Spring 2009 began as one of the worst seasons I could remember. Compared to the 8 shows I was following last season, this season is slim pickings. Still, there are a few shows worth mentioning:

1) Eden of the East
I’m a huge fan of Kenji Kamiyama. Seirei no Moribito showed that he was able to create an anime past what had previously been animated and also cut a lot of ‘talking scenes’ and still make an incredible show. With Eden of the East, Kamiyama has managed not only to adapt previously written material but also written a show of his own which so far has been quite good. The Speed Grapher-like side story a few episodes ago aside, this has been an awesome show so far. Still, with only 2 episodes to go, I really have no idea how they’re going to end this show successfully, it seems like it could easily be 26 episodes.

2) Tears to Tiara
My #2 show of the season features good old fashioned fantasy fun. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much from this show, but it’s really grabbed my interest. The fighting animation is some of the best close combat animation in recent memory, and the characters are pretty fun as well. Overall not a ‘deep’ show, but a damn fun watch. Goooo Octavia!

3) Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Remake)
I’m not sure why they decided to remake a perfectly good and relatively new show. Still, the remake has been quite good. Unlike most people out there, I was never really that much of a FMA fan the first time around as while I thought the show was good, it never quite made the hype for me. The second time around though, they’ve managed to significantly speed up the plot, and along with gorgeous visuals, it’s a good watch. Still, I’m not sure how excited I am about this show considering we all know how the plot ends up… well at long as they don’t went up in WWII Europe LOL.

4) Asura Cryin
Well I haven’t watched this show for weeks, but I’ve been pretty busy. Still I like the idea of a ghost girlfriend LOL.

5) Saki
I don’t know anything about Mahjong. Well I’ve played it a few times, but the Japanese rules are all different. Still I like watching them plant those tiles.

6) Shangri-la
This show is so stupid, it’s almost good. ALMOST. Well it’s not good, it’s just really dumb and I can’t stop watching it. It does have the best OP of the season though.

So uh… in episode 5 we have the best show of the season temporarily turning into… Speed Grapher. Ugh.

Love the hat Mio…

I can’t believe how many groups are subbing this show. Either way I thought I might as well write about the most talked about show of the Spring 2009 season.
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Best screen capture I could make of the ‘classic’ Gundam Cross view.

So we’ve finally reached the end of the show. It’s been a long ride, but I for one am thankful that at least Setsuna, Marina, Feldt and Lockon didn’t go shopping 4 episodes before the last episode. The leadup to this finale has been pretty predictable. I think most people were thinking that ever since the 00 was introduced with it’s double ring mind-reading power that this power would be further magnified to ‘make everyone understand eachother’ in the end. Whether or not Marina’s song has a role in this (as many including myself have long suspected) in the last episode remains to be seen.

Meanwhile like the last two SEED shows, while this did end with some kind of giant satellite cannon, at least the ‘true purpose’ of the entire complex was quite different. In fact, after a season of basically ignoring him, Aeolia has returned in full force at the end of the series.

I’m actually quite interested in the possibility that this series may actually branch off away from Earth. If there is time after the ‘final battle’ between Ribbons and Setsuna (hopefully with a bit of Graham Acre thrown in for good measure) it would be great to have some sort of introduction to some outer space exploration program. I don’t care if aliens are actually found or not, but it would be fun to have some sort of timeslip years in the future where Gundam now encompasses the entire solar system and maybe even surrounding areas vs. just Earth. I also wouldn’t mind a Stargazer like OVA as much as that OVA was derided by many, I quite enjoyed it.

Either way, the final episode will hopefully wrap things up nicely for all of us. Given how much of a joke SEED Destiny was at the end, it’s refreshing to see that this show, while formulaic has at least managed to stay interesting until the end.

P.S. Ali was totally cheated by losing power to his suit. He was also way out of character to just be running away, instead of guns drawn and ready to ambush Neil when he went through that shaft.