Best 8: Spring 2009 Current Favourites

A new season has arrived. As usual there are a lot of shows and even more bad ones. There are still a few shows I’m trying to catch like Hatsukoi Limited, 07 Ghost and Eden of the East. But the season is starting out better than I thought, and here are 8 shows that are standing out so far.

Kugimiya Rie is busy again as usual this season with 3 very different roles:  the rich loli Nagi, the living armor Al and the mahjong player equipped with a fang, Yuuki.

Hayate the Combat Butler (2nd season)

Still as brilliant as ever, although I do wonder about some of the color changes. But it doesn’t really bother me that much since the main cast were not touched. Gotta love the summary of the first season at the start – short and sweet. Was disappointed that the OP wasn’t done by Kotoko

Unless I’ve been dreaming during season 1 (or I just totally forgot about it), there appeared to be a short skip in the story involving Nagi and Ayumu’s younger brother. Guess that means I’ll have to read the manga to find out what really happene.

And Maid Max Hearts FTW!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Unlike most who thinks FMA is one of the best anime/manga around, I didn’t think it was that good. Don’t get me wrong, FMA is good, but to me it wasn’t up to the level many others hailed it as.

One of the things I liked about FMA was the great supporter of mini skirts for uniform Roy Mustang. Having the surprisingly perverted colonel come out as if he could shout “nerai wa utsu!” at anytime dampens that. It will take some time to adjust to the new Lockon Colonel Mustang.

But as long as it’s not going down the exact same route the original series did, FMA Brotherhood will be an interesting watch. I don’t really like waiting week after week to watch a “rerun” when we can just rewatch the original series from start to finish in a couple of days.

Salutes to Kenji Utsumi for still being able to pull off an awesome Major Armstrong at nearly the age of 72, one of the oldest seiyuus around today.

Apparently, FMA Brotherhood will be showing on Animax Asia very soon as well.

Saki

It’s like a dream come true. I had really enjoyed xxxHolic’s mahjong episode and it was then I found out about Saki. However, the manga was difficult to find and I only managed to get a few chapters of it, which discouraged me from reading. So when Saki was announced to make its debut as an anime this season, it easily became one of the series I looked forward to most.

And I love it! I play mahjong for fun every now and then with a few friends, and it’s always a barrel of laughter. The kind of things you do just to screw up a single opponent even if it meant losing the round, it’s all good fun – if you consider this twisted kind of fun as good like me.

Unless Gonzo somehow screws this up really bad, I will enjoy this very much.

K-ON

The first 10 minutes or so was kinda boring – my first impressions of Konata’s chocolate cornet was loads more entertaining. The real fun only began after Yui stepped into the club room.

Maybe my expectations were too high after reading and hearing good things about K-ON, but I was slightly disappointed after watching it. Animation is pretty fluid as expected from KyoAni, but I’m sure they could have done a lot better especially the colours.

Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-

I like spirit Roxy. She’s just so cute and adorable, a lot different compared to when she was a demon knight. It looks interesting enough, but at the same time it feels like a ticking timebomb waiting to blow up and go very wrong.

Pandora Hearts

I’m curious about this series. Like how Pandora was curious enough to ignore Zeus’s warning and opened the jar to unleash evil and misery to the world, I find myself attracted to what evil and misery Pandora Hearts will unleash.

Asura Cryin’

If the first episode is anything to go by, the original summary that this series is about a boy and a ghost girl doesn’t do any justice to it. Secret societies, religious wars, scientific experiments, a mecha hidden in wormhole stuffed inside a small metal casing -Asura Cryin’ might actually end up as one of the best this season.

Valkyria Chronicles

I haven’t played the game (yet) but something tells me I’ll be playing it sooner than I thought. The animation style kinda resembles a painting, especially the shading. You can easily tell it looks different from other shows but personally I think it looks pretty good. One of the most impressive looking series that came this season with a cast of likable characters. I think I have the hots for Alicia already <3

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