Currently Airing Anime

Shakugan no Shana III episode 1

Ok, I know it's not a currently airing anime but I HAVE to write ~something~ ~somewhere~. So, I had watched the second season years ago, and it wasn't until yesterday that I found out that the full third season aired some time ago. So I watch the last episode of season 2 to refresh my memory, and then I start watching this episode.

What the flying pineapple?

Biggest mindpineapple in recent memory.

Shana III was terrible. Oh God.

Senran Kagura:

 Spoiler

Overall, this was a 'bad' show to me. I found that it at a gratuitous amount of fanservice, which is fine, but at the same time, the protagonists are shown to be utterly incapable of winning at anything against the antagonists with the exception of Yagyuu, which can also be implied to be due to Mirai being bad, rather than Yagyuu being good. The severity with which everyone else lost to their opponents was staggering. Then, in the final 3 episodes, they've powered up (which is reasonable to believe in my opinion), and can manage to win finally, but at this point there's all this empathy flying around that would have been useful to build conflict earlier on, rather than showing the enemies being unjustifiably angry at the heroes. The largest issues I had with this show was how weak the protagonists were initially, how useless Hibari was overall, and how Asuka's background had no real conflict, unlike Ikaruga, Katsuragi, and their contemporaries on the dark side. Meanwhile, in the final episode, we finally see what lead Homura to the dark side, and we still see that basically everything has gone perfectly well for Asuka in her life. I thought the conflict in the final 3 episodes were actually well done, and the fights were decent, but the episodes leading up to it were stale. Along with that, the overall open-ended-ness of the finale involving Homura's gang is offputting to say the least. While they, and all the serpent academy students are alive, there is basically no place for them to go, as the light side has proven they will not accept them, and the dark side will easily betray them for their own gain which would lead to Homura, their defacto leader, refrain from leaving anyone in their care. I actually expect if they did well enough with sales for a second season, hopefully starring Homura's crew, as with the games, from what I've read. But that's just me speaking as a huge Kitamura Eri fan, and Homura was exceptionally delicious in regards to this. dat tan. While I am tempted to give this a higher score from enjoying the last few episodes, the earlier stuff combined with Hibari being excessively annoying leads me to this:

4/10

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

 Spoiler

I have conflicted emotions with regards to this show. I did enjoy a lot of the drama involved, but at the same time, Sorata is one of the most dense protagonists I have ever seen, especially given the situations he's put in. He may actually suffer from some sort of denial complex like Kodaka from Haganai. It was rather irritating to watch all the pomegranate he makes Mashiro and Nanami put up with. In particular, the early scenes where Mashiro is confused over whether what she feels is love or not, and him blaming her for his failures. That being said, I quite enjoyed Nanami's character throughout the show, as well as the interactions between the cast, as much of an pimento as I may perceive Sorata to be. Rather than the helpless airhead who needs constant babying that is Mashiro, I prefer the hard-working and serious Nanami type. I think they aimed too hard for that angsty feeling from the "talentless" though, and there was a rather large amount of shipping, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Rather I think I personally would have liked to see more story involving Hau-hau and Mr. President, as they appear to be somewhat interesting, of all the mobcharacters involved. The setup for the future continuation of the story seems interesting as well, though I'm not sure if I would enjoy the perverted archetype vs the serious studious archetype for the billionth time. Overall, we know that Mashiro and Sorata's relationship is 'progressing' but it's likely to be played off as a misunderstanding given how generic romcoms are, and the denial that Sorata seems to enjoy participating in.

6/10

Girls und Panzer:

 Spoiler

After a lengthy hiatus, we're finally through with one of the best autumn shows of 2012. I thoroughly enjoyed this series the entire way through, and thought it was amazing. The attention to detail on design, animation, and combat were quite amazing, though some aspects can be left to be thought unbelievable. There was also not a gratuitous amount of fanservice (outside the Specials anyways), especially considering the all-girl cast. There's a good reason this is one of the highest selling anime of 2012. I'm glad they took the extra time to finish the final two episodes, as the quality is truly amazing, compared to the stagger that occurred during the regular production. One of the largest issues outside of budget this show faced, in my opinion, was the characterization of such a large cast. Specifically, the M3 Lee crew had such a tiny spotlight, given how unique the StuGIII crew was, and how prominent the 38t/Hetzer crew was comparatively.
Despite this, a lot of the individual characters appear to have a fanbase, aided with the summary episodes introducing everyone, and it leads to more prospects of developing them further, as individuals and as a crew in a possible sequel/side stories/OVA. I think they did an amazing job with regards to characterising the crews themselves as a group of people with like interests and mindsets, having the M3 Lee being somewhat cowardly 1st years wanting to put the effort to improve, or the StuGIII historians always showing a lot of gusto comparing analogies.
I enjoyed the concept of having them show the Ooarai team be a ragtag group of non-uniform tanks that were put together last minute, but succeed through hard work, teamwork, and dedication. Having played over 10 000 games on World of Tanks, I can attest that teamwork and strategy over sheer force of numbers is usually the difference between victory and defeat, as is the case in most tactical combat.
That being said, I think a lot of people wouldn't understand the finer details of the show that I'm attracted to, such as the difficulty of firing at a moving target, while moving, or the comparative cost of lengthy reload against missing, and the value of strong teamwork against difficult (to say the least) odds. I would expect most people watching this to be fans of cute girls doing cute things, and perhaps have some experience in regular 1st person shooters, especially in Japan, with the fair minority understanding in depth how a tank works.
EP12:
The detail in the combat vs the Maus was interesting, though I'm not sure I can find it believable that the Hetzer (17t) would be able to withstand the mass (188t) to wedge it. It was cute to see the Type 89 Medium tank block the turret and then have the PzIV shoot at a downwards angle into its engine. Minus the Hetzer wedge surviving so long, the scenario I felt was believable enough, especially with the poor accuracy of the Maus, contributed when it jammed its gun against the building wall when they first encountered it.
I felt a lot of sympathy for the Elefant and JagdTiger against the M3 Lee. The Elefant faced a Tank Destroyer's worst nightmare, being boxed and having an enemy appear behind you. The JagdTiger got facehugged so hard, and I just kept imagining the gun passing through the M3 Lee model to shoot it, since they're not solid in WoT. Barely scraping a shot parallel to your armour is such a lucky thing, and being lured off a cliff like that... I don't think I've ever been lured off a cliff in my JagdTiger, though I've had my fair share of parallel ricochets on things I penetrate 10x over.
I'm surprised the Tiger P withstood so much punishment, showing so much side armour when it blocked the entrance though, but it's definitely possible that it could not be flagged after so long.
The final fight between Maho's Tiger and Miho's PzIV was quite interesting, using a lot of tactics such as reversing into their side so they miss, or staggering their passes at intersections so they cannot be led. This showed a lot of prowess on Maho's side being able to keep track of the PzIV across buildings and ordering the fire, compared to Miho's being able to command the stopping to get missed. I enjoyed how the final battle mirrored the St. Gloriana fight with the exact same maneuver resulting in victory this time.

I am very much looking forward to future GuP projekts, hopefully developing the newer crews more, and replacing some of their trashier tanks.

10/10

Ookami Kodomo Ame to Yuki:

 Spoiler

A fairly long styled coming of age movie. I really enjoyed the growing up segments, showing how Hana starts her life in the country-side, and the kids growing up. I'm not too sure I like the direction Ame went, but whatever. Personal preference. I was kind of expecting to see a bit further forward with Yuki's story as well. The pacing was slow, and I think it felt good to absorb in the nature aspect of the imagery that way. The poster image(?) that uses the LN Cover Art is misleading towards the quality of the animation inside though. =/ It's really a story that appeals to a very wide range of audience, like a good movie should, rather than a niche anime audience. I can see why it's rated so highly and sold so well.

8/10

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=576081
Also, holy pomegranate, am I reading this right? Tamako Market vol1 sold 600? I knew the show wasn't for me, but I didn't expect it to tank that badly.
and lol OP's av is my sig.