short rant - summer animu part 2

Spice&Wolf II
MAL/official

comments: Spice&Wolf has always been on top of my list, and the coming of 2nd season made it obvious that this is going to be a must watch for me. The 2nd season's OP song is sweet, and while the ED song is nice, I still like season 1's ED Ringo Hiyori better. The animation and music used seems unchanged. Horo is lovely as usual, but at some point this time the show revealed an unexpected side of her, different than any other rants of hers we've seen in season 1. The story is, well...it seems like there's going to be even more business/economic/profit talks in this 2nd season. Which something that my brain isn't best at :P

verdict: ***** (definitely must watch)



Taishou Baseball Girls
MAL/official

comments: A bunch of girls trying to play baseball in an era where even seeing girls running on the corridor is considered as indecent. The animation is nice, easy to the eyes. I'm not fancy the story too much, but the humors and jokes they put in this show surely made up for that. Good for some laugh, at least.

verdict: *** (watch but not priority)



Tokyo magnitude 8.0
MAL/official

comments: Emulation of real disaster in Japan. Ok not much I can comment on this though. Below average animation/character art for my standard. One great thing about this show is the way they describe the after effect of the earthquake, with building and roads fall apart (albeit I expect the effect is much worse tbh), and how the victims cope with the earthquake. And since the animu focused on the two siblings who were trapped in the middle of the earthquake, this give the viewer a bit more understanding of the problems arises due to the disaster.

verdict: *** (watch but not priority)



Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
MAL/official

comments: ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!!!!! Having played all 4 Episodes of the visual novel, I am one of the folks who were really looking forward to the animu adaptation. So after watching up to 5 episodes, the anime really give me a mixed bag of feeling. The way they reanimated the characters with new design is definitely a plus, although sometimes I feel that the focus on boobs and hips are a bit excessive. The OP was awesome, just what the VN player would expect from Shikata Akiko. And the ED, while it was a little unexpected, I still enjoyed it (Jimang/Sound Horizon is one of my fav circle after all). The BGM used are great too, since they also used various musics from the game (and my favorite would be "goldenslaughter" bgm).
Then to the story. This is what made me dissatisfied with Umineko. Sometimes I feel that the pace of the plot is too fast. For episode 1 (Legend of Golden Witch) alone, so many scenes and (what I feel are) important dialogues were missing. I'm not trying to be critical, but I feel that without those missing things, the feeling of the VN can't be properly conveyed to the viewer. For example, how Battler is not just a mere pervert when he try to grab Shannon's boob in episode 1. And how Natsuhi really feel toward Krauss when he showed the golden ingot to her. And her true feeling when she chase out Genji and others out of Kinzo's room in episode 4 . And many more.. I understand DEEN want to cover all 4 Arcs in 26 episodes, so I hope some missing scenes or others will be covered later.

verdict:***** (definitely must watch)



Yokuwakaru Gendaimahou
MAL/official

comments: Hm... modern magic which utilises computational codes to conjure magic rather than chanting spells in ancient, conventional magic. Something new I'd say. Well not that it matter to me. I just watching this for the lulz. One magician with nothing except absolute talent in summoning pans in Koyomi. And another magician with fluffy hairs and boobs in Yumiko ♥♥♥

verdict: **** (will watch)



Zan Sayonara Zetsubou sensei
MAL/official
comments: Zetsubou sensei, do I need to say more?
verdict: **** (will watch)


others:


Element Hunters
MAL/official

comments: can't comment much since i only watched episode 1, so my view is limited. Some people claimed this to be educational, I can see where this is coming, with all the real elements we've learnt from periodic tables coming into the show. Unfortunately it's still not enough to convince me to continue watching..

verdict: ** (dropped)



GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class
MAL/official

comments: This show remind me a lot to Hidamari Sketch. Various random things about drawing, an elementary drawing lesson you could say. Still no sub other than episode 1, so I can't comment much. I just hope that it won't be as plain/boring as HS (to me, at least).

verdict: *** (will try a few more)



Umi Monogatari
MAL/official

comments: I was kinda interested with episode 1, particularly because of the unique theme of the sea creatures coming to the human world, topped with funny scenes here and there. But after watching episode 2, my interest in this series totally gone...

verdict: ** (dropped)


Summer series summaries:

rating 5/5: 3 (Needless, Spice&Wolf, Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
rating 4/5: 5 (Bakemonogatari, Fight Ippatsu Juuden-chan, Princess Lover, Yokuwakaru gendaimahou, Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
rating 3/5: 6 (Canaan, Kanamemo, Sora no Manimani, Taisho Baseball Girls, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, GA Art Design Class
rating 2/5: 2 (Element Hunters, Umi Monogatari)