New and current FS anime Topic

[Tobal]

Genskiken anime goes up to the last couple of chapters vol.7, so there is still vol.8/.9 to come which i hope get animated as it's pretty good and decisevly conludes the Sasa*Oguie stuff. Wonder how many years it'll take this time to get animated.

Minami-ke ep13 -final episode of the current style.... few good laughs in it when the special juice comes out, but now we get a totally different art style(closer to the manga?) where the girls don't even look like sisters anymore for the season/episode, anyway if it continues to have Mako-chan and Hosaka in it i'll still be watching.

[Mr.Jeff]

Tobal, you might be interested to know that the manga artist for Genshiken is doing a spin-off of the genshiken story this year Link. So even more goodness to look forward to.

Minami-ke 11-13: What a great series. I liked the introduction of the seperate minami family. Top stuff. With any luck, the new studio team (they were behind Shuffle~Memories) will do an adequate job of the second series.

Sola ep15/special 2: A prequel to the series showing the events that happened literally a couple of days before the start of episode 1. Quite interesting to see what all the characters were up to.

Edit: Also, we missed out on doing a recap of the last years stuff. Ah well.

[mr_woo]

Whilst this is a few years old I just finished watching The Fighting Spirit (Hajime no Ippo) and found it to be absolutely fantastic.

Finished watching the whole anime series over 2 - 3 days (76 eps and 2 specials in total) and it's jumped straight up along with Cowboy Bebop, GITS, Love Hina and Rurouni Kenshin as one of my favourite animes. Just absolutely brilliant, great story, great characters and character development, very funny at times and most of just damn exciting during the matches - I was literally chomping at the bit during some of them. It is basically an underdog story at heart and wanting to do well which I will admit I love, in sports films and especially boxing films.

Must try and get my hands on the manga next, even though it hasn't been officially licensed yet as I never realised the manga was near enough 80 volumes with the anime only covering the first 30 or so! (i really wish they had continued making the anime, matches are so exciting to watch)

Of course i'll have to pick up the games too now

[buster_broon]

after reading this thread i'm actively watching the following:
Gundam 00
Bamboo Blade
Ghost Hound
Macross Frontier

Gundam and Macross are just my cup of tea and Macross looks fantastic albeit after only 1 episode

i was going to give up on Ghost hound, but episode 9 was great and it might just be something decent

Bamboo blade is fantastic, it has all the Japanese humour i love and some exciting fighting

anything else that i need to know about?

[Mr.Jeff]

anything else that i need to know about?

Clannad if you can deal with teen drama and comedy type series (it's a quality series though and not a rushed, fanservice mess), Minami-ke as a top school-based comedy series and Baccano as an amazing action comedy series. The last 2 are finished and Clannad's halfway through.

[Tobal]

don't expect anymore macross till march, ep1 was just preview of sorts.

there nothing left this season other than comedies and romance you could try Moyashimon(a guy who can see bacteria) and Shana II(maybe not, without seeing s1), not seen much of the new stuff thats coming in to replace the 13ep stuff heopfully zap or someone else could give us the lowdown . For now you might need to go back a season to stuff like Tengen Toppoa Gurran Lagann, Dennou Coil, Seirei no Moribito, Gigantic Formula, Buccano, Bukurano, Darker than Black, Toward the Terra(just got the old,old movie its based on).

Stuff im looking foward to in 08...

Macross F
Mai Otome prequel
ARIA the Origination (wooo)
Persona
Gunslinger Girl 2nd season(woooooo)
Blades of Immortal
and whenever Clannad finishes.... suzumiya haruhi

[SuperBeatBoy]

don't expect anymore macross till march, ep1 was just preview of sorts.

there nothing left this season other than comedies and romance you could try Moyashimon(a guy who can see bacteria) and Shana II(maybe not, without seeing s1), not seen much of the new stuff thats coming in to replace the 13ep stuff heopfully zap or someone else could give us the lowdown . For now you might need to go back a season to stuff like Tengen Toppoa Gurran Lagann, Dennou Coil, Seirei no Moribito, Gigantic Formula, Buccano, Bukurano, Darker than Black, Toward the Terra(just got the old,old movie its based on).

Stuff im looking foward to in 08...

Macross F
Mai Otome prequel
ARIA the Origination (wooo)
Persona
Gunslinger Girl 2nd season(woooooo)
Blades of Immortal
and whenever Clannad finishes.... suzumiya haruhi

They have made an anime of blades of the immortal? Is it even possible with its artstyle, anyways i can't wait to see that. I love the art in those books, unfotunatly i never did collect any, theres too many.

Theres a second season of haruhi coming?

[Mr.Jeff]

Theres a second season of haruhi coming?

It's not been confirmed as of yet but odds are it's highly likely. The studio has been following a pattern these past few years of drama series followed by a comedy series and since they're on their drama series right now, a comedy series of the vein of haruhi in april isn't too unbelievable. There was also the release of an half hour cctv "promo" video on the haruhi main site last year that corresponds to some of the next novels main events. There was also a recent site update were the second series was "cancelled" but a new, unknown series was to be produced with Haruhi Suzumiya as "leader".

So yeah, not known for sure but highly likely.

[Zapp$ter]

Hmmm... I've not done a season overview in a long time, but then I've not been paying that much attention until recently.

As far as I know for the coming season:

More Zetsubou sensei - nothing much needs to be said here if you've seen the first season. Will probably be more of the same which is a good thing. Black comedy featuring a depressed teacher as the main character with his class of weird students making up the supporting cast. I've seen enough of the first season to know I'll be continuing with this.

More Minami-ke - see above really. Three sisters that go to school together. Comedy based around their time in and around the school often involving some "interesting" situations to say the least. Another top show that I'll be continuing with no doubt.

Aria the Origination - again see above. About the lives of Gondoliers living on a terraformed planet. Very peaceful and sedate, often referred to as a healing type anime and with good reason too. It's slice of life at its finest IMO. If you're looking for a decent plot and some action you'll want to avoid this. This is all about the atmosphere and the warm, sugary-sweet feeling it gives you. A very romanticized look at life on such a planet but it more than works for me.

Shigofumi - This is one I maybe working on so I've been reading about it. Has given me Shinigami No Ballad vibes. "A story about a miracle, involving Fumika, a quiet but hard working girl who wears a uniform that of a mail carrier, and her talkative staff and partner Mayama. The Shigofumi is a posthumous letter, the last resort of relaying a deceased person's last message to his/her loved ones: family, friends, and significant other." -- synopsis stolen from elsewhere. Seems like my kind of thing, we'll see how it goes.

Persona - I've no idea what it's going to be like. Could well be a retelling of the game's plot which I've yet to get round to playing but is one of the main reasons I'm interested in this. The persona games seem to have this rather unique take on things, so I hope the same is true here.

Rosario to Vampire - another one I might be working on. Anywho don't know much about this one but I hear it might be pretty fanservicey. Is based on a manga IIRC, and the synopsis for that is "By a bizzare coincidence, Tsukune Aono has accidentally gotten himself admitted to a youkai acadamy, a school attended by monsters (youkai). Just when he thinks he'll run away from there, he meets the beautiful girl Moka and his mood turns ultra happy. However, she transforms into her true form when the rosary on her chest is taken off, she's a super vampire!". Not sure on this one, could go either way.

Ookami to Koushinryou - based on a series of light novels, and a synopsis stolen from elsewhere gives: "About a peddler named Craft Lawrence, a traveling merchant who’s wandering around the country-side selling and buying various things in villages he visits. His life changes one day when he finds a beautiful girl sleeping inside his coach full of the village’s finest sheaves. What’s more, she looks to be a cat girl. More like a wolf girl, to be exact, as she introduces herself as the village’s wolf sage who’s kept it blessed with good harvests for years and years. Her name is Horo and she wishes to return to her hometown in the North. The cocky girl bargains her way out of the village by making a deal with Craft to take her with him." --- Fox/wolf girl! That said [this review of the first novel has gotten me more interested. Colour me more excited.

There is some other stuff but it seems to be h-game adaptations (h2o:footprints in the sand and true tears seem to be the main ones) and/or some kids shows

edit: there's also a show that's started recently and been subbed called Ayakashi. No relation to any of the others though. Based on an h-game, some plot involving superpowers and the genres are down as Mystery, Action, Horror. Synopsis stolen from elsewhere:"Adapted from the 2005 adults-only superhuman battle action visual novel game Ayakashi. Ayakashi is a parasite life force that gives superpowers to its host, taking in return the host's entire life force. Kusaka Yuu is a student that lost his will to live after the death of a dear childhood friend, until the day a mysterious girl, named Yoake Eimu, appears. From that moment on, his life would never be the same again. Hunted by Ayakashi and their hosts, the power within Yuu awakens and a never ending battle begins."

further edit: I also forgot about the OVA subbed recently called Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Pailsen Files. I think it's a prequel to the series of the same name from the 80s. It's a mecha show that is more gritty and realistic than the norm (or so I've been told and have read about). It is actually one show I've been meaning to watch for a while. The old series has been subbed completely, I have it lying around on DVD somewhere and some of the older OVAs are subbed as well. Not sure how long this new OVA series will be though...probably around 12 episodes if some of the previous ones are anything to go by.

[Mr.Jeff]

Rosario to Vampire, I've only read a dozen or so chapters of and it's not amazingly inspiring. A bit of the vampire angle is quite cool but essentially it's the usual harem type show with supernatural actiony bits mixed in.

Ookami to Koushinryou or Wolf and Spice as I'm more familar with it has only had 4 chapters of the manga released but from what I've read, I love it. It sounds like a cheap attempt to work a cat/fox girl into a series but it's actually quite an interesting mix of folklore and more recently of the merchant thought process. It's a rather more placcid and entertaining slice of life series than I'd imagined.

[Zapp$ter]

It sounds like a cheap attempt to work a cat/fox girl into a series but it's actually quite an interesting mix of folklore and more recently of the mmerchant thought process. It's a rather more placcid and entertaining slice of life series than I'd imagined.

Yeah, that's the bit that got me more interested from that review . I'm so predictable.

[Wild_Cat]

There was also the release of an half hour cctv "promo" video on the haruhi main site last year that corresponds to some of the next novels main events. There was also a recent site update were the second series was "cancelled" but a new, unknown series was to be produced with Haruhi Suzumiya as "leader".

So yeah, not known for sure but highly likely.

**** me! If that's true, it's the best piece of news I've heard this year. Thanks guys, you just made my day.

[Orgun]

Anyone else watching Ookiku Furikabutte? Just watched episode 16, man I can't get enough of it.
It's about a high school baseball team and while I detest baseball (probably alongside Cricket/Curling as the most dull sports to watch) I absolutely love this show, tis very funny. The art style looks kind of old, I was quite suprised to find out that its airing at the moment, but its very nicely drawn.

Heres a synopsis stolen from ANN:

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life, Sports
Plot Summary: The series, set in Saitama, follows Ren Mihashi, who had previously excelled as his middle school baseball team's ace pitcher, due to his grandfather's connections as its manager. As he graduates to high school, whose baseball team his grandfather does not manage, he initially does not believe he is good enough to succeed at baseball, however, but assisted by his friends, he grows in stature, confidence and skill, helping his team excel with his own ability.

EDIT: Actually I take it back about the art style, I think it might be the encodes i've been watching.

[Zapp$ter]

So I finally finished Genshiken season 2 up. Gotta say I loved it. Hard to pick but certainly a favourite amongst the shows I've seen recently. If stretched for a ranking I'd say I enjoyed it more than what I've seen of some of the other fall shows like Minami-ke and even Clannad. I suppose it might be partly because I marathoned the whole 12 episodes in the space of a few days and because I lowered my expectations a bit due to the mixed reactions it was receiving.

I kind of agree that it wasn't as funny as the first season but it still had more than its fair share of moments and in the end I think it was still a close run thing between what I remember of the first season and the stuff I saw in the second season in terms of the comedy. But I felt they focused more on the drama this time around (so the comedy took a bit of a back seat) and in a way it reminds me of the things done with H&C season 2 in that it was all nabout how they were all going off to do their own things and the group was almost splitting up.

I'd also agree that I'd have perhaps liked more Madarame and Kasukabe, but then on the other hand they've already had plenty of screen time so it was nice to see a bit more focus on some of the other characters. In particular I loved a lot of the Ogiue scenes, such as the disturbing at times episodes 5 or her experiences of the Comifes when she's visiting alone (loved the VA's work as Ogiue too, really made some scenes). I liked the way things were headed as well with some of the pairings, just a shame we didn't get something more concrete on the main one they focused on this time. Let's hope they animate the rest of the manga and soon too.

Nitpicking aside, can't say I'm too displeased with how things turned out (certainly not as bad as some second seasons I'd care to mention). It's one of those rare shows where I love the characters and wouldn't mind seeing more of what happens to them in the future etc. and that's pretty much what I got this time. I could probably keep watching this group of characters for ages and ages.

Some highlights for me:

->Open Spoiler<-

The whole of episode 5 really, as disturbing as it was, I thought it was great. I particularly loved the VA work again particularly how different some of them looked and sounded e.g. Kugayama!. A fujoshi's fantasies are frightening indeed. I loved the whole of episode 6 with Ogiue at the comifes and how she was eavesdropping on the guys from Genshiken, especially as they fantasized about her The graduation and the reminiscing of old times especially the Kasukabe cosplay. The handing over of the presidency to Ohno and the mad look she gets when she hears the suggestion of turning it into the Cosplay research club. Ohno's line after punching Kuchiki: "I'd never do anything to bring disgrace upon the characters". The american otakus and their set of episodes particularly the comifes where they're selling Ogiue's latest "masterpiece". Some others that have probably slipped my mind to tell the truth.

Actually looking back on some of my highlights, the latter half of the show was particularly strong IMO and it made me realize how much more explicit they made things this time around.

Anyway enough fanboy rambling... fingers crossed for a more speedy adaptation of the remaining bits of the manga and glad to see some extra new Genshiken related stuff in the works as per Mr. Jeff's link a page or so back.

[Jei]

A friend of mine recently picked me from the states

Wildarms (1-5) & Sakura Wars TV (1-5). All 10 discs are by ADV and region 1 but I just can't get into them.

If anyone wants them for the price of postage pop me a PM (thought it'd be better here than in the "its for free thread".

Jay