This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to all the anime I’ve been watching this season. In fact, it’s far from that. Anyway, to be honest, I was surprised how many good ones there were this fall season and I’d like to say a little something about a few of them…

Minami-ke: Your three “average” sisters.

Minami-ke was definitely on my must-watch anime list for the fall season. What first caught my attention was its nice character designs, but I soon found out it was more than just simply good artwork; Minami-ke is a light comedy anime with enough substance to keep me wanting more. As I write this entry, 9 episodes of Minami-ke have been released so far and it has yet to disappoint me.

While I expected Minami-ke to be somewhat like Lucky Star, I feel that it has left a better overall impression in terms of its presentation and content, not that Lucky Star was bad, mind you. The story revolves around Minami sisters: Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki. Haruka is the eldest, responsible sister, Kana is the hyper “idiotic” middle sister, and Chiaki is the callous, rude little sister. It is quite an interesting mix of personalities, to say the least, but in spite of the major differences amongst the trio, they mesh so well together and get along just fine. Their comedic daily routines, ranging from cooking dinner to romance, are kept fresh by a good balance of pace and material, sure enough to keep you interested in such “ordinary” events.

I particularly like the dynamics between Kana and Chiaki because they are like day and night. Their very different personalities clash often for good laughs in a variety of situations; it is quite amusing to see how Chiaki reacts to Kana’s odd, yet whimsical schemes and behavior. Much credit goes to the seiyuu, Chihara Minori (Chiaki) and Marina Inoue (Kana), for a great job depicting their roles in a lively, interesting fashion.

I wish I had a daughter like Chiaki…

It is a shame Minami-ke is drawing near its end, as it is only a 12 episode series, which is quite short compared to the standard 26 episode series. I expect it to maintain the same, good quality up until the end. I will certainly miss the Minami sisters’ antics once it is over.

Need MOAR chestnut-shaped mouth!

Minami-ke is simply a fun anime to watch through and through. There is nothing better than sitting back and enjoying an episode of this series to start the day off or to wind down after work. I highly recommend it to fans who want to enjoy a fresh, interesting slice-of-life comedy.

By the way it seems a “re-telling” titled Minami-ke: Okawari with different art is airing in January ‘08. I wonder what that is all about.

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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai: Revelations.

Killer lolis? A mysterious festival? Who is Oyashiro-sama? After completing Higurashi no Naku Koro ni over a year ago, I was left very confused as there were so many questions left unanswered. Hence, I was thrilled when the highly anticipated sequel, Kai, was announced. Perhaps it would finally shed some light on the mysteries?

“Kai” roughly translates to “answer.” This intriguing sequel to the first season of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni sure answers a lot of questions and it does a whole lot more too. I do not want to reveal any spoilers, but for fans that were waiting for more development in the story, they will definitely find a lot of it here.

The first few episodes of HiguKai appear to start out with the same format seen in the first season. Everything is happy-go-lucky at the beginning as usual. However, this time, instead of falling into the same old routine, the story is met with a fresh twist pretty early on and along the way, long sought-after answers to the mysteries are revealed one by one. What pleases me the most is how, in the process, each character is so richly developed, each complete with their own unique history and believable motivations for their actions and deeds. Even the “true” villains get a thorough back-story with an arc pretty much entirely devoted to developing them, which is a rarity in any anime. As a matter of fact, I feel this very feature of Kai is a high point in the series. In most stories, villains are out to be bad for just for the heck of it, but this is not the case in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series. I genuinely felt bad for the villains at times, but of course… may justice prevail.

Watch it for the sake of your manly spirit!

What merely started as an insane anime with psychotic killers and senseless brutality has become quite deep with very little left untouched, in terms of its plot. If for any reason, you thought the first season was a bit shallow, expect to see anything but that in this sequel. It is simply amazingly well done.

Nipa~~!

If you have not seen the first season, watch it now if you can stand some of the violence. You will be rewarded with epic story telling and great plot and character development later on with Kai. You must not miss the opportunity to check it out if you have not watched it yet.

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Ef – A Tale of Memories: Serious Business.

For some reason, Ef reminded me of Sola when I saw the promos for it. Maybe it was due to the similarities of the character designs and artwork, but the question is, will it be as impressive as I thought Sola was towards the end?

Ef is certainly a bizarre anime. I gave up on it right after the first episode in the first week, but 8 weeks later, I decided to give it another chance due to the suggestions of avid fans. I’m glad I did as it is not as bad as I originally thought. I’m up to episode 9 and it has kept me pretty interested so far.

First, why is it weird? Well, the visual style is very unusual. In any given scene, random images of the sky or background interject, which is a little distracting. I can’t even begin to explain it:

The sky.

???

Also, as seen in the first episode, a large cast of characters are introduced, seemingly with no connections to each other at all and rather than focusing on a few particular characters, it jumps all over the place, barely touching upon each one of them.

It was mainly these two issues that I had a gripe about at the beginning. However, upon giving Ef another shot, it started to grow on me. Given time, the story and the connections between the characters made much more sense. While Ef does not depart from the typical romance/drama-type story in the strictest sense, it does manage to keep my interest in the way the story is told from the perspective of each character. Some of the characters do get quite annoying (Kei comes into mind). However, I find most of their stories to be quite engaging as they struggle to solve their (pretty unusual) problems in their daily lives. Of particular interest is Chihiro, who is a very unique character with a tragic past. I do hope they further elaborate on her character… what is in store for Chihiro?

Ef is another one of those short half-a-season shows. It starts out pretty slow in the first few episodes (kinda’ like Sola), but it certainly picks up, making the anticipation worthwhile. With 2 or 3 episodes remaining, I wonder if they can bring closure to each of the characters stories in a fulfilling manner. In my opinion, Sola, in spite of the doubts it faced early on, managed to pull off a very respectable, if not great ending in the same, short amount of time. Although it is unfair to draw parallels to Sola, as Ef is not Sola, I feel that at this point, Ef’s got a lot to work with and plenty of potential to be just as good as it winds down. Let’s hope for it.

Definitely give Ef a shot if you have not or if you gave up on it like I did. I was a non-believer at first, but I have repented.

Not very relevant, but lol.

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Gundam 00: Oh, man. Another Gundam?

I… can’t… stop… staring…!!!

Ahem, I mean watching. Gundam 00 is everything I expected it to be: robots, boobs, and explosions. It’s also got sub-elements like pseudo-politics and romance. What else can you ask for in an anime? It’s got all the essential qualities needed for an awesome series made of win and massive lulz.

Sure… Gundam can get very repetitive, with the same themes and all. I mean, the franchise has been around since before I was born and I am, by no means, a youngling any more. But seriously, I can’t stop watching it week after week, so Sunrise must be doing something right after all these years. Now if you’ll excuse me…

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~~~