Forum - View topicSpring 2010 Season Postmortem
|
Goto page 1, 2 Next |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
garfield15
 Posts: 1535 |
|
||
|
I think I'll write a little more later but I just want to say that you will be hard-pressed to get me to say that any season was better than this one. Spring 2010 may have had some winners and it may have had some duds but the one thing that it had the most was something for everyone.
You wanted your sports? Giant Killing Your crazy ecchi? Ichiban Ushirou no Daimaou Your KEY/Maeda anime? Angel Beats Your comedy? B Gata H Kei Your slice of life? K-ON!! and Working Your robots? Eva 2.22 on DVD/Blu-ray Your SHAFT? Arakawa Under the Bridge (yes, SHAFT shows up in so many seasons that it is it's own genre now  )
Your Yuasa? Tatami Galaxy Your Seinen? Rainbow Your Anime-original? Senkou no Night Raid Your ecchi harem? KissXSis Your reverse harem? Hakouki Your shounen-ai (kind of)? UraBoku Your shoujo? Maid-sama Your saturday morning cartoon memories? Heroman Add to that anticipated finales like DRRR!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (though technically that's not over yet) and Bakemonogatari and a few other fun elements and you have a varied and incredibly interesting season. Now, whether or not all those shows were good is up for debate in their respective threads but I really got a lot of enjoyment out of the season. Anyone else? |
|||
|
|||
kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
|
||
|
Best season in a long time. Still watching Giant Killing via Crunchyroll, just finished Big Windup season 2 (which I loved and would buy in heartbeat). Would still be watching Maid-sama, but that went legit, so I have to wait for the streams to catch up. Also almost done with House of Five Leaves, one more episode of that I believe. Too bad, really; I wouldn't've minded a longer season from both that and Big Windup.
|
|||
|
|||
Mister V
 Posts: 1000 |
|
||
|
Good job on starting this thread. When the season started, I remember someone saying in the season preview thread that we should have a "final thoughts" topic at the end.
So far the Summer 2009 season blows everything out of the water, but then I haven't been following weekly releases for a long time - in fact, since last Spring only; and anyway, 2006 seems to have been the monster year for anime. As to this season, I would rate it only "Good", which is in fact what I did with most of its shows. Maybe I just used to be more ecstatic about new series, but I've been downgrading other series that I remember, too. So I've had Angel Beats, which was... entertaining sometimes, not much more. Same with Arakawa, it was good, but not even close to what Shaft can do. Tatami Galaxy grew on me, surprisingly, even though I find the premise (and sometimes the art) annoying. Hakuouki was entertaining, too, better that I thought in fact. I'm not pleased with fansubbers missing Senkou, not pleased at all. I don't get their policies. The only real pleasant surprise was Maid-sama. I wouldn't count Eva 2.22 as being part of the season, - but it was, of course, more than anything I could have hoped for. Last edited by Mister V on Thu Jul 01, 2010 7:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
|
garfield15
Posts: 1535 |
|
||
That was me I think. 
|
|||
|
|||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
||
|
I'm glad that the "Spring 2010" season has gotten so much acclaim. It really was the best we've had in a little while.
Giant Killing Okay, so the character designs are off-putting, and the attempts at having characters speak in other languages are laughable, but you'll be hard pressed to find another Sports Anime that has focused on the mature side of sports so much. Angel Beats I kind of think that it squandered a lot of potential, and the writing kind of sucked except for a few hilarious moments, but I'll admit it was enjoyable enough. Eva 2.22 on DVD/Blu-ray I've downloaded this, I really need to watch it. And then buy it when it comes out in stores (which it almost certainly will). Arakawa Under the Bridge The humour kind of disappointed me, and was too Out There in many cases. Tatami Galaxy The protagonist needs to slow. The hell. Down. And the character designs are largely too weird for comfort. But nevertheless the show shines through with clever writing making the most of the situations it sets up. Rainbow I've been saving this show until it's all finished, so I haven't watched past the second episode. I'm still downloading them though. Senkou no Night Raid I was really disappointed that this show didn't live up to its potential. Then again, I've only watched the first six episodes (like many people I assume). I hope that it stopped having the characters chase cats and instead made them participate (one way or another) in all the notorious events that occurred. Hakouki Didn't like it that much. Dropped. UraBoku Too Goth and melodramatic for my tastes. Dropped. Maid-sama Yes, this was a pleasant surprise for me too. I'm glad I picked it up. Heroman I love the way this show has all of the nostalgia of Saturday-morning cartoons while still being appealing to adults. Formulaic, cheesy, but quite enjoyable. It is inevitable that some shows have to be dropped if one is to have a life, and so it was a great season for me despite a couple of disappointments. |
|||
|
|||
Shichimi
 Posts: 349 |
|
||
I watched this on and off over at CR, and damn it's good fun. Surely it can't be too long before this gets picked up. Last edited by Shichimi on Thu Jul 01, 2010 7:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
|
Eivion
Posts: 569 |
|
||
|
Wasn't terribly interested in the season going in, but it turned out rather solid overall.
Angel Beats Thought this was good. I enjoyed seeing the mysteries of the world, and the characters were generally good or fun. My first KEY anime so I had no idea what to expect from it so I was pleased in the end. Arakawa under the Bridge Thought this started off weak with the jokes not being too great, but it got funnier with the introduction of new characters and their interaction with Ric. Also dug awkward romance between Ric and Nino. Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan This was ok, but I was expecting something a little different based on the premise as it sounded like the protagonist would actually be fighting herself. The reveal on what she is makes even more disappointing that she isn't a fighter. Finished this up though I'm uncertain whether or not I will catch the second season. Heroman Was unimpressed with very cliched beginning, but its grown on me with the cool battles and the show's general progress. House of Five Leaves Not a fan of the art style but it helped make the atmosphere and the droopy samurai manages to really grown on you as he starts to show off more of his ability to pick up on things. The stories on each of the crew and their reasons for thieving were cool as well. Looking forward to watching the finale tonight. Ichiban Ushirou no Daimaou The premise really interested and I though it started off well, but it got bad with the horrible rushing of the plot. Wish it would be redone with better pacing to be honest. Still manage to enjoy it a decent amount so it wasn't waste. K-ON!! Same fun time waster the first season was so I'm content. It also nice to see a small plot in the background. Maid sama Was pleasantly surprised with this as the title made me expect some crappy fan-service show instead a decent high school rom-com. Mayoi Neko Overrun I got far on this one, but dropped it around episode 8. Nothing bad, just nothing good enough to keep you there. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin Dropped this about half-way through. Didn't think this was bad or anything, but I just lost interest. Senko no Night Raid Dropped this about half-way through. Was expecting something a little more from it that never felt like it would show up. The superpowers also weren't doing much for me. Tatami Mat Galaxy The narration is annoyingly fast, but otherwise this was good. I like how the stories play out and you start to see their connection. Looking forward to finishing it tonight. Uraboku Dropped this after a few episodes. Story wasn't interesting enough to me, and I hated the cg monsters. Working!! Enjoyed this a lot. It was funny and I generally liked the characters. I even grew to like the the character with a phobia of men and her slowly progressing love story. |
|||
|
|||
wandering-dreamer
 Posts: 1733 |
|
||
|
Big Windup Two It's more rushed than the first season but it still manages to make near-constant inner monolouges about baseball be on-the-edge-of-your-seat gripping. Think I appreciat the first season more now and hope for more to come (and that Section 23 puts out a release since Funi already said they won't).
Durarara I agree, the first half was much more gripping than the second half but I still loved it to death. Even when the characters were being idiots I could sympathize with them, there were still twists to be pulled, nearly everyone had a crowning moment of awesome, and I love the chat scenes so dang much. So, somebody, get this out fast (Aniplex or whoever) and I will get it! Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood Well, no ones seen the last episode yet and I think I still prefer the manga but dang this was a heck of a ride. It kept me excited for Thursday every week for well over a year, it's going to be really odd not watching it. All the plot points came together, every major and secondary character had their chance to do something and the later fight scenes looked really great. House of Five Leaves Also known as more character development in 12 episodes than some series can ever achieve. It was slow yet gripping, peeling away the reasons for everyone joining the group and their backstories. I would have loved a dramatic fight scene with Masa in it but I didn't feel unsatisfied at the lack of that. Senko no Night Raid Yup, still haven't seen past episode 6. However, I did find two people who were blogging it and it sounds like Senko follows the "first part slice of life, second part follows central plot line" and it sounds like it challenges the way that Japan teaches some of the history in that period. And it had two photographers as main characters, that gives anything a few more awesome points in my book. |
|||
|
|||
Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
|
||
|
Angel Beats- Excellent. Started and ended well. Good characters, drama, and humor.
B Gata H Kei- Very Good. I laughed a lot, 'nuff said. Hakuoki- Too early to make a judgement since it's not over yet and there's another season coming. Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou- Very Good. I liked this a lot because of all the great characters and fanservice but I'm not really a big fan of how it ended. Ikki Tousen: XX- Good. Better than Great Guardians but still flawed and not the best IT has to ofter in seasons. Senko no Night Raid- To early to say since I'm waiting the sub groups to get off their a**es and sub the rest. |
|||
|
|||
TakishidoKamen
 Posts: 55 |
|
||
|
Other than FMA:B and Inuyasha the final act not many series for 2010 have appealed to me.
Although there still are alot of 08-09 titles I'm waiting for official releases on. |
|||
|
|||
ninjapet
 Posts: 1517 |
|
||
|
Sadly out of all the shows I said I was going to watch in the first thread, I only watched two completely I ended up dropping or putting on hold Maid-sama and Working!!
Arakawa Under the Bridge - Shaft, you and the crazy openings. I loved it, I found it to be funny most of the time, and the animation was what you would think of Shaft. More of my thoughts are in the discussion thread but over all I can't wait for season 2, here's hoping that it doesn't suffer from the hit or miss wrath Shaft seems to have with season 2 stuff. Heroman- I enjoyed the first half a lot. Also Stan Lee needs to show up in more anime, he needs to get his coffee. It really was a old school style cartoon flashback for me, or at least it reminded me of when I watched Saturday morning cartoons. I can;t wait to see what the second half brings to the table. (also 1000 post ftw ) |
|||
|
|||
egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
|
||
|
This season kept me really busy. I believe this is the first time I've achieved such a high number of episode views on a weekly basis.
Angel Beats! was definitely the best surprise this season. Enjoyable; composed of a very likable cast, and excellent VAs. Enough plot twists to keep my brain functioning, interesting story, nicely paced plot, and with a conclusion! Unbelievable. #1 Working!! was definitely the best comedy this season. Didn't expect that. Plenty of characters, and many lunatics involved. Not as funny as Death at a Funeral though. #2 Giant Killing came along as another enjoyable show that's here to stay for another season. I'd say that given its budget I wouldn't be surprised to see a new season when this one ends. #3 Rainbow. And I have no idea why. I see plenty of flaws (lots actually), and enough reasons to hate the show, but I'm really enjoying it despite a few, cough, unwelcome decisions the show took. The dark and depressing atmosphere is welcome. #4 House of Five Leaves was a show I had different expectations for. It's my fault for not realizing it was character-driven until recently (lol). Fortunately it was a fun ride (with the best opening song this season), and having just finished a few hours ago I'm able to say that I truly enjoyed it. #5 Maid-sama is definitely a new unforgettable romantic comedy. I find the character design shockingly, shockingly attractive, and the voice acting is actively on par. #6 Ichiban Ushirou no Daimaou, at crazy speed! Before I realized it the show had jumped 5 plot twists and a dozen character developments. I'd compare it to them Gold Saints' lightspeed punches, except that they're not exactly lightspeed or at least that's not how it appears. #7 Arakawa pantlessly above the bridge was a show I had planned on following regardless of how bad it might have gotten. Luckily it didn't turn out as awful as predicted. Rather solid comedy, overdone at times, and extremely annoying at others. It was a show slightly above average after all. #8 Tatami Galaxy just episode 10 should definitely win a better position in my list, but I'm calculating how much I enjoyed each episode, rather than the series' production value/quality/originality. Too much talking way too fast at a pace I could care less about. I like the show's idea and originality, but with someone talking that fast it's hard to actually receive the show seriously. #9 The rest were pretty much stuff I'd stick a decent [or lower] rating to. Uraboku (just like I expected), Hakouki (boring), Heroman (rather good but needs more originality), KissXSis (awful, and got me stuck on episode 3-4), Senkou no Night Raid (extremely boring, needs fanservice aimed at males), B Gata H Kei (rarr!), and Mayoi Neko Overrun (garr!!). Need to stop acting like a lazy bum [that I am] and get to Evangelion 2, and K-ON!! sooner or later. |
|||
|
|||
Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
|
||
|
I have to say that overall I was disappointed from this season.
Tatami Galaxy - This is really the only show that I enjoyed throughout its entire length. Though I'm a huge Yuasa fan, so that had probably something to do with it. Giant Killing - This is fun, but during games can be rather annoying since Studio DEEN can't seem to be able to properly show a decent view of the field to know what's going on. Characters just show up out of nowhere (Tsubaki). Angel Beats! - Considering that this was a completely new story and not an adaptation, I enjoyed this. There were obviously pacing problems and some pretty basic questions were left unanswered, but I liked it enough to finish it. Major S6 - It was good to see Goro face and overcome a challenge early in his career as a major leaguer, but I can definitely see that this is where the manga was running out of steam. I just hope from some closure between Goro and Shimizu, and I guess for Toshi as well. Rainbow - I'm a few episodes behind, but it's been okay. Not exactly what I had hoped for, what with the villains just being plain evil and not much depth to 'em, but its fun to see the camaraderie amongst the detainees. Arakawa Under the Bridge - Absurd humor. I'm stalled at episode 6 or 7, with that Sheryl Nome impostor. Working! - Had promise, but I dropped it at episode 6 after being fed up with the show focusing too much on Inami, who only has one joke about her played over and over again. Kaichou wa Maid-sama - Watched I think 4 episdoes and dropped. Not only is the idea of such a feminist like the main character working in a demeaning maid cafe absolutely absurd, but the main character blames all guys for her daddy issues, and I hate that. Plus, Usui is totally Hayama from Kodocha. Durarara!! - I felt like I was watching some even more kiddified version of The Outsiders for the second part. Nobody dies and nothing interesting even happens at all. This was by far the biggest disappointment for me since it came from the author of the fantastic Baccano! Legend of Koizumi OVA - This was just so awesome, seeing Koizumi take down Bush, the Chinese leader, and even General Mao in Mahjong. I really hope there will be more. Katanagari - This also really disappointed me. The story was just completely linear and it just didn't have much of anything to interest me. I'm not a big fan of Bakemonogatari, but at least that had an unique style to separate it from the pack. |
|||
|
|||
Westlo
 Posts: 1684 |
|
||
While I'll admit this is probably the best season in a the last couple years it's certainly not as good as some of the seasons from 2006 and 2007. I mean look at Spring 2007. Seirei no Moribito, Dennou Coil, Gurren Lagann, Terra e, Seto no Hanayome, Ookiku Furikabutte, Victorian Romance Emma The 2nd Act, Bokurano, Saiunkoku Monogatari 2, sola, Darker Than Black, Oh Edo! Rocket, Claymore, Touka Gettan, Hayate the Combat Butler!, Lucky Star, Lovely Complex & The Skullman. Absolutely stellar season, nothing has came close since this season. |
|||
|
|||
BMJ
 Posts: 28 |
|
||
|
I had a blast this season, and I've still got episodes backlogged. Notable for me this season were:
House of Five Leaves My favorite show of the season. The character models are a bit odd, but the music and character interactions tie everything together beautifully. The plot moves slowly, but somehow never felt dragged out to me at all. My only complaint is that more action would have been nice, solely because the little that did happen was extremely well done. Katanagatari My second favorite show this season. The hero is essentially Goku who initially has no qualms about killing. Watching him learn to NOT kill is really pretty interesting. Not to mention the simplistic art style. This series had me hooked from the beginning, but episode 4 was what cemented it as a classic in my mind. Rainbow I've enjoyed the first half of the show quite a bit. The bus scene in the first episode was the high point until recently. Given current developments the series has the potential to either turn out awesome, or fall into mediocrity so I'm withholding my final judgment for at least a few more episodes. Angel Beats Another solid show. Like Rainbow it's got some flaws but still really enjoyable. A nice mix of comedy and drama that kept me watching week after week. I've still got to catch up on Senkou No Night Raid, Maid-Sama, Heroman, and Arakawa Under the Bridge as well. If we're counting Eva 2.22 that needs a special mention, as it was the most amazing thing I've watched in years. 1.11 was a decent remake, but 2.22 gives the potential for the Rebuild series to be far and away the best version of NGE. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group