March 30, 2004
Maria-sama ga Miteru
Maria-sama ga Miteru (Lady Mary is Watching Over Us) has easily become one of my favorite shows of the recent season. I stumbled upon it when new episodes were coming out and stared watching knowing nothing about it. 20 minutes later I was hooked. The show takes place at the Lilian private boarding school for girls and revolves around a first year student named Yumi. One tradition on campus is that older students will take a first year as their little sister, and that is what most of the story revolves around. The show has a nice leisurely quality to it and the main character can be just so much fun to watch. The animation is also beautiful, definitely one of the more nicely animated shows I've seen. I give it two thumbs up. My only complaint about the series is that I just finished watching episode 12 and discovered it is only going to be 13 episodes.
March 29, 2004
March 26, 2004
R.O.D. TV news and mini-review
Word from Geneon is that the Limited Edition version of the R.O.D. TV box will be sweet. From AnimeonDVD.com:
The LE version will not be a traditional Artbox. Instead, it will be a faux-leather book with DVD trays instead of pages with room for the rest of the ROD the TV series. Both the LE DVD Book (as we will refer to it) and the regular edition will ship with limited edition two-sided pencil boards that feature the artwork from the R2 cards. [AnimeonDVD.com]
Very slick. I didn't know until a day or two ago that this was coming out so soon over here, and now this news? I'm psyched. This has ended up being one of my favorite shows of the past year or two. I loved Read or Die and was a bit nervous about R.O.D. TV when I first heard about it. But the show just plain rocks. It takes place a number of years after the OVA (six I believe) and focuses on three sisters who are paper users and Yomiko Readman's best friend, Nenene Sumiregawa. Yomiko Readman has been missing for a number of years, having vanished sometime after the OVA. The show has a different feeling than the original series (which I found to be kind of like a summer blockbuster action movie). The storyline is a bit slower paced, having to spread things out over 26 episodes, but it still can pack quite a punch when it wants to. The characters in the show are wonderful and I have decided that the tallest sister, Maggie, is my favorite. She's quiet, likes to read, and likes being in small enclosed spaces, so she sleeps in a closet under the stairs (kinda like Harry Potter, but it's smaller I think). And the show also had a pretty decent ending, something that is too often missing from anime.
So I give this show two big thumbs up and a bunch of stars. I loved it. If NewTypeUSA has episode one coming up sometime soon I definitely suggest checking it out. This is one release I'll be getting the day it comes out on DVD over here.
March 18, 2004
Just When I Thought
Just when I thought I couldn't be surprised by the plots in anime shows one comes along and smacks me silly. I was reading Anime-Empire's web site and came across this:
Midori no Hibi - Midori's Day
Sawamura Seiji is a 17 year old high school student. He is good at fighting and is feared by all the students. His one weakness is that he is terrible with romance. He is known for his right fist, whose punch can knock out anyone.
Due to his bad reputation, he spends his youth without a girlfriend. At the peak of his loneliness, he wishes for a girlfriend. At the same time he makes his wish, a voice shoots trough his head saying "really?!" and before he realizes, a girl wakes up on top of him.
On top of his right arm where his right hand should be that is!
She introduces herself as Kasugano Midori. She's attending another school, but has been in love with him from childhood. Even though this strange event has happened she still believes in herself and in her love for Seiji as his "Right hand lover." From that day forward Seiji and Midori live a strange, amusing and secretive life together.
Based on a popular manga, look forward to this exciting new romance comedy with the same type of humor as Tenshi na Konamaiki ^_^
I really want to know what drugs they are on over there, because it sounds like they must be really good. I found some copies of the manga and am going to check it out I think.
March 05, 2004
Thoughts on the Hikaru no Go Special
I just got done watching the Hikaru no Go 2004 special and dammit now I want more. When the TV show's run finished it felt like it had run its course and it was time for it to be over. I thought the last chunk of episodes were a little bit weak. But the special has given me hope that someday we might get some more. One or two brief comments hidden in the full post so as not to spoil people.
One of the things that blew me away about the special were the matches that Hikaru and Akira had in the middle of the special. I found the whole thing very powerful, especially in reminding us that these two really are just kids and that the older players really are that much better than they are. It really gave me hope of there being more story to be told in a new series. And of course, we still have this tournament coming up that I hope we see someday.