Fall 2009 Anime

It's been a long run guys, but I'm finally quitting blogging due to real life commitments. I sincerely hope that those of you I've made friends with through these means will keep in touch after I leave.

Thanks for putting up with me through my gaming posts and seemingly pointless rants about Seinen classification not being based on the magazine it's serialized, plotless anime being okay but most of them being not for me, and saying that J-pop sucks. I hope I haven't made too many enemies. Well then, until we may meet again. Ja.

So, what anime of the fall season is worth watching? It's too early to tell, give me some space guys, geez.

"We're from literature, so we're allowed to commit suicide intelligently!"

Aoi Bungaku(Blue Literature) - I haven't seen many literature adaptations in anime, but the ones I have seen all suck. They usually have terrible-average animation, slow pacing, unwillingness to diverge from anime norms, unwillingness to diverge from the original script, and they're usually based off of source material that isn't too exciting itself. Aoi Bungaku is a refreshing change from this. The animation of the first episode has been compared by many to Kurozuka(That show that suckered me into watching it with a brilliant first episode and was Seinen weirdness from the second episode on). I tend not to remember music from shows, but I just remember that the mood was always where the music was, and vice versa. In particular there was a very short electronic piece about 9 minutes into the first episode that really drew my attention. I'm a little scared that the animation style won't be as novel when the animation staff changes, but only Watanabe can tell what the future will bring(For indeed, he is a creator of the future).

Armed Librarians; Our anime is so cool we needed a subtitle in English - Only watched the first episode. Doubt I'll continue past the second. I just couldn't get excited about the action scenes, and it looked(to me) to be another show with great plot, but that just couldn't transcend past standard anime conventions.

Darker Than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini(Darker Than Black: Gemini of The Shooting Star) - Phew, took long enough to type the title that now I don't wanna talk about it. Okay okay, it looked interesting. Interesting enough to make me want to go back and watch the original show. I don't really need to give you my opinion on a sequel. If you saw the original you know what to think of it, and if you didn't you should be checking out the original.

Kampfer - Dropped after episode 2. Not too into the art style, and the plot progressed pretty slowly too. If you're hardcore about gender swap yuri, take a gander at it I suppose. I'm just not too into that kind of humour and plot.

Kimi ni Todoke(Getting Through To You) - I dropped this after one episode, but plan to return. I thought this would be one of those Shounen romance drama I hate so much(more on this later), but it turns out it was serialized as a Shoujo. This doesn't make it much better, it just means that the main characters should actually have a clear relationship. This doesn't bug me nearly as much somehow.

Seriously, how can you not fall in love with that smile?

Kobato - Currently debating continuing watching it after two episodes. Kobato's the sort of character that guys like me fall in love with instantly, and it's animated by Madhouse, who brought us such classics as Akagi, Chobits, Dennou Coil, and Paprika(Notice the omission? Good for you, now go wank off to your Light x L doujin). What could go wrong, right? Using a stuffed animal as your only source of intentional humour, that's what. Not that the series would be significantly better without that...stuffed animal thing, it's just that it would take itself so much more seriously. We'd be left to derive our humour from Kobato's silliness and her lack of knowledge about the human world. This would, in my opinion, be a large step up from the constant yelling/cowering act that we're supposed to laugh at.

"I will get annoying, even if you might not realize it yet."

Kuchuu Buranko(Trapeze) - I'm looking forward to the second episode, but can't help but think that the little doctor guy constantly popping out of nowhere and lecturing on psychological terms was anything but helpful. Maybe if you wanna be a psych major, but I don't, and don't really care about the formal names of disorders shown in the show either.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza(The Secret of Haruka Nogizaka: Purity) - This is the sort of show I seem to get suckered into watching the most. I hate it, because there's never any romantic development, just pandering to people who don't understand or care what it's like to be in a relationship, and a perfect example of how society in general panders to males pursuing relationships but never teaches them how to keep relationships going(Got that one from my shrink, hehe). All-in-all, a purely typical Shounen romance drama(serialized Seinen). The concept was unique though, so it prompted me to watch the original show of which this is a sequel. After 12 episodes, I was ready to be done so I deleted this show and don't plan to return.

Seitokai no Ichizon(Student Council's Judgement) - Dropped after ep 1. The sort of plotless anime that relies instead on the personalities of it's characters is not always bad, and the numerous references to Haruhi and Lucky Star in the beginning I can Ignore. It just didn't have any other redeeming qualities I felt. I guess I just don't 'get' the humor, but then I was never much of a Lucky Star person either.

PLOT!

Sora no Otoshimono(Heaven's Lost Property) - Dropped, probably. The first episode really did it for me in terms of comedy, but the montage of flocks of flying panties in episode two to sentimental music was a little over the top. In episode two they also reverted to a lot of fanservice and anime cliches, although I feel that the series had a lot of lost potential. Naturally I can't really say that unless I've watched it to the end, but that's my prediction.

Inner thoughts: "Finally, I thought he'd never ask!"*

Tegami Bachi(Letter Bee) - Looks good so far. I'm into devastated worlds, cold weather AND homosexual undertones, so this one has a chance at being my show of the season.
*Funnier in context

Yumeiro Patissiere(Dream Colored Patissiere) - Dropped after 1/10 of an episode, no comment.

As always, I continue to watch One Piece despite my better(worse?) judgement. Also:

Akikan OVA - MUST WATCH MUST WATCH MUST WATCH