Check-in Station Year in Review: Spring 2013 (Where the Biggest and Best Come to Play)

Welcome to the wonderful Spring season!  The season of juggernauts –  literally!  The more I heard about this season in previews, the more excited I got.  The Spring season was the reason I still looked forward to watching modern, new anime.  So without further hype and hyperbole, I’m gonna tell you the story of the Check-in Station’s journey through anime’s Spring of 2013.

Check-out Station: Flowers of Evil

I knew I was gonna regret delving into this casually.  This episode definitely requires a sound mind before hopping into its world.  Though what I was thrown towards the end I was not prepared for.

Flowers of Evil ep12: curiosity is like water

And by that I mean it is both a positive and a necessity, but it also has the ability to drown those that are too deeply enamored in it. Kasuga, you don’t have much time left to figure out just how deep you are.

Flowers of Evil ep11: that fevered nonsense was so deep!

Well that was weird, again.

Flowers of Evil ep10: the only wrong choice is no choice

Simpletons get on bike and go… someplace. Perfect, naive girlfriend skips dinner to find them. It rains. Drama. Penis! Butt cheeks! Crying! Police! Most uncomfortable car ride ever. The end.

Can I go now? No?! Fine. Let’s get into episode ten of Flowers of Evil, or as I like to call it, Teenagers Being Extra Simple.

Flowers of Evil ep9: running from nothing to nothing

I don’t know how you straddle the fence between winning and losing at life, but Kasuga’s doing his damnedest to stay there.  With hardly a chance to

Flowers of Evil ep8: it comes from the heart

Artistic. Artistic is the word I will use to describe this episode, and I will say it’s the factor that has dictated this series aesthetic direction from its inception. Flowers of Evil is most interested in not so much telling the story, but letting the viewer “feel it. Which may lead to some questionable choices. I will say though, no matter how this is paced, I was happy to feel this episode.

Check-in Station: Mid-Season Review (Spring 2013)

This has been quite honestly, my most successful season since I started blogging.  I’ve watched several anime before, but I wasn’t attempting to write about all of them on an episode by episode basis.  Even better yet, I used to just watch a series in bulk.  I’d either get a DVD or find a batch of files and watch until I got tired, or I ran out of material.  The only time that ever backfired was when I was watching the original Code Geass (why would they have a six month break between episode 23 and the end of the series?!).  Now I’m watching seven (maybe eight) series at the moment, and their pretty much all to the halfway point.  So instead of doing a “Check-in” post on all seven, I’m gonna give the run down for the majority in one post, right here.  That way I can get on with whatever other projects I’m working on at the moment.

Now then, let’s get started.  I’ll do this in whatever random order I choose.  I will not be assigning score or rank.  I will just be assigning opinions.

Flowers of Evil ep7: stop struggling and be happy

A lot could be said about a person’s desires.  Much can be said about what a person’s desires means to that person.  But not many people like to look in the mirror and expose themselves to what their desires truly say about them.  So what happens when someone is able to peer into your desires and force you to face the truth? I believe that’s what Flowers of Evil is trying to give you the answer to.

Flowers of Evil ep6: three’s company, three’s a crowd, three’s a nuisance

Nothing in this show exists without Nakamura, not even the show itself. And that’s especially true for the blossoming relationship between Kasuga and Saeki. But of course, Nakamura doesn’t plant a tree to see it grow, I think she’s more interested in seeing how it dies, or at least how she can manipulate it into being a deformed withering form of itself.