Honestly, I thought winter is gonna be full of panty shots and fanservice galore (watched Ladies x Butler and Chu-bra first :S) with a microscopic amaeba they call a story. If it turns out to be like comedy king Sora no Otoshimono then I’m all for it. Here to save the season is the third season of slife-of-life goodness, Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu (that’s “3 stars” in English). Thank goodness.
I was very impressed with the first episode. Storytelling and comedy value are *still* entertaining on top of the no-need-for-improvement-but-still-improved animation and beautiful art style. I’m one happy anime fan. I love you Shaft.
If the third season goes well, it’ll be my number 5 best anime of all time.
So far (still more shows to go this month), I recommend for your winter viewing pleasure:
- Dance in the Vampire Bund: From the first episode of this show, you already know that Shaft doesn’t like to follow things by the book. You’d appreciate it more if you watch a lot of Japanese TV coz it’s a parody of it. Won’t spoil much but I’m amazed at its life-likeness.
- Ookamikakushi: I like the mystery part of Higurashi (innocent town with dark secrets), so this is right up my alley.
- Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: Using school test results to summon beings? Now that’s something! An instant comedy hit for me. Not to mention it’s from a bestselling light novel, AND Silver Link did a great, no, superb job at animating it. Surprisingly high production value.
- EDIT: Just watched Durarara. Another recommendation, same studio and director as Baccano. Baccano had an interesting cast of characters that captured your attention upon first glance, which unfortunately Durarara doesn’t have. We’ll have to see how things go.
K-on second seas… I mean, Sora no Woto was nice, but still didn’t manage to pull me in just yet. Especially with the K-on character clones. Seriously, out of character design ideas?
Am waiting for Nodame Cantabile Finale, Hanamaru Youchien and Katanagatari.
Ok truth is, I’m just writing this post as an excuse to tell everyone how awesome Hidamari Sketch is :3 Yes I’m crazy for pastel colours and long oval heads.
Been waiting for Dance in the Vampire Bund anime as I am fan of the manga. Mina Tepes…uhmm, (*´Д`)ﾊｧﾊｧ, lol. Can’t wait to start on that series. Will give the other series mention here a go as well. Thanks for the heads up (^_^)b .
Heh heh I heard the anime has some lovely Mina “science experiment” scene, if u know what i mean *wink wink*
I’ve been watching the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series based on ur small rants about it in the past. The art is really good!
Wah nice! Shaft Studio is really good in, if a little pretentious, art direction. I LOVE their shows, but they can get really crazy and bewildering to a normal viewer, so it’s a little difficult to recommend. But Hidamari Sketch is the easiest to digest with the same quality in production value and is very pleasant to watch. Also my favourite among Shaft shows.
Are you watching Zetsubou Sensei with fansubs? Coz it’s loaded with Japanese subculture references and language puns, so it’s better to watch it with the translation notes.
Yes. I’m watching Zetsubou with fansubs. I tried searching for an official dvd release from adv and the like but none exist (maybe cos it’s a little wierd, or maybe cos it stereotypes westerners’ tendency to sue a lot haha).
Hidamari Sketch sounds promising. I might check it out later.
It’s difficult to find people who enjoy Hidamari Sketch or those who even bothered to blog about it. I’m happy to stumble upon one. ;_;