Forum - View topicSpring Season 2011: final episodes - postmortem.
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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With the Noitamina shows finishing up yesterday and others following soon I thought I'd open this up now so we could maybe do this thread as they're ending or maybe what we're thinking as they're ending.
I can't comment on C: ...Control yet, as I'm following the Funimation week-after release and want to stick with the legit option when it's available but I did watch the last episode of... Anohana aka - Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai (We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day) Overall I'd rate it "very good." I considered rating it excellent but I guess it doesn't rate that because it didn't do much that I didn't expect it to do. It's warm, nicely emotional, Menma was a great "poor little dead girl" for everyone (the characters and the audience) to attach themself to. I guess you could say Menma was the good kind of moe- a cuddly character you have good reason to wish the best for, as she truly had a pitable story. And I guess it's odd but you have to credit a big part of the quality of the show to the character of Yukiatsu, he's an egotistical, hyppocritical, jealous, screwed up jerk through most of the show and the show needed him, a hard cynical edge to take away from the softness. I guess, I should also rate Moshidora but to my shame I never finished it, I watched the first 6 and decided to watch the last 4 together, but forgot to. I'll get to it this weekend. |
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SethMosrite
 Posts: 173 Location: Boston, MA |
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Wow, definitely finish Moshidora. I would have rated it much differently after episode 6 than after episode 9 or 10.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Some more...
Softenni - Very Good This one surprised me. The first episode was a little strange but it mostly seemed to be a very ordinary show. As it went on it proved itself otherwise. Very often the show goes into very strange and very funny territory. One of the favorite bits has to with the busty senior riding off nude on a giant salamander as an aproximation of the "lalala" Nausicaa theme plays. There's also the occasionally cross-dressing male member of the rival soft tennis team who is completely oblivious that his massages send the girls into sexual ecstasy. It doesn't quite reach the absurdity levels of Nichijo but there are occasional periods when it comes within spitting distance. And as you can tell from the gags I've mentioned, it does specialize in (but isn't exclusive to) ecchi humor, but I find it to be hilarious ecchi humor, often surrounding the main character's very perverted delusions. You may want to block out the fact that they're all supposed to be middle-schoolers though- they don't act like middle schoolers, they don't look like middle-schoolers. It does also play the girls-club card a bit but doesn't really go into moe territory often. Moshidora - Good/Very Good I had some small problems with the show. -The baseball players are largely interchangeable and aren't all that deep. -I never completely believed the great usefulness of the "Management" book, all the lessons learned about teamwork and discovering your talents seem to be basic motivational techniques you could probably find as readily in a sports management book with less enigmatic language. -It was basically a concentrated version of just about any sports drama. Characters learning the love of the game, others overcoming weaknesses. And the sick friend, sn't there always a sick friend? Yet it still gets the VG rating for pulling off that motivation, that team spirit and emotional punch of the sick friend rather well. A-Channel - Barely Good This one is all stereotypical moe all the time. Cute girls doing inconsequential cute girl things like going to the beach, eating desserts, playing with cats, stressing over breast size and completely unnoticeable weight problems, having innocent girl-crushes on each other, wearing yukata to the festival- it's all there. The show really tested my general positive disposition for such shows though, it is such textbook fluff, the girls in K-On, Hidamari Sketch and even Lucky Star are downright industrious in comparison to the girls in this show. You see, although the girls in those shows were lazy with their goals and desires, at least they had some, not in A-Channel. Yet there are more songs in A-Channel than in K-on. There's a new song in every episode... boring, completely forgettable, Kareoke ready songs set to frolicking girl montages. Astarotte's Toy / Lotte no Omocha - Decent I had been ready to give this a marginal "Good" rating but the lack of a substantial ending that said anything about anything dive-bombed that modest potential. I wouldn't readily recommend it to others but it got me smiling or wincing at the points when I believe they meant the audience to do both. But it consistently wanted to straddle the line between lolicon-pandering and feel-good show about sweet little girls that needed a parental figure to connect with. Both sides can argue their case as to which it was and have a good case because the show refused to commit to either extreme. |
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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I was only following one series this season properly, and Stein's Gate is nowhere near being finished. I loved it so far is all that I can say.
I regret not picking up more series, maybe summer will be better. (it probably won't since only one or two titles caught my interest so far, oh well). |
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Scormio
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You're stating all the things that made A Channel great. It was good because it didn't try to cover up its moe-ness with some overarching plot or the main character trying for a recycled goal. It was just cute girls doing cute things, with a bit of characterization (although predominately Tooru) thrown in for good measure. A moe show for moe fans, and being one myself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. |
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Hey, I still gave it a Good rating, didn't I? In my rating philosophy it's still a recommendation. The detraction isn't that it's pure moe, it's that it's not going to be an extremely memorable moe. I've watched episodes of Hidamari Sketch, Strawberry Marshmallow, and K-on three times already, I like shows about cute girls doing cute things. But this is definitely a "watch once and move on to the next one" type of show, it had no hooks to merit more.
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ninjapet
 Posts: 1517 |
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Just doing the shows that ended so far that I ended up watching.
[ C ] Overall: Very good I enjoyed it, and so did my friend who I told to go watch it. The action was great, the plot was interesting. Normally I hate shows with economic ties (Spice and Wolf is one of those borderline like / hate shows for me) but C was a fun watch. It might be because I had to take Econ this year and it was using terms and things I learned about. The World God Only Knows II Overall: Fans of the first season have to watch this // Great Again a wonderful job by the anime team, season 2 was great. A 1 to 1 adaptation like the first season. It fixed the problem with pacing or at least tried to fix it seeing as season 1 had such uneven pacing per arc. The introduction of Haqua was great, just as great as I thought it would be. Every arc this season was better then the manga or at least I think. The real kicker is ep 12, half the ep expanded on chp 75 of the manga making it anime only material but it was really well done. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm really looking foreword to the OVA coming out in a few months and hoping it brings sales up enough to get a season 3. Because those end credits were just one big tease! Steins;Gate ep 1-13 Overall: Good This show isn't for everyone. The first few eps right of bat get rolling but that causes somewhat of a slow down after the basic things have been said and done. S;G is running for another season so pacing shouldn't be a problem but ep 12 is the turning point and it was really well done and I hope they keep staying true to the VN. I seem to be wanting it to be Tuesday now due to this show, it's just really enjoyable to talk to people about it. Hanasaku Iroha ep 1-13 Overall: Ok, if you like drama you'll like it Let me get this out there, so far I've wanted to drop this show every week because I find it boring or the teen "drama" in it makes me want to hit my head on something. The setting is great, the animation is great. I'm just not liking any of the characters or story so far. Why do I keep watching it? No idea really I just hate dropping shows I've watched more then 6 eps of. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Well, I haven't actually completed a series this season. Everything is either ongoing or dropped.
Deadman Wonderland was a disaster. Just juvenile and laughable in it's desperate bids to be as sadistic as possible. Ridiculous premise and world that's never really effectively built and becomes more and more absurd with each passing moment. It's not even really appealing as an action series. The fights are few and far between and universally dull. Dropped it after ten or so episodes. Blue Exorcist is of course on-going but so far it's my surprise favourite of the season. As much as it's completely aimless so far and completely conventional, it's really just a super well executed show that never ceases to be a lot of fun. Steins;Gate, also ongoing, is a big old ball of ups and downs. It's been teetering on "should I drop this?" territory. The characters and their interactions are a lot of fun but the show is horribly marred by the amount of time wasted on stupid otaku pandering. The story is all over the place so far and just finally seems to be heating up. We'll see where it goes from here. I don't think I'll end up calling it a good show by the time all is said and done but maybe a passable show still. I haven't been watching [ C ]. I'll probably catch up on it next season. |
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Scormio
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True, and I can respect that, I guess it's just a difference of what we each consider "memorable". I liked K-ON!, but I haven't felt like re-watching it (at least yet). Conversely, I've already watched A Channel twice through, and it just ended last week. I enjoyed it that much. |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I've finished most everything, so I guess I'll do this now. This is the first time I've actually taken the time to watch several shows as they're airing, and I over did it. I hit a slump where I felt overwhelmed by having to watch and keep up with so many shows, and I put me in a little burnout where I didn't even feel like watching stuff from collection (and I now have a backlog, dammit!). Eventually I took a deep breath and put things to the side and only focused on what I really liked, so I think I have a good idea on my threshold now.
Let's start with the Dropped Aria the Scarlett Ammo: I dropped this at the end of the first right when Aria told the guy to be her slave. I closed the video player, deleted the file, and immediately moved to my drop section in MAL. Just terrible. I agree with Blood and egoist when they say they're on Kugimiya burn out. Two seasons of Shana, 3 seasons of Louise, two seasons of Nagi, and all the other tsunderes she's done just get grating(well, Shana is as bad). And it's not all her fault, because it's her characters that are horrible, but her repetitive voice doesn't help. A-Channel: Another where I didn't finish the first episode, but for slightly different reasons. It's a comedy and none of the jokes they presented to use to set up the show were clicking with me, especially the little lesbian. It's the same with stand up where if the opening jokes aren't connecting, then there's no point for me to continue because those jokes set the tone for your style. That's the thing about the comedy genre: They don't "get better" like others shows in other genres do; they're funny from the start or not. Sure, there will be peaks and valleys, but there's no "Not funny at all by the beginning, but HILARIOUS by the end". Put on hold Sofutenni: It doesn't seem like a great show, but it has charm that appealed to me. It was kind of funny, I like the art, and it seemed like it'd be an alright show, and alright shows aren't all that bad. I'll watch it sometime down the road. Maria Holic 2: I stopped at two episodes because it didn't feel like the Maria Holic I love. I've mentioned several times that it wasn't mean enough, and that was really affecting my enjoyment. I think I'll just move it to dropped, but it's still Maria Holic, and it wouldn't feel right. Finished from worst to best Hen Zemi TV - 4 Rating: Very bad overall. It had some laughs, so I don't want to be too harsh, but it was just unfunny, not sexy, and just underwhelming, which isn't surprising considering the prequel series was an OVA that could push the envelope. Seriously, sex comedies should stick to OVAs so they don't have water down everything so much. Also, it was just gross for the sake of being gross. Those characters and their random "fetishes" were absurd. Why did I finish it? Because it's 12 minutes long with oddly attractive character designs, especially coming from Xebec. Enma-kun - 7 Rating: A good show by the end. Some moments were funnier than others, but it was always a fun watch. Just like the other Go Nagai show I watched (Kekko Kamen), it's not the greatest show, but there's a lot of heart in it, and I can respect that. I also really like the animation Brains Base cooked up from the unique designs to the facial expressions of Enma. And I don't think this show could've any better than with an spoiler[orgy that transcends not only continents, but life and death itself.] Denpa Onna - 8 Rating: Shaft has amazing art with amazing character designs. It's a fairly standard setup for a harem/comedy, but I think the Shaft touch where everyone is hot and crazy helps separate it from the rest of it's kind, and in doing so gives it different kind of comedic personality. And did I mention everyone in this show is hot? Because they are. Shinbo you perv. AnoHana - 10 Rating: To quote myself from the AnoHana thread, "LIKE A WATER FALL! A LOUD, SNIVELING WATERFALL!" That was me by the end, and I actually like being so invested in a show and it's characters that I'm moved to tears. I agree with others that have mentioned how it really rolled with the tear jerk moments in the last episode, but I think it worked and never felt like it was being shoved down my tear ducts. Great characters, great drama, and a fantastic ending. Still Watching Beelzebub: Yup, I'm still watching this, except I now do it in 4 episode chunks so that when one episode sucks I can just go the next. The last arc I saw with Tojo ended pretty interestingly, but with this being Beelzebub and all, it'll probably have really big low point before it gets to be somewhere near good. I think I'm only watching it now out of habit. Blue Exorcist: BE reminds of early Bleach, but more fun. The action is nice and it's legitimately funny when it tries, but it's not going anywhere. Of course, Bleach eventually got into the great Soul Society Arc, and I hope BE has one of it's own, because I think it could be really good. Now, I don't like it enough to buy those sub-only DVDs, but I would be tempted for dubbed BDs. Too bad it won't be on TV because I think it'd do pretty well. SKET Dance: Sometimes I feel like the only person who really, really likes this show since no one talks about it and the reviews haven't exactly been kind (or as kind I would be). The characters and their interactions are hilarious and the way they go about solving other people's problems are fun to watch. I do hope there will be some Bossun x Onihime romance subplot since the amazing ending really hints at one, but I wouldn't mind if it stayed along it's current path of being a goofy, episodic comedy. Hanasaku Iroha: I really like this show again. It hit a rough spot after it's great opening episodes with what I'd consider a case of "no identity" since it didn't know what it wanted to do. But I think it finally decided it wanted to be a coming of age drama like it started out as, and that's what got me hooked in the beginning. Nichijiou: Best show the season, probably second best of the year after Madoka. It just doesn't stop being hilarious. The way it combines great jokes with AMAZING visuals puts it in a league of it's own. It's just...so funny. Oh so funny. Even it's openings and closers are funny. Like I said in it's thread, it's such a shame that, if it were to be licensed, it's only be a sub-only DVD since this could have a great dub (if picked up by Sentai without Foster or Funimation) and really deserves a BD for it's visuals. Yet to watch Moshidora: I think I'll get around to watching this tomorrow. No one talks about it, so I don't know how good or bad it is, but I think it'll be alright. I think it's weird airing schedule caused by the Tsunami really killed any buzz it had. |
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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Since I have two shows to finish that are over I will talk about the shows that I dropped or placed on hold.
On Hold We Without Wings- I decided to put this on hold until Funimation put the set out. Dropped Tiger and Bunny- I watched the first episode and it did not grab my attention. Attempted episode 2 and it was not cutting it for me so I said no more. Dog Days - The first episode was okay but nothing I wanted to keep watching. Attempted second episode and dropped it early on the show. Hen Zemi - Another where the first episode was okay, but nothing to make me want to watch anymore of it. Softenni - Did not get any enjoyment out of it so I dropped it after the first episode. 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku - Six minutes into the first episode, I dropped it. Awful, just awful Want to watch Aria the Scarlett Ammo - Since I am not on a Kugimiya burnout I will give it a watch. I had too much going on at the time to watch it when it was airing so I will have some time this month to watch it. |
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I'd say this had a high average, a lot of shows I'd rate at Very Good, although none I'd give an excelent rating, let alone a masterpiece. Unfortunately I also continued a couple that maybe didn't deserve it.
Rating of the season. Roughly Fave to Worst (with previously reviewed shows inserted). Ano Hana threatened it's place but I have to say my favorite show of the season was... Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san - Very Good In the Winter Panty & Stocking got attention for being outrageous and gross and for a unique art style, I couldn't finish that series but while this show could be described similarly, it hit all the right notes for me. The frequent scat humor was disgusting and funny, the complete ugliness of the characters that weren't in the main cast served a great purpose to set them apart and to emphasize their pathetic aspects. The violence was crazy at times and the cute demons were wickedly absurd in contrast to their true nature. And finally I kept seeing it as a sort of spoof of one of my favorite DC/Vertigo comic books, Hellblazer (the excellent comic that the crappy Keanu movie, Constantine, was based off. Anohana (see above) Honto ni Atta! Reibai-Sensei - Very Good The other occult comedy of the season. At just five minutes each these were just the right size. It really had some inspired gags. Although it seems strange to say this is a completed series, it ended on a "to be continued" mark and a new ED. Tono to Issho: Gantai no Yabō (TV) - Very Good and the other 5 minute gag show. It had some big LOL moments this season and had less problems with being unable to understand the Japanese historical characters. No, I didn't know the back story but it didn't matter, it was just about a bunch of weird characters. Softenni (see above) Moshidora (see above) Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - Good Cute and quirky characters, eccentric goings-on. The first half was much better than the secend- simply because the show like it was a first and second quarter of a show that doesn't have a follow-up yet and ends at a point that doesn't feel like the end of an arc, it barely felt like the end of the episode. Really, we were just getting to know the characters, one was barely introduced and that was it. Fireball Charming - Good Short and absurd, it never made sense but the little gags and vocal performances kept me smiling. The World God Only Knows II - Good This was quite an improvement over the first season, cases had variety, Keima was more sympathetic, they added a decent new character and best of all the game humor wasn't as otaku-exclusive. The franchise has promise, if it continues the ratings may go even higher. Gosick - Good Good main pair, charming and interesting supporting cast but a horribly shallow, never-developed "EVIL" villain. The mysteries in the first half and those that dealt with the Seyrun Wolf people contained some truck sized holes that were never explained, but I liked the stuff that had to do with Leviathan and the Queen. So, it was a bit uneven with some oddities but was a generally a good watch. A-Channel (see above) Astarotte's Toy / Lotte no Omocha (see above) Bridge to the Starry Skies/ Decent Benign ero-game adaptation with no eroticism. Like last season's Fortune Arterial, utterly bland but I think the slice-of-life nature of this show fit this well. Nice guy has to make his choice among a menu of harem archetypes. Why he makes the choice he does over the others is anyone's guess but it's a fimple and sweet set-up that doesn't hurt anyone. C- Control - So-So I'm maybe being a little harsh here. I liked the characters and the character interaction but those relationships were never adequately resolved. The fights were neat and flashly but they never made a hint of sense. The economic theme was intriguing but the consequences of a financial district's collapse made even less sense than the fights. Hem Zemi - So-So But I'm maybe being a little generous here. I don't exactly know why I kept watching this, it's not good, the premise of an Abnormal Sexuality Seminar that focuses on experiencing but barely studying the subject is stupid, the gross out humor was mostly more gross than humorous and it's not like the characters were actually sexy at all/ I guess it was the occasional glimpse into humanity among the perversions that kept me watching- it kept me curious to see how they explained their abnormal tastes and the way the characters paired up. Deadman Wonderland - Weak It started out at merely a decent level and went down from there. I really should have dropped it a third of the way. By the end I just wanted to witness just how bad it'd get. Hey, it had a decent mystery, some deep emotional plays, good animation, a cute girl in a skin-tight outfit. Then it devolved into stupid psychotics out-posing each other, torture porn and shonen leveling-up and featured one of the stupidest villains ever, the ultra priest with an air-gun guitar. 
Dropped: We Without Wings – Under the Innocent Sky - I may finish it up I think I got through 8 episodes but it wouldn't get above a decent rating. IT took all those episodes to figure out that there is a weird plot going but in all that time they had yet to differentiate the girls apart from bodacious and loli. Aria the Scarlet Ammo- I got through the sky-jacking episode but it proved to be too badly written. Featuring what I assume were supposed to be tributes but came off more as lazy plagiarism, giant lapses of logic, poor story-telling and a title character that had yet to be likable. Dog Days, Battle Girls,30-sai no Hoken Taiiku, Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi - Just didn't see the point of continuing these past the first or seciond episode. Showa Monogatari, Hyouge Mono / Tea for Universe, Tea for Life - Might continue if they get subs but they weren't really blowing me away. Continuing: The favorite of my continuing shows is Hanasaku Iroha but am also continuing and enjoying to varying extents: Beelzebub, My Ordinary Life/ Nichijou, Sket Dance, Steins;Gate, Tiger & Bunny |
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