Posts in Spring 2005 Anime Category
April 14, 2005
Opening: "Dramatic" by YUKI - Creative use of food... I don't get it at all ;) Don't really care for the song either..
Ending: "Waltz" by Suneohea
The OP was something... different... but the show itself was entertaining. Some interesting characters here ;)
Before I get started here, I'll mention that Honey and Clover is the first of a few programs Fuji TV has lined up for a new programming block, Noitamina (Animation spelled backwards), targeted at women. Doesn't mean us guys can't enjoy it as well, though ;)
Memento - Hachimitsu to Clover ep.01
↑Look here for a nice summary done by Garten ;) I'm with him on most of the stuff so there's not much for me to say.. though I still don't quite get the OP :P
Anyways... Morita is definitely the most interesting character out of the bunch. But that's probably because he stole whatever scenes he was in. Like the one where he rushed in and gave Hagumi that leaf and started taking pictures. I can't blame him for wanting to do that, though, since Hagumi is extremely kawaii~ (insert the usual big red text here...). She's 18? No way... but if the author says so, then she must be ;)
Anyways, I'll keep on watching... blogging, probably not, as I'm already overloaded and need to "prioritize" around here. But I might jump in from time to time if I'm feeling like writing a bit about it :)
Opening: 「夜鷹の夢」 "Yotaka no Yume" by Do As Infinity: Been a while since I've heard DAI (not since I was watching Inuyasha a while back), and this song sounds typical for them. Okay stuff :)
Ending: 「Real Love」 by Paradise GO!! GO!!: And here comes the required mixed Japanese/Engrish lyrics! Kinda catchy song, but for some reason, singing "I want real love/I don't need any fakes" while a giant Zoid is running in the background doesn't work quite right together ;)
Just for the heck of it here... gotta cover the good ol' shounen adventure along with cute twin princess stuff, ya know ;) We've got pretty much by-the-numbers weekend morning shounen adventure with the necessary product tie-in for ZOIDS Genesis... and cute girls fishing in the nude... What!?! ;)
Anyways... after a cataclysm the world has come back to life and people have reestablished society. Our hero, Lugi, lives in a village with his family, and now he's helping out his father bring up a giant Zoid that's lying on the ocean floor.
レ・ミィ可愛いよ、レ・ミィ！！（≧∇≦）
Said scene with that girl, レ・ミィ Le Mii (we don't learn her name during the episode), fishing that I told of above is thrown in during this... you know, Le Mii, young ladies like yourself should not be doing things like that ;) As moyism pointed out, this scene reminds one of Gash in Konjiki no Gash Bell, though in that one they drew everything Gash had when he went fishing, and I mean everything... I have a feeling this one's hitting the cutting room floor when it eventually comes over here, hehe ;) She's about to take a bite of her catch, showing her 八重歯 cat tooth (like Leonne from Futago Hime has) when she senses something...
So, basically, not so nice guys in dinosaur Zoids invade the village, Lugi finds out he can actually pilot that giant Zoid, Murasamuraiga, and he starts to kick butt with huge sword.. before some other giant Zoids arrive on the scene, and we end with Lugi surrounded by those dinos.
So there you go ;) Le Mii's the heroine of the series, so she should be showing up a lot, so.... well, if I have nothing else to do perhaps I'll check in on this every once in a while, lol.
Opening: "BLAZE" by Kin'ya: Good animation, and I like the song as well.
Ending: "Loop" by Sakamoto Maaya: You can't go wrong with Maaya, and the animation was stylistic and well done. Sakura-chan was especially kawaii~ :)
See moyism for many, many, many, many more screencaps ;)
First impressions here... I liked it, plain and simple :) It'll take a few weeks to get used to the new character voices for Sakura and Shaoran, but I have no problems with them at all. I'm not very sensitive to voice acting, anyways..
Technically, Bee Train's done a wonderful job. Good character design, nice backgrounds, and we'll see how the action turns out later as there wasn't a whole lot this time. Kajiura's score is definitely the usual for her, which means pretty darn good so far. More later..
In the Clow Kingdom, situated in the middle of a vast desert, a young man returns to his house. He's Shaoran, and he's been doing archeological work at the ruins nearby the city, continuing the work of his father. There's a knock at the door, and as soon as he opens a girl comes flying in. She's Sakura.. Sakura-hime, actually, as she's the princess of the Clow Kingdom, and assaults Shaoran with a barrage of questions: "How's the dig going? Are you hurt? Have you been eating properly?". He's been fine.. But he said in keigo (honorific language), and Sakura doesn't like that at all. She's got a name ;) Shaoran's only going to be there for a bit, as he's going back to the excavation site at night...
Opening: "Truth" by Okui Masami: They sure didn't wait to start the service. Poor Izumi.. ;) For those that have to know, the yuri girl who was looking lecherously at Izumi is Anna, and y'all will meet her soon enough.. Anyways.. nice song.. and for some reason I've always liked the thing where they have the camera(?) fly by each character and stuff ;)
Ending: 「愛情のカタマリ」 "Aijou no Katamari" by Izumi, Mitsuki, and Anna: Sung by the three maids, with cute static backgrounds drawn by Tsubaki Asu, one of the authors of the manga.
Izumi (CV: Asano Masami) and Mitsuki (CV: Shimizu Ai) have decided to leave home and fend for themselves without relying on anyone. The only problem is that they can't find work or a place to sleep, so they look for somewhere.. and as the rain falls they pass by a gigantic mansion. And posted near the gate: "Urgent! Taking applications for live-in maid". Izumi's not too good at housework, but Mitsuki excitedly says it'll work out somehow. So they enter the gate....
And in a river Mitsuki sees some fish and takes a look. She slips and almost falls in, but Izumi pulls her back up.. then falls in herself, getting soaked. At the door, Izumi starts taking off her soaked clothes.. then the door opens and a guy looks out to see quite a sight ;) Izumi proceeds to call him a pervert and throws a tanuki statue at him.. Ouch... Izumi and the guy exchange some words, but Mitsuki breaks it up by mentioning that they saw the post about hiring a maid, and he lets them in.
That guy's living all by himself in the big mansion. His parents died in an auto accident and left him all alone with quite a bit of money. He's looking for live-in maids to have some people around the house so he won't be lonely. Izumi apologizes for earlier and introduces herself (14 years old, btw), along with little sister Mitsuki (13). The guy is Nakabayashi Yoshitaka, and he takes them to the bath so they can get warmed up a bit from being outside in the rain.
It's a pretty nice big bath as could be expected, and Mitsuki's pretty excited (she's usually rather genki). Much service. Expertly placed obstructions keep us from seeing things we aren't supposed to see ;) And after the bath... they're dressed in maid uniforms, much to Izumi's dislike, and head off to meet Yoshitaka in the parlor.
Opening: "New World" by Be Yumi: Korean singer from what I've read. Awesome action-packed animation showing each set of twins, and the song captures the "cool" feel of the show great.
Ending: "Bokura no Jikan" by eufonius: The claymation ED comes back! Very cool, and nicely done song :)
Wow.. when they said "Alternative" they meant Alternative, lol. Forget everything you saw in the fall Futakoi.. well, except for the twins and their names and such.. but this is a completely absolutely different beast right from the start, just exuding "cool" unlike the other. ufotable has really outdone themselves this time. I like :) Gimme some time to write up a summary here... prolly going to have to watch it again... ;)
A white squid-like tentacle creature attacks a military-looking plane. Lulu and Lala, like you've never seen them before, are onboard trying to keep it at bay with some pretty heavy artillery, and finally get it trapped behind a door and caught in an explosion. And now they're covered in white goo ;) But they didn't quite kill it, so they have make a getaway -- ufotable gives a glimpse of some pantsu as they run away. This ain't no Negima, you know ;) -- and they parachute from the plane, which explodes after they jump, landing in a riverbed.
Change scene.. The town of Futagotamagawa, so named because there are a lot of twins there. And there, apparently the Sakurazukis are now yakuzas, running Nikoniko Financiers. Rentarou -- private detective, 21 years old -- is being held by them. Seems the boss with the robotic arm, Zenji, had a bit of a run in with Rentarou's pop and lost an arm 30 years ago. And he ain't happy ;)
life line by line - Ichigo 100% 1
↑ See moyism's blog for full summary and thoughts on this first episode from someone who's an avid fan of the manga (are we going to consider this as two episodes or one from now on?)
And now the view from someone who had zero knowlege of Ichigo 100% before watching the anime.. well, besides the fact that some girl wore ichigo pantsu... ;) But anyways, I rather enjoyed it. For now, Junpei he seems to just be your typical harem anime lead guy, most interested in those kinda things these characters are always interested in. However, he was very entertaining ;) And why exactly did Tsukasa decide to go out with him? きまぐれ? Hmmm... Since the meganekko (seems like typical meganekko: dojikko, smart, etc.), Aya, turned out to be that girl that wore the ichigo pantsu that Junpei wanted to film, things are gonna get a bit complicated for him, it would seem. You know, I've always (always?) said that meganekko girls look their best without the megane :P
Animation by Madhouse was decent, but I do agree with moyism that the background music/sound effects were kinda cheesy. OP is okay, ED is Euro-techno(?) stuff...
Anyways, I enjoyed this first time, 聴視決定！, it's going under Quickie. Yoroshiku, moyism, it's all yours to have fun summarizing ;)
Opening: 「Forever...」 by savage genius: Not quite to my liking as much as "Omoi wo Kanadete" (Uta~Kata opening) was. After a few listenings it's not too bad, just a different style than "Omoi wo Kanadete" was. Nice animation to go along with it.
Ending: 「約束」 by Kuroda Norihiro: Fitting song, as we see scenes of Coud and Ren together :)
Our typical shounen hero who acts before he thinks about it, Coud, is a member of a gang of air pirates, the Red Lynx, and they're about to make a raid on a ship. Coud joins in and lands right in the ship they're raiding and makes his big speech... but the others already got what they came for so it's back to the ship. Back on the ship, Coud proceeds to exaggerate what he did quite a bit to the other members of the crew. He's not really that great a pilot in the first place, not flying straight, running into things, etc., etc.
He wonders into what looks to the storage room for all the loot the air pirates have stolen, and among them is a something that looks like a coffin. Of course, Coud opens it.. and inside is a rather beautiful girl. And she's still alive and gets out... but she says she hates Coud. He has the smell of a human.. Before they can get to anything else, the alarm sounds. A ship has appeared, but it only asks for permission to board.
And on board come a crew of three. The short girl, Cisqua (CV: Mizuki Nana), the leader of the group, part of the エディルレイド完全保護協会「アークエイル」 (I'll wait to see how the sub groups translate that...). The other two with Cisqua are Rowen (the guy) and Kuea (the gal). And they're there to retrieve that girl, who's actually not human, but an エディルレイド Adilraid. Coud has no idea what Cisqua's talking about... the captain says the Adilraid fought together with humans before.. Cisqua's group has been searching for that girl for a while, as she's quite a special one, it seems. Cisqua offers Coud some cold hard cash to turn her over.. but he's not going to cooperate, telling them to stop screwing around, and to stop treating her like she's just a thing and not a human. And now he's done it, getting Cisqua rather pissed off, so she takes out her rather large gun...
But before she can shoot, ninjas board the ship and attack, with Coud left to guard the girl. They run after a bomb is planted in the bridge, and end up getting cornered. Coud sees Kuea and Rowen come together, with Kuea turning into some kind of weapon. So that's what a Adilraid does... Cisqua comes to back Coud up, but she's out of bullets, so he's left o fight on his own while she reloads, and gets his butt kicked. After reloading, Cisqua tells him to keep it at that, since that girl shouldn't want to get involved with him. Adilraid can't get involved with humans anyways... Coud says he was all alone, right after he was born, and if he hadn't been taken in by the captain.. That girl's probably the same, so he doesn't want her to be all alone by herself. The girl goes to Coud and holds his hand.. she doesn't understand. He's human, but he's a strange person.. strange, but.. because he's strange... and a light starts to shine, like it did with Kuea and Rowen, and she fuses with him, turning into a rather big sword
And the first episode ends with that. From what I've read on some Japanese blogs this seemed to be changed quite a bit from the manga, adding in elements original to the anime, and in a negative direction as well. The same person who did story editing for Jinki:Extend (which got pretty negative reviews) is doing the same for Erementar Gerad, so it seemed people were afraid of that happening. I can't make any judgments on that since I haven't read the original work (has anyone out there read it?), but we'll see. XEBEC did a decent job with the animation so no worries there (for now).
Ren (that girl) is kawaii~, and Cisqua's pretty entertaining as well, so I'll keep on for now. Have to anyways to find out what happens since this episode ended in the middle of things ;)
In the opening some others who can combine with Adilraid like Coud and Rowan were shown.
Are the Adilraid all cute girls or something? And the mean-looking guy has the cutest-looking one ;)
...lovely Engrish lyrics at that point in the OP as well :)
Lots of stuff happening and being explained this time and I don't believe I caught it all, but what I did catch... Humanity's not doing too well in Genesis Year 10, with 2/3 of the population gone, thanks to a takeover by these "Fallen Angels". But there is hope, as a group of humans have put together those who have the power of the "element" and trained them to pilot "Vector Machines" to 合体 come together to form the legendary "Robotic Angel" Aquarion. And apparently they also need someone who is a reincarnation of someone who has the "Wings of the Sun"... so after the psychic(?) of the group senses it, Silvia and Pierre, two of those who have the element and were training to pilot Aquarion, are sent to check things out. And it turns out that the person who might be said reincarnation is a dirty street rat named Apollo (fitting name...). He has the signs of carrying the power of the element, but no marks of wings... Silvia is adamant that her older brother, Sirius, is the one (so she's that kind of girl... I see), but he's somehow sealed his memories of what happened before (a previous life?)..
While they check out Apollo.. more like fight him for a bit... a robot attack begins and the Vector Machines are dispatched, and the first union to become Aquarion is attempted, and succeeds.. but not for too long, as its broken... all the humans in the city are being used as biological lasers or something, somehow, and Apollo's been captured. So Silvia jumps in one of the machines and flies towards him.. he's screaming out "Aquarion! Aquarion!", so there's definitely something about him... he manages to escape and lands in one of the Vector Machines, where he pilots it like a pro. And it's time for what all of y'all have been waiting for ;)
創聖合体GO!アクエリオン！
Sousei gattai GO! Aquarion!
And the three Vector Machines begin to come together...
Sirius/Apollo/Silvia: "aah, Aaaahhh..."
Sirius: "What amazing power..."
シルヴィア：「うそ…きもちいいぃぃ！」
Silvia: "No way... it feels so goooood!"
感じてるか？！
She's 'feeling' it!?
So it did turn out as bad as I thought it would, lol ;) Anyways... After remembering something (from a previous life?) Silvia finally realizes that it is that guy, it seems. And Sousei Aquarion proceeds to kick serious robot butt.
So is this going to be Fantastic Children all over again with all the previous life stuff? Interesting... But the show as a whole seems to be a pretty cliched big robot show.. the animation was good quality, though, and I've only seen one episode. I'm normally not one for big robot stuff, but I'll watch a bit more, I guess :)
Continuing with the 子供向け shows here with Onegai My Melody, just for completeness' sake, I suppose, but it was an enjoyable watch ;)
The My Melody (CV: Sakuma Rei) of the title is our main doll character, having been banished to the human world after being accused of helping a rather not-so-nice looking doll (the skull kinda gives it away), Kuromi, make an escape. My Melody seems to be a rather ditzy girl.. Kuromi ends up causing trouble for our main human character, a chou-genki middle school girl named Uta. She's taken up violin because her crush, bishounen Hiragi-kun (CV: Okiayu Ryoutarou), also plays violin. But she's not that great and wishes she could get better. Kuromi rides up, saying he'll grant her wish...
Well, not exactly, since it turns into more of a nightmare for Uta as her violin goes off on its own at the recital, completely ruining things for her. But My Melody arrives, and after Uta mistakes her for Kuromi for a second and about shakes her to death (Uta's a rather violent girl, isn't she?), and after being admired by Uta's friends, My Melody finally helps Uta out and stops the violin with her magical baton, bringing a crab backpack that Uta's little sister has to life and making it snip the violin strings (isn't there a better way to do it than that, though?) with her charm powers -- the "onegai" ("Please") of the title. Powerful stuff there ;)
Uta still feels down, though, and thinks of quitting playing the violin... but after being praised by Hiragi-kun she's back to her usual chou-genki self, full of confidence to start practicing violin even more than before... Hiragi-kun says the same thing to the other girls, though, so I dunno if she should be that happy about it :P She thanks My Melody and ends up taking her home.. meanwhile, Kuromi plots the next veeeery evil plan, I'm sure ;)
Back when I was younger in the 80s, "Hello Kitty" (the main Sanrio character, Kitty-chan) was quite the thing in the US, and there was even a Sanrio store at the local mall in Athens. With two younger sisters you bet I ended up having to go there quite often.. and to be honest, I did like going there since I usually was able to get something... so watching My Melody kinda gave me a bit of a natsukashii feeling ;) And actually, My Melody's not too bad for a kids' show with an obvious marketing tie-in. Studio Comet (handling School Rumble and Peach Girl most recently) did the animation and did a nice job with things, and kawaii chou-genki Uta-chan (the whole spiral ponytails thing is popular now, isn't it?) made it all that much easier to watch for me (my weakness for kawaii things shows itself once again...). I didn't really mention Uta's friends, but they seem to be a fun group. And one of them's got a Kansai accent so that's a plus ;)
I don't think I'll watch it every week as I will Futago Hime since it wasn't quite as fun, but an episode every now and then wouldn't be out of the question if I feel a need for even more cute in my anime diet :)
Updated: The official site is actually up with stuff now so look there for a promo movie and other stuff. And check 夜鯖の無職な日々 for more screencaps.
Time to start off the new season with some sugary sweet extremely cute fun with Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime! Full summary this time ;)
OP is 「プリンセスはあきらめない」 by gal twin group FLIP-FLAP. Animation is great, I don't like the song quite as much...
Our story takes place on the Fushigiboshi, a rather strange place as the name says, where there are 7 kingdoms and the twin princesses of the title, ファイン (Fine, in red) and レイン (Rain, in blue) -- I don't see how they're twins, but I'll play along ;) -- are from the Sun Kingdom... And they're goofing off outside, definitely not acting like princesses, while Camelot (the maid), searches for them. The Princess Party is going to be held and the "Best Princess" will be chosen, so the princesses of the other 6 kingdoms are coming. One of them, Princess Leonne, arrives by glider, having a bit of a crash landing...
リオーネ萌え可愛すぎ！！
As Momotato said, Leonne should be the star of the show... Those ears! ;) (Updated: Oh, they're lion ears. So that would make them.... shishimimi?) Poor Leonne doesn't have any confidence in herself. She's afraid she'll mess up at the dance, so Fine and Rain try to cheer her up a bit... they can't dance too well.. Leonne leaves, looking a bit happier :)
A strange light comes from where the elevator is, and Fine and Rain go to check it out. The elevator takes them down... and at the bottom someone appears and talks to them.. a ghost? It's Princess Grace, the princess who saved the Fushigiboshi when the light of the Sun Kingdom disappeared and the kingdoms were covered in darkness. And now, the same thing is about to happen again... And the most un-princess-like princesses in the history of the Fushigiboshi are supposed to save it somehow. She gives Fine and Rain each a magical item, a Prominence, and of course, the requisite mascot character comes included, Pumo, to teach them how to do things.
And now Fine and Rain are late to the Princess Party, which has already begun. Prince Bright dances with Altessa, who seems to think she has the upper hand in the Best Princess competition, and then the other princesses. Fine and Rain finally make their very unelegant entrance to the party. Rain definitely has a thing for Prince Bright ;) She dances with him, but not too well, stepping on his foot. Princess Leonne is up next, but she still lacks confidence in herself..
But the lights in the ballroom go out, and Leonne starts crying... Fine and Rain decide to use the power of the Prominence to fix things and make Leonne happy, so it's henshin time! And after the transformation Fine and Rain use their powers, a spotlight appears over Leonne, and she has her dance with Prince Bright. Kawaii~ :) The lights come back on and the Best Princess is announced.. It's Princess Leonne! Yay :)
So everyone leaves, and Fine and Rain return to their room, Fine still with an empty stomach thinking about that cake she didn't even get a bite of, and Rain still thinking about Prince Bright. Camelot comes in with a stack of books intending to make them study quite a bit.. so what do you do in this situation? Fine and Rain run away... definitely the most un-princess-like princesses there are ;)
The ED is 「おしゃれファンタジー」, sung by Fine and Rain. Catchy waltz, and great animation to go with it :)
What a fun show :) And top quality to match. Excellent animation by Hal Film Maker, excellent voice talent -- Mizuhashi Kaori (Sara in Futakoi) was Altessa. I didn't hear about that! -- excellent everything. Character design, especially facial expressions, reminded me of Princess Tutu, though Futago Hime is much cuter. The twin princesses, Fine and Rain, are quite likeable, but Leonne is definitely my favorite. She better be showing up a lot more in coming episodes ;)
I'll definitely be keeping up with it, for the entire 52 episodes if I can. It's a nice, happy, sugary sweet cute way to start off the weekend :) I'll stick it under Quickie for now.
