December Summary

As usual my December Summary is a bit earlier than usual so that I have a bit more time to work on the rest of the posts that I have planned for the next couple of days. Overall, this autumn season stands out as mostly unspectacular, with the exception of a number of amazing and groundbreaking series.

#21 (21) – Winter Sonata – (7/10) – The worst thing about this series isn’t the cheese, it’s not the angst, it’s not the dull plot, it’s not the female lead. It’s the fact that the two male leads look so damn much like each other. Seriously, they’re like copies of each other with just different hair colours. One filter, and there. That’s gone as well. The big climax of the fourth episode was completely lost on me because I had no bloody idea who was who.
#20 (11) – Konnichiwa Anne – (7,5/10) – Meh, I’m not happy about the ending, and the way the creators ended up bringing back the characters. It so does not fit the canon of Anne of Green Gables. This series really had its moments, but these final episodes were just uninspired.
#19 (19) – Kimi ni Todoke – (7,75/10) – I really can’t see the charms of this series. Sawako and Kazehaya… the relation between the two of them just isn’t interesting, especially when the creators keep throwing these shallow love rivals at them.
#18 (15) – 11Eyes – (8/10) – There was perhaps a bit too much exposition, but I liked the ending. It’s nice and exciting, and thankfully Yuka didn’t end up ruining the show, although that she did lead to a bunch of really weird plot twists.
#17 (16) – Hetalia Axis Powers – (8/10) – An average month: nothing especially funny, but nothing especially annoying either.
#16 (17) – Kaidan Restaurant – (8/10) – I think Gakkou no Kaidan should be viewed as a collection of ghost stories, which are told through the lead characters. Originally they may have been about totally different characters, but by giving them all the same lead characters creates more unity than if the creators would just have gone with telling random stories about random people.
#15 (20) – Kobato – (8/10) – I’m starting to see the charms of this series. Kobato still pretty much is an airhead, but I like her. The chemistry between her and the rest of the cast is very nicely done, and for me it’s turned into a pretty nice slice of life series.
#14 (18) – Letter Bee – (8/10) – So, I’ve stopped looking forward to the plot, especially now that fillers have arrived. My one request to this series is to not sacrifice the plot for the fillers, and instead use them to nicely flesh out the characters. Because I’m getting to like these people more and more. Especially Nichi and Steak are always fun to watch.
#13 (14) – Anymaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8,25/10) – Overall, this is just a very enjoyable series. It’s not there for a deep plot or characters, but the characters are a lot of fun to watch, especially thanks to their voice actors.
#12 (7) – Kuchuu Buranko – (8,25/10) – I liked the final episodes a lot. Again, this series is nothing special: you don’t want to watch it for the depth of the characters. Instead, however, it’s been great entertainment. Of 2009, I’d rank it as my third-favourite Noitamina-series (after Genji Monogatari and Tokyo Magnitude).
#11 (10) – Sasameki Koto – (8,25/10) – This really is my biggest surprise this season. The characters really managed to turn this into a genuinely fun series with great voice acting and slice of life. The creators knew exactly how to make this series both fun and touching to watch.
#10 (13) – Tentai Senshi Sunred – (8,5/10)

While the first season had its weaker episodes, the second has none of that: every episode s a hit, and hilarious to watch.

#9 (8) – Marie&Gali – (8,5/10)

Why… Why does only one episode air every two weeks? This show is just too brilliant. Its incredibly creative ways of explaining simple scientific principles still are a joy to watch, with still no signs of it getting dull.

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

I tend to be very picky at endings, and I did not like this ending at all. However, the build-up for that ending was really good and really took its time to get the best out of it.

#7 (9) – Umineko no Naku Koro ni – (8,5/10)

The fourth arc wasn’t as good as the third one, but it really had its charms. However, at the same time I’m not going to recommend it until the second season announcement arrives. Which is probably going to take more than two years…

#6 (6) – Cross Game – (8,75/10)

This month Cross Game again got to do what it was best at: slice of life. The banter between the characters still is incredibly subtle, and Akane and the girls’ baseball arc really gave it a bit of extra charms that really worked well.

#5 (12) – Full Metal Achemist – Brotherhood – (8,75/10)

The plot is heating up again, which is really great to see. The past revelations and plot twists were really interesting to watch and brought the much-needed spark back to this series. I’m curious where this show is going to next.

#4 (3) – Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – (8,75/10)

So perhaps this show could have used one extra episode to explain everything (save from the OVA of course) but overall it was a very solid and thought-provoking ending for a great series.

#3 (5) – White Album – (8,75/10)

What a great way to close off this series! The ending really wrapped up Touya’s story very nicely, and the past few episodes really didn’t just conclude all of the different stories throughout the series, they also really developed the characters and made everything come together wonderfully. I must say, despite the pain that the first season was, the second season really surprised me.

#2 (2) – Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – (9/10)

The reason I like this series so much is how it manages to weave so many different storylines into one. It takes care to give everyone a fitting background, and each arc combines the present and the past wonderfully into one heck of a storyline.

#1 (1) – Aoi Bungaku – (9,25/10)

The conclusion to Hashire, Melos! was just amazing. So much passion has gon into creating and animating the characters. The final two episodes were a really good way to close off this series. Not as good, but still very powerful storytelling and amazing visuals.