So it's getting to that time again all series running into their last episodes and massive bawling ensues on forums. Either because people loved the ending or hated it.
So here is my list of this season endings shows and my opinions about it. Hopefully I can remind myself to update it as each show ends. Please note this entry will have spoilers galore. Don't read it till you have finished the series k?
Kimikiss:
Well it's finally done. All the speculations of who ended up with who can finally be put to rest and the related flame wars can end. People got pretty strung up about who is cool and deserves who on religious level almost. That had to be the most annoying part of the show in my opinion, but well romance highschool anime tends to be like that.
I must say that I loved this series, always looking forward to the next episode though it did slack off a between episode 15-20. (I'll have to rewatch again to see if it was just me or the show was really a bit meh there)
So what did make it so enjoyable. The few things that make it stand apart are the fact there not all the girls are fawning over 1 guy, multiple male characters who actually seem to think about more then just 'how do I get next girl' , few girls that are actually concerned with other things then boys. I guess it all comes down to a certain 'innocense'. The most graphic thing in the entire series would be Mao in a towel or the kisses. The story is a lot more about the non physical aspects of love and caring and how to deal with them. Despite the forum flamewars most characters remain very innocent in their motives, with little to no backstabbing. And in the end quite a few of them seem to have solved their issues. Not in a Disney and they lived happily after end, but in a way that enables to move on and still retain fond (bitter)sweet memories.
Best character development award for this show has to go to Kai I think. He went from hated by everyone to being pretty damn smart and on the ball while everyone else was floundering around. Runners up would be Kazuki, Futami, Sakino. Funnily enough non of them 'main' characters. The only one who would make the list would be Yuumi due to her speech when she and Kouchi broke up.
Best scenes would be the episode 1 'Unkown girl raids your house and shower' scene, the 'omg it's a Kazuki at the door and why isn't he ringing the doorbell after 20 minutes, I am one panicked Futami now!' scene and the breakup scene mentioned above. Furthermore, though it's not really a scene, the end song pretty much defines the series in my opinion and as such should be mentioned.
Ending of series usually leave me a bit sad, but this one leaves me with a feeling of 'bitter sweet'. You end up really loving and admiring the characters and enjoy the way they (well most of them) have grown into better people.
Just started on Black Lagoon. It does look very entertaining. Animation and style are pretty. Characters seem a bit developed too, not too flat. Action comes thick and if you tangle yourself within the dark world of Black Lagoon, your life doesn't seem to be worth much.
Course half the watchers are drooling over Revy, which makes me chuckle since she'd prob do some very very nasty things to them. Dutch seems pretty grizzled and experienced, seen it all before. Rock is a 'regular' person caught up in a world where his 'regular' morals don't really apply anymore and that shakes him quite a bit from time to time. Benny so far seems more of background person so far.
It all promises to be nice ride. It also give a new meaning to the phrase Nice Boat (yes bad pun, deal)
Let's write a blog. Then watch the backlog pile up when you don't write for a while. So I'll just skip a ton of stuff and go with what I actually remember from the last month.
Continuing series
Kimikiss is still going strong. Mao has her rather predictable "I like you too moment", the ice queen predictably melted, and we had a kiss. It sounds so standard yet as I said before Kimikiss does it all in a non cheesy enjoyable way. Another funny thing, everyone went from hating Kai to hating Mao. Best scene in the entire series so far, Futami seeing Aihira walk down the street to the building where she lives, panic, and then get anxious why he doesn't ring the bell.
Shana actually is getting some action finally with Youji being more then a punchbag for all the big might people to play with. It took ages to get to the story going but now it's enjoyable again. (I almost dropped it before cause it was really not up to series 1 par before).
Another continuing series is Bamboo Blade. I sand it's praises before and it's still as good. From dark Miya (FEAR HER) to Tama-chan having a serious anime (Blade Braver) addiction, it's just good fun.
The new stuff evaluation
Ah My Goddess fighting wings. Nice, way too short, I want more. Thoroughly approved.
Gunslinger Girl II has me sigh. I saw the art, few animation and decided I didn't want to ruin all the fond memories of season 1. Can it be that bad you wonder? Well yes, the animation and style can. The story might develop nicely, but I just don't want risk the fond memories.
Aria is not for someone in my current state. It's slow and soothing but I just don't seem to have the patience right now.
Miname-Ke 2 is ...odd. The art radically changed and even now you still go "huh, who is that?" sometimes. The humour and story (if there is one ) is a continuation of season 1. And as you can read the ending of season 1 has me a bit meh.
Persona Trinity Soul needed 2 episodes to make me realize I do not like it. What is with giant ghosts coming out of people and doing stuff?
Mnemosyne is pretty dark, gritty and gory. Funny thing is the lead is pretty hard to take down but not in a way of your regular 'I beat an army in hand to hand combat'. Watch it to see what I mean. Oh, the nipple stuff is just a bit lol, but it's just one part which actually does make you cringe. I like this series (No, not because of the cringing).
New stuff not mentioned before
If you want an anime which is more harem+pantsu parady, look no further then Rosario+Vampire. It is undoubtedly the most over the top fanservice series I've ever seen. It would be horrible but the creators obviously realized that and went so over the top that is become horribly hilarious.
Last Exile is my weekly fix with friends at the moment. It is pretty telling that late at night we are always wondering if we can squeeze in yet another episode before we call it a night. The art is very pretty and there is a story that does not make you groan. The best thing is probably the entire victorian background setting with flying dreadnaughts. Highly recomended.
This seasons romance series seemed to be rather packed but the only one that really managed to interest me aside from Kimikiss is True Tears.The animation and style on this one is just brilliant. The cast are interesting and varied. And lo and behold for ONCE the leads actually seem to have parents/houses where they live and these are part of the plot. I sure hope it doesn't turn into a simple everyone likes the lead show and will do everything while ignoring the rest of the world show though.
I'm sure I forgot a few random things I watched If I didn't mention it here, it either didn't leave an impression or I'll write about it later. Onwards to more anime watching.
I watched this series ages ago in English, so it was quite a shock to watch in Japanese (yes with English subs, my Japanese is rather limited). I was a bit weary of watching it again since memories tend to 'glorify' past memories. After the initial 'it looks just a bit dated' feeling, it all got sucked me right back in though. The main characters, the ships, the songs and the entire atmosphere, it all was a warm welcoming blanket of how much enjoyed this show at the time.
Plotwise they keep you guessing a bit, they run around a lot trying to find out what the heck is going on, leaving you as usual as confused as them. In the end it all makes sense and ties in very well with Spike. Ein actually gets to do a few things this time and the Japanese voice of Ed just made so much more sense.
The ending was dramatic in the usual japanese 'not so happy ending but still happy in an odd way', precisely the kind I love. And lo and behold when I finished it, it started to rain here too.
Ah My Goddess
Just went through season 2 which was pretty. Steadfast faith and innocence can be pretty.
Gunslinger Girl II
One of my all time favourites returns. Hope they don't mess it up.
Aria
Strangely enough I just watched a few episodes of this before. I did like it but for some reason I never continued. Let's see what this season is like.
Macross F
I am a heathen, I did love Robotech so by extension Macross. The trailer looks awesome but what is with the singing in all those series.
Miname-ke
Well, part 1 was entertaining if a bit 'been there, done that' at the end.
PERSONA - trinity soul -
I have no clue on this one. The few bits of info I managed to gleen here and there sound intrigueing so I'll have a look for sure.
Mnemosyne - Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi -
See above.
.HACK//G.U. TRILOGY Perfect Memory Special
.Hack can't be bad, just no idea what this is, and why it's on the show schedule.
Clannad, Shana 2, Genshiken 2, Myself;Yourself, Miname Ke, Kodomo No Jinkan, Night Wizard.
Clannad: The main redeeming quality of Clannad are Kyou ,the pretty animation and the most WIN endsong. There is a story but it's just not reaching me. Nice to watch, but not something I feel I need to watch a few times. Maybe it'll grab me more in the winter season.
Shana 2: Nice action and entertainment, I wonder where the story went. Maybe now that Pheles turned up things will actually go somewhere.
Genshiken 2: More looks at the Otaku lifestyle. Seeing the old gang drift of made this a bit meh for me. Enjoyable still.
Myself:Yourself: if someone says twincest one more time I am going to hit them. It had some very nice highs, but some very big yawn moments too. The ending seemed so rushed.
Miname Ke: Ok, slice of life, but it goes randomly of any direction and ends up with Onee-chan being Moe, Chiaka being sarcastic and Kana being stupid. It gets a bit repetitive at times.
Kodomo no Jinkan: Yes the pedobear series. I saw some of the uncensored ep's. I know truly believe the censorship has been done to create more hype and get people to buy the DVD. Either that or the directors are going LOL at everyone guessing what is happening behind the blocked out stuff. There is an actually story going in the background too, but noone seems to care cause they want naked loli's. *sigh*
Night Wizard: Oh god, not another kid's series that got lost on the anime channel. Yes, yes, we all see how this is going and... WAIT A MINUTE, you're not supposed to do that! It starts as aforementioned but amazingly it turns into something better halfway through with some nice plot twists. I actually liked it.