Impressions: On a bunch more stuff

Claymore: So I finished up this series the other day and after a lackluster first four episodes, all I have to say is: AWESOME. Seriously, this isn't a show that does anything really all that novel. It's got a pretty classic shounen fighting show format. The characters meet badass monster. Badass monster powers up. Characters power up and beat badass monster. But the combination of powering up and "beware when you hunt monsters, lest you become one," made a lot of the fight scenes more tense, especially towards the end. I don't even mind the loose ends it left laying around. Although they do scream sequel. All in all, I'm glad Funimation decided to pick this one up.

Le Chevalier D'Eon: I finished this one too, and… I'm not sure about it. It isn't bad, but the ending kind of left me scratching my head. It almost felt like there were about six or so episodes missing somewhere between the time the characters were in England and when the came back to France. Also there were quite a few deaths that just seemed awkward, like the creators needed to plop a Deus Ex Machina into the show so that they didn't need to explain stuff later. Although overall, I do think it's an interesting show and worth watching again.

Legend of Black Heaven: I watched the first disk of this one so far, and I have to say it's pretty good. But the dub is horrible. Honestly half the laughs it got from me were those squirmy "oh my god it sounds like they aren't even watching the screen when they recorded this". And that's saying a lot. But on the other hand, I haven't really seen the likable loser archetype in anime too often, so it's nice to see it here. And it has some interesting conflict between trying to re-live your glory days and being happy with where you are right now.

Code Geass: Okay, I broke my rule here and downloaded it. Mostly because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. And I have to say, the first three episodes are good. I do kind of hope they work "a year and a day" somewhere into the anime, although I doubt they'll go that far into the mythology that they're borrowing from. But Lancelot is an appropriate name for the mech. And Lelouche is interesting. I'm not sure how much I like him yet. It does feel like we get thrown into the middle of his story.

Saiunkoku: So I'm about four or five episodes into this one, and all I want to know is why does it get compared to Twelve Kingdoms? Why? I mean on the one hand we have a series that spans countries and details the rise of a queen as she learns to rule by walking among her people (among other things). On the other hand we have tea ceremonies, pretty boys and a pretty standard love story. It's not a bad series, don't get me wrong. But comparing the two seems like comparing Lord of the Rings to Dragonheart.

Anyways, that's everything I've been watching recently. Well except for Twelve Kingdoms, again. But it's pretty obvious how I feel about that show.