Tokyo Anime Award 2006

Results of the Tokyo Anime Award 2006 given out on 25 March 2006 as follows:

Animation of the Year: Gekijouban Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi Shanbara wo Yuku Mono

TV Anime Awards: Mushishi / Black Jack / Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven

Movie Anime Awards: Meitantei Conan ~ Suisenjou no Inbou / Kidou Senshi Z Gundam ~ Hoshi wo Tsugu Mono

Original Video Awards: KARAS / Sentouyousei Yukikaze

Best Director: Tomino Toshiyuki (Kidou Senshi Z Gundam~Hoshi wo Tsugu Mono)

Best Original Work: Arakawa Hiromu (Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi)

Best Script: Satou Masaru (Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven)

Best Artwork: Waki Tomoshi (Mushishi)

Best Character Design: Yoshida Kenichi (Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven)

Best Voice Actor: Ootsuka Akio (Black Jack)

Best Music: Ooshima Michiru (Gekijouban Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi Shanbara wo Yuku Mono)

Joushikousei (Girls' High) Ep 00

The anime will only begin from 3 April thus this is actually a prequel of what's going to happen in the series. We get an introduction of less than 10 minutes about the trio of Eriko, Yuuma and Ayano who have been friends since junior high and were from a co-ed school. They are going to be students at the all-girls Yamasaki Joushi Gakuen where Eriko in particular has lots of wonderful thoughts about her next 3 years in this school. As such, Eriko gets her friends to sneak into the school the day before the term begins so that they can find out more about a senior high school girl's life. However, Yuuma tells her to wake up from her fantasies and tries to knock some sense into her friends. During their snooping, they bump into 3 girls Kouda, Himeji and Ogawa who were from the junior high department of Sakikou (short form for the school name) where Eriko doesn't tell them the truth as the trio misunderstand that they are seniors (Eriko and Co were wearing the senior high uniforms to avoid trouble). When school starts, the six of them happen to be in the same class and Eriko can't help but wonder if she can survive in this school.

First impressions of the series:

- In less than 10 minutes, I like Yuuma and Ayano based on what I've seen so far. Yuuma is like the typical anego who may seem brash and talks in a not so refined manner but I find such character traits very interesting. As for Ayano, she may look like the sweet, gentle and harmless sort but when she speaks, she unwittingly pokes people at where it hurts most so it was hillarious to see her making fun of Eriko even though she didn't seem to mean it in a bad way.

- As for Eriko, I don't like such loud characters but according to the official website, it seems like she's not that hopeless and is very good at studies. Hard to reconcile this fact with her behaviour so that might be an interesting irony to watch out for.

- The other trio of Kouda, Ogawa and Himeji appeared towards the end so I can't really say how I feel about them.

- I don't like the obvious ecchi-ness when they showed the girls wearing skirts so short that you can see the underwear. And some of the scenes made me feel like the exposure was just to get the attention of guys which wasn't really necessary to the development of the story. I do hope that the staff can tone down on this aspect.

- Seiyuu-wise, I only recognise Noto Mamiko from the lineup where she plays Ayano but I like the seiyuu who plays Yuuma. There's an interview of the three seiyuus for Eriko, Ayano and Yuuma in Seiyuu AniMedia so I'll read that first to find out more on the series.

Overall, I find that this anime seems quite interesting but I don't think it's those that will invoke thoughts or make me identify with. It's more of a pure entertainment type of anime where humour takes centrestage. Anyway, I've never been in a girls' school before so it might be fun to see how they depict life in this setting.

Hachimitsu to Clover 2nd season

According to Hachimitsu to Clover's anime website, the 2nd season of this series will be back this summer which is around the same time as the real-life movie's release. Well, as a fan of Hachikuro who liked the anime series very much, it's good to hear news about the sequel. However, my concerns will be whether the seiyuu lineup remains the same and if the story will follow the manga or deviate from it. I want to see more of Morita Shinobu, who's my No.1 favourite among the characters so I won't want Ueda Yuji to be replaced for sure. ^__^ As I understand that the manga continued in a different magazine just months ago, I'm not sure whether there would be enough content for at least one full season of anime (11 - 12 episodes). Anyway, we'll probably know more about it in a few months' time. Oh, before I forget, for those who are interested to find out more on the real-life movie, you may visit its website here.

Mushishi Ep 03: Yawarakai Tsuno (The soft horn)

In the bitter cold of winter, Ginko walks gingerly across the snow-covered ground in the forest and finally sees his destination i.e. a village surrounded by the mountains and forest.

Upon reaching the place, Ginko is treated to some hot tea by Shirasawa, the representative of the village who asked for his assistance. Being located at the base of the mountains, the village represents tranquility at its extreme where there aren't even any sounds of blowing wind. The whole village is plunged into total silence especially on snowy nights like what they are experiencing now. Due to this phenomenon, the villagers started to go deaf in at least one ear. As the doctors could not find a cause to the problem, Shirasawa thought that supernatural forces may be at work thus the need to enlist Ginko's help.

Ginko examines a patient's ear and finds it filled with a green and slimy mucus. He declares this to be the work of mushi by the name of Un which eats away sound. Un lives in the forest but due to the snow blanketing the sound within their habitat, they came to the village to seek sound.

He goes in search of the Un and finds them in huge numbers on the ceiling of the attic. Ginko explains that when Un eats up the sound, they will then attach themselves to mammals. The patient remarks that Un looks like a snail whereby Ginko states that there is a similarly-shaped structure within the ear. The Un would enter this structure to reside as a parasite and eat up the sounds which enter the ear. However, it would not destroy the ear over time. Having said that, Ginko pours warm salt water into the patient's ear which causes the Un to emerge from within and disintegrate immediately. He reminds the patient to spray the salt water on his roof to prevent the Un from gathering there again.

After treating the affected villagers, Shirasawa brings Ginko back to her place. On the way, she reveals that her grandson is the only patient left but his condition is rather different from the villagers. Shirasawa asks Ginko not to tell the villagers about his illness which makes the latter baffled.

Meanwhile, Maho, the grandson of Shirasawa is muttering to himself and telling something to shut up as he hears lots of noises around him. Just then, Shirasawa enters the room and explains to Ginko that Maho's condition started last winter where horns started growing on his forehead. In addition, he lost the ability to hear as before but could hear lots of strange sounds he had never known of. No matter what they tried to do, Maho would complain of these sounds which got on his nerves.

Ginko deduces that this could be the work of another type of mushi by the name of Ah which works in tandem with Un by eating the silence which the latter leaves behind. As such, it is no wonder that Maho cannot hear the sounds around him. However, the strange thing is that Ah exist in smaller numbers as compared to Un and there isn't an effective treatment method. As such, the patient would usually die by the next winter since he/she will be tortured mentally by the incessant noises as a result of this condition. Shirasawa gets frightened after hearing this since Maho contracted the illness exactly one year ago and he might die if he's not treated soon.

Ginko then takes out a green sheet from his luggage and sets up a tent while lighting some incense within. The space within the tent is filled with the incense's fumes thus making it possible for Ginko to have a chat with Maho. The boy reveals that the mushi got noisier when Ginko arrived which leads the latter to joke that this must be due to him being a natural attraction for mushi but he can drive them away temporarily with the smoke. Ginko explains that humans have a lower hearing ability as compared to other animals so there are lots of sounds which they cannot pick up. In this case, the loud sounds which Maho is hearing are the mushi's voices when they gather in large numbers and these cannot be heard even by animals which have the ability to hear a wide spectrum of sounds. As such, the Ah in Maho's ears are eating away the silence and filling it with its sounds thus causing him so much misery.

When Maho is asked about the growth of the horns on his forehead, he reveals that he has been covering his ears frequently ever since his mother died last winter thus resulting in the horns' appearance. Maho was trying to copy his mother's actions since she did that all the time. Ginko is curious as to why Maho's mother was doing that but Maho doesn't know the reason. He also relates the fact that she had the same condition as him and she said something on her deathbed while covering Maho's ears. Whenever Maho tries to recall her words, loud sounds would flood his ears thus making it impossible for him to start thinking. Ginko feels that it is a stroke of bad luck for Maho to suffer in the same way as his mother but there should be a way to resolve the problem.

Ginko asks Shirasawa about her daughter Matsuno so as to find a clue to curing Maho. Matsuno was under so much pressure due to the illness and longed for a place without sound to live in. However, just before she passed away, Matsuno revealed to Shirasawa that the sounds disappeared and she was actually missing them at that juncture.

The next day, Ginko is pondering over the reason for Matsuno's behaviour of covering her ears even when the Ah should have left her body due to her impending death. Just then, Maho sneaks out of the house to go for a walk and asks Ginko to keep it a secret since he will go crazy if he stays indoors all the time.

As it starts to snow, Ginko regrets letting Maho go out and decides to look for him. As he trudges through the forest, Ginko comes to the conclusion that the ear can only pick out some sounds at one go and if that type of sound is turned up to the maximum, that may mean that the ear cannot hear it anymore. Thus, he realises that this might be the reason why Matsuno said that she could not hear anything even if the Ah might still be inside her ears.

Ginko spots a light coming out from a cave and finds Maho waiting inside for the snow to stop. However, he cannot hear Maho's voice after a while and finds the ceiling of the cave filled with mushi. Ginko finds the Ah among the Un which enters his ears swiftly but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it while Maho is terrified by this. Ginko tells Maho to cover his ears like what Matsuno did to him which leads to the Ah melting and flowing onto Maho's hands.

Ginko explains that Matsuno wasn't trying to cover her ears from the noise on her deathbed. When people use their hands to cover their ears, the surrounding doesn't become entirely silent thus Matsuno was trying to hear the sounds as a result of this action. Shirasawa remarks that the sound is somewhat like an earthquake whereby Ginko states that this is the sound of the hand muscles. Since the weakness of Ah is the sound of other living things, it would try to eliminate such sounds within its host body. In the end, either the Ah would melt away or the host would die after a period of one year. With regards to Matsuno's case, she discovered the solution too late and could not do anything to battle against the Ah. Maho then covers his ears and the Ah flows out from within thus leading the horns to fall off from his forehead.

Ginko prepares to leave the village with Maho's horns as payment for his services and he gives the smaller ones to Maho as a keepsake. He advises Maho to get used to the quiet world around him until spring arrives since he might find it hard to adapt from his noisy world in the past year. However, Maho is happy that he was able to listen to the same sounds as his mother since they sound beautiful to him on hindsight...

First of all, the winter scenery was breathtaking and felt very realistic. It was the first time that I've seen such a high quality winter scenery visual from an anime and the falling snow didn't seem too artificial to me. I'm impressed with the level of effort put into this production and hope that more of such masterpieces can be found in the later episodes.

With regards to the concept of Ah and Un, it's quite easy to relate to just as in the case of opposites attract. Since Un eats up the sounds, Ah could then eat the silence left behind thus illustrating the dependency relationship they have on each other. I have to admit that I couldn't grasp the concept fully when I watched this episode for the first time but when I wrote this review, my doubts about the concept were gone after this second viewing.

Last but not least, I thought that the info about covering up your ears and hearing some sounds like an earthquake or lava flowing from a volcano was very interesting. I mean, this action must have been done by everyone at one time or another but now that someone has brought it up in this manner, it suggests that the author was very observant to use daily activites for explaining her theories about mushi. I feel as if I'm learning something new every time I'm watching this anime. This is really one of the better productions these days with a strong story, nice visuals and charming lead character who seems like a mystery personified but something should be done about the theme song which isn't particularly impressive especially after hearing it for a couple of times.

Jigoku Shoujo Ep 05: Takaitou no Onna (The Woman of the Tall Tower)

Ai and her associates keep receiving messages asking for help via the Jigoku Tsushin website on a daily basis and are convinced that this is the work of a prankster. As such, they choose to ignore these messages but Ai seems concerned about this matter.

Meanwhile, at the stroke of midnight, Urano Chisato is trying to access the website under Kaibu Riho's orders but to no avail. Riho decides to call it a day and instructs Chisato to come to the office tomorrow morning. When Chisato explains that she can't do it because of the end-of-term exams, Riho "reminds" her that Chisato can continue with her studies thanks to her. As such, Chisato cannot say anything and has to oblige reluctantly. Chisato leaves the office in low spirits and greets the security guard who is actually Wanyuudo in disguise. When she reaches home, Chisato stares at the office building of Deadline Enterprise from her apartment's window and sighs in despair.

The next day, Hone-Onna enters Deadline as a part-time worker to find out more on Riho and the company. The company was set up by Riho with her friends during her schooling days but she is the only person managing it now. The employees are full of praise for Riho's computing and management skills which has made Deadline a famous online shopping company in just 4 years. While they are talking, Riho happens to pass by and introduces herself to Hone-Onna with Ai looking on from the side.

During the board meeting, a staff mentions that the director of Midori Tsushin is against the collaboration project with Deadline but Riho tells him to proceed with the negotiations and she hints at something happening which will make the director change his mind. Later, when she brings up the proposal of changing the company's host server, the directors leave it to Riho since they are convinced that she's more familiar with such things as compared to them.

When Riho enters the office, she complains to Chisato that the directors are just a bunch of fools who know nothing. At the same time, Hone-Onna tries to find out the identity of Chisato from the staff who reveal that she's a distant relative of Riho and her parents had passed away. For the sake of gaining work experience, Riho had arranged for Chisato to work part-time in Deadline but apparently, Chisato is said to know nothing about computers.

In the evening, news of Midori Tsushin's director's death is reported on TV and Riho instigates Chisato to forge a document so as to transfer the shares of Midori Tsushin to her. Before Chisato hacks into that director's computer to put the document inside, she asks Riho on whether she should change the file directory and server but Riho says that she doesn't care since she is actually the one who knows nuts about computers.

Just then, the clock strikes midnight so Riho tells Chisato to access the Jigoku Tsushin website again. However, nothing happens so Riho gets furious and orders Chisato to investigate the webmaster's details. Chisato explains that this isn't possible since their computer system was counter-hacked when she tried to do it a few days back. Riho does not buy her explanation and threatens to expose Chisato's shoplifting deeds in the past if the latter does not listen to her. Although Chisato is angry about being threatened, she is unable to do anything in retalliation.

Ren goes to a franchise shop under Deadline and tries to find out from the shop owner as to why the company employs women only. According to him, the company used to have male employees like him but when Riho took charge, the guys were sent to the subsidiaries thus leaving only female employees in the company. In addition, Ren also finds out that there was a weird order passed by Riho one year ago where she instructed all shop owners to report shoplifting cases to her first before going to the police. In fact, Chisato was one of those caught at his shop.

Ai and her associates gather at the shop to watch the surveillance video of Chisato's shoplifting act where Ren reveals that Chisato is actually a computer expert contrary to what the company employees assume her to be. On the other hand, Riho knows nothing about computers. Besides that, Wanyuudo also finds out from the town office and police records that Chisato and Riho are not relatives. Hone-Onna shares her findings about Riho's ex-boyfriend being a computer expert but they were said to have broken up before Deadline developed into the way it is now. As such, it is clear that Riho was trying to find a computer expert to fill the void of her ex-boyfriend so as to boost the growth of her company thus explaining why she is making use of Chisato.

In the middle of the night, Chisato is awoken by Riho's call to her mobile phone where the latter tells her that someone has threatened to expose her company's secrets and demanded 100 million yen. Riho orders Chisato to check the identity of the person before she turns up for work tomorrow. Chisato has no choice but to go to the office at 3am. The next morning, she passes the report to Riho who allows her to go to school. Riho also mentions that she will leave the matter of Jigoku Shoujo aside for the time being because it's bad for her skin to stay up late. Chisato leaves the room and smiles to herself in a evil manner.

A man is killed and dumped inside a drain and he turns out to be the guy whom Chisato had named in her report as the blackmailer. Unknown to Riho, Chisato had installed a surveillance camera to record footage of her giving orders to the yakuza to kill that man. Just when Chisato thinks that she can finally break free from Riho, she finds out from Riho that the latter had also killed her father when he had tried to go to the police after being blackmailed by her.

Chisato is seething with anger when she realises that Riho has found out about her identity right from the start as Chisato entered the company purposely to take revenge. When Riho's subordinate tries to kill Chisato, the latter activates the water sprinkler and makes use of the chance to run away. Upon hearing the clock strike at midnight, Chisato uses the computer to enter Riho's name into the Jigoku Tsushin website. She is then transported to Ai's world and given the usual drill on how the system works. Chisato removes the red thread from the figurine without hesitation.

This sends Riho back to her past where she relives the nightmare of killing her boyfriend and good friend who cheated on her. When she finally regains her senses, Riho finds herself being sent to hell by Ai...

Chisato inherits the company as well as Riho's assets and she recalls the latter's words about enjoying life until the day she dies. As such, she decides to follow Riho's principle since she's going to hell anyway and has a smirk on her face...

Well, Riho might be a villian but I have the feeling that Chisato might become a worse person since she doesn't have any reservations about committing evil deeds. Given that she will head to hell anyway, it doesn't make sense for her to be a good person so that seems to be a logical explanation why she has decided to go by Riho's ways despite them being the very reason why she was in so much anguish. In this case, Ai and her associates may not have gotten rid of an evil person from the world but rather aided in the creation of a worse version. It just goes to show that the so-called revenge mechanism in Jigoku Shoujo is not without its flaws since this depends very much on personal feelings of hatred rather than an objective assessment of who's really good or evil.

I know I'm falling behind in the progress of covering some of these anime series especially for some which had already finished their run. With the upcoming season within a few weeks' time, I am going to end up with a bigger backlog but I'll try to complete as much as I can while trying to maintain a certain quality in the reviews.

Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist) Ep 41 - Seibo (The Holy Mother)

Scar brings Ed to the mass graves of the people in Rioru and explains that they died because of the millitary's oppression on the locals after Ed exposed their chief priest to be a mere fake. Scar describes the people of Rioru to be similar to Isbal since both tribes suffered at the hands of the millitary just because they are different from the people living in Central. Ed tries to defend himself and stop Scar from proceeding to create Kenja no Ishi but upon hearing the cries of Rose's baby, he is unable to justify the rationale for doing so and slumps to the ground helplessly...

Meanwhile, the soldiers are investigating the case of Martel's murder while she was hiding inside Al's armour. Mustang's subordinates are questioning Armstrong over what happened in the 5th laboratory since Martel was a much better creation as compared to the kimeras created by Tucker. Al stops them from quarrelling and says that it's still not time to explain everything to them. As such, Mustang realises Armstrong is just following Hughes' wishes of seeing him climb to the top and decides against forcing him to reveal the truth. Al recalls Martel telling him that Rioru may end up like Isbal because King Bradley is a Homculus before she was killed...

In Rioru, Scar is rallying the locals with the presence of Rose as the Holy Mother to lure the troops into the city by not retalliating against their attacks. This is with the aim of saving themselves from the oppression of the millitary whereby the people believe Scar and Rose wholeheartedly.

Ed is held captive and Lyra is keeping a watch over him. Ed disses them for using Rose as a spiritual leader to manipulate the people which is similar to what the previous chief priest had done. Suddenly, he asks Lyra if she is using perfume which makes her stunned for a brief moment. She explains that she has no time to bathe thus the need for the perfume which Ed comments that he dislikes the scent. Ed insists that he cannot allow Scar to create the Kenja no Ishi and Lyra also expresses her reservations about this plan since there would be casualties among the locals too despite using the troops as the materials. Ed asks Lyra for a favour and she gets a little boy to pass a letter to Mustang and Al who's currently at the millitary base in East City.

In the letter, Ed reveals Scar's plans and warns them not to send troops into Rioru to prevent the creation of Kenja no Ishi. Al then explains Scar's rationale for luring the troops into Rioru which makes Mustang and his men shocked about the use of living humans for this purpose. Mustang tells Al to return to Rioru with the little boy so that he can meet Ed while Hawkeye returns the metal pocket watch to Al which Armstrong had obtained from Ed previously.

Unknown to them, Kimbly, Tucker and his kimeras are already wreaking havoc in Rioru under King Bradley's orders. Scar is informed of this and gets excited at the prospect of taking revenge on Kimbly who is partly responsible for his plight. He reminds the locals not to retalliate against Kimbly and his men as well as instructs Rose to lead the people to leave by the underground tunnels. Having said that, Scar prepares to deal with Kimbly and gang before the troops enter the city.

Scar releases Ed and tells the latter to escort Rose and the people out of Rioru safely. Unexpectedly, Ed doesn't object to this task as he's confident that the troops will not enter Rioru if Mustang and Al have received the letter. Ed tells Rose that she is free to hate him because there is no way he can betray the millitary and the least he can do is to help the Rioru people escape from the troops.

At East City, Archer has assembled 7000 soldiers and asks King Bradley for permission to attack Rioru. However, King Bradley tells Archer to wait for the time being since Ed is still alive there and he doesn't want the troops to be used as sacrificial objects by Scar. This makes Archer extremely angry over Mustang and Armstrong's intervention.

Later, Lust questions King Bradley why he stopped the troops from entering Rioru but the latter reminds her that she's being rude to that person who is responsible for their existence by questioning his actions. Lust expresses openly that she will help Scar if he can make Kenja no Ishi which leads King Bradley to question if she has any unnecessary feelings for Scar. She decides to head for Rioru alone since Gluttony is too scared of that person to accompany her.

On the streets of Rioru, Kimbly wonders why the people are not fighting back and suddenly sees Scar approaching him. He remembers Scar immediately as he recognises the wound he made on the latter's forehead during the Isbal war. Just when he is feeling puzzled over why Scar has his right arm intact, Scar goes on the offensive but his movements are impeded due to the reaction of the red water crystal on Kimbly's ring with his right arm's drawings. However, he recovers quickly and continues the battle with Kimbly.

Ed, Rose and Lyra are escorting the people out of the city through the underground tunnels when Lyra asks Rose what she intends to do if Scar does not appear in time before Kenja no Ishi is made. Ed promises that he will negotiate with the troops about the Rioru people but Lyra is sceptical about the feasibility of his suggestion. Just then, a strong gush of water floods the tunnel and the people run back to Rioru for safety. Ed tells Rose and Lyra to turn back while he handles the situation.

Wrath appears before Ed and tries to kill him when Rose's baby cries and this seems to affect Wrath. Ed tells Rose to back off while Wrath screams at her to keep the baby quiet as the cries remind him of how he became a Homculus because of Izumi. Before Wrath can hurt Rose and her baby, Ed stops him and tells Rose to run away now.

Ed tells Wrath that he knows the weakness of the Homculus thanks to Greed who gave him the information before his death. As the Homculus are the replica of dead people due to failed human alchemy rituals, they will be affected if the remains of the person they were created from are shown before them. Wrath is not bothered by this since he was made from the body of Izumi's dead baby i.e. his own body so he has no reason to fear Ed. Even if he should have a weakness, that would be Ed's body since he got his arm from Ed...

Al reaches Rioru and bumps into Kimbly and Scar locked in a battle. Kimbly mocks Scar for putting up a worthless battle just because of revenge and says that he thinks of humans as nothing but empty cases to produce bombs. Just then, Al speaks of himself as an empty armour which makes Kimbly realise that he has stepped into the ritual sign drawn by Al. While his movements are restricted, Kimbly reminds Al that he is a national alchemist like Ed and Al should not help Scar. However, Al's intention is to stop them from killing each other and has no wish to help either side.

Just then, Kimbly manages to break free and takes advantage of the situation to plant a bomb in Scar's left arm. Scar has no intention of being under the mercy of Kimbly and chooses to amputate his left arm instead of waiting for it to explode. While he is bleeding profusely, Scar uses the chance to kill Kimbly with his right arm. However, it turns out that Kimbly is still alive and he flings Ed's pocket watch in Al's armour at Scar which immobilizes him due to the reaction with his arm. With his last ounce of energy, Kimbly grabs Al's legs and insists that he will make good of his promise to turn Al into a bomb. As Scar watches helplessly, Al's screams fill the night as Kimbly induces the process of turning Al into a bomb...

Meanwhile, Ed meets Sloth during his battle with Wrath and is taken aback by her similarity to his mother Trisha. Rose hears Ed's screams and decides to turn back to help him. At the same time, Ed is too shocked to move when he realises that Sloth is the Homculus he created from Trisha as Wrath sneaks up behind him. Before Wrath can do anything, he hears the cries of Rose's baby and tells her to stop the baby from creating a din. Rose finally manages to speak which makes Ed snap out of his trance and try to save Rose as Wrath is going to kill her...

Lots of exciting fight scenes and unexpected twists to the story in this episode.

It's not surprising why nobody has found out about King Bradley's real identity since the Homculus sign is hidden within his eye which is covered by a shield. And this makes the task of eliminating the Homculus more difficult since the highest authority turns out to be the villian. Mustang will have an uphill fight to change the situation in the country unless he eliminates King Bradley. It also seems like the mastermind who controls the Homculus is someone who inspires so much fear that Gluttony is afraid to follow Lust to Rioru.

As for the battle between Kimbly and Scar, it's a pity that Al is embroiled into this mess because of his intervention to stop them from killing each other. I never expected Scar to amputate his left arm because of Kimbly planting a bomb but I guess that's the best way to keep himself alive instead of waiting for the bomb to kill him. He cannot die until he has created Kenja no Ishi. And I thought Kimbly would have died after that blow from Scar but he's still able to use his remaining strength and deliver a final blow to Al and Scar. With the impending death of Kimbly, that means no more Ueda Yuji?! Oh, that's a shame and I feel so reluctant to see this just as the time when Greed died and I could no longer hear Suwabe Junichi's voice in this anime.

On Ed's side, it seems like his biggest weakness when dealing with the Homculus will be Sloth since she is made from Trisha. It will be hard to destroy someone who looks like your loved one. Whether he can overcome this barrier will probably determine whether he can succeed in the end.

Last but not least, I doubt Archer would take Mustang's intervention lying down and will try his best to lead the troops into Rioru. He's probably going to pay the price for his folly soon and I can't wait to see that. What a detestable jerk!

Updates on NANA

The official website of NANA's anime version on NTV is already up and running so for those who are interested, you may proceed to the website for more details on this which is starting on 5 April.

What excites me very much is the fact that I spot a number of familiar and favourite seiyuus in the lineup. My favourite seiyuus Kiuchi Hidenobu and Suwabe Junichi are participating in this production as Ren and Kyosuke! If I'm not wrong, Kyosuke is not really a major role so I won't get to hear much of Suwabe-san's voice. However, I can't really complain since Kiuchi-san gets to appear more as Ren so I have to be contented and not ask for the best of both worlds. Familiar voices include Park Romi who plays Osaki Nana (Ed in Fullmetal Alchemist), Kawahira Yoshihisa as Yasu (Tachibana Kippei in Tenipuri), Seki Tomokazu as Nobu (Edward in Meine Liebe), Ishida Akira as Shin (Mizuki Hajime in Tenipuri) and Takahashi Hiroki as Shoji (Kikumaru Eiji in Tenipuri). By the way, Park Romi will not be singing Osaki Nana's song as this will be handled by Tsuchiya Anna. Likewise for Reira, the seiyuu is Hirano Aya but the singer will be OLIVIA.

The OP, "rose" will be sung by Tsuchiya under the name of ANNA inspi' NANA (BLACK STONES) while the ED, "a little pain" will be sung by OLIVIA under the name of OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST). These two songs are made especially for the anime. According to Yazawa Ai's message on the website, she had her reservations about doing an anime version for NANA because she was concerned about the songs which will appear within as they are an essential factor to the success of the series. Yazawa has been a fan of Tsuchiya right from the start and was very happy when Tsuchiya was picked to sing Osaki Nana's song. On the other hand, the search for Reira's singer took a longer time and Yazawa couldn't find someone she felt was suitable. Just when she was about to give up the thought of finding the right person, she came across OLIVIA's songs and decided to get her to take on this role because of her wide vocal range.

Looks like a lot of effort has been put into this anime and I can't wait to see how it turns out to be!

Animes of interest for Spring 06 season

The spring 06 animes are coming up next month and here's my selection of those which I will watch. Of course, I'll try to cover them on this blog but as you can see, I'm not having much progress with the Winter animes so there's a lot of backlog to be cleared in the meantime.

Joushi Kousei (Senior High School Girls)
I have a soft spot for the gakuen setting stories so this being set in a senior high school which touches on the problems and daily experiences of these school girls grabs my attention. According to what I've read from the official website, the characters are quite unique and distinctive so it shouldn't be a problem trying to distinguish between these girls. I just hope that it wouldn't be something like Okusama wa Joushi Kousei where the kawaii-ness of the girls is overly emphasized thus making the story repetitive and unrealistic. And of course, if the girls come across as those who keep having strange fantasies about the guys they like, I may shun this anime at the fastest possible speed too. Looks like there is a high possibility that I may drop this before it ends?

Ray The Animation
The storyline sounds very interesting where there's a brilliant surgeon and a nameless girl who has the ability to see through people's bodies after she receives an eyeball through an operation. The duo are also involved with a secret organisation. This smells like a conspiracy theory type of story and I love to solve mysteries. As to whether it will be good enough to keep me tuned in to the end, I can't tell yet. Familiar voices in the seiyuu lineup include Takahashi Hiroki (Tenipuri) and Namikawa Daisuke (Tenipuri, Hachikuro) and Takahashi is one the leads for this anime. It will be fun to see him playing a serious role for a change as compared to the cheerful and bubbly Eiji in Tenipuri.

TOKKO (Special Agent)
This is based on the manga by Fujisawa Tooru who was famous for his hit manga GTO which also had drama and movie adaptaions. Based on the summary, the story combines action and mystery plus love stories embedded within. Well, it's another title which I don't know the story beforehand so this will probably increase the enjoyment level. By the way, this comes with a R-15 rating so I anticipate that there will be a siginificant amount of violence or nudity which warrants such a category listing. Well, as long as these are in line with the requirements of the plot and not meant as a ploy to create hype, I'm perfectly fine with it. Again, the official website is still not fully functional so I have no way of seeng the seiyuu lineup and more details of the storyline yet. Nevertheless, the graphic seems to be a pretty good quality so I hope that the animation would not disappoint me.

Juuousei (Star of the Beast King)
Initially, I wasn't too keen on this title but after knowing that the seiyuu lineup features first timer seiyuu Domoto Koichi from KinKi Kids and Oguri Shun who has prior experience in Fullmetal Alchemist's movie, it's obvious how much effort FujiTV is putting in this production. By the way, this anime is also in the same timeslot as where Paradise Kiss and Hachikuro were shown. I'm the type who does decide on whether to watch an anime based on the seiyuu lineup. Even though I may not really like Domoto Koichi that much, having him around drives up the novelty index and it's worth checking out how well he does and if the theme song is nice. As for Oguri Shun, I'm impressed with his performance for FMA so I have faith that he can do relatively well.

NANA
One of the most widely anticipated animes for next season because the movie was a big hit last year and the manga is still being serialised. Of course, the manga series is so popular that it can be regarded as a social phenomenon. I've never watched the movie nor read the manga so I know nuts about the storyline. I guess this helps in a sense since I won't be making comparisons and criticise the anime as much as a production which I know well. I'm dying to find out what the hype is all about so I'll be checking this out come April. The official website is not up yet so I have no idea how the seiyuu lineup looks like. However, I read the news before that the two female seiyuus playing the two NANAs were chosen from an open audition and their names did not ring a bell to me. Guess it's because I pay more attention to the male seiyuus and the list of female seiyuus I like is still very limited. By the way, I wonder if it's just me but I notice that Yazawa Ai's characters tend to be pencil-thin to the point that it doesn't seem that realistic in real-life.

Ouran Koukou Hosuto Bu (The Host Club of Ouran Senior High School
I've not read the manga before so I'm approaching this title without any preset views about the adaptation. What got me interested was the storyline which suggests that a lot of humour is in store. These days, I tend to prefer stories which either make me laugh or think about the underlying themes. Besides that, I get the inkling that there will be romantic links between the lead character Haruhi and the guys in the Host Club. By the way, based on the images on the official website, Suou Tamaki and Ootori Kyouya catch my eye the most but this may change after I know more about them through the anime. Oh, before I forget, Suzumura Kenichi who last appeared in Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora as Yuuichi is acting as the twin elder brother Hitachiin Hikaru.

Gakuen Heaven (School Heaven)
Frankly speaking, I've never been a fan of yaoi or boy's love type of animes/manga so I have my reservations about watching this anime which is based on a boy's love game. However, what got me interested enough to give this a try are two reasons. First of all, in the seiyuu lineup, there are some familiar names who also happen to be my favourites i.e. Okiayu Ryoutarou (Tennis no Oujisama, Fullmetal Alchemist, Marmalade Boy) and Kamiya Hiroshi (Hachimitsu to Clover). Secondly, the story seems to be rather interesting. I'm just hoping that the boy's love aspect will not form the main emphasis of the series or else I think I may just drop it if it's too much for me to bear. Last but not least, I have to admit that the design of the characters are appealing to me so I'm prepared to give this a try and see how it turns out.

Suzuka Ep 22: Kakugou (Resolution)

On the day of the tournament, Yamato is wondering whether he should confess his feelings to Suzuka again but he doesn't want to relive the memory of being rejected by her. Yamato realises that he has not changed much since the time he was rejected so it's likely that Suzuka will not see him in a favourable light. Besides, he knows that Suzuka is just treating him as a replacement for Kazuki and gets more dejected.

Just then, Hattori comes to look for Yamato and tells the latter to warm up now instead of staring at Suzuka. Yamato then asks Hattori what he is doing here and feels down about Hattori's happy mood being in stark contrast with his gloomy state. Hattori asks Yamato if he really does enjoy athletics because he doesn't really seem glad about being treated as a rising running star in his team. He reminds Yamato that he entered the athletics team for Suzuka's sake and wasn't interested in the sport itself at all. When asked about how he feels about Suzuka now, Yamato tries to deny that he feels anything for her initially but realises that he cannot fool Hattori. However, Yamato feels that this is not the right time to broach the issue. Before Hattori can ask further, Miyamoto comes to look for Yamato to warm up for the race.

Hattori congratulates Miyamoto for being the captain but he mocks at himself for not being up to the task. Miyamoto says that if Kazuki was still alive, this post would have been his. He relates the past to them where Hattori realises that the meaning of Kazuki's existence to Suzuka was more than a platonic friend. Hattori points out bluntly to Yamato that he's just scared of being compared to Kazuki, leading Yamato telling him to shut up. When Hattori refuses to stop harping on the issue, Yamato suddenly shouts aloud which makes him the centre of attention. Yamato then reveals that he will aim to be the No.1 athlete in Japan before he goes to confess his feelings to Suzuka.

Yamato is fired up for the upcoming race which is quite different from his usual self. This makes everyone puzzled over his sudden change including Suzuka.

Meanwhile, Miki is complaining to Hattori that she finds herself silly for worrying over Suzuka and Yamato since she thought that things would get worse if Yamato told her the truth about his breakup with Honoka. It turns out that the situation wasn't as bad as she thought. Hattori tells Miki that she should have kept out of their affairs like how he told her before but Miki refuses to listen to his theory. She asks Hattori why he has come to watch the tournament and it's because he wants to see if Yamato makes a fool of himself again.

Yamato sees Emerson again and resolves to beat him or he would never be the No.1 in Japan. During the heat, Yamato decides to eliminate the distractions in his mind and aim for a good time. He finishes first with a time of 10.81 seconds but sees that his teammates are behaving strangely. Yamato wonders if the record was too slow and gets more bewildered when Suzuka reprimands him for being wasting too much energy on the first heat since he can easily qualify for the next round even if he gets a record within the 11-second region. Yamato feels dejected at not being complimented for his effort.

Subsequently, Emerson finishes his heat with 11.09 seconds which is much slower than his personal best of 10.46 seconds. Yamato feels worried since his personal best of 10.81 is far from Emerson's record. Just then, Honoka comes to look for him and encourages Yamato to work hard. At the same time, she can't help but feel that Yamato is drifting further from her as he becomes better at athletics.

Miyamoto informs Yamato that there will not be a final since the next round will see the top 8 based on time records move on to the Tokyo tournament. As such, Yamato will not get to race with Emerson this time. However, he decides to go all out for the semi-finals and even tells his senior that he might not have the energy for the upcoming relay race. With response to this, his senior tells Yamato to get the No.1 placing or else he will scold him for not saving the energy meant for the relay race.

Meanwhile, Suzuka is hiding somewhere instead of watching Yamato's race when Miki comes to tell her about the results. Upon hearing that Yamato broke Emerson's record and was the No.1, she doesn't seem to be particularly thrilled though.

Later, Suzuka goes to congratulate Yamato for getting the first spot but is surprised to see him looking dejected. Yamato passes the result slip to Suzuka where she notes that Emerson was the No.1 and Yamato only held on to that spot for a brief moment since his race was earlier. Suzuka tries to console Yamato but he is not happy at all since he wants to be No.1. Yamato asks Suzuka where his fault lies but she doesn't know about this area. Yamato apologises for asking the questions and decides to seek help from another senior. Suzuka is puzzled over Yamato's sudden fervent for running and wonders what he is thinking of...