To quote rubbish rockers Staind, it’s been a while. Of course I haven’t stopped watching anime, I just don’t have much to say. I could write boring episode reviews, but you know, that’s boring! More than anything I seem to rely on inspiration to write and the feeling now is that I’m either burnt out or just couldn’t care less.
Death Note was great, but it’s fast becoming a weak parody of itself; Light and L locked together – it’s like some stupid sitcom. Code Geass is superficially exciting and features some colourful animation, but it’s mostly just absurd, camp trash; a retooled Gundam for the motaku generation.
Red Garden is one of the few shining lights to emerge from the horrendous winter season. A novelty for TV anime these days; it has a story to tell, it has female characters with integrity and it doesn’t look like it was animated for pedophiles. Score!
Eyes then turn to the spring ’07 season and hope springs anew. I better not be the only one looking forward to Bokurano; imagine an alternate version of Evangelion where Shinji and his giant robot accidentally squish Father Ikari (and his car) underfoot, while Asuka’s a child prostitute and after every victorious mecha mash up, the pilot curls up and dies. As long as the production values are up to scratch (we’re depending on GONZO here, so it’s a flip of a coin really), Bokurano will stun, surprise and shock anime fans not prepared for such cold, hard brutality.
It’s nice to see a couple more TV shows from Studio BONES are gearing up for launch too. I do enjoy dark science fiction and as far as I can see, Studio BONES are up there with the best. “Darker than Black” (with a Yoko Kanno soundtrack!) and “The Skull Man” may sound corny, but coming from the brilliant animation house behind the likes of Wolf’s Rain and Kurau Phantom Memory, expectations are sky high.
Past, present and future
4 responses to “Past, present and future”
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I must admit that Bokurano intrigues me – it’ll be interesting to see how Morita does after the feelgood family fare of the Cat Returns.
Darker than Black on the other hand sounds like the title for a Spinal Tap album but the trailer has left me cautiously optimistic – it is indeed very Wolf’s Rain-esque, which is no bad thing. There’s also Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters per Second to look forward to, which ought to be spectacular.
I’m actually looking forward to the DVD releases more this year – Mushishi and Solid State Society are high on my shopping list and Origin: Spirits of the Past could be good eye candy. -
After being recommended to read the Bokurano manga awhile ago I loved it (I need to find some uncut translated Narutaru, the anime didn’t finish the story and Dark Horse never finished their edited release) and thought it would make a great anime. I hope GONZO do a good job on it and I’m interested in how it will end since the manga hasn’t ended yet.
I’m looking forward to the 2 new BONES productions though I’ve still not caught up with their last one, Ayakashi Ayashi. -
You’ve sold me on Bokurano, and I agree that BONES generally do the good shit.
Red Garden has literally been the only thing I’ve bothered with for months, too. Naruto Shuupuden is starting do the traditional Naruto anime thing of feeling totally redundant if you’ve followed the manga, but it’s a pleasant diversion.
Genuinely hope the next season of anime has some decent selections. I’ve taken to downloading the entire NHK run out of desperation. 🙁 -
Martin – It seems bizarre that Mushishi is coming out in the UK, and with an LE starter set no less!
Necromancer – I was thinking about how GONZO intend to end Bokurano too. With the disappointing ways in which they concluded both Hellsing and Gantz, I am a little concerned it’ll go wrong. That said, Morita from Studio Ghibli is directing – safe hands, in theory! 🙂
And I’m behind on Ayakashi Ayashi too. I actually downloaded the first five episodes this past weekend, mainly because I can’t honestly believe Studio BONES created something bad. Then again, I must be watching Eureka 7 first!
Hige – You could do a lot worse than NHK, and marathoning your way through it over a couple of weeks could well be the best way to watch it.
I tend do mini-marathons with Red Garden (3 to 4 episodes at a time) and I’m throughly enjoying it (even though the screaming and angst is extreme).
As for Shonen Jump anime – D.Gray-man, Naruto and One Piece, for me it’s almost like they exist on a different level to the other “normal” anime. I enjoy them in-spite of their faults, their generic and predictable formula. Naruto Shuupuden has a great soundtrack too. The truth is that I’m just a helpless fanboy when it comes to that stuff.
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