Alright, here we are at round two of the Super Hackmann Bros. "Shit we watched in 2010" anime review. It's a little shorter today as we were all down with the sickness at various points last week, but rest assured more is to come.

Dai Mahou Touge (Magical Witch Punie-chan)

The story revolves around a young girl named Tanaka Punie who is princess of Magical Land. In order for her to become queen, however, she must become a transfer student in a Japanese high school. Crazy hi-jinks ensue.

Matt Unfortunately, while this show has plenty of crazy moments, nothing ever really lived up to the clip that inspired me to watch it. The show itself is a successor of sorts to Bokusatsu Tenshi, but never comes close in terms of production or entertainment value. It feels like it's trying to do the same type of thing, but just doesn't have the good writing and characters that Bokusatsu Tenshi does. - 5/10

Jeff I have even less to say about this. 7/10

Chris Wow, this show is weird. It shows an anthropomorphic potato peeling itself, which is a testament to just how weird it is. Unfortunately, this weirdness isn't enough to make the four episode series very funny. The first episode is great, maintaining its comic energy throughout, but once the second episode comes around it's already losing momentum. That's not to say that the final three episodes are bad, because they do contain some genuinely funny moments, but between those moments of win it rarely becomes more than mild entertainment. For a short series though, you could do worse. 6/10

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The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Season 2

Matt Season 2 of Haruhi caused a lot of controversy when it came out for the middle string of episodes entitled The Endless Eight. Yes, it's pretty much the same exact episode eight times, but it didn't bother me as much as I'm sure it did my brothers (eight episodes with swimsuit scenes? Hell yes! (I didn't say that…)). Both the first and last episode arcs (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and Sigh of Haruhi respectively) offer some of what was great with the first six episodes of the first season, but it doesn't seem to captivate quite as well. Regardless, this is still an excellent entry in the series. - 8/10

Jeff If you're going to watch this, then allow me to make the following suggestion: Watch "Endless Eight" episodes 1, 4, and 8. It will be far more tolerable like that. Trust me. It wasn't quite as engrossing as the first season, either. - 5/10 (Dinged it because of the "Endless Eight". Would've been higher if the studio hadn't pulled that stunt. Otherwise, it could've had a 8/10)

Chris The second season of Haruhi is good, but not great. The Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody episode starts this season out well, working just as well as any of the first season one shot episodes. Then you get the Endless Eight. Now, I'm not going to deny that this arc is interesting, as the concept is unique and well executed, and I can see that the creators were shooting for a certain feeling in the viewers. But eight times. Eight times I watched the same episode with slight changes, and that probably pissed me off. They could have at least thrown some new events into the mix, the likes of which were alluded to but nothing done with them. Instead, the only real changes we got were some different camera angles and Koizumi wearing a speedo. My eyes can't unsee that. Thankfully, that wraps up well and the following arc goes back to what we know and love from the series, helping to wash done the season as a whole. But that speedo. - 8/10

Karin

Matt I do not like Vampires or anything Halloween related, even more so now that vampires are gay, angsty teenagers who sparkle in the sunlight. That said, the titular character of Karin is a vampire. Or rather, she's an un-vampire, injecting blood into her victims instead of the other way around. This is an interesting little romantic comedy that I didn't like initially but came to really enjoy. Througout its twenty-four episodes, it never really deviates too much from the main plot; that is, developing the relationship between Karin and her classmate Usui Kenta. The last couple of episodes are certainly intense and will leave you wondering what path the show will take. So, even with my general dislike for occultish things, Karin is worth a watch. - 7/10

Re-review - After having rewatched the show and read the entire manga series, I would have to say that the manga is definitely far more fleshed out than the anime. Also, as I have been subjected to far better shows since, I will admit that the artwork and voice acting (Japanese or English) are not the greatest ever. As an addendum to Jeff's review, the show (as opposed to the manga) did have a lot of unnecessary fan service. Still, I hold by my 7 rating as it is still an entertaining show.

Jeff This could've also been called "Big Titted Vampire Bitches." - ?/10 (he left no score)

Chris I'm having trouble sorting my thoughts on this one, but here it goes. On the good side, Karin stays entertaining throughout, with a decent plot and some likeable characters. One of those characters, Winner, is actually exclusive to the show and ends up being one of the greater sources of comic relief. On the other hand, the plot doesn't follow the arguably stronger version found in the manga, shooting off relatively early on its own tangent. The art also doesn't hold up well, due to the somewhat lackluster skills of the original author, Yuna Kagesaki. Overall though, it's a fairly solid show. 7/10

So, there is our latest wave. Expect at least two more sets of reviews to go up in the near future.