With the spring season well under way and having watched a couple episodes of each of the series I picked out, here’s my thoughts on the season thus far.

Lucky Star

The amount of controversy surrounding this series is ridiculous. No sooner than it came out did multiple bloggers start attacking Lucky Star and its producer Kyoto Animation.

I did not like the first episode, it just didn’t live up to its “comedy” genre. However, I will admit that the second episode was slightly better, not by much, but it certainly was an improvement. I’ll stick with it for now, in hopes of gradual improvement, but will not hesitate to drop it if it becomes repetitive. (Or I may just skip to the Lucky Channel skit at the end of each episode, the only segment of Lucky Star that never fails to amuse me)

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

As one of the people who have been inexplicably drawn to the Nanoha series since the beginning, I had high hopes for this show. While it was far from being a let down, I can’t yet say whether I would classify the latest addition to the series a success.

There’s been a slew of new characters added to the already large roster, and this is make or break point for StrikerS. What it needs to do is develop these characters to the fullest extent possible while not relegating past characters to background scenery, all the while maintaining a reasonably sensible plot. Not exactly an easy task, but it seems to be coming along well, and I’m sure they’ll do their best to maintain their loyal fans and attract new ones.

On that note, someone find me an Alter Fate! The rarity of a place that stocks it rivals that of the original holo Charizard (I couldn’t think of a better analogy, orz ._.)

Sola

As lolikit-kun has repeatedly said:

The beauty of this show is better than sex

This series is mysterious in its ability to draw me in. I sit there with little idea of why I like it, but quickly realize that it doesn’t matter and watch in blind faith anyways.

Perhaps it’s the awesome characters (minus Aono), or the vague yet promising plot, hell maybe it’s even the well above average animation quality. But there’s just something about it that makes it win. Then again, I might just be a soraphile.

Hayate no Gotoku

THIS, my friends, is comedy done right. I have laughed through the better part of every episode so far. Whether it be because the comedy is much more direct than Lucky Star’s subtle cultural references and self-referential parodies, or the fact that it has a Shana clone, but I find myself enjoying this much more than any of the other comedy series this season.

Although the dynamic between Hayate and Nagi is the least impressive of the ShanaX______ series of late, it’s probably meant to be that way. Without any deep underlying connections between the two characters, their relationship is made pure love/hate comedy. That, coupled with the numerous anime references, conscious acknowledgment of the show being an anime (one of my favourite, yet underused, techniques) and general slapstick makes this show an excellent way to waste away 22 minutes of your life in weekly segments.

Nagasarete Airantou

I -HATED- the first episode of this series, but the problem wasn’t in its execution, it was a mishandling of expectations on my part. I went into Nagasarete Airantou expecting a harem type series, and was greeted with copious amounts of fanservice and a a recursive plot instead, needless to say I was sorely disappointed.

But I decided to give it a second chance anyways, because apparently I’m masochistic. This time I went in with a blank mind, ready to accept anything that was thrown at me, knowing that plot is a non-issue. And to my surprise, I found it quite entertaining. It was mindless, fansercivey and the plot didn’t advance an inch, but, admittedly, it was funny. If this doesn’t sound appealing but you’re curious anyways, I’ll save you the trouble, here’s the general template to any episode:

i. Girls compete for the right to bed Ikuto
ii. Suzu protects Ikuto, using her breasts in some way or another
iii. Nosebleeds
iv. Plot reset
v. Acknowledgment of plot reset

Touka Gettan

I once thought YamiBou was confusing anime I would ever see in my entire life. How naive of me. I should write in to Webster Dictionary and demand they add “WTF” to their dictionaries and list Touka Gettan as a synonym.

I dare someone to try and come up with a coherent explanation of what exactly is going on in this series.

Hitohira

Only one episode of Hitohira has been subbed so far, and I’m much too lazy to raw any further ones, but so far it seems promising enough. The premise isn’t exactly what I would call original, shy girls have been done in anime before, Mugi just takes it to the extreme. But with a cast of potentially interesting characters, decent animation, and yuri undertones, I’ll stick with it for now.

Claymore

I picked this one up on a whim and I must say, it’s surprisingly good. It has a typical shounen-esque plotline with evil beings and their slayers roaming around in the world of humans. But so far it’s tackled some interesting morality issues and its plot is developing nicely.

It was the swords and the gore that initially caught my attention, but the way the show (intentionally or not) deals with human nature is interesting. Human tendencies of hypocrisy, fear of the unknown and the moral issues of euthanasia are among those dealt with in the first two episodes alone. While it’s nothing really new in anime, it’s a nice change of pace from shows like Nagasarete so I hope the show stays it’s course and doesn’t end up being a mindless hack and slash.

* * *

I haven’t gotten around to doing: Seto no Hanayome, due to lack of subs, El Cazador de la Bruja, because I’m not done Madlax, and Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo, because lolikit-kun and Hinano said it sucked, my tastes lie somewhat close to them, so I can’t imagine I’d like it either. I may give it a chance in the future if I get extremely bored.

And on a closing note, I will most likely be dropping Lucky Star from my blogging schedule and need a replacement. I’m leaning to Claymore as the best candidate, but wanted to give the readers a say in it. I’ll throw up a poll, the choices are rather limited though, since Soda is thinking of picking up Hayate no Gotoku, I’m left with Hitohira, Nagasarete Airantou, Seto no Hanayome and Claymore as possible choices. Or if you think there’s another series this season that I should do, specify in a comment and I might give it a look.

EDIT* Added Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann since a few people seem to be recommending it.

~ Shirukii ~