Yes, it's time for the long-awaited (?) best of the winter season post! This season had a bit more quality than I expected at the top, but it also had a good amount of garbage at the bottom. Definitely not as good overall as the fall, but that season is a tough act to follow. I finished/am keeping up with 12 series, and miraculously dropped none (although one will probably get the axe soon), although that should say more about how much free time I have than the quality of the season. Deciding on a final order was difficult, because even the shows at the top have one or two notable flaws that made me reconsider their positions a billion times each.
The format should be easy enough to understand -- I've ranked the anime 1-12, best to worst, and included episode counts and final scores (or what would be my score if I absolutely had to rank it right now).
1. Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th season (13/13): Ah, good ol' Marimite. I am glad you were here to make picking the top show of the winter that much easier. If you are a fan of Marimite, then you know what to expect going into this next iteration of the series: Many quiet moments, strange drama and Yumi being just about the most adorable character in the history of anything ever. (It's weird to think of Marimite as dependable, but you can count on it to offer bizarrely enjoyable drama in any of its seasons if you are one of the people who are not put off by its style.)
Case in point: The main thrust of this season is Yumi's struggle to decide upon a petite soeur (or younger sister), which is The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make in Your Life at Lillian. But, really, it's more about the way the characters interact and support each other during this insane drama. Yumi and Sachiko's relationship has developed into something that glows every time they're onscreen together. Even if you want to smack Touko upside the head at times, there's no denying the fire on display during her scenes with Yumi. Yoshino comes into her own even more as a little fireball of awesome. And there's a real sense of growth as another set of upperclassmen (this time Sachiko and Rei) prepare to move on and leave things for the younger generation (Shimako, Yumi and Yoshino).
However, if there's one big flaw with this season, it's definitely the second episode -- when you walk the path of strange drama like Marimite often does, it's only a matter of time before you stumble upon a clunker. Ep2, which centers upon Kanako, who is easily my least favorite character in the series, is just a mess all around. I couldn't believe how bad it was while I watched it. Luckily, the show moves on from that episode quickly, and even Kanako seems better off for it. It's a testament to the worth of Marimite that I could consider it the best show of the season even with an episode that bad in its ranks. (Actually, the biggest flaw of the season is that SEI IS BARELY AROUND ANYMORE, but I am a raving fanboy, so ignore me.) (Final score: 8/10)
2. Minami-ke Okaeri (13/13): Minami-ke is a show that I think is best marathoned rather than watched one week at a time over the course of a season. The series is just so low-key and easygoing about its characters and humor that you don't realize how good it is until the show is finished and you think, "Wow, Minami-ke is a really funny series." Again, like Marimite, if you are a fan of Minami-ke, then you know what you are going to get with the show's third season: Each episode will take something inherently banal and uninteresting, and will spin gold from it with the powers of its awesome characters.
However, I really like the direction the show went in this season. Mako-chan, who is used a ton in Okawari, is scaled back this season, which I do not have a problem with, even though I love the little guy. Hosaka is not used quite as much, either, which I have more of a problem with, but it's not as if he gets no time. To make up for that, Touma Minami gets more of a spotlight, which leads to an intensified focus on the quiet rivalry she has with Chiaki. Comedy gold, I says. Touma's brother, Natsuki, also comes into his own as a brilliantly hilarious character. (He is a major part of the show's 10th episode, which has to be the funniest I saw all season.) Then there is the requisite amount of the Minami sisters, Fujioka (who has SUCH a weird relationship with both Chiaki and Touma, haha) and all their other friends. If you like Minami-ke and Minami-ke ~Okawari~, then you will also like the third season. (8/10)
3. Maria Holic (12/12): Coming off the brilliant Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series, my expectations were sky high for Maria Holic. (How could they not be? It's SHAFT, with Shinbo at the helm, doing a series about a perverted closet lesbian who is tormented by a trap. How could that ever fail?) Not gonna lie, though: Maria Holic disappointed me a bit. But don't get me wrong -- the parts with Kanako and Mariya are fantastic. Mariya is such a hilariously cruel character, and Kanako so over the top in her reactions to Mariya's torment, and it's hysterical every time. Matsurika forms the final point of the triangle, messing with both Kanako and Mariya whenever she wants to. This is also done with the requisite awesome SHAFT style of crazy animation, too.
Where Maria Holic stumbles, though, is when it breaks away from that formula. Unlike Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Maria Holic does not have a compelling cast to work with -- God/Dorm Leader and Nanami are the only consistently entertaining side characters. Father Kanae is funny but appears in just the final two episodes. Ayari is also funny but is not used as much as other characters. I may have fanboyed for Ishima, but she's not a particularly interesting character (although she is funny when she goes all samurai protector on Kanako), and neither are the other girls Kanako hangs out with. There's a three- or four-episode stretch in which Mariya and Matsurika are barely used, and I think that is by far Maria Holic's weakest stretch. The series regains its footing by the end, and I definitely would not mind a second season, but should that happen, my expectations would be tempered quite a bit. (8/10)
4. Rideback (12/12): Definitely the most surprisingly enjoyable show of the season. Who ever thought I could get into a show about bi-pedal motorcycles/mini-mecha -- especially ones that dance?? But it's the power of the main character, Rin Ogata, that makes it all work. Rin is a former ballet dancer who can no longer perform onstage due to an ankle injury she suffered during a performance. However, she stumbles upon the Rideback club at her college and slowly becomes attached to the club's best machine, Fuego, which moves with the light touch Rin displayed when she was a dancer. Along with all this is a story about some members of the Rideback club battling against an oppressive government entity, the GGP, but that is by far the least interesting part of the show. It's overly simplistic and barely gets going maybe halfway through the series.
What the show is really about, however, and where Rideback truly shines, is Rin's journey to rediscover the fire she lost when her ballet career ended. Rin is a sweet, caring girl with an intense competitive streak that makes her one of my favorite characters of the season. Something else that absolutely has to be mentioned is how beautiful Rideback is. Madhouse spares no expense in making this show look great, and the sequences where Rin dances away on Fuego are thrilling to see. If you can get past the goofiness of the premise, and the simplicity of the fight against the government, then Rin will make this show worth watching for you. (8/10)
5. The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan (14/?): This is basically Haruhi coming up with random things for the SOS Brigade to do each episode, and although I must continue wishing that KyoAni will eventually put out another season of Haruhi Suzumiya, this is funny enough to placate me for the time being. Really, I am just happy to hear Tomokazu Sugita as Kyon again. I missed him being grumpy and sarcastic each week. Other things I love: Yuki is becoming a full-fledged otaku; Asakura is now a chibi named Achakura; Haruhi secretly ships Kyon x Itsuki (I would really love to hear JYB doing this, haha); Kyon and Itsuki in host club suits (hahaha); Achakura-in-a-box; and so on, and so forth. Fans of Haruhi Suzumiya absolutely need to watch this. (8/10)
6. Axis Powers Hetalia (11/26): This is the show I struggled most to place. It takes a couple of episodes to get going, but that's not such a big problem. The bigger problem is that Hetalia is just five minutes a week. Five minutes of hilarity, definitely, but still, it's just five minutes. (Why can't you be longer, Hetalia?!) Really, I think being so short works to the show's detriment sometimes. In certain episodes, things will end just when it appears as if it's gaining some steam. (I had that experience with ep11 just a few minutes ago, actually.) That is the most frustrating aspect of the series. Definitely a good watch for those with scarce amounts of time on their hands, but I wish it were longer or released more episodes per week, ala Haruhi-chan. But enough negativity. Italy friggin' rules, I love America (BURGERS OM NOM NOM NOM) and Germany is a great straight man. Austria playing out his feelings on the piano is one of the funniest moments of the season. France is a hilarious sissy. Russia scares me. PAAAAAAAAAAASTAAAAAAAAAA~ (8/10)
7. Kemono no Souja Erin (8/50): I'm glad I watched eps 7 and 8 before writing this, because now the series is really picking up steam. In the beginning, it's a sort of slice-of-life series about a young girl, Erin, and her mother, Soyon; however, now that Kemono no Souja Erin is finally getting into the meat of the story, it could become a very good show. Erin is another young girl in the grand tradition of children's stories -- smart, kind, maybe a bit naive, but ready to go out, confront the world and grow up. The relationship she has with her mother is portrayed quite well, and the lessons Soyon imparts to Erin make themselves evident in the young girl's worldview. It must also be mentioned that Kemono no Souja Erin is gorgeous. Des put it best: This is what it would be like if Wind Waker were an anime instead of a video game. It's a style that is refreshing and separates Erin from many other shows, much to its benefit. Don't be intimidated by how long the series will eventually be; this is a keeper. (7/10)
8. Nyoro-n Churuya-san (5/?): Churuya is basically a chibi Tsuruya who gets treated cruelly by the Haruhi Suzumiya characters each week. (The worst I've seen is Kyon basically telling her to die when she confesses to him. Utterly cold, and yet I laughed my ass off. I could feel my heart darken as the laughs rolled out.) It's a very weird, nonsensical show, but I have to admit that I want to watch more. (7/10)
9. Asu no Yoichi! (12/12): I should probably feel worse about myself for having enjoyed this. Asu no Yoichi! throws in practically every anime comedy cliché in the book over the course of 12 episodes. (You have the token tsundere, the token big sister, the token fish out of water who gets into ecchi situations, etc.) The series does not do anything that a million other comedy series have not done a million times before. And yet, damn it, I watched each week and liked it. That probably says a lot about my tolerance for comedy. To the credit of Asu no Yoichi! most of the characters are at least likable in some way. Yoichi is a decent guy, Chihaya is amusing in a sly way and Washizu is hilarious. (Also hilarious is that, in the most horrifying development of the season, this show threatened to turn me into a shipper. Gah. At least I didn't write fan fiction ...) The show is funny and charming in its own simple way, but you have to sit through a ton of clichés and stupid fanservice to get to that. (6/10)
10. Munto (TV) (9/9): Munto's status as a KyoAni property earned it automatic watch status for me, but, not being a complete fool, I tempered my expectations heavily, for two reasons: 1) The main KyoAni staff was still busy with Clannad ~After Story~, which meant that Munto would receive much less attention, and 2) The story did not interest me in the slightest. And, really, it never interested me much when the show got going, either. The main character, Yumemi, has to use some sort of power she has to save Munto's world, only it takes her forever to actually get there, and blah, blah, blah. Whatever. Never cared about that whatsoever. The real reason to watch Munto is the glorious battle scenes. If you are a fan of seeing animated characters beat the holy hell out of each other and blow up a metric fuckton of stuff (which I am), then enjoy KyoAni providing just that. My favorite character is easily Gass, who possesses insane magical ability and can warp the space-time continuum. What a badass. Too bad the series isn't about him. (6/10)
11. Kurokami (12/24): The requisite "I swear I watched this only because I am desperate for an action show this season" series. I'll put it plainly: Kurokami's story is atrocious and boring. If there were more ways to see people beat the holy hell out of each other (or I miraculously had a job), then I never would have touched this. Alas, this was not the case. The fight scenes are decent enough, and I am immediately interested in anything featuring the wonderful Jouji Nakata, but any normal person (i.e. not me) should not get within 100 feet of this show. With so much fantastic action being offered during the spring, I am gladly dropping this series. (5/10)
12. White Album (13/13): Just thinking about this series pisses me off. I thought it could be an interesting, mature drama, moreso because it's a rare romance series set in college rather than high school. (A breath of fresh air!) Oh, how wrong I was. Somehow, it's even soapier and more god awful than some of the worst high school romance series I've seen. My words could never do justice to how truly terrible some of the developments are. (But you are welcome to try them out by reading my past thoughts on each episode.) Add to that a quite pretentious visual style that randomly changes how Touya views people; at least the crazy visuals in, say, ef - a tale of memories, you know, make sense and contribute to the plot. The worst part, though, is how the series develops slowly at first, to pull the viewer in to the story and relationships, and then out of nowhere it bombards the viewer with soapy development after soapy development, during which I could feel the veins in my head pulsating more with each new episode. Mana's insertion into the series momentarily tricked me into thinking that maybe -- just maybe -- the series could possibly become good again. (This doesn't happen.) It is almost absurd how horribly White Album crashes and burns. Literally the only good things it has going for it are: 1) The OP (which is a legitimately good song), 2) Mana (and she is going to be destroyed when White Album resumes in the fall) and 3) The unintentional comedy of Touya being a complete fucking idiot. If you have a cruel streak, you might enjoy laughing at his dumb ass week after week. But, really, you should just stay away at all costs.
I'll put it this way: If Toradora! made 'Gome want to stay away from shoujo for a good, long while, then making her watch White Album would be like the shoujo version of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (5/10)
