It’s a slow news cycle in Japan thanks to the Golden Week holiday, which means it’s time to take a good hard look at some of the music that’s been released for this season, both good and bad. Above is our first topic: the guitar-heavy opening for Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao, “Realove: Realife” by seiyuu idol group Sphere. It’s a decent tune with the kind of heavy action tempo that I wish the show would demonstrate too, but the TV size hides the group’s shortcomings with this song – if you listen to the full version, I highly recommend listening closely for Toyosaki Aki’s solo, where she proves that while she can carry a tune alright, she can’t sing at the same volume as the other 3 in her group. She sounds like a 5-year-old in a punk band, and it’s hilarious.

I have a soft spot for the Heroman ending by FLOW, “Calling.” This shouldn’t be any surprise to people who have ridden in my car, since I own all of their albums and can’t wait for Fanime to confirm them as guests (oops, did I say that out loud?). The band specializes in light, catchy rock that just makes your day better, and this one is no different. Even the horrendously egregious Engrish in the background can’t bring me down when I listen to this one.

And then we have the surprise star of this season, Sawashiro Miyuki’s whimsically dancy “Title Nante Jibun de Kangaenasai na” (“Think of  a title yourself”). It’s a string of vicious insults sung in Miyukichi’s smoothest tones and set to something resembling ragtime, and I can’t help but love it. The animation that goes with it is just as crazy and weird as the show itself, and I wonder when I’ll be able to buy the single, because this is too fun not to own.

Go after the jump if you’re brave, because that’s where I’ll be posting some of the most execrable “music” from this season (hint: it’s sung by seiyuu who did it on the cheap, and these seiyuu don’t have any business singing for themselves. There’s a reason some characters have a speaking voice and a singing voice).

The Mayoi-Neko Overrun! opening showcases all that is bad in anime music, by throwing a bunch of young, inexpensive girls at a sound wall and hoping that they stick. They don’t, so they try and cover that up by randomly cutesy noises, but when it comes down to it, the song is arranged horribly and there’s just nothing to like about “Happy New Year.”

I’ll probably catch some flak for this, but I really, really hate the K-On!! opening for this season. The first season’s opening wasn’t legendary by any means, but it was pleasant enough and had a fun indy vibe to it. “Go! Go! Maniac” sounds hideously overproduced, and reminds you “Oh yeah, this girl can’t really sing.”

What songs from the current season do you like, or which ones do you skip as soon as you can?

I won't say it myself, but I'll let Kuroko do it for me.

It’s always been my policy to give a series 4 full episodes before making a real value judgment on it – it’s a habit left over from my days of reviewing pre-FUNimation DVDs, where 4 episodes a disc was the norm. So, with 4 weeks of the spring anime season in the books now, it’s time to take a look at where I stand with current anime. Which shows am I still watching, and which shows have I dropped like a bad habit? Find out after the jump.

Still watching it with interest:

Arakawa Under the Bridge: This is what happens when you let a great cast go to town on a fun script. It’s not the best anime comedy ever (Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu), or even the best comedy of the year (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu), but some of its vignettes are absolutely brilliant, from Nino and Recruit going on the most awkward date of all time to Hoshi’s crazed romance interrogation of how good a boyfriend Recruit is, complete with a holy lie detector. It’s not the prettiest girl on the block, but it’s definitely good enough that I’m going to keep watching. I can see this getting old fast, but I’m far from that point right now and happy with where this show is.

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao: Every once in a while, I let my standards down and watch a show with my brain off. This heavy fan service comedy/fantasy definitely fits into this category, with its “What if Voldemort was a badass in denial” vibe and likeable main character. Too many of these shows have boring and wishy-washy heroes, but spice up the formula with someone who snaps his enemies’ limbs like twigs and I’ll totally watch it all the way through.

Sarai-ya Goyou: This is another show that won’t be winning any beauty contests, but I love the dialogue. The play between Yaichi and Masanosuke is fascinating to watch, as the charismatic criminal talks circles around the naive bodyguard and Masanosuke discovers a whole new world outside of his thin sense of morality. I’m not necessarily excited by this show, but it’s good enough to keep watching, which is more than I can say for half of this season.

Tatami Galaxy: This one’s based purely on style. It hasn’t hit the 4-episode mark for me yet, so I don’t know if I’ll keep watching it just for style, but as of right now this instant, I think I’m gonna watch this one to the end.

Mild interest (or morbid curiosity)

Heroman: This one hasn’t improved too much since I last wrote about it. It’s a little too fantastic to be taken seriously, but it’s not lighthearted enough to be fun either. I’m running out of rope to give Bones on this one, but they’ve done good work before and I’m not willing to count this out yet. However, the pacing needs a lot more cleaning up before I’m glad to spend my 25 minutes watching this show.

Kaichou ha Maid-sama!: This show has a bit more momentum than I thought, since they’ve concentrated on the series’ strengths. It’s pretty standard shoujo fare with the “overachieving girl trying to deal with the affections of a rich guy with so much natural talent it makes your teeth ache” premise, but it’s less boring than I said it was a few weeks ago. Which is more than I can say for the many shows in the next category:

Dropped it like a rock

Ikki Tousen Xtreme Xecutor: Xecrable. There’s just nothing here.

B-gata H-kei: Went from “kind of amusing” to “way too annoying, why would anyone like this main character” in 3 short weeks.

Angel Beats!: The saddest addition to this list. The pacing still isn’t there, there are too many characters to care about any of them, and it’s just… slow. This show’s strengths were supposed to be its writing and its animation, and neither of them have shown up.

Mayoi-neko Overrun!: None of the characters are interesting at all. The male segment of the cast is limp, the female half of the cast is either lifeless (Nozomi) or cover-your-ears annoying (Fumino, Chise). It tells you how bad this show is when the creators somehow made the writes-itself hot springs episode into the most boring chapter yet.

Giant Killing: This one isn’t really Giant Killing’s fault, it’s alright for what it is. But with baseball season started, I have more than enough sports to feed my need for the next few months. If Adachi starts another baseball manga, let me know, but until then, my urge to watch sports anime is almost nil.

kiss x sis: So not for me.

K-On!!: I don’t hate K-On!! I just feel no urge to watch it, the same as I felt no real urge to watch the first one. Out of curiosity, have they given a male character a face and a name in this one yet?

So that goes down to 4 shows I like, 2 shows I’m taking some extra time to evaluate, and a whole bunch of shows I would choose toilet-scrubbing over watching. What about you guys this season? What are you watching, and what have you thrown back?

Ikki Tousen Xtreme Xecutor – This wasn’t my thing before, and isn’t my thing now. It’s amusing for stretches, but I’m getting tired of the formula. There are so many places to find shameless amounts of fan service these days that this doesn’t seem that special anymore.

Heroman - Seems promising, like the marriage of Giant Robo and Spider-Man. The main character’s voice grates on my ears, though, and I’d love to hear this one if/when it gets an English voiceover. Joey’s voice is so obviously female that it’s distracting. This show has a lot to live up to, and while it has potential, it hasn’t done much to fulfill it yet.

B-gata H-kei - Mildly amusing in a turn-your-brain-off kind of way, but it doesn’t seem sustainable yet. The main character really, really wants to be sexually active, but every time she tries it, her imagination acts up and she runs off screaming and crying. This pattern repeats at least three times in the first episode, and unless there’s some real character development soon, the joke will get old fast.

Kaichou ha Maid-sama! - Boring. The whole thing is based on a one-note relationship that really should have resolved itself within a few hours, but you can see the creators behind the scenes desperately trying to stretch the material far beyond where it should go.

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao - Strangely, one of the more appealing shows of the season. It goes heavy on the panty shots (well, loincloth shots), but it’s genuinely funny in its own right, and could be a whole lot of fun. I just have to block out the in-your-face upskirt angles and enjoy this for the gags, which seem good so far.

Angel Beats! - A mess so far. The comedy is misplaced, the characters don’t mesh well yet, there are several noticeable art goofs, and even the soundtrack seems to be confused about when it should play. A lot of people are saying that we need to have faith in the power of Key and Maeda Jun, but I don’t see the magic in this first episode. This has a strong pedigree, but it needs to shape up fast if it wants to live up to its own hype.

Giant Killing - I’m looking forward to this one. The first episode was slowly paced, but I’m giving this one some leeway because it’s a show about a soccer coach. It’d be out of character for a soccer show to be fast-paced (har har), and I actually like some of the personalities in this show already. Bonus points for finding someone who can actually speak English to talk for a bit, though as usual, the actual acting portion was a bit suspect (any of you remember the New York contingent from The Legend of Black Heaven?).

Arakawa Under the Bridge - Good writing and good acting so far. The comedy is there, the characters are crazy but not stupid, and everyone tells me that the source material gets even better. Between this show’s great cast and its ability to elicit some real belly laughs, I’m impatient about next week.

kiss x sis - This is so not for me.

Mayoi-neko Overrun! - I haven’t been able to get behind any of the characters yet. The ostensible female lead Fumino is especially a problem, because she’s a stereotypical anime tsundere turned up to about 20 on a scale of 1 to 10. She’s so over-the-top, predictable, and shallow that she detracts from the rest of the show, which could be okay if it weren’t for the constant angry shouting.

K-On!! - Cute, and with better music than the first season, but still not really my bag. I look at this show and I see all of the fluff pieces that came before it: Kokoro Toshokan, Aria, … not much in the way of plot or even just forward progress.

I haven’t seen Working! yet, but overall this season didn’t really have me jumping for joy. Some of the more promising shows haven’t delivered, while there are some surprise sleepers. Fans who just want to see cute girls doing cute things (or sexy girls doing sexy things) have plenty of that this season, but the preliminary outlook says that I’ll be watching Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao and Sarai-ya Goyou this season, with occasional looks at Giant Killing and Heroman.

Well, this is definitely out of the ordinary: it turns out that the Anime Network isn’t the only outlet for the simulcast of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao! Crunchyroll announced today that it will also be streaming the high school fantasy/comedy. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is unprecedented, but it’s interesting to see the same show licensed for the same medium by two different companies.

Crunchyroll has added in the latest announcement in the race to for online streaming rights, and it’s a pretty interesting one – the East-meets-West Heroman. The simulcast will be available every Thursday at 3 AM Pacific time, and while I’m not going to stay up for it, I’m definitely going to add it to my morning ritual. The collaboration of the legendary Stan Lee with Studio Bones has me fascinated, and I really want to see how it all plays out. Hit the jump for the list of countries covered by Crunchyroll, as well as their official synopsis of the show.

Heroman will be available to everyone in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Central and South America.

Heroman follows the story of Joey Jones, an ordinary boy without any sense of strength, who by chance comes into possession of a toy robot. Through an accident of comic book fashion, the toy becomes a giant robot, Heroman, and Joey his master. As Joey guides Heroman and teaches him right and wrong, so does Joey grow in his journey and become a hero in his own right. Now, they are the Earth’s only hope for survival against a militant alien invasion. Will Joey and Heroman be able to save the world?

NEW SCHOOL COMEDY SERIES-ICHIBAN USHIRO NO DAIMAO-TO BEGIN SIMULCASTING THIS APRIL ONANIME NETWORK ONLINE

HOUSTON, TX - 3-30-2010 – Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao, the latest series from famed director Takashi Watanabe (Boogiepop Phantom, New Fist of the North Star), will begin simulcasting this April on Anime Network Online.

WHAT: Worldwide Premiere of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao on Anime Network Online

From Marvelous Entertainment (Mushi-shi, Air Gear) and Artland (Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Legend of the Galactic Heroes) comes the story of young Akuto Sai, a new student at Constan Magical Academy. On the day of admittance, his aptitude test has predicted his future occupation as…Devil King. And so begins the trials and tribulations of school life as he is hounded by do-gooders, self appointed protectors, and overzealous followers. In this school, there’s no rest for the Devil King.

WHEN: Episode 1 will be available on Friday, April 2, 2010.  Check www.theanimenetwork.com for North American Listings.

WHERE: Anime Network Official website’s Online Player.

HOW: The Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao simulcast will be available to registered users. Registration is absolutely free and takes very little time.

Sarai-ya Goyou starts airing in mid-April in the noitaminA time slot, but if you want to know more about this fascinating story about the steady descent of a naive samurai into the underworld, you can read eight chapters of the original manga for free over on VIZ’s IKKI site. I highly recommend it – it’s a far from your standard samurai chanbara fare, and it really makes me want to see what they can do with it.

See, the little chant she’s chirping in the trailer translates to “Can I make 100 sex friends?” The show acts all cutesy and tries to pass itself off as a regular ol’ rom-com, but it’s really about a girl named Yamada who spends her whole waking life thinking about sex and how she can get it. This is a bewildering thing for the target of her boundless energy, the hapless Takashi, and the whole show centers on her many efforts to get him to ravish her.

If this still sounds cute to you, well – the show starts airing on April 1st, and I’m giving even odds that Crunchyroll will pick up this series for simulcast. Go on, give me a reason they won’t, I dare you!

The story of Angel Beats! provides a slight twist on the usual school life formula, as all of the characters – except the angel, who fills the role of the antagonist – are dead and experiencing the afterlife. Given the pedigree of scenario writer Maeda Jun (Clannad, Air, Kanon), expect a whole lot of character exploration in each episode, which should be interesting given the action-heavy bent of the trailers. We’ll see how it all comes together when it premieres on April 2nd!

In case you’d forgotten that there is a fourth season of the boobs-’n'-brawls series Ikki Tousen coming up, the official site has been updated with a new trailer for Ikki Tousen Xtreme Xecutor. It shows a lot of predictably risque footage, with panty shots and fight scenes in equal measure, and it also lets you listen to the uptempo new opening song, “Stargazer.”

Honestly, at this point you should already know whether or not you’re going to watch the new Ikki Tousen. It’s stuck to its profitable formula for four seasons now, with girls who punch each other so hard that their clothes explode. If that’s your thing, no worries – you’ll be watching this new season and probably pumping more money into the coffers for a fifth season. If you’re not interested, well, there’s plenty of other anime out there for you to watch this season!