Day 8: Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

Good ol’ Sunrise. Aeroblip can tell you how much shit I’ve said about Sunrise in the past. Outside of Cowboy Bebop, I can’t say there really has been a Sunrise show I have really liked. Although I never wrote off Sunrise because of that. I would always find one Sunrise show from each season and watch it, just to see if my opinions on the studio ever changed. And for a while, they didn’t. Just one mediocre show after another. Until Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou aired this year. This show had me rolling the entire twelve episodes. From the literary girl to looking up girls skirts to High School Girls are Funky, this show may be the best comedy we’ve seen in years. Daily Lives of High School Boys has renewed my faith in Sunrise. This may actually persuade me to watch Gintama. That is, if I can bring myself to watch a 200+ episode series. So that’s it. I just wanted to let you all know that Daily Lives of High School Boys is one of the best shows of the year. The reason this post is so short is thanks to the Steam Winter sale. Fuck you Gabe Newell and your amazing deals.  I’m actually writing this post off McDonald’s wifi because I have sold all my belongings to fund all the games I’ve been buying these past two days. I’ll do my best to think of something better in my next 12 Days post.

Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Chihayafuru (season finale)	Madhouse	25	2
2	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou (season finale)	Sunrise	12	–
3	Ano Natsu de Matteru (season finale)	J.C. Staff	12	2
4	Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi (season finale)	Brains Base	13	5
5	Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku	Satelight	13	1

On the cusp: Persona 4: The Animation, Mirai Nikki, Amagami SS+

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

We finally reached the end of the Winter 2012 season. I am disappointed to see some shows end, but others really just want to move on into the Spring season.

This season was quite underwhelming. I followed the most currently airing anime series I’ve watched in 2 years, yet felt the least satisfied in that time. Most of the highlights were actually lowlights from the likes of Guilty Crown, BRS, and Another, or the low-hanging fruit of Aquarion and Nise. Far and away the most consistently performing anime was Chihayafuru, which in my mind went unchallenged all season, except for that 3 week stink by Thermae Romae. The sooner we get this season behind us, the better.

kaidan1364 (The Nihon Review)

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Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	11	2
2	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	11	2
3	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	24	1
4	Mirai Nikki	Asread	22	4
5	Guilty Crown (season finale)	Production I.G.	22	23

On the cusp: Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku, Another, Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi, Rinne no Lagrange

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

Well, the unthinkable happened. In what was evidently the greatest season finale of all time, Guilty Crown was catapulted onto the Anime Power Rankings this week, vaulting over 23 anime to edge into the top 5. I can only imagine the epic scale, grand conclusion, and satisfying resolution that viewers were showered with — an awe inspiring rain of glory that redeems the series as a whole. It’s a shame that Guilty Crown won’t be with us any more, since it seems to be just hitting its stride, right?

Finale of Guilty Crown brought much joy for various reasons – mostly the fact that it’s finally over, but I will miss spending half my week taking the piss out of it.

Caraniel (Caraniel’s Ramblings)

The fact that Guilty Crown going to 5th implies that it rose 23 spots should give you an idea how well the show has been doing this season. I highly doubt many people can even name 23 shows that are airing this season (26 different anime received votes this week). In fact, it has not even gotten a single point in the past two weeks (A property shared only by Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!, Sengoku Paradise Kiwami, Recorder to Randoseru, and Shakugan no Shana III). Truly, this is a heartfelt underdog story of a scrappy anime that was written off early by everyone, but believed in itself and came back in the end to win over all our hearts. It’s like Rudy, but infinitely more facepalm. (more…)

Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Nisemonogatari (season finale)	SHAFT	11	–
2	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	23	2
3	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	10	1
4	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	10	1
5	Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku	Satelight	11	–

On the cusp: Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Mirai Nikki, Another

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

While Nisemonogatari was certainly one of the most hotly debated series, I have to admit that this sequel did not live up to its predecessor’s strong reputation, Bakemonogatari. Nisemonogatari seemed to play around more with erotic scenes, and the characters that we know and love from Bakemonogatari played minor roles in this season. But the animation, dialogue, and visual quality were still on par and strong, and I did enjoy it nevertheless. 

Ephemeral Dreamer (Ephemeral Dreams)

Usually, I try to refrain from making any personal opinions about the results of the Anime Power Rankings. After all, the results are an accumulation of what the community has to say about anime, and the collective opinions on shows. However, I do have something to say about this week. In my opinion, the Anime Power Rankings came within the margin of one ballot of making the biggest mistake of its existence. Nisemonogatari scraped by Chihayafuru by a mere 3 points to take the first spot this week. In my own opinion, I believe the finale of Nisemonogatari is nearly perfect. I could not have asked for a better, more poignant balance from an episode of -monogatari. It’s everything that I initially expected from Nisemonogatari: crisp dialogue juxtaposed with an absurdly bloody action scene, simple and effective characters, non-black-and-white conflicts, and Araragi standing up for his shit. I think I’m in the minority from my brief dialogue with other viewers, but I freaking loved the ending. Excuse me as I go be giddy in the corner.

Also, Lerxst from Anime Afterlife Podcast won Power Rankings bingo for the second time this season. Lucky bastard

Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Nisemonogatari	SHAFT	10	2
2	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	9	–
3	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	9	1
4	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	22	3
5	Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku	Satelight	10	–

On the cusp: Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi, Persona 4: the Animation, Aquarion Evol, Hunter x Hunter

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

I was so certain that I would put Nisemonogatari as 4th or 5th after before I watched episode 10, seeing how much I was disappointed of episode 9, but NO, they had to make it good. For example, we finally know why Tsukihi is a phoenix, how the 2 new characters introduced last episode was important to Tsukihi’s arc. Yes, the part where Koyomi stripped Tsukihi is still scandalous, but heck, it was less sketchy than what happened with the toothbrush, and that IT ACTUALLY HAD AN IMPORTANCE. Well, I guess since this is the second last episode, they had to actually start the main story…only to wrap it up next episode…

FNZNA (Fnzna’s Side Dish)

Nisemonogatari returns to 1st this week after an eventful episode where shit colloquially got real. The “Tsukihi Phoenix” arc kicked into high gear as we are familiarized with the conflict and the nature of the beast. I’m excited for the finale this episode sets up.

Ano Natsu de Matteru stays at 2nd place this week, solidifying its place high on the rankings and proving that it’s a show definitely worth watching this season, as Aeroblip constantly tells me.

What I liked about this week’s episode of Ano Natsu was that it started working towards a resolution earlier than I expected it would. I know a lot of people think the main couple aren’t very interesting, but the fact that they’re actually getting together is rather surprising. I’m very curious where this is going to lead and what the last few episodes will be dealing with.

Yerocha (Shades of Grey)

As the season winds to a close, several shows are approaching their finale. Notably, Nisemonogatari ends next week, and Chihayafuru ends in two weeks, along with Another, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, and Rinne no Lagrange.

Now that we’re almost approaching to the near end, I’m so enjoying Chihayafuru because it knows how to create some sense of urgency for you to really love and remember the show. The music background as the Karuta competition commence suits very well with the atmosphere and the intensity of the game. More importantly, with every episode the characters grow in you.

SnippetTee (Lemmas and Submodalities)

Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	21	2
2	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	8	2
3	Nisemonogatari	SHAFT	9	2
4	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	8	2
5	Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku	Satelight	9	1

On the cusp: Mirai Nikki, Persona 4: The Animation, Aquarion Evol, Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

Well, that was unexpected. Nisemonogatari‘s perfect season ends this week, with Chihayafuru taking the top spot. I’m not going to pretend to be caught up with the show — I honestly have no idea what happened this episode — so I will defer to a pair of voters on this matter: Hanners and psgels. What I do know is that Chihayafuru is solid and entertaining, from the 4 episodes I’ve completed. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to catch up by the time the party’s over, but according to processr, “It’s bloody good.”

Ano Natsu de Matteru has the potential to be my favorite show of the season. This show doesn’t have impressive visuals, hilarious slapstick comedy, ridiculous action scenes, or toothbrushes. In fact, many viewers complained early on about its blandness and lack of originality. However, I praise this show so much because of its excellent pacing and execution. The show has done a fine job developing our main characters and their respective romantic relationships. There’s a sense of plot advancement in each episode, as tensions rise and drama builds.

Episode 8 continues this development as the stakes are raised. While we witness Kaito’s resolve for the one he loves, we again see Ichika’s fears becoming reality. While we still don’t know the details exactly, we can certainly expect to see some revelations in the near future. In addition, we have other potential relationships developing between our other three characters. Given the sudden shift in atmosphere, we definitely sense a change in tone in upcoming episodes. Despite the blatant abuse of plot devices, this show is an enjoyable ride, which hopefully will soon become an emotional roller-coaster that can bring me to tears.

Aeroblip (Desu ex Machina)

Despite introducing some new characters, Nisemonogatari got into some trouble this week. I personally enjoyed the episode, but even I can see the issues with pacing people can have.

I’m putting this week’s Nisemonogatari 4th is because I’m starting to feel that the whole series is starting to drag. Yes, the dialogue is still witty and at times funny, and we are seeing some development this episode, but there is something inherently wrong not only for Tsukihi to be of little of importance in the past few episodes, but also for her to even not appear in this episode, when we are in her arc. This added with the totally scandalous toothbrush scene from last episode, I’m staring to feel annoyed at this series. Maybe by the end of the series, I would look back and see how important these things are, but for now, I’m starting to feel disheartened at what is happening to this once excellent-now-good -monogatari anime series.

FNZNA (FNZNA’s Anime Blog)

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Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Nisemonogatari	SHAFT	8	–
2	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	7	4
3	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	20	1
4	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	7	–
5	Aquarion Evol	Satelight	8	4

On the cusp: Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku, Mirai Nikki, Another, Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

This has been quite the week for anime episodes, particularly ones named Nisemonogatari. This week’s surreal blend of dental hygiene and incest ecchi fanservice polarized its audience. Some viewers embracing the creativity and humor while others, already frustrated with the pacing of the anime, decried it as vapid filler.

You know, with only three episodes left of Nisemonogatari, one could wonder how the heck things will progress as Shaft wasted an enitre episode on awkward and off-putting incest tooth brushing. So far, Nisemonogatari has been far from bad, as expected from its creators. But it doesn’t live up to its predecessor, Bakemonogatari, due two simply two reasons, reasons all of you probably have heard already.

1. Nonsense talk and pacing
Yes, I know, Bakemonogatari was full of this nonsense talk too, I won’t deny it. But it never got in the way of telling a story, except maybe in the longest arc, Tsubasa Cat. It also shed some lights on the characters which made the already funny and witty dialogue even better. But best of all, since the arcs were so short and focused, it didn’t feel out of place. As I said, it never got in the way of telling a story. The pacing was great.

With Nisemonogatari, however, this nonsense talk becomes a problem. There are only two arcs, the first one lasted seven episodes, and the pacing quickly becomes an issue. The first two episodes are spent on nothing at all besides introducing the cast and even after that, nothing really happens storywise. It grew a bit stale and the feeling of a conflict never existed. Instead, it was talk talk talk talk that did nothing for me at least. Sure, it was a pleasure as always, but it just felt in the way. And when the first arc ended, there were only going to be four episodes left to the last arc. What happened? Nothing, except tooth brushing.

It really feels like the pacing is off and I wonder if not this last arc will feel very “choppy”. Speaking of which, I even felt the first arc was choppy. Tsubasa just appeared out of nowhere and whatnot. There wasn’t a proper explanation of anything, I thought. Maybe that was just me, maybe it is like that in the novels too or maybe it was bad pacing (and direction). And the reason I believe is nonsense talk that got in the way.

2. Fanservice
Once again, Bakemonogatari had this too. But this much? Far from it. I don’t even need to delve into this further I believe. Nisemonogatari is full of fanservice which is really disturbing sometimes and ruins the “cool” atmosphere Bakemonogatari mostly had (luckily, this was not the case with episode seven). This week’s episode, number eight, had the tooth brushing scene. Dangit.

But it is very well-presented and sometimes very tasteful in comparison to many other series. That is always a plus.

Marow (Anime Viking)

But on the other end, some viewers gave this week’s Nisemonogatari glowing reviews.

Nisemonogatari has done something I never thought possible. It has taken teeth brushing, an activity that’s sole purpose is to clean, and turned it into the dirtiest thing I do every morning. Every time I brush my teeth from now on, I will only think of Koyomi straddling Karen with a toothbrush in her mouth. I don’t think I’ll even be able to go to the dentist anymore without the thought of my dentist trying to molest me as he tells me I need to floss better. Having said that, I still enjoyed every damn minute of this latest Nisemonogatari. How Shinbou and Shaft get away with stuff like this I will never know. Nor do I really care either. The main problem I saw with this latest episode is that this is the start of the Tsukihi arc, yet it was all about Karen with Tsukihi being in the episode for less than five minutes. Maybe next episode we’ll see Koyomi straddle Tsukihi as he tries to clean out her ears, like a better version of that weird scene from Hen Zemi.

Lerxst (Anime Afterlife Podcast)

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou makes a return to the top 5, jumping to 2nd place this week. I think I speak for everyone when I say that the Literary Girl segment was pure hilarity. (more…)

Hello, everyone. Thank you for following our humble podcasting project at Desu ex Machina. For this week’s episode, we finally thought of a name! From now on, this is known as the Friday Anime Podcast, or FAP for short. After a lot of thinking, we decided that it would be more useful to actually post this on Fridays, so that the name makes sense and so the discussion is more up to date about weekend anime. Lessons learned. Anyway, enjoy this week’s episode, featuring Scamp from The Cart Driver as a special guest!

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Index:

Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Nisemonogatari	SHAFT	6	–
2	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	5	–
3	Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku	Satelight	6	–
4	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	5	1
5	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	18	1

On the cusp: Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi, Mirai Nikki, Another, Persona 4: The Animation

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

This week’s results were more or less the same as last week’s, except with Chihayafuru and Ano Natsu de Matteru switching places. I’m going to come out and just say that this isn’t the most captivating season on record. However, Nisemonogatari has been steadily progressing and impressing viewers. Even former naysayers are being converted!

 As much as it pains me to do so, Nisemonogatari gets my top spot this week. For half a season I’ve been wondering what on earth everyone sees in it, but this week I finally got it. The presentation, the style, the headtilts… It all clicked for me. Close on its tails was NatsuMachi, which continues to surprise – I expected childish comedy and cheesy melodrama, but in reality it’s rather more sophisticated than that. Chihayafuru was solid this week, and we finally got to see more of the other club members playing karuta! My main complaint with the Omi Jingu arc was that we saw far too little of Taichi, Porky, Desktomu and Kana, so to see them all playing against each other was fantastic. Nichibros was good, but unfortunately that’s all I can remember of it because I watched it blind drunk.

processr (Anipulse)

Not really much else to say about this week. It was a bit underwhelming, to be totally honest. Also, some people have told me that Rinne no Lagrange releases pretty close to the deadline for submitting your ballots (sometime late Sunday afternoon in America). Please notice that the episode numbers indicate you should vote for last week’s episode. I cut off the week on Saturday so these situations are easier to deal with.

Rank	Anime	Studio	Episode	Change
1	Nisemonogatari	SHAFT	5	–
2	Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou	Sunrise	4	1
3	Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku	Satelight	5	4
4	Chihayafuru	Madhouse	17	17
5	Ano Natsu de Matteru	J.C. Staff	4	–

On the cusp: Aquarion Evol, Rinne no Lagrange, Persona 4: The Animation, Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi

Last week’s results, about the Anime Power Rankings

Sorry for the late results this week due to Super Bowl Sunday. I hope everyone had a great weekend, especially you Giants fans. Chihayafuru climbed up 17 spots this week thanks to a pretty useful trick: not airing a recap episode. Besides that, Aquarion Evol reaches 6th place for the first time, as Natsume Yuujinchou slides off. Black Rock Shooter debuts at a disappointing 16th.

Nisemonogatari has finally finished with the character re-introductions and is moving along with the story. The conversation between Karen and Kaiki gives us more insight into what exactly is going on and shows that the series can be good without as much fanservice.

Nopy (Nopy’s Blog)

One of the appealing factors in this week’s episode of Nisemonogatari is how well it sells Kaiki to us. Usually, absolute villains don’t go over well because they are “uncreative”,  but Kaiki is convincing and compelling. It’s rational after all, life kinda does suck without money. Even Karen hesitated to declare his viewpoint “wrong”. He’s so engrossed with enriching himself that he takes money out of a middle-schooler’s wallet — even the spare change. That’s dastardly! (more…)