Wholly premature judgments on anime quality, fall 2012 edition

Excellent

My Little Monster (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun) – Oh, man. Shizuku and Haru are easily the best anime couple I’ve seen in a while, and it looks like my worries that the relationship would get too one-sided have so far been unfounded. I am loving every moment.
Regardless of My Adolescent Delusions of Grandeur, I Want a Date! (Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, or: how I learned to stop worrying and just copy-paste long anime titles) – I love it when a show just revels in its absurdity. The character interactions are off-the-wall hilarious, and KyoAni is definitely pulling out all the stops on the imaginary fight scenes.

From the New World (Shinsekai Yori) – I wasn’t entirely impressed by how the fourth episode handled establishing the setting, as it just poured information at viewers, but the main cast is holding up all right in its characterization, and the atmosphere is top-notch. This is definitely shaping up to be the most interesting show this season, even if it may not be the outright best.
Say “I love you.” (Suki-tte ii na yo.) – This is My Little Monster’s more serious cousin in more than a few ways, so much so that sometimes the solemnness drags the show down. Still, while the chemistry between Mei and Yamato isn’t all there, there’s enough of a spark to keep me watching, and it looks like the show’s main dramatic turns are just getting started.

Psycho-Pass – This may not be a fair assessment when less than a tenth of the show has aired, but Psycho-Pass is struggling to find out exactly what it’s trying to say, which isn’t a good sign when the setting seems explicitly designed to send some kind of message. Akane, too, has some issues as a viewpoint character. Madoka, the obvious point of comparison, could get away with being the innocent lead thrown into an incomprehensible jumble because Kyuubey didn’t give her much of a choice in the matter. Akane, on the other hand, chose to be a law enforcement officer, which makes her clashing personality and lack of preparation for the situations that she encounters seem more like incompetence than naiveté. I suppose I can afford to give Psycho-Pass some time to fill out its shoes, though, what with there being twenty episodes left.
Robotics;Notes – Yeah, noitaminA’s not doing so hot right now, is it? R;N is suffering from some of the same aimlessness that Psycho-Pass is. In this case, it promises a tale of saving the world, but then fails to work in that direction in any consistent fashion, instead electing to cut back to something that seems like Tari Tari with robots. As you may be able to tell from the fact that I didn’t finish Tari Tari, I don’t consider that a positive thing. Again, there are still 1.818 cours to go on this, so I don’t want to be too harsh. But still.