Monday, January 16, 2012

[New January 2012] Aquarion Evol


Japanese title: アクエリオンEVOL
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/10447/Aquarion_Evol
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Mecha / Supernatural / Sexual?
I've watched: 1 episode-ish

Summary: Another story about people piloting Aquarion robot combating enemies from another dimension.


First impression score: 63 - Mecha stupidity

Personal comments: Half way through episode one, I remembered why I stopped watching the first series: people piloting robots, powered by orgasms. While this one is not quite there yet, I can sense it's definitely heading that way. On top of that, I don't quite understand mecha animes in general. When I hear people talk about mecha anime, it's always like "oh have you seen the part where the mecha did ... and ..., man that was awesome fight." But it's not like it actually has much to do with the person piloting it. The superiority of mecha fighting always comes down to either the supernatural power the pilot possesses or the better technology the mecha possesses. Neither of them has anything to do with the battle itself and outcome would be more or less predetermined by those two factors ahead of time. So basically most mecha animes that spend much time on mecha battles always end up being either the quest to gain the supernatural power or the quest to obtain the superior technology. How does someone find it amusing over and over? That's beyond my comprehension.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

[New January 2012] Inu x Boku SS


Japanese title: 妖狐×僕SS
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11013/Inu_x_Boku_SS
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/inu-x-boku-secret-service
Genres: Drama / Supernatural / Comedy?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Ririchiyo moves into an apartment complex where everybody has a bodyguard called "Secret Service" (SS). Every resident of this apartment, including her is anything but normal human. Even though she didn't want an SS, she ends up getting one that knew her since long ago.

First impression score: 84 - Interesting and Weird

Personal comments: It's a bit difficult to digest at first since everything looked so strange. But once they cleared up a couple of things, it become clear where everything lies. The whole setup actually reminds me much of Kuroshitsuji. It could be interesting, but we'll have to see.

[New January 2012] Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!


Japanese title: パパのいうことを聞きなさい!
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11179/Papa_no_Iukoto_wo_Kikinasai!
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Comedy / Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Yuuta just entered college as a freshman. He got involved with some strange club. One day, his sister asked him to babysit her daughters for a couple days while she's on a trip. Little does he know fate is about to take a strange turn for him.

First impression score: 85 - Kind of Weird...

Familiar voices: Yui Horie (堀江由衣) as Raika Oda. She is a veteran voice actress that has done tons of voices including Naru from Love Hina and Yuki Cross from Vampire Knight. Eri Kitamura (喜多村英梨) as Miu Takanashi. She has a pretty distinctly recognizable voice that was featured as Sayaka from Madoka Magica, Kanade from Mayo Chiki, and Yachiyo from Working!

Personal comments: The official synopsis sounds very similar to Usagi Drop, though so far it doesn't seem to be nearly as, um, pure as Usagi Drop is. It could be interesting though.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

[New January 2012] Ano Natsu de Matteru


Japanese title: あの夏で待ってる
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11433/Ano_Natsu_de_Matteru
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/ano-natsu-de-matteru
Genres: Comedy / Drama / Scifi
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Some dude was making a film when he's hit (and killed?) by something from space. Next day he found himself waking up in his bed. Then a mysterious transfer student came to his school and ends up staying in his house.

First impression score: 90 - Strange comedy


Familiar voices: Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり) as Remon Yamano. It didn't take long before I recognized her voice as Togame from Katanagatari, since I recently just heard her voice. Another famous role she played is Rika from Higurashi series. She also recently appeared as Fear Kubric in

Personal comments: Yet another tried and true concept where some alien accidentally kills somebody and have to redeem herself (it's always a her for some reason) by saving the person she killed and ends up living with him, very much like Tetsuwan Birdy series. But this one seems to have more comedy worked into it without breaking into something completely ridiculous like ToLoveRu did. So far I'm liking what I saw.

[New January 2012] Senki Zesshou Symphogear


Japanese title: 戦姫絶唱シンフォギア
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11751/Senki_Zesshou_Symphogear
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Action / Musical? / Eva clone?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Human is under the attack of something called "Noise", and only few people with special ability can battle against them.

First impression score: 80 - Strange, but not Original

Personal comments: First of all, it doesn't feel very, um, original. It's like a mix and blend of three very well know animes: Evangelion, RahXephone, and Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, taking different elements from each movie and blend them into one. I'm not sure how this will play out, but as it is right now, there're too much copy and paste from other anime going on here...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

[New January 2012] Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou


Japanese title: 男子高校生の日常
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11843/Danshi_Koukousei_no_Nichijou
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: It's the story of a couple of high school students.

First impression score: 89 - Laughing my teeth off

Personal comments: This reminds me very much of Arakawa Under the Bridge, except the setting is a normal high school instead of some weirdo's hangout. If you liked Arakawa, then you'd love this. If you didn't, well, still give it a try, you might like it since it doesn't have the strange weirdo's hangout environment.

[New January 2012] Mouretsu Pirates


Japanese title: モーレツ宇宙海賊
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/8917/Mouretsu_Pirates
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/moretsu-pirates
Genres: Drama / Comedy Space Opera
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Marika is a regular high school student. One day she was told that she's the next captain of a space pirate ship.

First impression score: 85 - Interesting start


Familiar voices: Omigawa Chiaki as Endou Mami. I think anybody has seen Soul Eater or Arakawa Under the Bridge would recognize the voice of Maka and P-ko. Her voice just doesn't change, period.

Personal comments: It's an interesting concept, but I think you can already tell that the story seems to fit the very typical "sudden inheritance" plot so far. Maybe they'll get something new going soon, until then, this is just so so.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

[New January 2012] Another


Japanese title: アナザー
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11111/Another
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/another
Genres: Mystery / Horror
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Rumor has it that in the school there is a girl that everybody likes. One day she died of an accident. But to remember her, the entire class keep pretending she is still there. But the story doesn't stop there, there seems to be more than people pretending seeing a dead girl. Sakakibara is a new transfer student who was sick right after he came to the town. While he doesn't know much about the local legend, he starts to see some strange things...

First impression score: 93 - Creepy

Personal comments: This is my most anticipated anime from this season, one reason being that I always love a good horror story. (Horror mystery that is, I hate gore horror). From this opening episode, it seems to be as good as I hoped it was. I'm actually spooked enough at the moment that I'd be somewhat scared to ride elevator in a hospital. This is definitely a keeper.

[New January 2012] Rinne no Lagrange


Japanese title: 輪廻のラグランジェ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11227/Rinne_no_Lagrange
Watch Online: http://www.hulu.com/lagrange-the-flower-of-rin-ne
Genres: Drama / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A girl was asked to pilot a robot as a favor (WTF?!), now she has to save the earth from alien invaders.

First impression score: 85 - Huh?

Personal comments: The setting seems to be a normal world, but when the main character is asked to pilot a robot, the reaction is...less than you would normally expect. Then they just suddenly break out into this Evangelion type battle with aliens out of nowhere. There are some interesting dry humors which I though is pretty good and right on cue because it lightens up the atmosphere without disrupting the flow of the story. There are still a lot of explanation needs to be done, but I find the way they dropped us right in the middle of the action just like the main character was pretty interesting. I think this one has potential.

[New January 2012] Highschool DxD


Japanese title: ハイスクールD×D
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11617/Highschool_DxD
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Action / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Some dude got killed by some devilish girl, then resurrected by another devil to become her servant.

First impression score: 83 - Slightly excessive on fan service

Personal comments: I don't know if it's just me, but it's giving me a distinct vibe that is very similar to Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou. Not only the whole daemon king part feels the same, it also have the same excessive usage of similar R-rated fan service. But despite being fan service heavy, Daimaou actually has a pretty good story, I hope the story quality for DxD is on par here as well.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

[New January 2012] Brave 10


Japanese title: ブレイブ・テン
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11241/Brave_10
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/brave-10
Genres: Action / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Another fantasy story related to Sengoku era. Sanada Yukimura is trying to assemble 10 warriors to fight against Tokugawa.

First impression score: 88 - Very interesting start

Personal comments: This is definitely one of the more interesting version Sengoku stories, though nothing could top Sengoku Basara, this in my opinion is coming pretty close. It feels like Basara with a bit more seriousness injected into it, while it doesn't forget to be a comedy from time to time. I think this is a keeper, at least for now.

[New January 2012] Nisemonogatari


Japanese title: 偽物語
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11597/Nisemonogatari
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/nisemonogatari
Genres: Comedy / Mystery / WTF
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: The long waited Bakemonogatari sequel.

First impression score: 95 - Still strange and mysterious and funny and conversation heavy...

Personal comments: This is one of the most anticipated series from this season by many, including me. Bakemonogatari is about one of the most unique piece of work I've ever seen. It's strange and mysterious yet funny all at the same time, mostly expressed through dialogs and some simple actions. The director for this anime series is pure genius. It is so unpredictable that you can almost never tell what's about to happen a second later. If you still haven't seen Bakemonogatari, you'd be a little lost, on top of that, you're missing out a lot.

[New January 2012] Zero no Tsukaima F

Doesn't this look like it's from certain other anime?

Japanese title: ゼロの使い魔F
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11319/Zero_no_Tsukaima_F
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/familiar-of-zero-f
Genres: Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: The final chapter of Zero no Tsukaima series.

First impression score: 87 - Right in the action...

Personal comments: It's the year of finales, for Kugimiya Rei's character at least. Following the premiere of final chapter of Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima too kicked off its final chapter. This time, they didn't bother to waste any time like previous two, it jumped right into what seems to be the main plot right off the back.

[New January 2012] Amagami SS+ Plus


Japanese title: アマガミSS+ plus
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11235/Amagami_SS+_plus
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu
Genres: Romance / Harem
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: The story pick up where the first series ended.

First impression score: 81 - Same 'ol

Personal comments: Honestly, as far as romance/harem anime goes, Amagami SS is not among my favorite, mostly because it employs constant reset instead of trying to mix and blend all thread together. While I'm not sure whether that's what they're going to do with this second series as well, I did notice from this opening episode that the main guy seems to be a bigger douche that before, which only adds the dissatisfaction to the series as a whole.

Monday, January 9, 2012

[New January 2012] Kill Me Baby


Japanese title: キルミーベイベー
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11079/Kill_Me_Baby
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu
Genres: Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Sonya is a high school student, she also happens to be an assassin (WTF?!).

First impression score: 85 - Speechless

Personal comments: It's an 4-panel style comic adapted anime. It resembles Nichijou more than anything else of the similar type I can think of. While I wasn't too fond of Nichijou, I'm actually liking this one quite a lot.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

[New January 2012] New Prince of Tennis


Japanese title: 新テニスの王子様
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11371/New_Prince_of_Tennis
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/the-prince-of-tennis-ii
Genres: Sports
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Prince of tennis is back!

First impression score: 82 - Ridiculous as ever

Personal comments: OMG, the prince of tennis is back! I can't believe they are actually making more Prince of Tennis. As far as sports anime that based on over-the-top skills that no human could possibly possess in this world, Prince of Tennis is probably one of the best one I've ever seen. This new series seems to be an reunion of all of Seishun junior high school's past opponents. If they have kept up with the standards with the original series, I think it'd still be an interesting series to watch.

[New January 2012] Natsume Yuujinchou Shi


Japanese title: 夏目友人帳 肆
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11665/Natsume_Yuujinchou_Shi
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/natsume-yujin-cho (as episode 40+)
Genres: Drama / Supernatural
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: The story of Natsume and his grandma's Book of Friends continues.

First impression score: 92 - Change of Pace

Personal comments: The first thing you'd notice is that this season seems to have a lot faster pace than usual--it drops you right into the action where some major conflicts is occurring instead of ease you in with some smaller arc like previous three series. Overall, this looks just as good as the previous three so far.

[Ended] Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere: From Nonsens to Amazing


It's funny how when you're bombarded with nonsense, at some point, they all just start to make sense. This is especially true for this anime. I don't quite remember at what point, my thoughts for this anime went from "this idiotic nonsense" to "that's amazingly interesting". It actually reminds me very much of Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, which is one of the best "WTF" anime I've ever seen.

To understand and appreciate this anime, I think you need to first wipe your mind clean of anything that you know of from our reality, because almost every single commonly known term are twisted and re-assigned to mean something else. Personally I found it very amusing. So as long as you know what you should expect and what you should do with everything piece of information the anime is giving you, (which is to take it at its face value) you too will find this series very amusing. In fact, I found it so amusing that I was glad when I found out at the end of the series a second season is already at work.

Final scoreboard:


Drama: 88 (Mostly nonsense)
Comedy: 89 (Pretty amusing)
Action: 87 (Kind of hard to understand, but interesting)
Art/Animation: 81 (Big boobs to huge boobs)
Sound/Music: 84 (Not bad)
Character: 88 (Lots)
Plot: 86 (Making sense out of nonsense)
Ending: 89 (Dramatic)

Re-watch value: 80 (Now I'd like to re-watch so I have better understanding of earlier parts)

Overall: 90 - More amusing that I though

Recommendation: If you can throw away all your common sense and fill your head with the terms they've defined in the story, it's quite an interesting story to watch. Otherwise you'd probably think it's just a bunch of random stuff that don't make sense what so ever. It all depends on what you can comprehend. With that note, I will award this one

2011 WTF of the Year

[Ended] Working'!!: Series of Misunderstanding


At the end of season one, the story start to narrow in onto a particular pair. I was wondering how it's going to play out in this second season. However, they didn't quite go off the same direction season one did, instead, it funneled out to several different couples that all had some secret crushes going on towards each other.

I have to say, while it's funny and all, the jokes started to get a bit repetitive. Good thing they decided to do a short season, because if it goes any longer, I'd start to care less and less about it.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 86 (Secret crushes)
Comedy: 84 (Getting a bit repetitive)
Action: N/A
Art/Animation: 86 (Same 'Ol)
Sound/Music: 80 (pale compare to season one)
Character: 90 (Still interesting)
Plot: 86 (Random)
Ending: N/A

Re-watch value: 40 (Not quite sure)

Overall: 89 - Good, but not as good

Recommendation: It's good, but not as good. If you really liked season one, you'd probably still like this as well.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

[Ended] Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai: Bunch of Nonsense


Fight after fight after fight, harem after harem after harem, it ended up in a very strange place where it was giving lectures on what being patriotic is. It feels like a bunch of random nonsense ideas someone came up and then threw them all together to make a story. I was somewhat entertaining at the moment, but if I had a choice, I'd not have wasted my time on this.

Final scoreboard:


Drama: 74 (All over the place)
Comedy: 80 (OK)
Action: 84 (Outrageous but exciting)
Art/Animation: 86 (Not bad)
Sound/Music: 78 (So so)
Character: 80 (Somewhat one dimensional)
Plot: 74 (Quite stupid)
Ending: 70 (WTF?)

Re-watch value: 20 (I don't see a reason to)

Overall: 77 - Exciting from time to time, but that's it
 

Recommendation: I think your time is better spent elsewhere.

Friday, January 6, 2012

[Ended] The iDOLMASTER: Typically Exciting

I have to admit, I'm a sucker for stories of this kind, stories of how ordinary people conquer difficulties in their lives to achieve the goals they hunger for. The anime itself is really just a series of life stories of a group of girls who wants to become idols. It's based on the game with same title where you would play the role of producer to help this group of youngsters to resolve their problems and achieve their goals in life. I've never played the game, but I think if I did, I'd probably like it equally as much.

On the surface, it may look speciously like a harem anime. In a way, it kind of is. But instead of focusing on the relationship development, its primary focus is on character development. That actually changes the overall feel of the story quite a bit.

Final scoreboard:


Drama: 90 (Many)
Comedy: 88 (Pretty good)
Action: 86 (Good for what it had)
Art/Animation: 90 (Very likable)
Sound/Music: 93 (Lots of good songs)
Character: 92 (Well developed and likeable)
Plot: 88 (Series of short stories)
Ending: 90 (Well wrapped)

Re-watch value: 50 (I don't see a reason to)

Overall: 89 - Heartwarming
 

Recommendation: I think this series might strike many as too formulaic. In a sense it is, but that does not take away how well the story is. In my opinion, if you like to see a good ordinary people in a ordinary anime, this is definitely among the top picks from 2011.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

[Ended] UN-GO: Twists, to the n-th Power


This, is one of the few animes that hurts my brain while trying to connect all the dots that the complex logic are built upon.

The story, including the setting, all reminds me very much of Eden of the East. Except the degree of twists and puzzles are far more complex than Eden of the East had. This is actually one of the few animes that hurts my brain while watching the puzzle unfold due to the sheer number of dimensions that the puzzle possess and how much concurrent information I have to process to keep up with it.

As you remember I was actually quite critical about this series only a few episodes ago, mostly due to the fact the story is completely unimpressive and the concept seems heavily borrowed from some well established existing works. But very much like Pandora Hearts, once the big picture came into play, it suddenly went from "moderately unimpressive" to "BRILLIANT!".

Unlike Eden of the East, however, this story does involve some supernatural force that it's necessary for the story not to try to find some extensive excuses to make certain plot point work. In my opinion, it's all good so long it's not introduced to solely pull the story out of a plot hole half way to the finish line.

Final scoreboard:


Drama: 92 (Hidden, but good)
Comedy: 91 (Got some funny moments)
Action: N/A
Art/Animation: 90 (Strange, but interesting)
Sound/Music: 91 (Good BGM)
Character: 89 (Mysterious)
Plot: 90 (Confusing until the end)
Ending: 90 (A bit overplayed on the supernatural part)

Re-watch value: 70 (It'd be interesting to see the points you've missed)

Overall: 90 - Twisty Twists
 

Recommendation: Unsurprisingly, Noitamina once again produced a very interesting series. If you like a good brain twist, definitely give this one a shot.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

[Ended] Ben-to: Ridiculous, Brilliantly Ridiculious


Before I started this season, the description of this series sounded nothing attractive. But it only took about 3 minutes of the first episode to completely win me over. This is about one of the best straight-faced comedy I've ever seen.

Image your typical martial art action anime, like Tenjou Tenge or Tokyo Majin, where the fighters put life and honor on the line, but instead of trying to achieve glory or try to save the world, the ultimate goal of such furious brawl is only to get the best, the most delicious, half-priced lunch.


Final scoreboard:


Drama: 93 (Epically over-dramatized)
Comedy: 96 (Brilliant!)
Action: 97 (Exciting)
Art/Animation: 92 (Well done)
Sound/Music: 88 (Ok)
Character: 90 (A little bit one-dimensional, but interesting)
Plot: 96 (Great)
Ending: 80 (Acceptable)

Re-watch value: 80 (Still pretty funny)

Overall: 95 - Highly Refreshing
 

Recommendation: As far as comedy goes, I don't think anything I've seen this year could have topped it. Therefore it earns my

Comedy of the Year

award.

[Ended] Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Light and...Light


The title of this anime should really have a subtitle, says "An survey of Japanese pop and otaku subculture", because it literally what it is. What makes this different than many other animes of similar type is the characters. Starting with only two characters, one by one, new characters with vastly different personalities joined in, creating quite an interesting environment with tensions between almost every pair. As for the story itself, it literally took everything stereotypical and commonly seen in animes or gal games, stuffed them in as part of the plot without changing a thing. Sure it's a character centric story, but that still seems...cheap.


Final scoreboard:

Drama: 80 (Episodic)
Comedy: 88 (Pretty funny)
Action: N/A
Art/Animation: 92 (Cute)
Sound/Music: 88 (Ok)
Character: 84 (Interesting)
Plot: 80 (Not very creative)
Ending: 80 (Not quite)

Re-watch value: 50 (Not so sure why you would)

Overall: 82 - Refreshing
 

Recommendation: Very much like Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, this is a series of very light and loosely coupled short stories. It is to certain extends intriguing, but in my opinion it really isn't anything really new, rather, it seems to be the new trend lots of this series are going after.