Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 36

#1: Hunter X Hunter – 45: God, this only reaffirms that Hunter X Hunter has the single best storyline out of any shounen series I’ve seen. This episode was entirely dedicated to Uvogin and the unique situation he was in. On top of that, the spiders all have a great chemistry together. Next season I’m very likely going to cover this show weekly again. – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#2: Kyosogiga – 01: God, Kyosogiga is good. And with episodes that only take up ten minutes, it’s extremely accessible to watch. This first episode details the past of the female lead, but what makes it stand out is how well it is directed, combining both its dialogue with its animation to show various moments in her childhood. Not to mention the characterization, who really manages to nail her as this spunky yet innocent kid, especdially taking the first OVA into account. – 5.5/8 (Excellent)

#3: Polar Bear Cafe – 23: That new ED is awesome. As for the actual episode: the first half was utterly hilarious, the second half didn’t work for me. It had a lot of food jokes based on obsessively saving money, but I didn’t find them that funny. Hamda’s romance however is getting better and better in the way that every single animal is poking fun at him. – 5/8 (Great)

#4: Kokoro Connect – 09: Interesting episode this week. It was mostly about resolving things, and that indeed was the highlight of this episode, seeing the different characters talk out their issues with each other. The oddball turned outto be Inaba, who had a bit of building up for later going on. – 5/8 (Great)

#5: Saint Seiya Omega – 22: Yet again a great episode from Saint Seiya, this time about the ninja. Sure, it’s simple and all, but it worked surprisingly well, especially considering it was about completely different characters this time since the party split up. – 5/8 (Great)

#6: Phi Brain – 47: Well, the climax has begun and Klondike actually did something. I’m glad taht eh didn’t wait for the last possible moment. However, with this the focus on “saving” the villains has pretty much disappeared and this show has turned again into “defeat the villains”. Can they make that work for the climax? – 4.5/8 (Good)

#7: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – 21: Horizon’s cast is HUGE. But did it make good use of it? Well, this episode had a lot of build-up, plus the climax for two characters who I believe we saw eight episodes ago. It was this dramatic climax about sacrifice, but what interested me the most in it was its context in the story, and not these actual characters. – 4.5/8 (Good)

#8: Tari Tari – 09: Hmm, this is an episode that I missed amongst last week’s slew of OVA releases, apologies for that. This starts the arc for Wien-kun. But really: is this arc actually about him? I mean yeah, he likes sentai shows and all, but we hardly see him do anything. Most of the organization is done by the girls and he doesn’t really seem to have any problems that he needs to overcome… – 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)

#9: Tari Tari – 10: Well… so much for Wien then… he got a total two minutes to shine, and the rest of this episode was about something completely different. We didn’t really learn anything new about his character, he didn’t really overcome a problem of his, he didn’t really gain any depth. I mean, it was fun how they captured that pickpocket and the vice principal suddenly turning tsundere was forced, but had a few charms, but nevertheless this was a missed opportunity. Are they also going to ignore the tennis guy’s story like this? – 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)

18 thoughts on “Summer 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 36

  1. If this is to be an indication of what the next season has in store then it makes me very happy and looks like we’re off to a good start.

    1. Puran I’d recommend checking out full metal alchemist or Nabari no ou if you want to see more of Kugimiya doing a non-tsundere role.

    2. Kagura from Gintama, Atsumi from recorder and ranshell and Rise from persona 4. Now finding one where she isnt a loli or shota jis another question

  2. I seriously don’t understand why aren’t more people watching Hunter x Hunter. Outside of Japan, it is so underrated compared to the big 3 or even Fairy Tail as a matter of fact. You’d also think more people would check it out because for the few that ACTUALLY blog/vlog about it are always giving it rave reviews including Psgels.

  3. i called it! psgels is back on the HxH full time coming soon! I, however, think that the original anime episodes of these last 3 are much better in comparison tho it is refreshing watching this different take. Excited for next weeks episode!

  4. The last Phi Brain actually made me remember why I really liked the series to begin with. Klondike is a beast, and I always love that in a character. I actually like where they went with that. Also looking forward to the next HxH

  5. Didn’t like Omega ep22’s animation, not surprisingly it’s suppose to be by the same people responsible for ep6 and ep17…

    On the other hand, spoilers revealed that Umakoshi will be back on the animation chair for ep27, a little sooner that expected.

  6. Juana and Felipe II’s back story is actually pretty interesting, but for the intent of this season, much of their action are framed by the context of the battle, so it’s appropriate that they only get major screen time here since they dont really have much to do with the major character story line of this season(which is Tenzo and Mary). It’s not yet the climax for them either. The character motives for their actions were actually well setup in episode two, which gave you information about Felipe’s past battle records, his relationships with half elves, why being a half-elf is a problem in Tres Espania, his public perception and how he feels toward politics, and also why Juana work so hard fighting a battle they’re suppose to lose.

    There is simply too many characters to give equal screen time and set up, but giving each character exposition for their actions is what makes the book the book so long in the first place, and unlike something like Certain Magical Index, where only few of the ensemble cast appear in each arc, Horizon pretty always has most of the cast doing something along side the major story lines

  7. Kokoro Connect hit me like a train this week.
    It was just so… satisfying.
    Inaban has been a favorite of mine since the show began but I didn’t really expect much character development. I can relate to a lot of things in this show, ahh, my hunger, its rare I’m this satisfied.
    This has been really good week for anime, at least for me. Even Sword Art Online had more satisfying boom than usual. Eureka Seven Ao promises to be good as well, the next Hunter X Hunter just came out too… Ah.. I’ll need to consume all of it before I can rest tonight.

    1. Horray for cute Inanba. She only gets cuter in the novels, it seems they are skipping volume 3 and straight into 4 where you will see their relationship develop even further

      1. It’s than the fact I find her fucking adorable, I can relate to her in a good number of ways. Specially when it comes to her own issues and stuff. Light novels eh? You know I never get around to reading those? Do you perhaps know where I could read good translations? I was thinking of reading the SAO novels while I watch the anime as well.

        1. I dont think there is a translation of later volumes, It’s written in a tedious way because of all the “abilities”.

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