アニ・ノート

The entry may spoil a bit, but here’s one thing from someone not beholden to Crunchyroll’s schedule of payless netcasts:

Oh all of the series I’ve started watching for this Spring anime season, Natsu no Arashi seemed the most likely to be dropped based solely upon its first episode, which simply didn’t impress me in any way, shape or form. Thank goodness then that episode two of the series acts rather more like a proper opener, succeeding to at least some degree of drawing me into the picture that it paints.

So, SHAFT pulls Haruhi 00 on us. Honestly, it’s a disappointment, because I really liked how they introduced everyone and have set the premise in Arashi 01. Stepping back from that would be a loss, and also indicates adherence to the souce manga from a weak mangaka, which is still ongoing. Oh well.

Message from the club president:

For those as fanatical as I am, there’s a New Haruhi Episode on the Kadokawa channel. It looks exactly like old Haruhi, but there’s 1 minute 30 seconds of new footage interspersed throughout. I swear, this company hates its fans. :/

For mazochists among you, I live to serve.

Does anyone recognize this place by any chance? {Update: found it, see below.}

I think I took this picture when I walked from Akihabara to Ueno, but I’m not sure. I went over the whole area with Google Maps, and there’s nothing like it there. The alternative is the north-west corner of Akiba (where maid cafes are concentrated), but I don’t see anything there either. There’s a couple of similar parks towards Sotokanda, but they are different in detail.

UPDATE: Evirus asked his readers, too. I’m grateful, but in truth I’m despairing. He also guesses Todai. Unfortunately, it cannot be, since I never went there. Todai is very close to Ueno, but there was no time to walk around the lake and visit the campus (And walking to Akihabara? Well, we weaboos have our priorities…).

UPDATE: Found it, using street view again. Apparently I went quite a bit further east than I thought.

I asked an online friend, who was a big fan of SR, for a specific comment on Arashi (yes, I’m pulling all sorts of levers behind the scenes). Here’s the expert opinion:

I think it’s terrible. A big disappointment, considering I also usually like SHAFT’s stuff. The art comes across less as SHAFT’s normal “artistic” impression and more as a low-budget collection of amateur background scrolling tricks. The character art is ugly, with all the females’ faces looking distorted. The show itself looks like it’s trying to be funny, but I find the humor is better delivered by explaining the plot vocally than actually watching it. It’s a neat concept, but poorly executed.

There you have it. I was wrong to love the art and animation… OTZ.

Blogging under influence (either of drugs, or a freshly finished episode) is rarely a good idea, but let’s see what cooler heads offer.

Beta-Waffle: No information. He’s playing his games, I guess.

{Update: DiGiKerot e-mailed that his Internet was broken, so streaming was impossible. Added: “I do fully intend to actually watch the show once it becomes a less painful experience to do so.”}

{Update 2009/04/19: He’s seen two episodes. “I’m somewhat presuming [character designs is] part of a sustained effort to invoke some kind of nostalgia in the viewer []“}

Chizumatic: No information. Lack of DTO is probably a deal killer for Steven. Also, may not have enough titilation. Everyone is kinda normally sized… The time paradox was handled well in my opinion, but oh well. No help from there.

{Update: Steven says that there was no interesting hook in reviews. Which is true.}

Tenka Seiha:

Very little of the humor clicked with me and I continue to despise Hajime with a passion born of the firey depths of Styx. I did like that they used a pretty light touch with introducing their abilities and powers without beating us over the head with them or lots of shocked reactions and whatnot. Still though, I wasn’t really entertained, and I spent about a quarter of the episode really bothered by the 3-1=1 thing. Yes, they explained it eventually, but how could the characters not notice that?

So… meh from me thus far. The horse-faced women scare me, Hajime sucks, and while I think there is some potential for good time travel jokes, this episode really didn’t show that, so I’m really not sure I want to stick around just yet.

Aroduc is heavily damaged by the “poisoned by manga” syndrome (the ep.1 Hajime is not anywhere near as bad as he makes it sound), but makes some good points. Character behaviour is a little contrieved; they pretend not to see certain things.

Karmaburn: No information.

The Kawaii Menace: Retired, no information.

Kuro: Said on #animeblogger that he’s not seen Arashi yet.

THAT: Nothing since the preview.

Calawain: Yakumo clone?! The problem with School Rumble was that they started out wonderfully but never got anywhere on the vast majority of the relationships after 22 volumes. So, while I enjoyed the character personalities and character designs, I fear for a “we’re still in Namek” vibe from this one. And I have no idea what SHAFT is going to do to this with Shinbo at the helm.

Haesslich: So we’ve got SHAFT involved, which is a plus. Then we’ve got Jin Kobayashi, an automatic -50 points despite the nice-looking character designs. Might be worth watching once, but I’m preparing to drop the series despite its visual appeal.

I’m very concerned too. Also, get on it and start blogging already. What good is to have a huge roster on a team blog when nobody is doing anything?

hontou ni sou omou?: No information. But perhaps the manga didn’t have enough lesbians, which may be a good sign.

Hontou ni Taihen desu: No information for an unknown reason.

Nigorimasen: No information, except a brief mention as an example of simulcast into R1.

Omonomono: No information.

Sea Slugs: In preview:

Like Hinano, I resent Kobayashi Jin for dragging out School Rumble for ever and ever and then giving us a lame ending. Combine the generally mediocre character art with Shaft’s propensity for weirdness, and I have no interest at all in this series. Never ever call this number again.

Man, what a tough crowd.

Only one person has actually seen it so far. Also, the ill-will is very strong and well founded. It reminds me about my anti-GONZO resolve. Was it a productive policy? Is this a productive policy? Maybe I should wait for the season to end. Or two seasons.

BTW, nobody expected Arashi to be a gender-swapped Kurau. I must’ve been the only one to make conclusions from a single publicity picture.

I watched 8 minutes 45 seconds of Eve no Jikan 01, found it unbearable (more about it later, maybe), and, instead of wallowing in depression, decided to double up by watching [Natsu no] Arashi. Good call.

In one word: woa. Or, more precisely, OMFG WTF BBQ. I think that’s the Internet slang for this kind of thing. My ordinary vocabulary does not have the depth and mere superlatives seem inadequate. That thing can make me love anime again, if only they do not make another Maria+holic out of it, with a crumpled ending.

P.S. Crunchyroll, I hate you, or whoever is the jerk rights-holder (Media Factory? Kadokawa?). I want to buy this show, but there’s no DTO option. Why oh why?

UPDATE: Oh wait, isn’t the original source by that loser who screwed up his own manga by pandering to stupid shippers among his fans? Now I’m seriously scared that even SHAFT will be unable to save it. But it started so well!

See why I repeat myself so much: others might miss it the first time around. In this case Zyl quotes his own ancient review:

The gung-ho mecha-freak Isurugi “accidentally” wins the romantic affections of the two most prominent pilots, the sweet Haneda and the tomboyish Mitaka, as well as acceptance by the other members of the unit.

Why did nobody mention important things to me before? Into the queue it goes!

The remainder of shows that he lists I’m familiar with, at least somewhat. For example, the best part of Abenobashi for me was the unorthodox ED and its message of optimism rooted in the past (they filmed the thing during the recession, BTW). The rest was forgettable. I’m thinking about deleting its category.

He assembled a few links at Minimum Tempo, so I don’t need to do it. Procrastination FTW!

Some of these second episode posts were useful in pointing out errors, one was delightfully informative, and the others were boring repeats of each other (although one mixed it up, and I actually enjoyed reading hers). [...] Despite the arrogance that Owen oozes, at least he doesn’t straight up regurgitate the show into text form. It’s nice to hear what an episode is about, but not twenty or so times.

Enjoy! Icy forgot, or excluded intentionally as 1st episode impression, the seminal critique of deformed fingers. Still, he’s got some spectrum covered.

Nagi and I collapsed together. It was strangely synergistic.

Honestly, I cannot explain what made Taiga and Ryuji more interesting that Nagi and Hayate… Hayate does not seem bad in any way. Its only fault is being one of those endless shows like Naruto.

FRIDGE: Jason Miao seems to like it — unless it’s only a mask to attract readership to the reincarnated AoMM.

Tycho wrote at Penny Arcade today:

I’ve been bitten by anime before, and learned to avoid its sting. … Lord a’mighty, this would be an expensive habit. I thought gaming had a price tag attached.

I don’t think anyone was able to kick the gaming habit yet. The Borg never releases its victims. Tycho would be the first… but it’s not going to happen: he’s planning to watch Le Chevalier D’Eon.