Chuosha has announced that a manga version of Gonzo’s Tower of DRUAGA ~the Aegis of URUK~ is being developed. It was originally going to run in Kadokawa’s Ace Assault shounen mangabon, but it’s apparently been moved to Comptiq (home of Lucky Star).

The manga will begin in the July issue of the magazine (on sale June 10th), and it will be created by Makoto2, who did the art for the Rental Magika manga (pictured), as well as Tales of Destiny’s manga and 4koma.

So we’re up to ~episode six in most series, which is the halfway point for the Fall season (though not necessarily the halfway point for each show). I figured I’d check in and talk about where I am with each show these days.

• Bamboo Blade: Miya-Miya owns the ass of every female character this season, hands down. Then again, it’s not like she’s up against a lot of competition. Status: Watching regularly.
• Blue Drop: The pacing is sooo slow, it took until episode three or four for anything to actually happen. But the promise of lesbians keeps me going. Status: Watching regularly.
• Clannad: I maintain that this show would be so much better if they would just ditch Nagisa entirely. Beyond that, I’m liking it better than I expected to. I do still wish that anyone looked somewhat close to how old they actually are / sound…but eh. Status: Watching regularly.
• Dragonaut: The Resonance: I can’t explain why I keep watching this show. I’m not really fond of the art style, the plot is pretty mediocre…and yet, I keep watching. I blame the boobies. Status: Watching regularly.
• Genshiken 2: Ogiue’s Sasahara x Madarama FTW. That is all. Status: Watching regularly.
• Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun: GOOO REIKA! GO GO GO! Mayu’s cute, but boring. Status: Watching regularly.
• Jyuushin Enbu: Story-wise it’s gotten better, but the art and animation are still incredibly mediocre compared to FMA, and the characters aren’t as cool either. Status: Watching every so-often.
• Kaiji: I’m interested in seeing where this goes, but running out of space on my anime plate for watching it. Status: Dropped for watching later.
• Kidou Senshi Gundam 00: Major improvements in terms of developing characters, but I think I still like the ending theme better than anything else about the show. Status: Watching regularly.
• KimiKiss: I like this show, and I think it’s because it’s a dating sim but not one that focuses on one guy and a dozen girls, but rather a group of friends (male and female) and their love lives. Status: Watching regularly.
• Kodomo no Jikan: Epic yet uncomfortable win. But I’ve ranted about this show being undervalued as mere pedo fodder enough, so suffice to say Status: Watching regularly.
• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro: I would totally be watching this show IF ANYONE WOULD FREAKIN’ SUB IT. I’ve actually already seen people cosplay from the manga, and yet no one will sub the anime? Am I missing something? Status: Watching…if it ever comes out.
• Minamike: I like the show a lot, but almost all the comedy comes from either crazy middle sister Kana, or crazy Kana-like characters (Chiaki and Haruka each have a classmate with a similar dynamic). And Kana is never given the opportunity to have any redeeming features. Hmph. Status: Watching regularly.
• Moyashimon: This one’s a little behind, but I like it…though the agriculture 101 bits can be a little dull, the rest of the batshit insane stuff makes up for it. Status: Watching regularly.
• Night Wizard: I’m getting a little tired of Eris being the sweet, cheerful, flock-of-birds attracting Mary Sue, and annoyed at Renji being the show’s whipping boy with, like Minamike’s Kana, no real opportunity to redeem himself. Status: Considering dropping.
• Prism Ark: …One episode was really enough. Status: Dropped.
• Rental Magika: It got so boring in episode three I just couldn’t continue. Status: Dropped.
• Shinrei Kari / Ghost Hound: I still have some issues with the art style, but the pacing has picked itself up nicely and I’m curious to see where it’s going. Status: Watching regularly.
• Shion no Oh: Mmm, delicious trap, must eat. Status: Watching regularly.
• Shugo Chara! Mmm, delicious magical girl, must eat. This is probably one of the more solid shows of the season, IMO, though it’s obvious not for everyone. Status: Watching regularly.
• Suteki Tantei Labyrinth: Looks cute, but pretty dull– I’m more interested in the dolls than in anything to do with the main character. Status: Dropped.

• Title: Rental Magika
• Studio: ZEXCS
• Genre: Urban Fantasy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Character Design: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥ (Hello? It doesn’t hurt to dress up a bit for a first date.)
  

Thoughts:
The show was just sort of “eh” all around for me. All the characters, designs, attitudes, powers, and situations so far are pretty typical, but the combination is pleasant enough.

Thanks to the disappearance of his father, former president of Atlas, Itsuki has been forced into being the president of the company, which is, a magician dispatch service. When someone is in trouble of the supernatural sort, they can go to Atlas and have magic-users sent to help them. Unfortunately Itsuki is clueless when it comes to magic stuff, apparently, though he DOES have a power. The aspects of said power haven’t really been determined yet; I gather that he doesn’t have much control over it at this point?

Anyway. The magic users who work for him are fairly typical; a Celtic magic user who is basically the classic western-style witch (complete with pointy hat), a cute l’il miko-chan (voiced by Rie Kugimiya, a.k.a. Shana, Louise, Nagi, etc), an onmyouji, and, uh, an ‘apprentice.’ (Not quite clear on what she does.) There’s also Adilissia, the leader of a rival company, who (along with the witch, Honami) appears to have a thing for Itsuki. With Honami it’s not quite as random, but with Adilissia it sort of pops up out of nowhere. Eh.

That all said, the animation, pacing, voice acting, and dialogue are all good, but not amazing. We’ll see…

(Oh, and FYI? It’s mah-ghi-ka, with a hard “g,” folks. Not a soft “g” like in magic. I know it doesn’t make sense– yell at the creator, not me; that katakana says “gi,” not “ji.”)

ComiPress has a list of the Light Novel Awards winners, which include a few names I recognize.

The winner for best romantic comedy is Toradora!, a light novel that just got adapted into a manga starting late July.

In the action category we get Rental Magika, which is being adapted into an anime this fall.

And then we have Koukaku no Regios in the school category and “Bungaku Shoujo” to Shinitagari no Piero in mystery– mayhap we’ll see adaptations of them, too?