End of Autumn Season '07

Some pretty good series ended a few days ago. HiguKai was amazing, as well as Genshiken. Minami-ke, Night Wizard and Ninomiya were very funny and enjoyable. ef and Kodomo offered a good load of drama and the latter a lot of controversy. Finally, Sky Girls and Blue Drop can remind you the downhill that the sci-fi gerne has taken. Here you can see my opinion on these series, along with some screenshots and a few short clips ... enjoy!

You can also check my previews check and for my first impression.
Here you can see what's new in the winter.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
ひぐらしのなく頃に解
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
By far the best show of the season. The second part (1st aired back in 2006) has the answers and the resolution of the mysteries. The animation became consistant (and dropped those weird faces), the blood and gore were significantly reduced and the last main character, Hanyuu is finally introduced. For a detailed review, screenshots and spoilers see here.

ef - a tale of memories
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
Originally I had dropped this series, because I was totally pissed off with the sear amount of romance shows in autumn, but after hearing some positive opinions about, I gave it a second try ... and did not regret it. The stories presented here are almost irrelevant to each other, but still intertwining them in the same episodes instead of creating three separated arcs worked out very well. The animation is also weird, with a lot of stills, but it works out within the context and mood of the scenes.







Genshiken 2
げんしけん２
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
Visually and sound-wise the 2nd installment was at the same level as the first, I only noticed very minor changes. The big difference was in the storytelling, since in the second season the humor was less common than in the first and the serious conversation were very common, compared to being almost non-existent in the first season. That does not mean that this season did not make you laugh, the contrary, Kosaka's cross-dressing, Ogiue's Yaoi fantasies, the american otakus were some of the scenes that made cry from laughing. My point is that this was not as constant as it was before.



Night Wizard
ナイトウィザード The ANIMATION
Official, RPG's Official Page, AniDB, ANN & discussion
As with the role-playing game it is based on, the anime is sarcastic of both itself and its gerne (fantasy). The animation was very decent, up to the point we had action-packed fight scenes, which were just amazing! The story was more or less an excuse to make fun of cliches and in that respect worked perfectly. All in all it was a very funny and enjoyable show, without the faintest moment of seriousness.


Minami-ke
みなみけ
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
Based on a manga by the Sakuraba Koharu, the creator of Kyo no Go no Ni; both shows share a lot in common, dealing with school life, basing their gags in misunderstandings and being full of freshness and energy. The huge difference here is that the sexual innuendo is very toned down here, probably because Minami-ke was airing in the TV. In any case animation and sound are good, but not exceptional and the characters are funny and interesting.


Kodomo no Jikan
こどものじかん
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
If it was not so heavily censored to the point some times of being incomprehensible, this would be my first pick. Before it aired I was expecting a stupid loli show which sells itself just by being provocative. But what we got was a pretty good insight in the complex psychology of its characters and what drives them into their anti-social and reactionary behavior.







Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun
ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
As with Night Wizard, Ninomiya never took itself seriously and this was its advantage. The characters were funny and the fan service was beyond anyones comprehension. Another strong point were the amazingly well-animated fight scenes, which just put on same a lot of action shows. So if you want to get a healthy dosage of jiggling breasts and minimal clothing, with refreshing breaks of action this is the show for you ;)

Sky Girls
スカイガールズ
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
What can I say, this show had very good animation (both 2D and 3D), decent voice acting, catchy OP (though for my taste), and lolis in swimsuits, which are supposed to be uniforms. The first problem is the plot, it was so standard and predictable, that made me a lot of times to skip whole scenes. The second problem is that all characters personalities are what you always get in this kind of shows, which made things worse. The only reason I continued watching was because I had already reached the mid-point of the show. My take is that if you're a lolicon you'll like it, otherwise you'll find it as I did, plain boring!


BLUE DROP ～天使達の戯曲～
Official, AniDB, ANN & discussion
In this show Mari-mite meets Geneshaft. The result is two different sets of plots (shoujo-ai & sci-fi) with superficial connections. At least some characters were interesting and others funny, but still this can not salvage a weak plot. The animation was pretty good though, until GONZO was hired to put in 3D animation, which was horrible (as always). The music is purely orchestric, which was a nice break from the usual j-pop, but still kind of boring overall.



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