Monthly Archive for November, 2007Page 2 of 4

Praise Tempus Spatium

13 Comments |
November 18, 2007
| Dry Goods, Television

The first DVD volume of Simoun showed up in my mailbox earlier this week. I only just got around to watching it last night, and I have to say: as striking a show as Simoun was the first time around, it looks ever more spectacular on DVD. Oh, how I love Kobayashi Shichiro’s backgrounds.

In the year or so since Simoun first aired, I’ve encountered more and more people who, like me, feel it was one of the better, if not best, shows of 2006. The show might not have gotten much attention at first, but its fans have done a good job selling it. And I really have to thank John Sirabella and MediaBlasters for licensing and releasing it in North America. He has a good eye for quality anime. The number of MediaBlasters releases in my DVD collection is proof of that.

Anyway, I won’t beat around the bush here. If you enjoyed the show back when it aired and haven’t yet bought the first DVD, get thee to a store or online retailer and pick it up pronto.

First Kiss

9 Comments |
November 17, 2007
| Television

It took four episode, but I finally have something to say about Clannad. It won’t be overtaking its predecessor in the tag cloud any time soon, that’s for sure. Anyway…

I’m surprised with how utterly normal the heroines are. They have their personality quirks, of course, but I don’t get the feeling any of them are walking around with the weight of the world on their shoulders. In particular, Nagisa has turned out to be a sensible character. She’s shy, but not pathologically so. And, as far as Key characters go, she’s pretty transparent. What you see is what you get. Of course, I fully expect this to change.

I’m also surprised with how utterly pointless the show is. And I don’t mean that in a negative sense; I actually find it fairly engaging. However, I’ve yet to get a handle on what sort of story the show is trying to tell. A number of plot threads have been introduced and touched on thus far, but the only one that’s gotten much attention has been Nagisa’s continuing efforts to establish a theater club. And I can’t quite decide yet if that’s an ancillary plot thread or a central element of her scenario. I suppose it provides an avenue for which Nagisa and Tomoya can get to know each other better, at least.

Of course, the Kanon remake probably got off to a similar start. It’s just that, in that particular case, I already knew where all the individual storylines were going, so I understood how all the bits and pieces introduced early on contributed to the big picture. With Clannad, however, I’m completely clueless. I’m playing connect the dots.

Which is probably why I find the show engaging. I’m anxious to see what becomes of the story as all those bits and pieces continue piling up.

Something Hatched…

24 Comments |
November 16, 2007
| Television

Every anime season, there’s at least one good show for which I’m late to the party. Being late isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. After all, when a new season first begins, I have to sort through a ridiculous number of shows that catch my attention and make a decision on what to watch and what not to watch. There’s only so much time in the day, however, so I often end up passing on shows that interest me, resolving to watch them at some point in the future. But when the same cycle repeats itself every three months, what can I do? Well, let me show this long list of stuff I’ve been meaning to watch…

If I completely ignore a show from the very start, however, only to give it a try after I’ve decided what to watch otherwise, I’m more likely to give it my full and undivided attention. Because, by that point, there are no longer twenty different shows competing for space in my viewing schedule. It’s plenty easy to squeeze something in after the fact. And, quite often, shows squeezed in after the fact turn out to be something special.

This season’s special show is Shugo Chara.

I like mahou shoujo shows. I don’t know if I like them enough to call myself a mahou shoujo fan, but I do enjoy watching them. Unfortunately, there haven’t been many mahou shoujo shows worth watching the past few years. In the span of only six episodes, however, Shugo Chara has restored my faith in the genre. For that matter, it’s reminded me of how much I enjoy shoujo in general, magical girl flavored or not. I really need to get back to my roots and start watching more of this stuff.

Shugo Chara is wonderful, however, and I’m thankful for all the fans who have been talking up the show for weeks now. I don’t know if I would have revisited my initial, “Hey, this looks cute,” feeling, otherwise. And now, I’m wondering if I need to make space for the show in the upcoming Year in Review. Yes, I’m seriously enjoying it that much.

Why, though? Well, the writing is pretty damn good, for one. Mahou shoujo shows are rarely models of brilliant story-telling, but Shugo Chara has done an outstanding job thus far taking the standard “Believe in yourself!” and “Ganbare!” mahou shoujo themes and presenting them in a fashion that’s neither cloying nor overly saccharine. There’s almost something “adult” about the show; and I don’t mean in the ecchi sense (although, Amu is pretty easy on the eyes), but rather in the sharpness of the humor, the quality of the characters, and the great sense of style. It’s a lot like Cardcaptor Sakura in that regard, just a little more grown-up.

The animation is pretty stellar, too. I’ve always liked Satelight’s work, at least from an art direction standpoint. However, they’ve had some quality control issues with some of their recent shows, Kamichama Karin (another mahou shoujo show) being the most egregious example. Thankfully, Sugo Chara has yet to suffer from these issues. In fact, the animation quality has been consistently good from the very beginning. And that’s important, because the character designs deserve first class treatment. They’re very attractive.

And I’d be remiss not to mention the ridiculously catchy OP and ED. Now I understand why everyone watching the show keeps making “Hop Step Jump” jokes. The OP animation is particularly stylish; the shot swooping in on Amu lying in the grass impresses me every time I see it, much like the shot of the young girl running through the field of flowers in the Clannad OP. I must like that sort of thing.

So, even though I was late to the party, I’m really glad I gave Shugo Chara a try. And if rumors of a 52 episode run are to be believed, the party’s going to last for awhile.

Save Me, Ogiue!

6 Comments |
November 13, 2007
| Otaku

I know it’s a martial arts reference (I hope it’s a martial arts reference), but when I saw this on the way to work this morning, I immediately thought of something else entirely.

Ah, to be an anime fan.

Flame Out

28 Comments |
November 11, 2007
| Television

You know, it’s funny how everyone and their brother is giving up on the second season of Shakugan no Shana, because I just recently gave up on the first season.

My first exposure to the series came at Comiket, of all places. It was about a month before the first season premiered, and Geneon was advertising the hell out of it. I still have a lot of promotional material boxed away somewhere. The first episode aired around the time I returned to the States, and with plenty of other stuff to watch and the series not looking like something I’d be all that interested in, I passed on it.

Fast forward a year, and I found myself having second thoughts, courtesy of Zero no Tsukaima. Friends dissuaded me, however, so I kept on ignoring the show. And everyone else kept on talking about it. Not like it was the first time I had skipped watching a popular show for lack of interest.

With the arrival of the second season last month, however, I decided, “enough is enough,” and gave the first season a try. It started off well enough. In fact, it got off to a great start, which would only make the show’s flaws all the more conspicuous in later episodes. I think it was around the time the french kissing twins showed up that I realized I should have just continued ignoring the show like I always had. I didn’t care about the characters, the animation stunk, the story was like something out of a high school creative writing class, and I couldn’t stand Shana.

And that last one proved to be the final nail in the coffin. After all, I’m generally fond of Kugimiya Rie tsundere characters (I have a thing for Louise, for crying out loud!), but Shana was so simultaneously bitchy and boring that I cheered every time she got her ass handed to her. I’m really surprised by how popular a character she is; perhaps she grows more interesting with time, but I wasn’t interested in sticking around to find out.

So, thirteen episodes in, and I was out. But, before I put the show to rest for good, I think it’s only prudent to ask: does it get any better? Or am I better off not knowing?