Summer? Time for anime!

Yes, yes, this is all I ever post. I thought about starting an anime blog, but.. why? So much dedication, and who really cares? Some such blogs are funny or provide detailed summaries that I find useful, but really.. there's too many. Still, it's time to let people know my picks for this season, continuing shows, and some manga stuff! Oh yeah.

New Shows

Kamichu! (3 Episodes)

My pick for the best of the summer season. One day, average middle schooler Yurie becomes a god. What kind? She doesn't know. What powers does she have? Well... she doesn't know that either. This isn't a magical girl show. Yeah, it's about a girl with special powers, but really, it's more of a slice of life show with some magic mixed in. The animation, music, and themes definitely have a Miyazaki feel to them. Totally original? Not really. But if you're going to pick someone to emulate, you can't really go wrong there.

Animation wise, the quality is generally excellent (especially in HD resolutions). A few shots have characters off model, but, thinking about it, it's only because the rest is so nicely done that those really stand out. The backgrounds, however, are gorgeous. As for the show itself? Think moe. Very very moe. Yurie is downright adorable. I suppose that might turn some off, but hey. Fuck you.

Ichigo Mashimaro (1 Episode)

Cute. Cute cute cute. And loli. But cute.  The prologue/trailer intrigued me, so I got ahold of the manga. Lolimanga Daioh. It's less joke-y than Azumanga, but much of the character's interaction and humor is similar. Also, any manga that has Aphex Twin and Radiohead references scattered among it is cool. The anime translates the manga's style as well as it can and does a good job of it. The animation quality is good, but really, this isn't an animation-driven show. It's about the characters being cute and doing cute things.

I do find it annoying that they made Nobue 20 years old (instead of 16 in the manga, though they reference that with a bit of a joke). Like in Azumanga, there's no particular plot. It's just the characters playing off each other. Did I mention it's cute? Since Geneon USA was involved in the production, this has been considered pre-licensed by fansub groups. Still, it is possible to find it around.

PetoPeto-san (2 Episodes)

Again with the cute? Yeah. No fansub groups have picked this one up yet, which annoys me for reasons I'll get into later. Anyway. PetoPeto-san, like Kamichu! is set in a world slightly more magical than our own. Hatoko is a petopeto-san. She's a kind of monster.. I mean.. special race... that sticks to people (she also squeaks when she walks). As you can imagine, this gets her in some sti-- difficult situations. There's a kappa girl, a nurikabe girl, a zombie samurai, and other sorts in her class. Um. The plot? I'm not sure yet, but actually, in addition to light comedy, the various special races are discriminated against by the humans, so there's bound to be a bit more of a story to this one. Only two episodes in, you're still mainly doing introductions.

The animation is decent, if a bit static at times and the character designs are cute. I don't particularly like them, but they work alright. I've been watching this one raw, but my limited vocabulary combined with some good synopses online means it's still pretty enjoyable to watch.

PaniPoni Dash (2 Episodes)

This is sort of like.. Azumanga Daioh, Sensei no Ojikan, Excel Saga, and Di Gi Charat got together and had an orgy with some serious psychadelic substances. This was the result. 11 year old genius Rebecca Miyamoto (half american, half japanese, all sass) comes to Japan teach a first year high school class. I guess the premise sounds a bit like Negima. But this is not Negima. This is.. something else. SD, non sequiturs and random mayhem abound here. It's random. Extremely so. Since nobody is subbing this one either, I have to watch it raw. I don't get half the jokes! I don't like this! But I do enjoy the show. The intro is very groovy. Rebecca's VA is excellent (as are a number of others). I want someone to pick this show up and sub it so I can actually FOLLOW it, dammit.

Any show that starts out by crushing Charleton Heston is a plus, too.

Continuing Shows

Zettai Shounen (8 Episodes)

Something strange is happening in a small country town in Japan. Strange lights can be seen in the sky, electrical disturbances stop everything from cell phones to cars. What does it mean for slacker Ayumu Aizawa, taking the summer off to visit his father? Maybe everything. Maybe nothing. We'll find out eventually, I guess. This show does take its time. While not as dramatic as Haibane Renmei, fans of that series will still find something to like in Zettai Shounen. The pacing is deliberate as Zettai Shounen mixes slice of life drama with.. aliens and UFOs... probably. The music is a mix of soothing acoustic guitar pieces and harpsichord and choir arrangements. The latter of which definitely bring to mind Haibane Renmei. Probably because Masumi Itou does the vocals. I hate the opening, a graphic, poppy bit that doesn't jive at all with the rest of the show. If you're the sort who can watch shows with this kind of pacing (like I am), Zettai Shounen is worth checking out.

Honey and Clover (13 Episodes)

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is 26 episodes long, instead of the 13 I originally thought. The level of detail in the animation in backgrounds gave me that impression. That's a good thing. I am sad that this means that it'll be another 12 weeks before we get Paradise Kiss, but I'll live. Honey and Clover is a shoujo story of a group of college students and the two love triangles that develop among them. Don't expect shoujo trash style melodrama and sex, though. Honey and Clover is a character driven show that is as much about finding yourself and what it means to become an adult as it is about love. The older characters, focus as much on the male characters as on the female ones, and more mature themes make it fairly unique among shoujo shows. I hate the character designs. I've grown to love the characters, but initially I found some of them (Hagu) downright disturbing due entirely to their design. Don't be turned off. This is the only show where I decided I must have the OST in the first episode. Extremely catchy pop rock.

Naruto (God only knows)

I like Naruto. I still do. For god's sake, though, please make the filler episodes STOP. I do appreciate some more screen time being given to certain characters and fleshing out some backstories, but.. they just don't FIT. My only consolation is that Kakashi Gaiden and the next major story arc are coming up. And those are both good.

Bleach (41 Episodes)

Soul Society story arc chugs along. The anime makes it move at a faster pace than the manga. That's a good thing.

Gokujou Seitokai (8 Episodes, I think)

It's still funny.. I don't get too into it (I think I did last time), but I like it. Subs are coming slow.

Mahoraba, Heartful Days (22 Episodes or so)

I like this show a lot. It's actually DONE, but the subs haven't been coming. It's funny and cute and sweet. If you like stuff like that, go for it. I'm reading the manga as well, which is rather similar (a few things were cut, though).

He Is My Master (5 Episodes, wtf?)

Ok, as the manga notes, this is not a romantic comedy or harem show. It's a gag show. It's about generally abusing the main characters and giving service to the audience. It's funny. What the hell happened with the subs? The manga has been licensed, but the anime has NOT. So... let's go! Any show with a groping middle school lesbian girl gets bonus points.

Futakoi Alternative (8 Episodes)

What a disappointment. It started strong. But now that it's in the middle of all this drama, I realize that I don't really care about the characters. I mean, when you get right down to it, there are only three main characters and while I sort of like them, I don't care about them enough to, you know, feel their pain. I want to watch the rest of this show for closure, but subs seem to have lagged.

Tsubasa Chronicle (15 Episodes)

Hmm. This show is going to end up on Toonami someday. Mark my words. It's not BAD, but it's nothing special either. The show adds more filler in over the manga's story. With CLAMP, that can be a good thing since their manga ALWAYS seem to be paced too fast.

What is wrong with people

As I mentioned above, two of the shows I'm watching are not being subbed yet. This season is also seeing a glut of harem girl shows. I tried to watch Shuffle and Suzuka, but the former was just lame and the latter bored me by the first half of the first episode. Okusama wa Joshikosei is just painfully dull. I guess it's SUPPOSED to be service, but it isn't much of THAT. Please, please, someone pick up PetoPeto-san and PaniPoni Dash. I'd rather have comedies or dramas over lame harem stuff any day.

Manga Corner

Naruto

The new story arc keeps moving. I'm glad to see Sakura finally kicking some ass. Some people seem to be complaining about it, and it does seem to break with the previous format of mixing character oriented arcs with action ones. This is an all action arc that follows a lengthy action arc. Still, I'd rather see the older kids showing off their new skills in action rather than talking about it.

Bleach

Soul Society arc was too long. I'm so glad they finally got back to the real world, I missed a lot of characters like Ichigo's family and classmates (again, bonus points for groping lesbian girls). These last few chapters, too. Can we say plot twists?

Death Note

Ok, first story arc was pure awesome. A tense cat and mouse thriller with paranormal bits added. The second lacked the intensity of the first, but was still entertaining. The third just lost me. Sorry, but it has entirely left the realm of plausibility and gone into fantasy. A 747 landing in the middle of the fucking desert? You've gotta be kidding me.

Mahou Sensei Negima

I really like this manga. The art is nice and detailed, it's cute, it's funny, it has action and magic and no less than 31 girls for you to choose from. The anime is painful. Not only is the art bad (characters are regularly off model) but it mangles the plot and comes out with nothing good. The point of Negima is that you've got fantasy action with a lot of cute girls. It's NOT a romantic comedy. It just can't be. Negi is 10 years old. He's cute, he's nice, but he's still a kid. If you've watched the anime but not read the manga, PLEASE read the manga before deciding that it's crap. I will say, the ONE episode about the ghost girl was quite good. That's it. I mean, jeez. The kyoto story arc goes over 20 chapters in the manga, introduces a number of VERY important plot points and some characters that appear later. And it's 2 episodes in the anime. TWO. God. I mean, honestly. They could have taken the manga up THROUGH the kyoto arc and just LEFT it at the end. Boom, that's the climax, the anime is over. Another season? Sure. Instead they chose to strip out everything that makes the manga enjoyable and do a crappy job of it too.

Yotsubato

From Azuma Kiyohiko comes Yotsubato (or Yotsuba& or.. Yotsuba and...). Utterly charming. Yotsubato follows the strange nonadventures of a strange 6 year old girl, the titular Yotsuba. Yostuba approaches everything in the world with wonder and delight. She's got no inhibition and rarely stops to think about anything too deeply. However, instead of making her annoying, her enthusiasm for life is simply infectious. Like Azumanga Daioh, the characters are fleshed out through subtle traits and actions. Yotsubato is somewhat less of a comedy than Azumanga Daioh, though. There are still funny bits, but that's not really what it's about. It's about enjoying everything.

Ichigo Mashimaro

I talked about the anime above. The first few chapters of the manga are a bit .. off. It takes a while before Barasui finds the characters and humor that make the later ones so enjoyable. Still, his art is extremely cute and there are some genuinely funny moments to be found.