October Summary

+ October Rankings + The start of the Autumn 2007-season did show one thing: the amount of great series just isn’t as large as you’d expect. Still, I’m glad that at least a few series managed to stand out for me, and now all that’s left is to hope that they’ll unexpectedly turn out awesome in their second halfs. Another advantage of a small season is that series that originally have been ignored can suddenly hope for a bit more attention than usual. Oh, and in case this is the first time you see this, the series are ranked from worst to best, the number between the ( and ) indicates the place where that series was on last month, the rating is out of 10, with average being a 6,0 (and yes, I’m using the decimal comma). #44 (new) – Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun – (3,9/10) – Ehm… No. Fanservice does not equal a good anime. #43 (new) – Koharu Biyori – (4/10) – Only for people with a maid-fetish. How come crap like this gets animated, while truly captivating premises are ignored? #42 (new) – Prism Ark – (4,9/10) – Way too much aimed at teenagers for its own good. #41 (new) – Myself; Yourself – (5,6/10) – I really don’t remember anything about this series. All I know is that it was rather boring, so I never checked out episode 2. #40 (35) – Romeo x Juliet – (5,6/10) – Well, I admit that it’s interesting that [spoiler] the bad guy’s dead, two episodes before the end, but things are still looking grim with an utterly predictable finale in store. #39 (new) – Da Capo II – (5,9/10) – Just has too many stereotypes. #38 (new) – Kimikiss Pure Rouge – (5,9/10) – I couldn’t really get myself to continue this. In the end, it’s just too generic. Dropped. #37 (new) – Rental Magica – (6/10) – This series just feels too generic for me to continue. Dropped. #36 (new) – Shakugan no Shana II – (6,1/10) – Halfway through the second episode, I found myself thinking: “why the heck am I still watching this bore-fest?”, so I dropped this series. Something I should have done ages ago. #35 (new) – Dragonaut the Resonance – (6,5/10) – I’m still not sure what to think of this series. The storytelling is obnoxious, especially the best friend is getting predictable and the outfits are just outrageous, but the potential’s there. #34 (new) – Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro – (6,7/10) – Okay, I know that this one could become good later on, but my inner-mystery-fanboy is screaming because of the shallowness of the first few episodes. Dropped. #33 (new) – Hero Tales – (6,7/10) – A lot of people seem to think that the mangaka of Full Metal Alchemist wrote this series. Well, she didn’t. She just worked on the art. It’s perhaps because of this that I stopped caring about the plot halfway through the third episode and dropped it. #32 (new) – Sketchbook ~ Full Color’s – (6,8/10) – While episode 1 was nice enough, episode 2 was rather boring and much of the same, so I dropped it. #31 (new) – Minami-ke – (7,1/10) – On second thoughts, I dropped this. The comedy isn’t that funny, and it gets old soon. It’s a shame, I would like to have continued this, but my time isn’t endless. #30 (new) – Maple Story – (7,2/10) – Say what you want, but I like this series. It may be rather childish, stupid and without much depth, it also is a fun series to watch. #29 (new) – Clannad – (7,3/10) – This surprises me. In two episodes, the main character feels more as a part of the series than the main character for Kanon did in all ten episodes that I lasted for that one. It’s a shame that star-girl, book-girl and fighting-girl feel too much like unrealistic stereotypes, because this could be the very first Kyoani-series that I actually like. #28 (36) – Kodomo no Jikan – (7,4/10) – Well what do you know? This series actually turned out good enough to continue. It’s just like Umisho: the fanservice is horrible, but beyond that, we have in this case a touching story about children with problems at school, and inexperienced teachers, having to deal with it. Based on the rumours, I really expected this series to turn into some kind of spawn of Satan, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it didn’t. #27 (new) – Night Wizard – (7,4/10) – The thing with RPG-adaptations is that they’re bound to have a few clichés here and there. The thing that they need to worry about is developing their characters well, and making their setting so that the viewer will get interested. A great example is the game Golden Sun. It couldn’t get more clichéd, with the lighthouses and the jewels and all, but the world and villains still kept me interested until the final boss-fight. Still, I’m missing this a bit with Night Wizard. #26 (31) – Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha – (7,5/10) – I’m honestly disappointed in Nanoha, though I’ll go into more detail for that once the series finishes. I haven’t seen episode 26 yet, but I should get the chance in the next couple of days. Episode 25 made up for a few things, and it did manage to turn out a bit touching in the end, but at this time, I consider StrikerS to be the weakest of the Nanoha-franchise. #25 (new) – ef – a Tale of Memories – (7,6/10) – The story of the girl with the eye-patch has turned out great. I wish I could say the same about the manga-writer, though. His story is way too standard, and it doesn’t seem to get anywhere. #24 (new) – Little Princess Sara – (7,7/10) – From now on, I’m also going to include this series in the rankings, as it looks like it’s going to take a while before it finishes. The first episode showed some great potential for the future. #23 (new) – Gundam 00 – (7,7/10) – Right now, Gundam 00 has been building up for a good base to work with. It’s nothing special yet, but neither are there signs for total failure. #22 (new) – Mokke – (7,7/10) – So it’s predictable, and the animation… well… sucks. The storytelling makes up for it, and creates a nice and relaxing atmosphere. #21 (32) – Sky Girls – (7,7/10) – Hah! It’s just as I hoped. While the series is still annoying at times, the characters are starting to get developed, and the overall quality has risen considerably, compared to the first half of the series. #20 (new) – Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – (7,8/10) – Okay, it’s not perfect, but it’s good and intriguing enough for now. But it’s too early to tell whether this will become a success or not. #19 (18) – Perrine Monogatari – (7,9/10) – I was surprised to see a new member of the cast appear, in the form of a circus-boy. The messages about how wrong stealing is may have been a bit too emphasized, but overall it was a solid episode. #18 (20) – Mushiuta – (7,9/10) – The ending created quite a bit of potential for the second season, with all the deaths and all. I must say, that while the series itself had its bumps here and there, I am looking forward to what the second half of this series has in store for us. #17 (new) – Shugo Chara – (8/10) – While not the best beginning for a mahou shoujo out there, the potential is definitely there, and the past few episodes have been quite some fun to watch. #16 (8) – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – (8/10) – This month, Higurashi has been building up for the final arc. It’s definitely necessary, but not as exciting as the show used to be. #15 (new) – Blue Drop – (8/10) – Blue Drop has been developing into a very nice series. The yuri is always welcome, and something tells me that the best of the series is still to come. #14 (new) – Moyashimon – (8,2/10) – A well-scripted comedy with a unique premise. The different high-school anime really should take an example from this series. #13 (new) – Bamboo Blade – (8,2/10) – Now this turned into a real surprise. Episode four was hilarious, and Tama is also shaping up to become a great character. The chemistry between the characters is just excellent. #12 (new) – Ghost Hound – (8,2/10) – The Lain-influences are so noticeable, though the first two episodes have mostly been just building up. The potential’s there, though. #11 (???) – Mononoke – (8,2/10) – Mononoke ended this month, and while the final arc wasn’t as good as the other arcs of the series, it was a worthy ending of such an interesting Noitamina-series. #10 (29) – Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula – (8,4/10) I’m glad I decided to stick with this series. I know I’ve been ranting against it, but the characters are starting to connect. Sure the plot is still hugely predictable, but the different characters are starting to make up for this. #9 (16) – Shigurui – (8,5/10) It’s been a while since an episode evoked more mixed feelings with episode twelve. The episode itself was absolutely stunning, then it became disgusting and then it had me wondering what the heck happened to the enormous plot-hole that was left open. #8 (new) – Shion no Ou – (8,5/10) Shion no Ou has turned out surprisingly good after episode three, and into the second-best of the new series that aired this season. Shion and her strong character are a delight to watch. #7 (14) – Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – (8,5/10) Only one episode was released this month, but it was a hilarious one, about the class-president who doesn’t get noticed by anyone. #6 (22) – Saiunkoku Monogatari – (8,6/10) Now this is more like the Saiunkoku Monogatari I remembered. Most of the time is till spent on building up, but the upcoming arc sounds like it’s going to be an awesome one. #5 (new) – Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji – (8,7/10) For me, this is the best series of the Autumn-Season so far. It’s already after four episodes a fascinating look into human nature, and it’s one of the very few series which can be excellent, right from the beginning. Now let’s hope that it will keep up this level. #4 (15) – Gintama – (8,9/10) It was only a matter of time before Gintama went on to take the mick out of the censors, with hilarious results. I also remember complaining about how the endings of Ginrama-episodes are rather disappointing, but let me rephrase that: whenever an episode or half-episode of Gintama is entirely devoted to comedy, the ending turns out disappointing. With drama added, the endings are excellent, which is what the episodes that were released in this month proved. #3 (11) – Dennou Coil – (9,1/10) This month has been an astonishing month for Dennou Coil, showcasing some of the best episodes of the entire series. It’s been one hit after the other. #2 (6) – Baccano! – (9,3/10) Baccano! has turned out awesome. Now that everything is coming together, you can see the incredible quality of the scriptwriting even more. #1 (9) – Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – (9,6/10) With this month, I know for sure: Les Miserables is one of the best series of the entire year. The episodes that were aired this month were absolutely incredible. + Top 5 Episodes + #5: Baccano! – 12 Now that’s what I call an action-scene! Fun, exciting and extremely well-written. #4: Dennou Coil – 20 This was an excellent climax to the Haraken-storyline. Dennou Coil has really turned out into an excellent series. #3: Ayatsuri Sakon – 26 I LOVE it when the final episode of a series turns out to be the best of the entire series. It couldn’t have been a better conclusion for the series. #2: Les Miserables – 43 Now this is what you can do with some good build-up. There should be no doubt whether Les Miserables is worth of the title World Masterpiece Theatre #1: Les Miserables – 41 This episode wins. Period.]]>