July 29, 2003
About Time
(Crossposted to the anime blog).
I'm not sure when this happened, but it must have been somewhat recently (correction: it looks like it happened back in February, I really am behind the times). Anime News Network now has an RSS feed. Now we just need Anime on DVD to put one up (I'll help if they want).
July 28, 2003
Death, Mayhem, and Moments of What the Fuck?
As usual, some random thoughts on episodes are hidden behind the more. There's some great stuff in this batch. Stellvia, Scrapped Princess, Naruto, and Narutaru. All of which had great episodes recently. Though the one that I think struck me the most was Narutaru. So read on. There's not too much here for spoilers, but there are some here and there.
Starting things out is Scrapped Princess 15. Things are getting quite interesting. Though the premise isn't completely original, I really like how they are handling things. Especially how Pacifica and her brother and sister are handling finding out about humanity and its past. In short, they just can't fully comprehend it. Though they get parts of it. I'm kind of curious as to how magic will be explained exactly. Since things are now known to be technology based instead of magic I'm really wondering how it gets explained. And of course, this episode leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger.
Next up, Stellvia 16. Holy heck did things take a turn here. The tension with the unidentified space ships had been heating up the last few episodes, but I really wasn't prepared for things to get this intense this fast. The screams of the pilots as they died was almost too much. Assuming there are at 8-10 episodes left there's a lot of room for interesting things to happen. Let's hope we get to see Shipon kick some ass next episode.
Naruto 42. The Sakura vs Ino fight. I'd read this in the manga and loved it. It was so great to see it come to life on the show. I thought it was handled perfectly.
Narutaru 3. Holy Heck. What is up with this show? We've got one character getting the crap beat out of her by one of these dragon creatures. The other character is given a knife to help her slit her wrists by that dragon's owner. Then there's people getting impaled on dragons (dragonets?). I have no idea what is going on, but I'm definitely getting sucked into this show. I've decided to wait for at least twelve episodes or so before starting to hunt down the manga. I'm enjoying being surprised.
July 23, 2003
Boys Be
Elthar pointed me at Boys Be a few weeks ago saying that he thought I might like it. I downloaded the first few and finally got around to watching it recently. Today I got through watching episode 8 and I have to say I really like this show. It's primarily about these three guys and their relationships, though primarily focuses on Kanzaki Kyoichi (or at least seems to at this point). I think what I found the most interesting from this is that they seemed to really get a lot of the whole high school guy experience, the good and the bad. The characters are far from perfect, they screw up left and right. The whole show just feels very real. This is one of those shows that I'd love to see licensed, but I'm really not sure if it would be (which means someone will announce it soon). I definitely recommend giving it a look.
July 20, 2003
Weekend Watching
Whew. It's been a busy weekend so I didn't get to watch as much as I'd hoped I would. I did get to catch a few really good things though. Specifically Naruto, Wolf's Rain, and Scrapped Princess. Details after the link (for those who don't want to be spoiled).
Naruto 41: The beginning of the Sakura vs Ino fight. I'd been waiting for this one after reading it in the manga. So good. I think they really got the feel of things right.
Wolf's Rain 24: Okay, so I think they are making up for the recap episodes. At least to me. Things here are definitely heating up. We learn a bit about the past. And set up stuff for the next episode or two. I read that this is due to be a 30 episode series, but I haven't seen any confirmation of that. I hope it is true.
Scrapped Princess 14: And the best for last. This show keeps building things up. We get a bit more detail about how the world got to where it is. Things look like they are going to be getting more intense here. Pacifica is also finally starting to show a bit more backbone, which is a welcome change. She has a tendency to be a bit too whiny. Episodes of this just can't come out fast enough.
July 19, 2003
Norse Mythology Question
So I was watching Loki and Skoll just showed up. Loki explains that Hati and Skoll chase the moon and the sun. And eclipses happen when one of them swallows the one they are chasing. So my question is this: When the eclipse is over does that mean that the wolf coughed it up? Or that it made a very quick trip through its digestive system?
July 18, 2003
Now Syndicated to LiveJournal
I set up a feed for this blog over on LiveJournal. If you're using LJ you can subscribe to 'nonameanimeblog' and it should set you all up. Please remember that comments left over there do not get mirrored back over here, so click through to the article and give it a read (which you will want to do anyways since only excerpts of posts are sent over there).
Onegai Twins - First Impressions
Even though Anime Blog Muyo! beat me to the punch with a review I'll post my comments on the show here now that I've had a chance to watch it through a second time. I'd been nervously awaiting the first episode of Onegai Twins for a while. I really enjoyed Onegai Teacher, but had been fairly disappointed with what they did for the special 'bonus OVA episode'. It was like they took everything that made the show special and threw it out the window and tried to do more straight comedy. When I heard there was going to be another series I was hoping that it would feel more like the original show, but not like the OVA. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed at all. I hopefully won't say much spoilerish here, it's only the first episode, so there really isn't a lot to knowingly spoil.
As with most first episodes we get tossed into things without knowing everything that's going on. We've got a teenage boy, Maiku, who seems to be living on his own with no parents in sight (gosh, where have we heard that before). He's living in the same town the first show took place in, and we even get nice cameo appearances by Mizuho and Ichigo when he is at school. Next there is Miina, who has been hitchhiking to get to town after seeing the house she grew up in on a news report about UFOs. This house is (of course) also where Maiku is living. And last but not least we've got Karen, who is taking a train to the town for the same reason as Miina (as far as I can tell).
That's about all there is to the first episode. There's more details that I'll leave for anyone watching to see. There's one other cameo, but I'm still not quite sure if it is a cameo yet. I'm sure we'll find out in a week or so. If you liked Onegai Teacher definitely check this out. It rocks.
July 15, 2003
Guilty Pleasures
Lately there are a couple of shows I've just been enjoying way more than I feel I should. I think it's because I'm just not expecting much from them, so when they amuse me I'm quite happy. The first is E's Otherwise. I'm really not quite sure what to say about this show. It started off seeming much more series (and still has serious moments here and there), but for the most part it's a light action show. Plus, as I've mentioned before, the opening song is hopelessly addicting to me.
The other is Matantei Loki - Ragnarok. It's another show that while not stellar tends to have lots of goofy moments that I just enjoy watching. It's like candy. Not that filling, but fun while you're enjoying it. In some ways I wish there were a couple more shows like this. It's nice to have shows that are just fun to watch without a lot of deep plot sometimes.
July 14, 2003
Narutaru First Impressions
In the past week or so I've watched the first two episodes of Narutaru. I really didn't know too much about this show to start out. There'd been a blurb in NewType USA about it, and that was it. But I seen to remember it sounded interesting enough to pick up an episode or two. For now I'm hooked. It's about this girl named Tamai Shiina who meets this weird star shaped creature during her summer vacation and it becomes friends with her and comes home with her. The show is fairly cute, but with the introduction of one of the characters in the second episode the show definitely shows a bit of depth and that it isn't afraid to be a little dark here and there.
Supposedly, this is based on a popular manga, so I'll have to see what I can dig up about that. I definitely think this one is worth giving a look see.
July 13, 2003
July 10, 2003
anime anime
Over the holiday weekend i watched a ton of anime
Stellvia 1-13
Gundam Seed 1-38
Tenshi na mainiki
Scrapped Princess
Ultra Maniac
Lupin Movie First Contact
Stellvia RULES. I like the character designs and story a lot. Kids trying their best to do well always gets to me. i watch this for pleasure and entertainment.
I am not a Gundam fan but the relentless viewing of 38 episodes in a weekend did get to me. I'm going to keep watching this one to see how it ends. The captain looks kinda like Misato. Woo woo.
Ultra Maniac is cute. I like Yoshizumi Wataru's storytelling and artwork starting with Marmalade Boy. Ultra Maniac had cute girls in it but was a little too Magical Girlie for me to want to devote time watching it. Greg wore me down though so now I am resigned to my fate to keep watching this show. Did I mention how cute it is? It's really REALLY cute.
Yesterday I watched Stellvia 14 and of course enjoyed it, wondering where the story is going. Then I watched Last Exile 14 and realized how high I hold Last Exile in regard. Last Exile is like me putting my psyche aside and just totally be immersed into the Last Exile Universe. This is going to be one of my lifetime favorites. The sensation of flying, the backstory just hinted at, the plot at stake, the character interactions...
Maybe it's just because I'm starting to learn how to fly but i just get so into Last Exile. LAST EXILE RULES!!!!!
All The World's a Stage
I just got through episode eight of Kaleido Star and I'm really enjoying it a lot. It's the story of Naekino Sora, a 16 year old girl who has come to America to join the Kaleido Stage. The Stage does all kinds of performances that seem to center around acrobatics. The show itself is one of those shows that is just fun to watch. I don't know that there is anything really groundbreaking about it, but it is just done very well. GONZO did the animation and it is some of their best work yet. Most of the time it's hard to believe it's all done on computer. It's also interesting seeing the range they have with their work when comparing it to other shows they are doing currently, like Last Exile. Oh yeah, and there's this strage supernatural creature in the show called the Fool of the Stage or something like that. Only Sora can see him and he seems to be there mostly to try and see her showering.
Anyways, check it out. I'm sure it will be showing up in the states soon enough since I believe ADV helped in producing it.
July 05, 2003
Anime Expo news
Wow, lots of news coming out of Anime Expo about licensed shows (check out Anime on DVD for more details). Shows I'm interested in that have been licensed: Wolf's Rain (Bandai), .hack//Legend of Twilight's Bracelet (Bandai), Narue no Sekai (CPM), Gunparade March (Media Blasters), Azumanga Movie (ADV), Rahxephon Movie (ADV), Nurse Witch Komugi-Chan (ADV) (YAAAAY! We like Komugi-chan), Texhnolyze (Pioneer), and Read or Dream (Pioneer) (What?? It hasn't even aired yet has it?!). The other thing I'm psyched about is ADV will be publishing manga from the sound of it, with one title interesting me in particular: Azumanga Daioh.
Oh, and the best line from the news on AX over at AOD: "According to some of the information, the upcoming Urotsukidoji OVA series (the new one) is the first hentai to be released in 5.1 sound." Um, ew?
We're Back!
I finally got everything set back up on the new server and hope to be posting more soon. I've been trying to catch up on everything coming out. I finished watching Shaman King. I thought the ending was decent, but I'd love to see more story at a later point. I've also been enjoying Stellvia, Last Exile, Naruto, and Scrapped Princess quite a bit. More soon!