What I just finished watching/reading and what I thought about it

[Aix]

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari (Saint Knight's Story From Another World/Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar)

 

I am a serious sucker for high fantasy and Sci-Fantasy and Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari captured relatively well what I liked about fantasy worlds with its dramatic landscapes and massive structures, this stuff you don't always get with fantasy anime, so my enjoyment shot up immediately. I'd like to point out it also has mechs, holo-screens and various sci-magic technology. Now that the setting is out of the way, let me go on to talk about what Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari is all about. Episode 1 bored me, it shoved me into a fantasy world's politics which I didn't quite catch or process and then shoves me into the anime's colourful cast of characters with their cliched interactions. There appeared to be some sort of generic evil organization trying for one country's princess's life and failing terribly at it. They also put in a fetch quest for some medicinal plant. In the end, Episode 1 disappointed me, but I decided not to drop it there, and I'm rather glad I didn't. The next few episodes are slice of life in a fantasy mecha academy which were the most enjoyable parts of this series and cliche is somewhat excused. We see that the main character is a total Gary Stu and chick magnet, but whatever, it's a light hearted mecha academy harem slice of life in a fantasy world. Then they tried to do plot and everything spiralled downwards, putting in your chosen one shit and cliched developments as well as one of the stupidest antagonist side characters ever who gets utterly owned in a way you cannot even imagine by the Gary Stu main character and still thinks he beat him in a head-on fight. The ending was seriously mediocre and disappointing and wasn't even epic in any sense. If I were to rate the second half, I'd give it a 5/10 or lower, but the first half pushes it up to a 7/10 because, again, I'm a sucker for fantasy.

 

7/10

[Rodrigo]

Strike Witches (both seasons)

 

The story happens during the period where World War II would be happening. Except alien enemies called Neuroi came from outer space to eliminate humans. A research team, lead by Dr. Miyafuji (father of the main character) developed a weapon that uses little girl's magic power as its fuel: the Striker Unit, the only hope of mankind against Neuroi.

 

Yoshika Miyafuji, hoping to find her father which supposedly died but left a letter for her, joins Mio Sakamoto in the ship that would take them to Britannia, where the military base of the Strike Witches, users of the Strike Units, is located. She didn't want to join the Witches at first, but eventually gives in, to pursue her dream of helping mankind.

 

One of the things I really love from this show is that the Striker Units use helixes instead of jet propulsion (and thus not contradicting the time period the story is set). But what I love the most is the character's personalities and their development throughout the series. My favorite couple is Sanya and Eila, they have one of the most magical moments I've seen in anime.

 

Oh, and, it's a fanservice anime (instant thumbs-up for me). There are pantyshots every episode and naked bath scenes. They aren't the focus of the show, but what did you expect when the main cast is 11 girls living by themselves in a military base?

 

But the story and the turn of events are also pretty good. This gets a solid 8/10 from me.

[Agro]

Strike Witches (both seasons)
 
This gets a solid 8/10 from me.

I couldn't find a gif strong enough to voice my disapproval, but I'll find it someday, and then I'll edit it into this post.

[Rodrigo]

I couldn't find a gif strong enough to voice my disapproval, but I'll find it someday, and then I'll edit it into this post.

 

I do believe it goes down to taste. I really enjoyed watching it.

[Nicο]

Magi: The Kingdom of Magic

Just goes on into a more and more actiony thing the further it gets, and does it so amazingly. Grand adventures. Magicy feelings. Alibaba's spotlight probably takes it's rightful spot as my favorite part of the season, but that doesn't stop it from just going, and going, and going...

8/10

 

Nagi no Asukara

I can't help but reiterate what I felt just a couple episodes in. It's just so easy for me to understand these characters, and I find not one of them to be unrealistic, even after the whole thing, even with a good chunk of them being sea dwellers. Hikari is the one though I said would be the hardest to warm up to, but he ended up as my favorite. I could personally just not get mad at the show in any way even though it made some seriously messy choices. I would have much preferred at least one character to have been unable to be saved. Manaka, or even if it had to be Miuna, it would have made the thing so much more memorable. And for once, could we get some sort of conclusion to the romance part of an anime other than the main couple lives happily ever after? Is that so much to ask? I do think that it got closer to completing maybe a couple other relationships, but it still leaves it up to the viewers imagination. Especially considering most things are never able to get sequels, but we can always hope on these things.

6.5/10

 

Z/X: IGNITION

This was an okay pass time, but you've really gotta be okay with these things, and be okay with it doing absolutely nothing different. If nothing else, it's pretty hard to tell that it's an anime for an actual card game, despite the card devices. 

6/10

 

Blood Lad

Never recently have I came across something that does practically everything it's manga done, by the book, and having it be pretty easy to say it does pretty much nothing else, unless I am talking about this. I read up to where it ended, including the OVA, which for a change, actually continues the story (which gives it points), before I watched this. It's pretty much exactly the same. I would have liked them to change it up a bit, especially since I don't feel a by the book faithful adaption really worked out in this case, they truly are two seperate mediums. It was pretty easy to get swept up in some of the jokes I've already heard, but they didn't even mention the "flying shoes", that seriously dampered my feelings on this. I absolutely must purshase the manga to see a bit more of it sometime down the road, but as it is, the anime wasn't anything special.

Anime: 6/10

Manga: 9/10 

 

[spoiler=and the Pretty Cures I haven't posted but watched]

Yes! Precure 5

I remember mentioning how the general concious seems to be that the sequels were some of the worst parts to this franchise, but in Yes! Precure 5's case, I don't share that opinion. This was the one I found much more dull, probably because the sequel didn't have to introduce as much characters, and this one introduced all of the cures episode after episode, in quick succession. Didn't really work out for me.

6/10

 

Fresh Precure!

The first time a villian is friendship-a-fied into a cure, and done exceedingly well. Although I don't really know if it has happened again, I'm only part way into Suite, it had me bawling my eyes out on the next episode preview that had me finally realizing what would happen. Thinking about it again is already doing something to my heart. And Setsuna not knowing so much, even after she became a real friend to the gang, was kind of touching for some reason but also obviously quite funny. 

9/10

 

Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

I've already mentioned about why I feel this was able to come across as less dull for me, but it also had a case of my truly not knowing a very, very obvious thing  as soon as I should have, something that has to do with Milky Rose. So yeah. Points for Bunbee coming back as well.

8/10

 

Heartcatch Precure!

This was like another Shugo Chara with the heart catching aspect, and Erika... is just so... short... I mean cute... Anyway, besides the duo of pink and blue, they done a great job spreading out the character introductions and the cure introductions. This alone gives it much higher points than 5 did. 

9/10

[/spoiler]

[Aix]

My friend and I watched some anime together, we didn't finish some of them because we couldn't stand watching them.

 

Diabolik Lovers

 

About a girl who is sent to live in a mansion with these vampire brothers. We watched this for the lols because it's just plain terrible. Every episode the main character (a girl) basically gets raped (well actually, gets her blood sucked, but it's done in such a way that it looks/feels like rape) by a different vampire and it's the same thing over and over, you just get to see the main character get mistreated. Watch only if you are prepared for terribleness or you are a masochist or a masogynist. Dropped on Episode 5, we watched Episodes 3-5 and decided that nothing was going to change, it was just the same shit over and over. No plot, characters are simple and almost all the same, generic obscure flashbacks happen triggered by the dumbest things.

 

1/10

 

Btooom!

 

A generic survival game with bombs/grenades. The premise actually had potential for some serious strategy, but its just plain terrible when you can just run and no one has a good enough aim to hit anyone unless the plot demands it which then they suddenly get lucky. The creators don't seem to understand that you don't have to be touched by the fire of an explosion to be killed, it's the shockwave that really kills. Female lead has a stupid backstory, for some reason everyone hates her for something that is obviously not her fault. People are way too simplistic and only act because the plot demands they act that way. Didn't watch much of it though.

 

3/10

 

Time of Eve

 

I didn't personally like this one as much as my friend. About discrimination against androids. If you guys have such a huge problem with androids having emotions and acting like humans, why would you program them that way and give them such realistic bodies? Two main characters aren't very interesting. Ending was meh.

 

7/10

[Nicο]

My friend and I watched some anime together, we didn't finish some of them because we couldn't stand watching them.

So in very active anime forums, there are threads like this, and threads like "what I dropped and what I thought about it" that would fit those first 2 more. But we are not as active as those and also not an anime forum.

 

At first I couldn't quite describe it but the way they handled the dodging of the explosions in Btoom was certainly way off. I watched all of it and pretty much agree exactly with what you said.

 

[spoiler=I also have 6 more stuffs I finished in the last couple days due to already starting them and having to put them on break, and a manga.]

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren

Doesn't stop the great visuals and excitement, but I must say, it did fall short of the first season. Eventually, it proved that it did take itself almost as serious as the first installment, but ah, some really cheesy cliches were taken that didn't give it the level of quality that it could have had.  

6.5/10

 

D-Frag!

This is where you go to find a retorting master. Kazama made this show far more than any of the girls ever did by making me laugh so much harder than before his retorts, or than the rare jokes that he wasn't retorting. This is also why his sister is my second favorite character, because she's almost exa-no, she is exactly like a female version of him. Not to say any of the characters were really horribly bland unless done so for comedic purposes. Not alot else to say other than it took my favorite winter anime spot, and something I truly found to be more hilarious than anything else recently, so literally, no complaints here. 

10/10

 

Golden Time

I just can't understand all my hate, apathy, and smiles of all things over this. I'm not sure it makes sense. Or really, there is the hate: I can't stand Koko. The apathy: The vast amount of moments that I just can't bring myself to care either way (obviously). The smiles: The regular moments that make me feel like these characters interacted almost extrodenarily, just sometimes, and just sometimes, the actual funny moments. This is all overshadowed by Koko's personality and just plain being crazy when she really loves someone, especially that breakup that was one of the few things that felt both believable and extremely unbelievable at the same time. I just don't know. Anything else is one or the other, and imo, I'm gonna say there was about equal believable and unbelievable moments. Which, as it turns out, is a very bad thing. I truly applaude Banri for coming to love and making a decision about Koko despite how much she even annoyed him sometimes, as one of his quotes proves. I believe it is one of the few anime that have been completely adapted, or pretty darn close to it with a very much conclusive ending, which I also feel is a waste, but at least it sometimes happens. 

4/10

 

Log Horizon

Shiroe's Villian in Glasses face! What an awesome thing to put in the last episode. While the characters were basically okay, I did find this guy to be a pretty strong character, followed mostly by just Minori. I'm not trying to say that the ones that really did the fighting were no fun or anything, that's just how I feel, [spoiler=besides]being taken away by Shiroe bringing Rudy back to life as an adventurer and loving him before that anyway,[/spoiler] and loving Akatsuki from the start as well, but those were the only two I really felt ended up with much substance. Onto the rest of the thing. This was the kind of thing I was skceptical about, moreso due to not liking the author's other work, but little by little, bit by bit, it really had me engaged so much more than I would have ever thought. I can still sum up a good chunk of it as "pretty alright", as Fusion said (to me, more so just the music and animation), it still held my attention just so well. I can also include the action as being pretty alright (wasn't mentioned specifically as). While I thought it was actually pretty good, as was already mentioned, there just wasn't a whole lot of it. Just stocked for the second season.

8/10

 

Engaged to the Unidentified

A seriously engaging gag rom-com. [spoiler=I did wish that there weren't] actually non-humans and that maybe it was all a big troll,[/spoiler] but then you have the very obvious forshadowing in the opening. That said, it didn't stop being... too adorable for me to care! 

7/10

 

Magical Warfare

Let me just say that at first I was a little carried away by Nano and the fact that this was the result of the author's try at a magical girl thing. That was the first episode, which I could indeed overlook at the time how little sense it made. My opinion is that like most things, it should, and has been making more and more sense, until the abomination of an excuse of a final episode happened. It was just stupid. They must have known this was never gonna get a sequel by then and they end it like that? Could have done something to make it feel conclusive at least. At the beginning of such an episode I was like "just... what?" how does that even work? I feel like it can be half explained by saying it maybe skipped over a few things that were actually important so very bad choice there, but nothing in that episode, if any, felt decently executed. After talking about the last episode, I will go back to how I thought things kept making more sense before then. I thought that, but I also thought it got more and more boring as well. How. Just. How. Gekkou just annoys me so much, that's another thing. Feels like such a shelfish, spoiled brat going on about how Takeshi always takes everything from him, when most of the time I have to say sorry, but for the most part, you pretty much never had it in the first place, ugh. In a way you could say he's a decent antagonist because of it, but... that last bit of the final episode (spoilers don't matter for something like this) shows that he very likely was brainwashed or, or something into thinking he was Takeshi's brother because if he was, there was no way he would have had the same appearence, nor really have even been alive (I believe) when he was chatting it up with Kazuma, his mother, and all those other older fellows in which one of them died before the events of the show. That last episode just really gives me so much more than most people may have even bothered to talk about because while the show was garbage, that finale was literally the garbage dump, with so much more than the entire show really had otherwise. Oh, and I still say the noses are the worst part about this.

2/10

 

Azumanga Daioh

I'm gonna be honest here. The characters are the real highlight here. They aren't anything short of typical, but just done really, really well. The thing is, this has reminded me my taste of humor isn't completely Japanese, as one would expect. There are some things that while I actually understood, I just didn't find that funny, or well yeah, some things I didn't understand. That said, I smirked and laughed immensely throughout most of it, and there are some strips that were true genious, it was pretty hard to breath after laughing so hard at a couple of them. 

7/10

[/spoiler]

[mitchermitcher]

So right, it took me a while but I'm done with Baka to test and some others.

 

[spoiler=Baka to Test S1]Way back earlier I was icky on this after reading the manga, and luckily this kind of comedy works better in animated form. Each character represents a few quirks and they interact and stuff. Not a masterpiece, but goddamn this is my type of thing. The various references(Most blatantly Eva), the shitty puns(Kinoshita = Under the tree), the summoning battles, it was fun, good fun. Got season 2 downloaded afterwards and I plan to get to it sooner or later.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Meduka Meguca 3: Rebellion]Holy shit. What the fuck. Goddamn. Visuals are amazing for a SHAFT work, that battle scene satisfies muh inner autist in every possible way. Homura gets more focus which is always a good thing. Surprisingly I really liked Kyouko in this. That ending, yo, that was some insane shit. I was spoiled about this and I'm still shocked. Props to Kalafina by the way, that ED is good. ClariS's OP is also good as usual.[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Kamen Rider W] Not anime but it's japanese, it probably fits in. Anyways, holy shit this is hardboiled to the Xtreme. Comedic when it needs to be, overly dramatic to the point of actually being dramatic when it needs to be, and badass most of the time. This is stylish and hardboiled. The protagonist is probably one of my favorite halfboiled detectives ever. Rival Kamen Rider is also a great guy and ally, and most of the characters excluding Akiko are fun. Akiko's fine but not fun.[/spoiler]

[Rodrigo]

So, Ene has similar tastes to mine. I also despised Magical Warfare, and I was so hyped for it. Damn, such a waste.

 

And yes, D-Frag is by far the best comedy show I've seen. Pure gold.

[Nicο]

So, Ene has similar tastes to mine. I also despised Magical Warfare, and I was so hyped for it. Damn, such a waste.

 

And yes, D-Frag is by far the best comedy show I've seen. Pure gold.

That may feel true but uh... I'm gonna say something that doesn't seem to hold much weight anymore. Despite how I said Log Horizon was different than SAO, I still liked SAO-Let me finish. I did like it, but I do realize it has like a million flaws and that was before I started paying more attention to things. I guess I will have to see how I feel about GGO...

 

Tari Tari 

I... I cried. I thought it was pretty solid the first time, but paying more attention the second time just opened myself up to amazement. You do not see visuals like this every day, and the characters interacted so much better than I could have ever thought while it was airing. It just works like magic, to feel so darn realistic. Granted, the principal and vice principal were made to be characters that changed over the course of the show due to just one club, and if anyone other than them had their jobs, it is highly likely that they would never have wanted to help enough to actually try as much as they did. That is the biggest moment of not feeling as realistic as the rest of it. It's the fact that they were exactly the ones in the positions they were in that wasn't especially a likely encounter, but the interactions they had with the main 5 (for them, it was more-so Wakana and Konatsu, though) still came across as incredibly realistic. It wasn't bogged down by any romance that had the chance to make the story not as fleshed out as it was, but they still snuck in very short moments that made some things regarding that both nice and obvious. To say nothing of the great songs and grand singing of such songs would be blasphemy. 

9/10

[Fusion X. Denver]

AnoHana Movie

 

Nice revisiting to a much-beloved franchise with some new stuff too (though it didn't go as far as I wanted). Good time

 

4.5/5

 

Magi: The Kingdom of Magic

 

Crazy shenanigans at the end there. It's a shame they caught up to the manga that quickly though. We won't be seeing Season 3 for a long time :T

 

4/5

[mitchermitcher]

[spoiler=Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha]My first non-Meguca mahou shoujo animu. For a 2004 animu, it was surprisingly decent visually. Not stunning, but not terrible unless you're a soulless monster and can't handle the loli-ish girls. Story-wise, it wasn't anything stunning either, but it was well-executed. They spent two episodes introducing the titular girl as a magical girl, one episode on her motivation, and after that the main rival appears and it's one solid plot until the end of episode 13. No episodic funsies here and there, which is good in this particular case. Fate is a cutie. The battle scenes aren't special, but they were nice. STARLIGHT BREAKAAAAAH. Overall, loved it, will download and watch A's(Season 2) as soon as I can. Also has the best Nana Mizuki song I've heard so far, that OP is just amazing.[/spoiler]

[Nicο]

Nourin

 

The beautiful country-side visuals and some major feels in the last couple episodes really complement the inspirational moments and some agricultural learning the thing gives. Even though once again, I found the really perverse humor hilarious, this is the one that had quite a bit more to offer than that, and I really do find it to have dragged the thing down. It has still been very worthwhile, and I would still reccomend trying it out. If you're into that kind of humor though, it could end up being all the better, but as I said, this just seems like it wasn't the show for it.

 

7/10

[JasonX1991]

Just finished Guilty Crown.
I know I'm late to the party.^^

 

I didn't know anything about it, just heard a lot of good about it.

 

First of all the animation and music was superb sadly it lacked a good story or characters.

However I really enjoyed the first 12 episodes a lot but after that it takes a turn for the worse.

 

The whole anime is pretty much cliché which is not bad per se but didn't do it any good either.

It has one of the best opening scenes I have seen in quite some time and it hooked me immediately.

 

After epsiode 12 though the anime completely changes.

The characters are starting to make unbelievable actions and the plot has twists that can only be described as ass-pulls!

Even the animation seemed inferior compared to the beginning.

 

For me it looked like a whole different team took over the show while I know that's not true it just felt like it.

The withdrawn action sequences were a change I welcomed but the given drama elements were only mediocre.

Since I binge-watched it and in generel I don't like ending anime/movies/series in the middle of the show I watched it till the end hoping it would get better. I didn't get any better, it just got worse and the mentioned ass-pulls really made me angry.

I think I was never closer of ending an anime during 3/4 of the episodes.

 

I sat through it hoping it might give me a satisfying ending since I thought I had a pretty good idea of how it might end.

It didn't end like I expected, which should be a good sign but the ending was one of the worst I ever saw on television.

I would have forgiven everything, even the lame episodes 13-18, if the anime would've ended differently.

I don't want to ruin it for anyone so here's my thoughts to the ending including

[spoiler=spoilers]
Why did they have to use a hald good/bad ending!? Wouldn't it bet better to just let Inori and Shu die instead of only Inori. It's such a sad and dumb ending. I don't like bad endings, I'm more of a happy ending guy but that ending was just horrible. The f***ing main character has to live on while being blind, having an amputated arm and losing the only person he really loved. That's just plain cruel and stupid.[/spoiler]

 

If it wasn't for the great animation and the superb music I would've turned it off hours earlier but those two components were so good I just needed to finish it.

 

So overall the first 12 episodes were pretty good but spiked with clichés which was totally fine with me.

After that it changed pace and tone and turned even worse when ass-pulls and unconvincing character actions occured.

However the music and animationen was superb so I can still recommend it.

Watch it until episode 12 then stop and pretend it ended like this.

It would've been a way better ending. Trust me you won't miss those other 10 episodes except for some pretty good animated actions scenes.^^

 

 

Music (10/10)

Animation (10/10)

Characters (4/10)

First half 1-12 (5/10)

second half 13-Ending (2/10)

 

6/10

[Fusion X. Denver]

Spice and Wolf

 

I liked this. For me, the selling point was the dynamic between the two leading characters: Lawrence and Holo. The economics and trade talk throughout the show can be interesting at times, but I stayed to see the relationship grow between the two and seeing them tested at every turn throughout their journey. The secondary characters in this show are pretty decent too, though the main two absolutely outshine the rest. Holo's one of the more interesting and dynamic female characters I've encountered in a while as well.

There is some bits of action, but this is mainly a talking anime. But one of the good ones.

 

4/5

[Rodrigo]

Spice and Wolf

 

I liked this. For me, the selling point was the dynamic between the two leading characters: Lawrence and Holo. The economics and trade talk throughout the show can be interesting at times, but I stayed to see the relationship grow between the two and seeing them tested at every turn throughout their journey. The secondary characters in this show are pretty decent too, though the main two absolutely outshine the rest. Holo's one of the more interesting and dynamic female characters I've encountered in a while as well.

There is some bits of action, but this is mainly a talking anime. But one of the good ones.

 

4/5

 

This is pretty much what I would have to say about Spice and Wolf. I watched it 2 days ago and enjoyed it so much.

[Shradow]

Eyeshield 21

While the anime is pants, the manga is really good. I don't even like football, but I was reading this one like a madman. The series is about the Devil Bats football club in their attempts to fulfill their dreams of playing American football, and the series isn't necessarily about them doing so, because as main characters of course it happens. They say the journey is half the fun, and that definitely applies for this one. Reading how each game would play out, seeing the crazy plans unfold and the thrilling plays by both sides made this a super good read for me. Also, Hiruma is probably the best anime/manga strategist I've ever seen (not even guys like Lelouch and Light could handle him, I think).

 

8/10

 

Rosario + Vampire

 

Another instance where the manga far outshines the anime. While the anime was just a crazy, comedic harem show with lots of fanservice, the manga is far superior with some great action, lots of character development, and a main protagonist who's not a total loser. With the epilogue chapter finally finishing up the series, I'm really glad how things have turned out and I enjoyed reading it. Although the ending was in such a way there could easily be more, I'm not sure if it'll happen.

 

7.5/10

 

Space Dandy

Possibly the most pointlessly entertaining thing I've ever watched. The show's all about crazy space adventures with resident alient hunter Space Dandy and his space crew on their spaceship... in space. No single episode had any coherence to another, and the only overarching plot I can find is that the Gogol Empire is after Dandy for... some reason. It's not the most ridiculous thing I've seen, but it's pretty high up there. And I loved every minute of it.

 

9/10

[Aix]

Zero no Tsukaima

 

I watched all four seasons of it. Meh. Really meh. I didn't mind it too much because it was fantasy, but it's really bad in my opinion. Louise goes beyond annoying tsundere and is a total bitch, the gags involving her weren't funny the first time and didn't get funnier fifty times later. Shitload of stuff happens out of convenience. The average IQ of all the characters is somewhere around 70, they really don't think anything through, all the characters are exceedingly simple and don't step a foot out of their character archetype. Everything just felt really dumbed down about this world. I'm already starting to forget the details of what happened, it left very little impression on me.

 

2/5

[Nicο]

Suite Precure

 

The conflicts the 2 girls had with each other came across as intense, different and welcoming, but then they just kept fighting, making up, fighting, and making up. I applaud this for not going the "obvious" route as to who Cure Muse was, but it was almost more obvious that wasn't the case. Then it felt weirdly rushed with the guy who's supposed to be the big bad coming to the precure so soon, but really he was [spoiler= just] being controlled,[/spoiler] so that explains why he directly made some of the monsters of the week appear. Then it got kind of okay agian, then I couldn't even place why, but it just felt rushed again, then in the second last episode, there was decent action, even though it's a magical girl thing, but once again, that's a charm the Precure franchise has over some of the other stuff.

 

Tokyo Mew Mew only ever had decent action when the girls fought each other once, so it's really things like this, whether they actually go bare handed for a while or just cause a lot of explosions, that really make this neat. This however was the only thus far I felt was almost as boring as Yes! Precure 5's first season. Though I always go easy on the more boring ones here because at the end of the day, it keeps me watching, at least somewhat switching it up instead of running long with mostly the exact same characters.

 

7/10

 

Clamp's Clover

 

Style over substance I guess? There really isn't much to say when I don't see anything even remotely unique about this besides the very short "chapters", the mass amounts of negative space, and what seems to me like pretty distinct art. I saw no reason to care for any of the characters, I only kept reading because MAL's chapter number was drastically lower than what I was able to decipher. Trying to score this without it ever being finished is tough, but I still feel as if a proper ending isn't enough to make it worthwhile.

 

3/10

[mitchermitcher]

Persona 3 The Movie: Spring of Birth

It's impossible for me to judge this by itself without comparing to the source material, so I'm not gonna even try. This was fun. Minat- er, Makoto seems to actually have a personality(Even if it's barely one, it's better than perfect Narukami from P4), while still keeping his poker face and demeanor. Makoto aside, delicious Fuuka, lots of it gained, satisfaction achieved...not that she'll win the Makotobowl ;_;. Animation and music was nice, seeing the personas in action was damn nice, that smile at the end was the nicest thing ever. I want to protect that smile.

[Nicο]

Nieskoi

Really easy to be reminded of Love Hina with this one. Not just the fact that it is superbly cliche for a romcom, but the promise here is easily similar to the promise there. As far as the anime is concered, though, this is far better executed. Although there were some very small visual touches I really didn't like Shaft for this time around, and I'm largely apathetic when it comes to them, that is another highlight about this that many people will eat up. 

8/10

[Shradow]

A shame you didn't like Zero no Tsukaima, but the anime's not as good as the light novels so I can understand it. Too bad the author died before they could finish, though, we were 2 volumes short of the end.

 

Angel Beats!

I went into this with pretty high expectations, because for ages my friends and people I'd seen on here who had watched it had praised it any time it came up. It took me forever, but I finally got around to it and marathoned it over a weekend. Gotta say, didn't meet those expectations. I still thought it was quite good, my main problem being that a lot of the characters didn't feel very memorable or leave an impact at all. We only saw the backstories of a few characters, and the whole thing seemed really short to me (I hear it was supposed to be longer?). That aside, I liked the emotion, the music, and the show in general. I teared up a couple times, during the last part of Otonashi's backstory, and the ending (which I'm so glad it was a happy ending and they met each again, omg, such a sucker for love).

 

All in all, still somewhat good, but maybe it was overhyped me.

7/10

 

Mushishi

I gotta say, I'm so glad I've started watching shows like this. Really calm stuff is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, and this is no exception. I'm sure a lot of people would find the show boring, but I was always fascinated both with the fantastical world and seeing Ginko get the job done. I guess an analogy I could make is that him knowing exactly what he's doing and mostly always being in control of the situation reminds me of Sherlock Holmes or something. What little music the show has (which is common in traditionalJapanese media, and something that works really well with this show) really sets the mood, and the animation style is really nicely done as well.

 

I can't wait to start on the next season.

10/10

 

Heroman

This is what you get when Stan Lee writes manga/anime (well, this and Karakuri Doji Ultimo). Joey Jones (dat Marvel-style alliteration naming) gets a toy that transforms into a giant robot and they go fight aliens and sometimes the government and stuff. The series is a great, honest to goodness superhero story. Good action, fun characters, and the whole thing takes place in 'MURICA. The animation is done by Bones, so it's definitely really nice. The show's nothing groundbreaking or crazy spectacular, but it's a thoroughly enjoying one that I'd recommend to anyone.

 

Plus, we get anime Stan Lee cameos.

8/10

 

I'm currently going through Fate/Zero, Free!, Nisekoi, and Gundam Build Fighters, so those'll show up here sometime during the summer, but I'm thoroughly enjoying all of them so far. Especially Fate/Zero, holy s***.

[Fusion X. Denver]

Looks like I need to check out Heroman. I watched Mushishi a little awhile ago too and I'm watching the current airing season of it. I think it's good stuff for what it is and it's a nice thing to watch once a week. Marathoning the first season sucked though, can't watch too many episodes in a row without getting sidetracked.

 

[spoiler=I've watched a lot recently]

Ghost in the Shell (Movie)

 

Animation's great considering it was 1995. Everything else though...eh. Was passable to watch, wouldn't do it again. Terrible dubbing job too.

 

3/5

 

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Season 1)

 

Well that was nothing like the movie.

Which is good, similar to Psycho Pass if you've seen that. Cast is more likable and interesting this time around and the cases they embark on are pretty interesting for the most part. And can't go wrong with Yoko Kanno music either. Looking forward to starting season 2 soon.

 

4/5

 

Waiting in the Summer

 

Cute love story. There were some cliches and some weird moments in the execution, but overall very endearing and very easy to marathon (I watched it all in one sitting). There were character archetypes, but they were subverted pretty nicely in the style you'd see in Toradora or Pet Girl of Sakurasou, though in a lighter degree. Pretty good quick watch.

 

4/5

 

Canaan

 

This was pretty alright. The story and half of the cast had their layers and were decently complex. Basically, there is some meat to this story you can dig into and the action isn't half-bad either. But I didn't really like or dislike anyone, which doesn't happen to me that often. I'm not used to feeling so neutral about a cast, it was slightly off-putting. I did like Yunyun though.

 

3.5/5

 

Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher

 

Meh. They don't do much that's interesting with the Punisher and Black Widow's love interest sucked. I also kinda wish the Avengers weren't shoehorned in at the end there; I think Iron Man and Hulk were the only ones who spoke more than one line. Action was alright, but could have been better. Animation and character design did look good, though.

 

2/5

 

Toriko Movie

 

It was alright. It was an anime movie. Your standard filler-esque adventure that allows the entire cast to have fanservice moments of kicking generic enemy a*s with a C-list plot bringing them all together. Decent time-killer if you're already familiar with the franchise.

 

3/5

 

Aiura

 

Decent short series (as in 3 minute episodes). Not a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, but character quirks were enjoyable.

 

3/5

 

Nisekoi

 

Seeing the anime made the cliches more apparent to me...though I enjoyed myself regardless.

 

4/5

 

Madoka Magika Movie 3

 

Jesus.

Didn't see that coming.

Excellent follow-up to the series. Go watch it.

 

4.5/5

[/spoiler]

[Shradow]

Oh man, the Madoka movie, don't even get me started. Absolutely insane, I loved it so much.

[Fusion X. Denver]

Oh man, the Madoka movie, don't even get me started. Absolutely insane, I loved it so much.

[spoiler=I was wondering something about the ending]

Are they all still in a dream world inside Homura's Soul Gem?

Or did Homura recreate reality with the other 4 alive and well(ish)?[/spoiler]