A very quick post: Itazura no Kiss, Soul Eater, Nijuumensou no Musume, Vampire Knight, S.A.~Special A~, Kaiba, Toshokan Sensou, RD Sennou Chosashitsu, Amatsuki, Kurenai, The Revelation

Itazura no Kiss

Surprising the series that I am enjoying the most so far. I mean it honestly. Director Yamazaki Osamu continues to do good work following Toward the Terra.

Soul Eater

Great art direction. Though the story just does not grab my attention. Judging from Ouran High School Host Club, Director Igarashi Takuya is capable of something much better than this. Dropped until I hear strong verdict to the contrary from people whose tastes I trust.

Nijuumensou no Musume

Saw the first two episodes out of curiosity while multitasking in other things. The series has promise that has yet to be realized. Dropped until I hear strong verdict to the contrary from people whose tastes I trust.

Vampire Knight

Saw the first two episodes out of curiosity while multitasking in other things. Dropped without reserve.

Nevertheless, the series would have afforded a great study of faceless groupies who appear in a shoujo.anime/manga as surely as the chorus appears in a Greek tragedy. I suspect the faceless groupies embody the shadow of the heroine - what the heroine would not condescend to do, the faceless groupies do with joy. The heroine and the faceless groupies are really one body of light and shadow (光と影は表裏一体).

S.A.~Special A~

Saw the first two episodes out of curiosity while multitasking in other things. Dropped without reserve.

Kaiba

Will write more about it in due course. Perhaps I set my expectations too high - the animation itself has a refreshing style but I am a little bit disappointed with storytelling. It does not really excite me with the question what happens next? If anything it makes me nostalgic for Mononoke - which really does an excellent job of making the viewer care what is going on from one scene to the next all the way up to the ending.

Toshokan Sensou

One of many anime series that are set in a futuristic world but are essentially nostalgic in outlook (and I mean this in an objective way without saying that this is necessarily a bad thing: in fact this set-up dwells at the heart of Japanese anime and makes it unique. Why go out of way to create a futuristic world only for the sake of recreating a bygone world? I shall discuss this at greater length some other time.). The militarization for the protection of books would have made much more sense before the Chinese invented paper and printing, and it seems a little silly to protected printed books to this extent if your objective is to protect the freedom of speech when there are other electronic formats available. However, the characterization and dramatic narrative are great - and this series actually does make one ask what happens next? I enjoy this most next to Itazura no Kiss.

RD Sennou Chosashitsu

Presumably the 'real show' (本番) will begin after Episode 3 and Haru will begin to investigate various incidents.  Fingers crossed.

Amatsuki

Will continue to watch with lukewarm enthusiasm.

Kurenai

Great screenplay so far that draws one into the story quite in spite of oneself. However, I have a feeling that it will probably go downhill and settle down as a fan service show.

The Revelation

[Massive spoilers up to Episode 3]

So it becomes obvious that the President's forbidden love for his daughter's boyfriend mirrors Aoki's forbidden love for his older sister. In the original manga, there is emphasis in the idea that what you desire but cannot have, you can only look, but if you really want to keep your desire secret (ie. undetected by MRI), you can no longer even look. That idea seems to be not stressed as much as I would have liked in the anime. And there does not seem to be enough dosage of angst when Aoki leaves his home - the real reason why he is moving out is because he does not want to look at his older sister any more.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for the 'theme park mascot murder case' from volume 3 of the manga.

Comments

[Ori]

This season the series I enjoy the most is Soul Eater.

I have to admit, the show is probably a bit too silly for your liking, but I don't watch anime for the same reason you do. I don't sought for inklings about life and the world, I just want to be entertained. Soul Eater, with this pretty animation and great humour (esp ep 1 and 3), fits my need the best.

The other series I have something to say is Nabari no Ou (which you did not mention, I am kind of surprised). This series has an interesting plot (to me anyway) and nice character design.

And finally, on the topic of books. You know I love my gadgets, but the thing is, despite of that I see a value in actual books. There's is something personal about books that I just don't think you can get from digital media.

[Wabisabi]

I haven't seen Nabari no Ou - that's why I don't mention it.

I am not particular about printed books - especially after having moved so many times and finding them a drag to move with me. I wish I could have all my books in one digital library.

[minus-one]

for me Soul Eater is not even an anime - it's just cartoon (or something...) animation is a way too smooth ;-) (and it's shounen too (i.e. action and no story...) no fun...)

i continue watching Himitsu and Kurenai
(and plan to watch Real Drive and Itazura na Kiss (at least it's shoujo (may be good))).

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/minus-one?order=5

[Wabisabi]

Just wondering... how do you differentiate cartoon and anime?

[Kim]

I really hope you are wrong about Kure-nai because right now I think it might be my favorite show of the season. But it definitely does have a lot of potential to go down hill.

I agree with you about Soul Eater. It has a lot of style but the story is way too generic.

[Snoop']

- Kaiba : watched ep.1&2. Ep.1 was very weird and even dull, but I found ep.2 to be excellent. The characters are cute, the visual style as well as the overall mood are refreshing, and we get to understand more about the world Kaiba lives in. And, there's a disturbing sex scene. :D
Definitely on my watch list.

- RD : watched ep.1. Can't waste my time on future episodes. -___-

- Golgo 13 : watched ep.1. Yay for manliness ! Anime needs more of this kind of tough stuff. Pleasant episode, but I don't think I will keep watching it due to lack of time.

Still need to finish Hakaba Kitarou. And various DVDs (Mononoke, Mushishi, Samurai Champloo).

[minus-one]

>how do you differentiate cartoon and anime?

anime is Japanese animation, it's product of Japanese culture per se; it means it has to have some easily distinguished, recognizable features, which made it stand out from the rest of the animation.

what are these features exactly? it's disputable. for me it's that average look and feel which has formed in anime recently. certain features in character design... limited animation (or close to limited...) (wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_animation ) adult themes... Japanese story-telling...

anyway, when it's getting hard to distinguish some anime from western-style animation, i call it "cartoon". Soul Eater is exactly that. when Japanese are trying to please Western fans they always lose some appeal; their animation becomes indistinguishable (hackneyed, not interesting).

[Neohybrid_kai]

Hm, I dropped itazura no kiss since I have read the manga and saw the dorama. Maybe this reason is lame but I can't enjoy drama when I already know where the plot will go ^^

Watched vampire knight for the eye candy and watched soul eater for entertainment purpose only (agreed with ori, the gag is totally hilarious), but personally what I'm looking forward to are RD and Alison to Lilia for this season.

[Wabi Sabi]

Kim:

I see.

Snoop':

What takes you so long with Hakaba Kitaro?

minus-one:

I see. I got confused when you said 'for me Soul Eater is not even an anime - it's just cartoon (or something...) animation is a way too smooth [sic]'.

Neohybrid_kai:

I don't actually find Soul Eater funny - maybe the humour just is not my sort of humour.

[bioeng]

I started out following a little more than a handful of the spring line-up, but quickly whittled down to Toshokan Sensou and RD, after 2-3 episodes. (though, I may pick up Itazura no Kiss on your recommendation)

Toshokan Sensou: A military themed anime without mechs and doesn't taste like Pumpkin Scissors... and isn't Jin-Roh. (which is a fantastic film, btw) For the quirky characters, I'm willing to forgive the fist sized plot holes and Kasahara's in-real-life impending court martial with dishonorable discharge. It's clean fun. If I wanted to get my military-fix, I'd wait for Oshii's Sky Crawlers. (upcoming August 2nd!!!)

RD: Hard to create an original scifi when technology is getting to a point where it is almost indistinguishable from scifi. My only gripe with the series is the oddly placed fanservice.

[Wabisabi]

bioeng:

I have not got the military vibe from Sky Crawlers so far... is it to be one with military vibe?

About RD - good observation. It perhaps goes to show that while technology has caught but with sci-fi, the human imagination has not.

[bioeng]

Regarding Sky Crawlers: Here's a more recent trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiTx10ZGYb0

[Wabi Sabi]

Thanks for the trailer - I had not seen it before. Anyway, the vibe I got is that any military-looking element is probably incidental to the story - certainly it does not seem to play a central role as in Ghost in the Shell. So I suspect GTS fans looking for a similar gig would probably disappointed with the window-dressing...

[bioeng]

@ Wabi Sabi: Though, Sky Crawlers may not contain the hardcore military-centered plot, (such as Zipang or Yomigaeru Sora or Flag. Am I missing some?) I trust Oshii-sensei to deliver something unique to that genre.

----

A noticeable amount of recent anime have been based off light novels. Ex: Baccano!, Haruhi Suzumiya, Kure-nai, Toshokan Sensou, Sky Crawlers. Hopefully the demand will garner enough attention for some of those series to be published in English. (hopefully...)

[Wabisabi]

I think I did read somewhere that the Haruhi novels are to be translated - can't remember where though.

[Shina Luna]

What a curious thing. My highlight for this season, Nabari no ou, doesn't appear.
(I hight recommend it. It not so much Mainstream and the backgrounds are very artistic. The fighting sequences are smooth and the characterdesign is nice. The voice Cast ist ver good and on top of all the OST is being made by Michiru Oushima (FMA OSTs, Le Chevalier d'Eon OST))

As for the rest I'm watching:
Toshokan Sensou: The tile hit me, since a lot of people I know, including my best friend work in a library. I like the Animation, even through the sotry seems to go too far into the direction of Drama.

Special A/Vampire Knight: I don't really like it, but I noticed that it is perfect for training my Japanese. They always say the same and rather very clear. Enhances the common feeling of right Japanese, when eatched in raw.

Soul Eater: I liked Ouran already, so I watch this one. But the genre is not quite my thing...

Amatsuki: Also watched with lukewarm interest. My friend is watching it and I watch it, so that we have something to talk about.

[Wabisabi]

Perhaps I will have a look at 'Nabari no Ou' after all.

Overall it is not a season that completely wows me. I still watch shows and enjoy them, but none of them inspires the same enthusiasm as 'Mononoke' last summer...

[Shina Luna]

This season really isn't very interesting. You have a point on that.
There are many dissapointments....
The greatest shock for me at least was Amatsuki. Not that I had expected anything, but...
First, it's from Stusion Deen. I don't get it. they CAN do Samurai ANimes rightly, if they want, the Kenshin OVAs prove it.
But well, Deen often messes up. No, the biggest shock was that the director of Amatsuki was Kazuhiro Furuhashi. The one who directed Chevalier d'eon and the Kenshin OVAs.
Speaking of stepping backwards... Cosette and Zetsubou sensei are one thing. But this isn't just stepping back. This is going downhill, degrading....

Nonetheless I still have high expectations to at least one serais, that is 'Nabari no Ou'.

Since I have been really curious about a certain character, I have been looking up the further story in the orginal Manga. And it's really getting interesting. Despite the fact that Nabari seems to make fun of a hand full of typical Shounen Manga chliché and quite some Shounen Ai Mangas clichés as well, (It's rather interesting how I (a Shounen Ai hater) get attracted to this series as well as quite a bunch of Shounen Ai Fangirls), Nabari also has an interesting bunch of black humour.
But what I really like are the characters. This is the first series I have seen until now (perhaps except for Neon Genesis Evangelion?) where the main character is lethargic as how Nabari's protagonist Miharu is.
Yoite (who apperas somewhere around the third episode) is also a very intriguing character, who may be a bit similiar to Kenshin of Ruruouni Kenshi, but is still, like... Singular?
Hard to explain somehow.

But this isn't even what I like most. There are - at least for what I have understood in the raw Manga, my 5 years old Japanese is far from fluent - quite some nice pensive topics in there. Like 'How far would you go, to acquire the ultimate wisdom?' or 'what is eternity?'. But the topic, which appears along with the character Yoite is the most interesting one, to me at least. It is roughtly about 'Is there actually someone who notices me being alive?'.

Plus, every characters, talks diffrent. Like Miharu uses "Ore" and the informal "-ru" grammar. Yoite uses "Boku", also the informala "-ru" grammer, al lot of "n da" forms and "-teru" forms, the accrevated "-te iru" forms. Aizawa always uses "-masu" forms and Yukimi the most colloqial forms. It's rather interesting how the grammar characterizes them. *_*

As for the anime, judging from the first 6 episodes, they are doing a great job in the adaption. Only that the graphic, in fact, far excels the original manga.

Just look at these nice backgrounds~~~~
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080517232531nw4.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080407234503xrp8.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080407234624ioz6.jpg
And the animation is pretty experimental - at least for what I have seen so far. (Even if it still far doesn't match with Mononoke.)
http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080407234603qmg0.jpg
http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080407234300dx5.jpg
http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot20080407234537smw9.jpg
The last screenshot however reminds one a little bit of Shigofumi, an anime of the winter season 2007/2008 in which J.C. Staff Anime was involved before Nabari.

The music from Michiru Oushima is really georgeos. I already love the OST of Chevalier d'Eon and Full Metall Alchemist is also a great score. This one is sort of different, but fits the series very well and when watching I sometime only listen to the music and forget listenning to the dialogues...
The voice cast is getting better and better by the episode. And as you seem to know Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto pretty well, Daisuke Namikawa (Akidzuki) gives his voice to one of the Nabari characters - with a totally diffrent character and he still does a great job.
Same goes for Mitsuki Saiga as Yoite, who also gave her voice to Jomy in Terra e. I wouldn't have recognized it, if I hadn't read it before.
And Rie Kugimiya as Miharu alone is worth it, too. I suppose. (Her voice this time is in a way near to Al from FMA, but yet somehow diffrent.)

And there are quite a name in the staff that hit my attention:
Michiko Yokote, the script writer of Bakeneko and who did the screenplay of Mononoke does the series composition on Nabari now. (I don't know how much 'series composition' means through)

So much as to how much I love this series in the moment. What I regard as this series' weakness is, that although it has a totally diffrent plot, one inevitably gets reminded of Naruto. (At least, if you read any kind of summary.) In my Opinion there is so much more to it, but it is not apparent in the summary.

The second weakness is defintely the beginning of the Anime Series (i.e. the first Episode). The animation is already very good there, the music and voice cast, too, but the plot seems a bit confusing. On the other hand however all the background information is thrown in there, already, so there isn't too much of wasting time in explaining it later.
I would say the real plot is actually starting with Yoite's appearance somewhere at the middle of episode 3.
Episode 6 however was just great. I just love the voices and their language. *_*

In my opinion, the series is worth a try, while one shouldn't judge the series by the strange beginning.

For a summary the ANN link:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=9102

[Wabisabi]

I have not seen much Nabari no Ou but since both you and Ori rave about it. I am afraid I can't say much until I have seen it though. But thanks for the long post. ^-^

[Shina Luna]

Nabari is at episode 11 and it's getting better and better (in my opinion at least.)
The manga has quite some plot twists and the animes does its retribution so far.
That is except for the fact that they censored episode 11 rather pathetically. I still wonder what was wrong with that scene... Good a bit of blood, but in any regular Shounen there is always so much meaningless spilling of blood. But this scene was deadly serious. Why did it have to be Nabari to get censored? >_>
(And the way they censored it is awfully cheap.)

Something to note on the positive: The series develops elements of paraody against the Shounen Genre. I find it really funny to see how the series makes fun of these "~ no justu" screaming in usual shounen like Naruto.

(Seriously, this is the first series with such an amount of mixing so many genres.)

Sorry, to bother you with my fanaticism. ^^'

As for Amatsuki, I can't bear looking at it anymore... Through listening is still ok. Inoue Marinas voice sounds great even in such a series as Amatsuki...

[Wabisabi]

I think Hayate no Gotoku also tried something like parody of different genres. It was funny for a few episodes but I quickly got tired of it...

[Shina Luna]

I never watched Hayate no Gotoku, so I can't say too much about it.
The interesting thing (for me at least) itself in Nabari is, that on the one hand it IS doing the splits in these genres, on the hand it occasionally also makes fun of it.
So, for example, there is a dramatic component in this series which isn't bad at all (or rather: The whole series is quote drammatic), but then there are scenes where is makes fun of such drammatic that is almost theatrical, by absolutely overdoing it.
The best joke so far for me was the very very bad, almost inhuman English that only showed up for 2 Episodes or so.

[Wabisabi]

I have nothing to add, really - but noted with thanks.

[Vampire Knight]

Very nice blog,5 out of 5 stars!

[Wabisabi]

Vampire Knight:

Thank you. For some reason, this is the second message within 24 hours from someone saying that this blog is "5 out of 5 stars"...