Recent Anime Notes

Haven't commented on anime for a little while, but I've been watching a lot.  Just some brief thoughts:

Infinite Ryvius: Have seen Volumes 1 & 2 now, and it's well on its way to becoming a major favorite.  There are so many important characters, yet never feels confusing or overloaded.  The shifting alliances and power plays of the various groups in the midst of trying to save their own lives and figure out what's going on is fascinating.  I also love the presence of the strange girl (ship's avatar?) who seems to channel the emotions and thoughts of the characters.  It's very unique to have her still remain relatively hidden after a full 10 episodes.  Can't wait to see what the next twists and turns will be.

Escaflowne, Vol. 3: *NOW* we're talking.  I wasn't drawn in much by the first couple volumes, but these episodes really got me excited about this series.  (I guess it's not surprising that it took this many volumes, considering it's a 3-ep. per volume series.) Now that the initial introductions are done with, we get the plot picking up steam and throwing  a few twists and turns into the mix. Love it!

Spiral: I wasn't really impressed with this at first...it's kind of a "Case Closed" junior detective sort of series, but over the first two volumes, it really grew on me.  There's much more of an arc, I think, than Case Closed has, since it's a shorter series.

Princess Tutu: This one is...odd.  It would've been easy to dismiss it as just a kiddy show from the first few episodes, but this show has so much positive word of mouth that I stuck to it for the full first volume...and now I'm dying to get the next volume! (Which seems to be indefinitely delayed. :(  )  It's slight and simple so far, but Duck is so charming and the story so melancholy and fairy-tale-ish that it draws you in.

Record of the Lodoss Wars (first half): Man, I'd forgotten just how good this series is.  If I'd rewatched it before doing my Top 50 at ExIsle, this would've been higher on the list.

Gantz:  Not as happy with the DVD version as I was with my fansubs.  Not terribly fond of the U.S. voice cast, and the director's cut crosses a bit over my comfort zone in terms of good taste.

New Shows on Adult Swim:
Samurai Champloo:  Love it, love it, love it.  Mugen and Jin both rock heavily, and I love the art-style.  In places, it looks just like some old woodcut print, but with the hiphop touches.  So cool!

Paranoia Agent:  After episode 1, I'm intrigued.  It actually was a surprise that this had as much plot as it did.  I expected it to be very schizo and all over the map, but except for the obvious mystery of what the deal is with Little Slugger, the story was pretty straightforward.  Looking forward to finding out more about some of the people in the credits that haven't played a big role yet.  I presume they'll all run into the kid eventually.  (Y'know, speaking of the credits...all those people laughing in the opening actually kinda freaked me out a bit.)

S-Cry-ed:  Again, it's only episode 1, but I quite liked it.  This one doesn't have a feel of anything special...pretty standard action/adventure fare...but I liked the main character, and was involved enough in the episode to be looking forward to ep. 2.