April Summary

First of all: Woo! 200th post!!

Second of all, this is another one of my end-of-the-month-summaries. I’m going to do this slightly different than last time, and hopefully a bit more organized. Where last time was just a list of lists with some occasional ranking lists, I’m going to turn this month into a list of only ranking lists.

– Top 39 New Anime –
OMG… I never knew there were this many series untill I actually started counting them. Anyway, this is basically a summary of the quick first impressions of the last month, and something like a final verdict. At each series, I’ll state its ranking, title, a one-sentence verdict and whether I’m going to watch it, drop it, or blog it, or whether I’m not sure what to do. And yes, I know that it isn’t accurate at some places, but it’s at least a try. Now that I look back at it, I’m still watching an aweful lot of series, which means that I’ll probably end up dropping a few more.

#39: Inukami – Pure and utter garbage, stay away from this anime – Dropping.
#38: Joshikousei – Some might like the insanity, I didn’t – Dropping.
#37: Love Get Chu – Classic story of a girl who gets to be the best without any good reason – Dropping.
#36: Zegapain – Boy meets up with girl and fights in giant robot for no apparent reason – Dropping.
#35: Ar Tonelico – Could have been good, weren’t for the fact that it decided to focus on pubescent males – Dropping.
#34: Digimon Savers – I liked the first season, though this season doesn’t appeal to me in any way – Dropping.
#33: TOKKO – Too much blood, gore and useless fanservice and too little story for me – Dropping.
#32: Magical Pokaan – If they dropped the fanservice-jokes, this might’ve stood a chance – Dropping.
#31: Himawari – Not good, not bad, just mediocre – Dropping.
#30: Kiba – After watching a couple of more episodes, I knew: this will be horribly corny – Dropping.
#29: Strawberry Panic – The characters are incredibly boring and predictable, though the premisse shows potential – Dropping
#28: Ah My Goddess 2nd Season – This didn’t make me feel like watching the first series at all, a bit too much annoying scenes – Dropping.
#27: Glass no Kantai – Nothing appealed and forced me to continue watching, nice graphics, though – Dropping
#26: Nana – A series ideal for young women, though I didn’t really like it – Dropping.
#25: Gakuen Heaven – Has potential, but I’m not interested enough to see whether that’s true or not – Dropping
#24: Air Gear – Could have become great if it was better executed – Dropping.
#23: Haruhi Suzumiya – After a lot of thinking, I decided to drop this, it isn’t anything special except for the characters and it will never be able to beat series like Pani Poni Dash and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – Dropping.
#22: School Rumble 2nd Season – Note to self: finish first season… this might take a while… – Dropping for now.
#21: Ray The Animation – Lots of potential, though the surgery scared me away – Dropping.
#20: Yume Tsukai – I’m going to give this series one more chance before I decide, if it remains of the same quality, then I’ll drop it – Pending.
#19: Aria The Natural – Extremely peaceful, maybe a bit too peaceful, I might watch it if I’m bored – Dropping for now.
#18: Princess Princess – Has some funny moments, but that wasn’t enough to keep me interested – Dropping.
#17: Witchblade – Great drama but has horrible parts – Watching for now.
#16: Soul Link – The fanservice ruins this a bit, but I’m expecting some good things from this – Watching.
#15: Gintama – Surprisingly interesting, though the huge amount of series already out forced me to drop this, unfortunately – Dropping for now.
#14: Saiunkoku Monogatari – This has lots of potential, a good story and a great setting, though it still has to warm up a bit – Blogging raw.
#13: Simoun – Very interesting, but it can fall any minute now – Watching.
#12: Utawarerumono – It has some very good moments, the drama is great at some points, though it’s too early to call this show great, let’s see what time tells us – Watching.
#11: Dai Mahou Touge – Incredibly funny, though apart from that, nothing special – Watching.
#10: Black Lagoon – This has great potential, though the story may be a bit too impulsive – Watching.
#9: Ouran High School Host Club – Some great school-comedy, a Haruhi that’s easily able to own her counterpart – Watching.
#8: Jyu Oh Sei – A horribly underrated anime, I have no idea why, as it’s great – Watching.
#7: The Third – A show with lots of potential to become great later on – Blogging
#6: Makai Senki Disgaea – Great characters, great humor, great graphics, though the story’s oblivious – Blogging.
#5: xxxHolic – I just love the creepy stories included, but this show really shines in the dialogue-department – Blogging.
#4: Tsubasa Chronicle 2nd Season – Just as good as the previous season – Blogging.
#3: Higurashi ni Naku Koro ni – Freaky, just freaky, but freakingly amazing as well – Blogging.
#2: .Hack//Roots – I was very interesting with the first two episodes, but episode three got me hooked, a must for any .Hack fanboy and fangirl – Blogging.
#1: Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – Just as great as I hoped, the best series to air for now, unfortunately it’s unpopular with the speed-subbers.

Top 10 Current Series
These are my favourite series which started airing before the spring season began at the current moment. Both blogging and non-blogging.

#10: Pani Poni Dash
What the heck happened with the fansubbing of this series? It’s been stuck at episode 23 for ages… anyway, I still love it. The continuous parodies and brilliant characters. Too bad of the inconsistent releases.

#9: Ginga Densetsu Weed
This is by far the most underrated series of the Autumn 2005-season. It deserves more credit than this. Every review I managed to find (and believe me, these were hard to find) only was about the first episode, and almost all of them wrote the series down because of the use of dogs as main characters. When you watch the series a bit more, however, you see that it’s actually pretty good. I have to admit that I laughed myself through the first couple of episodes, but then I really saw that this anime had a message: small-scale wars, deaths and how it affects people, or in this case dogs. My only problem is the young male lead, but even he’s better than most other examples.

#8: Blood+
I’m still enjoying this, and around episode 25 it only gets better and better. And we’re only at the first half of the show! I’m expecting a lot from the second half, as it seems to be building up perfectly.

#7: Eureka 7
I originally wrote this series down because of the young male lead, though when I watched further, I have to say that this is an anazing anime. It’s currently in a season-long intermezzo, as it seems. I hugely enjoyed the second 13 episodes, though the third 13 episodes are a bit of a step downwards. But then again, we still have a part of 13 episodes left.

#6: The Law of Ueki
Ueki clearly was at its best around episode 40. Right now, it’s trying to make a decent ending. So far, it succeeds. I’m still enjoying it, though the elements that made Ueki shine are gone now.

#5: Ergo Proxy
Turning more awesome by the minute, Ergo Proxy keeps to amaze me. This really show potential for a great series.

#4: Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror
While Ten Shu Mono Gatari didn’t have the chaos of Yotsuya Kaidan, Bake Neko seems to be able to become something great. Still, I’m enjoying every minute of this.

#3: Popolocrois Story 1998
I’m currently taking a small break from PopoloCrois in order to be able to process the ridiculous amounts of new series coming in, but the episodes that I’ve seen this month are just awesome. Storytelling and characters at its best. A serious recommendation to any fantasy fan, and the living proof that you shouldn’t write down anime because they’re based on RPG’s.

#2: Noein
We’re drawing near the end of one of the best series of last year. Ranging from the story to the characters and the graphics, I really love this anime, and it seems like we’re in for a big finale.

#1: Jigoku Shoujo
I am SO enjoying this series. The concept is simple, though just like with Mushishi, the creators manage to make every single episode worthwile and great to watch. Not to mention that it has a main character which is absolutely great. It’s almost a shame that there are only three episodes left.

Top 5 Episodes
These are the six episode that truly managed to amaze me, in one way or another.

#5: .Hack//Roots – 03
The way Haseo came to his decision was just great, not to mention the incredible music.

#4: Jigoku Shoujo – 16
By far the best case of Jigoku Shoujo. It was so demented that I just loved it.

#3: Popolocrois Story 1998 – 08
We get to see the best bad guys ever in action, and get stopped in one of the best ways ever. Not to mention every other character was at its best.

#2: Tales of Phantasia – 04
One of the best final episodes ever. It did just what it was supposed to do, and didn’t add any other unneccesary other elements that might’ve ruined it. This, in combination with the awesome graphics and execution, made it awesome.

#1: Revolutionary Girl Utena – 36
Even though I managed to finish this series, I still love this episode. With ease one of the best episodes ever.

Top 10 Upcoming Anime
I’ve browsed AniDB for a bit, and managed to find some very interesting-looking series which have yet to air. Here are my favourites:

#10: Zero no Tsukaima
A boy wakes up, and gets turned into a servant by a beautiful girl. It might be just another harem-series, but I’ve got hopes for it. Who knows, it might turn out very interesting.

#9: Straight Jacket
The only information I have about this series is the picture viewable in the page. Apart from that, I have no idea what it’s about. till, I like the art. And it’ll revolve around a grown-up guy, instead of a 12-year old. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?

#8: Coyote Ragtime Show
I’m not too big of a fan of the maid-in-uniform, but the premisse of seven days until the planet you live on gets destroyed has some major potential. Who knows? Who knows.

#7: Shounen Onmyouji
Again, I have no other information other than the artwork. Though, I’m somehow reminded of Tsubasa Chronicle.

#6: Le Chevalier D`Eon
This looks like it’s going to be a big series. I won’t say anything yet, the premisse neither appeals or appals to me, I think I’ll wait till I know a bit more before I pull my final verdict.

#5: Seirei no Moribito
Another fantasy story, I like the premisse, although I’ve yet to be enthusiastic.

#4: Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
An anime about a girl who has the ability to travel through time, and alter it to her own will. It looks like she’s going to be abusing it very heavily, which is always a nice thing for good drama.

#3: Master of Epic
I am so in love with the artwork. I’m just a bit scary about Gonzo producing it. For some reason, I fear lots of fanservice and mechas to be thrown in. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

#2: NHK ni Youkoso!
Just like last month, I’m really looking forward to watching this series. Can a premisse get any better?

#1: Otogi-Jushi Akazukin
This still remains my favourite of those to yet to come. I’ve really enjoyed the first episode of the OVA, and ever since, I’ve been hungry for more.

So, that’s it for now. Now that I look back, I could have linked the titles to certain posts. Though, I guess I’m too lazy for that. ^_^;;