Fall 2013 Anime Season: Least to Most
Oct. 29th, 2013 06:46 pmNagi no Asukara - Once upon a time, all human lived in the oceans, underwater. Most people moved to land, but the disturbingly blue-eyed protagonists and their families still live under water. The high school kids have to go on land to go to school, as their own school has closed. I stopped watching this because the male protagonist is a complete asshole who tries to control the female protagonist's relationships with other boys, and the show's stance on that seems to be: "Aww, he likes her!"
Non Non Biyori - This is a pretty show set in the countryside, where a girl from Tokyo starts attending school because her family has moved. The school is so small that it only has 5 students, all of whom are in different grades but share the same classroom. It's supposed to be a comedy, but it's not funny. Dropped.
Kill la Kill - An outrageous show from the creators of Gurren Lagann. In post-apocalyptic Japan, Ryuko Matori shows up at Hannogyi Academy, where students are ruled by their militaristic student council. Ryuko uses half a giant pair of scissors as a sword, & seeks the other half - as well as her father's murderer. Points for style, but she obtains an extremely skimpy sentient fuku through a pseudo-rape scene. The show jokes about lechers/sexual violence at least once per episode. I haven't officially dropped this, but I haven't watched in a couple weeks, either.
Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) - I think that so far this is a show that I want to like more than I actually like it. Based on a light novel, this is a supernatural show by Kyoto Animation. Mirai is the last member of a clan of youmu-killers. She forms a sword with her own blood and hunts youmu. Enter Akihito, her immortal half-youmu classmate who keeps trying to crack her shell and show her how to trust people. There are a bunch of local youmu-hunters/containers/etc. who help Mirai. Mirai thinks nobody could possibly understand her emotional pain because of her angsty back-story. This is a trope that I basically loathe BUT I like her friendship with Akihito enough to keep watching, even in spite of one boy's openly acknowledged sister complex (which he discusses WITH his sister!!).
Galilei Donna - This and the last anime are tied in how much I like them, I think. Galilei Donna has a semi-absurd premise: 3 Italian girls are the descendents of Galileo Galilei. Because this is an Italy portrayed by Japan, their surname is "Ferrari." Hozuki Ferrari is a 13-year-old mechanical genius who's constantly tinkering and surprising people around her with her inventions. Kazuki is 17, lovesick, and a total BAMF at martial arts. Lastly, Hazuki Ferrari is a 20-year-old college student who wants to be a lawyer, and has no problem shouting, "Objection!" to those around her. One day, each girl is separately attacked by a shady organization looking for "Galileo Tesoro," an artifact they believe the Ferrari sisters have, but about which they know nothing. The competent Ferrari sisters save themselves & each other, and travel by taking up residence in Hozuki's giant weaponized goldfish mecha. If you try it out, I recommend viewing episodes 1 & 2 together - they make a nice pilot.
Kyousogiga - This is the sort of show that defies description, and reminds me that some stories can only be told through the medium of anime.
Am I missing anything that you've been enjoying this season?
Non Non Biyori - This is a pretty show set in the countryside, where a girl from Tokyo starts attending school because her family has moved. The school is so small that it only has 5 students, all of whom are in different grades but share the same classroom. It's supposed to be a comedy, but it's not funny. Dropped.
Kill la Kill - An outrageous show from the creators of Gurren Lagann. In post-apocalyptic Japan, Ryuko Matori shows up at Hannogyi Academy, where students are ruled by their militaristic student council. Ryuko uses half a giant pair of scissors as a sword, & seeks the other half - as well as her father's murderer. Points for style, but she obtains an extremely skimpy sentient fuku through a pseudo-rape scene. The show jokes about lechers/sexual violence at least once per episode. I haven't officially dropped this, but I haven't watched in a couple weeks, either.
Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) - I think that so far this is a show that I want to like more than I actually like it. Based on a light novel, this is a supernatural show by Kyoto Animation. Mirai is the last member of a clan of youmu-killers. She forms a sword with her own blood and hunts youmu. Enter Akihito, her immortal half-youmu classmate who keeps trying to crack her shell and show her how to trust people. There are a bunch of local youmu-hunters/containers/etc. who help Mirai. Mirai thinks nobody could possibly understand her emotional pain because of her angsty back-story. This is a trope that I basically loathe BUT I like her friendship with Akihito enough to keep watching, even in spite of one boy's openly acknowledged sister complex (which he discusses WITH his sister!!).
Galilei Donna - This and the last anime are tied in how much I like them, I think. Galilei Donna has a semi-absurd premise: 3 Italian girls are the descendents of Galileo Galilei. Because this is an Italy portrayed by Japan, their surname is "Ferrari." Hozuki Ferrari is a 13-year-old mechanical genius who's constantly tinkering and surprising people around her with her inventions. Kazuki is 17, lovesick, and a total BAMF at martial arts. Lastly, Hazuki Ferrari is a 20-year-old college student who wants to be a lawyer, and has no problem shouting, "Objection!" to those around her. One day, each girl is separately attacked by a shady organization looking for "Galileo Tesoro," an artifact they believe the Ferrari sisters have, but about which they know nothing. The competent Ferrari sisters save themselves & each other, and travel by taking up residence in Hozuki's giant weaponized goldfish mecha. If you try it out, I recommend viewing episodes 1 & 2 together - they make a nice pilot.
Kyousogiga - This is the sort of show that defies description, and reminds me that some stories can only be told through the medium of anime.
Am I missing anything that you've been enjoying this season?
Quick Anime Post
Jul. 10th, 2013 07:33 amTraveling Daru - This was a really cute ~10-minute short.
Daru is a toy who gets left behind by his child-owner in an airport b/c the kid's mom won't stop to pick him up while rushing to make their plane.
SO, Daru travels the world trying to find her. It's basically an excuse for animating lots of gorgeous backgrounds. Worth the 10 minutes, anyway.
Free! - This is a new/currently airing series that everyone & their mom is talking about.
Basically this is a show about boys who love swimming. Similar to Chihayafuru, the main characters formed a bond around this sport when they were young, & are now reunited in high school.
This is the same studio that made K-ON!, etc.
They had originally released some artwork about the characters without intending to do a series. Fans on Tumblr/etc. exploded with fanart & backstories, & because people liked it so much, they made a show.
The dudes have rippling muscles, etc. It is a fanservice show - that's the whole point.
Reading the
mantearsflowingfree Tumblr is kind of hilarious. They mock men on the Internet who are complaining that this series is not explicitly aimed toward them, but rather toward female viewers.
Anyway, I genuinely like the show!
Unlike K-ON!, members of the opposite sex exist & have speaking roles. (In K-ON!, I think the only ones around are Mugi's butler & the guitar shop guy - two men in service roles who exist to serve the protags :D)
Servant x Service - This is a new/currently airing series about civil servants in Hokkaido. As I am ALSO a government employee & traveled most extensively in Hokkaido on both trips to Japan, I was really intrigued by this!
Unfortunately, it's sort of a running gag type show where every character is super annoying. There are also a few fanservicey jokes made about the large-busted protagonist.
I wouldn't recommend this to people, although I'll be watching for at least a little while to see if it gets any better.
Chihayafuru 2 - Feels just like season 1. I like the new boy-crazy girl who joins the karuta club just b/c she likes Taichi. She reminds me of Hachiko from NANA.
Don't really care about the new dude.
I ship Kana/Hanano for totes.
There was a quote in episode 4 or so explaining the series' title. Obviously "Chihaya" is the name of the protagonist, but "Chihayafuru" is also the beginning of one of the karuta cards.
lavendersleeves wrote this quote down here:
Little Witch Academia - This was a 25-minute short by a new studio. It's a school for witches!
It's hard to summarize the plot without giving shit away (only 25 min!), but this style is basically my mental image of Harry Potter. It was gr9, and they've apparently funded a second installment via Kickstarter. I'll be watching it!
The animation studio has uploaded this to YouTube, so you can watch it here.
Daru is a toy who gets left behind by his child-owner in an airport b/c the kid's mom won't stop to pick him up while rushing to make their plane.
SO, Daru travels the world trying to find her. It's basically an excuse for animating lots of gorgeous backgrounds. Worth the 10 minutes, anyway.
Free! - This is a new/currently airing series that everyone & their mom is talking about.
Basically this is a show about boys who love swimming. Similar to Chihayafuru, the main characters formed a bond around this sport when they were young, & are now reunited in high school.
This is the same studio that made K-ON!, etc.
They had originally released some artwork about the characters without intending to do a series. Fans on Tumblr/etc. exploded with fanart & backstories, & because people liked it so much, they made a show.
The dudes have rippling muscles, etc. It is a fanservice show - that's the whole point.
Reading the
Anyway, I genuinely like the show!
Unlike K-ON!, members of the opposite sex exist & have speaking roles. (In K-ON!, I think the only ones around are Mugi's butler & the guitar shop guy - two men in service roles who exist to serve the protags :D)
Servant x Service - This is a new/currently airing series about civil servants in Hokkaido. As I am ALSO a government employee & traveled most extensively in Hokkaido on both trips to Japan, I was really intrigued by this!
Unfortunately, it's sort of a running gag type show where every character is super annoying. There are also a few fanservicey jokes made about the large-busted protagonist.
I wouldn't recommend this to people, although I'll be watching for at least a little while to see if it gets any better.
Chihayafuru 2 - Feels just like season 1. I like the new boy-crazy girl who joins the karuta club just b/c she likes Taichi. She reminds me of Hachiko from NANA.
Don't really care about the new dude.
I ship Kana/Hanano for totes.
There was a quote in episode 4 or so explaining the series' title. Obviously "Chihaya" is the name of the protagonist, but "Chihayafuru" is also the beginning of one of the karuta cards.
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"Chihayafuru" is a poetic phrase that makes about as much sense in Japanese as it does in English. The translators translated this meaning as "impassionate," which seems apt in that "Impassionate" means either "full of passion" or "without passion." But in the last episode, a character gives a lovely interpretation of the word that I found somewhat inspiring:SUPER INSPIRING. Even though "it is probably a state that humans cannot achieve," it seems like something to strive for, every day.
"Chihayafuru" is like a perfectly spinning top, turning so fast and perfectly that it appears not to be moving at all. But it deflects everything that tries to touch it without losing balance, without losing calm.
The word is used to describe gods, not humans--it is probably a state that humans cannot achieve. It seems to me to be a state of such focus that one can be lightning-alert and yet perfectly calm. An offensive defense. Or maybe such inner peace that nothing can upset it.
Little Witch Academia - This was a 25-minute short by a new studio. It's a school for witches!
It's hard to summarize the plot without giving shit away (only 25 min!), but this style is basically my mental image of Harry Potter. It was gr9, and they've apparently funded a second installment via Kickstarter. I'll be watching it!
The animation studio has uploaded this to YouTube, so you can watch it here.