GJ-bu is the Best Anime of the Season

Currently I am watching too much anime, so I did the most rational thing to do and picked up yet another series.

Turned out that GJ-bu actually is the best anime of the season.

Why Shaft is My Favorite Anime Studio

Obligatory head tilt.

To start, I want to say that I am sorry for not having updated for quite some time. I caught the flu and cannot say I was in a state to blog anything coherent. I hope you understand.

Everyone probably has their own favorite anime studio for one reason or another. Mine is Shaft, the studio that is both hated and loved for their unique approach to directing anime (thanks to Akiyuki Shinbou).

I will probably be accused of being an extremely shallow person for saying this, but this happens to be the very reason I love Shaft so much.

Psycho-Pass and a Wish for a Life with Everything on a Silver Platter

This is a personal post.

I have never had any goals in my entire life.

12 Days of Christmas 2012 #06 – Kick-Heart and the Future of Anime

This year the way anime is created has changed. The Kickstarter Kick-Heart managed to gain $201,164 (of a $150,000 goal) with 3,232 backers in total. That is an average of $62 per person!

2012 marks the year of the success of crowd-funded anime.

12 Days of Christmas 2012 #10 – Cute Boys Doing Cute Things and Boys Being Boys

Last year we had Kimi to Boku, something as unusual as a slice-of-life series about boys, and not girls, doing absolutely nothing except living their lives (or, cute boys doing cute things). With no real expectations, especially since it was done by the hit-or-miss studio J.C. Staff, it completely caught me off-guard and blew me away.

Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #03 (End) – It Goes Against Everything Eureka Seven Stood For

Note: This post contains spoilers on Eureka Seven AO and Eureka Seven. If you have not seen both of them, avoid this post.

It is okay if a sequel wants to be different from the original series.

It can have a different story, different characters or different themes.

But it should not go against everything the original series stood for, completely disregarding its message, unless there is a good reason for it.

This was the final straw for Eureka Seven AO.

In every other post I have pointed out what Eureka Seven AO did wrong on its own.

Now let me tell how you it completely ruined the ending Eureka Seven.

Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #02 – A Story That Never Really Matters, Identity Crisis and Other Things

Note: It is suggested that you watch Eureka Seven AO before reading this post, but it is not necessary. It is divided into three parts so that anyone can read it: 1. Relatively spoiler-free thoughts on the story etc.  2. Spoilers on Eureka Seven AO. 3. Spoilers on Eureka Seven. Each section is clearly marked.

This time I talk about how horrible the story and the likes are.

Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #01 – When Shallow Characters Dominate

Note: It is suggested that you watch Eureka Seven AO before reading this post, but it is not necessary. It is divided into three parts so that anyone can read it: 1. Relatively spoiler-free thoughts on the characters.  2. Spoilers on Eureka Seven AO. 3. Spoilers on Eureka Seven AO and Eureka Seven. Each section is clearly marked.

It has now been a while since Eureka Seven AO finished and I feel like it is time to share some of my thoughts on the series. I will avoid going too deep into the details since I do not remember them all, which is not that odd considering how the series introduces lots of ideas but never really does anything with them and the fact that I never really like it to begin with.

In other words, if you see some mistake, please call me out on it! When I someday re-watch it in the near future, I will go through every episode and point out the flaws. You can view this post, along with the other coming two, as scattered thoughts on what I believe the Eureka Seven AO did wrong.

To start, let us talk about how poor the characters are.

Anime on Kickstarter – Masaaki Yuasa’s “Kick-Heart” and Why You Should Help It

Do you remember my old post back in March 2012 on how I raised the question whether or not funding platforms were a possible future for anime? Prayers have been heard and anime has finally found its way onto Kickstarter.

Called Kick-Heart, it is a short animated film about a pair of pro-wrestlers which will be directed by Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Kaiba) and animated by Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Guilty Crown). Not only could this be a piece of interesting animation in itself, but more importantly, this could be the start of a new era in the anime industry.

If you are a fan of anime, I wish you head over to the Kickstarter page and donate your share to the project and help make it a reality.

Ditch the Source Material – Sword Art Online and Kokoro Connect

Untapped potential.

Now that the anime summer season of 2012 has ended, it is time to look back at a few series that aired during this time. To start, let us look at how Sword Art Online and Kokoro Connect became so much worse due to strictly following their source material.

When it comes to the most interesting anime concepts of this year, I would not hesitate to nominate both Sword Art Online and Kokoro Connect. Their concepts may not be deep or convoluted, but depending on the way they are used, it could result in rather intricate and intellectual series.

Lucky then that both series decides to do jack shit with them.