...what are you watching...

Out of all the shows I blogged about in 2010, I can only think of a few series worth watching again; Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi and possibly Densetsu No Yuusha No Densetsu, the final Nodame Cantabile movies, too. I guess everything else was a pleasant distraction...


Arakawa Under the Bridgex2 12! the end. Maria naturally wins the King game with adverse results for the males. ~7/10 rating~ The second season continued the so-so, but stylistic animation production and nonsensical storytelling. I enjoyed the unusual relationships.


Kuragehime 11! the end. Kuranosuke pushes Tsukimi to make more jellyfish-inspired dresses. The otaku home is saved. Life goes on. This was a cute series which featured an intriguing cross-dressing main character. ~7/10 rating~ There were no particular ups or downs to the story, but it had its own unique qualities that made it stand out from other shoujo stories. I wish the production quality didn't drop after the first episode. I suppose they want you to read the manga to see how Tsukimi and Kuranosuke's relationship progresses. Kuranosuke's brother's story got an abrupt end, too.

....that wraps up all of last year's anime (with the exception of Tegami Bachi which continues with 25or6 episodes). Thx to the ppl who keep friending me on lj. Glad to see someone is reading my babble.

The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi jmovie! I thought Kyon's initial reaction to Haruhi's disappearance unexpectedly strong. I suppose the writers need to move quickly into the mystery, so rather than Kyon being laidback like he usually is, he quickly went almost ballistic when he found Haruhi non-existent. The eventual culprit was screamingly obvious, but still, I liked the the various insights to the characters that the alternate world developed. The characters were not the most likable characters in the tv series (though..the popularity of the show may contest my opinion). I did like the characters as a result of the movie...even Haruhi. As with the tv series, I don't think the series' strength is the fanservice or story, but the narration by Kyon. His sarcasm and plainspokenness is refreshing to hear in a high school anime. The sci-fi and time-travel parts of the story was very Doctor Who this time around. The production was also very pleasing to watch. The movie actually clocked in at over 2.5 hours, but the pacing felt good. ~9/10 rating~ after the infamous 2nd season, this was a strong reappearance of the franchise. It's also very Christmas-y.

Kuragehime 10! Kuranosuke and Tsukimi finish the jellyfish princess dress. Cute episode.

Tegami Bachi: REVERSE 12! Many things happen. Roda falls into an abyss, Lag lights up like a big, shiny star, he is able to shoot the letter bullet into Gauche, Gauche returns, but falls into a coma, and Niche & Steak return.

Kuragehime 9! hm...nothing of interest happens


Arakawa Under the Bridgex2 11! Amazoness falls for Hoshi. Very weird.

Togainu no chi 11! I didn't think this could get any more entertaining, but the mouth camera was VERY funny. *chomp* Keisuke's death was long and painfully dull. Poor guy.

Arakawa under the Bridgex2 10! Everyone diets so that they can get on the spaceship to Venus. There's the fruit diet, extreme exercise diet and sauna/massage diet.

Kuragehime 8! Kuranosuke, Tsukimi and the others sell handmade jellyfish dolls to save their house.

Utada Hikaru's Wild Life concert was streamed online (ie. hit youtube and other videos sites). I was impressed by her poofy, poofy chiffon one shouldered poofy dress.

Denyuuden 22! is a confusing episode with Ryner's father and mother, Sion and his Fallen Black Hero personality, some human experiments, and the fact that Gastark knows everything about the main characters.

Otome Youkai Zakuro 9! A bland episode where everyone chases a pseudo-youkai who needs a love confession to disappear. Tsundere...zzz...

Kuragehime 7! Kuranosuke does some things...zzz...to build up the next episode.

Togainu no chi 9! Akira's blood cures Keisuke instead of killing him. Rin takes Akira's tag, so that he can challenge Il Re. zzz...

Arakawa Under the Bridgex2 8! Amazoness reappears and seduces Riku. Her crush on Riku is funny. I like the short introspective narratives in the beginning of each episode.



Denyuuden 21! Excellent episode. Sion shows more signs of cracking, but his loyalty toward Ryner tentatively holds against Flouade's wishes. Great cliffhanger, too. Wish all the episodes had been animated as nicely as this one; even though there's an important event in this episode, I swear they put more quality into episodes where they show the huge-breasted female characters...more bounce on screen. I reeeally shouldn't have started watching this since this series is only building up to a larger story (evidenced by the numerous novels written thus far) which may or may not get animated.


Tegami Bachi: REVERSE 9! Lag convinces Niche's sister that all humans aren't that bad. Niche is left with her sister for awhile. Maka calls Lag, 'hikari' as if it were some preordained thing; so other there's another puzzle for the series to solve. Niche and her sister were adorable little babies. I haven't seen 'Tangled' yet, but there were some nice hair attacks in this episode which reminded me of the Rapunzel reboot commercials.

Kuragehime 6! Kuranosuke takes the girls out for an enjoyable evening. His brother, Koibuchi, gets tricked into bed for political reasons. Pretty good episode.

Togainu no chi 8! Akira finally shows some emotion after finding out that someone who is hooked on the drug cannot be cured, but vows to help Keisuke anyway. The pacing of this show is tedious, and the animation is still laughably bad at times, too.

Here's an amusing clip of the HP cast learning to speak 'American'. Two.5 hours turned out to be not as long as expected.

Denyuuden 20! Luke, another pink-haired Gastark guy, Ryner, Ferris and other eye-guy fight in this episode resulting in Ryner being able to suppress his power on his own. Ferris also shows that she is not so tsundere as she once was. Ryner being the 'solver of all equations' is intriguing.

Kuragehime 5! The girls go to protest the renovation of their street; or the fact that they will be kicked out of their home. They run away from the meeting in fear of the people in suits. Kuranosuke gives them a makeover.

Togainu no chi 7! a bunch of nothings happened in this episode.

For various reasons, I kept missing BBC's new Sherlock while it was on tv, but the three episodes are online at PBS. It's probably wrong to say that it reminds me of House MD without the hospital (since it should be the other way around). I liked the introduction of Sherlock's brother.

Hey, no surprise, there will be a new Full Metal Alchemist movie. The trailer features Al in his armor, so random filler it is. "finally tell the story of forbidden bonds"..I laughed at the tagline.

Tegami Bachi: REVERSE 7! Finally to the juicy parts of the story. Lag travels north as rumors of Noir spread. He is able to see what happened to Gauche after he lost his memories (but not how it happened). Niche remembers that she was born in the nearby town..cliffhanger.

Kuragehime 4! Tsukimi, Kuranosuke and his older brother go to the aquarium. Tsukimi is not wearing her glasses, can't see them, and thus, is more comfortable with the brothers. Plus, she is excited about the jellyfish. Kuranosuke gets irritated when he sees his older brother comforting Tsukimi. Love triangle established.

Denyuuden 19! Ryner visits a refuge where other children with 'special' eyes gather while leaders at Roland and Gastark are wondering about who Ryner is. Luke catches up to him; cliffhanger.

Nothing like having to get up extra early and sitting in rush hour traffic an hour to get you back into the grind.

I like Hikaru Utada's newest PV, Goodbye Happiness. It's very youtube-y. I guess she is going into retirement or hiatus soon.

Kuragehime 2-3! While some of the plot reminds me of other series like Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge or Kimi ni Todoke, it still retains its uniqueness with its whole jellyfish motif. Kuranosuke Koibuchi is the name of the crossdressing boy who uses food to get the otaku girls to accept him, but they still do not know he is a 'he'. In episode 3, his older straight-laced brother develops a crush on Tsukimi after Kuranosuke forces a makeover on her.

Arakawa Under the Bridgex2 4-5! Riku gets roped into directing a movie for P-ko. Episode 5 is about the sci-fi otaku and Billy & Jacqueline's romance. I like the nonsense. This anime makes me happy. I also like that there are different popular artists featured at the end of each episode. Lily Hoshino did the illustration for episode 5.

Tegami Bachi REVERSE 4-6! Lag finally meets the famous Jiggy Pepper; gotta love the name. Jiggy saves him from a gaichuu and takes him for a spin on his motorcycle...the other characters squee. Lag next meets a couple members of the anti-government faction, Reverse, who pose as government officials from the capital. And then takes Sylvette on a delivery. Nice episodes.

Kuragehime 1! Jellyfish Princess?

+ Lovely geek opening visuals (Star Wars, Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, etc)
+ Great production from Brains Base
+ Interesting slice-of-life story

Quick impression ~ A young nerd and illustrator-wannabe who has an obsession with jellyfish lives with other female nerds. All of them have nerd-like hobbies, and have no experience with boys. They get a new roommate who happens to be a drag queen. So far, this has been the most interesting new show this season.

Denyuuden 15.5! a recap by Ferris's iittle sister, Iris. Iris is the token annoying, frilly dress-wearing sister.

Tegami Bachi REVERSE 3! zzz...smells like a filler.

Togainu no chi 2! Akira and Keisuke meet Rin who shows them around. I know that fans of the BL game are excited, but I don't sense enough BL angst. Akira is a brick wall.

Soremachi 2! The opening is so happy. For characters that have no sex appeal, there were an awful lot of crotch shots. Some of the SD faces remind me of Yotsuba&. In this episode the maids try to think up ways to attract more customers.