When I say pretty good, I mean just that. It’s been an entertaining show that’s kept my attention well beyond what the generic harem-esque premise should have been capable of. Now, I’m not saying that it deserves to be ranked up with the excellent shows of the season like Toradora but it’s definitely no where near the bottom. In fact, I’d place Asu no Yoichi above several current shows like Maria+holic that should have been able to leave Asu no Yoichi in the dust but haven’t. I decided to figure out, if I could, exactly why this show has been so successful. (Manga and Anime spoilers ahead.)

The first step, I decided, was to check the source material to see if maybe that would explain it. Checking the first chapter, I was surprised to see that none of the events inside the mall happened; the eldest sister found Yoichi in the police station and took him home. Reading further on, chapter three is the chapter that introduces Chihaya, the manga drawing middle sister, but it stops right at the point where Chihaya tests to see if Yoichi is a good guy. There’s nothing from the second half of the episode where Chihaya gets bullied for being a manga artist and Yoichi coming to her aid. Both of these parts in the anime where important in establishing that Yoichi is an honorable samurai and not a lecherous pervert. Reading more, I found other parts that where altered in the anime to improve Yoichi’s character: in the manga he once says to himself that if it was the past, he won’t have to put up with the sisters treating him so badly; and when he gets asked on a date, instead of declining because he doesn’t know her, he shows up for the date and finds out she was just playing with him.

Once I realized that that animators where largely responsible for making this a pretty good show (for tweaking the characters and adding important character development), I wanted to see who worked on this and if I should have expected this. Of course, I forgot what I wrote for my winter anime preview and was surprised to see AIC was the ones that worked on this. If you remember from the fall season, AIC worked on Ga:Rei – Zero which created a far superior anime-original prequel to the Ga:Rei manga. I guess I shouldn’t haven been so surprised then and I will remember to look out for anime by AIC in the future since even with lackluster source material, it could turn out to be good.

I don’t know how it’ll finish but up to episode 8, it’s proven to be entertaining with a main character containing a real backbone and the girls being more then just character types. I’d suggest giving the show a chance provided you’re not bothered by fan service, there’s a fair amount in the show but it’s more thought-out then what’s standard, and you realize this show is in the entertaining fluff category and shouldn’t be thought to be on the same level as say Clannad or Toradora.

Posted in anime, general anime interst

Since my winter anime impressions were spread out over the past few weeks I thought it would be a good idea to combine the scores all in on place (and sort by their score) and link back to the individual entries so in case you missed one you could find it easier. Plus give any final thoughts on the beginning of the winter season.

Rideback, episode 1 – 12/12
Munto TV, episode 1 – 12/12
Minami-Ke: Okaeri, episode 1 – 12/12
Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 1 – 12/12

Birdy the Mighty Decode 2, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

A Tale of Genji, episode 1 – 10/12 A
Maria+Holic, episode 1 – 10/12 A
Hetalia Axis Powers, episode 1 – 10/12 A

Kemono no Souja Erin, episode 1 – 9/12 A-

Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, episode 1 – 8/12 B+

Chrome Shelled Regios, episode 1 – 7/12 B
Shikabane Hime: Kuro, episode 1 – 7/12 B

Asu no Yoichi, episode 1 – 6/12 B-

Akikan, episode 1 – 4/12 C

This is a pretty strong season of anime if you include the sequels and even if you don’t, there is still a few shows that could turn out to be real winners.

Of the sequels, Birdy the Mighty Decode 2 is showing the most improvement over it’s predecessor. I thought the first season was pretty good (gave it an 11/12 A+) but the first three episodes of this season are a great improvement on that. I’d even go so far to say that Birdy Season 2 is the most impressive show that started this season. I recommend this to anyone looking for a good show from this season to watch, even if that means going back to watch the first season.

Maria+Holic has been really hit-n-miss so far. My favorite parts have been when Maria and his maid have been onscreen but when they aren’t, the show loses much of it’s humor and interest. Also, the visual style of the show seems almost timid when compared to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. So far I’ve been giving the show a bit of slack because it’s been the beginning but my patience is starting to wane as the show continues to underperform.

Two shows that I’m kinda surprised that I’m still liking are Asu no Yoichi and Sora o Kakeru Shoujo. Asu no Yoichi has continued to be enjoyable even though it’s rather generic and clichéd. Now that I’m 5 episodes in, I find that I haven’t gotten tired of it yet so I’ll probably watch the whole thing. As for Sora o Kakeru Shoujo aka Sorakake Girl, I like the characters a lot as well as the show’s somewhat odd sense of humor. I still don’t know where the story is going but at this point, I don’t care.

The last thing I wanted to mention is that I know there are many anime fans out there that love hearing the Japanese butcher English. Chrome Shelled Regios has had whole scenes done in English (end of episode 3 and the beginning of episodes 4 & 5) by voice actors that obviously don’t know English. I hope they continue with these scenes because I get a good laugh from them. The show, as a whole, has only been decent so far - showing a bit of promise but not much.

Posted in anime, first impressions      

If last week had been a light week of anime, this week was the opposite – as you can see below. And I didn’t include my marathoning of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and the first two episodes of OVA over a two day period. I decided it was the last of the 2008 shows that I wanted to get to before getting to my awards for the whole year. In hindsight, watching that much Despair at one time probably wasn’t the best idea since my brain almost turned to mush. Which is actually a complement, it reminded me of watching FLCL in one sitting.

The scores:

Toradora!, episode 15 – 12/12

Soul Eater, episode 38 – 10/12 A
Soul Eater, episode 39 – 12/12

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 22 – 12/12
Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 23 – 12+/12

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 11 – 12+/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 14 – 10/12 A

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 11 – 12/12
Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 12 – 12+/12 (end)

Shikabane Hime: Aka, episode 13 – 11/12 A+ (end)

Minami-Ke: Okaeri, episode 2 – 12++/12

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 2 – 12/12

Asu no Yoichi, episode 2 – 9/12 A-

Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, episode 2 – 9/12 A-

(previously reviewed)

Asu no Yoichi, episode 1 – 6/12 B-

Akikan, episode 1 – 4/12 C
Akikan, episode 2 – 3/12 D

Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, episode 1 – 8/12 B+

Rideback, episode 1 – 12/12

Maria+Holic, episode 1 – 10/12 A
Maria+Holic, episode 2 – 11/12 A+

Chrome Shelled Regios, episode 1 – 7/12 B

Birdy the Mighty Decode 2, episode 1 – 11/12 A+

Shikabane Hime: Kuro, episode 1 – 7/12 B

Munto TV, episode 1 – 12/12

Which shows have momentum this week

Up – Minami-Ke: Okaeri – This episode showed that the first episode wasn’t a fluke

Down – Shikabane Hime: Kuro – For specifics as to why this show belongs here, check my impressions post but I’m already wishing that Gainax was still doing this show

Thoughts and Highlights

I already posted a video from Minami-Ke: Okaeri showing one of the awesome clips from episode 2 but the episode was full of really great parts. As a result it was this week’s best episode that I watched. It’s also this week’s momentum gainer since it’s helping to make me quickly forget about the second season and confirm that I can expect the comedy of this season to be on a similar level to the first. One thing that I thought most interesting about the Curry Fairy part was that Hosaka didn’t set off Chiaki’s stupid-idiot radar. I don’t think Hosaka is an idiot but I’m surprised that Chiaki thinks the same way. I also can’t wait for the eventual second meeting between the two when Chiaki realizes Hosaka is not the Curry Fairy.

Xam’D: Lost Memories has now moved to the final arc and, of course, tons of stuff start happening. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed both episodes, it’s starting to feel like Bones was a little too ambitious with this show. In episode 23, it was like the show suddenly developed ADD and couldn’t stop changing the channel between the numerous different stories. Some scenes, like the Haru scene, didn’t leave a deep impression because before we even had the chance to digest what she was saying we were off somewhere else. And some scenes like the Nakiami one still resonated well because her character has had plenty of development over the course of the show and we understood almost immediately the importance of what was happening. I hope the final few episodes are paced a little better because it’ll be a shame to see such a quality show falter at the end. And since this isn’t actually running on television, I don’t understand why it has to be 26 episodes when it could be a few more episodes longer and have enough time for the ending.

Soul Eater episode 39 finally got back to my favorite character, Crona. I’m inclined to think that Crona is a boy because that would mean that Medusa has been messing with his mind from the beginning. In this episode, Crona finally admits to Maka his role in pushing Stein towards insanity. Of course Maka realizes that Crona would only do something like that under duress but it looks like Crona will be kicked out of Soul Society until someone very unexpected appears at Shibusen.

I’ll discuss the shows that ended this week when I write my series review in the future. I have a few more comments I wanted to make but nothing that deserves a full paragraph so I’ll bulletize them.

• I enjoyed the second episode of Asu no Yoichi why more then I should have. Maybe it’s because they constructed a scenario where the male main character is actually a capable human being and has a plausible reason for his problems around people, especially girls. Let’s hope it continues.
• Sora o Kakeru Shoujo or The Girl who Leapt Through Space continues to be odd but I think I might like this series. The comedy has been funny and offbeat so far; for example, in episode 2, an Iron Maiden was used as the means for the characters to change into their battle suits.
• Great episode of Michiko to Hatchin. What Michiko had to do to get Hatchin to forgive her was epic and touched my heart. It would be easy to think Michiko looked at Hatchin as a means to an end but this episode really showed that Michiko cares for Hatchin’s welfare.
• I was wondering if Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou could top the fox spirit from the first season in terms of cuteness and I got my answer this episode – yes. The little snow bunny (like the ones seen in Kanon) that gets possessed by a spirit is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Posted in anime, weekly anime review      

Asu no Yoichi was on my list of shows to watch but I didn’t really have high hopes for it because it looked liked it was a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy show with a heaping helping of fan service thrown in. But after Akikan, I was just hoping to see something at least passable. So did Asu no Yoichi join Akikan at the bottom or did it fare better?

Rating: 6/12 B-

Well, the first episode was definitely better then Akikan by a long shot but it still has a journey before it’s considered good.

Asu no Yoichi is about a young master swordsman and what happens when his father decides it would be a good idea for the son to leave their secluded mountain home and learn about the modern world. While in the city, the high school aged boy will live at a dojo run by relatives and because this is a romantic comedy, it’s four sisters that run the dojo.

In the show’s defense, it didn’t really do anything really wrong. Our young swordsman seems like a capable, nice guy and someone that we could get to like in the future. The four sisters still need more character development before they’re more then just a character type but none of them annoyed me. The premise seems absurd – I don’t think there’s anywhere in Japan that you could raise a kid in total isolation of the outside world – but I’ve gone along with weirder ones before.

What particularly helped my enjoy this episode was three of the female seiyuus. The oldest sister is played by Rina Satou, who has done a very good job in a very similar role for one of my favorites, Minami-Ke. The second youngest sister is played by Yukari Tamura, who sounds a lot like her role as Nagisa Kurihara - the bug liking one - from Sketchbook. The youngest sister is played by Kana Hanazawa, who I really got to like after playing two roles both named Sora in Sketchbook and Somedays Dreamer’s Season 2.

In conclusion, the show was just good enough that I’ll watch a few more episodes but soon it’ll need to be more then a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy show with a heaping helping of fan service if I’m to continue watching it.

Posted in anime, first impressions      

I figure it’s appropriate to start writing this on Turkey Day. Physically, I’m stuffed and yet I’m trying to figure out a way to have another piece of my Mom’s apple pie – it’s simply impossible to make a better pie crust then hers. Mentally, I’m stuffed from the huge number of great fall anime shows and yet I can’t help but get excited over the new season.

My criteria for picking shows is the same as last time. I’m looking for which animation house is doing it, if the summary/source material sound very enticing and if one of my favorite seiyuus will be involved.

The safest bets of the season are the sequels; so let’s start with them.

Zoku Natsume Yuujin-Chou

AKA: Natsume Season 2 or Natsume’s Book of Friends 2

Studio: Brains Base – Kamichu, Kurenai, Baccano
Official Site

The first season of this supernatural slice-of-life show aired during Summer 2008 and was the best show of the season. During that season we were introduced to Natsume who can see spirits, like his grandma. With his grandma’s passing, he receives her Book of Friends which contains the names of all the spirits she subjugated during her life. Having the names means that one can control that spirit so this book has great power. Invariably, he begins to meet spirits that want their names back, want the book, or just want his help because they can talk to him.

If you are looking for a show with great characters, a relaxing feel, and a story that can warm the heart and make you laugh a bit – there’s no surer bet then this show for this season.

Minami-ke: Okaeri

AKA: Minami-ke Season 3

Studio: Asread
Seiyuu: Marina Inoue, Minori Chihara, Rina Satou
Director: Kei Oikawa - appears to be his first time directing
Offical Website

The second surest bet for this season is the third season of the comedy Minami-ke. This show follows the lives of the three Minami sisters, who live together in one apartment, and their interactions with their friends. The oldest sister is in high school and acts as the mom, the middle sister is in middle school and acts like a typical middle child, and the youngest is in elementary school and hates dumb people. The first season was one of the funniest and well-done comedies I have ever seen. A different studio, Asread, was put in charge of the second season and while it was still a very funny show, it wasn’t as good.

I think the same conclusion was reached over in Japan because while Asread is animating the third season, Studio Doumu (behind the first season) is in charge of production. The thought of getting more of the traptastic Maka-chan, Hosaka and his fantasies, Fujioka and his quest to get Kana to like him, and the Minami sisters makes me almost giddy in anticipation.

Birdy the Mighty Decode:02

AKA: Birdy Season 2

Studio: A-1 Pictures Inc. – Kannagi
Official Website

Another sequel of a Summer 2008 show. In the first season we meet Senekawa, your typical high school student, who likes to explore abandoned buildings. This hobby brings him trouble when an intergalactic police agent, Birdy, accidentally kills him. Luckily for Senekawa, Birdy’s civilization has a means to regrow a copy of his body; so, while that’s being done Senekawa’s mind is placed along side Birdy’s. The body can morph to fit the form of the person that’s in charge of it and that allows Senekawa to be a high school student by day and Birdy to be a police agent by night.

One of the drawbacks of the first season, which became obvious over the course of the show, was that the show had a small budget. So, for example, the show had a number of good action scenes but they occurred almost exclusively at the beginning or the end. Hopefully, the fact that it got green-lighted for a second season will mean that more money will be spent on it and the show can reach it’s full potential.

Shikabane Hime: Kuro

AKA: Corpse Princess Season 2

Studio: Studio Feel – Da Capo 2
Official Site

The fourth sequel that I’m looking forward to is the sequel to the currently running Shikabane Hime: Aka. The second season sees a switch from being a Gainax production to being a Studio Feel production.

In this anime, if a person is greatly attached to this world when they die then instead of moving on that person can come back as a Corpse. Most times these Corpses become dangerous monsters that need stopped but sometimes these Corpses retain their human-form and agree to hunt the evil Corpses. These Corpse hunters can attain heaven after killing 108 evil Corpses.

Because the first season is still airing and the animation studio is changed, it is impossible to fully use the first season as a guide for this second season. However, I’m optimistic that this show will turn out good. Many people probably will not share a similar sentiment because they were disappointed over the first season. I think much of this disappointment stems from this show being the first series after Gainax’s masterpiece, Gurren Lagann. The characters have been solid, the animation has been top-notch, and the evil Corpses have been original and interesting – which has been more then enough to get me wanting more.

-

That’s the final sequel that I’m interested in, all the other non-OVA sequels are to shows that I haven’t seen and thus I won’t attempt to watch. For a more complete listing, try here or here. Now it’s onto new shows. I’m going to combine how excited I am about the title with how sure I am it will turn out good and list the remaining from highest to lowest.

-

Maria+Holic

Studio: Shaft - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Seiyuu: Asami Sanada, Marina Inoue, Yu Kobayashi
Official website

Shoot me – I can’t help but being excited about this show.

The story is about a second year high school student, Kanako, who has a phobia of men and so she transfers to an all-girl school to find her yuri love partner. She meets her ideal girl in the form of Maria, the most beautiful and popular girl in school. The twist is that Maria turns out to be a sadistic trap. And it gets even better. Maria+Holic is being animated by Shaft who did such a bang-up job on the twisted Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

If this show can exploit it’s crazy premise for laughs and make us like the characters then Maria+Holic might be one of the top shows of the season.

Genji Monogatari Sennenki

AKA: A Tale of Genji

Studio: Tezuka Productions
Official Site, More info here

From what I’ve read, the novel this is based on is 1000 years old and considered the world’s first novel. Even if I haven’t read many books that are considered “classics” I give them their due. For example, I might not have gotten Shakespeare in high school but the fact that we’re still talking about him 500 years later must mean there is something to his work. Likewise, the story this anime is based on wouldn’t have lasted a 1000 years if it was garbage. Therefore, I’m excited about watching this show.

If you want a little more help to decide, I was reading from the summary – “The story follows the happy but sorrowful tales of the glorious youth Hikaru Genji’s love, and the women in his life who strive to make their love towards Genji significantly differently from others.” – and it almost sounds like this show has what’s considered harem elements to it. I’m probably wrong but if you were going to pass on this show because it’s a classic, it might be worth your time to watch a couple of episodes.

Rideback

Studio: Madhouse – Death Note, Kaiba, Kurozuka
Official Website

This is another title I’m very interested in. The plot has the possibility to be interesting – A young woman is an anti-government protester in the year 2020 and has a robot that doubles as her motorcycle to help her. I always enjoy a good diasporan SF tale like “V for Vendetta” and this sounds like it could be something similar. Based on Madhouse’s current string of successes, I feel confident that this will turn out to be another.

Kemono No Souja Erin

Studio: Production I.G. – Ghost in the Shell:SAC, Library War, Seirei no Moribito

Because Production I.G. is behind this and because the story comes from the same person that did Seirei no Moribito, I’m going to check this series out. However, the story to this one doesn’t grab me – After her mother, a veterinarian, is executed for allegedly killing a clutch of fighting snakes, the daughter Erin is adopted by a beekeeper and meets the king of the animals in the mountains. Erin follows in her mother’s footsteps to become a veterinarian and this decision will put the fate of the kingdom of the animals in her hands.

Just from the summary, I’m getting environmental vibes and that’s normally a big turnoff. If it wasn’t for shows like Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke and Pom Poko that had an environmental message without being over-the-top sickening like Captain Planet or Ferngully – I’d just skip this one. Instead, I’ll give this show a fair chance to like it.

Akikan!

Studio: Brain’s Base – Kamichu, Kurenai, Baccano, Natsume
Official Site

In another case of great studio, weak story comes Akikan!. In this one, Daichi just wanted to buy a can of melon juice pop from the vending machine but what he got was a can that magically transforms into a girl who needs carbon dioxide gained from kissing to stay alive. This has brain-dead written all over it but Brain’s Base has a track record of making great shows with interesting characters that you end up liking a lot. I don’t know if they can work their magic here but I am willing to watch a few episodes to see how this turns out.

Chrome Shelled Regios

Studio: Zexcs - Wagaya no Oinari-sama
Director: Itsuro Kawasaki
Official Site

Chrome Shelled Regios is set in a future where “Pollution Beasts” have forced people to live in mobile domed cities. The pollution has also given people powers which they can use against the pollution beasts. Our hero is a high school student in training to battle these monsters. To me the story has possibilities but it could easily devolve into a generic fantasyesque hack-n-slash series. The reason I was initially going to catch this was because of the studio behind it, Zexcs, did a very good job on Wagaya no Oinari-sama. However, I found the trailer and my opinion of this shows chance of being a good show has gone up in no small part to having nice looking animation - which was the weak point for Wagaya.

From here my interest in the shows drops enough that I’m only kinda interested in catching them.

Hetalia Axis Powers is a gag story where the major countries of the world are made into people that display the stereotypical view of the country. So, for instance, Italy is shown liking pasta and women and Japan is shown as an otaku. It’s supposed to retell history between WW1 and WW2 among other things. The concept is so out there that I want to see it but I wonder how the politics of the time will be shown. I can accept and expect some slanting when retelling history of this time from the Japanese point of view (like what I expect when I ask a southerner about the Civil War) but I will get very angry if they animators bring up their role in dragging us into WW2 and either use it for laughs or making it look like it was the American’s fault. Therefore, I think it’ll be best if I read a couple of reviews first – I really don’t want to get overly angry and feel like I need to rant about the historical inaccuracies of an anime show. Another reason to temper my enthusiasm is the studio behind it is Studio Deen which I still equate with their work on Higurashi.

Asu no Yoichi is a romantic comedy about a boy who’s a swordsmen, like his dad, and he decides to leave their mountain training facility to continue his training in the city. This being a romantic comedy, he ends up in a dojo with four females and presumable wacky hi-jinks ensue. This sounds really generic and I’d skip it totally if AIC wasn’t doing it. AIC was responsible for Seto no Hanayome which I found much funnier then it should have been. If they can do the same thing here, it might just be worth the time to watch it.

The last title is Kurokami. It’s appears to be about a computer programmer named Keita that tries to protect a Kuro (some sort of being with powers) from another Kuro and in the process he loses his left arm. The Kuro that he was trying to protect replaces his arm and in the process a contract is formed between the two. I’m feeling neutral about the story and I’m feeling less then neutral about Sunrise being behind this; however, the picture is particularly interesting and the last time a preview picture of a show made me feel that was Kaiba. On the strength of maybe my gut knowing something I don’t, I’ll catch a few episodes of this because it might turn out to be good.

A word of thanks for the people that created the above chart, and to THAT Animeblog for having pictures that I stole for my preview and also to MyAnimeList for the same reason.

Posted in anime, season preview