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| [ | [Momotato Daioh] [Hayama's Oneti Page] [Omonomono] [Canned Dogs?] |
[Weiss Kreuz Glühen] [Kikou Sen'nyo Rouran] [Piano] [Tsuribaka Nikki]
Weiss Kreuz Glühen |
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Well, I'll come right out and say it, I *enjoyed* Weiss Kreuz, the original series. Ridiculousness, bad animation, and all, I still really enjoyed it. So I was looking forward to seeing the new series.... I must say, I would probably like it a lot more if they didn't have such bad character designs for the new characters. (and old ones, for the most part...) Yeah, it's sad that the only good character design is the crazy evil boy. I guess that's okay in a way, though.
You've got your typical WK girls back in this series with Nozumi, poor Nozumi. There are these new Weiss people too, and they're infiltrating the Koua Academy because of all the suicides there lately. Apparently no one at the school cares because poor Japanese students are easily brainwashed into not caring. Of course evil bishounen boy is behind all of it, even if his superiors think they're running the show. There are crazy rituals and death and drama that you come to expect from Weiss Kreuz. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the CLIMAX to the arc because the EVIL Japanese creators decided to air *2* episodes of a 3-4 episode arc, and we'll just have to wait until November to see the rest. Now there's a need for Weiss if I ever saw one.
All in all, I still enjoyed Weiss Kreuz Glühen, even with the bad character designs, so I hope there are more interesting arcs coming up in future episodes! More death, more tragic girls, etc, etc!
Kikou Sen'nyo RouranStrange Steel Fairy Rouran |
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Whee, mecha, monsters, strange steel fairies, and Japan is under attack again! This time, it's up to Professor Mikogami, his children, and ASY, the orginazation he runs, to keep Japan safe!
The first episode lets us see the power of the Shiromorishuu underground agency as they unleash their Raijuu to terrorize the Tokyo Bay area. Japan's leaders call on Professor Mikogami to do something about the monster, and so he assembles his crew, which includes his daughter Mahoro and son Yamato, to fight the intrusion. There is much 3D CG, and then we see Yamato defeat the monster in a huge explosion. However, the explosion causes much distress among people around the bay, and their cries turn Rouran, who has floated into the bay (we see her at the beginning of the episode, presumably on another world, floating on a river or something), into her "Strange Steel Fairy" form. She's not too happy about this mech that Yamato is piloting. ^^;;;
The one other thing in episode one is that there are a young girl, a male, and an old guy living in the section being attacked by the monster thing. Looks like they're going to figure into the story as well, although all we know now is that the guy is a fugitive and the girl and old guy just have nowhere else to go, so they stay instead of evacuating.
Rouran airs in a block with the new chapter of Princess Tutu, so each show is 12 minutes or so with the opening. (Tutu has the same OP, Rouran had no OP for ep1 and a very short credits roll. I assume ep2 will have an OP.) Rouran seemed to be able to fit a good story into that, so I hope they keep it up. Tutu seems a little slow-paced now, but that's probably what episode 14 is supposed to feel like. The character designs in Rouran are kinda hit-and-miss. I like a lot of them, but WHAT THE HECK is with Yamato's hair?! At least that one crew girl is really cute. A typical premise, but we'll have to see where the deal with Rouran goes from here. The official site says she has some memory loss.
Piano |
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I've been looking forward to seeing Piano ever since I saw an ad in a magazine over a year ago, but I'm not disappointed at all. This is exactly how I wanted it to be, and even though I wasn't the greatest fan of Miu's hairstyle, I like it now, and I just want to see mooooore Piano. Can't wait until November when the series starts actually running. (This was a pre-broadcast of episodes 1 and 2)
So Piano focuses around the life of Miu, a girl in middle school, almost 14 years old, learning the piano. There's nothing really special to the plot, it's just a well-told story about Miu, relationships, and life. Her piano teacher is somehow connected to the family, but it's just one of those normal things, to be revealed in time. The pacing is appropriate, the character designs, by Kousuke Fujishima, are great. The scenes when Miu searches for the family's cat, Myuu, are just very nicely done, they make Miu come to life. Also, Miu has that typical good Japanese mentality which makes her dialogue with her athletic friend Yuki and her parents quite nice.
There's not really much else to say about this show, it's just a great pleasure to watch. ^_^
Tsuribaka NikkiDiary of a Fishing Nut |
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A fishing anime! Of course you always hear about how there are all types of manga in Japan, and there really are. Practically anything you can think of, but it's not that often that you see these things put into an anime. Here's your chance to experience the wonders of fishing!
The fishing nut is Hamasaki (NOT Hamazaki!) Densuke, a salaryman who loves to fish whenever he has the time. The episode opens with him fishing in the wee hours of the morning, before he has to go to work. Suzuki-san (Suu-san) comes along with his dog, going for a walk, and ends up accidentally falling into the water with Hamasaki. Hamasaki's a good-spirited guy, though, so instead of being mad that Suzuki made him miss his big catch, he ends up offering to teach Suzuki the joys of fishing, incredulous that Suzuki could have lived so long without realizing how great it was.
Hamasaki's family is very nice, with his wife just rolling her eyes as her husband spends all his time fishing, and his son cheering him on even when he accidentally plans his fishing outing with Suzuki on the day they were supposed to go to an amusement park. Suzuki not only experiences the joy of fishing, but that joy transfers itself over to his previously stiff business life, where he becomes much more relaxed and easier to deal with. As the episode ends we find out something that Suzuki and Hamasaki don't know yet themselves: that Suzuki is actually the president of Hamasaki's company! What will happen to their relationship if they ever find out?!
I must admit that I don't care at all about fishing, but the anime is a fun watch anyway. Hamasaki's a nut at work too, messing with his boss, fishing during his lunch break when he's out on business, and the like. I'm not really sure where the conflict is going to come into play, but the pacing and storytelling start off nicely in this episode. ^^
