There are only three series premieres left to cover in this fall anime season --
Seitokai no Ichizon: The first episode of the new season was great. It explained a lot of the back story that had only been hinted at before in the first season, and is a good quick refresher course for everyone trying to recall the situation in the anime that aired years ago. I have every confidence the story will continue as a funny and sweet combination. The male lead unapologetically desiring all four other girls on the student council as girlfriends, rather than being afraid of girls, seeing them only as sex objects, or never being able to decide who he likes most, is very refreshing. Honestly, I don't know why relationships don't all end up this way. It seems more natural for such a cool guy to get multiple girls and losers not to get any, than for everyone to pair off and jealousy to police every border. But apparently jealousy is a powerful force that reason can't seem to overcome. I don't think the problem is sexual exclusivity per se, it's more like any girl or boy who doesn't completely own the affection of their lover, will likely at some point be discarded entirely. In fact, breakups are so common these days, that even when you are the exclusive lover of your partner, you can't help but feel infinitely insecure in their affections. How much worse would it be if they've already found someone else and are already happy even without you? The odds that at any moment you'll somehow lose favor in his/her eyes and be dumped entirely, never to grace his/her side again, are simply too terrifyingly high to be allowed as a permanent relationship. In that case, forbidding multiple paramours isn't about some instinctual sexual possessiveness, but just refusing to get into what will surely be a heartbreaking relationship that will surely fail, and leave the victim alone and broken, while the victimizer still infuriatingly lives happily after ever.
What's interesting about this interpretation is if the boy truly were trustworthy, and truly could prove himself to these girls as deserving of their mutual love, then this objection could be overcome. Just imagine that a guy would have to be X cool and Y reliable for a single girl to allow him into her heart, and win her trust that the relationship will last forever, bringing all the joys of love that any boy or girl should expect in a normal, happy life. Now add on this burden of insecurity that he's not exclusively devoted to you. Can't just upping parameters X and Y answer all objections? If he is even cooler than X, and even more reliable than Y, then the excess demands could just be met by excess resources, and the relationship choice would become even again. The male lead in this series is extremely cool and extremely trustworthy, so just maybe he can pull it off. Then again, in the real world, I don't see many girls volunteering for this kind of life. They seem to be so humiliated and angry that their lover won't accept them alone as 'enough' that they want nothing more to do with the boy regardless of how trustworthy or cool he is. It's certainly a quandary. What's rational and what's observed in reality simply don't match. Maybe as religious taboos die down around the world these sorts of relationships will proliferate? Then again, maybe instincts are stronger than previously thought, and polygamy truly is impossible. Who knows? It's certainly fun to fantasize about though, and that's what Seitokai no Ichizon is for.
Aoi Sekai: This is a dumb show. The plot is stupid. The characters are shallow. And it thinks fan-service can accommodate for all other flaws and still sell. Okay, granted, High School DxD actually sold well, so maybe they're right. But if you want fan service, at least watch To Love Darkness instead, which has a good plot and good characters on top of sexual content. Don't stoop to the level of High School DxD when you don't have to!
Ebiten: I believe this show aired online previously, but only started airing on tv channels for this fall season. In any case, it's the story of a bunch of cute girls drawn in the mold of Hoshizora engaging in humorous and sexually charged content, with nary a boy in sight. I don't hate the show, but it has nothing promising to actually become interested in. There's no plot, the characters aren't very charismatic, and it's just a very flat, empty serving. If people were extremely bored, Ebiten would be better than nothing. But there's better things to do in life than watch anime on the level of Ebiten.
I'm still committed to watching all the series I had previously listed, so with the addition of Seitokai no Ichizon level 2, we have 23 decent series to watch this fall season, around twice as many as graced us in the summer season. From what I've seen so far, I'd rate them in terms of how excited I am to see each new episode, not in terms of overall quality, like so:
1. Little Busters.
2. Girls und Panzer.
3. Smile Precure.
4. Bakuman
5. Fairy Tail
6. Sword Art Online.
7. Naruto.
8. One Piece
9. Ginga E Kickoff
10. To Love ru Darkness
11. Chuunibyou
12. Hunter x Hunter
13. Shin Sekai Yori
14. Seitokai no Ichizon
15. Psycho Pass
16. Magi
17. Medaka Box
18. Robotics;Notes
19. Space Brothers
20. Btoooom
21. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
22. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojou
23. Hayate no Gotoku
In other anime news, a new season of Railgun has been announced, which is awesome. My 14th favorite series won't die so easily it seems. In Saimoe, the sisters Yuu and Kuro both won entry into the quarterfinals. Cure Peace is down, so my only favorite left is Shana, who faces a very pretty Sena tomorrow to join the top 8. The high drama continues. Who will eventually wear the crown?
The new World God Only Knows oav is out, but unfortunately hasn't been subbed by anyone. The same for the new Macross special. The Strike Witches movie will be out in blu-ray in just three days, but again there's no telling how long before someone gives it subtitles. These oav's and movies add a lot of value to an already great fall tv season, so be sure to watch them too.
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