Winter 2012 Early Impressions… Not Just Yet.

Well, I’ve watched the first episode of everything this season, excluding shorts and sequels to shows I didn’t watch first time around. Based on their first eps, I picked up around half of them (8 series) and dropped the rest. I’ve now seen three episodes of every show I picked up, and around about that time every season is when I usually post my early impressions of them all. But I won’t be doing so this time, because I’m seriously struggling to rank them.

Mirai Nikki Episode 15

The OP theme for this series has now changed… switching themes is hardly unusual, but I’d hoped from the fact they didn’t change it at the beginning of the new season (~ep 13-14) that the old one would be there to stay. The new song isn’t bad, but it’s not as good as the first in my opinion. Throwing in spoilers for what the un-revealed diary owners look like, and re-using the crazy Yuno animation from the first OP sequence instead of coming up with something new didn’t help, either. But meh, I’ll survive.

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Episode 15 begins with Yuki receiving an email from Deus… the other owners have been asking about Eighth’s future diary granting powers, wanting to know whether the usual rules apply to apprentice’s diaries, and whether the creation of apprentices is allowed to begin with. As a result, Deus invites them to the ‘Causality Cathedral’ to explain things… this meeting isn’t featured in this episode, though.

Mirai Nikki Episode 14

The advantage of watching Mirai Nikki late was the higher quality release – I watched the GotWoot version instead of GotSpeed. I’m impatient, and fully appreciate speed subs, but the video quality and typesetting were impressive, even if they’re not worth waiting several extra days for. Much like staying in 4* accommodation really, a nice treat every now and then, but I could live without such luxuries.

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Speaking of luxury hotels… the one where Yuki and friends are being held captive really isn’t.

GradStart Training Course

I’ll be away on a training course at Bangor University from later this afternoon until Thursday. It’ll be covering things that will supposedly increase my chances of finding employment – stuff like interview skills, CV pimping and finding my ‘unique selling point’ (apparently my awesome hair doesn’t count). This is the second time I’ve attended a graduate course there; the first was in 2010, a couple of weeks before I decided to start this blog actually. I found it informative, but decided to do an MSc instead of continuing to look for work, so most of what I learned last time has been replaced with info about wind farms. Hopefully this’ll refresh my memory, teach me new things, and finally lead to a job. If nothing else, it comes with 4* accommodation and free meals, which will be heavenly after two weeks without central heating!

However, I don’t know what the internet situation will be like there.

Overlooked: Kemono no Souja Erin

Alright then, time to push a second anime series that I think deserves more love onto anybody who’ll listen. And don’t worry, I believe this one should have wider appeal than Creamy Mami, even if its woefully low A-P view count would suggest otherwise. I’m talking about Kemono no Souja Erin, a fairly recent addition to my Top 50 anime list.

Mirai Nikki Episode 13

The 2012 Winter season has started at last, and so far has been better than I expected. Amagami was always going to be a safe bet, but I was quite pleased with the first episodes of Symphogear and Mouretsu Pirates as well. Nothing on the same level as Mirai Nikki yet, but this season’s horror offering Another should be out soon, here’s hoping it lives up to my high expectations!

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After defeating Kurusu, Yuki decided to take Yuno on a trip to see the stars. But when they reach the bus stop, Yuno prevents him from ringing the bell, instead convincing him to stay on the bus and travel to an even better place. Of course, there’s no knowing what constitutes a good place in Yuno’s mind…

Overlooked & Underrated: Magical Angel Creamy Mami

2012 has been a FANTASTIC year so far. No heating, terrible weather, and no electricity for most of yesterday afternoon. It also started with a week of virtually no new anime releases, Mirai Nikki included. So instead, my first post of the new year will be about an older series which I personally think more people should give a chance. That show is Magical Angel Creamy Mami. Perhaps not the best name they could have come up with, at least to western audiences – a friend of mine said it sounded like MILF porn, and while I don’t claim to be an expert in that area, I’ll agree that it does sound a bit dubious. But this anime is pretty SFW, aimed at younger audiences in fact.

So why, as a guy in my 20s, am I singing the praises of a little girl’s show instead of watching MILF porn? Good question, one that I’ll attempt to answer here.

Autumn 2011 Anime – Final Thoughts

A short concluding post to this season, since only 8 of the 17 series I picked up have come to an end. But that is a good thing; I wouldn’t want to have to pick up any more than 8 shows to replace them, there’s not much next season that appeals to me. Rankings-wise, nothing has moved up or down since my first impressions posts, but my overall thoughts or reasons for liking/disliking many of the series have developed and changed since then. So as usual, starting with the weakest:

8: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Maybe I’d have understood the plot if I’d tried harder, or maybe it really is just a strangely paced and overly complex mess that only makes sense if you’ve read the light novels. I don’t know. What I do know is, this anime was never a chore to watch. I never felt bored, it didn’t make me facepalm or headdesk in bewilderment, nor did it leave me angered at the wasted potential. I don’t know how it managed that, but the most negative thing I can say about Horizon is that I didn’t understand it, and probably won’t watch the sequel as a result.

Rating: 2.5/5

Mirai Nikki Episode 12

Slightly delayed due to Christmas, followed by internet trouble, but here we go again. I’ve finished most of the shows that were due to finish this season (Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon being the one exception, due to lack of subs), so you can expect my final thoughts on those sometime within the next week as well.

Also, starting in January, I plan to start posting semi-regularly about anime series that I consider to be overlooked or underrated, in an attempt to promote them or just remind/inform people that they exist (even if it is only read by a small audience in a dark corner of the internet, what harm could it do?).

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Continuing from last time, Yuki, Yuno and Minene (a temporary ally) have taken Kurusu Keigo’s wife and son hostage, as they prepare to negotiate with the detective himself. Minene, who probably has plenty of experience in these kinds of situations, gives the orders – Yuki is assigned the task of patrolling the hospital, and is given a grenade to use if their negotiations fail.

2011 Anime GARem!

This year has certainly been a better year than last for awesome male characters! Some of those which made my list fit the usual GAR requirements (inspiring, incredibly manly, look as though they could punch through a brick wall. Norio Wakamoto’s voice desirable, but not compulsory); however, I’ve thrown in a number of others who are just as awesome in other ways. Here it is: