Shameful Otaku Secret!

Revisited

As Geass wraps plot twist after plot twist around their poncy little pastry (or is it, more likely, a calzone?) and stuff it with a filling of cheesy fanservice, there is other really good stuff on right now as well, stuff that gets me going like a cellphone in a young kabuki maiden’s pocket.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

Watching Kyouka on TV kind of makes me wonder if this is what Kyon and the SOS Brigade felt like. I love how she calls the audience “pigs.” Why does Yuuko have to be such a punching bag, though? I thought this was a comedy. My overall impression is still kind of ho-hum — such a random premise has to do some weird shit just to hold up week after week, and I’m not sure dramatic elements are right — but there’s a lot worse out there. Plus, Ginka’s managed to be gay and GAR at the same time.

Kurenai

Still being straight-up awesome. This week’s episode was light-hearted characterization, but the writing is so smart, there’s no way you could call it filler. Why do I like Kurenai so much? Because unlike any other male anime lead, Shinkurou seems like someone I might actually let babysit my kid. Certainly the only one with a bony weapon growing out of his arm. But what bothers me is, with Yayoi following them all the time, isn’t Benika effectively paying for two bodyguards? Animation continues to be good, though some character designs still put me off in a weird way.

Toshokan Sensou

What a blast. Aside from a totally ridiculous premise — basically an amped-up version of Fahrenheit 451 in which books are highly regulated but libraries are self-governed paramilitary organizations — this is a great series with a twist: it’s one part action and one part shoujo, which gives it a unique feel. Rarely outside of a true girls’ series is there such a winning female lead. And Production IG’s digitally-assisted animation tops their work on Blood+.

Special A

I don’t know why I’m still doing it, perhaps I like Jun Fukuyama more than I let on. I have now taken to watching the OP and ED because the singing is so incredibly awful. Rubbernecking at a train wreck, as it were.

Golgo 13

This week’s episode was boooooring. Blah blah blah guns, blah blah M-16, blah blah let’s try to kill Golgo 13. News flash, dumbass: HE CAN’T BE KILLED. Get back to Duke fucking a prostitute and assassinating someone, already. Still the GARest thing that will ever be on TV.

The Tower of Druaga

There’s a YouTube hack that lets you save any vid with a high-quality version into an mp4 on your computer, which is nice because I can watch it on my iPhone. I might be squandering Gonzo’s good will, but I call Fair Use, bitches. Especially when the iPhone/Touch’s actual YouTube app allows access to about jack shit percent of the videos on YouTube as a whole. Getting away from all that, this show has amped up its charm over 5 episodes, and when combined with free legitimate release and an amazing OP, it makes a series you really should be watching.

Kaiba

This.

This. Kaiba. This is why I wanted to write an “other shows” post to begin with. Sometimes we need to be reminded, with all the clichés and harems we both enjoy and deride in equal measure, why we started watching anime. Kaiba is why. Haters, stop bitching about vapid shows like Kanokon and To Love-Ru and start putting an antidote in front of your eyes. Lightly “H” series with tons of panties and a grade-schooler’s perception of sex are not “adult” — they share only ink and acetate in common with this very adult show. In the space of three episodes, it’s managed to be imaginative, fascinating, sexy, unsettling, and even heartbreaking. All with a design that looks deceptively like a kid’s show.

A lot’s been made of the animation, to me it’s a strong suit. Madhouse is usually very straightforward in style, but they manage to get crazy when it counts, for instance Satoshi Kon’s stuff. Here, they’re doing absolutely amazing things. Just watch the OP, you’ll see they mean business.

FIGHT!

I see that I wasn’t the only one with this idea. Can’t seem to find the link to who else did it, but they used a buttsecks series for their third party… anyway. Resolved! it was CCY, much love and I hope you’re ok after the experience. On to round 2 of this abomination!

In the near corner, hailing from Xebec, it’s the returning champ Kanokon! This week the Wolf Girl Panty Brigade is so confident, they’re taking on a tag team. In the far corner, contender one also from Xebec, back for more abuse, it’s To Love-Ru aka Trouble — alongside newcomer from the manga of the same name, with a budget weight of the change found in Madhouse’s sofa, Kamen No Maid Guy! As always, this post is broken with a “More” link because it’s very pic-heavy and … dirty. (more…)

New show promises adventure, may have candy in van

This season’s getting crowded. After last season’s initial reactions, which ranged from ho-hum to enraged to “hey I know what would shake up a boring season, let’s enter the already-crowded anime blog space partway through,” my brain shakes and twitches like a junkie’s at the though of Macross and Geass fixes. I doubt I will watch everything I started with (I see no intrinsic value in Special A aside from the fact that Jun Fukuyama is in another freaking show), and I probably shouldn’t be blogging everything I watch. Oddly, Geass may fall into that list, much as I enjoy watching it, unless I can make a really fun game out of screencapping Pizza Hut logos and goth poses. And then along comes Allison & Lillia.

Story and Characters

Allison & Lillia was initially a bit confusing to me until I found out that the series is divided in half: Lillia is Allison’s daughter and doesn’t appear until the second half of the series.

In an alternate reality defined by an early-20th-century European look and a country at constant war with its neighbor, Wilhelm is a model student, so much so that he’s often asked to teach younger kids in the name of obvious plot exposition (still beats Special A, seriously). But one day in the middle of school his childhood friend Allison shows up in her biplane. Apparently she opted for the air force instead of high school.

When they encounter an old man with a bunch of made-up stories, their summer starts to get odd. One of his stories about his days in the army — which he claims to have not made up — turns Allison and Wil’s notions of world history upside down.

But before they can find out more, a man in a black car who claims to be the tax assessor takes oji-san away. Sensing something suspicious, impulsive and athletic Allison drags the reserved and bookish Wil along in a chase that starts by motorcycle but ends the episode in a plane, and very obviously begins a huge old-school adventure.

Psych Evaluation

Are you interested in seeing a cartoon where a pair of kids go off on a grand adventure in what (at first glance) appears to be a family-friendly, but grand and epic way? Would you like to see such a show capably animated in a vaguely vintage-feeling style? Then you, my friend, are sane! I know I want to see it, and I am almost definitely not that crazy.

This show had near-instant appeal for me. In spite of what my sidebar tells you, I’m still in the midst of establishing what to blog, but this has a better chance than most of making it on the list.

Will it hold up? Madhouse’s animation varies between shows but they are solid technicians, usually consistent from beginning to end. In this case it’s not bad, not great, but certainly watchable. Computers are used minimally to improve the smoothness of the airplanes in flight, and it works very well. The music enhances that old-school adventure feel, and seems very cinematic if this episode is any indication.

It was really refreshing, much as I like robots and Jun Fukuyama (and as much as you like fox-girl-panties, come on…), to see something like this. I’m really interested in seeing where it goes.