(TL Note: Katsuramuki is a thin-slicing technique. Also, Google is your friend)
I realized a while ago that it’s impossible to really rank shows by entertainment value. It’s subjective, not only to different viewers, but also to a single viewer himself/herself – your own preferences change with your mood, your viewing history, so on and so forth.
So for this initial impressions post, I’ve broken up the shows that I’ve taken a gander at into 4 categories:
1) The Dropped
2) The Not-so-certain
3) The Decent Stuff
4) The Will-be-devoutly-following-regardless-of-abrupt-trainwreck-or-whatever
Let’s get this winter daikon on the road.
The Dropped
Kill Me Baby
Pretty much the only show that I genuinely struggled to watch through, and the only show that I started and dropped. Unlike Lucky Star, which successfully adapted a 4-koma into decent full length episodes, Kill Me Baby is everything that Lucky Star is not. Except for the art style, and even then KyoAni’s animation quality makes it work.
Kill Me Baby is forced, terribly paced, and – despite some gags – dreadfully unfunny. And the gags were only amusing because my standards had dropped so low within the first 5 minutes.
The Not-so-certain
Brave 10
Perhaps the worst thing that can be said of anything of the Action genre is that it fails to excite. While Mystery should provide intellectual stimulation, Romance tugs at the heartstrings, Ecchi tugs at some other stuff-
Action should really involve flashy sequences that get you thinking, “that was physics-defying/beyond-improbability/total-bullshit, but this is just too good to not watch”.
And so far Brave 10 does have the first attribute but not the second. I’ll be following this half heartedly.
Area no Kishi, The Knight in the Arena
The problem with Area no Kishi is that its average. It doesn’t have over-the-top action, it doesn’t exactly have deep character backstories (that we’ve seen of yet, anyway), it doesn’t have the heart-crushing love triangle romance action of a Toradora!, and the humour comes off as forced and haphazardly thrown in.
Basically it’s like that one useless character in your RPG that doesn’t excel at anything, and doesn’t excel enough at anything to warrant being the substitute for the primary DPS/Tank/Healer etc.
Unfortunately for Area no Kishi, there are too many superior shows this season that surpass it in their own way. If every other show was terrible, it might stand a chance. But they’re not.
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
I can’t give a proper quick review of Symphogear because I haven’t properly watched it yet. But I must say that I thoroughly enjoy the music, and even more so the flashy action sequences and the stylized art.
The plot does seem to me like a torrid mess, but perhaps that’s because I timeskipped through most of the dialogue scenes. And even so, I’d happily watch each episode for the aforementioned 3 exemplary attributes.
Recorder to Randoseru, Recorder and Randsell
Apparently “Randoseru” or “Randsell” translates as “backpack”?
The only reasons why I haven’t dropped this are:
1) Morita Mayu cameo, whom I deeply love
2) Each episode is only 3 minutes
I know that the whole shtick is that you have a kid in the body of a 25 year old, but I find it almost as cringe-inducing as Rob Schneider’s “animal in the body of a man” and “girl in the body of a man and vice versa” ‘comedy’.
At least the 17-year old loli provides better humour. For now.
Natsume Yuujinchou Shi
Somewhere along the line, Natsume became tiresome. I think it’s because Natsume’s character development has stopped – in season 1 and 2, he was overcoming his social awkwardness and coming to terms with his abilities.
In season 3 Natsume was stagnant throughout, and now it’s season 4 and I don’t know if I can take another 13 episodes of Natsume staring into the distance while reacting in the same panicked fashion whenever he meets an aggressive yokai that he really should have been used to by now.
And yet I’m still drawn to Natsume Shi because it’s the only slice-of-life currently airing that has that soothing atmosphere (I was going to mention Chihayafuru but then I realize I get too riled up whenever Chihaya’s kicking ass).
It would be interesting to have Natsume finally discover romance as an added dynamic to the yokai interactions, but I doubt that will ever happen. Still, seeing that I’ve ordered the giant plush Nyanko-sensei, I could try to keep up with Natsume Shi.
The Decent Stuff
Ano Natsu de Matteru, Waiting in the Summer
So I heard that this is basically a remake of Onegai Teacher. Fair enough, except that I haven’t watched Onegai Teacher, so I guess I can enjoy AnoNatsu objectively, free of any prior expectations.
Actually, I’m not sure why I mentally tagged this as “decent”, since now that I’m typing this I’m more inclined to put it under “not-so-certain”, but that’s subjectivity and moodswings for you.
Highschool DxD
Holy crap uncensored oppai!
Also, decent humour and handling of the typical usual retarded ecchi plot, and Hikasa Youko as the busty red haired main girl, but mostly holy crap uncensored oppai!
Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama, New Prince of Tennis
I’m watching for the bullshit tennis manoeuvres. Those physics-defying lightning-generating tennis smashes, man.
Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku, Bodacious Space Pirates
Megane tsundere Hana Kanazawa is the cherry on the icing. Mouretsu’s anime adaptation is remarkably similar to Star Ocean, right down to the grand orchestral background music.
Essentially, it’s Star Ocean but without the 95% of playtime spent grinding and fusing items. With an all girl (and one guy) party. I love it. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve recently started replaying the DS JRPG Infinite Space and I’m going through quite a space-adventure nostalgia phase.
Although plot-wise it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere at the moment, and action-wise I’m not getting my tactical space combat action, I’m sure Mouretsu’ll address those issues eventually.
Another
Inserting stray frames of disturbing images in otherwise uneventful scenes is such an old trick but it’s still so damn effective.
Another has such potential. The music, the mood, the direction, the mystery, and that strange girl with the eyepatch and the dolls and the alleged short-term memory loss who may or may not be a physical manifestation of a girl who died ages ago and still bears grudges unknown.
I am intrigued. But then again, Blood-C had me intrigued too, and see how that went. But I did follow Blood-C up to its not-quite-conclusion, so I’ll probably be doing the same for Another, cheap scares and all.
The Will-be-devoutly-following-regardless-of-abrupt-trainwreck-or-whatever
Amagami SS+
It’s not accurate to say that I’ll be watching Amagami SS+ devoutly since I’m only interested in Nanasaki Ai first and foremost, then Morishima Haruka and then Tanamachi Kaoru.
But rest assured that I’ll be repeat viewing those select episodes to make up for the rest
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ ＼ / ＼/ ＼|
Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki
I love this. I would ask for longer episodes but it might just ruin the magic.
Poyo is freakin’ adorable. I can’t stand it. Omg.
Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, Daily Lives of High School Boys
So good. This is what Gintama’s humour used to be. Also, the addition of Hikasa Youko as the deluded literature girl is amazing. More Hikasa Youko onegaishimasu.
Thermae Romae, Thermæ Romæ
Who needs proper animation when you have punchlines and tsukkomi this good? And surprisingly enjoyable ED. And those classical music backing tracks. Thermae Romae has caused me to rediscover my love for classical music.
My only despair is that Thermae Romae has only one more episode to go. But these 3 episodes will be enjoying repeated viewings for years to come.
Rinne no Lagrange, Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne, Flower declaration of your heart
I don’t know what the title means or refers to, but I love every aspect of this show so far.
Fanservice, a german suplex mecha action, incredibly rousing backing tracks that at least match Mouretsu’s in terms of grandiose magnificence.
A cheerful irreverent female protagonist in Madoka who leaps at the call. And is cute yet doesn’t care about her looks (dat forehead ponytail).
Then there’s Lan, who’s bringing Ghost in the Shell’s The Major’s hot bodysuit back. More fanservice.
Oh and Madoka’s Maru. Stay tuned for Maru omake.
Nisemonogatari
If I were forced to pick a favourite anime of Winter 2012, it would hands down go straight to Nisemonogatari.
Fascinating stuff. Nisemonogatari blends those primal male urges so well. We all love (or at least, aspire to love) intellectual wordplay humour and yet we’re just as easily taken with shameless fanservice.
Intellectual humour + shameless fanservice = zen, absolute balance, that which monks cannot achieve because they lack that second ingredient
It’s uncanny. Just as your brain’s worn out from snappy dialogue, you get treated to suitably distracting fanservice. Then your modesty/sense-of-propriety/sense-of-whatever-that-makes-you-realize-that-you-shouldn’t-be-perving-over-a-loli-schoolgirl kicks in and you’re relieved at the sudden return to snappy dialogue.
Omake
Maru goodness.
More Maru goodness!
(TL Note: Maru means both ‘perfect’ and ’round’)
11 Comments
Man we must be watching entirely different Natsume Yuujin-Cho’s, particularly season 3 where I thought Natsume had MORE character development than the first 2 seasons put together. The first 2 seasons were mainly vignettes about the Youkai; giving us sympathy towards them and showing glimpses of Natsume Reiko. The third season was entirely about Natsume coming to terms with his gifts and how they relate to maintaining a normal life. I thought each episode of the s3 grew Natsume a little more. This season looks to capitalize on that.
To me, seasons 1 and 2 had more character growth – Natsume finding courage and deciding a stance on yokai; and season 3 was more on the expansion of his social circle.
Perhaps it’s the Reiko memories that made me notice the character growth more – sort of like a study in contrasts? Or it could have provided an illusion of an overarching plot, which led me to feel that Natsume’s character was progressing alongside a story – an illusion that was helped along by the threat of the yokai-vanquishing clan.
Granted, Natsume was more outgoing in season 3, what with the participation in the class sale, and he does open up more to Tanuma and Taki. But ultimately the episodes just slipped by, and at the end of it all I remember is how much that fox kid spirit annoyed me.
I just felt like the individual stories of season 1 and 2 were more focused on the youkai themselves and less about how they affected Natsume; whereas the 3rd season has a clear indication of the individual outcomes on Natsume’s outlook on life and his treatment of both humans and youkai.
Another way I somewhat think about it is that S1 and 2 were about dealing with Reiko’s legacy whereas s3 is about Natsume beginning to create a legacy of his own. S4 is certainly continuing that way with the 2nd episode displaying the group of powerful Youkai whom he has made friends with, but equally important to Natsume is his friendship with humans. That’s what makes him unique and that’s what most of s3 highly focused on.
Good points, to be sure. I never did look at S3 and S4 with the perspective of Natsume creating his own legacy. Looks like I’ll be following Natsume Shi after all~
@Taka: Re:
S1 and 2 were about dealing with Reiko’s legacy whereas s3 is about Natsume beginning to create a legacy of his own. S4 is certainly continuing that way
- that’s a nice way of putting it. I wish we’d had more of Reiko last season though, her flashbacks seemed to dry up after the third epi or so.
@JY: Re:
Looks like I’ll be following Natsume Shi after all~
- damn right you should. It’s the best thing this season by far. >:) Also, on a less outraged note, that last thing is the BEST GIF EVAR. <3
Kill me baby! Yeah I can see why people would drop that series, the comedy is slow and often reused over and over again! Like Sonya always owning Yasuna? That got old really fast! It wants to be Nichijou so badly but sadly I don’t think it could ever match. I do enjoy those character designs just because it is a style of animation I can somewhat mimic in my own artwork…well not all of it.
Bodacious Space Pirates– What a great series so far I love the theme and setting <3 me some pirates! And I was surprised to see lack of fan service, like in episode two! We had floating girls in zero gravity and they soooo could have done 20+ up skirt shots. That is a refreshing change for once…I don't mind fan service personally but there are plenty of people that hate it.
Daily Lives of High School Boys- YES! Best new comedy for me thanks to Gintama which is still the king of comedy anime for me, basically stick Gintoki in High school and watch him run wild. I can't get enough of it and the first episode had the skirts and river scenes from the previews…good god they made me laugh so much and it is a simple anime to follow.
Rinne no Lagrange- First episode was fan service and more fan service all over the place, but episode two was great and it showed Madoka isn't all hyper-i-can-do-anything in fact she questioned why she was even there fighting aliens with a mecha! Still…she is a hyper girl and I like that. Yeah it appears to be more comedy/action/mecha and those flight suits? Damn….not bad looking at all.
Nice list xD
Dat zero gravity. It actually makes sense that the girls stick to skirts because they’re an all-girl club and they’d have been long accustomed to the sight of each others’ pantsu anyway. But yes I am so thankful that they concentrated on the drama and fuss of space prep and didn’t break the mood with unneeded fanservice.
I prefer Nichibros over Gintama because Nichobros’ world is more relatable. Aliens are great and all, but everybody’s probably gone through the same “TADAKUNI’S WITH A GIRL” hysteria at some point in their lives.
I’ll admit that Lagrange isn’t doing anything for me intellectually, but damn it is entertaining. I loved that bit in episode 2 where Madoka was trying to improve her cellphone signal strength.
Glad you think so! Although I guess the next time I do this, I really should give every anime a look.
Everything is good but Nisemono, i tried so hard to like Bake but the “animation” is just ridiculous (protip: before people say “oh you don’t like anime with large amounts of dialogue, i’m finishing NisiOisiN’s other work, Katanagatari and THAT is really splendid without resorting to cheap animation tricks.)
Kill Me Baby – decent, Thursdays are comedy days (that includes Guilty Crown)
Another – Meh, expected more
Danshi – YES! I didn’t like Gintama, but i really enjoyed this
Natsume – <3 Amazing, and no keep romance out of this series. How can you hate the fox spirit??
Symphogear – Okay. Nothing more so far.
Ano Natsu – Good start. Haven't see ep 2.
Highschool DxD – Worthless garbage
Mouretsu – This one is really gonna be good, i can tell
InuxBoku – Could be better.
Lagrange – Really love how awesome it is right now, Madoka is a breathe of relief from all the pussy mecha protagonists.
I suppose it helps that Shaft is intentionally using stylized animation, rather than because they’re short on time. The Karen Bee OP flame animations are delicious, and so is everything else involving Karen. I think Nise’s animation is better (or at least more) than Bake’s, although I’ll have to rewatch Bake one of these days to be sure.
Guilty Crown has become so bad that I laugh at myself for stubbornly following it.
Totally agree on you with the Gintama/Danshi.
Natsume’s Fox Spirit is supremely annoying. He reminds me of the kids that are the blight of my part-time job.
Highschool DxD has glorious tits, it cannot be denied.
Mouretsu can still shoot itself in the foot, but let’s hope not.
InuxBoku – frameskipped a bit, not sure if I’ll enjoy a butler anime.
Lagrange is gold. You are so right, pussy mecha protagonists should nut up or shut up.
I am in agreement that Madoka is character worthy of praise, however I am not in agreement with your choices for heroine in Amagami.
You might want to give Aquarion EVOL a try if nothing else it is very pretty.
Amagami heroines are contentious stuff. I for one will never understand why Rihoko is popular ಠ_ಠ
I didn’t touch Aquarion EVOL because it seemed like a sequel of sorts, and I didn’t want to have to watch the original to catch all the references. But since I’m dropping Kill Me Baby and maybe Brave 10, I could give some time to check Aquarion EVOL out.