April 11, 2008

Pulpjunkie on the Upcoming "Season"

Though an expert on silver screen obscurity,  Pulpjunkie does not do anime reviews for the most part, and a hand injury has kept him from blogging for some time, but he recently E-mailed, to a mailing list I belong to, this overview of the upcoming shows and I've reprinted it with permission adding you-tubes of the OP's or promos where available.

April is one of the big premiere months for anime TV shows (January, July,
and October are the other 3). and this year is a doozy! Over 30 anime
shows begin this month. The first few fansubs are trickling out, and, as
expected, the harem shows are first. Still, I'll try to give some brief
reviews of first episodes as I watch them.

Browsing the "calendar" section over at anidb.net, I find the following:
8 sequel/returning shows: Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's; Kyou Kara Maou! 3rd series;
3XHolic Kei; Blue Dragon: The Seven Dragons of the Sky; Da Capo II Second Season; Code  Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2; Neo Angelique Abyss; and Hidamari Sketch x 365.

4 shows for children/families: Net Ghost Pipopa (Pokemon-esque); Onegai My Melody Kirara (Hello Kitty-esque); Uchi no 3 Shimai (family comedy); Chi's Sweet Home (something about a kitten); plus two more from the sequel list
(Yu-Gi-Oh and Blue Dragon). This sort of answers Ken's question to me from a couple of months ago regarding whether the little kids have any cartoons to watch over there. Surely there must be some other kids' shows on thatstarted earlier. A quick glance at AniDB's "schedule" section shows me that, yes the little kids are alright: They've got plenty of shows that
don't involve panty shots, improbable cleavage and bloody carnage. It
seems they're still watching  Chibi Maruko-chan, Doraemon, Pokemon, GeGeGe no Kitaro, Sgt. Frog, Crayon Shin-chan, and Pretty Cure plus shows about
cute little ninja, or talking food or something. they got it covered.

2 shoujou school romances: Itazura no Kiss and Special A.

7 scifi war/adventure shows: Allison to Lillia (orphanage pals hunt for
treasure while a war rages around them; Real Drive (more VR hijinks from
Masamune Shirow); Crystal Blaze (near(?) future private eye); Library Wars
(hi, Barb!); Blassreiter (mecha vs. demons); Kaiba (can something be retro
and avant garde at the same time?); and Macross Frontier, of course.

9 contemporary action shows: Kurenai; Zettai Karen Children (trio of
powerful ten-year-old epsers work for government agency; maybe should be
in the kids' section); Soul Eater (shinigami school action; so last year);
Nabari no Ou (ninja action);  Vampire Knight (shoujou vampire romance with guns); Monochrome Factor (Perfectly Ordinary Japanese Teenager chosen to fight shadow demons); Himitsu: the Revelation; Golgo 13 (...); Daughter of 20-Faces (teen girl is daughter of master criminal; based on an Edogawa Rampo character).

2 period action shows; Mugen no Juunin (ronin cursed with immortality
can't die until he slays 1000 evil men); Amatsuki (modern teen trapped in
virtual Edo).

What's left? A few magic girlfriend/harem show love comedies: To-Love-Ru
(alien princess); Kanokon (fox-girl); and Wagaya no Oinara-sama (another
fox-girl; are they this year's shinigami?). Kyouran Kazoku Nikki might fit
here, too. Need more info. Jonjou Romantica is a shounen ai series. Moving
along now... Druaga no To: the Aegis of Uruk is a fantasy adventure/comedy
(not sure about the comedy part; art looks serious; hoping for the best).

Which brings us finally to: Kamen no Maid Guy. Yep, Kamen no Maid Guy. A Perfectly Ordinary Japanese Teenager discovers she's going to inherit a
fortune when she turns 18. In the meantime, she's been assigned a pair of
bodyguard/maids (and I quote): "Fubuki, a young and beautiful maid, and
Kogarashi, a big burly maid guy with a mask." So there you have it.

Plus: Lupin III: Green Vs. Red TV special. Good times.

Any thoughts, sirs and ladies?
T


OK Kamen No Maid Guy is just.....is that not a butler? No! He's in a maid outfit....WTF? I...I....ahem.

I've seen Macross Frontiers' pilot episode and it was remarkably good, indeed better than it should have been. Though there was little more than set-up it certainly has potential to be more than mechaphelia (and it provides ample doses of that). The characters introduced thus far are interesting and a couple were quite likable. The original Macross, despite its near dystopic setting, and the brutal intervention of combats random scythe, always had a surprisingly optimistic feel to it. This story, set on a massive interstellar colony ship has many of the same elements of the first on a grander scale. I look forward to this. It appears that it may be a high budget flagship show that marketing didn't focus group to death.

Looking at the OPs a few things stand out. Onegai My Melody Kirara has a duck in the opening credits and the action show Crystal Blaze has a girl in a duck suit in it. That is important to some people.

Crystal Blaze looks like it could be really interesting if it isn't obtuse, pretentious and boring.... but there is no way of determining that except by watching it. Kurenai; Zettai Karen Children looks really cute and might be enjoyable. It certainly has potential anyway. Druaga no To: the Aegis of Uruk is described as a comedy but looks to be an utterly straight D&D campaign...this could be quite good if it is simply deadpan, but again there is little to go on but hope.
   The one that appeals to me actually is, oddly enough, Soul Eater, yes it is very last year, yes they are throwing in every trope they can including a naked (were?)catgirl, but the opening credits look delightfully manic and it appears that they are having fun with this silly show. I'm going to watch this one sometime this summer.

Lots of stuff....very little of it for me, but I imagine that a 38 year old single male American is not the target audience for these shows.

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