2007 Spring Recap & Summer Picks

Since the spring season is over and summer show are about to begin (or has begun), and it’s as good of a time as any for a review of the last season and a preview of the next. The below is a list of shows that I watched last season and hoping to watch for the next:

I started the season watching 7 or 8 titles and added 3 more, but in the end, I’m only really following 6 shows on a regular basis.

Honorable Mentions:
Here are the shows that I started watching but found that they were either not really interesting enough to keep up (Bokurano, Nagasarete Airantou, RxJ, Seto no Hanayome, Sola), or that I lack the time to watch them (Dennou Coil, Hayate the Combat Butler, Seirei no Moribito, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann). These I probably will collect and watch them when I have the time.

6. Heroic Age
Honestly, I don’t really understand why I started watching (or keep watching) this show at all. While the overall story has potential and is showing it, the character designs and scripting screams so much GS/GSD at me that I cannot help but laugh at it sometimes. Will this show be supplanted by another show this summer? It really would depend if the story keeps me interested.

5. Jikou Keisatsu 2 (帰ってきた 時効警察)
Jikou Keisatsu is about a policeman, Kiriyama Shuuichiro (霧山 修一朗), who has a strange hobby: solving unsolved cases that has expired due to the statute of limitation. A different case is shown every week for the main character to solve and it features a good mix of mystery and comedy. In season 1 and here, the unsolved mysteries each week keeps the show interesting, although it gets a little weak at time by the end of the season, the series as a whole is very entertaining nonetheless.

4. Kuitan 2 (喰いタン 2)
Kuitan is a TV dorama adeptation of the manga by Terasawa Daisuke (寺沢 大介), who also wrote Shouta no Sushi (将太の寿司). Kuitan is about a detective that solves cased using is superhuman sense of taste, and all of the cases somehow involves food. However, the show really is more of a food and comedy more than detective show, and somehow, the story writers manage to keep the show interesting and fresh in its second season.

3. Claymore
Ever since I read the manga about 2 years ago, I was interested in Claymore. Of course, when they announced an anime version of the series, I was both excited and apprehensive about it. Will the anime adoption be good, or will they screw it up? Well, the anime was all that I hoped it would be. The pacing of the conversion was just right, the action scenes were almost better than what I imagined in the manga, and the voice acting really added another dimension to the characters. I most likely will keep watching his series to its end.

2. Darker than BLACK -黒の契約者-
The promotional material was enough to get me interested in this show: Animation by BONES, music by Kanno Youko (菅野よう子), and a storyline that really suits my taste (dark, mysterious, with a dash of supernatural), there was very little reason why I wouldn’t follow this show. The first 6 episodes met my expectations of the show quite well, and although 7 – 10 were IMHO not quite as good, I thought 11 & 12 made up for most of the lacks in the previous 4 episodes. With a storyline that is becoming more exciting and great production, I expect the rest of the show to be good as well.

1. Lucky☆Star (らき☆すた)
What can I say? It’s been a long time since I LOLed while watching anime, and frankly, Lucky☆Star is the show that I look most forward to each week this spring, and probably the same as well for summer. While the show was a little weak early in the season, it improved vastly since they switched director from Yamamoto Yutaka (山本 寛) to Takemoto Yasuhiro (武本 康弘). Also, while initially I didn’t like the Lucky Channel (らっきー☆ちゃんねる) segment, it got a lot funnier after the replacement. The parodies of Initial D, Marimite, and Animate CM were also priceless, but it also managed to stick to the 4-koma jokes rather well. While the recent plugging of other KyoAni series raised my eyebrows a few times (especially during the “Sleep Over @ Konata’s” segment), most other times were used well to show how much an otaku Konata really is.

Summer 2007

There are a number of shows that I’m looking forward to next season and number of them may actually displace some show the shows I’m watching already (like Heroic Age). The list seems rather long, but I will probably drop a few and pick up some other. Hopefully I will have time to watch all of them.

9. Moetan
Based a book that teaches Engrish to Otaku, the show is promised to be funny. Frankly, I’m not sure if the material is going to be funnier, or if I’m just going to laugh at the show.

8. Doujin Works
I read a little bit of the comic, and it’s funny material. It’s about a little Doujin group, its member, and their day-to-day life. It remains to see if the anime adaptation is just as funny.

7. Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei (さよなら絶望先生)
I don’t know much about this series, other than the fact that it’s supposed to be a dark comedy, and that most of the jokes are really had to translate. But giving my recent taste in watching mostly comedies, I think I will watch what I can get of this series.

6. Nanatsuiro Drops (ななついろ★ドロップス)
Original art by いとう のいぢ (Itou Noizi). I don’t really know anything else about the series other than that it’s supposed to be a mahoshoujo comedy base on a bishoujo game, but do I really have any other choice?

5. Sushi Ouji! (スシ王子！)
I’m a sucker for food related show. So I probably will watch this show. 堂本光一 (Doumoto Kouichi) of Kinki Kids fame is going to play a sushi chef who will travel the country to fight for justice. This really sounds like Teppan Shoujo Akane!! (鉄板少女アカネ!!), and that wasn’t the best show in the world, so I probably will keep watching until it either bores me or proves to be bad.

4. Code Geass
It’s the long awaited episode 24 & 25 of the series! Will it have unspeakable surprises all of us, or will it just leave us hanging with more questions? Find out when it comes in sometime in July or August!

3. Detective School Q (探偵学園Q)
YET another adaptation TV dorama, this time based on a manga series written by Amagi Seimaru (天樹征丸) and art by Satou Fumiya (さとう ふみや). I have yet to see the anime version, but I heard it’s supposed to be pretty good. Considering that Amagi-sensei wrote works like Kindaichi Case Files, Get Backers, and Psychometrer Eiji, I cannot help but feel that it’s going to be good. I hope this will live up to the manga.

2. Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi (ゼロの使い魔 ～双月の騎士～)
The second season of Zero no Tsukaima (obviously). While many thought the first season was barely tolerable, I thought I liked it quite a bit. It true that Louis was indeed very annoying at time, but I found the general hilarity quite entertaining. Of course, this is also going to be animated by J.C. Staff, one of my favourite animation companies.

 

1. HanaKimi
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ) is a shoujo manga by Nakajou Hisaya (中条比紗也) that I found myself addicted to, so when the Taiwan live version came out, I had to go watch it. Well, let’s just say that I was not too impress with that version, but I’m not going to give up hope! With Horikita Maki (堀北真希), Oguri Shun (小栗 旬), and Mizushima Hiro (水嶋ヒロ) leading the cast, it ought to be a good adaptation (or so I hope). I cannot help but wonder how they are going to jam all 23 volumes of the manga into 12 episode, what stories they will cut out, and if they are going to follow the manga to its ending.