Demonstrating my power of Mad Hatter-ness (yes, I used to have the hat, it was quite nice) I officially called my third series drop in the lifetime of this blog. SKET Dance has been replaced with AnoHana, and I dunno why I didn’t do it sooner to be honest.
The biggest problem with this show, and what prompted me to finally drop it, is it’s inconsistency. Those who follow my blog should understand one fundamental rule in how I perceive a series, and that is do whatever you want, but don’t deviate too far from it. That is to say that while “LOL TWISTS” and story-180s shouldn’t be done, but if you’ve established something, stick to it as much as possible. What makes moeshit series and fanservice series good is the fact that they don’t try to be srsbins shows. Take Nichijou for example, a lot of folks rank it in their bottom 10, myself included, but it’s not because it’s a bad show, it’s because it’s not out to have a plot and developing characters like more serious shows, it’s out to have a good time and be funny about it, and there is a place for that in everyone’s watch list, I personally select a couple shows that will just bullshit the season with whatever they want, because it’s usually a funny or cute diversion. SKET Dance unfortunately does not hit either serious or not-serious, in fact, it’s hard to tell what it tries to hit each episode. I found myself skipping through chunks of the episode, or just plain skipping the episode for something else. It’s entire premise was also pretty boring, just a few kids doing odd jobs and insulting each other for 24 minutes. In actuality, the story might’ve been improved had they kept the kid from the first episode in every episode, coming close to joining the club, but always backing out after the episode’s events. The introduction of the Student Council helped change the game for a bit, but that too was quickly overtaken by the usual tripe.
Even if it were to get marginally better by the end of the season, I’m afraid I just couldn’t wait that one out, not when you consider there are other, better shows this season. Hell, A Channel is better to watch, and I’m pretty sick of their insert songs every episode.
Title: SKET Dance
Sub Group I Watched: Horrible
Episodes: 8/13
Rating (1-10): 5
Tagging in for the dropped series to finish out Spring 2011 will be Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai or We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day or simply AnoHana, a rather somber show about six childhood friends and their lives after one of the children, Meiko “Menma” Honma, was killed in an accident when they were still children. Main character Jinta Yadomi, who was the de-facto leader of the group as kids, withdrawals from society and eventually school, electing to play video games and hardly go outside, while his other childhood friends go their separate ways in life. Naruko Anjou goes to the same high school as Jinta and still talks to him somewhat, Tetsudo “Poppa” Hisakawa travels around the world, and Atsumu Matsuyuki and Chiriko Tsurumi go to an elite high school and are still friends. At some point, Jinta starts to see a “ghost” or hallucination of Menma as a teenager that seems very real to him, telling him she wants a wish fulfilled from him and the entire group. Unfortunately the others don’t believe him and are reluctant to believe that her manifestation to only him is real and that he is simply traumatized by the event and cannot let go of her death, as evidenced by his complete breakdown of life after her death. The series unfolds with events of the former childhood group and how this odd event has reconnected them in different ways, along the path of finding the conclusion of this ghost Menma’s “wish”
I had heard a lot about this series from Twitter, but was reluctant to take on another show when I had so many already going. Not that I couldn’t of handled another show, but it’s much easier to drop and replace than add, and SKET Dance was on it’s last leg, so I made the switch. I’m pretty happy in that decision, because Anohana is a very well executed show. It’s a bit slow in places, and I often felt frustrated at some of the character’s actions, but when I think about the overall story and scenario, it makes sense. I’ve never experienced a similar story, but I have lost old friends before, and it’s tough, especially when you haven’t been in touch with them for awhile and it feels cheap to call them friends or care about their death when you haven’t spoken to them in awhile. Still, a story such as this, losing a childhood friend as children, it tugs at you in places. It’s definitely an interesting and well-thought series, and I am looking forward to seeing it’s conclusion.
TLDR Watch This: Comedy, Drama, Anjou the slut– IMEAN nice girl!
TLDR Don’t Watch This: If death trauma is not your thing, the crossdressing emo kid
Sub Group: gg
First Rating: 7
Hope everyone’s holiday weekend has been good, love being lazy as hell, but it ends tonight. Back to the grind. Can’t wait for my vacation week at the end of June.
Also, where my Dog Days be at? Seriously. Need my Leo fix.
