Nearing the end of the season with only a week to go, but a few titles close out early this one, and I also power-houred through another show in the post-season bliss and am including that in this post for some substance. Cause you know, I have all this free time now that I don’t have a job. -_-
JC Staff’s high school comedy/drama Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, a story about kids going to a prestigious school for the arts but living in an off-campus dorm with other social misfits, was just plain fun. I’ll admit, there were times when watching it was just plain infuriating. At times, it was extremely hard to get with the overall plot of artistically gifted high schoolers who lack social graces all living together and trying to best themselves in their respective fields while dealing with each other’s interpersonal skills. It was hard because after you thought they evolved past their problems, they’d take four steps back and HURF DURR DERP back to being retarded about life. I suppose this makes them human really, or I am just that fucking dense. But you know what? It worked. Sakurasou was one of the better high school slice-of-life/drama shows I have watched in a few years, and I did end up losing a tear or two towards the end with Nanami and Mashiro. They might not have been the brightest bulbs in the bunch often when it came to dealing with Kanda, but then he was King Stupid more times than not. But this is a show that didn’t entirely regress back to its start at any point through the broadcast, it just kept going. Several directions maybe, but going. If you take away anything from watching this show, is that being a talented, gifted individual, but being completely socially oblivious to others around you, makes you a colossal asshole, unless your female and naive, then it makes you cute. Go figure.
Title: Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
Sub Group I Watched: Horrible
Episodes: 24
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Misaki Kamiigusa
Least Favorite Character(s): Rita Ainsworth
SHIPPING: Kanda x Mashiro (Sorry Nanami)
Ryuunosuke: Honestly, he was the most interesting character in the show. You don’t see him for much of the first episodes, but once he emerges, he plays a poker face character that is just funny as hell while maintaining the story. Plus Maid-chan > *
Second Season? I’m not sure how far out the LN went past the events in the last episode, certainly they got new members, so more could be had, but since BT hasn’t gotten that far on the LNs, I’m left to speculate. Perhaps someone who knows moonrunes can fill me in?
Every time I compile my watchlist for the season, I always end up missing one or two shows everyone else is watching but I’m over here going LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF NOT ENOUGH PYLONS WARPING IN or something. Mondaiji tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo, or simply Mondaiji was a ten-episode show based on the Light Novel about kids who are brought to a world governed by games and fantasy creatures. They’re immediately met by a rabbit girl named Black Rabbit, who is among the Rabbit Clan who referee and judge games. Each kid has a special power referred to in-series as “Gifts”. In addition to games, most of the world’s inhabitants, made of of various fantasy creatures like fairies and vampires, along with animal-humans like cats, rabbits, dogs, and so on, all form “Communities” that serve as homes, farms for food and water, and representatives for battle. The kids join the No-Names, a group of people who do not belong to a Community due to theirs being disbanded or absorbed by another in a game. Izayoi, Asuka, and You decide to team up with the No-Name group and win back their land, flag, and honor, from the various Demon Lords and other Communities in Little Garden.
Think Dog Days meets Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (the GBA game). The three are summoned to the world, thrust into the games, and join a clan to fight for supremacy. Black Rabbit is effectively the judge, even going so far as to suspend a game on allegations of misconduct. I was a bit dismayed this was only ten episodes, it was fast-paced and fantastic with minimal downtime and maximum fun. The main characters were a bit cut-and-dry, once you know them, they don’t change much, and you’re often impressed at how they’re so good at their powers without much effort. Black Rabbit is really the star of the show both in terms of driving the story and in learning more about her role in Little Garden, which gains some hints, but does not flesh out by the end. Overall, this is a show worth watching to anyone who is a fan of the above two mentioned titles, or a fan of fantasy-themed shows. I seriously hope they plan on making more.
Title: Mondaiji tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo
Sub Group I Watched: Commie
Episodes: 10
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Kurousagi (Black Rabbit)
Least Favorite Character(s): Laius Perseus
Favorite of the Tri-Force: Izayoi Sakamaki
Shiroyasha: Who does she remind me of…
GOOD GOD MAN MOAR? Seriously, why did this run only ten episodes? Not enough source material? Or testing the waters? Needs MOAR.
5pb’s latest foray into VN-turn-anime was Robotics;Notes, a show loosely-based in the same world as their previous title, Steins;Gate, but focused on a new set of characters on an island town outside of the city and a school robotics club founded by a girl years past, and passed to her little sister. But underneath the lazy school days and many rounds of KILL-BALLAD was a plot to eradicate humanity by inciting solar flares, manipulating governments, JAXA officials, and the very same girl who founded a robot club. If Steins;Gate was any indication, we should have gotten one hell of an anime adaptation of a visual novel, but I feel like we did not. Certainly, Notes was a great show, no doubt about it, but SG always had a dark, looming feeling about it that made you really grip your seat sometimes, especially at the end of the episodes, combined with that awesome ED, it was really great to watch. Notes took a more comedic approach to everything and put a little more stock in the characters, and tried to lay out a course for Big Bad to follow. It became a little obvious halfway in how the end was going to unfold, once we knew Misa was being controlled, it was only a matter of time before they whirled around to the opening of the first episode, put the episode on auto-pilot, and slo-mo’d to the finish. It was an ending that while fitting, did not satisfy. I enjoyed Nae’s appearance though, and wished we had maybe a little more touch of SG characters in it just to make it interesting. I still recommend watching, but like the Enertron in Chrono Trigger, you’ll still feel hungry after getting out.
Title: Robotics;Notes
Sub Group I Watched: Commie
Episodes: 22
Rating (1-10): 8
Favorite Character: Kona “Frau Bow” Furugoori
Least Favorite Character(s): Kou Kimijima
Gunbuild 1 or 2? 1. Original flavor always wins.
Why I Want a IRU-O: This series kind of pushed the concept of handheld tablets to something doable with current technology, I would like to see someone really try to market this better.
What is Next for 5pb: I don’t know, I’m sure they have something, I just don’t know what, but I would like to see more Steins;Gate honestly. I think it was the strongest of the three they’ve put out so far, and certainly the most fun.
More reviews coming next week as most shows close out their season. Only Space Brothers continues into the next season, everything else wipes out and I’ll start clean with new shows. Check out the poster post from before or the sidebar as I update that this wee. Forward Spring~
