Oldtaku: Anime for Grownups

This season started a bit weak, but after the horror of Sekirei and Strike Witches has gotten a bit better.

So Far So Good:

• Birdy the Mighty Decode – Another 90s throwback, a re-imagining of Birdy the Mighty.  Cute, violent, female (of course) intergalactic inspector hunts down alien criminals on earth.
• Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo (Ryoko’s Case Files) – This is definitely written for adults. Supernatural policework (and for once the main chars don’t have magic powers). The first ep is a little slow, but by the second it’s in full gear and you’ve got giant man-eating snakes.
• Takane no Jitensha - Would you trade your bratty little sister to a fox for a new bike? Yeah I would too. Nice one-shot show.
• Natsume Yujin-cho – Natsume’s grandmother was a powerful spirit medium who made a hobby of beating up all the monsters in the area and forcing them to write their names in her ‘Book of Friends’. Now they’ve mistaken Natsume for his grandmother, and everyone wants the book back. After 13 eps, I highly recommend this.

Special Circumstances:

• Antique Bakery – This is gayer than a purse full of wangs,  but gay as imagined by tittering straight women.  Any plot here is all incidental to the baker ‘Demon Lord of Gay’ (the show’s own term) bagging the token straight owner.
• Bounen no Xamdou (Xam’d) – If you liked Rahxephon or Eureka 7, this is for you. School boy transformed into humanoid weapon in dystopian (but with airships) future. This one is actually growing on me.
• Mahou Tsukai no Taisetsuna Koto: Natsu no Sora – This low key series, like its predescessor, is for preteen girls, but you might still enjoy it.  It has a interesting art style of using real pictures of Hokkaido and Tokyo as backgrounds for simplistic (but not minimalistic) character designs.
• Slayers Revolution – If you’ve ever seen a Slayers anime before, you know exactly what this is like. 90s (relatively) Old School fantasy comedy adventure. Dumb fun.
• Telepathy Girl Ran – this is a cute comedy/school love thing… with battling psychic girls and people burned horribly to death by demon dogs. It’s not bad, but is definitely a kiddie magical girl show.

Pass:

• Koihime Mousou – Yet another mangling of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but this one tops Ikkitousen since every single character is female. Starts right out with the big breasted beauty and bratty loli just to get things going. Based on a porn game.
• Nogizaki Haruhi no Himitsu – Pandering to the otaku crowd, even down to the name. The perfect girl at school’s deep dark secret is… she’s an otaku! Watch only if you need to be desperately reassured.
• Sekirei – 108 girls paired with 108 pathetic losers fight with the power of their breast size. I hope to god this is based on a porn game, because if it’s not there’s no excuse for it.
• Strike Witches - nekomimi loli girls who turn into planes and more crotch shots than a month of Tijuana bar fights. If you thought Sky Girls was too classy, this is for you.
• World Destruction – This is every RPG anime ever made, based on a game. Two humans (who just happen to be the main chars) trapped in a world of furries. Cliches ahoy!