The summer season was quite small, but it stood out. It had one of the best shows of the year, and it had creative premises and executions. It perhaps wasn’t the best summer season out there, but definitely worth watching. And really: there was only one show that I kept watching that really went and disappointed all the way. Apart from that, even the ones that didn’t live up to what I expected still had something interesting to redeem themselves with.
#19 (45) – Hiiro no Kakera – (4.1/10) – The biggest crime of this series is being bland. Way too bland. Have an interesting concept. Have charismatic characters. Have interesting plot twist. Have funny jokes, anything, for god’s sake! Dropped.
#18 (16) – Tari Tari – (7.5/10) – Tari Tari… you should have tried harder. I mean, it’s fine and all that you want to just be a random slice of life show, but you should have tried to use your characters a bit more. Wien remained a joke for the entire series, and the eventual pay-off: the final performance, turned out to be a lazy montage.
#17 (17) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – (7.9/10) – Very over the top, but there still is something missing here. And don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely entertaining, but I just feel like this could have been much more considering the potential it had.
#16 (10) – Rinne no Lagrange – (8/10) – The problem with this month’s Rinne no Lagrange was that it was trying to be too epic. That didn’t really mix in with the other messages of the show, unfortunately and the characters kept bouncing a bit between two extremes. It had some nice moments, but I feel that it would have been better if they just focused on either of the two.
#15 (14) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8.1/10) – Yet again this show proves that you can be simple, yet effective. It all was basic action right now, but because of how consistent it has been for the past months it worked as the mid-climax for this series. I mean, I’m starting to grow a liking to the characters, which is a sign of good build-up.
#14 (13) – Sword Art Online – (8.1/10)I do want to get one thing straight: I don’t dislike this series, and it does some things fascinatingly well. But at others it’s unfortunately still a wasted potential, not to mention how it came with that bizarre plot twist involving Yui that just felt completely out of place.
#13 (9) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – (8.25/10)
I feel like it would have been better for this series if the episodes of this month were shown a bit earlier, because that’s where we finally saw some depth on Watashi. Still, because of that this ending did have its charm, ending with the beginning and all.
#12 (12) – Moyashimon – (8.25/10)
Moyashimon was very entertaining, and after its dull in the middle it did manage to recover itself. The fact remains however that it had a bit of a bad premise for an entire sequel. I mean, the side plot of the wine brewing girl was much more interesting than Haruka’s arranged marriage. It’s the rest of the cast that really managed to save this series with their chemistry.
#11 (15) – Phi Brain – (8.25/10)
Aaaand the final month of Phi Brain’s second season was also its best. Who would have guessed? The thing is that everything came together, and it actually delivered what it promised: really good character-development. Sure, it was ridiculously silly, but the build-up actually paid off. And for that I’m willing to cut it a lot of slack.
#10 (6) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8.4/10)
This show still is just consistently delightful. Every week it just manages to find so many relatable situations that are also just so funny to watch. The alien episode was the best one this month.
#9 (11) – Uta Koi – (8.4/10)
The best month for Uta Koi. It had a lot of interesting stories and it ended with a really neat ending that fitted this show really well. Having an episode dedicated both to Fujiwara no Teika and the writer of Genji Monogatari was really interesting to watch.
#8 (8) – Kokoro Connect – (8.5/10)
The third arc was better than the second, and not as good as the first. With three episodes the creators definitely managed to do some interesting things, and especially the character development was top-notch with the way the arc was set up.
#7 (7) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8.5/10)
There was one episode that had me completely in stitches. It’s been months since I laughed that hard, and that is really important for this series at this point: it shows that it still has more than enough material for its second half of 26 episodes. Really , that’s my biggest fear for this series: that 52 episodes will be too much for it to handle. That episode beyond being utterly hilarious was a big confidence boost.
#6 (new) – From the New World – (8.6/10)
What an opening episode! I mean, with the very first new episode of the season, From the New World set a damn high standard to live up to, with a fantastic directing style and an intriguing setting. On top of that A-1 pulled some top-notch animators out of its hat.
#5 (4) – Hyouka – (8.6/10)
The height of Hyouka was the Juumonji arc. The past number of episodes were still really good, but didn’t show the series at its best. Nevertheless, it definitely was a fitting way to close off the series with some very character-focused episodes.
#4 (3) – Eureka Seven Ao – (8.6/10)
We’re nearly at the climax, and Eureka Seven just continues to deliver its plot twists. It does so in a very good way though. There may have been a number of plotholes, but the twists themselves were fun and were very entertaining to watch.
#3 (5) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.75/10)
Yes! We’re nearly at the best part of Hunter X Hunter. The past month was already amazing, but I am so pumped for what’s coming. The only blemish is that the exposition is really boring to sit through, because I already watched the series and all. Because of that there was one dull episode this month, but at the very least Gon and Killua redeemed themselves really well with the episode that followed that.
#2 (1) – Natsuyuki Rendezvous – (9.25/10)
What an ending! It all went perfect, and after all the build up, Natsuyuki Rendezvous closed off with a perfect ending that flowed like water. Every character got some extra depth, it was still wonderfully produced, and it left a wonderful taste behind. Without a doubt the best show of the Summer Season.
#1 (2) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9.25/10)
The characters in Uchuu Kyoudai already were amazing. And here this month came and made them even better. I mean holy crap, the episodes in this month were just stunning in how much charm every character had, and on top of that the newly introduced characters were also all incredibly interesting to watch.
Wasn’t the whole point of the way the story was told the point of the later half of Humanity Has Declined. I mean, they didn’t do it by mistake.
This anime season is officially the worse anime season I have ever seen. I know you are trying to see the silver lining but damn this season was bad. First time there wasn’t one show which I was actually excited to watch the next episode.
At least the next anime season is looking to make up for it. Lot’s of potential contenders.
not officially, just your personal preference.
What did you watch that made it so bad for you?
Nowhere near as bad as Summer 2010. And while we’re on the subject of dissing 2010, its Fall season was pretty bland as well, whereas this year’s Fall looks pretty great.
@Aidan:I agree with you on the summer season being quite weak.
Tari Tari and Lagrannge which I watched the end were excessively, aggressively mediocre. Moyashimon wasn’t as funny as season one.
Natsuyuki and Hyouka were really the only shows I really gave some sort of care about really.
Honestly I got excited over the upcoming season too but now I’m thinking I may been being pre-emptive. Theres only 6 shows I’m guaranteed to watch.
Even then natsuyuki and hyouka were shakey round the middle, actually I know alot are going to disagree with me here Kokoro connect was the only show I felt like I really had to see what came next.
Not going to comment on your rankings since I only watch(ed) 5 series in your list; Natsuyuki, Jinrui, Hyouka, Space Bros and Penguin Cafe.
Jinrui would rank higher than Natsuyuki for me. Former has a more likeable setting, is more laid back and is decent on the satire front. Latter, while it has great voice acting (typical of the director), had a lot of moments where the characters frustrated me, and sometimes seemed downright demented. Not demented in a funny way (like Jinrui), just plain demented.
Hyouka was decent in spurts. First arc (Hyouka arc?) and the School festival arc were better. Last couple of eps were decent. SHot itself in the foot badly with that drama club arc, though.
@Litho:The drama club arc had a nice idea behind it, but the presentation was just dull for me.
I really liked Jinrui at the start for the reasons you mentioned, before that repetition malarky.
I don’t know what you saw in natsu yuki. I mean sure it had good acting and tried to be quite realistic but in the end it left me with this shitty meh feeling. I can’t believe its going to be in the top 2 of 2012. Oh well it’s not my blog
Yeah I couldn’t really enjoy Natsuyuki either oddly enough. I thought it was very very well-done, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters that much. And here I am enjoying Maru! more, even though I clearly recognize it is worse in terms of creating compelling realistic characters. Weird.
Totally Agree.
because realism is over-rated. people go to fiction to escape, however shallow. Superman is the single most boring characters ever lived, yet plenty of adults including famous ones still adores him