Nov 20, 2009 3:35 PM
Fall 2009 Anime Impressions
The current Fall 2009 season of anime on Japanese TV is now at the half way point. For the second season in a row, I'm watching damn near every show being released. And since I finally got caught back up with the current anime after having to deal with moving from New Mexico to Ohio, I figured I'd write my impressions of what I've seen so far of this season, talking about each show in alphabetical order as they appear on my "Currently Watching" list....
11eyes - This is probably more towards my lesser favorite half of what I'm watching this season. It's based on an H-game and has a heavy fantasy-in-modern-day thing going on similar to what Fate/stay night did. A lot of 11eyes feels very cliche. It's not horrible, it just isn't all that interesting. As it stands now, it will be lucky if it can end with getting my usual "blah" 6 rating.
Aoi Bungaku - A pretty interesting series. A number of famous works of Japanese fiction are being adapted into this anime series. The first story called No Longer Human took up the first 4 episodes of the series and it was very well done. It held a very haunting atmosphere with a very serious mood. Episode 5 (which is as far as I've watched so far) began a new story, and although it actually has some comic relief, it has some moments that are even more disturbing. I'm looking forward to watching more.
Cheburashka Arere? - Okay, I don't know if this series really matters so much. These little 3 minute episodes are pretty much pointless cuteness. Some of them are kind of amusing though, such as when some weirdo was stealing things from the main characters.
Fairy Tail - A solid shounen series?? So far it seems okay. I've never been a huge fan of shounen anime and even less of a fan of shounen manga. So far this is okay, I guess. It's kind of hard to tell with only 6 episodes. But if for nothing else I may just stay for the fact that it's amusing to have Rie Kugimiya and Aya Hirano working together.
Kaidan Restaurant - Thriller Restaurant came as a bit of a surprise. I started watching it a little bit after the season started because gg started subbing it a little late. It's a kids show about ghost stories. I was a little hesitant since I ended up dropping Element Hunters last season, but I'm actually really enjoying this show. Yes, it's definitely aimed at younger children, but some of the stories actually have a good amount of creepiness to them and the show and its characters have a certain charm about them. It's nice.
Kämpfer - I'm not so sure about this series. It has its moments, but I just don't know. It seems rather pointless....
Kimi ni Todoke - I think this just may be my favorite show of the season. Sawako is one of the most adorable anime/manga characters I've ever come across and the rest of the primary cast is great as well. It's just a wonderful shoujo series and now I really want to start reading the manga.
Kobato. - The latest CLAMP series is pretty much just as good as I could have hoped for. I'd read a little bit of the manga and the anime doesn't let me down at all. Hopefully it keeps up and continues to be awesome.
Kuchu Buranko - Trapeze is a very odd series. From its art style which incorporates live action, to its subject matter of psychology, to its weird main character. But hey, it's still pretty interesting.
Letter Bee - I've really grown to like this series a lot more than I thought I would. It seemed okay when I watched the OVA and the first couple episodes were decent, but now having seen up through the first seven episodes it just really grew on me. Lag and Niche are just so damn lovable.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza - It made me happy to hear about this sequel coming out this season. I really enjoyed the first series and this one is pretty much just more of the same nice, fun show. Haruka is as adorable as ever and this season even has Rie Kugimiya joining the cast as two characters! Although one doesn't really talk that much and the other has only really been in one episode so far....
Nyan Koi! - Here we have another solid romantic comedy. A guy gets cursed and can now talk to cats and has to give aid to them 100 times or he will become a cat. He's also allergic to them. It's amusing, but I don't know if I'm really enjoying this show as much as I should. It kind of feels like something is missing, but I can't really put my finger on it....
Sasameki Koto - Here we have the new wonderful lesbian series of the season. The tone for the most part is much more light hearted than last season's Aoi Hana and I really like it. I'm not really saying it's better than Aoi Hana, it's just a nice change of pace. It has much more comedy and the characters are very fun.
Seiken no Blacksmith - Apparently a good number of people, including some of the people in gg who are subbing it, do not really like The Sacred Blacksmith very much. I'm not really sure why. Personally I'm enjoying the series quite a bit. Maybe it's the lack of action or major story line movement?? I heard someone in the comments of a recent gg news post say that it's been nothing but filler since episode 2. Personally I think people are just expecting the series to be something that it's not. To me, the series is just a slice-of-life show that just happens to take place in a fantasy setting with some action every now and then. I don't consider it to be a fantasy action adventure series. But whatever. I like it and that's all I really care about.
Seitokai no Ichizon - And now another show like 11eyes that I really don't think it's horrible, I just don't really like it immensely. I don't know. As shocking as it may sound for a Haruhi fanboy to say this, I'm really not a big fan of [url=http://myanimelist.net/anime/1887/Lucky_☆_Star]Lucky Star[/url]. Personally I just didn't see the big deal. I understood the references, but for the most part the delivery just didn't seem very funny. All of the conversations just seemed way too normal for them to be interesting. With Seitokai no Ichizon it's pretty much the same thing. Although I think I might be enjoying it slightly more than Lucky Star, maybe. I don't know.
Shakugan no Shana S - Okay, so this is an OVA and not a TV series, but the first episode was released in October so I'm going ahead and talking about it anyway. I love Shana and the first episode of this OVA was very nice. Also, the new Shana-tan G that came with it and Shana-tan Revenge which was released just before are also quite awesome. Can't wait for Shana III to come out!!
Sora no Otoshimono - This show is just ridiculous retardation. I actually feel like I'm enjoying this show a lot more than I should. It's just so damn stupid and pointless but there's still something about it that makes me enjoy the crap out of it. Maybe it's best not to think too hard about it....
Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra - One of the more serious shows of the season. It looks pretty and has an interesting story. It's not exactly a show I'm looking forward to each week, but I'm hoping it will pick up. We'll see.
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun - The spin-off series/prequel/side story of Index from the 2008 Fall season, Railgun follows the wonderful Mikoto. The series turned out a bit different than I was expecting. Much more of a slice-of-life show than Index was, with action thrown in here and there, but that's not to say it's a disappointment. It just kind of caught me off guard for a few episodes. Personally I liked Mikoto much more than the title character of Index in the first series. I especially loved her interactions with Touma. Because of that this series can do no wrong after the wonderful Mikoto and Touma moments that have happened so far.
Yumeiro Patissiere - After Thriller Restaurant, this is the second biggest surprise of the season for me. I really didn't expect to love this series about making yummy sweets as much as I have. The fairies are cute, the character interactions are fun, and the setting of a pastry cooking school is very interesting. Good stuff.
And that's all. There are a few shows that are being released now that I'm not keeping up with. For the most part they are sequels to series I have not watched/finished yet (Queen's Blade, Asura Cryin', Inuyasha, Koihime Musou, Darker Than Black, etc.). One of the few new original shows I just totally passed on (at least for now) is Miracle Train. First I just didn't find it very widely subbed, and then when I did find out about it I didn't really feel like watching something that ANN's Bamboo Dong called "emotional pornography for women."
But yes. So those are my impressions of this season so far. Now that I think about it, this post probable wasn't very insightful, but whatever. I just felt like typing it. If anyone actually read this, hope you got some kind of enjoyment/use out of it. Laters!
11eyes - This is probably more towards my lesser favorite half of what I'm watching this season. It's based on an H-game and has a heavy fantasy-in-modern-day thing going on similar to what Fate/stay night did. A lot of 11eyes feels very cliche. It's not horrible, it just isn't all that interesting. As it stands now, it will be lucky if it can end with getting my usual "blah" 6 rating.
Aoi Bungaku - A pretty interesting series. A number of famous works of Japanese fiction are being adapted into this anime series. The first story called No Longer Human took up the first 4 episodes of the series and it was very well done. It held a very haunting atmosphere with a very serious mood. Episode 5 (which is as far as I've watched so far) began a new story, and although it actually has some comic relief, it has some moments that are even more disturbing. I'm looking forward to watching more.
Cheburashka Arere? - Okay, I don't know if this series really matters so much. These little 3 minute episodes are pretty much pointless cuteness. Some of them are kind of amusing though, such as when some weirdo was stealing things from the main characters.
Fairy Tail - A solid shounen series?? So far it seems okay. I've never been a huge fan of shounen anime and even less of a fan of shounen manga. So far this is okay, I guess. It's kind of hard to tell with only 6 episodes. But if for nothing else I may just stay for the fact that it's amusing to have Rie Kugimiya and Aya Hirano working together.
Kaidan Restaurant - Thriller Restaurant came as a bit of a surprise. I started watching it a little bit after the season started because gg started subbing it a little late. It's a kids show about ghost stories. I was a little hesitant since I ended up dropping Element Hunters last season, but I'm actually really enjoying this show. Yes, it's definitely aimed at younger children, but some of the stories actually have a good amount of creepiness to them and the show and its characters have a certain charm about them. It's nice.
Kämpfer - I'm not so sure about this series. It has its moments, but I just don't know. It seems rather pointless....
Kimi ni Todoke - I think this just may be my favorite show of the season. Sawako is one of the most adorable anime/manga characters I've ever come across and the rest of the primary cast is great as well. It's just a wonderful shoujo series and now I really want to start reading the manga.
Kobato. - The latest CLAMP series is pretty much just as good as I could have hoped for. I'd read a little bit of the manga and the anime doesn't let me down at all. Hopefully it keeps up and continues to be awesome.
Kuchu Buranko - Trapeze is a very odd series. From its art style which incorporates live action, to its subject matter of psychology, to its weird main character. But hey, it's still pretty interesting.
Letter Bee - I've really grown to like this series a lot more than I thought I would. It seemed okay when I watched the OVA and the first couple episodes were decent, but now having seen up through the first seven episodes it just really grew on me. Lag and Niche are just so damn lovable.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza - It made me happy to hear about this sequel coming out this season. I really enjoyed the first series and this one is pretty much just more of the same nice, fun show. Haruka is as adorable as ever and this season even has Rie Kugimiya joining the cast as two characters! Although one doesn't really talk that much and the other has only really been in one episode so far....
Nyan Koi! - Here we have another solid romantic comedy. A guy gets cursed and can now talk to cats and has to give aid to them 100 times or he will become a cat. He's also allergic to them. It's amusing, but I don't know if I'm really enjoying this show as much as I should. It kind of feels like something is missing, but I can't really put my finger on it....
Sasameki Koto - Here we have the new wonderful lesbian series of the season. The tone for the most part is much more light hearted than last season's Aoi Hana and I really like it. I'm not really saying it's better than Aoi Hana, it's just a nice change of pace. It has much more comedy and the characters are very fun.
Seiken no Blacksmith - Apparently a good number of people, including some of the people in gg who are subbing it, do not really like The Sacred Blacksmith very much. I'm not really sure why. Personally I'm enjoying the series quite a bit. Maybe it's the lack of action or major story line movement?? I heard someone in the comments of a recent gg news post say that it's been nothing but filler since episode 2. Personally I think people are just expecting the series to be something that it's not. To me, the series is just a slice-of-life show that just happens to take place in a fantasy setting with some action every now and then. I don't consider it to be a fantasy action adventure series. But whatever. I like it and that's all I really care about.
Seitokai no Ichizon - And now another show like 11eyes that I really don't think it's horrible, I just don't really like it immensely. I don't know. As shocking as it may sound for a Haruhi fanboy to say this, I'm really not a big fan of [url=http://myanimelist.net/anime/1887/Lucky_☆_Star]Lucky Star[/url]. Personally I just didn't see the big deal. I understood the references, but for the most part the delivery just didn't seem very funny. All of the conversations just seemed way too normal for them to be interesting. With Seitokai no Ichizon it's pretty much the same thing. Although I think I might be enjoying it slightly more than Lucky Star, maybe. I don't know.
Shakugan no Shana S - Okay, so this is an OVA and not a TV series, but the first episode was released in October so I'm going ahead and talking about it anyway. I love Shana and the first episode of this OVA was very nice. Also, the new Shana-tan G that came with it and Shana-tan Revenge which was released just before are also quite awesome. Can't wait for Shana III to come out!!
Sora no Otoshimono - This show is just ridiculous retardation. I actually feel like I'm enjoying this show a lot more than I should. It's just so damn stupid and pointless but there's still something about it that makes me enjoy the crap out of it. Maybe it's best not to think too hard about it....
Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra - One of the more serious shows of the season. It looks pretty and has an interesting story. It's not exactly a show I'm looking forward to each week, but I'm hoping it will pick up. We'll see.
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun - The spin-off series/prequel/side story of Index from the 2008 Fall season, Railgun follows the wonderful Mikoto. The series turned out a bit different than I was expecting. Much more of a slice-of-life show than Index was, with action thrown in here and there, but that's not to say it's a disappointment. It just kind of caught me off guard for a few episodes. Personally I liked Mikoto much more than the title character of Index in the first series. I especially loved her interactions with Touma. Because of that this series can do no wrong after the wonderful Mikoto and Touma moments that have happened so far.
Yumeiro Patissiere - After Thriller Restaurant, this is the second biggest surprise of the season for me. I really didn't expect to love this series about making yummy sweets as much as I have. The fairies are cute, the character interactions are fun, and the setting of a pastry cooking school is very interesting. Good stuff.
And that's all. There are a few shows that are being released now that I'm not keeping up with. For the most part they are sequels to series I have not watched/finished yet (Queen's Blade, Asura Cryin', Inuyasha, Koihime Musou, Darker Than Black, etc.). One of the few new original shows I just totally passed on (at least for now) is Miracle Train. First I just didn't find it very widely subbed, and then when I did find out about it I didn't really feel like watching something that ANN's Bamboo Dong called "emotional pornography for women."
But yes. So those are my impressions of this season so far. Now that I think about it, this post probable wasn't very insightful, but whatever. I just felt like typing it. If anyone actually read this, hope you got some kind of enjoyment/use out of it. Laters!
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pluvia33
| Nov 20, 2009 3:35 PM |
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