After his episode 03′s major troll, I was thinking we were done with this guy and a new arc would start. And it started off pretty nice, it was dark themed a bit creepy and a bit sad (for the aliens who have to eat their love interest). I took a great liking to this [...]

It’s been almost five years since I’ve last seen the anime blogosphere go so completely head-over-heals for an anime like what’s currently happening for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. That last time was for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya and it pole vaulted everything from it’s voice actors to it’s animation studio into instant super-stardom. This time it’s the well-known combination of the Shaft animation studio and it’s super-director Akiyuki Shinbou. Which is a bit surprising, given the prolific nature of Shaft/Shinbou; there isn’t that blank slate to work their magic on which KyoAni had with Haruhi.

And much like Haruhi, the PM3 fascination is well warranted; even for this long time Shaft/Shinbou fan, I was astonished how quickly this anime become special. The logical next step for a blogger would to blog about it but did I really want to be the 89th person that pointed how just how creepy Kyubey is or how dark and twisted this world is or how Shinbou was deconstructing the magical girl genre. The answer probably should have been yes since the alternative – coming up with something slightly more unique – took more work.

I eventually thought of something and all I needed was to call on the power of graphing and Gurren Lagann and an idea that’s been bouncing around in my brain for awhile.

The idea started out awhile ago when I realized, when doing my weekly anime review posts, that splitting an anime series into smaller intervals (individual episodes) and focusing only on those smaller intervals it gave an incomplete picture of the series as a whole. I needed the equivalent of calculus to find the area under a curve when all I had was a handful of rectangles to use.

Conversely, looking at just the final grade for an anime series was helpful in a different way but so much was hidden behind that number. A series that started out great but then coasted could get the same grade as a series that tried to be ambitious and missed the mark by just a little or a series that was mediocre at the start but built up to a thrilling conclusion.

I had a half-formed thought about using some sort of graphing but when my weekly anime posts stopped, I stopped really worrying about implementing a new system. For Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I dusted off these ideas with the view of that I needed a good way to quantify how good I thought PM3 was and how quickly it had gotten good.

The result is the graph below. It’s still not perfect but it’s much closer to what I want then just saying the first four episodes of PM3 have all been 12/12 perfect episodes. Basically, the colored areas overlay my numeric grading system and correspond to levels of achievement that are possible once an anime displays a certain level of quality. These levels are progressively harder to attain and are a reflection of watching enough anime that I can accurately grade an anime. A note for clarification, the stripped triangles for each anime series shows my guess at the future potential of the show.

 

I used Gurren Lagann to compare the new series to because it is my number 1 show and the yard stick to compare all other anime series; though, the path Gurren Lagann took to reach number 1 is very interesting by itself. For instance, the big jump it took at the very end where it goes from being a fringe Top 10 anime to being my favorite anime corresponds to episode 26, aka the best episode of anime ever.

I put Puella Magi Madoka Magica into the “High Quality” level right away. It was during episode 1’s conversation between Madoka and her mom in the bathroom that I just knew. When the second episode showed no signs of letdown but only continued to impress me, it was upgraded to probably one of the best shows of the season (as measured against a “normal” season). The surprise at the end of episode 3 pushed the show into most likely earning the top spot for the winter season, assuming the rest of the series didn’t see a decline in quality, and moved it very close into earning a spot as one of the best series of 2011. (Again assuming a “normal” year, with this being just the beginning of the year, I’m using the past seasons and years as a guide in estimating.) The fourth episode didn’t disappoint either and Shaft/Shinbou made it clear that it had plenty of tricks left to play; meaning, PM3 is now all but guaranteed a spot on my top anime of 2011 list.

In picking the upper and lower bounds for how PM3 potentially turns out I decided even though it’s currently far surpassing where Gurren Lagann was at this point in time – it probably doesn’t have the spiral power to beat out Gurren Lagann in the end. Instead, I used the highest position of a Shaft/Shinbou anime series (Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei) as the probable cap. I could be wrong and it could go higher but I think PM3’s episode count being only half will limit it. For the low end, I just don’t see the show imploding and finishing any lower then maybe #3 for the winter season. My guess as to it’s most probably course would be for Puella Magi Madoka Magica to land in the top 5 – maybe 3 – of 2011 and just outside of my top 10.

I could have stopped here but there was plenty of space to graph several other new shows of the winter season.

The most talked about show behind PM3 is Fractale, the latest creation from disgraced anime director, Yutaka Yamamoto. Some have loved it, some have panned it, some just note the high degree of similarities it has with other well-known anime works. I see it’s potential but it hasn’t impressed me in the slightest, especially since I don’t think Mr. Yamamoto has learned from his previous disappointing efforts. I don’t mind the recycling of ideas used elsewhere if Fractale was going to do something interesting with them. And I don’t mean – “hey lets do a Miyazaki movie but add in fan-service and potty humor”. Better story-telling would help it’s chances, like getting us to like a character before the director kills him off. The result is, unsurprisingly, that it’s been hovering around my drop line (anything below a 6/12 B- is in real danger of getting dropped) and I don’t see Fractale ending that high. Maybe if it does everything right then it might just creep up to around a 9/12 A- level but I don’t think so. It’s more likely to finish in the 5/12 C+ to 6/12 B- range.

Currently keeping Fractale company is the “comedy” Rio –Rainbow Gate– from Xebec. The mere possibility that Rio could finish higher then Fractale is mind-boggling. I don’t think that’s going to happen; I thought the latest episode of Rio signaled that the creators were fast running out of entertaining ideas (the gate battle in this episode was so boring) but the possibility still exists. The problem is that it’s too difficult being unintentionally hilarious week-in and week-out; eventually the animators figure out how to just be generic and that ruins all the fun. Which is a shame because having visited Las Vegas twice, I sort of wanted this anime to be a success.

Another show I wanted to succeed was Mitsudomoe 2. The first season was inconsistent but ended strongly and I had a feeling that a second season would be awesome. So far that’s been pretty much the case but it has a problem as well – it’s only going to be 8 episodes long and I’ve already seen half of them. That makes Mitsudomoe have to work much harder just to keep up with shows like PM3 and Level E when there’s such a difference in episode count. The last episode, in particular, seemed to display the animators at the top of their game and it reminded me of the splendid work they did on Minami-ke S1. If the remaining four episode can stay at that level, Mitsudomoe 2 might just land near the top this season.

The final show I graphed was the anime that most astounded me this season for being actually good – Level E – and the only anime that I think that has a shot at beating PM3. Not a great chance but it’s not zero, which would be enough for Simon from Gurren Lagann.  It should be mentioned that it bears no connection to any other anime that has “something E” in the title, which was why I initially passed it over – I thought it was a sequel. Nor does it rip-off the central idea to Men in Black because the manga actually predates the movie by a couple of years. It’s a SF/comedy series from the pen of the author that wrote Yu Yu Hakusho (which really deserves a new adaptation itself) and it’s refreshingly entertaining. Level E also has the largest potential range because I’m torn between how good it’s been so far and worrying about things that could drag it down. I wonder why this hasn’t been adapted in the 13+ years since it originally came out and if it’s short length (only 16 chapters) means that it doesn’t have a good ending and will the comedy hold up.

At this point, I figure putting any more series on this graph would just be overly messy looking so this is were I’m going to stop for now. I might revisit this graph with different series in the future but we’ll have to see. And in closing, I’ll say it again – Kyubey is freakishly creepy; though, I wonder if Kyubey barbecue tastes good.

Filed under: anime, anime rants/views, first impressions

So the final TV anime season of 2010 is beginning to come to a close, which means we’re all looking forward to what’s ahead next year. Have a look at what we here at Borderline Hikikomori are (and aren’t) looking forward to for the coming winter season.

Based on these early looks, it looks like we have high expectations for the Noitamina shows – Fractale and Wandering Son. They are following up some amazing shows from this year in that time slot, after all, including my personal pick of 2010, The Tatami Galaxy. We’ve also caught on to the hype for Shaft’s original work Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, as well as Gosick and Freezing which were adapted from a light novel series and a manga series respectively. For those who liked the first series, there are also sequels Kimi ni Todoke and Mitsudomoe to look forward to.

Fractale

Preview
So new I can’t find anything on it beyond the synopsis. Anyway, it looks like it’ll be an interesting adventure style series. It’s also in the Noitamina block, which means it at least warrants a look. I’ll be checking it out when it airs.
As Rakuen said, a mystery, but after this year’s The Tatami Galaxy and Jellyfish Princess, I’m paying more attention to Noitamina shows. That Ordet, the same studio behind the horrible Black Rock Shooter certainly doesn’t breed confidence.
Obviously this show’s animation looks awesome, and the concept isn’t that bad either. I am a bit worried that the whole rescue a girl storyline isn’t going to come off too well, and that the possibility for a whole lot of Meta posts exists for this show, but those are really minor concerns at this point. Plus, the Noitamina slots rarely let me down.
I have extremely high hopes for this. The staff are all top-notch, the concept sounds both fresh and interesting, the character designs are great, and the art in what little footage was shown in the preview was stunning. I’m heavily anticipating this, and I’m sure many others are as well.

Gosick

Preview
I’d say this is the series I’m looking forward to the most. Milky Holmes really didn’t do it for me as far as detective mysteries go. So now we’ve got the mysterious gothic lolita girl… who has a Holmes pipe? It’s got a nice setting too, taking place in 1920’s Europe. It looks like a take on Holmes and Watson, and I’m hoping this one goes places.
The setting is what draws me most to this show. I like that classical, rosy colored vision of rural 20s Europe. The plot sounds like pretty standard fare, but execution is always the key, of course. I’ll probably check out the first couple episodes, at least.
Nothing about this show really seems that bad. The animation looks nice, and it seems like there could be a good story ever week. But, they made that really bad pun, joke, or whatever you call it with the title, so for that reason alone, I’ve decided not to watch this. Plus, I’ll need the extra time next semester to study for my professional license.
I was extremely excited when I heard the news earlier this year that this was being animated. I then heard Bones was going to be animating, and I was practically jumping for joy. I’m a big fan of mystery series, and I’ve enjoyed what bits I’ve read of both the light novel of Gosick and the manga spun off from it. The cases involved are pretty classic whodunits, and the characters are interesting and have good potential for development. I know a few were disappointed with the trailer – the main criticism levied at it was that it felt “boring” – but I was anything but let down. The character designs have translated very well, I feel, to animation, and things look quite beautiful. The staff, too, is good. The director hasn’t done much aside from Heroman, which had a mixed reception, but the series composition, art director and animation director are strong. I’m really looking forward to this.

Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son)

Preview
Wow, the art style is quite something. It gives everything a very innocent, nostalgic feel. I’m drawn to this show based on the looks alone, but the promise of a mature take on the controversial subject matter of 5th grade transsexuals and that it’s in a Noitamina show makes this pretty much a must watch for me.
I really like the whole questioning your gender concept of this show and the preview made it seem like things were going to get pretty real. The only thing that really worries me is that having 5th graders dealing with these types of issues is going to seem a bit unrealistic. I watch this for sure, but there is no way I would try to blog this.
I’ve heard wonderful things about the manga, and I think Noitamina is the perfect time slot for this to air in. Even better, the very well-regarded Mari Okada is doing both series comp and the scripts. The director, Ei Aoki, is more of a mixed bag, helming Ga-Rei: Zero and the first Kara no Kyoukai movie, but also Girls Bravo. All three have very different feels to Hourou Musuko, too. In any case, I’m cautiously optimistic and very much looking forward to this. It will be wonderful to see gender identity presented as a main theme in an anime series, especially in one created by a manga-ka noted for her sensitivity and intelligence. As a side note, this is definitely a departure for AIC – the only series they produced this year that didn’t rely heavily on fanservice or moe was Ookami Kakushi.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

Official Site
We’ve got Shaft and we’ve got Yuki Kajiura working together on an original anime project about a magical girl. What could possibly go wrong? Well, we’ve got bows and swords in the character artwork, so I imagine there’ll be action involved. I’ve just never been into magical girl anime though. I’ll see what other people think.
This has been getting a lot of hype recently. Given who’s working on it, I can see why. As a fan of Shaft and Shinbo, and as someone who loves the Hidamari Sketch series, I’m also pretty excited, but I’ve also never seen a magical girl anime I’ve liked. Just because of my skepticism of it despite my liking most of the big names associated with this show, I think this would be a fun show to blog. Plus, I’ve blogged some Shaft show for every season possible since I’ve been writing for Borderline Hikikomori.
Shaft has really been letting me down lately. Since it’s Shaft, I’d imagine that there would be some sort of special twist to this show, and that it won’t end up being some trumped up magic version of Hidamari Sketch, but you never know. How long now until the Bakemonogatari prequel?
There’s been a lot of hype surrounding this, and understandably so: Akiyuki Shinbo is directing a Shaft-produced original magical girl anime. Yuki Kajiura is doing the music, Ume Aoki is behind the original character designs, and the cast – Aoi Yuuki, Chiwa Saito, Eri Kitamura and Kaori Mizuhashi are the leads, and the mascot character is being played by Emiri Kato – is positively star studded. Promo material has been released at a steady rate, but we’ve yet to see a trailer with any actual footage. And given that this is original (and that Shinbo is directing), this could go absolutely anywhere. I’m not a big fan of Shaft, but this has certainly piqued my interest and Shinbo can be fantastic. Mostly, though, I’m immensely curious as to what this will be like, so I’ll jump in and give the series a go.

Freezing

Preview (Official Site)
The bleedin’ promotional materials give you panty shots and wrecked clothing. Watching the trailer really didn’t dissuade me from this position. If you want to watch buxom women beat the tar out of each other, this is the series for you this season. At least Infinite Stratos has really cool mecha…
Seems like yet another fairly generic scifi/fantasy show. The fanservice in the previews certainly doesn’t impress. I’ll pass.
While this show seems really similar to Infinite Stratos in concept and the amount of fan service, I’m going to give this one a shot for two reasons. First, the concept reminds me of Simoun, minus the yuri-ness, in that it is using the two people must work together to be successful theme. But more importantly, I want to see the pink haired, pig tailed girl with almost no clothes on.
I’m kind of a fan of the source material, but I’ll be the first to admit this is not for everyone: the fanservice is heavy and a large part of the series is busty girls beating each other up. (I think it says a lot that the series’ website features a series of minigames in which the aim is to knock clothes off various heroines) Nonetheless, I am a fan, and I am awaiting this with glee.
A couple of points to note about this adaptation. Firstly, the director is Takashi Watanabe, of Boogiepop Phantom, Slayers, and Full Metal Panic! fame, and Shana, Ikki Tousen, and Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou infamy. The screen composition guy is behind Ikki Tousen and both seasons of Index, while the screenplay guy did Queen’s Blade, Daimaou and Sekirei. Make of this what you will. Secondly, a plot in the manga only eventuates about thirty chapters in, and this is when things become really enjoyable and the early character development stuff becomes important. Anyway, a certain character is important in the turns the plot takes; she is not listed in the cast or character lists. Further, there seem to be some anime original characters (either that or they’re background characters who’ve been given names). I don’t know if this means a) we won’t get to the meat of the story, b) that this’ll be two cours long (and that said character will appear then), or c) that it means things will go in a completely different direction to manga. I don’t know what any of this means for the series, but I’m hoping for the best.

Beelzebub

Preview
Okay, so this series is on my radar as well. I like the delinquent character archetype, because it leaves so much room for character development. That he’s a delinquent who has to raise a child just puts more icing on the cake. This screams action comedy, which is perfect for me.
Hmm, tough high school guy is forced to raise a kid. Haven’t I seen this before? To be fair, this is a very common trope in all media, not just anime. The promotional material makes it look like it’ll be a wacky comedy. Nothing too compelling as far as I can see.
Too many shows have focused on some sort of devil king recently. Too many shows have focused on delinquents recently. Too many shows have focused on maids recently. So no, I’m not watching this.
The latest Shounen Jump series to get a Pierrot anime adaptation. I’ve known about the manga for a while, but have never really felt the desire to get into it. It sounds vaguely interesting, so I may feel a yen to give it the anime a try, but a couple of things are stacked against it. Firstly, I have a pretty bad record with Shounen Jump series, in both manga and anime form. Secondly, the two previous works of director Nobuhiro Takamoto’s I’ve checked out in the past – Ookami Kakushi and 07-Ghost – completely and utterly failed to captivate me, much as I wanted to like them. A probable miss for me, I think.

Yumekui Merry (Merry Dream Eater)

Preview
I know the magical girl falls on top of the protagonist trope has been played to death. Shoot, I’ve complained about it in the past. This just looks fun though. Merry Nightmare looks like she’d be right at home in a Disgaea game. And really, how can I say no to a war with cats? I’ll give it a shot.
Another girl-falls-in-boy’s-lap fantasy show by JC Staff? You’ll have to excuse me if I’m skeptical. I feel like JC Staff has gotten very good at pumping out these types of shows over the years, but they’ve yet to produce a good one. And the massive success of the Index franchise has only encouraged them to keep going, methinks. I’ll stay away.
Bar the usual cliches, the premise is interesting and the director of Casshern Sins is at the helm of the project. I also thought the trailer was very impressive; the art and animation looked gorgeous. If there’s good action and characterization here, I’ll definitely be on board. Checking this out.

Level E

Preview
The synopsis… I have no idea where this is going. However, it looks like the people who have read the source material are pretty vocal about liking it. A comedy with an amusing asshole of a prince… maybe.
Preview and synopsis don’t capture me. Looks like a generic scifi thriller. I’ll pass.
The concept doesn’t sound like my thing at all, and the trailer was unimpressive. Not interested in this.

Infinite Stratos

Preview
In just the first few seconds of the trailer you can tell this is already going to become a harem anime. However, I really like the design of their mecha suits, and if they can offer me some entertaining battles, I’ll probably tune in just for that. I suppose the obligatory TnA is extra.
This just seems like a whole lot of fan service that won’t let its characters get into any sort of drama that can’t just be fixed by some sort of reset ending. I suppose I could be wrong, and in that case I would likely go back and watch this at some point in the future, but this show just doesn’t seem to be breaking any new ground.
The PVs showed off an interesting visual style – a mix of very flat, angular looking characters and polished, CG-heavy mechs/armour, which actually worked quite fantastically – and some sleek action scenes. The staff and studio here are really interesting, too. We have studio 8-Bit making their debut, the director who did Macross Frontier, and the series composer who worked on the Key/KyoAni trilogy of Kanon, Clannad and Air. The school life/mecha action combination can be really enjoyable when done well, too, so I’ll give this a go.

Haiyoru Nyaruani: Remember My Love(craft-Sensei)

Official Site
Holy long title Batman! So we have a Cthulu deity who happens to enjoy the form of a pretty girl who ends up with, you guessed it, an ordinary high school student. I wonder, is “Did You Just Kiss Cthulu” a trope?
Seems all the cool legendary or fantastical characters are getting little girl representations. There’s the obvious (and surprisingly excellent) Strike Witches series, this season’s Squid Girl, and wasn’t there a show about Lubu from the Three Kingdoms a few years back? I couldn’t get into Squid Girl, and I’ll pass on this.
I watched the first episode of this, even though I wasn’t planning to, because it was only four minutes long. Essentially, it’s entirely mediocre. There’s nothing particularly good here, but nothing terrible either. Anyway, this is a gag show. Nothing is going to change, the characters won’t develop, the plot will be non-existent, etc. The character dynamics are good enough, though, and I think that’s the single most important thing in a show like this. But I doubt I’ll follow along.

Houkago no Pleiades

Official Site
My first reaction was to once again yell, “What the hell, Gainax?” My second reaction, upon seeing the staff list, could be summed up as “…huh.” We’ve got an episode director from FLCL, a concept artist from TTGL, and the designer of Hanamaru Kindergarten. Who knows, this might actually pull through somehow.
Gainax making a promotional anime for Subaru, the car company… well, Gainax certainly is a company that knows how to monetize its products. I haven’t been able to find any details on this show, but given Gainax’s history, unless it involves mechs in some form, it’s probably not gonna be very good.

Wolverine

Official Site
Last time I checked, Iron Man wasn’t doing too well, so I’ll pretty much pass on all of these Marvel shows.
I was hugely underwhelmed by Iron Man, so much so that I’ll proceed with much caution if end up trying any of the other Madhouse/Marvel collaborations. Anyway, I found that most of the community tended to share my views on that first project so, while I don’t intend to check out Wolverine, there’s a small chance I might be tempted to change my mind if reviews of it are glowing.

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? (Is this a Zombie?)

Preview
This looks like it’s trying to capitalize on the current zombie craze without actually using any of the things that makes zombies cool. Just another generic fantasy magical-girl-falls-into-boy’s-lap show from, as far as I can see. I’ll pass.
I can’t help but feel I’ve seen this “fight in my place against an evil organization” plot line before. Plus, do I want to watch something about zombies again? No?
The concept sounds like a lot of mindless fun to me, honestly. I mean, vampire ninjas, necromancers, zombies, magical girls and an “anti-magical girl system?” The art was displayed in the trailer was great, aside from the character art, which looked unpolished and strangely ugly. Staff-wise, the director has only previously helmed Macademi Wasshoi!, which I didn’t get into, while the series composition guy has done a truckload of ecchi series… but also Katanagatari, which was brilliant. Anyway, as I said before, this looks like it could be enjoyable, so I’ll check it out.

Rio -Rainbow Gate!-

Preview
This show really doesn’t have anything going for it, but I do like cards, so maybe?
Nothing in the promo material I’ve seen for this has really grabbed my attention, though series comp is good here. The tournament/quest-ish aspects that seem to be a part of the show could be interesting, but it looks as though this aspires to be more of a fanservice comedy. I doubt I’ll be watching.

Dragon Crisis

Official Site
The premise here is pretty cliche. The tweaks that have been made to the usual formula, however, were novel enough for me to consider checking this out. Then I heard Rie Kugimiya in the trailer, with her voice seemingly more irritating than ever before (I know! I didn’t think it was possible either!). I don’t know if there’s enough good here to counterbalance the cliches and Teh Rie, despite the fact that Hideyuki Kurata is doing series comp. I think he’s excellent, but, naturally, how good his adaptation work is depends on the source. I suppose he might be enough to get me to try to brave through a little of the series, though.

I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!

Official Site
Looks like it’s trying to cash in on the siscon fetish which, while very old, has seemingly exploded in popularity in mainstream anime in the past few years. Probably gonna be worthless.
The brocon trend continues. This really isn’t my thing. No thanks.

Starry Sky

Official Site
It seems as though all there is to this otome game adaptation is a reverse harem of bishies and a fantastic cast. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much beyond that. Perhaps with a good director I’d be more inclined to give the series a try, but Nobuhiro Takamoto is helming this (see Beelzebub). I don’t think I’ll be watching.

Kimi ni Todoke (Season 2)

Official Site
The first season started out as good, wholesome fun, but got frustrating toward the end as nothing kept happening. Maybe the 2nd season can provide more of that innocent entertainment while having the relationship actually advance. But the real question is, will Aya Hirano return to voice her character?
I loved the first season, except for five or six episodes that focused on Kurumi. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again. Aside from that, I am hoping for a little quicker pace this time around, but then again, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. A must watch for sure.

Mitsudomoe (Season 2)

Official Site
Despite the first season being really crude at some points and that it recycled a lot of jokes, I laughed harder at this show than anything I’ve watched recently. Since it’s only 8 episodes, I’ll probably wait until it’s finished and marathon it.