31 posts tagged “anime”
Since that last post was starting to get a little ridiculously long, I made the conscious decision to stick all other anime-related news onto a separate post to divide the clutter.
Here's some other shows that haven't aired yet but you might want to consider on your to-watch list:
- Tentai Senshi Sunred Season Two
- Natsu no Arashi Season Two
- Kimi ni Todoke
- Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini (Season Two)
- Kuuchuu Buranko
Tentai Senshi Sunred is awesome, but that's a foregone conclusion. If you don't catch the tv broadcast, the official website might post up reruns for free again online (cross your fingers). The first season of Natsu no Arashi was alright, but the quality is usually pretty high and the wacky story might be enough to pull you in again. Kimi ni Todoke looks pretty interesting from it's premise (a high school girl is unable to make friends due to her horrible looks), so it's worth a gander.
Darker than Black was the standout this season because of it's cult following a few years back, but the story was kind of typical and contrived and ended on a humongous let down. I'm tempted to go back, yet wary altogether.
Kuuchuu Buranko seems to be the one circulating the most hype this season, especially for those anime fans who hunger for something more intelligent and charming than stuff like say, Queens Blade or something (lol). I will be watching it as well, probably due more to the hype than anything else.
*****
On a related note, the online broadcast date for the last three Bakemonogatari episodes have been announced online. They'll be on the official website starting October 28th, so mark your calendars!
I loooove this show, it's so classy and clever -- the best summer series in years! While the 10th episode was pretty crappy compared to the earlier ones, this song alone was probably it's saving grace. It's already on my playlist, and someone out there leaked out the full version.
I don't really think its the real full version though, it sounds more like the TV-size version looped twice. Still, it's my latest addiction...
I don't really think its the real full version though, it sounds more like the TV-size version looped twice. Still, it's my latest addiction...
Whaddaya think? Plus one for Japanese anime? Or Minus? OR BOTH? Lol, that ad lib bit at the end was priceless!
Source: Japan Probe
Source: Japan Probe
Anime News Network reports that Bandai Namco is preparing to release anime songs onto Apple's popular iTunes music store with songs from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu and Lucky Star, as well as JAM Project and other artists. While not a new thing, it certainly marks an interesting precedent for Anime moving along into the mainstream conscious. Perhaps it has a bit to do with Hollywood's latest movement into anime re-adaptations?
Anime can already be found on iTunes -- a few searches through the podcast section and you can find tons of people willing to share their favorite songs and playlists.
In related news, Exit Trance recently released their newest album SPEED アニメトランス BEST 7 on iTunes and Amazon.com. I'm not particularly a fan of trance music, but they do have a variety of music from popular animes such as Zamd and (my personal favorite OP track) Rideback. Here's a sample:
It's...loud. I can't say if it's better than the original ED theme, but hey, maybe someone out there will love it.
Anime can already be found on iTunes -- a few searches through the podcast section and you can find tons of people willing to share their favorite songs and playlists.
In related news, Exit Trance recently released their newest album SPEED アニメトランス BEST 7 on iTunes and Amazon.com. I'm not particularly a fan of trance music, but they do have a variety of music from popular animes such as Zamd and (my personal favorite OP track) Rideback. Here's a sample:
It's...loud. I can't say if it's better than the original ED theme, but hey, maybe someone out there will love it.
Out of all the anime shows that came out this spring season, Basquash! was perhaps the most colorful piece of work to grace the genre in years. With big names like Shoji Kawamori (legendary mecha designer) gracing the staff, I had hoped that the artwork would maintain it's opening quality. I say hoped in the past tense, because after I watched episode 10, it looked like the animation got hit with the ugly stick.
The story seems lost as well. Don't they have some kind of manga to back up the story? Oh wait, they don't.
Uh oh.
I guess all of the problems stem from the director getting sacked (as well as various other staff members). I wish I knew why! The show was doing pretty well up to episode 9, although it did kind of feel like it took forever for the "basquash" part of Basquash! to start kicking in. Perhaps that's the reason?
At any rate, the summer season will soon be upon us, and I'll be able to feast my eyes upon Canaan! Oh, and that new Suzumiya Haruhi show too!
The story seems lost as well. Don't they have some kind of manga to back up the story? Oh wait, they don't.
Uh oh.
I guess all of the problems stem from the director getting sacked (as well as various other staff members). I wish I knew why! The show was doing pretty well up to episode 9, although it did kind of feel like it took forever for the "basquash" part of Basquash! to start kicking in. Perhaps that's the reason?
*****
In other anime news, Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East) is getting not one, but two movies. TWO. It's great news, but it's kind of hard to get hyped when nary a word is being released about it. Could it be a possible ending to the series, a new kind of plot, or some kind of spin-off? Having two movies makes it that much harder to predict what's going to happen.At any rate, the summer season will soon be upon us, and I'll be able to feast my eyes upon Canaan! Oh, and that new Suzumiya Haruhi show too!
The full trailer for Mamoru Hosada's (director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) Summer Wars has been released online, and man oh man! Finally we get some details on what the movie's gonna be like!
It starts out as a fairly typical summer for 17-year-old Koiso Kenji, who's life turns upside down when he meets 18-year-old Shinohara Natsuki's enormous family during his second year of high school.
The plot begins a chain reaction of comical absurdity when Shinohara introduces Koiso to her grandmother as her boyfriend (much to his surprise). From then on, the story turns pretty hairy -- images of a strange meteor crash, a seemingly alien civilization, and a worldwide crisis that threatens the entire family? What in the world is going on!?
As typical of Hosada's stories, there's always more than meets the eye here. Alien worlds? A worldwide crisis? What's so terrible that Kenji's mugshot gets plastered on the TV set?
Man this movie looks so intriguing, so many mysteries!
It starts out as a fairly typical summer for 17-year-old Koiso Kenji, who's life turns upside down when he meets 18-year-old Shinohara Natsuki's enormous family during his second year of high school.
The plot begins a chain reaction of comical absurdity when Shinohara introduces Koiso to her grandmother as her boyfriend (much to his surprise). From then on, the story turns pretty hairy -- images of a strange meteor crash, a seemingly alien civilization, and a worldwide crisis that threatens the entire family? What in the world is going on!?
As typical of Hosada's stories, there's always more than meets the eye here. Alien worlds? A worldwide crisis? What's so terrible that Kenji's mugshot gets plastered on the TV set?
Man this movie looks so intriguing, so many mysteries!
What!? This slipped past my radar last week -- a second season of this awesomely awesome show is coming back? Will it be available streaming online again? They have their own channel over at Nico Douga so it must be true!
I wonder how they'll approach the second season. I love the sentai parody gags, so if they keep up the pace they've had for the first season, it'll be great to watch again. This is the show that keeps on giving; over at the Nico Douga channel you can watch all of the previous episodes any time you want (although you have to pay a small premium to watch them). It's a great business model but it may give some non-Japanese speakers a bit of a problem.
I wonder if they'll do another season of Detroit Metal City as well. That show was hilarious!
I wonder how they'll approach the second season. I love the sentai parody gags, so if they keep up the pace they've had for the first season, it'll be great to watch again. This is the show that keeps on giving; over at the Nico Douga channel you can watch all of the previous episodes any time you want (although you have to pay a small premium to watch them). It's a great business model but it may give some non-Japanese speakers a bit of a problem.
I wonder if they'll do another season of Detroit Metal City as well. That show was hilarious!
Now that the rest of the spring anime season finished debuting this week, I sat down and watched the first episodes of a few series that caught my interest. There's alot of new shows, but finding which ones to watch was pretty easy considering the majority of them seemed like older shows with a different slab of characters in them (I'm more of a fan of new and original works).
My picks were:
Higashi no Eden is, in my humble opinion, the best show this season. Everything about it is amazing: unorthodox opener, weird plot narrative, and curiously-unique characters. No bad points here. No where to go but up!
Natsu no Arashi is...weird. I had a hard time following along the plot (time travel tends to be a bit of a difficult plot piece). Full Metal Alchemist wasn't too bad, but I'm pretty disappointed in the seiyuu changes. Still fun to watch though.
Shangri-La was a bit of a let down. I had high hopes for it, since Range Murata (one of my favorite artists) was in charge of the character designs for the series. Hopefully the second episode will pick up.
Senjou no Valkyria is not bad; at least it's following the videogame's plot faithfully. It's a quiet anime with lots of lulls. It's oddly serene...probably a good title to put on when I feel like going to sleep. I'll still watch it though.
I ran around, reading other reviews and impressions and many people had a few other recommendations up for grabs. One of them was Basquash!, another anime title with an exclamation point in it. It's really good! Watching it in HD is amazing (an understatement of epic proportions, I'm sure). Not only that, but it's got the cast of Kannagi doing the voices! Win! So far, Haruka Tomatsu hasn't appeared yet, but I'll be crossing my fingers for when that happens. Can't believe this one fell under my radar...
Here's a small sample of how gorgeous Basquash! looks:
My picks were:
- K-ON!
- Higashi no Eden
- Natsu no Arashi
- Full Metal Alchemist
- Shangri-La
- Senjou no Valkyria
Higashi no Eden is, in my humble opinion, the best show this season. Everything about it is amazing: unorthodox opener, weird plot narrative, and curiously-unique characters. No bad points here. No where to go but up!
Natsu no Arashi is...weird. I had a hard time following along the plot (time travel tends to be a bit of a difficult plot piece). Full Metal Alchemist wasn't too bad, but I'm pretty disappointed in the seiyuu changes. Still fun to watch though.
Shangri-La was a bit of a let down. I had high hopes for it, since Range Murata (one of my favorite artists) was in charge of the character designs for the series. Hopefully the second episode will pick up.
Senjou no Valkyria is not bad; at least it's following the videogame's plot faithfully. It's a quiet anime with lots of lulls. It's oddly serene...probably a good title to put on when I feel like going to sleep. I'll still watch it though.
I ran around, reading other reviews and impressions and many people had a few other recommendations up for grabs. One of them was Basquash!, another anime title with an exclamation point in it. It's really good! Watching it in HD is amazing (an understatement of epic proportions, I'm sure). Not only that, but it's got the cast of Kannagi doing the voices! Win! So far, Haruka Tomatsu hasn't appeared yet, but I'll be crossing my fingers for when that happens. Can't believe this one fell under my radar...
Here's a small sample of how gorgeous Basquash! looks:
Saw this trailer for an upcoming CG anime about animals parodying as soldiers. First thing that came to mind was an already running series called Hetalia: Axis Powers, although this show is a bit different (obviously). Although I don't really agree with the title, I didn't see any cats anywhere in the trailer!
The series starts hitting the airwaves this Winter. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this one. The manga is already out, so it'd be worth a look. Plus, if it's anything like the novel Animal Farm, this show might be more brilliant than meets the eyes.
The series starts hitting the airwaves this Winter. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this one. The manga is already out, so it'd be worth a look. Plus, if it's anything like the novel Animal Farm, this show might be more brilliant than meets the eyes.
Inspired by Miyagawa's post on best 5 Vocaloid Indie songs, I decided to copy-cat the idea and post the best 5 Anime openings (up to the present 2009 winter season).
Alot of you are probably familiar with most of these openings. That's fine, because a good opener is a good opener, period. I judged alot of them on uniqueness, presentation, and song. Well, not so much the song, since it's easy to have a generic opening with a catchy pop song tacked on behind it.
This one needs no introduction. We all know Cowboy Bebop had the most jaw-dropping opening, back in the day! Not only that, but to it's credit many recent anime openings have been parodied with Yoko Kanno's track running alongside it. If that isn't memorable, I don't know what is!
Another popular opening, Ghost in the Shell (like Cowboy Bebop) gets parodied a lot -- a testament to its greatness. Right from the get-go, the song pulls you in with its Russian lyrics and evokes a sense of urgency and suspense. I especially love the scene at 0:55, showing the frailty and sense of loneliness for the main character.
I remember when I first saw this, my mind literally asploded. Aside from the catchy pop song from the lovable singer Nino and the group Round Table, the quirky camera angles and use of juxtaposition between scenes brought a sense of playfulness -- opposite of what the real story had waiting for you. Overall, a very clever opener!
I remember when I first saw this, my mind literally asploded. Aside from the catchy pop song from the lovable singer Nino and the group Round Table, the quirky camera angles and use of juxtaposition between scenes brought a sense of playfulness -- opposite of what the real story had waiting for you. Overall, a very clever opener!
This show came out just recently this year, and already it's gotten a lot of buzz with it's opening alone. It almost seems as if a bunch of six-figure graphic designers came together and put it together! It's hard taking your eyes off of it thanks to the playful colors and constant motion involved. Nothing seems related at all! The song's a bit weird, but it lends a bit to the wacky story.
Most anime openings stay fairly static during their broadcast run (unless you're a long running show like Naruto), so to see the opening change gradually over the initial first seven episodes shows how much the effort the creators have put into the series. Everything in the show, from the opening theme to the title of the episode has some kind of deep, overall meaning. That's a lot of work for just a 12 episode show!
Honorable mentions:
I'd be remiss if I didn't include a few other noteworthy openings. While they didn't make the list, they certainly are amazing to watch and listen to. They're only a minute and a half long, so it'd be a shame to miss!
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
Blood+ Opening #2
Naruto Opening #5
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