Tomorrow I'll do a big post about the best and worst of the shows I watched during the fall season, and I'm thinking about making a winter season thread at OB, even though the place is like a ghost town right now. xD
For now, though, weekly anime! Let's get this rolling.
Anime discussed: Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka, Chaos;Head, Hyakko, Kannagi, Kurozuka, Library War, Minami-ke Okawari, Shingetsutan Tsukihime, Spice and Wolf, To Aru Majutsu no Index
-- Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka ep12: Why the hell did I finish this again? My main theory is morbid curiosity (how bad could it get before it finished?), but there has to be more to it than that. As expected, this turned out to be thoroughly average in the end. I guess the ending is supposed to have some sweeping emotional resonance, but it's hard to feel that when 90 percent of the buildup is contained to two episodes. Whatever. I am sure nobody else is even remotely interested in this, but just in case: I warn you all to stay away from this series, for the love of God.
-- Chaos;Head ep12: I enjoyed the series the whole way through, but the ending is a bit disappointing. It's just not as fun and crazy as the rest of the series; plus, I was robbed of the girls banding as one and supporting Takumi! Instead, they do some shit with a river or wtfever. I blame Ayase for this. However, I did enjoy all the views from Takumi's perspective, and Norose is a competent villain, even if he did turn into a total weakling once Takumi decided to godmod his way to victory. Oh well. Decent end to an enjoyable series.
-- Hyakko ep10: Something's finally done with Touma, which I'm glad to see, because she's been hiding in the shadows the entire series, and I've been interested in what she's really like. I enjoyed the revelation that she actually knew Torako in middle school and wanted to be her friend, but that for whatever reason she now avoids Torako. Her reactions to the rest of the main cast are amusing, too.
-- Kannagi ep13: If this show does not get a second season, I will be shocked, because while this episode is good, there is no real resolution (and ambiguity is not Kannagi's M.O. lol). Good mix of drama and humor in this episode -- the ending is especially well done, with Tsugumi happening upon Jin and Nagi in a, er, compromising position, and then running away in distress and confusion. The timing of the OP in that scene is perfect.
-- Kurozuka ep12: Very weird episode, and sort of disappointing. I get what it's going for -- Kuromitsu has Kuro in an endless cycle of death and rebirth where he seeks her once he is alive again -- but the cycle shown is not good enough to make that revelation hit hard. Once again, the action is fantastic, and I have no complaints there; however, the story falls short of that. It started faltering after the time skip, and while it regained its footing for a short time once Kuro was focused on bringing down the Red Emperor's Army, the show lost me once it went into Kill 'Em All mode. I think all the deaths have a point (to me, they represent the destructive quality of Kuro and Kuromitsu's relationship), and I did care for a couple of the characters, but then the supposed main villain turned out to be a dork. Hm.
-- Library War eps 11-13: Good end to the series, although I think it would have been better if the end were a bigger arc rather than another mini-arc. Some characters -- especially Tezuka's brother -- would have benefited from that. But, hey, I enjoyed the relationship between Kasahara and Dojo, so whatever. The recently-released DVD special is fun, too.
-- Minami-ke Okawari eps 2-13: It doesn't quite reach the apex of funny the first season established, but it's not bad at all, either. In fact, I quite enjoyed it; the only real negative is the art, which isn't quite as appealing as the first season's. But it is not as if it's ass ugly, although there are some strange shortcuts taken. Basically this season has the same M.O. as the first -- take a lot of good characters and let them bounce off each other. Is it just me, or is Kana featured a hell of a lot more in this season? Maybe it's just been a while since I have seen the first season, but it seemed that way to me. Not that I am complaining at all, since Kana is my favorite of the Minami girls. There's a lot more Mako-chan, too, which is also fine by me, although the situations (s)he gets in are not as funny as the first season. (However, it is hilarious that Makoto seems comfortable cross-dressing now. He shows up in places as Mako-chan when there is no reason to, haha.) Hosaka's role is scaled back, though, which is disappointing. He does not get an episode of his own, and he is mostly relegated to following Haruka's lead. Oh well. Watching this gave me much more confidence in the upcoming third season of Minami-ke.
-- Shingetsutan Tsukihime eps 1-12: An OK series, although it could have been done better. For one, I think it's way too short for the story it's trying to tell. Instead of being lean, it's just rushed. The character who suffers most for this is the main villain, Roa -- he's introduced near the end of the series, gets some backstory and I guess from there it's hatred away. It doesn't work well at all, even with the awesome Hiroyuki Yoshino voicing him. The romance in the series is also hit or miss. It ranges from decent (Shiki's interactions with Arcueid) to boring and awkward (Shiki's interactions with Yumizuka). Tsukihime should have stuck to vampire killing, knife fights and family intrigue, because those are its strengths. But, hey, at least it got me more Hitomi Nabatame, who also voiced Sena in Chaos;Head. <3
-- Spice and Wolf eps 12-13: Good end to the first season of the show -- definitely looking forward to the second season after finishing this. The relationship between Horo and Lawrence is as awesome as ever; I enjoy that the romantic tension is subtle, and that neither character's personality has changed too much because of it. And for an anime concerning economics, the final couple of episodes are plenty thrilling. :P
-- To Aru Majutsu no Index ep13: A decent lead-in episode to what will surely be a wild brawl between Touma and Accelerator. Their so far has been decent; as expected, Accelerator has pretty much owned Touma, although Touma did get a good shot in against Accelerator that will clearly come into play later in the fight. Looking forward to the two of them tearing the house down.
