CODE GEASS – 24 + 25 Special PREVIEW!

So it’s finally here after months of waiting! The double episode finale of Code Geass season 1 (unless they can manage to explain everything in the last 2 episodes, including the origin of C.C. and the other double-letter character that appeared to want to “help” Suzaku… I’m hoping for a season 2)

They’re to be release in Japan today (28/7/07) and 30/7/07! So hopefully subs will be out sometime in the next week or so! The video gives some insights to the battle and what not, but obviously no conclusion. As I watched Code Geass up to episode 23 about a month or 2 ago, I can’t quire remember the details and names of the minor characters.

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid

After having FMP: The 2nd raid on my HD for months and months. I finally started it during my Winter break, and trudged through the first 7 or so episodes before it finally got interesting! Well I have to say TSR wasn’t as good as the first season (which also had equal seriousness) and of course Fumoffu! Kicked ass being the comedy fan I am The beginning of TSR was slow going and lacked direction, we were shown battles and figths without knowing what’s going on. There wasn’t much Chidori-Sousuke development, their romance was lingering in teh air but not quite there (even towards the end it was still up in the air)

Byousoku 5 Centimeter

Another brilliant piece of animation from Makoto Shinkai. I loved his previous work Beyond the Clouds and Voices of the Distant Star and was instantly drawn to his detailed artwork in his almost sequel like Byousoku 5 Centimeter, which is actually a serious of 3 short stories revolving around Tono Takaki, going into the past, present and future. For further details, it can be found on ANN.

Oh the comedy!

I’m glad my friend convinced me to watch Lovely Complex! It’s the most hilarious piece of work since Ouran. Lovely Complex is pure comedy bliss. I never laughed so hard through episode and episodes of anime :p Admittedly Densha Otoko JD made me do that, but that’s JD.

The Osaka-ben is really growing onto me and the XD and expressiveness of the characters crack me up. I’m up to episode 7 at the moment. It seems like the producers fast tracked through Ootani and Koizumi’s 1st year of High school pretty quickly and soon enough they’re in their 2nd year and continuing their comedic All Hanshin-Kyojin comedic act without purposely doing so.

Although LoveCom looks like your typical Shoujo slice of life anime, the main characters make the show so very entertaining. Its one of those shows that You can just sit down and not think about anything and just laugh. heh that’s what I love about anime so much, it has a storyline that’s progressive and interesting yet you don’t have to take it seriously. As I haven’t read the manga I’m not sure if the anime is following the manga entirely, but presumably. For every episode, there’s always a major event or situation that’s typical in the typical Japanese high schooler’s life (eg. spending Christmas with a lovely one, school festival and the haunted house, romantic triangles, Hanabi, School trips, beach trip). Despite the formula style show in terms of sequence of events essentially leading to the Ootani and Risa’s realization of feelings, its the journey that makes the story so interesting and entertaining.

I could not believe how DENSE Ootani was when Risa confessed her true feeling and his obliviousness continued in the subsequent episode. I’m at the point where we’re waiting on how Ootani will do now that he knows The person Risa has fallen for is him.

I think I’m a sucker for Shoujo slice of life animes. As a girl, I can totally relate to Risa’s frustration at the idiot of a guy she likes :p and also related to her general girl issues, eg. finding herself in this world, does it really matter if she’s tall and fall for someone that’s shorter than her, life isn’t perfect after all.

If the anime isn’t conclusive or if there is no second season, I might actually pick up the manga. Despite the low key animation (many stills) the character design is unique and cute. I love it how the characters are always given different and trendy outfits. It just adds to the feel of the slice-of-life show. After all, people in real life don’t have a closet full of exactly the same clothing (eg. in naruto)

Osaka-Ben?!

It’s funny how often a friend’s recommendation tends to be my liking, I guess we have similar anime taste of some sort. The latest he introduced me to is Lovely Complex. A Slice-of-life anime set presumably in Osaka, Japan. It’s the first I’ve seen that uses full Osaka-ben (dialect). I didn’t really expect to like the anime immediately since when I read the plot, it seemed your average boy and girl hates each other, then ultimately falling for each other.

Deathnote Movies I & II

Life outside anime/manga has been keeping me busy recently, what with my 19th just yesterday. So I finally got around watching both Deathnote movie I and Deathnote: The last name. My overall impression, they were fairly good adaptations of the Manga (a pretty decent job for cramming a very complex story spanning 12 volumes of manga into two 2hr movies) even though the producers obviously changed much of the plot to make the story flow better, without compromising the overall message and story line too much.