Anime Preview: Fall 2008 First Impressions – Batch 3

This is batch 3, the last and final batch of this fall 2008 season’s first impressions.

In this batch: (1) ef – a tale of melodies; (2) Vampire Knight Guilty; (3) Nodame Cantabile Paris-Hen; (4) Hakushaku to Yousei; (5) Kurozuka; (6) Shikabane Hime Aka; (7) Tytania; (8.) Skip Beat; (9) Mouryou no Hako; (10) Chaos; Head.

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(1) ef – a tale of melodies
More info – Official Site

Season 2 of ef – a tale of memories.

- The OP ["ebullient future" by TENMON featuring ELISA] was by the same artist who did the song from season 1. It’s played after about 10 minutes into the first episode. It’s a very nice tune, as expected (although I liked “euphoric field” from S1 better). We finally get to learn more about the mysterious Yuu and Yuuko. It’s pretty obvious that they have quite a complicated past (and present). More screentime for Kuze too since he’s one of the lead characters now (which means I get to hear loads more of Kenji Hamada’s voice! Yay! <3). It seems that Kuze’s the one with the medical malady this time around. My random guess is it’s either a heart defect or some sort of personality disorder (like maybe a split personality brought about by some traumatic experience?). Looks like he’s gonna be paired up with Mizuki, who’s a cousin(?) of S1’s Renji. Is Hirono Nagi related to S1’s Hiro? I’m not sure, I don’t think I was paying enough attention when or if that was ever mentioned.^^; Anyway, loved the music (I’m a sucker for strings, especially the violin), and as with S1, loved the art and visual style.

• Watch it? Liked season 1. Been looking forward to this one. Curious about Yuu and Yuuko, and Kuze’s story. So, that’s a yes.

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(2) Vampire Knight Guilty
More info – Official Site: Anime, Manga

Season 2 of Vampire Knight.

- What? The OP ["Rondo" by ON/OFF] has no more repetitive words in the lyrics?! But I liked the repetitive lyrics, I remember it better since it gets stuck in my head… Moving on, get ready for a lot more emo bishies and confused Yuuki. They started off with the Council’s and Hunters’ confrontation with Zero regarding the Shizuka incident from where S1 left off. If you lasted to finish watching S1 or have been reading the manga too, we both know Zero wasn’t the culprit. Zero gains more strength from drinking Kaname’s blood, while Kaname gets more power too out of Shizuka. We get to see the vampire pawns of the Council, who have cool teleportation powers (no traditional vampire-turns-to-bat-stint, eh? xD). I’m rooting for Kain x Ruka. I like Zero. I’m a fan of Kaien Cross too (more of whose backstory I’m still eagerly waiting for to be revealed in the manga!) The ED ["Suna no O-shiro" by Kanon Wakeshima] still has that haunting vibe just like in S1 (same artist, different song) but I think this ED sounds better.

• Watch it? I have sort of a love/hate relationship with this series. I prefer the manga, but I got through and finished season 1, didn’t I? Might as well sit through season 2 as well.

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(3) Nodame Cantabile Paris-hen
More info – Official Site

Season 2 of Nodame Cantabile.

- The OP ["Sky High" by The Gospellers] has a nice and upbeat tune (although I liked season 1’s OP much better). The first ep picks up where season 1 left off, Chiaki-sama and Nodame are on their way to Paris where he will pursue his dream of becoming a conductor while she attends the conservatoire to pursue her dream of becoming a better pianist and someday play with Chiaki-sama’s future orchestra. I saw the live action version too so I kinda know what’s gonna happen next, but since they did some tweaking with the LA, I’m bound to see some scenes that are different (which I don’t mind). Learning French via Puri Gorota is win! ~Lol. I liked The ED ["Tokyo and Paris" by Emiri Miyamoto x solita]. I thought it sounded really nice. (Btw, if you liked this anime, I recommend you to check out the LA too – it’s loads of lolz!)

• Watch it? Of course I will! Been looking forward to watching this series the most. ~Gyaboooo!!!

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(4) Hakushaku to Yousei
More info – Official Site

Also known as The Count and the Fairy.

- Nice upbeat OP ["FEELING" by AciD FLavoR]. We see a mysterious blonde bishie with pretty eyes who’s confronting a professor(?) regarding fairies. The name of a fairy doctor in Scotland named Lydia pops up and the bishie goes on his way to find her. Enter Lydia who seems to be having a bit of business trouble since people often regard fairy doctors as a joke rather than a profession. She gets a letter from her father asking her to come to London (I think). Aboard the ship, she encounters a brunette bishie with pretty eyes who asks for her help. She agrees. They run away from the bad guys. We learn that the bishie is the blonde guy in the beginning. His name is Edgar and he is revealed to be a count from an elite family of the legendary blue knights. I can’t decide if I liked him better with brown or blonde hair, but he’s mysterious and good-looking either way. ;P

• Watch it? As much as I find Edgar to be mysteriously attractive, I’d have to say no.

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(5) Kurozuka
More info – Official Site

- The OP ["WAGDUG FUTURISTIC UNITY" by SYSTEMATIC PEOPLE featuring MAXIMUM THE HORMONE] is an Engrish rock song. I don’t like much screaming in tunes >_< Anyway, Kurozuka is some sort of elite person running away from people who wish to kill him. He runs into a mysterious lady, Kuromitsu, who has a cottage in the woods. She lets him stay in her place under the condition that he won’t check out her room no matter what, which he agrees to. In the long run, his pursuers find the place and he hears a strange noise in Kuromitsu’s room. He discovers her dark secret. They both end up wounded. Apparently, Kuromitsu is immortal. She asks him if he’d like to be with her for eternity. Um, so basically it looks like a love story mixed with samurai slashing and blood + gore on the side. Nice animation, though.

• Watch it? No, thanks.

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(6) Shikabane-hime Aka
More info – Official Site

Also known as Corpse Princess.

- Kagami walks into a shrine(?) and finds a dead girl lying there. He witnesses his friend, Keisei, hug the dead girl who then comes back to life. She fights against evil corpses. She’s like, the Buffy of corpses. The episode was actually more lively than I expected it to be. I found Keisei to be pretty cool and funny. However, I didn’t like the character design much nor the story.

• Watch it? No.

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(7) Tytania
More info – Official Site

-The OP ["Ano Sora wo, Ike" by Ken Nishikiori] is an operatic tune. Wasn’t expecting it, and it kinda didn’t fit much with the OP sequence. It’s set in a futuristic world, so this series has spaceships, lots of spaceships. Tytania is the name of a prominent and powerful clan who rules the skies (or space), undefeated and feared by everyone. There are space battles with pew-pew lasers and charging ships. They even broadcast the attacks to flaunt their presence and power, and watch it on the big screen. The entire episode was rather boring. The one that piqued my interest a bit was the challenger guy, Fon Hulic. I’m not sure where the girl fits, but I think she, along with Fon Hulic, might pose as a threat against the Tytanias in future episodes. Just a guess.

• Watch it? No.

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(8.) Skip Beat!
More info – Official Site

- The OP ["Dream Star" by the generous] is alright and upbeat. Kyoko annoyed me a little bit, but didn’t last too long. The annoyance transferred to Shou, who was quite an obnoxious prat. Although, I admit that he can be a bit cute at times, like when he was happily eating the pudding… But then he got even more obnoxious later when he started talking about Kyoko in a very insulting and condescending manner. Lucky Kyoko overheard it and her wish for revenge awakens. She does a complete makeover and vows to get her revenge against Shou by getting equal or even better gigs than him as an idol. She auditions in the agency that rivals Shou’s. To her surprise, Ren (Shou’s biggest rival in the industry) is a talent there. The ED ["Namida" by 2BACKKA] is pretty catchy. It also has a pretty strong seiyu cast for the 3 lead characters. So, anyway, I suppose we’ll see Kyoko’s rise to fame as she tries to make Shou feel sorry that he ever looked down on her. As they say, hell hath fury like a woman scorned…

Honestly, the first episode didn’t really get my attention, but I’m glad I saw episode 2 because that was much more enjoyable to watch. I don’t read the manga so I’m clueless about what happens next. I’m also not sure what to make of Ren yet, he didn’t really have much to say or do in the the first two episodes.

• Watch it? Sure, why not? Let’s see how Kyoko’s revenge will pan out.

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(9) Mouryou no Hako
More info – Official Site

Also known as Mouryo no Kou (?); Mouryo’s Box, Box of Goblins.

- The OP ["Lost in Blue" by Nightmare] was nice. I really liked it. The episode starts off with a freaky revelation of a girl’s head stuffed in a box… she seems to be alive too. The character design is done by CLAMP and it’s animated by Madhouse. Pretty good animation. The character design is okay, but my complaint is the eyes, which look too girly and pretty, and seem a tad out of place with regard to the supposed mystery atmosphere. There’s a freaky doll too, which made my heart skip a beat for a moment (yeah, yeah…I’m a scaredy cat, I know. Dolls and clowns frighten me. >_<) There were lots of talk, but I didn’t really understand half (if anything) of what they were saying. The first episode was generally weird with freaky moments. I don’t think the lead characters have been introduced yet either. I think that boy in the beginning is one of them. I liked the melody of the ED ["Naked Love" by Nightmare].

I was actually looking forward to this one, basically because I heard that it was an adaptation of a mystery novel… and I’m a sucker for mystery, so um, yeah, that got me. It didn’t turn out like what I was expecting it to be. I can’t say I’m utterly disappointed either. Okay, maybe I was. I guess I was also weirded out too. *shrugs*

• Watch it? I’m leaning towards no, but I shall check out a couple more episodes until the lead characters appear and decide from there.

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(10) Chaos; Head
More info – Official Site

An adaptation of the visual novel by 5pb.

- The OP ["F.D.D." by Kanako Ito] was alright. Other than that, I really don’t know what else to say… I kinda lost interest in watching at about 7 minutes into the first episode, so I skipped to the ED ["Super Special" by Seira Kagami] which was pretty catchy.

• Watch it? Did I mention that I bailed on it after approximately 7 minutes?

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You might also want to check out:

• Fall 2008 First Impressions – Batch 1
• Fall 2008 First Impressions – Batch 2
  
• Anime Preview: Fall 2008