January Summary

+ Top 5 Anime with one Episode Watched + This section is getting smaller and smaller, due to the fact that I’m watching more and more shows raw. If this continues, I’m going to combine the two lists again. #5: Angelique 2007 I wanted to like this series. I really did. But the concept is just garbage. #4: Giant Robo Before I’m going to really judge this anime, I need to see a high-quality version of the first episode. If I recall correctly, it’ll be released around the beginning of February. So far, the things I saw are interesting. #3: Strike Witches I expected this to be major garbage, though the use of classical music and the fact that it short actually made up for a lot. #2: Soukou no Strain Soukou no Strain seems to be in some kind of huge hiatus, seeing that only one episode got released this month. All that’s left now is to wait for its ending. As things look now, it can go anywhere. #1: Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi Why, oh why did this series have to air on the number-one prime-time spot for anime? Surely, it’s a great series, but it’ll never become popular. Because only popular shows are allowed at that timeslot, Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi got its original length of fifty episodes friggin’ halved. That’s another thing I have against popular series. They just give no chance against the lesser-known and most often better series. + Top 29 Anime with more than one Episode Watched + One thing I realized after watching one month of the winter-season is that this season has a lot of mediocre series which just are good enough for me to keep watching them. A lot of series are mediocre with one or two very good points, which keep me interested. #29: Shuffle! Memories So, wait… this entire series is going to be one huge recap-series? What the heck? At least Wolf’s Rain had a good reason for it’s recap-arc. Dropped. #28: Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora I tried to watch this, but failed. Kuu is even more annoying than Himeko, and that has to say something. The laughable cheesiness soon turned into incredibly boring cheesiness. Dropped. #27: Afro Samurai Nice action, good animation, but the script. Holy god, the script. It’s a huge collection of clichés. And please teach the creators a bit of physics and the capabilities of the human body. Seriously. #26: Getsumen to Heiki Mina Fairly amusing, but way too much fanservice. Some of the jokes work really well, though, but it needs a bit more realism to succeed. Also, please kill all the characters with big lips in this show. Lips like these have never worked, and they never will. #25: Nodame Cantabile I still don’t know what to think of this show. It seems full of potential, everyone likes it, but I can’t see what’s so special about it. I’m going to continue to watch the subbed version in the hope it’ll turn better in the future. #24: Yoshinaga-chi no Gargoyle Ugh, dammit. The problem with this show is that it doesn’t realize where it’s brilliant at. At one time, it hit the nail, but instead of continuing to hammer this nail, it tries to hit everywhere. Even at the places which don’t make any sense. #23: Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou I’ve seen more shows which mess around a bit with their episode-order, placing a late episode as the first episode, in order to give a good first impression. Gintama and Power Puff Z, for example. The thing is, both Gintama and Power Puff Z had rather bad first episodes, and turned better with the following episodes. Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou, however, had an excellent first episode, but the second one was just boring. I hope this isn’t some kind of sign. Still, I must congratulate this series for being the first to include actual grunting in its OP. Now all that’s left is to pick a good song, but it’s a good step in the way of introducing Metal to anime (I’m a huge metal-fan, if you didn’t know already). #22: Hidamari Sketch This show certainly isn’t a horrible one, and it most definitely has its funny moments. Impz forced me to watch till episode three, and after watching them, I have to say that this show actually is quite nice. It’s got great direction, however I won’t continue to watch it, unfortunately. Not because the show is bad, but because a pure slice-of-life series isn’t just in my taste. I want something to happen to our main character. See them talk with each other and have fun may look interesting, it won’t make me care about them. #21: Saint October Great show, though it keeps milking a bit too much on the sadistic jokes at times, and I wish it’d take itself a bit more seriously at times. Still, I love the bad-guy parodies. You also have to give this series credit for the most original transformation sequence. #20: Code Geass This month showed some very interesting developments for Code Geass. Nice plot twists, though for some reason, I just can’t seem to care about its characters. It could be because they’re annoying, and they seem to lack something. #19: Venus Versus Virus I’m feeling a bit awkward about this one. It’s a great series, episode three also featured a great case, but it seems to be missing something. I’m not sure what exactly it is, but I hope this anime finds it through the course of the series. #18: Manabi Straight I was seriously surprised at episode four. Here I was, expecting a rather energetic slice-of-life series, and then here it comes with its incredibly deep character-study of Mei. I never thought that the creators would go that way, but if it’s got more episodes like this, I’m in! Another thing I love about this anime is how its background music features a number of percussion-tunes. Great for giving it a chaotic feeling. #17: Himawari!! I know I commended this series after its first episode, but after seeing four episodes, I’m beginning to notice something troublesome. The monster-of-the-week theme is a bit too apparent, up to the point where it actually works annoying. It also seems to be focusing a bit too much on comedy, instead of character-development. It’s a pity, as the fights and antagonists are hilarious, and the character development that actually does get showcased is very interesting to see. I also freaked out when I realized that the ED for each episode is sung by a different voice-actress. Seriously, Himeji’s voice actress SO can’t sing. XD #16: Demashita!! Power Puff Girls Z We now turn to the really good series. First of all, Power Puff Z. Especially the Him-episode was really good. He still is the most evil villain of the series, but I’m so glad that the creators gave him a rather humorous side. The original series made the mistake of displaying him way to serious and evil, though this version of Him is just hilarious and scary at the same time. The episode with the carrot, selery and peppers who went to live on another planet was just brilliant. #15: Gintama Whoa… this series can be pretty serious when it wants to. Not only that, it’s one of the few comedy-series which can actually pull this off and turn even better because of this. #14: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge Luckily, my hunch that this series played all its major trump cards in its first four episodes was wrong. This month has been hilarious for Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge. I love how it’s such a hugely energetic and fast-paced comedy. #13: Kekkaishi Kekkaishi still remains strong, despite being a shounen-fighting series. One of the things that makes it great is that it’s got a cast of hilarious characters, which really brighten up the mood of the episodes. Because of this, it actually managed to make the main love interest a bit believable. #12: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto This still remains an excellent series. There’s a huge amount of references to Japan’s history, I’d probably get dizzy if it wasn’t for w’s comments. Unfortunately, however, this series has been stuck inside a three-episode intermezzo this month. I’m glad the next episode will get back on track. #11: Chevalier Chevalier has just entered its second half, which means that it’s time for this show to prove itself. So far, it’s had some great time to build up. We’ve seen some very interesting scenes this month, there’s a great amount of politics and common sense in this anime, but it still is too early to call it amazing. #10: Ghost Hunt This month brought a huge wave of Ghost Hunt-releases. While the third arc may have been a bit too predictable, episode 11 was hilarious, while episode 12 and 13 featured a extremely touching tale about the ghost of a young boy. I can’t wait to find out what the second half of this anime has in store. #9: Red Garden Red Garden has been more interesting than ever. It’s been moving away from angst and character-driven episodes towards plot-driven episodes. Especially Hervé was awesome this month. I love his sadism towards Lise. ^^ #8: Night Head Genesis This month, I managed to finish Night Head Genesis. It definitely was a very original ending. Okay, so it may have been just a prologue to some tv-series, the fact does remain that that was the point this anime ended for me. It’s a bit tricky to decide what exactly can be defined as an ending in this case. It’s just like with manga-based anime. Fruits Basked and xxxHolic, for example. There’s still lots of story, though the anime ended rather abrupt. Still, since I don’t read any manga or watch any Japanese drama, etc, I’m going to consider this as the ending of Night Head Genesis. And boy, was it a great one. 🙂 #7: Deltora Quest Okay, when an anime comes with a bunch of puzzles and word games, you know it’s time to switch to the subs. Seriously, the fourth episode was just impossible to understand without proper knowledge of what’s happening. And I’m suspecting that the riddles will only get more difficult with each episode progressing. I don’t want to miss any second of this, so I’m going to be waiting for the subs. #6: Master of Epic This show is just brilliant. It’s just so full of hilarious parodies and sketches. Just too bad that of the fourth episode. #5: Les Miserables Les Miserables already has left a huge impression on me. Unless it’ll forget that it’s supposed to have 52 episodes, I can’t see a lot of things to mess up this story. So far, I love it. 🙂 #4: Saiunkoku Monogatari Shuurei has been fairly surprising this week, when people actually start toying with her feelings. Still, the huge cast of characters was brilliant. #3: Otogi Juushi Akazukin With the start of December, Otogi Juushi Akazukin suddenly turned the quality up one gear. And ever since, it’s been dishing out one awesome episode after the other. Even now, this series is as awesome as ever. You just have to love Dark Shirayuki, the dwarves and Gretel, who’s finally going to stand up for herself. And Akazukin’s background just turned out Awesome. 🙂 #2: Death Note Death Note is already into one of its major climaxes, and that with still so many episodes to go. The past few episodes have been full of juicy plot twists. I couldn’t help but love them. #1: Jigoku Shoujo I’m not sure if the subbers stopped subbing this series right before the awesome episodes came on purpose, but the fact remains that Jigoku Shoujo has been getting better and better. Some of the cases were just insane, while others featured some brilliant plot twists. + Newly Announced Anime + Since there was no December-summary, these are the anime which were announced for the past two months. Ranked from least interesting to most interesting. There are some beauties among them, and, unfortunately, also some horrible-sounding ones. The new trends seem to be remakes of ancient anime and lots of mecha. Nanatsuiro Drops “What if, when watching the stars outside the window… What if, when writing in your secret diary at the end if the day… …A mysterious light suddenly falls from the sky… 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~” – Ugh… darn it. Another hentai-game adaptation. They stayed away during the winter-season (not counting the abridged Shuffle!), though it looks like they’ll be coming back to haunt me. Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo “This is a heartful school adventure at a high school on the isolated island. They are enjoying their life there, sometimes reacting against each other.” – (taken from Himeyashop) – “Sometimes”? “Sometimes”?! So most of the time, they’re just alone, sitting around like zombies doing nothing? How can characters like these just react “sometimes” with each other. Unless they’re emo, this can never become interesting. But since this is a hentai-game adaptation and it’s listed as a heartful school adventure, I’d say that the chance is very slim that this is going to be something interesting. Touka Gettan No Summary Yet – The staff is going to be the same as with Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabi (note to self: watch it someday). While I haven’t seen it, I can say that this anime will make sure of some great eye-candy, since the genius behind Simoun’s character designs is working on it. Too bad we’re dealing with a hentai-game adaptation here. -_- Prism Ark “Finally getting the acceptance notice, Hyaweh travels to the Isle of Rozenberg, which is holded by the Rozenberg Family, the most powerful family in Wind Land, second to the absence Royal Family. In there is the best school for knights wannabes, privately funded by Duke Kizarov Rozenberg, the number one Knight in Wind Land. However, as it turns out, Hyaweh is actually two whole weeks late and from there on spirals his wacky journey to knighthood in the midst of a devastating war taking place, which will hit home closer than what anyone could’ve imagine.” – (summary taken from Ayyo) – It’s a pity, I like the concept, the art looks interesting, though the fact does remain that we’ve got ourselves another hentai-game adaptation again. After the autumn-season, I really lost my hopes on this genre. I hope this one can at least prove me wrong, but for now, I’m suspecting that this one will fall just as hard as the others. Darker than Black “Suddenly anomalous field impossible to analyze appears in Tokyo. As if they responded to the field named “Hell’s Gate”, people that have new powers and completely different from the current human begins appear. They have lost their minds and sometimes kill people cruelly. People call them “Contractor” with fear.” – (taken from AnimeNfo) – “The main character, Hei is some super top-class agent, at ‘The Organisation’. He’s one of the best in this group of people with supernatural powers, called “keiyakusha”. As such he’s an invaluable member of The Organisation. He seems to be a solitary guy who won’t allow others in his heart. Currently he is posing as a timid Chinese university student called Li Shun Sheng. The seemingly lead female, Yin is a support staff in Hei’s team. She seems normal but she’s got absolutely no emotions at all and is sometimes called “Doll”. She’s also blind, but her other senses have been honed to such a level that she can… instantaneously understand the physical situation around her for a radius of 50m.” – (Translated by wao) – I can’t really say I’m interested in the characters. The main character just sounds like Naru-chan with most of his personality removed (and of course he’s the strongest keiyakusha around), while a female character without any emotions won’t be getting a lot of development, will she? Hayate the Combat Butler “With a debt of 1.5 million, 16-year old Hayate Ayasaki’s parents sell him to the yakuza to pay it off. Not wanting to be cut up and sold on the black market, Hayate escapes from the yakuza thugs, and finds a very rich girl by the name of Nagi wandering in a park at night. Deciding to kidnap the girl for ransom money, Hayate’s kidnapping speech was wrongly taken as a confession of love to Nagi. She finds out about the debt, and, feeling sorry for Hayate, pays it off, as long as Hayate will be her butler until he pays off the 1.5 million (which will take about 40 years).” – Just when I thought that the concepts couldn’t get any worse. Ah well, at least it isn’t a hentai-game adaptation. Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula “The human race has recovered from the cataclysmic disaster now known as the “Equator Winter”. Now, each country begins to battle one another with robots to establish the new world order. A 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl operate Japan’s robot. Now begins their robot battle.” – (taken from AnimeNfo) – This is a very ambitious project. It’s got no less than fourteen different people behind its mecha designs. It seems like each person designed a different mecha. Still, I hope the creators aren’t serious with a project like this. I mean, they’ve got to find a very, very good reason to make these two brats pilot the mecha which can control the entire fate of Japan, especially when Adults can do the job much better. Overdrive “The story centers around a boy who aims to become the number one bicyclist in the world.” – (taken from manganews) – This seems like your standard shounen-sports anime. I haven’t been a big fan of this genre. I’m not sure why, actually. Kaze no Stigma “the Story is about the Guy, who got kicked out of his fire Clan because he had no talent. 4 years down the road he comes back to Japan and has power to manipulate the wind, and on his return to japan he is a Suspect in a murder.” – (summary by evil-samurai) – The art looks interesting. This is going to be a shounen-fantasy anime. It does have potential, though the production behind it is rather weak. The character design is done by someone who’s only done mediocre ones before, while the others have only been working on mediocre anime. They’ve got some nice voice-actors, though. The woman who did Yuuko is on it, just as Sakura’s and Karada’s voice actress (from Tsubasa Chronicle and Asatte no Houkou). Princess Resurrection “The story centres on the character of school boy Hiro Hiyorimi who is struck by a car in an accident. Unbeknownst to him, his life is saved by a princess of darkness who feeds him her blood immediately after the incident.” – (taken from Anime News Service) – Based on a “gothic horror / dark comedy / heavy moe themed comic”. I like the goth horror, though the heavy-moe themes worry me a bit. Still, this can become interesting. If the creators somehow manage to make the love relationship between the two characters interesting. Heroic Age The only thing known about this anime is that Xebec is producing it, and the character designs are done by Hirai Hisashi. This guy has his own distinctive style, in my opinion, just look at Fafner, Gundam Seed Destiny and Gin-Iro no Olynsis. I’m suspecting we’re dealing with another mecha-anime. I wonder whether it’ll become great, or just turn into a plain old flop. Potemayo Hmm, I haven’t managed to find a summary for this one, but it seems to involve normal schoolgirls who meet up with two strange chibi-witches/mahou shoujo. Some of the people who worked on Venus Versus Virus are also involved in this one, and I’m suspecting that this will be another one of those cute slice-of-life series. Engage Planet Kiss Dum This seems to be some kind of epic mecha-anime, not much is known about it yet. The staff behind it also seems to have worked on Banner and Crest of the stars. I’ve heard that these were good anime, though I’ve yet to see them myself. sola It’s been listed as fantasy, seinen and romance. Apart from that, we’ve got some character designs, and that’s it about the information known about this anime. It actually has me interested so far, but I’m fearing that this will turn into another one of those moe comedies. Lovely Complex “Koizumi Risa, current height 170 cm. Her surname is translated to “small river”. A girl taller than most other girls her age. Otani Atsushi, current height 156 cm. His surname is translated to “big valley”. A guy way below the average height of a highschool boy. They’re both known all around school as the comedian duo for looking like nothing but funny while standing beside each other. Due to this fact, they’ve been on one another’s bad side ever since they first met. One day, a new transfer student shows up and he happens to be very tall! Koizumi immediately gets interested in this boy and Otani suddenly proposes a silly idea to Koizumi. The idea is that they are to help each other out to get their respective love interests by all means! Koizumi undoubtedly agrees to this but as in all other shoujo mangas, things never turn out the way people want it to.” – Ah, finally another shoujo anime to be announced. I’m not sure whether I’m going to like it, but a good point is that I can actually relate to the male main character, seeing as I’m very short myself. We’ll see how this turns out. Skull Man “There are mass murders and catastrophes all over Japan, committed by a masked/caped psychic madman called the Skull Man, and his shape-shifting aide Garo (named after the manga ninja Garo created by Sanpei Shirato), who can turn into various powerful mutant monsters. The calamities caused by the Skull Man are investigated by the Tachiki Detective Agency, with the help of a young man named Tatsuo Kagura, the son of a yakuza in the Kagura Clan.” – (taken from Wikipedia) – Interesting, an anti-hero. Shows about anti-heroes are almost always worth watching, since they offer a nice twist to the usual heroes seen in anime. Koutetsu Sangokushi Not much is known about this anime, but with the director of Master of Epic and the guy who did the script for Jigoku Shoujo, Deltora Quest and many more, I’ll be looking forward to it. Cencoroll “For talented animation creators who want an opportunity to create and distribute an ”original work,” ”ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO” offers funds and equipments. Producers belonging to ”ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO” take care and advise selected creators to make pilot films. Production span is about six months to a year. Basically, the pilot films should be based on ”original plans” from the creators. Any form of animation is possible. We will accept any animation style if we feel that it brings out the best of the creator’s style, and we can offer equipments within each individual project budget. By the spring of 2008, we will select 20 creators, and team up with them to establish joint-venture groups (JV) with LLP, ”ANIME INNOVATION TOKYO” etc., to make pilot films together.” – (taken from Anime Innovation Tokyo main site) – Very interesting. I like what these guys are doing. They take small companies, and give them enough budget to create a new, innovative anime. I’m really hoping for some TV-series out of this, though it seems that they’ll be keeping themselves to films and movies. Anyway, Cencoroll is the first one to be selected. So far, a trailer has been released, and it looks quite interesting. Blue Dragon “Blue Dragon follows Shu and his friends as they find themselves capable of manifesting their actions through surprisingly powerful shadows. Not long after, the main cast sets off on a grand adventure that, in true RPG fashion, determines the fate of the world.” (summary by Mr. Sephiroth) – Very interesting, an RPG-adaptation. I’m getting Popolocrois-vibes out of this one, which is always a good thing. I also really like the cast of voice actors. Nearly all of the main characters are voiced by people who have had a lot of different roles, and have a huge amount of experience in the business. It should prove to be very interesting, but Akira Toriyama behind the character design!? What are they, nuts!? To Terra… (Chikyuu e…) “Light-years from Earth, where every aspect of life is controlled by the great master computer, if you are a Psychic (called a MU) you’re dead. Hunted tirelessly, the MU have been hiding for centuries from the general populace.” – (taken from Anime News Network) – Sometimes, the more mysterious an anime is, the more interesting it sounds. That’s definitely the case for To Terra. I know almost nothing about this one, but somehow I’m really looking forward to watching this. It’s supposed to be a remake of a 1980-series (the description above also comes from the original series). The staff also sounds very interesting, seeing as it features the people behind episode 18 of Mushishi (which was one of the best one of the entire series) and the character design is done by the same guy who did the character designs for Paradise Kiss and Escaflowne. Baccano! “Baccano features an immortal alchemist, married thieves, Mafia siblings, demons and vampires set in 1930s America.” – (by Sonhex) – And that’s about all that’s known about this anime. This seems to be the first anime the original creator is involved with, so perhaps it’ll feature some new, interesting elements. I have to say that I’m quite interested in the concept. The art also looks gorgeous. Kaze no Shoujo Emily “Emily Starr is sent to live at New Moon Farm on Prince Edward Island with her aunts Elizabeth and Laura Murray. She makes friends with Ilse Burnley, Teddy Kent, and Perry Miller, the hired boy, who Aunt Elizabeth looks down upon because he was born in ‘Stovepipe Town’, a poorer district. Each of the children have special gifts. Emily was born to be a writer, Teddy is a gifted artist, Ilse is a talented elocutionist, and Perry has the makings of a great politician. They also each have a few problems with their families. Emily has a hard time getting along with Aunt Elizabeth, who doesn’t understand her need to write. Ilse’s father, Dr. Burnley, ignores Ilse most of the time because of a dreadful secret concerning Ilse’s mother. Teddy’s mother is jealous of her son’s talents and friends, fearing that his love for them will eclipse his love for her. As a result, she hates Emily, Teddy’s drawings, and even his pets. Perry isn’t as well off as the other three, so his Aunt Tom once tries to make Emily promise to marry Perry when they grow up, threatening that unless Emily does so, she won’t pay for Perry’s schooling.” – (taken from Wikipedia) – Okay, I’ve just fallen in love with another concept. The cases of these four children sound extremely interesting. I can’t wait for this one to air. ^^ El Cazador de la Bruja “It’s about a girl named Elis, who finds herself on the run from the so called Hunters of the underground society due to being a suspect of a murder. She meets up with a bounty hunter named Nadi who offers her help and guidance to pursue the truth of her past. For some reason the Hunters are now after her as well.” – (summary by Monir) – When I looked at the list of shows the director worked on, I immediately knew he had to be my hero. He did .Hack//Sign, .Hack//Roots, Noir, Tsubasa Chronicle, and even Popolocrois. With a director like that, I’m really looking forward to this. I’m also getting some heavy Noir-vibes from this one. Should promise to be great. And if things couldn’t get any better, Yuki Kajiura, the genius behind the soundtrack of Noir and .Hack//Sign is going to do the music! + Top 5 episodes + #5: Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 03 The climax grabbed me surprisingly tight. I knew that Thenadier would be mean against Cosette, but I almost couldn’t bear to watch the things she did to Cosette, even though most of the action happened outside of the screen. #4: Death Note – 15 Extremely touching and full of juicy plot twist. That’s how I like Death Note best. I almost couldn’t believe the things that happened to Misa. #3: Saiunkoku Monogatari – 24 Saiunkoku Monogatari dished out a lot of goodness this month, and I feel that this episode showcased the best of it. The best point, in my opinion was Ensei’s lecture towards Kokujun, though Shuurei herself also was awesome. Oh, and let’s not forget the beautiful drawing that was made of Ensei. ^^ #2: Jigoku Shoujo – 37 The thing I loved about this episode is that you probably won’t get its real meaning until you start thinking about it, or look at some kind of blog post about it. That’s what made this episode so awesome. #1: Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 30 Akazukin’s past is better than I ever imagined. Episodes like these make this already awesome anime even more enjoyable.]]>