Spring 2009 Season Impressions

Author: nova

But I am lazy.

I guess I have been procratinating enough with this post so let’s get to it: Nova’s impressions on this fine season. The initial hitlist underwent a whole bunch of changes but turns out it was all for the better. Based on what I have seen so far I’m convinced that we can expect a lot better season than the recently concluded winter 08-09. But enough of the introductory babble and let’s get to it. Once again I have utilized the creative power of Excel to compose some handy spreadsheets for those out there who don’t like to plow through my semi-incomprehensible rambling, which will be plenty.

The initial power levels.

So let us start from the windy top and here I was in for a surprise as a show came from completely under my radar and shot right up to the first place. Eden of the East that is. I initially needed another to watch after I rejected Saki due to the fact that I couldn’t understand what the hell was going on, so I succumbed to some hype and tried out Basquash. Only to find nothing but a dull bunch of shounen stuffed in a nice box with big boobs. After dropping Basquash I decided to consult someone whose taste I could trust and got Eden of the East, a show I hadn’t paid any attention to although I definitely should have. And as you can see from the spreadsheets, I liked it very much. Eden of the East is simply a damn good show. It can match any other series in the season, even Shangri-la, in the terms of background artistry and easily eats anyone except the money-saturated Basquash for breakfast when it comes to character animation. But more importantly Eden of the East is cooking up an interesting mystery story that appears to be a curious mix of Mirai Nikki and The Bourne Identity – and the remarkable part is that despite the weird plot elements the show isn’t very confusing at all to watch. The main characters’ seiyuus Kimura Ryohei and Hayami Saori are doing a very good job considering that they only have had a few major roles thus far, and all in all there a signs of great attention to detail. For instance the first episode mostly takes place in the United States and to my great surprise the production team decided to use actual English-speakers for some minor voice roles – in Eden people in the US do not only speak English, but hell, it’s actual English too! No need to mute your player this time folks (I’m looking at you Regios and not with pretty eyes). A bit of research reveals that the director and original creator of Eden is Kamiyama Kenji, known for directing and writing Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-franchise among other things – so I guess it’s only natural to expect nothing but quality here. Production I.G. is here to kick butt and take names – we’ll see if KyoAni, GONZO and A1 are left to merely fight over the remains. Also, Eden has the best OP sequence of the season, hands down – Freedom-ish visual trickery and song performed by Oasis. So that’s how they identify criminals in the US.

Since I thought it would be more sensible to handle this in an alphabetical order, let me continue with JC Staff’s latest adaptation: Hatsukoi Limited, adapted from a manga series of the same name authored by Kawashita Mizuki, also known for Ichigo 100%. The first impression I had on Hatsukoi is that it looks generic. Very, very generic. It’s clear that JC Staff didn’t bother pumping much animation budget into this title – maybe running To Aru Majutsu no Index and Toradora! in the same schedule put a bit of strain on their budget, who knows. The characters themselves look decent at least as far as animation is concerned – there are hardly any problems with proportions and such. They also resemble their manga counterparts quite faithfully and at least Ayumi is quite amusing to watch (you really shouldn’t punch your big brother like that -.-;). I what I have heard is true, the anime will be focusing on multiple characters and their stories instead of just a single one or a few and I hope JC Staff can pull this model off better than what they did with Index.

The bane of being the older brother.

Now on to one of the hotter topics of recent times – K-ON!, a 4koma adaptation presented by the notorious production house Kyoto Animation AKA KyoAni. I have already discussed this show in a post of its own so I will be brief. K-ON! is an Azumanga-type show that focuses on cute girls doing cute things (also music) and as such you pretty much know what to expect. The character archetypes have been made a bit less obvious but they are definitely there and a lot of gags are pretty much the same old with new paint job on. The good thing is that although K-ON! definitely isn’t inventing anything new, the whole thing just works. As long as you’re not expecting anything spectacular and new, K-ON! probably won’t let you down. It’s a pleasant series from a production house that can be relied on doing quality job throughout a series’ run and there’s little reason to miss it out if you’re into the Azumanga-type. Also, Mio is awesome. Hell, three episodes out and Danbooru already has 329 hits for tag akiyama_mio.

That’s aimed at your heart.

What would be a springtime without a show from SHAFT? And so we get Natsu no Arashi!, adapted from a manga by Kobayashi Jin (School Rumble, ring any bells?). I pushed a post out on this series as well and there is little that I can add. I did have a look at the original manga and if SHAFT intends to stay faithful to the source material, we’re in for a relaxing summer series with a comedy twist. The show isn’t as trippy-ish as many other shows from the production house known for their unique visual style, but there isn’t a moment of doubt about who’s at the wheel. Bonus points for the cool OP.

Oh you SHAFT.

And now prepare for a crash dive into the dark waters beyond which lies the murky world of pornographic anime. Queen’s Blade won’t take you there all the way but you certainly get a taste. If you have a particularly flexible or nasty sense of humor, then Queen’s Blade can yield in some good laughs – but I honestly doubt it’s worth the effort. This show about hot girls, fighting and hot girls fighting comes unsurprisingly from the same crew that proudly presented us Ikki Tousen anime. It’s essentially a tournament anime in which a lot of female warriors gather to shred each other’s clothes and dry-hump in the mud wearing wet t-shirts. Well, that’s at least what I believe is going to happen. Basically it’s about boobs and in that department Queen’s Blade certainly isn’t short on supply. Rather surprisingly for a TV-anime they didn’t even cover the nipples with anything. For a certain type of anime nerds the show has a catch – it boasts an amazing cast of well known seiyuus from Kawasumi Ayako to Goto Yuko. The only ones missing that I can think of would be Tamura Yukari and Horie Yui…I guess Yukarin and Hocchan had the sense (and the wallet) to sit this one out. Noto Mamiko, who has a habit of appearing in shitty series for no reason, does an amazing job as the warrior miko Tomoe and is definitely putting much more effort into her role than this kind of show would deserve. If you can get majorly drunk every time you watch it, then I guess you might try it out. At the very least it has great potential for a drinking game. As for me, I’m tuning in just to see how deep the rabbithole of fail goes and because I’d feel bad to ignore the show Noto Mamiko is doing her best at, even though it sucks. And because there are hot mikos. And Mizuhashi Kaori. WAIT ARRGH THEY GOT ME

Your brain pattern when watching Queen’s Blade.

Moving on! Next up is Ristorante Paradiso, a bit of an odd bird for my tastes. It doesn’t take long from one to realize that this anime is mainly intended for female audience and particularily to the mature sort (or at least those with a thing for older men). As such I have heard comments about the show being creepy and whatnot, but I try not to judge it since I lack an additional X-chromosome (or sexual orientation) to be in the target demography. No, it’s not yaoi, thank heavens. It’s what I’d classify as josei anime – that is, an anime intended for a mature female audience. Until now I wasn’t even aware that such thing existed – I mean hell, women watching anime? It boggles my mind. Anyway, the show doesn’t seem half bad and I’ll continue watching out of pure scientific curiosity. On the graphical side Ristorante Paradiso does quite well if you forgive the lanky male character design. Any of that yaoi stuff though and I’ll delete the whole fucking thing, I ain’t gay or no shit like that.

Nasty or not?

I already wrote what I had in mind about Saki so there’s not much to add. If you know about mahjong then it might be an entertaining experience. But if you don’t, you can expect nothing but confusion and annoying fanservice.

Next let’s take a look at Shangri-la, GONZO’s flagship of the season. As many of you at least should remember, GONZO & Range Murata-team got us Last Exile which is one of the best shows I have had the pleasure to witness. But will Shangri-la be able to pull off such a feat? From the looks of the few first episodes I’m afraid I must be doubtful, but nevertheless Shangri-la seems like a decent show. Its main problem is somewhat inconsistent character animation and failing in what Eden of the East succeeded – not confusing the viewers without explaining everything right off the bat. Shangri-la tosses in a ton of plot elements and characters which make no sense at all and only make the poor viewer confused. That’s also why I can’t say much about whether Shangri-la is good or not yet, because its whole setting is still all over the place. Scary tranny is scary.

Last but not least is Valkyria Chronicles (Senjou no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles), on which I have already posted an article full of fanboyism about how awesome Alicia and recoil animations are. I have little to add to what I’ve already said, aside from that ALICIA IS FRIKKIN AWSOM. Valkyria is a well animated and pleasant series with very likeable characters. The tanks look pretty cool too with WWI-ish designs and smooth CGI-work – the few tank skirmishes in episode 2 may not be the most realistic stuff but they look and sound beefy. Edelweiss is imbal. There’s just one thing about it – it makes me want the game so bad. A question of no less than 400 euros.

ALICIA~

One more cap because Valkyria fucking rocks.

That’s all for now. Since Xak insisted, I will be posting some Tomoe until you like it.