Believe it or not, summer is more than half way done. Although I haven’t watched much from the summer lineup since I went on a two-week vacation late last month, the shows that I watched were very enjoyable. Out of the show from this season’s lineup, I have watched Ikoku Meiro no Croisèe and The iDOLM@STER along with two shows from last season. (Image Source)
Ikoku Meiro no Croisèe
7 episodes seen
Croisèe is perhaps one of the best shows I am watching because of the sheer cuteness from Yune and the overall setting. While I haven’t gotten too far in Aria the Animation, the concepts are very familiar as Yune adjusts to life and experiences new things in France with every heartwarming episode. The characters are very enjoyable and well developed. Most notably, Alice drives most of the comedy with her poor understanding of the Japanese culture. In spite of that, she has been a good companion for Yune even if Claude doesn’t approve of her.
The iDOLM@STER
6 episodes seen
I know that the first Idolmaster Anime was terrible since it had absolutely nothing to do with the game and was another generic mecha anime. With this faithful adaptation of the second game, it was an enjoyable experience. In a way, watching this show actually gave me an urge to play the game. Hopefully, Namco will listen to their fans someday and release it internationally.
Even though the girls’ personalities caters mostly to the moe crowd, it was nice to see them overcome the challenges while enjoying themselves. Sure some of the moments are downright silly, but their experiences are rather touching since they are normal people like us with a goal. Producing music and coming up with dance routines is not an easy task like clicking around in AutoTune. The girls put in a considerable amount of effort to make a great performance that everyone will enjoy.
Ongoing Anime
Hanasaku Iroha (20 episodes seen) – Unlike the first half, the second was somewhat weak since Ohana takes a smaller role in the supporting characters’ arcs. While I didn’t mind the Yuina, Minko and Nako arcs, giving the spotlight to Enishi was a big mistake since his character was lacking to begin with. Hopefully with the six remaining episodes, they will focus more on Ohana, her family and of course her love interests. I just want to see her with somebody instead of being forever alone!
Nichijou (19 episodes seen) – Not much has changed from the last time I wrote about Nichijou, except the two notable scenes in Episode 19. Besides the usual craziness, “Helvetica Standard” takes weird to the next level with a man running away from a green guy saying “glasses.” Also, there was a heartwarming moment with Mio finally making the jump after her long history of being horrible at sports. Besides two scenes, the comedy in the show had definitely grown on me, mostly because of the Professor and Nano. ¶
Yep I am still following Idolmaster, Hanasaku and of course Nichijou! I will be sad to see that end here soon, ah well I had a blast reviewing it!
Yeah Idolmaster isn’t really the most deep or dramatic series yet, it does fill my “moe” needs for some of the characters I know people hate the twins but I don’t mind them I really haven’t found a character to hate xD
Hanasaku going good! Nice to see some characters getting better each week I know Nako has gone through the most changes going from quiet to more talkative.
Yes, Idolmaster is fun, but nothing too deep even though few of the scenes has some of this, in particular the recent episode. Many of the girls are rather enjoyable with some exceptions…
Its kind of surprising that the whole season or rather the year went by so quickly with Fall around the corner. Hopefully I will be able to cover a bit more summer anime next year since I won’t be going on a long vacation, but enough to keep me occupied.
I agree that Hansaku has not been as good lately in comparison to what we got in the first half. We have six episodes for Tohru to completely change his mind about Ohana and decide to like Minko instead, I wonder if that’ll actually happen! x)
It’s good to hear somebody else doesn’t mind idolm@ster. It’s a good anime that’s at least worth watching!
Compared to Mari Okada’s other works like Ano Hana, it seems that while she is responsible for the whole series, the episodes she doesn’t write are done by different writers and it kind of leaves to a lot of inconsistencies. It seems this is a sticking point for most of the shows PA Works makes, but it’s undeniable that their animation now rivals the likes to Kyoto Animation…
As for what will happen with the love ordeal, I would like to see Ohana with someone and not just be forever alone. Either way, the next episode is going to be interesting as there is a love triangle.
Ikoku Meiro no Croisèe = my favorite.
Still can not believe most these shows are almost at an end. Although, I am looking forward to Fall 2011 the most (Shana 3, Majikoi, and Maken-ki are a few shows I want to see the most).
Fall 2011 is going to be a big sequels season… While I haven’t look closely to what will be airing, I will be watching Working’!!, second season of Ika Musume and Fate/zero (only watched the first few episodes of Fate Stay/Night and it was interesting… Except the animation if course)
Now that you mention it, their are a lot of Sequels in the mix. Working and Ika Musume S2 are both on my list as well as with Fate/Zero. Fate should be actually impressive, since Gen Urobuchi (the writer for Puella Magi Madoka☆Magica) is also doing the writing for the script. The visual novels he worked on for Nitro+ are also written well.