Winter 2010 Anime Review Thread: Post Your Opinion and Grade

[Haak]

I'd also the say the same for Dhurarara!! The first episode is meant to just introduce all the charaters in one go. It gets a lot better after that. A LOT better.

[DidCart]

Ok... after six episodes I can give a good review about...

Chu-Bra => Jesus Christ! Horrendous show. Panties, Bras... underwear club with lolis? Really? No, thanks. -1/10

Baka to Test to Shojanju => EXCELLENT! A good comedy with good characters. At first I wasn't quite sure about the quality of this show. The battle system was interesting in essence, but when you see it in action you can find it a little uninteresting. But then I notice that the battles were not the focus of the show, the focus was in the pre and in the post battle. I'll definitely watch this until the end. - 9/10

And these were the shows I followed in this season. Maybe I'll watch others when the season is over... let's see...

[Echoes]

Spoiler for Long self-quote:

Originally Posted by Echoes

Having watched around 3 episodes of each series, I now feel comfortable giving my impressions of them thus far. This season has really surprised me, with some shows I had great expectations for letting me down, and others hitting me out left field and blowing me away.

Let's get the stuff that didn't make the cut out of the way first.

Chu-bra: Dropped. This is not my kind of thing, at all. I'm not interested in seeing middle schoolers' underwear, and I didn't find the humor funny either.

Ladies vs Butlers: Dropped. This is as dumb as a pile of rocks. Nothing here even tries to be original or interesting, and I'm just not feeling like I need another mindless fanservice show right now. Also, the character designs remind me of Kanokon, which is definitely not a good sign.

Omamori Himari: Average
This is as cliched as it gets, but the execution is not bad. The characters designs are delightful, and though just about every harem trope rears its ugly head, I just can't say no to Koshimizu Ami as a feline warrior. I'm sure you won't hold it against me.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: Good
A high school comedy that's actually trying something outside the box, something original, and showing some effort while it's at it. I'm sold. While this isn't outstanding, it is entertaining, and it knows exactly where to draw the line on its jokes so it doesn't get stale or drawn out. Good stuff so far.

Dance in the Vampire Bund: Good-ish...
I'll admit that unreasonable expectations might have played a part in my disappointment in this anime. After seeing the trailers, I was expecting something amazing; essentially a female Alucard and tons of badassery. Instead, I got this quirky thing. There is a lot to like here, and I see tons of poential still, but after three episodes I'm still just mildy impressed. I'll stick with this no matter what, and it's not bad by any means, but I expected more.

Durara!!: Fantastic.
This is just amazing. Incredible dialogue, a vibrant setting and the same larger than life characters that made Baccano such a brilliant show. Cream of the crop of this season; a pure joy to watch. *This* is why I watch anime. Oh, and the opening and ending: just great!

Hanamaru Youchien: Very good.
And I thought I had seen cute... This show has enough charm to sustain a small city, and is hilarious, adorable and entertaining as hell. Don't let the fact that it's about a kindergarten deter you; this is one of the seasons very best shows.

Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu: Excellent.
More of the same. The third season has all the charm, style, creativity and unique humor we've grown accustomed to, and God bless them for that.

Ookamikakushi.: Good
I won't lie, this is just my kind of show. The comparisons with Higurashi are inevitable, and put side to side with it, this show falls short in just about every conceivable way. One of the worst being that the male lead is devoid of any character or charm. He's the typical harem lead, not one bit likable. While this does hold the show back, the side-cast is much more compelling, and the setting and story are big draws for me. The backgrounds are also quite beautiful, and I'm a sucker for mythology and wolves. Definitely a keeper; and has potential to be great by the end.

Seikon no Qwaser: Bad.
With a lackluster story, cliched characters and breasts that by all rights should be more appealing to a bull than to a human male, this show is far from impressive. Visually, it's quite nice though, and the voicework isn't bad. Still, I'd say this is worse than Queen's Blade, which should tell you something.

Sora no Woto: Fantastic.
It's been described as K-on goes to war, and I can see why. However, I feel that the moe doesn't play as central of a role here, and that there's a certain sophistication and depth that K-On lacked. I just love the setting, the abandoned school and the small mountain town bring out the romantic in me. The storytelling is superb, and the cast of characters is lovable. It also has what I consider the greatest opening and ending of the season. (What is it with amazing openings and Gustav Klimt, eh?)

With the season at the halfway point, I thought I'd see how my initial impressions are holding up.

Omamori Himari: Even worse. Didn't think it could get more generic, but it somehow did.
Baka-Test: Stable; still funny and inventive, perhaps even more-so.
Vampire-Dance: Stable: i.e. still disappointing, but pretty good regardless.
Durarara: Absolutely amazing. If they keep this up, we've got ourselves a classic. They made some really gutsy decisions that really paid off.
Hanamura: Stable, still charming, cute and wholesome.
Ookamikakushi: Slighty better, but still doesn't immerse me, unfortunately. It's good, but could be so much more still.
Seikon no Qwaser: God-awful. If I wanted porn, I'd watch porn. They had a cool concept going with the chemistry and different elements, but everything else is just garbage. Dropped.
Sora no Woto: Warm, beautiful and utterly charming. I have no complaints, this show is a bright gleam of light and never fails to bring a smile to my face.
Katanagatari: This one's a newcomer, and I was skeptical about the designs when I first saw them, and remained skeptical throughout the first half of the first episode. However, as the show progressed, it got a lot more interesting. The designs grew on me, and the plot, though simple, is very fun. The dialogue is good, and I can't help but adore Togame. She's fantastic, and so is this show.

[Bri]

Only followed two anime this winter season:

Dururara: Life in the big city, colorful, fast paced and the plot is spun like a web. Really enjoying it. 8/10

Sora no Woto: Stong on atmosphere and background. Characters are warm but some are a bit too cliche. Noel and Rio steal the show for me. 8/10

And on the future of mecha, I was only joking! http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...re#post2770571

[Joojoobees]

Originally Posted by Bri

Only followed two anime this winter season:
Dururara
Sora no Woto

That's how this season turned out for me as well. I started with a bunch of shows and only these two remained. I have to say that I was disappointed by Sora no Woto, although I'm determined to finish it.

Durarara, on the other hand, has been really enjoyable. The one real keeper from the season, IMO.

[Guardian Enzo]

Did anyone give Hipira-kun a watch? Based on the finally subbed 1st ep, it looks rather witty and cute. With Higepiyo wrapping, I could use a 5-minute fix.

[WanderingKnight]

Hurrdurrararara is incredibly good. Masterpiece material all over the place.

Not watching anything else though, but I still have some Himawari Youchien episodes queued (lol Gainax) and forgot about Katanagatari because of the stupid we-can't-be-arsed-to-make-26-episodes-so-we-give-you-one-every-two-weeks format. Also episode 2 was extremely yawn-inducing (FUCK YEAH LET'S HAVE 20 MINUTES OF DIALOGUE AND REMIND THE AUDIENCE WE ARE SO AWESOME WE BREAK THE FOURTH WALL EVERY 15 SECONDS) and the witty dialogues got old fast.

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Durarara is holding up to what Baccano accomplished, in my opinion. In particular, episode 5 was a great blast from Baccano's way of handling storytelling.

It's probably one of the better series I've seen in a while, even though it might be going a little slow at the moment. This is good, though--this is a 2-cour series, which means it has enought air time to thoroughly develop all its numerous characters. Episode 5 in particular was really, really good in that respect.

Also, Katanagatari seems to be entertaining enough. I'm not the type of person who likes shounen series, but the art style and the idea of doing 1-hour long episodes (which basically makes it a 2-cour series, more or less) are pretty good reasons to watch it.

oh shit durarara, is a two cour series? that is quite a surprise because with the pacing of the last couple of episode it felt that the show was warpping up with the celty revelation, it's good to hear because the thing baccano suffered from was the lack of even more awesome train ride of hell.

[Vegard Aune]

...I randomly feel like commenting on the stuff I've seen this season.
So Ra No Wo To
...Fantastic. Really, that's all I can say about it. It was really well written, had great art and animation, absoultely gorgeous music, and while I can certainly complain about some things, like how episode 8 was a 98% waste of time or how some of the characters didn't quite click with me, I was overall very impressed by this show. Easily my favourite show of the season, and it's also better than anything I've watched that came out the last two seasons, for that matter. 9/10
Ookami Kakushi
Well, it's not too bad, I guess. I do feel that the similarities to Higurashi, which was a much better series, pulls it down somewhat, but it's still a decent series. 7/10
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
Not great, but not bad either, I guess. It's just a decent little comedy-series that doesn't really do much that hasn't been done better in countless shows before it, but for what it's worth, it does keep me entertained. 6/10
Hanamaru Youchien
...I direct you towards the BakaTest comments. Though I guess this one is a little better than BakaTest, as it's not as clichéd. 7/10

[kobejin]

TV series

Katanagatari (3 ep viewed) - 7.5/10

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (finished) - 7.5/10

Durarara!! (12 ep viewed) - 7.5/10

Hidamari Sketch×☆☆☆ (finished) - 7.0/10

Sora no Woto (finished) - 7.0/10

Nodame Cantabile: Finale (10 ep viewed) - 7.0/10

Hanamaru Youchien (finished)- 6.5/10

Dance in the Vampire Bund (finished) - 6.5/10

Omamori Himari (finished) - 6.0/10

Seikon no Qwaser (13 ep viewed) - 5.5/10

COBRA THE ANIMATION (2 ep dropped) - 2/10

Ōkami Kakushi (2 ep dropped) - 2/10

Ladies versus Butlers! (1 ep dropped) - 1/10

Chu-Bura!! (1 ep dropped) - 1/10

Movie

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (theater) - 9.5/10

OVA

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (1 ep viewed) - 9.0/10