I wonder how wrong I’ll end up being.

Umi Monogatari

So it turns out I was completely wrong about this. Episode 2 showed me that this is mahou shoujo with mermaids, something that is not relevant to my interests.

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou

I watched the preview episode for this, which takes place in the middle of the story. The most interesting thing that I got from this is that what we associate with magic is actually oldschool magic and that modern magic is done through programming. I’ll probably keep this regardless of how bad it turns out, because it’s about programming.

CANAAN

There isn’t much to talk about in terms of story here. The first episode just kind of set some stuff up without any explanation. We do get some pretty cool action. I’m expecting this to be alright since it’s some sort of Type-Moon thing. Of course, there are magic eyes. Also, it has some pretty good production values for a studio that’s only done True Tears, which was entirely not action at all.

Bakemonogatari

So far, this is the most impressive show I’ve seen. It’s definitely the best looking show that SHAFT has done since ef and it’s actually done in real HD. The writing is great: it’s funny, it’s freaky, it’s hilarious. The story looks like it’s pretty interesting. It’s could be the best show of the season for me.

I that I started watching this show out of some technicality like filling a genre gap for this season. That and everyone seemed to be happy with the first episode or were fans of the manga. I gave it a few episodes and dropped it for a short while before picking it up again because I’d heard about a Misaki episode.

Hatsukoi is really mixed for me, largely because it’s episodic and it features different characters for each short story. I guess that’s also saved me from hating it since only like about half the cast. Essentially, I like the episodes about the characters I like and the other ones are torture. If I hated a character, it was because they were stupid, so watching an entire episode of stupidity made me cringe. So the show manages to average itself out to not bad once all episodes are considered.

I’ve finally gotten around to redesigning my blog. Well, not so much redesign as find a suitable theme that I would be pleased with. I decided not to mess around with the hacked Kubrick that I modified years ago, back on WordPress 1.5. It’s expected that after three years of incremental changes, there would be a ridiculous amount of cruft in there.

I also don’t have the time to fine-tune everything anymore and it’s a waste of time trying to solve a problem that’s already been solved. So, I’ll leave it up to those with better skills and more time to come up with a solution that I’m satisfied with. And well, this is it. It’s exactly what I wanted out of a theme: simple and clean, well organized, and well typeset.

ブラックメイジシューター　何処へ行ったの？　聞こえますか？

Also notable is the fact that, for the first time in a long time (it looks like close to five years), I’ve changed the name of my blog. I even changed the black mage that I use as my avatar. It’s based on the ryo/supercell song and character, black★rock shooter/ブラック★ロックシューター (if you’re wondering why the singing is a bit off, it’s because it’s not a person singing, but a computer program). My guy kept his red hat because honestly, I had no idea what colour to change it to.

This is the best show that no one is watching this season. I picked up this show because SHAFT has become one of those studios whose output I will always check out because their work has entertained me consistently. Apparently this is based on a manga by the School Rumble guy.

The OP was very SHAFT with it’s obscure references and weird art style. Speaking of style, Natsu no Arashi looks very intentionally old school. The character designs and atmosphere makes you think it’s set twenty years earlier than it actually is.

I’m 100% sure that the first episode turned away about 95% of the people who gave of a shot. That’s unfortunate because the second episode was a proper introduction and not soon after that, we begin to get things like plot. Most people will be suprised to find that this isn’t a comedy all of the time like Maria+Holic was. Like someone mentioned, “it switches between bra jokes and BOMBING CIVILIANS”.

The comedy isn’t anything too spectacular. You can expect the same SHAFT weird humour. But where it unexpectedly shines is in the character development and suspense. And being about time travel, there is some discussion on its consequences and side effects. Near the end, some elements that seemed random and out of place somehow become relevant to the main story.

It’s an interesting show that everyone dropped because the first episode was frigging weird. That’s really too bad.

So let’s put our guns on and take a look at Sengoku Basara. Being based on a game, I was ready to pass over it. After all, what good could come from a show that was based on a Dynasty Warriors-esque game set in Japan’s Sengoku period? Of course, not being too familiar with the games also meant that I wasn’t familiar with the fact that everything that happens in this caricature of Japanese history is ridiculously over the top.

Sure, it’s fun and entertaining. God only knows how long an OYAKATASAMA YUKIMURA loop can capture my attention or how glorious Date Masamune’s engrish outbursts are, riding on his motorbike horse. The shouting and explosions and tons of colour have lead some to declare it this season’s Gurren Lagann.

To me, that’s a bit of a stretch. Sure, it’s fine seeing stuff like Tadayasu Honda become Gundam and all, but that’s all this show has going for it. If all that a show needed to be Gurren Lagann was some hotblooded shouting and over the top action, then Bleach might as well be TTGL. Beyond that novelty, there really isn’t much else of shares with Gurren Lagann. All this really is is an abridged version of Japanese history with some shinies to distract is from the fact that there’s not much it offers.

That’s not to say that I don’t like it. I think it’s pretty hilarious. I just don’t think calling it Gurren Lagann is quite right since Gurren Lagann had a lot more to it than Kamina shouting at a giant robot.