Fall 2006 Midpoint

Okay, so I've checked out at least the first episode of most shows that I was planning on watching (if not more). As usual, the list hops and moves around.

THE A LIST
Asatte no Houkou - The first jumper of the season. Though it does have a lot of trainwreck possibility as literally nothing has happened yet.
Black Lagoon 2 - Started off a little slow (not that that's surprising for BL), but between Greenback Jane and Fujiyama Gangster Paradise, I've fallen in love again. My wife can officially recognize the show from the opening - not the song, the opening animation.
Ghost Hunt - Probably very good news for Del Rey indeed. I've actually enjoyed this a great deal. But then I do have that weak spot for unconventional shoujo/shounen series.
Hataraki Man - Adults, office hijinx (the real kind), and a catchy OP and ED. A great show.
Negima!? - Or Pani Poni Dash Season 2 as I refer to it. The good news is it's almost as good as Pani Poni Dash. The bad news is that it still has absolutely nothing to do with Negima.
Sumomomo Momomo - Yup, Magikano styled craziness. If I were to look at a week where I had received every anime show in this list, Sumomomo Momomo would be one of the first ones I'd watch (after Hataraki Man and Black Lagoon 2).

The B List
Death Note - Could finish even higher. Serious Monster vibe (which is good).
Gift ~eternal rainbow~ - Mild jump (though I usually like a fair number of eroge conversions after the first six to eight weeks). It's an interesting show because the pacing is a little unconventional for an eroge conversion (it's almost paced at a shoujo romance speed).
Kanon - I'm trying to be fair with this ranking. So I'm promoting it a grade, knowing that subconsciously I'm probably detracting a full grade in my mind simply because it's NOT the next season of FMP or MoSH.
Pumpkin Scissors - Well, I look forward to it every week. In a lot of ways that actually puts it ahead of Negima!?

The C List
Ayakashi Ayashi - Unconventional art is occasionally brilliant. Wish I could find the story very interesting.
Happiness! - Yes, I do say "My my my" to the computer whenever Koyuki speaks. I can't help it.
Kujibiki Unbalance - JAH (Just Another Harem). Maybe I'm jaded, but if you're going to have JAH, at least have crazy over-the-top characters. KujiUn has the right idea, but execution seems to have been slightly off.
Tokimeki Memorial - Unfortunately it's full of all the things I don't like about eroge conversions. Stale, flat characters that don't particulaly intrigue me (I can't even keep their names straight).
Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na Crescent Love - Interesting more for the number of people who can't seem to watch a show without trying to shoehorn a love triangle plot into it than for the actual show.

The D List
REBORN! - Yawn. Adventure not memorable, action not interesting, and comedy not funny. I keep waiting because the characters are amusing, but I'm getting dangerously close to cutting bait.
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge - The initial outlook was supposed to be, "Good, if it's funny." Sadly I don't think it is. The character designs are a turn off to me as well (except the chibi versions - I can't understand the chibi hate on this show since the regular character designs look god-awful). So, to sum up, 1) not fond of the character designs (and not just the way they're drawn), 2) not finding it funny, 3) romantic "premise" is trite, overdone and not executed well.

Off the List
Bartender - Hrm. Well, it's not another ARIA.
CODE GEASS - Get back to me later.
D Gray Man - I'll probably go back and watch from 3 on at some point (2 is as far as I've gotten). It did make me laugh at a couple of early points.
Lovedol ~Lovely Idol - Unsurprising, really.
Red Garden - Par for the course. The one I initially looked forward to the most is now the one I've only seen one episode of. It left a strong enough impression that I'm thinking of going back after a few more episodes air.

Incomplete
Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo! - First episode was entertaining, but not entertaining enough for me to hunt up all the RAWs.