More Summer Rants!

So this rant is a little bit late then I intended, but it’s the third and final instalment for my summer rants! If I had the time or motivation, I might have done something more detailed like I did in spring but… a lot of it is very underwhelming, I’ll probably go off on a tangent with Mawaru Penguindrum again and I really, really have no time right now @_@

As usual, I list the anime according to my preferences. While the previous summer rants showed some promise, the second half of this post is congested with all the not-that-great anime that everyone had been expecting from the summer.

But whatever. My favourite for this season is probably going to end up as one of my all-time favourites, so I’m just going to mention it once more since I can’t get enough of it.

Mawaru Penguindrum 

Family drama where little sis dies, but then she gets resurrected after being possessed by a penguin hat.

I’ve got my special rant for it right here, but long story short – it’s my favourite for this season. The questioning of fate, the light hearted humour, the ridiculous situations with the round round penguins and that tang of family angst is just perfect. Definite recommendation! I’ve watched the first episode about 6 times and the second one about 3 or 4. I am not obsessed.

Thank God it’s lined up for 24 episodes!

Usagi Drop/Bunny Drop

30-year-old dude goes off to his Grandpa’s funeral, where he and the rest of his family discovers that the old man still had some spunk in him and had been hiding his youngest, 7-year-old daughter.

Well I’ve read the manga and already know how things are gonna get down, so I suppose my liking for this might be a tad bit biased. But I really, really liked how in the first few minutes everything was in watercolour – the transition made it seem as if meeting Rin really change his life. Daikichi is one of my favourite characters this season, especially with the way he keeps taking everything in stride as if it isn’t a big deal at all. The story itself is really quite ordinary, but it’s those special characters and the way they interact that make Usagi Drop really special. If you’re a slice of life fan, this is a must-watch.

No. 6

Kid A is about to go to some genius school in same sci-fi city. Kid B is on the run from the government in some sci-fi city. Then, uh, boy meets boy.

Lol my memory really failed me this time. After the first 5 minutes of this show I’m like ‘Hey, this show is pretty familiar’. 10 minutes into the show I’m all ‘holy shit I read the manga!’. Anyway, despite the everything-but-explicitly-announced-shounen-ai that I’m not that much a fan of, I do like the sort of psychological outtake this anime taking. The concept of some new sci-fi city reminds me a little about Index, and for the summer it’s got one of the more interesting story lines. Plus,the OP is one of my faves for this season so go check it out! I love the feeling it gives off =D

Dantalian no Shoka/Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian

Dude gets to inherit practically everything from his Grandpa, goes over to his house and finds a little girl in the basement… this isn’t Usagi Drop right?

Hmm… it was good I suppose. The main flaw I found with Dantalian no Shoka is how the characters didn’t seem very good at expressing emotions since their reactions to everything was pretty bland. Either the main dude is the sort of person who can really remain calm despite all the fantasy whish-wash going around him or the story planning wasn’t all that great. Despite all that, I do find it interesting and really liked the prologue, so I’ll keep watching.

Blood-C

Blood series. High school girl with sword. Hacks at demons. Anything else?

Honestly speaking, even though this is a CLAMP work I’m having quite a lot of trouble trying to like it. I suppose if I take a step back and see it as a separate work, it’ll be a lot easier – but as with Gate 7, it’s as if CLAMP has worked on too many manga to the point where what they create is already generic. The cute and clumsy heroine, some older character in a café, another aloof mysterious guy, the presence of twins, etc etc etc… Plus it’s been 2 episodes already and I see almost no development. The 2^nd episode was like a repeat of the first – except that it was restructured. It’s not horrible, it’s not good and bluntly put it’s not really interesting. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say that it’s – well, boring.

The Idolm@ster

Dude gets to be the producer of an idol agency which is severely lacking in staff and clients.

Hmm… A spamming of something like 12 or 15 or 74 girls kind of anime – yep, the usual harem. While this sort of anime would usually turn me off, I’m actually quite enjoying it. Despite the fact that the protagonist is supposed to be Mr. Producer, the anime focuses more on the girls hence making them seem more special. If anything, the main dude is the background character that is really there to be a friggin producer instead of banging all the girls. I’m seriously hoping I’m not speaking too soon.

Morita-san wa Mukuchi

Extremely quiet girl, but not speaking coz she don’t wanna, but coz she thinks too much about what to say.

Another of those 5 minute shows – it’s got that very light humour that I find amusing, but not something I would be looking forward to every week. It’s got a very moe atmosphere going on, and rather than depending on the situations to create the humorous scenes, they utilise the characters personalities. Short and sweet does it. Worth the watch!

Uta no Prince-sama – Maji Love 1000%

Some idol school where half the students will sing and dance, the other half will write songs and nobody choreographs the dancing. Didn’t anyone notice this gaping hole??

Adapted from an otome game, it’s like a mashing up of La Cordo D’Oro and Starry Sky. I honestly couldn’t stop laughing the moment the first episode started with the dancing and singing reverse harem. Similar to how some things that look OK in anime look super weird in real life, I have realised the full potential of how weird animated characters look when they dance in an anime to glow sticks, especially as an idol group. They also spent about 20 seconds asking if you were friggin ready but I suppose that’s the part where the fangirls would go all ‘kyaa kyaaa!‘. I cheated and just read the whole otome game play so I won’t be watching this any further, but the art, animation and music is quite nice. And if you like the reverse harem sort of story… well this is the one for the summer =D

Double J

Girls and some weird club kind of story.

Pretty much the same as what I mentioned in Morita-san wa Mukuchi, although there’s less of a story to build up on. The characters drawings aren’t particularly top notch (to say in the least), I like the different way they create the backgrounds. Still, it is just  ±5 minutes, so it’s a worth a couple of chuckles your way.

R-15

A prodigal erotic novel writer enters a high school full of every other prodigy after being glared at by girls throughout middle school. Has (some sort of) harem that consists of clarinet girl, camera girl a few other girls and what seems to be a boy.

It’s another one of those ‘special school’ manga (this has to be the third or fourth one this season). The protagonist is super weird, some of the geniuses don’t even make sense (how the hell is one a ‘genius reporter’?!) and it’s just the usual censored fan service anime. While it’s all pretty generic, R-15 has managed to shoot past the maximum level of stupidity an anime can handle with its protagonist leading the way.

Strangely enough for me, it got stupid enough to be amusing instead of just being plain bad.

Mayo Chiki!

Girl cross-dresses as guy to remain as butler for her ojou-sama. Kind of like Sebastian and Ciel, but with reverse personalities and a way crappier storyline.

This is one of the worst attempts I’ve seen at a gender bender. Honestly speaking it’s as if she’s not even trying to look like a guy. I thought it she was a girl at first sight (it took quite awhile to realise she was supposed to be a guy. Then they revealed that she’s a girl. Who you trying to kid people?!) which just killed the genre the story revolves around. I don’t know how much being a butler means to her, but she’s really not cautious about it (‘forgetting’ to bind your chest? That like forgetting to put on your friggin bra) and in the least she could cut her hair. Her ojou-sama acts like a wannabe freak, and the protagonist doesn’t make sense either. I highly doubt you get nosebleeds from being close to an allergen – this show just proves he’s an even bigger pervert than that dude from R-15.

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi/A Dark Rabbit has Seven Lives

Was suppose to save girl years ago, but since he made some contract when he was a kid of course he doesn’t remember it. She waited for years being tortured in some weird place trusting he would come for her. I believe that she’s an M.

It’s like Kore wa Zombie Desu ka, but a lot less funny and a lot more lame – I found it such a waste of time. In a way the feeling I get from it is kind of like from Sacred Seven, but at least then I could laugh at how the main dude kept acting cool. This is just another one of those contract ones, with the female lead believing in the main dude no matter what, a lot of touchy touchy skin-ship in the beginning when they’re both underage (questionable for her) and although the ending of the first episode was supposedly a cliff hanger, I felt all… Yay. Good riddance. Story’s finished. The end. Let’s move on before it gets worse.

Ro-Kyu-Bu

Dude gets blackmailed by older sis to coach sixth-graders in basketball. Of course he seems to have some painful past with basketing the ball but I wouldn’t know much since I didn’t get past half an episode.

I got extremely bored and just never watched it again. It says it’s a basketball anime, but usually the art reflects the story – and from the art you can pretty much tell it’s just a loli anime with a basketball side dish. Besides, the protagonist was such a wimp he got blackmailed by his sis who threatened to publish his elementary school essay – well dude, it’s too bad you didn’t write something about Newton’s Law, but is writing an essay about your mom from wayyyy back going to make anyone look at you any different? Seriously.

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel

Usual mahou shoujo anime. But somehow more obscene and annoying than usual.

Usually mahou shoujo anime are geared toward little girls, who love the idea of transforming into pretty dresses and having magic powers. Along the way it picks up a few loli otakus who like to watch the same mahou shoujo in their pretty dresses. Quite obscenely, the aim of this anime seems to be the reverse – drag in those loli otakus, and some little girls might like this anime at the same time. Apparently it’s adapted from some pachinko game, so besides raising questions about quite a disturbing target audience, Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel is simply so dully generic that you’ve watched this anime albeit in a few different versions.

And will someone make them stop giggling before I shoot something.

Manyuu Hikenchou

In an era where the size of your boobs determine your position in society, there’s a clan that offers some boob-cutting services. They meet all your boob-cutting needs.

If you’re a girl, watch this with the risk of being scarred for life. If you’re a guy, don’t waste your time on all the censored fan service. The opening scene of Manyuu Hikenchou practically traumatised me – it’s an anime where they friggin cut off women’s boobs. If it’s a little hard for guys to grasp this trauma, in a reverse world it would be an anime about cutting off your best friend down there. This isn’t an ecchi anime. It’s a horror anime.

Even if you’re into some really kinky shit, don’t waste your time since they laser-censor everything. Heck, half the anime is just made up of those lasers flashing everywhere. So much laser, in fact, that at the end of the first episode it seemed that I was shitting my pants for no reason since they laser off boobs as well instead of hacking em off. Whatever the method, there’s no way I’m watching this. Ever. Again.

Besides, the story was another weird fan service centred storyline anyway – which means that it was really weird and really sucked.