It's Spring! I post!

Like Konoka, I am filled with resolution to blog!

So it seems like forever since I last updated this beast, and well, it has been a while. Over the long hiatus (hah, like anyone's reading) I've been doing various things, such as studying, going to work, and... anime, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for blogging.

Oh well, I'll just shut up now and give my impressions for the season. At least, what I'm watching.

Bokurano: I absolutely adore the manga and this looks like it'll work well. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about what Gonzo will do with the ending. I can see they already set up some hints about what may come. It did serve as a good refresher for the manga, and I think I've got one of the big questions solved already. I'm just hoping that the recent characters (especially Komo) get their proper arcs from the manga. I'm also just a huge Mohiro Kitoh fanboy.

Hayate the Combat Butler: I was surprised with this. This is likely the Spring 2007 equivalent to Spring 2006's Ouran. It got a few laughs out of me and I've already gone out and bought the first volume of the manga. Apparently, the anime is skipping to the fourth volume as of episode four, so I have more incentive to continue buying the manga.

iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia: I was surprised to see that I actually really enjoyed this. The characters were likable and the setting was nice as well. The animation is also good, and for a mecha, that's a good thing. I'm hoping it turns out to be, as others have predicted, My-HiME with mecha, though it'll be good either way (I hope).

Kami-chama Karin: Being a Kage Donbo work, I know I can expect it to be cute. I haven't seen Pita-Ten, but it apparently gets darker, and cute people in dark situations is quite nice. I'm not quite feeling it yet, but I'll give it a few more episodes.

Koutetsu Sangokushi: I watched this on a whim and it turned out to be quite good. I've never really seen much of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms stuff (besides playing random spouts of Dynasty Warriors), so I have no real idea how this will turn out. I'm interested though.

Lucky Star: Ah yes, Lucky Star. While the food segment took a bit and felt a little draggy, I thought the second half was awesome. Browsing over the summary for episode two, it looks like there'll be more of that and less food. Not to mention that I love the OP and Lucky Channel kicks ass.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: It looks like Nanoha is still as good as it was. It was definitely nice seeing all the girls again. I downloaded the inital Yesy sub, but it wasn't until I got Triad's sub with the familiar translation and font that I could really enjoy this. A's was super good though, and it'll have to work hard to push itself to its level.

Romeo X Juliet: Wow. That's all I can really say. I was prepared for a large departure from the play, but killing all the Capulets? In any case, Junichi Sato is directing, and I've been a fan of Kaleido Star and Sailor Moon, so I love his directing, and he definitely didn't fail here. I'll be looking forward to every episode. Hopefully, this will be able to stand up alongside Gonzo's other classic literature-based masterpiece, Gankutsuou.

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With all said and done, I'd have to say that my top two picks (currently on equal ground) are Bokurano and Romeo X Juliet, though StrikerS, Hayate, and iDOLM@STER could usurp them at any moment. There's still a series or two that I still want to test out, like Sola, Touka Gettan, and Guren Lagann, but there'll be another post for that.

Good GEASS!

I'm still not over Shirley's memory loss. Damn you Lelouch!

So Code GEASS was a show I went into with very little expectations. After SEED Destiny, I didn't really have faith in this show, which looked like a Gundam Clone at first. Thankfully, I gave it more than one episode, and was pleasantly surprised.

Throughout my experience so far, I've found myself liking the characters more and more. C.C and Lelouch seemed like fairly standard characters at first, but the writers gave them personalities, making them more than a Rei and Light clone, respectively. Kallen, Millay, Shirley and the rest of the student council are all fairly likable too. Of course, the characters we aren't supposed to like are all great too. It's hard not to hate the Brittanian emperor, Cornelia, and most of all, that lesbian xenophobic racist bitch Nina.

The story is fairly good too. The whole "revenge against the family that betrayed me" is a bit overdone and cliched, but even cliches can be good if pulled off right, which is what happened here. The creation of the Order of the Black Knights was cool to see pulled off, and the mysteries surrounding C.C. is intriguing too, though I prefer to see the character interactions more.

Music is pulled off great here, with the fantastic first opening theme, Colors, which just rocks. Unfortunately, the second opening had a hard act to follow, but it does get better the more I listen to it. The ending songs stay consistantly good too, though Ali Project REALLY needs to learn a new song.

All in all, this is a pretty good show, with consistantly good action and enough story to prevent it from becoming just a brainless action show. It's one of the three shows that I anticipate every week. Hopefully the end of the first season won't end in a cliffhanger, and the rest of the series continue to be as consistantly good as they have been.

Rozen Licenses

Let the whining commence!

Well, it looks like the inevitable finally occurred.

Yes, after a good while, Rozen Maiden has finally been licensed by Geneon entertainment. Of course, this does unfortunately instigate unfounded criticisms from fansub lovers who aren't aware of American releases aside from what they see on TV, leading to whining about how the whole series is ruined.

Personally, I have a high tolerance to dubs. I am completely, 100%, an equal lover of both dubs and subs. Both have their strong and weak points. However, since dubs tend to get the short end of the stick, I usually take a strong pro-dub position in debates. I just like rooting for the underdog.

With Rozen Maiden comes the inevitable "Keep the Desu" remarks. That's all fine and dandy, but "desu" doesn't really translate to anything. The last time a company translated something similar, we got Naruto's "Believe It!" and a world of complaints about that too. Besides, it's not like the fansubs added "desu" into their subs anyways.

Geneon's dubs have a good reputation for consistent quality. Samurai Champloo, R.O.D The TV, Paranoia Agent, and Koi Kaze come to mind. That said, I have high hopes for the series. Shinku deserves a slight British accent. It just fits her whenever I think about it, though I doubt I can love her dub voice any more than her sub voice, which I just adore.

Eh, what can I say? I loved Rozen Maiden from the moment I saw it. I just learned recently of its 4chan popularity but I'll try to keep that out of my head for the most part. It just sucks that I have two "must buy" shows coming out this year (the other being Haruhi).

By the way, episode 5 is totally the best episode of Rozen Maiden. Ever.

Red Garden: New York and Clan Curses

This was where I was going to post a nice Screencap of the girls from episode eight,
but Zoomplayer doesn't work well with mkv apparently

So one of the series that surprised me the most in the Winter Season was Red Garden. I was, like most people, initially turned off by the character designs, particularly the rather large noses. However, if you manage to get past that (and by the third episode it's hardly noticeable) you can find that the series has a lot going for it.

The main plot is like so: Kate, Claire, Rose, and Rachel are four girls going to an elite school in New York (which doesn't actually exist). One night, they go with their friend Lise to meet her boyfriend. Unfortunately for them, they all get brutally murdered. The first episode starts mainly on the day after all of the mayhem occurred, with the four girls going to school with no memory of the previous night. Throughout the day they try to figure out why they can't remember anything. Also, Lise, the other girl, had been found dead in the forest, leading to much grieving from Kate, arguably the main character of the series. The four girls are brought together in the evening, where a mysterious woman, Rula, tells them that they are indeed dead, and they must fight human-like monsters.

Now, when I first viewed this series, I thought it would be an almost shoujo version of Gantz, a manga which I adore. This thankfully wasn't the case. This anime has turned into a very nice exposition piece. Watching the characters adapt to this new situation is particularly interesting. Of note is Rachel, essentially the popular party girl of the series. We see her start to break away from her carefree lifestyle and begins to take a more serious outlook on life. In fact all the characters are quite interesting, from the rebel Claire to the elite Kate to even the homely Rose. Of course, the girls are all quite different, but they do share a close friendship, shown concretely in the eighth episode, which is full of character exposition and remains my favourite episode yet.

One of the shows high points is undeniably the voice acting and the intro and outro pieces. Since the voice work is done before animation begins, it allows the seiyuu to fall into their characters, resulting in some very nice and realistic work, unlike many of the bishoujo shows around. The intro and outro are also very nice pieces. The intro gives a feel of "America" even though it is a Japanese language piece. It's just soothing every time I hear it. The outro is also a very cool, upbeat piece. The visuals are also something to watch, since it contains the human males in the band and has most of the main cast attending the concert and having a very good time. It makes me feel good, especially Rula enjoying herself while the girls watch.

Now, being an anime, it's a given that some things will definitely seem out of place. There are a few cultural things that aren't given a lot of thought to. Claire's job search and Rose's siblings being excited about getting meat for dinner come to mind. Claire shouldn't have that much trouble getting a job and Meat is plentiful in North America. There are enough American based refrences to make me forget it though, such as "Witches" and the Soup Nazi.

All in all, Red Garden takes its place as my favourite show of the Fall 2006 season. Let's just hope it keeps up the good work in its second cour.

Time for a New Post

Orenji???

ひさしぶりですね?

Well, I decided that I do want to continue with the whole anime blog thingamaging. It has been a while, and some things have happened in my life.

First off, I did indeed get my order, but switched NieA_7 with the Tenchi Muyo original OVA series, since it's apparently a classic and I decided I should see it. I've basically watched everything and was impressed with what I saw.

Secondly, I finally watched anime. It has been a while before I had, but at least I'm somewhat caught up on a few of my favourite shows. Here's a breakdown on what I'm currently watching.

Red Garden
Code GEASS
Kanon
Soukou no Strain

Here's what I have on my harddrive that I haven't watched (or only watched a bit)

Assate no Houkou
Black Lagoon
Chevalier
Yoake mae yori ruiiro na - Crecent Love
Death Note
Inukami
Negima?!
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
Powerpuff Girls Z
Shounen Onmyouji
Simoun
Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~
Zero no Tsukaima

And here's what I have watched at least half of and I need to finish up

Welcome to the NHK (two episodes to go)
Bokura ga Ita (14-end)
Nana (26 to present)

I'll be working on Individual representations for my main series and end of series impressions for the series that I've almost finished watching soon.