It’s new anime season time, and what new season would be complete without random fans talking about their opinions? Well, possibly more enjoyable, but what the heck. Before I begin I should mention that all my knowledge about what’s new comes from whatever series have had their first episodes fansubbed in the last week or so (and are easy to download), so I’ll certainly miss a few and may even be including something that doesn’t belong. Oh well.
Let’s go (in more or less alphabetical order)!
AIR MASTER: This looks like one of those mostly mindless but still entertaining fighting shows (see also Flame of Recca and Get Backers), although the powers look to be less otherworldly and more Street Fighterish. It gets huge bonus points for having the main character be female (something I’ve wanted to see for a while) and huge minus points for including a shrill annoying craybaby (she breaks into tears when she loses at those UFO catcher games!). The fighting is good though (and even a bit Naruto-ish, with all those contortions and jumping), and if you’ll like this show that’s probably the only thing you really need to know.
DEMON DETECTIVE LOKI RAGNAROK: I thought this would be about a detective who was also a demon, but instead it’s about a detective who is also a little kid but who hunts demons. This show would be a lot better if the kid had any sort of powers or ghost-hunting ability other than blind luck and a CCS-style rod. It’s not really bad, but it’s not all that interesting either, although since it was only the first episode, maybe it’ll get better.
DNANGEL: For a mildly contrived girly thief show, this isn’t really that bad. Oh, let’s be honest: it’s weird and shoujo-y and I still like it. In fact, I could rattle off a whole list of its flaws and that doesn’t change the fact that I actually enjoy the thing. Well, I like the manga anyway, but by the second episode the TV show has either completely diverged from the manga or is mixing in bits and pieces from past volume three. Also, the show seems to have changed some of the rules about Daisuke’s shape changing. Oh well.
E’s OTHERWISE: Don’t you miss those days when the title of a show told you something about it? Or when the title even made ANY SENSE AT ALL? Anyway, this is about a bunch of psychic cops working for a benevolent corporation that controls a good chunk of the world and obviously has everyone’s best interests at heart. And if you believe that, I have the proverbial bridge to sell you. It looks like the main character will realize that he’s working for the bad guys before much longer though. As for quality, it’s fairly good, but the first two episodes seem to be little more than glorified background before the real meat of the story starts (main character versus evil corporation). I’ll have to see how it turns out.
LAST EXILE: A dark and gritty story about what looks like the civil war fought with airships. I liked it a lot, and although I have no idea where it’s going I’m pretty sure it’s going there in style. At first glance, I thought this was Bones’ new project. You know, the Cowboy Bebop and Wolf’s Rain Bones. Funny thing is, it’s really from GONZO. You know, the guys who usually make stuff like Gatekeepers or Real Bout High School (although to be fair, they’re also responsible for some things like Hellsing or Blue Sub 6). And Bones? Well, they’re responsible for…
SCRAPPED PRINCESS: The titicular princess is a fifteen year old girl who is a bit selfish and spoiled, but also kind and generally nice. Unfortunately, she it’s been fortold by a presumably accurate oracle that she will destroy the world when she turns sixteen. This, rather predicably, causes pretty much everyone around to try and kill her, from farmers to priests to old friends. She is being protected by her adoptive older brother (swordsman) and sister (mage), with the usual promise to kill her if she really is going to destroy the world. I really like the tone in this show, and it’s somewhat similar to Cowboy Bebop: when things are light it’s cheerful without turning into something like Slayers, and when things get serious it becomes darker but without turning into a full blown angstfest (coughcough X coughcough). It’s fair to say that I’m going to be following this one pretty closely.
NARUE NO SEKAI: Which translates as World of Narue. This is the weird insane one for this season. Narue is a strange girl who happens to be an alien. She makes no attempt to hide it: she even has a door plate that reads “Galactic Federation.” Of course, no one really believes her, except the male lead, who picks up a cute little puppy outside her appartment and then it turns into a SLAVERING EVIL SPACE MONSTER! He almost loses his head, but Narue comes up to bat for him (pun intended). This leaves the guy rather flumoxed, but by the end of the episode he and she are boyfriend and girlfriend. Well, after an encounter with a space ninjia (just like a normal ninja, but from space! Oh, and also incompitent and ugly). The biggest problem is that it tries to be as serious as it is funny, and ends up being not much of either. I’ll reserve judgement for an episode or two to see how it ends up though.
STELLVIA OF THE UNIVERSE: It’s time for kids in space! Specifically, ten year old girls in space (I’m estimating their age because, if it was ever given, I don’t remember). It’s light and generally okay, but it hasn’t really done anything that particularly impresses me either. A decent way to kill an hour or so if you can tolerate excessive sacharine, and it may even turn out to be something better a few more episodes down the line.
There you go, it’s done. Well, done to my satisfaction. I’ll post another update if something turns out far different from my expectations.