Honestly the anime that started in the spring, winter, and summer this year in Japan was no worse than it has been any other year. I simply did not get very excited about it. The only shows that I recall watching consistently every week are Gundam 00, Shakugan no Shana 2nd, (both of which I disliked and started in 2007 if memory serves but of which will watch future incarnations of anyway) Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de They Are My Noble Masters (guilty pleasure), and Code Geass Hangyaku no Lelouche R2 (business as usual). Instead of watching newer anime I found myself either catching up to or revisiting sumarily older series like G-Gundam, Tekkaman Blade, etc. I have watched a variety of series in whole and part after they finished running though like the two Minami-ke series, Koutetsushin Jeeg, Kaiji, Hakaba Kitaro, etc. And decided that there were some I wished I had been watching from the get-go as they say (somewhere) so I decided to mention those.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. This show, based on a light novel series, reminds me in its tone of the works of semi-obscure manga author もりしげ Morishige who is best known for Hanaukyo Maid Tai and Koi Koi 7 which had slight anime adaptations. The first HNT adaptation was trash but the second one surprised the hell out of me, I think it was more faithful to the manga but I have not read much of that. Anyway the whole thing ultimately does not make a lot of sense but it mixes totally fucking around with things issues that are actually really damn serious and the experience is distinct. I suppose you could say that the presentation diminishes the issues but I am in a generous mood so I don’t feel that way when watching the show. Of course switching between deadly serious and utterly ridiculous is a long standing narrative technique. How far it goes back in anime I can’t say for sure, possibly 30 years. City Hunter (about 20 years old) is typically the oldest example given but in spite of being a comedy Urusei Yatsura would sometimes slip into being really serious if not necessarily dealing with serious elements. However it is Morishige’s work that stands out to me as ushering in this sort of minor trend that Kyouran Kazoku Nikki fits into of instead being a serious story that wrapped up with lighter elements. Well you can draw your own conclusions about that, I might be way off base now that I’m thinking about it. Anyway I enjoy the show but I held off because the light novels are ongoing and I’ve been let down by the non-endings that anime adaptations have had in the past couple of years.
Nabari no Ou (I am too lazy today to write the japanese names). This show actually isn’t very good but it’s a bit of a change of pace for me. I would describe it as being like Naruto but with more of a shoujou style both art and story wise and set in modern times. I would express this as the equation N=nM+S where N is nabari no ou, n is naruto, M is modern times, and S is shoujou. Which means that n=(N-S)/M. Probably. But seriously I keep waiting for this series to turn into a boys love title between Miharu and Yoite or a shouta title between Miharu and Thobari or a shoujo title between Miharu and Raimei but lacking all of that it remains a mellodramatic shounen anime. This is a series that has some of the most minimal animation you would usually see in a work of its purported length (allegedly it will be <26 episodes). The backgrounds make me nostalgic but that just means they’re cheap. And for a series about ninjas it has ridiculously little action. The plot tends not to advance in a very active manner either. Yeah this is definitely a work people could stay away from. But I’m watching it and I don’t regret that so that means something. This is based on an ongoing manga conversely, and seems to not be any better on the whole than Shion no Ou. Which I am just mentioning since they both have “no ou” (king of, ou meaning king and… forget it) in the title.
Natsume Yuujinchou. Well this one… I think it has a sort of Mushishi vibe to it in that it deals with traditional Japanese mysticism, youkai, ayakashi, etc. while at least initially coming off as more easy going. Different elements also remind me of the Kitaro (gegege more than hakaba) series, Ayakashi Ayashi (the power of names and the kanji flowing around and such), and Kekkaishi (both series have an animal spirit with “Madara” in their name). I guess in a way this is kind of a mish mash series and certainly the “monster book” is not an original story element either but the overall execution is to my liking and the animation and action are both passable. Ultimately I just like supernatural stuff though so I’m willing to give the show a chance for now. I really think that it is in conveying the supernatural that anime really stands out as a medium because you are actually creating a world in which those things exist and take actions instead of relegating spirits and creatures and such to cheap effects.
Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo (basically “Ryoko’s strange case files” would be a transliteration). Try saying that fast. Based on a novel series by the productive fantasy writer Yoshiki Tanaka whose various series have or will soon all have been animated now as far as I can tell. I myself have never read any of his work but have seen at least part of all the animated adaptations that have come out so far. Illustrations in the books are by Narumi Kakinouchi who is most famous (probably) for Vampire (Princess) Miyu which I’m a fan of. In fact the creepy looking user icon I badly drew was partly inspired (in my mind) by Larva’s mask crossed with a clown’s. Anyway this show is almost over at this point but it’s worth watching if you get the chance.
Other ones I’ll throw out there are Birdy The Mighty Decode (probably a remake based on the 2nd Birdy manga), Slayers Revolution (slayers hasn’t aged well but I can still appreciate it), the third Zero no Tsukaima series (guilty pleasure), and if you haven’t seen the manga Detroit Metal City.
hmm a thousand words about this crap, seriously?
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