Some quick first impressions: Afro Samurai, Saint October and Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora

Afro Samurai Ah, so this is the long-awaited arrival of Afro-Samurai. It’s quickly become famous for being produced and starred by no other than Samuel Jackson. And as expected, this one’s got a great style. It takes place in a dark and gritty world, focusing on a person who lived his entire life for revenge against his father’s killer. So far, I’m impressed. I expected this to be all style and zero substance, though the story and characters definitely were interesting to see. From the barmaid, and the various challengers to Afro Samurai himself. All that’s left now is to hope that the story will progress into something interesting over the next episodes. There are just two complaints I have with this. At times, the gore becomes a bit too much, and at my version of the episode came enclosed by a trailer of a new Hollywood movie called Norbit. Seriously, even though it’s just a trailer, one could torture, just by showing that piece. Saint October Cool! A mahou shoujo. And a pretty good one as well. The art may look rather low-budget, though what I love is how this anime mixed cliché’s along with totally original and fresh ideas. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it seems like each element in this anime has an original point and an overused point. It gives this anime a cheesy, yet fresh feeling. The setting and mood also were very interesting. What we have here is a semi-futuristic setting with magic elements, which seem to be related to certain cards. The mystery-element also seems to become very interesting. Why does this girl have the ability to transform? What are the bad guys after? Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora Right from the first moment in the first scene, this anime just screams Kannazuki no Miko. If this isn’t the sister-anime of Kannazuki no Miko, then I don’t know anymore. I knew that there were going to be resemblances, though I never thought that there would be this much. Especially the soundtrack is almost exactly alike, with its classical instruments. For Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora, the creators also turned up the elegance two gears, which looked quite interesting. Still, the fact remains that it’s a cheesy love-story. Complete with action, a love rival and a prince on a white horse in a flower-field (seriously, I’m not kidding, and the anime isn’t either). The new main character is just as annoying as Himeko, though a bit less helpless perhaps (so far, at least. The ending of the episode suggested that the next few episodes will reduce her to a romantic damsel in distress). I’m really thinking that this anime will even surpass Kannazuki no Miko in terms of cheesiness, seeing as the drama already went into the boundaries of laughable after only its first episode. Will this anime be able to get out of the depths of cheesiness and melodrama? Well, there’s only one way to find out.]]>