Whoo. This update is going to be even more epically long than usual because I neglected to post the last one.
Recently finished:
Aquarian Age - Music by Yuki Kajiura
Somewhat old-school shoujo character designs for sympathetic characters who actually act their age. The plot is just beginning, but looks to be interesting too. This could be a very good anime.
It's like a cross between
Macross (but without the mecha) and
Nana (but the drama isn't so over the top), with magical girls. I'd rate it Very Good +.
MoonPhase - Weird/creepy, but with loli, so, not really creepy. Hmm, a few eps. in it seems to be more of a magical girlfriend anime.
The repeating nekomimi and tsundere comedy is getting a little tiresome halfway through. The surreal art style is certainly unique among anime (it seems to be a mixture of various 20th century modern art styles), but kinda hampers immersion in the story.
Luckily, after the first arc the art shifts to a more normal style and the anime becomes quite enjoyable. Overall, it's not top entertainment, but definitely not bad.
Kurau Phantom Memory - Ooh, very good. Nice modern animation, with a mixture of action and more character-oriented plot. It looks like it shares quite a few staff members with
Planetes.
Wow, that was just awesome. Kurau and Christmas are so sweet together, and the other characters are almost all nice too. The way it combines bits of action with lots of character interaction reminds me of
Witchblade. This anime goes on the to-buy list immediately.
Animation Runner Kuromi - Said to give some interesting insight into the world of animation, which it indeed did. It's a fun comedy. Kuromi's character design reminds me of one of the
Nanas (Hachiko) in face fault mode. I like how Shihonmatsu helped Kuromi out.
Animation Runner Kuromi 2 - More fun at Studio Petit. Kuromi-chan is adorable and Shihonmatsu is cool. Maybe I'll check out other anime with Hajime Watanabe as character designer.
Kite Liberator - The animation is quite good. The character designs are a little peculiar, but not too weird. There isn't overly much fanservice fortunately. Monaka is cool in her assassin role, although of course quite bloody.
This OVA feels like a pilot for a longer series though, mostly because the story ends with a lot of details unfinished. The monster isn't dealt with yet, there are many intriguing things about Monaka's life that are only briefly shown, and lots of potential character development is left up in the air.
Black Magic M-66 - It's interesting to look for references or commonalities between different Shirow-based anime. The two M66 robots looked a little like the two cat women/robots from
Dominion Tank Police, there was one officer who looked a little like
GITS:SAC's Saito with his eyepatch, and at the end, Sybil was wearing a shirt with 'Appleseed' on it. I haven't seen that one yet. I think I'll add it to the to-watch list.
This OVA's age clearly shows of course, but it isn't bad for anime from 1987. Like
DTP, there are silly moments, especially at the beginning. The rest of the story is more suspenseful, even though it isn't as dark as more modern anime would have been in that situation. Overall it's a nice 45 min. of entertainment.
Zegapain - Recommended by someone from the ANN forum. I wonder why he did that though. The opening is rather full of clichés. Highschool boy (with important hair) meets mysterious girl and is told to fight to save the world, in a big mecha (using hard light). Mysterious past, check. Mysterious organization, check. Oh, and childhood girlfriend, check too. Okay, the animation isn't bad at all, but that might just have been the first ep. I wonder how they'll keep this from being a semi-boring mecha cliché fest. Ah well, only one way to find out, right?
Four eps. in, and there's still no explanation given for all the mystery. Sure, a little mystery can be captivating, keeping you watching to find out, but no explanation at all means that I don't care one way or another who these characters are or what they're doing. Better hurry up the exposition, or your audience is going to walk out. Oh, and you can add technobabble overload to the flaws too btw.
After seven eps. I give up. Some of the mystery is becoming clear, but characters continue to be idiots who don't communicate. Bye-bye.
Gunsmith Cats - This looks and sounds very American. With the old (1996) art style, it almost looks like an American cartoon. The gun fights and bombs are rather over the top, which kinda spoils the suspense.
Jubei-chan: Secret Of The Lovely Eyepatch - Just some light-hearted fun so far. Kinda reminds me of
Ranma ½ in some ways (Jubei is nicer than Ranma though). Hah, I noticed it is from the same people as
Animation Runner Kuromi because of the little squiddies. This anime's art style is a little rougher though.
Hmm. I get the feeling that this anime is more about the people around Jubei than about Jubei herself.
Well, it got a little better later on, with more focus on Jubei (including lots of action in the last two eps.). I found this anime quite enjoyable. Good, but not great.
Jubei-chan 2: The Counter Attack of Siberia Yagyu - The art is a little sharper than before, but there are some scenes where the animation is very limited. From the differences in translation between the two seasons, I suspect that one or both took some liberties with the Japanese text
Overall, this season is slightly better than the first, but there are different things that are a little off. Quite often a lot of time is spent on things of little importance, like Jiyu's father or some other character running around for no reason. The Bantaro/Shiro gang are even more annoying than in the first series, although their comments on how this or that detail is different or doesn't make sense are sometimes funny. The sword fight scenes are really cool of course. If this were a novel, I would say it needs a good editor. I liked this anime, but I'm not sure it's something I want to buy.
Ghost In The Shell 2.0 - I think this is a definite improvement of the original. The cleaner computer graphics are nice, and the CG helicopters look no more out of place than in many other contemporary anime. At first I thought there were new scenes added, but after checking the original it seems they just looked different. The Puppet Master having a female voice now is much more appropriate, and also lessens the feeling of Kusanagi being used just because she's a woman somewhat. Recommended over the original for newcomers or fans.
Adventures Of Mini-Goddess - Came across this while shopping online for anime.
Hmm. Well, good thing I'm watching it before buying. Even at the low price it's going for this isn't really worth watching more than once. Not that it's bad, just rather unremarkable kids comedy.
Okay, finished. Near the middle there were some funny episodes (the ones with Marla and the ninjas for example), but toward the end it went down a little again. I'm still not sure I'd buy this anime. Maybe for completeness after I get the rest of the
Aa! Megami-sama series.
Rumiko Takahashi Anthology - Mentioned in the SloL recommendations thread on ANN.
Every episode is a separate story, unrelated to the others. In that way this anime reminds me a lot of
Hell Girl, although this doesn't have all the hatred and sadness in it of course.
The stories are interesting. Not really comedy, not really drama, often based on misunderstandings between characters. Usually the characters learn something from the events.
Avenger - The characters are very Bee Train (tormented fighter, emotionless girl, and the designs of course). Maybe it's because this is a short anime (only 13 eps.), but the scenes are all quite short. Just a few movements and lines before it cuts to a different angle, or a different setting altogether. I like this style so far. The robot dolls are cute too of course. This anime might be another favorite. I liked all of the Bee Train anime I've seen so far, so that wouldn't be too surprising.
Finished. The story leaves a lot for the viewer to fill in themselves, just like the animation. An unusual style, that works unexpectedly well. The good background music helps a lot. Ali Project may not be too good at doing theme songs, but they do BGM quite well here. I'd have liked to see Nei more involved in the story, and the flashbacks could have been indicated better, but overall this anime turned out good.
Murder Princess - Coincidentally, another Bee Train anime. The OP has the same problem as
Claymore's: the music rocks.. until the singer opens his mouth.
Whoo, now that is one kick-ass princess
I wonder what'll happen to the original princess now.
Aw, why do the best anime always have to be the shortest? This was so awesome, but only six eps. long
Aoi Hana (aka
Sweet Blue Flowers) - Wow, finally finished it. Series take so long when you watch them while they're still airing/subbing. The ending wasn't really what I expected, but I suppose it can't be helped with only eleven eps. It was still wonderful though. And the art is just gorgeous. I hope there'll be a sequel some day.
Rewatched:
Laputa: Castle In The Sky - The character designs are quite '80s. Some elements can be recognized from
Nausicaä and
Cagliostro, as well as general Miyazaki stuff like all the flying of course.
For the next batch, I decided that for a genre I love, I haven't really seen that many magical girl anime yet. Let's start with some licensed ones:
Gakuen Alice,
Shugo Chara,
Magic User's Club, and
Someday's Dreamers.
To balance it a little, I've also added
Library War and
Whisper Of The Heart.