Summer 2012 Anime Season: Frist Impressions

                                               Summer 2012 Anime Season

You realize that I’ve been doing this little dumb blog for about a year now? That snuck up on me, I honestly didn’t realize it, or even that I would continue to do it. I figured I would get bored or busy with life and such. But no! I am still going strong. And in honor of this, lets get right to it. These are my first impressions on the summer 2012 anime season!

Chouyako Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi-  Uta Koi is basically the retelling of the stories behind the poems in the 100 Poets that is used in Kurata, the memory and speed card game that was the main point of Chihayafuru. Kind of. At the shows own admittance, the stories are more “modernized” or told more liberally then how they were originally, and even form that they only focus on the romantic poems in the deck, because they are more fun to talk about or something. I actually like this show. The art style is very pretty to look at, while at the same time has a this feel of distinctness that I like. And the stories are episodic yet connected, because the people who were writing them were connected, it feels more realistic. And above all else it is surprisingly funny and sweet. The romance stories are nice and everything you want out of a good romantic story, but there is comedy there. And you learn stuff. I never knew the deeper, more adult meaning behind the titular poem in Chihayafuru. While it is a very Japanese show, I am quite enjoying it. I plan on keeping it up with it this summer.

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate- let me tell you my experience with this show. I heard a description of a plot synopsis, which went basically the main character is in a snack eating club in high school, where he and bunch of girls (and one guy it turns out) spend time eating snacks and doing nothing else. Student council elections are coming up, and the one who is likely to win wants to shut down all clubs that do nothing but waste money, like the snack eating club.  The club decides that in order to stop this, they will put the main character into the race, and have him win and save their club. In the first episode, a girl who looks like a reporter is taking pictures of a back room political deal going down, and before she can tell anyone, is run over, and presumably killed, by a car driven by one of the people making the exchange. WHAT. THE. FRACK. And then it just goes through the plot like I mentioned above. Seriously, there was some tonal whiplash. And the next episode, this little incident is never mentioned again. Except for presumed vehicular homicide, this show is just boring. I plan on dropping it, which is too bad because I liked one or two of the characters, and the main character had this whole thing where he would see a characteristic of somebody that no else could see, and I was curious about his delusions. But it is seriously dull, and the rest of the snack eating club, except for the main character and the cat girl, are either boring or unlikable. So basically, dropped.

Kono Naka ni Hitori , Imouto ga Iru- Why is Japan so obsessed with incest? Is it a cultural thing I just don’t know? Is it some love of the taboo? Is it the fear of the risk? I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know. But because of that strange love, we have this. The story is basically that the main character has to go to a school, and find a girl to settle down with, or else he won’t inherit his father’s multimillion dollar company. The catch? On of the girls at the school, and subsequently is in his harem, is his sister who he has never seen before. And who wants to marry him. The mystery of this show is who is his sister, because they never tell us out right. The sister calls the main character once in a while, and kind of taunts him, but never admits who she is, and it honestly could be any girl that is in the main harem of five. The problem is that this show is so completely by the numbers that I honestly don’t care about it. It is so painfully an adaptation of a harem game that it almost hurts. Also I am calling it now, the sister is the tsundere girl with the twin tails. It just fits for some reason. But I will never find out, except in spoiler land, because I am dropping this show.

Moyashimon Returns- I actually only watched the first season of this show a few days ago, and that was because I really wanted to watch this show. I’ve heard nothing but good things form the show, and I thought this would be a great reason to get into the series. And it was. The show is basically about a guy who can see microbes with his naked eye, and his time in college, making new and crazy friends, hanging out with people who appreciate and slightly abuse this power, and his one friend who seemingly randomly turns into a cross-dresser. It is a really funny, really smart show that actually teaches you about fermentation, and microbes and yeast and alcohol. Alcohol is kind of a hobby for me, so this show was really interesting. The second season continues this, and I like it. There is a bit of an art shift, the characters look a bit more moe/ modern anime-ish compared to the first season, but it still works. And, I am forced to admit this, this show brings out the inner fujioshi in me. I kind of think the main character and his cross-dressing friend go well together, and shut up. I like this show, and I plan to keep watching it.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous- This show is a challenge. To put it simply, I like it, but I just don’t want to watch it. Alright, Rendezvous is about a guy who is in love with a owner of a flower shop. He starts to work for her, hoping to get closer, but never actually doing anything because he is a shy, and a bit of a coward. At  a party in her apartment, however, he sees a guy there, her husband. Her dead husband. The ghost of the dead husband. And now the main character has to try to win over the woman of his dreams, form the ghost of her dead husband that looms over her. I really like the snaky back and forth between the two male leads, it is smart and interesting, and entertaining. But I am just not interested in the show. There is nothing wrong with it, and I like the characters, to an extent, but I just don’t fell like watching it. I believe that this is going to go drop this show, but I do plan on watching it in the future.

Campion!- Take every cliché and trope in high school battle anime. Now put them into one big ball. That is Campion! in a nut shell. It is about a guy who, after meeting hot babes and gaining magical powers, kills a god and is now super special awesome. He then goes back to high school, where he will gain a harem and fight more, and be hounded by a girl who says she loves him but he will be unwilling blah blah blah. You know, I actually misread the synopsis for this show? I mixed it up the next show, which I will talk about in a bit, and thought that if they make it campy and fun, I would like it. Hell, even if it was cliché ridden, if they were at least being tongue in cheek with it I thought it could be cool. But no, and because of it is a show I will be dropping. If only it was a bit more campy.

Hagure Yuusha no Estetica- Alright, take the above scenario, and add more tits. Alright, that is not completely true. Hagure is suppose to be what happens after someone comes back form another dimension. You know how in some games the main character is a high school age kid who goes to a magical dimension, saves the princess, kills the demon lord, and maybe goes back home? This is what happens after the main character goes home. He goes to a high school for people who went through the same thing. Except the main character is that kind of self confident, arrogant, perverted stereotype anime character that I am just impossibly tired of. If he was actually arrogant, and you could tell he was going to go through a character arc, or at least something, then I could maybe watch it, or at least be for the main character. But god I am getting sick of shows like this. I mentioned above how I mixed these two shows together in my mind, and how I thought it would be is campy look at RPG character stereotypes all going to high school together, with references to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy through around at abandon. But no, it is boring. Consider it dropped.

Sword Art Online- Sword Art Online is basically what I think Accel World should be. The problem with Accel World is that when all is said and done, there are little to no real world stakes at hand. Sword Art Online is about a brand new RPG that uses a brand new virtual reality helmet to give the player an experience like never before. We follow a beta tester for the game, playing the game for the first time after its world wide release. But something goes wrong. All the players are brought together into a large amphitheater, and told by the games creator that they cannot leave. If they try to take off the helmet, their brains will be hit by microwave radiation, killing them. If they die in the game, the same happens. And then the creator does one more thing. He changes all the players in game avatars to look how the gamers look in real life. As an aside, I thought this was both hilarious and one of the best ways to demoralize all the gamers. The only way the players can leave the game is if somebody beats the game, reaches the 100th floor and defeats the final boss. I like this show. It looks great, just the art is fantastic. And while they need to go in a explore the main character some more, and give him more of a supporting cast, I like what I see in the character so far. I am really into this show, and I look forward to watching more.

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita- It’s post-apocalyptic times again and humanity is in decline. There is a new species called Fairies, who are small and mysterious, and really, I can’t say much. This show is just insane and surreal. There is a sentient thing of bread that rips itself apart and bleeds carrot juice everywhere. In the first episode. I feel like a show like this needs to be watched with a careful eye and lends itself well to deeper analysis and can be deep and meaningful. And it is a show so silly and strange that is just fun to watch. I like Humanity is in Decline. It is weird, but I like it. I plan on keeping up with it.

La storia della Arcana Famiglia- Picture the anime Rebon!. Now picture it with less comedy and more action. Now picture if the hole series was one long tournament arc. That is Arcana Famiglia. The story is basically that the head of a “legitimate organization” that protects a small Mediterranean island is stepping down, and will have a tournament of all his subordinates to see who will be the next head, and the winner will also marry his daughter, who does not like that. Each of the members of the family, or at least all the main characters, have a special power brought on from making a contract with a Tarot card. The show seems almost step by step, by the numbers shonen, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I plan on watching this show for a good bit, and the concept, while used by almost literally every single shonen anime ever, is a concept I like. It might be a fun little show.

Joshiraku- Joshiraku is about a group of girls who do a form of traditional Japanese comedy based around story telling and puns. During there off hours they talk about random things and make more puns. It is one of the funniest things this season. Japanese puns are usually hard to understand, because usually something is lost in translation, but I feel that I am getting better at understanding them, through years of watching different anime. One of the reasons I am really liking Joshiraku is that it is also a very self-referential show. They make comments about how the conversations are nice and easy so that we can better look at the girls. The characters break the fourth wall all the time. And the reference humor is spot on. I am really into this show, and I plan on keep watching it.

Tari Tari- I am not sure how to feel about this show. On the one hand, it is surprisingly boring. It is about a girl who wants to sing in her schools choir, but after making a fool of herself the year before is basically kicked off and has to make a whole new club so she can sing. And that is meh. But on the other hand, I am really liking some of the characters. The male transfer student and the badminton student are funny and interesting. I feel if this was show was solely about a club of different people, or even about a band who legitimately played music (not like K-On) I would like it better. But while I love music in anime, choir singing just has never appealed to me. I think I am going to drop it.

Bimbou-gami ga!-  Joshiraku is incredibly funny, but it can be a bit impenetrable because of the puns. Bimbou-gami ga is more site gag and reference based humor. And god is it funny. The story goes that there is a girl who has an abundance of fortune, and even unconsciously steals it form others. The gods dislike this, and see that it will create a misbalance of fortune in the world. So they send the god of misfortune to return balance to the world. Hijinks ensue. The back and forth between the two main leads are fantastic, and the comedy is gold. There is a bit too much breast humor, jokes about size and preference and such, but that is just a Japanese thing. I like Bimbou-gami ga, it is crazy and just fun. And it is directed by the guy who does Gintama, which is always a plus. I will keep watching it.

Kokoro Connect- The premise of this show is that the five main characters keep swapping bodies. Stuff ensue. I say stuff because I am not sure what will happen in this anime. The five main characters obviously have interpersonal drama right under the skin, stuff that has yet to be explored, but we don’t get enough hints of it in the beginning. And the show just hasn’t drawn me in. there is just nothing in the first two episodes that made me want to continue watching. Part of me wants to see the end of this show, like I want to find out the internal dramas that lay underneath the skin of the main characters, but not enough. I think I will go back to this show one day, and watch it all in one go, but for now, I will have to say it is dropped.

 Chitose Get You!!- A little girl is in love with a dude at least twice her age. By what I mean is that she is in elementary school, while the dude she is in love with is at least 20, probably older. Pedo anime are a dime a doze4n, and usually annoying. Reverse pedo anime can be more annoying to me. I can’t say why, but in anything that has a legitimate child, like not high school, or even if they look like they are in high school, an actual child, that falls for someone who is immensely older then them, again the other person being a legitimate adult and not just in the next stage of life, really gets under my skin. I honestly believe that someone can tell any story well, with time and exploration. This is not a story like that. Consider it dropped.

Yuru Yuri 2- It is basically the same as the first season. It is bad, but it is, for me, that enjoyable bad I like so much. It is moe, it is kind of dumb, and I have fun with it. I plan on watching it. I do hope that it doesn’t become boring like Kimi to Boku did last season, but I am sure it will be fine. I plan on having fun watching Akarin and her friends this summer.

 So those are my first impressions of the summer anime season. I really don’t have any huge expectations for this season, but it looks like it will be fun. So until next time, have fun watching.