Fall 2011

Note: Both Fate/Zero and Horizon were known to both be split series months before they first began airing. Since the general rule is to only do series that have ended in a particular season, the two series have been excluded for now.

Tamayura

(I also watched the OVA right before, so this addresses them both)

While other slice of life series excel at evoking a mood, Tamayura goes a different route, and focuses on capturing a particular mood. It really exemplifies the saying, "the best camera is the one you have with you." Fuu takes her father's tiny, ultra-portable Rollei 35S everywhere with her, and is able to get it all, even amid her countless failures. Each of the girls have their own particular quirks, and how they pull it off is by making those facets particularly unique.

Sight, smell, taste, and sound. Each of the four girls find their happiness in one of the five senses. In addition to Fuu, there's a girl obsessed with smells and enjoys making potpourri, a shy girl who loves music so much she whistles more than speaks (and amazingly, you start to understand it a little bit), a high school girl very clearly obsessed with young boys...and handcrafting gourmet desserts. What sets this apart from the average slice of life is that the girls, quirks and all, feel genuine. They're not sure what they want to do, or some always knew what they wanted to do. They feel ill at ease, they feel confident, they persevere, they lose their will. One can't seem to settle on what it is she wants do to, and it all feels familiar. It's a comforting slice of life series, rather than a relaxing one or one mired in melodramatics.


Mawaru Penguindrum

It made me laugh often, it made me smile, it disgusted me, it made me tear up, it confused the hell out of me, left me always wondering between one episode and the next. But where it truly stands out as unique is the way it left me. It wasn't bittersweet, no, it was more than that. It left me numb. Not the numb where you don't care, the numb that comes with nerve damage.

Sometimes the visual analogies got a little heavy toward the end, but for the most part they were cleverly done. The series has a style all to itself. It was like a mystery, coming of age, and a redemption story all in one. Excellent cast with a nice mix of rookies and veterans.


Boku Ha Tomodachi Ga Sukunai (Haganai)

While the characters can make a show, for this, it was really how the characters interact with each other. The two main girls are incredibly mean to one another, largely verbal abuse and pranks, though one of them isn't nearly as good at it as the other, and typically runs off in tears. Yet she keeps coming back, so there's this air of desperation for comradeship that gives her some charm. The male lead also stands out on his own. He's not whiny, he's not a pervert, he's not an alpha male, he lacks confidence in his own way, but he's mature, responsible, and sensible. It's strange. He doesn't really stand out aside from his appearance, but that pushes him past the usual clichés of the genre. He's the voice of reason in a cacophony of the ever-so-slightly insane. His sister gives off a similar refreshing air despite nearly being a cliché herself, yet is distinctly not one, it's all an act. A subtle difference that makes her a solid character.

The fun aside, some of the characters really do have some legitimate issues they need to get over. Feelings of betrayal, loneliness, isolation, hazing, being affected by the snap-judgments of others, etc. Unfortunately, they only barely got into covering and resolving them in this season. I wish the series would have gone further than it did, but I've got strong hopes for a second season.

It's amusing and a bit sad to see a group that gathered because they couldn't find any friends, and still not one of them realizes that they have all become friends already. It's a good comedy with excellent character design and animation, bolstered by a strong cast.