Wait… still no posts of Kaze no Shoujo? I’m suspecting that series to become one of the black sheep in this season. It’s such a pity, as there’s nothing wrong with that anime. Anyway, I’m happy, as Bokurano finally aired, and I loved it! Now that most of the important series of the spring-season have aired, the next thing to do is wait for Dennou Coil to air, which will arrive in about a month.

Lovely Complex

Short Synopsis: This anime follows two extremely energetic high-schoolkids: one very tall girl and one very short boy.
Good: Surprisingly funny.
Bad: Seems to be trying a bit too hard at times.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
You know, I expected Lovely Complex to be another slice-of-life anime that would get boring soon. Still, it’s surprisingly funny. It’s probably one of the anime with the most different kinds of facial expressions I’ve seen in a while, and I have to say that most of the time, it works quite funny. It isn’t the funniest anime of the spring-season, though (that title goes to Ooedo Rocket), and some facial expressions may be trying too hard, but especially the female lead is quite charming when she is in normal-mode. The shy boy and girl also were quite cute. I’m somehow reminded of Ouran High School Host Club, which aired during the previous season. Now let’s hope it won’t keep milking on the same jokes like Ouran did.

Lucky Star

Short Synopsis: Lucky star follows the high-school life of four rather eccentric girls.
Good: KyoAni without a cheesy romance? This can become actually interesting.
Bad: It’s ironic that out of all companies KyoAni blew all its animation-budget on the OP.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
You know, I think that KyoAni finally managed to come with an actually good show, after the disappointments of Haruhi and Kanon. It’s also quite interesting that most of the budget didn’t go in the animation, like you’d expect, but in the dialogue. This probably is the most dialogue-heavy anime of the new season, heck the only moment in which people didn’t seem to be talking with each other was the beginning of the episode, in which the main character ran for a short while. While the dialogues are about nothing at all (the ENTIRE first half is about what kinds of food the characters like), there’s some nice chemistry between the characters. The lack of a male character also makes sure that there won’t be any cheesy romance, which also is a nice plus. I’m glad to see that Kyoani finally hit the nail. Also, you have to love the ED. ^^;

Bokura no

Short Synopsis: a group of children are invited to play a game: piloting a mecha in real life.
Good: Probably too much to just list here.
Bad: None.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
oh god, the expression “save the best for last” really applies to this Spring-Season. I just love this, and to think that Dennou Coil hasn’t even aired yet. I just love how the character-designs are so generic. They really try to show you that this involves normal, everyday children, and not just the hottest girl in school, or the typical loser male. To top that, the cast is huge, and each child has a different personality and feels unique. I bet that they’ll all react to the horrible things that are about to happen in a different way, and I can’t wait to see the second episode to find out! The background music also gave a small taste of the same guy who did the music for Hi no Tori, I’m expecting it to really show up once the major climaxes start coming, as this episode was sortof one general introduction. One detail I absolutely loved is inside the control chamber of the mecha, there are a number of seats, and each of these seats is different.

Short Synopsis: Jean finally tells Cosette about Fantine’s death.
Good: Can this anime truly get any better?
Bad: How are Jean and Cosette going to outrun the police for such a long time? Oh, wait… that’s not really a bad point, is it?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10

The Fall-season of last year broke a trend I was beginning to notice: the fact that each season had at least one truly memorable series, starting from Fall 2005, which had Noein and Mushishi. Winter 2006 had Bake Neko, Spring 2006 had Simoun and The Third, and Summer 2006 had Otogi Juushi Akazukin. While the fall-season did feature some really good shows as Asatte no Houkou, Bakumatsu, Jigoku Shoujo and Red Garden, they just weren’t good enough to compare with their predecessors. I feared that this would be the same for the Winter-2007-season, but Les Miserables has proved to be an absolute delight. And that already at this point.

This episode definitely convinced me of this, as it displays the huge strength of Cosette’s character. She’s only a little girl, she gets the news that her mother, her raison d’être, died, and she doesn’t even cry! All she does is sing a small song, and even though we didn’t see any tears, that was such an incredibly sad moment.

Javert also got some more screen-time this episode, as he can’t seem to find any trace of Jean anywhere. Then he learns of the Thenardiers, and they tell him about what Jean did when he visited them. Gavroche also learns of this, returns to his old home and throws a tantrum. I’m not sure if that was the smartest thing to do, but you can’t blame the boy who wants to protect the girl who took care of him ever since he was born. To make things worse, Javert figures that Jean would flee to Paris, so he heads there as well. I couldn’t understand exactly why, though.

Short Synopsis: The true culprit is revealed. Quite a clever bastard he is.
Good: Perhaps the most clever villain up till now. Great arc.
Bad: Wouldn’t the guy try to hide his wounds as well?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10

You know what? I loved this. The previous arcs may have had their flaws, this arc was handled quite well. I have to admit, while I saw Naoto as the main suspect after the head of the school got killed, after more people started to die, Eimei started to become more suspicious. His speech also nearly convinced me of the fact that Eimei was behind everything. That is, until he died in front of Naoto. Quite nice, I haven’t been this surprised with this series since the second arc.

And that butler. I knew he was fishy, I knew he knew what the culprit was, but I never suspected him to be an actual accomplice. In the end it was he who made the most mistakes. After all, he spoke so easily, in order to put the blame on Eimei. It’s quite clear that Naoto was the mastermind behind all this, while the butler just wasn’t as good an actor as Naoto.

With this, there’ll probably be two arcs left. It’s interesting, as there won’t be any four-episode arcs anymore. That’s quite interesting, as in that way, they won’t be able to drag. I just hope that they’ll somehow go back to the brilliance of the first two arcs. It’s quite strange to see that an actual ending is in sight, and that with the series I’ve been blogging for the longest period of time. I wonder which series will finish sooner: Ayatsuri Sakon or Popolocrois.

Short Synopsis: Tadaima.
Good: A perfect moment for nostalgia.
Bad: Bad? This episode? No way. ^^
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10

Those who’ve read my entries about the latest episodes might remember my small comments about how I disliked the old characters being written out of the main plot. After this episode, there is no way for me not to fanboy. Shuurei finally has the time to relax, after she accomplished all the tasks she set out to do, and finally has the time to socialize with everyone she met in the first arcs of this anime. That was SO cute. :)

I loved Shuurei’s expression when she finds out that she can see Kouyuu again, and their reunion was just as good. The dinner-party with everyone was really sweet (I loved it when the old guy got drunk and started throwing people into the water), but the definite highlight was the reunion of Shuurei and Ryuuki. I can’t believe it’s been around twenty episodes since they had a talk between the two of them. And it looked perfectly. You could already see the positive influence Sakujun has had on her, and Ryuuki’s reaction to this was so cute.

The episode also really was nostalgic. Especially the scenes which referenced back to the first episode. Boy, I almost forgot that Sho Taishi started everything. Apparently, Shuurei’s manju still stick in his mind. I also nearly forgot that Ryuuki´s first gift to Shuurei was a twig he plucked from a tree. Great stuff, really great stuff. I’m really rooting for Ryuuki, Ran, Kouyuu, Shouka, Sho Taishi, Reishin, Kijin and all the others of the first seasons to play a more active role in the second season, which just started yesterday. Quite a good timing of We Suck-fansubs. I can’t wait till the second season. :)