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: Gargantia ep14 (hope floats on a green sea of memories)

Never thought I’d be revisiting this series, except maybe to show to someone who hadn’t seen it before. Gargantia for me was an average show with high expectations coming into it. That doesn’t make it bad, it’s just that it leaves me with an unfairly sour taste in my mouth, even though the series hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s almost like showing disdain towards a child that found a good job and place to live, but didn’t become a high paid doctor or lawyer. But enough about that, this episode is one of those one-shot episodes that takes place in the middle of the TV series story, but will have consequences so inconsequential that they won’t affect or even be mentioned anywhere else in it. So does that make this inherently a pointless episode, not necessarily. But you can’t be sure without actually watching.

Check-out Station: Gargantia (the burden of thought)

I was a little worried when this episode started. I started buying into everyone’s fears about Urobuchi pulling some stone cold ending, or relying on cliches while throwing the cast’s progression to the wind. but I’m satisfied now.  Quite satisfied.

Gargantia ep12: so our old nemesis has returned, welcome back HAL

So that was simpler than I was expecting.  I’m kind of sad that we’re missing the human element here in a show that focuses so much on what it is to be human.

Gargantia ep11: the hammer of enlightenment

It’s pretty easy to point blame here. The progression of events in this episode is smooth and deceptively quick. All in the span of twenty minutes we see power and freedom turned into submission and slavery. And even more puzzling, we see Pinion actually show some good judgment! What?

Gargantia ep10: torn between choice and freedom

You’d think that after episode nine’s events, that Ledo would have some severe shell shock. And would be very right. This episode does a lot to silently knock Ledo around, while Pinion seemingly sows the seeds of destruction.

Gargantia ep9: breathe deeply, this won’t feel good

This is a great “reveal” episode.  This just is.  I definitely think that it’s more twisted than Madoka Magica‘s.  It reminds me of the moment you figure out the secrets behind the Evas, the real secrets; the Philosopher’s Stone in Fullmetal Alchemist; what happened to Vash’s arm in Trigun.  It’s the kind of thing that changes your whole perspective on a series, and can make you a little sick to your stomach.

Gargantia ep8: fools, or people with a dream?

I have accused several shows this season of not being engaging experiences.  Gargantia isn’t necessarily one of them, but I certainly found it to be lacking in the conflict department, as I thought the early part of this show was more of a series of misunderstandings and poor communication that fueled the drama. But this episode is giving us clear change in direction and tone. The cast is breaking up, there’s new leadership, and there’s the possibility of some very influential characters opening Pandora’s Box. This is Gargantia, and it’s going to a dark place.

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.

Gargantia ep7: short on forgiveness, short on words.

I find a lack of communication one of my key pet peeves.  It’s such an annoyance to me, that I’m surprised more people don’t ask why I bother watching anime.  So much of the medium relies on terrible communication to form its concepts, draw out its storytelling and fuel its romance. So if you’ve already watched this episode of Gargantia, you can guess what I’m annoyed by.  But I’m going to be fair, unlike before I’m not going to wag my finger just at the hippies.  There’s plenty of blame, shortsightedness and stupidity to go around.