What are you watching?
I was starting to think they had given up on it, but AnimeYoshi finally released a new episode of Allison and Lillia. Yay! Go get it.
Just in case anyone around here is interested in anime, I thought I might say a few words about the Spring lineup. Looking at my previous post, it seems like I started out by seeing the more mediocre - or least promising - shows. There’s still a chance they will get better. The good news is that there some other shows that look like solid winners, although there’s still a chance they will get worse. Gone from the lineup are the seemingly endless fan service shows of the past few seasons (thank the gods!). Right now, many have me looking forward to new episodes. They consist of:
K-ON is about a school club consisting of four girls who form a band without knowing how to play any instruments. Sounds lame but it isn’t bad.
Basquash! Has the same style and feel of Gurren Lagann and is about a future where the rich live on the Moon and everyone on the Earth wants to go there. Our poor Earthbound hero seems to spend most of his time smashing public television displays for some part that he sells. He passionately hates Big Foot Basketball (BFB) which has replaced the old fashioned variety. BFB is played using twenty foot tall mechs which he claims are slow and clumsy. So he does his tv bashing spectacularly during broadcasts of BFB while dribbling a basketball on a skateboard and adroitly evading the police big foots, thus earning the name Dunk Mask. Until one day, a BFB game is scheduled to play in his home town…
The one I’m really geeked about is Eden of the East. Here’s the trailer. Saki Morimi is on her graduation trip to NYC but she wanted to see Washington DC so has made a side trip on her own. She didn’t expect to end up running from the law with a naked terrorist. Then she learns that Tokyo has been hit with a missile attack.
I saw the first ep of Eden tonight. It was funnyawesomeinteresting. One to keep an eye on. (Also, props for having the English-speaking characters - the entirety of the first ep takes place in Washington DC - actually be voiced by English speakers with American accents instead of clearly Japanese people with yogurt-thick Japanese accents as is the accepted (low) standard in teh amines.)
Also saw one called Sengoku Basara, about fantastical charismatic military leaders during Japan’s feudal era and their, well, feuds. It felt twice as long as it was… not really my cup of tea.
I also watched the last ep of RideBack. (Tonight was sort of a “catch up on computer stuff” night.) I don’t think it lived up to its potential as a series, and in retrospect the series as a whole played it a little too safe in terms of adhering to aminoo conventions. Still think it would have been a decent one for Toonami, though.
The English in Eden of the East was surprisingly good. I think that most anime use Engrish speakers as westerners because that is the English that the Japanese understand. I take this as a sign that they want this to be successful here too.
Yes, Sengoku Basara made my miss list. It’s a historically* based drama with characters better suited for Street Fighter. That really spoiled it for me. It’s otherwise not too bad - a good story with idiot fight scenes.
I think you’re right about Ride Back too. It didn’t quite live up to it’s promise. It was still very good though. Too bad Toonami is history.
There are other decent shows this season that didn’t make the list just because they aren’t different enough. For example, there’s the obligatory turn-of-the-last-century, quasi-European war show - I don’t recall it’s name offhand. It’s good enough but I’m kind of weary of that kind of thing. Another one features a guy who has a cute girl ghost following him around, getting involved in fights between various secret occult organizations - yawn!
*Grammar Nazi Stuff: “A history” is correct. The word ‘an’ is used instead of ‘a’ when it precedes a word that begins with either a vowel or a silent constant. In the word ‘history’, and all it’s variations, the ‘h’ is _not_ supposed to be silent. The confusion is caused by the fact that many people drop the ‘h’ and then naturally use ‘an’ with it - “an istory”, thus they want to use ‘an’ with it when they write. Check. Do you drop the ‘h’? If you do I’ll bet you use ‘an’. It isn’t proper that way. Put the ‘h’ back and you will automatically use ‘a’.
More catch-up.
Guin Saga (AniYoshi) is a European-style fantasy about a young prince and princess who escape an attack on the royal castle and meet up with a mysterious warrior with a leopard mask in a distant forest, who saves them from an attack by the same group of bad guys who attacked the castle. Of course, he’s an amnesiac in search of his past. A little by-the-numbers, but well-animated. Will keep watching.
I finally saw K-On (Frostii). Apparently this is already the next big otaku hit in Japan; the topic of countless threads on 2ch and such. It’s not terrible, but I’m not convinced it’s a keeper yet. Will keep watching for now.
Episode 2 cemented it. Eden of the East is the must-see of the season. If you watch nothing else, watch this.
…But watch K-On be licensed by June whereas Eden withers in Japan-only obscurity. =[
Ristorante Paradiso (Frostii) is weird. It’s basically a flagrant reverse harem anime. Our plucky young female protagonist hunts down her long-lost mother, who is now operating a restaurant in Rome with her new husband - a restaurant where all the waiters and even the chef are totally hunky older guys with varying personality quirks. It lacks the goofy humor and fanservice that harem aminu usually feature, though - perhaps because of its intended female audience. I’m kind of surprised this exists, but at the same time, I’m clearly not the target audience for it and can’t really see myself watching a second episode.
Anyone here familiar with Red Dwarf?
I remember that, Fil. It’s good to see you’re still around. =0) Did you know that eight years after it was canceled, they recently aired season nine? That’s what they call it but its just a three part special. They got the original cast and everyone is older and fatter (except the cat who looks damn good for an old guy) It’s a really funny take-off on Blade Runner. They return to Earth, find out that they are just characters in a tv show and set off to find their creator to get him to extend their lives (write more episodes). Time to die.
If you’re not watching Eden of the East, I don’t want to talk to you.
Guin Saga has grown on me, though I wouldn’t typically identify myself as a fan of the swords-and-sorcery genre.
ToradoH GOD THE MELODraMA! MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP! And [minor ep 21 spoiler] how did the kids not notice that the fence right next to them had been knocked down after they first noticed Taiga was gone, but had no trouble finding it hours later in the dark during a snowstorm?
Albright: If you’re not watching Eden of the East, I don’t want to talk to you.
I’m the one who told you about it, remember?
GrinfilledCelt: The one I’m really geeked about is Eden of the East. Here’s the trailer. Saki Morimi is on her graduation trip to NYC but she wanted to see Washington DC so has made a side trip on her own. She didn’t expect to end up running from the law with a naked terrorist. Then she learns that Tokyo has been hit with a missile attack.
After three episodes it’s still very good, but they got some ‘splainin’ to do. I’m not a huge fan of gratuitous mystery.
Albright:
GrinfilledCelt:
Albright: If you’re not watching Eden of the East, I don’t want to talk to you.
I’m the one who told you about it, remember?
I know it seems that way, but you’re not the only other poster on this board just yet. :P
That is thankfully true, but I was the first to mention it here.
For those of you who haven’t already seen it, ANN is hosting the English dubs of Mushishi. I love this story, it’s very Zen. I will eventually be shelling out the cash to buy myself a legitimate copy of it.
They dwell unseen in the shadows. A host of creatures completely different from the flora and fauna familiar to us. An invisible world of life within our own. From the dawn of humanity, these phantoms have inspired fear in those who could not understand, and over the ages have come to be known as “Mushi”.
Have I mentioned that I gave up on K-On a few eps back because it was boring-ass moe crap? If not, then I just did. Too bad; it could have been waeome. I mean, it’s ostensibly about a rock-and-roll band…
Moo-shi has finally released new eps of Monster, though they had to re-release one of them. Yay!
I’m also still watching and enjoying Guin Saga, Hayate season 2, Eden of the East, Toradora (though I’m at the point where I’ll be glad to see the ending - the emo-ness of the last few episodes is wearing on me), Charady’s Daily Joke, the oddly-named but ultimately entertaining Slap-Up Party, the one with the apprentice samurai (can’t recall the name), and Asura Cryin, though I’m on the edge with the last two since they’re pretty much nothing but trite fanservice. (Well, that’s not entirely true with the latter, but if the plot is so complicated that I can hardly make heads or tails of it at this point, does it serve any purpose at all?) Wow, that’s an awful lot when I write them all out…
I’m downloading all of those and watching most of them (or trying to) except Toradora which is from last season. Whose subs are you watching that hasn’t finished it yet? For what it is, it’s a good show. Slug it out, the ending is a good one, if a bit emo. =0D
You know, I have the entire Monster series, all seventy-four episodes. If only there were a way I could legally share them with you…
GrinfilledCelt:
I’m downloading all of those and watching most of them (or trying to) except Toradora which is from last season. Whose subs are you watching that hasn’t finished it yet?
AnimeYoshi.
You know, I have the entire Monster series, all seventy-four episodes.
Seventy-four episodes? Good gravy!
Albright:
You know, I have the entire Monster series, all seventy-four episodes.
Seventy-four episodes? Good gravy!
At the rate they’re going, you’ll be older than I am before Moo-shi finishes it.
Here’s a couple of items of interest I found while catching up on a week’s worth of news at ANN:
I had to drag AB kicking and screaming back into watching anime last year, Fata. He’s all better now.
LM, Gurren Lagann as currently seen on Sci-Fi’s Ani-Monday is Sci-fi and a must see. It’s about a beaten down human race rising up to defeat it’s masters. Really it’s the old anime theme of you-can-do-anything-if-you-put-your-mind-to-it taken to the ultimate extreme. If you like your sci-fi straight up and hetero give Moonlight Mile a look. Also Freedom is awesome if you can find/afford it (Bandai). The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a good movie.
I’m getting tired of looking these up for you. Here is The index page for ANN’s anime encyclopedia. You can look them up.
I really liked Casshern Sins but not everyone did. If you like mecha stuff, Code Geass (currently on AS) is a good one. Speed Grapher, Pumpkin Scissors, Madlax, Coyote Ragtime are fun action/adventure sci-fi shows. Ghost Hound, Kemonodzume, Sci-Fi Harry and Mushishi were different but good.
I almost forgot a big favorite of mine - Dennou Coil. Imagine that you have a pair of glasses that are actually a computer. You make a certain gesture while wearing them and a keyboard appears floating in the air in front of you. Take the glasses off and it disappears because it isn’t really there, it’s in the glasses. You can type on this keyboard and open windows which also appear floating in front of you. Your hand is used just like your mouse; moving the windows, resizing them, placing the cursor so you can type in them, et cetra. Since these glasses automatically connect to the local wireless network, you can browse the internet. You can even show your work to other people who have these glasses.
Sounds cool, huh? But wait! There’s more! The whole town has an identical virtual town overlaid on it. What is this building I am looking at? Who lives there? What business is this? What’s it’s address? Phone number? Call them up. I want to talk to them. All this information and more is available to you with just a gesture if you’re wearing your glasses. You can even have virtual pets that act just like real ones except that they never stink up your house, destroy your furniture, grow old, get sick, need to be fed nor cleaned up after.
This is the world that these children live in. They have their own detective agency that looks for virtual pets because lately some glitch is causing many of them to get lost. It seems that there are also flaws in the virtual town that cause pixelated sections and dark holes to appear. Strange things are rumored to happen in these distorted spaces. Pets and even people are supposed to disappear in them.
So there’s Satchi. Satchi is the visual representative of the system’s protection program. Satchi wanders around searching for distorted space which it repairs, viruses and other malware which it destroys and hackers which it bans. Satchi is your friend.
…unless you’re a kid playing Pet Detective. Unfortunately, many of the utilities and tools that the children use are viewed by Satchi as malware making the kids hackers. So they have to avoid or flee Satchi who will fry their very expensive glasses if he catches them. Then they learn that there are dark secrets hidden in the distorted spaces…
I’d have to agree with GFC’s suggestions. Gurren Lagann is definitely a must see, but might not appeal to people wanting something with a more “mature” feel.
Ghost Hound had some of the same staff as Lain and Boogiepop, so it’s awesome if you’re looking for paranormal, confusing sci-fi.
Another really good one was “Baccano!.” It basically toggles between the views and interactions of a bunch of different characters, skipping across time periods. The jazzy opening and some of the other aspects of it sorta reminded me a Cowboy Bebop.
Fata Morgana:
GM and Albright really are the ones who watch enough anime to give you an idea […]
I thought I was the biggest anime nut on anre. :p
Well, at one point, anyway…
Dear innernets; plz to find me a fansub of a Korean title called Empress Chung (click on “Media” to watch the trailer). It looks fantastic. Apparently most of the actual animation was actually done in North Korea…
I couldn’t find it. There’s a thread about it archived at Anime Suki from 2004-06 where someone laments how Korean animation gets no respect but no indication that anyone subbed it. There is a movie called “The Empress and the Warrior” that one obscure torrent site tried to pawn off on me. I found an article’s comment that said that Empress Chung was loosely based on the same story and mentioned it’s Chinese name. Googling that only found that same post. There are Wikipedia and IMDB articles on it, but I couldn’t find a torrent.
I couldn’t find anything that says it was ever released outside Korea. It was, however, screened at the University of Michigan just last February. That event was hosted by the UofM Center for Korean Studies and there is still no indication that it was subbed.
Well… I did find these, but I don’t trust them.
I just finished AD Police, the first in my old-skool Netflix aminu run. It’s a sort of side story to the Bubblegum Crisis universe, and man, was it glorious. Bloody man-vs-cyborg battles, sex and drugs, glowy hand-drawn lighting effects and coloring and you can see the frames wavering all over the place during still scenes, and not a giggling schoolgirl or roid-raging martial artist in sight. Like in the first ep, there’s this robot chick who has been attacked so her dress has deteriorated, revealing her right breast, but this woman cop with a robot arm is all pissed that she just killed her friend, so she attacks the cyborg from behind and RIPS HER BOOB OFF causing her to, like, start leaking coolant out of tubes in her chest or something, and the cop chick just didn’t even care, man. When they needed a car passing by, they friggin’ drew a car passing by instead of rendering out a cel-shaded car model in Lightwave or some shit. And do I have to even mention the music? They didn’t even try to make it sound like anything other than the synth it was, and why not? That was the music of the future, man.
To quote something I said on Facebook a while back: I want to do the 80s over again now that I’m old enough to truly appreciate them.
GrinfilledCelt:
Sounds deliciously awful. The 80’s were the worst decade since the 70’s. =0p
