This is just like the Mushishi special!

Most of the initial reactions to Wake Up, Girls! seem to be profoundly negative. In particular, they caused me to expect poor production values, unattractive art, and terrible voice acting. Now that I've seen the one-hour prequel movie and the first episode, I find most of these complaints to be somewhat overblown and likely inspired (at least in part) by the running joke Yamamoto "Yamakan" Yutaka himself has become. I consider myself "Yamakan neutral" with regard to the typical attitude serious anime fans seem to hold towards him. I enjoyed some of his pre-controversy shows (e.g., Kannagi), disliked some (e.g., Lucky Star), and generally feel all his "saving anime" baggage is silly, undeserved, and irrelevant.

Pilder fucking on!

I should probably put together a season introduction for Winter 2014, considering that half of it has already passed. At this time, I'm still following 14 15 of the shows currently airing this cour (Jesus Christ, fourteen FIFTEEN?), and may add Gundam Build Fighters if I ever get around to starting it. I present the following shows in order of their precedence on the chart at the time I started writing this sucker, but you shouldn't put too much weight on their positions or particular ratings because this ain't anime titration, you know.

It's not a blood sacrifice, but it will have to do.

1. Mayu just shrugs off the high-intensity workouts. You don't get to be an I-1 Club center for nothing.
2. We all knew they weren't really going to vote Airi off the island, but I'm still glad it didn't drag out into full-on drama
3. I was relieved Mayu didn't start crying when Yoshino and Airi did.
4. I'm looking forward to the Nanami episode even though it will probably be about how she's filthy rich and the other girls aren't.
5. Tange needs more Gunbuster pose.
6. Do the I-1 Club workouts include weapons training? Wait, that was AKB0048.
7. Minami needed more character traits other than "girl who eats a lot" and "likes elderly ladies." So now she's "good at crane games."

The once and future center.

Both Golden Time and Wake Up, Girls! are good concepts with some flaws in their execution. For the most part, the two shows' flaws are not related, but there is one issue they both share: Neither Kaga Koko nor Shimada Mayu seem special enough.

This one?

Omar writes:

I want to WUG the fuck out of that bitch from I-1 Club. The one who was a cunt to Mayu.

I'm afraid I don't actually know the names of anyone from I-1 Club. Maybe that's as intended, since they're all expendable drones contributing a small part to the larger collective identity. I do want to see I-1 Club and AKB0048 fight with mic sabers, though.

Hachiken's actually about to have his mom's home cooking for the first time in ages.

I feel as if I watched too many shows last season. However, there also isn't anything that I regret not dropping. Does that mean the winter 2014 season was particularly good or does it mean I'm not making very good use of my spare time? Maybe it's both. There were quite a few good shows, or at least okay shows with lots of good moments.

Top-Tier Shiho

Wake Up, Girls! I-1 Club Shiho.

Great Shiho

The iDOLM@STER: Million Live! Shiho.

Good Shiho

My-Otome Shiho.

Bad Shiho

My-HiME Shiho.

Know your Shihoes. The life you save could be your own!

It's not easy being the Best Girls.

If you caught the last installment, then you know I finished the first season of Love Live! School Idol Project with the characters ranked in the following order:

Preliminary Ruling: Maki > Nico > Umi > Kotori > [GOOD/BAD LINE] > Hanayo > Eli > Honoka > Nozomi > Rin.

Notably, last-place Rin had no redeeming qualities. Well, all of that was based entirely on the first season of the anime. Now that I've watched the OVA, the second cours, and the movie, I hereby present the final standings:

Maki > Nico > Kotori > Umi > Hanayo > [GOOD/BAD LINE] > Eli > Honoka > Nozomi > Rin.