Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Summer offering from Noitamina

"Tokyo Magnitude 8.0" will be shown from July 2009 in the Noitamina after "Eden of the East" ends its run. The series is directed by Tachibana Masanori and produced by Bones and Cinema Citrus. It depicts the aftermath after an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale hits Tokyo. Mirai, a year 1 junior high student is in Odaiba with her brother Yuki when the earthquake strikes. The siblings meet a delivery rider Mari there and the three of them work together to get back to their homes in Setagaya.

Official website: here

Eden of the East to be shown in Noitamina slot from Apr 09

"Eden of the East" written and directed by Kamiyama Kenji, will be animated and shown in the FujiTV Noitamina slot's spring 09 season starting from April. Kamiyama is well-known for his previous works including "Seirei no Mamoribito". This will be the first time that Noitamina is featuring an original work instead of adaptations. Character design will be done by Umino Chika, the author of "Hachimitsu to Clover". Production I.G. will be in charge of this series and this will be their second work for Noitamina since "Toshokan Sensou".

Official website: here

Cast List for Genji Monogatari

Cast List

Hikaru Genji - Sakurai Takahiro
Kokiden no Nyougo - Fujita Toshiko
Murasaki no Ue - Endo Aya
Fujitsubo no Nyougo - Tamagawa Sakiko
Kiritsubotei - Horiuchi Kenyu
Tou no Chuushou - Sugita Tomokazu
Aoi no Ue - Hirata Eriko
Rokujo no Miyasudokoro - Tsuru Hiromi

New anime, "Genji Monogatari" in Noitamina slot

"Genji Monogatari" written by Heian period writer, Murasaki Shikibe, will be made into an anime and shown in the FujiTV anime slot, Noitamina from Jan 09. This is in conjunction with the 1000th anniversary of "Genji Monogatari". At the moment, it has been decided that there will be a total of 11 episodes.

Official website: here　

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.

Animes to watch in Summer 2006

With the summer animes starting from this week, it's time to make a list of those which I'm going to watch but I may drop some of them along the way. And it also depends on whether I can manage to find them to watch. My backlog of animes to write reviews for is going to swell again though... ^__^

Hachimitsu to Clover II
Starting from 29 June, FujiTV, Noitamina slot on Thursdays.
As a Hachikuro fan, I'm very excited over seeing the sequel. Although 13 episodes will mean that this runs for one season, I guess this can't be helped since there won't be enough content to cover from the manga which will only release Vol 9 next month. Rather than having meaningless fillers just to drag through two seasons, I would prefer everything to be kept succint and faithful to the original instead. As the Rika-Mayama-Yamada love triangle will be complicated further with the introduction of Nomiya, I'm looking forward to seeing more of Nomiya who's extremely "cute" towards the later stage which I hope the anime can cover in time. On the other hand, we get more information on Morita's background and from the way it's implied in the manga, Morita and his elder brother have a reason or aim for being so obsessed with making money. As for the love triangle between Morita, Takemoto and Hagu doesn't look headed anywhere, I guess the anime will leave it as that instead of creating a conclusion from nowhere. That may increase the chances of having another sequel provided the manga has enough content for at least one season by next year.

Innocent Venus
Starting from 26 July 06, Wednesdays on WOWOW
The setting is rather interesting where it depicts the world losing more than half of its population due to a hyper hurricane in 2010. As such, the Japanese government sets up special economic zones at various locations and the elite living in such areas call themselves as the Logos while leaving the rest of the people to suffer outside the boundaries in slums. Fast forward to 2035, two guys from the Phantoms, a group meant to suppress uprisings within the special economic zones, break away from the organisation and help a girl, Todo Sana along the way. Seems like they have a mission to accomplish or they just want to leave the elites?
Well, I usually have a soft spot for mystery or suspense stories so that's why this caught my eye. The character design is fine and I see a few familiar names in the seiyuu list whom I happen to like i.e. Ookawa Tooru and Sakurai Takahiro so I suppose I should be able to stick to this till the end unless the story gets really unbearable to watch.

Night Head Genesis
Starting on 29 July via GyaO/BS Fuji on Thursdays. Official blog of the series here
This is based on a 1990 drama starring Toyokawa Etsushi and Takeda Shinji about two brothers, Kirihara Naohito and Naoya. In this story, the Kirihara brothers are abandoned by their parents as a result of a certain power they possess. Subsequently, the two are confined to a research institute housed within a forest for as long as 15 years before they finally break out and go back to society where they strive to live on. From the looks of it, this looks like a suspense thriller which I'll like and the fact that the two brothers look very good is another plus point. Takeda Shinji who played the younger brother in the original drama, will be doing the opening narration.

FLAG
First episode available for viewing via Bandai Channel from 16 June. First 6 episodes will be uploaded before end of August while the remaining 7 episodes will be provided in autumn.
This anime is set in a warzone where a female photographer has to cover the gore and misery there under such harsh conditions. One of the biggest selling points for animes these days is getting a celebrity to be the main voice actor and in this case, we have Tanaka Rena who's a well-known actress active in movies. However, the problem is that you have to be a member to watch this anime and that means having to pay for it. As such, I doubt I'll be able to watch this though.

NHK ni Youkoso!
Showing from 9 July on Chiba TV, Sundays
Well, the title has nothing to do with the national broadcaster but rather, it's an abbreviation for the organisation by the name of Nippon Hikikomori Kyoukai (The Japanese Association for Stay-at-home People) i.e. NHK. The story is about a young man who quit from university and became a hikikomori i.e. those who stay at home, avoid contact with others and rarely step out of their houses, who believes that his condition is caused by NHK. A girl then appears before him and declares that she wants him to take part in her project where she will help him to get back to society. I find the genre quite interesting and its obvious reference to NHK is sure to get people's interest too. Besides, it will be nice to see something which reflects society trends among the various fictitious stories we get these days.

Bokura ga Ita
Starting from 3 July, KBS Kyoto, Mondays
I've heard a lot about the manga where many people heap praises on it so I'm approaching this anime mainly out of curiousity. However, I am very impatient when it comes to draggy stories especially those caught in love triangles and keep changing their stands. From the idea I get, this looks set to fall into the category of those stories which I tend to shun or give up halfway. I just hope that this anime can present it in a way that can sustain my interest and prevent me from losing my patience. One interesting point is that I see Sasaki Nozomu playing the lead character Nanami and wonder how he will sound like. And it looks as if this is going to be a sad tale after all since I read from the manga's summaries that Nanami will be in anguish because of Motoharu's pining for his ex-girlfriend. I have a bad feeling that I may not stick to this till the end...

Kemonozume
Showing on WOWOW from 5 Aug
Well, the setting is not exactly new because we have two characters i.e. a monster and a monster hunter who fall for each other. What this means would be them having to grapple with feelings and logic where they know that they do not have the means to be together given their identities. A case of Romeo-and-Juliet? Anyway, there's not much information on the series at the moment for me to judge whether I'll be watching this till the end but the twist to the tale i.e. the monster setting seems more interesting than having the two characters being unable to get together due to overused reasons like family background.

Taiyo no Mokushiroku
Showing via WOWOW on 2 July and 27 July
I believe this is the prequel to the actual series starting in autumn and there will only be 2 episodes in this OVA. The setting is quite similar to the upcoming summer disaster remake blockbuster, "Nihon Chinbotsu" but the difference is that the movie shows Japan sinking into the sea while the anime shows Japan being split into two due to an earthquake. As a result, the Japanese are becoming refugees after other countries use aid as a pretext to invade the country. Since this is based on an award-winning manga, I think there is a certain level of quality in terms of the story but it remains to be seen if the disaster scenes are done in a good way.

Binbou Shimai Monogatari
Showing from 29 June, Thursdays via TV Asahi
This story is about two sisters struggling to survive after their father disappears due to gambling debts and their mother passed away. From the description on the official website, I doubt that the aim of the anime is not to show how miserable these sisters are but rather how they make use of whatever they have and are given a helping hand by those who live in the neighbourhood. As such, I think this is positioned more as a heart-warming tale. Besides, there's only 10 episodes so I guess I will be able to watch this to the end barring unforseen circumstances e.g. a boring storyline. As for the character design, it's not particularly impressive but also not that unbearable.

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.

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.