Anime Search Site

Here’s a recap of the Spring 2008 anime season: what I watched, what ended up great or disappointing, and what’s worth checking out if you haven’t already. I confess though that I hate keeping up to date with anime that is currently playing, I like waiting till all the episodes are available and then marathon watching them all at once.

Favorites of the season

• Toshokan Sensou (Library War)- Awesome concept of dystopian society and military librarian corps, a little repetitive in the middle and corny at the end, but overall great concept and characters with a few minor lapses in execution.
• xxxHOLIC: Kei- I enjoyed the first season of xxxHOLIC but season 2 was much better! Compelling plot and fun characters.
• Vampire Knight- Great romance and drama in the first half of the season, but sloppy animation and slowing plot towards the middle.

Also Good

• Soul Eater- Awesome colorful AND creepy animation style, good cast of characters, and entertaining plot.
• Code Geass: R2- This anime could be addictive- definitely entertains while making you think. But I only watched the first few episodes because I have to watch season 1 first!
• Daughter of 20 Faces- Good action adventure anime about a girl rescued by a robin-hood type thief.
• Amatsuki-A boy travels back in time to the Edo period, where he will have to deal with spirits and try to find a way home.
• Bus Gamer- I’ll put this on the list, although for some reason I’m not sure why I haven’t seen any subs for this series past ep. 3. I was really starting to like it though!!

May be worth checking out

• Wagaya no Oinara-sama- A fox spirit and temple priestess girl protect and live with two brothers, hijinks ensue.
• Zettai Karen Children- Cute anime about psychic children who are, well, cute.
• Mnemosyne- Really dark anime that is disturbing, bloody, violent, etc. try at your own risk.
• Crystal Blaze- Mediocre action mystery anime, with a really annoying “kid-sister” type character.

Boring!

These are anime that I only watched two episodes of. With so many good anime out there that I want to see, why waste time on boring anime or anime with annoying characters? These series lacked engaging or original plotlines, characters, and were probably too annoying to watch more of. I’m always looking for the next anime that I will be addicted to and have to watch nonstop- things like Death Note or Hikaru no Go, and most recently Nodame Cantabile.

• Nabari no Ou- A boy is given a secret ninja power and so becomes the center of drama and enemy ninja plots to obtain the special power. The plotline was so cliche and the main characters were boring.
• Special A- High-school romance drama. The whole setup was predictable and the male lead was annoying!
• Allison and Lillia- I felt like this anime tried to be good but failed. I just couldn’t care about the characters and Allison was just trying too hard to be “gutsy” that it seemed unrealistic and contrived.
• Neo Angelique Abyss-Ugh, I already gave this show a pretty bad review…what can I say…predictable and cliche.
• Kurenai- Oh and last but not least Kurenai- I never did a real review of it because I kept thinking maybe I’ll watch more of it and have more to say…really I thought I was missing something since everyone LOVED it but I still think it is boring! Murasaki acts like a 10 year old not a 6 year old, but her voice seems like an old lady doing a baby voice…And I just couldn’t buy into the whole situation to keep watching, when NO character seemed to have more than a middle-school level of critical thinking- well other people have already talked about the utter lack of hiding when “in hiding” for starters. I just don’t like shows that look like they’re trying too hard to be good- i.e. overplayed dramatic family situations, drama queens, deep advice about life from a 6 year old, and emo people (who don’t want to do what they’re doing but are just faced with such emo circumstances that they can’t change their own lives).

Didn’t Watch but may at some point- any recommendations??

• Chi’s Sweet Home
• Hakaba Kitaro (horror anime)