A Distinct Lack of Depth to the Current Season

This seemingly has the opposite effect to the character who really matters in BakaTest

Every season lately it seems as though I’m able to find some flaw in anything new, which then goes on to ruin the experience. Maybe it’s a distinct lack of “must watch” feel to anything airing right now, but then again others would disagree with that. Maybe the last time I experienced that was watching one of the bad seasons of 24 and laughing off plot absurdity and disrespect for constitutional law like nothing. What follows is pretty much unfiltered rant material on everything I have watched this season.

Kimi ni Todoke

Janaiblog hates this show with a serious passion calling it the Most Boring Anime of 2009. That’s fair enough that he has that opinion, I would have disagreed with him entirely until the start of that Kurumi arc. Prior to that, this was a show about Sawako growing as a person and making friends, which I thought was well executed. Throw Kurumizawa in and suddenly everything seems to be about destruction of relationships. Rather cliche in my opinion and done on about an average level. Then there’s the current Chizuru arc where Sawako has done nothing more than cry in timely situations. Why wasn’t this show over at halfway? It’s become a collage of Sawako crying Ayane and Chizuru come along to move the plot a little, Kazehaya comes in and says something profound and things move a little more and Sawako cries again. I suppose it does fit within the genre, but really there could have been more here.

Next thing to try, the Sawako crying drinking game

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Perhaps I am getting a little too old to be enjoying something like this. I dropped this earlier because I thought the message conveyed by the first 2 episodes was overwhelmingly negative, and at a simpler level I hated the main character. Now after dropping it, all I really see of this is more and more Hideyoshi pics. This was horribly predictable and probably means more characters like him in the future, for better or worse. Is there anything else in this show that doesn’t involve him?

Does this picture confirm my theory?

Chu-Bra!!

The very first show I dropped this season, and maybe I regret it a little. The Anime Almanac raised some pretty good points about something I casually dismissed as something that never should have had fanservice in it. Will I every actually go back to this? Probably not since I can’t really see myself as the type to revisit young girls experiences with underwear.

Dance in the Vampire Bund

This show ended, right? Wait, there’s 5 more episodes? What the hell could it focus on now? Maybe there’s an awesome thermonuclear explosion which wipes out Tokyo in the last episode. I just won’t be there to watch it. Anyway, the direction of the series seemed like it was out of control and Shinbo’s style and choice of series to direct is beginning to wear on me a lot.

Durarara!!

This is easily the best of the lot this season, however, that is not to say there aren’t major issues. With 24 episodes, or as I refer to it as proper length, there should be enough time to work this out. The last episode had a foreigner going around the park in Ikebukuro and people were writing things they had lost on it. Some of the things written were simple and others touching and an examination of modern life at the same time. The bad part is the fact that I constantly have to go elsewhere to remember which characters I am watching. Ridiculously large cast aside, I also wish that Celty didn’t have an internal voice. That’s undoubtedly just me though.

Stealing pudding is serious business

Hanamaru Kindergarden

You know, I actually don’t have that much of a problem with this. Sure, its just Tsuchida playing with the main cast most of the time, and Anri’s affection is surprisingly not disturbing. The constant Gainax references do seem out of place though. Also worth noting are the number of cliche character types involved (was Satsuki ever not going to be a bro-con).

Ladies versus Butlers!

You know I actually like this for its simplicity. It doesn’t really mean anything though. I can’t help sort of hating myself for liking this though since it’s just well-executed fanservice with a coherent plot. Maybe the predictability of it all gets to me.

Omamori Himari

This one was an easy drop and is anyone still watching this? I see nothing about it anywhere, almost like it completely faded off the planet. Deservedly too.

Ookami Kakushi

はっさく～♪ はっさく～♪ じょうがのはっさくぅ～♪ That jingle will forever haunt me in my dreams. So it goes from Hiroshi’s inexplicable good luck with one girl to suddenly being about wolves being too horny for their own good? Even Issei’s death did nothing to make me want to continue. And no, the yaoi was not strong in this one.

Seikon no Qwaser

Why does this exist? It would probably work without the sexual components of the story which force completely random shots of the sky to be put into every episode. So, I gave it 1 episode and it was like my life force was being sucked out from under me.

Sora no Woto

The slice-of-life series this season that absolutely had to have back story in my opinion. Anyway, it seems like the episodes have settled into revealing a situation at the end and then working back from the beginning. Fine for one episode, but it seems like the well isn’t too deep. The Swiss setting works for me, but it would be nice to know what geopolitical event happened to cause the oceans to die and Japanese diaspora to spread as wide as they have. There’s plenty of good stuff in this series, but it is very sporadic at best.

So in conclusion, there really is no way to be a fan of the current season’s shows. I may have to go find something older to watch for the first time to experience what I want.

Winter 2010 Ranking To Date

1. Durarara!!
2. Ladies versus Butlers!
3. Hanamaru Kindergarden
4. ソ・ラ・ノ・ヲ・ト
5. Dance in the Vampire Bund – Dropped Episode 7
6. Ookami Kakushi – Dropped Episode 5
7. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu – Dropped Episode 2
8. Chu-Bra – Dropped Episode 1
9. Omamori Himari – Dropped Episode 1
10. Seikon no Qwaser – Dropped Episode 1