Archive for January, 2010
Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆ 02
I know it’s definitely a ploy by SHAFT to cut back on the animation budget, but there were a lot of nice, clean wallpaper-worthy screens from this episode.
Winter 2010 First Impressions Part 2
Hanamaru Yochien: Surprisingly awesome. Had no idea what to expect with this show, and was pleasantly surprised by good platonic humor. Although I am a bit jealous of the facilities at Hanamaru, that two-story slide would’ve been awesome back when I was three-foot tall. The music in the show is soothing and goes really well with the show’s feel-good motif. And Hii-chan is the coolest kindergartner ever with a most epic ED.
Seikon no Qwasar: Too gimmicky. Sad to see all that awesome vocal talent go to waste. And the censorship really shows that it was pointless to air this series to begin with. Dropped.
Omamori Himari: Not much to see here. Dropped.
Dance of the Vampire Bund: Sorry SHAFT, I can only tolerate one stylistically experimental show per season, and this one doesn’t have Yoshinoya-sensei in it.
So looks like I’m sticking with SO•RA•NO•WO•TO, Hidamari Sketch, Ookami Kakushi, and Hanamaru Yochien. Overall, even though there isn’t a whole lot of originality, I’m pretty content with the new season. There’s obviously a lot less shows being made, but hopefully that leads to a higher signal to noise ratio.
Winter 2010 First Impressions
After going through the entire last season on Umineko alone, I couldn’t wait for January to roll around with the promise of less QUALITY. And for the most part, it delivered. Most of the shows below have been talked to death elsewhere so I’ll keep it short:
SO•RA•NO•WO•TO – Too early to judge, but the show’s got a definite charm and mystique to it. I got a real Haibane Renmei vibe with the story focusing on a group of female characters inhabiting a rather isolated town. The only thing that bugged me slightly was how the character designs seemed so detached from the backgrounds. Still, the last non-adaptation I watched, Sola, ended up being pretty decent, so I’m curious to see how this show will play out.
Ookami Kakushi – Finally, a Ryushiki07 story untainted by DEEN. The first episode was a bit of a Higurashi clone: lots of slice-of-life/moe scenes with a bit of yandere at the end hinting at what’s to come. The character designs are a bit too porcelein, but I can live with it.
Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆ – It’s business as usual, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I don’t have to wait an extra three weeks for my widescreen faces. All that’s missing are the completed OP and ED sequences. Can’t wait for the new marble single. Interestingly, I found more similarities with K-ON with Yuno’s make-up exam than Sora no Woto. The only thing that can ruin this show now is SHAFT’s dwindling budget (although those Bakemonogatari BD sales have to have helped).
Chu-Bra! – Cute and a somewhat interesting approach to the subject matter, but definitely looks like it’ll be a season’s worth of recycled gags.
Ladies Versus Butlers – It’s Kanokon with more nuditiy and a much less believable premise, if that was possible. Maybe will watch a couple more episodes.
Still not quite sure how I’ll handle the blogging, as I don’t have much to add episodic wise. But at least this season looks like it will give me more to write about.
