Finally: an episode of Seirei no Moribito where we know what to expect: Barsa’s past, and it doesn’t disappoint. Seeing young Barsa again was awesome, and like expected, the amount of detail thrown in was as excellent as the rest of the series.
Barsa grew up in Kanbal, a nation, mostly covered in mountain. Her father worked as some kind of doctor, or something similar. Her mother died early. At one point, Barsa’s father ended up angering the emperor, which resulted in him, sending people in to kill his daughter. Because of this, her father asked Jiguro, a member of the royal guard, to protect her. Much like how Chaggumu’s mother asked Barsa to protect her son. This time, however, Barsa had done no wrong, but she’d end up involved in his father’s punishment if she wasn’t taken away.
Jiguro saved Barsa just in time, and they left her birthplace. That night, they stayed in a cave, though a few days later, the first soldier, out to retrieve Barsa arrived. I’m not sure if Jiguro kiled the guy, but he definitely wounded him, breaking his spear in the process. Because of that, they entered a Yogo-village, and came to the blacksmith we saw in episode eight. He forged the spear we saw Barsa wield in the beginning of the anime.
Then, a while later, we see the couple of Barsa and Jiguro running again, and we see another assailant. This one, however, is a former friend of Jiguro: Takuru. An amazing fight follows, and there we see the flashback, shown in episode three, in which Jiguro kills a former comrade, and cries over his dead body.
Then, when they arrived in a new Yogo-town, Barsa learned the news of her father being killed. Jiguro then told Barsa all about it, why he was forced to take her with him, and what happened to her father. Because of this, Barsa asked him to teach him to fight. Jiguro refused, though. Fighting should be something for men. No matter how hard women trained, they’d never be as good as men (HAH!). After Barsa kept insisting, though, Jiguro changed his mind.
They hung out with a couple of what I assume to be low-class fighters after that, where Barsa got her first training. She turned out to be quite popular amongs the guys, and often she was the centre of attention. At one point, however, she went too far, when she started boasting about Jiguro’s fight against Takuru, after which he punished her, with the same intensity of Barsa in episode 19.
Then, they stayed with Tanda and Toroga-shi for ten years, in which Barsa lived with Jiguro peacefully, while training. Interestingly enough, at that time Torogai-shi had four pets, living on her head. I wonder what happened to the others. Ten years later, though, a group of six warriors found them. Barsa was forced to hide, so that Jiguro would be able to take all of them on. We see the episode end as he runs off in a direction, opposite to hers.
Even though I obviously missed a few details, I loved this episode. I wonder why it was necessary to continue the story in the next episode. Barsa’s background could be solved within five minutes or less by the looks of it. I wonder whether there’s some twist left to happen, or something similar. In any case, I now understand why Barsa is so intent on saving Chaggumu: because of Jiguro, who probably died heroically, trying to save her.]]>
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.]]>
Baccano! – 05
This episode sort-of ruined the sense of time I had with this series, when suddenly the hunt for Dallas Genoard was moved back to 1931, and Maiza appeared to already be immortal before he could have had any chance to meet Barnes. The previous episodes have done well to answer the necessary questions, only for this episode to ask a whole bunch of new ones. Maiza-san, for example, also shoots into the ceiling after being stabbed by Firo, as a means of welcome to his new family-member, he shoots in the air and suddenly hits Isaac. What the heck was that guy doing there?!
I’m also rather confused about the 1931-business. In the past episodes, we saw Eve visit the information-office in 1932. In this episode, we see the Runorata-family enter the information-office yet again, but in 1931. Miraculously, though Eve had already visited by then.
Jacuzzi also gets new development, but his past is still full of question-marks. First of all Nick was captured by the guys in black suits, who had no way of knowing what he did in the dining room. We also see a scene of what happened earlier that year, when Jacuzzi was hunted down by bounty-hunters/mafia-guys, and then suddenly saved by Nice and their other companion. Where all of them came from is still unknown. Jacuzzi also talks about how he doesn’t want to kill. Did he mean his comrades, or did his comrades prevent him from using some awful power to slaughter his assailants?
Also, the red-eyed figure we see outside the train. We get some heavy hints that it’s the green-capped woman, but we never see it confirmed. In this episode, we see it use its foggy hand to kill two guys in black suits.
Then Szilard, who raised the biggest question of this episode: he sucked up Barnes with his hand! I admit that I missed some of his explanations, though I doubt that he fully explained what happened there. Afterwards, Quates sends Ennis out to look for Firo, who seemed to be searching for her.
Meanwhile on the train, the guys in black suits return, and they take Nathalie Williams with them. Her daughter, Merry, is safe, hiding with Czeslaw. Isaac and Miria are active again, as they set out to rescue Jacuzzi and Nice (that could be interesting). I also wonder: why did the second conductor at the back of the train die? I mean, I know he killed the younger one, but why were his head and arm ripped off afterwards? In fact, why did he feel the need to kill in the first place?
I like what this series is doing, though. It first starts with an unexplainable mess, and it goes on, things get clearer and clearer. And just when you think you know what’s going on, they throw in a heap of more mysteries to confuse you. It’s a nice tactic, but I hope that everything will come together in the end.]]>
Mononoke – 07
After this episode, I’m going to take a small break to wait for the subs to catch up. It was a nice idea to try and watch this raw, but this is just one of these series that I want to fully understand. Unlike series as Toward the Terra or Seirei no Moribito, who have a continuous storyline, Mononoke deals with stories of 2 to 3 episodes, so every detail counts. I managed to understand this episode in the end, but I was too busy figuring out what happened to really enjoy the episode. ^^;
Still, this episode was really good. It seems that the woman didn’t really understand that she killed her entire family. The family she was married to kept abusing her, and her only glimpse outside was through a barred window. She was caught between her love for her mother, who was the one who married her to her new family, and her desire to be free and play. Her mother may have thought that she did a good thing for her child, by educating her well and taking good care of her, but she never let her do what she wanted. That indirectly caused Ochou to go berserk.
Hence the masks. She put up so many different faces in front of everybody, but she never really had the chance to show her actual face. Until, of course, she started killing. The man with the fox-mask is another one of these faces of hers. If I had to guess, then I’d say it’s the form of her ideal husband.
I’m not sure how many of you remember, but Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi also featured an arc about masks. In there, the girl (I forgot her name, sorry) went berserk because she thought her evil masks showed her true face. Interestingly enough, the conclusion of that arc was that every mask was a part of her, and that there is not one true mask. This arc in Mononoke builds further upon that, and they show how things can go wrong, as Ochou didn’t even realize that she’s been putting up different faces.]]>
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.]]>
Ooedo Rocket – 21
Before I start with the usual episode, I’d like to share the following:
Ooedo rocket – 19
Ooedo rocket – 20
Ooedo rocket – 21
For some reason, no new raws have appeared at all on Tokyo Toshokan, so Kallen requested these. It would be great if someone would host these on a torrent and submit to Tokyo Toshokan, for those who can’t use Megaupload or don’t follow this site. It reminds me of last year, when the same happened to Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club. It’s such a shame that even the raw providers don’t bother with such excellent shows, though it’s great to see that Shinsen Subs are starting to release subs for this series, They’re up to episode eight already.
Anyway, you don’t want to miss any second of this episode, as it’s one of the most hilarious of the entire series. It’s one of these episodes that are completely devoted to comedy and characters-development, while the story takes a step back, and it works perfectly. I finally realize that this is one of the few shows where the building-up scenes are better than the actual climaxes, just because it’s a delight to see al the different characters interact with each other.
Basically, this episode revolves around a play, organized by O-Ise, probably to raise money for the rocket-developments. The entire thing looks completely improvised, and things keep screwing up, but people sure do have fun in the process!! Another interesting thing is that it’s a play, based on Kaguya-hime, but with Seikichi and Sora not in the main roles. Tenhou is the prince (she looks awesome, dressed as Seikichi, by the way), Hiraga Gennai is the farmer who digs Kaguya-hime up, Tenten is the leader of the government officials (combined with a grat accent), with Santa, Shinza and Rokubei as his underlings. Sora plays the voice of Kaguya-hime, and as for Kaguya-hime herself… *grin*
Probably one of the biggest reasons behind the success of this episode was the following: Genzo returns!!!! Finally our hero gets his original form back, and the result turns out awesome. He gets to play the role of Kaguya-hime because of his feminine features as well, and I’m so glad that we finally see him as a normal human again. O-Ise also was brilliant in her role as manager, and not to mention her new costume.
The several interruptions to the play also were hilarious. Both Tetsugyu and Kagiya try to intervene, with hilarious results. Oh, and Shinza falls in love with Genzo in the middle of his acting, and Seikichi blows up the entire stage near the end of the play. ^^;
There also were quite a few subtle jokes in this episode. It again took another jab at modern technology with a new version of the ambulance, and even though people could communicate via earphones, I spotted a tin can, attached to a string at one point. ^^; There’s also a strange cameo from Gurren Lagann, who showed up at random times. I’m not really sure what that one was about. ^^;]]>
Bokura no – 19
And finally there’s another episode without fighting. Heck, the next pilot hasn’t even been announced yet. Okay, we know it’s going to be Jun (I seem to have misunderstood the seventeenth episode, where Koemushi announces the pilot order. It’s not Kanji who’s going to be next, it’s Jun), but still. Anyway, this episode has to be anime-original: it explains Jun’s background, and how Tanaka got pregnant of him.
Kawai turned out to be a good friend of Yun’s father, hence why he’s so friendly with him. He’s the one who tells him the truth, by the way. At the time, though, both of them were involved in shady business. Jun’s father then picked up a high-school girl at one point, whilst being an adult himself. This girl was of course Tanaka.
Things went quick, and they got married and had a baby: Jun. Their happiness didn’t last long, though. I suspect that Jun’s father had gotten in trouble due to the fact that he owed money to the wrong people. As a response, they trashed their house, and made them run away. Jun’s father wanted revenge, though, and he died in the process of doing so. Tanaka was still in danger, however, and so she was forced to separate from Jun, so he was adopted into a new family, whose mother was at the time pregnant of Kana. The mother, however, died when she gave birth. Their father is actually still alive, but I suspect that he’s often gone due to his job. Tanaka, meanwhile, joined the police after her experience. Something tells me that she still felt guilty, which is why she was so eager with the Zearth-case: finally she could be the one to support children. At least, that’s what she first thought.
In the next episode, Yoko should be getting some background info. I also hope that they show Yun and Kana together a bit more, now that they both found out that Tanaka is Jun’s mother. This definitely was one of those building-up episodes, and even though it lacked major plot twists, unlike the previous episodes, it was really good, and I’d love to see what Jun’s going to do when he’s going to fight. He’s definitely changed a lot since the beginning of the series, when he was just a heartless bastard. It started when Kirie started to live with him, and because of that, he’s become closer to the other characters.]]>
Claymore – 21
Hmm, this episode wasn’t as good as the previous one. Mostly because too much time was spent on Raki, who just discovered that Priscilla is an Awakened Being and kept whining about it. The fight of 24 Claymore versus 27 Awakened Beings also disappointed. There were no twists, no new things, and all the Awakened Beings looked like each other. Was this the same for the manga, or is it because of the new route that the anime decided to take?
I’ve got nothing against changing the original storyline; heck, Bokura no is currently doing a mighty fine job, but Claymore is about to screw up in two major ways. First of all, the coming chapters in the manga were rumoured to be the best parts of it. Why the heck would you want to change that, knowing this? Second, if the creators are planning to end this at episode 26, they’ve got to work really hard to wrap things up in the end. Heck, we haven’t even seen Alicia and Beth yet. If the current arc lasts three episodes as well, there are only three more episodes left for their development. Will that be enough?
Anyway, lots of people die this episode. Most notably: Veronica, Undine, Jeane and Flora. The episode gets a lot better when the Awakened Beings retreat and the second-strongest servant of Easley decides to finish things himself. He probably was a number 2 at one point, as he easily defeats some of the strongest warriors out there. The only major characters on the battlefield left are the original half-awakened ones: Claire, Miria, Helen and Deneve. They’ll probably defeat the guy with Miria’s strength in the next episode. I know that the manga-writers could have made something interesting about this, but what about the writers of the anime? The next episode will be the time that they have to prove themselves.]]>
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.]]>
Deltora Quest – 11
Ah, I’ve missed this one. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing any new episodes soon, as it seemed that the translator of ACG has vanished without a trace. While his translations were crappy, at least there were some kind of translations. Let’s hope that they’ll find a new translator soon. I’m starting to regret waiting for the subs for this series, but right now I’m just too far behind to catch up.
Anyway, this episode wasn’t a special one, and it mainly focused at Lief’s sense of justice, and the truth about the Yurunai, or the Noratz, as they’re officially spelled. They live so secluded and clean because of their fear of rats, which overran their original city.
Especially Lief was cute in this episode. The fact remains that Tom is a merchant, and he’ll help anyone, whether it is the resistance or the Shadow Lord. Lief just can’t accept that there’s someone with a different sense of justice than his, which leads to quite some amusing banter between him and Jasmine. He even refuses to use the things he bought from Tom in the beginning.
I wonder what’s up with the ending of the episode, and what exactly made Jasmine to decide to give up. I suspect it’s because she just can’t keep up with Lief’s pace. She’s exclaimed clearly that she was out of energy, but Lief never really paid attention to it, and he wants to move forward at all costs.
And it’s true; Lief is an idiot. He’s got a sense of justice, he wants to help others, but he remains a kid in not taking the feeling of others in consideration. He just can’t act against his own feelings. While I usually hate these bratty ignorant characters, I can’t help but find Lief cute. It’s probably because he’s not a flat character, unlike most other shounen-shows. While this episode wasn’t really anything special, it did remind me why I fell in love with it, because its attention to detail in terms of storytelling is superb.]]>