Before I get into that, though, you should all be sure to wish the very awesome Desbreko a happy 21st birthday today. Lord knows he deserves it -- he's contributed plenty to theO and OB, and I have watched plenty of anime on his recommendation, so that makes make doubly kickass. Live it up today, buddy!
Also, OBers be sure to post in the winter anime thread at OB.
The fall anime season was quite good -- I stuck with 11 shows throughout, which is nearly twice the number I am looking into for the winter season. There are lots of shows that deserve to be recognized, and I am here to give them that recognition! There are shows I plan to watch later, and shows I dropped, and I will be revealing those separately, along with how many episodes I may have watched already, if any. It would not be fair to include those among shows I have either completed or have watched a significantly greater amount.
Plan to Watch: ef - a tale of melodies (3/12), Mouryou no Hako (5/12), Michiko to Hatchin (4/22), Tales of the Abyss, Skip Beat
Dropped: Ga-Rei Zero (2/12), Yozakura Quartet (3/12), Shikabane Hime: Aka (3/13)
And now for the (tl;dr) list ...
1. Toradora! (13/25): No doubt in my mind about this pick. Toradora! is an immensely entertaining, refreshing romantic comedy with an excellent characters and a willingness to defy clichés. For example, Aisaka Taiga could have easily been yet another in the long line of tsundere characters Rie Kugimiya has played, and fans probably would not have minded at all. But she has turned out much deeper than that. Her relationship with Ryuji Takasu has been full of surprises. They have the typical tsundere/flustered guy interactions, but they also have some subtler moments together that truly reveal who they are and what drives them. Minori Kushieda could have been a moe genki girl, and nobody would have cared. But with a couple of short conversations with Ryuji, she's revealed to be much more -- and much more perceptive -- than she seems. Minori made me laugh, and then she made me feel for her completely.
That's what Toradora! does: It deftly mixes comedy and drama in the best, most surprising ways. All this culminates in the show's 13th episode, which is easily the best I saw this season. I shed tears not once, but TWICE (and came close to losing it again just reading someone's description of a scene on a message board), and I practically shouted at the screen during one sequence. No other fall anime had that emotional resonance with me, not even Clannad ~After Story~. Watch this show. You will not regret it.
2. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 season two (10/25): I am not caught up to most people, but from what I have seen, the second season of Gundam 00 takes everything so awesome about the first season (a good story, great characters and fantastic action) and amps it up to 11. The two characters I am enjoying most so far are Tieria and Graham. With Tieria, I like how his loyalty has wavered just slightly. He is still dedicated to the original mission of Celestial Being, but he cannot yet bring himself to betray the Innovators (his people) by revealing their existence to his comrades. Tieria is torn between the cold, utilitarian logic of the Innovators and the emotional thinking of humans. Watching him struggle with that has been interesting. With Graham, I love how obsessed he is with destroying Setsuna. I am an admitted sucker for stories of obsession; it's interesting to see the depths of obsession, why that obsession exists and how that obsession forms the person. Graham is certainly not as likable as he is in the first season, but he has this fire in his eyes that reveals his obsession, and that makes him about has interesting to me. Plus, Yuichi Nakamura is all kinds of awesome as Graham. If the show continues on this path, it'll top the first season.
3. Clannad ~After Story~ (12/24): As much as I enjoyed the series of mini-arcs in the beginning of the season, I am glad Clannad is breaking away from that and focusing more on Tomoya and Nagisa. While Nagisa is not my favorite of the Clannad girls (hello, Tomoyo!), she and Tomoya are the emotional core of the show. I really enjoy their relationship, moreso since Tomoya has struck out on his own and got a job. The tests they've had to endure -- most recently with Tomoya's dad -- have showed the strength of their relationship, but it has also set them up for some problems. As well as Tomoya has been doing, his problems with his father has pushed him back toward the brink, and there are subtle signs that Nagisa is approaching her breaking point, as well. I get the feeling After Story is really going to pick up soon.
4. Shugo Chara! Doki (12/?): Sure, it has been "Amu defeats the Mystery Egg of the week!" nearly the entire season, but the episodes have been as fun and charming as anything from the show's great first season. Doki also had one of the funniest episodes of the season, where the boys from the Guardians are morphed into "cute," cross-dressed versions of their normal selves. Something else the villain so far, Lulu, has been handled. At first she is just a generic villain, but after the latest episode, where she has a Christmas party with Amu, and as a result becomes more sympathetic (the fact that her motives do not paint her as a complete pawn of Easter also make her slightly more sympathetic). It's been a fun continuation so far, although I hope a big arc comes forth soon.
5. Chaos;Head (12/12): My heart (which really enjoyed the first half of the show) wanted to place it higher, but my head (which was disappointed with the finale) forced a compromise. At its best, Chaos;Head is a good horror mindscrew with some fun satirical elements (the delusions are great, and Takumi is a hilariously ineffective hero). But when the story needed to be explained and wrapped up, it ended up being a bunch of technobabble (which I am half sure is also meant to be a jab at stories of this type) and random events (wtf river under Shibuya??). I wish the girls had not been swept to the side in the end, too, because they make up roughly 90 percent of Chaos;Head's awesomeness. Fun show, but it probably could have been executed better.
6. Kannagi (13/13): The most surprisingly enjoyable show of the season, although it went slightly wayward by the end (in anticipation of a second season, methinks). But, yeah, I did enjoy watching this suddenly morph into an awesome comedy series in the middle of the season. It was pretty sneaky, too -- one moment Kannagi was, "This is enjoyable but not amazing," and the next it was, "omfg roflmao." The dramatic stuff at the end of the season could have been executed a bit better (although I did enjoy the finale), but that's a minor quibble when it was the funniest show of the season for about four or five weeks in a row. Kannagi's second season has the potential to be really good -- there are still some interesting, unresolved stories, and there is a solid core of funny characters.
7. Kurozuka (12/12): I am reluctantly putting this ahead of To Aru Majutsu no Index, if only because the action is so fantastic. But, man, is this ever a frustrating series. Great action week-in and week-out, but the story is so very often a generic, "Gotta kill this guy to go up the chain of command" sort of thing. It sucks, because it started out so well and so interesting; when it started to fall for me is after the time skip. The future world is so much less interesting than the ancient era the series started in. I did enjoy some of the weirder elements (wtf @ carrying a bag of shit for no reason), but the story never grabbed me like it should have, even though I was intensely interested in the relationship between Kuro and Kuromitsu the entire time. The end disappointed the hell out of me, though. Watch this for the fantastic action and nothing else.
8. To Aru Majutsu no Index (13/24): I feel kind of guilty sticking this so far down the list, because it's a solid show that never has a dip in quality and is even very good on occasion (specifically, when Touma loses his memory and then teams up with Stiyl for a few episodes; those two have good chemistry). If To Aru Majutsu no Index were released in the winter, instead of the stacked fall season, then it would probably be one of the better shows of the season. It does have plenty of things going for it -- good characters (Stiyl is awesome, I like Index and I liked Touma much more has the season progressed), a decent story and good action. A very pretty series, this is. I think a lot of people here would enjoy this show, especially if you're into fantasy and magic. It's a good, fun series.
9. Kyo no Gononi (12/13): Not as good as the OVA (the art style, especially, is a big step down), but it got better as it took on more of its own identity and presented its own spin on skits the OVA also covered, while also presenting new skits. The show is borderline ecchi at times (not as bad as the OVA, though), so it is not for everyone, but it's a funny and sweet show, aside from that. The most enjoyable part of the show (aside from Aihara and Natsumi) is how the kids are just ... kids. They're not kids who act like cool characters; they're kids. The way they think about things is so true to childhood, and I love that. Definitely recommended if you do not mind the ecchi (which is not exploitative at all, IMO).
10. Hyakko (10/13): Pretty much everything about it is decent. The characters are decent, the humor is decent and the random stories are decent. It's never really amazing, but you're guaranteed at least a few laughs in each episode. Don't know that I'd recommend it unless you actually have the time to watch it, but it's not bad at all.
11. Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka (12/12): Fuck this show. This is the last sentence I am wasting writing about it.
