02.06
Not unlike a disgusting mass of countless maggots, the Clusterfuck has expanded since the spring. Evolved. It swells with decaying flesh and the thick stench of rigor mortis; anime is a horse killed long ago, one which continues to be beaten long after decomposition by Japanese studios shoveling out as many terrible comedies, fanservice extravaganzas, and lolicon incest fantasies as possible. Has the blistering heat of the summer improved things, or has the rot managed to envelop everything in its path? Find out in the first ever multi-part Anime Clusterfuck, as Dr. Insomniac, Desensitized, Avaitor, Ensatsu-ken, and yours truly each explore their own set of TV shows in separate articles! NOTE: This never actually ended up happening.
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Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!
And this scene is one of them.
I find it hard to believe that enough people liked Baka to Test to warrant a second season. And yet, here we are. All the generic characters are back to test your endurance once again, and fanservice abounds when the first episode is the obligatory beach episode! It’d be easier to list the things I liked about this episode than the ones I didn’t. The OP is pretty fun to watch and I chuckled at one or two jokes. That’s it. Most of the humor is extremely obvious and falls flat on its face, the characters are neither interesting nor appealing, and the animation seems halfhearted. For a comedy, Baka to Test 2 is boring as shit, rehashing bad jokes from other anime at every possible instance using characters that completely and utterly lack charm.
At least KyoAni’s shit actually tries. 2/10
Blood-C
This actually looks stupider in motion.
They aren’t exactly popular, and they certainly aren’t masterpieces, but I’m definitely a fan of Blood: The Last Vampire and its sister TV series, Blood+. The latter’s introduction didn’t really leave a good first impression, but it interested me enough in the universe and characters to give it a chance and continue watching. Blood-C, on the other hand, left me with no desire to check out the next episode. That isn’t to say it’s bad – because it’s not – but it certainly felt disposable and perhaps a bit immature. One thing I was disappointed about is that this is anything but the same Saya from the previous two anime. Here, she comes across as dorky instead of cool (especially in the scene where she sings), something completely reinforced by her truly awful character design.
CLAMP has definitely toned things down for this series (none of the designs are as heinous as anything in Code Geass), but it’s still pretty clear who did the character art; ergo, the only way to tell the men from the women is the presence of breasts. The school scenario plot is relatively standard (not one, but TWO guys are obviously in love with our heroine), and the action-focused nighttime stuff seems a bit underdeveloped. I must compliment Production I.G. on their animation, however, which is quite fluid and makes for a great fight scene near the end of the episode. And yes, it is bloody. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stone statue bleed that much in my entire life.
Honestly, you’d be better off watching Blood+ again. And if you’ve never seen it before, then now is as good a time as any to jump in. Take my word for it, it’s a lot of fun and certainly much better than this show. Blood-C isn’t awful, but by no means is it memorable. 5/10
The iDOLM@STER
A fair critique of this shit stain.
I’m a big fan of the mockumentary style. Man Bites Dog is one of my favorite movies of all time; it’s not just disturbing and terrifying, it’s also hilarious and witty. The iDOLM@STER is no Man Bites Dog. Hell, it’s not even Paranormal Activity. It’s fucking August Underground’s Mordum. Every minute – nay, every second – of this atrocious documentary-esque first episode is downright painful to endure. The jokes are terrible, the characters are obnoxious, and the plot is nonexistent. Really, the only thing necessary to say about this series is that it’s basically on the same level as Kiba and Umineko. It’s so horrendous that I legitimately thought about turning it off around the 12 minute mark.
Fun fact: the idols are all underage. Like, middle school underage. There’s even a scene in which one of them says, “I’m in ninth grade. Oh, and I have big boobs!” This is directly after a close-up shot of a hamster crawling down her shirt while one of the other girls comments on her bust size. Brilliant. As stated earlier, none of the characters are likable. They’re all supposed to be cute in some way, but each one is either annoying or simply retarded. The crocodile and pig are probably the cutest creatures in the show.
I hate myself for watching this, and I hate you if you like it. 1/10
Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel: Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!!
Mortified.
I’ll admit, I enjoyed the first 30 seconds of this show. The whole mafia vegetable theft thing was just stupid enough to be humorous, and I hoped that the rest of the episode would be as fun. It wasn’t. The grating voice acting and generic EVERYTHING really killed it for me, not that I even have an interest in the magical girl genre in the first place. To be fair, this show’s target audience appears to be 5-10 year old girls, and the ages of the characters seem to reflect that. While there is an overabundance of downright creepy fanservice, Twin Angel doesn’t really strike me as pedo-bait like certain other series of its ilk. This show was clearly not aimed at people my age or gender, and the ludicrous antics of the butler got a couple of shameful laughs out of me, so I can’t really say it was terrible.
This series is obviously meant for children, and in that regard, I don’t think I can give it a fair score. Since I doubt anyone under the age of 13 is reading this article, I’ll just say that you should probably avoid watching it.
Kami-sama no Memo-chou
Surely a debilitating disease.
This is certainly a strange series in more ways than one, not the least of which being the surprising level of competence displayed by JC Staff – a company known for churning out low rent work on shoestring budgets – in the art/animation department. While it blatantly copies its sense of style from shows like Durarara!!, it does so with care and, hey, at least it chose something good to take inspiration from. The high production values definitely go a long way; the OP is awesome and attention-grabbing while the soundtrack is fun enough to keep you focused.
This series follows a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) detective and her posse of weird-but-likable similarly unemployed fellows as they solve mysteries in an unconventional way. The first episode’s story stays consistently interesting throughout, and the double-length premiere (the first time I’ve ever seen an anime episode with an hour runtime!) never feels overlong or too drawn out. Unfortunately, the characters don’t fare as well as the plot or concept. Narumi seems like a good guy, but he’s too much of a pushover to carry an anime like this. Despite having a couple of fairly witty lines, Alice fucking sucks and I wanted her dead by the end of the episode. The other characters have their good points, but are kind of boring overall – I can certainly see them improving over the course of the series, though.
It definitely has potential, and I’m feeling nice today, so I’ll give Kami-sama no Memo-chou a cautious recommendation. 7.5/10
Morita-san wa Mukuchi
When you are watching anime, focus your eyes on the screen and listen properly to the audio until the episode ends.
I don’t really have anything to say about this show. The episodes are apparently shorter than many Newgrounds cartoons and… nothing actually happened. I kind of liked Mayu (the series’ titular Morita-san), since the first episode made her out to be a detached cynic incapable of feeling empathy for other humans, but according to MAL’s character description, she’s just someone who thinks too much before speaking and thus doesn’t talk often. Sounds kind of boring, actually.
There’s no real point to watching this. 3/10
Natsume Yuujinchou San
A cat of fine taste.
I was completely surprised by this show. I had never seen any of the first two seasons and what I’d heard about it didn’t make it sound like my kind of series, but it is with great joy that I deliver this verdict: Natsume Yuujinchou 3 is excellent and by far the best anime of the season. There isn’t much to dislike about this show; Takashi is a very likable protagonist, the animation clearly had a lot of effort put into it, the music is quite nice overall, and the writing is seemingly heartfelt. The plot is fairly unique; Takashi is a fairly special guy in that he can see otherworldly demons, but instead of beating the shit out of them like you’d probably expect, he actually helps them with their problems and often befriends them. He’s an all-around good guy (and has a wonderful voice actor) with an awesome guardian spirit/cat-that-turns-into-a-wolf nicknamed Nyanko. Together, they star in an anime that is as relaxing as it is enthralling – an impressive feat. I can’t recommend this show enough, and will definitely be looking into watching the first two seasons very soon.
This book of friends is one you definitely want to open. 9/10
Usagi Drop
Just wait ‘til you see who he’s talking about.
Wow. I can’t say I expected to see such a lovely show this season. I’d rather not talk about the story since I don’t want to spoil the first episode for anyone, but I must commend everybody involved in this excellent production. Daikichi is an awesome protagonist, a great guy and easy to relate to, and I feel as if – by series’ end – Rin will end up being just as likable and intriguing, if not more so. The first two and a half minutes have beautiful art and animation; it looks like a storybook come to life. Truly, one of the few disappointing things about this episode is the fact that it drops this style in favor of something more standard once the OP hits. Only time will tell if Usagi Drop stays consistent through the entirety of its run (there’s definitely potential for it to go downhill from here), but this first episode is absolutely refreshing and certainly worth a look.
Anime of such quality and vision don’t come around often. It would be a mistake to let this one pass you by. 9/10
— Foggle
Originally posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2011.