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...

Delayed 2010 Fall/2011 Winter Anime Final Impression

Hourou Musuko

Serious discussion on sensitive issues like transsexuality, gender identity, puberty, etc in which such topics would often be treated as comedy material in may other animes. The protagonist, Nitori, though looks effeminate and weak, has his brave/silly moment when he discloses his secret and crossdresses in sailor uniform at school... and he has this courage because of the unconditional support from his friends. The anime, however, does have some timing issue as it starts slowly in the middle of a weird ex-love triangle and jumps through time as it progresses. Besides that, this anime is very good: Unique artwork; great BGM; even CVs who just make their debut are doing their jobs, too! Some might have been turned off but Hourou Musuko is definitely one of a few good animes this season.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Caption: Homura: "I don't want just the ribbon but your panty..." "I'll be god!"... what a simple yet powerful wish that changes everything like ending Homura's hopeless loop and reversing other magical girls/witches miserable lives... The audience have waited a long time for this "as long as you remember her, you are not alone" bad ending... Just dunno Madoka's losing effort including sacrificing her own life protecting this world is worth it at all since after all, the world will be destroyed anyway but merely in a differently way and only Homura will remember her and dies fighting in the end. Well, the audience will surely always remember from this anime two of the greatest things in the history of anime ever: the yuri love between Madoka and Homura, and Kyubey's creepiest smile of all time.

Mitsudomoe Zoryochu!

An eight-episode season is too way short. It becomes more like Minami-ke after the violence and dirty jokes are tuned down and taken away. Surprisingly, few characters are introduced in this season except the 29-year-old teacher and the sweet potato salesman while some characters like the three hardcore admirers suddenly have an increasing presence. Even though the OVA from the first season is funnier and the jokes are repetitive focusing on Futaba's weight, etc, I still look forward to a third season and more of this craziness!

LEVEL E

OMG... who could imagine the stupid/evil prince will have a wedding ending in this anime... I watched the manga a long time ago but I don't remember the plots anyway. This animation adaption may be boring at first but it's really funny during the baka sentai part. But then the short stories are kind of breaking up towards the end. Great CV performance especially Takehito Koyasu!

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?

Kore wa comedy desu ka? Not very funny after the first episode and the final boss battle/maid orchestra just leaves me speechless... Then it's followed by the absolutely useless OVA in which not only does Yuu speak, she actually sings... There're lots of memorable scenes between Yuu and the protagonist in such a short period of time and this makes others characters forgettable especially Haruna... Maybe the producers should just focus of Yuu and ignore the stupid services to make the story more touching. In the end, we should really salute the protagonist who keeps risking his life and dying countless times to build this harem with so many different female creatures...

Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season

It takes the couple one season to hold hands and another season to hug so I guess the audience need to wait one more season to see them reach home base kiss. Now they're officially couple so what else to talk about? Maybe wedding? It's great to see Sawako's transformation as she isn't lonely anymore and is getting along with her classmates pretty well. However, her relationship with Kazehaya makes few progress as they pretty much keep waiting, waiting and sometimes smile to each other uncomfortably. Their friends absolutely do nothing and witness them misunderstanding each other, repeating their mistakes and learning from them... (by that stupid pace, they might finally confess when they're in their forties...) In the end, they should really thank Miura for screwing up because he's the only one that actually tries something.

FRACTALE

Yamamoto, thank you for creating a big fuzz and you can retire now! Minami Tsuda's performance in lead role is absolutely terrible. Plus, the quality is below average most of the time especially the episode after the quake and the ugly character design in the anime is nothing similar to what the audience preview during its promotion. Many characters die in the finale but nothing is accomplished since the fractale is still online in the end...

Toaru Majutsu no Index II

Please somebody just cut off Touma's right hand or the stupid sister just bites his head off so Accelerator could be the protagonist. A return of the extremely long and ignoring speeches, unnecessary services, stupid fighting purposes, cameo appearances of many season one characters that I'd barely remember... Not to mention the no-ending ending right before the war that nobody actually cares... strong hints for season III or whatsoever...

Comments: Suddenly feel like writing...

Os Uchujin (Miku Hatsune Append Ver.)

I'm really in love with this song~

2011 Summer New Anime First Impression

Usagi Drop

The love story of Rin the aunt and Daikichi the nephew/a 6-year-old and 30-year-old man whatever... it just sounds incestuous either way... The premiere is just so great and filled with touching moments at the funeral. But the death of Rin's father is just the beginning of her relationship with Daikichi, who only meets her for the first time but is courageous enough to take the responsibility to become a single parent. Great start and hope it continue.

Natsume Yujincho San

Yes! Natsume and my beloved Nyanko-sensei are back for the third season and it's just as good as the previous two. The anime is still about short stories in which Natsume and Nyanko sensei encounter various spirits in the small village and the great thing about the series is that one doesn't need to watch the previous seasons to understand the story and could just jump right into it and enjoy. Also, another great song by Kousuke Atari!

Kami-sama no Memo-cho

Dr Pepper is truly an intellectual drink for the chosen one! Is it the modern Japanese Gosick as we have another loli detective again? The hour-long premiere makes it like a Japanese drama and it's actually better than I've expected. Anyway, the first episode is a decent introduction to all the interesting characters except our protagonist who is still largely invisible and very unimpressed at this point.

Dantarian no Shoka

Gosick 2? Housing 900,666 gensho, Dalian easily beats the stupid sister who has been implanted with the 103,000 magical texts... Why lolis always like reading books in some libraries? Great BGM...

Yuruyuri

I love Minamike so I've decided to pick this up at last minute when I've found out it's animated by the same production team. Surprisingly, there isn't too much yuri going on as implied by the title but it's still pretty funny. All CVs are quite new but I do enjoy their performance in OPEDs.

Mawaru-Penguindrum

Isn't this anime about those cute penguins? I still have no clue what this anime is about as lots of things happen: the younger sister dies, then is brought back to life by miracle; some mysterious penguins show up; weird transformation scene; incest kiss? Characters look shojo to me but the artwork and quality are great and the background and design are always colorful and interesting.

Ikoku Meiro no Croise

A story about a Japanese loli being abducted in 19th-century Paris!? Nao Toyama indeed has a nice singing voice as proven in Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai.

Baka to Test to Shokanju Ni!

To me, the only goods news is Natsuko Aso isn't singing the OP... Jokes are still funny but they seems repetitive... maybe some new characters need to be introduced to spice things up.

Ro-Kyu-Bu!

Loli/basketball? Services/hot blood? Is this the recipe for something great or disastrous... So much attention on the CV lineup starring Kana Hanazawa and Yoko Hikasa, and the OP, which is actually pretty upbeat and good.

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? I just wanna laugh when I see protagonist's head flying off after the car accident. Anyway, lots of censored bloody scenes and services too but I just don't think this anime could be as good as Densetsu no Yusha no Densetsu.

NO.6

Everything, including OPEDs, looks BL to me. It's BONES + NoitaminA... let's hope it's better than its poor predecessors Fractale and C...

Kamisama Dolls

The first episode is really really boring... the story is linear, BGM is awful and nothing is interesting so far and even Hibino's ridiculously huge boobs couldn't save it... a great disappointment comparing to Brian's Base's other two works this summer.

Lego Hayao Miyazaki

Things generally look nice in Lego... except for the yellow worm catbus...