Metal Fight Beyblade
Short Synopsis: Our lead character has uber l33t hax0rz skills with spinning tops
Chance of me Blogging: -30% (No)
Next up in the line of stupid shounen franchises that refuse to bloody die: Beyblade’s new installment, in which a bunch of kids battle it out with… spinning tops. No, seriously, those spinning tops are most likely going to decide the fate of the world at the end of this series; they’re serious business. In any case, it’s one thing to see little kids play such games, but when even tough street-punks squeal like little girls when they’ve been defeated in such a game, you know that something is wrong. Dull, generic, boring, shallow. Is there anyone uberhaupt planning to watch this series?
Jewel Pets
Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets visited by a magical creature from a fantasy world.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Obviously not)
Okay, so there’s obviously no way that I’m going to continue following those cheesy kiddie shows, but they are nice for a good laugh once in a while. Especially Jewel Pets isn’t half that bad for a kiddie show. Sure, it’s just another rehash of the same formula that has been repeated over and over again, but at least it has a sense of humour. I laughed quite a bit during this episode, though for once I laughed because the characters were funny, rather than because of the overuse of cheese or clichés like I usually do with these sorts of series. Still, that doesn’t mean that the setting isn’t utterly ridiculous: you’ll have a hard job to find a series that’s as pink and fluffy as this show, ranging from heart-shaped cherry blossoms to all sorts of overly cute pets, ranging from cats to bunnies to dogs.
Natsu no Arashi
Short Synopsis: Our lead character knows people who can travel through time
Chance of me Blogging: 30% (Depends on the budget for the rest of the series)
While there have been quite a few nice shows this season so far, I do have one complaint about the shows that aired up till now: the lack of originality. Up till now, there haven’t really been any series that wanted to try out new things, or push the boundaries of their genres, up to the point where my favourite show so far is a blatant Noir rip-off. But then again, this can also be attributed to the strange lack of series from Studio Deen, Madhouse and Production IG so far, which are usually responsible for those kinds of shows. Natsu no Arashi is Shaft’s latest series, and what do you know, it actually answered my complaints, although in a much different way than I would have expected. First of all, the camera direction rocks beyond belief, even for Shaft’s standards (which to be honest was starting to get a bit stale). There are lots of nice and creative camera angles and pans. The setting is also… quirky… to say the least. We here have some sort of cafe, run by the lead characters, but the whole things is spiced up by a number of characters who can travel through time or do other ethereal stuff. And what’s better to use those powers for than to find the culprits of stolen strawberry cakes?
I don’t think Phantom is a “blatant Noir rip-off”, on the contrary, the original Phantom game (2000) came out before Noir (2001). And even when Noir aired, fans argued about the similarities of settings between two stories (which is briefly mentioned in http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOIR)
beyblade is going to be sick good
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed Natsu no Arashi’s really interesting and experimental camera direction. While the animation may not be as avant garde as a typical shaft production the camera was doing all kinds of strange and new things. Also as I understand it this first episode was just to introduce the characters and was a gag chapter in the manga.
i want to see jewel pet but the only place i’ve seen it is veoh and that’s not watchable in my country. then there’s a mp4 torrent that will crash my comp. Do you know anywhere else that has it??
Natsu no Arashi’s character designs seems to be plucked out of the 90’s. It’s both refreshing and nostalgic since most character design nowadays relies too much on CG. The first episode really delivered, and although the premise of time travel has already been used other series, this one seemed to display it without much ado. It will be a good one to watch just for mindless fun. It’s pretty ironic that NnA aired in spring, though it would be better if it aired this coming summer. Heck, why am I complaining anyway, this one’s an enjoyable watch despite its flaws.