We're just about at the halfway mark & I've had enough time to digest everything properly. Despite the spring season initially appearing to be rather promising I find that I'm likely to finish about as many anime as I did at the same point last year, and less than I did in the 2006 autumn season.The rest of this post focuses on series that I've been watching for the last 5/6 weeks; and now's the time to decide what to keep watching and what to drop. I usually make another assessment after 13 episodes, as the summer season will be closing and there's some stuff I'm interested in (Moetan, Mushiuta, Zombie Loan and Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei). Oh and Denno Coil starts next week as well, so there's a good chance I'll eventually drop one of those 2-cour series (i.e. Lucky Star).I don't blog about anime much cos writing summaries is a chore - I'd certainly enjoy watching stuff a lot less if I had to spend ages capping/thinking of interesting things to say afterwards. Besides, I only watch for the entertainment value - 95% of the time, when I'm done with an episode, I bin it. The days of mass burning anime onto CD-Rs are over.........The Random Bits First:Fave OP theme: Jikuu o koete by II Mix Delta (KissDum)Fave ED theme: Anemone by Nakahara Mai (Kamichama Karin)Fave in-show music: Seirei no Moribito, composed by Kawai KenjiFave male character: Hans (Emma 2)Fave female character: Yoko (Gurren-Lagann)Fave shemale character: Seiko-chan (LoveCom)Fave masked character: Mask the Money (Hayate)Fave animal: Boota (Gurren-Lagann)Fave mecha: Eight (Hayate)Fave meganekko: EmmaFave maid: Emma>>>>MariaFave flat-chested loli: Ayane (Airantou)Fave hikikomori princess: NagiKeepers (for now)Nanoha StrikerSI'm still halfway through As after marathoning the first season last week, but I've already started on StrikerS anyway. I can't say I'm bowled over by any of the episodes so far though, but there's plenty of time to fix that (hopefully). At least it's inspired me to rewatch episodes of what is arguably my all-time fave (mahou shoujo) anime - Card Captor Sakura. Also, I don't feel so guilty over my wish for a Nanoha-Fate pairing now that they're legal ^^;Chances of (me) Completing (watching) : ★★★☆☆The good: Nanoha's now got substantially bigger boobs than Vita.The bad: Arf gets shafted.The ugly: The return of ferret boy.Emma 2The one show this season I'd give up everything else to watch. Not a lot of people feel that way, needless to say. Guess they just don't know how to appreciate real maids. I keep forgetting when Emma airs cos nobody torrents the raws so I have to scoot off to Winny to get them ^^;Chances of Completing: ★★★★★The good: Hunky Hans (and his sideburns).The bad: Wussy William.The ugly: The 'blurry' quality of the episodes that makes me wonder if my eyesight has deteriorated.Hayate no Gotoku!This season's token comedy. I hope they can keep the pace and the gags flowing.Chances of Completing: ★★★★☆The good: Lots of 'inside' jokes and parodies.The bad: Not a whole lot really.The ugly: Robot Eight.Seirei no MoribitoI've been waiting for something as grand and epic as 12 Kokki to come around and I think this might be it. I found it hard to associate Balsa with Menori from Mujin Wakusei Survive (same seiyuu) but I think the relatively unknown cast do a fantastic job.Chances of Completing: ★★★★☆The good: The art, the backgrounds and Torogai.The bad: L'arc~en~ciel's hideous opening theme.The ugly: Touya's teeth.Gurren LagannEnough has been said about the whole anus fiasco, but that doesn't stop Gurren Lagann from being one of the most enjoyable shows out there this season. Kamina's one of the coolest characters around - who needs mopey 'Why does this have to happen to me?' protagonists anyway.Chances of Completing: ★★★★☆The good: Kamina.The better: The mass spamming of Gainax's blog.The best: Yoko's boobs. Or should that be Kamina's abs ^^;The ugly: Episode 4 was a little ropey y'know.KissDum -ENGAGE planet-I have to say I like this more than I thought I would, given the pre-production problems the show had. Episode 4 was a bit of a disaster though, and I'm not getting my hopes up for anything resembling a coherent storyline/resolution. But what the hell, I don't care. Bring on the trainwreck.Chances of Completing: ★★★☆☆The good: II MIX! Oh how I've missed your cheese.The bad: Aimless directing. Characters I don't give a toss about.The ugly: Roki Demon.BokuranoI somehow feel that I'd enjoy this a lot more if I hadn't already read some of the manga. It's also quite depressing at times, so I have to be in the right mood to watch it.Chances of Completing: ★★★☆☆The good: The chairs.The bad: Kodaka is a horrible little twerp.The funny: Kokopelli is a hilarious name - it reminds me of Koko Jelly, sweets I used to love when I was a kid. I tried them again a few years ago, and they were awful ^^;;;Kamichama KarinI have a pretty bad track record finishing Koge Donbo anime (Di Gi Charat, Sugar, Pita Ten); I always start out all excited and halfway through the cuteness kills me. I expect that to happen with Karin too.Chances of Completing: ★★★☆☆The good: Himeka.The bad: I AM GOD!The fugly: The opening song is appalling.Darker Than Black -Kuro no Keiyakusha-My second most anticipated anime of the season after Emma 2. Gives me a huge Witch Hunter Robin vibe, which is a good thing cos that's one of my fave action-oriented anime.Chances of Completing: ★★★★★The good: Fluid animation. Cool characters. Nice action.The bad: Can we get In more lines please? Also, Kanno's dull soundtrack bores me.The weird: Breaking your fingers seems like an extreme price to pay compared to lining up silly stones or singing.Nagasarete AirantouHarem anime isn't my kind of thing, but at least I get a few cheap laughs out of it. I'll keep watching for now, but probably won't last too long. Ayane no o-mune wa petanko!!!!Chances of Completing: ★★☆☆☆The good: The seiyuu cast list.The bad: Ikuto isn't worth fighting over.The ugly: Tonkatsu's nowhere near as cool a pet as Boota is.Love★ComI really enjoyed this. Only vaguely knew it because of last year's movie version with WaT's Koike Teppei. The fast paced comedy that somewhat reminds me of Ouran or KareKano - I do have a soft spot for shoujo series, regardless of how it takes ages for the main couple to stop beating round the bush and just get to the point. Now if only HanaKimi would get animated....Chances of Completing: ★★★☆☆The good: They sang the Kamisama Kazoku ED in the karaoke scene in ep 2! Same studio, same character designer, some of the same producers and writers. Oh, and Takimoto Fujiko as Seiko-chan is brilliant - she's almost unrecognisable.The bad: Tegomass.Are.Boring.As.Hell.The ugly: Umibouzu.Romeo X JulietFirst few episodes were OK, but I don't know if I'm going to stick with this all the way unless they fix the wafer-thin plot.Chances of Completing: ★★☆☆☆The good: Interesting adaptation (rape) of a well known story. Plus points for not putting in the 'Romeo, why the hell are you Romeo?' line.The bad: Horrible choice of ending song. Too much cheese at times.The ugly: Willy Shakespeare looks like a lecherous old man.Lucky StarI have no real complaints about the drama CD cast being replaced now. I'm still not completely sold on the show itself, it merely brings a chuckle out of me than being HAHAHA funny. The fact that it's 24 episodes long makes me wonder if I can last the distance.Chances of Completing: ★★☆☆☆The good: Lucky Channel.The bad: Motteke! Sailor Fuku. People actually like this song??? Go dig your ears.The ugly: Ugly? It's too cute and colourful to be ugly.Come on in, your number's up.PolyphonicaHave been thinking of dropping it for 2-3 weeks now and I've had enough (finally).The good: Kamiya Hiroshi's return.The bad: The names are a bitch to read/pronounce.The ugly: Animation. Designs. etc. etc. Looks like something the cat dragged in.Kaze no StigmaIt has an interesting enough premise but the action fails to hold my attention. In a boring season I might've stuck with this for a while, but with so much other good stuff going on and so little time, Kaze no Stigma gets the chop.The good: Ono Daisuke.The bad: Ren.The ugly: Bright pink hair never fails to annoy me. I can just about stomach it when it's a lighter shade (like Caro's in StrikerS), but THAT bright..... sunglasses please.Idolmaster XENOGLOSSIAI thought the cast list looked really good....sigh. See Hocchan's character nodding off in episode 1? That's exactly how I felt when I was watching it.The good: Penguins. And chickens.The bad: Everything else.The ugly: Haruka's hair.Kaibutsu OujoSo Kawaragi Shiho gets paid just to say Huga? Nice job if you can get it.The good: Huga? Huga. Huga!The bad: If it's meant to be a comedy, it's not doing a good job of making me laugh.The ugly: The monsters.solaI thought the prologue drama CD was promising, but I'm ditching this. I can hardly stop myself yawning when I'm watching it.The good: Kaneda Tomoko actually manages to not be annoying for once.The bad: It's boring. Not enough Mai/Ai.The ugly: I don't like the character designs. That seems to be the most common complaint from me this season....El CazadorIt's another in a long line of excruciatingly dull girls-with-guns Bee Train productions. Noir, Avenger, Madlax, El Cazador....yawn.The good: The opening song by savage genius is ace.The bad: Blandness to the extreme.The ugly: Character designs. The main characters look fine but all those random side characters look like the drawings of a 7-year old.Heroic AgeI do like my fair share of sci-fi series (Seikai no Senki, Gasaraki etc) but Heroic Age isn't really my cup of tea.The good: The Kugyu and Yukarin combination.The bad: Hirai Hisashi is involved.The ugly: The results of Hirai Hisashi's involvement.Touka GettanIt's alright being mysterious and stuff, as long as you don't bore the pants off me in the process.The good: The music's nice.The bad: Nothing makes sense, and I don't really want to waste my brain cells on trying to get it to make sense. I'd like to think I learnt some lessons from yawning through Yamibou.The annoying: Replacing Yukana with Itou Miki. Guess she'd rather be Jomy's mother (Terra e...) than Touka's mother.Shining Tears X WindI'm not quite sure why I persevered with this for so long - I think I was just waiting for something exciting to happen. That's yet to materialise after 5 episodes so goodbye, boring game-to-anime conversion.The good: Hoshi Soichiro didn't annoy the hell out of me.The bad: Everything else annoyed the hell out of me.The ugly: Catgirls.ClaymoreI thought the first few episodes were decent enough; Claymores certainly aren't your usual sort of female leads. However, I really don't think I could put up with 6 months of Raki.The good: Claymores are cool.The bad: Raki. Everyone hates him.The ugly: The dark and gloomy palette. The Yoma aren't too pretty either.There was loads of stuff I gave up after 1 episodes (Bakugan BB, Sangokushi, Hitohira, Seto no Hanayome, Blue Dragon, Gigantic Formula, Jeeg, Terra e...) and have done the best to put out of my brain, forever (and ever amen). I wonder if I'll have the time to watch as much anime as I do after I graduate (in 3 months time) and find a job? Methinks not.... guess I better enjoy it while it lasts.Oh, and I suck at finishing off series; it took me about 2 and a half years to eventually see all of Hunter X Hunter (including the OVAs), plus I only watched the last 4-5 episodes of Genshiken a few months ago and am still slowly making my way through Rozen Maiden Traumend, Kaleido Star, Mahou Tsukai Tai! and Chance! Pop Sessions. Oh, there's just not enough hours in a day....
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