With the middle of the Winter Anime Season upon us, the season was mixed. There are some really great shows that I really enjoyed like Madoka Magica and Hourou Musuko. On the other hand, Gosick and Fractale left me with a weird feeling with the way the show is heading. (Image Source)
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica – 7 Episodes Seen
This has to be the most captivating show from the whole season since it redefines the magical girl genre. Typically, magical girl shows usually have a fluffy with girls beating the crap out of monsters. However, Madoka Magica is a darker and edgier since girls can actually die, wishes can backfire and etcetera. With all the bad stuff happening to Madoka’s friends, she has yet to become a magical girl, which surprised so many people including myself.
Like with any Shaft show, there are a lot of mind screw moments when the girls battle the witches. Sometimes, these scenes can be outright nightmarish. Then again, they go along with the overall feeling of the show.
Current Rating: 9.0/10
Hourou Musuko – 5 Episodes Seen
Hourou Musuko is a very touching show as it focuses on a very important topic with transgenderism. While there are some important facts missing in the adaptation, the most important part of the story I saw thus far is the genderbender play of Romeo and Juliet. The play is important to Nitori and Takatsuki since they want to be the opposite gender. Along the way, insecurities are shown, especially with Saori, which has romantic feelings for Nitori and not willing to give it up. With the deep character development of Nitori, Takatsuki and Saori, it is evident that the children are rather complex since they have important problems to deal with their lives.
As for the production values, the animation is very present and appeals to the eyes. The art style goes well with the innocent feeling of the characters and he show.
Current Rating: 9.0/10
Gosick – 6 Episodes Seen
While I enjoyed the show since Victorica is so cute, the mysteries in Gosick are somewhat disappointing. Even though the mysteries were okay (Queen Barry and Kuiaran), the way she solves them make it feel like they have no depth. Hopefully the other mysteries will improve since it’s a 24 episode series after all.
Current Rating: 8.2/10
Fractale – 5 Episodes Seen
Fractale had an interesting concept with humans plugged into technology with the underlining issues with stuff like mind control. The first three episodes were interesting with the introduction of the characters, The Lost Millennium and the Fractale System. Unfortunately, two of the most recent episodes, especially 5 because Nessa is so angry that she messes around with the airship was so lame!
I don’t think Fractale will stay on this boring path forever. They will eventually need to focus on interesting stuff like the hidden secrets of Fractale Otherwise, the viewers are going to get uninterested and stop watching the show.
Current Rating: 8.4/10
I’m with you all the way on Madoka–it’s my favorite by far for the season and I can’t wait for every new episode. My impatience levels rise with each week, haha.
Wandering Son is a series that I have yet to actually figure out if I like or not. I’m kinda stuck. I don’t dislike it, but I’m also not especially into it–I don’t remember 6th grade being that complicated. And it throws me off that they’re dealing with such major issues at that young age.
Gosick…I’m enjoying it for Victorique. The mysteries are made out of some super-intense fail. But she’s cute. So it’s okay. And Kujo is becoming more interesting as of like…episode 3 or 4, so that helps.
Fractale was making me a very happy person, and then episode 5 happened. What was that nonsense? There was absolutely nothing worth it about that episode, other than the cuteness of Nessa, and that just isn’t enough to make up for everything else.
For Gosick, people said that the most recent mystery has improved a bit, but it’s still an uphill battle to improve themselves… and considering the 24 episode run, hopefully they will get it right in the remaining episodes.
At least mysteries are being solved… unlike Milky Holmes, but yeah. :p
I agree with you there on Gosick. In my opinion, the only reason Gosick’s mysteries are a disappointment is because not much of an analysis is explored, but instead, we get to see Victorique explain the whole case as if they were nothing – no depth, no complexity.
For example, the Beheaded Motorcyclist case. How can one so confidently declare that the murderer is a blonde female, relatively smaller than the victim, simply from the fact that a suspended wire was used as the weapon? True, it would have been the more general assumption to make if you considered the stereotypical “female inferiority”, however, what if the murderer was a male, intent on a “clean” kill instead?
Additionally, Gosick needs to improve on its research and intertextuality;
The Penny Black is not a rare stamp. The total print run was 286,700 sheets with 68,808,000 stamps [6] and a substantial number of these have survived, largely because envelopes were not normally used: letters in the form of letter sheets were folded and sealed, with the stamp and the address on the obverse. If the letter was kept, the stamp survived. However, the only known complete sheets of the Penny Black are owned by the British Postal Museum.[7]
The Penny Black is readily available on the collectors’ market; a used stamp in poor condition can cost as little as £10 ($20); in 2000, a used stamp in fine condition cost about £110, an unused example about £1,600, with prices steadily rising. By contrast, a used Penny Red was £1.50.
– From Bokutachi no BLOG, originally Wikipedia.
I’m practically begging for the series to improve.