alsotop's Blog

So, there was once this goal of actually using my MAL blog to write about what I was watching. And that was almost a year ago; and here's the second one. Perhaps this is going to be one of those "once a year" kind of blog posts. Well, in any case, I have just finished my dissertation (phew!), so here I am again to talk about me' animehs.

I finally got around to finishing quite a lot of my backlog (although a new backlog appeared over time). I finished Allision to Lillia in January. Overall, the show was pretty cheesy, and the ending stunk, but it was an alright show in the long run, and plenty enjoyable to watch whilst I ate my dinner. Macross Frontier and the second season Code Geass were the two big shows that kept me going over the summer - excellent production values and pretty awesome shows all in all. I also managed to watch the entire D.Gray-man by Christmas. Although it started really slow, by the end of the show, it had really picked up and I was speeding through the episodes really fast until it came to an abrupt ending, leaving me wanting for more. (But presumably, I never will get more!). I saw Porco Rosso for the first time on Film 4 when I got my new 22" TV for my bedroom in January, which was pretty awesome.

Like I mentioned in the last post, I watched the first season of Tetsuwan Birdy Decode, and I just finished up the second season last week. It impressed me in many areas, but fundamentally the second season was more consistent. Hopefully, they'll get a third season, since the show has been left with many elements untouched. We shall see, however. Xam'D was a pretty good, but rather confusing show - but with Bones' typically high production values, was a pleasure to watch in HD. On top of this, I watched World Destruction, Rideback, and a few other shows that obviously had such little effect on me, I can't even remember their names.

I had started watching Fullmetal Alchemist, but found the first few episodes really difficult to get through. When the new remake was announced, I completely scrapped my plans, and waited for the new show, which so far has been pretty amazing. If I recall correctly, the current start of the show is going through the story first 12 episodes of the original series that I had such difficulty getting through. However, since they've been super-condensed, their much more manageable - and hopefully we can get to the good stuff soon.

This season, I've also picked up Basquash! and Eden of the East; the latter being incredibly interesting, and I eagerly await every new episode. I don't quite know where we're heading yet, but I'm definitely intrigued. Basquash! has been good, although it's been a little too sports-shounen-y so far. I'm hoping that this is just the introduction, and that it'll pick up - which to be fair, it appears to be doing. I've not seen this week's episode yet, but apparently it's pretty good.

I also finally got around to watching some of the episodes of Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig (only five years too late). It's pretty much the only show I will watch in English dubbing, and since I bought the entire season about a year ago, I thought it was time I gave it the old once over. Of course, its such a wordy show, you really need to concentrate to watch it, which has been holding me back for a while. I've watched the first 8 episodes, and I have a strong desire to watch more, so whilst it's working, I'll keep on watching. What with the upcoming drought of no other shows to watch (e.g. Lost, Dollhouse, Battlestar, the regulars, etc.) I have some anime to sink my teeth into.

I'm still watching Bleach on a regular basis, and I'm pleasantly surprised that we're not in filler right now. Although this can't last for long - but I'm just hoping that they're not preparing some horrible Bount-like arc for the show. Having read some of the manga, I know we're in for some good stuff, if the show doesn't get too far ahead of itself too quickly.

My backlog now consists of watching Kannagi (man, that OP is getting on my nerves), Natsu no Sora (which I desperately want to watch, but keep forgetting), Monster (which I also really want to watch, but usually want something more... "fun"), Soul Eater (waiting on the late night subs from Rumbel All Hail Excalibur which appear to have stopped). I think that's manageable. I should really put Real Drive and Tower of Druaga in my dropped list, since it's very unlikely I'll ever return to them, to be honest.

And.... yeah. Kay.

Finished Noein yesterday, which was so much better once I had gotten into it properly. I had originally started watching it a couple of years back, but then dropped it after two or three episodes. Once again, it takes a good couple of episodes to get into it, but now with quite a bit of spare time (thank god, summer holidays!) I caught up and watched them all. Like Gurren Lagann before it (finished last month) I watched loads of episodes each day, because I couldn't get enough. Was a great show, and I'm looking forward to watching the remake of Testuwan Birdy, also by director Kazuki Akane.

Still watching the regulars this series, Code Geass R2 continues its plot-twist-every-second madness, Macross Frontier continues to amaze me (I haven't seen any of the other Macross series, but I've read their synopses). Soul Eater has been quite good - although it hasn't quite struck a chord with me yet - although the production values are sweet. Quite a lot of people, from what I've read, haven't enjoyed Allison to Lillia so much, and although it is annoyingly slow, I'm still finding it fun, and watch as soon as the fansub is out. Speaking of which, I want to continue watching Real Drive, which is currently on episode 15, but the latest episode I've seen fansubbed is number 3, so... got quite a lot of catchup to do there. Bleach continues to strive on its filler episodes - they are getting better, I must admit, but I still yawn.

Bought Ghost in the Shell 2nd gig on DVD a couple of weeks back, and will be watching that too, but that's also a bit of a backup choice, in case my internet dries up - now that I'm back home with my family and on a slower connection (25mbps internet connection in Sheffield was awesome!).

Might start watching Paranoia Agent again, on request from my friend who recently watched it, and wants me to catch up. Now that I've finished with Noein, perhaps I can fit that in! And that's about it for my first entry on my MAL blog. Thought I might as well write about what I'm watching and what I'm enjoying, so, there you go!