Author: psgels

January Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

Okay, so this season is crap. I’d like to go into a bit more detail than that though, because there are a few things going on here. First of all, it is true that this season is in between two really good seasons. Producers are burnt out so that means less variety. Dear god, less variety. Everything just looks like each other, and the only really innovative series that isn’t a sequel got bogged down by bad characters and boobs.

However, when I compiled this entry, I did notice something… the last time I wrote a summary in a Summer or Winter season that had as many entries as this one was back in the summer of 2007, which was like the best season… ever. Seriously, 42 shows is normal for Spring or Autumn, but the small seasons usually only have around 30 entries, no more. If there is anything, this season has a huge quantity of series. This is both due to the stupid 3-minute series, and a lot of series that continued over from previous seasons.

But that makes even more bizarre to see just how much crap managed to accumulate in just one season. I mean, the below list is huge, yet I’m only going to continue with about 18 of them. That means that for 24 of them, I just did not find them worth my time. The thing with this season is that there just are really few non-sequels that I find interesting enough to continue. Because of that, I’m going to label this season at this point as the second-worst I have ever blogged, after Winter 2010.

The positive about this season? The amount of series that continue from the previous seasons is staggering, and there are so many of them that deliver and managed to evolve into interesting ways. Seriously, we’re bound to get a huge load of awesome climaxes in the next two months.

#42 (new) – Puchimas! Petit Idolmaster – (3/10) – Idolmaster… I didn’t like it, but I didn’t find it to be the worst series. This however, is just poorly produced crap meant to just get some dollars off the idolmaster name.
#41 (new) – Mangirl – (3.25/10) – Worst title ever. Dropped.
#40 (new) – Boku no Imouto wa Osaka Okan – (3.5/10) – Screw incest! Dropped.
#39 (new) – Da Capo III – (4/10) – Generic harem with stupid and uninteresting characters. Dropped.
#38 (new) – Love Live! – (4.25/10) – Stupid premise with cliched characters. I saw nothing interesting in this one, talk about the difference with AKB…. Dropped.
#37 (new) – Ai Mai Mi – (4.5/10) – Really bad jokes that try way too hard to be edgy. Dropped.
#36 (new) – Line Offline Salaryman – (4.5/10) – Bad office jokes. Dropped.
#35 (new) – Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru – (5/10) – Ohoho, this series thinks that it’s got a fresh new take on a tired formula… while in fact it’s completely cliched anyway. Poor characters, stupid premise, nothing that stands out. Dropped.
#34 (new) – Senyuu – (5.1/10) – Bad RPG jokes. As a parody, it just isn’t funny enough. Dropped.
#33 (new) – Cuticle Detective Inaba – (5.25/10) – The problem with this series is that it’s incredibly silly, while it thinks it’s funny. It isn’t! It’s trying way too hard! Dropped.
#32 (new) – Ishida to Asakura – (5.5/10) – What the hell was that?! Incredibly corny and silly, yet dropped.
#31 (new) – Vividred Operation – (6/10) – Vividred is way too calculated. It does things because it thinks that they are popular, and rips off specific scenes for this. Seems to be working, but for me: dropped.
#30 (new) – Mondaijitachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo – (6/10) – Feels like Dog Days, in which the characters somehow end up playing light-hearted games, which reduce all of the tension from the show for the sake of having fun. It if was fun it would be excused, but I found the first episode to be really trite and boring.
#29 (new) – Senran Kagura – (6/10) – Boobs. Dropped.
#28 (new) – GJ Bu – (6.1/10) – The standard format of a club with a guy and a bunch of girls doing a bunch of random stuff. Not funny nor interesting, stereotypical characters. Dropped.
#27 (new) – gdgd Fairies 2 – (7/10) – Had some good jokes about going against your expectations, but not good enough. Dropped.
#26 (new) – Bakumatsu Gijiden Roman – (7.25/10) – Too childish. The problem is that it thinks it’s edgy, while it’s incredibly cheesy. I see no potential. Dropped.
#25 (new) – Haitai Nanafa – (7.4/10) – Quite the gorgeous series, actually. Didn’t continue with it due to lack of time though. Dropped.
#24 (new) – Sasami@Ganbaranai – (7.5/10) – This feels like just another Shaft series. The thing is, that it could end up with a good climax again, but I don’t want to sit through hours of random crap to find out. I lasted two episodes here, and the series just wasted too much time on bad jokes and characters trying way too hard to show off their stereotypes. Dropped.
#23 (new) – Yama no Susume – (7.6/10) – Mountain climbing. Sounds fun, but ultimately three minutes plus rather boring characters weren’t enough to make me keep watching Dropped.
#22 (new) – Nekomonogatari (Black) – (7.6/10) – Do I want to watch more of the monogatari series? Do I want more of the style of this series and the really good animation? Do I want to see more of these incredibly annoying characters? Dropped? Not sure, actually…
#21 (new) – Minami-Ke Tadaima – (7.6/10) – Unfortunately, Minami-Ke just isn’t my series. I do not like shows in which there is no progression whatsoever. There needs to be some kind of red thread, instead of just watching random sketches. For that, it just wasn’t funny enough. Dropped.
#20 (new) – Maoyuu Maou Yuusha – (7.75/10) – The problem with this series is that even though the politics are interesting, it’s got some terrible characters and awkwardly forced romance. It may have potential, but I don’t trust the creators here. Ultimately, I’m dropping this one.
#19 (new) – Zettai Karen Children The Unlimited – (7.75/10) – Ultimately I dropped this one. Lack of time is the biggest reason, plus I feel like I’d be too left behind on the background for this show.
#18 (new) – Hakkenden Touhou Hakken Ibun – (7.9/10) – Surprisingly good, I’m keeping up with this one. There are times when the animation can’t fully keep up with the storytelling, making things look silly, but it’s got a good array of different characters that play off each other well enough.
#17 (6) – Hunter X Hunter – (8/10) – This feels like an entire recap of the Nippon Animation OVA of it. I have this with this arc much more than with the other arcs so far. And with that, there is very little I can say about it. It’s lots of build-up and training arcs. They were interesting when I watched them first, but the thing with watching exposition you’ve already watched before is that it gets more easily boring than the other parts…
#16 (16) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8/10) – This series still is an enjoyable comedy. Nothing new to say really: I don’t really laugh out loud anymore, but this show does get the occasional chuckle out of me still. I especially like the small moments, like when two characters end up talking about an undiscovered past they shared together.
#15 (17) – Little Busters – (8/10) – I still want to follow this one, although I’m only at episode 15 so far. The thing is that it did get quite charming.
#14 (new) – Kotoura-San – (8/10) – This was actually quite cute. The big problem with the series is the male lead, but Kotoura has enough depth to make up for it with her feelings. The side characters also work really surprisingly well with each other.
#13 (new) – Tamako Market – (8.1/10) – The problem with Tamako Market is the bird: hilarious in the first episode, but he got old really fast afterwards. Thankfully there is enough in this series to make up for it, but it’s not as fresh as I originally hoped at this point.
#12 (12) – Magi – (8.1/10) – The reason why there hasn’t been an entry on this one is a lack of time. I’m going to try and combine multiple episodes for one post for this one, because I’d like to prioritize the other series I’m blogging over this one. It’s not like this one’s bad, but rather that the other ones are better. Where every other series is moving into new directions, this one’s direction with democracies felt the least interesting.
#11 (new) – Amnesia – (8.25/10)

Good! The whole paranoia about not knowing what is real and what is happening actually works quite well here. It’s like, a reverse harem with a lot of mystery elements, and I can keep watching that.

#10 (new) – AKB0048 – (8.4/10)

AKB0048 has continued to do what it does really well, but this time we already know the characters. In fact, the added attention to the characters so far have really worked and I did not see a few of the twists coming here. This show has ambitions for its second season.

#9 (11) – Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – (8.4/10)

Sakurasou got more dramatic this month. And you know what? It worked really well. There was great character-development and the added romance made the characters even better, for all of the main characters. Even the sister, while still terrible, got better. The thing with this series is that it has a lot of small details put into all of its scenes that make it so much more worthwhile than a regular romance show.

#8 (15) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8.5/10)

Why do you make me teary-eyed like that!? What the hell is going on with just a simple fighting series?!

#7 (9) – Robotics;Notes – (8.5/10)

Robotics;Notes got a lot more serious this month, but it worked. A lot of build-up was used well, and I really like how it combined all of its loose threads together, bit by bit. Now keep this up.

#6 (new) – Chihayafuru – (8.5/10)

I’m behind! I know! I apologize! Nevertheless, Chihayafuru rocks and the second season continues with a bunch of strong new characters that can really add a lot of interesting stuff to the characters. I do have to note though, that the show looks less clean now. Where every shot was crisp in the first, there was a lot of awkward animation here. Possibilities are a smaller budget, or more outsourcing?

#5 (5) – Psycho Pass – (8.6/10)

Psycho Pass has headed into its second half, and with that it has gotten more in-depth with its setting and characters, and it did pay off. The developments were really interesting to watch.

#4 (4) – From the New World – (8.75/10)

We’ve just reached the third time-skip, and suddenly we’re dealing with fully grown adults. The most interesting part is the setting though. It just continues to evolve and it becomes more and more clear how screwed the characters are as the show goes on. I really like some of the cunning characters in this series.

#3 (3) – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – (8.75/10)

Holy crap, the over the top fights in this series really were creative, and incredibly intense. This series really knows its action yet again, and it just keeps pushing itself forward. Just a shame that the training arc broke up the momentum a bit.

#2 (2) – Zetsuen no Tempest – (8.75/10)

Something interesting went on for this month. The series changed a lot. It got more light-hearted, there were a lot of jokes as the show fleshed out its characters, and I love how it subtly makes its plot more and more complicated. It’s building up to a new mind-screw!

#1 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (8.75/10)

This month was different for Uchuu Kyoudai. The comedy got removed, the pacing slowed down even more and things suddenly became nerve-wrecking. The most annoying are the cliff-hangers. I do have to say though… with a continuation announced, it’s going to get really boring to see Uchuu Kyoudai dominate this ranking month after month. Can we get a series that’s even better to even things out perhaps?

Uchuu Kyoudai – 42

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Holy crap, Space Brothers, what are you doing to me?

Oh my god, the cliff-hangers just get more and more aggravating with this series, especially now that Hibito’s life is on the line. And here this episode comes and makes things even worse. Not by picking the cheesy route by making things escalate even further. No, Space Brothers is evil. It uses the fact that it takes twenty minutes for a buggy to arrive at his place. And puts in another Brian reference at the end of the episode. Holy crap, you are so evil, space brothers.

Also, I didn’t think it was possible, but it happened: Space Brothers will continue past 50 episodes! In fact, it’s getting moved to a Saturday evening timeslot. That’s prime time there! I don’t know who the producers are who made this possible, but whoever you are: you rock! Heck, this means that there is a very good possibility that this series will end up with a hundred episodes. And it already was one of the best of the airing series when it started! I can’t believe that there will be another series with that kind of length, that isn’t a shounen series.

The disadvantage will be that it’s a very intimidating series to watch. But heck, 100 episodes of Space Brothers, consistently delivering heart-warming and nail-biting episodes. This will make sure that the creators can really take their time. The danger of dragging on of course still remains, but I think that this has been wonderfully balanced so far. Even this episode: the reason why it rocked was because it kept dragging on the fate of our two astronauts. That’s how you make use of slow pacing. This is not like the series is padded for the sake of padding, it really adds something.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

From the New World – 17

by psgels, posted in From the New World

And suddenly, the lead characters of this series are older than I am. The more time goes on, the rarer this becomes.

And the change in tone is immediately noticeable. The previous arcs were all about the cast growing up, and it explored what would have been expected of them. This to the point that three members of the main cast couldn’t make it. Here though, the cast has grown up. They have jobs and duties now. And with that sorted out, the series can go back to the conflicts between the Queerats again.

Queerats who have become even more dangerous. They’re already numbering almost a million in total. With this I now really get why children are kept away from them. Without cantus… it’s really easy to just get a child killed like that. This episode showed how ruthless some of the battles went on, and with this, we already have guns and advanced military tactics. Not to mention that Squealer is trying really hard to take advantage of the humans in order to get rid of the Giant Hornet Colony.

I really like the politics of it all. I’m normally a big fan of politics anime, and it has been a while since the last good politics series (Hyouge Mono, if I’m not mistaken), and this series also delivers here. The way it stands out is how it puts humans on the high ground: they are gods with their powers and if they tried, they could just wipe out an entire colony of Queerats. With those restrictions, the Queerats have to do battle. I’m also starting to see now why Saki is special: she and Satoru were the first who realized that the Queerats caught one of those snails.

And here is the thing: why did Cantus appear? It’s not like humans have always had their Cantus. It just appeared in the state in which they were as a really advanced civilization. Take it as symbolism as you’d like: too much growth ended up creating something that really bit them in the back. But here is the thing: who says that the same thing won’t happen with the Queerats if they continue to evolve like that? They are currently at the medieval stage and just continue to improve more and more. What if they get so advanced, that at a certain point they also start to develop these cantus powers?
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Zetsuen no Tempest – 15

by psgels, posted in Zetsuen no Tempest

Most of the second halves of the series of the past Autumn season have changed into predictable directions: Jojo got more epic, Sakurasou got more dramatic, Psycho Pass started to delve into its setting, Robotics;Notes started to tie its various subplots together. Zetsuen no Tempest though… I did not foresee this change… The show has actually gotten much more light-hearted.

And yet, it still rocks. This episode shined in the details. From various small hints to indicate the building chemistry between the characters, ranging from subtle to hilarious (Samon buying Mahiro some flashy underwear?), to people dressing up that mage of Exodus guy as a superhero and having him destroy the tree of Genesis. This episode was stuffed with those fine moments that just made me smile. The dialogue was just brilliant here.

Best of all was the romance, though. I loved both Exodus-kun making fun of Mahiro’s sister complex (and how everyone knew EXACTLY what he was talking about), as well as Hakaze realizing that she has a crush on Yoshino, complicating Aika’s death even more because she, if she wants to, could have easily killed Aika unconsciously with her Genesis powers. Yes, Hakaze, wanting to couch his earlobes is perfectly normal. Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 16

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Shounen series on average have more female fanservice than male, particularly the blatant one. And here you have this series, in which a bunch of oiled up muscular men climb a giant pillar by using only their fingers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shounen series with so many yaoi-references…

Anyway, the training arc. Jojo had 33 days to train, at the end of this episode there are only 7 of them left. This was not the best Jojo episode, but as far as training episodes go it again was crazy compared to its peers. Most training arcs start of slow, only to find a major challenge at the end. This episode already threw the characters into a giant death trap. At least it doesn’t take its time as usual, although the end of the episode did not conclude this training arc…

Particularly intersting in this episode was everything that this show did with liquids. Especially that blast of oil was really creative, however what this episode failed to explain was why on earth it was all important. Again, what would have worked was a simple training episode. It rather braks up the momentum for this series to have it last longer.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

Robotics;Notes – 14

by psgels, posted in Robotics;Notes

With this episode, it’s time to address the premise of this series: gamers saving the world. With gamers for some strange reason becoming more and more celebrities, it had it coming that there would be more series that would cater to them, resulting in creators finding more and more alaborate ways to somehow put these people in the spotlights. It’s not as bad as the typical loser, but yeah… you probably get what I mean.

Attempts so far failed for me. Kirito from Sword Art Online was just giant wish fulfillment. Accel World, from what I watched of it, looked the same. Btooom was better, but still gave the male lead way too much plot armour. With this, Robotics;Notes has given me the first gamer male lead that I actually like, and I feel is done well.

Either way this was so much better than the examples mentioned above. For one, the entire series doesn’t just revolve around Killballad, but the game is just a small part of the whole conspiracy that’s going on in this series. That means that the series doesn’t automatically revolve around the male lead, but it has to offer more than just him being good at this game. Second of all, it allowed the creators tocreate this weird mish-mash of subplots that somehow managed to link a robots, solar flares, an evil organization, an anime and brainwashing together, and actually get away with it pretty nicely. Sakurasou also has this variety of not just being based on one thing, which really helps for the diversity.

This episode had a climax for the gaming subplot. The robots can only be stopped if you manage to beat a game. It’s a completely crazy security system, but if you take into account that it was made by someone who was mentally screwed while also brainwashed… it’s still silly. And yet they pulled it off by using Kaito’s time slowing powers, which were previously established to be really intense. On top of that, some very convincing romance between him and Frau.

I usually hate love triangles for being pointless, so please: Akiho. Move on. Just… get over your crush. I know that this is unheard of in anime and all, but people can get over love. This series has intelligent writing, so make use of that.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Psycho Pass – 14

by psgels, posted in Psycho Pass

And the system just continues to break down. Previously we were introduced to the rare case in which someone kills whilbe being perfectly mentally healthy. This time the dominators are limited even more by devies that mimic the Psycho Passes of others. I can only see this escalate and get better.

Also kudos to the directors in this episode. First of all, the gore in this series really hits the mark, especially the part where that woman was being beaten to death and how everyone just looked on. It most of all showed how desensitized to problems and violence this society is, and I was really at the edge of my seat. Later, when Makishima started kicking ass I noticed that we’re really talking about Production IG here: it’s been a while since they’ve done a fight scene like that, but I really like the style of trying to be as realistic as possible. That only makes it hurt more.

The one criticism I do have is that everyone is lumped together in this series. I would have liked to see in the minds of those bystanders for example, and why they found it interesting to film that incident. That really was the first time where we really got a good view of what was wrong with the Psycho Pass society, but it’s not in much detail. I’d like some attention on tha in the next few episodes, because it also serves as a good backup for Makishima’s motivations.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 15

by psgels, posted in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

Aagh! The sister has returned!

She still sucks for being in love with her brother, but nevertheless I liked this episode a lot. We got introduced to Sorata’s hometown and to his parents, which does explain why he felt at home at Sakurasou so much, since his parents are completely weird. I laughed a lot at their antics in this episode, and especially Sorata’s father rocks.

Furthermore, this episode actually did try to make up for the horrible decision that this series made for allowing the sister to fall in love with her brother: what I had been fearing was that she too would end up in the same school as Sorata so that she’d be even more prevalent in this series, but in this episode it became clear that she probably won’t make the entrance exams. This really helped to put things into perspective, and also hinted that she will move on.

Especially in contrast with the rest of this episode, which focused on doing what you love to do for the one you love. Especially in the case of Misaki and Shiina, but the entire main cast has this. It again was full of little details, for example Misaki as she kept playing with the cat when she was down. That was actually really adorable. I also like this surprising relationship between Jin and the student council president. I did not expect that guy to get so much attention in this series, but the two of them work really well together. Now do the same thing with that one guy who has a crush on Nanami.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

AKB0048 – 16

by psgels, posted in AKB0048

I hate, hate, hate CG dance sequences. Every single time they’re done, they look incredibly fake and out of place. But even that I can’t fault AKB0048, becaus its CG dance sequences are the best I’ve ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, they still stand out. But they’re kept short and concise, and the dance choreography is actually worth something.

Setting that aside, I still have no clue why this show manages to move me so. I mean, I am a fan of this series and all, but still I loved the end of the episode even thoughit was just the general election for the characters, preceeded by another performance for the idols.

Also, as for the walking boob joke. I have no idea whehter the creators heard me or something, but she showed a totally different and actually quite inspiring side of her in this episode. Heck, I really loved the climax when it was her who got to stand in the spotlights, instead of Chieri or Nagisa. In fact, both of them really had interesting roles in this episode: Nagisa still is in her underdog position, with no signs yet of moving out of it. Chieri meanwhile got to find out first-hand what it feels like to become popular, just because you’ve got influential connections. They’re still there: the subtle bites at the fans of the idols.

By the way, this series also sees its EDs as an extension of the series. The ending of this episode was wonderful because of how the ED extended the big surprise that preceeded it, instead of continuing with the usual ED. This is something that is easy to do, yet most series are too rigid for it. It’s a sign of good production and people using their heads there.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Uchuu Kyoudai – 41

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

Damn you Space Brothers and your cliff-hangers! Seriously, it’s been a while since I’ve watched such addictive ones. You can see them from miles ahed, but just keep hoping that the show will extend a little bit further, or that by some stroke of miracle there is a double episode this week or something. One point of criticism though: if you want to retain tension, don’t name your episodes “80 minutes left to live”. Just sayin’…

And seriously, how little of Mutta has there been during the past two weeks. He only appeared at the end of the episode for a very small, but very significant role. I really like how he instantly realized that Hibito would try to make his way out of the cave. We also saw a completely different Mutta than usual. For the past two weeks, all silliness has been removed from this series. Normally this is like signing a series’ death warrant. Here though, it fleshes out the characters even more. This episode still had me at the edge of my seat from start to finish.

What I also really like about this episode… they revealed that Brian Jay had an older brother. I’m not sure whether it’s my memory being buggy again, or whether they really saved that revelation for this episode. But still: 30 seconds was enough to create yet another really interesting character in this series. As if the series didn’t already have enough of them!
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)