Summer 09 anime season megathread

The real heart of CAA; discuss specific series, issues, and things related to anime here.

Postby minakichan » Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:22 pm

I'm not interested in anything this season.... maybe Bakemonogatari.
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Postby EricTheFred » Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:32 pm

I would say Yoku Wakeru Gendai Mahou is higher on the list for me, but in general it's too early for me to rate.

The two that have intrigued me the most so far were Bakemonogatari and Canaan. Odds are, Canaan will settle down into a typical girls-with-guns thiing, but that was a heck of a first episode, just in terms of visual impact, so I have much higher hopes for it than I once had.

But Bakemonogatari... wow. I did not get the formula gothic yawner I expected, and what I did get was fascinating. I'm hoping they keep it up.

Umineko started out well. I'm not a bit 'when they cry' fan, but I'll keep giving it a shot.

I enjoyed the first episode of Sora no Manimani, so I'll be keeping an eye on it as well.
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Postby minakichan » Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:46 pm

Hey, what 2-4 shows should I absolutely pick up from this season? I have no clue what's good; nothing seems interesting to me at all from synopses. Any recs, as the season's in full swing?

*still needs to finish K-On! and Tales of the Abyss. and watch Shangri-la and Saki despite them being so very dull*
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Postby EricTheFred » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:09 pm

I have several I am still watching to see if they hold up, but the only one I am giving a definite thumbs-up to at this point is Bakemonogatari. Interestingly, it seems to have a very short life-span on the streaming sites. Normally you don't see fansubs getting taken down so quickly on items that have not been licensed yet.

As mentioned above, Canaan had quite an eye-catching opening episode, and it may still hold up as a colorful action show, but the odds are still good that it will end up just a typical girl-with-a-gun shootout series.

Umineko (the latest 'when they cry' series) still looks good, but it hasn't truly hooked me yet. I do expect it to be better than average, at the least.

The one that has most underwhelmed me (of those I have bothered watching) is Umi Monogatari. They lost me when they started throwing in MG transformations.

The one that has most surprised me is Sora no Manimani. I can't quite put my finger on exactly why; frankly, it is a formula school-life romantic comedy. But so far, it has been done well.

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou has a lot of potential, but the jury is still out.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
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Maokun: Ninjas or Pirates? (Vikings are not a valid answer, sorry)

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Largo: "Well Ed, good to see ya. Guess I gotta beat the crap out of you now."

Jamie Hyneman: "It's just another lovely day at the bomb range. Birds are singing, rabbits are hopping about, and soon there's going to be a big explosion."
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Postby blkmage » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:00 am

Definitely, 100%, Bakemonogatari. It's clever and funny and it looks amazing. It's my favourite show of the season, beating out all the sequels and adaptations I was looking forward to. It's got a good shot at becoming one of my favourite shows ever, that is how much I love it. My sig quote is a quote from the show and the links are to one of the OPs and the ED. Yes, that is an FMA reference.

The other show that I think you might like is Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, which is about an 8.0 earthquake hitting Tokyo.

I don't know if you'll like Umineko. You mentioned that you were advised to stay away from Higurashi and at this point, I'm not sure how they'll animate some of the later episodes, which, in the game, made Higurashi look like puppies and rainbows. Of course, it's really intriguing and the story is fantastic. Personally, it was Episode 2 (of the game, so that's when episode titles become episode II-n) that drew me in

CANAAN, I think is okay. It's not AMAZING like the other shows, but I'm still expecting some crazy plot stuff to happen because it's written by Kinoko Nasu. So far, it's been action packed, but we don't know very much else.

Oh, and sequels if you're interested: Spice and Wolf II and Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
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Postby EricTheFred » Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:19 pm

blkmage (post: 1330953) wrote:My sig quote is a quote from the show

Yes, but you left in the ice. Remember, she leaves the most important ingredient out.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May He cause His face to shine upon you.
May He lift up His countenance and grant you peace.

Maokun: Ninjas or Pirates? (Vikings are not a valid answer, sorry)

EricTheFred: Vikings are always a valid answer.

Feel free to visit My Writing.com Portfolio

Largo: "Well Ed, good to see ya. Guess I gotta beat the crap out of you now."

Jamie Hyneman: "It's just another lovely day at the bomb range. Birds are singing, rabbits are hopping about, and soon there's going to be a big explosion."
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Postby blkmage » Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:30 am

And we're back for the end of the summer season to take a look back.

First up is a look at the thoughts of 2channel, the nexus of anime fans in Japan. Someone has kindly put together a spreadsheet of various statistics and metrics for each show according to 2channel and translated it. It considers both quality (at different points in the season) and popularity (actual sales, character popularity, number of threads about the show). It includes all shows that either started or finished in Summer 2009.

So, let's take a look. It's no surprise that Bakemonogatari is dominating. It's very well-written and has a stable of very popular characters. The first volume of the DVDs and BRDs came out yesterday and apparently, they're all sold out everywhere already, with Amazon JP getting more stock by the end of October.

Saki and Taishou Yakyuu Musume share the whole moe sports thing, except Saki is fairly engineered in that sense while TYM has a lot more going for it in terms of exploring society in 1920s Japan. Both are super popular and Saki characters are dominating in this year's SaiMoe, but I'm surprised that people are voting for it for quality.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei probably has much of its success for the same reasons as Bakemonogatari.

Sora no Manimani and Aoi Hana are both shows that are liked a lot by the people who watch them, but there aren't very many of them. Sora no Manimani is a fairly standard romantic comedy, in the same vein as, say, Toradora. Aoi Hana is a yuri drama/romance directed by the same guy who directed Honey and Clover and Nodame Cantabile, so I guess people who were fans of those things were looking forward to it.

Spice and Wolf 2 is fairly solid, although I suspect its slip in rankings is because it's not a very Japanese show, nor is it overflowing with moe characters, although at times, Horo can give them a run.

Haruhi dominated the discussions for reasons that should be very obvious if you've been following it.

GA and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 were fairly big surprises. I don't think I expected another 4-koma show to be that great and I wasn't expecting big things from TM 8.0 during the first few episodes. It was likely the twist that turned it around for a lot of people.

Hayate 2nd season, FMA, Umineko, and CANAAN are all shows that got huge amounts of buzz but seem to be failing to live up to it. People really like Hayate characters, as they are the ones who seem to be standing toe-to-toe with the Saki and K-ON! contingents in SaiMoe. I suspect FMA is failing because of fatigue or people aren't happy with the cuts they've made. Umineko is definitely because people aren't happy with the pacing and cuts and general Deen quality. CANAAN likely wasn't what a lot of people expected, likely carrying preconceptions from 428 or general Kinoku Nasu writing.
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Postby CrimsonRyu17 » Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:52 am

That's pretty cool. Thanks for posting this.

I'm just glad to see CANAAN up there as I thoroughly enjoyed it and it could get a second run. It didn't do too bad.

A huzzah for Spice and Wolf.

Pffbbbt, at Pandora Hearts down thar. Good. I hope Xebec never touches it again.

I'm surprised to see FMA below CANAAN. Well, not too surprised, since people are probably over it by now like I am.
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Postby blkmage » Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:12 am

Since I never miss a chance to sing Bakemonogatari's praise, here are the DVD sales numbers from last week.
*1, 52,815 52,815 Gintama - Shiroyasha Koutan
*2, 22,133 22,133 Bleach - Fade to Black: Kimi no Na wo Yobu Limited Edition
*3, 15,932 15,932 Bleach - Fade to Black: Kimi no Na wo Yobu Normal Edition
*4, 15,513 15,513 Bakemonogatari vol.1 Limited Edition DVD
*5, *9,857 *9,857 Kuroshitsuji vol.9 Limited Edition
*6, *8,507 *8,507 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.2 DVD
*7, *5,585 *5,585 Black★Rock Shooter -Pilot Edition
*8, *4,859 22,031 Hetalia Axis Powers vol.4 Limited Edition
*9, **,*** **,*** Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei vol.1 Limited Edition
10, **,*** **,*** The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 Endless Eight I & II Limited Edition
11, **,*** **,*** Higashi no Eden vol.3
12, **,*** **,*** Gake no Ue no Ponyo
13, **,*** **,*** Prince of Tennis: Another Story ~Messages From Past and Future~ vol.2
14, **,*** **,*** 07-Ghost vol.3 Limited Edition
15, **,*** **,*** Guin Saga vol.3 Limited Edition
16, **,*** **,*** Pandora Hearts vol.3
17, **,*** **,*** Tales of the Abyss vol.8
18, **,*** **,*** Natsu no Arashi! vol.4 Limited Edition
19, **,*** **,*** Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.4

Not bad, but not that impressive.

Oh wait, those are just DVD sales numbers. What about BURUU-REI?
*1, 29,000 Bakemonogatari vol.1 Limited Edition
*2, *6,000 Black★Rock Shooter -Pilot Edition
*3, *4,000 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.2
*4, *4,000 Darker than BLACK - Kuro no Keiyakusha Blu-ray BOX
*5, *4,000 Higashi no Eden vol.3

A lot more impressive. Combining the two figures puts Bakemonogatari's first week at second, behind that Gintama OVA. So, 15.5k DVDs + 29k BRDs = 44.5k copies total making it the highest first week numbers for a show in 2009. For comparison, K-ON! vol. 1 had 8k DVDs + 33k BRDs = 41k copies. Also, it seems to be sold out everywhere. According to another forum I go to, the numbers are also comparable with the most popular Gundam shows and bigger than, say, any KyoAni show.
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Postby CrimsonRyu17 » Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:07 am

Hahaha, a 10 minute trailer of an imaginary Gintama movie hitting numbah 1.

Higashi no Eden is doing alright, not bad, but not all that good either. Hrm. Die, Pandora Hearts, die, die, die, die, die. Never let Xebec pick you up again.

Bakemonogatari's success is a bit overwhelming. Now that it's all out, heck, I'll give it a go to see what all the buzz is about. Especally since there's nothing out this season.
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Postby blkmage » Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:05 pm

CrimsonRyu17 (post: 1349536) wrote:Bakemonogatari's success is a bit overwhelming. Now that it's all out, heck, I'll give it a go to see what all the buzz is about. Especally since there's nothing out this season.

[SIZE="7"]YES[/SIZE], please do so and tell us how great you think it is and eventually tell other people about how great it is.

Also it's not all quite out yet. There are three more episodes to conclude the final arc of the story to be webcast since it ran longer than one cour. Fortunately, episode 12 was a fairly satisfactory point at which to leave the story for a bit while they get the rest of the episodes out.

staple stable [color="Blue"][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[/color]
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Postby Maokun » Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:19 pm

blkmage (post: 1310179) wrote:Summer Wars: It's not listed, since it's a movie, and because of that, we won't get subs for a while, but this is getting released in theatres in the summer. I didn't understand the trailer, but it looks great and it's from the creators of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I'll bet you're interested now, eh?


Heavens yes. DO WANT. Moar info on this?
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Postby blkmage » Sat Oct 10, 2009 3:18 pm

Maokun (post: 1349652) wrote:Heavens yes. DO WANT. Moar info on this?


It was in theatres from August 1. No DVD date listed yet, so we won't be seeing it over here any time soon.
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