Weekly Anime Review (Sept 13 – Sept 20)

Gee Ryoko, why do you have this?

There was plenty of good anime this week but the highlight of my anime watching isn’t any of the shows listed below. I decided it was about time to rewatch Lucky Star and so I did. One of things that I was most wondering about was how I would enjoy the early episodes. When Lucky Star came out, I didn’t much like it at first but it slowly grew on me. On this rewatch, I found myself laughing and enjoying it from the start – even the 6 minute scene on how to eat a choco coronet garnished more than a few chuckles this time. When I finish expect a series review – now onto this week’s new anime.

The scores:

Zero’s Familiar S.3, episode 11 – 10/12 A

Ryoko’s Case Files, episode 10 – 12/12

Birdy the Mighty Decode, episode 11 – 11/12 A+

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 5 – 12+/12

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 9 – 11/12 A+

Daughter of Twenty Faces, episode 17 – 10/12 A
Daughter of Twenty Faces, episode 18 – 11/12 A+
Daughter of Twenty Faces, episode 19 – 12/12

Caution: Mage at work

Thoughts and Highlights

There were no disappointments this week. Daughter of 20 Faces, which had been disappointing me lately, improved itself over the past 3 episodes and made me anxious to see the next episode. This arc has been the most interesting since the circus episodes and the fighting continues to help this show stay interesting. However, one thing has been bothering me about episode 19, though it’s probably just how I think of the Japanese. I can’t picture them rioting like they did in episode 19; their response seems to be something I’d imagine Americans would do, not the Japanese. Is anyone aware of Japanese rioting like that in history?

Darn it, I'm starting to like this guy.

My favorite episode of the week was from Somedays Dreamer’s. One of the strengths of the first season was how the main character had to wrestle with the place of magic in the world. I wanted to see some of that done again in this season and based on this episode, it looks like it will. Sora had two clients in this episode. Succeeding with the first case made her very happy to be able to use magic but when she succeeding in the second, the result was not the best and it bothered her. I can see why people might think that magic can be a cure-all but even magic isn’t perfect and has it’s limitations.

Rounding out the rest. Both Xam’D and Birdy where good episodes this week but I couldn’t quite bring myself to give them perfect scores this week. Ryoko’s Case Files was good this week. I’m guessing the girl is actually a clone of Ryoko and that’s why she has the same I-love-Izumida aspiration that Ryoko has. Zero’s Familiar isn’t getting any closer resolving itself so I bet we’ll be seeing a fourth season soon.

Ryoko's Case Files

Daughter of 20 Faces

Somedays Dreamer's