Spring 2009 Season &amp; April Loot

It's time for me to give my impressions on the new anime season's line-up and also time to show off the new additions to my collection. I'll go through the new anime season first.

Definitely Watching:

Eden of the East
This had a pretty interesting first episode. The fact that it's a Noitamina show means it'll turn out pretty good. The character designs also remind me of the good times I had while watching Honey & Clover. The OP sequence was really dynamic and it was done by the English Rock band Oasis so that was good in many ways.

K-ON!
As proven by me watching Munto, I'll pretty much watch all KyoAni shows. The anime feels quite diluted compared to the manga though but I guess that's because they're having a guy new to directing do it. Hopefully he'll understand that something like this would be better off with quick well timed punch lines rather than unnecessarily long but cute extensions. Seems to have improved a bit in the 3rd episode.

Hatsukoi Limited
This reminds me quite a lot of School Rumble. I was hoping for K-On! to be my slice of life show this season but a lot the jokes missed the best timing for their punch lines. This however didn't. The jokes hit their mark and their abundance is very satisfying. I don't like the idea of this being about girls in love but the humor is too good for me to pass up.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica Crimson S
I've heard that the prequel(?) for this one wasn't very good but this one had a pretty good first episode. High quality production, a good set of characters and enough of a hook on the story to be interesting enough to watch.

Saki
This had a fun first episode. It's quite over the top and there's a good cast of seiyuu here. I've never played Mahjong before so maybe I'll learn from this show. GONZO's also behind this so I think I can expect another good comedy from them.

Pandora Hearts
XEBEC's doing this so I'm a little wary towards it since there was only one show that they did that I considered to be a success and that was Busou Renkin. I really wanted to see some of the jokes that got cut out and it'd be fun to cosplay as captain Bravo. The story's mystery and characters are the main hook since the production quality isn't very good. If they can keep up with those or improve the fight scenes then I'll be sure to keep up with this one.

Tayutama -Kiss on My Deity-
I know this is probably going to turn out bad but I do like this show. The rushed pacing of the first ep isn't exactly supporting that. It's got some good ideas but the main draw for me for this one was that Norio Wakamoto is voicing a role here. The idea of Norio Wakamoto doing comedy is quite an interesting one since he's usually doing evil roles. I await the day he plays a young megalomanical boy who's bent on taking over the world since that would be an awesome show.

Watching For Now:

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
A remake of the first anime that is meant to be more faithful to the manga. The scenes are very well done but I hope they burn through the stuff they already did last time so we get to the new scenes faster. May put on hold till then.

Asura Cryin' Production quality isn't very good but it's got a bit of mystery here but that could turn out badly if they don't pull it off exactly right. The multiple factions could be trouble for the plot too. Still it's the only mecha show I've got besides Basquash and I don't really feel like watching that.

Shangri-la
This has the most interesting setting out of all the shows. The characters are unique but they just aren't fun to watch. It's also a GONZO show so I still have to consider the possiblity of the series being good but the ending being terrible. I hope they put more focus on the setting for this series cause that's what drew me to this show.

Valkyria Chronicles
Khai told me the game version was good so I decided to try this one out. First two eps were probably the first mission of the game but the characters are good. The way the story is told doesn't stand out in anyway and the story itself is from a war game so I'm not really expecting much. I've been told the best parts are the characters personal stories so hopefully those are entertaining enough to keep me watching.

Sengoku Basara
The battles are the main drive for this show. By the end of the first ep I was hoping this could turn out to be just as hot blooded and as exciting as Gurren Lagann. It certainly is hot blooded but it still hasn't been that exciting for me. I'm also not sure if the ENGRISH in this series is awesome or just plain silly.

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
A new series done by Bee Train. I don't really like the shows they do. I still remember the horrible way the handled Hack G.U.'s anime. The same director who did that is behind this one too. This has good production values and the scenes were were well done but the characters and the concept were lacking. I've seen stuff like this before and this seems to be following the way those went. I'll see where this is going for a few more episodes.

Not watching:

07 Ghost
It reminds me a bit of D. Gray-man but doesn't have a very interesting starting episode. The yaoi undertones aren't helping it either and the fighting style is rather dull. The OP hints at upcoming reveals but they don't seem very good either.

Dragonball Kai
A reedited rebroadcast of the old Dragonball Z anime. I never really watched the Z portion of the anime but I did read it. Not big enough of a fan to watch an old anime with so many flaws despite it being one of the first manga series I've read.

For my new anime related merchandise, I have 1 new revoltech and 4 new gundams. The revoltech is my new Black Saber that I ordered myself and the gundams are souveneirs that my parents brought back from singapore. They didn't get the RX-78 i wanted but the number of these gundams more than makes up for it. I am still waiting for my Kagamiku to arrive though...