 | "Osananajimi 7" by Akira
(2007-04-10) |
I need to speed up a pace a little, so the page was uploaded on Tuesday. It's not inked and there is a couple of mistakes, but I'll work on them when I return home tonight.
While I was working on this page, I enjoyed watching the first episode of "Bokurano". This anime is based on manga written by Mohiro Kito who also known as the author of "Narutaru" before this. "Narutaru" manga had quite a depressing ending (I'm sure million of people died at the end), and I'm sure "Bokurano" will become like that too. There is a lot of characters (15 boys and girls), but I'm sure it'll be fewer as the story progresses.
Please write your comment to this strip at pOnju forum
 | "MuuuuUUuuuuUuuuuUuuu" by Konstantin
(2007-04-10) |
The new anime season is upon us, and I'm already starting to wonder how I'm going to keep up with all the good new shows, especially with my trip to Japan and move to Seattle both happening this month. And that's considering that the show I've been anticipating the most,
Lucky Star, hasn't even gotten subbed yet. The OP looks
awesome, though, and the preview is
AWESOME (kudos to a.f.k. for such a nuanced translation).
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - The first episode has been a shot of pure unadulterated fun, filled with hot blood and love of drilling (don't ask). This is Gainax in their full-on kickass mode (as opposed to their cheap fanservice mode or their milking a property to death and beyond mode), with animation gorgeous both in its fluidity and its content. It's FLCL, DieBuster, and Dead Leaves going through a blender and having a grand ol' time of it. The characters are tons of fun as well - there's the hot-blooded dumb-as-a-brick leader type, the mech pilot who does not whine, bitch, or moan, and a gorgeous redhead sporting the trademark Gainax jiggle and a frikkin sniper rifle! Assuming this show doesn't run out of steam after the first few episodes, we're in for one hell of a ride.
Hayate no Gotoku - A genuinely funny comedy filled with lulz and roffles. While not quite as gag-a-second as Excel Saga or Pani Poni Dash, the gags are still plentiful, often original and surprising, and almost always laugh-out-loud funny. They poke fun at manga cliches, TV anime standards, timeless classics, and themselves, effortlessly walking through (and into) the 4th wall to great comic effect. The production values are high with cute and clean animation, I've Sound soundtrack, and A-list voice cast (though Kugimiya Rie seems to have gotten a bit too comfortable with the tsundere roles, her Nagi almost indistinguishable from Louise in Zero no Tsukaima). If they can keep the funny coming in similar quantities and quality for the rest of the show, this may well be the comedy of the year.
Claymore - Whoever made this must have been a Berserk fan - the setting has a very similar look, feel, and basic vibe. They have, however, replaced the GAR incarnate that is Gutts with a Rei clone. A truly badass Rei clone, to be sure, but it's somewhat hard to focus on the grim darkness of the setting when you're going moeee~ every time the protagonist comes onscreen. Then again, that might just be me. Granted, while the first episode had its fair share of bloody stabbity death, this show doesn't seem to be reaching for quite the level of darkness and brutality that became the hallmark of Miura's masterpiece, and it's impossible to tell how well the plot, the world, and the characters will end up getting developed after a single episode. Still, assuming they haven't blown half their animation budget on the first ep, it looks like Madhouse may have a winner on its hands here.
Idolmaster Xenoglossia - Contrary to what the title would lead you to believe, this show doesn't appear to have anything to do with the games or the recent string of terrible singing idol shows. Instead, this looks like Sunrise doing Evangelion by way of Mai Hime. The production values are good, the voice cast is top notch (including Noto Mamiko!), and Sunrise being Sunrise, even if this will end up a trainwreck, at the very least it will be an entertaining trainwreck (assuming, of course, they don't let the director's girlfriend write the scripts).
Nanoha StrikerS - Not sure I like the decision to age the characters of the previous two shows by a decade and shift the focus to their students, but the first episode still managed to be pretty fun. The production values don't seem to be quite as high as in the first two shows, though they still have the old voice cast, which has always been top notch, and the newcomers don't sound half bad either. In spite of the delolification of the main cast, there's still plenty of cuteness to go around, particularly from the chibi Reinforce, but I'm pretty disappointed that Fate and Nanoha don't share so much as a scene together. All my griping aside, I still think this is going to be a worthwhile show, but if you haven't seen the original Nanoha or A's, I'd recommend starting with those before trying StrikerS.
Heroic Age - Pulp! Puuuuulp! Sweet buttery pulp! The animation might not be top notch, and the character designs are by Hirai Hisashi, but none of it matters because this is the pulpiest first ep I've seen since Juuousei. I mean there's space bugs! Space bugs that travel in giant space hives and fight mecha piloted by humans with names straight out of Greek mythology. Not expecting anything particularly deep or original from this show, but now and again I just feel like watching Tarzan in Space, and this seems to fit the bill nicely.
Hitohira - Shy girl joins drama club, wacky hyjinks ensue. A friend of mine swears by this first episode, but in my case it left a pretty blah feeling. Feels like a generic eroge adaptation, except that the point of view character is female. Though to the show's credit the characters are pretty cute, Kawasumi Ayako is on the cast, and there is a bit of subtext (which probably won't lead anywhere, Strawberry Panic this ain't). I'll probably give it another ep, but with the sheer volume of truly awesome shows coming out this season, time to watch a merely decent one will be pretty scarce.
In completely unrelated news, I think I'll have to buy Megamari now (here's the original Megaman 2 version for all the Vermillion members here).
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