Well, shows airing during the the summer come one by one to an end. The only ones that continue into new seasons are Higurashi (despite the axe-happy japanese teenegers) and Hayate (for the whooping number of 52 episodes). Unfortunately though most of the shows don't have their subs out yet, so my opinion is based on the raws coupled with my limited knowledge of japaneese language.
Bokura no
I am a big fun of the mangaka's other work (Narutaru) and I am also following this manga. Unfortunately, it was picked up by GONZO, a studio infamous for screwing up plots. Well, they certainly changed a lot of stuff, but thankfully not to the point of unwatchability (like Basilisk, Black Cat, GantZ, Hellsing, Kiddy Grade, Trinity Blood). I think that when you have a very strong original work, it is rather hard to make it worse then mediocre. This is the case here, some stories were done very well while others seemed forced. In any case, Triad is subbing this one, slowly but carefully.
PS: Also for a change, GONZO avoided ridiculous 3D-mecha CGs this time they at least decent, but unfortunately most battles were just shadows of their manga originals.
Code-E
This is a quite nice school comedy with a pseudo-scientific twist. It's quite easy to watch and reminds me a lot of Read or Die (music, plot structure, character design). Of course it never reached the epic proportions of its "predecessor", but was a nice to follow during the summer when I had a lot of free time.
Darker then Black
Very nice animation and character designs, coupled with a spy/conspiracy plot as well as 2-episode stories, made DtB one of my favourites these two seasons.
My only problem was that at some points it was becoming to confusing, even with subs I had to pay a lot of attention to what was happening.
Dennou Coil
This show reminds me a lot of Serial Experiments: Lain. The setting is very similar, with a virtual reality overlapping our own, the passing is also slow, the script takes its time to unfold and as 90% of the anime the protagonists are teens. Though there are some huge differences, Lain dealt with very complex themes, while Coil seems very superficial and episodic, with the main plot more as the driving force behind character development. Philosophy and complexity was what made Lain stand out (OK, also ABe's character designs), but this is exactly what Dennou Coil lacks.
Doujin Work
My opinion in this 10-min series fluctuated wildly during its airing. Some episodes were just hilarious, while others were just boring. Probably it will fade from memory after the new season of Genshiken.
Kaibutsu Oujo
Tsundere, Oujo-tachi, lolis, vampires, werewolves, maids and a worthless male lead, all wrapped in a gothic-punk-kitsch wrapping and thrown to you while listening Ali Project with an excuse for a plot. This was really painfull to watch, but I'll admit my sin, I watched all of it since I am a fetishist with the above (except lolis and worthless male leads).
Claymore
And since I was speaking of worthless male leads, it's a good time to comment on Claymore, the only shounen show I followed. I loved every single episode without Raki, some of the stories were especially well made both visually and plot-wise. And it's been some times since I have seen a series with so many memorable characters (Teresa, Ophelia, Irene, Raphaela, Claire, Priscilla, Jean and the list goes on). Unfortunately, that worthless piece of crap, Raki, had to appear in the end (after dissappearing for 10+ episodes) to ruin a majestic original ending. In any case I should also mention that the anime diverted from the manga storyline after the death of the Lion-King.
Umishou
Excessive fun-service, without plot, BUT original characters. Well this is fun to watch, if you don't really mind fun-service for the sake of it (a la Ikkitousen) and still you can see some totally peculiar responses from very weird and disturbed personalities (in a comedic way).
Lucky Star
This is really hard to just show. First of all I must confess that I simply love Azumanga Daioh, so Lucky Star seemed that it follow in its footsteps where so many other shows failed to do so. Also I like shows that are sarcastic about anime/manga culture. Not to mention that KyoAni is by far the best studio today. But still, despite all good portents this show never grew on me. There episodes that had hilarious gags but also very boring parts. I found myself many times just picking other series to watch, while 3 and 4 episodes of Lucky Star just sat around. I can not say that this is a boring show, it is quite good, but certainly there something missing.
Nanoha S
The lolis came back for a third time and for two seasons. Though, now Nanoha, Fate and Hayate are not any more lolis, but things got even more interesting in an adult way ;) Well the fusion of shounen and mahou-shoujo with seamless use of engirisu, that worked so well for the previous two seasons had some serious pacing and budget problems this year. Probably the reason is that they made 26 episodes instead of 13, thus we got endless training sessions and countless characters introduced, speaking for 5 seconds and getting beaten up in the next episode, never appearing again. But despite its failings Nanoha had some pretty good stories, unfortunately centered around the new main characters (Teana, Subaru-Ginga). In any case, I liked it, but not as much as the previous two.
PS: What the hell is up with Raider (from Fate) & Etna (from Digaea) cloning in the guise of Lutecia & Agito (they even matched in personality)!
PS2: I really love Fate's taste in underwear, probably she never got over the jaded mentality from the first season whipping!
PS3: Nanoha is a smart girl, she got a bed big enough not only for her long time lover (Fate), but also for Hayate when the decide to make a threesome (I am referring to the episode, where they wake up together, from a pajama party, though didn't wear pajamas)!
Kaze no Stigma
Another GONZO show, that suffered from plot inconsistencies and as I heard totally distorted the original novel. At some point japanese scriptwriters must realize that tsundere protagonists are not enough for 26 episodes. As for animation and character design this show fluctuated, probably because the budget was inconsistant, GONZO had 5-6 shows this seasons.
Nagasarete Airantou
The harem anime of this season was ok, but not even close to the heights of Hina and Aoi. Had both funny and boring moments, and even successful drama.
Potemayo
This caught me by surprise, normally I would skip a show like this because its character designs looked childish, but trust me this show had very adult humour. A parody basically, with some hilarious episodes that stood out during the season.
Seto no Hanayome
Another surprise this season. School Comedy is something done again and again, but this one has pretty interesting character, without the indecisive male lead. Also the show is very sacrastic, about other anime as well as cinema (both domestic and foreign), as well as japanese mindset.
Wellber
In general I don't like steam-punk, but this one was pretty good, the two girls were very interesting characters and their adventures quite well-made.
Zetsubou Sensei
This one was also on the weird side. I must say that if someone is not familiar with the japanese culture should avoid this show since he is not going to understand even half a joke.
Also I liked the character designs, which are the standard H-game that domminate these days.
Zero no Tsukaima II
This was a big let down. The plot from minimal reached ZERO! And if was not enough Siesta transformed into a stupid slut. Anyway, I think that Zero's only reason of existence is to warm people up while waiting for Shana.
2007/09/26
End of Summer Season ...
