Steins;Gate – 22, Usagi Drop – 9, Dantalian no Shoka – 8

Back from vacation meaning a full week of anime to catch up on.  And since I’m already days late on all my weekly posts, I’ll borrow a format that has worked so well for tomphile over at Ani-Philes and combine this week’s shows into one post.  Hope you’re enjoying all of these shows as much as I am!

Summer 2011 – Week 8 – Short Thoughts

No.6 reminds me of something else every time I watch it.  Why was this week the best of Idolmaster and the worst of Ikoku Meiro no Croisé?  And am I changing my opinon on a character from Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu II after one episode?  All these and other short thoughts on fifteen current anime are all below.

Dantalian no Shoka – 7

My interest in Dantalian no Shoka is disappearing.  While the episodes are still entertaining and have well written dialogue and content, the complete absence of a central story has carefully gnawed away at my fascination and patience with this series leaving me dissatisfied with the series overall.  Like every other anime, it needs a strong backbone to provide the series structure and direction.  But Dantalian no Shoka has no such foundation to base the series off of and this missing piece is a blatant weakness.  Presently, the entire series is a string of random, yet exciting events with no clear progression or development between them.  I am almost reaching the point where I’ll finish each episode and ask myself, “So what?”

Summer 2011 – Week 7 – Short Thoughts

Problems with the tension in Kamisama Dolls?  Is Blood-C finally becoming a good or interesting anime?  And what would No.6 be like without certain elements of its story?  This and other short thoughts on fifteen current anime are all below (although this is several days late, so some of these shows are from last week.  Sorry!).

Dantalian no Shoka – 6

Well, that was unexpected.

Dantalian no Shoka continues to evade any form of established story in favor of darting between various storylines with minimal overlap.  And with the entire episode lacking our normal heroes, or any character from any previous episode, it seemed like another random episode with no connection to any previous content.  But that might be wrong in the long run.  The sixth episode of Dantalin no Shoka did provide a chance to introduce two other sets of keykeepers and libraries allowing us the chance to discover who will be playing the roles of good, neutral, and evil in perhaps the eventual story of this anime.

Summer 2011 – Mid-Season Review

We’re roughly at the half-way point in most of this Summer’s anime, so let’s take a moment to reflect on how the first half of this season has been.  I’ve been following 10 shows that started this season (not counting the 3-4 minute shows either) and have continued with 5 from the Spring meaning this will be a rather enormous review.  But to begin, some thoughts on how the entire season has done including a common complaint across the board.

Dantalian no Shoka – 5

There is no mandate that requires Dantalian no Shoka to take place in the English countryside in the early part of the past century.  A story such as this could survive easily in any setting, from modern, urban Japan, to medieval kingdoms, to a futuristic digital realm and anything else that lies within the limits of imagination.  Dantalian no Shoka has quite a distinctive setting within the current anime community in that there are very few that share any similarities, and its removal from the norm has been a breath of fresh air for those who are exhausted of teenagers in high schools.  So let’s just take a few and focus on the setting of Dantalian no Shoka.