New animes of interest in Winter 06

A new year marks a new season of animes to look forward to. However, I did not find many titles which caught my eye at first sight like how much I was dying to watch Paradise Kiss. Nevertheless, there are a few which seem rather interesting so I'll probably give them a try if I do find them available for viewing.

Yomigaeru Sora
What caught my eye was that this title features a relatively unknown occupation i.e. the defence forces rescue team. They possess a high level of expertise in rescue operations from battle grounds or disaster-struck areas. As such, I think professional knowledge into this area would be an eye-opening experience. In addition, people who likes helicopters or millitary aircraft in general would probably be drawn to this series. The main character is a newbie helicopter pilot Uchida Kazuhiro who has to deal with a gap in his expectations and reality as he is sent to the rescue team instead of being in the battle unit which he aspires to join. He also has to be apart from his girlfriend who works in a publishing company at Tokyo so I expect problems both on the professional and private aspects. Hopefully, the story will have enough episodes to cover everything in detail instead of glossing over everything just to get it over and done with.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
The story is about a 2nd year senior high school boy Yuichi who has to be hospitalised. As he is bored, Yuichi tries to sneak out of the hospital but is caught by a nurse Akiko who has a fiery temper and used to be a gangster. Subsequently, he meets another young female patient, Rika who keeps making a fool out of him. Well, I sense that there might be romance in the air between Yuichi and Rika but the short run of this series might make it hard for this development to be included. 6 episodes just seems too short to compile 5 volumes of manga material in one shot. Thus, I'm quite concerned about the pace of the story being too fast and neglecting essential points in the story. Besides that, I think Yuichi should experience a change in his mindset through his contact with Rika so I don't wish to see this being neglected due to the limited time for this series. The sole familiar name in the cast for me will be Takahashi Mikako who plays Yamada Ayumi in Hachikuro and Ryuuzaki Sakuno in Tenipuri.

Ayakashi
This anime is produced by Toei to be shown on FujiTV from 12 Jan. However, there are only 3 episodes which I think is too short. Maybe a slightly longer run would be enough to satisfy the viewers. On the other hand, these stories have no relation to one another so the number of episodes do not seem so important after all. Although having independent storylines, the three episodes have a common theme of horror and hatred. Somehow, this leads me to think of Jigoku Shoujo but this series is based on folklore or famous horror stories as compared to Jigoku which is largely fiction. I am quite interested in stories set in ancient Japan especially during the Heian period so this catches my eye easily. Since this is produced by a movie company, I think the quality of the animation and story might be very high since the animators would only need to produce 3 episodes so QC can be done much easily. More money to be spent on each episode should be good for this series.

Meine Liebe Weider
The second series begins on 22 Jan at 11.30pm Sundays. Well, I didn't watch the first series shown in 2004 but after reading what's on the official website, I think this might be worth checking out. The story has an European setting and the main cast is a group of future leaders in an elite school. I tend to like stories set in schools and the feel of the European culture so I may have to find the first series first before watching this 2nd part. By the way, I find two familiar names in the seiyuu list i.e. Ishida Akira and Hoshi Souichirou who play Mizuki Hajime and Mukahi Gakuto in Tenipuri.