A New Year of Club Brings A New Slate of Series
Posted on October 9th, 2008 by calaggie in Impressions
Regular meetings for my anime club began last Wednesday and Thursday and while it was a little odd watching the new management running the operation, I figured I would at least get a feel for the larger, slightly newer crowd and also a few series I hadn’t sampled before. What follows are my impressions of what was shown during the first three sessions.
Wednesday (first 2 episodes):
Minami-ke:
Second time around for me but likely the first for many members, who seemed to like it a lot. The challenge letter and forced writing parts still made me laugh while the cream stew bit was sluggish.
Dennou Coil:
This was the THIRD time I had seen this and I still found a couple things that I didn’t remember before, like bowing in apology after being kicked out of the burger joint. I need to resume watching this after pausing following ep. 5. The crowd reception has been very favorable.
Hitman Reborn:
I knew going in that this is a Jump adaptation and thus expected not much from its first episode due to necessary premise explanation. It was okay and I thought it could certainly get better, as there was a hint at the protagonist’s future rival from another mob family. It did improve with that confrontation Still, it will have to develop into something more than a boy forced to improve his self-esteem and confidence through short bursts of uncontrolled, aggressive activity.
Vampire Knight:
After the first episode, I felt indifferent about VK and was waiting for its plot to be developed. The lead girl (Yuki) has the motivation to be a effective prefect but lacks the strength, jumping into a disadvantageous position and needing Kiryuu to rescue her. It doesn’t help that she has a crush on Kuran, the vampiric leader of the Night Class. There was a parallel between her flashback of being saved in the forest by Kuran and Kasahara’s (of Library War) memory of the man who saved her book from repossession in that both recalled them around their respective moments of foolhardily rushing into a situation without considering how they would resolve it. The second episode has some development of Kiryuu’s past and the current bodily repercussions but the whole Saint Chocolate Day setup was pretty tedious.
Her father’s emotional moments reminded me of D.Gray-man’s Komui and Soul Eater’s Deathscythe, who I would see the next night. I can comprehend fathers and older brothers wanting to protect their daughters and younger sisters but I’m growing tired of overly concerned paternal figures who weep for comedic effect. Man up and be strong role models, gentlemen!
Thursday (first episodes):
Soul Eater:
I had seen five minutes in the early part of ep. 1 during May’s Big Showing event and I read the first manga chapter via Yen Plus so I knew about the cat/witch confusion. I’m looking forward to seeing the next one as the focus shifts to another pair of fighters. I didn’t realize Bones was animating it until I was updating my MAL but it now makes a bit more sense with the fluid battle animation and pacing of the Shinigami-Death Scythe exchanges.
Moyashimon:
Second time watching this first episode and it retained its humor on its repeat viewing. The subject matter potentially has added value for some student viewers because UCD has an agricultural focus and they are majoring in animal science, plant biology, et cetera.
Toshokan Sensou:
When this series initially premiered in April, I had marked it in my mind as something I eventually wanted to see based on its premise of opposing forces fighting over books and the free flow of ideas within a society. Episode 1 was fairly average to me due to the “mysterious man” incident that blindly inspired Kasahara to join the protection troops. I would like to know more about what Kasahara’s roommate (Asako) does in intelligence, the effect the Media Act has on ordinary citizens, and the bureaucratic tag-of-war between the operating bodies of the government and the libraries, but Kasahara’s story did not attract me in its first chapter.
Ghost Hound:
Watching the premiere for a second time, I remembered how slow it was and hope that the audience, many of whom voted off Hidamari Sketch last year after two episodes, will be patient with its exposition and make it past at least the third. I had only seen up to the second episode and liked it so I should pick it back up in the near future.
So what now:
I decided that I would likely skip future Thursday meetings, save for the 30th (Halloween), because I would have to either stay around in Davis longer than I would want to or burn unnecessary gas coming and going along the causeway. Another reason is that I would rather watch the last two shows — Toshokan and Ghost Hound – solo and avoid the distracting chatter and “Huh”s. I also felt an expanded sense of what began to surface during last year – the sense that I’m growing a little old for this compared to the newcomers, which is strange considering I’m twenty-two. I can still kick it with friends and experienced members but I suspect it is a combination of nearing graduation and not knowing which path I want to pursue afterward.
Omake:
Last Thursday, I received from a friend a copy of August’s Shonen Ace that he bought when studying abroad this summer. It came with an Evangelion fold-out fan that works like one would expect. I’ve been leafing through it over the past week and the only thing I have read in it so far was a chapter of Keroro involving karaoke.
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