Provided that you are not jaded as all hell, every year it is not usual to come out with a select few shows you absolutely love, and would most certainly watch again. These are special shows. Shows that you look forward to each week. Shows that touch your heart. Shows that do nothing but fill you with joy. Here’s the shows that did that for me in 2008.
Not much now. Will update when new things have started.
Current
Chii’s Sweet Home: Three minutes of stuff.
Ghost Hound: I don’t really care about this one anymore. Almost over.
Hakaba Kitarou: Subs have slowed down. Still decent entertainment with above-average art direction.
Kaiji: HOLY SHIT TISSUE BOXES THIS SHIT IS WILD
They Are My Noble Masters: Bleh.
Finished/Almost Finished
Clannad: Rushed but acceptable ending. I hope this after-story thing won’t be too long… but I suppose having questions answered would be nice.
Dragonaut: One episode to go. As horrible as this show was, I don’t regret watching it, since it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.
Hayate no Gotoku: I’d welcome 50 more episodes. Nagi~
Minami-ke ~Okawari~: Yeah, I’m thinking asread didn’t get their Shuffle! budget for this one. Looks good, but moves awkwardly. Ending was fine.
Rosario + Vampire: One episode left. Decent for a crappy show.
Shakugan no Shana II: lol
Wolfy Spices: Well thank god that’s over!!
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Waiting for Strato to sub the rest, but finished it raw. Very difficult to understand raw ;__;
Reading
Shinigami no Ballad: Past the deadline for the review, so trying to finish this one up. Works better as a cartoon.
Reading some KnJ chapters when they surface, and just finished another wonderfully confusing volume of Trigun MAXIMUM. I still have volumes of GSG unread, am almost caught up on OTAKU USA issues and have lots of unread Macias books from Christmas.
Can anyone recommend me any manga series that aren’t adaptations/have been adapted into an anime that I may like? I kind of wanna be an elitist manga reader, hur. Extra points if it’s not shoujo and not over 10 volumes.
Current
Clannad: Fine. Last arc killed two birds with one stone, I guess, so now we’re on to Nagisa.
Dragonaut: Yes, I’m still watching this, 21 episodes in. It’s so horrible, but it’s so bad it goes full circle and becomes good again.
Ghost Hound: Each episode is well done, but as a whole it leaves a lot to be desired.
Hakaba Kitarou: Carries itself on art direction, but is still enjoyably dark and mischievous. Makes me want a US release of the Gegege no Kitarou manga.
Hayate no Gotoku: Coming to a close. I wouldn’t mind a second season after something of a break. This last batch of episodes is pretty strong.
Kaiji: Working off shock value now. About six more episodes to go.
Minami-ke ~Okawari~: Not really funny, but an enjoyable watch. Asread’s animation doesn’t seem as good this time around, but I don’t remember much of what Shuffle! looked like past that one Memories episode I skimmed through for screencaps.
Rosario + Vampire: I should drop this crap, but I guess eight episodes is past the point of no return?
Shakugan no Shana II: Stuff is finally happening… four episodes until the end!
Spicy Wulf: Boring but watchable.
They Are My Noble Masters: Kind of want to drop this one too, but it’s not as bad as Rosario + Vampire. Carries itself of references.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Only good winter season show that’s not Hakaba Kitarou (and I guess Okawari). For serious. ZETSUBOU FAITO.
Not So Current
Dennou Coil: Watching this again for some reason. Still pretty boring, but I’ve gotten past the point where I dropped it last time.
Reading
Trying to get through back issues of OTAKU USA. Have stacks up unread manga sitting about. Should read those Macias books I got months ago.
Current
Clannad: It’s good. I think it has nice characters and a number of good scenes, but thus far the main stories have been kind of weak.
Dragonaut: I don’t even know why anymore…
Ghost Hound: Still moves at a snail’s pace, but that doesn’t really bother me at all. Something of a plot seems to be developing, and I’m hoping it involves more Miyako screentime.
Hakaba Kitarou: Deliciously dark and enjoyable. Needs Nekomusume :3
Hayate no Gotoku: Nearly over, and I shed HOT TEARS OF SHAME. Another year-long season, please?
Kaiji: Show kind of got weaker after GAMBLEBOAT but it’s still fairly enjoyable. I hope E-Card is more complicated than it looks.
Minami-ke ~Okawari~: Most certainly different, but that’s not a bad thing. It looks good, but you can tell Asread is still a bit green with some cuts here and there. Probably not as funny as the last one, but still enjoyable. You can tell they’re trying.
Rosario + Vampire: Apparently has no inbetweening. Yeah, this animation is super cheapo, but the characters are always on model, so that’s good. I could probably stand it for another nine episodes.
Shana II: Stuff happens.
Wolf and Spices: Pretty good, but not totally awesome. Probably a step above a lot of stuff airing right now, though.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: EXTREME. Shinbo and Co. play with original manga material, usually with hilarious results.
Mr. Sunshine used some underhanded marketing tactics and got me into watching They Are My Noble Masters. I’ll check it out soon.
Not so current
Baccano!: Finishing the rest tonight. Just plain fun, but I hope all the stupid commotion makes sense in the end.
Devil Hunter Yohko: Finally finishing this after many years. Lots of nudity, action and dirty jokes– so basically good stuff for growing boys.
It goes without saying that Doumo’s rendition of Minami-ke was brilliant, and that such brilliance would be difficult to replicate, especially by a completely different studio. Though, surprisingly enough, Asread’s doing pretty alright. Asread is a fairly new studio, with their resume being chock full of a lot of in-betweening credits and various other wishy-washy roles. Their only true work is Shuffle!, which was spectacular, but with newer studios it’s hard to tell if further works will be just as good as the other one or two things they made. I remember being psyched about Doujin Work, given Remic worked on Magical Pokaan, only to find that it was absolute dreck. Asread, however, doesn’t disappoint with their version of the three Minami sisters.
Now, it’s not all candy and sugar and shit. The show kind of got off on the wrong foot. The first episode was very awkward, like it was trying too hard to duplicate the charming scriptwriting of the first series. About four or so episodes in though, I’m starting to dig it. It could be a case of me just getting used to it, or the series just settled into its groove. The approach to the material is different, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. I can’t say I prefer Doumo’s episode structure to Asread’s or vice-versa, but they’re both entertaining, that’s what matters. However, what I do like more about this one are the visuals.
The first thing that struck me about the Shuffle! TV show was how it looked. I loved the character designs, and the use of colour and shading. It all just worked for me. Okawari looks basically the same, so naturally I love it. Everything from the detailed backgrounds, to the colour selections, to the sharp character design– I love it all. This isn’t to say Doumo’s look is inferior. I love the character designs in that one, too (they’re closer to the original, I think?) but as far as the rest goes, it’s good but doesn’t really hit my weak spots.
Anyway, here’s hoping for nine more wonderful episodes.
Ever since I found out what Gegege No Kitarou was, I simply had to partake of it in some form. Everything about it just looked like tons of fun, but it was all in a language that I could just barely understand. What a fucking cocktease. It’s good to know that at least one group of individuals out there cares and have decided to translate what is probably the most faithful Gegege No Kitarou adaptation to date? I dunno, I’m hardly familiar with the franchise at all, but seeing as this is based on the original ORIGINAL Kitarou, I don’t think I’m too wrong in making that claim.
The show doesn’t disappoint. It has a striking visual style, is deliciously dark, and is, as expected, just a lot fun. I can’t write too much about it, since I barely know anything about the characters or the franchise, but what I can say is watch it. If you do maybe Shinsen will sub it faster.
Not really related, but Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei episode 4 was more awesome than all of the first season combined. If you can even fathom that.
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