This might be my busiest week ever in terms of the sheer number of episodes I watched. I guess I have our economy to thank for this? lol
Anime discussed: Asu no Yoichi!, Clannad ~After Story~, Code Geass R2, Gankutsuou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Lovely Complex, Maria Holic, Minami-ke Okaeri, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Munto (TV), Pani Poni Dash, Rideback, Tales of the Abyss, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Toradora!, White Album, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
-- Asu no Yoichi! ep1: I liked it just fine. There are some funny moments, and I enjoy the earnest tone of it. Don't really see it suddenly becoming something amazing (ala Kannagi), but it could be entertaining enough to keep up with the whole season.
-- Clannad ~After Story~ ep13: I think Clannad sensed how much I fanboyed for Toradora! and decided to throw down the gauntlet with this episode. Damn. This one represents all that is great about Clannad -- a hilarious first third with Akio being his usually amazing self, and then emotional moment after emotional moment from there, all culminating in the wonderful graduation ceremony Tomoya arranges for Nagisa. Speaking of Nagisa, although she isn't my favorite of the Clannad girls, I still like her a lot, and her big speech is a hell of a tearjerker moment. And then when Tomoya and Nagisa become officially married and visited Tomoya's dad? Wow. Tomoya has grown up a LOT, my gosh.
-- Code Geass R2 ep7: lol @ Lelouch being in crisis mode the whole episode. The scene where he uses his Geass to make a bunch of thugs, I dunno, dance or whatever is so bizarre that it cracked me up. I am not sure if that is the intended reaction, but hey. Confession time: I don't care about Nunnally much. She always came off to me as a cheap ploy to get the audience to sympathize with Lelouch. "He's not ALL bad -- he's doing it for his blind and crippled sister!!" I don't hate her or anything, mind, but I don't particularly like her either.
-- Gankutsuou eps 1-24: Daaaaaaaaaamn, what a great series this is. Tales of vengeance are one of my weaknesses, and this is about as well done as I have seen in anime. Everyone in chat knows how much this series gripped me from start to finish, haha. When a series has you shouting, "OMG OMG OMG" at the screen -- as I did when it's revealed that Franz sacrificed himself for Albert -- then you know it has done something right. I must admit to being a shameless fan of the Albert/Eugenie relationship as well. Oh, young love. I also enjoy the visual style of the series, aside from some silly CGI moments. It demonstrates the decadence of Paris really well, and is also just really beautiful and unique. Lastly, Jouji Nakata as the Count? Super duper win. I could listen to him speak all day.
-- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex eps 1-7: Pretty good so far. If I remember correctly, the Laughing Man is a recurring villain of sorts throughout the season, which is fine by me. The Laughing Man's introductory mini-arc is my favorite collection of episodes at the moment. I've also discovered I absolutely cannot watch this while in chat -- I get distracted WAY too easily, and with GitS, I feel like I have to intensely watch, like, every second of it, so it takes me an hour to finish one episode lol.
-- Lovely Complex eps 3-4: I am enjoying how Risa and Otani keep getting the rug swept out from under each other. First Otani is all, "wtf?" when Risa's childhood friend comes to town and makes a play for her, and then Risa is like, "EHHHHHH?!" when that freshman chick whose name I forget has the hots for Otani. Here comes the jealousy train! Woooooooo! lol Aside from that, the hyperactive pace continues to be wonderful and amusing, and Risa still makes the greatest faces in existence.
-- Marimite 4th ep1: w00t for more Marimite! Good first episode that eases everyone back into things and lets Touko be awesome. Unless Kanako somehow makes a quantum leap in coolness, Touko needs to be Yumi's petite soeur, like, yesterday. The random gender switching in the play is also quite ftw; the Tomokazu Sugita twins cracked me up with their "feminine" poses. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the season after this.
-- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 eps 15-16: ARGH THE TRINITIES FFFFFFFFFFFFFF
-- Pani Poni Dash! eps 14-26: Didn't enjoy this half of the series as much as the first. The quality of episodes is quite uneven; there are ones that made me roar with laughter (the ancient Japan and super duper mecha episodes in particular), but there are others that are sort of eh, although the visual insanity means they are never quite boring. Overall I enjoyed the series, but I don't know if I would watch it again -- PPD, to me, is a rougher leap toward the perfection of the Shinbo/SHAFT style with (Zoku/Goku) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and (judging from the first episode) Maria Holic.
-- Ride Back: If nothing else, this is a very exhilarating first episode. The opening ballet scene is wonderful to watch, and the extended scene where Rin's motorbike mecha thing goes insane is also a fantastic work of animation. I wasn't that interested in the show before watching this; actually, I still don't know how interested I am. I do, however, invite Madhouse to try and keep up this level of visual quality for the entire series. That would keep me coming back.
-- Tales of the Abyss eps 6-15: All caught up now! I like that, right after I posted last week, Luke became incredibly annoying, and then at the apex of my annoyance, he became sort of likable again. Pick a side, Luke! Jeez! Randomly enough, Natalia has become my favorite of the women; it's the bow and arrow, I think. And, wow, the latest episode pushed Van's douchery to a higher level, although if it turns out his ultimate goal is "zomg world domination!11!1!" I'll be disappointed.
-- To Aru Majutsu no Index ep14: Good fight between Touma and Accelerator, despite the fact Accelerator displayed the tactical brilliance of a retarded trout. However, I can suspend my disbelief regarding that since 1) Accelerator isn't aware of Touma's power, although he should have spotted the fact Touma used his right hand only and 2) Accelerator seems like the type to place arbitrary challenges upon himself so that he can test his power.
-- Toradora! ep15: wtf Kitamura lol. Whatever Kanou told him shook him to the core, and now he is a delinquent. Very strange. (Side note: I love Haruta. He is what Takumi from Chaos;Head would be like if he were a normal person. And not just because he is also voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino. >>) Apart from everything with Kitamura, the biggest point of interest for me is Minorin's view of Ami. I think Minorin sees something of herself in Ami -- just as Ami puts up a front with her adult act, Minorin puts up a front with her "zomg genki girl!!1!1!" act. There's a subtle bond between them that hasn't been shown much, but I think it is definitely there. Also, lol @ Taiga running as a hardline presidential candidate.
-- White Album ep2: Things are getting a bit more interesting. Haruka has some sort of feelings for Touya, while Rina makes a more direct move for Touya. Poor Yuki is going to feel that knife in her back soon. I am getting a weird vibe from Touya; at times it seems as if he genuinely likes Yuki, and at other times it seems as if he is with her out of obligation, which is obviously not healthy lol.
-- Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei eps 3-4: Ep3 is one of my favorites. Harumi putting together her yaoi doujinshi is amusing, and the skit with people casually throwing out important bits of information is hilarious. My favorite part is when Nozomu has the class overreact to minor things. "I thought the elevator was going up ... but it was going down!" "Down, you say?!?!?!?!?!" That kills me.
