Lumped it in together because I’m not gonna repeat the same shit again next week.
Hold: Mouretsu Pirates
——————————————————————————————-
LAND OF THE TERRIBAD
nada for now
FAULTY BUT WATCHABLE
18. Zetman 7.7
American stylized anime never works but I thought Zetman could pull it off. It didn’t and to make it worse, it proceeded with a very fast pace leaving you with, “what the hell did I just watch?”. Yeah Zetman’s pretty bad but it’s still slightly watchable.
17. Dusk Maiden of the Amnesia 7.7
I like the directional quirk of the first episode and I saw a little bit of Natsu no Arashi in it which is a good thing. Second episode killed the shit off my brains as it proceeded to terrible character interactions and very been-there-done-that fanservice. No, accidentally groping someone’s breast just doesn’t cut it in 2012 anymore. You need to be more creative than that (and that’s coming from SILVER LINK which is supposed to be creative). I’ll give it a few more episodes but seriously, episode 2 was horrendous.
16. Medaka Box 7.9
I’m leaving this while I still can. I remember the manga becoming way too conflicted and having too many “powers” after a while. Still these episodes I watched were pretty good.
GOOD
15. Accel World 8.0
Imaginative setting combined with too much technobabble and terrible main leads. Index anyone? Accel World does too much telling for its own good and it’s gonna hurt later on. Having a fat shoe as a main character makes it even worse. But hey at least he’s FAT. We’ve always wanted those useless main leads to be fat and ugly, well at least Accel World has a nerve to make him FAT.
14. Saki – Episode of Side A 8.0
The episode side A spin off misses a lot of points that makes Saki work. You do not just breeze through the mahjong part and keep building off. What is Saki without mahjong? Why are you building up so much yet fail to what you build up the episode prior? I’d really like to address more on what makes this spinoff “off putting” so maybe I should make a post about that.
Still building up IS still build up and it’s hard to shrug off the excitement even though you know it’s not going to deliver.
13. Kuroko’s Basketball 8.2
This is incredibly embarrassing to watch. Too much cheesy lines, too many weird techniques, and a sense of realism in the game is totally gone. At the same time though, this is incredibly fun to watch. Characters keep on thinking about techniques and how they’ll shoot and its incredibly stupid and laughable but at the same time incredibly fun. If there’s a plus though, Taiga and Kuroko play off each other very well (if you say no homo then part of this show’s appeal will weirdly be gone).
12. Lupin III: Mine Fujiko Onna 8.3
Truth be told, I’ve put this on hold. Recently I’ve been watching an anime called Hakaba Kitaro. It’s a different take on Gegege Kitarou, a popular Japanese franchise, and it aired on noitaminA a few years back. It sorta reminds me of this Lupin III. A different feel from the original, a different style, very artistic. The thing is, I couldn’t bring myself to marathon Hakaba Kitarou. I can’t chug it down. I want to appreciate the different visual styles it uses (or the different shit filters) and I really can’t just put a date on when I’ll watch it. Same goes for Mine Fujiko. I want to appreciate the different details in its styles much MUCH more slowly. I don’t want to put a date on it.
Besides the unique style though, Mine Fujiko is just your normal detective/thief story. The series is nothing special besides the amazing production values.
11. Shirokuma Cafe 8.3
It’s a hit or miss kind of series but when it hits, it really hits. I also love the laid back style of the jokes. It fits perfectly to Panda’s personality.
SEASON’S MEAT
(2) 10. Aquarion EVOL 8.5
Aquarion has been proceeding in fluctuating quality. There’s really boring, repetitive, scenes then suddenly they follow it up with amazingly weird ones like that Super Dimensional Punch back to the Original Aquarion scene after Zessica shouted “chuuki” in which everyone reacted in really funny ways. I love EVOL but stop fucking boring me from one scene then amazing me on another!
9. Hyouka 8.5
I hold off giving an impression from Spring because I was waiting for this show. I was relatively hyped up for this since I generally like most things KyoAni pop up. Plus I got a real treat last year when they tried something pretty different from what they do with Nichijou and its absurdist ways. Unfortunately Hyouka isn’t really trying much to set itself apart from its genre. It felt like a more subdued, realistic version of Haruhi . . . which isn’t all that bad.
Major complaint goes to characterization of the male lead. Stop repeating that he’s “low energy” we already got it when you first mentioned it! In fact you didn’t even have to mention it in the first place! The scriptwriting concentrates heavily on narrative which gives a few scenes WAY TOO MUCH BABBLE. Still that won’t be a bad thing anymore once they start tacking the mysteries.
The animation though is something you can never diss with KyoAni. This looks fucking amazing. It’s like the disappearance movie animation except its 21 episodes. Realistic fluidity + detailed backgrounds + detailed everything + a slight touch of artistry really equals the best animation this season. You can hate on KyoAni all you want, but I’d gladly defend them when it comes to their animation.
8. Space Bros. 8.6
Space Bros. is very inspiring. They continue showing off Mutta and his battle to finally get back on track in his life and follow what he has always wanted to do which is becoming an astronaut. The sense of realism like sibling love and being the older one is really played well here.
7. Jormungand 8.7
I really haven’t watch that much war dramas but from the little that I did (Phantom), I absolutely loved. Jormungand is completely different from Phantom though, and I love the stylish, sexy and fun way of delivering its plot. Koko is fucking loco. Her personality is indefinable (kinda like Johan from Monster). You just know something weird is gonna happen once she puts on an evil smile.
6. Eureka Seven AO 8.8
I really need to watch Eureka Seven. It’s one of those anime you absolutely need to watch because it’s apparently a definition of what anime is. I kinda got a glimpse of it here on AO and if there’s anything I can say, it would be that I’m really excited for this. If they do it correctly, AO could reach heights that I have not seen in a mecha anime before. Also the animation is glorious. 2D mecha done like this really is the way to go.
5. Tsuritama 8.8
The level of creativity in its animation is amazing in itself. Kenji Nakamura is a genius. Sure [C] was a bit of a fail at times but its premise is really great and its unique take on economics surprised me. Tsuritama is far from what C is though. It’s more close to Kimi to Boku except it isn’t boring. There’s aliens, ducks, mind controlling water guns. Plus there’s great characterization and they actually feel like actual teenage boys (Kimi to Boku’s boys felt like those genderbent characters fans like to make).
4. Sanakarea 8.8
One of the two big surprises this season, Sankarea’s first three episodes were really solid. Nice exposition, clever directing, incredible visuals . . . it’s a complete package for an introduction! Really though, hat’s off to the directing. This wouldn’t be nearly as good if the directing wasn’t top notch.
The only thing detracting it now is some fans.
3. Sakamichi no Apollon 8.9
Really, really solid first two episodes. It delivered on what I expected (and I expected a lot) and even gave a bonus on amazing instrument playing scenes. Seriously, ANIME ISN’T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!
If I did have a complaint, it would be the OP. This was the anime comeback of YUKI for me and it presented itself too. . . healing. I did read that Yoko Kanno composed it so maybe it’s her fault. I really just wanted to hear that girl who sang on Honey and Clover. Heh.
LEGENDARY
2. Fate/Zero 9.1
Amazing comeback. First they topped Ionian Heratoi with Saber’s Excalibur as the most visually stunning Noble Phantasm yet. Then they proceeded to question Saber’s morals and what chivalry really is. Is a battlefield better than hell or is it hell in itself?
1. Mysterious Girlfriend X 9.4
This is the second big surprise of the season. I really just can’t put to words on why it’s good. Certainly the directing is top notch (reading a fair bit of the manga myself), also the production quality, especially the music. MGX is really best served experienced. You need to watch it, get past the saliva and be amazed on how big of a throwback this is.
ALL TIME FAVORITE
MGX is really really close. . .
——————————————————————————————-
I’d say this season is really good. It could even beat last spring’s bonanza and I already have one series that I LOVE (MGX). It really started off with a bang, with Space Bros. premiering early, then Fate/Zero, Sankarea, Mysterious Grilfriend X, Jormungand . . . noitminA added 2 more then Ao and then last but not the least, Hyouka. And even then, there’s still good series below the really good ones like Shirokuma Cafe, Lupin III and Kuroko’s Basketball. Heck Accel World and the Saki spinoff ain’t so bad.
If last season everyone’s praising how there’s so much good directing that terrible premises ended up to be good shows, much more so this season. We have Watanabe’s comeback, that doraemon movie director blowing everyone’s hats off with Space Bros and MGX, the Sankarea director who has a false name and apparently worked with SHAFT, FMP director, Kenji Nakamura . . .
It’s a good time to be a anime fan. Everyone should soak this up now while they can since Summer’s looking sorta bleak.
side note: I lost at the first round of the Aniblog Tourney. Oh well Trzr23 is a great blog (and weirdly people have been saying our blogs are identical) and since it beat me, it should proceed to win the entire thing (or else I’ll be shamed!). I actually thought I’d lose badly and people would criticize my blog heavily, but I didn’t (even lead the match for a few hours) and apparently PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKE MY BLOG.
Traveler on Revenge 