September Roundup

Last month I said I would get myself a Crunchyroll account and finally get back into watching Gintama. However, with college starting, I’ve been quite busy (those parties are tough work ya know) and barely able to keep up with the weekly anime. However with Crunchyroll getting their hands of loads of anime this season (most notably Letter Bee, which I had my eye on blogging) I might actually give in this time. Gintama here we come!

A Grade: One of the tops of the year. Get ready for some fanboying here

A++ Queen’s Blade Season 2

The greatest anime of the decade, possibly of all time, has made its emphatic return to the world of anime and by god have we missed it. The glorious standard of animation, the cutting wit and the edge-of-your-seat battles that raged in that first episode alone was enough for me to put this straight at the top of the pack. Every anime from here on in shall be considered ‘post-Queen’s’. You know, it’s so amazing that I’m not going to include it in any more monthly roundups. It just makes everything else look ridiculous by comparison.

A Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

What an amazing month for FMA this has been. The gap in quality between the old season and this one has been getting smaller with every passing episode. By this point, the gulf in quality is almost non-existant. Heck, if it keeps up this form for the rest of the series, I may even have to grudgingly admit that this season could quite possibly be better…no really, it is that good.

B Grade: Hugely entertaining stuff. Not amazing but definitely worth watching

B+ Bakemonogatari

While this was still a great anime without Senjogahara, her return in episode 12 was just fantastic and was an instant reminder of why she has so many bloody fanboys already.It doesn’t get an A thanks to those annoying cuts in the snake arc though.  All they did for the entirety of episode 12 was chat and yet it was one of the best episodes of the series. I could watch  Senjogahara flirt with Ararararagi (sorry, I stuttered) all day. There’s only one other anime that I could watch the main two characters chat for the entire episode. And that anime is…

B+ Spice and Wolf

Yup, I could watch Horo and Lawrence flirt in their weird, cryptic way for an entire series and not get bored. The second season of Spice and Wolf was a bit of a bowl, high quality at the start and the end but slumped a bit in the middle. Those episodes were just Lawrence wandering around town without Horo. Can’t be having that in my Spice and Wolf. How dare you leave Horo out of the picture you…yeah, I love Horo even more than Senjogahara and that’s saying something.

B Pandora Hearts

A little bit of an anti-climactic ending but don’t let that detract from what was a surprisingly solid anime. When I saw the name Xebec attached to this way back during the Spring Season preview I feared the worst but I have to say they did an OK job. Mind you, you can’t shake the feeling that this anime would have looked and felt so much better if it had been made by Madhouse. The animation quality certainly wasn’t of the highest standard. But please, let’ stop focusing on the negatives and rejoice in the awesomeness of Break, Gil, Oz and most importantly, Alice. They’ve earned their place as one of my favorite cast of characters in any anime.

B Time of Eve

Since the last episode aired this month I felt a little comment on this wonderful little series wouldn’t be out-of-place. And it was wonderful. It never got even close to the level that was Studio Rikka’s masterpiece, Pale Cocoon, but it was still a very enjoyable little series. I hope this little venture has earned Rikka a bit of cash so they can try focus on some new projects. They hinted at the possibility of a second season but what I really want to see is for them to work on a brand new television series. Not that a second season of Time of Eve would be bad or anything. I just hope they make something new. And quick!

B- Hetalia Axis Powers

This was going to ranked as a B until episode 36. Yeah, what a bloody awful episode. Everytime I think Hetalia has redeemed itself and worthy of sitting amongst the best of the year, it goes and shoots itself in the foot. Which is a shame when you consider how damn funny some of these recent episodes have been. France and the Olympics left me unable to breath it was so funny. Please Hetalia, can you just try to be a bit more consistent? Thanks.

C Grade: It’s good enough to keep watching but it’s not that memorable

C+ Cross Game

Cross Game has been in a bit of a slump as of late. The magic that made the first 15 episodes great hasn’t quite been there recently. Thankfully with the return of the race to Seishu, the series has finally picked up again. As much as I liked Aoba, episodes that focus solely on her end up being rather lackluster while those that focus on the main team end up being excellent. Mainly thanks to Azuma. He is such a great character, him with his amazing array of facial expressions (i.e. 3)

C Sora no Manimani

The lack of originality really hurts Sora no Manimani. While it’s still fun in it’s own way, there’s always that annoying little voice in the back of my mind saying “not only have you seen this all before, you’ve seen it done better”. Meh, I’ll continue to watch it. Flying the flag for the Hime shipping team is always quite fun to do, even if we all know who’s going to win in the end.

C- Umineko

This anime is badly written.(see what I did thar) I don’t care how bloody fanboy-ish you are, this anime is just not well written. There’s absolutely no subtlety, the characters development feels horribly forced, if there’s even been any development that is, and episode 13 just made me feel ill. Yet it is entertaining. I certainly can’t deny it that. I kinda wish I started blogging this anime, I would have had huge fun ripping the piss out of it.

D Grade: I’ve lost interest in this anime. If it’s a D then I’ve probably dropped it

D+ Guin Saga

By this stage, I’m only watching Guin Saga in order to finish the series. Since the end of the Nospherus arc, it just hasn’t been any good. I would like to blame this all on Aldo Naris, and it’s true that he certainly hasn’t helped, but it’s not like any of the other characters are doing much to redeem themselves. The change is Remus, while welcomed at the time, now just looks nonsensical since no explanation has appeared. Plus, this anime is called Guin Saga FFS, where the hell is Guin!?! He’s done nothing for ages. He’s the life and soul of this series. Without him, the series dies.

D- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya

Those last two episodes were both amazing and frustrating. Amazing because it had a talking cat that, while trying to prove that it wasn’t talking, undermined the entire concept of human speech. How bloody amazing is that! What’s frustrating is that, if you could be that good, why the hell did you spend so much time being crap. F*cking Endless Eight. In hindsight, it just looks even worse.

E Grade: Unlike D grades where I drop out of disinterest, E grades are dropped in Disgust.

Would there really be any E’s by this stage in the season? They’ve all been dropped long ago. You might see a few E’s and maybe even F’s with the new season on its way. Seitokoi no Ichizon looks exactly like the kind of anime I’d hate. Stay tuned folks!

F Grade: Any F standard anime I would only watch 1 or 2 episodes of so god only know how an anime could last to the end of the month and still get an F but I’m sure it will happen some day

No F’s I’m afraid. BTW, have you noticed what happens if you hover your mouse over each of the pictures?