Check-out Station: Farewell Fall 2010 season! (I stayed a bit too long.)
Fall 2010 of the anime season was the first (and probably only) season of material I tried to follow almost completely as it aired. Some may call it ambitious, I call it a f*cking chore (sorry, I watched Zero Punctuation before writing this so I may be a little “snarky” i.e. a bitch!). But regardless I had a lot of fun, watched plenty of quality anime, and some horrid ones as well. And normally I do goodbye post for every series I complete. And normally I’d have time to do that. But, and let me count, ….. ELEVEN anime means nearly eleven posts (obviously several are still ongoing) and I just don’t have the time. Not to mention the then ongoing series that completed at or near the end of the season. So I decided to roll everything up into one fat, American mega post and give a mini-Check-out for each and every one of these series. Here we go!
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt – OUTSTANDING. One of the craziest, most crass series I’ve ever seen. Whether they were mocking, or paying homage to the American animation scene and culture I don’t care. It was pretty funny. Very well paced and diverse and had an outstanding soundtrack. GAINAX F*CKERY aside it was a front-runner for my anime of the year.
Otome Youkai Zakuro – a huge surprise in my book. I didn’t give it much of a chance. And the bishie in preview artwork didn’t endear me to it at all. I was delightfully wrong. I liked the perspective and culture provided in this series. Surprisingly none of the characters grated on me, even the titular tsunderé. The show had some good romance and some great moments.
Iron Man – I pretty much forgot all about this show after one episode. The first episode didn’t really impress me. Not to mention it was bombarded with terrible reviews. I was happy to “trim the fat” when it came to this show. I doubt I missed much.
Kuragehime – what a splendid show. I think endearing is the word that comes to mind when I think of it. Tsukimi is an adorable wreck. Kuranosuke is very likable for somebody I find to be so arrogant. They’re surrounded by a wonderfully quirky cast and accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack with some of the best opening and closing animation music I’ve ever heard. If this doesn’t get a sequel in the next year I will be pissed.
The World God Only Knows – the series that most distinctly on my radar, mainly because it was based on a manga I love, it surprisingly faded into the background during its first season. Maybe it was because I knew all the material so well, or maybe it’s because the first several girls are so standard. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but I believe the promised second season will delve much more deeply into this very fun world.
Ika Musume – one of the funniest shows I’ve watched all year. It’s also one of those rare and very welcome rarities, a comedy show that is consistently funny and varied enough to keep you just as entertained by the first episode as the last. It also had some very good moments peppered throughout. Watch episode five sometime and see what I mean.
Ore no Imouto… – this show had possibly the greatest potential of any of the shows that aired this year. Unfortunately it was far from what I hoped for. OreImo. It was abusive towards its main protagonist and the viewers. The show openly jerked the viewer around and did a terrible job of convincing anyone that its plot and character development should have developed the way it did. Honestly, I think Kirino wrote the script for this herself. A mostly terrible viewing experience.
Samurai Girls – I had not finished the series by the time of this post. The reason for that is that it doesn’t do a good job of entertaining me, and that makes me not want to watch it. Despite its wonderful character designs and art style, the characters themselves are basically archetypes with little real intelligence or charisma. The fanservice isn’t anything spectacular either. The fact that it doesn’t do fanservice terribly well means to me that it’s a general failure.
Yosuga no Sora – Bam! Another surprise. This was a series that I outright said no to when the season’s lineup was revealed. It did a splendid job of filling my ecchi slot in the seasons’ lineup. It also did a great job at shocking and entertaining me. So while I didn’t love the show’s format or “true” ending, I still got some pretty decent romance and relationships out of it. And the show’s omakes were damn funny. I’d give this show a limited recommendation.
Now for the ongoing series
Star Driver – through fifteen episodes this show has been a rather nice ride. My only real complaints so far are the plot’s need to ever so slowly divulge secrets and critical information. Despite the progress it has mad, I don’t believe I know much more now than what I learned in the first couple of episodes.
Bakuman – this show has a terrible habit of boring me right after it gets me excited. The aspects that cover manga I love. It’s almost fascinating to me. The aspects that focus on the love story and their childish ideals I don’t care for. I’ve yet to be impressed by this show, but somehow it keeps managing to coerce me back.
Completed non-Fall 2010 series
Katanagatari – a year-long journey with this series has greatly endeared it to me; the copious amounts of dialogue, the character designs, the art style, the violence, the cunning, brutal and mature storytelling, the ending. I dare say this show is a masterpiece and very well could end up in my favorites after I find time to re watch it.
K-ON!! – a classic and a juggernaut. I took my time getting into this series, and I took my time completing it. And there’s not a moment of this show I regret watching. Long after I had tired of similar shows, I’ll come back for this one.
Shows I didn’t get to, but plan on finishing in time
- Sorademo Machi wa Mawatteiru
- Letter Bee: Reverse
- A Certain Magical Index 2
It feels good to get some closure and get all that out of the way. Did you take time to follow the wonderful season that was Fall 2010? What was your favorite show?
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the Check-in Station 
Sure sounds like a chore to me too. Thus one of the many, many, many reasons I’ve never watched anything while it’s airing really, never mind try and keep up with multiple shows! Eh I watch stuff when I feel like watching it. That’s all there is too it. Anyway I do want to see Panty & Stocking. That’s a must for me. The others? Ehh…not so much. Nice post.
I bitch and complain, but it was mostly fun. It’s just the blogging part that became overwhelming to me. I’ve been doing this for less than a year. And by my standards all this anime would’ve been a lot of writing.
And yes, DO see Panty & Stocking. It’s an entertaining and rare watch.
Ehh well I couldn’t do it. Even if I didn’t blog about it. Just so beyond my abilities. Also I don’t have the attention span to watch something unless it’s good anymore. Used to be able to watch kinda crappy things and not want to bang my head into the wall. Today that is not so.
^ I’m with this guy, following that many shows sounds like torture unless I had a lot of marijuana and no job. Panty & Stocking and Katanagatari were my favorites of the year but your descriptions on a few series makes me want to check them out.
It’s not really torture, so much as it can get a little confusing. As long as you’re not trying to do all the stuff I do after an episode it shouldn’t be that bad. But besides that, the Fall season was just great memorable fun. A few months later, the only regret I have is not getting around to watching Soremachi.