More New Anime

Wow... there are a lot of promising shows this season. Here are some more that I investigated this weekend.

Ghost Hunt
This show is based on a series of novels written by Ono Fuyumi, who also wrote Twelve Kingdoms. However, the tone is really completely different; it takes place in a high school and is somewhat more light hearted. Taniyama Mai is a ordinary student who gets roped in to be the assistant of Shibuya Kazuya, a "ghost hunter" hired by the school to investigate paranormal activity regarding some construction. But Kazuya, with his tech-heavy psychic researcher style, is not the only one called in on the job. A miko, an Australian Catholic exorcist, and a Japanese medium are on the scene as well. With their various and sometimes conflicting styles, they proceed to try to solve a ghostly mystery that seems to increasingly become more dangerous. The character designs are pretty, but also pretty standard; nothing really innovative. From the first episode, the show seems to draw its strength from the character interaction between Mai and Kazuya, as well as between the different groups of paranormal investigators who are cooperative but have very different methodologies. If they do it well, this show might be interesting and worth watching. If not, it could be boring like Gakkou no Kaidan. More episodes are in order.

Sokou no Strain
The comment in this show's ANN entry said "A science fictional adaptation loosely based on the novel A Little Princess." I've never read A Little Princess, but I would be surprised if it had as much death as in this show. The setting is basically that humans have spread out across space using near-light speed propulsion (subject to relativistic effects). These space faring humans are divided into two factions, Union and Deague. Sara Werec, the main character, is on the Union side and is training to be a mecha pilot to go fight on the front lines, 130 light years away. She is motivated to do so because years ago, her older brother, Ralph, left to do the same thing. Given long distances, becoming a pilot and joining him on the front is the only way she can ever see him again. The first episode is extremely action packed. She and her 3 teammates are on the cusp of graduating and heading to the front. They're filled with hope and potential. They play around, have a little romance, and are a fun bunch. Then, the Deague stage a mysterious sneak attack and without fanfare, Sara's comrades are all killed. Sara herself is shocked to discover that her own brother seems to have somehow led the sneak attack in a traitorous and seemingly physics-defying appearance. While this episode was quite engrossing, the series seems to be structured to have a really punchy first episode, followed by a reset and more standard story development in the remainder of the series. Not a bad plan for drawing viewers in, but that means I will need to watch more episodes to decide if this show is any good. I hope that this is actually a good mecha show with a female lead (which there seem to be very few of) rather than a dating sim in disguise. Oh, and some spoilers about A Little Princess might be helpful for me to understand what that ANN comment was getting at.

FLAG
This show's style definitely targets an older audience. It uses more "mature" character designs (smaller eyes, larger lips), less emotive voice acting, and more subdued pacing. The setting is close to modern day, a UN military operation in some middle-eastern country. The main character Shirasu Saeko, a photojournalist made famous during this war because of a picture she took titled "Flag" when the UN force liberated the capital city. Now, the UN has called her back as the official photographer for the deployment of a new type of weapon, a mecha, that will be used to bring about a final binding cease-fire. The pacing is very subdued, almost like a recap, with heavy narration by one of Saeko's friends, a video cameraman, who is not with her but gives commentary as if these events are in the past (which they may be). Surprisingly enough, this show makes 3 for 3 in new shows that I've watched that are worth continued investigation and were not completely wretched right off the bat. Something about this show reminds me of Speed Grapher, although it could just be the camera motif and nothing specifically meaningful.

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
Well, that was a complicated start. So, like the title implies, this show occurs during the last days of the shogunate prior to the Meiji Revolution. (This period seems to get disproportionate coverage considering how short it is relative to say, the whole Heian era). The main character seems to be a man of few words, having probably spoken under 10 words the whole episode (although I was cooking at the same time so I could've missed some lines). There's a some name dropping of folks like Sakamoto Ryoma and Katsu Kaishu, some sword fighting action, and some seemingly supernatural events; plus, some imperialistic westerners armed with pistols thrown in for good measure. The episode was actually pretty interesting, although it was so all-over-the-place that I couldn't get a sense of where the show is going. Another show that's going to need more investigation before its fate can be determined.

Hanoka
Weird. Not exactly a new series. Apparently this show was televised, but is entirely animated in Flash as size 5-minute shorts. While the animation does seem to push the limits of Flash, it really can't compare to the animation in any ordinary show. The color details are high-budget is, but the movement is distinctly off. The settings seems to be some kind of futuristic war where the side which the viewer is observing is losing but has one final secret weapon being rushed into service. It seems likely that this secret weapon is some girl equipped with weaponry a la SaiKano, but there's no way to be sure. Given how downright painful the graphics are to watch, I probably won't be proceeding any further, despite the very short amount of attention required.

Sweet Valerian
This is a morning short, like Mini Moni Yarunoda Pyon or Mini Moni The Documents. Kanoko, Pop, and Kate are magical girls who, when transformed, form the Relaxation Combat Team Valerian, a team of human-sized bipedal rabbits. Their enemies are the Stress Team, a bunch of short guys who fly around in a UFO with a big "su" on it and seek out stressed out individuals to transform into stress monsters. The Valerian post-transformation battle cry is "Come forth, Seratonin. Appear, Dopamine!" (Valerian is an herb that, like St. John's Wort, has antidepressant properties). Interestingly enough, CLAMP did the character concepts. I wonder if this morning 5-minute time slot is reserved for only the fluffiest of content, since this show is just about on par with Yarunoda Pyon when it comes to serious content. (On par being, totally devoid.) Still, for what it is and the short commitment, this show is pretty amusing.