Oh, screw it. I know I said that I was going to blog Nodame Cantabile’s Finale, but I really fail to see why that would be interesting. I know myself by now. I’m going to spend every episode complaining at how it doesn’t live up to the spectacular first season, and continue to talk down to a series that would otherwise have been at least a bit of a decent romantic comedy. In the end, the first episode of the new season showed enough to me, in the way that it overplayed Nodame’s antics too much. To me, it feels like this season’s Noitamina is wasted.
So yeah. I can try to sugarcoat it, but why bother. At this point, I’ve covered eighteen seasons of anime at this blog, and I consider this one to be the worst out of all of them. I very often disagree with those “worst season ever”-comments, and with a good reason: usually there are all sorts of underrated gems that are being ignored. But this season… I just can’t make any cheese out of it. Not only is the season itself incredibly small, there also are so few series that carried over from previous seasons.
At this point, there are only five series that I’d consider truly excellent: Armed Librarians, Durarara, Cross Game, Full Metal Alchemist and Marie & Gali. Depending on how they turn out, I can only see Sora no Oto if its uses its characters right and Ookami Kakushi if it gets its pacing right joining this list. That’s a definitive low in all of the eighteen seasons I’ve covered so far. So yeah, with that I’m stuck with really old series (Seikai no Monshou), guilty pleasures (Cobra), shows that are never meant for greatness but have one or two nice things (Kobato and Letter Bee), shows and OVas that only air once a month (Katanagatari and there are a number of OVAs that air in a few months that I want to cover) and… this.
Again, I’m not expecting the next GA or Ooedo Rocket here. All I want from this series is entertainment until this season is over, and at that area it pretty much delivers. It’s obvious problem is that the moeblobs here don’t really feel like actual kids, especially Anzu and Hiiragi are way overdone, and that story that the headmistress told, about how all kids would magically adapt the personality of their teacher was just stupid. Though Tsuchida himself and the other teachers are pretty nice to watch, and the chemistry between the characters is also pretty nice.
What I also want from this show is creativity. At this point, I don’t really care whether or not the characters in this series are stereotypes. I’m happy enough about the lack of teenagers (just about the only thing at which this season DOESN’T disappoint: the teenagers for once aren’t dominating the different series). What I want from this show is creative situations that the characters were put in. And the ED was actually pretty much what I meant. I never saw it coming that the creators would pull a space opera parody with these kinds of characters.
I’m not sure whether I’m going to have enough to say about every single episode, but ah well. For now, who cares?
Rating: (Enjoyable)
You can’t make good anime without money, hence the decline in quality. That’s the problem the industry faces, and it’ll only get worse as the market shrinks.
OTOH, the number of shows is declining (financiers are losing faith in TV anime and are experimenting more with movies. Manga publishers are also looking for different methods of promotion besides anime, so they won’t invest in as many series), which may signify more money per title. However, that comes with pain too as animators begin losing their jobs.
I am watching how Nodame Cantabile plays out, but as you said, the first season is definitely the best. Not to mention, did you notice the excessive flowers in the OP and ED? I couldn’t help but laugh at that…
this season will be remembered as the season where you are forced to blog so many moeblobs LOL
Nodame ,on the other hand,I think still a better choice,and we haven’t seen the 2nd episode yet…
I rather liked the children adapting to the personality of the teacher. It’s not completely unfounded in truth either. I wouldn’t deny that the teacher has no effect on these young kids during some of the most formative years of their life. Sure their personalities (or at least temperaments) should mirror something closer to their parents (see Hiiragi) but I wouldn’t say it was absolutely stupid. On the contrary I found it an established reason to continue watching the show. I mean that would be the payoff in the end. We expect development out of Tsuchida and in turn out of the children he watches. I’m not going to pretend this series is smart or anything, but I think it makes good decisions and has great chemistry between the characters. Also I think the children do act…at least closer to what children should act like than in other series. If any of the characters aren’t acting their age it’s Tsuchida…
You should take this opportunity to catch up on some older shows that you’ve missed, but that you think you might like. Like your other three choices from that poll last week, and the oft-recommended Planetes and Monster. If you’re not enjoying what you watch, then why not watch something you’re LIKELY to enjoy, y’know? We appreciate you reviewing these shows, but at the same time, we also appreciate reading that you really enjoyed what you watched… and if reviewing shows we’re not familiar with isn’t going to do that, that’s OK! We’ll happily let you review shows we ARE familiar with if it means you’ll have a good time watching them. (:
It’s too late for your poll, BTW, but I did think of another older anime that I’d love to get your impression of: Ys. There are two Ys OAVs: a 7-episode OAV covering the first game, and a 4-episode OAV covering the second. Neither is absolutely spectacular or original or anything, but they’re both very faithful adaptions of the game’s stories (and actually surpass the games in a few places!), kinda like PopoloCrois 2003… and they’re also a lot of fun to watch, like old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoons. Turn off your brain, and enjoy some 80s badassery with an awesome synth-rock soundtrack. (:
Unlike Planetes (which I’m absolutely 100% certain you would love), I don’t know if you’d like or dislike Ys… but I do know that it would be wildly different from anything else you’re currently watching, since it’s basically the 1980s incarnate… and that might just be a nice refreshing change of pace for you, don’t you think? (:
Anyway, those be my two cents!
-Tom
I’m also pretty positive you would love Planetes, and if you do have extra time on your hands this season I would be interested in hearing your take on it (even if just a series and not episodic review).
The only new show I’m watching is Durara and probably Nodame, just because I watched the rest and I might as well finish it.
Im with Wyrdwad, so I’m recomending you start catching up with Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. 😉
Wyrdwad FTW.
Honestly, try Monster for 2 episodes. Or hell, even 1 should be enough. I mean, when else are you going to watch 50+ episode series aside from crappy seasons like this one? xD
Nice Dutchism psgels, “can’t make cheese out of it”. So anyway yeah I agree with brent, definitely watch Planet ES.