A look at the Winter 2013 Anime

Yes, it's that time again. Time since the last post on this blog seems like it happened only recently, especially when it takes two weeks to write each part of my blog story, waiting for my new Kindle to arrive, worrying about serious real life stuff, and such. Forgive me for not writing much here. m(_ _)m

That aside, another batch of new anime, or new seasons of earlier ones, for the winter season, and the first for 2013, has arrived. Just because winter (and Summer) do not have much popular anime to watch, it does not mean there aren't any to watch.

For the first time in probably a long time, I never looked at any preview trailers or saw a table that lists all the anime for this season. I wasn't really looking out for any anime in particular, or expecting anything, especially when you had watched anime for years and experienced all the different kinds. (High School-based was still popular even back then as it is today.) I just looked at the guide and do a search on Google to see what it is about, including images relating to it.

Here is a brief summary of each anime in the winter season, listed in the order of which I had watch the first episode of that anime first. That also means that, at the time of writing, might have already had 2 or more episodes aired and opinions written here include the newer episodes.

Minami-ke Tadaima (みなみけ　ただいま)

This is actually the 4th season of the Minami-ke slice-of-life series. (First season was in Winter 2008) Most anime don't even have a second season (not including anime with more than 12 episodes in a season), but a fourth is kind of a lot.

I don't know if I would watch this. Watching because I had watched earlier seasons, but not really wanting to because there are more interesting anime in the season. This would be the first to go if I need to make time.

Love Live! (ラブライブ！)

In order to save Otonogisaka Academy (音ノ木坂学院) from declining enrolment, a group of High school year 2 girls form an idol group that represents their school. Finding people to recruit and to compose songs doesn't seem as easy as it sounds. On top of that, they themselves have to train their bodies to build up stamina to perform.

What do I think of this? Well, it seems almost all of the girls are blushing or wear make up. Not that I am complaining or anything, but aside from a brief delusion in the second episode of a boy's back, males seem non-existent in this anime.

Tamako Market (たまこまーけっと)

This anime follows a girl whose father is part of the committee of the shopping street his shop is a part of, and see the operations of a shopping street. (We get to see what they do for Valentines in episode 2.) One day, she visits a flower shop there and finds a strange bird there who seems to hang around her.

Obviously a slice-of-life anime. As it's produced by Kyoto Animation, they execute things quite well.

By the way, what's with the bird?

GJ-bu (GJ部)

Words fail for me to describe this anime.

(They never really show any scene outside the room, do they?)

Sasami-san @ Ganbaranai (ささみさん＠がんばらない)

Note: Main character not shown

This follows a girl who seems to have a problem stepping out of her house. She also stalks someone who appears to be her brother at times, who is a teacher at the school she attends.

It's funny that the brother's face is deliberately covered. Not with some odd camera angles, but actually using an object over his face. I don't know if they are really siblings because of he calls her as "Sasami-san" like she's his superior.

Did anyone notice that the interior of the house appear a lot bigger on the inside than the outside? That's SHAFT for you, where they don't follow real-life logic.

(SHAFT is the animation company behind Madoka, Hidamari Sketch, Bakemonogatari, and so on, if you didn't know.)

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Next (僕は友達が少ないNEXT)

This is the second season of the Haganai anime. (First season was in Autumn 2011) It seems to start off better than the first season.

Kotoura-san (琴浦さん)

This is a strange one: In the trailer below, you are given the impression that this is a love comedy anime, but if you watched the first 10 minutes of the anime (above), it throws you off into a different direction into how you would see this anime.


Kotoua, the main character, has the ability to read people's minds. Since she has this ability at birth, she can't seem to be able to differentiate what people think from what people actually said.

Chihayafuru 2 (ちはやふる２)

Continuing on into the second season (First season was in Autumn 2011) is centered around the traditional game of Karuta. They manage to recruit a lot of first-years, but how many of them would hang around?

Vividred Operation (ビビッドレッド・オペレーション)

The world is being attacked by unseen forces, and the air forces are helpless. Who do they have to call? Two magical girls! While at it, let's turn the old man into an animal as their assistant.

I watched two episodes of this, and I don't think I would watch more of it. I don't understand this anime, and it seems too typical of a magical girl genre. Since I feel bored watching the two episode, I don't think I would want to watch more of this.

Seitokai no Ichizon Level Two (生徒会の一存Lv.2)

Another anime that has another season (First season was in Autumn 2009).

For some odd reason, Kadokawa has released the next episode trailers months before the episode airs. Well, the previous and immediate next is okay, but for the whole season before the season even starts?! That's madness.

There's so much second (or higher) seasons in this Winter season alone. Have you also noticed that all of the anime I listed above takes place in middle and high schools? On top of that, some has the majority (or all) of the scenes to take place in the same room!