...what are you watching...

Dimension W 3-7! Mira becomes friends with some local street kids, one being New Tesla's granddaughter. We see a bit of Kyoma's past and girlfriend in episode 7. The suspense has slowed down a bit as much of the plot is rather dull. The characters are too generic for my liking. The pop cultural references are cute though. Dropped at episode 7.



Akagami no Shirayuki-hime S2! 1-12. The end. Season two continues the super sweet, cavity-creating tale of Shirayuki and Zen. Shirayuki is sent to her hometown as a guest of the prince who kidnapped her in episode 1. Because of their past, he tries to turn over a new leaf. She gets kidnapped twice but as annoyingly damsel-in-distress-like that sounds, the new characters are interesting. ~6/10~ rating I'm not sure why I watched this...I suppose I had nothing else to do on Mondays. It was a simple shoujo show with very little drama, but hey, the fluff is soothing.



Koyomimonogatari 3-12! the end. Episode 3, Koyomi Sand, features Hachikuji and takes place after Oshino is gone. 4 is about Kanbaru's father. Like the previous two episodes, these are about something that are seemingly supernatural, but turn out to be mundane. Koyomi Wind features Nadeko and Kaiki. 6 has Karen and a tree. 7-8 were forgettable. 9 features Shinobu and donuts. These half-episodes were hit or miss in terms of entertainment value. Episodes 11-12 bring Kagenui and Gaen back to fill in the plot but delightfully confuse again. Koyomi Dead is the last episode's title..unfortunate that. ~7/10 rating~ for this arc. Another portion of Owarimonogatari, and Zokuwarimonogatari, Orokamonogatari and Wazamonogatari are left...plus, the Kizumonogatari movie...hopefully, that's all.

Durarara x2 Ten 1-12! Another binge-watching session. Episode 9 showcases a flashback of Shinra and Izaya Orihara's friendship in middle or high school. Quite of few of the characters get injured this season while more new characters pop out of the woodwork. ~7/10 rating~



Durarara x2 Ketsu 1-12! finally, the end to the whole series. I lost track of all the new characters' names and their motives. They are all pretty immaterial, but Celty going after Shinra was awesome. And Shizuo and Celty's horse/bike interaction was cute. We see what happens when Celty finally gets her head back. Mikado while being one of the main characters, is probably the least interesting and bordering on mostly annoying. His dark side was tedious to watch these past two seasons. ~7/10 rating~ for a lengthy 6-year series. The animation quality was spotty throughout the past two seasons. I'm glad Celty and Shinra got their happy ending. If not for my curiosity around them and Shizuo, I would have stopped after the first season. I would have preferred the completion of Baccano in anime form instead.



Boku dake ga Inai Machi 3-12! the end. Satoru finds Kayo after she was abused by her mother, and narrows down the date of the kidnapping. After their birthday, Satoru thinks that he changed history, but finds out he failed and heads back to the future. Satoru is able to go back in time again to try and prevent Kayo's murder again. Great cliffhangers, but it's a little disappointing that they made the bad guy wear enough 'bad guy' expressions that the audience knows he's the culprit. I hope that the live-action movie as interesting as good as the anime. ~9/10 rating~ for a plain good mystery. Minus 1 for cutting out the bad guy's past (which is in the manga) and for interesting, but unexplained time-travel.

of another year...DW and LJ are pretty dead but some communities are still active...meh...



One Punch Man 9-12! the end. Saitama defeats the sea monster but is unable to convince the bystanders and hero association that he is worth anything. Despite that, he is promoted to the B class. In episode 10, he happens to tag along with Genos to an S-class meeting that is interrupted by an alien invasion. While the other S-class heroes try to battle an alien outside of the ship, Saitama fights the main alien boss in the ship. ~10/10 rating~ for one of the most amusing superhero shows I've seen in a long while. Saitama is fun to watch and Genos brings a lot of heart to the show. When a show gets mention on Reddit, you know it has the popularity to warrant another season. I hope the manga gets far enough ahead to sustain more anime. There are also 2 OADs out there worth watching.




Owarimonogatari 9-12! the end. The Shinobu Mail arc definitely has a slight jump in production quality. Gaen's rambling put me to sleep in episode 9 and 10, but she does reveal some important plot points in the first two episodes. Basically Shinobu's first vampire minion comes back to life for revenge or something. The duel between Araragi and Seishirou was fairly anti-climactic. The season was more introspective than action-packed. ~7/10 rating~

I guess I am posting monthly now....too many other distractions and lack of exciting anime:



Nanatsu no Taizai 1-15! Standard, but enjoyable shounen anime about the a young boyish-man, Meliodas, who comes to the rescue of a princess. It's fun to watch the seven 'sins' gang come together to fight the corrupt holy knights. So far the episodes are generally action-packed and funny. It's not completely fluffy even if they have a talking pig. There's blood and death that brings out the dark-side of Meliodas. Episode 13 brings out new opening and endings. A potential weakness to this anime is that it will catch up to the manga soon, but I think there's enough manga story to last another season. I enjoyed the twisted intro to the sins of lust character, because most of that episode was pretty confusing.



Durarara!! x 2 1-3! I know I liked the first season, but I can't really remember what actually happened (it's been like 4 years). I'm glad this continues the story..I suppose I'll have to rewatch or wiki the first season. Anyway, this episode takes place 6 months after the first season and introduces some new characters and reintroduces old ones. (I really wish they'd continue Baccano!)



Yuri Kuma Arashi 1! The title gives away the content of the anime clearly...lesbians, bears and a storm. Alien bears who can change into girls have come to 'eat' humans. An all-girls school is the setting. Ikuhara Kunihiko (of Utena fame) has created another weirdo anime with rather blatant sexual innuendos all over the place...there is possible deeper symbolism...but really, he just likes to create girl on girl action.



Yoru no Yatterman 1! A young single mother raises her daughter with a couple 'bodyguard' type friends. She tells her daughter stories of a lengendary hero. Well, no quest is born without the loss of parents, thus the mother dies due to poverty and the lack of medicine, and the daughter then decides to go to find why the 'hero' didn't help. Mediocre production, but somewhat interesting.



Death Parade 1! has a fun opening, but bland episode. A newlywed couple is brought to a bar where they have to play a death game...well, they find out that they are dead and the game's outcome determines their fate. The production is pretty nice.



Assassination Classroom 1! is about an octopus-shaped alien who destroys part of the moon and threatens to do the same to the Earth. He allows Earth a chance at survival if a student can kill him while he is teaching. Turns out the class he teaches is a delinquent class and that he is a good teacher. The class is motivated by the government's 10 billion yen prize for killing their teacher, too. Decent animation production and one of the more original twists in a GTO-like storyline make this interesting. The tone of the first episode is quite like GTO where a young boy is buillied into a suicide-bomb plot to kill the teacher, but the teacher is able to protect him while teaching the other kids a lesson.



Tsukimonogatari 1-4! the end. is the next part of the Monogatari series. Araragi has to refrain from using Shinobu's vampire powers so that he does not turn into one himself. Ononoki helps out when circumstances test him. This was definitely a blander story arc out of everything so far. ~7/10 rating~ I think I missed a story arc....was there a movie? Ah ha, Kizunomonogatari never aired yet...



Sailor Moon Crystal 14! the end of Metalia and the beginning of Chibi-usa. Go little gun-wielding girl!

Didn't one season anime used to last 11-12 episodes?



Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus 7-10! the end. Ciel and Sebastian confront the man guilty of kidnapping and torturing the children. He has indirect ties to Ciel's past. The circus people attack the Phantomhive mansion but are confronted by the Phantomhive servants. The humor and dark aspects of the show are showcased. The servants are pretty brutal and kill all the circus people that attack. Sebastian burns the perverted guy's house, kills the circus doctor and Joker...and the drugged up zombie children. ~9/10 rating~ for this delightfully twisted arc. While sad, I thought it appropriate that Ciel goes to the orphanage to find that the circus people were supporting the pervert's deeds for nothing. I hope they animate the future manga arcs; no fillers please.



Love Stage 7-10! the end. After Izumi is rejected by the manga publisher, Izumi sulks in Ryouma's place. Ryouma being the nice guy that he is, doesn't take advantage and helps him get his life back together. Izumi is then encouraged to debut as an idol...zzz....He then realizes that he loves Ryouma, smut happens, the end. This BL anime was kinda cute. The main characters pretty much acted on their own without too much waffling and Izumi even fought off some perverts on his own. The character design was bland (actually ugly in my opinion), but the production was consistent and better than most anime. ~7/10 rating for a short, sweet boy meets boy story.

Sailor Moon Crystal 5! Sailor Jupiter's episode was pretty nice. Makoto is a more interesting character than the others.



Hanamonogatari 1-5! wraps up Kanbaru Suruga's story. A former middle school rival comes out as a 'devil' who is 'helping' people, and Kanbaru figures out her true motive. She also sorta resolves her feelings towards her mother and Araragi. Kaiki has a small cameo...which means he didn't die. And Araragi plays a small part...which means he also survived after graduation. Like the previous stories, Kanbaru's arc has a pretty satisfying conclusion.



Magi: Sinbad no Bouken OVA 1-2! is about young Sinbad conquering his first dungeon. His story isn't too original-- a young boy born to poor parents who is good and beloved by everyone is pushed into joining the army so that he can get the power in the dungeon to help fight against tyrannical rulers. Oh yeah, his father passed away and his mother is sick. Even though Sinbad's story is as cliche as it gets, he is still a likable character.

The new Juuni Kokuki illustration for the exhibit and new artbook (released 7/31/14) is really beautiful. Unfortunately, from the review on amazon.jp, the artbook only contains artwork to 2006 and mostly b&w illustrations; not the new illustrations from the re-released novels.

Monogatari S2 26! the end. I thought the 'Hitagi end' arc refered to the possibility that Senjougahara would be the next to leave, but I was wrong. Just when you end up liking Kaiki and cheer him on, geh, karma rears its ugly head. And we learn that there's another player behind the scenes. So far, Araragi has lost a couple members of his harem; Mayoi via permanance and Nadeko via necessity. This was a really interesting season as each harem member's personality was expanded. I enjoyed seeing Shinobu's past and Mayoi's arc was so bittersweet. Another season is supposed to air in 2014. Looking forward to it. ~8/10 rating~ for this season.

Hunter x Hunter 2013 105-110! Knov sets up portals in the palace but is scared off from being a part of the fight. Palm also comes into play. Killua recovers thanks to the octopus chimera. I guess it is significant that Gon's influence over Killua shows when Killua defines his friendship with the octopus. All the episode are building up to the final battles. Looking forward to them.


Monogatari S2 21-25! Referring to Nadeko's arc, Senjougahara asks Kaiki for help. Kaiki is pretty refreshing as a untrustworthy bad guy character. The opening theme for this arc is pretty horrible though. He cannot sing very well. Kaiki spends his time gaining Nadeko's trust before trying to deceive her.

Winter list
Space Dandy: Studio Bones and Watanabe Shinichiro...no Yoko Kanno?
Noragami: also Studio Bones...looks like eye-candy and action
Nobunaga the Fool: Satelight mech anime? Leonard Da Vinci? ha.
Hoozuki no Reitetsu: Interesting promo
pupa: didn't I have this on an earlier list?

Hunter x Hunter 2013 101-104! Killua easily defeats the seafood chimera ants, but loses too much blood doing so. His new ant-octopus friend helps him out. Gon also makes a new friend. And the ant-King meets new opponent that he has yet to beat. One of the more endearing quirks of HxH is that the mangaka doesn't really create stereotypical cutesy female anime characters. Who creates an important character with a constantly dripping nose?


Monogatari S2 16-20! 16 was another recap. So the Sengoku arc ended with 15 and the defeat of Araragi and his harem. A little googling tells me that this picks up again later on in the novels. Episode 17 starts Onimonogatari which is mainly Shinobu's story. It starts with Araragi and Hachikuji getting chased by an unknown darkness. It leads to Shinobu telling her story of her time as a fake god and her first minion. Her story is told with some very pretty still screens. In episode 19, Shinobu is separated from Araragi while the group tries to escape the darkness. Then ouch, didn't see that ending. Along with Senjougahara and his sisters, Hachikuji was one of Araragi's likable groupies. Such a sad arc. <3

Hunter x Hunter 2013 99-100! airing at a new day and time but still pretty good. The new ending theme, however, is blech. Gon and Killua split up, each with different targets. Finally, we get to see Killua in a fight...please let it be a good fight. Another season and we're done, right? 

Monogatari S2 14-15! Tsukihi prods Sengoku with help from the snake to come out of her shell. She's 100x more interesting.

Samurai Flamenco 1-2! The title said, 'watch me'.

- Mediocre production
- The opening is deceptive
- Not funny or exciting

Quick impression~ A dull police officer meets a male model who yearns to be a superhero. He fights for justice by chasing after jaywalkers and smokers. The police officer tolerates the model's actions since he is usually harmless. I was expecting something more to happen at the end since the opening song visuals imply that the model does get some power...but nothing. Almost nothing happens in the first two episodes and the comedy is barely there.

...and I don't think I used commas correctly....

Shingeki no Kyojin 23-25! the end of season one. I'm a fan of animes taking a break while the manga continues on. The identity of the female Titan is revealed. Glad to see Arwin had a clue long before the failed mission. I'm still wondering when Eren, Arwin and Mikasa will try to find out what Eren's father was hiding. They try and capture Annie. The final episode's battle was pretty awesome. ~10/10 rating~ Even with the gore, violence and inappropriately funny-looking titans, everything else about the anime was excellent. This definitely ranks up there with Hagaren and HXH in terms of memorable anime. It seems they've reached volume 8 of the manga and the mangaka estimates that he'll wrap it up in 20, so it'll be a bit of a wait to see what happens. Mikasa and Levi are pretty badass characters.


Hakkenden S2 12-13! the end. Skipping a few minor story details, the crazy nun gathers the 8 people with beads so that she can gain Fuse Hime's powers. This was a guilty pleasure anime since I was only watching for the attractive characters and the bromance. The manga isn't complete, but the anime plot was actually ok. It reminded me of Fushigi Yuugi without the annoying female characters. ~7/10 rating~ The anime was by no means great, but boy band fluff isn't so bad once in awhile.


Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist 11-12! the end. William is taken into Hell, puts on the ring of power and unleashes Solomon's power. Rather corny for the climax. And rather anti-climactic. Out of this and Hakkenden, Hakkenden was the better boy-band anime. ~5/10 rating~ Kevin was the only unintentionally amusing character in the show.


Monogatari S2 11-13! 11 is a flashback. 12 starts the Nadeko arc. She starts seeing the snake again. She's not as interesting as she was the first time around. The theme song is rather bland.

Hunter x Hunter 2013 96-98! features the Phantom Troupe who travel to their 'hometown' so to speak to get rid of the chimera ants who have taken over. It's nice to see what the side characters' powers are after seeing them do barely anything of note in the past. Kalluto, Killua's younger brother's point of view is interesting. After the two episodes on the Phantom Troup, 98 returns to Gon and Killua. There's some seemingly bad news about the series moving to a 1am timeslot from the 11am time. There is concern over the future quality and audience...hope those concerns remain unfounded.

Can't say that this fall's new anime list looks interesting, but here are a couple shows that did not have websites that did not have too much moe:
Samurai Flamenco - the title made me laugh...supermodel turned superhero
Pupa - brother and his sister who has turned to cannibalism...wtf japan and their cannibal genre...titans not enough?

Monogatari S2 10! anticlimactic, but sweet end to the time travel arc. Even though I keep looking forward to some action-packed climactic battle and they don't give me it, I do like how they resolve their problems.

Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist 9! cultural festival at the school...zzz....

Hunter x Hunter 2013 95! Gon's 30 days are up and everyone plans to fight their opponents. Killua's sad face worse than Gon's sad face.

Shingeki no Kyojin 22! After Levi shows off his skills and helps Mikasa save Eren, the aftermath of their mission has everyone devestated. I can see why fanboys like Levi.