After much speculation, it was finally revealed that the new anime project from Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima – who last collaborated on the epic Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – is the school battle action Kill la Kill, which will be produced by Studio Trigger. An official website has also been launched at http://www.kill-la-kill.jp/
Let’s hope these two recreate the magic of TTGL.
In part I of my series of posts about Attack on Titan I mainly addressed the hype surrounding the show and added some general first impressions about the art, design, animation, story, etc. This and future posts will deal a bit more with the actual plot, and will therefore include spoilers (I am assuming if you are reading this you’re already watching the show).
One of the ways I described this show in part I was that it was almost like an attack that grips you hard and doesn’t let go. Well, lo and behold – it let go, and with positive results. After the emotional onslaught of the first two episodes, we are treated to two slower, and often even lighthearted and funny, episodes; something I wasn’t expecting but was done well and didn’t clash with the general vibe. I didn’t set out to post something after every two episodes but rather when I felt like a certain mini arc or block of story was over, but so far this has happened twice. I almost feel like these four episodes could easily play out as two 45-minute episodes: Part I being the brutal exposition, and Part II being the training sequence.
(Note: This review is spoiler-free)
Hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype. It will be utterly impossible for anyone to discuss Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) this season without at least addressing the frenzied excitement leading up to, and following, its premier last week. The only missing piece in the puzzle was that it hadn’t been licensed for simulcast yet, but that issue was recently resolved when it was announced that it would be airing… on both Crunchyroll and FUNImation. Did I mention this show has a lot of hype?
(Note: This review is spoiler-free and only contains a few small details about the plot)
Along with watching about 12 new shows from Spring 2013, I am slowly going through a bunch of stuff I missed last year. After watching (and loving) Zetsuen no Tempest, I went against my own instincts and popped on Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World). Smart decision.
Produced by A-1 and currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Shin Sekai Yori is based on the novel by Yusuke Kishi and tells the story of Japan 1,000 years in the future. It’s a serene utopian world where Buddhist humans who have developed psychokinesis which they call "Cantus" (the Japanese word used is "Juryoku" and written with the Kanji for "curse" and "force," which I am only mentioning because it makes a lot of sense in retrospect and if you were a Japanese viewer you would have known this bit of information upfront), live a peaceful spiritual existence in harmony with their surroundings.
Naked Impact!!!
(Note: Contains some spoilers, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll understand what I mean if you read this)
So, as mentioned in my Sasami-san@Ganbaranai review, having been disappointed with the Winter 2013 crop of anime, I decided to step outside my comfort zone and watch a couple of shows that I would normally skip because they had caught my eye for various reasons. The second show I took a gamble on was A-1’s new original show Vividred Operation. It piqued my curiosity for two reasons:
Yes, Sasami-san!
(Note: Contains spoilers, but they are confined to a clearly marked section)
The Winter 2013 anime season did not exactly bring with it a plethora of content that I would consider appealing to me, so instead I opted for something a bit different – I picked a couple of shows that I normally wouldn’t have watched, but that caught my eye for various reasons. The first of those shows was Studio Shaft’s new project, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, based on the light novel series by Akira. The only thing I knew about this show going in was that it was in the romantic comedy genre (according to the tags on Myanimelist) and what I read in the official synopsis, which described Sasami-san as a show about a hikikomori (compulsive shut-in) who experiences the world vicariously through her brother by using a special surveillance system. The synopsis has since been expanded, but that was the gist of it before the show aired, and that was the general idea I had about the plot. However, something about the previews for the show seemed a bit… off. There were little flashes of scenes that seemed to involve science fiction, action, and fantasy elements. Now, I am well aware that plenty of "regular" romantic comedies and school shows that have those elements incorporated as day dreams and the like (such as I am told is the case for Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! or, to a lesser extent, in Hyouka), but my Spidey sense was tingling, so I figured I would give it a shot.
In some form or another, I’ve been around anime my entire life. A bunch of the cartoons I watched as a kid were anime, and I also had a chance to watch various anime movies that crossed over into the mainstream throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s. In the early 2000’s I dipped my feet a bit deeper into that world (including watching my first proper show as an adult – Cowboy Bebop), but I quickly lost interest due mainly to lack of availability, and spent the next ten years or so watching the occasional big time movie that came to my attention as I did in the 90’s.
I agree, Ao. I felt the same way after watching it.
(Note: Contains E7 and E7AO spoilers)
If you haven’t read my review of Eureka Seven: AO, here it is in a nutshell: First half was great, second half was a mess with too much plot and not enough clear motivations. The final two episodes, which have finally aired after an annoyingly long hiatus, are actually fine, but make me angrier at the creators than I was before watching them. Not only did this show have a good idea to begin with – the idea was apparently good overall (including all the reveals and ultimate finale concept), but they felt the need to fuck around for about 8-10 episodes in the middle, and then were forced to cram in the entire explanation and pseudo resolution of everything into the last two episodes. In fact, it’s mostly in the last episode, since the one before it is basically more setup (in that sense it reminded me a bit of Trinity Blood – another show that tries to explain everything in the last 5 minutes).
Always uphold the class rules…
(Note: Contains extremely minor spoilers, mostly with regards to the exposition of the story.)
Another is a 12 episode adaptation of the mystery horror novel by Yukito Ayatsuji produced by P.A. Works. In 1998, Kouichi Sakakibara moves from Tokyo to the town of Yomiyama. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father is a college professor doing research in India, so Kouichi is sent to live with his maternal grandparents and attend the ninth grade at his mother’s old junior high. Kouichi is assigned to class 9-3, which turns out to be quite unfortunate.
Tanegashi Accel Impact!
Robotics;Notes is the third anime adaptation of one of the Science Adventure series of Visual Novels by 5pb. and Nitroplus, following Chaos;Head (produced by Madhouse) and Steins;Gate (produced by White Fox). This time they handed the keys to Production I.G, and FUNimation has already licensed it to stream on their website.
Robotics;Notes takes place in 2019, presumably in the same universe as Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate (a bit more on that later), and ostensibly centers on a high school robotics club in danger of losing its club status. Its only two members are the terribly disinterested gamer Kaito and the overenthusiastic club president and mecha freak Akiho, who is obsessed with completing a giant robot that the club has been working on for years. I say "ostensibly" because clearly there is more to this story. All signs point to it being more than just a show about a high school club building a giant robot together. Kaito and Akiho are linked by a mysterious incident in their past and something awfully weird is going on with the world…
