animedreamer's Blog

Top of List:
Ristorante Paradiso yes, but need to see where it goes
Hatsukoi Gentei I like it
Asura Cryin' yes
Hanasekeru Seishonen yes
Tears to Tiara! yes
Tayutama yes to maybe, a bit ecchi-moe-harem and maybe not much else?
Chi's New Address yes
Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou what were they thinking? (No.)
Eden of the East moved from High Possiblity to here; now I've seen it, it looks interesting, hope it doesn't get all dark but it probably will, what with missiles hitting Japan and all, and terrorists


High Possibility:
Senjou no Valkyria - Gallian Chronicles yes
07-GHOST yes
K-ON yes
Shangri-La probably, but the carbon markets are a bit difficult to understand. Like ep. 2 a little better, though. Ep. 3 was even better
Pandora Hearts probably? maybe? After ep. 2, I think I want to see how it all gets fixed (I hope); oh God, after ep.3 things don't look so good
Natsu no Arashi don't think so...
Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-Chan!!
Shinkyoku Soukai - Polyphonica Crimson S turns out it's a 'presequel', so I don't know if I'm watching it, gonna check 1st ep. though; OK, now I've seen it, and I didn't have any trouble, and I liked it, so I'm watching it
Mainichi Kaa-san yay, finally saw it! I liked it, not as good as Chi, but will watch
Charade no Joke no Mainichi well, sorta funny, I guess, but somehow I know I'll have to force myself to watch it, it's not really my taste, I suppose, i.e., no

Maybe:
Guin Saga wasn't sure at first, but it might be good, we'll have to see, the anthropomorphism is throwing me off though
Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom yes, at least so far, need to see where it goes
Saki it's cute, and the characters are fun, but I have hardly any clue what's going on with the mahjongg, so I guess not
Slap Up Party! why does it remind me of a cross between Naruto and American cartoons? No.

In other words, I will check them out.
Above only includes TV series.
Notes in italics mean I've seen at least 1 episode and those are my thoughts so far.

OVA's and such:
Yurumates
Tsukai no Sekushi Monogatari
Koihime Musou
ToHeart 2-adplus (?? what's this?)

Still watching from last season:
Chrome Shelled Regios
Kurokami
Kemono no Souja Erin (also I'm horribly behind)

Still trying to finish because they're not yet subbed or because I'm behind watching them:
Mouryou no Hako (not subbed yet, Fall 2008) waaah, they might not sub it!
One Outs (not subbed yet, Winter 2009) they're working on it
Genji Monogatari Senneki (slow being aired, Winter, 2009)
whatever happened to: Switch 2 ? wasn't it ever subbed? no, it wasn't
Tetsuwan Birdy Decode S2


Stuff I can't watch yet because I haven't seen the previous shows yet:
Tsubasa-Shunraiki
xxxHolic -
Spice and Wolf 2
Kiniro no Corda ~ secondo passo ~

It's really just a set of notes for myself so far. I'll amend it as I go!
I haven't even finished Winter 2009 yet! Waaaah!
But just to show that I have finished something this Winter:
Kuroshitsuji (but I am waiting for better subs to come out)
To Aru Majutsu no Index
Tytania
Skip Beat!
Blade of the Immortal
Sekirei OVA
Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou
Maria Holic
RideBack
Monochrome Factor
Tales of the Abyss
Toradora!
Asu no Yoichi
White Album

and I finished a few shows recently that were old:
Suzuka
UFO Princess Valkyrie
Beck
School Rumble (Season 1)
GTO
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu

Chicks on Anime: Fansubs (Pt. 1)

I'm not going to argue the legalities of fansubbing and other means of viewing anime.

I am a older (yeah, middle-aged, even) person who just discovered the on-line community of anime about a year ago, and therefore my distaste for the anime that I mostly saw around me in the 90's dissipated somewhat in the face of the discovery of many other genres besides Pokemon and mecha. In many ways I probably don't entirely fit the profile of an "older" fan (although I did know what anime was in the 80's and even knew what Japanimation was before that.)

As usual when I start doing something, I'm pretty dedicated to learning as much and doing as much of it as possible. I've had to learn another whole side of computer technology, mainly downloading and videos. It is one barrier to anime.
As the year has progressed, I have noticed the changes in the way that anime is becoming available. But even in that time I have come to have certain preferences. One is that I prefer to watch an anime in Japanese. One thing I like about anime is the window into the Japanese "culture" for lack of a better term, and the language supports that. But I am not opposed to watching my anime in English. I don't feel I have a great understanding of how well the translations are. But I think that it would be nice if 1)written words, especially important text were translated. and 2) some things were retained about the Japanese context: terms, honorifics, and I would prefer explanations rather than pretending that the whole thing was written in English in the first place. But you can't do a whole lot of "relaxed-style" anime-viewing if it's not in a language you understand by listening to it alone. For instance, just try to study and read subtitles at the same time.

But I feel that access has gotten confused over the last year. It seems that a person used to be able (in the recent past at least) to go to a central on-line location and from there find who subbed the show and then be able to watch it (or who will sub it). Now it's: that show is going to be on Crunchyroll, and that on the Funimation Network, and that one on Joost. Because licensing seems to be a taboo subject of sorts, people don't want to say (and record as actual data) that you can find that series on this particular (legitimate, streaming or downloading) website. It may rate as news, something reported and then forgotten, like short-term memory. Sometimes a person does not have access at all to the only legitimate distribution method (and it will probably become worse in the future). Fine, if all the shows I want to watch were on Crunchyroll, then one subscription would solve my problem. In addition, much of what is on some of these streaming sites has a short lifespan; if you miss it, you will have a wait to get a chance to see it again. Then you need to make sure you are aware when it will be shown again.

As for cable, very little is available there. If I don't get some cable channel that is the only legitimate venue for a series, then I'm out-of-luck. I find most of my anime available on "on demand" programming (free). Problem here is: limited choice; old but not usually "classic" anime; limited timeframe in which to watch it; and limited choices of episodes of any one show at any particular time. The good part is the on-demand feature. Sometimes I just don't want to watch my PC, I want to sit in the comfy chair in front of the TV.

Bottom-line, the point I'm making here is: it's hard to keep track of where to find what you want to watch, and access is becoming more tricky in several ways: money, time and place are all factors. It's nice to download an episode and watch it later, especially if you can't get it by buying it anywhere. You don't have to worry about scheduling it or that it might disappear (well, usually).

As for anime is mainstream: not in my view. Mainstream is: people are aware of anime, what it is, and don't need it to be made palatable so that Westerners will watch it (or whoever), when it is translated. People will be aware that there are many genres, and will be in-tune with the cultural jargon that is presented in anime. The whole world doesn't have to like it, but enough that people will think, oh, so you're a science fiction fan, or you like Harry Potter (even). Is there anyone left on the planet who doesn't know who Harry Potter is, even if you don't read it? (OK, I'm sure there are a few.) I don't think, even as popular as that is, that a majority of people are fans. Maybe it's my age showing, but younger people have to remember that what they think everyone knows refers to everyone they know or come into contact with. Even my current audience is a special subset of relatively tech-savvy people who know about computers, and probably other things also set them apart from the mainstream. Just because a lot of people on MAL know something doesn't mean it's common knowledge in the world at large. What's amazing is: what people don't know.

New:
Chrome Shelled Regios
Genji Monogatari Senneki
Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou
Tetsuwan Birdy Decode 02
Maria Holic
Asu no Yoichi
White Album
Kurokami

Shows unfinished from Fall 2008:
To Aru Majutsu no Index
Tytania
Tales of the Abyss
Toradora
Kuroshitsuji
Skip Beat!
One Outs

Shows I have no idea if they finished or not, but still aren't completely subbed, but I'm still watching:
Mouryou no Hako
Blade of the Immortal
Monochrome Factor (yes, still!)

1 more episode: Junjou Romantica 2

Switch 2 OVA should come out soon.
Also awaiting Ai no Kusabi series
a few more;

This is really beginning to upset me. In the past year that I have been reading manga, I have started many manga series, some of which were older series. Yes, I admit I am currently reading a lot of hard-copy published manga in English. I have been becoming aware that many of these are not completed or are not going to be completed. Sometimes the publisher goes out of business. In some cases, diligent investigation (bugging of the publishers or their forum moderators) have resulted in some good news (at least that they still are publishing it or will). I am so appreciative of these people and publishers who actually are forthcoming with their information. Others are totally opaque to the outsider (perhaps even to the insiders?)

Lately, however, the problem of discontinued series has become more noticeable to me. Maybe because of the economy, I don't know. Maybe because over the course of the year I have picked up more manga to read. I have read a few blogs lately that have focused on this issue.
You Don’t Want Your Manga on this List
Manga Recon Roundtable: Rescue Me!

I have discovered that there are titles I didn't even realize weren't finished. I can't promise that all of these titles are not going to be completed, but just the worry is keeping me up at night. The ones I am particularly interested in are:

Seduction More Beautiful Than Love
Suppli
Nosatsu Junkie
Never Give Up!
Yubisaki Milk Tea
Zig Zag!
Platinum Garden

E's

Everything by DramaQueen that was licensed but not published: yaoi
especially:
Tyrant Falls in Love
Mandayuu and Me
Reverse?
10KY Lover (that's supposed to be Yen)
I could go on and on here, and maybe I will later.
Everything by DramaQueen that was licensed but not completed: romance
8mm
Audition
Promise

Everything by BeBeautiful left incomplete. (many of these are classics; Volume 3 of the Finder series, which was published but now out of print is so rare that it rarely even is available used, at auction, and so forth, and I have actually seen quoted prices in the $300 range. But so far no one has bought that one.)
Embracing Love
Finder series
Kizuna
Playboy Blues
Sound of My Voice
Yebisu Celebrities

What's Michael?

A.I. Revolution, the status of which is still unknown.

Masca
Duck Prince
Yotsuba&!
I haven't actually read the last 3 but if I could I would.

What's annoying is that I have a lot of volumes of these series here at home and I haven't read them yet, but now I have the promise that I will be disappointed when I do.

Let's see.
I am indeed watching Junjou Romantica 2, which I am enjoying and Vampire Knight Guilty, which in the beginning seemed as if the plot was muddled and as if nothing were happening (probably because it was supposed to be in the middle of the run, not at the beginning of a new season). I wasn't sure whether I really liked it, but in Eps. 6 and 7, it really got interesting. Sometimes the tone is so dark and somber that it seems like nothing is happening. And sometimes nothing is. It works better in a manga. I've been pondering the question of why do people think the animation is bad? That also seems to be true for Junjou Romantica 2 and Skip Beat and even most shoujo anime. Basically it's because: (a) the art style as the mangaka designed it is just that way, and (b) shoujo manga just doesn't have as much action as shounen or seinen anime. But I think I'll write another blog entry to explain this further (so don't anyone comment thinking they know my whole explanation!)

I am watching Kuroshitsuji, Yozakura Quartet, Mouryou no Hako (but where are the subs beyond episode 4?). The only other anime near the top of my list (Kurozuka) was just so, so, soooo dark I finally dropped it after episode 4. It was sort of cyberpunk without the cyber, and so full of hopelessness. I do not rule out a more positive message buried in there somewhere, especially later, but I don't feel like waiting for it, so bye-bye.

Several shows this season weren't too interesting in the first couple of episodes, but they picked up later. Skip Beat is another show some people say is badly animated. I agree that sometimes the art of the faces of even some of the main characters seems to be just a hasty sketch, but a lot of the lack of depth can be attributed to the comedy, I think. Having read the manga, I have a lot of expectations and small deviations make me think it's not done right, but actually they seem to be following quite closely and thoroughly to the manga. I really like it.

Kuroshitsuji is dark comedy, a bit campy (if that word is still used these days). The art is imaginative and well-done. The characters are interesting to look at, and so are some of the other aspects such as clothing. Action scenes seem well-done.

Yozakura Quartet's first episode really confused me. I couldn't figure out the back-story, and it felt like we were already expected to know some things. But I gave it another chance and it started making sense immediately. Occasionally there are things that I feel need further explanation, but that's not unusual in lots of stories. But the main conflict is getting heated in the 8th episode and I really want to see how it turns out.

I ended up watching some of my mid-list: Tytania, a fairly dry space opera dealing with the fate of the galaxy. It seems like it consists of a series of small actions that will accumulate to have an effect on history. We don't really know where it's going, and it's going to take a good while to get there. For sci-fi buffs, it really reminds me of the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov. A series of episodes have an effect on the universe. But there is no plan to disrupt, like in Foundation. So it's not about events causing a deviation from the path, it's just about how the path is created.

Hakushaku to Yousei. A bit confused, a bit cliched (to me anyway), I'm still watching it.

ToraDora! I wasn't sure I liked it at first but the characters developed so well, that I want to know what happens next to them. A little more complex than many stories in the same category, it is basically a school -based story. Kannagi seemed like it might be really stupid but has turned out to be surprisingly different from what I expected, and cute. Both shows have catchy J-pop opening songs. Hyakko is a little more slice-of-life, about girls at school. None of these shows are especially ecchi. The last one is the most shoujo of all of them, the first two might be classified as shounen, but not too much fanservice (thank god).

The OVA Switch! was very good, the art, characterization, story, etc., etc., all seemed done well and was interesting, and had a lot of moe for women, but men would like it too I think. Unfortunately we have to wait for Part 2.

To Aru Majutsu no Index turned out to be one of the surprises of the season. The worldview and setting were unique, the character design was well-done, the characterization was complex and engrossing, the plot was fast-moving and there were no wasted episodes, great and surprising things happened, and the action scenes were great. It comes complete with the best opening song that I've heard this season and maybe longer.

Of the shows further down my list I watched an episode of some and ended up not having enough interest to see the next episode, or I just couldn't muster up the interest to watch even episode 1 once I got a better look at what it was supposed to be about. This was true even of some shows further up my list. And it was time-consuming enough to watch what I was already watching.

I need to mention Mouryou no Hako. It's well done as to character and setting and art, but I can't yet decide whether I think the story is well-done or not. I have to see more.

A show I wasn't planning to see was One Outs, a sports anime. I might watch one sometimes but the idea of gambling in the synopsis seemed to make it a bit overly sordid for my taste. And although there were some unattractive side characters, there are moments the story has a surprisingly Prince of Tennis competitive feel, the main character is fascinating both to male and female viewers (for some of the same reasons, and for different reasons as well), and there is, at least at this point in the story, an interesting opponent who interacts with the main character like L interacts with Kira. That is, there is a fascinating chess match kind of interaction, one trying to out-think the other. But despite being the main character, we know the least about what's really going on in Toua's head, since his actions are mostly seen through the eyes of other characters. In addition, we only see him in two settings: on the baseball field and in the Owner's office negotiating salary. It remains to be seen whether there will be any character development of Toua, but even if there isn't, it's a case of being fascinated by him anyway. I highly recommend this seinen sports anime.