Check-in Station Year in Review: 2013 (Summer)

There are some anime seasons that are just good.  There are seasons that are memorable.  And then there are seasons that are legendary.  The Spring 2006 season saw the debut of the most influential anime since Evangelion, Haruhi.  On top of that, it had Higurashi, Ouran High School Host Club, Gintama and Aria!  The Fall 2006 season aired the beginnings of Death Note and Code Geass, two juggernaut series at the same time!  Fall 1995 saw the debut Neon Genesis Evangelion and the first Ghost in the Shell movie.  And yet, I look at this Summer 2013 season and wonder – does this rank as one of the best seasons of anime ever?!  It’s insane to think about how low the expectations were going into this season.  My own expectations were near rock bottom.  When it came to what hype I had, it was all regarding the two returning series and nothing else.  Even then, Bakemonogatari‘s second sequel was getting a lot of hype from the anime community because of the mixed reactions Nisemonogatari received (I loved it).  And there was no telling if Symphogear G was going to be able to live up to the hype,pacing and expectations set by the first season.  But what we got this season was an ever rolling, ever growing ball of quality, memorable anime.

Summer 2013 was the little engine that could.  It was the nerdy kid turned super star.  Summer 2013 was the best of 2013!  And I’m proving it here!

Check-out Station: Love Lab ep13 (Friends Forever, Love Experts Never)

Welp!  Weeks of misunderstandings, nonsense and shenanigans have led to this, a standoff of wayward emotions and sad faces. And all this when they still have so much work to do. It looks like Natsuo and Riko’s rift is going to have to besolved quickly, or no one is going to get what they want by the end.

Love Lab ep12: it’s not my fault I’m not popular- oh wait! Wrong show!

It turns out that the Newspaper Association has a bang up plan for helping the student council with their love research and advice. They demonstrate that through the power of their newsletters and the stories with fictional characters, they can address the pressing love questions without getting exposed. Though Yuiko raises a valid concern, she doesn’t believe it’s a fair deal for the Newspaper Associaton because it exposes them so much, with so little in the way of benefits. And it is true that they’ve also caused the student council quite a bit of trouble. But the rebuttal

Love Lab ep11: you can’t put on airs forever

The girls of Love Lab spent quite a bit of time faffing about in the last episode, but it appears that they’re ready to get down to business now. So Riko is put to work getting information for one of the requests they’ve yet to fulfill. It’s a vague question about what kind of hair style guys at a certain school like. It’s obviously something that differs from person to person, but Riko’s gonna have to find some sort of specifics to plug into the answer.  She’s been forced to regularly go to a cram school as of late, because of her terrible grades.  So she likely won’t have issue with finding a guy from that specific school to question.  It’s just too bad for her that it happens to be the guy she’s been feuding with for the past few episodes.

Ironically, the answer to Riko’s query is –

Love Lab ep10: too harsh, too dazzling, too clumsy, too wild and too misunderstood

This episode was more anecdotal than the others. It felt like I was watching one of those four-panel adaptations like Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star or Nichijou. Entertaining as it was, it felt like the plot got left on the sidelines this episode. Yes, I know this is a comedy, and usually that stuff doesn’t matter, but there are larger problems to address.

On Holiday: Labor Day Anime Special pt1 (Majestic Prince, C3-bu & Love Lab)

I’m going to do something a little different this week, since I planned on having fun on Labor Day – a day to celebrate working people.  I decided to take it easy this past weekend, and cover the usual anime in shorter fashion.  Well, I won’t totally stick to that. If i’m particularly inspired then some of these may be longer. But for now, I’m gonna do a “Week in Review” type of post for this weekend for some shows. Starting with Majestic Prince episode twenty one.

Love Lab ep7: the Misadventures of Rentarou Kurahashi!

With the pressure quickly mounting for what I guess we can finally officially call the Love Lab, Natsuo seems to be getting more and more crazy as the show goes on. Then again, she’s also getting more and more funny, too. This though doesn’t help with the requests for love advice piling up, and some nosy Newspaper club members on their tail.

Regardless of the hassle and the intimidation factor of their combined tasks, the love research continues.  And by love research, I mean

Love Lab ep6: clash at the cram school!

Well this is a welcome change! In the first seconds of the show we get to meet Riko’s family, or at least most of it. Her little brother, who seems very popular with girls; and her mother, a normal woman who is understandably a little worried about her tomboy daughter. They’re both very familiar with Riko’s secret and bane, her lack of

Check-in Station: Love Lab ep5 (proficiency is the key!)

This was an ambitious episode. With the looming problem of how the student council was going to discretely get the results of their love research to their client addressed, it was now just a matter of putting Riko’s ambitious plan into action. A classic case of things being easier said than done. But after all, all they have to do is hijack the school broadcast without permission, and without any of the teachers interfering with their weird broadcast. And since a “genius’ like Riko was planning it, then I’m sure it will go off without a hitch, right?

Check-in Station Catchup Comedy Special pt1: Love Lab ep3 & 4

The combination of taking a weekend off, and a massive and high quality Summer lineup has left me continually behind on my anime. So drastic measures have to be taken. This time around I’m going to try to cover two comedy anime at once. It seems unfair, especially to me because both shows are just so good. Love Lab continues to defy my narrow-minded expectations, and is just showing itself to be a good, FUNNY, and surprisingly clever anime. Servant X Service is the ‘adult” anime I’ve craved for awhile. No it’s not violent, sexual or deep. It just speaks to an adult experience. An experience that is all at the same time stressful, scary, daunting and