Yuri to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito

A Shoujo ai centred Weblog

This season’s anime in…well, not a very long post. Really.

Posted on | April 21, 2007 | 26 Comments |

Right, time for me to actually get down to doing some real posting. This season’s anime already looks more promising than last season, simply because of the presence of Mahou shoujo lyrical Nanoha StrikerS and Lucky Star. But what about the other fluff that’s being screened?

Instead of wading through huge preview summary posts or first impressions on multiple sites, I, Yuribou, will attempt to give a full and unbiased (yeah, right) opinion on all of the Spring season!

Hitohira is probably the most promising anime of the season. It seems to be about a shy girl and her attempts to become un-shy through joining drama club and getting into as many girls panties as possible. Well, maybe I did make up that last part. Maybe. Maybe you should watch and find out… Opinion – YES

Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann is something like some kind of mecha anime set underground. It has annoying male lead with blue hair and annoying sidekick with pinpoint eyes. Eye candy is provided by red-haired-girl-in-flame-bikini who reminds me of Revy from Black Lagoon, but this is not enough to offset potentially annoying male leads. Opinion – Fail

Robby and Kerobby looks so generic that its only redeeming feature is that it doesn’t look like any translation group would be stupid enough to pick it up.

Ge ge ge no kitarou also looks terrible, though I have an enormous bias against characters with pinpoint eyes rather than the traditional moemoe variety. Plus it has an old man with a stick wearing what looks like a onepiece bathing suit. Why. WHY? THE HUMANITY! It seems to be the latest remake in the series of this anime, which dates back to the early ’90s. The only question I can ask is why this sort of stuff gets infinite series while Popotan only had 13 episodes. I expect I am the only one asking that question ^_^;; Opinion: Fail

Hayate no Gotoku (Hayate the combat butler) has a great manga to live up to. The main girl is as tsundere as you can generally get, and smacks of ‘Zero Louise’ (though the manga probably predates the Zero no Tsukaima novels.), but Hayate is a pretty cool male lead. Also, it has Onsokumaru of ‘Ninin ga Shinobuden’ fame narrating so even though the first two episodes were soso, it reserves a definite benefit of the doubt. Opinion – reserved.

Heroic Age looks a lot like Gundam Seed Destiny and has huge mechas and the ANN storyline summary seems equally like it was pulled out of the arse of some random passerby on the street outside the anime production office. Seriously people, space + mechas + destiny doesn’t always equal win. In fact, it most often equals Lose. Opinion – FAIL.

Seto no Hanayome has a great storyline concept about being saved and having to marry a mermaid and having to keep it a secret, apparently from sword wielding flat-chested girls, mischeivous lolis, a spiky haired martial-artist wannabe and the quiet-girl-who-isn’t-what-she-seems. The character designs are great and the sword girl is extremely moe but has a long way to go to being Shana. Opinion – Probable win.

| Teenage Mutant EVIL Turtles…Really.

I have always had a bit of beef with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for two reasons: one, that in the UK they were always called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, but the Americans changed the name because it wasn’t “cool” enough, and two, that the new animations have omitted one thing – their pupils. I know it’s a small thing, but the absence of the pupils in their eyes makes them look infinitely more, well, evil. When they were the original TMHT, they were saviours of the weak and looked like heroes – now they look kinda like evil doers turned good. That said though, Splinter always looks infinite cool. Opinion – because of Splinter – instant win.

Touka Gettan looks very pretty, because its designs are done by Carnelian, the group behind Yami to boushi to hon no Tabibito, and as such are awesome. However, the first episode was nothing short of completely incomprehensible.
Opinion – one more episode to become understandable

| I wouldn’t trust Arika with that gun, really…

El Cazador de la Bruja looks rather good, simply because of the gun toting girl with the Arika Yumemiya hair. I am such a sucker for gun-girls. Anyways, two girls as the main characters to every episode? I smell yuri subtext in there somewhere… Opinion – pending yuri subtext

Out of principle, I am avoiding Idol Master XENOGLOSSIA because of the mecha and the Idolmaster connections. Similarly, sugarbunnies. Erm, no.

Kiss-dum – ENGAGE PLANET- suffers from the “stupidest title this season” award, but otherwise fails to impress – yet another military/mecha anime set in space with young children? Fail please.

CLAYMORE has another swordtoting girl, but the choice of broadsword over katana is not necessarily a good choice, moe-wise. The anime looks good, if lacking in fanservice ^_^. Careful of taking yourself too seriously, Claymore…
Over-Drive is about cycling. Hmm. Lose until proven otherwise, methinks.

Oh! Edo Rocket has a similar silly name problem and has a main character with what looks like a hand held cannon made out of reeds. Smacks of One Piece. Shounen is not really my bag, but has potential to be cool. Opinion – Looks like shounen – blergh.

Saint Beast is being subbed by aarinfantasy which inevitably means that it contains yaoi. Also, the preview picture contains 6 bishounen and only two girls. Who could be men. With long hair. No more yaoi on my site please ^_^

| Come, join our yuri harem. Really.

Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku looks nice, character design wise, and it has a blonde with twintails, which is always win in my book. However, there is no summary in ANN, so I am at a loss as to what it is actually about. Opinion – try it, likely to be pretty but boring.

Wellber no Monogatari is another anime by Avex Mode and so is accordingly pretty and shot in sepia tones. Yet another gun toting female, but not as moe as El Cazador, so this one might well be worth giving a go as well (OVA)

Shinkoku Soukai Polyphonica seems to be an anime about singing and has some great looking character designs, one girl who looks like a gothloli cross between Vita from Nanoha and Rabi-en-Rose, and the other one who looks like a clone of Cornelia from Code Geass. Accordingly, it looks rather good. Who said I had a shallow taste in anime ^_^

Nagasarete Airantou is this seasons harem anime of choice, with girls to suit all tastes, including mikos, lolis, twintails, ninjas and girls with big hair ribbons. Definitely worth a gander at the very least.

Romeo x Juliet has been hailed as the “worst Shakespeare adaptation in the history of the world ever” and according to love, contains lots of characters that aren’t actually in Romeo and Juliet, not to mention that I generally dislike Shakespeare anyway (with the notable exception of Twelfth Night) Accordingly, I will not be partaking in this one.

Gigantic Formula is mecha and therefore fail until proven otherwise as is Koutetsu Shin Jeeg

DARKER THAN BLACK looks interesting, and the main character reminds me of Hollow Ichigo from Bleach, but significantly more boring and with a much smaller sword (and accordingly bigger pen0r). Worth trying out if you like dark horror types (not enough moe and yuri for my tastes, I’m afraid)

Koutetsu Sankokushi Has a protagonist with a big spiky thing on one arm. Yay. Behind him are scary woman with brush on her head and white-haired-enemy-who-always-looks-smug. Lose I think.

I’ve read the manga to Kamichama Karin and it is cute as buttons. The anime is likewise nauseatingly cute and its from the artist responsible for Pita-ten, Shoujoai.com’s pet anime. Definitely worth a shot for the possible yuri, if not just for the fact that she is so cute that everything else in your life will seem ugly in comparison.

Sola is a supernatural anime about ghosts that steal from vending machines and a photography otaku that gets up at 4am to take pictures of the sea. Fortunately, the ghost is a cute girl, otherwise the anime wouldn’t even be worth watching in the first place. Might be worth a try, but I’ll be skipping this one, I think.

| Catgirls, dragons, headwings, headbands and heterochromia. What more could you want. Really.

Shining Tears x Wind looks cool as it has a dragon and wing-eared girls like Utawarerumono but the summary on ANN contains so much world hopping I get afraid that the first episode will be as incomprehensible as Touka Gettan. Worth a look, maybe, especially if you like fantasy storylines.

Emily of New moon has yucky character designs so I won’t be touching this one with the proverbial barge pole. Seirei no Moribito looks a lot like spirited away, but with spear wielding Mai-clones (unfortunately, it’s been licensed). The art in BLUE DRAGON makes me weep that anyone could ever pass this sort of stuff off as anime.

Lovecon has Nana like character designs and is about love. Love accordingly points out that it can’t be as cool as Nana, since there is no rock music and no cool Nana. Take of that what you will. I will not be partaking unless other bloggers prove me otherwise.

Terra e is about space (again) and smacks a little of Stellvia – the Earth has been long since left and the human race is now controlled by a supercomputer that decides births and stuff. But some people want to return home. At least, I think, this anime should win the “up its own arse” prize for this season. Interesting enough to warrant a look, though.

Bokurano is Triad’s new pet series and is competing with Terra e for up it’s own arseness. As always, the Earth is under attack and the only people who can save it are a group of young boys and girls. Why are they the only ones who can save the Earth? Why are anime always fixated on high school kids? Why should I even care? These answers and more, after the break.

Kaze no Stigma is the final one in “sword-wielding girl” anime this season and features what can only be described as an all-growed-up Shana clone complete down to the red hair and washboard chest. The anime does look a lot less serious though and more fanservicey so is definitely worth giving a chance. I’ve noticed that I’ve stopped giving opinions – this is because I have let this post go on far too long and I’m getting bored…

Ookiku Furikkabute is about baseball and suffers pinpoint eyes syndrome. Enough said. Spider Riders is about girls who ride spiders. Hmm. Best avoid methinks.

AIka-R16 Virgin mission is the latest in the Agent Aika series, if I remember correctly. Not only does this OVA include hawt robot girls, one of which has a gravity defying rack, but they boast an impressive arsenal…of guns, I mean.

Skullman looks rather awesome, if not a little Western in animation style. In fact, the main character reminds us of Ghost Rider…no summary though, so try before you buy, kids.
For the closet paedophiliacs out there, we have Denno coil – a circle of children. The storyline reminds a little of .hack, with the internet and exploring the virtual environment, but the sepia tones and loli kids don’t really jar well with my taste. Try at your peril

Last but by no means least, the Devil may cry anime. Do I have to say anything about this? Go try it if you liked the games, of course, but I woudn’t be expecting anything amazing.

And finally I come to the end of the post. Hmm, that was a lot longer than I thought…definitely worth a rest for a few days if you don’t mind ^_^. Hope that it’s useful to people, though.

Mata ne

Category: Anime, Editorials, First look

Comments

26 Responses to “This season’s anime in…well, not a very long post. Really.”

  1. Karry
    April 21st, 2007 @ 5:37 pm

    “in the UK they were always called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, but the Americans changed the name because it wasn’t “cool” enough”

    Heh, learn the facts, unless you want to look stupid (like now).

  2. Dr. Slump
    April 21st, 2007 @ 6:05 pm

    FYI:

    Ge Ge Ge No Kitarou is based on a 1950’s manga by Shigeru Mizuki.

    Terra E is based on a 1970’s manga by Keiko Takemiya.

  3. Hinano
    April 21st, 2007 @ 6:39 pm

    I hate to disappoint you…but there is no yuri in Kamichama Karin….despite the fact that Himeka somewhat resembles Tomoyo :P

  4. boo
    April 21st, 2007 @ 6:59 pm

    gurren lagann is not set underground, did you even watch past half the first episode?

  5. tman
    April 21st, 2007 @ 7:15 pm

    worst blog ever?? this idiot seems to like only yuri and loli shows… he basically hates all the good shows… baka…

  6. Adam
    April 21st, 2007 @ 7:20 pm

    Bokurano is based on an extremely dark (and rather good) manga, so IMHO it deserves a little watching just to see how much of it they can get away with on broadcast TV… Yuri potential is a big zero, though.

    As for Romeo x Juliet, if you’re looking for an accurate retelling of Shakespeare then run, don’t walk. In spite of that, so far it’s been by far the most entertaining show of the season. Seriously. (Of course, Gonzo may still do their usual botched ending, but you can’t have it all.)

  7. Dop
    April 21st, 2007 @ 7:33 pm

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were only known as Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles in the UK because of the stupid, stupid, STUPID regulations that put a ban on everything Ninja related.
    They even had to edit out the nunchuks.

    I blame Thatcher.

  8. meows
    April 21st, 2007 @ 7:41 pm

    Koutetsu Sankokushi. That “scary woman with brush on her head” is actually a guy. Sun Quan to be exact. The “white-haired-enemy-who-always-looks-smug” is Zhuge Liang and the protagonist is Lu Xun… in short its ROTK on crack. ^_^ Tough I’m surprised aarinfantasy are not the ones subbing it.

  9. love
    April 21st, 2007 @ 7:42 pm

    heh – was that sarcasm tman? cos everyone knows the world loves yuri, almost as much as it loves loli. and good is almost always synonymous with boring.

    As for RomeoxJuliet – well I want to watch it, so Yuribou may well watch at least an episode.

    boo – no we havent seen first episodes for most of these shows yet, we are just judging the proverbial book by its cover.

  10. Yuribou
    April 21st, 2007 @ 9:11 pm

    Lol, I log on later to find that all the comments were just corrections to what I’ve said…

    I apologise for the misquoting for TMHT – It was something that went uncorrected in my childhood…

    Also, thank you Hinano – I shall still watch Kamichama Karin though, just for the cuteness overload.

    Thank you for the various FYIs

  11. Mephistopheles
    April 22nd, 2007 @ 3:49 am

    When will they make “Super Mecha Loli Orgy the Animation”? the 26-episode of pure mecha action powered by loli-tetacle-blowjob-titjob-footjob-enema-lightbondage-yuri-rape-watersports-guro-scat-furry-futanari-vore-moemoe-goodness???
    With Mother Suiseiseki and Gin-chan’s loli yuri love as protagonists?
    It will be instant win..
    Instant will I tell you >:3

  12. rocket
    April 22nd, 2007 @ 6:14 am

    Wow, nice job!

    Tho’ now I think I just had to add a few more to my queue… ;_;

    I’ve only seen the first 3 minutes of Engage Planet but that opening scene was quite brilliant IMO. Bokurano also does look good to me, but I’m quite happy to have world saved by kids in robots – who else has the reflexes after all?

    You might check out Rocket Girls – with three space cadets (pun intended) there’s at least a possibility of Yuri!

  13. Yuribou
    April 22nd, 2007 @ 10:14 am

    Is that not “Sky Girls” as subbed by Ryoumi? Or am I thinking of a different series?

  14. MisterX
    April 22nd, 2007 @ 2:24 pm

    Yuribou, you should really give a try to bokurano. I’ve read manga, and its really awesome stuff – its more psycho than mecha.. only flaw is that pilots are 13yo teens, because later in series they will have problems like sexual abuse, killing and such.. definitely worth watching, if you like psychodramas :)

    (didnt saw anime yet, though i clicked trough chinese sub of first ep..)

  15. Hakaisha
    April 22nd, 2007 @ 11:46 pm

    Although I’m sure I’ll disagree with most of Yuribou’s opinions, I do appreciate putting all these links in one place. Thanks.

    Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles, what a crack up. I feel bad for all the British children robbed of the true NINJA power =)

  16. AmexYohko
    April 23rd, 2007 @ 1:08 am

    None of them suit to my taste.

    I better sticks to the older ones.

  17. Zzz...
    April 23rd, 2007 @ 2:49 am

    …good luck with Touka Gettan…the only chance you’ll ever get to understanding it is if you watch the whole thing…if even then…commit or just give up…

    …El Cazador de la Bruja is made by the people who made Noir and Madlaxative…they are completely horrible at depicting yuri relations and subtexts in a satisfying way…prepare to be frustrated…

    …DARKER THAN GGOTH is the most pretentious pile of steaming scat to come this way in a while now…I’d avoid it…

    …Kaze no Stigma…ENOUGH ALREADY PEOPLE!!!…the 1st episode had me wanting to smash my fist repeatedly into the faces of everyone of the introduced characters…and wind trump fire…the only thing I can say is that although the show is a girl with sword whore…at least it isn’t another katana…

    …so ninja referances are censored in England are they…I wish they did that here in the States…

  18. rocket
    April 23rd, 2007 @ 3:07 am

    Sky Girls was the loli-tacular Mecha Masamune inspired OAV that came out last year. Cute girls, catgirl plugsuits, nice destroyer, semi-cool mecha, generic monsters, retarded action, and a romantic b-plot that is illegal in most industrialized nations.

    Rocket Girls id Honiamase (or the Right Stuff) crossed with Kiki’s Delivery Service (or Kamichu sans the magic). A relatively realistic portrayal of a manned space program, only the astronauts are teenage Japanese girls – see my site for slightly more plot detail. Since there are no teenage boys on the island, there really is only one other place for (age appropriate) romantic complications! ^_^

  19. Haruchin
    April 23rd, 2007 @ 12:39 pm

    Nice job, Yuribou! And boo to everyone just complaining – that’s a great resource, right there!

    Rocket, you’ve just sold Rocket Girls to me. Wasn’t even considering looking it up until now. Heading to d/l…

    Other stuff – Hayate is actually rather good fun. Not blow-your-socks-off awesome, but a good watch.

    Nagasarete Airantou – I’m loving, but just because of Akane. Whoever decided to cast Ichigo Mashimaro’s Chika as a slightly insane, revenge-obsessed shrine maiden did a wonderful wonderful thing.

    Romeo x Juliet – Hardly anything to do with Shakespeare’s play (aside from the names and the basic romantic entanglement), but is great. Love the sword-wielding Juliet.

    El Cazador de whatsit – Underwhelming. Liked Noir, was annoyed by Madlax… not sure I’m going to have the patience for this one.

  20. heavens lolipop
    April 25th, 2007 @ 12:47 am

    *ish glad he grew up with the classic turtles*

    Come one day imma sell all those ninja turtle action figures and come up big bucks youll see…itll be worth it.

    That aside, thanks much for the post…i was wondering which of the new seasons anime i should check out or not..ones that ive seen on my own people have already mentioned, honorably or not xD

    watching: bokurano, hitohira, gigantic formula, lovcom and hayate combat butler obviously..

    Don’t recommend kaze no stigma, the shana wannabe girl doesnt sit well with me *stabs*…also i want to see RxJ just because anime style Shakespeare sounds kinda interesting.

    Also I saw Touka Gettan, and I noticed on anidb that the parent story is this one h-anime Faceless Moon…or Moonlight Lady out here. Guess I just have to wait to find out what the hell could possibly be the relation between the two…until then, signing out…^^

  21. Anastasios
    May 17th, 2007 @ 12:13 pm

    Nice

  22. Alexandros
    May 17th, 2007 @ 4:49 pm

    Nice!

  23. Efstathios
    May 22nd, 2007 @ 9:00 am

    Sorry :(

  24. Dimitrios
    June 6th, 2007 @ 10:01 pm

    Cool.

  25. Solon
    June 11th, 2007 @ 3:00 am

    Cool…

  26. Valerios
    June 20th, 2007 @ 3:57 am

    Interesting…

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