Deep Hibernation Update

It sure has been a while.

Anime Fascination’s second birthday passed quietly. I can’t say for sure if any more posts are coming, but it would seem a waste for me to just say it’s over. So we’ll see I guess. The post ideas are still on paper at least.

I find just enough time for anime, but that doesn’t leave much time for writing, except for the occasional tweet. This fall season has been a bit of a disappointment, but that does mean there are less shows to follow. As of now the watch list consists of Mawaru Penguindrum, Guilty Crown, and Mirai Nikki.

Mawaru Penguindrum has been a winding road with strong character development, adorable penguins, and a story that I look forward to concluding (unless they pull the “it was all a dream” crap). Guilty Crown is like a summer movie to me, lots of shallow action but little of substance. Mirai Nikki is just a good adrenaline rush.

-Regards until the next post,

Shadow

Summer Anime 2011: A Main Course Sized Appetizer?

Typically I find the Winter and Summer cycles of anime are nothing compared the Fall and Spring cycles. There are fewer quality shows and fewer shows overall. For example, last summer I only found High School of the Dead and Occult Academy worth watching, and both of those shows were pretty flawed. However, this Summer season is certainly atypical, with a huge palate of promising shows. It almost feels like Spring season all over again. This is a quick run down of what I’ve marked as worthy.

A Visual Feast of Erio Touwa’s Adorability [Warning: Image Heavy]

The one word I can use to describe Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is CUTE. Erio, Ryouko, and even Meme are some of the most adorable characters I’ve seen in a while.

Erio carries the show. She’s sincere, earnest, and occasionally fiery. The marine blue hair, eyes and nails are irresistible. You can see some of Meme in her (the smiles especially), although she isn’t nearly as lecherous as her mother, Erio may have a small mischievous streak (it might just be that smile of hers throwing me off though).

Her character design reminds me a lot of the female protagonists in JC Staff’s action shows like Aria of the Scarlet Ammo, Index, or Shakugan no Shana, but without the tsundere and terminology baggage those shows carry.

Given she’s one of my favorite characters this season, and in every episode she has at least one really adorable shot, I’ve compiled an Erio image collection from the first six episodes. I haven’t really figured out what to post about lately, but maybe this will make up for some of the inactivity. You can catch the images after the break. Enjoy!

Hanasaku Iroha and the Value of Anime Realism

It’s been a while and it’s good to be back for a check-in.

For one reason or another, I didn’t really get into Winter’s anime offerings, with the shows I initially liked all being fantasy focused (Madoka, Gosick, Fractale). What was missing was a show with something I’ve been craving lately: realism, but with a dash of good fictional narrative. This is what Hanasaku Iroha succeeds with.

There’s something to be said for the value of realism. I know anime is an animated medium, but lately I’ve yawned at all the outlandish shows being presented this season. Now I know that this is entertainment, so some escapism is called for, yet I’m growing tired of seeing “girl falling from sky,” circus prison extravaganza, medieval fighting between cat and dog humanoids, and the like. I’m much more receptive to an entertaining story within a foundation that is very believable and almost seems like it comes straight out a real-life experience.

Shadow’s Tweet Digest #2

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I’ve actually been following and watching the new Spring Season, but just haven’t found time to put some thoughts down except for Twitter. I’ve decided to collect them here:

About Spring Anime Season 2011:

Hanasaku Iroha is my favorite show so far. It’s an excellent combination of beautiful animation, believable (yet interesting) story, and strong cast.

Sket Dance is a decent shounen, and I say decent because of my instant like of characters named Hime (maybe I’ll touch on that in a post later).

Denpa Onna Futon Girl is a less disorienting, more appealing version of Arakawa. It’s should be fun to follow this odd relationship.

C seems ok, except not a whole lot makes sense. It seems they combined Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, and some other battle show where people can create swords from thin air to create some incoherent battle system.

Deadman Wonderland was ok, but didn’t exactly exclaim “pay attention to me because I’m quality!” It feels like a series of dangerous stunts will be used as arcs for character growth or something, and the paper thin back story doesn’t help the show any.

OP / ED Highlights of Winter Season 2011

Just dropping by to name some of my favorite OP/EDs of the 2011 Winter season. I also have to say that the season has been surprisingly strong for a transition season between Fall and Spring, with several shows that I like, but will probably never get to watching (this will be detailed later).

About the only thing I see keep track of (with lessening frequency) are the OP/ED songs each season to see if there’s some new catchy Jpop around. I’m not much of a musician or a music writer, so the commentaries will be short. With that let’s begin:

Shadow’s Tweet Digest #1

Since I keep my Twitter private, I thought I might put a selection of my tweets up here for digestion. I usually have more time to put out a tweet than a post nowadays.

To expand a bit, I was certainly surprised that Magica Madoka is a fair bit darker and sinister than your typical magical girl show. That alone is interesting, and makes me put it as the single show I should watch this season if possible. Infinite Stratos is attractive mainly for its female cast and Dragon Crisis has that really cool badass cousin of the main character or something.

Besides that I mainly muse over music. I’m really liking Kana Nishino and JASMINE’s new releases. Both have been on daily repeat. DEBUTANTE is a series of vocaloid songs from various composers in the scene using various vocaloids and is definitely worth checking out. The first half of DEBUTANTE IV is great, the second half less so.

For some reason I think that SCANDAL is a less talented, more sexed up ZONE. Their songs don’t seem to vary that much. Besides the main vocalist, the other members of the band should not be singing. Despite these issues, I still like them as a group and will follow their releases, although they haven’t come out with anything particularly good in a while.

Shadow’s Summer 2010 Anime Recap: Awesome Swordgirls and Misleading Ghost Stories

While I’ve basically stopped watching anime for the time being, this doesn’t mean I’ve stopped following releases. I’ve basically relegated myself to following screen caps from Random Curiosity and Tenka Seiha to get a gist of the story and watch for eye candy since I have zero time to follow any anime series regularly.

The last season I dedicated quality time to was Summer 2010 and I hope to begin a series where I provide a personal recap of the season as it completes. So here is a belated telling of one blogger’s Summer 2010 anime experience.

Status Update: Hibernation?

Hi there, long time no see. I decided to put up a post to indicate that this blog is not dead, but is likely in hibernation mode. I took Autumn anime season off (although I’ve added several shows to my back log) and I’m leaning towards taking Winter off as well. In between the intense amount of school work , I barely have time to sleep and catch my breath, let alone watch anime.

I thought about instituting a season wrap-up post format because I am always excited for the start of anime seasons. It’s the following through to the end that doesn’t happen as much anymore. I’d probably document what I was excited for, what I discovered, what I watched, and what I put on an endless backlog I may or may not get to completing.

I find it’s like the first day of school, where you are excited to see what your classroom or professors are like, but after that first day the luster is gone and you realize you’re in school. Anime is like that for me, where I’m excited to see what’s on at first, but after that first episode I realize I’m losing my interest in anime.

I’ve been through a phase like this before, and have bounced back, but it does take time. However I do always keep tabs on what is on each season and tend to follow shows through Random Curiosity screencap posts rather than spend the 20+ minutes a week (given my already lack of leisure time). I haven’t found anything particularly compelling so far.

In the meantime, I do want to put up short posts on occasional things, and my twitter (twitter.com/claymoreblade) is a bit more active than the blog. I may start putting up my tweets in place of blog posts since my twitter is private.

I will put up a couple posts talking about how the recent anime seasons have gone for me. As for the rest, we’ll see I guess, but since I’ve stuck this blog at the front of my “Bookmarks Bar” I do not plan on complete abandonment anytime soon.

Picture: Yui from K-ON asleep next to her guitar “Gita” (Source: http://www.lw-concepts.com/lw/?p=761)

Highschool of the Dead 12 – Zombie Anti-Climax [SAEKO SWORDPLAY] (END)

Let me start by saying that I somewhat hoped, although doubted, that Madhouse would give us an original ending. They stuck with something I’ve noticed as a trend, sticking relatively close to the manga and leave an open ending if the manga is ongoing. While this episode really wasn’t interesting outside of finally bringing back some zombie slaying, there were a few bright points I’ll touch on in stream of consciousness format.