I thought that this would be the year that everyone remembers as the year Crunchyroll got their hands on about half of the anime airing. But Crunchyroll appears to have a far less impression on the anime world than I originally thought they would. Is it because of the rather suspect quality of their streams and subtitles? As a subscriber myself I can certainly vouch for some very dodgy work on Book of Bantorra. Is it because they could only get their hands on the lower-quality anime airing? If you go to the tag cloud on Animenano, how many of the bigger tags are on Crunchyroll? Or is it because anime fans really are the biggest bunch of cheap-ass dickheads that the ANNfags claim they are? Ah well, at least Crunchyroll have Gintama and for that I will be eternally grateful.
A Grade: One of the tops of the year. Get ready for some fanboying here
None. No really. Normally at least FMA takes up an A spot but no, this week produces absolutely no A’s whatsoever. Great way to finish up this anime year huh.
B Grade: Hugely entertaining stuff. Not amazing but definitely worth watching
B+ Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
A lot of people have been a bit overly harsh on the recent episodes of FMA. They have still been excellent but it’s the comparison to the last three months that leaves people feeling underwhelmed. These episodes of build up certainly haven’t been up to the sheer brilliance of some of those in the 20’s. It looks as though things will pick up again though judging by the most recent episode. Crazy female Armstrong should hopefully be the catalyst for greater things to come.
B+ Darker than Black: Comet of Gemini
I’ve never been in the ‘Darker than Black is a masterpiece’ crowd. It certainly never wows me to the same extent Eden of the East or FMA does. That said, I prefer this season slightly to the last one. I never felt the double-episodic format worked that well and the continuous storyline works far better. And although it never wows me, I still eagerly anticipate each episode. It’s still the pick of the Autumn anime.
B+ Cross Game
Best Cross Game month by far. The introduction of Akane has certainly thrown a whole new spin on the series, although by herself she isn’t that interesting a character. Bust you know what I love most of all? Way back in my July roundup I said it would be amusing if Azuma and Aoba got together. Well thank you Cross Game for reading my wishes, I love that sorta awkward pause people have when Azuma admits he likes her.
B Book of Bantorra
I didn’t like episode 8. The resolution of that arc just didn’t feel right. I dunno, I can’t put my finger as to why, it just didn’t feel natural. Other than that though, I’ve been mightly impressed by Bantorra. Anytime I think the show has a flaw the next episode goes out and corrects that flaw. It is a little bit like a poor man’s Darker than Black, although not that much poorer. It’s really the under-rated anime of the season, heck, the under-rated anime of the year.
B Trapeze
Well here’s something I didn’t expect when it started airing. Trapeze has become the feel-good series of the season. OK, it’s artfaggory doesn’t just border on pretentious, it shits on the border and tosses it in the Atlantic, but there’s real brains to this series when you can look beyond that. It’s so wild and yet the resolution to each characters problem has been hugely enjoyable and uplifting to watch. The artwork is pretentious, the actual content is not.
B- Hetalia Axis Powers
Everytime I find myself thinking how awesome Hetalia is, it goes and shoots itself in the foot with a string of unfunny gags. On the awesome side we have Belarus and Russia only to later be replaced by moe moe kyun Liechtenstein. This has pretty much been Hetalia the entire way through it’s airing. There truly has never been a series with such fluctuating quality as Hetalia has, even episode 4 of Gurren Lagann can’t compare.
B- Summer Wars
This is the only opportunity I have to express my views on Summer Wars. First, its way better than Girl through Time, mainly because it goes for the happy corny ending rather than that disastrous ending Girl through Time had. Secondly, the parallels to Miyazaki are certainly visible and I’ll go along with the ‘next Miyazaki people are throwing about. Finally, the reason why it’s only a B- is because there’s no depth to the story. It’s huge fun but nothing more than that.
C Grade: It’s good enough to keep watching but it’s not that memorable
C- Letter Bee
You know those two rather obscure series, I think they’re called Naruto and Bleach…yeah, that’s right. They both have a load of good points to them but what kills any enjoyment is not really the fillers, it’s how slowly they move through the plot. Studio Pierrot make both of these and oddly enough, this is exactly the problem that Letter Bee is falling into. I could handle the copious amounts of tears if they just moved through the plot quicker.
D Grade: I’ve lost interest in this anime. If it’s a D then I’ve probably dropped it
D+ Umineko 
Umineko seems to go through a formula of two crap episodes followed by one episode of crazy plot twisting. I hope it keeps to that formula because this month has been pretty damn shit for Umineko. OK, we get it, whatserface is a rubbish mum. You’ve shoved that in our face for the past three episodes, we get it already. Boo hoo, Sakutaro and all that. Enough of that already, let’s get back to the game and see what wild twists Umineko will finish off with.
E Grade: Unlike D grades where I drop out of disinterest, E grades are dropped in Disgust.
No E’s. I dropped everything far too quickly this season to have any terrible shows still on my watch list at this stage of the season.
