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I'll start this off with an update on the fall season since I haven't started getting through the winter shows yet.


----- Current Shows -----

Chihayafuru: 5 episodes
I enjoyed what I've seen of this series, but it's also the series I completely forget to keep up with so I'm horribly behind. sweatdrop I'll try to marathon it in the next week or so.

Fate/Zero: 13 episodes (On-hold)
The second half is so far away. crying

Guilty Crown: 11 episodes
On one hand, the plot and characters are still really terrible. On the other hand, the last couple of episodes were so terrible that they became hilarious. I'll probably end up finishing this since I'm already halfway through, but I can't see ever recommending it.

Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam: 1 episode
Every season, I have a show that seems interesting, but I end up falling completely behind on and then get around to it months (if not years) later. This seems to be that show. If I don't get through another episode or two before my next update, I'll drop it from the list and wait for the DVDs or something.

Mirai Nikki: 12 episodes
I read the manga years ago and ended up dropping it because I realized I didn't actually care about anything aside from Yuno. I expected to drop the anime for the same reasons, but for whatever reason I'm still watching this. Yuno is still a fascinating character to watch, but I'm actually interested in the other major characters and I want to see how this goes from here. It's still kind of stupid at times, but I'm enjoying it.

Morita-san wa Mukuchi 2: 9 episodes
...The episodes are three minutes long. They're an entertaining diversion, but there's really not much to say aside from that.

Persona 4 The Animation: 7 episodes
Time for a rant. P4 is one of my favorite games, and one of the things that really impressed me about the game was Kanji. Kanji is gay (or bi, or something else; the game is kind of vague on the whole thing), but that's not what the game focuses on and he's written as a person instead of a stereotype. Yosuke makes some nasty comments, but the main character never gets the opportunity to join in. The anime seems to have missed this; Yosuke and Yuu both talk about ditching the rescue mission, and apparently the camping episode isn't much better. I don't need the anime to follow the game exactly, but the fact that the game outdoes the show in terms of dealing with serious topics is ridiculous.

Un-Go: 11 episodes (Complete)
The first couple of episodes didn't seem like they were anything special, but the show really picked up after that. The mysteries and social commentary were much better when the show had multi-episode arcs, and I thought the characters themselves were pretty interesting by the end. It went from a show that I wasn't sure I'd finish to a show that I'll be buying once Sentai releases it.


----- Older Shows -----

RahXephon: 19 episodes
I see why everyone praises episode 19 so much. The show itself still has the basic problem of not explaining things as much as it really could, though. The show isn't awful, but I'm hoping this gets fixed in the last chunk of episodes.

Working!: 5 episodes
Another friend really loves this show and wants me to keep going, but she and I clearly have different tastes in comedy. I'm not finding this funny, and Inami specifically is an awful character. I should drop this and be done with it.

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou: 1 episode
I can't watch Natsume Shi, so I'll use this season to get through Zoku instead. xd

Sengoku Basara 2

Winter update, I guess.


----- Current Shows -----

Chihayafuru: 5 episodes
Still behind, lalala~

Guilty Crown: 20 episodes
A blogger I follow decided to start a game where people vote on the dumbest moment of every episode. I wish he hadn't started halfway through the show, because this has really shifted my opinion of the series to 'so stupid that it becomes entertaining'.

Future Diary: 20 episodes
Final arc! This show can be really inconsistent at times, but the last few episodes have had more hits than misses. Hopefully they can keep this up so the series gets a strong ending.

Persona 4 The Animation: 7 episodes
My inner P4 fangirl wants to keep going, but another part of me thinks it'd be better to drop it.

Mini Skirt Space Pirates: 1 episode
Bodacious Space Pirates is a terrible name. cat_mad
I've been terrible about keeping up with the winter anime. This is easily my favorite out of the shows I've checked out, but I need to take a few hours and marathon the show.

Brave 10: 1 episode
Inu X Boku SS: 1 episode
Another: 3 episodes
The end of the third episode of Another was hilarious, but all of these are in that weird middle area. They're not good enough that I really feel the need to keep going, but they're also not bad enough for me to drop them. I'll try to give them all another episode or two and decide what to do after that. And I never even started AnoNatsu...

Black Rock Shooter: 5 episodes
I've been hearing rumors that the Japanese BD box might have English subtitles. I'm not sure whether or not I want those rumors to be true; subs would mean I could justify buying it, but that would also mean paying crazy Japanese prices. ASDFAJLDSJFDLSFJE


----- Older Shows -----

RahXephon: 26 episodes (Complete)
This was good for one watch, but to be honest I don't know that I'll ever rewatch it. It was good; I just don't know that I'll need to revisit it that way I do with other shows.
There's also a movie or something. I didn't really care for it; it couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to be a recap movie, the same plot from Haruka's perspective, or a new approach to the same story. I'd have been fine with the second or third by itself, but combining them both and then half the movie being clips from the show didn't work very well.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's: 13 episodes (Complete)
IT GETS BETTER I SWEAR
No seriously. The first disc of the first season was so awful that I considered selling the show, and by the end of A's I'd have no problem recommending the show if you didn't have to sit through the first season to understand it. The transformation scenes are creepy, but aside from that I really enjoyed the show. Now I have to figure out how to go about watching StrikerS.

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal: 4 episodes (Complete)
I've only read a bit of RuroKen, but this stands up on it's own and I was pretty impressed by it. The manga just jumped up my priority list.

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003): 9 episodes
After being impressed by the manga, I wanted to rewatch the first series and see how it's held up. I'm still early, so I'll keep to a few things:
- The Nina Tucker episode is at least as awful on a rewatch. Now I'm really worried that I might start crying when I hit a later episode.
- The first anime does not care about tone. I mean this in the best way possible; the show knows how to make you laugh and how to punch you in the gut and it has no problems with pulling both in the same episode.
- The dub is really good. I am not even remotely a fan of Vic Micnogna, but he does a really good job as Ed. I'd also single out Aaron Dismuke (Al) and Travis Willingham (Roy), but so far I think everyone's been well casted.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: 4 episodes
...I blind-bought the first LE based on all of the good things I'd been hearing about the series. cat_sweatdrop My friend and I are planning to cheat and finish it before our convention at the end of March, but short of the series completely falling apart after episode four I'll be keeping my pre-orders for the other two LEs.

K-on!: 4 episodes
I finally ordered the last three discs, and Sentai licensed the second season, so I guess I can finish this now. Cute girls doing cute things is a genre that generally doesn't appeal to me (the only draw is the characters, and most moe girls do not read as people to me), and there are better examples of the genre, but K-on! is surprisingly enjoyable and the characters at least vaguely resemble people I've met.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: 24 episodes
My friend and I finished up the Black Rose arc. I only vaguely remember the series, so I'm looking forward to revisiting the last arc.

Digimon Tamers: 18 episodes
Surprisingly good for a show designed to sell toys. Crunchyroll has awful subtitles though; I have a pretty high tolerance for translations and they are generally pretty good, but I'm convinced that the translator for this isn't a native English speaker. They also forget to subtitle some lines altogether. Why is this considered presentable?