Author: psgels

Konnichiwa Anne – 31

by psgels, posted in Konnichiwa Anne



The episodes in this series have really ranged from incredibly bad to incredibly good. This episode was another gem for this anime. A unique episode that really closes off Anne’s development.

Ah, screw Mr Hammond’s death. This guy was too one-dimensional to really have an impact. What counts is what happens after his demise, because Johanna’s problems were nothing compared to Mrs. Hammond. This time, not four but eight children had to be divided, and none of the family members was wealthy enough to support more than two children. And thus comes the cruel ritual in which they each pick a child they like and split up the family.

But the real star of this episode was Anne. Oh my god, the creators may have their issues with cheese, but their portrayal of Anne in this episode was magnificent. The way she was animated, standing at the sidelines while nobody cared about what was going to happen to her. This was the moment Anne was supposed to break, and oh my god, they portrayed that so well.

With this, everything makes sense. Those who followed my entries will often have noticed how often I criticized that Anne had no reason to throw away her past: she was living happily, she was very eager to study and had a lot of friends, and no matter what was thrown at her, she kept looking at the bright side of life.

It’s heart-wrenching to see that this, of all things, was too much for her. All this time, she was able to look on the bright side of life because she had a family. She had to work hard and often only had the people in her imagination to talk to, but I think that she drew satisfaction in that she was needed. Since she’s an orphan, she probably heard some terrible things about orphanages, and in her imagination this only got blown up into terrible proportions. It was only fueled by how Mr. Hammond saved her from being sent to one: before she became friends with him, I believe that that was what kept her supporting the always cold Mrs. Hammond. Sure, she’s probably going to find out that orphanages aren’t as bad as she imagined them to be, but nevertheless: this episode inflicted a nasty wound on her that caused her to block out most of her youth.

I really thought that we’d only get to see this story at episode 38 or something. There’s going to be a significant amount of episodes dedicated to that orphanage, apparently. Again, I can’t say whether or not they’re going to be good or not. With this series at this point, anything can happen. With this episode, we closed off the theme that this series was best at: dysfunctional families. Right now, Anne is going to meet children who are the same as her, yet can the writers handle them? The potential of them delving into their cheesy episodic stories is of course really big…
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Aoi Bungaku – 04

by psgels, posted in Aoi Bungaku




What an amazing conclusion to the No Longer Human story. The past four episodes have really been storytelling at its finest. This episode yet again pushes the characters into an entirely different direction, and it’s really been character-development after character-development for the entire story.

This episode fast-forwards a number of years. So the lead character? He got married to the girl with the red umbrella. His friend? He has grown up a lot. He’s no longer the punk who drags the lead character into the wrong business, but instead has decided to join the army, leaving his wild years behind.

At first sight, the lead character seems saved right now. He has stopped drinking and fooling around with women thanks to his new wife. The seemingly limitless amount of trust she has for him really helped him get himself together. Or so it seems. I’m not sure whether she got raped or whether she was fooling around with someone behind his back, but nevertheless, their balance gets broken abruptly when he finds out.

But even before that, it becomes clear that even though he may have left his old habits behind, he still hasn’t fully healed. Especially when he finds out that his father died, he doesn’t care in the bit, and it becomes painfully clear that he’s still living inside a fantasy world, refusing to simply grow up because his profession as an artist and storyteller doesn’t require him to do so. Eventually however, he breaks down and takes an overdose of some sort of strange type of pills. Again, he survives. But barely.

The part that impressed me the most comes next. Despite how the guy has broken down, and proven that he’s a huge failure as a human, the two women he lived with still don’t mind. What they see is a guy who definitely has problems, but despite that is an incredibly nice guy. Even though they probably know nothing about him, yet want to be with him again, that was so heart-warming.

Okay, so No Longer Human was amazing. What’s next? The rest of the series is going to be filled with three more stories of two episodes, and two of only one. Their short length is either a blessing or a curse, but let’s see what they can do with their limited airtime. I really like the set-up of random stories though: you’ll never be able what to expect, but the writers are totally free in what they can do with it, or in this case which stories they can adapt. This is another reason why this series is superior to Kuchuu Buranko: those random stories all were written by the same guy, based on the same formula. With Aoi Bungaku however, this series is promising to become incredibly varied.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – 30

by psgels, posted in Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood



Whoa, an entire episode dedicated to the background of the Ishbal Massacre. It shows how Roy, Hawkeye and Hughes met and how their experiences in the war changed them into trying to find a way out of this endless violence. Usually in when a massacre in anime takes place, you get a bit of depth on the ones who ordered it, but not often do you see an in-depth look to the ones who actually carry out those orders.

There are two major questions that have arisen from this episode: First of all: what was up with that tattoo covering Hawkeye’s back? In this episode, we learn how she’s the daughter of the alchemist who taught Roy Mustang his tricks, but there seems to be much more to her than just that. I’m not even sure whether Roy knows about that tattoo, but my guess is that it has something to do with her father.

Second of all: we meet Kimbley. This guy was one of the worst characters of the first season: the creators set him up as a competent and ruthless criminal… only to abandon this halfway through and turn him into an incompetent imbecile afterwards. My guess is that even though the creators came up with a very nice alternative story for this setting, they never really knew what to do with him, or they realized too late that that bomb guy also needed a part.

In any case, in this episode we learn where the Philosopher’s stone that was made from the Ishbalians went to: Kimbley. I’m surprised at how little of these people were actually needed, and really wonder why an entire city needed to be wiped out, just for ten guys who could also be simply taken from the prisoners on death row. The big question also is: why Kimbly? Why entrust something as important as that stone to someone like him? And where the hell is he right now? My guess is that since there already were seven humonculi at that point, Father was experimenting with new ways to use the Philosopher’s stones, but there still remain a lot of question marks in the Ishbal chapter.

And yeah, Scar also now has a new target for revenge. I’m not sure whether he’s really going to be an ally of Ed now, however. It’s all going to depend on whether or not he can forgive the guy for killing Winry’s parents…
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Cross Game – 31

by psgels, posted in Cross Game



What an amazing episode. It’s installments like this that really show why Cross Game is such an excellent slice of life series, it was constantly playing with the set-up of the arrival of Wakaba II (who turns out to be named Akane).

The entire episode was one big tease. To start with, you know how Kou said “Wakaba”? That sequence got repeated about three or four times? Well, it turns out that it was also imprinted on the bag she was carrying. A bit long to get to that punchline, but well worth it. For the rest of the episode, I was really looking forward to the next time she’d show up again, but the creators had other plans, and instead showed some very good slice of life scenes instead, preparing for the upcoming festival and the anniversary of Wakaba’s death (if I understood correctly).

Only in the final quarter of the episode, she appeared again, and the results were amazing. Everyone who ran into her had the same reaction: “what’s a ghost doing here!?” The look on everyone’s face… it was just priceless.

Oh, and as an extra bonus, my favourite minor side-character got some attention again: Momiji. Especially now that she has reached the same age as Wakaba did when she died, she’s hopefully also going to start playing a larger part in this series.

And that’s what I think is the biggest difference between Cross Game and Touch: Touch was far better with its baseball matches, while Cross Game’s baseball is the least interesting part of the series. However, Cross Game is far superior when it comes to slice of life, in which Touch was a bit too long-winded. With the exception of two notable episodes, of course. those who watched Touch will understand which ones I mean.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Kemono no Souja Erin – 42

by psgels, posted in Kemono no Souja Erin



An entire episode dedicated to the new queen, who just ascended the throne in one of the worst possible times, just when the stability between the two halves of the country is beginning to waver. And what an intense episode it was.

Of course, the sons of the grand duke aren’t stupid enough to give in to the false accusations that Damya throws at them. Not only that, but they also end up making the first move when Shunan even proposes to Seimiya, in an attempt to bring the country back to stability. The thing is, that Seimiya just has too little experience. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but she doesn’t seem educated at all in politics. She lived the good life, protected by everyone else including her mother. Her ideal wedding was one with Shunan, but now that he’s marrying her for country purposes, rather than because of her became a huge shock for her. Even if there wasn’t Damya who would try to take advantage of her, she’d probably end up destroying the country herself.

Damya meanwhile remains an interesting variation to the stereotypical evil right hand man. You can see that he’s already manipulating Seimiya: portraying himself as the kind uncle to her, so that she feels trusted with him. However, you can also see that he genuinely cares for the loss of his mother, and he feels sorry for his niece. Unlike her, however, he knows what his ideals are, and he’s well aware that he has a very good opportunity to realize them.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Letter Bee – 05

by psgels, posted in Letter Bee



This episode was actually pretty good. It’s still the kind of drama we’re used to from this series: simple and emotional, and on top of that this episode simply showed the story of a random person who happened to cross Lag’s path at an unfortunate time. However, the way in which letter Bee sets itself apart from all of the other dramas this season is the way in which its drama feels really genuine.

Normally this episode would have been very cheesy indeed: we have this girl who has lost her little brother, and the final wish of this brother is to send a message to a Letter Bee who used to be friends with them. However, this episode was surprisingly well told: the creators added lots of small details that spiced up this episode, like the way in which that girl first deceives Lag, Nichi who wants to be called a Dingo while Lag wants to return her to a place in which she can grow up safely (still not recognizing that he’d be absolutely screwed if it wasn’t for her), the traveller and his falcon, the villagers, the background music. It all amounted to a surprisingly good climax.

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but if you exclude the still frames, then the animation is actually pretty good, isn’t it? And with that, I mostly mean the in-between animation. I think that that’s also the thing that Studio Pierrot is especially good at. I especially noticed this when I watched Kaze no Youjinbo: its animation is either incredibly good or incredibly bad. And you can also spot those really good parts of animation in the opening episodes of GTO. I’m hoping that the awesome animators who were responsible for those good parts are going to return here as well. This episode was at least an indication that the creators are going for a very good frame-rates.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – 05

by psgels, posted in Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra



Okay, so this episode was meant to be a step back: an intermezzo to flesh out the characters between the action. And even here this series sets itself apart by avoiding and subverting so many tropes that it almost gets scary.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see that this series can be really funny when it wants to be. That book joke in which Mirapoc was sent to look at a seemingly important book, which turned out to be a cheesy romance novel was absolutely hilarious, not to mention the big advantage of having a show that only is about adults: alcohol.

And yeah, it was also really nice to see a bit of what the characters were like when they were younger. I didn’t expect that to show up this early in the series. But yeah, the thing that stood out the most was this: Volken has run off and betrayed the Armed Librarians. In your average anime, you’d see his childhood sweetheart angsting, and then finding some deus ex machina to turn everything back so that they can be together again. So what does Mirepoc do? She erases her ownmemories and rids herself of any memories she has of Volken. Talk about subverting to the extreme!

Also, is it me or does the main character of this series change with every episode? First we had Volken, then Hamyuts, then Colio and now Mirepoc, and yet I have still no idea who is supposed to be the real main character of this series…

…and in a way, I like that. It really makes this show unpredictable.

Also, new animation for the OP. If the visuals are any indication to future action scenes, I’m really going to have to take back my statement of this series having unimpressive animation.

And on another side-note: someone gets smashed into a wall and stands up with dust all over her clothes. Finally a show that realizes that walls aren’t made of cardboard!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

White Album – 18

by psgels, posted in White Album


Touya… Touya… Touya. What the heck do you think you’re doing? Every time you think this bastard couldn’t possibly surpass himself… he does. WTF.

In any case, let me start with summarizing the major flaws that made the first season so unbearable:
– The set-up itself: how the heck do all these five girls pick Touya of all people to fall for. However, you can’t hold this against the second season, as it’s already part of its premise.
– The huge amount of drama that resulted in people who kept missing each other. This doesn’t return in the second season.Touya bought an answering machine, and he and Yuki actually meet a lot.
– The huge contrast between the drama: it was either incredibly subtle, or totally not. And really, the second season has been much better balanced in terms of drama.

yeah, as much as I hate to admit it: this was a really emotional episode. For the first time in this series, I really felt along with the characters, without being hampered by angsty melodrama getting in the way. The drama was definitely heavy (I mean, Touya kissed two girls WHO WEREN’T YUKI), but it felt much more heartfelt than anything I’ve seen in that first season. Am I going crazy?

Yuki.. finally she too gets suspicious of Touya, thanks to a major screw-up that he made. Or rather, two. First of all, he flaps out about how he’s been meeting Yayoi. Nice one there, dude. On top of that, when Yuki proposes to go and see Rina together. Touya declines and says that he’s got enough to do. ONLY TO SEE RINA THAT DAY, AND KISS HER. Holy crap, what an asshole. On top of that, he also starts ignoring Yayoi, even after Yuki already left, which also puts him on bad terms. Not to mention that some mysterious dude has photographs of the two hitting it off together.

I really feel like this episode was the beginning of the end. And someone shoot me: I’m beginning to like this series again!!
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuchuu Buranko – 03

by psgels, posted in Kuchuu Buranko



Ah, we get a look into the authors of cheap romance novels. Again, it had a very simple conclusion: just start writing good novels! The fun in this episode yet again came from exploring the life and carreer of this guy.

As I’m also somewhat a writer, I can identify with him a bit: so you’ve written a masterpiece. Then what? You’re popular as hell thanks to your hard work. Now what? I can understand how this guy would eventually fall into a habit of writing stuff that sells good, yet are utterly crappy and formulaic. For a starting author, this means complete suicide, however an already famous author can pull this off and still sell items.

While I’ve never written a masterpiece myself, I do recognize how you can be incredibly passionate about something when you first start out. If you happen to know the right techniques, then despite your lack of experience you can put down an incredible piece of work.

This episode was all about getting in the right mindset. It’s not about writer’s block; this guy was very able to churn out novels if you ignore his vomiting problem. Instead, it was focused on getting him from writing half-assedly to passionately. And that’s something I do recognize from my own writing, especially with my episodic reviews: the more passionately I write abot an episode (whether it was good or bad), the better that entry is usually going to be.

… and yeah, you could probably guess that this wasn’t such a passionately written entry. -_-
Rating: * (Good)

October Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

So yeah, compared to the previous seasons, this Autumn Season is a bit of a step back. The problem isn’t the huge amount of moe-shows; every season has that. It’s also not a disappointing season because of the lack of mecha; in fact, that’s rather refreshing for a change. Instead, I think that the reason is that while there are a few truly interesting series, there just aren’t enough of them.

Because of that, my top 10 is going to be a bit weird again, especially places 8, 9 and 10 are probably going to raise a few eye-brows here and there. But yeah, let’s just be glad with the things that we have. It’s not a bad season in either way, and these three series are also really enjoyable (otherwise I wouldn’t have put them in my top 10 this month at all ^^;)

Right now, I’m watching too many series, and I still need to drop two or three of them. any suggestions as to which ones?

#43 (new) – Himitsu Kessha Taka Tsume Countdown – (2/10) – This is just a very lazy attempt at comedy. It almost feels like a Sunred rip-off, but nothing feels like any effort was put into it. The jokes are dull and overused. Skip this one. Dropped.
#42 (new) – Kiddy Girl-And – (4,5/10) – Look, I really hope that what everyone’s saying about the Kiddy Grade franchise is true, because the first three episodes of this series have been outright terrible so far. If I had to pick one thing that annoys me the most, then it’s the lead character’s voice actress. I want to bash the screen every time she opens her mouth, and she just won’t shut up
#41 (new) – Miracle Train – (5,25/10) – Kenichi Kasai is an amazing director, but even he couldn’t do anything with this bad of a source material. It would have been a nice series, if some ACTUAL TIME was spent on fleshing out the different females, the bishies wouldn’t look so ridiculous, they’d behave like actual people, rather than stereotypes and the humour wasn’t so dull. Dropped
#40 (31) – Shugo Chara – (5,75/10) – Shugo Chara, while fillerish, wasn’t exactly bad. It was decent, though Shugo Chara Party somehow just decided to screw its current target audience, and focus on small children instead, making the series lose the small bit of magic it still had. Dropped.
#39 (new) – Kämpfer – (6/10) – Very, very generic moe fighting show. It’s really not subtle in all its fanservice jokes, the lead character is utterly ridiculous and the rest of the characters also are dull and one-dimensional. Dropped.
#38 (new) – Gokyoudai Monogatari – (6/10) – This could have been a nice idea, but it’s badly written. The characters all act like complete imbeciles, but none of it is really funny or enjoyable. Nobody acts like how he’s supposed to act. Dropped.
#37 (30) – Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – (6,25/10) – My big problem with Nogizaka Haruka is that its sense of humour is abysmal. It’s supposed to make people laugh, it made me cringe. Besides, I’m not interested in the otaku-business at all, so this still just isn’t my kind of series. Dropped.
#36 (29) – Koihime Musou – (6,5/10) – The characters in this show are just too stupid for me. I tried giving it a second chance, but I don’t think I’m ever going to like this series’ cheesy sense of humour and stupid cameos from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Dropped.
#35 (new) – Fairy Tail – (6,5/10) – You know, I like a good shounen once in a while, but when said shounen proceeds to rip off just about every other shounen with badly executed humour that tries way too hard, I bail out. Dropped.
#34 (new) – Nyan Koi – (6,75/10) – For a show about felines it has the most unrealistic and boring cats I’ve seen in a long while. The romance was promising… before it went down the road of generic harem. Dropped.
#33 (28) – Asura Crying – (7/10) – I’m still not exactly sold on this series. The characters are just too stupid and stereotypical for me, and lack any sort of charm. Dropped.
#32 (new) – A Certain Scientific Railgun – (7/10) – Perhaps a fun series for some, but not for me. Especially that twin-tailed lead character was a pain to watch. Dropped.
#31 (new) – Sora no Otoshimono – (7,25/10) – I’m really not a fan of fanservice humour, and especially the unsubtle kind often just bores me. I think it’s not much of a surprise that I quickly dropped this series when the panties started flying around.
#30 (new) – Inu Yasha – (7,5/10) – The first episode didn’t motivate me to watch the rest of this series. Sure, there were some potentially interesting storylines, but not interesting enough for me to want to sit through hundreds of episodes. Dropped
#29 (new) – Seitokai no Ichizon – (7,5/10) – Out of the teenaged moe comedies this season, I agree that this has been the best. The problem however is that it also got old really fast. That’s why I’ve dropped this series before it could get too boring, because the characters just are too stereotypical to really make this work in the long term.
#28 (25) – Needless – (7,5/10) – I’ve finally dropped this show. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m trying to cut back on the amount of shows I’m watching each season, so this one obviously had to go. Dropped.
#27 (new) – Table Cat – (7,5/10) – Well, so it’s obvious that this show really isn’t going to become anything special, but it nevertheless consists out of some decently amusing antics. And hey, the episodes are only five minutes long, so not much effort has to go into watching this.
#26 (new) – The Sacred Blacksmith – (7,5/10) – Here’s the thing with this series: I fully agree that it has potential. If the creators handle it well, they can get a nice story out of this series, despite the overload of moe. But within 12 episodes? I don’t think so. Wake me up when a second season gets announced. Until then, dropped.
#25 (11) – Natsu no Arashi – (7,5/10) – Here’s the thing with this series: the first season was fresh, it had enough material to work with and kept throwing in new things to keep it interesting. The new season has focused three of its four episodes on Jun’s cross-dressing and Hajime’s ignorance about this. That’s way too much, and really a sign that this series’ creativity is running out. The jokes feel forced and overused now. The story itself seems to be advancing pretty nicely though, so at least that’s a good thing.
#24 (new) – Kimi ni Todoke – (7,5/10) – At this point, Kimi ni Todoke is a fairly standard shoujo series, clichés included. The first four episodes haven’t exactly impressed me, but there is potential for the future. The characterization for the lead male may be dull, but the three lead females have a nice chemistry between them. Whenever they’re not into some sort of forced drama.
#23 (new) – Cheburashka Arere – (7,75/10) – One thing I like to do with all of the short-episoded series this season is save all of them during each week, and then watching them all at once. Cheburashka Arere is… well.. very childish, but it’s nice, simple and enjoyable. It’s a bit nonsensical at times, but the quirky characters are surprisingly likeable for a show about nothing.
#22 (new) – Winter Sonata – (7,75/10) – Okay, so it didn’t really help that the series started out with a flashback, turning this supposedly mature romance into yet another teenaged romance. What annoys me the most is the male lead right now: he’s trying too hard to look rebellious and cool at the same time. However, I do have to say that the show is well animated, or at least that the motions of the characters are very well done and imaginative.
#21 (new) – Kobato – (7,75/10) – I’m not yet sold on this series, but I can see some potential. Especially Kobato is an incredibly genuine character, and the story, albeit dull, is nicely told. If it’s building up to something, I’d like to find out what that is.
#20 (new) – Thriller Restaurant – (7,75/10) – Yeah, this is pretty much a kids’ shows, but I’m actually enjoying it. The stories are incredibly simple, and often they’re quite a bit flawed, but the storytelling keeps me interested. Also, since the stories are all very short (usually around ten minutes), it makes this series into something like a quick fire horror stories anime. Oh, and the music is also pretty good too.
#19 (new) – Yumeiro Patissiere – (7,75/10) – I really didn’t expect anything from this series when I first started watching it, but I have to admit: it’s pretty solid. It goes along perfectly with this season’s line of surprisingly good kids’ shows. The lead character is likable, but a hard worker. And regarding the drama: every time it starts it really seems like it’s going down the path of cheesy and overdone drama… only to prove my suspicions wrong and turning into something genuine.
#18 (22) – White Album – (8/10) – Ah, Touya. How I hate thee. I have to admit though: as a character, this guy is pretty good. He’s a complete bastard, but a well-developed one nonetheless. I’m going to withhold my judgment for this series at this point, because I have no idea whether it’s going to turn good or fall apart completely in the end.
#17 (23) – Hetalia Axis Powers – (8/10) – Haha! 38 episodes in, and finally The Netherlands show up. I like how we’re portrayed as an evil bastard.
#16 (15) – Kuruneko – (8/10) – Perhaps not the funniest month for Kuruneko thus far, but honestly I don’t mind. It’s fun enough to watch the lead character and her tendency to voice everything over. This series really doesn’t need anything more, and it knows this.
#15 (new) – 11Eyes – (8/10) – This really is something I didn’t suspect from an eroge adaptation: it’s actually pretty good! Sure, the slice of life is annoying, but the characters are well defined and have their own share of depth. They’re all interesting to watch, and the direction during the action-scenes also knows how to keep everything interested. Very nice, but can it do everything it wants in just 12 episodes?
#14 (new) – Letter Bee – (8/10) – While the start is a bit cheesy and follows the standard start of a shounen series, I actually see potential in this. The chemistry between the two lead characters is pretty nice to watch, and any series that has a forest of broccoli in it deserves extra points.
#13 (2) – Konnichiwa Anne – (8,25/10) – Watching this show is like driving across a very hilly road. It can be amazing at times, but at others it can be really painful to watch with all its cheese. This month, it kept hovering somewhere in the middle: the episodes dedicated to the Hammond family were great: you really see a lot of detail into dysfunctional families. The episodic stories however… weren’t good. They were cheesy, and at this point I’ve really had it with those cheesy stories from this series.
#12 (new) – Sasameki Koto – (8,25/10) – This series is really surprisingly good. This mostly can be attributed to the lead character, who is really fun to watch and has an excellent voice actress. Especially episode four was hilarious. But (and this is a pretty big but), this series has a pretty simple formula, hasn’t it? How long is it going to take until it gets dull? I fear that this series isn’t going to make the end of this season.
#11 (new) – Kuchuu Buranko – (8,25/10) – Kuchuu Buranko did well in setting itself apart from Bake Neko and Mononoke: this isn’t a series that should be enjoyed because of the depth of its stories, but rather because of its entertainment value. Its unique style of storytelling and the crazy visuals are a lot of fun to watch, and while the characters may not be as deep, they’re lovable and interesting to watch. I don’t see a classic here, but at the same time I see no way in which this series can possibly screw up.
#10 (new) – Anymal Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8,25/10)

Call me crazy, but I’m really enjoying this series. It may be aimed primarily at kids, but I keep thinking that the creators put a layer of adult jokes behind the cute and cuddly exterior that will fly past the kids’ heads. And yeah, it has the catchiest opening EVER. ^^;

#9 (38) – Tentai Senshi Sunred – (8,25/10)

Still no signs of any loss of inspiration. In fact, every episode has been a hit so far, and the writers seem better than ever at this point. Let’s hope that it can keep this up.

#8 (12) – Marie & Gali – (8,5/10)

This series still doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. This month yet again showcased a number of very creative episodes. I especially loved the birthday episode, which was surprisingly touching for Gali.

#7 (13) – Cross Game – (8,5/10)

For Cross Game, this month was mostly build-up to the second half of this series. The baseball match was nice enough to watch, but it really doesn’t match up to the baseball matches in Touch. Nevertheless, now that the second half has started with the arrival of “her”, I’m curious to see where the creators are going to take this series.

#6 (10) – Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini – (8,75/10)

I know fully well that the set-up of this season and its short length isn’t going to make it surpass the Yin-arc of the first season, but nevertheless this has been a very interesting sequel so far. It’s come with an interesting story and a rock-solid execution and action-scenes in which many things happen at the same time. Everyone has different ideals and purposes and it deserves in my top 3 of series that started airing this fall season.

#5 (11) – Kemono no Souja Erin – (8,75/10)

It’s taken a while, but the plot has really heated up. It’s been really well prepared by the first half of this series, and the fruits of all that build-up are really showing off now. Especially now that the politics and the main story have converged, we’re in for a great finale.

#4 (new) – Armed Libarians – The Book of Bantorra – (8,75/10)

Excellent series. It’s got a multi-layered story already four episodes in. It’s surprisingly well written, it’s got a strong cast of characters and especially Hamyuts Meseta rocks. The animation disappointed a bit in the first episode, but even that got better in the subsequent episodes.

#3 (8) – Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (9/10)

The past month has really given the plot of this series a whole different dimension to the storyline, in a large number of surprising plot twist. I’m really starting to see how well this series is constructed.

#2 (new) – Aoi Bungaku – (9/10)

What an amazing series so far. No Longer Human (the first story to be adapted by this series) just keeps getting better and better, with an amazing set of visuals and a very tight direction that just keeps your attention. Definitely among my highlights of the Autumn Season.

#1 (16) – Umineko no Naku Koro ni – (9/10)

An amazing month for Umineko. The plot took a completely different turn with a number of amazing plot twists. Beatrice has really shown that she’s an awesome character with this, and episode 18 has been the highlight of the entire series for me. On top of that, the murder mystery just gets more and more intriguing, and it’s always a blast trying to find out what’s really going on behind the buckets of red herrings thrown at the screen.