[Ended] Bakemonogatari: Hum..

Bakemonogatari is quite a brilliant anime. It mixes ghost/monster elements similar to those found in Mushishi and Mokke, with sarcasm and words play like those in Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, then add in some strange yet intriguing visual effects like those found in Ef and Mononoke. The result? One strangely amusing anime.

Having said all that, however, I wasn't quite satisfied with how the story ended. Granted it's a proper ending, it just feels somewhat out of place. I guess you could say this is a better way to wrap up this story than simply another event.

Supposedly, the anime goes on for three more episodes. But only the first 12 would be broadcasted. Episode 13-15 are to be streamed on their web site. I'm a bit curious what they're going to do with the next three episodes after ending in 12 like that already.

If you haven't read my previous posts about this anime, I have given it the

Anime of the Season for July 2009 Season

award.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 95 (Excellent)

Comedy: 97 (Brilliant)

Action: 91 (Interesting)

Art/Animation: 95 (Strangely amusing)

Sound/Music: 90 (Good music)

Character: 98 (Very interesting characters)

Plot: 93 (Cleverly written)

Ending: 90 (Satisfactory)

Re-watch value: 80 (Still somewhat amusing)

Overall: 95 - Anime of the Season

Recommendation: No doubt this is something that should be on your must-watch list.

[Ended] CANAAN: Another Day

After finishing the entire story of CANAAN, I have to say I'm not as satisfied as I thought I would be at the beginning of the series.

The story is somewhat unique and interesting. However, somewhere along the way, the anime itself start to focus too much on the story and it quit being entertaining. True, the story is a significant part of an anime, but they should never forget that another important element of anime is to provide entertainments. Fortunately, only several episodes in the middle suffers the problem. As a whole, this is still quite an exceptional anime.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 90 (Pretty good)

Comedy: 86 (Interesting)

Action: 91 (Jumping, flying, etc.)

Art/Animation: 90 (Very good)

Sound/Music: 86 (Great Music)

Character: 93 (Well designed)

Plot: 86 (Very insteresting)

Ending: 80 (Open ended)

Re-watch value: 60 (Not really necessary)

Overall: 88 - Still Somewhat Exceptional

Recommendation: I have to say, I've seen better stories by Type-Moon. But even being sub-standard for them, this is still a very good anime. I would put it at the end of the "must-watch" list.

[Ended] Valkyria Chronicles: For Love and For Peace

Can I say that I totally predicted the ending once I saw what Alicia had turn into a while back? Because from that point on, everything in this story follows a very standard end story pattern.

The story of Valkyria Chronicles is somewhat exciting and moving. It was especially satisfying for me because they did not hesitate in killing major characters, important major characters.

However, the story itself is actually quite formulaic. I guess since it's an adaptation from the game, the anime itself can't really be blamed for it, unless they changed the story greatly from the game to the anime.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 83 (Not bad)

Comedy: 87 (Pretty good for what it had)

Action: 86 (Firing rifles...)

Art/Animation: 80 (Typical)

Sound/Music: 86 (Average)

Character: 85 (Interesting)

Plot: 86 (Somewhat formulaic)

Ending: 80 (Predictable)

Re-watch value: 60 (Not really necessary)

Overall: 84 - Standard well executed formulaic anime

Recommendation: It's a good anime, but it's a bit short from a great anime. If you've finished all the "must-watches", this would be a good one to watch next.

[Ended] Pandora Hearts: Incomplete

No, not again!!!

You know what, I'm declaring this month the month of sucky anime endings.

Following 07-Ghost and Phantom, Pandora Hearts continues on to become the next victim of bad endings. To be honest, I kind of saw it coming about two thirds of way through, because the setting of the story is way too massive and complicated to finish within the 25 episode limit.

However, despite that incomplete ending, I think this is a very well made series and I enjoyed watching it quite a bit. It has some slow moments, but like I said in the earlier posts, it's mostly due to the level of complexity of the story, not bad directing or screen writing.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 85 (Very much)

Comedy: 90 (Pretty good for what it had)

Action: 86 (Some are little cheesy, but most are good)

Art/Animation: 90 (Very nice)

Sound/Music: 93 (Love the theme song and BGM)

Character: 88 (Flawed, but interesting)

Plot: 88 (Too ambitious)

Ending: 70 (Incomplete)

Re-watch value: 60 (Not really necessary)

Overall: 88 - Hope there's a second season

Recommendation: Incomplete anime like this may annoying many people. But overall, this is a quite brilliant story.

[Ended] Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~: Unexplained

Is it just me or so many animes finishing this month has unexplained ending events?! I was fine with how they ended this series up till the point the carriage rolled by. What the hell happened?! I hate ending like that, especially when it's obvious that it is highly unlikely to build a sequel upon that.

While the ending is a bit irritating, overall, I think it's quite an interesting story. Although certain part of the story is just too far-fetched to be true, the story as a whole kept itself in a semi-believable realm. Because certain part of the story is just too slow moving, you would need some patience to be able to stay with its pace.

Oh, one more thing, I don't think certain person in this series couldn't have grown that much in only two years.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 91 (All over the place)

Comedy: N/A

Action: 82 (There are good ones, there are cheesy ones)

Art/Animation: 90 (Very nice)

Sound/Music: 88 (Nice BGM)

Character: 85 (Depth, but somewhat unrealistic)

Plot: 88 (Interesting)

Ending: 71 (Unexplained)

Re-watch value: 60 (Too slow to watch all over again)

Overall: 89 - I wish they had explained the ending...

Recommendation: Aside from the unexplained ending, slightly far-fetched human ability, this is a relatively good series. So if the above two flaws don't bother you much, you ought to give this one a try.

[Ended] Spice and Wolf II: Continue on with the Greatness

Spice and Wold II is quite an exceptional anime. Many people would even consider it to be better than the original series. In a sense, it is. However, what the first series brought us that the second series couldn't bring is the new and refreshing feeling of an unique new anime that we've never seen before. And that was one of the major elements made the original series so great in the first place.

Having said all that, I still think this is still one great anime series. It kept all the right things from the first series, it also added some more interesting elements. Although the plot is mostly credited to the book, the execution and screen play of the anime is still quite exceptional.

One thing I wasn't quite fond of is the ending. In my opinion, it's a bit too abrupt.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 91 (All about dramas)

Comedy: 88 (Pretty good for what it has)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 96 (Lovely)

Sound/Music: 85 (I like the first series much better)

Character: 94 (Great depth in character development)

Plot: 88 (Somewhat moving)

Ending: 80 (Bit too abrupt)

Re-watch value: 70 (Loses the surprise factor, but would still be interesting)

Overall: 90 - Continue on with the Greatness

Recommendation: If you liked the first series, you're in for a treat. This second series has most goodness of the first series plus something more.

[Ended] Sora no Manimani: Typical

This is one of those very typical slice of life high school romantic drama comedy, nothing special, nothing exciting. I don't know why I just kept watching it.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 78 (Typical)

Comedy: 80 (Typical)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 75 (Typical)

Sound/Music: 80 (Average)

Character: 77 (Typical)

Plot: 78 (Typical)

Ending: 73 (Typical)

Re-watch value: 30 (Maybe to see the pretty art and bouncy boobs?)

Overall: 76 - Generic

Recommendation: Unless you've never seen a generic anime, my recommendation woud be "no".

[Ended] 07-Ghost: Ha?!!!!

Are you kidding me?! What kind of crappy ending is that?!!! No resolution, no explanation, this is an epic fail ending. This ought to be the worst ending I've seen lately. Literally, it left everything, I mean everything hanging. They either have already planned for a sequel or this anime is just a huge campaign for boosting its manga sale. Either way, this ending blows.

There has been multiple times that I almost dropped this series due to the slow moving plot. However, it's like it knows where my limit is, and every time I got fed up with it, it gives me a little more "bait" to lure me to stay with it for just a little longer. Now I really wish I had dropped it.

There isn't an ending, but there is a fight that they probably wanted to be the "final battle". In my opinion, it's very typical "unlimited power-up" and "boss vs boss" style battle. And guess what? They ended battle just as bad as they ended the series. So this anime is really just a series of premature endings. Terrible.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 83 (Slow feeding)

Comedy: N/A

Action: 90 (Not too bad)

Art/Animation: 88 (Very interesting chibi style)

Sound/Music: 88 (Nice music)

Character: 85 (Slowly developed)

Plot: 81 (Somewhat interesting)

Ending: 50 (FAIL!)

Re-watch value: 40 (To be disappointed again?! Never)

Overall: 71 - The Ending Killed It...

Recommendation: With a crappy ending like this, I wouldn't recommend this to anybody. However, if you intend to read the manga anyway, this may be a good supplement for your manga reading.

[Ended] Geijutsuka Art Design Class: Fun and Educational

This is one unique anime about art design. It mixes random fun short stories with some art knowledge. It's like a complete copy of Lucky Star but with art design instead of pop culture as the general background. It is indeed a very intriguing anime.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 88 (Random)

Comedy: 90 (Quite fun)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 90 (Very interesting chibi style)

Sound/Music: 85 (Also pretty interesting)

Character: 88 (Unique)

Plot: N/A

Ending: N/A

Re-watch value: N/A

Overall: 89 - Very interesting four-panel style anime

Recommendation: Generally, four-panel style anime doesn't have much of a plot nor is anything exciting. But it usually tend to reflect the current pop culture that you can refer to. Depending on how many anime are on your plate, you may make a good addition to your list.

[Preview] October 2009 Anime Season Preview

It's a little late, but it's better than never. Here is the preview of October 2009 new anime season. Maybe it's the global economic downturn, this October season is significantly smaller than usual. On top of that, I'm not seeing many exciting new animes either. Oh, well, we'll see how it is when they're out.



Asura Cryin' 2
http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/asura/

Continuation of the first series.

Forecast: If you have seen the first series, you would want to see this since the first one didn't really end at all.



Darkder than Black Ryusei no Gemini
http://www.d-black.net/

Oh the long awaited Darker Than Black sequel.

Forecast: It's Darker Than Black, what do you think?


Fairy Tail
http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/fairytail/

Story about a kid who is part of the greatest mage guild, Fairy Tail.

Forecast: Standard fantasy story, could be interesting...


Kaidan Restaurant
http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/kaidan_restaurant/

A kid's anime about a "thriller restaurant".

Forecast: Kid's anime...


Kimi ni Todoke
http://myanimelist.net/anime/6045/Kimi_ni_Todoke

Story of a shy and unpopular girl and a popular guy. Typical shoujo story.

Forecast: Shoujo anime is always unpredictable...


Kobato
http://www.kobato.tv/top.html

A girl who goes around gather people's suffering into a bottle.

Forecast: Sounds somewhat like Natsume Yuujinchou, could be very moving...



Kotatsu Neko

A story about two cats and their owner. Couldn't find much info on the Internet.

Forecast: Not enough intell, can't tell...



Kuchu Buranko
http://www.kuchu-buranko.com/

Story about a psychiatrist, whose behavior is quite strange.

Forecast: It looks...trippy


Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza
http://www.nogizaka-haruka.com/

The second season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. Although I wasn't too impressed with the firest season, it's still an above average anime.

Forecast: Probably just another above average anime...


Queen's Blade: Gyokuza no Tsugumono
http://queensblade.tv/

Did you ever think that there could be no broadcast anime that is worse than Queen's Blade in terms of lewd content? Well, you're wrong. Just go to the new Queen's Blade's website and take a look at the preview of the new series. You will be amused.

Forecast: Ahhhhhhhh......


Sasamekikoto
http://www.sasameki.com/

Another high school yuri story. Is it just me or the art style looks extremely like Aoi Hana?

Forecast: I'd give it an episode or two...


Seiken no Blacksmith
http://www.blasmi.com/

Fantasy story about someone trying to find a blacksmith to fix his legendary sword.

Forecast: Might be good...


Seitokai no Ichizon
http://anime.webnt.jp/seitokai/index.html

I've read a little bit the manga it's based on. It's about a student council in high school. The art style in the anime makes the character look more childish than the manga.

Forecast: Looks cute, we'll see...


Shin Koihime Musou
http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/koihime/

Another Koihime Musou anime, let's see how bad this one gets...

Forecast: Very interested to see how much more destruction they can do to The Romance of Three Kingdoms.



Sora no Otoshimono
http://anime.webnt.jp/soraoto/

Some guy been dreaming a girl asking for help. One day, some strange anime fell out of the sky and his life is forever changed.

Forecast: Totally not sure...


Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra
http://www.bantorra.com/

All I can find is that it's a story about wars fought over library.

Forecast: Unknown...



Tegamibachi
http://www.tegamibachi.com/

Story about a government delivery boy?!

Forecast: Mediocre at best, the art work looks somewhat strange...


Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
http://www.project-railgun.net/index.html

Spin-off of To Aru Majutsu no Index, which focuses on the story of the railgun girl.

Forecast: Could be good, but I wouldn't count on it consider how disappointed I was with Index...

[Ended] Princess Lover: Love, Courage, and Friendship

I ranted on for quite a bit in the October top 5 post, so I'm not going to repeat all that again here.

This is a story about love, courage, and friendship (find me a harem anime that isn't). Since I've talked down so much about it previously, this time I'd like to praise the somewhat unique style and beautiful art work of this series. Though the plot still suffers shortfalls that most harem animes do, and it's just as formulaic as ever, I would agree this is very well made in terms of quality. That's as much praise as it'll ever get from me.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 81 (Ups and downs)

Comedy: 80 (Not bad for what it has)

Action: 80 (Somewhat cheesy)

Art/Animation: 93 (Very pretty)

Sound/Music: 85 (Average)

Character: 81 (Standard harem characters)

Plot: 78 (Standard harem plot)

Ending: 73 (Highly preditable)

Re-watch value: 60 (Maybe to see the pretty art and bouncy boobs?)

Overall: 83 - Not bad for a harem anime

Recommendation: If you know what to expect out of a harem anime, you'd be pretty satisfied with this. In terms of harem anime, this is pretty good.

[Ended] Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: Sentimental

I have to say, judging from the first two thirds of the story, I never thought it would have an ending like this. Being a person who likes surprises, specially bad ones, I quite enjoyed the story. (I guess "enjoy" isn't quite the right word here since nothing in this series is joyful)

The story follows the events of three people that happened to be together when disasters happened. The events around them in turn reflected the bigger picture about how society as a whole were reacting to a huge natural disaster like that.

This story really doesn't have an ending. Or you may call it has a "soft" ending. Stories like this really aren't meant to have a hard ending like most other stories. So I wouldn't hold it against it.

Final scoreboard:

Drama: 87 (Somewhat dramatic)

Comedy: N/A

Action: 81 (Some, not it's focus)

Art/Animation: 80 (Nothing special)

Sound/Music: 86 (Nothing too special)

Character: 89 (Depth)

Plot: 90 (What you would expect out of a disaster story)

Ending: 90 ("Soft" ending)

Re-watch value: 60 (Loses the surprise factor, but I think it's still somewhat moving)

Overall: 88 - Pretty good for a disaster story

Recommendation: I wouldn't tag this one as a "must watch" anime. But if you just want an escape from the craziness of what a normal anime is, this is a quite refreshing story of lives of normal people.