[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.