Ah, the spring is now behind us and the summer stands before us, and that means that new anime series will begin to grace their presence on japanese tv sets and homelike monitors.
And this season start was like I witnessed the birth of Frankenstein, not in the campy (i.e. good, enjoyable, funny) way. No, this is just an abomination compiled out of my worst fears.

Let's start with the good and then move on the horrific bastards.

Aoi Hana
The animation studio that produced "Honey & Clover" is returning with Aoi Hana! And while I'm not extremely interested in the premise, made this premiere a short lasting impression on me. The story revolves around a bookworm, whose problem is her shyness. On the other side, is a red-haired girl with capricious attitude, that starts to go to a new school. Both girls fortunately meet at the station and talk after the junior helped the bookworm with a molester. After the encounter an interesting plot unfolds itself to the audience.

What makes or breaks a story like this for me is the characters and their decisions in certain moments. And everyone of them didn't dissapoint me, even though there are some japanese stereotypes represented in the story. The next thing that speaks for the anime is the animation itself. The backgrounds are plunged in soft watercolors (paradox?), the movements look sleek and tender and the character have an distinct look.

If you want to see one of the new animes, then pick this one!
Ah, I forgot to say, that the main characters are possibly hooking up (girl + girl = the new, old hotness!).


Sea Story
Oh, crap. I hate Lolicon. I think it's a bad image for anime and diminishes its recovered respect as an art form. In the days were Murakami's are sold like hot cakes and Ghibli movies have it easier to reach their western audiences, is the "loli-movement" a bad relic that persisted to long.
It's off-putting, and that's how I felt whenever the little sister in Sea Story appeared. She's dressed in a laughable tiny swimsuits, and while it seems to fit to the story, doesn't it make it easier to watch. It might be that it just sticks out to me and it doesn't really is a loli character, but when I look back at the last two or three I see a weird and annoying uprising trend concerning lolicon. The series itself is mediocre and made a passable impression.

Needless
First of all, this must be the most fitting title in anime history. Ugh, the "story" is about the baddies trying to kill of the needless, yeah, I'm not even kidding. So, the needless, naturally, fought back with a resistance group, that was no more after a confrontation with enemy. To be clear, I'm for the "bad" people. However, one kid survived and ends up being taken care from a group of anime clichés. Oh, yes, there we have it, stupid characters! We really need less of them. The hero is a typical unsecure and whiny type, while his counterpoint is leather jacket wearing coolio named "Blade" (sounds familiar, doesn't it?). And you thought that was bad? Well, it seems this anime needed an even more stupid character. Sadly, as if there weren't enough badly written female character, is this one a really stupid girl with so little substance that it hurts writing about it. She's like the whole anime totally needless! Even worse is that she gets constantly beaten by Blade, and I mean kicked, punched and freaking elbowed!

So, let's recount the various points. Bad character, uninspiring story and questionable writing. Why not put a cherry on this turd and serve this piece of shit with a little plagiarism? Here you have it. The look of this anime consists of Gurren Lagann, FLCL and typical shonen anime bits threwn into the mix.

And don't bother making it bearable by making it good. I mean, if you're already stitch your series from various parts, then make at least the efforts and hide the seams. Save your time and watch the animes they took their "inspirations" from.