Roving Thoughts archives

Reactions to Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars

After various urgings from people whose opinions I respect, I got Shingu (on DVD) and recently watched it (after a bit of struggling with Linux DVD players and especially deinterlacing).

(It amuses me that the shipping to Canada was almost as expensive as the DVD release itself.)

So here, have some reactions and notes:

• everyone who has praised this has done so for a good reason. It is totally worth your time (and your $20).

  I'm pretty sure that this will make my best N of 2011 when I write it. It easily would have made my best N of 2010 if I had seen it last year.

(If you want to have a completely unsullied and un-influenced viewing of the show, stop reading now.)

• Nayuta is great. It's a good thing, because she is at the heart of the show.

  (You can tell that she is the real protagonist because she is the character who gets the real emotional development over the course of the series. By contrast, Hajime barely changes.)

• Someone should do a 'many faces of Nayuta' page, if it hasn't already been done somewhere (this and this give you a taste of what it would be like). It doesn't need to be distorted faces, because the animators give Nayuta so many normal expressions too. Even her eyebrows are expressive.

  (There's one scene where she goes through about three or four emotions in a row, and it's all done through the eyebrows.)

• I think Romi Park's voice acting for Nayuta is the first time I've been conscious of how good a job a seiyuu was doing. It's not that it's showy (in fact it's basically invisible), but her delivery completely supports Nayuta's various emotional shifts that result in all of those expressions. Without such a convincing emotional delivery, the rest of it would fall flat; instead, it's so well done that I didn't even notice, it was just perfectly real.

  (Yes, I'm being neurotic in writing her name as 'Romi Park' instead of the more common 'Romi Paku' or 'Paku Romi'.)

• I like how Hajime's room is realistically messy. Shingu is full of little details like that.

• like other people, I did not find the OP or ED to be particularly impressive. Neither song particularly grabbed me, and only the OP is animated (the ED is scrolling text).

• it's interesting how fast the look of animation gets dated. Shingu was made in 2001, but it looks very different from recent animation and comes across as seeming fairly old-fashioned. One of the things I particularly noticed is that static shots shake very slightly, I suspect from cell alignment not being completely precise from photo to photo, whereas I'm now used to shots being absolutely rock-solid (because they are at least computer composited if not entirely digital).

  Also, I'm spoiled; DVD resolution now looks dowdy compared to the routine use of 720P in fansubs. And I maintain that modern fansub subtitles really do look much better than DVD subtitles.

• I think it's best to carefully ignore what the show tells you about how Hajime's mother does her work. The work is fine and realistic; the details of how it's done, not so much (if nothing else, the memorization bit). Even given that this was made in 2001, I have no idea what the staff were thinking.

Vague spoiler warnings for the following:

• I'm happy that the show did not attempt to explain the situation with Muryou. Some things are fine to remain mysterious because they ultimately don't matter to what the show is about.

• the more I think about it, the more I can understand the emotional logic of why Nayuta winds up making a connection to Hajime. Out of all of the people around her, Hajime is both an outsider (and so not influenced by the baggage of who and what she) and someone who is in on the secrets so she can be open around him.

  (Muryou does not count as an outsider, not in this way.)

• given that Momoe Sanemori (the Sanemori matriarch) is around 113 years old, she may not literally be Nayuta's grandmother but a step or two further away. On the other hand, who knows; Nayuta does specifically call her 'grandmother', and Japanese does have a specific term for great-grandmother.

  (We know Momoe's age from the rediscovered old school movie. It was explicitly made exactly 100 years ago, and in it Momoe is a middle schooler just like Nayuta is now.)

I have other things to say about Shingu, but they're going to wind up in separate entries because this got long.

My early impressions of the Spring 2011 anime season

Another season brings another set of snapshots, just like last time, except that this has been extended and slow enough that this a lot more than first episodes by now.

Shows I've seen, more or less in the order seen:

• Dog Days: It's a refreshing change when the summoned hero is both competent and enthusiastic about his new situation. Apart from that, this is lightweight but cheerful and fun. Honestly, there's a lot to be said for that.

• Sengoku Otome Momoiro Paradox: this is bizarre in an almost over the top way, but ultimately it doesn't really sustain my interest (partly because it's too lightweight and too much a single joke).

• Steins;Gate: it's at least trying to be interesting, but it's not really succeeding; it has too much incoherence and not enough coherence.

• Softenni: this is probably decent but I found it insufficiently interesting for me to have much of an opinion on it. This is not really the show's fault, and people who like straight-up comedy will probably find it more attractive.

• Hidan no Aria: At first I thought this was interesting, but now I think that it was kind of generic (in fact, a lot like last season's Dragon Crisis). I have no confidence that it won't be yet another action/harem show.

  (On the other hand, the third episode surprised me. So who knows. I am a perpetual optimist about these kinds of shows.)

• [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control: Beneath the shiny peculiar stuff, this mostly looks like one of those 'person dragged into a fighting genre' shows that we've seen before. However, it has potential to be a well executed one.

  (It also has the potential to be an epic trainwreck of incoherence.)

• Ao no Exorcist: It's an action show, but it's not a bad action show so far. However, the first two episodes were basically the background introduction; things may change now that it's moving on to the main setting.

• Deadman Wonderland: This would be a lot easier to feel very enthused about if the setting wasn't so over the top implausible. Apart from that, it doesn't really stand out (except by promising the standard shonen fighting tournament, which does not exactly thrill me). In fact, the more I think about it the less enthused I am by this. I don't really need to watch two 'trapped protagonist' shows this season, and [C] is much more interesting and better executed (and has a far less offensive setting; Deadman Wonderland is asking me to watch lethal bloodsports).

• Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko: This made me smile. A lot. The narration totally makes it work. Although I did not expect it, this is the show that most made me go 'I want the next episode right now'.

  (I recognize that this charm may wear off fast, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.)

• Dororon Enma-kun Meramera: The retro style and setting of this doesn't lift it out of the 'competent but uninspired' category. In the wake of Panty & Stocking, I find myself not impressed.

• Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (aka AnoHana): This is a well made show in a genre that I generally don't find interesting. It's probably not well made enough to keep me watching it, though, which I sort of regret.

I'm going to skip trying to list the shows that I haven't watched for various reasons.

Looking at the list, I expect to continue following Dog Days because it is plain fun, Ao no Exorcist for decently well executed typical shonen action fare, [C] because it's well made, interesting, and they're at least trying to be unusual, and Denpa Onna for as long as it keeps making me smile happily. Steins;Gate and Hidan no Aria are kind of on the edge. AnoHana I will probably lose interest in soon.

(Disclaimer: predictions are dangerous. I'm probably going to be wrong, and anyways I have low willpower for stopping watching shows that are just on the edge and could be good next episode maybe.)

My bike gloves as of spring 2011

I bike in all weather conditions. As a result, I have a whole lot of bike gloves (and gloves that I use when I bike), and I'm often looking for better gloves. Because I feel like keeping track of this, here's my current list with notes about when I use them.

In order of decreasing temperature ranges:

basic MEC fingerless bike gloves

These are my warm weather gloves, say around 20C and upwards. I used to use the MEC commuter cycling gloves but last year switched to the 'road' gloves, which have less padding, and I think they work better with my very comfortable Ergon grips.

(I have very comfortable grips, so in the summer I wear gloves mostly to keep my hands from slipping with sweat (and partly to keep the grip pattern from printing itself on my palms). Padding is not necessary for this and seems to actually get in the way and make things less comfortable.)

basic MEC full-fingered gloves

Intermediate cool weather gloves for temperatures in the mid and low teens, especially on group bike rides. These are what I'll call 'skin' gloves, with no actual warm materials used in their construction.

(I'd give the MEC brand name, but MEC keeps changing things around.)

'Netti' mid-weight gloves

Cool weather gloves for the low teens and upper single digit temperatures. Unlike the MEC gloves they have some actual warmth and insulation, but not large amounts (and the side of the fingers are vented, which lets the cold air in).

I got these at Urbane Cycle, and they appear to no longer be in production. So it apparently goes with bike gear that I buy.

thin but insulated Castelli gloves

Cold weather gloves for around 0C; I believe they have some fleece lining. These are thin enough to be fully dexterous; I can comfortably use my DSLR while wearing them, for example, with only minimal fumbling.

I bought these at MEC a couple of years ago as the best cold weather gloves they had at the time, and they were okay for that but they are not really warm enough for serious sub-zero temperatures.

I can't remember the Castelli name for them but it probably doesn't matter since it looks like they're out of production anyways. There's a theme here.

Castelli Pioggia gloves

Cold weather gloves for sub-zero weather. These are much more insulated than my thinner Castelli gloves above, but significantly thicker and thus less dexterous (although they are still decent for this). They rapidly get too hot at above-zero temperatures.

In theory they have a waterproof liner layer, but I have never used them in the rain to put this to the test. If it worked it would be great; cold rain is one of the things that I don't have a good set of gear to deal with yet.

I bought these at MEC this fall as an attempt to get better gloves for sub-zero weather, and they have been a resounding success at this; they are actively comfortable in such weather, instead of merely sort of tolerable and survivable.

MEC 'lobster' style cycling gloves

I haven't yet biked in weather conditions cold enough to force me into these, possibly because I stop biking when the roads are covered with snow, ice, and slush. The few times I wore these (before I had the Pioggias), I found them not entirely warm enough without liner gloves.

I have some additional gloves that don't neatly fit into temperature ranges:

basic leather gloves with a light inner layer for warmth

These are currently my 'cold rain' gloves, because they're the only thing I have that is both reasonably waterproof and sort of warm enough. Before I got the Pioggias they were also my really cold weather gloves when worn with liner gloves; they were better than the lighter Castellis but not as comfortable as the Pioggias.

basic MEC polypro liner gloves

I used (and use) these for additional warmth underneath my leather gloves and the MEC lobster gloves. I can't remember if I tried using them with the lighter weight Castelli gloves, but I suspect that there wouldn't have been enough room.

I have read a fair amount of praise for neoprene paddling gloves as cold weather rain gloves, so I intend to get a pair when MEC gets them back into stock and experiment. I believe that MEC also sells waterproof shells, but when I looked at them in the fall none of them looked really attractive.

(The leading paddling glove candidate is the MEC CyclPad 3mm gloves, with the MEC Catch Neoprene gloves as a second option. The MEC Humboldt gloves in 2mm and 3mm are new enough to not have real reviews.)

Sidebar: other cold weather gear I swear by

• a basic MEC fleece cycling headband. This is just the thing to keep my ears warm on cool days, and keeping my ears warm turns out to make me much more comfortable.

• a basic MEC fleece skull cap thing, with ear covers; I wear this under my helmet in subzero temperatures. MEC has cycling specific ones, but I believe mine comes from their general cold weather gear because I didn't like any of their cycling-specific ones at the time that I was looking a few years ago.

A reaction to Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica episode 10

It's not exactly a spoiler that Magica has been a fairly dark show (and if it is a spoiler, it's the kind of spoiler you should know). However, episode 10 leaves me feeling more optimistic about the show having a happy ending, not because of anything in the plot of episode 10 but instead for thematic and structural reasons. Explaining more requires spoilers, so here they come.

Read more »

My brief snapshot of the Winter 2011 anime season first episodes

This is just like last time. This season features an unusually large number of shows where I need to see more episodes to really make up my mind, which doesn't inspire me with confidence.

(Technically this is not just first episodes, I've seen a few second episodes too by now.)

Shows I've seen, more or less in the order seen:

• Infinite Stratos: the opening of the first episode shows us just where this show is going. Since I expect the accumulation of the harem to be a paint by numbers exercise, the show needs good mecha battles to stay interesting.

  (The characters certainly aren't doing it so far; they come straight from central casting.)

  As a side note, the more the characters talk the less sense the setting makes. I'm trying not to think about it, since solid worldbuilding has never been a particular strength of anime.

  I don't know how I feel about the mecha battle in the second episode. I liked the ending and the visuals were nice, but apart from the ending it felt as if it was taking fight cliches straight out of the shonen action show playbook.

  Ultimately I suspect that I'm not going to enjoy this as much as I'd like to; I expect that it will have too much straightforward harem accumulation and too little interesting action.

• Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica: parts of the first episode were very interesting but other parts were completely irritating and incomprehensible (apparently deliberately). I don't mind the overall directing style, but other people are having violent reactions to it.

  I don't know if we're supposed to take the setting seriously as reality, or assume that various crazy stylistic elements (like transparent classrooms and strikingly large houses) are just done for effect.

  The second episode managed to get me to dislike the irritating artistic cutout-based animation somewhat less than I did in the first episode; I still can't say that I actually like it, but I guess I can put up with it in moderation. It helps that we get told what it represents.

• Yumekui Merry (aka Dream Eater Merry): in its first two episodes, this seems to be going for 'atmospheric' but only achieving 'slow moving'. It has just enough promise to keep me paying attention (so far), mostly out of optimistic hope.

  The more I think about the animation in the second episode, the cheaper it gets. Maybe I should stop reading Aroduc's commentary.

• Gosick: a promising start and I by and large like the characters (crazy hair and all). I'm not taking seriously the too-easy solution to the locked room murder mystery; it's clear that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes.

  (I've read enough murder mysteries that Victorique's solution was the first thing that popped into my mind. That it's such a cliche is one reason that I optimistically think that we're not supposed to take it seriously.)

• Dragon Crisis: squeaking 'Ryuuji' incessantly and throwing fire around does not make you an interesting character. This has a definite smell of cliches so far but I hold out some hope that it will become interesting, especially given the crazed scientist at the end of the first episode.

• Kore wa Zombie desu ka: more than funny enough to be enjoyable, but I could have done without the random fanservice. Sadly I suspect that the random fanservice is not going to go away.

• Freezing: the first episode was so bad it was almost unwatchable. It was full of shopworn cliches, cheap dated animation, characters clumsily expositing at the audience ('as you know, bob, <insert something bob knows but we don't>'), and equally cheap random fanservice that attempts to rival Najica Blitz Tactics. Where it wasn't boring it was painful. I have not seen an anime with these production values for quite a long time, and that is not praise.

  (Aroduc has already commented on its lighting issues. My theory is that the alternating 'dim-o-vision' and 'glare-o-vision' styles are to hide just how bad the art and animation were, or perhaps just to let them be even cheaper than usual.)

• Fractale: the first episode is all setup, but it's enjoyable and quite a promising beginning. I have high hopes for this, especially since light hearted Miyazaki-like adventure is not something that anime does a lot of.

  (The last one I can think of was Allison and Lilia, which I found more successful in concept than in execution. Although it's tempting to go back to take another attempt at it to see if my view of it has changed over time.)

  Even the nominal villains had a very Miyazaki feel to them (and I doubt that they're really villains, given how they were depicted).

As a side note, Fractale totally shows how to do information dump exposition the right way, in drastic contrast to Freezing. Rather than have characters recite things to each other that everyone already knows, Fractale has the protagonist discover a data card that he hopes has music but that turns out to be an old history show, which he only finds out when he starts playing it to see what it is. It's still slightly awkward (the protagonist talks to himself a bit), but it's actually pleasant and gracefully done instead of offensively stupid.

(How bad is this in Freezing? Well, at one point one character in Freezing more or less literally says to another 'I know you know this already, but let's review it anyways'.)

Have not watched due to the description being unappetizing:

• Rio Rainbow Gate: aggressively stupid from all reports.
• Wolverine: last season's Iron Man left me disinterested in a repeat performance.

• Level E
• Beelzebub

• I Don't Like My Brother All, You Know!! aka Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne: I've already watched one quite good sex-based comedy in the past 12 months, I don't think I need what's likely to be an inferior one.

• Cardfight!! Vanguard: uh, no.

Have not watched due to being a sequel to something I didn't watch:

• Kimi ni Todoke 2: the first series looks great and I sort of enjoyed the couple of episodes I watched, but it is not for me (and only partly because of its ordinary life setting). Apparently more or less pure shoujo is just not my thing.

• Mitsudomoe second season: I'll accept that the first series is funny, but from the commentary I saw it doesn't seem to be my sort of funny.

Continuing from last season:

• Star Driver: still rocking and now getting more complex.

• A Certain Magical Index II: people still talk to much. I've started to ignore them, but I'm too compulsive to ignore the show itself (and who knows, maybe the plot will get more interesting and less stupid).

The best N anime that I saw in 2010

This is my best N anime list, not other people's, and as traditional it is really a 'most enjoyable N anime' list except that that sounds much more wishy-washy. This covers things that I saw in calendar 2010, not necessarily things that were released then. It is definitely in order for the early entries, after which things get fuzzy.

• Haibane Renmei: I finally saw this. Everything they say about how good it is is true. The climax of the last episode had me genuinely tense and terrified, which is not common.

• Katanagatari: the nice thing about being a slow writer is that if I wait long enough, someone else will write what I want to say. So go read Don (via Author).

  Well, almost; I have a little bit to say. The initial few episodes of Katanagatari are pretty normal; well done, interesting, but not stunning. Then comes episode four, where Katanagatari shows us that it isn't afraid to be completely unconventional in the pursuit of good story. So if you're interested but not impressed, keep watching at least until then.

  (For those that have seen Katanagatari, the unconventional bit I'm thinking of is not the events of episode four but how the story was told. Katanagatari is not afraid to do unconventional storytelling, including that the whole show is deliberately framed as a story that we are being told, not reality that we are just seeing; the narrator tells us additional out-of-story information all the time.)

  I'm not entirely sure what I feel about the ending. It's appropriate, but it's a more Japanese ending than I was really expecting.

• Star Driver: yes, I know, it's not done yet and the remaining half could totally destroy the show. But even if so, the 13 episodes I saw in 2010 would still earn it its place here.

  (It is on crack, but it is good crack.)

• Sora no Woto: I would really like to praise this unreservedly, but sadly it lost significant class points with what is implied in the ending of episode 8. Apart from that one lapse, I love it. Unlike some people, I like the ending and think it fits well with the rest of the show, and the show has all sorts of little touches that I enjoy.

  The particular moment doesn't destroy the show for me personally (although it makes me wince, sigh, and roll my eyes at the anime industry and its occasional crass pandering), but it means that I can't recommend this to people I know without having to add caveats and cautions about a single moment in an otherwise great show. This makes me unusually grumpy because the rest of the show is so good and I would like people to see it.

  (Possibly I am overreacting to that one bit, but it strikes me as crass pandering of a particularly noxious and unnecessary sort.)

• Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: in retrospect, I think that one reason I enjoyed P&S so much is that I am kind of bored with run of mill anime because I have seen so much of it. Even if P&S is crass and sometimes not successful, I would rather watch a show that's trying to do something different than, say, a competent but uninspiring execution of something I've seen many times before like Otome Yokai Zakuro. The latter is entertaining; the former is interesting.

  (Mere art for art's sake doesn't work, though; there are a number of such shows this year that I bounced off of.)

  I suspect that 13 episodes is about the right length for P&S. I certainly have no particular yearning for a second season.

Shows that I consider 'below the fold', things that were good but that I probably won't really remember in five years:

• Seitokai Yakuindomo: this is memorable partly because I don't watch many comedies, especially comedies that are actually funny and interesting. I was pleased to see that it made no real move to develop any sort of romance subplot (well, not a serious one).

• Marie & Gali: this is sadly being fansubbed very, very slowly, but it is totally worth your attention. See Steven Den Beste for one discussion of it. I would love this more if I could see more of it; as it is, I tend to neglect it even when new episodes come out.

• Durarara!!: my opinion is somewhat coloured by the fact that I can't help comparing this to Baccano (it's the same author and the same kind of storytelling), and this is no Baccano. It's still pretty good, just not as interesting and complex. The change probably made Durarara!! more accessible (you really needed to watch Baccano at least twice), but it made it less interesting and striking and more ordinary. Also, Durarara!! is simply a lot less crazy than Baccano.

• Cross Game: this is less about the sports than about the people, and Aoba totally deserves Evirus's best girl of the year award. If I normally went for this sort of show in general, I would rate Cross Game higher.

Honorable mentions from things that I saw in 2010:

• Invasion! Squid Girl (aka Shinryaku! Ika Musume): I can believe the praise it's gotten and maybe I'll watch further episodes someday. See my discussion in Fall2010Brief.

• Spice and Wolf II: not as good as the first series but still good, and I totally should have seen some of those twists coming.

  (I saw most of this in 2010 because I stalled out on watching it when it initially aired, for reasons that do not fit in the margins of this entry.)

• Denpa Teki na Kanojo: I watched this because of Wonderduck, and it was totally worth my time. The second episode is not as strong as the first, partly because it is a bit repetitive.

  (I like how I still don't know if the heroine is deluded or not.)

• Cat Shit One: utter crack for military fans. If you like this sort of stuff, pay attention to the fine details; you will be rewarded. (There were all sorts of things that I only found out by reading detailed discussions after seeing it; see at least this, via Author.)

I saw other shows that were entertaining, but they don't go in this entry.

A bit on Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica's Homura

Initial reactions to Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica have mostly labeled Homura as Fate to Madoka's Nanoha, partly based on her confrontations with Madoka. However, Steven Den Beste speculates that Homura's remarks to Madoka are not a threat, but a sincere and well-meant warning. I agree with him; this is exactly how I read the first episode.

Unlike SDB I don't think we need to posit any peculiar unreality in the pleasant world that Madoka inhabits to explain this. One of the background themes of Nanoha was the costs that Nanoha paid for becoming a magical girl, both in social isolation from her friends and (to some degree) in how what she witnessed and did wound up affecting her. My belief is that Shinbo is returning to this theme in Magica.

Thus, I think that Homura is simply trying to tell Madoka that she should stay out of the magical girl stuff and stay herself for her own sake. If she takes Kyubei's offer, if she believes him, it will destroy her current life just as much as if she became a soldier in a combat zone (because if you look at it right, that's what magical girls are). I further theorize that Homura dislikes Kyubei because she feels he is preying on the innocent (and lying to them) as he does his recruiting.

You could criticize Homura for not coming out and saying this directly, but I expect that she has reasons. Besides, no young fool ever believes the veteran who says that war is hell; all they can see is the romance.

(Anime has an attraction to 'war is hell' shows in various genres; Gundam has done several, for example. Sometimes it's a side theme, sometimes it's front and center.)

PS: I'm assuming here that Homura also experienced the opening 'dream' sequence somehow and recognizes Madoka from it. It may even be why Homura has transferred into Madoka's school at this point.

Sidebar: on the unpleasantness of being a magical girl

If you look at it from a realist angle, being a magical girl is not a really pleasant thing. You're risking your life (and health) in secret combat, combat that may strike at any time and any place with little or no warning; you take on great stresses (from the combat) and vast social isolation (from the secrets that you can't tell anyone). You become a flake to your friends and a liar to your family; you smile to everyone in a false front no matter what you actually feel. And you know that your friends and family are probably in terrible danger that you can't tell them about.

This is not my original idea; I owe it to exposure to, among other things, fanfics like Sailor Nothing (I am linking as I do so that you can see the concise description).

Since it wants to be cheerful, almost all magical girl anime ignores this. Nanoha was unusual in that the issue appeared as a background issue and a side theme.

My view of Shukufuku no Campanella's Ritos

Author:

An episode before I jotted "sick of Ritos hazing Salza", but now they decided to outstrip my wildest expectations.

My impression was that Ritos didn't hate her sister Salsa, she just liked tormenting her. The whole thing struck me as a terribly exaggerated version of a certain sort of sibling dynamics.

(In fact I have vague memories that every so often, Ritos does something subtle to help out Salsa's dreams of romance.)

Update: oops, I have just demonstrated the perils of reading too fast, since Author wrote hazing, not hating. I agree that hazing seems to be a good description of what Ritos is doing.

(I also agree that it got a bit tiresome by the end of Campanella. It was really rather over the top, and over the top jokes generally work best when they are not repeated over and over.)

Looking back at the Fall 2010 anime season

Since I wrote about my first reactions, I feel like writing a retrospective of the season. I wound up regularly watching five fall shows this season, and this time around this list is definitely in order:

• Star Driver: if pressed, I would have to summarize this as an Utena-oid magical girls show except with giant robots and boys (mostly). It's the clear standout of the season for me, partly because it is so novel and unusual instead of being yet another retread. I like seeing anime try something new, especially when they can carry it off and be interesting. I have no idea where it's going to go, but the journey so far has been very enjoyable (over the top crazyness and all).

  Like all magical girls shows, it is only nominally about giant robots beating each other up; it's really about all of the people involved on all sides of the action and what drives them to do what they do. The giant robot fights sure are scenic, though, and I would much rather have the giant robot activation sequence than your typical henshin deck.

  (It is not as good as Utena, but then few things are.)

• Panty & Stocking: as I suspected, this did wind up changing its approach; it moved from crazy monsters to parodying movies and cliched settings, and eventually made somewhat sarcastic gestures at having a plot in order to have an appropriate feeling ending. (The ending didn't make sense, but then if you're looking for solid logic you're really watching the wrong show.)

  I am not sure if this is good but I found it interesting, if only to watch GAINAX play around with all sorts of themese and techniques for various segments. If you have less interest in wild experiments, this is probably not the anime for you. (I do think that the wild experiments were reasonably successful, but other people may well have less patience with them. Or with the characters, who are not all that attractive if you take them seriously.)

• Otome Youkai Zakuro: in the end, this was a competent and entertaining tour through its expected cliches, but it never rose above its mere competence. It was an enjoyable way to pass the time, but I agree with Aroduc; no one is going to really remember this in six months.

• A Certain Magical Index II: this remains just like the first season. At this point it is very much an acquired taste, and yes, people still talk too much and are various kinds of idiots or too clever or both.

• Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls: as I expected, I did not get the 'less fanservice' that I was hoping for. This never rose to whatever initial potential I saw in the first episode but remained watchable if you didn't take it too seriously; however, it was definitely a second-rate show.

  (As an aside, the only way I can reconcile the Princess Sen of the first episode with the Princess Sen of later episodes is to assume that the Hanzo/Sen scenes in the first episode were not reality but instead Hanzo's fevered dreams of what she would like them to be.)

I also saw all of Seitokai Yakuindomo, which is not a fall season show; if I included it in this list, it would earn second place behind Star Driver.

Also seen that I feel like noting:

• The World God Only Knows: already discussed, dropped at the third episode.

• I watched an episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru after all, due to an enthusiastic review from Dave Baranyi on rec.arts.anime.misc, but it failed to really grab me. I have the second episode and sort of want to watch it sometime, but.

  (I find Dave Baranyi's opinions at least worth paying attention to and checking out, even if I don't always agree with them. For example, he recommended Cross Game, which turned out to be the best anime of Spring 2009 and which I completely passed on initially.)

• I am theoretically watching Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan's second season, but since this is going very slowly it clearly doesn't rank very high.

(It doesn't rank so low that I consider HSK abandoned. It's not bad, it's just not very compelling.)

Some reactions to Seitokai Yakuindomo

I wound up watching SYD because Author did and liked it. I liked it a fair bit; it was not deep, but the jokes reliably made me smile and even laugh, and they were (mostly) a style of humour that I enjoy.

As characters themselves note in episode 3, the humour generally really does need the straight man (usually Takatoshi, although Hagimura sometimes fills this role). I'm not going to try to figure out just why, but without the straight man many of the episode 3 jokes just feel flat.

One thing I liked is that SYD is willing to be subtle. There are several jokes (and in fact a long-running series of little ones) that you have to be paying attention in order to understand. If you didn't pay attention to one of Aria's absurd offhand comments in an early episode, for example, one of the amusing bits in the third episode is just opaque.

The 4-koma base of the show was very distinct here. However, it somehow worked for SYD when before it totally didn't work for me in Lucky Star (I bounced off LS because I could practically see the strip boundaries). My best idea of why is that it's because usually any particular joke was over quickly and SYD moved on rapidly; extended sequences were rare, so if one joke didn't really hook me things would soon change.

(It's also quite possible that I liked the style of humour better than what I remember as Lucky Star's less punchline-oriented jokes.)

Finally, it should be noted that SYD is not all sex related jokes (although these do dominate); the girls hold forth rather frankly on a fair range of things that generally aren't discussed in 'polite' society or mixed company.

Liked: definitely. I laughed a lot.
Rewatch: maybe. I'm not sure how funny it would be on a repeat viewing. As with Author, I can imagine (re)watching this at an anime club (although it would take the right audience; with the wrong audience, this is the sort of subject material that could go horribly wrong).

(Sadly, I believe that all of the Toronto anime clubs are defunct.)

Update:

Author:

Still, I can hardly credit the notion that borders of 4koma strips were any less noticeable in Seitokai Yakuindomo [than in Lucky Star].

Oops, I was unclear. The 4-koma boundaries were, if anything, more clearly visible in SYD than in Lucky Star (Author outlines a typical example in his entry); however, SYD worked for me anyways. I don't entirely understand why, but it surprised me; when I started watching SYD and realized not just what it was based on but how little effort it made to disguise it, I expected to bounce off of SYD even more strongly than I had bounced off the milder 4-koma based Lucky Star.

(That I bounced off Lucky Star is something that I regret. It's clearly a good show, it's just that I seem to not be able to watch it. Maybe someday I'll have a chance to try again.)