Warning: thar be spoilers here. Less for the actual plot than for random side stuff, but still, you have been warned.

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So, of the three tsundere gals voiced by Rie Kugimiya this year– that’s Hayate no Gotoku’s Nagi from spring, Zero no Tsukaima II’s Louise from summer, and Shakugan no Shana’s Shana coming this fall –my favorite, at least design-wise, is definitely Louise. (Character-wise, I’m torn between Louise and Nagi– Shana’s kinda meh with me).

Anyway, Heisei Democracy has just posted about a delicious new Louise PVC figure from Alter. But at first I looked at the name (Louise, Bustier Version) and thought: “wouldn’t Louise being busty sorta destroy the character?” Looking at the photos I thought, “she doesn’t LOOK much more busty…but that’s a nice bustier she’s wear– ohhh.” I just thought I’d share my retardation with you.

Without further ado:

Randomly, I just noticed that all three of Kugimiya’s shows this year are [blank] no [blank]. Huh.

So I just got my Amazon.co.jp shipment for the month, containing the October issues of Newtype (JP), Animedia, Animage, and this month I also got The Sneaker, the light novel magazine that publishes Haruhi (among other things). As always, the swag is slightly overwhelming.

1. Darker than Black artbook.
2. Full-size Darker than Black poster (with Geass on the other side, but I already have Geass posters a-plenty…but where will I put it? T_T)
3. Gurren Lagann art/info book.
4. Evangeliwon tote bag.
5. Lucky Star poster.
6. Lucky Star stickers (which will be on my laptop shortly).
7. Haruhi fan (you have to have a handle for it, but it’s pretty nice– Noizi Ito is fabulous).
8. Zero no Tsukaima paper stands (there are Nanoha ones too).
9. Mushi-Uta art-book (*drool*)
10. An animator guidebook.

Most of the US mags come with, what, a centerfold and a DVD? Eh. Oh, and not pictured here– one of the mags comes with Lucky Star English/Japanese flash cards. Like, one side has a Japanese quote, and the other side has the English. AWESOME.

Current Mood:  Determined

Okay, time to get down to business: summer 2007 anime, so far. This is all best on ONE ep, since none of them have more than that out, so take it all with a grain of salt, folks.

DoujinWork
Status: …May give it another episode.
I was pretty with-it with this series (especially OMG LESBIAN SUBTEXT!) until “Justice” and the five-year-old doujinshika loli appeared. They could have been funny, but instead they just seemed…creepy. I also just felt kind of embarassed watching the main character decide to do doujinshi to make money. I may watch another ep to see if I can get over it, but I was really underwhelmed with ep one.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Status: Gonna try ep 2…
Okay, I already posted on this one, but it bears repeating: MOST BORING FIRST EP EVER. I understand you wanna recap, but christ, find a way to make it interesting.

Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho
Status: Intrigued
Another one I already talked about, which is not quite as over-the-top wacky-funny as I was expecting (a la Love Hina at least at first), plus the female lead isn’t quite as “cool” as I was expecting (she sounds like she’s six!). But it’s pretty cute, so I’ll keep watching.

 Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei
Status: Addicted
This is definitely my favorite so far. The first one to actually make me laugh, with excellent animation and a soundtrack I’m already dying for? Yes plz. I also love all the goofy jokes on the chalkboards in the background. ♥

Sky Girls
Status: Intrigued
Not as much of a loli-fest as I expected, it looks kinda sweet. I’ll keep watching. But look for my next post about some AWFULLY SIMILAR CHARACTER DESIGNS this year.

Zero no Tsukaima
Status: Watching
I liked season one. I’m enjoying season two. This is not exactly a deep, thoughtful anime…it’s sort of the anime equivalent of a summer popcorn movie, it’s just enjoyable.

Zombie-Loan
Status: Watching
The first one I watched this season and discussed here. I’m curious to see where this goes, especially since it’s so crazy different from Rozen Maiden (and/or Shugo Chara! for that matter).

So, that’s 7 out of 21. I have the first eps of Moetan and School Days left to watch, and a lot hasn’t aired yet. For the rest: where are my fucking subs?! (Especially for Mushi-uta, damnit?!)

Current Mood:  Determined

So my Summer Preview feature is up at work, which naturally gets me thinking about what I’m going to watch this summer. Above is the stuff I’m definitely interested in: Baccano!, Umisho, Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei, Zero no Tsukaima, Zombie-Loan, and Mushi-Uta.

Baccano! just sounds kinda fun, with the mafia and the alchemy and the 1930’s NYC stuff going on. Umisho…I’m surprised I’m even interested, since it looks kind of like Love Hina but with swimming, but I still want to check it out. I think because it looks like Love Hina but with a crazy chick instead of a dumb tsundere bitch for the female lead. We’ll see.

Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei just sounds like fun dark comedy, and of course I enjoyed season one of Zero no Tsukaima so I’ll watch season 2. I’m curious about Zombie-Loan, especially since Peach-Pit is getting so anime-heavy with Z-L and Shugo Chara! both being made into anime in the same year.

And Mushi-Uta looks kinda neat. I’m more interested in the humanoid mushi with the gun than in the green-haired moe chick or the normal dude though. So we’ll see.

On the second tier, “stuff I’m interested in but not sure about”: Buzzer Beater, Code-E, Doujin Work, and Shigurui. Also on this list are Higurashi and Tokyo Majin, but I didn’t watch the first season of either so I’m not really sure…

But as always, I want to watch at least as many first eps as I possibly can. Which should be easier, since there are fewer. Though I don’t know if I’ll get to (or if anyone will even sub) the kids’ shows, like Happy Happy Clover or Fight Tension School…