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.

AniFriday Issue #8 (Janurary 3rd, 2014)

Happy New Year guys!  The year of 2013 is behind us, and it’s time for everyone to move on to bigger and better things.  Well that’s the idea at least.  In truth, it takes effort to move forward and dump the baggage you’ve become so comfortable with.  Even a burden can seem like a welcome comfort when it’s all you know.  The easy thing about this medium and the commitment to it is that you don’t have to stick with anything.  The same applies to me.  I could dump a series at any point, though I do make it harder for myself by believing there’s some sort of commitment that comes with watching a series.  That’s a reason why some of these shows on AniFriday have kept getting commentary and coverage.  It’s silly, but that’s why right now, I’m especially happy to dump some burdens.

On the flip side of that commitment, I’m going to attempt to have more diverse coverage of manga in these posts as well.  So I hope all that are reading enjoy the small extra bit of commitment I’ve given to these manga.  Not just shounen and seinen, but shoujo, sports, josei, fantasy and maybe yuri will hopefully all get representation at some point.  Think of it as a sort of New Year’s resolution for AniFridays.  Now then, let’s get started on 2014.

AniFriday Issue #7 (December 20th 2013)

This has been a tiring and hectic week for me, but it has also been a week with one of the best moments of my life.  Sunday my sister graduated from the UNC Chapel Hill!  I don’t know what her major is, I think it has something to do with some holistic medicine, witch doctor mumbo-jumbo.  But that doesn’t matter right now.  I’m intensely proud (and a bit jealous) of her.  And if she gets to read this (because I didn’t really talk that much that day), I wish her all the happiness in the world, and a good job, too.

Now then, onto the anime and manga commentary.  Here’s what I’ll be covering this week, in order.

• Tokyo Ravens ep11
• Ms. MONOCHROME ep12
• Valvrave ep22
• Coppelion ep12
• One Piece ch732
• Naruto ch659
• Bleach ch562
• Team Medical Dragon ch90
• The World God Only Knows

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the change in titling for these posts from being named parts to issues; I’m attempting to go with the magazine theme I love so much.  I know this is a blog, but humour me.  This is a hobby after all, I’m gonna f*ck around and experiment any chance I get.

AniFriday pt6 (December 13th 2013)

 

Man, it has been a tiring week.  It’s not easy for me to keep up with all this anime.  And I can’t help but think I’ve brought this upon myself.  I mean, if I would actually not f*ck around and watch everyone of these shows consistently every week, then I wouldn’t have to worry about these long tiring “catch up” sessions.  Then again, there’s something to be said about the joy of watching a show in spurts like this, as if I were renting an anime DVD from Blockbuster or the old local video rental place back at home.  Ah!  Memories!

For now, I hope you guys appreciate the effort and attention to detail I’ve put into watching and analyzing these shows.  At this point in the season, and the year, I’m really learning to appreciate what has been a very interesting year of anime.  A surprising year.   And maybe even in this post here, that only covers mediocre to average anime I’m currently watching could have moments that are memorable, or that perhaps will last and reverberate forever throughout anime history.  It’s unlikely as hell, but it could happen.

This week I’ll be shaking up things a bit by adding manga to this AniFriday post, because… well because “why not?”  The name AniFriday doesn’t really mean anything, I can barely get these out on time, and I’m pretty damn sure someone’s already using the name Manga Monday somewhere.

Here are the series I’ll be covering in order of appearance:

• Valvrave eps 18 – 21
• Ms. MONOCHROME ep11
• Tokyo Ravens ep10
• Coppelion ep11
• Naruto ch657 & 658
• One Piece ch729 – 731
• Bleach ch560 & 561

If anyone knows a way for me to link to different sections within a blog post to make this quicker, I’d appreciate it.  For now, enjoy the presentation!

AniFriday pt3 (November 8th 2013)

I’m expanding AniFridays and making a few changes as well.  Ars Nova will get the weekly single blog post treatment from now on (hope I don’t regret that), while Valvrave is now joining the AniFriday group.  Also I’m adding Hajime no Ippo: Rising and Gundam Build Fighters (since people keep asking me if I’m watching it) to the group as well.  Hope you guys enjoy.

This week’s anime in order of appearance.

• Valvrave ep16
• Tokyo Ravens ep5
• Ms. MONOCHROME ep6
• Coppelion ep6
• Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova ep5

Valvrave ep15: because my problems are more important than your’s

I don’t know why I’m such a stickler for military discipline in my anime, especially when the medium thrives on stupid kids not following orders. But it still irks me when the writers decide to strip a character of any sense to drive home a dramatic point. Oh wait, we’re talking about Haruto here. He’s never had any sense to begin with!

Valvrave ep14: My Little Sister Can’t Be This Justified in Hating Me

*groans*

I will admit that this isn’t nearly as bad as slogging through Rinne no Lagrange, but sometimes an episode just wears on me. I mean, there’s just stuff that can make you like an episode, like having a character you like get more screentime, or an episode that is more focused on an aspect of the plot or setting that you find interesting. But then again sometimes stuff is just kinda stupid and fails to capture your imagination. That’s this episode.

Check-in Station: Valvrave ep13 (to Earth! Vampire Illuminati Earth!)

It’s okay buddy.  It’s just a pinch, a little blood sucking, DNA changing pinch!  MWUAHAHAHAHAHAAA!

Check-out Station: Valvrave ep12 (a fun waste of time)

Well, what did I expect? The series started off an incomprehensible mess, of course it’s gonna end in a swirling storm of nonsense, shenanigans, convenient contrivances and an ending scene that places it firmly atop bullsh*t mountain. Now I have to reflect on this episode and see if I can still standby previous comments about it being “stupid but fun”.

Valvrave ep11: how deep is your bag of stupid?

…..

I believe the words intelligent and dumb both apply here. Though I’m loathe to admit that there’s a shred of intelligence in this bloody show. *sigh* Welcome to episode eleven of Valvrave.