The Calm Before the Storm… is Boring as Fuck.
Best Show of Summer 2011. Not even trollin'.
Summer season is over. Fall season has yet to begin. Between is a whole lot of fucking nothing. As of this writing, I think only the second season of Squid Girl has started, and while I like the antics of Ika Musume as much as the next retard, it just really doesn’t do enough to sate my nagging boredom. So what to do about it? Aside from waiting for the last episode of MayoChiki to get subbed, there’s quite a bit you can do in the nearly two-week break. No, I don’t mean take a vacation or anything gay like that. It’s Fall now, so it’s turning cold and I don’t want to go outside. That pretty much leaves finding an anime to watch. But what to watch? What would be worth your time before plunging into the new season of shit? Maybe you have a backlog… maybe you missed something… let’s take a look at some worthy shit to watch that you might not have already seen.
Well, this is an anime site… the hell else did you think I was going to talk about? Knitting? Jesus. Knit if you have to. I’m not going to.
My qualifications for this list is based on nothing but “what I’ve heard” about each series and they’re series that I have not myself seen. Basically this is shit on my backlog. I got the idea by looking at both Netflix and Crunchyroll and realized just how much shit has either become available there that I haven’t seen. Not everything I mention is going to be stuff you can find on either of those two streaming services, I’m just saying it’s how I got the idea. It is also in no particular order, so don’t come crying to me if I mention whatever obscure show you watched above another one. Your show probably sucks anyway.
The character designs are nice. Wholesome. Nothing bad could happen in this anime right?
1. Ga Rei Zero
Heard about it: It’s good.
Episodes: 12
Vintage: Fall 2008
My interest in Ga Rei Zero probably started in the same way it did for many others. Basically, this image. And what’s not to like just by looking at that? Looks like we got a military vehicle there, couple of chicks involved in some bizarre make out session… win right? It’s nice and quick, at only 12 episodes, so you aren’t going to invest a ton of your valuable two-week break time in it, and who knows, it might not suck. Well, maybe it does. Zzeroparticle didn’t like it, but you might. Hell, I might.
See, it's not Miku, so they can dress her slutty and pure fags can't complain. Genius!
2. Black Rock Shooter
Heard about it: Meh.
Episode: 1 OAV; series due out this Winter season in the Noitamina slot.
Vintage: Summer 2010.
As an avid Vocaloid (read: Hatsune Miku) fan, it was nearly impossible for me not to hear about Black Rock Shooter. But I’ll be blunt, I didn’t know at the time it came out, nor do I now know, what the fuck this is supposed to be about or what it has to do with Vocaloids and Hatsune Miku. The only associations that I am aware of are that the band Supercell did a song called “Black Rock Shooter”, with Hatsune Miku as the featured vocalist, and that the character design for the titular character bears a striking resemblance to the caricature of the aforementioned virtual diva. I’m guessing the involvement ends there. Hasn’t stopped Hatsune Miku fans from getting up in my grill about the whole thing. But I have put this off probably for too long and I guess it’s about time to watch it. Only one OAV, how bad could it be, right? Oh. AC always ruins my fun.
Hah! Someone said there was mecha in this. Been trolled! Ha ha!
3. Idolm@ster Xenoglossia
Heard about it: Either “GAH!” or “FUCK YEAH!” in equal amounts.
Episodes: 26
Vintage: Spring 2007
Well hot damn, finally one that got a decent rating. This one I’m putting on here purely for personal interest reasons. Namely, I’m enjoying the living shit out of The Idolm@ster, which is currently airing and continuing into a second cour with the Fall season. Now, I’ve heard that this one has a very loose association with the source material, which is the series of Idolm@ster games. Since I’ve never played any of those, I don’t give a fuck if it is. What I do give a fuck about is whether it’s worth my time. At 26 episodes, it’s an ample marathon investment. It is almost an obligation, at this point, to watch it. I mean, there’s mecha involved, and that alone might be worth a laugh or two if MikiMiki gets her childish, selfish ass inside a giant robot, for a few hours.
Maybe I should add a random apotrophe to my name, too. TI'F has a nice ring to it.
4. Xam’d: Lost Memories
Heard about it: “What the fuck, BONES?”
Episodes: 26
Vintage: Summer 2008 to Spring 2009
Here’s one I actually started on but stopped right around the midway point. The reason? Time. Back when it aired I just had way too much shit already on my plate to devote to another BONES bio-mecha mindfuck anime. Still, I’ve regretted not finishing this one, and since it’s now dubbed and available on Netflix, maybe I can finally finish this one and have a clear (dialogue wise) explanation for what the hell is going on. Shadowmage didn’t care for it, but I don’t know what he likes. At 26 episodes, this is another one that you should be tepid about if you’re pressed for time. Still, might be worth while. I remember that intro song being pretty boss the first eighty times I listened to it.
Yeah, I've used this picture before. I just like it. Elsie's adorable.
5. The World God Only Knows (Second Season)
Heard about it: /a/ loves it. That’s always a good sign.
Episodes: 12
Vintage: Spring 2011.
I’ll admit, I liked the first season more than I thought I would. Yes, the premise is fucking stupid, but considering the target audience is a bunch of hikikomori 2D wanktards, I guess I shouldn’t have been that annoyed by the whole thing. Still, it wasn’t bad, and the music was top notch, and Elsie was pretty cute with the whole firetruck obsession, so how bad could a second go around be? I actually had this one slated on my “watch” list but for some reason just never got around to actually watching any of it. Then I got behind and… well, you know the story. It got shelved. Sadly, it got shelved in favor of things like this and this, so maybe my priorities just suck balls. At 12 episodes, it’s another quick run-around-the-block and since there’s probably going to be a third season, might as well get boned up on what Keima is doing this week.
Every fetish has an origin. This one launched a thousand furfags.
6. Spice & Wolf
Heard about it: Come for the YIFF, stay for the econ lesson.
Episodes: 25, counting both seasons
Vintage: Spring 2008 and Summer 2009
I don’t think there’s any doubt in anybody’s mind that Spice & Wolf literally came out of fucking nowhere and surprised a lot of people. This, of course, made it enough of a commercial success to get a second season, which I also didn’t watch. Needless to say that at 25 episodes, you’re in for a bit of a stretch. Probably good to pace in a few episodes of Juuden-Chan! in case your brain starts hurting from the numbers game going on. I’ve heard it’s not that bad, but I don’t trust what idiots on the internet say, so it probably is.
I think that’s enough for now. I actually have a ton more on my own personal backlog, and maybe one day I’ll get around to watching them. But for now these are the six that I’m going to concentrate on trying to actually watch before I have to devote my time to the new season of worthless shit and garbage that I’ll be watching in favor of good shows that will also be backlogged. In the meanwhile, share in the comments below what’s on your backlog. I know you’ve got some.
Also e-mail me or hit me up on twitter. Or don’t.
Ain’t ennui a bitch.
Personally, I find myself watching less and less nowadays. Not enough good stuff out there to justify it — I’ve turned to movies and books.
Spice and Wolf is soooo awesome. Wish I had more.
I remember watching the OVA for Black Rock Shooter and having no idea what the fuck was going on.
Yep, I’m with you TIF. Everyone who’s currently watching Idolm@ster should check out Xenoglossia. At there very least, there’ll be shitstorms aplenty. And Spice and Wolf is just really good.
[quote]AC always ruins my fun.[/quote]
Right back at you, TIF: I watch bad anime so that you don’t have to :B
The first half of Xam’d was quite good, but the second half came across as disjointed and emotionally tepid. There was a lot of dramatic moments that didn’t have any kind of build up or meaningful context which left me to think, “huh? Where did that come from?”
The only things I remember were that the animation was consistently the best I’ve seen in television anime and I was amused by the fact that the parents of the main characters actually tried to do stuff instead of telling their children “hey! You got this. I’m gonna sit right over here as you risk your lives so have fun!”
…and finally I know where the character dressed in black with the blue flaming eye comes from. I always wondered, but was never motivated to find out. Thanks! might watch it, it’s only a single OAV thing.
I’ll put in a few words regarding the two I have watched – Ga Rei Zero and Idolm@ster:Xenglossia. I quite liked Ga Rei Zero, it was slightly ridiculous, and there were some questionable moments, but it was an enjoyable show. Idolm@aster was better than I anticipated it to be, and I’m glad I watched it, though I didn’t like it that much.
I need to watch Spice and Wolf too.
I think instead of watching my backlog of anime, I should work on writing my backlog of reviews during this break.
But I do need to get around to watching the BRS OAV.
tl;dr: black rock shooter sucks, keima is still cool but actually just a creepy nerd
I don’t think you intended it, but it’s fall now, and ‘that pretty much LEAVES finding an anime to watch’. Ha, ha, ha.
Aren’t you going to do a wrap-up about the summer season? I liked the previous podcasts.