Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun: Finally Into the Main Plot?

Currently finished: Episode 10

After 10 (out of the total 12) episodes, it finally steered onto the "grand plot". Technically, it's not even a grand plot, it's merely something to wrap-up the 12 episodes of random events. However, because most of the the earlier episodes contributed some (average about 5 seconds per episode) to build up this final conflict, calling it the "grand plot" is still somewhat appropriate.

Moyashimon: The Third WTF of 2007

Currently finished: Episode 7

This is the third anime of this year makes me mark it with a big WTF! (The other two are Touka Gettan and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei.)But, knowing Noitamina's track record, this is somewhat expected at first place.

Neverless, Moyashimon does have the typical properties of animes produced by Noitamina:

-Specialty school (A university specialize in agriculture)

-Obscur but instresting knowledge (The most recent episode stated the fact that people wearing mask has less chance catching cold not because it filters germs that causes cold, the real reason is that the germs that causes cold does not like the humid environment that is created around the mouth by wearing the mask)

-Strange art style (Not a whole lot, but there are definately some)

Actually, I was not quite ready to call out the big WTF until the most recent episode. It was just way, way, way over the top that I have to shout a WTF!

New rating (out of 5): 4.3 (net gain: +0.5) Making me shout WTF

Myself; Yourself: Something Bad is Coming

Currently finished: Episode 8

Despite the overall theme is somewhat light and warm, lately, there are just too much bad omen flying around that it makes me feel there is something bad or even terrible coming. I'm not sure whether it is trying to mislead the audiences or foreshadow some coming events, one thing for sure is that the hints all points to unpleasant events. With this new development, I'll have to retrieve my earlier statement about this anime being too "straight forward". Now it seems to be anything but straight forward.

New Rating (out of 5): 4.25 (net gain: +0.75) Mysterious

Dragonaut: More Twists

Currently finished: Episode 8

Finally, Gonzo is back at doing what they're good at: creating twists in the plot. Although the current twist is somewhat expected from the very beginning, nevertheless, it breaks the current run of straight line plot. With the new twist, we should expect more complicated interactions between the two main characters.

Kimikiss Pure Rouge: Getting interesting

Currently finished: Episode 8

For a while, the plot line of Kimikiss was scattered all over the place. Because there is no emphasis on any of the character, almost each and any of them can be considered as a main character. That's probably why the plot has appeared to be so unorganized for so long--all the episodes so far are still introduction episodes.

In episode 7, all the lines start to connect. Stories start to come together, even though there are still some degrees of parallelism.

New rating (out of 5): 4.2 (net gain: +0.2) Interesting

October 2007 Season Animes I decide not to follow any more

Prism Ark

While the first episode is somewhat amusing, I have not seen anything worth keeping after that. I gave it up to episode 4, but it's not going to make the cut.

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth

It has some interesting elements in it, but it's not developing fast enough, or rather, it's not developing the a way that I'm interested in. On to pf that, I find the main character very annoying and I'm not very fond of its art style either. So, strike out.

Jyushin Enbu

It is somewhat interesting, but, the plot is just too old school and predictable. On top of that, I'm not quite liking its art style either. So, out it is.

Night Wizard

Ever since episode 1, it has been very very repetitive. Plus, lots of the plots are copied straight out of RPG game. It was amusing at the beginning, but now it's just plain anonying.

Between Clannad and Da Capo II ~ Part 1

Clannad and Da Capo II are both the front runner for best school drama of this season, and they happened to have very similar theme: a light drama/comedy could potentially turn into a tragedy.

Of course, it's a bit unfair to compare them side-by-side, because Clannad is a 24 episode series, while Da Capo II is only a 13 episode series. Having said that, I think there are still many criteria that these two could come to a head to head competition on. So forget about the length of the anime for now and take a look at them in details:


Main Character (male)

Both Clannad and Da Capo II took the approach of the main male character being a passive role rather than an active role. While he may be at the right(wrong) place at right(wrong) time and forced to make some decisions he may or may not like to make, he usually is not the cause of the majority events. He is merely a medium for things to take place around him.

Of course, the stories itself would be non-existent if the lead male character is not there. But if you think about it, while the role itself is important to be there at all time, it merely is a "glue" for all the events happened in the anime to come together. That's why I say the main male character plays only a passive role. In my opinion, it is more so in Clannad than Da Capo II.


Comedy/Drama to Tragedy Progression

While I can not yet predict what will happen towards the end of the series, the track record of both Key and Circus speaks for themselves. While all of their past animes started with light comedy, almost all of them ended up in some degrees of tragedy. It's not difficult to predict that both Clannad and Da Capo II would also end in some sort of tragedy. In fact, Clannad already starts to show the signs of it with its first plot segment.

Tragedies vary in degrees, so are comedies. Clannad is doing much better job on the comedy side because of the "moe" properties of all the female characters. The lack of "moe" does not hurt Da Capo, but makes it much lighter comedy wise compare to Clannad.


Segmented Plot Lines

Instead of using parallel plot development, both anime divides the plot into multiple chunks and develop them one at a time. (The opposite extreme is Baccano! which mixed not only all ongoing plot lines together, but also all the past and future plot lines.) The segmented plot line tells one side/part of the story at a time, without mixing in any unnecessary side plot lines. This makes the story very easy to follow. What you lose is the extra dimensions of the story (like the one Baccano! created). But school dramas don't really need them. Compare the two, Da Capo II is much more segmented than Clannad is because latter have a lot more side plot mix-ins.

Kaiji: Gamble Thriller

Currently finished: Episode 6

There not much time left in the gamble arena. The game has reached a new height. It has become so intense that I could not wait to see the next episode. Even though I still hate the art style of this anime, I just could not put it down. It is so interesting that I could completely ignore the art style.

That reminds me that I need to dig around the internet to find the anime named Akagi, which I think is drawn and made by the same people. Instead of the simple gambling game in Kaiji, Akagi talks about advanced techniques on Mahjong gambling. I threw it out back then before I was even half way through the first episode because of the art work. Now, having seen how interesting Kaiji is, I would definately pick Akagi back up and try to watch through. It'll be highly benificial for my Mahjong game skills.

New rating (out of 5): 4.5 (net gain: +0.25) - Amusing

Baccano: Second Run-Through May Be Necessary

Finally, all puzzle pieces fall into its place, the story is complete. The presentation of Baccano is a bit confusing throughout the series due to its interleaving plot line. But unlike Touka Gettan, which just simply lay the episodes in reverse order, Baccano's plot's timeline is very well planned. Small puzzle pieces of Baccano come together forms a bigger puzzle piece, then the bigger puzzle pieces forms the complete story.

While the story is pretty complete and clear after the last episode, I think a second run-through of the series is necessary, for me at least. Mostly because I want to catch some of the side plots that aren't very close to the main plot, yet have somewhat significant contribution to the main plot.

Now lets see the score card for Baccano:

Drama: 5 (One of the best story I've seen lately)

Comedy: 5 (Comedy in an epic, very hard to pull off, yet it did successfully)

Action: 5 (No censor what so ever)

Art/Animation: 5

Sound/Music: 5

Character: 5 (So many of them...)

Plot: 5 (Snatch like story telling, very well thought out)

Re-watch value: 5 (You probably want to watch it at least twice to catch all the details)

Overall (not average): 5 - Perfect

Recommendation: You do not want to miss this one.

Richard's Pick: Best Anime of 2007

[Edit 12/16/07] I'm very sorry to do this, but Denno Coil pushes Baccano! out of the Best of the year award.

Blue Drop: SciFi + School Drama?

Currently finished: Episode 5

So far, the plot of the anime has been half space ship scifi and half ordinary school drama, and the two are only connected with a very very thin thread. While scifi/school drama is a somewhat common genre, presenting in such a fashion is a bit unusual. Most scifi/school dramas have very tight coupling between the two genres, and usually a single plot line contains both. In Blue Drop, however, there is one plot line for each genre, running parallel to each other. Two plot lines split the episode time almost equally.

Slowly, I'm starting to get used to the art style of this anime. I think the overall plot line started to become more interesting.

New rating (out of 5): 3.5 (net gain: 0.5)

Minami Ke: More Misses Than Hits

Earlier, I've mentioned this anime is a hit or miss just like Lucky Star. After finishing episode 4 of Minami Ke, the hit-to-miss ratio has become 1:3. That is way higher than Lucky Star (probably about 2:1). With this much misses and not enough hits, I will no longer waste my time on it and cut it off my currently watch list.

Final rating (out of 5): 2.25 (net gain: -2)

CLANNAD: Getting Better and Better

Currently finished: Episode 6

The comedy and the "moe" in this anime is just brilliant. I think it surpasses Air and Kanon. It blends in the soft heart touching moments with right amount of comedies with perfect timing. In fact, I think this is the best in this genre (comedy+drama+tragedy) I've ever seen (sorry Honey and Clover fans, at the moment, I do think CLANNAD is better, Honey and Clover just don't have the "moe").

I think it is good enough to earn:

Richard's Pick: Best Comedy of October 2007 Season (Early Impression)

Though I awarded it best comedy, by the end of the series, it may also become the best drama or best tragedy, or maybe even all.