Anime Summer 2012 Final Thoughts Part 3
Oct. 12th, 2012 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gem2nikiThis concludes my summer anime review! A bunch of long running series ended, which was kinda sad. I hope something long will replace that...
Phi Brain Season 2
Binbougami Ga!
Sket Dance
Area no Kishi
Phi Brain: Orpheus Order (2nd season)
I'm already a huge fan of this series so this review will just be on from a fangirl perspective. First thing I notice, the quality of this season is much higher than the previous. Everything is more shinier looking~~ The characters look more consistent than last season (where it was all over the place). The character designs also improved to look cuter or cooler XD Nonoha looks much cuter than before. The season premiere started off with a bang, a dangerous puzzle with the villains being introduced, and an ally already betraying the group. When I thought it was going to be brain-washed classmate of the week, it ends up changing it to something else. I like how they always change things up in this series. The Orpheus Order has really nice character designs with interesting character centric episodes. It always amazes me how deranaged the characters can get because of the Orpheus Ring. I thought Rook was crazy...but Freecell was on a whole other level of bipolar obsessive yanhomo behavior. The season we also learn more about Kaito and his gang, although they were pretty developed last season, especially Gammon (who seem to have less importance 2nd season). Oh yeah POG returns with Rook and Bishop! Rook seems more refreshing (?) XD;; Kinda miss his Yanhomoness..But his renewed bond with Kaito is too cute. Bishop is now sporting a gay lavender scarf haha. With a bigger cast this season though, some characters are not revisted (Herbertttttt and Jinnnnnnnnn etc)
The puzzles this time are a bit uninteresting compared to last season's Gusha Puzzle. Doesn't seem like the Orpheus Order are good at making crazy puzzles like Rook or the POG. There's even a couple episodes dedicated to the same puzzles throughout the series! I wonder if they didn't have time to consult with the series Puzzle designer to make more new ones? A lot of the puzzles are also based on grids so not that fun to watch ;-/ But like the first season, the puzzles aren't really the focus...its the character development and plot twists that makes this series so interesting. And the second half brought so much twists and turn, it was ridiculous. The ending was nice and sweet and had a better closure to Freecell's character compared to the Rook's (which I felt was a bit abrupt and rushed for its nice build up). The epilogue esp was cute~~ blushing all around haha. Now that there's a third season, I'm curious what they'll do. I hope they come up with more unexplored types of puzzle and have more Rook and Kaito moments~~ Or better yet, adventure time with Rook and Kaito ahhaa.
Binbougami Ga!
I didn't know what to expect from Binbougami Ga! but it ended up being one of my favorite of this season. (I even went ahead and bought some of the manga because the art is gorgeous) It's very shounen in its execution, but also very shoujo for its heart. I thought a bitchy girl with big boobs would be a huge turn off, but its not really distracting from the main point of the series. The author actually writes the female characters equally as one would write male characters (and not some sorta booby moeblob). The fact that she is aware and takes advantage of her nice body and popularity with the boys, makes it refreshing. Ichiko's character growth is one of the better ones I've seen for a female character. She's insecure about trusting others because of her past so she puts up a obnoxious front but she gradually opens up to others. She is also surrounded by kickass female casts like Momiji and my favorite Ranmaru who are not typical. Ichiko and Momiji, although supposedly rival in this series, develops an interesting "friendship" that is just fun to watch. The "love interest" Tsuwabuki is also surprisingly normal. He's a good kid who works hard to take care of his large family and thinks a lot of about earning money. The other guys, the monk and the dog, though are perverts but gets beat up anyways by Ichiko, so she's never at a disadvantage with them. The series reminds me of Gintama. It will have ridiculous comedy, gag, and parody (cosplaying) and then bring it all back to something more heartwarming. I'm hoping to buy more of the manga when its on sale. I never thought I would find a female centric shounen manga that did not look down on female. I'm glad I found it :)
(lol the image i used)
Sket Dance
I starting watching Sket Dance a while back...but didn't really hold my attention.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lucathia was a fan of it, so I tried watching it again (plus I got interested by the fact that the mangaka was Sorachi's (Gintama) former assistant and there was that Sket Dance x Gintama crossover). Although it was tough watching it at first, I got used to the flow of the series and enjoy it much more than before. There were some stupid episodes though that I didn't felt was good. But the Switch arc nailed it for me....out of all the episodes before it, it was really serious, dark, and deep. I got to learn more about his character. Then, follows Himeko and Bossun's arc which were also excellent. I kinda wish the series had those sorta moments more because it really well done. I manage to marathon and catchup with the series in time to cosplay for Anime Expo with lucathia and her brother! And even made a last minute print haha. That's how much I enjoyed it :3 My favorite character ended up being Tsubaki~!! (Dem eyelashes) Now about the anime toward the ending...some of it was really rushed...esp to the point of fitting two story into one episode, when all throughout the series, it really took its time. They just started introducing the new student council and it already ending?! I wonder if the series is on hiatus or really ended prematurely (like Beelzebub). The final episode was still pretty nice, showing what the SketDan does best. I might read the manga if I have time...
Area no Kishi
I managed to finish watching this series to the end, while many may have already dropped it haha. I just watch this while doing laundry, so its just brainless entertainment. The series suffers from pooor animation and story direction and pacing etc...The characters themselves are pretty fun and the character design is pretty (but suffers from poor drawing). Watching Kakeru grow and stop relying on his brother taking over or watching Araki's determination and failure to lose weight kept me entertained. Oda ended up being one of my favorite. Asuka from Yoin was also pretty damn cool. Even the cultural festival episode was pretty hilarious (without a soccer match in sight). The series is more realistic with soccer (compared to Kuroko haha) so watching how they would strategize and find weakness on the rival team can be interesting to watch. Like Kuroko's Basket, the team can fail at times. There was a lot of emphasis on Leonardo Silva in the beginning and middle of the series....but not much really happened to him and Kakeru since the series surprisingly ended prematurely. I kinda wished AreaKishi had a better studio working on this...it might have done better. Strange enough the seiyuu casts are pretty big...
I'll be giving some initial impression for the new anime once I watch about 3 episodes each~ But its looking like "quality animation" this season!
Phi Brain Season 2
Binbougami Ga!
Sket Dance
Area no Kishi
Phi Brain: Orpheus Order (2nd season)
I'm already a huge fan of this series so this review will just be on from a fangirl perspective. First thing I notice, the quality of this season is much higher than the previous. Everything is more shinier looking~~ The characters look more consistent than last season (where it was all over the place). The character designs also improved to look cuter or cooler XD Nonoha looks much cuter than before. The season premiere started off with a bang, a dangerous puzzle with the villains being introduced, and an ally already betraying the group. When I thought it was going to be brain-washed classmate of the week, it ends up changing it to something else. I like how they always change things up in this series. The Orpheus Order has really nice character designs with interesting character centric episodes. It always amazes me how deranaged the characters can get because of the Orpheus Ring. I thought Rook was crazy...but Freecell was on a whole other level of bipolar obsessive yanhomo behavior. The season we also learn more about Kaito and his gang, although they were pretty developed last season, especially Gammon (who seem to have less importance 2nd season). Oh yeah POG returns with Rook and Bishop! Rook seems more refreshing (?) XD;; Kinda miss his Yanhomoness..But his renewed bond with Kaito is too cute. Bishop is now sporting a gay lavender scarf haha. With a bigger cast this season though, some characters are not revisted (Herbertttttt and Jinnnnnnnnn etc)
The puzzles this time are a bit uninteresting compared to last season's Gusha Puzzle. Doesn't seem like the Orpheus Order are good at making crazy puzzles like Rook or the POG. There's even a couple episodes dedicated to the same puzzles throughout the series! I wonder if they didn't have time to consult with the series Puzzle designer to make more new ones? A lot of the puzzles are also based on grids so not that fun to watch ;-/ But like the first season, the puzzles aren't really the focus...its the character development and plot twists that makes this series so interesting. And the second half brought so much twists and turn, it was ridiculous. The ending was nice and sweet and had a better closure to Freecell's character compared to the Rook's (which I felt was a bit abrupt and rushed for its nice build up). The epilogue esp was cute~~ blushing all around haha. Now that there's a third season, I'm curious what they'll do. I hope they come up with more unexplored types of puzzle and have more Rook and Kaito moments~~ Or better yet, adventure time with Rook and Kaito ahhaa.
Binbougami Ga!
I didn't know what to expect from Binbougami Ga! but it ended up being one of my favorite of this season. (I even went ahead and bought some of the manga because the art is gorgeous) It's very shounen in its execution, but also very shoujo for its heart. I thought a bitchy girl with big boobs would be a huge turn off, but its not really distracting from the main point of the series. The author actually writes the female characters equally as one would write male characters (and not some sorta booby moeblob). The fact that she is aware and takes advantage of her nice body and popularity with the boys, makes it refreshing. Ichiko's character growth is one of the better ones I've seen for a female character. She's insecure about trusting others because of her past so she puts up a obnoxious front but she gradually opens up to others. She is also surrounded by kickass female casts like Momiji and my favorite Ranmaru who are not typical. Ichiko and Momiji, although supposedly rival in this series, develops an interesting "friendship" that is just fun to watch. The "love interest" Tsuwabuki is also surprisingly normal. He's a good kid who works hard to take care of his large family and thinks a lot of about earning money. The other guys, the monk and the dog, though are perverts but gets beat up anyways by Ichiko, so she's never at a disadvantage with them. The series reminds me of Gintama. It will have ridiculous comedy, gag, and parody (cosplaying) and then bring it all back to something more heartwarming. I'm hoping to buy more of the manga when its on sale. I never thought I would find a female centric shounen manga that did not look down on female. I'm glad I found it :)
(lol the image i used)
Sket Dance
I starting watching Sket Dance a while back...but didn't really hold my attention.
lucathia was a fan of it, so I tried watching it again (plus I got interested by the fact that the mangaka was Sorachi's (Gintama) former assistant and there was that Sket Dance x Gintama crossover). Although it was tough watching it at first, I got used to the flow of the series and enjoy it much more than before. There were some stupid episodes though that I didn't felt was good. But the Switch arc nailed it for me....out of all the episodes before it, it was really serious, dark, and deep. I got to learn more about his character. Then, follows Himeko and Bossun's arc which were also excellent. I kinda wish the series had those sorta moments more because it really well done. I manage to marathon and catchup with the series in time to cosplay for Anime Expo with lucathia and her brother! And even made a last minute print haha. That's how much I enjoyed it :3 My favorite character ended up being Tsubaki~!! (Dem eyelashes) Now about the anime toward the ending...some of it was really rushed...esp to the point of fitting two story into one episode, when all throughout the series, it really took its time. They just started introducing the new student council and it already ending?! I wonder if the series is on hiatus or really ended prematurely (like Beelzebub). The final episode was still pretty nice, showing what the SketDan does best. I might read the manga if I have time...Area no Kishi
I managed to finish watching this series to the end, while many may have already dropped it haha. I just watch this while doing laundry, so its just brainless entertainment. The series suffers from pooor animation and story direction and pacing etc...The characters themselves are pretty fun and the character design is pretty (but suffers from poor drawing). Watching Kakeru grow and stop relying on his brother taking over or watching Araki's determination and failure to lose weight kept me entertained. Oda ended up being one of my favorite. Asuka from Yoin was also pretty damn cool. Even the cultural festival episode was pretty hilarious (without a soccer match in sight). The series is more realistic with soccer (compared to Kuroko haha) so watching how they would strategize and find weakness on the rival team can be interesting to watch. Like Kuroko's Basket, the team can fail at times. There was a lot of emphasis on Leonardo Silva in the beginning and middle of the series....but not much really happened to him and Kakeru since the series surprisingly ended prematurely. I kinda wished AreaKishi had a better studio working on this...it might have done better. Strange enough the seiyuu casts are pretty big...
I'll be giving some initial impression for the new anime once I watch about 3 episodes each~ But its looking like "quality animation" this season!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-10-14 07:05 am (UTC)Also watched another two episodes of Area no Kishi. Wasn't as bad as I remembered. I must have been really disappointed back then... haha.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-14 07:21 am (UTC)LOL. EXPECTATION ruins any enjoyment XD