Fighting Beauty Wulong 01 raw:
Mao Ran is a "normal" street fighting high school girl. But her ojii-san wants her to fight matches.
Sports anime. Strong start (tho, the music didn't fir) then okay quality (tho, a lot of animation shortcuts) then last half quite boring + inferior art/animation - all this in one episode. ^^;
Idaten Jump 01 RAW:
Kids' show about off-road bicycle racing. Ads show that it's based on a toy.
Young boy is sent to another dimension with his friends and challengers, where they meet more challengers, receive super-powers and do races.
The other-dimension story may have been interesting to follow, but it doesn't mix well with the bicycle racing story. ^^;
Happy Seven -The TV Manga- 01 raw
Girly anime. Our young schoolgirl "heroine" has bad luck in everything. She even gets targetted by monsters. Luckily for her, the magical Happy-7 team is there to save the day, and there is a boy in shiny armor too. Is love in the air? Will she get his attention? Oh the suspense, the suspense.
Warm fluffy comedy with a large cast and good animation.
Canvas2 -Niji Iro no Sketch- 01 raw
One guy, six girls and a cat.
Romance and drama centered around canvases, drawing rooms and painful memories. "Onii-chan, doushite?"
Hit October shows
10/04 闘牌伝説アカギ ～闇に舞い降りた天才 http://www.ntv.co.jp/akagi/ (comedy option)
10/04 Shakugan no Shana http://www.shakugan.com/
10/04 Gunparade Orchestra http://www.gpo-anime.jp/
10/04 Hellgirl http://www.jigokushoujo.com/
10/06 Mai-乙HiME http://www.my-zhime.net/
10/06 BLACK CAT http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/blackcat/
10/08 BLOOD+ http://www.blood.tv/
10/11 noein もうひとりの君へ http://www.noein.jp/
10/13 Paradise Kiss http://www.zipper.jp/yazawa.html
10/20 Rozen Maiden Träumend http://www.tbs.co.jp/rozen-maiden/
Lyrical_Nanoha_A's_01 raw:
Same charas, new enemies even more powerful.
This first episode was on steroids and packed quite a punch.
Too bad I'm not very much into magical girls stories.
The scifi aspect attracts me tho (but then, an ET race with a earthling's tie on their uniforms? The ET girl drinks Japanese tea but the magical wands speak English only? Noise in space? My sense of disbelief is rebelling.)
Maybe I'll follow a little bit more, if only to see more of the fox-girl.
ToHeart2 01 raw
First day at the new school... waku waku
Ep1 was a Konomi episode. Tamaki will be in ep2, I can't wait. ^^
Angel Heart 01 raw:
Like the manga.
I'm somewhat disappointed by this first episode. The imagery is quite static and so the story depends a lot on the voice actors. Problem is, some of the voices came across to me as bored/not quite into it. The slow pacing didn't help either, I ended not caring for the characters.
Hopefully it'll get better in later episodes.
Capeta 01 raw
Karting/sports kids anime. Valiant but bullied kid has no mom and is bored. He likes racing cars, daddy is poor. One day, daddy sees a karting race....
Like in Idaten Jump, the racers/machines are done in "cheap" 3D, and some of the scenery are just contrasted real photographs, adding to the cheaply look. But the 2D animation is smooth.
The faces' design style take some time getting used to... ^^; But I'm sure kids or fans of Hajime No Ippo won't mind.
List of fall series:
Corrected URL for >>10: http://www.andrewlb.com/fansub/pukiwiki.php?Fall%202005
Also, what about this Kakurenbo thing? It's being released by Comix Wave, so there's gotta be some story behind this, but I know nothing of it. Anyone?
Animal Yokocho 01 raw
Very young girl moves to new home and meets sentient 4 stuffed dolls who are living there under the floor. Absurd adventures ensue.
It's a one-man-show, except for the dolls one never sees anyone but her, tho one can hear the parents speaking from time to time.
Aimed at the very young girls market.
I liked the Captain Harlock's parody in the intro.
Tohai Densetu Akagi -Yamini Maiorita Tensai- 01 raw
Mahjong anime! "What should I do? Calm down!" Oh the pressure, the pressure. "Boss! That kid, he was right! We are doomed! Calm down, calm down.... I found it! (The Hand of God?) Take this! HAHAHAHA"
Close shot on the noses... Oh the noses, the noses, oh noes! They are so.. square. ^^
lol
Jigoku Shoujo 01 raw
Shy girl is being bullied at school. There's a rumor that there is a web page where one can contact the Devil and make a pact with Him. Will she gather the courage to go to that web page?
Horror/devils story in pretty garbs.
Cluster_Edge_Ep01 raw
Grand saga involving knights in armor with pulse guns, jet planes, and steam trains. Looks interesting.
Gunparade_Orchestra_Ep01 raw
Different characters from the first series, with a slight retro style. Snowy scenery.
Elite fighter is sent to backwoods school where everybody is lazing around. Suddenly, enemy is sighted. Will the bunch be able to survive its first real combat encounter?
>>16
Norio Wakamoto plays a penguin in a trenchcoat. That is all you need to know.
ARIA Ep01 raw
This whole episode is about going around a water city in a gondola.
Young girl goes in space to a planet (terraformed Mars?) where the city's streets are under water like in Venice (Why did they build the city there and like that is beyond me - maybe to attract tourists from Earth?)
She works locally as a gondola driver apprentice (but she doesn't seem to have any basic sales sense whatsoever - why didn't she ask the parents of the freeloader kid to pay for the fare at the end? She says "she had fun" when the parents say they are sorry for their child's misconduct.)
And then, no Air Traffic Control? That landing spaceship almost sunk the gondola.
No tides? That water looked awfully calm. But we saw a moon at night.
No winds? But the intro showed a wind farm...
No motor on those gondolas for possible emergencies?
The "lovable mascot" looks like a dwarf albinos hippopotamus with alien eyes...
The girls seem to have no drive, like inmates of an asylum hospital... ^^;
IGPX -Immortal Grand Prix- 01 raw
Rollerskates robot races a la Rollerball.
Emo pilots, save for the main pilot who has a bored look.
'Looks like a game, but where the viewer can't participate.
Shakugan_no_SHANA 01 raw
Normal boy goes to school, has a normal life.
One day he gets involved in a battle between supranormal forces, and his life takes a sharp turn.
Hot stuff.
>>20
Are you being sarcastic? That sounds very boring & generic...
>>21 No, it's pretty good. It's hard to describe the episode in words, you have to see it. Lots of cool action, tho "cool" doesn't really decribe it... creepy, fast, slashing, cute...
>>22 Also, it reminds me of KARAS, but without the disgusting scenery. There are creepy creatures in Shakugan, but it's "cleaner".
My-ZHiME (My-Otome Mai-Otome) 01 raw
Same characters, but in an alternate universe? In the future? The past? Holograms, spaceships, giant TVs in the street...
This time the heroine is a flat chested 14 years old girl with no manners. Redhead, too.
This first episode was a blast with fast pacing and lots of action. Hopefully it will continue like this for the next episodes.
Moe moe!
>>24
so, disregarding the boob size it's the same bullshit in a different wrapping. thanks for warning, i'll be skipping this one too.
>>25 I was not sarcastic BTW, I liked this first episode.
It's like the first episode of Mai Hime, but less serious.
The new main characters are younger, and the previous Mai Hime characters are now the "adults"... Now that I think of it, ZHiME is most likely set in the future of Mai-HiME.
Solty Rei ep 01 raw
Tough guy is looking for his long lost child while doing criminals hunting for a small agency. One lost child with superpowers is looking for a father-like figure while wandering aimlessly in the city. They meet but tough guy doesn't care for other people's children. Meanwhile, bad guys with half-cyber bodies riding giant robots are looking for tough guy...
Sci-fi thriller with a coat of cute.
BLACK CAT 01 raw
Adaptation of the manga. The character designs are now more angular. First ep deals with the encounter of our heroes, before they get acquainted. The anime is using a stylish style, with lots of odd angles. 'Looks polished, but it's also somehow harder to follow/get involved with the characters/story. There's some humor now and then, but it didn't make me smile. ^^;
Best part so far IMO was the outro, with our heroes as cats doing funny things. Oh and the part where the girl was singing was good too. I need more eps to see how this is going to evolve.
>>13
I might check Akagi out. It looks so silly, it might be fun.
BLOOD+_01 raw
Normal cute schoolgirl having normal life at normal school with normal cute friends may actually not be normal. She's spied by government-type groups, she gets weird dreams when listening to street music, she's forced to get blood checks for some reason, she lost her early memories... then monsters start to appear on the campus. Gore is gonna ensue, methinks. ^^
>>18 Ok, I read the first two manga volumes.
The planet is called Aqua, it's Mars terraformed. The poles melted beyond expectations and so the city ended underwater.
The wind farm is located elsewhere.
Motored gondolas exist.
Tides exist.
In the manga they are several small moons in the sky, not one big Earth-like moon like in the anime.
No near collision with a spaceship/airship ITM (in the manga.)
No annoying phone call from an irritated man ITM.
The girls are busy ITM. No annoying kid ITM. The anime skipped the whole Aria (the mascot) magical encounter and added emo stuff.
The anime didn't impress overmuch; the manga is a wow experience, one gets deeply involved with the characters, plus there are some very breathtaking moments.
Hopefully future anime episodes will catch up to the manga.
Gin-ban_Kaleidoscope 01 raw
Shoujo anime. Pro skater heroine has an accident and gets stuck to a ghost. Hilarity ensues as her friends start to think she's gone crazy.
I dunno, the manga was a big "meh" for me. It wants so badly to be YKK, but it's just not. If YKK didn't exist, I might like Aria, but if it didn't, I doubt Aria would exist either, so.
Also, Mai-Whatever might be enjoyable if they have the good sense to ditch the ridiculous melodrama of the original and just focus on dumbass moe.
Also also, ZOMGLTY REI!
>>33 The Aqua manga had a slow start, but it slowly grew on me, and near the end I found it mindblowing, in a soothing way.
YKK (manga) seems to go the other way, mindblowing/soothing at the beginning and for a while, and now it's kind of floundering around, with still a few sparks now and then.
>ZOMGLTY REI!
Huh?
Your search - ZOMGLTY - did not match any documents
>>34
Don't worry, I'll make an urbandictionary entry for it.
I still like "Salty Rei".
Zolty Rei
ZOR-thy Ray
Sol to Rei, Earth to me
Solitairei
Kotenco tenco 01
Small boy(?) is going to address the crowd of the magic kingdom in the sky. He gets embarrassed and transforms in an evil alter-ego that messes everything, even the plot of the evil ones in the shadows planning evil plans. Good-hearted fairy saves the day by showing evil boy(?) the errors of his ways.
Children anime, well directed (the unfolding of the action is lively and well delivered.)
noein Ep01 raw
Anime that does its worst to come across creepy.
Giant babies(?) that explode and destroy everything in the far past, fast forward to the present, where history is gonna repeat itself it seems. The chara design is also creepy, "cute" skinny girls/boys with weird eyes. Disturned classmates with box cutters. Slimy stuff coming out of graveyards at night. Yuk.
Lamune 01 raw
Girl meets boy. Boy grows to be guy. Girl is now closest friend/next-door neighbor/possible girlfriend, they go to school together. School ends, summer starts, they pick up watermelons, end of episode. ^^;
Guy is playing "tough guy" with girls, comes across as an asshole to me. ^^;;
Main girl is doing dumb "cute things" in a "cute whiny voice", comes across as a dumbass. ^^;;;
Slice of life anime? But six girls in the intro/outro.
Dating sim anime? But mostly only main girl in the intro.
1 couple, many girls-as-friend anime?
arika&nina tv Z-HIME
http://broadband.biglobe.ne.jp/index_anime.html?movieid=206914&bitrate=500k
Capeta 02 RAW
Ok, normally I would have given up on Capeta, but the 2channers were raving about this episode so I watched it.
So yeah, it was a powerful episode (Capeta tries his new toy, the kart), quite emotional. I still have a hard time with the chara designs tho.
ParaDise KiSs 01 raw
A bored but haughty schoolgirl gets accosted and chased by a old skool punk and ends up in a bar full of weirdos. She runs away but more weirdos with flashy cars come after her at her school. They want her for modelling or something, so they are actually "good guys" (yeah, right).
Shoujo anime with an unhealthy dose of hallucinogenic drugs, done Beck-style, with Honey&Clover's "funny" faces... barf.
Intro music was good.
I just watched Mai-Otome ep 1, and it's was pretty... eh, I dunno, It was Mai-HiME all over again, for good and for bad. I couldn't be bothered to finish Mai-HiME, and I doubt I'll watch all of this. Not even the fairy-tale New York setting managed to be very exciting.
Blood+
A schoolgirl that's a vampire that's forgotten all about it , get's attacked by a Chiropteran(kind of vampire/monster).
INSERT RANDOM GORE FIGTH HERE.
Cool show , waiting for ep2
Gories show i have seen , ppl beeing sliced in two , and lot of "tsjuuuuuuuu(blood flowing out) sounds".
I think it's releated to Blood the last vampire , but it may be just a spin off. But then again the main char had the same name(Saya) as the main char(Saya) in Blood the last vampire , and from what i have seen they seem to be the same char. But then again this is only the first ep.
Ginban Kaleidoscope is a total dissapointment. I was hoping for a Kaleido Star of figure skating, or at the very least a shoujo take on the old sports anime setup; young athlete defeats the odds and reaches greatness. I got neither.
This guy seems to like Noein:
pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?p=299
I'm looking forward to noein, after having seen the trailer (even if it does sort of make it look like it's just Munto). A lot of what he says about the style seems dead on.
However, no subs yet. Is it pre-licensed and I just missed it, or are people just being lazy asses again?
>>50
lol oriented choices, "are you still beating your wife".
I can do this too:
>[1.] Is it pre-licensed
>[2.] are people just being lazy asses again
3. Is the show ugly, crappy and overrated, only praised by washy closet pseudo-intellectuals?
:)
I'm still shaking from the boxcutter self-mutilation scene from ep01. Anyone seen ep02? Is it the same/worse as ep01 or does it get better?
I tend to watch everything opposite of what Sling watches, so the fact that he thinks it sucks is a good indication that I like it.
WAHa seems to have somewhat similar taste to me, so I guess you can make the logical connection...
I personally think it's the best of the season. WAHa, you really should try the first episode. I think Sling's comments are unfounded (but it's pointless trying to argue them out because that would have to make him change his entire mindset which I don't think anyone has the right to do) ... So go watch it to decide for yourself.
AssSubs has put out one ep of it but the torrent appears to be beyond dead for me. I wish someone else would sub it (AFAIK, Nanashi and someone else were interested in it)... and as for it being licensed, it's Media Factory and there's noein.jp/news/subwin/050928.html that, but other than that, I dunno.)
And finally, whoever linked to pelleas, next time don't put in the whole URL!!! Put a ttp:// thing like the 2channelers do so that you know, we can continue being all happily secret and underground (yeah right)
> boxcutter self-mutilation
Hey, that was the best part of Iriya no Sora!
Clickable links > sneaky links.
>>53 Was it in Iriya no Sora? I don't remember that part.
I recall it was in that full 3D anime I forgot the name, very short episodes, about fashionable schoolgirls able to find anything using their cell phones... One disturbed girl would do cuts-on-demand. Yuk. The scary part was that they are most probably people doing this in real life.
As for Noein, I have seen a screenshot comparing ep1 and ep2, and the eyes have been corrected to look more normal -- then of course some people commented they liked the creepy goth look better. ^^;
Well, yeah, god forbid anyone should try anything NEW or DIFFERENT.
"NEW or DIFFERENT" != sloppy.
BTW AssSubs put out a sub 6 days ago.
Let me see your review.
I'm kind of holding out for a translation that doesn't include a text file beginning with "I am very bad at Japanese."
Judging from the trailer, I thought it looked like some very dynamic animation, switching between levels of visual realism to fit the mood of scenes. I'd have to see the whole thing to say for sure if it works, but it did look very promising from the series.
This is animation, after all. There's nothing wrong with making things look drawn, that's the basis of the genre.
Ok, Shinsen-subs has done ep01.
Shinsen has dissapointed me in the past. I'll wait another week for Nanashi/AnY before downloading Shinsen. I wish Anime-Kraze was subbing this, they have a stable release schedule, and they tend to sub these kind of titles.
Shinsen is doing a perfectly fine job on GUNxSWORD and not even including karaoke, which is what is delaying Nanashi on every project. Therefore I vote A++.
http://shinsen.b33r.net/[Shinsen-subs]_Noein_01_[0BA3BF66].avi.torrent
WAHa, you should just get Shinsen's - your Japanese is good enough to understand most of the show anyway, really.
Oh, and the arguments made in this thread are relevant to the question of whether anime is going downhill. Frankly speaking if the anime industry followed Sling's wishes...
Well, I just watched it, and it pretty much fulfilled my expectation of being awesome. It had lots of tension without falling into melodrama, it had likeable characters without being superficial or clichéd, and the otherworldly and mysterious things felt genuinely otherworldly and mysterious. Overall, big win.
Also, yes, judging from the preview, the more naïvistic style of ep 1 looked more interesting. Gonna have to wait and see the full ep before I'll say anything more specific on that though.
>>63 What are my wishes? You are not making sense. I just wrote my own impressions/reviews of the first episodes of this season's batch, what I liked and what I won't be following and why. Feel free to post your reviews, like Waha just did.
Sorry, wrong word. Not wishes, but tastes.
Rozen Maiden: Traumend episode 01
After spending umpteen hours getting a freeware h.264 codec that actually worked, I was finally able to watch the first episode of Rozen Maiden: Traumend.
Of all the shows this season this was the one I looked forward to the most and it was well worth the wait (and h.264 hassle). I have to note that I speak only a little Japanese and what I watched was not subtitled. That not withstanding, I was able to follow most of what was being said fairly easily, more so than usual.
On with the summary:
The episode started with a flashback to when shinku was being made. Suiseiseki and Souseiseki watched as thier maker wound shinku for the first time and she came to life.
Back in the present Jun is going to school but aparently skips class. Tomoe (from last season) finds Jun studing math in the school library, deliveres a summer workbook to him, and lends him her class notes. Jun returns home and studies at the desk in his room. Suiseiseki/Hina Ichigo zaniness ensues.
After dinner the *seiseki sisters leave, Nori and Hina Ichigo go to bed. Shinku seems reluctant to go bed and stays up a bit longer before also going to bed. Jun continues to study.
Shinku has a nightmare about a burning Sugintou calling her name. Shinku wakes up frightened and opens her box, getting the attention of Jun.
Meimei (Sugintou's helper spirit thing) leads Jun and Shinku into the mirror where they meet a white rabbit (possibly related to Alice in wonderland). Jun and Shinku continue to chase Meimei until the run into a doll that says she is the seventh Rozen Maiden.
End of episode.
Mushishi 01 raw
Animenewsnetwork' blurb:
"Genres: Fantasy, Supernatural
Plot Summary: They are neither plants nor animals. They differ from other forms of life such as the micro-organisms and the fungi. Instead they resemble the primeval body of life and are generally known as "Mushi". Their existence and appearance are unknown to many and only a limited number of humans are aware of them. Ginko is a "Mushi-shi" who travels around to investigate and find out more about the "Mushi". In the process, he also lends a helping hand to people who face problems with supernatural occurances which may be related to the "Mushi"."
My opinion:
Japanese fairy tale. A guy with a special sense of humor wanders around in a forest to a remote house and tries to solve a ghost problem there. Pretty.
so, now, after a few weeks of everything, what's really worth watching?
My personal, poorly reasearched and not really detailed opinion:
I enjoyed the mushishi manga and the anime does not disappoint, horribly at least. Eureka is still ok but nanashi are slow. Noein was kinda weird but not in a bad way and noone is subbing the mahjongg thing which, judging by the raw, is pretty funny.
Rozen Maiden Traumend is by far my favorite of the season. Distant second is a tie between Mai-Otome and Black Cat.
I've been too lazy to start watching a lot of things. I've still got Blood+ and Mushishi sitting there unwatched.
Jigoku Shoujo was underwhelming. Noein has this contrast between cute and very creepy that is pretty disturbing and interesting. Definitely watching that, even though it'll probably SCAR ME EMOTIONALLY sooner or later.
Blood+ is very slow going for my taste so I'm fastforwarding thru the episodes to catch up with the "plot".
Jigoku Shoujo, I gave up after the 2nd or the 3rd episode.
Mushishi is pretty but doesn't interest me.
I'm siding with >>70, Traumend, Mai-Otome and Black Cat are good. But it's Shakugan no Shana which is my current number one.
Karin is okay too.
Solty Rei had a strong start but is less interesting at the moment.
Cluster Edge continues to interest me.
I'm watching Aria, but only for the scenery.
Ginban Kaleidoscope, I may check a few episodes later to see if the writing/directing has become less horrible.
The rest, I don't watch.
Do I need to have watched the first season in order to understand Traumend? :0
>>73 Yes and no. The plot is explained at the beginning of Traumend, but as Traumend is the continuation of the original Rozen Maiden you're gonna miss a large amount of background.
Well, I was unsure about Mushishi after watching the first and the second episodes, but then suddenly a couple of hours after watching 2, I realized that I really, really liked it.
It's beautiful and creepy and relaxing. The author has for some reason seen fit to make up an entire folklore by himself, and has succeeded pretty well. This definitely gives the series a very unique atmosphere.
So what are the standouts this season so far?
mushishi and shakugan no shana, hams down
Mushishi, Noein and ParaKiss
>>75
The author is a she.
I just watched eight episodes of ParaKiss, and while it is very well-made, it just isn't very interesting. It seems to be mostly teenage girl wish fulfillment, and that really isn't all that interesting to watch unless you are actually a teenage girl looking for some escapism.
Mushishi and Noein, though, are great. Noein is incredibly clichéd, but it does it with such style and energy that you don't even notice. Also, Blood+ is very decent vampire-slashing action that doesn't get bogged down in silly gothic angst. Träumend I'll withhold judgement on until it's over, but episode 6 made it all worth watching anyway.
I think ParaKiss has been on the of the best shows this season. It's not about a great deal but it's strangely hypnotic and has kept me hooked on. I didn't think it'd be my bag but it's a cool show and I always have to watch as soon as I obtain an episode.
No other show this season has grabbed me enough to want to do this.