Summer 2012 Anime Season

[darksuzaku]

It's still quite early but at this point my favorite six are Sword Art Online, Kokoro Connect, Tari Tari, Muv Luv Alternative, Campione and Oda Nobuna.

Those seiyuu in Tari Tari sing pretty well. One of them has a college degree in vocal music supposedly specializing in opera. I like how the closing animation and song changed based off the storyline of the members in the club.

For me i really like these ones:

Kokoro Conect -> I'm glad to see that the series doesn't focus so much in the silly "body exchange" but instead on the character development. So far almost everything has been character development and therefore it's difficult to say if there will be some kind of serious plot on this series, but for now i'm really enjoying it.

Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse -> The series took a big turn on episode 3 but i still feel the "Gunparade March" vibes that i got from this series when it started.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous -> Now this one could turn into a good love story. Like kokoro conect, they don't focus on silly stuff like in this case, the ghost of the husband. Instead it focuses on the relationship of the 2 main cast. The ghost of the husband basically represents that the girl can't forget him yet, but she looks interested in the "new person" in her life.

Sword Art Online -> My favorite of course. As expected, they are narrating the story chronologically, and that means that all the episodes aired until now have been based on the sidestories for the 1st novel (1 episode for each story). Thats the reason why some people find these episodes very unconnected. Episode 5 is confirmed to be a sidestory too, and episode 6 will likely be a sidestory too, probably the last one. The real good stuff has yet to come. They seem to rushing some of the sidestories (Ep 2-3 were extremely rushed), so that probably means they may be airing the entire 1st 2 novels in the "hopefully" 1st arc of this series.

Tari Tari -> Probably the one i'm least interested in but it still looks a pretty nice slice of life series. Episode 4 has got some nice character development for Wakana. I'm expecting good things from this series, but being a 13 episode series i'm not sure how it will end.

[AR-99]

Been getting Arcana Famiglia but have yet to start watching it. Got 9 other animes I'm watching concurrently.

[GuyvarIII]

Thus far, my opinion of the Summer 2012 season is as follows:

My favorite new show this season is “Kingdom”.
Its 3D CG models are hideous and the fight choreography is awkward, but I’m enjoying the storyline of a dethroned king scraping his way back into power and seeking to establish a China -wide Pax Romana under his iron fist rule .

I like “Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi”. It’s a little smarmy in parts, its animation isn’t so great, and some of its wordplay seems more awkward than funny, but at times it’s charming and witty … and it’s pretty .

“Humanity has Declined” is OK.
I’s failed cover-up attempt, and the bread robot suicide were hilarious. But, now it seems intent on destroying its own jokes by explaining every minute detail within each joke scenario .

Natsuyuki Rendezous is also alright. The characters seem realistic, but this also makes them a little dull .

I liked the first two episodes of “Total Eclipse”.
The series’ Neo-Imperial Japan versus giant alien bugs (BETA) setting, with a Samurai class run military, and WWII-era battle ships and giant robots, is badass. I was hoping that the show would just follow an ice-cold, battle hardened Yui in a quest to retake Post- Apocalyptic Kyoto from the bugs . But, instead it switches to some training base in the middle of nowhere, where little Russian girls play with each other, and I’m stuck with some idiot 2nd generation Japanese-American who comes up with pet names for stereotype comrades and a plot that says he needs to get in touch with his inner Japanese-ness .

I’m having a hard time following Kirito’s emotional motivation in “Sword Art Online”. From his actions in episode one, I thought he was planning on not joining up with anyone and surviving no matter what, but now he’s taking on the sins of other players by calling himself a “Beater”; and, in the last episode I saw, he was acting as a protector to a group of noobs. Besides the death of that group leader he barely met, I don‘t know what caused this change. I’m also hating the time lapses between each episode. They aren’t helping the story flow, and are leading to horrible blathering explanations. Evil googly-eyed Santa Claus made me laugh, but I’m still hoping for something better than flavor of the week motivational female sidekicks .

[darksuzaku]

I’m having a hard time following Kirito’s emotional motivation in “Sword Art Online”. From his actions in episode one, I thought he was planning on not joining up with anyone and surviving no matter what, but now he’s taking on the sins of other players by calling himself a “Beater”; and, in the last episode I saw, he was acting as a protector to a group of noobs. Besides the death of that group leader he barely met, I don‘t know what caused this change. I’m also hating the time lapses between each episode. They aren’t helping the story flow, and are leading to horrible blathering explanations. Evil googly-eyed Santa Claus made me laugh, but I’m still hoping for something better than flavor of the week motivational female sidekicks .

Well, what you feel is what was expected to happen to anyone who has not read the novels.
I'll try to explain a little the first novel without entering into spoilers so people can understand a little why things go like this:

The first novel (with the people trapped in Aincrad inside a death game) really starts towards the end of the so called "death game". The novel starts when they are already on floor 74/100. From there they did a quick flashback towards what would be episode 1 of the anime series to explain how everything began. After this quick flashback the action returns to floor 74 and from there to the end of the series.

As the novels were quite succesful the autor decided to write several sidestories to let reader enjoy more adventures. The easiest way to fit these stories without disrupting the plot was to fit them chronologically earlier in the story (most of them are set to happen earlier). It was an easy decision. If the novel starts on floor 74 the sidestories can perfectly be placed on floors 1-73. Each sidestory had it's own plot and was independent of each other. The anime series is airing everything in chronollogical order, and that leads to a few drawbacks:

1- Even though the sidestories happen earlier they are expected to be read/watched "after" the main events of the series to allow readers/viewers to be familiarized with terms etc...
2- Even though there are quite a few sidestories, they are not related with each other in any way and still are not enough to give some sense of continuity between them.

With that said, here's a quick comparison novel/anime for the already aired episodes.

Episode 1 -> Corresponds to the flashback done early in the novel to explain how things started. The anime episode is very faithful to the novel here.

Episode 2 -> Corresponds to the sidestory "Aria in the starless night". The anime rushes things a lot to fit the essence of the sidestory in one episode. Many things were cut and several where changed. This sidestory could have easily taken 2-3 episodes if they did it with the same detail they did episode 1. Just for reference, the term "Beater" in the novels is not something Kirito decided to call himself, it's just what people used to call the beta testers os SAO.

Episode 3 -> Corresponds to the sidestory "Red-nosed Reindeer". This one can be considered a flachback inside another flashback so go figure. The story happens when they have been on the game for around 1 year already. Kirito wants to get that revival item to revive the people who died a few moths ago because of him. At this point it flashes back and tells the story of the guild of the black cats. The anime episode is also rushed but maybe not as much as episode 2. But for sure, the transition from episode 2 to episode 3 is quite abrupt.

Episode 4 -> Corresponds to the sidestory "The Black swordman", featuring the beast tamer Silica. This one didn't feel as rushed as the others. The episode is quite faithful to the sidestory itself. 1 episode was quite enough. Of course, the transition from episode 3 to 4 is also abrupt, specially if you consider that the story of episode 3 actually happens after episode 4, or to be more precise, the part of kirito acquiring the revive item is what happens after.... the story of the black cats sure happens before, that's why the series airs it before.

Preview of episode 5 without spoilers -> Corresponds to the sidestory "A Murder inside the Area". It tells a story about a murder inside a city, where such a thing should be impossible to happen. We will finally be able to see again Asuna in this episode. I have no doubt that they will rush the story to fit in one episode when it should naturally have at least 2.

The last sidestory that they will probably air after this one will be the one where Kirito acquires a second sword. The one he normally uses (as seen on episode 3) is called "Elucidator". The new one is called "Dark Repulser". This one sidestory would fit easily in a single episode without need to rush.

Besides those there are still some very minor sidestories that i don't expect to see aired, and one very important sidetory, but as this one happens during the events of the main plot they will easily mix it without anyone noticing

[Keropi]

Well...we are about two thirds of the way through this cour.

I'm still enjoying Sword Art Online the most. It should be better with the regular storyline kicking in and I'm still avoiding the spoilers from it. I like Tari Tari the second most. It's not doing anything unusual, but I like the artwork and the character jokes are amusing. I tend to watch shows slower once they turn dramatic. The comedies are easier for me to plop down to and watch at any time.

I like Kokoro Connect even with the background seiyuu crap going on. Maybe I've not enjoyed it quite as much as I was hoping, but I still like it. I like Muv Luv better since they've jumped to the more important part of the story. Did this series really get extended because of higher than expected sales of merchandise? That would mean a better storyline for the rest of the show. But I can see the ren'ai aspect of the game coming out in some of the storyline (which is also what Gunparade March was of course).

I'm finding Oda Nobuna to be okay. The historical references are kind of fun. I kind of like Campione. The adaption is not good, but at least it's fairly entertaining. Hagure Yuusha is sort of a guilty pleasure kind of show. I'm watching Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, but it's tough to follow their unconventional fighting duels. I can't tell exactly what they are doing. I sort of like Binbougami, but I prefer the comedy/drama episodes to the purely comedic ones.

Tanken Driland is about average to me. It's more of show for me to watch if I had a lot of time on my hands. I don't mind the weirdness of Jinrui, but I don't feel motivated to watch more of it with the amount of free time that I have. I've lost interest in Chocolate and Yuru Yuri S2.

I dropped Chitose Get You after 6 episodes. I dropped Kono Naka Imouto after four episodes because I got tired of the mental games and crazy red herrings. I dropped Dog Days S2 after four episodes because they really aren't doing much. It's more like a family vacation movie. I dropped Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai after 1 1/2 episodes. I dropped Ebiten and Joshiraku after one episode.

By the way...(Accel World small Spoiler):

How is that NTR story arc going in Accel World? I usually don't like NTR stories. They are too annoying to me. I can see why novel readers hated that arc.

[Rekka Alexiel]

I'm only watching Sword Art Online. It's filling that gap where .hack used to be.

Gosh, how I miss that series. Have any of you seen the new .hack stuff? Like the new movie "Sekai no Mukou ni" and the Quantum OVA? They both were really good, but.... I felt they were kinda lacking something. Oh right, no Haseo. *facepalm*

[Keropi]

So how did these anime turn out?:

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon Season 2 ("Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere" Season 2)
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita ("Humanity Has Declined")
Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate
Rinne no Lagrange Season 2
La storia della Arcana Famiglia
Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi ("Utakoi")
Moyashimon Returns ("Moyashimon" Season 2)
Natsuyuki Rendezvous
Joshiraku
Hakuouki: Reimei-roku
Eureka Seven AO

What did you think of them? Anybody enjoy how they ended up?

[darksuzaku]

So how did these anime turn out?:

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon Season 2 ("Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere" Season 2)
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita ("Humanity Has Declined")
Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate
Rinne no Lagrange Season 2
La storia della Arcana Famiglia
Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi ("Utakoi")
Moyashimon Returns ("Moyashimon" Season 2)
Natsuyuki Rendezvous
Joshiraku
Hakuouki: Reimei-roku
Eureka Seven AO

What did you think of them? Anybody enjoy how they ended up?

Well, from those i dropped early Arcana Famiglia, Utakoi, Jinrui and Joshiraku (this one after the 1st episode, and Jinrui after 2nd episode).

Like i commented you on MAL, i completed Natsuyuki Rendezvous. It started very promising but didn't like how they handled the 2nd half of the series with all that body swap thing that i expected to last 1 episode and ended lasting till the end of the series.

Have a backlog of 4-5 episodes on Horizon and Koi to Senkyo.... The first series is also going to be a watch and delete like the first season, but definately worse than the first season.

Also have on backlog Tari Tari, which should have ended too this last week.

[Keropi]

I might be working 37 1/2 hours this week so it looks like I won't have time to catch up on anything that I've fallen behind on. I either have low motivation to finish or I'm lacking time. I suppose I could catch up if I stopped reading all manga and stopped trying to acquire old anime, but I don't think I'll do that. Manga has a lot of decent stories that will never get turned into anime. But I still prefer anime a lot more than manga. Manga I could stop reading, but anime would be very difficult to stop and I would feel deprived not watching anything.

Looks like I'll be able to finish Binbougami, Campione, Hagure Yuusha, Kokoro Connect (the episodes that air) and Oda Nobuna. Finishing Hyouka wouldn't be too hard and I'm keeping up with Muv Luv Alt and Sword Art Online. Tari Tari would take me longer to finish. I would have watched more Jinrui and Horizon S2 if I had the time. Tanken Driland is not English subbed and I have little motivation to finish Yuru Yuri S2 and Koi to Senkyo. I just didn't have the time to watch as much as I wanted.

Yeah, I've read a number of people saying how they thought that Natsuyuki Rendezvous and Sakamichi no Apollon were going to be very good/great, but then they ended up not liking them as much by the time they got to the end. Both series could have been great, but the combination of trying to cram the whole story into short length series and/or whatever messed them up. They were decent series, but they could have been so much more than that. Oh well. I don't see too many well adapted manga/novel sources these days.

I wish they wouldn't have changed the stuff they did in Hagure Yuusha because what they changed seemed to all have been for the worse (the extra fanservice especially). I didn't dislike the show, but since the story is so far from being finished the ending was open ended like usual.