Guillotine

So, now that the spring anime series are starting to wrap up I thought I’d give my impressions of the shows I have followed. Out of  all the great shows this season I have only been following a few, but they did not disappoint.  I’m kind of sad that this season is ending since the summer anime listings don’t appear to impress me much at first glance. So far the only thing I am intending to look into is “GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class”. But you never know… Coming into this season I was only looking forward to K-On and Phantom, but it’s turned out to be quite a good batch of shows. So here we go…

K-On

I’ll begin with the obvious… This show was so over hyped before the season that I’m sure many non-anime fans were probably somewhat aware of it’s presence. At this time there is one episode to go (well not including the 13th bonus episode), and the show has definitely lived up to expectations… If it hasn’t altogether surpassed them. If this show hasn’t made everyone who watched it laugh hysterically then I’m sorry to inform you that you officially have no sense of humor whatsoever. The animation quality was pretty much the usual Kyoto Animation fare with one notable difference… It seems for once a company has actually gotten clearance to use actual instrument brand names rather than something made up. I thought it was a nice touch to see Yamaha, Fender, Gibson, Korg, Vox, Marshall, and Peavey all in their proper places on the instruments. The voice acting was really outstanding with the characters really fitting their voices well. The characters themselves are really quite impressive as well. Even with all the character polls going on I’d really have a hard time nailing down just one as my favorite… Even the side characters and “extras” are rather likable and hard not to enjoy. If I had to say anything was wrong with K-On it is that the that the story moved too fast… Aside from a few continuing stories most of the episodes spanned an entire season in the time line making everything feel rushed. It really should have been a 24 episode run crossing into summer as well. It appears that the series is going to end during the second year of the character’s high school journey, so there is always the third year to look forward to if they run a second series later on. Although I have seen no reports of any plans for another at this time, but by now everyone should be familiar with how Kadokawa seems to love keeping secrets… Almost to the point of driving one insane. If you haven’t checked this show out, and like cute comedies then you’ll definitely enjoy K-On.

Asura Cryin’

This one I was a bit wary of… I wasn’t aware of the light novels that this anime was based on, so I didn’t know what to expect. And… After the first episode I was even more confused than before. At the time it seemed to make no sense whatsoever, but I’m happy to say that by sticking with it for a few episodes it becomes rather apparent just what is going on, and it turns out to be a pretty decent storyline. I really don’t know what category one could put this in… It kind of crosses into every genre’s turf. You have Mech, Magic, Comedy, Drama, Action, Harem… They are all here… Except maybe sports, but then the series hasn’t ended, so they may throw a baseball team in there somewhere. To me the show has a rather intriguing story while at the same time not taking itself too seriously. You can literally have a battle one minute and the characters all laughing and joking the next. The only really confusing bit of the show seems to be that you can never tell who is the bad guy… Even the enemies are decent folk in this show. The only solution I found was to just root for the main character’s (Tomoharu, Misao, Kanade, and Shuri), and just assume everyone else deserves to get beat. I think this show would be classified as a “sleeper” in the US. A rather good show, but I think it’s popularity is lacking possibly due to either people not giving it a chance, or the more likely possibility that it simply came on during a season with a lot of heavy hitters and just slipped under the radar. I’m sure if this show had aired either in Winter or even the upcoming Summer season it would have fared better. Regardless of popularity I have enjoyed the series so far and recommend it to anyone looking for a good show.

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

This is one of the shows I had been looking forward to since it was announced, and I will say that so far it has not disappointed me in the least. The only problem I have with the show are the idiots who leaked the 10th episode early, and have at least at this point put everything on hold. Funimation is no longer streaming it, and has even removed all material relating to the show from their site. At the moment it’s looking like nobody is even fansubbing it although the raw for the latest episode is available. This all happens right during a cliffhanger scene to boot. Anyway… The show is great. The animation is fantastic, and the characters are quite good. The story has kept me on the edge of my seat so far, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. This show is 26 episodes and spans into the summer season, so there is quite a bit more to see how it will all turn out. I think if it weren’t for K-On then this would be my favorite show this season.

Maria Sama Ga Miteru (4th Season)

Now this show is technically from the winter season, but as I’ve just caught myself up on the entire show I figured I’d give it a mention. This is really not my type of show… If I had to compare it to anything I think it would be classified as a soap opera. Of course anything I could complain about the show itself would only be reflecting my personal tastes, and I’m pretty sure I am not the target audience for this type of show. That said I mostly checked it out because the Anime Network began streaming it (before they fled Comcast) on their OnDemand channel. And I’ll admit that once I started watching I simply couldn’t take my eyes off it… Kinda like a train wreck… Once it starts you can’t help but watch. For what it is I think the show is well done. The art reminds me of classic anime from the 60s or 70s, so it has a rather interesting look to it, and the story is pretty captivating. I also have always tended to be fascinated by Catholic symbolism which this show is not lacking in. The only complaint story wise that I can bring myself to address is with the 4th season specifically. You know, or should know the final outcome by the first episode (by the first image in the opening credits for that matter), so I was kind of irritated that it was drug out excruciatingly until the very last moment of the very last episode. I feel that there was plenty more story to be had elsewhere and that one plot point could have been taken care of much earlier freeing up the rest of the season to cover other plot lines that were occurring on the side. All in all I say if you are into chick flicks then you’ll love this show… Even if you don’t it’s still rather interesting to watch.

The “Re appearance” of Haruhi Suzumiya

I don’t have much to say about this as only one of the new episodes has aired to date, and based on the time line I’d guess Haruhi S2 will mostly be classified as a summer season show. I will say that Kadokawa has most certainly driven many people past the brink of insanity with their shady public relations regarding this show. Several years and hundreds of rumors, and in the end they decided to release it inline with the original series without even formally announcing it. At least the rumors have finally been laid to rest. The show itself fits right into the original series quite well… As a matter of fact if it weren’t for the different opening and ending you could even believe it was created right along with the original series. So all I can really say from first impressions is that if you liked the first season then you should enjoy the second just as much.

Eden of the East

Yup… I saved the big one for last. This show I actually avoided watching just because of the hype surrounding it. I finally did give in and caught up on it before the last episode airs. Mostly due to the fact that with Funimation’s video portal down right now I was kinda needing an anime fix, but I was also curious as it’s rather unusual for an adult anime to break into the top 5 in the Japanese Anime rankings. Really though… What can you say about a show that starts out with a naked guy waving a gun in front of the White House??? The story is actually pretty impressive, and the animation is rather interesting in itself… The main animation is nothing spectacular, but the things like blushing and thought clouds appearing above characters reminds me of old cartoons kinda like the 50s era. It really throws you for a loop sometimes to see those things since the story has a fairly serious tone to it. Quite a good show, and I’m glad I decided to check it out.

So there is my impression of this season’s anime offerings… I know there are other shows I probably should have watched (and probably will at some point), but this season gave me about all I could handle at once. All in all the Japanese animation industry gets a standing ovation from me for a great spring season… On the other hand… If summer turns out to be how it’s looking from the initial listing then they need to pull out something amazing in fall to make up for it.