Unbreakable Machine Doll continues to devolve into a pile of useless overused cliches and poorly written dialogue. In addition, the CG scenes are awful, and nowhere near to the level of Arpeggio of Blue Steel, which is just barely watchable itself. The series had a lot of potential, but it turned into something so bland, generic, and chuunibyou that I can't cover for it any longer. I'll watch for Yaya, just like I watch Kyoukai no Kanata for the visuals, but it can't be on my rankings list anymore.
In its place will stand Non Non Biyori. Silver Link is a great studio and Non Non Biyori looks gorgeous. Less the characters, who seem like simple folk that don't particularly stand out, and more the natural countryside scenery surrounding them which is just gorgeous. You can tell that what sets this story apart is its country setting, and so that's what the animators devoted all of their budget to. Create a beautiful natural world that everyone can envy and dream of living beside, and you don't need flashy characters wearing fashionable clothes anymore.
Non Non Biyori is funny, pretty, and sometimes even touching. It will serve well enough as my last ranked entry, now that Machine Doll has failed me. But I'm not sure it can hold this position once the winter season comes along and provides many more promising new series. Wake Up, Girls. Nisekoi. Sakura Trick. Who knows what fine new series await just beyond the bend? Since I barely have compiled enough shows to rank 160 of them, if there are any good shows this winter, they'll inevitably have to replace some shows in my current lineup, and Non Non Biyori (along with Gunbuster), is certainly among those most vulnerable to replacement. But for at least the next two months it can feast in the halls of anime glory alongside its more impressive brethren.
In other news, the creators of Madoka Magica are already hinting that more anime is in the works, though nothing officially has been green-lit. This is exactly according to my predictions, and what allows me to treat Madoka Magica as a 'long' series befitting of a 20th ranking instead of the 'short' series it began as.
Also, in a magazine generally devoted to anime topics, a teaser message has been delivered saying there is a new Nanoha project in the works. Since we already knew about the new Nanoha movie in the works, this is a new new anime project. What could it be? We'll have to wait and see, but I hope and pray it's Vivid. The Vivid manga is fantastic and I could think of nothing better in the franchise to animate. The Vivid manga is so good it might be better than the Nanoha we've seen so far.
Furthermore, it looks like Angel Beats is going to be a huge visual novel spanning multiple years of endless sequels. Key should just rename itself 'Angel Beats' because that's all the company will be doing for the next decade or so -- which I'm totally fine with, given that Angel Beats only needed additional size to truly become a great show. Now that they're going to give proper attention to it, there's no telling how great a visual novel it will become. Hopefully it will also see an English release, since it's an all-ages game which means nobody can object to it with their puritan nonsense.
With this many good franchises promising new content all at once, the future seems bright.
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