I want moooooooooooore! Give us season 2 now!
Thanks @deanzel for recommending this series. It wasn't really on my radar and I'd probably have missed it otherwise, but I'm so glad I didn't. I'm also very glad I wasn't forced to wait a week per episode!
A value lesson from all this - do NOT fuck with Hotel Moscow.
As @sp1ti says, another "cute girls being cute" series. Nothing massively remarkable, although this one is pretty damn cute, high risk of diabetes abound.
Welp, here we are at the halfway point (of chapter 2 anyway). I must admit to being somewhat worried at the start. I especially wasn't pleased (and still am not) that this series decided to take the "Nisemonogatari" route and introduce some incest-sisters. C'mon, DRRR, you were better than that.
But at least they have been absent from the last few episodes (although I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them again soon... hurray...) and we've spent time with old favorites and some of the more interesting new cast.
Let's just hope things don't fall apart in the second half this Summer. It's unfortunate that this one ended up quite low on my watching priority this list thanks to the aforementioned annoying additions, especially after how enjoyable I found season 1.
Oh well.
Well, at least it's over now.
The series was never massively remarkable imo, but while S1 felt solid enough (despite the whole MC-can-do-anything-even-though-he's-a-highschool-kid-compared-to-trained-military-professionals-who-just-die-like-lemmings thing), S2 just felt wholly unremarkable. The end of S1 set up what could have been a quite interesting sequel but in my opinion they went for the most obvious (and boring) route.
I enjoyed the orbital battles but aside from that, well, "meh" describes it best I think.
A perfect final episode and a great end to a very enjoyable series. With a few exceptions I liked pretty much all the characters in the series and it was great to see everything ended up going so well for our 5 heroines.
I'm going to miss this one!
The last 2 episodes have definitely made up for a sometimes lackluster second half. A sad and poignant ending - part of me wished she would survive but I had the feeling she wouldn't. I applaud the show for having the balls to go through with it and not pulling a last-minute Deus ex machina (I'm looking at you, Dusk Maiden).
Overall the series didn't go in the direction I necessarily expected. When it was on top form, it was amazing, other times not so much. Definitely a worthwhile watch though and probably A-1 Pictures' best show in recent memory.
Hurray! I was starting to worry that Zuka-chan-senpai was going to go the whole series never getting a break. Really loved the final scene with Miyamori watching and getting all emotional.
Last episode next week. I'm gonna miss this show :(
If you enjoyed the series, the following Kickstarter link may interest you:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sekaiproject/the-grisaia-trilogy-three-huge-visual-novels-for-p
Grisaia, as with quite a few other VNs recently, will be getting an official English release. If you liked the anime series and want to see more, you can either pledge to the KS now, or wait for the steam release. It should probably go without saying that the Visual Novels cover the material shown in the anime in a far more detailed way.
Fans of Clannad may be interested to know there is currently a Kickstarter running to get the Clannad Visual Novel officially released in English. The project is already funded (and then some!) and they are closing in on the last stretch goal. See here for more details:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sekaiproject/clannad-official-english-release
If you were a fan of the anime you will love the VN. The anime did a great job of adapting the VN (it's probably one of the best when you compare it to most other VN adaptations) but it should go without saying that no matter how good it is, it had to sacrifice or skip some bits of the story to fit within a sensible episode count.
Anyway, at this point the Clannad release is probably a dead cert, so look forward to seeing it on Steam soon :)
Fans of the anime may be interested to know that Key have finally set a release date for the first volume of the upcoming Angel Beats Visual Novel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8campmH6TI
Of course, this will be released in Japanese only at first, but with the success of the recent Clannad English release kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sekaiproject/clannad-official-english-release), I am hopeful of an English release someday too :)
There will also be another "Special episode" OVA released around the same time.
@sp1ti Is Milky Holmes worth watching then? So retarded it's fun? All I see is bad ratings so I haven't bothered so far.
@sp1ti Death Billiards was okay. I didn't think it was amazing. Will probably give the series a go though.
Oh boy, next season looks pretty week. I think the only thing I'm really looking forward to is season 2 of Durarara!!
This was a really sweet couple of OVAs. I picked it up on a whim with zero expectations and found it a very pleasant and enjoyable watch.
The animation quality isn't that amazing, but I didn't mind that because I found the atmosphere relaxing and the characters endearing, Hori and Miyamuri in particular. There's more character development and meaningful moments in the first OVA than you find in whole series.
The story isn't anything groundbreaking but I found it to be sweet and light hearted watch. I'd definitely like to give the Manga a read now.
Oh and there's a third OVA out in 2015. Wish they'd make a full series of it though!
A pretty decent watch. This series didn't feel particularly original, in fact it felt like a grab bag of tropes and elements from several other shows over the past decade (in particular I got quite a "Code Geass" vibe), but it was entertaining and for the most part, well executed. Some interesting, if somewhat one-dimensional characters, pretty decent action scenes and an awesome soundtrack by Sawano Hiroyuki (See also Guilty Crown, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill).
The series seemed to play a lot of things safe but there was the occasional curveball to surprise you (in particular the final episode). Definitely worth a watch if you're a fan of the genre, but if it feels like you've seen a lot of it before, you probably have.
And on the subject of Geass, is it just me or is Slaine essentially this guy?
http://i.imgur.com/4NUHFY3.jpg
I wish I could say I enjoyed this series more, but sadly I ended up underwhelmed. Perhaps I was expecting too much from it. With Production I.G. doing another Shoujo and a very similar art style to Kimi ni Todoke, I was hoping for something close to that, but this fell far short.
Most of the cast were okay but I thought it was very clunky and somewhat unconvincing how their friendships were established. Very little was done to flesh some of them out either, although I suppose that can be difficult with only 12 episodes.
My main problem was with the main couple though. Whilst I didn't mind Futaba after she eventually grew a spine and started realising that she didn't have to live a "fake" lifestyle, for the vast majority of the series I absolutely couldn't stand Kou. I understand that the intention was to show that he had changed in the years they had been apart and had become a distant and aloof person, but they went way too far in my few and a lot of the time he was just being a total asshole, at times being outright abuse to Futaba. Of course later on it's revealed as to why he ended up this way but I still don't think it justified even half of his dickish behaviour. He got better towards the end but for a lot of the series he was just a total prick and it made it very hard for me to enjoy the series.
Quite a let down overall.
I wish I had enjoyed this series more really. It had a lot going for it and a rather different premise to most anime currently airing. Plus, Shinchiro Watanabe. Hard not to expect great things there.
And it wasn't a bad series. It had a lot going for it. Interesting premise as I said, plus a very good soundtrack (as always) by Yoko Kanno. I liked the art style too, seems they went for a more "realistic" look which fit well with the tone of the series.
Unfortunately, while some of the ideas were interesting, I never found myself that invested in anything that was going on. I could often see what they were trying to do, but events often just felt "flat" to me, for lack of a better way to explain it. Part of the problem might have been that I was expecting more, for the series to have more of a bit to it. I felt they played a lot of things safe or relied on some tired tropes. These weren't just anime tropes like the whole "transfer student" thing (which was completely unnecesary and never touched on again. I know Lisa went to school and she needed to find a way to meet Twelve, but there's no reason that needed to happen inside the school), there was also stuff like the "disgraced but brilliant detective" who ended up prying too deep and got sidelined to the archives, and the whole "government secret experiments" thing.
I think the problem is I've seen all these elements before, and while they weren't presented particularly badly in this series, nothing was really done to try and put a twist on or subvert any of these elements. They also played it safe with our anti-heros, with all of their bombs never killing anybody (yeah, right...) and them being able to accomplish their goals without dirtying their own hands in the end. I think it would have been much more interesting if they had been bonafide terrorists who did end up killing people but still had a point to make. Perhaps I was hoping for a more conflicted feeling as to whether to root for the main characters (thinking back to series like Breaking Bad here really, with characters you feel genuinely conflicted as to whether to keep rooting for them or not) but this series made it too easy by having them never have to make the tough choices and kill for their beliefs.
The use of Engrish felt rather unnecessary too and it's hard not to be taken out of the moment when you hear a Japanese VA trying their very best to pull off a convincing English line, but really failing badly. Several scenes lost their impact because of that. But that's probably only a problem if you're an English speaker.
Overall not a bad watch by any means, but ultimately I was left a bit underwhelmed.
I loved this series. It took a few episodes for me to really get into it, but this and Nozaki-kun ended up being my favourite series this season. Well done slice of life with enjoyable characters and some decent comedy.
I really liked Naru. It would have been very easy for her to have been the "really annoying kid character" you very often get, but I found her genuinely charming and endearing. For the most part, she spoke and acted like an actual child would, where a lot of series would mess up by having her act too much like a wiseass, or worse, some precocious loli. Thankfully, neither was the case here.
Handa himself came across as a flawed but quite sympathetic character. Watching his (usually startled) reactions to the things happening around him never got old!
The supporting cast were great too. They were all pretty upbeat and seemed fun to be around. I'd love to go hang out with them all on that island!
Overall a wonderful watch.
I really liked this series. Considering that this was a random pick up and I had zero expectations, I was very pleasantly surprised. As a 4-koma series, comedy is the name of the game and what you get is a never ending stream of gags and silly situations and the vast majority worked for me. This is probably the funniest series I've seen since Daily Lives of High School Boys, another unexpectedly great and amusing series.
If you want a fun series with likeable characters that is relentlessly funny and makes some playful jabs at the Shoujo genre, I'd definitely recommend this one.
I rather enjoyed this series and the characters although the overall plot felt rather directionless and it ultimately didn't amount to much. The relaxing atmosphere and likeable characters saw me through the series but it's probably not one that's worth a re-watch. Reminded me of Tari Tari.
Whilst I do like P.A. Works and their series do tend to look really nice, I am noticing a trend where a lot of them look and feel the same.
Coming this Autumn then!
Please don't be shit!
Re-watching this recent reminded me of what a little gem this series is. It's charming, funny and moving. Tsukimi is lovely and I like that she actually does look "plain" rather than us just being told she is (because generic anime art style makes it hard to tell who's supposed to be attractive and who's supposed to be ugly).
I believe this series falls under the "Josei" (older girls/ladies) category and I'm sure a lot of women can probably relate to some of the issues Tsukimi has to deal with. But speaking as a Male who was probably not the primary target audience, I still really enjoyed this show and most of the characters.
It's just a shame it's only 11 episodes long, because as has been said before, it ends a little abruptly and could have easily continued for another cour.
Nothing groundbreaking here, but I found it a generally enjoyable watch. I didn't like the supporting characters that much, but Riko and Miho carried it for me. Especially Riko.
Very middle of the road "cute girls etc" slice of life, but quite watchable.
Oh boy, was this one a disappointment.
I saw the warning signs straight away and I was never expecting it to be as good as Soul Eater, but it's just so "meh" that, had it not been for the Soul Eater connection, I doubt I would have started watching it in the first place.
First and most importantly - this is nothing like Soul Eater. It may have been animated by the same studio (Bones), but everything is different, including the art style (there's no better example than what they did to poor Maka. Maka in Soul Eater: http://i.imgur.com/xKkDU0d.jpg vs Maka in Soul Eater Not: http://i.imgur.com/bdc2brV.jpg - ugh), theme and just overall tone. Rather than Shounen fighting, you have some pretty lackluster slice of life adventures with a lot of Yuri teasing. There is an antagonist, but it's not a particularly impressive one and nothing really comes of that arc (which considering this all happens before the events of Soul Eater isn't a big suprise, I guess).
The few action scenes that you do see are pretty lame and not very well animated at all, further evidence that the B Team at Bones worked on this, considering that Bones is quite well known for being capable of very impressive action scenes (Cowboy Bebop and Sword of the Stranger for example). You get a few cameos from the cast of Soul Eater proper, but all that does is remind you how much better it was and makes you wish you were watching that.
All in all a massive disappointment. If you haven't seen Soul Eater, for the love of god don't start with this - watch the proper thing instead. If you have seen Soul Eater, I still wouldn't bother.
Turned out to be an awesome series, to nobody's surprise. Even if you have no real interest in Table Tennis (like me), this series is still worth watching. As mentioned in my other shout, it has some great staff behind it and it shows.
The characters are interesting and watching them grow throughout the series in a believable way is very enjoyable. Although the series often resorts to a kind of comic-panel-not-quite-still-frame style for some of it's action pieces, the fully animated parts are very fluid and exciting to watch. Overall just a damn good show. And don't be a snob about the art style, for the love of god. Some people might not like it (I didn't mind it at all), but don't let that put you off watching it - the story and characters more than make up for it.
I'm hovering between giving this one an 8 or a 9. I've rated it 8 for now but it's something I might revisit at some point.
A really enjoyable "cute girls doing cute things" slice of life series. I dunno what it is about this one that rates it so highly for me. They just get it all right. The girls are all very likeable, especially Ren-chon, she's just adorable. The series does a very good job at just mellowing you out. Some beautiful scenic shots and a relaxing pace to the whole thing. And the comedy moments are funny and charming.
Definitely recommended for fans of the genre. And a second season has been confirmed! Oh yes.
http://i.imgur.com/GAUP3pr.jpg
This sums up the chill factor pretty well. The first episode opens with this beautiful piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYEaitHu1T4
I found this rather enjoyable, despite having to suspend my disbelief quite a few times (I mean, even for a superhero movie)...
Some pretty awesome action sequences and it was great to see so many of the cast from the "old" and "young" in the same movie.
I also really like how the ending basically ret-conned the god-awful third film, "The Last Stand".
This series was certainly an interesting watch. From the synopsis alone you may be forgiven for assuming this could turn into another raunchy high school love comedy, but nothing could be further from the truth. This series is dark and twisted, and a brilliant watch because of it. The main character is a thoroughly unlikeable, cowardly (and pretentious) wimp, which may sound like a turn-off for watching the series, but stick with it, because the series basically revolves around him being tormented by the messed up girl, Nakamura.
What I really liked was that this series took scenarios that, in other series, would be played for comedy, only here they're not funny and cause a great deal of angst and torment for all involved.
Another thing that sets this series aside from most other anime is the style of animation which uses rotoscoping. This style sadly was enough to make a lot of snobs turn their noses up at the series without ever giving it a chance. Personally I have no problem with the animation style and in fact wish more series would do this. (Trapeze is the only other example I can think of off the top of my head http://trakt.tv/show/trapeze)
It's a shame that the series hasn't done too well in sales because that means we probably won't get a second season. This really is unfortunate, because whilst stuff definitely does happen in this series, by the end you are definitely left with the impression that things are only going to get more twisted and messed up and that we've only started down the path of depravity (and in fact, the last episode makes this very clear). This series is adapted from a Manga though, so if you do really like what you see you can read that to find out what happens next.
Much as I wish I could rate the series higher, there are a few things stopping me from giving it a better score. The animation quality is sadly somewhat lacking. There are lots of crowd shots where nobody is moving at all, which is all the more frustrating because if anything, it should be easier to animate crowds in this style. Some scenes were drawn out a big too long to the point where you just want something to happen already (a good example would be the walk home after the infamous "classroom" scene. Yes building atmosphere is fine and everything but 5+ minutes of just walking? Come on...). And even though there's a lot of schadenfreude to be had from watching Kasuga suffer at the hands of Nakamura, he is still pretty insufferable and cringeworthy to watch at times.
In spite of all it's flaws however, this is still a very interesting and different show that I would definitely recommend. Just be aware that if you want to know what happens next, you'll probably have to read the manga.
As @sp1ti says, this is another "cute girls doing cute things" show, but this one is really cute so unless you absolutely despise this "genre" as a whole, you'll probably enjoy it. Not an essential watch by any means, but great for putting a smile on your face after a long stressful day.
