Spring 2008 - It's just like Spring 2007... Only a year after (Part 1)

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(Edit: This post was supposed to be up yesterday... Unfortunately just as I was about to click the publish button, the clock struck midnight 10 and the wireless connection got cut off... Damn these punctual Japanese!)

So I actually intended to do this post much later once I've taken a glimpse at as many of the new shows this seasons as I think I possibly can (as for how many of them I'll eventually follow, it's a given it'll only be a small percentage of that) but since I'm ridiculously free right now (just flunked my Japanese grammar kanji and essay tests, thankfully they're for placement purposes only and I'm not aiming for a Special A rank or anything...) I've decided to do it by parts. And yes, it's ridiculously pathetic that I'm in Japan to study Japanese and I'm still hanging on English subs for anime, but when everyone around you is speaking a language you once only heard through a computer speaker, those subtitles become pretty comforting!

Anyways here's part one of my first impressions on Spring 2008, in order seen :

Macross Frontier - It's like Full Moon wo Sagashite... In space!!!

Okay, maybe it's not, I really don't know (From what I've read, that singer in space is actually pivotal to the plot? Apologies for my ignorance on this matter...). Like I mentioned in my last post this was the first anime I watched on Japanese television ever, and it's a pity really since I only stumbled upon it unwittingly halfway through the episode while having zero knowledge of the Macross franchise. Needless to say, language barrier aside, I understood next to nothing of what went on and I only watched till the end credits to confirm what show it was (The green-haired loli gave it away actually, since I've seen her on another blog - it may very well be Impz's).

Will I continue watching this? Considering I still know zip about Macross and that it airs late at night, it's a no from me but fans of the franchise will probably be pleased.

(Not exactly an image for the 3rd season, but does anyone care?)

Kirarin Revolution (3rd Season) - It's like Full Moon Kirarin Revolution... with more idols.

My first full episode of anime watched on Japanese television... *tempted to sigh* For those who don't know and actually care, it's about a girl who wants to be an singing idol because of a boy she likes, only she's dying of appendicitis due to being a huge glutton. Kidding. Think Full Moon wo Sagashite (yes, I do like Full Moon enough to wantonly reference it over and over) minus all the angst and the singing prowess of myco (The lead seiyuu in Kirarin who sings all the songs makes up for her singing incapabilities by actually dancing in the OP sequence. Thanks, but no thanks...) So I watched a bit of Kirarin Revolution a long time ago, then skipped to a random episode 40 something to confirm my suspicion that once the main character Kirari does become an idol (in what, episode 2?) the plot would hardly advance at all. Pretty much looked like was right. The only new thing this third season (the young impressionable girls or whatever target audience of Kirarin in Japan must really like the series) seems to be introducing is two extra idol rival characters for Kirari to make friends compete with.

Continue watching? Well if I happen to be bored Friday evenings... At least it's easy to understand the dialogue raw -_-"

Soul Eater - It's like Bleach + D.Gray-man + Ouran??

Those 3 series come to mind when watching Soul Eater - there's Shinigami, a wicked looking crescent moon, and the Ouran director working his influence all over the place. Your typical shounen fare with a lot of whimsical-ness in the art characters and story (rather reminiscent of FLCL as well), so if you're into enemy of the week defeating action, Soul Eater should be right up your Animal alley. (Btw, anyone else thought of "A cat is fine too" in the first episode?)

Watching more? Not really my thing, so preferably not... Sadly the anime most accessible on TV at the moment for me in terms of time slots are Soul Eater, D.Gray-Man and Bleach currently.... OTL

Seiran is that you?? Saiunkoku pays a visit to Area 11

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 - It's like Code Geass... all over again.

Seriously, the new season of Code Geass starts off mirroring the first season's first episode pretty eerily - Lelouch playing chess, Shirley with the handphone at the most unoportune moment, "YES, MY LORD!!!", etc... But damn it feels good watching and laughing at all the cheesy goodness going on here!! R2 starts off with everything we loathe to love about Code Geass, the incomprehensibility of the plot and characters, the sudden in your face twists, mecha, bunny suits (so that's new)... The only thing missing is the cheesy goodness of Pizza Hut :P Fans of CLAMP's art should be pretty pleased with the X-fication of the ED sequence as well (I'm guessing this is a different class of fans who are watching for the bunny suits)

Will I continue watching? Hell yea... Will be following subs though, too much going on to watch raw.

Kure-nai - It's like Red Garden... with a loli.

If you've watched Red Garden, the vibes are so here in Kure-nai, right from the funky OP to Sawashiro Miyuki in the main cast to the character designs (Thankfully, none of the characters have huge noses or broken into mournful song yet). Also, the hints about Shinkurou having a not so human body - which almost put me off the show thinking that things might go shounen. Fortunately, once the dynamic between Shinkurou and the Murasaki come to play, I found there to be much to like about this show and I'm definitely curious to see where it's going.

Watching? Yuppers, also on sub since I don't I'll be able to catch the TV broadcast.

Itazura na Kiss - It's like Lovely Complex... without the Complex.

The token low key rom-com of the season? Itazura na Kiss looks like it's setting itself to be less of a spectacular show than a servicable one, from the low-key art, low-key but still likable characters (Seems to be one of the few shows this season not employing outlandish bishounen/bishoujo designs), and pretty predictable setting a developments. But it's still very much watchable for rom-com fans, and for me, another way to expose myself to more Kansai-ben :P

Watching? *nods*


That's it for now. Still looking forward to Toshokan Sensou this week=P Part 2 coming up tomorrow later.