Fall 08 Impressions PART II
Casshern Sins
The breadth of my Casshern knowledge extends to about a frame or two of animation I saw while walking past a screening room at Otakon 2008 late one night. Or that could have been Hurricane Polymar. This, however, is fine, since no prior knowledge of Casshern is needed to appreciate this new iteration, or so I’m told. The first seven or so minutes of this first episode really grabbed me– I liked the retro-but-not-quite art direction (really digging the thick linework) and the general tone of it all. But after that, it gradually sank into tedium. Maybe it’ll get better with further episodes.
Kannagi
If this show didn’t have the staff that it did, I probably would not have cared much about it before hand. Even knowing the staff, I approached this show with cautious optimism. I didn’t think the concept would really work, but the show seems to carry itself well in its opening episode. Good production values all around, and none of the characters strike me as particularly annoying. The opening is also pretty awesome.
Could rank as one of the top 3 of the season.
Rosario+Vampire Capu 2
Rosario+Vampire Capu 2 most certainly won’t rank as a top 3 of anything, however. To be honest, I almost hated the first season of this show, with the only things saving it being panties, Shuuichi Ikeda, and the cute loli witch. All that said, I’m afraid to report that I almost liked this first episode of Capu 2. It could just be that my expectations were set so low by the first season, but this first episode of R+V was… almost good. It managed to entertain me on a very basic level (I like panties, I can’t lie) but the chances of it getting better are slim.
One thing of note is the ending sequence, which is like an Idolm@ster video with Rosario characters. It’s actually pretty good.
Up next is Kyou no 5 no 2, To Aru Majutsu no Index and Kurogane no Engrish.
Mmmmmmm…….Panties
I might watch Casshern since Furuya is voicing him. I wonder if this Casshern will make an appearance in the upcoming Tatsunoko vs. Capcom game. I admit I enjoyed the first season of Rosario Vampire so I might enjoy this one too. Oh and I agree…panties are good. I expect a lot of panties from this show.
Correction:
Mmmmmmmm……..Loli witch panties
>Kannagi
I thought you might hate it because of the country setting. Didn’t you say Natsume Yuujincho was boring, too?
Country settings don’t put me off of anime. Stuff being boring puts me off. Natsume was boring. And shoujo anime. I don’t like most shoujo anime (unless it’s magical girl.)
I just saw the second episode of Kannagi. Am I the only one who thought that the animation quality jumped up and down during the whole episode? And am I the only one who thought that for at least a few minutes, those character animations’ quality went right through the roof?!? When I watched some of those scenes, I was so left behind in awe that I had to rewatch every single of them because I missed reading the subs. And then I missed them again!!
It was like a revelation to me. Now I know why there are lots of the older fans who keep talking about that golden era of fluid animation. It really makes a difference! But yet again it sensibilizes you to the mediocricy of your everyday’s anime. Why didn’t they do this to Evangelion 1.01? It was a Gainax movie that was sure to be a hit right from the beginning. Couldn’t they have burned some more money for character animation as smooth as this? It’s not like they would have risked making losses…
The animation in Kannagi 2 has weird spots where it’s really active and bouncy but not especially realistic. I like it, but some other people don’t. You Are (Not) Alone’s anime was pretty smooth but not really bouncy or cartoony, and it didn’t need to be.
With Kannagi they have a lot of KyoAni guys on board so I guess I’m not surprised.