Now that I’ve had a chance to check out most of the new season’s offerings, I have to say that I’m reasonably optimistic about the next few months.
There aren’t a lot of blockbusters this time around, but there are a fair number of decent shows. And I’d rather have a season full of decent shows than a season with a couple of blockbusters surrounded by a sea of garbage. I shall find comfort in mediocrity.
That said, some quick thoughts…
Bamboo Blade - The first episode felt a little uneven in spots, but it was genuinely funny. The light bulb gag cracked me up something awful. Must’ve been the timing. For some reason, I was expecting fanservice, but there wasn’t any. Definitely worth watching for the time being.
Mokke - The backgrounds are lavish, but the character designs are simple. Odd combination. The first episode didn’t necessarily grab me as much as I would’ve liked, but I think the show has a lot of potential. Just needs to find its groove. Benefits greatly from the presence of Kawasumi Ayako and Mizuki Nana. Wonderful OP sequence.
Kimikiss Pure Rouge - Have I mentioned how much I love these character designs? Mao is a beauty. The premise is generic, I suppose, but it’s in the hands of a competent director. And it shows in the first episode. Also, splitting the protagonist from the game into several different suitors is a clever idea. I suspect this will turn out to be one of the better shows of the season.
You’re Under Arrest: Full Throttle - More of the same, less Saori. I’m not too happy about that particular detail, but I’ll survive. I wish the animation was of a little higher quality. Whatever. Natsumi did the foot brake thing in the very first episode. It’s YUA, all right.
Blue Drop - I kind of like the protagonist. She’s not angsty, really. Just pissy. I think there’s a distinction there. Art direction is interesting. As for the story… well, I wonder how they’re going to balance the drama with the sci-fi? The mix could get kind of weird.
Minami-ke - The show reminds me a lot of of Ichigo Mashimaro, but it takes a much more indirect approach to humor. It’s like the show doesn’t make any particular effort to be funny. It’s just funny by nature. I like it, but I can easily understand why others may not.
ef - a tale of memories - I was a little apprehensive about this one going in, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find the first episode fascinating. I was especially worried the funky visual stuff would be distracting, but it actually complemented the writing fairly well. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the wheels come off at some point. It’s going to take a pretty high quality story to keep pace with such a high quality production, and the weirdness could very well become a crutch once the production staff starts feeling the burn in later episodes.
Genshiken 2 - Continuing from where we left off. I had forgotten how much I love these characters. The production values seemed a little higher, too. I hope that lasts. Genshiken can get away with looking like crap just fine, but it’s better when it doesn’t.
Regarding Kimikiss, I would agree that splitting the protagonists was a very clever idea - it deviates from the tired harem and allows the different scenarios to progress and actually influence each other. The character designs are
Mao-neechan = Yoshino. Looove.
Chiaki from Minami-ke seems to remind me of Alice Carrol from Aria for some reason.
What about CLANNAD, Gundam00, Shana II?
I know you were looking forward to CLANNAD not sure about the others but I’m wondering what you thought?
I’m waiting on the 16:9 broadcast of Clannad. There are also a couple of shows I haven’t gotten around to watching yet, such as Sketchbook.
As for Gundam 00 and the second season of Shakugan no Shana, I’m not interested. I generally don’t watch first episodes of shows I’m not interested in just for the sake of commenting on them. Not enough time for that.
Your thoughts ef - a tale of memories…
THANK YOU. Finally, somebody with a genuine appreciation for Shaft’s distinct style.
Pardon me for a moment, but I’m just both irritated and disgusted at the high amount of irresponsible attacks that I hear and see all over the place for this show. Because the art style is something different, bold, and interesting, like someone has actually bothered, it’s suddenly the worst display of directorial and art skill, according to them.
No, an Uwe Bol movie has poor direction and a kindergarten hand-painting has terrible art.
I wish people would be a little more reasonable and, more importantly, responsible with their opinions. Anime either “sucks ass” or it’s “fucking epic,” it seems.
Why can’t people just simply say… “this isn’t for me.”
I agree wholeheartedly, Beerman. In fact, I even drafted a post on that very subject earlier this week, but the end product was a little more inflammatory than I had intended, so I decided to sleep on it. I had pretty much decided to wait until the timing was better before posting it (like, just prior to the next Spring season… now that’s planning!), but perhaps I’ll do some editing and throw myself to the wolves later this week.
Every season I’m on the lookup for a series which would be unconventional and shake things up a bit, some kind of a sleeper hit. But the only thing that comes to mind was Rocket Girls, with their quality writing and the unbounded realism (they’ve beaten off Planetes on that score). Hidamari just did not have enough of it, I think, although the formula of riding the attractive characters and hoping the viewers will forgive poor animation was similar. This season? I still have hopes for Moyashimon and Tales of the Symphony, but the rest seems rather too normal (so far).