Saturday, April 21, 2007

Shows for this Season
WHAT I'M KEEPING SO FAR:
  Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann (nicknamed Metaphor for Adolescence: The TV) - The first of the season's 500 pound gorillas. Well, it's second generation Gainax and Hiroyuki Imaishi, you either like this kind of stuff or you don't. I find it an utter joy to watch, much like FLCL and the funkier Abenobashi eps.
  Murder Princess - Technically this is an OVA, but still. Nothing that's going to be remembered over the years, but a fun little action fantasy series. Extra points for using Chiwa Saito as a heavy.
  Darker Than Black - The second of the gorillas. Definitely a descendent of Cowboy Bebop, with that same future noir sensibility - only a little more insular and thinky, a lot less funny, and way more cynical. And if that doesn't sell you, Yoko Kanno should.
  Hayate no Gotoku! - Basically a 24 minute long massage for otaku. Although not as much as...
  Lucky Star (must be pronounced "Lacky Staa~") - The third of the gorillas, and another "you just get it or you don't." This is basically an excuse for otaku to get to see cute girls interested in the same things they are. I for one really enjoyed the discussions of how to eat different kinds of food. Also: best OP of the season.
  Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny (nicknamed Romance of the Three Kingdoms Plus Fanservice, Part 2) - I'm one of the few people who appreciated the first series on a level aside from... the obvious. The sequel here is being pulled off much more clumsily, but it's good enough to keep me watching. (Zhuge Liang is adorable and the ED design is by Satoshi Urushihara, King of Nipples)

WHAT I HAVEN'T DECIDED ON YET:
  Rocket Girls - This is probably going in. Schoolgirl astronauts: it's one of those ideas that you kick yourself for not having. Sure, at first it doesn't sound all that promising, but then you see the training scenes (cute girl getting knocked on her ass firing an automatic, cute girl doing physics calculations).
  Lovely Complex - Looks like a by-the-books sort of romantic comedy, but it's a lot of fun and pulled off with a flourish. Tall girls, with the exception of Sakaki, just don't get enough love in anime.
  Engage Planet Kiss Dum - I'm surprised that I haven't heard more about this, because the first episode completely knocked me on my ass. It's like someone was watching the Corellian attack sequences from Eureka Seven and decided to do it better. The downside is that they may be trying to work a plot (and not a promising one at that) in along with the sheer spectacle.
  Idolmaster Xenoglossia (nicknamed Xenohime) - The Mai Hime staff has abused my trust twice in a row. Now they hand me a mecha show shamelessly trying to channel Eva, except pumping dangerously high levels of moe in while doing so. I should know better, I really should.
  El Cazador de la Bruja (nicknamed Las Asesinas Lesbianas) - This is to be distinguished from its previous incarnations, Noir and Madlax (respectively, Les Meurtriers Lesbiens and Lesbian Assassins Meet Plot Crash). I've counted three (3) uses of the battle theme now. Not looking promising.
  Claymore - It's Madhouse, and very much a throwback to the old stoic shounen animes from the late '80s and early '90s (Demon City, Ninja Scroll). Seems to be very uneven, given the first few episodes; I suspect I'll probably drop it unless it turns around.

WHAT I'M NOT WATCHING (THE ONES I CAN REMEMBER, ANYWAYS):
  Romeo Times Juliet (nicknamed Spacespeare) - I tried, I really did. I got through the first episode from the aura of sheer trainwreck it exuded, but that's it. I can forgive them for ripping out everything interesting from the play and only keeping a few strips of bone left, but judged on its own merits the show just isn't very interesting.
  Heroic Age - A victim of time constraints. I think this might have had a chance at ending up interesting, but it's one of those deals where I'm just watching too much already.
  Sola (nicknamed Neko Mamiko Mode) - It probably says something when even Mamiko Noto as a cute vampire (sort of) isn't enough to make your show interesting.
  Touka Gettan - Also a victim of time constraints. When being cryptic, there is a thin line between doing so in an interesting way (Higurashi is a good example) versus just baffling the audience.
  Shining Tears x Wind (nicknamed Shining Auron x Rikku, substituting any other fanfiction pairing) - Could someone please explain to me the geography of that running battle in the field from the first episode? Christ, the whole scene was like a quantum nightmare where every character was simultaniously two feet and also a quarter mile away from every other.
  Sakura Taisen: New York - initially promising, and then underwhelming.
  Kami-chama Karin - As a general rule, Koge Donbo should not have any creative control over a series beyond character design (witness the slow death of Digi Charat).
  OverDrive - I didn't like it, but that doesn't say much; sports anime is one of the few genres that I've never been able to get into.
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