Mar 25 2009
Trailer Roundup - Valkyria Chronicles, Saki, more
Five new trailers are up today for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Three of the trailers are for series premiring in the next month and two are for series premiring this summer so let’s get started…
Getting its debut next month, the promotional video for ‘Valkyria Chronicles’ has begun streaming on the official website. Based on the hit Sega game, the story takes place in an alternative version of 1930’s Europe where two powers are fighting over a special material called Ragnite. In the tiny country of Gallia, they have plenty but the people there (specifically the main characters Alicia and Welkin) do not wish to be involved. The trailer is a little over two and a half minutes and shows some great early character and story animation. I’m going on record with this now; this series is going to be an unsurprising hit.
Next up is a promo for the upcoming slice of life series based in a restaurant in Rome, Ristorante Paradiso (click ‘speciale’ in the lower right hand corner, the new PV is marked 80PV). The new trailer starts the same way as the old one but spends a bit more time on the older male characters that will make up the eccentric older kitchen staff. IF (and I really emphasize that word) this series can find its audience, it may very well be a charming series.
The final spring premiere trailer for today is for the mahjong based series, Saki (The one on the right is the new trailer). The trailer really emphasizes cute characters and character comedy but still… its mahjong, unless they plan on spending a bunch of time explaining the game or you already have a base knowledge in the game, I foresee this to be a very pretty to look at crash and burn series.
Announced earlier this year, the first trailer for ‘Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~’ has been launched on the official website. The series is based off a very popular pachinko game (the most popular of all time according to the staff behind it) and follows two sisters who live in the sea. After returning a ring to its proper owner on the land, a forgotten prophecy is set into motion and the world is threatened with danger. Already the series has some big names attached to it such as Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Aria, Kaleido Star) sitting in the director’s chair, Kana Asumi, Miniako Kotobuki and Yui Horie playing the lead roles and ZEXCS producing the animation.
The trailer itself is three minutes long (though the last thirty seconds are just names attached to the project) and shows quite a bit of early animation setting up the story plus transformation sequences. The website has a slightly better version available but it is much smaller. From what I am seeing though, this is already looking like a series that bishoujo fans will not want to miss when it premieres this summer.
Finally is another series that is getting its premiere this summer; Sora no Manimani. An astronomy based romantic comedy (yes, they do exist and I was just as surprised by this as you) based on the manga of the same name. The trailer is two minutes long and introduces the characters and a base story but that’s about it. The music is pretty at least.
