More fall madness
Now with less pictures, more sloth!
I think I’ve just about seen the first episodes of everything I’m remotely interested in, and more, except I’m still waiting for subtitles for a head-exploding trip down memory lane with the new Hokuto No Ken. So here’s where I’m at.
To Aru Majutsu no Index
I’m not sure how I could possibly blog this show because I have to look up the name every time I write it. Looks like action and magic are going to combine in a Eureka-like setting where the use of psychic power is normal.
What did I like? Not a bad lead character here, though he could get all shounen-hero on us real fast. And Index was pretty cute, especially when she ate his hand. The potential for big balls-out action scenes is great here.
Potential problems? JC Staff’s Shakugan no Shana team is working on this one, meaning said balls-out action will be awesome but will only appear every 9 episodes, while go-nowhere lovecom will fill out the rest. Frankly, I think Toradora! shows more promise from the JC Staff camp, despite its typical storyline and Kugimiya character. I just enjoyed it more. But I’ll try a little more with Index.
Kannagi
Carve the wrong wood, and a tree spirit might show up to watch your magical girl cartoons, eat your taiyaki, and possibly find your soft porn mags. This is anime, so she might also be cute, but probably an A-cup at best.
What did I like? Jin could be another good lead for the season, but when he tries to sneak peeks at the sleeping Nagi, is he being a normal teenager or a closet perv? At any rate, he’s not from the Keitaro doormat school of anime males. Nagi, however, is the real charm. She’s not too adorable, not too tsundere, and not too “teach me about the ways of the world, oh wise doormat.” After all, she’s a god, so why shouldn’t she have some assimilation skills?
Potential problems? The animation looks great, but it’s being done by the same folks who let Birdy DECODE slip badly last season. I really hate to be teased by initial episodes.
Rosario + Vampire Capu2
Tsukune… Moka-san… Tsukune… Moka-san… Tsukune… Moka-san! And… cue panties! I never read the manga, so I’m not sure what the deal is with it actually being good. But anime-wise, Capu2’s first episode was just a recap plus a new character introduction: Moka’s imouto. Oh yeah, and a panty-shot every 18 seconds. Let’s see if I can make it through this one.
What did I like? A panty-shot every 18 seconds?
Potential problems? A panty-shot every 18 seconds?
Ga-rei Zero
Well, it started with some decent evil-spirit-killing action, but it reminded me a little of Blassreiter: motorcycles, special monster-fighting police, you know. And then the last 3 minutes happened.
What did I like? The last three minutes.
Potential problems? Thanks to that ending, I have no idea how the series is going to progress. But it sure knows how to get my attention.
Shikabane Hime: Aka
There we are, a zombie girl killing other undead. With guns. Courtesy Gainax. A strange aversion to fanservice seemed to plague the Barons of Bounce, down to really improbable skirt-coverage.
What did I like? Well, I like undead. I think, as an anime fan, I’m obligated to like at least the idea of undead schoolgirls with machine guns. So the math works out pretty well.
Potential problems? Do we need the “normal high school boy” protagonist? I’ve read a few chapters of the manga without encountering him, so is he an anime-only character? Does everything need to be filtered through the eyes of The Viewer Himself? Other than that… the potential is there, and so what if there was a ton of forced perspective and air-flipping? I look at that stuff and think “this is why I love Gainax,” not “this is why Gainax is all the same, ho-hum.”
ef: A Tale of Melodies
Let the analysis begin! Intentionally reflective of the first series, perhaps even more artsy, increasingly “Anno-esque,” ef has arrived. Surely it’s one of the most polarizing anime out there, at least if English-speaking blogs are any measure.
What did I like? Well, much like Rosario + Vampire or the recent Lucky Star OVA, all the tried and true ingredients are back for this alphabet soup of artsiness, except this time the words in your spoon are German. The focus on Kuze is welcome, and the scene of him and Mizuki meeting was borderline disturbing. Planting your OP ten minutes into the episode? Better do it right, bitches. It was done right.
Potential problems? Even if it’s a complete rehash, I think I can handle that relatively well. But I’d certainly prefer a little more. My biggest worry is that director Shin Onuma and that crazy fuck Akiyuki Shinbo don’t get so caught up in their artsy-fartsy visual symbolism (and visual red herrings, as I’d imagine a large part of them actually are) that they forget about the story.
Well, then… there you have. Except for the stuff I forgot.
