It’s been almost three months since the floodgates of new anime series were opened. By now, most of the series are already halfway through, while some others would end rather soon at the 12th or 13th episodes. Since I’ve been watching a lot more new stuff than I did last season, I figured I’d cover more titles this time.

To lay it all down, let’s take a look at some of the more… regular shows, so to speak. In other words, shows that I didn’t have much expectations of, but went ahead and watched anyway.

Myself; Yourself
This one kid leaves his hometown and returns a couple of years later, discovering how hawt his childhood friends had grown up to be during his absence. Short of a harem, he still manages to score most of the ladies and then some. Then, there’s a mysterious aura in the air, which always seem to get distracted and sidetracked by the unfunny moments of humor.

I expected clear-cut characters, and I definitely get clear-cut characters. There’s a flat-chested hyper girl [who also does twincest], an emo long-haired heroine, a loli princess and a very busty meganekko. I was expecting a harem at first, but I guess it didn’t go that far, but ended up being somewhat of a mystery show with failed comedy moments.

I’m not going to bother burning this onto a DVD when it’s done.

Clannad
Ah yes. Yet another Eroge-turned-anime. What’s more, the fans have been screaming even louder now that the infamous Kyoto Animation is producing the anime adaptation. Don’t get me wrong, though. I totally bow before KyoAni, especially after what they did for FMP:Fumoffu and Second Raid. Awesome studio, they are.

Once again, in Clannad, its an emo guy playing the straight man surrounded by lots of pretty big-eyed girls with beautiful hair who make every self-proclaimed otaku go moe-moe all over the internets. Where have I seen this kind of male protagonist before? Let’s see, hmm…. oh, maybe Haruhi, Air, Shuffle, Nozomu Eien, [Kanon, perhaps?] and for something more recent, Myself Yourself. Go figure, eh?

All you Key lovers can say whatever you want about how awesome Clannad is and how stupid I am for not being able to see past the moe. Go ahead, ’cause I don’t give a shit. I have to say that Clannad makes a good bedtime story, though. I always fall asleep just a few minutes after the eyecatch. The OP and ED songs are such beautiful gentle lullabyes, too. The Dango Daikazoku song always makes me smile.

Gundam 00
As much as I make fun of it, I totally dig the Gundam franchise. It’s not much, but I’ve built about 6 Gunpla models and I’m looking forward to add more to my collection. I totally love the mecha design.

Unfortunately, good Gundam stories ended right at Gundam SEED. After that, it all went downhill with recycled material. Heck I was even close to categorising Gundam 00 as “Comedy”, tragic as that may sound. It has too many points you can easily make fun of - if you have enough experience with anime, that is.

However, like all previous Gundam incarnations, it comes with nice mecha and surprisingly nicer music every time. Watch it for a good time, I can assure you that much.

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The next part of the review, we’ll be talking about shows that I have had my eyes on and placed certain levels of expectation on. What are they? Check back soon!

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