Recent Anime Notes

[niko]

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.

Comments

[jnutley.livejournal.com]

Beth picked up the Paranoia Agent DVD, we've seen the first episode. I agree, the OP is freaked me just like it freaked you. After the first ep, I like the main character, even though I'm afraid Lil Slugger will turn out to be a repressed personality inside her.

I keep missing Samurai Champloo and I WANT to see it. At least the fight sceens! Rats!

Record of Lodoss Wars is classic!

Princess Tutu I'm also liking this one. It is definately achieving the European fairytale feeling.

Spiral Because it has an arc I like it. I enjoyed Detective Conan back in the fansub days, but about Ep 11, I think, when Ran _almost_ had him nailed but then got tricked at the last minute. I lost all affection for the show. It was like they were dis'ing Ran and the idea that this would go on, essentially unchanged for hundreds of eps, just killed my enthusiasm. Spiral is much more appealing to me. I really am uptight about whether the kid will make it through the ep even though I know he's the main character. Pitiful, ne? ^^;;

Always loved all of Escaflowne. Own every DVD, watched it though and through multiple times. I remember the first time I saw the first episode at an Anime club, I was entranced, but most of the folks blew it off. I don't know why it doesn't catch most people in the early going, but I Love it.

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Over in the fansub zone:

Oh My Goddess TV (2005): It's not being fansubbed any more because it's been picked up for U.S. release. I got the first seven episodes, and Urd gets introduced in episode 9. Belldandy doesn't show up till the absolute final moment of episode 1. I need to curb my enthusiasm here, Beth is indifferent to OMG on good days. OMG was the show that sold me on anime in the first place. If you liked the OAVs, and saw the movie, imagine that the movie quality of animation was applied to a storyline much closer to the manga for plot points, but somehow miraculously capturing every good feeling that the OAV gave you. If you don't like OMG though, you'll want to stay away.

Peach Girl: Staying very close to the manga here too. However, I'm managing to get involved in Momo's travails just like I did for the manga. Sae voice actresses performance is not to be missed, especially in the episodes where she really starts to show Momo how scary she can be.

Honey and Clover: I LOVE this little show and Beth may like it too, but like Escaflowne it's growing on her slowly. It has some of the elements of "Here's Greenwood" going for it. The OP is mildly disturbing, but the show isn't like that at all. It's set in an arts college, and has a crazy cast of characters, none of which strike me as cliches. If you check out just one bit torrent on my recommendation, try Honey and Clover.

Sailor Moon Live Action: No really. The cast members have sold me on the story all over again. I like it better than the animated version. Usagi doesn't whine as much and all the girls put in (imo) very good performances.

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

OMG, hi! Wow, you've been one of my, like, two LJ friends since early on, and I've had no idea who or why or huh? Nice to hear from you. :)

Paranoia Agent: Repressed personalities is an interesting thought. I'm already assuming that the magical talking Muromi is just in her head, but I hadn't strongly considered that Lil Slugger might not actually be a third-party. Hmmmm...

Escaflowne: I think it played just a little too closely with too many cliches for me to take it seriously, at first (even though so many people consider it a classic, so I knew it had to get better). As they get out in the world and the political and personal landscapes get more complex, the world is feeling more unique...like someplace I should really care about. The introduction of Van's backstory, giving Dilandau's lackey (Miguel) a bit of depth (before killing him off =P), the "suspicious" similarity between Allen and Prince Chid ;), giving Van some smaller character development in the way he learns Hitomi's trick of seeing the hidden guymelef's, so we get to see him being something more than just typical-angst-boy...Love it. :)

I haven't checked out the AMG TV or Peach Girl, but I did see the first few episodes of Honey & Clover at Anime North last weekend. I've been looking forward to that one based on an article in Newtype, and like it a lot so far. The cutesy little-girl-who's-really-18 has potential to annoy me a lot, but I love the other characters.

I watched the first five or so episodes of Sailor Moon Live when it first started, but didn't keep it up. I've been meaning to go back and get caught up some day...I definitely enjoyed what I saw of it. Having Luna be a stuffed toy was sheer kitschy brilliance. :)

[jnutley.livejournal.com]

The cutesy little-girl-who's-really-18 has potential to annoy me a lot, but I love the other characters.

Hagumi is puzzling, at first glance she seems to be a variety of fan-service character (in which case being annoyed with her would be easy).

In the five episodes of H&C I've seen so far, the thing the plot plays up most about her is her childlike perspective, which the writer implies enhances her artwork.

The three named women in the cast can also be compared to the fates, or to any trinity which follows the child/adult/elder pattern, although I may be fooling myself on this one.

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Went back through your journal, many of your posts don't seem to get comments. I can understand you being disappointed in the quantity of discussion. I'll try to reply more regularly.

I may even change the title of my journal and have something to post about one of these days. Hopefully my LJ friends will enjoy what I post.

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't feel obligated! I didn't mean it like that! :) I never post on LJ expecting or needing comments. They're a nice bonus occasionally, but I mainly started doing this to have a personal soapbox because I don't have many RL friends who share my interest in anime, etc. This gives me a way to vent my opinions without the pressure of doing a serious review somewhere. If a few people see it at some point, more's the better, but I decided early on that I wasn't going to *expect* anyone else to notice my little corner of LJ. :)

Thanks for the thoughts on Honey & Clover. I'll have to keep that in mind once I get a chance to catch the next eps. :)