Before I actually start this post, a couple warnings:
1) This is going to devolve into ranting at points. Sorry.
2) I tend to watch a lot of fansubs, then buy dvds later. There may be some spoilers in here, but especially if you just keep up with dvd releases. Sorry about that too, I'll try to keep it to a minimum
Now that's out of the way, I'll get into my main rant. The new Bleach filler. I realize filler is unavoidable, and also that some filler episodes can be pretty good. Bleach itself has proven this. Even this new stuff could wind up pretty good watched on its own. I have two main problems with it now though. First, the timing is completely inappropriate. The older filler in Bleach came at good breaking points, and were worked into the overall story without being intrusive. Not so with the newer stuff. I mean, its right in the middle of a major story arc, but they just dropped it to go into something totally different. On top of that, the two filler episodes so far seem completely unrelated, and not much happens. I mean, first there's a new captain. And he seems suspicious. OK, no problem, could be an interesting story. Then the next one is in the real world, where all of sudden everyone's back in school. Huh? When did that happen? And we're introduced to three new suspicious characters, but nobody's done anything yet. Just aggravating. This is not the way to go into any story arc, but inserting something like this right in the middle of another story makes no sense at all, and to me is inexcusable.
On to more positive experiences, Clannad and the second season of Shakugan no Shana ended recently. Both of these are, IMO, excellent examples of how anime should be. Both tell a good story, have clear start and end points, yet leave enough open to continue on.
In Clannad's case, you can really see the evolution in Kyoto Animation's animation of Key games. First there was Air, which was beautiful but incomprehensible. I mean, a lot of regular life type stuff happens, then one person dies and the other turns into a crow. There might be some time travel involved too, I'm not sure. It made no sense to me at all. Then Kanon, which was just as well animated, but it made far more sense. At least it felt like the parts I didn't understand were just something I missed. Last, we have Clannad. The art and animation is some of the best I've seen, the story is complete, understandable, and touching. Very well done.
Then there's Lucky Star. While the art and animation may not be top-notch, they aren't meant to be, nor do they need to be. The dialogue and comedic timing of the main show is nothing short of genius. Konata is a wonderful character that I can definitely relate to. I may not be the hopeless otaku that Konata is, but as an anime and manga junkie, former videogame junkie that still plays casually, and a former MTG player and collecter, I understand the mentality.
Last show that I will talk about is Rosario+Vampire. Reading elsewhere online, I think this show gets hated on more than it deserves. Anime fans hate it because of its highly episodal, monster-of-the-week format, and fans of the original manga say the anime ruins the source material with added fanservice and by wimpifying the male lead. I can't completely disagree, but I do have some comments on these topics. About the episodal nature, the manga is the exact same way over the chapters the anime covers. After that point, there is a longer, very good story arc that I expect will be done in the second season. I think it should be something to look forward to. The fanservice is not excessive, especially compared to other modern shows. And though it has been increased from the original source chapters, later chapters of the manga go the same route with more fanservice, so there's not really anything to complain about with the anime. However, I do have to agree that the male lead was changed for no good reason, to the detriment of the show. I'm sure we're all a bit tired of the standard spineless, clueless harem male.
Now I need to go find some other shows to watch. Or maybe get a life... Nah, don't need one.