After finally getting some episode counts, I think I have my lineup set for the fall. I will be continuing (slowly) with Real Drive from before. The new series I’ll most likely be covering are Kannagi (13 episodes), Michiko To Hatchin (not sure how many episodes, probably between 24 and 26), Shikabane Hime: Aka (13 episodes), and Yozakura Quartet (12 episodes). Usually I only keep up with 4 series, but you never know about slow subbage, and 3 of the series are one-cour series. Hopefully this will be a nice balance of action and love. I’ve caught the first episode of several series, so here are some initial thoughts:

Toradora!

Taiga reminds me way too much of Louise (who I pretty much hate at this point) from Zero no Tsukaima, but from reading the manga I know that this series should not be quite as bad as ZnT’s later sequels. I liked Ryuji and there are some heartwarming moments in the manga, so I’m prepared to deal with annoying initial episodes. In spite of Taiga and her horrible inu comments in the Kugimiya Rie tsundere voice, at least the tsuntsun isn’t completely pointed at her crush (well… sorta). If anime Taiga doesn’t annoy me too much, I might keep watching this series.

Kannagi

I was drawn to the character designs, and now I find that Nagi loves puns and the series is only one cour. This was just made for blogging! I think the series is off to a good start, though the OP caused me some concern about the production values. I like what I have seen in the manga so far, and the first episode did not disappoint.

Gundam 00 Second Season

Hells yeah! It’s like Sunrise never left, and I really really enjoyed the first episode. It is just so easy to make fun of this series that I find myself laughing at so many of the serious parts. At this point it is just hilarious whenever something bad happens to Saji, and now his maybe-GF is a druggie? The scene with strung-out Sumeragi listening to the news was just fantastic as well. Damn I love Sunrise sometimes.

To Aru Majutsu no Index

This was actually much better than I expected, and the main characters were quite likable. There were some interesting ideas and powers brought up, but I am worried about Kamijou’s tendency towards long, boring shounen speeches. Still, the humor greatly exceeded my expectations and I really liked watching Kamijou feed Index spoiled food. I wonder if Mikoto will be playing a bigger role as well, since Mikoto and her friends are amusing. I’ve read the first few manga chapters, as well as the sidestory manga, so I have an idea of what to expect now.

Ga-rei-zero

I get the feeling this is one of those start-at-the-end type series, which doesn’t bode well. I was so cheesed out by the crappy Blassreiter-esque motorcycle action at the beginning, and I was really just bored up until the last few minutes when all the annoying members of the 4th division got massacred. Considering I don’t really care about their angsty earlier lives, I don’t think I’ll be continuing with this one. The girl with the nodachi was kinda cool, though.