If last week had been a light week of anime, this week was the opposite – as you can see below. And I didn’t include my marathoning of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and the first two episodes of OVA over a two day period. I decided it was the last of the 2008 shows that I wanted to get to before getting to my awards for the whole year. In hindsight, watching that much Despair at one time probably wasn’t the best idea since my brain almost turned to mush. Which is actually a complement, it reminded me of watching FLCL in one sitting.

The scores:

Toradora!, episode 15 – 12/12

Soul Eater, episode 38 – 10/12 A
Soul Eater, episode 39 – 12/12

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 22 – 12/12
Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 23 – 12+/12

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 11 – 12+/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 14 – 10/12 A

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 11 – 12/12
Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 12 – 12+/12 (end)

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 13 – 11/12 A+ (end)

Minami-Ke: Okaeri, episode 2 – 12++/12

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 2 – 12/12

Asu no Yoichi, episode 2 – 9/12 A-

Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, episode 2 – 9/12 A-

(previously reviewed)

Asu no Yoichi, episode 1 – 6/12 B-

Akikan, episode 1 – 4/12 C
Akikan, episode 2 – 3/12 D

Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, episode 1 – 8/12 B+

Rideback, episode 1 – 12/12

Maria+Holic, episode 1 – 10/12 A
Maria+Holic, episode 2 – 11/12 A+

Chrome Shelled Regios, episode 1 – 7/12 B

Birdy the Mighty Decode 2, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Shikabane Hime: Kuro, episode 1 – 7/12 B

Munto TV, episode 1 – 12/12

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Minami-Ke: Okaeri – This episode showed that the first episode wasn’t a fluke

Down – Shikabane Hime: Kuro – For specifics as to why this show belongs here, check my impressions post but I’m already wishing that Gainax was still doing this show

Thoughts and Highlights

I already posted a video from Minami-Ke: Okaeri showing one of the awesome clips from episode 2 but the episode was full of really great parts. As a result it was this week’s best episode that I watched. It’s also this week’s momentum gainer since it’s helping to make me quickly forget about the second season and confirm that I can expect the comedy of this season to be on a similar level to the first. One thing that I thought most interesting about the Curry Fairy part was that Hosaka didn’t set off Chiaki’s stupid-idiot radar. I don’t think Hosaka is an idiot but I’m surprised that Chiaki thinks the same way. I also can’t wait for the eventual second meeting between the two when Chiaki realizes Hosaka is not the Curry Fairy.

Xam’D: Lost Memories has now moved to the final arc and, of course, tons of stuff start happening. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed both episodes, it’s starting to feel like Bones was a little too ambitious with this show. In episode 23, it was like the show suddenly developed ADD and couldn’t stop changing the channel between the numerous different stories. Some scenes, like the Haru scene, didn’t leave a deep impression because before we even had the chance to digest what she was saying we were off somewhere else. And some scenes like the Nakiami one still resonated well because her character has had plenty of development over the course of the show and we understood almost immediately the importance of what was happening. I hope the final few episodes are paced a little better because it’ll be a shame to see such a quality show falter at the end. And since this isn’t actually running on television, I don’t understand why it has to be 26 episodes when it could be a few more episodes longer and have enough time for the ending.

Soul Eater episode 39 finally got back to my favorite character, Crona. I’m inclined to think that Crona is a boy because that would mean that Medusa has been messing with his mind from the beginning. In this episode, Crona finally admits to Maka his role in pushing Stein towards insanity. Of course Maka realizes that Crona would only do something like that under duress but it looks like Crona will be kicked out of Soul Society until someone very unexpected appears at Shibusen.

I’ll discuss the shows that ended this week when I write my series review in the future. I have a few more comments I wanted to make but nothing that deserves a full paragraph so I’ll bulletize them.

• I enjoyed the second episode of Asu no Yoichi why more then I should have. Maybe it’s because they constructed a scenario where the male main character is actually a capable human being and has a plausible reason for his problems around people, especially girls. Let’s hope it continues.
• Sora o Kakeru Shoujo or The Girl who Leapt Through Space continues to be odd but I think I might like this series. The comedy has been funny and offbeat so far; for example, in episode 2, an Iron Maiden was used as the means for the characters to change into their battle suits.
• Great episode of Michiko to Hatchin. What Michiko had to do to get Hatchin to forgive her was epic and touched my heart. It would be easy to think Michiko looked at Hatchin as a means to an end but this episode really showed that Michiko cares for Hatchin’s welfare.
• I was wondering if Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou could top the fox spirit from the first season in terms of cuteness and I got my answer this episode – yes. The little snow bunny (like the ones seen in Kanon) that gets possessed by a spirit is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

And just like that, the book closes on the fall season and 2008.

Back at the start of the fall season, early October, the trees where just starting to change colors and it was still possible to walk around outside in shorts. Now at the end of the season, coats are required and the faded landscape speaks of many more months of cold. Hopefully at the end of the winter anime season, the early crocuses will be blooming and we’ll finally know when the second season of Haruhi is airing.

The scores:

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 12 – 9/12 A-
To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 13 – 11/12 A+

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 9 – 11/12 A+
Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 10 – 12/12
Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 11 – 12+/12

Kannagi, episode 12 – 10/12 A
Kannagi, episode 13 – 12/12 (end)

Chaos;Head, episode 11 – 10/12 A
Chaos;Head, episode 12 – 11/12 A+ (end)

Kurozuka, episode 11 – 12/12
Kurozuka, episode 12 – 12+/12 (end)

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 11 – 12+/12
Ga-Rei Zero, episode 12 – 12+/12 (end)

Earl and Fairy, episode 11 – 11/12 A+

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 20 – 12/12
Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 21 – 12+/12

Toradora!, episode 13 – 12++/12

Kemeko DX, episode 12 – 10/12 A (end)

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 10 – 12/12

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

Yozakura Quartet, episode 12 – 10/12 A (end)

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Shikabane Hime: Aka – If I had to graph this show’s momentum, it would look like an exponential growth curve.

Down – Chaos;Head – Technically, since this ended, it shouldn’t be here but this show definitely lost a lot of the momentum that it had built up earlier in the series.

Thoughts and Highlights

Shikabane Hime: Aka is the momentum gainer of the week again and came very close to having it’s episode 11 be the best episode of the bi-week. This show and Ga-Rei: Zero actually are very similar shows in that they’ve been season long examinations of a character. Ga-Rei: Zero was to show how a hero despairs, gets corrupted, and falls; whereas, Shikabane Hime: Aka was to show how a normal high school boy is called upon to become the hero. The difference between the two was that Ga-Rei told you by the end of episode 3 what it was doing but Shikabane Hime didn’t make it clear till much later.

Episode 11 of Shikabane Hime: Aka had a really awesome flashback sequence in it – very Millenium Actress-esque. This sequence would have wowed me no-matter-what; but, the fact that Gainax did it, wowed me even more because Gainax isn’t known for it’s subtleness and small moments.

Squeaking past for this bi-week’s best episode is Toradora’s episode 13. As epic as the race was, the moment that really stuck out in my mind was the comment Minorin made at the end when she was talking with Ryuuji. She said something to effect ‘I’m talking normal’. A simple sentence might seem insignificant but oftentimes it’s the small things that speak volumes. We were clued into the possibility that Minorin uses her hyper personality as a way to cope with her fears back in episode 3 and this single sentence seems to confirm this idea. What we also learn is that Kitamura seems to have a thing for the student council president and she doesn’t feel the same way about him. I can’t help but think that, because Taiga’s personality is similar to the student council president’s, Kitamura sees Taiga as a replacement for the president and that makes him a jerk.

I’ve already put up my thoughts to 3 of the show’s that have ended and will get to the other three – Kannagi, Kurozuka, and Chaos;Head – soon so I don’t have anything to say about those six shows right now. So, I’ll close with just a few more short thoughts.

• To Aru Majutsu no Index is now at it’s halfway point. It’s been infinitely better then the first half of Shana 2 but it’s suffered from having way to much exposition and the apparently pointless amnesia of the main character. Shana 2 was able to have a near flawless second half and lets hope Index can too.
• Xam’D: Lost Memories is nearly done setting the stage for the show’s finale and I’m pumped and primed to see what happens.

• Have I mentioned how the casting in Skip Beat has helped make the show so enjoyable. Marina Inoue infuses Kyoko’s character with the perfect edge that really makes the character feel real. Then there’s the smooth-as-butter Katsuyuki Konishi as Ren that makes Ren’s ability to make all women swoon over him so believable and makes Kyoko’s interest in him genuine.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

One of the lighter weeks in terms of number of episodes that I watched in a long while but the over quality was still very high. What made it feel even less was that almost half of the new anime I watched this week (Index, Toradora, Soul Eater, Xam’d, Clannad) was watched with my sister. Since we normally watch a bunch of anime together, I set those series aside so when I felt like watching anime by myself this week – I didn’t find much. Not that I’m complaining, it’s really fun to watch anime with someone.

The scores:

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 10 – 11/12 A+

Toradora!, episode 10 – 12++/12
Toradora!, episode 11 – 12+/12

Soul Eater, episode 36 – 12++/12

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 7 – 12/12
Michiko to Hatchin, episode 8 – 11/12 A+
Michiko to Hatchin, episode 9 – 9/12 A-

Kannagi, episode 10 – 11/12 A+

Skip Beat, episode 10 – 11/12 A+

Chaos;Head, episode 9 – 12/12

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 18 – 11/12 A+

Yozakura Quartet, episode 11 – 11/12 A+

Clannad S.2, episode 11 – 12+/12

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Toradora! : It continues to amaze week after week

Down – nothing this week

Thoughts and Highlights

It almost doesn’t feel right to say that Toradora has been gaining momentum since only episodes 1 and 5 received a score lower then 12/12 but what else do you call this feeling that each episode is building upon the past episode without losing what’s been gained. Compare that to Index, all that time before the main character’s memory loss feels lost and wasted to the viewer – about 6 episodes worth – and it’s only now that the show is starting to feel good again. Or look at Kannagi, doesn’t the land needed purifying? That seemed important to Nagi at the beginning but we haven’t seen any of this in a long while. Then there was the dad that asked Jin to get the spirit of Nagi’s sister out of his daughter’s body. Why show us this if Jin isn’t even going to worry about doing this. Or look at Michiko to Hatchin. Episode 9 of this show totally killed the buzz it had been developing.

Episode 10 of Toradora was also the best episode I watched this week with Soul Eater a very close second but as much as this show is being analyzed and talked about, I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said. Though I did come up with one speculation about the show after episode 11 – wouldn’t it be funny if Ryuuji’s Mom and Taiga’s Dad hooked up? That would be a hilarious turn of events.

Episode 11 of Clannad continues to focus on Tomoya’s effort to become a working adult and the problems this causes in his relationship with Nagisa. I have the feeling that how a person takes this episode depended on how old the viewer is. It’s easy for younger bloggers to rake Tomoya over the coals for not going to the Founder’s Festival with Nagisa but I can’t fault Tomoya for his desire to help fix the mistake he made on the job. I’ll fault him for not calling Nagisa to say why he wasn’t going to be there so she wouldn’t be waiting for him the entire time. And if he was really on the ball, he could have called around to see if some of the people he knows would go to the Founder’s Festival with Nagisa so she wouldn’t miss out on the fun. The fact of the matter is that Tomoya needs this job if he’s going to be able to support Nagisa and himself once they get married and his limitation is going to make this tough without the help of his co-workers. Saying all that though, Tomoya better come up with some way to express his regret for making Nagisa sad since she’s too good of a person to not be treated right.

One of Soul Eater’s strengths is that it seems to be aware of the shortcomings of it’s older shounen brethren. We all know that the characters of a shounen will have to level up at least once during the course of the show to be able to defeat the stronger opponents. It’s the same case with Soul Eater but instead of showing the characters “training” or suddenly getting powers, they use a method that’s realistic and fits with the basic premise of the show. In Soul Eater, a master and weapon need to form a link with their souls if they are to work as a team. So, you might ask yourself if one master/weapon team links with another master/weapon team what would happen? The obvious answer this that collectively there’s more power and hence one master/weapon team will be much stronger. In episode 36, we see Maka, Death the Kid, and Black Star – with their weapons – link up and when one of them fought they were stronger then the sum of the three, individually. Maka, for one, was able to power up Soul to a freakish large double headed scythe and use a demon hunting technique that was able to split Mosquito guy in half. Really cool to see and like I said, way more realistic then what most shounen titles do.

Due to the relatively light week and none of the other episodes taking me by surprise, there’s nothing else to say that will take me a paragraph to say. So here’s the rest of my comments, in brief:

Yozakura Quartet had it’s best episode so far but the show still suffers using clichés too much and should be trying to make itself feel more original.

Skip Beat and Xam’D: Lost Memories continue to impress in their respective ways.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

Before anyone begins to think I can’t add probably, there is a reason why eight days are covered in this weekly anime review - I wanted to shift the start of the week by a day, from Sunday to Monday, and had to add that extra day somewhere. I hope this will improve my ability to write this column.

I also wanted to mention here that I decided to drop Hyakko in the end. I just couldn’t bring myself to get the next episode so I figured that meant it was dropped by default. I know some of the people out there are enjoying this show which makes me half wonder why I’m not. It should have been an easy sale on it’s part to get me to like it but it didn’t happen. Onto what I did watch this week.

The scores:

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 8 – 9/12 A-

Kannagi, episode 8 – 11/12 A+

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 6 – 11/12 A+

Kemeko DX, episode 8 – 10/12 A

Earl and Fairy, episode 6 – 10/12 A
Earl and Fairy, episode 7 – 10/12 A

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 7 – 10/12 A

Kurozuka, episode 7 – 11/12 A+

Chaos;Head, episode 7 – 12/12

Toradora!, episode 8 – 12+/12

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 16 – 12/12

Clannad S.2, episode 9 – 12+/12

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 5 – 12/12
Michiko to Hatchin, episode 6 – 12+/12

Yozakura Quartet, episode 8 – 9/12 A-

Mouryou no Hako, episode 5 – 10/12 A

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Michiko to Hatchin : Even in this strong season, this show has managed to make itself feel unique

Down – nothing this week

Thoughts and Highlights

The first thing about Michiko to Hatchin that left the impression that this show could be something special and unique was it’s lush animation and it’s setting outside of Japan. The next thing I noticed was that the show seems focused on showing how the two main characters have lived difficult lives and how they where surrounded by other people living difficult lives. A look at the other shows I’m watching right now yields nothing that is similar. I don’t want to make it sound like I enjoy watching people suffer but I have noticed that I am more drawn into this show than I was for Samurai Champloo. I want to find out more about Michiko and Hatchin’s past, how they are related, what their tattoos mean, and will they end up having a happy ending.

Squeaking past episode 6 of Michiko and Clannad as this week’s best episode was episode 8 of Toradora. I think I’ve already said that Toradora is much better then it should be. It’s traveling down a road that’s been worn into a fairly wide boulevard so it shouldn’t feel different or new – yet it does. I think one way that makes it feel so different is that the characters display genuine intelligence at times and this episode has a great example of that. Taiga realized she didn’t have a real shot at winning the swimming contest but an opportunity presented itself. Her opponent, Ami, decided to wear a skimpy two-piece swimsuit – probably to show the superiority of her body against Taiga’s. So when the race started, Taiga tackles Ami underwater, takes Ami’s top and throws it as far away as she could. This allows Taiga to get a huge lead over Ami. My sister and I had a good laugh at this and it wasn’t until later that I started thinking how doing that would be a good idea in real life – if I happen to be in a similar situation – and marveled at Taiga’s flash of brilliance. I realize that I can’t expect anime characters to always act intelligent but it’s a nice change of pace.

Speaking of Clannad, I thought that even though we’re transitioning to the main story now, which will probably include lots of sad parts, the first episode after Yukine’s story would be safe from anything that would illicit tears. But I was wrong, we get smacked for a loop almost immediately. One event, however, made me angry. When Nagisa becomes ill again and misses the last half of her senior year, why couldn’t the school figure out some way to let her graduate instead of forcing her to redo her senior year again? It’s this general lack of caring for the individual student by the school administration that helps ensure that many students will not end up healthy, happy, and productive adults.

And finally, there’s a few brief comments I wanted to make:

• Earl and Fairy seems to have found it’s groove after the horrible end to the sword arc and while it won’t compete against the top shows of the season, it’s been enjoyable.
• I think it’s now safe to say that Kannagi is a good effort but isn’t the homerun it could have been.
• Chaos;Head continues to make the story compelling enough that I’m willing to forgive it for it’s harem elements.
• Xam’d continues to chug on it’s near perfect track. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how good of a show this has been.
• I have been enjoying Index even when I’m complaining about it but I positively hate when I’m watching something and a character does something really, really dumb. In this case, any half intelligent person would know, especially if that person was weak and their only defense was destroyed in episode 1, not to go into that building but Index does and gets captured.

I couldn’t pass up posting this from Earl and Fairy - one of the funniest things I saw this week.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

An exciting week in anime – the summer season is finishing up and the fall season is starting. The last couple of weeks I haven’t really had a lot to write but now I’ve got multiple series reviews to write and first impression posts to write. I’m not complaining, the more I have to write about the better – it means I’m watching shows that I want to talk about. Let’s get to the weekly scores now.

The scores:

Ryoko’s Case Files, episode 12 – 12+/12

Birdy the Mighty Decode, episode 13 – 12+/12 (end)

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 12 – 12/12

Soul Eater, episode 25 – 11/12 A+

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 6 – 12++/12

Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 12 – 12+/12

Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 19 – 12+/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 20 – 12+/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 21 – 12+/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 22 – 12/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 23 – 12+/12

Clannad S.2, episode 1 – 12/12

Toradora!, episode 1 – 10/12 A

Akane-iro no Somaru Saka, episode 1 – 5/12 C+

Hyakko, episode 1 – 8/12 B+

Thoughts and Highlights

First off, for the in-depth reasons why I scored the new shows how I did, you can refer to the previously posted impression posts.

The biggest surprise, and one that was quite pleasant, was the number of Wagaya no Oinari-sama episodes I was able to watch this week. This show has been one of the most consistently fun shows to watch this year and this group of episodes continue this trend. It’s mix of light comedy, dorama, and loveable characters is a perfect balance – just look at some of these episodes: one episode dealt was a Halloween episode that included the god of poverty showing up, another involved a mystery at an onsen, and yet another involved Sakura trying to stick to a diet. I don’t know how much source material is left but I’d definitely watch a second season of this show.

The best episode of the week comes from Somedays Dreamer’s season 2 but since it’s slice-of-life, it’s difficult to describe why. I’m happy that someone is working on subbing this show – beyond the whole question of if you like the animation style or not, it’s a very solid show.

Everything else pretty much stayed awesome. I did want to mention that this week’s Soul Eater was a transitional episode to gear us up for the second half of the show. The students of Shibusen played basketball and Shinigami-sama called a conference to map out what they should do now that the Demon God is escaped. Anyone else think it’s time to for a new opening? I like it but it’s been the same for the first half of the show and I’d like to see something new, maybe with some hints as to what to expect for the second half of the show.

Posted in anime