And here it is, the first of my new Anime Update posts.
Just to recap, after growing tired of doing the Week in Anime posts, I decided to switch to a monthly review instead (which could end up being bi-monthly depending on how much I've watched). Anime Update will basically be the same as Week in Anime, but rather than talking about what I've watched in a week, it will be my thoughts on where I'm at in the anime I'm currently watching at the end of the month - shows I'm watching, shows I've finished, and shows I've just started on.
I haven't watched anymore Asatte no Houkou or Romeo x Juliet since the last time I discussed them in Week in Anime, so they won't be covered in this post.
INDEX
- Claymore
- Ghost Hunt
- Hayate the Combat Butler!
- HeatGuy J
- Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter
- Simoun
- Sora no Manimani
Claymore (8/26)
While I had some issues with the first few episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed the Teresa arc. Although Clare was bad-ass, Teresa is the ultimate Claymore bad-ass. The Claymore vs Claymore fighting was a treat, and one time where an episode-long battle isn't an annoyance. Although Teresa was very negative in the beginning, it was good to see how she began to warm up due to young Clare's influence, so by the time Priscilla awakens and becomes a monster, it really hit me when she killed Teresa. It was so sudden, which somehow made it worse. I had already figured there was no way Teresa could escape punishment forever, but it's one of those things you still kind of hope for, so when Priscilla just suddenly took off her head it just felt so wrong. I'm wondering now if Clare was partially motivated to join the organization as a means to gain the power to one day hunt down and kill Priscilla in revenge.
Speaking of the organization, they're a bunch of hypocrites. They create the Claymores as tools to destroy the youma, and are utterly disinterested in the ways humans can act like monsters toward each other. Teresa was perfectly justified in slaughtering the bandits, but because Claymores are not allowed to kill humans under any circumstances, she's condemned to die. It shows how inhumane humans can be to each other; while the youma kill because it is their nature, people like the bandits are worse because they kill for greed and pleasure.
Ghost Hunt (25/25)
And so the series came to an end. I particularly enjoyed the 'Bloodstained Labyrinth' arc. The last couple of arcs added a genuine horror factor that I think was missing from most of the series. I also wish it had continued, because it's just a 'things will go on as they have been' and not really an 'ending' per se. It was nice to see that Naru did actually have a spiritual power, although he never uses it because it takes too much of a toll on him. Out of the other characters I'd have to say the monk was my favorite. He was fun and ended up having the most to do out of them, being almost the second-in-command in terms of authority in the group.
Hayate the Combat Butler! (14/52)
While there's a lot of randomness to Hayate, I also appreciate that they also try to have something close to an ongoing plot, the most recent thread of which had Hayate trying to enter the academy that Nagi attends, and flubbing the exam by one point thanks to Yukiji's goofing around. It'll be interesting to see what kind of mayhem Hayate gets up to at school. Oh, and then there's the nameless girl who's randomly popped up in every episode, always eating something, turns out she's one of Hayate's former classmates from his old school and she has feelings for him (surprise surprise). Bump up the harem factor by one.
HeatGuy J (6/25)
Still as episodic, but it's beginning to gel a bit as Eps 4 - 6 all feature schemes by the unstable gangster Claire Leonelli, who is determined to destroy J. Been a couple weeks since I last watched any of this so I better get further into it soon.
Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter (5/11)
Having finally (mostly) conquered his fear of flying, Chiaki arrives in Paris with Nodame in tow. Nodame continues to be her usual bizarre self and still worries about being left behind by Chiaki, especially after he head off on a lengthy tour with Stresemann. Looks like there's finally some potential development happening in the relationship after Stresemann chides Chiaki for not making his feelings clear to Nodame. I also like how Nodame learns (some) French from watching a French dub of her favorite animation, Puri Gorota.
One thing I didn't like was the CGing of the orchestras in certain scenes. The way they're all moving their arms... it's so obviously computer generated, and rather badly in my opinion.
Simoun (3/26)
"Interesting" doesn't even begin to describe this series. OK, so it's set on another planet, with a mixture of steam punk and more advanced technology. It's also yuri, but in quite a unique way: everyone is born female, and on their 17th birthday they must choose their permanent sex. However it seems a bit of the female still remains behind, because even the 'male' characters are voiced by female actors. The process must happen over a number of years too, because there's a 'male' character who still has noticeably substantial breasts. And the Simoun of the title - flying machines of advanced technology from a lost civilization - can only be controlled by a pilot pair, and only those who have not chosen their permanent sex can fly them. The Simoun are activated when the pair kiss each other and then a large jewel-like-thing on the Simoun (probably the power unit). So yeah... this isn't your typical yuri series at all. I don't quite understand everything yet - a lot of jargon gets thrown at you in the beginning - but I'm intrigued enough to keep watching.
Sora no Manimani (2/12)
There are quite a few things about this show that I've seen before in other series. The 'club that desperately needs members so it won't be shut down' scenario was also used in Clannad and K-ON! And then there's the anemic character who's often coughing blood and passing out (Hyatt from Excel Saga, anyone?). But what I've seen so far is still enough fun to hold my interest. I especially like the idea of the amateur astronomy club. Not much else to say for now, but I'll keep watching.
