Dilettante Fascination
I’ll just go straight to the point here weigh in on my thought on the season. Its mostly the same as you.
- Fate/Zero 2nd Season — 10 — I loved it. Complex character and story development makes it great. However, as pre-mentioned, its crippled by F/SN.
- Sakamichi no Apollon — 9 — I thought the story was fantastic, but pacing and forced melodrama sorta prevented it from being a 10. Could have been better as a 2-cour.
- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia — 8 — As pre-mentioned, the final arc was great. It’s a shame that the preceding ones were just build up and not something more substantial.
- Tsuritama — 8 — Yes, lots of melodrama. There were also times where I was not sure if the show took itself seriously or not.
- Sankarea — 9 — I thought this one was one of the best of the season. The ending was too abrupt, though I guess a second season wouldn’t be so bad.
- Acchi Kocchi — 9 — Tsumiki. Nya. Need I say more?
- Nazo no Kanojo X — 6 — Dropped. Too many shows, awkward to watch (for me), and aesthetic design sucked.
- Accel World * — 8 — It’s good. I like the bits of action we get. However, I get lost with the show’s references sometimes. I guess I don’t focus or remember enough when I’m watching.
- Natsuiro Kiseki — 7 — The rock is the troll of the season. It just made the show worse for both characters and viewers alike. It was not necessary… the show was better for the three or so episodes that it was not in.
- Hyouka * — 8 — The mysteries suck. Thank God I don’t expect much mystery from the show to begin with. Like you, I just watch for production quality at this point.
- Medaka Box — 7 — Dropped for lack of interest. The only reason why I kept watching was because people told me it get a shit ton crazy, but I never went around to catching up with my backlog.
- Uchuu Kyoudai * — (8) — Its not bad. The potential is there, but the story is taking way too long. I’m staying for the ride, but it can go past 2-cour. Sorta iffy about this.
- Jormungand — (8) — “Dropped. Bored.” Nuff said there. Nothing happened. Its basically a slice of life, with guns…and… travel.
- AKB0048 - (7) - Dropped. The production quality was sorta there, but the 3D wasn’t integrated well. The story was melodramatic… and one can only suspend belief to a certain extent before giving up. It would have worked better as a slice of life (like my beloved iM@S). If I want an idol show with story, I would rather go with Macross, which seems to be received quite well.
- Sengoku Collection - (6) - Dropped. Cute is all that has going for this. Its to be expected from an anime based on a social network game that probably has no meaning or story.
So AKB0048 kicked the dust eh? That would happen. Good idol stories are very rare, after all.
Thanks for reminding me about the Uchuu Kyoudai thing. What I wanted to state about that show is that its got the potential to last much longer than a two-cour run, since it’s run has no specified end (as denoted in WIkipedia and other place). I personally don’t know if I’ll run out of gas if it exceeds 36 episodes (or when I’ll ever get back to it, actually), because I can only watch a show for so long.
Then again, I’m probably just biased because of my boredom/lack of initiative…I had the same mindset about Tsuritama when I put it on hold for four weeks, and now I don’t regret watching it. TIme will tell.
As the Spring season comes to a close this week and the Summer Season starting right on its heels, it’s about time I bring this season proper closure.
I had a whopping 17 shows on my list this season. It’s a lot more than I usually take up which is normally 5 or 6. There were a lot of interesting shows in the Spring preview, so I thought it would be a good idea to check them all out.
…I’m never doing that again. While I’m an avid supporter of expanding one’s mindset (in this specific case, by watching shows with diverse elements and of various genres), keeping up with 17 shows was a burden which actually dulled my excitement towards watching anime as a whole. Most of the time I’d stockpile a specific show for weeks on end and then marathon later. Of course, most of this was due to the end of semester finals studying, but I never recovered from the three week backlog it caused.
This season was on the verge of being a hassle, which is what something done for enjoyment should never become. Fortunately, there were just enough interesting shows to keep my motivation up to complete the season on time (for the most part).
That said, I’m posting my final priority list with scores, with a mini-blurb of thoughts on each show in twenty words or less (not unlike my Spring 2012 watch list post). Consider this a follow up to the initial Spring 2012 post, and note how priority doesn’t always equal the highest objective score. A * denotes a series continuing into the summer season.
- Fate/Zero 2nd Season — 10 — It’s a pity that such an amazing show is limited by it’s status as a prequel to F/SN.
- Sakamichi no Apollon — 9 — Manga fleshes things out a bit better, but anime cuts corners in all the right places.
- Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna — 9 — The tongue-in-cheek “Story of Mine Fujiko” thing at the end was very witty.
- Aquarion Evol — 8 — Troll anime of the season. Best soundtrack of the season too, though.
- Eureka Seven AO* — 9 — Very “Evangelion”-like with real world political themes interwoven into it.
- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia — 8 — The final arc trumps the original content by miles. And I don’t say that often.
- Tsuritama — 8 — Melodrama was excessive at times, but seeing everything tie together at the end was cool.
- Sankarea — 8 — The ending is literally an open door for a second season.
- Acchi Kocchi — 8 — Gotta watch the calorie intake. Very “sugary”.
- Nazo no Kanojo X — 8 — Simple first love story. Ended as simple as I thought it would.
- Accel World * — 8 — I think otaku like to project themselves onto the main character…
- Mouretsu Pirates — 8 — At least the last arc is somewhat interesting.
- Natsuiro Kiseki — 7 — Ha. Rocks can have cousins. All lessons it tries to teach are undermined by the rock’s presence.
- Hyouka * — 8 — Just because it’s animated well doesn’t mean it makes for good mystery. At least some character development is starting…
- Medaka Box — 7 — Ha. Cheat code moment happened. Why does it have a second season?
- Uchuu Kyoudai * — (8?) — On-hold. Got bored.
- Jormungand — (8) — Dropped. Bored.
TL;DR—Final Score for the Spring 2012 anime season—8.176. ~B. Not half bad.
Stay tuned. I’ll have an “Anime Watch List for Summer 2012” in three weeks :D
- Fate/Zero 2nd Season —stunning quality
- Sakamichi no Apollon —jazz
- Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna —exquisite plots hidden in retro style
- Uchuu Kyoudai —Space bros
- Sankarea ** —different spin on zombie genre
- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia ** —lighthearted but has a deeper plot to it
- Nazo no Kanojo X ** —panty scissors (weird premise but legit interesting love story)
- Medaka Box * —cheat code student council president (it’s making sense for now…)
- Jormungand —he f*cking deflected a javelin missile with a frag grenade.
- Aquarion Evol —sex puns everywhere
- Acchi Kocchi —cute antics
- Accel World —Action?
- Eureka Seven AO —Post-apocalyptic world
- Tsuritama —The color palette’s so damn colorful
- Mouretsu Pirates —Where’s the plot?
- Ozuma —Character designs look 80s, yet everything else looks modern
- Natsuiro Kiseki —stop flying please. I mean…yuri?
?. Hyouka — ? (It hasn’t aired yet. Airs next week)
Not on this list is Mirai Nikki ** (—batshit, insane crazy), which ends its run this week. If I were to place it, it’d probably take the third slot.
To be honest, I’m slightly uneasy about watching 18 series this season. Normally I watch 3 or 4. However, the first four have such high potential to them that I can’t forgo them. The following four are adaptations of mangas I enjoy reading, so I can’t let them go either. The others are just icing on the cake. This is one hell of a departure from the norm.
Furthermore, I actually have a life in which I have to study for exams, so I can’t even watch most of these regularly (you’ve probably noticed the lack of activity during the beginning of every week. Mon-Wed are my hell days >.>)
Again, I don’t blog about what I watch during their run, so as to not create unnecessary spam (but I do post if I find something extremely noteworthy). Just thought I’d put up a post like this one just to show people what I think of the current season, and maybe convince them to check out ones they haven’t heard of before.
