Tuesday, January 22, 2013

First Impressions: Winter 2012/13

 First thoughts on watching the first episode of the series. 




Chihayafuru Second Season
The series I am most looking forward to this season ! After the first season I was super pumped for this season but instead I was being fed "Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi" - a series on the poems and its background, which I did really enjoy from that season. And so, I welcome Chihaya and co. back into my life ; w ;

First episode welcomes a new school year for the team and follows them with the goal to recruit new 1st year members to keep the club alive. A particular character is introduced as Sumire Hanano - the bitch we all love to hate. Her boyfriend has just dumped her and now has Taichi in her sights.

The first episode pretty much refreshes on the characters from last season and introducing Sumire, making your blood boil. Here's to another season of Chihaya, Taichi, Arata, the team, kimonos, and more shoujo plot lines I guess since that wasn't really seen in S1 ^^;;

Of course it's a definite recommendation from me :P



Sasami-chan@Ganbaranai
Pretty interesting series. It is clear that there was a huge lack of budget for the surroundings within the series. It's something like Bakemonogatari where it's unusual and only the characters move, though unlike Bakemonogatari, it doesn't have a major focus on dialogue  I thought it quite boring in the beginning when the only two characters you know are Samami and her older brother. And the fact that her brother has a little sister's complex and pretty much her slave ^^;;

Sasami is a 16YO girl that lives in her room 90% of the time. She's never really left her house and when she does try for certain reasons, she feels sick, barfs, collapses, etc. It does have it's humour and also some good action when the series' tables flipped to a whole new development.

I think I'll still continue this series just because the ending really got me intrigued !





Cuticle Detective Inaba
A good comedy I'm looking forward to ! You've got the Pretty Megane Wolf Boy, the cross-dressing boy, the ridiculous Police Captain, the ordinary boy that seems to be the only one with common sense, and of course an arch enemy for our hero.

It's very funny, very cute, pretty darn ridiculous and not much actually makes sense but it's all enjoyable to watch ! Nothing in particular that strikes me or intrigues me more than I need to, it's just a fun watch that will keep you out of a state of boredom.

Not too excited about the series but I look forward to more episodes :)






Amnesia
Otome gme turned anime ! This seems to be a popular game since I see a lot of people cosplaying from it. I had always wanted to play it too but I don't know how to get Japanese games TAT I had some high hopes for the first episode but really...it seemed I only reached the end because of the ikemen characters...

The female character is very boring at this point, and not because her head is blank of memories. She /is/ very boring - timid, meek, doesn't really think straight...LOL Typical of a otome female character maybe ? I tend to dislike them because they don't have personality. The first ep basically sets the story and introduces the main characters - She wakes up, has amnesia, meets a other-worldly creature called Orion who claims to be the reason her memories are gone and in an attempt to regain the girl's memories (whose name still hasn't been said), Orion follows her and gets her to go on about her daily life and interact with others. A little cliffhanger is left at the end where these jealous girls from the maid'butler cafe she works at come after her and it is revealed that she made some sort of promise to them (probably to stay away from Ikki...or the boys in general) and she regains a memory regarding the said girls and then collapses. Not so interesting in the first episode, more for the eye candy and I love the OP and EP :)




Tamako Market
I am definitely really excited for this series. I didn't know what to expect, in the visual chart it was noted to have a very impressive team behind the animation - and also you can see the similarities between the art of K-ON! and Tamako Market. Let's just say I didn't really find myself interested in K-ON! and mostly listened to the music instead than follow the series.

We are introduced to Tamako - a mochi-maker's daughter - who loves to make and share the goodness of mochi ! She stumbles across an oh-so-very-sassy bird that can talk and who is on a mission but has found himself astray and comfortable at Tamako's house. It is very cute and cheerful, I am definitely looking forward to this series a lot, I love the sassy bird, I love Tamako...though I love the boy next door most keukeukeu jk jk~~~

Definitely recommend !!! 








Vividred Operation
I am super excited about this series ! At first I wasn't so keen but I gave it a go since the intro on the visual chart had noted that the setting was in a futuristic setting where science solved everything (I thought it literally) though it turns out it's just a place with advanced tech f( ^^;;
I didn't even realise as well until I saw the credits, that Redjuice was part of the character design team, f course now I can see it's his art OTL And also the amount of close-up ass shots...
It's got everything I really like - something similar to Rinne no Lagrange.
It's about a young girl whose Grandfather developed a great system to use renewable energy across the globe. Suddenly there is a threat to the said system that may bring the end of the world and because the Grandfather had a past encounter with these "Alone", he had developed a System called Vivdred that can only be used by Akane - simply put, it makes her a magical girl.

Together with her friend who's just returned home, Aoi, they will try to defend their home and the world.

Really looking forward to future episodes ! ! 





Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun
This series looks really promising - lots of mystery, supernatural and lots of ikemen *333* If I remember correctly, this is an old-school manga that now, has finally got it's anime ! I don't know why it took so long but it is awesome ! I may look into reading it. The beginning of the episode shows a village burning down and certain characters dying - this event happened 5 years ago from the present time of the series. The characters shown dying were a girl, her younger sister, a boy & a wolf.

When in present time, we meet Shino, a young boy who shows great resemblance to the dying girl from the flashback and who lives in a sacred house with priests? Shino and Sousuke seem to be quite close and seem to also have supernatural abilities as well as in possession of a Black Crow. They are also in hiding from the Central Church I think~ Many things happened in the first episode I'm not sure about what was told but it is clear that there is a war between them and the Central Church.
Many connections with demons, supernatural stuff and fighting in a not-so-modern setting.

I really enjoy the characters, setting, themes so I'm ecstatic for future episodes ! !

Saturday, January 12, 2013

[ 緑間 真太郎 ]


 緑間 真太郎 @ 冬美 
 Photo @ Ray 

[ シェリル・ノーム ]


 シェリル・ノーム @ 冬美 
 Photo @ Ray 

[ 桃井 さつき ]



青峰 大輝 @ Lisa 
Photo @ Eric Chau 

Watch List Winter 2012/13



 Not many releases this season that I'm particularly interested in~ But I'll try more since it feels wierd to just review on 5 out of many releases, so it's 9 series' for me this season :) Since my exams, I've looked to tv shows to quench my thirst for entertainment instead of anime so I am as behind from last season as I'll ever be, hence there wasn't a new post for the Final Impressions... o x o (forgive me!) 


Sasami-Chan@Ganbaranai

Chihayafuru Second Season

Vividred Operation

AKB0048 Next Stage

Amnesia

Tamako Market

Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun

Cuticle Detective Inaba