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.

Emma (The End - 12 Eps)

Why did this have to end so abruptly? After going through so much, they still parted ways? Naze? Doushite? I thought that when William reached the platform to stop Emma, she would probably give in but she didn't. Will there be an OVA? I had hoped that they would be together but it was so sad that they have to separate.

The both of them thinks too much. Even though they love each other, the more they consider their circumstances, it takes away their courage to be together bit by bit. William doesn't want to force Emma to adapt while she doesn't want him to spoil his family ties because of her. Sometimes, it takes a certain amount of rashness when it comes to love. Being too logical will spoil the whole thing. Of course, you can't go into the relationship without seeing reality.

I thought that this anime was fine until the end where they couldn't be together. Or else, this would be one of my most favourite animes to date.

Emma Ep 9 and 10

It doesn't seem that there is any hope between William and Emma...

Now that Kelly had passed away and William's dad, Richard is still against them being together, Emma's revelation to Hakim that she wants to go back to her hometown would mean that Emma is giving up William.

William hugging Emma in front of his family entrance simply makes me go WOW! However, that seems to be insufficient when it comes to going against Richard in this matter. Why didn't he chase after Emma after she ran away from his house?

He's going to regret it once Emma leaves the city...

Emma Ep 8: Tokei (Clock)

An emotionally heavy and sad episode. :-(

William tried to convince Richard to let him be with Emma but the latter refuses by making William think about his responsibilities as the eldest son of the Jones family. And he's powerless to fight back even though he does love Emma.

On the other hand, Emma knows that William is putting up a losing fight and confides in Kelly who wants to support her in this matter. However, Kelly passed away suddenly, leaving Emma to fend for herself. Now that her employer is not around, Emma might not be able to stay in the city anymore. This will probably create more problems for them...

Emma Ep 7: Crystal Palace

Wow wow...so romantic! I was swooning and giggling all the way through this episode. If not for this episode, I would have almost forgotten that this is a love story. ^__^ Anyway, just a quick rundown on this.

William brought Emma to the Crystal Palace (something like an exhibition mall) and they got locked in because they were too engrossed in talking and did not know it was closing time. And being together in the same place helped them to progress quickly when they KISSED!!! Oh, that was simply sizzling...Well, it's not so much of a passionate kiss but it was so sweet seeing them finally admitting to each other about their feelings.

I have the urge to rewatch this episode again, especially that kiss scene...

Emma Ep 6: Houmon (Visit)

I think William's dad, Richard seems to know what is going on between him and Emma. He's an old, wise, willy fellow and he looks almost the same as William. I couldn't differentiate the two initially. ^__^

Anyway, that's why he decided to visit Kelly out of the blue when he heard that she was injured after falling from the stairs. Of course, his visit is not just to see Kelly and his words would definitely cause some trouble for William and Emma's budding relationship. He said that in England, although it is one country, there are two types of people i.e. the nobles and the others. As such, he is implying that these two groups should not mix and to Emma, it is an outright rejection of her and spells doom for any hopes of being accepted by Richard into the Jones family. And William is unable to speak up as he does not dare to go against Richard. In addition, Richard also mentions about letting William and Eleanor get married where William objects vehemently but he cannot reveal that he's in love with Emma. Unless William has the guts to rebel against Richard, there is no way he can be with Emma.

Hakkim's presence is in a way good for William because he's the only one whom William can speak his mind to. However, I think Hakkim is also quite unhappy with William's wishy-washy attitude and weak stand against his father. I doubt he is as frivolous as he seems and when he chats with William, that air of wisdom from Hakkim is quite strong.

I can't wait to see how William handles the situation...He knows that he loves Emma but he also knows that he cannot throw away the Jones family label without a care since he's the eldest son. He just doesn't have the courage to give up everything for love in such a period where social classes matter a lot in society. It's so sad to see Emma being crestfallen over Richard's words and William not being able to console or even talk to her...

Emma Ep 5 - Bansankai (Dinner Date)

Not much happening between Emma and William. Main focus is the interaction between Emma and her employee Kelly and she finally admitted to Kelly that she's attracted to William. ^__^ I think I know why Kelly likes William so much and put his photo at home. He looks very close to Kelly's late husband who died 2 years after marriage when Kelly was just 20. Maybe William reminds Kelly too much of her husband so she takes a keen interest in what is going on between him and Emma. Another cause for concern is William's father finding out that he has been going to Kelly's place frequently. Of course, at this stage, he is unaware of Emma's presence but he's going to find out soon that William goes there to see Emma, not Kelly. And when that happens, he's probably going to stop this relationship from developing further by putting William and Eleanor together. Well, I can be a scriptwriter, right?

This seems to be where the story is heading towards. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out but what's keeping me glued to this anime is the style it's being made. Of course, the story may be cliched but the quality of this production is good. A refreshing change from some of the animes I'm watching like Yakitate Japan.

Emma Ep 4

A little progression for William and Emma... He didn't actually confess his feelings to Emma but Hakkim already knows what is going on. I wonder if Hakkim is really in love with Emma or he just wants to get William anxious about him snatching Emma. The way I see it, Hakkim seems to be rather taken by Emma so I doubt he proposed to her for fun. William and Hakkim were so funny when they were browsing pornographic books in the bookstore and happened to meet Emma. Both sides were embarrassed for their own reasons i.e. Willaim reading a porn book while Emma borrowed a romance novel. And since Eleanor is obviously in love with William, she's proving to be an obstacle between William and Emma if his dad gets wind of his meetings with Emma soon. Maybe an arranged marriage is coming up? I can't deny this possibility though. Much as the story seems to be getting predictable, I am still watching because I think the graphics are nice, the music is soothing and of course, I'm interested to see how things evolve between William and Emma. I'm not a sucker for such love tragedies, i even doubt that there is a tragedy in place since they probably won't do a Romeo and Juliet thing but it's going to get painful when they get separated because of their social status gap...

Emma Ep 3 - Kokuhaku (Confesssion)

I thought William would be the one to confess his feelings to Emma but it turns out that it was his friend, Hakkim, a royalty from India who got smitten by Emma. Oh my god, here's another love triangle again. It's obvious that Willian and Emma like each other but Eleanor likes William and now Hakkim comes into the picture. I just hope this doesn't get draggy even though I know such twists would make the story more interesting. Unless something happens, I doubt William would dare to make his feelings known to Emma soon in case he scares her off.

This anime is getting to be more interesting than I thought initially. Among the new season animes, it's the only one I'm following faithfully. Did I mention this before? ^__^ Well, I see from the next episode's preview that Eleanor is appearing again so something may happen between her and William. And I don't think it will bode well for William and Emma.

Emma Ep 2 - Futatsu no Sekai

This is the only new anime I'm following since the rest doesn't seem to really interest me. Eyeshield 21 which is in the old Tenipuri slot bores me because I don't like American football and most of the other offerings are genres which I don't fancy like fantasy or yaoi. Oh, I forgot about Monster but it's not a new Spring 05 anime while Kyou Kara Mou is in the second instalment.

OK, coming to Ep 2 of Emma, it was quite sad to see Emma avoiding William because she saw him with some beautifully dressed ladies (actually, they are William's siblings)and seemed to sense the disparity in their status. And William was so disappointed when he waited for Emma the whole day but she didn't appear. Besides, I think the appearance of Eleanor would most probably cause more trouble since she seems to be infatuated with William. Thus, things are not looking good for Emma even though she has the indirect support of her employer cum William's ex teacher. I agree the story is quite old fashioned but sometimes, the simple storyline might be more captivating given that the aesthetic effect of this anime is appealing to me.

Marmalade Boy (so far at 6 eps)

Generally, an interesting anime based on the episodes so far and surprise, Okiayu-san appears again as the seiyuu of Matsuura Yu, the lead character!! Haha, it really must be fate for me to watch three animes which feature him i.e. Tenipuri, Slam Dunk and now Marmalade Boy. This also means that he is in the business for a long time since MB was made more than 10 years back, around the same time as Slam Dunk. ^__^

The female character's voice is a bit screechy though and the graphics not that fantastic. I can't really complain since it's an anime so far back in time so I can't use the standards of today to compare. Anyway, what matters most to me is the storyline rather than the graphics. Besides, I think the picture quality is affected by the relatively small size of the files. Each episode is less than 100 MB so there's not much to expect.

Songs-wise, it's quite catchy and memorable though and is very typical early 90s pop. Just cannot stand the fact that the guys' shorts are really SHORT when they play tennis (tennis again??!! - I can't seem to break away from tennis ^__^ ). It must be the fashion trend back then. I'm thankful that Tenipuri is made in the present day or else it would be so hillarious to imagine the guys wearing such tight and short pants!!!

Will have to watch more episodes if it is really that good as what I hear about...

Emma - Ep 1 (Okuri mono - Present)

New anime from TBS. It's better than I thought because its setting is in 19th century England (well, not that ancient since they do have horse carriages and planes) and story is by Jane Austen so it kind of gives me the idea that it can get boring. It's a story about a maid and a rich man's son who fall in love. Typical it may be but I find the graphics and the mood of the anime very soothing and entertaining. And the main character is played by Kinouchi Hidenobu who also plays Oshitari in Tenipuri BUT wait a minute, I visited the official website yesterday and his name is no longer there. I guess he is not playing William after all. Anyway, seems like Kinouchi is in quite a number of animes I'm seeing these days like Monster although I still like Tezuka, Atobe and Sanada's voices the most. ^__^

Coming back to the story, what I find entertaining is the interaction between the couple concerned. So "innocent" and doki-doki when I see them turning red in the face so easily. Sometimes, it's the simple things that make such love stories appear so interesting. Anyway, seems like the first difficulties will crop up in the next episode where the sub title is two different worlds...Sigh, the course of true love never runs smooth...