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Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 9th January 2011
Madoka Magica 01 - Yeah, that was pretty interesting. I like the near-future setting, all that glass-walled architecture is unique stuff for anime. They put some effort into the architecture of this series, for sure. I'm not so sure I like the odd character faces (they're so ... square or something), but the backgrounds make up for that.
The first couple of minutes reminded me of .hack//Sign crossed with Black Rock Shooter, stylistically, or something like that... pretty cool stuff. Then came the glass-walled architecture, and then the full-blown unexpected-even-though-people-had-said-it-was-unique awesomeness of the last part. That was so crazy, visually, awesome stuff. :lol This has got to be one of the most visually unique magical girl shows ever...
As for the story, it was okay. Not amazing, but enough to make me want to keep watching, which is good enough I think. Characters seem decent as well, if not exactly original.
(looks up Yuki Kajiura)... Huh, so the music's by the same composer as .hack//Sign, as well? Maybe that's part of why I was reminded of it at the beginning. :) That and the visual style of focusing attention with shots of interesting and unique environments, hack sign did a lot of that and I saw some of it in Madoka Magica too.
Gosick 01 - And again I agree with what most people are saying about this, this was boring. It wasn't bad, really, just dull, predictable, and generic. I know someone mentioned this, but really, it's the kind of thing that bothers me so, so much... why is this "European" school so Japanese? Everything about this school is Japanese, and just about nothing is Western. Come on, put at least a LITTLE bit of effort into your setting... no, I won't just accept that anime only very, very rarely does any of that, it always bothers me. :( Also, this is set in the 1920s, right? The 1920s were the flapper era, not the goth loli era.
As for the actual show... generic. Boring.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 9th January 2011
Beelzebub is the only good show so far.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 10th January 2011
You're right, this is a pretty poor season. Not quite as bad as the summer season probably (summer '10 at least), but not good. Still it's not completely hopeless, just full of very generic shows.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 10th January 2011
Good shows so far:
Beelzebub
Kore wa Zombie desu ka?
Level E
Maybe good:
Freezing
Madoka Magica
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 12th January 2011
Gosick 01 (reprise) - I didn't give this show enough of a chance before. Sure it's somewhat bland, the OP is really lame, and I don't like the main character guy at all (so he sees a single blond hair fall and... decides to run at full speed all the way up that giant tower? What the heck?), but Victorique is amusing and a better character too, and the plot's not too bad. She solves mysteries quickly. :) I will continue with this series. It's got some definite problems, but it's not THAT bad. Some things about it are good.
Coyote Ragtime Show 01-05 - A show from several years back. It's just 12 episodes, so I'm almost halfway done already... it feels like it's going by very quickly, the show has a fast pace and is a lot of fun to watch. I did find episode 4, the backstory heist episode, less interesting than the other four so far (I found it kind of dull, actually, at times), but other than that this show's pretty good. It's not deep and complex or anything, just good fun entertainment with lots of action, some good (or at least decent) characters, and enough of a plot to keep it going. Good stuff.
Kanon (2006) 07 - I'm liking this more and more as I continue with it... poor Motoko though, things are about to start getting bad for her though aren't they. :(
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 14th January 2011
Dragon Crisis 01 was pretty bad. Super generic, iffy art, very bland look apart from those butterflies... it didn't leave me hating it so much I ruled out even considering watching the second episode, like, say, Asobi no Iku Yo did (I hope I won't continue with this series, but we'll see, perhaps I will anyway), but that's about the only good thing I can think of to say. The characters are idiots and they all know backstory we're not being told, which is frustrating. I can't say I was disappointed because I had zero expectations from the show, so I guess it was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be... bad and probably a waste of time.
Coyote Ragtime Show 06 - Yeah, I definitely like this show. It's half over already, which is too bad, but the fast pace and good action really make me want to keep watching. The story's just decent, but eh, it's good enough. It's the action that really carries the show, and there's a lot of it. Oh, the characters are all pretty good too. :) The big battle in the giant transportation warp gate just finished, are they at Graceland? And how will Mister and the thieves open whatever it is with Marciano in possession of the key (and psychosis, and killer assassin goth (loli?) robots (they're creepy, they obviously were not programmed with the slightest shred of regard for the lives of the people, innocent or no, they kill while attempting to accomplish their missions... Mister does bad things too, but they seem more evil somehow.))... and then there's the inspector of course, we'll see what she does.
Madoka Magica 02 - Woah, this show is awesome. Really, I like this a lot. It's got great, very original visuals, great music, a decent story with some depth, and more. On that last point the bit about being so privileged that they can't think of anything to ask for really stood out, an accurate assessment indeed I think. The visuals for the witch fight were really cool again too. A completely different looking style from the first episode, I think, but no less awesome looking. The backgrounds in the normal world are quite well done too though, nicely detailed and cool looking. And it's all accompanied by that fantastic music, too.
The story does seem somewhat stereotypical, and the same is true for the characters, but still, this is pretty good.
Oh yeah, and yeah, I also wouldn't be surprised if this show takes a darker turn. I don't know HOW dark a turn it might take, but somewhat darker at least wouldn't surprise me at all. We'll see what happens though.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 15th January 2011
Freezing - Episode 2
This is a series overflowing with brutal violence [towards girls] and pointless fanservice, but neither of those things are the problem. So what's the problem? The dough-faced little twit-burger that acts as the main male character. He's the biggest dull-eyed little punk I've ever seen. In almost every scene he stands with his mouth agape like friggen goldfish and so far has done nothing even remotely worthy of note except turning the awesomely-cool main female character into a blushing pile of goo. I guess I'll watch the second half of this episode anyway, but I can't imagine anything's going to happen to salvage either of these two hopelessly infuriating characters.
Fake Edit: Oh, totally didn't see this coming: the dough-faced boy is lightly slapped, causing the one girl to Hulk-out and totally trash this other chick. What a surprising twist!
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 15th January 2011
I'm not going to watch Freezing.
Gosick 02 - This episode was better than the first one. I liked it, actually. It wasn't perfect -- the characters are not improved, the main guy is still annoying and Victorique not as interesting, and more generic, than she could have been -- but the story and suspense were done quite well, as the group on the ship began to lose it...
Also I wonder what Victorique's tragic past is going to be, from this episode it's pretty clear she has one. The first episode had some suggestions towards it, but this make it quite clear.
Also, cliffhanger ending... argh. Of course our hero is going to be okay, but still, that's cruel... :)
Level E 01 - Hmm, I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series, but I will admit that the alien guy's taunting of our annoying and generic main character guy was pretty funny. Beyond that though it was okay, but not incredibly interesting. The alien guy's the best thing about the show so far, and he almost makes me want to keep watching... we'll see.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 15th January 2011
Quote:annoying and generic main character guy
He's 90% less annoying and 50% less generic than the main male character in most other animes.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 15th January 2011
Really, you think? I thought he was annoying... less annoying than some male main characters, sure, they have an amazing tendency to be incredibly annoying, but still annoying.
As for less generic, maybe slightly, in terms of background, but in terms of actions, not so much...
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 15th January 2011
What exactly did you find annoying about him?
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 17th January 2011
Episode 2 of Level E was great, definitely cements that show as the best this season by a good margin. Absolutely hilarious.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 17th January 2011
Great Rumbler Wrote:What exactly did you find annoying about him?
If the alien prince was the main character I might agree about that "90% less annoying and 50% less generic" thing, but not if it's the baseball player guy that it sure seems to be... he's quite generic, and annoying too. "I'm going to yell about how much I hate you all episode, and then say 'come back safe' afterwards..." bah, what is he, tsundere?
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 17th January 2011
No, he's a former delinquent. Which you would know if you'd watched the second episode! Honestly though, do you expect someone to act very calmly when they find a stranger in their apartment wearing their clothes and claiming to be an alien?
The alien guy needs a foil, and Tsutsui is really good at being that foil.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 21st January 2011
Madoka Magica 03... woah. This is most definitely not a standard magical girl show... I never expected THAT to happen in just the third episode! Indeed now I see why the ED wasn't in the first two episodes... it'd have given away the dark turn the series takes here.
I mean, really... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EV9PNx7RtU The screen's mostly black, base-heavy music... fitting with what happens in this episode, but not showing it until now does up the impact of finally seeing the end credits.
Dragon Crisis 02 v. Infinite Stratos 02 - Dragon Crisis is "better". That's not saying much though, considering how bad IS is...really, why am I watching this? The first episode was awful. This episode was no better, I hated it pretty much beginning to end. I was happy to see that our annoying, unlikable hero lost, surprisingly, but it was only because he's an idiot and knows nothing about the mecha suits, not because his skills were weaker. Other than that, generic flying mecha-people fighting, generic harem antics, generic quite unlikable main character guy (I get it, he's a moron, it just makes me like him even less), generic stereotype girls. So bad.
(Samurai Girls is better than this. That wasn't a good show, but I didn't hate it while watching it nearly as much as I do IS...)
As for Dragon Crisis, most of the episode was surprisingly tolerable. It's more about plot than harem antics, which is good. The dragon girl's completely passive and useless so far, though. Considering how strong the dragon guy is, I'm sure that over the course of their generic adventures she'll eventually get powers, etc, etc, this stuff almost writes itself. The show still isn't really explaining itself (in medias res here all the way) but some things are starting to make a little more sense. Make no mistake though this is a bad, generic show. (Oh no, I wonder if our determined but powerless hero will manage to save the kidnapped dragon girl!
) It's just not quite as bad as IS. That still leaves it pretty awful overall, though.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 21st January 2011
I didn't even bother with either of the later two. Too obviously not something that I could enjoy.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 22nd January 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 22nd January 2011
Quote:Did you watch Madoka Magica 03 yet?
Ya, I watched it. Quite a sudden turn there in the last few minutes. Hopefully they don't turn a 180 on it with Madoka's wish in the next episode.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 24th January 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 26th January 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 3rd February 2011
Pani Poni Dash 24-25 -- Ep. 24... wow... that was just awesome, best episode of the series? It's one of the best anyway. Pani Poni Dash does a samurai action film, and it's just brilliant, funny stuff. Great beginning to end. All of the characters as traditional Japanese people of sorts was great... oh yeah, and Ichijo with that kind of samurai hairstyle... just awesome.
Hau Hau (tears) tax... So good. As for ep. 25, finally the climax of the "earth is going to be destroyed" arc of sorts, as as the main characters go sentai and save the world with their giant robot. The part where one character points out that the army or police is supposed to do this kind of thing was pretty funny, pointing out how weird it is to have random kids usually save the world, are you? :) Overall, not quite as great as ep. 24, but a great, clever episode even so. The whole climax was just awesome stuff.... If you ever see an Ichijo Box, stay away, stay far away...
26 - And so a great anime ends. :( The last episode isn't the best one of the series, but still, it's pretty good. This series needs a second season, it's the second best comedy anime series ever after only Excel Saga.
Infinite Stratos 04 - Yeah, why am I watching this beyond self-hatred... there are so many much better not-depressing shows I could watch than this... but as awful as this show is, I want to know what happens for some reason, even though I know nothing much probably will in the end (this kind of show, reset ending seems the most likely kind...).
The action in this episode was decent, I'll admit, but still, this show is so bad... annoying generic girls, really annoying generic guy, dumb plot (what little of it we've seen so far)... and yeah, that new character from the preview's not going to actually be a guy, I'm sure. At least the plot does seem to be doing something other than harem-gathering though, with the robot attack.
Gosick 04 - Avril, the new girl... I think she's probably evil (um, almost certainly evil). Also, the school parts of this show are painfully stupid, with how Japanese they are in a show supposedly not set in Japan. Other than that though, good episode. Victorique solves several mysteries with incredible ease as soon as they were described to her, and these were not ones I guessed before she explained them. Of course though that's what she does, with her Holmesian level of mystery-solving ability. The whole mystery hasn't been solved though, she solves two simpler mysteries with no trouble, but they seem unrelated, and there's Avril and whatever she's up to too... there has to be some kind of connection here, a deeper mystery that they haven't gotten to yet, and that evidently will actually require field work to solve.
... Yeah, the "motorcycle rider killer" mystery was simpler, if a little sketchy in her reasoning (though of course she was right), the "guy locked in a crypt" one was much more complicated, and she still solved it quite easily... unless the things we do not yet know about the whole thing overturn part of her discoveries? I doubt it, she seems to generally be right, but who knows... there clearly are things we don't know about the situation. Who is Avril, and what's she doing, and what about those other murders if the people who did them are known, but somehow Avril seems tied to one or both too or something... I'll be interested to see what the truth is, but the preview gave (perhaps too much of) a hint. Oh well.
Overall, this show has got some issues, some of which I just mentioned, but I like the show even so. The good sense of suspense really helps a show like this, and I like the descriptions and then solutions of the mysteries. The visuals are good too, and the music fits the style. Good but not great.
Fractale 01 - Yeah, I agree with some of the complaints... the art design is good and the world seems interesting, but it just doesn't quite work, probably because of the somewhat annoying characters and not-that-interesting-so-far story. The main character's quite generic, he's not too interesting... Still this episode was okay, I guess. It was just as much bad as it was good, so it's nothing beyond middle of the road quality wise, but not terrible, so far at least. If I keep watching I'll see if it gets worse, which it sounds like it probably will.
Also, yeah, the idea that for some reason most people just don't live around other humans -- and they consider this good -- makes absolutely no sense on any level. That's not how humans operate, humans are social creatures. I think someone mentioned the Kino's Journey episode where people all lived apart, but that episode of course actually had a reason for it. This as far as I can tell has nothing, it just is for no reason. It's impossible to believe that people would be like that, and it does hurt the show some.
Houkago no Pleiades 01-02 Four 6-minute episodes, forming a 24 minute OVA when combined? That's really short... still though, the first half is competent magical girl stuff, entertaining if not especially original. That mascot thing is kind of amusing though. :)
... I guess this is the anime equivalent of Darkened Skye or something, except I'm not sure if it's based off of anything except for the Pleiades. On that note, because of the Greeks considering the Pleiades seven, I somehow find it a little odd how the Japanese consider (or Subaru at least does) it six... though I know really it's a big star cluster.
Haiyaru! Nyaruani 07 - This show...
It is so, so dumb, yet amusing. Of course, each episode's only a couple of minutes long, so they don't wear out their welcome, but still, despite the unbelievably stupid premise, I can't help but be just entertained enough for it to be worth it.
Dragon Crisis 03 - This show is awful, why am I still watching it?
Now that he has this girl in his harem, I assume that next more dragon girls with past histories with the guy will start showing up, so the size of his harem can grow? It's the most obvious way forward! The fighting's moderately entertaining, but everything else about this show is awful, and kind of boring. I should drop this.
So in my apparent quest at the moment of "watching bad anime", I watched the first five episodes of Maburaho. It was bad, but somehow I watched all five of them, today, anyway... which means it was tolerable enough to be watchable even if it's completely stupid and lame generic harem humor. The cast is generic and a bit annoying, as expected, the situations are super-stereotypical, the main character guy is a moron.. check, check, check. At least it's amusing often enough to keep me going. (And yes, I know it's based on a light novel series that I think still isn't over, so there will be no ending. Oh well.)
... The guy's gone through a spell an episode so far, at this rate he should be dust in two episodes. This is a 26 episode series though, so they'll have to come up with some explanation for why he won't die. Considering how much of a generic idiot the main character is, insane magical powers on the one hand and "use magic eight times and you die" on the other aside, I don't care that much either way (though I guess I dislike him slightly less than Infinite Stratos' hero, though that really isn't saying much at all, both are incredibly generic), but considering that he's the main character, he's obviously not going to die. Considering how stupid he's being wasting his magic when he has so little, though, he'd deserve it.
Madoka - The sidekick made a wish? I wonder how long she lasts...
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 3rd February 2011
Quote:If I keep watching I'll see if it gets worse, which it sounds like it probably will.
It gets better, with episode 3 being really good.
Quote:Also, yeah, the idea that for some reason most people just don't live around other humans -- and they consider this good -- makes absolutely no sense on any level. That's not how humans operate, humans are social creatures. I think someone mentioned the Kino's Journey episode where people all lived apart, but that episode of course actually had a reason for it. This as far as I can tell has nothing, it just is for no reason. It's impossible to believe that people would be like that, and it does hurt the show some.
This would only be a problem if the world was this way and it never explained why. Episode 3 explains why.
On a different note, Level E episode 3 was beyond amazing and episode 4 presented a very good, serious story and then one really great joke. Best show of the season by far, contender for best of the year [even though this is the first season of the year AND the show still has many episodes left].
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 11th February 2011
Fractale after 4 episodes has been really good [and getting exciting].
Level E after 4 episodes is ZOMG AMAZING. Love it.
Madoka Magika after 6 episodes is one epic troll after another. So dark, so good.
And that's all that's worth watching.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 11th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 11th February 2011
I learned that if you're having to force yourself to watch more episodes of an anime, and it's not because you just need to get into the right frame of mind, then you just drop it. Drop it, forget it. There's not point in watching more because there's about 20 new series every three months and the odds are pretty good that only a few of them will actually be worth watching even a single episode of.
I learned this lesson and it's made me a lot happier. It's why I'd never watch a single episode of Infinite Stratos or that Oniichan show and why I dropped Freezing after the second episode.
Right now I've got five shows on my "watching" list of current shows. Two are on the fence and one of those is probably already fallen off, I just haven't seen it yet. So, I'm basically watching just three shows out of about twenty that are currently running. I don't regret that, I don't regret that one bit.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 11th February 2011
Bakemonogatari 03 - This show is so, so weird... mostly awesome, though. This made me watnt to keep watching for sure. I know I think I said that when I watched ep. 2 some time back too, but this time I think I actually will, with less of a break... it's just so bizarrely funny, with such a unique style. Not all of the jokes work, but enough did that the episode was pretty amusing.
Quote:I learned this lesson and it's made me a lot happier. It's why I'd never watch a single episode of Infinite Stratos or that Oniichan show and why I dropped Freezing after the second episode.That's why I've watched all five episodes of the Oniichan show though, as I explain in those long posts about it -- I was expecting it to be terrible and for me to stop watching it quickly, but when I actually watched a couple of episodes of it, I was actually finding it funny, despite how idiotic the concept is... it's so dumb it's funny. I didn't want to enjoy it, but...
You are right though, I definitely feel that way about Infinite Stratos and really should stop watching it. (Episode 6 may have been the least bad episode so far, but it was still bad, because it's part of this series and IS is awful) And yes, I agree, most animes definitely aren't worth watching, I definitely agree with that as well. Which ones are, though, will vary somewhat from person to person.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 12th February 2011
The past week or so I've been rewatching The Big O. It's not the first time I've done this, but each time I do I gain an even bigger appreciation for it. It's the kind of show that slowly reveals more and more of itself with each viewing, shining a light on the skill that went into this production.
Tonight I watch two episodes back to back. "Beck Comes Back" and "Winter Night Phatom". The former is one of the funniest episodes in the series and really cements Beck as Big O's Joker. It's got some really great scenes in it, not just from a comedy standpoint, but also scenes that provide a bit more insight into the world and the characters in it. The latter is probably one of the best in the series. The noir feel is at its strongest and the focus on Dastun is really good. And it's got such a sad ending, an ending that wouldn't be nearly as good as it is if the characters were more shallow or less interesting. The fact that the ending is so sad is a testament, once again, to the skill of the crew that made this show.
And, if you're reading this OB1, it IS better than Batman: The Animated Series. :p
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 12th February 2011
Big O's okay, but I don't think I could agree that it's better than the early '90s Batman show... that show was great.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 12th February 2011
Having given both shows a good while to sit and stew, Big O's the better of the two. Not a slight against Batman, it's a great show too, but Big O just does a lot of things that Batman never did, and couldn't do [on account of being a show aimed more towards the younger demographic]. This is a debate I've had before with OB1 many times, but Big O very often exhibits a level of storytelling maturity that's incredibly rare in animation, and I'm not talking about violence or swearing. Batman did as well, of course, but not to this level.
I'd also bring up the setting and setup behind Big O as well, a world where everyone has lost their memory of things that happened more than forty years, except that sometimes memories come bubbling up to the surface, often unbidden, and lead to all sorts of complications for those involved. This also leads the exploitation of forgotten memories for power and profit. Then there's the city with all its ruined buildings and gothic feel on one side and the immaculate domes on the other, with the wasteland out beyond both.
And then, of course, there's the soundtrack. The Batman theme is great and there are some other really good tracks scattered around as well. But Big O's soundtrack, with its liberal use of gothic symphonies, smooth jazz, and 50's scifi-inspired tracks in equal parts is amazing on nearly every level. It's one of the best soundtracks around.
Big O has its faults, the biggest would probably be how the format of the show [problem comes up, Roger investigates problem, giant robot appears, Roger rights giant robot, giant robots gets defeated eventually, and then the problem is resolved] does sometimes get in the way of the storytelling. But it says a lot about the show that all the other things [the story, music, characters, setting, and so on] make it so the show never feels stale or repetitive. There's also the fact that some of the characters and character designs are a bit too over-the-top and cartoonish. Some of the lines of dialog in the show feel a bit too forced and awkward. And even after the last episode, some parts of the story still don't really make sense. Some issues, unquestionably, but nothing that would keep it from being one of the best animes ever made. All in my opinion, of course.
Winter 2011 Anime - etoven - 13th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 13th February 2011
Full Metal Alchemist is dark at times, but if you really want dark then you should watch Berserk. It's insanely dark, especially the finale.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 15th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 15th February 2011
The Sky Crawlers makes more sense when you realize that it's actually an indictment of otaku culture.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 15th February 2011
Can you explain?
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 15th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 17th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 21st February 2011
Another season of Ika Musume coming soon.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 24th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 24th February 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 1st March 2011
Maburaho 16-20 - Still way better than the episodes before he died... ep. 20 was mostly a clip episode, though, which was kind of lame. Apart from that, this show's pretty decent. Too bad they never made more, I know the light novels were and maybe are ongoing. It's not a great show, but it's alright...
Of course there's still not a decent reason why the three girls still love him and stick with him even though he's dead now (sure, he eventually will come back, but in the interim he's just a ghost...), and as I said before that's one big complaint I have about the show, and the genre. I should say "but that's the genre", and it's absolutely true, but I find it annoying even so. Why do they like him so much again...
On another note, the other students in his class are so ridiculously horrible, they're all just awful people. That has been a running joke in the show, about how they so often disobey orders, do money-making schemes against school rules, etc.. It's kind of silly how they're all like that, what happened, they dumped the main character, Yuna, and everyone they thought would be a troublemaker in this class and then gave them the school's laziest teacher for homeroom, or something? :)
Also, ep. 19 (the school trip to Kyoto episode) had some pretty funny stuff in it. Some lame stuff, but some funny too. Lots of that stuff that reminds me that there isn't a good reason why the girls like him, but also amusement and silliness. Those classmates of theirs... :lol Rin fights another girl who apparently is from a rival family. The whole way the classmates set up the fight was funny. Conveniently the only injuries done were clothing damage, of course.
Overall decent stuff, for its genre. I'll finish this soon.
Gosick 08 - I didn't like this quite as much as eps. 6 and 7, but still it was a solid ending to the three episode story. Hopefully she DOES leave the school again, the in school stories have been consistently less interesting than the trips... As for the story though, a somewhat conventional ending to the story, but eh, it works. The mysteries were mysterious enough, I thought; I certainly didn't guess all of the answers, for sure.
On that note, I wonder how Victorique's "Chaos" thing that tells her the answers to mysteries works, it's pretty much like a superpower or magic or something, she's so good... some of her deductions are based on logic, but then she says stuff about the chaos showing her the answers. It's kind of a copout of sorts, so she can just know and stuff. I don't really mind, and do like the show. More great work in setting and theme in this episode! The story was solid and consistent too. This show isn't amazing, but it's probably good.
Haiyoru! Nyaruani 11 (Final) - Hmm, this was maybe the least interesting episode of the series. The hinted at "end of the human race" didn't happen, which is okay, but nor did much of anythign else. The spaceship evidently came to summon Nyaru-tan and the others to ... something ... off-planet, a battle or whatever. She was sad and promised to return, and the whole episode was that one theoretically touching scene. Problem is, because of how short the episodes are and the quick comedy focus (with no shred of ongoing plot), I really don't care much about the characters, so the idea that I should be able to take this seriously and be sad about their separating or something just didn't work.
Oniichan no koto etc. 08 - Halfway into the episode I was thinking that maybe it was the weakest episode yet, but the second half made up for it... :lol
This episode isn't on episode 7's level, but when it's funny it is pretty funny. In the first half, all three girls come to visit for a study session. Sister and Nao try to attract main character guy, but class rep girl (Kondou was it?) has caught most of his attention and few of their efforts succeed. In part two, they go to a water park during summer break. Main character guy teaches Kondou how to swim. She discovers she is fascinated by his nipples, and there's some funny stuff with her touching him over and over. Good stuff, it was funny. :) Spinning nipples, her touching his nipples, using it as a self-incentive to learn to swim, etc...
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 3rd March 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 3rd March 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 3rd March 2011
Ah. On track for a non-ending ending, then, obviously.
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 4th March 2011
Just watched episode 7 of Fractale. Basically, nothing here suggests to me that the series is ever going to get over being all over the place. Some parts are pretty good, some parts are just terrible. The show moves at a glacial pace for 18 minutes dwelling on things that aren't remotely important to anything, then crams in a ton of plot-important revelations and action. The recurring villain who appears at the end of the episode is the kind mustache-twirling, always smirking villain that every single anime these days just has to have and it's beyond annoying. Nevermind that all the bad guys so far and incredibly one dimensional. Where's their drive? Why are they doing what they're doing. Who knows, who cares. That's apparently what the creators think. As long as the villains is totally evil, you'll completely buy into it and root for their inevitable come-uppance at the hands of our plucky, quirky heroes.
Everything surrounding the series, including the first episode or two, suggests that the series should be a fast-paced, story-driven adventure series [like Nadia or early Ghibli], but it's not. It spends too much time [of its 11 episode length] meandering about on slice-of-life stuff with no stakes and no relevance. There are a lot of things wrong with modern anime, we've certainly mentioned enough here in this thread, but I think this over-reliance on non-story may very well be the biggest.
No against slice-of-life, some of my favorites series are, but too often series try to tow the line, throw out a bunch of slice-of-life stuff and then try to cram some kind of serious story into the last few episodes and it never works. You know why Aria is such a great series? Because it doesn't try to cram in a story! It knows exactly what it's doing and then does that thing very, very well. Fractale wants to be a thoughtful scifi series wrapped in an adventurous storyline, but also play around with its characters as they visit some new place every week and have carefree adventures and learn about friendship and such. It's ruining what could have been a really good series. But there's also big problems with the writing beyond that, so maybe it would be ruined anyway.
It's just so frustrating.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 9th March 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 13th March 2011
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 13th March 2011
Madoka 10 - Probably the best episode so far. Also the most depressing.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 14th March 2011
Oh yeah, the "magical girls die over and over" episode. Don't worry though, I'm sure things will get worse. I'm not counting on them getting better after that, though, but we'll see (any ending that isn't really tragic one would be great... but I'd be pretty surprised to see it. Probably not going to happen.).
Oniichan no koto... 10 - Best episode of the series yet? Maybe not quite, but it was close, really funny stuff here... so we meet two new characters, a probably insane girl who does cosplay and is looking for lowlife scum (ie otaku) to ... um, be her boyfriend, or save the world from evil, or something, I'm not so sure she has a good grip on reality. She finds the AGE Explorers. That put her in good company in this series, they're all insane... She has a twin sister, too, who is trying to oppose her, for whatever reason. Some parts of this episode were just hilarious. I wonder though, are the two of them crazy, or is the show taking a sci-fi twist... I'm assuming the former, it would make the most sense considering what show we're talking about, and it certainly does put some effort into trying to convince us that she's nuts. It could be all a deception, though! (Okay, probably not.) Anyway, the sister tries hard to dissuade the AGE Explorers, by threatening them with "all the girls in school will wear jersey pants under their skirts", which scares the other three off... but not our hero, he goes anyway, followed by his sister and childhood friend as always. That he still doesn't know anything about his sister, or the childhood friend's, actual natures is fairly amusing... and what the new girl wanted him to do was kind of funny too. For the first time though, the story didn't end with this episode, it continues next time... leaving us with one final shot, the new girl's sister coming onto our main character's sister, apparently. Huh, so there might be yuri too now? Why not. I wonder though, is the first new girl a new harem member, or an enemy our main character will need to be rescued from... instead though, I predict they go in some completely random new direction. Seems likely, with how the show has been so far.
Oh yeah, the next episode preview. Name of the next episode, supposedly: "Calling Out to My Brother from the Center of the World". I know what that name's a reference to, are all the names references and I hadn't noticed or just this one?
It does have blatant fanservice scenes as usual, which probably were some of the weaker parts of the episode, but the overall episode was just really funny.
So yeah, overall, :lol
Winter 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 16th March 2011
All anime broadcasts in Japan have been postponed.
Winter 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 17th March 2011
Nichijou OVA (ep. 0) - Not bad, some of it was funny for sure. How do you even manage to get a 1 on a test... :lol I don't know how this will compare to other shows in this genre, but it certainly has some promise at least, and the OVA was entertaining and often funny. This OVA probably wasn't great, but it was good anyway.
... I do have to ask though, why can that cat talk, and what's that woman with the key in her back? They don't explain anything, and I haven't read the source material. That sketch (trying to get the kid to take her cold medicine) was funny, but I didn't have any idea why the cat could talk or about that key.
Angelic Layer 21-26 - Yeah, once I'd started watching the last disc yesterday, I just went through the whole thing... that last part is probably the best part of the series, apart from some things in ep. 26 I really had nothing to complain about in this part of the show. It was just really good and certainly reminded me why I liked this series so much.
I don't quite remember having so much of a problem with her mother's actions before though, maybe but I'm not sure. But yeah, this time at least I really noticed how bad a parent she is. Sure, she apologizes, explains how she was paralyzed by fear and indecision, how once she saw her daughter again she hated what she'd done but couldn't manage to get herself to do anything about it... those are all good reasons, which help in understanding it, and make me feel kind of bad for her, but still it doesn't excuse what she did. I liked how in ep. 25 our heroine finally realized that she'd been lying to herself the whole time, and that all of those "I'm fine" and "mom is too busy with work to see me" statements were lies she was telling herself to pretend that it was okay, but it never was... and that she ran off from the initial meeting, thinking that her mother had left because she hated her, also was believable; children often blame themselves for things like their parents' divorces, even though it wasn't their fault at all. Then a little later, the scene where the two of them meet again in that episode, in the rain, is one of the show's more memorable scenes and one that I remembered better than almost any other from the series. There's a nice happy ending too, happy endings for everyone. :)
As for complaints... um, just about the rules pretty much. They mess with the health system so much in this series, sometimes one hit is an instant win, other times a whole long sequence of hits apparently does almost no damage... and then there are things like the final fight, where our heroine get hit with her mother's super special attack, which nobody has ever gotten up from, and with according to the last shot of the health bars maybe 30% health. At first she was going to give up and take the defeat, but then she decided to instead start saying "get up", and then more people copy her until the whole arena's saying it... such an absurdly silly scene in so many ways, and of course it works and Hikari gets up. Alright. But then, later, she manages to reverse another one of those super attacks somehow, by bouncing it back with her hands or something and then hitting Athena with it, who went down to the ground and got hit by it... and was instantly defeated, despite having like 70 or 80% health. Um yeah, how much damage attacks do in this series is apparently determined more by drama and what the story demands than by any consistent principles.
That is annoying, but it's also just about my only complaint. Overall Angelic Layer is a very good series, and was well worth revisiting. :)
Wagaya no Oinari-sama 14-15 - The beginning of an arc involving a (nonhuman) girl wrapped in seals... I really liked the first of these episodes, one of the best episodes in the series in a while. The second one wasn't quite as good, but still was good. I somehow doubt that things are going to be resolved so easily, she didn't really want to go with them... Good series, mostly. Too bad it has no real ending, as it's based on an ongoing light novel series.
Quote:All anime broadcasts in Japan have been postponed.Not all, Gosick seems to have aired.