Asagiri no Miko

I gave up on this one after the 2nd episode. Something about the hydroencephalic lead character frenetically denying any attraction to the male lead reminded me of Cathy (newspaper comic) and Miss Piggy. Got tired of that real quick. What I didn't get tired of was the fascinating array of demons and monsters that kept coming after the male lead and his demonic left eye, those things were gorgeous. And it was kind of interesting that an old school of priestesses had the power to fend them off. But that love-interest thing was really getting up my nose.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue

There is nothing redeeming in this anime unless you like bare-butt shots. Maia failed her application for the futuristic equivalent of the Coast Guard, got evicted, and falls into the employ of a private enforcement agency that operates outside the law. Never mind that her conversations are limited to stammering helplessly and that she perpetually dresses like a flower princess. When these girls leap into action they remove most of their clothing for no apparent reason... gratuitous semi-nudity, uninteresting plotline, embarrassing and tired gender stereotypification. The style of anime focuses on too-large eyes, too-large skulls, and fucked-up harelip mouths. This is getting annoying.

Green Green

Setting: all-girls' school is shipped out to mingle with all-boys' school for one experimental month to determine the feasability of a co-ed school. The worst example of horny teenaged boys swamps a busload of the worst example of fickle, frail teenaged girls, and also there's a subplot about a girl who's travelled over 1,000 years back in time to unite with the class president of the boys' school, but this is barely discernable through the fog of heaving, jostling D- and E-cup breasts and panty shots. *heavy sigh* Japan, I love you, but one of these days you're going to have to get over this.

Gun Grave

This isn't so well done. The bad guys are drawn artistically and stern, but not as interestingly as in Peace Keeper Kurogane or Gunslinger Girl, though it wants to be as serious and dark as that. The main characters are rendered closer to old-school anime style, and the animation is just... poor. This series wants to be too many other series, it's just borrowing cool from too many other sources, but once it has the components it doesn't know how to put them together correctly. I couldn't find the first three episodes so I started in at #4, so maybe I'm missing a lot, but just jumping into it, it was still flat and uncompelling. They alluded to many things and much badassery but I wasn't interested enough to delve further and find out what was behind it all.

Hunter x Hunter

I still have to figure this one out, but right off the bat the oldschool artwork and low production value turns me off. This show is a classic example of the camera lingering too long on a still (image), slowly panning its breadth while a hasty monologue rambles over it, and this represents intensive thought process or relevant flashback. It's a technique too often abused by even good production companies who just want to bang out their product quickly. I think its overuse will prevent newcomers from enjoying various anime.

Ikkitousen ("Strength of a Thousand") / Battle Vixens

Some really nice fighting sequences (the story is all about the most powerful fighter in a high school of powerful fighters, with rival powerful fighter high schools, all summoning the powers of long-dead fighters from Japan's past in little magic stones), but way, way too much sexual humor, innuendo, panty-shots, blah-blah-blah... It has a lot of other things going for it but the "appealing to hormonally-distended teenage boys" factor really bogs it down.

Love Hina

I just can't watch this series. I know it's good, I'm aware that it's very popular. I have no grievance against the artwork, and the animation is standard. I just can't stand situational humor. Way back in childhood, Keitaro and a young female playmate swore they would grow up to attend Tokyo University and get married. He never forgot this vow but the girl moved away almost immediately and he can't remember her name or what she looks like. Many years later, after an absolutely dismal academic career, Keitaro is finagled into managing his grandmother's all-female dormitory, staffed by girls who make up lies about him and lash out with extreme violence over misunderstandings. Vaguely and momentarily he remembers that he's probably supposed to be searching for this girl he's vowed to marry. I just don't think this show's funny, it's too frustrating for me to watch this schmuck get beaten up and slandered and manipulated endlessly. I've only seen the first two episodes and I don't care to watch anymore.

Saint Seiya Hades

Oh my gods, SO BAD! I've only seen the 13th episode of this series, granted, maybe everything before it would justify this isolated piece of crap. Oldschool artwork and animation, but latter-day production value. You'd think if someone was going to put this much work into illustration, into a series, they'd at least try to find a ebtter artistic expression, unless this project is a preservation of a certain style. I really don't care for the style of art, not to mention the storyline seems pretty hokey besides. A bunch of guys in flouncy shiny armor, unleashing all their hidden superpowers against one bad guy who seems invulnerable to all attacks. There's a lot of gasping and screaming and manly tears shed. It's very heavy-handed on the melodrama; I think the entire series would exhaust me - in fact, I did fall asleep halfway through watching this one. The best thing about this fansub is the attention to detail that went into the fun subtitles, the very appropriate fonts they use and the little special effects with making them leap off the screen and stuff. That's right, the kids made this anime better than it was. Thank you, the kids.

And! And! So much of it doesn't make any sense! Why are half the people and superpowers named after Greek mythological figures, none of which they resemble? Why are there two separate opening and closing theme songs!? If they skimped so much funding on production, artwork, and voice actors, where did all that money go!?

Shadow Skill

I don't care for old-school anime, sorry. The main characters look way too darling, the armor is cartoonish and brightly-colored, and there are enough other series going around about who's going to become the most powerful fighter and systematically discover new, horrendously powerful fighting techniques and finishing moves along the way.

UFO Princess Valkyrie (season two)

Ecch, anyone familiar with this series could have easily predicted I wouldn't be enraptured by it. It's just way, way too saccharine-cute, all the little girls and the shrieking and... I didn't mind the cat-maids. And I just leapt into this at the start of Season Two so I don't know what the premise is. It seems like powerful warrior maidens have some kind of binding seal placed upon them that keeps them in the form of little girls. When trouble erupts the seals may be removed (through whatever means) and they transform into warrior-women with superpowers and hats and everything. Each episode basically encapsulates one wacky adventure, with a storyline slowly playing itself out over the course of the series. It's just not my thing, I can't stand shrieking, babyish little kids for a whole show.