Fall 2013 Season thus far

Been some time since the Fall season has started, so here's an overview on

the highlights of this season

So here are some series that I've picked up for the fall season:

Kyoukai no Kanata

I would consider this as the main highlight among all the other series in this season. Right from the start, this series stood out from the rest with it being an original series by Kyoto Animation with the all-familiar animation style from the moe-blob style studio. Well, it is said that the series was adapted from a light novel series but that novel was still published by KyoAni which makes this an original KyoAni work after Tamako Market. From the previous series such as Chuunibyou and Free!, we do get to see more guys being animated by KyoAni and its definitely getting better in terms of how the guy characters are designed. Sure enough the series does have its usual KyoAni dose of moe characters like our 2 female protagonist Kuriyama Mirai and Nase Mitsuki. Not forgetting the side character Shindou Ai, who just reminds me of Airi from Robotics;Notes.

Leaving the character design aside, what this series looks to me is a series that surpasses Chuunibyou, or a work that I had always hoped that Chuunibyou would be, gorgeous animation sequences, battles between the supernatural and some slice-of-life humour being mixed in here and there. Although I do accept the fact that Chuunibyou was as good as it can be as a romance series, Kyoukai no Kanata took a step further and ventured into the supernatural realm that didn't quite exist in Chuunibyou.

In the world of Kyoukai no Kanata, there are 3 classes that live amongst us in our everyday life. Humans, Youmu and Spirit World Warriors. Youmu in a sense are demons or youkai if you wish to call it that way, that causes trouble or prove to be deadly or sometimes even perfectly harmless depending on the form it takes. Our male protagonist Kanbara Akihito, is a half-youmu or a hanyou, where he, at certain circumstances, will show off his youmu powers, which are not exactly pleasant. Spirit World Warriors on the other hand, are hunters that hunt youmu down and they are paid money by retrieving youmu spirit stones which are appraised and given its grade. The rest of the 3 protagonist are all Spirit World Warriors, which includes our megane bishoujo, Kuriyama Mirai, and siblings Nase Mitsuki and Nase Hiroomi. With the characters being laid out, each of them have added profiles to make the series much more interesting. Our half-youmu Akihito has a fetish for girls who wear spectacles, Mirai loves gardening and had a tagline of "You're so unpleasant.", Hiroomi is a siscon and Mitsuki, well I guess she's the more normal one of the group.

I've always place priority over original series among others since it's a fresh series that carries a lot of potential, it is always a good choice to check them out first before the others. Fortunately, this series turns out to be one of the best in this season so I would say that this was a good find and strongly recommended for all to try this series out.

Tokyo Ravens

Following down the list of supernatural series that seem to be the main block of this season comes Tokyo Ravens. Adapted from its light novel, this series revolves around onmyoujis and shikigamis. It seems like more and more animation series tend to use a more 3D-like of animation style for certain mechanical creatures, such as some of which we have seen previously in Asura Cryin. Well this time around, the series does still retain the use of such animation style but thankfully it wasn't on all available shikigamis, but rather the more mechanical-looking types.

I would say this series would be the more shounen type of series closely following the flow of the mainstream series, where it doesn't look like the end of the series would be a decisive conclusion, but rather one that most likely would be a cut in the middle of a the story which is still ongoing at the moment. I ain't complaining much about that, but the plot setting did put a large story block right at the start, and it wouldn't exactly feel quite right if that block would not be completed when the series ends, especially with only 24 episodes, this series is still great and interesting now, but there are signs that the series is slowly degenerating.

Tokyo Ravens had a good start with a straight jump into the world of onmyoujis and shikigamis and all the action packed scenes and battle between shikigamis were fun to watch, all was good up to the point where the setting changed into a school kind of setting. Didn't actually quite like the change since things would generally become more monotonous after things start happening only in the school and their focus on our 2 main protagonist as love interest does seem to be rather daunting, especially with our male protagonist Harutora actually doesn't even have the slightest hint that Natsume have feelings for him. Well, that kind of setting and development is pretty common in this genre of series, which was why I am actually kinda worried that the quality of this series might begin to drop in the future. So far it's still in the beginning and up to now, it is definitely still entertaining to watch, especially since the introduction of Harutora's own shikigami who is just downright cute. Will see how this goes on, but for now, its still a series worthwhile to follow.

Unbreakable Machine-Doll

Unbreakable machine-doll is an interesting series on its own, and I would say that this series isn't exactly suitable for all in terms of its storyline and characters. To be more specific, this series is totally rigged with fanservice. Well, it isn't as bad compared to Sora no Otoshimono which was a shame since its story was so strong that it didn't actually require fanservice to keep the series going. For this series however, the plot is simple and although there are cases of obvious fanservice, at least it isn't as blatant as the rest of the other series were.

The very first impression that the series gave me was that I was watching another series that was similar to Asura Cryin. I mean that series was good in delivering a plot that was filled with supernatural themes, time travel and human relations, and now this too, had almost the same plot device, except perhaps the time portion. In the world of Machine-Doll, there are humans known as puppeteers who with their magic, they control over automatons, which come in various designs and types, which are devices or puppets that the puppeteers control. For our main protagonist, Raishin Akabane, his automaton is a human-like girl Yaya, who absolutely adores Raishin, even to the point of wanting to be his lover (and over-possessive as well).

What comes as a more shocking similarity was the term "ban doll", which refers to an automaton who have parts belonging to a human. That was surprising similar to the Asura Machina that the users possess in Asura Cryin where a human soul is attached to each machine as a burial doll to keep them running. That was an interesting concept that was added to one of the plot drivers and thinking how they were going to add content to that certain plot device makes me want to finish this series as a whole. The basic plot of the series is simple, were puppeteers unite and fight each other to reach the top and attain the position known as "wise man" who will become the strongest puppeteer that has defeated the rest. And Raishin Akabane intends to get that title and at the same time, wishes to achieve revenge for the murderer who killed his family members years ago.

What was disappointing in this series (other than the fanservice), was the way the battles between automatons are conducted. Especially with Raishin's control over Yaya. It is nice to see how Yaya is a prized possession of Raishin with all her abilities and her actual specifications as an automaton, but all those commands that Raishin gives to Yaya all seem rather random to the viewers. There isn't quite an exact template for which the commands are used, like what each number meant, or even the elements, since to me, all I see is Raishin shouting certain commands filled with an element and numbers, and the next moment you see Yaya glowing in certain colours and thrashing the opponent upside down. Would have been better if there was a much clearer clarification on that part. Other than that, this series is interesting enough for me to continue watching, but I am also well aware that this series wouldn't interest everyone at the same extent as the above two, so I would say, try this, but do not have high hopes for this.

Kakumeiki Valvrave 2nd Season

And finally, the 2nd season and the conclusion to the Valvrave series is here. Sure the first season did leave quite a number of unanswered questions and it is the 2nd season's duty to answer them! Or so I hope. As of now, things are getting pretty serious, the plot is moving rather well, some of the character's hidden identities are revealed and some, well, don't actually live to see the end. It has been a rocky ride since the first season had aired, and now with the 2nd season, I will say that this series still has a high hope for a marvellous conclusion seeing how things are now. C'mon Ichiro Okouchi!

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X-encounter - Tokyo Ravens OP



Pretty amazing song with wonderful sequences too, one of the better openings I've seen for this season


Will be updating on Madoka's 3rd movie soon, so stay tuned!