In a surprise move, Media Blasters has licensed Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I felt the series was really good, but I’m not sure if it will do that well as a retail release. From what I remember, afk fansubs had to do quite a bit of work with each release. There were always a ton of translator notes to explain references. Best of luck to Media Blasters with their new license.
Just a random note to break my long streak of not updating. NIS America has licensed ToraDora. It’s not surprising to me that TD got picked up- it was an excellent series after all. What is surprising is that NIS America is now in the anime import business. I guess it’s not a huge change from what they were previously doing, that is, importing JRPGs such as Disgaea.
Last I heard, FY2009 was not very kind to their pocketbooks. I hope that they are able to right the ship by branching out into other markets. I’m not sure that bringing anime to American will net them much money, but at least they picked a good series to with which to start their new ventures. I’m sure it’s very tricky to cater to such niche markets, but that’s a game NIS America is very used to.
I still have no idea what is going on in this series. Clearly, the apple does not fall far from the tree as Baccano did not make any sense at the beginning. Scratch that, you pretty much had to watch it twice to get the full picture.
This guy is so hood.
Time of Eve is a six episode ONA (Original Net Animation) directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura and is produced by Studio Rikka and Directions Inc. It tells the story of a time where androids are beginning to be widely adopted as servants. The population is split between those who see androids as simple servile machines (the majority) and those who treat androids as if they were human.
If you are interested, Time of Eve (Eve no Jikan in Japanese) can be viewed on CR for free. You’ll have to sit through some ads, but that is a small price to pay.
While the name maybe weird, Baka to was surprisingly entertaining. Reading the winter season previews put up by Random Curiosity, I didn’t know what to think about this anime. It’s about a school that allows students to fight each other to climb up a caste hierarchy? Weird. If the first episode is to be a fair measure of what we can expect in the future, Baka to could turn out to be one of my favorites of the season.
The chibi designs are pretty cute, if I may say so.
Decided to give this a try on CR. There isn’t much to see here really- it’s a typical high school boy meets mysterious guardian (who’s rather well endowed) who must protect said boy from crazy monsters all the while fighting off the boy’s jealous childhood friend. Oh and I forgot to mention his parents are dead. And there’s a whole lot of fanservice.
Never seen that formula before.
The winter anime season finally kicked off for me with the first episode of Durarara!! I wasn’t really sure what to expect as details about the series seemed to be relatively scant before the premiere. After watching the first episode on CR, I still don’t have a good idea of what the show will be about, but I have a feeling that this will be a show that is worth watching.
Whether or not Durarara!! will be good enough to convince me to keep my CR subscription is another matter. In my opinion, CR’s winter lineup is rather weak.
So two things. One, I totally meant to post something yesterday celebrating TD’s one year birthday. Everyone sing a hearty happy birthday! One year ago yesterday, I made my first post on this blog regarding the Lucky Star OVA. Seems like the OVA should be older than that, but I guess my sense of time is warped or something.
Secondly, I wanted to post my new favorite song of the moment- Alright by Superfly. I’m not exactly sure how to classify Superfly, but I suppose she would best fall under jPop.
So I guess not ALL jPop is garbage.
Episode 13 was uncharacteristically action packed. In this single 23 minute episode, it feels like the plot was advanced by leaps and bounds- compared to plot development in the previous 12 episodes. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone who is planning on watching this series, so I’ll save the commentary for after the break.
Just a few quick notes. With the addition of Durarara!! to its streaming lineup, Crunchyroll has finally added a series worth watching. Along side Durarara!! CR is streaming Cobra and Chu Bra, with a few more mystery titles to be announced at a later date. Cobra looks interesting enough- its always fun to see retro style animation, and the show looks like it could have a good amount of action in it. Chu Bra on the other hand, looks like complete trash. Feel free to call me a prude.
I’ve been making my way through the School Rumble dvd set I got for Christmas. It’s about as funny as I remember it, though the animation looks more dated than I remember. That’s to be expected however, as the series itself is some five years old.
I’ve also recently downloaded the 12th and 13th episodes for Kimi ni Todoke, and will be checking those out in the next few days.