September Summary

+ September 2007 Rankings + And finally the Spring- and Summer-seasons have ended. Last month, I received the comment that my ratings have been a tad too high, though I must say that they’ve possibly become even higher. But then again, September has been the best month in terms of anime for me for this year, and the ratings will probably plummet down for October, when the new season starts, since there are only very few anime which can be awesome right from the start (Night Head Genesis and Asatte no Houkou were probably some of the few who actually did it). Anyway, 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). #38(new): Saishu Shiken Kujira – (4,3/10) – Garbage also comes in episodes of five minutes. #37(39): School Days – (4,8/10) – Finally Final Fantasy 7 has been beaten in terms of a character-death that’s hardest to avoid being spoiled about. The final episodes were quite possibly even worse than the rest of the series combined. The final episode itself was okay, but the ending was horrible. I mean, no police? #36(new): Kodomo no Jikan – (6,2/10) – Better than I expected, but the useless fanservice has to stop. If this is an omen for the series… #35(38): Romeo X Juliet – (6,4/10) – In addition to bowmen, it now also looks like there isn’t a good stone-thrower in the entire kingdom. Anyway, this story is now about to get closed off. I’m going to be disappointed if Romeo and Juliet don’t end up committing suicide! #34(37): Lucky Star – (6,6/10) – Like I said before: episode 24 was one of the best episodes of this series yet, but that may also be because of the relief that the boredom was finally over. The episode with Konata’s mother was artificial at best, though. #33(19): Reideen – (6,7/10) – The final episode was garbage. Seriously, it ruined a major part of the continuity the show had been building up. #32(35): Sky Girls – (7/10) – Sky Girls seriously needs to develop its setting now. At the moment, I have no idea how many bases on earth remain. Why was Western Europe the only place where new sonic-divers were made? And if they’re so easy to maintain (after all, a team of four people is enough for three of them) then why aren’t they more available? #31(14): Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha – (7/10) – Whoa, what happened here? Nanoha, with cookie-cutter villains? Oh my god, scriptwriters: what the heck are you doing?! #30(13): Claymore – (7/10) – You’ll either hate the final episodes of this series, or you’ll love them. I’m close to the former, even though I haven’t read the manga. Diverting from the manga is okay, but please use a sensible storyline and not the… “thing” we saw here. #29(???): Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula – (7,1/10) – I finally realize what’s wrong with this show: the sheer predictability and the lack of cultural references. Seriously, why the heck did the creators have to make the United States of all possible countries special? Why the heck is Europe so unimportant that it’s already killed off entirely at this point? Why don’t we see any sort of accurate cultural references from the different countries? #28(33): Nanatsuiro Drops – (7,2/10) – Any attempts at a deep story backfire horribly for this series, but the love-relationship between the two main characters is cute, I really have to admit that. #27(31): Potemayo – (7,5/10) – The final episode did evoke some emotion, but it would have been so much better if Sunao’s background was moved to the beginning of the series. #26(34): Kenko Zenrakei Sueibu Umisho – (7,7/10) – The added drama is surprisingly good for a comedy. This month hasn’t been better for Umisho, but it also didn’t turn worse, and there were some funny moments. But that still gives no excuse for the excessive fanservice! #25(28): Murder Princess – (7,8/10) – Okay, the finale was cheesy, but at least it was entertaining enough. #24(24): Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – (7,8/10) – I liked Kittan’s end, and Yoko turned much more enjoyable now that she’s a mere side-character, instead of a main one. I liked the spiral-guy as well. It’s just too bad that the predictability in this show is back again. #23(18): Zombie Loan – (7,9/10) – Two words: Too Short!!! #22(26): Saiunkoku Monogatari – (7,9/10) – Yes! After a nearly endless amount of recaps, Saiunkoku Monogatari finally returned. This month ha been mostly introductions, but things are looking promising. #21(23): Tetsuko no Tabi – (8/10) – One thing I didn’t like about the past few episodes is that there haven’t been any guests on the trips. Still, you just have to love Kikuchi’s reaction to Yokomi’s wild fantasies, and it’s also nice to see that the final episode was one of the best of the entire series. Such a thing doesn’t happen often for comedy-anime. #20(30): Mushiuta – (8/10) – Nice, but it’s got a bit too much angst for my liking. The creators seemed to have written themselves into a corner when they came up with the idea that only downhearted people can get possessed by Mushi. I mean, it’s an easy way to write a sad storyline, but not only does this limit the storyline a lot, seeing every single character in the show turn angsty can become annoying. #19(9): Code-E – (8,2/10) – The finale wasn’t as fun as the rest of the series, though seeing Chinami’s power gone was quite interesting to watch. I’m looking forward to the next anime the staff is going to tackle. #18(???): Perrine Monogatari – (8,4/10) – I’ve decided to include this series in the rankings as well from now on, even though it aired more than twenty years ago. Plus, this is probably the only anime that shows a realistic life in Eastern Europe of two centuries ago. I’m at episode six now, and so far, this series has earned its title of World Masterpiece Theatre #17(27): Heroic Age – (8,4/10) – Surprise surprise, Heroic Age is getting good. Now that it actually started to progress its storyline, unlike what it did in the major part of the series, the series has been getting more enjoyable by the minute. Sure, the discovery of the Golden Tribe was cheesy, but at least it felt good. #16(32): Shigurui – (8,4/10) – I’ve actually been watching Shigurui double: with and without subs, due to my impatience. The strange thing is that even with subs, episode four didn’t make any sense at all. How did Irako and the woman get together? What did he do with Mie? The latest episodes have been getting better by the way. The bizarre rituals are gone and now that the storyline is more focused, Shigurui’s turning tenser with every episode. #15(29): Gintama – (8,5/10) – Christmas episodes have always been worthwhile, but Gintama brings this to a totally new level with episode 37. The episodes have been utterly brilliant, though it’s a shame this series falls into clichés with its endings. This was especially noticeable for the two stories of episode 37. They’re hilarious, but their endings lacked steam. #14(17): Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – (8,6/10) – There are only very few comedies which can milk out a joke and turn better because of it, but Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei is one of them. It starts out with a mundane joke and it keeps making it more and more ridiculous. That’s one of the reasons I like this series so much, though there is one major annoyance about this series: the useless and frequent eye-catches become annoying quite soon. #13(20): Demashitaa!! Power Puff Girls Z – (8,7/10) – Episodes 42 and 43 were utterly brilliant. I keep getting surprised at the bizarre sense of humour of this series. #12(22): Kekkaishi – (8,7/10) – Kekkaishi has been getting stronger than ever with Gen’s development, BUT (and there’s a huge but here) Yoshimori has hidden powers. If there’s anything that can ruin a series, it’s hidden powers that can be conveniently used to power up the main character due to laziness of the writers! #11(16): Dennou Coil – (8,7/10) – This month has been a month of building up for Dennou Coil. While it has been better, I’m definitely curious as to where it’ll go from now. Especially episode 18 was really intriguing #10(11): Darker than Black – (8,8/10) Okay, so the ending was rushed. In this case, a 26th episode would have been better for this series, but the pre-ending episodes were really good. I especially liked Mao and November 11. #9(3): Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – (8,9/10) While it wasn’t as good as at other points in the anime, the past month has been building up for the story and the upcoming revolution. Things are promising to become awesome. #8(6): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – (9/10) Now that most of the mysteries are cleared up, Higurashi is no longer the chaotic paranoid mystery-series it used to be in its first season, but in return, the characters have stepped up to become this series’ highlight, and the bond that’s developing between them is fascinating to say the least. #7(5): El Cazador de la Bruja – (9/10) Ellis and Nadie showed that you can even become extremely cheesy if the character-development is excellent. This month, El Cazador has finally decided to focus on its storyline, and the result, when combined with the characters was nothing short of awesome. #6(10): Baccano! – (9,2/10) Now this is a well-written storyline! Every single character seems to have his or her own story, and the amount of development it achieves is something most other series can even dream of. #5(8): Ooedo Rocket – (9,3/10) The final episodes rocked! I was expecting that the drama would totally overshadow the comedy, and I’m so glad I was proven wrong. #4(7): Toward the Terra – (9,3/10) Episodes 21 and 22 were all kinds of epic and awesome, and while it wasn’t the best ending, it still was satisfying enough. It’s sad to see this series go, and we can only hope that it set the standard for other science-fiction series. #3(3): Seirei no Moribito – (9,4/10) And finally everything the series has build up for has come together perfectly! The fight against Rarunga was quite possibly the best multi-episoded fight I’ve seen this year. #2(1): Kaze no Shoujo Emily – (9,5/10) Seriously, making Emily grow up in the final part of the series was a masterful decision, as the final episodes have been nothing but tear-jerking awesomeness. The way Emily and her friends have developed throughout the years are magnificent. #1(4): Bokura no – (9,6/10) I seriously couldn’t have expected a better finale for this series. Everything worked out perfectly, there was no rush and the fights were awesome to watch. + Top 5 Episodes + #5: Seirei no Moribito – 26 In these kinds of endings, everything comes together and works out perfectly, despite the predictability. #4: Toward the Terra – 21 I really cried during the several plot twists of this episode. Toward the Terra may not have had the best ending, but it does have the best pre-ending episodes of the spring-season. #3: Ooedo Rocket – 26 *grins* I’m nog going to tell you why~ Muahaha! TAMAYA!!!! #2: Bokura no – 24 A truly magnificent ending that closes off the series perfectly for me. While others will disagree, Bokura no has been one of the best series of the year for me. #1: Toward the Terra – 22 It’s not often that a series takes up two spaces in this top-five, but Toward the Terra deserves it with two magnificently epic and tragedic ones.]]>