It’s been quite awhile since I’ve done one of these posts, mostly because we’ve had a ton of content coming out. However, with THAT recently turning into the Crusader and Calawain blog, I’m going to give you my opinions on a multiple shows at once. Sucks to be you. I brought back last year’s winter impressions format and theme because I love desserts. I could really go for some cheesecake now regardless.
Hearty Apple Pies
Shows continued from the fall season- solid, long-lasting goodness
1) Clannad ~After Story~- I knww what’s going to happen, but I still bawwwwww’d during episodes 16 and 18 (frankly, when I played this part in the VN I was a wreck for the rest of the day). And you know what? It’s going to get far worse before it gets better -_- I can’t really help myself, the only sappy shows I can find myself enjoying these days are those done by KeyAni.
2) Tytania- I think trying to hold it up to the standard of Legend of Galactic Heroes is kind of unfair. While both shows are epic space operas, this one focuses more on a smaller group of people. Lord knows I had trouble remembering all the names in LOGH. In its own right I find Tytania to be more lighthearted and fun, with jokers and scoundrels lite as the main characters. On the other hand, it has enough scheming and politics on the Tytanian side to keep me wondering what’s going to happen next. Jouslain’s putting down of two rebellions stand out to me as great examples of this.
3) Gundam 00- G00 is so stupid at times, but I can’t help watching. Not to sound cliché, but I believe this is just more evidence for the Sunrise Trainwreck Theory. There’s boatloads of plotholes, emo and angst, retarded characters, and tech wars, but I’m always curious as to what stupid crap they will come up with. And Sunrise never disappoints with the action, providing us with a healthy serving of explosions and beam sabers in pretty, pretty HD.
4) To Aru Majutsu no Index - This show had a ton of potential to start off with, but it has been bogged down by a tendency to go with heavy doses of exposition. A great example is Kaori in episode 17 spends an inordinate amount of time talking out loud in the middle of a fight, seemingly trying to explain to her mute opponent the intricacies of her fighting style. Despite that, the characters in this show are simply amazing. I’m sure my frequent readers can guess at my two favorite characters in this show~ First is BiriBiri, who got me all hot and bothered last episode with her dere dere (what didn’t help the situation was the simultaneous release of an English translation of a really hot BiriBiri doujin). Second, Kaori is amazingly hot, lord that bath scene certainly got me riled up.
5) Toradora- Still watching for now because it’s hard to drop a show when you’ve already watched more than half the episodes, but I’m not particularly excited about how it has all turned out. The show started off with some great promise of lighthearted comedy and the loveliness that is Ami. Now it has devolved into melodramatic crap I couldn’t care less about.
Strawberry Topped Cheesecake
The best of the winter field- tasty, rich and sweet
1) Maria+Holic- If this show was just the OP on repeat for 20 minutes I’d still like it, if only to hear her moaning “ha, haaa~” Aside from that you’ll have to read my posts on the subject, but suffice it to say if you aren’t watching this lesbian and trap-filled comedy of epic proportions, you are seriously missing out.
2) Chrome Shelled Regios- It’s very RPGish, but that can be a good thing as I’m a huge fan of console RPGs. And when I say RPG here, I’m going more for Final Fantasy rather than Fallout. There’s a bit of emo and “oh I don’t want to fight” but it’s relatively mild compared to a lot of shows out there. It has a great soundtrack when the action starts, and Felli is just lovely and quite charming.
3) Minami-Ke: Okaeri- Like most people I dug the first season and found the second mildly irritating. The third season falls somewhere in between, with enough to keep me watching but not really blowing me away. Personally, I want more Hosaka, but I am quite satisfied with all of the Kana service as of late. I likes me the genki boss.
4) Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo- Obviously, this show should not be taken seriously at all. There’s always a spot each season for that one show that’s silly but a good time nonetheless. Lelouch turned into a mentally unstable AI along with pretty girls and high budget animation from Sunrise puts on an entertaining show to say the least.
Tiramisu
Winter shows on the borderline- sometimes good, but you have to be in the mood for it
1) Asu no Yoichi- The tsundere is pedestrian, the female lead is a cliche violent anti-pervert, and I hate “de gozaru” samurai speech. But I occasionally find it somewhat amusing and I get to hear Yukari Tamura do her boku voice. It’s one of those shows you are kind of embarrassed to tell people you watch. Good thing I’m telling a few thousand people.
2) Marimite- I really do not watch this show as intended, because all of the contrived melodrama and angst actually makes me laugh. I don’t really find this show dramatic at all, it’s entirely predictable, but it’s fun laughing at how prim and proper quasi-lesbians worry about the stupidest crap. I used to watch it because Sei was awesome, but at least now twin drills keeps me watching.
19 Comments
I kinda disagree with Toradora as I feel that this was where it was always heading and we actually have a decent love-comedy that has character progression instead of the same stupid scenarios. Index, I personally don’t mind the exposition but I can understand why people despise it. I didn’t know that Chrome was that good, people were seriously hating on it when the first episode came out so kinda surprised.
You’ve got two series that I consider crap in the top section, and you’ve got my favourite Winter anime in the bottom section. *Shrug* Different tastes.
Yeah, ToraDora was always headed this way, although I read the novels so it’s a bit easier when you get to read alot of the characters inner monologues.
The Index novels are the same way, the show doesn’t really have main characters as much as a large cast, after the first 4 novels the main character of each novel changes almost every time, by novel 18 they are up to like 20 characters, and they are all involved in some different crazy relgion/science type organization.
Still, each character is awesome.
Wow, you have unbelievably awful taste. Clannad? Really?
that cheesecake looks hella good o.O
I’ll bet that “the Meister” is gonna show up soon. Brace for impact. :p
Hearty Apple Pie: indeed the shows are quite hearty and because it’s made from apple, you can splurge a bit. For me, as much as I love Clannad ~After Story, Tytania takes the cake…I mean pie. Tytania has a character who is while laid back, can take necessary action. He’s an atypical protagonist who actually has sensibility and humor. Although, I love Dr. Lee a bit more.
Strawberry Topped Cheesecake: these are my guilty pleasure shows and should be indulged without caution same like cheesecake. For me, as much as I love ‘Ruru’pard, it’s Chrome Shelled Regios I admire. None of the girls come off whiny or state their purpose all annoyingly about why they’re there. After Nagisa’s death, it’s nice to hear Nakahara Mai take on Felli’s role as being the exact opposite…right, Fon-fon?
Tiramisu: such a rich deep delicacy that’s so smooth and strong, you need to develop a taste for it. I agree with your analysis, but for me it’s “Zettai Shougeki ~Platonic Heart” that I have grown to love. It’s better than Sekirei and tons more fanservice even if it’s an OVA.
As much as I want Tytania to be LOGH it’s just not going to happen my feelings on it are mixed and it also suffers from QUALITY animation, if only it were prettier…
Here here! Maria+holic is simply delicious.
I also miss Hosaka too, but I did enjoy him BEING FRIENDLY and the Curry no Yousei.
Eating my desserts one dish at a time.
Fuck Apple Pie, Where’s My Apple Crumble?
Not going to lie, I watched all of Clannad S1 and ended up hating Nagisa, thinking Mamiko Noto owns at her typecast role and that Kyou and Tomoyo needed more airtime. I stopped watching After Story shortly after Sunohara’s arc ended because I knew it could not possibly get better than that.
Tytania. It’s a piece of crap.
Gundam 00 S2 is a story of “could have been so much better if it just aired all episodes consecutively instead of taking a 6 month break”. They listened too much to the fan demands and threw in MORE FIGHTAN SCENES which completely threw off the pacing. Then again, I still enjoy it enough to wake up before noon every Sunday for the past 20 weeks to sub it.
Index. Sorry. WORDY AS FUCK and nothing of importance happens. Nice character designs. Horrible character interactions. Everything I said before about it is still true.
Toradora. More like Burodora.
Dude, Clannad ~AS~ ep 16-18 are one of the best episodes of every anime I’ve seen in my life. Kyoani doesnt just take the Heary apple pie, they eat the whole damn thing in just a second.
You’ve got good taste ^_^
Though I’m waiting for Clannad Season 2 to end so I can watch it all together. That’s what I did with the first season, and I find that watching it without having to wait a week for the next episode can be more enjoyable.
I haven’t bothered with Clannad since it lost its comedy in the end of season 1, I just can’t stand so much dorama.
Tytania or Bishis in space also doesn’t hold much interest to me. I have tried to get into it, but I just couldn’t do it.
Gundam 00 is one of those shows which belongs to the category so bad it’s actually fun to watch. You can see how hard they tried to give it a good story and to make it visually pleasing, but you just spend 20 minutes having fun hating on it each week because of how retarded that story is and how moronic the gimmicks they put into those Gundams are.
Index, yeah it’s too wordy. But that isn’t the real problem. Tohma is. He’s got zero skills, gets kicked around by his opponent all the time and then somehow manages to win by some fluke. Despite his magic canceller he should have lost every fight except for the one aganst Styil. That’s really irritating.
As for Toradora it’s just too cute for me to dislike. I like all three main girls, so unlike most shipping has no impact on me, and although the route it follows is fairly predictable it’s still enjoiable.
Last Regios and Yoichi. Both are really lowlevel entertainment. They are things you watch when you have an hour to waste.
One is your cliche harem romantic comedy, so cliche and sirupy sweet you wonder how you can watch it without your teeth falling out.
And the other is your cliche shounen action series with the genius type of protagonist who’s so completely out of this world he has no challenges left.
I agree that Biri-biri is easily the best female character on Index, and Kaori is really hot.
I’m also watching Gundam mostly for the action and mecha, since we all know the plot isn’t going to be that great.
And thus the internet once again proves how all the continued Sunrise bashing and hating just takes the fun out of any show, Gundam or otherwise. Nice going.
Aside from those who hold sometimes quite exaggerated loyalty towards it, most of you would have probably crucified Zeta Gundam back in the day, if you complained about the same things you point out today.
But to put a positive on things, I’m glad that at least Calawain still liked Tytania, even with all the memetic hatred some individuals try to force down our throats there as well. It’s a very slow show, slower than LOGH even, but give the thing a chance instead of demanding instant gratification.
I’m not sure I would give so much praise to Tytania. Bright colour palate aside, really it’s much more than half way finished and still… NOTHING has happened in that show. The next episode looks like Fan is going to some prison and maybe high gravity will be involved. Might as well call him Gene Starwind, except this show isn’t even as good as Outlaw Star. I for one am very disappointed considering how much I loved LOGH and how I still try and follow Tytania as soon as each new ep comes out.
Dunno, I usually have a taste for everything, but I like how you categorized this. Because those pictures looks so good. X] I don’t know, I’ve only really been watching Toradora, Maria Holic and Clannad. Will have to catch up on Gundam though and try out others.
BTW, just made some guava-berry cheesecake. Makes me feels so much better having that around with these pictures staring me in the face. ^^
HELL YEAH!!! Biri-biri oneesama is AMAZING… (guess the reference…)
I can’t bear to watch Clannad:AS now that it’s gone all dorama now. So far I’m finding To Aru Majutsu no Index and Minami-ke Okaeri decent, except that I hope that J.C. Staff don’t take the concept of Kamijou’s superpowered harem and turn it into a SnS clone…
Yay for apple pie! =D
Clannad AS is quite good, with the last few eps so far quite nice.
I’m strangely hooked on Tytania too. Its not the best, but i always want to watch more at the end of the episode xD I’ll admit the pace isn’t dazzingly fast, but its not boringly slow either.
Can’t say much for ToraDora. i’m getting it from the slower releases xD
Index, faaark, plot development has been so non existant so far >_< Its just like a whole character introduction background. Still, go Biribiri! ^___^
Had to laugh during the EyeCatchers in the Index-tan xD
>>>>- This show had a ton of potential to start off with, but it has been bogged down by a tendency to go with heavy doses of exposition.
Nobody watches Index for the plot exposition. I can’t get enough of that Index Moe myself.