I’ve caught up on True Tears, and the epic dorama of True Tears delights me as much as KimiNozo did. I also made a point to check out this crazy combat butler manga, and to me Hayate no Gotoku! feels kinda like a cross between Mahou Sensei Negima and He Is My Master. The manga art is middling, the jokes are decent, and the characters are mostly likeable, but I’m not sure how strong the anime conversion was. I like Maria best, with Saginomiya Isumi close behind, but it seems like Katsura Hinagiku is by far the fan favorite.

Top Five This Month:

1. True Tears: The drama is so delicious, and the smooth basketball scenes are just icing on my cake. I’m cheering for Hiromi, just so I can get more basketball clips. Also, Ai already had her shot and blew it, so she needs to go back to the bench.
2. Shakugan no Shana Second: After getting humiliated by some beamspam and large blocks, it looks like Yuuji-gumi is going to get to beat up on some tomato cans. I hated the Yuuji drama from last season, and it’s already back. How long before Yuuji makes everyone regret passing on Blutsauger?
3. Bamboo Blade: Where is my Muroe kendo team official dance? Also, when do we get to see Kawazoe-otosan walking in on Tamaki playing an Otome game?
4. Dragonaut: Kazuki was trying to be like Bel Peol, but got it all wrong; meanwhile, Laura missed her chance at an epic Code Geass parody. I can’t wait to watch Gio flip out over how ridiculous this show is. Also, last time I checked the “stigmata” appearing on the lower back meant something else…
5. Spice and Wolf:: So far this series has worked so much better in manga form (I loooooove the art style). The economics continue to be boring as hell, but at least the Horo-Lawrence interaction remains somewhat interesting. In related news, although grey wolves are no longer endangered, loli-wolves still are. Clearly, more loli-wolves need to be introduced back into the wild.

Rising:

• Persona -Trinity Soul-: Persona reminds me of Darker than Black. The Jun-Yuki thing is hilarious in a Chevalier kind of way. The only bad thing is that I feel pretty confused after every episode.

Falling:

• Minami-ke Okawari: I keep watching it and I keep liking it less and less. Although the change in balance of slice-of-life to comedy ratio has pleased Ender, I have not been amused. I was so bored during one of the episodes that I actually stopped in the middle, and watched the rest of the episode two days later. This would never have happened last season.

Related posts:

1. Kabitzin’s March 2008 List
2. Winter 2007
3. Kabitzin’s June 2006 List