90+: Nothing from the current season.

80+:

Shana III – Final -: 85
After marathoning the first 12 episodes of the series, I was greatly looking forward to the final half of the Shana franchise. Unfortuantely, what I discovered is that the show works better as a marathon. It’s still an amazing show, but the week-long breaks are a big problem. The break stops the flow from each episode, which leads to a very disjointed feeling unless they are seen together. Each episode is fine individually, but they work much better when seen consecutively. I’m not a big fan of the second ED, but the OP is amazing. I’m very curious how they’ll fit the rest of volume 22 (the final volume) into 5 episodes.

Chihayafuru: 83
Conversely, Chihayafuru seems to work better with a week between episodes. As it’s another beautifully drawn series, it’s great to see the quality remain consistent even while sales are under expectations. The current arc focusing on Chihaya’s weaknesses feels like it would work great in a manga format, but the focus has gone on too long to not highlight how great of a player she really is. It somewhat undermines her character. Kana-chan is slowly stealing the show away from her, but all of the 5 club members have been great in recent weeks. I look forward to every Tuesday.

70+:

Another: 78
While it got off to a rough start, Another is slowly improving week-by-week as we find out more about the mystery. Having the series focus on one story highlights the weakness of the premise: it’s very difficult to extend a story to fit 12 episodes. Even one of my favorites from last year, Moshidora, only took 10 episodes and that felt too long at parts. The first four episodes would have been condensed in a longer series and felt more natural. As to be expected, the animation quality is superb from P.A. Works.

Mirai Nikki: 77
Why yes, I’m certainly a fan of 7th. Their introduction and demise helped boost the show out of its stuttering and towards a direction, but the second half is weaker than the first, as was the original material. I’m mostly watching to see how asread animates the insane ending, but Yuno’s insanity is always interesting to see.

Nisemonogatari: 75
Nise is living up to its name. Coming off of the heels of 5 fantastic stories in Bake, the current arc feels flat and more filler than substance at this point. With only 11 episodes, having 7 of them be devoted to one of the two books feels like a failure in planning. Right now my score is a 75 given the potential from Hanekawa and Shinobu, but the final score could be anything. I’m also not a fan of the Shaft architecture/animation style, so it’s based solely on story for me

Amagami SS +: 73
After marathoning the first series on Christmas Eve, I was looking forward to another series going into an After Story aspect. Unfortunately, the best arc from the first season left nothing afterwards to focus on for this sequel. Ayatsuji was a great character as she slowly become more like her outside personality. That conflict helped improve the arc, but now that she’s mostly over it, her character feels somewhat flat. I’m not a fan of Rihoko, so no comment there. Nakasaki has the best arc thus far, but we’ll see how things go for future stories.

60+:

Zero no Tsukaima f:63
If I had not watched the three previous seasons, I would have dropped this show already. There’s no development into the characters beyond the 4th episode’s first half. I skipped half the latest episode because I got sick of the fanservice. The instant attraction to Saito by 99% of the population that has a XX chromosome constantly bugs me and how it continually plays out the same in every single situation is testing my limits. The only saving grace was that the third episode was really good. Episodes 2, 4, 5,and 6 do not make a decent show. I still stand by my suggestion that Jessica would be a better lead than Saito, even without any of the yuri pairings that would bring about.

And so there’s my thoughts on the current shows. I tried Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou but the humor was falling flat and the other aspects didn’t appeal to me at all. I’ve only got Saki: Achiga Hen and Hyouka scheduled for Spring, so I’ll be revisiting Fate/Zero and the Full Metal Panic! series during that season. There’s also some more translations to achieve, so I’ll keep busy.

As usual with Shana volumes, this volume contains episodes 4-6:Reunions and Meetings, Captured Flame Haze, and On the Palm of One’s Hand.

Reunions and Meetings is our first glimpse of the true power that Yuji/Snake of the Festival holds. Not only does it overwhelm Shana, the Snake lets Margery know the truth behind her hated rival, Silver. The absolute breakdown of all three Flame Hazes in such an efficient manner show us the combination of strength and tactics that only this fusion could have (in this universe). An absolutely fantastic episode.

Yuji takes Shana back to the lair of Bal Masque in Captured Flame Haze while Margery is unconscious and Wilhemina cannot gather anyone to aid her in her plans. The use of a “calm” reaction after such an impactful episode showed great pacing by the series composer. While nothing was really accomplished, many things were set up for…

The introduction of Rebecca Reed in On the Palm of One’s Hand. Freeing Keisaku from Outlaw and deciding to aid Wilhemina in her plans to save Shana, Rebecca “explodes” onto the scene with an impactful introduction. At the same time, we see Shana start to gather her resolve when she is suddenly attacked by Hecate. A good episode that continues the overall plot.

Volume 2 contains audio commentary on episode 4 by Rie Kugimiya (Shana) and Hitomi Nabatame (Margery Daw). They have a lot of fun throughout the episode commenting on things, but the part that struck me was at the end. Both of them felt so sad for Yoshida’s situation. Even hearing the voice of Shana feel a bit sad for her emphasized just how out of place she is as a normal human. Very moving. The booklet this time focuses on Shana’s training to become a Flame Haze, the three episodes, and finally the three members of the Trinity.

The limited edition for volume 2 also comes with a bonus disc (BD for the BD volume, DVD for the DVD volume) that contains Shakugan no Shana-tan: Final Destruction, the textless OP/ED, the promotion video shown at Comiket and in stores, and a roundtable with Rie Kugimiya, Satoshi Hino, and Ayako Kawasumi. Shana-tan is the usual Shana-tan. It was interesting to see Bel Peol as the teacher in the informational skit though. The roundtable talked about their relationships with the characters and how long it’s been since they started working on the series back in 2005. (I’m still amazed that it’s only 8.7 GB big)

And so ends another month of Shana BDs. Sorry for the wait on this; life has been busy. I’ve also been focusing on translating a lot recently, so my motivation for a review went down. I’ll be getting volume 3 about a week late since it’ll be shipped with the Saki BD-Box, so that review will be late as well. Apologies in advance.

Volume 7 does an excellent job moving forward from Nako’s focus episode into a mini-arc focusing on Minko and then into the final arc for the show. This volume contains episodes 19-21: Sloppy Omelet Rice, Love, Kourin Festival, and The Return of “Die”.

Sloppy Omelet Rice starts out showing that Nako’s focus episode wasn’t a one-episode matter; she’s going to continue to grow. That leads us to returning to the school the four girls attend and the start of the usual culture festival event. Having been put on the cooking committee, Minko shows that she’s truly capable of judging how to prepare to cater depending on the situation. It also shows that she’s not used to working with her peers. That leads us into…

Love, Kourin Festival, where we see not only why Minko wants to become a chef, but how she’s already been talented thus far. We see some growth in her character as she yields to the omelet rice request and prepares one just for Touru. A splendid end to this arc, and some much needed focus on the softer side of Minko.

Unfortunately, the very next episode, The Return of “Die”, reverts back to her older self as she begins to get the impression that Touru is fond of Ohana after an excursion. The cause of said excursion: Enishi and Takako are getting married! The movie arc brought the two closer together and this furthers the development for those two. We get to see Takako get the approval of Sui to marry her son, but they’re not going to be able to inherit the inn. A great opening episode to the final arc.

Included on this set is character commentary on episode 20 (if you could really call it commentary) by Minko (CV.Chiaki Omigawa) and Yuina (CV.Haruka Tomatsu). This is hands-down the best commentary since the first one. I was laughing so much everytime Yuina tried to get Minko to enter “dere mode” throughout the episode. They even comment “isn’t this supposed to be a commentary?” a few times. Conversely, the commentary on episode 19 bySupervisor Masahiro Ando, Editor Ayumi Takahashi, and Line Producer Mitsuhito Tsuji is just about par. They talk about the progression of the characters, but I didn’t notice very much. Also included is a textless version of the second ending.

As always, this set contains Hanairo Notebook 7. We have summaries of the episodes, character designs for Jiromaru and Denroku, comments on the artbox design by Mel Kishida, and the designs for many small items throughout the series. This is an area that is often overlooked due to how detailed they are. Seeing the varied designs for cups, cell phones, and the like is amazing. I truly got an appreciation of just how much work they put into this show.

Since this is volume 7, we also got another beautiful artbox drawn by Mel Kishida. Of course this one has to feature Nako since Ohana and Minko were featured previously. As Kishida said, this depicts the girls as they head out to go shopping. I don’t know if it’s my Nako fan showing, but I feel this is the best looking one thus far.

And so concludes another month of the Hanasaku Iroha BDs. Only two more months to go to finish the set. It’ll be hard waiting another month to continue this arc, but we’ve got to wait. Next time: Yuina and Nako out shopping!

Volume 1 comes in digipak packaging (though the size is a bit taller and wider than standard BD-size, smaller than DVD-size) and contains episodes 1-3: Lost Existence, What Must Come, and Starting a Journey, all from novel 16.

Lost Existence starts us off with a strong prologue of Shana fighting against a horde of Tomogara led by…Yuji! After shocking the audience with that revelation, we are told of how Yuji disappeared on Christmas Eve, at the very end of the second season only to reappear as the head of Bal Masque, the prime antagonist faction of the series. I felt it was a great introduction that made you want to see what was next.

And next was What Must Come, an excellent set-up episode that continues to place characters in positions for later in the story. We see the events that unite the Flame Haze under Sophie (or at least one example of it) and the beginning of Shana’s “what is strong” motif. Keisaku begins on his journey to Tokyo’s Outlaw branch, but ends up feeling the presence of Yuji, who’s come back to Misaki City.

Finally, Starting a Journey finishes the set-up for novel 16′s story by having Yuji reminiscence as he goes around the city. This allows we, the audience, to see that this is truly something that Yuji decided on his own free will. We end this volume with the meeting of Shana and Yuji first seen at the end of the final Shakugan no Shana S OVA.

Included in this set are the usual JC Staff alterations that add the usual ED animation instead of keeping the final scenes with the ED credits over them. We also get audio commentary on episode 1 by Rie Kugimiya (Shana) and Satoshi Hino (Yuji) on episode one. They reminisce over past seasons and how much better the animation feels compared to then. Kugimiya even goes “It’s like a movie!” near the end as they see the outside of Serei-den. As usual from Geneon, we have a 12 page color booklet that details the full year that Yuji has gone through, episode summaries, and character details for the Sakai family, classmates, and old Flame Hazes.

Visually, the series is standard JC Staff: nothing special, but pretty good quality around. Colors are a bit soft in areas, but it looks very pleasing IMO. Audibly, the music sounds well and everything is carried through clearly in the LPCM 2.0 mix.

Since this is the first volume, the limited editions come with a box that will hold volumes 1-4. Of course illustrations by Noizi Itou cover the front and back.

For reservations of this volume, retailers were given booklets that contain 32 pages of old DVD cover illustrations/key visuals/box artwork from Noizi Itou of the Shana anime series. For someone like me who loves Itou artwork, but hasn’t gotten the previous volumes, this was a great extra.

Finally, since I ordered from HMV instead of Amazon (due to their new shipping procedures), I also received an A3 size poster featuring one of the key visual artwork for the final series drawn by Noizi Itou.

Shana III was one of the series last year that truly surprised me at how epic it felt while watching it. Volume 2 is released in two weeks and I cannot wait to get it.

Top moments:
5. Moving to my own blog. I owe a great amount of gratitude towards Toonleap and his blog for allowing me to get my feet wet in anime blogging, but it’s been good to get on my own and be able to not worry about post schedules and such. I’ve been back in school this semester and so blogging has taken a big hit due to the increase of time needed to study.
4. The journey of Hanasaku Iroha. After seeing PV 4 last fall, I was entranced and looking forward to the show. Though the middle portion left me wanting, the beginning and end cour segments were some of my favorite this year.
3. Journeying to Anime Expo 2011. Being able to see the technological marvel that is Miku Hatsune, seeing the premiere of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya‘s English dub, and just seeing cosplay in general was a fantastic trip. It also allowed me to discover that I have a love of Japanese curry (as those who’ve followed my Twitter ramblings know).
2. Translating The Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya. After working on the number one item on this list, this was my first real release by myself. The design and translation were all me with help by Lloyd and Kaisos on editing and TMSIDR for helping solve a PDF problem. It’s something I’m proud to say “I did that (mostly by) myself.”
1. Tracking, finding spoilers, and eventually leading a group translation effort for The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (officially translated as The Astonishment of Haruhi Suzumiya. Since Baka-Tsuki couldn’t translate the latest Haruhi novels, Yumeka and I had our own Haruhi moment where it was just “why don’t we do it ourselves?” That led into some fun fun times. I still haven’t properly read the story in chronological order, so I hope my editing did alright. It was so fun.

Honorable mentions: Toradora‘s BD-Box and new episode, the Madoka MS3K-style viewing with Skorp, and all of the conversations I’ve had on Twitter with other anime fans. It’s been a great year to find other fans IMO.

Male Character of the Year: Rintarou Okabe. No other male comes close to this guy this year. Mamoru Miyano was able to convey humor, despair, anger, and nearly every single emotion known to man in this one role and do it all perfectly. His story is done so well and so touching.

Female Character of the Year: Ohana Matsumae. The whole story of Hanasaku Iroha was to get her to find a purpose in life. A really well fleshed out character who shows what a strong female lead should be: not perfect, not horrible, and not always gushing over a male lead. It was a pleasure to see her grow.

Top OPs:
3. Kamisama no Memochou OP – Kawaru Mirai – When I was trying to catch up on the show, I watched this OP and said “I’m good.” That delayed me from catching up for about a month.
2. Hanasaku Iroha OP2 – Omokege Warp – A better song than the first one and it ties in nicely with the theme of the second half of the show.
1. Steins Gate OP – Hacking to the Gate – Very good animation design and the song is so addicting.

Honorable mentions: Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai II – A Whole New World God Only Knows, Shakugan no Shana III – Final – Light my Fire

Top EDs:
3. Hanasaku Iroha – ED1 – Hazy – A lovely song with calming animation. It made the shift to Hanasaku Iroha that much worse when P.A. Works changed the ED.
2. Nichijou – ED1 – Zzz – KyoAni strikes again! A very picture-bookish ED animation combined with such a sweet and calming song. Worth it every week.
1. Gosick ED1 – Resuscitated Hope – Such an incredible song with such a lovely ED animation. The highlight of every single week during winter 2011.

Honorable mentions: Shakugan no Shana III – Final – I’ll Believe, Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai – Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ (10 years after Ver.)

Top single episodes:
3. Hanasaku Iroha 1 – An amazing start to the series. Confessions, runaway trips, slaps, and “die.” all in one episode. It alone made me pre-order all 9 BDs of the series. Such a great way to start the show.
2. Steins Gate 22 – THE episode to watch for hopeful voice actors/actresses. 95% of the episode is taken by Okabe and Kurisu and yet they carry it to have such an emotional and dramatic effect on the viewer just by themselves. The sheer despair in Okabe’s voice when he returns is amazing. I nearly imported the show for this episode alone.
1. Puella Magi Madoka Magica 10 – I don’t like the characters. I don’t like the character designs. The art style is not to my liking. The story is fine, but tiring. Skorp and I were able to make fun of every single episode of Madoka but this one. We remained silent the entire way though this episode. Such a great twist on the story and it almost made me feel sympathy towards Homura.

Honorable mention: Shakugan no Shana III- Final 4 – Out of all the episodes, this delivers on the final scene from the S OVAs and puts things in motion for the rest of the cour.

Top 5 shows of the year (IMO):

5. Baka to Test Ni – A fun continuation that gives a lot of focus on our main characters. I enjoyed following this show every week.
4. Moshidora – An interesting take on baseball and management. Wish it was better animated though.
3. Steins;Gate – After a very slow start, the show turned amazing, but really climaxed two episodes early.
2. Shakugan no Shana III – Final (First half only) – A recent addition, but only the fact that it’s not ended prevents it from being number 1. I am enjoying this show immensely and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the second half. A very possible import at this late stage.
1. Hanasaku Iroha – A very emotional journey that brought a few amazing characters into our lives this year. Gorgeous artwork and an outstanding OST helped bring the inn to life.

Honorable mentions: Nichijou, Dantalian no Shouten, Chihayafuru (first half only)

2011 was really hit-or-miss for me. There were some shows like Working’!! and Mirai Nikki that would have outstanding moments, but would follow up with poor episodes that reminded me why they weren’t on the list. Conversely, you had shows like Nichijou and Steins;Gate, which started poorly, but became amazing in the second half. Most of my top 5 (with the exception of #3) remained consistent somehow throughout its airing. While Shana III packs enough punch (literally and figuratively) to make it onto the list, I feel Chihayafuru needs more time to finish its story before allowing it to be graded. It’s still my surprise of the year, barely beating out Shana III.

Looking forward to Winter (which I hope I can continue to watch all of these), I shall be continuing Shana III, Chihayafuru, and Mirai Nikki. Joining them will be Amagami SS+, Nisemonogatari, Another, and Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou. It’ll be challenging to continue all of these during another busy semester, but I’ll try to continue watching them. And in spring we have the spinoff of Saki, Saki: Side A, which I am really looking forward to seeing animated.

So what did you enjoy this year and what are you looking forward to seeing next year?

In 2005, it was first announced in the October 2005 edition (released in August 2005) of The Sneaker that the light novel Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu would be made into an anime. It began airing in April 2006 until July2006, when it was first featured in the anime magazine Newtype. The airing of the anime combined with the beginning popularity of video sites such as YouTube and the ease of viewing anime through the internet made the series into a phenomenon known around the world. As soon as it finished airing, fans were wanting another season. Their prayers would be answered one year later on July 7th, 2007.

July 7th is an important day in the Haruhi franchise. As it is the holiday Tanabata, Haruhi decides to celebrate it with the SOS Brigade. That afternoon, Mikuru takes Kyon back in time three years. It’s presumed that this occurs in 2007 due to a line in the light novels, but that is not confirmed. On July 7th, 2007, Kadokawa Shoten takes out a full page advertisment in a big Japanese newspaper that says “Haruhi 2nd season Decided!” and is also on the official and Newtype webpages as well. At 21:00 that evening, a “security camera” captures footage of two individuals drawing on the grounds of a middle school, a reference to the short story that occurs on that day.

Nothing of note occurs until December 18th, 2007. On that day, the official Haruhi webpage disappears and an image appears saying “Haruhi 2nd season cancelled. NEW Haruhi animation project started!” with a copyright of 2007, 2008, and 2009. In the roundtable with Tanigawa, Ishihara, and Shimo (which is in the process of translation), they admit that Disappearance was supposed to be part of a new TV season as of June 2007. The decision to make it a movie took place during the time period of July 7th and December 18th, 2007 as admitted in the Directors Roundtable. Sakemoto is announced to be the supervisor, replacing Ishihara and Yamamoto who worked on the 2006 edition.

In the June 2008 edition of The Sneaker, a new image of Nagato taking off her glasses is published. They state “stay tuned for more information about the “new animation.” About two weeks later in the next edition of Newtype, the same image is used with another teaser as well as a silhouette of Haruhi in the “next issue” portion. Kyon’s line “I finally….found you” is also used. The July 2007 edition of Newtype uses an image of Haruhi as she is in the new Disappearance world to promote the “New Animation.” Additional character designs and a roundtable are also published in that edition. The staff listing remains the same as the image on December 18th. On July 7th, 2008, tanzakus are shown at 15:00 and at 21:00 images from the surveillance video are played amongst lines from both the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and Disappearance stories.

In September 2008, the edition of Shounen Ace announces that The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan and Nyoron Churuya-san will be made into an anime with Sakemoto supervising. The October 2008 edition of Newtype announces Nishiya as the character designer. The January 2009 edition of Shounen Ace gives both anime the copyright of Nagaru Tanigawa/Noizi Itou/ESOS Brigade instead of the 2006 or 2007/2008/2009 ones signalling that it is different. They begin broadcasting in January 2009 on YouTube. Around this time, the storyboards for the Disappearance movie are completed (Directors’ Roundtable).

Also in January 2009, the February 2009 edition of Newtype announces that the next issue will have news about the Haruhi anime. That turns out to be an announcement that it will be “re-aired” starting in April 2009. The March edition also gives the story the 2006 copyright and an image from the 2006 series drawn by Ikeda. The story begins airing in chronological order for the first time. Upon reaching the eighth episode, one station has a description stating that it is the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody episode and announces that the “re-airing” is 28 episodes, twice the length of the 2006 airing. It is indeed a new episode and is followed by the three other episodes from the third novel.

Then we arrive at Endless Eight, the next story that was not aired in 2006. To fans’ dismay, this arc takes up 8 episodes of time and is followed by 5 episodes of the second novel to use all 14 new episodes on three stories. Unknown to the fans, the characters designs and location scouting for the movie were finished during this time period (August 2009). In October 2009, the final episode of the “re-airing” finished and an announcement for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie aired with a 2009 copyright. Production continued on the movie until it was released on February 2010. The movie was shown in theatres until October 2010 and released on DVD/BD on December 18th, 2010, 3 years after the “New Animation” was announced.

So now that we’re caught up on what happened since the initial announcement in 2005, we can begin to hypothesize a few things. The first is that any new announcement will take place in a magazine or newspaper ad. The recent shows announced by KyoAni on their own website is very weird in that both instances were firsts for them. The second is that the studio can be working on multiple projects at the same time. Around Fall 2008, they were airing Clannad ~After Story~, while working on the Haruhi “re-airing” and movie, K-On!, Haruhi-chan, Nyoron Churuya-san, and Mundo TV (aired from January-March 2009). Of these, only K-On! was a new project from scratch, so they can be working on a sequel and not mention anything.

KyoAni animates projects from three sources: Kadokawa (Full Metal Panic!!, Haruhi, Lucky Star, Nichiyou, Hyouka), TBS/Pony Canyon (AIR, Kanon, Clannad, and K-On!), and themselves (Mundo OVAs/TV/movie and Chuuni-byou Demo Koi Shitai!). We do not know of the next TBS franchise, nor do we know a date for Chuuni-byou. Hyouka is likely to air in the spring of 2012 as they have staff announced and a key visual released. The past two years have seen KyoAni release a movie and a 26 episode series (Kadokawa movie/TBS series and TBS movie/Kadokawa series) but that is not a given for next year.

The Haruhi BD-Box still remains the top selling TV series BD-Box. It took two incredible series (Bakemonogatari in sales/Toradora in amount earned) to get over half of what Haruhi earned. The movie earned over 800 million yen, which is incredible for a late night anime (again, topped by the usual suspects of Eva, Macross, and K-On!) and sold over 130,000 copies tabulated by Oricon this year. Unofficially, 200,000 copies were produced and the Limited Editions are sold out on Amazon already. The latest novels had a record first pressing and nearly doubled the previous record for first week sales of a light novel. The series is still selling great in Japan, which begs the question: “Why hasn’t there been an announcement yet?”

My guess: it’s in the background and we may not see it until certain dates are met. We’re just now in the timeframe of the story following Disappearance with big dates occurring on December 30th. January 2nd and the beginning of February are also important days that might see an announcement. People expecting an announcement on December 18th were somewhat foolish: why would that occur for a story that’s already been animated?

The other pressing issue: Is this a third season, or should we consider it a “second season”? I’ve checked the past Haruhi websites, announcements, publications, interviews, and there is only one instance where it’s even hinted that 2009 was a second season. Every instance used the phrase “新アニメーション” (New Animation) or “改めて放送” (Re-airing) except the novel fanbook saying the 2006 and 2009 editions. Prior to December 18th, 2007, it was  said to be “第二期” (Second Season). Might their statement be correct and our assumption incorrect? Only time will tell.

So to bring everything to a conclusion, the announcements of Hyouka and Chuuni-byou are disappointing, but as you can tell, it takes time to produce a season of a show. It’s very possible that these projects were already in the works and Haruhi‘s being worked on in the background. With sales like Haruhi has done compared to everything else Kadokawa released in 2011, they should go back to the well at some time. Let’s just hope it’s not too late like Ascii and Shana or else sales will drop.

Haruka Morishima was a great begining to the series. It introduced us to the main characters and yet provided a compelling story. I greatly enjoy Haruka’s character as she provided a lot of light-hearted moments throughout the entire series. Being able to see her “serious” side was a complete pleasure. I never once thought “this doesn’t make sense” for her and yet she was never portrayed as “weak.” For the longest time, I felt as though this would be my favorite arc, but we’ll save that for later. Final score:86

Kaoru Tanamachi began my first doubts into the viewing. While the plot was decently shown and had logical beginnings, endings, and progression, I personally didn’t care for Kaoru as a character and thus I didn’t like this arc. It’s not horrible; I personally didn’t enjoy it much. Objectively, it was a decent follow-up to Haruka’s arc, but lacked the emotional ties the first one set. Final score: 72

Sae Nakata introduced the concept of the narrator, which greatly helped fill in moments where we wouldn’t know information, but felt somewhat against the “show, don’t tell” principle. Sae herself is nearly the “shy girl” trope continued again. Since they were going with the comedic moments with the narrator, I wouldn’t have minded using the cuter SD images for her inner monologues or something similar. I enjoyed her ED theme and animation the best out of everyone and ensured I’d stay to watch it every time. Final score: 75 (If only for the ED)

Ai Nanasaki expanded on what Ai had been throughout the series, a friend of our protagonist’s sister who was very into swimming. She did feel somewhat cliche with the “strict girl” attribute and in fact the whole arc felt as though it was somewhat “going through the motions.” It was executed well, but it wasn’t enough to gather me in. Final score: 73

Rihoko Sakurai is the classic “childhood friend who wants more.” One part that I enjoyed about her arc was that she wasn’t solely about Junichi; she was interested in many other things such as the tea club. Unfortunately, I felt her arc wasn’t that interesting overall. I enjoyed that they were able to keep the tea club going onward and the fact that they weren’t “together” at the end. It was a nice diversion from the rest of the main heroines. Final score: 64

Tsukasa Ayatsuji was what the entire series was building to and it did not disappoint. Ayatsuji is an amazing character and is easily the most developed of the four. Playing off of the typical “class leader” trope, the arc puts the “perfect” person in another light. This was easily the best arc of the show and is one that I wouldn’t mind showing to others. Final score: 91

Risa Kamizaki and Miya Tachibana are more of the usual “visual novel” type of episodes where the different arcs intertwine. That’s not to say they suffer for it, in fact, they offer another full story on their own. I was incredibly suspicious of Risa and the payoff was very worthwhile. I liked the use of the ED to finish the story. Miya was a great use of her character to bond closer with her brother and to offer an outside perspective of what the typical VN would look like. Final scores: 81/77

Our main protagonist Junichi is not one of my favorite characters and drags the show down in its weaker points. At points I felt annoyed that it was him that the story focused around and not someone else. I feel the best arcs were able to survive based on the strength of the female lead or on the story itself. Every male lead can’t be Okazaki though, so it’s tolerable at least.

Visually, Amagami SS adapts an interesting style that goes more for realism than exaggerated imagery. It took me a little while to warm up to the character designs, but I find them quite fascinating. There’s a little amount of what could be called “fanservice” or “erotic”, but the scenes are logically placed. The OPs maintain the tasteful style, but the EDs have some very suggestive moments. I appreciated the different styles for each ED and they all fit with their characters.

Amagami SS had a very good cast of seijyu who returned from the video game. I thought each voice fit their character as best they could. None felt out of place, which is a great compliment. No one person stole the show voice-wise, but no one suffered due to it. The BGM was placed appropriately, but never overwhelmed a scene. I have no complaints audibly.

Overall, the series to me feels more like two outstanding arcs that have four mediocre arcs inbetween. The choice to “reset” the show every four episodes felt new and allowed each main character their time to shine. Unfortunately, I feel that some of the stories weren’t of the same quality that others had and suffered due to that same amount of time that could have been added to others. The final two episodes feel like appropriate extensions of the show instead of separate like OVAs usually do due to the arc-based structure. Regardless, I feel this show is certainly worth a viewing by any visual novel fan. Since there was much more mediocre, the overall score suffers, but I feel the grades given to each arc reflect that part’s viewing. Final Score: 80

Volume 6 contains episodes 16-18 (This Sky, That Sky,Pool on the Hill, and A Mermaid Princess and Shell Bra).

This Sky, That Sky begins our development of Enishi and Takako, who had been regulated to the side throughout the difficulties in episodes 8-9, but get to shine in 16-17. We find out how they met as well as Enishi’s motivations for running the inn. The main story of having a movie being shot at Kissisuou is outlandish, but not too much that it isn’t believable. It’s not too bad as a first part of an arc, but there are much better episodes in this show.

Pool on the Hill was the episode that nearly broke me. While I can’t complain about the animation quality remaining incredible as usual, the episode itself is so underwhelming. Enishi and Takako remain constant as characters except in their relationship. It almost felt as though it wasn’t worth the paper the script was written on. While it served to help further later plots, the series overall felt incredibly weak at this point. I feel as though this arc would have better served to be one episode and allowed more focus on Nako.

Speaking of Nako, her focus episode Mermaid Princess and Shell Bra saved the show for me. While it continued the theme of “develop a character instead of the overall plot,” it was well written and heightened her character without sacrificing any other part of her character. A well-written plot allows you to realize certain aspects of a character when re-watching and the episode made me pay more attention to Nako when re-watching for these reviews. Comedic yet well-done. A fantastic episode that was worth the price of this disc.

Included on the disc are textless openings 3 and 4. Texless opening 3 features the new animation used for episodes 14-25 while 4 changes one scene in episode 18′s opening to focus on Nako instead of Ohana. On episode 18 we have character commentary by Ohana (CV.Kanae Itou) and Nako (CV.Aki Toyosaki). The shifts between character styles is hilarious. Both Itou and Toyosaki get into child voices when talking about Nako’s family. For our staff commentary, we have Supervisor Masashiro Ando, OP/ED Supervisor Yuuko Matsuda, and Copy Editor Takurou Imakawa on episode 16.　They had a lot of fun at Jiromaru’s expense.

As always, we have a 64 page Hanairo Notebook that includes episode summaries, character designs for Touru and Ren, and production materials to design various areas in Yunosagi, Kanazawa, Tokyo, and Miyazaki. It’s always fascinating to see specific rooms/places designed and the effort used to make each place realistic.

Overall, this is by far the weakest volume of Hanasaku Iroha in my opinion. While the movie plot is needed in the overall story, the inclusion of it during the run felt very haphazard and clumsy. Nako’s focus episode saved the show (and likely my imports of it). Next month we venture into the school again (what do you mean there’s a school in the town?).

As usual for a Bandai release, the only contents are changed cover art and the discs inside. On the first volume there are 13 Haruhi-chan and 6 Churuya-san episodes and the second volume contains 12/7 episodes respectively for 25/13 total.

Haruhi-chan is a fun parody of the main series to highlight how ridiculous the premise could get. As opposed to the regular story, the normality that we’re used to is dropped in favor of seeing how comedic Haruhi’s, Yuki’s, and Tsuruya’s powers can be. The manga highlights in each chapter how Kyon is supposed to be the straight man in the series, and that aspect is carried over greatly. It’s difficult to describe outside of saying “It’s just funny” to those who haven’t seen it. The dialogue is constantly witty for any situation and the return of Asakura (as a miniature version named “Achakura”) carries over just how absurd the story is supposed to be.

Churuya-san uses the same formula and brings new variations on that formula in every episode. The main point of sad things happening to Churuya-san somehow remain hilarious even though the gag plays out the same. Takemoto wisely intersperses bits where either Churuya-san has something good happen or the gag ends with Ashakura to bring some variety into the series. The series itself would not be nearly as funny if it was not combined with Haruhi-chan as it needs something livelier to be in contrast of.

It’s easily visible how this is not Kyoto Animation’s most visually intensive work, but their consistency at carrying over the tone is something to be admired. It’s easily understandable because they were in the middle of animating Clannad ~After Story~, a very visually impressive show. It help add to the “parody” feeling. Both the original JP and ENG casts carry over and do incredible jobs, especially in Churuya-san. Being able to keep the monotone voice throughout the series is incredibly impressive. My copies didn’t have the mono audio problems that plagued many of the part I releases.

Included on both discs were all of the video extras included in the JP release. There are commercials featuring Minoru Shiraishi (Taniguchi/Kimidori/various roles) in his “Oniguchi” role and as Taniguchi himself, the preview video that played in stores around Japan to promote the first JP volume, Bandai’s ASOS Brigade videos released in May 2010 to promote this release, the series on Crunchyroll, and the paper version released by Yen Press. On the second disc, there are more commercials and the bonus video included on the third JP Volume’s LE release disc featuring Shiraishi going to various places and getting into trouble with another demon. All have subtitles.

In conclusion, this is a very good release from Bandai. The video isn’t necessary for a BD-quality release while the audio for both JP and ENG is up to the quality that is to be expected from the main series. The inclusion of the video extras is (as always with Haruhi releases) outstanding and to be admired. If you are a fan of Haruhi, it is worth it to get these two sets (especially when they’re on clearance sale on Bandai’s own website!).

Table of contents:
Introduction
Story Guide:
12/16
12/17
12/18
12/19
12/20
7/7
12/18
12/21
12/24

Roundtable 1: Original Author x Supervisor x Scriptwriter – Partly translated by Yumeka
Interview: Noizi Itou
Roundtable 2: Director Discussion
Roundtable 3: Chief Animation Director Discussion
Roundtable 4: Music Discussion

Cast Interviews:
Minori Chihaya (Yuki Nagato)
Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon)
Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya)
Yuko Goto (Mikuru Asahina)
Daisuke Ono (Itsuki Koizumi)
Natsuko Kuwatani (Ryouko Asakura)
Yuki Matsuoka (Tsuruya-san)/Sayaka Aoki (Kyon’s Sister)
Minoru Shiraishi (Taniguchi)/Megumi Matsumoto (Kunikida)
Voice Director Yota Tsuruoka

Yuki Nagato’s Bookshelf
The Time inside Disappearance
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Location Scouting Map

Character Design Comments (Images aren’t scannable)
Art Board Comments (Images aren’t scannable)

All files will be in PDF format until a final version is produced. Given that both Yumeka and I are busy with real life situations, this is a somewhat side-project for us. I’ll be sure to tweet whenever any updates have been made. Take this blog post as confirmation the book will be translated. The paper texture prevents scanning, but all of the images have been released, so there’s nothing new for me to show unlike before. I’ll try to associate comments with characters/places to make that easier to read. I hope everyone enjoys it.