Monday, 16 July 2012

Summer 2012

as usual, all biased opinions ahead.

all biased opinions are up!


Hakuouki Reimeiroku
third season! need i say more? more Souji (CV Morikubo Showtaro) is always great. and one that you don't need to see him die of TB is even better. since this is a prelude to the original game/anime, we'll get to see the story of how the Shinsengumi was originally formed by Shogunate.

hmm, does that mean Seki Tomokazu's Ryuunosuke character is supposed to take over Chizuru's (CV Kuwashima Houko)?

posted 10 Jul,

Kokoro Connect
for a show themed around regular body switching, the more interesting thing is who are involved in the switching every episode since it doesn't seem to be fixed to specific people. aside from the comedy stemming from the body-switching and the subsequent reactions when they're "checking/feeling/verifying" themselves out, there's also the romance aspect between the characters, which hopefully will be explored in more depth (it is technically still a rom-com). and yes, i'm rooting for the Aoki-Yui pairing to end up at the end of the show. poor Aoki deserve his girl after so many rejections.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
the most anticipated sequel of Summer, i did a marathon run of Part 1 (i gave up at ep6 in Fall last year) last week, thanks to in-depth commentaries by Stilts from RC. now, i could watch Part 2 without feeling as lost as i would've been. as with Fate/Zero, part 2 started with a big bang; first with the battle against Tres España, and then against Great Britain. with more characters/jargons/places being introduced each episode, full 100% concentration is required to absorb whatever i can in 20min, and then read Stilts subsequent commentaries for full understanding. thank goodness for Stilts!

Natsuyuki Rendezvous
this show makes me think of Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze's Ghost; minus the murder, and adding in a third wheel. i'm not sure if Hazuki (CV Nakamura Yuuichi) can be considered a third wheel either. after all, Rokka (CV Ohara Sayaka ) is already widowed and she can't see Atsushi's (CV Fukuyama Jun) ghost (Hazuki can though), so it's not like he's trying to break up their marriage. while it is almost certain that Rokka will eventually accept him, the more anticipated part will be whether Hazuki will reveal that her husband is still floating around her.

Dog Days'
Shinku (CV Miyano Mamoru is back in Biscotti and this time, he brought his two childhood friends Rebecca (CV Takahashi Mikako) and Nanami (CV Mizuki Nana) with him. not much is revealed on what is the main plot for this sequel yet, but it looks like Rebecca might be forced to be the hero of a new country. (Nanami had eagerly accepted being Galette's hero at Leo-sama's invitation.) poor Rebecca, she obviously is still in shocked at falling into a RPG-game like fantasy world.

Sword Art Online
MMORPG-gamers getting stuck in their fantasy world where the only way to "log off" is when you get killed (or HP=0). even more depressing is, you get killed in real life too, so there's no way you can die and resurrect over and over again. the only way for Kirito (CV Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) to get out is to finish the game, if only it weren't 100-levels long.

i'm not sure how feasible it is in relation to actual games, my sister died a hundred times over while trying to kill Diablo, but there is a certain amount of realism in how people get sucked into games and basically forget night and day as they immerse themselves in the game world (think Penny in TBBT season 2). reality check for gamers? well, if you're already into Diablo/DOTA/WOW etc, you probably wouldn't care.

posted 06 Jul,

Binbougami ga!
Hanazawa Kana as a yandere? hell yeah! Kana-chan always manages to pleasantly surprise me whenever i start to get bored of her usual goody-two-shoes characters. then there's Uchiyama Yumi, who is perfect as Binbougami Momiji; at the end of Ep1 she crashes at Ichiko's (Kana-chan) house to "continue" working (taking away Ichiko's super good luck), and plainly to mess with Ichiko (for having big boobs, and coming up with the "God of Flatness" nick). lots of references to other manga and anime (Kenshin, Lupin, Medaka Box, etc), Sunrise likes to mix and tease, much like how it was with Danshi. can't say i'm complaining though.

posted 03 Jul,

Tari Tari
again, another stereotyped seiyuu, Takagaki Ayahi, always voicing the same type of characters (hint: Kaji Yuuki). i think i much prefer her as Mitsuba in Mitsudomoe, at least she was hilarious. other than that, it's music-based which always hooks me into any show, especially if the seiyuu cast is somewhat lacking. that was what hooked me into K-ON! in the first place.

Arcana Famiglia
reverse harem! finally. feast for the eyes (bishonens galore) and ears (all my favorite seiyuus). all the main guys, with the exception of Yonaga Tsubasa are veterans in the otome-game genre, Fukuyama Jun, Yoshino Hiroyuki, Nakamura Yuuichi, and of course Sugita Tomokazu. also helps that we have a kick-ass heroine Felicitá, who is voiced by Noto Mamiko (Sawako in Kimi ni Todoke).

Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi
dramatized retelling of the Hyakunin Isshu (100 poems written during the Heian period), this is even better than the normal romance series. where else would you find 2 love stories every episode? it's very hard to find anime set in the Heian Period, Genji Monogatari and Shounen Onmyouji are the only ones i could think of, and i couldn't help but love the political drama, the use of names (though somewhat confusing), and definitely, the fashion (the clothes the ladies wear are so pretty!). it helps that they had Suwabe Junichi on episode 1 too. i turn straight into mush on his first words. hook, line, sinker~

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