September 2009 List of Picks

This past season brought a good number of interesting anime. Some surprised me with how much I liked them, even though the premise can be a little strange at first. I also picked up a couple of anime that are not from this season, which goes to show you that there is plenty of golden anime out there waiting to be discovered. Good news when you can't find anything to your taste in the current season

Sometimes I am interested in checking out new anime and want to list them, but then end up dropping a series or two and picking up others. This is a list of anime that I ended up watching this last season.

What I've been watching this past season:

• Aoi Hana >>...a sentimental girl returns to a small town, and is reunited with her childhood friend, whose friendship sees her through new and difficult situations
  
• Canaan >>...human beings survive mutations due to covered-up viral experiments, bringing the mess to the doorstep of a seasoned assassin with a past she's ready to put to rest
• Guin Saga...a mysterious leopard-headed warrior and a pair of displaced royal twins escaping enemy attack, and strike out on a journey home in the midst of ongoing war >>
  
• Hanasakeru Seishounen >>...a sheltered rich girl is challenged by her father to select a husband, but his bet is that she'll choose a man out of four men he has secretly selected, hearts, lives, and family empires are at stake
• Hatsukoi Gentei >>...this light-hearted anime focuses on the difficult and comic challenges of unrequited love, and cashes in on borderline shameless fan service opportunities at times, making up with breakthroughs later on
  
• Tokyo Magnitude...a jaded girl and her little brother are on an outing when an earthquake hits and their lives and world are left shaken, holding on to hope that they can make it home safely and that their parents are still alive >>
• Umineko Naku Koro ni...a gruesome game of whodunit is proposed when a witch takes a recently reunited rich family hostage and kills them off as the hour chimes until her challenge is met >>

Series still watching:

• Hetalia: Axis Powers...update: country-characters don't always fight, sometimes they just try to go another day without killing each other, tidbit webisode entertainment >>
• Valkyria Chronicles >>...update: happy times are in the past when armies are face to face, and things are down to the wire, the element of a superpowered descendant joins the fray
• Tears to Tiara >>...update: put the day-to-day character circus on the backburner, we'll see where this rebellion really going, who's the old guy in the opening theme, and what the demon king has truly set his sights on
• Phantom: Requiem for Phantom...update: it's no longer all about Zwei/Reiji, now it's an in-family fight amongst the Phantoms, old and new, and not everyone is left standing at the end >>
  

Picked up late:

• Kemono no Soujo Erin...Erin gets cooler and cooler with just her hardships, kindness and dedication to taken for granted beasts backing her up, but there's no shortage of attempts to tie her down by laws fueled by past tragedies >>

Loose episodes:

• Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette...update: finally someone kind and competent takes the little french girl under his wing, but now they are on the run from the police >>
• Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve) >>...a web anime about how androids have become ingrained into everyday human life, the story centers around a mysterious cafe that temporarily hides the line between android and human

Out of season anime:

• Last Exile....the story is always on the move with two friends that grew up flying their own aircraft in hopes that they'll someday conquer the natural force that took their fathers' lives >>
• Kigeki (Comedy) >>...there's hardly much to laugh about when a grim demon-like man is approached with a young girl's request to rid her town of invaders
  

Jury is still out:

• Sora no Mani Mani >>....an overexcited, shouty happy character is reunited with a quiet bookworm who thought he'd managed to escape her starry-eyed escapades until he caught her attention on his first day back in town

Watched a few episodes and then dropped:

• Koukaku no Regios >>...it became unbearable for me to watch when I couldn't tell why I was still watching after the 5th episode

Video Sample:

Kigeki (Comedy)



Do you plan to watch any of these anime?

Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When Seagulls Cry)

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Do you like mysteries? How about those ones where you aren't sure that the butler did it? And how do you feel about golden butterflies?

The party starts with a rich family's reunion on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere. Almost-obnoxious-guy shoulders his way into main character status with his pointy red and white suit. Everything seems fine and dandy until ill will worms its way to the surface as inheritance, child abuse, jealousy, hate, the rumor of hidden gold and the influence of a unseen witch has brought this tea party to a screeching halt. Once the screams start, the anime has begun to fling full pace into mystery-novel land.

There will be blood, there will be ugly endings to lives, there will be countless references to a chessboard and magic, and there will be a creepy little girl complete with creepy little grin. You have been warned.

Nine episodes in, I have already surrendered to the notion that I need to watch these all in row, as opposed to one every week, giving myself time to forget what scenario the anime is currently in, and what facts have been established. My head flips every time Battler suggests to flip the chessboard. And when Beatrice started talking in red, I almost threw in the towel.

I'm ready to watch this whole thing from start to end, as this anime is definitely something I wouldn't usually touch with a ten foot pole. Mysteries aren't always up my alley, but this one was like a scary story you want to hear...with the lights on...and a baseball bat in hand. I don't want to give up on this anime, because I want to know how it all happened. I want to see the episode where the mystery is solved and each little trick is broken down.

Until then, I plan to suppress a cringe every time Maria "ooh's" and enjoy those fun scenarios when someone is shown with a menacing face as they attend to a gruesome killing in someone's imagination.

Recommendations:

• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro...episodic mysteries take zany turns as a demonic detective and his fronthuman crack mysteries to feed his appetite >>
  
• Ga Rei: Zero...close friends are pitted against each other when one has her life, humanity, and future taken away by a demonic force >>
  
• Jigoku Shoujo: Futakomori...when a request to bury a grudgemaker comes in, a small mystery is created, often adding another bittersweet round to an unending cycle >>
• Himitsu: The Revelation...solving seriously mysterious crimes takes brains, specifically the brains of the deceased >>
  

Video Sample:



Do you plan to watch Umineko no Naku Koro ni?


See the description for Umineko no Naku Koro ni on AnimeDB.net >>

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0's situation is the answer to the question: What would happen if Tokyo suffered a 8.0 Magnitude earthquake? Every episode starts out with a brief note that extensive research and simulations were done to ensure that the anime was grounded with some science homework.

That said, the story opens up with your run of the mill "life is so boring, who cares?" youth named Mirai (english translation: Future) and her little brother Yuuki (english translation: Courage) and how their pocket-sized family is in a rough patch in many ways besides money.

While chaperoning her little brother to a local convention, the namesake natural disaster smacks tokyo silly and the heart-rending and pulse-quickening anime is on its steady track, riddled with aftershocks, character development and tough times ahead. Along with a quickly-made ally, they begin their journey surviving on the small crumbs of hope and kindness, and suffering the dread of questions and hopes that continue unanswered.

This anime was gold for me after the characters started becoming more tolerable. They aren't terrible, but you have to keep in mind that these children act like...children, during a disaster.

Nowadays when I hear about a natural disaster, all that is on the news is the damage, the victims, the body counts, the government and the riots. This anime completely rests the cameras on the shoulder of the two children and their smart and strong-willed companion...Mari. Yes, she's worth naming because she pulls them out of frying pans and fires alike, and has her own set of troubles kept in the back of her mind.

Give it two episodes, and see if you'd like to see what happens to these kids.

Recommendations:

• Bokurano...a band of kids are unknowingly tricked into a string of life and death battles, each with their own tragic story >>
  
• Seirei no Moribito...a spear wielder takes a young prince under her wing as they escape a squad of assassins >>
• Kemono no Souja Erin...young erin enjoys her days until her only family is stuck facing a death penalty, curiosity and inner strength keep her afloat in days awash with tragedy >>
• Guin Saga...royal twins are cast away to a far land in their parents' dying attempt to spare their lives during an attack, they take refuge under the wing of a mysterious warrior with the face of a beast >>

Video Sample:



Do you plan to watch Tokyo Magnitude 8.0?

See the description for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 on AnimeDB.net >>