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May 23rd, 2013
Spring Midseason Fill-Out Post 5/23/13
Anime Relations: Toriko, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S
We're halfway through, I might as well give a review of how everything's going this season since I totally slacked on the weekly rankings.
1. Toriko - Timed the "food honor" arc really well, as it probably would have fallen behind Railgun at some point in the last couple of weeks. The food honor arc has been quite enjoyable, and we haven't even gotten to "Totally Not Snake Way But With Bubbles" yet. If I recall correctly, the Four Beast arc followed this one, and that... was not nearly as good. That was something that came too early, I felt. We'll get to that when it comes though, and just enjoy Toriko totally not being able to show proper gratitude for food for a couple more weeks.
Score: 8.3
2. Railgun S - Misaka Imoutos are awesome, and Accelerator is awesome (though his laugh has always seemed very forced to me). Combine them, and... well, you get a ton of bloodshed, but you also get an awesome story arc. We've also had our fair share of Kuroko being Kuroko (she's so ridiculous and her voice actress does such a good job with that... lewdness), and with promises of The Queen of Tokiwadai as well as Meltdowner to come, I am really excited for what this show could end up being.
Score: 8.3
3. Haiyore! Nyarlko W - First rule of slapstick comedy - NOBODY GOES ANGSTY. What the hell are you doing, Nyarlko? That episode was totally out of place for this show. I also expected Kuuko-with-boobs to be a lot more interesting than she actually is. I would like this show to get back to being extremely silly when it comes back from break, else it risks dropping into 4th place.
Score: 7.5
4. Ore no Imouto 2: Wait... this show is good? What the hell happened here? For starters, it stopped being a show about Kyousuke and Kirino (and Kirino being a bitch), and started being a show about Kyousuke. Believe it or not, turning the male lead into a generic harem male lead made a show BETTER. His interactions with Ayase are always... interesting, and this week's adventure with Kuroneko was probably the best episode the show has had. Random effeminate dude thinking Kyousuke was trying to feel up his sister made me laugh way harder than it should have.
Score: 7.4
5. Devil Survivor 2 - This has been a pretty big disappointment, all things considered. The biggest problem? Nothing happens. Nothing. Maybe a weird inanimate object starts blowing stuff up once every third episode, but they're not even weird-looking to the point of alien, they just look like the writer picked up stuff off his table and said "Bam, this is Merak; Pow! This is Benetnasch." I mean, what the hell, why a random popsicle ring monster? The fanservice portions last week were silly and would have worked as a nice change of pace if we actually had a pace to change.
Score: 6.6
6. Yuyushiki - As I predicted a few weeks ago, the show is being hampered by only having the three characters, all of whom can be summed up in two words or less. Some of the gags make me laugh out loud, but others stretch out far too long and there hasn't been a point where I've thought "I am watching a good show" as opposed to "I am watching an alright show." This blurb I actually typed before watching episode 7. The same things still apply. Introduce more people, darn it.
Score 6.5
7. Hayate Cuties - Much, MUCH improved from the complete and utter disaster S3 was, but it's still too Hinagiku-centric for my tastes. She's not an interesting character and I don't know what you people see in her. (Okay, apart from the thighs, those are solid). I would much rather watch Fumi be asinine than Hinagiku be angsty.
Score: 6.5
8. Muromi-san - Too much Yukari Tamura squeak-screaming, and the slapstick has been... less than the highest quality. There was a solid episode this week with a Kappa, but it did follow less than stellar outings with Otohime and unnecessarily large-breasted mermaid thing.
Score: 5.4
As for the other stuff, not a lot of progress has been made.
Steins;Gate - Nope, still not understanding how this is rated the #3 anime of all time (though less egregious than the execrable Gintama at #2 - though I'd say FMA:Brotherhood does have a case for its ranking of #1). Maybe it gets better, but if the amount of Mayushi is lessened, I'm not sure how that's possible. I don't like either Makise or Okabe at all.
Score: 5.6; progress: 12 / 24
Valkyria Chronicles - It's gotten better, as the characters do seem to be aware of the conflict which envelops them, and is not just Welkin doing Kamijou Touma stuff. The introduction of something resembling antagonists may have helped push things along.
Score: 5.8, progress: 10 / 26
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: I finally thought I could watch this show for itself and not for the Mashiro, and then Rita shows up, and who designed these characters' appearances, because that person is some kind of sorcerer.
Score: 7.9, progress: 10 / 24
1. Toriko - Timed the "food honor" arc really well, as it probably would have fallen behind Railgun at some point in the last couple of weeks. The food honor arc has been quite enjoyable, and we haven't even gotten to "Totally Not Snake Way But With Bubbles" yet. If I recall correctly, the Four Beast arc followed this one, and that... was not nearly as good. That was something that came too early, I felt. We'll get to that when it comes though, and just enjoy Toriko totally not being able to show proper gratitude for food for a couple more weeks.
Score: 8.3
2. Railgun S - Misaka Imoutos are awesome, and Accelerator is awesome (though his laugh has always seemed very forced to me). Combine them, and... well, you get a ton of bloodshed, but you also get an awesome story arc. We've also had our fair share of Kuroko being Kuroko (she's so ridiculous and her voice actress does such a good job with that... lewdness), and with promises of The Queen of Tokiwadai as well as Meltdowner to come, I am really excited for what this show could end up being.
Score: 8.3
3. Haiyore! Nyarlko W - First rule of slapstick comedy - NOBODY GOES ANGSTY. What the hell are you doing, Nyarlko? That episode was totally out of place for this show. I also expected Kuuko-with-boobs to be a lot more interesting than she actually is. I would like this show to get back to being extremely silly when it comes back from break, else it risks dropping into 4th place.
Score: 7.5
4. Ore no Imouto 2: Wait... this show is good? What the hell happened here? For starters, it stopped being a show about Kyousuke and Kirino (and Kirino being a bitch), and started being a show about Kyousuke. Believe it or not, turning the male lead into a generic harem male lead made a show BETTER. His interactions with Ayase are always... interesting, and this week's adventure with Kuroneko was probably the best episode the show has had. Random effeminate dude thinking Kyousuke was trying to feel up his sister made me laugh way harder than it should have.
Score: 7.4
5. Devil Survivor 2 - This has been a pretty big disappointment, all things considered. The biggest problem? Nothing happens. Nothing. Maybe a weird inanimate object starts blowing stuff up once every third episode, but they're not even weird-looking to the point of alien, they just look like the writer picked up stuff off his table and said "Bam, this is Merak; Pow! This is Benetnasch." I mean, what the hell, why a random popsicle ring monster? The fanservice portions last week were silly and would have worked as a nice change of pace if we actually had a pace to change.
Score: 6.6
6. Yuyushiki - As I predicted a few weeks ago, the show is being hampered by only having the three characters, all of whom can be summed up in two words or less. Some of the gags make me laugh out loud, but others stretch out far too long and there hasn't been a point where I've thought "I am watching a good show" as opposed to "I am watching an alright show." This blurb I actually typed before watching episode 7. The same things still apply. Introduce more people, darn it.
Score 6.5
7. Hayate Cuties - Much, MUCH improved from the complete and utter disaster S3 was, but it's still too Hinagiku-centric for my tastes. She's not an interesting character and I don't know what you people see in her. (Okay, apart from the thighs, those are solid). I would much rather watch Fumi be asinine than Hinagiku be angsty.
Score: 6.5
8. Muromi-san - Too much Yukari Tamura squeak-screaming, and the slapstick has been... less than the highest quality. There was a solid episode this week with a Kappa, but it did follow less than stellar outings with Otohime and unnecessarily large-breasted mermaid thing.
Score: 5.4
As for the other stuff, not a lot of progress has been made.
Steins;Gate - Nope, still not understanding how this is rated the #3 anime of all time (though less egregious than the execrable Gintama at #2 - though I'd say FMA:Brotherhood does have a case for its ranking of #1). Maybe it gets better, but if the amount of Mayushi is lessened, I'm not sure how that's possible. I don't like either Makise or Okabe at all.
Score: 5.6; progress: 12 / 24
Valkyria Chronicles - It's gotten better, as the characters do seem to be aware of the conflict which envelops them, and is not just Welkin doing Kamijou Touma stuff. The introduction of something resembling antagonists may have helped push things along.
Score: 5.8, progress: 10 / 26
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: I finally thought I could watch this show for itself and not for the Mashiro, and then Rita shows up, and who designed these characters' appearances, because that person is some kind of sorcerer.
Score: 7.9, progress: 10 / 24
Posted by Anise_Punter | 05-23-13, 1:36 PM | 0 comments
April 17th, 2013
Spring Rankings week of 4/17/13
Anime Relations: Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties
Apparently everything sucks, because I only have eight shows to rank, and one of them is only half-length and only three of them are actually new franchises to my viewing experience. It's rare when nothing catches my eye in first week screencaps, but here we are, the least amount of shows for a season in three years. (As a refresher, the last time I had this few shows we were talking Angel Beats, Mayoi Neko Overrun and K-On!!/Introduction to Western Philosophy)
1. Nyarlko W: It's never going to be spectacular, and it's already recycled all of its jokes from last season, but NO ONE writes good slapstick anymore. Kuuko remains ridiculous, and Kana Asumi's voice remains... whatever it is.
Score: 8.2
2. Toriko: The 100th anniversary spectacular gives us a new OP and a get-together to find Madam Fish, which eventually turns into a figurative junk-measuring contest. Komatsu wants no part of it, so of course he's the one that finds The Madam Fish. A scavenger comes to attack, everyone gets off their signature attacks, everyone gets to eat giant lipstick-wearing fish for dinner.
Score: 8.1
3. Railgun - Railgun was rather silly this week, with a skydiving backflip railgun helicopter Michael Bay explosion technique being the highlight of the episode. I don't think JC Staff can afford to keep doing that, but if you just give us Accelerator that'll be fine, alright? We could also stand to add a bit of Kuroko asininity, because Kuroko's the best one.
Score: 7.4
4. Devil Survivor 2 - A very talky episode. You've only got 13 of these, don't spend a full 7% of the series on talking. Make stuff happen. This could be really good if they'll let it. Skull birds were the demons of choice this week. Human skulls have always kind of freaked me out.
Score: 7.2
5. Oreimo: An episode without Kuroneko and with plenty of Ayase is probably the best Oreimo episode ever.
Score: 7.1, this holding up would be a shock.
6. Yuyushiki: A four-panel adaptation featuring three girls that sorely needs a fourth, and the young-looking teacher doesn't really count. Yes, I know. We have Straight Man (yellow), Spacey (purple), and ADD (pink). You've gotta give them more character than that, this isn't a manga. You can get away with that in a manga just fine, since you can read a sequence of events in a comic in a mere fraction of the time it takes to watch it unfold in a show.
Score: 6.7
7. Muromi-san: Yukari Tamura's voice remains really annoying. The show has a slapstick base, but not much in front of it. It's not sure whether it wants to be a rapid-fire gag comedy or merely a moderately fast one. I would go as fast as possible, and have more human-on-mermaid violence.
Score: 6.5
8. Hayate Cuties!: Well, they haven't delved into completely out-of-character drama yet, so that's a plus. Each episode is supposed to focus on one girl, but if that's what they call "a Nagi episode", I'm not sure they really understand the concept. Then again, if that's the most Rie we're getting, that's fantastic. I'm not sure if I would be excited for or dreading the possibility of a Fumi episode. I think my sense of humor would love it but my ears would never forgive me. Next week appears to be A-tan-tan-tan-tan, whatever that's worth.
Score: 5.6
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If I've only got 8 shows, what am I even doing this semester apart from more thesis work?
A. Marathon'd Horizon II over 3 days, 4 episodes at a time. It was even more of an unmitigated disaster than I thought it was going to be. As a result, I still have more 2's than 10's. It was getting close there for a minute.
Current Progress: 13 / 13
B. Valkyria Chronicles - Trying to get into this show, struggling mightily. Pretty much every episode so far has been "Welkin does something absent-mindedly but good-naturedly, Alicia misunderstands or just flips out." Isn't there some sort of war going on here?
Current Progress: 6 / 26
C. Steins;gate - MAL users rank this as the 3rd best anime in creation. Well, first, #1 is a Gintama and Gintama is terrible (440 chapters down, maybe 15 funny ones?), so we know this entire system is broken, and second, this being ranked #3 isn't giving me any more faith in the system.
Positives: It's Mayushii, doot do doo. Mayuri's kanahanaicity and general relaxed demeanor make her the only character I haven't found myself wanting to throttle so far.
Negatives: Let's start with the throttling. Daru? Definitely. Makise? Whenever she puts on the weak tsun-tsun act. Why was this necessary as a character trait? Okabe/Kyouma/what-have-you? More times than I care to count, along with some punches to the face. He'd be the worst offender if this show didn't randomly have "cat-eared Anise-Tatlin voiced maid waitress." Why? Why would you do that?
As for the show itself, the attempts at humor are falling short because the show is trying to pass itself off as more serious business. How about you ditch the humor and just go straight serious business? Start offing people, preferably in jelly fashion. It would also help to stop throwing around vaguely scientific words. As a fellow lab-coat owner, come on Kyouma, you're not even remotely mad enough.
Current Progress: 10 / 24
D. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: I'm not sure if this show is any good, but it seems to be different than your standard ecchi comedy and definitely way off what the premise/synopsis is. My understanding is that there's some drama bombs throughout the series. I'm enjoying this show a lot more than S;G or Valkyria, but I'm almost entirely certain that's because Mashiro is about as easy on the eyes as any character ever.
Current Progress: 5 / 24
1. Nyarlko W: It's never going to be spectacular, and it's already recycled all of its jokes from last season, but NO ONE writes good slapstick anymore. Kuuko remains ridiculous, and Kana Asumi's voice remains... whatever it is.
Score: 8.2
2. Toriko: The 100th anniversary spectacular gives us a new OP and a get-together to find Madam Fish, which eventually turns into a figurative junk-measuring contest. Komatsu wants no part of it, so of course he's the one that finds The Madam Fish. A scavenger comes to attack, everyone gets off their signature attacks, everyone gets to eat giant lipstick-wearing fish for dinner.
Score: 8.1
3. Railgun - Railgun was rather silly this week, with a skydiving backflip railgun helicopter Michael Bay explosion technique being the highlight of the episode. I don't think JC Staff can afford to keep doing that, but if you just give us Accelerator that'll be fine, alright? We could also stand to add a bit of Kuroko asininity, because Kuroko's the best one.
Score: 7.4
4. Devil Survivor 2 - A very talky episode. You've only got 13 of these, don't spend a full 7% of the series on talking. Make stuff happen. This could be really good if they'll let it. Skull birds were the demons of choice this week. Human skulls have always kind of freaked me out.
Score: 7.2
5. Oreimo: An episode without Kuroneko and with plenty of Ayase is probably the best Oreimo episode ever.
Score: 7.1, this holding up would be a shock.
6. Yuyushiki: A four-panel adaptation featuring three girls that sorely needs a fourth, and the young-looking teacher doesn't really count. Yes, I know. We have Straight Man (yellow), Spacey (purple), and ADD (pink). You've gotta give them more character than that, this isn't a manga. You can get away with that in a manga just fine, since you can read a sequence of events in a comic in a mere fraction of the time it takes to watch it unfold in a show.
Score: 6.7
7. Muromi-san: Yukari Tamura's voice remains really annoying. The show has a slapstick base, but not much in front of it. It's not sure whether it wants to be a rapid-fire gag comedy or merely a moderately fast one. I would go as fast as possible, and have more human-on-mermaid violence.
Score: 6.5
8. Hayate Cuties!: Well, they haven't delved into completely out-of-character drama yet, so that's a plus. Each episode is supposed to focus on one girl, but if that's what they call "a Nagi episode", I'm not sure they really understand the concept. Then again, if that's the most Rie we're getting, that's fantastic. I'm not sure if I would be excited for or dreading the possibility of a Fumi episode. I think my sense of humor would love it but my ears would never forgive me. Next week appears to be A-tan-tan-tan-tan, whatever that's worth.
Score: 5.6
----------------------
If I've only got 8 shows, what am I even doing this semester apart from more thesis work?
A. Marathon'd Horizon II over 3 days, 4 episodes at a time. It was even more of an unmitigated disaster than I thought it was going to be. As a result, I still have more 2's than 10's. It was getting close there for a minute.
Current Progress: 13 / 13
B. Valkyria Chronicles - Trying to get into this show, struggling mightily. Pretty much every episode so far has been "Welkin does something absent-mindedly but good-naturedly, Alicia misunderstands or just flips out." Isn't there some sort of war going on here?
Current Progress: 6 / 26
C. Steins;gate - MAL users rank this as the 3rd best anime in creation. Well, first, #1 is a Gintama and Gintama is terrible (440 chapters down, maybe 15 funny ones?), so we know this entire system is broken, and second, this being ranked #3 isn't giving me any more faith in the system.
Positives: It's Mayushii, doot do doo. Mayuri's kanahanaicity and general relaxed demeanor make her the only character I haven't found myself wanting to throttle so far.
Negatives: Let's start with the throttling. Daru? Definitely. Makise? Whenever she puts on the weak tsun-tsun act. Why was this necessary as a character trait? Okabe/Kyouma/what-have-you? More times than I care to count, along with some punches to the face. He'd be the worst offender if this show didn't randomly have "cat-eared Anise-Tatlin voiced maid waitress." Why? Why would you do that?
As for the show itself, the attempts at humor are falling short because the show is trying to pass itself off as more serious business. How about you ditch the humor and just go straight serious business? Start offing people, preferably in jelly fashion. It would also help to stop throwing around vaguely scientific words. As a fellow lab-coat owner, come on Kyouma, you're not even remotely mad enough.
Current Progress: 10 / 24
D. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: I'm not sure if this show is any good, but it seems to be different than your standard ecchi comedy and definitely way off what the premise/synopsis is. My understanding is that there's some drama bombs throughout the series. I'm enjoying this show a lot more than S;G or Valkyria, but I'm almost entirely certain that's because Mashiro is about as easy on the eyes as any character ever.
Current Progress: 5 / 24
Posted by Anise_Punter | 04-17-13, 11:16 PM | 0 comments
March 13th, 2013
Winter 2013 Power Rankings 3/13/13
I was sick last week. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. I'm not being paid to write this people. We have some changes, including one at the top. Just a couple of weeks left...
1. Robotics;Notes [last week: 2]: Uh oh, things are serious, well, serious to the point where Aki is giving the villain a speech of how robots save the world. But then Kimijima Kou makes it even MORE serious by having Airi turn the gun on herself, before it's stolen away by a goddamn parrot because Robotics;Notes. To the end, you're just ridiculous. And Kona. She's still... herself. She's even more herself than usual.
And holy shit, the GIANT ROBOT is important to the plot. Now let's call for everyone's help (without alerting the bad guys somehow, but whatever), and complete the spirit bomb. Two episodes left here.
Score: 9.7
2. Minami-ke [1]: The way this show jumps around in the year is enough to make one dizzy. This wasn't as funny as I was expecting it to be, though Haruka fanservice always gets the AP stamp of approval. It fell out of first place. I did not see that coming.
Score: 9.5
3. Toriko [3] - Was on break this week. Slackers.
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [4]: This episode made me laugh because I'm a terrible person. After the WHO declared that anyone not directly in the way of the Fukushima explosion was exposed to a whole 3 extra CT-scans of radiation per year (as opposed to the third-arm growing amounts that were being breathlessly reported), I can only imagine the HORRORS that the Tevua rocket explosion caused... maybe like a spent fuel rod at the bottom of a pool amount for anyone not right up against the site.
Kud was falling out of her voice for a good portion of the episode here. Also, Kud is adorable. Next week she's in danger. Anybody that hurts Kud is going to get a beating.
Score: 7.8
5. Magi [6] - Sinbad is the best, but Morgiana is the second best. That's still hefty praise. Judal is a piece of work. His defeat is going to be enjoyable, whenever that actually happens.
Score: 7.6
6. Tomodachi Sukunai [5]: The chairman's... an interesting fellow. Can we write Yozora out of the show now, or at the very least make her grow her hair out again? There was nothing outrageous this week, which is a disappointment. Not even from Rika.
Score: 7.6
7. Psycho-pass [10]: Akane is now aware of the Sibyl System's identity, and she's less than thrilled. She's even making demands to the System, or Else. Right on, Akane. Makishima is going through with his plan to destroy the food supply, with Kogami right behind him ready to off him. Yes, I'm totally rooting for Makishima to destroy the food supply. I may be a terrible person, but we knew that when the rocket holding Kud's mother exploded and I laughed.
This show has surged in the second half and has an outside shot of placing 4th. Maybe two shows a year are able to make a leap from the 5s back to the mid 7s.
Score: 7.4
8. Rock Lee [7]: A relatively tame episode this week. Neji is trying to destroy White Day because he doesn't want Hinata's heart broken (I understand, Neji), and Shikamaru wants to destroy it because it's a nuisance and he's preposterously lazy. They don't succeed. Orochimaru is also around doing Orochimaru stuff. I'm asking this show to go all out on the wackiness for the last couple of weeks - but that doesn't mean Rock Lee in a two-piece swimsuit.
Score: 6.9
9. Tamako Market [9] - Tamako's dad wins best character of the show award, displacing deadpan Kanna. She tried, but I mean that was just a really good scene with Tamako's dad up and singing and everything. I guess he should have been the focus all along. I still want to give points to this show for having Anko like the glasses kid, even though that's not how that ever works - but then again Tamako has glasses so perhaps Anko ends up with them as well. Poor girls, glasses are terrible, as Shiori can probably tell you.
I finally figured out what it is about this show. It's pretty boring, but it makes some spectacular out-of-context .gifs. That... seems to be a KyoAni specialty, doesn't it? Also it stays in 9th while other shows ping-pong around it because it's just so... nondescript.
Score: 6.8
10. ZKC [8]: The Unlimited: I'm not really sure what's going on anymore thanks to that unnecessary two-episode flashback, but it looks like Hyobu is going to pass on killing Hinomiya for now so they can work together and rescue Yugiri, taken by some branch of the US Military. Poor Yugiri. I'm not sure the writers know what they're doing anymore, and I'm kind of expecting their next Hayate installment to be a world class disaster.
Score: 6.6
11. Mondaijitachi [12]: You know an episode is off to a not-so-good start when the action is suspended and everyone is forced to the negotiation room by the unnecessary fanservice character. And it really is basically 15 minutes of trying to solve an unnecessary riddle and then five minutes of kind of fighting and then Asuka has a mech somehow. Izayoi remains the only character worth watching here. The ending animation continues to be hilarious.
Score: 5.9
12. Shinsekai Yori [11]: Holy shit, the Vashta Nerada. And Shun! Shun still has a part to play in this grand adventure, which makes me glad. I was beginning to worry there was literally no point to the first half of the entire series. He might be just a mirage or a Yakomaru-induced hallucination, but he did exist, dammit. And now I'm rooting for Yakomaru to be eaten by the Vashta Nerada.
Score: 5.9
13. Maoyuu [14]: ...had a recap episode 9 episodes into a 12 episode series? That's a new one. Should I be offended by this? We at least did get some Hero Hug Pillow recap (that thing is so goofy looking, I love it). Maybe this is more than 12 episodes. That would make sense. I don't know though. We'll find out soon enough.
Score: 4.9
14. Good Job Club [13] - I don't know what it is with this show and hairbrushing, and I don't know what it is with this show and costumes. I do know that it's one of many shows struggling to keep me interested at this point, and it's made easier by the fact that I can see the finish line. All of these characters except Megumi need to be stuffed in a Tevua rocket and exploded. Megumi's mix of blobularity is sufficient to remain.
Score: 4.8
15. Vividred Operation [15]: So... all the monsters are dead now? We're safe to hold a fanservice episode for Himawari about eight years before it's necessary?
It's good that they have a move called Final Operation, I would hate to see the plan if that didn't actually work.
Score: 4.6
It's time to start looking at what's out there to watch in the Spring, with it being just under a month away. Rock Lee is calling it a day after a year of... stuff, while Shinsekai Yori, Psychopass, Little Busters and Robotics;Notes are hanging it up after half a year, and a few other shows are one and done. I still don't know what's a full show and what's a 5-minute thing for next season, but the tentative list is as follows:
Toriko (continuing on for 8th cour)
Magi (continuing on for 3rd cour to my knowledge)
Railgun 2 (this one could actually be good, it could also be Kurokotastic)
Oreimo 2 (I am a masochist, apparently)
Hayate 4 (maybe it'll be a comedy this time!)
Nyarlko 2 (please keep being wacky)
Devil Survivor 2 (not actually a sequel, just Japan being weird)
Yuyushiki, Aiura (one or both of these is probably a 3-minute joke)
That's 9 things, and we always like to do 10 (and spring is always a packed season) so I'm sure more will come up in the next couple of weeks.
1. Robotics;Notes [last week: 2]: Uh oh, things are serious, well, serious to the point where Aki is giving the villain a speech of how robots save the world. But then Kimijima Kou makes it even MORE serious by having Airi turn the gun on herself, before it's stolen away by a goddamn parrot because Robotics;Notes. To the end, you're just ridiculous. And Kona. She's still... herself. She's even more herself than usual.
And holy shit, the GIANT ROBOT is important to the plot. Now let's call for everyone's help (without alerting the bad guys somehow, but whatever), and complete the spirit bomb. Two episodes left here.
Score: 9.7
2. Minami-ke [1]: The way this show jumps around in the year is enough to make one dizzy. This wasn't as funny as I was expecting it to be, though Haruka fanservice always gets the AP stamp of approval. It fell out of first place. I did not see that coming.
Score: 9.5
3. Toriko [3] - Was on break this week. Slackers.
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [4]: This episode made me laugh because I'm a terrible person. After the WHO declared that anyone not directly in the way of the Fukushima explosion was exposed to a whole 3 extra CT-scans of radiation per year (as opposed to the third-arm growing amounts that were being breathlessly reported), I can only imagine the HORRORS that the Tevua rocket explosion caused... maybe like a spent fuel rod at the bottom of a pool amount for anyone not right up against the site.
Kud was falling out of her voice for a good portion of the episode here. Also, Kud is adorable. Next week she's in danger. Anybody that hurts Kud is going to get a beating.
Score: 7.8
5. Magi [6] - Sinbad is the best, but Morgiana is the second best. That's still hefty praise. Judal is a piece of work. His defeat is going to be enjoyable, whenever that actually happens.
Score: 7.6
6. Tomodachi Sukunai [5]: The chairman's... an interesting fellow. Can we write Yozora out of the show now, or at the very least make her grow her hair out again? There was nothing outrageous this week, which is a disappointment. Not even from Rika.
Score: 7.6
7. Psycho-pass [10]: Akane is now aware of the Sibyl System's identity, and she's less than thrilled. She's even making demands to the System, or Else. Right on, Akane. Makishima is going through with his plan to destroy the food supply, with Kogami right behind him ready to off him. Yes, I'm totally rooting for Makishima to destroy the food supply. I may be a terrible person, but we knew that when the rocket holding Kud's mother exploded and I laughed.
This show has surged in the second half and has an outside shot of placing 4th. Maybe two shows a year are able to make a leap from the 5s back to the mid 7s.
Score: 7.4
8. Rock Lee [7]: A relatively tame episode this week. Neji is trying to destroy White Day because he doesn't want Hinata's heart broken (I understand, Neji), and Shikamaru wants to destroy it because it's a nuisance and he's preposterously lazy. They don't succeed. Orochimaru is also around doing Orochimaru stuff. I'm asking this show to go all out on the wackiness for the last couple of weeks - but that doesn't mean Rock Lee in a two-piece swimsuit.
Score: 6.9
9. Tamako Market [9] - Tamako's dad wins best character of the show award, displacing deadpan Kanna. She tried, but I mean that was just a really good scene with Tamako's dad up and singing and everything. I guess he should have been the focus all along. I still want to give points to this show for having Anko like the glasses kid, even though that's not how that ever works - but then again Tamako has glasses so perhaps Anko ends up with them as well. Poor girls, glasses are terrible, as Shiori can probably tell you.
I finally figured out what it is about this show. It's pretty boring, but it makes some spectacular out-of-context .gifs. That... seems to be a KyoAni specialty, doesn't it? Also it stays in 9th while other shows ping-pong around it because it's just so... nondescript.
Score: 6.8
10. ZKC [8]: The Unlimited: I'm not really sure what's going on anymore thanks to that unnecessary two-episode flashback, but it looks like Hyobu is going to pass on killing Hinomiya for now so they can work together and rescue Yugiri, taken by some branch of the US Military. Poor Yugiri. I'm not sure the writers know what they're doing anymore, and I'm kind of expecting their next Hayate installment to be a world class disaster.
Score: 6.6
11. Mondaijitachi [12]: You know an episode is off to a not-so-good start when the action is suspended and everyone is forced to the negotiation room by the unnecessary fanservice character. And it really is basically 15 minutes of trying to solve an unnecessary riddle and then five minutes of kind of fighting and then Asuka has a mech somehow. Izayoi remains the only character worth watching here. The ending animation continues to be hilarious.
Score: 5.9
12. Shinsekai Yori [11]: Holy shit, the Vashta Nerada. And Shun! Shun still has a part to play in this grand adventure, which makes me glad. I was beginning to worry there was literally no point to the first half of the entire series. He might be just a mirage or a Yakomaru-induced hallucination, but he did exist, dammit. And now I'm rooting for Yakomaru to be eaten by the Vashta Nerada.
Score: 5.9
13. Maoyuu [14]: ...had a recap episode 9 episodes into a 12 episode series? That's a new one. Should I be offended by this? We at least did get some Hero Hug Pillow recap (that thing is so goofy looking, I love it). Maybe this is more than 12 episodes. That would make sense. I don't know though. We'll find out soon enough.
Score: 4.9
14. Good Job Club [13] - I don't know what it is with this show and hairbrushing, and I don't know what it is with this show and costumes. I do know that it's one of many shows struggling to keep me interested at this point, and it's made easier by the fact that I can see the finish line. All of these characters except Megumi need to be stuffed in a Tevua rocket and exploded. Megumi's mix of blobularity is sufficient to remain.
Score: 4.8
15. Vividred Operation [15]: So... all the monsters are dead now? We're safe to hold a fanservice episode for Himawari about eight years before it's necessary?
It's good that they have a move called Final Operation, I would hate to see the plan if that didn't actually work.
Score: 4.6
It's time to start looking at what's out there to watch in the Spring, with it being just under a month away. Rock Lee is calling it a day after a year of... stuff, while Shinsekai Yori, Psychopass, Little Busters and Robotics;Notes are hanging it up after half a year, and a few other shows are one and done. I still don't know what's a full show and what's a 5-minute thing for next season, but the tentative list is as follows:
Toriko (continuing on for 8th cour)
Magi (continuing on for 3rd cour to my knowledge)
Railgun 2 (this one could actually be good, it could also be Kurokotastic)
Oreimo 2 (I am a masochist, apparently)
Hayate 4 (maybe it'll be a comedy this time!)
Nyarlko 2 (please keep being wacky)
Devil Survivor 2 (not actually a sequel, just Japan being weird)
Yuyushiki, Aiura (one or both of these is probably a 3-minute joke)
That's 9 things, and we always like to do 10 (and spring is always a packed season) so I'm sure more will come up in the next couple of weeks.
Posted by Anise_Punter | 03-13-13, 5:15 AM | 0 comments
February 20th, 2013
Winter 2013 Power Rankings, 2/20/13
These are a day late because Magi was a day late, but it was totally worth it. Half the shows reached the halfway point last week, the rest hit it this week. Still a couple weeks away from checking out the spring schedule.
1. Minami-ke 4 [last week: 1]: Another Hosakaless week (but he'll be there next week according to the preview). The mosquito bit was very cute, it reminds you that you are indeed watching the antics of three sisters and that you shouldn't expect too much. I don't feel like expecting Hosaka is expecting too much. Poor Uchida got pantsed and mercifully we didn't see any of it (this is a hint, Vividred).
Score: 9.6
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: Subaru's in the hospital and not dead, so that's a plus. This episode was mostly spent trying to break Aki's spirit... BUT AKI CANNOT BE BROKEN. She will fight on and always try to reach her goal and always show as much determination as humanly possible even though she's probably slightly autistic. That's why she's the best. Elsewhere, Kai was given an objective by Misa: to make sure NO ONE ELSE sees the Kimijima Reports. He is approached by an executive of Exoskeleton who he lies to repeatedly, and then downloads the final Kimijima Report... which causes the first six to be sent to every other tablet across the globe. Good job breaking it, Kai.
Score: 9.2
3. Toriko [3]: Livebearer is kind of nuts, but we knew that already. Will Coco's absurd gambit succeed? (Of course it will, this is television) What exactly was his master plan in the first place? (pretty goddamn spectacular) Will the studio keep using stock footage of Komatsu looking shocked? (DBZ would be proud). I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Livebearer get his comeuppance next week, the creep. A couple of one-offs will follow, and then the Shokurin Temple arc, which was another good one.
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [5]: Kud is adorable, though this episode did not do a particularly good job of showing just how adorable she can be. Still, it was a Kud episode, so it is approved.
Score: 7.8
5.Tomodachi Sukunai NEXT [4]: After a long run of successes, you'd figure they'd throw a meh episode in there, and this week they did, for the most part, ridiculous tsun-tsun maid Rika excepted. I'm really tired of Yozora being an angsty shrew this season; the show would be much better if she just stuck to lying to Sena about SEXY BEAM fortunes (oh god, that scene). I've never really been all that fond of Sena either, except when she's totally grossing out Kobato. I love those scenes.
Score: 7.7
6. Magi [6]: God dammit Sinbad. I thought Morgiana was going to claim the week for herself with those metal claws of death and that expression (those expressions, how do you keep making them?), but then Sinbad decided that he would just be Sinbad and completely dominated the rest of the episode. That Kou empire princess returns and claims, in front of all of Sinbad's generals, that Sinbad did highly inappropriate things to her. Sinbad's generals TOTALLY BELIEVE THIS. That's quite a reputation you've got there, king of Sindria. Eventually everything is cleared up and the Kou empire princess is highly embarrassed, but Sinbad's reputation is still kind of a mess.
Score: 7.6
7. Rock Lee [8]: Chibi Jiraiya has arrived, so you know things are about to get completely ridiculous - first though, a peeping episode, which is like our sixth through 46 weeks. Nobody wants to see Sakura and Tenten without any clothes on.
Score: 6.9
8. ZKC: Unlimited [7] - We go through 20 minutes of boring last week to set up a really interesting conclusion and we follow it up with... TWO EPISODE MOMENTUM KILLING FLASHBACK. Oh, and it's Tsubomi-centric, who I've never particularly liked. This studio really knows how to not make shows.
Score: 6.8
9. Tamako Market [9]: It's too hot, so to cure the heat, we'll set up a Tamakotastic haunted house. Things to note are that Tamako's professor is a big scaredy cat, the bird really, really likes hanging out with glasses/zusa and one of Tamako's friends whose name I never bothered to learn is actually quite dubious, but not in the gross Rika way. One of Dera's countrymen is showing up next week, but of course, this is Japan, so it's a 13-year old girl with a tan.
Score: 6.7
10. Psycho-pass [10]: Okay, I'm officially on the Makishima bandwagon now, and I bet a whole lot of other people are too. While we've seen brains in jars before (and oftentimes with more Yukari Tamura), and it never works, it was a tad different to see the ostensible villain say "Okay, this plan is totally f-ed up, let's put a stop to it. Now we've effectively got three competing factions, which is again nothing new, but certainly makes this show a lot more interesting. It's had a much better second half run than the first half.
Score: 6.5
11. Shinsekai Yori [11]: Saki and Satoru have gotten the fiend off their tracks... for the time being. They make it back to the village... but they've been discovered again. Is anybody going to live through this series? I kind of hope not, but I do hope they put an end to that firkin rat-guy first.
Score: 6.1
12. Mondaiji-tachi [12]: In case you forgot, Izayoi is kind of an ass. That's okay though, he's a lot more interesting than the other two. This week he gets caught up in a fight with the Kurousagi, who seems to be an even match for him, despite the fact that he's been beating the hell out of water gods and what have you for about a month now. What gives with that, people?
Score: 6.1
13. Good Job Club [13]: I'd say this was the best episode of this show so far without much contest. Kyoro takes the irritating orange-haired one out (while she's acting like his little sister and calling him onii-chan &c), and then they visit her house, where her maid continues to be awesome. There's apparently a third sister, younger than the first two (but still about Mao's size), and she's up to no good either.
Score: 5.4
14. Maoyuu [15]: Miyuki Sawashiro can't help but be awesome (it's been a long time since Mint Blancmanche, she gets a pass), which is something this show desperately needs. Awesomeness, I mean, not Mint. Hero has the opportunity for a true harem end looking right at him, but he's so bland his name is Hero (though he's still got more of a personality than Little Busters' Riki).
Score: 5.2
15. Vividred Operation [14]: This episode came about eight years too early considering how young they are. They definitely need to cut down on the Akane Butt Factor by about 30-fold. How all of them fell for such an obvious prank is kind of unsettling, but not as unsettling as the ferret grandfather tranquilizing a 13-year old girl with a blowdart (note: had I said "What country is a show where this happened from?" and then only wrote that sentence, it would be pretty obvious). So again, nix the Akanebutt, and have an episode eight years into the future mostly with Himawari. I think we can build on this, people.
Score: 5.0
1. Minami-ke 4 [last week: 1]: Another Hosakaless week (but he'll be there next week according to the preview). The mosquito bit was very cute, it reminds you that you are indeed watching the antics of three sisters and that you shouldn't expect too much. I don't feel like expecting Hosaka is expecting too much. Poor Uchida got pantsed and mercifully we didn't see any of it (this is a hint, Vividred).
Score: 9.6
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: Subaru's in the hospital and not dead, so that's a plus. This episode was mostly spent trying to break Aki's spirit... BUT AKI CANNOT BE BROKEN. She will fight on and always try to reach her goal and always show as much determination as humanly possible even though she's probably slightly autistic. That's why she's the best. Elsewhere, Kai was given an objective by Misa: to make sure NO ONE ELSE sees the Kimijima Reports. He is approached by an executive of Exoskeleton who he lies to repeatedly, and then downloads the final Kimijima Report... which causes the first six to be sent to every other tablet across the globe. Good job breaking it, Kai.
Score: 9.2
3. Toriko [3]: Livebearer is kind of nuts, but we knew that already. Will Coco's absurd gambit succeed? (Of course it will, this is television) What exactly was his master plan in the first place? (pretty goddamn spectacular) Will the studio keep using stock footage of Komatsu looking shocked? (DBZ would be proud). I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Livebearer get his comeuppance next week, the creep. A couple of one-offs will follow, and then the Shokurin Temple arc, which was another good one.
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [5]: Kud is adorable, though this episode did not do a particularly good job of showing just how adorable she can be. Still, it was a Kud episode, so it is approved.
Score: 7.8
5.Tomodachi Sukunai NEXT [4]: After a long run of successes, you'd figure they'd throw a meh episode in there, and this week they did, for the most part, ridiculous tsun-tsun maid Rika excepted. I'm really tired of Yozora being an angsty shrew this season; the show would be much better if she just stuck to lying to Sena about SEXY BEAM fortunes (oh god, that scene). I've never really been all that fond of Sena either, except when she's totally grossing out Kobato. I love those scenes.
Score: 7.7
6. Magi [6]: God dammit Sinbad. I thought Morgiana was going to claim the week for herself with those metal claws of death and that expression (those expressions, how do you keep making them?), but then Sinbad decided that he would just be Sinbad and completely dominated the rest of the episode. That Kou empire princess returns and claims, in front of all of Sinbad's generals, that Sinbad did highly inappropriate things to her. Sinbad's generals TOTALLY BELIEVE THIS. That's quite a reputation you've got there, king of Sindria. Eventually everything is cleared up and the Kou empire princess is highly embarrassed, but Sinbad's reputation is still kind of a mess.
Score: 7.6
7. Rock Lee [8]: Chibi Jiraiya has arrived, so you know things are about to get completely ridiculous - first though, a peeping episode, which is like our sixth through 46 weeks. Nobody wants to see Sakura and Tenten without any clothes on.
Score: 6.9
8. ZKC: Unlimited [7] - We go through 20 minutes of boring last week to set up a really interesting conclusion and we follow it up with... TWO EPISODE MOMENTUM KILLING FLASHBACK. Oh, and it's Tsubomi-centric, who I've never particularly liked. This studio really knows how to not make shows.
Score: 6.8
9. Tamako Market [9]: It's too hot, so to cure the heat, we'll set up a Tamakotastic haunted house. Things to note are that Tamako's professor is a big scaredy cat, the bird really, really likes hanging out with glasses/zusa and one of Tamako's friends whose name I never bothered to learn is actually quite dubious, but not in the gross Rika way. One of Dera's countrymen is showing up next week, but of course, this is Japan, so it's a 13-year old girl with a tan.
Score: 6.7
10. Psycho-pass [10]: Okay, I'm officially on the Makishima bandwagon now, and I bet a whole lot of other people are too. While we've seen brains in jars before (and oftentimes with more Yukari Tamura), and it never works, it was a tad different to see the ostensible villain say "Okay, this plan is totally f-ed up, let's put a stop to it. Now we've effectively got three competing factions, which is again nothing new, but certainly makes this show a lot more interesting. It's had a much better second half run than the first half.
Score: 6.5
11. Shinsekai Yori [11]: Saki and Satoru have gotten the fiend off their tracks... for the time being. They make it back to the village... but they've been discovered again. Is anybody going to live through this series? I kind of hope not, but I do hope they put an end to that firkin rat-guy first.
Score: 6.1
12. Mondaiji-tachi [12]: In case you forgot, Izayoi is kind of an ass. That's okay though, he's a lot more interesting than the other two. This week he gets caught up in a fight with the Kurousagi, who seems to be an even match for him, despite the fact that he's been beating the hell out of water gods and what have you for about a month now. What gives with that, people?
Score: 6.1
13. Good Job Club [13]: I'd say this was the best episode of this show so far without much contest. Kyoro takes the irritating orange-haired one out (while she's acting like his little sister and calling him onii-chan &c), and then they visit her house, where her maid continues to be awesome. There's apparently a third sister, younger than the first two (but still about Mao's size), and she's up to no good either.
Score: 5.4
14. Maoyuu [15]: Miyuki Sawashiro can't help but be awesome (it's been a long time since Mint Blancmanche, she gets a pass), which is something this show desperately needs. Awesomeness, I mean, not Mint. Hero has the opportunity for a true harem end looking right at him, but he's so bland his name is Hero (though he's still got more of a personality than Little Busters' Riki).
Score: 5.2
15. Vividred Operation [14]: This episode came about eight years too early considering how young they are. They definitely need to cut down on the Akane Butt Factor by about 30-fold. How all of them fell for such an obvious prank is kind of unsettling, but not as unsettling as the ferret grandfather tranquilizing a 13-year old girl with a blowdart (note: had I said "What country is a show where this happened from?" and then only wrote that sentence, it would be pretty obvious). So again, nix the Akanebutt, and have an episode eight years into the future mostly with Himawari. I think we can build on this, people.
Score: 5.0
Posted by Anise_Punter | 02-20-13, 10:45 PM | 0 comments
February 13th, 2013
Winter Power Rankings week of 2/13/13
Anime Relations: Toriko
I didn't get to some of these shows until late, what with the blizzard and accmpanying power outage / internets outage, so these are a day late. My apologies.
1. Minami-ke 4 [last week: 1]: Well, there was some world-class Harukaservice this week (stamp of approval), but also a total lack of Hosaka. People need to understand that he is the man who will lead this show to greatness.
Score: 9.7
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: This one was... different, but you kind of got the feeling that it was coming as soon as you saw the cold open. It was a far cry from last week's SKIPPED CHRISTMAS AKI (still bitter, people). Is everyone going to get killed off? I hope not, I'm bizarrely attached to these terrible people.
Score: 8.9
3. Toriko [3]: In the gourmet age, there exists a pumpkin whose innards have the forms of edible but usable playing cards - the Trumpskin. This show, sometimes I just have to shake my head at it. I love how serious this show can pretend to get sometimes. It's a Dragonball Z style episode cut-off where "Cell is about to kill Piccolo" except instead of that it's "Toriko has to eat a cherry packed with nitroglycerin." Totally the same thing, guys.
Score: 8.3
4. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT [5]: Kodaka, haven't you learned that asking gross blonde girls with twin-tails to build giant robots is a recipe for disaster? Okay, she only used that style for two minutes, but still. Rika continues to be her very... Rika self this week, which is generally when the show is at its best.
Score: 7.8
5. Little Busters [4]: Everybody feel bad for Kanata, she's had it rough too, which totally makes it okay for her to have such a dreadful personality except for that it doesn't. Anyways, Riki solved the Haruka/Kanata problem, which means next week is a Kud-o-sode. Prepare yourselves for adorableness and facepalms.
Score: 7.8
6. Magi [6]: Morgiana was all like "Wtf, you're going to change your profile picture to one of Kona being instead of me, I'm going to do something about that." She's a peach, that one. 98 percent of the time she's all business, which makes those lapses out of character just so silly. In things that relate to the plot, the gang arrives at Sindria, the country ruled by Sinbad. He knows what he's doing, don't worry. He's got his eight generals and what appears to be a harem, so yeah, he's got it all together. Don't question Sinbad. One of the Kou empire royal children is coming to study in Sindria and temporarily join the group, but it's not the Kanahana one, it's some other one. Their loss.
Score: 7.4
7. ZKC Unlimited [7]: It was about 17 minutes of back and forth with Hinomiya before things finally got interesting at the very end when he was confronted by Hyoubu, who is... upset, to say the least. Next week should be a lot of fun, but this week wasn't.
Score: 7.0
8. Rock Lee [8]: Rock Lee gives no heed to political correctness and will make fun of your gambling problems in a skit if he has to. You go, Rock Lee.
Score: 6.9
9. Tamako Market [9]: Poor what's his mochi. He'll never win Tamako's heart as long as she's mentally still 11. The guy even has that fat bird mocking him. That's never a situation you want to find yourself in. He needs to just up and confess already, so we can move on.
Score: 6.8
10. Psychopass [10]: Kogami takes on Makishima Shogo, and since there are six episodes left after this, he gets his butt kicked. That's not nearly enough time to introduce a new villain, so this round goes to Shogo. I liked the music that played during that scene.
Score: 6.4
11. Shinsekai Yori [11]: Everything dies. You'd think an episode of nothing but exploding people would appeal to me, but I dunno, I guess I've just given up here. Psychopass did exploding people better anyways.
Score: 6.2
12. Mondaiji-tachi [12]: Well, that episode was a lot of fun. Izayoi kicked some ass and tickled some Black Rabbit, and then kicked some more ass. He's growing on me, I'll admit it. The other two helped out but weren't really the focus at all. I can't say that I've learned their names (animal girl and rich girl) This is how these episodes should be. Definitely some separation between this and the three below it.
Score: 6.0
13. Good Job Club [15]: This was cruising for a drop into the 4s until the maid showed up to deliver the chocolates and stop the Kyoro abuse. You can always count on a proper maid to make things better.
Score: 5.3
14. Vividred Operation [14]: We didn't have any actual docking this week. What the hell guys? You got in your weekly quota of buttshots, but no docking? What am I supposed to look forward to in this show every week?
Score: 5.3
15. Maoyuu [13]: Just being dull. Nothing offensive, just dull. There wasn't even any hug pillow action to keep my interest.
Score: 5.2
1. Minami-ke 4 [last week: 1]: Well, there was some world-class Harukaservice this week (stamp of approval), but also a total lack of Hosaka. People need to understand that he is the man who will lead this show to greatness.
Score: 9.7
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: This one was... different, but you kind of got the feeling that it was coming as soon as you saw the cold open. It was a far cry from last week's SKIPPED CHRISTMAS AKI (still bitter, people). Is everyone going to get killed off? I hope not, I'm bizarrely attached to these terrible people.
Score: 8.9
3. Toriko [3]: In the gourmet age, there exists a pumpkin whose innards have the forms of edible but usable playing cards - the Trumpskin. This show, sometimes I just have to shake my head at it. I love how serious this show can pretend to get sometimes. It's a Dragonball Z style episode cut-off where "Cell is about to kill Piccolo" except instead of that it's "Toriko has to eat a cherry packed with nitroglycerin." Totally the same thing, guys.
Score: 8.3
4. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT [5]: Kodaka, haven't you learned that asking gross blonde girls with twin-tails to build giant robots is a recipe for disaster? Okay, she only used that style for two minutes, but still. Rika continues to be her very... Rika self this week, which is generally when the show is at its best.
Score: 7.8
5. Little Busters [4]: Everybody feel bad for Kanata, she's had it rough too, which totally makes it okay for her to have such a dreadful personality except for that it doesn't. Anyways, Riki solved the Haruka/Kanata problem, which means next week is a Kud-o-sode. Prepare yourselves for adorableness and facepalms.
Score: 7.8
6. Magi [6]: Morgiana was all like "Wtf, you're going to change your profile picture to one of Kona being instead of me, I'm going to do something about that." She's a peach, that one. 98 percent of the time she's all business, which makes those lapses out of character just so silly. In things that relate to the plot, the gang arrives at Sindria, the country ruled by Sinbad. He knows what he's doing, don't worry. He's got his eight generals and what appears to be a harem, so yeah, he's got it all together. Don't question Sinbad. One of the Kou empire royal children is coming to study in Sindria and temporarily join the group, but it's not the Kanahana one, it's some other one. Their loss.
Score: 7.4
7. ZKC Unlimited [7]: It was about 17 minutes of back and forth with Hinomiya before things finally got interesting at the very end when he was confronted by Hyoubu, who is... upset, to say the least. Next week should be a lot of fun, but this week wasn't.
Score: 7.0
8. Rock Lee [8]: Rock Lee gives no heed to political correctness and will make fun of your gambling problems in a skit if he has to. You go, Rock Lee.
Score: 6.9
9. Tamako Market [9]: Poor what's his mochi. He'll never win Tamako's heart as long as she's mentally still 11. The guy even has that fat bird mocking him. That's never a situation you want to find yourself in. He needs to just up and confess already, so we can move on.
Score: 6.8
10. Psychopass [10]: Kogami takes on Makishima Shogo, and since there are six episodes left after this, he gets his butt kicked. That's not nearly enough time to introduce a new villain, so this round goes to Shogo. I liked the music that played during that scene.
Score: 6.4
11. Shinsekai Yori [11]: Everything dies. You'd think an episode of nothing but exploding people would appeal to me, but I dunno, I guess I've just given up here. Psychopass did exploding people better anyways.
Score: 6.2
12. Mondaiji-tachi [12]: Well, that episode was a lot of fun. Izayoi kicked some ass and tickled some Black Rabbit, and then kicked some more ass. He's growing on me, I'll admit it. The other two helped out but weren't really the focus at all. I can't say that I've learned their names (animal girl and rich girl) This is how these episodes should be. Definitely some separation between this and the three below it.
Score: 6.0
13. Good Job Club [15]: This was cruising for a drop into the 4s until the maid showed up to deliver the chocolates and stop the Kyoro abuse. You can always count on a proper maid to make things better.
Score: 5.3
14. Vividred Operation [14]: We didn't have any actual docking this week. What the hell guys? You got in your weekly quota of buttshots, but no docking? What am I supposed to look forward to in this show every week?
Score: 5.3
15. Maoyuu [13]: Just being dull. Nothing offensive, just dull. There wasn't even any hug pillow action to keep my interest.
Score: 5.2
Posted by Anise_Punter | 02-13-13, 4:26 PM | 0 comments
February 8th, 2013
Winter 2013 Power Rankings 2/7/13
Anime Relations: Minami-ke Tadaima, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Next
These are late. I know. There was a funeral. There's also a big snowstorm. You wanna fight about it?
1. Minami-ke [last week: 1]: Fujioka took off his shirt and got sparkles. Oh god, it's contagious. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES. THERE WILL BE NO SURVIVORS.
Chiaki jump rope -> splat. Could watch that over and over. In fact, I did. Poor Chiaki.
Who would give Uchida fireworks? That sounds like the worst idea ever. She can't even tell you what time it is without spilling her drink all over herself (this actually happened), and you trust her with fireworks? Another beach episode next week. There'd better be some Haruka (and some Hosaka) in it.
Score: 9.6
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: I was utterly disappointed this week when I was promised CHRISTMAS AKIHO and IT WAS SKIPPED. Why would you not want to take a step closer to greatness? Why would you make that decision? They completely ignored the entire ending from last week, when it could have been comedy gold. That's a JC Staff move, people.
Score: 9.0
3. Toriko [3]: The fight against Livebearer reaches the heart of the match... and Livebearer is dominating! Coco must have some sort of plan [spoilers, he has a plan, and it is spectacular], or he and the rest of the gang are going to lose all of their memories. If he does have a plan... it involves Toriko facing off (and presumably eating, because Toriko) a 25-foot tall panda.
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [4]: The Haruka/Kanata arc is an improvement over the Nishizono arc, to be sure, but I'm not sure Kanata could be less likable if she was even trying. I'm sure we'll be forced to forgive all her transgressions through the power of friendship, but I mean, I would much rather see someone tell her off.
Score: 7.9
5. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT [5]: That roller-coaster scene was all sorts of awesome. Kobato telling the roller coaster to bring it on; Yukimura doing Yukimura things... Rika... yeah. Rika's something else. And then Sena and Yozora rode it again (eight times!) while everyone else toured the rest of the amusement park. This show certainly gets away with quite a bit. And that was before the bath scene, where Yukimura's terrifying secret was revealed. Kodaka could have ended up a lot more broken in that scene than he actually got.
Score: 7.6
6. Magi [6]: It's time to enter the body of the black djinn and save Kassim's soul (he's already no longer with us) and hear his complaints regarding human nature and all, or we could watch 90 seconds of Sinbad being a total badass and decapitating a guy from Al-Samen. They definitely should have done that the other way. A new arc begins next week - hopefully it has a lot of Sinbad being awesome.
Score: 7.3
7. ZKC: Unlimited [7]: It's a... Yugiri episode this week. Why focus on Hyoubu when he's the titular character and the only interesting one? That would be pretty silly. Instead we're reminded that people just don't like espers, even 5-year old girl espers.
Score: 7.1
8. Rock Lee [8]: It's an oni adventure, where Rock Lee loses his pants (also known as Tuesday) and he loses them to Orochimaru. There's also chibi rapping Killer Bee, because why not? Nobody ever went wrong with chibi rappers, other than everyone who has ever tried it ever.
Score: 6.9
9. Tamako Market [9]: This week, it's time to watch Tamako's little sister be cute. That was pretty much the whole episode. It works better than Tamako, so it's a start. There was even a surprising little twist in there. I also like how that firkin bird totally blew poor Anko's cover.
I wish What's-his-mochi would just confess to Tamako already.
Score: 6.7
10. Psychopass [11]: And we have reached the point of Complete Societal Collapse. That Shogo's a crafty one. All sorts of helmeted people causing crimes around the city, people have lost faith in the Sibyl System, and all of these riots have all the enforcers out of their posts. The bad guy's going to use this diversion to take out the Sibyl System once and for all. Or he might be the good guy here, I forget. Continues its move up, less because of what it's doing, and more because of what other shows are doing.
Score: 6.4
11. Shinsekai Yori [10]: Are we starting the genocide yet? This show, amongst all the shows this season, could use a hefty helping of genoocide. Hallucinations, too. Plenty of those to go around, I think.
Score: 6.4
12. Mondaiji-tachi [14]: It only takes a little bit of effort to flip yourself up to the top of the bottom tier. This week it was this show's turn, mostly thanks to that two-minute segment at Kuroko-sounding demon's place where everyone laid claim to ownership of Kuro-usagi like she was some sort of thing. She was displeased by this.
Score: 5.8
13. Maoyuu [12]: Hero returns from his dallying, finally giving Demon King that companionship she desperately needs. She'll never say that though, she'd much rather just imply it and spend time with her Hero Hug Pillow. (that thing never stops making me laugh)
Score: 5.6
14. Vividred Operation [13]: So can Isshiki just make an infinite amount of keys? Why not make an entire 14-year-old girl army while she's at it? They make sure to let you know that Yellow is the bosomy one, whatever low bar that is - and that's she's got NAKED COLLIDA to fight these robot things with. Do they find their rival magical girl next week? Is the docking different if Red kisses Yellow on the forehead, like Bobopatch vs Patchbobo? This is very important. What if blue and green dock together? What if red, blue AND green dock without yellow? You could have red dock with blue and then THAT dock with green, or red dock with green and then that dock with blue, or... well, there's like 24 different permutations, but only 12 episodes, so we'll never know.
Score: 5.6
15. Good Job Club [15]: Kyouya, you are a man after my own heart. I just wish your show was funny. Maids on motorcycles is certainly noteworthy, but the show just isn't making me laugh. Maybe I've just watched too many club-does-nothing shows.
Score: 5.5
1. Minami-ke [last week: 1]: Fujioka took off his shirt and got sparkles. Oh god, it's contagious. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES. THERE WILL BE NO SURVIVORS.
Chiaki jump rope -> splat. Could watch that over and over. In fact, I did. Poor Chiaki.
Who would give Uchida fireworks? That sounds like the worst idea ever. She can't even tell you what time it is without spilling her drink all over herself (this actually happened), and you trust her with fireworks? Another beach episode next week. There'd better be some Haruka (and some Hosaka) in it.
Score: 9.6
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: I was utterly disappointed this week when I was promised CHRISTMAS AKIHO and IT WAS SKIPPED. Why would you not want to take a step closer to greatness? Why would you make that decision? They completely ignored the entire ending from last week, when it could have been comedy gold. That's a JC Staff move, people.
Score: 9.0
3. Toriko [3]: The fight against Livebearer reaches the heart of the match... and Livebearer is dominating! Coco must have some sort of plan [spoilers, he has a plan, and it is spectacular], or he and the rest of the gang are going to lose all of their memories. If he does have a plan... it involves Toriko facing off (and presumably eating, because Toriko) a 25-foot tall panda.
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [4]: The Haruka/Kanata arc is an improvement over the Nishizono arc, to be sure, but I'm not sure Kanata could be less likable if she was even trying. I'm sure we'll be forced to forgive all her transgressions through the power of friendship, but I mean, I would much rather see someone tell her off.
Score: 7.9
5. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT [5]: That roller-coaster scene was all sorts of awesome. Kobato telling the roller coaster to bring it on; Yukimura doing Yukimura things... Rika... yeah. Rika's something else. And then Sena and Yozora rode it again (eight times!) while everyone else toured the rest of the amusement park. This show certainly gets away with quite a bit. And that was before the bath scene, where Yukimura's terrifying secret was revealed. Kodaka could have ended up a lot more broken in that scene than he actually got.
Score: 7.6
6. Magi [6]: It's time to enter the body of the black djinn and save Kassim's soul (he's already no longer with us) and hear his complaints regarding human nature and all, or we could watch 90 seconds of Sinbad being a total badass and decapitating a guy from Al-Samen. They definitely should have done that the other way. A new arc begins next week - hopefully it has a lot of Sinbad being awesome.
Score: 7.3
7. ZKC: Unlimited [7]: It's a... Yugiri episode this week. Why focus on Hyoubu when he's the titular character and the only interesting one? That would be pretty silly. Instead we're reminded that people just don't like espers, even 5-year old girl espers.
Score: 7.1
8. Rock Lee [8]: It's an oni adventure, where Rock Lee loses his pants (also known as Tuesday) and he loses them to Orochimaru. There's also chibi rapping Killer Bee, because why not? Nobody ever went wrong with chibi rappers, other than everyone who has ever tried it ever.
Score: 6.9
9. Tamako Market [9]: This week, it's time to watch Tamako's little sister be cute. That was pretty much the whole episode. It works better than Tamako, so it's a start. There was even a surprising little twist in there. I also like how that firkin bird totally blew poor Anko's cover.
I wish What's-his-mochi would just confess to Tamako already.
Score: 6.7
10. Psychopass [11]: And we have reached the point of Complete Societal Collapse. That Shogo's a crafty one. All sorts of helmeted people causing crimes around the city, people have lost faith in the Sibyl System, and all of these riots have all the enforcers out of their posts. The bad guy's going to use this diversion to take out the Sibyl System once and for all. Or he might be the good guy here, I forget. Continues its move up, less because of what it's doing, and more because of what other shows are doing.
Score: 6.4
11. Shinsekai Yori [10]: Are we starting the genocide yet? This show, amongst all the shows this season, could use a hefty helping of genoocide. Hallucinations, too. Plenty of those to go around, I think.
Score: 6.4
12. Mondaiji-tachi [14]: It only takes a little bit of effort to flip yourself up to the top of the bottom tier. This week it was this show's turn, mostly thanks to that two-minute segment at Kuroko-sounding demon's place where everyone laid claim to ownership of Kuro-usagi like she was some sort of thing. She was displeased by this.
Score: 5.8
13. Maoyuu [12]: Hero returns from his dallying, finally giving Demon King that companionship she desperately needs. She'll never say that though, she'd much rather just imply it and spend time with her Hero Hug Pillow. (that thing never stops making me laugh)
Score: 5.6
14. Vividred Operation [13]: So can Isshiki just make an infinite amount of keys? Why not make an entire 14-year-old girl army while she's at it? They make sure to let you know that Yellow is the bosomy one, whatever low bar that is - and that's she's got NAKED COLLIDA to fight these robot things with. Do they find their rival magical girl next week? Is the docking different if Red kisses Yellow on the forehead, like Bobopatch vs Patchbobo? This is very important. What if blue and green dock together? What if red, blue AND green dock without yellow? You could have red dock with blue and then THAT dock with green, or red dock with green and then that dock with blue, or... well, there's like 24 different permutations, but only 12 episodes, so we'll never know.
Score: 5.6
15. Good Job Club [15]: Kyouya, you are a man after my own heart. I just wish your show was funny. Maids on motorcycles is certainly noteworthy, but the show just isn't making me laugh. Maybe I've just watched too many club-does-nothing shows.
Score: 5.5
Posted by Anise_Punter | 02-08-13, 1:37 PM | 0 comments
January 29th, 2013
Winter 2013 Power Rankings Week of 1/29
Anime Relations: Toriko, Robotics;Notes, Minami-ke Tadaima, Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke
This is the week where shows start to take the shape they'll stay in for the rest of the season; you'll see some wild swings this week. If a show is boring you to death and is only 12 or 13 episodes and hasn't picked up by week 4, the odds are not good that it's going to ever get to an 8.
Here is the list of shows that went from under 6.5 after week 4 to an 8 or higher since I've been doing the power rankings: Natsuiro Kiseki (6.2 to 8.8); Puella Magi Madoka Magica (5.4, episode 4 was awful, to 8.5). I'm pretty sure that's the entire list. Some things experienced a precipitous drop this week as I effectively gave up on them ever being spectacular, others shot up as more came into play. Let's see where we stand.
--------Group 1: End-of-Year Award Candidates--------
1. Minami-ke 4 [last week: 1]: A wild Hosaka has appeared! It has forgotten its mission of "Get Haruka to be the manager for the volleyball club" and instead just wants to dote on her / make her lunch / have her wipe down his sweat. Coming up with this scenario demands he unbutton his shirt in the middle of a conversation. I realy have no idea which one of him or Natsuki is more awkward. Chibi Hosaka also appears, because domination must be complete and thorough.
This week's conversation is "look like an adult!" Kana suggests naked apron. I hope Hosaka does not heed this advice. If Haruka takes the advice, even in a dream sequence, well... there's an award for that. Instead we get bath Uchida, bath Chiaki and bath Aki-Toyosaki-voiced character. YOU AREN'T DOING THIS RIGHT. This week's cosplay is... nun. Where do they find these things? Teru Teru Bouzu Chiaki makes her unexpected return, and is just as funny as it was the first time. When Haruka "prays" to her, she just looks so crushed. Summer uniform Haruka seems... better endowed. Approved.
Hosaka then returns, debating in his mind between eggs sunny-side up and whatever turn-over eggs are. This again necessitates the unbuttoning of his shirt and laying out in an open field, yelling "Sunny-side up!" and "Turn-over!" in English. Do not question this man.
Score: 9.6 - Next week, the opportunity to move into the all-time top 20 presents itself. Will Minami-ke rise to the challenge?
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: Robotics;Notes decided to take the worries I've had with the start of the second half and completely eviscerate them. Don't worry guys, there will always be the time and place for people to be ridiculous here. All my complaining about Kona being totally gross must have been read by the producers, because she reached a new level this week. Oh good lord, that face when Kai was in the ice bath. I laughed so hard. It was profile-pic-tacular (sorry, Morgiana, it's been fun). Oh god, it's updated. Why did I do that, it's like she's leering into my soul. So gross.
How, exactly, the password to stop the robot rebellion happened to be the one thing Kai is actually good at seemed pretty questionable (yes, I know, Gunvarrel connections &c, still, who would do that?) Aki hasn't done much this season, but she did get all hyperactive when Kona latched on to Kai's arm at the end. How is he going to talk his way out of this one? Will he go for the True Harem End? There's no way Robotics;Notes could possibly be that awesome of a show, right? I cannot comprehend a world in which an ending that awesome exists.*
Note: *This definition of awesome only applies to the concept of True Harem End. A harem where two-thirds of it are Senomiya Akiho and Furugoori Kona is a really unappealing harem - but if that's what Kai's gonna do, I'm not gonna stop him.
Score: 9.1 - don't go away, the race for first hasn't been decided yet. Or you know, that's what I had written, and then Hosaka unbuttoned his shirt and was like "Pfft, maybe in some other season, amateurs." Sunny-side up!
--------Group 2: Pretty Good Stuff--------
3. Toriko [5]: In a world where you can shoot a cow with an arrow and have it turn into a steak. What? How. I don't even. Then Livebearer ate a melon the size of a baby in two bites, that was equally awesome.
I picked up the first volume of the dub, which contained the weakest episodes of the series. The production team apparently saw the show and thought "What if we took Dragonball Z and combined it with Man vs Food?" and I thought "Oh my god, that is brilliant." The problem with the Bleach dub is that it tried to pass itself off as a regular show. Toriko's dub knows its subject matter is absolutely ridiculous, and says "screw it, go deep." I love this strategy.
I graded this episode halfway through... and THEN Toriko devoured an entire mountain of pudding. Yes. It was literally a mountain of pudding. If you like over the top action shows and over the top dubs, but you're not watching this, stop what you're doing immediately. What is going to compete with this for "Dub of the Year"?
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [3]: WEAPONS! Masato was awarded the title "Cosmic Idiot!" Let's get a bit more comedic stylings in here before the "Everyone gets sad" portion of our program. And some more of Kanata being an irksome stickler with a perky bosom and totally not being related to Haruka (oh man, they have the exact same shade of hair in a universe with all possible shades, who saw this twist coming). Then she has to take a sledgehammer to the bench instead of selling it to Haruka for money, because what good would that have done, having an extra $50 for the school cafeteria or whatnot. Sometimes you just need to call someone a cuss-word, and Kanata definitely fits the bill.
When I saw the fliers, I couldn't help but think "Murderer's Kid? I bet Magi's Kassim would want her executed for that." Now there's a guy who might be more douchetastic than Kanata.
This show could use more "Kud being adorable" scenes, but then again every show could.
Score: 7.9
5. Tomodachi Sukunai NEXT [4]: Maria's spending the night at Kodaka's house while I'm spending the night in the lab, and Maria's sister can't help but cause trouble for everyone. That segment I enjoyed, the King Game segment was really strained, went on for far too long, and had too much Yozora getting embarrassed for my liking. Why this group continues to allow Rika to do... anything is kind of beyond me. Rika is still this season's champion of grossness, though this is seriously the stiffest competition she's ever faced. Somewhere, Rika is giddy I just wrote "stiff".
Score: 7.4
6. Magi [6]: Does Morgiana have to do everything around here? It certainly seems that way. She even has to throw Alibaba 800 feet in the air repeatedly so he can get thrashed by a demon. (DBZ totally would have had awesome music in this scene, instead, nothing, wtf guys). It's 10 minutes of the demon kicking Alibaba's ass (and Morgiana getting inexplicably launched half-a-mile away into a stone wall), then when he finally gets the upper hand, that jagoff Judal shows up out of nowhere and it becomes 10 minutes of Judal kicking Alibaba's ass. That can only mean it's Aladdin's turn to have a Big Damn Entrance, and he kind of does, though again, the lack of any sort of accompaniment lessens the entrance. I think it should just go back to Morgiana kicking tigers and demons in the face.
Score: 7.3
7. ZKC: Hyoubu: The Unlimited: Colon (not a semicolon though, that's someone else's territory) [7]: Okay, I'm kind of confused because I thought this was supposed to be a prequel series but here the Children are so okay, whatever, I never really liked them. The studio behind this (the same people who ruined Hayate) are doing the exact same thing here with Zettai Karen Children, turning it into a serious action adventure with very little comedy sort of thing. The biggest difference between this and Hayate is that the original ZKC wasn't very funny to begin with, so this is a major improvement (though I would imagine if you actually did like that series, you probably hate this one with the fire of 1000 suns, since so much of it craps all over the series).
We get a clash between Kaoru (now in middle school, seemingly between the end of the first series and the manga's current arc) and the totally overpowered Kyousuke... but we don't have any music to go along with it, because again, this is not a very good studio. We also see Aoi try to kill that new guy, which seemed totally out of character for her, and then see Shiho try to kill the new guy, which was totally in character for her. Then Kaoru gets to take on Comically Overpowered Unlimited Hyoubu, and the fight goes... pretty much the same. Then Hyoubu escapes in a flying boat through a rip in the universe. If this were a standalone series it would probably be pretty awesome.
Score: 7.3 on sheer entertainment value; would probably be in the 4s if I had actually liked Zettai Karen Children.
--------Group 3: Alright, but missing that certain something--------
8. Rock Lee [8]: This week's game is... Don't stand out, and clean the toilets. Orochimaru noted that a man learning his idols shit... sends him straight to hell. I'm not sure if that's deep, but it sure was delivered as such. Uh... good job, Orochimaru?
Score: 6.8
9. Tamako Market [9]: I'm looking for more humor from this show and less cutesy. Yes, Asagiri-san is shy. It shouldn't take an entire episode to establish this. They're more into giving fuel for Comiket 84 than they are into entertaining. The bird was more of a drain than a boost to this episode too.
Score: 6.6
10. Shinsekai Yori [10]: Another timeskip, this time bringing Saki to age 26, and in charge of Naked Mole Rat People / Human relations, or what-have-you. I guess we just gave up on that previous arc, whatever. Those rat-people and their colonies seem to be involved in some rat-on-rat warfare, and it's one of Saki's jobs to find out why. Absolutely compelling, as it were. I was kind of hoping the short one in the gold collar would finally get the sharp end of a sword. There's still time. There's even still time to tie up all 400,000 of the loose ends this series has thrown out there.
Score: 6.4
11. Psychopass [12]: Well, the chase into the storage facility was better than most of the things this show has done so far. Now we have mechanical ways to evade the cymatic scan and genomic ways, but we're still going to use this to determine who lives and who dies because breaking the centralized system causes the whole society to collapse. I would say it's almost implying that centralizing power is a terrible strategy, but anyone who gets into writing anime is the kind of person who is okay with consolidating power as long as the right people are doing it. Still, it's improved since the break - and it'll keep moving up if Tamako Market and Shinsekai Yori keep getting worse.
Score: 6.2
--------Group 4: Dull Things / Stuff With Middle Schooler Butt Pans--------
12. Maoyuu [14]: This week's main plot point was corn-growing, but it was actually more interesting than the last couple of weeks. I'm... not sure if that's good. That head maid needs to get back to doing maid stuff and not being a nuisance. I'm almost certain the joke of "Demon King's boobs are kind of enormous" has been played out already.
Score: 5.8
13. VividRed Operation [13]: Okay, what we need more of - kickass fusion scenes with swords, lasers and explosions, explanations of how all the girls know how and when to say TEXTURE ON. What we need less of - fourteen year old girls in their undergarments, Isshiki butt pans, grandfathers turned into ferrets that hide in their twelve-year old granddaughter's blouse (don't think we missed that, that was icky). There's probably a reason dailymotion abbreviated this as "vivipedo show", and it wasn't anything to do with torpedos.
Score: 5.7
14. Mondaiji-tachi [11]: For three kids who were bored all the time, they're all pretty dull themselves. I'm just not sure what the draw is, unless it's rabbit-girl cosplay, which doesn't really work for me. Kudou's power is interesting enough (though Medaka Box did it better), but it's only used for like 70 seconds in a 23-minute episode. I'm kinda giving up on this ever becoming anything. The bottom four shows seem pretty set as the bottom four, though their final order has yet to be determined.
Score: 5.7
15. GJ Club [15]: We're about done pretending there's any hope for a surprise hit here, and now it just has to tread water for the rest of the season and hope that other shows are just actively frustrating. Playing the same gag with the same result twice didn't particularly help matters. Sugisaki Ken would destroy this club. In fact, there should be a special episode of every "club of girls who talk about nothing" show where Sugisaki comes in and hits on everyone. Oh man, the Seitokai Yakuindomo crossover would probably be spectacular.
Score: 5.5
Here is the list of shows that went from under 6.5 after week 4 to an 8 or higher since I've been doing the power rankings: Natsuiro Kiseki (6.2 to 8.8); Puella Magi Madoka Magica (5.4, episode 4 was awful, to 8.5). I'm pretty sure that's the entire list. Some things experienced a precipitous drop this week as I effectively gave up on them ever being spectacular, others shot up as more came into play. Let's see where we stand.
--------Group 1: End-of-Year Award Candidates--------
1. Minami-ke 4 [last week: 1]: A wild Hosaka has appeared! It has forgotten its mission of "Get Haruka to be the manager for the volleyball club" and instead just wants to dote on her / make her lunch / have her wipe down his sweat. Coming up with this scenario demands he unbutton his shirt in the middle of a conversation. I realy have no idea which one of him or Natsuki is more awkward. Chibi Hosaka also appears, because domination must be complete and thorough.
This week's conversation is "look like an adult!" Kana suggests naked apron. I hope Hosaka does not heed this advice. If Haruka takes the advice, even in a dream sequence, well... there's an award for that. Instead we get bath Uchida, bath Chiaki and bath Aki-Toyosaki-voiced character. YOU AREN'T DOING THIS RIGHT. This week's cosplay is... nun. Where do they find these things? Teru Teru Bouzu Chiaki makes her unexpected return, and is just as funny as it was the first time. When Haruka "prays" to her, she just looks so crushed. Summer uniform Haruka seems... better endowed. Approved.
Hosaka then returns, debating in his mind between eggs sunny-side up and whatever turn-over eggs are. This again necessitates the unbuttoning of his shirt and laying out in an open field, yelling "Sunny-side up!" and "Turn-over!" in English. Do not question this man.
Score: 9.6 - Next week, the opportunity to move into the all-time top 20 presents itself. Will Minami-ke rise to the challenge?
2. Robotics;Notes [2]: Robotics;Notes decided to take the worries I've had with the start of the second half and completely eviscerate them. Don't worry guys, there will always be the time and place for people to be ridiculous here. All my complaining about Kona being totally gross must have been read by the producers, because she reached a new level this week. Oh good lord, that face when Kai was in the ice bath. I laughed so hard. It was profile-pic-tacular (sorry, Morgiana, it's been fun). Oh god, it's updated. Why did I do that, it's like she's leering into my soul. So gross.
How, exactly, the password to stop the robot rebellion happened to be the one thing Kai is actually good at seemed pretty questionable (yes, I know, Gunvarrel connections &c, still, who would do that?) Aki hasn't done much this season, but she did get all hyperactive when Kona latched on to Kai's arm at the end. How is he going to talk his way out of this one? Will he go for the True Harem End? There's no way Robotics;Notes could possibly be that awesome of a show, right? I cannot comprehend a world in which an ending that awesome exists.*
Note: *This definition of awesome only applies to the concept of True Harem End. A harem where two-thirds of it are Senomiya Akiho and Furugoori Kona is a really unappealing harem - but if that's what Kai's gonna do, I'm not gonna stop him.
Score: 9.1 - don't go away, the race for first hasn't been decided yet. Or you know, that's what I had written, and then Hosaka unbuttoned his shirt and was like "Pfft, maybe in some other season, amateurs." Sunny-side up!
--------Group 2: Pretty Good Stuff--------
3. Toriko [5]: In a world where you can shoot a cow with an arrow and have it turn into a steak. What? How. I don't even. Then Livebearer ate a melon the size of a baby in two bites, that was equally awesome.
I picked up the first volume of the dub, which contained the weakest episodes of the series. The production team apparently saw the show and thought "What if we took Dragonball Z and combined it with Man vs Food?" and I thought "Oh my god, that is brilliant." The problem with the Bleach dub is that it tried to pass itself off as a regular show. Toriko's dub knows its subject matter is absolutely ridiculous, and says "screw it, go deep." I love this strategy.
I graded this episode halfway through... and THEN Toriko devoured an entire mountain of pudding. Yes. It was literally a mountain of pudding. If you like over the top action shows and over the top dubs, but you're not watching this, stop what you're doing immediately. What is going to compete with this for "Dub of the Year"?
Score: 8.2
4. Little Busters [3]: WEAPONS! Masato was awarded the title "Cosmic Idiot!" Let's get a bit more comedic stylings in here before the "Everyone gets sad" portion of our program. And some more of Kanata being an irksome stickler with a perky bosom and totally not being related to Haruka (oh man, they have the exact same shade of hair in a universe with all possible shades, who saw this twist coming). Then she has to take a sledgehammer to the bench instead of selling it to Haruka for money, because what good would that have done, having an extra $50 for the school cafeteria or whatnot. Sometimes you just need to call someone a cuss-word, and Kanata definitely fits the bill.
When I saw the fliers, I couldn't help but think "Murderer's Kid? I bet Magi's Kassim would want her executed for that." Now there's a guy who might be more douchetastic than Kanata.
This show could use more "Kud being adorable" scenes, but then again every show could.
Score: 7.9
5. Tomodachi Sukunai NEXT [4]: Maria's spending the night at Kodaka's house while I'm spending the night in the lab, and Maria's sister can't help but cause trouble for everyone. That segment I enjoyed, the King Game segment was really strained, went on for far too long, and had too much Yozora getting embarrassed for my liking. Why this group continues to allow Rika to do... anything is kind of beyond me. Rika is still this season's champion of grossness, though this is seriously the stiffest competition she's ever faced. Somewhere, Rika is giddy I just wrote "stiff".
Score: 7.4
6. Magi [6]: Does Morgiana have to do everything around here? It certainly seems that way. She even has to throw Alibaba 800 feet in the air repeatedly so he can get thrashed by a demon. (DBZ totally would have had awesome music in this scene, instead, nothing, wtf guys). It's 10 minutes of the demon kicking Alibaba's ass (and Morgiana getting inexplicably launched half-a-mile away into a stone wall), then when he finally gets the upper hand, that jagoff Judal shows up out of nowhere and it becomes 10 minutes of Judal kicking Alibaba's ass. That can only mean it's Aladdin's turn to have a Big Damn Entrance, and he kind of does, though again, the lack of any sort of accompaniment lessens the entrance. I think it should just go back to Morgiana kicking tigers and demons in the face.
Score: 7.3
7. ZKC: Hyoubu: The Unlimited: Colon (not a semicolon though, that's someone else's territory) [7]: Okay, I'm kind of confused because I thought this was supposed to be a prequel series but here the Children are so okay, whatever, I never really liked them. The studio behind this (the same people who ruined Hayate) are doing the exact same thing here with Zettai Karen Children, turning it into a serious action adventure with very little comedy sort of thing. The biggest difference between this and Hayate is that the original ZKC wasn't very funny to begin with, so this is a major improvement (though I would imagine if you actually did like that series, you probably hate this one with the fire of 1000 suns, since so much of it craps all over the series).
We get a clash between Kaoru (now in middle school, seemingly between the end of the first series and the manga's current arc) and the totally overpowered Kyousuke... but we don't have any music to go along with it, because again, this is not a very good studio. We also see Aoi try to kill that new guy, which seemed totally out of character for her, and then see Shiho try to kill the new guy, which was totally in character for her. Then Kaoru gets to take on Comically Overpowered Unlimited Hyoubu, and the fight goes... pretty much the same. Then Hyoubu escapes in a flying boat through a rip in the universe. If this were a standalone series it would probably be pretty awesome.
Score: 7.3 on sheer entertainment value; would probably be in the 4s if I had actually liked Zettai Karen Children.
--------Group 3: Alright, but missing that certain something--------
8. Rock Lee [8]: This week's game is... Don't stand out, and clean the toilets. Orochimaru noted that a man learning his idols shit... sends him straight to hell. I'm not sure if that's deep, but it sure was delivered as such. Uh... good job, Orochimaru?
Score: 6.8
9. Tamako Market [9]: I'm looking for more humor from this show and less cutesy. Yes, Asagiri-san is shy. It shouldn't take an entire episode to establish this. They're more into giving fuel for Comiket 84 than they are into entertaining. The bird was more of a drain than a boost to this episode too.
Score: 6.6
10. Shinsekai Yori [10]: Another timeskip, this time bringing Saki to age 26, and in charge of Naked Mole Rat People / Human relations, or what-have-you. I guess we just gave up on that previous arc, whatever. Those rat-people and their colonies seem to be involved in some rat-on-rat warfare, and it's one of Saki's jobs to find out why. Absolutely compelling, as it were. I was kind of hoping the short one in the gold collar would finally get the sharp end of a sword. There's still time. There's even still time to tie up all 400,000 of the loose ends this series has thrown out there.
Score: 6.4
11. Psychopass [12]: Well, the chase into the storage facility was better than most of the things this show has done so far. Now we have mechanical ways to evade the cymatic scan and genomic ways, but we're still going to use this to determine who lives and who dies because breaking the centralized system causes the whole society to collapse. I would say it's almost implying that centralizing power is a terrible strategy, but anyone who gets into writing anime is the kind of person who is okay with consolidating power as long as the right people are doing it. Still, it's improved since the break - and it'll keep moving up if Tamako Market and Shinsekai Yori keep getting worse.
Score: 6.2
--------Group 4: Dull Things / Stuff With Middle Schooler Butt Pans--------
12. Maoyuu [14]: This week's main plot point was corn-growing, but it was actually more interesting than the last couple of weeks. I'm... not sure if that's good. That head maid needs to get back to doing maid stuff and not being a nuisance. I'm almost certain the joke of "Demon King's boobs are kind of enormous" has been played out already.
Score: 5.8
13. VividRed Operation [13]: Okay, what we need more of - kickass fusion scenes with swords, lasers and explosions, explanations of how all the girls know how and when to say TEXTURE ON. What we need less of - fourteen year old girls in their undergarments, Isshiki butt pans, grandfathers turned into ferrets that hide in their twelve-year old granddaughter's blouse (don't think we missed that, that was icky). There's probably a reason dailymotion abbreviated this as "vivipedo show", and it wasn't anything to do with torpedos.
Score: 5.7
14. Mondaiji-tachi [11]: For three kids who were bored all the time, they're all pretty dull themselves. I'm just not sure what the draw is, unless it's rabbit-girl cosplay, which doesn't really work for me. Kudou's power is interesting enough (though Medaka Box did it better), but it's only used for like 70 seconds in a 23-minute episode. I'm kinda giving up on this ever becoming anything. The bottom four shows seem pretty set as the bottom four, though their final order has yet to be determined.
Score: 5.7
15. GJ Club [15]: We're about done pretending there's any hope for a surprise hit here, and now it just has to tread water for the rest of the season and hope that other shows are just actively frustrating. Playing the same gag with the same result twice didn't particularly help matters. Sugisaki Ken would destroy this club. In fact, there should be a special episode of every "club of girls who talk about nothing" show where Sugisaki comes in and hits on everyone. Oh man, the Seitokai Yakuindomo crossover would probably be spectacular.
Score: 5.5
Posted by Anise_Punter | 01-29-13, 7:48 PM | 0 comments
January 15th, 2013
Winter 2013 Power Ranknigs Week of 1/15/12
Anime Relations: Toriko, Minami-ke Tadaima
One this is apparent through the first two weeks of winter, and that it's going to be a bleak season for comedies. I'm not really excited for episodes of anything outside the top two.
1. Robotics;Notes: An episode focusing on blob Junna with a lot of crying, yeah, that's a strong way to come back from break. I suppose the lack of general Kona grossness is a point in its favor, and Akiho still seems to have that knack for being autistic, but I'm hoping for stronger episodes this season. Things are gonna get serious, but that doesn't mean things have to get terrible.
Score: 8.9, first place on the line next week
2. Minami-ke 4: I had forgotten some of the nuances of this show, mostly that every single person in it is an idiot. I had forgotten Fujioka thinks Touma is a boy. I did not forget that Uchida is a buffoon. Feel seems to have forgotten Hosaka exists, but that will change. It had better change. We're off to a really good start even without him, so Minami-ke 4 is in good shape.
Score: 8.8 - the only show ever that gets better when a dude takes his clothes off.
3. Little Busters: Okay, so the Nishizono arc can end at any time, it's really been abysmal. She's not interesting, and I fail to see how she's actually moving the story along other than making the bland main character depressed. Next week looks like a lot more fun before even more attempts at being sad begin (and fail)
Score: 7.9, Kud and Yuiko can only keep a show afloat for so long before it has to fight for its score again.
4. Toriko: The peacock who sheds its tail feathers that turn into playing cards that then turn into chocolate. God dammit I would just watch a compilation of these opening segments and give it an 8. Oh, did I mention we exist in a world with edible money? How is that possibly a good idea? Ten minutes into this insane episode, we reach the slot machine with 300 wheels with 300 choices on each wheel. The crowd does not show enough amazement when Coco completes it, considering the odds of doing so are 1 in 299^299 (something like 1 in 10^700, a comically absurd large number). If that's not enough, Livebearer and his weird head have finally joined the fray.
Score: 7.6
5. Tomodachi Sukunai 2: This series goes down in quality after Yozora cuts her hair in all its other iterations, I'm not sure how this will be any different but who knows, maybe it'll succeed. Yozora in a Sena wig was a pretty solid start, that much is certain (I'd say it's preferable to regular Sena, in all honesty). As for that ending... o...kay then.
Score: 7.3
6. Magi: Morgiana is really high on the unintentional comedy scale. *Beats up a metric assload of apes* "I'm sorry, I can't do anything else". That's all she had in this episode though. The meat of the episode was on Alibaba turning Balbadd into a democracy (not a constitutional republic, mind you) and what it means for the previous treaties set up by his brother Abhmad dealing with the Kou empire (represented by the very fun princess Kougyoku in all of her Kanahanaicity). It's rough when your dullest character is also your titular character.
Score: 7.2
7. Rock Lee: Tell us about our future Kabuemon! On second thought, maybe Neji doesn't want to hear about it. Did they do that on purpose? Probably not.
Score: 6.8
8. Unlimited Hyoubu: ZKC would have been a much different series had they been fighting this demigod Kyousuke instead of being pestered by dubious lolicon Kyousuke. I have no idea if it would have been better or worse. It would have been different.
Score: 6.8
9. Tamako Market: Weird. That's the best descriptor I could give here. It wasn't a cute-girls-doing-cute-things show, but it wasn't a rapid fire gag comedy either. It just had a dubious highly intelligent bird sitting on people's heads.
Starting Score: mid to high 6s, I certainly want to find out what happens next week, if this bird is a recurring character or what. I'm hoping this turns into a straight-up gag comedy but who knows?
10. Mondaiji-tachi: This probably could have been a lot sillier than it was, for starters. It helps that the one guy is an asshole, but it probably would be better off if all three of those kids transported to Hakoniwa were out-and-out troublemakers instead of just malcontents. Maybe they'll become that. I'm not counting on it though.
Starting score: mid 6's.
11. Shinsekai Yori: The hunt for Maria and Mamoru continues (why? Mamoru is lame), and we end up back at the bipedal rat colony, where they've turned their queen into a vegetable that can still pop out babies. This is a strange place. Saki and Satoru end up following the friendly rat colony to an unfriendly rat colony carved into a cliff face that Satoru wrecks, because Satoru does not give a crap about your rat colonies. We don't really learn anything new in this episode, though I guess we still have ten more after this one to find things out.
Score: 6.4
12. Psycho-pass: Perhaps I should give the first half of this series a rewatch with the conceit that the MWPSBfhwqhgads are really some bad guys themselves - not that their opponents are some great shakes, but the options seem to be Fascist police state vs guerrilla terrorists. Terrific.
Score: 6.0
13. Vividred Operation: ...It's a magical girl show. Okay. Not my cup of tea, but, okay that's a lie. Anyways, Akane (the 14-year old girl that the camera likes to pan over the butt of, seriously guys?) lives with her younger financially-responsible sister and her wacky old mad scientist grandfather, who knew of this upcoming alien invasion - but nobody listens to him, because he lives in a basement and has his granddaughter wear super tight shorts. Anyways, he ends up blowing up his lab and being transmogrified into a squirrel (god dammit Japan, no other country could make me type that) and eventually said aliens/things attack. Akane brings her squirrel-grandfather on her hoverbike to the site of the world's foremost power plant to rescue a friend of hers and, well, this is getting retarded even for my descriptors. Turns out mad scientist grandpa built a magical girl device and now Akane is one, and only she can stop the neuroi Alone, sorry.
Starting Score: Around 6, it took a whole episode to explain the premise, and needs less pans over 14-year-old butts.
14. Maoyuu: Sure, it's got some lessons a lot of people sorely need, but that doesn't make it entertaining. The head maid certainly does her job (as a maid totally should, none of that frilly french maid failure) but she's not really the height of excitement. Hero really didn't do anything this week either.
Score: 5.8
15. Good Job Club: Sometimes you're in the mood for nothing shows, sometimes they deliver, sometimes they are Acchi Kocchi. This was nothing spectacular, but it'll do in a pinch. Having the guy who voiced Akihisa as the male lead automatically makes him seem three times as dumb as he otherwise would be, and I'm not sure it's the best choice here, since the guy seems like he's supposed to be the straight man.
Starting Score: Mid-to-high 5s; not really a comedy but not entirely trying to depend on cuteness.
1. Robotics;Notes: An episode focusing on blob Junna with a lot of crying, yeah, that's a strong way to come back from break. I suppose the lack of general Kona grossness is a point in its favor, and Akiho still seems to have that knack for being autistic, but I'm hoping for stronger episodes this season. Things are gonna get serious, but that doesn't mean things have to get terrible.
Score: 8.9, first place on the line next week
2. Minami-ke 4: I had forgotten some of the nuances of this show, mostly that every single person in it is an idiot. I had forgotten Fujioka thinks Touma is a boy. I did not forget that Uchida is a buffoon. Feel seems to have forgotten Hosaka exists, but that will change. It had better change. We're off to a really good start even without him, so Minami-ke 4 is in good shape.
Score: 8.8 - the only show ever that gets better when a dude takes his clothes off.
3. Little Busters: Okay, so the Nishizono arc can end at any time, it's really been abysmal. She's not interesting, and I fail to see how she's actually moving the story along other than making the bland main character depressed. Next week looks like a lot more fun before even more attempts at being sad begin (and fail)
Score: 7.9, Kud and Yuiko can only keep a show afloat for so long before it has to fight for its score again.
4. Toriko: The peacock who sheds its tail feathers that turn into playing cards that then turn into chocolate. God dammit I would just watch a compilation of these opening segments and give it an 8. Oh, did I mention we exist in a world with edible money? How is that possibly a good idea? Ten minutes into this insane episode, we reach the slot machine with 300 wheels with 300 choices on each wheel. The crowd does not show enough amazement when Coco completes it, considering the odds of doing so are 1 in 299^299 (something like 1 in 10^700, a comically absurd large number). If that's not enough, Livebearer and his weird head have finally joined the fray.
Score: 7.6
5. Tomodachi Sukunai 2: This series goes down in quality after Yozora cuts her hair in all its other iterations, I'm not sure how this will be any different but who knows, maybe it'll succeed. Yozora in a Sena wig was a pretty solid start, that much is certain (I'd say it's preferable to regular Sena, in all honesty). As for that ending... o...kay then.
Score: 7.3
6. Magi: Morgiana is really high on the unintentional comedy scale. *Beats up a metric assload of apes* "I'm sorry, I can't do anything else". That's all she had in this episode though. The meat of the episode was on Alibaba turning Balbadd into a democracy (not a constitutional republic, mind you) and what it means for the previous treaties set up by his brother Abhmad dealing with the Kou empire (represented by the very fun princess Kougyoku in all of her Kanahanaicity). It's rough when your dullest character is also your titular character.
Score: 7.2
7. Rock Lee: Tell us about our future Kabuemon! On second thought, maybe Neji doesn't want to hear about it. Did they do that on purpose? Probably not.
Score: 6.8
8. Unlimited Hyoubu: ZKC would have been a much different series had they been fighting this demigod Kyousuke instead of being pestered by dubious lolicon Kyousuke. I have no idea if it would have been better or worse. It would have been different.
Score: 6.8
9. Tamako Market: Weird. That's the best descriptor I could give here. It wasn't a cute-girls-doing-cute-things show, but it wasn't a rapid fire gag comedy either. It just had a dubious highly intelligent bird sitting on people's heads.
Starting Score: mid to high 6s, I certainly want to find out what happens next week, if this bird is a recurring character or what. I'm hoping this turns into a straight-up gag comedy but who knows?
10. Mondaiji-tachi: This probably could have been a lot sillier than it was, for starters. It helps that the one guy is an asshole, but it probably would be better off if all three of those kids transported to Hakoniwa were out-and-out troublemakers instead of just malcontents. Maybe they'll become that. I'm not counting on it though.
Starting score: mid 6's.
11. Shinsekai Yori: The hunt for Maria and Mamoru continues (why? Mamoru is lame), and we end up back at the bipedal rat colony, where they've turned their queen into a vegetable that can still pop out babies. This is a strange place. Saki and Satoru end up following the friendly rat colony to an unfriendly rat colony carved into a cliff face that Satoru wrecks, because Satoru does not give a crap about your rat colonies. We don't really learn anything new in this episode, though I guess we still have ten more after this one to find things out.
Score: 6.4
12. Psycho-pass: Perhaps I should give the first half of this series a rewatch with the conceit that the MWPSBfhwqhgads are really some bad guys themselves - not that their opponents are some great shakes, but the options seem to be Fascist police state vs guerrilla terrorists. Terrific.
Score: 6.0
13. Vividred Operation: ...It's a magical girl show. Okay. Not my cup of tea, but, okay that's a lie. Anyways, Akane (the 14-year old girl that the camera likes to pan over the butt of, seriously guys?) lives with her younger financially-responsible sister and her wacky old mad scientist grandfather, who knew of this upcoming alien invasion - but nobody listens to him, because he lives in a basement and has his granddaughter wear super tight shorts. Anyways, he ends up blowing up his lab and being transmogrified into a squirrel (god dammit Japan, no other country could make me type that) and eventually said aliens/things attack. Akane brings her squirrel-grandfather on her hoverbike to the site of the world's foremost power plant to rescue a friend of hers and, well, this is getting retarded even for my descriptors. Turns out mad scientist grandpa built a magical girl device and now Akane is one, and only she can stop the neuroi Alone, sorry.
Starting Score: Around 6, it took a whole episode to explain the premise, and needs less pans over 14-year-old butts.
14. Maoyuu: Sure, it's got some lessons a lot of people sorely need, but that doesn't make it entertaining. The head maid certainly does her job (as a maid totally should, none of that frilly french maid failure) but she's not really the height of excitement. Hero really didn't do anything this week either.
Score: 5.8
15. Good Job Club: Sometimes you're in the mood for nothing shows, sometimes they deliver, sometimes they are Acchi Kocchi. This was nothing spectacular, but it'll do in a pinch. Having the guy who voiced Akihisa as the male lead automatically makes him seem three times as dumb as he otherwise would be, and I'm not sure it's the best choice here, since the guy seems like he's supposed to be the straight man.
Starting Score: Mid-to-high 5s; not really a comedy but not entirely trying to depend on cuteness.
Posted by Anise_Punter | 01-15-13, 4:35 PM | 0 comments
December 31st, 2012
2013's Completion Log
Anime Relations: Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden Gekitou-hen, Persona 4 The Animation, One Piece Film Z, Robotics;Notes, Minami-ke Tadaima, Teekyuu
I probably should have kept one of these for 2010, 2011 and 2012, but I didn't.
Order of completion - series name - date - score - blurb if I feel like it.
1. Kokoro Connect: Michi Random: 1/1, [6] - Would have liked to see Setouchi get what was coming to her instead of being friend-ified, but cultural differences, what can you do?
2. Nekomonogatari: Kuro: 1/1, [5] - A solid 7 in the story department, docked one point for needless fanservice and another because I'm tired of SHAFT taking a dump on my plate and calling it "experimental directing".
3. Teekyuu 1/1, [8] - Super-Rapid-Fire gag comedies are always hit or miss with no in between. This one was a hit. I would definitely watch a second go-around or a full-fledged series.
Update: 4/3: Yessssssssss. Second go-around confirmed.
4. Arakawa Under the Bridge X Bridge 1/8, [8] - I didn't like the first series at all, so it was a very pleasant surprise that I liked this one a lot, even though it was almost the exact same thing. Less Nino, less Maria and less Star (which means more Sister) I guess are the reasons for the improvement. Good job guys, would watch again.
5. Pandora Hearts Specials 1/9, [6] - As of this writing I'm 22 episodes through Pandora Hearts, so this provided some alright extra material (and one solid Ada fanservice eyecatch), but should have had a lot more chibi.
6. Pandora Hearts 1/10, [8] - It was as good as people say, which is something that's pretty rare among the inflated grades of MAL. The characters were the high point, obviously. I'm not sure I could pick my favorite. The biggest issue was the non-ending. I've seen worse non-endings (Akagi?) but after Oz, Gil and Alice went back to the gravesite from episode 1 and it turned out to be (SPOILERS) a big troll, it really just kind of coasted to the finish, including a totally out of place shonen screaming fest in the final episode. I'm sure I'll pick up the manga at some point to find out where this really goes.
Update: 2/3 - Yeah, the manga goes... in a very different place. Wow.
7. Milky Holmes Alternative 1/10, [5] - I know this is more along the lines of what Milky Holmes was supposed to be, but it really pales in comparison to the level of abject retardery that the original two series threw out there. Little girl cutesy-style detectives doesn't really work for a serious series. If they ever make a Milky Holmes S3 though, I'll be there in a second.
Update: 2/3 - MAL says my wish will be granted come Summer 2013. Woo.
8. Carnival Phantasm: Hibichika Special 2/1, [7] - Carnival Phantasm never stops being really, really weird.
9. Joshiraku OVA. 2/10, [7] - Kigurumis make everything better.
10. Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko Prologue OVA, 2/16, [6]: Oh right, this is why I don't do completion logs, because MAL adds and changes entries way after the fact.
11. Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko. 2/16, [8] - This was pretty much what I want to see out of Fairy Tail, not the fanservice-laden OVAs they keep putting out for reasons unknown. This one had its fair share of humor (poor Wendy), but also had a lot of techniques being thrown out there and the bad guy getting punched right in the face. That's what we want to see.
12. Fate/Zero:_Onegai!_Einzbern_Soudanshitsu 2/16, [7] - Apparently Hisako Kanemoto can in fact make anything adorable. Also, I think I've mentioned that Type-Moon likes to be really weird sometimes.
13. Maoyuu Episodes 1 - 9 Recap Special, 3/11, [5] - Why do you need a recap episode 9 episodes into a 12 episode series? My brain hurts.
14. Mondaiji-tachi, 3/15, [5] - Izayoi was pretty fun to watch, but the show didn't ever seem to have a real point to it, didn't really resolve itself, and none of the other characters were interesting in the least.
15. Psychopass, 3/21, [7] - A dismal first half of a show was made up for with an absolutely phenomenal second half. Makishima made sure everyone know he was the Big Bad and that no one would come after him... but then you saw what was going on in the city and you kind of (okay, completely) started rooting for him to win. The detectives each finally settled into their roles very well too. Akane, working inside the justice system and Kogami working outside of it were good foils for each other, and Masaoka was pretty good at dispensing "cop two days from retirement" advice. I liked him. This show had the very strong second half that I hoped for. I'd probably watch the continuing adventures of Akane if they could come up with a solid script for it.
16. Robotics;Notes, 3/21, [10] - One of those shows I picked up on a whim because the screencaps looked goofy, even though I hate mech shows. Does this ever work?
Apparently yes. Yes it can. What I loved about Robotics;Notes was that it was first and foremost, a cartoon, and it never forgot to remind you of that. Any time you started taking it seriously, something absolutely, monumentally retarded would happen, and you would go "right, cartoon." This usually involved Kona in some way, but the most notable example was towards the end, when a villain pointed a gun at our heroes, and it was knocked out of her hand by a goddamn parrot. Even the giant robot battle that somehow made sense was still ridiculous in all facets.
The characters were a lot of fun too. While Junna was standard blob fare with a tan, Kai was solidly more assertive than generic harem lead #54 and Subaru was also Mr. Pleiades (uh, spoiler if you're not 10 percent through the series). Kona was delightfully gross at times (not quite Tomodachi Sukunai's Rika level, but that's god-tier grossness) and Aki's combination of sheer determination and probable autism is the best combination in the world. Kudos, people.
17. Yama no Susume. 3/22, [3] - It's tough to be a cute girls doing cute things show when you've got Kana Asumi making Kana Asumi noises, but Hidamari Sketch managed it. It's really tough to be a cute girls doing cute thing show when you're three minutes long and also have Yuka Iguchi making Yuka Iguchi noises.
18. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's, 3/23, [9] - I had been waiting for this movie since it was announced way back when in October of 2010. It met the expectations I had for it. I was kind of put off by the blatant CG snake that the Book of Darkness became, as it seemed like an easy way out. I was not so put off by the fights between Vita and Nanoha, and Fate and Signum. Those were awesome. Those fights were why A's was the best of the Nanohas, unless Force is ever animated at some point (I certainly hope so). It looked cleaner than the original series too. Hayate was always my favorite.
19. Shinsekai Yori, 3/25, [5] - It tried to be deep and it tried to be mysterious, but above all, it was just dull and the plot twist at the very end of the last episode was something that I thought we were all supposed to have realized by episode 8. I couldn't really make myself care about the characters either.
20. Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited, 3/26, [6] - It started off well enough, following the adventures of Hyoubu and PANDRA, but then The Children (who I never particularly liked) joined the fray and the studio sort of lost track of what they were doing - and then there was a two episode flashback that cut in and ruined what might have been the best moment of the entire series. That either should have been the first two episodes, or not done at all.
21. Rock Lee and His Rock Lee Antics, 3/26, [7] - It started off with poop jokes and Yukari Tamura squeaking. It actually turned out to be a fun little nonsensical slapstick comedy, and introduced the world to the adorableness of chibi Hinata. Studios should do super-deformed specials more often... though they should not include Yukari Tamura squeaking. Yes, I know I just gave the Nanoha movie a 9 last week.
22. Persona 4: The Animation, 3/27, [8] - I never played the game, as my hand-eye coordination is too poor to be gaming nowadays, but I was briefed, and watched it anyway. It was actually pretty well done for most of the series. Yu, who's evidently a silent protagonist in-game, was made out to be more of a closet pervert in this one (unless you did something to Nanako, in which case look out), and it made him pretty easy to pull for. Yosuke was standard Sugisaki Ken main character's best friend fare, and Shadow Kanji was... yeah. That happened. Oh goodness did that happen. The villains were rather contrived towards the end, but we're talking a 40 - 60 hour game, right? It was probably fleshed out a little better there.
If this were airing this season, it would have finished in 3rd place, behind R;N and Minami-ke 4, but a little ahead of Toriko. Thinking of buying the DVDs next time I get paid.
23. Persona 4: True End episode 26, 3/27, [6] - This one suffered mostly from being too short. We tried to fit two boss fights in thirty minutes, including the TRUE FINAL BOSS, and that battle lasted three minutes. Now, I'm not asking every show to be Dragonball Z, but I would like to see final bosses defeated in the most epic ways possible. We didn't get that here.
24. Good Job Club, 3/28, [4] - If you're going to make a character driven show, you have to make the characters be likable. GJ-club really didn't even make an attempt to do this. We had Mao being the bite-y tsundere, Shion the cool beauty, Kirara the space cadet and Megumi the lovable slightly-overweight moeblob, and that was the joke... for 12 straight episodes. It's not that difficult to write a cute girls doing cute things series, people. When they wanted to add a new joke, they either introduced entirely new characters (my samurai master!) or went with the rather cringe-worthy "Ore-man." It wasn't outright detestable, but it was really dull.
25. Tamako Market, 3/28, [6] - Its biggest positive was being Boshtacular in its Gif-osity, which you really didn't notice until after you watched an episode. The episodes themselves were for the most part, pretty blah. I never particularly grew attached to the characters here either. Kyoani tried to give Tamako the "hey, she's super cute" appearance, but it came off as trying too hard.
26. Puchimasu! Petit Idolm@ster, 3/28, [7] - This one was struggling along for the first third of its run, and then Takane Shijou happened, and everything got much, much sillier.
27. Vividred Operation, 3/28, [5] - There were a lot of things wrong here, starting with the closeups of all of the underage butts. If we ever come back to this series, that needs to not happen again. It was pretty obvious early on (episode 2?) that the Incarnate Engine wasn't all it's cracked up to be. Might want to make things a little less obvious.
There are things to work with here, if people decide to return to this franchise in the future. First, age the girls, that's the most important part. Second, we have those supreme beings still not particularly fond of the Incarnate Engine, which is still standing. If they weren't happy about it before, I can't see how blowing up their messenger is going to fix things. We could also have scientist grandpa build in added functionality, so the girls can freely dock in all permutations, and even groups of 3 or 4 to take down a foe they couldn't in the past. Do things right, and you could potentially have a really good sequel series on your hands.
28. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT, 3/28, [7] - This show was dominated start to finish by Rika doing Rika stuff, and she made it clear that she was the best girl in the show. Not Yozora, not Sena, not Kobato, just Rika. The only member of the Neighbor's club who actually realized they were all friends. I'm not sure what adventures they'll get into next, but Rika better be at the front and center of them.
29. Fist of the North Star: Raoh Gaiden Junai-hen, 3/30, [9] - I hadn't actually seen this, mostly because I'm not particularly a fan of the 80s art style, but when I saw there was a 2006 version, I had to check it out. Good decision. You can see where so many of the shounen tropes came from, and a lot of it is just unintentional silliness - but Kenshiro's fight against Souther at the end is all business, and all kick-ass.
30. Mangirl!, 3/30, [4] - Might have been better served as a gender bender comedy with that kind of title. It's really tough to make one of these three minute shows actually work. Puchim@s succeeded, this one not so much. Most of the jokes were about the dimwitted lead character, but she wasn't particularly funny, and none of the other cast members stood out. Yes, Cute Girls Doing Cute Things followed Fist of the North Star. If you actually know me, this is not any sort of surprise.
31. Maoyuu, 3/30, [4] - Our biggest problem here was adapting the source material in the first place. It works a lot better as a comic. As an anime, it just ends up being really dull.
32. Magi - The Labyrinth of Magic, 3/31, [7] - A solid start for a really good manga series. They gave it two seasons, long enough to introduce the best character, instead of leaving us hanging. I would watch an entire series about Sinbad if there was one. The ending felt kind of out of place, but I guess I'm used to it for these sort of adaptations. Looking forward to Morgiana, Sinbad, Alibaba and the rest coming back in the fall, that much is certain. Not Kassim though, he was kind of a dick.
33. Minami-ke: Tadaima, 3/31, [9] - Welcome back, Minami family indeed. This series was a worthy successor to the Minami-ke franchise, even better than Okaeri (season 3), which I (unlike a lot of people) really enjoyed. While the series focused on Kana a little too much for my liking, pretty much every side character made an appearance. I also feel like Hosaka wasn't used properly this time either, but he was still absolutely hilarious, which says a lot about Hosaka.
The background stills... what was with those? Looked like a church bulletin board. I know you can't animate everything, but you might want to... make it look like you put in more effort the next go-around.
The one character who did get kind of underused was Fujioka, which was weird since Kana seemed to take most of the spotlight. I kind of want him to grow into a mini-Hosaka, complete with random stripping, but that might be too awesome to comprehend. I don't know if we'll see these characters again in an animated format, but if this was the last run, it was a really fun one. All these complaints about the show and I still gave it a 9. It's got issues, but it always tries to be fun. If not for show #16 on the list, it would be the early leader for show of the year.
34. Hokuto no Ken: Yuria-den, 4/1, [5] - Didn't live up to the high bar set by the first movie, but had I actually been more familiar with the series, maybe I would have cared more about Yuria. I dunno, the romance subplot seems kind of out of place in the land of hyper muscular dudes.
35. Hokuto no Ken: Zero Kenshiro den, 4/2, [6] - I watched the pentalogy out of order because reading the synopses, it seemed like #3 and #4 were more awesome than #5 and #2. This one was also a tad more violent than Yuria-den, which was what I was hoping.
36. Hokuto no Ken: Toki-den, 4/2, [7] - From the first movie, I kind of figured I wanted to see more of muscular white-haired Jesus, and luckily, one of the pentalogy is a Toki story. It follows Toki on one of his final journeys, as his disease (radiation poisoning) slowly claims his life. He challenges his elder brother Raoh to a duel to the death, and it does not disappoint. Toki uses all of his techniques, and some of Raoh's techniques to take down the big guy, but it's just not enough. Raoh, the merciless conqueror, actually does show some remorse for his younger brother, embittered that a disease could befell such a great man. Raoh is pretty goddamn awesome himself. The first half of the movie was pretty dull, the fight was awesome.
37. Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden - Gekitou-hen, 4/3, [10] - My plan to watch the movies in 1, 2, 5, 4, 3 order was spot on. Saving what I assumed would be the best for last resulted in what A) appeared to actually be the proper chronological order (maybe 5 should have been before 2), and B) allowed the last memories I have of the 2006 pentalogy to be quite frankly the greatest anime film I have ever watched.
The K-On movie was heartwarming and delightful. It deserved its score. The Unlimited Blade Works movie was awesome. It deserved its score. This movie outclasses them easily, and I don't know what to do with my scoring system. This movie was about one thing: Raoh wanting to defeat his younger brother once and for all, and the lengths to which he'd go to do it.
The first fight in Yuria's fortress had me wondering what was going on, as Ken seemed to be rolling... but team Yuria outsmarted themselves and got their general kidnapped. Raoh, as Ken so aptly noted, effectively became a wild boar after their first match, and started killing just about everyone he could lay his hands on, including that one gentle giant dude.
The final fight between Ken and Raoh is a barrage of fists, and it couldn't end any other way. I have no regrets having watched this movie, other than I'll have to rejigger my grading system again. Holy shit, what an awesome movie.
38. Little Busters, 4/7, [8] - Kudariffic. I probably won't enjoy Refrain as much, but this was a solid outing. I once again have to question what Komari's purpose is, considering the other characters have all her traits and do them all better. Kyousuke definitely would have been a better lead to follow, but that would make Rin as the main girl a dubious proposition, wouldn't it?
39. Horizon II, 4/17. [2] - I just don't know. It seems they just threw a bunch of stuff at a wall, didn't even bother to see what worked, and just went with the abstract painting left as a result. Not only did it not make the first series make more sense, I felt that having watched the first series made this one make LESS sense than it otherwise would have.
40 - 48. Kyoani Commercial Set, 4/27, [6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3] - I don't know how long these are going to have entries on this site. I expect them to be subsumed into one entry before long, in which case 6 + 6 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 3 is equal to 12 + 10 + 4 + 9 in turn 22 + 13 is 35 over 8, which is under 4 1/2. Not promising.
49. Naruto movie 6 - Road to Ninja, 5/10, [7] - An interesting concept, and certainly better than your average Shonen Adaptation movie.
50. One Piece Film Z, 5/12. [9] - Definitely the best OP movie, and I'm not sure how they'd actually top it. Z[ed]/[ephyr], an old marine admiral who still harbors a strong dislike of pirates. Everybody (save Frankie, pretty much) got to use their special powers, while simultaneously acting just as they always do, and most importantly, it actually seemed like an important one-off movie that felt right in place with the actual series.
51. Evangelion 3.0 Q / Can (Not) Redo, 5/13, [6]
52. Jinrui Chibi Specials, 5/20, [7] - I like chibi specials, even of shows I strongly disliked. It's a weakness.
Order of completion - series name - date - score - blurb if I feel like it.
1. Kokoro Connect: Michi Random: 1/1, [6] - Would have liked to see Setouchi get what was coming to her instead of being friend-ified, but cultural differences, what can you do?
2. Nekomonogatari: Kuro: 1/1, [5] - A solid 7 in the story department, docked one point for needless fanservice and another because I'm tired of SHAFT taking a dump on my plate and calling it "experimental directing".
3. Teekyuu 1/1, [8] - Super-Rapid-Fire gag comedies are always hit or miss with no in between. This one was a hit. I would definitely watch a second go-around or a full-fledged series.
Update: 4/3: Yessssssssss. Second go-around confirmed.
4. Arakawa Under the Bridge X Bridge 1/8, [8] - I didn't like the first series at all, so it was a very pleasant surprise that I liked this one a lot, even though it was almost the exact same thing. Less Nino, less Maria and less Star (which means more Sister) I guess are the reasons for the improvement. Good job guys, would watch again.
5. Pandora Hearts Specials 1/9, [6] - As of this writing I'm 22 episodes through Pandora Hearts, so this provided some alright extra material (and one solid Ada fanservice eyecatch), but should have had a lot more chibi.
6. Pandora Hearts 1/10, [8] - It was as good as people say, which is something that's pretty rare among the inflated grades of MAL. The characters were the high point, obviously. I'm not sure I could pick my favorite. The biggest issue was the non-ending. I've seen worse non-endings (Akagi?) but after Oz, Gil and Alice went back to the gravesite from episode 1 and it turned out to be (SPOILERS) a big troll, it really just kind of coasted to the finish, including a totally out of place shonen screaming fest in the final episode. I'm sure I'll pick up the manga at some point to find out where this really goes.
Update: 2/3 - Yeah, the manga goes... in a very different place. Wow.
7. Milky Holmes Alternative 1/10, [5] - I know this is more along the lines of what Milky Holmes was supposed to be, but it really pales in comparison to the level of abject retardery that the original two series threw out there. Little girl cutesy-style detectives doesn't really work for a serious series. If they ever make a Milky Holmes S3 though, I'll be there in a second.
Update: 2/3 - MAL says my wish will be granted come Summer 2013. Woo.
8. Carnival Phantasm: Hibichika Special 2/1, [7] - Carnival Phantasm never stops being really, really weird.
9. Joshiraku OVA. 2/10, [7] - Kigurumis make everything better.
10. Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko Prologue OVA, 2/16, [6]: Oh right, this is why I don't do completion logs, because MAL adds and changes entries way after the fact.
11. Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko. 2/16, [8] - This was pretty much what I want to see out of Fairy Tail, not the fanservice-laden OVAs they keep putting out for reasons unknown. This one had its fair share of humor (poor Wendy), but also had a lot of techniques being thrown out there and the bad guy getting punched right in the face. That's what we want to see.
12. Fate/Zero:_Onegai!_Einzbern_Soudanshitsu 2/16, [7] - Apparently Hisako Kanemoto can in fact make anything adorable. Also, I think I've mentioned that Type-Moon likes to be really weird sometimes.
13. Maoyuu Episodes 1 - 9 Recap Special, 3/11, [5] - Why do you need a recap episode 9 episodes into a 12 episode series? My brain hurts.
14. Mondaiji-tachi, 3/15, [5] - Izayoi was pretty fun to watch, but the show didn't ever seem to have a real point to it, didn't really resolve itself, and none of the other characters were interesting in the least.
15. Psychopass, 3/21, [7] - A dismal first half of a show was made up for with an absolutely phenomenal second half. Makishima made sure everyone know he was the Big Bad and that no one would come after him... but then you saw what was going on in the city and you kind of (okay, completely) started rooting for him to win. The detectives each finally settled into their roles very well too. Akane, working inside the justice system and Kogami working outside of it were good foils for each other, and Masaoka was pretty good at dispensing "cop two days from retirement" advice. I liked him. This show had the very strong second half that I hoped for. I'd probably watch the continuing adventures of Akane if they could come up with a solid script for it.
16. Robotics;Notes, 3/21, [10] - One of those shows I picked up on a whim because the screencaps looked goofy, even though I hate mech shows. Does this ever work?
Apparently yes. Yes it can. What I loved about Robotics;Notes was that it was first and foremost, a cartoon, and it never forgot to remind you of that. Any time you started taking it seriously, something absolutely, monumentally retarded would happen, and you would go "right, cartoon." This usually involved Kona in some way, but the most notable example was towards the end, when a villain pointed a gun at our heroes, and it was knocked out of her hand by a goddamn parrot. Even the giant robot battle that somehow made sense was still ridiculous in all facets.
The characters were a lot of fun too. While Junna was standard blob fare with a tan, Kai was solidly more assertive than generic harem lead #54 and Subaru was also Mr. Pleiades (uh, spoiler if you're not 10 percent through the series). Kona was delightfully gross at times (not quite Tomodachi Sukunai's Rika level, but that's god-tier grossness) and Aki's combination of sheer determination and probable autism is the best combination in the world. Kudos, people.
17. Yama no Susume. 3/22, [3] - It's tough to be a cute girls doing cute things show when you've got Kana Asumi making Kana Asumi noises, but Hidamari Sketch managed it. It's really tough to be a cute girls doing cute thing show when you're three minutes long and also have Yuka Iguchi making Yuka Iguchi noises.
18. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's, 3/23, [9] - I had been waiting for this movie since it was announced way back when in October of 2010. It met the expectations I had for it. I was kind of put off by the blatant CG snake that the Book of Darkness became, as it seemed like an easy way out. I was not so put off by the fights between Vita and Nanoha, and Fate and Signum. Those were awesome. Those fights were why A's was the best of the Nanohas, unless Force is ever animated at some point (I certainly hope so). It looked cleaner than the original series too. Hayate was always my favorite.
19. Shinsekai Yori, 3/25, [5] - It tried to be deep and it tried to be mysterious, but above all, it was just dull and the plot twist at the very end of the last episode was something that I thought we were all supposed to have realized by episode 8. I couldn't really make myself care about the characters either.
20. Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited, 3/26, [6] - It started off well enough, following the adventures of Hyoubu and PANDRA, but then The Children (who I never particularly liked) joined the fray and the studio sort of lost track of what they were doing - and then there was a two episode flashback that cut in and ruined what might have been the best moment of the entire series. That either should have been the first two episodes, or not done at all.
21. Rock Lee and His Rock Lee Antics, 3/26, [7] - It started off with poop jokes and Yukari Tamura squeaking. It actually turned out to be a fun little nonsensical slapstick comedy, and introduced the world to the adorableness of chibi Hinata. Studios should do super-deformed specials more often... though they should not include Yukari Tamura squeaking. Yes, I know I just gave the Nanoha movie a 9 last week.
22. Persona 4: The Animation, 3/27, [8] - I never played the game, as my hand-eye coordination is too poor to be gaming nowadays, but I was briefed, and watched it anyway. It was actually pretty well done for most of the series. Yu, who's evidently a silent protagonist in-game, was made out to be more of a closet pervert in this one (unless you did something to Nanako, in which case look out), and it made him pretty easy to pull for. Yosuke was standard Sugisaki Ken main character's best friend fare, and Shadow Kanji was... yeah. That happened. Oh goodness did that happen. The villains were rather contrived towards the end, but we're talking a 40 - 60 hour game, right? It was probably fleshed out a little better there.
If this were airing this season, it would have finished in 3rd place, behind R;N and Minami-ke 4, but a little ahead of Toriko. Thinking of buying the DVDs next time I get paid.
23. Persona 4: True End episode 26, 3/27, [6] - This one suffered mostly from being too short. We tried to fit two boss fights in thirty minutes, including the TRUE FINAL BOSS, and that battle lasted three minutes. Now, I'm not asking every show to be Dragonball Z, but I would like to see final bosses defeated in the most epic ways possible. We didn't get that here.
24. Good Job Club, 3/28, [4] - If you're going to make a character driven show, you have to make the characters be likable. GJ-club really didn't even make an attempt to do this. We had Mao being the bite-y tsundere, Shion the cool beauty, Kirara the space cadet and Megumi the lovable slightly-overweight moeblob, and that was the joke... for 12 straight episodes. It's not that difficult to write a cute girls doing cute things series, people. When they wanted to add a new joke, they either introduced entirely new characters (my samurai master!) or went with the rather cringe-worthy "Ore-man." It wasn't outright detestable, but it was really dull.
25. Tamako Market, 3/28, [6] - Its biggest positive was being Boshtacular in its Gif-osity, which you really didn't notice until after you watched an episode. The episodes themselves were for the most part, pretty blah. I never particularly grew attached to the characters here either. Kyoani tried to give Tamako the "hey, she's super cute" appearance, but it came off as trying too hard.
26. Puchimasu! Petit Idolm@ster, 3/28, [7] - This one was struggling along for the first third of its run, and then Takane Shijou happened, and everything got much, much sillier.
27. Vividred Operation, 3/28, [5] - There were a lot of things wrong here, starting with the closeups of all of the underage butts. If we ever come back to this series, that needs to not happen again. It was pretty obvious early on (episode 2?) that the Incarnate Engine wasn't all it's cracked up to be. Might want to make things a little less obvious.
There are things to work with here, if people decide to return to this franchise in the future. First, age the girls, that's the most important part. Second, we have those supreme beings still not particularly fond of the Incarnate Engine, which is still standing. If they weren't happy about it before, I can't see how blowing up their messenger is going to fix things. We could also have scientist grandpa build in added functionality, so the girls can freely dock in all permutations, and even groups of 3 or 4 to take down a foe they couldn't in the past. Do things right, and you could potentially have a really good sequel series on your hands.
28. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT, 3/28, [7] - This show was dominated start to finish by Rika doing Rika stuff, and she made it clear that she was the best girl in the show. Not Yozora, not Sena, not Kobato, just Rika. The only member of the Neighbor's club who actually realized they were all friends. I'm not sure what adventures they'll get into next, but Rika better be at the front and center of them.
29. Fist of the North Star: Raoh Gaiden Junai-hen, 3/30, [9] - I hadn't actually seen this, mostly because I'm not particularly a fan of the 80s art style, but when I saw there was a 2006 version, I had to check it out. Good decision. You can see where so many of the shounen tropes came from, and a lot of it is just unintentional silliness - but Kenshiro's fight against Souther at the end is all business, and all kick-ass.
30. Mangirl!, 3/30, [4] - Might have been better served as a gender bender comedy with that kind of title. It's really tough to make one of these three minute shows actually work. Puchim@s succeeded, this one not so much. Most of the jokes were about the dimwitted lead character, but she wasn't particularly funny, and none of the other cast members stood out. Yes, Cute Girls Doing Cute Things followed Fist of the North Star. If you actually know me, this is not any sort of surprise.
31. Maoyuu, 3/30, [4] - Our biggest problem here was adapting the source material in the first place. It works a lot better as a comic. As an anime, it just ends up being really dull.
32. Magi - The Labyrinth of Magic, 3/31, [7] - A solid start for a really good manga series. They gave it two seasons, long enough to introduce the best character, instead of leaving us hanging. I would watch an entire series about Sinbad if there was one. The ending felt kind of out of place, but I guess I'm used to it for these sort of adaptations. Looking forward to Morgiana, Sinbad, Alibaba and the rest coming back in the fall, that much is certain. Not Kassim though, he was kind of a dick.
33. Minami-ke: Tadaima, 3/31, [9] - Welcome back, Minami family indeed. This series was a worthy successor to the Minami-ke franchise, even better than Okaeri (season 3), which I (unlike a lot of people) really enjoyed. While the series focused on Kana a little too much for my liking, pretty much every side character made an appearance. I also feel like Hosaka wasn't used properly this time either, but he was still absolutely hilarious, which says a lot about Hosaka.
The background stills... what was with those? Looked like a church bulletin board. I know you can't animate everything, but you might want to... make it look like you put in more effort the next go-around.
The one character who did get kind of underused was Fujioka, which was weird since Kana seemed to take most of the spotlight. I kind of want him to grow into a mini-Hosaka, complete with random stripping, but that might be too awesome to comprehend. I don't know if we'll see these characters again in an animated format, but if this was the last run, it was a really fun one. All these complaints about the show and I still gave it a 9. It's got issues, but it always tries to be fun. If not for show #16 on the list, it would be the early leader for show of the year.
34. Hokuto no Ken: Yuria-den, 4/1, [5] - Didn't live up to the high bar set by the first movie, but had I actually been more familiar with the series, maybe I would have cared more about Yuria. I dunno, the romance subplot seems kind of out of place in the land of hyper muscular dudes.
35. Hokuto no Ken: Zero Kenshiro den, 4/2, [6] - I watched the pentalogy out of order because reading the synopses, it seemed like #3 and #4 were more awesome than #5 and #2. This one was also a tad more violent than Yuria-den, which was what I was hoping.
36. Hokuto no Ken: Toki-den, 4/2, [7] - From the first movie, I kind of figured I wanted to see more of muscular white-haired Jesus, and luckily, one of the pentalogy is a Toki story. It follows Toki on one of his final journeys, as his disease (radiation poisoning) slowly claims his life. He challenges his elder brother Raoh to a duel to the death, and it does not disappoint. Toki uses all of his techniques, and some of Raoh's techniques to take down the big guy, but it's just not enough. Raoh, the merciless conqueror, actually does show some remorse for his younger brother, embittered that a disease could befell such a great man. Raoh is pretty goddamn awesome himself. The first half of the movie was pretty dull, the fight was awesome.
37. Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden - Gekitou-hen, 4/3, [10] - My plan to watch the movies in 1, 2, 5, 4, 3 order was spot on. Saving what I assumed would be the best for last resulted in what A) appeared to actually be the proper chronological order (maybe 5 should have been before 2), and B) allowed the last memories I have of the 2006 pentalogy to be quite frankly the greatest anime film I have ever watched.
The K-On movie was heartwarming and delightful. It deserved its score. The Unlimited Blade Works movie was awesome. It deserved its score. This movie outclasses them easily, and I don't know what to do with my scoring system. This movie was about one thing: Raoh wanting to defeat his younger brother once and for all, and the lengths to which he'd go to do it.
The first fight in Yuria's fortress had me wondering what was going on, as Ken seemed to be rolling... but team Yuria outsmarted themselves and got their general kidnapped. Raoh, as Ken so aptly noted, effectively became a wild boar after their first match, and started killing just about everyone he could lay his hands on, including that one gentle giant dude.
The final fight between Ken and Raoh is a barrage of fists, and it couldn't end any other way. I have no regrets having watched this movie, other than I'll have to rejigger my grading system again. Holy shit, what an awesome movie.
38. Little Busters, 4/7, [8] - Kudariffic. I probably won't enjoy Refrain as much, but this was a solid outing. I once again have to question what Komari's purpose is, considering the other characters have all her traits and do them all better. Kyousuke definitely would have been a better lead to follow, but that would make Rin as the main girl a dubious proposition, wouldn't it?
39. Horizon II, 4/17. [2] - I just don't know. It seems they just threw a bunch of stuff at a wall, didn't even bother to see what worked, and just went with the abstract painting left as a result. Not only did it not make the first series make more sense, I felt that having watched the first series made this one make LESS sense than it otherwise would have.
40 - 48. Kyoani Commercial Set, 4/27, [6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3] - I don't know how long these are going to have entries on this site. I expect them to be subsumed into one entry before long, in which case 6 + 6 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 3 is equal to 12 + 10 + 4 + 9 in turn 22 + 13 is 35 over 8, which is under 4 1/2. Not promising.
49. Naruto movie 6 - Road to Ninja, 5/10, [7] - An interesting concept, and certainly better than your average Shonen Adaptation movie.
50. One Piece Film Z, 5/12. [9] - Definitely the best OP movie, and I'm not sure how they'd actually top it. Z[ed]/[ephyr], an old marine admiral who still harbors a strong dislike of pirates. Everybody (save Frankie, pretty much) got to use their special powers, while simultaneously acting just as they always do, and most importantly, it actually seemed like an important one-off movie that felt right in place with the actual series.
51. Evangelion 3.0 Q / Can (Not) Redo, 5/13, [6]
52. Jinrui Chibi Specials, 5/20, [7] - I like chibi specials, even of shows I strongly disliked. It's a weakness.
Posted by Anise_Punter | 12-31-12, 11:27 PM | 0 comments
2012 Punty Awards
Anime Relations: Saki: Achiga-hen - Episode of Side-A, Inu x Boku SS, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, Natsuiro Kiseki
Honestly, I've been meaning to do this every year but have never actually gotten around to doing it. I also have ANOTHER cold.
Every show ranked in the weekly rankings across the last four seasons is eligible for the main awards.
First the random stuffs:
Most Puntable What would the Punty Awards be without this category?
Nyaruko - Having Kana Asumi's voice is a great way to instantly contend for this award. You just have to continue to be enough of a pest to win it.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order other than Kuuko): Kuuko, Haruna, Nagi, Shana, Louise, Senomiya Akiho, Furugoori Kona (though I might have to clean my shoes afterwards), Takanashi Rikka, Eru Chitanda, Yuka Hanaki, Yuno, Nazuna, Natsume Rin,
Best Hair
Asuna Yuuki, Sword Art Online - Sure, it could stand to use a little more volume but it is the perfect color. That color right there is magic. That color can even make me distinguish Taiga tsundere Kugimiyas from non-Taiga tsundere Kugimiyas, it's that good. Second place is whatever slightly lighter color that Minami Haruka uses. I am a simple man, only asking for simple things. If they ever animate Yuyuko Takemiya's "Golden Time" this award is probably retired.
Best New Blob (you're damn right this is an award!)
Kudryavka Noumi, Little Busters - "Can I help me?" Watching too much Kud in one sitting is a good recipe for diabetes. Watching Kud spin is also bad for her health as well. Poor Kud.
Honorable Mentions: Roromiya Karuta [kanahana], Matsumi Kuro [kanahana], Scarfy Achiga Girl
Best Overall Blob: Still Yui. Sorry everyone. This award is retired.
Best Delusion Character: Still Eucliwood. This award is probably also retired.
Stealthiest Character: Stealth Momo. Come on, like Stealth Momo wasn't going to get an award?
Honorable Mention?: Mr. Pleiades. Hey, he fooled Akiho.
Best Kanahana Scene: Ooh, this was a tough one. Do I go with Karuta and Sweets Parade or do I go with Nadeko playing twister, not pass go and skip directly to jail?
Best Kanahana Scene: Karuta. It was closer than I would like it to be. Nadekos are serious business.
Best Character Oddly Into Bondage: Kagerou Shoukiin, Inu x Boku SS - the fact that there was competition for this award kind of makes me question my viewing habits.
Honorable Mentions: Heike, Kuuko
Bloodiest: Psychopass. Blended tomatoes for the win.
Honorable Mentions: BTOOM!, Medaka Box II, Fate/Zero S2
Best game of Twister
Most Fun Antagonist: Miyanaga Teru, Saki - Sure, she's not actually villainous, and she still has some facepudge going, but there was just something impossibly kickass about her just dusting these 13-year old girls because they were in her way (and the whole disowning her sister thing).
Honorable Mention: Kumagawa Misogi, who was only the antagonist for like 90 seconds else he totally would have won this award. If you noticed immediately that Kumagawa Misogi came in second place in three or four categories and didn't win anything, you probably read Medaka Box.
-------------------------------------
Some of the awards are not so pleasant.
Most Disastrous Sequel: Hayate The Combat Butler, Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Decided to turn one of the best slapstick series out there into a drama piece with only occasional laughs. Imagine watching a Working!! episode where they killed off Poplar. Sure it would be better for your ears but it wouldn't be a very funny show.
(Dis)honorable Mention: Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka S2
Ran Out Of Gas There At The End - The award for a show, had it ended halfway through, would be remembered way better than what it ended up being, not counting shows that turned into complete trainwrecks - but only because it seemed the writers ran out of ideas
Ran Out of Gas: Sword Art Online: Should have been 13 episodes and never even introduced us to the Alfheim arc. Would have been an easy 8. Still a solid show overall though.
Moderately Unpleasant Mention: Hyouka
Most Unnecessary Shots of Girls In Bathtubs: Hidamari Sketch 4.
That's A Definite No - Furugoori Kona, Robotics;Notes - She's certainly an interesting character, and I'm all for long-haired blondes... but that's a definite no.
(Dis)honorable mentions: Might Gai in a two-piece swimsuit, Twenty (Milky Holmes)
Worst Use of Drama Bomb - Chuunibyou &c: Guys, you had a great thing going here for 6 or 7 episodes, and then decided to follow Rikka's daddy issues for the entire rest of the series, and it was just terrible. As I am very fond of saying. we had known Rikka for 2 hours and 20 minutes up to the point where you did that.
(Dis)honorable Mentions: Nyarlko (why did you bother?), Black Rock Shooter
Most Pretentious - Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita - Anything where someone complains about what a terrible place the world is that necessitates a television/electricity/not getting smalpox is a show where someone needs to get kicked in the face. Also any show that uses puns as weaponry that isn't Bobobo also needs a kick in the face.
Show I Totally Don't Remember Watching But I Know I Did: Shana III
Surprised I Remembered but probably won't unless they have a sequel airing next year: Senki Zesshou Symphogear, Dog Days II, Acchi Kocchi
Character Most Unfortunately Surrounded By Crap - Akari~n, Yuru Yuri
Honorable Mention: That spastic green thing with Sae's voice from Acchi Kocchi
--------------------------------
Actual good awards to get:
Ongoing Manga of the Year: Medaka Box - I only upped three manga series from a 9 to a 10 (and dropped one from a 10 to a 9) during the entire year. Medaka Box is some sort of enormous trolling adventure crossed with the X-Men and you should absolutely be reading it. I seriously expect it to end any week now with just a message from the author saying "I can't believe anyone liked this crap LOL". That's the kind of series it is.
Honorable mention: Fujimura-kun Meitsu - Chapter 17 remains legendary.
Most Pleasant Surprise
Natsuiro Kiseiki, A Summer-Colored Miracle - So here's the marketing meeting behind this: "So my plan is four girls who are friends in some moderately rural area, they don't even have to be cute or anything, but we'll get the voices of SPHERE to play them." That was pretty much it - so reading that, when does something like that EVER turn out well? Hell, when does something like that ever turn out "not a disaster"? If you want one of those light-hearted relaxing shows with very little drama (and no DRAMA BOMB episode towards the end), don't let the asinine premise fool you, this was actually worth watching. It only occurred to me while going over the rankings for this post that this show ended up with the third highest grade of any completed show I ranked this year (there were like 35). Yeah, I would not have believed that on April 25.
Honorable Mentions: Rock Lee after the first 13 episodes, Akari~n's performance in Yuru Yuri though the rest of the show was not good.
OP / EN of the year: Inu x Boku SS ending 6: Sweets Parade - You get diabetes just listening to this song, but it's always taken down from youtube when I look for it.
Honorable Mentions: I don't really listen to OPs/ENs, I just felt like once again pointing out how adorable Karuta was.
Most Improved Sequel: Zero no Tsukaima F, because it had the largest hurdle to climb. S4 was by no means great or anything above average, but considering where it was, I'm glad to welcome it back to the stable of "not terrible shows".
Honorable Mentions: Medaka Box II (mostly due to much better material), Achigablobs
Best Show That Didn't Air This Year But That I Picked Up This Year: Akagi (2006) - Madhouse is always hit or miss, and this was a hit. All it had in common with the Achigablobs was mahjong, but this was awesome in a completely different way. If some of the characters in Saki had Akagi's attitude, that would be a way, way better series. Instead, only Akagi chuckles and calls his opponents (who are uh, yakuza) retards.
Honorable Mentions: Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight (like one of the first shows I actually picked up in the new year)
Best Movie
K-On! The Movie - My thoughts on the Keions and their movie can be found here.
Honorable Mentions: No other movie was even close to this one, though I haven't seen Nanoha A's yet (and if Nanoha A's doesn't win the 2013 version of this award, I'll be surprised). Berserk part I was solid stuff though.
Best OVA
Minami-ke Omatase - The producers behind Minami-ke 4 brought us an OVA early, and it was pretty much the best parts of Minami-ke distilled into 25 minutes. I liked it so much I predicted Minami-ke will in fact finish next season with the highest score of any shows in the rankings (which of course would make it a contender for the 2013 version of this award)
Honorable Mention: The Inu x Boku SS extra episode. It was... not a strong year for OVAs.
Best Character
,
Hidenori, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou - "What an awesome job Tomokazu Sugita did for Hidenori. The dude had the best reactions for everything, be it "IMOUTO!" for Tadakuni's sister, or "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" when the Literature Girl found him on the Riverbank again (that one made me cry), or really just anything he did." Just thinking about that "NOOOOOOOOOO" nine months later is cracking me up.
Honorable Mentions: Kumagawa Misogi, Kudryavka Noumi, Literature Girl, Roromiya Karuta, Rider, though he could not match his 2011 awesomeness (an impossible feat)
Best Show
Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, the Daily Lives of High School Boys.
Slapstick is a lost art, and really only this and Nyaruko managed to do it with any consistency, with a few shows trying it every so often. Not only did they finally give us a good slapstick show (the first since... god knows what, I can't even think of one in the last 24 months.), Danshi Koukousei also went back to the boke/tsukkomi well repeatedly, and when it's done well, I never stop getting a kick out of it. From literature girl to Hidenori to the girl in the convex mirror to the... strange girls of the post-credits skits, almost every skit was a hit. I hope this hits our shores eventually. As for Fate/Zero, I thought season 1 was overall better (though S2 was still plenty good), but S1 aired in 2011.
Honorable Mentions: Fate/Zero S2, Natsuiro Kiseki (how the hell?), Medaka Box II
Single Best Episode of the Year: There were a LOT of candidates for this one, but the single best episode was not from one of the shows getting a "9" or a "10" though they certainly had cases to be made, but an episode that completely changed my perception of an entire franchise.
Episode of the Year: Saki Achiga-Hen, episode 10 - This is the one where Toki, the prediction girl, faces off against Teru Miyanaga, Saki's sister, in the semifinals. Toki indeed uses her prediction powers, and sees only pain in her future. Even when Toki sees the future and does something to change it, Teru plays hands that beat the hell out of her anyway. Isn't that terrible? You can see the future and all you see is you getting your ass handed to you OVER AND OVER AND OVER again and there's absolutely nothing you can do - changing the future only makes the ass-beatings WORSE. Episode 11 was almost just as good.
Honorable Mentions: That episode of Fate/Zero where we lose Rider (sadface), like three other episodes of Fate/Zero, any episode of Danshi Koukousei with Literature Girl, the Chino episode of Inu x Boku, the first Kagerou episode of Inu x Boku, that episode of Nisemonogatari with Nadeko and twister, Medaka Box II episode 12: Good Loser Kumagawa - there were some GREAT single episodes this year, almost making up for the lack of quality OVAs.
Every show ranked in the weekly rankings across the last four seasons is eligible for the main awards.
First the random stuffs:
Most Puntable What would the Punty Awards be without this category?
Nyaruko - Having Kana Asumi's voice is a great way to instantly contend for this award. You just have to continue to be enough of a pest to win it.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order other than Kuuko): Kuuko, Haruna, Nagi, Shana, Louise, Senomiya Akiho, Furugoori Kona (though I might have to clean my shoes afterwards), Takanashi Rikka, Eru Chitanda, Yuka Hanaki, Yuno, Nazuna, Natsume Rin,
Best Hair
Asuna Yuuki, Sword Art Online - Sure, it could stand to use a little more volume but it is the perfect color. That color right there is magic. That color can even make me distinguish Taiga tsundere Kugimiyas from non-Taiga tsundere Kugimiyas, it's that good. Second place is whatever slightly lighter color that Minami Haruka uses. I am a simple man, only asking for simple things. If they ever animate Yuyuko Takemiya's "Golden Time" this award is probably retired.
Best New Blob (you're damn right this is an award!)
Kudryavka Noumi, Little Busters - "Can I help me?" Watching too much Kud in one sitting is a good recipe for diabetes. Watching Kud spin is also bad for her health as well. Poor Kud.
Honorable Mentions: Roromiya Karuta [kanahana], Matsumi Kuro [kanahana], Scarfy Achiga Girl
Best Overall Blob: Still Yui. Sorry everyone. This award is retired.
Best Delusion Character: Still Eucliwood. This award is probably also retired.
Stealthiest Character: Stealth Momo. Come on, like Stealth Momo wasn't going to get an award?
Honorable Mention?: Mr. Pleiades. Hey, he fooled Akiho.
Best Kanahana Scene: Ooh, this was a tough one. Do I go with Karuta and Sweets Parade or do I go with Nadeko playing twister, not pass go and skip directly to jail?
Best Kanahana Scene: Karuta. It was closer than I would like it to be. Nadekos are serious business.
Best Character Oddly Into Bondage: Kagerou Shoukiin, Inu x Boku SS - the fact that there was competition for this award kind of makes me question my viewing habits.
Honorable Mentions: Heike, Kuuko
Bloodiest: Psychopass. Blended tomatoes for the win.
Honorable Mentions: BTOOM!, Medaka Box II, Fate/Zero S2
Best game of Twister
Most Fun Antagonist: Miyanaga Teru, Saki - Sure, she's not actually villainous, and she still has some facepudge going, but there was just something impossibly kickass about her just dusting these 13-year old girls because they were in her way (and the whole disowning her sister thing).
Honorable Mention: Kumagawa Misogi, who was only the antagonist for like 90 seconds else he totally would have won this award. If you noticed immediately that Kumagawa Misogi came in second place in three or four categories and didn't win anything, you probably read Medaka Box.
-------------------------------------
Some of the awards are not so pleasant.
Most Disastrous Sequel: Hayate The Combat Butler, Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Decided to turn one of the best slapstick series out there into a drama piece with only occasional laughs. Imagine watching a Working!! episode where they killed off Poplar. Sure it would be better for your ears but it wouldn't be a very funny show.
(Dis)honorable Mention: Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka S2
Ran Out Of Gas There At The End - The award for a show, had it ended halfway through, would be remembered way better than what it ended up being, not counting shows that turned into complete trainwrecks - but only because it seemed the writers ran out of ideas
Ran Out of Gas: Sword Art Online: Should have been 13 episodes and never even introduced us to the Alfheim arc. Would have been an easy 8. Still a solid show overall though.
Moderately Unpleasant Mention: Hyouka
Most Unnecessary Shots of Girls In Bathtubs: Hidamari Sketch 4.
That's A Definite No - Furugoori Kona, Robotics;Notes - She's certainly an interesting character, and I'm all for long-haired blondes... but that's a definite no.
(Dis)honorable mentions: Might Gai in a two-piece swimsuit, Twenty (Milky Holmes)
Worst Use of Drama Bomb - Chuunibyou &c: Guys, you had a great thing going here for 6 or 7 episodes, and then decided to follow Rikka's daddy issues for the entire rest of the series, and it was just terrible. As I am very fond of saying. we had known Rikka for 2 hours and 20 minutes up to the point where you did that.
(Dis)honorable Mentions: Nyarlko (why did you bother?), Black Rock Shooter
Most Pretentious - Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita - Anything where someone complains about what a terrible place the world is that necessitates a television/electricity/not getting smalpox is a show where someone needs to get kicked in the face. Also any show that uses puns as weaponry that isn't Bobobo also needs a kick in the face.
Show I Totally Don't Remember Watching But I Know I Did: Shana III
Surprised I Remembered but probably won't unless they have a sequel airing next year: Senki Zesshou Symphogear, Dog Days II, Acchi Kocchi
Character Most Unfortunately Surrounded By Crap - Akari~n, Yuru Yuri
Honorable Mention: That spastic green thing with Sae's voice from Acchi Kocchi
--------------------------------
Actual good awards to get:
Ongoing Manga of the Year: Medaka Box - I only upped three manga series from a 9 to a 10 (and dropped one from a 10 to a 9) during the entire year. Medaka Box is some sort of enormous trolling adventure crossed with the X-Men and you should absolutely be reading it. I seriously expect it to end any week now with just a message from the author saying "I can't believe anyone liked this crap LOL". That's the kind of series it is.
Honorable mention: Fujimura-kun Meitsu - Chapter 17 remains legendary.
Most Pleasant Surprise
Natsuiro Kiseiki, A Summer-Colored Miracle - So here's the marketing meeting behind this: "So my plan is four girls who are friends in some moderately rural area, they don't even have to be cute or anything, but we'll get the voices of SPHERE to play them." That was pretty much it - so reading that, when does something like that EVER turn out well? Hell, when does something like that ever turn out "not a disaster"? If you want one of those light-hearted relaxing shows with very little drama (and no DRAMA BOMB episode towards the end), don't let the asinine premise fool you, this was actually worth watching. It only occurred to me while going over the rankings for this post that this show ended up with the third highest grade of any completed show I ranked this year (there were like 35). Yeah, I would not have believed that on April 25.
Honorable Mentions: Rock Lee after the first 13 episodes, Akari~n's performance in Yuru Yuri though the rest of the show was not good.
OP / EN of the year: Inu x Boku SS ending 6: Sweets Parade - You get diabetes just listening to this song, but it's always taken down from youtube when I look for it.
Honorable Mentions: I don't really listen to OPs/ENs, I just felt like once again pointing out how adorable Karuta was.
Most Improved Sequel: Zero no Tsukaima F, because it had the largest hurdle to climb. S4 was by no means great or anything above average, but considering where it was, I'm glad to welcome it back to the stable of "not terrible shows".
Honorable Mentions: Medaka Box II (mostly due to much better material), Achigablobs
Best Show That Didn't Air This Year But That I Picked Up This Year: Akagi (2006) - Madhouse is always hit or miss, and this was a hit. All it had in common with the Achigablobs was mahjong, but this was awesome in a completely different way. If some of the characters in Saki had Akagi's attitude, that would be a way, way better series. Instead, only Akagi chuckles and calls his opponents (who are uh, yakuza) retards.
Honorable Mentions: Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight (like one of the first shows I actually picked up in the new year)
Best Movie
K-On! The Movie - My thoughts on the Keions and their movie can be found here.
Honorable Mentions: No other movie was even close to this one, though I haven't seen Nanoha A's yet (and if Nanoha A's doesn't win the 2013 version of this award, I'll be surprised). Berserk part I was solid stuff though.
Best OVA
Minami-ke Omatase - The producers behind Minami-ke 4 brought us an OVA early, and it was pretty much the best parts of Minami-ke distilled into 25 minutes. I liked it so much I predicted Minami-ke will in fact finish next season with the highest score of any shows in the rankings (which of course would make it a contender for the 2013 version of this award)
Honorable Mention: The Inu x Boku SS extra episode. It was... not a strong year for OVAs.
Best Character
,Hidenori, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou - "What an awesome job Tomokazu Sugita did for Hidenori. The dude had the best reactions for everything, be it "IMOUTO!" for Tadakuni's sister, or "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" when the Literature Girl found him on the Riverbank again (that one made me cry), or really just anything he did." Just thinking about that "NOOOOOOOOOO" nine months later is cracking me up.
Honorable Mentions: Kumagawa Misogi, Kudryavka Noumi, Literature Girl, Roromiya Karuta, Rider, though he could not match his 2011 awesomeness (an impossible feat)
Best Show
Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, the Daily Lives of High School Boys.
Slapstick is a lost art, and really only this and Nyaruko managed to do it with any consistency, with a few shows trying it every so often. Not only did they finally give us a good slapstick show (the first since... god knows what, I can't even think of one in the last 24 months.), Danshi Koukousei also went back to the boke/tsukkomi well repeatedly, and when it's done well, I never stop getting a kick out of it. From literature girl to Hidenori to the girl in the convex mirror to the... strange girls of the post-credits skits, almost every skit was a hit. I hope this hits our shores eventually. As for Fate/Zero, I thought season 1 was overall better (though S2 was still plenty good), but S1 aired in 2011.
Honorable Mentions: Fate/Zero S2, Natsuiro Kiseki (how the hell?), Medaka Box II
Single Best Episode of the Year: There were a LOT of candidates for this one, but the single best episode was not from one of the shows getting a "9" or a "10" though they certainly had cases to be made, but an episode that completely changed my perception of an entire franchise.
Episode of the Year: Saki Achiga-Hen, episode 10 - This is the one where Toki, the prediction girl, faces off against Teru Miyanaga, Saki's sister, in the semifinals. Toki indeed uses her prediction powers, and sees only pain in her future. Even when Toki sees the future and does something to change it, Teru plays hands that beat the hell out of her anyway. Isn't that terrible? You can see the future and all you see is you getting your ass handed to you OVER AND OVER AND OVER again and there's absolutely nothing you can do - changing the future only makes the ass-beatings WORSE. Episode 11 was almost just as good.
Honorable Mentions: That episode of Fate/Zero where we lose Rider (sadface), like three other episodes of Fate/Zero, any episode of Danshi Koukousei with Literature Girl, the Chino episode of Inu x Boku, the first Kagerou episode of Inu x Boku, that episode of Nisemonogatari with Nadeko and twister, Medaka Box II episode 12: Good Loser Kumagawa - there were some GREAT single episodes this year, almost making up for the lack of quality OVAs.
Posted by Anise_Punter | 12-31-12, 1:16 AM | 1 comments