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Winter 2008 Shows

Time at last for me to weigh in with my initial assessments of the new season thus far...links are to show openings when available. All initial impressions are subject to change, YMMV, etc.

Sunday
Macross F http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRQ3xUdCPD0 (despite the YouTube title, this is a promo vid, there hasn’t been a OP shown yet)

Well, actually this is a spring show, not winter, but the 25^th anniversary special version of the first episode was shown, so it was listed. In any case, the first episode was amazing and I can’t wait for the series to start in spring. See my previous blog entry for more thoughts on this.

Assessment: will definitely follow.

Minami-ke ~Okawari~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxZWSlcZ7rI

The approach with Minami-ke is a bit like how Futakoi and Futakoi Alternative was handled, with the two series given to two different studios for them to each do their own take. However, while Futakoi was two alternate takes from the ground up (one an awful bland harem-type series, the other a more interesting experimental work from the folks at UFO Table), Minami-ke is simply two consecutive seasons of the the same continuity, with one ending at New Years’ Eve and Okawari picking up the next day. The art is rendered in more detail in Okawari, possibly trading off some animation for better rendered palettes and gradient colors, while the original was more flat, uncomplicated colors, and the pacing and comedy seems more understated compared with the original, like it is taking itself slightly more seriously somehow. If anything, I’d say the directing is getting in the way of the charm of the series and its characters. It’s still quite good, but the first series had a stronger feeling of spontaneity and yet more relaxed somehow. I really enjoyed the first series a lot, especially the gender-bending humor around Mako-chan and later Touma, and it had a lot of the same feel as Ichigo Marshmallow did from the same studio. Okawari feels like the studio is still learning the ropes. I do like the new opening though, which gets pretty surreal and kind of into Ikuhara-space. The original show had a catchier tune for its OP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWQ-uCOlL4I , but the little chibi SD characters popping in as a chorus was really off-puttingly twee and the visuals seemed kind of uninspired.

Assessment: will follow.

Monday
Aria the Origination http://youtube.com/watch?v=G8HUOVXz8co

I will get to this third Aria series as soon as I finish Aria the Natural and the Arietta OVA. I expect it will be as good and relaxing as the prior shows have been.

Assessment: will follow when I catch up to it.

Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- http://youtube.com/watch?v=WBxYYyavZ3E

The fact the opening doesn’t give away what the animation looks like it might have been the first warning sign… Ugh. Utter and complete failure. The original Gunslinger Girl is one of my top-listed anime TV series ever, and the manga is one of my all-time favorites. This garbage is painful to watch…from the less-than average animation (or lack thereof when a shakey-cam apparently sufficed), to the comparative “moe-fication” of the characters, the new voices, the awful directing and writing the generic unresearched background art, I couldn’t even bear to watch the full first episode. What a travesty. To think I was looking forward to this one and was going to try to keep an open mind, knowing that Madhouse really put the bar high on the perfection that was the original series, but this didn’t even try, it’s below generic quality and a total waste of a good license and betrays the whole post-traumatic mood and well-researched setting of the original. I can’t believe that Artland would botch things so badly, especially after their acclaim with Mushishi. More recent reports indicate that it gets WORSE from here out.

Assessment: will forget this ever existed if at all possible.

Moegaku*5 http://youtube.com/watch?v=HFTI72zYncg&feature=related

A Moetan knock-off that “teaches” 5 different languages in an eight-minute (though about 80% recycled formula) segment with a different language each weekday. If it was particularly funny or inspired, I might have watched it for laughs. But what I previewed wasn’t either, really, just lame, if not as obnoxious as Moetan’s anime adaptation was. I might like Aya Hirano a lot, but this was probably not her best choice of role.

Assessment: no plans to follow.

Yatterman 2008 http://www.stage6.com/user/Coil_ed/video/2078742/Yatterman-OP

No real interest here…remake of the old 70’s Tatsunoko Time Bokan spin-off gag anime series, aimed more at younger viewers (and some nostalgic otaku).

Assessment: not following. I might check an episode out of curiousity, but that’s all I expect.

Tuesday
H20 ~Footprints in the Sand~ http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZQOge1P_RlY

Harem anime. New twist, though. Main character’s blind. Hijinks, groping, and drama ensue. Yawn. The tacky Christian homily quoted at the first show’s start that is its namesake didn’t help, either.

Assessment: Zzz. What? Oh, yeah, I’ll pass on this one too.

Okami to Koshinryo http://youtube.com/watch?v=21foK1ZF4P0

Sleeper hit of the season. Simple set up, excellent writing and dialogue. A merchant enters a sort of business partnership with Horo the Wise, a wolf-god in a land where pagan worship is falling out of favor in the face the spread of a unified church. Much of the show is simply banter between the two characters as they travel, so far, but thanks to really clever storytelling and a good setting, it really charms.

Assessment: definitely following.

Rosario+Vampire http://www.stage6.com/daddycool-anime-channel/video/2068912/Rosario+Vampire-OP-(1920x1080-HD)

Lowest common denominator sleaze, about a boy that has accidentally ended up in a school for youkai (supernatural monsters), with a heavy low-angle camera fixation on the panties and anatomy of his new female vampire friend. Not that I’m above the occasional sleazy fanservice appreciation by any means, but watching shows pretty much dedicated to it above all other elements of the series like this one have been reported to cause permanent neural damage (cough cough Aika cough). ;P That said, I’m kind of enjoying it in an MST3K laugh-at-it kind of way, and I like the way the school looks more like the Addams mansion, lol. The first episode was at least amusing in its predictability and was a little more entertaining than other shows I’ve seen in this category. Generally I prefer plot and good characters to balance out my fanservice (cough Kiddy Grade cough) or at least actually funny “humor”, but I’ll give this fluff a couple of more episodes to see if it holds my cheese tolerance or not.

Assessment: somewhat reluctantly following for now.

Wellber no Monogatari: Sisters of Wellber Zwei http://youtube.com/watch?v=P21A3O9hg3s

Meh, I didn’t get into the first Wellber series, so I don’t have any reason to try this one.

Assessment: not following.

Wednesday
Noramimi http://youtube.com/watch?v=5K6DXd08yz8

At first I thought this, by the title, was one of the Doraemon spinoffs. Actually I was kind of partly right, but more in terms of source of inspiration. This actually comes from a seinen magazine and is billed by some as “a children’s manga for adults”. From what I understand, the concept apparently revolves around it being set in a world where mascots are hired by families for their children from agencies to help them along in life, and the main character is one who’s had a hard time keeping steady work. Sounds like it could be worth following.

Assessment: will try it out if fansubs become available.

Friday
Ayakashi http://youtube.com/watch?v=9uMcFsBexG8&feature=related

Nice opening, but the show doesn’t deliver anything new, and the directing felt fairly flat. Not to be confused with the earlier Amano Yoshitaka-based Ayakashi anime series, nor with Ayakashi Ayashi.

Assessment: not following.

Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQokM_Dwlcs

Blatant Hayate the Combat Butler rip-off, with none of its cleverness, self-conciousness, great humor, or entertaining characters. I would have watched this had it been sharper in at least one of those categories, but instead I can’t help but feel “knock off!” and “what are they trying to pull here?” every cut of the way. It’s a shame as some of the characters look like they could have been entertaining, had they just been written for better. Blah.

Assessment: not following.

Hatenkou Yuugi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR-lpuqOrAU

This one’s been surprisingly good. Fairly average sort-of-ghost-busting anime premise, but some witty and snarky banter, a sense of self-consciousness to the point of mocking the “by the numbers” set-up of one episode, and a speedy delivery that plows through the plot of the entire first manga volume in the first episode, with some refreshingly cocksure protagonists adds up to a fun enough ride. The design style is very evocative of CLAMP influences, but not in a bad way.

Assessment: following.

True Tears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XExzG9krJR0

Looks to be mostly a typical romantic anime dramedy, but I enjoyed the setting and characters enough in the first episode, I’ll at least eventually watch some more before I decide I like it or not.

Assessment: tentatively dropping, but not quite sure.

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJoTLzFUo4

I’m catching up on the original first series, so I expect I will continue with this next portion of this wacked-out suicidal gothic-emo high school black comedy. Compare the new opening with the first one (somewhat non-worksafe due to certain brief cuts at the start) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM8ODecbuhA --Shaft and Shinbou are still at it with their avant-garde mixing of post-digital anime and surrealistic imagery that outdoes Ikuhara Kunihiko and Enokido Yoji at their best.

Assessment: will follow when caught up on the prior series.

Saturday

Persona -trinity soul- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZR-XSJhTvI

Based on the popular video game series, though minus the controversial “summoning technique” of blowing one’s brains out. Actually it feels to me like a cross between Aquarian Age and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which is not a bad thing, I think. I need to see some more episodes, but the first one was certainly much more enjoyable than I had expected it to be (these game anime adaptations usually don’t turn out so well…).

Assessment: Tentatively following.

Porfy no Nagai Tabi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC-S72fzIzE

Blah…NHK anime about an orphan blah blah blah. In the same vein as all those other post-Miyazaki “educational”, usually western literature-based anime shows from NHK.

Assessment: Why?

Shigofumi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnxWQiNJZDE

Another twist on the overdone shinigami theme, this time about a girl who acts as a postman for the recently deceased, accompanied by a really annoying talking staff/cane. The directing is slow, the gimmick doesn’t quite work. The end of the first episode was a nice surprise twist, and made up for a few flaws, but not enough to maintain my interest.

Assessment: dropped.

OVA series

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Pailsen Files http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWSN0ZtJhB8

Three episodes in and it’s pretty much same ol’ Votoms. Same continuity, basically a side story. If you liked the original Votoms, then this will make your day. If not, then don’t bother, as it doesn’t really offer anything new, and the CG effects are pretty low-budget and honestly would have looked better done traditional-style instead. I almost wonder if they deliberately dropped the frame rate on the CG and kept it low-budget to somehow maintain that 80’s “classic anime style”. If you can’t tell, yes, I liked the original angst-ridden, bitter coffee-drinking original, and this is just as fun in the same way.

Assessment: following.

Beyond that, I’m still following the still-running shows of prior seasons:

Hayate no Gotoku, Bamboo Blade, Kaiji, Clannad, Shakugan no Shana II (stuff’s finally happening in the second half…kinda like ROD TV, lol), and Kimi-kiss ~ pure rouge (well I haven’t watched much of it yet, so it’s still under evaluation).