Summer 2012 Anime Roundup:

The summer anime season has not been as scintillating as it should have been.  Mainly because a lot of series kept taking breaks or relying on filler, while other series just abruptly ended.  AKB0048 was fantastic, but it was obvious the plot couldn't reach a satisfying conclusion in 13 episodes.  No fear!  Just end the series on a cliffhanger and promise a second season a year from now -- job done!

Sengoku collection has had its ups and downs, but recently it's all been downs, to the point that I don't want to watch it anymore.

Meanwhile, Arcana Famiglia stopped being about a cool tournament, that never actually came to pass, and started being about boys getting in touch with their sensitive sides and opening up and discussing their problems and competing with each other for the affection of the only-attractive-girl-in-the-universe.  I had no idea the series was just a girl fantasy about being surrounded by cute guys with every possible personality type so that any girl's dream could be fulfilled.  It's the exact same plot as that awful shinshengumi show, or that more recent even more forgettable show.  I feel like I was tricked by the first couple episodes.

Meanwhile, Ginga E Kickoff took a months long break and thus avoided the summer season entirely.

Meanwhile, Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru took a weeks long break of its own.

Meanwhile, Sword Art Online and Kokoro Connect have been wildly throwing people into situations with no explanation of how they got there nor any attempt at realism, which has spoiled both of these series from what could have been something great.  Dog Days doesn't even have a plot and is too busy creating ecchi content for fans to think one up.

Even Pretty Cure has been taking breaks.  It's like the summer anime season doesn't even exist.

The only new bright spots have been Hyouka and Tari Tari, both of which continue to deliver every week.  Meanwhile, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, Yuru Yuri and Space Brothers have stayed their reliably good selves.

While the summer anime season has fallen into a pit, the Olympics have really delivered.  Team USA won olympic gold in women's soccer after a series of great games against France, Canada and Japan.  McKayla Maroney did the best vault in Olympic history, as beautiful as Carly Patterson's balance beam or Nastia Liuken's floor mat routine.  We won the team gymnastics gold and the all-around gymnastics gold in the most decisive women's gymnastics dominance in American history.  Michael Phelps made Olympic history with the most medals ever, and was matched by a gigantic army of other American swimming Olympians, most of whom broke the world record on their way to golds, without the 'shark' swimsuits that were supposedly overpowered; So much for that theory!  America's winning the medal count and the gold medal count by a wide margin, such that our victory as a nation is now in the bag.  I can't imagine how these Olympics could have gone any better.

The Olympics are coming to an end, but not to fear -- the Saimoe championship has only just begun.  The tourney begins anew August 14th, where the winner of the preliminaries now compete against just a couple other girls at a time, instead of a vast field of hundreds.  There's also great news to report, Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai is getting a second season!  Now if only Papa no Iukoto could get the same. . .  But anyway, one of my deepest anime regrets has been resolved, and it's more than enough to make up for the end of the Olympics.

Haganai isn't the only series to look forward to.  Idolmaster is releasing new episodes this October.  Code Geass has resumed.  There's new Ika Musume, new To Heart 2, and even a new Ano Hana movie headed our way.

On the subbing side, not much progress has been made, but at least Doki has completed Zero no Tsukaima's blurays.  There's even been some progress made on Yes Pretty Cure 5 and Yes Pretty Cure 5 GoGo.  The fansub community hasn't entirely abandoned its backlog, just really, really stalled about it.  I guess I should have expected it, what with the Olympics, summer vacation, and all.  Once they get back to work, we'll finally get blu-ray Suite Precure, a Fresh Precure batch, a Yes Precure batch, Nichijou bd, Shakugan no Shana bd, Idolmaster bd, etc, etc.