winter 2011 part 2
Posted: January 13, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 11 Comments »
I have a confession to make: I liked this part in Beelzebub. Alain-Delon is just so big and so stupid that it’s impossible not to laugh. Everything else I said about the show still stands, though.
God Tier
I don’t think God Tier shows exist anymore. IMO, the only God Tier anime
in the past two years has been Gintama. I guess Spring 2011 will be great, huh?
Top Tier
Top Tier shows are generally really, really freaking good. Not God
Tier-good, but still better than most shows out there. Thank God this
second half of the season introduced Kore wa Zombie desu ka to the
mix. I was losing hope that a Top Tier show would ever appear…
Rocket punch!
Kore wa Zombie desu ka
The shocker of the season! Awesome, awesome, awesome stuff. The opening scene was brilliant. The main character seemed almost evil, what with the gray hair and reddish eyes, and it seemed like it was going to be another crap harem show. And then it hit. Man, oh man. Man oh man oh man oh man oh man. I’m a crazy fan of this show already.
Parody is one of my favorite genres (if it even is one?), but great parodies are seldom seen in anime. Gintama was/will be insane, Hayate the Combat Butler was pretty good, and Dokuro-chan and Punie-chan were great, but that’s about it. Here, we have another great parody in the vein of these shows… only better (with the notable exception of Gintama). It’s more focused. Hayate the Combat Butler is a series that can’t decide between romance or comedy and ends up good at both individually but bad when put together. Dokuro-chan and Punie-chan throw away any and all seriousness to give a pure parody experience, but that ends up with too little substance and the show become forgettable.
Kore wa Zombie desu ka takes the action-shounen-harem-mahou shoujo route and blends moments of seriousness with comedic parody moments together seamlessly – much like Gintama. For example, the battle between Zombie protagonist-with-a-strange-name and the crayfish antagonist was both action-packed and hilarious: something that many, many shows try and fail to achieve.
I’m loving this show.
P.S.: Scamp makes a good point about this show, though. The self-referential style of this show may damage it. But you know what? Madoka Magica was a hell of a lot worse at this. “Moe? Is this moe???” When you reference “moe” in a show, you know you’ve gone too far down the wrong road. And don’t even get me started on Onii-chan no something something.
High Tier
You know, I really should’ve taken Infinite Stratos and Madoka Magica
out of this tier. Fractale is just so much better than those two shows…
You betcha!
Fractale
If Kore wa Zombie desu ka is a shocker, then this is a… well, it’s another shocker. I put Kore wa Zombie desu ka in there just to make the sentence longer. To be honest, Fractale isn’t really even a shocker. My first sentence is all but useless, but at least it got me this paragraph.
I love Fractale. I love fractals too. Last semester in CS class, we had to generate the Mandelbrot set. The end result was pretty damn cool, but we were basically given an equation and told to put it into Python form, which really isn’t hard or interesting. I think that’s how Fractale was made. Despite all the doppels and mahou shoujo-like characters popping in, it’s a peaceful show at heart. The end result is a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and a sense of peace and realism… but I know, from my experience with Mandelbrot sets in Python, that the animators and producers and etc. must have been bored out of their minds doing this.
B-But fangzhao, that’s the same for all anime!
Yeah, so what? “All” covers Fractale, so it’s okay.
I would never want to work at an animation company. Cel-shading sounds like a gigantic waste of time and CG always turns out like shit (see True Tears). Hayao Miyazaki must be a slave driver to have his works all done by hand. At least, that’s what I think other people have said. The done by hand part, I mean.
P.S.: Why is there an “e” at the end of “Fractale” anyway? What’s so special about that stupid e? That’s the most common letter in the English language, and you’re putting it there?
Wandering Son Tier
For any and all anime that are both great and disturbing.
oops
Wandering Son/Hourou Musuko
Wandering Son is a very peculiar show. I’ve watched many great anime and I’ve watched many disturbing anime. I’ve even watched some greatly disturbing anime and some disturbingly great anime, but Wandering Son is both great and disturbing. Though it’s not like I wasn’t expecting something very strange. Winter 2011 sounded all nice and stereotypical, and then I got to the bottom of the chart.
Shuichi Nitori is a 5th grade student who has always been something of a feminine boy. When he transfers to a new school, Shuichi is mistaken for his 6th grade sister on his first day. Then he ends up sitting next to Yohino Takatsuki, a tall, boyish girl.
That sounded mildly disturbing, so I decided to google the show. I ended up reading the plot summary on Wikipedia, and boy, was it bizarre.
On another note, almost nothing in the synopsis Scamp gave was in this first episode. Nitori is not mistaken for his sister, and I don’t even remember where he was sitting. Hell, I didn’t even know his name was Shuichi Nitori until I looked at the chart just now. I didn’t know the girl’s name was Yohino Takatsuki either.
Yep, Wandering Son certainly got the wandering part down. I don’t remember a single person’s name… or even their gender.
Middle (Mid?) Tier
It seems like Winter 2011 is going to be mostly Mid Tier. The season of averageness!
This looks like something I made in MS Paint.
Onii-chan something something something
Haha, oh man. Just when I thought Ore no Imouto was finally done and over with, we get version 2 coming right at us. And just like its predecessor, it’s surprisingly decent. The first episode was, anyway.
Unlike Ore no Imouto, the main idea this show has going for it is: “Sister likes brother.” With that one change, we get out of the stereotypes of tsundere and stuff and into the stereotypes of crazy little sister. The thing is, this show sacrifices character design in exchange. Every character in the show is ridiculously lanky and unattractive. There is no moe in this show. Pantyshot all you want, but I’m more disgusted than anything else.
It’s a real pity, too, given the humor Onii-chan something something something offers. The scene above, with Nao’s friends wearing “unamused” faces, was hilarious. Or maybe it’s just the faces. God, they look stupid. It’s just that dumb oval tool in MS Paint, with thick borders.
I didn't like the subs. They're too fancy.
Level E
Level E is… well, a E-level show. There’s not much to say about it, other than it’s not particularly interesting and it seems pretty… gay. The first episode didn’t have much sci-fi in it, which is what I was really looking for. Instead, there was some kind of entertaining humor and a character who pretty much makes the whole show look like it’s directed at girls. I’m still not quite sure if the alien[‘s human form] is male or female, and that bothers me quite a bit.
Yeah.
This is just so uninteresting. It’s the kind of anime I would only watch if at least fifty people recommend it to me (kind of like Planetes!). Maybe it’s because I watched it right after Kore wa Zombie desu ka. That show is so great.
Low Tier
Oh, poopy. I was hoping there weren’t going to be any more shows
in this tier, but Rie Kugimiya pulls it off again! Stereotypical harem
fantasy with occasional high-pitched squeals by Rie Kugimiya!
"Hi, we're twins!"
Dragon Crisis
Maybe I took “don’t judge a book by its cover” too far. After seeing the Winter season chart, I didn’t bother to look at MAL or ANN for the staff or the animation studio of any series, figuring that that would make me less biased. I should’ve known better.
Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji!
Is it possible for Rie Kugimiya to get any more annoying? God damn it. The first half of the episode was pretty cool, albeit a little stereotypical. The main character and his cousin go steal a valuable item and get into a car chase? Hell yeah! And then stupid Rie Kugimiya had to break out her high-pitched Taiga voice, screaming “Ryuji! Ryuji! Ryuji!”
Chobits was pretty bad, what with “Chii! Chii!!” and all, but at least you don’t hear that same Chii voice everywhere. Here, you have Shana, Taiga, Louise, etc. all screaming Ryuji Ryuji Ryuji ryurjrirjirji3j2r-9i42r-04 in your face and I AM GOING CRAYZadi32
Shit Tier
None. Thank God.
I’ve noticed that people like to do summaries at the end, so here’s mine. Putting it here boosts up my comment count anyway.
Watching: Kore wa Zombie desu ka, Fractale
Maybe watching: Infinite Stratos, Madoka Magica, Yumekui Merry
Dropped: Freezing, Gosick, Starry Sky, Rio: Rainbow Gate, Wandering Son, Level E, Onii-chan something something, Dragon Crisis
Wall of Shame: Beelzebub
I laughed out loud at the Dragon Crisis screencap’s face.
I really thought they were twins for a while… major character design fail.
You should have also pointed out the animation in Dragon Crisis needs help. And lots of it.
That entire show needs help. It’s ridiculous…
KORE WA ZOMBIE DESU KA ROCKS!!!!
Wandering Son – the plot seems to be taken from the manga… and the anime made changes on the story chronology… that’s why what was in the plot wasn’t in the first episode ^^
I never seen Level E could be thought of as gay until people started pointing it out o_O Well, no actual gay from what I’ve read in the manga so far…
LOLz… MS Paint faces!
LOLz on the Ryuuji joke xD Ah well, for me Chii’s still more unbearable… at least the dragon girl could say more than one word.
Kore wa Zombie desu ka’s second episode was also pretty impressive, though the big-breasted vampire ninja is pushing it…
Wandering Son: Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s for the better, though. If all that plot were squeezed into the first episode, that “light” feel would’ve been lost.
Level E… well, the character design is mostly what turns me off. I can’t believe it’s actually shounen. YuYu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter, both by the same mangaka, are just so much more boy-ish, more shounen-ish than Level E.
I’m just hoping they stick to the anti-harem feel. As long as the girls continue to revile him, then it’ll be OK. I agree that this show has been amazing so far.
So has Fractale. It’s getting beat down on the boards at Anime-Planet, and it doesn’t deserve to. There were some great moments in there, especially with Nessa. (Don’t be shy! It’s just my head!)
The thing about parodies in anime is that they often become the thing they’re parodying. Whether it’s to make more money or what, I don’t know. I, too, hope that Kore wa Zombie desu ka will continue to parody the harem genre without becoming a harem show, but I’m not counting on it.
I haven’t watched the second episode of Fractale yet (school and all…), but I have seen people bashing the show’s first episode for scenes like “boy reacts crazily to girl undressing” and “small girl and blues brothers at door is not funny.” I don’t see why Fractale deserves such hate. It seems much like a Miyazaki movie, and even though a lot of it may seem generic, it’s done really well.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd ep of Fractale. My above post will make more sense once you see it. And I think Clain’s VA has done a good job so far. The sounds he makes during the humorous moments are killing me. Yeah, it’s humor we’ve seen before, but so?
Same thing with the girl/Blues Bros thing going on. It’s funny. It’s entertaining. I enjoy how ridiculously stupid they are.
With Kore wa, until they prove themselves false, I’m gonna continue to give them the benefit of the doubt. After reversing the whole Mahou Shoujo thing onto Ayumu in the first ep, I was sold. I’ll accept the busty vampire ninja as exactly what I’m hoping they made her to be, another over-the-top, purposely cliche character.
Dx I love rei kugimiya