What’s on? Robot gods and returning goddesses
It’s been a while since I wrote a watching report, but in truth it’s been a while since I was watching enough to justify one. Here’s my current tub o’ fun:
Shin Mazinger Z
A couple seasons ago, Madhouse breathed new life into an old franchise as well with Casshern Sins. That one was done in a very western-comic-book fashion though: He’s back, and this time he’s dark! Go Nagai’s Shin Mazinger, however, directly channels the spirit of the original and consequently transports you back to childhood — to a time when a Rocket Punch was a supremely cool thing. Hot-blooded pilot Kouji’s angst is a little overplayed in the past couple episodes, but retro robots maintain. The brick-shitting may be over, but the adrenaline rush that brought it on is still in effect.
Haruhi
What hasn’t been said? Despite my last post, this is at least partially true: For most people who enjoyed the first show, it’s requisite viewing. For the rest, it’s not.
Eden of the East
I’ve fallen really far behind on this one. It remains strong in my head, and it’s the kind of show that when I do get back to it (probably this week) I won’t be able to stop until I’m caught up. Sci-fi, mystery, a hint of romance — it’s the kind of thing that doesn’t come along every season.
FMA:Brotherhood
Funimation has not made it easy to watch (their streaming site is sorely unable to handle the traffic that FMA brought), but I’m officially caught up. The waifu and I both agree that the hyper-ramped-up pace is a lot of fun to watch. The sense of scope in the Elric Brothers’ quest is lost almost completely, but that sacrifice is made in the name of pure watchability. I might not have a lot of company in this, but I’m a fan.
Hatsukoi Limited
Talk about your dark horses. A JC-Staff-animated romance series just after the very good Toradora seemed too soon, but this one has delivered. You might even say it’s got a little something for everyone. Kei’s internal monologues give fascinating insight into the mind of the tsundere, Misaki provides cool and spicy, and the whole thing is just exploding with cute, engaging romantic story threads. And panties. Which helps.
Unlike the best shows of its genre, Hatsukoi doesn’t look like it’ll transcend the anime medium, but the series is doing a fantastic job within it. What I’m most thankful for is consistent payoffs. I think 12-26 episodes without a hand-hold or a kiss is a lazy trick employed by anime writers to keep people watching their poorly-conceived romantic series in anticipation of something happening; Hatsukoi keeps rewarding its characters and viewers with romantic payoff while still stringing us along brilliantly.
Noein
This isn’t current, but I recently started it, in dub, from the iTunes store. Sadly, I’m not very pumped about it. The animation is an example of Satelight’s worst offenses: a beautifully crisp, modern, computer-aided look marred by horrible anatomy and a near-perfect lack of character consistency. These are really distracting to me, but if the story picks up soon I’ll be happy to ignore them. One thing I probably won’t be able to, though: American dubs’ tendency to pronounce character names with second syllable accents, e.g., hah-ROO-ka.
Anything I’m missing? I fell off the Saki and Shangri-La wagons a while back, might try the latter again though. And I never did pick up Sengoku Basara, but I hear it’s pretty manly.
Sengoku Basara is loads of manly fun, but for more substance I recommend Souten Kouro. I think I’ll try Hatsukoi Limited now.
i’d forgotten all about noein. i had it on my watchlist eons ago.. i wonder how you’ll like it..
Agreed. Like look at that crap they pulled in School Rumble. That was total BS. I like that Hatsukoi Limited has some unresolved triangles/polygons mixed in with simple relationships that don’t reset every other episode (*mumble* stupid Zero no Tsukaima). However, you should take into account that sometimes it is a lazy trick employed by anime writers to let fans pair up all the couples in mysterious OOC ways.
As for Eden of the East, I think the mystery of each episode makes it a great week-to-week treat.
HAAAAAAAAAAAARUKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
KAAAAAAAARAAAASUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Enjoy your 24 episodes.
Oh, and don’t forget:
YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBI
Truer words have never been spoken. I even read School Rumble Z hoping there’s going to be a fix. SUCH UTTER CRAP THAT MAKES ME WANT TO HATE LIFE.
That’s funny, I’m having the exact same experience with Eden of the East.
What about K-On though? You mentioned it in your original watchlist for the season. Cute girls and musical instruments are a hard combination to resist for me, so I’ve been watching religiously every week.
Oh god the new Mazinger has been a great ride so far; and the Big Bang Punch is such a stupidly awesome new addition to the Mazinger arsenal, I can’t wait to see it rendered in Super Robot Wars!
And yes, Sengoku Basara is exceptionally manly.
@ghostlightning
Souten Kouro is not something I’m familiar with. Will examine further!
@kritik
I’m afraid this might be one of those series I start and then finish 3 years later, but when I do I’ll let you know XD
@Kabitzin
Lazy tricks or no, to paraphrase what you said on your blog they’ve somehow managed to spin blah into gold. Like a big old NY style pizza, there’s nothing glaringly original about it, but it’s just plain tasty.
@Owen
I see. Well, I don’t see, but I can guess. You do nothing for my barely-extant faith in this show.
@Korasoff
Who the hell are you? Where did you come from? What’s a K-ON? Just as you forgot to blog for like a year, I totally forgot to mention K-ON. It has sorta become something that people bitch about on the internet and my mind doesn’t connect at all with an actual anime.
I’m still watching it, though not enthusiastically. My interest flagged until whatshername-sensei appeared and I got all hot for teacher, but now that interest is fading again. I’ll probably watch another 3-4 episodes in a group when I have time and nothing else (like Eden) to catch up on. Which might be next week. At which time I’ll write a post: Moe, the cancer that’s killing blah blah blah.
@Snark
I have never played a SRW game (not a big gamer) but they seem so damn fun. Other people can do their romantic shipping, my fanfic consists of things like MazingerxRahxephon…
I’ve always debated about watching Shin Mazinger Z. I mean, I know nothing of the previous series, but at the same time, I love that exaggerated goofy art. For a newcomer, you think its alright to start with the last letter of the alphabet? *ba dum psh*… *leaves*
I didn’t forget to blog, I lost Internet access for a while. A long while.
It felt kinda like prison, except the food was better and no one was trying to get into my rectum.
I should give the blog a try at some point in the near future — if I can remember my password.
I’M ADDICTED TO HATSUKOI LIMITED. I TOTALLY BLAME YOU. I WATCH TOO MANY SHOWS YOU RECOMMEND. WHO DIED AND MADE YOU THE BOSS OF ME?!?
/rewatches Eureka Seven ep 20, Hatsukoi Ltd ep 02