So here’s the deal. I’ve managed to take control of a session of Anicom (University of Teesside’s Animation & Comics society) at the end of the year, and I’m looking for 5 or 6 new shows that I can show the first episode of. After taking recommendations from a few places (including the 2008 ARC awards), I have 24 new series to watch the first episodes of within the next four weeks, to see if they’re any good. How I’m gonna find the time to squeeze these in, I have no idea. But I’m gonna try anyway, as well as running for Anicom’s treasurer next year so I can be the only guy on the committee that likes anime.
First up… K-ON!, a new slice-of-life school comedy from KyoAni’s studios, responsible in the past for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. And that show did the whole ‘crazy school club’ thing well, but this one doesn’t really seem to work. And the ‘music club’ thing just reminds me of Nodame Cantabile. Both of those are good anime, and in comparison, K-ON!’s falling a bit short. Oh, and the main character is the most stereotypical moe character in existence. It’s annoying. I’ll probably keep watching to see if it gets any better, seeing as the first episode only aired a few days ago in Japan.
Another big new show that’s just been aired is the remake of Fullmetal Alchemist (known as ‘Brotherhood’), produced by BONES. I don’t really need to say much about it (most anime fans have seen the original before), but it certainly looks pretty. The major thing to keep an eye on is the new story (making the old plotline non-canon) which follows the manga a lot more closer than the original series. It’ll probably just confuse me, though, especially as it goes over past stuff again.. We’ll see what happens as the show progresses.
Two more – I was recommended Trava – Fist Planet by some people, and it seemed to be done in a similar style to Dead Leaves so I thought I might enjoy it. However, the first episode seemed rather slow, and kinda put me off. Seeing as it’s only four 10-minute episodes, I might watch the rest of it and see if it gets any better later on… if I have time. I also checked out Freedom, an OVA done by the makers of the classic Akira. But again, I just couldn’t really get into it. The CG animation seemed a little weird, and I guess futuristic bike racing just ain’t my thing.
Expect more updates as the days go by, because I’ve got plenty left to watch.
