The End (of Summer) is Nigh
So… what’s on?
Lots of people do it, I suppose, but when I first started doing the “What’s on” posts, was I subconsciously copying Kabitzin? Probably, but then he went and got married just to copy me, so I hope we’re even. I haven’t seen a standout episode worth blogging in a while, so… what’s on at my house? (organized by how current I am, since that’s a pretty good gauge of my interest)
Caught up
Code Geass. It’s a sea change for Zero. Now that Lulu has pretty much lost everything, I’m anxious to see where the story goes. Maybe Goro and Sunrise aren’t even sure, who knows. I’ve been thinking for a while that LeDouche would end up founding a new group, consisting of Kallen, Orange, C.C. (for whatever that’s worth these days), and probably Suzaku, but I’m not sure what exactly I think this crew will actually do. What I am sure of is that Suzaku losing his marbles is pretty awesome.
Soul Eater. This one’s hitting its stride with action after some really funny non-fighting episodes. It’s getting dangerously close to the standard shounen series that it parodies, but there’s still enough style and humor to set it apart. Incidentally, I watched the Excalibur episode a couple times, making it Soul Eater’s first repeat for me in a while. America!
The Return of Maid Guy. I hope public outcry has brought those fansubbers back on for the duration (two more episodes), because the ridiculous Miko episode was gold. In fact, it was so brilliant, it was a fanservice show about fanservice. Meta.
Real Drive. When you take a step back, RD is just a series of portraits of this future world that Shirow has created, with Nyamo serving as a window for the viewer to look through. Still not a lot of people watching this one, but I’m glad to see that they’re all very vocal about how much they love it.
Macross F. Sheryl went through a nice period of “Who’s moe now, bitch?” but it looks like Ranka’s getting a little taste of pain just as she realizes how smitten she is with Alto, for whom shoujo bubbles were seemingly invented. Hopefully Alto won’t be fighting his next battle in a nice boat instead of a variable fighter. The self-shipping/everyone’s-on-a-date episode was dumb to me. And by the way… triangles, we get it. Worse than the freaking pineapple dessert. Anyway, I’m watching, still up to date… but for some reason I’m not doing a lot of caring. Oh yeah, the animation is dog shit. See above, Sinbad.
Daughter of 20 Faces. Chiko’s aunt has yet to learn that her niece is immune to soup-based attacks, but Tome has thankfully put those to a stop with a little blackmail. Akechi’s starting to look formidable, and though he seems nice enough, I don’t think he’s looking for Twenty Faces so he can make friends. It seems like the series is getting a tad sloppy lately, but I’m still on board and ready to find out what the hell TF did to himself in the lab to get so un-killable.
Behind
Bonin’ knows, am dough. aka, Xam’d: Lost Memories, aka Bonen No Xamdou aka Bounen No Zamned aka 亡念のザムド aka bleeeeearararagh. You could bullet list the similarities to Eureka Seven: motley ship crew (mailmen rather than surfers), organic mecha things, familial issues, grumpy captain. But as OGT mentioned, Xam’d opted to start with a bang instead of Eureka’s gradual ramp-up. Like Soul Eater’s first couple episodes, Xam’d grabs you with its action, energetic mood, and typically awesome Bones style. Don’t expect too many more episodes of 20 Faces with great animation though, since the Xam’d crew is currently wallpapering their cubicles with approximately Lichenstein’s annual defense budget. Even though I’m behind, this one is high on my list.
Blassreiter. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but when the series took a brighter turn toward action and away from everyone dying, my interest level dropped. There’s just not enough dark stuff going on in my anime lately. Still, Amanda is one of my favorite characters currently, and who doesn’t want to see Wolf get his just desserts deserts desserts whatever.
Nabari No Ou. Still watching. Still gay. It got pretty cool for a while, with Miharu playing both sides and everyone stepping up their game. I’m pretty far behind on this one, but the big make-out session is inevitable, right?
Itazura Na Kiss. I really love the fact that a romantic anime has the balls to go past the wedding. Unfortunately, Kotoko still hasn’t grown as a character much, and the gender role issues that are coming to the fore make a somewhat progressive Yankee like me uncomfortable. But it’s cute, and the humor is still spot-on much of the time.
Kind of stopped caring.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. I still push play with excited abandon, but for a few episodes now I’ve been met with disappointment. The American-accented teacher was a riot, but what is this thing they’ve introduced? … oh god, it’s a plot.
Koihime Musou. I tried. I’m not sure why, but I tried. KM has a good heart, and piles of fanservice, but really, it’s dumb. As you can see, I am watching a lot of anime right now and I just don’t have room for Samurai Girl-on-Girl Pantyshot Showdown, fun as that sounds.
Golgo 13. I watch it whenever I’m bored and have no backlog, which is rarely. But the episodic format makes it great for just that. I can pick up Duke whenever I want and not worry that I won’t know what’s going on.
Special Rapey Bonus
Detroit Metal City. Go watch this thing. It’s fucking hilarious. It doesn’t have anything to do with Detroit (trust me, I lived there), but it has a lot to do with pig-bitch-rape, patricide, and sensitive artists. There’s not a big time commitment — it flies by at about ten rapes a second — and it packs a lot of laughs into a short, unique period.
So… there’s my schedule of watching (and generally not blogging) about cartoons. I don’t know how it happened, I just looked up one day and I was watching a lot of shit. Anyone else have this kind of anime load right now?
