Tag: Soul Eater

Ongoing Investigations: Case #009

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I read Yen Plus volume 2 and generally enjoyed it. I was slightly disappointed that Alex is the main character and Sara is just a supporting character in Nightschool but I still hold out hopes for my dreams. Pig Bride is still my favorite work in the anthology especially now that I am 90% sure Doe-Doe is a gang leader. Sarasah is still an enigma to me. The next part of the story was unexpected but I still don’t have a firm grasp on if I like it or not. I will have to see where it’s going before I can make a decision. Bamboo Blade is still very good and makes me want to watch the anime. I still want to love Sumomomo-Momomo but I continue to be creeped out by Momoko’s character design. I like Higurashi but I wish the manga-ka was not so obsessed with reminding us that the female characters have breasts. I already knew that. Has anyone played the original game? Was the game anywhere near as fan-servicey as the manga or is it just Shonen Gangan’s tendency to throw service into its series? Soul Eater and Jack Frost are still not for me and I don’t think they ever will be.

Read One Piece volume 18 and as usual always fun, always funny, sometimes even laugh out loud funny which becomes a problem when riding the train. This book is mostly lead-up to the big showdown. They finally get the land of Alabasta so they don new desert outfits, we see Baroque works together, and we learn a little about Vivi’s childhood. Finally get to see Ace in action which was great! Certainly has the potential to be a favorite of mine, but I’ll wait till he shows up again to make my final judgment call. Smoker makes another appearance and will be in the next one according to the preview. Otherwise not a lot of action in this book.

I’m curious how much Narutaki will enjoy Alabasta. I know that it’s most people’s favorite part of One Piece so far. And since book 19 is next I am curious about Narutaki’s reaction to it. Those in the know know his love of Zoro and general dislike of Sanji. If one is ever going to tolerate Sanji it’s after the events of book 19. I myself have been enjoying the current arc of One Piece although I have to wonder what Eiichiro Oda has against Zoro because he sure has been beating him up recently. We were discussing it and I wonder if he is trying to give the newer crew members some more screen time by taking Zoro out of the picture for awhile.

Happy to find Chocolate Underground 5 and 6 up! Huntley and Smudger have now found the secret store of chocolate so the real story begins. This show remains fun and keeps me wanting to see the next one. Really anxious to finish this short series. And not really sure how it is going to play out or if it will even have an ending. I am wondering this because the involvement of changing the political climate, maybe there will be a rebellion? I am planning to pick up the novel it is based on as soon as possible.

I watched the first disk of Shakugan no Shana. It’s enjoyable but I think Kohaku is crazy when she tells me she thinks Shana is not tsundere. She has reasons for being tsundere but she is very clearly tsundere. Your enjoyment of Shakugan no Shana mainly comes down to how much you like Shana. I suppose you could be a Yuji Sakai fan but most people are not watching the show for him. They are watching to see Shana fight, watch Shana be bad ass, watch Shana be odd, and watch Shana be cute. I have to admit I was amused when she casually takes over the existence of a dead girl in Yuji’s class. This show also made me realize I’m becoming an old fogey who blogs too much. I keep deconstructing characters into archetypes whenever I watch shows now. I am not so jaded as to dismiss shows for using archetypes yet but is it only a matter of time before I am one of the bitter old farts of the Internet. Only time will tell.

Watched Macross Frontier 20. You win this round Sheryl fans.

Oh, you forgot to mention that apparently we were the only two monsters with unfeeling hearts that were not crying at the end of this episode. I think we were both a little disappointed with how they wrote Ranka. I know why they did it this way but it does not mean I have to like it. I hope this is not a trend because it might make me stop being a Ranka fan. I will never be a Sheryl fan but I might have to give up my Ranka love.

I was truly disappointed, I didn’t believe it would ever go down like that. And what is so funny is that it was probably the only thing they could do to make me dislike Ranka. I will give Ranka a couple of episodes to convince me that I shouldn’t turn my back. Everyone has their moments, it is about recovering from them for me.

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First Look: Yen Plus, A yen for your thoughts.

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Back at New York Comic Con 2008, Yen Press announced that they would start releasing an anthology manga magazine to compete with Shonen Jump U.S.A. I was excited to see how this venture would turn out. They have the solid backing of Square Enix comics but they had no mega U.S. hits like Naruto, Bleach, or Yu-Gi-Oh in their line up. Essentially I feel this is an experiment in whether or not a anthology of B-list titles with a good amount of diversity can work as opposed to anthology of A-list shonen with some non A-list shonen to pad the anthology.

Any increase in manga distribution, especially of anthology work, is always welcomed but not always profitable. I think titles in here have an easy in with manga fans, things like Soul Eater and Nabari no Ou. I know they were giving out early copies of this at San Diego and I was so jealous! This is certainly something to keep your eyes on.

Yen Plus premiered with five Japanese titles from Square Enix’s Gangan line. The manga titles are Nabari No Ou, Sumomomo-Momomo, Bamboo Blade, Higurashi When They Cry, and Soul Eater. They also have four manhwa including Jack Frost, One Fine Day, Sarasah, and Pig Bride. Finally, to round it out there are two OEL titles, Maximum Ride and Nightschool. The book is divided into two sections. The front reads left to right and has the American comics and then the manhwa. The back reads right to left and has the manga.

Yen Plus’s look is leaps and bounds better looking (designed better) than something like Shonen Jump. It has an uncluttered feel and makes it about what it should be, the art and stories. Though some of the ads are easy to confuse as being the beginning of a chapter. There are only color pages for Maximum Ride, not sure if this is going to rotate every month or not. All the other series with color pages that were reproduced in grayscale were almost indecipherable, very poorly printed which is a shame. There isn’t much content outside of the stories, but they do have a nice feature of what is coming out this month and also a staff pick. The staff pick for the month certainly seemed to get Hisui interested.

Yen Plus did sell me on S.S. Astro. It seems like it could be very funny. Sounds like if Yukari and Nyamo were the focus of Azumanga Daioh. I know Narutaki is not a big fan of 4 panel comics but I have been know to enjoy them. Onto the actual titles in the anthology, the translation notes for the manga are a welcome change. I am curious why the manhwa didn’t get translation notes. I would have liked learning about Korean references just as much as Japanese ones. I also enjoyed the translated sound effects next to the original sound effects. I know that annoys some people but I find it the best solution. Yen Press was fairly good at making the translations for the sound effects readable but unobtrusive.

Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride continues to prove itself to be incredibly average no matter what format it is in. Average characters, meet average villains, with average plot. However the art is pretty good and I’m sure it will garner a decent audience considering James Patterson’s popularity. It was a good choice for Yen Press to adapt such a series, though I will never understand its following. However, I have always wondered how many young people actually read the Maximum Ride series, which is a best-selling line of books, and how much of its success was just Patterson’s adult audience.

Parents tend to buy their children a majority of their books, so I am sure you are correct in assuming that a bunch of parents bought Maximum Ride because they like his adult fiction. Maximum Ride is the story of children who have bird wings and other mysterious abilities and they seem to be hiding from a shadowy group called the “Erasers.” I can’t say I disliked Maximum Ride as much as Narutaki did but I can’t say it really hooked me either. Max is supposedly a strong female character and good fighter but they have her easily get her bum handed to her before the end of the first chapter. Unless the story changes, I can’t see me rushing out to buy the graphic novels but I would not skip reading the chapters. This would be a definite treat for fans of the original book series. And if nothing else, I also found the artwork very nice. Having never read the books I can’t say how well the character are adapted. I am hoping that it acts as a bridge for people to check out manga and manwha. Come for the Maximum Ride stay for the rest of the magazine.

Nightschool

I liked DramaCon so I was looking forward to Svetlana Chmakova’s newest work and I don’t feel I was disappointed. Nightschool is the story of the mysterious secret of PS 13W. At night there is a secret class of magical students. Sara Treveney is a new teacher and guardian for it. She seems to have her work cut out for her because there is a local group of hunters in the area as well. There is an amusing mixture of comedy and supernatural elements. I assume there will be action in the form of hunters and a horrible prophesy later on. I am also curious how well she can do fight scenes because she hasn’t done them in her previous work. It mostly seems like a set up chapter so I can’t say if I love it but I think it has potential. I am curious who are the students. They seem to keep the students deliberately obscured for mystery but as a reviewer and a reader I what to know NOW.

Nightschool combines humor with a dark atmosphere and it so far is succeeding. There is a little bit of confusion about who the exact main character will be of this series. My bets are on the girl, Alex, but Hisu is hoping for Sara, the teacher. I found the relationship between Sara and Alex hilarious and also believably familial. Alex’s weird looking familiar was super cool, too! I was also super curious about the students since I tend to latch onto fun and minor characters. Though I wouldn’t say the overall premise is my cup of tea it has potential and could certainly change my opinion of OEL titles.

Pig Bride

Si-Joon is the son of a wealthy politician who, as a child, was wandering through the wilderness and ends up engaged to girl who must always wear a pig mask. Thinking the whole incident was a dream he writes off the encounter despite having nightmares about the incident. Years later on his birthday she shows up again in her pig mask and wants to consummate their marriage. Did I mention the pig bride has a kunoichi (female ninja)? Because kunoichi are always a selling point. I thought it was a silly story that has potential to be very funny. Si-Joon seems like a jerk but a likable jerk. The rival love interest, Doe-Doe, seems neutral but I hope they don’t make her into a one dimensional villain. In my opinion, how much the manga will work is how much I will like Si-Joon and the pig bride’s interactions.

Pig Bride is a funny romance and has some of the typical trappings of the genre. Si-Joon is hysterically inept in the beginning and seems to be a pretty clueless high schooler. My enjoyment of this will stem from how much Mu-hwa, the ninja, appears in this series. Her connection with the pig bride is mysterious and I want to know more about their relationship. She will probably end up being a third love rival. I will also enjoy the series more if Doe-Doe is actually the leader of a gang. All great manhwa have gang members in them, this is like a rule.

Sarasah

This is a romantic comedy that goes horribly, horribly wrong. It started out typically and the girl was a little weird but I felt we were supposed to accept her eccentricity as a comedy element and nothing to really dwell on. I was wrong. I honestly am not sure where this story is going, it really hinges on the next chapter. From the opening quotations I assume Ji-Hae will continue to be our heroine but other than that I’m not sure what the actual plot is going to be. I’m not even sure if this is supposed to be a comedy after all. Our romantic lead hasn’t turned out to be a very likable character either. The only person I really liked was Ji-Hae’s friend but as I said, I have give this one more to really understand it. And I have no idea yet what Sarasah means.

Ji-Hae is in love Seung-Hyu but he wants nothing to do with her. Even after Ji-Hae constantly tries to win his affections with gifts and romantic gestures he keeps ingonring her. On Seung-Hyu’s birthday she makes a grand event of her confession which embarrasses him enough for him to brutally tell her off and then accidentally push her down the stairs. The chapter ends with her bleeding from a potentially fatal wound in the stairway. I don’t think they are going to kill off our heroine in the first chapter so she obviously gets some sort of second chance. Obviously how that second chance plays out will determine how much I like this series. Ji-Hae is rather cute in her affections and you want her to be happy but I have no idea what the heck she sees in Seung-Hyu. They better introduce a more sympathetic love interest or make me like Seung-Hyu because right now he just comes off as a horrible human being.

One Fine Day

One Fine Day is the story of a man who owns a cat, a dog, and a mouse and their cute adventures. Oh, they also anthropomorphise his pets as cute little kids. They make cookies and try to take care of their master when he gets sick. I just could not get into this manga. I know you are supposed to be amused by their antics but I just found it plain and boring. You don’t come to One Fine Day for the plot. You come to see cute animals do cute things. I did find the art quirky and amusing especially the owner’s funky hair style. But some unconventional artwork does not an entertaining manga make.

I loved this title and found it absolutely endearing. The stories are very quick without attention to any overlying plot. The idea is to read it as a break from everything else going on. The combination of her purposefully simplistic art style with her timing for the cute and funny made me smile and wish to hang pieces of it on my wall. I have to agree that they artwork is a selling point and would be happy to pick up the collected volumes as well as any artbook.

Jack Frost: The Amityville

Jack Frost is just plain weird. Noh-A Joo transfers to Amityville High School where she meets a creepy classroom of zombie-like students. A fight breaks out and Noh-A is decapitated as one of her classmates with swords in his arms fights a gun wielding maniac. Her classmate defeats him but not after they look at the panties on her corpse like five times. Hilarious. If you are an ero guro fan I suppose. It is like some bizarre take on Hellsing with the perversion turned up to 11. Oh and you set it in a high school so you could get more under 18 fan service. It is all done in tongue in cheek manner but what the heck. I was more disturbed than amused.

What in the world? First off, who the heck thought this was a great name for a series? In any case it then goes from weird to disturbing in under ten seconds. Jack Frost has a creepy smile and earns his nickname of the same title, he seems like an inconsiderate jerk. While I totally appreciated the bad-ass fight scenes (and the buckets of blood), the dialogue was lame and I couldn’t have seen more shots of this girl’s bottom half if they tried. And since this girl is obviously not dead, she will probably end up following this jerk (albeit an awesome fighter) around for no good reason.

Soul Eater

We reviewed Soul Eater for our Spring Falls Out article. Soul is a living weapon that can transform between being a boy and a scythe. Maka and Soul are shinigami assigned with the task of killing 99 evil humans and one witch. If they do they can transform Soul into the ultimate shinigami weapon, Death Scythe. The manga has not warmed me any to the whole Soul Eater franchise. Maka is still bland on all levels (heck the Wii game for this series has the subtitle Monotone Princess. That might not be about Maka but I would like to think it is). Titty witch is still annoying and it looks like she is not going anywhere. If anything the fights were a little shorter and less intense then they were in the anime.

I didn’t think it possible for me to dislike the manga more than the anime, but indeed I do. The art is worse, while I found the anime’s simplicity well done and graphic, the manga just looks poorly drawn most of the time. It doesn’t seem to be done with any purpose in mind as it swings between detailed (Titty witch) and not (Maka). I also found Maka’s outcry to be forced melodrama, premature to us really understanding the character relationships. Funnily enough, I liked Soul a little better in the manga and didn’t find him nearly as jerky. But nothing about this shonen formula hooked me before and I am still not interested.

Nabari no Ou

The unwilling and uninterested protagonist is becoming fairly popular, this version of him seems slightly average here at the beginning. I loved the teacher and his stealthy appearances, I hope he is in it more. There are some quick fights mixed with some mysterious powers and a surprising end to the chapter. The ninja action wasn’t turned up all the way and that will be a major selling point as the series continues. I would be willing to see where this series leads.

The Nabari no Oh anime was also reviewed in our Spring Falls Out article. Rokujo Miharu is a detached young man who is asked to join the ninja club at his school by one of his fellow students and the club adviser. It turns out they want him to join so they can protect him from rival ninja that wish to gain the secret techniques hidden in his body. If you liked the anime of Nabari no Oh you will like the manga just as much. The art is just as detailed as it was in the anime and all of the humor and action was faithfully translated.

Sumomomo-Momomo

Sumomomo-momomo is a odd duck. I found some of the comedy and characters amusing but the fact that Momoko looks like she is ten and gets quite a few panty shots is sort of disturbing. In fact, all of the sexual talk from Momoko is creepy. Koshi Inuzuka is such a repellent dirtbag pretending to be an upstanding human being that I found it amusing. Almost as if they made Light from Death Note a romantic comedy lead. I not sure how long that will stay funny or if it will quickly wear out its welcome. Momoko seems fun with her over the top martial arts action but I can’t get over the fact that she radiates this loli vibe.

Damn you Sumomomo! You are so hilarious yet so full of loli service that I just can’t abide you. The dads, hilarious. Koshi’s desperate need to fight bad guys by reciting laws, twice as hilarious. Momoko’s martial arts, triple hilarious. But I was just as disturbed as Hisu about Momoko talking loudly about how to impregnate her. It is so disappointing and just not fair.

Bamboo Blade

I watched a few episodes of Bamboo Blade when it started airing earlier in the year. I thought it was fun and funny but I wasn’t totally taken in by it. I love the captain and her hyper love of the Kendo club as well as her often volatile relationship with their teacher sponsor who’s desire for the club’s success is motivated by a bet. As they try to recruit new members the fun begins and there are some great moments including the mysterious launching of a baseball, a tennis ball, a rugby ball, and the vice principal at Tamaki who then extricates them with her mad Kendo skills. The Kendo fights are also well done.

Bamboo Blade was surprisingly slapstick. I thought it was all moe girls doing moe things with some kendo in the background. So far it has focused more on the teacher than any of the students. Toraji Ishida is an amusing, dirt poor, teacher and Kendo instructor who lives paycheck to paycheck. After making a bet with a former sempai from his old kendo club he vows to take the girls team at his school into champions to win a year’s worth of sushi dinners. I liked the interaction between the teacher and the Kendo club captain the most. The introduction of the first student they are trying to recruit, Tamaki Kawazoe, might be their segue into a more serious story line. I hope they can keep up this same level of comedy while still telling a compelling sports story the way that Princess Nine was able to.

Higurashi: When They Cry

Higurashi: When They Cry was the one manga I was most looking forward to but not without reservations. I picked Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni as my anime of the month in the past. The problem is that manga based on a video game and/or anime has a tendency to be rather horrible. Keiichi has just moved to the isolated village of Hinamizawa. He has quickly made friends with several of the girls in his class and life seems perfect. But he soon learns that there were a horrific series of murders involving the local dam project. All of his friends refuse to comment on the murders but Keiichi is determined to discover what happen all those years ago. I just don’t feel the same sense of tension and dread as I did watching the anime but that could be because I know the entire story and manga doesn’t have the added use of motion and sound. I also don’t remember such an emphasis on Mion’s breasts but that might have to do with the overall ecchi feel of the Gangan anthologies. So far it has been a decent adaptation and I think I will keep reading the graphic novels.

So I had heard about this series, obviously heard Hisu talk about it too. I knew it was based on a dating game, but I guess I expected more of an emphasis on plot than on the supreme harem aspects of it. So far that is not the case. I mean he is like the only dude in the school as far as I can tell. I also found the use of his internal monologue kind of strange. Especially since I feel like I can tell when you had to pick what you wanted to do in the game (I will help her or I won’t) from this. I have a strong interest in mysteries (I know you are all surprised) but I won’t overlook moe harem for it so if the emphasis switches I may be interested.

Yen Plus is a nice addition to the sea of manga, you get a good look at a lot at once and it easily has a variety of titles. The format is good, the price is right and hopefully it will stick around to see the titles evolve and change. It certainly has a shonen lean, but that is just inevitable since girls tend to read both shonen and shojo. I appreciate Yen Press’s quality of work and am glad to see them growing in an already crowded market.

Top 5 Gangan titles I would like to see in Yen Plus
1. Violinist of Hameln (and/or Violinist of Hameln Shchelkunchik)
2. Guardian of the Spirit
3. The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
4. Umineko no Naku Koro ni
5. Haré+Guu

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Spring Falls Out: Spring 2008 Anime Guide

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April showers bring May flowers and new anime series. There is no way that Narutaki and I can watch every new anime series coming out this season but we will try to hit up whatever looks interesting and report back to you our loyal readers on what is worth watching this spring. Plus, I think we are going to skip all the horrible ohwhenwillthehurtingend shows. Speaking of which it does seem this spring the moe choice is shows with fox spirit girls. I guess since Kamen no Maid Guy came out no one else dared make a maid anime.

Since they have taken my Gundam 00 away and my Hayate I am looking for all new shows to start watching! This is an exciting and sometimes tedious task. I don’t want to go too much into what the shows are actually about, those things are easily looked up. We are just going to be giving our gut reactions to a whole slue of stuff and beware that we have only watched the first episode of most of this.

Bus Gamer
I downloaded this because the short reviews I saw said it was about bad dudes, doing bad things with awesome fights. Okay, what were those people watching? It couldn’t have been the first episode of this seriously poor anime. The fight that happens at the end, I wouldn’t have even called a fight! It was like random thugs and the dude just came up behind them and hit them with a pipe. That is not a fight!! Also they spent way too much time trying to develope these three guys and the plot. No action occurs till the last 10 minutes! And considering this show is only 3 episodes long, they need to be moving at a much faster pace.

You forgot to mention that the blond guy was super annoying and might have well be the stereotypical swooning and shrieking useless girl character except for the fact that he has a penis (or at least I am assuming he does). I did not dislike it as much as Narutaki but this show totally did not hook me with anything. The characters seem rather standard stock types. I might have been willing to wait and see if the characters were more but it’s too short of a series to give them any more time to develop. I might have also overlooked the fact that the characters are bland if the action was awesome but the action scenes were certainly pedestrian and horrifically one-sided.

Special A
 This is by and large a typical shojo romance comedy. I like the character designs, I have also heard good things about the manga. But really it seemed very average to me. Not rolling on thefloor funny and not over the top romantic shojo. It was just walking straight down the middle. And it has wacky side character disease, those people were the most interesting and they will probably never be developed.

Maybe by old timer blood is finally maturing to make me a cranky old Brainwasher Detective but Special A seems so standard that I can’t get worked up to care. Hikari and Kei just seem rather boring to me. Shojo manga lives and dies on how much I like the main characters. Awesome side characters are just a bonus. I found that Hikari seems like she has potential but the fact that Kei is just the uber awesome guy who beats her every time seems like it will get old very fast. I keep expecting him to beat her at being able to kiss boys better at some point in the series. I also thought that the side characters were just there. Megumi Yamamoto having to write everything down to talk because her voice is practically a weapon was used for good effect but nobody else sold me enough to ignore the main characters.

Allison to Lillia
This show has the most potential out of everything I have seen and read about thus far. It has a plot, having to do with the country being split in two (constant warring) and how they can reconcile it. It has good characters, Allison is spunky, funny, and strong-willed and she drags her good friend (love?) Wil along for a journey that could change the future of their world. It had suspense, adventure, humor, friendship, and drama all in a beautiful looking fully realized world akin to the 1920’s. This is what all first episodes should be. And the second did not disappoint. I am betting on this being one of the best shows this season as well as the most overlooked.

I’m not sure how you can like this sexist anime that sets back the women’s movement for decades. Oh wait . . . maybe being slightly apologetic does not make you a doormat. Considering the characters designs, a plot centering around a spunky female pilot, and an anti-war message you might easily mistake this a Hayao Miyazaki story. I will go out on a limb and risk looking like a total idiot when I state this might be almost as good as such. I think it has a family friendly feeling while still be entertaining for adults. I did some digging and I found out this anime is an adaptation of the first two parts of a trilogy of light novels. We have not seen any of the Lillia parts of the series but if it is a good as the Allison part I’m sure I will be happy. We both got the feeling that this show is going to be the buried treasure of the season.

The Tower of Druaga
This show started out as a hilarious, rip-roaring, parody of all things RPG has moved into semi-serious mode (episode 2 recently came out). Even with this abrupt change, I am still interested in what is to come. It atleast has the makings for a decent fantasy story which is rare in anime. Let’s hope it doesn’t flounder in the 10 episodes it has left.

It feels like the Tower of Druaga has turned into a serious fantasy adventure with a quirky sense of humor disbursed between action and intrigue much like Scrapped Princess. There is so little good fantasy anime that I will take whatever fix I can. The show has definite potential to fall apart but so far it seems decent. I’m sure some people are going to be thrown off by the non-canon theme first episode but I think it lends the show a certain charm much like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Blassreiter
Blassreiter is junk. It’s true. I couldn’t even gleam enjoyment from it being so bad and blase. The dialogue was lame, the character designs are poor, and they tell you how to feel instead of making you feel it. I felt nothing for the main character and his tragedy, it happened three minutes in, how am I supposed to be connected? And my biggest complaint has to be that the dude on the posters for it appears for all of 5 seconds and he doesn’t even do anything. Although, even with that he still seems like the most interesting character in the series.

Blassreiter seems like a show for people who want to watch a series like the Guyver but wanted an older protagonist. I also feel no real need to go out and watch anymore of this show. Some people might enjoy the dark action and the slightly more mature plots that come with a slightly more mature cast. Actually it’s more of that fake mature like Speed Grapher. A show that thinks it’s mature because it’s dark and deals with issues like sex and violence but is really just a shallow attempt at being mature.

Kamen no Maid Guy
This show clearly says ecchi when you go to the description but I just couldn’t resist after seeing the picture of it on ANN. It deserved to be watched just for that. Kogarashi is just one of the most hilarious looking dudes ever. Of course our very buxom young female lead bounces everywhere for anything and quite often loses her shirt or is in the shower. While this was a little much for me, the episode was hilariously amusing while our maid guy attempts to keep her safe and also clean!

Kamen no Maid Guy is basically what happens when you replace the romance and otaku humor from Hayate the Combat Butler with perverted jokes and boob shots. It does certainly seem like fun if you can tolerate with high levels of ecchi content. The fact that it looks like you took a Fist of the North Star villain and made him the ultimate bodyguard french maid has a certain hilarity built into it. I will continue to watch this guy but I’m not going out of my way to check every night if a new episode has come out.

Amatsuki
Amatsuki has potential, I’m atleast interested in seeing some more of it. While the story is semi-basic, at least we haven’t been told that the main guy is the key to this, the king of that, or the only one who can save something. The brief fight was good, so hopefully there will be more of that in the future. The character personalities were broad enough to also make me curious. But then again I really have no idea of what the plot is at this point.

I have to agree with Narutaki. The main character seems to amazingly easily accept the fact that he has been transported back in time and there are monsters all around him. It seems he is in an odd state of ataraxia. It is certainly odd but it’s better than him be a whiny wet blanket like so many characters in the same situation. It is safe to assume that the main theme is about what are dreams and what is reality but they have yet to develop the main plot. It seems like the stereotypical story of a high school student transported to a monster filled past but it so far it seems to be well done. I like the characters and then seem to have potential so I think I will keep watching this one and see how it develops. It could be interesting or it could be generic but so far it at least seems to be well done.

Nabari no Ou
Nabari no Ou, ninjas! Pretty good fights, too. The characters however aren’t very engaging, at least not right off the bat. I may have to give this two of three more episodes.

I guess the easiest way to sum up this show is modern day Nate the Ninja. In fact Nabari no Ou has some easily identified counterparts in Naruto. That being said I think that the show has sort of its own groove that makes it different enough to be enjoyable. The sheer apathy of the main character makes for some funny scenes but it also makes him somewhat of a bland character at times. Along with Souleater I am predicting this show will be the other show people talk about this season. It is different enough from Naruto that people who want a ninja shonen fighting show might get into it but is good enough to win over a good number of Naruto fans that want more ninja action.

Souleater
Souleater is the show everyone is going to love and be the runaway hit of the season. For me it probably won’t be those things. Maybe it was that “glowing” review I read or maybe it was the fact that I have read some of the manga, but I wasn’t really looking forward to this show. In fact, I wasn’t even going to watch it. But here I get reeled in by what people are saying. The visuals are pretty nice, it has a playful gothic feel that gives the scenery a nice punch. However, I find the actual characters mostly dull looking, especially Mara our heroine. This manga also falls in the ecchi category and really I’m just not in the moody for annoying titty witches clogging up my anime watching experience.

Well anyone who claims that a show does Tim Burton better than Tim Burton better be reviewing an amazingly good show to back up that up. I’m pretty sure that Souleater does not live up to that lofty claim. I do agree that this show looks like it has the potential to be the breakout big hit of the season. In fact much of this show seemed like what would happen if mixed together Bleach and D.Gray-man and threw in a liberal helping of fan service. I’m pretty sure that the cloying titty witch made sure neither of us can get into this show despite the insistence that it has awesome fight scenes. I will admit thought the fact that Mara seems to be the main fighter and Soul is the more passive weapon is somewhat unusual and interesting for a shonen show.

Zettai Kareshi (Live Action)
Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) I watched this raw so this is just my general impression of it. However, I have read the manga so that gives me some insight. But really the story is just a romance comedy, I don’t really need to know everything being said to be able to laugh and understand what is going on. The series has high quality production, like some of the effects used to show Night as a robot. Both male leads are very good looking, always a plus. And Riko our main girl is silly and charming. This series is nothing amazing but its a fun watch for females for sure.

Golgo 13
Golgo 13 is a show for Daryl Surat and anyone else who is a big seinen manga fan. It does everything a Golgo 13 anime needs to do to make Golgo 13 fans happy. Golgo gets a mission, has detached sex with a woman who needs him more than life itself, kills some thugs, and then makes a nearly impossible hit on his target and then goes of to do it again. I assume that each episode will follow the same basic formula in different places throughout the world with slight variations in the formula. It’s not like they made Golgo 13 throw out action movie one liners with a huge smile on his face or gave him a moe loli companion girl. He is the killing machine Golgo 13. The world conflicts he is involved with may differ but Golgo 13 never changes.

Kaiba
 This series is very beautiful right off the bat but in a retro way that may turn some people off. It has a mystical, fairy-tale like feeling from the moment it starts. We are immediately thrust into an unknown world where our main character is just waking up. He certainly doesn’t seem to know what is going on around him either. But others seem to know things about him based on a strange hole he has in his chest, the locket around his neck, and an odd symbol on his abdomen. It certainly remind me of many sci-fi stories from the 70’s. It captured the imagination right off and I’m curious to see where it all leads.

This is probably the closest you are going to be to an art house anime. I think no matter how good the story or the animation, the Osamu Tezuka style character designs dooms this show to obscurity. I can see the old guard anime fans getting into this show. Since Narutaki watched the show raw and I watched it subtitled we are kicking around the idea that Narutaki watch the whole show raw and do absolutely no research into the show. Narutaki then gives a report of what she thought it was about and then I talk about what the show was actually about from watching the show with subs.

Macross Frontier
For the 25th anniversary of the original The Super Dimension Fortress Macross we get the third TV series in the Macross universe entitled Macross Frontier. So far Frontier is much more the spiritual successor to the original Macross than the lol-fest that was Macross 7. We have all the classic features: a battleship with almost no outside support attacked by a mysterious enemy; transformable Valkyrie fighters; and a love triangle involving a pilot and a singer. This show looks beautiful and so far has been rather entertaining. Good actions scenes and lively characters make this show a joy to watch. American Macross fans might be able to finally forgive Japan for Macross 7 after this show. I think science fiction fans and mecha fans new to the franchise might also get hooked on this lusciously animated show.

I am having a blast following Macross Frontier! The character designs are good and the 3D animation is actually nicely done. Also supreme fighting sequences complete with pop music. Though I am not that impressed with the music. I did notice I liked the opening song a bit better the second time through, so I am hoping to see it grow on me.

Niju-Menso no Musume
Niju-Menso no Musume, was a show I was looking forward to this season because I am a sucker for a good thief. This series seems rather over the top. I think everything that has ever happened in a mystery show happened in the first episode. But it satisfies something in me and I was entertained. Something about the mastermind thief that is just one step ahead is always fun. I also really like the relationships developing between characters. This show is a lot of fun, nothing more nothing less, full of danger, mystery, and a whole lot of adventure.

Vampire Knight
I learned from Anime World Order that apparently Vampire Knight is one of the best selling manga in the United States which took me slightly by surprise. I think that Vampire Knight definitely has the two main of the draws of vampire stories: angst filled boys and drinking blood as a sexual metaphor. The humor and the drama are pretty well balanced. This is a super shojo vampire story set at a school for what it’s worth. Since nerd girls in general love vampires I’m sure this show will be right up their alley. If girls bought more shojo anime I’m sure this show could be one of the best sellers from this season. According to Kohaku they change the pace of certain of revelations so they might be trying to give us a complete story in 26 episodes of a 8+ book series. This can lead to some awful anime produced ending but since I have not read the manga I can’t tell how much better or worse the changes make the story as compared to the original manga.

This season looks to be pretty good! I think that is typical though. Pleanty of goodies to keep your eye on, can’t wait to see how they turn out. It is always interesting to go back and see if your initial impressions are true. Just how good is our intuition? Stay tuned to find out!