The short version – pretty damn great.  Long version is after the jump.

I’ve been touting this season as a good one since the first tentative schedules began to appear months ago, and that’s turned out to be the case.  I think a strong case can be made that this is likely to be the best season since Spring of 2007.  Mind you, final conclusions can’t be reached after 2-4 episodes, but if what we’re seeing isn’t a mirage, this should end up being outstanding both in terms of depth and quality at the top.  If there were a few more two-cour series and comedy was better represented, it might just have a chance to approach legendary status – as is, I think we’re looking at just a step below that.

Of course, that depth of excellent shows is making my life very hard as a blogger.  I’ve been taking on more than I could reasonably handle and my work-life balance has suffered, in an effort to give everything a chance to wow me.  And I’ve been wowed plenty – I think it’s very possible that last week (especially Thursday-Saturday) was the strongest anime week in several years.  As a result of all this, I think it’s best to split the check-in up into two parts: a general review of all the shows I’m watching, and then a blogging update based on the week’s calendar.  And there are going to be some very painful cuts made, I can promise you – though in looking at my final schedule, there’s still way too damn much on there.  If anything slips hard in the next few weeks, it’s going to be on a short leash.

Here’s my take on the season so far – shows with the same grade are listed in no particular order.

The Best of the Best

Sakamichi no Apollon
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: Just a high-class, near-flawless effort all around.  From the rotoscopic animation used for Sentarou’s drumming to the killer soundtrack to the utterly natural dialogue, this is a timeless expression of anime as high art, the apex being Kaoru’s confession set to Bill Evans’ recording of “Some Day My Prince Will Come”.  Watanabe Shinichiro has the material he was born to direct.

Tsuritama
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: The other half of NoitaminA’s glorious return to form.  Like Watanabe, Nakamura Kenji is an auteur with a very particular sensibility, but he’s a busier director and his work has been more inconsistent.  In Tsuritama he’s delivering his warmest, funniest and most approachable work yet – a hilarious look at teenage neuroses with strong hints of sci-fi and magical realism. 

Eureka Seven: Astral Ocean
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: There have been many great anime episodes already this season, but none were more fun than the second ep of E7: AO.  BONES is delivering hand-drawn action and mecha art of the kind we haven’t seen in years, and they have a tremendous lead in young Ao (and a tremendous seiyuu for him in young Honjou Yuutaro).  The connection to the original E7 is still unclear, but as long as the show is this great I’m good with it.  AO is well on its way to proving the detractors wrong in glorious fashion.

Nazo no Kanojo X
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: The biggest personal surprise of all the shows in my top tier, I’ve loved every episode of MGX.  It’s come out of nowhere – Hoods Entertainment, really?  The whole drool thing grosses me out, but I’ve come to accept where Ueshiba-sensei was going with it – and he’s telling an extremely smart story about teenaged romance that has elements of R-15 and FLCL, with art that looks like Rumiko Takahashi on hallucinogens.  Unequivocally great, a story that could only have come from manga or anime.

Fate/Zero S2
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: Before this last ep I might have knocked F/Z down just a notch, but it was absolutely heartbreaking and thought-provoking.  You have terrific ufotable production values and Urobuchi Gen, so this is pretty much a (depressing) no-brainer.

The Best of the Rest

Uchuu Kyoudai
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: Like so many in this category will be, in most seasons Space Brothers would be a top-shelf series.  Closer in temperament to a Spielberg film than an anime, this is a thoughtful and darkly funny look at a mature (but not middle-aged) man facing an ever-growing pile of regrets and deciding to risk it all on chasing his dream one last time.  The title is perfect, as “Space” and “Brothers” are the equal-parts obsessions of the series.

Sankarea
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: This is easily the best-looking DEEN series of the last several years – as if the best elements of SHAFT were distilled out, leaving the annoying stuff behind.  An intriguing mix of extraordinary darkness and conventional anime humor, this is another series that forces the audience to ask a lot of difficult questions about the characters and their own beliefs.  If you watch one zombie series this season Sankarea absolutely should be it.

Jormungand
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A-
Comments: One of my favorite manga of recent years is being adapted with great faithfulness by White Fox (faithful manga adaptations seem to be the trend these days).  If anything I worry that they’re being too faithful, as Jormungand does its audience no favors early in the story by offering much context or making the characters more lovable.  All the Black Lagoon comparisons annoy me, but as the show progresses viewers will realize how very different the two series are.

Lupin III: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: I wasn’t sure what to expect from Okada Mari and Yamamoto Sayo (with the help of Satou Dai) tackling Lupin, but so far it’s working beautifully. Fujiko is a classic femme fatale, a dame in the film noir tradition, and this updating of the franchise is sexy and stylish. It also features a terrific soundtrack produced by Watanabe Shinichiro.

Worth Watching

Shirokuma Café
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: Just as there are unusual numbers of great and excellent series this season, there are far more worthwhile shows in the good to very good category too, and Shirokuma is one of them – maybe the best pure comedy of the season for me.  Like all comedies the humor is very subjective, but I consistently laugh every week.

Accel World
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: I can’t stand Haru’s super-deformed character design and Kaji Yuuki isn’t one of my favorite seiyuu, but I still enjoy Accel World a lot.  It’s visually interesting and the writing is quite decent too. 

Zetman
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: I know they’re taking huge liberties with the manga, but I’m still impressed by how authentically Zetman captures the essence of the Alan Moore styled dark superhero story.  It looks great, with interesting character designs and excellent animation and choreography in the action sequences.  This is a case where I’m glad I haven’t read most of the manga.

Ginga e Kickoff
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: B
Comments: For pure fun, this is the surprise hit of the season.  With it’s excellent cast and staff there was always a chance this soccer series would exceed expectations and it has – relentlessly energetic and hard not to love, with excellent male and female leads and a classic shounen plot about a boy trying to save his soccer team from extinction.  Give it a chance, and you might just be surprised.

Kuroko no Basuke
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: This is pure Shounen Jump sports shounen, done in lavish style by Production I.G..  I haven’t seen as much character development so far as I would have liked, and the story is built around a boy who’s almost completely impassive and makes his name by being invisible – an interesting choice.  But it has a sharp wit, fine soundtrack and good animation, and there’s potential here.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: It made the odd decision to start with an episode from the middle, and the whipsaw shifts from comedy to creepy thriller don’t feel quite natural.  But while I was almost ready to drop it, episode 3 impressed me – so for now, I’m still on board.  Oonuma Shin’s style is more SHAFT than SHAFT.

Avatar: The Legend of Korra
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: No, not an anime, but it still feels as if it belongs here.  Unusually for me, I’m more interested in the plot than the characters at this point.  It’s a fabulous premise, a steampunk updating of the Avatar mythology featuring a political conflict between benders and non-benders.  So far I find the acting a little stiff and the characters a little flat, but we’re very early in a two-season run, so hopefully that side of the series will catch up.  Again, it looks great and features a terrific Asian-style soundtrack by The Track Team.

Hyou-ka
Episodes Watched: 1
Grade: B
Comments: The story did little to excite me and the casting is off, but there’s no denying this is a gorgeous show even by KyoAni standards.  It’s way too early to tell about the rest, but kids doing nothing of importance is what this studio specializes in and everything about Hyou-ka screams of playing it very safe.  As great as it looks, it only has to be decent in terms of plot and character to be a good watch.

Kimi to Boku 2
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: About where we left off with the very solid second half of the first season.  As then, the eps centered around Chizuru are better than the others for me.  This is about as shoujo-ized as male school life gets, but Kimi to Bokoofuri is generally entertaining with occasional bursts of very odd humor.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: I laugh quite a bit with every episode, though this isn’t a home-run for me.  This is certainly an offbeat take on Lovecraft, and the non-stop meta-humor should be enough to please otaku of all stripes.  Early signs indicate it will be the surprise blockbuster hit of the season.

On the Fence

Kore was Zombie desu ka? OF THE DEAD
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: I was already kind of tired of the humor by the end of S1, and that’s carried over here as the show is very-little changed.  It feels as if they’ve milked this gag as far as it should have been milked.  Not bad and occasionally both funny and even touching, but it doesn’t compel me anymore.

Saint Seiya Omega:
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: About as old-school as anything this side of Matsumoto Leiji.  I’m not an expert on the franchise, so for me this is modestly enjoyable, well-made diversion.

Folktales From Japan
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: Light as a feather but an interesting look at folk culture from the Tohoku Region, devastated by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami.

Dropped

Natsuiro Kaiseki

Medaka Box

Hiiro no Kakera

Acchi Kochi

I’m also watching three short series, Poopoyo Kansatsu Nikki, Recorder to Randesell and Yurumates. All are pleasant 3-7 minute diversions, with Poyopoyo my favorite – I love the music, and it’s a very smart and slightly edgy look at the ups and downs of living with a cat.

If you’re counting, that’s 19 shows in the top three categories – categories which would normally guarantee blogging on my part, and many of those shows could easily have been a notch higher in a weaker season.  This has forced me into some brutal choices, some of which are necessitated by the day of the week (Thursday and Saturday are especially bad) as much as the show’s quality – I might blog a show on Tuesday that I like less than one on Saturday that I drop, for example.  But blogging 20 shows is simply not an option – and there are several shows carried over from Winter than I intend to continue with.  So here’s my best guess at what a workable blogging schedule will look like:

Monday:
Probably Blogging/Blogging in Digest Form: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, Kimi to Boku 2

Tuesday:
Definitely Blogging: Jormungand, Zetman

Wednesday:
Dropping: Kore wa Zombie

Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Tsuritama, Sakamichi no Apollon, Eureka Seven AO, Sankarea
Probably Blogging/Digest: Shirokuma Café, Lupin III

Friday:
Definitely Blogging: Accel World

Saturday:
Definitely Blogging: Hunter X Hunter 2011, Nazo no Kanojo X, Fate/Zero, Avatar: Korra, Kuroko no Basuke
Probably Blogging/Digest: Ginga e Kickoff
Dropping: Area no Kishi

Sunday:
Definitely Blogging: Uchuu Kyoudai, Game of Thrones, Hyou-ka
Probably Blogging/Digest: Gundam AGE, Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
Dropping: Saint Seiya Omega

Blogging as Released: Hyouge Mono, Shouwa Monogatari