The spring 2008 season of anime has begun! What will I look at this season?
Looking back at my previous history at doing these previews, I notice a few trends:
- I’ve never been able to follow more than 3 shows regularly.
- There has always been one show that I badly misjudge initially. (Kimikiss, Lucky Star)
- There is always one show I don’t put on this preview I end up liking, if not loving. Usually a game adaptation or romance. (ef-a tale of memories, True Tears)
- There’s at least one show I promise to follow-up on that I often end up dropping anyway.
It’s part of trying to judge purely based on previews and plot summaries, I suppose. But when has that ever stopped me? Let’s begin!
The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk
I’m not just supporting this show because it is the spearhead of the most worthy project the anime industry has come up with in recent years–allowing simultaneous translated streaming on Crunchyroll and other places. It also looks really interesting as it’s an epic anime based loosely on the Enuma Elish and The Epic of Gilgamesh. There was already any anime by the latter title, I know, but that was too Goth for me. The preview at least has a kickin’ soundtrack and it’s been a while since I’ve watched a genuinely epic fantasy anime anyway (the last one was Scrapped Princess–all of you playing drinking games on my preview posts may drink now, as I have never failed to mention that anime in every preview I’ve done for the past three times!).
Those of you interested in this show need to support the streaming/downloading efforts of Gonzo on BOSTTV and Crunchyroll and send the industry a message: this is how it should be done. We’ll see, however, if the show is worth it.
Real Drive
Production I.G. just never stops making shows about the boundary of net and reality, do they? Having mostly missed Ghost Hound last time around, it’s time to reset and go back into Ghost in the Shell territory once more. And if it gives me an excuse to talk philosophy and theology again–hell yes, I’m running with it.
Kaiba
A show in a similar vein as Real Drive, but done by Madhouse. We’ll see if the untraditional art style proves a barrier or not.
Library War
Ever since Read or Die OVA, I have always believed that humanities majors and librarians can save the world. How could I pass up a title like that? The characters are called “book soldiers”! And that is all I have ever wanted to be in life. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end like the Read or Die TV, though. They totally forgot what made the original OVA so charming there.
Macross Frontier
Having already reviewed episode 1, I’ll watch at least a few more episodes to see how it goes. At the very least, I want to hear Yoko Kanno’s orchestral score again.
Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief
Though I admire her work in Haruhi Suzumiya, and have seen her sing live at Anime Expo, I am not this blog’s huge Hirano Aya addict. This show simply has a somewhat interesting premise and is a role that I think would stretch Aya a bit, which can only be good for her. Plus it’s got French in the trailer. Could this be a spiritual successor to Lupin III?
If Macross can be like the original Macross, I guess I’ll be fine with that, although I’m crossing my fingers that it goes beyond that. The only thing that disappoints me are the funky character designs.
Kaiba is directed by Masaaki Yuasa, who directed Mind Game and Kemonozume. What’s not to like?
In the Library Wars video Yotsubato is shown (0:23) does that mean it gets an anime adaptation ?!