Anime Odd Thoughts Lot (first two weeks of April, Apr/15/07, yay for new series)

ぼくらの 第01話 「ゲーム」 Bokurano 01 "Game"

Eerie is the word to describe feeling I get from watching Bokurano(ぼくらの[Ours]), a new anime series from anime studio Gonzo. Bokurano is adapted from a manga of the same name, currently being serialized in monthly magazine "IKKI" (japanese). The few years-old IKKI is a relatively new magazine compare to the other manga anthologies like Shounen Sunday (publish every Wednesday, lol, from the same publisher 小学館 [Shougakukan]), first published way back in the 50s (if I recall correctly). I'm pretty sure this is the first time I hear the name of the monthly magazine. However, many of you must have at least heard of the mangaka Kitou Mohiro (鬼頭莫宏), probably from another one of his works Shadow Star - Narutaru (なるたる I used to call it a X-rated Pokemon... for graphic violence).

Don't get me wrong though, I love the new show, so much that I start digging into the first volume of the manga series. Six volume is available, I try hard to restrain from spoiling myself so I stopped at the end of volume one. But seriously, the intro (opening - アンインストール by the talented 石川智晶[Ishikawa Chiaki] of see-saw fame, she did the ending song too) sequence have already given away a whole lot already. The imagery (and the title of the song, which I shall reveal later in the post) hinted heavily the story is going to be somewhat tragic.I was especially captured by the sequence I dubbed "running tears". It's always cinematic to put something like that in film, but I doubt anyone could do it well in a live-action film since the tears will be hard to see unless you digitally enhance it. Before I wander further away from the main topic, I'll explain the eerie atmosphere I sense from watching the first episode. In most of the mecha anime series (and non-mecha) I've seen, BGM (background music) or the theme songs play a major role in it. A great example is the theme in the anime series Evagelion ("Angel Attack" in particular), it made a really deep impression on me from the very first episode. However in Bokurano, the battle theme created a different feeling that I can't describe, the theme is very subtle, compile with mostly concisions. I could barely notice it and at times mistook it for the mechanical noise from the giant machines battling. Expecting a epic theme perform by an orchestra has became a habit from watching all the good old mecha anime like Mazinger and GettaRobo (now I have to get those out of my head...). Let see if they will use different themes as our heroines and heroes take the lead in each battle.

Now that I get that out of the way, let's talk a little bit about the plot itself. I'll keep this as short as possible since I'm afraid I might give away too much without knowing. Similar to most mecha anime of the golden era, Bokurano is a story about a group of your average (emo) teenagers saving the world piloting a powerful mega-sized "robot". 15 youngsters were brought together by a exchange program in a summer camp near the shore. After an activity at the beach, curiosity took them to a nearby cave and they meet a man named Kokoperi(ココペリ) inside. Thus, the "game" begins...

the manga:


It's hard to talk about another one after Bokurano, as a side note, I was surprise that I only took three screen shot from it. It's an indication of how involve I was watching the series. So anticipate (a lot) more Bokurano talk from me in the coming weeks.

Part of my huge screen-cap gallery as I purge them:













I demand more time to sample the entire list of the new series! Let me know if I'm missing something... (btw some pics is on my other computer, so some series are missing up there)

Anime Odd Thoughts Lot (Week of Mar/25/07, )

Not a very present week for us... feel a little better yesterday, thanks to the decent weather and a great futbol game (+anime). I'm glad that the lady knights got into the elite eight too.

REIDEEN 第04話「影との戦い」 REIDEEN 04 [The battle with shadow]

I really enjoy this new series. In this episode, we finally got to see some reminiscent super-mecha action that fits a remake of a 70's mecha anime (to me, that's not much diffience between a breast-o fire attack and a shot from the mega bazooka launcher). The mecha choreography might be weak compare to the newer anime, but it's obvious that the show's focus was not on the mecha (see the OP). I was a bit surprised that the show wasn't well received by the viewers, at least on some forums....

This series remind me the new wave of comedy shows without the audience reaction track (for example, "The Office" and "My name is Earl" which weren't recorded in front of live audience like most "traditional" american comedy shows). Why? Humors in a show don't need to be point out by a "laugh track". As for the anime show, you don't need to see chibi-lize characters with the comedic deliverance. I love how they use Sakita... I meant Maedasaki Tarou(前田崎 太郎) as a relieve character in the show.

月面兎兵器ミーナ 第11話 「最終アナウンス」 Getsumen Toheiki mi-na 11 [The final announce(ment)]

Don't you think the ending is a bit rushed?? It could certainly use a couple more episode to introduce to us the rest of the mi-nas, don't you think? (葉月ミーナ(haduki? mi-na)と白鳥ミーナ(shirodori? mi-na)from らぶ天(rabuten)... please?)

Shiwasu mi-na(師走ミーナ) must be the weakest mi-na in the universe... unless her (fleet of) battle ship is her weapon... still Ootsuki and Tsukishiro took care of it with ease.

We finally get to see Ootsuki's juujitsu sequence!!! too bad there was no narration for it... either way I think you'll appreciate it, right?

I almost forgot to mention Sasakura Ryuu (and CV: Mizushima Takahiro) actually made a cameo in the last episode (why not this one too?), I wonder if anyone caught that...

コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ 第22話 「血染めのユフィ」Code Geass 22 (bloodstained Yufi)

The title of the episode said it all... I never saw this coming tho, I was expecting something else.

ロケットガール第05話「イグニッション -ignition-」 Rocket Girls 05 (ignition)

Heading to space already! They must have some superior diapers at SSA to go with the skin-tight spacesuit. It would be nice for them to develop a bra for Yukari to make her feel more comfortable under that spacesuit...

Anime Odd Thoughts Lot (Week of Mar/11/07, bring on spring break!)

There are quite a few series that has made their debut in February and March. Let's look at some of them in this week's OTL: (Warning: The following OTL contains lame content and engrish intended for mature audiences. Viewers discretion is advised.)

獣装機攻ダンクーガ ノヴァ Dancouga Nova (premiered Feb/15) and

REIDEEN(premiered Mar/3)

I put these two together for obvious reason. They are both remake of popular^{(citation needed)} mecha anime from decades ago. You know exactly what to expect from these type of shows: (spoiler warning!)
protagonist(s) meet robot(s), big bad monstor threatens humanity, robot saves the world...

If I recall correctly, REIDEEN is one of those macho good-vs-evil, monstor-of-the-week type of mecha anime from the good old 70's. The new show bear the same name, but I consider it more of a franchise reboot than a remake. Everything has changed in both new series. The characters, plot(Dancouga might be a sequel tho), characters and mecha designs are all new. In fact, the new REIDEEN share a little if at all design clues of the oh-so-colorful singing REIDEEN in that 70's show(no pun intended).

Now Dancouga Nova is a bit of a disapointment for me. I didn't hold high hope for it anyway. The original Dancouga is one of my favorite mecha anime along with the Gundam trilogy, Godmars and Macross in the 80's. I would consider the original to be in the "more realistic" type anime which has spawned after the success of Gundam and Macross. While the robot-action was the focus of the show, that's great character development as the young protagonists get involved in a militant organization. The new show somehow lost the realistic touch and I would consider it as random fan-service madness as seen in the likes of Gravion (you should be glad if you have no idea what Gravion is)

MOONLIGHT MILE ムーンライトマイル 1stシーズン -Lift off- (premiered Mar/3)

This is one ambitious project for Studio HIBARI (スタジオ雲雀). They must have some deep pocket sponsors backing them up for this series. This must have been the first time I see producers put the "1st season"(1stシーズン) moniker within the title before the series even begin. I'm a big sci-fi anime fan, therefore despite some downfall in the very first episode, I'll stick with it as I have read a couple chapters of the manga and find this series intriguing (plot-wise).

The first episode started very slow, and there are sexually explicit scenes that are totally unnecessary. It wouldn't make any impact if they cut those out in my opinion. Also I would like to see changes in the anime adaptation for the major mistakes/misconception of physics in space(gravity in orbits... etc) seen in the manga.

ロケットガール Rocket Girls (premiered Feb/21)

My favorite of all the new 2007 anime so far. The right balance of storytelling, humor, fan-service and visuals. The voice actors did a superb job too (but I wouldn't be a good critic on that, since I could actually tolerate cartoon-network-grade dubs). I would probably put up the opening song "Rise" one of these days. Some fansubbers should pick this one up soon, at least I hope.

This is running long already, I'll talk about new OVA like Genshiken 2, Ichigo Mashimaro 1 and Mai-Zhime Zwei 2 some other time then... Oh, I wish I could do the OTL on Code Geass and Getsumen Toheiki too...