Three new season premieres, A Channel, SKET Dance, and Steins;Gate to review today, along with this week’s GOSICK and the end of Yumekui Merry. Hold on to your grandmas…
The ending to Yumekui Merry tells me one of two things, either the earthquake crimped what might’ve been an awesome ending, or they figured that they would get green-lit for a second season and pretty much slide through the final episode. Either was, I was massively disappointed in this finale. Without getting into a rant about “playing it safe” in the anime business, Merry was an excellent series from start to finish overall, with a unique story and characters worth their pennies. What I didn’t like was the final few episodes with the Mistleteen fight, and Merry. Neither of them, who were played up strongly in the beginning of the series, were explained or really resolved at the end. They didn’t even really explain Merry and her existence, or how they won the fight without damaging Isana’s dream (who we SAW the demon disappear, does that mean Merry actually sends them back?) I still recommend this to watch, but if you’re a completion kinda person like me, the ending will disappoint.
Title: Yumekui Merry
Sub Group I Watched: Ayako, gg
Episodes: 13
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Yui
Least Favorite Character: Rice Fucker
Favorite Dream Demon: Engi, Chaser
Biggest RAGE Moment: for fucks sake Yumeji, PUNCH THE MOTHERFUCKING RICE FUCKER IN HIS SMUG SNAKE FACE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FUCK!
Useless Auxiliary Characters: Tits and Poem Guy (I can’t even be bothered to look up their names they’re that auxiliary)
GOSICK 12 doesn’t delve into a mystery this week, but shows us more HHNNNGGGG faces of Victorique as she admits to herself that she enjoys Kujo’s company all too much, so much he forgos a trip to the Mediterranean Sea with Avril to spend summer vacation with her solving little puzzles his brother sent from Japan. You also get to see some flashbacks of his childhood, how he was the GIRL of his family, and some other probably useful later on stuff. Just pay attention to Victorique’s face, the expressions are priceless.
A Channel is yet-another SoL comedy series, this from Aniplex/Studio Gokumi, the former being responsible for such series as this season’s Dog Days, Bakemonogatari, Angel Beats and more, and the latter being responsible for Koe de Oshigoto! whose second OVA airs this month. Compared to Nichijou, I’d say this is a little less wacky and a little more “random on accident” even though there is nothing accidental about random SoL school comedy. Rather, where Nichijou plays a little more closer to Pani Poni Dash, A Channel plays a little closer to K-ON! Oh, and Tooru reminds me of Mikoto from Mai-HiME, always hanging around Mai and fending off potential lookers (in Otome moreso)
TLDR Watch This: You like cute girls doing cute things, potentially with candy and baseball bats
TLDR Don’t Watch This: You aren’t an idiort and have to choose either this, or Nichijou.
Sub Group: EveTaku
First Rating: 7
SKET Dance follows a little school club that does… well… things for people. It seems like a ghetto version of KEY Club or whatever the fuck they called it when I was in high school, a club mind you I was part of for all of maybe a couple months before I realized it was shit. Anyway, a transfer student comes in and already gets into trouble with an old bully and gets caught up in the club and pretty much will end up being the new member, some other random shit, tomboy girl who clubs people, mute with a computer trying to be the not-gimpy Stephen Hawking who ends up being as creepy as Voyeur from Baka Test. This is what Ookami-san would be stripped down of as many characters.
TLDR Watch This: You like your girls trying to kill you, think Switch is going to die (again) in the Matrix
TLDR Don’t Watch This: If anything else is on
Sub Group: Horrible
First Rating: 7
Steins;Gate is as much as I described in my Twitter reaction, a cross between Welcome to the NHK and any sci-fi timetraveling series or game, in the case of The Journeyman Project. Here a “mad scientist” seems to be trying to do something with not-so-future gadgets with a girl and a nerd in tow, meanwhile he thinks he crossed dimensions or time when he witnesses the murder of a girl who he later sees perfectly fine. If you’ve watched Chaos;Head this will be familiar to you, though I am told they are standalone series, I probably will give it a watch though, despite /a/’s opinion on it.
TLDR Watch This: If you thought it was pretty cheeky of Dr. Sinclair to invent time travel and then sabotage Earth’s entry into the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings.
TLDR Don’t Watch This: You wonder why altered history evil masterminds wear all black.
Sub Group: Commie
First Rating: 7
Premiering this weekend is Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi and next Friday, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko. Hidan no Aria premieres sometime, not sure when. Also, still no word on Madoka, much to my dismay. At this rate, Portal 2 will be out before Madoka does, hell, Duke Nukem Forever will be out before Madoka is.
