June Summary

June Anime Rankings I like this format, because it’s simple. To give a small indication of the quality of the shows, place 1-10 have made a big impression on me during this month. Place 11-20 still are really good and recommended, but the impression they made was slightly lower, or they spent most of their time building up, which is necessary but mostly not very exciting. Place 21-30 are enjoyable but can definitely be improved and 31-36 are just garbage. #36: Shining Tears x Wind – Please, next time if you want to make an RPG-adaptation, chose one with a good story. It’s series like these that give RPG-adaptations a bad name. If you want to see a good one: go for Popolocrois. #35: Murder Princess – Whose idea was it to make episode 3 so incredibly cheesy? #34: Heroic Age – Okay, so the show introduced politics now. It’s too bad that the two emperors have the same depths as a bunch of paper bags, they’re just stupid because the story demands them to, and it’s been obvious since the beginning that they’d screw up somehow. Boobs-san ironically is the only one in the entire series with a bunch of brains. Everyone else seems to be either fighting or worrying about either Age or the contract by the Golden Tribe. #33: Lucky Star – Ow, this has been a bad month for Lucky Star. Unfortunately, the show has been getting more repetitive with every episode, and the characters are getting duller and duller. Not only that, but it’s about to get completely overshadowed by the other Otaku-based show: Tetsuko no Tabi. Let’s hope that it’ll get better in its second half, but then again, we’re talking about Kyoani here. I doubt they’ll be able to save this series. #32: Kaze no Stigma – I want to like this series, I really do, but it’s not making things easy with its annoying characters and the way it handles its male side-characters. Kazuma keeps saying that he wants to save as much people as possible, and yet he goes after the cute girls while the male characters die with heaps at the time with no impact whatsoever. I’m also not sure whether the inclusion of pixies was the right idea. #31: Koutetsu Sangokushi – This series continues to quietly dabble along. It’s a nice watch when bored, but nothing amazing, spectacular or unique happens. #30: Wangan Midnight – So far, nothing memorable yet. I’m giving this series a few more chances. #29: Engage Planet Kiss Dum – Finally the subs came out again, but unfortunately the anime itself took a wrong path. The main guy may have had a good reason to obtain the power he did, but I dislike his personal harem. Still, I have hope. The first two episodes really were of good quality. Let’s hope that this’ll come back in the second half. #28: Devil May Cry – While I do admit that it’s nice to see ACG out with the subs of this series so fast, it does make me worry, as they haven’t released a single episode of Deltora Quest this month, and even though Devil May Cry is a good brainless action-show, I definitely prefer Deltora Quest above it. #27: Power Puff Girls Z – Not as good as the previous episodes, but it still was cute to see the supporters get a bit of attention. #26: Romeo x Juliet – This series seems to be trying a bit too hard at this point. People betray each other for no reason whatsoever, only to make Juliet feel as miserable as possible. Still, I do have hope for the second half, and it’s a good thing that the suffering comes relatively early in the series, so that Juliet can learn from it as the series draws to its end. #25: Reideen – While the series hasn’t been really memorable, it has been good for a nice watch. I do hope that the love-triangle will be getting somewhere, though. #24: Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula – I admit that it’s turning increasingly more interesting to watch the teams of the different countries, but what can the creators do to prevent Japan from winning in the end? #23: The Skull Man – There is some great mystery in this, and the storyline turned out quite interesting, but I don’t know… It seems to be missing something. I think it was a bad idea to include humour in this series, as it doesn’t seem to merge with the story-part well enough. #22: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – One of the more overrated series of the season, it’s a nice show and all, but it remains brainless action for the most part. In episode thirteen, for example, the standard “friend-taken-hostage-what-should-I-do”-bit appeared again. I also dislike Nia a lot. Her character is annoying and forced, and her bad cooking-skills could have been more subtle. Still, there is one part of the series that I’m really enjoying: Dai-Gurren’s antics. I just love the battle-tactics that involve that giant mecha, from the flipper-outfit to launching it miles into the air. ^^; Anyway, there is hope. The backstory seems to be interesting enough. #21: Tokyo Tribe 2 – One thing that I really appreciated of the past few episodes is the attention to the side-characters. While it was annoying to see Skunk rising, I admit that I was quite pleased to see the little bugger in trouble, which quite possibly what the creators had in mind. #20: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge – I must praise Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, as it’s one of the very few comedy anime to actually provide an ending, make this ending good and not forfeiting the humour that made the series great. Now let’s hope that this also goes for the ending itself. #19: ICE – ICE has been a rather peculiar OVA. It did have its flaws, but when I think back at it, I do have to say that its story is memorable at least. Still, I need to see the second episode to really be sure whether it’s good or not. #18: Hitohira – The major climax came with episode 8 and 9, while the rest of the series came with a really long epilogue. Because of this, the development of Hitohira couldn’t have been better, and it really was a highlight of the spring-season. #17: Gintama – I loved it when Gintama started playing with memory-loss. While it has been better, something tells me that we’ve yet to see the best part of the series. #16: Tetsuko no Tabi – I’m surprised about the lack of attention this has been having, but then again, how many people can be looking forward to a show about trains? Still, the chemistry between the characters is excellent, and I’m definitely going to continue watching this. #15: Darker than Black – Okay, I admit. This turned into a perfectly fine series with quite a few interesting cases. Still, I’m going to wait for Shinsen’s subs in the future, simply because Sudo likes to release in only HD MKV-files, which mean murder to my labtop. #14: Kekkaishi – This month, Kekkaishi mainly focused developing the new main character. This series has been as charming as always. #13: Claymore – What I like about Claymore is that every major plot point, with one or two insignificant exceptions, has an explanation which seems perfectly plausible. It’s also taking me a while to realize that this is one of the few shounen-fighting shows where having the largest amount of power doesn’t necessarily mean being the strongest. Ever since the Law of Ueki, I’ve yet to see such a series, and it feels really refreshing (*coughBleachcoughNarutocough*) #12: Dennou Coil – I knew that Isako would warm up to Yasako sooner or later, but the way episode 7 did this was really good. I find myself liking Kyoko more and more, because she really feels like a little girl. #11: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS – Finally this anime gets fired off with episode 7 and 8. I can’t wait to see the rest of the series now! #10: El Cazador de la Bruja This probably is the most hated series of the season, due to the fact that most people who didn’t like the first episode still stuck with it. Still, that doesn’t stop me from really enjoying it, and it’s currently doing a really good job of building up. #9: Seirei no Moribito In this month, Seirei no Moribito really temporarily became a slice-of-life series, but the incredibly detailed storyline remains Even though it wasn’t the most exciting series of the month, it’s great to see all the different characters fleshed out a bit more, and I cant wait till the story starts developing in the next episode. #8: Wellber no Monogatari Wellber no Monogatari has most definitely been an interesting series, that doesn’t deserve the negligence it received. The first few episodes may goof off at times, but with episode 6 it really gets fired off and an interesting story begins. What I really like is how all major characters get enough development and fleshing out, the story is in no way rushed, and episode 13 left me with a good feeling. I can’t wait to see the second season! #7: Ooedo Rocket Most definitely the funniest series to have come out in the spring-season, with both slapstick, intelligent jokes, sarcasm and parodies. Add a serious and compelling story to it, and you’ve got a success of a series. There have been so many epic characters (Genzo, the townsfolk, Akai, Ginjiro and many more), and I love how all of them get enough attention. #6: Les Miserables Les Miserables quite possibly has the best character-development of all the shows aired in 2007 up till now. The time-leap was definitely well executed, and I’m becoming an increasingly bigger fan of Eponine. I can’t wait to see the final two arcs, which are rumoured to be amazing. #5: Toward the Terra I’m really surprised at the huge amount of time-leaps this series took. So far, it’s developed into a unique and excellent science-fiction series, which for once isn’t about saving the universe or the world, but a quest for the shunned Myu to settle down and live their lives in peace. Keith is also an antagonist with a huge amount of development, which is always nice to see. #4: Kaze no Shoujo Emily The best slice-of-life series of the season? Definitely. It’s such a shame that almost nobody is giving this series a chance (including fansubbers), since Emily is an amazing character, and Perry, Teddy and Ilse are really charming. It’s sad to see that the most neglected series of the season turned out to be this one, while it in fact is one of the best series to have come out. #3: Saiunkoku Monogatari The second season turned out to be quite possibly even better than the first season, due to the immense amount of development that the characters already had because of the first season, and even the new characters, especially Shuuran, turned out amazing. #2: Death Note You know, it may have had a lot of bumps, but the ending of Death Note was a great one. The final three episodes were amazing and among the best episodes of the entire series. #1: Bokura no Bokura no’s change of focus this month was a real surprise for me. There were no twisted cases, it just focused on the children and the lives they left behind. Still, despite this I’m immensely enjoying this series, and it remains one of my favourites of the season. I’m not sure why, actually. I’m drawn to this series in a way similar to The Third, which is one of my favourite series. I also really like the way the plot is going. Overall, it’s barely, but this series definitely is my favourite series of this season, and that has to say something, with so many excellent ones that came out. Top 5 Episodes #5: Toward the Terra – 11 – This was an excellent episode, with a huge amount of shock-value, touching scenes, conflicts and much more, and I greatly enjoyed it. #4: Les Miserables – 24 – Eponine = Love. Seriously, her grown-up version is awesome, and this episode saw her at her best. #3: Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 11 – See the previous comment, but swap Eponine with Perry. His desires to live up to his dreams, despite his hard life and social status are truly magnificent. #2: Bokura no – 09 – Again, see the previous comment, and put Daiichi there. He deserves to be called a hero, and his tragic parting with his family was the highlight of an already amazing series. #1: Death Note – 36 – There are these kinds of episodes that just blow you away, and this was one of them. Death Note may have had its bumps, this episode is where everything comes together to provide an amazing climax, and probably the best and most annoying cliff-hanger I’ve ever seen. Also, I’ve been wondering. I’ve been making these summaries for more than a year now, but this is the first time I’ve asked this question: what were your highlights during this month? What are currently your favourite series?]]>