Fall 2009 Anime Impressions – Kimi ni Todoke and Sasameki Koto – A Tale of Two Shows
Sasameki Koto
I’ve been ready to write my impression post of Kimi ni Todoke for some time now but I felt that I was lacking some sort of needed angle to best describe how I felt. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, I thought maybe I needed another show to compare it to, like I just did for Kampfer and Sora No Otoshimono, but nothing really fit until I finally sat down to watch Sasameki Koto yesterday. This was exactly what I was looking for and so here’s my impression post for Kimi ni Todoke and Sasameki Koto.
I’m always leery of writing top all-time posts because I realize that I don’t have the encyclopedic knowledge that a decade long anime fan might have so I always worry about missing obvious picks. And I’d probably skip them all-together if I didn’t realize that such lists give readers and potential readers a large amount of information about a writer (as was pointed out elsewhere just recently). Before I tackle an overall top all-time list, I want to start with an easier list that I’m more sure upon – my picks for top anime comedies.
Fall 2009 Anime Impressions – Kampfer and Sora No Otoshimono – There’s a Right Way to do Fan Service and a Wrong Way
Sora No Otoshimono
The majority of the professional, paid anime critics will insist upon putting every single fan service show in the same pile and labeling the whole lot as garbage – their existence being a personal affront to anyone with even just a hint of sophistication much like how English teachers feel about most popular books. They forget that people like Shakespeare ran his theater and wrote his plays for the common folk of the time – not for the intellectually “elite” of the times. If he did, I’d be willing to bet that no one would remember his name today.
The fact of the matter is that it’s possible to create a fan service show that’s entertaining and full of fan service and still displays the creative spark that separates quality shows from the generic shows. One of these shows does a pretty good job of displaying this spark whereas the other is exactly the type of rubbish that many think of when you mention fan service. Can you guess which series I’m talking about?
Hope everyone that celebrates Halloween has a Happy Halloween today. It’s still light out where I live so it doesn’t feel like Halloween yet. 
(And a totally old person thing to say is that in America, don’t forget the clocks go back an hour tonight.)
I decided that my sister needed to watch at least one 07th expansion/Studio Deen anime and episode 18 of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni being fresh on my mind (what an awesome episode), we started watched it last night – it also fits into the season. She seemed interested so let’s see how that plays out.
You can thank Winamp and it’s non-random random shuffling for this post.
I have a super condensed anime music playlist that I like to listen to; it’s only 230 songs long and there’s a handful of songs on this list that when I’m in the right mood will get me to shed a tear. Last night I wasn’t much in the mood but out-of-the-blue Winamp starts playing every sad song on the list in a row and even repeating some more than once so now I’m in that mood.
It’s probably not a good idea to marathon a Key series right now so instead I’ll write this post.
Sure it’s easy to say this is a weak fall season of anime but how do you quantify it?
I could say that as of right now, I’ve seen only 2 shows that are good enough that I would consider placing them on my fall seasonal top anime list when it gets compiled in the future. Which is true, however this doesn’t really enumerate the problem well enough so instead I’ll make the following comparison:
J.C. Staff has been on a serious successful roll of late which has made me a very happy anime fan because when they’re performing at the top of their abilities – very few animation houses can compete. After the spectacular last season with Aoi Hana, Hayate, and Taishou Yakuu Musume, this season’s sole series from J.C. Staff To Aru Kagaku no Railgun has mighty big shoes to fill. So the question is how did it turn out?
Confession of an anime blogger time: I’ve never actually finished a Clamp anime show before. I hear their name mentioned frequently but so far, I’ve never come across a show that interests me enough that I watch more than a couple episodes. And the trend might have continued if this had been a stronger season with enough good shows and if I hadn’t read the excitement that some other bloggers had over this series and if the show wasn’t being done by Madhouse.
But all the stars aligned and I found myself watching Kobato. (And for the record I’m not using the official Japanese title because I refuse to add the nonsensical period at the end – it just doesn’t work with English grammar.)
The best place to start my fall season anime impressions is with the best new show of the season – Natsu no Arashi! Season 2. Of course there’s still a few series I need to get to; for example, I’d really like to pick up Aoi Bungaku but with the previous great but strange Madhouse show – Mouryou no Hako – still not completely subbed a year later, I don’t want to get attached to a show that I’m not going to be able to finish.
