[Summer 2013] Swimming Anime

[KazeShiki]

Nekomonogatari Shiro PV is out, which I guess is an indication that they plan to do the same as novel production order which, although best, may be a bit weird. (and since Kizu 20xx, production order forever wrong anyway) Also no Gahara-san what?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=vIJOh-WqIsM

[MangaRocks!]

Now also adding Uchoten Kazoku to the (so far actually quite short ) list of Summer shows that I'll be checking out for sure. Knowing who the writer is and seeing the PV's/promo images/character stuff has gotten me interested.

[Vii]

I am also adding Dangan Ronpa and Gatchaman Crowds to my list of things to see. Dangan Ronpa because murder-mysteries, Gatchaman Crowds because it has the director of tsuritama.

[MangaRocks!]

Gatchaman Crowds because it has the director of tsuritama.

...Wait, it does?? I can't believe I somehow missed that! *immediately investigates synopsis, etc.* ...Well, I have no idea what the Gatchaman franchise or this particular spinoff(?) even was/is; but if he's the director, then this certainly has my attention, at the very least.

[Crossfire]

Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3
http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/stella/
Manga by Ikoma and Midori Tomomoka
Studio: Gainax, Director: Kawajiri Masayoshi

Cute girls doing cute things, like playing with BB guns and airsoft.

Is this the real life?

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Being an airsofter myself, I don't know if I should love this show or condemn it.

[blkmage]

new season inc, times in JST

MONDAY July 1
2225 - Recorder to Ransel Mi (AT-X)

TUESDAY July 2
0100 - Dog & Scissors (Tokyo MX)
1930 - BROTHERS CONFLICT (AT-X)

WEDNESDAY July 3
0135 - Senyuu Season 2 (TV Tokyo)
0140 - Gifuu Doudou!! (TV Tokyo)
2130 - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ (AT-X)

THURSDAY July 4
0030 - Free! (Tokyo MX)

FRIDAY July 5
0128 - C3-bu (TBS)
0135 - Danganronpa (MBS)
0158 - Rozen Maiden (TBS)
0205 - Love Lab (MBS)
0235 - Symphogear G (MBS)
0243 - Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku (Nippon TV)
0308 - Servant x Service (ABC)
2230 - Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS (AT-X)

SATURDAY July 6
2030 - Kiniro Mosaic (AT-X)
2030 - Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (ABC)
2320 - Fate/kaleid liner: Prisma Illya (Nico Nico Douga)

SUNDAY July 7
0100 - Monogatari Second Season (Tokyo MX)
0100 - Genshiken Nidaime (Tokyo MX)
0130 - Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi (Tokyo MX)
0328 - Fantastista Doll (MBS)
2030 - High School DxD NEW (AT-X)
2227 - Teekyuu Season 2 (Tokyo MX)
2200 - Uchoten Kazoku (Tokyo MX)
2230 - Hakkenden Season 2 (Tokyo MX)

[KazeShiki]

Symphogear G - Actually a good first episode. Then again, first season had a great first episode followed by trainwreck. Nana Mizuki x Yoko Hikasa duet was surprisingly good, and that's all that really matters. Character songs galore!

Monogatari S2 - Nothing much to say about the episode other than pacing was fine. Can't really go wrong with this much into the story. Gahara-san fans better be pleased with this. Next week should be fun. Don't really like the OP/ED though =/

[DarkNozomi]

I saw C3-Bu (aka some hideously long name that translates as "Stella Academy..."). Aside from being amazing animation, the plot is fun and the characters are extremely likeable.

Still... unpopular shy girl becomes confident while shooting guns at school... I'm bracing myself for the loser anti-gun crowd to start screaming bloody murder.

[GeneD]

First episode impressions:

Danganronpa: Huh. Granted I know nothing about the game but somehow I expected more of a murder mystery than a Battle Royale situation. While I liked the character designs when I saw them in the PV I'm much less taken with them in action. I think because they're so over-stylized maybe... The beginning with the kid tied to a chair disturbed me horribly.

Free!: Thoughts in relevant thread.

Senyuu 2: Less funny than I wanted but it's 5 minutes so who cares.

Servant x Service: It didn't really grab me but I'll give it a few more episodes.

[Falx]

I've barely had time to finish some of last season's stuff but:

Kiniro Mosaic.

Oohara Sayaka's English is amazing. To my shock, I found the awkward Engrish from the rest to be adorable rather than annoying.

Airsoft: The Anime made me want to watch the first Rambo again.

[blkmage]

Love Lab

[MangaRocks!]

Uchoten Kazoku-- or, as Crunchyroll is calling it, The Eccentric Family -- episode 1:

LOL, that was fantastic! There was so much to love about the episode: The stylized yet really rather beautiful art, the music, the atmosphere, the setting, the characters; all of it!

As for those characters: Well, first, I have to say that I love how mischievous and playful the main character is (as befitting of his nature as a Tanuki ), and all of his forms are very cute (natural Tanuki appearance, human boy, and human girl {though still with a male voice, LOL }). Also, all of the humor stemming from his female-looking form was hilarious. Then there's his old Tengu teacher/master/whatever, who is amusing in his own gruff way; and the (supposedly) human woman Benten, who is anything but ordinary (as evidenced by the fact that SPOILER: Highlight text to read: she was actually taught, by that very same Tengu, to fly!). And then there's the rest of the main character's Tanuki family, too, who were only partially introduced here (with more to come next week ).

While there were a few darker hints SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (like that club apparently killing and eating Tanuki! ), it was mostly a very fun, very interesting, and very enjoyable opener (perfectly bookended with the main character's philosophy of "just living an interesting life" ).

Cannot wait for more!

[goldenspines]

Overall, not a bad first week of summer anime. I'm happy to know that a few series surprised me with having a good first episode, like C3-bu and Uchouten Kazoku. But let's see how everything else did (in my mind, at least, so take with a bucket of salt):


Dog & Scissors : Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I'll probably drop it because it's not that interesting. Guy obsessed with books gets turned into a dog and meets the writer he idolizes who happens to be a bit of a sadist. Naaah, not my cup of tea.

BROTHERS CONFLICT : No one is subbing this that I know of, so it doesn't really matter, but this is exactly how you all thought it would be, so move along.

Senyuu Season 2 : Still excellent. 4 minutes of your time and a 30 second ED. You have no excuse to not watch this series.

Free! : Thoughts in appropriate thread. Streaming on Crunchyroll for those asking, and it's a fun series so far. Haruka x Water 4ever.

C3-bu : This might still be a trap, so watching nervously. But it had Rambo references the first episode, so it can't be that bad, right? Reminded me how fun airsoft is, though.

Danganronpa : Battle Royale with an annoying bear.

Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku : A little dorky, but still pretty fun. It has a mini stories within the episode style going on right now, and I like all the characters so far. It's a bit like GJ-bu, but instead of Kyon, you get a girl with a huge ahoge.

Servant x Service : Not a dazzling first episode, but I think it has a lot of potential to work it's way up to that (much like Working! before it). It also has some great little details.

Kiniro Mosaic : Better than I thought it would be. Reminded me of my own homestay experience and how terrible at Japanese I probably sounded.

Monogatari Second Season : It's starting with my favorite story arc! 8D Though, I'm a bit confused how this is going to go (since Kuro was it's own thing and now we have this second season thing???), but overall it's as Shaft as it should be. Also roomba. <3

Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi : I am not sure what to think about this. It had a certain intrigue overall, but I'm not sure what it's leading up to is going to be as interesting.

Uchoten Kazoku : This series style reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it....great start to the series, though. Lot of mystery and interesting characters.



Looks like it's going to be a fun summer. Any guesses on which will be the best of the season? Will it be swimming boys or will something else rise above the rest? Only time can tell~

[blkmage]

What is up this week.

MONDAY July 8
0030 - Blood Lad (TV Kanagawa)
0135 - Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist (TV Tokyo)

TUESDAY July 9
0135 - The World God Only Knows Season 3 (TV Tokyo)
0205 - Watamote (TV Tokyo)

FRIDAY July 12
0045 - Silver Spoon (Fuji TV)
2200 - Hyperdimension Neptunia (BS Animax)

SATURDAY July 13
0158 - Gatchaman Crowds (Nippon TV)
2200 - Futari wa Milky Holmes (Tokyo MX)
2330 - Kimi no Iru Machi (TV Tokyo)

[KazeShiki]

Monogatari Second Season : It's starting with my favorite story arc! 8D Though, I'm a bit confused how this is going to go (since Kuro was it's own thing and now we have this second season thing???), but overall it's as Shaft as it should be. Also roomba. <3

Can't go wrong with Gahara-san! Confused in terms of timeline or just what they mean by second season? The timeline gets kinda messy but it's Kizu (When Shaft, when?) -> Neko (Kuro) -> Bake -> Nise -> Monogatari S2. Naming convention was unfortunate since the novels are grouped by "seasons" and that's where "second season" comes from; everything we've seen up to this point was "first season" of the novels. Also more like roomba ;_;

Teekyuu S2 - how I've missed this.

Genshiken - ughhh this is going to take time to get used to all the new voices. That said, glad to see it back and seeing it reference monogatari multiple times made me smile.

Kamisama no Inai - Well now I actually understand what the strange synopsis meant. I'll give it a couple more episodes to see.

[goldenspines]

Monogatari Second Season : It's starting with my favorite story arc! 8D Though, I'm a bit confused how this is going to go (since Kuro was it's own thing and now we have this second season thing???), but overall it's as Shaft as it should be. Also roomba. <3

Can't go wrong with Gahara-san! Confused in terms of timeline or just what they mean by second season? The timeline gets kinda messy but it's Kizu (When Shaft, when?) -> Neko (Kuro) -> Bake -> Nise -> Monogatari S2. Naming convention was unfortunate since the novels are grouped by "seasons" and that's where "second season" comes from; everything we've seen up to this point was "first season" of the novels. Also more like roomba ;_;

Everyone is a Gahara fan but me. ;.; I like her, but not as much as Hanekawa. *_*

Oh, I have the timeline down, and even the second season name thing makes sense (thanks for the clarification, though). But, it may be my limited knowledge of how the novels work, but it seemed odd that Nekomonogatari: Kuro was created/aired separately from the rest of these (which is, presumably at least Shiro, and maybe one or more of Kabuki, Hana, Otori, Oni, Koi, etc.), hence my confusion. Kuro didn't seem to air as a part of the second seseaon (sort of like Kizu, except Kizu doesn't exist yet. T_T ).




Oh a side note, Forgot to mention I watched the first episode of Blood Lad, because why not? It was better than I thought it was going to be, but it could still be a trap, especially seeing the OP and ED. >.>;

[GeneD]

Danganronpa : Battle Royale with an annoying bear.

I'd like to say THIS because I didn't mention how annoying that bear is in my previous post. I'd be tempted to offer myself up as voluntary victim to everyone just to get away from that thing. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Got me thinking what would happen if two people somehow killed someone else simultaneously, would they both get to go home? I mean if annoying bear isn't lying anyway.

Uchouten Kazoku 1: Interesting enough. The ears are odd.

Kiniro Mosaic 1: Might be too cute for me but I'll give it a few episodes more. Great Engrish though.

[blkmage]

it's a good thing you guys didn't grow up in japan :3c

[KazeShiki]

Everyone is a Gahara fan but me. ;.; I like her, but not as much as Hanekawa. *_*

Oh, I have the timeline down, and even the second season name thing makes sense (thanks for the clarification, though). But, it may be my limited knowledge of how the novels work, but it seemed odd that Nekomonogatari: Kuro was created/aired separately from the rest of these (which is, presumably at least Shiro, and maybe one or more of Kabuki, Hana, Otori, Oni, Koi, etc.), hence my confusion. Kuro didn't seem to air as a part of the second seseaon (sort of like Kizu, except Kizu doesn't exist yet. T_T ).

I actually know about the same number of Hanekawa fans as Gahara fans haha. Not enough Tsukihi fans though imo.

It has to do with the novels being grouped as seasons again. If they included Neko Kuro with this season, then the division between the novels' seasons would be 4 episodes into the anime's "season 2" which would be even stranger to explain if the topic ever came up. It might help to understand that Neko Kuro was written with the intention of being the final novel and then popularity and anime,etc. meant suddenly the decision to create a whole additional "season" of novels starting with Neko Shiro. So animating Neko Kuro separate to allow one to simply list Bake, Nise, Kuro as "season 1" and what is currently airing as "season 2" is a replicate of how the novels are grouped (once again, except Kizu T_T). Compound this with Bake/Nise each being 2 novels in length over the 1 novel of Kizu/Neko Kuro and that explains why the two are animated alone as there's just not enough material to do an actual series.

This season is stated to cover the novels up to Koi (and season 3 novels start after Koi, so yeah we'll get that some day) but recently I've heard Hana being cut out; I haven't seen source on that yet.

TWGOK S3 - I figured they were going to do recap or something of the skipped material but actually seeing the pacing is worse than I thought. Don't know why they are aiming to do goddess arc in 1 cour but I guess it might be okay after we get over the cramming info into viewers' heads phase.

[DarkNozomi]

Watamote is the comedy of the year. This girl is totally me in junior high.

Blood Lad is amazing, as long as they're not trying to copy Hataraku Mao-Sama, which I'm less worried about after seeing the first episode.

[GeneD]

Stella Women's Long Title: Lost interest 5 minutes in.

Day Break Illusion: Lost interest 2 minutes in.

Watamote: Equal parts painful and pitiful, I might give it a few more episodes but I'm not particularly hopeful.

TWGOK: I decided to put this on hold first until I catch up on the manga, hopefully it doesn't take me too long.

[goldenspines]

it's a good thing you guys didn't grow up in japan :3c

I think I'd prefer a robot cat from the future than this creepy bear. XP
But great, now I have to watch it because I'll only be seeing an evil Doraemon now.

I actually know about the same number of Hanekawa fans as Gahara fans haha. Not enough Tsukihi fans though imo.

It has to do with the novels being grouped as seasons again. If they included Neko Kuro with this season, then the division between the novels' seasons would be 4 episodes into the anime's "season 2" which would be even stranger to explain if the topic ever came up. It might help to understand that Neko Kuro was written with the intention of being the final novel and then popularity and anime,etc. meant suddenly the decision to create a whole additional "season" of novels starting with Neko Shiro. So animating Neko Kuro separate to allow one to simply list Bake, Nise, Kuro as "season 1" and what is currently airing as "season 2" is a replicate of how the novels are grouped (once again, except Kizu T_T). Compound this with Bake/Nise each being 2 novels in length over the 1 novel of Kizu/Neko Kuro and that explains why the two are animated alone as there's just not enough material to do an actual series.

This season is stated to cover the novels up to Koi (and season 3 novels start after Koi, so yeah we'll get that some day) but recently I've heard Hana being cut out; I haven't seen source on that yet.

As much as I'd like to blame Shaft, this seems all on NisiOisiN. Since Kuro fits better with Bake and Shiro better with being after everything else.
This makes a lot more sense now, though. Thanks! ^_^
Also, if they plan to cover everything up to Koi this season, even excluding Hana that's a lot of stuff. XD I guess we'll have to see since I don't believe the final number of episodes for the second season has been announced (that I have seen). They did cover a lot of ground in the Shiro story in one episode, though.

-----

Watched the first episode of Watamote and I have a feeling mixed between "I can relate to this." and "Do I really want to remember how I can relate to this?". We'll see how it goes in a few more episodes, though.

[KazeShiki]

As much as I'd like to blame Shaft, this seems all on NisiOisiN. Since Kuro fits better with Bake and Shiro better with being after everything else.
This makes a lot more sense now, though. Thanks! ^_^
Also, if they plan to cover everything up to Koi this season, even excluding Hana that's a lot of stuff. XD I guess we'll have to see since I don't believe the final number of episodes for the second season has been announced (that I have seen). They did cover a lot of ground in the Shiro story in one episode, though.

Well, it's confirmed 2 cour so we're looking at 24-26 episodes. 6 novels is pushing it but I think 5 would be doable.

[spark300c]

Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3 looks like a safe anime. there is not much sicfy this season, the some that are, just say they are questionable at best.

[blkmage]

What I've heard is that Hanamonogatari isn't being broadcast but will be streamed like the second half of Tsubasa Tiger.

[MangaRocks!]

Gatchaman Crowds episode 1:

Well, that was... interesting.

The character designs are... different , and the amusingly high level of overacting by many of the main members of the voice cast was a little weird to me at first, as well; but, once I took in the overall tone of the show, I saw how all of that actually fit it rather well. The main character is also amusing in that she gets extremely excited about everything and also takes absolutely everything in stride SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (...for instance: weird dude appears, teleports around, says mysterious things in an echoey voice, and then proceeds to rip a notebook out from inside her chest in what appears to be a rather painful manner, and afterwards she just says, "Can I keep this? Hey, I'm going to keep this~!" -- and that's just one of many examples). Also, that part where she nonchalantly spilled her and her schoolmate's identities and he let out that scream in response was pretty funny.

Not quite sure what to make of this yet, really, but I was certainly entertained enough to keep going.

[GeneD]

Blood Lab 1: I'm not as impressed as I wanted to be. The silver haired werewolf? kid in the OP looks exactly like the silver haired Captain kid in Bleach.

Silver Spoon 1: Not much to say here, it is what it is I guess. I don't like the OP song much.

Gatchaman Crowds 1: Quite a few funny moments, specifically those MangaRocks pointed out. I hope they can keep the not-taking-ourselves-too-seriously thing going, since it fits the style and characters so far. The MC has the potential to be annoying but wasn't so in this ep at least.

Servant x Service 2: Tsundere little sister jokes, really? That character has made this show extremely droppable to me.

[goldenspines]

Gatchman Crowds: I love everything about this except the main character. I don't know what it is, but she is almost unbearably annoying. I hope she improves because everything else in this show from the art styles to the characters is super interesting.

Silver Spoon: This is exactly how I remember the manga, which is excellent.

Dog and Scissors episode 2 slightly improved the show for me, enough for me to keep watching, at least.


And still enjoying Stella C3 and Kitakubu, naturally.
I'm also uncertain what the future for Servant x Service holds after the second episode, maybe it just has a slow start...
And Dangan Ronpa has become Battle Royale and Persona 4 (only without the happy fun times) with an evil Doreamon (and if they throw some Liar Game mind games in there, it would be almost perfect). I'm on board, personally, since all the visuals are interesting and I love a good mystery.

[skreyola]

Is Silver Spoon streaming (or soon to be streaming) anywhere?

[Rewin]

Silver Spoon is on crunchyroll, but unless you have a paid membership I think you'll have to wait a little bit to watch it. I could be wrong though, and I don't know how long the wait is. I'm really looking forward to it though, finally an anime focused on rural Japan