Spring 2008 Part 2 : It's Like Part 1... Only With More Fanservice

3 more series sampled. Only one passes the test. The other two get the above reaction. And yes, I'm continuing the lame excuse to add as many anime references into the series description as I can.


Kanokon : It's like Rosario + Vampire + Spice + Wolf + Negima + Inukami + Kawasumi Ayako + Noto Mamiko

Well, I kinda knew what I was getting myself into when I watched this, and I really had no intention of touching the show (fox-girl fanservice extravaganza? Sorry, wrong demographic). Until I saw the seiyuu cast, and then I knew I had to check out at least one episode. Predictably enough, one episode is MORE than enough for me of the foxy adventures of Kawasumi Ayako and Noto Mamiko, the two seiyuus' collaboration being the sole reason for me watching (Please tell me they've teamed up in better series than this and Fate/Stay Night (lol) Oh yay, there's Nodame Cantabile!). And I have this feeling the show is currently being marketted to those who fancy this, uh, coupling, since Noto Mamiko doesn't even bother trying to sound like a shouta and Kawasumi Ayako has the most foxy lines...

Second helpings? Thanks, but no thanks.

To-LoveRU (or however you want to spell it) : It's like Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn... with aliens. (because their main male leads look similar, methinks)

Urgh, can I ask Xebec for my ２４ minutes of my life back? (If asking for 48 minutes is too much, that is, I'd unwatch Kanokon too, but this comes first) In my zeal from finally getting access to the internet, I started watching as much of the new season and somehow I inexplicably watched this too despite telling myself to steer clear from it after reading previews for Spring. The fact that it has 'Love' in its title for unclear reasons and the title itself is seriously 'HUH??' inducing (apparently it's pronounced 'Trouble' *facepalms*) was reason enough. Generic story with generic fanservice and it loses to Kanokon marginally in terms of 'interesting' characters. It is still passably funny (The elephant scene was taken straight out of Utena :P), but if you're like me and not too into blatant fanservice, there's not much point hanging around for more.

Continue? Hell NO. (To To-LoveRU's credit, someone thought it worth the time to reference it on the episode of Gintama I managed to catch today- spoiler: Hijikata (robbed of his GAR-ness by a 'cursed' katana) seemed to think that this series featured in JUMP looked interesting, LOL*self reminder to catch Gintama at 6 every Thursday*)

Tower of Druaga: Aegis of Uruk : It's like Record of Lodoss War... only I didn't sleep through it.

Perhaps it wouldn't be fair to criticize Lodoss War considering I never finished it, but yes it fairly bored me to sleep when I was watching and I couldn't help thinking it would be time better spent reading Lord of the Rings. Considering that I'm not into the whole serious RPG adventure type of shows, it's funny that I was looking forward to Tower of Druaga at all this season. Possibly it struck me as a 'serious' adventure worth looking into (like Seirei no Moribito). Well, the first episode tossed that impression out the window:

Tower of Druaga (ep 1): It's like Mahoujin Guru Guru... with tentacles! (another RPG parody show worth checking out)

The first episode I must say, was freakin' hilarious! And intentionally too (unlike Code Geass XD) which is always plus EXP points to me =P Basically they spent the whole first episode making fun of the RPG genre while paying hommage to everything from NicoNicoDouga to Gurren Lagann. Some of the jokes may have been dated and done to death (Star Wars anyone?), but they still worked brilliantly mostly due to the surprise factor of the episode (Seriously, did anyone actually expect this? The awesome OP itself was unpredictable already). Too bad it looks like the rest of the series isn't going to follow the whole RPG parody thing, and it's going to be the whole serious (mis?)adventures of our party of heroes after all

Watching more? Hell YEA - with the hope that the series doesn't treat itself too seriously in the coming episodes. (Please GONZO? I'm actually considering staying up to 2 to watch the next episode now XD)


Part 3 coming... Once I get a taste of Library Wars!