PinkuBentoBox

There were 15 new series that I said I would be looking into this season. Discounting Tsubasa (starts at the end of April) there are two new seasons of existing series, which I will talk about very briefly (they’re basically more of the same) and then I’ll be breaking the remaining series into two groups of six. Let’s get into it then.

First off, School Rumble S2 and Aria S2. Both of these are pretty much more of the same, so if you’ve seen either of them you will know exactly what to expect. Aria is just as cute, and School Rumble is just as funny. Unfortunately, SR has replaced the distinctive, awesome OP/ED combination with shitty overproduced jpop that is just not worth the time it takes to listen to it. That’s essentially my only complaint. Also, they’ve had to replace Karen’s VA (Yuuka Nanri) with MAKO of Kamichu fame, though I can’t comment yet because she’s had no lines. I’m not going to spend any extra time on these because there’s not much more to say.

I have to say that with the other six I’m going to talk about tonight (Strawberry Panic, Simoun, Air Gear, Soul Link, Disgaea and Utawarerumono) but one have met or exceeded my expectations. I’m going to run through these in roughly the order that they screened.

Soul Link is basically exactly what I was expecting it to be. It’s an adaption of the game of the same name from Navel, who brought us Shuffle. The shared lineage is quite obvious, especially in the character designs. The animation quality seems about the same as Shuffle too, which essentially means it’s being made with half the budget since it’s only 12 episodes. Unlike Shuffle which is basically a stock harem series with a few unconventional moments, Soul Link is set in space and judging by the OP and the blatant foreshadowing, will involve a decent amount of action. Overall it’s nothing too fancy, but it’s not awful either, so I’ll be giving it a go. Thus far it’s the only show to have recieved a decent sub, but it’s still early days.

I’ll be honest, Strawberry Panic is probably the series that I was looking forward to the most this season, and I am happy to say that I wasn’t upset with how it turned out at all. That said, I’m not exactly floored by it either. The best way to describe it is with a hypothetical scale. If Marimite is one extreme of the Yuri-stick, and Shoujo Sect is the other, then Strawberry Panic is roughly in between them. Where Marimite was very refined and was quite subtle about the Yuri content (primarily because it comes from a shoujo novel series) Strawberry Panic is not. If you watched Marimite for the yuri, then you’re in the Strawberry Panic target audience (and if you watched Marimite just for the plot then god help you :P). There are a number of similarities between the two series (girls in pairs, main character attracts the attention of an older girl by being rather cute, older girl holds a position of authority in the school, the school is catholic - complete with a colossal ripoff of Lillian Academy’s Mary statue… and of course the yuri) but there are also a number of differences. Where the relationship between Yumi and Sachiko was quite reserved and subtle, Shizuma is basically a creepy lesbian predator. I’m pretty sure there’ll be a touching backstory and we’ll find that we end up liking her a lot. To be honest she reminded me heaps of Shizuru from Mai-Hime/Mai-Otome, and we know how awesome she turned out. I haven’t even mentioned the ED, which was a huge surprise - it’s a live-action video with Ai Shimizu and Mai Nakahara in black gothloli dresses and a fair amount of lesbian innuendo. I certainly didn’t see it coming. Add to this the fact that it’s going to be 26 episodes and there is a gargantuan cast, and I think we’ve got a legitimate yuri series to keep us going until they get around to giving us more Marimite.

After a drought since basically Marimite ~haru~ and Kannaduki no Miko in 2004, April 2006 brings us not one but two lesbian-loaded series. I’ve been describing Simoun to people by saying that it’s essentially Steampunk, along the lines of Last Exile. The difference here is that rather than creating steam the usual way, they create it with the FIRES OF THEIR LESBIAN PASSION. Essentially, everyone in the setting is born as a girl, and when they turn 15 they can choose what gender they end up. However, only those who have not made the choice despite being old enough are able to pilot the two-person flying fighting craft and defend their country. Pretty stock setup, but the series is really, really blatant with things. Prior to powering up their craft girls kiss each other then kiss their floaty green powerball to power up their craft. Let’s bring out our Yuri measuring stick that I mentioned before. If Strawberry Panic is halfway between Marimite and Shoujo Sect, then Simoun is between Strawberry Panic and Soujo Sect. Yuri aside, the actual aerial combat sequences reminded me a lot of Last Exile, and I found I quite liked it. The art is very different though, soft and pastely with large lips (all the better to share with other cute girls) which actually sets up an interesting dichotomy, with the dirty Steampunk mixed with a sort of Elegant, clean feel. Unfortunately the series is also loaded with stupid technobabble and the lip sync is terrible. Also, the main character has the distinctive voice of Kihel Heim & Dianna Soreil from Turn-A Gundam and I find this extremy distracting. Still, the series is about what I was expecting - average - and if you like watching girls suck face then you’re probably already watching it.

Utawarerumono is my personal pick for best show of the season so far. This is amusing because when I saw the trailer I was very unimpressed and expected it to amount to very little. Thankfully, it turns out that it’s quite a good show. Adapted from a strategy game, it’s basically a Fantasy setting which I would describe best as the bastard offspring of Princess Mononoke and 12 Kingdoms that grew up in a Red Indian village. The male lead, Hakuoro, is found by our cute female protagonist, Eruru, who is some kind of animal-girl. I’m not exactly sure what, it’s definitely not cat, it sort of looks fox-ish but that doesn’t fit either… I assume it’s something made up by the series designers. Anyway, Hakuoro is badly wounded and she takes care of him. When he wakes up, he has a mask attached to the upper part of his face which he cannot remove. The first episode is mainly focused around establishing the setting and the characters, so not much happens, but it was engrossing. I’m very much looking forward to seeing more of this one. I should also note that it has a beautiful ED and Eruru is extremely cute. As is her little sister but I’m probably not supposed to mention that.

Disgaea was a huge disappointment for me. Just a bit of background: Disgaea is one of my most favourite PS2 games. It has quirky characters, great music, and a fantastic, interesting plot. Unfortunately they decided to throw the plot out the window for the anime. They’ve hodge-podged together parts of the first three chapters of the game, and then added Captain Gordon, Thursday and Jennifer, all of whom do not appear in the game until well past half way. In return, they didn’t have Etna or the Prinny Squad until the last ten seconds of the first episode. Instead, they had Flonne wake up Laharl, who was in a coffin in a junkyard instead of in his castle. They don’t even seem to be in the netherworld. The animation is generally crap as well, which was another nail in the coffin. Thankfully the music is intact and the characters themselves are still excellent. It also has the right tone. I’m just very worried that they’re going to be all over the place with the plot, and that will absolutely kill the anime. I am also distressed at the complete lack of Plenair in the OP and ED. Or, for that matter, most of the custom character classes - where are my cute drill-haired Archer girls? Where are my Ronins? This series is chiefly going to appeal to fans of the game, yet they quite swiftly alienated their core audience by fucking around far too much with things they shouldn’t be playing with. Very disappointing, but I’ll probably still give it a 3-ep test because I still love Disgaea’s characters.

Finally, Air Gear. I was sort of looking forward to this but really trying to avoid getting my hopes up because as we all know, the last Oh! Great manga to anime adaption, Tenjo Tenge, was awful. Air Gear’s OP is pretty weak, but after that, it well exceeds what I was expecting. First and foremost, they’ve put a lot of work into translating the character designs from the manga to the anime, and it shows. For the most part they’re spot-on, unlike the wierd looking Tenjo Tenge girls. For those that don’t know it, Air Gear is basically what would happen if Jet Set Radio and Tenjo Tenge were smushed together. Basically, some enterprising fellow came up with motorised skates which allow skaters to travel at breakneck speeds and get sweet air. You should already be seeing why I say it’s similar to Jet Set Radio if you’re familiar with those games. Apparently the designers noticed the similarity too, because the soundtrack for Air Gear is exactly what I was hoping - primarily an evolution of Jet Set Radio Future. The plot basically deals with Ikki, a bit of a ruffian who is beaten by an Air Track gang and humiliated. He then finds out that the four girls he lives with are a legendary AT group, Sleeping Forest, and becomes an AT star himself. One thing that really got me going was that there are a few shots that have areas that are exactly like areas in Jet Set Radio Future. The opening shot, with skaters heading down a street that descends and slowly curves off to the right? It’s fuckin’ Dogenzaka Hill, the first level from JSRF! And the ED is even more obvious, with a live-action, first person recording that feels like you’re skating around an areas very similar to locations from JSRF. The ED itself is a fantastic track which sounds like an un-used part of the JSRF soundtrack (I want the single ASAP!). Overall, they hit this adaption almost perfectly despite having a bit of a play with the early continuity, and I am extremely surprised and delighted at how well it looks to have turned out.