
The Diary of Tortov Roddle is another one of those travelling anime. It’s an OVA, consisting out of six episodes of about two to three minutes. Each of them shows a thing happening to Tortov, as he travels with his strange, long-legged pig. There are no voices at all. All dialogue we see is in the form of Tortov’s diary, which appears at the beginning and end of each “episode”.
The major plus about this OVA is that it’s so incredibly close to Tortov himself, since everything is seen through his diary. Take this in contrast with Kino’s Journey, for example. Kino always maintains a distance from both the viewer and the places she visits, in order to protect herself from not getting too attached to her surroundings.
Still, don’t go out of your way to watch this movie. It’s a nice idea, I admit, but it’s just too short to really make an impact. Tortov also majorly lacks in background. We never even know why Tortov travels. One of the episodes also has a romantic subplot, but with only 2 minutes, that one went nowhere.
The production-values also won’t save this one. The music, albeit nothing special, is nice enough to create a fairy-tale-like mood, the character-designs are unique, but the animation is as simple as possible and rather unimpressive. I know that the creators wanted to create a certain mood, but they could have tried better for this one. Travelling is a great subject for anime, and they just didn’t use it well enough.]]>
Category: Other:
Tamala 2010 – A Punk Cat in Space

I’m not sure whether I should publish this review, simply because I have no idea what to think of this movie. It’s more unique and absurd than any other movie I’ve seen up till now. Even Cat Soup was easier to describe: that one was just weird. Tamala 2010, however, is beyond weird.
It starts out fair enough: there’s a world in which cats live, and we focus on one of these cats: Tamala. She looks cute, but that’s the only cute thing about her. The movie is full of foul language, blood-references in the form of tomato-soup and other red liquids, and many taboos get broken, for example gay people being open about their sexuality, rape (that poor mouse), tattoos and cute girls smoking. If 4kids got their hands on this movie, the end result would only be about 30 seconds long.
The thing is, though, that unlike anime as Dai Mahou Touge and Bokusatsu Techi Dokuro-chan, the purpose of this movie is more than just gore, destruction and foul language. The first half is basically about Tamala doing random, hateful and nonchalant things as she runs away from her mother, whom she hates. Then a very strange twist comes, and suddenly turns this into a mystery-movie. You’ll be surprised at the huge amount of attention the setting suddenly gets, and this really is the part that’s hard to describe, as I know that I didn’t do it justice. But I also have no idea how to really describe it clearly.
If you want a strange movie, though, this should be a good pick, as few movies can claim to be as strange as this one. There’s lots of symbolism in it, and I could recognize strong messages against big companies and commercialism. It’s definitely not for everyone, though. I’m also not going to rate this one, as I’ve got no idea how to really judge it. It was enjoyable, though. ^^;]]>
The Boy Who Saw The Wind Review – 44/100

Okay, so this is a movie to avoid unless you’re really, really bored. I was lured in by the attractive character-designs and nice-sounding title, but what I got was a horrible mess. This is just one of those movies which are completely screwed up by the scriptwriters.
For starters, the story plays in a world in which once an ancient civilization lived: the Wind People. Unfortunately, they died out at one point, when they were slaughtered by an evil empire. The main character just happened to be one of those Wind People, without any explanation whatsoever on how the heck he became someone of a race that was supposed to be extinct.
If this was the only flaw, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg. To sum up a few of the writers’ errors: they didn’t build up well enough, plot elements go unexplained, characters lack background, characters lack reason for their actions, entire scenes seem to be missing, characters act unnatural, there are continuity errors, the main character is a Gary Stu, there are heaps of Deus ex Machina throughout the movie, there’s a lack of realism, the entire setting isn’t developed well enough so it makes no sense, lady luck is in favour of our main character throughout the entire movie, the creators jump to the action way too quickly, and probably some more flaws I can’t remember. This should give you a fair impression of the overall quality.
About the good things: they’re hardly there, but there are a handful standalone moments in the movie that were sort-of amusing, like the kids’ times in jail, or a baker, preparing for battle. The graphics and music also aren’t too bad. Okay, they’re still nothing special, but by the standards of this movie, it’s nothing to complain about.
Overall, this movie is a bad one. It’s another one of those shounen-adventures gone wrong, and if you’re looking for one and a half hour to burn, then you should try a different movie. ^^; I hope the next movie will be a better one.]]>
Gauche the Cellist Review – 81/100

This movie came to me, recommended by Wyrdwad. Its original story comes from the same writer of Night on the Galactic Railroad: Miyazawa Kenji. I’m glad I checked it out, as it’s one of the most unique music-anime I’ve seen. The story is about Gauche, a professional, though not very good cellist. While this premise sounds rather bland, there is one element in the story that totally gives this movie its own style and charm. I refrain from saying what it is, for the sake of spoilers, though. It’s best if you watch this movie without knowing anything.
Because of that element, this movie turned into quite an adorable fable, that neither feels too long nor too short. I also admire the realism, Gauche (or “Goshu”, as his name is in the anime) acts surprisingly likable throughout the movie, as do the other side-characters. The story also isn’t afraid to go into a bit of the technical stuff, while still remaining easy to follow.
Despite its age, Gauche the Cellist remains an enjoyable light watch for every age, apart from the people who need action, perhaps. While the movie didn’t reach any heights, it did what it set out to do, and a very good job as well. The art looks fairly unimpressive, though. But because of that, the characters end up looking like any other average Joes, making the mood of this movie even more down to earth.
The animation is nothing impressive for a movie, but I must note that this is one of the few times where the animators actually bothered to try and synchronize their instruments with the background music. Most anime nowadays don’t even bother, and I remember how Nodame Cantabile’s attempt of using CG for this failed horribly.]]>
Autumn Season Preview
this is still going on. Gundam 00 is currently winning, and there are still nine days left to change this.)
Not Really Looking Forward To
Kodomo no Jikan
Summary: 23-year old school teacher Aoki Daisuke has a huge problem. One of his precocious 3rd Grade students, Kokonoe Rin, has the hots for him?! Yes, mischievous Rin has proclaimed herself to be Daisuke-sensei`s girlfriend and is now on a warpath to win him over or cause him to lose his job…whichever comes first! Besides Rin, Daisuke`s got other problems to take care of — one of the students in his class, Mimi (one of Rin`s friends), hasn’t been attending school recently. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: I don’t get it. Why the heck are so many people looking forward to this? Are there so many paedophiles in the anime-community? Or is there some kind of amazing part about the manga that I don’t know about? Anyway, my prediction for the worst series of the season is going to be this one. I’ve seen few concepts that are as obvious as this one.
Goshuchou-sama Ninomiya-kun
Summary: One look here is enough to understand what this anime is about.
Thoughts: I’m not going to even waste any time coming up with a good impression. Next!
Kimikiss Pure Rouge
Summary: In Kimi Kiss, you play as a high school boy who’s just come back from a lonely summer break. Will you end your high school career having never known a kiss? You decide to spend the new school year making sure to get some lip action. Luckily enough, when you return to school, you find yourself in the company of six hotties. The game begins with the start of the new school year and continues over one month, cumulating in a school festival. Your goal is to have one of the above girls confess her true feelings for you at the festival and give you a little smooch. The game lets you move about freely throughout the school grounds, selecting your desired location from a map of the full school. When interacting with the girls, the game uses what it refers to as “Matching Conversation,” a system where you select the topic that you think the girl is interested in discussing. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Thoughts: Quite a subtle and clever title, isn’t it? This looks just like another one of those teenaged dating sims. Yawn. Interestingly enough, JC Staff will be animating it, but I doubt that they’ll be able to save this premise.
Prism Ark
Summary: ?
Thoughts: Another one of those hentai-game adaptations. It’s also got the director behind the notoriously bad Gravion, Battle Arena Toshiden and Fatal Fury. The entire cast seems to consist of cute teenaged girls, and yet it seems to deal with a fantasy-setting. I like fantasy, but when it’s so keen on delivering moe, I’ll think I pass.
Myself; Yourself
Summary: The story section tells us a bit about the setting of the game: Hidaka Sana is a 16-year-old boy who comes back to his old town from Tokyo after five years. His memories of the town do not fail him, the scenery hasn’t changed all that much. He starts attending the second year of high-school where he meets an old friend and his first love from his childhood. Life is what’s ahead of him, so he needs to jump over the gap between his memories and the reality infront of his eyes and move on. – (Summary by Toua)
Thoughts: The premise sounds rather dull. Especially the return of the childhood love returning has been done to death by now. This series is going to try very hard to impress me, because right now, I have all the reason to classify this as yet another one of those harems. The director also doesn’t sound too promising, as his previous series were Angel’s Feather and Chocotto Sister.
Dragonaut ~ The Resonance
Summary: ?
Thoughts: And it’s Gonzo’s next attempt at a series. While I love their work on Bokura no for this season, I don’t look forward to Dragonaut. The trailer that can be found on the website really makes this one look like Witchblade, which failed to impress me. My prediction is that this series will basically dun down to action and fanservice. There’s a teenaged boy who meets a teenaged girl (surely the two of them can’t fall in love! That’d be way too obvious), and the trailer also showed a bratty blond girl. The only hope would be the guy behind the story concept, as he did the story for Sisters of Wellber as well. But then again, he also was behind Bakugan Battle Brawlers. -_-
Clannad
Summary: Clannad is set in a high-school located in some Japanese town. Okazaki Tomoya is a third-year student who doesn’t take his studies seriously. Always late for class, he’s seen as a delinquent by the rest of his classmates who are busy preparing for their entrance examinations. Needless to say, he hasn’t too many close friends either. Tomoya seems not to mind too – until one day he meets a girl, Furukawa Nagisa, who is left alone without friends on this school, because everybody she knew already graduated. What a clumsy girl, he thinks at first. But he can’t leave her alone and so, while helping her, he meets a few other girls from his school. Although he doesn’t care much about them at first, he soon opens his heart to them as they get to know each other better. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: And here we go again. I think it’s no new fact that I dislike Kyoani, and their tendency to rely way too much on moe character-designs and stereotypes. Yet again, we have the story about a guy who meets a couple of girls (and perhaps boys). The main girl also is clumsy (gee, where did I hear that one before), and the main guy is your typical loser. I’m not getting my hopes up for them, and only when I see with my own eyes that this will be more than just another whiny love-story I’ll change my mind.
Juushin Enbi – Hero Tales
Summary: A period piece, Jushin Enbu features Taitou, a young man who hates the empire that rules at the time, with his sister Laila as they learn of a mysterious power Taitou holds, unbeknownst to him. Taitou is the incarnation of a mysterious star that grants him a huge amount of power that he has yet to fully master. Joining them is Ryuukou, who has power similar to Taitou, just more honed. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: No, I’m not looking forward to this. It may be based on a manga that came from the same mangaka as FMA, but the director only did mediocre shows up till now, and a bunch of hentai-series. The story also sounds incredibly bland, and it starts out just like any other shounen-series does.
Genshinken 2007
Summary: Based on a popular comic about the Japanese otaku lifestyle, this manga follows Sasahara Kanji as he dives face first into a world of anime, manga, video games, pornographic doujinshi, and the like. Kio Shimoku pokes fun at every element of the otaku world, so sit back and enjoy the ride. This is an anime for hardcore fans, with very complicated references that will test your knowledge of all things otaku. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: I remember watching the first episode a few years ago, and not liking it. But then again, I didn’t really know anything about the otaku-culture back then. I may watch it at one point, though that won’t happen anytime soon, unfortunately.
Shows with Small Potential
Ryofuko-chan
Summary: The summary found on Wikipedia JP describes the story of Warrior Angels striving to receive the highest rank a Warrior Angel can receive–to be called Musou Tenshi (tl: Matchless Angel). The story focuses on a rori Warrior Angel Ryofu Housen, Ryofuko-chan. She needs to present seven gems from the battle arena to her Emperor, she also needs a good track record of taken heads from other warriors, say… ten thousand of them. With the assistance of another rori Warrior Angel, Chinkyou Koudai, the Emperor just might grant her that title. – (Summary by Anya)
Thoughts: This OVA has the potential to become good, but I remain sceptical for now. For now, the chance for this to lapse into a moe-fest is just too large. The director is going to be Yuuji Moriyama. He’s worked on lots of different series, but most of them remain unimpressive.
Kite Liberator – ???
Summary: In the previous series, “A KITE”, a killer, Suwa, suddenly disappears after she avenges her parents` death, and no one knows where she is. Several years later, a figure dances airily on the dark side of a big city. She is an angel of death, killing her victim gracefully and disappearing. Monaka is a normal high school student, though this quiet and modest life has a darker side. An angel of death is Monaka’s other persona. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: The biggest problem with this one is that the original Kite was a Hentai-series. That’s not really a good concept to work with, is it? The Director has also worked on many different series, but none of them were memorable. Ah well, at least it’ll look pretty. The art design is by Shuichi Hirata, who did the art for Noiseman Sound Insect and the xxxHolic movie, and also the background art for Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo.
Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~
Summary: Heroine: A very quiet high-school girl. Likes: Taking a walk, cats, sketchbooks, school’s Sui-mountain, relaxing at the art, picnic, neighbourhood cats on the way to school, strange surroundings, the art room during after-school hours, senpais that are just a bit strange, really odd creative works, rainbows, fireworks, sunsets, discovering tiny things that happens to anyone, any day, drawing quickly, quickly. Lots of laughs, just a bit of heartfelt emotion…? A faint smile, nostalgia slowly taking over. A high-school girl animation you’ve never seen before. – (Summary translated by dahl_moon)
Thoughts: 4koma seem to be popular these days. There are three of them in three successive seasons this year. In any case, let’s hope that Sketchbook will be doing a better job than Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh. I’m just a bit freaked out by the fact that the character-designs come from the same guy who designed the characters in the overly GAR Moonlight Mile. ^^; The guy behind the screenplay looks interesting, though: Mari Okoda. He worked on Red Garden, Popolocrois, Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club and Simoun.
Shakugan no Shana II
Summary: Sakai Yuji was a normal student, but one day his normal life was gone. He was assaulted by a monster, Guze no Tomogara.It was a monster which came from another world, and was able to turn humans into light for him to eat. It was a girl with burning hair and red eyes (shakugan = flaming eyes) that saved him, while he was too surprised to move. Then, that girl said to him You don’t exist anymore. What she meant was… – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: So, the original series was rather “disappointing”. I think I’m still going to continue watching it, hoping that it’s going to get better. Shana must in any case get less whiny than she was in the first season, because I can’t stand another season full of “Yuuji;” “Yuuji?” “Yuuji!” anymore. The best solution would be the two of them breaking up, but that’s never going to happen.
Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
Summary: Yako’s father was murdered in a locked room. She then meets a man named Neuro Nougami who is a demon from Hell who eats “riddles.” He forces Yako to act as a detective so he can solve mysteries. Neuro longs to eat the ultimate mystery. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: The major thing I’m worried about for this series is that it comes from Shounen Jump. Among its countless anime-adaptations, only Death Note and Gintama turned out worthwhile, while the rest became a victim of filler or they just sucked to begin with. The manga of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro is also known to be huge, hence my worries. The premise sounds intriguing, but I see no reason why this one could not go down the drains. Unfortunately, the staff hasn’t been announced yet, so I have no way of making a reliable prediction, though.
Interesting-Looking Series
Nasu – Suitcase no Wataridori
Summary: Pepe is a Spanish cyclist competing in an multi-stage Iberian cycling race similar to the Tour de France. He is a support rider for one of the teams competing in the race, and his role is to assist the team’s top rider in winning the overall race. – (Taken from )
Thoughts: The original movie was good, but it had one huge drawback: it was too directed. It seems that there have been no staff-changes made, so I think we can expect much of the same. An interesting detail is that the director has done the animation for various Ghibli-movies. Let’s hope that he’ll use these as inspiration.
Shion no Ou
Summary: Yasuoka Shion lost her parents, and her voice, when she was young. In a murder. She was found amidst a blood-soaked room, and the only hint for the suspect was a Shougi board and one piece: the King. Now, Shion steps into the world of female professional Shougi players. As her popularity and fame slowly rises, so do the questions about her past, particularly the murder case that was never solved. – (Taken from Hanashi Scanlations)
Thoughts: I assume that Shougi is the Japanese form of chess that we see people occasionally play in anime? Anyway, it can be interesting to see an in-depth series about this topic, though I wonder whether the creators will be able to keep the matches exciting without making it feel too directed. It’ll all depend on the brilliance of the directors and the original manga. I like the murder and it also seems that Shion lost her voice during the accident. It could become interesting.
ef – A Tale of Memories
Summary: The story revolves around the protagonist Hirono Hiro, a poor high school boy who draws shoujo manga for his living. One cold Christmas night after meeting a very strange woman in a church, who tells him that he’s going to meet someone he has to meet, his bike gets stolen by another strange girl. He runs after her and finds her collapsed on the street. Her name is Miyamura Miyako and her bag got stolen by a man on a motorbike. Soon after, they start hanging out together, enjoying high-school life. Miyako falls for Hiro pretty quickly but naturally finds a rival in his childhood friend, Shindou Kei, who has been dictating Hiro’s life since ever. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: I usually don’t like it when a website plays a background song, but damn, that tune rocks! Just go to the official site if you want to hear it. I first thought that this would be a total failure, but I’m willing to watch if the other music is of the same high quality! The story sounds like an ordinary love story, but the music… *drools* Oh, but it is done by Shaft, interestingly enough.
Rental Magica
Summary: The basic premise of the show is about a kid named Iba Itsuki who inherits his father’s company, called Astral. Its business is commissioning magicians for various jobs asked of them by their clientele. The characters listed on the page correspond to the various magic fields that are shown in the show, Celtic, King Solomon (the 72 demons), Shinto, and Onmyodou. – (Summary Translated by Shouta)
Thoughts: Interestingly enough, this will be based on a shounen light novel. At the same time, there are also two manga-adaptations running: one shounen and one shoujo. I’m hoping for the anime to focus more on the shoujo-roots of the story, as I’m getting Ghost Hunt vibes from this premise, only with the different practices of exorcism being replaced with different practices of magic. The direction comes from the assistant-director of Popolocrois, and the character-designer did the character-designs for various Bee-Train productions, so this could be interesting. If it doesn’t go and focus on the shounen-elements of course.
Gundam 00
Summary: It is the year A.D. 2307. Fossil fuels on Earth have been depleted entirely, with mankind turning to the next available power source: solar energy. During this time, 3 orbital elevators with solar power generation systems are built, each under control by the Union (formerly United States of America), the Human Reformation League (Russia, China and India) and the AEU (Europe). However, not all countries are able to enjoy the benefits of this system, leading to widespread resentment and war. Arising out of the conflict, a mysterious non-profit military organization known as Celestial Being appears, dedicated to end all warfare using Mobile Suits called Gundam. This begins the stories of Gundam Meisters (pilots) Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos, Allelujah Haptism and Tiera Erde as they are thrown into conflict between the 3 superpowers and the other various factions. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I’ve got a confession to make: the only Gundam-series I’ve seen is Gundam Wing. It was actually one of the first anime I’ve ever watched, as it actually aired on Dutch television. It was a decent series, but I heard that the entire Gundam-franchise fell apart with the arrival of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, which were supposed to suck beyond belief. For this series, I’ve got no idea what to expect, though. The setting seems solid enough on one hand, but on the other hand, I fear that it might boil down to an emo-fest, or borrow some Code Geass influences (seeing as Sunrise is behind this series as well). Surprisingly enough, the director is currently working on Ooedo Rocket. The guy behind the series composition has worked on many different and varied series, for example he did the script of Excel Saga and Trigun, but also that of Kokoro Library and Spider Riders.
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth
Summary: ?
Thoughts: This is another one of these shows nobody knows anything about. I’ll give if the benefit of the doubt for now, as I admit that a title of “Wonderful Detective Labyrinth” sounds intriguing. The yellow-haired boy is probably Labyrinth himself. I just hope that his two maids will stay away from the stereotypes that plague maids oh so often. I’m not sure about the director, though. His series turn out either incredibly good or incredibly bad. He did epics as The Law of Ueki, Orphen and Jigoku Shoujo, but he also was behind the pieces of garbage that were Shining Tears X Wind and Star Ocean Ex.
Bamboo Blade
Summary: This sports manga is about a teacher, Kojirou, who is also the Kendo instructor at a high school who decided to take on a bet by his senior, as he is totally broke. The bet requires him to send a team of five female kendo students against his senior’s team. For the sake of his empty tummy, he has to win the match! This first volume starts off by having Kojirou trying to get more female kendo students (at the moment, there’s only one female kendo student at the kendo dojo). The first female he had set his eyes on, has absolutely no interest in joining the kendo club, despite displaying great kendo skill, while welding a broom. However, he won’t give up that easily. – (Summary by Ko from Litepeek)
Thoughts: This is one of those concepts that is completely dependant on the quality of the scriptwriters. If these guys are talented and know what they’re doing, the anime will become a success, though if they’re lazy, this anime will horribly fail. The director makes me worry about this, as he’s only done animation production up till now, he only directed a few episodes here and there. The guy behind the screenplay, however, shows that he might actually be able to pull this one off: he did the script of Excel Saga, and he also worked on Hellsing, Kamichu and Now and Then, Here and There before.
Minami-ke
Summary: Minami-ke is a manga following three sisters, Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki in their lives at home and school. It’s a funny series that depicts how these characters interact with each other and their classmates. It’s a story about ordinary girls and their ordinary adventures told in an extraordinary manner. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: This series somehow intrigues me. Especially that last sentence of the description. When I first saw the promo-art, I mistook it for yet another harem, but it seems that we’re dealing with a slice-of-life series here. The concept could have been more solid, and I hope for some kind of plot or at least some kind of conflict, but it’ll be a nice enough series. I’m just a bit worried about the original creator: he also wrote Kyou no go ni, an OVA that turned dull quite fast.
Tokyo Marble Chocolate
Summary: The story follows a boy and girl, both unlucky in love, as they begin to fall in love on Christmas Day. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Thoughts: This seems to be another one of those Christmas OVAs that you see every year. We can expect art, similar to that of the Tsubasa Chronicle Movie, as both the director and the animation director worked on the animation for that movie. Interestingly enough, they also both worked on episode 18 of Le Chevalier D’Eon, an episode that may not have been the best of the entire series, but still was an awesome experience. I’m interested in what they can do for this love story.
Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji
Summary: Based on a gambling manga, published in 1996 and from the same mangaka as Akagi
Thoughts: I still need to watch Akagi at one point. I remember watching the first arc and really liking it. Anyway, I’m interested about what he was able to with the concept of gambling. I assume that this is going to be another dark and shady anime. It could become quite interesting.
Night Wizard the Animation
Summary: The anime will talk about a transfer student named Ellis and her good friend Kureha who’s president of a run-down astronomy club. At first they seem to be getting along well, but something happens to Ellis one day on the school grounds. Kureha witnesses how Ellis’ eyes turn blue while she starts chanting some mysterious words. – (Taken from Anya)
Thoughts: RPG-adaptations have given us the gems of Popolocrois, but also the flops of Shining Tears X Wind. It’ll be interesting to see where this one goes, though I must say that the staff is at least solid. The director also directed NHK ni Youkoso, which hints that this will start out annoying, with a great second half, and the guy behind the series composition also worked on Aria and wrote an episode for Saiunkoku Monogatari. This does give me confidence that enough time will be spent on fleshing out the characters. The animation company in charge is an unknown one: Hal Film Maker, though they already made gems such as Strange Dawn and Princess Tutu. They also did Aria, and although I haven’t seen it yet, I’ve heard many great things about it. So for now, I’ll be confident about this series.
Definitely Looking Forward To
Soukou Kihei Votoms: Pailsen Files
Summary: OVA release from anime series “Armored Trooper Votoms” utilizing the latest in 3D CG animation. Created by the original staff of the series, with an all new story about the end of the 100 year war. – (Taken from cdjapan)
Thoughts: I haven’t seen the original Armored Trooper Votoms, but I know that they were all directed by Ryousuke Takahashi, the director behind series as Hi no Tori, Flag and Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. This means one thing for this OVA: lots of realism. It’s going to take twelve episodes, so there’s enough time for development. The first episode should be released on October 26th, while I assume that every month a new episode gets released. Definitely something to look forward to.
Moyashimon
Summary: “Moyashimon” is about a college student who can see bacteria/fungus with his naked eyes. He enters Tokyo Agriculture College and enjoys a campus life with strange professors and friends. Bacterias are very cute and manga is filled with facts/knowledge about bacteria (Mainly about fermentation – like how alcohols are made). – (Taken from Tsunami Channel)
Thoughts: This is one of those series where I have no idea what to expect. Those little creatures you can see on the homepage indeed seem to be bacteria and fungi, though they say nothing about how the actual character-designs will be. You wouldn’t say it, but they’re from the guy who did the animation in Death Note, so I’m interested in how he’ll do it. Natsuko Takahashi is also involved in the project (she’s really on fire for this season, being involved in three major series and all), so I’m eager to see her work on this one.
Maple Story
Summary: An adaptation of the popular MMORPG Maple Story
Thoughts: People keep comparing this series to Ragnarok Online, but I believe that it’s going to be way more similar to Master of Epic. At least, I hope so because Master of Epic was brilliantly cheesy. The promo art also seems to suggest we’re dealing with a comedy here. I’ve played the game at one point as well, and I’m interested in how such a cute MMORPG will be adapted.
Yumedamaya Kidan
Summary: In the fantastic story Naho (11) is an elder sister who enters her younger brother Jun’s (2) dream. They live with their father as their mother died soon after Jun was born. Naho acts in the mothers place in relation to her brother watching after him at home however and the situation is frustrating to her sometimes as she wishes to go out and play with her friends. A man with a slender figure who has a big trunk shows up before Naho one day. He introduces himself as Kotaro of Yumedamaya and he guides Naho into the dream world. Mysterious phenomenons begin manifesting themselves to Naho in her natural everyday surroundings after meeting Kotaro. She strays off into a dream-world of her younger brother and soon encounters her own mother. – (Taken from Anime News Service)
Thoughts: There are quite a few tv-specials aired this year. August brings us Miyori no Mori and Futatsu no Kurumi, and Yumedamya Kidan will air in November. All three are sounding really interesting, and I’d love to see them. Especially with Production IG behind this one.
Shugo Chara
Summary: Everybody at Seiyo Elementary thinks that stylish and super cool Hinamori Amu has it all: But nobody knows the real Amu, a shy girl who wishes she had the courage to truly be herself. Changing Amu’s life is going to take more than wishes and dreams–it’s going to take a little magic! One morning, Amu finds a surprise in her bed: three strange little eggs. Each egg contains a Guardian Character, an angel-like being who can give her the power to be someone new. With the help of her Guardian Characters, Amu is about to discover that her true self is even more amazing than she ever dreamed. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: I’ve been waiting for another good mahou shoujo to show up, since both Kamichama Karin and Nanatsuiro Drops failed to deliver, and this one could be it. A quest for self-discovery for our heroine sounds like it might actually turn out really interesting. It’s in any case better than some of the other series that will come out for this season. The guy behind the series composition also worked on Kaze no Shoujo Emily, which is a definite plus, and the director previously did episodes of shows like Noein (including its amazing final episode), Ooedo Rocket (the first episode, which was quite hilarious) and Boogiepop Phantom. These guys can make something really interesting out of this concept. 🙂
Top-4 Looking Forward To
Blue Drop: Tenchi-tachi no Gikyoku
Summary: In 1995, all 800 habitants of the isolated Kamikakushi Island vanished in one night, all but a single girl who lost her memory. The cause of the disappearances was never identified. Four years later, that girl, Mari, transfers to a girl’s dormitory school, Kaihou Gakuen, leaving behind her grandmother who had been her guardian ever since the incident. There, she meets Hagino. Hagino is the school idol and completes her student council responsibilities flawlessly. The moment she touches Mari’s hand, however, Hagino freaks out, straddling atop Mari, hands around her throat. Mari is afraid of and angry at Hagino, who pretends as if nothing had happened while in front of other students, but at the same time, somehow, she is attracted to Hagino too. In reality, Hagino is actually an alien who was sent to Earth in order to reconnoitre prior to an invasion. The event on Kamikakushi Island occurred when the 200-member crew of a battleship, the Blue, whose captain was Hagino and the island’s inhabitants had killed each other. The Blue was seriously damaged and hidden. Hagino had since blended into human society and continued her reconnaissance. Within her school life, while fighting with fellow students, Mari begins to come out of her shell. Hagino has been living a double life, but her encounter with Mari makes her face human beings, and gradually she begins to have doubts about her mission. While the invasion and war draws closer unnoticed, the girls begin to understand each other. – (Taken from AnimeNFO)
Thoughts: It’s been a while since the last good shoujo-ai series appeared, and I’ve got some great expectations of Blue Drop. I hope the director can handle it, though. The original concept comes from him as well, and he’s involved in many parts in the project. At the same time, he hasn’t really worked on many memorable projects in the past. So if this goes well, we may expect another masterpiece. But if it fails, it’ll fail horribly. Luckily, he has help from Natsuko Takahashi with the Series Composition, who has already proven to know what she’s doing when she wrote the scripts for numerous memorable anime.
Mokke
Summary: A fantastic story about two sisters. Shizuru is a high school student who can see monsters which ordinary people can’t, while her little sister, Mizuki, is easily haunted by these monsters. They are living with their grandfather’s home separately from their parents because of their abilities. The theme for each story is not horror-centric, but rather, of a heart-warming nature. – (Taken from ?)
Thoughts: A year ago, I would have been sceptical about such a slice-of-life series, though I’m glad that I’m beginning to appreciate the genre more and more. This series also sounds like it’ll turn into a real gem.
Tsubasa Chronicle Tokyo Revelations
Summary: A separate project from the Tsubasa Chronicle anime, this time handled by Production I.G. and Nanase/Ageha Ohkawa (CLAMP`s scriptwriter), Tsubasa TOKYO REVELATIONS are three 25-minutes OVAs covering the Tokyo Arc, which should have taken place in the anime after episode 42. Each of the three DVDs will only be sold in Japan in a special limited edition together with volumes 21, 22 and 23 of the manga. When Sakura, Syaoran, Fye, Kurogane and Mokona arrive in a strange and desolate deserted world and meet a mysterious hooded group, little can they imagine that the inevitable events that will take place in this world will make their journey take a dramatic turn and change their lives forever… – (Taken from Kathna/Miyazawa Lulu)
Thoughts: This is it! After a long time of waiting, Tsubasa Chronicle will finally be continued at November 16th, when the first of the three OVAs will be released. The question remains, though: will the rest of the manga get animated as well? Well, it will all depend on how well this OVA will sell. If it’s a commercial success, there’s going to be a large chance of more OVAs coming out. Let’s hope that this will be the case!
Ghost Hound
Summary: ?
Thoughts: This may be a mediocre season overall, but it’s a great one for the supernatural series. Both Mokke and Ghost Hound have something to do with spirits, and I’m both really looking forward to them. Ghost Hound seems to be much darker than Mokke, and it’s got a great cast to work with. It’s being produced by Production IG, and directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, who directed Serial Experiments Lain and Kino’s Journey. The guy behind the series composition and screenplay is Chiaki Konaka, who wrote the scripts for Yotsuya Kaidan (Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror), Narutaru, Hellsing and many more.]]>
Vampire Hunter D – Bloodlust Review – 77/100

What movie would be a better a better choice after Unico than Vampire Hunter D – Bloodlust? ^^; Anyway, the sequel of the movie Vampire Hunter D, produced sixteen years after the original, is indeed much better than the first one. The graphics look a lot better, and especially the music took a turn for the better, delivering a soundtrack that may not contain some of the best tunes ever, but succeeds in producing an effective atmosphere to capture the viewer.
But what about the story? Well, there’s one added element that convinced me that Bloodlust is superior to its predecessor: the romance. Not with D, but the affair the main antagonist has been having. The relationship between him and his loved one, combined with the fact that the vampires are a dying race definitely made the movie worth watching.
I wish I could say the same about the action, though. It takes up most of the airtime, and even though the amount of blatant Deus ex Machina has been reduced to only one, it’s just too unimpressive. The fights suffer especially because of their predictability. You’ll be able to easily to predict who’ll survive in the end, after only one tenth of the airtime, and the action itself isn’t really that good for a movie.
Especially the side-characters, Layla’s henchmen, are a major problem in this movie. They’re just there to fill time. We never get to see their intentions, background or anything. We never see how they got together, and they get killed as easily as two donuts in a police-station. The main characters may have been interesting to watch, all gets ruined when the movie starts focusing on the obnoxious side-characters again. The minor antagonists aren’t exactly gripping either.
Still, this movie is a nice enough watch, though there are better choices. The first half disappointed a bit, though things got better in the second half, when the major characters got some development. The ending is a bit cheesy, though you wouldn’t expect anything else, considering the predictability. I found the last line of the movie to be really amusing, though. :P]]>
Fantastic Adventures of Unico Review – 66/100

This is one for the children out there. The Fantastic Adventures of Unico tells about a little unicorn with an amazing talent: to make everyone he runs into happy. Its storyline and themes (in this case, friendship) are simple and easy to understand, as the movie follows the adventures of the incredibly cute Unico and his friends. If you’ve got a little brother or sister, this would be the perfect thing to show them. Especially the kids in kindergarten will love it.
But still, the question remains whether older viewers will enjoy it. If I were to judge the story in the way I do with other anime, this movie would fail horribly. Characters lack background, and Unico is surprisingly mature and brave for his age. The movie starts out nicely, though, when the gods try to get rid of Unico, but these gods play an unfortunate small role for the rest of the airtime. Halfway through the movie, a more clichéd villain gets introduced, who gets to be the big boss who needs to be defeated in the end. This end turns out to be a Disney-ending, so don’t expect much of it.
Still, the characters are interesting to watch; if you like cute stuff, at least. I do admit that Unico gets more annoying as the movie goes on, but the other characters are definitely fun to watch. Everyone has a clear role to play in this movie, and a lot of symbolism is used to flesh them out. There are quite a few adorable moments throughout the movie, and despite the fact that the storyline doesn’t always work, the themes are always spot-on.
This is one of these movies that you need to watch on a brain-dead afternoon, when you don’t want to think much. For me, this definitely wasn’t Osamu Tezuka’s best work. But then again, I’m not exactly part of the target audience. ^^;]]>
Giant Robo Review – 80/100

Recommended by Roastedpekingduck. Some of you may remember the first episode of the tv-series Giant Robo that was released at the beginning of the year. I have no idea what happened to the rest of the series (I’d love to see it though), but it’s based on the OVA of Giant Robo, that came out ten years ago. The OVA is sort-of like a prequel, as Daisaku is only twelve years old. The premise revolves all around the Shizuma drives: a miraculous new form of energy that has no effect on pollution whatsoever. The story starts ten years after they’ve been discovered, when they’ve become just as ordinary as air and water.
This OVA is about two things: action and manliness. It’s one big spectacle, from beginning to end, and it’s of course full of grand action scenes. Thankfully, it’s got a good enough plot to back this up, as it tries to reach an as large spectacle as possible, combining plot twists and storytelling with its action.
This turned into a mixed bag. Some parts are epic, and definitely worth the watch; others just didn’t get enough development, and feel like they were included just to make the scenes more spectacular. Overall, the plot works, but there are just a bit too many plot-holes left open. 50% of the characters that die turns out to be alive at one point (of course, all do this, just when they’re needed the most), and some vital parts about the things that happened in the past go unexplained. Especially Daisaku’s past is guilty of this. A few scenes also like to screw physics at times, performing feats that can’t even be explained if you take the superpowers of the characters (who are never really explained in the first place) into account. Also don’t expect the ending to wrap everything up.
Despite this, though, the OVA turned out really nice to watch. Okay, it’s no masterpiece, but the better parts are definitely worth watching. A huge emphasis is also put on battle ethics, which work especially well with Daisaku, despite his brattiness. Everyone’s basically protecting him with their lives, simply because he’s the only one who can pilot Giant Robo. My favourite episodes were 1, 5 and 7.
The graphics do look old-fashioned, since this OVA has been made more than ten years ago. The animation looks excellent, though, especially when lots of explosions are featured (which happens a lot). The graphics, however, bleak against the music, because the soundtrack for Giant Robo turned out truly epic. The operatic influences work perfectly.]]>
Kai Doh Maru Review – 74/100

Kai Doh Maru is making me rather angry while writing this review. Not because it’s incredibly bad, but because it could have been incredibly good. It’s Production IG’s attempt at making a movie, and they went with another setting of Japan’s history. The interesting thing is that while most anime pick a period around the year 1800, with the samurai and shinsengumi and all, Kai Doh Maru goes further back: to the ninth century.
Those who appreciated Sisters of Wellber know what to expect: really stylized art that fits perfectly, an excellent soundtrack (this one has been composed by Yoshihiro Ike, the same guy who did Ergo Proxy), and a nice amount of the screen-time is spent on fleshing out the characters, creating a great mood for this movie to work with. Only the humour is missing in this one. So why did it disappoint?
Simply enough: it’s too short. If only it had gotten twenty, maybe ten more minutes, it could have been so much better, and it could have made a chance to be memorable. Unfortunately, Kai Doh Maru only has a length of 40 minutes, which may be enough to flesh out its characters, but not to flesh out their backgrounds. Right now, the movie was just way too confusing and failed to answer too many questions. What happened in Kai Doh Maru’s past? Why was he or she hunted, and why does she or he keep changing genders? These questions could have been perfectly answered if more time was given.
Then there’s the issue of the ending: there is none. It just ends, and the bad guys still live. What happens next? We’ll never know. One thing I do know is that I really like Production IG’s style of storytelling; it’s just too bad that this movie screwed up. Nevertheless, despite my ranting, it’s quite an enjoyable movie though; you can give it a try if you’re a fan of their style like me. Just be sure for the rather large plotholes it leaves.]]>
Vampire Hunter D Review – 51/100

Another oldie: this one’s from 1985. It seemed to have enjoyed quite a bit of popularity back in those days, and it still seems to be one of the more well-known movies from the eighties. I got curious as to why this movie turned out much more popular than the others, so I decided to watch this one.
Unfortunately, the reason seems to be the fights and the bad-assness of the main character. The guy is your typical silent powerhouse, and he reminds me of an Alucard without personality. He’s been hardened through many battles, and he’s supposed to be dark and mysterious.
So basically, don’t bother to try and check this one out. The plot maybe has a few interesting elements, especially in the beginning, but in the end it goes nowhere fast. The opponent is your typical evil king (or count in this case) who is evil and has to be defeated. He keeps talking about how he has to rule the country as an aristocrat but we never see him actually ‘rule’. All he does is sit in his chair, trying to look evil.
And this of course wouldn’t be complete without the female love interest. She and her cute brother basically take turns of playing the damsel-in-distress. One particularly bad scene featured a Deus ex Machina, followed by another Deus ex Machina, followed by yet another one. All the characters are interesting when you first see them, but they get old very fast. The few lucky ones who have background often only have to do with one or two lines.
While it’s not the worst movie out there, I’d definitely classify this one as below-average. If you’re looking for a way to burn half an hour, there are so many better choices for movies than this one. This is another one of these movies that just didn’t age well.]]>