Maria-sama ga Miteru ~Haru~ ep 3 - 6
The focus is now squarely on the graduation of the senior class, including the three Roses: Yoko, Eriko, and Sei. Everyone gets to have some good emotional moments, and the Roses reflect on the past and the changes their relationship together has gone though. Although this is only the first half of the season, it feels more like the natural end of the previous season, a much more weighty event.
Ep 6 is a flashback concerning how Sei and Shimako met and became soeurs. I enjoy it when they throw in backstory like this, and it was nice to have the story told from both perspectives, so you fully understand how both Shimako and Sei felt about it.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 S2 ep 25 (Complete)
A suitably epic battle to end an epic season. I thought Ribbons' mobile suit was a bit crappy until it transformed into Ultra-Gundam, then I seriously began to worry. I think Ribbons overestimated the power of the original GN drive from the 0 Gundam. I don't think it had any special properties of it's own, it just happened to be the right one to synchronize with Exia's GN drive to make the Twin-Drive system work. Speaking of Exia, it was pretty awesome to see it repaired and fighting one last time. Kind of gives a nice sense of full circle to everything. I was also glad that Setsuna, Lyle and Allelujah survived. It would have been stupid if Setsuna bought it, since he's the one-true-Innovator and all that.
Was it my imagination, or was there a lady who looked eerily like Anew there near the end, during the Federation assembly scene? I wonder if there were other Innovators we didn't know about...
Speaking of which, I was hoping they'd clear up the loose ends about the Innovators, and I'm annoyed that they didn't. Where did they come from? Who made them? Were they ever a part of Aeolia's plan? It would have been nice to have answers to these questions.
And now we wait for the movie next year. "The Childhood of Humanity Ends..." it said. That doesn't sound too promising. And that shot of Jupiter... I wonder if the "coming dialogue" is coming sooner than anyone suspects. And I wonder if it has any connection with that Jupiter mission alluded to in the middle of Season 1... Time will tell.
Oh, an my Graham prediction totally failed. Seriously, I thought he'd show up and mess with Ribbons, but I guess there just wasn't enough room in the epic fight for him. You disappointed me Graham, shame on you. And then there's Patrick surviving and marrying Kati; that guy really is immortal. How fair is it to kill off Lockon, Tieria, Anew, and others and let a twit like him live?
Honey and Clover ep 1 - 2
The way the first episode started, I thought I was in for a quiet, introspective series. Then the insane comedy started, and I knew I was in for an entirely different show.
So far among the cast, Morita stands out the most due to his antics and overall manic behavior, although I didn't like it when he started pestering Hagu, but it's hard not to be amused by him.
The opening is also way trippy... It took a few moments to get over the shock of the shrimp cocktail reaching out to grab me.
Lovely Complex ep 11 - 13
I'm beginning to feel rather sorry for Otani, stuck in the middle of things and still unable to sort out his feelings for Koizumi. Give the guy a little bit of a break. Yes, he's pretty dense, but he just needs some time. And Haruka making a scene in the classroom didn't help at all.
Tales of the Abyss ep 1 - 3
I've never watched any kind of fantasy-game-based anime before, so this is a first for me (as far as I know). I decided to give it a try mainly due to Sangome's love of the series.
The cast of characters is diverse, as one would expect from the fantasy genre. So far Luke, the main character, is more of an annoying brat than anything else, although he does have his good points. I hope he'll do some maturing over the course of the series. He'll have to if he's going to survive, considering his sheltered life has left him completely unprepared for fighting.
And then there's Jade, whom I've heard so much about. He's a cool customer, and has some interesting powers, also a bit of mystery with several characters referring to him as Jade the Necromancer. I'm glad he's with the good guys.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ep 5 - 6
Giant mecha and hot springs: it's enough to make you wet yourself.
Anyway, thoughts about the episodes... It's a good thing Rossiu has joined the gang. Hopefully he can provide some levelheadedness to temper Kamina's gung-ho attitude. It would have been nice if the hot springs episode had been more actual episode and less recap. It's way too early in the show for that much recap.
Clannad ep 1 - 4
I'm definitely liking this series. I've seen part of Air, so it has that familiar feeling. From just these first four episodes, I like Tomoyo the most, because she can beat the crap out of people, especially Sunohara (he does his best to deserve it anyway).
Lucky Star ep 1 - 2
I've wanted to see this for some time. My previous experiences with comedies like this (Azumanga Daioh, Pani Poni Dash!) weren't all that great; I found Daioh to be bland and Dash! to be just a bit too weird. But Lucky Star occupies that nice middle road between the two and the characters are actually interesting. I particularly like Akira Kogami from the Lucky Channel segments because she switches so suddenly from enthusiastic and cute to bitter and angry. For now, I'll keep watching.
