Fall 2010 anime series - the impressions [Part 3]

And, the final part of my Fall 2010 anime impression. Was taking this long partly because I was planning to watch at least 2 episodes of each series before making my verdict, and unfortunately it was not until today that proper Hakuouki 2's sub was released.

Part 1
Part 2



Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge
MAL/Official Site
Genre: comedy, romance
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: SHAFT

Comments: SHAFT SHAFT SHAFT SHAFT SHAFT. Arakawa, season 2, now with even weirder creatures added to the already impressive list of extraterrestrial creatures residing under the Arakawa Bridge. Pretty much the continuation of the first season which ended back then in July, while maintaining the same artwork, main characters as well as those funny jokes :3

Verdict: 3/5 (watching)




Hakuouki Hekketsuroku
MAL/Official Site
Genre: action, drama, supernatural, historical
Number of episodes:12
Studio Production: DEEN

Comments: One of the show that I'm anticipating the most this Fall. The first season received a very mixed reviews, but I know I am among those that really like the series. The Shinsengumi, driven out by the foreigner's prowess at the end of season 1, are back in Edo and are planning to restore the Shogunate's power with the help of modern technologies (less swords, more guns). As the story goes, one might think that the plot lost its original focus (about Yukimura's father and the oni/rasetsu etc), yet suddenly at one point every piece strings together, which made the story more interesting (at least for me). Anyway, it's cool to see that now everyone in western outfits, I certainly would love to see Yukimura in such clothes too :3 I certainly can't wait for more battles featuring the Oni-samurais, as seen in the (awesome) OP.
For some reason I feel that there's a gap separating the end of episode 1 and the start of Hekkketsuroku. Come to think of it, it looks like there's episode 00 aired before the start of season 2..

Verdict: 5/5 (absolutely must watch)




Shinryaku! Ika Musume
MAL/Official Site
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: Diomedea

Comments: One of the funniest shit I've ever watched in recent years. Glad to see that the list of comedy series that kept me laughing never end, from Working! in Summer, Mitsudomoe! in Spring, and now this in Fall. Nevermind the manga, I find the anime adaptation extremely entertaining (and nicely adapted). The childish/dumb/naive/ignorant nature of Ika Musume (plus that puchline) with her plan to invade the humanity was very cute and amusing. Nonetheless, this is the show that I would definitely not going to miss, for the comedy value-de geso.
p/s: a certain magical...squidgirl.

Verdict: 5/5 (absolutely must watch)





Tegami Bachi Reverse
MAL/Official Site
Genre: action, fantasy, comedy, drama
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: Studio Pierrot

Comments: Another sequel I've long awaited for. As any other sequel, the story really won't make much sense unless we watched the first season. Now that lag has found the clue about Gauche, he now must find a way to bring Gauche back to his sense (aka restoring his lost heart), and looking at the length of this second season, it looks like (hopefully) the story won't be clouded with fillers (and unnecessary tears...lol). Great animation by Studio Pierrot as usual, while Niche always made me laugh with her antic, along with Sylvette's awesome soup. Tegami Bachi Reverse goes without saying, went straight into my watchlist :3

Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)




To Aru Majutsu no Index II
MAL/Official Site
Genre: action, comedy, drama, sci-fi
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: J.C. Staff

Comments: God knows how long has its been since the last time we saw Touma being animated (I'm more keen toward Index than Railgun after all). Watching the first 2 episode, it looks like this 2nd season will first ventured into volume 7 of the novels, although the real story only started at the end of that episode. Good to see that the regular familiar characters returned for action - the Touma, the Index, the Misaka, the Necessarius.... well, except Accelerator. The animation doesn't changed much (and still with the awesome visual effects and bgms). Nice OP, but I love the ED even more (Kurosaki Maon ftw) :3

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

That's all for me for this Fall season, i guess. These sure are a lot of series in my watchlist (15 just for this season) and I was even considering to put some on hold. But considering I would submit honours thesis by the end of this month (which happened to be next week) and am slightly more free until the end of the year, I guess this number of show is manageable.