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.

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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.

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If it was one thing I look for the most, is a “wow” factor. Be it music, TV series, gameshow, movies, anything at all. I’ve been quite anal when it comes to evaluating any of the media that I just spent time consuming. Most of the time, I have to sift through the general mainstream crap, stuff that has been done, recycled ideas that have been known to sell, used only to generate profit.

This is not to say that I don’t enjoy the norm, the typical, the mainstream. It’s just that I don’t go around recommending it to people. If I want to recommend something, it has to be something that would reflect my credibility, my taste for a good piece of work.

Yes, if I were to recommend anything, it must have a “wow” factor.

The one show that truly embodied such a genetic trait, out of everything I’ve seen this year, is the one that I would recommend to you today. The title I speak of is an anime adaptation of the first book in a series of fantasy novels.

I will now explain to you why Seirei no Moribito is full of the wow factor that I speak of.
[Warning: Possible spoiler alert]

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There are two shows that I believe deserves special praise this year. It’s been a year full of moe and morbid humour, but some shows have managed to stay away from this trend and came out shining at the very top of their game. There are two of my favourites, one of which I would crown Anime of the Year 2007.

However, for its excellence and grip, I decided that the other favourite title deserves just as much and I will therefore name Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion as one of the best 2007 had to offer.

Let’s see why this show was such a magnificent run, but first let us start off with a plot synopsis. Lelouch [pronounced Lu-looch], a boy genius and a royal Britannian prince hides behind a pseudonym after a political strife killed his mother and incapacitated his sister. On a fateful day, he finds himself an opportunity to destroy the very empire that fucked his life upside-down.

Somewhere along the way, he is granted with the Geass, a special ability that allows him to hypnotise a target and make them absolutely obey his orders down to the letter. He gains control and the trust of a band of terrorists - a group of so-called ‘freedom fighters’ - and leads them as their strategist and pits them against an empire that pretty much rules 30% of the world powers.

Combined with powers of his Geass, he goes on to perform miracles that would eventually lead to a road that would topple the world’s greatest empire. That’s about it, I’m not going to say anymore at the risk of spoiling the wonderful plot.

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Small Talk:
“Perhaps men’s biggest need of all, is that we need to be needed.” - Kenny Sia

You nailed that one, bro.

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Today we’re going for another quick run through the rest of my favourites from the last few anime seasons. I think my wonderful grades owe their gratitude to some of the good shows that helped to relieve most of the stress accumulated throughout the day. Anime does these little wonders for you, actually. You should try it.

Saiunkoku Monogatari
The more enlightened among you would notice that this is another show that was carried beautifully again by Kuwashima Houko. Her magical talents aside, I have to give Saiunkoku Monogatari [lit. Tales of Saiunkoku] some well-deserved credits.

I’ve always been a fan of political drama. Twelve Kingdoms, Ghost in The Shell and Chevalier are some examples, and joining this league would be Saiunkoku. At first, I had much doubts about the show, seeing how the concept art appears to be very bishie and that the plot synopses I’ve found speaks of how a daughter of a noble is sent to be the Emperor’s Royal Escort i.e. his Imperial Highness wants to get laid.

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Throughout the previous Winter, Spring and Summer anime seasons, I have somehow managed to retain significant amounts of sanity and a good grip on reality by feeding on a healthy dose of anime every week. Art courses, extravagant as it may sound with all of its grandeur, is actually quite stressful - especially when your hours of labor and large sums of money go down the drain because a lecturer said your horrid excuse for an artwork reminded him of his pet goat which gave him fantastic blowjobs every Tuesday nights.

Now that the results are out and I was relieved to see that I didn’t have to redo any of the courses from last trimester, I can breathe a sigh of relief and continue talking freely about anime once more. After a [not so] lengthy review of some well-known classic titles, it’s time for me to recap some of the better shows from the last few kurs. Once again, since there’ll be quite a number of titles, this might take more than one blog post :D

Naruto Shippuuden
For all its shonen crap’s worth, I gotta admit - I love watching Naruto. I just don’t go around recommending it to people. Still, I have quite a lot of things to say about this show.

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