Lost Initial Impressions

After quite a bit of nagging from a lot of people, I have finally surrendered and picked up Lost. I am obviously very late to the game (as always), but there is still another season (not including the current one) left in the show, so there is plenty of time to catch up before the series ends.

I was rather jaded towards the show going in. The concept of a group of people stranded on an island has been beaten to death. Think of Cast Away, Survivor, Mystery Island, Lord of the Flies, etc. We have seen every flavor of this type of story and I thought that there is no way that this show could entertain me. Obviously, I had underestimated the power of mystery and suspense.

I am going to attempt to stay away from fan websites and spoilers in general. Lost has one driving factor and that is the unpredictable story. I do not see much value left if the story is spoiled. I will attempt to theorize about the story any chance I get, and I will  try to post them up after every season.

So far, it is very difficult to theorize anything. My main theory hinges on the entire event being a social experiment. However, it is very early to make any accurate predictions so I will want to watch more before I theorize any further.

RideBack Finale

I began watching this series thinking that the girl who can no longer perform Ballet and motorcycle mech with arms can provide for an interesting story. Ogata Rin (the ex-Ballet performer) is thrown amidst a world of military controlled government and terrorists. Of course, both sides use these ridiculous motorcycles with arms as weapons. The story is reminiscent of the same civil complications that could be seen in Toshokan Sensou. However, Toshokan Sensou was done correctly since it was not attempting to be serious and had a lot of clumsy humor mixed in with the story. In contrast, RideBack tries very hard to be serious and evidently, it has the opposite effect.

As the series progressed, there seemed to be a lack of drama. Hence, the writers decide to kill off one of the supporting characters in a stupid and useless manner. The ending is also very average and doesn’t strike any feeling or emotions as a well established ending of a drama really should. Overall, there is not much to talk about with this series. The only reason that I watched it to the end is that it was a short series (only 12 episodes). I think that unless you have kept up with it as it was airing, there is no particular reason to pick this one up when it has completed airing.

Spring 2009 Animu Impressions

First of all, Happy Easter everyone! If you celebrate Easter that is. This spring, I decided to wait until I’ve seen one episode from each show before I post my impressions. The following is the list that I was able to come up with having watched only the first episodes. I still reserve the right to drop any of these shows if they turn the suck on in the next few episodes. So without further delay, here they are.

07-Ghost

I originally liked the summary for this one and decided to give it a try. The impressions that I got from other bloggers was that the series is a cliche on fantasy games such as Final Fantasy. After watching the first episode, I didn’t see anything that bothered me with the story. I haven’t watched any of the token fantasy animu and I haven’t played Final Fantasy religiously, so this show is probably not going to bother me as much as it may some of the other animu-lovers. Also, I watched the first episode in 1440×810 which is definitely a plus. I find that the production looks very good and it is a nice change from the poor quality that you will be seeing in series such as Cross Game. Overall, I’ll keep tabs on this one for now.

Cross Game

I was not going to watch this show. I had determined that it will be a sports anime and I dislike sports anime very much. I was only convinced to watch it when blkmage pointed out to me that the series has a strong storyline. He was able to read all of the manga in a matter of days so he knows more than I do about what is to be expected here. I watched the first episode as a result and I was not turned off by it. Although, the quality of the art and character designs is done poorly in my opinion. I was unable to tell some of the characters apart at times and even the genders are difficult to tell apart as well. It has definitely kept me intrigued so far, so I’ll keep watching for now.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I am going to be watching this no matter what happens. Even if this re-make turns into Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Frankly, I am willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt. There is not much to say here other than OMG FMA in 720p GUYS! Also, there is promise of the story staying closer to the manga. Now I have not read the manga, but those who have read it believe that it is done much better than the original anime. I think this will be a treat for old fans and new FMA watchers.

Higashi no Eden

I put this one on my list simply because the summary was fairly awesome. The first episode did not fail to hold true to that promise. It was very unique and entertaining. The story is set in Washington DC. This means that a large portion of the script is done in English. Despite what you may think when  you are reading that (English spoken with a terrible accent since it is done by Japanese voice-actors with no knowledge of English), the voice actors are fluent in English and it does not sound annoying at all. Apparently the show is very much reminiscent of Honey & Clover. I have not watched that series (yet), so this will be an entirely new experience for me. So far, the production impresses me very much. The cars and houses in the show are CG rendered but it adds a nice effect to it. The OP and ED are gorgeous. Not to mention that the opening is done by Oasis which is an American band. I am not a big fan of Oasis, but to be honest this makes me want to get an album or two. With regards to the story, not much is revealed so far and it is fairly cryptic. But strangely enough, the humor works and the chemistry between Saki and Akira feels very nice and natural. I say this because this is the kind of interaction you see between real couples as opposed to the completely fantasized version in mainstream anime. I am definitely waiting for more on this one and I really don’t think that it will go bad.

K-ON!

This is the heavily anticipated slice-of-life anime for spring. I have not watched a genuine slice-of-life series yet (that is if you don’t count The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or Clannad). This will be the first true slice-of-life show that I’m watching so forgive me if I don’t buy into the whole “girls making funny faces and doing mundane things is boring” stuff since I need to judge this for myself. So far, I like what I see here. Again, I have no previous experience with Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh, but the characters in the show are funny. The premise of four girls in high school starting a rock band (introduced as light music) may seem uninviting at first, but quite a bit of humor can be milked from this concept. The character drawing is not Casshern SINS quality, so if you find that your eyes bleed when you look at sloppy art, then this is perhaps not the show for you. However, I think the art style goes very well with the story and characters as a whole and is most likely done this way on purpose. I liked the ED more than the OP personally, and am looking forward to seeing these girls playing their songs as they do in the OP/ED.

Saki

This one has been licensed and as such it is difficult to get your hands on high resolution episodes. You can either follow this on Crunchyroll or download the HorribleSubs version of it which is not all that appealing visually. However, the story is developed much like a sports anime would where Mahjong is the sport. I have no knowledge of Mahjong. I have not even played a single game before. However, the explanations in the show seem to be enough to notify you when to be excited and which parts are the critical points. The Gonzo style CG is used to render the game board and the action that takes place during the Mahjong games. Also for some reason, there has been a heavy focus on boobs in the first episode which I don’t think can ever be bad (unless executed in Queen’s Blade). Overall, as I mentioned already, I am not one for sports anime, but this may be interesting so I’ll watch another episode or two for now.

Sengoku Basara

For some reason, when I was preparing my initial list of anime for spring, this one was somehow left out. Anyway, I watched the first episode and all I can say is TTGL with swords. This series seems to be most amusing. I believe this show will get you somewhere between the epic over the top fight scenes and mounting horses with motorcycle gear on them. This is going to hopefully provide some much needed action in my anime lineup for the spring season.

This is the One-Eyed Dragon's horse.

It is also worth mentioning that one of my all-time favorite voice actors will be doing the voice of the main character in the show. That is Kazuya Nakai will be doing the voice for Date. I am also going to mention that I enjoyed both the OP/ED very much since I have a soft spot for T.M.Revolution (probably because of Meteor). This will most likely hold a permanent spot in my spring list and I don’t see myself dropping it as it only has 12 episodes.

Kanon Finale

After I was blown away by Clannad and Clannad After Story, I decided to start watching another series by Key. I had a choice between Air and Kanon. I started watching Kanon first, since the memory loss theme appealed to me more than Air.

Having just finished Clannad After Story, I found myself helpless to comparing every detail in Kanon with Clannad. Between the two series, I found that Clannad has the more cryptic and subtle story. This is evident towards the end of the story, when you see that no explanation is required to understand the ending for Kanon. As in other Key productions, there are subtle clues here and there to understanding the meaning behind everything. I thought that the episode names were fairly neat as each one contained a term related to music.

The story revolves around delusions and the psychological causes behind said imaginary realities. At different points in the show, characters are explained to have been living in an alternate reality where they could escape from reality and the pain associated with it. Of course, the show is a big play on the infamous “childhood friend” cliche that we all know and love in the Japanese culture. However, it works well and it is definitely enjoyable.

I thought that the voice acting in Kanon was very strong and a major driving factor in the success of the series. Tomokazu Sugita (who you may remember as the voice actor of Kyon from Haruhi) does an amiable job at playing Yuuichi. I also felt that in the female voice acting department, there was a close contest in making the cutest girl voices possible. I present this award to Mariko Kouda. I found that her mumbling while she is half asleep early in the morning simply irresistible.

Even though I rate Clannad higher than Kanon in terms of overall quality, Kanon still remains to be a must-watch for the Kyoani fans. Of course I realize that the series is from 2006 and I am probably very late to the game. At this point, I very much look forward to what Air has in store for me in terms of sad-face plot and an array of incredibly “kawoi” characters.

Tytania Finale

This post will most likely be full of rage towards the series known as Tytania. If you are a fan who is easily offended by my verbal bashing of the show, this post is most likely not for you.

I decided to watch Tytania since I have a soft spot for space strategy type anime. Unfortunately, past the first two episodes, there was no space strategy to speak of. The show quickly took a turn for the worse. The space strategy transformed into political nonsense involving dethroning the most powerful clan that is ruling over the universe. Therefore, the show quickly changed to Gundam 00 without the action or amazing graphics.

The characters are all very one-dimensional and boring. The four dukes of Tytania consist of the evil villain, big bulky strong guy, cowardly chicken, and the one guy who can actually put two and two together. That is all there is to the characters. I continued watching this series for lack of a better series to watch in the winter season. I was baffled by the fact that the show does not end after the 26 episodes that aired in winter. The series is left off as if there will be a second season, but I don’t see any prospects of that happening since I don’t see its ratings to be particularly impressive.

I am going to stop talking about this show that was a true waste of my time. Any more time spent reviewing this series will only add to my wasted time and effort. If there is a second season, I will not be watching it, and I recommend you to do the same.