2008 a year of ups and downs. Mainly downs in the anime world I say. I can’t count the anime’s I’ve tried to watch only to drop them because they were pure crap. I probably tried at least 40 anime throughout the 2008 year only to stall about 5 and actually finish about 5 more. Most of the ones I finished were only because 4chan’s /a/ would constantly talk about said shows and I felt annoyed not knowing crap so I forced myself on.
The three shows I actually finished and enjoyed were Hidamari Sketch x365, Detroit Metal City and though it shouldn’t count as it started in 07 it finished in 08 so I consider it part of the 08 line up Hayate no Gotoku. Still airing which I’m liking is One Outs but since it hasn’t finished I can’t say much yet.
Out of those three Hidamari Sketch x365 was probably the best out of them all as it was a great way for me to come home after a long day at school and work and wind down by watching it.
Hidamari Sketch centers around a young girl named Yuno who finally is able to get accepted into Yamabuki Art High School, which she has longed for. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Sunshine Apartments located near the school. Once there, she starts making new friends like her classmate Miyako and the second year students, Hiro and Sae. The events of the characters’ everyday lives are shown as they attend the school together and get to know each other better.
x365 is a sequel and isn’t in some aspects as a couple episodes actually take place before some of the episodes of the first series.
Detroit Metal City was certainly a great show in itself too. Show follows Negishi a musician who likes Swedish Pop but is pretty much forced into playing in a Metal band by the Names of Detroit Metal City. In DMC he is the lead singer and guitar player known as Johannes Krauser II. The longer he stays in the band the harder it is for him to keep his secret about playing in DMC from everyone he cares about and the Krauser Persona starts to pop up when he’s around them too.
Now for the worst of the season in my opinion.
Code Geass R2 was just so terrible I thought of it as the same level of crap that was known as Gundam Seed Destiny. I actually semi enjoyed the first season of Code Geass because the mecha used weren’t really bull shit and it was more Real Robot than Super Robot even though Lelouch had the Geass. R2 went down faster than America’s economy that’s how bad it was. Everyone had their own personal Knightmare and they were so over powered not even an army of grunt Knightmares could do anything. They try for the whole “What TWEEST” end each episode still and it got worse and worse each time. Needless to say I wish I had the time back I spent on this series. Doesn’t even deserve a picture or video that’s how bad it was.
Now on to the Good but were Let Downs of 2008.
I remember counting down the days til ef a tale of melodies started airing the day after I finished up ef a tale of memories. I was so moved by ef a tale of memories I was expecting the same level from melodies as I got from memories. Needless to say I was sorely mistaken. I didn’t baw until around episode 9 or 10 in melodies where as in memories it was a constant stream around episode 6. I still enjoyed melodies but it was a disappointment in my books.
Another big let down was Macross Frontier. I remember marathoning all the Macross series in the few weeks up to Macross Frontier’s start and after all the watching I did I was expecting a lot as I enjoyed all the previous series even Macross 7. The first 7 or so episodes were great but then it just kind of stopped…From 8 uptil 16 or 17 the plot had made no progression at all and then they rushed the ending. I was extremely annoyed with the fact they killed off Michel when he was the best character out of the less than stellar cast of characters. Was glad I took my time finishing up this series as it wasn’t that great.
Over all I was extremely disappointed in what had aired in the year 2008. From the early looks of what’s coming up in 2009 the only thing I will end up watching is Tower of Druaga Sword of Uruk and the Second season of Hayate no Gotoku.
Posted by amiantos 