Anime Progress Report Fall 2007 Part 1

Bamboo Blade * Blue Drop * Night Wizard The Animation * Suteki Tantei Labyrinth * Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro * Mokke * Dragonaut The Resonance * Sketchbook Full Colors

• Bamboo Blade

A series revolving around kendo. Well I wasn’t that impressed with the first episode–there wasn’t anything really hilarious happening or anything that would make the first episode stand out. It feels like a generic school-based sports show. I’ll still watch the second episode if it gets any better, but if not, I’ll move on to other shows. But if I had to decide now, I’d rather pick up Ookiku Furikabutte back again.

• Blue Drop

The first episode introduces us to Mari Wakatake, who is on her way to her new school/dormitory. She sees a mysterious girl with long black hair, which is our other main character (I assume). I wanted to make a summary but Omni does it better, so I’ll just give my thoughts here. I liked the background music, and the sound effects. The animation was good. There’s no explanation yet about the world that the characters are living in, so maybe we’ll have that in later episodes. I was sort of expecting lots of mumbo-jumbo terms/explanations but it was quite a slow first episode. Not that I didn’t like it, but that girl-fight at the end of the episode was quite out of place. It was probably supposed to be a comedic effect but just sticks out sorely. It really deviated from the episode’s serious tone. Anyway I hope I’ll see subs, and that the second episode will delve more into the details of the world Mari is living in. I’ve already read some of the translated manga which inspired this series, and the sci-fi aspect (not the yuri) was a pretty interesting concept. Anyway it’s only about 13 episodes, and I have high expectations for this show. So far it hasn’t turned up major disappointments yet.

• Night Wizard The Animation

I only got as far as the first few minutes after the OP. After that I switched to fast-forward mode and nothing else impressed me. Perhaps I’ve seen too many action-oriented shows that almost anything that has wizards/swords/generic looking male leads, my brain rejects it. But I liked the girl with the big gun though.

• Suteki Tantei Labyrinth

Hmmm…lemme see…It actually reminds me of Darker than Black, not really that sure why. It’s confusing, with some of the characters look like Mai from Mai Hime or Hei from Darker than Black. There are twins (?) that remind me of those Ouran hosts, only that they look less dangerous. The lead also seems like Ouran’s Honey-senpai, except that he’s taller and more mysterious looking lol. Anyway I got bad vibes when I saw the maid, I stopped maybe 1/3 into the episode so I don’t think I’ll be watching anymore of this.

• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro

This series has the worst OP I’ve seen for this season so far. But for some reason, I managed to finish this ep. Anyway, the main leads solve a murder case just too easily for my liking. And then Neuro (the ugly main lead) defeats a muscled-cook-on-steroids by turning into a bird and eating his head (or sucking his essence or whatever). The animation is too ugly for me, and I’m not too fond of detective shows either. So I’ll pass on this one.

• Mokke

It looked like Binbou Shimai Monogatari II: The Supernatural Edition. With less petals galore! Hahaha!

Kidding aside, the first episode was pretty watchable. However, the two sisters kept reminding me of BSM. Anything cutesy they do just stirs up memories of that other series, and I’m half expecting more petals galore (there was already some sakura shots in the beginning). The episode was not engaging enough, all the ‘spirit’ did was just show up and get bigger (like some lost illegal from Dennou Coil lol). The main characters are kids, so there wouldn’t be anything too scary or too bloody for us to see. On the other hand BSM gave me a few laughs; this one didn’t. For my supernatural series collection I’ll just stick with Xxxholic.

• Dragonaut The Resonance

Our main character survives a shuttle accident right after take-off. I was quite impressed until I saw the action sequences in the latter part of the OP. Still I was able to tolerate that and the not-so-impressive animation. And then the girls with the big boobs showed up. I’m sure a lot of fanboys enjoyed that, but then again I didn’t watch this for the overly-endowed females. I don’t like the characters that much either but the action scenes were entertaining. Now I’m still undecided whether to give another shot at the second episode. All I know is that this series is not yet on my must-continue-watching list for fall 2007.

• Sketchbook Full Colors

I liked the cat, and the soft colors remind me of Honey & Clover and ARIA. The story is about this girl who is an art club member. But what’s good about this show is that it actually made me laugh at the characters’ antics. I can relate all too well to the predicament of not knowing what to draw. (I was also in an art club in high school; but alas I lack real creativity.) What’s more is that places featured remind me of what I’ve seen here in Japan. When the girls enter the small restaurant, the scene looks familiar and reminds me of my own culinary experiences (or sometimes misadventures) in this land of anime. I am sure to add this to my watch list. This is the surprise of the season for me, and I hope it’s not the first one.

Speaking of ARIA, yeah, my current favorite cat did a cameo.

So currently I’m still not yet finished with Bubblegum Crisis, but I have decided against watching any more older series. The reason being that I can watch them anytime, and I also want more time to do other things that I can only do in Japan. Actually that means more time for going out (read: trips to Akihabara), and learning (or re-learning) new stuff in Nihongo. As I was watching the raws I realized I still had a lot to learn; it would be a terrible waste of time if I did not take advantage of the opportunities for learning here.

As for my blogging schedule, I’m leaning towards Blue Drop and Gundam 00. I still don’t have much free time for per episode blogging though, so I won’t be updating that frequently.

And till next, ja!