Rating: 8/10

Overall Series Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

All in all, the first season is a lot more impressive. Shana II isn’t necessarily not as good as the first series, save for the simple fact that the first season impresses, and this does not (to me of course). Shana II is far too much like its predecessor, hardly seeming like a second season at all. I probably would have had a lot more interest in the series if this played straight after the first 24 episodes. In any case though, m overall view of Shana hasn’t changed much, and if a third season comes out (which I assume will, due to the lack of closure in this season), I’ll still be sure to watch it.

Leaving aside what happen to Bal Masque, there’s only one thing I want to talk about: Yuuji’s choice. In last few scenes, it is suggested that Yuuji finally chooses Shana, as she sees someone/something approaching her and becomes highly ecstatic. Of course, it could be someone or something completely unrelated, but as a ShanaxYuuji fan, I like to believe the first idea. In terms of relational development, quite a bit has happened since the start of the season, but unfortunately, I actually believe Shana has lost most of her original tsundere charm. She’s too soft now. And Yuuji is far too indifferent for my liking. But the two as a pair still make quite an attractive couple…

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Series Rating: 8.8/10

Impressions:

To me, Gundam 00 never had a nice flow to it. It’s hard to find shows that actually do, and because of that, I can say that Gundam 00 is already quite the enjoyable anime. This episode ties everything up quite nicely, before throwing out heaps of new leads with the four years later aftermath/interlude. Because of that, I’m anticipating the next season a lot more than I would have if the show simply ended. I love how they decided to make a mess of everything (in a good way), by doing things like putting Louise in the same place as Tieria, or showing how Marie is actually an important person to Allelujah.

Apart from that though, the emergence of an even greater evil was quite expected. They ended up making Allejandro look like quite the unaccomplished fool’s villain, with his reckless last attack and ‘exploding’ timely demise. They also decided to make Setsuna look like the saviour of everything, but ultimately, he’s still just the average pilot (which is greatly disappointing). I doubt he’s actually dead anyway, so he’s probably going to come back and become the star of everything next time. What intrigues me more is what CB have been doing for the four years after the demise of the Gundams.

In regards to the union of the world as shown in the last few scenes, I really still don’t think anything has worked. Sure, they are united as a military force, but chances are there’s still heaps of racism, and certain people not accepting certain other people etc. It’s hard to imagine that a fully united country would ever occur anyway. Relating to this, has CB’s objective been accomplished? Most likely no, so we’ll have to see what they do about everything now. There are also heaps of questions flashing in my mind about the new developments of CB’s arsenal of Gundams (and pilots).

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Series Rating: 8.8/10

Impressions:

Is it time for me to talk about Clannad as a whole yet? There’s still one more episode to be released as an OAV (I think), and of course there’s the after story which is apparently still in production, but I think it’s safe for me to give my final thoughts on the series. I’ll label this episode as the END, even though it should really either be episode 22 or episode 24, but oh well. I’m going to treat the After Story as a sequel, unless it’s ridiculously short—then it’d have to behave like an OAV or something. Regardless, it won’t change my opinion of Clannad thus far anyway.

Firstly, this episode as a standalone is, in my opinion, fantastic. Personally, the drama employed in Clannad isn’t really all that good, so sticking with comedy and this type of character development suits the show to a greater extent. The return of Clannad’s famous Imouto-san, as well as some great comical development between Tomoya and Nagisa really heightens my opinion of the ‘ending’ of Clannad (which I have profusely expressed about how…average it is). But remember, there’s still the After Story, but who knows when it’s going to air…I doubt I will be nearly as enthusiastic about the show as I am now when it does air.

And as for Clannad as a whole? Well, it’s about the same as Kanon, and not as good as Air. It is somewhat average for a KyoAni show, though that in itself is quite a big thing. Overall, I would have to say that Clannad is a great show, and a must watch if you liked the predecessors that were Air and Kanon. If you think about it though, Clannad is really only good in its slice-of-life genre. It’s doesn’t deliver as a drama, is half-assed as a comedy, and is almost non-existent as a romance/harem. But slice of life is a good genre if you ask me, so no complaints from me. If anything, I can only say I’m tired of seeing so many Key products by KyoAni; they need to find something new.

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Series Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

I’ve never been a fan of endings, as I’m usually left wanting more. But strangely, True Tears does such a nice job of wrapping things up, that I don’t really feel like watching any more anyway. Everything feels complete (except for how I was hoping Noe would finally cry in the end). All in all, a great romance/harem series, and a great ending as well. The story, music, pacing, and especially the quality, are all exceptionally high. And you can always argue about whether the characters are well-picked or not, but in the sense that they make the show interesting, I will have to say the writers came up with a pretty nice cast.

Honestly, I’m surprised Shin ended up with Hiromi, BUT only because by the standards set by anime, if someone is occupying a guy’s heart for two episodes before the finale, then usually, the guy will stick with that person. Thankfully, True Tears doesn’t really follow the conventions of anime, but rather, the conventions of life, which dictate that, you can be really thankful and close to a person you don’t necessarily have any romantic feelings for. In this case, Shin shows that it IS possible that in an anime, a guy can have a normal relationship with more than one girl. In the end, he declares his love for Hiromi, but there’s no problem in being grateful for Noe, is there?

In the end, I was quite content with the final developments of all the characters, so it didn’t really matter to me who Shin ended up with. Noe becomes rather normal, and Hiromi throws away her momentary bitchiness which is obvious in the previous episode. It’s also nice to see how Aiko’s relationship with Nobuse has improved drastically, now that they’re just ‘friends’. If anything, I would really love to see an aftermath episode, something that would depict the lives of Shin and Hiromi as a couple, or how things end up with Ai and Nobuse (it would be good if they ended up together). But that’s not anything to complain about. If you like romance, True Tears is a must-see.

Rating: 7.2/10

Overall Series Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

Sky Girls concludes with episode 26, and IMO, it’s a show that completely wastes its initial potential to become a great action/mecha series. Instead, it becomes more of a slice-of-life/feel-good show, but that’s not entirely bad anyway. If I were to judge it without thinking about possible outcomes, I would say this show has been enjoyable. But also, I wouldn’t recommend the show to someone looking for a fast paced action series. If I were to judge the show on how effectively it utilises its mecha/action genre, I would say it fails completely, due to the weak story and slow pacing.

This last episode is more like an OAV than a conclusion, as it is dedicated to an aftermath of the events of the first 25 episodes, set half a year after the conclusion (which was episode 25). The Sonic Divers have been turned into a rescue unit, and a fresh group of new trainees are under the supervision of Eika, who still works in the military. Most of the others have returned to a normal life, which is a bit disappointing as it makes it seem like everything they’ve been through has amounted to nothing. Anyway though, Otoha and the others are recalled back to base to perform a flight demonstration for the new trainees.

I hate how Otoha ends up being just some other, perfectly normal pilot. The show tells us she’s nothing special, because she does nothing special. If her DNA actually caused her to become superior to the other pilots, that would be something to see, but everything ends up being about friendship, teamwork, and other non-shounen aspects. But the trouble is, there aren’t enough shounen features in the show, apart from maybe girls in eva-ripped plugsuits, which results in a rather dull final production. The series ends on a light note, and it doesn’t look like there will be a sequel, unless they make the WORMs reappear again. So, until then…

Rating: 9/10

Overall Series Rating: 9.5/10

Impressions:

Best show of 2007. Hands down. I gave Code Geass an overall rating of 9.5, but comparing the two, I have to say ef is much better. Therefore, I would either have to lower Code Geass or raise ef, but 9.5 is a difficult score to change, so I’m just going to leave it like that. The first two thirds of this episode concludes Renji’s story, though I’m not sure if a miracle actually happens to allow Chihiro to overcome her disability (since her representative chains DO break). Regardless, there are no sad endings—which is what the last third of this episode does: wraps up everyone else as well (even Himura, he gets to meet the young, living version of his past acquaintance).

At a glance, it would seem to be like any other shounen-romance story, but this is the same with most exceptional anime shows. Before watching the first episode, I was already hooked by the trailer. From that, it was obvious that this wasn’t going to become a fanservice fest with blotchy pieces of comedy sticking through. The genres were established as mainly romance and drama, and of course this leans to the shounen side. I guess this is similar to Kanon/Clannad, except that the romance factor is of greater significance, and the execution alone is enough to be commended for. SHAFT really did a wonderful job with this show.

What I really like about the series is the music. Aside from the BGMs, which are great in themselves, the EDs accompany the characters extremely well, almost as if they were from character CDs. They each describe the three characters (Kei, Miyako and Chihiro) ‘journey’ through the episodes as they overcome their problems. Kei’s running animation is priceless, while I like her song the best as well. In the end, she doesn’t end up with Kyousuke, but that was to be expected, since she would have only recently gotten over Hiro. It’s nice to see that she’s finally accepted the role that comes with the position of an imouto though.

If there’s one problem I want to point out, it would be the conclusion of Hiro and Miyako’s story. The way they talk to each other makes it seem like the entire series never happens. The air of cheeriness doesn’t really fit as a direct aftermath of their reunion, and they never show the two together a day or so after it happens. But to assimilate to the rest of the episode, they had to throw out any possible tenderness and make it happy. In the end, Renji’s story is stronger, though Hiro’s story is executed better. I would have to lean towards the latter in terms of preference, also due to the fact that Miyako is my favourite character.

Rating: 8/10

Overall Series Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai has come to end, and I can say now that it’s an excellently produced series. Despite some execution flaws during the last few episodes, with the theme of the show being nothing close to hardcore action, it is of no concern to me. Compared to the first series, Kai presents us with the answers to everything we’ve been wondering about since the end of the first season, and does it with higher quality animation. There is less violence, which would disappoint some, but for me, the second season is the better one. There also seems to be a third season, but whether it’s true or not, or what it will entail, is unknown to me.

Thankfully, Takano gets a happy ending as well. I say this because, as some of you may know, with the recent revelations of her tormenting past, my sentiments for her changed drastically. She seemingly develops symptoms of the Hinamizawa disease, and is rescued by Tomitake. Ultimately, I assume she survives in the end. It’s incredibly nice how she and Tomitake manage to stay together, even in the end. After the credits though, it seems that an adult Rika goes back in time to prevent the tragedy of the deaths of Takano’s parents. Historical complications aside, that was a nice touch to the end of the series.

I never really found a favourite character in the end. Rena, Shion, Mion and Keiichi never really get much focus to further develop their characters, but I guess that’s what the first season’s for. If I had to choose, it would probably be Shion. It’s a shame we never get to see what happens to her afterwards, which would also include what happens to Satoshi. I would have loved to see Satoshi return to Satoko, though for now, I’m sure her brotherly desires can be satisfied by Keiichi. There’s also a severe lack of romance, but it’s understandable due to the major theme of friendship—having lovers amongst the group may well break that.

Overall, I love how they end the show with Rika tearing off that dreaded month of June. The entire series is about her trying to accomplish the seemingly impossible goal of surviving past June, which she does in the end. It gives me such a happy feeling. On the other hand, I would have liked to see wrap-ups of a lot of the other characters. I’ve already mentioned Shion/Satoshi, but Ooishi and Irie should have received some form of conclusion as well. Rika said she would explain all the murder cases to Ooishi at a later date, but she doesn’t in the end. Also, we receive no clue as to how Irie and his research come about in the aftermath…

Anyway, do I recommend this show? Yes, but obviously only if you’ve seen the first season. I remember hearing about people who went ahead and started watching the second season without seeing the first, and began to dismiss it due to their obvious incomprehension of anything that was happening. This is definitely my favourite show of summer 2007. The last arc in particular works wonders for entertainment. I only wished they had put more violence in the second last arc, to once again emphasise the cruelness of a world lost to Takano. But in the end, Takano was never that bad. Well, I’ll be looking forward to a third series, if there is one.

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Series Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

Hah, bad ending WTF. Or should I say, good ending? The highly violent stabbings are certainly extremely pleasing—Higurashi style, even with the excessive censoring. I hope they’ll release an uncut version (or if they have, I should start looking for it =D). I must say, this ending is extremely pleasing, and far more violent than I thought. If anyone saw the first few episodes, they would dismiss it for another crap harem. But to the crowd’s amusement, logic and plot turns to mush, and in the end, we get a nice big bloodbath with decapitation and everything. Now I wonder how the ONA ended…

Rating: 9/10

Overall Series Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

It’s 2:30AM and I’m really tired, so please excuse me if I say anything retarded. Well, Darker than Black has ended, and thankfully, the ending doesn’t screw up the masterpiece that is the rest of the show. I wouldn’t consider it a favourite of mine, since I am, by heart, a big explosions and overpowered protagonist fan. I just swing that way. xD However, I’m not dense enough to fail to see the magnificence of the series that DtB is. I had to adjust to the slower-than-shounen pacing, but once I did, I learned to appreciate the thought-provoking abilities and storytelling of the show, as well as the excellent cast.

The ending leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Many people will be disappointed by this—many people who love the show will feud over those who are disappointed—and some people, like me I guess, will be sort of in between. I too, agree that there are many things unanswered. But I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Let’s not forget that, although not many things are wrapped up, the actually ‘plot’ is. The plot has a clear and definite ending, and that’s the important thing. Whether the many mysteries of the DtB are answered are not depend on whether the producers want viewers to be satisfied with absolute knowledge, or rack their brains with crazy speculation.

I reckon, the genius of DtB is the way they end the series so gently, and leave a large portion to the imagination. Will we ever find out more about contractors, dolls, the Syndicate etc? Probably not. A few things seem to be apparent though. Hei and Yin are alive. Amber is dead. There are probably many more new contractors now, and many are probably ‘evolving’ into humans. Or is it the other way around? Or perhaps, the ultimate future that which the seer has been seeing for years now, is a world where natural evolution has taken humans and contractors on a journey, which ends with the creation of a hybrid of the two species. Like Hei I guess. I guess he really was special.

I kinda got off track there—I was talking about the ending of DtB lol. Anyway, I had wanted to say that DtB chooses an ending that is quite rare among the vast libraries of anime out there. Essentially, they end it differently. There’s no big boss fight, no concrete ‘life-goes-on’ ending (since we’re not even sure what happens to Hei and yin), and hardly anything is explained in detail. This could just be a ploy by the producers to leave space for a possible sequel, but I like to see the good sides of things, and trust that the story-writers are just geniuses in their execution of the show. The ‘different’ ending that DtB has makes it truly memorable.

I liked sola for the awesome characters. I liked Gurren Lagann for its craziness and hilarity. I liked Claymore for its shounen-esque story and fighting. I liked Seirei no Moribito for its pleasant feel and plot. And the final spring 2007 series which I enjoyed immensely is Darker than Black. To put it shortly, I enjoyed DtB for its pacing, characters, seriousness and air of uniqueness. I wouldn’t mind a sequel, but only if the producers find another string of the plot to work on. There are so many, it wouldn’t be too hard. All in all, I’m glad I decided to blog at least one of the series I loved in spring 2007 (I failed to pick up sola, Claymore, Gurren Lagann and Seirei no Moribito in time T_T).

Rating: 8/10

Overall Series Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

Overll, the entire OAV series doesn’t impress me that much. This probably due to the poor plot linking between the four episodes, with episode 2 and 3 being rather wasteful, in my opinion. The story isn’t very strong, though I do see some elements of the Mai Otome manga in it. The animation and action are pretty high though, and this last episode by itself is quite enjoyable to watch. I think for me, I enjoyed seeing the reunion of Arika and Nina the most—sequels are always great to see old characters come together again. I guess that effect is what the animators tried to build on in episodes 2 and 3, though it ends up making the plot rather weak.

So after the edited version of Otome wa DO MY BEST Desho, playing as the ED (which fits amazingly well), we get to see a short commercial regarding a future Mai Otome series, Mai Otome S.ifr. This series will be a prequel to the Mai Otome series, so we’ll get to see Arika’s mother’s time and such, something which I will be looking forward to immensely. By the way, sifr in Arabic means zero apparently. Anyway, the length of this prequel is unknown, but it is presumed to be a three episode OAV series. There’s still that new Mai Hime series that’s supposedly going to come out soon, but I haven’t heard anything more about it…

Mai Otome S.ifr