March Madness Round 2 continues

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The next set of 8 series vying for your vote are here! Previously we had Azumanga, Fumoffu, Higurashi and Honey & Clover advancing (T_T for Mushishi. It was a close fight against the killer lolis of Hinamizawa, but Higurashi had the edge all the way), which were all pretty much expected results (with the only real 'upset' for me being Ginko's loss. Yes, I'm actually more disappointed in this than the string of supposed upsets in the Malaysian general election yesterday -_-"). Anyways I'm a little less excited over this batch of series since a lot of them I've not watched and they're all going against the big guns later (Gurren Lagann, Haruhi, Black Lagoon, School Rumble which have pretty good to humongous followings on Jason's blog), but here's a look at part 2 of Round 2:


1) Shakugan no Shana VS Cowboy Bebop
Nope, haven't watched either, but from what I hear these two shows are popular for rather different reasons. Cowboy Bebop has 'must watch classic' going for it (and it's the only so called 'before Bittorrent' anime that made it into the final 24) while Shana has.... melonpan? Frankly melonpan doesn't do anything for me (if it's anything like the polo buns here which I'm not too fond of... yes, it's the bread I'm referring to here for anyone who thinks otherwise) and I get the feeling Cowboy Bebop would make for a more worthy contender to Gurren Lagann later on, so that's how my vote was cast in the end.

2) Fullmetal Alchemist(FMA) VS Full Metal Panic The Second Raid(FMP TSR) Again, no actual contact with either of these series *shakes head at self* Though I've watched FMP Fumoffu (and currently somewhere halfway through the first FMP), there's a practical reason why Jason included Fumoffu and TSR separately since the two series serves up different aspects of the popular franchise. I picked up Fumoffu solely for the humour, which was what it was focused on, and based on what I've seen of the first Full Metal Panic! it does seem that my interests lie more in seeing Sagara blow up the school and incurring Chidori's wrath than Sagara using the Lambda Driver to kick ass =P (though this may eventually change). Since I can't judge TSR using Fumoffu, I decided it would be better not to vote at all.

3) Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex VS Kanon (2006) Finally, something I can vote for, albeit with bias: I've watched and enjoyed both versions of Kanon (2002 had more Nayuki drama, 2006 had the spectacular snow rendering) whereas I could hardly sit through half of a GiTS movie during a viewing at an anime club (I walked out just after the Tachikoma's blazed on screen - just wasn't for me).

4) Minami-ke VS Otome wa Boke wo Koishiteru
Ah, the 'long awaited epic battle of the traps', in-depth analysis can be found here. Besides the fact that I've been watching Minami-ke (now Okawari) consistently while I only sampled one episode of OtoBoku , based on trap factor I'm giving the vote to Minami-ke's Mako-chan anyways since we actually got to follow his(?) gradual journey into trapdom spanning 2 seasons, whereas Mizuho 'onee-sama' simply can't be a trap since there's 100% no way there's a penis on him her, and this we know from the very start of the show! (if listening to Horie Yui voice her doesn't convince you, there's this, something Mako's years too early to try out XD)

A quick survey of the polls now show Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Panic TSR, Kanon and Minami-ke in the lead, with only Kanon looking to be in any danger at all from GiTS but still with a decent lead (nothing as close as Mushishi VS Higurashi yet) (Mako-chan and the Minami sisters are decimating Mizuho with 90% of the vote LOL). In the end after flipping a coin fishing for good comments from a friend who's watched both shows, I decided to toss a vote to Fullmetal Alchemist to help it out since it's currently being underdog-ed by TSR. Of course like Azumanga VS ef, the outcome doesn't really bother me since I'm pulling for Ouran and Black Lagoon in the Sweet 16 later. Voting for Round 2 (part 2) ends at 11PM PST March 11th. Can't wait for Round 3 >.<