Mushishi

This is a classic. A must see for many people, though not all. I highly recommend it. Now, before I go further, I will have to talk about the downsides to this anime. It is a bit slow, too slow for some people (a certain person who likes to watch stuff at 2x or 3x speed comes to mind), but if you have some patience, this will not be a problem. This anime doesn't have mechas, light-speed fight scenes, fanservice, or any of the other mindless entertainment many anime comprise only of (not insulting this kind of entertainment, I'm just saying Mushishi is different). So, what is Mushishi?

Mushishi is about Ginko, a mushishi, who deal with paranormal creatures. Honestly, that's about it, but this anime is less about plot, and more about feel. The whole presentation is a collection of short stories - one per episode. It gives a peaceful yet fulfilling feel to the viewer. One can get engrossed in the environment and simply enjoy it for what it is. If you haven't seen it yet, you should watch at least the first episode and determine if it is right for you.

Spring 2012 Anime First Impressions

Note that all of these are based only on the first one or two episode of the series.

Sankarea - Presentation is quite good. Not quite sure where the plot is going, possibly a romance between a guy and a zombie girl. It will be another episode or so before I really know what's going on.


Zetman - Decent action (a bit violent for some people's tastes). Plot seems like it isn't going to be very good. A bit confusing.


Medaka Box - Very good. Not exactly sure who I would recommend this for, but I can safely say I enjoy it so far. It's about a student council president who is pretty much perfect.


Accel World - I love the music. Has some interesting concepts, though turns out to be shounen.


Acchi Kocchi - Standard moe kind of comedy. Not very interested in this. [Dropped]


Lupin the Third - Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna - So far it's entertaining. Will wait for another episode to fully pass judgement on. (warning, a bit is NSFW)


Tasogare Otome x Amnesia - Has an odd plot, but how good it is very much depends on where the plot actually goes.


Jormungand - Gun action, kind of violent, I enjoy it. If you enjoyed black lagoon, I think you might like this.


Tsuritama - An anime about fishing and... maybe saving the world? So far I find it isn't that impressive, but it might get better.


Hyouka - Seems to be a mystery anime which is down to earth. It has potential, but I can't say for sure or not how good it is until further in the season.


Upotte!! - Cute girls doing cute things, but with a twist. Girls are actually guns... Like, they are guns, just just carrying guns (though they do that too). If you are interested in guns, you might like this.


Shining Hearts - Shiawase no Pan - Feels like an RPG like world, but with almost nothing happening so far. Main character bakes bread. That's... it.

More Quick Anime Reviews

Time for some quick reviews of anime from last season. I'm too lazy to find pictures now, so just look them up at images.google.com if you're interested.

Ano Natsu de Matteru - Pretty good romance with an alien, but there are a few plot points that are a bit... odd.

High School DxD - For the genre, sort of ecchi action, it's one of the best. So its up to you whether or not you think you would like the genre.

Another - Horror anime. Plot is ok. If you like horror anime, it's worth watching, mostly since there isn't too much in this genre already.

Nisemonogatari - Only watch if you've seen Bakemonogatari. It's similar, but with more fanservice. Iff you liked Bakemonogatari, you will probably like this.

Black Rock Shooter - I enjoyed it, though it was confusing. I think that maybe the OVA made a bit more sense, which is really saying something.

Guilty Crown - This has a lot of cliches. It's so over the top with action and... something. It's somewhat akin to Code Geass. It's worth checking out to see if you like it or not.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear - Plot... not that great. Parts of it were good, but it got less interesting as it approached the end. Basically, it started to get old before it was finished, which isn't very good for a 13 episode series.

Note that these are only the series that I finished from Winter 2011. Here are the ones I didn't finish:
Kill Me Baby - comedy, ok, but not that great. Might eventually finish it.
Inu X Boku Secret Service - romance, once again mediocre. May or may not finish it.
Mouretsu Pirates - the premise is good - space pirates, but the implementation was... so boring, and slow. Almost nothing happened for the first 5 episodes. Don't watch this unless you've already seen everything else.
Rinne no Lagrange - Mecha anime. Characters are ok, though sometimes annoying. Wasn't horrible, but it didn't really have enough to it.

Lightning reviews

A new season of anime is starting. Based only on the first episodes (or maybe also the second for one or two), here are some quick reviews for if you feel like you need to pick up a new anime. This list is in no particular order.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

The fights are pretty good, with crazy weird animation (which a certain fansub group compared to the SZS opening). The non-fight portions... are a bit lacking.

Yumekui Merry

Intriguing plot. So far worth watching, just for that. Dream entities trying to take over people and get into reality.

Gosick

Could be good, first episode seemed a bit lacking, but it has potential. Will probably be some sort of mystery anime.

Rio - Rainbow Gate

Everything is wrong with this anime. It uses games of chance as battles, which is stupid. It has some fanservice, but that's about it. Could be worth watching just for the moments that are so stupid that they are somewhat humorous.

Beelzebub

A delinquent finds a baby and has to take care of it. The baby also happens to have demon powers. Could be good, but too much of the baby is seen. I guess maybe nsfw.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka

First, this is not a zombie anime, which is surprising. It's sort of a comedy, but I don't know what direction it's headed in.

Level E

Alien anime. Nothing too spectacular, and nothing too horrible.  A decent anime.

Dragon Crisis!

Probably will end up being some sort of romance comedy, but so far it's actually pretty good.

Kimi ni Todoke Season 2

First episode is basically a recap from another perspective, but after that, the second season should be as promising as the first.

Fractal

Feels a little like a Miyazaki film. It has a general good feeling to it, and so far I like it. Oh, and the intro animation is awesome to watch.

Wandering Son

Why does something with this peaceful beautiful art style have a plot like this? It's about a boy in middle school who cross dresses. Also, the first episode was very confusing keeping track of who was who.

Dropped.  Watched 1 episode.

Cardfight!! Vanguard
This doesn't deserve a picture. I dropped this after about 5 seconds of looking through it and basically seeing a yu-gi-oh anime.

Gun X Sword partial review

I'm not sure if the title is Gun X Sword, or just Gun Sword, but in either case, this is a somewhat unknown excellent anime.  This is a 'partial review' because I have only seen the first half of the series.

It starts out somewhat formulaic.  Powerful guy, obscure past, he saves defenseless girl, she follows him.  Oh, and he has a mecha which falls from the sky when he calls it.
What really stands out about this series is the humor.  It's somewhat satirical, and somewhat situational.  It is not the standard extremely shallow humor found in so much of today's anime.  Still, this is not strictly a comedy anime like Azumanga Daioh.  It's more of a good mix of action and comedy.
The fights are good, but the main genius is in the situations.  There are subtle moments of situations that are just a little odd, and others that are less subtle:
"Mustache Soldiers, Go!"
Yes, they were really mustache soldiers.  That episode in and of itself makes this anime worth watching.
One caveat though, some of the episodes are slower than others.  While watching it, you might get a little bogged down in the middle due to a few episodes just being slower than others without much happening.
Oh, and on a random note, I feel like the intro is 2 songs patched together, but it still somehow works.

26 episodes long.  If you want to see an anime that has mechas, and everything from mustache soldiers to fake paradises, look no further than Gun Sword.

Fate Stay Night

Feels older than it is (maybe low budget), but still excellent.

Good setting.  7 teams of 2 that have to fight.  It's simple, and it works well.
Great characters.  Saber (character in picture) is done perfectly with both attitude and story.  The main character's power seems a bit odd, ranging from really weak at the beginning to seemingly godlike at times.  His power is a bit ambiguous, but if you don't question it, it will be enjoyable.
The action and animation is decent, though sometimes feels a bit simple.  It's not worth watching solely for the fights, but they are entertaining.
The music is good, though not overly noticeable.
One of my favorite aspects of Fate Stay Night is the romance.  It feels good.  It's not tacked on, and it doesn't take up all of the focus: the romance fits perfectly with the rest of the plot and action without usurping the plot, and that aspect strikes me as very appealing.

This isn't a world shattering anime like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, but it is worth seeing.  It's worth putting on your to-watch list, but not necessarily at the very top.

Spice and Wolf

A mix between romance with a wolf-girl, and microeconomics with a merchant in the past.

It is a strange combination of genres, but it works, and quite well.  This is not an intense action fight sword gun killer anime, as you can probably guess.  Spice and Wolf focuses more on the plot and setting to provide entertainment.  It is a simple anime, but it can certainly draw its viewers in.

Spice and Wolf begins the story around a lone peddler in some past age.  He wanders into a town which has a legend about a goddess, and, of course, the legend comes true, almost immediately.  After some events take place, they travel together, and this is their story.

This anime is one that is difficult to stop watching; during the second season in particular, there was a segment of approximately 10 episodes in which I kept on telling myself 'Ok, one more episode, then when I'm at a good place to stop, I'll stop.'  I was naturally unable to stop watching until the conflict was resolved at the end.

It's not necessarily a perfect anime, but Spice and Wolf is entertaining.  It can feel a bit slow at times, but my primary complaint is that, as of now, it is a bit too short.  It didn't end in a cliffhanger, but it left a desire for more.  The second season ended in 2009, so there is certainly a chance for more, but if enough time passes without a third season, then I'm just going to read the light novels (which are currently ongoing, I believe).

One thing I find particularly striking about Spice and Wolf is how it's unique.  It has a bit of melancholy with just the right amount of emotion to tie it together.  It contains happy tones mixed with the occasional darker feeling.  I am unable to completely summarize the feeling that it emanates, but I can assure that it is pleasant.

Also, excellent soundtrack.  I still get "7 Apples on a Witch's Tree" stuck in my head at times.

Spice and Wolf is currently 2 seasons long with the first containing 13 episodes and the second containing 12, and it is enjoyable, but I still wish for more.

Azumanga Daioh

For a lighthearted enjoyable experience, ripe with humor and full of smiles, watch Azumanga Daioh

I can never get enough of this anime.  This won't please the people which wish for only action, blood, and violence, but everyone else who enjoys anime should find this one particularly lovable.  Azumanga Daioh contains a mix of quick humor which takes little thought and the occasional deeper joke which lasts for longer than 10 seconds, though, overall, most of the jokes are of the former category.

The best part of the humor of this series is its uniqueness.  Azumanga Daioh rarely has the 'humor' of simply drawing silly faces, and expecting the audience to laugh.  The humor begins with a standard above that level, and it maintains it throughout the series.

The only problem that I've occasionally noticed is that it references things well known in Japan, but not at all known here.  This is not Azumanga Daioh's fault in the least, because it works for its target audience, but occasionally there is a joke that leaves me in the dark.

As a side note, I still get some of the supremely joyful music stuck in my head, and it is an excellent way to obtain a smile.

Azumanga Daioh, as a small 26 episode series, with its happy, funny, heartwarming moments, is entirely worth watching.