So I just watched the final episode of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai a few hours ago. My final impression on it? IT COULD BE BETTER.

Now let’s talk about the remaining titles that I watched in this winter 2013 anime season. Unlike in part 1 which covers all anime that I finished, this part 2 is actually about anime that I partially watched (dropped, avoided/ignored or put on hold). In a sense this is not really a “final impression” so to speak.

Love Live: School Idol Project

I only watched the first half of the first season, never to watch any of the following episodes after that, which means this show was immediately dropped. Although I’m the type that always dropped idol-related anime I always give them a chance by watching at least the first episode because who knows there might be something inside that could get me hooked? Turned out that it’s just like the iDOLM@STER anime that I dropped before. I’m sorry to say this but I’m always find myself incompatible with those Japanese idols, 3D or 2D (with exception of MomoKuro). Unlike most of my anime-loving friends who are crazy over AKB48 I found myself not attracted to them at all. I even skipped the AKB0048 anime because although the anime has nothing to do with the RL idol unit it is associated them, and I would avoid anything that is associated with AKB48, unless they’re making porn of course! So far the closest-to-idol anime I watched was Natsuiro Kiseki, except that idol was not the main focus in the anime. I might have dropped it as well if it was all about idol from beginning to end.

Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?

This one, I think I only watched it up to episode 4, downloaded a few more episodes after that but never watched them. I was like downloading them for the sake of collecting the end cards, because this anime comes with awesome end cards! Perhaps that is the only good part of it, other than Kuro Usagi. Similar to how Shinsekai Yori changed my view on yuri towards a more positive light, this anime also changed my view on kemonomimi, though in this case is strictly to usamimi. Of course I still see them as monster girls but I can no longer deny that that fact is ignorable if they have exceptional roles. Personally I prefer nekomimi but even so I only prefer them as a decoration/accessory, not actual ears! Back to this show, I dropped it because the story is a mess. I don’t know anymore which comes, first, which comes later, why is this and why is that. It was like a puzzle without that has no actual solution where the only solution is to ignore the fact that it is not solvable.

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (OreShura)

This anime was supposed to be good (at least on paper) but I hate the manipulative Silver Hair and I can’t forgive that the dude would fall in love with her. Falling in love with Silver Hair is actually betraying what he believes and at the same time betraying the feelings other people around him have for him. Maybe I was wrong with that part because I got that from the negative reviews I read elsewhere on the net but after 4 episodes I told myself “ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT!”. Maybe just like any other LN-turned-anime titles where the anime makers have little room to alter the story, it is still unforgivable to me to see it end up like this. Silver Hair is the new Senjougahara for me, and you know Senjougahara is my all time most hated (jerk) character.

GJ-bu

This anime is cute, I’m not denying that. I didn’t drop this anime, only put it on hold indefinitely. It’s like the mix of Haruhi, Haganai and Seitokai Yakuindomo (or plus Seitokai no Ichizon) but fails to make me think that “I must not ignore this”. I don’t feel like missing something by not watching it. It tries to be funny but most of the “funny moments” are just about the male lead’s FAIL or defeated moments. Others are just boring stuff I wouldn’t give a damn about. Again, it is cute.

Tamako Market

Just like Love Live, I dropped this anime after 15 minutes of watching the first episode. Before this I never really have this “allergy towards keionish anime”, I mean I managed to finish Hyouka and Kokoro Connect after all but this one is on a completely different level (meaning that it’s unwatchable by my standard). I don’t see high school girl acting like elementary schoolers as ‘cute’. And that white thing that looks like a bird, sounds like a bird but maybe not a bird is one of the most annoying part of it. Making anime about mochi is fine, I even finished Yakitate Japan despite that show having more than 50 episodes (my personal limit) but… I don’t think I could go any further because I want to stop thinking about it. Let’s move to the next title.

Amnesia

This is actually a good anime, a good reverse-harem, shoujo anime. I watched the first episode, and that happened to be the only episode I watched. The OP and ED song were nice too, quickly become my favorite. However one thing that I couldn’t stand is the female lead’s voice. She sounds like somebody who is dying, whose voice is barely heard, as if she was whispering all the time. I just hate voice like that, which is why I hate to hear songs sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru (who sang theme songs for Denpa Onna and Mawaru Penguindrum). I didn’t drop this too but I’m still trying to convince myself to ignore the voice part.

Senran Kagura

At first I watched this anime for fanservice but after a while I felt like being trolled because the fanservice feels like they are still too shy to show the “good stuff”. To Aru Majutsu no Index and Zero no Tsukaima are among the previous anime that failed me in terms of fanservice, in a similar way to this Senran Kagura. Even if I could ignore that there’s still one problem, I hate that voice of…. what’s the name of that pink-haired girl again? Just like Amnesia, I hate her for her whispering-like voice, and her being a total klutz no longer pleasurable to see when it is overly repeated. The one who think that she have what it takes to become a great ninja must have a brain cancer or something like that. She is prone to screwing up things, if not how could she let herself being manipulated? Yeah, I managed to watch this show up to the point she switched school and that was the end of it. By the way that was a small part of this show that I hate. What I hate the most is the overall show itself. I know it’s from a game but I wish it could introduce anime-original characters, preferable male for a gender-balance. I don’t know about you but I prefer my anime gender-balanced, and even better with romance. It’s because I am the type who enjoy projecting myself into the anime setting, as if I am living with them in the show. That’s why I need it. If the anime fails to give me this than it already lose some points. If you ask me for the example of an anime with good gender-balance, I’d say Aquarion EVOL.

Well, those are the anime that caught my attention although I didn’t finish them. I may talk rubbish about them but the fact is I’m talking about them this way because I wish they could be better or come to my expectation. I want to enjoy them but with their current state I don’t think I could. Maybe my view will change after a few years (yes, things like that happened before) but for now I’ll just leave them that way. After all there are still dozens of new anime waiting for me in the future.

Most (if not all) winter 2013 anime have closed their curtains to make way for the spring 2013 anime season. As usual some that started slow became my favorite, some that were initially interesting were dropped half-way, some felt like troll series, some were rubbish. Unlike the fall 2012 anime this winter season left me a few days gap without anime because I simply don’t watch many titles for various reasons but the good thing is most of my favorite titles were out in the weekend so I had enough time to enjoy them. Let’s take a look at some of the winter titles here.

Shinsekai Yori

Those two finally get married after surviving horrible and deadly events that claimed the life of people around them including friends and relatives.

Shinsekai Yori started slow but almost immediately it gave me the same feeling as watching Fractale though I’d say it is better than Fractale in many aspects where it gave us a proper conclusion instead of screwing up like what happened in Fractale. Coincidentally Hanazawa-san played a role in both series. Anyway this show changed my view on yuri in anime, thus I jokingly called it “Shinsekai Yuri” in some occasions. I may still hate yuri but not as much as before. The ‘yuri’ that happened in this anime doesn’t make me feel disgusted like how I see it in other shows such as To Aru Majutsu no Index or To Aru Kakagu no Railgun. This anime actually taught me a lot about humanity, what does it mean to be human and what would happen when human lost its humanity but still disguised itself as human. Every episode presented me an inescapable horror as if I was one of the characters myself. I could feel the struggle as if I was living among them. Out of 10 stars I think I could give 9 to it.

Cuticle Tantei Inaba

What I deem as a gay anime turned out to be one of the funniest anime this season. Yes, it’s still a gay anime until the end but the gay part wasn’t given too much focus and even when they focus on it it was done in a hilarious way that would make me have a good laugh. Too bad it didn’t conclude the things between Inaba and his long-lost little brother but who knows a second season might be possible given the fact that Don has escaped. Also I would like to see Noah with her ‘trap’ boyfriend some more.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT

At one point this feels like a troll episode for a series finale. I was kind of disappointed and I seriously think they could do better. I know the anime makers are confined to the light novel to begin with but I believe they should be given a certain level of liberty to make the ending enjoyable as possible without focusing only on certain characters while ignoring the others. This is supposed to be a heartwarming series so if it started with all characters in one place it should end it that way too.

Vividred Operation

I do admit that I’m watching this for its fanservice and not for the story/plot. To be honest the story is horrible and the plot is full of holes beyond repair but I still got this on my top 5 must watch title of this season. Sure this anime is about friendship but if it’s only about friendship it shouldn’t need 12 episodes for that, and probably doesn’t need a new season either but if they are going to make it anyway I think I’m going to watch it too.

Kotoura-san

Kotoura finally got the balls(?) to hit her irresponsible mother.

This anime got me hooked until the end although it kind of dropped the ball after episode 6 or so. At first it shows how an unfortunate girl who was gifted with something no normal person have struggle to live in the unforgiving society but then it started to feel like slice-of-laifu although occasionally it would have some seriousness that sometimes feels like a filler than a core story. Anyway it excels at being serious but I don’t get most of the jokes or funny moments because they appear not funny enough to me, with exceptions of the first few episodes. Ironically it was the first few episodes that were the tear jerker part of this show. I can approve for the second season of this show because I want to see how Kotoura is going to deal with her mother.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

I did not expect much from this show at first because it sounded like a war-advocating series to me. I think it was after episode 4 that it started to feel like it was about avoiding a war instead of winning it. At some point this show feels like a writing from the neo-classical era (17-18th century) which contains some revolutionary ideas intended to influence the society for the Enlightenment movement. This seriously need one or two more new seasons because if Spice and Wolf can get a third season why can’t this one too, when it’s from the same director? Though I’m not the type who is fond of “monster girl” I can tolerate this one.

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai

At the time of writing there’s still no sub available for the final episode so I can’t really write about the final impression (thus no snapshot here). What is supposed to be a cool anime was destroyed by SHAFT’s horrible (the so-called ‘artistic’) animation style as well as the faceless onii-chan. Knowing it was made by SHAFT I didn’t expect much from this either (I also didn’t expect much from Madoka Magica back then). I dropped this show one time, resumed it again, put it on hold, skipped a few episodes (yes, I did) and resumed it again, I think started at episode 8 or something. If anything the only part I missed was Hanazawa-san Kagami who is my favorite character but in terms of story/plot I managed to pick most part from the very few episodes I watched. Not sure if this should get a new season (I mean Bakemonogatari did) but I might have liked it better if it wasn’t made by SHAFT.

To be continued. More shows will be covered in Part 2….