Summer 2010 Anime

[firehawk12]

Hah, I've been busy grinding through Persona 3 Portable... which is embarrassing because I finally get to play out the cliche "I luuuuv you senpai!!!!!" moment with Akihiko. (Thank god they don't release visual novels/dating sim games here!)

High School of the Dead turned out to be... well, everything a guy into zombies would like. Which is fine, and it certainly looks good, but for some reason I expected something more from it.

I'm only watching Occult Academy because of the Anime no Chikara branding, but I'm not even sure what that necessarily means anymore given how it's nothing like Sora no Woto or Night Raid.

Also decided to follow Seitokai Yakuindomo because I figured I needed yet another school based comedy in my life. It seems to be the opposite of Seitokai no Ichizon in theme and comedic style, so... so far I'm in.

Oh, and of course Amagami SS which is funny because they're solving the harem problem by just redoing the same story 6 times. That alone has me interested just to see how they end up executing the "loops".

 

[zakkrusz]

Oh, and of course Amagami SS which is funny because they're solving the harem problem by just redoing the same story 6 times. That alone has me interested just to see how they end up executing the "loops".

I've found that gets pretty boring unless the arcs end in various forms of violent, bloody, massacres like Higurashi no Naku Koroni.

...that's not a romance though.

 

[firehawk12]

Maybe there will be lots of School Days-like wangst at the end of each one!

 

[zakkrusz]

Well, I'll leave that for you to discover the answer to then. I'm actually kinda sick of cliched teeny romance shows at the moment and am trying to stay away from them for a while. What I really crave is more shows about adults for adults.

 

[firehawk12]

The problem is that the only thing that fits that category that isn't fantasy based is the live action adaptation of Moyishomon or whatever it's called... and even that has some weird SF elements to it from what I understand.

After high school, Japanese people just disappear off the face of the Earth.

 

[zakkrusz]

Oh it can be any genre I just don't want to watch another cookie-cutter high school romance series for a while. The best way to stay away from it is to locate some seinen stuff. The 4 series I'm watching all seem to be either that or primarily other genres so I'm set.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, the problem with the new seinen stuff is that I'm just not that interested in fantasy/actiony stuff at the moment.
Someone needs to just make the last series of Genshiken or do more Detroit Metal City or something.

 

[zakkrusz]

Personally I'd love to see more Claymore (gets lumped in with shounen but really isn't, content-wise.), and Gunslinger Girl. Those have more manga to adapt.

I'd also like to see an anime series adapting the rest of the Dogs: Bullets and Carnage manga. It had a short 4 episode OVA which was pretty cool.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGhgod4BZ84[/yt]

 

[clint g]

Personally I'd love to see more Claymore (gets lumped in with shounen but really isn't, content-wise.), and Gunslinger Girl. Those have more manga to adapt.

I'd also like to see an anime series adapting the rest of the Dogs: Bullets and Carnage manga. It had a short 4 episode OVA which was pretty cool.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGhgod4BZ84[/yt]

It's too bad they ended Claymore where they did. When it diverted from the manga, they missed out on some really cool, awesome stuff

 

[zakkrusz]

Where they did end it though is not totally unfixable. I could think of a few ways for them to to bring a new season back on track again with minimal story tweaking.

Spoiler: Claymore

All you need is a good excuse to seperate Claire and Raki again for a few years and make her want to go south. An easy way to do this is the slave trade in the south which was already mentioned. He could be taken by slavers and Isley and Pricila could then come across him again and "rescue" him. Cue Claire finding the prision in the North and then reuniting with the magnificent 7 again and their decision that the time is right to go south and there's no trouble.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Personally I'd love to see more Claymore (gets lumped in with shounen but really isn't, content-wise.), and Gunslinger Girl. Those have more manga to adapt.

I'd also like to see an anime series adapting the rest of the Dogs: Bullets and Carnage manga. It had a short 4 episode OVA which was pretty cool.

That looks good.

I like the music; though I can't but help hear a Kanno influence in it.

 

[zakkrusz]

It was good although it's mostly a 4 episode teaser trailer for the manga. It covers volume 0 only and there's at least 4 other volumes of the manga.

 

[firehawk12]

The Cat Shit One OVA thingiemobob aired:

It was basically man porn, but if they could spin it off into a deeper war show, that would be awesome. I mean, it could be the Japanese anime version of Generation Kill.

Although, it would have been neat if they adapted the Vietnam War version of the manga - but I guess everyone's over that war nowadays.

 

[zakkrusz]

Speaking of porn, I just finished Seikon no Qwaser. It was really only for completions sake really and it's pretty much a guarantee that I'm never watching this series again unless there's a new season.

After that I watched another big chunk of Fist of the North Star which I'm trying to make some more progress on. I'm only about 1/3 of te way through the thing now though. (It's a long one.) This series makes me laugh a lot. Not because it's a comedy, which is isn't at all, but because it's so unintentionally hilarious. That's good I guess, or maybe it's bad.

Since this is such a light season for me, I get a chance to catch up on my backlog like that. Hopefully, I can continue to thin the herd. Next up is a couple of Lupin the 3rd movies I have lying around.

 

[zakkrusz]

Black Rock Shooter is out now:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWSeSlH-Gdw[/yt]

I have to say it's one of the most confusing things I've ever watched, though by the end it does make sense for the most part. It's pretty disorienting as it randomly switches between a story about a school life drama and two women with superpowers duking it out in some dilapidated ancient ruins.

 

[firehawk12]

It's an OVA manga adaptation isn't it? It's strange because I watched the other OVA that came out, Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu, which is basically a series of highlights from the manga amped up to high hell.

I guess it's one of those "you need to be a fan" things?

 

[zakkrusz]

According to ANN it's an original work based on some art one of staff members drew. It's also being offered totally for free by the group that created it. I'm not quite sure what they get out of this other that satisfaction. They're calling it a promotional campaign, and it's available bundled in a magazine and streaming, which I'm assuming means if enough people watch and like it that they might make more of it.

 

[firehawk12]

I'm not sure if that somehow makes it worse or not. I take it you didn't find it all that internally consistent?

 

[zakkrusz]

Well, it's kinda hard to follow because it's telling two seemingly different stories at once and they switch off at random points. Only near the end do you "get" how they're related to each other. However, you don't really get the whole story. Also the second story of the two women fighting is almost like a silent film because they never speak. It's just sound effects. If you want figure out why it's weird, you should watch it. It's only an hour long.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, I figure I might as well check it out. I was going to say it was strange that they'd ditch the narrative in favor of action, but if it's a showcase, I suppose that makes sense.