Spring 2011 Last Impressions

So the spring season is more or less over and we are well underway into the summer season. With that, let's take a look back at this interesting spring season.

Spring 2011 was filled with the most original works we've seen in a while along with adaptations of hot light novels and visual novels such as Hidan no Aria and Steins;Gate, respectively. I will try to minimize spoilers as much as I can. The "awards" will follow in a different and the last impressions will only be for shows that have completed. For simplicity, I will follow the order of the tier list.


Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (Ano Hana) -- 11 Episodes
Ano Hana was personally and easily my most anticipated series of Spring 2011 and it certainly delivered. 3 episodes in to the series and even the average Japanese viewer rated this as the #1 title for the season, followed by the other and ongoing slice-of-life title Hana-saku Iroha. A series filled with drama and tear-jerking moments from beginning to end coupled with a few lighthearted "fluff" and comedic moments. Truly a strong coming of age tale that even beats out Kemono no Souja Erin from a couple years ago. The show was created by the Toradora! director and series composer with animation provided by A-1 Pictures. This show was truly a gem of the season and it's surprising to see no US company, let alone CrunchyRoll pick this title up. The best part of this show? It was an original work from beginning to end. The show did not contain much originality (what's original these days?) but the execution was nearly flawless. A show that is a definite plus this year and likely to give Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica from last season even a run for its money.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai -True Route Ending- -- episodes 12b through 15
The so-called "true route" of the series is simply an extension of the ongoing light novels that focuses more on Kuroneko than Kirino Kousaka. The main series ended back in Fall 2010, but the extended portion of the series finished this past spring via webcasts. All in all, it was a good place to stop and let the light novels proceed further before animating what hopes to be a sequel. The series is very well done in general, especially utilizing the "hide the otaku character" theme, which many series have tried and failed countless times. OreImo is one of those series that managed to get it right and adapt it well. The series was fun and will be truly missed (until it comes around again). It's pretty lighthearted all the way through with lots of ~tsun ~tsun from beginning to end.

GOSICK -- 24 Episodes
This show began in Winter 2010/2011 and one of the most anticipated titles. It remained relatively dominant throughout that season, behind Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica of course, and remained as such this past season as well. The problem with GOSICK was really its pacing and timing of when the series would conclude. The original plan was to have this show end around the same time as the last light novel is published. Unfortunately, the last light novel was split into two parts within the last month of the series. Its affect on the series seemed minimal but it certainly felt this series could have been done better with another 1 or 2 episodes. Nevertheless, GOSICK did very well for a thick light novel adaptation. A lot of details were left out and certain portions felt rushed/incomplete, but overall, it's a very good show. The last 2 episodes, which adapted both parts of the final volume were obviously rushed but I think brought out the big themes that everyone needed to really know about. One of the better mystery and history series in a long while. Of course, the upcoming Dantalian no Shoka and Ikoku Meiro no Croisee may say otherwise. 

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko -- 12+1 episodes
Everyone's favorite character of the season is in this show: Erio Touwa aka futon girl. That's really the only reason why most people watched this show...that and it's Shinbou/SHAFT's new work for this season. The comedy in this show is pretty lame but Erio is so moe that it really overtakes all that. The real "plot" here is to get Erio to overcome the "blank" that is in her memory due to her trying to ride a bicycle down a steep slope and learning to fly while "the cousin" tries to live a fulfilling adolescent life. Need I say more?

Fireball Charming -- 13 episodes
Fireball Charming was really a let down. The animation was certainly prettier, but the humor wasn't as good as its prequel. These are 2-3 minute shorts, so if you have half an hour to spare, this would be a good way to kill time. Otherwise, I would stick with the original Fireball.

Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai II (The World God Only Knows II) -- 12 episodes
A series that was much anticipated by many...To be honest, I don't know really why many people thought this was going to be awesome. The source material is unfinished and the hit rates for a series to successfully adapt a source material of the sort has decreased significantly as of late and KamiNomi II is no exception. The series hinted at a third (and final) series that will likely follow the OVA to be bundled with 14th volume of the manga in September, but how much longer will this series continue is another question. The sequel brought about a new perception of the loose souls, but lacked depth and that's likely what ended up being the biggest disappointment for me. Either way, I don't see another KamiNomi series for at least a year at the moment. The 24 episode run was good and better than most series we've seen in the past two series, but nowhere near exceptional.

Shouwa Monogatari -- 13 episodes
This was the biggest (good) surprise of the season. A slice-of-life show set 40 years ago that follows a series family feud, only to be united as one when Tokyo Olympics began. This goes to show that slice-of-life and coming of age titles really dominated this season.  Whether or not this show is comparable to its compacted movie in January is a different matter, but I expect that this was probably much more fulfilling given the greater length to bring out each character in the series/family. I literally gave this a "lolwat" type rating to begin with and definitely regret doing so.
A Channel -- 12 episodes
Yet another slice of life title. You may as well call this K-ON! without the music or Hidamari Sketch without the art, because that's literally what this series is. Unfortunately, this show is nowhere near as good. It certainly had its moments and hinted significantly more at the shoujo-ai subtext, but it lacked anything substantial or groundbreaking to make it really stand above the crowd. A good and relaxing watch though...oh and the music is nice (not just OP/ED themes) since that's where it seems like most of the budget went for this show. *insert obligatory insert music here* To be honest, you are better off watching this show for comedy this past season since Nichijou didn't provide that much better humor and is likely to appeal less to a general audience due to the vast amounts of cultural references.

Deadman Wonderland -- 12 episodes
This show pretty much hit where I thought it would. While I have been more wrong this season than the last few, I'm often good at guessing the status of shounen, action shows and this was easily on the backburner. What started off with a decent bang ended up being a huge train wreck. The problem? Source material is always the main answer. If a series is adapting a title, especially shounen/action titles that only began a few years ago, chances are the anime adaptation is not going to end well. I mean look at Highschool of the Dead last year. Ao no Exorcist would be another title to be cautious about despite the additional season it has to develop. This show is really all about psychopaths, blood, and gore. That's really all there is too it...oh and some supernatural powers than involves using your own blood...Kids don't try this at home.

X-Men -- 12 episodes
This is the best Marvel Comics and Madhouse Studios collaboration that we're likely going to get so I would enjoy it while it last since Blade, which is the 4th and last collaboration has not been too promising. It was really a good try for this one and obviously the most popular of the four but the main problem with this show was not just poor animation budget but also pacing of the series. It spent too much on the little details and too little time on the big picture, which resulted in the main villains being taken out by one hit for the most part. The show also portrayed the X-Men stronger/weaker in various than they should have been, which irks me when shows display an uneven and unexplainable balance of power. Whether you're a Marvel/X-Men fan or an anime fan, it's a decent watch, but I wouldn't get your hopes up or you'll be utterly disappointed when episode 11 comes around.

Maria Holic Alive -- 12 episodes
One of the biggest disappointments this season. Maria Holic Alive directly follows its 2009 series. The animation has been stepped up significantly but the show's plot? All I saw was really more filler for the most part. What could have been an awesome (trap) show just turned out to be an even bigger failure than its prequel. Seriously, the comedy was getting redundant and nothing interesting happened. Shinbou/SHAFT...I am disappoint.

[C] - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control -- 11 episodes
Now if we want to talk about disappointments, this is going to be it for the season. Kenji Nakamura is a genius...but unfortunately it seems that his genius overtook him let it get out of control in this series. [C] was a literally a mess. The plot was all over the place with poor transitions and NO EXPLANATIONS! We don't know what "C" is except that it's a littler floating thing that appears on a map that says "C" while eating up countries. What's worse is that this show implemented a "God's Hand" theme where anyone with the "Darkness Card" could basically reshape the future. We went over this in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, and this is a very tricky area if you're not prepared to deal with it. Nakamura was unfortunately not ready despite his previous successful works and ultimately led to this series's demise. While the Noitamina slot is a great place for creativity, I'm hoping people at least plan out their shows in advance... since this one felt that too many things were trying to be crammed in at one time. All I can say is...MEZZO-MICRO-MACRO-FLATION! Hopefully Nakamura learns from this mistake since the staff on this show was brilliant yet not fully utilized...or at least not properly.

Hidan no Aria--12 episodes
Back in October, this show was the most anticipated title given its great light novel. In fact, the light novels are still good to this day. So people thought, what could possibly go wrong? Sadly, everything. From the animation budget to the heart and execution of the story. One who has watched anime for at least 5 or years will easily recognize that this show is a "filler" for the Shakugan no Shana team until this fall when Shakugan no Shana III Final finally airs. This was a complete waste of time as it not only adapted three volumes of light novels only, but also rushed the light novels like no other. If you want to see a good light novel adaptation, go watch Baccano!, Durarara!! or GOSICK. This one...people just need to stay away. If you want a Lupin story, go watch the Lupin III franchise or if you want a Sherlock Holmes story...go watch Tantei Opera Milky Holmes (same studio). Surprisingly, the latter title is quite good, and certainly better than this show.

Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san -- 13 episodes
A disappointment, but not that bad. The show lacked the same comedy value as it had in the OADs released last year. If anything, I would say the 15 minute shorts lost value due to redundancy, which was the one thing I feared. One thing note for sure is to not eat something while watching this show. Guaranteed that you'll make yourself sick to your stomach. I won't get into the details and let you find out for yourself if you choose to spend time watching it.

Moshidora -- 10 episodes
A baseball anime...don't get me wrong, baseball anime titles can certainly be very good (in fact, they've shown a trend of being solid, mostly through Adachi). This show, however was not by Adachi. In addition, the fact that each episode aired on a daily basis meant something was going to go wrong. The development wasn't terrible, but the show lacked suspense unlike say Ookiku Furikabutte, One Outs!, or Cross Game. The idea of Peter Drucker's "Management" didn't also stand out very well here despite the show emphasizing it. In fact, the situations were too ideal (granted this is anime of course, but still).

Dog Days -- 13 episodes
You can essentially deem this as your "moe" show of the season. The show wasn't bad, nor was it good. In fact, I would say that this is one of the more consistent shows this season. The director has constantly been known for this style with having one or two eye-popping episodes every now and then. Dog Days is pretty mediocre overall, but a good kind of mediocre I should say. Too bad it didn't have more compelling story to tell though.

Astarotte no Omocha! -- 12 episodes
And here we have the loli show of the season. A 10 year old succubus that is required to go out and build her own harem....Thing is, she hates all kinds of males. Yeah this show was not going to get anywhere. There's really not much to comment here except that if you like the ~tsun ~tsun ~tsundere personality, then this may be a decent watch. Rie Kugimiya is also voicing the loli if that attracts anyone else. Surprisingly, it seems that many people were expecting a lot out of this show...still can't decipher why.

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi --12 episodes
Now this show had angered many. The show's primary weakness was it lacked focus. Even for a harem show, this show decided it was okay to ignore a key heroine and simply toss her aside within one episode. For a series that kept hinting that Madoka would be a competitor against Ui, and to some extent Ibuki, it ended up coming down to Ibuki vs. Ui. Granted, that we knew Ibuki was going to get the short-end of the stick anyways, the fact that Madoka was tossed aside with little to no screen time said something about this show. Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi spent too much time on the other three heroines of the show, who ended up playing little to no roles in the end. Not worth your time watching. You're better off watching some more classic harem shows like Love Hina or Shuffle! Alternatively, if you're into some shota fanservice, you may want watch this show for kicks then.

Hen Zemi -- 13 episodes
Another 15 minute episode show this season. Like Yondemasu yo Azazel-san, don't watch this show while eating food. This show is gross in more than ways through discussing various fetishes (mostly sex related), such as growing flies in your ears for a week. Yeah, the OADs were a lot more gruesome than the TV series, let alone humorous. This was just disgusting or boring, usually not very funny unfortunately. You could technically watch it with the OADs though since the timeline of the OADs fall in between the series.

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai -- 12 + 1 episodes
At first I thought this show was a huge troll...at least until episode 10 or 11 when the show finally explained itself and recovered some merit. This is likely the most confusing show that you will have ever seen, moreso than Baccano! or Durarara!! The story telling pattern is quite similar, due to the vast amount of characters and interactions, but the plot had little meaning or interest in the end unlike the aforementioned titles. This could have been much better if it took more time to explain rather than spend time on unnecessary fanservice.

Dororon Enma-kun MeeraMera -- 12 episodes

A popular title back in the 1970s and eventually reintroduced with an OVA in 2006. Enma-kun returns again in 2011 in yet another alternative version of the 1970 series. This show, is really crazy. It has the whole "villain of the week" theme, but other than that, this show made no sense, especially that last episode where things blatantly happened and tried to give people seizures. If you like random comedy, you could watch this, granted that the comedy remains similar to that of the 1970 series.

Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ -- 13 episodes
As I've reiterated countless times, we don't need another sengoku series. We've had enough just within the past couple years with Sengoku Basara and not to mention that all other adaptations have been significantly worse than Sengoku Basara (granted that Basara was only okay in the end). Sengoku Otome, is as the title implies, the show takes place in Japan's Sengoku period except all the warlords are female...You know what that means...fanservice.

Seikon no Qwaser II -- 12 episodes
Seikon no Qwaser returns with a sequel and is back at its old antics. To be honest, I had no hopes for this series to begin with and glad I didn't. If you didn't like the original Seikon no Qwaser, don't bother with this one. Breast-feeding to give super powers made of the periodic table of elements continues to be the theme and something still tells me this was to put up a flag saying "we don't care about the new Youth Ordinance Bill" in Japan.

30-sai no Hoken Taiiku -- 12 episodes
As the title implies, it involves two 30 year old virgins trying to get rid of their virginity. This show just ended up being a huge comedy fest where the way it occurs is through the guidance of sex gods and goddesses getting the two together. Overall, the show is bad but the jokes were funny at times. Each episode is only 10 minutes long so it's not like it's going to really bore someone to death in one sitting. Could be worse.

Softenni -- 12 episodes
As expected, the show is K-ON! with tennis and fanservice. 5 girls trying to become the champions of soft tennis with no prior experience. Nothing much more to be said here except watch it if you want to kill time.

Starry Sky -- 26 episodes
26 episodes telling the stories of 13 bishounens based off a visual novel dating sim targeting girls...i.e. a reverse harem show without the girl. Each episode is only 12 minutes long and spends 2 episodes per guy.

Tono to Issho: Gantai no Yabou -- 12 episodes
More useless Sengoku stuff. One minute comedy episodes parodying the warlords of the Sengoku period. There have already been a 45 minute OVA as well as a 12 episode series on this. Hard to believe that this is still going...then again, it looks like the show is made with flash anyways. Nothing to see here if you didn't like the OVA or the prequel.