I really really really should be sleeping now orz

Ah well, just a few updates on the anime I’ve watched/ am watching. As usual. No pics I think :\

First of all, I finally completed Hunter x Hunter, TV series and OVAs and all. The manga’s still running, but I hear it’s pretty slow and the mangaka just keeps taking breaks. There was this long hiatus from 2006 to 2007, it seems, and then from then on it just went on and off, but now it’s serialised weekly in Jump. Then again, if this is considered bad, I sorta don’t know what to say to the faithful D.N.Angel manga followers. How is it now, really?

I also picked up this really random old anime called Legend of BASARA. Sure, Sengoku BASARA is the more popular of the BASARAs now, but this anime wasn’t too bad, I hear it’s really similar to Fushigi Yuugi. *And if you’ve realised by now, I haven’t watched that many of the so-called “classic must-watch animes”. I think my reading shoujo manga somewhat helped me tolerate the obvious traditional shoujo manga art style being animated. I’m not sure how hearing somewhat familiar voices such as that of Inoue Kazuhiko or that of Chopper (One Piece) affected my experience, but I think the plot was really quite decent. Another thing I’m really bad at is recommending anime to others, but if you like romance and uh. Epicness? Heroic anime, or other anime similar to Fushigi Yuugi, you might just want to give this a try.

Oh. Just a note, the ending is really unsatisfactory. It just ended really really abruptly and the moment we (the viewers) were all waiting for just didn’t happen. In Japanese, I’d say 悔しいぃい～～！なんでやねん、こんなエンディングなんていらねーぞ or something like that. 

I am currently watching Fullmetal Panic!, and I must say it is pretty interesting. It’s another “classic must-watch”, isn’t it. Sure there’s quite a bit lot of panchira and fanservice, though of course not comparable to the likes of Kemeko Deluxe, but the character dynamics more than make up for that. I’m not a mecha anime person, I suppose, since more than too often they center around a lot of politics due to GOODMAN influence, but sometimes I make exceptions. Like Code Gayass Geass. Darn, I really need to get rid of that bad habit of mine, but KL-chan’s fanart really isn’t helping.

Speaking of GOODMAN, I am transferring a large amount of data to do with the latest GOODMAN #00 first season to my external harddrive at the moment, from unknown sources. I may or may not watch it in the end, but I may just try. If you are wondering why I am doing so when I could so much more easily watch it streamed, I shall reply that I have had enough with this ’streaming’ education system here in this tiny pea nation googling a series with two seasons and a huge market based on mecha otakus just like Sagara and hoping that there are good streamed videos was entirely wishful thinking on my part. Or maybe I just did it on a whim |d I sort of get the feeling that I will not come to like most or any of the Meisters though :\\

&More details here: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/shadowangellz. And yes, I did realise that 86.7% of my Currently Watching anime list comprises of anime that are currently airing.

&! One line (or two, three for rants and rambles) for each other anime I’m watching that I haven’t really mentioned yet: 

Skip Beat! is actually getting interesting! And Kannagi filler episode wasn’t that bad, gaiz. More Nagi needed, though, and Less Over-Obsessed Nagi-Otaku Plz. Casshern SINS is kinda reminding me a lot of Kaiba with the same production studio and uh. story flow? Whaddya call it? I mean they both have some 記憶喪失 (amnesiac) guy getting around and trying to make sense of the world around him and on the way they meet people and stuff. NEED…MORE…EVE NO JIKAN. Haven’t been catching up on Gintama but slow subs are slow, too, even though Tudou would do just fine for me? GSZS is good as usual. Earl and Fairy is cheesy but the sappiness is teh funny. Kemeko was actually kinda funny the last time I watched it, I was quite surprised, but the fanservice and random Kemeko just don’t always work for me. Kuroshitsuji is getting better, some of the previous episodes really didn’t interest me much, I just want the plot to thicken. Michiko e Hatchin is… above-average, but I want a little more ….direction? Nodame is pretty good as usual. I can’t help thinking of Sagara now when I hear Chiaki speak, though. One Piece is pretty darned OMFG-WTFHish these days, but kinda in a good way. Just, someone remind me how many litres the average human has? The whole Strawhat Crew is inhuman, even those without the Devil’s Fruit. Looks like Luke is gonna grow up soon in Tales, but he’s still freaking getting on EVERYONE’s nerves already just about now. Toradora! is funny as usual. Still hate the parrot. I only like Taiga as a Tenori Tiger or when she’s actually violent and/or angry for logical reasons, Ryuuji’s too nice sometimes, and Kawashima is really really annoying.

….

AFA ‘08’s coming real soon, gaiz, but first there’s a 20% off promotion going on at Kinokuniya from tomor today~!

And someone keep me away from pixiv, I could spend ages and ages there going 素敵♥！, followed by a loud wail directed at heaven complaining about how talentless I am, a million times at the billions of great budding artists there. In effect, wasting another few hours of the holidays I already happen to be wasting.

Continuing with more fall anime impressions, it’s time to check out one of the comedies of the season Kemeko DX. This one had me interested because Jason of DbD raved about the manga earlier this year and Hal Film Makers are the animators behind this show, known for great slice-of-life shows like Aria, Sketchbook, and Seasons Dreamer’s season 2. Will success in one field translate into success in another genre?

Rating: 10/12 A

If episode one is any indication, this could be a very funny comedy or it could quickly devolve into a boring mess of a show.

The story goes like this: our main character – Sanpeita – is a seemingly well-adjusted high school student except that he still pines for his first love from 10 years ago. She had to move away and all he has is a picture to remember her by. One day a group of large mechs break into his room but they are stopped by a rather homely girl (actually a woman piloting a mech that looks like a short, rotund girl). The mechgirl declares that she is here to marry Sanpeita but he escapes to school. Of course the mechgirl won’t take no for an answer and shows up at school. This puts Sanpeita in a bind but luckily she’s there because a giant rice cooker robot shows up looking for trouble. Mechgirl saves the school but is injured in the process. Various other things happen to finish up the episode but I think you get the idea.

Girl on the left pilots the mech above (yes the mech is half her size)

One of the strongest vibes this show gives off in the first episode is FLCL. For example: there’s the strange company that opened up in town recently, a strange woman that shows up that sees this company as the enemy, Sanpeita has some sort of weird power that makes his forehead glow green. Even the giant rice cooker robot looked like it walked out of FLCL. This isn’t a problem as far as I’m concerned; I’ve always wanted more FLCL and I welcome any show that can pull off that type of comedy but I wonder how long they can keep this type of show up.

Since I made such a big deal of the anime-added fanservice in Kannagi, I should talk about this shows use of fanservice. To put it bluntly there’s a lot here. In this show’s case, however, I’m okay with that because it fits with the type of show Kemeko DX is. Shows like this one or Maid Guy, Sumomo, and Magical Pokan use fanservice to add to the comedy of the show and as long as the makers remember to keep the show funny – the show remains an entertaining show.

Looking at the season as a whole, their isn’t a lot of comedy or slice-of-life shows, many seem dark (like the next show I’m reviewing) and I will need a decent comedy as balance so if the show can remain funny and not become stale then I’ll continue watching.