Howl's Moving Castle (English dub)
I'm weird in that this is only the second Ghibli film I've seen (the other being The Wind Rises), parts of this are a great cute fantasy, the other parts are Miyazaki smashing us over the head with his obvious pacifist message and the two don't really gel very well together. I wonder if it works better for Children or those who don't know Miyazaki is a pacifist, but for me it felt like it lacked any degree of subtlety whatsoever. Still really enjoyable, and the dub is okay - not brilliant, but not completely terrible. Billy Crystal is a standout in the dub, but he does struggle to do the more serious moments of his character.
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt - Episode 01
I really enjoyed this. I'm not 100% sure where it's going, and it feels like it could have done with more time, as the episode itself felt like it just happened and there was no arc to it; there was no definable beginning, middle and end, it felt almost like an extract from a larger piece without context. The animation looks solid, not as good as Iron-Blooded Orphans, but not bad.
It's probably just me, but I personally found the whole "when you hear the jazz, you'll know I'm coming" thing quite silly. I can sort of see what it was going for, but it doesn't work, especially when they've chosen the least tense jazz/pop combo soundtrack you could ask for. I cautiously await the next episode (which doesn't seem to have a release date), as whilst the show isn't bad, it feels like it could have been so much better as a feature length OVA or film.
Also, this is the first time I've seen this, but Sunrise's official subs go massively out of sync at parts (and are still slightly out of sync at others), hopefully they'll fix this if it ever gets a UK release/before they ask people to pay for this, because at parts it was quite hard to tell who was speaking.
Bakemonogatari - Episodes 01 - 05 (Hitagi Crab & Mayoi Snail)
I watched the first two episodes a while back and asked for the blu-ray for Christmas. The first episode is significantly less floaty and annoying than I remember, and it's nice to finally be able to see the show in 1080p instead of whatever godawful quality Viewster were showing it in.
It seems to massively tone down the random quirkiness in it's second arc, and I kind of miss it, but at the same time I kind of don't. I'm not sure this very funny, seeing as some places call it a Romantic Comedy (although I don't personally think that's even slightly accurate), but it is very watchable and the score is fantastic. It's also interesting to see the direction and how variety they get into the arc, even though it mostly takes place in one location.
I'm really interested in reading the light novels, or at least checking one of them out, just to see what they're like, but the lack of an ebook coupled with the lack of availability and stupidly high price tag of the paperback is really putting me off. It's a shame, because Yen Press are doing a great job with their light novel releases, just a shame Vertical has the rights to everything I want but the Rhyogo Narita series.