Mio stretches her 15 minutes out with an encore.

Mio from K-On! was far from the first popular character with a hime cut, but she did re-vitalize some interest in the hairstyle.

Yomi adds a ponytail to her hime cut.

Notably, Yomi from the underrated Ga-Rei Zero sported a hime cut two seasons before K-On! began airing.

Detective Yoshino from the novels > anime Yoshino.

This has led to some controversy as to whether a hime cut is still a hime cut if it is modified in some way, such as worn in a ponytail (as Yomi frequently sports). Most proponents permit the variation, but are less accepting of the twin-braid version preferred by Yoshino from Maria-sama ga Miteru.

Aoba's hair improved Jinki:Extend immeasurably.

Although not as standard as the hairstyle worn by Aoba from Jinki:Extend, I believe merely tying it back or adding braids does not fundamentally change a hime cut, so these variants should be allowed.

I hope Yuki writes "Red Raccoon Dog"
on her hair band before games.

Likewise the additional of a hair band as with Yuki from Taisho Yakyuu Musume should be okay as well. What are you going to do, tell a MAMIKORE character to her face that she's disqualified? Get out of here.

Given all the crap Hitagi carries with her,
she probably lacks a comb deliberately.

After all, once the hair tie or braids are removed, the hair will again have the three standard hime cut components, although some combing may be necessary to straighten all the locks. Even still, some degree of unkeptness should be permitted, as I believe few would disqualify Hitagi from Bakemonogatari, for example. In any case, I recommend giving her quite a bit of latitude in this regard, as it appears unwise to cross her in general, even over a matter of principle.

Yomi as she appears in the show.

I'm referring to Mio from K-On!, in case you didn't know. I started Ga-Rei Zero despite knowing absolutely nothing about the series. NOTHING. Well, okay, I knew it had a hime-cut character with a sword (Yomi) that resembled the fan-favorite K-On! hime-cut character with a left-handed bass guitar (the other way around, I guess, since Ga-Rei Zero aired first—I don't know which manga came out first). And I suppose I also had a handful of people warning me not to start Ga-Rei Zero because it apparently isn't very good.

Fan art Yomi closely resembles in-show Yomi.

Through four episodes, it's all right, and I plan to continue watching it, so it's already ahead of K-On! (which I dropped once at episode three and again at episode four). Ga-Rei Zero is definitely an uneven show, though. The first episode ended with some serious "OH, HOLY SHIT" moments, but later episodes include lots of lighthearted slice-of-life moments à la Asura Cryin' and some attempts at comedy, although not quite to the degree Fate/Stay Night attempted. Some of the moments really are funny, such as when Yomi's sword is in for maintenance and she has to fight with the leftover choices from the discard bin.

Fan art Mio, not so much.

Is it possible I'm suffering from Sword Goggles as much as Mio fans suffer from Instrument Goggles? Probably, but so far it's worth it. The show hasn't shown real signs of greatness yet, and although there have been a lot of good moments, I can understand why Ga-Rei Zero's detractors complain about it. Still, it's not at all as bad as I was warned, and the first episode is worth watching on the strength of its finale alone. I guess this means I'll have to revise my Fall 2008 rankings in a short while, though.

Kouji instinctively goes for the ROCKET PUNCH.

I dropped Shin Mazinger Z after three episodes. I want to watch this out of general principle, and it seems pretty good based on what I saw, but I guess I just don't get super robot shows.

Saki plays mahjong like nobody's business.

I dropped Saki after two episodes because I don't know crap about mahjong so it confused the Bejeesus out of me. Also, too much pandering to fans of lesbianism. I'm okay with pandering under proper circumstances (see Hatsukoi Limited, for example), but I'm really tired of lesbians. I never did figure out what the deal was with the skirts, either.

Alicia meets Isara the hard way.

I dropped Valkyria Chronicles after three episodes because every aspect of warfare, strategy, and tactics depicted is completely laughable. Seriously, it's horrible. It doesn't help that I don't like any of the characters except Isara. Someone commented this show was designed to get you to root for the Nazis, but they're idiots too. It's a pity they can't both lose this war.

Isara is easily worth a hundred Alicias.

I'll keep reading the Sea Slug Team's summaries, though, if Kabitzin doesn't drop it.

So far Isara is my favorite character because she can melee, aimbot, and drive a tank. I don’t know what Alicia is going to do if it turns out Isara is an awesome baker as well...

That is some good smack.

Apparently the Edelweiss has phase shift armor.

In a way, Valkyria Chronicles is almost worth watching just because it's so absurd. Think of Gundam set in 1939 with the Edelweiss standing in for the hero suit. Pity it's not enough.

Hime Cut v. Headband, FIGHT.

I already explained why I can't stand K-On! and its saccharine moe blob filling. Understandably, it seems to be a polarizing show. I gave up after four episodes.

To tell you the truth, even the boomerang fights weren't that good.

Shangri-La is offensively terrible. I dropped it after one episode and only finished that one out of general principle. The only things I like about it are the boomerangs. Seriously, you'd be hard pressed to make a show this bad on purpose. It falls below the Cosprayers Line. Really, it's only offensive because it attempts to push a socio-political agenda in such a juvenile manner. Maybe it's meant to be satirical, but I'm not sticking around to find out.

Southpaw Mio tries to wake her idiot friends.

Truth be told, I would probably enjoy K-On! were it the property of a different studio rather than Kyoto Animation. I can't help but suspect Kyoto Animation is affirmatively trying to corner the market on moe blobs. At the very least, it's pushing the retard moe agenda something fierce.

Mio is freakishly strong.

I can't stand K-On! because of its pandering. Not that I have anything against pandering necessarily, but K-On! pushes nauseous idioms. Let's be clear: Retard Moe is horrible. I despise Yui and Ritsu. K-On! should be about Mio and Tsumugi and the non-incapacitated members of ENOZ rocking the fuck out and maybe covering "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" in front of drunken fans.

Mio as she actually appears in the show.

Mio as viewers see her. [Source.]

Everyone loves Mio. She is the best character of the show. Nevertheless, I'm convinced her popularity is still inflated because viewers are suffering from Instrument Goggles. Ergo, they see her as she appears in fan art instead of as the timid and almost mousy girl in the actual show. Although I guess canonically she does still have the best rack.

Mio as a maid for no reason.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I dropped K-On! the first time after episode three because I couldn't stand Yui or Ritsu, but I grudgingly watched episode four because I wanted to know what in Hell the above picture was all about. I don't know. Maybe I'm suffering from instrument goggles too. [Update: Pinafore goggles.]

Aoba, a good character in need of a better show.

You know, I could go for a Jinki:Extend prequel about Aoba building robot models and entering plamo competitions. I'm just saying.

Joining the list of likable characters who really need to be on better shows is the fetching Aoba from Jinki:Extend.

Aoba

I had high hopes for Jinki:Extend, but it painfully failed to live up to its potential. So many problems. Where to begin? For one, I found most of the other characters besides Aoba unlikable. Akao in particular annoyed the Hell out of me. Shiba was okay, but she barely had any decent screentime, either.

Exasperatingly, Aoba was also woefully absent for far too much of the series as the plot jumped among various stories and timelines. When you have a character as charismatic as Aoba, it's probably in your best interest to actually keep her in the show, eh.

I really didn't like the many contrivances. For example, the obligatory training episode with its Tiny Heart Syndrome crisis really could have been handled better—especially if you consider Aoba's escape in the first episode.

I also could have done without the very out-of-place pseudo-moe-lesbian service. It was really unnecessary and blatantly gratuitous.

Jinki:Extend sponsor eyecatch.

I rather wanted to like Jinki:Extend. It's not all bad. The OP's and ED's nods to classic giant robot anime series were nice touches. Aoba is great, but never had a chance at carrying this show alone. The sponsor-message eyecatch is also great if only for spawning a lot of parodies. (E.g., Galaxy Angel and Gundam SEED Destiny.)

Jinki:Extend keeps getting better and better, mostly due to the fact that Aoba, its 13-year-old mecha-pilot lead character, is boundlessly charismatic. Voiced by the ever-talented Fumiko Orikasa, Aoba is a fairly standard character from the teenage-mecha-pilot-with-a-shitty-life idiom, but is done so uncommonly well that she easily (and quite obviously) carries the rest of the show.

Genta, Aoba, and Ryohei

This is good, because the male lead in Jinki:Extend is quite the jackass, and a sandals-and-parachute-pants-wearing doofus to boot, who really needs to be punched in the mouth each time he says "Ahobaka."

I'm also hoping for good things in the coming episodes. From the manga, it seems Jinki:Extend is not quite what it appears, and should take the plot in all sorts of twisted directions. There are some hints of that already; the story jumps from the 1988 Venezuela arc to the 1991 Japan arc regularly with few clues to fill in the missing years.