Fall 2009 Anime Season (Updated 10/18)

No-one has created a collection of cool previews like they did for this past summer’s anime` season, so I guess we’ll just have to download stuff at random to get an idea of the good shows. Anime News Network has a list and some reviews, so at least we know the names of the shows, or at least most of them.

Here’s the usual OO breakdown, with the bolded series ones I’ve actually seen.

• 11 Eyes — I didn’t expect much from an eroge game. I guess it’s faithful to the original, but who cares about another T&A series?
• Asura Cryin’ 2 — More ghost panty-shots. Blech.
• Book of Bantorra — An awesome concept, but the animation is like watching an edited-for-TV softcore porn movie. How many slow-mo boob shots can you fit into one show, guys?
• Kampfer — The concept is about a guy who transforms into a girl and the girl he has a crush on is a secret lez. No thanks.
• Inuyasha: The Final Act — I’ve never liked this series, so I didn’t bother.
• Kiddy Girl and… — A poor man’s SF series with the emphasis on bouncing boobs and guess what?
• Kimi no Todoke — It’s interesting. It’s a romance, but it’s also emotionally gritty and real about h.s. I’m not sure if it works or not.
• Kobato — It’s ok. It’s a magical girl/wide-eyed innocence sort of story. The dog is way too harsh, which makes it feel disjointed.
• Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 2 — I saw an episode or two of the first series. This is more of the same. Pervy h.s. trash.
• Nyan Koi — Awesome idea (guy cursed to hear what cats are thinking), but porno execution. Cuss words every twenty seconds don’t help. Geez. Typical anime` fail.
• Queen’s Blade: Gyokuza no Tsugumono — More hentai.
• The Sacred Blacksmith — A decent medieval-esque idea, but the execution? You guessed it: panty-shot time.
• Sitokai No Ichizon — This is your typical pervy school harem series. Nothing that you haven’t seen before in Shuffle, School Days, or a thousand others.
• Shugo Chara Party! — A train wreck of live action, super cuteness, and 12-year-old attitude. I feel like I lost a significant portion of my IQ by just watching it.
• Tegami Bachi — I’m not usually a fan of shonen series, but this one has some depth. It has a steampunk vibe to it, too. Tasty!
• To Aru Kagaku no Railgun — Pervy school/superhero mix. Again, nothing interesting here.
• Trapeze — An anime` that tries to channel David Lynch and fails miserably. The problem is the source material, which is unoriginal, although the mixture of animation styles don’t work well, either.
• White Album 2 — More horrific Wuthering Heights-esque emotional torture where there’s no-one to root for.
• Yumeiro Patissiere — Looks pretty good. It’s a school series where a girl follows her dream of being a patissiere — a designer of sweets.

So out of all the new series, Tegami Bachi and Yumeiro Patissiere look like definite wins, Kimi no Todoke is interesting, and Kobato is a maybe.

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Closing the White Album

Hope springs eternal, as does futility. Ever since To Heart and To Heart: Remember My Memories, I’ve held out hope for Aquaplus. Those series were landmarks in the history of anime`. Since then I’ve viewed with a skeptical eye anything that they’ve done, because of such sucky series as ef. Anyhow, White Album is another Aquaplus offering and while it doesn’t completely suck, it’s not really worth watching, either.

The problem is that the main character, Fujita, is generally an immoral man-whore who just floats from one attractive female to the next, regardless of the consequences that his actions engender. He has no real concern for the girl he supposedly loves, either. This makes the series difficult to appreciate, as you’re left hoping (in vain) that he’ll get his head screwed on straight. After ten episodes, he hasn’t, so I doubt he ever will. (Ten episodes? Yeah, I’m a patient guy.)

It’s really the plot, moving things forward a steady pace, like the ache of an old wound, that keeps whatever interest the series deserves, alive. Other supporting reasons are the insight into Japan’s idol world, and the ending song, which is more emotional than the entire series. That’s another strange thing about this — there’s no real emotional content to speak of. There’s one episode and that’s it. The rest of the time, the series bumbles about underneath a damp and suffocating blanket of sentimentality. Anyhow, here’s the short review.

Ep 1 — Good. Looks promising. Emotional at the edge of being too much. Real characters. The first scene is a winner.
Ep 2 — Ok. Some profanities, one stupid risque dialog (very short) though. Feels like it’s going to be a harem kind of thing. The ending theme and animation really grows on you.
Ep 3 — Ok. The plot thickens. Some weird risque text at the beginning makes you think that trash is on the way, but it’s not. I honestly have no idea about the idol world of Japan, so what’s happening here doesn’t make much sense. I mean, why did Fujita-kun get fired? Because he waved to Rina? I guess…The characters seem to be basically either leading others on or seeing what they can get away with, which is a bummer. You keep waiting to see if they will turn out good or what the reason is for them acting the way they do.
Ep 4 — Ambivalent. More romantic, but what happens at the end? What I mean is what happens what I think happens? One profanity.
* Ep 5 — Very good. What the idol co. is doing to Fujita is heart-rending. Complex.
Ep 6 — Ok. I think this will take 2 years to play out! Has the feel of a collegic soap opera. Finally some consequences for Fujita’s lying.
Ep 7 — Ok, still more torturously-slow unfurling, but some interesting bit about Haraku, and Fuji’s tutoring subject is revealed. Two profanities.
Ep 8 — Ehh. I guess it was inevitable, for Fuji to succumb to Yaso’s charms. The cruelty here directed against Fuji, for no real reason, is something profoundly evil. More complexity for the sake of complexity. It’s odd how this series has few real emotional moments.
Ep 9 — Eeh. It’s more of the same anime` we’ve seen before — things are revealed without any sort of foreshadowing. The whole thing about Miksaki’s play just rings hollow because we were never told about it until the freaking last minute. And Fuji declaring his love for her — why would he? I just don’t get that. It’s kind of unbelievable. There’s no risque junk, a few profanities, but it’s just unbelievable. It really sticks in my craw because the series tries to be deep and serious, referencing Conan Doyle, Robert Browning, and Greek mythology, only to end up with something that’s nowhere close in terms of epic scope, heroic characters, or emotions.
Ep 10 — Wha-a? Apparently there’s something bad coming, but why do we have to wait and wait for some emotional payoff that never comes? I’m tired of waiting after ten episodes.

Welcome to the graveyard, White Album.

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