Fall 2013 Opening Impressions

So with the fall season in full-swing, and as opposed to doing a weekly post, let me sum up my impressions on this season and what I will be closely watching, not-so-closly-watching, or ignoring.

Relevant to My Interests
Freezing: Vibration – I didn’t watch the first season when it originally aired, but I picked it up and marathoned it the season after, and I loved it. It’s not original in the whole “battle aliens power level internal strife LONER etc” field of things, but it’s made much better by the superior manga. Fortunately the second season is sort of cleaning up after the lackluster first season and making it much more pleasant to watch, especially how cute Satella gets when she is flustered and embarrassed. The E-Pandora arc is pretty good in the manga, so hopefully it gets animated well.
Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku o Ketsui Shimashita – I had not had this on my radar initially, and did not expect it to hit the same buttons as Maou-sama did for me, with the added bonus of being a much more pleasing version of Hagure Yuusha no Estetica.

Pushes Some of My Buttons
Galilei Donna – Remember ROD:TV? That’s what this feels like to me. Three “sisters” who journey on a crazy adventure in a mechanical Seaking to defeat.. or was it confront.. escape… something? That first episode was pretty explosive out of the gate, so I hope I don’t get let down by this.
Kill la Kill – When I need a show to appeal to my BURNING HOT-BLOOD, I usually pick up a classic mecha known for such things, but Kill la Kill is satisfying some of those in a way this season just being what it is, fast paced action, little need for extra dialogue or explanations, just raw fun. Of course, as I type this, Winamp is playing The Eagles – Life in the Fast Lane. That’s interesting.
Kyoukai no Kanata – The usual KyoAni mannerisms aside, this is actually a very fun show to watch, and while it’s not going to cross AOTY-thresholds for me, it will certainly appeal to my glasses fetish for the considerable portion of the next couple months. So there’s that.
Outbreak Company – It’s not Dog Days, but it has a hot half-elf maid and a military-uniformed meganekko. It’s almost like enduring the shitty jelly bean flavors to get to the best flavors. Unless you just throw that shit out, but they evade that by making them all MYSTERY FLAVOR. Damn them.
Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai – Personally, when it comes to mechanical fighting girls, Saber Marionette J wins hands-down, but I can’t fault Yaya’s enthusiasm for >implying implications in the bedroom.
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio – I’m still holding out for my Arpeggio version of Radar Mission. Japan, you have one fucking job. Get Banpresto to make it and include Super Robot Taisen-style unit animations. As for the show itself, that CG character animations are so bad, but the rest of the show is interesting. Let’s see how it plays out.
Non Non Biyori – Something about nothing in the middle of nothing. But sometimes you just gotta slow down and take in the anne-mays.

Call Kenny Loggins Because You’re in the DANGER ZONE
Kakumaki Valvrave S2 – I am pretty certain Xenogears covered much of what Space Opera Vampire Destiny is playing out here, but for the sake of dancing this dance again, at least we have a colorful cast of pilots to play with, namely Akira, who is really about the only girl I care about besides Marie. But I’m sure one of them will die, or be raped by Haruto. If Akira doesn’t rape Shouko first. Trigger Warning: Vampire Rape, Triggers, and Warnings.
Infinite Stratos 2 – I liked the first season better when the girls were trying to beat the shit out of Ichika, or at the very least just treated him as a dirty man in their sea of Valkyries, but it seems the name of the game this season is that every fucking girl wants Ichika’s nuts, and really, this would be fine if Ichika was a motherfucking pimp and played his status well, but instead he runs away and treats tits like a goddamn inconvenience where he should be motorboating them liberally. You can’t be a Issei, Ichika. But if you ignore him, there is still some decent fanservice, a little bit of plot, and some mecha action. When you have lowered expectations, you can watch anything. I apologize for nothing.
Golden Time – I suppose I might read the manga on this and see if it’s worth watching. It’s somewhat amusing in a way, but if you aren’t a university student like me, you just sorta figure “That must look like fun!” and for those who went, they might remember all the parties and girls. I’m just waiting for this guy to mack this dude’s ex at the same time he’s macking 95-tan and the other girl.
Coppelion – The backgrounds are awesome, but those thick character outlines still bother me. I don’t know why. I just feel like if those were done better, it’d look awesome. Am I crazy to think that? Otherwise, I’m not sure where this show is going to go. If it doesn’t change much, it’s gonna go to the bottom of my priority list.
Little Busters Refrain – I’ve heard some others say this is better than the first season, but I’ll reserve my judgement. It’s probably not going to be high on my list, much like its first season. Unless of course we get the real Little Busters. Then I am game.