Category: Monthly Summaries

This season may have some really good series, but really: it’s a bit disheartening to note that this has been the worst spring season I’ve ever blogged. What happened to the variety of different unique series? What happened to the large amounts of series that all want to try something different? I’m seeing way too many series that just end up looking the same, that don’t bother to stand out, and that bother having some interesting characters. The few that do though, are quite interesting to watch.

#28 (new) – Sparrow’s Hotel – (2/10) – What the hell was that? It looked terrible! The acting was terrible! Worst show of the season!
#27 (new) – Date A Live – (3/10) – This is terrible. Incredibly annoying with fulfillment that goes nowhere. Seriously, this one won the contest of having the worst premise of the season.
#26 (new) – Zettai Bouei Leviathan – (5/10) – This really is Gonzo at its worst. Really generic moe girls with really, really, really bad fighting scenes. I saw no reason whatsoever to continue with this.
#25 (new) – Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san – (6.25/10) – The first arc was incredible. The funniest thing I’ve watched all year. The second arc… bleeding asses. Seriously?!
#24 (new) – Uta no Prince Sama – (6.4/10) – Incredibly girly series. There are only two actual girls in this series!
#23 (new) – Namiuchigawa no Moromi-san – (6.5/10) – This series is one of those shows that try way too hard to be funny, without actually being it. It’s just a hyperactive mermaid who punches things.
#22 (new) – Yuyushiki – (7/10) – Just another slice of life series that did not really managed to set itself apart in any way.
#21 (new) – Mushibugyo – (7/10) – A random shounen action series that did not impress me.
#20 (new) – Photo Kano – (7.1/10) – Not the worst, but still quite a dull in terms of character. It remains a harem after all.
#19 (new) – Karneval – (7.25/10) – Too corny for my tastes. No interesting characters to keep my attention.
#18 (new) – Arata Kangatari – (7.4/10) – I did not continue with this one, simply because the competition looked more interesting. Plus hearing stories that it would get really generic quite fast didn’t help much, because a story like this needs to stay interesting.
#17 (new) – DD Hokuto no Ken – (7.5/10) – Good director, but in the end it’s just too silly, and the jokes are too juvenile. Some of them work, but most of them don’t.
#16 (new) – Devil Suvrivor 2 The Animation – (7.6/10) – I just had no motivation to keep up with this one, due to both the dull characters, and the uninteresting plot.
#15 (4) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (7.75/10) – 10 years ago, Wolf’s Rain came with four consecutive recap episode. The reason behind it was an outbreak of SARS which would have made the showing a little too insensitive for the audience. Today, Space Brothers came with three consecutive recaps. The reason is a timeslot change. I am disappointed.
#14 (new) – Danchi Tomou – (7.75/10) – Danchi Tomou is a bit strange. It’s got an awesome opening theme, and it tells the daily life of a really bratty kid. The big problem is that the kid acts like half his age. The creators tried to make him stupid, but went a bit too far in that.
#13 (11) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8/10) – The big problem with the new arc is how incredibly silly and monotonous the new villains look. Apart from that, I can’t say much about it yet. It’s obviously building up right now (the first half also took ages to get going), but the main cast still is very solid to watch.
#12 (new) – Valvrave the Liberator – (8/10) – This is just so incredibly silly. Camp in every single way with incredibly over the top name yelling and all that sort of stuff. A definite contender for the trainwreck of the year, but will it be a beautiful or a disastrous one?
#11 (new) – Aiura – (8/10) – What really caught me here is how beautiful the animation is. It may not look like much, but the attention to detail is exquisite with a lot of focus on small and subtle movements. It’s a darn shame that the characters are generic.
#10 (new) – Yahari Blahblah – (8/10) – Interesting, but it focuses way too much on tsunderes, to the point of driving its points a bit too far because of that. This is however, looking out to be the series that Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai should have been.
#9 (new) – Majestic Prince – (8/10) – Started out with really stereotypical characters. And then they got better, which is what I did not expect. This show is surprisingly self-aware.
#8 (new) – Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – (8/10) – Crime Edge is really weird. It’s got this really weird celebration of fetishes, but in the end it has little substance and is just a battle series.
#7 (new) – Red Data Girl – (8.1/10) – Takes itself a bit too seriously in its build-up, but it does have potential. I’m really behind this one, though…
#6 (new) – Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – (8.25/10)

This series has some interesting characters, and I like how it puts emphasis on cause and effect, combined with big cultural differences. It’s quite good science fiction so far, albeit the short length worries me.

#5 (8) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.4/10)

While the new ant queen looks a bit silly, the rest of the new arc is looking good. Thank god we finally have gotten to the new material!

#4 (new) – Hataraku Maou-Sama – (8.4/10)

Hataraku Maou-Sama is surprisingly witty. Really, the humour here is clever and very funny. The downside to it is that it uses clichés too much. You can also use other ideas for that, you know.

#3 (new) – Shingeki no Kyojin – (8.6/10)

This series really is looking rock-solid. The cast is large, yet well fleshed out, and the titans really look freaky. The action scenes really are great and even though it’s still building up it’s looking really promising.

#2 (6) – Chihayafuru – (8.75/10)

Overall I would have preferred a pacing that was a bit faster, but the finals of the team matches were nevertheless AWESOME. This show just keeps showing twists and turns with its huge cast of awesome characters!

#1 (new) – Aku no Hana – (8.75/10)

This show is amazing. Sure, it’s cheap and rotoscoped, but heck, it has an incredible atmosphere. The director knows exactly what he’s doing, and the characters are incredibly expressive: the rotoscoping has allowed the creators to focus on the tiniest of movements. This show is incredibly dark, and I love it!

March… was crazy. For one I had my life getting in the way of actually updating reliably, but also in terms of how every series concluded. Some series got much better, others got much worse. Because of that, this list is completely different from last month’s. It’s good; keeps things exciting and unpredictable.

#17 (16) – Amnesia – (5/10) – Oh dear lord. That obsessive stalker. Things really did not improve afterwards, with the actual ending as a really cheesy conclusion that tried to stuff as many infodumps as possible into its airtime, and things still did not make sense. It was incredibly cheesy and bad. I now feel stupid for thinking that this had potential.
#16 (7) – Robotics;Notes – (7/10) – Robotics;Notes completely fell apart for its ending. All of the subplots it has built up were joined together in a completely hacked way that just felt so incredibly forced. Then they introduced brainwashing and other kinds of cop-outs. Nothing really made sense and nothing really was concluded in a satisfying way. Blagh. I had high hopes for this one.
#15 (14) – Tamako Market – (7.1/10) – Oh dear god, Tamako Market. What on earth were you thinking with that stupid marriage subplot that overtook your entire second half? It didn’t really go anywhere and you could have used your time so much better. Like, on actually developing your characters. My favorite episode so far was the one that focused on Tamako’s father, but that was not enough to make up for how boring the rest was.
#14 (11) – Magi – (7.5/10) – Aah, I wasn’t able to catch up to this series. I’m at this point eight episodes behind, with a lot of other stuff that I also want to check out and watch. I didn’t want to do this, but I don’t think that I can finish it. Did this series turn better in its finale? Will its second season be interesting?
#13 (10) – Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – (7.6/10) – A been there, done that ending. The only thing that really stood out was how incredibly cheesy the whole subplot with the dorms closing down was. Apart from that I can hardly remember anything that caught my attention, and the whole ending was full of cop-outs that got I the way of change. The script just had none of the wit of the earlier episodes.
#12 (15) – Kotoura-San – (8/10) – The whole killer subplot was stupid, and I didn’t really like that. As for the actual ending though, I liked that one surprisingly much. I’m not sure what happened ,but it’s there where this series got really genuine with itself and its characters. It was one of the big reasons why this is pretty much the only non-sequel series from the past winter season that I enjoyed watching.
#11 (13) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8/10) – Things were much less predictable than what I expected. It wasn’t the best month for Saint Seiya Omega, but still the battles in it were quite good and full of emotions. Also ZOMG, the director of Heartcatch Precure is going to return to do the second half of this show!
#10 (8) – AKB0048 – (8/10) – A decent finale. A bit cheesy with some problems here and there, but it was fun and enjoyable while it lasted. The second season of AKB0048 was less interesting than the first, but still it was a fun little animated musical.
#9 (12) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8.25/10)

I must say, this surprised me with how solid the ending was, especially since the creators saved some of their cards for the end. I laughed quite a bit and this was the best month for this series in quite a while, which is really handy for an ending.

#8 (9) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.25/10)

The finale of the Greed Island arc is definitely done better in the 2011 version of Hunter x Hunter. The animation is much more up to par, and it doesn’t drag on. I still find some parts of it boring though, since half of the arc is basically nothing but a glorified training-arc. And finally, after a year and a half of recaps, we are about to get to the new material!

#7 (17) – Little Busters – (8.4/10)

Well, there you have it. On the home stretch, Little Busters actually got really good there. Kud’s story was by far the best out of any of the girls, and the final episodes were just individual stories about some of the characters. And you know what? These things are what makes Little Busters good! Just screw all of those long complicated arcs that try way too hard to be sad. Just give me more episodes like these! If the entire series was like that, then this would have been a really good series. Now though, I can’t really recommend this show because of some of the crap that you have to sit through.

#6 (1) – Chihayafuru – (8.75/10)

Chihayafuru in this month was mostly build-up, but still it was of edge of your seat quality. It still managed to develop a ton of characters at the same time, and made the entire main cast count, instead of simply forgetting about them when they’re not needed anymore. It wasn’t the best month, but still rock-solid.

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

The actual ending of Zetsuen no Tempest wasn’t its best, but it did have a really good finale. Especially how everthing just fell into place, and how on one hand it embraced logic, and on the other it just went completely against it. The characters really made this a really enjoyable month for me.

#4 (4) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (8.75/10)

Uchuu Kyoudai this time is in the middle of the desert for a training mission. The pacing still is quite slow, but the characters still are rock-solid. Especially Nitta and Mutta were in the spotlights this time.

#3 (6) – Psycho Pass – (8.9/10)

Psycho Pass had a really solid ending. Perhaps it did not answer everything, but it did wrap up its biggest points in a satisfying way. Not everything got solved, but things evolved. It concluded its view on its own setting and it made for a great emotional climax. More series like this, please.

#2 (5) – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – (9/10)

The fights this month really were epic. A great example of how these things should be done. Instead of just being boring with characters exchanging punches until one falls down, the creators introduced all sorts of cool stuff to keep things interesting and varied, ranging from incredibly over the top to small and subtle. Oh, and Stroheim is awesome.

#1 (3) – From the New World – (9.25/10)

An absolutely fantastic ending for From the New World. One of the best I’ve seen in a long, long while. The animators really showed one final time how great this series looks, and the main villain here was one of the best you could get.

As if this season wasn’t bad enough already: all of the non-sequel series that I did pick up this season did not improve, and got worse. Perhaps I chose the wrong series, but this season… it did not go well with me. It’s a good thing that the on-going series have such a strong line-up: there are not many, but the good shows that are there are getting really, really good.

#17 (15) – Little Busters – (7.6/10) – Here is the thing with Little Busters: I really like it… when it’s not too serious. When it tries to be too serious it becomes incredibly rushed, a complete info-dump and it gets incredibly forced. And yet I keep coming back to it for the moments when the characters are just having fun, or the small scenes with just a tiny bit of drama. Here is the thing though: this show likes to pretend that its core is these sad stories. It’s not really in its favor when that completely sucks.
#16 (11) – Amnesia – (7.6/10) – I still like the concept of skipping dimensions and dating other guys. But holy crap. That white-haired guy is a total prick. His arc was horribly contrived, and the blue-haired girl is one of the most forced villains I have seen in a long while. Talk about overreacting here.
#15 (14) – Kotoura-San – (7.75/10) – Kotoura-san. What was the reasoning behind having first a beach episode, and then a resort-episode? That’s like throwing your hands up in the air and giving up. Couldn’t you really find more interesting things for the characters to do? That made this show lose a lot of points for me, because I still like some of the characters here. Kotoura is great, the president and the vice president are also very nice. I’d just wish that this show would stop glorifying perverts. It’s not funny.
#14 (13) – Tamako Market – (7.75/10) – As much as I appreciate the details in this series, I have one big problem with it: I find the slice of life scenes to be quite boring. It’s got a lot of cultural information which is interesting, but the interaction between the characters just does not catch my attention. There is very little to the characters, and I find all of them quite dull. The bird in particular was fun at first, but has gotten quite annoying at this point.
#13 (8) – Saint Seiya Omega – (7.9/10) – Saint Seiya Omega made two really big mistakes this month: the first is using some of the biggest villains of the original Saint Seiya, and having the cast defeat them without much effort. The second is having such an incredibly cheesy background story for the main villain. So much for all the build-up, eh?
#12 (16) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8/10) – This show was going along its usual pace, still occasionally very funny, and most of all laid back, and then suddenly WHAM: Melodrama! I have no clue where all of that came from, but it really felt out of place, and quite weird for this show to suddenly be filled with tears. The change was waaaay too sudden and furthermore just about everyone started acting out of character… what happened?
#11 (12) – Magi – (8/10) – I’m really behind this, I’m sorry! But I do want to finish it. The thing with Magi is that it’s really well executed, but in the end the story just is not that interesting. It’s got some good elements about slavery, it has a good deal of emotions in it, but it’s a bit too shounen for such a setting for me.
#10 (9) – Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – (8/10) – Sakurasou’s second half… just is not as good as its first half. The reason behind that is that everything has gotten more contrived: we have to have a lot of drama with the pointless love triangle, there has to be a lot of drama with Sakurasou closing down. It’s all too forced, and not as creative as the first half.
#9 (17) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.4/10)

We’re going through the Greed Island arc, and with this you can actually see that here, the Madhouse version is actually better than the Nippon Animation here. The fast pacing really helps here to keep things going, instead of getting bogged down by fight scenes that last for episodes. The thing with these series is that they need to learn when you need to be fast and when to be slow. You can’t just have one pacing and expect that to work throughout the entire series…

#8 (10) – AKB0048 – (8.4/10)

AKB really was well done this month, hard as it may have been to believe. It has taken a bunch of characters, and completely changed their role by revealing more about them. It’s still full of emotion and the music still is strangely great.

#7 (7) – Robotics;Notes – (8.4/10)

In this month, things went to hell for Robotics;Notes. It didn’t go entirely smoothly: the creators seemed too busy with following a checklist in order to squeeze everyone’s stories in without much flow, but the stories that were told were really impressive. The character-development that was there was quite impressive. The ride was really rocky, but interesting.

#6 (5) – Psycho Pass – (8.75/10)

Psycho Pass really went to town with its plot developments in this episode. The setting got a lot of developments, and you can now see that this series loves to play with it in its social commentary. The characters don’t have as much development as I would have liked, but they still remain interesting and solid. The animation is nicely inconsistent again, but hey: when it looks great, this series really looks great.

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

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: watch this if you want to see incredibly over the top fights. This month delivered that beyond a doubt. A common problem with shounen series is that as the enemies become more powerful, the fights get more boring and epic. Here though, the fights get more epic, yet stay as interesting as they have ever been with very creative and bizarre uses of powers. And the acting. The glorious overacting!

#4 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (8.75/10)

Zomg, an episode in which Uchuu Kyouda is not at the top 2 for me? It finally happened. The reasoning behind this is that this was a month with a lot of build-up, compared to other shows this season that really hit some heights. As much as I love Uchuu Kyoudai (and the build-up really was excellent, make no mistake), I have to hand it to other series this month.

#3 (4) – From the New World – (8.9/10)

Holy crap, From the New World really surpassed itself this episode with an incredibly sad turn of events. I still cannot believe how far the creators went with this series, but I have to give it to this series: it really has some of the best villains out there. Their backgrounds, their actions, their threat. It really delivered and came together this month.

#2 (2) – Zetsuen no Tempest – (9/10)

Zetsuen no Tempest, I love you! The addition of romance and comedy in the second half was an incredibly bold move, and yet it works so well! The show still is very intelligent and full of mind-screws, which makes it all the better with such a silly backdrop behind it. It’s awesome to see the adults in this series go crazy with the fate of the world being decided by a bunch of impulsive teenagers, and the creators are making brilliant use of it, not to mention that the series has become hilarious.

#1 (6) – Chihayafuru – (9/10)

Chihayafuru, holy crap. After a relatively quiet beginning, it’s just completely back in full force. In particular the team match in this month was really awesome to watch. The strength of Chihayafuru is that it somehow manages to develop a dozen characters in one single episode every week. That strength really shined here, and to think that the match they were playing was nowhere near the most important one.

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?

Merry Christmas everyone! As usual the December Summary is a bit earlier than usual so that I have the time to write my 2012 summary. My impression of the past Autumn Season is that I’m really astounded at how many awesome series it produced. And so many of them are continuing over to next season, that will also have Chihayafuru’s long awaited return. I’m really enjoying this, even though I’ve had some issues trying to schedule everything.

#21 (21) – Sword Art Online – (7.25/10) – Well, thankfully this show didn’t have a bad ending, because finally it actually did something with that villain of its. The whole quasi-incest around it though was just pointless on so many levels, and I can’t believe that Asuna didn’t do a single thing through the entire ALO arc. “Yes, I am your damsel in distress. I will wait for you”
#20 (17) – K – (7.5/10) – K this month went for its action packed climax. And this is where I really realized how bland the characters are.There has hardly been any character development. There has hardly been any depth in the cast. The characters are all pretty much one-sided without much depth, and instead this show kept going on about those seven kings that in the end didn’t really amount to anything other than explaining why a few guys are ridiculously powerful in this world.
#19 (20) – Medaka Box – (7.6/10) – I’m behind. But episode 10 finally was an episode that caught my attention. It’s about bloody time. And I’m getting really tired of Nisioisin because of this: tired of wading through him padding his own stories, just to get to the good stuff. There’s building up, and there is just not being interesting for way too long. If there’s a third season, I’m really not sure whether I want to continue or not (despite my bitching I’ve watched every adaptation of this guy so far…).
#18 (18) – Teekyu – (7.75/10) – Well, nothing much happened here. It’s still completely random, and I’m still watching it. It’s pleasant enough for that and I can still turn my brains off for it. It was short but sweet. It also didn’t help that that tenth episode had such a cheesy resolution…
#17 (19) – Little Busters – (7.75/10) – I’m a bit behind on this series (even for my standards at the moment), but I still want to continue with this series. The girls here are annoying, but still charming when they’re not. The male characters meanwhile are as interesting as they have always been. This still can go all ways.
#16 (14) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8/10) – I’ve said this before, but in a way, Polar Bear Cafe is too long. It’s still funny, but I also find that I need to push myself to keep watching it because it really keeps boiling down to the same over and over at this point. The creators should have boiled this down to just 26 episodes by cutting down the best parts. And again, this month made me laugh again, but I’m not as enthusiastic about this show as I used to be anymore.
#15 (16) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8.1/10) – Strangely enough, this show is still watchable, even though it’s just fighting over and over. It’s what happens during the fighting that makes me still return to this show, alongside the excellent soundtrack. I first thought that the over the top fights would be boring and all, but the creators found a way to make them engaging.
#14 (13) – Btooom! – (8.1/10) – I liked the ending a lot actually. Instead of trying to go too epic the battles were kept interesting, while also closing off with a bang. It’s a shame that the series ended with a sequel hook, but it’s a logical point in the series. The female lead, while contrived, did make for a number of interesting twists here. But still, Taira really convinced me that he’s my favorite character in this series.
#13 (12) – Sukitte Ii na Yo – (8.25/10)

Jealousy… that was done surprisingly well here. It was genuine, yet it didn’t drag itself out like what I’ve seen in so many other romance series. The big difference between this series and Kimi ni Todoke is that the characters actually talk to each other. This feels much more down to earth and enjoyable because the pacing allows it to explore various kinds about the relationship between the two leads, rather than being another “will they won’t they”-show.

#12 (11) – Magi – (8.25/10)

Magi’s story definitely improved and got more solid this week. I always was missing something from this series, but this feeling has gotten much less apparent this month with the impending war coming in, and the focus on Alibaba’s leadership and worries, and how this brushes off to the rest of the cast.

#11 (9) – Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – (8.25/10)

Sakurasou turned up the drama this month and threw in a lot of focus on working hard for your dreams, with some pretty neat effects. It’s still quite sharp, although not as sharp as it used to be. Still, we’re only halfway there.

#10 (15) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8.4/10)

To my surprise, the creators did not go with any sort of forced climax at all, and just continued with the slice of life like they always have, just this time with a winter and Christmas theme. That’s what I like much more and the series returned to be as funny as it has ever been, with many adorable and relatable moments.

#9 (10) – Robotics;Notes – (8.4/10)

Robotics;Notes still is in its build-up phase, but things are working out very nicely with slow character development, deconstructions of the super robot genre and the few twists that it brings definitely have impact. Now it’s up to the second half to make use of all of this build-up

#8 (7) – Kamisama Hajimemashita – (8.4/10)

Kamisama’s biggest, and for me only, problem is that it’s too short: the story of the manga goes on even though the anime ends, so the creators are going to have to come up with an alternative ending that unfortunately isn’t looking too good.. Beyond that the chemistry still is fantastic and this show uses its climaxes still wonderfully.

#7 (8) – Jormungand – (8.5/10)

Koko revealing what she has been up to for all this time, that definitely was awesome and unexpected. It’s a shame that the first season was so monotone, because this show has improved in so many ways. I haven’t seen the finale yet, but I definitely am glad that I kept with this series.

#6 (2) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.6/10)

I think my reaction to the end of the Yorkshin Arc has pretty much summed up my feelings of Hunter X Hunter this month: “it’s over already?” I really wish I could say otherwise, but this was one part that Nippon Animation’s version did better. We’re now heading to a part that the current version will most likely do better again, but I’m dropping this for now until the Greed Island arc is over again, because I feel I just won’t have enough to say about it to blog it weekly. And than we finally can get to stuff that we haven’t seen before…

#5 (4) – Psycho Pass – (8.6/10)

Psycho Pass stands out in certain ways, not just one. It’s got a thought-provoking setting and especially the past couple of episodes have shared a lot of psychology that really made an impact. The style of this series also is something to write home about, as it combines the classical with the psychotic. Its themes are slowly getting more and more solid, and I really like how this show has done it so far.

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

From the New World got cruel this month. Sure, it was already really dark and all, but this got taken even further when this month revealed the fate of the main cast. It was all really well done and built up even more for its second half. You can really see that this was based on a novel, rather than a manga.

#3 (6) – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – (8.9/10)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is insane. It’s completely out of its mind, especially now that it headed into its second arc. Joseph… this guy could very well be the best shounen lead ever, but even putting him aside there is just so much passion in this show. This is one of the best portrayals of manly action I have seen, it’s unbelievable.

#2 (5) – Zetsuen no Tempest – (8.9/10)

One word: mindfuck. With this month, Zetsuen no Tempest went from a solid series, to something mind-blowing. It took all of its build-up and continues to just turn its tables around, make its logic go out of control, and force its characters to play mind-games with each other. It all comes together wonderfully, backed up by the fantastic soundtrack of this series.

#1 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9.25/10)

In this month, Uchuu Kyoudai’s pacing was slower than ever, but at the same time it really managed to hit new heights. I’m not going to spoil how in these compilation posts, but the result was incredibly heart-warming, and brought tears to my eyes one moment, and laugh out loud the other.

The best thing about this month was potential. Yes, there were so many good series. But the best part is that all of those series were just building up for later. There are so many shows that are already a joy to watch, yet haven’t even started. The promise here is amazing.

#22 (16) – Gintama – (5/10) – What the hell man? I love being trolled by anime, but Gintama. Did you seriously mean that you were just going to air a bunch of new episodes in front of a recap season? I really do not like that in the slightest, as I was finally enjoying this show again. This one got dropped really hard.
#21 (25) – Sword Art Online – (7.25/10) – I have not seen the latest episode yet, but I do have a very clear opinion on what happened during the past month: people freaking out over nothing does not work with this series. And don’t get me wrong, I often really like it when a series focuses on a small conflict or when something small is made really huge instead of just putting the world or country at stake, but when I see everyone making such a big deal over dying in an mmorpg… this show just completely loses me. Perhaps I lack the gamers mentality or something, but any conflict just feels meaningless to me. And it’s not like it’s impossible to do this with me: the way in which .Hack//Sign dealt with player deaths, I found that beautiful. This… is just a bunch of idiots getting worked up over nothing.
#20 (23) – Medaka Box – (7.4/10) – I’m still waiting for this show to get interesting. At this point it’s still too formulaic, and the only way in which this show stands out is how it tells about its different characters, without really showing much. It puts so much effort into explaining why all of these people are abnormal and all, that it forgets to do just about anything else. The action is dull, the comedy is dull the characters are boring. This is really what irks me so much about nishiOisin: he puts so much focus on one thing that he forgets everything else.
#19 (21) – Little Busters – (7.6/10) – It is such a shame that Little Busters was based on a dating sim. Because of that, it is obliged to follow all of the girls, and they are BAD. Badly acted, boring, not very interesting and quite often annoying. The guys in this series are much better. They are interesting to watch, have great personalities and have much more down to earth stories, like always failing, insomnia, etc. Focus on them, for christ’s sake. But no, we need to have sad girls for the moe.
#18 (20) – Teekyu – (7.75/10) – The thing with this show… it’s so accessible. I can just turn off my brains for two minutes and it’s over again. It’s completely non-sensical, but the animation, jokes and energy are actually quite enjoyable.
#17 (18) – K – (7.75/10) – K so far has been the biggest disappointment of the season. It’s not that it’s bad or something. The problem more is that it isn’t really anything at all. The major conflict turned out to be something incredibly simple that just isn’t interesting at all. The setting? Yeah, it’s a city that is well drawn (or photoshopped), that’s all there is to say about it. The characters? They’re fun. Again, that’s it: nobody stands out. Come on guys, be ambitious. Animation isn’t the only thing you can base your series on.
#16 (6) – Saint Seiya Omega – (7.75/10) – Saint Seiya… has gotten too dramatic right now. With the second half the characters are fighting this group of eleven golden saints who are so ridiculously overpowered that the creators are going to have to pull major power-ups out of their asses in order to get the characters to land even a single punch on them. I mean, I know that this is not realistic fighting and all, but the tension rather drops when a character first has all bones in his body broken, only to stand up and walk away like nothing happened. There is a limit to that kind of suspense of disbelief…
#15 (9) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8/10) – And now, we’ve reached the dreaded part of any comedy: the conclusion! Especially for a long running comedy, you want something that is not incredibly formulaic, and I guess the timetrip back could have been worse… but it still is a big step down compared to what this show was like a month ago.
#14 (13) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8/10) – Shirokuma Cafe continues its trend of corny deadpan humour, and again this wasn’t its best month, but it did make me laugh like usual. There are some skits that just don’t work (the coffee ones, for example), and other running jokes just keep getting better (how the lama is useless for example). I’m not as excited about this show as what I used to be though.
#13 (14) – Btooom! – (8.1/10) – Btooom, let me ask one thing of you: please don’t make the female lead the girl that the male lead met in the past. I know you’re heavily hinting at it, but that would destroy her entire character. Aside from that, I really like the old man for some strange reason, and how helpless he is in most of the series. He’s definitely so far away from your usual sidekick, yet he is not overly exaggerated like the rest of the cast in this series. Btooom is playing out nicely, yet uneventful, but I fear that that climax is not going to be anything worthwhile.
#12 (17) – Sukitte Ii na Yo – (8.25/10)

This really was surprisingly good. At first this show seemed to go in the direction of smut, but that was entirely un-justified. This is just incredibly genuine, about a shy girl trying to find herself in her own romance, and getting the courage to talk about her feelings. This pretty much is what Kimi ni Todoke should have been because stuff actually happens, and the conflicts are meaningful in bringing out emotions, rather than forced.

#11 (15) – Magi – (8.25/10)

The angst feels like it’s missing something, but overall Magi has been incredibly solid as an adventure series: lovable characters with interesting growth, and a very consistent animation budget that really brings out their emotions. Add a solid plot and backdrop, and yeah: I’m enjoying this a lot.

#10 (12) – Robotics;Notes – (8.4/10)

Robotics;Notes slowly builds up its mystery, and what interesting mystery it is! The realism and supernatural combine quite well with each other and the characters living their lives is surprisingly interesting, albeit uneventful so far. The characters are far from as out there and recognizable as what they were in Steins;Gate, and they could definitely use some growth and development, but this month made a good start for that.

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

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo had one bad episode this month. In that it introduced the godawful clingy sister who failed to stand out from her stereotype in any way. That really needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Aside from that however, this series has been delightful: finally a shounen romantic comedy that has some actual good chemistry and interesting characters who really play off each other. The past episodes have been particularly good at combining drama and comedy with each other, and I love how it’s full of those tiny details that bring extra life to the characters. They may seem annoying stereotypes at first, but aside from the horrible, horrible sister, they’re all more and deeper than that, and the tension between them is actually really nice to watch.

#8 (8) – Jormungand – (8.4/10)

I’m still surprised at how much better Jormungand’s second season is. The key? Characterization. The way it explores its characters is much more interesting and varied. Characters are still snarky, but rather than their defining traits, it just becomes a smaller part of them. The additions to the characters make them much more varied than what they were in the first season.

#7 (5) – Kamisama Hajimemashita – (8.4/10)

Kamisama Hajimemashita’s endings are always awesome to watch, no exception. It’s a very solidly executed series with a lot of heart in it. I do get the feeling that it could have been a bit more than what it currently is though, especially since it just has 13 episodes. The strength of this show is how well it combines its comedy, drama, romance and plot together, but at its current pacing it feels like it’s trying to do too much at once, sacrificing that part.

#6 (4) – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – (8.4/10)

This month is not particularly better than the first month of Jojo, but nevertheless it’s still really enjoyable to watch how ridiculously over the top, and how it consistently pulls these elaborate powers out of the tiniest things. This story was its time far ahead.

#5 (10) – Zetsuen no Tempest – (8.5/10)

The pacing for this show is definitely interesting: the past month really has been dedicated to a lot of building up, background and character building, and what it’s building up is most definitely interesting. The characters have this unique bond between them that makes the build-up worth watching. Plus, the soundtrack still is fantastic.

#4 (7) – Psycho Pass – (8.6/10)

Psycho Pass is consistently improving. After two months its setting is really starting to come together with its themes. In every arc it takes a certain setting, and explores what would happen if a psychopath were to enter it, and given the tools for murder. Its focus is not so much on mystery, but rather on exploring the mindsets of the people involved with very good use of symbolism and classical references.

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

The animation for this series definitely caused a bit of controversy, but I personally love that this show pretty much said “screw it” to consistent animation, and instead focused on delivering interesting visuals with unconventional camera work. This series really takes nothing for granted, and with the single best story, character development and original setting of the series to debut this Autumn season, and yeah: this is still my favorite series of the bunch.

#2 (1) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.9/10)

December will be AWESOME. This month took care of the build-up, and we’ve finally gotten to my favorite part of Hunter X Hunter. And really: already this show has set itself miles apart from all other shounen shows with so many cunning characters being thrown at the same spot. Kurapika and his mindset in particular were just amazing this month. I don’t even care anymore which version is better, the 1999 version or the 2011: they both rock!

#1 (2) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9/10)

It’s still amazing how much this series is able to do with its slow pacing. Mutta still is absolutely hilarious with his antics, but above that: this show put in so much detail on what all goes on for a launch to the moon. This month was full with defining moments for a ton of different characters. At this point I think that there is no character in this show that I don’t like: everyone here is just lovable.

This season? Delightful! A-1 is on fire with six series at the same time, two of which are the best of their respective season. After years of begging, there are two Akitaro Daichi series airing at the same time. After years of complaining, Shounen Jump adaptations suddenly show their best sides since the OVA of Hunter X Hunter. After years of complaining, Shoujo suddenly is prominent again with actually good characters. There is very little bad fanservice stuff, and there are plenty of series that treat its audiences as adults. Hell yeah, bring this on!

#38 (new) – Onii-chan Blahblah – (2/10) – I refuse to spend any more time to try and get the name of these godawful incest shows right. Dropped.
#37 (new) – To Love-Ru – (2.6/10) – Just make this a hentai already! Dropped
#36 (new) – Busou Shinki – (3.1/10) – This one really was surprisingly bad. I mean the OVA was decent, albeit unremarkable. This was nothing but the most blatant of wish fulfillment with some of the dumbest characters of the entire season. Dropped.
#35 (new) – Aikatsu – (3.5/10) – The CG! The horrible, horrible CG! Dropped.
#34 (new) – Liche Light Club – (3.9/10) – A proper studio should have gotten this. What could have been an incredibly dark and twisted comedy got reduced to badly delivered sadism jokes. Dropped.
#33 (new) – Monsuno – (4.25/10) – Very cheesy kiddie shounen series that moves way too fast. Dropped
#32 (new) – Girls und Panzer – (4.6/10) – Why, Girls und Panzer. Why did you take yourself seriously? Did you seriously think that that would survive in this season? Dropped.
#31 (new) – Wooser no Sono Higurashi – (5/10) – Has a nice idea, that wears off after 30 seconds. Dropped.
#30 (new) – Hidamari Sketch – (6.25/10) – Hidamari Sketch never really hit me. It’s a combination of Shaft and characters that never really appealed to me and never really caught my attention. Dropped.
#29 (new) – Hayate the Combat Butler – (6.5/10) – I still haven’t found a reason to watch Hayate the Combat Butler. It wasn’t particularly annoying or anything, but absolutely nothing grabbed me over the three first episodes that I watched. At this point this series has gotten way too long for me to want to bother with it. Dropped
#28 (new) – Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter – (6.75/10) – Hilariously bad. Seeing little kids who handle actual cars like they’re total pros was worth quite a laugh, but there is no way I’m going to continue with this. Dropped.
#27 (new) – Chuuninbyou demo Koi ga Shitai – (7/10) – Really good animation, but apart from that I have little reason to continue with this show. The characters are annoying, and there is just too little that happens for my tastes. There is much more interesting stuff going on this season, especially considering that there are so many other romance shows airing at the same time that may not be as well animated, but have much more compelling characters.
#26 (new) – Bakuman – (7.25/10) – If Bakuman was just 26 episodes long, it would have made a killer series. I don’t want to bother with it for 75 though. Dropped
#25 (14) – Sword Art Online – (7.4/10) – Well, here is one show that jumped the shark. I really liked the conclusion of the Sword Art Online arc. After that though, the new arc just kept making no sense (I don’t care if it’s explained in the novels), it has the most stereotypically evil villain and I really hate the way in which Asuna has been reduced to a mere damsel in distress, allowing Kirito to expand his harem even more.
#24 (new) – Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun – (7.4/10) – My problem with this series is the male lead. He’s way too forced: on one hand he’s too perfect, on other he’s too flawed. He’s trying to be everything in just one character, making him an unlikable asshole. The female lead deserves better. Because of that I’ve dropped this series. During a quiet season I would have watched it, but there is too much competition that is just more interesting.
#23 (new) – Medaka Box – (7.5/10) – The second season of Medaka Box is… boring. To me it just feels like a parade of over the top characters with crazy powers, but it lacks personality or any kind of engaging story other than “High School” and “Let’s evolve humanity by killing off lots of people”. The new villains aren’t compelling at all and are very much of the same. Will this really end well?
#22 (new) – Ixion Saga – (7.6/10) – My standards for comedy are high: I really want to laugh when I watch one, and Ixion Saga just wasn’t funny enough and it repeated itself a little too much within the three episodes that I watched. Dropped.
#21 (new) – Little Busters – (7.6/10) – I’m beginning to fear that this will end up more like Kanon, rather than Air and Clannad: nice, but ultimately lacking. Air and Clannad were amazing because they went beyond the formulaic “group of sad girls”. With the build-up that we’ve recently gotten here, I don’t see any hints for the same with Little Busters. It’s funny and enjoyable, but the girls have got some major issues. Their acting is pretty bad at points as well, especially the ditzy girl.
#20 (new) – Teekyu – (7.6/10) – … I’m still watching this series. Why!?
#19 (new) – Code: Breaker – (7.75/10) – My problem with Code: Breaker is this: what the hell is this series about? Witht he other series this season, I know what they’re trying to do and convey. Here though, we’re three episodes in and the only thing we know is that a guy is killing bad guys and a girl is trying to stop him. There is no depth to this so far and the terrible comedy during the school scenes isn’t really helping.
#18 (new) – K – (8/10) – K doesn’t have much depth. What it does have however is the best animation of the season and it’s very fun to watch in the way that it combines lot of different plot threads together. It could have been a bit more ambitious with these ingredients, though.
#17 (new) – Sukitte Ii na Yo – (8.1/10) – Here is an interesting romance: it neither claims its male lead nor its female lead as perfect. Everyone is flawed in this series. Also, unlike Kimi ni Todoke, it doesn’t take bloody ages to get somewhere. Its drama is a bit forced at times, and it tends to get a little overboard with jealousy, but it’s quite a charming series.
#16 (new) – Gintama – (8.1/10) – Gintama still has its problems, like how it’s still formulaic how everyone gets beaten to a pulp with lots of drama, only to walk away fine moments late, but the creativity still has me, especially the way in which the Kintama arc ended caught me by surprise.
#15 (new) – Magi – (8.1/10) – Magi is an adventure show. It can be a bit silly at times and it tends to have one-dimensional villains, but it’s fun, and it’s full of creativity. It’s also got an engaging main cast to follow: Ali Baba and Aladdin have a good chemistry together.
#14 (new) – Btooom! – (8.1/10)Btooom shows the ugly side of humanity. It’s got the bad luck that it airs right next to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure though, because in terms of adrenaline it unfortunately lost by a long stretch. Still, it works as a suspense, even though the bombs aren’t quite realistic. The atmosphere of everyone trying to kill each other works well.
#13 (7) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8.25/10)

This month hasn’t been Polar Bear Cafe’s best, but it still managed to deliver its typical dry humour, sarcasm and corny wordplay. Highlight was the halloween bit.

#12 (new) – Robotics;Notes – (8.25/10)

This show had a slow start, but it’s fun and interesting. The male lead needs a bit of work, but the female lead is quite compelling to watch, and the characterization of the side characters is also pretty good. I’m not going to expect the next Steins;Gate here though.

#11 (new) – Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – (8.25/10)

This show has really good chemistry. Its characters are all interwoven with each other and even though they seem like really bad clichés at first sight, they soon grow to be much more than that, and much sharper than I imagined.

#10 (new) – Zetsuen no Tempest – (8.25/10)

Fantastic soundtrack, and this show had the best first episode of the season. After that it lost that status when it went a bit too much into building up, but nevertheless this show has great characters, an interesting back-story and excellent action. This can really turn into something amazing with time.

#9 (10) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8.4/10)

It’s pretty much the same story as usual for Poyopoyo: it’s still delightful slice of life with lots of small relatable scenes that are also really hilarious.

#8 (new) – Jormungand – (8.4/10)

Jormungand’s second season really surprised me with how much it improved over the first one. The characters are actually good, and the villains stopped being snarky and generic. The plot twists were particularly impressive here.

#7 (new) – Psycho Pass – (8.4/10)

Psycho Pass is fascinating. It aims to create these complex moral dilemmas that aim to really make you think. On top of that it’s got some great suspense and an amazing soundtrack to boot.

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

Saint Seiya has really gotten good here. Even a simple recap episode had me at the edge of my seat. It’s simple hot blooded action, but this was done so well in this month with the conclusion of the first half of the show.

#5 (new) – Kamisama Hajimemashita – (8.5/10)

Out of all the romances this season, Kamisama Hajimemashita by far has the best execution. Perhaps the story itself needs a bit more time to get going compared to Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, but the delivery is just perfect: it is really good at combining comedy and drama together, and every single episode is wonderfully built up, ending at an incredibly charming conclusion.

#4 (new) – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – (8.6/10)

This series definitely is not for everyone, but it really has been a while since I saw an anime with so much adrenaline as in this series. There really have been moments in which I just wanted to yell loudly alongside the characters. This show is just so completely over the top in every single way, and the creators look like they’re having so much fun in the process. The voice actors as well ham it up, but they ham it up with so much passion that it becomes an incredibly addictive series.

#3 (6) – From the New World – (8.75/10)

After one month, this is the series that has made the biggest impression on me. Its setting is completely original, but what also struck me is its consistency in its characterization: it just keeps building further upon the characters and they make this show compelling. I also absolutely love its variety: every episode has been significantly different so far.

#2 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (8.9/10)

The past month for Uchuu Kyoudai has been slow, but incredibly detailed because of this. Especially the latest episode was just amazing in how well it portrayed the shuttle launch, and everything leading up to it. I didn’t get bored for a single moment here.

#1 (3) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.9/10)

This show has surpassed itself yet again this month. The spider troupe is for me the single best evil organization in any shounen ever. They’re just so professional and work so well together. Kurapika on the other hand got some amazing development. And we haven’t even reached the best part yet!

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.

I’m not going to recap the manga I read this month due to a lack of screenshots that I have for them, but rest assured that I am planning a sort-of compilation post at the end of the season, including my highlights and overall impressions. In the meantime we go further with the Summer season, which really showed itself as a season of creativity. I’m watching a bit less than usual with only 17 series at the same time, but seriously, with the exception of Tari Tari, Saint Seiya and perhaps Rinne no Lagrange, all these series here stand out with their imagination and that’s a much, much higher share than usual. Especially considering how next season will be incredibly different: Fall 2012 will really be about quantity, with a lot of series that look similar to each other instead.

#17 (14) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – (7.9/10) – Horizon’s selling point still is its boundless creativity, combined with bizarre politics with strange premises. That part is still rock-solid. I have a few issues with the cast though: at this point in the story they should be getting more interesting and lively with development… but I’m still not really noticing anything here, and to be honest this drags the show down a bit for me.
#16 (15) – Tari Tari – (8/10) – Tari Tari is a well done drama series. It’s nothing special, and a bit forced in the way that it jumps from character to character to show their development and story, but these stories do their job to flesh them out.
#15 (20) – Phi Brain – (8/10) – After having my suspense of disbelief broken for a few months, I’m back to enjoying Phi Brain again as it heads into its conclusion as it finally brings in some good character-development and the themes of saving the villains finally get somewhere. The sequel definitely had some balancing issues, but I’m glad that it managed to come together.
#14 (18) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8.1/10) – Whoa, this show has become much better this month! After long string sof rather boring fights, they are getting much more exciting now that the sakes are getting higher. I alos like how this show keeps track of its characters, and how it’s willing to go against “the party must stick together”-syndrome that a lot of adventure series have.
#13 (16) – Sword Art Online – (8.1/10) – Ah, Sword Art Online: brilliant setting, great acting from the main cast… but the main cast definitely needs some better writing to make them more interesting because at the moment this show screams a bit of wasted potential for focusing too much on Kirito meeting cute girls. Show some variety dammit!
#12 (10) – Moyashimon – (8.25/10)

Moyashimon had a string of episodes in which it lost its magic. The school festival arc was dull and for a while I just missed the chemistry between the characters that made me originally like the show. Thankfully this has returned again in the recent episodes, in which the characters were really enjoyable to watch again.

#11 (12) – Uta Koi – (8.25/10)

If I had one criticism for Uta Koi, then it is the animation. I get that it’s really hard to animate character-designs of this scale, and the budget for this series definitely is low, but the still frames do stand out a little too much and interfere a bit with bringing the characters to life. It’s a good thing that the stories it tells are still just wonderful. There is a ton of historical background and detail in this series, and the balance is just perfect: no character is overexposed, yet there are a few characters who get a bit of extra time to show how they changed over the years. And yes, episode 06 was awesome.

#10 (11) – Rinne no Lagrange – (8.25/10)

This show is building up to something, I can feel it. In the meantime there is random comic relief and time to flesh out the characters some more. At this point the cast of Rinne no Lagrange has definitely matured and changed. Now all that’s left is to use this.

#9 (13) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – (8.25/10)

Jinrui has improved nicely, in the way that the cast has become much more likable and the stories more interesting. This month also showed that the order of the arcs is completely random, which makes it also a challenge to puzzle together the real sequence of events. The setting with the fairies also is as strong as last month.

#8 (8) – Kokoro Connect – (8.4/10)

Kokoro Connect’s biggest flaw is that it sometimes focuses a bit too much on its drama, making it a bit one-sided. Said drama however, is really, really good and really aims to delve deep into the different characters. The characters clash wonderfully together.

#7 (6) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8.4/10)

While hilarious, this wasn’t the best month for Shirokuma Cafe. It had a few episodes which were too much about panda trolling, and the best moments weren’t as utterly hilarious as some of the earlier episodes. Still, there was enough to like, ranging from Polar Bear’s antics to the whole affair around Penko.

#6 (7) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8.5/10)

It’s unbelievable, but I’m only liking this series more as it goes on. It’s already in its third season, and it still feels fresh despite all of the content it puts in, and the jokes that keep coming are all new and original. I hardly see anyone mention or talk about this series, but I really look forward to watch it every week.

#5 (5) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.6/10)

Oh yes! With this month, Hunter X Hunter has really set itself apart from the rest of the shounen series. The Yorkshin arc has finally fully started and it’s great to see Kurapika in the spotlight. It’s great to see people actually working on jobs and acting that way.

#4 (4) – Hyouka – (8.6/10)

This month featured the conclusion for the school festival arc, and I have to say that Hyouka surpassed itself there, making the best with its focus on mundane mysteries. The stories that followed were also really good, making great use of the character-development that has been established at this point.

#3 (3) – Eureka Seven Ao – (8.75/10)

This show is confusing, to the point where I often find myself forgetting important plot points of episodes ago, but I kindof like that about this series and how it doesn’t want to hold your hand along the way. It also still has the best action of the season and the characters still keep this one going really strong.

#2 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9.1/10)

The only fault of this show is that sometimes, it is paced a bit too slowly. But heck, with how incredible the cast of characters has become, I really don’t mind that at all. The conclusion of the third round worked incredibly well and managed to bring the entire cast together, only ending with the message that we haven’t even started yet.

#1 (2) – Natsuyuki Rendezvous – (9.1/10)

This show knows what it is. This month really showed that it makes perfect use of its length of only 11 episodes with how much focus it puts on just one plot twist. This was wonderfully acted once again, and it already had some amazing pay-off as of episode 09. Heck, at this point I’m pretty certain that this will be somewhere in my top 2 of 2012.

So, this season had a really tough job to live up to the previous season, that was just filled with really good series. It’s definitely much smaller, but on the flip-side it did deliver with a bunch of very interesting series. In particular the dramas are better than ever, but there are also quite a few series that overflow with creativity. I consider this a succeeded season at this point.

Manga Recap:
So, this month I finally started to get into manga. Unconsciously, this mostly turned into an exploration of various one-shots, one-shot compilation, or short manga. Most of what I’ve been able to read are just introductions, and there was some nice stuff amongst them, but there were three things that really managed to catch my attention with their excellent introductions, and carried them further with excellent storytelling.

#3: Hotel
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Hotel by Boichi. This is a mature Osamu Tezuka-esque take on science fiction and the apocalypse, all paired with the most crisp art I’ve encountered this month. Its first chapter shows an interesting portrayal of the apocalypse, but what really blew away was the Tuna story. That really was unique and unlike any other science fiction story I’ve read.

#2: Hito Hitori Futari
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Hotel really only let me down on one area: its characterization. This all felt a bit flat. Hito Hitori Futari however, packed a ton of charm in its two characters. This really was drawn with emotion, and together with the down to earth dialogue, it really managed to bring its cast to life. It’s also got a beautiful art style.

#1: A Million Pound Love
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This is an anthology by the same author of Himitsu the Revelation, and you can definitely see this. This is truly excellent mystery with brilliant character-development put in very short stories. Like Himitsu, she knows exactly how much to reveal at each page to keep you interested.

#33 (new) – Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru – (1,75/10) – Add some gender-swapped historical figures, and then this series would have been everything that is wrong with modern anime. I mean, Dakara Ecchi was bad, but this is one level beyond that: completely shameless and stupid without any hint of inspiration or effort.
#32 (new) – Hagare Yuusha no Estetica – (2,5/10) – This show was incredibly stupid and sexist, I just can’t remember why anymore.
#31 (new) – Dakara Boku wa H ga Dekinai – (2,9/10) – Why don’t these guys just make straight-up porn?
#30 (new) – Chitose Get You – (3,25/10) – This series was just cheap and poorly delivered. And I can understand lacking budget and all: but there is no excuse fo the completely uninspired writing and jokes.
#29 (new) – Oda Nobuna no Yabou – (3,5/10) – It’s one thing to gender-swap famous historical figures. But really: why does it always have to be with the same people? First there was the romance of the three kingdoms, now this.
#28 (new) – Campione – (4,5/10) – It looked like for a minute this series had potential to become an entertaining action series. But no, it had to focus on harem clichés instead. This show got quickly dropped once I found that out.
#27 (new) – La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia – (5,5/10) – Look, I used to be a huge fan of shoujo series. When good, they can deliver some of the most heartfelt stories out there. But it’s the series like Arcana Famiglia that make it really hard to remain a fan by reducing most of the cast to mere stereotypes who keep repeating one single gimmick. Chiaki Kon, you in particular should know better.
#26 (24) – Yuruyuri – (6/10) – Yuruyuri was very funny when it started with that gimmick of a first episode. When that ended though, it completely bored me. It’s still girls talking and making bad lesbian jokes. If that’s what you like, then by all means give this one a chance. I just tuned out immediately.
#25 (35) – Dog Days – (6/10) – I was hoping that Dog Days’ would improve on the formula of its predecessor. What I wasn’t prepared for however, was the end of that second episode. Just.. why? Why on earth would you want to do something like that in a series like this?
#24 (new) – Joshiraku – (6,5/10) – Joshiraku was too static: it entirely was about characters sitting in a room discussing wordplay. It got to the point where they weren’t characters anymore, but rather that this became an essay about wordplay from the author.
#23 (new) – Ebiten – (6,6/10) – Well, this one wasn’t the worst of this season, it had some nice jokes and all. But ultimately it’s just random fluff that has way too little potential. Also, those eyes!
#22 (27) – Hakuouki – (6,9/10) – I have to grant it to Hakuouki that out of all of the bishie-series to appear during the past few years, it has been the best. It at least tried something different from the usual cliches. But it just doesn’t seem to really try to stand out. It’s just there. I gave several seasons a try now, but never did I really encounter something that caught my attention.
#21 (new) – Binbou-Gami ga! – (7,4/10) – Comedy is incredibly subjective, but I do recommend watching the first episode of this series: that one was very well-balanced and quite funny. As for what happened afterwards, though: it just wasn’t funny enough for me, and the random references for the sake of references, stereotypical characters and lots and lots of yelling just didn’t do it for me.
#20 (24) – Phi Brain – (7,5/10) – I can live with Phi Brain being stupid, but what is a bit harder to accept is how this series has been systematically ignoring any good potential character-development. This month thankfully wasn’t as bad as the previous one, and there even was a very good episode with the Ana Gram episode, but can someone answer me why the single most pathetic villain of the first season was brought back?
#19 (new) – Tanken Drilland – (7,5/10) – Tanken Drilland has the makings of a really good kids show, but it really needs to try harder for that. It’s really quite charming, and the two leads work too good together, but the third main character is a bit too stupid. Yes, I know this is aimed at kids, but that is no excuse. What happened to the days of the World Masterpiece Theater in which kids series really took their audiences and their characters seriously?
#18 (22) – Saint Seiya Omega – (7,6/10) – Saint Seiya has been dabbling on like usual. Some episodes are a bit of a waste of time, while others are a bit more interesting, but it never really stood out, nor did it ever get annoying enough for me to drop it. Whether I’d recommend this show to others to marathon though… that’d be a different story. It’s good enough to watch weekly, but for now it doesn’t really have enough staying power to be worth it to marathon.
#17 (new) – Total Eclipse – (7,75/10) – Total Eclipse is a strange beast. I actually like that it took its first two episodes specifically to show the background of one of the main characters, but afterwards things went a bit wonky with strange nationalism and stereotypes, along with a lot of yelling and random fanservice. Seeing this, I can imagine that the director was about to break down, but the writing staff also is to blame for some of the strange design decisions.
#16 (new) – Sword Art Online – (7,9/10) – For me,the gist of Sword Art Online is: really interesting setting, gorgeous visuals, rather boring characters. At this point in the story, none of the characters really stand out yet: there were moments in the first episode in which they did, but in the episodes afterwards this series has been very gloomy and particularly bad in portraying its side-characters, on top of being surprisingly formulaic (Hello, girl of the week!).
#15 (new) – Tari Tari – (8/10) – Tari Tari is a charming slice of life series, that has yet to really stand out. The closest it has gotten is with episode two, but afterwards it really made clear that that was just a one-off issue. The blond lead girl in particular tends to get on my nerves, and is a bit too simplistic and clichéd. They still could make this work though, because there definitely is potential here.
#14 (14) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – (8,1/10) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon makes no sense whatsoever. But the ideas it has really make up for it. It’s completely crazy this way, and that’s what I really appreciate from it. Now if only the characters themselves would get a bit better: in particular the male lead is trying too hard to be comic relief. And no, I don’t care if this is explained in the plot. This is Horizon, they can just pull something out of their asses to turn this down.
#13 (new) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – (8,1/10) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita has one thing that makes it stand out, and it does that really well: its setting. There is so much interesting stuff going on in this series, and it’s all just so inspired. Beyond that though, it doesn’t really have anything that stands out: the graphics look pretty… and that’s it. The characters are… there I guess, but that’s all So yeah, it’s a one trick pony, but that trick it does is damn great.
#12 (new) – Uta Koi – (8,25/10)

Thank you, whoever made this show possible. This series shows that anime can still make series that have no commercial potential at all, and instead are there to teach their audience new things and show their own interpretations of a unique part of Japan’s history. The acting is a bit simplistic, but heck: the content, soundtrack and pacing make up for that.

#11 (13) – Moyashimon – (8,25/10)

Bizarrely enough, the central character of the past month changed to a germophobe. Because of this, the germs have turned into narrators. A bold move, and do the creators have enough to make up for that? I’d say yes: the lectures in this series are very interesting, and the characters all have a very good chemistry together.

#10 (9) – Rinne no Lagrange – (8,25/10)
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Rinne no Lagrange continues its strong formula of mechas and charming characters. With this, we’re heading into the real mysteries in this series, and the themes of reaching out to the enemy still remain, although the main villain of Ran’s brother could do with a bit of character-development at this point.

#9 (15) – AKB0048 – (8,4/10)

This month, AKB really won me over completely. The second season announcement, on top of the characters getting even more charming really did the trick for me. The finale was incredibly cheesy, but it worked due to the excellent direction and musical numbers. Definitely looking forward to that continuation.

#8 (25) – Kokoro Connect – (8,4/10)

This was by far the surprise of the season, after that first episode that left me woefully unimpressed. From out of nowhere, this series suddenly started delivering with excellent dialogue and voice acting, and the characters suddenly revealed complex issues that they all discussed with each other in great detail. This is one case in which my first impressions have been totally wrong.

#7 (18) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8,5/10)

I love this show. It’s all just so down to earth. This month was entirely dedicated to Summer, and what followed were a TON of short sketches about the different characters living their daily lives while it’s too hot to really do anything. Seriously, the episodes are only 2 minutes long, and the creators still manage to stuff in enough content as if it was five times that length.

#6 (11) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8,5/10)

This show surpassed itself this month with a number of classic scenes. It’s still incredibly corny, but because of how true it is to itself it really doesn’t matter, and this actually becomes a selling point. Some of the characters, especially Penguin and Polar Bear, were just priceless.

#5 (10) – Hunter X Hunter – (8,6/10)

Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally Hunter X Hunter has arrived at the point that I’ve been looking forward to ever since it got announced (nearly a freaking year!): the Yorkshin arc. This is where the original series really went: “Shounen conventions?” Who cares about these bloody shounen conventions! I’ve got a story to tell!”, and it would be wonderful if this new season would also be able to achieve this. The early signs are all good: sure, the acting is a tad more over the top, but they can really make this work. They really nailed the introductions of the key characters in their own way.

#4 (9) – Hyouka – (8,6/10)

The school festival arc is really big. For how many episodes has it been going on now? 4? Because of that though, it really as been able to put in an attention to detail for the small things, That was great build-up.

#3 (4) – Eureka Seven Ao – (8,75/10)

To those who were planning to check out Eureka Seven Ao without having seen the original Eureka Seven: don’t. You really need to have seen the first Eureka Seven in order to be able to enjoy this to the fullest, that definitely became clear this month. And how! This month just delivered twist after twist after twist, and it all works together. The big ones in particular were just amazing, and this series doesn’t even show signs that it played all of its trumps already.

#2 (new) – Natsuyuki Rendezvous – (9,25/10)

This show is just amazing in every single way. It’s been a long while since in a season there was just one show that immediately blew away all other series that debuted that season so massively. Its voice acting is just fantastic, the characters and their chemistry is just amazing, the soundtrack rocks, the animation is incredibly detailed, the story doesn’t beat around the bush. It really is refreshing to see such a mature romance, in which the main female character actually is in her thirties: these characters are even rarer than male leads of that age.

#1 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9,25/10)

The thing with Uchuu Kyoudai is that the only criticism I might have for it is that its pacing is a tad slow: it really takes a while to get from A to B. But dammit, it brilliantly makes use of this, by using this time in order to flesh out its cast to the fullest. Mutta has become a classic character at this point, but the rest of the cast members are also awesome at this point. Everyone just feels so real and down to earth, and on top of that they all pack a ton of charm in their own way.