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Anime spring season 2004 reviews

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 11:16 pm
by Pugsley
Hey Doc! start a thread like the fall season you did back then, except do it for this season. i dont know what to go look at.

Your last picks were great.

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 12:57 pm
by DocSilly
I will soon add info about the series that I've already seen in this post.
You can check out a small roundup of what will be airing this april right here while you wait for me to report on the shows. This anime spring season is going to rock.

reviews added april 11th:

Hi no Tori
Phoenix
HINOTORI (Fire Bird / Phoenix) was Tezuka Osamu's life work. The first of the manga series was drawn in 1954 - 9 years after his debut. He kept drawing this series until 1981. Actually, he was even writing up more drafts on his death bed between 1988-1989. This is the man who has drawn over 700 mangas and the man who started the very first TV anime series in Japan (Astro Boy, 1963). But among all of them, HINOTORI was very special. The stories span from the 3rd century, earth, to 35th century, and beyond. But there is one central theme. What is life? What is it to live? To be alive? This is Tezuka's way of asking this most fundamental question of life, and his answers.
A quick and dirty copy/paste from the homepage of the fansub group working on it. Three eps are out and I must say it's a really beautiful anime. OK, this one started at the end of march but I count it to the spring season.

Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai
This Ugly and Beautiful World
It is GAINAX and from the staff of Mahoromatic, this alone makes it worth it in my eyes. Takeru is a boy wondering just what meaning his life has to the world and he's not too good with the girls. One evening he's giving his schoolfriend a ride when a light comes down from the sky, circles around them and vanishes into a nearby forest. They decide to follow it and find a ball of light up in a shining tree, which turned out to be a naked girl. Takeru catches the girl when she fell out of the tree but suddenly a monster appears. The girl calls hersel Hikari and trembles in fear and Takeru promises to protect her. He somehow finds a new power in himself and manages to transform to fight the monster but he's unable to kill it. The monsters manages to escape and drops of a cliff and lands right next to Hikari ... see the rest of this interesting ep for yourself. I have a very good feeling about this one to be a great show.

Koikaze
Love's Zephyr
Kouichirou is a 27 year old man working at a matchmaking service. He lives with his father in an apartement and he has a 15 year old sister that he hasn't seen in many years, she lives with his divorced mother. His girlfriend tells him that she found another man and she's in love with him. On his way home he sees a girl that drops her rail pass, and Kouichirou runs after her to return it and he doesn't realize that it is his younger sister Nanako. The father tells him that evening that his lil sister is moving in since she can save an hour on her way to school. The next day Kouichirou is visited by his ex-girlfriend and confronted with the fact that he never truly seems to love anyone, he is given a pair of tickets to the amusment park next door, and outside he sees Nanako again! She is waiting for someone and somehow she and Kouichirou endup visiting the amusement park together. In the ferris wheel they talk about their deepest feeling and when they leave the park his dad shows up. They're quite surprised when they hear each other call the old man "dad" ;)
In general is seems to be a brother and sister falling in love with each other ...

Tenjho Tenge
Above and Below the Heavens
You get interesting characters, nice fightscenes, great OP and ... boobies :D
Lots of action and some funny scenes, just watch it, it's worth it. Ikkitousen is somewhat comparable but Tenjho Tenge is older and might've inspired Ikkitousen.

Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak
The Dazzling Dance Festival: The Mars Daybreak
This is a mecha anime, it plays on Mars, which has been terraformed with oceans and most of the fights are underwater. The places on Mars seem rather rundown and there're several problems with thieves and pirates. Gram is a young man who just lost his job (again) due to the poor economy. Suddenly a pirate submarine attacks the swimming colonie and he gets sucked out into the ocean when the sub rams the city walls. He is almost drowning when his necklace starts to send some signals and an underwater mecha appears to rescue him. The police attacks him because they think he's one of the pirates but he is lucky and the pirates rescue him. He then starts to work for them since they don't seem to be really bad people.
Mecha fans should give this one a testride.

Kyoukara Maoh!
This show is a fantasy show complete with bishounen, and lots of whacky stuff. Think Fushigi Yuugi on crack :)
I have to agree with this statement from the fansub group. Shibuya is a highschooler with black hair and black eyes. One day on his way home he sees some older boys bullying one boy he knows from his school. The boy sees him and the older ones turn to him, which gives that boy a chance to run. The older ones turn their attention to him and bring him into a public restroom to make him pay for the interuption (they go for the ladies room). It turns out that he's a prince in that other world but it doesn't seem to run as smoothly as one would expect from your usual fantasy anime ;)
It's quite funny and looks to be pretty entertaining.

Aishiteruze Baby
Kippei is pretty much the gigolo at his school, dating many girls. One day he comes home and finds a little girl in the hallway. His mother calls him into the kitchen where a family meeting is taking place. They say that his Aunt Miyako disappeared and had left her 5 year old daughter Yuzuyu behind, the little girl that he just met in the hallway. He now has to take care of Yuzu, like bringing her to preschool and picking her up .... quite a surprise for our gigolo and it'll certainly interupt his carefree lifestyle. How will he manage this new job?

Midori no Hibi
Midori's Days
Sawamura Seiji is a chivalrous bad high school student. He is good at fighting (his right hand is known as "The devils right hand") but he has no luck with the girls due to his bad reputation. One day he returns home after a fight and falls asleep, desperatly wishing to find a girlfriend. When he awakes he hears a girls voice in his apartement ... but there is no girl in his room ... the surprise is even bigger when he realizes that his right hand is replaced by a girl !!! The girl's name is Kasugano Midori. She is very shy and was secretely in love with Seiji since a long time already and she believes in here love to him and accepts being his right hand lover. Seiji and Midori begin to live together in secrecy with their grotesque relationship!
This one is so far the funniest shows of the spring season. Yer have to watch this one, I give it two thumbs up.

Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Verite
When 3rd year middle-schooler Hanaukyo Tarou's mom died, he moved to live with his grandfather in Tokyo. When he gets there, he is stunned by the gigantic mansion with it's countless maids.
He is the grandchild of the incredibly rich Hanaukyo Family's head, Hanaukyo Hokusai. But also, since Hanaukyo Hokusai has no heir, Tarou becomes head of the Hanaukyo family, which is controlling half Japan!
The maids who look after Tarou are: Mariel, the chief maid, Tsurugi Konoye, who is in charge for security, Suzuki Ikuyo, in charge of arts and Grace, the computer expert and many more. Those specialist maids, all having special skills, form the Haunaukyo Maid Squad.
And their only duty is to "Serve Master Tarou!"
I thought this would continue the old "Hanaukyo Maid Tai" (which ended in the middle without a real ending) but it seems to be just a remake with better drawing and minus the boys allergy to girls ... it's still quite funny, ecchi and entertaining.

Madlax
This one is from the creators of Noir and .hack//SIGN ... it is about a female assassin called Madlax and when she changes into a dress (even in the jungle) she gets serious. People who liked Noir should check it out ... hard to say how good this one will be after seeing only the first ep.

Monster
In 1986, Tenma, a Japanese neurosurgeon in Germany saved a boy who was shot in the head. He did this against the orders of his patron who had wanted him to operate on a politician then. He had done it out of guilt (for not saving a patient earlier in a similar situation). Thus his career sank. Years later, a series of mysterious murders put rise to Tenma's career. Tenma starts to investigate these events.
This one looks quite interesting after seeing ep01.

Bakuretsu Tenshi
Exploding Angels
This is a new Cel-shaded mecha series from GONZO and plays in the future around 2050. There's a group of vigilantes consisting of 4 girls and a big mecha. The crimerate is high and the police is weak, gangs control different parts of Tokyo. The four young ladies work for the highest bidder and their jobs are usually quite dangerous. Kyohei is studying in a culinary school to become a desert chef and just lost his job again when he finds a joboffer for a cook. It just happens to be a job to cook for the four ladies.
This series has lots of action and great looking mecha fights.


review added april 12th:

Boukyaku no Senritsu
Melody of Oblivion
There was a war between mankind and some monsters in the 20th century ... and the monsters won. Years later noone remembers anything about the war or the monsters and people seem to live a normal life.
Bocca Serenade is a young boy in highschool and he has some trouble with the upcoming midterm tests, so he has to take additional make up exams. Bocca is working parttime at a mechanics shop and the owner, Mr. Tsunagi, told him about the war and that the people in town are sacrificing children to the monsters. One night he meets a stranger in the workshop, Kurofune, who is a Meros Warrior who is trying to repair his Ivermachine, a motorbike he uses to fight monsters.
Bocca wants to be a warrior and Kurofune tells him about a goddess that only warrior can see, the Melody of Oblivion, when they're suddenly attacked ...


review added april 13th:

RAGNAROK The Animation
This one is based on the fantasy MMORPG Ragnarok. It's a fantasy anime based on the game Ragnarok ... uhm, yeah, that's about it :p
It might be something for Ragnarok fans but otherwise it's rather average. I suggest to watch Kyoukara Maoh! when you like fantasy anime, it is much more entertaining.


reviews added april 21st:

Le Portrait de Petit Cossette
Eiri Kurahashi is an art student who works part-time at the antique shop "Kourandou." Eiri falls in love with the image of a blonde-hair, blue-eyed girl he can see in a cut glass chalice, and secretly enjoys his trysts with the apparition. But, that was the beginning of the tragic tale of the star-crossed two brought together by the cursed vessel...
It is an OVA, the first ep aired as a preview on PPV. There will be a total of 3 eps @ 38 minutes. The first DVD will be on sale May 26, 2004, no idea when the other two will be released. The story is kinda dark, genre would be horror thriller. I love the drawing style and the music, definetly a must see.

Pugyuru
Huh ... this one is hard to describe. It is one of those ultra-short-ep shows (3:30min per ep) and I've only seen one ep so far.
A highschool girl (don't know her name yet) returns home only to find out that her parents went on an international cruise (her mother left 2 messages on the answering machine) and that they arraged for a maid. The maid is called Cheko and comes from the maid republic and she is a ... uhm ... no idea ... she's small and seems to be made of rubber or something. Cheko volunteered for the job but doesn't seem to be good as a maid, which is good for a chuckle or two. It is hard to say how well this series will be due to the short length of the eps.

Mahoushoujo Tai Iris
Tweenie Witches
The main character, Alice, is an 11 year old girl. She's an elementary school student who is sick of her ordinary life and thinks about how nice it would be to be able to use magic. One day she wandered into a magical world she'd only seen in her dreams. There she met two apprentice witches named Eva and Sheila. It was decided that she would learn magic with them. Now, what adventures await Alice in this world of magic?

The eps are fairly short at 9 minutes. The drawing style is quite interesting and I have a very good feeling about this anime. Studio 4°C produces the anime and they did some very interesting stuff before, like "Comedy" (which is quite dark, a 10 minute short movie but an amazing piece of art), the three shorts in "Memories" ("Magnetic Rose" and "Cannon Fodder" plus "Stink Bomb" together with Madhouse), "Spriggan" plus "Second Renaissance", "Beyond", "Kid's Story" and "Detective Story" from Animatrix. I say this anime is a must see for those who like a more unique style in anime.

Sensei no Ojikan
Sensei's Time/Doki Doki School Hours
At first I thought "dang, yet another highschool anime" but after a few minutes I realized that this one really is "yet another highschool anime but toooooo funny."
Sensei no Ojikan is a highschool anime and all characters in class 2A are quite over-the-top.
Mika Suzuki: she is the japanese teacher in class 2A. She is 27 and only 148cm high (4'8") and still living with her parents / Suetake: he is good at sports but otherwise an airhead / Seki: he likes girls but he likes himself even more ... and many more over-the-top characters.
This show is very funny to watch and good for a couple laughs. It is comparable to Azumanga Daioh.

Panda-Z: The Robonimation
This one's a 5 minutes per ep anime and I've only seen the first one so far. It seems to be a parody on transformer animes. The mecha are looking like animals and the main character is a panda (in a panda mecha). The first ep is made like a silent movie, the few dailogues aren't spoken but displayed as text, and there seems to be a competition going on with some fighting. This one might be interesting for fans of transformer anime.

Get Ride! Amdriver
10 years ago, the earth is under attack from an alien force called "bug-chine". Three Young people in powersuits (AM Driver) arrived, riding on their hoverboards into battle to defend earth. Today three new grunts come to the frontline after training. They get a truck as mobile base, some basic equipment and they receive bonuses for killing bug-chine. The new grunts have to fight their first battle right after they arrived. Two of them start a fight against five bug-chine. They can kill two but they're no match for the remaining three but luckily they get some help from others (which happens to be the famous three AM Drivers from the first days). They manage to kill the last three and get all the media attention after rescueing a family (battles are live on TV). You get the basic idea ... aliens ... powersuits ... rivalry ... stuff

DAN DOH!!
I haven't seen this one and I don't plan on watching it. Ugh, it's a sports anime ... I'm not a real fan of this genre but I watch them if they're good (Yawara, H2). It doesn't look so good for this one, at least judging from this review > http://www.jascii.net/newanime/jascii.p ... i_view=143


reviews added april 22nd:

Jagainu-Kun
Known in Japan as Jagainu-kun, Dogtato is the heartwarming tale of a dog that's really a potato...or a potato that's really a dog. Or something. (Jagaimo = potato, inu = dog, thus the name Jagainu/Dogtato.) Dogtato's world is full of his lovable half-veggie, half-animal friends who are always getting into wacky hijinks and misadventures and childlike antics.
Another one of those short 3:30 minutes per ep shows. It is certainly quite weird with the half-veggie, half-animals and might be more suitable for kids.

Mutsuenmeiryu Gaiden: Syura no Toki
Shura no Toki (fansubgroups name it so) is an historical account of a few of the greatest samurai to ever live in Japan! If you liked Rurouni Kenshin or Peacemaker Kurogane, chances are you'll love this anime.

Initial D: The Fourth Stage
This is Initial D, so all who enjoyed the first three stages know what this is all about, there's more racing, more good music, more fun ... the rest should watch the first three stages before considering this one ;)


review added april 23rd:

GANTZ
I must say that this show is quite intriguing and not that easy to review based on ep01. There is an apartement with a black round spere in one room and a bunch of different people that just had died but somehow ended up in that room. They can't open doors or windows and have no way of communication with the rest of the world. The first ep starts showing how two highschool students got into this room and how the different people try to cope with the situation. GANTZ is pretty psycho, they often show what people think in a situation, thoughts they wouldn't say out loud. It also offers a critical view on todays society. This is certainly one of the more unique shows this spring season.


review added may 5th:

Tetsujin 28-Gou
Metal Man No. 28
Tetsujin 28-Gou is a remake of classic super-robot series from the 60's also known as Gigantor (83 eps, Vintage: 1963-10-20 to 1965-05-27). It revolves around a young boy who can control a giant robot (Tetsujin 28) via a remote. He uses the robot to fight crime and gansters using "evil" robots. The drawing style is quite like the one back in the 60s, so certainly a series for fans of oldschool anime / mecha.


review added may 13th:

Aoi Umi no Tristia
Tristia of the Blue Sea
This is so far a nice but nothing special OVA. You can read a nice roundup at this page. Entertaining and funny but nothing really new. I have no info about total number of eps or release schedule for the OVAs but expect 1-2 months between releases.


review added may 19th:

Keroro Gunso
Sergeant Keroro
Keroro Gunso is a weird/funny anime. Aliens are going to invade earth ... space frogs ... and one of them is a scout BUT he was found out by some humans and then left stranded on earth because the invasion fleet turned around. Now he lives with a normal family and serves them though he's still scheming to somehow overthrow earth ... but he's quite clumsy ;)
This show seems to be somewhat targeted at the younger audience but it is still quite funny.


reviews added may 23rd:

Natsuiro no Sunadokei
At the start of his summer vacation, Koutaru has finally decided to make his confession to Kaho, who is the idol of his high school, but all does not go well. After a chance encounter, Koutaru finds himself traveling through time and learns that not only is he dating Kaho but that she dies in a tragic accident. In order to change the future and protect the one he loves, he must first correct the past.
Nothing too special but the timetravel part is kinda interesting. Overall an entertaining show. That show is another OVA, so eps will come much slower than regular TV shows.

Nanami-chan
A girl, Michi, and her family move to this tree house. In the house, they find this mysterious creature called Nanami. Nanami talks minimal amounts of human language. Their little life in the little house with the little creature begins...
It is yet another show with only 5 min runtime per ep and the targeted audience is definetly the younger ones.

Samurai Champloo
Samurai Champloo is from the director of Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus and this alone would make it very interesting. The name already hints that it has samurais and it plays in the Edo era, life can be worth dumplings. The style of the show is really groovy and quite interesting to watch, the swordfights are very well drawn. Here another take on the show:
What do a hobo, a waitress, and a renegade samurai have in common?
Well, two of them just sliced themselves into big trouble and one of them is trying to break them out of jail.
The era of the Samurai takes on a new twist.
As Fuu our Damselle in distress decides the fate of 2 wandering warriors and our story with the flip of a coin.
Samurai Champloo is certainly another great show from this very busy anime spring season.

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 1:24 pm
by Pugsley
I know one new one i have is Bobobob Bobobobobobobo. Its like Excell Saga on crack! hillarious, but there are only 2 episodes out. its kinda a sleeper like Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu.

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 3:11 pm
by Absolut Talent
Originally posted by Pugsley
I know one new one i have is Bobobob Bobobobobobobo. Its like Excell Saga on crack! hillarious, but there are only 2 episodes out. its kinda a sleeper like Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu.


just go download the watch the other 15 episodes' raws. Im sure you dont actually need to know what they are saying :p

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 5:33 pm
by DocSilly
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is one of those crazy funny shows ... like Cromartie High or Papuwa (or Excel Saga or FLCL) ... subbing is quite slow but at least someone does it, so I'm happy. It's not a show from this springseason, it's started airing last november.
Ah yes, also added another anime to my lil roundup.

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 11:33 pm
by DocSilly
Just added a few more reviews. I'm still waiting to see a couple more shows:

Mutsuenmeiryu Gaiden: Syura no Toki (I should be able to add review later today or tomorrow)

GANTZ no english fansubs available yet but the flash trailer looks interesting ( http://www.gantz.net/ , click on menu and then movie in the flash animation)

Initial D: The Fourth Stage no fansubs available so far from known groups (I don't watch new groups first releases) ... the continuation of our racing tofu delivery boy

Wagamama Fairy: Mirumo De Pon! Wonderful the second season of Mirumo de pon ... haven't finished the first season yet, so no need to rush here

Saiyuki Reload Gunlock second season of Saiyuki Reload (and thus 3rd of Saiyuki) ... haven't finished watching Saiyuki and they're also not finished so far with subbing Saiyuki Reload ... so also no need to rush with this one

Aoi Umi no Tristia Tristia of the Blue Sea there was a preview of this OVA on PPV though no fansubs out yet


Here some that I most likely won't watch:

Shingongattai Godanner!! Season 2 haven't seen the 1st season ... I'm not such a big mecha / transformers fan

Shin Getter-Robo reason is same as above


I might post an updated review of some shows after ep 04 or so when my first impressions (that're based on first eps) change.

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 11:09 am
by DocSilly
Wheee, I added 3 more reviews today and added to the Sensei no Ojikan review. Feel free to reply if my reviews helped you chosing a series or when you think my reviews are incorrect.

Pugsley:
You should rename the thread to something like "anime spring season 2004 reviews" ;)

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 2:16 pm
by Pugsley
Done and done.

I saw a 4th stage on animesuki yesterday, so sombody picked it up.

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 3:32 pm
by DocSilly
I suggest [L-E&IDE]_Initial_D_Fourth_Stage_Ep_01_[5F261CC3].avi ... there was another unknown group that released it a few days ago, [fob2k4]_Initial_D_Fourth_Stage_-_01(f0b20041).avi, but I prefer known groups. I hope my reviews help others to select their shows.

Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 6:36 pm
by DocSilly
Ah well, just added a new review for Tetsujin 28-Gou.

There's another new show starting may 19th > Samurai Champoo . It is from the director of Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus and looks quite interesting.
I'll add the review here ASAP after watching it.

p.s. Bobobo 04 was released just a short while ago ;)

Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 7:03 pm
by Pugsley
got on it right before i came here :P

Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:17 pm
by DocSilly
Just added a new review for Tristia of the Blue Sea.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 7:09 pm
by DocSilly
And there goes another review, this time for Sergeant Keroro. I hope I can soon add the review for Samurai Champoo, it'll start airing today in japan.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 5:17 pm
by DocSilly
What a busy anime spring season, just added another 3 shows to my lil roundup.
There are even more shows coming up in june (and who knows what the summer season will bring in july) ...
- Samurai 7 from Gonzo starts airing june 12th and looks quite interesting ... yay for even more samurai action :D
- Oja Majo Doremi: Naisho starts june 26th as a PPV preview for another OVA, no idea what it'll be about

The next could be argued as being already from the following summer season that starts in july:
- Tsuki wa Higashi ni Ni wa Nishi ni: Operation Sanctuary starts june 30th and seems to be another bishoujo anime
- Wind: A Breath of Heart starts the same day and is a bishoujo anime based on an h-game. It is a TV that is related to the one ep OVA from last year.