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「ガール・ミーツ・ボーイ」 (Gāru Mītsu Bōi)
“Girl Meets Boy”
On paper, Astarotte no Omocha! sounds like the premise for an oddly detailed hentai, and if you chance upon any of its images, looks like it was targeted towards lolicons. In actuality…
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「Jeden Tag Leben ～ひさしぶりなのでけんぷファーのちょっといいとこ見てみたい～」 (Hisashiburi na no de Kenpufaa no Chotto Iitoko Mite Mitai)
“Everyday Life ~It’s Been A While; I Want To See Some Good Parts of Kampfer~”
Despite the “For Love” German subtitle, this two-episode sequel of Kampfer is a direct continuation of the first season. Unfortunately, we were shortchanged on the more relevant first episode (thirteenth overall) due to the earthquake scheduling delays, leaving us with only the fan-service-filled second one as part of the televised broadcast.
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「好き, An April Day」 (Suki)
“Love, An April Day”
A-Channel isn’t your average, run of the mill slice of life. It’s more of your real life situation, feelings of doubt and rejection; totally serious yet totally not serious at the same time, slice of life. I know that you readers were comparing A-Channel to Nichijou a while back, and I’m glad to see that A-Channel feels completely different in nearly every aspect — something which makes me happy.
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「禁断の女子寮」 (Kindan no Joshiryou)
“Forbidden Girl’s Dorm”
My favorite trap of 2009 Shindou Mariya (Kobayashi Yuu) makes his return to television airwaves right on schedule, suggesting that SHAFT may have “delayed” Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica to get Maria Holic’s sequel out on time. Whether or not that’s actually true is another matter, but I am quite impressed with how good Maria Holic Alive looks.
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「はじめての■■■」 (Hajimete no ■■■)
“First Time ■■■”
Using a short skit format in its roughly ten-minute-long episodes, “Health and Physical Education for 30 Year-Olds” appears to be more about the hijinks that come from love spirits pressuring virgins to have sex than the educational aspect. At least, that’s what I gather when Daigarou (Okiayu Ryoutarou) offered his butt to 30-year-old virgin Imagawa Hayao (Shimono Hiro) after the latter refused his help to lose his virginity the normal way.
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「地の獄」 (Chi no Goku)
“Earthly Prison”
What a surreal feeling it is to be watching Kaiji again. Three years have passed since the first season ended inconclusively, but the feeling hasn’t changed. It’s still awesome.
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「始まりと終わりのプロローグ」 (Hajimari to Owari no Purorōgu)
“Prologue of the Beginning and End”
So who didn’t get this show? Yes, yes, I see a lot of.. nothing because I’m looking at a monitor, but I can guess most people with no previous knowledge of the story have really no concrete idea of what happened. Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat.
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「たとえばそんなメルヘン」 (Tatoeba Sonna Meruhen)
“For Example, That Kind of Fairy Tale”
Amongst all the words I could have picked to describe this show, interesting would be an understatement to just how odd this first episode was. There were some high points here and there, but in the end, I think I got lost amongst certain scenes.
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「転送乙女」 (Tensou Otome)
“Transfer Maiden”
I was secretly hoping there wouldn’t be anything in this gender reversal Sengoku period anime to grab my immediate attention so that I could avoid adding another new title to the thirty or so I’m planning to follow already, but my interest in this war-filled era of Japanese history and the female seiyuu involved got the best of me. Oh woe is me.
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「ブートストラップ連続体」 (Buutosutorappu Renzokutai)
“Bootstrap Continuum”
I don’t have too much to say about Disney and JINNI’s fully-rendered CG shorts outside of what I already stated in the Spring 2011 Preview (shame on you if you haven’t read it by now), but I felt compelled to get a quick post out about the two-minute long premiere episode in glorious high definition.