Otaku Review

It seems that my observation of the ‘Natsu no Arashi’ trailer isn’t the only one out there that has been voiced. Sankaku Complex is reporting that a number of fans have expressed their displeasure with the poor animation quality seen within the trailer comparing it to last season’s Asread disasterous (though I didn’t see near as many issues with that series as I did here) third season of ‘Minami-ke’.

Normally this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, an upcoming anime gets a horrible looking trailer. Unfortunate but it happens. But then I remembered a report on ANN a couple of days ago that reported a purported pay per post rumor. The rumor basically stated that a certain number of bloggers were being offered 1,000 yen Amazon certificates to write about the series after its premiere. The posts were to link to the main site, be up before April 2^nd and include an invisible image tag in order to track the links. The rumor has yet to be confirmed in any official fashion but could it possible that Starchild and SHAFT already know that this is a terrible series and are trying to cover it up before the fact?

 A whole slew of new television commercials have been uploaded over the last day ready for your enjoyment…

In the first two, both Saki and Natsu no Arashi have new fifteen second commercials. Neither trailer shows anything particularly impressive besides some character animation. Both of them are still worth checking out if you’re interested though. The Gonzo animated mahjong series premieres on Japanese television starting 4/5 and on Crunchyroll shortly after that. The sci-fi comedy romance Natsu no Arashi will premieres on 4/5 as well.  Am I the only one who thinks that Natsu no Arashi has animation that makes it look like an older series? Something about it gives me flashbacks to anime produced in the 90’s or even early part of this century.

Lastly a new 90 second promotional video for the upcoming Asura Cryin has found its way online as well. The new PV features one of the themes (Spiral by Angela) and plenty of animation highlighting the story and characters. From what I can see there, my preview seems much more accurate now. What I believe you just saw were the beginnings of an action packed, fan service friendly harem-riffic new series. The Seven Arcs animated series gets its premiere April 2^nd.

Quite a few new trailers are also available for fans to check out today as well so let’s jump right in…

Sengoku Basara: The upcoming action series based off the game series has released a new 30 second commercial for fans. It features quite a bit of character art but a little bit of action animation but that’s about it. By the way, am I the only one who is already getting really tired of that ‘Let’s Party!’ tag line? Oh well, the series premieres on 4/5.

Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows: The trailer for the new Eureka Seven film (premiering 4/25) has found its way online. The new trailer is just over two minutes long and focuses almost exclusively on the story between Renton and Eureka.

Aoi Hana: A new PV has gone up for the upcoming series based off the yuri manga, Aoi Hana. After you click the link, hit play in the middle of the screen and you’ll get to see the short PV. It’s less than a minute long and only shows some manga style character artwork with some text but it is the first “real” look at the upcoming series from J.C. Staff. Aoi Hana premieres on Japanese television this July.

Bakemonogatari: A new PV has also been posted to the official website of Bakemonogatari (requires IE and Windows Media Player) which features rocking bass line background music but no actual animation footage. The SHAFT animated series is based off the light novels of the same name and also premieres on television in July.

Princess Lover:  Announced yesterday, the first trailer has already been posted for fans to enjoy (requires windows media player; the orange button on the left is the narrow band version and the orange button on the right is the broadband version). Lasting 48 seconds, the trailer features almost nothing but character and story animation giving fans a good first look at the new eroge based series. The series will be animated by GoHands but no release date has been set for the release as of yet. Unfortunately I couldn’t get either version to load properly when I visited the site and so I’ve embedded a YouTube upload. I apologize for the absolutely terrible sound and picture quality but this was the best one I could find. I’ll try to find a better version later today to replace it with.

At a Negima event held in Tokyo it was announced that a new Negima OVA series done by SHAFT will debut this summer. The four volume OVA will be bundled with four limited edition manga volumes. Additionally if the sales for this OVA prove successful, there are plans to go forward with a theatrical release that will adapt the Maho Sekai arc.

Well, the winter season is well underway which means that it’s time to take a look at this season’s winners and losers. Out of the twenty three premieres this season, thirteen series weren’t sequels and I was able to check out eight of them to varying degrees. Watching those eight series however, I remembered one important lesson… not all anime is created equal. So without further ado…

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Maria Holic - Ep 3
Studio: SHAFT
Air Date: 1/18/09
Genre: Yuri Comedy

The Story

In the third episode of ‘Maria Holic’, it’s going to be a very busy day for Kanako. It’s time for her to learn how to say her prayers properly but she doesn’t have a rosary. Maria, being as generous as he is, loans her a very valuable rosary just to see her stress about taking care of it but also gives her a brand new bag that seems to have something living inside of it. Not sure what it is but according to Maria: it’s slimy, can eat an elephant whole, can be considered cute once you got used to it and may not be from this world. Meanwhile, Haruka’s fans are still bullying Kanako for stealing her away from them.

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The official website of ‘Natsu no Arashi!’ has been updated with cast/crew information and a scheduled start of April 09. Originally created by Jin Kobayashi (School Rumble), the fantasy comedy follows a 13 year old hero who meets a mysterious 16 year old girl with strange powers being pursued. The series will be animated by SHAFT and feature Ryouko Shiraishi and Yuuko Sanpei as the female and male leads respectively.

Maria Holic – Episode 2
Studio: SHAFT
Air Date: 1/11/09
Genre: Comedy

A long string of character introductions make for a fast paced, hilarious second episode of ‘Maria Holic’.

The Story

In the second episode of ‘Maria Holic’, Kanako is dealing with her new situation: she’s a new student at a private school and is being forced to share her room with a boy who has everyone fooled into thinking he’s a girl. The new school year is starting though and Kanako is determined to make the best of it. Along the way she’ll meet her new homeroom teacher and a host of new classmates.

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The first episode of ‘Maria Holic’ has a story but get comfortable anyway, this is gonna take awhile.

The Story

In this first episode of ‘Maria Holic’, the audience will be introduced to a number of characters and situations. Within the first few moments of the series, the heroine of the series makes her appearance, a second year high school student named Kanako Miyamae. Entering the same private all girls high school where her parents met (and no, no one bothers to mention the creepy teacher student relationship), she wants to meet her own yuri lifetime companion.

Upon entering the grounds, Miyamae will meet a number of new people and be put into the worst of all situations. First she’ll meet a maid named Matsurika and the one she serves, the granddaughter of the ex-chairman Maria. After entering the dorms she’ll meet the cat eared dorm leader who doesn’t really have a name besides ‘god’ and her first roommate Ryouken.

In the final act of the episode though, the conflict of the series is waiting. Taking her up on her offer of getting a tour of the school, Miyamae will learn Maria’s big secret and be forced to accept a situation that she never could have foreseen before arriving.

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