Shameful Otaku Secret!

The start of a wild ride

Soul Eater has turned out to be a monumentally entertaining shounen action/adventure, with a minimum of the fillers and talk-through-battles syndrome that plague other series of the genre. The characters are good, the humor is silly but spot-on, and of course the action is rad. But when I first saw the opening episode, I had no idea what I was in for, and Bones capitalized on that like no one in recent memory.

The opening episode of Soul Eater will forever stick out in my mind as “the right way to start a series.” Unlike sneaky beginnings like Ga-Rei, Soul Eater doesn’t rely on confusing its audience. Everything’s pretty straightforward, it’s just an incredible rush of excitement. The mysterious opening monologue that segues into an OP that’s made of wild anticipation, the crazy character designs and manic fighting, all the way to the “Ikouze!” closing song — it all added up to a total experience that I absolutely had to watch again to believe. And then I had to show it to mai waifu, who was hooked just as fast.

Soul Eater’s greatest strength may have been its ability to maintain, but its most standout moment will probably always be its first. And yes, I realize that it’s not so much a moment as 22 moments, each a minute long, but it’s my blog, and you go to hell.

Ah… Twins

Critical info:

• Vintage: 2005
• No. of episodes: 13
• Episodes sampled: 6 & 7
• Notable personnel: not really
• Origin: Sequel to Futakoi
• Themes: Detectives, action, twins, harem?

Futakoi Alternative is one of those series I missed the first time because it was in one of those “dark periods” where I wasn’t watching much anime. This particular sample, of a series that is on some level about a guy who takes over his dead father’s detective agency which is located in a strange world full of twins (I think), reveals the two flaws in my random sampling system.

First, I’m always tempted to hit the middle episodes, where you’ll often see a change of direction in the series. TheBigN talked about this series in particular having a major one. And, if I find that I really enjoy the episode(s), I’ve probably run into serious spoilers for the time when I start it over and watch for real.

I’m not too sure about the spoilers, but I did really like these couple episodes, and I could sense the directional change (toward the serious) without having too much knowledge of what was going on. Other than that, there seems to be a lot of madcap action and, dare I say, zaniness to be enjoyed in Futakoi Alternative. Plus Rentarou smokes a cigarette in one drag, it’s pretty boss.

From a passing glance at the blogs, including Kabitzin’s posts on the subject, it looks like the series has its merits and its fans. And from the mix of action, laughs, and soapiness I saw, I do believe that I’m going to give it a shot.