I've stopped watching anime for about two months due to some turns my life took about two months ago, but now that I sort of gotten back into the groove of things (somewhat) and I thought I would writer down some of my thoughts on the shows that I've been tuning in to (and the shows that managed to stick along for the ride). Also, with the majority of the summer line up coming to an end in a month or so (along with some longer shows) I figured it might just be the best time to do this.
Excluding long running shows that I'm still catching up on (
Saint Seyia Omega,
Kingdom,
Sapce Bros and
Sket Dance (which I'm sad to hear that is about to end soon D: ) )
Name of series:
Hunter X Hunter
Episodes watched: 44
Rating: A++
I've been an avid, long time fan of HunterXHunter. I had gotten into the series via the '99 anime, and from there on gotten into the manga and never looked back. Yoshihiro Togashi always had the talent necessary to take simple storylines and concepts and transform them into engrossing tales of complex events and lovable characters. I've seen it happen with YuYu Hakusho, and I've seen it again in HunterXHunter, only this time it's amplified in a way that makes the former, a great series, look amateurish.
I was a little concerned about how the quality of the remake early on, but week after week it has continued to prove to me that all those past concerns I had were misplaced and now, almost a year in, not only has the remake managed to make me remember all the great things I loved about this series in the past, but also make me fall in love even harder with it.
Superb on all accounts.
Name of Series:
Tari Tari
Episodes watched: 10
Rating: A-
The biggest draws for me when it came was that it had Ayahi Takagaki and had a musical focus, and it's similarity to Hanasaku Iroha. Needless to say, I ended up enjoying it a lot thanks to it being similar to the latter, though the lack of Takagaki-san singing had been something on a loss for me. Still a pretty good and enjoyable show on all accounts, and I'm really liking the character driven nature of it.
Name for series:
Hyou-Ka
Episodes watched:19
Rating:A+
When I first started watching this show, it was due to how beautifully animated and vibrant it looked. After a while though I started to notice that it wasn't all that badly written either! After some more time I realized that I was really loving it to the point where I was tuning in every Sunday to see the newest episode, and thinking about importing the series.
The one series I had no idea I would like this much back when I first checked on it. Excellent audiovisuals, tightly written and surprisingly engaging story despite it not being grand, and a likable cast. The show has many great draw points, but the one I think I will remember always is for Orikei's development throughout the show from a smart but anti-social student into a more healthy, normal teenager with a good head on his shoulders.
And DEM EYES
Name for series:
Eureka Seven AO
Episodes watched: 18
Rating: A+
I've been liking AO since the moment it started, for all the reasons I liked the original Eureka Seven and what it managed to present to me. The political intrigue, the mecha battles and designs (well, the secrets are kinda not all that well designed ...) and of course for Ao and the journey he was making throughout all this mind-boggling time/dimensional traveling adventure.
The show still manages to remain interesting and fun even this late into it, and I'm having a blast trying to figure what is going on and how does it make sense.
Name for series:
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Episodes watched: 44
Rating: D+
It's been a long journey. There were a lot of rough patches when it comes to my relationship to AGE, mainly when it comes to the writing. Let's just say that my earlier assessment of Level 5 being great game creators but piss poor story tellers a year ago proved to be more than true, much to my disappointment since I had wished they would've managed to come out proving every person who wished them failure wrong, but so it goes.
It's not all bad, I guess, but I was expecting something better than this. It might have been foolish, since I was already knowledgeable about the story ''capabilities'' of Akihiro Hino, but I really hoped that he would manage to rise above all the illogical and stupid hatred the show had gotten. Disappointingly, he did not manage to do that.
Now before anyone misconstrue what I'm writing into just mindless bashing of the show, I need to say that the show had it's moments. Some episodes were really good on the emotional front, the battles had gotten a lot better by the end of the first Generation after being somewhat armature looking early on (though the show does suffer a little from some quality control here and there), to the point where the latest episodes are really nicely animated. The music, while not exactly up to the high standard that the franchise established for it's audio work, is still pretty fantastic and the usage of the tracks in the show had been top notch. So overall, there isn't anything wrong from the technical side of matters, and the show doesn't fall flat all the time (just most of the time).
Still, disappointment is really the word that seems to be the one on my mind when it comes to AGE, since when I first started the show I had high hopes it would be a really solid series. At most a good series, at the least a decent one. Instead I ended up with a really mediocre show in general with some good moment scattered here and there, a really interesting concept/premise and a lot of potential for greatness that it never managed to capitalize on.
Name for series:
Horizon S2
Episodes watched: -
Rating: C+
I've been pretty carefree when it comes to this show, since it's not one of those shows where I'm that passionate about, but it and
Accel World (which I had fallen behind and is now on my back burner for the time being) had proven to me to be generally really entertaining shows that I could tune in and come out being satisfied most of the time.
The last episode was I thought the best so far and I'm sort of looking forward to the conclusion of this season. Should be a lot of fun.
Name for series:
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Episodes watched: 10
Rating: A
Seiji Kishi's anime of the season, and also a comedy so I had the feeling it was going to be great, if not decent at least since the man's forte had always been comedy. Hearing that it was a dark comedy made it all the better, since I've always loved dark comedies, and so when I got this recommended to me I already figured out that I would love it.
What really impresses me about this show is how profound it really is, on different levels that makes me enjoy in more ways than I thought I could've. I'm bracing my self for a final episode twist where everything goes to hell here.
Name for series:
Joshiraku
Episodes watched: -
Rating: B
This show is simply hilarious to watch
I don't know why, but it manage to tickle my funny bone in a way that makes me want to rewatch it again.
Not much to say on it other than I just think it's really funny lol
Name for series:
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
Episodes watched: -
Rating: B+
Something of a late arrival, since I sort of passed on it on first glance but then I heard some good things about it (and mentions of similarity to Mashiroiro Symphony) and looking at how nice the art was in the game (like, that was some really nice designs) I figured I might give it a try. So far, been liking a lot, and I can see it as being a really good romance series.