Sorry as always for the late first impression, but I’m almost caught up on the new Spring series. Not that they’ve done much for me, as a rule…

I hope it isn’t the odd way I’ve gone about watching these shows – at airports, on trains, in between tourist activities – but I have to say my overall take on Spring so far is decidedly bleak. We’ve had more than the normal number of shows like Asarotte no Omocha that are shockingly bad, and many that are simply boring or unwatchable. There’s a ton of moe shows, lots of bad fanservice, and so far precious little storytelling of quality or interesting characters. Thank Goc for Hanasaru Iroha, and we still have NoitaminA coming.

As for this drek, the question that spring to mind is, “Why?” I don’t have anything against dating sim adaptations – they can be superb if done well. But this is another show that feels as if it isn’t even trying. Just a bunch of veteran seiyuu going through the motions and bad dialogue. The three guys hanging out at the bar, the girls in silly costumes, the sad double entendres. Why? Who is this intended for, really? Its not hentai, but it doesn’t seem to care about people behaving like real people so I can’t call it a romance. Who’s the intended audience here?

Sorry to rant, but if I could pinpoint one disturbing thing about this entire season thus far it’s that a lot of the shows just don’t seem to be trying. They’re hopelessly derivative and badly written at that, with voice actors doing the same routine for the hundredth time and sounding like it. I’m not saying the sky is falling or it’s the end of anime as we know it – Fall and Winter were pretty decent, overall. But based on the first couple of weeks, Spring sucks. The one saving grace is that a lot of promising series are starting late. Let’s hope the NoitaminA shows, Mosihidara and Deadman Wonderland can salvage it.