Although a bit late, here’s batch 1 of my quick first impressions on some of the Summer 2009 series. I’ll be dividing this into two entries.
In this batch: (1) Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!; (2) Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~; (3) Aoi Hana; (4) Bakemonogatari; (5) CANAAN; (6) NEEDLESS; (7) Spice and Wolf II.
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Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!
More info – Official Site
– No OP for the first episode. Either that or I missed it because I wasn’t paying attention. ^^;
-A giant plug to “charge up” people who are feeling depressed… I didn’t expect it to be that literal. xD Quite a bit of fanservice too.
– I think the plug thing idea could have had some potential to be funny, but kinda ended up looking silly with the below par storytelling aspect.
– The ED [“Onegai Sweet heart” by Kaori Fukuhara] is a typical one for this kind of show.
- Watch it? Nope.
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Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~
More info – Official Site
Also known as Sea Story.
– Hmm. OP [“violet” by marble] sounded like an OK ballad.
– It’s not like she has a tail, so I guess she’ll be fine if she goes to the surface, right? They can even breathe out of water! Haha, but they totally stand out because they’re wearing skimpy bikinis.
– If I were Kanon, I probably won’t throw the ring away, though. Maybe keep it in a jewelry box or sell it… yeah, sell it, then maybe buy myself a Wii and a plasma TV, or maybe a car if it amounts to that much. xD ;P
– I guess the dark evil-looking power thingy might be the elder turtle which they said wasnt able to come back in the underwater village? Or not. It could be the evil villain in the series too.
– Animation is OK, I like the colors and the cute character design.
– Music was nice, but the first episode didn;t interest me that much
– Cute ED sequence. The ED [“Tomei na Inori” by Masumi Ito] was alright.
- Watch it? Dunno. I might give the second episode a shot.
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Aoi Hana
More info – Official Site
Also known as Sweet Blue Flowers
– OP [“Aoi Hana” by Kukikodan] is a nice ballad.
– Other than Fumi and A-chan getting reunited, onii-san being overprotective of A-chan, and Chizu-chan getting married, and the yuri undertones, I didn’t really get much of what was going on (which I find a bit strange because the story is quite straightforward?)
– ED [“Sentiforia” by Ceui] is also nice.
- Watch it? Most probably not.
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Bakemonogatari
More info – Official Site
Also known as Ghostory.
– No OP. Just a quick sequence with some instrumental theme… unless that was actually the OP? But it’s SHAFT, so there might be an actual OP song next time.
– Huh?! About a minute of pantsu shot for the opening scene. xD
– Nice and unique visual style, as expected from a SHAFT production.
– Araragi is an interesting guy. I wonder about his backstory, RE: vampire incident. Really pretty but scary girl Senjogahara. Have I mentioned she was quite scary? Props to Araragi for being able to stop himself from screaming out loud after Senjogahara stapled his cheek. (side note: Careless and stupid me got myself stapled once in my finger, and IT HURT LIKE HELL. Just sayin’)
– Loved the guitar/harmonica insert music when they met with Oshino.
– An almost-became-a-vampire guy, shadowless(?) girl, weightless girl, eccentric guy who knows about supernatural stuff, weight crab… What else is next? Looking forward to Araragi’s story as well as the other characters’.
– According to Wiki, the anime will have 12 episodes that will be broadcast on TV then 3 episodes will be ONAs that will air on its website only.
– Same director as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, so the visual presentation is pretty much similar.
– Very nice ED [“Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” by supercell]. Loved the melody!
- Watch it? Yes. Quite an interesting story. A tad confusing, but interesting. Throw in Kamiya Hiroshi (as Araragi) in the mix, and I’m sold! 😉
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CANAAN
More info – Official Site
– OP [“mind as Judgment” by Faylan] is okay. Pretty catchy.
– I didn’t really get much of what was going on and what they’re all fighting about, but Canaan is a pretty kicka$$ assassin with some really neat fight and flight skillz. It has a pretty solid cast of voice actors, too (and my favorite Hamada Kenji on a supporting role)
– Next episode has more gun power and chasing.
– The ED [“My heaven” by Annabel] is a ballad, sounded alright.
- Watch it? I’ll check out the next episode before I can say anything final.
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NEEDLESS
More info – Official Site
– OP [“modern strange cowboy” by GRANRODEO] has quite a nice beat.
– Pretty ridiculous flashy and skimpy/revealing outfits
– An action show without much thinking required.
– Typical upbeat ED [“Aggressive zone” by Needless?Girls+] with quite a fanservice-filled ED sequence.
- Watch it? Nope. This won’t be my mindless action series for this season.
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Spice and Wolf II
More info – Official Site
Spice and Wolf’s 2nd season. Also known as Ookami to Koshinryou.
– Quite a nice OP [“Mitsu no Yoake” by Akino Arai]. I thought it was a bit reminiscent of the first season OP.
– Despite the new production (used to be IMAGIN, now Brain’s Base) this time around, I didn’t really notice that big a difference from season 1’s animation. I think you won’t even notice it if you didn’t know or didn’t pay much attention to the animation details. It was also able to keep the same laidback and adventurous atmosphere in the previous season. Hmm, all of which could be because they kept most of the major creative staff members.
– Very nice and catchy ED [“Perfect World” by Rocky Chack].
- Watch it? Yep!
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You might also wanna check out my other posts:
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I think i’m gonna watch canaan , I think this one is not boring with the kicking, fighting and shooting thing i think it’s fun.
Awesome shots, so crisp, i love anime so much, its wonderful 🙂