Spring 2012 Anime Series: The First Batch
Well, it’s time for a new anime season already. Here’s the batch that I’ve watched through so far… sadly I’m WAY behind- because of an anime convention, ironically…
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Ash’s Anime Reviews: (Winter 2012) Ano Natsu de Matteru / Waiting in Summer
Ano Natsu de Matteru/Waiting in Summer (12 episodes, Streamed on CrunchyRoll.com)
Not too long ago, when a new season started up, I would sit down and watch the first episode of EVERYTHING that I could and then decide what to stick with and what to drop. These days, I’m a lot choosier about what I’ll even watch the first episode of- but I do try and keep an eye on the buzz about shows I initially passed on in case I miss something good. It was into that category that AnoNatsu fell- I initially thought it looked too generic, but was surprised by just how much praise it was getting on the forums and decided to check it out- and was surprised to find that it ended up one of my favorites of the season.
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Ash’s Anime Reviews: (Fall 2011/Winter 2012) Bakuman Season 2
Bakuman Season 2 (25 episodes)
With their first serialized work starting to run, Takagi and Mashiro have their work cut out for them trying to keep it up in rank and competing with their friends and fellow manga artists. But life has plenty of challenges for them to face in both their professional and private lives as health and relationship issues test both Ashirogi Muto and the other artists and editors they encounter…
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Ash’s Anime Reviews: (Winter 2012) Another
Another (12 episodes, streamed on CrunchyRoll.com)
When Sakakibara Kouichi returns to his mother’s hometown, his is hospitalized before he can start at his new school, meeting a mysterious girl while in the hospital. When he is well enough to start going to school, the girl he met- Misaki Mei- is in his class, but there’s something very odd about things in his class including that nobody seems to see or notice Mei. And that’s before people start dying…
Ash’s Anime Reviews: (Winter 2012) Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne (first cour)
Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne (12 episodes, Streamed by Viz Anime/Hulu)
In an indeterminate time, presumably not too far in the future, in Kamogawa, Japan the overly-energetic and over-talented Madoka is the sole member of the Jersey Club- filling in and helping everyone who needs it. So when a mysterious girl shows up and asks for her help to pilot a robot, what can she say except, “Yes…”
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Ash’s Anime Reviews: (Winter 2012) Black★Rock Shooter on TV
Black Rock Shooter on TV (8 episodes, streamed by NicoNicoDouga)
I can’t think of a single media franchise with as bizarre and varied of a history as that of Black Rock Shooter (BRS). Stemming from an original illustrating by Huke, it inspired a song by Supercell (now one of the current hot musical groups who was responsible for what is arguably my favorite AniSong of all time, Bakemonogatari’s “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” ED Theme) with a music-video, has become a massive figure franchise, spawned an OVA, and has now been adapted into an 8-episode TV series.
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Winter 2012 Anime Reviews: Nisemonogatari
Nisemonogatari- 11 episodes, available streamed on CrunchyRoll.com Read the rest of this entry »
Winter 2012 Anime: A Mid-Season’s Reflection
Rounding the corner and heading into March, the Winter 2012 Anime Season is now solidly half over. Overall, I’d say it’s a pretty strong and fun season, but read on for more detailed thoughts on the individual shows. Since the vast majority (for once) are streamed, I’ll be going in general order of when they come out throughout the week, starting with Sunday.
Bob Battles the DVD Backlog: Paniponi Dash (complete)
I’ve been making an effort lately to re-start my attempt at going through and watching all of the DVDs that I own and yet whose contents I’ve not seen (there’s an important distinction between that and those which I simply have not WATCHED, given how much of my collection consists of DVDs of shows I initially watched fansubbed), and I decided that tackling one that I was near finishing anyway would be wise- a distinction that fell most accurately to Paniponi Dash.
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Winter 2012 Series Quick Looks
My look at shows from this season is a bit less comprehensive than it has been in the past- instead of what I’ve done before with essentially watching the first episode of everything and then trimming it down, I worked the opposite way- watching just what I knew I was interested in initially and adding shows as I got more information on them. As such, what is listed below are the shows that I actually watched and enjoyed- so far there haven’t been any that I’ve decided to drop, and likely there won’t be any since they’re spread out nicely throughout the week with regards to when they’re released. There’s at least one more that I’ll likely be checking out when it starts up: the new Black Rock Shooter TV series, but it hasn’t started up yet to be able to comment on.
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