Anime post!

It's October! That means a new season of anime to try!

Actually, I realized this only several days ago. Though I should have known given that the series I was following, Blue Exorcist and No. 6, both ended.

Let's start with the new shows I sampled:

• Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon - This show was totally not what I expected. If you read the summary, about a reenactment of human history that got disrupted first in A.D. 1413 and then in A.D. 1648, you might expect some kind of medieval fantasy type thing. Or, once you see the hints of Japanese culture, some Warring States type thing. And there is a bit of that in the background, but mostly, so far as I can tell after two episodes, it's basically a supernatural super-technological high school comedy. It's a high school setting, but everyone has little screens they can pull up, and there are angels and demons and mechas and all sorts of weird entities in the class. Also note the "big breasts" tag on AniDB.
  
  After the first episode, I was considering sticking with the series. There were some potentially interesting dynamics, and I admit, it can be pretty hilarious at times, even if the humor is mostly ecchi. I LOL'ed when Kimi was like, "Take your $*#@$% and stick it in the power socket and die." But after the second episode, I really have no idea where it's going, and the mix of vague allusions to reenacting Japanese feudal history with the aforementioned supernatural super-technological high school comedy is kind of weird. And the characters and storytelling are not really there enough for me to forgive the lack of direction.
  
  I might revisit if I run out of stuff to watch (hah!) and am in the mood for something stupid but funny. Though I do still have Koihime Musou to finish in that category.



• Fate/Zero - And thus I acquire not one but two series to watch. Because the majority opinion appears to be that one should watch Fate/Stay Night first. Not sure why I never finished it -- I only got 3 episodes in -- since both series seem to be pretty cool action fantasy. As to Fate/Zero, none of the characters have really caught my interest after one double-episode, but they've set up some situations and relationships that are suitably intriguing or heartwrenching. Only complaint is that all the guys have super-generic seiyuu and I can't tell them apart, especially Tokiomi and Kirei, who keep talking to each other. And Kirei's voice is wayyyy too low.
  
  But I guess I won't be getting back to them for a while anyhow.



• Hunter x Hunter - Not sure how I feel about them deciding to remake the whole series rather than follow the old pattern and release an OVA every time an arc finishes (or sometimes halfway through arcs). But hey, this spares me rewatching the old series, which would require finding all the episodes. After the first episode, the voices don't really seem to fit the characters, but hopefully I'll settle into it. And I guess I should check one of these days whether the manga has started back up again.



• Guilty Crown - ...it was good until he pulled the weapon out of the girl. Never seen that before. I feel like this is Code Geass all over again. Oppressed Japan of the future, high school guy meets mysterious girl and obtains strange power, mecha battles and underground resistance, oh, and an original series. Which means I'll both love it and hate it? Not sure if I can put up with the erotic weapon-drawing sequences in the long run, but I'll at least give it another episode.



• Sengoku Paradise: Kiwami - OMG I need subs for this thing. I only understand like 60% of what is going on. But I can say that this is one craaaaaaaaazy show. Sengoku BL crack in three minute doses. \o/
  
  ...oh, and apparently there's a longer segment of the seiyuu wandering around and trying to explore Sengoku history without a plan...? Still don't understand, but they are cute and funny. XD;



• Un-Go - Weird-ish dark detective series. Inga is creepy but also kind of intriguing. I'll stick with it for now.



• Mirai Nikki - The opening scene made it seem like it was too dark and horror-ish for me, and some parts seemed too dark and slow, but as a whole I am intrigued for now. 12 people have diaries with entries that describe the future and are in a game to kill each other or destroy their diaries. The main character is kind of an annoying, whiny wimp, but if the show is sufficiently cerebral, I think I can put up with it. Also, Deus is voiced by Norio Wakamoto (a.k.a. Chiyo-Dad). :D

In terms of finished series, my previous anime post was fairly recent, so No. 6 and Blue Exorcist are the only things I've finished. I posted about No. 6, but I guess I didn't really say anything substantive. Yeah, it was rushed, and the ending was not very satisfying, but overall it was a good show. The story was relatively cohesive, and there were a lot of great moments between Shion and Nezumi which is, after all, what it's all about. I have the first six novels now, so I'll be turning to those once I finish Ginban 9.

As for Blue Exorcist, I'm always leery of shounen series that cut off after 26 episodes, but it wasn't bad, and was probably a wise decision since the manga doesn't have that many volumes out yet. For a shounen series, I think I would have liked more episodic action or a few more story arcs before the climax, but what they had was good. Loved the backstory about their mother and Satan. The ending was reasonably satisfying, too. Hopefully they left enough things open for a sequel once there's more manga. Because I love the characters and want to see more.