Between mediocre anime and really great anime lies one’s comfort shows. These are shows that generally don’t aspire to much, but do their thing well. At the same time, there are also shows which fall short of their expected potential, but are still quite entertaining regardless. Here’s a list of 2008 shows that fall into either of those categories.
Just going to post random stuff.
I saw this in Tokyo Kid a few days ago. I wonder how well these are selling in the US– they’re not as good as the Japanese ones, but they’re not bad either. I didn’t check the price, but they’re probably cheaper than just the Japanese covers which are something like 9000 yen.
I had no idea there was a place in Massachusetts called Wonderland. Apparently they’re all up in the dog racing there. Or were– that shit got hit with the banhammer recently. I’ve never taken the Blue Line, by the way.
I saw these in Bed Bath & BEYONDDDD today while looking for a laundry thing since my old laundry basket exploded over the past week. I would have bought one of these, but they were too small. Also, explaining its existence to my parents would be awkward. Well, my dad. My mom reads the comic and the blog anyway.
I had no idea Pacman was on these soy sauce packets.
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Bonertown and I go on for an hour on how useless Code Geass season 2 was. Lots of spoilers abound, as usual, so listen with that in mind. This one isn’t just filled with spoilers for Code Geass, though– it has Death Note and Gundam 00 spoilers, as well. There’s also a BIG Cowboy Bebop spoiler that everyone should know by now.
Guest
Songs
Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: Pretty easy to catch up on considering each episode is only three minutes. I watch them in sets of four here and there.
Code Geass R2: Oh lawd.
Golgo 13: ….
Hidamari Sketch x365: This show almost has the best Shinbo opening ever. Almost, since the best Shinbo opening is the second SZS opening. Neko Mimi Mode gets an honorable mention.
Koihime†Musou: Still junk food. Half-way done.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Yuuko Gotou is a butterfly girl. Win.
Macross F: I kind of don’t care anymore. Not like I don’t like it, but eh. Who cares.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Has slipped into being kind-of-sort-of generic, but I don’t care. It’s done well and I’m actually archiving the episodes!
Sekirei: I can enjoy me some tits, too.
Slayers Revolution: Where is it.
Strike Witches: Still the best of the season.
To Love RU: SAIGO NO CHANCE NOW IS THE TIIIIIIIIIIIME. Better than Rosario+Vampire.
World Destruction: Disposable action series. Has Toru Furuya.
Zero no Tsukaima ~Princess no Rondo~: Almost as good as season two. Kind of slipped down into season one level of good.
Zettai Karen Children: Plot’s getting pretty intense.
Birdy is on hold.
Will write about the upcoming season soon. Lots of regular looking stuff.
Character centric humour? Unbelievable! Though, I’m not sure if this one is really funny. I just wanted to write something about 0nT. I hope it’s funny though, since the next comic is basically this joke again. This comic kind of feels like corny anime humour, so if you like that (as I sometimes do) I guess you’ll like this. By the way, they’re in Staples. It’s time to buy school supplies.
Time to finally address that question I asked to all of you about a month ago regarding what you want out of the comic. Like I said earlier, I won’t 100% implement any of these suggestions, but I did read them all and took them into consideration. One big one was that the humour is too obscure. This is not something I will change, since this comic is built around obscure not-quite-PPD-level-but-more-Hayate-level anime jokes. One other suggestion was to flesh out the characters more, which I do kind of try at. I’m not a great writer, and I’m no master at defining character traits, but I do try my best to improve. I’ll just say that yeah, I’m working on it, and hopefully… maybe these characters will be memorable and live on in your hearts forever! Yeah right. But I’m trying. And the last notable bit of advice was to just keep doing what I’m doing and improve, which is what I’m doing anyways. Or trying to. So, thanks for the comments. They were helpful.
Anyways, on to other stuff. One show that’s been surprisingly enjoyable has been World Destruction. Despite the dumbass premise, the show actually manages to be very entertaining. It’s a popcorn-flick type of entertaining, but still entertaining nonetheless. All the characters are fun, and each episode is written decently enough. The best episode ever was probably when they pit Toru Furuya and Shuuichi Ikeda together as rival characters… and these characters were both cute little teddy bears. It’s great.
Nogizaka Haruka has kind of gone down a quarter of a notch from its opening episodes, but I still like it a lot. Haruka is consistently delightfully moe, and her younger sister Mika is the kind of mischievous loli I love. I hope another season is greenlit, since one cour isn’t really enough.
Code Geass is really bad. But it’s gotten bad in the same way that I assume Kazuo “PEE IN MY EYES TO WASH OUT THE BLOOD” Koike manga is bad. It kind of lagged in the middle because the writers were taking their bullshit entirely too seriously, but now it’s relaxed back into being wonderfully over-the-top and nonsensical. What’s sad about the show at this point is that the damage done, and it’s not Taniguchi’s fault. I really wanted to see his original concept– what he had in mind sounded like it could be s-CRY-ed-level good, as opposed to this season which is very School Days. Except not as cool.
And that’s all for this week. I have a day or so off before classes start, so in that time I’ll try to crank out this other comic and get back on track. Later!
Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: I’m almost confident that I have not seen an episode within the past month. Oh well.
Code Geass R2: Feeling really Gundam Seed Destiny at this point. The stupidity is actually getting to me now.
Golgo 13: ….
Hidamari Sketch x365: Liking it better than season one, possibly because subs are coming out regularly and the episodes are slightly faster paced.
Koihime†Musou: Junk food anime. Tasty but forgettable.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Fun to watch– a curious mix of serious stories with comedy-like execution.
Macross F: Uh, I have no idea what this show is about anymore, I just like Ranka Lee. Sheryl can die in a fire etc.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: I support anime about hot otaku girlfriends.
Sekirei: My Kanokon for this season– well produced fanservice fluff.
Slayers Revolution: Fun fantasy series– want to get around to the originals eventually.
Strike Witches: DELICIOUS FLAT CHESTS CROTCHES AND PANTIES ALL OVER DEAR GOD BEST OF THE SEASON
Telepathy Shoujo Ran: Ok kids thing. Have three episodes waiting to be watched– if they suck I’ll drop it.
Tetsuwan Birdy Decode: I liked the first two episodes… where’s the rest??
To Love RU: Why can’t THESE types of Jump shows run for 100+ episodes?
World Destruction: Has turned into a surprisingly fun adventure/fantasy series. Completely disposable, but I like it.
Zero no Tsukaima ~Princess no Rondo~: Girls, girls, GIRLS!
Zettai Karen Children: Watching it raw at this point. Hopefully Chihiro will continue on with it now that Deculture has folded.
Dropped Natsume Yuujinchou because it sucked.
Sitting on a bunch of DVDs and manga, too.
Man, so much anime, so little time. I work 40 hours a week, dammit!
Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: Good ol’ cartoons
Code Geass 2: Best part of my week.
Golgo 13: ….
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: I’ve finally accepted the fact that this is not a comedy. It still works, but I like it less than I initially did.
Macross Frontier: Consistently entertaining. Though honestly, I just watch it for Ranka and space fights.
Telepathy Shoujo Ran: lol kids show. Like the psychedelic effects.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann music videos: Entertaining little diversions.
To Love Ru: Wonderfully entertaining boobalicious fun.
Toshokan Sensou: Kind of badly written, but it’s a not-boring IG show.
Zettai Karen Children: It has faults, but it’s just too entertaining to not like.
Waiting for other things to start.
Manga
Read a bunch of stuff. Keroro Gunsou is great and I wish I read it 5 years ago and the Hayate manga is just the anime with more stylized art. Moving on to a vampire triple-play with Blood Alone, Karin and Tsukuyomi.
Image stolen from here. Please don’t kill me original artist.
Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: Cat.
Code Gayass R2: Even more over the top! And they said it couldn’t be done…
Golgo 13: Man this is some trashy stuff.
Kanokon: Man this is some trashy stuff. With heart shaped nipple covers.
Kurenai: IT’S GREEEAAAAT. The end of episode 9 was a bit wonky, but this one is still the best.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Liking it less. The episodes seem kind of thrown together and the direction is poor. Maybe it’ll get better.
Macross F: Ranka is still cute. The CG is still good. Story is moving kind of slow, though.
To-LOVE-Ru: Wow, way behind on this one. Still, good harem fun that’s worth catching up on.
Toshokan Sensou: Getting a bit too serious. Still, it’s a Production IG show that’s actually good! They haven’t done that since IGPX (shutupitsagoodshow)
Zettai Karen Children: As good as Kurenai but for totally different reasons. So cute~. The story stuff is silly, but who cares.
Not so current
Nadesico: Kind of got stuck at episode 18. I’m enjoying it, and I can see why it’s an anime staple, but I’m not totally in love. It seems like its obsessed with fitting in AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE into 25 minutes sometimes. I don’t see the genius that dm sees in it yet.
Dropped
Allison and Whatever: Not like I don’t like it, just I noticed I was behind by 3 episodes and didn’t really feel like catching up.
The last episode of Miina is finally subbed. I dropped off at episode 8, so I’ll marathon the last 3 at some point.
Will finish Baccano after this post.
After Nadesico I may watch Planetes since I realized I own it all and haven’t finished it. Whoops.
Code Geass won’t win any awards for outstanding writing, but I’ll be damned if this stuff isn’t extremely entertaining. It’s like a 24 minute party each week, and everyone’s invited. The problem with having a guest list like this is; while you’ll get some dudes who really know how to party it up, you’ll also get some dead serious types who take all the fun out of the whole affair. You know, those guys who write the Code Geass entries on Wikipedia and sometimes forget to write in the historical present.
Code Geass is fun. It is not something meant to be taken entirely seriously. It’s a show that concerns itself with giant, toyetic, multi-coloured robots and plans that are about as plausible as the plot of a Golgo 13 episode. Yet, despite this, you have an entire legion of fans who treat this thing like the End of Evangelion. They’re the kind of people who take you extremely seriously when you crack a sarcastic joke. They somehow miss the irony here, which I find quite difficult since it hits me in the face like a sack of bricks episode after episode.
Geass is not deep. Geass is not complicated. Geass is not clever. Geass is crazy. It’s motherfucking insane. It has the kind of plot that only a night of heavy drinking and drug use could produce, and that’s why I love it. It beats me in the face each week with a giant WHAT bat, and more often than not it beats me way more than once. It’s a good time.
What ruins that good time is the fans, though. I mean seriously, how many times are you going to take the same joke seriously? It took me four episodes before I learned that Code Geass wasn’t going to be serious business, so I don’t see why these guys haven’t even so much as considered that their holy grail of alleged exceptional writing may not be as serious as they think two seasons in.
C’mon guys, seriously. What is this, an episode of Gundam 00?
When you think about it, Code Geass really isn’t all that different from your run-of-the-mill harem show in what it sets out to do. It tries to cover it up, but at its core, it’s shameless otaku wish fulfillment.
For starters, let’s examine Lelouch’s qualities. He’s a lot like you!!
Now let’s take a look at what he has and the things that happen to him.
Clearly the reason why Geass is so popular among the otaku is because they can relate to Lelouch and and enjoy living out their fantasies through him.
Little late with this one, but I was kind of in a funk for the last couple of weeks. That coupled with a whole shit ton of anime and homework hitting me like a ton of bricks hindered comic production. But here we are, at Tuesday, with a new comic. I hate liking what I do, but I’m kind of happy with this one. Yes, the art is wonky as usual (make your threads now, 4chan!!) but I generally like how it turned out. The script is something I came up with right around when I started Japanese class last semester, but only got around to making it now. With school about to end for the year, the timing is a bit off, but whatever. For the record, I am myself am shameless with wearing anime shirts to class. I just really don’t care.
God, spring season. Anyone who’s been reading the blog will know that I’ve been documenting my first impressions three at time across various posts. I’m actually working on part IV of that, I just need time to sit down and write it. Overall though, I’m quite satisfied. Some stinkers and wholly mediocre entries, but enough quality to go around. My two favourites off the top of my head have to be Kure-nai and Macross F. Code Geass and Kanokon get mentions for best trash of the season, in two very different ways.
Kure-nai is a bit lighter than I expected it to be, but that dark undercurrent is still there. It could go on being a lighthearted Odd Couple affair, but I want it to act on its darker side a bit more. Macross F is just fucking impressive anime SF. I haven’t seen anything this good in a while. It has 3D work that’s actually good! Code Geass is something I rag on, but watching this second season has made me change my tune. I guess it’s just the fans that are pretentious, because season 2 reminded me that Geass knows it’s silly shit and loves it. Episode 2 was one of the most hilarious episodes of anime I’ve ever seen. Sunrise isn’t really taking this shit seriously at all, and neither should you. I may write a blog post on how Geass is such a great entertainer, but I need to find time. Kanokon is just well animated softcore porn, and I respect that. I like fanservice shows, but they have to be well done. Kanokon has sexy production values, so I’m sticking around for that.
Anyways, I’m playing catchup in the game of life at the moment. I need to catch up on homework, catch up on anime and catch up on making comics. As such, I’ll be taking my leave.
Three more
Chi’s Sweet Home
Boy is this show a breath of fresh air. A step back to a simpler type of cartoon making, Chi’s Sweet Home is three minutes of pure, simple and adorable entertainment. How can you not be delighted by a cute little kitten doing cute little kitten things?
Code Geass 2
It seems a Japanese tradition, or at least an anime tradition, to follow up an unforgiving cliffhanger with a total reset or a shift in focus to something else entirely in the next installment. This is often times extremely frustrating, but Code Geass R2 (as it likes to call itself) wastes little time with the BS and gets back to being wonderfully trashy and insane in short order. The episode actually plays out similarly to the opener of Space Adventure Cobra, except for with more gay CLAMP design work and less Psychoguns. It also only manages to create more questions instead of answering any posed by the previous series. However, I have faith in Sunrise’s writers that everything will make sense in the end. Wait, never mind. So long as they explain what Jupiter is all about, I’m cool.
Also, I never really had a thing for Kallen but… bunny suit.
To Love Ru
I’ve always held an interest in To Love Ru ever since I came across some scans on 2chan some years ago, but passed on reading it since it’s a Shounen Jump title and Shounen Jump titles have a nasty habit of running for Too Long. That being the case, I decided to hold out for the eventual bite-size anime adaptation, if such a thing were to materialize. Well, here it is, brought to you by way of Studio Xebec, who incidentally happen to be working on another show about boobs. It’s clear which of these projects is taking priority down in the ol’ animation house, but To Rabu Ru doesn’t look bad by any means. It seems in attempt to the stretch the budget, backgrounds are simplified to not-very-detailed watercolour pieces and character movement and design take priority. The characters generally stay on model, and the animation isn’t jerky and/or awkward. The fanservice, which is the entire reason why you’re watching this thing in the first place, is standard fare but does the job. Shit like this isn’t high art, but this sure has more entertainment value than Rosario + Vampire!
The opening scene remindes me of a 90s anime for some reason, but that 90s feeling is quickly done away with once you see the post-2000 design work. Nothing bad, just an observation.
Despite the title of this post, I’ll try my best to not make it totally inflammatory.
Pretentious fags are no newbies to anime fandom. Hell, they’ve probably been around since before Evangelion (this isn’t to say that Evangelion isn’t a brilliant show, just people approach it from the wrong direction all the time), pondering the meaning behind Kanashimi no Belladonna. These fans all share the same delusion in that they think they’re intelligent. This is one of the worst mistakes one can make, because if you consciously think you’re intelligent, chances are you’re probably dumb as shit. Anime studios sometimes exploit this failing in most people’s brains, and push out shows that stroke and wank their fragile egos to the point of orgasm. Thusly, we get your Code Geasses, your Gundam 00s, your Elfin Lieds, and so on. These same people with defective minds also put-down truly intelligent, and well thought-out works of art, such as Gurren Lagann.
2007 was really fucking uneven. The first few months got by on the better titles that carried over from 2006, but between April and August it was something of a wasteland. I managed to get my fix for good modern anime by way of genius works such as Gurren Lagann and Hayate no Gotoku, but all the other offerings during that period of time where somewhere between mildly amusing to plain bad. Thankfully, August saw the debut of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Zero No Tsukaima 2, both of which restored my faith in the industry somewhat. October once again impressed with Minami-ke, Kaiji and Clannad.
What follows will be something similar to my monthly posts, but for the Year In Review, I’ll be ordering things by quality using letter grades, starting from the worst to the VERY BEST. I cover a lot of shows in the post, but it’s not everything I watched during the year.
Here’s my rankings.
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