At first I planned to make it top 10 because the sheer amount of Fall series that I watch, but considering how lazy I am at the moment, I guess top 5 is enough. So yeah, this is my top 5 fall series for anime that runs for 12/13 episodes.
05. Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka
This series actually tied with Kurozuka, Kyou no Go no Ni and Kemeko Deluxe in my list for 5th spot, but eventually I pick Akane Iro to be on the list because...well just randomly pick this I guess. I would surely sort them properly if this is a top 10 rank, but whatever.
Pros: nice art, fully loaded with delicious seiyuu, nice plot development (for the first half of the anime ONLY). Kugimiya as main cast, how can I resist? I especially like how Jun and Yuuhi always arguing each other, although sometimes Jun's stupidity does get on my nerve.
Cons: Friggin terrible ending. If it's not because of the previous factors (seiyuus and the early plot), this would instantly drop to my worst Fall series. I mean, there are many options in the eroge that can be picked as ending, but they go for the route I hate the most.
04. Chaos; Head
No problem sorting this in 4th spot.
Pros: Nice theme and setting, albeit is filled with generic harem character design. Some mind twisting theorycraft, but overall they are not utterly illogical. I like the BGM used in some of the fights especially the one near the end. Good character development for main hero Takumi, from a detestable hikikomori to a brave warrior.
Cons: I expect more psycho mindrape like Higurashi, unfortunately it played little part in the overall story. And just like the theorycraft about all those delusions make this a good anime, it also can be confusing especially if we don't pay attention properly on what Sena/Ayase/whoever had to explain.
03. Kannagi
Pros: The humor really hurt my stomach because of non-stop laughing. This could easily be my number 1 Fall series, but because of the inconsistency of the humor, plus some other mood-spoiling scenes take away a bit of my liking to Kannagi. But overall this is still one of the Fall series that I enjoyed the most, coming from ex-Lucky Star staff. And have a fairly good ending too.
Cons: As stated above, they failed to maintain the consistency of humor throughout the episode, let alone series. Episode 6 for example is one of the most hilarious Kannagi episode, but was terribly spoiled by Jin's reaction. In other episode, they try to push some jokes into the episode while its clear that the overall mood of the episode won't allow me to laugh.
02. Ef A Tale of Melodies
Pros: It's SHAFT again. High expectation mounted because people have seen how epic Ef: A Tale of Memories is. And yet again, SHAFT delivers what they are supposed to. They still maintained the uniqueness that brought famous to Ef Memo. The art style remains the same, and still follows the tradition of mind raping here and there. And of course, a good series should be concluded with a good ending :)
Cons: Many aspect of Ef Melo, however are inferior to Ef Memo imo. The epicness of the OP song by ELISA (ebullient future) is inferior to Ef Melo OP (Euphoric field). So does the mindrape and romance, which I like Chihiro/Renji and Hiro/Miya arc better than the one in Ef Memo. Nevertheless it is merely my personal preference.
01. Ga Rei Zero
The WINNER :D
To be honest I never expect Ga Rei Zero to be my top Fall series when it first came out. It starts with a confusing plot, seeing how we were fooled by the first 2 episodes when all they focused, from the anime to the official sites, are the characters in the squad only for them to find their end very quickly, although they still show the gist of the main evil, the white haired kid (who I forgot) as well as Yomi from the manga. Then the plot becomes clear - it is the prequel of Ga Rei manga, and it basically tells everything that happened before the event in the manga, like how the main evil in the manga [spoiler] become how she currently is in the manga, along with Kagura's past. Starting from how Yomi meet Kagura and how they grew closer to each other like real sisters, to the epic tragedy that leads to the event in the manga. From episode 3 to 7, the plot went normally with everyone on their monster extermination mission, with some humors and romance filled the spot whenever necessary. The real epicness, however comes in episode 8 onward, when the plot reach its climax. Sadness, rage, anger, misery, tense moments all jumbled up together, giving me a great impact. On top of that, there is also a song from Yousei Teikoku (my fav band) used in episode 8. Greatness.
Pros: Great OP and ED song, great BGM, great battle, great plot that fits my taste.
Cons: No idea...maybe the lack of male lead character perhaps? But I don't really care about that :3 And one more thing, some things in the animu might be enjoyed only when we've read the manga. And for me, I've read the manga a long, long time ago before the anime was announced and stopped at around chapter 10. Hence I have forgotten almost all detailed of the manga (iwahata, the scene when Yomi was strucked and injured, the ending of the anime etc), but nevertheless I stull enjoyed the anime veru much.
05. Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka
This series actually tied with Kurozuka, Kyou no Go no Ni and Kemeko Deluxe in my list for 5th spot, but eventually I pick Akane Iro to be on the list because...well just randomly pick this I guess. I would surely sort them properly if this is a top 10 rank, but whatever.
Pros: nice art, fully loaded with delicious seiyuu, nice plot development (for the first half of the anime ONLY). Kugimiya as main cast, how can I resist? I especially like how Jun and Yuuhi always arguing each other, although sometimes Jun's stupidity does get on my nerve.
Cons: Friggin terrible ending. If it's not because of the previous factors (seiyuus and the early plot), this would instantly drop to my worst Fall series. I mean, there are many options in the eroge that can be picked as ending, but they go for the route I hate the most.
04. Chaos; Head
No problem sorting this in 4th spot.
Pros: Nice theme and setting, albeit is filled with generic harem character design. Some mind twisting theorycraft, but overall they are not utterly illogical. I like the BGM used in some of the fights especially the one near the end. Good character development for main hero Takumi, from a detestable hikikomori to a brave warrior.
Cons: I expect more psycho mindrape like Higurashi, unfortunately it played little part in the overall story. And just like the theorycraft about all those delusions make this a good anime, it also can be confusing especially if we don't pay attention properly on what Sena/Ayase/whoever had to explain.
03. Kannagi
Pros: The humor really hurt my stomach because of non-stop laughing. This could easily be my number 1 Fall series, but because of the inconsistency of the humor, plus some other mood-spoiling scenes take away a bit of my liking to Kannagi. But overall this is still one of the Fall series that I enjoyed the most, coming from ex-Lucky Star staff. And have a fairly good ending too.
Cons: As stated above, they failed to maintain the consistency of humor throughout the episode, let alone series. Episode 6 for example is one of the most hilarious Kannagi episode, but was terribly spoiled by Jin's reaction. In other episode, they try to push some jokes into the episode while its clear that the overall mood of the episode won't allow me to laugh.
02. Ef A Tale of Melodies
Pros: It's SHAFT again. High expectation mounted because people have seen how epic Ef: A Tale of Memories is. And yet again, SHAFT delivers what they are supposed to. They still maintained the uniqueness that brought famous to Ef Memo. The art style remains the same, and still follows the tradition of mind raping here and there. And of course, a good series should be concluded with a good ending :)
Cons: Many aspect of Ef Melo, however are inferior to Ef Memo imo. The epicness of the OP song by ELISA (ebullient future) is inferior to Ef Melo OP (Euphoric field). So does the mindrape and romance, which I like Chihiro/Renji and Hiro/Miya arc better than the one in Ef Memo. Nevertheless it is merely my personal preference.
01. Ga Rei Zero
The WINNER :D
To be honest I never expect Ga Rei Zero to be my top Fall series when it first came out. It starts with a confusing plot, seeing how we were fooled by the first 2 episodes when all they focused, from the anime to the official sites, are the characters in the squad only for them to find their end very quickly, although they still show the gist of the main evil, the white haired kid (who I forgot) as well as Yomi from the manga. Then the plot becomes clear - it is the prequel of Ga Rei manga, and it basically tells everything that happened before the event in the manga, like how the main evil in the manga [spoiler] become how she currently is in the manga, along with Kagura's past. Starting from how Yomi meet Kagura and how they grew closer to each other like real sisters, to the epic tragedy that leads to the event in the manga. From episode 3 to 7, the plot went normally with everyone on their monster extermination mission, with some humors and romance filled the spot whenever necessary. The real epicness, however comes in episode 8 onward, when the plot reach its climax. Sadness, rage, anger, misery, tense moments all jumbled up together, giving me a great impact. On top of that, there is also a song from Yousei Teikoku (my fav band) used in episode 8. Greatness.
Pros: Great OP and ED song, great BGM, great battle, great plot that fits my taste.
Cons: No idea...maybe the lack of male lead character perhaps? But I don't really care about that :3 And one more thing, some things in the animu might be enjoyed only when we've read the manga. And for me, I've read the manga a long, long time ago before the anime was announced and stopped at around chapter 10. Hence I have forgotten almost all detailed of the manga (iwahata, the scene when Yomi was strucked and injured, the ending of the anime etc), but nevertheless I stull enjoyed the anime veru much.
That's it. Others that I don't have the time to comments are Yozekura Quartet (average), Shikabane Hime Aka (seiyuu still failed me till the end), Kemeko Deluxe (crazy but nice), Kyou no Go no Ni (still relaxing), Kurozuka (dark and bloody throughout), and Rosario Vampire Capu 2 (failed, only a glimpse of Tsukune's vampire).
next: my top 10 2008 anime. Hm...I wonder how many days will it take until I can write my next entry :3
Tales of Grace F
Warrior Orochi 3
FFXIII-2
3 comments:
Good Blog. ^^
Ga-rei Zero powa. =O
To me, the fall season did not have many outstanding ones, except garei. Mmm actually Ef was pretty good too!
yeah, I too think that this year series mostly are quite average, unlike last year when we were served with the likes of Myself; Yourself, Moyashimon, Ef Memo etc
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