Winter 2011 Anime Lists

Yet another anime rankings list. While the Winter 2011 season was not the most impressive, it did contain shows that should not be missed. Sadly, Madoka Magica is not yet on this list due to the delays. Will Madoka ever be finished or will Shaft troll us with an infinite loop end? Please read on for the list.

In Limbo

1. Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Yeah… Madoka’s mojo is running out with every passing day.

My Rankings

1. Hourou Musuko - I’m glad that I kept watching this show. My own homophobic inhibitions made me wary of this show, but as it progressed I became more comfortable and started to enjoy the troubles of these adolescents. The main character comes off as an awkward doormat, but you begin to see his inner strength as he just tries to be himself during those confusing teenage years. I’ve already started reading the manga. In retrospect, I really should’ve been more receptive to this show as I enjoyed Aoi Hana, Shimura Takako’s other work.
2. Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season - They somehow managed to make this show more frustrating that the first season by a few orders of magnitude. In spite of it, the expected happy ending was reached and everyone is better for it. While KnT comes in as a solid #2, I really have to say there is a huge drop off from #1.
3. Bakuman. - In spite of being a bit too predictable, Bakuman really succeed as a feel-good shonen. As an older viewer, it reminds me of my youthful successes, but also recalls some less desirable memories of times that I gave up where the main characters certainly would not. A solid #3, but again the drop off from #1 is large. I’m looking forward to the continuation.
4. Star Driver - I guess you really can’t expect more than a strange, open-ended finale from Bones. I feel that the major characters were not explored as much as they should have — particularly Wako — and the development of minor characters was not extrapolated to the last quarter of the show (what happened to Mami?). Overall it was a fun ride that I greatly enjoyed, but that typical Bones ending does leave a bitter aftertaste.
5. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? - Zombie confuses me on a few levels. It has fantasy, comedy, drama, action, fanservice and harem elements rolled into one show, but none of them really get a chance to stand out. Each element on their own is crying for attention, but there was simply not enough time to fit everything in. I personally enjoyed the comedy and related harem elements and the fantasy elements certainly played to my inner nerd. Most of the action scenes were quite good, if silly at some points. What really bothered me were the hackneyed, forced dramatic elements which made little sense to me beyond being vapid plot devices (perhaps some Key influence?). The show up to the King of the Night arc was great, but everything after was a bit more suspect.
6. Infinite Stratos - Like Zombie, IS, suffers from a weak second half. The strength of the show was its energy. Any momentum it had was slowed to a halt in the Silverio Gospel arc which lacked any tension; particularly harem tension, but plot tension as well. I enjoyed IS for what it was: a shallow action-harem hybrid whose purpose was to showcase a cast of cute girls, their mecha and not much else. If there’s a second season I’d definitely watch it, but I wouldn’t be crushed if there wasn’t one.
7. Fractale - Unlike Star Driver, Fractale had a conclusive ending, but I can’t help feeling shortchanged. I thought the strength of the show was the contrast between the fantasy world with the Fractale system and Nessa and the grim reality first portrayed when Lost Millennium attacked the priestesses. I was really expecting Clain to have to make a profound decision based on this juxtaposition — to reboot Fractale or not, Nessa or Phyrne, what kind of adult he wants to be, etc. — but we got a fairly goodie-good ending where everything just sort of worked itself out.
8. To Aru no Majutsu no Index II - Oh, what could have been. Undoubtedly, the first season of Index’s plot was quite difficult to grasp fully, but for the most part you could piece things together just from watching the show. Unfortunately, season two was almost unwatchable if you were not familiar with or informed about the contents of the novels it was based on. Add to the fact the magic side of show was devoid of any substance and you’re basically left with the esper side (Tree Diagram Remnant, Academy City Invasion and SS1 arcs) carrying the entire show. Even if Index gets a third season, we still have to worry about the third season curse where most shows are not approved for a fourth; a strong second season could have gone a long way to insure many seasons to come.
9. Yumekui Merry - J.C. Staff: Thank you for ruining yet another perfectly fine adaptation with your crazy anime-original asspulls. Even if Merry wasn’t a indisputably great show, I really did enjoy the pre-Mistilteinn portions of the show. However, the last two episodes completely ruined everything and even if anime-original elements are usually a bad thing, they don’t have to be THIS bad.

Garbage

1. Dragon Crisis

Overall I’d say my halfway point rankings were pretty close to my final ones. Hourou Musuko came out of nowhere, but everything was pretty much in its right place. I intend to revamp my list formats a bit to make them easier to compare.