Winter 2008

comparing to last winter where i only picked up 4 series, the current winter season looks so much more promising.

1) Shikabane Hime Kuro

direct sequel to the previous Shikabane Hime, one wonders why they even need to give a new last name to it.

initially, it had all the makings of a great series. somewhere, somehow, it wandered off into the land of boredom. i got through the 1st season, i'm just not sure if i can stay through the 2nd one. give me another couple of episodes to decide.

2) Maria Holic

psuedo-yuri romantic comedy. male-phobia girl enrolls in an all girls school only to find out that the "love-of-her-life" is a cross-dressing younger boy.

unlike most cross-dressing anime, the cross-dresser here is actually the one in control. that's already a freshing take from the usual. hopefully, lots of laughter ahead.

3) Zoku Natsume Yuujin-Chou

Natsume is back to free more spirits from his grandma's Book of Friends. and to gather more tears and heart-warming moments from everybody else. one of the best slice-of-life series i've watched. =)

4) Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo

space colonies, girls with mechas, artifical intelligence.

does anyone think it's similar to Vandread yet? the only interesting thing that made me continue watching this, was when Fukuyama Jun's voice came out as the AI of an abandoned colony.

i'm sure it perked the interest of most 1st episode viewers too, since most of us are more familiar with putting Fukuyama with a face, compared to a machine.

5) RIDE BACK

ballerina girl gives up ballet after hurting her ankle, but finds new inspiration in life after getting involved with the latest mecha craze in her university, called Ridebacks.

think mini-transformers on wheels, only cooler.

talk about girls with mechas. this had me way excited even after watching the trailers. the animation for this series is fantastically beautiful. add that to loads of heart-pumping racing scenes and load of politics (obviously), and you have yourselves a winning combi.

6) Chrome Shelled Regios

koyasu-sama, koyasu-sama, koyasu-sama.
that's my main draw to the series. plot-wise, there's nothing much out of the ordinary.

emo male lead (who obviously knows how to fight) hides as a normal course student instead of going to the battle course.
he gets found out (of course) after saving a girl on his 1st day at school.
he is then promptly transferred to a platoon which is ("surprise surprise") one man short.
continue on as he and platoon mates defends their city from gigantic bugs.

it's really not all that interesting, but hopefully, the animation quality will be able to make up for the rest. as long as there's no drop in quality that is.

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so that's the 6 new titles i'll be picking up. i did watch Kurokami and Akikan!, but nothing good enough to spark my interest.
Kurokami was because I couldn't stand the male lead.
Akikan! was just plain stupid. ultimately ridiculous. i can't believe Fukuyama Jun even voiced the male lead.

anyway, i still have my hands quite full with the other series from Fall 2008. the whole Christmas season, WII parties and going out almost every other night had me backlogging many of my series.

i haven't touched G00 since ep9 and i'm dying to know what is happening.

i need to run an anime marathon soon.

thankfully, CNY is just around the corner.