Final Thoughts: Fall 2012

 Final Thoughts: Fall 2012

It’s the end of another year, and as such the end of another anime season. This season was surprisingly emotional. But before we get the shows that ended this season, let’s look at the shows that I will continue to watch into the next season. 

Hunter X Hunter has finally ended the York New arc, and is quickly starting up the Greed Island arc, and I cannot be more excited. This adaptation of Hunter X Hunter keeps impressing me more and more, especially with how they will deal with the info dumps of card information that the manga had to deal with, and is necessary to know for the overall experience. I am looking forward to this arc. And it has Biscuit! Who can’t love her?

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows. Its energy, it’s characters, it’s atmosphere, all of it is perfect. I might have said this before, but I have never read the Jojo manga, and this is making me really want to just consume the entire series in one go. Also I love the rock and roll references that appear every 30 seconds or so. All I can really say is SPEEDWAGON!!!

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is one of those shows that is surprisingly emotional. It honestly looks like a generic harem anime right of the bat, but the passion and emotion that these characters put off is just inspiring. Passion is actually really the right word for this series. It is a show about passion, youth, taking risks, making mistakes, failing, and still getting up to deal with the next challenge. I like it so far.

Polar Bear’s Café had one of three incredibly inspiring moments that I saw this season. Sankurasou had the first, but Polar Bear’s Café’s moment was just incredible. There was a wolf (voiced by the same VA as Gintoki) who is a baker. He was in this state of floundering, where he didn’t know if he should continue down the path of a baker and eventually open his own shop, or if he should do something else. He is honestly just not sure what to do with his life. But his friends encourage him, and he takes a risk, applying for an apprenticeship at a famous bakery, and he makes it. It is honestly one of the most touching moments in this series, and the reason I will keep watching it until its completion.

Toriko now has a good amount of plot. This makes me happy.

Space Brothers is that third inspiring moment, just all of Space Brothers. Mutto is finally an astronaut, Hibito is finally on the moon, and I was nearly in tears. Seriously, the shot of Mutto watching the rocket taking his brother into space was one the best scenes in anime that I have ever seen. I find myself just rooting for this show more and more. It might just become a classic.

Blast of Tempest is going to be 24 episodes. This really surprises me. I was really expecting it to end in the next episode, maybe one more, but no, 24 episodes. Huh. I mean I like the show. It is completely ridiculous beyond belief, includes logic, magic, and time travel all in one episode. I just never expected it to be 24 episodes. Still, interesting show.

Now that the formalities are over, let’s move on to the true final thoughts.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!- This is one of the best romances I have seen in a while. I love the main couple and I am insanely happy that this show did not go completely dark like I thought it would. This show was both very silly and very serious, sometimes at the same time, and I feel they did this balance well, for the most part. And it’s message at the end of the day, that those little silly dumb things we do that have no basis in reality are good, and that sometimes we just need to blast reality and live in our own world, is one I agree with. The show isn’t perfect, towards the end it gets way too melodramatic and it doesn’t give closure to all the things I want it too, like the relationship of the best friend and sleepy girl. But regardless, I like this show. It was fun, it was touching, and I totally recommend it.

Girls und Panzer- I am kind of cheating here because this show is not finished, but it also won’t be finished until March and unless they completely screw us over with the ending my thoughts really won’t change. While it is a cute girls doing something anime, it is one of the best within its genre, and is really more of a shonen style tournament anime, with all the interesting and colorful characters that are part of these types of series. I’m not going to lie; I had a lot of fun with this series. I rooted for the girls to win their matches, and always felt with them when they delved into the girl’s personal lives and the problems there. I did like how the main five girls felt like fully rounded characters by the end of the series, even growing form where they were in the beginning. And they also gave great characterization to the side characters, giving them good personality. I did feel like the last episode shown, not counting the special clip show, while great for the main characters, seemed to introduce new characters way to fast. They should have introduced them earlier on and developed them from the first major tank match, even as just fans or side characters, and then give them a tank now that it serious. I really can’t wait for the final episodes of this series, and I am betting that it will be good.

K- This show was really surprising. It completely starts out as a style over substance type of show. But by its end you root for these characters. You feel bad when characters die, and you want the answers explained as much as they do. I was chanting right along with HOMURA, “No Blood! No Bone! No Ash!” but also sympathizing with Scepter 4. What K does best is that it creates a world that I want to be further explored. I want to learn about the politics of the 7 kings. I want to see what will happen after the events of the big battle. I really want to know what happened to the silver king. It doesn’t answer every question I had, but the show created such a good and interesting world that I can forgive it for missing some minor things. This show needs a second season, if only to further explore what it has set up so far.

Kamisama Hajimemashite- This show is the epitome of shojo romance anime. Unfortunately I have an inner shojo romance fan-girl, so I ultimately like this show. The romance gets really annoying at times, the main couple just being thick headed and not communicating half the time, the show gets slow towards the middle, and there are a million unresolved plot threads. But even with all that, I like the show. It is sweet and kind of stupid. Nothing is explained, but you except it because you stop caring and just want the main pairing to get together that much. At the end of the day this show is just another generic shojo romance, but sometimes I really like generic shojo romances. If this show gets a second season I will probably watch it.

Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne!- I’m just going to spoil it for you, they are not related by blood. There, now you don’t need to actually sit and watch the show. This show is pretty bad. I actually regret watching it. They did actually develop the girls in the harem a good bit, turning them into actually slightly rounded characters. And the main character’s determination to stay virginal in a house full of women who want to bone him is quite admirable. But at the end of the day, this is a show about a sister who wants to have sex with her brother, and others who want to have sex with him. Also lesbianism. As a stupid thing, this show is harmless, but really unless you are into this sort of thing I would avoid it.

Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki- I honestly can’t believe that Poyopoyo has ended. It kind of took me by surprise. I really loved this show. All the characters were bright and fun, and you really got a chance to know them as the series progressed. And then there is the single best cat character in anime. Seriously, Poyo is a bamf that I could totally see joining up with the likes of Jojo or Toriko. He is a little shonen hero in a cat’s body. At the end of the day, this is one of the best micro series I have ever seen. It has good characters, funny jokes, and is just very enjoyable. I might just take a couple of hours out of my day and watch the entire series again.

Sword Art Online- This show is not perfect. This show is far from perfect. It has pacing problems, it has characterization problems, and the frankly creepy incest bit they threw into the second half was just really uncomfortable at times, though handled not awfully. But then I look at Accel World, a show that came out last year that I hate with every fiber of my being. And then I learn that both series are done by the same person. And all I can see is the good in Sword Art Online. I see actual consequences to actions. I see a romance that is both touching and good. I see a game world that makes sense. I see just so much emotion and intelligence, and I honest love this series. The second half at times is much weaker then the first and the ending left much to be desired. But this show was just so much better then Accel World and it drew me in more than Accel World could ever hope to do. Sword Art Online had problems, this is true. But it makes up for those problems with heart and some really fun characters. I do not regret watching it.

My Little Monster- If this show doesn’t get a second season I will eat my headphones. It didn’t resolve anything! I liked 

most of My Little Monster. The drama and romance was surprisingly realistic, though as a viewer who knows what’s going on from all angles it can hurt to watch these characters mentally walk in circles for episodes at a time. But I liked these characters. They were well rounded and very interesting. You wanted to see them get their happy endings. And hopefully they will by the second season. Seriously, it left like 30 plot threads just dangling there, even taking a moment to say that this hasn’t been the whole story. But still I like My Little Monster. It is sweet, and emotional, Haru is really crazy. And that just makes the show all the more better.

And with that this season comes to a close. It was surprisingly good, and completely filled with romance. Now we look on to next season, where there will be guerrilla idols, traditional card games, and an evil goat. I look forward to it. So until next time, have fun watching.