moritheil: I will be monitoring our logs to see whether the search terms come up. And yes, it seems that part of both the problem and the reason is that KyoAni is so utterly, incredibly precise in how it does its moe shows: they know exactly which buttons to push. I’m egotistical enough to think that I can see through at least some of it and am trying hard to judge the show by its own merits as much as possible. Obviously it’s too early to tell whether it will be interesting on its own or not.

mjsnoozer: I’m sure it’s deliberate, too. SHAFT is mostly about flair and striking visuals rather than traditional anime design. As for Kobayashi Jin, there were many genuinely heartwarming parts of School Rumble, which if not necessarily serious were at least sincerely emotional. That, I think, is important for a story such as the one that is supposed to be unfolding. He may not be inclined to do genuinely melancholic work, though–a Makoto Shinkai or something. Which is fine as long as his strengths are on display as much as possible in Natsu no Arashi!

rayyhum777: while you were at T&A it seems that Krauser has gone to K-ON. GO TO K-O-N! GO TO K-O-N!

fangzhao: it seems you have hope, the same hopes I’m trying to have too. We’ll see.

rollchan: you’re welcome!

smashingtofu: Hi. :) Again, I think Kobayashi’s capable of emotional sincerity if not necessarily seriousness, which is what I hope at least will show up in his new show.

Mori is actually thinking of writing about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms adaptation you mentioned, btw, and so we will probably be covering that when it’s out. One of his earliest posts is about Cao Cao after all! And, as my “Soon:” section indicates, I fully intend to cover Eden of the East, which is the show I most look forward to this season. The trailer blew me away, and as a big Honey and Clover fan I love the fact that it’s basically about a less loli Hagu and a just as zany Morita-lookalike.

CriticalDesign: I saw some people who seem to hate the OP of K-ON, but I’m not one of them. I do like the ED better, but the OP is more than passable, and actually has a little of the great music animation we’ve come to expect from KyoAni. And there ain’t nothing wrong with watching something when you need to relax. I call those “easy to watch” shows and there’s very much a place for them in anyone’s anime diet, so to speak.

Production I.G, designs by Chika Umino (Honey and Clover manga) story and director is Kenji Kamiyama (Noitamina having an original story is a first I think)

trailerrrrrr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q4cc46wym4

It has somewhat of a Bourne-esque thing going on which is fine by me

Meh. I actually only started ToraDora because of its OP. Maybe the same will happen here. I’ll probably watch it when I am feeling stressed, or just too mentally fizzled out to watch deeper shows I have stashed.

The twist is that the ‘hero’ is Cao Cao!  Plus its got theme songs from some of my indie faves so ’nuff said

Too sick/tired to detail things but dropping by to say hello anyway

Yaaarg sickness begone

Also my two cents about Jin Kobayashi is that he may still need more time to develop as a serious mangaka as a lot of his output is frivolous at best so far

thanks for the insight.