...what are you watching...

Fate/Stay Night - Unlimited Blade Works 5-12! Shirou and Rin call a truce so that they can defeat a Master and Servant targeting students at their school. Their heart-to-heart is actually sweet. Archer is proving to an attractive badass. His confrontation with Castor and his amusing arguments with Shirou were fun. Shinji was easily booted from the game in episode 8, but whines his way in. Shirou learns to project some familiar weapons similar to Rin's vision. I like this version of everyone's relationships and interactions. Everyone is less stupid....well, Shirou is slightly less stupid. Episode 12 is the end of the season and with its extra long episode, throws some surprising twists into the story. Saber's face is so sad. And Kirei looks to be trouble. Ugh, a four month break until the series picks up again. ~10/10 rating~ for this season.



Sailor Moon Crystal 10-13! Nephrite and the others briefly remember their pasts before Queen Beryl wipes their memories again. It's a shame the animation is so bad here. They could be bishounen if they weren't so weak as characters and so badly drawn. Mamoru also gets brain-washed. To someone knew to anime, Usagi isn't the best hero in the original manga. She plays the tragedy card and tries to kill Mamoru and herself, gets absorbed into Metalia, the other Sailors know they are too weak but are at least able to wake Usagi up enough for her to use the Crystal after she realizes everyone is still alive. I still don't understand why the production is so bad even when this is so marketable. Plot flaws aside, the nostalgia is fun. The next episode will conclude this arc and move onto Sailor Moon R.



Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis 6-12! the end. So Amira (half-demon girl with the god key), Favaro, Kaiser and Rita get captured by the kingdom. The angels come and decide to use the king so that Amira will reveal where the other key is. They wish to use the key to seal the Bahamut..or so they say. Jeanne D'Arc defeats the demons when they attack. The king feels threatened by her, burns her at the stake, she turns into a demon. Amira is captured by Beezlebub and remembers who is 'mother' is. Things get near the climax as everyone tries to prevent the Bahamut from getting free. This is still a messy anime as far as the plot and dialogues goes. ~7/10 rating~ for an unusual cast, bounty hunter with an orange afro, former knight with elvis hair, zombie girl, standard pink-haired girl...talking duck. The angels and demons were also interesting.

Garo: Honoo no Kokuin 6! I thought that the plot would pick up by now. zzz...dropped.



Orenchi no Furo Jijou 6-13! the end. Bubble bath mischief and then the sister visits. More sea-creature characters are introduced. This is cute, and random...maybe I like the half-bishie sea creatures. ~6/10 rating~ other than the attractive characters and sometimes funny skits, the 4 minute episodes were of little substance.



Mushishi Zoku Shou 16-22! the end. 16 is about two girls with a connection in the dream-like world. 17 is about a mother, son and a robe she weaves. And 18 is about a girl and a well full of stars. 19 is about a mother and her water baby. 20 is about a boy who attracts lightening and his mother who cannot love. These keep getting a little darker. 21 is about a man who murdered his brother. 22 is the last episode of this season and thankfully was more uplifting. It was also about a mushi that Ginko couldn't do anything about, but helps the infected man share a tree's history to help his village. This season contained more diverse mushi stories. Episodes that were about Ginko's past, stories that weren't too positive and of course, ones that were the usual poignant stories. ~8/10 rating~ for this season.

Sailor Moon Crystal 8-9! Minako as Sailor Venus lets the other girls think she is the moon princess. When Tuxedo Mask takes a hit for Sailor Moon, the trauma restores the memories of her previous life....much kissing and crying is had. While I see the gaping plot holes, terrible animation and sub-standard characters (compared to characters created nowadays), I do enjoy the nostalgia.



Fate/Stay Night - Unlimited Blade Works 2-4! Rin takes Shirou to see Kotomine Kirei, so that Kirei can explain the Holy Grail war to him. Illyaviel and Berserker meet them outside. Berserker's regeneration makes him pretty invincible against Saber and Archer. Great fight nonetheless. In episode 4 Shirou take Saber to school...everyone is suspicious. I do like this version of Shirou and Saber more than the first Fate/Stay Night. Shirou doesn't coddle Saber as much. And the school teacher is toned down so she is likably outgoing rather than a loud annoyance.



Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis 2-5! Favaro is the orange-haired bounty hunter who grew a tail after promising a 'demon' girl, Amira, to take her Helheim. His rival, Kaiser, now thinks he is a demon, too and goes after him. Kaiser also thinks Favaro caused the death of his father. Favaro sells the girl out to knights that are after her, but in the end inadvertantly saves her. There are other parties interested in Amira because she has the key of god. The pacing of the show is a little awkward and the characters try too hard to be funny, but the characters and setting are unusual enough to keep me interested. I'll give it a few more episodes to get better. I like the fantasy elements of the show; the character design, creatures and setting are pretty high quality.



Garo: Honoo no Kokuin 3-5! Flame-boy and Wolverine go to an alchemist so that they can get a magic ring that can help the boy control his flame-iness. Stuff happens. The prince meets another knight and becomes his student in order to save his parents. Hoping that this ramps up soon.



Orenchi no Furo Jijou 2-4! is about how Wakasa, the mermaid, tries to help Tatsumi with his budget after he finds that his use of hot water puts them in a financial bind. The opening to this anime made me think it was going to be a drama, but it's just cute stuff. Episode 3 introduces Wakasa's octopus friend. I was wondering if there'd be a little BL flavor here...and yes, just a little. Episode 4 is a trick or treat episode.



Mushishi Zoku Shou 13-15! Haven't written about the previous episodes but enjoy the quiet story-telling. 13 is about a younger, more naive Ginko who makes a mistake in regards to a mountain god. 14 is Groundhog's Day for a man to whom Ginko gives advice...does he follow the advice? of course not. 15 is about the consequences of stepping on someone's shadow.

More Keepers...


Garo: Honoo no Kokuin 1-2! has one of the most original opening visuals this season. Through the influence of his 'evil' Jafar-like advisor, an ill king orders the death of a 'witch'. During the pyre, a baby was born. A mysterious knight runs into the fire and saves the baby.



I'm amused that the knight who resembles a blond Wolverine spends most of episode 1 naked in bed with a prostitute who turns out to be a demon. The baby has grown up to also become a demon-slaying knight. The animation is a mix of old school animation and cgi. The knights' armor is very stylized and interesting. This is surprisingly very intriguing.



Orenchi no Furo Jijou 1! is based on another 4-koma comic, and these episodes are actually 4 minutes. A young man has a merman living in his bathtub. The characters are cute....keep, keep.

Probably Nots...


Kiseijū Sei no Kakuritsu 1! Does it age me if I recognize the Parasyte manga as the one that I skipped over when it was published in Mixx? This about a young boy and an alien parasyte in his right hand. There are other parasytes who are able to infect whole humans and kill other humans. It's actually rather dull....maybe it gets better later on, but the main character is dull.



Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso 1! Undoubtedly a tween version of Nodame Cantabile...this is about a young piano prodigy who quits when his mother dies. He meets a free-spirited classmate who is about to bring 'color' and classical music back into his life.



Donten ni Warau 1! is about three orphaned brothers who protect a town during the Meiji era. They help the police by ferrying criminals to a prison in the middle of a lake. It's got a bit of humor and angst. The production is so-so, but the appeal of it seems to be that it is a reverse harem anime.

Gundam Reconguista in G 3! the Capital versus Ameria (haha) over energy. The interaction between the genki boy, cheerleader, tsundere, and mute-ish girl is quite dull. Throwing in the trigger-happy boy and you've got enough mech cliches to convince me to drop this show.

Fate/Stay Night - Unlimited Blade Works 1! It's awesome that this is also a forty-some minute episode. The episode is basically the same day as episode 00 but from Shirou Emiya's point of view. It's also pretty similar to the beginning of the original anime from 2006, but with 10x better production and tone.