Is that it? Out of all the people that have posted in this thread I only get two responses?
Shame on you all, I say. (8+(

Mark

Thanks for the reply vdbswong, and thanks for this JJ … You know my tastes well. (8+)
I'll try to track it down.

Mark

Be sure to let us know what you think. There was actually a brief talk about Innocence on your forum a while back. I'm surprised I remembered, given how many years ago it was!
http://sfg.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=390

And now for something completely different:



Who says Animé isn't edumucational

Half the series I'm following haven't come out for over a week, and I'm feeling frustrated. Maybe it's because the spring season is starting soon?

I'm quite looking forward to:

http://myanimelist.net/anime/7724/Shiki - a demonic mystery

http://myanimelist.net/anime/6547/Angel_Beats! - potentially very cute

Anything else to look out for?

Whoah JJ, you seem to be missing out on a load of anime for next season...

Preview - Clicky

Will be interested to see:

Ironman - I've seen manga takes on Marvel comics so would be interested to see an Anime take on it... especially produced by Madhouse who have quite a list of decent productions.

Angel Beats - Now, originally i was skeptical about this... the plot sounds a bit thin, however moreo research shows that it's developed by Key (aka Kanon and Clannad) and whilst i'd originally never heard of PA Works, they produced True Tears and Canaan... both of which seemed to get rather good praise albeit overshadowed by other series at the time. Will definitely check this out now.

Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan - Something i'd pick up to test but not expecting much... it's got samurai and the picture makes it seem fairly serious rather than comical so would be interested in seeing how it turns out.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama - Seems to set itself up as a typical romance comedy and is produced by J.C Staff so it's got my interest.

For you JJ, am surprised you didn't pick up on:

K-On!! (Season Two) - I think quite a few people were surprised when it was announced. Personally i got a bit fed up with it towards the end of the season as nothing really happened . Not sure whether or not i'll pick this up properly however i'll be following it to see how it goes.

Da Capo Extension - Seems to continue the Second Season storyline... i've just put Season 2 (of the first series) on hold since i've not really got an inclination to watch it after Nemu comes back into the series effectively shoving Kotori out of the way.

Kiss x Sis - Now i know from your MAL that you watch the OVAs so i assume you'll be picking this up as well .

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As for the normal anime side, not really picked up much at all... finding the current season a bit stagnant.

Dance in the Vampire Bund - Whilst i was all up for it when it started, i just seem to have lost interest, i think the fact that it's now roughly adopted the manga's story has made it a little more boring.

Durarara! - The initial mystery had me hooked since it's got high production qualities as well, however now it just feels like it's stagnated a bit. It was probably after they actually introduced and explained who the headless rider was so i'm not too bothered any more.

Baka to Test Shoukanjuu and Omamori Himari - These two are probably the two i've enjoyed most this season with their humor. However ultimately i can't see either getting more than an 8 and it's probably around a 7.5 (if only you could give half marks ).

Mainly i've been rewatching Code Geass with my flatmate (who hasn't seen it before), whereas i forced myself to sit through the first and second seasons (had dropped the first season previously due to events which happened in the first seasons), watching it again from a... less forced position has increased my opinion of the season. I mean it already scored a 9 from me on MAL, but, as before, if i could give half marks it would definitely score a 9.5. It doesn't quite reach (imo) Clannad, Kanon and Ef heights, but it's certainly very close... the latter few managed to "move" me with almost every arc whilst Code Geass manages to do it with a few set pieces (i think 2 in each season). Either way, i can't wait to find out what the 3rd Project is that was green lighted a few months ago.

, when's that out?

I've got this, which could be described as average at best:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Invincible-Iron ... 001&sr=8-5

Hmmm, not seen that one but I see the reviews on Amazon aren't that favourable

The anime is set for "Spring 2010" which means soon-ish with the change of the season, MyAnimeList says April 2010.

As I said, the studio behind it is Madhouse which means that it's basically up to the story to deliver since they've been responsible for very well regarded animes such as Black Lagoon, Claymore, Death Note, Hellsing Ultimate, Girl Who Leapt through Time, Monster and Summer Wars (<- look out for that one, won a few awards and i'm sure it'll be released in the West).

I went through the list and picked out the good ones but it's still a nice list of solid productions, although none of them particularly western (though Girl Who Leapt through Time and Death Note i believe appealed to Western Audiences?). However, they also were responsible for one of the Batman: Gotham Knight pieces and collaborated with some of Studio Ghibli's works. Wikipedia also has them having some relation to the Devil manga/comic that you (i think it was?) posted here (?) as well.

Thanks for that

Yeah, that Iron Man DVD is worth about £1.50 at best

I'll have to look into Madhouse...

Ironman, I'm not sure I have much hope for the story but only time will tell. The teaser that came out aaaages ago looked all action and no plot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ej7ZlS2oQ
I'll probably watch the first three just to see, since personally I don't see much of interest this Spring.

Kiss x Siss - Yes, I will most definitely be watching because I'm a huge pervert. I think this is obvious
The OVAs have been so bad they're awesome, but to be honest I'm not sure it has what it takes to make a decent series. I'm just hoping for it to be really really funny.

Da Capo, quite frankly I think I'm fed up with. Although I absolutely loved it at times, there's only so much retelling a story can take. I'll watch it anyway, maybe in one go when it's finished. I'll probably end up buying it when it all comes in a complete box set.

K-On!! I'm really pleased about. I have no idea where it will go, but I don't care. I loved all the characters and I just want to see them again.

Working looks quite fun, although the manga wasn't highly rated. There's some videos on the homesite: http://www.wagnaria.com/special/pv01.html

I'll be watching the continuing OVAs. I'm still a big fan of To-Love-Ru, and despite how rubbish the last Utawarerumono and Darker than Black OVAs were I'm still looking forward to them.

I've not watched Baka to Test Shoukanjuu yet, but given this weeks lack of subs I'll be starting in 7 minutes and 30 seconds

Omamori Himari I only picked up recently. I'm not sure why the delay because I'm sure it was mentioned a few pages ago, but I'm really loving it. It might not be very original, but that's not always bad.

It's not much to go on, but something about that left me a bit cold... But then I don't see that much Anime

It has a very shallow American "Blockbuster" feel to it, but then it's a teaser for Americans so maybe there's going to be more to it. More clips will be posted when more is available

Oooh, never saw that teaser... after watching i'd say that the art style isn't quite what i thought it would be... it's more Hellsing Ultimate than hmmm... Black Lagoon?

As for story... just like you said it seems to be going for the American blockbuster... however it supposedly starts with the origin story as well so that might just be something to "capture the masses".



LMAO, best quote so far .

And the OVAs were hilarious up until the last one... that pushed the border a bit too much. There's a point where Ecchi is funny (Rosario Vampire, Asu no Yoichi etc.) but then there's just the point where it crosses the line and i think the last OVA did that =/.



I need to catch up with the To Love Ru OVA's, the anime was good casual watching but i was a bit put off with the gender bending of the first OVA :rolleyes:.

Not heard of the other one, but i heard that the Darker than Black 2 OVA was rather good? Supposedly made more sense and was more in the style of the original series.... speaking of DtB2, definitely need to watch that at some point .

.

I think you'd find it a nice casual watch. As i said, it doesn't really do anything special or stand out, just provide good entertainment for 20 minutes.

Episode One was Brilliant! It left me smiling from ear to ear and wishing my Internets were faster (Thankfully I'm out of contract next month so I should be 8x faster soon).

Next episode in 19 minutes and counting . . .

Damn, I'm impatient these days. It used to take me a week on Winny just to get to the front of the queue, and then another week just to download a bad 90Meg VHS copy. Oh dial-up, how I don't miss you

I managed to finish 3 series since i last posted:

Ouran High School Host Club - Have always heard about this being a good comedy but never really looked into it... also only just found out you rated it a 9 JJ when i had a look at your list. Overall i thought it was a very solid watch although didn't stand out in any particular way apart from some of the comedy. I'd say it was a 9 for its comedy however it still technically wasn't my style (a bit too Shoujo i think) so it got an 8 from me which i think is fair considering the other series i've rated 8.

Special A - I like the draw style for this since it's very Clamp (Code Geass, Cardcaptor Sakura etc.) which makes use of very "clean" characters. The comedy was more in line with what i enjoy (slapstick-esque) and although it was listed as being Shoujo, it didn't give off that feeling as such since i still thought of the male as the main character as opposed to the female. I enjoyed it quite a bit since they had a nice mix of comedy and "romance" (more like character relationship development i guess since it's not done in a "serious" style) but overall i would say it doesn't have quite the quality that other "9" rated animes have so i gave it an 8, between it and Ouran, i wouldn't really say one was better since Special A takes itself less seriously. I'd recommend it to you JJ.

True Tears - I'll first start this off by saying i can't help but feel slightly disappointed by this series, not that it was bad however. I'd heard quite a bit about it and it seemed to have some very good credentials, good production company and a blogging site i read rated it quite highly (romance anime of the year, beating Clannad and Ef) so i went in expecting quite a lot from it. Ultimately i think that was my downfall as whilst it wasn't bad, i personally didn't receive as much enjoyment (or angst) as i did when watching Clannad, Kanon or Ef (the three i've only ever rated a 10) or even certain sections of Code Geass (9). Ultimately i rated it an 8 since it was very well produced (visually) and the accompanying soundtrack was also very good, however i think what let it down was the story and some of the character interactions which didn't feel as natural... i guess what happened between characters was more "natural/real", but i don't necessarily think that made better viewing.

By the way JJ, i was wondering how you went about rating a series ? Like do you have criteria that an anime has to fufill or do you go by intuition?

5 - average. I don't want to watch average animé so I don't use this often.
6 - fine. Better than average, but not very inspiring. Enjoyable but forgettable.
7 - good. Definitely worth watching, but probably a bit derivative or inconsistent.
8 - very good. There has to be some really good character development and interaction, and some real depth to the plot.
9 - great. Better than good. I'm probably in love with one of the characters, and I'll probably cry.
10 - masterpiece. One of the finest examples of it's type. Truly unforgettable.

I really wish we could use decimals, because most of what I watch is squeezed in around 8.5 - 9.5 and ends up being a 9, even though one is almost a masterpiece and the other is just really good.

True Tears made me cry, and I was totally in love with Noe. I thought it was on a par with the better parts of DC and Clannad, and maybe more consistent. It was a couple of years ago now though, and it's not so unforgettable that I haven't forgotten a lot of it. It was probably about 8.6 on my scale, which puts it with After Story even though I'd rate that about 9.47