.: This Girl's Daybreak :.

Yeah, I don't usually watch anime during the semester. Largely because I don't generally have the time. Plus, I like to binge watch, rather than just sneaking in an episode here or there. So I'd rather wait until the breaks, so I can marathon a series in a couple of days. And I have been really busy this semester, anyway. Lots of homework, a truly insane amount of reading, plus two extremely awkwardly scheduled courses...I'm spending the vast majority of my time just trying to stay on top of everything.

But, uh. My willpower failed me last weekend, and I ended up watching episodes of two different series. Two currently airing series, at that. (Which is something else that I don't do often. It's the binge watching thing again.) What series are they, you ask? Well, the first is Darling in the FranXX, and the second is Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card.

And I have some thoughts.

( Darling in the FranXX - Spoilers for episodes 1-9 )

( Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card - Spoilers for episodes 1-10 )

Overall, I'm enjoying them both, so far. I plan to keep watching, so I may or may not post about them again. We'll see. =D

I picked up the first book of the Magnus Chase series a while back, when I caught it on sale. I finally got around to reading it a couple of days ago, and then I bought and read the other two books in the series. Unsurprisingly, I'm having feelings, so! Here's a brief review.

( Spoilers for all three books )

Final verdict? I liked it, though not quite as much as the Percy Jackson books. Good, but could be improved a bit. Now, if only the fandom was bigger! I seriously want fic, but there's not a whole lot out there.

What's this? Kat, watching anime before the semester's over? Shocking, I know. But this one was a short little six episode OVA, so I was able to binge it all at once.

( Spoilers, as usual! )

Final verdict? Meh. If you like mindless action and don't require a solid plot to back it up, then you'll like this one. But if you care more about the story, you'll likely be disappointed. The title character is cool, but she's not really enough to carry this series all by herself. Decent bones, but lackluster execution.

Okay, so I was wrong. Eureka Seven wasn't my last anime of the summer. I found Chivalry of a Failed Knight a little while ago, and it was so short, I could watch it in one day. (And have time left over!)

( Some spoilers, I guess... )

Final verdict? Mixed. The concept is neat and the main cast are likable. But this show suffered from being far too short, and some odd plot choices. Plus, there's a lot of fanservice. So, it's a toss up. According to Wikipedia, this was based off a light novel series, and there's also a manga. I might look and see if I can find either of those to flesh out the plot a bit.

Well, this is the last of the main Fate series. I believe there's a movie and a magical girl AU series, but I'm probably not going to watch those. Though, I've heard they're planning a trilogy of films to cover the third route from the VN. No idea when that'll be, though. So, for now, at least, this is it.

( Spoilers, of course )

So, final verdict? I really liked it. I'd say you should just skip the original Fate/Stay Night anime and watch Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works instead. You could probably watch them in either order; no matter what, watching one will spoil some parts of the other. I watched Zero, then UBW, and I feel that worked well. But I guess you could do the opposite, if you wanted.

So, I was actually going to watch Fate/Zero next, but I had issues with the video, so I decided to watch something else until I could straighten it out. I went with My Love Story!!, which I found out about through sheer dumb luck. I don't usually watch romance or slice of life anime, as a rule, but when I read the premise of this one, I had to try it.

( No spoilers, I think! )

Final verdict? I loved it. If you like shoujo/romance anime, watch this. Even if you don't, watch it anyway. Now I need to see if I can find the manga. Wikipedia says there are 13 volumes, so there's a decent chance that not all of that fit into 24 episodes. And I would love to see more of Takeo and Yamato, and Suna~!

Another anime review. I've actually had this one in my to-be-watched stack for a while, now. I was mostly deterred by the fact that there are several series in this franchise, and that, with the exception of the first series, the DVD sets for the the others are ludicrously expensive. I didn't want to get started and be unable to continue. But, when I was looking for places to stream anime recently, I thought to check and see if Netflix offered anything subtitled. They did, and among them are the other two Fate series. So, I decided to go ahead and give the first series a watch.

( Spoilers, as usual )

Final verdict? I honestly didn't like it much. There were a couple of good characters, but that's about it. I will say, though, that most fans seem to think that the later series (Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works) are much better than the first one. So, I might give one of those a chance, despite how I felt about this one. I've got access to them, so I do think I'll try them at some point. But not right now. Plus, Fate/Zero has Saber but no Shirou, and UBW is supposed to be Rin's route, so maybe she'll get more focus there. And those two were about the only things I liked about this series, so. It might be worth a try.

This one was a bit of a quickie. Just 12 episodes, and then one movie. I watched the series itself in one sitting, and then the movie the next day. So, here are my thoughts!

( Massive spoilers withiin )

So, final verdict? Honestly, I liked it. It's not perfect, and I do wish we got some more backstory on Saya, in particular. But it was fun to watch. If you're a fan of other Blood titles, you might feel differently, I don't know. But if you're a first-time fan, like me, I'd say give it a shot. Provided you can handle the gore, of course.

And the anime watching continues! Here's another series from my to-be-watched stack: Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040!

( Spoilers for the whole series )

Final verdict? It's a big, fat stinker. If you've already seen the OVA, there's nothing for you here. And if you haven't seen the OVA, go watch that, instead!

Well, I said I wanted to watch some anime, and I finally am. (And no, I didn't figure out the whole DVD screencapping thing yet. Grr.) I pulled one from my to-be-watched stack, which I've been thinking about lately: Mawaru Penguindrum!

( Spoilers for the whole thing )

...Holy crap, that was long! XD

Final verdict? It depends. If you like surreal series with lots of symbolism, then go for it. If not, then it's a maybe. I'm not always a fan of the surreal (some I like, some I don't), and I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. I liked some things, and I didn't like some things. I think I mostly liked it, but I wish I understood it better. I'll have to watch it again later, and see if that helps.