Fall 2010 Season in Review – Fashionably Late

I was a little late in finishing up my reviews for this past season, so forgive the lateness of the awards post. This was a much stronger season than the last, with some strong shows in every category. We still couldn’t agree on a clear winner for best show, mostly because I have yet to finish Shiki and Katanagatari’s ending was such a letdown. So, without further ado, here are our picks for the season.

Princess Jellyfish Episodes 10 and 11 – How to Dress Well

I don’t know why noitaminA insists on 11 episode seasons instead of the more common 12 or 13. It might have something do with their scheduling (there’s no new programming this week, for example), but it means that their shows always feel a little short.

Not that even 13 episodes would have been enough to let Brain’s Base tell a more complete story: six volumes of the manga have been published, which would probably be enough for the 22 episodes that Shiki got. And the manga is still running, so I doubt the story stops there.

Princess Jellyfish Episodes 8 and 9 – Underwater

As Tsukimi’s horizons broaden, she finds herself in conflict, mostly with her own feelings of awkwardness or inadequacy towards the “normal” world. It’s been a common theme in this show, and it will continue to be one, but here the conflicts are particularly pronounced.

Princess Jellyfish Episodes 5 and 6 – Make up/out/over

Last episode left the girls of the Sisterhood in a bit of a predicament, with the redevelopment threatening to leave them without their sanctuary, and Tsukimi beginning to have feelings for a boy—a taboo in the cloister of nerdiness she lives in—for the first time in her life.

These episodes just throw more fuel on the fire, introducing Shouko Inari, employee of the property development company trying to redevelop the Sisterhood’s neighborhood as a villain to both stories. She uses her seductive charm to woo the mostly male landowners into selling, and she’s set her sights on Kuranosuke’s brother (and Tsukimi’s crush), since he’s the son of the area’s Diet member.

Princess Jellyfish Episodes 1 and 2 – Lipstick on a Jellyfish

One of themes of this season has been the tendency of anime to feature characters and situations that are similar (if idealized) to the show’s viewers. There have been plenty of shows aimed at male otaku that do this, but none that cover the (much less likely to watch anime) female nerd population in Japan.

Even Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, with its female otaku cast, focuses mostly on the anime and dating game aspects of nerd culture: the things, in other words, that anime-watching males care most about.

Princess Jellyfish, the latest show from animation studio Brain’s Base (who you might remember from their brilliant adaptation of Durarara!!), aims to change that. Not only is it a novel concept (or at least a novel twist on a familiar concept), but the show is far more likeable and entertaining than just about anything aimed at male otaku. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop it from falling prey to the same self-indulgent fantasies that plague male equivalents.