HomeAnime & MangaAnime NewsFast Thoughts - Spring 2012 Anime Part 2

Fast Thoughts – Spring 2012 Anime Part 2

With the Spring 2012 Anime Season upon us, I have introduced a recurring segment known as Fast Thoughts. In each instalment of Fast Thoughts I will provide quick and concise thoughts on certain topics. At the end of each, I will rate it either a ‘Yes!’ or a ‘No…’ with ‘Yes!’ meaning it is something worthy of your time and ‘No…’ of course meaning something that should be banished to exile on the sun.

This Fast Thoughts topic is Spring 2012 Anime. This is the second part, with the previous part here. So without further adieu, here are my Fast Thoughts on the some of the Spring 2012 Anime:

Tsuritama:
This series just plain doesn’t aim to make sense. It doesn’t aim for logic. It doesn’t aim for being fun. It doesn’t even aim for being good. It just exists, without much purpose. I did have some hopes for this to be good, because Kenji Nakamura was helming this series, but I was ultimately let down by what I saw.

It was just so unnatural and while that can be good in some cases, here it verged on claustrophobia. The first episode alone tries to smother you in it’s nonsense and I felt just plain suffocated by it. Absolutely abhorrent and major misstep for Nakamura.

‘No…’


Kids on the Slope:
There are some anime series that upon watching the first episode alone you know almost instantly that it’s going to be something special. Kids on the Slope is that show. It is such an refreshing series, both with it’s setting and it’s characters.

This feels like untouched terrain in animation and with anime directing legend Shinichiro Watanabe teaming up with the equally legendary Yoko Kanno, Kids on the Slope is simply beautiful.

The animation flows naturally, the music is majestic and soulful and the characters and plot and just so real. Everything feels so organic and that is not something easy to come by in animation. This is a series that has soul. It is easily the best of the entire season.

‘Yes!’


Space Brothers:
Now here is a show that I have largely mixed feelings about. I love the concept and the bond between these two main characters, all of that is great. My major problem with the series however, is that it is just plain ugly and far too slow paced. I’m not usually one to shoot down a series for these things, but the pace was so halting at times that a lot of the excitement was lost.

The art itself is rather unpretty without much redeeming features. It’s distracting when the art style is not to your liking and I found the art style to be somewhat repulsive. Sadly despite it’s good qualities, I have to give Space Brothers a No.

‘No…’


Medaka Box:
This is what I’m talking about! This show is just flat out fun. The characters are enjoyable and the jokes always hit their mark. The dialogue is certainly what you would expect from the master of dialogue NisiOisin (Monogatari series). This series looks like it is going to be a hell of a lot of fun and based on that alone I will tune in week after week to see the exploits of Medaka and her friends.

‘Yes!’

This has been my Fast Thought on the Spring 2012 Anime Season, you can check out the first part here. Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of the Spring 2012 Anime season as well as what you think of each series.

Luke Halliday
Luke Halliday
Senior Editor & Anime Specialist