Thursday, July 19, 2012

Summer Anime 2012

Since a few weeks have passed since the start of this new season, I thought I should go over what I'm watching. A simple first look at things, not an in-depth review. Before we start, there's also a poll I've set up. I'll be adding new ones every now and then.

Campione!
When I saw the promotional art, I knew that it wasn't going to be anything special. Yes, I do have an extra sense that tells what's going to be good just by looking at the cover. Only works with anime, though. The first episode was kinda poop but it all changed at episode 2. It suddenly became lots of fun to watch because of the generic anime plot elements. In fact, it was so generic that it kind of felt like parody. Still, not recommended but I'm having fun with it.

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
I picked this up completely on a whim and I didn't really know what to expect. What I got was a cute, cynical comedy that has a unique style. The comedy style seems to be a bit different than most. I don't really know how to describe it. It is a bit cynical but but not entirely. Also, the unique art style is very appealing to me.

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
A harem series that I picked up because I knew it would be entertaining. Of course, that's what ended up happening. Not really sure what to say since it's just another harem with a different setting. It also features chocolate and politics, as the name implies.

Kokoro Connect
I was looking forward to this one for a while. A slice of life series that deals with body swapping. Very funny at times and the antics that ensue are also fun. I'm really enjoying this one. I'm pretty sure you'll notice that the character designs look like modern KyoAni. That's because the character designer of K-ON did the art for the original light novel. I was disappointed that KyoAni didn't animate this, though. It would've made sense but I guess it didn't happen. Silver Link is doing it instead and they're doing a pretty decent job at it. The animation itself still has a sort of "cheapness" to it, since the studio isn't really known for their spectacular animation.

Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
A generic harem series that was obviously made to sell. If you didn't know this already, then you are a fool. Despite how generic it is, I'm still enjoying this. The story has no substance whatsoever but it's still good fun to watch.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II
A direct continuation of the first series. I have no idea what's going on but I like it. Yes, that's Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon. It doesn't look like they changed much from production, though correct me if I'm wrong. It's still as fun as always. My only problem is that I didn't rewatch the first season so I'm still confused as to what's going on. But I'm slowly remembering what happened as time goes on.

Moyashimon Returns
The microbes are back with all new adventures..... is what I would say if that's what this series was about. It's just more slice of life adventures in an agriculture college that involves a main character that can see microbes. Still just as good as the first series, though they changed the character designs for some reason. It was a really weird change and I really would like to know why this happened. It doesn't matter too much since I'm really liking this series.

Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse
Adding to what I said from my AX post. I was able to watch the first two episodes again, as well as episode three, by myself and I actually enjoyed it more. I guess I hate watching things with other people. It still isn't very good, though. The opening song is just bad. I have no idea what they were thinking with this. The show still suffers from atrocious direction. The animation looks cheap a lot of the time. I know that using CG for the mechs saved the studio a lot of money but it's just terrible anytime you use it. The fight scenes lost a lot of life because of this and, in the end, felt very stale. I'm still enjoying it since the characters are entertaining and the voice acting is pretty good. Ono Daisuke and Tomokazu Sugita are back again! The end is predictable but Muv-Luv is all about the ride there.
EDIT: It seems that the director was replaced with someone else in the middle of production and the whole studio is a mess. The cause seems to be a work overload and not enough resources to finish it all. It really baffles me how this could've happened in the first place. I really hope that the studio can recover from all this.

Sword Art Online
Another series that I was really looking forward to. Every episode seems to deliver and I look forward to watching it every week. The concept itself is interesting, you're stuck in a video game and you can't get out until you beat the game. It kind of has the survival aspect that I enjoy. Can't really say much else since the story feels like it hasn't opened up yet.

Tari Tari
A nice slice of life show by P. A. Works. The gimmick of this one is music, more specifically, the choir club. It's nice and I really like it so far. It does suffer from a lot of generic events and I can kinda predict how this will end but I still enjoy it.

So those are all of the new series I'm watching this season. In addition, I'm still watching the series that are still going on from last season.

So what are you guys watching?

1 comment:

  1. I'm watching Binbougami ga! and I'm planning on watching Muv Luv and Jinrui but nothing else really grabs my attention. I may try out SAO but I just can't shake the feeling that it's going to devolve into really stupid shit over the course of the season.

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