One of the nice things about living a mile above sea level is the fact Summer ends early. It’s already snowing in the mountains!
Of course, that means the Summer anime season is slowly wrapping up. I haven’t done this in awhile, so…
ARIA The Natural - I don’t necessarily believe in Heaven, but if there is a Heaven, and I end up there after dying in a rickshaw accident (or something), I hope it’s a lot like Neo-Venezia. If Akari’s there, that’d be great, but I’d settle for Alice just fine.
Nana - Has anything actually happened yet? Is the story going anywhere? Beats me. I still love every minute of it, even if I don’t know why.
Binbou Shimai Monogatari - When the show first began, I commented, “It’s only ten episodes. Might as well.” What I really meant to say was, “It’s only ten episodes? Why is it only ten episodes?” This show is a lot cuter than it should be, and I’m going to miss it once it’s gone.
NHK ni Youkoso! - I think this show is absolutely brilliant when it wants to be. I’ll let you know if it ever happens again.
Tonagura - Following a strong start, the show has settled into a lazy sort of groove. Kind of like reggae. Best thing about the show? Kazuki’s “family” essentially consists of a criminal, an accomplice, a victim, and an executioner. See the slapstick potential?
Zero no Tsukaima - This has been a surprisingly well-rounded show. Each episode puts a smile on my face. Then, someone reminds me of the fact it’s only 13 episodes long, and I want to cry. Comfort me, Louise!
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - I actually stopped caring about Higurashi a LONG time ago. Thankfully, cicadas usually die by the end of the September. HURRY UP AND DIE ALREADY.
Simoun - Unless this is your first time visiting, you should already know how I feel about Simoun. I just hope the show doesn’t bite off more than it can chew in its final act. Its “Best Show of the Year” designation ain’t a done deal.
Utawarerumono - Well, you probably already know how I feel about Utawarerumono, too. I still think it’s a great show, but for me, at least, the magic’s gone. I hate to say it, but I’m looking forward to seeing it wrap up.
Honey & Clover - Duh. My only complaint, really, is that, with so many different stories to wrap up in such a short amount of time, the second season has been an emotional rollercoaster from the very start. I hate to see it end, but, at the same time, I think I’ll be relieved when it finally comes to pass.
Bokura ga Ita - A rising star. Shoujo at its best. Nothing else to say. Watch it. Now.
Strawberry Panic - Ugh. Something happened on the way to the denouement. I got some sort of perverse kick out of the show’s angsty drama early on, but now that the story demands that I actually take it seriously, I can’t work up the energy.
Kanon - 35 days and counting!
Chokotto Sister - I’ve threatened to drop this show six or seven times now, but I never follow through. It’s not that it’s horrible, necessarily. It’s just that… well, I can’t think of any good reason why I continue to watch it. That can’t be good.
Ouran High School Host Club - You know, it’s unreal how consistently funny this show is. It’s like it can do no wrong. Except to end, that is. Please say there’s more manga chapters available to animate? Pretty please? Someone?
School Rumble - Whoops. I completely forgot I was watching School Rumble.
By the way, never again will I attempt to keep up with this many shows at the same time. How I’ve managed, I don’t know.
>>> Bokura ga Ita
Saw only the manga. It was good and does have its moments, but I have to say I have seen better. If this manga worked, I wonder if they should try the series ‘Kiss Break Kiss’ by Fujiwara Yoshiko, or ‘Normal City’ by Kang Gyung-Ok. Fujiwara Yoshiko’s manga has very unique style of story telling that will make some anime producers famous.
Jeff, you’re reducing me to going from blog to blog and repeating like a goddamn parrot that “show X is that good BECAUSE it was only 13 episodes, and it would be much worse if it weren’t”, because I cannot remember when and where I made this point before. It is a fact of life that among watcheable series, shorter ones are better on average, no matter how you normalize the data (e.g. using Rewatchability index, or fan voting, or whatever). There are always exceptions, of course. However, I actually went to the trouble of collating the data, computing R-index, and sorting for my own DVD collection and surprise, surprise - 13-episode shows occupied the upper part of the distribution. You should be saying, “Thank Heavens that Zero no Tsukaima is only 13 episodes!”, and pray to whatever god you have that they would not make a sequel.
Actually, I agree with your point regarding 13 episode series. My DVD collection is full of them as well, primarily because they have a lot of rewatch value. I’ll admit to having rewatched Strawberry Eggs more times than… well, more times than I care to admit. With Zero no Tsukaima, however, I feel as if the show is just now hitting its stride… with only five or so episodes remaining. At the same time, Higurashi is dragging on for 13 episodes too long, it seems (even if the story pretty much demands it).
If a show’s still going strong and still has a lot of potential at the 13 episode mark, I think it’s natural to wish for more. Of course, who knows what Zero no Tsukaima has in store for its final episodes. I might be singing a different tune a month from now.
Regarding 13 vs. 24/5/6 episodes, I think the perception that 13 ep. anime is better has more to do with what goes into producing anime than 13 being somehow the “right” number for a particular story to be told. Obviously depends on the story– I would hate to see the 13 ep. version of FMA! ;)
Many anime start out planned as 13 ep. only to be extended by the studios when they are well received in the marketplace. If it’s early enough in the series, fine, but if the studio decides this as ep. 10 is airing, suddenly the team has to go back and figure out how to lengthen it. So many 26 ep. anime have that strong start, only to fade as they try to fit too little remaining story into too many episodes, or simply wind up farming the project out in order to meet other obligations… There’s an almost palpable change in the story telling. Nadia is an example of this (though of the 26 ep. variety). Gainax had enough meat for the originally planned 26, but NHK wanted to milk it and asked for another 1/2 season, which Gainax either didn’t want to, or couldn’t do (the truth depends on who’s story you believe…), so they farmed it out to smaller studios. The storylines, characters, animation quality, all took a big dive.
On the other hand, series may be planned for the full 26 run, but run into budgetary or other complications down the road, which affects the later eps. Not that I mean to pick on Gainax and Anno Hideaki, but Kare Kano is a good example here: they ran out of money, and Anno Hideaki left after conflicting with Tsuda Masami over the atmosphere of the show (Tsuda wanted more traditional shoujo drama, Anno wanted NGE without the Evas…) Again, the shift is easily spotted shortly after the halfway point (ep. 15 or 16, if memory serves…).
The longer a serirs runs, the greater the opportuinty that something changes on the “back-end”, ultimately affecting the quality of the later episodes. This, I think, gives rise to the notion that shorter is better. I can think of many series that would have been criminal to try and shoehorn into a 13 ep. format…
I see it more as a “duh, why didn’t we think of this before?” as to why more and more anime are sticking to be 10-14 episodes long. Totally conjecture, mind you, but anime generally are sold as franchises in Japan, meaning that along with the DVDs you got CDs, Seiyuu events, radio shows, toys, models, posters, ringtones, games for your cellphones, other crap I forget, and advertising to go with everything I just mentioned. What I mean is with a 13-episode run you can sell more franchises in the space of 26 episodes. Or 50.
OTOH we all know good shows are great and we want more. Aside from the risk involved being stuck with a long show that doesn’t draw a following, there’s a reason why One Piece is still going after God Knows how long. And why Bones have gotten FMA then Eureka 7.
Two fairly different ways to sell anime, in the end. Obviously it’s not one is better than the other, but you’re not going to get something like Welcome to the NHK on the Long format.
Prediction: 2009 marks the first 50 episode series from Kyoani.
Ouran seems to be a real blogger favourite but it’s not really done it for me. I thought the first few episodes were fantastic and then around it episode 4 or 5 it dipped and never really reached the heights of those first couple of episodes bar I think the episode where they meet Haruhi’s dad. I guess the jokes just got old after a while. I still enjoy watching the episodes but whereas others seem to be rolling about laughing during an episode now, it seems to barely get a giggle out of me. I guess in that sense it has been consistently funny for me, just that my “funny” doesn’t seem to be as funny as everyone else’s. Maybe I’m the only one though *shrugs* Personally I found School Rumble to be funnier and on a much more consisent basis. Probably just more suited to this type of comedy.
I’d probably go as far as to say that I’ve found Nana funnier on the whole compared to Ouran. Every episode I seem to laugh out loud on at least one occasion apart from maybe some of the more emotional episodes and I dunno the jokes just seem to be more… fresh(possibly the word I’m looking for). I’d also say that something has happened during the first 19 or so episodes that I’ve seen, in fact I think quite a bit has happened since the show started.
Binbou Shimai - maybe I should watch past the first episode. I just thought it was ridiculously stupid what the two of them did during that first episode, especially the older sister(what kind of an example is she trying to set for the younger one?), that I just got really frustrated with the show. A shame because initially it sounded like the sort of thing that’d to my tastes.
Other than that I’d agree with the rest of what you said. Well except maybe the Akari - Alice thing. I just loves me my Akari. Yes, MY Akari. Everyone else, hands off.
With Nana, I think it’s a matter of the show creeping along at such a slow pace (it’s 50 episodes, after all) that it doesn’t seem like much has happened given the number of episodes that have aired. The backstory episodes took up a lot of time, and ever since the show returned to the “present”, it’s felt as if it’s always a step away from kicking into high gear. Never seems to happen, though. Personally, I think it’s an indication of how confident Yazawa Ai was in her story that she allowed it to unfold in such a delicate fashion. I also think it’s an indication of Konparu Tomoko’s confidence in the original material that she retained the same delicate pace for the anime adaptation. She’s handled the screenplay for a couple of lengthy adaptations in the past, however (e.g., Kodomo no Omocha, Urusei Yatsura), so I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.
As for Binbou Shimai Monogatari, you have to get past the initial silliness in order to truly enjoy the show, I think. It’s easy to roll your eyes at the girls’ situation at first (I did, that’s for sure), but after a few episodes, the cheap sentimentality overwhelms you, and you can’t help but cheer for them. That’s what happened with me, at least. Like I said, it’s a lot cuter than it should be.
It’s not so much their situation that I found a problem or the sappiness/cheesiness whatever you want to call it. It was more their actions in the first episode, as I said especially the older sister’s. And I heard things only got worse in that regard in the next episode which I guess is why I stopped watching.
>>>By the way, never again will I attempt to keep up with this many shows at the same time. How I’ve managed, I don’t know.
You say that, but with more and more anime being produced each year…
It’s hard watching a bunch of series at once, though. I’m definitely having some trouble keeping up with my “lesser” shows. Even my DVDs are seeing some of that effect.
I’m ready for Strawberry Panic to END. I don’t even think I care to find out how it ends. I’m sure someone will fill me in.
Aria is one show I’ll be very sad ends. It’s just been an unreal journey. And since I glacially worked my way through the first series, I was done by the time the second began, so it’s been a continuously slow journey as enjoyable as the show itself. I’ll hate not having that show to fall back on.
I can agree with everything I’m watching, at least, except for Simoun, which I’m still way back at episode four. I need a third wind.
I really liked Binbou Shimai Monogatari at the start but now I’m ready for the girls to get hit by one of those trucks.
After having hit an anime dry spot where I was hesitant to even watch an animated DVD, I have recently picked up Bokura ga Ita and Simoun, based largely on your recommendations. I originally found my way to your previous blog through the Megatokyo linkage, but I’ve lurked about since because — well, you and I seem to share a remarkably similar taste in anime and the value of entertainment, so I almost certainly count on you to point me in the direction of my new favorite series when I find myself in need of one. I’m something of a Lawson fanboy, I guess. So for my first comment on your blog, I wanted to say thanks for that. You’ve helped steer me toward many hours of enjoyment I might have otherwise missed.
With that in mind, I really wanted to thank you for pointing out Bokura ga Ita and Simoun for me. Simoun is an engaging and curious story, and I really enjoy it. Bokura ga Ita might very well have been love at first sight for me, with it’s soft, stylized art and easy flow. I’m on the fifth episode now, eagerly waiting for the sixth to finish up.
Not a particularly useful or meaty, content driven comment, I suppose, but there you have it. I just felt it was time to pass along that thank you for your blog I’ve been meaning to share for so long. Also, randomly, I really like the design of Hop Step Jump! better than the nowhere blog — I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about it, but Hop Step Jump! seems more natural, intimate. I enjoy the episode-a-post blogs, but I prefer your method of discussion and observation better. It embraces the story, rather than the element. There’s something to be said for that, for sure.
Simoun: Liked the story, the OP and ED. They really need to work on BGM as they use the Tango at all the wrong places. So remergion is a process of creating a fissure in space-time continuum in a way that you can control the magnitude and direction of energy release, right?
Thanks for the comment, Midnight Age. In the end, I’m just another anime fan running his mouth, but if people appreciate what I’m doing here, it’s definitely worth it. I’ll keep at it.