Summer 2010 anime season blogging
The new anime season is upon us and I have to admit. With one or two exceptions, it is not looking that thrilling, especially not after following up the awesome spring season. Thus, I need to get myself motivated--both to catch up on the spring season and to get in gear with the summer season. Thus, I am going to do my best to get 100 episodes watched by the end of the month!
Totally unreasonable goal? Of course. Especially with my new obsession with Pawn Stars, which I have been mowing through like it's delicious candy. (I can't help it! It's interesting! You really kind of learn stuff along the way and it's fascinating to watch! Maybe not quite on the same level as Mythbusters, but a nice filler series while they're doing the clip episodes.) But that's not the really hard part.
I am determined to blog about what I've been watching, even if it's just a paragraph or two.
I am going to be an anime blogger one of these days, godammit. :|b
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin 01: This is the series I was most looking forward to this season and, so far, it's the one that's performed the best. I'm not sure how well it's going to hold up, but it's the one series that I got immediately attached to its lead character, because Maya is one of those tetchy-faced girls who is hardcore awesome. I LOVE HER SO MUCH ALREADY. My only gripe about this series--especially for one that should have a higher budget, I thought?--is that Maya wears the same white dress all the time. During her first day back at school? It's a gorgeous dress. But then you see her in flashbacks as a kid and she's wearing a smaller version of the same exact white dress. Is she going to be wearing it the entire series? As hot as it is, I'd like a bit more variety, to be honest.
But that's about all that's holding me back so far. Because everything else about her I love, including her obvious issues with her father, her total lack of desire to be anywhere near this goddamned school that drove her father to madness, her hatred of the occult, her being better than everyone else around her, her totally awesome reactions to her zombie dad? ALL FANTASTIC. Seriously, any chick who comes face to face with her zombified father (because he was a moron and taped himself doing a summoning spell for his own funeral) and, rather than freaking out, she picks up a folding chair and TAKES IT TO THE DEMON'S FACE? Is hardcore awesome.
But it was also when she was tracking down the lamie and she came across her father, alive and well, saying he had to trick her into thinking he was dead because it was the only way she'd come back, when she cried and knelt near him, because I honestly didn't doubt exactly where this was going. And the show lived up to that--of course it was the lamie showing her an illusion and of course she already had the axe in her hand to chop its head off, of course she knew that the whole time and used the situation to clear out her own feelings. And none of this detracts from her crankypants faces!
She is totally worth watching the series for.
Shiki 01: I spent the entire first ten minutes of this episode trying desperately to like Megumi and failing pretty hard. She's awful to her friends and treats the rest of the village like they're all beneath her and she clearly can't wait to get the hell out of there, constantly fantasizing about being taken away from this boring village. Yeah, I get that she's a teenage girl who's bored out of her mind in a tiny little rural village. I get that she's into fashion and nobody else cares about that kind of thing, but the way she treats everyone is just... ugh. Even the boy she has a crush on clearly wants nothing to do with her and I kind of can't blame him! And I'm kind of cranky at the anime for making me feel that way towards a female character and yet.
But I'm going to keep watching because I have hope that she might get a better personality after that cliffhanger ending, that the male characters might actually get some personality, and because I really enjoy horror anime. Especially if it's all pretty and brightly colored--the opening credits kind of sealed the deal for me. So pretty! So many people with blackened shadows for eyes! Pretty hair and bright colors! I'm easy, okay.
Also, Chigusa was hot. Maybe we'll get to see more of her??
Nurarihyon no Mago 01: I've read about half a volume of the manga this one was based on and I just... couldn't get into it. It wasn't bad, I enjoy the demon version of Rikuo and I like a lot of the youkai, but... it felt a little too paint by the numbers for me. If I want actually good supernatural/youkai manga, I'll keep reading Kekkaishi. Don't get me wrong, it's servicable if you like the genre! And the anime is very pretty and already shortened a few things up (or else they're changing the storyline, since they cut out the entire first chapter just about) so that the pacing was better, even if it did leave me wondering why the hell the kids were in the abandoned building looking for youkai. They had a reason to be there in the manga (if a silly one) but nothing was mentioned in the anime, I don't think?
Overall, it's about what I expected and I'll try to keep up with it, but it's not going to be one I rush immediately to watch.
(I was reading a review that was surprisingly positive towards it, mentioning that the characters were middle-schoolers rather than the typical OTT high school characters I thought, you know, maybe that's why I find this one to be a little too slow for me? I'm not big on middle-schoolers in my shounen, I like the faster-paced--and filled with more potentially hotass characters--slightly older shounen series. So this may very well be a case of the material just not being right for me.)
Arakawa Under the Bridge -->11: How do I even describe my affection for this show? I can't! Every time I try, it's just... too much! The crazy cast of characters! The jokes that should wear thin and yet I laugh like a maniac every time! The way it takes a secondhand embarrassment squicky premise (straight-laced guy finds himself tied down to a bunch of crazies and his life becomes hell) and makes it actually really fun to watch and such a positive thing! The OTPs! Oh, man, I ship Kou/Nino and Sister/Maria so hard.
Seriously, Koyasu has had some of the greatest characters to play lately. His character in Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin made me laugh so hard, but... but... but... Sister!! The huge as hell giant battle-hardened soldier with the garish scars and the machine guns hiding in hammer space and could beat the hell out of nearly anyone without blinking? IS DRESSED IN A NUN'S HABIT. And it's hilarious every time I see him. Same for his obvious feelings for Maria, despite that she crushes him under her delicate heel every single time he's near her, because she's just that much of a sadist. (Also: omg so hot.)
It's one of those shows that I want to share with everyone because the animation is lovely, because it's genuinely funny, because it's one of those off the wall humor series that actually works, but mostly because it's a collection of oddball characters that you find yourself completely in love with by episode five. (Also, I want to share the utter hilarities of Takai's feelings for Kou, because that shit makes me shriek with laughter every single time.)
Kimi ni Todoke 01-->06: Oh, man, this is the kind of shoujo I love! Where it's sweet and happy and everything is always going to work out, even if it's a little difficult on the way to getting there. It's kind of marvelous to go from this spring season (which has been a bit lackluster) then over to this show (which is like a cross between Koukou Debut and Fruits Basket, I swear) and it's like this amazing breath of fresh air. I watched 04-06 this morning (which are the rumor episodes) and honestly could not put the series down until I finished that storyline! I love how... happy everything is! How Sawako finally (if slowly and with stumbles along the way) gets people to really notice her, the way she's so adorable with Kazehaya, who can hardly stand to look at her sometimes because he's blushing so hard over her.
I am a sucker for a shoujo series where the boy is just totally, ridiculously, completely over the moon for the girl (and she right back at him) and they're both TOTAL IDIOTS IN LOVE.
I-- I kind of want to explode over this one, but I'm having trouble getting over the violent heartmarking I'm doing over pretty much the entire cast, shit. Because every time Kazehaya moves his desk over next to hers when no one else will or every time Yano and Chizu are moved to tears over how she's trying so hard or every time Endo and Hirano believe in her, I feel like my fangirl heart swells even more.
ALSO MY LOVE FOR THE IDIOT PIN IS IMMENSE. IMMENSE--!!
Totally unreasonable goal? Of course. Especially with my new obsession with Pawn Stars, which I have been mowing through like it's delicious candy. (I can't help it! It's interesting! You really kind of learn stuff along the way and it's fascinating to watch! Maybe not quite on the same level as Mythbusters, but a nice filler series while they're doing the clip episodes.) But that's not the really hard part.
I am determined to blog about what I've been watching, even if it's just a paragraph or two.
I am going to be an anime blogger one of these days, godammit. :|b
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin 01: This is the series I was most looking forward to this season and, so far, it's the one that's performed the best. I'm not sure how well it's going to hold up, but it's the one series that I got immediately attached to its lead character, because Maya is one of those tetchy-faced girls who is hardcore awesome. I LOVE HER SO MUCH ALREADY. My only gripe about this series--especially for one that should have a higher budget, I thought?--is that Maya wears the same white dress all the time. During her first day back at school? It's a gorgeous dress. But then you see her in flashbacks as a kid and she's wearing a smaller version of the same exact white dress. Is she going to be wearing it the entire series? As hot as it is, I'd like a bit more variety, to be honest.
But that's about all that's holding me back so far. Because everything else about her I love, including her obvious issues with her father, her total lack of desire to be anywhere near this goddamned school that drove her father to madness, her hatred of the occult, her being better than everyone else around her, her totally awesome reactions to her zombie dad? ALL FANTASTIC. Seriously, any chick who comes face to face with her zombified father (because he was a moron and taped himself doing a summoning spell for his own funeral) and, rather than freaking out, she picks up a folding chair and TAKES IT TO THE DEMON'S FACE? Is hardcore awesome.
But it was also when she was tracking down the lamie and she came across her father, alive and well, saying he had to trick her into thinking he was dead because it was the only way she'd come back, when she cried and knelt near him, because I honestly didn't doubt exactly where this was going. And the show lived up to that--of course it was the lamie showing her an illusion and of course she already had the axe in her hand to chop its head off, of course she knew that the whole time and used the situation to clear out her own feelings. And none of this detracts from her crankypants faces!
She is totally worth watching the series for.
Shiki 01: I spent the entire first ten minutes of this episode trying desperately to like Megumi and failing pretty hard. She's awful to her friends and treats the rest of the village like they're all beneath her and she clearly can't wait to get the hell out of there, constantly fantasizing about being taken away from this boring village. Yeah, I get that she's a teenage girl who's bored out of her mind in a tiny little rural village. I get that she's into fashion and nobody else cares about that kind of thing, but the way she treats everyone is just... ugh. Even the boy she has a crush on clearly wants nothing to do with her and I kind of can't blame him! And I'm kind of cranky at the anime for making me feel that way towards a female character and yet.
But I'm going to keep watching because I have hope that she might get a better personality after that cliffhanger ending, that the male characters might actually get some personality, and because I really enjoy horror anime. Especially if it's all pretty and brightly colored--the opening credits kind of sealed the deal for me. So pretty! So many people with blackened shadows for eyes! Pretty hair and bright colors! I'm easy, okay.
Also, Chigusa was hot. Maybe we'll get to see more of her??
Nurarihyon no Mago 01: I've read about half a volume of the manga this one was based on and I just... couldn't get into it. It wasn't bad, I enjoy the demon version of Rikuo and I like a lot of the youkai, but... it felt a little too paint by the numbers for me. If I want actually good supernatural/youkai manga, I'll keep reading Kekkaishi. Don't get me wrong, it's servicable if you like the genre! And the anime is very pretty and already shortened a few things up (or else they're changing the storyline, since they cut out the entire first chapter just about) so that the pacing was better, even if it did leave me wondering why the hell the kids were in the abandoned building looking for youkai. They had a reason to be there in the manga (if a silly one) but nothing was mentioned in the anime, I don't think?
Overall, it's about what I expected and I'll try to keep up with it, but it's not going to be one I rush immediately to watch.
(I was reading a review that was surprisingly positive towards it, mentioning that the characters were middle-schoolers rather than the typical OTT high school characters I thought, you know, maybe that's why I find this one to be a little too slow for me? I'm not big on middle-schoolers in my shounen, I like the faster-paced--and filled with more potentially hotass characters--slightly older shounen series. So this may very well be a case of the material just not being right for me.)
Arakawa Under the Bridge -->11: How do I even describe my affection for this show? I can't! Every time I try, it's just... too much! The crazy cast of characters! The jokes that should wear thin and yet I laugh like a maniac every time! The way it takes a secondhand embarrassment squicky premise (straight-laced guy finds himself tied down to a bunch of crazies and his life becomes hell) and makes it actually really fun to watch and such a positive thing! The OTPs! Oh, man, I ship Kou/Nino and Sister/Maria so hard.
Seriously, Koyasu has had some of the greatest characters to play lately. His character in Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin made me laugh so hard, but... but... but... Sister!! The huge as hell giant battle-hardened soldier with the garish scars and the machine guns hiding in hammer space and could beat the hell out of nearly anyone without blinking? IS DRESSED IN A NUN'S HABIT. And it's hilarious every time I see him. Same for his obvious feelings for Maria, despite that she crushes him under her delicate heel every single time he's near her, because she's just that much of a sadist. (Also: omg so hot.)
It's one of those shows that I want to share with everyone because the animation is lovely, because it's genuinely funny, because it's one of those off the wall humor series that actually works, but mostly because it's a collection of oddball characters that you find yourself completely in love with by episode five. (Also, I want to share the utter hilarities of Takai's feelings for Kou, because that shit makes me shriek with laughter every single time.)
Kimi ni Todoke 01-->06: Oh, man, this is the kind of shoujo I love! Where it's sweet and happy and everything is always going to work out, even if it's a little difficult on the way to getting there. It's kind of marvelous to go from this spring season (which has been a bit lackluster) then over to this show (which is like a cross between Koukou Debut and Fruits Basket, I swear) and it's like this amazing breath of fresh air. I watched 04-06 this morning (which are the rumor episodes) and honestly could not put the series down until I finished that storyline! I love how... happy everything is! How Sawako finally (if slowly and with stumbles along the way) gets people to really notice her, the way she's so adorable with Kazehaya, who can hardly stand to look at her sometimes because he's blushing so hard over her.
I am a sucker for a shoujo series where the boy is just totally, ridiculously, completely over the moon for the girl (and she right back at him) and they're both TOTAL IDIOTS IN LOVE.
I-- I kind of want to explode over this one, but I'm having trouble getting over the violent heartmarking I'm doing over pretty much the entire cast, shit. Because every time Kazehaya moves his desk over next to hers when no one else will or every time Yano and Chizu are moved to tears over how she's trying so hard or every time Endo and Hirano believe in her, I feel like my fangirl heart swells even more.
ALSO MY LOVE FOR THE IDIOT PIN IS IMMENSE. IMMENSE--!!