At first I was a bit worried that there wouldn't be more than one or two interesting shows to watch. But after watching the first episodes of a handful of shows, I can say that I'm looking forward to watch them now. For this entry I'll give my expected rating, and why I picked to watch the show. (I never drop shows so I don't take to many chances.) Ai Mai Mi was one of the first short length shows that I had ever seen. And when I heard that a season 2 was coming, boy was I excited. It's a gag show that's very random, and that's what I think I like so much about it. The show has aired recently and hasn't been subbed yet. So I still have yet to watch it. I'm expecting it to be a little bit worse than season one and I think it will get a 6/10. Next up is Glasslip. At first I wasn't going to touch it, especially since PA left such a bad taste in my mouth with Red Data Girl that last show by them I had watched. But, I remembered how good Angel Beats and Tari Tari were, and also added in the factor that it's part of my favorite genre, Slice of Life. The show had some humorous parts to it's first episode, and it seems like it might end up having some good drama. I expect the show to get a solid 7/10. Yes, I realize I might be judged for liking this show but Himegoto is a show that I was quite excited for. Why? Because it's a more humorous version of Otoboku (both involve a male having to cross-dress in school), which was one of the first anime that I had ever seen, and also is a great Visual Novel. Himegoto is a 4-koma manga, however, I wish this show would be like Yuyushiki or K-On where they take multiple scenes and make them into a 25-min episode. Unfortunately, Himegoto is only 4 mins. And because of that, I believe that will really hurt the potential of the show. I think I will still like it enough to give it a 6/10. The first episode gave me a bit of confidence for it. (One scene per episode) Jinsei was probably the show I was looking the most forward to. Interestingly, the show is based of a light novel, which is strange, the show feels like a 4-koma manga. The show is titled Jinsei (life) because it is about the newspaper's life advice column. The show seems like it can be funny, but the first episode seemed a bit odd. Parts of the show shined, while other bits felt a bit boring. It's a comedy, but with some of the lengthy dialogue it didn't feel like one. It felt like a average slice of life show. I think it may be because it was the first episode. Since it is the most anticipated I still think it can achieve a 9/10. I can't wait till the show really starts to get into the story. I'm excited. If you seriously didn't think I was gonna pick up this show, you clearly aren't a friend of mine. Really? A music show, with a girl who clearly appears to be waifu material? Sign me up! Locodol is about well, local idols. Somewhat reminiscent of Wake Up Girls, another show I adored, taking every day girls and turning them into idols. The first episode reminded me of TLMC's first concert in K-On. It appeared to be a screw-up but ended up going well. The show seems really cute, and I can't wait to watch more of it. I see this show getting a 9/10 pretty easily. Music and Slice of Life is and always will be my favorite combination. Alright, I think I'll cap the post at five shows, and do the other four that I have picked up tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you are as excited as I am about the season! Please comment and share!
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I usually watch 2 episodes a day of a non-airing show. So I'm going to do a quick "flash review" of the various non-airing shows that I have watched over the month. By Flash review I mean I will give my grades for art, music, and story, as well as an overall grade for the show. The shows I watched were the following:
Kill Me Baby: Art: 7/10 Music: 5/10 Story: 6/10 Overall: 6/10 Gatchaman Crowds: Art: 8/10 Music: 8/10 Story: 9/10 Overall: 8/10 Pokemon: The Origins Art: 8/10 Music: 9/10 Story: 7/10 Overall: 8/10 A Certain Magical Index Art: 9/10 Music: 8/10 Story: 9/10 Overall: 9/10 Fooly Cooly Art: 7/10 Music: 8/10 Story: 5/10 Overall: 6/10 November overall gets about a 7/10. Overall, A Certain Macigal Index was easily my favorite. I had a 15 hour drive from Florida back home so I had PLENTY of time to go watch it and I thought it was great. Kill Me Baby was funny but one of the dumbest shows I've seen in a very long time as well. Gatchaman and Pokemon were both good and I think it was really the action of both shows that really capture. FLCL was the worst out of all the shows that I watched. The Art and Music were great, but the story was so lacking that it really brought down the show's score. I hope you enjoyed this Flash Review. See you all later.
Last post I gave you the list of my five favorite OPs, this time I will give you the list of my favorite EDs. EDs are the ending songs at the end of a show. Since many EDs are just of the characters walking or standing still, I won't really rate them on animation, but more so towards the actual music. So here it goes: Number 5: Don't Say LAZY! By: Houkago Tea Time (From K-On!) Ah Don't Say Lazy, the very first ED that I really actually cared for. This song is sang by Mio's VA, who is also one of my favorites. I think her singing voice is absolutely perfect. I could probably listen to her sing all day. I think that the rock vibe that this song gives is very good and I think that it gives HTT a more serious tone which I really do like. I listen to this song all the time. You can watch the ED version here: Number 4: Listen!! By: Houkago Tea Time (From K-On!!) Listen!! is from K-On season 2 and is the first ED of the season. I find this ED animation to be quite original as it takes place on a cake, yes, a cake. Similar to Don't Say LAZY it is again sang by Mio's VA and she one again does a great job. The music to this song is absolutely bumping. This is music I feel like I might actually be able to dance too, and let it be known I am a terrible dancer. I love listening to this song, and you can listen to it here: Number 3: Yume Sekai By: Haruka Tomatsu (From Sword Art Online) Yume Sekai could very well be the most peaceful song I've heard in a long time (Well there's Last Regrets and Air's Theme). Haruka's voice is beautiful and so soothing, it's a great song to listen to right when you are about to go and fall asleep. This captures the essence of Sword Art Online and the strong relationship between Kirito and Asuna. The music in the background is just as great and you all should go and check it out below. Number 2: DAYS of DASH By: Konomi Suzuki (From: The Pet Girl of Sakurasou) The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a fast paced comedy for a good half of the show, while another half of it is dramatic. Anyways, with the large amount of crazy comedy I think the title, as well as the song DAYS of DASH was a perfect way to end every episode and I was beyond mad once they decided to switch over to the second ED which was practically awful. Konomi does a fantastic job singing and the music to back her up is quite exciting and keeps you wanting more. I've put this song on replay and you might too once you listen to it here: Note: Sorry for the bad video, it was the only one I could find: Number 1: Hello Especially By: Sukima Switch (From Silver Spoon) Is there a genre titled J-Country? Because this song fits the country style so much. The show Silver Spoon is all about a boy who goes to a boarding school to get away from home. The catch though, is that the school is one in which students to go to learn about the different jobs that they could go into in the field of agriculture/farming. With the style of show this is, I think that it is a perfect song for the show. Surprisingly enough, this song is sung by a male vocalist, which I don't usually tend to like in terms of Japanese music. Anyways the cool instrument (the piano thing you blow into) as well as the rest of the instruments used, give this song even more of the farming feel. Overall this song I think is great, and you can listen to it here: I don't usually listen to EDs of songs but some of them stick out to me; the few that which I find to stand out much above all of the others. I just realized as I am writing this, is that I left out the FANTASTIC ED of KINMOZA! which really would probably be number 6 anyways. Also another two EDs I would have had liked to put on here was the first ED from Kokoro Connect and also the ED from the first season of Little Busters! Anyway, look out for more top 5's and I'll write again soon. See ya.
Last week I gave you guys a new tier list, so this week I felt the need to do something different. This week will be my 5 favorite OPs of all time: By OPs I mean opening themes, the ones that little songs that they have before an episode of a show. So let's get to it. Number 5: Crossing Fields By: LiSA (From Sword Art Online). When I first heard this song, it was when I picked up SAO when it aired on Toonami, of course I was somewhat disappointied that Toonami didn't show the whole thing (they had to shorten it since America's commercial breaks are longer than Japan's). I had still immediately fell in love with the song. I knew the vocalist sounded familiar, and as it turned out she was, it was LiSA who was on Key Sound Labels, the music to the Key Visual Novels. I found the whole entire OP and thought it was fantastic, I immediately went a download the full version of the song. The reason why I like this song so much isn't just because the vocals are great, but the music, especially the guitar sounds absolutely fantastic. Of course the visuals that go along with this OP are pretty good too, and I think Aniplex did a great job with it. You can watch it here: Number 4: Never Say Never By: TKDz2b (From Dangan Ronpa) I'm sure a few of you will hate me for liking this song as much as I do, but it really brings two of my favorite things together, anime and rap music. I really like this song because it takes a great video game theme (straight from the Dangan Ronpa Video Game) and remixes it. I also enjoy this song a lot because it really gives you the essence of the entire game, death, despair, and hopelessness. The beat keeps the song exciting, and I think the female vocalist does an excellent job singing. The only thing I don't like to much about this is the animation they put with it. It's not exciting at all, and just shows the characters 2 by 2. If they would have made it a little more exciting, this would probably be higher up the list. You can watch it here: Number 3: Sorairo Days (1st Half) By: Shoko Nakagawa (From Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) I put the first half because in TTGL it has 2 OPs, one for the first half of the show, and one for after the time skip. They are the same song, but different verses of it. I would say I found the first one much more memorable and it probably had to do with the fact that it was before the time skip. The first verse I also know a little bit of, and I don't know any of the words to the second. In regards to it being above other OPs from different series, I think a huge factor would be the emotion put into the song. The song is about fighting to save humanity, and I think Shoko does a fantastic job relaying the stress it would take for anyone to go and have to do that. The music is great as well, and the guitar solo is probably one of my favorites out of the many that anime songs have. You can listen to it here: Number 2: Cagayake GIRLS! By: Houkago Tea Time (From K-ON!) My friends that know me well would probably be shocked that I don't have the OP to my favorite show at number one, but Cagayake GIRLS! doesn't really deserve it. Sure I really do like the song, but I find the vocals to be kind of bad in some aspects, and many would agree with me. It goes for more of the cute factor than it does for the good factor. Of course this is perfect for the show, but still. That would be the only thing that really turns me off from this OP. I think that Kyoto Animation does an outstanding job as they do always into making this OP, and that the music is perfect. If those vocals were fixed, I could guarantee that this song would be number one. Listen to it here: Number 1: Little Busters! By: Rita (From Little Busters!) I listen to my number one through 3 favorite OPs on my way to school, and I seriously like this one the most. Why? Maybe its the nostalgic factor of playing the Visual Novel that this show is based off of, or maybe its just the fact that it's a part of the Key Sound Label, which is absolutely phenomenal. Either way I find this song to be fantastic. Rita is a great singer, and the music that backs her up is just as good. The visuals from the OP not only introduce the characters but it does it in a much better way, it actually animates them and brings them to life unlike that of Dangan Ronpa's. Overall I think that JC Staff did an awesome job animating this OP and it is easily my favorite of them all. Watch it here: Of course I wish I could also include some others, such as that of Kokoro Connect, which I also listen to everyday, but I guess I don't find it as exciting and that is why it isn't on this list. I also would have like to put both seasons of Otome Wa Boku ni Koshiteru's OPs up here as well, and Little Busters!:Refrain's new one is pretty good too. While their are many great OPs, these 5 really stand out to me as my favorites.
Well since most of this season's shows are at their sixth episode, this season is pretty much already halfway over! Now that I think about that, some of these shows appear to have terrible pacing, namely Across the Border (KnK) and White Album 2. If they are to get to the progression point that I assume they are striving to get to, it would appear that they are starting to fall way behind schedule. Anyway since it is the half way point I made up a brand new tier list, this one of course doesn't have to many changes to it, since most of these shows are pretty good. Ultimate Tier: 1) Little Busters!: Refrain This show has really blown me away by how true to the visual novel that this show has been. Of course this week, they skipped the entire part where Riki and Rin spend time together at her grandfather's house which disappointed me, but other than that it's done a fantastic job. J.C. Staff did what I thought they would, and Little Busters!: Refrain is definitely on track to beat CLANNAD: After Story High Tier: 1) Golden Time 2) Outbreak Company 3) Noukome Noukome slid up to the high tier after some pretty solid episodes, but this past week's wasn't as nearly as funny as the others. Outbreak Company contiunes to impress, and I suspect will over take Golden Time eventually. Golden Time will slip into the winter season, as the show is only a quarter of the way over, so the pacing will probably cause it to move down just a little bit. Overall, these shows are all quite solid. Mid-high Tier: 1) Infinite Stratos 2 2) White Album 2 3) Across the Border I just picked up Infinite Stratos 2 and I found the first two episodes to be really good, so it got a free pass straight up into the Mid-high tier. Also, if it ends up being nearly as good as the first season it may eventually move up into the high-tier. White Album 2 has some crap for audio quality as from what I heard, and I don't know if it's Horrible Subs or Seven Arcs fault, but it really bugs me considering it is a show about a Light Music Club. Across the Border decided to go filler episode and it was the best episode so far, which is an issue, because filler is not supposed to be better than plot episodes. Potentially, we could see Across the Border slip down into Mid-low as soon as next week. Mid-Low Tier 1) Ars Nova 2) Non Non Biyori Ars Nova has started to get quite interesting, and therefore moves in front of Non Non Biyori. Non Non Biyori has still proven to be for the most part funny, but I don't really like the skits that they have as much as other Slice of Life shows that I have seen. Ars Nova has gotten interesting, and the visuals in action scenes have look consistently amazing throughout. Later on we may see Ars Nova overtake any of the mid-high tier shows. Low Tier 1) Strike the Blood 2) Miss Monochrome 3) Teekyuu 2 Strike the Blood is getting a bit better, while the two short shows are staying on their same levels. Nothing else to really say about them I'll probably update the tier list at least one more time before the final rankings. I'll see you guys next week.
I have been instructed by my amazing teacher to do a interactive post with you guys. So below I've posted 16 clues, all having each to do with a show that I have talked about on the blog. So as a hint clue number 7 is not for the anime K-On as I have never mentioned it yet on my blog. Anyway post your answers in the comments, the top 5 people will be recognized in the next post. Most of these may seem easy to anime fans, they are like that because my classmates are reading this as well, most of which don't engage in Japanese culture. Here are the clues:
1)There is a secret to the world 2)Absolute Choice 3)15 Student Elimination Game 4)The Farm Life 5)We play tennis! Well sort of 6)Currently: Learning how to say "objection" 7)Adventures of the Light Music Club 8)The British Invasion 9)The Aspiring Idol 10)Misadventures of the Gaming World 11)Infatuation Experiments 12)Spreading the Otaku since 2013 13)Blood is the Weapon 14)A CG game of Battleship 15)Country for Days 16)Vampire Vampire Vampire This season has been very strong overall, and I can't wait to see the rest of this season! This season there are no really bad shows like last one. It was a lot harder to separate these shows in tiers, but here it is: High Tier: At this point in the season, there isn't any ultimate tier because all of these shows are just so close to each other but the three in the high tier are:
Mid-high Tier These shows are right on the heels of the high tier:
Mid-low Tier Just like last season I'm dividing the good shows in to two different tiers as one mid-tier would be way to crowded:
Low Tier: All of these shows aren't nearly as bad as last season's low tier, so I doubt they will be getting scores of 4's and 5's. But, compared to the rest of this season, they are at the bottom. Too bad for them that this season is as strong as it is.
Hope you guys have a great week 4! I'll see you guys around later.
So yeah, I did get busy and was unable to post the rest of the tier lists. I will get to those eventually. The Fall anime season started this week and for the most part the shows look great. I picked only 11 shows, two of which are shorts, this way I will have plenty of time to do homework! Anyway the shows I picked up are the following:
Here I will talk really quickly about the top 5 shows I'm excited for: Number 5: Kyoukai no Kanata Produced by Kyoto Animation, I question how anyone couldn't at least be a little excited about this show. Kyoto Animation worked on some of my favorite anime, such as Clannad, Kanon, and my favorite of all time K-On. Kyoukai is about a young man with the ability to heal himself, and a classmate who he saved from committing suicide. The girl also has a special power, one that enables her to manipulate blood as she pleases, usually as a sword. As for rating this show will probably get as high as a 8, and as low as a 6. Below you can see the one minute preview from Youtube: Number 4: Golden Time Actually, at first I thought this show wasn't going to be that good, as I thought they had put what I call "The JC Dream Team" all on board of Little Busters!: Refrain. Well turns out I was wrong, and this show looks like it will be very solid. The animation is fantastic compared to many shows I have seen and I can't wait to watch more of it. The show is about a boy who has recently made it to law school, his new friend and classmate, and his classmate's female friend since grade school who will not stop chasing him until he says he loves her. They all go to the same university and are in the law department, and it appears this show will be great! I think it could at most get a 10 (being JC Staff) and at lowest get an 8. Check out the preview below: Number 3: White Album 2 You know at first I was pretty disappointed in the fact that the group who produced the two seasons of the first White Album were not coming back to do the second game. The first group, I believe was Seven Arcs and there character designs were almost spot on. Well, I can say that it appears the new group on White Album 2, was able to do the same thing, and the only problem I had was the Voice Acting because the mics sounded off. (Maybe an issue with the video I was watching). Anyway, the show is about two girls and one guy in the struggling Light Music Club. Of course as you would presume, it appears that it will turn into quite the dramatic love triangle. Will this get two seasons like the previous game did? We will have to wait to find out. I think it won't be able to top WA Season 2, so I think at most WA2 can get is an 8, and the lowest being a 6. Check out the preview below: Number 2: Outbreak Company This show I honestly don't have a particular reason why I am excited for it. I'm thinking it has something to do with the studio doing it, which is Feel. Feel was the group that saved a show I really liked, that being the Minami-ke series. They did season 4 and it may even have surpassed the original season which was a true master piece. Anyway, Outbreak Company is about this huge Otaku/nerd who warps into this fantasy land, he has been hired to spread the word of Japan's anime and video games and so far its pretty funny. The characters seem cool to. At most I could see this getting as high as a 10, the low being an 8. Preview below: Number One: Little Busters!: Refrain For those of you who know my gaming and anime habits, I would be amazed if you couldn't see this coming. Little Busters has the best story out of all 5 Key/Visual Arts anime, and is produced by one of my favorite companies, J.C. staff and it really can't get much better than that. Little Busters!: Refrain is the sequel to the first season titled, Little Busters! It is a show about 5 childhood friends now in high school who wish, for the sake of youth to start a baseball team. Two of them learn that their is a secret to the world that they must find out, that will change their lives forever. This series is way too good and will probably get a 10, or a 9 at the least. Preview here: Wow the season of Summer Anime is finally almost over, with the only shows left being The Chronicles of the Going Home Club (Delay in broadcast) and Milky Holmes (only because it hasn't been subbed yet). For this post I will be giving a brief overview of each "Tier" that I had made over on my other blog: The Light Music Club Anime Blog: Here. Realistically, the tier list is just something of a guideline for me to give my ratings on the 10 full point scale. I won't be revealing the actual point rankings until later. Anyways, lets get cracking. We will go from best to worst. Each day I will be going over one of the "tier levels" so here comes the best tier, also known as "The Ultimate Tier." Ultimate Tier Shows: Danganronpa, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Love Lab, Gin no Saji. Ratings: Two "10/10's" and two "9/10's" This season was pretty unbalanced, either a show was really good, or it was just so bad I wanted to shoot myself for picking such a bad show. This tier, the "Ultimate" one includes what I think were absolutely the four best shows of the entire season. First is Danganronpa, which I of course have some bias for since it is easily one of my favorite games to date. A show about 15 school kids who are trapped into some sort of "death game" makes this a great show for mystery and horror fans. The reason why I have it here in the ultimate is because it stayed very true to the game, as best as it could. What I mean by that is that even though it may seem that it's going to quickly skipping parts, they leave out the correct things, such as the investigations, because who would want to watch 20 minutes of a character doing nothing but look in a room for one little detail? Danganronpa with it's fantastically written story, animation and voice acting gives it a perfect reason to be put into the top tier. On my old blog I told you that it was go big or go home; this show met those high expectations. Find out more about the show on its MAL page: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16592 Hyperdimension Neptunia is another show based off of a video game, and because I liked the show so much, I picked up the first one on the PS3. This show along with Kiniro Mosaic and Attack on Titan had some of the most dazzling animation of the season, and that's why I really did enjoy it. The show is about these four "CPU goddesses" of the gaming world, each representing a gaming system, including the Playstation and Xbox. With its great comedic antics as well as some pretty dang epic fighting scenes, this show was great all around. Sure you can argue that the plot was pretty iffy, but personally, I think it made up for that with the epic finale as well as the perfect amount of fan-service. Anyways, check this show out, it's one of my favorites this season, and check out the games too, so far the first one isn't half bad. I actually wasn't really paying attention to this show, mainly cause I thought it would be a dumb kiddy show. Boy was I wrong, it was given a TV-MA rating so viewer discretion is advised. This show went ten times over my expectations. Find out more about the show on its MAL page: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16157 Love Lab was my most anticipated show for the season this time around and it really was as good as I expected it to be. With it's "yuri-ish" feel and adorable antics of "love labs" in which girls practice ways to get guys to like them, it's a piece of slice of life gold. Shows that this one contends with in my opinion would be those like Lucky Star, and A-Channel, two other shows that I really did enjoy. Nothing about this show really stood out like Neptunia's animation or Danganronpa's story, but it was all-around a really good show, and that's why it ranks up with the big boys in the Ultimate Tier. Find out more about the show on its MAL page: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16353 I already talked about Gin no Saji in my previous post here so I won't put any about it here since this post is getting pretty long. So I'll talk to you all tomorrow about the high tier hopefully. Next week we will talk about my top 5 most anticipated of the Fall 2013 season, so get excited!
Christian is out. See ya. Gin no Saji and Kiniro Mosaic Finish Strong. Teekyuu 2 not so much. Other shows to finish next week.9/23/2013 This week, two of my personal favorite shows Gin no Saji and Kiniro Mosaic both finished this week and boy were they both pretty good. Gin no Saji is coming back this winter for its second season, while Kiniro Mosaic unfortunately does not have a new one scheduled. Teekyuu 2 also finished this week and was a flop compared to its much funnier prequel. Wow Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon) was seriously the dark horse of this season, I was thoroughly impressed by how great it really was. Gin no Saji wasn't even on my top 5 most anticipated list. With the funny as heck story about farming to the amazing character development, that I don't think I've seen from anyone, this show is seriously really good. I gave it a 9/10 and am excited to see what will happen to the students when they come back in the winter. I can't really compare this to any other show, but if you like the Harvest Moon video game series, I feel like you could get a real kick outta this one. You can find more info on the MAL page here: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16918/Gin_no_Saji Kiniro Mosaic (KINMOZA!) was also a pretty good show. I have to say that the animation of this show was so dang good, I think you could say it was one of the best, if not the best of the entire season, probably in contention with Hyperdimension Neptunia and Attack on Titan. While yes, it didn't really have any true fighting like that of the two shows I've just mentioned, but everything was crisp and clear, and nothing looked ugly at all. The music was pretty good to especially that seriously addictive OP it has. I'll make a page where you can find all these cool songs I'm talking about later on. This show was way to cute for me to pass up and I had it as number three on most anticipated, and boy did it not disappoint. With a cool twist on the classic "cute girls doing cute things" this show was one of the best this season in the category. I gave this one an 8/10 because the plot was a little weak sometimes, but other than that it really was a solid show. You can find more info on the MAL page here: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16732/Kiniro_Mosaic I was honestly very excited to hear that the first show I had ever seen air, Teekyuu, was going to get a sequel. But now, I'm not too excited that season 3 is coming this winter. This number two was pretty bad in some ways, as it wasn't nearly as funny as the last one. The problem is, I don't even know why! I think it probably has something to do with the material. Some of the random gas they used were just not as good as last season. Sure they brought the KFC guy around this time, but I don't think there was enough tennis jokes to really make this show the way it was suppose to be. I gave this season a 6/10 which is 2 point lower than what I gave the original. I mean I could still watch it because it's only like 2 minutes an episode, but even so I was pretty disappointed. Anyways check out season one first because it sets up the entire story for you. If you already have seen season one check out season 2 on MAL here: http://myanimelist.net/anime/18121/Teekyuu_2 So through this week we saw one of the shows from my "ultimate tier" Gin no Saji end and it could very well be anime of the season. Other shows in contention would be Hyperdimension Neptunia, Danganronpa, and Love Lab, two of which I had on my most anticipated list. It all comes down to next week and in the words of Bart Scott, "I Can't Wait!" I'll see ya next time. When we observe the end of the Summer season and who triumphed over who. It appears that no one will be "Pervert Prince and the Stony Cat" anime of the spring season, but we will see. Everything can change in a single episode.
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