Ubu is currently following eight shows. My tastes are different than his, and there are only six that have caught my interest this winter. Still, that’s noteworthy. During all of 2010, there were only four series that I watched more than two episodes of. Even in 2007, the best year ever for anime (Dennou Coil, Oh! Edo Rocket, Seirei no Moribito, Mononoke, Baccano!, plus an odd little thing called Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann), I don’t think I ever had more than four series on my watch list at any given time.
Here’s what I’ve seen at least three episodes of, in order of interest:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka?Magica — Beware the kawaii. Seriously.
Fractale — The best show Miyazaki’s done in years.
Kore wa Zombie desu ka — Magical girls, chainsaws, vampire ninjas, dancing chibis….
I expect that I will watch each of these to the end, and they will go on my to-buy list when they are licensed if they end as well as they began.
Level E — Alien bishies are jerks, and baseball is the key to interstellar amity. (Bonus points for an opening theme that rocks hard, sung by a singer who sounds like a grown woman, not a little girl.)
Yumekui Merry — Don’t hide that magical midriff under a waitress uniform, please. Oh, and what happened to the cats?
Gosick — What is in that pipe?
If Level E becomes stupid or obnoxious, I’ll drop it. If Yumekui Merry degenerates into a monster-of-the-week show, I’ll drop it. If Victorique doesn’t learn a modicum of tact (“Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho,” indeed) , I’ll drop Gosick. But for now, I’ll watch at least one more episode of each.
Noteworthy also is that Funimation and Crunchyroll are streaming four of these. I’d strongly prefer download-to-own, but I am glad nevertheless that I don’t have to break international copyright law to watch them.