Fall 2010 Anime Season Taste Test Score Card

With the taste testing of Anime coming to a close, I want to share my overall thoughts about all the Fall 2010 Anime I have tried out. Compared to last year, I tried out a total of 5 series, which is up from three shows from last year. Most of the shows mainly consisted of comedy slice of life shows, which is not shocking at all considering it’s my preference for Anime after all. ¹

MM!

Like Working!, MM! had a cast full of rather eccentric people which consisted of a masochist, a violent sadist tsundere, a person with androphobia, a sexy nurse and of course, the trap.

At first, the show felt like mixed bag since I expected that it was going to have excess amounts of fanservice and be dragged down by a rather generic tsundere. I was proven wrong with the second episode when it focused on Yuuno’s androphobia, which felt pretty deep. Of course, Yuuno’s love for animals is so cute that it causes moe nosebleeds.

After I watched the third episode, I think the show is rather enjoyable to watch and has potential of being a good sadomasochistic comedy (in a good way).

Good: Enjoyable cast and content, rather cute characters, decent animation.

Bad: Generic tsundere and horrible sounding opening theme.

Potential: 8.5/10

Ultimate Fate: Continuing

Ore No Imouto Ga Konna Ni Kawaii Wake Ga Nai

I think this will be one of the best shows in this season as long they continue what they are doing or make it even better. I think I explained it perfectly in my Ore No Imouto editorial, so no need to explain here.

Good: Realistic approach on Otaku culture, characters are rather enjoyable, good music, and great animation.

Bad: Nothing… as long they don’t drift away from the original source material

Protential: 9.0/10

Ultimate Mate: Continuing

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

There is not much to say about this one since it’s a lighthearted comedy and slice of life that involves a squid girl wanting to take over human kinds over the mistreatment of the environment. In a way, this show promotes environmentalism in such a friendly and cute way since human kind should always treat the environment with respect (unlike BP and ExxonMobil). The irony is, it promotes child labor since the sisters forces Ika to work at their food stand and be forced to wear cute outfits and have her pictures taken by Sanae… if you know what I mean.

Good: Lighthearted comedy, enjoyable characters, catchy opening.

Bad: Well, it’s promoting child labor… is that a bad thing?

Protential: 8.5/10

Ultimate Fate: Continuing

Yosuga no Sora

I have mixed feelings about this Visual Novel adaption once since it feels a bit more fanservice than the visual novel and it includes nipples. Fanservice in a drama does not work well since it distracts away from the developing drama in the story. In addition, the Motoka Nogisaka Omake at the end of the episode is so out of place that it was not even funny. Also, the masturbating maid felt so wrong that watching it felt like a guilty pleasure.

I have to admit, the story is rather decent even though it feels generic. Even so, the music and the animation looked great.

Didn’t I mention that this show has twin incest? You probably knew that already by reading the shows description.

Good: Good animation and music and decent story.

Bad: A bit more risqué compared to the visual novel if you ignore all the eroge scenes. Also, it feels a bit generic, if that is a bad thing…

Potential: 7.4/10

Ultimate Fate: Dropped at Episode 3

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

From all honestly, I really don’t know what to make out from this show. It feels like Detective Conan, except that it has 4 moeblobs. Basically, its Detective Conan on LSD and Crack. Even though I don’t expect much from the show, it’s feels like a guilty pleasure considering its cute girls doing cute things sans solving mysteries, more so than K-ON! will ever do in a life time.

After watching this, there isn’t much potential besides being a guilty pleasure. Nevertheless, I will continue to watch this show since its cute and JC Staff can’t possibly screw this up like they did with Railgun and Ookami-san…

Good: It has really cute girls to the point that it causes diabetes, catchy opening theme.

Bad: Not much story line, the animation feels like something in the early 2000s, feels clichéd and unrealistic, villains being too harsh on the children.

Potential: 6.7/10 -> 7.4/10

Ultimate Fate: Continuing

Otome Youkai Zakuro

After I watched the two episodes, it gives me the feeling that Otome Youkai Yakuro is showing every horrible aspect of Imperialism. Well, Japan would not be one of the biggest economic powers if they have not adapted some of the western ideals while maintaining their culture. However, forcing down the imperialist’s culture down someone’s throat is what makes the people in the country so hostile towards imperialists and imperialism. Zakuro is the big example of someone who does not like the westernization of her town nor the cow’s milk she is forced to drink.

Unlike the other JC Staff productions, Zakuro who is the twin tailed tsundere is not the generic ones from other popular JC Staff shows … She looks pretty cool when she confronts the spirits with her sword.

Ironically, this show is a Seinen since it was published in a Seinen magazine. However, the show is heavy on the shoujo elements from the art style and storytelling. Also, Kei Agemaki that takes on the extremely flawless man cliché in Shoujo. However, he becomes a big wuss when he encounters the spirits. Then again, there are no set criteria on what makes the show a Seinen since it’s a demographic anyways.

In the end, this show is a keeper as long JC Staff does not screw it up like the other recent shows they animated and adapted…

Good: Interesting story, good animation, and good opening song.

Bad: Nothing… but a feeling that JC Staff would screw something up.

Potential: 8.8/10

Conclusion

Overall, the Fall 2010 is shaping up to be a rather enjoyable one compared to the last season. Even though I said that this season was going to be a failure a few months back, I managed to find a good number of gems to keep me occupied and give me better perspective of the season.

So, will Fall 2010 be better than the Spring 2010 season? Well, we have to wait to see how these shows stack up in the end.

Some Notes

 ¶