Kanon is fininshed update

Funimation finally allowed me to see the end of Kanon so here are some reviews.

Simoun 9/10
Whoa! This show was really quite good considering it came out with no dub and all the episodes jammed onto 5 DVDs. The creators did a fantastic job of being really vague about the details of the world and the flying machines that are so prevalent in this series but keeping me interested in a story about young girls being forced to go to war and how they deal with it. All the characters were great and I never once felt the show had too-many-characteritis. Bravo! The end was a little disappointing.

Aquarion 2/10
The other end of the "kids go to war" scale. This show was a mess. The backgrounds and CG were fine but the writing was a car wreck. First, there is a definite case of too-many characteritis here. There's one mech, 3 MAIN characters, 4 extra characters that are pretty important, then 3 or so others that exist solely to provide people for the extra 4 to talk too while the 3 leads fight with each other. Second, the episodes are extremely monster-of-the-week and finally, the boss of the team is very annoying. How does he have a lesson to teach the team each week that is EXACTLY tailored to the monster attacking? It also doesn't help that almost nothing is properly explained and I hated the lead so didn't care if he won or lost. Blech! P.S. TOO MANY INSERT SONGS!

Otoboku 7/10
Boy with long hair and a girly voice gets sent to an all girls school to fulfill his mother's sick fantasy of having a daughter. Charges of indecent exposure and sexual misconduct? NO! Comedy abounds, HAHAHA He saw you naked! He has a penis! This show keeps things pretty clean but is more geared towards guys than Strawberry Panic and Maria Watches Over Us. It's more sweet than funny. I loved the Tsunderella bonus episode at the end.

Argentosoma 5/10
Another show with a monster-of-the-week slant. How come every show I watch lately has the same rich blond asshole with the same VA? I liked the lead for this series less than the guy in Aquarion. He's an ass and it drags the whole show down. Luckily his teammates are interesting and the overall plot turns out OK, if a bit boring.

Silent Mobius Movie 1 8/10
Not long enough! I've always liked Silent Mobius and I'm so glad the movies got licenced. As cool as I expected and it covered the origins of the main character really well. Watch this (and maybe the second movie I haven't seen yet) before the TV series.

Negima!? OVAs 7/10
Looked great though I really like the new look Negima anyways. Quite funny but the show jumps around a bit. The whole format of little skits as borrowed from stuff like Azumanga Daioh and PaniPoni Dash is well used here. Nice service but aren't those girls a little young? Ah you crazy Japanese.

Gurren Lagann 8/10
Kept me interested but suffers from monster-of-the-week in the first half and too-many-characteritis in the second. It's pretty ridiculous how the Gurren Lagann keeps powering up again and again but it's more meant to be funny than serious I suppose. Ending was better than most but the very end was lame. Only Mad Max can do that, or maybe Bruce Banner. Music was fantastic as was Yoko. HEY AQUARION! This is how you do a giant robot show.

Buso Renkin 10/10
This show came out of left field and blew me away. Much like the great S-Cry-Ed, guy gets a super weapon and ends up fighting other people with super weapons. I didn't expect the grim tone of the show which reminded me a little of Fullmetal Alchemist (all the alchemy aside) and I loved the mix of plot driven episodes and character development episodes. Hell, this show has the coolest guy in all anime, Captain Bravo is awesome. The ending of this series was also fantastic and that's a rare thing these days. I'll remember the last 3 episodes for a long time.

Shuffle 8/10
Should have gotten a 9 but animation quality problems at times force my hand. Some of the VAs were annoying as well. A good plot considering there are so many girls to deal with. The ending was really good for a harem anime since the main character almost never actually CHOSES anyone. The drama at the end was quite good as well. Fanservice abounds which was a nice change from current trends.

Kanon 9/10
The only reasons this show doesn't get a higher score are that I didn't like how the stories for each girl were so disconnected (Shuffle didn't have this problem) and I thought the ending was a little TOO happy. Where's the raccoon girl's happy ending? HUH!? The art and music were top notch and I really, really liked the OP for some reason.

Summer Update

Are my updates so infrequent that I only get off one per season now? So sad.

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Agent Aika R16 8/10
Looks good and delivers the goods. Girls showing off their white cotton panties whaling on each other. I wonder if they'll make more of this?
"Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks" rules.
1) Naked girls (CHECK!)
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action (CHECK!)

Black Blood Brothers 7/10
Nice show, good look. Doesn't really go anywhere. A second season would be most welcome. I've been getting sick of anime based on manga that don't have a proper ending.

Black Lagoon Season 1 8/10
Really liked this but again, no ending. I bet the second season doesn't really have anything either since I hear a 3rd season has been announced.

Flag 3/10
Bah. The "gimmick" of this show being shown through a camera lens gets old fast. Surprise, surprise that the director of this crap is the same idiot behind the mess that is Gasaraki. The ending was HORRIBLE. Fuck this show. It has so little animation and what they have looks terrible most of the time. The main girl looks OK, everyone looks lie crap. WAY overhyped.

Galaxy Angel S 7/10
What was this? 1 episode? Same score as AA since it's pretty much an episode from that season. For one episode it was better than average for this franchise. I hope X is good.

Kashimashi 8/10
I really liked this one. I had a really nice, original look to the character designs. The story was pretty good as well. I haven't seen a Yuri-Fan show yet that sucked. Bravo Media-Blasters.

My-Otome 9/10
I liked My-Hime which I never reviewed here and this newer series is a great follow-up. Same characters, different universe. A little less tragic than the previous series and I missed Mai during the bulk of the series. I'm keen to see My-Otome Zwei now.

Project Blue Earth SOS 6/10
It didn't really play out well as an OVA series. Again, another OVA series without any of my "Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks" rules.
1) Naked girls
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action
There were big explosions but not Big explosions.

School Rumble 10/10
I loved this show. I looks fantastic. Has awesome OP and EDs I never skipped once. It also has a great mix of comedy and kind of realistic drama I really enjoyed. I hope Yakumo is in the second season lots. Fuck her sister, she's an idiot.

The Third - The Girl With the Blue Eye 5/10
When the art is good it's great. When it's bad it's some of the worst since the crappy episodes of Ranma 1/2. What the hell was going on? The story kinda never really went anywhere either. Desert Punk was a better show with pretty much the same premise.

Witchblade 9/10
So good. The idea of having the main character have a little daughter to protect really saved this show from being crap. If you also liked Witchblade so see Devil Lady. A little older but pretty much the same idea and also very good.

Zegapain 9/10
Wow, another great show. Kinda like the Matrix with more mechs and good. A little too vague ending for my liking but excellent. I prefer my End of The World anime to have a happy ending and this show delivers pretty well.

Currently watching: Shuffle, Digi Charat Nyo!, Simoun, Buso Renkin, Galaxy Angel Rune, Death Note, Strawberry Panic, Otoboku, Emma, Sasami, Black Lagoon 2 (FINALLY)

Currently in DVD release: Kanon, Devil May Cry, Pumpkin Scissors, The Wallflower, Shattered Angels

I'm SOOOO busy

BUT! I have 2 days off so I figured "What the hell, lets post some thoughts on some shows I've seen lately."

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Baldr Force Exe: 7/10
Based on an H game I found out about a week or so after I watched it. A 4 episode OAV that doesn't really have much in the way of my "Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks" rules.
 1) Naked girls
 2) Big explosions
 3) Horrible graphic deaths
 4) Hot lesbian action
It looks nice but disappoints.

Galaxy Angel AA: 7/10
Same old, same old but it makes me laugh at times so I don't mind. Liked the episode where Normad tries to destroy the world, the end was surprisingly thoughtful.

Ragnarok: 6/10
Not a bad story once things get moving at about episode 12. Looks HORRIBLE. Gonzo used to have just the A animation team (Last Exile). Then they got a B team (Kiddy Grade). Welcome to the C team. Yikes.

Eureka Seven: 9/10
A little longer than it should have been and the ending was kinda disappointing. Best episode was Paradise Lost.

Mushi-Shi: 8/10
Looked great and had a lot of interesting episodes but loses a point for not having a real storyline.

Tsubasa Chronicle: 6/10
Doesn't really go anywhere in the first season. I don't really like the freaky tall character designs. CLAMP cross-over stuff is cool. Needs more main character cross-over though. Where are the Magic Knight Rayearth leads?

Glass Fleet: 5/10
Gonzo C team is at it again. Not a very good story, it felt like a re-hash of Last Exile but not as good. Kinda cool spaceship battles.

Ramen Fighter Miki: 7/10
Pretty funny, not what I expected at all. Looked nice as well. I almost wished it went for more than 12 episodes. It reminded me a lot of Ranma 1/2.

Magikano: 8/10
I always like these romantic comedies. Had a nice look even though it looked a little cheaply made. The ending was more unsatisfying than these shows usually end up.

Fate Stay/Night: 9/10
I really liked this show. I researched some of the backstory not in the anime and found I liked it even more. The end was quite sad but great. The different arcs were a little too independent of one another.

Fantastic Children: 10/10
Extremely good. Loved the story and the look. A diamond in the rough.

Currently watching: The Third, Kanon, Shuffle, Devil May Cry, Digi Charat Nyo!, Simoun, Pumpkin Scissors, The Wallflower, Galaxy Angel Rune, Death Note, Strawberry Panic, My-Otome, Shattered Angels.

Appleseed: Ex Machina 7/10

There's supposed to be a TV series after this. I'm sure lower production values are pending and that's really all that saves this movie. I dread the not so distant future of the franchise.

Character Designs 10/10: Great. The president lady seems to have had a face lift which is good for her. Deunan is a pretty cute looking character, much nicer bum that Beowulf.

Art consistency 10/10: Much nicer than the first movie, the shading is more consistent and the faces never have that odd "AutoShade with shadows turned off" look (if you know what AutoShade is you've just given your decrepit age away).

OP Theme N/A: N/A

ED Theme 6/10: Nothing special.

Voice Acting (Japanese) 8/10: Pretty good. No zany characters or anything so just standard voices.

Story 3/10: Sigh. How many times must I tell people: WEARING HEADPHONES IN PUBLIC WILL KILL US ALL! The whole idea of the villain taking over the general populace for no good reason is overdone, but then to use something I already find annoying as the means bugs the hell out of me. Maybe I'm just comparing it too harshly with the original movie.

In the end this is a pretty good action movie. Lots of guns and explosions and it looks pretty cool. Other than some main plot problems I haven't much to complain about. I liked the romantic sub-plot between Deunan and Brearios though the whole love triangle thing never really takes off since any woman willing to stick with her man after he's been turned into a cyborg isn't likely to dump him for his clone. (How many times will I have to write THAT sentence in the coming years.)

LONG TIME NO POST

I work too much....

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

009-1: 7/10
Better than average. The OP was kinda catchy and I like the rather old-school character designs. The show didn't really have an overall plot which was OK but I tire of seeing too many shows with what I consider "plotless" writing. I'd likely have given this show a 5 or 6 if I'd recently watched a similar "plotless" show.

Ah! My Goddess TV Season 2: 9/10
Another show without a real overall plot but I can forgive that in a comedy. This season looks as good as the previous one and gets into more uncharted territory since all the main characters have been introduced. I really like the introduction of villains like Marller and Hild. They're evil without being unlikeable. The OP was great with all the bagpipes.

Comic Party Revolution: 7/10
Not a bad harem anime. The previous season spent too much time going on about publishing manga and I got bored. This one is more about the relationships between the main character and each of the girls. Good for a few laughs.

.Hack//Roots: 3/10
Ugh. Looks great but MY GOD HOW DULL! It doesn't even have an ending! It's like the show is supposed to lead into a game I don't care to play since it would be the most boring game ever. They even managed to screw up the great music from the last show.

Fate Stay/Night: 9/10
Looked and sounded amazing and I really liked the story. The only real problem was how the different arcs were so separate. They didn't really overlap and it felt a bit forced. The ending was particularly memorable.

Girl's High: 8/10
Funny, funny stuff. One of the few anime where girls act more like normal girls and not like male fantasy girls. It helps that the show looked good as well.

Innocent Venus: 4/10
Looked OK but the story sucked. The surprise villain sucked. The mech's sucked. The action was OK. The submarine ship with the weird captain was just retarded.

Itsudatte My Santa: 6/10
Looked a little worse than it should for an OAV. Had some fan-service which was OK. Should have been longer.

Kurau Phantom Memory: 7/10
I didn't like the voice of Christmas, very annoying. The story was OK but lacked something. Maybe it was because Kurau was constantly hurt but quickly healed. Perhaps it was Christmas constantly shouting "Kurau! Kurau!"

That's enough for now.

EVEN MORE THOUGHTS

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Ergo Proxy: 8/10
I'll be kind to this show since I REALLY like the OP. I never skipped it once. The ending was a bit vague and the idea of the Proxies building cities and technology on their own is a bit unbelieveable since Ergo Proxy is such a dumbass. I liked the majority of the characters though and the story WAS interesting.

Le Chevalier D'Eon: 6/10
Don't get me wrong. I liked the permise, the art was great, the music was fine, but... What I don't understand is how they can take a bunch of characters and spend so much time with them manage to make me not care about them at all. There was one character who died that I gave a damn about. Everyone else was kind of annoying. Maybe the French revolution was a good thing after all.


INCOMPLETE SERIES THOUGHTS:

The Wallflower: 8/10
The art is a little crappy at times and the main 4 guys are kinda creepy looking but this show made me laugh out loud a few times during the first 5 episodes. The main character girl is very amusing.

Suzuka: 6/10
I'm at episode 22 and loosing patience. The art is horrible at times, the music is fantastic, and I'm getting a might sick of the stupid main characters. I do like the other track and field girl but she'll never get any love this close to the end of the series. Less irritating than Peach Girl but not by much.

Rozen Maiden: 8/10
It looks great and I like the music. I guess the first 4 episdoes of the second season is pretty much all I'm gonna see until Geneon gets their shit together. At least I got to see Suiseseki enter a contract. She cracks me up where Shinku is kind of annoying.

COMING UP:

The Third DVD 3
009-1 Complete series (at some point)
Mushishi DVD 1-4 (Whenever vol 4 comes my way)

MORE THOUGHTS

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Air Gear: 8/10
Not bad. The animation had a consistent quazi-crappy quality to it but the show kept me interested. I really liked the music and the fan service, though oddly placed, was welcome. The ending was OK though they never really resolved the whole Sleeping Forest thing.

Blade of the Phantom Master: 9/10
I really liked this movie although it kinda felt like 2 OVA's back to back. The action scenes were well done and I liked the two main characters. The design for the kickass girl was really good and her long hair was well animated where if she was in a TV series they'd either cheap out and not animate it or give her a bob cut.

INCOMPLETE SERIES THOUGHTS:

Hellsing Ultimate Vol. 3: 8/10
All good again. A lot more Alucard than the TV series and not enough Seras. Quite a bot of splatter. Oh who will release the further adventures of our heroes not that Geneon is kaputsky?

Step Up Love Story: 7/10
Looks OK after the first 2 episodes, if a little dated. Odd subject matter with all the cock sucking lessons and cunnilingus. This isn't X rated but it's pretty R rated. Funny at times. I hope the final two volumes don't get too freaky.

The Story of Saiunkoku: 8/10
I really liked the first 10 episodes of this show. It's a little like Fushigi Yugi but it looks better and the main character girl is worth rooting for in her battle against chauvinism. Another good series perhaps taken from us too soon after the departure of Geneon.

Fate Stay/Night: 10/10
I just finished episode 16 and I must say, Archer's final battle was pretty cool as was the battle between Saber and Berzerker right afterwards. I'll watch the rest this week.