Anime moment April 14, 2009

-no header this time, in a rush-

Two posts in one day!
This one is about the new anime that I’ve started. As some of you may know, the spring season of anime has finally started, and many of the new anime are looking great and hold incredible potential. I for one, have been waiting for quite a few to come out.

In order:
Saki
Pandora Hearts
Shangri-La
Eden of the East
Full Metal Alchemist

And those are the ones that I’ve just began. A lot of the other anime are looking pretty good too, so I might start some new ones soon.

Well the first that was on my waiting list was Saki. It’s a slice of life show about mahjong. Honestly, I didn’t expect this to be a great anime (and my thoughts are still the same after I saw it), but the concept was interesting to me. It’s about this great mahjong player named Saki, who dislikes playing it. Despite that, the mahjong club wants her to join (and she probably will just for the sake of the plot). I have seen nothing but the first episode right now. The second ep is on my computer, but something’s wrong with the player, so I’ll watch it later.

Overall, I think I’ll watch this one just to kill time. Another show similar in genre with this, is K-on I think. The animation is great (imo), but I’m just not too interested in the concept. I just might watch K-on in my spare time too.
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Now the only one that I’ve read the manga for also for the anime listed above is Pandora Hearts. I’ve read the chapters that were out on onemanga’s site, and I was really excited when I heard an anime about it will be produced. I guess I liked the story back then or something (I don’t really remember much about it at all).

First thing’s first, I love the OP of this anime.

Haven’t really payed much attention to the ED yet, since I close it right after the episode ends.

Unfortunately, the first episode didn’t deliver as much as I was expecting. Some scenes were pretty decent, but some were kinda…disappointing. But, overall the first episode was decent enough to make me want to watch the second episode. Thankfully I did, because it got quite interesting. (The fight scene was pretty cool too). I can’t say much about it unless I go back and read the manga again….but overall, a boy finds this watch and then stuff happens. Yup. …um, it doesn’t sound exciting when I say it… ^^; moving on.
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Gonzo’s history with anime has been kinda rough. I loved Chrno Crusade very much, even though the ending of the manga was by far superior. RomeoxJuliet was also decent, but it could have been a lot better. However, I’ve heard that they’ve also produced many shows that ended up disappointing the majority of the watchers. Still, the anime looked interesting, so I gave it a try.

The first part of the first episode just showed scenes of the main character getting out of jail, and some other characters that might become an obstacle. One of the main things about this anime that I was uncomfortable with were the voices. I don’t know if it was done on purpose, but it took a long time for me to get used to. For example, there was a woman that sounded like a man…seriously.

The second part got more interesting as the military arrived and a fight started. Too bad it was kinda short though, and I haven’t seen the second episode yet…so I can’t say much more. Oh, the OP is pretty nice too.

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Now for the big one:
Eden of the East AKA Higashi no Eden

When I first saw this on the spring season list, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. There was a synopsis, but that wasn’t really enough. Even the seiyuus for this show were completely new to me. However, once I saw the trailer, my expectations flew extremely high for a show I didn’t know much about. Now usually, a show with high expectations and hype would kinda fail to deliver everything that is expected in the first episode. At least, from my experience anyway. It even happened with the first 3 shows that I was expecting -.-

Fortunately, Eden wasn’t like an ordinary anime. It gave me everything I expected and so much more. The music was good, the art was better than I expected, and the concept is interesting too.

Speaking of the music, both the OP and ED caught my attention this time.
The OP is by Oasis

The English is actually quite understandable, and the visuals are….wow…. -must learn new vocabulary to describe it-
The ED isn’t as good as the OP imo, but the visuals are really cool.

Sure the paper work isn’t as colorful and stuff as GSZS, but it’s still a really unique ED. I wish more shows had OPs and EDs like Eden.

Now for the actual story, a girl from Japan visits America and meets this guy (fully nude at first). The guy apparently had his memory wiped but has a really cool phone (I want it), and his home looks like a terrorist’s. Then, the episode ends with a broadcast of a disaster in Japan which the two characters see at the airport or something. …um, I guess I can’t really describe everything, but I swear it was really interesting =w=;;

Also, a bonus is that the Americans actually sound American. No Engrish or weird accents. Actual English…I couldn’t believe my ears at first!
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Ok last one I promise!
Fullmetal Alchemist.

You should know by now that there’s a second season of it (it started already too). I can’t say much, because I haven’t actually started the first season when I heard of this. Thus, I have not begun this series.
Over spring break, I did start the first season though. God…I totally regret not starting it sooner.
I’ve also started the manga too, which is probably the one I’ll finish first, because the anime is quite different already and I’m only on episode 13.

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So that’s my word on the anime this season. From the ones I’m watching, I can tell (or hope to expect) that this season will be incredible! I might post some pictures that go along with this later, but right now, I seriously need to go finish my homework ^^;