Backlog Burn Act II – Pre-Finale Check

Pretty accurate depiction of how I feel right now. Damn ouzo.

I thought about this backlog matter and it turned out that new episodes were pouring out before I even had the chance to clear the old ones. So I might as well crank out a pre-finale post and be done with it. I’m sorry for the recent silence. The reason is that graduation is looming right around the corner and I’m really starting to feel the pressure here. As such, blogging has to be a lower priority for the time being.

This one never gets old.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Although it has kinda lost some of the steam lately, Baka to Test still maintains its status as the only truly funny anime comedy since Seto no Hanayome. That all said, I can’t really ignore the argument made in the file description for the gg release of episode 10: “lol, 8 episodes of filler“. It’d be nice to see the story actually going somewhere.

Boomers? In MY Vampire Bund?

Dance in the Vampire Bund

Sort of want. The show keeps going bipolar between awesomeness and retardedness without ever finding the right focus. The show is skipping around like a hurdler on meth and many times it gets so damn annoying. It also makes potentially decent plot devices look like cheap deus ex machina since there’s no explanation on where the hell they come from. Like the anti-vampire vaccine, it just conveniently appears to make good guys look good. It also kind of sucks how Mina and the gang refer to Bund’s iron security and whatever, when there has been barely any information around about the Bund itself. It’s an island made for vampires to live in. Anything else? There sure is but we won’t tell you! Also, most of the fights look pretty lame and all in all the show gives me the feeling that SHAFT has been cutting the budget more than just a little. Bund could be the anime version of the Queen of the Damned but it’s being way too ambiguous for its own good.

No, not you! Shoo!

Durarara!!

I can’t put to words how much I love this show. Maybe like a batshit crazy NEET high schooler with a fetish for cut off heads? Durarara!! is nothing but originality at its finest and is getting better by every episode. The insane fuckup of a love triangle in episode 9 isn’t something you come across every day even in anime. The show mixes realism with absurdity, science with fantasy and everyday normality with totally fucked up shit in such a manner that I just can’t help to be thoroughly impressed. I hope this gets licensed soon so I can get a good hold of the DVDs.

Hidamari Sketch X***

I guess I will keep repeating this to the point of nausea: Hidamari X*** is Hidamari in every way. It’s the same old recipe you either love or hate.

Ladies versus Butlers!

Ugh…LvB is sort of a guilty pleasure, though the pleasure part is rather questionable. Sure enough it has more tits than a shady back alley in Tallinn but that’s mainly it. It has some decently funny moments but compared to Baka to Test its humor just falls flat way too many times. LvB isn’t much more than Kanokon with an alternative setup. They slapped on new paintwork and changed the furniture but the basement is still full of mold and the foundations are crumbling. I don’t know how it’s going to end and honestly I don’t really care. Hell, it took 8 episodes to even get down to the point. Maybe Himari was better after all. Yeah, no unfunny screenshot-photoshop. I’m not going to waste my wake hours on this shit.

Nevertheless, everything went better than expected.

Ookami Kakushi

I kinda hate to say this since it’s half admitting my defeat but Ookami turned out surprisingly decent. Ryukishi07 made the right decision (if it was his to make) to let AIC take over. If only they had done Higurashi anime instead of DEEN. Not that Ookami is the best show ever but I found myself to be quite drawn into its mystery and the story is paced fairly well. The artistry is very consistent too as it hasn’t changed much since the first episode and this is one of the things I appreciate the most nowadays. Chaos;HEAd and 11eyes had degenerated into poorly animated and demented bullshit by this point but Ookami just keeps going by the power of its own ignorance to the rule stating that adaptation shows like this never work out. Well, that all said it’s not like it’s top tier stuff and there’s a big chance that the ending will be a complete disaster. Much of the mystery has been answered by now and it’s going to take some good writing to keep the show going. Also, the god damn Hassaku song haunts me at night.

So-Ra-No-Wo-To

I sort of tackled SoraWoto in my previous post but I guess a little more wouldn’t hurt. I like the show so far. Military moe and slice-of-life? Sure. But I don’t think it’s such a bad thing. The plot finally seems to be on the move at a comfortably steady pace. It’s not like Haibane Renmei, to which the show most compares to, was all that quick at turns either. Haters gonna hate of course, but what can you do? Vast majority of SoraWoto-haters are stuck in the misconception that the show has something to do with K-ON!. I guess it’s just too hard to admit one’s completely wrong. I just hope A-1 manages to hold the show together for a solid plotline that has been set in motion. SoraWoto is a fine show and too fragile to be driven around carelessly.

To Aru Kagaku No Railgun

So what’s up with Railgun? Quite a bit it seems. Since the show is only a few episodes away from its conclusion, it was about time some kind of finale started happening. Amusingly now that I think back, I can’t recall much of what happened since the semi-finale at the end of Fall 2009. Uh…Mikoto plays violin, Konori-senpai lieks milk and the landlady is lovesick. Oh, and Kuroko is gay for Mikoto. Just so you know. Anyway, the finale is pretty much direct continuation to the middle-season one. In fact, if you haven’t seen Railgun and you’re considering marathoning the show once the batches come out, I strongly advise just skipping everything between the semi-finale and episode 20. You won’t notice the difference, I guarantee it! The plot once again revolves around the buncha lolis who got their brains fried in some nasty experiments on esper powers in the Academy City. The mid-boss Kiyama “Nugi onna” Harumi makes an appearance once again, though thankfully not as a recycled bad guy. However I couldn’t really get very hyped of the plot development. The mysterious -nano-girl Erii is a rather flat personality and since the show only had a couple episodes left, it’s not like it can really get to all the juicy parts about the dark side of the Academy City. Not that Railgun’s lackluster performance should be a surprise to anyone. This show is as mediocre crap as they come and regardless of how it ends, it will definitely be one of those that I’d rather not see in my DVD shelf or even on my HDD.

That’s all for today. It will be silent here for some time now due to schoolwork really pressing on me like never before. Oh yeah and in case you didn’t notice, OEG apparently went batshit crazy or the guys have been reading too much Dan Brown.