23 Jul 2012

Summer 2012 Highlights


Back from holidays and a week of catching up! I'm a little late with this post, with most of the shows already 3 weeks in. But this gives me a good chance to check out everything in one go and also sample the 2nd and 3rd episodes. Here are some shows that caught my attention.



Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita
This show is just... crazy! Best way to describe it: Kiddy anime filled with dark humour. A critical look at consumerism and capitalism. It's just so weird but at the same time portrays a very interesting setting.

Tari Tari
P.A. Works' latest series. As usual, looks good. This time round it also has the benefit of having really good pacing and dialogue. It's doubtful that it will remain consistently good (as shown by Hanasaku Iroha), but for now it is still interesting enough to capture my attention. This season isn't exactly filled with blockbuster hits.

Kokoro Connect
Despite some cliche fan-service scenes, its mostly clean and simple. The body swapping premise might have been done to death, but this show uses it in more interesting ways, shedding light to the personalities and dark secrets of the protagonists. Surprisingly good watch.

Sword Art Online
Sounds generic, but the drama was well done. For once we don't have a hundred and one character introductions thrown at us straight away, which also serves to show the solitude of the main character I guess? Some pretty good potential here.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous
Great performance from the seiyuus, great writing too. A mature plot for sure, but I wonder how long the ghost gimmick can last before it gets boring or annoying.

Muv-Luv Alternate: Total Eclipse
The first episode had good build up and some needless fan service. The setting and overall serious atmosphere was what drew me in, and then episode 2 totally blew me away. Episode 3 however, made me cautious. They can go anywhere from here, and I hope they keep up with the dark atmosphere instead of this comedy act...

Binbougami-ga
This season's Nyaruko. Some fast paced humour plus tons of reference makes this show rather enjoyable to watch, though I would say Nyaruko had much better energy and pacing in its first episode.

Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! (NakaImo)
Despite having a stellar cast of imouto-like seiyuu, this show just utterly fails at being anything serious or even funny. It's mildly enjoyable. I came in to see Kaori's performance but I was quite disappointed by how generic she sounds. I think I enjoy the anime's weekly radio program hosted by Kaori and Ayane more. Kaori-pyon! LOL

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate (KoiChoco)
Watched this for Asakawa Yuu and was pleasantly surprised that she can still do a younger, feminine character. The weird underlying plot kind of interests me, but it feels like it'll just tie up with some absurd anime reasoning.

Joshiraku
The first 5 minutes was HILARIOUS! But then after that I started to understand why fansub groups were trying to avoid subbing this. It's near impossible to translate the jokes and puns to English, and this show is all about the jokes and puns. I'll stick around to see what translators will do about this.

Oda Nobuna no Yabou
Top-notch animation from Madhouse for what is essentially a sengoku-era gender bender with tons of moe. It feels like Madhouse is wasting their talent on drivel like this but... I'll have to give in to this guilty pleasure. LOL.

I won't be posting weekly impressions on any particular show this season, just highlight those that stood out for me. I still need to catch up to where all these shows are currently at though!

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