Rakuga Kidou reports that fans of Yusei Matsui’s manga Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro are so unhappy with the anime adaptation that they’ve started up a petition to try and pressure the producers at Madhouse into being more faithful to the original.

Now, I haven’t read the manga so I can’t address the faithfulness, but I hope that the producers pay attention and that it results in slightly less insipid mysteries. I love the characters and their interactions, I really like the visuals, but I can pretty much always tell who the bad guy is within five seconds of them appearing on screen (if not faster).

Original source: Rakuga Kidou.
Secondary source: AnimeNation.

Okay, this stuff. Clannad. It’s supposed to be for you dudes, right?

What the fuck makes you dweebs so damn sappy? Seriously, episode 9 was almost painful to watch. I felt embarassed for Tomoya.

Can we get back to the hotter, goofier chicks now, please, KyoAni?

Now that the fall season has passed the halfway point, it’s time to see what series will be getting continuations and what won’t. Just announced in Japan, a Night Wizard game for PS2 and a second season of Hidamari Sketch (titled Hidamari Sketch x365).

I’m kinda surprised Hidamari was popular enough to warrant a second season. It was nicely done and had some cute moments, but I didn’t think it really stood out all that much. It does seem like a lot of slice-of-life series get sequels though, and I guess there’s enough manga to develop into the new series, so eh, whatever.

See here.

So we’re up to ~episode six in most series, which is the halfway point for the Fall season (though not necessarily the halfway point for each show). I figured I’d check in and talk about where I am with each show these days.

• Bamboo Blade: Miya-Miya owns the ass of every female character this season, hands down. Then again, it’s not like she’s up against a lot of competition. Status: Watching regularly.
• Blue Drop: The pacing is sooo slow, it took until episode three or four for anything to actually happen. But the promise of lesbians keeps me going. Status: Watching regularly.
• Clannad: I maintain that this show would be so much better if they would just ditch Nagisa entirely. Beyond that, I’m liking it better than I expected to. I do still wish that anyone looked somewhat close to how old they actually are / sound…but eh. Status: Watching regularly.
• Dragonaut: The Resonance: I can’t explain why I keep watching this show. I’m not really fond of the art style, the plot is pretty mediocre…and yet, I keep watching. I blame the boobies. Status: Watching regularly.
• Genshiken 2: Ogiue’s Sasahara x Madarama FTW. That is all. Status: Watching regularly.
• Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun: GOOO REIKA! GO GO GO! Mayu’s cute, but boring. Status: Watching regularly.
• Jyuushin Enbu: Story-wise it’s gotten better, but the art and animation are still incredibly mediocre compared to FMA, and the characters aren’t as cool either. Status: Watching every so-often.
• Kaiji: I’m interested in seeing where this goes, but running out of space on my anime plate for watching it. Status: Dropped for watching later.
• Kidou Senshi Gundam 00: Major improvements in terms of developing characters, but I think I still like the ending theme better than anything else about the show. Status: Watching regularly.
• KimiKiss: I like this show, and I think it’s because it’s a dating sim but not one that focuses on one guy and a dozen girls, but rather a group of friends (male and female) and their love lives. Status: Watching regularly.
• Kodomo no Jikan: Epic yet uncomfortable win. But I’ve ranted about this show being undervalued as mere pedo fodder enough, so suffice to say Status: Watching regularly.
• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro: I would totally be watching this show IF ANYONE WOULD FREAKIN’ SUB IT. I’ve actually already seen people cosplay from the manga, and yet no one will sub the anime? Am I missing something? Status: Watching…if it ever comes out.
• Minamike: I like the show a lot, but almost all the comedy comes from either crazy middle sister Kana, or crazy Kana-like characters (Chiaki and Haruka each have a classmate with a similar dynamic). And Kana is never given the opportunity to have any redeeming features. Hmph. Status: Watching regularly.
• Moyashimon: This one’s a little behind, but I like it…though the agriculture 101 bits can be a little dull, the rest of the batshit insane stuff makes up for it. Status: Watching regularly.
• Night Wizard: I’m getting a little tired of Eris being the sweet, cheerful, flock-of-birds attracting Mary Sue, and annoyed at Renji being the show’s whipping boy with, like Minamike’s Kana, no real opportunity to redeem himself. Status: Considering dropping.
• Prism Ark: …One episode was really enough. Status: Dropped.
• Rental Magika: It got so boring in episode three I just couldn’t continue. Status: Dropped.
• Shinrei Kari / Ghost Hound: I still have some issues with the art style, but the pacing has picked itself up nicely and I’m curious to see where it’s going. Status: Watching regularly.
• Shion no Oh: Mmm, delicious trap, must eat. Status: Watching regularly.
• Shugo Chara! Mmm, delicious magical girl, must eat. This is probably one of the more solid shows of the season, IMO, though it’s obvious not for everyone. Status: Watching regularly.
• Suteki Tantei Labyrinth: Looks cute, but pretty dull– I’m more interested in the dolls than in anything to do with the main character. Status: Dropped.

I am really enjoying this show, but I gotta say…at first I didn’t really like Reika, but with episodes 4 and 5, I like her quite a bit. I actually kinda want Ninomiya-kun to end up with her instead of Mayu, especially once you start to learn more about their history and stuff.

But on the other hand, I also like Mayu, even though she’s the kind of character who would normally drive me nuts. I hope she ends the series by becoming a super-popular BL doujinshika =P

• Title: Ghost Hound
• Studio: Production I.G
• Genre: Supernatural/Mystery

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥½ (Err…sorry I was so late…hope you weren’t waiting long…etc.)

Thoughts:
Let’s see, eleven years ago something rather bad happened to Tarou Komori which resulted in the death of his older sister. Now he has repetitive lucid dreams about the event, which he records after the fact onto an audio cassette. He also suffers from some amount of narcolepsy.

Komori is the son of a sake brewer in a small town. The brewery was supposed to go to his older sister when his parents got too old, but after her death it was all sort of up in the air. The town is growing a bit because of a big plant opening nearby, so there are new students at the school, including the rather obnoxious Masayuki. He kind of reminds me of Koizumi from Suzumiya Haruhi, except more of a slacker. But definitely has that somewhat sleazy feel.

I’m really kind of torn on the show. The animation is fantastic, but the art style is a little odd for me– why do Masayuki and Oogami look like actual teenagers while Tarou looks super-young? And why are so many eyes shaped like perfect circles? And then there’s the plot. I’m intrigued by the mystery, but I found the pacing of individual scenes– particularly dialogue –very lethargic. And I’m always troubled by the information flow in a mystery. On the one hand, I don’t want everything just spelled out for me, of course– but on the other hand, I hate it when I feel like the writers are withholding information for the sake of keeping me interested, if that makes sense.

So, there you have it: ambivalence. I’ve got ep2 in my long list of things to watch, so we’ll see if I change my mind.

• Title: Prism Ark
• Studio: Frontline
• Genre: Fantasy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥ (Bleah!)
  

Thoughts:
Oof. Prism Ark’s first episode opens with the main couple about to share a smooch, when a baddie shows up and a big freakin’ battle ensues. During the battle, in which we are introduced to a half-dozen other characters of varying inspidness, the audience is also forced to endure some seeeerious explication. First, a history of the worldsetting, and then an extended series of flashbacks involving the female lead’s past with the male lead, who apparently dyed his hair and changed his name, or something.

It oddly feels as though the series is a sequel to something, and that the first episode is recapping that first thing. Except, uh, it’s not.

So I think what happens next is we jump back to a time inbetween the childhood seen in the extended flashbacks and the present. After spending some time there we eventually get back to the present…but will the “present” prove to be close to the end of the anime, or will there be a whole other arc after it?

All in all, the timing is just plain way off. “In Medias Res” is a Latin phrase that means “in the middle of things,” and it’s a common literary technique– that is, starting the story in the middle, covering backstory as necessary, and continuing through to the end. The result is that the viewer is drawn into the action directly and becomes interested in the rest.

It’s tricky to pull off if you have extended backstory like Prism Ark, but some shows do it well. Fullmetal Alchemist opens with a 2-episode “present” arc, then jumps up into a whopping 7-episode flashback (eps 3 through 9) before returning to the present and continuing through the end. But you’ll notice that they spent a full two episodes drawing the viewers into the character and the story before explaining the rest. Prism Ark is nowhere near as careful.

On top of poor timing, boring exposition, and kind of stupid flashbacks, the show has pretty dull, stereotypical characters (including the aforementioned baddy, a nun named “Sister Hell,” and no, I’m not kidding), not to mention mediocre animation at best.

• Title: Shion no Ou (Shion’s King)
• Studio: Deen
• Genre: Mystery/Tournament

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥½
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥½ (Shougi is Serious Business.)
  

Thoughts:
When she was a very small child, Shion watched her parents’ murder while she sat at a shougi table. The shock caused her to go mute, although she lives a reasonably contented life with her foster family. She still plays shougi– a Japanese game somewhat similar to chess –and is working her way up the tournament ladder, about to become junior pro level despite her young age.

At the tournament, she meets a competitor, Ayumi Saitou, and a junior pro senpai, Saori Nikaidou, each of whom seem to be hiding some interesting secrets. Shion herself is so very wide-eyed and innocent, and I mean “wide-eyed” literally.

Based on the first ep, the series has two weaknesses. The first is style-wise: while the art style may not be your cup of tea to begin with, I also think it didn’t transfer to anime especially wel, largely in the aforementioned eyes– sometimes they look incredibly over-sized (as in, even more so than is usual for anime).

The second weakness is that it’s hard to make a game like shougi interesting to those who don’t play it, and so far the series offers absolutely no exposition on how the game is played, unlike many other such competition anime and manga (Hikaru no Go, Yakitate!! Japan, etc). As a result, the matches themselves are sort of dull, though we only see one in the first episode. You anticipate who is going to win, but if you don’t know shougi you won’t understand who is winning or why, or why X move is interesting, or anything along those lines.

That said, the murder mystery and the background of the side characters should be interested enough to propel me into episode 2, anyway. But don’t expect much by way of light-hearted comedy; this is absolutely a mystery drama.

• Title: Moyashimon
• Studio: Shirogumi
• Genre: Comedy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥½ (I like you, but, uh…what’s that smell?)
  

Thoughts:
If nothing else, Moyashimon has probably the most unique premise of the season: main character Tadayasu can see, hear, and talk to microbes– like, without a microscope. He can identify them not from having studied but from seeing them in daily life. He and his friend Kei are accepted into a university on the outer edge of Tokyo, where he is forced to prove his ability by a pair of goofy scientists.

It’s an absolutely wacky comedy, ranging from gags about dead seals with dead seagulls stuffed inside of them to the more subtle THERE ARE NO FEMALE SCIENTISTS THAT HOT bit, conveyed by the mere fact that there is a hot scientist chick in the series. I kinda could have done without the dead seals and seagulls and stuff (you’ll see what I mean when you watch), but it was still frankly pretty hilarious.

But does it have enough to sustain a whole series? Time will tell…