Anime series I watched this year
4 Jan 2012 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salineaWell this year I utterly lost my motivation of doing anime reviews. Partly that was due to being disappointed with many anime series, and I guess the anime fandom. Partially it's... I don't even know :/ Perhaps just an anime overdose. Only so many shows you can watch and pay real attention to and it's easy to get carried off into trying out a lot of series every semester.
Anyway I especially was concentrating on finishing watching series which I started last year so I could finally get rid of the clutter of shows-in-mid-watch. I still have a few left, though, but those are some I'm more interested in. So, yay!
The Awesome
Un-GO: A cyberpunk detective mystery show set in an authoritarian Japan after a war against terrorism inspired by novels which were set post-WW2. This one was very constantly intriguing and well written, with a lovely aesthetic and a very seductive abrupt storytelling style, playing constantly with ambiguity. Mostly episodic, the intrusion of supernatural elements while pretty weird wasn't overly disruptive; and the realizations of the thematics of truth were masterly done. I was pretty fond of the character little thought they were on the forefront.
Mawaru Penguindrum: Ikuhera's return to direcftion was wonderfully crackful, surrealist and extremely well directed, always entertaining and exciting. While I'm still not entirely sure what I think of the overall narratives and themes, I can't say I was disappointed in the least (although i wouldn't call it as good as SKU either).
Usagi Drop: An extremely well realised slice of life show about a single guy adopting the illegitimate daughter of his grandfather. Sometimes bordering on too easy twee, but often enough undermining this with a nuanced portrayal of parenthood; and just overwhelmingly charming.
Wandering Son: A coming of age story about a set of kids, some of which are transgendered; wonderfully done, wonderful art and animation, wonderful characterizations, all in deftness and subtlety, definitely worth watching.
Natsume Yuujinchou s3: Natsume Yuujinchou is always made of win; as the show starts losing a little bit of its episodicness and gaining in characters development it keeps on being utterly lovely and charming, as well as gaining in genre ranges, with more exploration of horror and action elements.
The Good
Madlax: I'm not sure how to sum up Madlax. I mean, b'sides Bee Train Girl with Guns show. There is supernatural secrets that underlay a whole country's fifteen years of history and weirdness and haunting music and action scenes that make utterly no sense but are enjoyable if you appreciate as dreamy ballet. And lots, lots, lots of femslash. But yeah, overall it worked, the characterisation was enjoyable, the unfolding of the plot was intriguing despite being rather slow, and if you don't expect it to make much sense but relax and enjoy the hypnotic music and femslashiness, it is quite good.
La Croisée dans un Labyrinthe Etranger: Very well executed slice of life moe story about a young Japanese girl travelling to the Paris of the early 20th. Honestly I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It has no pretention, but it does what it does very, very well and manages to be mostly inoffensive.
Ghost Slayer Ayashi: People working as demon/spirits hunter in feudal Japan. There's a lot of interesting bits in this one, the way that the politics of the era - especially reactions to western influences and imperialism - is a heavy effect on the plot and thematics, for one, and the way the main character is 40 year old, for other. Some of the stories are pretty interesting and I like the characters, although it never seem to properly fizzle in a way that would make it awesome. But overall definitely worth a look, I'm surprised it's not a more well known anime than it is.
Tiger & Bunny: Buddy show + superheros reconstruction; one of the good surprise of last year. It is not a show without flaws (I found the comedy pretty cringey in the very first episodes, it has some weaknesses in plotting, I don't like what it does to the female characters toward the ending, and the gay characters is treated as a joke through the whole series); otoh it is very solidly entertaining and fun, and rather refreshing.
Aoi Bungaku: Oh yeah, that Japanese literature anthology series that was from, I dunno, 2 years ago? I only ended up watching the finale story the other day; so I don't remember most of the rest enough to really talk about it. But overall they were pretty good, although pretty depressing. Most of them had brilliant animation and direction, but I admit the sort of literature they were adapting from were really not to my taste. The Run Melos story was really brilliant though.
The Okay / Average
Sol Bianca: Space pirates looking for Earth and femslashiness. I dunno, I probably didn't pay enough attention to this one, but I felt it was mostly shallow. Pretty, and a bit slow like a Bee Train Girls with Guns show. Fun, overall. You can't go wrong with space pirates, you know?
Ano Hana: Most of the internet seemed to like this one a lot. I didn't. I felt like a lot of the drama was forced, and I was put off by the moe-ness and the way each one sided love were drawn. But, it's not really a bad show either, it's mostly well done and some moments were genuinely touching.
The Mixed Feelings
Star Driver: Perhaps I'm being harsh here because a lot of Star Driver was very fun, pretty and entertaining; but my main impression in the end was disappointment that the show didn't end up being more, being deeper, being not as faily for the female characters, being not more similar to Utena what with all the intentional reference to it that it had. So I guess "mixed feelings" is fair enough. It is a pretty, joyful show, and the OT3 is strong in this one; all of which is certainly worth something thought.
N°6: I kinda loved this one A LOT but man, did the plotting end up not making any sense in the finale.
Senkou no Night Raid: Oh yeah, that show. It was kind of divided between being a cool, spy action with superpowers set in the 30s in Shanghai and being kinda really boring and dull. Which, you know, is hard to do with that sort of premise. Also really silly and kind of offensive comic relief Chinese girl. But I loved the main female character, she was great as a very femme in a soft way yet very determined and able kind of character. Wish we had more focus on her. So overall, it wasn't too bad.
The Disapointing
X-Men anime: I didn't even have high expectations, the hamminess and the cheese I could have totally overlooked if the plot hadn't been so boring, the characterizations so lacking and the pacing so awful.
Kaze no Yojimbo: A noir crime story about the fifteen years old dark secret of a small town, this one isn't actually all bad, there are some glimmers of interesting stuff in atmosphere, in some of the characters, in the way the Yakuza are portrayed in general, and had some interesting attempts at having cool things in direction/animation - however it's undermined by the horribly boring pacing, bad animation most of the time, gratuitous fanservice, horrible action scenes etc.
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi: Rapey yaoi anime is rapey. It's too bad because asides from the rapeyness and sexual harassment I actually liked the characters and the setting (people working at a shoujo manga editorial); and the side pairings were a bit too stereotypical which didn't help either.
Blood+: Vampires hunting! There are good things in this one, some excellent stoic angst for example, a few cool battle scenes here and there, and I loved how some of the flashbacks progressively unfolded revelations about the story. OTOH it is utterly undermined by being wayyyy too long, and having too slow pacing and being too repetitive, and not having good enough animation most of time (puzzlingly coming from production IG).
C: Oh my, this one was such a mess. Economics & the Financial Crisis: the shounen could have been an interesting concept but the execution is all over the place, makes absolutely not sense at any level it tries to, and pretty boring with the clichéed moe girls they have fighting and everything. Blargh.
The Dropped ones
Ao no Exorcist: Which was actually quite good as a shounen except I had zero faith in the ability of the anime to make its own stories that are not adapted from the manga.
Hanasaku Iroha: Had a strong potential as a slice of life / drama / coming of age show about a girl working in a hot bath hotel, except then it was undermined by terribad comedy and creepy fanservice. The problem with anime is there are too many shows about young girls made for the sake of a male audience, and of a male audience only :(
(2009 for comparison)
(I don't think I did this in 2010)
Anyway I especially was concentrating on finishing watching series which I started last year so I could finally get rid of the clutter of shows-in-mid-watch. I still have a few left, though, but those are some I'm more interested in. So, yay!
The Awesome
Un-GO: A cyberpunk detective mystery show set in an authoritarian Japan after a war against terrorism inspired by novels which were set post-WW2. This one was very constantly intriguing and well written, with a lovely aesthetic and a very seductive abrupt storytelling style, playing constantly with ambiguity. Mostly episodic, the intrusion of supernatural elements while pretty weird wasn't overly disruptive; and the realizations of the thematics of truth were masterly done. I was pretty fond of the character little thought they were on the forefront.
Mawaru Penguindrum: Ikuhera's return to direcftion was wonderfully crackful, surrealist and extremely well directed, always entertaining and exciting. While I'm still not entirely sure what I think of the overall narratives and themes, I can't say I was disappointed in the least (although i wouldn't call it as good as SKU either).
Usagi Drop: An extremely well realised slice of life show about a single guy adopting the illegitimate daughter of his grandfather. Sometimes bordering on too easy twee, but often enough undermining this with a nuanced portrayal of parenthood; and just overwhelmingly charming.
Wandering Son: A coming of age story about a set of kids, some of which are transgendered; wonderfully done, wonderful art and animation, wonderful characterizations, all in deftness and subtlety, definitely worth watching.
Natsume Yuujinchou s3: Natsume Yuujinchou is always made of win; as the show starts losing a little bit of its episodicness and gaining in characters development it keeps on being utterly lovely and charming, as well as gaining in genre ranges, with more exploration of horror and action elements.
The Good
Madlax: I'm not sure how to sum up Madlax. I mean, b'sides Bee Train Girl with Guns show. There is supernatural secrets that underlay a whole country's fifteen years of history and weirdness and haunting music and action scenes that make utterly no sense but are enjoyable if you appreciate as dreamy ballet. And lots, lots, lots of femslash. But yeah, overall it worked, the characterisation was enjoyable, the unfolding of the plot was intriguing despite being rather slow, and if you don't expect it to make much sense but relax and enjoy the hypnotic music and femslashiness, it is quite good.
La Croisée dans un Labyrinthe Etranger: Very well executed slice of life moe story about a young Japanese girl travelling to the Paris of the early 20th. Honestly I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It has no pretention, but it does what it does very, very well and manages to be mostly inoffensive.
Ghost Slayer Ayashi: People working as demon/spirits hunter in feudal Japan. There's a lot of interesting bits in this one, the way that the politics of the era - especially reactions to western influences and imperialism - is a heavy effect on the plot and thematics, for one, and the way the main character is 40 year old, for other. Some of the stories are pretty interesting and I like the characters, although it never seem to properly fizzle in a way that would make it awesome. But overall definitely worth a look, I'm surprised it's not a more well known anime than it is.
Tiger & Bunny: Buddy show + superheros reconstruction; one of the good surprise of last year. It is not a show without flaws (I found the comedy pretty cringey in the very first episodes, it has some weaknesses in plotting, I don't like what it does to the female characters toward the ending, and the gay characters is treated as a joke through the whole series); otoh it is very solidly entertaining and fun, and rather refreshing.
Aoi Bungaku: Oh yeah, that Japanese literature anthology series that was from, I dunno, 2 years ago? I only ended up watching the finale story the other day; so I don't remember most of the rest enough to really talk about it. But overall they were pretty good, although pretty depressing. Most of them had brilliant animation and direction, but I admit the sort of literature they were adapting from were really not to my taste. The Run Melos story was really brilliant though.
The Okay / Average
Sol Bianca: Space pirates looking for Earth and femslashiness. I dunno, I probably didn't pay enough attention to this one, but I felt it was mostly shallow. Pretty, and a bit slow like a Bee Train Girls with Guns show. Fun, overall. You can't go wrong with space pirates, you know?
Ano Hana: Most of the internet seemed to like this one a lot. I didn't. I felt like a lot of the drama was forced, and I was put off by the moe-ness and the way each one sided love were drawn. But, it's not really a bad show either, it's mostly well done and some moments were genuinely touching.
The Mixed Feelings
Star Driver: Perhaps I'm being harsh here because a lot of Star Driver was very fun, pretty and entertaining; but my main impression in the end was disappointment that the show didn't end up being more, being deeper, being not as faily for the female characters, being not more similar to Utena what with all the intentional reference to it that it had. So I guess "mixed feelings" is fair enough. It is a pretty, joyful show, and the OT3 is strong in this one; all of which is certainly worth something thought.
N°6: I kinda loved this one A LOT but man, did the plotting end up not making any sense in the finale.
Senkou no Night Raid: Oh yeah, that show. It was kind of divided between being a cool, spy action with superpowers set in the 30s in Shanghai and being kinda really boring and dull. Which, you know, is hard to do with that sort of premise. Also really silly and kind of offensive comic relief Chinese girl. But I loved the main female character, she was great as a very femme in a soft way yet very determined and able kind of character. Wish we had more focus on her. So overall, it wasn't too bad.
The Disapointing
X-Men anime: I didn't even have high expectations, the hamminess and the cheese I could have totally overlooked if the plot hadn't been so boring, the characterizations so lacking and the pacing so awful.
Kaze no Yojimbo: A noir crime story about the fifteen years old dark secret of a small town, this one isn't actually all bad, there are some glimmers of interesting stuff in atmosphere, in some of the characters, in the way the Yakuza are portrayed in general, and had some interesting attempts at having cool things in direction/animation - however it's undermined by the horribly boring pacing, bad animation most of the time, gratuitous fanservice, horrible action scenes etc.
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi: Rapey yaoi anime is rapey. It's too bad because asides from the rapeyness and sexual harassment I actually liked the characters and the setting (people working at a shoujo manga editorial); and the side pairings were a bit too stereotypical which didn't help either.
Blood+: Vampires hunting! There are good things in this one, some excellent stoic angst for example, a few cool battle scenes here and there, and I loved how some of the flashbacks progressively unfolded revelations about the story. OTOH it is utterly undermined by being wayyyy too long, and having too slow pacing and being too repetitive, and not having good enough animation most of time (puzzlingly coming from production IG).
C: Oh my, this one was such a mess. Economics & the Financial Crisis: the shounen could have been an interesting concept but the execution is all over the place, makes absolutely not sense at any level it tries to, and pretty boring with the clichéed moe girls they have fighting and everything. Blargh.
The Dropped ones
Ao no Exorcist: Which was actually quite good as a shounen except I had zero faith in the ability of the anime to make its own stories that are not adapted from the manga.
Hanasaku Iroha: Had a strong potential as a slice of life / drama / coming of age show about a girl working in a hot bath hotel, except then it was undermined by terribad comedy and creepy fanservice. The problem with anime is there are too many shows about young girls made for the sake of a male audience, and of a male audience only :(
(2009 for comparison)
(I don't think I did this in 2010)
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no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:11 pm (UTC)I agree with your Tiger & Bunny thoughts, actually. I prefer to focus on positive things lately, and this show was such a fun deconstruction of superhero stuff, both parody and tribute. I loved how sincere and cyncical it could be, and the main partnership was great to me. But I actually completely agree on how much I winced through Fire Emblem's treatment, and how the treatment of females just made me cringe. Imperfect, but I love its heart. However, I don't think I'm cut out for the fandom. I discovered I really suck at writing T&B fic--I have a hard time getting into it on a fandom level, and zero interest in reading fic for it.
I... have tried to watch N°6. I really have. I watched two episodes. And I'm kinda underwhelmed? It's not saying anything new or interesting, the setting and characters are predictable, and the yaoi vibes are not working for me (I also don't really care for the voice actor doing the main character). It's vaguely interesting, and I do like the art, and I think the anime is well-made, but it falls flat for me. Does it get any more original or intense?
Ao no Exorcist completely lost steam once it went on its own little story, absolutely agreed. I stuck it out, and it wasn't that bad (not Bleach filler bad, at least), but I didn't care for it. I wished they'd just done a "return to status quo" storyline, leaving things open for a second season that follows the manga.
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:23 pm (UTC)Oh, I know I have your recent fic for it set up for reading later - I'm not sure how the fandom is like overall, I've only read a handful of fics; so err. Not sure what to say. Although frankly, most anime fandoms have utterly disappointed me in the last few years so I'm read to go "yeah, whatever" on what is or isn't working in them.
Yeah, it's too bad for Ao no Exorcist. With some luck if the manga keeps on being very good it might get a FMA Brotherhood treatment?
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 12:47 pm (UTC)I really, really hope that AonoEx later gets the FMA treatment, too. I'm also hoping that SouL Eater gets the same. Another anime I loved, but lost steam when it went off on its own. However, it did manage to hold up better than most anime do when they go off the rails. Except for that last episode. The last episode was a letdown of epic proportions.
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 01:09 pm (UTC)if you feel up to commenting, I'm curious as to what you think of it (but don't worry about it if you don't)
It's more a question of when than if, with everything else I have to read right now!!
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 01:26 pm (UTC)Take your time. XD I'm having to go off reading anon memes, so I can get back to research!
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 04:25 pm (UTC)I can't wait to see Mawaru Penguindrum! SKU is the best!
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 05:53 pm (UTC)Sadly it isn't as good as SKU. But it was still pretty damn good :^)
no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2012 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 January 2012 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 January 2012 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 January 2012 11:13 am (UTC)Mushishi is another great anime for quiet stories!