Merry Christmas 2012 from the Blogger Crew

On the 12th day of Christmas...

Happy Halloween!

Because we could all use some candy.

Conclusion: Hyouka

And the late posts strike again!

C'mon, this isn't cool, KyoAni. You gotta let me bash you guys for something.

...And yet again KyoAni makes the best series of the Summer 2012 season. But will they keep rolling? Or is Chuunibyou the end of the line for them?

First Impressions: Girls und Panzer

And in a sudden turn of events, I am releasing the first ever audio podcast review from Infinity And One, a First Impressions podcast of Girls und Panzer! Any and all constructive feedback would be highly appreciated! I might continue or revert back to just posts depending on replies and time constraints. Thanks for listening!



DOWNLOAD HERE - 320kbps

What, no pictures?!?!?!?!

Why Sword Art Online is Mediocre: A Rigorous Beat-Down

That's right. I'm going to delay the other posts just so I can tell you guys why the likes of Sword Art Online and its implied sequel Accel World are bad series that should never have won over the amount of hype that it did.

Cry more fanboys.

Oh and also, no pics (except for the first) because...I have no reason to and I'm fucking lazy.

First Impressions: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

How many Derpa Onna-like series are going on this season @________@

I mean I really liked that series but still...I don't know how much derp I can handle per season...

A further note: due to time constraints, unless the review is sincerely requested, I will not be doing First Impressions posts of Zetsuen no Tempest, BTOOOM!, and Busou Shinki (nor will I be watching them; I might collect Zetsuen for later viewing pleasure though). For this season, I will mainly stick to my niches and the mainstream series. I will probably be reviewing K, though.

Many apologies, but it's hard to do all these series nearly alone (although OboeOtaku helps sometimes). I have also dropped Shin Sekai Yori, not because it also eats into my time but more because I already know what's gonna go on and that sort of crap is boring. But no worries, the rest of the Conclusion posts and some damn good First Impressions posts are coming up the bat. Anyways, here's to Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

First Impression: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

You know, I actually fucken read the original manga series of most of the adaptations I review (except for maybe stuff like Hagure Yuusha, in which case it doesn't really matter since I'm not going to give it a good grade anyways). That's right, I'm not like those motherfuckers out there who just grade this junk based on whatever plot they see in the anime. I go hardcore on this review shit.

...This also meant that I had to blast through 132 chapters of Magi...

shudders

First Impressions: Shin Sekai Yori

Yes. Your series is named From the New World. We get it.

Please don't blast Dvorak Symphony No. 9.

Conclusion: Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!

Fanservice series count: 5. Rising...and rising...and rising. - ____________ -;;

At least NakaImo has decent service. Along with Oda Nobuna, Studio Gokumi makes a solid case for its drawing department. As for its writing department, well...

Conclusion: Hagure Yuusha no Estetica

Am I seriously writing Conclusion posts for four fanservice series in a row? (Yuruyuri doesn't count...it's just too legit to quit)

Dear God...this season...

Conclusion: Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai.

HUFF PUFF PUFF HUFF

Moar conclusions! Moar fanservice! Ok too much fanservice! Time to review Dakara Boku wa!

Conclusion: Campione!

Fanservice into fanservice. Just the way I like it.

Conclusion: Oda Nobuna no Yabou

Mmm...historical fanservice.

Oh, a couple of notes: I will NOT be reviewing Uta Koi, Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, La storia della Arcana Famiglia, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Sword Art Online, and Tari Tari until further notice or heavy request. Sorry, don't have the time.

Secondly, fuck you Doki for messing up sub timings in NakaImo's final episode. It's not rocket science, guys...

Thirdly, fuck you Silver Link - that was a terrible thing to do, besides messing up Kokoro Connect as a series in whole. Now a perfectly good series has to be tarnished by the scumbags that you guys are. Will review more on this later.

Conclusion: Yuruyuri♪♪

And so the epic saga ends.

Please, give one final "A-karinnn!" for this delightful series.

Expectations - Fall 2012 Anime

Now, you may be asking, "Where is my Yuruyuri season 2 Conclusions post you son of a bitch ExtraCareful?"

Calm yo five-dollar ass down. I got this. And besides, this is probably way more interesting. Here comes Fall 2012 - is your body lady?

Oh, and again, as per usual, we will only be reviewing series that perk our interest. Sorry.

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Don't worry. The posts...are coming.

Burst the Gravity (Accel World OP2)
ALTIMA

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Moosics everywhere

Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dai-Nana Gakushou 「Mugen no Ai」(Mouretsu Pirates OP)
Momoiro Clover Z and Marty Friedman 

Halfway Point: YuruYuri♪♪

YU-YU-YU-YURUYURI YAYYYYYYYY

I think the above statement is actually a masterful summary of this series.

ONLY ONE MORE REVIEW LEFT TO GO, HOO YEA (I'll watch and give a Conclusion review of Tari Tari later, but right now I can't muster up the energy...)

Halfway Point: Tanken Driland

Toei Animation doing something like this? It might not be too bad...

At least chibi warriors doing an animated dungeon crawl is relatively new (and still better than those two ToHeart2 OVAs).

Halfway Point: Rinne no Lagrange S2

3 MORE SERIES TO GO HUFF PUFF

Oh wait, I like this series.

Halfway Point: Oda Nobuna no Yabou

MOAR FANSERVICE! ON NOM NOM NOM

Anyways, here's one that turned out to be slightly better than expected. Let's review Oda Nobuna no Yabou.

Halfway Point: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II

HUFF PUFF HUFF PUFF

Sunrise. Ok, I'm treating myself again pretty early, but so what. I need better series to post about.

Halfway Point: Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!

Mmm fanservice. Studio Gokumi (produced Koe de Oshigoto!, A Channel, Saki Achiga-hen episode of Side-A, and this season's Oda Nobuna no Yabou) is pretty damn good with pulling the production values out from their asses with these things.

Anyways, let's see what NakaImo has to offer!

Halfway Point: Kokoro Connect

Aight let's keep on trucking. Good thing the next thing I'm reviewing is this series. 6 more after this. Huff puff puff huff

Are you ready to roll? Good.

Halfway Point: Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate

Huff puff huff puff

15+ series I'm reviewing? Really?

Also, bitches thought that I wasn't posting b/c I was lazy. YOU'RE WRONG. I finished up Halfway Point drafts of every series I've watched a month beforehand. Suck it down.

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

This isn't anime, but if I put up A Brand New World God Only Knows, it would seem like there is a TWGOK bias.

And there is. But I wanna keep it secret. Shhhh...(I'll do it next week)

The Tower of Eternity (Aion: The Tower of Eternity OST BGM)
Yang Bang-Ean

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

More Mizuki Nana. But nobody's complaining.

FEARLESS HERO (Dog Days' OP)
Mizuki Nana

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Have some real good ones coming up for you in the next coupla weeks. Is your body lady for this? I didn't think so.

Sacred Force (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A Insert Song)
Mizuki Nana

Halfway Point: Joshiraku

Mmmm, J.C. Staff strikes again. Good pick, guys.

Here goes my pitch for Joshiraku!

Halfway Point: Hagure Yuusha no Estetica

I didn't read the manga before the anime before this one, just to get a sense of what it's like for the pure-anime viewers.

I regretted doing that. I want to read the manga/LN as quickly as possible before I get madder at this series than I did at Horizon.

Also, the studio for this, Arms Corporation, is a relatively small studio that has worked with Rin Shin in, and I quote, "several productions which have an above average amount of fanservice".

sigh

Halfway Point: Dog Days'

What is it with season namings? Just name it "_____ II" or "_____ 2", or make a creative name for it. I prefer Zero no Tsukaima's names for its seasons over stupid shit like "Working'''!!!!@!@!" or "Dog Days';?,.", which is not only confusing as fuck to people like myself who think that they've typed out the title wrong every time they go over it, but is also a completely retarded naming scheme. I shouldn't have to memorize how many aprostrophes, exclamation marks and colons the series has in its name in order to mention it in conversation. This doesn't even cover the fact that half the time I can't even see the punctuation on my monitor or I end up spending 5 minutes to try and get rid of that dot because I think it's a fleck of dirt.

Fuck all these damn studios. Get those braindead writers of yours to think up a better title.

I mean, Oreimo is coming out with a second season. Sadly, its name is also Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai...but with a period. Yes, you heard it right. The title is "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai." This means half the time it can't be used in a sentence properly without pissing off an English teacher.

I hate my life.

Halfway Point: Dakara, Boku w H ga Dekinai.

Yes, this series is about getting power from grabbing boobs.

Essentially what the author of High School DxD wanted to do but couldn't.

OH WAIT, HE ALREADY DOES THAT.

Also, this time being late is not my fault. Had this shit ready fucken four days ago. Blame retarded travel plans.

Halfway Point: Campione!

What I plan to do is release one of these things per week. Wish me luck.

I guess I'll start going through them in alphabetical order. I'll save the ones I don't like for later though.

Note: I will not be reviewing Asa Made Jugyou Chu!, Nagareboshi Lens, Marimo no Hana, or Ai Mai! Moe Can Change! since I don't like to review single OVAs. If there are requests I might do so, but there's very little else to say other than that they're all dumb except for maaaaaybe Nagareboshi Lens, which was just another mediocre shoujo OVA.

I also watched the Blu-Ray bonus episode of iM@S and the Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas OVA, as well as Code Geass: Nunnally in Wonderland. If you wanted to know, iM@S episode 26 was good, Code Geass was OK with its inside jokes, and Guilty Crown as expected sucked and sucked it down hard.

Anyways, I DO have the K-On! movie downloaded in glorious 1080p, so if anybody wants it I'll be looking forward to watching and reviewing that.

Anyways, here's one for our friendly neighborhood mythological/fantasy harem/action-adventure series, Campione!

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Alright, so these next couple of weeks I will have stuff that aren't just random OPs. Ready? I'm not.

Koi no Shirushi ~8bit ver~ (Finale Arrange) [The World God Only Knows ED; Remix]
zerokouki & HDkaminomi

A Convention! Without White Cosplayers!

Yes, I (ExtraCareful) went to the largest convention in South Korea. Comic World Seoul. Read about it here!

Conclusion: A Croissant's Life

Wake up and smell those alternate worlds clashing in the morning.

Bread is good.

Unfortunately, both sentences make sense in the context of this series.

EDIT: AHHHHHHH WHY DID I WATCH THIS SERIES ASDFJKL;

Conclusion: Acchi Kocchi

D'AWWWWWWWWWWW

HOW KYUUT

Conclusion: Sakamichi no Apollon

For a music series, the OST is surprisingly nondescript.

Or maybe I just don't like shitty jazz.

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

MOAR MOOZIC

GO MY WAY!! [Original 8BIT Instrumental] ([Album] Famison 8BIT☆iDOLM@STER 01)
Nigo Mayako (Takatsuki Yayoi), Futami Ami & Mami (Shimoda Asami)

Conclusion: Natsuiro Kiseki

Thank you for not following the same path of boring-ass "girls in slice-of-life series" routine that Tamayura started.

Just...

Thank you.

(Also, Sunrise did this original. Be joyous.)

Conclusion: Sankarea

Zombie girls are becoming disturbingly more popular in Japanese manga/anime.

Note: I will NOT be doing a Conclusions post for Tsuritama since there's so much other shit going on right now. Sorry. If the other members of the blog crew want to do it, all luck to them and hopefully I will be of assistance.

THIS JUST IN - TO-LOVE RU WILL BE GETTING A THIRD SEASON IN THE FALL OF 2012 IN THE FORM OF ITS SEQUEL, TO-LOVE RU DARKNESS. REJOICE, FOR THE ANIME GODS HAVE BLESSED US.

Conclusion: Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

Hmmm...I might give this thing a good score just for Choir Jail (the OP; sung by Konomi Suzuki)...

Or maybe I should stop being lazy and actually review it. Oh well, here we go!

Conclusion: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

I never thought I would end up using the term "moe anthropomorphism" for a series.

sigh Japan...

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

UU!

NYAH!

UU!

NYAH!

Yeah, sorry this is late. Running on Korea time.

Taiyou Iwaku Moeyo Chaos (Haiyore! Nyaruko-san OP)
Ushiro kara Haiyoritai G (Asumi Kana, Matsuki Miyu, Ootsubo Yuka, Kitamura Eri, Hatano Wataru)

Summer 2012 Anime Preview

Hoooooooooooooooooooooo shit

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

More hiatus breaking! More! More!

Happy Crazy Box (Medaka Box OP)
Kuribayashi Minami

Conclusion: Medaka Box

Gainax, you better be ready to get trashed.

Conclusion: Upotte!!

Guns!

Conclusion: Kore wa Zombie desu ka? Of the Dead

Hiatus breaker!

Bread Into Bread: Why Shiawase no Pan is the Best Anime of Spring 2012

I come out of my hiatus (don't worry, I'll try to get back at it now that I have time for stuffs...I'm probably gonna do some conclusions but it's hard to do all of them myself. glares at rest of blog crew) to show you how Shiawase no Pan has dazzled me with its brilliance.

To do so, let's take a leaf out of an English major's book and retrace what the studio obviously thought would be a good idea to do in SnP and run it concurrently to what is going on now in this menagerie of wonders. Then I will show you objectively how SnP has excelled in this lineup.

Note: I also had to look at the computer's clock to check that it was 2012. This is probably a bad plan.

Conclusion: Chihayafuru

Chihayafuru...what a weird series.

Didn't know karuta could be so intense. I wish there were more explosions though.

Conclusion: Guilty Crown

Guilty Crown...what a fiasco.

First Impressions: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

Because last season I made myself depressed by reviewing shit I didn't like beforehand, I'll review shit I do like before I go into a slump. Here's a cute little story centered* around the Cthulhu Mythos monster, Nyarlathotep.




*Has nothing to do with

Conclusion: Zero no Tsukaima F

Yayyyyyyyy Zero no Tsukaima is over...

...awwwww Zero no Tsukaima is over.

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Giving into cheap thrills, here's a pretty good piece from yet another VN/RPG:

Nanpou no Kaze (Kamidori Alchemy Meister OST)
Kenny K, Zeal Blood 

Expectations - Spring 2012 Anime

Right, the Spring 2012 Anime are coming up right as the Winter 2012 series end, so we're releasing this pretty early. Let's go! Oh actually - a note: we will not review series that nobody on our blog team will ever want to watch. That means we're not gonna review Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashi Banashi (a series based on Japanese folk tales) no matter how educational it is to children. Sorry. 


EXTRACAREFUL'S EDIT: As the final publisher, I apologize for the delay on this post - usually we would have been given 2 weeks or so to iron this out between the end of the last season and the beginning of the new one, but for some reason the Spring 2012 season started early (as in, right after Winter 2012 ended) so the blog crew did not have as much time to prep. We'll be good next time, we promise!


Colors: 
ExtraCareful 
BartreTheBeast 
LightRook writes in blood 
MorningLescue is purple cause orange can't be seen well

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

All RIGHT guys, starting this up again...steeling myself for the future Expectations posts + Conclusion posts to come. (YES, I realize that Ozuma + Uchuu Kyoudai + some other shit have come out. Nobody on the blog team cares except for maybe the release of Zetman, for which I am very apologetic for anybody viewing this blog. Sorry!)

LightRook's note: Speak for yourself, ExtraCareful! NotMoe and I acknowledge that Uchuu Kyoudai doesn't suck!

Kibou no Uta (DearDrops OP [VN]) DEARDROPS

BtB’s "ExtraCareful's-been-out-so-make-do-with-this" Soundtrack Post

I-I-I-t’s not like I-I’m doing this for you or anything. In wake of ExtraCareful's recent lack of soundtrack posts, I've decided to finally pull this out of the drafts section, where it's been rotting for about a year now. Enjoy. Or don't enjoy.

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

I think I should have more exciting pieces. Like this one.

Coolish Walk (Working'!! OP)
Kana Asumi, Saki Fujita, Eri Kitamura

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Yes! Another one on time!

SUPERORBITAL (SoniComi Theme Song)
Daiichi Uchuu Sokudo

First Impressions: Black Rock Shooter

You all are probably thinking, “What is this blasphemy? A first impressions post done by someone other than ExtraCareful!?”

Well, don’t worry. The post is split half-and-half, since I need his opinions to supplant my half-baked ones. But for now, bear with BtB’s spiel on Burakku Rocku Shootuh.
Also, this post is rather image-heavy. Sorry, I couldn't resist...

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

 Ok, so a new soundtrack post seems to be in order...

Taidou (Gensoukyou Jihen; Touhou OST Arrangement)
Toshimasa (Floating Cloud; Performed by Floating Cloud Acoustic Band)

Movie Review: Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven Is a Place on Earth

Ok I lied, there's one more review. But it's a movie. But it's Hayate no Gotoku!, headed by Manglobe, no less, so I should actually review this. (Btw, there's nothing but the 480p version until like, what, February? When the Blu-Ray Disc/BD version comes out. Sorry if the pics are of lower quality than usual.)

Rule No. 1: Don't Be A Jerk (A Guilty Crown Analysis)

Ok, so I really want to finish this post before Guilty Crown does, so here goes! Another reflective post...on why I think Guilty Crown is a tense yet entirely mediocre series - and why realism is not a vale of tears.
[SPOILER WARNING]

ExtraCareful's (Another Late) Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Sorry for being late...wanted to give myself a bit of a break there. Anyways, here it is (sorry for being unoriginal; this is definitely a cop-out and I'll be creative next time lols).

Change!!!! (THE iDOLM@STER OP2)
765PRO Allstars

First Impressions: Nisemonogatari

And we come to my favorite series of the season. Hoo yea.

Monogatari series fanboy mode engaged.

First Impressions: Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

Almost done! Alllllllllmooostttttttttttttttttttttt done....

And then there were two.

First Impressions: Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!

Sorry for the mega-delay on these series, but I mean...all these series...

So many series...shudder

And this series...so much loli...why...

First Impressions: Amagami SS+ plus

Remember that I'm doing all these roughly from most shitty to least shitty.

Unfortunately, Amagami SS+ plus is on the worse end of the "mildly decent" spectrum. I am disappoint, AIC. I am disappoint indeed.

First Impressions: Inu x Boku SS

Another relatively decent series.

I mean c'mon, it's the only shoujo series of the season, give it a break. It looks good and has funny back-and-forth conversations. Better than Zero no Tsukaima.

First Impressions: Ano Natsu de Matteru

A slice-of-life series. Character design by the same person who also contributed to Toradora!. Graphics by J.C. Staff. I had pretty high expectations for this series.

Did it live up to them? Let's see.

First Impressions: Another

Now we're slowly getting into the good series.

This one is good for watching at night.

Helps you fall asleep.

First Impressions: Zero no Tsukaima F

Oh God. Here it is - Shakugan no Louise The Final F Season Season Season IV. Just what everybody needed in their lives.

More rage-filled tsundere provided by yours truly, Rie Kugimiya.

First Impressions: Rinne no Lagrange

And here's the actual mecha series of the season.

It's still kinda iffy.

First Impressions: Senki Zesshou Symphogear

All right, time to move onto the mecha section of this season's animus...

...is what I would like to say, but unfortunately, there's yet another bad series to cover.

As Rick Perry likes to say, "Oops."

First Impressions: High School DxD

Huff puff
Puff huff
More reviews gogogo

First Impressions: Mouretsu Pirates

Yay, a series based on a picture at a doujinshi convention that was rather aptly named "Miniskirt Space Pirates".

I'm gonna have some fun reviewing this, aren't I.

sigh...(I'm being terribly inconsistent, but spoiler alert I guess)

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

All right, yet another Soundtrack Pick of the Week. Here it is!

Ready!! (THE iDOLM@STER OP1)
765PRO Allstars

First Impressions: Recorder to Randoseru

Again, these posts wouldn't be so painful to write if these series just weren't so damn bad.

Unfortunately, they are.

Fuck me.

First Impressions: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki

This is a 3-min series. About a cat. He is round. And just as unidentifiable with modern biological taxonomy as Pannya from Mashiro-iro Symphony was. Do Japanese studios have a fetish for something that looks vaguely cat-dog-mushroom-from-Maplestory-ish-like but isn't? Because I don't get this. At all.

Oh and it's being turned into the newest Nintendogs game a game on the 3DS where you raise the blob.

Er, thing. I think it's a cat.

...I hope it's a cat.

First Impressions: Kill Me Baby!

Sorry for the mega-delay on these series, but I mean...all these series...

So many series...shudder

ExtraCareful's (Late) Soundtrack Pick of the Week

Have you ever felt like you're watching/hearing/doing something really really stupid...but enjoying every moment of it?

Pretty much how Yuruyuri works.

Even the opening.

Yuriyurarararayuruyuri Daijiken (Yuruyuri OP)
Minami Tsuda, Rumi Ookubo, Shiori Mikami, Yuka Ootsubo

Conclusion: THE iDOLM@STER

Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnndddddddddd, saving the best for last, I have...THE iDOLM@STER!!!!1!!1!1!

asdfjkl;miki;lkjfdsa

Conclusion: Mashiro-iro Symphony: The Color of Lovers

And we come to the lulzy series of the season...and by that, I don't mean Kyoukai Senjou. That one is just bad, period.

At least this series' protagonist has a cute little sister. Your arguments are invalid.

Conclusion: Tamayura ~Hitotose~

All right! I promised myself that I wouldn't watch any of the new season until all the conclusions were done, so I'm marathoning this shit! Gogogogogogo glhf

Conclusion: Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!

Moar reviews!

At least I'm doing it for a series that's still better than anything in Guilty Crown.

Conclusion: UN-GO

On slightly better news, the dual anime coupling of Guilty Crown and UN-GO came out later in the Winter season.

I'm here to review the better of the two.

Conclusion: Ben-To

What the hell was that?

Oh...it was Ben-To.

Conclusion: Working'!!

Speaking of good sequels, here's the other, highly anticipated, afterword of the Working!! adaptation - let me introduce to you Working'!!

(No, that's not a typo.)

Conclusion: Shinryaku!? Ika Musume

I'm not gonna be doing this in the order of how the series ended, but I don't think anybody would really care. So the first Conclusions post of the Fall 2011 season will be on our favorite squidmeister, Ika Musume!

(To be honest, these sequels are really unfair...if you have a good series that doesn't really have a predictable conclusion, you can continue using the same old shtick ad infinitum and it'll have that "oomph" behind it, no matter what. Ika Musume is one such example. ALSO, if you have NOT watched Season 1, you will be confused by this post. Be careful.)

ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

All right, conclusions will be coming up shortly. But before that...

Authentic Symphony (Mashiro-iro Symphony: The Color of Lovers OP)
Choucho

Happy New Year!

Ahoy there! It's the New Year and BartreTheBeast and I (ExtraCareful) thought it might be nice to have a New Years' post for you all. It's been a pretty hilarious year, and I hope the next year is better. There are a lot of big names coming out in 2012, so get ready for an explosion of awesome if the sky doesn't fall on our head and the U.S.S. Kennedy doesn't come crashing through the White House.

So here are five wishes for the upcoming year and some anime series awards for the year of 2011!