The Good, The Bad, and the Moe: Summer 2009 Anime Rankings
Posted by 0rion on September 19th, 2009 - 5:24 pm
17 different shows from the summer ‘09 anime season, analyzed and ranked from the bottom up.
Disclaimer: These rankings are purely a reflection of our own opinions and tastes, which are admittedly rather different from your average anime fan. Just because we don’t like a particular show doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it. Your mileage may vary, etc etc. However, if you do have a different opinion about a show, by all means post a comment so that people reading have more than one opinion to go by.
Summer often gets a bad rap as the “filler” season in between the generally much more packed spring and fall anime seasons. This season, however, summer boasts an excellent crop of new shows for fans of all different genres. Although I’m ranking these shows numerically according to my favorites, almost all of them are enjoyable in at least some respects.
Almost all.
17. Element Hunters
Send it to hell, Marge, send it to hell.
No seriously. Usually I try to give a series at least 3 or 4 episodes before making a judgment call, but this show had me pulling my hair only minutes into the first episode. I still watched a few episodes so that I can say I’m not making a premature judgment, but man that was torturous.
The plot is something along the lines of:
Earth is in crisis because our precious elements are disappearing! As it turns out, they are being stolen by an evil alternate dimension known as “Nega Earth”! Yes, that’s right. They are coming to earth and stealing our elements. Like, one at a time. An element.
And! And the only way to stop them is to transport teenagers in spandex outfits to Nega Earth to fight and bring back our elements! On account of grown ups can’t go to Nega Earth. No seriously. It’s because of science! Yeah…
So they go to Nega Earth, and there’s lot of emo bullshit and teen angst, and then they fight a monster using strategies that sound like some kind bad science project. And the element is captured in their “Pokedex”. Gotta catch ‘em all.
And everybody lives happily emo after.
16. Fight Ippatsu Juuden-chan
Another typical fanservice fest, and one with an incredibly sketch plot to boot.
Well, maybe I shouldn’t call it “typical”. I understand this series really pushed the envelope in terms of what you can get away with and still be on broadcast television, what with masochism and urination in every episode. Or so I hear anyway. I couldn’t deal with the insipid plot long enough to even find out if that claim is true.
15. Aoi Hana
Yuri. That’s the only term that this show can really be described with, and also its only “redeeming” quality.
If you’re into that you might enjoy it, but beyond that gimmick the plot doesn’t really offer anything interesting or substantive. The characters are incredibly one-dimensional, and not in a good “one-dimensional funny trope character” way. And did I mention that the one dimension is yuri?
Sigh…
14. Kanamemo
This series is so ridiculous and creepy on so many levels, I can’t even begin to describe it. The constant loli yuri fetishism was emphasized to a degree that I found downright disturbing, and the plot alternated between cringe-inducing awful and yawn-inducing boring.
The only bright ray of sunshine were the vocal performances of Kugimiya Rie (Shana, Sanzenin Nagi, Louise), who is practically a requirement these days in any series with a loli tsundere, and Mizuhara Kaoru (Misao from Lucky Star), who really needs to get more roles, because her voice is incredibly awesome.
13. Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Sigh. I really wanted to like this show. I tried very hard.
The show has most annoying cast of characters I’ve seen since Code Geass R2, which is saying a lot. The dialogue comes across as extremely forced, the characters are all wholly uninteresting, and most of the plot and pacing feels as though the scriptwriters just grabbed random text from the game and stitched it together slapdash.
12. Umi Monogatari
I actually like this show quite a bit, surprisingly. It’s fairly typical magical girl fare with a side of fanservice, but it’s delivered with solid animation, an excellent soundtrack, and a rather tongue-in-cheek approach that makes it a bit more memorable than most similar shows.
11. Sora no Manimani
A predictably slow tale of highschool life and budding romance, Sora no Manimani won’t knock anybody’s socks off. It does, however, manage to provide a good amount of random humor, some cool astronomy lessons, and the occasional heartwarming moment.
10. NEEDLESS
This show is trying to be Gurren Lagann so hard it hurts. Not only does their logo look nearly identical, the main characters bear a very suspicious resemblance to Kamina and Simon, albeit in appearance only.
The sad part, as much as I hate NEEDLESS for having a name in all caps and being essentially one huge rip-off, it’s actually a halfway decent series. The production values are above average and the show features a colorful cast of super-powered blowhard badasses beating the crap out of each other. There was supposedly some kind of larger plot involved, but I wasn’t particularly interested in it, and judging from the way the show progresses I kind of get the feeling that the production team wasn’t either.
9. Zan Sayounara Zetsubou Sensei
Season one of Sayounara Zetsubou Sensei was legendary. Season two was lesser, but still hilarious. Season three seems to be lowering the bar even further. While still vintage Shinbou comedy, this season is really missing a lot of the magic that made this show great in the past.
SHAFT seem to have their best animation squad committed to Bakemonogatari right now, so the visual caliber of the series has taken a noticeable dive. Beyond that, however, the humor just doesn’t seem quite as fresh as it as was in previous seasons. For better or for worse, the format is exactly the same as it always has been, but the jokes are less original and the scenarios less creative.
That’s not to say it’s bad; by no means. I still watch SZS and laugh at it. Compared to some of the other awesome shows in this season’s line-up, however, I have a hard time justifying giving it a higher spot.
8. GA – Geijutsuka Art Design Class
GA is this season’s obligatory “slice-of-life, day to day adventures of a group of high school girls” anime. I’m pretty sure that Japan is legally required to make sure that at least one show like this is airing at all times.
As a typically slow-paced slice of life show, it features the usual cast of unusual moe characters doing silly things in silly ways. Given the subject matter of the series, the natural inclination is to compare it to Hidamari Sketch, and in that respect I’d say it measures up extremely well. Not only are the production values much better than Hidamari, GA has more consistent humor. It also puts much more of an emphasis on (gasp) the actual art and related artistic endeavors of the cast, so it’s both entertaining and educational.
I’ve enjoyed Geijutsuka Art Design Class so much, in fact, that I went out to the local Kinokuniya and bought up the tankouban collections of the original 4-koma series the anime is based on.
7. Taishou Yakyuu Musume
This is the real sleeper hit of this season.
Set in 1925, during the transitional Taishou period in Japanese history, this show follows the misadventures of a group of school girls as they try to form their own baseball team and compete on even terms with the boys. The story starts off extremely slowly, but quickly develops into an endearing tale of failure, success, perseverance, and personal growth that really epitomizes the Japanese spirit of teamwork.
I’m a huge fan of jidaigeki, or Japanese period dramas, and Taishou Yakyuu Musume has quickly become one of my favorites in this sort of genre because of its slice-of-life approach to storytelling, as well as its interesting progressive perspective on the changing role of women in society during this pivotal period in Japanese history.
For more info, check out 2DT’s great write-up about the series.
6. Princess Lover
I was actually expecting Princess Lover to be terrible, mainly because of the name, as well as the number of overgenerously proportioned females featured in the promo art. I’ve ended up been pleasantly surprised by this series, fortunately.
Make no mistake, this show is completely ridiculous, but that just serves to make it incredibly hilarious. The story of a young man who is taken in by his incredibly rich grandfather when his parents pass away, Princess Lover covers everything from school hijinks at Yuppie Academy to random international intrigue. It doesn’t shy away from the fanservice, but it also manages to do it in a sort of tongue-in-cheek manner that doesn’t turn me off from the series.
I also have to give them mad props for including an awesome Kaiji parody, as well as the many other lulzy moments of the hot springs episode. The director is just having way too much fun making this series.
Also the grandfather is voiced by Wakamoto Norio (Emperor Britannia, Vicious, Narrator from Hayate no Gotoku), so how can you not enjoy this show, really?
5. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya S2
I don’t know which is more surprising to me – that I’m actually ranking a Haruhi season as low as number 5, or that I’m still loyal enough to have it this high on the list considering everything that has happened this season.
Just for reference, by the way, the reason I’m including it in the rankings this season is because last season was almost entirely recap material, and thus I skipped it in my Spring Rankings post.
In any case, I still enjoy the Haruhi franchise, and while the hype has died down considerably and the newer episodes aren’t anything special, the series still manages to deliver consistent, predictable fun. As long as Haruhi dominates all life, Mikuru cowers, and Kyon facepalms and provides his characteristic dry narration, I’ll continue to be well entertained by this show for a long time to come.
For more Haruhiism, nobody does Haruhi posts better than Jason Miao.
4. Bakemonogatari
If you’re a regular reader you know that we’ve already said quite a bit about Bakemonogatari, some of it negative and some positive. Just like Sayounara Zetsubou Sensei, this series is classic SHAFT x SHINBO, with all of the quirks and visual oddity that that combination fosters. As a result, it probably will not appeal to everyone.
That said, if you can get past the odd visuals, even weirder music, and even more bizarre characters, this show is a real gem. The visual style, however, while creative, just serves to set the stage. Dialogue is really the soul of this show.
The incredibly clever banter between Araragi and the various supporting characters is witty and sarcastic, at times innuendo laden, and always off the wall. It really makes it fun to watch, and paired with all the kooky audiovisual trappings serves as a textbook case of surreal, wacky humor.
Add in the unique wit and charm of Bakemonogatari’s leading lady, Senjougahara Hitagi, and it’s no wonder that this “Senjougahara Fascination” craze has started to dominate the otaku mindshare.
To supplement your Bakemonogatari crazy, I recommend checking out Kurogane’s posts on the subject, as well as our summary.
3. CANAAN
After a ton of initial hype surrounding this Type-Moon produced series, it seems like many people felt somewhat let down by CANAAN. I think most of the disappointment stems largely from the fact that the anime tries to cultivate a very “serious business” vibe in the beginning, but then quickly shows its true colors as a somewhat goofy, if beautifully animated, action series.
That said, I think CANAAN is brilliant at what it does. If you’re looking for a show with a moody, gritty realism to it, CANAAN is probably not your show. If you just want to see awesome gunfights and have no interest in character exposition, CANAAN is probably not your show. If all you’re interested in is yuri-goggle fodder… well ok, CANAAN might still be your show.
Ultimately, however, CANAAN’s appeal doesn’t rest on it’s action scenes or any potential yuri-bait that may or may not exist. It’s about the characters and the way they somehow come together to create a hilarious, quirky, and entertaining story that is greater than the sum of its parts.
For more on this series, Kabitzin has the best episode summaries. We’ve got several CANAAN related posts here at Epic Win, as well.
2. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
I simply have no words to adequately describe this series. It’s gone beyond all my expectations, pulled relentlessly at my heartstrings, and spun a fascinating tale about courage, cowardice, hope, and despair.
Most disaster films really try to play up the spectacle of a disaster for entertainment value. Many of them try to play up some kind of romance subplot. And unsurprisingly, they’re mostly pretty terrible.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 strays away from the traditional disaster flick style of presentation for something much more down to earth (so to speak). Focused on the story of two children caught in the quake far from home, and the woman who helps guide them back, this series is about a surprisingly simple and personal story that portrays the very human reactions that we all exhibit when the world we know breaks apart. It’s a story about hope through the most despairing of circumstances, and persevering through difficulty with the promise of a brighter future.
I really just can’t properly convey how awesome this show is. So instead let me refer you to someone much more qualified to do that, who has written extensively about this series and its many ups and downs.
1. Spice & Wolf II
Spice & Wolf is a rare kind of story. It’s one in which there are no grand large scale plots, no clear beginnings or endings. It can’t even properly be called a romance story. And yet, it is exactly that lack of many normal or stereotypical elements that makes Spice & Wolf a very unique and enjoyable tale.
I’ve been a fan of the novels and the manga that inspired this anime for a long time. The first season of the anime, although lacking in a few areas, was brilliant and captured most of what I liked about the series. This second is now following in its footsteps, except now under the direction of a new studio and with a larger budget it’s become better in every aspect.
Horo and Lawrence’s hilarious yet heartwarming hot-and-cold relationship is endlessly entertaining, and the rich dialogue the show features reveals an incredible depth and uniqueness in its multi-faceted protagonists that is rarely matched.
For more on Spice & Wolf, check out DarkMirage’s review, or Martin’s excellent write-up.
I’ve actually been following a ton of shows this season, since the summer crop was so good. Really, everything from #9 up is worth at least checking out, and even some of the lower ranked shows can be enjoyable if they’re in a genre you especially like.
Umineko is beyond your understanding.
And that isn’t because of the anime either. It’s because you’ve stopped thinking.
Ahhh yes, I was wondering how long it would take for the Umineko trolls to start showing up.
Hey, as I stated at the beginning of this and every season review post: if you like the show that’s fine. Go ahead and tell me (and the folks reading), why the show is more deserving than I credited it for. I won’t agree, of course, but that certainly doesn’t mean you’re wrong.
That’s a lot of shows!
I too am rather surprised at how good Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 turned out to be. I only knew it was going to be interesting, but this level of intensity (LOL pun) surprised me. It had me by the first episode.
Bakemonogatari entertains me a good deal. It’s nice to look at and very fun to talk about.
I just might check out Taishou Yakyuu Musume, but I will probably watch Cross Game first.
I actually wasn’t sold on Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 after the first episode. Really it didn’t truly hook me until the 3rd and 4th episodes, both of which were incredible and hit close to home in a lot of ways. That said, I’m certainly glad I stuck with the series, as it’s been one of the shows I look forward to the most every week.
As for Taishou Yakyuu Musume, I certainly do recommend giving it a look. Just be aware that the beginning of the series is really slow, so it takes a bit of time to really get to the interesting parts of the show.
Cross Game is a fun series but I could never really get into it. Perhaps I’ll give it another go someday. I just have a hard time following any baseball themed manga / anime after the brilliance of Touch, so I’m a bit jaded on that genre.
I can’t accuse your post of being ‘made of so much fail’ because of your opening statements, but I will say
- I enjoy Juuden-chan for it’s knowing exactly what it is
- Kanamemo is made of complete and total win. It is the show of my dreams. All other fanservice anime bow before it.
- I have no idea how you liked Zoku less than the original show, I thought it was at least twice as great, featuring some of the most awesome visual experimentation I’ve seen in an anime and loads of superbly clever jokes. I haven’t seen the third installment yet, though.
- Bakemonogatari is made of fail thinly veiled as win
- CANAAN is made of fuckwin thinly veiled as regular win
I haven’t seen about half of these shows nor more than a few episodes of any of them, so no comment.
I will say, though, ‘watching a few episodes to avoid a baseless statement’ is crazy in my eyes. I just won’t talk about the show, having dropped it before finishing the first episode (not that show, I didn’t watch it altogether).
oh, and if you didn’t know already, Cross Game is actually from the same author of Touch (and H2)
TM8.0 and Bakemonogatari both rank higher than S&W2 this season for me, by a lot. The amount that goes in in both!
Still I only decided to watch 5 shows because the rest all spoke of uninteresting tones or going into areas which I was sure would fail in, and only added Sora no Manimani to the mix because of a recommendation. It unfortunately went a little down the road later though it was still funny.
Princess Lover is definitely a good surprise this season, I was expecting it to be average even as a harem series.
No idea if I can even keep on watching Needless, it is starting to hurt. :\
@ digitalboy
Well, I give pretty much every anime that airs at least a try, and in my season reviews I try to cover everything. Many series take a few episodes to really pick up, so I hate to drop something just because the first episode was a dud.
Oh, trust me, I would recognize Adachi Mitsuru’s art style anywhere. Perhaps it’s precisely because it’s by Adachi that I have a hard time getting into it after Touch. As I said, though, I’ll probably pick it back up again someday.
@ Panther
Hah, yeah I stuck with Needless for quite a while, since it seemed like it had potential, but eventually it got pretty painful for me as well.
FYI, Needless came before Gurren Lagann. Aoi Hana is not about yuri, it’s about friendship, which just happens to have yuri in it.
@ Nellie
Well, so it did. I stand corrected.
2004 vs. 2007 for Gurren Lagann. That’ll teach me to do my research next time. Makes me wonder now, though, how much of Gurren Lagann was pulled from Needless, since there are way to many similarities for it to be just coincidence.
@ Anon
OK, so perhaps you’re not a troll, just a very rude person. I’ll give you that much.
In any case, I’m afraid we’ll just have to agree to disagree on Umineko no Naku Koro ni. I don’t think it’s deep or creative. Unfortunately I just find it trite and dumb. I had really hoped it would be one of the top shows of the season, but it just continues to piss me off more with every episode. I don’t believe the characters, I don’t believe the dialogue, and I don’t care find the plot original or interesting.
Who knows. Maybe it’s just me, there are certainly a lot of other people who enjoy it.
How exactly are the characters in Aoi Hana one-dimensional? It seems to me that you missed the entire point of this series: all of the major characters evolve throughout the series, they all get a bit of background and development. Also, how is this series just one-dimensional yuri? The only really confirmed lesbian is Fumi, the rest of the cast is either straight or bi.
I personally really liked how the majority of this series focused not on a relationship between the two lead characters, but instead one of the lead characters and a side character.
OK, so maybe the yuri line was a bit of a cheap shot. I still don’t think the characters in the series have much in the way of interest or depth, regardless of how much screen time they are given.
The show is paced like a slice-of-life series, but tries to take itself seriously and ends up failing at both. At least, that’s my estimation of it. I dropped it about 6 episodes in, so if there’s some real significant character development past that point then that would at least minimize my biggest complaint with the show. I just was too frustrated with the lack of anything interesting to keep going past that point.
I enjoyed reading the post. Personally I suppose you’re still approuching Haruhi a bit too subjective. It’s indeed surprising that it’s still ranked so high, considering that a particular arc has had pretty much everyone writhing in pain…ah well
.
I too would’ve placed Canaan above Haruhi and S&W2 on top. It’s a very entertaining series. Just a shame that so little of the novels are translated in English. In retrospect very little actually ‘happens’ in the different novels (or at least the ‘adventures’ tend to follow the same larger lines) . But because the main characters tend to express their feelings for eachother in such subtle /playful ways,… even the slightest gesture is interesting/has meaning. Compared to the dozens of other shows where you’re overwhelmed with visual goodness, this show actually succeeds in keeping you on the tip of your chair when watching subtle movement of the hand, or a glimmer in the eye. Success.
I’m still quite entertained by ZSZ-sensei (so I would’ve ranked it top-5) but I can understand that some can only be entertained by stereotypes for so long. The only thing I truly regret is that Zetsubou’s suicidal tendencies have stopped taking the center of the stage. The entry of new characters in an already character-laden show wasn’t the wisest move either…but it remains the one and only show that provides cultivated laughs lol. It’s also one of the only shows of which I’m still willing to sit through the intro again and again.
I watched a handful of eps of GA Design Class and found it quite lacking. I suppose that some stuff might hit close to home for those in art schools (altough that’s doubtful) but either way I don’t see the need for anyone else to watch. The characters are ZSZ-like stereotypes without the parody or subversion. I’m afraid this series didn’t even made me crack a smile.
Lacking spare time I’ve only recently begun watching Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 but I suppose it can be a deserving second place.
Can’t say much/anything about the other shows but the top three pleases me so I’ll take your word for it
Bakemonogatari shouldnt be anywhere near top 10. It’s a pretentious anime (What the fuck. I just said ‘pretentious’ FFF). It’s just made by Shaft, that’s why.
Other than Haruhi and Spice & Wolf 2, I’m actually not watching anything else from the summer season. Nothing seemed to interest me enough to get past the 3rd episode :\
But Fall season looks more promising
At the very least, there’s Railgun!
Re Orion’s Aoi Hana comment:
I would say continue to watch it, but I guess it depends on what you’re looking for, since there is strong character development, if just between the main couple of this arc. But if you know me, you’d know that I didn’t mind the pace which does kick up near the end.
And if you get annoyed by how the anime’s pace is going, or if things remain uneventful (such is life sometimes), reading the source manga could probably help with that. You could read it at your own pace.
Though from my opinion, and from others that I’ve heard, one of the praises for Aoi Hana is that it’s more realistic (not necessarily in situation, but in execution, character actions and the like) than most other stuff out there. And if not that, at least in regards to “yuri” shows. That might be part of a knock on it, but it’s one of the things that I like about it.
@0rion / Anon:
Regarding Umineko so two seem to talk at cross-purposes so I’ll try to find some middle ground here.
The problem this show has it, that its adapted against the intends of the original sound novels. Anon is right that the novels are quite complex and deep stories dealing with many abstract and even philosophical themes coupled with many-sided and intriguing characters but many of this stuff didn’t make it make it into the anime intact. But its not THAT easy because the fans of the game and the “first-time viewers” (thats what the novel fans call those without the game knowledge) think the anime sucks for a lot of different reasons which sometimes even contradict themselves and so there is much arguing about stuff that doesn’t fit together.
To put 4 long and complex “thinking games” with multi-layers presentation and all into 26 anime episodes were just bond to fail and letting DEEN handle this job seemed like an even bigger mistake. What they did was just strip down the whole tale to the basic plot with was kept largely as intended but this compression left no room for all the inner monologues of the protagonist (think Haruhi minus Kyons constant stream of comments) and many of the important character interactions and characterizations which are a major part of the whole concept. It seems they tried to make this up by making the “weird” stuff (crazy people and grotesque event) even more over the top but what worked for Higurashi in the past again fails for this show because it aimed for a totally different genre. E.g. the games first arc came of as a survival horror plot with quite realistically acting people but no way the anime convey this feeling with all the thoughts about the murders missing and this awful robot-like scriptwriting.
There is another problem with this show: The original novels were not meant to be (what I like to call) “casual mystery”. They are made to get you to question everything about this plot including the genre, the presentation of the games as a whole, the perception of the entire plot and the motivations of most of the major characters. So there is a huge difficulty in actually getting WHY this is a story worth the time in the first place (especially in the 2nd arc Anon was referring to).
So when Anon said “you stopped thinking” it was not really rudeness but just a quote from the novels. They really assume that you WANT to take the stance of the protagonist to solve this riddle because its intended to make sense in the end otherwise you have lost. The author even challenge the reader in his promo-texts you find any rational answer to this plot. But the game also give you a protagonist you can relative to and more tools to approach this strange tale while the anime obviously fail really hard in this regards. But that’s where all falls apart. Without this mindset its just an increasingly annoying plot with allmighty magic everywhere, strange shounen-action scenes and fanservice and annoying discussions of unrelatable main characters.
In the end we have the novel fans who complain about the bad adaption on a plot scene to plot scene basis but filling in the missing parts with there previous knowledge (only annoy about plot mistakes, underplayed scnenes, bad music remixes of the original) … And we have those new to the stuff failing to get the basis premise of the story because of lacking presentation. And then the first ones start trolling the second ones because they “don’t get it” because the game said thats the wrong way to interpret it.
I hope this helped you see how your both right in a way. ^^
(But I guess this is myself tilting at windmills because I see those misunderstandings about this show everywhere right now ^^ Perhaps its just another example of Viewers Are Geniuses
Ups… missing closing bracket in the link
Well you should rate a show on what you see lolz. No viewer should be expected to have any background knowledge. Actually in most cases not having read the novels,… makes watching a series an even greater experience.
Anyway, not really a ’summer 2009′ series, but Time of Eve just ended and I thought it was just perfect.
For some weird reason a cosy bar/cafe in an anime series immediately results in instant win for me. Bartender, Getbackers, Cowboy Bebop, Time of Eve,… solely the presence of a bar/cafe immediately makes an anime 300% more awesome. The Truth has been spoken.
/ No problem, direct linking to TV Tropes should be a crime anyway. It leads to dozens of hours of procrastination, failed exams and hysterical laughing fits.
“Well you should rate a show on what you see lolz.”
Thats why I wrote that the adaption fails in this regards. Just wanted to address this “OMG those VN trolls” perception because more people seem to talk about how they disagree on this show then why this topic is so polarizing.
After all it’s just a quite complex version of the old “book vs. movie” discussion…. but here all seem to agree the adaption sucks to varying degrees but disagree on the reasons and start arguing.
“No problem, direct linking to TV Tropes should be a crime anyway.”
But its so convenient for all the same reasons XD …. still “ruining your life”
@Grimmer
You forgot to mention Witch Hunter Robin.
I must concur with your astute observation concerning the indisputable connection between an inviting cafe and a quality anime.
Well played.
@ Grimmer
Perhaps I am being somewhat subjective with Haruhi, but in the end I do still like it a lot. I wouldn’t exactly call my reaction “writing in pain”, but it also hasn’t exactly been the greatest thing since sliced bread. Expectations to a lot to affect your reaction to a series, and I think in Haruhi’s case the problem is at least partly that the hype had reached levels that were completely impossible the live up to.
@ Nekonron
Oh, I am so thrilled about Railgun-chan getting an anime. That one is definitely on my watch list, no doubt about it.
@ TheBigN
OK, that makes sense. So perhaps I wrote the series off a little too hastily. I’ll give it another whirl once I have some time; I still feel the series biggest weakness, based on what I watched, was that it tries to be a character driven series but does not have interesting characters.
@ Digdri
Wow, that’s quite a breakdown. Honestly, all that just makes the whole thing sound even more pretentious, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.
The way the plot is presented makes a lot more sense now, though, so thanks for the helpful explanation. I don’t think I’ll give Umineko a second try, mainly just because I found the characters so irritating that watching got pretty painful after a while, but I definitely understand where the Umineko apologists are coming from a little better now.
Also, I fixed your link. I think the comment editing plug-in must have gotten turned off when I updated and I didn’t notice. I’ll have to check into that.
@ Guff & Grimmer
Ahaha, yeah that was always one of my favorite parts of WHR. Nothing like an anime with a beautiful cafe or bar to set a great mood.
I’m glad the text was helpful.
“I don’t think I’ll give Umineko a second try,…”
Can’t blame you for this decision. If I hadn’t read the novels I also would have done this most likely. After all the narrow schedule for the 2nd half won’t leave so much room to undo all the damage done in the basic presentation. (The later games are much longer and complexer then the first ones)
My reason to stick to this simple was that I liked the construction of the solution to Higurashi so I believed in the authors capability to pull of another stunt like this.
IMO the games really are a worthy successor to the Higurashi games but the Higurashi anime got its point across so much better then the Umineko anime.
But now you should see why this question like “So the characters / plot were different in the VN?” etc. so many people asked just completely misses the problem.
“Honestly, all that just makes the whole thing sound even more pretentious,…”
The basis premise of the game was intentionally made very pretentious from the very beginning. (Quoting some lines of the author: “I want to see how far I can penetrate everyone’s human supremacy.” / “I want to see you surrender and say that while crying bitter tears.”) but til now it didn’t disappoint.
To find a consistently explainable loophole in his presentation of the story (to solve his riddles) gets increasingly more difficult in later games. And without such a loophole its just perfect (as in totally impossible) murder he is describing. And the murders may not even be the main point of the story in the end (like Higurashi wasn’t about psycho horror at all after season 1). ^^
And last but not least that it mindfuck to the core… that also not everybodys cup of tea. ^^
(Thanks for fixing the link even if Grimmer liked it better this way XD
)
The 5 minute of re-editing are still working but I notices it to late
Hmm, I agree with most of your assessments of the season, though I’d probably rank Bakemonogatari a little higher and Haruhi S2 lower. And I might have to pick up Taishou Yakyuu Musume because of this and other posts; it’s good to hear that it’s more than moe baseball like I expected, and I’m always a sucker for period pieces.
On Umineko: I’ve both read the VN and watched the anime, and you could definitely describe it as pretentious. But even if it tries too hard to be Deep and Philosophical at times, it’s still oddly fun, just requires a lot of tolerance.
/new commenter, don’t bite me >>
@ Digdri
Yeah, thanks for taking the time to share; if nothing else I think I have a bit more of a well rounded view on this series now.
@ ineloquence
Don’t worry, I try not to bite too much. And I do definitely recommend at least checking out Taishou Yakyuu Musume; it’s an extremely slow paced show though, especially in the beginning, so just make sure you go on with the understanding that it takes a while for things to start happening.
As soon as you use the word “pretentious”, your argument automatically falls apart. It’s hard to take anybody seriously when they throw that word around.
And I thought following 7 shows was a lot (plus a couple of holdovers from Spring). For me, TM8.0 is the Show of the Season, barring S&W 2 or Bakemonogatari turning in some kind of fantastic finale.
I don’t see the tongue-in-cheek in Umi Monogatari. I think it’s rather dumb, and I’m kind of ashamed that I’m still following the show. At least I can rest assured that there are even dumber shows still.
GA Art Design Class is really funny. Definitely my kind of comedy show. I’d like to think it doesn’t get the love because subs are super slow.
Well, if the upcoming Fall season really does turn out to be the Fail season everyone is predicting, I can still come back to Summer to mine some more shows to watch.
@Ebliss
But you just used it now in your response so does that mean that…?
My cerebellum is aflame.
This is why I come to this blog, we think so alike. Plus the writeup is great too
My top ten is similar, though I wouldn’t want to rate Princess Lover so high, esp coz of the latter eps. I’m really glad GA is up there, has that Hidamari vibe to it, more technical but same dose of cuteness. Bought the manga coz of it too. And I love Noda-chan :3
Knowing your taste, I highly recommend Cross Game. You can’t help but smile your way throughout the entire season. The dialogue is witty and the character dynamics are really fun to watch. It’s much much much much much more light-hearted than its predecessors. Give it a try again!
@ kadian1364
I’m also not super excited about the Fall season outside of a few standouts, so I’ll definitely be coming back to catch up on spring and summer shows I didn’t have time to follow previously.
As for Umi Monogatari, sure it’s dumb, but it also makes fun of its own stereotypes while simultaneously epitomizing every magical girl trope in existence.
@ ahbonk
Yeah, I’m sure some day I’ll give Cross Game another try. Maybe I just need to stop mentally comparing it to Touch to be able to properly enjoy it.
After all, I still like Kaiji, even if I don’t think it’s as good as Akagi. It’s just different and you have to approach it with different expectations.
So many good shows to watch. Ah well… one of these days.
@ Guff
Come on, man, you should know better than to feed the Umineko trolls. ;P
I’m sorry I couldn’t resist. ^^;
The temptation was too great.
The production values for Needless are so below average it hurts. It looks truly awful most of the time.
For ZSZS, I think that the show just doesn’t have the impact that the first series had. Although it’s not as good as the first two series, I don’t think it was ever really going to be.
>>Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 strays away from the traditional disaster flick style of presentation for something much more down to earth.
And that’s the reason I didn’t like it (much). So sue me, I’m shallow.
SPICE AND WOLF II FOR THE WIIIIIIIIIIN.
Orion,
you managed to get pretty impressive (compared to other anime blogs) thread here. very rare to see an english-speaking anime blog that doesn’t just poo on moe/fanservice, but still tolerates different views.
also, starting your post by admitting it is only your opinion and you respect other’s tastes… wow! I can only say: wow! don’t remember seeing anything like this EVER.
i am putting your blog as no1 in the list of my anime-blogs-bookmarks.
so… what is that i wanted to say?….. ah! – why don’t you go all the way and offer the contra-opinions about the series inside the MAIN post ?
lol… I only know canaan
[...] ask me what my favourite show is this season, I’d be much more inclined to agree with the folks at Epic Win. Spice and Wolf II is every bit as laudable a sequel as Hayate no Gotoku!! is, and in place of the [...]
I thought NEEDLESS ripped off of Scryed, not Gurren Lagann…
Where are you guys?
I got to see these animes soon.
Good list of Anime. You’ve got a great taste for it. I love Spice and Wolf as well.
Great post! I had fun reading it! Thanks for putting it together!
The list was compiled very well, and the analysis deep
But I personally didn’t like Canaan, probably because I hate the genre (screw reality). Otherwise I thought the show’s plot was predictable/uninteresting, and the characters personality and intentions were a bit unclear (Alphard).
I really didn’t think that you should have categorized “element hunters” in this, as it is a primarily a kid’s show and not for your average otaku; although even as a kid’s show it was a lame Pokemon knockoff.
I agree with your num1 choice (although I was disappointing that Horo had faked a mental breakdown) – Horo Babies ftw
I love Horo. Her relationship and her interaction with Lawrence is so fun to watch. They have such wild wings…she has quick mood changes and he appears clueless many times…it’s really fun to watch!
Spice and Wolf II for the win!
Btw, it is rare to find series whether they are anime or live-action where the main point truly is character interaction and dialogue. Usually, the main points of anime or live action series are action scenes (like car chases or guns shooting or robots fighting) or it is over-the-top comedy.
I like series that are more based on interesting characters and their relationships. And, lots of dialogue/conversation.
That is why I love series like Spice and Wolf I and II.
Btw, any other series like S&W? I also miss series like AMG and VG Ai. They don’t make many of these types any more.
Argh, I meant “wild swings” as in changes.