I have been looking forward to this episode for an entire week. It was by no means a perfect episode. There were some parts that I thought could have been improved on, but it was still a pretty good episode overall. I wasn’t very fond of their choice to use a different opening song. I didn’t think the song fit the scenes well at all. As the episode progressed beyond the half-way mark, I began to worry they wouldn’t have much time left for an epilogue. Luckily they devoted enough time to show all of the major characters in the epilogue. Everything up to the point when the ending song began went the way we would have expected. The final 10 seconds or so was what surprised me. I was definately happy they included it since there’s no question how things really ended. Without the extra scene after the ending credits, I would have still felt satisfied with the ending. By adding the bonus scene it made me like the whole episode more.

Honestly I didn’t expect too much from this series after watching the first few episodes. As the story started unraveling, things changed quite a bit. The enjoyment of the episodes got better and better as time went on. I thought they did a great job with character development in this series. By the end of the series all the major characters became very familiar yet complex at the same time. The depths of the main characters allow us to overlook most of the blemishes of this series. The art was not exactly on the same level as say, Production I.G’s “Ghost in the Shell” TV series, but I still found it to be good. I thought it was a bit unfortunate they decided to use CG for the mechanics in the series. Personally I still prefer cel shaded style for its seamlessness. Regardless, there’s no doubt that this series turned out to be very worthwhile to watch. I feel that it’s a good series to watch for both mecha and non-mecha fans alike.

With the way the story had twisted over the last couple of episodes I didn’t think the ending would be all that great. To say the least, the last episode blew my expectations out of the water. Sure it may not be the best ending ever, but I thought it was still very well done. The early part of the episode wasn’t fantastic, but once the ending song began things really took off. I thought everything afterwards easily made up for the beginning of the episode. I have nothing but praise for their decision to use Suara’s “Kimigatame” as the ending song. It fit the epilogue unbelievably well in my opinion. The song definately made me like this last episode better. I could do nothing but shake my head when Hakuoro asked Oboro to take over for him. Being on such a short fuse he was one of the most unfit person to be a leader. After taking the reins though, Oboro seemed to become a completely different person. He actually appeared to be a suitable person to sit on the throne. The final few minutes allow each viewer come to their own conclusion.

I’m glad I didn’t give up on the series since the end of the series was exponentially better than the beginning. It was a good thing they didn’t use cg much in the latter part of the series. I thought they did a horrible job when they made use of it. Besides that I thought the art stayed fairly consistent throughout the series. I like the character designs for “Utawarerumono” as well. I can’t recall many memorable BGMs and songs in this series. Suara’s “Kimigatame” is one of the exceptions of course. It’s rare for a series without a solid soundtrack to suddenly have a song of this quality for its ending. The story may have been a bit too slow in the beginning, but once things do pick up it really becomes worthwhile. This series isn’t for everyone, but I think a good number of people would enjoy it if they gave it a chance.

It’s hard to believe it has already been 26 episodes since I started watching the second season. I was really glad to see that they stayed away from all the Cait Sith and supernatural stories for the last couple of episodes. Instead of the regular opening theme, they used a slower tempo version. I don’t like it more than the normal tempo opening, but this one definately fit the mood better. Just like all the recent episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this episode as well. As I was watching this episode I kept thinking the previous episode would have been better suited to be the last episode. That was until I finished the episode in its entirety. The last few minutes really gave the series a nice ending in my opinion. This chapter of the series may be over, but there is still a lot left untold. It wrapped the season up in the series’ signature style.

As far as complaints go, the only one I have is about the sheer number of episodes that revolved around the supernatural. I generally found those episodes to be less enjoyable than the other ones. Although those episodes were still all worthwhile to watch. Plus the other episodes easily made up for any discontent I may have had. The art was without a doubt one of the best of the past two seasons of anime. It wasn’t perfect all the way through, but it was great for the most part. The music seemed to have improved over the first season. I thought they were able to match the mood of each scene better this season. My guess is this won’t be the last season of “ARIA”. This is such a laid back series that it should be enjoyable to many people. One of the beauties of this season is one could skip the first season and still be able to enjoy it. Of course, I would highly recommend watching the first season as well because the first season was just as good.

To be honest I didn’t think I would like this episode very much. As it turns out I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It definately wasn’t comedy-heavy like the majority of the other episodes. We get a better understanding of Yakumo’s relationship with Tenma through a flashback to their childhoods. I thought Tenma looked extremely cute when she was little. She may have caused a lot of trouble, but she always had good intentions. It seemed like the series would be greatly affected when Tenma figured out Harima was the “pervert” during junior high. All thanks to a convenient accident Tenma ends up forgetting it so things are pretty much back to the way they were. Normally I wouldn’t like a quick-fix solution, but it’s really suitable for “School Rumble”. It’s just too bad that they focused most of this episode on Yakumo, Tenma, and Harima. They barely had enough room to even let Eri make an appearance. As unfortunate as that was, it turned out to be a decent way to wrap the second term up. We finish the series with the gang starting their third term.

Overall I think this series had less drama and more humour than the first season. Personally I thought this season was better than the first. Not every episode turned out great, but a good number of them were. Relative to the first season, both the art and music remained similar in terms of quality. It’s not a bad thing since I thought the art was fine since the first season. The music may not be fantastic, but it doesn’t affect the series much. There was a decent amount of character development this season. By the end, however, we don’t see much progress for the key relationships. The series will definately continue in one form or another. Hopefully it will be another 26 episode season, but it may turn out to be just an ova series as well. Either way I look forward to seeing more “School Rumble”. If you enjoyed the first season then there’s little reason not to watch this season as well.

It’s almost hard to believe this series has been going on for nearly a year now. It will take some time to get used to not watching an episode of “Blood+” every week. There weren’t a whole lot of surprises packed into the finale. Of course there were a couple of exceptions; one of them being Amshel’s sudden appearance to try and take out Saya and Hagi. Also, Nathan showing up as a reporter in the epilogue didn’t make much sense to me either. Speaking of the epilogue, I’m glad they devoted so much time to it. We got to see how most of the characters were doing back in Okinawa. Normally I would have been kind of disappointed to see Saya’s hair trimmed to her original style. In this case however, I thought it was a good choice because of the meaning that comes with it. Under the circumstances, this was probably the happiest ending they could have pulled off. Making use of the first ending song for this episode was a nice touch. It was really fitting for the finale. The final minute or so was extremely well done in my opinion. It’s just too bad the series is over. お休みなさい、小夜

Being a Production I.G. project, my standards for this series had been high from the beginning. Having to maintain an above average quality for 50 episodes is no easy task. Luckily my faith in Production I.G. was not misplaced. “Blood+” has been a great series from start to finish. Over the course of 50 episodes we were able to witness a lot of character development for the main characters, a quality that I find to be important for any series. The art may not have been at the level of some of Production I.G.’s projects like “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, but I felt it was stil very well done the series’ length. Music was never one of the series’ strong points. There are some memorable tracks, but not as many as I would have hoped. Overall though, “Blood+” has been profoundly entertaining. I definately think most people should give this series a chance since there’s something worthwhile in it for nearly everyone.

With some editing they could have probably made this the last episode. I’m glad they decided on devoting more time to the ending. Ever since we learned that there was something different about Shizuno, I’ve wondered what the real difference was. All of it gets revealed in this episode. Everything now makes sense for the most part. I thought once Kyo obtained a real physical body his first reaction would have been somewhat different. Without a doubt he seemed happy, but lacked the level of excitement I had anticipated. I guess the consequence of being the first to “return” and the weight of the situation drowned it out. By the end of the episode I couldn’t help but be reminded of Gainax’s “Top wo Nerae!” due to certain similarities. We get a pretty good idea of how things will play out in the finale, but there could always be unforeseen surprises.

I had very high expectations for this episode. I may have set them too high since I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the series finale. Asagi turned out to be a completely useless character. The same could almost be said for Aoi as well. The episode wouldn’t have changed much if they had left both Asagi and Aoi out. The biggest flaw in my opinion was the fact that there really was no epilogue to speak of. I guess it wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it would have been nice to see Rihoko’s new life without Masane. Regardless of the issues I had with this episode, I still had a good time watching it. The ending itself was pretty well done. It wasn’t exactly your cliché happy ending where everyone comes out alive and well, which was refreshing. All the signs indicated that Masane would not survive so it gave Rihoko as well as the viewers an easier time to accept her death. Masane was able to fulfill her wish of protecting Rihoko, so in that sense it can also be viewed as a happy ending.

From the beginning, most of the episodes have been pretty good. It was a pretty action-packed series topped with some heart-warming mother and daughter moments. Noto Mamiko did a good job providing the voice of Masane. That goes for most of the other characters in the series as well. In terms of music for the series, I thought it was kind of lacking. I didn’t find the music in the series to be particularly good. The art for the series, on the other hand, deserves a compliment. Even though it wasn’t perfect all the way through, on the whole it stayed fairly consistent. This isn’t the best action series ever, but it’s also far from being the worst. In my opinion it was one of the better series from the previous and current season. It was a very worthwhile series to watch from start to finish.

It felt uncomfortable seeing Kuuya in a regressed state due to her trauma. You can’t help but sympathize with her considering all we know about her. There was no sign of any recovery, but I’m crossing my fingers we’ll see some improvement in the last episode. We’re finally able to make sense of all the flashbacks from the last couple of episodes. Their explanation for the coexistance of the two very different settings ended up being rather simple yet acceptable in my opinion. I can see how it all comes together now. This episode provides answers to many questions that were still lingering around, but there are still a few more left. Hopefully these remaining questions will be addressed in the finale. Based on the current situation in the story, I think I’ll enjoy the finale. Whether or this will hold true won’t be certain until next week.

This episode had both humour and angst. There have always been hints that Yakumo likes Harima, but they never took the concept far until this episode. It’s clear that Tenma doesn’t have any sort of affection for Harima so there’s really no way for it to end the way Harima wants it to. Harima doesn’t appear to have any feelings for Yakumo so I can’t see anything long term developing there either. Although I enjoyed this episode, I’m now more confused than entertained. My biggest question for the ending is what are they going to do with Eri. I kind of doubt this would really be the “end” of the “School Rumble” series since there’s still so much potential left with the other characters. I was kind of hoping for a comedy-focused finale, but it doesn’t seem like that will be the case.

I’m finally back from the business trip so hopefully there won’t be anymore major interruptions for the time being. The series managed to give us another memorable episode. Most of my favourite characters make an appearance in this episode. Even with all of its good points it was unfortunate that this episode had its share of issues. Allowing so many recurring characters to be together at one time comes with certain costs. Almost every character had very few lines in this episode. Nevertheless, I still really liked this episode. I also thought the overall art was greatly below average. The majority of the scenes managed to maintain the series’ high level of standard, but it was very noticeable when the consistency dropped. Regardless of the reason I just think it’s really regrettable this is one of the series that had to be devalued in this way. Besides the episode’s consistency I didn’t have any other problems with it.