TAAN: Well it’s pretty much 3 eps into the summer season for most anime. I suppose that means it’s time for a general overview (cause everyone else died, somehow). Here’s how everything stacks up, in my view. Numbers next to titles are episodes watched out of episodes out.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni! (3/3)

Sequel. It’s pointless to watch if you haven’t watched the previous season, since they spend no time explaining anything, especially the gags; and if you watched the previous season, you don’t need a summary. Not that it needs a summary, the episodes are too random for an overall summary to work. 8/10

Blood-C (3/3)

Goddammit CLAMP and their noodle people. Well, compared to Blood and Blood+, Saya’s a lot more annoying this time, as she’s super ditzy when she’s normal, and a cold slaughtering machine while fighting …monsters. That’s the other thing, so far nothing Saya’s fought seems like a chiropteran; they’re all strange monsters of some sort. They’re even called different things, etc. The story’s kinda slow and not too interesting so far, focusing more on Saya’s personal life, but there are already hints of things preparing to go to hell fast. I do have high hopes for it becoming at least similar to Blood+, but there’s a low chance that that’ll happen within the next episode or so though. 7/10

Dantalion no Shoka (2/2)

Well, I love light occult references, and this one’s full of them. Dantalion is one of the Goetic demons, and holds a book that contains the thoughts of all people, written in a language only he can read, etc, etc (Source: the internet, Strange Journey). But more than that, this is a supernatural mystery series, and an interesting one at that. The episodes so far have been pretty formulaic, but the focus is more on the mystery of the week, so that’s acceptable. I suppose it’s got cursory similarities to Gosick, but it’s more mature and deals with supernatural elements (whereas Gosick was more comedic and had zero supernatural elements). It also references a lot of old books and texts, so that’s fun too. If you’re not into the references, I guess it doesn’t have all that much appeal though. The mystery part of the plot’s ok enough, but nothing too special (as I said, it’s mystery of the week, so they can’t be all that deep or anything). 8/10

Double-J (4/4)

Well, it looks like a flash animation or something, but it’s fairly entertaining. Similar to the Nyarlathotep one a while ago, only you don’t need forbidden knowledge of elder gods and other such abominations to get it. Each episode is really short, like some of the other anime this season, which is probably for the best. It’s about a club which promotes the preservation of ancient and under-appreciated arts, past down through family ties, like shaping the back end of a toothpick. It’s seriously pretty much the same as watching an animated 4-koma. 7/10

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee (3/4)

Very slow, but enjoyable enough. It’s about a Japanese girl who moves to France after meeting a visiting blacksmith, to work as an attendant to his shop, and the culture clash between her and the guy’s grandson who works there. Goddamn, what a convoluted sentence. It’s pretty simple though, and maybe too simple, as each episode goes really slowly, focusing on only two or so elements at a time. There’s no real plot either, though the episodes are connected. It’s literally just following the circumstances of the girl’s new life. I say it’s enjoyable, but it’s lack of a driven plot even in individual episodes makes it feel kind of pointless (and slow). 7/10

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi (3/3)

I don’t know what they were trying to do to us with those first two episodes, but they were rushed and convoluted as hell. It almost seems like the compressed at least half a season’s worth of plot into those, even ending with a climactic battle where the main character and his rival team up to defeat a common foe. One of them even admits that that battle was out of place. The third episode tries to slow down and explain things, but still ends up making things seem convoluted, but at least for the most part things make sense. It’s filled with ecchi scenes, and the plot is going in some absurd direction, but it’s not terrible… at least not terrible enough to be unwatchable. 5/10

Kamisama Dolls (3/4)

The protagonist is a guy who left his secretive village a while ago cause he couldn’t stand being there. He has a sister who shows up at the start of the anime, and fights some other guy from the same village, using super-powered mech-like things. They blow up his apartment, so he has to live with a girl whose parents are from the same village. It seems like the plot’s going on a detour at the moment though. The plot is actually probably the only interesting part, and thankfully it’s complicated enough to be enjoyable. Average, but entertaining enough. 7/10

Kamisama no Memochou (3/3)

Detective Agency of NEETs, and other awesome things. The characters are actually pretty interesting, and are just as much in focus as the actual cases they try to solve. It’s a pretty solid show. Interestingly, like Dantalion, it also bears cursory similarities to Gosick. 8/10

Manyuu Hikenchou (2/2)

Uh… it’s an anime about breasts, where a certain clan persecutes well endowed peasants like the friggin witch hunts or something. Seriously, they find poor girls with large breasts and cut them off, in some strange non-lethal way. Their aim is tontrol the supply of large breasts, which have somehow become a symbol of power. The main character is a girl from that clan who runs away with their hidden technique scroll of growing large breasts, cause she hates their ways. She also has a secret power which she doesn’t know about, which as of the second episode, seems to be something like she has an uncanny ability to learn her clan’s ultimate secret techniques. I’d think the only people this’d appeal to are light guro and/or breast expansion fetishists, but the level of censoring is such that half the time you’re watching an almost completely whited out screen, so really not even they could enjoy it. I think there might be a futa in the cast too, but I dunno, it’s hard to tell when you’re watching disembodied hands moving strangely and repetitively in a field of light. 3/10

Mawaru Penguindrum (3/3)

It’s like an explosion of strange with penguins mixed in. So pretty much like getting hit in the face by a prinny, only not as painful. Just from the first episode, the plot is already pretty complicated, and involves a trio of siblings, one girl and two boys. The girl dies from some incurable disease, but she’s revived by the power of a penguin hat they bought at a zoo’s souvenir shop. Then all kinds of strange things happen with magic penguins being delivered to their house, and the penguin hat possessing the girl and doing some magical transformation or something, and takes one of the brothers’ heart or something while magically removing parts of her outfit or something. Seriously, the last half of the episode was just an explosion of plot. The next two episodes are even more absurd, as the brothers are ordered by the penguin hat to find the “penguin drum,” which is in the possession of a crazy stalker girl. It’s highly addicting. It also has some visual gimmicks that are awesome, too. 8/10

Mayo Chiki (3/3)

Well, I guess the basic premise is like Maria Holic, except with roles redistributed. The main character is a guy with allergies to girls, at his school there’s a rich girl with her own butler, only the butler is a girl in disguise. If she’s ever found out to be a girl, she can’t be a butler anymore and has to quit school. The rich girl is a pure sadist, but acts like a saint normally. That’s as far as the similarities go as this is a romantic comedy, and almost pure ecchi, but kinda fun to watch anyways. 6/10

Morita-san wa Mukuchi (3/4)

Series of shorts about a girl who thinks too much so she never gets a chance to talk. It’s ok, but sometimes the timing is a little messy. Like Double-J, it’s pretty much an animated 4-koma, though it’s not nearly as entertaining. 6/10

Natsume Yuujinchou San (3/4)

Sequel (see Baka to Test above). Awesome, too. So far not as good as the previous season, but that’s cause the previous season moved away from the monster of the week style in the middle of its run. Hopefully this one does too, and gets better. Well, not that the individual episodes weren’t that good. The last one for instance was comparable to the better ones of earlier seasons. Hopefully, it only gets better from here. 8/10

Nekogami Yaoyorozu (2/3)

Reminds me of Touhou, with all these random gods running around doing whatever the hell they want. For some reason I like this, even though they barely introduce anything. The first ep seems more like one in the middle of a season than anything. It doesn’t really get better in terms of explanation, and the plot is fairly random (possibly more so than Zun’s plots), but is also poorly explained, as people and things just show up out of nowhere to progress it. Still, it’s somehow addicting to watch. 6/10

Nyanpire the Animation (3/4)

Why am I even watching this? Well anyways, it’s a series of shorts about an abandoned kitten who gets revived by a vampire right as its about to die. I guess it’s moderately entertaining. I think “disgustingly cute” applies perfectly here. Side note: I’m actually impressed at how well the pun Masamunya translates into English as Meowsamune. ??/10 (in all seriousness, I have no idea how to rate this one)

NO.6 (3/3)

As expected from the OP/ED, the first ep was a prologue, and there’s a timeskip to when they’re young adults or somewhere around there. Anyways, the story’s about a guy named Shion who has curiosity as his only emotion, and a escaped convict named “rat” who he saves in the prologue. The city they lived in is one of those dystopian last bastions against some worldwide catastrophe or something, as the outside looks pretty post apocalyptic. Shion gets arrested for being a malcontent, but is rescued by Rat, and they escape the city. I guess the rest of the plot’s going to be them figuring out the dark secrets of the city, as well as trying to live outside of it. It’s worth watching. 8/10

R-15 (3/3)

A “genius” porn writer (erotic literature, if you care about the proper genre name) is accepted into a school of “geniuses” of every field. Hilarity ensues. Also lots of highly censored (most likely hard-core) porn. Honestly, it’s not that interesting, except maybe for the set of over-the-top characters, though if you’re looking for that, BakaTest has this beat. Well, it seems that this is supposed to be a romantic comedy, so I guess there’s that. 5/10

Ro-Kyu-Bu! (4/4)

Know the term lolishit (moeshit, with lolis)? It’s pretty much this. Lolis playing basketball, coached buy the younger brother of their original coach. Said younger brother was in his own team, but it was disbanded cause their coach was discovered to be a lolicon. Of course, this can only end well. As of the 3rd episode, it already seems like the coach is well on his way to becoming a lolicon convert. I’m probably dropping this this episode. 2/10

Sacred Seven (3/3)

An original shounen anime that fails at pacing, and has kinda boring characters. The concept is interesting enough, but it’s almost a chore to watch at points. Normally shounen anime you can stop thinking and just watch and it’ll be fine, but this one has pacing problems or something, so it’s a little boring and even annoying at points, when they start doing really obvious or cliche things (not that often though, thankfully). As of the third episode, this is becoming less of a complaint, so I guess that’s good. Hopefully it’ll get better but original anime kinda usually end up poorly. Side note: If you haven’t noticed, the main character’s darkstone design kinda looks like Django from Boktai, only armored. 7/10

The iDOLM@STER (3/3)

Based on the popular idol training game of the same name. Well technically it’s based on the second one or something. The game plays like a visual novel with music game minigames, or so I hear. As for the anime, unlike other visual novel based anime, and like the actual game, the protagonist isn’t the focus, I think. Well, the protagonist is important as he’s the new manager or something, and the girls’ success depends on how he helps them out, but still, the focus is on the idols. 7/10

Usagi Drop (3/3)

Based on the highly rated manga. It’s about a bachelor in his 30s who adopts his grandfather’s illegitimate child, who’s still a kid, in order to save her from a terrible life getting shoved around orphanages or something. It’s quite calming, and good. 9/10

Yuru Yuri (3/4)

Sounds like it’d be one of those annoying moeshit slice of life school anime revolving around some club with exactly four girls, or something like that. In fact, only the last two are true. It has some kind of really lose plot, and it’s more about randomness-based humor than moeness, so it’s cool. The humor’s a little weaker than other things out, but that’s not like a fatal flaw or anything. Of course, with a title like that you can expect some focus on yuri, so there’s that. It’s certainly watchable and enjoyable, though it’s more something you’d watch as a distraction. 7/10

Tags: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!, Blood-C, Dantalion no Shoka, Double-J, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi, Kamisama Dolls, Kamisama no Memochou, Manyuu Hikenchou, Mawaru Penguindrum, Mayo Chiki, Morita-san wa Mukuchi, Natsume Yuujinchou San, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, NO.6, Nyanpire the Animation, R-15, Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Sacred Seven, Summer anime, The iDOLM@STER, Usagi Drop, Yuru Yuri

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2011 at 2:27 am and is filed under Current Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.