The world feels rather unique in the dead of winter.  Everything is quiet, colors are muted, and the cold forces everything to grind to a halt.  However, when the sun emerges, bright white light reflects off of every surface, and colors become vivid and reveal everything’s true nature.  The same can be said for much of the anime in Winter 2012, which is either forcibly muted or blindingly noticeable.  Bring some snowshoes and some sunglasses, preferably too dark to see the anime through.

Submitted for your approval: A reviewer of anime is lost in the desolate netherscape of Winter 2012.  Amidst the droning plots and uninspired voice acting, he spots an anomaly.  It is revealed to be a discrepancy in space and time where shows are interesting, budgets are obscured, and humor is relatively intelligent.  He also finds a weird mirror and some sort of ghostly story of impostors.  Dare you venture further, there’s a sign post up ahead (watch out or you’ll hit it).  Your next stop: the Twilight Review.

The Fall 2011 season was the oasis in the desert of awful anime which comprised Summer 2011.  Then, like all good things, the season drew to a close.  That’s when the dark times began, an era with easily some of the worst shows in recent memory.  These series seem specifically designed to mock the intelligence of the modern anime viewer, and it makes your heart grow cold.  Down your warming beverage of choice, because a shit storm is fast approaching.

We’re finally talking about the last anime of Fall 2012.  Like most final gasps, some utterances are rambling nonsense, while others are filled with wisdom.  Yet still other final words are cryptic clues, offering hints of secrets and discovery, something to solve.  Join me now as I pull back the curtain on this week’s mysterious mysteries!

For the first showing of his term, CSMAC President Jack put his best foot forward, displaying some of the best anime from Fall 2011.  Unfortunately, he forgot that his second step was going to be used to jump over a treacherous chasm, so his efforts were all for naught.  Hang on for dear life as I explore just what lies at the bottom of the abyss.

Hopefully everyone reading this blog is at least familiar with the Touhou series. Working under that assumption, I won’t bother with a rundown of the basic gameplay. This, instead, will be a summary of the main mechanic and my first impressions of each game, starting with Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and going through to Ten Desires. Well, technically they’ll be second impressions since I’m writing this after my first playthrough of each, but it’s close enough.

Now I’d tell you to hop on the tour bus, but as we all know, there are no buses in Gensokyo.

I’d warn for spoilers as well, but I never paid enough attention to the plot to know what was going on myself.   ᄀ（￣ー￣）ᒥ

It’s a new semester at CSM, which means new courses, new instructors, and new problems.  On the flip side, it also means a new CSMAC president showing new anime in a new room.  Find out if Jack has put his best foot forward (as opposed to in his mouth) in this newest review…NEW!!!!

It’s a strange time of year.  The halcyon holidays have just passed, the Colorado weather is unseasonable beautiful, and the cares of the previous year seem to be but a fleeting bad dream.  Alas, the quest for knowledge and a higher pay grade beckon us back to scenic Golden for the Spring 2012 semester, and I’ll bet you’re pretty bummed.  However, what greater way to feel comparatively better about your current situation than to relive the worst anime showings of Fall 2011?  Actually, the only other alternatives are a bit more life-threatening.  Join me now as I haunt your memories and kill some time before Jack makes us hate him more than we do Gene.  Curl up next to the fire, lest you have to throw yourself into it.  It’s going to be one very long review.

Double post lol Anyway, this one’s short, just popping in to say I’ve figured out the video editing process and I’ll be uploading videos of my Rock Band customs to YouTube. Here’s a few to get started: Little Braver Shine Days Alchemy If anyone’s got requests, put them in the comments or on the videos, and I’ll consider it.

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas (Hanukah, etc) and a happy New Years.

And so 2011 comes to a close. A good year for school, conspiracy theories, and surprisingly, a pretty good year for anime. Which means it’s time for top 10s!

I’m glad anime isn’t dead yet. I even did my homework this year, as this list is compiled from a pool of 20 candidates. And those were pulled from like 50 shows I actually tried (and failed) watching. I even almost watched everything I wanted to (sorry Wandering Son and Mawaru Penguindrum)! And I played a couple good Visual Novels, and finally beat that damn .hack series (just in time for the announcement of the next installment ;_;), and wasted 60 hours on Skyrim. Good year.

So onward, into my favorite Chinese cartoons from 2011, and my endless ranting.

Note 1: Anime on this list are those that finished in 2011. That means that anime that have not finished airing yet were not considered for this list; conversely, anime that began in 2010 and finished this year are fair game.

Note 2: While I will avoid significant spoilers, it’s pretty difficult to review a show in any detail without revealing something. If you’re the type that’s afraid to watch commercials or read the back cover for fear of spoilers, you may consider skipping over entries you haven’t seen. If I do plan to spoil huge things, I will leave huge tags. You’ve been warned.