Okay, 4kids dub it is

Finished Kokoro Connect with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The first five episodes were flipping brilliant, then the second arc was still good, but it seemed like the creators had exhausted their A-game. Then the third arc was still a cut above mediocre, but it felt bad knowing that the first arc set up something truly amazing

also there was a sequel hook, although that hangs in the balance.

Closing thoughts - really fast character development and one of my favourite casts for a 13 episode drama. Really good in the beginning, just good in the middle, and passable at the end. I usually like shows to climax really well, although in this one's case the first few episodes were just that good that I still managed to enjoy it the whole way through.

Plus now that school is over I don't need to limit myself to relaxing-ish slice of life stuff. (I remember that one time last year when I watched something heavy and then pulled two allnighters to finish it). Steins;Gate and Samurai Champloo both look good, I hope I can finish them before funi pulls them off their youtube though :/

Just finished the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series and the movie last week.

It was AMAZING. I really enjoyed the comedy and the drama in it.
Crap, now I need to find another anime...

Steins;Gate is a good suggestion. It's similar in terms of having the half-stereotypical quirky anime friends thing with both comedy and interesting sci-fi drama. And also because it's amazing.

OMG the ending of Ichigo 100% sucked so hard WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMGOMGOMG >:[ Eff it I quit

Toonami Saturday night!

• Bleach - Great episode! The good guys have regained the upper hand, for now.
• Tenchi Muyo GXP - OK, this show's just plain cheesy, but I can't not watch, lol .
• Samurai 7 - Great episode! I'm really enjoying how they're having the green haired kid (can't remember his name) handling his first time on the battlefield (it's reminding me of Luke, from the beginning of Tales of the Abyss). Also, headless Kikucho (robot guy) = Awesome!
• ThunderCats - Finally, real insight into the past, and finding out what the goal of the series is (although it's a goal we'll probably never see). But, having a humanoid species based on like every kind of animal there is, & having them be from different planets (assumed), is kinda corny. It also makes you think, what is Mum-Ra a mummy of, & why is he a (living) mummy in the first place? Now I guess I'm just overthinking things
• Sym-Bionic Titan - Good episode. It's probably just me, but I want to say that the three underlings to the main cheerleader, could have possibly been a reference to Dexter's Lab (given who the creator is). Again, it's probably just me.
• Eureka 7 - Pretty much a recap episode, with some hints as to where they're going to be going in the future.

Some other things of note:

They reviewed Borderlands 2, & gave it a 9/10.

FMA:B finished up it's run, meaning they should be replacing it next week (providing they stick to their currently held promise of never letting anything have a direct second run). Since it's in one of the hour long slots in the second half of the schedule, I doubt it'll be anything new (also since they just premiered GXP last week). My guess is that either Deadman Wonderland or Casshern Sins will be brought back for that spot. Hoping for DW, because I enjoy it more, but it's probably going to be CS, since it'll fill out an hour long timeslot much better (they could also bring back GitS, but since it's had multiple runs on AS, as well as the one it's had on Toonami, I don't think that would be as smart as bringing back DW or CS, which only have one run apiece).

Umm, the AS Toonami forum is in chaos.

Apparently, not only did FMA:B end it's run tonight, Bleach (the show with the highest ratings for Toonami) is going on hiatus after next week.

Will they keep Bleach, because of it's ratings power (breaking their no direct replay promise), or do they replace it with something new, until it comes back with new episodes (and what new show could possibly earn the spot to open the night)?

Current speculation (based on some sort of, usually unreliable, online schedule) has Bleach still in the lineup (in either the first or second slot), with a new show either before or after, with the addition of the new show pushing everything back a half hour (and moving E7 into FMA:B's hour slot). Also, it's assumed that ThunderCats & Samurai 7 will switch places (moving TC forward again, & S7 back again), for whatever reason.

Bleach as gone on hiatus before and they just show reruns so they're going to do the same thing here.

I'm starting to think Beika City has a higher crime rate than Gotham City.

I'd agree if Batman hadn't started like in then 30s or whatever.

That was before they revived the Toonami name. Once they revived Toonami, they promised they wouldn't directly show reruns of a show after new episodes stopped (in other words, they promised that whenever a show completes a run/they run out of new episodes, they'll take it off the schedule for a bit, to keep the lineup from being stale). They've kept the promise so far:

Deadman Wonderland - replaced by Samurai 7 once it's run ended.

Casshern Sins - replaced by Tenchi Muyo GXP once it's run ended.

Cowboy Bebop - replaced by Eureka 7 once it's run ended (brought back later, when block expanded).

Ghost in the Shell - replaced by InuYasha, once it's run ended.

If they keep holding their promise, both FMA:B and Bleach should have replacements, since new episodes of Bleach will stop, & FMA:B just finished it's run.

FMA:B's replacement is more predictable (probably bring back another old show, like GitS or Casshern Sins). It'll be interesting to see what they'll do with Bleach, because I highly doubt they'll open up the night with repeats, even if they don't remove it from the schedule altogether.

I'm going to start Usagi Drop either tomorrow or Wednesday. Looks good. Also, I think after that I'm going to watch Mirai Nikki. Better known as Future Diary. I was reading the manga for it but apparently Tokyo Pop stopped bringing it over near the end or something. I was close enough to the end of the manga that I figured I'll just finish the series through the anime. I hope it was faithful.
So what are you guys' favorite anime endings? Brotherhood has to have one of the best ever for me.

Just finished chapter 402 of Bleach. Only about 30 chapters left (the site I go to doesn't have the newest chapters, unfortunately).

It looks like I'll be able to finish up the whole ordeal with Aizen though, which is all I care about. By this point, every secret about everything has been revealed, and they've pulled out all the stops for an epic final confrontation, so anything further would feel like a cheap attempt to artificially lengthen the story.

I picked up the FMA Brotherhood OVA Collection and Sacred Star of Milos the other day. Plugged through the OVA yesterday. Nice little eps (a couple pretty funny, especially Izumi's month of training on Briggs Mountain) but nothing spectacular. The 16 bonus episodes of yonkoma adaptations were outright hilarious though, and made the purchase worthwhile. Gonna watch SSoM tonight.

Picked up Welcome to the Space Show too, looks right up my street

Finished up all the Bleach chapters that the website I go to has. The whole Aizen ordeal is over with though, so I'm content. Honestly, trying to continue the story any further would be a disservice.

Spoilers

He (Aizen) was responsible for every single bad thing that happened to anyone in the series, every single character in the d*mn series joined forces to fight him (even early one off characters like Don Kanoji), he single handedly obliterated everyone, and every secret has been exposed. Seriously, how do you top that?

I know Ichigo loses his abilities, but it kinda feels right. It was due to Aizen's manipulations that Ichigo was brought into the world of the shinigami, and with Aizen's end, Ichigo can now live a peaceful, normal life.

Spoilers end

I guess now I'm off to read some random sports manga in their catalogue (as I've never saw a sports themed anime/manga, it'll be a new experience for me).

Anyone care to list off some reflective animes? Things like 5 Centimeters Per Second, Whisper Of The Heart, Only Yesterday. I feel like watching something like that, love those kind of anime (I'm sure there's a specific term for them but I can't think of what it is off the top of my head)

In other news, I found this absolutely stunning Princess Mononoke art I thought I'd share (and promptly set it as my Kindle wallpaper).

@Raylax, unfortunately, I don't think I've seen any shows like that (the only anime I've really watched, is what gets on TV, and that tends to be the action heavy stuff).

Just started reading Beach Stars, myself. It'll be my first sports themed manga (this particular one being about beach volleyball).

I saw the first two episodes of Usagi Drop. This is really adorable and a very welcomed change of pace to what I usually watch. I'll definitely finish it since it's only 11 episodes.

Finished the first volume of Beach Stars. Again, this is my first sports manga, so I can't compare it to anything else, but it's kept my attention so far (small spoilers ahead).

The star player of her school's volleyball team is dismayed when she finds out that the school has discontinued the program. After sulking for a bit, her friends take her to the beach, where she finds out about beach volleyball. Her excitement is quickly dashed however, as she is humiliated by an Olympic pro that just happened to be in the area. Now she's determined to build a team, enter a famous tournament, and get revenge (of course, getting involved in other grudge matches along the way. small spoilers end).

I'll have to warn that this is for older manga fans, as spending plenty of time on the beach, means there have been plenty of fan service-ery moments (although, there's only one quick bit of nudity so far, if that's any consolation).

@Retro_on_theGo - There've been a lot anime EDs that I've liked, but Eden of the East's has always stood out as a highpoint for me: