There are SO many yummy shows so far this season. I wish I had time to fully blog about them all. But, you know, it’s still volleyball season…

Ridiculous lack of screencaps within. Very few spoilers, though.

Casshern Sins 01

I was gonna go on a rant about how really-kinda-pointless that whole episode was.

BUT then I saw the adorably androgynous loli/shota/it.

AND then I spotted the oh-so-obvious references to The Scarlet Letter.

In The Scarlet Letter, you have this outcast sinner chick named Hester Prynne, right? We’re not gonna go into how she was an adulteress and all, because that’s not the point of this rant.

But, let’s compare her to the main character of Casshern Sins, aptly named Casshern:

1. They’re both sinners, cast out from society (or what remains of it) and hated by others.
2. They’re both supposedly ‘evil,’ but the reader/viewer can easily sympathize with them (to an extent).
3. They both have a big scarlet letter on their chest.
4. They both have an elfish young child that follows them around and says/does odd/cute things. Said elfish children also enjoy playing on the beach.
5. They’re both ‘pretty’ (though Hester loses her beauty to an extent, and Casshern is only called ‘pretty’ by Ringo, for now.)
6. They both have someone who’s cold but semi-kind to them. Casshern has mysterious androgynous thing #2, and Hester has Dimmesdale (who’s actually unintentionally cruel to her at times, and his cowardice makes it unclear if he really still loves her.)

tl;dr: Show was fine, but I’m really only watching for the classic literature allusions.

Plot score: 7 out of 10 California rolls (but has potential.)
Allusions score: 9 out of 10 California rolls. (Honors American Literature POWAH~~!)

Kannagi 01

That. Opening. Was. Epic.

Hauuuuuuuuuu~~~

HAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~~~~~~

*cough*

As shallow as the characters are, they sure end up being relatively fun to watch. Nagi’s tsuntsun, but not enough to be obnoxious; and although our main character sucks, everything else about the show has potential. ‘Nuff said.

Opening rating: over9000 out of 10 California rolls
Episode rating: 7 out of 10 California rolls

Ga-Rei-Zero 01

Okay, you have a boring main character with an angsty past, and then this random battle crap where nothing goes JUST AS PLANNED, and then there’s this motorcycle chick who uses her motorcycle as a weapon?

EPIC WIN.

Though the premise itself is little more than Bleach on steroids (or crack, depending on how much you enjoyed the action) Ga-Rei-Zero was fun to watch this episode. Most of the episode was battle-oriented, but every minute of down-time had some bit of character or world development, which was nice. If it doesn’t start to really flesh out its characters soon, though, I’ll probably drop it eventually.　(Tooru in particular needs work; he’s kinda dull…) Action, angst, politics and pretty butterflies can only get a series so far.

And no, I don’t care how fabulous the mindscrew ending was; it’ll probably just get reverted or something at the beginning of the next episode so I’m going to ignore it for now. <3

Episode score: 8 out of 10 California rolls
Series potential score: 9 out of 10 California rolls

Next on my watchlist: Moar Kurogane no Linebarrel, Hyakko, and Mouryou no Hako. (Assuming, of course, there’s time and .avis.)

~CJ