I am going to keep this week’s times short because most of my impressions of this weeks episodes can be found in our latest podcast episode the Fall 2011 Anime Preview. I will say that I am starting to notice which shows will be featured heavily in the times because they just are more interesting than other titles. As of right now you can expect plenty of Hunter x Hunter and Fate/Zero.
Hunter x Hunter – 02 [spoiler]
This episode was another compilation episode of the original series, which I can gladly say was a very good thing. Originally the two parts were two different episodes. I watched the series as a marathon after it had long been completed, but I can only imagine sticking through them would have been annoying. Also for those of you that might be question the greatness of Hunter x Hunter, I can gladly say that the traveling to the exam is now over. The next episode will finally mark the start of the exam. I do think that the first two exams aren’t nearly as good as the rest, but they do offer insight into the secondary characters that will be featured heavily during the exams. I can’t wait for the real stuff to start because it gets much better from here on in.[/spoiler]
Fate/Zero – 02 [spoiler]
The first episode was hard to sit through because it was so much history crammed into one episode, but now we are finally getting into the core of the series and I am really liking it. Waver and his Servant Rider is a really fun combination to watch. I am also very interested in seeing him get into a fight. It is pretty cool how he fights in a chariot. I am wondering how they play that out. It seems like a rather strange fighting style for the series, which makes it that much cooler. We also get to meet the final participant in the Holy Grain war and I really like both him and his weird ass servant. He is a psycho in every way possible, but that is cool. The final part of the episode was the most interesting part of the episode. Kerei’s servant is hardcore. I loved watching him spin through all those magic barriers. Although I want to know why Kerei sent his servant in there. You’d think he would know that he wouldn’t be able to defeat Archer. I did think it was interesting how that Archer used the same move as the Archer from Fate/Stay. Well interesting might not be the correct word. It was disappointing that they didn’t think of a new move. I know they are the same class of fighter, but it isn’t like they both use the same weapon. They use the same ultimate attack. Lots of swords. Either way this anime is turning out to be very interesting.[/spoiler]
Gintama – 228 [spoiler]
Before I start off my impressions, I loved both the new opening and ending. Although that shouldn’t be surprising because Gintama always has the best openings and endings in anime. Mr. Raindrop is still the most catchiest song and best animated ending of all time. Just thinking about it has gotten it stuck in my head again~ >_<
This weeks episode of Gintama was absolutely hilarious. Admittedly the first part of the episode I was merely amused, but once Gintoki’s Love Chorus girl came alive I started to laugh my ass off. I loved the scene that showed Gintoki and Kondou in the car showing how what we see are games, but what they see are real girls. Made me think back to all the Love Plus stories of how some people would go to hot springs with their game girlfriends, which is just creepy. There is a huge disconnect from those kinds of people and the rest of us and I love how Gintama explained it. I can’t wait to see how this all comes together during the contest.[/spoiler]
Ben-To – 01 [spoiler]
We are going to talk about this series during part 2 of the preview, but I really wanted to get something down before that. Honestly, when I heard about this anime I assumed it was dumb. The premise of fighting for discounted food is about as dumb as it sounds. We have seen those series were people rush to get the time sales to save money, but a whole series dedicated to that is just weak, however, Ben-To proved to be pretty good. Maybe we just have had two really awful school fighting anime this season so my bar coming into the episode was non-existent, but I do think I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked the main male character Satou You quite a bit. His lackadaisical attitude was was pretty funny. I also liked Yarizui Sen, the Ice Queen. She offers this serious kind of dead pan style that fits to his more whimsical nature. Hana also provided the increadibly strange secondary character that really filled out the cast. I am curious to see how the blond girl will mix things up, but right now I am liking it. There is a lot of slap stick humor in it and I am sure there will be plenty of panty shots, but it is easily the best ecchi comedy that we have for the new season.[/spoiler]