DonKangolJones' Images of the Week: April 12th (the Abbrev. Ed.) 

What? Don't look at me like that. I've been busy. Regardless, it's been a fun
if not very productive week. I got to finish two series that have been running
for 2 seasons and I got some surprising results from that. I'm slowly dipping
my toes into the new season, though I'm careful not to overlook the massive
backlog I now have following me. I'm looking forward and backward this week and
for this post.

The highlight of this week was finally finishing Star Driver and Bakuman. To my
chagrin, the show I loved throughout its run left me wanting with the ending.
The that left me wanting gave me a very satisfying ending. Though all it did
was get me excited for the eventual second season (October seems so far away).
Don't get the wrong impression. I still consider Star Driver far better and
more entertaining than Bakuman. It doesn't change how I score the shows much or
where high one stands in my library next to the other.

Bakuman had a terrible time keeping my attention and not disappointing me at
times. Whether it be my impressions of how the manga may have been written, or
how the manga was interpreted. When Bakuman focused on the manga industry, the
creative ideas and their distinct personalities and goals it shined. I could
easily see why it had become so popular a manga. When the show delved into the
non-manga related aspects and people it felt decidedly less compelling and
entertaining.

The romance was so idealistic and childish that I damn near outright dismissed
it. I never enjoyed it. How could you enjoy a romance does not encompass
anything more than looks and text messages? Even a long email would make it a
more tolerable experience. Instead they just metaphorically put each other into
glass cases as goals to aspire to. It's sparse and I suppose the characters
feel it well enough, but the audience isn't going to have much luck. Thank
goodness the final few episodes spent so much time focusing on the various
mangaka rivalries.

That said I am glad to see Ashirogi Muto get off the ground and serialized. The
weekly trials of a mangaka, sorry of a pair of mangaka, still in high school
sound like they will be full of chaos, highs and lows and I can't wait to soak
in the drama.

Star Driver's ending was an amazing curiosity for me. Either I wanted something
it didn't give me, or it gave me something I didn't want. But aspects of the
show never quite matured enough for me to feel like it was a classic. The
ending exposed that. On top of that complaint, the ending didn't quite feel
like the Star Driver I had gotten used to watching. TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN
came to mind quite a bit as the episode ended. And I thought to myself that
that wasn't quite right.

Star Driver was always a elegant and lighthearted show. I always wanted the
show to grow a bit darker, but that never stopped me from enjoying it. I always
thought the combat was the show's biggest weakness, but I always believed it
could be ignored as long as it was pretty. To be honest, the classic
Revolutionary Girl Utena had terrible combat when it came to substance,
diversity and choreograpy, but the show was remembered more so for its
symbolism, elegance, and dark, controversial tone. Great combat does not make a
good show, though there are great shows with great combat. It's not a one to
one correlation. Though I've sat through many of sh*tty show to bask in the
glorious violence of a show. *cough!* Gundam *cough!*

In the final episode, Takuto seemed strained even before joining in combat. The
yelling seemed to be kicked up a notch too far for me as well. The animation
got loose to go along with the very high frame count and I couldn't help that
think the show had gotten a little bit loose itself. It seemed to revel in
being set loose, but I missed the restrained. Most of the episode felt like the
end of kids' show with Toshio's ridiculous selfishness and ambitions.

I honestly thought that Toshio was the show's second glaring weakness next to
the combat. Despite seeming like a great villian and foil for Takuto, he was
horribly underdeveloped in my eyes. His much anticipated moments were fleeting
with Takuto and somewhat disappointing. I'm surprised Takuto only wanted to
punch him and didn't seem to care anything beyond that. For all we know he may
know less about Toshio than we do. This coupled with the lack of any sort of
interlude makes me hope that their will be an extra episode or even a movie to
put a satisfying cap on the series. But the last episode doesn't seem to leave
much room for that. If there's anything I hate its unanswered questions and
untapped potential at the end of a series. Then again I've changed my mind and
opinion on shows due to rewatches, and Star Driver is a show that begs for that
sort of thing. We'll see, but for now Star Driver sits well below its distant
relatives Evangelion, Rah Xephon, G Gundam and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

My week wasn't all spent on the ponderableness of completed anime. I pondered
ongoing series as well. Gosick is far from over, but has left me pondering the
viability of Kujo and Victorique's relationship. I'm sorry but Victorique is so
tiny and underdeveloped that I'd be surprised if Kujo was arrested and beaten
for running around with her. Though given the public nature of their
relationship he'd probably be safe seeing as how he appears to be her
butler/manservant. Episodes eleven and twelve did a great job on developing
Victorique's relationships with Grevil and Kujo. Though the veils are still
their keeping everyone from breaking out of or past their initial roles,
everyone should be able to understand the parties much better now. Never
thought I'd say this, but my heart goes out to Grevil. Yeah, I said it.

When it comes to the new Spring season I've barely touched on anything, but I
did get some enjoyment out of what I did try. Tiger & Bunny definitely caught
my interest with the first episode and I am definitely following that. Nichijou
has proven to show mild potential and I'll give that the five episode test as
well. Dog Days was not very good, but since my policy is to not just be an
elitist and even try stuff that I don't think I'll enjoy, I'll give that one
five episodes as well. Let's see how that goes.

The final anime I watched was Shiki, but it's far too early to say much about
that. Perhaps a Check-in Station will be coming soon.

Next week I'll be catching up on Fairy Tail; finishing Yumekui Merry; doing some
group watching with the SCCSAV if my schedule pans out; and checking out a few
more Spring anime with some tandem watches included for fun. Sorry, but due to
my busy schedule (and my new slight obsession with My Little Pony: Friendship is
Magic) I wasn't able to get any manga or pervy material in to this post. I can
only hope that I can make it up to you guys next week. Have a good week, and
I'll hopefully see you guys seven days from now.