Is Everyone Enjoying March Madness?:

I know I am.  How about them Florida Gulf Coast Eagles?  For the first time in history, a 15th seed is in the sweet sixteen.  And they got there in such style!  Dunking, stealing, racing across the court, with behind the back passes and alley-oops, they looked like circus performers more than basketball players, and it simply demolished the opposition.

Indiana and Kansas both look vulnerable to upsets, but Louisville looks like an unstoppable monster.  Maybe it will come down to Louisville vs. Florida Gulf Coast in the final?  It's March Madness -- anything can happen!

Like Wichita State shocking Gonzaga, or Harvard winning in something other than academics for once in its 113 year basketball career.  The Cinderella stories are out in strength this year.

The remaining teams have all shown their worth, which will make the coming matches later this week all the more exciting.  Anyone who can win two games in a row is essentially equal at this point, the seeds don't matter anymore.  Anyone you meet is going to be a stupendous challenge to overcome.

Aside from basketball, there are other reasons to enjoy the end of March.  The new Nanoha movie has come out stateside.  It isn't as good as the original TV season it's based on, but then what is?  In terms of delivering beautiful visuals in widescreen while still saying some of the most epic lines of dialogue in anime history, this movie still has the right stuff.  In addition, with the successful release of this movie, the studio has promised us a third Nanoha movie, for the first time based on original content.  But don't worry, it won't be filler -- Nanoha was made for TV from the start and therefore isn't based off of any source it can deviate from.  Like Pretty Cure, everything it does is automatically the real deal.  Speaking of Pretty Cure, the Smile Precure movie is also out and available for viewing.  Niko is an appealing antagonist, so it's definitely worth watching.  Still, it's no match for the Suite Movie that came before it, or the god like Splash Star movie that came out long ago.  Pretty Cure makes up in quantity whatever it misses in quality, which is why already in Japan a new Pretty Cure movie is being watched, New Stage 2, which we fans abroad will have to patiently wait another six months for.

Furthermore, Sage subs has finally caught up with the Bakuman anime and has translated everything but the as-yet-unaired final episode that comes out in a few days.  The last couple episodes of Bakuman have been fantastic, as expected, tying up the story perfectly.  Be sure to catch up on this anime now that you have the chance.  Now only Ginga E Kickoff is behind schedule.  Half a loaf is better than none, right?

If the Da Capo anime isn't good enough for you, try out their visual novels instead.  They've been translated by mangagamers into English and are quite different from the storylines in the anime, much better and more thorough stories are told especially concerning the 'side characters.'  Even the third game is being translated as we speak, though only the common route is done.  That's a lot of untapped content for those who are tired of Da Capo III's pacing.

The Saki-Achiga manga is over and the anime will be following it shortly.  To start off our spring season we immediately get a new episode of Saki Achiga anime.  Then in May we get the long awaited final episode as well, making Saki Achiga a first-rate addition to our spring anime lineup.

As for Red Data Girl, the first series of the new spring season, I gave up after the first episode.  It's another story full of bad shojo tropes:  A heroine full of insecurities who wishes to change herself.  (Hint, people don't change, because personality and behavior is genetic.)  She's surrounded by impossibly good looking boys, while she herself is drawn in such a way that is totally unattractive.  Lastly, the boys treat her like crud, which just goes to show how alpha they are, thus making them all the more attractive.  It's almost a carbon clone of Amnesia or any other shojo story, all of which I hate.  It would be a shame if the story actually develops into something good later, but I'll just have to take that risk.

Shin Sekai Yori ended well.  Obviously, my ranking of #27th best anime ever is there for a reason.  Watching this series is an absolute must, and it's one of the only series to actually cover its material from beginning to end, so people can actually see what happened in animated form.  This is a very, very rare gem when talking about good anime.  (To make matters even better, the material it is sourced from is also finished, so there's seriously nothing missing left from the story.)  In a few days, Bakuman will join Shin Sekai Yori as a finished, great anime series.  I suspect the same will soon be true of AKB0048, Vividred Operation, Girls und Panzer and Love Live.  Isn't it nice?  So many series with definitive endings, all ending next week!  Unless of course all four suddenly announce sequels even though everything should be wrapped up. . .

In any case, because all four of these series are TV originals, they don't have to wait for any other source to finish before they can finish, they can tell a full story with proper pacing from beginning to end.  As such, we get a particularly heavy dose of good anime with proper endings this winter.  Maybe if they're successful, original TV anime will become more of a trend?  We can always hope.  There's nothing like unending series like Guyver or Berserk to leave a bad taste in the mouth.