Check-in Station: Gundam AGE ep18 (Veigan hamburgers flavored with Regret.)

Looks like playtime is over.  I mean that literally.  I suppose that could be said once anyone takes up a blade, gun or whatever weapon they may have.  But this little arc has effectively shaken all of the main characters lives up in a irreversible way.  It seems like the creative team doesn’t want to play around at all.  There will be no mystery as to who is facing who or why.  The pilots already know each other quite well, and the maiden is already quite heartbroken.  This is Gundam AGE, and it’s a show that keeps on schedule.

Check-in Station: Bodacious Space Pirates eps1-5 (expectations are the cockblockers of storytelling)

Expectations are a burden.  Expectations are a challenge.  And often expectations are a check someone else has written in your name.  There’s a reason why I ignore or almost immediately forget most previews for shows (besides the fact that I have a rather bad short-term memory).  It’s because I don’t feel like being weighed down by the expectations I have put on the show.  In the case of shows like Symphogear and Kill Me Baby, when you don’t have expectations the shows tend to impress you in very trivial ways.  You’re often merely happy when the show makes you smile, or you enjoy a mere aspect of a series when you think it’s mostly sh*t.  Bodacious Space Pirates is being weighed down right now by its name, and the expectations that come with it.  Now it’s just a matter of whether the show allows those expectations to drag it down, like so much dead and useless weight; or if the show launches itself, as if those expectations are merely teasers of something even greater.  There’s no good enough for this show it seems.

#BreakBlade ep1: interesting concept, not so interesting characters, ugly mecha. But I’m intrigued. #anime

I could think of plenty of things to say in the negative, but honestly they’re all tiny and only worth mentioning should they pop up in later episodes. All and all the wonderful, smooth animation and the unique concept have my attention. I’m interested

PenguinDrum ep6: I’m growing a little frustrated w/ this show. It makes me wonder something…

It makes me wonder if I watched this show in the traditional way that I used to, would I still be watching it.  Usually, I would do a “Check-in Station” right about here.  This is pretty much second DVD territory.  But I can’t peg it down enough to

#TigerandBunny ep8: “Then my concept of justice is arresting idiots like you!” #anime

There are plenty of things that bug me about this episode and the universe of Tiger and Bunny in general. First of all, how does a kid get charged and convicted of murder for obviously accidentally firing the handgun? How can a public start to see a guy named LUNATIC as their solution to crime through outright murder? Doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s not my universe. I’m just having trouble adjusting to the contrivances of the show. As anime fan who watches many shows a week, I have 

Check-in Station: Dog Days eps1-5 (should I euthanize this beast?)

Like with most any show I watch that isn’t a highly recommended classic, I came into my first viewing of Dog Days with no expectations.  And then I watched the first episode and began sharpening the knife.  I just knew that this series didn’t have long and once put under my watchful eye towards it.  I would don my olive wreath crown (which I wear for all of my home anime viewings), assume a comfortable seat on my thrown (a very comfortable executive leather chair) and give it a thorough thumbs up.  Damning it to The Hall of Dropped and Incomplete series.  Does Dog Days survive the infamous Five Episode Test?

Check-in Station: C eps1-5 (Worst Stock Exchange Ever)

Every now and then I come out of my hole, look around and impressed by the landscape.  You start at the sky and sun (or moon depending on your mood) and work your way down.  The beautiful moments, and if you feel like it you’ll continue to look down at some of the rougher, less fun times.  What C  (The Money of Soul and Possibility Control) does is take you to the top of a false tower so you can imagine that wonderful sky without ever seeing it, your inevitable fate awaiting you.  The tower will eventually crumble and fall and leave you at the bottom of a hole you can never see out of.  Now you will sit in that hole and watch as the light passes by without ever seeing that beautiful landscape.  Now let me translate, that landscape is your future, your potential; and that hole is bankruptcy in the series’ Financial District.

Check-in Station: Shiki eps 1-12 (without horrible hair you have no chance at the afterlife)

Apparently, while I was sh*tting on Highschool of the Dead and its LOL-ability, there was another show that was getting just as popular and receiving much more respectable praise.  That show is Shiki.  The name for the show I’m just now understanding.  And the praise it received I came in wondering if it could possibly be warranted for a show about supernaturals.  A concept that could be as awesome (Vampire Hunter D) as it could be weak and half-baked (Ookami Kakushi & Vampire Bund).  I wonder what category this show will end up in?

Check-in Station: Hajime no Ippo ch398 – 900+ (Going the distance)

Hajime no Ippo isn’t what I’d call one of my core series.   For me, a core series is one that got you started on anime or heavily influenced your tastes and expectations of what the medium had to offer.  Dragonball Z for example is a core series because it is the genesis of my obsession with anime.   Trigun is a core series because it raised my expectations early on as to what a good hearfelt, intense story could bring.  The same applies to Cowboy Bebop.  The difference now is that Hajime no Ippo has come along far too late in my anime viewing life for me to put it in that coveted spot.   But I’m sure if I had gotten a chance to read the manga ten or twelve years ago, it would have been one of the most influential things I’ve ever watched.

Check-in Station: Dream Eater Merry eps 1-5 (Her best side is her navel.)

I hate anime cats! I really do. I can’t explain why exactly, it goes way back to some of my earliest days of watching anime. So when I saw the opening scene for Dream Eater Merry you could say I was more than surprised. It was liked they tapped into my very nightmares. It was so imaginative, beautifully animated and striking that I couldn’t forget it. The first episode itself was very interesting. But five episodes in, I may still be waiting for the show to fulfill some of the hopes I had for the series.