Great news! Ginga E Kickoff episodes 31-33 were all subtitled today. This gets the sub group completely caught up with the series itself, and adds yet another gem to the already astounding lineup in our winter anime season.
In addition to Ginga E Kickoff, everyone is well advised to rewatch Seitokai no Ichizon lv. 2 as well. Previously the resolution was pretty ratty, but now you can watch it in beautiful 1080p resolution, the way it was meant to be seen. The upgrade is enough to make the series a whole new viewing experience.
I now have no doubt that Vividred Operation is going to be great -- after all, it has docking sequences where magical girls combine like robots to form ultra-magical-girl-voltrons. This is about as cool as any story can get.
In addition, Oreshura's backstory about why our protagonist decided to become a doctor was absolutely perfect. It showed me that this story was definitely going to be great too. The almost perfect line for line reference to Dragonball Z was hilarious at the beginning of the episode too.
Chihayafuru's new characters are great additions to the series, they're feisty and have their own opinions, which are in no way inferior to the original cast's way of seeing the world. The new recruits and the old hands are already learning from each other and becoming a great team. I'm really surprised they saved such awesome moments for a second season. If these episodes had been in the first season I would have had much more respect for the series from the beginning. In any event, Chihayafuru has also become a real pleasure to watch every week.
The first episode of Haganai's second season was pretty weak, but the second episode was great, restoring my confidence in the strength of this series as well.
Fairy Tail is in the middle of a very exciting story arc, while Naruto is heading towards its climactic finish. Hunter x Hunter is always fun, as is One Piece, though there's nothing particularly special going on in their storylines right now. In contrast, Smile Pretty Cure is down to its very last episode, the climactic fight with Emperor Pierrot. In the next couple weeks we get to see the glorious conclusion to the best Pretty Cure season ever, and the start of the newest Pretty Cure Season, which is always the most exciting time to be a Pretty Cure fan, Doki Doki Pretty Cure. Doki Doki is a special season because it not only ensures another year of fantastic Pretty Cure action, but is the 10th season of the series and a milestone that marks it as the longest good series of anime ever. (A good thing I kicked Gundam out of the rankings, huh?) Since Pretty Cure doesn't have any filler, as its original content that doesn't have to follow any other source, every episode and every movie of Precure counts. Meanwhile, its competitors like Naruto and One Piece have to constantly waste time with filler seasons and all their movies are filler, which means they've been losing ground to Pretty Cure all this time.
Meanwhile Little Busters is entering its best character arcs, Kudryavka and Saigusa, while Ginga E Kickoff is approaching its final explosive world cup tournament, with just six episodes to go. Even Bakuman will reach the final exciting conclusion of its series during this winter season, a project that has taken 72 episodes to script out. Even Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is much better than it was last season.
If we looked at long running series, like Pretty Cure, Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Bakuman, Ginga E Kickoff, Little Busters, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Hunter x Hunter, if 0 is their average quality, 9 would be all nine series being at the top of their game, and -9 if all nine series were performing below expectations, I would score these long running series as presently at 6. So not only are we watching a lot of good anime these days, but the good anime we're watching is well above the quality we can regularly expect from it.
Da Capo's third season is spectacular, as always. All the girls in the series are beautiful, the backgrounds are beautiful, the opening is beautiful. There's really not more you can ask from a series, which is why I have it ranked Da Capo as a whole at #14th best ever.
AKB0048's latest episode was really moving. The look on Mimori's face when she realized she had won 10th place in the general elections was priceless. But as though locked in battle, Love Live's latest episode where the school girl trio performed their first live to a nearly empty auditorium was just as moving and inspirational. We are so incredibly lucky to be watching two idol shows in the same season, each nearly as good as Idolm@ster!
Robotics;Notes is taking an encouraging darker turn where things that actually matter are happening, instead of just repetitive boring robotics club meetings and the like. And Shin Sekai Yori!!! Not only is this series the most creative, captivating, intense experience possible, but it keeps throwing in so many dramatic left turn plot twists in you're just left at new breathless cliff hangars at the end of every episode. There's no way anyone could have predicted the rat colonies asserting themselves as free equals and developing civilization. And now suddenly we time skip to ten years later where Saki is 26? What's happened in the last ten years? I'm full of equal parts curiosity and dread. There's no series like Shin Sekai Yori. I don't even know how to classify such an original work of brilliance.
Tamako Market really is just bad. The only good thing about it is the art and animation. The same was true of Munto, and I watched it, so I'll continue watching Tamako Market. But to make up for that disappointment, there's even a new episode of Saki Achiga next week. One episode of Saki is better than all of Tamako Market anyway.
Has there ever been a better time to be an anime fan? It's truly hard to believe. We're watching 18 of the best 120 series play out right in front of us (including Puchimas from Idolm@ster), most of which (not including Puchimas from Idolm@ster) are pitching at their very highest level. There's even a helping of decent other shows like Kotoura-san and Robotics;Notes and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on the side. This season is basically twice as good as last fall's. If 2013's winter season is this good, can anyone imagine how great 2013 will be as a whole? Sailor Moon remake this summer, Ore no Immouto this spring. . .it's too much to think about all at once. Suffice to say the future is looking bright.
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