Avalon: Summer 2009 Anime Overview
Yes my post is a little late but who really cares? Here is my take on the new anime season. I think you know how this works. Now for the more tag after only 4 sentences.
High Priority
Bakemonogatari
Love the art-style!
This anime I was looking forward to beforehand ‘cuz it seemed interesting. It definitely has some style with the weird colors and angles…reminds me a little of Ef and I love it. Interesting premise though: a girl, Hitagi Senjougahara, who only weighs 5 Kg and a guy, Koyomi Araragi, who is a vampire turned human (though some immortality effects still remain) meet in a very unexpected way and try to get the girl’s weight back. Oh and they are classmates. I don’t know what they plan on doing with this anime, but so far I’m interested. I just hope it stays interesting.
Canaan
Love when they change eye color…
This is another that I was looking forward to, somewhat, and I wasn’t disappointed. The gunfight taking place in the middle of a festival was definitely a site to behold. Can’t think of a good summary for this but…one male and one female photographer go to a festival where things are not as they seem. People are dying in really strange ways and gunshots are being fired all over the place, yet no one seems to take any notice, that or they ignore it. The female photographer seems to be looking for another female named Canaan who happens to be involved with the shootings. Just watch it if you want more.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Bones had a hand in this anime just like they did in Eden of the East and this anime definitely did have an Eden feel to it so hopefully it will be just as entertaining.
The premise of the story is the 70% or higher possibility that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake will occur in Tokyo in the next 30 years. The story depicts what would happen if a 8.0 earthquake tooks place. -aniDB
Mirai (the main girl) seems to pretty much despise everything except her cellphone. Her dad doesn’t really seem to care about much of anything and her mother seems to like her job more than her family…okay, that sounded harsh…her mother never has time because she’s always at work and doesn’t seem to care that she can’t spend time with her family. Mirai’s little brother Yutaka seems the most normal as he just wants them all to get along and spend time with each other. It’s now summer vacation and Mirai reluctantly takes Yutaka to Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition. You can probably guess what happens while they are there.
Medium-High Priority
Needless
He kicks complete ASS!!!
Damn this anime has a lot of energy! All the characters seem to have wardrobe malfunctions as well so many crazy outfits are included. People with crazy abilities seem common. They may even be as kickass as Tengen Toppa’s characters…possibly.
I can’t really think of a good summary so I’ll just copy it from AniDB:
Year 2130 –
after the third world war, large contaminated areas known as “Blackspots” formed all over Japan. Large Walls were used to quarantine off these “Blackspots”. In time, signs of inhabitance appeared within these wastelands. Among the survivors who had been abandoned inside the Blackspots, labeled as “those who were unneeded”, came forth possessors of uncanny abilities — Fire, wind, brute strength…they were defined by their supernatural abilities. Others, fearful of their powers, expelled them and named them – - – Needless!
Taishou Yakyuu Musume
Not the most amazing quality but…
This anime takes place in the 1920s and its about a group of girls who want to play baseball. I like the characters and the story seems interesting. For some reason I really do look forward to this one…somewhat. Already watching Cross Game which is male dominated (except for Aoba) and now I’m watching this which is female dominated. That sounds good to me.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Annoying lol!!!
Of course I’m watching this for obvious reasons. The idea itself I think I like better than Higurashi. I love murder mysteries and on an island makes it even better. What I don’t like better than Higurashi are the characters. Most of the characters in this seem annoying, but I’ve still only watched the 1st episode so obviously I’m not going to do much comparing so far.
Summary: Rich family on an island awaiting their rich grandfathers death to get/find his fortune of which nobody seems to know its location. Of course they’ve added a supernatural aspect to it, but thats expected from these people. I’m sure it will get better than the 1st episode showed so I am still quite looking forward to this.
Medium Priority
Sora no Manimani
Main guy returns to his old town after 7 years and runs into his old childhood “friend” (“devil” to him). She is obsessed with stars and is part of the newly forming Astronomy club. She convinces the main guy to join and thats good enough. Seems like it could be funny and hopefully fun to watch.
Umi Monogatari
Seems slightly interesting and its already better than I expected because I was expected mermaids and crap like that when I heard it was about people living in the sea. I’m happy they still have legs so that right there makes it better for me. Story is the unoriginal evil is unsealed and they must stop it stuff, but it could be entertaining.
Medium-Low Priority
Princess Lover
Girls have large breasts…damn. Main guy loses his parents and is taken in by his grandfather…I think… He then comes across a girl and her butler in a horse drawn carriage being attacked by thugs. He decides to help them and…yea.
Aoi Hana
Two childhood friends reunite after 10 years…or something like that. Yes I know this is a yuri, but it can be a little interesting.
Low Priority
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou
Shitty quality I know.
Technically I’ve only seen episode 0, but that is good enough.
Everyone can use magic and our main girl can only use magic to create/turn things into pans. Doesn’t seem very interesting, but I’ll give it a shot.
Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!
That is a stupidly big plug.
Fairly stupid comedy about a girl who is from an alternate dimension (or something) and her job is to “charge” people that are feeling depressed so they won’t become suicidal and the likes. She literally charges them with electricity by the way. I’m not expecting too much from this anime. Why do some animes like showing girls peeing themselves? I personally don’t enjoy that, but I’ll overlook it this time.
Kanamemo
Another pretty shitty quality pic…
A girl loses her only living family and finds herself working as a paper delivery girl with a bunch of other crazy girls. Seems pretty stupid to me, but I’ll still watch it…for now.
Dropped / Unknown
Spice and Wolf II: Recently watched the 1st season and wasn’t amazed by it so I probably won’t be picking this up.
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Watched the 1st season and the first few eps of the 2nd season and dropped it after that. It got way boring and I decided they were trying WAY too hard.
Spring 09 Season
Shangri-la: Interesting world and storyline, though not my fav of the spring season.
Basquash!: One of my favs if not my fav of the spring season. Love the concept because it’s so unusual and it works, love the characters, love the music, love the art, LOVE IT!
Pandora Hearts: Interesting characters and story with a slightly darker feel, though light moments do come around.
Cross Game: Amazing storytelling and characters. Love it as well.
07 Ghost: Kinda slow, but still watching. Hopefully it will be more fast pased as it gets closer to the end.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Full Metal Alchemist 2): Better than the original with likable characters and new storyline for me who hasn’t read the manga.
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom: Darker anime with a cool main character and murder.
Saki: Over-the-top dramatic stuff, but fun if you just go with it and don’t pay too much attention to the impossibilities.
Guin Saga: Cool main character and interesting story.
Valkyria Chronicles: Just about average for me.
Dragon Ball Kai: Fun fillerless remake.
Tears to Tiara: Ehhh…whats-his-name demon guy is cool.
Winter (08 – 09)? Season
Kemono no Souja Erin: Erin is still cool and story is still interesting.
YES I’m watching 26 animes dammit!!!
Wej
Avalon
shortman818
camarilla
haganehare
Kemono no Souja Erin is finally being subbed again!! I still loves it so very much.
The ones from last season I am dropping that I haven’t dropped yet:
07 Ghost
Asura Cryin
I might end up dropping Shangri-la. Not because it is a bad anime, but because the sub group that i was watching fell behind and by time I realized I was behind on it, I was 4 episodes behind. I think I am even more now. But then again, it just got more interesting (I think, you don’t know with this anime) when I stopped watching it. If I can find the time, I will watch it. I am already behind on watching all the new season animes anyway….crap…
Yes Shangri-la has gotten more interesting though except for like 1 episode it was always interesting for me and you should watch the new animes.
I am rather liking shangri-la. It has a lot going on, especially in ep 14. I was getting a little bored with it and then 14 comes along and really made me want to keep watching.
Somehow Kanamemo is now on my priority Monday list along with Cross Game and Saki… I was a paperboy for 9 years, so suddenly having an anime with lolis and papergirl action is somehow highly appealing to me. I guess it’s kinda like Saki; Akagi made Mahjong awesome, Saki makes Mahjong hot…
Lol haven’t seen Akagi, but I know enough about it to know what it’s like. I don’t really follow what days which animes come out. There are only a couple that I know what days they come out.
I am loving Kanamemo, I love the sense of humor. So random, easy slice-of-life to watch. I keep rather close track of days stuff comes out.
But so far, I have to say I think my favorite series this season is Aoi Hana, it really is what any romance should be and for sure what a yuri anime should be. I have to put it atleast #2 on my list of favorite romances.
Lol…and i just barely decided to drop Aoi Hana. I am not into Yuri, I much prefer normal romance. imagine…. not only the drama of 1 girl in a relationship, but 2 girls…oh wait…there is going to be a love hexagon (or whatever). TOO MUCH DRAMA!!!! Damn women… I prefer the cute, quiet lolis. =P
Kanamemo is a pretty good one. I am not saying it is one of the best, but it is going to be fun most likely.
Favorite of this season? Not sure. Bakemonogatari gave me one hell of a laugh when the main guy beat up a girl half his age…and he felt proud of it…
The girl baseball one will be good, but I have a feeling it will be over sexist. Girls play baseball for 1/10th as long as the boys, and ends up beating them is my guess, and that is retarded…. I like the aspect of girls defying what women are supposed to be, but there is a point to where it becomes annoying. I hope it never runs into that problem…
I want to kill just about everyone in Princess Lover, though I like the girl the guy is engaged to and the maid. The latest episode is about having “elegance” or whatever. If having elegance means treating people you don’t like just because of a name like shit or like god, then the whole school has elegance. Lets forget the whole being selfless thing, that isn’t being a good person at all. But it is still watchable. I just hope he says “Screw you, I am not going to turn into a rich snobby bastard like the rest of you” then this anime will be awsome.
Umineko, for each person that dies, I almost have an orgasm. This is the only anime where I will say this: I hope the loli dies a horrible, painful death!!!!!!
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 second episode made it better. I am liking it more then I did originally. Apparently, a lot of research went into making this anime.
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou episode 1 proved to be a different anime then episode 0 lead you to believe. I love their thought on magic!! It is a program, a code that is run. The main girl has the ability to rewrite any code, which makes her amazing….of course, she rewrites them into pans, but that works. I love the uniqueness of that.
The Melancholy endless eight isn’t that bad… At least to me (I have seen all but 1 episode of it now). I am only going to hate it if they don’t do Disappearance. I already said that though…
That is all I remember right now…oh…I love Basquash’s new song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnXTfim83dI Can’t wait for the full version to come out.
No, just no, endless eight is a very very bad horrible why the hell would you make us watch this thing. I am forced to keep watching Haruhi purely because of how much I loved the first season, but endless eight is starting to piss me off.
I thought princess lover had a lot of potential (after I watched ep1) to be not just another harem rich guys show, it has sorely disappointed me to this point. Yuri anime tends to have far far too much fanservice for my taste. Aoi Hana isn’t really like that yet. Also, it has surprisingly little drama in it, but that could be because it hasn’t really gotten rolling yet. I have totally changed my mind about Bakemonogatari, food is still freaky/weird, but I can deal with that it is a good funny series. Taisho Yakyuu Musume(That girl baseball one) I love the historical aspects of it, but I have the same concerns as you that it will turn out to be overly philogynic. Oh well, I am hoping it won’t turn out like that. I am really enjoying Umineko, I love the logic involved in it, trying to prove that a human could have committed these crimes is awesome. Maria is hell annoying, but I don’t wish her dead, she knows to much, I would prefer to see Battler torture her for information. Tokyo Magnitude, I really haven’t formed an opinion on yet, must keep watching. Sora no Manimani is amazing, it somehow reminds me a lot of Toradora, probably just me though.
I hate Endless Eight, stupid repeating friggin iterations.
I agree with Wej on Maria in Umineko needing to die horribly. How could the same people that created teh awesomeness of Rika, Hanyuu and (sometimes) Satoko turn around and make… that? Though I do like the show.
On a side note: Kanamemo. Who’s willing to bet the manager would sleep with someone to get them to subscribe? Eh? Eh? I’d totally ‘fic that…
I didn’t think much of Bakamonogatari at first, but now I think I may add it to my list.
Yep, it recently has picked up and I am liking it.
That means I have to catch up then. I am almost done watching the first episode of every summer anime and was surprised by some.
I am with you wej, I was very surprised by how good (and in two cases bad) shows were. I think my biggest surprise came out of Princess Lover.
Mine too. Not near as bad as i thought.
I wasn’t originally expecting too much because the majority of the anime seemed like it was going to be the school life moe stuff, but I guess I shouldn’t have condemned this season before giving it a chance…was it similar for you guys?
Well…it certainly isn’t better then last season, but there are some good ones here.
Last season was the best season I’ve seen since I’ve started following the anime releases, but this season was definitely better than expected.
I don’t find Endless Eight as bad as most people… I don’t know why… Maybe because I see myself guessing on what would fix it since episode 2 of it. When I watch anime (or read books), I picture myself as the main character, and wounder what I think I would do in that situation. That is probably why I love character and story development more then any other aspect. If I had to choose between different episodes and the Endless Eight, I would choose different episodes. They could have done EE better then they did, that is for damn sure.
Aoi Hana is going to be a completely different yuri then the ones I have seen. For good or bad, I am just not into either of the types. Kanamemo yuri that they have between those two girls (if you haven’t realized by now, I am horrible with names), since it is not even close to the main point of the story, is the fun yuri I can stand to watch. As long as it doesn’t play a big role.
I agree that the mystery aspect of Umineko is great, but the characters suck.
Sora no Manimani I like a lot as well. It doesn’t really remind me of Toradora though.
Yeah, I think I’m the only one that is reminded of Toradora from Sora no Manimani, but oh well. Umineko, I don’t think is really about the characters, I see it entirely as a battle between the supernatural and the logical, the characters to me are just used as pawns in that battle, taken like that, I love Umineko. I don’t tend to be that big on Yuri, but with Aoi Hana, I keep finding myself forgetting that it is a yuri series, different tastes are differet I guess though.
I think it would be cool though, to fall in love with the characters, then they die. If that happens, it usually has more of an impact, and makes the anime some of the best.
Animes that this happens in: Cross Game (of course, though the girl dies in the first episode, you still get to like her in that short of time), Code Geass, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, etc.
I’m joining this convo a little late but oh well.
My favorites of this season so far are Bakemonogatari and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. Still haven’t watched episode 2 of Sora no Manimani and not because I don’t like it, but because I apparently didn’t download it and forgot. I really WANT to watch it so I’ll do that soon. I would like it if it was similar to Toradora ‘cuz that anime was awesome!
Taisho Yakyuu Musume 1st episode stood out to me for some reason and so far it hasn’t done it since…I plan on watching it, but it hasn’t been as good as I had hoped.
I like Umineko as well, but my issues are with the characters like Wej. I like getting close to the people so when they do die it makes a bigger impact, but that is not happening with these characters…I hope they get developed better before the end.
Kanamemo I am not caring about very much, but still much better than GA which I couldn’t even finish the 1st episode.
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou hasn’t stood out much for me though I will say the actual anime is much better than the “episode 0″ that came out.
I was expecting Princess Lover to completely suck and I have to say I’ve been surprised. While I’ve only seen 2 eps, it is much more entertaining than I expected.
Aoi Hana is just so-so for me. I’m not a huge fan of yuri, but I’m not going to turn away from an anime for that reason. I will say that the characters are well done in that anime.
Needless entertains me ‘cuz the main guys are so kickass…at least “Father.” He is awesome!
Canaan for some reason is disappointing me and I don’t really know why….
I still haven’t even started the new Melancholy episodes even though I loved the 1st season. Everyone seems to hate Endless Eight so much (except Wej) that I’ve become curious…though I’ve heard enough to know what to expect. At least when I watch it in the next couple days probably I will be able to just marathon most of that arc and not worry about shitty a release next week.
Oh, I nearly forgot, I actually have to switch my favorite of the season to Spice and Wolf II, I absolutely love the characters in that.
I take series as what they are supposed to be, and I never expected Umineko to be very character driven, so I a enjoying what it is. I do love series with well developed character, but I am more than willing to watch shows where the characters don’t matter much as well.
Needless, weird smile goes over my face when I think of its ed…
I haven’t watched any of Yoku Wakaru. GA is way to random, random can be amazing sometimes, I loves SZS, but this is taking it way too far.
As to Sora no Manimani ep 2 I really liked it, more so than the first episode. Clever show, a simple knowledge of astronomy/logy is nice though.
I don’t even remember Needless’s ending song…just what is going on while the song is playing…that is how amazing it is…lol….that yuri is also fun =D. And Blade is awsome. It takes a lot to be truly awsome, and he is.
Define: action anime
NEEDLESS. A show completely devoted to action, look no further.
Oh god…i thought endless 8 was only going to be 6 episodes. It is 8 (makes since)?? Taking over half of the new episodes to replay the same thing? Now, at first, 6 episodes didn’t bother me…but 8??? 29 letter word for frustration: FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKK
Lol it doesn’t surprise me since it is Endless “Eight.” I can’t say I’m surprised ‘cuz I’m not, but I still say that is stupid to take up that much of the new stuff…still seems like they were trying to extend it…I don’t care how it was done in the novel or manga or whatever either.
I just heard a rumor: Endless eight episodes count as 1 new episode. So there will be 12 new episodes (cause 1 already aired not counting EE). If that is true, I don’t hate endless 8 any more that much…
That would be pretty cool…hopefully it’s true.
Hopefully that is more accurate than the rumor that Endless eight was going to be 6 episodes. Counting it as one would certainly be worth it. I always figured it would be 8 episodes as well, so no surprise when it didn’t end.
I don’t think it is true with some info I just found saying that they are only airing 28 episodes. (14 first season). So I am pretty sure that is wrong…god damit!
Avalon, your picture broke…it is showing as if you don’t have one now (the default one)…
I know, I’ve been screwing around with it the last few days…what…this site won’t display a pic of a PG rating? GAY!!!
I had to change a setting in order for it to. Yay blood.
Lol I wanted to use the full image but didn’t know if I should or not…not that it shows anything, but some people (Like Veggie Boy for example) would freak out because they are naked.