As many of you know, since 2007 I’ve mostly been watching seasonal anime and rarely start watching older, completed titles. While last year I decided to rewatch a lot of my favorite series, this year I’ve been trying to watch older series I hadn’t seen before in additional to seasonal ones. For this post, I wanted to talk about four such anime I’ve watched over the past bunch of months. These aren’t full-on reviews so much as my general thoughts about each one…
Saikano
I actually watched the first seven episodes of Saikano in 2003 – I bought the first two DVDs to be precise, and I even started up a section for it on my old fan site. But…I never got around to finishing it. I liked it well enough but I guess I got caught up in buying and watching other anime at the time. It wasn’t until just recently that I borrowed the DVD set from a friend and watched the series in its entirety.
For anyone who’s watched Saikano, I’m sure you’d agree that the most memorable thing about it is how tragically romantic, and just plain sad, it is…but in a good way. There are a few moments of cuteness and fluff, but it’s mostly tragedy, heartbreak, and at times, pretty disturbing and grim. It’s kind of like Wolf’s Rain and Haibane Renmei where it’s terrible and gut-wrenching, but is also so beautifully done that you can’t fault it for that. Despite having a sci-fi premise, I would say the series is more of a romance, with its solidifying aspect being the tragic love of the two main characters, Chise and Shuji. There are other characters too, but Chise and Shuji’s relationship is the driving point, and I would say the series carries that well.
I think it’s an above-average anime overall, but I did fault Saikano on a few things; I really thought more background could have been given about Chise’s family – she mentioned that she wanted to protect them and throughout the whole series, I’m wondering how and why it came about that they’d allow their daughter to be made into an ultimate weapon. And if she did keep it a secret from them (which I think is the case), how could she constantly explain all the times she’d have to run off for an attack and come home with injuries and shredded clothes? I really think this was something that needed to be addressed, even if just a little, especially since we get to see Shuji and even Akemi’s family. I also think the ending could have been a bit better and the animation wasn’t particularly good, but the latter isn’t really important to me.
Overall, I think Saikano is worth checking out, especially if you like romance series and don’t mind if they’re heartbreaking and disturbing. I also watched the OVA, which isn’t anything great, but it was an okay side-story.
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Hidamari Sketch
I haven’t seen very many Shaft titles, so I’m glad I watched Hidamari Sketch. What I most enjoyed about it is, well, the clever animation style that Shaft uses in terms of blending live-action images and appropriate symbols with the regular animation. The episodes being released in backwards order was an interesting touch too (and doesn’t cause much confusion since it’s basically a plot-less slice-of-life anime).
But besides that and few good jokes and episodes (my favorite being the one where Yuno gets a fever and has tripped-out dreams), I didn’t like the series that much…at least not enough to get the motivation to watch beyond the first season. It didn’t offer me anything in terms of humor and characters that I hadn’t already seen, and liked better, in similar anime like Azumanga Daioh, Ichigo Mashimaro, and Lucky Star. Like I said, it certainly gets credit for having a cool animation style, but that’s not enough to click with me.
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Victorian Romance Emma
There’s no point in beating around the bush with this statement: this is one of the best anime I’ve seen, certainly in recent years and perhaps even in the ten-plus years I’ve been watching anime. A beautiful romance/drama series with the historical setting of 19th century London, Emma does everything right with the premise it’s trying to convey and quality is written all over it. The original manga-ka really did her research about England in the 19th century, and it carried over perfectly in the anime – Nozomi’s box sets of the two seasons even include booklets that detail every aspect of the setting, from all the clothing articles that the characters wear, every detail of the rooms in their homes, and all the landmarks and customs seen in the show that are taken from real history.
Unless I wanted to be a big nitpicker, I honestly can’t find any flaws in Emma. There’s no intrusive hyperbolic jokes to be had and no fan service or filler material. The music is fantastic, the directing and cinematography are great, the animation is surprisingly good for a 2005/2007 anime by Studio Pierrot, the characters are extremely believable and likable, and of course, the historical setting and central romance – the two driving points of the show – are beyond well done. It’s one of the best examples of the best that anime can be. The only people I can think of who wouldn’t like this series are ones who don’t like romance stories and/or shows that are too gentle and slow-paced. But anyone who’s interested in quality anime that doesn’t cater to the usual otaku crowd, I can’t recommend this show enough. If you haven’t given it a try already, you must!
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Fate/Stay Night
For those of you who read my posts about Fate/Zero, you know that I’m one of the few who watched it before having seen Fate/Stay Night. I liked Fate/Zero enough to want to see its previously released sequel soon after. I had heard everyone say that Zero is much better than Stay Night, and watching it after Zero will make for a very underwhelming experience. But despite that, I had the Blu-ray fansubs of Stay Night downloaded and wanted to give it a try.
…and I actually liked it. The plot was more low-key and much less “epic” feeling than Zero, but that wasn’t necessarily bad to me. I thought the romance between Saber and Shirou, a big plot point in Stay Night, was very touching and well developed. I liked Rin very much, too; she’s tough and serious but also thoughtful – I was waiting for some ulterior motive for her helping Saber and Shirou, but it never came. She risked her life for them because she honestly just liked them, and that was really cool. The rest of the Masters and Servants were okay, though not as memorable as the ones in Zero. I thought it was ironic how both Lancers in the two series ended up getting screwed over XD
I did have a few issues with Stay Night too, most of which were probably addressed in content from the original visual novel that didn’t make it into the anime. Like with Fate/Zero, I’m still not totally clear about Saber’s past (whatever happened with that Lancelot guy she battled in Zero?), and while I saw a lot of things carry over from Zero, a couple of things seemed to be missing; 1) did Shirou and Illya ever find out that they (sort of) had the same dad, Kiritsugu? Saber knew Irisviel so I’m not sure why she didn’t tell Shirou about Kiritsugu’s relationship with Iri when she told him other things about his dad. And 2) did Rin ever find out that Kirei is responsible for the death of her dad? Actually, her parents aren’t even seen or mentioned in the series, which seemed kind of odd considering what happened with them in Zero. And a couple of minor, non-continuity related things I didn’t like was the fact that Illya could have been given more of a character besides a token yandere loli, and Fujimura’s hyperbolic comic relief, while it did give me a couple of laughs, was out of place in an otherwise dramatic show.
Unfortunately I know what people are talking about when they say that Fate/Stay Night could have been better if Studio Deen didn’t produce the animation. I agree that it really wasn’t good animation for an action anime with a lot of movement. I did like the music though (except for the second OP). All in all, despite having its share of problems, I still quite enjoyed Fate/Stay Night. If you just look at what it offers rather than what it left out, I think it stands fairly well.
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Now that I’m done with Fate/Stay Night, I’ll have to go through my “Plan to Watch” list and decide which other older anime I should watch. Like I said for the last question of the anime questionnaire a few posts ago, I’m considering Monster, Bacanno!, Princess Tutu, ef, Zetsubou Sensei, Gankutsuou, Minami-ke, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and Natsume Yuujinchou among others. When I watch a few more, I’ll make another post like this one :3
Dang, out of the four you listed, Saikano’s the one I had never heard of. Eh, guess I could check that out. The others maybe not except Emma, which has been praised a lot actually. I’ll definitely have to watch that.
Yes, do check out Emma when you have a chance =)
i still remember my fave Saikano episode. It was “Akemi”.
That was a really gut-wrenching episode 8_8 Probably one of the saddest of the series.
Do you think I’d like Saikano?
And YES. Finally! Get on all those wonderful series on your PTW list!
Hmm, I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure you won’t love it but you may at least like it.
I don’t know which of my Plan To Watch series I’ll start next – depends on which ones I can find in good quality online.
I watched Saikano a while ago, and dropped it around the 4th or 5th episode. It was animated more poorly than I expected, but being a fan of stuff like Gundam 79, I could stomach it. The thing about the gf being some superweapon, a plot point that was both ridiculous and introduced without the needed buildup, I could take too. The protagonist was really unlikeable for me though, and in the end I neither found the show enjoyable nor “deep”.
I’ve never heard of Emma before actually. Time to expand that PtW.
I watched F/SN before playing the VN (and way before F/Z started airing), and loved it. It looked way better than I expected for the release date (you mention poor animation; I’ll have to run a few shows from the period side by side to see if my impression needs fixing). It had a great premise and a good execution. Without that show, I may never have entered the Visual Novel world (and consequently, never started seriously learning Japanese). Still, as I played the VN, a dislike for the show gradually replaced my former opinion of it: It had missed a lot,but what’s worse is, it had created its own content. I love the Nasuverse for how it has a complex and self-contained ruleset…which DEEN had trampled over during the second part of the anime, by making up stuff like bondage Sakura. While I’d still recommend F/SN to someone new to the franchise, I’d ask them to stay away from the last 12 episodes, they’re an aberration. Nowadays, I only credit DEEN for their animation work on the show (not combat, rather all-around), and that may change :D
Yeah, I can see how Saikano isn’t for everyone. I do remember some instances where I felt Shuji’s characterization was a bit inconsistent and unlikable…he wasn’t that bad though and he did get better later on.
Hmm, I didn’t know that Deen took such liberties in the last 12 episodes of Stay Night. That’s too bad, but I still enjoyed things in those episodes regardless. As for the animation, it’s not that it was terrible all around, it’s just that the action scenes looked “choppy,” more so than I remember in even the long-running shonen series airing at the time, like Naruto and Bleach. It could also be because I watched Blu-ray fansubs of the series, and because Stay Night aired at a time before HD became a standard (I think), the animation details stood out to me even more.
I’ve been kinda staying away from the Fate series because it’s EVERYWHERE, but I may have to give it a go. Also it’s too bad Hidamari Sketch wasn’t that good, because it’s on my want to watch list…
It’s great that you’re watching older stuff! I’m perpetually watching older stuff because I’m always behind on my to-watch list but it’s nice to have a balance between old and new, as well. Sometimes the older stuff has just terrible video quality though, so I have to watch something new in order to soothe my eyes afterwards. XD
Heh, don’t give up on Hidamari Sketch just because I didn’t like it XD If you like the genre, it could be one that clicks with you even though it didn’t with me.
Since I don’t blind-buy anime, I have to seek out fansubs of many of the series on my Plan To Watch list (since the streaming sites don’t have a lot of the ones I want to see, especially titles more than five years old). So it takes more effort than watching seasonal shows that are more easily available. But it’s definitely something I should be doing, at least for now XD
@Frootytooty:
I really like Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, and Hidamari Sketch. They are all good – but different. Of the three, I think Azumanga Daioh is the best – funny and heartwarming. Of the remaining shows, Lucky Star leans more towards humor and Hidamari Sketch leans more towards heartwarming. In fact, of these three slice-of-life shows, I’d say that Hidamari Sketch is the most Iyashikei (healing) while Lucky Star is the least. (I love a good iyashikei series.)
If you like healing anime, you ought to give Hidamari Sketch a try.
I think AzuDai is the most universally appealing and funny of the three. Lucky Star can be just as funny, but to a smaller audience that gets all the otaku-aimed humor. I agree that Hidamari Sketch is the most iyashikei of the three =) But I think that Lucky Star has iyashikei in it too with all the random stream of consciousness topics the girls ramble on about.
Great post. Several of those shows and your upcoming ones I’ve seen and they were great, or I plan to see them.
I am making myself watch many of the anime that aired before I began watching, mostly 90s but some 80s. Watching Kodocha currently, and it is a blast.
I’ve heard good things about Kodocha but I suspect it’s hard to find the episodes since it’s an old series.
I think the only 80s anime I’ve seen are early episodes of Ranma 1/2, Akira, and some early Studio Ghibli films. I love a lot of anime from the 90s but…it’s so hard to go back further than that after being spoiled with the beautiful animation quality of today’s anime, especially since anime is such a visual medium.
@tsukaima:
Coincidentally a couple of days ago I finished Kodocha and today posted a small Kodocha review. (My reviews are more like impressions and don’t really have spoilers.) I thought Kodocha was excellent!
I saw your review =) I’ve heard good things about Kodocha. I’ll have to give it a try one day…maybe I can borrow the DVDs from my friend who has them :3
Ah, a lovely post on a few bygone anime. In a sphere understandably obsessed with the now, it is nice to see the occasional reflection on the past!
The first half of Emma’s 1st season has to be one of the most beautiful presentations of burgeoning romance that I’ve seen in anime. And its beauty stems from its willingness to rely on visual detail–a mere glance or a gesture–rather than loquacious dialogue. It also includes one of my favorite secondary characters in anime: Kelly Stownar. The strength & support she displays in an era that lacked charity toward the poor & expected passivity in women is positively inspiring.
While the 2nd half of Emma’s 1st season engaged in too many period cliches for my taste, I’m quite happy to see that you enjoyed it so much! It’s lovely, subtle show thematically, visually & aurally.
Hidamari Sketch is a show that will appeal to a certain audience, while others will find it quite dull. As you say, it contains Shaft’s visual inventiveness, and while it doesn’t indulge in more ridiculous antics of other cute HS girl shows, such as Azumanga Daioh & Acchi Kocchi, it does contain a measure of Ume Aoki’s more sedate comedy. It is a series, tho’, that exemplifies “slice-of-life,” presenting a thoughtful, relaxed air while displaying its characters’ gradual development through life’s mundane challenges.
For me where Hidamari Sketch shines–particularly in its 2nd & 3rd seasons–is in its character interactions, the interplay as each individual brings out different aspects of another’s personality, sparking their glacial development in an iyashi-kei atmosphere. It is, understandably, not for everyone, but I hope it provided a measure of relaxing escapism!
I have not seen Saikano; your description of its heartfelt romance in a traumatic sci-fi setting peaks my curiosity! And at 13 episodes I can’t help but add it to my . . . growing list of anime I Plan to Watch.
Thank you for the thoughtful review, & good luck on journey through the animated past! If I may recommend Princess Tutu with the advice that the 1st few episodes may be slow going, but as the story develops it displays a real heart for its characters that I, at least, couldn’t help but love.
I really liked what you said about Emma in your second paragraph there ^_^ I wanted to say something like that about the subtle visual brilliance of the series, but I couldn’t word it right XD I didn’t really notice what you said about the second half of season 1, but if I had to nitpick, I think Monica (Elenore’s sister) was kind of a pointless character…a few parts in the series dragged on a bit too. But again, that’s only if I had to criticize something ^^,,, Neither of these things are enough to take away from how great everything else is.
My friend whom I borrowed Hidamari Sketch from thought that the first season was the best – so I guess it just depends on your tastes. It’s not a bad show and I did get some good entertainment from watching it, I just didn’t care enough to keep on watching.
I might watch Princess Tutu or Baccano next…depends on what I more easily find in good quality :3
Neat post. I now feel the desire to watch some older anime titles myself.
I haven’t watched either Saikano or Victorian Romance Emma, though I have heard of the former; I might look into those.
I recall watching Hidamari Sketch about four years ago; it wasn’t that appealing to me even though that was when I enjoyed the slice-of-life more. Likewise, I agree that there were anime that pulled off the “cute girls at school” thing much better like Azumanga Daioh. Also, as someone who has watched other shows from SHAFT and Akiyuki Shinbo, Hidamari Sketch looks a bit more disappointing in retrospect especially compared to the likes of Bakemonogatari and Madoka Magica.
Fate/Stay Night was alright, though I wish Rider and Sakura had better character development; I understand why it happened since the anime adapts the Fate route rather than Heaven’s Feel, where both characters are explored more, but still. In spite of that complaint, though, this was the anime that made me a fan of Rin Tohsaka even before I became a fan of the visual novel. Speaking of which, given how weak many visual novel and h-game adaptations are, Fate/Stay Night is pretty good compared to many of its VN counterparts.
Yeah, I would have liked to see more development for minor characters in Stay Night as well. I didn’t feel like they were totally lacking though, and I still enjoyed the focus on Shirou, Saber, and Rin. Speaking of Rin, she is indeed a good character. I remember her starring episode in Zero (when she was little) and I liked her a bit, but seeing her in Stay Night made me like her more ^_^
Hidamari Sketch is indeed a rather boring series. I would warmly recommend Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which is one of the most hilarious social satire ever made, and Arakawa Under the Bridge, both from Studio Shaft and director Akiyuki Shimbo.
I read the VN of Fate / Stay Night before watching the anime series. As you probably know already, the VN is just incredible and I recommend it to anyone looking for a great, dark, complex and epic tale. The three routes of the VN complement each other perfectly and the overall story is highly epic. The anime series is the adaptation of Saber’s route, with additional elements of the two other routes. I personnaly think that the series adaptation is decent. If you except some original made-up for the series (Sakura’s bondage is just ridiculous, as Fadeway has mentioned), my biggest complain is the lack of development of Shirou and Saber, their motivation and thought process, especially Shirou whose idealistic philosophy sometimes seems too much moronic. But hey! What would you expect when a 20 hour textual story is shrunk in 24 episodes.
The strength of the VN is that every character and couple Master/Servant has its own complete development somewhere in the game, in its most appropriate route. In particular Caster in Unlimited Blade Work (Rin’s route) and Rider in Heaven’s Feel (Sakura’s route). Interestingly enough, some characters like Kirei and Ilya reveal different fragments of their back-story in all the three routes (for example, the murder of Tokiomi by Kirei is revealed in UBW and the link between Ilya, Shirou and Kiritsugu in HF).
About Lancelot and Irisvyel, they are totally made up for Fate/Zero. Iri was written as a communicator between Saber and Kiritsugu, as said by Word of God (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2011-10-21/interview-fate-zero-screenwriter-gen-urobuchi), but was never mentioned in the VN.
If you liked the Fate universe, you should try the Fate-related episodes of Carnival Phantasm, the official auto-parody of Type-Moon’s work.
Thanks for all the background info on the visual novel of Fate/Stay Night. It was helpful! I can imagine a lot was left out from the anime, especially when the anime is trying to go with a linear story and thus can’t properly adapt all the different character routes. But like you said, I think it was a decent adaptation, especially for someone like me who I guess “didn’t know what I was missing.” I suppose I can look up all the info left out of the anime on Wikipedia :3
Now I have something to look for to watch :) Victorian Romance Emma sounds quite interesting indeed. Saikano sounds interesting as well. Not sure about Hidamari stretch… I think I’ll pass that one.
Fate/stay night, is quite a bit slower paced than Zero, so it can feel a bit less epic. Since you enjoyed it, you may want to watch the movie Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works. It’s a single movie, so it’s not incredibly long, but takes a different route. Rin and Archer have a much more important role. and they finally reveal which hero archer is based on :) Animation is also top-notch, so you may want to check it out if you have a chance.
The problem with UBW is, it’s made for VN readers mostly. Sure, you may understand a fair bit of it without having gone through UBW, and it’s probably enjoyable, but it’s ridiculously fast paced, so a lot of stuff will be…unexplained or not fully understood.
Yeah, that movie is reeeeally fast paced… If I had seen it without watching fate/stay-night, I would not have understood anything. But after watching stay-night, I got the main idea of the movie and found it rather enjoyable.
It is very fast paced. I would not recommend it for people that have not seen stay night. But for Yumeka, that just watched stay-night, it may be pretty good. I did not read the novels either, but got the main idea of the movie, and was surprised/shocked with Archers origins… Also the production values are really good, and almost worth watching just for that.
I think I’ll still like Unlimited Blade Works even if it is fast paced and I can’t follow every detail. I’ve watched quite a few anime where I didn’t understand all aspects of the plot, but got the gist of it and enjoyed it anyway. Since it’s just a movie I can finish in one sitting, it won’t be hard finding time to watch it =)
I’ve heard of all 4, but only seen Saikano and FSN. I had heard of Emma, but it wasn’t quite on my to-watch list; of course, now it’s on there. I’m still unsure if I want to watch Hidamari Sketch.
As to Saikano, I thought it was good, but I just felt too depressed by the end. (A similar premise but less depressing is Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu)
I had read the VN of FSN before watching the anime, and it has been a long time since both, but I did enjoy them. I think I appreciated the anime more than some because it was this cool story actually animated! As for UBW, I think watching FSN is enough to fill in most of the gaps (which does not excuse the pacing and storyline).
I hope you like Emma when you get around to watching it~
Heh, I think it’s very understandable that Saikano could make you depressed despite being good. It’s not the type of show that’s very rewatchable.
Thanks, I plan to check out UBW soon. Maybe the original visual novel one day…maybe ^^,,,
You make me want to watch Emma, but I have to finish Clannad and Suzumiya Haruhi first. I definitely recommend Baccano!There’s a lot of blood, but many of the scenes take place at night where it’s harder to see it. Plus, Isaac and Miria make a sweet comedy duo. It took me about 17 hours to download the BDs from Coalgirls at 600 kbps.
Oh and I’m a new reader of your blog. I spent hours reading through your archives. So many good articles! Why didn’t I discover your blog sooner? XD
Heh, I don’t have any problem with blood in anime. It can’t be any worse than Elfen Lied XD Actually, I just started downloading Coalgirls’ BD release of Baccano. It should be done tomorrow.
Thanks so much for the compliments about my blog ~^_^~ That makes my day. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Well, for me, Hidamari Sketch was a rather relaxing and calm anime at the time of its airing and that contributed to why I liked it a lot.
On the subject of Fate/Stay, I think one of the aspects that gave Fate/Zero more of an edge over it is being written by Gen Urobuchi, (in)famous for Saya no Uta and Madoka. Though, to be fair, Fate/Stay was better in a VN, despite the anime adaptation being better than most.
Hidamari Sketch was relaxing, I’ll say that. It was funny and cute but…I just couldn’t get that into it enough to want to watch the other seasons. But it must be exciting for those of you who liked it that it’s getting a fourth season :3
Out of the four you list, I’ve only watched Saikano so far. I do plan to watch Emma and Fate/Stay Night eventually though. I’ve never heard of Hidamari Sketch though and I think I’d probably hate it as I tend to dislike episodic anime and manga. ^__^;;;
About Saikano. I guess I’m in the minority that outright hated it. I watched it to the end as well. It’s been awhile since I watched it, so the finer details are fuzzy but I recall I didn’t like the romance all that much and I felt it was trying too hard to make an impact on the viewer (and although I didn’t know this at the time because I wasn’t yet familiar with the phenomenon nor the terms, but the overdoe of moe in the female lead made me really really dislike her). The forced melodrama was especially brought home by the ending. Oh god the ending. That ruined it for me. It made no real sense. Before that ending, I thought Saikano was ok, but the ending made me hate it. I was even going to pick up the manga at some point until a watched the anime because I recall Saikano was pretty big back in the day. Lots of hype.
Sorry you didn’t like Saikano…while I personally liked it and the drama clicked with me, I wouldn’t call it the most universal anime in the world. I also didn’t think the ending made a ton of sense either (perhaps the manga explains it better?)
It may be just me, but a bad ending can ruin shows for me. Not as much as with Saikano, but enough that I’m left feeling cheated and having some of my enjoyment of the series as a whole diminished. The endings of Planet Ladder (old tokyopop series) and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, which I thought were bad for various reasons, both diminished my enjoyment of said series . PL went from good to just ok and TRC went from one of my favourites to still really good but something that didn’t live up to CCS.
I had almost the exact same feelings towards Hidamari Sketch after finishing the first season so I was shocked when I pushed myself to watch the 2 episode OVA between the first and second seasons and discovered that suddenly I was actually enjoying Hidamari Sketch. I don’t know if it’s because it took that long for me to really get the characters or if Shinbou/Shaft just got better with time – probably a bit of both – but Hidamari Sketch went on to become one of my favorite series.
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Thanks for the review of Victorian Romance Emma. I’ve been slightly interested in seeing it for a long time now but never got a push to do so – now I think I got that push.
I might want to keep watching Hidamari Sketch someday, if I get the motivation from somewhere XD Thankfully it doesn’t really have a plot, so as long as I remember a little about the characters and premise, I could easily start watching it again a long time later.
I hope you like Emma when you get to watching it!
I hated Saikano. It was just too melodramatic for me. It was gut wrenchingly tragic, but by episode five it just felt like my emotions were being too manipulated. The two main characters would get closer only to be torn away by another war, and then they would both cry a lot. It happened over and over again, and the charm just wore off for me pretty quickly. Though, I didn’t mind the first four episodes at least…
As for Hidamari Sketch, I only watched the second season, and even with just that, I can agree its not all that great. I just don’t understand the hype. There were a few jokes, but nothing amazing, and otherwise it was sorta boring. How is this series going to be on its fourth season?! (it may be less than that, but I know it has like a million specials that go along with it). One of the many fandoms I just can’t understand.
I remember watching the first episode of Victorian Romance Emma a long time ago, and I actually found it to be rather dull. Based on your praise, I clearly need to give this series another shot. I like my share of slow paced series, but this one didn`t really click well with me. I hope it will as I try it out again.
As for Fate/Stay Night. I’m one of those who were watching Fate/Zero without having seen this series. It’s something I clearly need to get to soon.
Is there any reason you only watched the second season of Hidamari Sketch rather than the first?
Yes, please give Emma another chance. You should know after the first few episodes if it’s not too slow-paced for you =)
Hidamari Sketch. I was just recommended to watch this few weeks ago, since there’s already an upcoming fourth season. Still doubtful if I want to watch everything, but I might try out the first season to see how it goes.
Interesting in regards to Fate/Stay Night. Which one you think is the better one compared to Fate/Zero? I guess that’s the most general issues when they are adapting from a visual novel or a light novel. The thing with these two medias are their huge content, which they are able to present since they are executing their storylines through text. Anime however, is a bit difficult, and they had to shrink the whole content in just 10 or 20 episodes. However compared to most VN adaptions, I would say Fate/Stay Night’s is already quite a decent one. I’m still looking forward to a Heaven’s Feel adaption, whether or not through a series, movie, OVA or whatever D: