{"id":3250,"date":"2009-07-18T20:18:21","date_gmt":"2009-07-19T03:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikoto.wordpress.com\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2009-07-18T20:18:21","modified_gmt":"2009-07-19T03:18:21","slug":"summer-2009-expectations-vs-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/2009\/07\/summer-2009-expectations-vs-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer 2009 Expectations vs. Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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?????<\/p><\/div>\n

This season has been quite interesting. \u00a0I was looking forward to Bakemonogatari and ended up loving GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class. \u00a0Of course, that not only says how good GA is, but also how bad Bakemonogatari is.<\/p>\n

Anime that have exceeeded my expectations<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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What more can I say about GA<\/strong>? \u00a0The summary on chartfag’s preview charts didn’t do this anime justice, in any sense of the word. \u00a0This anime is just as good as Lucky Star, which, IMO, was where KyoAni had spent all of its amazing talent before degenerating into K-ON!, Munto, and Haruhi S2.<\/p>\n

The character designs looked like crap on the chart, and I can’t say that I’m lovestruck by the MEGA-meganekko appeal, but it sure is funny if you put it like this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Protip: Kenjiro Hata is Koji Kumeta's student.<\/p><\/div>\n

Zan Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei<\/strong> surprised me. \u00a0I had incredibly high expectations for this show, and I almost gave up hope when the less-than-SHAFT-quality OP showed up. \u00a0But the first episode was incredible, and the second episode went beyond that.<\/p>\n

When I watched the first two seasons and the OVA, I was pretty much new to anime. \u00a0Obviously, I couldn’t get 99% of the jokes. \u00a0Now that I’ve blogged for a bit and watched a lot more series, I can get up to 10% of the jokes. \u00a0And boy, are they hilarious.<\/p>\n

I spent a full forty-something minutes watching episode two – not because it was that long, but because I stopped and looked at each of the random jokes in the background. \u00a0One scene had a poster in the background with a man in a striped shirt saying “Here’s Waldo,” and another scene featured a store named “Obama Ramen.” \u00a0The little details like this plus the straightforward jokes like Miru attacking with a cell phone plus the numerous references make Zan SZS just as good as the previous seasons (and I say this because I know that I didn’t spend all this time to closely examine each episode for the previous seasons, so there must’ve been more than just the obvious Phoenix Wright<\/a> and Death Note<\/a> references).<\/p>\n

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One anime that caught me off guard was Yokuwakaru Gendaimahou<\/strong>. \u00a0This thing looks and feels like a regular mahou shoujo anime, and it pretty much is one. \u00a0But I like it. \u00a0I don’t know why. \u00a0The character designs are not appealing, the plot sucks, and it’s too damn bright in every single scene. \u00a0But I like it.<\/p>\n

?????<\/p>\n

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Anime that have met my expectations<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I liked Spice and Wolf. \u00a0I didn’t love it. \u00a0Spice and Wolf II<\/strong> still hasn’t got my heart racing, but I’m really, really looking forward to each coming episode. \u00a0Though there’s not that same slice-of-life feel as the first half of the first season, this series is off to a great start.<\/p>\n

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Before I watched Sora no Manimani<\/strong>, I heard millions of good things about it. \u00a0And then I saw the main character. \u00a0What a turn-off.<\/p>\n

He is very ugly. \u00a0He should look more handsome, like Kyon. \u00a0I think Kyon should be in this anime.<\/p>\n

In any case, this anime is pretty good. \u00a0Not absolutely amazing<\/em> with angels singing all around it as I watch it, but good nonetheless.<\/p>\n

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I wasn’t expecting much from Princess Lover<\/strong>, and I honestly didn’t get all that much. \u00a0The first few episodes have been pretty good… and that’s about all I can say.<\/p>\n

I’m an aniblogger. \u00a0Therefore, DFC = yes. \u00a0Therefore, this show needs less boobs.<\/p>\n

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Anime that have not met my expectations<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I’m going to say it right straight-out. \u00a0Bakemonogatari<\/strong> sucks.<\/p>\n

I’m an enormous SHAFT fanboy, so I’ve really no bias against this anime. \u00a0If anything, I should be struggling to defend it by drawing up obviously meaningless examples and points. \u00a0But when my favorite character in this anime so far is the girl on the right in the screenshot, and she only got five seconds of screentime, there’s no way I can defend it.<\/p>\n

Bakemonogatari… I’m not exactly sure what type of anime it’s going to become.<\/p>\n

I felt Mushishi vibes coming from episode one, but the end of episode two looked like the beginning of some odd school life comedy with supernatural elements. \u00a0In any case, this genre confusion isn’t what I hate about this anime, though it’s not beneficial. \u00a0What I really hate about this show is how half of an episode can be spent in one room with rapid-fire dialogue without much meaning to it.<\/p>\n

There was no humor. \u00a0There was no plot advancement. \u00a0There was nothing. \u00a0I couldn’t believe it. \u00a0Nothing happened after ten minutes of dialogue. \u00a0At least episode one’s drawn-out dialogue gave us Hitagi’s background. \u00a0Episode two contributed nothing. \u00a0Even the ever-awesome abstract SHAFT art isn’t doing anything to save this anime.<\/p>\n

If this anime turns out to be an episodic anime, I’ll probably be able to forget about the horrific second episode, but if it veers down the path of school life comedy, I’m going to be even deeper in despair!<\/p>\n

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Tokyo Magnitude 8.0<\/strong> registered at a 6.0 for me. \u00a0With all that hype building up before the first episode, you’d expect it to be fantastic. \u00a0But it wasn’t. \u00a0I didn’t like the concept from the get-go, and my inner dislike is showing.<\/p>\n

How good can a series get if the only real event that occurs is an earthquake in the first episode? \u00a0Unless you skip over a few years, all we’re going to get is eleven episodes of “Mirai and Yuuki try to get back home with pedophile woman.” \u00a0There’s nothing else to show, unless you count a massive amount of pictures of Tokyo after an earthquake as “plot.”<\/p>\n

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Yes, Umineko no Naku Koro ni<\/strong> has disappointed me.<\/p>\n

Even if my expectations for this show were too high due to Higurashi, there’s no denying the fact that Umineko is sucking big-time.<\/p>\n

First of all, this is not scary. \u00a0Higurashi was a psychological masterpiece, so it’s not fair to compare this mystery anime to Higurashi, but as a murder mystery, it should have some degree of terror. \u00a0Like Battler says in episode 3, he’s more angry than scared or sad. \u00a0Okay, that’s understandable. \u00a0But not every single person in the whole show<\/em> should feel the same!<\/p>\n

Second, there is an overemphasis on just about everything. \u00a0A mystery anime is, by nature, boring. \u00a0It’s hard to make a mystery anime exciting, and even harder to make one to live up to Higurashi. \u00a0But Umineko fails. \u00a0Hard. \u00a0When you get yandere Maria five times in any given episode with ten different camera angles each time, you’d think that you’re watching Endless Eight!<\/p>\n

Rena’s yandere moments worked because they were 1) a sharp contrast with her usual personality and 2) not every other frame. \u00a0The past two episodes have shown us a total 23 seconds of non-yandere Maria, 22.5 seconds of which were a few seconds before SUDDENLY, YANDERE! \u00a0Other than the first episode, Maria has never uttered a UUUUU~. \u00a0She doesn’t do anything anymore, unless the plot calls for SUDENLY, YANDERE!<\/p>\n

And nevermind the emphasis on Maria – Battler’s detective scenes are even more emphasized! \u00a0Every scene is shot with a different camera angle, there’s crazy music, everything seems so exciting…! \u00a0But it’s not. \u00a0Injecting an immense amount of crazy features isn’t going to help a scene look cool. \u00a0It was ridiculous when we suddenly saw the servants and Maria from Battler’s POV. \u00a0A gray, shaking, blurry screen with the servants looking COMPLETELY NORMAL is pretty stupid. \u00a0It’s fine when there’s a girl chasing you with a cleaver. \u00a0It’s not fine when there’s four people just standing inside of a room.<\/p>\n

Umineko – making the boring seem impossibly exciting, but failing.<\/p>\n

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Anime that almost made me puke<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Element Hunters<\/strong> felt more like Harvest Moon than an actual anime.<\/p>\n

Harvest Moon:<\/p>\n