And now, for the fourth and final post for this year, I will discuss my views regarding this year’s autumn season. So, everyone ready?

AUTUMN 2011: The Season of Sequels

Just like the previous years, the autumn season is indeed the season of sequels. Some of the popular anime titles returned for their new or final chapter (for example: Bakuman II, Shinryaku?! Ika Musume, and the remake of Hunter X Hunter). Others were usually adapted from their manga, light novel and even a role-playing game. There are still some originally-produced anime series, since the viewers still showed interest in them, just like how they praised Madoka Magica and Tiger & Bunny.

As I have observed, this season’s anime line-up were neither good nor bad. But surprisingly, certain shows were hailed by the viewers as a “work of masterpiece,” according to Anime News Network. Even The IdolM@ster that I severely criticized suddenly improved by having some character developments and, of course, introducing a nemesis against the main cast of the series. (Thanks a lot, Lamitan, err, Kuroi Takao, for humiliating 765 Pro. Sadly, your evil plans were doomed by your own talents!)

It seems that some producers, writers and directors now learned from their failures on the agonizing summer season. Or so I thought…

STILL EXPERIMENTING

It seems that all of the anime series I picked up for this season actually extended their airtime until next year’s Winter season. Take note that a few of them will still be included on my watch list or else they’ll be permanently dropped into my trash bin.

Is this really the final chapter of Shakugan no Shana? Hmph. All I can see right now is nothing but episodes filled with mongrels. Honestly, Yuuji Sakai’s turn to the dark side didn’t actually give me a chill or worry. Perhaps, he’s a useless mongrel after all!

As always, JC Staff disappointed me a lot. Each episode was filled with useless talking and boring flashbacks. I got tired of seeing the shy Kazumi Yoshida and the boring Hecate. And Keisaku and Margery’s sudden relationship? Nah! It didn’t quite affect over the series’ developments.

Even so, I do wish that the series will be concluded for good. I just wish to see those annoying mongrels to be defeated by Shana. (Oh, I recommend that she use Iskander’s Ionioi Hetairoi and EMIYA’s Unlimited Blade Works to defeat them for good!) I wonder if she will have to face off  with the person she loved?

For now, Shakugan no Shana III~Finale is still under my “reading” status. This means that I didn’t exactly download their latest episode, but perhaps I still relying over the views of certain anime bloggers.

I guess Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Blood-C isn’t the most disturbing series of 2011 yet. When I’d heard about the Yandere Trance, I quickly searched where it actually came from, and so I found about Mirai Nikki (Future Diary). Just like the Holy Grail War, the series has a battle royal and has twelve participants, including Yukiteru Amano and Yuno Gasai (the girl in the image above).

Honestly, I feel so bothered with the series, in a good way. From their creepy eye contacts and grin smiles to the blood-splatting battle, all of these brought more color to the series, just like High School of the Dead. No wonder I’m able to enjoy watching it even if their uncensored episodes were released to the market.

Just like Shana III, Mirai Nikki is also on my “reading” status. But since I’d read some good points about it, I guess there’s no way that I should able to miss out this series while I’m still on vacation mode!

I’ve heard some good feedback about the role-playing game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 before. Unlike other games that I’ve played before (such as Metal Gear Acid), Persona 4 is a mash-up between school life, mystery and supernatural phenomenon.

Before I watched Persona 4: The Animation, one thing that made me worry about this series is whether it would be faithful to the original game. Good thing that it actually retained everything from it, including the iconic summoning of each character’s Persona (image above).

Shall I include this one into my Blu-Ray list? Of course! Just like the next anime on my list.

P.S. Just noticed another character who’s looks like Angel Beat’s Naoi Ayato. Hmm….

Last but not least is the series that I considered as my “dream anime series”: Fate/Zero. All of the things I loved most is finally here on the series: TYPEMOON, Gen Urobochi and Yuki Kajiura! Its mind-boggling plot, awesome art design and astonishing music were the main reasons why I should include this series in my Blu-Ray anime collection.

Even if Fate/Zero will have a season break (to be temporarily replaced by Nisemonogatari next month), I’m so impressed by the series’ first half. Little by little, I understand the darkest secrets of the Holy Grail War, as well as the true personality of certain characters like Kirei Kotomine and Kiritsugu Emiya.

The series also focused on other characters, such as Ilya’s mother, Irisviel von Einzbern and the King of Conquerors Iskander, the Rider-class servant. These two characters are shaping up to have an important role for Saber.

Although I’ve read some of the spoilers beforehand, I’m still able to watch it until the end. Perhaps it would give me some answers from the things I wondered about Fate/Stay Night. Can’t wait for their uncensored episodes!

Even though that I don’t feature any anime serials this Autumn, it doesn’t mean that my blog is over. Perhaps there’s only one series that I’d like to recommend to everyone, especially for TYPEMOON fanboys like me!

CARNIVAL PHANTASM: Where a Heroic Spirit and a True Ancestor Were Having Fun

To commemorate their 10th year anniversary, game company TYPEMOON has made a parody manga entitled “Take Moon,” also known as Carnival Phantasm. It features several characters mostly from Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night set in comedic situations.

Even if the artwork was actually decent and not all of TYPEMOON’s games were featured (like Kara no Kyoukai, Girl’s Work, and Canaan), their sense of humor didn’t fail to amuse me. All of the once impossible things I really wanted the characters to do finally became a reality on Carnival Phantasm.

One memorable moment of the OVA was when Saber suddenly work as a maid waitress on Ahnenerbe. Not only that, almost all of the customers, including the King of Heroes himself Gilgamesh, fell in love with her!

It is also the first time that I encountered the other characters, such as Arcueid Brunestud and the NEKO Spirits led by Neco-Arc. It is quite amusing that all of the featured characters, even if they appeared to be serious in their original titles, showed their lighter and funnier sides in this OVA.

Well done and Happy 10^th Anniversary, TYPEMOON. We wish you more projects to come for the next 10 years!

FOCAL POINT: LANCER (Believe it or not, the Lancer-class Servant might become the most unfortunate Servant in the Nasuverse. It was proven in Carnival Phantasm, when he is always ended up being defeated or worse, being killed due to an accident or horribly “played” by Berserker!)

I THEREFORE CONCLUDE THAT THIS ANIME IS QUITE AMAZING! (Too bad, Shiki Ryougi. Why you didn’t join the Carnival?)

And before we put a close on this year, here are some news from ZEN Otaku Honbu…

Due to certain circumstances, the Otaku’s Verdict Committee had just decided to postpone the upcoming OV2011 this month. Instead, they decided to move the event by January 2012. Moreover, they decided to make some changes within the anime yearender poll, such as categorizing the Cable/Satellite TV nominees by genre and decreasing the number of categories for Terrestrial TV.

But even so, the Japan’s Newest Title category is still in the poll. So far, the committee revealed the 15 anime titles nominated within the said category, including the first three titles I already mentioned in my previous post.

And lastly, ZEN Otaku Honbu is set to transfer its website to a new server. With that, this website will be temporarily unavailable from December 26 all the way to January 01 of next year.

And that’s the end of our first year, and I will bring more next year for the second installment of I Therefore Conclude. Thank you for reading and supporting my column here at ZEN. Happy Holidays, CitiZENs!