New Seasons

Hello again, everyone. I apologize for not writing very much recently (I know I’m always promising new stuff, but I rarely follow through). I thank Chiaki for being understanding about this. I finished up with school and am now performing two jobs. As of this writing, I’m in a hotel room in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with my friend playing an acoustic guitar and we’re singing songs. It’s actually quite awesome. I’m down here for one of my jobs which is coaching high school rowing for my old high school, Central Catholic in Pittsburgh. So I thought to myself, “I’ve got some down time. I should write a blog post.” The rest is history. One quick aside before today’s topic: to those of you with an Xbox, PS3, or a computer, if you haven’t played Portal 2 yet, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Do it. DO IT NAO!!!
Anyway, I always seem to jump back into these things during a new anime season, so in keeping with “classic Phil tradition,” I’m here to talk about the newest anime season. We’re about 7 or 8 episodes into some of the new shows, so I’d like to give a few of my opinions on the shows I have watched. Of the ones that I have seen, I am not too disappointed. There were ones that I’m just not watching simply on principle. They don’t interest me and/or are just a little too weird for me (I’m looking at you, Hen Zemi [Abnormal Physiology Seminar]). And so without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, let’s jump in.
Dog Days: Yikes. When I said I was “not too disappointed,” I was not talking about this one. I don’t know what is so tired about the “guy gets sent to a different dimension to help someone and ends up as the apple-of-almost-every-girl-there’s eye” plot, but I have seen very few that are actually any good, and even then I can’t remember what they are. Incidentally, Dog Days is about a boy named Izumi Shinku who gets transported via magical wormhole to the land of Fronaldo. There, he is greeted by the Princess of the Republic of Biscotti, Princess Millhiore. She informs him that the Lion Kingdom of Garette keeps beating the garbage out of the Biscottis and, therefore, she was forced to summon a hero, and that person is he, Izumi. Oh, I think I forgot to mention that everyone in this universe has either dog or cat ears and a tail. Awesome. This show is really not going to do anything for many people. Even people who are into the “girls with animal ears” thing probably won’t like it simply due to the banality of the plot. It’s just too simple to even make it worth it. There’s also an absurd amount of fan service going on, so if you thought it was going to sack up and be serious for a second, you’re probably wrong. I stopped watching this show at episode 4 and have not looked back. It’s trite, it’s banal, and it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. 1/5

Hanasaku Iroha: This one’s a bit of a toss-up. It looks nice, it seems interesting, and the first episode had me eagerly wanting to see more of this story about a young girl who has to move away to work at a hot springs inn. She wants to be strong and make the most of her situation but she can’t quite seem to fit in. It has all the makings of a good story about coming of age and finding your place in your own world, whatever that world may be. There was only one hitch: it was really boring. I don’t know what it was, but after episode 2, I really couldn’t bring myself to finish episode 3. I was forcing it but I was just too bored. The story seems good and the characters seem interesting, I just couldn’t get behind it. It may be good to a lot of people out there, but not to me. 2.5/5

Ao no Exorcist (The Blue Exorcist): This show, based off of a manga with the same name, tells the story of Rin Okumura, a young boy living at a church. Turns out, he’s the illegitimate son of Satan, and his “father” dies trying to protect him. He now decides that, in order to avenge his father and prove himself, he will follow the path of the exorcist. He then goes to a school where they teach exorcists. I know, I know, schools where they teach you to do various things are all really clichéd and annoying, but I’ve been looking forward to this anime ever since I saw ads for it during Star Driver. It looks great, the characters are great, the humor is awesome, and, so far, I find myself eagerly awaiting new episodes. It’s probably not going to be that anime that changes your life or sends a message that shakes your very foundation, but it’s awesome and I really like it. 4.7/5

AnoHana: Six childhood friends grew apart in high school. One of them is Jintan, now a shut-in. He gets a request to fulfill a wish for Menma, the only one of their friends to have stayed the same over the years. In order to grant her wish, he will have to find and reunite their old friends. This is my pick for best of the season. It’s done by the same studio (and I believe the same guy) that did Toradora! so you know it’s good. The animation is absolutely gorgeous, the characters are deep and believable, and the story is too interesting to not watch. A sterling series with heartfelt messages and a timeless story about loss and the inevitable change of those around us. 5/5

Astarotte’s Toy: If you saw any sort of preview about this anime and wrote it off as a fan-service ridden blowoff regular boring anime, I wouldn’t blame you. I almost thought the same thing. I started to watch it and it was almost just that. But it’s charming, witty, and even heartwarming at times. There’s not really that much to say about it in terms of plot or general greatness, but if you’re looking for something to watch to pass the time and don’t want to hate yourself, you could do far worse than this. 3.7/5

Hidan no Aria: I don’t really know what to make of this one. The main character, Kinji, is a “butei” which I’ve gathered is some kind of bodyguard-for-hire that does all kinds of daring missions. He has something called a “hysteria mode” which is activated whenever he becomes “aroused” in some fashion, where he turns into a ridiculously overpowered butei and can do all sorts of impossible things. I can’t get a solid read on this show. At some points, it is a pretty cool action show with some neat stuff, but on the other hand, it’s riddled with fanservice and some pretty stupid elements. So far, I think it is middle-of-the-road, average, nothing to write home about. 2.5/5

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control: This was interesting at first, but then got pretty boring. The animation style is really weird, but in a good way. The story seems interesting as well. There is this other realm with people combating each other using money. The more you have, the more powerful you are. It has a lot of potential and could be very interesting. That’s why I don’t know why I got bored and stopped watching it. I think I’ll start again when I have some more time. I really hope it won’t bore me again, the way it apparently did the first time around. 3.5/5

Well, that’s all I have for you this time. Next time, I’ll be doing my top ten list of villains that I’ve come across in my anime watching career. Thanks for reading. Keep watching, keep enjoying, keep experiencing.

Best,
Phil Bohn