I've finished watching all of my part-way anime series except Gokudo, now!
Nuku Nuku Dash--Once I got over the novelty of the Nuku Nuku characters in their re-imagined roles, and passed the couple of decent comedy episodes, this pretty much devolved into lameness. Mishima was a clone and a wannabee Blade Runner refugee. I was hoping for some cheesy mecha footage to expand my Dancing Mishima AMV Blitz clip (likely to be rejected, but I love it myself) but the mecha were too serious to blend into it.
Negima--Totally kicked butt. The voice they chose for Negima was genius--the squeaky-seriousness somehow made him irrestistbly cute.
Legend of Black Heaven--I loved the humor. If they had only bothered to put a little depth into the plot, supporting characters and space battles, this could have been super-awesome. More variety in the music would have been nice, too. As it was, it will not make my Favorite Series list, but it gets a home on my shelf and some probable rewatching. (Also, what were they thinking with those ugly, non-reflective-of-the-series credits? Ick!) Hard Rock Save the Space!
Eyeshield 21--I've watched up to episode 104 now (as high as 'imports' will let me) and while it was brilliant for the first 70 or 80 episodes or so, they are now just milking it. The Devil Bats are still not in the final tournament, and are playing an endless succession of practice games and side tournaments, and of course, Hiruma has said they will withdraw from the Christmas Bowl tournament if they lose any of them. (Oooh, the phony suspense!) Every game has them taught another repetitive lesson about teamwork or how every member of the team is vital. Every opponent has some amazing super power that must be overcome. And Musashi finally having rejoined the team totally spoils Hiruma's formerly brilliant character. Instead of having to work out Hiruma's goals for ourselves, or realizing after the fact that he wasn't only being a sadistic slimeball, we now have Musashi chatting to him on the bench about "So, you sawed off Monta's arms at the elbow to teach him the skill of catching the ball in his teeth, eh? Hope his dental bills are covered by the school insurance policy..." In effect, it is a major dumbing-down of the show in general and the character of Hiruma in particular.
What to watch next...hmm, I'm torn between finishing Gokudo (not totally my cup o' tea) or rewatching an old favorite like maybe Tsukikage Ran, or dredging up something new from Ebay or the library.
