The new season of anime's rolling in, and so far I've tried four of its offerings: K-ON!, the new Fullmetal Alchemist series, Natsu no Arashi!, and Saki.

K-ON!: 7/10

K-ON! is Kyoto's new "cute girls doing cute things" anime. You could easily call it a cross between Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh. There's no compelling plot, no real drama, no life-altering philosophical metaphors. Just cute girls doing cute things. And for what it is, it's good. The character personalities are nothing new (ditzy girl, tsundere girl, hyperactive girl, rich girl), but they work. And although the animation quality has been brought into question, I personally like it quite a lot. The movements of the characters, especially their hair, is really impressive. Not sure if I'll see this one through till' the end, but it's not bad.

Fullmetal Alchemist 2 - Brotherhood: 3/10

I expected a series that would act as a proper adaptation to the manga. Instead, I got a first episode that seemed to have nothing to do with either the original anime or manga's continuity. I got a cheap, throw-away villain that served no purpose than to be a target for a series of cheesy fanservice fights. I got an episode where nothing important, exciting, interesting, or even relevant happened. This was disappointing. I was looking forward to this series quite a lot, and yet the first episode turned me off so badly that I'm dropping it for now. Of course, I haven't ruled out the possibility of the first episode being exceptionally bad, so I will keep an eye out for signs of the series improving. Till' then, though, I have better things to do with my time.

Natsu no Arashi!: 7/10

This one's hard to comment on. At a glance, it might look like bad, stereotypical romantic comedy. And it certainly has the shell of one, but its content is...something different. It throws out enough strange twists to keep things interesting. If it were handled less delicately, it would be the worst anime ever. Instead, it's something not quite like anything else I've seen. It also has Shinbo's usual awesome art direction, so that's certainly a plus. I don't know if I'll keep following it. It's not quite my thing. But it deserves to be tried.

Saki - 8/10

Far and away my favorite of these four. Even with my love of epic gambling and mahjong, I didn't expect much from this series. I thought it would be "cute girls doing cute things anime #9634, now with mahjong!" Instead, I got an interesting story, good characters, intense mahjong drama, and really good animation and production values. Shoujo ai being thrown into the mix isn't a bad thing either. Of the four, this is the only one I'm pretty sure I'll stick with to the end.

So K-ON! and Natsu no Arashi are worth looking at, Fullmetal Alchemist is a big letdown, and Saki is love. This is not anywhere near the end of this season's premiers, however. There's still Shangri-la, East of Eden, and several other very interesting-looking series that I have no idea what to expect from. I have a feeling there's going to be some really exceptional stuff showing up in the days ahead. Till' then...