Winter Anime 2009 Picks
I'm crazy late with this, since its just two weeks or so until the Spring Season Anime will be out. Honestly, this should've been done in December, but I just didn't feel like it. Oh well. No more excuses, onto the list, huh? First of all, here's what we're working with, as far as the full season:
Akikan
Synopsis: Kakeru Daichi buys a can of melon juice soda from a vending machine, which then suddenly transforms into a girl that he nicknames "Melon". Other "Akikan" ("empty can") girls appear, however they need to be infused with carbon dioxide from kissing to survive.
Opinion: I make no excuses. This series sounds downright vapid. But, the girls look cute, and every now and then I like to watch a series and just veg out. I'd call it a guilty pleasure, except I'm a man who proudly admits he's a Sentai fan. Its possible I'm past the concept.
Going past five episodes? ...Why? I've got better stuff to get with my (very) limited bandwidth.
Asu no Yoichi!
Synopsis: A boy swordsman, Yoichi and his father stays in the mountains training for his descent into the city. Yoichi comes down to lodge with four beautiful sisters. A new, more severe "training" awaits him.
Opinion: Most typical series of the season. Swords, schools, dojos, and a cast of girls consisting of the "normal" and sweet girl, a tsundere, a loli, and the implied nymph wearing glasses. And yet, I'm watching. Why? Well, better a bunch of entertaining cliches than original ideas that I'm positive will put me to sleep. (See: RideBack.)
Will I go past five episodes? Well, its only 12 episodes in all, so yeah why not?
Shikabane-Hime: Gen
Synopsis: Makina Hoshimura is a Shikabane--people who cheat death due to a strong dying wish. With her contractor, she is given the task of hunting and killing other Shikabane who endanger humans.
Opinion: Same as Shikabane-Hime: Aka, really. I'd love to try this series, but I'm much too busy using my currently meager bandwidth on more important shit.
Will I go past five episodes? N/A.
Slayers Evolution-R
Synopsis: Having lost the Sword of Light, Lina and Gourry continue to search for a replacement weapon. They meet Amelia and Zelgadis in the kingdom of Luvinagard, but appearing before her is Luvinagard's Inspector of the Special Investigative Unit; a man called Wizer.
Opinion: See my entry on Shikabane-Hime. Except its not so much that there's more important stuff as that there are around three other seasons to watch first.
Will I go past five episodes? N/A.
Tower of Druaga ~ Sword of URUK ~
Synopsis: Jil embarks on a quest with his companions for a fabled and powerful artifact rumored to be in the highest floor of the Tower of Druaga. However, other competitors, including the kingdom of Uruk itself, want the treasure for their own reason.
Opinion: Sequel to last year's Tower of Druaga ~ Aegis of URUK ~. Gotta be honest--the last season DID have potential, but it missed the mark as it was lacking "that certain something". Not an expansive enough world and weak animation is probably it. I'm still waiting on the high fantasy anime that I'll fall head over heels in love with...but this ain't it.
Going past five episodes? Yeah, right. I still need to finish Aegis of Uruk first.
Chrome Shelled Regios
Synopsis: In the distant future, humanity lives in isolated mobile cities called Regios - such as Zuellni, which also has a self-contained school. Layfon Alseif enrolls and joins the 17th Martial Arts Studies Unit led by the third-year student Nina Antalk and embarks on a series of adventures.
Opinion: I've been waiting on this series since it was first announced back in early '08. It seems like the kinda series that has a lot of potential for a good story, and the set-up allows for lots of cool fights, both with the "Filth Monsters" as well as the "inter-platoon matches".
Going past five episodes? Already past that, with a third of the series downloaded.
Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo
Synopsis: The story is set in the year 311 of the Orbital Calendar, when humanity has migrated to countless colony clusters in space. A space colony girl named Akiha ShishidÅ encounters a malevolent artificial intelligence named Leopard that has been installed on a colony. Akiha is joined by an Inter-Colony Police officer named Itsuki Kannagi, a taciturn young girl named Honoka Kawai, and a robot named Imoko “Imo-chan” ShishidÅ.
Opinion: When I first saw the series title of this, I was really not feeling it. (It just sounds like the kind of series that would be incredibly boring.) But then I saw the absolutely gorgeous fucking art (a Sunrise stable: see, Mai-HiMe, Gundam 00, and Code Geass) and realized that it didn't look nearly as boring as I thought it would be. This lead me to the synopsis, and any series with art like this that happens to be about outer space adventures is worth a look-see.
Going past five episodes? I sure hope so.
Hm. That's it. Thankfully short. But the Spring Season post is next and that's going to be a long one. At least, I hope it is.
Akikan
Synopsis: Kakeru Daichi buys a can of melon juice soda from a vending machine, which then suddenly transforms into a girl that he nicknames "Melon". Other "Akikan" ("empty can") girls appear, however they need to be infused with carbon dioxide from kissing to survive.
Opinion: I make no excuses. This series sounds downright vapid. But, the girls look cute, and every now and then I like to watch a series and just veg out. I'd call it a guilty pleasure, except I'm a man who proudly admits he's a Sentai fan. Its possible I'm past the concept.
Going past five episodes? ...Why? I've got better stuff to get with my (very) limited bandwidth.
Asu no Yoichi!
Synopsis: A boy swordsman, Yoichi and his father stays in the mountains training for his descent into the city. Yoichi comes down to lodge with four beautiful sisters. A new, more severe "training" awaits him.
Opinion: Most typical series of the season. Swords, schools, dojos, and a cast of girls consisting of the "normal" and sweet girl, a tsundere, a loli, and the implied nymph wearing glasses. And yet, I'm watching. Why? Well, better a bunch of entertaining cliches than original ideas that I'm positive will put me to sleep. (See: RideBack.)
Will I go past five episodes? Well, its only 12 episodes in all, so yeah why not?
Shikabane-Hime: Gen
Synopsis: Makina Hoshimura is a Shikabane--people who cheat death due to a strong dying wish. With her contractor, she is given the task of hunting and killing other Shikabane who endanger humans.
Opinion: Same as Shikabane-Hime: Aka, really. I'd love to try this series, but I'm much too busy using my currently meager bandwidth on more important shit.
Will I go past five episodes? N/A.
Slayers Evolution-R
Synopsis: Having lost the Sword of Light, Lina and Gourry continue to search for a replacement weapon. They meet Amelia and Zelgadis in the kingdom of Luvinagard, but appearing before her is Luvinagard's Inspector of the Special Investigative Unit; a man called Wizer.
Opinion: See my entry on Shikabane-Hime. Except its not so much that there's more important stuff as that there are around three other seasons to watch first.
Will I go past five episodes? N/A.
Tower of Druaga ~ Sword of URUK ~
Synopsis: Jil embarks on a quest with his companions for a fabled and powerful artifact rumored to be in the highest floor of the Tower of Druaga. However, other competitors, including the kingdom of Uruk itself, want the treasure for their own reason.
Opinion: Sequel to last year's Tower of Druaga ~ Aegis of URUK ~. Gotta be honest--the last season DID have potential, but it missed the mark as it was lacking "that certain something". Not an expansive enough world and weak animation is probably it. I'm still waiting on the high fantasy anime that I'll fall head over heels in love with...but this ain't it.
Going past five episodes? Yeah, right. I still need to finish Aegis of Uruk first.
Chrome Shelled Regios
Synopsis: In the distant future, humanity lives in isolated mobile cities called Regios - such as Zuellni, which also has a self-contained school. Layfon Alseif enrolls and joins the 17th Martial Arts Studies Unit led by the third-year student Nina Antalk and embarks on a series of adventures.
Opinion: I've been waiting on this series since it was first announced back in early '08. It seems like the kinda series that has a lot of potential for a good story, and the set-up allows for lots of cool fights, both with the "Filth Monsters" as well as the "inter-platoon matches".
Going past five episodes? Already past that, with a third of the series downloaded.
Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo
Synopsis: The story is set in the year 311 of the Orbital Calendar, when humanity has migrated to countless colony clusters in space. A space colony girl named Akiha ShishidÅ encounters a malevolent artificial intelligence named Leopard that has been installed on a colony. Akiha is joined by an Inter-Colony Police officer named Itsuki Kannagi, a taciturn young girl named Honoka Kawai, and a robot named Imoko “Imo-chan” ShishidÅ.
Opinion: When I first saw the series title of this, I was really not feeling it. (It just sounds like the kind of series that would be incredibly boring.) But then I saw the absolutely gorgeous fucking art (a Sunrise stable: see, Mai-HiMe, Gundam 00, and Code Geass) and realized that it didn't look nearly as boring as I thought it would be. This lead me to the synopsis, and any series with art like this that happens to be about outer space adventures is worth a look-see.
Going past five episodes? I sure hope so.
Hm. That's it. Thankfully short. But the Spring Season post is next and that's going to be a long one. At least, I hope it is.
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