Welcome, dear readers, to the first edition of the Midseason Awards, wherein I shall take a look at the best, worst, and most average shows of the season! If you've been following my writing since the start few of the discussions below will surprise you, but hey, we should all step back from time to time lest we miss the forest for the trees. If you're new around here then I hope this post will serve as a window into my anime watching habits and as a summary of the summer's TV series thus far.

Put on your fanciest tuxedo, slap on a pair of catgirl ears, and let the ceremonies begin!

Category: Oh Right, Guess I Forgot To Watch

At first glance the shows in this category were fairly appealing and should have held my interest. Nevertheless, somewhere along the line, they missed the opportunity to hook me in for the ride, but to be honest it's not always their fault: I am human, after all, despite my uncanny intellect and rabid sex appeal. I can only follow so many shows at a time.

Natsume Yuujinchou: I never even mentioned this one on my blog, which, as you may intuit, is not a good sign. The first episode introduced us to Natsume, who has the powers to see invisible ghosts and demons, including a hilarious uber-demon who spends most of his time in the guise of a whiny household cat. The show had its laughs and dramatic potential, since Natsume's quest involves releasing the demons his Grandma (who had the same powers) captured by writing their true name in a book, but it slipped my mind the minute the first episode was over. A Death Note clone is how I'll remember it.

Birdy The Mighty Decode: The first episode was an utter disappointment: a titillating first five minutes of sleek sci-fi action set in space followed by (yet again) the adventures of your average high school boy who comes in contact with Birdy, an alien bounty hunter and star of those tantalizing five minutes. To add insult to injury, the second episode didn't even leave a mark on my memory despite holding the distinction of being the first show I watched on my new iPod Nano. I liked the character of Birdy a lot (and her uber-cool high heel boots too!) but bending over backwards to involve the genre's usual tropes was a complete turn-off to me. To reiterate the obvious: not every anime TV series has to be set in high school, okay? Curse you Haruhi and your excellence! You've condemned us to an anime eternity in high school.

And the winner is...

World Destruction: A stylish show with colorful animation that could not escape the blandness integral to its storyline. Stop me if you've heard this one before: a bumbling but well-meaning simpleton discovers a hidden power within himself and ends up trying to save the world with the help of a cute heroic sidekick and a sexy but deadly woman with a dark past. Ring a bell? Maybe it's because that could describe 90% of all anime shows ever created? To be fair it's an anime tie-in for a Sega RPG to be released later this year so perhaps it was wrong of me to expect fireworks from World Destruction. I'm still, uhm, "collecting" the fansubs as they come out with all intents of watching at some point in the future, but if I run out of disk space before my new rig arrives (2 terabytes of storage, oh joy!) they could get the axe.

Category: Top Dogs

Sorry, but if you're not watching the shows in this category, you're doing it wrong.

Kaiba: Technically a spring show, and also technically over, which makes me sad beyond words. But screw the technicalities! You need to watch Kaiba before it is lost in the sands of time. It's also the perfect answer whenever some smug acquaintance asks the dreaded question, "Anime, eh? Isn't it just a bunch of cartoons for kids?" Simply point them towards Kaiba and its mature treatment of themes such as memory, love, family, sex, and many more. Everything from the animation and the music to the twisted (but oddly satisfying) storyline conspired to make it a one of a kind experience the likes of which I do not expect to encounter very often; to this the day, the words "Tadaima, boku no Neiro" echo in my ears. Spoiler-free review is this way.

Antique Bakery: "Four gay guys open a cake shop". Yup. Antique Bakery follows the adventures of smooth-talking Kei (the owner), devilishly gay Ouno (the pâtissier), inept Chikage (the garçon) and spunky Eiji (the apprentice) as they struggle to clean up their lives and make scrumptious-looking French desserts. In a tightrope act worthy of admiration Antique Bakery has managed to balance drama and humor in each episode, though it does have a tendency to switch gears abruptly, but come on, is there any show that's truly perfect? Well, maybe the next one is.

And the winner is...

Someday's Dreamers: Hoping I wouldn't start ranting about my favorite show? Here, let me dash your feeble hopes on the rocks of amazing atmosphere, fantastic characterization, and a deliberately slow pace! Photorealistic backgrounds and the lack of a soundtrack make Sora's world so vibrant and real I feel as if I could catch a plane to Tokyo to visit her. Someday's Dreamers is also proof that you don't need extravagant settings or barrels of nipply fanservice to be entertained: the story simply follows Sora's life as she leaves the Hokkaido countryside to go live in Tokyo for her magic apprenticeship.

But hey, speaking of nipply fanservice...

Category: Ten-Foot Pole Not Included

Not a lot of competition in this category. Credit me for being able to spot the stinkers from a mile away! Or for developping godly patience towards even the lamest, most stereotypical shows (re: Sekirei). And yet, this category's "winner" horrified me so badly I didn't even want to revisit its first five episodes to find new screen caps to use.

The "winner" is...

Strike Witches: Biggest disappointment of the season. If you remember my original first impressions post, at the time, I picked it as the unlikely cream of an admittedly feeble crop due to its "original" subject matter and high production values. Why am I still watching Sekirei (and Antique Bakery, which skyrocketed out of that primordial cesspool into the Top Dogs category) but not Strike Witches, then? For one, the initial delight of discovering a world where magical flying foxgirls use WW2 weaponry to shoot down alien mechanical planes of death wore off before episode 03 was over. At roughly the same time the show jettisoned its heroine's personality and therefore her appeal: Miyafuji's motivation changed from "I want to help people because my Dad did so" to "I wonder what the other girls's boobs taste like". I mean, there's fanservice, and then there's FAN-FUCKING-SERVICE.

Dishonorable mention goes to...

Slayers Revolution: Dear Lord what a piece of shit. In the name of journalistic integrity I gave it another shot and watched episode 06, which depicts the struggles of a village split in three over a festival that showcases sweaty men in loincloths obsessing over giant balls. I'm not kidding. It hadn't improved one iota since I'd first sampled it, with the same wooden characters spitting out the same hackneyed lines and conforming to their cozy stereotypes. And the animation's a full two decades behind the curve. My brain almost explodes every time I stop to consider that this show has been going on for over one hundred and twenty episodes. One hundred and twenty. ARGH!

Category: Returning Champions

The following spring season offerings are still going on strong, and judging by their outnumbering the Top Dogs, you'd be right to assert that the summer season hasn't offered us nearly as good a crop as spring did (since I am counting Kaiba as a spring show after all).

Real Drive: Shirow is doing his best to give Real Drive's viewers a cataclysmic case of blue balls by wasting precious airtime discussing such crucial matters as the philosphical implications of a canine collective consciousness. And yet I watch. The realistic look at tomorrow's future is spellbinding in many ways, and the characters, though far from perfect, behave like normal and rational beings. It doesn't hurt that curvaceous Holon (left) is one sexy mama too!

Macross Frontier: What can I say? It's Macross and it's damn well executed. The animation is polished to a CG shine and the characters are revealing surprising depth. Despite its sudden bout of "Neon Genesis Evangelion syndrome" the show is poised for a strong finish that should earn it admittance into the Macross pantheon. If the words "transforming robots in space to pop music" light up some pleasure centers in your brain this is a series you should check out.

And the winner is...

Code Geass: Still on the weekly menu rain or shine, still chock-full of plot twists, and still a notch above the rest of the action/mecha competition, including Frontier. There is no other show quite like it. Now that the conclusion is drawing nearer, expectations and speculation are running rampant as fans try to make sense of the convoluted plotlines and mysteries that have yet to unravel. The Emperor? Geass? Milly saving the planet by smothering the gods to death with her humongous funbags? Place your bets! If you're an alien who's just disembarked on Earth you could do a lot worse than catching up with this one.

Category: The Muddled Middle

The ho-hum shows, the ones worth watching when there's nothing on TV but that still can't hold a candle to the Top Dogs or even the Returning Champions. To be clear, I like those shows -- in fact I like the category's winner a lot -- but not enough to endorse them or recommend them for everyone.

Sekirei: Should I consider this show yet another fanservice-cum-harem magical action girl disaster and stick it next to Strike Witches at the bottom of the ladder? Or is a mysterious compulsion to watch every week despite the show's evident flaws proof that it not nearly as bad? This dilemna earns it a spot inbetween those extremes. To reuse a metaphor from a comment I wrote on another blog, Sekirei is like the retarded ten-year-old kid who keeps you company as you wait for the bus and brings you candy because he wants to be your friend: a little slow under the hood but full of good intentions.

And the winner is...

Koihime Musou: It was love at first sight, and believe me, a savage inner conflict rages on about my decision to include it in the Muddled Middle category instead of Top Dogs. But I cannot forgive it entirely for flirting with the yuri element in a way that gives me ulcers to this day. For more on Koihime Musou, do read this week's post on episode 06. If you're a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and not easily put off by girl-on-girl fanservice do yourself a favor and give it a try.

Well, that's it for this first edition of the Midseason Awards! Did your favorite show fail to make an appearance? Are you an irate Slayers Revolution fan who wants to know where I live? Visit the Contact page or leave a comment!

-Mr. K

Today's Karen is: HAPPY

Obligatory public service announcement over. Now then. Let's get to the tits and the catgirls, shall we?

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (episode 12)

I hate when Kyouran Kazoku Nikki tries to be anything but raw, chaotic fun. The "drama" (see: any arc with Yuuka) is often so ridiculously thin and overplayed I want to punch my screen and yell, "MORE CATGIRLS! MORE UNDERAGE PIRATE LEADERS WITH PINK HAIR! MORE CHINESE ASSASSINS TURNED RESTAURANT CHEFS!"

Looks like I yelled loud enough last time.

This week's crazy episode has almost no relevance to the preceding ones; the only family members we see are a cross-dressing Ginka as neighbor to Rindou, this episode's protagonist, and Kyouka, who shows up near the end and fights off a bunch of incompetent soldiers. How? BICYCLE KICK TO THE FACE, YO!

Anyway, the real reason I am even mentioning this episode is that Rindou's teacher (pictured above) is a pants-wettingly funny American who speaks Japanese with a Southern drawl thick enough to cut with a prog knife. His accent is so incomprehensible that at first I thought he'd been pulled straight out of a Peanuts cartoon... But then I caught a "wakarimasen" that came out as "wuhkahryemahssen". Luckily I had a seat on the subway, but still nearly collapsed in a hysterical puddle, iPod in hand. If this is how we gaijins sound like when we attempt to speak Japanese... Wow, I am never ribbing on another Japanese speaker ever again for pronouncing his Ls as Rs.

As for the plot, it's incredibly solid and fascinating, since it's -- hahahahaha, who am I kidding.

Sekirei (episode 06)

This week's hilariously bad line of dialogue:

Not only that, but near the beginning, Water Girl chases Minato and fires a volley of water spears that strike the pavement near him and explode. I wish I were kidding. Water + asphalt = BOOM! That's a new law of anime physics I'd never heard of.

Also, it appears Minato has finished assembling his nipply harem. Now comes... fighting with other cleavage-happy harems, I suppose.

Code Geass (episode 17)

No matter what Code Geass's legacy to the anime genre turns out to be, no one will ever be able to say that it didn't try its best to surprise its viewers each and every week. I figured the two possible outcomes for this week's meeting between Suzaku and Lelouch were a) Suzaku betrays Lelouch or b) Suzaku joins forces with Lelouch. Whaddyaknow! A little from column A, a little from column B, and once again Lelouch's yelling in manly disbelief as Schneizel cockblocks him.

The Knight of One Bismarck turned out to be the badass I figured him to be at first sight -- he pilots the Galahad and wields Excalibur, what more do you want? -- but then there's Gino, who seems to be taking a liking to Karen (he said with a disapproving frown). I'm suspicious of his motives for doing so but the girl's alone behind enemy lines without a friend. She could do worse than to subvert the Empire's military elite.

I am getting a little tired of the show's constant back and forth between Schneizel and the Emperor. Hey Code Geass, can you please decide which one's going to be Lelouch's main antagonist once and for all? My vote would go to the Emperor: no matter how intelligent (and possibly fabulously gay) Schneizel is, the Emperor is experienced, savvy, and ruthless. Oh, and immortal too. The only way he could be more invincible (if that even makes sense?) is if he had tank treads and a pet ninja shark.

And now to mention two shows in passing:

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

I picked up the first season of this TV series, which aired last summer, after finding a glowing recommendation on a random blog. Boy oh boy, does the first episode ever deliver! The show boasts stylish animation, oodles of black humor, and two diametrically opposed protagonists (the titular despaired sensei, and his cheerful student who sees everything in a positive light). Heck, it even uses the original manga's author's face to cover its school girls' modesty in an early spa fantasy:

It's a visually busy show, and I'm certain I'm missing at least one joke in every shot, but so far it's proved its worth as a dark comedy. A second season aired during winter 2008 and there's one OVA too. I'll write a more detailed report after sinking my teeth into the first few episodes.

Someday's Dreamers (episode 04)

Just in case you missed it, I snuck in a brief discussion of Someday's Dreamers disguised as a Koihime Musou post on Wednesday. I promise this is the last time you hear me ramble about how terrific a show it is. For the week. Which ends tomorrow. Suckers!

-Mr. K

Today's Karen is: MAXIN' RELAXIN'

Kaiba 11 is amazing!

Tragic world!

Cant wait for the final episode!

And it began so innocently.

Being fallen on by a biological weapon was always my dream.

In the start of KKN 11 (oh, already so far?) we have Hyouka (I hope) and father running away from some bad guys, got busted, and Hyouka falls on this cute freckled girl.

And fall in love with all of his biological weapon heart.

So he starts visiting her and helping her in shot, while she watches him eat.

We actually see Hyouka eat for the first time, too.

Well... isn't that beautiful?

It's obviously ADDICTIVELY FUN!

We can see some progress in their "relationship", even if Hyouka doesn't speak clearly and the girl seems to care more about her shop she runs.

But it wouldn't be an episode without Kyouka interfering!

Swarm of mini-Kyoukas attacking!

Finally, Hyouka is defeated, taken away, dressed in a suit and... wait, what?

Yes, he is taken to his family, who tests him in love skills. Because Kyouka makes them, apparently.

Some parts are succesfull, some parts... a little less.

Addictively... wrong kissing.

Then Hyouka is taken away by his lassie (he calls her that way, really!) and this time, family prevents Kyouka from interfering. Luckily, I'd say.

And we finally get to the coupe de grace of this episode!

A random crazy scientist appears!

He takes Hyouka about his past. About him killing his nearest person and how it's related to the person beside him right now.

And Hyouka goes berserk, kills all bad around - and lassie runs away, leaving hyouka alone and heartbroken. He even tries to write an apology/love letter to her, but fails and rips it apart. Or so you would think.

Because the kind anon family delivers!

And so, even this chapter ends with a nice happyend (kind of) and Kyouka ending.

Another nice and funny episode over (I wonder how they do it, that their moralising isn't as bad and noticeable all the time)

finally Kyouran Kazoku Nikki 11 subs is out. maybe is it already out for a long time, juz that i lazy to go search.

anyone needs some family values should go watch it.

---他妈的！

i am so glad that i am not the only child. Lucky got my sis for me to complain to. she understands the intense emotion that i have had.

but then again, i have to be aware of fundamental attribution error...

Quick Summary (For people who don't want to know about the actual ep itself, please skip this section)
The episode started off with a bunch of melon-headed green men (literally) chasing after Ouka and Hyouka. Apparently, they were sent by Dr.Gebok to collect data from "Black Thirteen" aka Hyouka. Ultimately, the encounter ends with the explosion of the nasty green men in speedos and Hyouka crashing into a bakery and landing on top of the girl.

The girl ends up being ok, and instead of reprimanding Hyouka for trashing her store, she thanks him for calling the ambulance for her. Hyouka develops a weird feeling for her, claiming it hurts in the back of his brain whenever he thinks about her, but he wants to protect her smile. Eventually Hyouka starts going out everyday to meet this girl, and the girl tells him about her sad life.

She doesn't get along well with her parents, and it was through her sister, Yuiko, that she found strength to live. However, one day Yuiko disappeared, and the girl vowed to protected her sister's bakery until her return. When Hyouka listens to the girl talk about her sister, the pain in the back of his head acted up again.

Kyouka, being as mental as she is, believes that Hyouka is in love and does a series of insane things to try to "help" him (I won't go into much detail, Kyouka-sama's insanity is beyond my comprehension). However, one of these events is interrupted by Dr.Gebok's unwelcomed entrance, where he reminds Hyouka of the time when Hyouka killed Gebok for the first time. It was after Dr. Gebok stuffed a girl (whom Hyouka considered his friend) into a coffee and painted a target on it. Without thinking, Hyouka thought it was just another target and shot it, only to find out that he accidentally killed his beloved friend. And... guess what? As fate would have it, it turns out that the friend that Hyouka killed was... Takanashi Yuiko.

Of course, after this, Hyouka flips again and beats the non-living shit outta Dr.Gebok, but the girl runs away. Hyouka tries to apologize through a letter, stating that he really likes the girl and that he's devastated by the sin he committed in the past. He also says its ok for the girl to kill him in order to have him atone for taking away the one person that the girl has been living for. However, he's so overwhelmed by guilt that he tears the letter apart. And thus enters the mighty Kyouka-sama to fix things up.

In the end, Hyouka tapes the ripped up letter back together and delivers it to the girl. The girl actually didn't blame Hyouka at all, feeling that he's suffering just as much as she is. In the end, she tells Hyouka that she will move away, leaving the store behind, since there was no longer a reason to stay here anymore. Hyouka calls the girl by her name, Kiriko (which she sees as a sign of intimacy, since her parents never called her by name), and promises to fly by her side whenever she needs him.

Ok, that's it for the summary. Now onto my insignificant opinion on this episode. I've always loved Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. At first glance, it seems totally retarded and mindless, with Kyouka doing crazy things and everyone having to clean up after her. However, it does occasionally give off the nice, warm, family vibe, where they talk about love and caring for each other and all. Sometimes it even has some darker aspects, e.g. Kyouka's past, Ouka's past, Yuuka's past... and now Hyouka's past. If you think about it... I don't think the killing of a friend is something suitable for children to watch. It's quite a devastating emotional blow. So why is this episode so special? We've touched on Hyouka's past before (in the episodes about the flying monkeys), but this episode really brings out the tragedy of his past. To have killed the sister of your new (and probably only) friend is really heart-wrenching.

Anyway... enough about that. I don't know how else to explain the awesomeness of this episode. Kyouka-sama's insanity is always nice comic relief (and I'm still shocked by the speed in which she speaks), so it kind of balanced out the darker and heavier component of the show.

One last thing... I simply adore Hirohashi Ryo's voice as Hyouka. I think she does a fantastic job, both when she's supposed to sound emotionless and clueless, and when she's supposed to snap and go insane. I especially love it when the family's in a dire situation and she goes, "OUKA CAN I SHOOT CAN I SHOOT I CAN SHOOT THEM AND KILL THEM?" XD XD XD

[audio http://flashflashrevolution.com/sims/extract/71608230417neothe0ne/Appare Henka Ja..mp3]Difficulties: 2/4/5/8
Includes creditless video + lyrics.

Download Mirrors:
Zenius-i-vanisher (16.1mb ZIP)
Mediafire (16.1mb ZIP)
Bemanistyle (9.99mb ZIP - Ogg Vorbis / low res video) [must register]

History:

• 2008 July 16 - Released.

Examples below;

(On a side note, lol at the newsreader on BBC1 that called 'The Dark Knight', 'Knightrider' LOL)

[audio http://flashflashrevolution.com/sims/extract/7160873111neothe0ne/Boku ha Koushin Saremashita.mp3]Difficulties: 1/4/6/8/9
Includes creditless video + lyrics.

Download Mirrors:
Bemanistyle (7.03mb ZIP) [must register]
Zenius-i-vanisher (7.03mb ZIP)
MediaFire (7.03mb ZIP)

History:

• 2008 July 14 - Added Beginner steps and made some modifications to higher difficulty levels to satisfy the OD testers. Switched out SS-Eclipse karaoke video with creditless video and better audio.
• 2008 June 10 - Released on Bemanistyle

Alternate banner:

Where is this series going?

I'm completely torn when it comes to Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. On one hand it's laugh after laugh after laugh. Every single episode has been a chuckle fest with one of the craziest motley crew of a cast I've seen in a long time. However, on the other hand, with each episode I keep asking myself, "where is this going" and "what is the point of all of this nonsense?" Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is random nonsensical comedy at its best. With a cast that includes a talking lion, a biological weapon, a masked shinigami, a sushi-loving jellyfish, and a loli you'd think this was anime-original episode of Hayate no Gotoku. The series is complete wackiness that works incredibly well. The absurdity and randomness shown throughout seem nonsensical, but they are written so well that it doesn't seem out of this world. Often times zany jokes can go overboard and thus lose their effect. If someone told me about a short story arc involving bipolar monkeys, floating castles, and loli kidnappings, or about a character who was an assassin chef at a Chinese restaurant, I'd watch just to see how badly it would screw up. In the case of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, it works.

What really keeps this series from completely derailing are the characters. At first, the cast really seems like it was pulled out of someone's ass. Where else would you find a brash nekomimi loli god as the main character? Nevertheless, stick all the weirdos in the same room and you've got a solid cast that compliment each others' personalities. Other than Kyouka, who is extremely eccentric to begin with, none of the characters' personalities or quirks ever seem overwhelming or excessive. Even the side characters, such as Shinigami-san or Muiyakey the pirate, flow well with each episode's general theme and play off the rest of the cast.

Yet, even with the wackiness working out, the characters remaining entertaining, and the laughs continuing, there is still lack of direction and an overarching storyline--and this is through 10 episodes. At first I thought the short 1- or 2-episode story arcs were just to introduce the characters and to get us acquainted with them. Unfortunately, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki has been nothing but unrelated short stories. As much as I enjoy the zaniness, it's hard to keep my level of interest high when there isn't anything of substance to look forward to. I was hoping the introduction of Odessa Ei and Kyouka's past would finally get a story going, but that ended abruptly after only 2 episodes. I'm still trying to stay optimistic considering I have only seen 10 episodes so far, but there has been zero mention of saving the world from the Child of Enka and the Cozy Family Operation (the story's apparent main story). Instead, it's been the adventures of the Midarezaki family.

When I first tried out Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, I was really attracted to the zaniness; however, the lack of a main story and any direction has slowly dulled my interest. Zaniness and nonsense are great, and more times than not, I welcome it, but some order and direction is needed. Cheap giggles and Kyouka goodness can only carry a series so far.