[Ended] Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity has Declined): LOL

Though this too is like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya where the broadcast order does not follow the chronological order, it did so in a bit more deceiving fashion--while arcs are out of order, they didn't break the arc and insert some other random episode in the middle as Haruhi did where it blatantly made you aware that the episode orders are not correct. Here it merely rearranged it in a lot less noticeable way but if you have paid attentions to the details, you'd totally notice some referencing inconsistencies. Here is a list of key points that I managed to pick off:

• Arc 1 (ep 1-2): Short hair, immediately after arc 3.
• Arc 2 (ep 3-4): "They are STILL working on the human monument project?", chronologically after arc 3, but with long hair, so it would be after arc 1.
• Arc 3 (ep 5-6): Assistant present, chronologically after arc 4.
• Arc 4 (ep 7-8): First meeting of assistant.
• Arc 5 (ep 9): Um...where does this one go...it looks like a finale of some sort...
• Arc 6 (ep 10): Just graduated, no assistant, immediately after arc 7 but before arc 4.
• Arc 7 (ep 11-12): School, the beginning of everything.

It's basically a logical puzzle where you use clues to try to arrange a correct chronological order. With those clues given, there are some definitive orders can be arranged with exception of episode 9:

11-12-10-7-8-*-5-6-1-2-*-3-4-*

Since there's no clue given for episode 9, as far as I can tell, it really could go on any one of those (*) spots. But since episode 9 looked like a finale, I'd say for now I'd just put it in the end, unless someone could tell me a reason it should go elsewhere. So my final conclusion on the chronological order would be:

11-12-10-7-8-5-6-1-2-3-4-9

Put technical stuff aside, this anime is by far one of the smartest anime I've seen in making hilariously humorous yet direct-to-the-point remarks about the problems that exist in today's society. In addition, it found the most hilarious and creative way I've seen anywhere dealing with time paradox heads on: the time paradog. It is by far the best line I've heard from this anime all season, not the part when the assistant named it, rather, the explanation grandfather gave right afterwards in the background: the universe would produce time paradogs in place of time paradox whenever time paradox is about to occur, which in turn, would prevent time paradox ever from occurring--you'll just end up with a bunch of time paradogs lying around. Brilliant!!

One reason it can afford to make the crude direct-to-the-point criticisms of today's society is the usage of the so called fairy, the smartest creatures in the world who aren't capable of producing sweets and other stuff they like. In my personal opinion, both of them represents human, but at different level: fairies in the story represents today's society at a macro level whereas humans in the story represents today's society at a micro level. So depending on the issues being address, they would use either human or the fairies, because certain issues exist only in micro level and others are better made example at a macro level. 

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 97 (Hilariously over dramatized)

Comedy: 98 (Plain hilarious)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 93 (Strange, flat, colorful, different)

Sound/Music: 95 (Catchy)

Character: 97 (Fun)

Plot: 94 (Cleverly out of order)

Ending: 97 (Very well)

Re-watch value: 80 - Still hilarious, and you can try to pick up more clues on the chronological ordering

Overall: 97 - Blunt and Funny

Recommendation: It's pretty save to say that no other short season series from the summer season could beat this in terms of ... anything. So go pick it up and watch it if you still haven't done so, because it is

Anime of the season for Summer 2012 Season

Moyashimon Returns: Still Amusing, Still No Closure

Moyashimon is one of those series that you try to convince your friends to watch it, but when they ask you what's so great about it, you really couldn't think of exactly why. Come to think of it, it's not that there's a single exceptional element, it's the sum of all that is in this anime made it great. Light and somewhat whacky comedy packed with lots, I mean lots, of knowledge about fermentation. In spirit, it feels very much like Nodame Cantabile series.

Without know the story of the first season, you'd probably be mostly lost. If you haven't seen the original series, I'd highly recommend you to watch the first season before even start this one.

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 89 (Whackily dramatic)

Comedy: 94 (Whacky)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 86 (Weird)

Sound/Music: 89 (Like the music)

Character: 90 (Rather intriguing)

Plot: 83 (Somewhat chaotic)

Ending: -- (To Be Continued)

Re-watch value: 60 - Not really, but might still be amusing

Overall: 88 - StillAmusing

Recommendation: If you have seen and liked first season, you probably want to see what's happening next, since the original series had a somewhat weak ending (not that this one had a much better one...)

[Ended] Natsuyuki Rendezvous: Love Beyond the Boundry of Life and Death

Having seen so many romance animes that are based on immature feeling of love between school boys and girls who are more or less experiencing for the first time in their life, it is quite refreshing to see a love story about grownups like Natsuyuki Rendezvous.

While the main focus is how people deal with their emotions towards the loved ones, what it doesn't have, is the series of misunderstandings that caused by timidness and shyness of characters as we see so often from teenager romance animes that we have all grown to hate (well, not exactly, but close enough), which by the way has been one of the biggest annoyances I have against them. But even if the story is about grown-ups, it really wouldn't make much of a difference if the characters aren't mature. Fortunately, as I see it, the level of characters' maturity does match their age--it is a grown-ups' story about grown-ups' issues. 

Though there really isn't much in common, the pacing and overall feel reminds me much of Ristorante Paradiso which in my opinion is another strangely intriguing story of love.

One thing I feared, before I saw the end of it,  is that it would not bring anything to closure in the end. Now I can can assure you, not only it gives you the closure you expect, but also a lot more.

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 92 (Dramatic)

Comedy: 90 (Some nice and interesting moments)

Action: N/A

Art/Animation: 93 (Beautiful scenes)

Sound/Music: 91 (Lovely music)

Character: 93 (Mature)

Plot: 93 (Strange but good)

Ending: 94 (Complete closure)

Re-watch value: 70 - Might still be moving

Overall: 92 - Romance for the Grown-ups

Recommendation: The bottom line is that if you're looking for the typical romance of people that just coming into puberty, they you probably wouldn't be too interested about this. Otherwise, it's a very good story of love where both heart wrenching and sudden bursts of laughter moments exists. And this earns my

Romance Anime of the Season for Summer 2012 Season

award.

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate: The Darker Side

Currently finished: Episode 9

At first, it seems to be "just-another-harem-anime". However, as the plot progresses, it seems there's a much darker side of the story than we originally thought. We got a glimpse of the darker side of the story at the very beginning of episode one, but ever since it's been all happy go lucky. Lately, however, the dark side of the story seems to start to resurface.

At this point, this starts to remind me of an old classic, Shuffle!, which in my opinion remains to be the best harem anime ever made, too, it featured some pretty dark and twisted subplots. If that's any indicator, I think Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate is going to be at least semi-decent in the end. 

Humanity has Declined: Time Paradog, LOL

LOL, Time Paradog...moving on...

p.s. If you still haven't started watching this, you are missing out a lot on one of the most brilliant animes of the year.

Oda Nobuna no Yabou: the Better Adaptation

Currently finished: Episode 6

Honestly, after a string of bad sengoku transformed animes such as Sengoku Collection, Samurai Girls, I almost scratched Oda Nobuna no Yabou off my list before I watched the first episode. Fortunately, I decided to gave it a try, and I have to say I'm glad I did.

While it's nowhere near the caliber of Sengoku Basara (I don't believe any sengoku adaptation could top Basara), it is far better than any other sengoku based animes I've seen lately. While it has its fair share of silliness, its plot remains mostly on the serious side and it's rather well built. While I can't predict what it would eventually become, I'd say at least it's a worth a while anime up to this point. So you're you're dismissing it on the basis of "female transformation of Sengoku story is bad", then I'd recommend you give it a try. You may end up liking it.

Hyouka: the (Somewhat) Lighthearted Detective Story

Currently finished: Episode 17

The Olympic delay is finally over, now I'm back full in anime mode. Hyouka is among the first couple on my list. Having seen a recent surge of the detective animes, it's hard to image there'll be another anime that could beat GOSICK or Kamisama no Memochou or UN-GO from last year. But Hyouka has proven me wrong.

The biggest difference between Hyouka and conventional detective anime, is that conventional detective anime, including those mentioned above, usually either extremely dark and heavy, or just out right silly (like Lupin the Third). It's hard to actually find a detective series that is outside those two extremes because by nature detective animes are dark and twisted, and usually brutal silliness is the only thing that can pull it out of that. Hyouka on the other hand, struck nearly perfect balance to not let the series fall too dark, yet be able to maintain a suppressed feel when it needs to be. This so far has been an exceptional series. If you are not watching it, I would highly recommend to start watching.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous: Love Story of the Grown Ups

Currently finished: Episode 4

While my interest level for my other top 5 seeds has been on a steady drop, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is about the only one that is on a rapid climb. In a way, this feels very much like the grown up version of Ano Hana: it has the very similar slow paced plot with quick mood swings, though the ghost in this story is playing a rather drastically different role. Also, since it's the love story between adults, it doesn't have the typical immature teenager's problem we've become so familiar with in high school love dramas.

While it's still a bit too early to judge what will eventually become of this, but if I'm to re-do my season's top 5 seeds now, this would most likely occupy the No.1 spot instead of the No.5 spot I gave it earlier. Being a bitter sweet story about love and the deceased most definitely have helped since I am a huge fan of sad stories, especially love tragedies.

p.s. Oddly enough, I find short-haired Rokka rather attractive, more so than she was when she had longer hair. Anybody else feel the same?

Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse: the Logic Behind the Alien Invasion

Currently finished: Episode 3

Once upon a time, like everybody else, I too enjoyed animes with big mechas for their metal-on-metal actions. However, after having seen more or less every single animes from last 10 years (in a literal sense, I'm quite serious), I'm starting to notice that pretty much all mecha animes since the late 90's are all just beating on the same dead horse (with few exceptions here and there) both action and plot-wise. So instead of watching the variants of the same fights I've seen so many times, I start to pay more attention to the details and logical consistencies of the stories themselves. That is when I noticed that majority of mecha animes place so much emphasis on actions, they almost always leave everything else unpolished. This, is where my often-unfavorable-biased opinions towards mecha anime come from. Because while it's exciting to watch, blow away the dust storm stirred up from the metal-on-metal actions (which I have nothing against, I too enjoy a good Michael Bay movie once a while), you are left with many logical inconsistencies underneath.

Let me just dissect Muv-Luv real quick to show you what I see:

First, the main villains of the story are those giant alien creatures called BETA who are trying to invade earth. One major pitfall for stories of this kind is that it's really hard for me to image aliens with highly advanced technology that is capable of interplanetary travel who can invade earth with such ease would be such an unrefined savage specie that they wouldn't just send some automated armament to wipe out humankind. Even if you want to argue such technologies are difficult to come by, these aliens seems to be completely naked aside from their natural armor like shells. You'd think if they're technologically advanced enough to invade earth, they'd at least have some sort of armor to protect their infantries' lives, or, you know what, better mecha to fight us, right? Can you image if we human somehow decide to invade an alien planet, all the infantries we're sending to the battle field are butt naked? You wouldn't even do that if you want to invade a rat's nest, let alone rats in the nest are swarms equipped with metal exoskeletons which are capable of firing high velocity projectiles, which I think that's what the BETAs would see us as, LOL. So why would BETAs do that here?!

Second, outside basic exoskeleton, mecha hardly seem to be an efficient equipment for combat--if that's the case, I'm sure the top military research nowadays would all be circled around mecha development research instead of these so called armored viechles, helicoptors, jet fighters, etc. right? Well, of course unless the "mecha physics phenomenon ", where somehow a pilot could make the macha push harder or go faster by simply pushing harder on the lever or stepping harder on the pedal even though the mecha has already previously reached its physical limit, is an undeniable fact in all mecha universe.

Lastly, what's the point of the "TopGun" type pilot training when the enemy isn't another country with comparable mecha technology? Wouldn't it be better to have combat training scenarios where your simulated enemy behaves more like your real enemy instead of your wing man who's going to fight along side with you?

I'm sure by now I have angered some mecha loving or Muv-Luv loving fans out there. If you like to defend your beloved genre with some intelligent comments, I would converse with you in the comment area and would even agree with you if you can bring valid points to the table. But if you have nothing intelligent to say, then don't bother commenting, I'll just ignore and delete them as quickly as you post them.

[Poll] Evil Cat's Top 5 for Summer 2012 Season

Now the last of this new season is out, let's take a look at the best this season has to offer, shall we. While this season seems to be somewhat above average, it lacks a stellar crown jewel among all these better-than-mediocre anime. But again, extraordinary anime may not show itself immediately, as we've seen in the past like Madoka Magica, Ano Hana, and Mawaru Penguindrum. So, don't weigh this initial opinion too much on what the best of season could be. So, I'll start calling them "seed" from here on out.

No. 5 seed: Natsuyuki Rendezvous

There isn't anything special, but I have a good feeling about it. It has a very similar vibe to Ristorante Paradiso which I was quite fond of. I think this has potential to become something good.

No. 4 seed: Kyokai Senjou no Horizon II (Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere II)

Too bad there aren't that many people appreciate this series. While it's a bit difficult to wrap you head around, the first season is an epic story that is based on a rather unconventional fantasy world building process. Even though nothing seemed to make any sense on the surface, if you are willing to let go of your common sense a bit and accept those "magic" thing as something normal in its realm, then the story actually is very interesting. Since it's a continuation of the first series, you do have to watch the first series to understand this one. If you've seen the first series once and didn't quite get it, I would highly recommend you to run through it again, because the information revealed later in that series would make the earlier episode make more sense. In fact, I just watched the entire first series and it helped me tremendously in understanding the characters because first time through it's kind of difficult to digest the setting and characters at the same time.

 

No. 3 seed: Moyashimon Returns
One of my favorite series is making an return. Anybody who have seen the first series would know this series is outrageously funny yet highly knowledgeable at the same time. This sequel, from what I've seen, is continuing to build upon its success. I think this has potential.

No. 2 seed: Sword art Online

As far as production quality goes, this is definitely the best amongst all summer season new releases. The story is interesting. Even though it looks like another overused .hack clone, it's actually fundamentally different. In fact, because the setting is what it is, it feels more like a mix blend of Scifi and Fantasy.

No. 1 seed: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Human has Declined)
You may disagree, but I think this series is just made of pure brilliance. It's using a fallen human society to dissect today's world's problem one at a time. Because of the background setting, with a much simplified human society, it's able to pin one problem at a time to fully and exaggeratedly exploit the issue in hand. This, in my opinion is the best series of this season at the moment.


Oh and in case you haven't noticed, the poll for this month's new series is open on the right side. Put in your votes for your top 5 series of the season.

[New Summer 2012] Ebiten

Japanese title: えびてん 公立海老栖川高校天悶部
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/14073/Ebiten:_Kouritsu_Ebisugawa_Koukou_Tenmonbu
Download: available through http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Someone is looking to join the astronomy club, but instead, she ended up in an otaku club whose name sounds very much like astronomy club...  
 
First impression score: 81 - Parities of Saint Seiya

Personal comments: If you've never seen or read about Saint Seiya, then you'd probably miss 90% of the joke in this opening episode. Pretty much the entire episode is jokes that relates to Saint Seiya. In my opinion, it's rather hilarious. But again, I pretty much grew up on Saint Seiya manga, and I can more or less relate everything they're poking fun of in this anime. So the bottom line is, if you've seen or read Saint Seiya, this would be a great piece to get some laughs out of. If you haven't seen or read Saint Seiya, well, I'd say go ahead skip it, 'cause you'd miss just about all the jokes.

[New Summer 2012] Chouyaku Hyakuninisshu: Uta Koi

Japanese title: 超訳百人一首 うた恋い。
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/13349/Chouyaku_Hyakuninisshu:_Uta_Koi.
Download: available through http://nyaa.eu/
Genres: Drama / History / Poem
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: It seems to be an anime about the stories behind the 100 poems.  
 
First impression score: 83 - Short Stories

Personal comments: Honestly, I was not looking forward to this story at all as I'm really not interested in finding the source of those poems. However, they way they compiled the stories is rather interesting, which is making me wanting to keep following it for a bit longer.