the second half
of the series. And it was then that I noticed a similar pattern: each
episode after 05 brought about a pre-intro scene that went in this
order: present day, past.

Pre-OP scenes to start an episode:
--Episode 06: Korone's new mission
--Episode 07: Hiroshi's calling
--Episode 08: Yamato's decision
--Episode 09: Sai's youth

The next episode, 10, if it follows the pattern, then it will be
Present-day, definitely continuing ep 09, which sets up an interesting
point because making ep 11 a past scene would mean something is
finally revealed, and then ep 12, apparently being the finale, would
close the series and the pattern.

Of course they may switch ep 10 with 11 to give us a little more
insight into Keena's mysteries.