Yaaaaaaaawn.

There’s a limited amount of time in the day, and since I tend to watch things within an hour or two of airing instead of waiting half the day for such pleasantries as subtitles or resolutions larger than my laptop’s screen, I vastly prefer to watch things more or less with the broadcast schedule. I don’t even know why anime blogs wear a badge of courage about being slow either, particularly when this season seems more rife than usual with sentiments like "I thought it would be awesome… and it was the greatest thing ever!" along with the opposite as well. It almost makes you wonder why they don’t play the lottery.

Picking on the community aside, here’s the quick list of all the shows that premiered along with a single sentence summation of my thoughts on the first episode. It’s not comprehensive nor an absolute statement of how the entire series will be, just the first thought that jumps to my mind of my lasting impression of what I’ve seen thus far. Each one is linked to my initial post on it should you want more information. I plan on covering anything with a sandwich for at least one more week, but that doesn’t mean it’ll last beyond that nor that I won’t pick up something if the second or third episode strikes my fancy. Or is just fun to write about, as a particular day is guilty of with its terrible offerings.

The only shows left to air are the noitaminA shows Guilty Crown and Un-Go on Thursday and Last Exile on Friday, neither of which are busy days at the moment. If you’ve got any input, flames, or desperate begging, go wild.

MONDAY

 Invasion!? Squid Girl 

 

Still fairly average at best, but I’ve got nothing better to do on Mondays.

You and Me.

 

Inversing the sexes isn’t an excuse for being this completely bland. Show some emotion or energy, damn it.

TUESDAY

Chihaya Full

 

Wallflower girl? Check. Popular boy that likes her? Check. Antisocial boy that opens up to only her? Check. Yawn.

Maken-ki

 

It’s actually refreshing to see some panties nowadays instead of blinding light. …And that’s the sole redeeming quality.

The Color of Lovers

 

I question the sanity of the people who made this show if they believe these people or that ‘cat’ are normal.

WEDNESDAY

Nada

THURSDAY

 Flashbacks! Flashbacks! Flashbacks! 

 

Remove all the flashbacks and daydreams, and this show would be four episodes long, two about Himari dying.

I Don’t Have Many Friends

 

Blatant pandering of the worst variety without humor or creativity to support it in any way.

 Persona 4 

   

Not a great start, but I do really like their emphasis on actual animation even if the art’s suffering a little.

FRIDAY

 Shana â…¢ 

 

An episode of retcon, recap, and arm wrestling. Hopefully not an omen for the rest of the run.

The World’s Greatest First Love… Again!

 

Sweaty shameful men. Again.

SATURDAY

Bakuman. 2

   

I hoped nobody would notice if I just ignored this. Sadly, someone did.

Ben-to

 

Two of the most irritating leads of the season and second worst abuser of stills this season.

 C³ 

 

Super stylish, but almost everything except the darker side of the story makes me cringe.

 Fate/Zero 

 

I wish UFOTable would put some effort into things besides just the art.

 Fall Seriously in Love With Me!! 

 

Needs to get back to the energy and production it showed off in its first episode to stay fun. Cliches won’t cut it.

 Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere 

 

Definitely the most colorful cast of the season, but really needs to start focusing on characters now and go somewhere.

 Working!! 

 

Really liking the change in direction for this season of it. Hopefully Inami will stay in the shadows.

Hunter x Hunter

 

The clown with the glowing penis was both the high point and the low point, and it was just in the ED.

SUNDAY

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

 

Particularly poor production for Gundam, but with new cell phone accessories for extra merchandising.

Ï• Brain

 

I’m still waiting for him to solve a puzzle that is more complicated than anything in Lufia2.

Future Diary

 

A few stills of Yuno looking crazy can’t carry minutes on end of whining and looking traumatized.

Tamayura

 

If I had to get high and stare at a show blankly for 20 minutes, it’d be this one.

Wrapup:

Monday: Squid Girl
Tuesday: The Day of Disaster
Wednesday: Bleh
Thursday: Persona 4, one or more of Penguindrum and the noitaminA stuff
Friday: Shana
Saturday: Still figuring that out…
Sunday: Maybe I’ll just make fun of Salsa Time

My main hope for this season is that Japan’s Prime Minister is caught taking the Imperial Gundam out on a drunken joyride over South Korea with a couple underaged boys and coverage of that preempts a couple Saturday shows, pushing them onto other days. Saturdays are just a mess, with every show that had a weak first episode having good second episodes and every show that had a poor first episode having a good second. At least the shows are spread out across nearly five hours. Tuesdays have the opposite issue, but I’d be lying if I said that they haven’t been quite fun to write about. We’ll see how long that lasts though. My patience’s about run out with Penguindrum’s stalling tactics too. It’s neither fun to write about nor to watch. It’s just filled space while the protagonists twiddle their thumbs, thus answering the question of whether or not its head was up its own penguindrum that I was wondering waaaaaay back when it started. Hopefully the noitaminA shows will be good, but I don’t have a great deal of faith in noitaminA, Bones, or IG.

Anyway, it’s a season. I’d be a lot happier if it was better distributed through the week, but such is life. It’s certainly already looking significantly better than last season, not that that’s a big accomplishment, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.