Maria, who asked me to blog about this series and it was a nice opportunity to wrap up the quick first impressions before the start of the Summer-season, since I needed one more series for that.
ICE
This is probably the first anime of the past few years to actually look like it’s made in the nineties, based on the characters at least. If you’d look just at them, you wouldn’t suspect that we’ve got ourselves a 2007-OVA here. This anime really gives the unique experience of mixing old character-designs with new CG, but unfortunately the fact also remains that the characters just look ugly. The animators also really screw things up with the random nonsensical Engrish that passes the screen, so the visuals shouldn’t be a reason for you to check out this anime. The characters themselves could have been more interesting. Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this episode. The story and voice-acting really made up for the flaws. Especially the story, this OVA carries the concept of a world where all men have died out way beyond its basics, and it provides a nice number of plot twists and imaginative concepts you don’t quite easily think of. I also loved how the characters who died or got injured where remembered and taken care of. The voice-acting is unique, most characters have some kind of unique voice, which really works well if you get used to it.
EDIT: I wrote this blurb about a week ago, and now that I think back at it, my opinion of this show has become even better, and I’ve kind-of forgotten all the bad parts. This definitely is an OVA that needs a bit of time to sink in, which always is a good thing.
Dash Kappei
Dash Kappei is quite an old anime, it’s about a small boy named Kappei with extreme sports skills. In this episode, we see him get recruited for the local basketball team at school. Unfortunately, I’m not really enthusiastic about this show. It’s got nothing to do with the age, but rather the main character. In fact, I found myself liking every scene in which he wasn’t featured, and hating every scene in which we did see him. The dog was brilliant, and the team captain was adorable, but Kappei was horrible. He likes looking at the panties of girls and dedicates himself to the girls with white ones. He’s arrogant and he’s skilled in basketball with no signs of training whatsoever. He’s arrogant, his goofy facial-expression looks horrible, he never takes things seriously at all and his chemistry with the other characters is awful. I know that this is supposed to be a comedy, but with a character like Kappei it’ll just be impossible for me to enjoy this series. If you like panty-jokes and don’t mind old graphics you may give it a chance, otherwise: avoid it.
Tetsuko no Tabi
Tetsuko no Tabi definitely had the most peculiar premise of the spring-season: we follow a mangaka who records her travels along with a train otaku and her assigner (Ishikawa), and the entire anime is completely non-fiction. So, after having seen the first episode, how does it turn out? Well, awesome! The entire anime just sparkles with energy, perhaps even more than with Manabi Straight. It’s a perfect example of a feel-good anime, and the chemistry between the three main characters is excellent. Basically, they travel down one trainway, and make a stop at every train-station. The mangaka, who expected something entirely different when she first took on the job (aka, lots of delicious food), just keeps getting freaked out by the otaku’s antics, and Ishikawa’s fascination at them. Lucky Star had better watch out, as it’s not the only series focusing on modern Japanese culture and otaku anymore, and as things are looking right now, Tetsuko no Tabi will beat it in every department apart from parodies. Unless you need battles or cute girls with obscene hair-colours in your anime, you should definitely check this one out.]]>
Category: Other:
Highlander – Search for Vengeance Review – 72/100
Highlander is a movie that came out recently. It’s another one of these English-spoken anime, where the original voices are all in English instead of the usual Japanese. I’d like to describe this one as “Afro Samurai with personality”.
Basically, what this anime does is about the same as Afro Samurai, only a lot better. The main storyline focuses on two powerhouses, one of them is out for revenge on the other because the other killed someone important. There is the side-kick who provides your occasional commentary, and of course the female love interest. All it misses is the childhood friend, but I’m actually glad he was left out.
Anyway, on top of this, Highlander manages to add enough other elements to prevent this movie from becoming as dull as Afro Samurai. For starters, Colin, the main character actually has a bit of development up to the point where he actually becomes pitiful. I won’t spoil it, but I admit I laughed at how stupid, yet tragic his character is. The side-kick also has a sense of humour, which I quite appreciated. There is also a side-story focusing on oppression, which turned out really interesting near its climax. Overall, I wouldn’t call this a failure of a movie.
That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any flaws, though. Let’s start with the voice-acting. The cast comes with both Scottish and American ones. With the Scottish voices, there is no problem at all. Scotland and other Celtic settings are hardly touched upon by anime, which is a darn shame, since it has enough interesting background material to make for some interesting stories, and the parts of the movie that played in ancient Scotland were nice to watch, and especially the voice-acting was a delight.
I wish I could say the same about the part of the story in New York, though. The American accents just don’t fit in anime, and some particular cases of side-characters speak like a drunk Tarzan. Especially near the beginning, the dialogues just don’t flow right at all, luckily this gets better as the movie progresses.
There’s also this matter of this being an action-movie. Thank goodness it isn’t just one big excuse to display some action, but the fact remains that you can’t really get a good ending out of it, and indeed, the final scene is just one big Deus ex Machina whose only purpose is to close off the story at its climax. The major antagonist also is in dire need of some character-development.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend you to go out of your way and check this movie out as soon as possible, as it’s not really that good. If you’re bored, though, and need an hour to burn, this may be a good choice. It’s nothing special, but at least it’s entertaining.]]>
Earth Girl Arjuna Review – 72/100
The world is in trouble. Everywhere in the world, Raaja start to appear along with the pollution, caused by humans and something needs to be done. This is the message that Earth Girl Arjuna tries to bring. It features a high-school girl who receives the power of the earth in order to protect it. Unfortunately, though, she remains a high-school girl, and so she also has her own problems.
And that’s where the problem with this anime lies. The two major focuses of this anime, the endangered environment and Juna’s personal problems don’t really mix together. They’re constantly trying to get the centre of attention, not to mention that the love triangle, that takes up quite a bit of airtime just gets nowhere because of this. The individual parts are good, yes, but this anime really had an identity crisis throughout its run of 13 episodes.
There’s also this matter of the rather disappointing ending, shamelessly ripped off from Nausicaa. If you’re looking for an anime about human pollution, Nausicaa definitely is a better choice, as Earth Girl Arjuna comes with a bunch of theories that just don’t make any sense at all. Also, we never really get to know why Juna got her powers in the first place. The closest reason we get is “there was no other choice”. It’s also a bit too coincidental that the “big boss” is caused by none other than Juna’s boyfriend’s father.
Still, Earth Girl Arjuna isn’t all that bad. One thing it did right was character-development. The cast of characters gets well developed and explored throughout the anime, and I overall had a good time watching. It’s just that now that I started writing this review, I’m beginning to notice more and more flaws and plotholes. You’ll probably enjoy this if you don’t get too much bothered by these.
The graphics look quite interesting, Juna’s designs are done with quite some creativity, and the entire anime sparkles with imaginative choreography. The music also is quite unique. It’s not really memorable, but I can see myself going after the soundtrack, as there are quite a number of interesting tunes worth listening to.
Overall, Earth Girl Arjuna is not a bad anime; it just has a lot of flaws. Let me just warn you to skip the final episode, though, as it’s the worst episode in the entire series, and the perfect example of a bad and rushed ending.]]>
Hitohira Review – 88/100
Hitohira is going to be a rather difficult anime to review, since most of its major merits are rather spoilerific, but I’ll give it a try. Basically, it’s one of these rare high-school dramas done right. It features Mugi, an extremely shy girl who even has trouble speaking up at times, who gets recruited for the local drama-club. Why? Because her voice can be incredibly hard when she’s not holding back.
When I first read this description, I indeed was sceptical. After all, many anime have come up with similar concepts, and failed horribly. Hitohira, though, proved to know exactly what it was doing. There are no stereotypes, no excessive fanservice, no harem, and no artificial student council. Nearly all of the clichés that we usually see in these school-based shows are gone. Instead, this anime delivers characters that go well beyond the stereotypes. They’re rich and versatile, and each of them gets a great dose of development through the course of only twelve episodes, ending with an actually good ending.
Hitohira turned out to be surprisingly genuine, but it does take two or three episodes to get going and show its full potential. Nono’s case is beautiful, and I loved how this anime didn’t try to keep its characters together. Life goes on is a major theme of especially the later episodes and it’s done beautifully. I won’t say anything more than that that the major climax was amazing, and it was a definite highlight of the spring-season. Just go and check it out for yourself.
The character-designs are done beautifully and unique, making the visuals a real treat. The animation itself usually remains minimal, though you won’t see any distorted faces or strangely drawn bodies. The background music doesn’t stand out, but it still contributes to the scenes perfectly.
I really hope for this series to get subbed soon, as it deserves to be watched. This series really is one of the spring-season shows that went right. The only flaw that I managed to spot was that especially in the beginning, the drama was a tad too forced, though as the show went on this became less and less apparent. It’s a great choice for anyone who isn’t bored too fast.]]>
Some quick first impressions: The Skull Man, Devil May Cry and Wangan Midnight
The Skull Man
You know, this one started out well. Okay, it wasn’t as interesting as some of the other series that have appeared in the spring-season, but it was definitely a solid start, in which a journalist is investigating the murders by a guy, calling himself “the skeleton man” and runs into a girl who has ran away from home or something similar. The concept definitely had potential. That is, until the creators decided that it was a good moment for a friggin’ naked shower-scene. That really took a lot of credibility away from this series. Anyway, apart from this, the series is off to a good start, and it’s different from what I expected it to be. I imagined this being a dark and gritty show, but for the most part, most of its scenes were light-hearted. The characters introduced so far have potential, especially the side-characters. We’ll see where this one will bring us.
Devil May Cry
Now this one turned out interesting! Finally another actually good action-series appears that contains a great balance between action and dialogue. The action-scenes look terrific, and I absolutely loved the fight in the theatre. Another remarkable feature was that about 50% of the dialogue happens off-screen. While I can imagine some people getting turned off by this, it actually felt very refreshing and interesting to me. Anyway, Devil May Cry features Dante, a half-demon/half-human or something similar who acts as a bodyguard to protect people from ferocious demons… with his favourite food being a Strawberry Sundae. Nice touch. Overall, the animation is excellent, and the soundtrack features some interesting tunes. Okay, it will never match itself to the great names with its format, but for its genre, it’s doing a very fine job.
Wangan Midnight
Wangan Midnight, an anime about a guy who likes to speed-race on the highway. I can appreciate how he didn’t just find out about his passion for cars in this episode, like so many other anime of its kind do. What we’ve got here is just a guy who likes being reckless, gets defeated and runs into a really fast but dangerous blue car on the scrapheap. After watching this first episode, I realized that the action-scenes are mostly for the car-lovers out there, as they didn’t do anything to me. There were too many close-ups and too little real action. What did interest me, though, were the human aspects in the episode, most notably the main character’s recklessness. A lot of people are worrying about him, and I do hope that this anime will be realistic enough to show what happens if this continues. Another notable aspect is the really diverse soundtrack. It’s got anything: hip-hop, rock, j-pop. All it misses is some German folklore.]]>
Gunslinger Girl Sequel?
Moonphase and the animesuki forums, a sequel of Gunslinger Girl is in the works, more than three years after the airdate of the original series. At this time, the format is still pretty much unknown, but I’m hoping for a fully fledged tv-series. I personally loved this series when I watched it, mostly because it was incredibly thought-provoking, and the ending was just too sweet. I’ll be interested to see more of this.]]>
Summer Season Preview
+ Not Really Looking Forward To +
Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi
Summary: “Meet Louise, a budding magician. The students at the Tristein Academy call her “Zero Louise”, due to her current record of zero successes with magic. In fact, her magic tends to go spectacularly wrong. Now, as an important test of her aptitude for magic, she must summon a familiar to be her servant. At this critical moment, she summons up all her magic and wishes for a familiar that is “devoted, beautiful and powerful”, and gets… Hiraga Saito, an ordinary Japanese boy. It’s difficult to say who is more surprised and dismayed, but the rules don’t allow for second attempts. Louise is stuck with her strange familiar, and he with her.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I remember hating the first episode of the original series, back when it aired. It was just oh so similar to your standard harem, where the main character would be surrounded by a bunch of pretty stereotypes. When I later read that at some point, he gets his own personal maid to play with, I knew that this wouldn’t be a series I’d like.
Moetan
Summary: “Moetan originally was a game, aimed at otaku to help them study english.”
Thoughts: This concept can only be saved when this anime starts to heavily parody the English language. Otaku-based shows have been rather notorious with me for the lack of an interesting storyline and a preferred focus on cute girls, rather than substance. The director did Getsumen to Heiki Mina and Hayate the Combat-Butler, two series which got stale really fast. The guy behind the screenplay and series composition also wrote the manga “To-Love-Ru”, which features a boy who finds a naked magical alien girl in his bathtub, also convinces me that this’ll most likely become a trainwreck.
Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho: Tou
Summary: “In the night of Tokyo, mysterious deaths involving the ‘Reborn Dead’ occur. Mysterious transfer student, Tatsuma Hiyuu, and delinquent student, Kyouichi Houraiji, fight these undead every night. They, along with the rest of their group, soon realize that a greater threat, that involves even more powerful demons, is near.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I remember dropping this series, back when it aired, because it was too boring. I might pick it up again, I might not.
Buzzer Beater
Summary: “Hideyoshi is a homeless boy living in New York in the near future, who survives by hustling other kids in basketball games. But now he’s been drafted into a pro team-a pro team with a very unique goal. There once was a time when humans dominated the game of basketball. But times have changed, and now the physically superior alien players have taken over the game, and there are barely any human players next. But Hideyoshi’s team-the first all-human team to compete in the Space League-intends to change all that, and bring the championship back home to Earth.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Okay, I don’t really get this. I already wasn’t excited by the fact that this is a sports-anime, but this appears to be a remake of a series that aired back in 2005. Why the heck would ANYONE want to remake a show that aired such a short period of time ago? The story also sounds everything but exciting.
Nanatsuiro Drops
Summary: “Tsuwabuki Masaharu, or Haru as is friends like to call him, is your normal middle school student. Now in his second year, his friends push him to speak with his classmates whom he have yet to speak to, but this was still a difficult thing for Haru due to his clumsy nature. One afternoon, his life met with a 180° during a strange encounter in the hallways of Hoshigaoka School. During that fateful encounter, he accidentally drinks a magical potion which transforms him into a stuffed animal sheep during the night! Through later events, Haru learns that in order to return to his original self, he needs to collect “star droplets” that fall from the sky. However, being that his innards are now made of cotton, he will need the help of a “special person,” little did he know that special person was someone from his class. Living a double life between his day self and his sheep form “Yuki-chan”, page one of his story, her story, and the story of Nanatsuiro Drops begins~” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Ah, what have we here? Another harem. This time, the main character is a goat and he needs to get intimate with a girl from his class in order to change back. The main character himself is a perfectly ordinary boy who is a little clumsy. Yup, sounds just like all those other harems out there. There’s just one thing that intrigues me: the guy behind the series composition worked on several of the later World Masterpiece Theatre-series, as well as Kaze no Shoujo Emily. Will he be able to save this series alone? I doubt it, though.
+ Shows with Small Potential +
Doujin Work
Summary: “Doujinwork is a story about the main character’s exposure and adventure into the world of doujinshi. We follow Osana Najimi, a high schooler tempted into becoming a doujin artist after seeing how much her friend can make at a convention. A sucker at drawing, Najimi soon learns that the road inside the doujin world is not paved with roses as she expected, but, as she attends more conventions and meets more people, manages to find a group of very interesting friends.” – (taken from Cardcaptor’s Blog)
Thoughts: Probably another romantic comedy. With all series of this genre, I have to see it work first before I’ll start to see any potential in it, as most series who attempt this are just a bunch of trainwrecks.
Wangan Midnight
Summary: “When high school student Akio Asakura loses a high speed race to Tatsuya Shima, he goes to a junkyard to find parts for his car – only to discover a blue first-generation Datsun Fairlady Z (S30), which he buys. Akio later discovers that not only is the Z tuned to 620 bhp, it’s had a dark history of unfortunate accidents with its previous owners. Behind the wheel of the Devil Z, Akio now poses a threat to Shima and his “Blackbird” Porsche 911 Turbo.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: A long-running manga is finally getting animated. If I recall correctly, it’ll feature high-speed highway-races. It should prove to be a decent action-series, but I doubt that the story and characters will receive a lot of attention.
Code Geass Episode 24 and 25
Summary: Episodes 24 and 25 have been extended to a special, to air in the summer-season.
Thoughts: Now that I managed to finish watching the first series, I’m too far in to just drop it, but I do hope that these episodes will fix the many mistakes that the original series made. Something, however, tells me that it’s going to try to be as spectacular and drawn-out as possible, almost like a soap-opera.
Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho
Summary: “Kaname Okimura, a student of Prefectoral Umineko Shougyou High (”Umisho” for short), joined the school’s swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdoes, let alone teach him swimming. Then, a sunny, happy-go-lucky girl named Amuro Ninagawa who was transferred from Okinawa joined the club. Her extraordinary underwater speed and unorthodox swimming style (plus her personal habit of nude swimming — a powerful magnet to teenage boys) surprised every club member, especially Okimura, because she reminds him a mermaid-like creature he saw only once in his early childhood.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Wow, I first believed that this would definitely become the worst show of the season, but the people behind the screenplay actually do show some potential. They both were involved in Himawari!, one of them was behind the script of Tsukikage Ran, some episodes of Fruits Basket, while the other did the script of Deltora Quest and a few episodes of Popolocrois. While I usually loathe romantic comedies like these, this does have potential to become rather funny. Now let’s hope that the manga itself doesn’t limit them.
Potemayo
Summary: ?
Thoughts: I still don’t know what to think of this series. It looks like a comedy where five children get to take care of two rather eccentric chibi-witches, but the question remain whether it’ll actually become funny enough to not get boring.
School Days
Summary: “The story is about a love triangle between the male protagonist Makoto, and the two heroines Kotonoha and Sekai. Makoto develops a love interest in Kotonoha, a girl in the same year but different class. Although they both take the same train to school, she is unaware of his existence. His classmate, Sekai, manages to put the two together despite holding strong feelings towards Makoto.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: You know, the concept of a horribly bloody ending is nice and all, but do you really think the people behind Amaenaideyo and Yumeria will be able to pull this off well? Right now, it looks like this is just going to be your usual romantic comedy-harem with an unorthodox ending. I first have to see this before I’ll start believing that something good might come out of this.
+ Interesting-Looking Series +
Zombie-Loan
Summary: “When a human is marked to die, a faint gray line that is invisible to most appears around their neck. As time passes, that ring becomes darker and darker, until it is eventually black, and that person dies. Kita Michiru has an unusual gift, she posses “Shinigami eyes,” which allow her to see these rings. When Michiru notices that two of the boys in her Class, Akatsuki Chika and Tachibana Shito not only have rings, but that they’re jet black, they reveal to her that the were supposed to die in a tragic accident six months ago. With the help of the Zombie Loan loan office, they were given a second chance at life, should they be able to pay for their debt by doing the work of Shinigami and killing malicious zombies. They petition Michiru to assist them in their efforts, and she finds her everyday life changing dramatically.”
Thoughts: While the concept is garbage, I admit that I like the director, he’s currently directing Hitohira, he did Rumic Theater in the past (a series I recently finished and really liked) and the storyboard of none other than Gintama. Unfortunately, the series-composition is done by the same guy who did Good Witch of the West, and probably was the one responsible for its rushed story. Let’s hope he’ll be able to learn something from the director.
Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files
Summary: “Caught up in an illegal mission to steal military secrets, Armored Trooper Chirico Cuvie is on the run from his own army. Left to die by his traitorous commanders, Chirico makes his way to Uoodo City – a hive of criminals and refugees – where he`ll need all of his battlefield-honed skills to survive. Driven by the image of a mysterious woman whose destiny is linked to his own, Chirico begins a quest that will shake the foundations of the entire galaxy! (U.S. Manga Corps)” – (taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: The interesting thing about this anime is not only the fact that nobody seems to talk about it, it’s also the director who can send it into a really interesting direction: Ryousuke Takahashi. He’s worked on many series in the past, but most importantly: he directed Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, Flag and Hi no Tori. This means that we can expect an extremely solid and realistic piece of work here.
Mushiuta
Summary: “In near future in Japan, there appear grotesque monsters called “Mushi”, who parasitize people and give them supernatural powers. “Mushitsuki”, the hosts of “Mushi”, are frightened, hated, and abandoned from the society. The story features a high school student Kusuriya Daisuke, who encounters a girl on his way to school on the first day he transfers. Somehow, he and the girl, Anmoto Shiika, stand near the railroad crossing and feel attracted to each other. As if they are seeking for something missing in themselves, their relation gets close rapidly. However, Shiika is a fugitive from GARDEN, a secret asylum of “Mushitsuki”. Tokkan, or Special Environment Preservation Agency, which is responsible for finding “Mushitsuki” in order to put them into the asylum orders Kakko, their top agent and strongest “Mushitsuki” to hut down Shiika. However, there are people who fight against “Tokkan”. The resistance, Mushibane, is looking for “Mushitsuki” whose existence is deleted from the society. The female leader, Lady Bird, orders the member to save Shiika before Tokkan finds her. The fights between “Mushitsuki” and “Mushibane” over Shiika, breaking normal life, their super natural powers sparkle. During the fights beyond one’s imagination, young people are losing their lives miserably. However, the Mushitsuki have the destiny they cannot escape from. The mushi eats the host’s dream in exchange for of giving him supernatural power. When, the mushi eat up host’s dreams, he will die.” – (taken from AnimeNfo and corrected some obnoxious spelling and grammar-errors)
Thoughts: I’m no big fan of the boy and girl who get together, teenage romance is so easy to screw up. The rest of the premise, though, does show promise for a tragic story, but I’m a bit disappointed that the “Mushi” turned into huge monsters instead of the buzzing creatures that I originally thought they were. I’m also intrigued by the person behind the series composition: Reiko Yoshida. He or she (?) really has a huge amount of experience, and worked on lots of excellent series in the past, like Saiunkoku Monogatari, Popolocrois, Ghost Hunt and Deltora Quest. But the character-designs are done by the same guy who did them for Bakuretsu Tenchi? I fear.
+ Definitely Looking Forward To +
Shigurui
Summary: “Based on a seinen manga by Yamaguchi Takayuki, serialised in Champion RED. We are in the sixth year of the Kan’ei era (1629), at the beginning of the Edo period. The story takes place inside the castle of Suruga. The first duel of a tournament which, in contravention of all existing laws, allows the use of real swords, brings together for the last time two mighty swordsmen whose intertwined past is as beautiful and gruesome as the wounds upon their bodies… An exceptional manga artist decides to tackle the forbidden work by the last giant figure in samurai literature, only to give birth to a colossal period drama filled with unspeakable tragedy and cruelty!” – (taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Even though it sounds rather bloody, I’m actually really excited about this. Apparently, the manga isn’t afraid at all to show mature themes, which might turn out pretty interesting if handled well.
Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei
Summary: “Sayonara Zetsubousensei is a episodic manga that plays around with japanese terms/parodies/popular culture and anime culture kinda like the author’s previous work Katte ni Kaizou. The protaganist is Itoshiki糸色 Nozumu 望but when you combine the kanji for itoshiki and nozumu, it becames zetsubou (despair) 絶望 hence the title of the work. The supporting cast is made up of dysfunctional students(each having his/her own unique character) from his class and he is not teaching at an all-girls high school.” – (taken from Meikuuzanshouken)
Thoughts: That main character sounds like a very interesting character, and while I’m not too fond of the all-girls high school he ends up in, I can see myself enjoying seeing him getting tortured by his students, and worry about his situation at the same time. The director did series as Pani Poni Dash and Le Portrait de Petit Cosette, so he should know how to handle the despair of Nozomu.
Tetsuko no Tabi
Summary: “This is a slightly odd sort of manga: basically the “story” is that a manga artist is asked by her boss to accompany him and a travel-writer on various train trips around Japan and draw a manga about it. The kicker though, is that it’s completely non-fiction — the creator really did go on all these trips, and the manga simply records what happened, with no embellishment. There’s a little disclaimer at the front that says “This is non-fiction, so I apologize for the lack of drama,” and indeed, it mostly is just about them riding trains from place to place, waiting on platforms, etc.; there’s none of the silly artificial melodrama that sometimes accompanies info-manga. Despite the disclaimer, however, it’s really very entertaining.”
Thoughts: The character-designs that can be found on the official site made me probably even more enthusiastic than I already was about this anime. I’d love to see whether such a concept will actually work, and by the looks of the characters, they might actually pull it off.
+ Top-5 Looking Forward To +
Code-E
Summary: “The story of Code E deals with a new female highschool transfer student who has the strange ability to disrupt electronic equipment.” – (taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Why am I so excited about this series? Well, it’s all about the people working on it. The director, Toshiyuki Kato previously did epics as Full Moon wa Sagashite, he did a few episodes of Simoun (episode 16 included, an episode I just can’t stop praising for its awesomeness), and he also did Ginga Densetsu Weed, which had some truly remarkable death-scenes. Junji Nishimura is one of the people behind the screenplay for Code-E, and he was the one who directed Simoun, and did a whole bunch of episodes for that series as well. Another guy who will do the screenplay is Toshifumi Kawase, or the guy behind the script of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and The Law of Ueki. With people like these behind it, how can this possibly go wrong?
Tales of Symphonia
Summary: “The story follows Lloyd, who among others accompanies a chosen girl, who will bring salvation to the a fictional fantasy-world. At least, that’s what he originally thinks. As the story unfolds, the problems the world is currently currently suffering from will really become clear. It’s a story to save people who can’t live anywhere without being shunned and looked down upon.”
Thoughts: When I started this blog, there were two major anime that played a big factor in it. The first is obviously Mahou Shoujotai, and the second series was Tales of Phantasia. Now that a sequel of the game it’s based on is getting animated, is there any way for me not to blog it? 🙂 I’m just a bit worried about the official site, though, since all important characters have been removed from the main-page apart from Lloyd and Cosette. I don’t hope that the creators will make their love-relationship the biggest focus of the story, since the parts that focused on racism and the protection of loved ones were much, much more interesting.
Baccano!
Summary: “Baccano is Italian for noise, but Narita translates it as “stupid commotion.” Each of the stories in the series involves several unrelated plots intersecting and crossing each other as events spiral farther and farther out of control. Immortal alchemists, mafia operated speakeasies, and many other elements of pulp fiction mashed together for a world straight out of the movies.” – (taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I already knew that this anime was going to be produced, and I quite liked the art. But when I read the premise above, I fell in love with it. A collection of stories, unrelated to each other, crossing each other, playing in the 1930s, with trains and immortal alchemists? Directed by the people behind Jigoku Shoujo? Sign me up!!
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Summary: The anime consists out of a number of arcs. In each arc, certain characters will live the same time-line, but their actions and focus is totally different. The first season featured the first six arc, now the second season will feature the last three arcs, including one that is completely original, and serves as a bridge between the first and second season.
Thoughts: Even though the first season may have had its bumps, its good parts were really good, and I adored its huge degree of mystery. I’m so glad that the second season is finally getting near.
Mononoke
Summary: “The spin-off of Bake Neko, the third part of Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror”
Thoughts: Bake Neko already was pure awesomeness, and now we get it in 12-episode format. I seriously can’t WAIT for it to air!]]>
Rumiko Takahashi's Rumic Theater Review – 89/100
Before I start with the usual review, I first have to say that this is the 100th review I’ve written for my site!
Okay, I’m finally back with my reviews of the interesting-looking 12/13-episode series. For the past few months, I’ve either been too busy, the series I downloaded turned out to suck (Gun Frontier), or the bittorrent files got stuck in the middle due to lack of seeders. Bittorent really isn’t the best way to get your hands on the rare series out there. Luckily, after a bit of searching, I found out that Vision-Anime still had this series on IRC-bots. Anyway, onto the review.
Rumiko Takahashi is a great writer, in my opinion. She just has one huge bad point: she doesn’t know when to stop. The first season of Ranma 1/2 was just classic, though I quickly lost interest with the second season, and to think that the entire series was seven seasons long! Inu Yasha also spawns lots of people bashing it, though based on the things I’ve heard, it would have been a great 26-episode series, and I can imagine something similar being the case with Urusai Yatsura. So what about her short stories? Well, they rock. 🙂
Mermaid Forest already showed this once, but the stories in Rumic Theater also were really entertaining. While not as good as Mermaid Forest, it’s a real recommendation to any slice-of-life fan.
Rumic Theater really fits perfectly along with three other series I’ve seen recently: Human Crossing, Seraphim Call and Sentimental Journey. If you liked any of these four, you’ll like the other three as well. Yet again we have a random story about a random person for every episode, unrelated to each other apart from a few references here and there. While Sentimental Journey showed how twelve girls deal with their past crushes, Human Crossing shows the problems and the worries of various adults and Seraphim Call centres around eleven rather unique girls in a futuristic setting, Rumic Theater features thirteen ordinary people or families, with extraordinary things happening to them.
These people really couldn’t be more normal, they actually could be your neighbour if you lived in Japan. If you’d ever like to see how normal families live, and what their problems are, Rumic Theatre is the perfect show for this, as it really takes a step away from all the usual stereotypes you see in anime that deal with modern Japan. The extraordinary things can be anything. Some of these events can happen to anyone, like being invited to a school reunion, after 25 years of absence. Others deal with supernatural elements, like a salaryman who keeps getting bothered by the ghost of his deceased wife, while some of them could happen in real life, but are just really improbable, like a housewife, having to take care of a penguin.
Enough blabbering about the contents. How does it deliver? Well, to be honest, Rumic Theatre has the best entertainment value out of all four series mentioned above. For starters it doesn’t really have any clear bad points, unlike Human Crossing, which had the nasty tendency to end its episodes forced and unnatural, or Seraphim Call, which was really inconsistent and a bit too unpredictable, or Sentimental Journey, which had a few boring cases.
And Rumic Theatre still manages to come up with thirteen individual, well developed and varied cases. Two or three episodes were really sad ones, while others really cracked me up at times, others were heart-warming and plain sweet, and all of them had some kind of hidden message. Each of the episodes, the better and lesser ones, were some great character studies, accompanied by a nice atmosphere.
Another interesting thing was that actually quite a few cases centre on a misunderstanding. While this was sort-of annoying in Sentimental Journey, they didn’t really mind me with Rumic Theatre, and some of these cases actually were brilliant, even though you knew beforehand that the main character’s view was completely wrong. Out of the four series mentioned above, it really felt the most natural, the stories fit the episode-format perfectly, and rarely was there a rushed episode.
In terms of graphics something needs to be said, though. Don’t expect any beautiful girls with bright hair and crisp and detailed character-designs. The character-designs are done in a typical Rumiko Takahashi-style, but they do look rather outdated. They by no means look bad, though if you need detailed and mainstream character-designs in your anime, you probably will get annoyed with Rumic Theater.
Overall, even though I’ve seen four series with almost the same premise, I still can’t get enough of them. If you want thought-provoking cases, then go and check out Sentimental Journey. If you want a thick atmosphere, go for Human Crossing. For lots of creativity Sentimental Journey is best, and if you want a bit of everything and a good dose of humour here and there, Rumic Theatre is the best. A few highlights were:
Sentimental Journey: Episode 6 and 10
Human Crossing: Episode 4 and 13
Seraphim Call: Episode 2 and 7
Rumic Theatre: Episode 6 and 12
Each of them are well worth watching. ^_^]]>
May Summary
+ May Anime Rankings +
I still haven’t found a good name for this, as I’m still finding the right format for it. This time, I decided to throw everything just in one category, instead of splitting things up. Only the best ten have gotten some screenshots, as frankly, I got a bit tired of finding screenshots for 40 series each month.
#32: Shining Tears X Wind – I think this is what you’d call a guilty pleasure. I agree with everyone how badly this show is written, but because of my love for RPG-adaptations, I just can’t get myself to drop it.
#31: Kaze no Stigma – Back when it first aired, I remember writing a rather harsh review against it. That maybe wasn’t the best idea, as what followed were more than twenty people who liked the show commented to defend it, and somehow that post became my biggest source of Google hits for more than a month. Because of this, I decided to check it out, though what I found was that the three main characters were all just too annoying. Luckily, in episode six I finally found something that made me want to keep watching: seeing the red-haired girl grow. I really want her to beat up that idiotic male main character somewhere in this series.
#30: Heroic Age – It’s epic, but it doesn’t really do anything for me. I hoped for a complex plot in this one, but it seems that it’ll just feature a fight between Age and some random opponent. Let’s hope the second half comes with a bit more depth.
#29: Koutetsu Sangokushi – You know, the show could indeed use better scriptwriters, and some character designs just look a bit too ridiculous, but I do admit that the death in episode 6 was quite good.
#28: Tokyo Tribe 2 – This series keeps hopping over the line of credibility, but it’s a nice watch.
#27: Lucky Star – So far, I’ve had a few good laughs from Lucky Star, it’s definitely the best Kyoto-Animation series that I’ve seen so far. But it’s definitely not the best series of the season, in my opinion, and the Lucky Channel was a bad idea.
#26: The Skull Man – The protagonists are definitely annoying, but there’s some decent mystery in this series. It also helps that this is just going to have 12 episodes, so there won’t be room for fillers.
#25: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – Frankly, after Popolocrois I don’t really care about the now famous death of episode eight anymore. It was way too long and drawn out. And do NOT get me started on how the princess’s BOX just happened to be dropped right next to Simon when he was taking a stroll.
#24: Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula – Tj Han possibly worded this best: it’s the most racial and culturally ignorant show out there. The characters are good, but someone please fix those nationalistic aspects of this show. Plus, the show still makes no sense.
#23: Darker than Black – Surprisingly, this turned out good when it started focusing on the main story. But the gore may have been a bit too much.
#22: Reideen – So far, Reideen has had to battle a few nearly impossible enemies, and while I’m not too much of a fan of the Deus ex Machina from episodes 10, the characters are appealing.
#21: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS – Okay, the good guys have potential, the bad guy has great promise to become great, now live up to these expectations!
#20: Gintama – Hilarious as always, especially Katsura in episode 28.
#19: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge – At this point, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is drawing near its end, and has to start wrapping up its stories and start the serious drama, in true anime fashion. Surprisingly, it made quite a good start, not forfeiting the humour that made the series great.
#18: Murder Princess – Despite the silliness, the serious parts in the second episode were really touching.
#17: Power Puff Girls Z – Episode 37 was quite possibly the best episode of this series yet. This series is ranked so low on this list because I want more, seeing as it was the only episode released this month.
#16: El Cazador – I’m fearing that El Cazador is about to hit a series of fillers, like it started in episode nine. I’m hoping that it’ll feature some character-development in any of the following episodes.
#15: Ooedo Rocket – So far, Ooedo Rocket has featured some good and some less interesting episodes. While some of the episodes were disappointing, the good ones were awesome. 🙂
#14: Kekkaishi – Finally, the third protagonist arrives, and I already like him.
#13: Romeo x Juliet – That kiss in episode 7 was actually a great one. This series turned out way better than I thought.
#12: Deltora Quest – Deltora Quest continued with its excellent storytelling, though the releases have been quite slow this month.
#11: Death Note – At the moment, Death Note has really become more consistent. When compared to the first half, there are nearly no bad points, but the good points don’t reach the heights of those in the first half. So far, though, I like it a lot.
#10: Les Miserables
The second arc was really different from the first one, it was much quieter. While I loved it, it just doesn’t match up to the awesomeness of the Thenardier-arc.
#9: Seirei no Moribito
The most complex and hardest anime to understand since Ergo Proxy. Still, I’m having a blast, trying to figure out what’s happening. I’m quite curious about what this series is going to do in its second half.
#8: Claymore
The Teresa-arc was definitely one step above the Raki-arc, and while it was quite amazing, it also reminded me that this is a shounen-series. Luckily, Claymore is rumoured to go down quite a different path when compared to your usual shounen-series. Episode nine already showed hints of this.
#7: Saiunkoku Monogatari
The second season has been excellent so far. Shuurei just continues to grow more and more, but Eigetsu was the one to make the most impact on me.
#6: Toward the Terra
Even though I liked Jomie better, Keith has proved to be quite an interesting protagonist, along with Sam, Swena and Shiroe. The art style still rocks.
#5: Hitohira
Why did I ever think of dropping this series!? It’s awesome, and episodes eight and nine have been amazing!
#4: Dennou Coil
One of the most imaginative series I’ve seen in quite a while. Great art, excellent animation, what more could you want?
#3: Kaze no Shoujo Emily
The focus has mostly been on Emily, but she makes such an adorable character. It’s a huge shame that nearly everyone is ignoring this, as it’s one of the best of the season.
#2: Wellber no Monogatari
Yes, call me crazy, but I greatly enjoyed the past few episodes of Wellber no Monogatari have been increasingly awesome, and I’m warming up to the characters more and more with every episode. Rita, Tina and Galahad are surprisingly likable, the OP is still my favourite for this season, and it’s another perfect example of an underdog who deserves more attention.
#1: Bokura no
Even though it has been toned down, according to the manga-readers, it didn’t prevent me from enjoying this excellent series. Not only are the characters extremely likable, it also makes sure of enough twists and turns to keep the story fresh.
+ Random Notes +
– When C1 released the first episode of Perrine, it seemed like a good idea to start checking out more series of the World Masterpiece Theatre, since Les Miserables has turned out really good so far. So far, the first episode has potential, though the graphics took a bit of time to get used to, as they’re as old-school as they can get. It’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out.
– Another older series I went to check out was one recommended to me by Wyrdwad: Ashita no Nadja. If you’re a shoujo-fan, I definitely recommend you to check it out, as I’ve seen the first 16 episodes, and there were some beautiful episodes among them, not to mention that nearly every character has some sort of charming side. I’ve only got one complaint, it’s fascinating to see how Nadja and the others travel through Europe, but no matter where she goes, she always runs into someone or something important to the plot. It’s a good thing that the results of these encounters are great to watch, though. ^^;
– Does anyone know what happened to the fansubs of Strange Dawn by NiTe? I’m actually craving for some more of that series, I can’t understand why people would neglect such an excellent gem for so long.
– I’m already looking forward to the summer-season, as some sequels to some already awesome anime have been planned (Mononoke and Higurashi). My preview should be up in a couple of days.
+ Top 5 Episodes +
#5: Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 08 – A perfect example of a touching episode, when it starts focusing on Emily’s dead mother.
#4: Power Puff Girls Z – 37 – Okay, I mentioned this before, but I absolutely loved this episode and its parodies. Here’s to hoping more of these kinds of episodes will follow.
#3: Wellber no Monogatari – 08 – The definite proof that this show knows what it’s doing. If you still dislike this show after this episode, then it’s definitely not your cup of tea.
#2: Ooedo Rocket – 05 – Glad to see that the subs are out, and I can already see some people posting about how good it is. Just wait till they see episode five. ^_^
#1: Popolocrois 2003 – 23 – The beginning of one of the rumoured best endings in an anime ever. This episode showed that there is an actual possibility for this to be true.]]>
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