It's been a couple of weeks since I've had one of these, and instead of looking at code this late on a Sunday, I might as well get an update in on what I've been watching in the anime world.

Finished Watching

Windy Tales - Episodes 7-13Miki and Jun

This series has been a wholly enjoyable watch for me. It has the episodic vignettes that a slice-of-life series would, but it has a very relaxing atmosphere that draw me to these types of series. Also, the unusual animation style really gave the series a sense of charm for me. Getting to know Nao and her friends, family, and teachers through small glimpses of her junior high-school life was quite enjoyable for me.

Truthfully, I was expecting the wind manipulating ability to take more of a center-stage role than it did, but it really seemed to only play a rather tangential role in the character's lives, especially in the latter episodes.

In the end, the series is a thumbs up from me, though I'm not sure I'd actually recommend the series to many people.

Haibane Renmei - Episodes 7-13

This series has always been one of my top favorites since I watched it for the second time many years ago. The mother-daughter dynamic between Reki and Rakka has been one of the biggest reasons this series drew me in. And if the series had ended before Reki's acceptance of Rakka's help, it would have been one of the most tragic series I'd have ever seen and probably reduce me to tears babbling like a love-sick little girl.

Yeah, I'm glad that ABe ended the series the way he did... Haibane Renmei is definitely my favorite of his work.

Currently Watching

The Wallflower - Episodes 1-8What a sweet little gir.... err... what?!?

I've been seeing several of these "reverse" harem shoujos (where it's the girl surrounded by many bishi guys) popping up, much in the same lines of Ouran High School Host Club. Compared to that series, it doesn't seem like The Wallflower will have much to go on, especially with the rather poor animation job (Much use of stills and chibis!). But in truth, The Wallflower (Also titled Yamato Nedeshiko Shichi Henge) has started off on the right foot by entertaining the heck out of me with quite an amusing female lead.

The idea behind the plot starts out with 4 (very good-looking and popular-with-the-ladies high school) guys are instructed by their extremely eccentric and very wealthy landlady to "make her niece a lady", else she will triple their rent. Of course, her niece, Sunako, shuns human contact and light, and her best friends are an anatomy model with all of his organs in display and a skeleton.

Of course, much of the time when she is cornered by Kyouhei, his shiny beauty causes Sunako to break out in a violent nosebleed. Heck, Sunako breaking out into gushing nosebleeds at the sight of her "harem" is one of the running gags.

Absurdity abound, I'm lightly enjoying this series. It may not be better than Ouran, but I'll continue watching this one.

Denno Coil - Episode 2

Others have said what I probably would say better than I would have right now. I'll just mention that I"m enjoying this one quite a lot.

Darker Than BLACK - Episode 6-7

Episode 6 ended on a fairly tragic note for me, as I was liking that former contractor. It also seems that Lin has motives that originate outside of the organization that has hired him, which seems very unusual for a contractor.

Episode 7, though, took a weird turn. Darker Than BLACK is now a partial comedy, with a struggling detective that hates cats.

Claymore - Episode 8-9

The ending of episode 8 truly shocked me. I mean, Claymore was already throwing out twists, but I really didn't expect that one. In the end, though, it was the only possible course of action that I thought the series could take, as harsh as it was.

Episode 9 finally returns to the "modern day" Clare. And with it comes another unexpected twist; Clare's rank in the organization. To me, this adds a bit to Clare's character.

And damn those cliffhangers!

Lucky Star - Episode 7-8

I'll let the screenshot speak for itself...

No Comment

Pretty amusing series, it is...

Rocket Girls - Episodes 4-5

We finally have liftoff! Am I the only one that thinks that the director isn't exactly doing a good job?  I mean, even if much of the work in the organization is rocket science, should it take the mother of the main character on how to establish the lead pilot's confidence in the technology?

Ah well, off to the next episode!  Let's see how Yukari gets out of this jam! 

Rewatching

The Twelve Kingdoms - Episodes 1-12

I'm rewatching this one while showing it to a few new people. Of course, one person was constantly commenting on Youko's emo-ness in the first five episodes, while the other was showing extreme annoyance at the delusional Yuka. Both agreed that the blue-haired monkey that was tormenting Youko needed to die...

In truth, both of them have only seen up to episode 8, so far. I watched a bit further with another friend, who already watched the entire series once and wanted to rewatch it after reading the first volume of the novel.

Admittedly, the watching first arc (spanning from episode 1-13) for the first time wasn't what shot this series to my most favorite series. It was probably the third arc that really got my attention, but it took the second watch before I realized many of the real themes and lessons that Youko has to go through to become what she was in the third arc. What amazed me about this series is that the first arc was a coming-of-age for Youko, and it's here where many other anime would end. Instead, The Twelve Kingdoms keeps going, and as a friend said to me in PMs about the series:

But this story goes on. And, by the end, we experience the circle of rise and fall again and again, sort of the evitable repetition of chance, coincidence, and connection that makes our life recognizable and melancholy to us. Which is to say, that Juuni Kokki is less about one girl's growing up phase, but about what it means, really, to live. To know that we live without real endings and beginnings; to let go of self-pity and useless memories and to know the earth from which you came and make your place.

The most courageous thing you can do is to live. And 12 Kingdoms, rather like Zhang Yimou's earlier work, details just how hard that can really be.

On Hiatus/Future Plans

Saiunkoku Monogatari - Episode 29 (?)

Legend of Galactic Heroes - Episode 50 (?)

NANA

Yomigaeru Sora - RESCUE WINGS -