The new anime of April: A review

[Stalk]

Gonna review some anime for April. So you guys know what to download and what not to download. Here goes, in no particular order: Ratings are not based on fansub quality- rather it is based on the Anime quality :

1. Aishiteruze Baby (5/5)
This anime is based on a manga. It is a Shoujo anime, which basically means the target audience is females. It is a beautiful and sweet anime. The main characters introduced so far are a deliquent high school student who is popular with the ladies. And a young five year old girl who's mother abandoned her.

The family decieded to hand her over to the deliquent's family, and he is responsible for taking care of her. (I will add names later - I'm very forgetful, I just watched almost 15 new anime's, that's like 1500 new names!) It's supposed to be a very sweet anime. It's not for everyone, because it's very girly. But personally I enjoy it.

2. Kyou Kara Maou (3/5)
The story was very average. I didn't feel like there was anything 'special' about it. The artwork was standard for anime. If I had any complaints about the show, it would be there are WAY TOO MANY men. There's even a few bishounens (beautiful boys) so far I'm not sure what the target audience is, it seems like it's trying to appeal to the female audience with the bishounens and cute boys, while trying to appeal to the male audience with fantasy elements and humor.

It's a story about a boy who literally got flushed into a toilet to find himself in a fantasy world. He is the 'predestined' Demon King, and his job is to eradicate the human race. It's hard to tell what kind of story it will be with just the first episode, so I will watch some more of this and see if I enjoy it.

3. Madlax (2/5)
It's your typical Girl With Guns genre. From the makers of .hack//sign, Avenger, and Noir, many people had high expectations of it. But frankly, it is one of the worst girl with guns anime I've seen in the recent years. It's better than Avenger, but that's not saying much. I hear it's the music that makes the anime, so I can't say anything about this.

There's a female who does 'episonage' work the way 007 does. She gets sent to a jungle to recover a data disk with secret information, and does so without problem. But when she 'falls' for the guy she got the secret info from, trouble begins. The guy goes out to a situation where he would surely die to save his comrades, so she changes her mind and goes to save him.

She suddenly decieded to put on a dress halfway through the anime. A formal dinner dress. She was in the middle of the jungle, leaping tree to tree with it. She was shooting with her eyes closed with overdone postures. A military commander shot at her 15 times from point blank range and missed every time. "awesome bullet dodger, ya think?" nope, she never even moved a inch. Give me a break. All style no substance. Not going to watch this one.

4. Midori no Hibi (5/5)
Perhaps the anime I was looking forward to the most. You've all heard about a guy's right hand being his best friend? Well, what if it was your girlfriend?

The story is about a deliquent who had a feared right hand, called something like the "demon right hand" I don't remember clearly. After his 20+ rejects from girls, he had all but given up on getting a girlfriend. When he wakes up, he finds a girl named Midori on his right hand!

It's a love story/comedy. My favorite manga, and the anime looks just as good. Highly recommended. By the way, it's a very clean anime, there is only one 'perverted' situation when they mention how to go to the bathroom with only one hand. But the rest is very clean.

5. Monster (5/5)
My #2 most looked foward to anime. A doctor is a highly successful surgeron who is next in line for becoming the head chief of surgery and director. He has a beautiful wife and a successful career. He is doing research that might change lives.

One day, he was supposed to do sugery on a construction worker who had just came in. Just before he did the sugery, he was told to stop and do an operation on a famous opera singer. He had thought that someone else would do the operation on the construction worker. But the next day, he found that the construction worker had died.

A few days later, a 'robbery' had occured and a mother and father got shot to death, and the brother got shot in the head but was barely alive. The sister went into severe trauma. Moments before operating on the boy, he is told to do an much easier operation on the Mayor. He is the only one who can save the boy, but the other surgerons can save the Mayor.

He choses to save the boy, and his life falls apart form there. He is passed over for promotion, his wife becomes cold to him. Soon, murders happen around him that are extremely benefical to him. As a result, he is the #1 suspect even though there is no evidence against him. Soon, he finds out the boy he did surgery on is not as he seems...

6. Phantom OVA (2/5)
Japanese guy goes to America. Evil American forces Japanese guy to become Assassin. Japanese guy becomes Assassin. Blood spills, cries of regret, bad bad evil Americans. So very bleh. Not recommended at all.

7. Submarine Super 99
Not watched yet.

8. Kenran Butoh Sai: The Mars Daybreak (3/5)
From the creators of RahXephon, it is a highly anticipated anime. It a mecha anime that happens underwater on Mars. Terraforming is going on in mars, there's a pirate ship called the Aurora Ship that terrorizes the government, and a boy mysterously acquires an super duper powerful special robot that comes to save him when he almost drowns.

Like most of their anime, the first episode is VERY 'bleh'. But I will watch more of their anime and hope it gets better like it did RahXephon, but it seems very typical for it's mecha genre. Will watch more and deciede.

9. Ragnorak : The Animation
Not watched yet.

10. Bakuretsu Tenshi
Not watched yet.

11. Shura no Toki
Not watched yet.

12. Kono Minikuku Mo Utsukushii Seka (This Ugly And Beautiful World) (2/5)
It's a story about a girl who mysterously comes to planet earth, and when she arrives a monster suddenly appears. The boy who came to save her suddenly becomes super badass in a very Hulk-like way.

Very bleh so far. Nothing special. Will watch more and hope it sheds the light on what the series will be about.

EDIT: Bolded the titles for easier reference. ____________________
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Recommended BiTorrent Clients: Official Client, BiTornado, Azureus, and ABC.Edited by: Stalkyr Weaksoul at: 4/9/04 10:08 am

[shehab aldean]

bah i was going to do that with picture , bleh you nearly covered everything

[Bladesake]

Monster sounds cool... Ooohh.. so shiney!
Manx's Lootbag

[Stalk]

Feel free to post pictures. I didn't put pictures because hopefully people here at least know how to type "soandso anime" in google and click images.

[DarthEnderX]

Is April a usually new season month or are there this many new anime every month?

[Stalk]

Usually is a time when most anime just happen to end. Anime's start up at any time, but because of the 13/26/52, 12/24/48, and 14/28/56 episode counts, it tends to begin at the same time.

[notwen]

A good site to use for tracking when new series are starting, as well as current series length (though there have been several notable errors recently) and weeks when an episode of your favorite show isn't airing: www.animedaisuki.net

[EZ_Norpin]

"or are there this many new anime every month?"

There are actually going to be almost 40 new series this month. Tip-o the iceberg. Edited by: Norpin at: 4/9/04 6:07 pm

[DarthEnderX]

Thats just impressive.

We're lucky if we get 40 new shows a year, nevermind animated programs.

Whoever said "entire nation with ADD" had it right.

[EZ_Norpin]

Shura no Toki (2.5 / 5)
A young man named Mustu Yakumo is hired by a young 'lord' as a bodyguard after being recommended by Miyamoto Mushashi as being stong enough to replace him. The 'lord's' uncle is trying to assassinate 'him' so that he can take control of the family lands. The 'lord' isn't too happy with the new bodyguard, thinking that Mushashi misjudged his strength. But the lord later finds out that 'his' new bodyguard is actually a master of Mustu enmei ryuu, a weaponless fighting style.

Thus far we're looking at another fighting anime. Animation is above average, but so far the the plot is cliche and predicable, and the characters are bland and uninteresting. Also for a martial arts anime the fights weren't that impressive. But few shows like this are able to distinguish themselves in the first episode. It could go either way, but so far I'm not impressed.

Bakuretsu Tenshi (3 / 5)
Tachibana Kyouhei is a young man who wants to go to France to study to become a pastry chef. To save up the money he needs, he gets a job working as a cook for 4 pretty young girls who live in something that looks like a mobile command center. Before he actually gets to cook anything though, the girls get called to a job, so they kick him out and tell him to come back tomorrow. He doesn't go 60 seconds though before someone kidnaps him. Apparently the girls are a squad of mercinaries and the arms dealers they are going to attack kidnapped Kyouhei as a hostage.

Girls, guns, and mecha set the tone for the show. Thus far it reminds me a bit of BubbleGum Crisis, but with more fanservice and blood. If Vandread and Gungrave had a baby, it would look a lot like Bakuretsu Tenshi. GONZO is the animaton studio, so if you've seen their work before the style is pretty much the same. The story looks like it's following a formula so far. It's 50/50 I'd say whether the cook becomes the comic relief/love interest for the show, or whether he becomes a pilot for a giant robot. I gave it a 3, but it might be a little genrous. The episode was at least mildly entertaining though.

Ragnorak : The Animation (3 / 5)
A fantasy anime based on the Ragnorak Online MMORPG. It follows the adventures of Yuufa, a cute and kindhearted healer, and Roan, her childhood friend and reluctant warrior. While visiting the capital city Prontera, they get lost looking for the bazaar and happen upon the magician Takiusu. Takiusu is attempting to negotiate with a pair of thugs who stole some items from her while she was adventuring in the mountains. When the thugs' boss arives and threatens to attack Takiusu, Yuufa steps in to help, and after some prompting, so does Roan, just in time for the thugs to be scared off by Commander Herman's knights legion.

While it is based on a game, Ragnorak doesn't go the way of .hack/SIGN. The characters act like they are real, rather than player avatars (with one exception where they refer to themselves as "level 1"). As I said before, this is a fantasy series, with some humor mixed in that generally revoves around Roan's failed attempts to woo Yuufa, Roan's mild cowardace, or the bumbling of the thugs. Anime based on video games as a rule generally don't turn out to be very good, but Ragnorak is off to a relatively solid start at least, so who knows. Edited by: Norpin at: 4/15/04 5:50 pm

[EZ_Decrescendo]

Of all the new anime recently Monster seems to have the most potential. It has excellent art with a dark, xfiles feel to it that makes me very optimistic. Its nice to see a good serious series come out from time to time. Im looking forward to watching this one.

Midori no hibi is just too strange a concept for me. It seems like a quality show, but its not up my alley.

One other show I liked that I havent seen mentioned here is Tenjou Tenge. Its about two punks who have a habit of closing schools by beating up the student body. The school theyre going to would be their 100th, except it has a long tradtion as a martial arts academy and is home to many elite fighters who are way out of their league. The cast of characters is interesting, and there's the usual shonen fights and fan service. Its a fun series, definately worth a watch.

Shura no Toki looks like a fun series as well. Sure, it's formulaic and predictable, but its a proven formula. The mild mannered martial arts master who hides his true strength while wandering around doing good is a sure hit.

This Ugly And Beautiful World is another show that will probably turn out pretty well. The first episode didnt explain very much, but I thought the concept was pretty interesting. Superpower monster fighting sci-fi crossed with harem/school anime. It all depends on how they handle the girl from space, but I like how its shaping up. They'll all think she's nice, when in reality she is the source of evil and villian of the series. I think it'll start out light hearted and get progressivley darker, but we'll see.


Of the two mech series, Kenran Butoh Sailooks much more substantial than Bakuretsu Tenshi. After seeing the second episode of mars I feel comfortable saying it has far superior characterization and a better plot. It's no gundam seed, but its a strong mech series, and also has pirates so +1. Bakuretsu Tenshi would be better with no mechs at all. For one, I didnt really like the cgi for the mech fights. Second, hot, slutty looking chicks with guns are always always better seen out shooting things than hiding inside a mech. Who the hell cares about the mech? Also I felt no sympathy for nor connnection with the cook. I dont care about him as a character, so my interest in the series is low.

They only new anime Ive seen that I dont plan on keeping up with is Koi Kaze. It's about an older guy who meets a 15 year old schoolgirl on a train. Theres a budding romance. Then at the end of the episode he finds out she's his half sister. Eww on all counts. Just disturbing.


The rest ive not seen yet, but I'll probably only try Kyou Kara Maou as the rest sound uninteresting and have generally horrible reviews. Still, that leaves me with half a dozen new shows a week and thats not too bad.

[notwen]

I hope Monster does well, if nothing else to further the career of it's creator, and hopefully get 20th Century Boys made into anime.

[Zeno]

dammit, it's times like this that you really miss your dorm's T3 (or whatever) connection.

[EZ_Norpin]

"One other show I liked that I havent seen mentioned here is Tenjou Tenge."

Tenjo Tenge is licensed by Geneon in North America, so fansubs are a little harder to find as fewer groups will do licensed anime. I didn't even realize it was licenced so when I didn't see it on AnimeSuki, I just assumed nobody had started subbing it yet.

"Shura no Toki looks like a fun series as well. Sure, it's formulaic and predictable, but its a proven formula. The mild mannered martial arts master who hides his true strength while wandering around doing good is a sure hit."

The problem though is that so far the main character is dull as dishwater. I would agree that the series could be good, but so far there is nothing to indicate that it will be. Edited by: Norpin at: 4/12/04 5:58 am

[EZ_Norpin]

Submarine Super 99 (3 / 5)
A mysterious military organization calling themselves the Oceanic Empire has launched a large number of attacks on various ocean going craft, claiming that they are now the masters of the seas and nobody may enter without their consent. The Empire appears to have a spy in their midst however, as the Japanese government is tipped off to investigate an area in the waters around Japan for the source of the attacks. A young boy named Susumu watches as his family's research organization, lead by his brother and grandfather, leads the search operation. Before they leave on the research craft, they each entrust a special item to Susumu, a rifle which is a family heirloom and a key to the research center's underground factory.

The show features a retro style of animation reminicent of the original Gundam series. If you're familiar with the Captain Herlock saga, this is the exact same style. In fact it looks like they took characters straight out of Herlock and put them into Super 99. The first episode is very fast paced, leaving little room for character devolopment as the events speed along. It's obvious they want to introduce the submarine in as few episodes as possible. The main purpose of the episode is to establish the threat and to pave the way for the 'super 99' to be introduced in the next episode. There is also a measure of tragedy and dumb luck thrown in for good measure. They are also really heavy into foreshadowing, so there aren't any surprises. Takes some of the fun out of it.

[notwen]

Quote: In fact it looks like they took characters straight out of Herlock and put them into Super 99.

Well yeah, that often happens when shows are by the same creator. In this case, Leiji Matsumoto.

[Nocte]

Quote:Your search - soandso anime - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:
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Also, you can try Google Answers for expert help with your search.

[EZ_Norpin]

I've finally gotten to Monster, and I have to agree, this is a must-see. Everything about it has been fantastic, and from the sound of things it will continue to fantastic.

Kyou Kara Maou was interesting. I'd agree that it's a three out of five, but on the good side of 3. I like the premise, and think the show has a lot of potential, especially if they develope the characters well.

Tenjou Tenge is very fun. The theme is very simple and basic, but the characters are entertaining enough that you don't even notice. Four, if not five out of five. Out of all the new shows with pointless fighting and fanservice, this is the best of the lot. You can ignore the others frankly.

[Stalk]

I totally forgot I made this thread

Guess Norpin finished the job, though.

I watched the second episodes of Midori no Hibi and Aishiteruze Baby, I'm still in love with both of them. Especially Aishiteruze Baby. It's very cute, and I can relate to the main character in a way (as I have a sister 8 years younger than me) that I took care of a lot.

So far it looks like Aishiteruze Baby, Midori no Hibi and Monster are the only new series I will be avidly keeping up with. The rest I will watch when I can. Unless things change, of course, it's only the first episodes for most of them.

[EZ_Norpin]

Sensei no Ojikan: Doki Doki School Hours (5 / 5)

This is a hyper-cute comedy themed much like Azumanga Daioh, only with animation more along the lines of Di Gi Charat. The story revolves around the short and child-like Mika-sensei and her class of students. Those of you who were turned off by the moderate amount of fanservice found in Azumanga will probably appreciate Ojikan's more minimalistic style, and the more diverse cast of characters (male and female students). Like Azumanga, Ojikan seems to favor episodic skits, rather than a continuous story thoughout the series, or even the episode. I'm courious to see how this will work out for Ojikan as the series progresses. All and all, lots of laughs and lots of fun. Edited by: Norpin at: 4/15/04 4:47 pm

[notwen]

Finally got a chance to once-over a bunch of the new shows, looks like my keep list mirrors Stalkyr's exactly: Aishiteru ze Baby (just adorable), Monster (I don't know much about this, and wasn't OVERLY impressed with the first episode, but I like Naoki Urasawa (20th Century Boys is aces) so I'll stick with it a while and see), and Midori no Hibi (requires no comment, just plain bizarre and funny).

EDIT: One note though, haven't had a chance to watch Kenran Butohsai yet... I like BONES usually, just haven't had a chance to try it. Edited by: notwen at: 4/15/04 4:47 pm

[EZ_Norpin]

Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (4 / 5)

This is the first episode of a 3 episode OVA, so I don't want to give too much away. It could be another month before episode 2 comes out.

Eiri is a young art student who works part time at an antique shop. His friends have noticed some changes in Eiri's behavior recently, and most of them think it's because he's met a girl... and they are right. What they don't realize is that Eiri has become entranced by the vision of a girl that appears to him when he looks at an French antique glass his uncle recently shipped to the shop from Europe. What began as visions of lovelyness turn dark however, as the spirit dwelling in the glass reaches out to Eiri for help.

[EZ_Norpin]

Pugyuru

Pugyuru looks to be a series of low budget shorts (~3 minutes each) which revolve around simple slapstick comedy. This is a show targeted at young children, so I didn't think it would be fair to rank it like the others. Everyone here can ignore it, frankly.

Mahou Shoujotai (3 / 5)

Another short one (9 minute eps). This one is about Alice, a schoolgirl who always wished the world was full of magic so she could use it to make people happy. So one day, she woke up in a world of magic, including witches, who mistake her for one of their own.

It's cute and pretty well animated, but also a little strange (in an Alice in Wonderland sort of way which is by no means a coicidence). I'm not sure where they're going with this story, but it might be insteresting.

Panda-Z

Another kids' show (~4 minute eps), this one about a panda that fights giant robots in his own giant panda robot. It's a cute little parody of the mecha anime genre, but not much else.

Get Ride: AM Driver (2 / 5)

AM Driver is the newest in a long line of Sentai shows. Sentai refers to shows like Power Rangers, where the show revolves around a cast of superheros in multicolor outfits (the AM Drivers) fighting a powerful force bent on invading Japan/Earth for no particular reason (the bug-chines). The characters spend most of their time looking pretty, striking poses, and spouting catch phrases. Oh, and transformation sequences, can't forget about those. The show lacks substance, or any other redeeming quality for that matter. Skip this one unless you're under 12.

GANTZ (? / 5)

This is a tough one. Unlike the rest, I've managed to go through the first episode and I still have no clue what this is about. Based on the preview for episode two, I'm going to guess that the story is about a weird black sphere that appears in an empty Tokyo appartment, and begins collecting people at their moment of death. It seems to be collecting them to use to fight a bunch of monsters. The general theme also seems to be that people are in general all spineless cowards and self-centered pricks. I really need to see more to score it. Edited by: Norpin at: 4/23/04 9:14 am

[EZ_Decrescendo]

I just watched gantz last night, and like you I have no idea what it's about. Im pretty sure I liked it though. It's very unique. The only complaint I have so far is I sometimes got confused as to whether people were talking or thinking things. It's sci-fi ish, dramatic, definately not funny. I hope it turns out good.