I’m not usually one to post news articles and stuff… but the long-hoped-for third season of Marimite appears to be official. Unfortunately, it’s only going to be an OVA. There’s not much details yet (more coming in the December issue of Cobalt on the 18th) but either way, it’s more of a good thing.
I’m really happy that we’re getting more, but I can’t help but be a little disappointed that it’s only an OVA. What I’m hoping is that they do it over six episodes, like a number of recent series (Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu, Stratos4 Advance, UFO Princess Valkyrie S3) and spend the whole thing working on developing a single novel in depth, not unlike the way Kyoto Animation handled Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.
Knowing my luck though it will end up as a two-episode OAV and summarise the first two seasons or something shitty. 
Y’know, it’s kinda funny, really. I took the time to track down and re-read the Blood 2002 manga in preparation to continue this series…figured I’d brush up on just exactly how things went there, expecting this series to actually factor in those events. And then I get to episode two, and suddenly any chance of the manga actually being involved? Gone. Seriously, after this episode there’s literally no chance that the manga—probably not even the movie—will factor into the plot whatsoever. Is this a setback? Yes, a considerable one. However, I think there is a bright side, too. The show has already proven that it has the chance to tell one helluva story well past my initially low expectations, and now not having a source to adhere to, it has more freedom to tell a really spiffy alternate rendition. There’s even still a chance for my knowledge of prior incarnations to come in handy, as it’s not impossible for the series to take elements from both movie and manga and tie them in, in some new and different fashion. So, let’s see if it can pull that off, shall we?
Psst! Pretty pictures inside! 
Continue reading ‘Blood+ Episode 2′
1600×900 | 1680×1050 | 1920×1200 | 1600×1200 (letterboxed) | 1280×1024 (letterboxed) | illustrator .ai file
Barasuishou from Rozen Maiden ~traumend~. I used the same technique as I did in my previous Futakoi Alternative trace, but this time I was able to complete things a lot faster. This was basically just a quick trace to refresh myself how this is all done, since it’s been quite a while. I’ve included the Illustrator file incase anyone wants it.
I’m still kind of behind with this series, but with this entry I’ll be pretty much caught up. While I do have the ep 6 raw, I decided not to watch it just yet and wait until I’d gone over episode 5 thoroughly. Basically, I’ve been trying to catch up on a few other things (Eureka 7, Nanoha A’s) which is why I haven’t done this ep yet. I’m still really enjoying Mai-Otome, but I’m really starting to hope that they kick the plot into motion soon. Episode 6, based off the quick glance that I had, looks to be a silly filler episode, where 5 is basically a character introduction & setup episode. Really, it’s almost a simple continuation of the plot of episode 4.
Continue reading ‘Mai-Otome - Episode 5′
Having finished blogging ep 3, I’m moving straight on to 4, as I want to catch up to roughly where everyone else is. Since it’s pertinent here, I thought I’d share my usual approach with these episodes. I get and watch the raws when they release - my command of spoken Japanese is good enough to follow it, assuming there’s no complicated dialogue. I then watch the subs (Static-Subs is my subber of choice for this) once, then watch again as I blog. I think this three-pass approach gives me a chance to notice a lot of things that I wouldn’t normally pick up in a single run. Anyway, Otome episode 4. Once again, no pictures unless needed - you can find those on just about any anime blogger’s site at the moment. I’m far more interested in content.
EDIT: Added Nagi’s impressions.
Continue reading ‘Mai-Otome - Episode 4′
