2011 Winter/Spring Anime Final Impression

Deadman Wonderland

There's no wonderland for deadman, just graveyard... This is a very good anime with extremely dark settings and heavily censored disturbing/bloody massacre/torture scenes since lots of prisoners including loli were literally chopped into pieces (Don't recommend to watch this anime while eating). But ironically Edward Elric Ganta the protagonist continues to make new friends inside the prison and still has some hope to fight for his life in the fail prison break attempt. Well, the antagonist of the season, Genkaku, is so weak without his secret weapon during the final battle or maybe Ganta just improves too rapidly.... Anyway, there're still lots of material for another season as promoter Tamaki is properly untouched at all and the introduction of mysterious mockingbird. But somehow I doubt Deadman Wonderland will ever have a happy ending....

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san

Whether Beelzebub's grimoire is taken or not, he will die anyway... It's short, dirty and bloody yet extremely funny. Nobody including the humans is normal in this anime. Demons like sexual harasser dog or shit eating penguin are summoned and contracted to work for a detective and angels especially the god look ridiculous and are bound by some stupid rules in which they're indifferent to the injustice in the world but just concentrate on locating grimoires... The CV cast is incredible and their performance make this anime extremely hilarious.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai

Menma's grudge wish is so simple... to make Jintan cry before-_-b As a surprise hit anime of last season, I'm not touched by the final goodbye scene at all even though everyone cries for the sake of crying. In fact, I even doubt if they really see Menma or they just pretend seeing her so she can disappear peacefully. I'm very disappointed by the pace of the anime as it wastes so much time (six or seven episodes) in the beginning when Jinta the protagonist tries to convince his childhood friends (self-proclaimed Super Peace Busters) what he experiences and Menma could have just easily interacts with others earlier to make them believe him! Then in the finale, it quickly reveals the dark side of somebody and wraps up in one night that the characters just realize they're wrong and should not be selfish, blah blah blah... Then, they just regroup and work together to make Menma's wish come true. To me, Menma's revelation as a spirit is really the lowest point in this anime... just too lame and common... could have been something more interesting like Jinta's own imagination, otaku gone crazy or whatsoever... This triangular love x N and ghost story would have been good enough for OVA or movie but it's dragged too long and seems like a big mess just like its kick-ass meaningless long name. A-1 is sadly become another J.C. Staff...

Moshidora

A more educational/boring anime involving another regular business curriculum... It only happens in literature that one player could commit three errors in one game then has the game winning hit in the championship game... not to mention that the team's formal manager dies and the players pretty much spend the entire night crying and grieving without much rest.... Their no-ball-no-sacrifice-bunt strategy probably sounds stupid but works well in Japanese high school baseball since they champion complete games and must have no relief pitchers... Anyway, considering its quick 10-episode run in two weeks, it's a ok quality anime with enough drama.

GOSICK

Grey-haired Victorique is still very moe even though I still have no idea what the title, Gosick, is about... Although the detective aspect of the story is kind of weak in the anime, it does a OK job as they resolve mysteries after mysteries from personal vengeance like proving her mother Cordelia's innocence to national secret such as the truth of previous queen's death, etc. However, the pace of the story is quite awful in the beginning and final arcs since things seem to rush to start prematurely and end unexpectedly. Most important characters, including Cordelia, the twin Brian Roscoe and the antagonist Marquis die in the second to last episode and then everything is fast forwarded to the end of the war. Anyway, it's good to see Victorique and Kazuya back together in the final episode as a happy conclusion of their eventful adventure.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Ami, you're still very hot in your forties even though you act crazier than you're in Toradora... There are lots of weird female characters in Makoto's haren like Erio the futon girl, Maekawa the cosplayer, Meme the aunt, the astronaut/alien, etc... only Ryushi acts like a normal high school girl. Although its quality is good and consistent throughout the season , I don't really remember anything particular interesting from the anime besides it awesome OPEDS, and it's obviously not as denpa and funny as Shaft's previous work, Arakawa Under the Bridge.

Maria Holic Alive

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei IV... I don't think I enjoy this season as much as I did in the first season... Kanako, the so-called protagonist, mostly disappears/faints/doesn't speak/becomes a yuri pig/whatever... Plots are absurd most of the time as usual but to have a birthday kiss in the end by Mariya is a curse disguised as a blessing. Kanako, good luck on finding your true love before you bleed to death accidentally yet inevitably but if there's ever a third season after your tragic death, could it please focus more on your sister's yuri love with Mariya...

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai II

Kaminomi saves its best stuff in the finale and I just love its Key and Gundam parodies. It's a good continuation of season one as it further explains its setting and adds some sense of seriousness for Keima to violate kiss the girls to catch the runaway spirits. Besides its same-formula-different-girls plots, the audience do see some growth in the protagonist as he's able to view games and real world differently, and to value things he doesn't appreciate before. It's an ok entertainment but I'm no sure if I wanna see more of it in the future.

C

In the end, Japan dodges the impact of C when Yen becomes worthless and the financial district is destroyed. However, Japan uses RMB USD as the legal tender as the hell bank notes disappear... Watching C is like studying economics as the audience learn economics idioms like overheated economy, mergers & acquisitions, cannibalization,etc could be some cool attacks... However, there are too many mysteries left unexplained such as Mashu's identities, her un-asset-like behavior, flashback of Kimimaro's father, why is Kimimaro chosen and given the black card? what's C? And why Masakaki looks like he's from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Anyway, C is an interesting theory to explain Japan currently economical situation and maybe the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami is also a impact of C?

Hidan no Aria

What's the name of the protagonist again? Yuji? Sato? Ryuji? Whatever... Holmes, Lupin, Joan of Arc, Vlad/Dracula, etc... This anime surely has all the big names but the bad story, unrealistic settings and ridiculous physics really make this anime a joke... like Riko's uniform as parachute? Characters have nine lives and keep jumping off from buildings or helicopters harmlessly? Lastly, if bullets won't kill people because of the uniform/armor, why don't they just aim for the head? In the end, Aria is just another typical but rather unimpressed tsundere character by Rie Kugimiya: Shana, Louise, Nagi, Taiga, etc...

Hen Zemi

This anime is just a total waste of time and fortunately it only lasts less than thirteen minutes per episode. I'm not even a fan of Kana Hanazawa so why the hell why I keep watching it...