Current Mood:  Ponderous

This entry was swiped directly from my blog over at animeOnline. It’s a little old; I’ve watched a lot more of these shows but haven’t really changed opinion on them. Part II is coming up next.

So. LOTS of new anime this season, and I’m trying to catch as much of it as possible…or at least as many first episodes as possible. And I have so many yet left to watch! But, here are some of my early impressions:

Bokurano
Eps watched so far: 2
Status: Intrigued.
- This is one of the series I was most looking forward to, and I think it’s going to fulfill my expectations. I wish I could get a little more in to the character designs - the kids just look boring, really - but the story is really interesting, and vaguely Ender’s Game-esque. I love that book. <3

Claymore
Eps watched so far: 4
Status: Addicted, but only if Raki starts shutting up.
- Bad ass female lead with a giant sword? Bad guys that gush fountains of blood? I’m there. The animation is awesome, and the voice acting is great…but sidekick Raki is still awfully whiney, especially in episode 2. Hopefully he’ll grow a pair soon.

Combat Butler Hayate
Eps watched so far: 3
Status: Addicted.
- One of my top ten, and a fantastic adaptation of the manga. It’s lively, it’s funny, and it’s just a bit self-aware - so lots of tongue-in-cheek humor. Plenty of parody and cross-anime referencing, too. Good stuff!

Darker Than Black
Eps watched so far: 2
Status: Intrigued. Will definitely watch more.
- This looks to be pretty awesome, so if the plot solidifies itself reasonably well I think this’ll stay in my top 5 list for most of the season. But I have to ask - what is with all the dark-haired anti-heros in anime lately? I mean, check it out: Code Geass‘ Lelouch, Ghost Hunt’s Naru, and now Darker Than Black’s Hei/Lee. WTF?

El Cazador
Eps watched so far: 4
Status: Addicted, as long as stalker L.A. keeps popping up.
- In my mind, this is not one of those shows that you should watch and take seriously. While it has a lot in common with predecessor Noir (similar music, pair of babes, lots of guns but very little blood, etc), it has a much cuter art style and seems to be having a lot more fun. If you watch only one episode of this show, make it ep 2 for the gratuitous, er, “leaning episode.” (Think Code Geass‘ Nina, but with a creepy stalker watching.)

Heroic Age
Eps watched so far: 4
Status: Intrigued, will definitely be watching more.
- This is normally not the kind of show that would even touch my radar, but my desire to try and watch at least the first ep of every show this season on top of a friend’s recommendation made me bump it up on my priority list. It’s a space-mecha drama, and the character designs are by Hisashi Hirai - nothing unusual there - but the super-moe monkey-boy main character keeps me interested in where this is going.

Kaibutsu Ojo / Princess Resurrection
Eps watched so far: 1
Status: Will continue to watch as time allows.
- I was really looking forward to this show, on the grounds that princesses with chainsaws are awesome. But I’m a little disappointed in its visuals. The art style is very simplistic, and the animation itself seems weak - especially in the action scenes. The fight scene we get in ep1 consists largely of those still shots rather than actual action animation, which is kind of lame…but story-wise I’m curious about where it’ll go, so I’ll keep on it.

Kamichama Karin
Eps watched so far: 3
Status: Will continue to watch as time allows.
- It’s Koge Donbo, so it’s cute and no one looks older than 14, tops. Other than that, it’s mostly a mediocre magical girl show…but damnit, it’s Koge Donbo. The opening could have been really cool, with a tune by ALI PROJECT that is very typical of her style, but instead it looks really, really cheesy. The show is just shy of being “so bad it’s funny,” especially with some occasional QUALITY! art (see here). But…damnit, it’s Koge Donbo. I’ll keep watching until my teeth rot.

Love*Con
Eps watched so far: 1
Status: Intrigued, will check out more.
- I wasn’t expecting to like this, since it really just screams “typical shojo series” at me…but I checked it out and I’m impressed. I think mostly because they really didn’t shy away from the tall girl (Koizumi) being really tall and the short guy (Ootani) being really short. They really do look wacky together, but since it’s a shoujo series you know they’ll wind up together. This isn’t like Wallflower, where Sunako can swap from creepy-SD to super-tall bijin instantly - these two really look weird together. I’m all for that. It’s also pretty funny…but largely because of the fact that a really tall girl looks funny doing/saying certain things, and ditto for a really short guy. Kind of makes you self-analyze a bit, which is groovy.

Lucky*Star
Eps watched so far: 3
Status: Addicted.
- This is one of those “love it or hate it” shows; I’ve yet to meet someone who was on the fence. That said, it’s like Azumanga Daioh, but with fewer punchlines…story-wise, it’s mostly an excuse for these four goofy/cute high school girls to have silly conversations, but the kind of conversations where you sit there and go, “I have had that conversation.” (Or, if you’re a social leper like me, “I can imagine myself having had that conversation.”) But of course, it only really works for the people who aren’t allergic to cute or having a Haruhi backlash problem. There are a ton of otaku in-jokes though, so I recommend checking it out. You can always just skip the opening sequence…

Romeo x Juliet
Eps watched so far: 3
Status: Addicted.
- So far, so good. The animation is beautiful, and the way they’re doing characters is interesting…but I worry a bit too much about characters becoming flat. So far, Romeo’s dad, the Montague clan leader, is really just The Obvious Bad Guy. Romeo himself is a total doof, which is fine for now, but he’ll need to grow a spine soon. Juliet’s characterization is the most exciting to people, since she’s become a badass fencer…but she, too, will need to be expanded upon a little bit for the show to remain solid. Oh, and Gonzo? If you wuss out on the ending, I will throw a fit.

Seirei no Moribito
Eps watched so far: 1
Status: Probably going to watch more when time allows.
- Beautiful animation, but main character Balsa’s voice seems pitched a little too low for me…and she talks to herself WAY too much. But sometime after ep3 came out, everyone started talking about how awesome this series is, and I am interested in how the plot goes, so I’ll be watching the rest for sure.

Sola
Eps watched so far: 2
Status: Not going to watch more, probably.
- Writer from Kanon - yawn. Character designer from Da Capo - whatever. Boy who is obsessed with taking pictures of the sky meets mysterious girl who has never seen the sky in the daytime. Pff. Guys, don’t take my words on this show too seriously, because this is really not my genre - I hated Kanon, for example. The animation’s okay, the dialogue doesn’t make me want to cry, etc, but neither the story nor the characters grip me. The only interesting thing to me was the sister of the main character, who looks and acts like a clone of Yuki from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Eps watched so far: 4
Status: Addicted (to Yoko).
- Simon is a wussy main character, but the intro to ep 1 and then the intro narrations of the rest of the eps promise that he’s going to become GAR. Hopefully he will not morph directly into a Kamino clone, since I find Kamino alternately amusing and annoying, and I worry to some extent that Simon and Kamino are going to pull a Vaan and Balthier on me (e.g. Kamino will turn out to be the true focus of the show). Hopefully not though. But really, the main reason I watch is for Yoko - yowza. Also, it’s just funny and wacky and a little tongue-in-cheek. But the art/animation quality DID drop significantly in episode 4 (and a shitstorm ensued) - hopefully THAT won’t continue…

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