I recently started watching a new anime, one apparently based on the live-action sci-fi/horror series
Supernatural. I'm a couple of episodes in, and honestly it's hard to get a bead on this series. For one thing, this series is just not designed for newcomers. After a couple of episodes, if I didn't have my best friend watching it with me who
had seen the live-action series, I wouldn't know such "minor" things as: "who are these guys?", "what do they do?", "why do they do it?", "what is their goal?", etc. This series just doesn't seem designed for newcomers to this universe, and it makes getting into it more difficult than it should be for a premise this formulaic.
As for the stories themselves, so far they're pretty standard horror archetypes, though the second episode is
full of plot holes. The writing just seems to be missing a certain "snap" to it that engages the viewer and keeps them interested. The animation's disappointing considering this is a Madhouse production, but considering I just learned today that studio was also responsible for gutter trash like
Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals (the show where a character's ass glowing is actually a critical plot point), maybe I need to start downgrading my expectations for that studio.
Another show that's started gearing back up lately is
Young Justice. Two episodes into this "new season", and the show's definitely improving. The writing has that certain "snap" to it I alluded earlier, with amusing little jokes and DC universe references hidden in the script that makes the show fun to watch. That said, I am pretty close to
despising the two characters that seem to be getting a lot of the spotlight lately: Ms. Martian and Superboy. Ms. Martian...good god. I'd say the reason I hate her can't be summed up in words but
yes they can,
two of them specifically in fact. As for Superboy, he's a whiny, emo, fairly unlikeable bitch. To say he
has a personality is an overstatement. The show's going to have to work a lot harder to make me like these characters, and it's not like they're the only troublesome members of this cast (Robin with his wordplay puns and Flash with his libido are annoying as well).