Yeah, here we go again. It looks like I'll be following fewer series this time around, I will be, however, watching a boatload of series that are in my backlog.
Note: Yes, I'm having fun with a few of the series' titles.
Sora no Woto / Sora no Oto / Sound of the Sky
The story starts off with Private Second Class Hirasawa Yui Kanata Sorami who is newly recruited into the military has been assigned to a unit in the town of Seize, the city of glass and lakes, hoping that joining the school's light music band club military will help her learn music as a trumpeter. When she arrives in town, the soldier (we'll soon find out his name is Klaus later in the series) who transports her informs that the city has a festival going on, and two hours before she's scheduled to arrive, she decides to just wander around and take in the sights. Along the way, she gets caught up in the festivities and her uniform ends up being completely soaked and she unknowingly is found by one of the soldiers in her unit, Sergeant Major Akiyama Mio Rio Kazumiya who gets her straightened out and tells Kanata the back story behind the festival involving flame maidens who battled a demon and the fires that kept on burning for a year thereafter. Rio loses a necklace, thanks to a passing owl (excellent timing, I must say), and doesn't mind losing it and goes to perform her role in the festival. Kanata, meanwhile, decides to search for Rio's lost necklace and ends up being lost and ends up in a lake and sees a massive skeletal remains of some sort of flying creature. Eventually she is found and wakes up in a fortress, the location where the 1121st Platoon is currently stationed. SGM Rio will teach PVT Kanata to be a trumpeter and she instructs Kanata to do the morning call with her horn. Hilariously, it turns out that she has a long way to go.
In the first episode we are introduced to all five members of the cast, the remaining three are very brief introductions. You have the platoon's Captain Second Lieutenant Kotobuki Tsumugi Felicia Heideman, the platoon's gunner Sergeant (?) Private Second Class Nakano Azusa Kureha Suminoya and the platoon's mechanic/engineer Corporal Nagato Yuki Noel Kannagi. K-ON! (and other series by KyoAni) jokes aside and into more serious talk, I'm giving this series a fair chance since the direction can either go, well, one route where hardly anything happens or (hopefully) some other direction - depending on whether it will focus on music, the military, the legend that's mentioned, etc. I should note that the ranks, so far, that are mentioned in this episode are similar to those to JGSDF (Japan Ground Self Defense Forces) military ranking. It also appears that written documents are written in French, and there was one song that was playing in the background also in French during the legend storytelling.
Military rank strikes are corrections as seen from the 2nd episode.
A-1 Pictures did a fantastic job with the scenery, much akin to what I remember with a previous work they did in Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens. I'm a bit saddened that there's no visible rank insignia on the uniform that can help distinguish one's standing, but that's just my opinion on this small detail that bugs me. The director, Kanbe Mamoru has done some interesting works, such as Elfen Lied, Cardcaptor Sakura, a few episodes in Baccano!, the Letter Bee OVA, assisted in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to name a few. Hopefully his direction will keep the show interesting. The peaceful OP song, Hikari no Senritsu (Melody of Light), is sung by the group Kalafina, who has a tie-in with Kara no Kyoukai and Kuroshitsuji. The cheery, upbeat ED song, Girls, Be Ambitious., is sung by Tomatsu Haruka who ... doesn't seem to be involved in this series voicing a character.
Despite the similarities in the character designs this series has with another series, I'm still looking forward to next week to see how it draws out. Next week's episode seems to be some sort of urban-combat training exercise for the new member to the unit.
The Idiot, The Tests, and the Summoned Creatures
I'm not going to bother with a full-blown summary, but here's a quick summary: when you thought your high school classroom was breaking down and dilapidated didn't you wish there was something you could do about it? Well in Fumizuki Academy, there is the Summoning War system where you can challenge other classes in a digitized form of yourself and battle it out.
After taking a placement test, Akihisa Yoshii has to "Work very hard" as it says in that red circle indicating he's F-Class material. I love the teacher's responses to Yoshii's explanation of things he notices in the classroom - they should probably invest in duct tape as well - it fixes everything, even wounds! Moving on, there's a trap within the class going by the name of Hideyoshi Kinoshita. Proof? He uses "washi" which is a male term referring to themselves which is usually used by older males; by the way he has a twin sister minus the extra hairclip. Plus, males have blue ties on and females with red.
SILVER LINK appears to be taking a hint from SHAFT Animations about changing what's on the blackboard every scene change. I laughed a few times in this episode, so I'll most likely hang on to this series for another week.
DRRRRRRRRRRR!!
I love watching that OP sequence and how it transitions from character to character. Heh, bumping in to Holo/Horo from Spice and Wolf - which Brains Base did animate the second season which ended last fall. Anyways, holy flying vending machines this series is getting a good vibe from me so far, I'm definitely going to stick to it.
Clingy Sly Wogolfd
Confession right off the bat. I felt that everyone was like a wolf preying on Hiroshi, since he doesn't stand out too much other than that he's a transfer student. Isuzu is extremely clingy to Hiroshi, as seen in this episode, claiming that Hiroshi is of her possession/her territory. Hiroshi's like a sheep. Yeah, baa baa. Every girl and guy is probably after him for some reason, probably think he'll do nicely with their roasted potatoes or something. Anyways, it has a kinda School Days (or, dare I say it, Higurashi) feeling to it where everything and everyone is nice then the mood takes a turn for the worse.
Character design-wise, it comes from the PEACH PIT duo who did the fantastic designs for Rozen Maiden. The OP is about love, sung by Fiction Junction, and it does fit the TV series a bit, but I still prefer the OP song that was in the game sung by Hemi-you. Yes, that's right, Ookamikakushi is based off of a PSP game and as far as I can tell it's a finished product, so maybe there won't be any surprises at the ending like there was for a previous work...
This series has also caught my attention, so I'll most likely be watching it almost faithfully each week. Hassaku~ Hassaku~
P.S. Upon hearing "Hakase", I can't stop but think about professors, doctors, or folks dealing with research or "experts".
Sun Shine Sketch x Star Star Star
Two new freshmen moved in in the Hidamari Apartment with X, paw, glasses and hairbun - the iconic symbols representing Yuno, Miyako, Sae, and Hiro respectively. This is perhaps one of my few favorite slice-of-life comedy shows that I'm glad to see it come back for another season.
Flower Circle Kindergarten
Like almost everyone else who watches this, we're curious about what this show is all about. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully what I watched was perhaps 24 minutes of the most adorable cuteness overload animation I've ever seen. The genre of the show is light-hearted slice of life comedy, rather than the direction Kodomo no Jikan went which was perversion full speed ahead — which is GOOD THING. In fact, this reminds me of Potemayo because of the similarities of the design elements. Overall, the episode was pretty funny but it felt a little awkward near the ending.
No Dame! Final le~!
After much delay, I get to watch Nodame Cantabile. Ah, yes, the premiere was as light-hearted and comedy filled as I expected it to be. As expected of a series on the noitaminA timeslot, it looks like Nodame is really going to aim to get in on Chiaki's orchestra for a piano concerto. Here's for more gyabon and mukyaaaa!
Katana Story
Heh, both the two characters seem a bit slow. Shichika for not being able to think well and Togame for responding first then realizing that Shichika responded to her questions the other way around than she expected. Plus, I never knew that a katana could come out of a human like that before, amazing the guy's still alive. Yup, this one airs every month at the beginning for the remainder of this year, except for the month of January where it aired a couple of days before the next episode. I'm liking how this is folding out, it's...what's that word? Kinda unique, I guess that's the word I'd use. The original creator, Nishio Ishin (or NisiOisin) also did such works like the Monogatari novel series which includes Bakemonogatari, which was adapted into an anime and was surprisingly good and the high school romance comedy manga Medaka Box to name a few.
In the second episode, there's a guy who speaks backwards which makes it difficult to follow what he's saying. Be prepared to watch it over a few times. But, man, was there a lot of dialogue said in the middle of a desert. And what a second episode that was, this pretty much confirms that I'll be following it till the end.
Note: Yes, I'm having fun with a few of the series' titles.
Sora no Woto / Sora no Oto / Sound of the Sky
The story starts off with Private Second Class Hirasawa Yui Kanata Sorami who is newly recruited into the military has been assigned to a unit in the town of Seize, the city of glass and lakes, hoping that joining the school's light music band club military will help her learn music as a trumpeter. When she arrives in town, the soldier (we'll soon find out his name is Klaus later in the series) who transports her informs that the city has a festival going on, and two hours before she's scheduled to arrive, she decides to just wander around and take in the sights. Along the way, she gets caught up in the festivities and her uniform ends up being completely soaked and she unknowingly is found by one of the soldiers in her unit, Sergeant Major Akiyama Mio Rio Kazumiya who gets her straightened out and tells Kanata the back story behind the festival involving flame maidens who battled a demon and the fires that kept on burning for a year thereafter. Rio loses a necklace, thanks to a passing owl (excellent timing, I must say), and doesn't mind losing it and goes to perform her role in the festival. Kanata, meanwhile, decides to search for Rio's lost necklace and ends up being lost and ends up in a lake and sees a massive skeletal remains of some sort of flying creature. Eventually she is found and wakes up in a fortress, the location where the 1121st Platoon is currently stationed. SGM Rio will teach PVT Kanata to be a trumpeter and she instructs Kanata to do the morning call with her horn. Hilariously, it turns out that she has a long way to go.
In the first episode we are introduced to all five members of the cast, the remaining three are very brief introductions. You have the platoon's Captain Second Lieutenant Kotobuki Tsumugi Felicia Heideman, the platoon's gunner Sergeant (?) Private Second Class Nakano Azusa Kureha Suminoya and the platoon's mechanic/engineer Corporal Nagato Yuki Noel Kannagi. K-ON! (and other series by KyoAni) jokes aside and into more serious talk, I'm giving this series a fair chance since the direction can either go, well, one route where hardly anything happens or (hopefully) some other direction - depending on whether it will focus on music, the military, the legend that's mentioned, etc. I should note that the ranks, so far, that are mentioned in this episode are similar to those to JGSDF (Japan Ground Self Defense Forces) military ranking. It also appears that written documents are written in French, and there was one song that was playing in the background also in French during the legend storytelling.
Military rank strikes are corrections as seen from the 2nd episode.
A-1 Pictures did a fantastic job with the scenery, much akin to what I remember with a previous work they did in Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens. I'm a bit saddened that there's no visible rank insignia on the uniform that can help distinguish one's standing, but that's just my opinion on this small detail that bugs me. The director, Kanbe Mamoru has done some interesting works, such as Elfen Lied, Cardcaptor Sakura, a few episodes in Baccano!, the Letter Bee OVA, assisted in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to name a few. Hopefully his direction will keep the show interesting. The peaceful OP song, Hikari no Senritsu (Melody of Light), is sung by the group Kalafina, who has a tie-in with Kara no Kyoukai and Kuroshitsuji. The cheery, upbeat ED song, Girls, Be Ambitious., is sung by Tomatsu Haruka who ... doesn't seem to be involved in this series voicing a character.
Despite the similarities in the character designs this series has with another series, I'm still looking forward to next week to see how it draws out. Next week's episode seems to be some sort of urban-combat training exercise for the new member to the unit.
The Idiot, The Tests, and the Summoned Creatures
I'm not going to bother with a full-blown summary, but here's a quick summary: when you thought your high school classroom was breaking down and dilapidated didn't you wish there was something you could do about it? Well in Fumizuki Academy, there is the Summoning War system where you can challenge other classes in a digitized form of yourself and battle it out.
After taking a placement test, Akihisa Yoshii has to "Work very hard" as it says in that red circle indicating he's F-Class material. I love the teacher's responses to Yoshii's explanation of things he notices in the classroom - they should probably invest in duct tape as well - it fixes everything, even wounds! Moving on, there's a trap within the class going by the name of Hideyoshi Kinoshita. Proof? He uses "washi" which is a male term referring to themselves which is usually used by older males; by the way he has a twin sister minus the extra hairclip. Plus, males have blue ties on and females with red.
SILVER LINK appears to be taking a hint from SHAFT Animations about changing what's on the blackboard every scene change. I laughed a few times in this episode, so I'll most likely hang on to this series for another week.
DRRRRRRRRRRR!!
I love watching that OP sequence and how it transitions from character to character. Heh, bumping in to Holo/Horo from Spice and Wolf - which Brains Base did animate the second season which ended last fall. Anyways, holy flying vending machines this series is getting a good vibe from me so far, I'm definitely going to stick to it.
Clingy Sly Wogolfd
Confession right off the bat. I felt that everyone was like a wolf preying on Hiroshi, since he doesn't stand out too much other than that he's a transfer student. Isuzu is extremely clingy to Hiroshi, as seen in this episode, claiming that Hiroshi is of her possession/her territory. Hiroshi's like a sheep. Yeah, baa baa. Every girl and guy is probably after him for some reason, probably think he'll do nicely with their roasted potatoes or something. Anyways, it has a kinda School Days (or, dare I say it, Higurashi) feeling to it where everything and everyone is nice then the mood takes a turn for the worse.
Character design-wise, it comes from the PEACH PIT duo who did the fantastic designs for Rozen Maiden. The OP is about love, sung by Fiction Junction, and it does fit the TV series a bit, but I still prefer the OP song that was in the game sung by Hemi-you. Yes, that's right, Ookamikakushi is based off of a PSP game and as far as I can tell it's a finished product, so maybe there won't be any surprises at the ending like there was for a previous work...
This series has also caught my attention, so I'll most likely be watching it almost faithfully each week. Hassaku~ Hassaku~
P.S. Upon hearing "Hakase", I can't stop but think about professors, doctors, or folks dealing with research or "experts".
Sun Shine Sketch x Star Star Star
Two new freshmen moved in in the Hidamari Apartment with X, paw, glasses and hairbun - the iconic symbols representing Yuno, Miyako, Sae, and Hiro respectively. This is perhaps one of my few favorite slice-of-life comedy shows that I'm glad to see it come back for another season.
Flower Circle Kindergarten
Like almost everyone else who watches this, we're curious about what this show is all about. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully what I watched was perhaps 24 minutes of the most adorable cuteness overload animation I've ever seen. The genre of the show is light-hearted slice of life comedy, rather than the direction Kodomo no Jikan went which was perversion full speed ahead — which is GOOD THING. In fact, this reminds me of Potemayo because of the similarities of the design elements. Overall, the episode was pretty funny but it felt a little awkward near the ending.
No Dame! Final le~!
After much delay, I get to watch Nodame Cantabile. Ah, yes, the premiere was as light-hearted and comedy filled as I expected it to be. As expected of a series on the noitaminA timeslot, it looks like Nodame is really going to aim to get in on Chiaki's orchestra for a piano concerto. Here's for more gyabon and mukyaaaa!
Katana Story
Heh, both the two characters seem a bit slow. Shichika for not being able to think well and Togame for responding first then realizing that Shichika responded to her questions the other way around than she expected. Plus, I never knew that a katana could come out of a human like that before, amazing the guy's still alive. Yup, this one airs every month at the beginning for the remainder of this year, except for the month of January where it aired a couple of days before the next episode. I'm liking how this is folding out, it's...what's that word? Kinda unique, I guess that's the word I'd use. The original creator, Nishio Ishin (or NisiOisin) also did such works like the Monogatari novel series which includes Bakemonogatari, which was adapted into an anime and was surprisingly good and the high school romance comedy manga Medaka Box to name a few.
In the second episode, there's a guy who speaks backwards which makes it difficult to follow what he's saying. Be prepared to watch it over a few times. But, man, was there a lot of dialogue said in the middle of a desert. And what a second episode that was, this pretty much confirms that I'll be following it till the end.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"
