Spring 2011 Anime Initial Impressions

Another day, another late quick impressions post. As with the impressions done last season, Link’s the main author here, and when TheBigN or dm00 post, we’ll indicate it by name and by color.

Winter Anime Season Initial Impressions

Again doing something a little different here, where in this post, some authors of DMAB will note quick impressions and, in some cases, unnecessary snap judgements of some of the shows that start this season. Long post will be long for sure. Since the opinions can be long and unwieldy, various authors will be color-coded to tell them apart (though it probably won’t be for your reading pleasure, now that I think about it), with Link in the normal everyday black, TheBigN’s opinions in reasonable orange, and dm00’s opinions in the other end of the RGB spectrum. Too make this even harder to read for many, pictures might be at a minimum here. Have fun! 😀

A box of goblins, just in time for Halloween

by dm00

Mouryou no hako is based on an award-winning novel by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, who also wrote the novel which gave us Requiem from the Darkness.  Some of the Requiem from the Darkness team has joined in the production of Mouryou no Hako, and I think it shows.  Character designs come from CLAMP, filtered by the able hands of Asako Nishida (who also transmuted Carnelian’s designs in Yami to boushi to hon no tabibito and the equally-cherry-blossomed Touka gettan; and also gave us the breeze-tangled tresses of Simoun).

Come dance in the moonlight and cherry blossoms, reciting bad poetry with me, my Yoriko...

The novel is the second in a series that centers around an antique bookseller who gets involved in solving mysteries.  It was adapted into a live-action film last year.

The show has a delightfully creepy beginning: an encounter between strangers on a train, and one of them has a talking, living head in a box — the perfect beginning for an October ghost story.

TheBigN’s Crappy One/Two-Liner 2008 Fall Preview

As I’ve stated before, I haven’t done these things before because for most of the shows, I don’t know jack about them, so I thought there was no point. Well, I still think there’s no point in the matter, but because I can’t really think of anything else to post about for the moment (and the Hidamari Sketch x365 posts come when subs come, though I’ve already finished the series *tear*), I figured why not show-off my lack of knowledge and not-so-great humor? If you want actual valuable information, see the many other blogs that have the reviews for this season. Otherwise, here are my “brief” thoughts, with a few unrelated pictures because I’m lazy. Yes, it’s that crappy. 😛

Waiting for the upcoming Season 3.

I Am A Happy Sunshine Camper, I Am

Written by TheBigN(andeyanen?!?)

So I recieved this in the mail yesterday (Thank you Yen Press, especially with the Bamboo Blade manga coming in the next year or so. :D):

And upon recieving it, I promptly felt like this:

And no, I won’t stop linking this video. Cause I can’t stop.

Three Quick Spring 2008 Impressions: Flow, Glow, and Not Your Ordinary Status Quo

Written by TheBigN

This season has brought out a lot of entertaining shows, and it makes me wonder if I’ll have enough time to see all that I want to see. When coupling this with the yearly ritual of next to no Internet access (and what is would probably only be 56K, so fun times) during the summertime, it makes for a massive backlog of things to take a look at when school goes back in action (however, things might work out better this time around). And that backlog will probably be increased further by a combination of things that I want to see this summer, such as Hidamari Sketch x365, and the increased difficulty of the second-year of medical school. But enough about what might be, and more about what is. Of the many series that I’m watching and planning to watch (hurry up with Library Wars subs, please), three have stood out early, hooking me in different ways.

Season of Sequels, Black Lagoon and Much, Much more

By NomadOtto

Alright, I realize that I haven’t posted in two yonks, but…. eh, I really have no excuses, other than that Black Lagoon is a pain to read and I wanted to finally beat Rome: Total War (Which I did, mostly because by having sufficient cavalry you have hit the “win button” for every battle except sieges). In this post, I’ll talk about my picks for shows for the new season, but, first, Black Lagoon, well, to be more specific, the Black Lagoon manga. You see, I’d watched Black Lagoon a while ago, and really liked it, so I decided to pick up the manga, which turned out to be one of those things that sounds like a really good idea until you actually get into the meat of it. You see, anime adaptations of manga generally don’t have everything that happens in the manga, and so reading the manga usually gives you a bit of extra material, plus, if you’re familiar with the series from the anime, you can get into the swing of reading stuff easier. However, in other cases, pretty much the entire manga is covered in the anime, and so you’re probably going to be bored by reading it again. The problem with Black Lagoon is that it does have new stuff, it’s just that’s it’s spread throughout the manga, concentrated mostly at the tail end of the books that I got, and my tolerance for reading it is low, because the language is hard. Blah Blah Blah, you don’t care, this isn’t LJ, and you want the review, well, check below, oh my droogs.

In Pursuit of Awesome (A New Season of Reviews)

By Nomad Otto

Alright, the first midterm in the class I’m teaching is over, so I have a break in the grading, moreover, I was a good person, and did a large chunk of my homework over the last couple of days, so I have time to watch things, and, then, now, to write about them. This new season is fairly short on Nomad shows, but heavy on Bign shows, so don’t expect to see lots of positive reviews. Also, though fall is my favorite season, the fact that it’s not flipping cold enough means that I can’t enjoy the main benefit of the colder temperatures, the ability to wear heavier clothes without seeming like a terrorist or thief. Finally, the joys of teaching are somewhat mitigated by the fact that some of my “kids” are lazy sacks of shit, and since my continued funding depends on the mercy of my reviews, both from the prof and from the kids, if they don’t do well, I look bad, and I might have to get a real job.