Short Synopsis: Ptolemy launches into space again.
Highlights: Mostly build-up, but solid build-up.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
And so the Ptolemy is back into space again. Most of this episode was spent on building up, and a few small fight, like Tieria vs Ali al Sarshes. What especially striked me was that Tieria is turning from the most mature member of the four Gundam-pilots into he least mature one. At this point, he’s the only one who is still being driven by negative emotions as revenge: Setsuna grew up, Allelujah got rid of Hallelujah and met Marie, and Neil got replaced by Lyle, who was even more mature than himself.

On other news, my fears got confirmed in this episode by showing the male version of Nena (ugh… guys with pink hair should NEVER be allowed in anime). My guess is that there are eight innovators in total, where the final two are the new pilot recruited by A-Laws and the mysterious man or woman in the preview are the final two. The question still remains where they came from. With the original Gundam-series, this was explained by a simple genetic trait that only pops up very rarely, but with every innovator having a male and female version, you have to wonder whether Nena’s brothers were her genuine brothers, or that she simply was adopted. It’s also interesting that unlike newtypes, innovators don’t have improved physical abilities, but instead have “The Third”-like powers, of being able to hack into any machinery you’d like.

I must say that the current Autumn-season has been a really good one so far. There are lots of promising and charming titles, with a wide variety of different styles.

#25 (32) - To Aru Majutsu no Index - (7,5/10) - I originally dropped this series, but after I found out that it was going to be 25 episodes, I figured that I may have quit it a bit too easily, so I gave it a second chance. Two episodes later and I dropped it again. This just isn’t a series for me, I just can’t get to like the fights. The animation is used in the wrong way: lots of flashy graphics, but when it comes to the people involved it’s very inaccurate (when a character receives a cut, he doesn’t even flinch), and characters blurt out their life stories at the slightest opportunity they get.
#24 (23) - Junjo Romantica - (7,5/10) - The story between Misaki and Usami is going really nowhere. What the heck is up with all these implausible love triangles? This should be a series about being in a relationship, not a male harem for Misaki. The other stories have been painfully absent so far, so I fear that the second season isn’t going to be as good as the first one.
#23 (24) - Kannagi - (7,75/10) - This series sometimes is brilliant, but at others it just drowns in its own fanbase. The series’ fandom is simply annoying (getting angry because a character may not be a virgin… these people need to go outside more often), and there’s just too much fanservice. I can understand how to a fan of the series, seeing Nagi into these poses is like ‘da bomb’, but I’m not a fan yet. I’m just trying to casually enjoy this series, and the creators sometimes make it rather hard for me to do that.
#22 (6) - Gintama - (7,75/10) - Lack of subs have left me in desp… wait, wrong show. In any case, it’s been so long since the last episode that I can’t really remember what it was about, hence the low score.
#21 (16) - Tytania - (8,25/10) - It’s nothing special yet, but still Tytania has been a solid series with some nice focus on politics.
#20 (12) - ef ~ a tale of melodies - (8,25/10) - I want to thank Coalguys for giving me another reason to avoid fansubs and go with raws instead. Anyway, it’s starting to look like melodies isn’t going to be as good as memories. Everything just feels too extreme, the subtlety is lost. Why didn’t anyone call the police in Yuuko’s story? Shaft seems to be trying too hard on this series, but it can still redeem itself in its final third.
#19 (17) - Telepathy Shoujo Ran - (8,25/10) - I don’t think that there are many series where the characters are actually developed during the filler-parts. In any case, in a way I’m glad that in this month, the creators seemed to have decided to forsake the original novels completely and just went with their own stories. The mystery-stories may be a bit less complex, but the banter is consistently hilarious.
#18 (20) - Ga-Rei Zero - (8,25/10) - Well, I can now understand why the creators decided to put the climax of this series in the first two episodes, because otherwise the start of this series would have been so dull so that nobody would have stuck with it. Right now, this series is shaping up a very solid storyline, so let’s hope that in its final third, it can make the promises that it’s made in these first two episodes true.
#17 (10) - Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - (8,25/10) - The only really annoying thing about this series is Saji. Apart from that, it’s building up pretty nicely with some nice action scenes. We’ll need to wait a bit longer to see whether it actually knows what it’s doing, but so far I remain positive.
#16 (9) - Nodame Cantabile - (8,5/10) - The second season is nice and all, but comparing it to its stellar predecessor is inevitable in this case. Right now, I feel that it’s missing the magic that made the first season so much fun to watch. It’s still an enjoyable series, but it doesn’t live up to the first 23 episodes.
#15 (2) - Jigoku Shoujo - (8,5/10) - Something tells me that the creators of this series are having loads of fun, trying to come up with all the different kinds of stories. The new series isn’t as varied as the older ones, but it’s a very entertaining and thought-provoking one nonetheless.
#14 (14) - Kurozuka - (8,5/10) - Kurozuka so far has been a very solid action series without any obvious flaws. So the story could have been a bit more complex, but the air of mystery and horror keeps the series going smoothly.
#13 (8) - One Outs - (8,5/10) - After Omo’s wise words I changed the way I looked at this series. One Outs is really perfect for baseball noobs, who don’t have the patience to sit through one entire game. The pacing is much faster than I expected. And to be honest, it’s not really the baseball that has sold me on this series. I’m happy enough to see Tokuchi pwn everyone in the entire series, regardless of the content.
#12 (5) - Blade of the Immortal - (8,5/10) - Not the best month for this series, but nevertheless the Makie-arc was a great one, and especially very nicely artistically directed.
#11 (21) - Clannad - (8,5/10) - I really hope Planetarian is going to be considerably different from Key’s other works (after all, with their lack of trying out new things, there is now way that Kyoani aren’t going to adopt it at some point), because my only criticism so far is that some of the stories here seem strangely familiar: sick girl, animal turned human, etc. Nevertheless the second season has been very well told and very enjoyable.

#10 (19) - Chaos;Head - (8,5/10)

My big fear of this series would be that the harem roots would take over too much. Well, as it turns out they did. Nevertheless I’m really enjoying this series and its paranoid aspects, and it’s good for those who are looking for some convolution in their anime.

#9 (13) - Hyakko - (8,5/10)

Call me a guy with a strange taste, but I’m really enjoying this series so far. Its sense of humour is hilarious, and at the same time the few serious moments haven’t felt dull so far. There are lots of characters in this series, and the creators made optimal use of this by really making an entire classroom come alive, rather than just a group of four or five friends.

#8 (22) - Tales of the Abyss - (8,5/10)

The storyline’s getting pretty interesting at this point, and I’m starting to see what people meant by Luke and his character-development. Let’s hope it can keep this up.

#7 (18) - Shikabane Hime - (8,75/10)

Shikabane Hime has been a really entertaining series so far, with lots of exciting fights and a male lead who somehow doesn’t suck. The series has a great sense of characterization and that makes it a very engaging anime.

#6 (3) - Skip Beat - (8,75/10)

The bitch-fights of the past few episodes were nothing short of awesome. The characters continue to develop, they’re deep and well defined. This could very well be the best shoujo series of the year.

#5 (7) - Porfy no Nagai Tabi - (9/10)

Okay, so I don’t think anyone could have predicted that huge twist in the plot and the focus of this series at the start of the finale. The realism’s gone now, but it’s promising to really take the best out of the characters so far. But the definite highlight of this month was obviously the awesome Alecia-episode.

#4 (1) - Mouryou no Hako - (9/10)

This series really took a unique turn in the past month, with two entire episodes dedicated to nothing but people sitting in one room and talking. Still, I like shows like this that decide to take a little risk like that, and the series still is really solid and very intriguing, and it’s remained one of my favourites of the Autumn Season.

#3 (11) - Bonen no Xamdou - (9/10)

The hiatus was most definitely annoying, but ever since this series returned, it’s been more solid than ever.

#2 (15) - Michiko e Hatchin - (9/10)

Ignoring the very strange broadcasting policy, this series is pure gold. Both Michiko and Hatchin are wonderful characters with their own past and problems, and the situations they end up in are nothing short of a delight to watch.

#1 (4) - Casshern Sins - (9,25/10)

Okay, so this isn’t a series for those who hate fillers with passion, but nevertheless it’s turned into one of my favourite series of the past series, simply due to the huge quality of the scriptwriters. They never waste a single second in an episode and the writing in every episode is simply amazing.