First impressions of the fall 2010 anime I’m watching

After finishing seven series from the spring/summer ’10 seasons, there weren’t too many fall ’10 anime that immediately grabbed my attention. As of now I’ve settled into five, but I may pick up one or two more…

Tegami Bachi Reverse is the sequel to Tegami Bachi, a gentler than the average shonen anime that seems to be more focused on the adventure part of the genre rather than the action. I enjoyed the first season, and the first two episodes of Reverse are keeping up the same quality. The last episode of season 1 ended on a huge cliffhanger, and the first episode of season 2 starts right where it left off, without any recap (recap would have been nice actually since it has been quite a few months).

Like the first season, Tegami Bachi Reverse offers the same “light shonen” feel, with themes more along the lines of Mushishi rather than the big-name shonen titles. There’s still action scenes of course, but not as much as there are sentimental, emotional scenes. The main plot of season 1 involved our kind but crybaby protagonist Lag as he learns to become a Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee). The majority of the episodes in the first season focused on introducing the rest of the cast, or were filler-ish stories involving people Lag meets on his various deliveries. As of yet, it’s hard to tell if Reverse will follow the same pattern, but it looks like the new plot involving a “heartless” Gauche will make it more plot-centered. The first two episodes were sweet character development episodes focusing on my favorite, Niche, so I would say the series is off to a good start =)

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I decided to check out Bakuman because it’s by the same creators as one of my favorite anime, Death Note. By the first episode alone, I could tell it was going to be good – an interesting, unpredictable plot surrounding the three main characters, introspect about how manga-ka are viewed by society, and slight touches of humor without seeming out of place amongst the drama. Moritaka’s distaste about education and employment in society in episode 1 reminded me of Light’s negative view of the world that’s revealed in episode 1 of Death Note as well. To me at least, it’s satisfying hearing such stark criticism of real world issues in an anime, especially a shonen anime.

Bakuman definitely seems like it will be lighter than Death Note, but like the latter it has an engrossing plot invested in the passion of the characters that’s about brains rather than brawn, potentially fascinating characters, and an eventual outcome that I can’t predict. I look forward to seeing if/how Moritaka and Akito (who remind me of Mikado and Masoumi from Durarara!!…must be the hair color) achieve their goal and what they learn along the way.

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The first episode of this series already had many fans thinking it’s the best of the season, and so far I’d have to agree. At first glance it has a story and characters that look like they could offer only more cliche fan service. But instead, OreImou gives us an extremely realistic, sympathetic portrayal of its sibling protagonists – how one is trying to come to grips with her unusual hobby and how the other is trying to help her. There’s no random fan service and no interrupting hyperbolic comedy, just an honest look into the lives of these characters, as well as an interesting outsider’s look into the hobby of erogames. In addition, it has lovely character and setting designs and the humor is actually quite funny.

Not only do I like the serious, sincere feeling of what could have been another generic fan-pandering show, being a female otaku myself, I can relate very much to Kirino’s dilemma. Certain scenes, specifically in episode 2 where she can’t speak up for the male otaku that her friend mocks, or her awkwardness at the maid cafe meet-up, are prime examples of how good OreImou is at getting the ideas it wants to get across in an intelligent way. My only minor complaint is that I wish Kirino was a little nicer to Kyousuke after all he’s doing for her without asking anything in return, but then again I don’t have any siblings myself, so maybe it’s common for a brother and sister to relate to each other like this? ~_^

I have this fear that OreImou might not be able to keep up the excellent quality it has in the first two episodes, but I hope I’m wrong. Episode 2 introduced a few new interesting characters, as well as yet another good concept of how two otaku can have vastly different tastes but the same level of passion, so I look forward to seeing how it turns out =)

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I wasn’t sure whether to count Pokemon Best Wishes! as a fall ’10 series since it started airing before the others and will probably keep airing for years after the others have finished. But yeah, it’s Pokemon, so if you’re a big fan like me you’ll keep watching each new season, if you’re a semi-fan you may check out a few episodes every now and then, and if you’re not a fan now I doubt you’ll ever decide to watch Best Wishes!. The first two episodes aired together as an hour-long special and they were pretty good as far as Pokemon episodes go. The next few episodes however revert back to the regular formula for Pokemon episodes that we’ve seen for years. But despite the fact that the new Pokemon games that this series is based on, Black and White, seem to be slightly more mature than past games, the Pokemon anime is still as kid-friendly as ever. The games are one thing, but I doubt the international success of Pokemon as a children’s franchise would make Nintendo want to risk creating a more “mature” anime series for its older fans.

I don’t see a point in me reviewing the first few episode of a new Pokemon series, since most fans know by now what they think of Pokemon, so instead here’s some Best Wishes! trivia – Satoshi (Ash) and Team Rocket have new character designs, Takeshi (Brock) has been replaced by the first Isshu gym leader Dent (voiced by Mamoru Miyano), and Iris replaces Hikari (Dawn) as Satoshi’s female traveling companion. This is also the first time since the original series that Satoshi will be traveling with characters who are not playable in the games.

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Although the premise of The World God Only Knows is very interesting, and can in some ways be seen as a commentary on otaku in the real world, I see the show itself as a comedy through and through – nothing really serious or dramatic has happened in the first two episodes while the majority of the show is high on gags and humor, with character and plot development being inserted in minimal amounts in between. Keima has the potential to be the Light Yagami of this genre while Elcie has the potential to become a moe favorite. So far the rest of the girls seem rather cliche, but doesn’t that make the real world coincide more with how Keima wants it to be? How Keima views girls in the real world through the lens of his passion for the girls in the 2D world, and how they do sometimes match up, is one of the show’s most interesting aspects. But TWGOK is one of those anime where I’m having trouble saying much more about it until I see the rest of it.

Oh, and it also has a very intriguing opening and a cute ending =)

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I may pick up a couple more fall 2010 series (how are Star Driver, Squid Girl, and Otome Youkai Zakuro?) or I may not and instead watch older anime on my “Plan to Watch List.” I’ll see what I feel like =P

And some food for thought, with Bakuman, OreImou, and The World God Only Knows, it looks like this season is focused heavily on anime portrayals of otaku life.