Cinnamon Ass - Reborn Like a Zombie

Bugger.

Nothing 'til Sunday at the earliest I'm afraid, folks - a busted ethernet port means no updates until I get home. Not that I've actually watched any anime since Tuesday, but the sentiment counts for something I suppose.

However, I can tentatively say that the shows I'm looking forward to in July are very few in number (excellent, given how much I'm still watching!), but I'm mostly interested in Kamichu! (Hideyaki Kurata, please don't fail me!), Sugar Sugar Rune (snarky mahou shoujo? Sounds good!), Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo (grown up mahou shoujo? Sounds good!) and GUN X SWORD (I love Goro Taniguchi more than is perhaps healthy since Planetes). I'll probably give some other stuff a chance, though, depending on time.

Speaking of Planetes, the DVD release is truly awesome and I suggest that everyone go out and buy it now. Not only is it widescreen, unlike the fansub releases, but it's got the best commentary track ever on the first episode - Goro Taniguchi, Yukino Satsuki and Tanaka Kuzanari getting drunk together and saying as many rude words as they can get past the censors whilst occasionally commenting on the show itself!

June Swag!

I have recently had copious amounts of swag in the post, which I've decided to share with you all like a particularly geeky contagious disease. Revel in my poor buying choices, one and all!

So, what do we have here?

Cloth Road 2 - unfortunately, my order for Cloth Road 1 was cancelled due to it being out of stock, so it's quite hard to know what's going on in the second volume. As far as I understand it from the helpful Engrish blurb and a quick flick through the volume, it's set in the future where clothes have become computerised and there are tournaments where pairs of fighters - the "Model" who wears the computer clothes, and the "Designer" who makes them and monitors them in fights - compete to win...something. The story follows Jennifer (a Model) and Fergus (her Designer) as they fight in these tournaments. Volume 2 is mostly a fight sequence that I haven't really got the hang of yet (the lack of furigana is offputting!), but the art is gorgeous and the mechanics look inventive enough.

Fantastic Children - Time Travellers 2 - thank God, it's only a two volume series. The Fantastic Children manga is absolutely hilarious for all the wrong reasons - I never really read volume 1 properly, but having flicked a lot more discerningly through volume 2 it's quite breathtaking just how WRONG it's all gone. Agi is in love with Mel who, when she loses her memory, is turned by Dumas into some kind of knight-like warrior that Agi eventually kills by plunging his crystal-encrusted arm into her body...Dumas is a megalomaniacal villain who turns Helga into a zombie, licks her, and sits on her...Enma is an enormous smiling blob...Soreto turns her arms into scythes and competes for Thoma's affections with Helga...it's absolutely insane. Not the least of the problems being the Divergence Eve-esque melon breasts on all the female characters! Some day, I swear, I will scan the manga for the world to see its true horror and laugh with me.

Death Note 5 & 6 - since I read the scanlations and it only costs about £2 per volume there's no excuse for me not to pick up Death Note - it's a truly incredible series and everyone should read it, frankly.

Madlax 2 - it's so bad, but so GOOD! The dub's pretty good too, and although I don't care for the rather lame "Conversations with SSS" pisstake extra I'm just happy to be watching it in uber-DVD-vision.

RahXephon Complete Collection - I'm only 8 episodes in, but I loved what I saw of RahXephon years ago and I'm still enjoying it a great deal now. It's just a shame it's taken me so long to get around to buying the rest of it - but at under £30 for 7 DVDs I couldn't miss the opportunity this time round. Plus I think the thinpak cases are just the best invention ever.

New Season Round-up

Well, April's over now, and as such we've seen most of our entries in the new season - Zettai Shounen and The Snow Queen start this month, both of which at least intrigue me (Zettai Shounen especially), but I think I'll do a little wrap up, basically because I want to. While the lack of originality this season has incensed others, it seems that I'm perfectly happy with a lot of April's output - perhaps I'm getting soft in my old age...

Incidentally, I've realised that I've been doing this spiel for over a year now. How hideous. What is perhaps more disturbing is that, despite the number of extended breaks I seem to keep taking, this is the 416th entry on Cinnamon Ass. Obviously I need to get out more.

Best of the Best

Sousei no Aquarion - I'm not quite sure whether I can justify how much I love this series, frankly. I know it SHOULD be bad, but...somehow, it isn't. It's incredibly cheesy and frequently mindbogglingly stupid, but it has lovely animation, vaguely interesting characters and great music, plus a supremely angst-tastic plotline alongside the idiotic humour, which all combine somehow to make me enjoy Aquarion thoroughly. Whether I've "got" what Aquarion's trying to do, or it really is that stupid, I don't know, but I'm loving every minute of it at the moment!

Honey and Clover - the biggest underdog of the season, in my view, it seems no matter how much pimping of Honey and Clover is done it still doesn't get enough attention. Whether it's down to the source material or not, Honey and Clover perfectly captures the drama (or lack of it) of everyday student life, interweaving spazzy comedy with heartbreaking drama at every turn. It just saddens me that it's probably never going to get the exposure or audience it deserves - hopefully some Region 1 company will see the potential and get it out pronto on DVD.

Emma - I wasn't sure where I was going to put this, but after careful deliberation I realised that I really do think it's one of the best shows this season. It's slow, yes, but lavishly detailed in almost every way. While it's not the flashiest or most intriguing show of the season, it's consistently enjoyable and fun to watch.

Best of the Rest

Speed Grapher - what started out as an intriguingly noir-ish thriller looks to be turning into a fairly generic superpowered fight show - but hey, I like superpowered fights, and it looks to be handled deftly and with style. Hopefully the animation quality will pick up a little, but with strong characterisation and a gritty world view Speed Grapher offers something a lot more intriguing than many shows of its ilk.

Loveless - good shounen-ai seems to be the preserve of the fantasy genre, and Loveless joins the ranks of series like Yami no Matsuei and Mirage of Blaze that are enjoyable in their own rights without relying on pretty boys kissing (although there's quite a lot of innuendo etc.). An intriguing storyline, half-decent characterisation, and extremely stylish directing (particularly for the brilliant spell battles) makes Loveless a surprising success this season.

Eureka 7 - it's really very well made indeed, but for some reason I'm just not totally gripped by Eureka 7. Perhaps it's because I'm not understanding all the nuances (it's surprisingly dialogue-heavy in comparison with a lot of other shows this season) but I still feel slightly disengaged from it all. Holland kicks ass, though.

Trinity Blood - after only one episode it's pretty difficult to say how this is going to end up - like everything else this season it wears its influences on its sleeve, but it's an enjoyable mix of Hellsing and Trigun with gorgeous artwork, so I'm happy.

Cruising for a Bruising

Erementar Gerad - I don't understand why the background art is so dreadful, and the plotline is terribly generic fantasy, but Erementar Gerad is still quite enjoyable in general for unassuming adventure fun. However, my interest may not be sustained for too much longer.

Tsubasa Chronicle - I still can't quite decide what I think about Tsubasa. When it's good, it's REALLY good, and Koichi Mashimo occasionally pulls out some lovely sequences like Sakura's flight in episode 4. However, frequently it's maddeningly dull and afflicted with Bee Train disease (which is no asset for a shounen adventure). We'll see how this goes - part of the problem is indeed that the source material, while fun, isn't exactly filled with substance.

Done and Dusted

Glass Mask - I actually quite liked Glass Mask, but to be honest I doubt I'd have hacked it all the way through the series and, even if I had, I know I'd never have bought it on DVD.

Futakoi Alternative - undeniably well made and probably great if you like this kind of thing, but hyperactive FLCL-esque comedy and bishoujo-focused drama don't really do much for me. Thankfully Rentarou isn't a complete milquetoast, but still, not for me thanks.

He Is My Master - I actually watched the first episode of this. I almost liked Yoshitaka, but otherwise the maid-service ecchi comedy just turned me right off. Gainax, JUST SAY NO.

Basilisk - I don't like Japanese historical anime (not even Kenshin). I don't like ugly Ninja Scroll-esque character designs. I laughed when the old lady got skewered through the neck. This shows a) I'm a bit of a weirdo, and b) I didn't like Basilisk much at all, I'm afraid. Hence why I didn't blog it.

Izumo - did they even TRY to make this interesting? Maybe the sub-X plotline will go somewhere, but everything looked so average and generic I couldn't be bothered.

Koi Koi 7 - just...no.

Ichigo 100% - I didn't make it much past the opening sequence.

Law of Ueki - not bad, but I'll wait around for it to appear on TV or something.

MAR - utterly uninspired and tedious shounen.

So that's this season pretty much rounded up, then. I still continue to watch Gakuen Alice (funny!) and Fantastic Children (fantastic!), obviously, with Tweeny Witches when I can be bothered. Looks like I have a lot to keep me going for this season for the moment - note that I only finished two series that I started in April 2004, though. Which will fall by the wayside this time?

Kimagure Robot

Kimagure Robot ("The Capricious Robot") was a series of very short episodes originally posted on Yahoo! Japan. They're short little sketches involving robots in some capacity, all linked vaguely by a crazy professor who keeps building them, and ending with silly little taglines.

There's no point in my recapping the content because they're so short and it would spoil the effect somewhat, but I suspect these shorts may have flown under a lot of people's radars so I think it's worth highlighting them. My main interest in them stems from their being animated by Studio 4C, the studio behind Tweeny Witches and some astounding little gems like Noiseman Sound Insect and Princess Arete. You can certainly see their particular style in full force here - flat shaded characters with slightly odd, angular designs, clever camera tricks (the CG "swivelling" camera shot in the first episode stands out in particular) and a definite sense of the odd. While they're hardly packed with substance, I'm enjoying Kimagure Robot a lot more than other recent short shows like Panda Z and Pugyuru for the combination of interesting animation and smile-worthy scenarios - give it a try if you've got a couple of minutes spare.

Another of my Infamous Short Messages

This whole raw thing is rather difficult, given my very limited understanding of Japanese - while the shows I've read up on in advance have been pretty much okay (and Futago Hime was pretty simple!), things like Ueki and Erementar Gerad (which I've just watched) are a little too tricky unseen for me. I'm only doing this for the first episodes anyway to guage what's hot and what's not, as it were - I'll be reverting to fansubs after this initial wave probably, and editing my old entries as appropriate when I've got the full details. I make enough stupid mistakes as it is!

Anyhoo, on with the show.

Otogi-Jushi Akazukin

OP - Ever-Never-Land (Tamura Yukari) - stereotypical cutesy anime song, neither offensive nor interesting, with a sterotypical opening animation.
ED - Clover (marhy) - yet another vaguely Celtic sounding song as has been prevalent in anime in our post-See Saw world it seems, but who cares, I love Celtic music, and this is a halfway decent song. Vaguely interesting black and white animation, too.

Long ago, the world was divided in two - a world of science, and a world of magic. Souta and his cousin/best friend/love interest Ringo are normal junior high school students until Akazukin (Red Riding Hood) comes through the well in Souta's garden into the world of science to stop the evil witch
Sandryon from finding the key to the division between worlds so she can overthrow God. Akazukin and her dog-familiar Val, together with the prissy Shirayuki (SnoW White), band together to fight against Sandurion's forces, led by the young boy Hansel and the cat Randaage.

Konami designed this show, I believe, as an experiment - they came up with the character of Akazukin first, and then decided to create a product line around her, or something along those lines. That, plus the beginning of this episode with Souta dreaming then being woken up by Ringo in H-Game Cliche #1, didn't bode well for this show. However, despite its utter unoriginality, I really rather enjoyed Otogi-jushi Akazukin.

The animation, as befitting an OVA from Madhouse, is top-notch stuff, and the character designs are cute without being insipidly so. While the story doesn't really go anywhere (or have anywhere to go, in fact), it's a fun ride, and basically hits all the right buttons for a fantasy action show. I'd quite like to see more of this made, so hopefully it's been successful enough in Japan for that to happen, but I don't know whether I'd lose interest quite quickly, since it's covered pretty much everything in this one episode. Anyway, give Otogi-jushi Akazukin a try for some undemanding fun, especially if you like cutesy cosplaying girls beating up big fairytale monsters.

April 2005 (aka Finally, Some New Anime I Might Watch)

Frankly, the January season has been appalling for me on the new anime front. Admittedly with my somewhat stringent tastes I don't exactly pick up a lot of shows in any given season, but only carrying on ONE show is a bit poor, even for me!

This time of year is always pretty poor for anime - last year I only kept up with Paranoia Agent and Jubei-chan II - but so many of this season's shows have either been shoddy and lackluster in presentation and execution (Peach Girl, Xenosaga, Negima) or flashy but dull (Ah My Goddess!, Jinki: Extend). Plus, what with the three series I'm still really following from October (Gankutsuou, Fantastic Children and Gakuen Alice) being rather slow on the subbing front, it's been a rather lean season on the recent anime front for me.

I've actually been following more in the way of new American animation recently. While both series are heavily anime-inspired, I've been greatly enjoying Avatar: The Last Airbender and W.I.T.C.H in the past couple of weeks. Avatar manages to get right one important factor that most shounen adventure shows fail at - a likeable lead character whose naivete and optimism is never grating or obnoxious - alongside some brilliant fight choreography and animation, whereas W.I.T.C.H is a far more accomplished "mahou sentai" show than recent Japanese compatriots such as Tokyo Mew Mew or Futari wa PreCure in my opinion, with sensible pacing and an excellent emotional dynamic between the female leads (although the token blokes are a bit crap, really).

However, this is an anime blog in name if not perhaps in execution, so enough of that (and don't even start me on the dark day where I got so bored I downloaded Mahou Sentai Magiranger episodes!). April will soon be upon us, and with it a slew of new shows for me to fall in love with/disparage horribly, as is my wont. Listed below are the main series I'm considering watching, followed by a list in the extended entry of most of the various other series airing this season. I may be more than a little overexcited about the fact that it's only about two weeks until these start airing...

My (hopeful) picks of the season:

Sousei no Aquarion - as a Shoji Kawamori/Yoko Kanno/Satelight fanboy, I have fallen entirely in love with this series before I've even seen more than a couple of trailers. Yes, it looks like a rehash of every series he's done before (environmental themes + winged people + transforming/combining mecha) but I anticipate it greatly anyway.

The official website features a streaming trailer and various other gubbins, while you can see an advert for the show here, and no doubt the TV Tokyo page will eventually have some more information.

Erementar Gerad - it's being hyped to the hilt, and I like fantasy adventure series when they're done right (very rarely, unfortunately) but hopefully it'll be pretty good. I read the first chapter of the manga a VERY long time ago and it was at least pretty, although I can't remember much about the plot. Even if it's dull, it's got Yuki Kajiura music and an opening theme by savage genius (Uta~Kata), so the first episode will at least be a pleasant listen.

Yes, I know it's already licensed by ADV, but they appear to have reneged on their plans to release it simultaneously in Japan and the US, so I'm taking the opportunity to watch it to see if it's worth buying anyway. More information eventually at TV Tokyo I'd assume.

Tsubasa Chronicle - despite the manga being pretty average I still keep buying the Japanese volumes, so I think that suggests that I might enjoy the series. As long as Bee Train don't Madlax it to pieces (there's a time and a place, people) it should be vaguely okay, although I've yet to find the fight sequences totally satisfying in the manga. Plus again, Yuki Kajiura music - and MAAYA SAKAMOTO SINGS THE ENDING THEME!

Tsubasa's been covered better by others such as Matthew and Garten in the past, so for further information see them, or buy the manga, or whatever.

Hachimitsu to Clover - anything shoujo with a muted colour palette interests me immediately, frankly. I don't know anything about the series really, but the artwork gives me something of a KareKano vibe and I'm definitely up for something like that.

Check out Garten's longer entry on this as well.

Eureka Seven - Bones Bones Bones Bones Bones. Plus SHOJI KAWAMORI AGAIN! I am so spoiled. Licensed by Bandai, but I've got to check this one out.

Trinity Blood - the artwork is absolutely stunning, I can't pass up a first episode if it looks like that, although the plot sounds a little on the unexciting side. I'm hoping for shoujo!Hellsing done better, frankly, so Gonzo had better pull this off.

Speed Grapher - again, Gonzo's 2D artwork is amazing, and the premise sounds novel enough, but will it turn out to be pants? Rumours abound of a trailer floating around the Net but I've not seen it anywhere (and don't tempt me to buy my own copies of Animage/Newtype, you have NO idea how hard it is to resist...)

Once more, Garten actually has copies of Newtype and so forth so he can tell you much, MUCH more about Speed Grapher than I can.

Fushigi Hoshi no Futago Hime - it looks like it might rot my teeth, but I have faith in the creative team behind Pretear. Plus I quite liked Comet-san, which has a very similar-sounding "helping people!" dynamic.

Again, TV Tokyo should eventually have more to say.

And on to the others...

Possible:

Emma - I love what I've read of the manga (I know, it's about a maid but it's still really good!), but fear this may spoil me for the series, plus while it's a great read it could be incredibly boring on screen - it's a rather lovely period romance, but I can't imagine it being overly exciting as an animation.

MAR (insert umlaut where appropriate) - I don't get on well with Shounen Jump/Sunday adaptations usually, and the manga is bloody annoying, yet I still feel compelled to at least give it a try. Plus, Garnet Crow are doing the opening and ending themes, and I love their music, so I have to watch at least one episode.

Ueki no Housoku - likewise (although I've never read any of the manga).

Glass no Kamen - it's shoujo... although it looks very, very melodramatic. Plus it's a remake, to which I say "what's the point?"

Loveless - shounen ai, but shounen ai with MAGIC SPELLS and nice character designs, so I feel obliged to try it. Plus I have friends who adore the manga, and Yuki Kajiura is providing the OP and the ED - the woman must be absolutely insane to keep churning all this out!

Basilisk - novel series adaptation, so should be quite deep, but secret ninja clans don't necessarily do it for me. Plus it's Gonzo.

Zettai Shounen - looks quirky enough, but not starting until May so I may have series overload by then.

The Snow Queen - given Japan's impressive pedigree with animated fairy tale adaptations this could be worth a look, but it looks like it's from the Poirot and Marple team which isn't exactly an indicator of amazing quality - although a duck mascot would probably be more appropriate here than it was there.

Gun X Sword - is this coming out this April? Goro Taniguchi (Planetes) directing, must be worth a shot.

Probably not:

Mushiking - game adaptation, blergh (although my suspicious enjoyment of Onmyou Taisenki may mean I like this...). Plus it's about battling beetles, of all things. However, I have to say that the artwork on the preview site is suspiciously pretty...

Eyeshield 21 - comedy about American football? Not my cup o' tea.

Gokujo Seitokai - anybody know ANYTHING about this? I guess it's a renai adaptation of some kind given the Konami credit, but the complete lack of prepublicity doesn't sound good.

Futakoi Alternative
- well, it can't be much worse than the original, but I think I'll pass anyway, not really my scene. I've watched the trailer, and while it looks a lot better than I first thought, I still doubt I'll like it that much.

He is My Master - oh look, it's Gainax doing more fanservice "comedy". Yaaaawn...

Ichigo 100% - all I've heard about this series puts me off it entirely.

Angel Heart - never seen City Hunter, never even wanted to, don't have the slightest inclination to watch this follow-up.

There's several other series that I don't known anything about at all, so if anyone wants to enlighten me on the topics of Koi Koi 7, Izumo, My Melody, Oden-kun or Otona-go no Nazo, then feel free. I also can't find any real confirmation that there's going to be a new series of GaoGaiGar aside from on Moonphase, so I'm treating that as unsubstantiated rumour.

Beyond the Clouds, The Promised Place (Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Bashou : The Place Promised in our Early Days)

I've yet to actually see Voices of a Distant Star, Makoto Shinkai's first work, but I think most people are well aware of the amount of effort he put into that project. Beyond the Clouds is his first feature-length film, and has made it to DVD very swiftly after it ducked in and out of cinemas briefly in December.

Taking place in an alternate Japan circa 1996 where the country is divided into the North and South and the North has built the mysterious "Quantum Tower" on the border, the story follows three middle-school students, Takuya, Hiroki and Sayuri. Takuya and Hiroki are building a plane to fly to the Tower someday, and eventually they make a promise with Sayuri that they will go there together. Fast forward three years, however, and things have changed - the North and South are on the brink of war, the Tower is revealing its real capabilities, and all three are separated - Takuya works in researching parallel worlds, Sayuri lies in a mysterious coma, and Hiroki meanders aimlessly through high school. Their promise, however, draws them all back together, and the Tower holds the key to saving Sayuri and possibly the world.

That last sentence makes the film sound like some kind of epic adventure, but Beyond the Clouds is actually fairly low-key. While there are obviously elements of fantasy - the interplay between reality and illusion as represented by dreaming is a key theme of the film, which is also highlighted by the topic of parallel worlds - the film's core lies at the emotional interplay between the three friends, although this focuses much more on Hiroki and Sayuri's relationship overall.

Makoto Shinkai's skill as a artist is certainly not in question - you probably can't appreciate just how beautiful the film looks from simple still shots (although that is what a lot of the film constitutes, but that's a later point), but everything has an almost hyper-realistic sheen to it (given the computer rendering of Shinkai's animation this seems more than natural). The background art generally is absolutely fantastic, and the cinematography in general is nigh-on perfect (even the CG rendered vehicles don't look particularly out of place). Character animation is pretty good, although not quite as opulently beautiful as the background work.

The direction of the film, however, is perhaps a little lacking. A problem I generally have with anime films as opposed to TV series is that anime is frequently a fairly static form of art - we all know the standard complaints about lip flaps and low frame rates, and of course that's part of the style. However, I personally find it more difficult to sustain interest for 90 minutes if a film isn't dynamic in some way - even in pretentious artsy live action films, there's a degree of movement in speech and facial expression that anime simply can't capture. As such, Beyond the Clouds does drag in places where we get panning shots of clouds moving past or pretty backgrounds, especially around the mid point, which is somewhat odd as the final 15 minutes or so suddenly seem to wrap up the film. In some ways, I think the film might have worked better as 3 half-hour OVAs, given how Shinkai seems to segment the film with 3-second long blackout cuts between sections, but at least in this format there's no need for excessive recapping or anything.

The plot overall is pretty good, I would have to say, if perhaps a little on the slim side (although this is preferable to cramming in too much like X, for example). Sayuri's coma was perhaps not adequately explained well enough, and the method for curing it seemed more like a requirement than something that arose naturally from circumstances, but these were just niggles which probably shouldn't have distracted me as much from the film as they did.

I'd generally have to class Beyond the Clouds as "curious". It's a very interesting film, not least because of the beautiful artwork and emotional impact - the music and animation fit extremely well - but for some reason it left me vaguely unsatisfied. Perhaps it was the questions I wanted answered that were just left hanging, perhaps because it wasn't quite what I was expecting, who knows? Yet I would say that it's definitely worth seeing, and certainly worth picking up on DVD when it eventually comes out in Region 1, as it truly is a lovely film to watch and I'm sure you can come to your own conclusions about the directorial style and narrative coherency.

Ciao, David

As always, coming in days late on this, but just thought I'd pitch in with another sad farewell to David, who has obviously found something actually worthwhile to do with his time other than this blogging malarky. Lord knows I'd like to be able to comment as sensibly as he has on anime!

In keeping with the Classical theme, έρρωσο. Good luck with the medicine!

Another Quick Ramble

Apologies for the sparsity of recent updates (aside from my Fafner splurge) - I've been very busy (and ill), and haven't had a lot of time.

Not that I've really felt a need to, in some ways. The January season hasn't really thrown up anything - beyond the curiously compelling Air - that I have any particular desire to continue with, despite my original intentions.

Xenosaga, while competent and slightly different from the game, was destined to annoy me in the end I suspect, with the weakened characterisations of some of its core cast and the ultimate feeling that the franchise is being cheapened somewhat by Namco anyway - I suppose that's just the fanboy in me rebelling or something, but I really feel no pressing need to watch any more of the show.

To be honest, Jinki Extend's animation wasn't anywhere near as impressive as I'd heard it would be, and the plot didn't really interest me all that much - furthermore, if it really does just turn into "cute girls piloting mecha" as it sounds, I think I'll have to pass.

The only thing really keeping me interested in Ah My Goddess! was the animation and the music. Since I now have the full OP near constantly on repeat, I feel absolutely no need to watch the show ever again.

So I think I'll only be following Air from the January season. I may end up dropping Bleach (vaguely lost interest) and MaiHime (pointless blogging it, I've watched up to 15 but have nothing to say) as well, but I'll have to see how I feel.

Incidentally, I've just realised how horribly out of date my other blog links are, those should be cleaned up some time today.

Well, that was fun

My laptop is fixed!

The service centre wiped my hard drive!

This is a cause for sadness. However, fear not, ye blogging brethren. This shouldn't actually cause too many problems since I can just start where I left off. However, due to my terminal laziness and the beginning of a new season, it's time for me to say goodbye to both Monster and Otogizoushi for now - Otogizoushi starts coming out on DVD in a couple of months anyway and I was enjoying the Tokyo arc enough for that (plus I'll keep up with Ten's comments on the show to the end), and I'm genuinely just waaay too far behind on Monster now alas. I think I shall also be dropping Uta~Kata - I like the show, possibly enough to pick it up on DVD, but I've got no real drive to finish it any more.

Again, sorry about the interruption (there's been a lot of those so far!) but hopefully things will be relatively back on track soon - I've got a busy few weeks ahead of me but I'm sure I'll find the time to soldier on here.

Right, time to make my computer mine again...

OH! Almost forgot. As requested by wao, my opinions on Princess Tutu's DVD release!

The change from Ahiru to Duck is slightly jarring, and the subbing of "sempai" as "Senior" is a little pointless (although undoubtedly necessary) but in general ADV have treated Princess Tutu extremely well on the DVD front. I should check the translation credits to find out whether the fansubbers had anything to do with it (I know they've worked with ADV freelance before) since it's very close to their work, and the dub is fantastic - I'm not too keen on Neko-sensei's "British" accent, and I think Drosselmeyer's much creepier in Japanese, but generally it's really very good quality. I'd have liked a box for the series, and the cover art isn't great, but generally I'm really pleased with it - plus it's in shiny DVD quality, especially useful given the amount of fog!

Aaargh

Apologies for the brief interruption in service. This is due to my laptop being, for want of a better word, buggered.

Ordinary service will resume shortly (hopefully). Have a nice day.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

So, it's the end of 2004. As I type, the clock ticks away with only just over an hour to go before 2005 comes around - which means it's only a few hours until the first episode of Magical Canan airs! It never stops, does it?

Anyway, since I have nothing better to do on New Year's Eve than write rubbish (...what?), here's my thoughts on the year as a whole, in something hopefully resembling decent prose.

We began the year coming off what was for me a massive high - 2003 was frankly an excellent year for anime in my opinion, with shows such as Wolf's Rain, Scrapped Princess and Last Exile finished and the still running PLANETES, ROD The TV and Fullmetal Alchemist, the last two of which in particular have been very popular in general and are now (or almost, in FMA's case) available on DVD. I also had a weak spot for Chrno Crusade which, although it began fairly weakly, really picked up by the end (it also had a brilliant opening sequence, which helped matters a lot for me...)

The January season was, as usual, fairly sparse in anime worth watching. Currently Paranoia Agent is doing very well critically (although the end of the series perhaps didn't hold up so well) on DVD release, and I also enjoyed Jubei-chan II enough to pick up the first season on DVD. Unfortunately, the series I'd been looking forward to the most, Maria-sama ga Miteru, bored me silly. I ended up discovering Kaleido Star around here, too - a VERY good find!

April brought a flood of new shows, as usual. Most popular perhaps was Midori no Hibi, although being a romantic comedy it passed me pretty much by, and when it finishes I'm sure Samurai Champloo will be astronomically popular given its Cowboy Bebop pedigree (although again I was incredibly annoyed by Fuu). Gainax and Gonzo failed to impress with their big shows for the season (although Melody of Oblivion has a cult following for its Utena-esque imagery) and Bee Train's Madlax polarised opinion as they trotted out another show based around their enigmatic directorial style, to just give a few examples. The still-running Monster plods slowly but grippingly onwards, while GANTZ is currently brewing up a massive storm as ADV plans to release it on 13 DVDs (but not as much as Koi Kaze might with its controversial, but interestingly handled, incest themes). There was also a rise in popularity of short format shows, from the wildly imaginative Tweeny Witches to the simply bizarre Pugyuru.

July was another quiet season generally, but served me up several wonderful treats, from the surprisingly emotional Kurau to the artistically striking Otogizoushi. The Japanese interest in Soukyuu no Fafner hasn't caught on in the West, though, perhaps due to its fairly derivative nature. The season was big on harems as usual, though, with the fog-tastic Girls Bravo and the alien girlfriend hijinks of Dears in particular standing out in my mind.

October's biggest (and perhaps most surprising) hit has been Kannazuki no Miko, whose lesbian angst has captured a massive audience (one has to wonder whether a yaoi or het version of the same series would have been as popular...). I'll grant it has excellent music, though. Mai-Hime rides the wave of incredible hype with relative ease despite a shakey start, and other unsurprising successes include Genshiken's otaku comedy and the vampiric lolicon fun of Tsukuyomi, although personal favourites have been the melodramatic Gankutsuou and the fascinating Fantastic Children.

Oh, and to add in the OVAs I watched quickly - Macross Zero finally ended as spectacularly as I'd hoped (although most others don't agree with me), and Petit Cossette has the potential to be one of the creepiest, yet most effective, gothic horror shows I've seen when it finishes.

So, quick awards ceremony:

Favourite Show by Season

January - Paranoia Agent
April - Madlax (Monster is better, but I enjoyed Madlax so much it gets the award)
July - Kurau/Fafner tied
October - Fantastic Children

Favourite Characters

Male - Hachirota Hoshino, PLANETES
Female - Maya Toomi, Soukyuu no Fafner
Male Supporting - Roy Mustang, FMA
Female Supporting - Wendy, ROD The TV / Vanessa, Madlax

Favourite Production

Animation - Macross Zero
Music - Madlax
Script - PLANETES

Golden Turkeys

Worst Show - Hanaukyou Maid Tai La Verite
Most Annoying Male - Azuma Kazuma, Yakitate!! Japan (damn...voice...)
Most Annoying Female - Anita, ROD The TV (only because of the show she was in)

Well, I think that'll do for verbosity. Join me next year for more ranting, raving and occasional enjoyment. I'd best get ready for some Magical Canan soon...

The Return

I am back!

*muted silence*

Anyway, I'll eventually get a whole report on my trip to Japan done and up somewhere on this site, but for now you'll just have to be content with my resuming normal duties. As proof, however, that I haven't just been lazing around for two weeks, behold the geeky stuff I bought.

I'm still combatting jetlag at the moment so don't expect anything particularly cogent at this juncture - thankfully, since I'll be starting off with Gakuen Alice 2, I don't think that'll be much of a problem! Plus, since it's the festive season and all that, I will surprisingly enough not be spending an awful lot of time staring goggle-eyed at anime (well, not THAT much time anyway...) so expect only sporadic updates for the moment.

Incidentally, I'm dropping Kurau - I'm just going to wait for the DVD release now I think, I've more than ascertained the quality of the show and, given the fairly ropey nature of the fansubs I was watching, I'll enjoy it much more then.

An Entry From Foreign Parts

I couldn't resist the lure of blogging long enough, so here I am in a slack moment in Fukuoka sending random waffle out into the void once more.

I plan on doing a proper trip write up after I get back, but I guess I'll probably leave out the geekier elements of my visit to Japan in that, so I'll just mention some of them here...

• Japanese television really is very, very odd. From the wondrous Okaa-san to Issho to bad dubbed Harrison Ford films via earnest mahjongg commentary and utterly bizarre gay dating shows, it's safe to say that there's some crazy stuff on round here!
• I have already bought more manga than I should, and will be buying more before I leave. I've got the first volume of Fantastic Children manga, but it's a bit naff - none of the interesting plotting, Helga has huge tits and there's panty shots! I've also picked up more Death Note and the first volume of Gakuen Alice (which is seriously awesome), and plan on at least picking up the new Tsubasa and XXXHolic, plus anything else interesting/cheap I discover (don't let me near any second hand shops...)
• Surprisingly enough, there has been a fair amount of anime on telly at sort-of decent hours - where I am at the moment also has Animax, so there's a random spattering of weirdness from Kenshin to What's Michael?. I've not kept up with any new stuff fairly obviously, since it's all on at stupid o'clock in the morning or while I'm out being touristy or eating dinner, but I've seen some stuff I've really wanted to like Future Boy Conan (surprisingly good) and Sherlock Hound (likewise) - oh, and I did catch episode 11 of Uta-kata in a hotel in Osaka on Tuesday night, which was especially incoherent given I haven't seen the preceding seven episodes or so...but the world certainly seems to dump on poor Ichika.
• I have a photo of the ferris wheel in Kobe from Arjuna. My life is now complete, and I certainly suspect that no-one can challenge my obsessive levels of fandom now - hurray!

Oookay, that was vaguely scary. Expect some photos and stuff when I get back if I can be bothered, and a return to anime blogging proper commencing with Gakuen Alice 2 (which I watched just before I left) - it seems I have an awful lot to catch up on as usual...

Oh, and before I forget - in January, I'm mainly looking forward to Peach Girl and Xenosaga, and looking even further ahead to April I'm already desperate to see Sousei no Aqaurion (Shoji Kawamori! Yoko Kanno!) and Eureka Seven (Bones!), despite them both being mecha shows!

Another hiatus, whee!

Right, I'm (almost) all packed and ready to go. I don't leave until Monday morning, but I have to get all my stuff home from uni and come back in again tomorrow so I can catch a coach from here to Heathrow at the antisocial hour of 6:30 in the morning. As such I shall be busy enough that I won't need to fill any voids in my time with anime - and even if I do, I won't be going near an internet connection to blog about it.

I return from Japan on the 21st. Don't expect any reviewing that day since I won't be home until the evening and will probably be so jetlagged that I won't be able to speak coherently, let alone type, but I shall endeavour to get back into the swing of things fairly quickly, allowing for Christmas and so on.

Try not to miss me too much.

My November List

Well, everyone else is doing one, and since I haven't watched anything for five days I think it's time for a new entry anyway. Apologies for the brief hiatus, I've been quite busy with other things - there will shortly be an even LONGER hiatus of about two weeks as I'm going on holiday to Japan next Monday. Hence this is the perfect opportunity to do a brief round-up:

Five Best Shows I'm Watching

Fantastic Children - duh, you think I wouldn't mention this? A gripping mysterious plot (DON'T READ THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE!), gorgeous background artwork and animation and lush music conspire to make this epic fantasy adventure unmissable.

Gankutsuou - as if the sheer visual opulence wasn't enough of a draw, Dumas' melodramatic twisty-turny plot is great fun to watch, and the Count himself is a magnificent central character.

Monster - I may well be months behind, but there's no denying that Monster is one of the most gripping thrillers I've seen in any visual format, and I really hope I can keep up with watching it again.

Gakuen Alice - perhaps a rash judgement based on one episode, but I really enjoyed the manic shoujo comedy, plus it looks to have a solid plot behind it too!

Otogizoushi - although perhaps a little workmanlike, I'm still really enjoying this solid adventure show, and the shift to Tokyo has proved more interesting than I'd perhaps expected although it doesn't measure up to the Heian arc in innovative design.

I still enjoy everything else I'm watching, obviously, but these are the ones that have really stood out recently as must-sees for me on fansub. DVD-wise, I've just picked up the Big O II and Banner of the Stars collection, and I'm still continuing with Twelve Kingdoms and Kaleido Star on a regular basis - next year I'm particularly looking forward to Planetes and Princess Tutu, and maybe finally picking up the rest of Kino's Journey and RahXephon if cash allows.

Well, that was predictable, wasn't it? Anyway, hopefully I'll get a few things watched before I leave next week, but don't bet on it - hopefully coming soon will be more Uta~Kata, Mai-Hime and Meine Liebe in particular...

October Anime

Seeing as everyone else is doing it, I guess I'll put my October anime list. As of now I'm completely dropping Samurai Champloo - I just don't care enough to watch it at the moment, what with everything else I've got going - and the only series I'll have finished in time for the new season will be Madlax, so god knows how I'm going to keep up with any of this lot. Click the series name for the official page, and if I can find any good links I'll put them below the relevant series.

Looking forward to:

Gankutsuou - Gonzo-fied adaptation of "The Count of Monte Cristo", but the startlingly good visual design is too good to pass up - as long as the CG is confined to space it should be tolerable.

Trailer courtesy of animate.tv (the blue buttons down the bottom, the options are for narrowband and broadband)

tactics - I quite shamefully loved Matantei Loki Ragnarok (I worked on the fansubs for a few episodes), and this show from the same creator looks just as fun from the snippets of the manga I've read.

Studio Deen's webpage for the show (no more here than at TV Tokyo unfortunately)

Tales of Phantasia - most likely pre-licensed by Geneon, but I'm a big fan of the Tales of... series of games so I'm checking it out anyway. The game isn't exactly big on plot, however, and the characters were a bit cookie-cutter RPG cliche, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with it - the trailers have great animation, though.

Promo video from animate.tv - I really like the song at the end.

Bleach - despite it being a fairly typical Shounen Jump fight manga, Bleach is great fun to read, and I hope that transfers into the anime adaptation - it pitches (I think) at a slightly older audience than series like Naruto and Hunter X Hunter (it doesn't really follow the "grow up by fighting!" mechanic) and is refreshingly non-misogynistic for a Jump title. Here's hoping Studio Pierrot put as much effort in as they have for Naruto.

Pierrot's webpage, nothing here either.

Mai-Hime - I hope the plot rises above the bishoujo and fanservice, but I can't resist Sunrise's hype machine and the Yuki Kajiura music.

TV Tokyo's website has a trailer up for the first episode.

BECK - I started reading the manga a few days ago and love it already - my only worry is that, given it's supposed to be about music, it takes its sweet time getting around to much of it (although it's still really interesting). Madhouse animation can only be a good thing, too.

Yakitate!! Japan - It's a shounen fight manga with BREAD BAKING. I really enjoyed the first 10 volumes or so, but one wonders how inventive the mangaka can continue to be - hopefully the anime will be just as good. Plus it's by Sunrise. I love Sunrise, can you tell?

Not much here at the TV Tokyo site.

Potentially interesting:

Harukanaru Toki no Naka De - the OVAs I've seen, while disjointed and pointless without prior knowledge of this series based on a popular dating game/RPG aimed at girls, were fairly interesting for what amounts to Fushigi Yuugi with more fighting, hopefully the extra episodes will flesh the series out a bit better.

The official site of the game series.

Fantastic Children - looks like a slightly cut rate version of Last Exile from the promotional artwork, but that could be no bad thing. Wonder if this is what Bandai recently announced as licensed? It's also been revealed today that the end song is sung by Origa (she of "Inner Universe" and "Rise" from GitS SAC) and composed by Kunihiko Ryo (Twelve Kingdoms), so I'll definitely check this one out.

Everything else:

Kannazuki no Miko - looks remarkably like Mai-Hime, except with more mecha, more boring character designs and more cliches. Can't say I'm that thrilled by it as yet.

Promotional video courtesy of animate.tv

MOON PHASE - a vampire comes to live with a photographer in Japan while searching for her mother. That's all I got from Babelfishing the website.

Victor Entertainment's website for the show.

Futakoi - the gimmick of two series with the same name does nothing for me with lolicon bait like this.

To Heart 2 - never saw the first series, the fact that it's based on a bishoujo game warns me off.

Gundam Seed Destiny - I'm not a Gundam fan, and didn't watch Seed beyond the first couple of episodes. However, Maaya Sakamoto plays the lead female, Lunamaria Hawke, and if that means she sings an OP or an ED somewhere in the series then I have to at least watch some of it... will Yuki Kajiura be back for this one?

Genshiken - it's a comedy, my alarm bells are ringing. Especially since it's about otaku, and is apparently rife with impenetrable culture-based jokes. Not bothered about the "anime within an anime", Kujibiki Unbalance, either.

Uta~kata - bishoujo again, but I have to admit that the fansubbed trailer I've seen doesn't make it look as awful as it should do.

Meine Liebe - great Kaori Yuki character designs, but I have no idea what to expect, and it's a dating game adaptation so will probably be awful.

Rozen Maiden - it's Gothic Lolita no Gash Bell!

Grenadier ~ Smiling Soldier ~ - looks like some sort of cross between Scrapped Princess and Trigun, which could be interesting but could also be absolutely abysmal. The character designs are growing on me. Not sure if that website's working properly, incidentally.

School Rumble - ick, shounen high school romance comedy. Might be okay...

Sunabozu - it's by Gonzo, alarm bells are sounding.

Viewtiful Joe - I like the game, loathe the sound of an anime.

Onmyou Taisenki - mmm, I love the smell of Bandai toy cash-cow.

I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff I've forgotten to mention, but knowing my insatiable appetite for new crap it'll almost undoubtedly get watched at some point.

*wipes brow*

Okay, just a quick break so my eyes don't fall out trying to catch up with things...

First up, apologies for the massive gaps between entries recently. I've had no access to the wonders of high speed internet for two months now, but finally have broadband all year round so can hopefully update on a more regular basis.

As a minus point, this now leaves me in the somewhat unenviable position of attempting to catch up on over 50 episodes of anime in a short space of time, thanks to the vast number of series I was keeping up with (it's been said before that apparently I like almost everything - while I feel this is quite blatantly untrue (ugh...Hanaukyou Maid Tai...) I do stick with waaay too many shows to be healthy). As such, I think I'm going to have to drop a few things off the blogging schedule:

AishiBaby - I can't be arsed to catch up at the moment, basically. While still extremely cute, it just wasn't really going anywhere, and Kokoro was far more interesting than Yuzu. Will hopefully get caught up at some point.

Dogtato-kun - while I'll keep watching, I don't see the point in blogging the show any more - it's great fun, but hardly the stuff of interesting thought.

Monster - before you all cry out in horror at my hypocrisy, this is definitely not permanent. I just want to get caught up on everything else before ploughing through the 12 or so episodes I'd need to get through to catch up!

Poirot and Marple - I'm really not fussed about the show. Perhaps some other time.

In the meantime, I've caught up on Fafner already, and plan to have a massive binge on Madlax next, so feel free to check back in a couple of days if you want to avoid all that.

Once I've got through some more, I plan on posting something about the forthcoming October season like everyone else has done already, and eventually maybe even sprucing up the site a bit (despite my complete ineptitude with layouts/graphics/anything) but I think I should probably get back to melting my brain with Madlax now. Altogether now - Elda Taluta...Elda Taluta...

I Aitn't Dead

...just trapped behind a connection that mysteriously won't allow me access to the Ass no Ryu site except in the daytime when I rarely get on the computer. Bizarre.

Anyway, with Tokyo Godfathers I officially began my spell of DVD blogging - it's only going to be a summer thing most probably, and I may well have a few fansubs appearing here and there (I certainly have a few episodes of things sitting around to watch at some point, but I'd rather lounge around watching DVDs on the telly than hunched over the laptop given a choice). Depending on levels of boredom I may blog things I (and most probably you) have watched a million times before simply to fill up the space, but that depends on how I'm feeling.

Many of the things I've been following recently on DVD are now coming to an end - I picked up the last KareKano just recently (already seen and enjoyed), and Witch Hunter Robin finishes next month (a favourite of mine), which means only Twelve Kingdoms and Kaleido Star will definitely be ongoing. I'm waiting for my second Kino's Journey disc to turn up out of the nebulous void that is the postal system to discern whether or not to buy the second half of the show, so I'm currently thinking about what else to start up and so forth.

I was planning on blogging as I watched Niea_7, thanks to borrowing the boxset off a friend, but I finished watching the whole lot last night before even getting a single entry up. I thoroughly enjoyed the series, though, although I wouldn't class it as a "must see" - I suspect, like other series with Yoshitoshi Abe's involvement, it's an acquired taste. It reminded me a lot of the first half of Haibane Renmei, which I enjoyed much more than the endlessly depressing second half. I'm not often a fan of such "slice of life" shows, but this and Someday's Dreamers have bucked the trend. I even found bits of Niea genuinely funny - admittedly, that was mostly the game competition episode, betraying my geekish inclinations, but still it was nice to laugh at anime for once.

I've got a couple of first episodes I can post up next, a quick Madlax 12 review, and then we'll see how things go. I've just ordered the Crest of the Stars collection to see what that's like, and the 4 OVA series Alien Nine, which should hopefully be interesting...

License a go-go!

Like glandular fever I return without warning (thanks to university staff letting me keep my room after all) to briefly waffle about the licenses spewing forth from Anime Expo in waves...

Geneon - woohoo, they have Earth Defense Family! On 3 discs! Shame there's no news on more Yoko Kanno soundtracks - do we know why they cancelled the Macross Plus release yet? Otherwise I don't care about their new announcements - nice to see they're so busy, though.

ADV - blooming heck, that's a lot of licenses they've got there. Looks like I'm not even going to START watching Kurau now, and they've revealed all their Mag Garden licenses now (I'm still going to watch Tactics in October, sorry guys). I doubt any of those shows are going to see the light of day before next year, somehow.

Media Blasters - aaw, damn, they've got Otogizoushi already. Hope it's good. They should make loads on Midori no Hibi, though I won't be buying.

AN Entertainment - I've never really "got" Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu, but hopefully it'll be a big success for them.

Funimation - huzzah, they got BakuTen! Plus the third Tenchi OVA, but I got bored with the Tenchi franchise after the first TV series so I don't really care much about that.

TOKYOPOP - no new anime licenses, but they have the Lagoon Engine manga, which pleases me no end (it's by Yukiru Sugisaki (DN Angel), and is horrifically pretty if very shallow).

Bandai - hurray, Kenran Butoh licensed! Plus Scrapped Princess, which will please many people out there no end (it had two major flaws that I will never forgive considering how good the rest of the series was). I just laughed when I heard Dandoh was licensed. Hiou Senki is a Bones show so should at least look good although I know very little about it. But no Planetes makes me sad.

Still Manga and Animeigo panels to go, but I doubt there'll be anything interesting there.

So I'm dropping Kenran for good now, I was at a point of low motivation anyway. Who knows if I'll buy the DVDs?

On Hiatus?

Alas, avid readers, it is possible that I'll have to be on hiatus for a little while. Not that anyone's going to notice, due to my total lack of regular updates recently - I've been rather busy away from the computer screen recently, and I've been lacking enthusiasm for anything except short stuff and Melody of Oblivion recently anyway.

Anyway, I have to move to another room in the university for a few days before moving home for the holidays, and the fiendish machinations of the IT staff may mean that I don't have regular internet access - so while I could theoretically still blog things it would be without the pretty pictures, and we don't want that now do we? After that I'll only be able to do the five or six episodes I have sitting around before I languish in dial-up doldrums for the next month or three anyway (although plans are afoot to procure broadband in August some time), so this is a prior warning for that - I may end up turning this temporarily into a DVD blog instead or something along those lines. If my last shipment of DVDs ever gets out of bloody Customs, that is.

So while I'm here, I'm going to do a quick round-up of any new thoughts I've had now I'm through about two and a half months of this anime blogging thang - which I've certainly enjoyed, even if no-one else has through reading my turgid summaries and vacuous opinions.

CREAM OF THE CROP:

Melody of Oblivion - utterly fascinating despite its apparent mediocrity. Yes, it's a lot like Utena, but despite its major similarities (or rip-offs, if you want) it has one great advantage in my opinion - it's not as static. Utena by the very nature of its storyline does not change much, it chooses to go deeper into certain themes as the series progresses, whereas Melody's short travel-based arcs allow a change of subject and plotting whilst still keeping several core themes. Plus advances in animation means it looks slightly prettier.

Madlax - yes, I know, it's tripe really. But it's highly compelling tripe, with a fascinatingly dense and clouded plot alongside some wonderful visuals (despite the generally crap male character designs), lovely music and a well-developed ensemble cast. I just hope they can tie it all together properly in the end.

BEST OF THE REST

AishiBaby - it's a bit samey in places, but well written and acted in general, plus the three central characters are great. I just don't really care much if I see much more - I can't really see anywhere they can go with the story now that won't lead it in circles.

Kenran Butoh Sai The Mars Daybreak - "why haven't I watched the next episode yet?" is a question I've been asking myself for a couple of weeks now. It's just sitting there, and I have no desire to watch it whatsoever. Even though it's got Vess in it! This confuses me. Perhaps because it looks to be mecha-tastic, and that's when the show is at its weakest - its main strength is when the ensemble cast is sparking off each other like in the boat party episode, and the confrontational nature of the mecha fights means SHOUTING AND POSTURING and so forth.

Kyou Kara Maou! - every time I watch this, my testosterone weeps manly tears and runs for cover. Such a terribly guilty pleasure - the humour alternates between rubbish running jokes and inspired moments of lunacy (anything with Gwendal in, basically) and the plotting veers from banality to vaguely interesting politics in a matter of seconds, but it's a refreshingly different take on the standard shounen-ai cliches.

Monster - for someone who waxed lyrical about this early on it's a bit weird I haven't watched more than 6 episodes. It's good, really good, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to sit down and properly concentrate, and I haven't really felt like that much. Anyway, it's a proper drama that works very well and is excellently produced all round.

Samurai Champloo - well, I'm giving it one more episode before I decide whether to continue or not, but I can't deny the quality of the show. I just want Fuu to be less annoying (in the limited amounts of Bebop I've seen Faye is nowhere near as pointless and aggravating) and then I'll probably enjoy it a lot more. I like the scratch effects, unlike everyone else!

Tweeny Witches - my only complaint is the episodes are too short and come out too slowly. Great stuff.

Nothing else really merits comment at the moment. So I won't give any. Until the next time...

Licensio!

Well, the US appears to be heading into the main con season now and we've already seen a bunch of shows I probably won't be picking up get snapped up by the bigger companies - quite surprised to see Pichi Pichi Pitch picked up, actually, especially by ADV (who traditionally don't touch shoujo with a bargepole but have been going magical girl crazy recently), but that's not the main thing of interest here (other licenses I can remember off the top of my head - E's Otherwise, which butchers the nice character designs from the manga and gives everyone hideous voices, Cromartie, which wasn't my scene but is reputedly hilarious, and One Piece, which I actually quite liked what I saw of and await the 4Kids dub with great amusement. I'll be passing on those Shaman King and YugiOh discs myself, SK did nothing for me on fansub and YugiOh...just isn't my cup of tea)

What's interesting to me is the "announcement" of Gantz as being licensed by ADV, in conjunction with the big crackdown on Bittorrent sites that happened earlier today. Now, I have absolutely no problem with them doing this, actually - it removes DVD rips from the mix, which is excellent, and also ceases to tempt me with things I KNOW I shouldn't be watching and yet continue to do so. Furthermore, it means I don't have to feel so guilty about getting so far behind on Gantz now - I might source out those episodes which I didn't get around to seeing, but I can consider it dropped due to licensing. Although they've left Chrno Crusade out of the list I've seen, which is amusing considering the last episode just aired...

However, if they actually HAVE licensed Gantz (there has quite plausibly been a bidding war over it, since Funimation have registered a domain name for it), it's a funny way to announce they've got the license in my opinion. ADV has a hideous history of sitting on licenses for ages before doing anything with them - Excel Saga was announced as licensed around two years before ADV began work on it, and Kaleido Star was licensed a full year before production began and it was another year and a bit before it reached Region 1. They may have also made strides in bridging the release gap with Grrl Power! (Makasete Iruka or whatever it's called) (must think about picking that up actually...), but I still get the impression that they're not quite as swift as some other companies - Geneon in particular springs to mind, but there's Media Blasters and Bandai to consider too. Perhaps ADV just likes to announce licenses the minute they get them rather than hanging on until closer to release date? Whatever the situation, it gets a little annoying when shows I'm interested in picking up such as DN Angel and Princess Tutu disappear into the void for donkey's years after release (this is especially a problem with Tutu, which has a small but devoted fansub following for the entire series and should really capitalise on it ASAP in my opinion).

Anyway, back to the point I was vaguely going to chase up - ADV does have a habit of reeling off lists of licenses compared to the presentations by companies like Bandai/Geneon that show off some footage (why did Bandai license Dear Boys? I have nooooo idea), and just slipping Gantz into a list of forbidden titles like this is likely to backfire on them in some ways - the "aaar, bootlegs!" crowd will be in a bad mood with them already, and everyone else won't even notice it. I'm assuming it's probably a mistake and they'll be announcing the license at Anime Expo or whatever, but just my rambling thoughts on the subject.

So, Gantz licensed. Haven't watched anything since episode 5 due to being in a perkier mood than normal, perhaps, or maybe I was getting a bit bored with it? Personally I thought the animation was rather nice, some terrible CG but I liked the character designs and infrequent moments of nice 2D (d'ya think BakuTen has a higher budget? Just maybe?), the plot pretty interesting and Kurono an interesting, albeit highly unlikeable, hero (mainly unlikeable because perhaps he's rather too human for comfort, if a particularly intolerant and hormonal one). Dunno if I'll buy the DVDs to be honest (except by the time it comes out in 2006 or whenever I might have A Job, and thus my DVD buying habits will probably become a LOT less discerning), but we shall see. Be nice if they gave the show a new OP, though, considering the events of the second episode!

Getting behind...

For some reason I've been far too busy/happy/whatever to watch any of my traditional monochromatic-angst-death shows, so I'm getting waaaay behind on Monster and Gantz (and Narutaru, but I think I'll just save that for my summer digisub amnesty) in particular - I've watched the first 5 minutes of Monster episode 6 about six times now before switching off (and I LIKED those first five minutes the first time I watched it...)

I'm still waiting on a mysteriously vanished DVD order to watch the end of Fruits Basket, but in the meantime I've finally managed to get hold of the first season of Big O - I know I'm behind the rest of the Western hemisphere on this but it's only recently made its way onto the UK Toonami channel and I no longer get said channel, so I'm enjoying this completely fresh - I've only watched the first episode so far but I really enjoyed the character focus and lovely animation (plus the mecha are stupid looking, which always helps). I suspect I may end up among the legion of Dorothy fans, as long as she doesn't end up in a permanent state of Rei-like catatonia.

Natsuiro no Sunadokei OVA 1

It's the start of the summer holidays, and Koutarou (he boxes, incidentally, if you want his Quirk) wants to confess his love for Kaho-chan. However, he bumps into a mysterious red haired girl carrying an hourglass and breaks it, scattering the sand all over himself. This causes him to "day drop" when he sleeps, skipping throughout time, and he discovers that he goes out with Kaho in the holidays and she dies the day before they come back to school. Red haired girl turns out to be a time police officer from the future (it's Flint the Time Detective : The H Game!), and for some reason wants to stop Kaho from dying - first task, stop Maho(?), who's on the swimming team, from injuring herself so badly that she delays the train that Kaho...

Oh, forget it. It makes it sound more exciting than it actually is. There's nothing really wrong with Natsuiro no Sunadokei I guess, it's just a bit generic. The lead is as cookie-cutter as always in H-game shows, the girls are all either sappy or annoying, and the plot is a bit drawn out and mainly an excuse for Koutarou to chat up all the sekushii ladies. Surprisingly non-fanservice-y, but nothing particularly worthwhile about it - I probably won't bother watching any more.

Typical!

Barely anything worth watching for about five days and then a billion episodes get subbed at once. Hmph. Look forward to more Maou, Madlax and Tweeny Witches in particular, plus I suspect I'll give in to temptation and watch Samurai Champloo - despite its pre-licensing, the general awesomeness of its pedigree and premise (hip-hop samurai have to at least be interesting for twenty minutes) have suckered me in. Might also watch Natsuiro no Sunadokei (Summer's Hourglass), perhaps it'll be a Tsukihime or Interlude rather than a Green Green or Lime-iro Senkitan...

Anyway, to fill in the time I've been watching DVDs and going back into the mists of...well, last July, by digging out Narutaru.

Narutaru is...interesting. I've only watched the first episode thus far (and won't blog about it again until I get to the end I don't think), but I've heard plenty about the show and seen the infamous scans of volume...4, I think it is? of the manga. As such, it's easy to pick up on the slight aura of unease in the OP and ED in particular that the first episode doesn't really present. The character designs take a bit of getting used to, and the animation is pretty pants, but it should be interesting (brief plot set up - spunky girl gets flying alien starfish thing as a pet, Weirdness Ensues).

On other fronts, I've been sputtering my student loan away on DVDs - going for a massive shoujo fix with KareKano and Fruits Basket in particular, which I'm now almost finished with - two volumes of KareKano left, one of Furuba. I've seen all of KareKano before, but in an audience of ardent KareKano haters so it's nice to enjoy it by myself (plus it won't be bootlegged like the last 10 episodes or so were, so the signs will actually be subbed...), and I've been meaning to see all of Furuba for aaaages since I saw the first six episodes or so on fansub - nothing much happens really, but the characters and writing are brilliant (I even quite like Tohru!) - it's mainly nice as a "background" show for when I'm doing menial things like university work, for instance. Both have exemplary dubs, incidentally, although Ayame's voice in English is a little too camp for my liking.

Oh, and Kaleido Star volume 1 is fine, but I've already waxed lyrical about that.

On a vaaaaguely other hand, however, I picked up the first volume of Kino no Tabi mostly on a whim - I saw the preview episode aaaages ago but never watched the fansubs so wasn't really sure whether it could hold up scrutiny to a full-length format. Boy, was I wrong. I've only watched the first two episodes, but I'm seriously impressed - I love the plot twists in this otherwise episodic format, the animation is great (I'm a sucker for these shows with muted, washed-out colour palettes and dreamy atmospheres - it looks very much like a cross between Haibane Renmei and Last Exile) and Kino is just damn cool. It's not for everyone - it's a little abstract in places (the director also did lain) - but I highly recommend it - I've just ordered the next DVD anyway.

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Fullmetal Alchemist Licensed

Aka ethical digisub watchers weep and idiotic fans rail against the anime industry once more, Sonchou Fansubs cackles with glee as their competition ostensibly gives up before assuming false names to carry on, Funimation laugh all the way to the bank and Squenix increase their dominance over Japanese geek media in the West.

Or will they? FMA has a phenomenal following in Japan at the moment, as far as I'm aware - shops bursting with merchandise, booming sales of the manga, the show airs in a respectable Saturday evening timeslot to be watched by families, the tie in PS2 game Tobenai Tenshi selling over a quarter of a million copies etc. Funimation have made a wise move in securing Hagaren's TV broadcast on Cartoon Network (as long as it ends up on Adult Swim), but I simply can't see the same massive cross-promotion working out as well in the US.

For one, Hagaren already had an audience in Japan through the manga's popularity. The franchise is going to be totally fresh to most viewers who haven't had the benefit of scanlations and so forth, unless someone quickly snaps up the manga license too. The general merchandise blitz isn't going to be happening either, unless someone starts making tacky action toys (Action Ed, the greatest hero of them all!). Tobenai Tenshi is frankly mediocre (and I'm not just saying that because I'm crap at it) and unlikely to sell very well at all, and if Funimation pull a Kiddy Grade and put 3 episodes per disc (LESS than the Japanese release!) they're unlikely to see the same sort of sales they might expect.

A lot of it will depend on the dubbing, too, as to whether the show gets popular. Funimation do some excellent dub work, it has to be said - but Paku Romi and Rie Kugiyama will be a tough double act to follow for the sub watchers, and the roles of Ed and Al are extremely tough indeed - not to mention the fact that the supporting cast is just as important, and they'll have to cast the core National Alchemists (Mustang, Hawkeye, Hughes and Armstrong) VERY carefully indeed.

I hope it succeeds. Although I was getting bored with FMA (I haven't actually watched any since episode 21) I can still appreciate that it's an exceptional show, as to be expected from Sho Aikawa and Bones, and it really deserves to do well.

Apologies

This is going to sound really stupid, but I apologise for the vague sparseness of updates as opposed to my usual binge-entries. Due to my general academic inefficiency I have been buried in essays for the past few days and have procrastinated my time away in endless web surfing instead of new anime watching (aside from Witch Hunter Robin and Fruits Basket DVDs). Expect proper updates perhaps sometime in the next couple of days, featuring such excitements as the first episode of Tetsujin #28 and a brief review of the first season of Kaleido Star, aka The Best Recent Shoujo Anime You Probably Haven't Seen. (buy the DVDs, coming soon from ADV! *ahem*)

Now back to Locke and Pindar!

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Someday's Dreamers OST

In the post this morning I received something almost unthinkable - a Western release of an anime soundtrack that's actually half-decent. While ADV has been churning out cheapo CD licenses from fairly crummy shows for a while now, Geneon jumped on the bandwagon and started licensing good stuff from Victor, Starchild and their own CD label in Japan last year - and the results have been stellar, in my opinion. Even though I'm not interested in a lot of the stuff they've been licensing like Chobits, there's some seriously excellent music in there.

The Someday's Dreamers OST is a personal favourite of mine not for being particular outstanding musically, but because it fits so well with the show. The main theme, "Where the Sky and the Earth Meet", encapsulates the wistful, gentle feel of the series so perfectly that when I first saw a trailer for the series back in 2002 I immediately fell in love with it. Admittedly, most of the tracks are arrangements of the main theme and Yume's theme "Midsummer Night's Dream", but they're done really well. Unfortunately we don't get the OP, "Kaze no Hana" on this CD, since I believe HANA HANA aren't owned by Geneon, but the CD does include the TV edit of "Under the Blue Sky" and the rather nice image song "Clear", both by The Indigo (who also did the ED for Ai Yori Aoshi I believe, they certainly did Enishi) - both are fairly soft acoustic-y pop songs, but Clear in particular has a wonderful laid back feel. And there's lots of Celtic stuff on here too, and I'm a total sucker for Celtic music (hence why I own both Brigadoon soundtracks (highly underrated show, that one)).

While the translation for the interview and liner notes with the CD is a little too literal for my tastes, Geneon have done a wonderful job on this CD. It also has gorgeous cover artwork of Yume sitting high above Tokyo at night, so what's not to like?

Out of what they've already released, I'd highly recommend the two X soundtracks if you like bombastic orchestral music (my personal favourite track is "Chaotic Change" filled with blaring trumpets and rapid strings) and the first Utena CD for pure weirdness. Coming next month is the first Arjuna soundtrack, which is one of the best albums in the world ever (only a slight exaggeration), and in the future I'm particularly looking forward to the Tsukihime album (gorgeous piano music). Although I'm not that much of a huge fan, I'd recommend people try the Stellvia album too, since most people rave over angela's "Asu e no Brilliant Road", the opening theme (aaaand on another tangent, it appears they're doing the opening for the July show "Soukyuu no Fafnir" from Xebec, the studio behind Stellvia).

What with Bandai getting in on the act too with the various Hack soundtracks (everyone must know the Kajiura stuff by now, but chibiHack's OST is refreshingly different, although disappointing considering the talent behind it), Wolf's Rain (second OST is better, though) and Stand Alone Complex (Inner Universe is simply amazing), ADV have a lot of ground to cover if they want to catch up in this market - how about Noir or RahXephon?

(though I suspect they'll give it up, they've invested so much in their toys/manga/original productions now they probably don't care about the CD market any more)

Pugyuru Episode 2 - Cheko-chan and the Scary People

...is there any point in recapping this? It's only three minutes long, you want to watch it, do so. No pictures either, I'm afraid, there's so little to comment on.

The novelty's worn off already, I'm afraid. It's still weird and "funny", but I was more just bemused than amused.

A Pause for Thought

Phew! Now I actually have some work to do for uni it's a good thing I've managed to get through just about everything that started in April by now. Now I can start getting rid of things!

I haven't yet watched Interlude (an OVA subbed by Triad), and there haven't been any fansubs of Keroro Gunsou (insane comedy about alien frogs invading Earth), GANTZ (nihilistic action-drama from Gonzo) or Legendz (kiddie action show, but reputedly directed by Akitaroh Daichi - besides, I like various iterations of Digimon) yet, so I haven't seen them either, but when they're eventually subbed/I cave in and watch the raws pretending to understand random words here and there, I'll post about them.

(the remaining TV Tokyo shows like Marshmallow Times are probably too kiddie even for my tastes, so I'll be giving them a miss straight off.)

DROPPING:

Ragnarok The Animation - a cynical cash-in with few redeeming features and a slavish adherence to idiotic gaming tropes.
Hanaukyou Maid Tai La Verite - ugh, maids. Ugh, dull. Just...ugh.
Sensei no Ojikan - better than Azumanga, but I don't think it can keep it up.
Get Ride! AM Driver - kid's toy spinoff, perfectly competent but not my kind of thing.
Koi Kaze - a pretty good first episode but it's hard to see what else they can do with it and I'm not fussed over what happens in the end.
Shura no Toki - not bad, but seems awfully like Kenshin and I'm not really interested in period action shows.

PROBATION (i.e. get better quick or I'm dropping it)

Kenran Butoh - needs something to set it apart from every other mecha show ever. Bethemona's hair doesn't count.
Konomini - please please please don't turn into Mahoromatic. PLEASE.
BakuTen - Joe is cool, but the mecha are crap and I can't be bothered with it if it just ends up being GIRLS X GUNS X 3DCG MECHA.
Midori no Hibi - I'll give it an episode to convince me one way or the other.
Tenjou Tenge - thwack! boing! zooooom! Fairly fun, but I'll drop it if it's not as entertaining next episode.
Madlax - once Margaret's character is established I'll have a better idea whether it's worth the effort.
Melody of Oblivion - they need to assemble the full team of Meros warriors and get on with the quest ASAP.
Pugyuru - will it get boring quickly?

PICKS (the 'best' stuff I've watched, and hope to continue doing so)

Kyou Kara Maou! - dumb shounen-ai comedy, but I'm a sucker for half-decent fantasy.
AishiBaby - it's just so cute, you can't resist.
Petit Cossette - twisted and intriguing, plus since it's an OVA I don't have to keep it up on a weekly basis.
Monster - slothfully paced but gripping drama.
Tweeny Witches - fun "mahou shoujo" with lovely animation and design.
Panda Z - short, stupid and cute and genuinely amusing in places, I don't see any point in not watching.
Dogtato-kun - Mmm, delicious!

On top of that, I've got stuff I'm continuing from previous seasons:

Chrno Crusade - a strong central cast (even Asmaria is tolerable) and a dramatic plotline keep this floating above some terrible filler episodes and Satella's ever-plunging cleavage. Licensed by ADV - I'm planning on getting the DVDs.
Fullmetal Alchemist - everyone loves FMA, although I was getting a little bored around episode 21, the last one I've seen. Dreading watching 25...
Planetes - if this keeps up the standard of the first 15 episodes or so this'll easily be one of my favourite series ever. Astoundingly well written character drama with genuinely amusing humour and great animation.
Jubei-chan 2 - superior to the first series in every way. I'm up to episode...7, I think.
ROD TV - I only have two episodes left to watch so I may as well finish it, although I still think Anita needs to be drop-kicked off a cliff and Yomiko wants her personality back.

Plus occasionally there may be digressions onto DVD purchases and more inane waffling on anime music when I feel like it. Enjoy!

Mutsu Enmei Ryu Shura no Toki Episode 1 - A Man Like the Clouds

Opening - Identity (Sacra)- fine, better than average even, but it doesn't help that the drum beat is the same as a football chant.
Ending - Natsuhiboshi (Akane Ohsawa) - not bad, boring visuals. Ho hum, seems like I say that for most things.

(is the episode title a pun on Yakumo's name?)

It appears that "shura no toki" means "time of chaos", and as usual this is one of those historical samurai/ninja/whatever shows that probably means a lot more when you've actually studied a little Japanese history. My knowledge of such things extends to the first four episodes of Kenshin and the first three of Peacemaker Kurogane, and I somehow doubt everyone was quite so gay in the Shinsengumi. Oh, and Jubei-chan, but there's a sore lack of Lovely Eyepatches in Shura no Toki.

Anyway, it's the Heian era (and thus before Kenshin and PMK anyway). After about 5 minutes of posturing warriors, we get down to the actual episode - Kishomaru's uncle wants "him" dead, so Kishomaru is assigned a man named Yakumo as a bodyguard. But Kishomaru is actually a woman, and thinks that Yakumo is useless (he acts like every other shounen fight show hero ever - implausibly happy and constantly eating) until he saves her from an assassination attempt - without using a sword!

Why is so much of the music piano and strings? It really makes the whole thing feel incredibly cheesy, for some reason. And it is - there's nothing new in Shura no Toki, it screams "Kenshin" at every turn. Kishomaru is going to be pointless and useless except as a love interest, much like Kaoru ends up being in Kenshin, plus Yakumo and Musashi just seem like archetypes for these shows (I even think they'll get Yagyuu Jubei in there somewhere too, judging by the OP and the events of the episode). There's some really bad CG in here too, used for stupid things like opening doors. However, I found it a lot less boring than PMK, and it doesn't have Tetsunosuke, Anime's Most Brattish Lead Character, in it, so it has to be an improvement - but I don't think I'll be sticking around to find out, personally.