I finally got around to watching Blue Literature (Aoi Bungaku) once a group I could trust (or mostly trust) got to fansubbing it. The reason I waited was because after the non-subbing of Mouryou no Hako – last year’s fall season high quality Madhouse series – I wasn’t going to get attached to a show unless I felt that I’d be able to finish the series. Seriously, could someone finish subbing Mouryou no Hako already.

Anyways, as I watched the third episode of Blue Literature I was reminded of another anime very unexpectantly. Look at the screenshots below.

First from the serious Aoi Bungaku:

Look familiar? Now a screenshot of the other anime:

Yes, it’s the same building and trolley that were seen in the first episode of Taishou Yakyuu Musume, aka Taishou Baseball Girls.

I know Blue Literature wasn’t trying to slip in something funny since this building must have really existed and is probably well-known to Japanese viewers but I still found myself giggling while watching Blue Literature over the remembered sound-and-dance routine from that first episode from Taishou Yakyuu Musume.

Posted in anime, general anime interst

One of the great resources in anime fandom of late has been this guy. His charts have become almost indispensable when trying to figure out what to watch in the upcoming anime seasons. Recently, he’s started to compile these charts for previous years and the information that can be gleaned from these charts are extremely interesting and a real eye opener.

Last year, 2008, was the first year of this blog and as a result I watched many shows I probably won’t have otherwise and tried to make sure that I discovered all the “good” anime of a season so I could help other people discover these anime shows. So one of the first things I wanted to figure out was how much of the 2008 anime did I watch in the end.

Percentage of Shows Watched

This is the chart in question that I’m using; you can find it and more here. It lists 130 total anime shows that begun airing in 2008 and looking over these shows I realize there is a handful of shows that are aimed at very young viewers and these shows are never fansubbed, talked about, or licensed so the first step I’m going to do is remove these shows from consideration. I then tabulated how many shows I’ve watched, dropped and completed and I’ll summarize them here.

• 114 total shows (19 from Winter 07/08, 34 from Spring 08, 21 from Summer 08, 37 from Fall 08, 3 from Winter 08/09)
• 50 shows watched (5, 15, 9, 18, 3)
• 19 shows dropped (0, 9, 3, 5, 2)
• 31 shows completed (5, 6, 6, 13, 1)

I should note that the Winter 07/08 season was a season that I essentially took off. I needed the break and the only new show I watched that season while it was airing was Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei s.2. Yes, It is strange that I decided to start a blog during a season I wasn’t actively watching but that just how I like to do things. Because of this, the only shows I watched from this season where ones that I really wanted to see at a later time. This skews some of the results I’ll highlight below.

• Overall watched percentage by season – 26.3% of Winter 07/08, 44.1% of Spring 08, 42.9% of Summer 08, 48.7% of Autumn 08, 100% of Winter 08/09
• Overall watched percentage of 2008 – 43.8%
• Percentage of watched shows that were dropped by season – 0.0%, 60.0%, 33.3%, 28.8%, 66.7%)
• Percentage of watched shows that were dropped in 2008 – 38.0%

While going over the list of shows, I’ve noted that there were a few shows that I still have some interest in catching and could see myself watching at some point in the future, time willing.

• Possible unwatched shows that may be watched in the future by season – 2 from Winter 07/08, 2 from Spring 08, 0 from Summer 08, 4 from Fall 08, 0 from Winter 08/09
• Total unwatched but still interested in shows for 2008 – 8
• 2008 Total of shows watched and possible shows watched in the future – 58 or 50.9% of all 2008 anime shows

This leaves 49.1% of the entire 2008 year of shows as shows that I have not watched nor am I interested in doing so. Just looking at the raw number, it seems like I’m leaving a huge percentage of shows unwatched but looking over the shows the I’ve missed – I don’t think I’m missing much. I wonder how this compares to other anime fans.

Excellent Shows and Strong Seasons

Next, I compiled a list of shows that I consider being the best of 2008 – the titles that I would recommend to other people and would be worthy series to own on DVDs, if possible. I was curious to see how these shows were distributed and if the general thinking about the spring and fall seasons being the strong seasons seemed justified.

• Excellent shows from Winter 07/08 – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S.2 and Spice & Wolf – (2)
• Excellent shows from Spring 08 – Wagaya no Oinarisama, Library Wars, Kaiba, Soul Eater, Kurenai (5)
• Excellent shows from Summer 08 – Natsume Yuujin-chou, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, Ryouko’s Case Files (4)
• Excellent shows from Fall 08 – Toradora, Clannad S.2, Shikabane Hime:Aka, Ga-Rei:Zero, Mouryou Hako, Kurozuka, Michiko to Hatchin (7)
• Excellents shows from 2008 – 18

Looking at the pure number totals, it appears that the fall season was the strongest season and that’s definitely on way to look at it but I wanted to see it from another perspective.

• Percentage of overall shows that were excellent by season – 10.5% of Winter 07/08, 14.7% of Spring 08, 19.1% of Summer 08, 18.9% of Autumn 08, 0% of Winter 08/09
• Percentage of overall shows that were excellent for 2008 – 15.8%
• Percentage of watched shows that were excellent by season – 40.0%, 33.3%, 44.4%, 38.9%, 0.0%
• Percentage of watched shows that were excellent for 2008 – 36.0%

Looking at the number of excellent shows in the context of the rest of the season shows, it turns out that the Summer season squeaks in front of the fall season as having the highest percentage of excellent shows. If the saying about how only 10% of anything is worth fighting for and the rest is garbage then one can’t complain about the quality of anime from 2008 since it beat that by a bit.

Why It’s Hard To Be a Fan of Anime Without Resorting to Fansubs

I want to say up front that I’m not writing this to defend fansubs per se nor am I trying to pick a fight – it’s been my observation for a while that oftentimes when an anime is announced as being licensed, I’m disappointed because it’s not one that I felt deserved to get licensed and I want to see if this observation is backed up by the data.

The first thing that needed done was to compile a list of what shows where licensed from 2008. I started with the list that animesuki keeps of shows that are licensed and thus they no longer list and then I checked out the various licensing articles from anime news network and finally I checked crunchyroll. I might have missed a couple but they won’t be enough to change the conclusions that I discovered. Onto some data.

• Total number of anime shows licensed from 2008 – 32
• Total number of licensed shows that I watched from 2008 – 13
• Total number of licensed shows that I completed from 2008 – 9
• Total number of licensed shows that I consider excellent shows from 2008 – 5
• Total number of excellent licensed shows that will come out on DVD – 3
• Total number of excellent licensed shows that will be dubbed on DVD – 2

I’ll note here that of the 19 licensed shows that I have not watched, none are on my list of shows that I might be interested in watching so those figures are final. Without running the exact numbers it’s pretty apparent what can be concluded but let’s run the numbers for completeness sake.

• Percentage of total anime shows that were licensed from 2008 – 28.1%
• Percentage of total anime shows that were not licensed from 2008 – 71.9%
• Percentage of licensed shows that I watched – 40.6%
• Percentage of licensed shows that I completed – 28.1%
• Percentage of licensed shows that I consider excellent – 15.6%
• Percentage of excellent licensed shows that will be released on DVD – 9.4%
• Percentage of excellent licensed shows that will be dubbed and released on DVD – 6.25%

The one glaring conclusion that I have to conclude is that the “anime fan” that the North American companies are going after is not me. If they were, I’d expect to see almost all of my excellent shows as having been licensed. (Afterall they should be picking the best titles to maximize the number of DVDs bought.) That’s not the case, though, and looking over the shows that did get licensed I find a lot of shounen/fighting shows, fan-service shows, and shoujo shows. I can’t help but feel that one of the results of a licensing pattern like this is that once an anime fan has been sated with enough shounen, fan-service, and/or shoujo shows that these fans discover they are no longer anime fans because anime has become either too childish or repetitive.

The reason I took the category down to excellent licensed shows that will dubbed and put on DVD even when I’m not the biggest dub fan is because there’s a segment of anime fandom that are people who like anime but don’t want to read subtitles and also want to watch on a TV. My one sister is like this and in the end she buys almost exclusively manga because she can find so little anime that interests her. When I was starting up my blog she told me that she’d read my site to find shows to buy but she quickly realized that this was not possible. I don’t blame her, of all the shows that I’ve watched and blogged about in 2008 there is a total of two shows – Soul Eater and Spice & Wolf that I could possibly recommend to her to buy and I don’t think she’d like Soul Eater. That leaves Spice & Wolf as the only anime out of the 114 anime that started airing in Japan during 2008 that I could recommend her to buy.

I feel like I should repeat that; for the entire 2008 year of anime, there is only one anime that I could recommend to my sister as being good enough that it’s worth buying on DVD. And these companies complain about the fans – maybe it’s not the fan’s fault.

I realize that 2009 saw a large increase of shows getting quasi-licensed on crunchyroll so by now it’s possible that my title about having to almost having to resort to fansubs may not hold as much water but I’ll leave that to a follow-up article in the future to see how the numbers work out. I want to hold off for a while to see how many of the 2009 shows get physically licensed and which ones will get dubs. Also left for a later article is my thoughts on how exactly to get the North American anime scene going in the right direction; here’s a hint, I don’t think there will be many people who will become fans of anime from having crunchyroll stream subtitled anime.

-
As an aside, if you happen to be looking to buy a good anime series on DVD (maybe for a Christmas present) and want a quality show that will get rewatched more than once, let me point out that Bamboo Blade is coming out soon. And there’s Spice & Wolf as well but it’s coming out the week of Christmas.

Posted in anime, anime rants/views

Pushing this back a couple of days changed a couple of the winners and caused a few more categories to be added included one award that is my first award named after an anime - The Gurren Lagann Memorial Body-Count Award. I thought it was appropriate and I did make a comment a few weeks ago essentially promising to make this category.

Best Action

Winner: Soul Eater

Runner-up: Kurozuka, Ga-Rei: Zero

One of the problems with us humans is that we take so many things for granted when we shouldn’t. It happens in real life and it happens with our entertainment; in this case, after two cour (seasons) of Soul Eater – I was taking Soul Eater for granted and I feel bad that I was. I’d become complacent about the show and it took episodes 35 and 36 of Soul Eater to remind me that even Kurozuka and Ga-Rei: Zero can’t match this show in terms of action.

Best Comedy

Winner: Toradora

Runner-up: Clannad

The comedies of the season, like Kemeko DX and Kannagi, have not been nearly as funny as they should have been – Kemeko DX has been more weird then funny and Kannagi has suffered from the director’s desire to prove that he shouldn’t have been fired from doing Lucky Star. This allowed shows that aren’t true comedies like Toradora and Clannad, that only use comedy inside of a larger story, to sneak ahead. Of these two, Toradora’s humor has the slight edge because it’ll make me laugh when I least expect it and the humor has a broader range.

Best Story

Winner: Chaos;Head

This is one category that the slower paced release of subs for Mouryou no Hako makes me worried that I’m passing it over for a lesser anime. From what I’ve seen of Mouryou no Hako (5 episodes worth) it’s has a very intriguing story that still seems to have many mysteries left for us to uncover. But I got to use what I got and the story of Chaos;Head has been a very good one as well. I like a show that can create and maintain a sense of suspense about itself as Chaos;Head has done. I also like the idea of being able to use some sort of electromagnetic wave to make people see things that aren’t there. Throw in a strange string of deaths, strange earthquakes, and a main character with only a vague hold on sanity and Chaos;Head has one of most interesting stories of the year.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Michiko to Hatchin

Runner-up: Kurozuka

I’ve always been a fan of post-apocalyptic worlds for some reason but if you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all. On the other hand Michiko to Hatchin takes place in a really unique and colorful place – Brazil. I’ve never had the chance to visit Brazil to know if the shows portrayal of the country is even close to reality but it does feel different from the standard Japanese setting. The colorful palette, the people that we’ve met, and the poverty and suffering that’s been seen all work to really set this world apart from other shows.

Best Seiyuu

Male: Hikaru Midorikawa as Lord Edgar from Earl and Fairy

Female: Yui Horie as Minorin and Rie Kugimiya as Taiga from Toradora

I was slightly surprised when I realized that I would give Hikaru Midorikawa best male seiyuu for his role as Lord Edgar from Earl and Fairy. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it, he does, but what surprised me when I started trying to separate the voice from the character was that I realized that if he had done a poor job voicing Lord Edgar, then the show wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. The entire show hinges on Edgar being royalty and Hikaru Midorikawa does a very good job convincing us of this. He also does Yusuke Yoshino’s voice, the electrician from Clannad that Tomoya works with.

The absolute hardest decision of all my picks was deciding between Yui Horie and Rie Kugimiya for best female seiyuu. On one hand, Rie Kugimiya has been one of my favorite voice actors and yet her work as Taiga has easily surpassed all of her other works. She has been able to make Taiga’s wide range of emotions all sound authentic and believable and is one of the reasons why the show has been as good as it’s been. Then on the other hand, Yui Horie has been nothing short of god-like as Minorin. Every moment she’s been onscreen literally makes makes me giddy with pleasure. In the end, I decided that I couldn’t really separate the two so I should just give them both the award.

Best OP

Winner: Clannad

Runner-ups: Index, Michiko no Hatchin, Toradora

For all my liking of KyoAni’s adaptations of Key, I don’t normally like the OP/ED that much – AIR’s opening and Clannad’s first closing being the only ones I really liked. Imagine my surprise then as the opening for the second season of Clannad started and I found myself instantly liking it. The song is my favorite new opening song of the season and because I already know the characters, the animation has more impact for me. It beat out many other good openings including both shows from J.C. Staff (who almost always makes good OP/ED) and Michiko no Hatchin – who had the most visually interesting opening of the season.

Best ED

Winner: Kannagi

Runner-ups: Soul Eater, Chaos;Head

I’ll be honest, I find it harder to enjoy a slower paced song in a language I don’t know then an upbeat one. As a result, I find myself likeing more openings then closings since many anime shows follow the format of having an upbeat opening and a more relaxing ending. Sometimes, though, I find myself instantly liking a slower paced song and that happened with Kannagi’s ending. For all the clamor over it’s opening, there was a something ethereal about the ending that I felt fit the show perfectly.

If Chaos;Head’s ending song had made a little more sense – maybe the Japanese won’t understand how nonsensical it sounds but I do – I would have given this award to it. I like many aspects of the song but the lyrics just kill it. I know the artist that sang it has talent, Seira Kagami, because she also did Kaiba’s opening and closing so I’m going to fault the record people on this one.

Best Overall Music

Winner: Clannad

A show’s background music truly has to be spectacular for me to remember it. If it’s just mediocre, I probably won’t even remember it enough to think it was mediocre. In Clannad’s case, I remember the music clearly. It’s gotten to the point that for some songs all I need is to hear a few bars and I have to start fighting the tears back.

Best Animation

Winner: Mouryou no Hako

Runner-ups: Clannad and Michiko no Hatchin

Like I said earlier, I’ve only seen the first 5 episodes of Mouryou no Hako but even if the animation quality dips later, it would feel wrong to name another show as having the best animation. This show is just drop-dead gorgeous to look at and it needed to be to beat the stiff competition from Clannad and Michiko no Hatchin.

Top Animation Studio

Winner: Madhouse

This was one of the easiest awards to give out. Exhibit A is Mouryou no Hako, Exhibit B is Kurozuka, and Exhibit C is Chaos;Head – case closed.

The Gurren Lagann Memorial Body-Count Award

Winner: Ga-Rei: Zero

I won’t spoil who exactly dies in Gurren Lagann but there was more then one of the main and side characters that die in it over the course of the show. When I decided to give Ga-Rei: Zero an award for the sheer number of characters that they’ve killed off, I wanted to convey that the people killed were not just nobodies – cannon fodder – but real characters so I had the idea to link the popular Gurren Lagann with the award. So, Ga-Rei: Zero is the first seasonal winner of this award and it’s most deserving of it. Even if the show was a dud, it would still be memorial for this aspect.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m always interesting in comments so if you liked or disliked my picks, feel free to post your thoughts. In a week or two, I’ll be posting my top five shows of the fall season. My 2008 overall award posts will come out sometime in the middle to late January so I can have time to write my impression posts of the new season, catch a couple series I missed in 2008, and allow the slower sub releases to hopefully finish up the 2007 series so I can make an accurate list. (Any subbers reading this – I’m not complaining, I realize stuff happens that can slow you down – I just want to give my rationale for waiting since many blogs do theirs at the end of December.)

And to end on a sad note, the sheer number of anime blogs going on hiatus lately almost made me do a ‘Favorite Blog That’s Going on Hiatus Award’. You don’t have to worry about me but if I was paranoid, I might think some sort of conspiracy was afoot.

Posted in anime, awards      

I think one of the great things about watching anime is that each season offers different types of shows. I am, personally, surprised by many of the shows that are my favorites of the season. Which just strengthens my conviction that it’s important to keep an open mind when trying to pick anime to watch.

The scores:

Earl and Fairy, episode 3 – 10/12 A

Kannagi, episode 4 – 10/12 A

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 7– 12/12

Clannad S.2, episode 4 – 12++/12
Clannad S.2, episode 5 – 12+/12

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 3 – 12/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 4 – 10/12 A

Kurozuka, episode 3 – 12+/12

Mouryou no Hako, episode 3 – 11/12
Mouryou no Hako, episode 4 – 12/12

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 3 – 11/12 A+

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 4 – 11/12 A+

Skip Beat, episode 4 – 12/12

Hyakko, episode 4 – 7/12 B

Toradora!, episode 5 – 11/12 A+

Chaos;Head, episode 2 – 12/12
Chaos;Head, episode 3 – 12/12

Yozakura Quartet, episode 5 – 10/12 A

Thoughts and Highlights

The first thing that jumps into my mind when reviewing the scores above is that a pair of shows – Mouryou no Hako, and Ga-Rei Zero – are doing better overall then their episodic scores would indicate. Both have shown very tantalizing hints of being awesome shows but at the same time they both are very ambitious in what they want to accomplish. How this will play out, will they ultimately succeed or come up short, is unknown at this time.

The best episode of the week was episode 4 of Clannad which was the conclusion to the Sunohara/Mei arc. The addition of a second male character and all that he adds to the show is one way that Clannad is superior to the past Key shows. Just look at the fight between Sunohara and Tomoya in this episode. It was emotionally real and different from what we’re used to see in shows like these and my sister and I couldn’t help but be glued to the screen. I will admit that, once the fight started, I wanted to see a Tomoya beating of Sunohara because as an older brother to four sisters, Sunohara’s actions made me very angry – you always protect your family.

On the flipside, Hyakko got put on probation this week, which means that if I don’t think the next episode is good enough and points to the series being good, then I’m going to drop it. I realized while watching this episode that my big problem with this show is that I actively dislike 2 of the 4 main characters and don’t have a good opinion of the other two. I want to compare this show to Manabi Straight since the set-up seems fairly similar and the character types match up almost perfectly and when I do the differences are stark. Just look at Mei from Manabi Straight and the aloof-girl on Hyakko. Mei is likeable and it’s apparent that she does have a nice side whereas the aloof-girl on Hyakko has not be anything but mean and aloof and frankly I wish the other three would just leave her alone.

Toradora has finally introduced the fifth main character and she’s a doozy. She has a real annoying helpless-blond personality around people she likes but a real curt and unfriendly personality around people she dislikes. I’m not sure how these five characters fit together but so far their relationships have been interesting and different and a bit Honey and Clover-esque.

And finally, one show that I’m starting to become slightly optimistic that it will turn out to be a good show is Yozakura Quartet. They’ve been developing the characters through these episodes which is always a plus and the world that this anime inhabits is also starting to intrigue me. I wonder if this will turn out like Wagaya no Oinari-sama where the animation isn’t that great but the story and characters are enough to make the show a success.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

Massive amounts of anime was watched this week by me and I still feel like I’ve not watched enough of the series because I’m skipping sequels to shows that I haven’t seen the previous season of. As a side effect of rating so much anime at this concentrated rate, I’m finding it easier to see the gradations of quality that separates a perfect episode and one that’s an A+ or A. Therefore, it’s now harder for an episode to get a perfect score and the ones that do, deserve it.

The scores:

Soul Eater, episode 28 – 12+/12
Soul Eater, episode 29 – 12/12

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 2 – 12/12

Skip Beat, episode 2 – 11/12 A+
Skip Beat, episode 3 – 12/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 3 – 12/12

Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 24 – 10/12 A (end)

Kannagi, episode 3 – 11/12 A+

Kemeko DX, episode 3 – 10/12 A

Earl and Fairy, episode 2 – 11/12 +

Chaos;Head, episode 2 – 12/12
Chaos;Head, episode 3 – 12/12

Kurozuka, episode 2 – 12/12

Mouryou no Hako, episode 2 – 12+/12

Yozakura Quartet, episode 2 – 10/12 A
Yozakura Quartet, episode 3 – 9/12 A-
Yozakura Quartet, episode 4 – 10/12 A

Hyakko, episode 3 – 9/12 A-

Toradora!, episode 4 – 12+/12

Daughter of 20 Faces, episode 20 – 10/12 A

(previously reviewed)

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 1 – 6/12 B-

Earl and Fairy, episode 1 – 9/12 A-

Thoughts and Highlights

Alas, this amount of shows this week make it impossible to mention them all. Writing in any form has always been difficult and time-consuming for me. If I write an email that’s a paragraph long, you can bet that I spent over an hour composing it. Someday I hope to get better at writing and that desire is one of the personal reasons for doing this blog. With that said, onto my thoughts and highlights.

The best episode this week was from Mouryou no Hako. I was wondering what they where going to do after the first episode and while I still don’t know for sure, it appears that something strange is going on. For instance, they keep talking about how boxes can hold people’s souls. It was done with the girl in episode 1 that was just a living head in a box and the doll-maker and the characters have mentioned it as well. As this makes me wonder about the building-size box that is shown at the end of episode 2. What is it and what is it meant to do? Also, there appears to be reason to suspect that the girl that fell in front of the train at the end of episode 1 was pushed for a reason. Both of the mysteries make me real anxious to watch the future episodes and the stunning animation doesn’t hurt.

Soul Eater continues to impress me on the shounen front. I thought the show was a touch slow in the beginning, even if I liked each individual episode as it aired, but since about episode 18 the show has kicked itself into high gear and the pace hasn’t slacked yet. If this isn’t the top shounen series right now, it’s very close.

I’m finding that I’m warming to both Kannagi and Yozakura Quartet this week but Hyakko is still not winning me over and it was the robot girl that secured the A- for the episode, if she wasn’t there then it would have been scored lower. In Kannagi’s case, it’s probably the combination of successfully forgetting the manga and giving the characters time to be more developed and thus likeable. Yozakura Quartet is still not matching J.C. Staff’s Index but episodes 2-4 where good enough that I want to continue to watching.

And finally, the two shoujo shows that I’m watching, Skip Beat and Earl and Fairy, both where very fun shows to watch this week. The first continues to excel at making us care about the main character, Kyoko, and root that she gets her revenge. The second has a talking cat, always a big plus, and is doing a good job at developing the three main characters.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

The fall season continues to wow with even more awesome shows this week. I might be biting off more then I can chew by trying to watch them all but I’m willing to try. Also this week, I was able to finish one my favorites from the spring season.

The scores:

Soul Eater, episode 27 – 12+/12

Toradora!, episode 3 – 12/12

Kemeko DX, episode 2 – 8/12 B+

Clannad S.2, episode 2 – 12++/12
Clannad S.2, episode 3 – 12++/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 2 – 12+/12

Kannagi, episode 2 – 9/12 A-

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 2 – 12/12

Maid Guy, episode 12 – 9/12 A- (end)

(previously reviewed)

Kurozuka, episode 1 – 12/12

Skip Beat, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Mouryou no Hako, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Thoughts and Highlights

As you can see in the scores, I was able to finish Maid Guy this week so I’d like to thank the joint effort from [Yakuza T-K] in doing this great series. Expect my series review soon. This final episode was of the type that signaled to the viewers that a second season will be forthcoming if they think it will make money. Therefore, this episode didn’t have any sense of closure and we were even introduced to a maid that looked like a worthy adversary to Maid Guy. I like the idea of someone on Maid Guy’s otherworldly level but I’m really ambivalent about another season. For the episode itself, it contained enough Awesome Kogarashi Moments to keep me happy.

The best episode of the week was actually the pair of episodes from Clannad. It’s like KyoAni was psychic or something – how else can you explain how they knew to start off the season with a baseball episode and then go into an arc about my favorite character – Sunohara and his younger sister, Mei. As an aside, if Mei doesn’t finish in the top 8 for Saimoe next year – I’ll be supremely surprised. So far Clannad has been delivering that perfect blend of comedy and drama that so epitomizes a Key/KyoAni show.

There really wasn’t a disappointing episode this week. The lowest scoring show of the week, Kemeko DX, was because the show took the time to do character introductions and not the comedic craziness that the show is promising. It’s always important to take the time to introduce and flesh out a character but this episode didn’t quite charm me like I was hoping it would. I still have relatively high expectations for this show so I’ll keep watching.

Soul Eater continues to keep me on the edge of my seat. This episode we got to see Justin fight and more of Crona being awesome. Another bad guy (actually a woman with really freaky eyes) appears and Stein continues to battle his temptation to give into the madness. Also, while, I wasn’t really impressed with the seconding ending, this new ending is awesome. The song is perfect – upbeat and snazzy – for the animation and the animation fits the feel of the song and even takes the time to showcase more of the main characters. On a side note, if how Death the Kid’s way of holding his guns bothered you, I was watching a show on History Channel that showcased a few of the great trick shooters living now and it included a guy that held his shotgun like Death the Kid holds his guns – so it is possible.

The pair of J.C. Staff shows, Index and Toradora, continue to be very good. We got character building in Toradora and they were able to make it interesting. Even though Rie Kugimiya’s Taiga is in many ways very similar to her other tsundere roles there is differences that make Taiga a much more likable character. It makes it hard not to root for her. In the case of To Aru Majutsu no Index, we get an awesome fight that shows off Tohma’s null-power right hand as well as his intelligence in finding ways to win. I have the feeling that the guy Tohma fought really isn’t a bad guy but one that has a temper and is more concerned about the safety of magic books then their carrier – Index.

The final show I wanted to talk about was Kannagi. In my impression post for episode 1, I mentioned that a lot of fanservice was added to that episode and I didn’t think it was warranted. This episode once again adds in needless, and definitely implausible, fanservice. Implausible because if the main character is worried about people seeing Nagi’s underwear, why does he walk to the front door, holding them, where she is obviously talking with someone. Needless because I think in an episode that’s meant to be more serious with a mother cat and her two baby kittens dieing – the fanservice cheapens their deaths and frankly I wonder what the director was thinking. I have already seen the next episode and liked it more so maybe I’ll end up liking this anime a lot.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review, youtube      

Time for the third Madhouse anime series of the season - Mouryou no Hako. I somehow missed this show when I was looking at the fall shows but the positive buzz from other people guaranteed that I’d watch this.

Rating: 11/12 A+

Well, Madhouse hits another home run with this show.

The story so far seems to be about two girls – one the daughter of a working-poor doll head maker and the other is super-rich, perfect, and excels at everything. The daughter of the doll head maker starts to hero-worship the other and the perfect, rich one starts to tell her that one in the reincarnation of the other and vice-versa. The two develop a very close relationship and all seems to be happy between them until they decide to runaway together.

Then there’s the creepy part at the beginning where this guy meets a rather odd man holding a large ornate wooden box. The guy hears a voice coming from the box and when the door is opening by the odd man, he sees a young woman’s head amongst flowers and she appears to be alive. It was creepy and disturbingly wrong and yet I’m really curious how this plays into the rest of the show.

Once again Madhouse shows off their animation prowess with quality that was almost too beautiful to look at and the character designs, done by Clamp, fit the mood and story of the show perfectly. And finally, of the three Madhouse shows, this one had the best OP/ED of the bunch.

Posted in anime, first impressions