Affinity for Anime
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Tag Archives: Monogatari
Anime of the Week (10/6 – 10/12)
| Anime of the Week – Monogatari Series: Second Season | |
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In order to break a stalemate where nobody wants to confront the problem at hand, it might take a sharp tongue that can put the situation into plain words so everyone can accept their mistakes and move on. As a side note, Kana Hanazawa has played some really amazing characters, but the skilled writing of Nishio Ishin has allowed her to bring forth an impassioned Nadeko, which is the icing on the cake. |
| October 6 | Monogatari Ep. 14 Although Kana Hanazawa is well known for playing quiet girls, she’s a good enough actress to play any role she’s given. |
| October 8 | Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen Ep. 12 Is it just me or is there a disconnect in fiction between people experiencing the supernatural and incredulity? |
| Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen Ep. 13 Although the endings was sloppily left open for a second season, I like the message that life is not a single path. | |
| Unbreakable Machine Doll Ep. 1 This series is showing an excellent balance of comedy, action and drama—all of my favorite genres—plus a sharp art style. |
| October 11 | Kyoukai no Kanata Ep. 2 Based on the flashback at the start and Mirai’s comments at the end, both protagonists have some demons to deal with. |
| October 12 | Coppelion Ep. 2 Laying down your life to save a loved one never sits well with me. I think it’s better to find a way both of you can live. |
| Kill la Kill Ep. 1 Decrying the Nazis in the history class of this fascist school is laying the irony on little thick don’t you think? | |
| Strike the Blood Ep. 1 I don’t have anything to complain about this series, but it had nothing compelling about it. It was just ordinary. | |
| Yuushibu Ep. 1 There’s been a lot of hero/demon lord anime of late. I’m not sure if this’ll be better or worse than Hataraku Maou-sama. | |
| Kyousou Giga Ep. 1 This is one of those anime that has an interesting style, but there’s absolutely no indication of what it’s about. | |
| Nagi no Asu Kara Ep. 1 This is the most refreshing premise for an anime that I’ve seen in a long time. And Kana Hanazawa takes the role of heroine. |
*Keep up to date with my daily mini-reviews by following me on Twitter.
Anime of the Week (8/25 – 8/31)
| Anime of the Week – Monogatari Series: Second Season | |
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Monogatari is always at its best when Koyomi starts talking. I can rarely find fault in his reasoning, but messing around with the past is one of those situations where no good deed goes unpunished. |
| August 25 | Attack on Titan Ep. 20 This episode is another fine example of this series taking way too much time to tell a simple segment of the story. |
| August 26 | Monogatari 2 Ep. 8 Let this be a lesson to everyone who thinks of returning to the past to change an unfortunate event out of kindness. |
| Day Break Illusion Ep. 8 Unlike Madoka Magica, this latest dark drama feels forced because it was predictable and there was no shock value. | |
| KinMosa Ep. 8 There isn’t a more appropriate culture festival event for a moe anime exploring the differences between Japan and the west. | |
| Railgun S Ep. 19 Because the sisters arc got wrapped up rather early, I feel this new story is getting stretched for additional time. | |
| Genshiken Nidaime Ep. 8 I can’t see how anyone who hasn’t experienced REAL otaku culture firsthand will be able to truly appreciate this anime. |
| August 28 | Blood Lad Ep. 8 Sometimes I wonder if just like Staz, I too have been oblivious to the subtle, romantic advances of a woman close to me. |
| August 30 | WataMote Ep. 8 Just because you think your life may be uninteresting, it doesn’t suddenly mean you should feel the need to impress others. |
| August 31 | Servant x Service Ep. 9 Some of the best comedy that comes out of anime is in the form of misunderstandings caused by Japanese ambiguity. |
| Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen Ep. 9 I really like Kirakishou because she embodies the creative necessity of ideas preceding their existence in reality. |
*Keep up to date with my daily mini-reviews by following me on Twitter.
Anime of the Week (7/21 – 7/27)
| Anime of the Week – Servant x Service | |
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While there is certainly a lot of humor that transcends cultural barriers, I really like the very Japanese-ness of this series. Having experienced Japan (as well as working in a city hall) myself I can appreciate a lot of the silly jokes—such as the section manager that nobody ever sees. For those of you who want to know more about what Japan is really like, pay attention to this anime; you might learn something. |
| July 21 | Gatchaman Crowds Ep. 2 The simplicity of the story clearly shows it’s meant for a younger audience, but I still like it for some reason. |
| Attack on Titan Ep. 15 I thought we established the Recon Corps was full of weirdos seven episodes ago. More time wasted stating the obvious. |
| July 22 | Blood Lad Ep. 3 Good themes of standing up for those who can’t protect themselves and bad guys going against their nature to do what’s right. |
| KinMoza Ep. 3 Being able to read the atmosphere of social situations is one of the hardest things for a foreigner to learn about Japan. | |
| Monogatari 2 Ep. 3 Sometimes I feel like I could watch this franchise just to see how Tsukihi’s hairstyle changes as the story progresses. | |
| Genshiken N Ep. 3 If only people could be honest with their hobbies, they wouldn’t have to make personas in order to hide their true selves. | |
| Servant x Service Ep. 3 Back when I was younger and I worked boring jobs, like Hasebe I was also good at finding hiding places to slack off. | |
| Neptunia Ep. 2 Yeah…turning the major game systems into anime girls is about as lame of a story premise as I imagined it would be. | |
| Stella C3-bu Ep. 3 As antagonists go, Rin Haruna is the kind that I despise—dragging unrelated parties into her vendetta against Sonora. |
| July 23 | Day Break Illusion Ep. 2 People were comparing this anime to Madoka and while I can see the similarities, my interest hasn’t increased. |
| KamiNai Ep. 2 While this anime has an interesting concept, it’s getting bogged down by explaining everything instead of telling a story. | |
| Rozen Maiden Z Ep. 2 I’m glad I didn’t dismiss this as a boring reboot of the original. It’s proving to be an interesting alternate timeline. | |
| Love Lab Ep. 2 There’s so much underhandedness going on that the story can’t move forward. I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to be about. | |
| KamiNomi Tenri Ep. 1 I’m only watching this to get context for Megami. I’m not a fan of OVAs that are required to watch the main series. | |
| Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 9 Taking forever to get started and rushing to the end—I knew 13 episodes couldn’t give this story the proper treatment. | |
| Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 10 I’m glad at least Io got her good ending where everything else in this series seemed to go down the bad route. | |
| Prisma Illya Ep. 3 This anime may be intentionally cliché but at least it’s emphasizing the good parts of magic girls and still having fun. | |
| WataMote Ep. 3 At first I thought Tomoko was the victim of the people around her, but she actually brings a lot of her grief upon herself. | |
| Rozen Maiden Z Ep. 3 If something truly miraculous happened before my eyes, I wonder if my rational, adult mind would be able to accept it. |
| July 24 | Day Break Illusion Ep. 3 Ok yeah, I’ll admit there’s some interesting moral quandaries in this series. And I was ready to dismiss it on ep 1. |
| Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 11 I’ve found that MegaTen anime just can’t capture the suspense of a final boss fight the way the video games do. |
| July 25 | KamiNomi Tenri Ep. 2 What a worthless OVA. It’s only tangentially related to the established plot, and it also has no real conclusion. |
| Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 12 Based on the way the rest of this series had been going, I fully expected this turn of events. Sadly predictable. | |
| Devil Survivor 2 Ep. 13 For as bad as the rest of the series was, the ending was shaping up to be pretty cool until it turned thick. |
| July 26 | Strike Witches Movie 1 It’s more of the over-the-top silly and straight-faced series I’ve come to love, but it’s a beginning without an end. |
| KamiNai Ep. 3 I’m not sure I like how fast this first story arc has finished. I would have liked to have gotten to know everyone better. |
| July 27 | Stella C3-bu Ep. 4 Breaking gender stereotypes was enough, but now this anime has gone over the top by altering history through imagination. |
| Rozen Maiden Z Ep. 4 It’s interesting to see the differences and similarities between Shinku’s reactions towards young Jun and adult Jun. | |
| Servant x Service Ep. 4 There are differences between coworker camaraderie, flirting and sexual harassment and I’m glad this anime knows that. | |
| Railgun S Ep. 16 Why would Accelerator punch Kamijou when just a few minutes earlier in the fight ranged attacks were working just fine? |
*Keep up to date with my daily mini-reviews by following me on Twitter.
Anime of the Week (7/14 – 7/20)
| Anime of the Week – Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S | |
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Though we may decry Accelerator for his unbridled lust for power, I always get goosebumps when he makes a new discovery about the extent of his abilities. Knowledge often comes in plateaus of monotany broken by great leaps of inspiration and I can appreciate his exhiliration. |
| July 14 | Attack on Titan Ep. 14 If I had a dime for every anime whose second season opening theme was worse than the first season I could retire. |
| July 15 | Blood Lad Ep. 2 We may jump to conclusions just because someone’s methods are dishonest, but it doesn’t mean their kindness is disingenuous. |
| Prisma Illya Ep. 2 From the Fate references to the deconstruction of the magic girl genre, this anime’s meta-levels of parody are awesome. | |
| Genshiken Nidaime Ep. 2 Our biases are influenced by our past, but the thrill of exploring new discoveries can help us change for the better. | |
| Monogatari 2 Ep. 2 Total indiscrimination is pointless. It’s just as important to have things you hate as it is to have things you love. |
| July 16 | Silver Spoon Ep. 1 I’m sure this will be a good story about hard work and not running from your problems, but I don’t care for the setting. |
| Kami Nomi Megami Ep. 1 I liked this franchise better when it was more episodic. Now it has lost me with its attempts to expand the story. | |
| WataMote Ep. 1 What’s going on? It’s like someone took my adolescent personality and superimposed it onto a Japanese high school girl. | |
| WataMote Ep. 2 I can’t recall an anime that has made me feel so happy about being depressed. It perfectly suits my dry sense of humor. |
| July 17 | KinMosa Ep. 1 Having lived in Japan for three years, I really appreciate these stories about culture shock and misconceptions about Japan. |
| July 18 | KinMosa Ep. 2 It’s losing sophistication, but it’s gaining moe points. There’s actually a plot so this should be better than Yuyushiki. |
| July 19 | Uchoten Ep. 1 Neither good nor bad. It’s got some clever humor, but I’d very much like to have a better idea of where the story is going. |
| July 20 | Day Break Illusion Ep. 1 I’m a fan of using tarot as inspiration for a story, but the plot seems too generic magic girl to be interesting. |
| Dangan Ronpa Ep. 1 Survival game anime are too played out by this point to hold my interest anymore. Especially incomprehensible ones. | |
| Gatchaman Crowds Ep. 1 Hero anime aren’t typically my thing, but this one’s got a really fun cast and a style that’s holding my attention. | |
| Railgun S Ep. 15 Accelerator is one of my favorite villains because I can relate to his motives and understand the madness of his methods. |
*Keep up to date with my daily mini-reviews by following me on Twitter.
Summer 2013 Recommendations
With two sequels of garbage anime airing this summer in High School DxD New and Tamayura: More Aggressive as well as sequels of franchises I thought had been lost to the abyss of time like Genshiken, The World God Only Knows and Rozen Maiden, I didn’t have high hopes for this season. I’m pleasantly surprised to be wrong because there are some really fun and quirky titles that have made my watch list for summer 2013.
1. A Certain Scientific Railgun S
Based on this summer’s first impressions, there’s little doubt in my mind that Railgun is going to be far and above everything else.
2. Watashi ga Motenai
In an oxymoronic way, I think the embodiment of this anime is, “if you can’t be happy, you should find ways to enjoy being miserable.” I absolutely love that kind of twisted logic and all the fresh ideas that come with it.
3. Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya
This comedic parody of Fate is doing a great job first and foremost because it knows it’s a magic girl anime and isn’t afraid to have fun with what was formerly some deadly serious intellectual property.
4. Blood Lad
I didn’t expect that I would be able to put up with the really simple, somewhat gaudy art style used in this series. But the goofy premise is so ridiculous it just might work and the fast pace of the story that doesn’t miss a beat has sucked me in.
5. Servant x Service
Ever since I came to Japan, every so often I encounter an anime that I could never have related to if I had not lived in this country with its unique perspectives.
6. Genshiken Nidaime
It’s been so long since Genshiken’s last season I didn’t think another go at this franchise would be able to succeed. Boy was I wrong. Genshiken hasn’t missed a beat and I love it.
7. Monogatari Series: Second Season
The next iteration of Nishio Ishin’s fabulous intellectual adventure has gotten off to a slow start, but there’s little doubt this will offer the same stimulation as its predecessors.
8. Kiniro Mosaic
Another anime this season that hits really close to home and makes me wish I had had the drive to come to Japan earlier in my life.
9. Attack on Titan
Oh how the expectations have fallen. Still epic visually, but it has also become somewhat lost with its inability to consistently keep up a high standard of excellence story-wise.
10. Stella C3-bu
I really like these shows that challenge us to rethink our stereotypes about gender roles. After all, is there really any reason why a girls’ school couldn’t have an airsoft club?
Honorable Mentions
Hyperdimension Neptunia – Love Lab – Sunday Without God – Gatchaman Crowds – Fantasista Doll
The World God Only Knows: Goddesses – Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen
Anime of the Week (7/7 – 7/13)
| Anime of the Week – Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S | |
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We shoulder the bruden of the mistakes we’ve made in the past—as well as the burden of mistakes others have made. But there is no reason to take on those burdens all by yourself if it means breaking down to the point if self-destruction. Seek help from those you trust and who trust in you so that we may make each other better. |
| July 7 | Monogatari 2 Ep. 1 With Araragi absent, there’s a lack of insightful dialogue that comes from the clash of male and female perspectives. |
| Attack on Titan Ep. 13.5 Bleh. This clip show really shows just how much time this series wastes with unnecessary, boring storytelling. |
| July 8 | Prisma Illya Ep. 1 I might like this spin-off better than its parent series—it’s not so full of itself and Illya is my favorite character. |
| Genshiken N Ep. 1 It never ceases to amaze me just how many parallels there are between Genshiken and my own college anime club experience. | |
| Kami-nai Ep. 1 While the setting is very intriguing, I must say I can’t find any logic in the actions of the main characters thus far. |
| July 9 | Blood Lad Ep. 1 This is one of those anime with an off the wall premise of questionable quality, but it’s somehow caught me in it’s pace. |
| July 10 | Free! Ep. 1 Be mindful of the adage, “Nothing good is ever free.” Not that this show is bad, per se. But I’ll leave it for the fujoshi. |
| Fantasista Doll Ep. 1 With all the Japanese TCGs I play, there’s just too many card game references in this series for me to pass it up. |
| July 12 | Leviathan Ep. 13 And so the journey goes on. If this series gets a second season I’d watch it. But I highly doubt it will ever come. |
| July 13 | Railgun S Ep. 14 Just because when you pray and god doesn’t answer, it doesn’t mean if you ask people for help nobody will come to your aid. |
| Servant x Service Ep. 2 I’ve figured out why I like this series so much. It was created by the same guy who came up with the idea for Working. | |
| Stella C3-bu Ep. 1 This looks like the start of a really touching story about coming out of your shell with a Girls und Panzer twist. | |
| Neptunia Ep. 1 I’m still in shock that this concept was made into a game; much more so that the game was popular enough to warrant an anime. | |
| Stella C3-bu Ep. 2 I’m interested to see how Yura’s relationship with the other girls develops since she sort of joined this club by default. |
*Keep up to date with my daily mini-reviews by following me on Twitter.
Affinity for Anime 
Fall 2013 Recommendations
After the ups and downs of the summer season, this fall season that follows feels really stable and full of a lot of smart, touching, comedic and action-packed series that manage to cover every possible genre with something worthwhile. I like to keep my watch list around ten or so and after viewing the first episode of everything that’s airing this season I expected that assembling this list into a reasonable number was going to be much more difficult than it actually turned out to be. With two solid years of blogging under my belt and my third year getting started, perhaps I’m finally finding my groove and getting better at determining what’s going to impress and what will end up flopping.
I’ve always found the way apocalypse stories explore humanity to be endlessly interesting. I’m expecting to see an amazing story about three saviors who enter a world that either isn’t expecting them or flat-out doesn’t want them.
I’m starting to look at this series as the true sequel to Bakemonogatari both in terms of spirit and style rather than Nisemonogatari, which in hindsight seems more like an offshoot side story.
Just when I think the anime genre has explored every conceivable scenario for a setting, I’m treated to something beautiful and—most appropriately in this case—immersive.
After making a seemingly endless stream of moe anime, I feel like Kyoto Animation is trolling us. Last season it was a yaoi-ish swimming anime with the first male-dominated cast I think they’ve ever made and this season they’ve gone dark and bloody.
Picking up EXACTLY where things left off last season, Little Busters continues the wonderful journey of a bunch of high school friends who have always been there for each other as only Key can tell it.
I’ve always loved the rogue hero. He’s the explorer that forsakes allegiances to live the life of a mercenary and wander the world pursuing the truth. And I’m pretty sure the last time a submarine was a central element to a military anime was Full Metal Panic. It’s been too long.
I think there’s really only two formulas that work for sequels. Either go the Little Busters route and just continue with no introduction or summary of what happened before, or take the White Album method and do a spin-off with a similar premise, but a whole new cast and setting.
Revenge story. Check. Steampunk setting. Check. Underestimated protagonist with a wealth of potential. Check. Love crazed doll that’s always making sexually awkward jokes…uh…check? …yes, check.
There was immediately something familiar about this crazy series. At first I thought it had been written by Nishio Ishin, but that wasn’t it. Maybe it was being made by Gainax. No, that’s not it, either. So upon closer inspection I discovered it was written by Kazuki Nakashima, the creator of Gurren Lagann. Hell yes!
Hero and demon lord anime have seemingly flooded the anime environment as of late, so each needs to put a new twist on the concept. That being said, I have a feeling comedy is going to erupt forth from this band of unsung heroes who didn’t finish their hero-ing fast enough and now must find ways to apply their adventuring skills in the service industry.
We just discovered a fantasy world. We need to send a representative. Who would be the best choice? Well, who knows fantasy better than an otaku? And while he’s there, lets get him to market anime and manga to the masses because clearly that’s the only viable export Japan possesses…uh huh. What could possibly go wrong?
Honorable Mentions
Gingitsune • Galilei Donna • Non Non Biyori • Golden Time • Freezing Vibration • Magi 2