Re: Winter 2011 anime thread

[Kiskaloo]

Wandering Son - 03

I (heart) this show so very, very much.

[Kiskaloo]

Fractale - 03

Finally, some real meat. The truth of the Fractale system is revealed, along with those who wish to destroy it.

[Awinnell]

guess the anti smut Laws are having little affect in Japan,

Lotte No Omocha

In the medieval fantasy world of Alfheimr, succubus princess Astarotte Ygvar, the first princess of the kingdom of Ygvar, has just reached the age of 10. For the coming years of a young succubus’ life, it is necessary for them to have a male harem. In order to maintain their body and preserve their beautiful appearance, they must consume a substance only found on males. This substance is a liquid called Sauzfryma, better known as semen. The princess, however, bears a great dislike against men, and only agrees to create a harem if a human male is to join.

[Piero]

Awinnel -you sure that's the plot of something that's going to air on TV and not a flat out Hentai production or something?

Anyway, I just got caught up on a bunch of stuff today, and figured maybe I’d take the opportunity to chime in since I haven’t commented on the new shows very much yet.

Dragon Crisis (Episode 3): Kind of lost it after Episode one. Not absolutely terrible but doesn’t really have a lot to recommend it.
Fractale (Episode 3): Generally pretty good, although I found the sudden bloody violence near the end of Episode 3 pretty jarring for a show that had been so silly up to that point. At least it keeps the indulgence in lame harem show crap fairly minimal and manages to be quite different from the norm.
Freezing (Episode 1): Parts of this make me feel like I’m watching an EVA rip off. This show manages to come across as ridiculous despite being meant to be fairly serious. Also, to put it bluntly I find gore and fan service an iffy combination.
Gosick (Episode 3): I can’t say I like everything about this series. It’s got its share of flaws. But after three episodes I’d say it’s probably one of my top picks for the season. Also I’m finding I rather like the male lead. He’s not a generic loser.
Infinite Stratos (Episode 4): Wow, shit got serious in episode 4. This one is a mixed bag. It’s a harem show, and I don’t like some of the character dynamics that have developed in relation to that. In particular I feel the show’s male lead has too much natural talent with ISes and one of the girls is really full of herself. On the other hand there’s some pretty slick aerial combat scenes with the IS units and the show has actually managed to be rather clever at times. So in spite of the flaws I’d actually say this is one of my top picks for this season. Also I'm sensing a possible reverse trap coming up.
Level E (Episode 3): This goes against the flow for what’s currently big in anime (fan service and moe fan service). Granted I’m not sure the characters are actually that unique or original, but they’re at least outside the current norms. It’s been reasonably entertaining so far, although I’m not sure what to make of the future of this show after the revelations of Episode 3.
Madoka Magica (Episode 4): Episode 4’s angst wasn’t all that effective because the show didn’t make me care that much about the character death it was focused on. There’s some interesting stuff here but so far it hasn’t really clicked for me.
Merry Dream Eater (Episode 4): It’s got a certain amount of distinctiveness and I think the one girl’s dad is awesome. On the other hand it’s not really been able to hook me in very well either (granted that goes for a lot of the shows this season).
This is a Zombie? (Episode 3): It’s kind of lost it a bit in my opinion. A lame attempt at serious plot is probably part of the problem. Attempts to do serious plot with shows that rely on crazy stuff can really backfire (reference the serious climactic arcs of a lot of otherwise pretty zany and comedic shows).

Current top three is pretty much Fractale, Gosick, and Infinite Stratos. Level E also stands out.

Also, this may be a bit of a late comment since it’s a trend that began last season and is only continuing this one, but has anyone found that Index Season 2 has gone off the deep end in a bad way?

[Guest]

Man I can't wait for the new OMG anime to be released over here and Infinite Stratos looks cool. I read the little bit of the manga that is translated and it looks cool.

[Kiskaloo]

Also, this may be a bit of a late comment since it’s a trend that began last season and is only continuing this one, but has anyone found that Index Season 2 has gone off the deep end in a bad way?

I would not say it's gone off the deep end, but like the original series, it never should have been 26 episodes as it loses it's focus. It would have been better as four 13-episode series, IMO, as it would have likely remained a tighter story.

Then again, I only really enjoy it when Index is present or when Misaka gets all flustered around Touma. When neither Index or Misaka are around, I lose interest.

[Robert Frazer]

I don't watch mahou shojo shows - the only one I spent any time with is Princness Tutu for all of the classical music and ballet referencing - but I gave Puella Magi Madoka Magika a look after hearing gossip about it being relatively brutal for that sort of show. I have to say that I'm impressed. Hats off to the art director, as some of the scenes are downright freakish.

[Kiskaloo]

Hōkago no Pleiades

A collaboration between GAINAX and Fuji Heavy Industries (parent company of Subaru), this show is a series of four ONAs released on YouTube on February 1st.

It's your standard magical girl story, with four girls working to recover the "engine fragments" to send their president, a Pleiadean (who looks like a cross between a chibi-Octopus and Jigglypuff from Pokemon), back home. A fifth girl, Subaru, discovers them and decides to help. Confronting them is some guy who wants the engine fragments for himself.

It's nothing you haven't seen before, and you've seen it done a lot better elsewhere, but all four episodes are five minutes each, so you can burn it out really quick if you are so inclined to watch. When activated, the brooms make the sound of Subaru's boxer four-cylinder engine, which is amusing.

The end theme is also catchy and the design artwork at the end of the fourth episode is pretty good - if they release an Art Book for the show, I'd definitely buy it.

[Totoum]

Hats off to the art director, as some of the scenes are downright freakish.

Freakiest thing about it so far:the fact that charlotte is so darn cute , odds are she's going to be winning a few moe tournaments this year


Level E 4: If anyone wants to see a nice dramatic sci fi story watch this and disregard the troll ending ,anyway another week,another epic level E episode

[Piero]

A fifth girl, Subaru, discovers them and decides to help.

Hearing the name "Subaru" in the context of a magical girl show makes me think of this girl:



On another note does anyone know who the original gunslinging magical girl was? Because Mami from Madoka is at least the third one I'm aware of (fourth if you count the magical girl version of Revy from the Black Lagoon omakes).

[Kiskaloo]

At this point I've settled on just watching Wandering Son (this show has me in tears after every episode) and Kimi ni Todoke Second Season.

I find I Don't Like You At All Big Brother to be just dumb and with Episodes 14 through 16, To Aru no Majutsu no Index II just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I also don't really like Touma and he's the core of the show, so... Since it only has 9 episodes left, I'll just download it and fast-forward to the parts with Mikoto and the Misaka clones (episode 17 - ) and then read the plot synopsis when the show is done.

[MadHatChemist]

Puella Mgi Madoka Magica (2-5) -- My favorite show this season. The direction is brilliant as ever ( w00t Shinbo). I love how this show has taken on such a dark tone. Mahou Shojou trying to kill each other and approving of the monsters killing innocents so they can get bigger reward when the Mahou Shoujo kill them contrasts with the entire "love and justice" schtick. I also have the creeping suspicion that the "wishes" are a Faustian bargin at best and that things will not end well. Also, was I the only one who takes one look at the mascot and thinks "KILL IT!!!"?

Fractale (2-3) -- One of my two favorites this season. So far, it has grown to be a decent serious sci-fi series with an interesting future world and intriguing plot so far. The massacre really helped cement this as serious rather then degenerating into some moefied crud.

Hōkago no Pleiades -- The ridiculousness of a Gainax Mahou Shojou anime combined with a car commercial didn't quite work out...

Haiyoru Nyaruani ~ Remember My Love (Craft Sensei) -- This show makes Cthulhu loose sanity points...

Beelzebulb (2-4) -- The novelty is starting to wear off. The one potential redeeming feature is the demon wet-nurse potentially showing character development

Kore ha Zombie desu ka (2-4) -- The show started to get really boring, and was only saved by a return of the chainsaw wielding transvestite mahou shoujou zombie, who ends up killing a flying blue whale/high school student thing...

MItsudomoe Zouryouchuu (2-4) -- Mitsudomoe got back to its previous formula and keeps chugging along same as it has been.

Yuri Seijin Naoko-san -- I feel dirty having only just watched this...

[0utf0xZer0]

Madoka Magica is definitely my favourite of the season. The atmosphere, visuals, and music are great. The ending of episode 3 was a big "whoa" moment for me, particularly as I really liked a certain character. And for those thinking Faust... well, the German graffiti and such that shows up in the series is taken from Faust. Even the mask in the ED is apparently similar to those used in stage productions of it.

Fractale and Wandering Son continue to impress. Although I can't help but compare Nessa to Yui Hirasawa... not only the attitude, but "Nessa loves love!" sounds a lot like "Fun things are fun".Interestingly, one newspaper article talking about the Noitamina block called Nessa a "time travelling princess" IIRC... would be interesting to know if they're in on a spoiler or simply full of it. Probably the latter.

Level E episode 4 would probably have been more enticing if I didn't know in advance that the episode was a troll. Still enjoyable though, and I like having a decent sci-fi show for a change.

And I must given Dragon Crisis credit this week - most shows have a second arc that's signficantly weaker than the first. Dragon Crisis is a rarity in that the second arc is a massive improvement so far, what with the highly sociable but potentially deadly Anglican dragon slayer and the two interpretations of the legend.

Also, unlike Kiska I actually enjoyed Onii-chan no Koto quite a bit... I freaking loled when the male lead got resuscitated by a male friend because his sister and his childhood friend couldn't abandon their cat fight long enough to save him. Normally I hate shows that are just 2+ girls competing for a guy, but something about this one just makes it immensely enjoyable.

[Kiskaloo]

Madoka Magica is definitely my favourite of the season. The atmosphere, visuals, and music are great.

I downloaded the first five episodes and just finished the third. While packed full of moe and with the entire female cast being cute, it is indeed not your average magical girl show. And it does have an excellent soundtrack. Since it is animated by SHAFT, it suffers from their ADD animation style, but I survived Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru so...

[Kiskaloo]

So is Madoka actually going to become a magical girl, or is she going to remain a whiny little bitch the entire series?

I mean I know why she's an "Uber Moe Girl" - it triggers the protection instinct in otaku males so they become infatuated with her and watch the shows and buy all her merchandise - but I just find her to be really annoying and pathetic.

Can she get eaten by a witch and we get nore Sayaka, Homura and Kyōko please?

[Totoum]

So is Madoka actually going to become a magical girl, or is she going to remain a whiny little bitch the entire series?

Odds are she'll remain that way for a least a little while,doubt she makes a contract soon,not with homura around.

Spoiler:

And between Homura and Kyoko,there's enough badasses around anyway.

.Hack//quantum : My prayers were answered,this franchise stoped sucking,it has a lot of my favorite things about .hack//sign without the drawbacks and there was *gasp* action! Rejoice

[Kiskaloo]

So is Madoka actually going to become a magical girl, or is she going to remain a whiny little bitch the entire series?

Odds are she'll remain that way for a least a little while,doubt she makes a contract soon,not with homura around.

Bummer. I find Madoka a total buzz-kill so I may just drop the show and follow along in the Wiki plot summaries.

[Piero]

There are some things that have impressed me about Madoka but overall I'm not finding that I'm that into it at this point. The pacing seems pretty plodding and the show hasn't really managed to make me connect with the characters that well, which means that it really hasn't had all that much emotional impact. Furthermore it kind of feels like they're taking some thing too far. The concept of a mercenary magical girl was interesting, but she seems to have crossed the line from merely self serving into "unnecessarily evil bitch" with her actions in Episode 6, and the whole "modifications to the person" aspect that got thrown in seems like a little much on top of everything else. It's not like I've never liked anything that's dark, but when the show doesn't manage to generate much an emotional response and has a tendency to drag just piling more and more bad stuff onto the characters starts to generate something an an "oh please" reaction. You want to have an impact, make me actually feel something for the characters that are going through this.

[Kiskaloo]

I'm find Fractale a bit dull, as well, so I am going back to just Wandering Son, Kimi ni Todoke Second Season and Wolverine (which, like Iron Man, I admit I'm watching mostly because it is so beautifully animated, though the surprise guest at the end of Episode 05 could be cool).

[tsundere9kagami2]

This one watched Freezing
In a military school setting our heros are fighting some unknown giant ass monsters called Novas and only women apparently have the power to change clothes and make weapons appear and maybe fly?. Men are kind of underpowered partners who uhhh....well they are like magic karp if anyone remembers pokemon. Their one move is freezing to counter act the Nova...who also do freezing.......Yay!
There is a protagonist who has a different power (more powerful freezing(level 100 magic karp anyone?)) and is just discovering it and he wants to protect a girl who is stong on her own yet vulnerable to being touched yet he can touch her without her filipping out and lobbing his arm off. Her personality is quiet yet she suddenly bipolar s into a serious pissed off person.

The show is rather full of action which I liked and heroism (hey I liked power rangers and fighting for justice and stuff) and makes my feet sweat when I watch it.(TMI)

however it is rather tasteless with gratuitous panty shots and flashing of breasts.
Its not enough to make me drop the series at the moment.

[Kiskaloo]

I'm a pretty big fan of the art design for the Cartoon Network show Symbiotic Titan, but they really hit it out of the park with this week's episode ("I Am Octus" - the best of the series, so far, IMO) when it came to the use of light and shadow.

[Kiskaloo]

Mid-season Review

---

Wandering Son - Still my favorite show by Astronomical Units over everything else.

Kimi ni Todoke Second Season - As good as the first season.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - This show is so much better when Madoka is not around. I enjoyed Episode 7 enough to keep going (at least for the time being).

Haiyoru Nyaruani ~ Remember My Love (Craft Sensei) - Still lame.

To Aru Majutsu no Index - Have been really enjoying it since they left Venice. Go figure.

I Don't Like You At All Big Brother - Still find it kinda dumb.

Fractale - Still has that strong Laputa vibe, but not memorable.

Wolverine - I think Iron Man was better, but still gorgeous to watch.

[Piero]

Madoka seems to be incapable of producing a proper emotional response from me for some reason. Quite aside from not being able to make me sympathize very much with its characters even a lot of the wham moments don’t seem to have much impact. The one girl embracing her situation in an almost gleefully insane way should probably have really creeped me out, but didn’t. The end of the meeting between the two girls should have had a really charged atmosphere, but didn’t. I should have cared about that one girl’s feelings about the changes that were affecting her, but I didn’t.

Now a lot of other shows also have trouble really making me connect with the characters the way some of my top choices can, but a lot of the time they have other things to make up for it. Funny humour, or good action scenes, or something. This has architecture porn that doesn’t do a good job of keeping my interest and a lot of dialogue. Although for some reason I don’t think it’s the fact that the show has a lot of long conversations and such which is the problem. It’s just missing something somehow. It’s a story that has some interesting elements but its really failing to properly engage me.

As for other shows I seem to have more or less lost interest in Wolverine, Dragon Crisis, and This is a Zombie. Index had a couple good episodes of "filler" after the awfulness of the Venice arc but now seems to be going more serious again. Am I the only person who finds Index's filler is often way better than it's "serious" parts? On the other hand I've really been enjoying Infinite Stratos, Fractale, and Gosick.

[MadHatChemist]

Puella Mgi Madoka Magica (6-7) -- I think this may very well be my favorite series in a while. This show is to "magical girl" genre what "Watchmen" was to superhero comics. The term "deconstruction" fits quite aptly here. This show has been very dark and only continues to be even darker. It is the perfect combination of Majou Shojou, Faust, and LSD. If this show continues that way it has, it will eclipse NGE as a genre re-defining moment.

Fractale (4-7) -- The world that this show presents has been very enticing. Good sci-fi with well done story. I think that it has gone beyond the entire "Gibli" vibe into its own territory. I am intersted to see what they make of Phryne, based on the person from ancient greece.

Beelzebulb (5-7) -- The introduction of the female gang leader/caring older sister is keeping me watching this show...

Kore ha Zombie desu ka (5-7) -- Needs more chainsaw wielding transvestite mahou shoujou zombie. The show hasn't pushed me away...yet.

MItsudomoe Zouryouchuu (5-7) -- same humor as always. For me this is a plus.
+

[Piero]

I can probably give Madoka some credit for the fact that it seems set to be a straight up deconstruction to the end. My favorite magical girl series, Mai-HiME, is also a deconstruction of the magical girl genre in some ways but the writer didn't really carry through with it there -instead he chose to play things straight at the end. This caused some problems -while reconstruction can follow deconstruction, playing things straight after deconstructing something can be problematic. Hime's ending was problematic because while it actually made a certain amount of sense in many respects it still ended up seeming like a cop out.

On the other hand however I have to say that despite not following through with the deconstructive aspects very well I found HiME a vastly more enjoyable series to watch then Madoka. The best characters in HiME like Natsuki and Mai herself have way more depth and are way more interesting than anything Madoka can muster in the character department. Furthermore I tended to find it's episodes way more entertaining than the ones in Madoka. I consider one of HiME's flaws to be the fact that it doesn't show how dramatically powerful it can be until a good two thirds or so of the way through it's run. However the light hearted early episodes of HiME were a lot more fun to watch than most of Madoka, and furthermore they did a great job of establishing things that the more dramatic final third would be able to exploit to its benefit. Watching what happened to the characters I had come to like in the final third of HiME was an emotional roller coaster, Madoka's constant stream of things that are bad for its characters tends to provoke more of an eye rolling reaction from me (figuratively speaking at least).

On a different note, Gosick had another strong episode with Episode 7. And it also appears that I forgot to mention a couple of other shows I've more or less lost interest -namely Level E and Merry Dream Eater. Interesting since I'd started off with relatively positive impressions of them. Then again it's hardly unusual for me to not bother finishing a fair number of the shows I start at the beginning of a new season.

[Robert Frazer]

Madoka has had me gripped throughout. It's a superb show, but sadly I can't enjoy it any more. As soon as they mentioned Homura's time-manipulation magic in this episode, it was dead. My experience is tainted by the fact that I know, I just KNOW, that they're going to ruin the ending with some wretched and hateful reset that demeans and belittles everything that went before by undoing it and taking us back to the start.

[Piero]

I may not be a big fan of the show, but I kind of doubt it will pull a sugar coated reset like that. Both because of the general trend in the show and because of the fact that the main writer is apparently known for doing dark and twisted stuff. (They apparently tried to hide the fact he was the main writer on the project to prevent people to realise what they were going into.)

[Kiskaloo]

Ah! My Goddess - Itsumo Futari de

AIC did an amazing job with the animation production - the quality is exceptional and even better than Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy.

And as hot as Urd is, her mother is on another level.

[Piero]

Is the new OVA original material or is it an adaptation of part of the manga? (From what you know anyway.)

[Kiskaloo]

I've not seen it in the manga, but then I'm well behind on what's been published.

[Piero]

Okay, Gosick has really been impressing me the last couple of episodes. Back when I first started this show I wasn't overly sure about the characters and found Victorique's deductive skills to seem a bit too much like jumping to conclusions. But pretty soon I came to like the characters, and this latest arc actually handled the mystery part decently well. Plus the show looks pretty darn nice.

[Piero]

Has anyone here been watching the movie adaptation of Break Blade? Four of the six installments are out now. It's an interesting sort of fantasy take on mecha, and perhaps more importantly it's actually got a cast that's made up primarily of adult characters. Despite some "typical anime elements" showing up (including yes, a couple characters who don't look their proper age) its proven to be rather interesting. Also, it looks pretty darn good.

[Totoum]

Madoka has had me gripped throughout. It's a superb show, but sadly I can't enjoy it any more. As soon as they mentioned Homura's time-manipulation magic in this episode, it was dead. My experience is tainted by the fact that I know, I just KNOW, that they're going to ruin the ending with some wretched and hateful reset that demeans and belittles everything that went before by undoing it and taking us back to the start.

Considering who's writing this that's the last thing I expect,he has never done a happy ending,bittersweet is the best you can hope for.

A lot of people expected Mami to be wished back to life,didn't hapen.So I really doubt we'll get a reset that makes everything all right

[Kiskaloo]

Fractale 7 - To quote Garfunkel & Oates: "Shit just got real!"

Hopefully this signals a tempo change because the show's been a little slow.

Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! 08 - This show is officially uncomfortable now.

Seriously, it's become a standard "perverted male with a harem trope" anime, but I am warming up to Nao and Irochan so I'll finish it.

[Piero]

Are you trying to train yourself to resist torture or something?

In other news, the male lead in Infinite Stratos is officially denser than depleted uranium. But believe it or not this is actually funny. I think it's because his ability to not notice that a girl is interested in him is taken to such a ridiculous extreme that it's actually rather amusing.

The density that Gosick's male lead showed this week was kind of disappointing however. Okay yes, he's technically supposed to be the Watson to Victorique's goth-loli version of Holmes, but that doesn't require him to act as dumb as he did in this episode. The original version of Watson wasn't bumbling, that's more something that was added in adaptation. That being said, still one of my favorite shows this season.

[Kiskaloo]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Episode 9

I admit to being ambivalent about this show. I found it generally entertaining, but did not find it to be amazing, as I know many of you do. And the start of Episode 09 wasn't helping to convince me to keep watching.

But once Kyubei explained the true purpose of the Puella Magi, the show officially became cool to me. Not great, mind you, but cool (see spoilers).

I still think Madoka does nothing but detract from the show, but for once she had the right to be a whiner.

Spoiler:

[Kiskaloo]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Episode 10





Well, I have to say I wasn't expecting that...


Fractale has been geting more interesting with episodes 7 and 8, as well.

[Darkstar117]

I have to agree on Madoka. I have been shocked ever since episode 3.

[MadHatChemist]

Puella Mgi Madoka Magica (8-10) -- You know a show is good when you get vibes of "The Gods Themselves," "To Serve Man," and "Dark City" ... at the same time.

Fractale (7-8) -- The story has been tightening up well so far. Hopefully it will end just as strong.

Beelzebulb (8-9) -- Not hilarious but still amusing enough so far.

Kore ha Zombie desu ka (8-9) -- The chainsaw wielding transvestite mahou shoujou zombie with gratuitous violence is still the best part. The show needs more of that.

MItsudomoe Zouryouchuu (8) -- Ended as strong as it ran

Index II -- The current arc has so far been one of the stronger ones. Particularly love Accelerator going berserk.

[Kiskaloo]

Wolverine - 10

Action-packed episode, and it was better for it.

Fractale - 09

Still don't really know what's going on, especially with the Temple / Church of Fractale. Hopefully we get some answers soon.

[Kiskaloo]

As some shows are starting to wrap up, time for a general review:

Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! - Grade: C+

To me, this show was a pale shadow of Ore no Imouto ga Konnami Kawaii Wake ga Nai. I had the same issue with Mayoi Neko Overrun! after watching Nyan Koi! Everything that made the first show awesome was missing in the follow-on. Like MNO, OnKNZSJDn just went for cheap laughs and gags. And the massive censorship was annoying. Again, not that I want to see camel toe, but since the staff likely knew that was all they had to offer DVD and BRD buyers, they packed it in and this made the censorship intrusive.

Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season - Grade: A

Happy endings are the best endings.

I loved the original, so no surprise I love the sequel. I do think the 12th episode was kind of superfluous. I'd have preferred the show end with the 11th episode and then run the end credits sequence from the 12th.

Wolverine - Grade: B

A better show than Iron Man, IMO. More action and Logan's motives were a bit clearer. I think X-Men will be the one to hit this parntership between Marvel and Madhouse out of the park, however.

[Kiskaloo]

Hourou Musuko [Wandering Son] - Grade A

First off, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ggultra2764. I was not planning to watch this show, but his comments on the first episode - "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" - intrigued me enough to give it a try and I was instantly hooked and it became my favorite show of the Winter season.

As "slice of life" dramas go, this slice of life was very different , as was mangaka Takako Shimura's earlier work, Aoi Hana [Sweet Blue Flowers], which was one of my favorite anime shows of 2009. Fantagraphics Books will be releasing an English-language version of the manga and I already pre-ordered it, along with ordering the nine Japanese tankobon.

Very few groups picked this show up (I've been using HorribleSubs, though their effort has been anything but), likely because it has been streamed on Crunchyroll. I hope someone like Kira or Polished will do the Blu-ray discs, as the broadcast version of Episode 10 was actually a mash of Episode 10 and 11 and both complete episodes will be released on the BRD/DVD. There was an eleventh episode broadcast this week, which seems to be Episode 12, which originally was expected to be a BRD/DVD release, only.

[Entropy]

Hourou Musuko [Wandering Son] - Grade A

First off, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ggultra2764. I was not planning to watch this show, but his comments on the first episode - "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" - intrigued me enough to give it a try and I was instantly hooked and it became my favorite show of the Winter season.

As "slice of life" dramas go, this slice of life was very different , as was mangaka Takako Shimura's earlier work, Aoi Hana [Sweet Blue Flowers], which was one of my favorite anime shows of 2009. Fantagraphics Books will be releasing an English-language version of the manga and I already pre-ordered it, along with ordering the nine Japanese tankobon.

Very few groups picked this show up (I've been using HorribleSubs, though their effort has been anything but), likely because it has been streamed on Crunchyroll. I hope someone like Kira or Polished will do the Blu-ray discs, as the broadcast version of Episode 10 was actually a mash of Episode 10 and 11 and both complete episodes will be released on the BRD/DVD. There was an eleventh episode broadcast this week, which seems to be Episode 12, which originally was expected to be a BRD/DVD release, only.

When it comes to translations, Horriblesubs IS Crunchyroll, it's word-for-word as far as I know (but they still have to do the encoding, typesetting, etc. by themselves). Considering Crunchyroll has professional translators that get written scripts ahead of time, there's no reason for fan translators to bother.

I dropped Hourou Musuko a few episodes in, not because I didn't like it, but it didn't feel like the kind of show I could care to watch every week, so I'm probably going to catch up now that it's finished. In fact that's how I like to watch the majority of anime, unless it's really good and/or engaging. In fact the only two I actually caught up with every week was Madoka and Mitsudomoe, both of which I loved. I might also look into Kore wa Zombie desuka and Fractale.

[Kiskaloo]

When it comes to translations, Horriblesubs IS Crunchyroll, it's word-for-word as far as I know (but they still have to do the encoding, typesetting, etc. by themselves).

Yes, they use the Crunchyroll script. Hence their "any errors courtesy of Crunchyroll" disclaimer on all their releases.

In fact the only two I actually caught up with every week was Madoka and Mitsudomoe, both of which I loved.

Not sure what happened to Madoka. It was part of the large chunk of anime pre-empted for earthquake and tsunami coverage, but it's been a couple of weeks since the last episode was shown and it ended on a pretty big note...

Haven't caught Mitsudone and I don't like zombies, so I have skipped all those anime.

[Entropy]

Not sure what happened to Madoka. It was part of the large chunk of anime pre-empted for earthquake and tsunami coverage, but it's been a couple of weeks since the last episode was shown and it ended on a pretty big note...

The explanations for the delays are scattershot, but it seems as if the earthquake/tsunami actually really screwed with the production of the anime itself and prevented them from getting Episode 11 done on time, causing them to give up their timeslots. Now the story is getting another timeslot, which is apparently much harder than you would think. Now apparently both episodes are done, but the only indicator we've been given is "sometime in April". The series DVD/BD is set to come out on the 27th, though, so I would suspect next week is when Episode 11 might air, unless they want to delay that, as well. Some have speculated that they really want to show the last episode on the actual Walpurgisnacht (April 30), but I highly doubt that is their goal.

[Kiskaloo]

Fractale - Grade: B

An interesting show, but not something I found memorable.


To Aru Majutsu no Index II - Grade: B-

Adding the cast from Railgun helped, but I still think both series were too long and that tended to hurt the overall story telling. And Tōma is a bit too preachy. That said, I like the humor and there is no such thing as too much of the (extended) female Misaka family.

I'm guessing a third series has been green-lighted based on the ending.

[Piero]

Some end of season stuff:

Fractale: After the weak last few episodes, the finale was actually pretty good in many ways. However the ending was... funny in a sad way. And by that I mean I laughed at the pathetic situation.
Index II: Wow... for a series that started off so light hearted Index has sure got pretty darn violent. Also, what the hell kind of ending arc is that? What the f--- is going on?
Infinite Stratos: After the weakness of the last few episodes the finale was actually pretty good and contained an aerial combat sequence crazy enough to put a lot of actual air combat series to shame. Overall not too bad in spite of various flaws. It may have been a harem show but it was actually pretty amusing. Also, Charles/Charlotte is the best reverse trap ever, even if she's also one of the most obvious.

Still waiting on Madoka and Gosick. Gosick is pretty good, Madoka's going to have to manage one heck of an ending if it wants to convince me it deserves to be considered great after how draggy I found a lot of the episodes.

[MadHatChemist]

Fractale -- Overall, I thought it was rather good. Not as strong as it could have been, especially with it's ending and Clain's indecisive whining early on, but I found the world it presented was and interesting one and stands as a decent and literate Sci-Fi.

[Five_X]

Just finished Infinite Stratos.

That was a really, really enjoyable show. Looks like it'll get a sequel, too.

[Piero]

Yeah, Infinite Stratos was a lot of fun, and looking back on it now it's probably the most memorable of last season's shows for me. Good example of a show which sounds like it should suck based on the description but actually proved to be pretty good. Sure it's a harem show, but it's also an entertaining harem show. Plus Charlotte Dunoa is a prime contender for the season's best female character.

[0utf0xZer0]

I thought Infinite Stratos was pretty so-so myself. Charlotte was amazing - one of the most charming and clever female characters in recent memory, and great chemistry with the male lead to boot. The problem was, after her arc they put the brakes on all the great development we were getting with her and Ichika, and went back to the usual harem antics we were getting prior to Charlotte's introduction, which only highlight how much worse the non-Charlotte arc episodes were. Plus, the end battle felt less tactical and more ability spam-ish than the early fights.

Did I mention how awesome Charlotte is?
http://oreno.imouto.org/post/show/177662/alice_in_wonderland-caidychen-charlotte_dunois-inf
Seriously, she's even cute as a guy, probably because she gives off the "moe feminine shouta" (ala Renji, Haruka, etc) vibe when she crossdresses.

[Five_X]

Yeah, Charlotte was the most awesome character of the whole series. That's also the general consensus of pretty much everyone else who's seen it as well. I liked the other parts, too, though. It was a very fun show to watch overall.

There should be an Infinite Stratos visual novel, to please everyone! :3

[Piero]

I'll admit the show has some fairly significant flaws. Cecilia is annoying, Rin is severely underutilised after her introductory arc, and the last few episodes prior to the finale are kind of weak. But that doesn't chance the fact that this is the show that's stuck in my head as the one I had a lot of fun with last season in spite of all those flaws.

[SPARTAN 119]

I realize I put the Kyube thread in the wrong thread so, repost for you all:

Spoiler:

Also, Moar Kyube:

Kyube in a Akihabara computer store:


The many faces of Kyube (embed wont work)

Kyube.exe:

Translation: Make a contract with me and become a mahou shoujo.

One of several snow-Kyubes:


Not Kyube, but here's a Mami flash drive:


Source

[Kiskaloo]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica 11+12 [End]

When it cam to ascension to godhood, I think Evangelion did it better, but overall, this was a pretty entertaining story.

[Piero]

Madoka: I'm not really that sure what to make of that ending and to be honest I'm not really inclined to try that hard. I was interested in the show early on, but the series overall consistently failed to make much of an impact. The characters didn't hook me in, the big dramatic developments didn't have me going "holy shit" the way they should have, and even Homura's "unlimited rocket launcher works" in episode 11 seemed like it should have been way more awesome than it was. While other shows have made me experience an emotional roller coaster along with the characters, this one provoked more of a "oh geez, another bad development" reaction to how it treated its characters. I also felt some of the characterisation was inconsistent and that some of the story elements weren't overly well handled (Madoka's family seemed to largely disappear during the middle of the series for instance).
So yeah... overall it's not even close to unseating my current favorites in the magical girl genre. I'm actually kind of inclined to lump it in with some shows that seemed to have something they wanted to do that didn't come out properly, but I'm not sure that's quite so much the case here. It might be more a matter of the show just not being able to make me care very much.
On the plus side, I got plenty of entertainment out of things like the "Everyone Hates Kyubei" pool on Danbooru and making "head" related comments around someone I know who is a Mami fan*, so I guess I need to give the show some credit for making my life interesting.

*For example, when he talked about it being time to revive Mami I made a comment about "Now now, let's not be getting ahead of ourselves" and when he commented that Mami had the most fan art of the Madoka characters on Danbooru but surprisijngly little was pornographic I made a comment along the lines of "So there aren't many pics of her getting head?" Things like that.

[Entropy]

I can understand the arguments many fans like Piero have put forward regarding the series, though it's purely a matter of taste. Personally, I loved the series, though it only hooked me after episode three and it became rather obvious that it was not your mother's magical girl show. Hell, I don't even see it as one. Most super-Madoka-analysts have concluded that it is little more than a modern retelling of Goethe's Faust put the through the lens of the magical girl trope.

I do agree about the weird absence of Madoka's family/personal life in the middle of the series, though her mom comes up often enough.

It's also one of those endings people are going to be arguing about forever and anon, but I thought it was a brilliant way to both resolve the main conflict within the series and provide closure, as well as add the element of epicness that they couldn't really provide with any other ending.

[Piero]

I probably shouldn't say too much more on Madoka, as I've already stated quite a number of criticisms, but there is one issue that I kind of neglected in my previous post and that's that it is difficullt to see what prompted Madoka to choose the path she did. It seemed to me that her resolve to sacrifice her existence as a Messiah kind of came out of nowhere.

On another note, did anyone else watch the finale for Stardriver? I dropped the series before the halfway point but ended up seeing the finale when my friend and my brother showed it to me. Apparently they had trouble following what was going on in the finale too though.

[Entropy]

I probably shouldn't say too much more on Madoka, as I've already stated quite a number of criticisms, but there is one issue that I kind of neglected in my previous post and that's that it is difficullt to see what prompted Madoka to choose the path she did. It seemed to me that her resolve to sacrifice her existence as a Messiah kind of came out of nowhere.

Spoiler:

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