Anime review time! I won’t go too much into detail as far as story lines go, I guess you can learn much more about the respective titles from visiting the official sites than from what I can tell about them.
Avenger 1-4. I was hopeful this would be one of the better new anime series just from looking at the features in Newytpe. It just took me one episode to realize I was wrong.
As plain as the setting of the red planet and its cities is, as slowly and boring moves the story line. And even if you get hints on Layla Ashley’s (female protagonist) past, the way the cute little Dolls are treated, how evil Volk and those freaky Dolls are, you just don’t care!
None of the characters is really likeable. The Ali Project songs are aweful >_< The BGM is annoyingly loud at times, almost like the series is trying too hard to be as cool as .hack//SIGN but fails terribly.
The only good thing about Avenger is the character design which is really nice looking but won’t be enough to make want to see any more than those four episodes.
Gungrave 1. Another huge disappointment. I’d say it’s even worse than Avenger story-wise. One episode was enough to decide: no more of that!
Shingetsutan Tsukihime Prologue, 1-2. This was actually a pleasant surprise. The prologue which came out a few weeks ago didn’t impress me that much. The whole series, however, is far more interesting and darker than I thought. Definitely not the next Boogiepop but still nice enough Japanese teen mystery/horror and a solid video game adaptation with a good soundtrack. I need to see more of that!
Fullmetal Alchemist 1-4. Pleasant surprise number 2. I find the usual long shounen series like Naruto, Rave, Hikaru no Go, One piece etc. a bit boring but this is really really good!! The protagonists are extremely likeable. (Al!! Kawaiiii!!!) There are no annoying girl characters. The story is quite innovative and I’m more than willing to follow the 52+ episodes this is going to have! Highly recommended!
Mujin Wakusei Survive 1. This is probably one of the more unknown new titles. I almost skipped this after visiting the official site, thinking this was some sort of kiddies show. I’m so glad I started watching it, though! This is my favourite autumn season anime so far!
The world Luna and the other kids live in is described so detailed it makes everything seem very familiar even though it’s just sci-fi. Luna herself is such a sweet, tough girl, you have to like her! She’d be my hero if I was 9 ^^;
I only got to see the first episode where all the characters and the world were introduced so there’s not much story development yet. From what I can get (and pretty much like the Japanese title infers), Luna’s new class will strand on an uninhabited planet which sounds a bit like Robinson Crusoe for kids ^^;
There are some nice remarks on the environmental protection issue here and there, not as apparent as in Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna (which I love) but still there. I guess they are also more subtle with them as the show is targeted at a younger audience and environmental protection is not a major theme in Mujin Wakusei Survive.
It’s an awesome show, though and I so cannot wait to see more. I hope there’ll be more subs of this even though it’s a bit more obscure than the other new titles. Everyone has to see this!!!
Now that I have more time, I also started last (i.e. spring) season’s Last Exile. I’m glad I can have little four-episode sessions now that the whole series is over and I don’t have to wait a week till a new episode is released.
At first, I wasn’t too happy with the CG; I’ve got used to it though… The whole show is just awesome, really innovative with a nice retro feeling (that’s not necessarily a contradiction!). I really like Ravey and Claus (I’m not that far into the series, so I can’t say much about the characters that are introduced later). The flight scenes are breathtaking and the music is so dreamy and majestic at the same time… I love the whole show *_*