So that hiatus from working on these posts was a little on the long side. After I got back from Chicago there was tons of stuff to catch up on from the new season, newly airing stuff, and schoolwork. In fact I still have not watched a single new show. I’m now only about a week behind. I’ll get there eventually though. In fact, normally I would be reading my copy of A Dance with Dragons that just came out (actually I’m about 200 pages from completion (actually I finished is several weeks ago) but NOOOOO! I’m writing some random wrap-up post for shows most of you have probably already forgotten about. I’m sorry, that was mean. It’s what happens when I’m deprived of A Song and Ice and Fire, just ignore it for now. I’ll be getting to the meat of things in a second with the final eleven however-many-I-wrote-about one cour shows I watched and Gosick which was the only two cour show I watched that finished this season, but briefly I’d like to discuss some of the stuff I dropped or simply was not able to complete:
30-sai no Haiken Taiiku: The only show I outright dropped last season, mostly because it was nonsensical. Don’t get me wrong I generally like nonsensical, but when half the screen is blacked out and every other word is Gendo Ikari bleeping some expletive it’s just not fun anymore, it’s a chore just trying to understand. It’s like trying to watch Qwaser censored; an exercise in futility. Also it wasn’t that funny to me. I was kind of interested how Hiro Shimono character would bag the hot office chick, but not enough to deal with the screen-obscuring censorship.
Hyouge Mono: Five episodes were subbed. I have to admit though that’s it an intriguing concept. The execution is…odd…to say the least. Within the first five episodes I was already shaking my head in disbelief every time Sasuke lost his shit over some ancient tea kettle meant to evoke a bird regurgitating up it’s lunch to feed it’s squawking children. I can’t fault the facial expressions though.
Honto ni Atta! Reibai-sensei!: I don’t watch many terribly animated shitty flash animation shorts but I’d watch way more HontoAtta because it was genuinely funny. I loved Reibai-sensei’s attitude and having her force Oda Nobunaga’s spirit to possess some random female student of hers was one of the funniest gags I’ve seen all year. I would have watched more Reibai-sensei but the group I go to for .avi encodes stopped releasing them. YEAH that’s right I can’t watch shit unless it’s SD, get off my back my laptop is 6 years old. BUY ME A NEW ONE. Also HontoAtta had one of my favorite ED themes of the entire season which is criminally unrecognized by not even appearing on Gendou. Behold: Pair by Meaw.It’s got one of the most mellow sounds and simplest dance beats but for some reason it really makes me want to get up and bust a move. Alright lets get down to business.
Even the coldest hearted moe-haters hearts melt at this sight.
Astarotte no Omocha!– So yes, it pandered to lolicons somewhat heavily at the end but I don’t really care either way about that. Lotte no Omocha never did that much to impress me in the first place. Most of the blogger reaction was surprise that it was not as lolicon-pandering as it was. Not the best reaction but I guess not a bad one either. My reaction was similar. I can’t think of many especially noteworthy things about the show to be perfectly honest. Except one thing:
Seiyuu Notables
- Man Satou Rina as the male lead sounded WEIRD.
- I suppose KugiRie for being a decent mix of obnoxious and heartwarming
- I wanted to strangle Tamura Yukari whenever her character was onscreen. I’m just not a fan of her little girl voice. It doesn’t sound like a child, it sounds like someone TRYING to sound like a child. Take some lessons from Sawashiro-san please.
- Nabatame Hitomi killed as Judit though
- Horie Yui as a cow girl thing
- Fujimura Ayumi as the bodyguard chick
- Asumi Kana playing a character that’s not sister to the protag but still short…with an eyepatch.
- Senjogohara (Chiwa Saitou) as a genius bunny girl
- Freaking cast was like one of the best of the season seriously.
No one is safe.
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko – Okay so Denpa Onna never amounted to much. Was it at least a fun or derivative way to waste of time? You mean it wasn’t? What’s that you say 90% of the jokes fell flat on their face/flew over your head? Well at least the characters were cute right?…………HELL FUCKING YEAH!
Pros
- In terms of sheer concentrated adorableness Denpa Onna’s cast is hard to beat.
- Maekawa’s numerous outfits and her subtle come-ons towards uhh what was the lame protagonists name again?
- Ryuushi- Ryuuko yaachu ni! Oh my god I died.
- The character designs for Erio were the biggest initial turn on I had for the show. I can’t say they failed
- Meme was pretty awesome and stole a lot of scenes
- The adolescence points system was kind of amusing though I would totally overturn some of his rulings
- I was a big fan of the ED and a moderate fan of the OP
Cons
- This show…needed to get it’s head out of it’s own ass
- Using your own willpower to influence people is a form of ESP? yeah okay sure
- The lead sucked
- The jokes weren’t funny
- This show got by on small touches and that’s it
Seiyuu Notables
- Initially I would think Ai Nonaka was miscast as Meme. But somehow she pulled off a dangerously alluring performance while keeping her trademark playful voice.
- So after hearing Emiri Katou has Kyubey hearing her as literally anything else is bound to evoke flashbacks. That being said Emiri Katou was so freaking adorabl as Ryuuko. I could watch a show just about her playing basketball and riding around on a bike in thigh-highs and a construction helmet.
- Maekawa’s seiyuu Fuchigami Mai did a great job in her 2nd ever role, she is definitely one to watch.
Deadman Wonderland – I may very well be losing it, but Deadman Wonderland was one of the shows I looked forward to the most each week. I’m pretty easy to please I guess. Deadman Wonderland had at least two elements (gratuitous gore an an interesting premise) that I enjoyed, which is more than I can say for a few other shows on this list. So I wasn’t that disappointed about the show, except for the ending being inconclusive and how I’m almost certain a sequel will never see the light of day.
Pros
- Over the top evil villains
- More evidence that I just clearly am not in the right mind: As cheesy as it is, I love the opening theme and animation.
- Over the top good guys with magical blood powers and poor self-restraint
- Gore
- Nagisa throws his severed arm at the little murderous child that wields a huge segmented sword-whip
- Fukuyama Jun I said this to Kamiya Hiroshi last season for his awesome bit part in Dragon Crisis: “Just phone it in for once.” Try channeling that awesome into not being a such whiny bitch protagonist for the 2nd season of Nurarihyon no Mago.
- Shiro’s Crowning Moment of Awesome when she lost her shit and blew up the guard tower, raining body parts down onto the catwalks below.
- Bowling with the director of the prison’s head
- The worthless automaton that was previously defeated by a kick to the face melts some random prisoner with acid
- Shiro’s bodysuit…yeah
- I already wrote a fair amount about the shows ED theme. It just strikes me as such an odd choice for a show like Deadman Wonderland
- Senji near accidentally kills two undertakers seconds after we were given their dramatic backstory
Cons
- God, Shiro just…just shut up for like 5 fucking seconds you sound like someone dropped you on your head as a baby.
- Yoh-kun was basically worthless after they rescued/defeated Minatsuki
- Ganta, your mom was a little off if she sang you a song about a woodpecker with a poisonous beak that killed all the trees, just saying
- While I’m on the subject: Ganta you are the weakest, whiniest, little pussy I think anime has seen since Raki
- I hate Ganta because by extension it means I have to hate a performance by one of my favorite seiyuu, Paku Romi. Sometimes a seiyuu can rise above a shitty character and animation, but not this time.
- Someones dying!? QUICK! TELL THEIR BACK STORY! (except for the above mentioned Senji scene)
- Not as stylish as I was hoping/Too dark to see
- Worst random out of place fanservice since Shangri-la. (Except for this. Hnnnnnngggg.)
- Gore censorship
Seiyuu Notables
- Fuck you Ganta. Sorry Romi-neesama you can’t say save him, he’s just shitty.
- Shiro is dumb, HanaKana you don’t do criminally stupid characters well. Exhibit A: Nessa Exhibit B: Shiro
This was just...totally unexpected.
Pros
- Let’s get it out of the way early: The woman who spun her tits.
- Enma-kun’s magic stick needs batteries
- Harumi tsukkomi has a tsukommi has a tsukommi
- Enma vs. Chiko-sensei…’s assets and the bath beauty bowling balls
- Enpi-chan doesn’t wear clothes *pun-ska-pun pun!* “non-non” “lullabyeeee!”
- Kappaeru the rotund satellite majestically spinning above the earth
- Not one, but two episodes about inflating body parts/people
- Kappaeru eaten by lions
- Enma-kun’s flying kotatsu
- Behold: The power of Mikan’s (except yours Harumi)
- The conclusion and it’s documentary on the intricacies of sentient-hat intercourse…as Dr. Monster told me once.
Cons
- The whole groping of Yukiko-hime at every opportunity got old fast…though that didn’t prevent me from enjoying Mamiko Noto’s moans
- No Great King Enma/Wakamoto I don’t need to see you making out with a tranny God
- Lazy animation on occasion
- Sometimes it was so anti-climatic you didn’t know what the purpose of watching it was
Seiyuu Notables
- Takehito Koyasu, one of Myswordis’ favorite seiyuu once again giving a great comedic performance as Kappaeru
- If someone told me Kappei Yamaguchi had voiced Enma-kun in the original series as well I would have believed them. He’s almost too perfect, though I am curious to hear what Goku/Pikachu sounded like as Enma.
- One of your best performances ever Noto-sama. Thank you for Yukiko-hime.
The more I think about this the more it makes a perverse sort of sense.
Gosick– The latter half of Gosick made up for all the shoddy mysteries in the former half. Mostly this was due to tossing out the mystery of the week format and only focusing on the overarching plot. It turned into a really fun adventure traveling story. Kujo never really grew much in the way of balls till the end of the show but he wasn’t completely useless throughout. Victorique remained as ever the major drive for watching the show. Seeing the way the final act unfolds makes it all worth it in my opinion. Revenges are had, lovers are seperated and reunited, grand mysteries are put to rest, and kings are humbled.
Pros
- The leviathan mystery was excellent. 90% of the clues were there but it was still difficult to puzzle out
- The Beelzebub’s skull arc and subsequent train trip were excellent and exciting
- The Coco Rose mystery brought the series to an entirely new level and tied in well with the earlier mysteries
- The lurking horror of war and the ultimate showdown between science and the occult changed the show from a mystery format to an epic adventure story
- Cordelia’s crowning moment of awesome
- I personally enjoyed the ending immensely. Endings very often leave one unsatisfied with the results but I felt Gosick ended as best as could be expected.
Cons
- That being said the final episode rushed through a lot of content very quickly. While plenty exciting it also didn’t give much time to stop and breathe.
- Kujo remained largely worthless. His purpose in the show was to have someone for Victorique to rely on and trust
- The mystery that started the 2nd half sucked.
Seiyuu Notables
- Probably Yuuki Aoi’s best role to date. The only one who could do as well is her idol Sawashiro Miyuki who basically is doing the same role in Dantalian no Shoka.
- Coincidentally Miyukichi voiced Victorique’s mother, Cordelia and was excellent.
Hen Zemi– I think the consensus on this show is: not as good as the OAV. Nvm that the budget was most likely greatly reduced, everything else was dumbed down as well. If this wasn’t only 15 minutes an episode it would have gotten dropped pretty quickly. It just didn’t have the same perverse chemistry and devil may care attitude of the OAV. Pros
- Served as excellent background noise while I organized all my doujins.
Cons
- Boring
Sieyuu Notables
- Ishida Akira is fucking CREEPY.
Hidan no Aria– I think it would probably be best if we collectively decided that this never existed. In a word: vapid. Pros
- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
- Lolwut
- nah
Cons
- Infinity
Seiyuu NotablesI guess it was nice to hear Taiga (Kugimiya Rie) and Ryuuji’s (Junji Majima) seiyuu doing something together again only with 99% less charm.
Video credit – E Minor
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi– I’m gonna let E Minor take it from here: Ayumu – A Novel by Go Zappa.
The World God Only Knows 2 – I personally greatly enjoyed the 2nd season of TWGOK. I felt it was far superior than the first season. While the first season only really had the Shiori arc that I could say was excellent this had what I considered at least three excellent arcs. Note: This opinion could be greatly inflated due to appearance of favored seiyuu.
Pros
- Haqua’s introduction arc was excellent. I especially enjoyed the tiny people in the pyramid and what they did when no one was watching.
- The Chihiro arc got me right here. It was the first time Keima really questioned his attitude toward reality. It really did a good job of showing Keima’s main flaw and how it caused him to overlook and misunderstand Chihiro.
- His capture of Chihiro was mighty epic though and excellently directed.
- Chihiro was my favorite girl so far.
- I enjoyed Jun’s arc as well even though her motivation was stupid. Wrestling? come one. Still I liked how Keima used a different strategy to capture an adult. I also liked how they didn’t squash Jun’s idealism.
- I wish he’d try to capture that bossy teacher too ohh yar
- The final comedic filler was pretty damn funny parody of early Key works complete with QUALITY character designs.
Cons
- Not enough Haqua
- Needs more seasons
Seiyuu Notables
- Hiro Shimono and Kanae Ito continue to do excellent job with Keima and Elsie.
- The addition of Hayami Saori as Haqua is excellent. I don’t always like her VA work but I definitely like Haqua.
- Asumi Kana playing a non imoutoesque role was a delight
- Aki Toyosaki is mai favoritest evar
And that’s all. This post is horrifically late as it is. If you are curious about my opinions on Softenni (overlooked gag comedy with Evangelion references), X-Men (not as good as Wolverine), Sengoku Otome (needs to work on it’s follow through), Yondemasuyo Azazel-san (goddamn hilarious especially when parodying Perfume, also this), Maria+Holic (a few star episodes but largely a soon-to-be-forgotten sequel to a probably-already-forgotten show), Seikon no Qwaser II (what a fucking cocktease I just finished this 09/02/11 and the final episode is just a goddamn 3rd season teaser. Well I did get what I wanted out of this season: more ridiculous tit jokes so I can’t complain too much about that last ep.) feel free to ask about them in the comments.
I plan to have a post out for the current season as soon as it finished. Hopefully it should be out quicker than halfway through Autumn, especially since I really like this season. By comparison Spring left me dead inside. That’s not true, but I didn’t think it was that great. I also intend to pen up something about the long-running shonens I am currently watching: Beelzebub, Toriko, Sket Dance, Gintama, and Fairy Tail. We’ll have to sit back and see if that ever happens. Until next time.
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
