The spring ’08 season so far

Right now I’ve seen about 11 episodes from each of the spring anime shows I’m currently watching. I know some of the spring shows are scheduled to end in the next week or two, but most of the ones I’m watching will continue to run for at least 25 episodes. When the spring season started, I was too busy with schoolwork to write any initial reviews of them, so now, before the summer season kicks into gear, I felt I should write a little something about each one…

Allison & Lillia

Allison & Lillia is a very pretty and fairly light show; it feels a lot like the atmosphere of a Miyazaki movie (though not nearly as well written or animated of course =P) The setting kind of reminds me of Last Exile but on the ground more than in the air. It’s one of those shows that doesn’t really fit into any one particular anime genre; it’s not moe, it’s not mecha, and it’s not shounen or shoujo. It’s basically just a light, whimsical adventure series. It’s based on novels rather than manga, which seems to help in adding to its literary feel and its lack of out-of-place humor and angst-ridden drama. As of now, the series has gone through three story arcs, and though many people have pointed out the plot holes and poor writing in some episodes, it’s still more or less an enjoyable show. So far there’s only about four main characters and they’re all pretty likable; it’s always amusing watching Allison trying to get Wil to notice her feelings while he remains totally clueless XD It also has one of the most beautiful opening songs ever. All in all, it’s definitely not a spectacular series but it’s worth watching if you like light adventure shows with pretty settings.

Chi’s Sweet Home

Yes, I find this show very cute and amusing ^.^ Each episode is only about 2 minutes long and I believe that four of them are shown each week (hence, unlike the other springs shows, I’ve seen about 40 episodes of this one so far). I never grow out of cute entertainment like this and Chi’s Sweet Home is actually a very good series among family friendly shows. For a kid show, it has pretty good animation (courtesy of MadHouse Studios) and Kourogi Satomi is adorable as Chi! Watching a Japanese kid show like this and comparing it to the crap kid shows on American TV nowadays, I honestly think America no longer knows how to make their kid shows offer anything but crude, sarcastic humor and hyperbolic, cartoonish slapsticks. I wish more US kid shows could be cute and gentle like Chi’s Sweet Home. Anyway, yes, an enjoyable show if you like cuteness and kitty-based humor =^.^= I like to watch an episode of Chi before I watch episodes of other anime, kind of like how movie theaters used to show a short cartoon before the feature presentation =)

Code Geass R2

I’m sure just about everyone who watched the first season of Code Geass is watching this one right now. Sunrise is infamous for not making good sequels but so far I feel like R2 is offering the same suspense, action, and train-wreck antics of the first season XD We could still use more development for some of the new characters, like the Knights of Round and perhaps Rolo, but we’ll probably get to that later on. Train-wreck plot developments usually prove to be bad things for other shows, but for some reason it seems to be the thing that draws people to Code Geass, together with the fast-paced suspense and appealing CLAMP designs too =) Anyway, I can’t really say too much else about R2 yet, since the concluding episodes will probably be where the judgment lies, but so far I think Sunrise is doing a good job with this second season.

Itazurana Kiss

With all the moe-infested anime out there nowadays, it’s refreshing to see a new shoujo anime that follows the more old school style. Though the old fashioned character designs may turn off some fans, I think Itazurana Kiss is a nice wave of nostalgia reminiscent of light, simple, fan service-free shoujo goodness. This is probably due to the manga being over 10 years old before this anime adaptation was made. From what I’ve heard, the manga-ka died before she could finish the series, but she told her husband how she wanted it to end, which is probably what the anime will go by. Itazurana Kiss doesn’t have the depth of Fruits Basket or the hilarity of Ouran, but it has a good balance of comedy and drama without being too hilarious or too angst-ridden. Both the humor and the drama are well placed, as is the flow of the episodes as we follow the cast from high school to college. Though it’s pretty easy to predict from the first episode what’s going to happen with Kotoko and Irie’s relationship, Itazurana Kiss follows this shoujo formula so well it still makes the series enjoyable. It’s very amusing watching Kotoko and Irie’s personalities bounce off each other, and the rest of the cast is funny as well, though sometimes they can be a bit silly =P But if you like old style shoujo anime that’s light and fun, Itazurana Kiss is a great pick ^_^

Soul Eater

When I first watched Soul Eater it immediately reminded me of Bleach with all the talk of souls, shinigamis, and the shounen action going on. But at this point it’s managed to distinguish itself, mostly because of its really unique, bad-ass, Tim Burton Halloween-ish style and setting. Unfortunately it still suffers from the same main flaw I also find in Bleach; having too much out-of-place, hyperbolic, and slapstick humor in an otherwise serious show. Also, some of the characters aren’t quite my taste; I’m sure some fans find Black Star’s over-the-top obnoxiousness and Kid’s snootiness likable but I don’t particularly. Soul is also a bit too yakuza-ish for me, but Maka is okay and I like Tsubaki a lot. Soul Eater also has the familiar action anime theme of “human masters with non-human partners in battles.” But in spite of a few flaws, the art style in Soul Eater is really enticing as is the excellent animation by Studio BONES, and the show seems to be getting more interesting and the characters more developed so I’ll definitely keep watching it. The last couple of episodes with Tsubaki’s confrontation with her brother were excellent so I hope it’ll keep up. I’ve watched a lot of Studio BONES anime and none of them have disappointed me. Soul Eater is set to have 51 episodes so we’ve still got a long way to go =)

Vampire Knight

I think what makes Vampire Knight appealing is that it has the pretty character designs and romance angst of a shoujo series together with the dark and bloody tone of a vampire series. Although it has its share of stereotypical shoujo elements, for example, the triangle between Yuuki, Kaname, and Zero (their personalities and relationships are similar to Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo in Fruits Basket) and the male harem feel with the rest of the male vampires in the Night Class, it’s still more or less a good shoujo series with a unique twist because of the vampire element. It also has very mood-fitting and sort of spooky opening and ending themes. Although the show’s few attempts at humor usually fail, the gore and angst don’t get too out of hand. The first few episodes are a little slow but it gets better as characters are introduced and developed. This first season of the Vampire Knight anime is scheduled to end soon at 13 episodes, with season two scheduled for release in October.