Speaking of the darker shows of the season, it’s now time to look at Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

This show comes from the creators of the Higurashi and while I never got past the first season of that show (for various reasons), I was hoping for a similar experience from this show.

–

Rating: episode 1 – 8/12 B+
Rating: episode 2 – 9/12 A-
Anticipation Level: 3/5 – Average to Medium

Umineko no Naku Koro ni is set in the year 1986 and takes place on an island that’s wholly owned by a very rich family. All the members of this family have been called there by the head of the family since he’s about to die. Once there, the viewers find out that the source for this family’s riches come from a contract the head guy signed with a witch. At this point the head guy seems a little unhinged (maybe impending death will do that) and he terminates the contract with the witch, known as Beatrice. The terms stipulate that upon termination, Beatrice gets everything that the gold allowed the family to have unless all her gold is returned to her. This doesn’t sound so bad until we realize that taking back involves Beatrice killing members of the rich family. From here, presumable, the remaining family members will attempt to decipher the riddle about the location of the gold before everyone dies.

So was it any good? That’s a bit tricky to answer. On one hand, the show displayed just about everything I liked about Higurashi. It had:

Those eyes

and violence

And blood

But it’s already showing (using Jason’s terminology from Blogsuki) that it’ll probably be a train wreck of a series. For some that’ll mean the show will be a failure but for others that’ll mean a success. I’m not sure which camp I fall into.

Outside of what I was expecting to like about the show, there’s been other things I’ve liked. There was the scenes from the first episode with the adults bickering over money and then the verbal cat fight that erupted. I also like the vocal cast of the show and I’ll even applaud how annoying the little girl’s voice is – it’s obvious that we’re supposed to hate it and we do. The opening and closing songs are excellent and the animation for both is cool. The animation for the show itself is clean and serviceable for the show, not nearly as bad I was fearing.

In the end, Umineko no Naku Koro ni intrigues me enough that I’ll gladly continue watching so I can see how the show unfolds but as of right now, I don’t think I could really recommend this title to others except for those people that are looking to see blood.

Early indication of trainwreck status - reconcile this imagine and the one above it. Hard to but it's the same series.

Posted in anime, first impressions ]]> http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/summer-2009-anime-impressions-%e2%80%93-umineko-no-naku-koro-ni-when-seagulls-cry/feed/ 3 steelbound summer05252 summer08736 summer26258 summer31615 summer26318 summer28071 summer31561 summer05646 http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/summer-2009-anime-impressions-%e2%80%93-umi-monogatari-sea-story/ http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/summer-2009-anime-impressions-%e2%80%93-umi-monogatari-sea-story/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:54:59 +0000 steelbound http://thenullset.wordpress.com/?p=4509 ]]>

I’ll remind readers that as of last season, I started to hold off on doing anime impression posts until I saw at least a couple of episodes because I wanted a more accurate representation of the show and oftentimes one episode isn’t enough. This might put these posts a week or two behind other blogs but I prefer getting it right over getting it out first. (No disrespect is meant towards other blogs – different strokes and all that.)

I’d never wish an anime to fail but the prospect of this series succeeding worries me a bit. If you remember, Umi Monogatari is based off a line of pachinko gambling machines and if it should turn out well then I’m worried that we’ll have to deal with tons of other anime based on similarly odd inspirations. I’m already shuddering at the idea of a McDonald’s anime or Colonel Sanders anime. But maybe I don’t have to worry, after all how good could an anime based off of pachinko machines be?

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Rating: episode 1 – 8/12 B+
Rating: episode 2 – 8/12 B+
Anticipation Level: 3/5 – Average to Medium

To answer, surprisingly decent.

Umi Monogatari appears to be a magic girl series that will have priestesses of the sea (pseudo-mermaids) and sky (humans) working together to defeat Sedna – a major bad guy that was partially released from a coffin at the end of the first episode. (When the seal – a small strip of paper – was torn; I wonder who was the idiot that figured that was all that was needed.)

I’ve not watched much in the way of magic girl series but through osmosis I’m aware of the genre enough that I don’t think the plot has strayed too far from the standard formula yet. The big reasons that I found this to be surprisingly decent was the animation and that some of the characters really stand out.

In the case of the former, the last two works by Zexcs – Wagaya no Oinari-sama, Chrome Shelled Regios – were at best average in the animation department but Umi Monogatari is actually pretty. The style of the show is highly reminiscent of J.C. Staff’s watercolor look; which in my books is a very good thing. The character designs look good and harmonize well with overall style of the show. Another plus of the animation is the frequent use of chibified characters – I love chibi characters and Zexcs knows how to integrate chibi moments into it’s shows. On the character side – while the pseudo-mermaids (they live underwater but still look totally human) Urin and Marin so far just feel like standard character types, Kanon and her mom are awesome characters as is the talking turtle.

Another reason that helped my enjoyment of this series is it’s sense of humor. Much like how Sengoku Basara earned some laughs by playing on our knowledge of the genre, Umi Monogatari earned some laughs with our expectations of the magic girl genre. I even got a chuckle from when Marin did her magic girl transform sequence to become the priestess of the sea that the only difference is that she had more hair and was wearing more clothes. And I almost forgot to mention that the background music was pretty good as well.

At this point I don’t see it being among the top tier shows of the season but I think there’s a good chance that it’ll be a fun and entertaining show to watch – well worth the time and a good counter-balance to the darker shows of the season.

I didn't want to upset anyone so I left them looking small, click on the pic to see them up close.

A couple of days ago, I walked outside and saw a bunch of very unwelcome guests on my Clematis vine – Japanese beetles. As you could probably guess from their name, they’re originally from Japan and were accidentally introduced to the US in 1916. Since there’s no natural predators, they can pretty much swarm and destroy people’s plants without pause.

I decided to go online to find out the best way to kill them and several hours later I finally come across the information I need. You might expect that finding information about how to kill the most costly invasive insect in America would be easy. Instead, everyone talks about how evil pesticides are as well as touting natural solutions. I realize pesticides aren’t the healthiest thing in the world but when I have at least 300 beetles in my yard eating things at a very quick rate, I need something that works.

Finally, I come across a study done on the 6 most popular pesticides and 6 most popular natural solutions and guess what – it’s not even close. The natural solutions were at best just a little better then doing nothing and any one of the pesticides would reduce the damage to the plants to almost zero. In my case it couldn’t reverse the damage but it could stop the damage.

That was a couple of days ago and while my plants like the Clematis above don’t look good, they haven’t been eaten much more (thank you 1-naphthyl methylcarbamate) so they might make it through the year.

The final part of my look at the best of the spring season is the countdown of the best titles of the season. This is always a difficult process since I enjoy so many different types of shows and there’s no clear-cut way of comparing a slice-of-life show to a shounen action show to a thought provoking SF drama set in the near future. But it’s also fun because it helps me focus on exactly why I like certain shows.

For the spring season I discovered that I had four shows that where the cream of the crop and that made it especially hard to order them. So even though a show at only number 3 or 4 might imply there’s a significant difference between them and the top ranked show there really wasn’t this time. And I stopped the list at 6 7 shows because these where the only shows that I felt deserved special recognition. I dislike when a system is in place that unduly rewards people or groups that don’t really deserve it (like the NFL playoff system – plenty of teams make it that shouldn’t). For those curious, the next two spots would probably have gone to Sengoku Basara and K-ON! . Watching the final two episodes of Sengoku Basara made it clear that it would be unfair to leave it off so I expanded my top shows from six to seven.

And with that, let’s head to the countdown.

7 Sengoku Basara

One of the shows later on in the countdown dealt with first love and all it’s variations. Sometimes it turns out perfectly and other times it doesn’t. I bring that up because my first love in anime was shounen action shows but in the years since, the genre has lost some of it’s luster for me. There’s still a place in my heart for it but the genre’s faults really limit it’s appeal for me so I didn’t start watching Sengoku Basara with the highest hopes. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got a show that was decidedly weighted towards the good parts of shounen action series and as the series unfolded, I continued to be taken by it.

It’s not perfect but at the end of the day the show is an meant to be a fun, entertaining, over-the-top romp of hot-blooded action and it delivers without being overly seriously about it. It’s was able to walk the same line Gurren Lagann did in regards to this and as a result this show felt similar to it. I’ve already touched on some of the reasons for liking this show already so I won’t bore you with repeating the same reasons but I’ll mention the ending since that was what got this show listed. When the show was getting close to the end, I was convinced that they were going to fudge the ending and leave a bunch of stuff unresolved but turned out I was wrong. We got a great final battle that tied many of the plot strings up. This put me in a tight spot, I could pretend I hadn’t watched these two episodes and finish this post up already but missing this opportunity to give the show it’s just due felt wrong. (And with the recent announcement of it’s license in America, maybe I’ll convince at least a couple people to check this show out on DVD when it get’s released.) So here it is, at number 7.

6 Natsu no Arashi

Like a broken record, I’ll repeat the phrase, “I really wasn’t expecting too much out of this title” with the slightly different qualification of “after the disappoint of the last Shinbo/Shaft production – Maria+holic.” And what little expectations all but disappeared after (what I thought) was a poorly drawn and poorly developed first episode. I figured I’d give it one more episode before pulling the plug and was literally shocked when episodes 2 and 3 wholly and completely got me hooked.

The time-traveling angle was definitely one of the hooks to the show but I just positively loved how time-traveling was used in this series. I’ve read countless stories that included time-travel and the various angles you can do with it but it feels right that a normal person would do normal things with the power. If, in the case of Arashi, she originally lived during the 1930’s and 40’s, she would like to visit that time because it would feel like home compared to living in today’s society. She would also, because of the type of person she is, try to use her future knowledge to help people from her hometown who were killed during WW2 and she wouldn’t care about time paradoxes and alternative universes and changing the course of history. The differences in time periods also made for an interesting undercurrent of the changing societal norms between the 1940’s and today.

I’m glad this is getting a second season because, even though I have a feeling on how it’s going to end (it appears that Arashi and the others only exist during the summer), I want to see what happens next.

5 Eden of the East

In this day-n-age, anytime an anime not based on existing source material is attempted – the people behind it should be applauded. It’s the tougher thing to do and as a result, there’s only a few done each year. Eden of the East is an original creation from Production I.G. and Kenji Kamiyama. It being an original creation isn’t the reason why it’s here, it’s here because it attempted to tell a grand story and it succeeded doing so (for the most part). Some will focus on how the small imperfections of the show and totally gloss over the difficulty of trying to balance making a show thought provoking and entertaining.

The central idea of the show – how to save a country with only a hundred million dollars (10 billion yen) has really made my brain itch this season. On two occasions I’ve even tried to work up a post about how I would save my country with that amount of money but both times I gave up after several days of writing because while it seems like with that amount of money it should be able to positively affect society, I can’t really make a convincing case of it.

I wanted to place this higher in the countdown but with the real ending of the series being pushed back to the movies, it meant the ending of the series wasn’t as satisfying as it should have been.

4 Phantom

I like to read other blogs when they do their seasonal previews because it’s very helpful to get many different viewpoints but in this case, almost everyone that talked about this show pretty much slammed it based on the company behind it. As a result, I approached the series with a slightly negative standpoint but figured I’d watch a few episodes to either confirm or deny what everyone was predicting. After a few episodes, I realized that I wasn’t going to dislike the show but I was still unsure where it was heading. I decided to keep watching and slowly the pieces fell into place and I was able to see that this was a very good series.

It has good animation, great characters and character building, a nice amount of action sprinkled throughout and it’s well plotted with an interesting story. Or to rephrase that – it has everything a person needs out of quality show. I’m really looking forward to see how the rest of the story unfolds.

3 Hatsukoi Limited

Sometimes it’s not necessary for a show to be different or unique; sometimes a show can be full of every well-known and well-worn cliché of a genre but it’s told with such love and warmth that the result is magical. This is the case with Hatsukoi Limited. It’s not ground breaking or new by any stretch of the word but J.C. Staff did such a good job – I don’t care. The show (if you’re not familiar with it) is a series of interlocking stories about the various characters as they fall in love for the first time. See, I told you it’s not original nor was it difficult to figure out what would happen. For example, Enomoto was one of the top beauties of her class and talked about how you pick a guy by his looks but as soon as they showed her and Kusuda interacting together for 15 seconds – I realized they were going to end up together (and they did).

The one thing that saddens me about this show is that the manga it’s based on was abruptly ended at about this point and that means that we’ll probably never get the rest of the story. It does end at an important milestone but there’s still plenty of life left with the different stories. Maybe the success of the show will jump start the manga back up or maybe J.C. Staff will attempt an anime original sequel.

2 Ristorante Paradiso

If I wanted to, I could start off by saying “I wasn’t expecting much too much from this show,” but I’ve already said that twice already but it fits this title as well. Instead I’ll start off by saying that I almost pushed this up to number 1 for the season even when I was positive that another show would get that spot. The reason – as a slice-of-life show, the viewer doesn’t normally expect a truly definitive ending since by definition the show was only a slice of life and not the whole life but Ristorante Paradiso was able to give an ending that felt satisfying and really wrapped up the story of the show. It was unexpected and awesome at the same time.

And the rest of the show was truly enjoyable. Many of the episodes centered around an individual character of the restaurant and I loved how every person had a very unique and interesting history. It’s was a great argument of including older characters into shows. Another thing about the show I really liked was the style of animation. It almost felt like a hodge-podge of different styles thrown together at random but it worked great together and provided the show with a glorious feel to it. This is the type of show that is a great example of the wide variance that can be found in anime; it’s a shame that many of these types of shows don’t get licensed in America because there’s people out there that could become anime fans given the right type of show and exposure to those shows.

1 Cross Game

Probably not a shock to many at this point that I’m picking Cross Game. It almost feels anti-climatic. I almost slide this down to number 2 because Ristorante Paradiso’s ending was so good and because this show is continuing on and so there was no equivalent ending. A well-timed viewing of a new episode reminded me how much I love this series and made sure I kept it where it belonged.

Instead of spending a bunch of time trying to come up with something different to talk about in regards to Cross Game, I’ll just end it here – if you like a show with great characters and a character-driven story and haven’t given this show a chance yet – please watch Cross Game because you (probably) won’t be disappointed.

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Well, that’s it; my picks of the spring season. I’d like to thank everyone that read and commented on this 7,000+ word look at the season’s best shows. Looking over my top shows of the season, my rather wide range of tastes is in full display since everything from slice-of-life to mindless action to thought-provoking SF make their appearance. I doubt there’s anyone out there that would have the same countdown as me.

Looking forward to the summer season, I believe there might be a few gems in it, which combined with the carry-overs, should make it a good season.

–

Read part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Read part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Read part 3: VMA Awards

The final set of awards before going to my top shows of the season cover the music, vocal actors, and animation aspects of this season’s anime. Or the three parts to anime that are heavily dependent on the preferences of the individual viewer.

The reason I put these awards third is that in the grand scheme of things, the areas that were covered in the first two parts are much more important in making a good anime then what’s covered here. They’re important in their own way but if the voice work or music or animation is a little shoddy or average, it’s still possible to make a good show. For an example, look at Pandora Hearts, it’s animation quality is very poor but it’s still been a good watch because the story and characters have been above average. But I won’t deny if the animation quality had been higher – say if Bones had done it using a style similar to Soul Eater – it wouldn’t have been a better show.

Best Male Seiyuu

Norio Wakamoto as Demon King from Sengoku Basara and the Announcer from Hayate

This is one award that I don’t feel like I have to explain why Norio Wakamoto earns this award since I think it’s pretty apparent – he has one of the awesomest voices in anime. Here’s a clip of him speaking from the first episode of Sengoku Basara.

Best Female Seiyuu

Haruka Tomatsu as Aoba from Cross Game

During the past winter season there was one show that really shocked me because it was much better then it should have been – Asu no Yoichi. One of the reasons I eventually concluded for it’s success was the middle sister and her voice actor Haruka Tomatsu. Still remembering this performance, I was pleasantly surprised to her voicing a role in Cross Game. As the series rolled on and the story started to hit it’s stride, I found myself once again impressed with how well Haruka Tomatsu was able to give life to her character. If I had to characterize her voice, I’d say it somewhat reminds me of Marina Inoue especially how it can range from being very authoritative – almost terrorizing – to being very sweet and calm. She’s quickly become one of my favorite voice actors and I hope she continues to get more main roles.

Best OP

Winner: Eden of the East

Runner-up: K-ON!

A recent rewatch of Paranoia Agent reminded me how much an opening can influence the viewer’s state of mind when watching the actual show. In the case of Paranoia Agent, it was to get the viewer primed for the surreal nature of the show. In the case of Eden of the East, it wanted to build onto the mystique of the show and hint that something grand was behind everything. In this regard, it was a big success. I did really like the K-ON! opening but the lazy way in which the fifth player was added to the animation of the opening prevented it from winning.

Best ED

Winner: tie – Cross Game, Hatsukoi Limited

Runner-up: K-ON!

Normally I find myself having more trouble with picking the best opening then with the best ending but this time I had the hardest time trying to pick between Cross Game and Hatsukoi Limited. I finally decided the way I was going to pick between the two was to create a song list of just those two songs and keep repeating them until I got tired of one or the other. I went about doing various things and before I knew it, it was four hours later and I still hadn’t gotten tired of either. So I made the command decision of giving them both the pick – it is my blog after all. The two songs are complete opposites and compliment the tone of their respective shows nicely. The animation that accompanies both sequences also fits in well with the show and features the many characters of each show. I probably wouldn’t have bothered with a runner-up in the case of a tie but I really liked the animation part of the closing of K-ON! – it was probably my favorite animation of the season – with the song just falling short of the winners.

Best Background Music

If you could hear the music at this moment, you'd be impressed.

Winner: Sengoku Basara

Like I’ve said in previous award posts, one of my main criteria in picking the best background music is for me to actually remember the background music when I’m not watching the show. In the case of Sengoku Basara, I remember the background music because it, along with the rest of the show, is over-the-top and always cognizant of the fact that the show is here to entertain and be fun – not serious. As far as I can tell the soundtrack isn’t out but I’ve been eagerly wanting it for a long time now.

Best Dressed Characters

Both pics are from the same episode.

and this doesn't include the school uniforms, swimsuits and another change of clothes - all looking nice.

Winner: K-ON!

I almost didn’t bother with this award since no other studio works so hard on their character’s outfits and thus no one can give KyoAni a serious challenge but then I realize that I’m falling into that modern thinking of vilifying success instead of celebrating it. So, the award is here and KyoAni’s K-ON! smashes the competition for this award. I’m somewhat surprised that with the proven ability of KyoAni to sell things (from CDs to guitars to visiting a specific temple) that no clothing maker over there has created a line of clothes based on their designs. They would, almost assuredly, sell like hot cakes.

Best Animation Style

Winner: Hatsukoi Limited

Runner-up: Ristorante Paradiso

This is not a measure of the best animation (that’s the next award) but the actual style of the show. For years now J.C. Staff has a basic style that they use with some of there shows, I call it their watercolor look and what it lacks in animation pizazz, it easily makes up for in beauty. Their latest example, Hatsukoi Limited, is the best iteration of the look and compliments the show perfectly. Other bloggers focused in on how pretty the girls of the series looked but that really was just a by-product of the animation style that J.C. Staff used. It beat out the first series from the new company called “David Company”. I was curious about the people behind this company since the show had such a unique look to it and what I discovered was that the company was founded a couple of years ago by several former Gonzo employees. It made me wonder if at least some of the Gonzo bashing isn’t justified; if Ristorante Paradiso is an example of the quality of the employees that left Gonzo then Gonzo lost several skilled people and should have worked to retain them.

Best Animation

Winner: Phantom ~ Requiem of Phantom ~

I know as I type this that I’ll catch some flack for this pick because the conventional wisdom will say that Eden of the East should get best animation. I’d have to disagree though, their backgrounds are truly awesome and deserve recognition but the character designs and thusly the character animation pushed no boundaries. I don’t want to say they were lazy since the character designs worked well in the slice-of-life show Honey and Clover but that type of show isn’t about exciting the viewer with it’s animation. Once I put Eden of the East in it’s proper context, I looked around for another show and as if on queue I watched episode 12 of Phantom and realized I had my winner. It wasn’t just the little flyover sequence at the start of episode 12 that made me pick them, I’ve been impressed with virtually all the parts of the show, including the animation but it wasn’t until that scene that I really put together how well I thought the animation was. To be sure I spot rewatched several episodes and so I can confidently say that I think Phantom had the best animation overall for this season.

Top Animation Studio

Winner: J.C. Staff

I’ll admit to having a soft spot for J.C. Staff. When they do a show right, it’s a very memorable experience but this soft spot doesn’t allow me to gloss over when they do a poor job with a show – the latest example of sub par work would be Index. This season they had two shows Hatsukoi Limited and the second season of Hayate the combat butler. I’ve talked about Hatsukoi Limited many times already but they’re also doing good with Hayate. One of the subtle changes I like is Nagi’s character is more likeable though I can’t quite pin down the exact difference. I also like how the show is more focused on the characters and their relationships – my gut (and reading other bloggers reactions) tells me that they’re sticking with the source material more. It took a little bit to readjust my expectations of the show from just being a silly gag-a-minute show to something a little more coherent but I have and it was worth it. Looking forward to the summer season, they have 2 new shows and I’m really hoping that they can continue at the level they displayed this season.

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That’s it for part 3 of my spring 2009 anime awards. I hoped to have this and the final part – my top 6 shows of the season out before the fourth of July so I could start on my summer anime impressions but I don’t think that going to quite happen. Real life and more particularly table top Dungeons and Dragons is calling me.

–

Read part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Read part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Read part 4: Top Seven Shows of the Spring Season

As I’m writing this, I’m half-surprised to see no one mention a certain show not getting any awards and I’d be even more surprised after this part so I figured I should mention it’s lack of showing. The show in question is the Full Metal Alchemist remake. The reason why it hasn’t shown up and won’t today is that as a fan of the earlier adaptation (at least for the first 25 or so episodes) I appreciate that their trying to rush through the material that overlaps both series but the compression has made for a much weaker series. As a result, the show just can’t shine against the competition this season though next season might be a different story. So, while I won’t mind terribly if a reader still feels the need to post a comment saying that FMA deserved to win a category, know that I have watched the show and I find this remake inferior to the original at least for now. (Now if it has a good ending, I’ll be a very happy camper since I rather disliked how it ended the first time.)

With that out of the way, let’s head to the next batch of awards.

Best Action

Winner: Sengoku Basara

Runner-up: Phantom ~ Requiem of Phantom ~

Both shows sported very good animation which always helps make the action scenes that much better but Sengoku Basara edges out Phantom because while Phantom has a lot of scenes involving guns, most of them are rather one-sided and the action scenes in Sengoku Basara are more balanced between the sides which makes for more interesting scenes. I also liked the over-the-top nature to Sengoku Basara because it helped make the fights more interesting and entertaining – if I had to describe the flavor of these battles I’d call them Gurren Lagann-esque (which is always a good show to be compared to). So being full of hot-blooded action, Sengoku Basara wins the award.

Best Fight

Winner: Akira shooting down missiles with his finger from Eden of the East

One of the problems of relying on subs is that oftentimes a show gets strung out past the end of the season – which is perfectly understandable but last season that meant I missed naming the final fight of Birdy Season 2 as the best fight of the winter season and I’m worried that this season I’m missing a good fight from the last 2 episodes of Sengoku Basara because I haven’t seen them yet. However the fight I ended up picking was a pretty cool fight because it was so unique and is definitely worthy of this award. If you haven’t seen Eden of the East, you might be wondering how it’s possible to shoot down missiles with your finger. Easy, first you need a phone loaded with a 100 million dollars and second you need to be able to call Juiz (who I’m pretty sure is an AI) and she can figure out how to accomplish whatever you ask for and then debit the amount out of the 100 million. Like I said, easy. This fight also does a good job in explaining why it’s important for a country to have an anti-missile shield in place.

Best Comedy

Winner: Melancholy of Haruhi-chan

Runner-up: Hetalia Axis Powers

Like I said earlier, this season was a bit light on quality comedy shows, there were a few but they weren’t able to surpass either of these super short series. Running under 5 minutes long doesn’t leave the show with a lot of time to leave it’s mark on the viewer but both of these shows have. Haruhi-chan had a better cast and better jokes most of the time but I did really enjoy the French and Canadian jokes that where in Hetalia – I really didn’t expect to see either in a Japanese show, American yes, but not Japanese. Haruhi-chan was also an example of why I think everyone loves omake material; namely, it allows the creators to put well-loved characters in situations and circumstances that are absurd without having to worry about story continuity. With a second season of Hetalia green-lit, there’s a good chance you’ll see this title show up again and hopefully they’ll make more Haruhi-chan as well.

Most Entertaining

Winner: Sengoku Basara

Just saying the title puts a smile on my face. Sure it’s over-the-top and absurd at times – Date’s biker gang aesthetic and use of English phrases to name just two – but for all of it’s manliness and hot-blooded action, it doesn’t take itself overly seriously and as a result it’s a fun watch because you can tell the creators are having fun. Anime fans like to talk about which anime it was that drew them into watching anime and I think Sengoku Basara’s entertaining nature, good animation, and hot-blooded action could bring many new people to anime if it would ever air on American television during prime time hours.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Shangri-La

Yes I’m giving an award to a show that I dropped after watching only a few episodes of and the award is for a most implausible setting to begin with but I think it fairly won this award. The setting is some decades in the future and global warming has turned Tokyo tropical and the world has set into place a global cap-n-trade system and the Japanese government has tried to rain in it’s carbon footprint by turning Tokyo into a gigantic forest. I say implausible because an honest look at the temperatures of the past 100,000 years (it’s been warmer in the past – without an industrialized society pumping CO2 into the air), learning about the deficiencies and bias in how we collect temperatures today (a substandard ground system along with having global warming activists in charge of collecting data), and reading about research studying the impact of natural forces on the environment (just recently we’ve discovered radiation blasts from outside the solar system frequently warm parts of Earth’s upper atmosphere) all but rule out the future shown in Shangri-La. I have no clue how the show proceeded after I stopped watching but even with the short time I watched it, I think I’d be wrong not to award this show for at least creating an interesting setting.

Best Plot

Winner: Phantom ~ Requiem of Phantom ~

Runner-up: Eden of the East

Through most of the spring season, it would have felt wrong not to give Eden of the East this award but as the season wore on it started to feel like Eden was meandering a bit. Maybe it was because they needed enough material for the Eden of the East movies (though how much of the two movies will be new material I’m not sure) but in the end the show didn’t feel as tightly plotted as I think it could have been. It still had a good plot but this allowed another show, Phantom, to squeak past. Now that we’re at the halfway point of this show and after a plot twist that’s set up the rest of the series, it’s possible to look back and see how well this show was plotted. For example, I can’t think of any episodes or even parts of episodes that felt like filler – there was always a point in what the animators where showing us. I don’t know if Phantom will be able to finish as strongly as it’s going right now but for this season, which covers the first half of the show, no other show was better plotted then it.

Best Story

Winner: Cross Game

Runner-up: Ristorante Paradiso

To make a good slice-of-life show, it’s important to create an interesting story with good characters to hook the viewer in because it can’t fall back on huge explosions, fight scenes, deep plots, or big mysteries to keep the viewer interested (if it did – it’s not really a slice-of-life show anymore). So, it’s not a big surprise that both Cross Game and Ristorante Paradiso are slice-of-life shows. What helped Cross Game push above Ristorante Paradiso was that it added a very important component – it has a pair of bad guys that are realistic, competent, and very hate-able. Not every show needs a bad guy but for Cross Game, it added a bit of dramatic tension of the story. I really hope the anime continues long enough that we get to see the true ending but since I think the manga is still being written, it probably won’t happen (at least for right now).

Best Villain

Winner: Demon King from Sengoku Basara

Speaking of villains, this was one of the easiest awards to pick since the Demon King totally owns what it means to be a villain. Cruel, evil, intelligent, and ambitious – he has all the ingredients and he uses them to the maximum. Another trait that he shares with many of the great villains is that for all the evilness, viewers can’t help but like him as well. Maybe it’s a failing of humans but there’s just something about villains that makes them interesting characters.

Most in Need of a Sequel

Winner: Hatsukoi Limited

A sequel probably won’t happen since I was reading that the manga was abruptly ended and the anime pretty much covered the manga totally which is a shame since there’s obviously still plenty of life left in this show with several pathways not totally explored or resolved. The recent string of good adaptations done by J.C. Staff makes me wonder if they could craft the sequel but that’s probably asking too much from them since they don’t have a good record in this area – maybe the success with the anime will help resolve whatever the problem surrounding the manga was and it can start up again.

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That’s it for part 2, the next part is the VMA awards and then part 4 is my top 6 shows of the season.

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Read part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Read part 3: VMA Awards
Read part 4: Top Seven Shows of the Spring Season

With the spring season winding down, it’s time to look back and reflect upon the great moments of the season.

Back at the beginning, I thought this was going to be a very weak overall season with only a few noteworthy series but it turned out to be a much stronger season. To help reach that point it took a few unconventional shows which reinforced my belief that a show shouldn’t be judged before watching it. I’d’ve missed good shows if I let generalities dictate what I watch. Even so, this season new shows were light in the comedy and slice-of-life genres and heavy with the medieval-esque fantasy setting. Next season seems to contain more shows of the comedy and slice-of-life feel so I’ll probably be complaining about something else next time.

Below is a listing of the shows that I watched this season and are the pool from which the picks for all the awards are coming from. There where a few continuing shows that should be listed since I watched them during the last season and fully intended to continue watching but for various reasons (time, releases suddenly slow, and apathy) they didn’t get watched. They’ll be included during the yearly awards, assuming I finish them up by the end of the year. Also a reminder, I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum but there’ll be some because of how they’ll relate to specific awards.

Carry-over shows watched this season (3): Melancholy of Haruhi-chan, Nyoron Churuya-san, Hetalia Axis Powers

New shows watched this season (13): Sengoku Basara, Phantom, Ristorante Paradiso, Asura Cryin’, K-ON!, Eden of the East, Natsu no Arashi, Hayate Season 2, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hatsukoi Limited, Cross Game, Pandora Hearts, Tears to Tiara

Shows that got dropped (7): Queen’s Blade, Tayutama, Hanasakera Seishounen, Saki, Shangri-La, Valkria Chronicles, Slap-Up Party -Arad Senki

Best Female Main Character

Winner: Arashi from Natsu no Arashi

Runner-up: Saki from Eden of the East

This was a pretty tough award to pick because there was a wide range of good female main characters but I eventually picked Arashi. It’s probably a personal failing of mine but I like characters that can still be happy and optimistic when faced with plenty of reasons not to be. In Arashi’s case, she should be bitter and angry over being killed while she was still very young but she’s not – she enjoys the bits of life she still have and uses her time traveling powers to help save other people from dieing during the war. She beats out Saki because while I really like Saki’s character, not enough time was spent on the individual characters within Eden of the East, which is understandable for a show of this type but it does need to be taken into account.

Best Male Main Character

Winner: Kou from Cross Game

In all reality, Kou had this award locked up by the end of the fifth episode of Cross Game and each episode after just further confirmed his worthiness. If I was being real general I’d call Kou one of the coolest guys I’ve watched in anime but just calling him cool doesn’t do him justice. There’s the way how he treats Momoji (the youngest sister); even though she’s just a neighbor, he dotes on her like a good big brother would. Or how he will stick up for his friends and how he’ll let people take the credit for things when they deserve it. Then there’s the fact that he’s very mature and not your standard perverted, hormonally driven teenage guy that plagues so many other anime; though, that’s probably tied back to how he still remembers and misses Waka – as evidenced by his keeping of her birthday list on his wall and his continued use of those two alarm clocks. I hope the anime will last long enough that we’ll get to see him reach his goal and Waka’s dream of him pitching in that national tournament.

Best Supporting Character

Winner: Hina from Hayate the Combat Butler, Season 2

Runner-up: Ui from K-ON!

Another tough one to pick. On one side you have the super reliable younger sister Ui but on the other side you have an awesome side character that’s finally getting some real time onscreen. In the end I went with the awesome Hina, in part because of her ability nail singing one of the true classics in anime – Cruel Angel Thesis – especially when she hardly remembered the song in the first place. Hina also has the edge because she feels more like a complete character then Ui. If a little more time was taken to develop Ui as a person outside of just how great of a younger sister she is, she could have won.

Best Screen-grabber

Winner: Demon King from Sengoku Basara

One of the coolest parts of Sengoku Basara is when the Demon King shows up on screen. In a show that’s pretty over-the-top all over, he’s able to be over-the-top and still manages to be a convincingly evil bad guy with enough smarts to be a formidable foe for our heroes. Of course, it greatly helps that Norio Wakamoto voices him. To be the top screen grabber, though, he needs more then just being a bad guy and what does it for me is how the Demon King clearly relishes his role as the Demon King. I should hate him but I can’t help but enjoy every second he’s in the show.

Best Couple

Venting some feelings

Winner: Kusuda and Enomoto from Hatsukoi Limited

Runner-up: Saki and Akira from Eden of the East

When I pick the best couple, I try to pick the couple that most displays how each partner is perfect for the other. Last season I picked Tomoya and Nagisa because they’re were so perfect, sweet, and harmonious together; this season’s best couple (Kusuda and Enomoto) are definitely perfect for each other but they’re a whole lot less sweet and harmonious. They can’t seem to be together for longer then 30 seconds with a verbal sparing match occurring which would seem to preclude them from this award but watching Hatsukoi Limited, it’s apparent that there’s an underlying bond between the two that’s very strong.

Best Character Ability/Power

Winner: Time travel from Natsu no Arashi

This season had a bunch of great character abilities and powers; for example, there was alchemy, the ability to create and control large mechs, to speed up reaction time and speed, and the ability to find yourself married to yet another person every other episode or so. However, the power that won was the time travel ability from Natsu no Arashi because there’s so many possibilities with time travel. There’s personal gain – go back in time and buy stock in a company you’ll know will make a ton of money. Or you could try you’re hand at making the world a better place by changing something in the past (though that never seems to work out well). Or maybe you want to catch a favorite movie in the theaters that you can’t anymore – have a hankering to see Casablanca, The Godfather, or the original Star Wars – watch it on the big screen. Or you could try to resolve the Grandfather paradox by attempting to kill one of your grandfathers before he met your grandmother and see what happens. The possibilities are endless so that’s way it wins the award.

Best Cast of Characters

Winner: Ristorante Paradiso

Runner-up: Hatsukoi Limited

If you told me at the beginning of the season that the show with the best cast of characters of the season would involve a cast primarily made up of old men – I wouldn’t believe you and would seriously worry about your health because you would obviously be taking some sort of illegal, mind-altering drug. And if you haven’t watched Ristorante Paradiso then you’re probably think I’m on something right now but believe me, I’m not. The cast is primarily made up of old men but each one is so different and interesting that they had to win. My favorite is Luciano but that’s because from an early age I wanted to be a gruff old guy with a heart of gold and Luciano fits that to a T. They squeak past Hatsukoi Limited partly because the cast was so large for Hatsukoi Limited that it was hard to develop the characters to the same depth as with Ristorante Paradiso but J.C. Staff did a superb job in handling the characters of Hatsukoi Limited and made them likable and not cliché when it would have been easy to do so.

Best Character Development for Cast

Winner: Cross Game

This series just oozes quality character development; at times I think it’s so good that I’m not giving the show it’s full due. Since not too many people read my Natsume Season 2 review, I can recycle an analogy I used there. The character development is kinda like how Omar Vizquel was the best shortstop in the past 25 years (if not one of the top shortstops of all-time) but he was so good at it that many people didn’t realize how awesome he was because he made it look routine. And I’ll take the space to once again contrast this show’s emphasis on characters as opposed to the sport – we don’t get a baseball game in a baseball anime until episode 9 – to the more well-known sports anime of the season, Saki, where half of episode 1 was them playing Mahjong which would only interest those that happen to play Mahjong. I really prefer Cross Game’s approach since anyone can watch the show and enjoy it.

Best Character Development of a Single Character

Winner: Zwei from Phantom

Having never watched a Bee Train series, I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Phantom ~Requiem of Phantom~ . I was hoping the show would, at least, explain why they used the word phantom twice in a title. What I found was that after every episode, I was becoming more drawn into the show. Much of the series has revolved around Zwei; from training him to be able to be assassin and giving him the right mindset to kill to his attempt to leave being an assassin to his total acceptance of his role as an assassin and within the last couple of episodes, a possible path towards redemption and finding his humanity again (with the chance of having to make a very painful decision in the future). Zwei has turned into a very interesting character to watch and that helps the entire show become a more interesting show to watch. Watching this show makes me curious as to the other Bee Train series that I skipped, if they’ve as good as this show – I might have been missing out on a bunch of good shows.

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That’s the end of part 1; I hope to have the second part up within a day. Comments and feedback are always appreciated – I’d love to see what others would pick.

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Read part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Read part 3: VMA Awards
Read part 4: Top Seven Shows of the Spring Season

Just about everyone remembers this famous rice bowl from K-ON! It was probably the most talked about serving of food at least in this season, if not longer. You might be wondering why I bring this up weeks after the episode aired and everyone talked about it to death already.

Well, those that watched the episode know what this bowl of rice is meant to represent so I won’t bother repeating it. As a result of how big K-ON! is, it’s very possible that we’ll see this get referenced in other anime in the future. No surprise there but what happens when you watch a show that came out years before K-ON! was even just a manga?

Case in point, I am in the process of watching the Full Metal Panic franchise with my sister and we’re currently getting done with Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu. In the hot springs episode there’s a scene that involves rice bowls (as seen below):

As another series by Kyoto Animation, one might think there’s some connection between these rice bowls and the one from K-ON! except that it’s not possible – Fumoffu came out too long ago so there’s no connection. (Though thinking about using K-ON! as a reference makes for a very interesting interpretation.) So what I guess I’m saying is that it’s important to remember when and with what context was an anime made in because using the wrong context might give the viewer the wrong ideas.

And I’ll leave you with another not reference – Haruhi was not making a reference to Saki in the scene below.

I continue trying to finish my winter season series reviews before the spring season ends with a review to the sequel of one of the best slice-of-life series in recent memory – Natsume Yuujinchou or Natsume’s Book of Friends. Before it started, I was a bit apprehensive; on one hand, I was excited to get more Natsume but I was also worried that the sequel wouldn’t be able to captivate me like the first season did. Were my fears unfounded or were they right on the money?

Final Series Score: 12/12 Perfect
Rewatchablity: 4.5/5 – High
Ending: 3.5/5 – Very Good; sums up the main story threads nicely, especially for a slice-of-life show
Animation: 4.5/5 – Sublime
Pros: The relaxing feel to the show along with Natsume’s desire to help those that ask for his help leaves the viewers calm and feeling good afterwards, great cast of characters all the way from the main characters to the one episode minor characters, Natsume and Nyanko-sensei make a great pair of main characters, a visual treat to watch with high quality animation and an animation style that compliments the show’s feel, an awesome soundtrack that works perfectly with the show, superb voice work by the vocal actors
Cons: those looking for the second season to exactly mirror the first season might be put off with the greater focus on Natsume and his character growth

Awards given to this show by this blog

• Runner-up for Best Male Main Character – Winter 2009 Season
• Best Non-human Character for Nyanko-sensei – Winter 2009 Season
• Runner-up for Best Story – Winter 2009 Season
• Ranked #3 in Overall Top 7 Anime of Winter 2009 Season

Story

From the first season we learned that Natsume was born with his ability to see spirits and this ability wasn’t an easy burden to carry. As a child he didn’t realize that other people couldn’t see the same things as he. So while his parents might have put up with it, when they died and he went to live with relatives – they found him creepy and didn’t want anything to do with him. Eventually Natsume gets passed to a distantly related household of a older childless couple. This couple treat Natsume kindly and he attempts to cover-up his ability because he does not want to be a bother to them.

This is made more difficult because the area in which this couple lives in is the same one that Natsume’s grandma lived in. She had the same ability to see ghosts as Natsume and spent her time picking fights with the local spirits and when she beat them would have them write their names in a book. This book, known as the Book of Friends, gives the user the ability to control those spirits that have their names written in it. A very powerful item in the right hands and with the recent passing of Natsume’s grandma – the current owner is Natsume. When these spirits realize the Book of Friends is close by again, some try to get their names back and others want the book for nefarious purposes.

The second season picks up pretty much where the first season leaves off with the focus shifted a bit from the individual stories connected to the ghosts connected to the Book of Friends towards Natsume’s relationship with other people and the ghosts as well as being able to balance the two.

Thoughts and impressions

When this finished up in the beginning of April, I remember thinking that I was going to rate this an 11.5/12 because I didn’t quite like it as much as the first season. I missed how the show focused on the stories that accompanied the ghosts that where tied to the Book of Friends and instead focused on Natsume and his attempts to balance fitting in with humans while still being able to see ghosts. It wasn’t the same; it was very close, hence the almost perfect score, but not quite the same thing.

And that’s what I had penciled in as the score. When I got to the grade for the ending, I wanted to make sure I got an accurate score so I popped in episode 13 and it became apparent rather quickly that I had forgotten how much I liked the show. So after episode 13 finished, I couldn’t help myself and I immediately rewatched episodes 12,10, and 1; I’d’ve probably watched more but I was trying to write this review. In none of these episodes did I find myself thinking the same things I did when I watched these episodes the first time. So, either I was being overly picky the first time or I’ve accepted the second season for what it is and looked at it on it’s own terms. Whichever is the reason, I no longer felt that anything but a perfect score would be right.

I was somewhat leery of actually changing my score, though, since I had settled on something but then I figured that rewatching those four episodes meant I’d rewatched slightly more then 30% of the series and since I allow myself to adjust scores after a rewatch – I could, in somewhat good conscience, change the score and I did.

Reading three paragraphs as to why I felt the need to give Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou a perfect score as opposed to a perfectly good 11.5/12 might leave some reading wondering if the show was worth fussing this much over and I’d have to answer yes. There is so much going for it. I’d start with the main characters – Natsume and Nyanko-sensei. Both characters, individually, are very memorable characters but together they’re even better. Natsume’s resolve to not bother those around him that he cares about because he can see spirits as well as being more then willing to risk his life to help a ghost that’s come for his help makes him a very likable and sympathetic character. Nyanko-sensei is a very powerful spirit that seems to have taken a liking towards the cat form that he was trapped in for a long time. And any show that features a sake-drinking talking cat is a winner. Something specific to this season was how the animators really brought out how Nyanko-sensei actually liked being around Natsume. I suspected this was the case from the beginning but it was a nice little touch to see him slowly act like a friend towards Natsume.

I think ultimately it was because Natsume makes such a great character that I didn’t mind the focus shifting towards him and his dilemma about humans and ghosts. Something that didn’t change about the show is how well the animators harmonize the animation, music, and storytelling of the show. Nothing ever feels out of place with this show and I feel this is one of the best ways to show the mastery of the animators. The one downside to this is that since they do such a perfect job that it’s easier to not even realize how good of a job they’re doing. When I did my seasonal awards, I didn’t give this show best soundtrack and I had a commenter say that he/she felt it should have won. Since there was still a couple episodes left to air, I made sure that I listened to background music and I realized the commenter was right. It was so good, I didn’t realize how good it was without specifically looking for it. Kinda like how Omar Vizquel was the best shortstop in the past 25 years (if not one of the top shortstops of all-time) but he was so good at it that many people didn’t realize how awesome he was because he made it look routine.

One of the other new things that this season added was a handful of reoccurring characters and hinted at a more involved plot then just the stand-alone nature of the series up to this point. This was probably a necessity since at some point the show would run out of interesting stories and be forced to start recycling material – to the determent of the series – but that doesn’t mean it’s also an interesting way to expand the story. It also opens up more possibilities with the storytelling and makes the viewers hungry to see what happens next. Yes, that’s my subtle way of saying I want a third season as soon as possible.

This, along with the first season, are one of the few titles that I’d recommend to just about any anime watcher since I think there’s something for just about everyone – with the possible exception of those anime fans that need fighting and explosions every 10 seconds to stay interested. There are some scenes that I’d term action scenes scattered throughout the series since some spirits resort to violence against Natsume. People that enjoy good characters are amply covered as are people looking for something that puts them in either a calm or happy mood. So to are people that enjoy watching a series that can make them shed a tear or two since some of the individual stories can really get to you. The supernatural angle calls upon the local culture and helps add yet another layer to making Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou interesting and different. And don’t forget the sake-drinking talking cat spirit that everyone can see (and have a different name for); you can never go wrong with a sake-drinking talking cat.

Essential Information

• 13 episodes
• genre: slice-of-life, supernatural
• animation studio: Brain’s Base
• director: Takahiro Omori
• OP: “Ano hi Time Machine” by LONG SHOT PARTY
• ED: “Ai Shiteru” by Kourin
• Seiyuus of note: Hiroshi Kamiya, Kazuhiko Inoue, Rina Satou, Miyuki Sawashiro, Akira Ishida

Munto TV is notable for a few reasons and it’s long actual name isn’t one of them (“Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Seikei”). The first is that it’s based on the Munto OVAs that are an original creation by Kyoto Animation. The second is that by running during the winter season of 2009, this marked the first time that Kyoto Animation ran two shows at once (the other being Clannad ~After Story~). Notable as it my be, the more important question is how good is it really?

Final Series Score: 3/12 D
Rewatchablity: 0.5/5 – Low; It wasn’t gouge my eyes out horrible but there’s very little chance of my watching this show again
Ending: 2/5 – Disappointing; The major problems with this title occurred at the beginning and middle with the end being the least shaky but by this point, I didn’t really care anymore
Animation: 2.5/5 – Average; Cutting corners by using the old original animation produced a very uneven looking show
Pros: Likeable characters and great character designs, good work by the vocal actors, when the animation was done to the full ability of KyoAni – it was very pretty
Cons: What should have been a minimum 26 episode series was condensed into 9 episodes and the story/plot suffered irreparable harm, it was very hard not to feel duped when the viewer realized that the first 6 episodes where almost exactly – down to the individual shots – the same as the original OVAs, very uneven animation quality

Awards given to this show by this blog

• none

Story

Yumemi is your typical female middle school student with everyday concerns like her friend wanting to get married except for one small thing – she can see an alternative world floating above the earth. She’ll find out, though, that she’s the key to save both the floating world and earth.

Thoughts and impressions

I could delude myself and say it doesn’t matter that the story was royally mutilated because it was shoehorned into only 9 episodes but I’d be lyng through my teeth and I really hate to lie. And the thing is, when you look at the show on the individual episode level – it’s a very enjoyable show. It’s only when you try to link the individual episodes together that the problems really become apparent. The imagine that keeps into my mind is a rope made out of sand; it looks like a rope but you can’t pick it up without it falling apart. (The image original comes from my history class describing the problems the Articles of Confederation had and how it lead to the writing of the Constitution.)

It’s very disappointing to see this happen, especially when the show appeared to have so much potential. I certainly wouldn’t recommend buying this but it might be worth a single watching; if only to see the good seiyuu work, likeable characters, and the few scenes that were truly great scenes. That’s about all I have to say; I could harp on the show’s deficiencies for another 1000 words if I wanted to and if I was a KyoAni-hater, I would, but I think I adequately covered it’s problems.

Essential Information

• 9 episodes
• genre: fantasy
• animation studio: Kyoto Animation
• director: Yoshiji Kigami
• OP: “Anemoi” by eufonius
• ED: “Hikari to Yami to Toki no Hate” by Ceui
• Seiyuus of note: Daisuke Ono, Norio Wakamoto, Mai Aizawa, Ryouko Tanaka, Hiromi Konno, Kikuko Inoue