i quite like posting these anime entries.  there’s always this rumbling amongst the anime community about how the quality of anime out there has taken a nose-dive.  but you know what…i…sorta agree.  heh, no really, there’s still too much tits and panties and general retardation out there.  but alongside that pile of shit are animes that still rock hard, and definitely deserve attention.  as long as they get the recognition and the crotch-shot animes get relegated to bargain-bins, then it’s all good…

first…a note.  i usually follow specific fansub groups each season.  and by and large, they’re the ones that really determine what i watch.  if they chose an anime that i liked one season, i may stay with them in the hopes that they consistently sub animes that appeal to me.  listing a few fansubs off the top of my head…the groups i follow are eclipse, horrible, bss, gg, mazui, doki, and coalguys (when they/he decides to actually fansub).  i lean towards speed-sub groups.  tho in these cases, their quality is usually pretty good already…so speed-subbing isn’t an impediment to the quality.

anyhoo, last season, i watched:

baka to test to shōkanjū | surprisingly better than originally anticipated, given that it has one of the stupidest titles.  it meanders considerably during the middle of the season (you wonder whether they forgot about their original plot), and too many gags are overused.  but still worth a watch.

dance in the vampire bund | creepy loli (but she’s a vampire and not really a 10 year old!) but another one that turned out better than expected.  the first half of the season was sluggish, but the season ended on a high point.  the animation takes some getting used to tho.  shaft’s style worked for bakemonogatari…not so much for action animes.

durarara!! | the highlight of last season, durarara oozes with style and originality.  and for split seconds here and there, you could imagine the characters really inhabiting some hidden corner of ikebukuro.  even the ‘fantasy’ characters are given a real personality.  i usually dump past season’s animes from my hard drive to make room for the new season…unless they’re worth keeping. and durarara definitely gets classified as ‘worth keeping’

edit…ha, i didn’t even realize it was ongoing.  episode 12 ended so thoroughly, it seemed like the end of the series.  bonus.

fullmetal alchemist | dear god episode 52 and still going.  not that i’m complaining…this shit is good.  i definitely liked the first anime’s “interpretation”, and having never read the manga, i always wondered why the more devoted fans of the manga decried the changes.  but now i understand.  it wasn’t that the older anime was necessarily worse than the manga, but the manga’s story was more expansive…it had more stories to tell, and had such a broader scope that the older anime seemed myopic in comparison.

ladies vs butlers | tits.  lots of tits.  otherwise meh.

omamori himari | yea i watched it, but i didn’t want to. ;p  no really…it was bleh.

so ra no wo to | the supposed “k-on goes to war” anime.  the first few episodes bored me stupid, and made me wonder what the shit cutesy moe girls were doing in the goddamn army.  i ended up wandering off…anyone else finish up the series?  maybe i should revisit this one…

the qwaser of stigmata | the infamous tit-sucking anime.  i keep reading about it.  i’ll admit i’m curious…should i download it?!?

to aru kagaku no railgun | railgun finished up this season, and it was pretty good.  they’ve always been pretty clever how they weaved their stories…small episodes earlier in the season informed later episodes.  and by the end of the season, what seemed like individual self-contained stories were in fact just components of the larger picture.

and the new season has already started.  i’ve decided to watch the following animes:

angel beats | interesting premise…so far it’s kept me fascinated.  it’s like a more violent haibane renmei…maybe.

arakawa under the bridge | quirky…but the lead guy annoys me.  i feel urges to kick him in the testicles.  but i’ll probably stay with it.

b gata h kei | retarded thus far.  but i do allot a few “dumb as shit” animes in my line-up each season.  but this categorization shares the same allotments as “just for tits” animes…and the tits get precedence.

heroman | i hadn’t even heard of this anime before, but horrible listed it and i gave it a roll.  it was actually created by stan lee (whuuuut), and he even cameos in the first episode.  its pretty interesting so far, and it’s animated by bones…and that’s never a bad thing.  if anything, it’ll be interesting to see an anime do “slice of life” with an american slant.

k-on s2 | moe!  this and the continuing fullmetal and durarara!! are probably the headliners for this season, since nothing else seems as interesting…

mayoi neko overrun! | categorized under “possibly stupid”, the first episode was better than expected.  may be relegated to forgettable by the end of the season, but it seems like a potential distraction.

working | same categorization as the above anime.

here’s to hoping it’ll be a good season…

edit | i don’t know why the shit the video is mirrored, nor why it’s so damn hard to find a non-parody of the durarara ending.  gah!

anime musings, part three.  i’ve found anime to be a nice weekly distraction now…as long as i watch the episodes in a timely matter that is.  most of the time i don’t, so they gather in my “to sort” folder until i watch them all in bulk.  still fills a nice niche however for those rainy/cold/shitty/fuck i need to get out more but just can’t be bothered days.

bakemonogatari | odd as hell, but fascinating to watch.  there’s little action, and alot of exposition…it’s more of a cerebral anime dealing with character development than anything.  highly experimental too.

darker than black | this is actually season 2.  i somehow missed season 1, so i just wiki’d it, caught up, and went straight into dtb2.  a little confusing at first, but the stories are quality.  and alot of people die.  seriously…don’t get attached to any character that happens to wander onto the screen. they’re likely to get strangled, shot, electrocuted, or eaten alive by cockroaches by the end of the episode.

fullmetal alchemist | oh so much better than the first fma…which itself deviated greatly from the original manga source.  this ones more true to the manga source, and it pays off.

haruhi suzumiya | great, and disappointing at the same time.  they wasted too many episodes on the insane endless eight arc, which didn’t leave much room to bring in more of the light novel stories.  blargh…at least there’s the chance of a third season.

needless | brainless action, and dragonball-esque fights that take 3 weeks to resolve.  it’s surprisingly comedy-oriented however…and there are alot of those moments that work. otherwise nothing spectacular.

queen’s blade | seriously…jk.  it’s shit.  barely televisable hentai.

the sacred blacksmith | better known as sacred boobsmith.  i gave it a chance, since the animation was top notch (manglobe…who did champloo).  but shit are the characters dumb as fuck and the stories pedantic.  it’s already been tossed off my hard drive.

to aru kagaku no railgun | the majutsu sidestory following mikoto instead of toma.  thumbs up eh.  and i didn’t point it out in the older anime roundups, but yea…majutsu’s thumbs up too.