DBZ Kai: I did like the filler of seeing Gohan become tougher, but I'm totally okay with Kai/manga skipping ahead to him being competent. The scenes with King Kai are always amazing and of course its nice to see the z crew do anything back when they could pretend to be relevant.
Naruto Shippuden: First half gave a false impression that this episode would actually be good, second hald just ripped that down and said "NOPE running though hall ways while flash backing!". It becomes apparent how shitty the second half of Naruto's writing is when the series continues to try and push how great of friends Naruto and Sasuke were and then flash backs to any number of scenes that really don't establish this fact. At best it establishes that Sasuke was one of the first people to recognize Naurto's rapidly growing ability and liked having him as a rival to push himself, but not in a bff we will die for each other like Naruto harps about. Its further compounded though Sakura who still LURVES Sasuke when all he's done is ignore her and treat her like shit. Its not to say that there aren't girls who continue to like or stay with guys who are emotionally or physically abusive, but Sasuke has never once given Sakura a reason to still be this hung up on him years later. Finally you have Sai who goes from traitor to trusted ally again for really no reason other then the worst talk no jutsu speech in the series. Heck wouldn't have going with Kabuto who probably knew where Sasuke was and letting Naruto and co follow with a paper animal jutsu have been a better tactic then just ending his allegiance with Kabuto then and there? Argh this series is so poorly written
InuYasha Final Act: InuYasha got another power up in the form of seeing Demon Vortexes which lets him kill demons... Somehow? They just seem like big glowing weak points in the sky around baddies to give InuYasha justification for beating some of the later/tougher foes in the series. It is amusing to see where they took 2-5 episodes worth of content and crushed them into these 20 minute roller coasters which apparently will finally come to an end next week and things will be a bit more manageable? I can't say I don't enjoy InuYasha FA but this mach 10 pacing should never have been approved.
One Piece Theater: Probably my favorite theater of the bunch, it mostly built towards its one big pay off joke that worked really well. Thank god recaps are finally over.
Gurren Lagann: Really love everyone's post time skip design, I like the look of the anti spiral enemies I just wish they weren't all cg-i :/ . A slow more character and political focuse first half gave way to a crazy hype second half and if the series builds from here the battles are sure to get bigger and zanier and I look forward to it.
Deadman Wonderland: I'm surprised just how much was changed from the manga. Lots of little and big things that might have had bigger reprocussions down the line had the series lived past 12 episode. None of the changes are bad in the context of this anime alone right now especially knowing its short length, but it could be an issue on the low chance DMWL ever got a new anime series. Shiro is the right level of hot/crazy and Ganta is slowly manning up while still being a believable 14 year old thrown into a crazy circumstance. Those of you first timers wondering who or why Shiro exists or is in the prison should wait those answers won't be explained for awhile but they are important to the story.
Wantabe power hour: The time loop episode of Space Dandy is one of my favorite season 1 episodes. Its cool seeing some of the foreshadowing for later events in hind sight that Wantabe and co tucked away in plain sight this early on. Really helps support how amazing of a series Space Dandy is. Bebop continues to look great in HD and while Ein's introduction episode isn't one of my favorites the crazy big chase scenes involving him, spike, hakeem, and the scientist are very entertaining and the ost is fantastic. Wantabe da god etc etc
GitS: Pretty fantastic origin story for section 9's sniper and a great episode to show off just how much of a bad ass the major is/was. One of the first times I can recall the whole entirely cyborg thing being played up in the series I know its a big deal in the manga and anime films but it seems to get downplayed a bit in sac and 2nd gig. This is easily the best stand alone episode across boss seasons and the first episode I enjoyed having the Tachikomas around.
All in all pretty solid night
