Random Curiosity

So Euphie finally proved to everyone she’s no Lacus clone, Light-o got his evil eye back, Chiaki got every woman in the audience fantasizing about his baton, and psychokaede hit her limit break and came one “USO DA” short of psychorena status. Not to mention Mayumi went full-blown Haruhi on a school…of fish. Sure, a lot of stuff happened these past two weeks, but it’s not doing it for me anymore. You know when you’re at a theme park on one of the less popular rollercoaster rides with no line, after the ride is over you ask the operator if you can just sit there and go again, rather than getting off, walking all the way around through the banisters, just to get back in the same seat? It’s kinda like that with the current season…it had its high points and low points, but now that it’s coming to an end, I don’t want to get back out and wait for it to start again – the next ride needs to start already!

So, thanks to Omni once again, we have an extensive list of the wannabes, the gonnabes, and the otherwise uninspired anime of the new season. So, which one is which? In yet another pointless and drunkenly conceived FreezeFrame, here’s my extremely biased and borderline prejudiced preview of the Spring shows that will surely dominate my life for the next several months.

Hitohira http://www.hitohira.tv/ Premieres March 28th, 2007 A girl with self-confidence issues and chronic stage fright…in the drama club. Fans of the perpetual blush need look no further. At first glance, this show looks like crap, but that’s what I thought La Corda would be, and that actually turned out to be quite effective at igniting the shoujo flames that burn strong within me. She even looks like she could be Hino’s younger sister…moeee Odds I’ll never tell anybody I enjoyed this: Good

sola http://www.sola-project.com/ Premieres April 6th, 2007 Well, it definitely looks promising, but so did a certain other show that seemed mainly focused on animating the wind blowing through long wavy blonde hair. Lucky that the characters in sola have rather small chins. As long as this doesn’t turn into some girl showcasing shampoo commercial and sticks to a solid storyline with good pacing, I think this show may turn out to be a dark horse for one of the best anime of the season. Odds of me flaming this (multiple times): Good

I realize that most of my random musings entries these days aren’t really random musings, but rather news posts or quick thoughts on stuff. Regardless, I wrote this entry in one sitting off the top of my head, so consider this the first true “Random Musings” in a long time, and please forgive me if I ramble a little.

Here’s a question that’s been on my mind recently: Have CODE GEASS and Kanon set the bar too high? GEASS’s biggest strength is that it has fantastic writing with plot twists and turns one after another that keep you guessing on what’s going to happen. Kanon’s visuals and emotional impact meanwhile are what I consider a new standard for that type of show, or even for all anime. Between those two, Thursdays for the past half year have been pretty incredible. I’m sad really that they’ve ended, at least for now.

Summary:
With Euphemia calling for the deaths of all Japanese, Zero mobilizes the Black Knights.

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Although Ikkaku’s fight has ended in victory, there are still several other battles going on across the city, and things don’t look so good for Hitsugaya, Renji, or Matsumoto.

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After he and the others release Asuna’s Chupacabra back into the wild, Negi senses that his father is nearby.

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With helmets on, Light’s father Souichirou and Mogi are joined by Aizawa in heading out to Higuchi’s car and putting him in handcuffs.

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With Krory still getting used to living and eating at the Black Order, Allen is sent on a mission to deliver a suitcase to General Yeegar in Holland.

Spring season is just around the corner, and there are a lot of new shows starting up. Before we get started, a few notes. As usual, I’ll watch the first episode of most shows within certain parameters (in other words, not the kiddie shows), and what I list here are the chances of me actually blogging something based on my initial impression from promotional material. However, even if I list the chances for a show as good or guaranteed, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll stick with it for more than a few episodes. As it stands, Tuesdays and Sundays have a ton of promising shows, but I have to ultimately make a decision on what to and not to follow.

By no means does this list reflect all of the anime that are going to be aired, though I did try to be as comprehensive as I could. Check out MOON PHASE for an entire listing, syoboi’s calendar for specific air-times, and AndrewLB’s Spring 2007 Wiki for who’s tentatively subbing what.

Technical Note: All times are given in a 24-hour, relative-day format where times are extended to show which day they belong to. For instance, Friday morning at 1:30AM would become Thursday at 25:30 to show that the episode aired late Thursday night.

Darker than BLACK -Kuro no Keiyakusha- http://www.d-black.net/ Premieres April 5th, 2007 Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 25:25 Airtime in U.S. (EDT, GMT-4): Thursdays at 12:25 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo Darker Than BLACK is the show that will be replacing CODE GEASS in the Thursday late-night timeslot. It is being produced by BONES and shares much of the same production team that worked on Wolf’s Rain. Oh yea, and did I mention that Yoko Kanno will be composing the music, the opening song will be performed by abingdon boys school, and the ending will be by Rie fu? The story here revolves around a guy with special powers who works as a Contractor and is supported by an emotionless girl and the Hell’s Gate that appears in Tokyo. They’ve released a ton of promotional material on the official website, and it all made me quite excited about this show. Odds I’ll Blog This: Guaranteed

Lucky Star http://www.lucky-ch.com/ Premieres April 8th, 2007 Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Sundays at 24:00 Airtime in U.S. (EDT, GMT-4): Sundays at 11:00 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo Lucky Star is a 24-episode Kyoto Animation work for spring and summer seasons to be directed by Suzumiya Haruhi director Yamamoto Hiroshi. It’s based on a humorous 4-koma, but I would assume that the episodes will have a story of some sort, much like Azumanga Daioh. Lucky Star centers around an athletic but lazy girl named Konata who loves anime and games - she’ll be voiced by Hirano Aya. If we want to draw some more Suzumiya Haruhi parallels, I find it ironic - perhaps intentional on KyoAni’s part - that Chihara Minori is voicing the quiet girl who doesn’t show emotions. In any case, I’m looking forward to a great comedy series by Kyoto Animation since I have a lot of confidence that they’ll do an amazing job with whatever they animate. Odds I’ll Blog This: Guaranteed

Note: This is a rather long and fairly comprehensive list of the shows coming in April. Much much more after the jump, including the torrent link for promotional material.

Summary:
It is now March 10th, 2037, and the girls are getting ready to graduate. Much time has passed since that school festival, but Mikan notes that nothing has changed.

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Rin and friends have arrived in the god world and are aboard a large ship along with Eustoma and Forbesii.

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Amami Haruka attends an Idolmaster Project audition in January and receives a letter the following month notifying her that she passed.

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As Chiaki and Stresemann walk onto stage together for their concert, the writer Sakuma questions Chiaki’s ability.