Yes, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, but I'm doing things a bit differently. Because everyone loves my screen shot spam in the chat, right?
Also, fair warning: SCREEN SHOTS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Minami-ke: Okaeri ep5
There was lots of Chiaki being her usual disgruntled yet still oddly childish self in this episode – which I, of course, enjoyed. There was even a rare shot of her being genuinely cute. But other than Chiaki and a bit of glasses and nurse moe, the episode was a bit slow. The gender swapping hijinks reappeared briefly at the end, along with Mako-chan, so the next episode could be funnier.
To Aru Majutsu no Index-tan ep1
Index-tan episodes are DVD extras that come with the actual series, in case anyone is wondering. And, as you can see, they follow in the footsteps of the Shakugan no Shana-tan DVD extras. In fact, about half the fun of this episode came from Shana-tan parodies, plus one from another J.C. Staff series. The rest was from the same style of parodying the real series in hilarious ways.
I'd almost recommend watching Shana just for the Shana-tan extras and to get the references.
To Aru Majutsu no Index ep18
It's the beginning of a new mini-arc and OMGYES moar Maika. I don't care if she's into that sort of thing, she's too cute. Since Mikoto seems to be one of the main characters this arc, I'm looking forward to seeing her hanging around.
But anyway, watching tsunderes get flustered and embarrassed never gets old. Especially when they go into deredere mode afterwards. I wonder if Index will get jealous or if she'll be too busy watching magical girl anime – featuring other characters is all well and good but Index hasn't had much screen time lately.
Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th ep5
This was another Yumi/Sachiko episode (Marimite uses the chibi style sparingly but it's awesome when it does) with pretty boy Suguru thrown in for moar drama. It had been long enough since I saw the previous seasons that I had no idea who Suguru was at first... So yes, the usual drama, Yumi devours some shameless advertising Pizza Hut pizza, more drama, Yoshino head desks, and everyone's happy. Also, Yumi is really cute when she's being teased.
Hetalia Axis Powers ep3 (web source, no screens)
So I just realized that Germany is voiced by Yasumoto Hiroki, who also voices Utu in The Tower of Druaga. He fits both roles nicely but now I keep picturing Germany in full plate mail armor. At least Italy isn't also voiced by the same guy that does Jil... The little references to real history that get worked in are amusing since I (amazingly enough) actually remember a decent amount from my high school history books. Japan showed up right at the end of the episode and I'm interested in seeing what the character will be like since the series is, obviously, produced by the Japanese. Also, Italy has made me hungry for PASTA~ so now I'm going to go cook some.
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru ep7-9
Kana and Yukari, the two little sisters (i.e. the underclassmen who attend to and are taken care of by the main character and his friend), got an episode devoted to them each with 7 and 8. Kana exudes cuteness even while sneezing so that was fine by me. That big pink ribbon is adorable and the episode happened to be centered around a dispute over it.
Ep8 was kinda meh since most of it was just Yukari being emo. Sadly, the eye catch was actually the best part of it. Considering that she doesn't get that much screen time to begin with, it was pretty lame.
Ep9 was where the "Koishiteru" part came in. (Gah, Mizuho there's not as bad as Mariya from Maria Holic, but it's still way too easy to forget he's a trap. Though if he is really a guy, why was he wearing a girl's swimsuit when he was little?) Takako, the resident tsundere, went a little more deredere – I'm pretty sure she has a thing for Mizuho even though she doesn't know he's a trap. Mariya (no relation to the one from Maria Holic), on the other hand, does know but goes a little tsuntsun – she probably has feelings for Mizuho but hasn't realized it yet. And then there's Kei, the director of the Romeo and Juliet play that they got shoehorned into, who's just scary.
Soul Eater ep33
Plenty of foreshadowing of things to come in this episode but only one thing actually happened. I guess that's better than an episode where only part of a fight happens, though – I'm all too familiar with that after having seen 171 episodes of Bleach. Apparently stuff starts going down next episode so hopefully we'll get some action instead of people just standing around looking cool.
Shugo Chara!! Doki ep69
There were so very many good things about this episode, all the way from suspicious Rima to a new ED that features a ridiculously adorable Ami. While it was mainly just another ? egg of the week episode like they have been, it prominently featured Rima, in all her beauty, and even El (aka Eru) showed up for a bit. The ? character transformation was also plenty amusing. And it reminded me that Nagihiko has still not told Amu the truth, which I am anxiously awaiting.
Kurokami the Animation ep5
The dog, Punipuni, continues to be the best part of this show, and coming in second is Excel's prettiness. Some of the fight scenes are pretty good, and Steiner is badass, but the Synchro transformation scenes (Hey! Who got their magical girl in my fantasy/action?!) make it incredibly cheesy. This is currently on the bottom of my list for the season and I might not bother finishing it if it doesn't get better.
Maria Holic ep6
Mariya was back in full force this episode along with his twin sister, Shizu, who happens to be voiced by Hirano Aya. And, as if that development wasn't enough epic win by itself, it was a physical examination episode. Though it's standard fare by now, that kicked Kanako's nose bleeds into overdrive which, along with Matsurika casually insulting her, was funny as always. And, holy crap, if you thought Mariya and Kanako going at it was hilarious, wait till you see Mariya bullying Shizu. This was definitely the best episode yet.
Minami-ke: Okaeri ep6
Yesssss, I was right. This episode was funny in all sorts of ways. Rather than the usual beach episode, we got flashbacks to a beach trip, and – what is Fujioka doing?! ... Moving along, Chiaki continues to captivate me with how she can go from being adorably cute while sleeping to weird and creepy at the drop of a hat.
Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai ep4
The series is still retreading old ground that was covered in the Munto OAVs with ep4 getting about half way through the second one's plot, I'd say. I'm not sure if it's because the TV series's script was tweaked or if it's because it's my second time hearing things (or maybe it's just a better translation), but the story seemed a little easier to follow than in the second OAV. I really hope they don't spend more than one more episode covering the OAV's plot because I'm really anxious to see where the story goes from there. In the mean time, I'll just be enjoying the pretty reanimation of the OAV's content and laughing at KyoAni having fun with the episode previews.
Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya / Nyoron Churuya-san ep1 (web source, no screens)
These mini episodes were lots of fun and weirdness, as expected, and Kadokawa releasing English subbed versions alongside the raw streams was nice. Kyon's little sister kicking the crap out of him had to be my favorite part of Haruhi-chan, and everyone having the same Kyon-face as they turned to reply to Churuya-san was amusing. I'll be looking forward to more of these.
Lovely Complex ep13-14 (Anime Club, no screens)
We're at the half way point and that means it's time for new characters! Maity was introduced in ep14 – he reminds me a lot of Hosaka from Minami-ke, only not quite so disgusting. Watching Gome spaz over him just as much as Risa was funnier than the show itself, though.
Kurenai ep1-2 (Anime Club, old screens only)
I'm glad that Kurenai was well-received by people, even if it wasn't what some were expecting. It was my favorite show of the 2008 spring season and I'm falling in love with it all over again now that I'm re-watching it. The story is somewhat interesting but it's the awesome characters that really make the show, and it was cool to see people take the same instant liking (or hating) to them that I did. And, of course, Murasaki is incredibly cute.
