I think that this is the first time that this ever happened ever since I started including ratings in these summaries: none of the shows I’m watching has a rating of 9/10 or above. But that’s logical since the only awesome show that continued from the past month was Hajime no Ippo, and that one had a lesser month this time. In any case, this is really typical of this season: there are no instant classics yet, but there sure are a hell of a lot with the potential to become one.

Oh, and another thing: I ended up experimenting with the rankings again. The result is that some shows with higher ratings may be ranked lower than you’d expect and vice versa. This time, I basically tried to generate the rankings for each show, compared to the others that are currently airing. Say, for example that Show A has a really good setting, and there are only a few other shows with a better setting, it’s going to rank higher than if there are many shows with excellent settings, and vice versa. Please don’t ask me in what kind of mindset I was when I thought of this system.

#41 (new) - Gokujou!! Mecha Motte Iinchou - (2/10) - The honour of ‘worst show of the season’ goes to this… thing. Congrats. I never imagined that something would end up beating Queen’s Blade in this category. Dropped.
#40 (new) - Queen’s Blade - (3,25/10) - One thing I don’t get about these series: why aren’t they just turned into a hentai-series? I mean, you get a lot more nudity that way and the show doesn’t have to pretend to have a plot or anything. In any case, this one’s obviously dropped.
#39 (new) - Cookin’ Idol Ai! Mai! Main! - (3,75/10) - In this series, the impossible happened: Hiroshi Watanabe surpassed himself. The cabbage song combined with the utterly bad acting were already bizarre, but when I looked at the staff list, everything suddenly made sense. When I thought that he couldn’t sink any lower than Shining Tears X Wind, this guy proves me wrong once again. Dropped.
#38 (new) - Metal Fight Beyblade - (6,5/10) - Stupid shounen stuff of which I don’t even remember what it was about. Dropped obviously.
#37 (new) - Hanasakeru Seishonen - (6,75/10) - The best way to describe this show is a teenaged soap gone anime. Seriously, the incredible stupidity of the bits that I saw before dropping this show are nearly unbelievable. Characters have really dull and overemotional personalities. Dropped.
#36 (new) - Jewel Pets - (7/10) - Ever since Otogi Juushi Akazukin and Power Puff Z I’ve been looking for those really charming and childish kiddie shows. The only problem is that the good ones are really hard to find! I was hoping that Jewel Pets would finally return some spark to a genre that virtually burnt out now, but alas; it showed its true colours soon enough: all of the characters lose their personality completely after their introduction episodes and become mere paper bags. Dropped.
#35 (new) - Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~ - (7/10) - That first episode had its enjoyable moments, but there is no way that I’m going to continue with this series. It just feels too much like your standard average harem. Dropped.
#34 (new) - Slap Up Party ~Arad Senki~ - (7/10) - While I appreciate the idea of an international production between Japan and Korea, there’s no denial that the writing in this show sucks. While usually Gonzo’s game adaptations have some surprise in them, Slap Up Party only consists out of a bunch of clichés struck together, and the humour really quickly gets dull. Dropped.
#33 (new) - Dragonball Kai - (7,5/10) - I sat through 270 episodes one time already, and I don’t want to do the same, even though everything’s shortened. This really is the series for those who are new to the franchise. Dropped.
#32 (new) - Hatsukoi Limited - (7,5/10) - In the end, I figured that the lead girls seemed a little too much like copy-pasted moeblobs and I don’t feel like sitting through this series to find out whether I was wrong when there are many other better comedies this season.
#31 (new) - Higepiyo - (7,5/10) - Ooh, this isn’t looking good. While it had the nice premise and the first two episodes were hilarious, it’s quickly getting dull because the creators keep overusing the food jokes. Bring in some novelty, please!
#30 (new) - Charady no Joke na Mainichi - (7,5/10) - I tried to follow this for a while, but in the end it’s just not worth the trouble of having to sit through the episode, not knowing when a joke falls flat or becomes hilarious. Out of the first fourteen episodes I watched, only two really made me laugh, and there are much better comedies this season. Dropped
#29 (30) - Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica - (7,5/10) - I pretty much agree with the general consensus of this remake: it’s definitely better than the original, but still not really worth it to watch all the way through the end. Dropped.
#28 (new) - Asura Cryin’ - (7,5/10) - There is potential, but the characters are too annoying for me to want to check whether the show can realize it. Dropped.
#27 (new) - Tears to Tiara - (7,5/10) - I’m not that interested in the next Utawarerumono. There’s much better stuff this season, so I ended up dropping this series.
#26 (36) - Hayate no Gotoku - (7,75/10) - It’s unfortunate that I can’t watch every show that airs. I know that I never really gave this series a proper chance, but at the same time there are too many other shows this season that I also want to watch. Dropped.
#25 (new) - Saki - (7,75/10) - The big problem with Saki is that I’m not yet convinced of Saki’s talent. Take Shion no Ou, for example: even though the rules of Shougi were unclear to many, you could see that Shion was pwn. Saki instead is a character who could perform a Russian Roulette eighteen times and still come out alive. Still: the characters are enjoyable to watch and because of that I haven’t dropped this series yet. But seriously, there need to be less episodes of the kind of episode four. A bit of moe is of course fine, but that was really stretching it.
#24 (new) - Souten Kouro - (7,5/10) - Madhouse’s only new show this season, and quite frankly it’s a disappointment. I’ve never been interested in the whole romance of the three kingdoms setting, and this show again doesn’t seem to convince me otherwise. Dropped
#23 (new) - K-On - (7,75/10) - Obviously, this isn’t my kind of series. I still don’t understand why the heck everyone’s drooling over Mio. For me, the characters were just way too annoying. Dropped.
#22 (23) - Gintama - (7,75/10) - Granted, it still in no way lives up to the first 100 episodes, but the new director at least is competent when he gets to the serious parts, and I have to agree that episode 108 was pretty good.
#21 (new) - Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood - (7,75/10) - The new Full Metal Alchemist isn’t perfect. Especially its idea of cropping two chapters in one episode leads to rushed episodes. But on the bright side, Ed and Al are a hell of a lot more likable than in the original series, and that has definitely potential for the future of this series.
#20 (17) - Koukaku no Regios - (8/10) - I can’t really say that Regios is getting better, but neither is it getting worse. It still has nice characters with a competent plot in an interesting setting, but as usual, nothing really stands out.
#19 (18) - Chi’s New Address - (8,25/10) - The first four episodes were a bit too serious for their own good, but after that Chi’s Sweet Home really became just as good as the first season, if not better. Especially the rate of dull episodes seems much smaller now.
#18 (new) - Valkyria Chronicles - (7,75/10) - While this show is nothing special yet, there looks to be potential for its second half. The lighter moments, especially those involving Alicia, are a bit annoying, but once the tank combat starts the show gets much better. Now let’s see whether the creators can pull this show off.
#17 (new) - Shangri-La - (8/10) - The character animation is incredibly inconsistent, yeah. Thankfully the rest of the series has enough potential to make up for it. Shangri-La at the moment is nothing special yet, but I’m intrigued by the setting, the cast is likable and you can see that it’s really using the beginning episodes to build up for something. This show can really go anywhere, but for now I’ll remain positive.
#16 (new) - Shin Mazinger Shougenki! Z-Hen - (8,25/10) - You can really count on the creator of Giant Robo to make a remake of the Mazinger series awesome. And oh, the irony: all of the giant robots of the good guys have proven to be absolutely useless so far, and instead the best action happens between the spectators. A very nice touch if I say so myself. I’m definitely going to enjoy this series.
#15 (7) - Hajime no Ippo - (8,25/10) - Just about my only complaint of Hajime no Ippo is that it suffers from the Dragonball Z syndrome. With that, I don’t mean that it has the ability to stretch five minutes into five days, but rather that once formidable side-characters become absolutely useless as soon as the lead character level up much faster than them. This month was relatively weak for this series: it was still fun (with some hilarious facial expressions), but nowhere up to the level of the first half.
#14 (new) - 07-Ghost - (8/10) - This one has been quite the solid series so far. So yeah, there are some shounen ai undertones here and there, but it’s nothing that should really distract you from viewing unless you’re a complete and utter homophobe. The characters are quite likable and it’s got lots of potential for the future.
#13 (new) - Sengoku Basara - (8,25/10) - I know I talked down on this series in my first impressions, but it looks like I’m going to have to take back those comments. Sengoku Basara is GAR, manly, exciting and has some amazing action scenes. Once you start to get the back-story a bit, the whole thing suddenly becomes much more interesting.
#12 (new) - Marie & Gali - (8,25/10) - Call me crazy, but I’m enjoying this little show. It’s fun to see especially Marie’s antics, but also all of the weird stuff and cameos that goes on, along with this show’s unique style and episodes of only five minutes proved to be quite entertaining.
#11 (19) - Kurokami the Animation - (8,25/10) - Woo! I’m glad that my prediction with this series was right: during the past month, Kurokami became significantly better when compared to the rather lacklustre first half. Now that the storyline’s evolving there are lots of nice and juicy plot twists that are actually pretty interesting to watch. Now let’s hope that the show can keep this up.

#10 (14) - Hetalia Axis Powers - (8,5/10)

Episode 14 was absolutely brilliant. It’s a really good thing to see that this series is just getting better and better. The inclusion of the rest of the cast has really been good for this show. Although I do have to say that Hetalia is at its best when it makes fun of country stereotypes, and at its worst when it’s overusing gay jokes.

#9 (new) - Konnichiwa Anne - (8,25/10)

I was a bit fearful that this series might end up a bit too dramatic, but so far there turns out to be no reason for those worries. Anne is shaping up to be an awesome character, and she especially shines when she dives off into that own world of her.

#8 (new) - Basquash! - (8,25/10)

Some of the jokes used are… immature to say the least, and yet I still find myself enjoying this series quite a lot. It’s got a great sense of fun and the chemistry of the characters is working out surprisingly well.

#7 (new) - Ristorante Paradiso - (8,25/10)

Rispara has definitely been an interesting series so far, and I especially like the detailed and fleshed out characters that stood apart right from the beginning. David Production made a good debut with this show.

#6 (new) - Natsu no Arashi - (8,5/10)

The most underrated show this season. I may have dropped this show from blogging, but that in no way means that I don’t like it. It’s good to see Shinbo finally handling a series with actually good characters. This show has some wonderful slice of life scenes, and yet at the same time there’s this theme of past versus present that keeps everything together. Also, am I the only one who likes the male lead? Sure, he takes some time getting used to, but I find him quite enjoyable.

#5 (new) - Guin Saga - (8,5/10)

Classic fantasy, and for once it’s done absolutely right. The pacing is really slow, but it’s the type of show that really easily draws you in. Just about everything in this series is big, ranging from the locations, characters, the soundtrack or the setting.

#4 (new) - Phantom - (8,75/10)

It may not be that different from Bee-Train’s usual series, but I’m biased so I don’t care. Besides, with such an excellent source material, this series is promising to be one of the top Bee-Train series. Already after four episodes we can see the awesome characterization that certainly proves lots of great stuff for the future.

#3 (new) - Pandora Hearts - (8,75/10)

I really like this series so far. The whole atmosphere that seems like a modern-day fairy tale gone really dark continuously has something interesting to offer. As a big fan of mystery-series, I really like how it just keeps bringing in new questions after answering a few. The storytelling has been really solid so far, and I actually quite like the very distinct look of the graphics. Definitely something to look out for.

#2 (new) - Cross Game - (8,75/10)

Do not get fooled by the simple character-designs, because this show really stands out as one of the best of the season so far. Already after four episodes, the show has a cast of characters in which nearly all of them (including the tiny side characters) have presence. It’s got a very subtle sense of humour, combined with great slice of life and just the right amount of drama. Definitely one of my top picks of the season.

#1 (new) - Eden of the East - (8,75/10)

Yeah, this series is really good stuff. The production values are really high and the episodes thus far have been incredibly intriguing. I can’t wait to see the rest of this thing!