Since I obviously haven't been watching enough anime for the last month and a half this week I started four more series. The first of these new series I watched is Black Blood Brothers. It's a fun little 12 episode series about vampires. It is lighter in tone then Hellsing (or Trinity Blood for that matter). It tells a decent story, and balances a satisfactory ending with leaving itself logical avenues for another season or a sequel. I don't really have anything bad to say about it, there just wasn't anything particularly special about it either.
The second new series I started watching is Busō Renkin. This series is still on going of the planned 26 episodes ten have aired in Japan of which I've watched fansubs of the first 9. This series reminds me a lot of Bleach as it balances a fairly dark story with slapstick comedy. The setup is also similar to Bleach with a high school boy being thrust into a secret world of monster fighting after encountering a mysterious girl. All and all pretty fun and interesting enough that I'll keep watching.
The next two series I thought were real gems. I’ll start with Ouran High School Host Club. I found this show to be witty, funny, well animated, and just plain entertaining. I know I called it pure shōjo bliss in one e-mail I sent to a friend regarding it. I devoured all 26 episodes of this show in two sittings and quite possibly all within a 24 hour span.
Fujioka Haruhi (pictured above), the main heroine of the story, is a lower-middle class first-year student who is able to attend Ouran Private Academy through an academic scholarship. The school is home to the children of some of Japan’s post prestigious and wealthy families, and is so expensive the Haruhi cannot even afford to buy a school uniform. While not actively trying to pass as a boy, Haruhi does dress in a fairly androgynous manner and doesn’t feel any need to correct peoples assumptions when she is taken for a boy. Shortly after her arrival at Ouran she accidentally break a vase belonging to the Host Club worth 8 million yen. The Host Club, who like (presumably) everybody else in school still thinks she is a boy, puts her to work as a gofer to pay off the debt. However upon seeing her without her glasses on they realize she is quite good looking, so Suō Tamaki (sometimes spelled Suou or Suoh), the Host Club president, promotes her to rookie host and the club provides her with contacts and a school uniform (of course since they think she is a boy it is a male uniform). Throughout the first episode each member of the Host Club comes to realize Haruhi is actually a girl, but since Haruhi doesn’t mind being taken for a boy, and because it’s easier to work off her debt as a host they agree to keep her secret (not that Haruhi ever really actively tries to disguise her gender).
The final new series I started and finished this week is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This 14 episode series is difficult to explain without giving away the plot. It covers a pretty wide range of genres: comedy, supernatural, science fiction, psychological, philosophical, and why not through in postmodern for good measure. More impressively it does justice to each genre is touches upon. One interesting thing about the anime is it isn’t shown in chronologic order, only rarely does the action of an episode directly follow the preceding episode (the events of episode three directly follow episode two, and the events of episode fourteen directly follow episode thirteen). I really cannot say enough good things about this anime it is beautifully animated, the plot is well crafted and intricate, the main characters are all interesting, it is thought provoking, and it invites and rewards repeat viewing. I will say the first episode may seem a little odd especially since if shown chronologically it would likely have been episode 11, but stick with this series and you will be very quickly rewarded.
Just so you don't think I'm ignoring all those other anime I'm happy to report I'm up to episode 136 of Prince of Tennis.
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