Animes to watch in Spring 2007

Here's a list of animes I will try to watch this coming spring. Somehow, I find that my list keeps getting shorter with each passing season. Does that mean I have higher expectations of what I watch or is it due to the decreasing quality of shows these days? I have no idea how many I will watch from the start till the end too so this list doesn't give a clear indication of whether I will cover the series after all in this blog.

I know I haven't been writing reviews these days so I will have to find time to play catch-up slowly. And who knows when that will be as the backlog gets bigger? ^___^

Victorian Romance Emma The 2nd Act 英国恋物語エマ

O.A. 16 April 2007, Mondays

Story:

Continuation from the first series which ended with Emma leaving William. She begins life at a new mansion, under a new master and it seems like there's a new suitor too. On the other hand, although William cannot forget Emma, Eleanor is waiting for him to change his mind and this puts pressure on William in the process.

Reasons for watching this:

1) This has got to be the No.1 anime I'm looking forward this coming spring. I wasn't too happy with the way the first series ended so now, there's a tinge of hope that Emma and William might end up together after all. However, if the story wants to create problems for them to manifest the theme of "true love never runs smooth", I guess we will be seeing lots of crisis-filled developments along the way. By the way, the new suitor looks like a weirdo to me...seems like a psycho?! What's the hand doing there in the picture?

2) For the sake of Ueda Yuji as Hakim, my favourite character in this series. He's sure to lend a helping hand to William and Emma and I can't wait to see Hakim up to his antics again.

Love Complex (Love Con)ラブコン

O.A. 7 April 2007, Saturdays

Story:

A tall girl and a vertically-challenged boy's relationship. Previously made into a real-life movie starring Koike Teppei and Fujisawa Ema

Reasons for watching this:

1) This seems to be a light comedy which should keep me happy. I just hope it doesn't go the way of Bokura ga Ita i.e. emotionally-heavy when it comes to discussing the issues of how height affects the couple in question. I want it to be relatively light-hearted all the way.

2) Seiyuus...well, although they aren't the leads...seeing their names is enough: Tsuda Kenjirou, Suwabe Junichi and Onosaka Masaya. Inui, Atobe and Momoshiro in the same anime?! That's something to look forward to...

Darker than Black Kuro no Keiyakusha 黒の契約者

O.A. 5 April 2007, Thursdays

Cast:

Kiuchi Hidenobu, Fukuzono Misato, Sawaki Yuuya, Ikeda Masaru, Mizuki Nana, Shimura Tomoyuki, Fukuda Nobuaki, Toriumi Kosuke, Inamura Yuna, Sakamoto Chinatsu

Story:

The unexplainable appearance of the Hell's Gate in Tokyo brings about the loss of Tokyo's real sky. This leads to a group of people with special abilities who trade their powers to obtain information for spy organizations and carry out tasks like killing people. They are called the Keiyakusha 契約者.

The lead character Hei (Black) disguises himself as a foreign student from China, Li Shunshen and blends into the streets of Tokyo while carrying out his tasks. He is known for his strong ability and ruthless methods thus earning the title of BK201 The Black Death God.

Reasons for watching this:

1) Kiuchi Hidenobu. I'm totally obsessed with his voice so the moment I saw his name tagged to the lead character's name...I made my decision immediately. ^__^

2) I like stories with mysteries and suspense so this suits me just fine in terms of its genre. As to whether it will turn out to be as bad as TOKKO which was wrapped up too hastily, I certainly hope not.

Romeo & Juliet

O.A. 4 April 2007, Wednesdays

Cast:
Mizushima Daichuu, Mizusawa Fumie, Toriumi Kosuke, Nojima Yushi, Matsurai Yumi, Hirohashi Ryo, Ohara Sayaka, Okiayu Ryoutarou, Kawasumi Ayako, Tachibana Shinnosuke etc.

Theme song: Inori ~ You Raise Me Up ~ by Lena Park

Reasons for watching this:

1) Familiar names like Toriumi Kosuke (Sengoku from Tenipuri), Okiayu Ryoutarou (Tezuka-bucchou from Tenipuri), Ohara Sayaka (Rika-san from Hachikuro) and last but not least, Kawasumi Ayako (Nodame!!) Seiyuus who I like and are familiar are usually a big pull factor when it comes to deciding what new animes to watch.

2) The story is a tried-and-tested formula which never goes out of fashion over the years so I guess there's no harm in refreshing my memory of this Shakespeare classic. Besides, the images look quite nice to me and the background setting should be as good, if not better than what I saw in Gankutsuou, given that the two main characters come from rich and influential families.

Wellber no Monogatari (Sisters of Wellber)ウエルベールの物語

O.A. from 3 April 2007, Tuesdays

Cast:
Rita Shioru (Takahashi Mikako)
Tina Rota (Takeuchi Junko)
Sherry (Sendai Eri)
Girano Do (Borujuraku Cho)
Gernia Han (Kusuda Toshiyuki)
Garabad Aigar (Namikawa Daisuke)
Heidel Shioru (Kamibeppu Hitoji)
Roden Shioru (Sugita Tomokazu)
Jin (Terashima Takuatsu)
Vice (Tsuruoka Satoshi)

Story:
Ever since the major war 10 years ago, the Wellber kingdom has been trying hard to maintain the peace and order. However, the King, Heidel fears that history will repeat itself as his neighbouring country, Sangatras seems to be harbouring intentions of attacking Wellber. In order to prevent such a move, Heidel decides to let his daughter, Rita get married to the prince of Sangatras, Gernia.

However, Rita stabs Gernia and runs away to avoid punishment. The King of Sangatras is furious at this development and orders that Rita be captured and openly executed in 14 days or he will declare war against Wellber. Rita decides to run away to a neutral nation, Gurita so as to seek help.

On the other hand, a female thief, Tina sneaks into Wellber for the sake of some treasure and happens to see what happened when Rita stabbed Gernia...A man by the name of C is seeking Tina's whereabouts so as to take revenge for his parents and ends up being Rita's bodyguard on her way to Gurita.

Reasons for watching this:
1) This is from Production I.G and the crew of Tennis no Oujisama. Being a fan of Tenipuri, I'm rather curious to see what the team can come up with this time round.

2) Familiar names like Takahashi Mikako, Kusuda Toshiyuki, Namikawa Daisuke and Tsuruoka Satoshi from Tenipuri are back. There's also Sugita Tomokazu from Hachimitsu to Clover. What's more coincidental is that Kusuda and Namikawa play buddies again...a renewal of the relationship between Shishido and Ootori from Tenipuri? And Takahashi and Sugita from Hachikuro (Yamada and Mayama) become siblings this time round? That's why I'm rather eager to find out how their voices feel like in a different setting.

3) From the trailer, it seems like there's quite a bit of tension and action going on so I guess it will be interesting to see how the plot unravels.