And now, an actual entry.
Complete with content!
Seeing as the new anime series have started to air again, and I've finally gotten the urge to start poking around Animesuki once more and seeing what I can dig up, it is time for some short reviews.
Ouran High School Host Club: Seen one episode. And holy CRAP, this is great. "Poor" student at a wealthy, exclusive school gets recruited into a club of bishounen who basically act as escorts and entertain the wealthy young ladies. This plot setup sounds like drippy shoujo drivel, and that's what I thought when I saw the summary on the back of the graphic novel, but that's if it were being played straight. Instead, the whole thing is a total comedy, with nice animation to boot. Haruhi, the lead, is far from typical and plays a nice straight...person to the loonies that make up the Host Club. They're bishounen, sure, but they're also nuts, and have designed themselves to appeal to stereotypes girls love on purpose. Tamaki kind of needs to be seen to be believed, he's damned loopy. The fact that the =animation looks great helps. Admittedly, this show might appeal more to girls, but I think the comedy is enough to carry it for a male audience, too. As long as it doesn't start getting angsty, I'm sold.
Simoune: Seen one episode. Weird, weird show. The characters keep tossing around terminology that isn't quite explained, having cryptic and overdramatic conversations and battling in strange CGI craft. It is really a very pretty show, at least, with an almost all-female cast living in a sky world that is at war with some other nation. The character designs are almost worth a look on their own. I get vibes of Last Exile Meets Utena, since this show has serious yuri themes going on, but they seem to be there for a reason rather than "omg hawt lesbians." I'm going to watch a few more episodes as this comes out and see. If the confusion clears up and the melodrama is lightened by humor and character moments, I'll stick with it.
Turn A Gundam: Seen about three episodes so far, though I DLed a batch of five. Also weird, though not quite as strange as Simoune. I heard once that Tomino did not intend for this series to be a Gundam series originally, but Bandai wouldn't fund it without a robot to sell models, and so Turn A happened. I don't really see why so many fans pan this series, as while it is very different, it seems like a good show if taken on its own merits. It does the Tomino thing of throwing you right into the story with little background, but what's going on with the show does start to become clear after a while. Loran Cehack, who is so bishounen that the character Keith jokingly calls him "Lauren," is sent to Earth from the Moon nation on what appears to be a spy mission. He ends up working with two wealthy girls in a local village, who appear to be the other two main characters, and strange stuff happens from there. The Gundam itself doesn't show until episode 2, and we have yet to see a space battle, though there have been a few land battles. (And oddly enough, there's a bit of incidential, non-fanservice-oriented nudity. I just kind of shrugged it off.) The setting is more Final Fantasy 6 minus magic than Space Opera, so don't expect typical Gundam.
And yes, I will get around to DLing and watching some Bleach, watching those episodes I have of Nanoha, and checking out all the other stuff people say I should check out. Honest!
Seeing as the new anime series have started to air again, and I've finally gotten the urge to start poking around Animesuki once more and seeing what I can dig up, it is time for some short reviews.
Ouran High School Host Club: Seen one episode. And holy CRAP, this is great. "Poor" student at a wealthy, exclusive school gets recruited into a club of bishounen who basically act as escorts and entertain the wealthy young ladies. This plot setup sounds like drippy shoujo drivel, and that's what I thought when I saw the summary on the back of the graphic novel, but that's if it were being played straight. Instead, the whole thing is a total comedy, with nice animation to boot. Haruhi, the lead, is far from typical and plays a nice straight...person to the loonies that make up the Host Club. They're bishounen, sure, but they're also nuts, and have designed themselves to appeal to stereotypes girls love on purpose. Tamaki kind of needs to be seen to be believed, he's damned loopy. The fact that the =animation looks great helps. Admittedly, this show might appeal more to girls, but I think the comedy is enough to carry it for a male audience, too. As long as it doesn't start getting angsty, I'm sold.
Simoune: Seen one episode. Weird, weird show. The characters keep tossing around terminology that isn't quite explained, having cryptic and overdramatic conversations and battling in strange CGI craft. It is really a very pretty show, at least, with an almost all-female cast living in a sky world that is at war with some other nation. The character designs are almost worth a look on their own. I get vibes of Last Exile Meets Utena, since this show has serious yuri themes going on, but they seem to be there for a reason rather than "omg hawt lesbians." I'm going to watch a few more episodes as this comes out and see. If the confusion clears up and the melodrama is lightened by humor and character moments, I'll stick with it.
Turn A Gundam: Seen about three episodes so far, though I DLed a batch of five. Also weird, though not quite as strange as Simoune. I heard once that Tomino did not intend for this series to be a Gundam series originally, but Bandai wouldn't fund it without a robot to sell models, and so Turn A happened. I don't really see why so many fans pan this series, as while it is very different, it seems like a good show if taken on its own merits. It does the Tomino thing of throwing you right into the story with little background, but what's going on with the show does start to become clear after a while. Loran Cehack, who is so bishounen that the character Keith jokingly calls him "Lauren," is sent to Earth from the Moon nation on what appears to be a spy mission. He ends up working with two wealthy girls in a local village, who appear to be the other two main characters, and strange stuff happens from there. The Gundam itself doesn't show until episode 2, and we have yet to see a space battle, though there have been a few land battles. (And oddly enough, there's a bit of incidential, non-fanservice-oriented nudity. I just kind of shrugged it off.) The setting is more Final Fantasy 6 minus magic than Space Opera, so don't expect typical Gundam.
And yes, I will get around to DLing and watching some Bleach, watching those episodes I have of Nanoha, and checking out all the other stuff people say I should check out. Honest!