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.
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Daryl Surat lays down the law on Macross Frontier as I sit down and listen because I don’t know anything about Macross at all! Also, I was podcasting from a secret location, constantly afraid of a security guard breaking in and arresting me for communicating with terrorists.
Actually the whole point of this was just getting Surat on so I could use AWO’s thoughtbird. I didn’t even like Macross Frontier that much!
Guest
Songs
Really, one has to wonder if these two are even friends, considering that they never seem to have a nice conversation with each other. One also has to wonder why Hikki has an Ideon poster. And why him and Rets share the exact same expression. I kind of like this comic. I don’t like it as much as the last one, but I still think it’s ok.
A podcast happened earlier on in the week. I talk with omo and lastarial about 5cm Per Second. It’s a pretty good episode, so you should listen to it.
I’ve signed up for Project Wonderful. It’s working pretty decently right now. Please bid on this ad space if you want it. That’s all I got to say.
Real life’s been making pretty harsh assaults on me as of late. I’m trying my best to find some work for the next two and a half months. I need some money for various personal endeavours. One’s quite big, and other is quite… small, and cute, and probably smells good. Hopefully these three applications I’m filling out at the moment will get me somewhere. I just need money, man!
Lots of summer shows are coming to a close, and the fall season is just about a week away. Zero no Tsukaima season 3 ended in usual 0nT fashion, in that in crammed way too much into one episode and nothing was resolved. But hey, you don’t care, since Louise is hot, Siesta is hot, and Tiffania is hot. That’s what really matters. Nogizaka Haruka ended pretty well, albeit predictably. One thing that kind of bothers me about the series is how, even in the last episode, the animation never got back onto the level that it was in the first episode (and arguably episode 7.) Hopefully they’ll cleanup the show for DVD. It certainly doesn’t look bad, but it could stand to look better. Both Koihime Musou and Macross just ended, but I haven’t gotten around to them. Macross hasn’t been subbed yet, and I haven’t had time to get to Koihime yet. But I will.
Windy Tales is pretty interesting. I thought the first two episodes laid on seriousness a bit too much, but episodes three and four had a good slice-of-life vibe about them. I can appreciate the art style, but I’m not really sure if I like it. I’m going to stick with it, even though I’m not totally sold on it.
That’s all for this week. I don’t know what I’m going to do for next week, but with luck we’ll see an update.
I could have sworn this said SHERYL NOME
This train was apparently going to a very special place!
Spore was taking over Harvard Square station.
Found this… thing in Newbury Comics…
…and I found this goddamned thing in Tokyo Kid.
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.
Man I love how Alto makes this face in like every single episode.
And good lawd, what won’t he make a paper airplane out of??
This episode was pretty good, but the twist at the end had me lawlin’. What a soap opera!
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.
As expected, this comic came out late due to my moving back to DC for the summer. It also suffers from post-trip fatigue since the art is worse than usual, but that’s also affected by the fact that I tried to copy the Macross F style and failed. It seems the guys actually making the show are failing with that too, so I’m not all that bothered. That one colouring error in panel 3 is really off-putting, though. As far as scripting goes, I figure I’m allowed one stupid comic a year, and I really wanted so make something about Alto’s obsession with paper airplanes. Did you see the focus he was putting into making that one in episode 6? Seriously. Guy has a problem.
Instead of making two comics this week to make up for the missed comic last week, I’m just going to skip a comic since if I made another comic now it’d just turn out looking bad. I just need to relax for a bit now.
Not much going on this week, so I’ll get on to Kurenai and Kyouran after I post this stuff up. Later.
rant title taken from here
Hay hay May
Watching
Allison & Lillia: Bit too much “for the family” polish for my tastes. Not sure if I’ll stick with it.
Chi’s Sweet Home: 3 minutes of joy
Code Goose 2: JUST ASS PLANNED hilarity and general madness. Good times.
Golgo 13: ….
Kanokon: I can’t believe it’s not porn!!
Kure-nai: Best of the season. Great animation, great writing, great acting… just perfect.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Second best of the season. Good mix of craziness and drama. Fuka is too cute. Love abused lolis.
Macross F: Third best, I guess. Not much of a Macross fan, but this is good enough. Nice space battles and nyannyan dances.
To-LOVE-Ru: Guilty pleasure show of the season. I love it.
Toshokan Sensou: A good Production IG show?? And they said it couldn’t be done…
Zettai Karen Children: Decent fluff. Can’t really get past the hay 1990s art style, though.
Finishing Dennou Coil tomorrow. It is a good show.
Reading
Gunslinger Girl: Makes me want to watch the anime again. Great stuff.
Read some Ichinensei ni Nacchattara. It’s good.
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 is a magic number~~
Macross Frontier
I’m a Macross nub, I’ll admit. I only just saw Do You Remember Love a month or so ago and have yet to see the original series. I did see one or two episodes of that Macross Zero thing a few years back, but I guess that doesn’t count. Anyway, what I’m trying to get at here is Macross Frontier is my first proper Macross series. I put off watching the original airing of episode one (the “Deculture” Edition) until after my viewing of DYRL because I didn’t want to be like a new Gundam fan who only watches 00 and forgets the original series and movies exist. But I digress.
I watched the Deculture Edition and the proper TV airing back to back, so I got the whole story of episode one down. I’m pretty fucking impressed. I’ve had this fucking annoying itch for well produced and engaging SF anime for a while now, and Macross F does a fucking good job of scratching that itch. The world design alone would have been satisfactory, but Macross F goes above and beyond by delivering dogfights that are actually exciting. A rarity in anime. Not only that, but they were rendered in 3D and actually looked not shitty. Sure, it’s not fucking Pixar grade or anything, and the movements did look awkward at times (you cannot reproduce the Itano Circus faithfully in 3D, I am sorry), but damn. I was fucking on the edge of my seat. I should note that this hardly ever fucking happens to me.
Anyway, aside from violence and spaceships, the character animation is pretty good and everything else in general is well rendered. The character designs are apparently done by a porno-game designer, and I’m not sure how I feel about them. Nyan Nyan girl is cute, but her eyes aren’t big enough so she’s not MOEEEEEEE. But the dance is nice.
So yeah, watch it.
Zettai Karen Children
…or Absolutely Lovely Children, in our archaic and simple Engrish ranguage. Though you may just want to keep it Zettai Karen for when you’re speaking in public, to attract less suspicious looks.
Yeah, this one is a big ol’ “I GUESS IT WAS OK.” This first episode had a crazy Hard Gay wannabe as the main villain. I dunno, maybe I’m just too old to appreciate a gay man shooting lasers out of his dick, but this wasn’t really funny or not funny. It was just there. Anyway, gay men shooting lasers out of their dicks aside, the show features some psychic lolis, which are clearly better than normal lolis, because they’re psychic. They could probably jerk you off with their minds, or something. One is voiced by Hirano Aya doing her Konata voice, and her character basically is Konata except more perverted. I’m not sure what to make of the character designs here. On one hand they’re kind of cute, but on the other hand they look like the stepped out of some show made in that awkward period where anime was becoming moe but was still not moe. Like 1999 or early 2000, or something.
This show is apparently directed by the Hayate director, which is confusing since that same directorial brilliance isn’t here. However, a quick gander at this guy’s other credits almost convinces me that Hayate’s brilliance doesn’t really lie in the direction so much anymore. I guess that guy just does lol otaku shows. Also, this is meant to run for a year. Not sure if I’ll be able to stick with it.
Allison to Lillia
Uh, I’m not really sure what to say about this one. Episode 1 was well done, but I’m not really sure if this kind of show is my thing or not. It certainly was fun and had a great sense of adventure helped by an ambitious musical score, but it’s so not-anime that I’m almost put off. I guess I’ll watch it until I get sick of it.
The animation is pretty good. I really like the use of colour.
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