After Endless Eight (Episode 1)

After Endless Eight (Episode 2)

After Endless Eight (Episode 3) Read the rest of this entry »

And yet I’m still watching it, anyway.

That’s not hyperbole, either. This series literally made me fall asleep on two separate occasions when I was trying to watch it. Just, face on the keyboard snooze. I don’t know if it’s something subliminal in the funky music or what, but it’s practically an Aria-class sedative drug. Maybe I’m just hypnotized by the trippiness of the whole thing.

All that isn’t to say that Bakemonogatari is bad, though. To the contrary, while the series definitely has its share of flaws, I’d say so far it’s one of my favorite shows of the summer 2009 anime season.

The characters and dialogue are definitely the show’s strong point. Ararararagi seems to take all the surreal circumstances around him in stride, narrating with an almost Kyon caliber dry wit. His back and forth verbal sparring with Hachikuji and Senjougahara alternates between awkward and hilarious constantly, and the show actually has a fair number of terrible groaner puns, although many of them get lost in translation.

If nothing else, Bakemonogatari is certainly the leader this season for spawning memorable lines and internet meme fodder (although “Kyon-kun denwa” x 16 does give it a pretty good run for its money). Rararagi’s conversation with Hachikuji after he accidentally cops a feel while fighting with her was hilarious, as was Senjougahara’s unexpected confession. Read the rest of this entry »

“Zaaaa Paaaay-paaaaah!!”

Man, even years later hearing that ridiculous Engrish pronunciation of Yomiko Readman’s codename still makes me laugh out loud.

I really should go back and rewatch my favorite classics more often. It helps recapture some of that nostalgic enjoyment that got me hooked on anime in the first place. This time around I also caught a few interesting details and subtle nuances to the story that I had never noticed in the previous times I watched Read or Die.

What an excellent show; I had forgotten how great it is. Not to say that I didn’t remember that it was great, I just didn’t remember just how awesome of a show it really is. The music, the characters, the pacing and plot, and the art design are all outstanding.

Heck, even the animation quality still looks pretty dang good, even by today’s standards. That says quite a lot considering how much animation techniques have evolved over the last decade. Read the rest of this entry »

Seriously. With all the ridiculous metaphorical battle cutscenes they’ve been throwing at us, someone needs to make this happen soon.

We might as well all get it over with and make an action RPG out of this thing. Or maybe an over the top fantasy battle anime spin-off series. Think Sengoku Basara but minus all the bromance, with crazy loli yuri action instead, a la Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Yeah, BRB – gonna go pitch the idea to the Gonzo execs and see if we can get the ball rollin’ on this thing.

I mean, they’ve already teased us with this:

This:

Read the rest of this entry »

One thing I’ve always liked about KyoAni is that they never skimp when it comes to outfits. In fact, this episode alone has Haruhi & crew sporting a total of 12 different outfits, which is more clothing variation than you get over the course of some entire series. Except for Yuki, that is, who wears her normal school uniform in every single scene except the Obon festival.

And of course, every single one of Itsuki’s outfits is either completely flaming or totally preppy. Yes sir, par for the course with this show.

Speaking of which, it really seemed like Itsuki stepped up his game in this episode. Whatever that “game” might be. I’m trying not to think about it too hard.

I believe the “game” in question is officially referred to as “extreme feminizing”, in which the practitioner in question makes unnecessarily girly hand gestures in everyday speech while moving uncomfortably close to other males. Points are awarded for awkwardness, style, and flamboyant dancing.

/facepalm Read the rest of this entry »

After a few weeks of re-run action, now we’re finally back to new Haruhi animation! And according to the broadcast schedule, we’re going to get mostly fresh material from here on out.

Of course the first notable thing in this episode is the new OP. Perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by all the amazing OPs Kyoto Animation has put together over the years, but I was a bit disappointed by this one. While the animation is a lot of fun, the song itself is decidedly meh.

And what’s KyoAni’s sudden obsession now with group running? Did they suddenly get tired of making dancing animus and decide to switch to something a little easier on the animators?

Have to concur with your observations; the OP is decidedly underwhelming.

Actually I kind of enjoyed the whole SOS-Dan roster introduction in that it captured some of that Cowboy Bebop kind of flavor, with the glaring exception that “Tank!” is one of my favorite OPs of all time, and the current Haruhi OP is an entirely generic J-rock anthem. Oh well… Read the rest of this entry »

Part 2, the continuation of the Spring Anime Rankings post I started last week. Delayed on account of Valkyria Chronicles is as addicting as crack cocaine. orz

Honestly, there are quite a few very good shows this season, so even though these series didn’t make it into my top 5, they’re all still highly enjoyable and come with the 0rion seal of approval.

6. Hayate no Gotoku

• Hinagiku
• Wacky romantic comedy
• Parodies everything under the sun
• Hinagiku

If you’ve never watched any of Hayate no Gotoku, you probably should just stop reading now and go get some of the first season. If you have, then you already know exactly what to expect from this series.

And really, that’s one of the strengths of this series. For over a year now Hayate no Gotoku has been the dependable, consistent weekly comedy that always brings the laughs without fail. Admittedly, it started to drag a bit through the middle of last season, and it does tend to recycle the same gags a lot. Nevertheless, it’s pretty much always worth a watch when you need some good old fashioned silliness with a few hints of romantic developments sprinkled on top.

Oh yeah, it also has lots of Hinagiku, and that’s never a bad thing. Read the rest of this entry »

How many references can you identify?

Incoming Dekkai Huge Post of Long.

Yes, that’s right, I’ve decided to satisfy my penchant for attaching meaningless numbers to things by putting together yet another Anime Season Ranking Post. Haven’t done this for a couple years now, come to think of it. Lazy me.

A couple quick notes:

• I’m ranking them from best to worst this time around. Sure, it takes out some of the “dramatic suspense”, but I figure most  people will get TL;DR Syndrome after about 4 or 5 anyway. Feel free to just read the convenient bullet points and save yourself time if you’re that guy. I’m also splitting this post up into several segments, which you’ll see going up on the site over the course of the next couple days.

• Haruhi Suzumiya won’t be on this list for 2 reasons. First, only one episode so far has been new material, since after episode 8 the series is back to old first season stuff for a while. Second, I’m so biased toward the show it would still be #1 even if it was horrible. Of course, the rest of the rankings are going to be completely biased as well, so that doesn’t really change anything. =P

• All these are based completely on my own judgment, so obviously your preferences may differ. If you feel a certain show doesn’t to deserve to be so high / so low, by all means feel free to make a comment or blog post with your counter perspective.

Your mileage may vary, etc. etc. Read the rest of this entry »

Jesus159159159, who’s been a lurker on several anime blogs over the years, has finally decided to set up shop for himself it seems. This is a good thing, since he’s probably written enough in comments on other blogs to be equivalent to two years otoshidama multiple Owen-caliber blog posts already. Might as well have your own creative outlet where you can keep everything organized in one place, eh?

So drop by, check it out, and give the man a shout-out. He’s got a couple summaries up for K-On, Natsu no Arashi, and the new Haruhi episode, even if it is that horribly cliche Summary/ Impressions format.

To commemorate the occasion, I decided to dig up a couple of his old comments from posts here at Epic Win for your entertainment. And also to embarrass him. If that’s even possible, that is. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh. My. God.

What have you been doing all this time KyoAni? It’s taken 3 years and over 100 episodes of not The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya to finally get back on track with the greatest anime of all time. Or rather, I guess this would be The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya technically.

Either way, Haruhi fans can now rejoice, for the promised day is upon us! Our unwavering patience and diligent prayers have been answered by Haruhi-sama at long last! Ok ok…

/fanboy hat off

Give me a break already, it’s been a long frickin’ wait! I’m allowed to celebrate a little bit.:P Read the rest of this entry »